Slave World (26 page)

Chapter Nine

The bubbling warmth of the whirlpool did little to ease my troubles, while remorsefully scrubbing the residue of a cockflesh orgy from my tarnished body. I even douched; I didn’t want a single physical trace of what I’d done on or in me any longer. I’d never seen so much cum in my life. Cirus was bad enough, but six more after him?

I continued with my task ignoring the conversations around me. I wasn’t the only one trying to clean the filth from my body tonight, although I was the only one that saw it that way apparently. There were five other ponies in separate tubs around me, and I blocked out their excited banter and recollections of pleasure, while they discussed one stallion or another and his amazing prowess. As for me, I saw it as nothing more than the forced version of a consensual gangbang, and it had been a lot of years since my last one. My stomach and chest ached from hours of near hyperventilation, and my legs and hips felt stiff from riding in the saddle. I glanced down, inspecting my knees sorrowfully; they were raw, shining a bright red against my white skin. It still felt like I had the worst cramps of my life, making me wince on occasion. That still wasn’t the worst of it, as I saw it.

I felt the change soon after Cirus, but more so as the day wore on; I was ruined now. My trim if not tight pussy felt like a stretched out shabby piece of meat again with a gaping hole in the center. If I took the time to look at it, I’m sure that’s exactly what I would have seen. Nathan would know; he could never hope to compete with the freakish size of stallion cock. It would be like throwing a hot dog down a hallway until I healed and tightened again, if I ever did.

I sniffed back a tear, stepping from the tub. How could I live with myself after a day like today? How could I live with the guilt of putting Nathan through this, not to mention myself? I had to break it off with him; there was no other alternative for both our sakes.
Maybe some ice cream would help cheer me up? Chocolate, yeah that always does the trick before bed
. Then maybe tomorrow I can figure out how to break it off with him as painlessly as possible.

I skidded to a halt at the entrance of the dining room, jumping back, plastered to the wall with a pounding heart. Nathan was standing with his back to me, talking with Miss Torri. My eyes swept the ceiling, wide and frantic with fear. The thought of facing him right now, with the memory of what I’d done so fresh in my mind, was the most terrifying thing I’d ever experienced. I turned, running down the hall like a frightened rabbit back to the safety of my burrow, turning out the lights, and throwing myself in bed. Maybe if he thought I was asleep, he’d go away.

Five minutes later there was a knock at my door. I tensed, throwing the covers over my head. It had to be Nathan; no one else would have given the first thought to knocking first. I feigned sleep when the door opened. The crashing silence was broken only by the sound of my racing pulse.

“Margo, are you awake?” I stared silently at the darkened wall.
Please, just go away.

“Margo?” His voice grew soft and hesitant, with a hint of disappointment behind it. I could tell he was turning to leave.

“Yes, Sir, I’m awake.”

“Good, I…ah…didn’t wake you, did I?”

“No sir, I was just resting.” He was silent again for several long and painful heartbeats.

“Why don’t you head down to the fitter; there’s still time for some training tonight. I’ll meet you outside.”

“Yes, Sir,” I sniffed lightly, pushing the covers off. Nathan was standing awkwardly in the doorway, staring at me with cheerless eyes that should have held nothing but scorn and disgust.
He knows…
I wonder what he thinks of me now.

It was getting dark by the time Nathan led me around the outskirts of the ranch looking for a suitable place that wasn’t under surveillance where we could talk in private, or so I hoped. Nathan had been eerily quiet the whole while, matching my subdued mood. Despite my weariness, I was jittery, scared as hell. Would I have the courage to actually lie to his face and tell him I didn’t love him, and that it was over? Maybe I would get lucky and he would be mad at me, making the break up all the easier? I prayed that he would be.
Forgive me, please?
I was starting to sound like a broken record, and a hypocrite to boot.

I increased my speed to that of a fast jog, trying to stretch out the stiff and tired muscles of my legs, as we delved deeper into the darkened jungle. All it did was irritate the burning itch in my groin; the leather strap from my harness, which I normally found pleasure in, was rubbing mercilessly into the protesting folds of my inflamed, oversexed pussy. Thankfully, Nathan finally signaled me to stop, climbing out of the saddle.

“That asshole, I didn’t even need to go into town today. We have plenty of supplies on hand.” I could only assume he was talking about the Master.

“He doesn’t like you much, does he, Nathan?”

“That’s an understatement,” he coughed with a dark chuckle. “You could say we don’t see eye to eye on a lot of issues. Looks like you’re going to be the next one.” He ran his hands through his hair, while his expression grew harder, if that was even possible.

“Did you know that after the party he had an offer for nearly three-quarters of a million credits for you, and turned it down?” I was speechless. “He plans on keeping you around for a long time; he even paid off your bounty to the Disen brothers. Nothing he can do about the Federation bounty of course, but that doesn’t really matter all the way out here. You have quite a record, Margo. Been a bad girl over the years, haven’t you?”

I stiffened despite the lighthearted change in his voice. It wasn’t a joke. I wasn’t proud of some of the things I had to do in the past.

“I did what I had to do to survive,” my voice was sharp. “I wasn’t born into money like you were.” I immediately regretted saying it, but thankful that I had. I’d already made up my mind how things were going to play out tonight; I was going to break up with Nathan, it was the best for everyone that way. The tense and awkward silence continued to grow around us.

Oh god, I can’t do this!
“Sorry, it’s just…I’m not feeling well right now is all. It’s been a rough day…” My voice trailed off weakly.

“It’s okay, ace, like you said you did what you had to do to survive.” I knew his statement had a double meaning; he was referring to today as well. I continued to procrastinate, too afraid and unwilling to follow through with my plan. I knew I could never bring myself to voluntarily break up with him under false pretenses. Besides, I needed to feel loved more than ever right now. Instead, I filled him in on everything Cirus and I talked about. He didn’t ask how I’d gotten the information.

“I’ve always suspected some of the staff members were spying for Michael, but I never considered that Cirus was in on it. I’ll remember that in the future, thanks hon.”

I looked away, hiding my face, shuffling on nervous feet. It was the first time Nathan had ever used an affectionate, pet name with me before, and it made a swarm of giddiness explode in my stomach.
Why did you have to be so damn perfect, Nathan?

“It
makes
sense for Michael to let the two of them be together so she leaves him alone, so why the reward and punishment tactics? Forcing him into having sex with the other ponies?” I didn’t have an answer for him.

Something else had been eating at me, the way Cirus had acted when we were together and what he had said about ‘needing’ to have sex all the time, not wanting but needing it, unable to control himself. I started to wonder about our biweekly injections, not to mention what they shot us up with this morning. Cirus had been a rampaging bull afterwards, worse than the other stallions by far. I bounced my suspicions off Nathan.

“Come to think of it, I have noticed a change in Cirus recently. Michael has something in the works, I’d bet on it. I’ll check into it tomorrow, see exactly what Cirus is getting. Maybe someone has been tampering with his injections?” I really wasn’t listening to him anymore. I had a more pressing concern brewing beneath the surface.

“Nathan?”

“Huh?”

“Does it bother you I’m a pony now, I mean, look at me? I have a tail and ears and I’m as white as a ghost! On top of that the Master treats me like his personal whipping post and all the stallions get to take a chunk out of me at breeding time. It makes me feel so…so cheap.” My voice had turned shrill by the time I finished, caught up in my own self-pity. Nathan’s arm went around me, and he cupped my chin, lifting it gently.
Please Nathan, don’t look at me.

“You’re a slave, at least for now, and neither one of us likes it. I know you don’t have a choice in all this, but you either obey or get punished, those are your only two options at the moment. Just knowing that you love me is enough for now.”

I wanted to say something, anything. I wanted to say I was sorry for not talking to him sooner, back when we were in Fleet together. I wanted to say I was sorry for not being stronger, unable to resist the power that takes control of my mind and body with the touch of a button, when all I wanted was to be with him. I felt sorry for a lot of things that were beyond my control, wishing my entire life had been different.

“As for being a pony, I guess I’m just used to it by now. It doesn’t bother me one bit, Margo. You can’t help what they’ve done to you and if that means you have to be a pony then I can accept that. You can always have reversal surgery, you know, when we make it out of here?”
When we get out of here.
He was already making plans for us being together some day. “Didn’t you say you enjoyed being my pony though?”

I buried my face in his chest, somewhat ashamed by my unnatural craving, but more so, to inhale his scent more deeply. I felt a stirring between my legs, despite the soreness; I wanted him. I knew Nathan would be gentle with me, he always was.

“You can ride me whenever and however you like, Sir.” I couldn’t voice my desires much more obviously than that, unless I flopped down on the ground and spread my legs for him.

“Not now, hon, I want to, but it’s getting late. We need to head back. We always have tomorrow, right? You know, I think your training may take much longer than I’d originally thought. You’re turning out to be an unruly pony; I think I’m going to have to train you much harder in the future.”

I gave him my best impression of a dejected frown, but I knew he was right. We needed to get back before people started asking questions that Nathan couldn’t answer.

“I just wish I could take this thing out of my head. I wish they’d never removed the anti-tampering software from my processor.” I closed my eyes holding him tightly, turning to mush in his arms the way I always did. How could I have ever conceived the notion of pushing him away from me?

“You know that’s impossible, you received the same briefing I did when we left Fleet.” His voice soft and compassionate, comforting me in a way that only he was capable of. “The micro-receptor and leads are imbedded too far in your cerebral cortex and spinal cord. If it didn’t kill you taking it out, you run the risk of being paralyzed, or ending up like Donna. You can’t forget about the rest of your hardware either. You could go into anaphylactic shock, or reject them altogether? I’ve seen some classified data on this, and the survival rate is only 10 percent after one year or more of augmentation removal, and of that, only 25% were able to lead normal lives afterwards. It’s not worth the risk. We’ll have to find another way.”

“I know, love, I know. It’s just a dream I have.”

“Tell you the truth; I’m surprised someone was able to do this to you at all. Whoever it was knew their shit. I don’t think a situation like this crossed the Admiralties mind when they discharged us. It’s just too farfetched.” Yeah, that would be just my luck. I get captured by someone that was on the design team, and knew exactly how to break inside my head and tamper with the programming on my processor.

“Come on, let’s get you back to your stall. I think a good night’s rest is just what you need right now.”

There was still one other thing that I was debating whether or not to bring up before we reentered the sensor net again, the strange series of events the other day with Donna and how weird she’d acted. I was still worried about her and what she’d said about Michael and the implied abuse still going on. I know that if I told Nathan about it, the shit would really hit the fan. No, I think I’ll just keep quiet and see what happens, figure a few more things out before opening up a whole new slew of problems to deal with.

We began walking back to the ranch hand in hand, and only made it 100 feet or so. A faint rustle from the jungle was the only warning I had that I was about to die, barely catching a glimpse of the lightning-quick creature on six legs leaping at us through the scattered moonlight.

Nathan reacted instantly, almost as if prepared for the coming attack, moving much quicker than I would have thought possible. The creature gave a high pitched snarl when Nathan caught it in mid-jump, using its own momentum to send the hairy monster flying back into the jungle, some thirty feet behind him. It was large, maybe three or four hundred pounds I thought, backing away as if trapped in molasses, tripping over my boots, falling on my ass. Nathan shouldn’t have been able to do that; even I wouldn’t have been able to deflect an attack like that, not with that much speed and weight coming at me.

Two more creatures followed immediately behind the first with unnatural speed. They were savage, ugly looking mothers, with broad heads and a scrunched-up face reminiscent of a pug cat. And just like a cat, they had a mouth full of dagger like teeth, and wicked claws to match. Another went for Nathan and he gracefully sidestepped it, wrapping his arm around the creature’s broad neck, snapping it like a twig. I froze in fear, when my back encountered the tree behind me.

I kicked out at the last second, landing a heavy blow to the creature’s face. My desperate maneuver was rewarded with a sickening crunch, and the warm splatter of blood on my leg. It gave a frightening howl of pain, shaking its head with a frothing snarl. My jaw dropped when Nathan took hold of its thick stubby tail yanking it away from me. It was almost effortless the way he slammed his open palm down in the middle of its back, breaking it with a loud snap. The creature gave a final twitching shudder, rolling limply to the jungle floor. Nathan was hurt though; he had a patchwork of long, ugly looking gashes crossing his chest and another that had opened up his left arm from shoulder to elbow.

Nathan was ready in an instant, seemingly oblivious to his grizzly looking wounds. His stun baton was in hand as he faced down the last creature that he’d thrown into the jungle earlier. They circled one another slowly, two predators seeking a weakness in the other, waiting for the opportune time to strike.

The creature snarled, coming at him with jaws wide. Nathan landed a heavy blow with the stunner across its face before spinning behind it. As the creature passed him by, he drove the stunner at least six inches into the creature’s neck. Flashes of blue-white energy sparked from its body, fur smoking, while it thrashed wildly on the ground, screaming inhumanely, shaking the air around us. Its movements began to weaken, then stop altogether from the overload of uncontrolled energy surging through it.

“Are you alright, are you wounded?” I was in shock, it had all happened so fast. All I could do was nod back at Nathan’s torn, blood soaked body.

“Central this is Burke, over!”

“This is central control, send it.”

“Karman, get a security and maintenance team out to area 5 ASAP,” he spoke into his wrist comp rapidly. “Use my beacon to home in on. We have a perimeter breach and a small pack of Jak’cur made it through. I’ll stand by here until the team arrives, over.” A few seconds passed until the female voice answered him.

“Roger, Nathan, the reaction force is en route. Do you require medics on site, over?”

“Negative, just get that damn team out here and let Harry know what’s going on. I’m not sure how long the sensor grid has been down; we may have hostiles inside the perimeter. I recommend a lock down and full alert until the ranch is secured, over.”

I started to shake while listening to Nathan rattle off commands that I thought never to hear again. It was just like Oasis all over again. A group of rebel colonists had infiltrated our forward tactical landing grid one night nearly killing the entire squadron. That had been my first and only time I’d ever killed a man, face to face.

“Harry is right here and concurs with your assessment.” The blaring sound of warning sirens around the ranch grounds slowly grew to spine tingling intensity. “ETA on the reaction team is five minutes, Nathan, just sit tight, over.”

“Wilco, Burke out.”

Nathan was at my side helping me unsteadily to my feet. “Are you sure, you’re alright?” I nodded again, looking him over more closely.

“Nathan, you have to get to the medics, you’re bleeding!” I reached out touching the deep wound in his chest, amazed that he was still on his feet at all.

“I’m fine,” he panted while scanning the jungle with sharp eyes. “I’ve told Michael he needs to upgrade the perimeter fence, but that shithead would rather spend the money on booze and parties instead.”

My fingers came in contact with something synthetic while he spoke. It was something hundreds of times harder than bone.
Armor laminate... oh my god…
It suddenly came to me how he’d managed to kill those creatures so quickly, so easily. I hadn’t seen a person move that fast since… No normal person, even armed, would have stood a chance against a close-quarters ambush by those creatures. Not even someone partially augmented like myself.

“Nathan, you’re still fully augmented, aren’t you?”

He looked at me oddly for a moment, shrugging sheepishly. “Yes, I am.”

“But how? Fleet should have removed your combat enhancement package; taken the hardware out.” I looked at him in a new light now. I had seen the ground troops in action before and what they could do. I’d just received a crash-course in remembrance a few minutes ago, and that was only a minor display of his hidden power. “Everything, even the self-destruct?” My voice shook, afraid of hearing his answer.

“Yeah, that too.”

Shit, he still had the pinpoint-size containment cell of depleted anti-matter implanted in his chest? That could level everything within a square mile of ground zero, namely himself. Now
that
scared me. That was one thing I’d been more than happy to part with; I’d always been afraid I would set mine off on accident, which was virtually impossible by the way, but still… Having the option of SD’ing still beat the hell out of the alternative, which was capture by the Seth. Being devoured slowly while still alive by insect like omnivores that resembled giant praying mantises was not my idea of a good time.

“I had friends, important friends. Information gets lost, things pushed into hidden files; it’s easy to become lost in a bureaucracy of red tape if you know how to do it, especially when it comes to Fleet.”

The worst of his bleeding had already stopped; the permanent hosts of nanites in his body were already hard at work repairing the damage. In a matter of a few hours there would be nothing left of his wounds but very faint scars and the fading memory of what had happened.

Nathan wasn’t even feeling his wounds at the moment; his microprocessor had blocked off those nerve endings until the nanites repaired the tissue surrounding them. If I were to guess, he’d also received a healthy dose of antibiotics and hunter cells as well. The auto-dispenser implanted near his spine scavenged waste material in his body producing the H-cells on a regular basis where they waited until needed. Anything the hunter cells weren’t programmed to recognize as friendly to his body such as bacteria, viruses, poison, or toxins were savagely eliminated. Anything that did happen to get by them would eventually be caught and removed by the bio-toxic filters in his liver, kidneys and lungs. The entire system was designed to make a soldier as self-sufficient as possible, increasing survivability in any type of harsh and brutal environment.

My fingernail touched the armor laminate plating covering his ribs again, making a soft clinking noise. I swore I could feel the flesh mending over it already.

“Does…?”

“No one else knows, Margo, no one but you.”

I was numb just thinking about it. I didn’t know the limits of his augmented strength and agility, or the capability of all his enhancements for that matter. That information was classified with a need to know basis, but I did know that the basic ground forces package was more than what mine was before I was downgraded. Nathan had been an officer, which meant a special combat package, containing gadgets and gizmos that I could only speculate about. After watching a small display of what Nathan was capable of, in what would be termed a normal civilian setting, I understood why Fleet had removed most of it from the few of us still alive after the cease-fire.
A wolf among sheep…

“Are you sure, you’re okay? You don’t look well.”

“I’m fine, just a bit dizzy is all.” Dizzy was an understatement.

“Here, sit down and wait for the security team to show up. I’ll keep an eye out, the sensors and fence are still down and there are a lot things in the jungle more deadly than Jak’cur.”

Nathan looked nervous while he scanned the dark and suddenly foreboding jungle. He’d once said that no one has Slave World. Now I understood why. Even with my enhanced reactions I’d stood frozen before the creatures feeling slow and awkward compared to them. The image of a tropical paradise I’d originally thought this place to be disappeared in an instant. If Nathan was nervous, then I had every reason to be terrified.

Much to my relief, nothing else did come out of the jungle before the heavily armed, ten-man security team arrived in hover jeeps. Nathan eagerly accepted the bulky, 5mm gauss rifle and combat harness offered to him by one of the men. I thought we were going to take a jeep back, but Nathan wanted to go on foot; it was safer this way he said. I didn’t understand his reasoning, because all I wanted was to get back to the stables as quickly as possible.

It was an agonizingly slow journey, while Nathan prowled the night like a deadly apparition. I trailed slightly behind him, watching his hand gestures closely.

Halt.

Move out.

Halt.

Danger!

Move out. This is how we made our way back to the main ranch – silently , always on edge. It was a nerve-racking experience for me, but Nathan seemed to revel in it. His movements were graceful and deadly, he was a weapon himself now, a thing created for one purpose. He seemed more alive than ever in an environment where he was the master without question, head slowly moving from side to side, searching, and scanning. He was actually hunting for anything else that may have slipped through the fence.

When we finally arrived at the ranch proper, it reminded me of an ant’s nest that had been kicked over. It was brightly lit now with groups of guards scouring the grounds with some sort of creatures on invisible leashes that reminded me of large, deadly looking dogs.

We reached the stables none too soon for me. Nathan might enjoy skulking around in the dark, hunting or possibly being hunted for all I knew, but it wasn’t for me. All I could think about was getting back inside, safe and sound with the other ponies. Strange… I’d never been much of a ground-pounder in the past, but I’ve never felt like helpless prey before either.