Page 92 of Aurelian Prisoner

I’ve read the data reports for this world. The average age of mortality here is just fifty-five for men and fifty-eight for women; and the cause of death is usually from lung disease caused by the harsh, contaminated air.

This is the kind of planet Allie once lived on. What woman would be forged in this cruel fire? Someone strong, someone dangerous, and – above all – someone determined to survive.

I can feel myself growing less trusting of Allie by the moment. Hadrian has the same doubts as I do. Only Daccia seems to have an unshakeable faith that Allie will choose to be with us, in the end.

As I stand there, Allie reaches down to the bed and runs her hand along the fabric of the pleasure dress. It was expensive, especially this far from Colossus, where many Aurelians outfit their entire harems in these teasing dresses. A smile comes to Allie’s face as she lets the fabric entice her fingers, caressing her skin.

“Have you ever seen a dress like this?” I ask.

“No. It’s much…softerthan the prison clothes you had for me.”

“It’s more than just soft,” the corner of my mouth curls. “When you put in on, you’ll see what I mean.”

Hadrian snarls: “Keep your mind on the mission, Kitos.”

How ironic. It’s usually always me trying to keep my battle-brothers in a rational state of mind, instead of chasing the nearest woman.

Allie gives me a suspicious glance. She’s right to be suspicious. She must not have known about pleasure dresses – which doesn’t surprise me. They’re too expensive to be given to cash-in-hand strippers on rough frontier planets.

Pleasure dresses are deceptively high-tech. They’re made from a fabric designed to tease and tantalize the skin of the wearer. They’re used primarily in slave auctions, to force the women on the auction block into an artificial state of arousal – to make them appear more attractive to the male buyers. Allie will find she will have difficulty thinking when she slips this dress on. It will immediately put her in a state that will be very…intensefor her.

“However it feels, ithasto be better than these prison clothes,” Allie scoffs.

“So, try it on,” I challenge – and, with a pout, she takes the dress to the bathroom.

Daccia turns to me with a scowl. “You need to be planning, Kitos – not flirting. I thought you were better than this.”

I’d thought I was better than this, too. It was always usually Daccia and Hadrian who had the biggest appetites for women. Whenever we saved a mining crew from Scorp attacks, or freed a contingent of slaves from the Toads, it was always those two who’d indulge in the sweet ‘thank you’ offered by the grateful women among those we’d freed. I rarely indulged myself.

Now, I feel all the emotions, impulses and urges that I’d once looked down on my battle-brothers for indulging in. I’d once viewed them as apes – and nowIam the gorilla.

“Oh…Fuck!”

It’s Allie’s voice, emerging from the bathroom. Her words are a moan. Her aura suddenly pulses with desire – and I know that means she’s pulling off the dress. A moment later she emerges from the bathroom again – still dressed in the rough prisoner’s garments.

“Didn’t like it?”

She winces. “It might bebetterif I go naked. Gods! The way that fabric touched my body…”

I breathe in. I cansenseher arousal. It’s like a perfume – a sweet nectar on my tongue.

“Control yourself,”Daccia telepaths.“We have no time for distraction”

His unspoken words are stern inside my mind. He could have said them out loud and humiliated me in front of Allie. Instead, he sent them silently by thought.

Daccia turns to face us. He’s dressed in one of his sharp, fitted suits. We want to project the image of Rogue Aurelians with too much money and not enough women in our harems. Daccia presses his watch, and a holographic image of The Rhino appears.

It’s a ten-story building – a literal den of sin, with each subsequent level descending deeper into depravity.

“Not much is known about The Rhino,” Daccia warns. “That makes it sound like bad news, but it’s good news for us. Shady businesses want the least possible info about them out in the public eye.”

It means the likelihood of The Rhino having some connection to criminals like the space-pirates we seek has grown since we first stumbled across this lead.

“The Rhino has four entrances,” Daccia continues. “We’ll be travelling there by shuttle, and landing on the top of the building and going through the aerial entrance. The other entrances are as follows: One main entrance, one rear entrance, and a service entrance deep underground. The service entrance comes outhere.” He points to the next street over on the holographic projection.

“Allie,” Daccia demands, “if anything happens, duck out ofthatentrance. The owners won’t expect you to know about it, since they don’t know we examined the schematics of the building. You can reach it through the stairs – here, and…here– or by the elevator. Bottom floor. Got it?”

Allie nods. “Got it – but you three had better be intending to get out with me.”

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