Page 29 of No Strings Attached (Mated Fates #1)
Bahbi watched Vi until she was out of sight and wasn’t terribly surprised when Trak and Friend came over to join him and Mister Beastly at the seats. Mister Beastly had dropped down into the chair that Valis had used, and Bahbi was still sitting on one side of his, leaving Vi’s space open. Trak dropped into that space. Friend sat on the floor facing them.
No one here had any interest in mingling with them. They were inconsequential, no matter the size of the gold and emerald medallions they all wore and were mostly being subjected to a high level of extremely inconsiderate gawking.
Trak was clutching a tankard of ale, and he took a swig before saying, “Seems to be going OK so far. I just hope we can get out of here before we fuck something up.”
Mister Beastly nodded in agreement and scratched at the fur on his stomach.
Friend wagged his tail and said, “Well, I think it’s going great! Many people have complimented my manners this evening.”
Bahbi looked around and saw all the curious looks they were getting, but no one approached. “I just hope things are going well with the Ophidians. They didn’t seem too happy with Steev.”
A Trallian approached, cautiously, with a platter of small food bites. Mister Beastly held out his hand and the Trallian lowered the platter for him to choose a morsel, but Mister Beastly flummoxed him by taking the whole thing. He began popping the morsels into his mouth.
Bahbi caught the Trallian’s attention and said, “Thank you.”
He nodded, looked around furtively, then said, “Is it true what the guards told us? She doesn’t keep slaves? You’re not slaves?”
Bahbi nodded, “It’s true. Oz does not permit slavery. Queen Violet hates slavery.”
“What is that like?”
“Hard to get used to, honestly.” Trak nodded in agreement with Bahbi’s words.
The Trallian glanced to the side and quickly scurried away. A few seconds later, Valis stood before them.
He said, “Hello, again, Bahbi. May I join you?” Bahbi nodded.
Valis sat down cross-legged on the floor beside Friend, who turned to him, tail wagging.
“Hello, trawg, I am Valis of the Melinor. I spoke with your queen earlier about joining you.”
“Hello, Valis, I am Friend of Oz. This is Trak of Oz, and that is Mister Beastly of Oz. I like your hair!”
“Thank you, kind trawg. May I pet you, Friend?”
“Yes, please.”
Jarxtan Prag appeared behind Valis and nodded at the group. “I have arranged a suite of rooms for Oz. Who would like to come with me to inspect them for suitability?”
Bahbi stood and said, “I will,” then turned at the sound of crumpling metal and saw Mister Beastly had folded the serving platter in half.
He looked around the group slowly, then said, “Ay-lis,” and held Bahbi’s gaze.
Bahbi regarded him for a moment, understanding dawning. He looked down at Valis and said, “Mister Beastly will not leave the vicinity of Queen Violet, and the Estranian is with the King and Queen. Mister Beastly does not want me to go into the station unaccompanied. Would you like to join us?”
Valis smiled, gave Friend a final pat, and bounded up, “Certainly, Bahbi. Lead the way.”
Prag led them through the station, along a series of moving walkways and escalators, until they reached the section for VIP residents and visitors. It was through a secured area in the domed part of the station, partitioned off and sealed, with its own life support systems. Bahbi walked in companionable silence with Valis behind Prag, until he led them to a suite of rooms. They entered a large common area with spaces for eating and lounging, including a huge semicircular sofa that could comfortably seat 15 and a massive view screen to watch broadcasts. The screen was on and showing the reception they’d just left, the camera zoomed in on Mister Beastly with a new tray of bite-sized food. They watched him pluck one off the tray and offer it to Friend. Bahbi smiled and looked over at Valis, who was also smiling.
To the left, a door into the master suite, with an enormous bed and private bathing room. To the right, four doors leading off to smaller bedrooms with ship-style efficiency lavatories. Prag showed them how each of those rooms could be configured for a large bed, two small beds, or six bunks.
Prag was standing, hands on hips, as they inspected, tapping the innermost toe talon on his right foot. “Well, will this do? I’ll send meals up twice per day.”
Bahbi smiled, fiddled with his gold medallion, and said, “It looks fine to me. Thank you, Honorable Jarxtan Prag.”
Prag’s features softened at Bahbi’s use of the respectful title. He took a box from his pocket and handed Bahbi a small wafer. “Eat that. I’ve encoded them for a half-life of 10 days. I’ll provide them to the rest of the party below, and we’ll revisit the duration of your stay as I arrange the appropriate transactions and consultations for Queen…Violet. Is this gentleman to be included?” Prag waved a hand at Valis.
Bahbi shook his head, “The Queen is still considering him.”
Prag nodded as Bahbi popped the wafer into his mouth, “Very well. You may now come and go freely, Trallian, but this gentleman will need to be escorted until he’s been given a wafer. I’ll distribute these other wafers to the rest of your party now. Excuse me, please.” He turned and exited the suite.
Bahbi looked at Valis and said, “Let’s stay for a few minutes. I’d like to see how they’re presenting us on the Ogo.” He moved toward the massive sofa and Valis nodded and followed.
Once they were seated, Valis turned toward him and asked, “Queen Violet, what species is she?”
Bahbi looked at him a little suspiciously, “Why do you ask?”
Valis leaned back, arms spread along the back of the sofa. “Because I’ve seen a female on the lower decks that appears to be the same or a very similar species as your Queen. She seems to have the job of advertising for a brothel. Given that brothels are not usually staffed by free females, I assume she is a slave.”
Bahbi stood and said, “Show me.”
They made their way through the crowded warren of shops, food stalls, cantinas, and vendor carts on the third deck below the main, accosted on all sides by beings hawking their wares or their bodies. Bahbi wished fervently that he wasn’t wearing a gold and emerald medallion—illuminated, no less—but Valis had gold bangles on each wrist and ankle, and no one made a move for him. Bahbi stuck as close to him as he could and tried to keep his eyes sharp for what was happening around him, but he was experiencing heavy sensory overload.
As they wove through the crowded corridor, he started picking up a familiar sound that was wholly unexpected in this place. It grew louder as they continued, and Bahbi could tell that the sound was being amplified. It sounded just like Vi in the throes of ecstasy.
Valis threw a glance over his shoulder at Bahbi and said, “We’re almost there. Do you hear her?”
Bahbi nodded, “I know that sound…is someone…fucking her in…public?”
Valis stopped and half-turned. “You know that sound?”
Bahbi had forgotten himself in his dismay, and he said, “Yeah, it sounds just like Vi does during sex.”
“Vi?”
Bahbi had been looking toward the sound, but his head snapped back around, and he met Valis’s eyes. Fuck . “Let’s just get to her, quick.”
Valis studied him for a moment longer, then turned and led them forward.
They found the female placed in front of a brothel, laying restrained within a modified stasis pod—the old kind with a curved glass top. She definitely looked human. She had a mess of curly blond hair, shoulder length, and she was considerably more round in the chest and hips than Vi. Her eyes were closed and her escalating moans of pleasure were amplified into the corridor. Little bots crawled over her nipples and her orgasm button, but Bahbi couldn’t make out what they were doing to those spots. As they watched, her back arched, her eyes rolled back, she let out a longer and louder moan of climax, and then she collapsed back into the thin mattress pad of the pod.
Bahbi hadn’t noticed the huge, muscular Olferian on the stool next to her until he spoke, “Get lost vagrant, Trall. Neither of you can afford anything we’re offering inside.”
Bahbi brought his gaze back to the human female, now looking at him with pale blue eyes. “How much for her?”
“She ain’t for sale or rent. She’s signage for all the females inside who will take a cock without trying to bite it off. My boss paid a shit ton of credits to get that one, now he’s just trying to get his money back.”
Bahbi smiled and thought of Vi. He knew there’d be a mighty pile of amputated cocks if someone tried to put her in a brothel. Or maybe not a pile, since Vi would be just as likely to take a severed cock and shove it right up the former owner’s ass.
Valis stepped forward and asked, “Are you authorized to refuse serious offers for purchase on behalf of the proprietor? It sounds like he’d be happy to recoup his investment.” Bahbi was grateful Valis was there because he wouldn’t have thought to ask that.
The grey Olferian shook his head, “You don’t wanna talk to the boss. He ain’t gonna like you and you ain’t gonna like him.”
Valis smiled, “We’re prepared to deal with some unpleasantness for an audience.” He bowed, slightly, “Please, lead the way.”
The Olferian shrugged and turned to lead them through the door, Valis following. Bahbi looked into the female’s pale blue eyes and placed a hand on the glass, the only comfort he could give her at the moment, and he saw her eyes widen before going through the door.
Inside was a small foyer-style room with 10 vertical stasis pods, six occupied, built directly into the wall; a hallway led back with hatch doors leading off to rooms on each side. Next to each pod was a display screen listing species, menu of services, and prices. None of the six occupants were restrained, like the human female was, and they were all engaged in various sexual displays and suggestive positions in an effort to capture Valis’s attention. None of them turned their attentions toward Bahbi, even after they noted his entrance. He felt no small measure of relief about that.
None of the females was human, but Bahbi didn’t immediately recognize all the species. In the first pod, there was an Olferian, sickly grey with dull red eyes and missing patches of scales on the top of her head. The second pod had been unoccupied, but as Bahbi watched, a Trallian male entered it and assumed a weary, disinterested posture.
The Olferian bouncer they had followed in turned to Bahbi and said, “He’s for those poor fuckers who can’t afford a female.”
Bahbi sucked in a breath in shock as understanding hit him, then the Trallian met his gaze. His eyes widened as he took in Bahbi and his large gold and emerald medallion, gold belt wrapped around his bicep, and daggers. Bahbi felt sick.
The four next pods contained Filli—delicate, pink-skinned, and hairless humanoids with large eyes and long tails. They were the ones working hardest to get Valis’s attention. Bahbi knew their culture had a pleasure slave caste, and they were trained to be eager and agreeable for any sexual acts. Valis merely gave them his polite smile and nod.
The next two pods were empty—their occupants presumably busy with customers, and the last two contained species he didn’t know anything about. One was slightly insectoid, with membranous wings, and the other was bipedal with many, tentacled upper limbs.
A diminutive Olferian approached them, considerably smaller than the bouncer or Jarxtan Prag, with a scowl on his face. “I’m Raglan Ark, the owner. What the fuck do you two want?”
Valis smiled, bowed, and said, “We’re interested in learning the price for the female outside, Raglan Ark. I am Valis, this is Bahbi.”
Ark peered at Valis, “The vagrant. Yes, I remember you, looking for work. And a Trallian. When the fuck have I ever needed to learn the name of a random Trallian?” Ark leaned forward, still scowling, “Where’s your ownership brand, Trall? Why do you wear such finery?”
Bahbi forced himself not to take a step backwards or look down, then answered, “I’m not a slave. I dont have an owner. I wear these things to mark me as part of the House of Oz.”
Valis added, “He is bound to the King and Queen of Oz. Their royal designer.”
Ark looked thunderstruck, “A Trall?! Fucking ridiculous. If you have no brand, you are mine to claim. I can put you in the tube and send Orni back to my kitchen.” He waved a hand at his bouncer, “Deal with the vagrant, then bring me the Trall. I’ll get the branding iron ready.”
The bouncer took a step toward Valis and Bahbi couldn’t even process what happened next. Before he could replay it in his mind, Valis was kneeling beside the bouncer, who was on his stomach on the floor, and holding both of his arms behind his back.
Valis, totally unperturbed and unconcerned, said quietly, “Draw your blades, Bahbi.”
Bahbi started at the scene in shock and didn’t immediately understand what Valis meant, then he remembered the daggers on his arm. He pulled each free and held one in each hand, clutching them tightly in his raised fists.
Ark was apoplectic with rage. He turned around and screamed, “GET THE ZIG!” Then he ran away from them, down the long corridor.
The Olferian bouncer started bucking and thrashing under Valis, until he reached up and applied pressure to the side of his neck, then the Olferian stilled and seemed to fall unconscious. Bahbi couldn’t tell what Valis had done, since it had been on the far side of the Olferian’s neck. Valis stood and walked calmly down the hall after Ark. Bahbi took a deep breath, squeezed the grips of the daggers for reassurance, and followed. His last thought, before all hell broke loose, was: I hope Vi finds out what happened to me and doesn’t have to wonder if I left her .