NASTRAGULL: Pirates (30 page)

A strong arm pulled her up, and she found herself staring into an ugly non-Oman face, a female of some sort by the cast of its features; its grating laughter made the little girl cry even harder, and again she screamed for her mother to help her.

She couldn't see her siblings anymore, but she could hear their laughter in the far distance. She was running for her life again, as some slavering, monstrous creature loped along behind her. She was too afraid to look behind her to see what it was, but she could feel its heavy breathing on the back of her neck.

The little girl tried to run, but her legs wouldn't move.

There were shouts and screams, and something hurt. She woke up and looked into the horrible female face, which whispered threateningly, "Will you obey or not? Now tell me your new name, and what you must say!"

The little girl was sitting in a horrible device with her hands and feet stretched out in front of her, clamped between two awful bars, and she couldn't move. She cried for her mother and father, and tears streamed down her face. When she realized that she couldn't remember her parents' names or what they looked like, she began to cry even harder.

The ugly woman nodded, and another being with a grotesque smile did something unspeakable that made the little girl scream in pain. The ugly woman repeated what she had said before, and again the little girl screamed for help.

Her siblings stood in a circle and pointed down at her as they laughed and kicked. The smiling man used a thin cane on the soles of the little girl's bare and vulnerable feet, causing her unbearable anguish. At each lash, the little girl screamed out in horror and pain for her mother to help her, and her voice became ragged and started to fail, even as her siblings´ laughter increased.

There was more macabre laughter, and then everything turned black.

Alexa woke up screaming for her mother, her feet a throbbing mass of pain. As her vision cleared, she saw the cane from her nightmare, rising and falling, repeatedly lashing down on her tender soles. She was stuck in a slave block much like the one her knight in shining armor had suffered through for those five weeks. She stared in disbelief at the torture device; she couldn't see her hands and feet, but she knew that her giggling tormentor could, and could do just about anything to her that he wanted. She screamed and screamed—not from the pain, she could handle that, but from an outraged sense of injustice, and from the fate she knew she would soon suffer.

Hughes leaned over her as closely as he dared. "Wake up, little tramp. It's time to get up."

He chortled when he saw Alexa's expression, and laughed harder as he stepped back and lashed her feet again. It hurt like nothing had hurt since—

She pushed that thought away and bit down hard on her lower lip, doing everything she could to keep from screaming; but after a few hard strokes from Hughes, she gave in and began shouting out her pain. Hughes leered sadistically as he kept hitting her, harder and harder, drooling in ecstasy. Hughes was in his element, his personal paradise. It wasn't the torture that fed his delirium, Alexa realized; it was just that he was in control over someone else's destiny. No doubt it was all the sweeter because it was she whom he was controlling, a person who had previously been inviolate.

His next stroke was a little high, striking her on the toes; a half-second later something wet and hard landed on her bare chest. She glanced down, and saw that it was the nail from one of her big toes. The excruciating pain that hit immediately thereafter told her it was from the one on her left foot. Hughes smirked and lifted the cane for his next blow—and was suddenly yanked into the air by the collar of his jacket and tossed across the cargo hold.

"Do you have a death wish, you little shit?" Zuzack roared. "Do you
want
me to skin you alive?" 

Hughes struggled to his feet and tossed the cane aside. "Erm, Captain, I was only waking her up. Perhaps I got a bit...overzealous. The transport that will take her away will be arriving in the morning, and..."

"Be silent. If you hadn't been so damned loyal during the mutiny I'd have sold you too, idiot, given all the trouble you've caused lately. Get Doc down here to fix this mess up."

Hughes scurried away, his face a mask of fear.

Zuzack walked up to Alexa with a sad and disappointed expression on his horribly-scarred face. He looked at her injured feet and nodded, then grabbed her hair and jerked her head back, staring at her with emotionless eyes. "So that there are no mistakes between us, I want you to know that you are
not
going to the Gormé. I have something better planned."

Alexa glared at him with defiant contempt and spat, "I'd rather be eaten alive than be your whore. I will welcome death."

That got to him, at least a bit; he looked upset for a moment, then threw his head back and laughed. "Oh, my dear, who said anything about death? You will be eaten all right, fear not; and you will be alive while they do it, but... well, let me say this. As a child, I'm sure you heard tales about the infamous Sun Shadow, otherwise known as the Black Lady? Of course you have; who hasn't? She's infamous for her artistic creations.

"No, no, my dear, I'm not speaking of the old horror stories that parents tell their children to make them eat up their suppers...but believe me, for what it's worth, she
does
really exist, and soon you will meet her. So who said anything about
death
? The Black Lady doesn't waste her property that way." Zuzack laughed at Alexa's puzzled look. "Hell, I might just buy some of her artwork. Now, that's irony for you. I would probably have to pay a hundred times more for you as "art" than she'll buy you for as raw material for her next dinner party...or should I call it 'art class'?" Zuzack guffawed, clutching his stomach as his eyes filled with tears of mirth. He only laughed the harder when they started squirting in all directions out of his damaged tear ducts.

Alexa couldn't ignore the pain caused by her uncomfortable position and the beating, but that didn't stop her from laughing herself at the sight. Immediately, Zuzack stopped laughing, and glared at her with an expression much like that of a wounded dog. Then his features twisted in rage, and he step forward, his hands clutching at her throat.

"Go ahead,
Father
!" Alexa sneered. "I told you the truth about what happened back in that corridor, but as usual you'd rather believe that that little rat Hughes—even though he'd stab you in the back in an instant if he thought he could get away with it. I have nothing left to live for, so go ahead, do your worst."

"If you kill her, we might have another mutiny on our hands," the Doctor warned from behind him, "considering what she's worth."

Zuzack glared at Alexa, his eyes narrowed, and turned to face the Doc and Hughes. He took the cane from Hughes and turned towards Alexa; then, with lightning speed, struck one final, brutal blow on her soles. The cane broke. Alexa emitted a short scream before she passed out.

Zuzack handed what was left of the cane to Hughes, who stared at the fragment of supposedly unbreakable granitewood in disbelief. "You may heal her now, Doctor," the Captain said. "Hughes, my fine little rat bastard, you're coming with me. Oh, and Doctor, don't waste any pain medication on her."

The next time Alexa awoke, it was from a dreamless pit of unconsciousness, and her rude awakening was an electric shock. She jerked her head up and leaned back on one of the crossbeams of the slave block, holding back her tears while trying to get comfortable. She had once promised herself that she would never, ever end up in one of these horrible devices again; but here she was, just ten years after making that commitment to herself. Well, she thought it was ten years; she wasn't sure exactly how long it had been since her siblings had sold her. For months after that, though, she had been stuck in one of these horrible devices, forced to learn several new languages and never given any respite except when she was being "tutored in pleasure techniques"—a euphemism for rape, until she gave up and learned to accept it. And after all that "schooling," she never even got sold. Instead, Zuzack's pirates had attacked her owners, kidnapping her and many others; and for some reason, they decided to keep her, while some of her compatriots were sold again...or suffered worse fates. 

She frowned at the thought that according to intergalactic law, she was actually considered stolen merchandise that someone, somewhere, still owned. Thinking about that plunged her into a black pit of depression, and she went deep inside herself for a while. When she came to again, she was whispering, "Hear me! Hear me, my love, save me, please save me
              !" Oddly enough, she felt better; not good, that was impossible in her situation, but more serene and willing to wait for him, come what may, until he found her again. That newfound love had awakened something inside her that she thought had died, and made her feel hope like she never had before.

Of course, he was just a dream.

Chapter 19

At that moment, Alexa's dream was enjoying a very exclusive lunch with his new "friends" in a private restaurant on one of the minor New Frontier satellite stations. The entire ceiling of the restaurant consisted of a near-invisible electromagnetic shield; otherwise it was open to space. Alec had received more false smiles from a wider variety of species during this dinner than he had in his entire life before this. After all, the Key Administrators and their associates were all as much politicians as businessmen.

Nikko Behl had refused to dine with them; instead he stood in the background, eyeing the proceedings as he continued to play the bodyguard. As for Tobbis and Zala, both played their roles as the perfect hosts to perfection; and indeed, their actions and conversational tactics were so well-coordinated that they functioned almost like some long-married couple. It was clear that whatever they were, they were used to working very closely.
Wonder how often they've broken their corporate rules for their own personal gain,
Alec thought sardonically.

During their time together so far, Tobbis and Zala had provided Alec with valuable advice about the local trade system, and which traders he should avoid. At first, the latter made Alec somewhat suspicious; but when Zala noticed this, she explained to Alec in a motherly fashion that whatever he traded in, she and her college Tobbis would still get their fair share, as long as the trade was conducted in or near New Frontier. Alec decided not to put too much thought or suspicion into anything they said, because he realized that his limited education in economics only made him more confused after listening to them. Both Zala and Tobbis reminded Alec of his teachers from school; the only difference, of course, being that those instructors were uniformly masters of war. But then again, perhaps the Key Administrators were too, in a way.

The only time Alec was stonewalled was when, near the end of the meal, he enquired about pirate activities in the sector. The smiles dropped away suddenly; Tobbis and Zala began to look uneasy, and after a brief moment of silence both of them realized that lunch had taken up a little too much of their time. In a sudden rush, they excused themselves graciously, and Tobbis said that he hoped to see Alec soon at one of their famous Asteroid games. Alec promised to attend one of the games as soon as he possibly could, and Tobbis, Zala, and their entourages filed out.

Nonplussed, Alec spent a few more minutes on his wine and dessert before tossing aside his napkin and standing up. Gesturing to Behl to follow, he walked to the pay kiosk and discovered that the Administrators had already comped the meal. Shrugging, he and Behl headed toward the shuttle bay, where they caught the express shuttle to New Frontier 16 itself.

As they approached the enormous station, Behl chose that moment to begin going over some points about what they needed to purchase, and when they would meet with the owners of the frigate they had been admiring earlier. Alec didn't listen; he was taken aback by the sheer size of the central station, which he was peering at through the viewport in frank astonishment. From a distance, of course, it looked big—but not as enormous as it seemed now that they were right next to it. When Alec realized its tremendous size, he could do nothing but stare.

The shuttle soon slid into a massive docking bay, and eased itself down onto a docking shelf set aside for VIPs. As they left their seats, Behl looked at Alec and said, "All right, Your Highness, snap out of it. What are your plans now?"

Alec was at first taken a bit aback by the comment; then he noticed Behl's mischievous smile and made a typical royal gesture and replied, "All in good time, thou good and faithful servant, all in good time."

They laughed and stepped out of the shuttle into a wonderland of ships that made the grand
Nastasturus naval shipyards on Tnegral seem puny. What Alec saw amazed him. The very chamber they were in was larger than many moons, and it was literally jammed with hundreds of spacecraft, some in motion, many docked. He saw everything from one-man jitneys, consisting of little more than an open framework and operated by space-suited figures, to Galaxy-class colony ships bigger than cities. He'd been on large vessels ranging in size from heavy scouts to passenger liners like the
Bright Star
to enormous Omega Cruisers—but of course he'd never stepped foot in one of these notorious trade stations, which dwarfed them all by several orders of magnitude. So flabbergasted was he that he stood rooted to the spot, and failed to notice as Behl walked away, still talking. He came to himself when the exasperated man called. "Alec...Alec! Your Highness! Are you listening?" Alec gathered himself and hurried to Behl's side. The old Captain seemed to ignore the wondrous sight spread out before them. No doubt he was accustomed to such things.