Page 21 of Stolen Slave

The list of things I needed to do before her rest cycle ended was long.

Reluctantly, I carried her to my room. As soon as I eased her onto the bed, she rolled over onto her stomach. The light reflected lightly on my secretion coating her skin, drawing my attention to the way her backside dipped before the rise of her flank, showcasing that tempting cleft.

Selfishly, I removed my clothes from the storage bins. She’d already borrowed one shirt, and I didn’t want to tempt her with any of the others. She was far too perfect to cover up. To ensure her comfort without any covering, though, I set the ship’s ambient temperature according to what I’d read in the data pic before leaving her.

Staying focused on the necessary maintenance rounds wasn’t easy. My mind kept drifting to how she’d looked on my bed. I had to read the stasis numbers for my bounties four times before I registered that they looked good. Moving on, I noted the depletion of the sys-unit supplies and added them to the restock inventory.

When I was done in the med bay, I went to the grow bay. The fresher air welcomed me. However, I knew my female wouldn’t have the olfactory sensitivity to detect the slight difference. That meant I would need to obtain more oxygenating greenery to filter the air so she could.

While some females simply enjoyed a flourishing grow bay for what it represented—wealth—I knew that wouldn’t be the case for mine. According to the data pic, the majority of her kind were used to inhabiting non-aggressive verdant environments. Filling this space with vegetation to create a similar environment might comfort her. At least, that was my hope.

Using the grow bay’s datapad, I increased the output of the false dome overhead. The effect was like a sunrise on most planets, illuminating the open area until its brightness equaled standard midday light on life-supporting worlds. A fortune of chit had gone into the shell above. The embedded lights weren’t simply lighting the room. They provided what was necessary to grow any vegetation. Even the exotic types.

Now, all I needed was the terra to fill the grow boxes.

After tending the few plants I had, I went to the cargo bay and evaluated the amount of mineral waste I’d obtained. The mineral concentration was higher than I’d anticipated, and I almost wished I’d managed to leave the planet on better terms.

Based on the ship’s calculations, I had more than enough to warrant the extra jumps and cell depletion to reach Tertian Seven. Several times over, actually, which meant I’d have the terra necessary to fill the grow bay with veg along with plenty of extra chit to invest in additional luxuries.

I smiled to myself, already picturing my little female walking these corridors, her flesh exposed and adorned with the finest chains any female ever possessed. She would know a completely different life aboard this ship. Hopefully, one she enjoyed enough to want to stay.

Thinking of the chains, I went to my workroom and studied the new lengths I’d purchased on the void station. Now that I had a female aboard and I knew her shape and size, I itched to weave the fine links into a mantel that would caress her chest mounds and tempting flank.

Adjusting my aching ambal, I checked the ship’s estimated arrival in the Tertain system and sighed. I had too much to do before we landed—gear to inspect if I wanted to return to the female unmarred, a sys-unit to prep on the off chance that something went wrong...

Preparing her adornments would need to wait.

With one last look at the lengths of fine chains I’d collected, I turned my back on the workroom and focused on what I’d need to accomplish during the next few arcs.

Very few knew about the potential for wealth that could be found in the inhospitable wastelands of Divos One. My genetic founder had been fortunate enough to make the discovery and live to teach his descendants how to farm cleansed terra from the Wernius, terra-formers of massive size that consumed all organic material. The same creatures that made Divos One inhospitable to any other non-veg life. They roamed the twilight belt between the lit and dark sides of the planet, eating what organic material they could before the sun burned what had grown in the dark.

It wouldn’t be easy to lure one to the surface. It would be harder still to collect the terra without burning to ash or being consumed by the veg. Or worse, the Wernius.

I smiled, looking forward to the challenge.

Already anticipating the outcome, I used the datapad in the grow bay and pulled up the research accumulated by my predecessors regarding the most desirable veg for the grow bay. I selected the top ten and requested a jump and fuel cell usage calculation from the nav center.

While that ran, I started cleaning the filters. I needed everything to be in top operating order just in case I wasn’t able to get to the maintenance for a few flares after collecting the terra.

I lost myself in the routine work.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

VYA

“Hello?”

The room was quiet, and the bed didn’t move next to me. I gingerly stretched my hand outward, just to be sure. An empty, cool expanse of open bed greeted my fingertips.

Perfect. I was alone.

I reached for the storage bins that had held the cover I’d found last time I’d been here but found them empty.

Hoping to find something elsewhere in the room, I cautiously eased from the bed. As I moved, I waited for the aches to bloom. However, nothing hurt anymore. I ran my hand over my ribs and hips, the areas that had been the worst, and didn’t even feel a twinge of discomfort.

My new captor truly had been helping me. But why?

Rather than contemplate the possible reasons, I stood and explored the room. It wasn’t big. The bed took up the most space. Shallow bins lined the walls in the alcove surrounding the padded platform. Other than that, I only felt flat walls.

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