The Price of Pleasure (15 page)

At first there was nothing, then an obviously terrified child came running up to the door, pounding on it for entrance. The door opened, and a young woman wearing a dark dress opened it quickly and pulled the child in. She glanced down the hall, then slammed the door shut. After a few seconds another woman, this one older and carrying an infant, came running up. She too was allowed into the apartment, then nothing.

The camera swept back to the corridor, where several men–different than those who had been there before–were setting up benches to form a makeshift barricade. They seemed to be Pilgrims. They shot down around the corner several times, with blaster fire answering them. After a few seconds of intense firing, one was hit and he went down.

Then a second was hit. The final man continued to shoot desperately until his blaster stopped responding. It must have run out of charge, Seth thought grimly. The slaves sensed his weakness and swarmed him in an instant, one of them slitting his throat savagely. The fight appeared to be over.

The camera slowly panned back to the door, which remained shut. Seth and Calvin watched, mesmerized, as one of the bloodied men came up to the door and hammered on it. The man was tall, his bare arms roped with muscles. It was the leader who had lead the charge around the corner earlier. He turned his head, said something to the men behind him, then hit the door with one fist. A weapon came into view, passed to the escaped slave from one of his companions, and he yelled again. Then he stood back, took careful aim and shot at the locking mechanism.

It held out for a minute or two, then exploded in a shower of sparks. The man shoved the door open and stalked into the apartment purposefully. Several men followed him, their mouths open in silent whoops and screeches of victory. After a second the child who had taken shelter in the apartment came running out, chased by two of them. The woman with the baby walked out next, surrounded by several more.

They quickly disappeared from the camera’s view. Then, to Seth’s frustration, the camera’s view swept out into the hallway again, maintaining its steady surveillance schedule, oblivious to the traumatic events it recorded.

Seth and Calvin stared at the empty hallway for a minute or two. Every once in a while someone would come running through–a child, a jubilant slave. One looked like Bragan, although he moved to quickly to tell for sure. There was still no sign of the man who had broken through the door however, or the other woman who had been hiding in the apartment. Finally the camera turned back to the apartment door. Seth sucked his breath in at what he saw next.

The young woman in the dark dress was struggling to escape the man who had blasted his way through the door. She was pressed up against the doorway, pinned by the weight of his large body. One of his hands was twisted into her hair, and he crushed her mouth against his in a brutal kiss. The woman was fighting him with all her might but he was too strong. With a sickening feel in the pit of his stomach, Seth wondered if they were about to witness a rape. It wouldn’t be the first time such a thing had happened in the heat of battle.

The woman flailed against her captor desperately, one hand catching against something tied around his neck. She pulled at it, trying to choke him. Seth held his breath, wondering what she could hope to accomplish; even if she subdued the man, there were fifty more just like him. He already knew how the story ended–the slaves had won. The poor girl didn’t have a chance.

The man lifted his head from hers to wrench whatever she had grasped out of her hand. They fought for possession of it, then it broke and something small and bright came off of it and flew out of the camera’s range. The man looked around for it, but apparently he couldn’t tell where it had gone. The woman, sensing his distraction, chose that moment to try and break free. She kicked him savagely in the groin, and he doubled over in agony. She jerked away from him but was pulled up short by her long hair. A chunk of it was tangled in what was left of the shattered door lock. She pulled at it frantically, but before she freed herself the man had recovered enough to realize his prey was escaping.

He grabbed her arms, savagely twisting them so she couldn’t move. Then he pulled out a homemade knife from his belt, a sharpened piece of metal with fabric wound tightly around one end. He brought it toward the woman’s head, and Seth caught his breath. The man raised the knife and slashed through the chunk of hair holding the woman to the door. She fell forward against him. Dropping the knife, he grasped the back of her head and crushed her mouth to his again.

Once again, the camera moved back to view the corridor. This time it was empty.

Then the man came into view, dragging the woman with him. He searched several minutes for whatever it was that had flown out of his grasp, but the woman struggled against him fiercely. He finally swung her up over his shoulder, her upper body flopping down against his back. She kicked out helplessly and he swatted her butt hard in response. The camera swung away from them as he strode around the corner, his cargo having given up her fight.

As the camera focused once again on the apartment door, a large hand came around in front of it. It grasped the camera, darkening the picture, then the recording ended.

Someone had ripped it away from its power source.

“It makes me sick to think of honest Pilgrim women being touched by scum like that,” Calvin growled into the silence that followed. “Even if we could get them back, they’re no good now. Once a woman’s tainted, she’s ruined for life. It’s a damn shame.”

Seth grunted in response. There was nothing to be said to Calvin’s statement, and the woman’s plight–frozen in time–haunted him. He turned around, surveying the corridor. Something had flown off the man’s necklace, and he wondered what it was.

Probably just some little keepsake, but it would be interesting to know. He appeared to be one of the leaders; any clues Seth could find to his identity would be helpful when he returned to Discovery station.

Simply looking around, Seth found nothing, so he keyed the suit’s scanner to help him. Moving slowly and deliberately, he covered every inch of the corridor, pausing to investigate every anomaly. Unfortunately there were quite a few, as each blaster burn and piece of debris registered separately on the scanner.

“What the hell are you doing that for?” Calvin asked, clearly disgusted. “We should get back to the ship and kill that bastard. Then we need to hunt the rest of ‘em down.

They’re killers, and there’s only one way to deal with killers.”

“Shut up, Calvin,” Seth muttered. The sensor chirped in his headset as it picked up something. It was crystalline in structure. Following the readings, Seth made his way across the corridor. The remains of the small barricade were still there, although they had been torn apart–perhaps the man had come back to find his pendant? Using the sensor as his guide, Seth narrowed in on a broken bench made of hollow plast-crete.

Cheap and easy to form, plast-crete was used in construction throughout the empire. In most cases it was brightly colored or shaped to resemble some other material. This was simply plain without ornamentation.

Using the sensor as his guide, Seth turned the plast-crete bench over. There was a rattle inside. After several tries, he realized he wasn’t going to be able to get it out by simply maneuvering the bench. Calvin, who had come up behind him to watch, spoke.

“Why don’t you just cut the damn thing open?” he asked. “That’s the best bet for getting’ it out.”

For once, Calvin was right. Removing a small laser-cutter from his tool belt, Seth carefully lined the tool up on the bench leg. Making his cut well above the place indicated by the sensor, Seth slowly made the cut. The leg came off easily.

He grasped the newly-freed leg and tilted it. A small, shiny object fell out into the open palm of his glove.

“What is it?” Calvin demanded.

“It’s a holographic pendant,” Seth said, turning the bauble over in his hands. “You know, the kind you can get taken in booths for a half a credit.”

“I ain’t never seen one of them booths,” Calvin admitted slowly. “We don’t hold with that kind of thing.”

“Have you ever been out of the asteroid belt?” Seth asked curiously.

“Nope, and I don’t wanna ever leave, either,” Calvin said harshly. “There ain’t nuthin’ for an honest Pilgrim out there. Me and my family plan to stay put on our rock.”

Seth sighed, wondering briefly what kind of man Calvin might have been if he’d grown up somewhere else, or had access to education. How did a person become so filled with hate?

“How does that thing work, anyway?” Calvin asked, trying not to look too curious.

“Watch,” Seth replied. Gripping the little disk between his thumb and forefinger, he held it up in the air. Then he took a small light from his pouch and aimed it at the disk.

“You shine the light through it, and the hologram will appear right in front of us.”

With a flick of his finger, he turned on the light. The beam hit the disk, and an image of two people took shape in front of them. One was the man who had lost the pendant, although he looked different in the hologram–younger, not as hard. Seth turned his attention to the woman with him, and his heart stopped.

It was Devora, smiling brightly. Her head was tucked snugly against the man’s neck, his arm holding her gently around the shoulders. Both seemed to filled with happiness.

Below, written clearly in the wavy, gimmicky font often used by public holo machines, was “Jess and Calla, Celebration of the Accession of his Imperial Majesty, Belpharian IV.”

The holo was less than two years old. It was as if he’d been kicked in the gut. She’d duped him, been lying to him all along. She
was
the slave, Calla, and she’d used him to escape and look for her husband, the one Jenner had sold.

Calvin cackled into the silence.

“Looks like there’s more going on here than I realized,” he said with evil glee.

Ignoring the man, Seth snapped off the light with tight, controlled movements. He placed the holo-disk into his pouch, then started toward the ship. It was time to ask

“Devora” a few questions.

Chapter 10

“Something’s wrong,” Sarai said quietly. She and Calla were sitting in the cockpit, watching the men approach across the barren landing field. “Look at how Calvin is walking, he’s almost bouncing. He’s happy about something.”

Calla followed Sarai’s pointing finger. Calvin was strutting like he’d discovered gold. Seth walked with strong, deliberate steps beside him. Whatever had Calvin going hadn’t excited him.

“I’ll call Seth on a private channel,” Calla said as the two women watched them approach. “Maybe he can tell us what’s going on.”

She toggled the com switch, then carefully entered the correct transmitter coordinates and hailed Seth as he had shown her. She and Sarai had listened in on Seth and Calvin when they’d first landed, but it had grown tedious after Bragan’s arrival.

Calvin talked enough while he was on the ship; both women treasured their breaks from his noise.

“Seth, do you read me?” she asked. “It’s Devora.”

Seth didn’t reply at first. Then, just as she decided to give it another try, his voice crackled over the speaker.

“Really?” he said tightly. “Because it sounds like Calla.”

The bottom dropped out of her stomach, and her hand wavered over the com switch. Sarai gasped, then reached across to cut off the transmission.

“He found out,” Calla whispered. She looked up at Sarai with a lost look. “How did he find out?”

“I have no idea,” Sarai said in a quavering voice. “But you’re in trouble. He’s angry, and when men get angry they get violent. We’ve got to do something, it may be our last chance.”

“Seth isn’t violent,” Calla said, but her heart sank as she said it. A vision of him slamming his fist through the wall at the hostel raced through her mind. He’d been in battle hundreds of times. He had enforced the occupation with cold calculation, sentencing more than one man to death. He was more than capable of violence…

“What am I going to do, Sarai?” Calla whispered, looking to the woman hopelessly.

“I’ll never be free now.”

Sarai’s face hardened.

“We should leave, like Bragan suggested,” she said after a brief pause. “We should just leave, and never come back. I don’t know how we’ll survive, but we will. I can work hard, and you know all about what it’s like outside the belt.”

Calla bit back a harsh laugh. “Sarai, all I know anything about is being a slave at a Discovery station hostel. Besides, we don’t have any money.”

“If we steal the ship we can sell it,” Sarai replied, somewhat shocked by her own audacity. “This is a valuable ship, and I’m sure we could get enough credits for it to start over somewhere. We could work together, and maybe the kids could go to school.

It would be like a dream come true for both of us, and you know it.”

“What about Calvin and Seth?” Calla asked. “We can’t just leave them here. They’ll die.”

A dark look came over Sarai’s face.

“I don’t care if Calvin dies,” she said bitterly. “I hope he does die. He’s an evil bastard, and I want better for me and the kids. And I don’t care about Seth, either. He hasn’t done a damn thing for us. You’re the only one who seems to care what Calvin does to me.”

It was true, Calla realized. Sarai tried to hide her bruises with her hair and clothing, but she had seen them. Calvin really was evil. But Seth …

“No, I don’t wish harm on Seth,” she said. “I don’t know why he hasn’t done anything about Calvin, but he doesn’t deserve to be left on this asteroid. He’s been good to me. And despite everything, I love him.”

“What’s love?” Sarai asked, gazing at her with haunted eyes. “I don’t see any promises from Seth. At least he was paying you to fuck him, but now he won’t have to. If you’re lucky he’ll keep you for a while. If not, he’ll sell you or turn you back in. That’s all Calvin is doing, too. We’re in the same situation, Calla, whether you like it or not.

We’re both slaves, and we both want to be free.”

“I still don’t like it,” Calla said stubbornly.

“Well, you better make up your mind quick, because they’re coming,” Sarai said.

“You may never get another chance like this one. I know I won’t, and neither will my children.”

Sarai was right, Calla thought. She had known from the start that her relationship with Seth could only be temporary. If she wanted to survive as an escaped slave, she had to be ruthless.

“We could send help for them, couldn’t we?” she said thoughtfully.

“Yes, we could,” Sarai said. “Although I don’t know who we’d send.”

“We could send a message to the Saurellian command on Discovery station,” Calla replied. “Seth is Saurellian.”

Sarai looked startled.

“I didn’t realize they’d look so much like regular people,” she said finally. “I’ve heard they’re monsters.”

“Well, I’m a former slave, and I’m perfectly human,” Calla said. “You Pilgrims have some messed up notions of humanity.”

“It’s hard to know what to believe when you’ve only ever known one way to live,”

Sarai said softly. “Do you understand why I want something different for my children? I don’t want Mali to grow up to be like me, and I certainly don’t want Able to become like Calvin.”

“I can see that,” Calla replied. She didn’t want to leave Seth behind, but it really was the best choice. Jess was beyond her reach now, but at least he was free. It was time to take care of herself, not to mention the children. Sarai was right–they deserved better than a lonely life on an asteroid. “All right, I’ll do it. But we have to leave them some supplies, and we have to send them help.”

“All right,” Sarai said. “What about Bragan?”

“We’ll let him out with the supplies,” Calla said. “I think we’re going to have to use the blaster to control the men. We can try locking them out, but Seth can manually override the doors from the outside. We’ll have to let them on board the ship, then hold them prisoner while we get supplies ready for them. Can you do that?”

“Oh, I can do it,” Sarai said. A fierce light had come into her eyes. For the first time in her life, she was in control and she liked it. “There’s no going back now. I’d rather be dead than back on that asteroid.”

“I’d rather be dead than become a slave again,” Calla replied. “Let’s do it.”

* * * * *

Seth was seething the entire trip back to the ship. Calvin bumped along beside him, chuckling at his situation.

“Women’ll do it every time,” he said with satisfaction. “You can’t trust them bitches.”

“Shut up,” Seth told the man tersely. Once they got back to the ship, Calvin was getting locked up in the cargo hold. Seth had had enough of the him.

When they reached the ship, Seth strode into the airlock and immediately started the cycle that would allow them to enter the ship. Calvin, scuttling along behind him, barely made it through the door before it slammed shut behind them.

“Watch it,” Calvin blustered, “Or I’ll give you something to watch.”

“Are you threatening me?” Seth asked coldly, turning to face the man. His face was black with anger, and Calvin flinched.

“Sorry, no harm meant,” the man muttered, flinching. Seth turned from him in disgust. The airlock finished its cycle and the green light flashed over the door. Seth punched the button to open it, and strode into the room. It was time to confront Calla.

She and Sarai were standing there waiting for them, their faces pale. The children were nowhere to be seen, and for the thousandth time in the past couple of days Seth wished the two of them were alone. Soon he would be rid of Calvin, and Sarai would be resettled. He had hoped he could build a future with Devora–Calla, he corrected himself–but that had been nothing more than a foolish dream. She wasn’t his life mate, and she wasn’t Saurellian. Even if she was, even if he could forgive her for lying to him, she had a husband. The mere thought of her and Jess looking so happy together in the hologram was almost more than he could bear.

“Calla, we need to talk privately,” he gritted out. Just saying her true name was almost too much–he wanted his Devora back. But there never had been a “Devora,” he told himself. All of it was a cold, calculated ploy. He couldn’t forget that.

“I’m so sorry, Seth,” Calla said quietly. She raised her hand slowly, and for the first time he realized she was holding a small blaster. He had never seen the gun before. She gazed steadily at him, her brown eyes unreadable. “But that won’t be possible. I need you to sit down quietly on the floor and place your hands behind your head. You, too, Calvin.”

Seth just stared blankly at her for a minute, confused by her words. Then Sarai spoke.

“Sit down,” she said tightly. She was holding a blaster, too, the one he had left with them to guard the escaped slave. Bragan laughed from his place in the corner, then spoke.

“They’re going to escape,” the man said in a high-pitched voice. “They’re going to escape and you’re going to die!”

Seth looked at Calla in confusion, unable to believe the man’s words. Would she really kill him? She blinked rapidly, eyes filling with tears. Her hand remained steady, however. The cold barrel was aimed directly at his heart.

“You’re not going to get hurt as long as you do what you’re told,” Calla said quietly. “I don’t want to do this, but I don’t have a choice. Sarai and I need to get away, and we need your ship to do it. If you do what we say, we’ll leave you here with enough supplies to last until help arrives. We’ll send word to the Saurellian command that you’re here. You’ll be fine.”

Seth peered into her eyes, looking for some sign of softness. All he saw was determination, though. His soft little Devora had become hard, unrecognizable.

“We’d better do what they say,” he told Calvin, then started sinking toward the floor. Calvin had a different idea.

“Put down that blaster right now you stupid bitch,” he growled, and started moving toward Sarai. Seth could see the woman was terrified of him, but she held her ground.

Calla’s eyes darted between the two men, and her hand wavered.

“Calvin, I’m not going to live like this any more,” Sarai said softly. Her face was pale and her lips trembled. Her grip on the blaster, however, remained firm. “You have to sit down over there or I’m going to shoot you.”

“You aren’t strong enough to shoot me,” Calvin said. “Now shut up and put the damn gun down.”

“I can’t do that,” Sarai said. Calvin gave a snort of disgust and launched himself at her. Calla shrieked as the large man came flying toward them, but Sarai didn’t even flinch. She simply took aim and pulled the trigger on the blaster, sending a bolt of energy right into Calvin’s chest. A look of surprised shock came over his face, and he stumbled to the ground before slumping over. Then he was still.

“I think you killed him,” Calla whispered in horror. “I think he’s dead.”

“I had to do it,” Sarai replied. Tears were running down her face, but she still held the blaster steady. “I had to do it for me and for the children. I couldn’t let him take us back.”

“I can see that,” Calla replied. She paused to catch her breath, unsure of what to do next.

“Watch out!” Bragan shouted, and both women looked up. Seth had taken advantage of their distraction to start raising himself from the floor. Calla fumbled for her weapon, panicked.

“Get back down there,” Sarai snarled, catching all of them off guard with her ferocity. “You stay on the floor or I’ll shoot you, too.”

Calla felt sick to her stomach–she hated this violence, and Sarai seemed to have become another person entirely. The woman’s expression was feral, and Calla had no doubt she’d be ready and willing to kill Seth if he tried anything. The thought of Seth dying made her breath catch; she had to do something to protect him.

“All right,” she said, trying to bring everyone’s tension level down a notch. Her own gun was lowered–she knew she’d never be able to harm Seth. Sarai might, though. It was up to her to get them all out of this alive. “Sarai, we just need to get some supplies together. Seth, we’ll be leaving you and Bragan with enough food and water to last until someone gets here to rescue you. Who do you want us to call?”

Seth glared at her coldly for several minutes, refusing to answer. She’d never seen him so angry.

“Well, just think about it,” Calla finally said. “Sarai, you keep your blaster on him.

I’ll get his things together.”

Walking quickly through to the sleeping room, she grabbed a carryall from the storage closet. Mali and Able were watching her with wide eyes. Suddenly realizing their father had just died, Calla paused in her motions.

“You need to stay in here no matter what you hear, all right?” she said. “You’re being very good children, and your mother and I will explain everything to you as soon as we’re done. Are you going to be okay in here?”

“Yes,” Able said, putting a protective arm around Mali. “Did something bad happen to papa?”

Calla hesitated, then decided to tell them the truth.

“Yes, something did happen to your papa,” she said slowly. “There was an accident, and he’s dead.”

Mali snuffled softly against Able’s shoulder, and the little boy’s face paled.

“I’ll take care of Mali,” he said, steeling his shoulders. “You take care of mama.”

“You’re being very brave,” Calla said, tears welling up in her eyes. “I know your mama will be proud of you.”

Able rubbed Mali’s head with one small hand, comforting the little girl. His eyes followed Calla’s movements as she started stuffing the bag with clothing and blankets.

“Are you making Seth leave?” he finally asked.

“Yes, I am,” Calla said.

“Maybe he wants his pictures,” Able said after a minute. “Those kids look really happy. If I was him, I’d want them pictures.”

The boy was right, Calla thought. She should pack Seth’s pictures for him. She walked quickly around the room, pulling Seth’s pictures off the wall as she went. When she had them all, she wrapped them carefully in a small plastic sheet and tucked them in the side of the carryall. Then, wondering if she was crazy, she tucked the small blaster into the pocket with the pictures. He wouldn’t find it right away, she told herself, but he might need it to survive. Able’s eyes widened as he watched, but the boy said nothing.