BOOTY HUNTER Page 12

  Lyra turns over, questions in her eyes. Because clearly she heard that whole conversation. “Are you sure you want me at your brother’s memorial service?”

  No. I’m not sure at all. But there’s an undeniable feeling inside me that says leaving her behind isn’t an option. Some kind of new urge to keep her close at all times.

  But all that’s so complicated and I just want to keep things simple. So I say, “Yeah. I do.”

  “Well,” she says. “I’ll get the shopping code after all.” She smiles when she says this.

  And even though I’m not happy—not anything close to happy—I smile back at her. Like… can’t not smile back at her. “You know what?”

  “What?”

  “Fuck that auto-shopper. Let’s go out into the city. Get the fuck out of these quarters. Maybe get breakfast too. Have you seen the city yet?”

  “No,” she says, shaking her head. “As soon as I got out of the cryopod I was taken directly to the harem.”

  “Well, good. I’ll show you around this morning.”

  She sighs a little. Like that makes her happy. But then she says, “You don’t have to, though. I get that this day is gonna be hard for you. I can fend for myself here just fine. And I like auto-shopping.”

  But she’s wrong. I don’t know how I know this, I just do.

  I do have to. Just like how that one moment when I considered leaving her behind for the memorial service conjured up an urge to keep her close, that’s how I feel about walking out of here without her next to me.

  Except I can’t explain that. And even if I could, it sounds stupid. So I say, “It’s no big deal. Besides, this place is pretty great. I know everyone thinks Harem Station is just a cesspool of outlaws and killers, but ALCOR runs it, ya know. And he’s no joke. And it’s the only home I have, so I’d like you to see it.”

  For fuck’s sake. Why am I talking to her about this shit?

  “OK,” she says. And then she smiles. “But I’ll still need that auto-shopper code. Unless you want me walking around in your boxer shorts.”

  I laugh, picturing that. Then frown, picturing that. Because I have a sudden urge to kill anyone who looks at her. And if she walked out of here in shorts, everyone would be looking at her.

  “Sure,” I say, throwing the covers off me and swinging my legs over the side of the bed. “I’ll program it now.”

  I pinch my fingers together in the air and open up a screen, then punch all the required tabs to give her permission to shop.

  “How does that work?” she asks.

  “How’s what work?” I ask, looking over my shoulder. She’s propped up on one elbow, long blonde hair spilling over her bare breasts like spun gold.

  “Those air screens you guys use here.”

  “Oh,” I say, looking at my still-open screen. I swipe my hand through it and it disappears, then pinch the air with my fingers and open it up again. “I’ve got an implant in my fingers,” I say. “And there are nanobots in the atmosphere here that respond to them. ALCOR’s magic. I don’t really know much other than that. But I’ll get you one. If you want. Every Harem citizen has one. In fact, we should do that first. You can’t be walking around without a connection.”

  She gives me a funny look, then her fingertips go to the collar around her neck that displays my name as her responsible party.

  “What?” I ask.

  “Yesterday I was your slave. You wanted to send me back to the harem. Now you’re giving me citizen privileges?”

  Yeah, that’s weird. But then again, it’s not. It’s like me wanting her to go to the memorial service with me. And the thought of sending her back to Crux makes my chest hurt in a weird way I can’t explain. “I just want to keep you safe,” I say. “That’s all. Don’t read too much into it.”

  “OK,” she says.

  “OK,” I say, not looking at her. “Well. Find something to wear and we’ll get going. Lots of things to do before my brothers start arriving.”

  I get up, grab a t-shirt and pants from my closet, and go into the shower to clean up. Making a point not to invite her to join me.

  CHAPTER TWENTY - LYRA

  The auto-shopper is top notch. And my access is amazing. It’s like… he put no limits on it! I could’ve gotten anything I wanted. But I controlled myself and just got some gray pants, a loose, pink, long-sleeve blouse that flares at the wrists, and a pair of sensible pink slipper flats. Which was all delivered in less than ten minutes. So I was ready to go by the time he came out of the bedroom dressed in his usual black tactical pants, white t-shirt, and boots.

  I was serious when I said I loved auto-shopping and I would be perfectly happy just loading up my virtual shopping cart. Back home I never went out to buy things. But back home was not a fun place to be. And that’s kinda what I expected here.

  Except Serpint seems to think it’s a pretty great place and wants to show me around.

  Which excites me a little.

  So strange how things can change so quickly. I’ve been here one day and so much has happened.

  We had sex three times. And each time was better than the last.

  Of course, that’s new-people sex. Usually it starts out great, gets better and better, then things always fizzle.

  I hate thinking about the inevitable decline of our relationship. It makes me unreasonably sad for some reason. Even though we don’t really have a relationship. I am still his slave, as evident by the fucking collar I’m wearing with his name on it.

  But then again, we’re sitting in the harem medical office waiting for me to be fitted with a fingertip implant so I’ll be connected.

  Weird.

  “Lyra,” the harem master says from the hallway. “Come with me.”

  I look over at Serpint and frown. “Want me to come with you?” he asks.

  “Yes.” I nod. Which is dumb. Dumb, dumb, dumb. I do not need a man to hold my hand while they prick my finger.

  And yet… I do need him to hold my hand while they prick my finger.

  I think about last night as Serpint and I walk down the hallway to the same room I was in last night.

  I’m pretty sure everyone in the office heard us going at it. So that kinda sucks. But no one says anything, so they are either super polite or super antisocial and don’t give any fucks at all about what we did.

  “Have a seat,” the cyber master says, pointing to the examination table.

  Serpint holds my hand while I climb up and even though I’m only here to get an implant, I’m nervous. I don’t like doctors.

  The cyber master turns to me with something that looks like a cross between a needle and a laser, and says, “Hold out these two fingers,” as he holds out his own two fingers in example.

  Vibrating fingers, I remember from yesterday morning.

  “You want to see my credentials?” he asks me when I hesitate. Nothing but snark in his voice.

  “No,” I say. “I’m fine. I’m just thinking about how you violated me with those fingers, that’s all.”

  The cyborg master isn’t made of flesh. He’s not human, he’s just a very high-end robot. He doesn’t even really have a face. It’s mostly just silver-metallic synthetic skin with a single vision sensor and a slit of a mouth that is nothing more than a speaker.

  But still, he rolls that vision sensor at me after I implicate him in the previous day’s torture. And then in one quick motion he pricks my fingers with the laser needle thing and it’s done.

  “That’s it?” I ask.

  “That’s it,” Serpint says. “Now ALCOR just needs to assign you credentials and you can use it. But we don’t have to wait for that.”

  “She shouldn’t have this,” the master says, glaring at me with that one vision sensor.

  Serpint just shrugs and says, “Not up to you, my friend. Just send in the order and call her when it’s done so we know.”

  When we exit the clinic and get in the elevator the nanny bot is back, to Serpint’s dismay. And he’s chirp
ing at me about his night off while we ride the lift down to the city. Which I give no shits about, but no matter how many times I tell him that, he just keeps going on and on about bot bars, and bot girls, and bot this and… like… that’s not a thing where I come from. Bots are just bots.

  But not here, apparently. Bots are people here. Like the ships, I guess. That conversation this morning with ALCOR about Booty was bizarre.

  And when we step out of the lift I start to think this whole place is bizarre.

  For one, it’s not built like any other station I’ve ever been on. The kind with many levels all separated by ceilings and floors.

  This station is one large open space running down the center of the ring with tall buildings on either side.

  We come out somewhere in the middle, so when Serpint leads me through a crowd of people—all of whom look like they kill people for a living—and over to the edge of the wide walkway, I can peer down, and up, and it is just like he said.

  Magnificent.

  There’s people-moving walkways going in all directions. Up, down, sideways… crisscrossing like snakes in a jungle of lights, and flash, and glass-sided store fronts.

  Gambling halls, shooting galleries, bars, clubs, arcades, brothels—every fun thing a sinner might like is available.

  I look up again. Start counting levels. Because even though it’s all open, there’s walkways along the perimeter of the buildings.

  “Two hundred levels that way,” Serpint says, pointing up. “And two hundred more down there too. Crux’s harem is all the way up at the top.”

  I squint to try to see it, but I can’t. And I don’t know if it’s because the sides of the station curve up to a gently sloping roof overhead and I’m just at the wrong angle to be able to see the top, or it’s truly just so far away I cannot. The same effects happens when I look forward and back. This station is a ring. So the buildings actually curve off into the horizon in both directions. “Holy suns,” I say. “This is… just… I can’t even comprehend it. It really is a whole city in here.”

  “What’d you expect?” He laughs.

  “Well, you know. A station. Low ceilings, cramped quarters, horrible smell. But this place—is that a garden down on the bottom level?”

  Serpint nods. “Yeah. But that’s not the bottom. That’s just the park level.”

  I can’t stop the laugh. “Outlaws have parks,” I muse. “Who knew.”

  “Stick with me, princess. I’ll show you a good time.”

  I roll my eyes at him, but not sarcastically. Because he already has shown me a good time.

  “Come on,” Serpint says, tugging on my hand. He’s been holding it ever since we left his quarters. And even though that’s weird too, it’s not. It feels right for some reason. Which makes me think about our conversation last night about being soulmates.

  We should’ve asked the cyborg master about his cock and how it got stuck up inside me last night until he came again.

  Then again… gross. I’m not talking about anything with that subhuman piece of space trash.

  “Wow,” I say, looking at all the store fronts on this level. All designer. And jewelry stores too. The really expensive ones like I’ve seen on the screens when one of my sisters would hack into an illicit feed. And everywhere there are people. So many people. Selling things on the side of the wide walkways, and gathering in small crowds. And almost all of them look happy. “This place isn’t anything like the stations I’ve been on before.”

  “No,” Serpint agrees. “This is the only one made by ALCOR.”

  “What’s his deal, anyway?”

  “What do you mean?” Serpint says, leading me into an opening in the side of the wall that turns out to be a restaurant.

  “Where did you get him?”

  “He came with the place.” Serpint laughs.

  “So how did you guys happen to become partners?”

  He shrugs, holding up two fingers at a hostess. She’s very tall. Like way taller than Serpint. And super-thin. Like she was born in zero gravity, maybe. And she has long, black hair and silver skin. Which alone would make her look really special and exotic, but she’s wearing a black bodysuit and has the biggest rifle I’ve ever seen strapped to her back.

  I stare at her. Gawk at her, actually. Because I’ve never seen her kind before. This whole station is filled with humanoids I’ve never seen before.

  Both Serpint and the bot must notice my fascination as we follow her to the back of the restaurant, because Serpint says, “Never seen a Centurian before, I take it,” just as the bot starts spouting off useless facts about Centurians. Where they’re located in the galaxy, how they live in the atmosphere of gas giants in huge rotating habitats, and other such things that no one who sees this woman for the first time would give any fucks about whatsoever.

  You just want to look at her. The way I’m looking at her. Equal parts awe and fear.

  I hope, if I’m ever in danger and she’s with me, she’s on my side. That’s all I’m thinking about.

  “Thanks,” Serpint says to the silver woman, then pulls out a chair for me to sit.

  “Oh,” I say, surprised at his manners. “Thank you.”

  He takes the chair across from me and then the hostess hands us menus. I look at mine while the bot hovers at my shoulder and starts chirping about what’s good.

  “How would you even know?” I ask him. “You don’t even eat.”

  He deflates a little. And by that I mean loses a little altitude, then takes off and says something about playing games in the arcade next door.

  I roll my eyes.

  “So… what’s that all about?” Serpint says.

  “What?”

  “You and that bot. How do you know what he’s saying? You have a translator implant? Crux has one of those. Not me, I don’t give a fuck what they say. My bot—” But then he stops. “Well, the bot I used to have. Ceres. He spoke our language just fine. He was a damn good bot.”

  I remember that the bot was killed with his brother yesterday. I think that’s one of the most surprising things about this station. They seem to think bots, and ships, and cyborgs all have the same rights as humanoids.

  Which is new to me. Because that’s not how it was back in Cygnia. Not at all.

  Bots, and ships, and cyborgs were all just… things.

  “Lyra?”

  “What?” I say. “Oh. Your question. Well, I had nanny bots all growing up. I had that model for a while. And I was always interested in learning new languages. So I’m fluent in 700 Series.”

  “Interesting.”

  “Why is it interesting?”

  “Just…” He shrugs. “Because you don’t seem to mind him, even though he pierced you yesterday without my permission, and yet you hate the cyborg master. I kinda feel the other way around. That nanny bot is useless to me but the harem master, I’d make sure he was on my team if shit ever went down, that’s for sure.”

  “Hmmm,” I say. “Well, he did stick his vibrating fingers between my legs. In front of everyone. Twice,” I add, for emphasis. “So I don’t feel the same.”

  “And the bot pierced your pussy,” he whispers, covering his face with the menu so people around us can’t hear. “And your nipples. So… three times.” He holds his hands up like, I rest my case.

  “Yeah, but the bot is really harmless. He doesn’t have emotions. He wasn’t doing it to teach me a lesson. He really did think you wanted him to do that. In fact, he said it was part of your routine.” Serpint smiles, but wisely decides not to defend himself. “And that master…” I shudder. “I know their kind and they are not harmless.”

  “How do you know their kind?” he asks, just as the hostess returns with two glasses of water. He nods thank you to her, which again surprises me. Because he’s very polite to the people here. Like everyone is family, instead of just his inner circle.

  “I just… do,” I say, not wanting to get into the past too much. It’s over. I’m gone and I’m never
going back. Ever.

  “Hmmm,” Serpint says. “Well, the bots here do have emotions. So you’re giving that 700 too much credit. We take off their restrictors whenever we liberate them from their former masters.”

  “What do you mean?” I ask, scrunching up my face. “You… don’t have regulators on them?”

  “Nope,” Serpint says. “This place. It’s not what you think.”

  “How do you know what I think it is?”

  “Because I do. I’ve been all over the galaxy, Lyra. And no matter where I am or who I’m talking to, if they’re not from here they all have the same opinion about Harem Station. The second people learn who I am and where I come from, they get a look on their face.”

  “What look?”

  “The look you had yesterday when you tried to spit on me.”

  I inhale deeply, then let it out. “Sorry about that. I was… afraid. And wound up. And not here because I wanted to be here.”

  He shrugs. “I don’t let it get to me. Any more,” he adds. “They see what they want to see and that’s just fine by me. But everyone who lives here, or stops by on their way through the gates between jobs…” He shrugs again. “They get me. And I get them. We’re all the same on Harem. Just trying to stay alive in a really fucked-up, dangerous world.”

  “Hmm,” I say.

  “Hmm, what?”

  “Well…” I laugh a little. “You make it sound like… you know. You’re not all a bunch of outlaws on the run from the Prime Navy.”

  “People are people,” he says. “Doesn’t really matter what side of Prime you’re on. Because those guys? The ones who run shit? They’re no different than us, Lyra. They just make the laws that suit them, that’s all. They steal and kill too. Just like us. They just call it appropriation and war instead of what it really is. Everyone’s an outlaw, it’s just we’re the ones on the wrong side of popular opinion.”

  “So you fancy yourselves revolutionaries?” I ask, kinda finding it ridiculous. “I mean, I get what you’re saying, because I come from a horrible, oppressive society. Make no mistake, the Cygnians are not good people. But I’m not naive enough to think that there’s no difference between law and lawlessness.”