Chapter Four

“I hear you’re sleeping with the dregs.” Peterson sat opposite her in the mess.

Sienna would’ve liked to ignore him. Maybe pulling Alex aside hadn’t been such a great idea, but she’d wanted him, and knew the positives far outweighed the negatives.

“So are you.”

“But you’re a girl. You’re a limited commodity.”

Sienna put down her spoon. The nutritionally balanced porridge-like concoction splashed onto the table. “I’m a woman, and I’m not a commodity. I’m a person and I can fuck whoever I want. Just like the rest of you.”

“Yeah, but … at Unity …” He tapered off as she glared at him. She was pretty sure he was one of Lieutenant Zane’s cronies—well, maybe more lackey than crony, since he was a lowly corporal like her.

“At Unity what? I’m not a breeding cow.” She stood up, sick to the pit of her stomach. When the birth control ran out, she’d be expected to settle down and have kids. She certainly didn’t want them with a man who assumed that would be her only role on Solitaire. “But you are a pig.” She picked up her breakfast and ate the rest as she walked to the scullery to ditch her used bowl and spoon.

She knew her roommate was sleeping with an Air Force guy and some of the other enlisted women were dating guys even though they weren’t supposed to be. The organizers of this trip hadn’t thought things through if they expected no frat in the military and yet at the same time still expected all the women to partner up, marry and have babies.

Perhaps she should’ve made more of an effort to check out the civilians, but she rarely saw any—Zane had made sure of that. That was fine with her. She’d play the hand she’d been dealt. A smile curved her lips as she entered the med station and remembered Alex locked to the chair.

He might be a prisoner, but the color of his clothes didn’t change who he was on the inside.

She turned on the sign so people could see that the med station was open. The prisoners on this level would be just getting up. The first half hour was usually slow, then after that there was usually a random assortment of things. Some prisoners were still undergoing treatment for chem-lung. But those with anything fun and interesting were sent to the on-ship hospital.

With a sigh, she pulled out her portacomp and started reading up on the treatment for insect bites and the poisonous fish type things of Solitaire. Because the environment was completely alien, humans suffered a reaction to most of the insects there. Particularly impressive was one that researchers were calling the flesh dissolving beetle. It was as big as a human hand and, true to its name, its bite dissolved flesh. Fortunately, if treated within thirty minutes it was an injury that one could recover from.

Yuck, yuck, yuck. Sienna rested her head on her hands and sucked in a few deep breaths. She really didn’t want to be here. Perhaps she should’ve left the Army and stayed on Earth. And what? She’d had no options, and whoring herself to the rich men in the towers held no appeal. To the rich she was just a commodity … and here?

She already knew the answer. She’d traded one no-hope life for another.

The buzzer went off and Sienna lifted her head.

A pale-skinned man in yellow turned and placed his hands behind his back. First case of the day. She checked he was alone, then let him in.

1447 wouldn’t meet her gaze. He stared at her boots. His lip was split and there was a bruise coloring up on his face. From yesterday’s Rounds? Usually they came in straight away.

“Have a seat.”

He shook his head.

“What do you need to see me for?”

“I just want some antiseptic salve.”

“Okay, but I have to assess before handing that out.” Even then, it would only be a small amount, enough for a few days.

“For my lip.” He looked up.

Sienna put on gloves and turned his head to the light. “Lip looks okay. How did you get it?”

1447 was silent. He looked as though he wanted to run, but there was something about the set of his face that held the echo of pain. There was definitely something wrong.

“I can’t help you if you don’t tell me.”

He grimaced and looked away, as if finding the chair extremely interesting. “I work in the laundry, but sometimes I earn extra tokens by offering … favors.”

Sienna nodded. He wasn’t the only one. “Did someone not want to pay?”

“It wasn’t like that. I’d helped him out a few times. This time he said he had something better than a token. He put a few drops into a drink.”

A chill spread through Sienna. She’d heard about this drug on Earth. Rich boys liked to catch and drug girls from the slums. They could do what they wanted, and the girl’s body would respond, even if her mind was screaming no. What had started as a drug for female arousal had been altered by some enterprising creep and turned into something that took over the victim’s body, rendering them an observer. The worst bit was that it triggered arousal in women. Men just lost a degree of control over their limbs. And it seemed as if it was here, on Siren. How was that possible?

“He didn’t drink, did he?”

1447 shook his head.

“What happened next?” She didn’t want to believe that something as repulsive as sexmeth was onboard. Maybe it was something else, something less potent … but even that idea was terrifying. Being immobile and unable to fight back. She had to suppress the shudder that traced over her skin.

“My arms and legs wouldn’t move … not properly, you know? Then he brought in three of his friends.” He swallowed hard. “I didn’t want what they did. I just wanted an extra token.”

It was all too familiar, but she wouldn’t be able to prove it. “You were drugged. I’ll draw some blood, but it’s probably long gone. I can take some other swabs if you’d like to make a report.” But from the stricken look on his face she already knew he wouldn’t.

His eyes widened. “I can’t. I just couldn’t move and … I sell myself anyway.”

“How about I take some samples and store them? That way if you ever change your mind …”

He shook his head. “If I do anything, I won’t get any more tokens.”

Was a token really worth it? She remembered Alex’s enjoyment of the peach. Fresh fruit wasn’t common in the prison. They got the damaged pieces, or none. Their meals were nutritionally balanced—the same as hers—but with less variety and care.

“Have a seat and I’ll take some blood. You want to know if you were drugged?”

“I do. And I won’t take offered drinks again.” A ghost of a smile flickered across his face. He glanced at the metal chair. “I can’t sit. I think they did some damage.” His cheeks turned a dark shade of pink, and his gaze lowered to the floor again.

They really needed to hand out lube to the prisoners. 1447 wasn’t the first man to come in with an issue.

She pulled out a few sachets of medical-grade lube that she shouldn’t just be handing out. She was going to have to talk to the medical officer and perhaps arrange a sex ed class for the prison men if they were going to indulge with each other. What the hell were they supposed to do, there were no other options for them? Again Alex surfaced in her mind. He must be seeing her as all his wet dreams at once. “For the future.” And she put them in his pocket. “I’m going to have to check you out. If it’s bad I’ll have to send you to the hospital.”

He nodded, his cheeks turning a darker shade of pink. “Can I see a guy?”

Sienna held out her hands in front of him. “I have much smaller hands than a man … and trust me, I’ve seen it all before.”

And if there was a date-rape drug onboard, she’d be seeing it again.

1447 was still on her mind at the end of the day. She’d asked him to come back and see her every day for the next three days. Maybe he would, maybe he wouldn’t. Some didn’t seem to care about their health and wellbeing. And while she’d sent the blood sample off, she didn’t expect it to show anything. Sexmeth was metabolized fast. It was the ideal rape drug, and with most victims too embarrassed to report it—and usually from the slums—no one had given a damn on Earth. Would it be any different here?

She pushed her soyroom stew around her plate. She hated stew day, but knew she’d have to eat it. Wasting food was not permitted. Nor were second helpings. If they ran out halfway to Solitaire, they’d all die.

Dead in space … was that better or worse than dying on Earth?

The funk that had consumed her this morning was back. Either way, her life sucked. She shoveled in another spoonful of the grayish brown stew, sure that the soyrooms were even more tasteless when grown in space.

She closed her eyes and chewed the slippery pieces of soyroom before swallowing with a grimace. She was almost looking forward to trying the edible bugs on Solitaire. According to the last report from Unity, the guinea pigs and chickens were also doing well. Somewhere on this ship were some goats. She’d give anything for some real meat.

It had been nearly a year since she’d had meat—since the occupation of northern China. Her team had killed a horse and they had feasted like the rich for several days. Soon after that she’d met Zane and everything had gone downhill. She was very lucky he’d never drugged her. If he had, she wouldn’t be sitting here. She’d be dead.

With that small shift in perspective, her life looked a little brighter. At least she was alive, which meant she had the chance to improve her lot. Continuing her study so she could become a doctor and switch to the Army Medical Corps was one option. Taking a ship husband, the way some of the Army guys were taking ship wives, was another. Alex would appreciate the extra privilege.

Perhaps they were both using each other. She almost believed that, except their kiss had been something tender that had shivered through her body like the delicate wings of a butterfly. There were no butterflies on Solitaire.

She sighed and made herself eat some more stew.

Conversation in the mess quieted.

Sienna glanced up to see why. Lieutenant Zane was in the mess. Why wasn’t he with the other officers?

He moved toward her table. She looked at what was left in her bowl, took one large mouthful and stood. Slowly, she made her way to the scullery, checking to see if he was following her. He was. Crap.

There was no way she was going to let him corner her alone. She waited near the piles of dirty dishes, watching him approach. He still had that smug, know-it-all expression. How had she ever found him attractive? His family was rich and he’d wooed her with talk of living in the towers. He’d made her feel like a princess … then he’d closed the doors and tried to trap her, to own her and control her.

That she’d signed on for another five years in the Army had pissed him off. But there was no way she was going to leave the Army unless she had a ring on her finger and a guarantee of a future. That hadn’t gone down well. She swallowed as he came within a few steps of her, remembering the press of his hands on her throat. The promise that she’d pay for defying him, as if she should have let him control her life just because they were dating. Maybe that was how it worked for women living in the towers on Earth.

“I need to speak to you, Corporal.” Zane flashed what passed for a smile on his face.

“Sir?” He liked being called Sir, and never missed an opportunity to remind people that he outranked them.

He glanced behind him at the mess, where several people were still eating. “In private.”

“Sir, you came to the mess to find me. And I think you know that I won’t go anywhere alone with you.”

His face contorted. “It’s because of you that I am here, you little bitch.” His voice was little more than a whisper, yet he still managed to make it menacing.

“Ditto, Sir.” She smiled and tried to look calm. A bead of sweat trickled down her spine and her stomach scrunched up, threatening to heave up the stew she’d just forced down. If she vomited on his super-shiny boots she was pretty sure Zane would lose it.

“Don’t piss me off, Corporal. I know all about your little escapades with 1789. If you’re that desperate, perhaps we should pick up where we left off?” He touched her throat, right over the faint scars his nails had left. Most people didn’t know they were there, as they were always hidden by the collar of her uniform. Alex hadn’t noticed them … perhaps she was only aware of them because that night was engraved in her mind.

Her gaze lifted to the scar running through his eyebrow and down his eyelid. She’d been trying to gouge his eyes out. If she’d succeeded, he wouldn’t be here messing with her life.

“I thought you had a lover, Sir?” She was pressing his buttons—she knew his lover had dumped him. Had she also learned the hard way that Zane was charming on the outside and a snake on the inside? A real Jekyll and Hyde.

His features hardened as he stepped back. “I’m watching you, Corporal. If you bring the Army into disrepute there will be punishment. You wouldn’t want to arrive at Unity wearing the wrong color.”

“With respect, Sir, I’m not doing anything different to many of the other enlisted men.” She’d love to go over Zane’s head, but doing that would only enrage him … and she would have to explain why she was bypassing Zane. She didn’t want people to know about their history.

“What did I ever see in you?” His lips pulled into a sneer of disgust. “You’re nothing but a slum-dwelling slut.” He turned on his heel and left her standing there.

She drew in a breath. That could’ve gone worse. Zane was right about one thing, she had been a slum dweller. Most of the people in the fleet had been. Alex had been. He’d worked on the towers where the rich hid from the problems of the real world.

On Solitaire there would be no slums and no towers. People like Zane would find that they had very little power, as no one would have anything. She was well aware the credits she was getting paid with wouldn’t be worth much on Solitaire. A few extra provisions at the start, more to spend and barter with as things got settled. But ultimately, it was a person’s contribution that would count. Medical personnel would matter. The likes of Zane would find themselves at the bottom of the ladder fast.

A smile curved her lips as she watched him walk toward the nearest door. He might be her boss, but he didn’t get to dictate who she slept with or who she saw. And until there was a direct order that Army personnel weren’t to fuck prisoners, she would keep seeing Alex.

That order was never going to come. Even the General in charge knew that for life in Unity to survive, people needed to form bonds and pair up. That didn’t mean she was looking at Alex in that way. No, he still had four years to serve after they reached Solitaire. He was just some onboard fun. There’d be plenty of other available guys for her to choose from in the colony.

The old urge to find someone high up and do better for herself—her mother’s words—echoed in her head. She was still playing by Earth rules and thinking like a slum chick.

She needed to start thinking about what she was going to do on Solitaire.

What did she want her new life to be like?

She had no idea. She’d never let herself imagine that they’d even get there.