AN: YAY! on time!

Also, if you missed a chapter, hop over into the Episodes section. They're all listed there, along with some other interesting stuff. In fact, feel free to explore the site. I've got artwork, alien write-ups, and some stuff on the ships - not much tho. I need to fill that section out further.

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CHAPTER 8

“Thanks for a terrible time,” she’d told him on her way out.

She’d punched him in the face.

Rathios figured she probably shouldn’t have, due to the fact that she was trying to get pregnant. She would have to go back to him again in a week or two. Probably two. She needed to keep track of her mates in order to determine the father of her child.

“Wish I’d picked someone else,” she grumbled under her breath as she walked purposefully back towards her quarters. It was fairly late and she needed sleep in order to be on time for her shift. But that also meant that she would be returning to a place that was no longer hers.

The halls were surprisingly crowded for this time of the cycle. Peripherally, Rathios saw a male of much higher Status making his way down the hall, and reflexively she stepped out of his way. He didn’t even glance at her, which was for the best. Once again, Rathios was reminded of how much she disliked being out and around her people. Every encounter was a battle for Status in some form or another. She just wanted to live quietly, do her job, and generally not be bothered with dealing with anyone. She was fine as she was! Why did the Perro have to go and tell her to start reproducing? ‘I never bothered anyone! Why do they insist on bothering me?’

Around her, Varas were talking. She wouldn’t have said they were chattering, but there were a great many people out talking today. Or perhaps she simply was never out this time of shift and didn’t realize that so many of her people gathered in the halls when they were off duty. She turned her head partially to look at one group of five, having caught what she thought was her name.

She stopped short as someone from the other side caught her wrist.

Automatically, she snapped her hand free and delivered a retaliating blow to the man’s arm before he could retract it. At least there was one benefit to being female; she was naturally faster.

Turning her eyes up towards his face, she stared hard at Rameeds. “I didn’t give you permission to touch me.”

He did not rub his arm, though it undoubtedly stung. She had not been gentle. “You’re usually in your quarters. What are you doing out?”

“Oh, so you’re stalking me now? Skipping shift to harass me when I’m working isn’t good enough?” Her hackles rose at the thought of his keeping track of her movements.

Stepping forward slightly, he raised his hand slightly in preparation to strike her. “How dare you speak to me like that! You forget your Status.” Managing to restrain himself, he stared hard into her eyes.

People were taking notice now, and Rathios tried not to shift uncomfortably. “I forget nothing.” Her eyes flicking towards the wound on his temple, one she had inflicted the other day.

He leaned in, lowering his voice for her alone, “Yet you tell no one.”

“Maybe I’m waiting for the opportune time to embarrass you,” Rathios whispered harshly and stepped back as his hand reached for her arm again. “Lowly male! I have far more power than you think. If you try again, you will be punished.”

Rameeds’s eyes narrowed, “Stubborn woman.” His eyes flicked around the area before he decided that keeping his hands to himself was the better idea. “I will speak to you later.”

He turned and stalked off, leaving Rathios fuming.

She didn’t relax the set of her shoulders until the door to her quarters closed behind her. The furniture in her front room had been pushed back into its proper place and the smell of dinner lingered in the air. Her slave had probably expected her to be home well before now. A pang of guilt touched her, but she quickly pushed it aside. ‘What’s wrong with me? He’s a slave! I already made my decision. I will not breed with a human!’

Heading into the kitchen, Rathios opened the cooling unit to find that he had put the remains of dinner in the same place he had put them last time. Taking the container out, Rathios got a plate and served herself – only to find that dinner had gotten cold. It was still tasty, but not as good as it would have been warm. She ate it anyway and left her plate in the sink.

She frowned slightly as she looked around the kitchen. Everything was clean, but the apartment felt strangely quiet. Stepping into the hall, she headed to the second bedroom.

Something eased inside of her – a worry she hadn’t known she was carrying. Her slave was lying on his side on top of his bedding, asleep. Rathios turned and headed into her own room to get a change of clothes to wear after her shower.

**

Kurt awoke the next morning and quickly scanned the apartment. His Rrie’Kamara had already gone to work, apparently. On a level he was glad. It meant that he didn’t have to deal with her. Especially not when he had other things he wanted – needed – to do. Such as work on his plan to break out.

“No dirt to dig a tunnel under the fence,” he said, then sighed, staring up at the ceiling. “I guess we’re stuck with trying to fool the guards, since we can’t kill them.”

Getting to his feet, he made sure everything was tidy before reaching out to contact one of the Psions he had talked to the day before. The man was essentially the leader of Kurt’s level.

#Kurt?# Mark had a taste of lemon – all sour and jaded, but he kept his mental tone polite, even if Kurt was essentially breaking the Oath by speaking to him like this.

#Yeah. I’ve thought of something I want to test out. Is there someone who knows a good chunk of the station you could send me?#

#Yeah. He’ll be there shortly.#

Mark’s shield went up then, blocking Kurt from sensing anything other than the man’s annoyance at getting interrupted. Mildly embarrassed, Kurt withdrew. “Well, guess I learn something new every day?” He sighed and shook his head.

While he waited, Kurt finished cleaning his Rrie’Kamara’s dishes and put them away. When the man arrived, Kurt opened the door before his guest could even hit the buzzer. Startled, the man lowered his hand. He was average height, underweight, and balding. Whatever color his hair had been, it was now white. Piercing black eyes looked Kurt over as the man stepped in. Quickly, Kurt shut the door behind him. “So you’re Kurt Martley. Didn’t expect you to be so tall.”

“I got lucky,” Kurt said and shrugged.

“Name’s Hank Jessik.” He thrust his hand out.

Kurt hesitated, then lightly touched the man’s hand as Hank looked mildly embarrassed. “Sorry. Forgot.”

Shaking his head, Kurt waved his hand absently, “No, it’s okay. Don’t worry about it.”

“So what did you need a guide for?” Hank shoved his hands into his pockets.

“Would you like something to drink?” Kurt asked, and as Hank followed him into the kitchen, he explained. “I need to go somewhere there is always a guard and humans aren’t allowed past. I thought of something I’d like to try.”

Hank took the glass of water, eyes lighting in appreciation. Conversation was halted as the man slurped down the entire glass, then took his refill a little more slowly. “I recon I can find somewhere like that. Off the top of my head, I’d say the Junk Bay. That’s where they take all the stuff from the ships they capture. Everything from our toothpaste to our tools goes there for the Varas to sort through and nab as they like.”

Folding his arms, Kurt leaned against the counter. “Ah.” That would undoubtedly be where his Rrie’Kamara had gotten his clothes. “Sounds like the perfect place to do my test, then.”

“What’re you planning on doing?” Hank set his empty glass on the counter.

“I’d rather keep that to myself, if you don’t mind. In case it doesn’t work.”

Pondering that briefly, Hank nodded. “Let’s get going then.”

**

They crouched just around the corner, peeking occasionally down the hall at the Varas that stood on guard at the entrance. “There’s only two of us.” Hank kept his voice low, trying not to alert the guard down the hall. “We can’t take him on.”

It took Kurt a moment to answer. “I’ve got something I want to try.”

“You going to kill him?” Hank asked, his excitement obvious.

Kurt gave the man a hard look. “Stay here.”

“Wait!” Reaching out, the man caught the back of Kurt’s shirt as the Psion went to stand. “You’d better kill him from here!”

“I’m not going to kill him,” Kurt sighed, “I’m going to try something. Killing him would only alert them all.” Stepping out, Kurt focused his attention on the guard at the end of the hall. The Varas had seen him, but did not move from his post, merely reached for his sidearm.

He touched the Varas’s mind carefully. They were human enough for him to know where to plant the suggestions, but that didn’t mean that they would react the same as a human would. After a moment, the suggestion was planted and Kurt took a step forward. The Varas continued to stare at him, expression dark and foreboding. Kurt swallowed, took a breath, and continued forward, staring at the Varas, waiting for some reaction.

The Varas stared back.

As Kurt drew closer, the Varas twitched slightly, eyes narrowing. Kurt landed on his rear some distance down the hall. Lifting his head, he found the Varas was stalking towards him, gun out and safety off.

Kurt scrambled to his feet and ran like his life depended on it. Behind, he could hear the Varas cackling. It wasn’t until Kurt and his companion were several halls away that they stopped and leaned against a wall. “Well, that didn’t work. I told you to kill him...”

“No...” Kurt pinched the bridge of his nose. “No. It worked. But I wasn’t acting right.”

His companion stared at him. “What?”

Pushing off the wall, Kurt started walking, arms folded as he thought.

“Hey!” Hurrying to catch up, Hank shook his arm, “Hey, what exactly were you trying there?”

“I planted the suggestion that I was supposed to be there,” Kurt replied. “But I wasn’t acting right, so he attacked anyway – just to mess with me. In short, the idea will work, but I don’t know any humans who would be able to hide their fear well enough to get past.”

“You know, there’s this woman down in the Nursery section. She’s too stupid to know what fear is.”

Kurt winced, “I think I know who you’re talking about.”

Unfortunately, Marie was... unpredictable. If he taught her how to get past the Varas, she would have free run of the ship, and then what? She would undoubtedly hunt him down. Additionally, if she was allowed to wander around willy-nilly, then she would alert the Varas that the humans had found a way to mess with their minds. There would be a purge. He had to avoid that at all costs... But at the same time...

“She’s lucky she’s in with the kids, otherwise she’d be dead by now,” Hank said, drawing Kurt from his thoughts.

“Why’d they put her with the kids anyway?” Too curious not to ask, Kurt looked towards Hank with a quirked eyebrow.

The man shrugged, “I dunno. They seem to think fat women are maternal or something.”

Kurt winced then shrugged as well. “I’ll work on it myself,” he said instead and shook his head. “I need to get back to my area. It should be nearly time for my Rrie’Kamara to come home.”

“Lucky.” Hank sighed, but parted ways with Kurt at an intersection.

Reaching out with his mind, Kurt swept the area, trying to locate his Rrie’Kamara. There were too many people around for something like that to work, but he did at least verify that she had not come home yet. Entering the apartment, he headed into the kitchen to begin making dinner.

“Head down,” he muttered, “on my knees. Man this rankles! Almost as bad as what Dad did to me.” Except not really. Bowing to a Varas was far more palatable than marrying Marie to retain the use of his talent.

But it was what he had to do in order to not incur his Rrie’Kamara’s wrath any further. He couldn’t orchestrate an escape from the grave. He had pushed her far too many times already. “It’s not like I’m getting used to it or anything. I’m just... pretending.” Even saying that didn’t take away the sour taste in his mouth. Leaving his shields low, Kurt kept a mental ear out for his Rrie’Kamara.

Her mental state was in flux when she entered the front door, obviously in a bad mood. Whatever had happened wasn’t Kurt’s deal, though, and he raised his barrier in order to block out most of her mood and thoughts. He didn’t close up completely, since she was still dangerous and forewarning was good to have should she decide to strike out at him. Not that he could dodge...

As she entered the kitchen, Kurt turned towards her and lowered to his knees, head down.

Surprise rippled across her thoughts, then something else that was quickly shoved aside. She stood there, waiting, only to finally realize that he was not going to speak to her. Again, that strange emotion flicked across her mental state and came to roost in the back of her mind, coloring whatever else she was thinking. “Is it done?” she asked finally.

“No, Rrie’Kamara. Ten minutes.”

She shifted her weight, almost nervously, and then turned, heading across the hall to her room. Now apparently even more upset.

Kurt lifted his head slowly and stared at the doorway. “Weird.”

Getting to his feet, he returned to cooking. Within a few minutes, he deemed dinner finished and served some for her first. He checked on her mentally, only to find that she was too upset to return on her own. “Great,” he muttered, staring at the food. Either he let it sit there or took it to her, and likely both choices were bad. Taking the plate, he headed across the hall to her door and knocked gently. When she opened the door, he was already on his knees, plate held up to her, eyes lowered.

She touched him briefly as she took the silverware from his other hand, her inner turmoil racing through his mind briefly. She was upset at him – for being submissive, and angry at herself for being upset for that reason. Kurt’s expression twisted in confusion, and swiftly glanced up through his bangs towards her face.

The Varas’s lips were tight, she had noticed his glance, and for some reason seemed glad. Stepping back, she kicked her door shut in his face. Kurt stood, and stared at the door for a moment before finally shaking his head and heading back into the kitchen to get his dinner. It was so much easier to cook for two. Even if there were always leftovers still, he wasn’t stuck eating the same thing for several days straight.

Sighing, he took his plate to the living room and sat on the couch to eat, since the Varas woman didn’t have a dining room table. Either she had no need for one, or didn’t know what it was for. Kurt suspected that both were likely and neither mattered at the moment. He had successfully avoided getting kicked today, and that was something to celebrate.