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Pieter bends to look me in the eyes as he straightens my collar.
"This client is an important person," he says. "He wants to be happy. We want him to be happy. When he is happy, he gives the ship money for food. You want your team to eat, right?"
I nod. My fingers are numb, and I can barely move I'm so afraid.
He pats my head lightly and moves on to the girl standing next to me.
I'm supposed to go out on the docks tonight on a new task. I don't know what to expect. I know it's not good. I've heard children from the older teams talk during shower time. What they say sounds nasty. It sounds wrong. But I have no choice. I have been warned; I must cooperate and make this client happy to pay for the food the children in my charge eat. A few weeks ago, a girl down the corridor, Anna, refused something a client requested. When they brought her back to the ship, she was disciplined with the lash and her team got rations of bread and water once a day, for five days. We heard the younger children crying when we passed their door on the way to the toilets. Mandy and Appa looked up at me with fear in their eyes and asked me what the girl had done wrong. I could not explain it to them because I did not know.
I will find out tonight.
I don't want them to feel hunger, but I am so afraid, and I cannot promise them they will have food tomorrow.
I will try my best. I don't want Anthy to be hungry.
***
SHIT. I PUSHED UP FROM my face down position on the cot and glanced around.
I had been out on the Moneyworld less than seventy-two hours and I was looking at my fourth lockup. That had to claim some kind of bragging rights, if I ever got off this ball to talk about it.
This cell was ceramic-barred like the last one and one of a pair taking up the back wall of a plain, white room. A small table and some chairs sat against the far wall outside the bars, next to a low cabinet topped with what I assumed was a food preparation station. All were Tabi/Human scale. A good sign.
I could see Saurubi sleeping in the other cell.
The personal chrono in my head told me six hours had passed since I last checked it down in the Cheel's lair. The torture device my hosts called armor was mercifully gone, leaving me in the natural state of my cobalt blue shipskins. A tray of food and some water containers sat inside my cell. Wincing in pain at my abused muscles, I gathered the bottles and flushed my body with as much liquid as I could drink, trying to wash out the little green Cheel things. Then I ate some flavorless crackers smeared with a pale, bland paste to revive my energy and used the cell's tiny biocenter to clean my exposed skin and the surface of my shipskins thoroughly. After that, I pulled the filters in my left heel, something I had severely neglected over the past few days, and washed the collected debris of skin cells and waste down the recycler. It only occurred to me after the powder vanished that I'd put Human DNA into the city's waste disposal system. Damn.
Surely, in a city of more than fifty million souls, Endar security sensors weren't that sensitive!
Accepting my reasoning, I moved to the bars and stared at Saura's unconscious form. After a minute, I spotted discreet patches on her wrists, ankles, temple, and throat. She'd received medical care. The realization eased some of my fear; it didn't make sense for the Tabisee to patch her up then send her to her death, even if Humans did that all the time.
Settling on my cot, I gazed at the gray cell bars. I should have been plotting a grand escape. Getting out of this cell, snatching Saura, and taking her out into the city of T'lek T'la to help me find the kid, then cleverly hiding us away until the Human trade envoy arrived. I could contact someone in the entourage and get us all smuggled off this world. The kid had survived over ninety days; we could do it too. Afterward, we could find the kid a good home, maybe with my foster parents. Then Saura and I would track down Thok and His Pink Frilliness, demand recompense, get my wetware back, and reclaim the Hand.
Four hours later the sound of a tray sliding on the floor woke me. Meeroush had cleared and replaced mine and was moving on to Saura. I watched him walk over to check her vital signs.
"How is she?" I asked. The tray sitting inside her cell door was heavy on fluids.
He straightened. "She'll be up and moving about soon."
"Good." My heart twisted with the thought of losing her, but they had to get her off this world to cover Mathet's story to the High Jerak. She would face consequences for her errant six-year overstay in Human space, but she would be okay.
"Good," I repeated. I should be glad. Glad, yes. Happy, no. I didn't have to be happy. I looked at her outstretched body. "I know you don't think I deserve it, but may I ask one favor?"
His ears tipped with curiosity.
"Before she leaves can I have a minute to talk with her?"
"I can't promise. We have no control over the situation."
"Please ask."
"I'll see." He continued to study me. "How long have you traveled with First Astrogator Cerros Syrhas?"
"We served five years together in Earth Alliance Space Marines and six years as partners on our cargo hauler, the Thief's Hand. Now our ship's out on the edge of Union space." I met Meeroush's amber eyes. His ears were perched in interest. "That's where we found the kid. Out there." Found. I nearly died pulling her out of the airlock, then defending us from the ghost ship attackers, but I could not claim I rescued her. The Ritto-ssa had done that. For the betterment or detriment of us all.
"Eleven Human years. It is a long time."
"She's a badass marine." The thought made me smile.
He looked over at me, not understanding.
"Impressive. She's an impressive lady."
"As are all Tabi females," he nodded.
Right on cue, Shoff pushed through the door. She gave Meeroush an impatient glance and thumped two disposable sacks on the counter. He tipped a 'like I was saying' look at me and moved to join her as she pulled packets from the bags. An amazing aroma filled the space.
"You get fast food here?" I exclaimed in disbelief.
"Cannot eat that," Shoff gestured at the tray inside my cell.
Well, yeah, the food was mundane. I pretended their aroma came from my tray as I picked at its contents and waited for them to finish eating. When they started gathering up their debris I took a chance, hoping they were inclined to talk.
"What's going on with the kid? Did you bring her in yet? Can I talk to her?"
Shoff looked at her partner. "We would not hear this one whine from down in the stone cells."
My hairless scalped prickled at the threat. "I have rights, you know." Actually, I probably didn't. "I want to know what's going to happen to us."
Shoff was in my face with a blur of movement, her claw caps hitting the bars right above my grasping hands. "You have caused us enough trouble! Be silent!" Her breath raked my cheek. Her irises were wide and dark with fury. "We only wait for a decision on what to do with you."
She meant how to dispose of me.
Her claw caps were barely five millimeters above the bare skin of my fingers. My knees shook. My mind screamed for me to let go of those bars. Those razor-edged caps might slide down to make a crippling slice across my flesh, but I refused to back down. I was in a weak enough position without ceding respect, too.
She glared. I glared.
Meeroush said something too low for me to understand, and Shoff uncurled her fingers.
Her eyes still locked with mine, she slammed the palms of her hands against the bars.
I flinched. She saw it and her lower lids tightened with satisfaction.
I noticed she had a medical patch under her right eye.
"Idiot Human," she hissed as she dropped her hands and stepped away.
Bitch. My fingers refused to unbend. And, no, I wasn't stupid enough to say it aloud.
"It is undecided." Meeroush pushed the food sacks into a bin while Shoff went to the outer door and stood, arms crossed.
"What's that mean?"
"The ambassador has ordered us to sever all contact with you," Meeroush said after a pause. "We are to dispose of all evidence immediately."
"Me? He wants to dispose of me?" What had Duff said? Compost? I had checked the definition in my chips. I could already feel icy little Cheel roots spreading over the surface of my skin.