WoA - Chap 4 | Vor

  I had seen Earthlings in the past, and they were typically acting as servants or collared at the feet of their masters like pets. Some, however, like my Master, made their way and were not slaves, though they seemed to be rare. I had recently learned from Doc-tor Ken-see that it was illegal for Earthlings to be taken from their planet, but once they were, they could not go back. It was against the laws of The Reach for anyone to go near that galaxy, and there were checkpoints around it to prevent such things.
  Evidently, the creatures of that planet were volatile and primitive and routinely waged war against their own kind in a never-ending cycle. Some of this I had learned from the healer, and some from the Master. It was hard to know how much was true or embellished stories, but I took the Master's word.
  More important than any of that, however, was that these earthlings, these humans were notoriously weak. Given the chance, I could snap the Master's neck with one hand, but he held the shock-stick, and there was nowhere to run after such a crime. I would be captured, tortured, and given a dishonourable and public death as a warning to other slaves and gladiators alike. I would be denied the glory of falling in the arena. But these creatures ... they were so weak.
  And yet ... Bifur did not wound himself. She did.
  "This one is feisty," Master Eli said, interrupting my thoughts. I looked at him and found him watching me, not her. He spoke in his Earth-tongue, and the implant changed his words in my head so I could understand them.
  "When we return to The Avalon, I want her taken to Doctor Kenzie and cleaned up," he said. "I'm fairly certain she speaks English, but we'll get her a neural implant as we did for you. I'm putting you in charge of making sure she learns her place and stays cooperative. If she causes a fuss, you'll both get the shock. Understand?"
  My responsibility? I was an unbeaten gladiator, not some mother chasing after her cubs, but Master Eli was staring down his pointed nose expectantly so I quickly nodded.
  Fine. I would play this ridiculous game. She would not survive the first battle anyway. Bah. She would not survive training with the rest of us. This would be short-lived.
  "Oh, don't brood like that, Vor," he said cheerily. "I think this one will surprise us both, and she was practically free. You know I do love a good deal." He did look rather pleased with himself. He was practically preening beneath his strange face-hair.
  "Never mind the smell," he said and waved a hand over her limp body. "You know how filthy that place is. Disgusting cesspools. I'm very curious to see what we're dealing with beneath all that crud."
  He tapped the bars with his staff, but she did not stir. "She's had at least two shocks in the last couple of hours," he said. "And she did battle in the arena before that. So she might be out of it for a while."
  Two shocks? In as many hours on a body so weak? Even I lay unconscious for a time after one shock.
  "Anyhow," he continued and started walking back from whence he came. "Buckle down. We'll be home soon. Oh, and by the way," he turned back and waved his stick. "Keep your cock to yourself, and make sure the others do the same. She's not been reproductively adjusted yet, and this one is for fighting, not breeding."
  He waved his staff again as if I were a naughty cub stealing a treat before turning on his heel and leaving us. The doors slammed shut behind him.
 

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  The flight back to The Avalon would take many hours as Master Eli did not like to bring his main cruiser near planets like this. Many of them didn't. Smart. Slavers did not have honour, and pirates were notorious in places like this. They liked to steal slaves and gladiators alike for themselves.
  It wasn't until I felt we were past the halfway mark of time that the female started to rouse. She took in a great, shuddering breath and coughed before turning over in the other direction. Probably for the best. My gaze had focused on her teats more than once, though I had tried mightily not to let it venture down to her cunt which had been so open to my gaze.
  She piqued my curiosity too much, and it was only because I had not seen many females in this state, and never, never this close. Doc-tor Ken-see did not rouse my curiosity like this. She too was a slave and a healer for the master. Such a position gave her many privileges on the ship. She liked to poke and prod me regularly and monitored our food and training. She also asked too many questions.
  I did not understand why. One should only see the healer when they were wounded, but this one liked to hover.
  The female let out another barking cough, her breaths ragged, her whole torso heaving with effort. Her movements made the stench of the slaver planet waft in the air, and my tail flicked with annoyance.
  It barely brushed the floor, but evidently, the sound was enough to startle the female so much that she bolted to the other side of the cage away from me. Her eyes were wide, and she stared at something above me. I looked back, but there was nothing but metal and mechanical things. Her breath still rattled, and she turned away from me. Her hands went up to the bars and felt them before she snapped the fingers of her other hand out in front of her.
  Strange creature ...
  She crawled on her knees around the entire cage, one hand on the bars, touching each one before, the other in front of her, snapping. She reached to the ceiling to touch it, then swept her hands across the smooth floor.
  Was this an earthling custom? I had never seen the master do such things, nor Doc-tor Ken-see, either. When she had touched every surface of her cage, she tucked herself into the corner farthest away from me and gave me her back while she drummed the fingers of one hand against the bars. Constantly.
  It was annoying.
  “You will behave yourself, female,” I said in my tongue, but she did not acknowledge me. I did not like speaking the human-tongue, and the others all had implants so I did not have to. Their language had strange sounds that did not sit well on my lips, but I tried.
  “You must do as they say, female,” I said, the words wrong in my mouth, and she turned her head then, only a little, then back in the direction she had been staring. “I will not be punished for you,” I snapped, but when she still did not answer, I let it be.
  She wasn’t so big. Maybe Bifur and Kimul were just too old. I could tuck this one under my arm and make sure she went where she needed to go so I didn’t get the shock or have my food taken.