Desert World Savages: The Complete Series (10 page)

With a sigh of relief, he turned the disguise back on. Now when anyone looked at him, they wouldn't see his green body - they would see the familiar face of their fellow crewman Cax.

Then he wondered if Tracy had seen his true form.

What would she think of him? Would she think he lied to her about what he was and what he did? Was it possible that, in a moment of carelessness, he had ruined what little trust they had between them?

These disturbing thoughts stayed with him as he walked the dark corridors of the accursed space ship. He hated this place and these men.

Not only did they kill his brother, they had almost killed his mate.

His mate. He never thought such a thing was possible. Coming from a noble house where service to the wider community was a higher calling, both he and his brother were devoted to the cause of the Enforcement Wing. No woman of any of the Aligned Worlds would put up with their extended absences or the danger of their work. There were just too many men with stable jobs on their home worlds that could support a comfortable lifestyle.

The one relationship his brother tried ended in failure. The woman would not marry him because she was afraid she'd end up a widow.

Rev didn't blame her. In his line of work, death was a constant companion.

Suddenly, against all odds, Rev had a mate. An illegal one to be sure, but they were still bonded. When he found her, he would have to find a way to keep them together. He wasn't sure how he would do it, but he would make it happen, no matter what.

But first things first, and that was getting Jaal and his men put away for good. The sooner he could rally the Enforcement Wing to arrest them, the better.

Rev didn't like the way Grenta leered at the newly fashioned Staukub as they took the women out of the stasis chambers. Grenta may have forgotten, but Rev couldn't stop thinking about the genetic manipulation which transformed the women from their original species into Staukub.

One of the new Staukub was Tracy's friend Carol, but she wouldn't remember who she was any longer. Her implanted memories would make her think her name was Grubba.

Grenta worked the controls to deactivate stasis and revive the women. Each time a woman opened her slit-like eyes, he spoke the same speech.

"Hello, little one. You've had a long journey. We are bringing you to meet your prospective husband. You remember that, don't you? Listen to my assistant, and he'll get you ready."

Each woman, still under a haze from their slumber, mumbled words of agreement. Rev was tasked with cleaning them up and getting them dressed.

The naked blue Staukub did nothing to arouse Rev's interest. All he could do was unfavorably compare them to his mate, his Tracy. For the first time in a long time, he didn't need his interest piqued by anyone else.

The ache he felt from Tracy's absence was smoldering like the first smoke of a fire. If he was to believe the ancient texts, the ache would soon flare to a burning flame, driving him to find and possess his mate. The thought thrilled as well as frightened him. He had never dreamed he could want anyone as much as he wanted Tracy.

He led each woman to the sonic shower and gave them a personal disposable towel, leaving them to clean themselves. Outside the showers was a small closet where dresses were packed in a box. The dresses were dark blue, short and low cut.

There was no underwear.

Of course there wasn't. The bastards couldn't even give them decent clothes.

Some of the women appeared confused, especially when dealing with their quills. They touched them experimentally, pulling their hands back quickly when their fingers touched the sharp ends.

"It's okay," Rev tried to reassure them. "You're just a little confused from stasis. That will wear off."

When the last of the women were in the shower, Rev went to tell Grenta. What he found made him want to smash the worm's face in.

Grenta was running his hands over Grubba. The woman was leaning backwards in his arms. His fingers moved to her nipples, pinching them, and the freshly created Staukub groaned. He whispered things in her ear as she whimpered.

"Grenta!" sad Rev. "What in the hells do you think you are doing?"

"I'm testing how effective the transformation was. Don't you remember the problems when we sold the last batch? The women were all over each other before we could deliver them and get our money!"

Rev turned his head away. To top it all off, these wivers genetically modified the women to incite their lust. They were sickening people.

"Well, it looks like the mix is ok this time," said Rev. "Now leave her alone. We can't afford to lose any more cargo. Or do you want this Staukub to imprint on you?"

"That wouldn't be a bad thing. Sadly, I don't have the money to pay the captain for her. Take her with the others to the transport."

Grubba smiled at Rev and rubbed her blue quilled head against his shoulder. "Are you going to-"

"NO!" said Rev quickly. "Come along. We are going to meet your husband now. At this moment!"

"My husband is not you?"

"Definitely not me."

Grubba made a little noise of protest, then looked around. "Where is my friend?"

"Friend?"

"My friend. You know here. She was here with me."

Rev was surprised. Implanted memories were supposed to quickly supplant natural ones. Was the procedure working properly? Did she had a memory of Tracy?

"Your friends are over here," said Rev, pointed to the other created Staukub. "Come on."

Confused, Grubba followed him to where the other Staukub stood. Everyone was looking lost.

Grenta walked up behind them.

"Ladies, I know you are feeling a little confused, but that will wear off in a little while when we reach the planet surface. Remember, you asked to come here to meet husbands. There is a whole group of men looking for beautiful creatures like you. Follow Cax to the transports and we will take you to them."

Some of the blue-faced women nodded their heads enthusiastically while others merely gaped. Rev resisted the urge to shake his head.

"Time to go." said Rev.

Jaal and Bris met them in an old military personnel transport and helped secure the barely dressed women. Grenta announced he was giving everyone medication to help with motion sickness. None of the women complained when they were injected. By the end of the trip, the women were making mewling noises, like animals in heat.

They landed towards the end of the day. The sun prepared to sink below the line of mountains to the west. A group of Staukub miners drove to the space transport in a large vehicle with plenty of seats.

Jaal let the gangplank extend to the sandy soil and opened the hatch.

"You have our shipment?" grunted a blue faced male Staukub leaning out of the cab of the vehicle.

Bris muttered to Rev and Grenta, "Not the brightest lights, are they?"

As Bris spoke he handed Rev a laser rifle, and Rev noticed that Bris was similarly armed.

"Nope," Rev grunted, taking the rifle in hand. Staukub were good for physical labor, but none of them would win a prize for outstanding scientist. They were good in battle situations that required a massive number of ground troops that were going to die.

Grunts.

The quills on these males were three quarters erect, indicating they were worked up and possibly ready for a fight.

Jaal addressed the miners. "Yes, we have your cargo. We wouldn't be here otherwise."

"I'm Quam, these are Jenq, and Faul. Let's see them."

Jaal took the arm of one of the females who was pressing her body against him. He pulled her in front of him, where she was visible to all the miners.

"Here's one. What's your name?"

"Telli," said the woman. She draped an arm over Jaal's shoulders and licked his cheek. Jaal, in turn, grabbed her nipple through her thin dress and twisted it. She giggled loudly and rubbed herself against his side.

"Here we go, this is Telli. She's ready and willing, just like all your ladies here."

"Let's take a closer look," said the man. He jumped out the cab of the truck along with two of his fellows. They walked towards the ship. The three men were dirty and had dark smudges on their skin and jump suits.

Jaal held out his hands. "Now, gentlemen, our business isn't concluded. Once payment is made, we'll be glad to leave them with you."

"Our money's not here," said Quam. "It's back at the camp."

The captain clearly looked unhappy with this announcement.

"That wasn't the agreement, gentlemen. Cash up front."

"Money NOT HERE," repeated Quam as if that offered enough explanation. "Come to the camp. We'll drink, look at the women, have some fun."

Jaal pursed his lips. Grenta leaned in.

"Let's just get this over with. The women are drugged enough for a few hours. We should be able to get the money and go. Otherwise, we'll be stuck with twenty-three Staukub."

The captain grunted. "They'll go with you, but only to get the money. Bris, you go. I'll stay with the ship."

"No," said Quam. "All of you."

"Then no sale, gentlemen." Jaal backed away from the hatch with Telli hanging on his every moment.

"Wait. Fine. One stay with ship. The others come."

With that declaration Bris, Rev and Grenta helped the women climb into the bed of the miner's truck and then followed them in their own vehicle. Rev looked toward the mountain ridges to the south, wondering where Tracy was on this waste of a planet.

The need to find her and to be close to her thrummed through his body, Just his thoughts turned his ache for her into fire, and he knew that he couldn't be away from her much longer.

Just a little bit longer, he told himself. Witness the exchange of money, get the final evidence and he could take off and search for his mate.

As the truck bounced along the uneven terrain, his mind was filled with thoughts of his woman.

TRACY

Tracy hit the ground hard even though she followed the suit's instructions. When she started to regain consciousness, her face was hot from the alien sun, and she felt herself sliding backwards down a mountain of sand. The parachute was still attached to her, dragging her wherever the wind blew.

For some reason, all she could think of was the last time she saw Rev. The bastard was green.

Warning. Disengage parachute.

The suit repeated its three times before Tracy could figure out how to trigger the release and free herself from the parachute. She stopped sliding but the parachute kept traveling along the sand, its edges curling around like an octopus crawling over the bottom of the sea.

Advise retrieving parachute for use in survival situations.

Fuck. What was she going to do now? The breeze was carrying away the chute faster than she could get to it.

Standing on her feet proved a painful affair. Her hip hurt from landing on it. She'd rolled just a little too soon when she crashed into the ground.

Even if she had not been injured, walking was proving difficult as well. The sand slid under her feet as she walked on top of it. As she scanned the horizon, she found the chute flapping on top of a sand swell, held in place from some unknown force.

Taking a deep breath, Tracy limped forward and climbed the mound, even as sand slid under her feet. Just as she managed to reach the top of the swell, the chute curled and fluttered down a small valley.

Cursing, Tracy started to run towards the parachute, but the suit hampered her movements. She fell and tumbled down the hill of sand, coming to a stop on top of the parachute.

Hah, she thought to herself as she rolled to her feet and grabbed onto the parachute straps. A gust of wind filled the chute once again, and Tracy fell one more time as the parachute dragged her across the sand.

This is ridiculous, she thought. She was in a depression between two mountains of sand, and barely holding on to the strap of the parachute. The winds were dying down and instead of being filled with air, the parachute fluttered against the sand. Frustrated, she pulled hard on the straps. Incredibly the chute collapsed into a long tube. She inspected the cords connecting the parachute to the straps and found they were woven into the chute.

Tracy admired the alien design. She'd seen parachute landings on television at home and saw how the chutes had to be manually rolled to collect the billowing cloth. She tried tugging on the straps again and the tube curled into a manageable ball.

Yeah! This small victory cheered her. She picked up the ball and tucked it under her arm.

With the parachute reclaimed, Tracy started licked her lips. She was still fully clothed in the alien jump suit, she was sweating heavily, and she needed a drink of water. Tracy noticed a small tube sticking out on the inside of the helmet, near her mouth. On a hunch she put her lips around it. It was surprisingly soft, but then again, anything hard might be dangerous in space. She sucked on the tube, and was rewarded with the most putrid tasting liquid she ever drank.

Tastes like Tracy, she thought.

She resisted the urge to cough and spit. Tracy knew she needed to keep hydrated and in this sun-bleached hell, this might be the only way to do it.

Warning. External temperature rising to dangerous levels. Recommend finding shelter.

Of course. Tracy had one slacker boyfriend that loved survival shows. She had dutifully watched them with him, until she found him cheating with another woman. But she had learned a thing or two. And one of those things was that in the desert, look for shelter during the day, and travel during the night. Ok, Rory, she thought. You were good for something. If I ever make it back to earth, I'll thank you in person.

Tracy climbed to the highest point around here and found some hills nearby with dark shadows. There had better be shelter there or she was going to be cooked.

Tracy placed one foot in front of the other as she crossed the scorching sand. Each crunch of her boots felt like a small victory against the intractable waste around her. She was starting to feel light-headed from all the exertion.