Chapter 0 - On Slavers

                                             On Slavers


                                                                      by Volpone



                                                         Grouping: various

                                                          Location: various


          “Coppertop’s managed t’ get off-planet, Cap’n.”
          Degula used the name they had given their victim when they had her abducted from Panish some
months before. They had smuggled the beautiful red-head aboard and subjected her to a combination of
drugs, torture, and sexual domination until she had become conditioned… conditioned to the point
where she had meekly submitted to things which a short time before she would have fought violently
against.
          Kukis answered in an unconcerned manner.
          “And what’s that matter to us?”
          “Seems she was more resourceful than we thought… an’ more important,” explained Degula.
          “Mmm?” he responded, non-committally.
          “Seems she actually was married to Harith. If she makes it back, she might create problems.”
          Kukis flicked his fingers in dismissal.
          “So? We avoid Panish for a bit. It’s not that great a loss.”
          “She could still make things difficult. Vengeful multi-millionaires gotta lot of weight t’ throw
around. And the Be Lively’s dropped out of contact.”
          That got his attention. The Be Lively was the ship owned by the woman to whom they had sold
Coppertop.
          “You think there’s a connection.” It was a statement, not a question.
          His first mate asked, “Can we afford to figure there’s not?”
          He mused silently for a moment.
          “So what do you suggest?”
          Her thin lips drew back into a snarl.
          “I think she should never reach Panish.”

          The route of Turquoise’s ship was public record, and the name she was traveling under was
known to them, so it was quite simple for them to be waiting for her when her ship made berth several
planets before its scheduled stop at Panish.
          She was in the company of one of the ship’s officers when they made port at Barbro Station. (As
always, Turquoise made sure the Be Lively was not in port before leaving the ship.) She and the officer
enjoyed a nice dinner in the orbiting spaceport and were looking forward to continuing the evening back
in her cabin aboard ship. They’d become quite intimate since their first meeting shortly after lift-off.
          Thinking of what the evening had in store, they were chatting and not really paying attention when they
turned the corner onto the deserted corridor and setting two of Degula’s stopper dropped them both like
puppets with their strings cut.
          Turquoise awoke to the sensation of pain. It felt like someone was drawing a hot coal across the
bare skin of her right breast, and she squirmed back to try to escape.
          “See? I told you my Tingler’d be enough to bring her around.”
          A part of her mind recognized the voice and shrank from it. Her eyes fought to come into focus,
but not fast enough for her captors taste.
          “No, you gotta wake up, Coppertop.”
          Something seized her by her flowing red hair and jerked her upright.
          Her vision swam, but the face of Degula finally came into focus.
          Oh, Booda… not again!
          “Don’t fret, Coppertop. You’re back with old friends.”
          The reunion was not a happy one on Turquoise’s part.

          A couple of hours later, the door to the room opened and Degula ordered her out.
          “Come on, slitch. Time for lessons to begin again.”
          Turquoise knew what was in store for her. Once upon a time, some months ago, she had sworn
that she would rather die than go through such degradation and pain again. Now, after surviving so
much, she knew that she would do what was needed until she could escape. Only by surviving could
she make sure they paid.
          She’d escaped her so-called “husband”, leaving the greedy, sadistic bastard dancing in the beam
of a stopper as it slowly turned to brain to jelly. He’d pimped her out to anyone with the stells to afford
her, and beaten her when he felt like it, just to keep her in place. His only contact with her other than
violence was when he made her suck him off, but even that was under threat of physical harm. She’d
learned to cooperate. But she’d also learned to survive.
          Somehow, she would manage to survive again, and this time, she’d have revenge on these two
who had used her.
          It seemed that Degula could tell what she was thinking.
          “Just ‘cuz you made it off that sister-slicin’ dirt ball of a planet doesn’t mean yer gonna escape
again. This time, you’re gonna go to someone who can make sure ya stay put.”
          Turquoise didn’t care for the sound of that.
          “We got a rich client with exotic taste and a high security setup we think’d be perfect for ya.”
          Just survive, thought Turquoise. Just survive, and an opportunity will come.
          The Reshi woman pushed Turquoise into the room ahead of her.
          “Ah, Coppertop,” said Kukis in his oily tone. “Welcome back.”
          She knew better than to respond. Responding just resulted in punishment. The only kind of
response they wanted was one they forced from her.
          “Seems you managed to break your training. I’m not sure if you should be rewarded or
punished.” The short man smiled, the diamonds set in each of his gold-rimmed teeth giving him a
menacing quality.
          Experience had taught her both rewards and punishments from these captors resulted in
humiliation and pain for her.
          “We should have guessed you might by how long you resisted being broken last time. So this
time, I think we’ll use a different method. Something we’ve only just recently devised.”
Kukis produced a glittering injector from the stand by the all-too familiar bed in the chamber.
          “Last time we used a different mix with some tetrazombase in it.” He referred to the highly
illegal psychotropic used in brainwashing. He admired the injector a moment. “This has just a bit of
that to break down the will, along with HaloIXP to make you more sensitive, but it mostly contains a
variant of what they call breeders friend. It’s a highly concentrated synthetic hormone that increases the
sexual urge. The combination makes a much more receptive subject. Isn’t that right, Degula?”
          The first mate gave an ugly laugh from behind Turquoise’s back.
          Kukis continued.
          “It seems that this particular combination is quite effective in conditioning for certain…
purposes.
          “The first dose just makes the individual unusually cooperative. Each subsequent dose has a
stronger, more long term effect. By the seventh dose, conditioning’s complete. The subject’s a slave to
their urges… and the will of whoever wants them. The perfect little vug-toy. A cake for anyone to
slice.”
          Kukis held up his Tingler, the pain-giving device Turquoise remembered so well.
          “But since it increases nerve sensitivity, I can’t use my toy here without risking permanent
damage. So we’ll just have to fall back on older methods.”
          Turquoise had no doubt that he was speaking the truth. She’d felt their conditioning the last
time, and if they felt this was more permanent, she wanted nothing to do with it.
Lie. Submit. Do whatever it takes. Keep yourself free. Survive.
          Turquoise let her Coppertop persona emerge.
          “I don’t think that you need to do that.” She looked at the repulsive male with a look that
promised all kinds of pleasures for the taking.
          “Ah, no, Coppertop,” he corrected. “I think we do.”
          Suddenly Degula seized her by the arm and twisted it high behind her back, pushing her forward
with all her weight, forcing her to fall face-first onto the bed in front of her.
          Before she could begin to struggle, she felt the cold prick of the injector in her upper arm.
          “There we are. That wasn’t so bad, was it?”
          Degula let go of Turquoise’s arm and rose, but Turquoise stayed face down on the bed.
          The first mate looked at Kukis for direction, but he held up a hand to forestall any questions.
          And they all waited.
          Whatever was in the injector, it worked rapidly. In less than fifteen seconds, Turquoise let out a
soft moan and stirred.
          Kukis nodded.
          “Now.”
          His first mate leaned down and grabbed Turquoise by the hair, turning her around to face them
but keeping her on her knees.
          The beautiful redhead looked up at her captors with liquid eyes filled with a dreamy longing.
          “I think Coppertop is ready to give you your kiss now, Degula.”
          Peeling off her yellow skinsuit, the woman stood over Turquoise with her legs apart and waited.
          When Turquoise didn’t move immediately, Degula leaned down and grabbed the kneeling
woman by the nipples crowing her full warheads.
          “Come on, ya stupid stash. Get that cake-eatin’ mouth of yours busy.”
          Turquoise wasn’t prepared for the painful twist and pull, and her mouth opened as she gasped.
          “That’s better,” growled her tormentor, who straddled the woman’s face and pushed her crotch
into the woman’s open mouth.
          Degula let go of Turquoise’s nipples and put her hands into the mass of red hair, pulling her tight
to her stash.
          Without any more hesitation, Turquoise’s eyes closed and her tongue caressed the lips of
Degula’s stash, then began working more strongly between then, doing her best to please.
          There was a distant corner of Turquoise’s mind that rebelled at what she was doing… slavishly,
adoringly rewarding her tormentor by eating her cake. But that voice was drowned out by the rest of
her, the sexual animal that had been released which only wanted to slice and lick and be used. Her
hands came up to take the first mate by the hips, and as her tongue drove into the bony woman’s slit,
Turquoise began rocking her pelvis, rubbing her own stash against the back of her leg.
          It took only a couple of minutes of Turquoise’s avid tonguing before Degula hunched and,
grinding her stash into the redhead’s willing mouth, flashed hard.
          Breathing deeply, a glazed look to her dark eyes, the thin woman stepped back, leaving
          Turquoise kneeling there, rocking her hips in a coital motion and moaning, her hands pressed between
her thighs.
          Kukis’ voice intruded on her self-pleasure.
          “And now, Coppertop…”
          Her eyes barely opened, but it was enough to see Kukis’ slicer just a few sems from her face.
          Without even thinking, Turquoise opened wide and began eagerly sucking him.
          “Ah, Coppertop, you’ve been practicing since you left us, haven’t you?”
          Nodding without breaking the rhythm of her slippery lips as they tried to swallow his slicer, she
grunted “uh-huh”.
          “Then let’s see how much practice you’ve had,” and he started to press forward.
          Turquoise’s hands automatically came up, one to stroke the bottom of his slicer while the other
cradled his testicles.
          “Ah ah!” he chided, and she gasped as pain lanced into her tight right nipple. “No hands,
Coppertop. Behind your back.”
          Obeying meekly, she clasped her hands behind her, and Kukis hands took her head between
them as he pushed forwards.
          He was not small, and his erect slicer pressed back… back… until she was unable to breathe and
his slicer was fully down her throat. Counting to himself, Kukis waited for fifteen seconds before
allowing her to come up for breath.
          “Very good, Coppertop. You’ve improved a great deal since last time. Your last owner taught
you well.”
          Again without shame, she nodded and moaned “uh-huh” as she went back to trying to suck him
off.
          He let her continue to sheath his rod again and again with her greedy lips, moaning and
whimpering with desire. Occasionally he would say, “Down,” and she would obediently take a deep
breath and take him down her throat to the root, holding him there until he told her, “Enough.”
          After several minutes of intense slicer-sucking, she began to whimper and quake as the
heightened input from her nerves coaxed her over the edge and she flashed, bobbing her head madly as
her cheeks caved in and she tried to flash him as well.
          He was quite pleased. It showed the drug was working better than they had expected. True, he
would have liked a bit more resistance. After all, he enjoyed inflicting the pain disobedience brought.
          Her avid performance soon brought results. He could feel the climax he’d been suppressing
rising with new strength.
          Holding her head firmly in place, he began to drive into her incredible lips, slicing her mouth
hard and fast until, without a sound from him to tell what was happening, he stroked a huge load of cum
into her waiting mouth.
          She continued to suck until she had managed to drain every drop of Kukis’ load into her mouth,
and without a word from him, she swallowed it all.
          “Not bad for a first try, Coppertop. But I think your girlfriend’s ready for more.”
          Turning her head, Turquoise licked her lips and happily went to work once again eating Degula’s
cake.
          It went on that way for over an hour, back and forth, eating Degula’s cake and then sucking
Kukis’ slicer. Each time she serviced the first mate it took less time than the last to make her flash, but
with Kukis, each time took longer. The last time, it took almost fifteen minutes of slicer-sucking before
she could swallow his seed, but she managed to flash three times herself before he greased her palette
with his semen.
          Kukis knew that the drug would likely wear off before long. Each additional dose would
lengthen the effect, but first doses usually lasted less than two hours.
Time enough for a final lesson.
          Kukis signaled his first mate to lay back on the bed, and with a nod she did as indicated, raising
her knees and propping herself on her elbows so she could watch Turquoise again move in and give her
the most moving of kisses.
          When Degula was well on her way, Kukis moved up beside Degula. He took Turquoise by the
hair and pulled her over to his slicer, which she happily (if tiredly) went down on. It took her just a
minute to have him hard again, but this time he stopped her and pushed her head back between Degula’s
thighs. When she was again absorbed in her task, he moved around until he was behind Turquoise’s
raised backside. Without preparation, he put the head of his slicer at the puckered entrance to her ass
and pushed.
          Turquoise gave a squeal of pain, but Degula knew what to expect and grabbed both hands full of
red tresses to keep her from stopping. After a moment of incredible pain, Turquoise felt the head of his
slicer penetrate the ring of her anus, and while the pain didn’t disappear, it became mixed with other
sensations.
          It only took about three seconds before her body could respond to her commands, but instead of
trying to escape, Turquoise began rocking backwards as she returned to eating the cake in front of her.
          Though she whimpered with each thrust, her body had been wanting to be sliced since the first
sting of the injection. Though she would have preferred to have her cake sliced, her body reacted
strongly to what was being done to it, so she eagerly let herself be used this way.
          Unlike any other time in her experience, Turquoise found being sliced up the ass more than
simply endurable. It was fabulous. It still hurt, but the pain just added to her enjoyment, and in just a
few moments she found herself on the brink of flashing.
          Degula beat her to the climax, shaking and grunting as she came, grinding her stash into the
lovely face of her new/old playmate.
          It was enough to trigger Turquoise, and she cried out as she flashed, her voice muffled by its
contact with Degula’s lower lips.
          Kukis smiled.
          He continued to plow her deeply, long firm strokes as he plundered her back door.
          She came again just two minutes later.
          He wished there was another male on board he could use in her training. It would be much more
productive to have her anus sliced while she throated another man, unable to cry out, forced to flash as
she was violated at both ends.
          By now, Degula was down from her climactic high. Kukis nodded his head, and she removed
herself from the bed.
          He withdrew from Turquoise’s poor, abused rectum, and she gave a profound cry of
disappointment as he did. But he didn’t go far. He simply lay back on the bed, his slicer sticking
straight up.
          Looking at Coppertop, he waited.
          She needed no word from him to know what he expected… and what she wanted.
          Crawling to him, she positioned herself over him and began to lower herself down onto his
waiting slicer, not into her cake as she might have preferred, but again up her shapely ass.
Kukis simply lay there, waiting.
          And so she began to rock up and down, fucking him with her ass.
          Laying there, Kukis felt triumph. Only one session and they had her performing exactly as they
hoped, willing to slice anyone in any way they wanted.
          Coppertop… the perfect little vug-toy.
          It took her just moments to start back on her way to flashing. To his surprise, she didn’t slow
down, but rather started sliding up and down the full twenty sems of his slicer, driving him up her ass to
the hilt.
          And then she flashed. And again.
          Quaking and sobbing in climax, she fucked herself savagely up the ass.
          Six orgasms she managed before Kukis couldn’t hold out any longer. Reaching out, he seized
her bouncing warheads. Shifting his grip, he took her by her tight, erect nipples… and pinched down.
Turquoise howled, not in pain, but in release as she came more strongly than ever that night.
Slamming herself down on his slicer, she pounded him into her full length as they both came.
          Some time later, Turquoise was again alone and naked in her bare room. The drug had worn off
long before, but the memory of what she’d done was still fresh in her mind. She didn’t cry or retreat
from the world. She simply lay there, her mind and body exhausted from the ordeal.
          She thought of her captors and felt revulsion coupled with hope for a lengthy revenge, but at the
same time there was a tiny stirring of desire between her thighs.
          It was the desire that truly frightened her.
          The second session went very much as the first and lasted almost three hours. Turquoise needed
no direction to act this time, but took the lead, eagerly eating and sucking and taking Kukis up her
increasingly receptive backside. There was very little need for correction, much to the disappointment
of the sadistic slavers.
          After, Turquoise lay naked in her bare cell, the drug’s effects purged from her system by three
hours of continual sex.
          Tired, unable to think of any way of escaping, she tried to sleep, but her mind kept returning to
her conditioning sessions, and when she did, she felt herself grow wet with anticipation.

          The next day started exactly as the one before. Degula escorted her to the room where her
conditioning was taking place, pinning her firmly while Kukis administered the drug.
          Once the drug was pumping through her system, she quickly fell to performing slavishly. She
finished Degula easily and was joyfully sheathing Kukis familiar slicer with her full lips when things
happened.
          “What, you can’t get laid any other way than drugging your date?” The voice was masculine and
unfamiliar.
          Degula spun to the door to see the stranger there. He was dressed in green and black, his right
hand holding a staff in a relaxed manner. He might have been an Outie from his dress, except he was
rather understated in his flamboyance. There was no sign of his wearing a stopper.
          It didn’t matter that they couldn’t be sure he was an enemy. Everyone was an enemy until
proven otherwise, and even then they were treated with distrust. It was a case of “put them out the
airlock and ask questions later”.
          Caught off guard, the first mate tried to recall where her stopper was, then remembered the
weapon was in her cabin. She’d been anticipating more willing sex with Coppertop, not having to
defend herself without so much as a toothpick at hand.
          But instead of panicking, Degula did what came naturally to her… she went on the attack. It was
one of the instincts which had saved her life in the past.
          She was still closing with the stranger when his relaxed attitude vanished and she saw the staff in
his hand start into motion.
          It was the last thing Degula saw for several hours.
          Kukis was equally unprepared. One second he was evaluating Coppertop’s avid performance as
she did her very best to swallow his slicer, the next second he was having to push her away from his
crotch in an attempt to get into a defensible position.
          He managed to pull the kneeling Coppertop to her feet. Holding her between himself and the
intruder, he watched Degula crumple to the ground, her head snapping back as the stranger’s staff
caught her under the jaw.
          Turning on Kukis, Harlequin felt something akin to accidentally stepping on a large slug with
bare feet… a feeling of dealing with something repulsive and unclean.
          To him, Kukis was a creature with no redeeming qualities whatever. Slimy, unfeeling, cowardly,
the ship’s master was trying to shield himself behind Turquoise’s taller but thinner form as he tried to
calculate his best course. He peered around her enough to keep the intruder in sight. Perhaps he could
use the redheaded cake as a hostage…
          “I don’t much care for rapists. I don’t care for slavers, either,” Quinn said. “That means I really
don’t like you.” He brought the staff up and held it as if he was bracing it under his arm for stability,
which he was, and a pressor beam flashed out of the staff’s end, taking Kukis in the forehead.
It felt like he’d been punched hard right between the eyes. The slaver lost his grip on his living
shield and staggered back, conscious but stunned. Swaying on his feet, he tried to rally some kind of
defense, his arms covering his head to ward off another attack.
          Quinn didn’t bother to use his staff this time. That was too impersonal. It was one of those rare
occasions in Quinn’s life that he wanted someone to hurt… a lot.
          In just three steps he covered the distance to the reeling Kukis. The slaver was swaying, arms
trying futilely to prevent another attack, his still erect slicer waving in the air.
          That’ll do, thought Quinn, and his foot snapped up like a man punting a football, meeting solidly
between the thighs of the repulsive spacer.
          Pain like he’d never felt before in his life made Kukis fall to his knees, retching violently as his
body unsuccessfully tried to vomit. He wished he could pass out or die… anything to escape the
unbelievable agony from his testicles.
          Quinn simply leaned on his staff, watching the creature writhing on the floor before him.
          After ten seconds, he couldn’t stomach watching the wretched thing any more and rapped him at
the base of the skull with the staff.
          The slaver dropped like a stone, joining his first mate in unconsciousness. Bending down, Quinn
stuck a small adhesive transmitter to each of the motionless forms.
          Quinn tapped the phoenix-shaped badge on his tunic.
          “Okay, Collie. The last two are ready to go. Put them in holding with the others. I’ll deal with
them later.”
          The tagged bodies shimmered and vanished.
          Then he turned to Turquoise.
          “You’re safe now. If you come with me, I’ll take you home.” He extended a hand to her.
          Rather than the naked woman shrinking away, as would be reasonable, or trying to find
something to cover herself, or even bursting into tears in relief, the beautiful redhead did something
quite unexpected.
          She threw herself at him, instantly becoming an “unidentified amorous object”.
          Glomming onto him, she began kissing and grabbing, the picture of pent up desire suddenly
released.
          He began making “whoa” sounds, but she ignored his protests completely, fumbling at the
closure on the front of his outfit.
          To Turquoise’s drug-influenced mind, she hadn’t just escaped torture and a life of slavery. One
part of her was infinitely grateful at her deliverance and happily fastened on Quinn as the hero of her
fairy tale, but the rest of her had been deprived of the slicer she so desperately needed.
          It was only natural she should expect him to fill both roles.
          “It’s okay,” he told her, trying to fend her off, not very effectively since he had a staff occupying
one of his hands. “You don’t have to do that.”
          Turquoise didn’t say anything but gave a clear moan of disappointment, her hands again trying to
get to his chest and torso… and lower down.
          “Uh… Collie, darling, I could use some help here.”
          Columbina’s voice came back over the com badge.
          “What do you want me to do, Quinn?” It was a serious offer, not satirical.
          “Can we find an antidote for her?”
          “I’ve bypassed their computer security and downloaded all important data. They kept
observational records of at least two other cases subjected to this drug, and results aren’t promising.”
          “Can we sedate her or something?” He was having trouble controlling the amorous beauty
without hurting her.
          “Bad idea. More drugs would almost certainly cause damage.” Columbina knew that time was
important, so she kept her responses brief.
          “What about back at the Clinic?”
          “Same limitations we have, and I have better data.”
          “How about putting her in isolation?”
          Turquoise didn’t like that idea at all. She whimpered and tried again to get her hands on him.
          “Negative. First subject tested was placed in isolation during her third injection, and came out…
damaged. Semi-vegetative. Seems the drug creates literal physical needs, like some Terran mammals
during estrus.”
          “Suggestions?”
          “Give her what she wants.”
          “What?”
          “The damage is already done. It’s the safest course, and we know it’s likely to cause the least
long term damage.”
          Quinn was torn. This seemed close to rape to him, even if Turquoise was the one demanding
sex.
          “Well, at least get us back aboard. I can’t stand being here.” He let go of her hands and she
immediately plastered herself against him, her cheek going to his chest. She let out a purr of
contentment as her eyes closed and her hands began sliding up his chest and over his strong shoulders.
          “Uh… better beam us directly to my quarters,” he commented.
          “Understood.”
          The nest thing he knew, the slaver’s ship faded from view and his own private ship’s cabin
aboard Columbina came into focus.
          “One last thing, bella.”
          “Yes.”
          Now that he was back on board, he no longer needed the communicator to speak to her.
          “Have you gotten everything of use from the slaver’s ship?”
          “Everything that I can detect.”
          “Then dispose of it, please.”
          “Confirmed.”
          He didn’t bother to ask her how she intended to do so, but assumed she would manage.
          Then he turned his attention back to his immediate “problem”.
          “All right. Let’s do this right.” He carefully tossed the staff aside.
          As she was fumbling at the closure down the front of his outfit, he took her face between his
hands and tilted it up to his own. Looking into her eyes, she didn’t look drugged except for her pupils
which were widely dilated with desire.
          Gently, he brought his lips down to hers.
          She melted into the kiss, flowing against him, her lips parting as she let out a profound moan.
          It was, in Quinn’s experience, one hell of a kiss.
          They broke about a minute later, and Turquoise went back to getting him out of his clothes, but
now her actions were more deliberate and less frantic, even if her breathing was much more excited. She
kept looking up into his eyes, as if she wanted to be sure he was going to stay right there for her.
          He saw that her nipples were hard and erect, the areolas surrounding them crinkled as tight as
any he’d ever seen on a female. He decided that cooperating with the inevitable was likely going to be
very pleasurable.
          She managed to get him out of his clothes without incident, and he steered them towards the low
bed. She dropped to her knees at the edge of the bed, but when she would have happily gone to work
slurping his delightful slicer, he took her by the shoulders and placed her on the bed.
          Turquoise wasn’t sure what was going to happen next. She was used to doing what Kukis and
Degula wanted, but this didn’t seem to fit the pattern.
          With a smile, he decided to show her what being cherished could be like. Keeping his eyes on
hers, he slowly leaned in until his lips met her stash.
          It just took a moment before Turquoise remembered what it was like to receive in this case, and
she immediately recalled she liked it.
          He enjoyed giving a woman pleasure, and Turquoise more than most. The main difference was
that she was so much more receptive. It made no difference that part of it was the drug. Quinn simply
enjoyed a female who enjoyed herself.
          He had barely begun before she started to gasp and quake, raising her hips to press herself more
firmly to his loving mouth as she began to flash. At the beginning, her hands clutched at the covers of
the bed, but after a few moments, she brought them up and began to clutch at her breasts, squeezing
them hard as she gasped out her pleasure.
          They kept at it for ten minutes (and at least seven orgasms for his lovely partner) before she
became impatient. She pushed him away from her cake, but only long enough to shift herself around
until he was beneath her in a classic sixty-nine position. She was impatient to give as well as receive.
She didn’t bother to wait for Quinn, but simply wrapped her luscious lips around his slicer and
let out a long, satisfied moan, as if it was the most wonderful thing she’d ever done.
          Quinn didn’t let her go very long without returning to his own oral activities, which she seemed
to enjoy even more now that she was being orally active herself.
          He had to admit she was incredibly good at what she did. She threw herself into fellatio with
whole-hearted abandon, leaving any self-consciousness behind. She wanted him to remember her as the
best he’d ever had, and she was going to use every bit of her expertise to make that happen. That was a
lot of expertise.
          Fortunately, he was as adept as she was, and she was well primed. It made her enjoy herself
more than she ever had before.
          She licked. She kissed. She came. She cradled. She swirled. She came. She gulped. She
throated. She came. She sucked. She threw every trick she knew at him. She came.
          And about ten minutes later, she swallowed.
          It was an incredibly intense orgasm for Quinn. His normal capacity was sizable, but this one was
big even for him. Turquoise just kept swallowing every bit until he was quite finished.
          Holding him still deep within her wanton mouth, she gave a deep, satisfied chuckle and pulled
him from her lips with a highly audible pop.
          Quinn was used to a woman taking a breather for a couple of minutes, but Turquoise was still
ready to go. She began rubbing her wonderful breasts against him, slithering up and down his body,
clearly enjoying herself but obviously wanting more from him.
          Despite how incredibly sexy she was, if he hadn’t had the benefit of his Quickening or Ishtar’s
trigger word installed to jump start his libido, she would have been dealing with a spent force for at least
another fifteen minutes. But all he did was murmur the word “Priapus” and things started rising to the
challenge.
          Turquoise clearly thought this was no more than her due since she took it completely in stride.
She simply reversed herself over him and started using her fabulous warheads to masturbate him.
Pinching her nipples between the side of her thumb and palm, she used the sensitive points to pull her
breasts around his slicer as she gazed up at him in adoration, adding to both their pleasures at once.
          She kept at it for just a couple of minutes, then she moved up and threw a leg over the top on
him, straddling his hips. Enjoying the sight of her, radiant and excited in all her glory, he felt her start
downwards. It was only when he felt the pressure and recognized the sensation that he realized she had
chosen an alternate route to her pleasure.
          Fortunately, he was within arms reach of a side cabinet next to the bed. He stopped her for just a
moment, and she moaned again in disappointment. Figuring if this was what she wanted, he could at
least make it enjoyable for her. He grabbed a tube of lubricant and applied a sizable dollop onto the
head of his slicer, smearing it down over his hard length, then nodded for her to go ahead.
With a wicked smile, she again started lowering herself onto him. Again he felt the familiar
resistance, but she relaxed and he slipped within her tight sphincter with surprising ease despite his
considerable diameter.
          It was obvious that this was unexpected for her, being accustomed to much more pain when
Kukis did this. But she didn’t let that stop her. What the sensation lacked in pain it made up for in
pleasure, and she was sliding up and down all twenty-five sems of his slicer in moments, making a
variety of sounds to express her utter bliss.
          Quinn slipped down his nerve connections until he could jump the gap to her nervous system and
monitor her pain/pleasure threshold. He could only sense the drug peripherally by the way it affected
her neural input, yet she clearly was enjoying herself incredibly by the way her orgasm was building.
He had to back away from her pleasure center as she kicked into a higher gear, fucking him faster with
her ass. She swiveled her hips and whimpered with her quickly mounting pleasure, then suddenly
started shaking and gasping as she flashed. Then the volume of her vocal response rose in sync with the
joy she felt as the next climax rose on top of the first.
          But greater pleasure was in store. The longer she kept it up, the more she seemed to enjoy it and
the greater her climax became. Turquoise must have been well into the third minute of what was surely
a universe-class orgasm when she gave several convulsive hunches, fucking him hard, slamming him up
her tight backside several times before she stopped and then slumped over.
          She has passed out, literally slicing herself unconscious.
          As she slumped, he shifted her weight so that she collapsed onto him and he could cradle her
gently.
          He was checking her vital signs when she came around and gave a warm, sleepy chuckle of
enjoyment. Wiggling her hips, she was disappointed to find that she was no longer impaled on him, but
instead of letting things cool down, she had him back at her rear entrance in just moments, ready to go
yet again.
          “Easy, Turquoise, easy.”
          She looked up at him as if afraid she’d done something wrong… something which might bring
correction.
          Instead, he ran a hand down one side of her face, cradling her cheek tenderly as he smiled.
          When she was sure she hadn’t misbehaved, she shifted back down until he was back at her back
door.
          Reaching down, he repositioned himself at the entrance to her cake.
          “How about this, hmm?”
          Without a word, she eased herself down onto him, giving a long shuddering sigh as she did. Her
breathing was shaky by the time she was near bottom, but she paused just a second to get prepared
before she started to move.
          Quinn discovered she was good at everything she did.
          Turquoise undulated her torso in a sensual motion which started at her delectable chest and ran
down to her swiveling pelvis. Some portion of her drug-influenced mind had almost forgotten how
good it was to slice like this, but not for long.
          She rode him like a champion for almost twenty minutes, and he stopped trying to keep track of
her climaxes. Some time later, he would look back and chuckle at how she once “unbelievably” flashed
three times in one night. Here, it was more like thirty-three times. He controlled his orgasm reflex and
let her do what she wanted, giving her full control after she had been denied it for so long.
          After one particularly intense orgasm, she fell forward onto him and lay panting with her eyes
closed for a few moments while trying to regain her breath.
          In his ear, Quinn heard Columbina’s voice. She was using her directional capabilities to speak
only to him… a trick she had learned from Pallas.
          “Quinn, scans indicate that the drug has been purged from her system. She should be calming
down now.”
          As if to contradict her, Turquoise gave a throaty moan and moved her hips suggestively against
him.
          He simply ran a hand down her shapely back, thinking that he’d have really rather had a gentler
introduction to this wonderful woman.
          She purred for a moment, then looking up into his eyes, chuckled as she took the lubricant he had
set aside earlier and applied more to his still erect slicer. When she had pumped him several times, she
positioned herself once again at her back entrance.
          He said, “Turquoise… you don’t have to do that now.”
          She smiled, and spoke for the first time.
          “I know I don’t have to. That doesn’t mean I don’t want to.”
          It was then that Quinn realized that she was truly no longer under the control of the drug, but
possibly not the conditioning.
          Wiggling her backside as she let herself down, she gave an appreciative “ooh” as she was
penetrated, then after just a moment to adjust to the sensation, she started rocking. Still facing him, she
leaned back and put her hands on his knees so that she could move without doing all the work with her
legs.
          Then she showed him that the drug may have enhanced her mood, but it hadn’t enhanced her
performance. She was able to be every bit as salacious on her own, and showed him in a very direct
way.
          Starting slow, she oozed up and down the full length of his slicer, taking it easy. But soon, she
stepped up the pace, moving with greater urgency as she flashed for the first, but certainly not the last
time. She trembled and drove herself down onto him with savage strokes, crying out with passion.
In the midst of her climax, she shifted her balance to support herself with her left hand, bringing
the right up to clutch strongly at the point of her right breast.
          Whether it was the result of her conditioning or not, Quinn had to admit she seemed to enjoy
herself as much as any woman he knew. It was possible that the slavers had actually had an
unintentional positive after-effect—if that was possible.
          Turquoise cried out as she came yet again and Quinn had to smile. She was certainly a wanton
little strumpet, and there was nothing wrong with that in his opinion. So long as she didn’t suffer any
long-term damage from her experience, he wouldn’t begrudge Kukis and Degula their continuing use of
oxygen.
          Knowing this copper-tressed bed-bunny was doing her very best to make his evening one of his
most memorable, he felt it was only fair to return the favor.
          He reached out and began sliding his middle and ring fingers along the lips of her unoccupied
stash, unsurprised to find out how wet she was. Without the slightest difficulty he slipped both fingers
up and inside her, rubbing in time to her undulating hips, enhancing her sensations.
          She gave out another sound of appreciation and gave him an answering squeeze with the muscles
lining both her stash and back door, not enough to interfere but enough to show she approved very
heartily. They continued to pleasure each other this way, Turquoise slowly adding to her growing total of
climaxes for the evening until Quinn knew she was primed for “the big one”.
          “Ready, beautiful?” he asked quietly.
          She smiled, showing she understood the compliment even though she was well-occupied with
other things, and nodded.
          He started to move.
          Flexing his hips, he copied the rhythm she had set until she could simply hold still and let him do
the work. Sliding his fingers and slicer in time, he stroked away both front and back, and her head
dropped back, eyes closing as she let herself go with the moment.
          “And now…” he purred, and he began to fuck her ass in earnest.
          It only took a half dozen strokes before Turquoise began to squeal in pleasure, the orgasm she
was feeling swelling to much bigger proportions that she had thought possible. He kept a close watch
on her pleasure center, and when he was about to flash himself, he gave her a nice, strong jolt as he
began to come deep within her incredible ass.
          Her squeal became a scream of pure sexual pleasure as her world exploded, and after thirty
seconds of the most intense sexual release of her life, she went limp and passed out for the second time
that evening.
          She came to just fifteen seconds or so later, and found that she still had twenty-five sems of hard
slicer up her backside.
          “Everything okay?” he asked.
          She responded with a groan of deep pleasure that turned into a laugh. He could actually feel her
laughter in the ring of her anus stretched tight around his erection.
          “How many ways can you say perfect?” she responded. Looking back at him, she inquired,
          “And you?” She gave him a couple of squeezes with her sphincter to show she was really asking if he
had flashed.
          “I think I passed perfect some time back.”
          “Then…” She every so slowly dis-impaled herself from him, and then settled down onto the
bed. Before things could grow awkward, she lay down next to him and put her head on his shoulder.
          “And by the way… thank you. For everything.”
          “It was my pleasure… for everything. And by the way, my friends call me Quinn.”
          She gave him a genuine smile, then as she settled back said, “I’m Turquoise. But you knew that,
didn’t you?”
          “Yes.”
          Wishing to pursue the matter, she asked, “How did you know? Did you know… them…
before?” She couldn’t call the slavers by their names. It would make them sound more human than she
knew they deserved.
          “No. I knew they were slavers, but it wasn’t until they grabbed you that I was in a position to
act.”
          “Why not?” There was no accusation in the question, simply curiosity.
          “I’m in a very tricky spot most of the time. Because of my business, I have to play by certain
rules. If I disobey those rules, I can cause serious damage to those I’m trying to help.”
          “I’m not sure I follow,” she admitted. What kind of business was he talking about? Was he
TGO?
          Gently, he disengaged himself from her and rose from the bed. Walking to the closet, he
produced a beautifully embroidered silk kimono in tourmaline green and black. He slipped it on and
brought her one in similar colors.
          Holding it out to her, he said, “I think it will be easier to show you than to try to explain.”
          Gratefully, she pulled it on and found that it fit very nicely, being rather modest by modern
fashions, but also quite beautiful in its simply styling. It was cut short and showed a nice expanse of
cleavage, but she’d worn much more provocative outfits in public on Panish. Quinn had to admit that it
did very little to detract from her natural loveliness.
          Holding out an arm to her, she slipped a hand through and let him lead her.
          “It’s hard to describe what I do. Technically I’m known as an ‘inter-continuum temporal
alteration specialist’. Basically, I’m a trouble-shooter.”
          Turquoise wasn’t stupid. She’d taken encephaloboost treatments after she married Garold Harith
to help her adapt to the rarefied society that was his natural environment. She understood what his
technical title meant, but the idea was silly. A time changer? One that traveled between universes?
That was pure science fiction.
          When she didn’t respond immediately, he continued.
          “I realize the idea may seem outrageous, but I promise… I’m boringly sane and can prove it to
you in just a minute. Here we are…”
          They entered the bridge and Quinn said, “How are things going, Collie?”
          “I disposed of the Forerunner as requested. Other than that, nothing to report.”
          After thanking her, he performed introductions between the two ladies, then said, “I need to
show Turquoise that we actually do what we claim to do. We need to do a quick tour of some of the
more unusual sights to show her I’m not barking mad.”
          “What did you have in mind?”
          He gestured for Turquoise to have a seat facing the main viewing screen.
          “Let’s build up slowly. Execute codename Moth, please.”
          They were in space above a rather beautiful if unspectacular planet except for one thing… the
planet had what appeared to have two wide golden wings extending into space.
          “This is planet Moth, part of the Humanx Commonwealth.” To Columbina he said, “Execute
codename Ringworld.”
          The most impressive engineering feat ever taken on by any species spun silently overhead. It
vanished to view in both directions.
          He commented, “It’s hard to tell without something to give it scale, but that ring is about a third
of a billion kloms in diameter… about the distance a normal habitable planet would be from its sun.”
          Looking at her, she shook her head slightly.
          “I can’t picture it. It’s too big to imagine.”
          Quinn nodded agreement.
          “I don’t know if anyone really can except someone like Collie or her kin.”
          “That’s only because I can sense it all at once,” his ship-companion offered. “I’m not sure if I
think of scale in the same way as protein people. It’s all just numbers to me, so big and small are just
where you put the decimal point.”
          “As you can guess, Bella’s hard to impress.”
          He came back to the topic at hand. “Let’s try someplace with rather different rules from ours.
Execute codename Rowan.”
          From above the world looked normal until you realized that there was no horizon… just grey fog
around the edges of a flat planet.
          From the look on her face, he could tell she understood what she was seeing.
          “Now let’s try something similar but more exotic. Execute codename Oz Orbit.”
          This time the planet was all desert except a perfect rectangle of verdant green directly below
them.
          “This is one of the first alternate universes discovered by our people. It was what broke down
the line between fiction and history for us.”
          “Wait,” interrupted Turquoise. “You’re saying that…”
          “Fiction can often be reality, just in a separate continuum. Somewhere out there, there’s a
universe with a real Akima Mars saving real worlds from real bad guys.” He nodded. “It’s just a matter
of finding it. Collie, execute Panish.”
          And they floated above her home world.
          Turquoise didn’t notice because a thought struck her at that moment.
          “Quinn, you’re not from my universe, are you?”
          Softly he admitted, “No, I’m not.”
          “Then my universe…”
          He headed her off.
          “Don’t worry about it, sweetheart. I was fiction to the folks who found and recruited me for this
crazy ride. In practical terms, there’s no difference. We’re all equally real.”
          Turquoise sat back and lapsed into silence, looking troubled.
          Before she could grow too bothered by the philosophical questions involved, he leaned over and
put a hand on her knee.
          “Hey, do I seem fictional to you?”
          That brought her out of her introspection.
          He didn’t give her a chance to respond.
          “Did what we did earlier seem fictional to you?”
          That got a smile.
          “Not fictional. Unbelievable, maybe, but not fictional.”
          “Then don’t worry about it. It’s all real to us, and that’s all that counts.”
          “So why did you show me all this?”
          He grinned.
          “Remember? You asked me why I was limited by certain ‘rules’? Well, I needed to show you
this so that you’d understand that when there’s a record of something happening, it’s much safer to only
interfere after the record stops. That way we’re not altering the existing time-line.”
          “You never alter existing time-lines?”
          She was quicker than he expected.
          “Sometimes we do, but only in extremely urgent cases where there’s something incredibly
important to change, and even then we may not get the results we desire.
          “For example, two times we tried to change very bad events in our own past. Both involved very
nasty dictators who did some very nasty things to large numbers of people. In the first case, the change
they made saved some six million people from being rounded up, tortured and killed. But when they
changed that, the war that came after destroyed much more and ended up with the bad guys winning. In
the second case, it was several hundred years later, and they simply prevented that dictator from being
born. That ended with a big nuclear fire-fight and a big section of the world seared right down to the
ground. In both cases, we ended up letting the lesser evil stand in favor of the greater evil that would
have resulted from our meddling.” He shrugged. “We’re not perfect, but now most of our methods are
much more subtle, and our predictions are much more accurate. We haven’t had to reverse a time
alteration in a very long time.”
          She seemed to accept this explanation easily enough. Quinn was always amazed by how so
many people could calmly accept things which would have been utterly unbelievable to them just a short
time before.
          “So, why me?”
          Ah… the big question.
          “Because I was hoping you might be interested in leaving this continuum behind and coming
with me. I’m not asking you to commit to anything right now. I’m just offering you a chance to do just
about whatever you want to do with your life.”
          “Such as what?”
          “Okay, let’s start with an easy one. If you want, you can liquidate your holdings on Panish,
convert them to hard valuables and set up whatever business venture you wished in my home
continuum. No chance of your being grabbed by slavers. Very nice world with people who mind their
own business. Friendly, easy-going customs. Lots of personal freedom.
          “Or you could leave your holdings in place and run them yourself, coming back to make
important meetings then returning to Tertius when things are wrapped up. Minimal risk.
          “Or if you wished, you could let our business advisers run things for you, subject to your
approval. You could have a very comfortable life doing whatever you wanted without ever having to lift
a finger. Enjoy an early retirement, as it were, and spend your time doing whatever you might wish.
          “Or you could begin training to work with Phoenix. That’s the organization I’m with. You’d
learn a lot, and if you seemed to have a particular talent that would be useful, so much the better. But
anything you do could be helpful.
          “Or you could do something you already enjoy. I know that you were a singer in the past. If you
wanted, you could set up your own club and be the starring act for as long as you wanted.
          “Or you could set yourself as a very high-class hetaera. Choose your clients and never have to
worry about behavior…”
          She interrupted him. “’Hetaera’?”
          He smiled so show he didn’t think she was ignorant for not knowing the word.
          “A very high-class sexual artist, though it's much more than that. Some continua call them
Companions, with a capital C. Most little girls on my home world have dreams of one day becoming a
great hetaera, with men showering them with gifts for an evening of their company.” He grinned.
“Most never really do. It’s a calling that takes a special emotional quality, and most women discover
it’s something they lack. It’s a type of universal love… an understanding of another’s emotional needs.
          “Besides, there are way too many very willing amateurs who give it away for sex alone to be a
commodity. And you won’t find a single woman you could call a ‘hust’ on Tertius. It’s either top-class
artist or enthusiastic amateur who doesn’t charge a stell.”
          “I’m not sure I care for that possibility.”
          “I wasn’t saying you would. I was merely stating another option.”
Slyly, she asked, “Do you think I’d make a good hetaera?”
          “Well, I’d certainly be a client. But I think you need a couple of decades of learning some real
self-worth before you’d be emotionally ready to go professional. You have the sexual skills but the
emotional ones…”
          “A couple of decades? Who’d want to visit a forth-eight year old pro?”
          Quinn gave a hearty laugh.
          “Most don’t even get into the business before they’re at least sixty… more often not until after
their first century mark.”
          She looked at him to see if he was joking, so he explained.
          “Longevity isn’t a problem where I come from. The medical arts are so good that people usually
live as long as they want. That is unless they meet some kind of accident which is instantly fatal, and
even then they manage to bring most back. The leading cause of death is suicide prompted by boredom
and lack of purpose.”
          That prompted the obvious question, “So how old are you?”
          He held up a finger.
          “On my world, that’s considered one of the impolite questions.”
          She looked slightly embarrassed, so he went on.
          “But since we’re not on my world, I’ll tell you. I’m still very young… less than two centuries
old, subjective time.”
          It was true, so far as it went. He chose not to give her a more exact figure.
          She gave a sigh of relief.
          “I was afraid you were going to tell me you were several thousand years old. I’d be incredibly
intimidated if you were.”
          He grinned again, and she decided he had very cute dimples.
          “No, but I have several friends who are over three-thousand.”
          She looked shocked.
          He held up a hand as if taking an oath and nodded.
          “Absolutely true. But when you meet them, I’ll be surprised if you can tell. Lazarus acts more
like a spoiled six-year old some times, but for the most part, he’s a good man in every sense of the term.
And he doesn’t look much over forty. The women you meet usually look in their late teens to early
twenties, even when they’re several centuries old.”
          She fell silent for a moment, thinking frantically, trying to assimilate all she’d heard. He let her
think.
          “Quinn? How important is my money?”
          So, she wanted to know if the Harith fortune is what made her of interest.
          Standing, he held out a hand.
          “Before I answer, let’s take a short walk and I’ll show you something.”
          Rising, she again took his arm and followed him out.
          As they walked, he gave her a bit of warning of what to expect.
          “You see, like so many other things, money is largely a matter of scale. We have interests in
several universes, some of them quite sizable. But I’ve found it useful to always travel with plenty of
hard valuables just in case. For instance, if something had happened that I couldn’t rescue you, I was
quite prepared to jump ahead of the Forerunner and buy you from them, though I have a deep moral
loathing of rewarding slavers.” They dropped down to a lower level and turned a corner.
          “Here we go.”
          Walking up to a section of blank wall, a door suddenly appeared out of nowhere. Putting a hand
on it, he pushed.
          The lighting inside was no brighter than elsewhere on the ship, but the room seemed to blaze
with a light of its own. All over the room, open displays of incredible valuables… silver, gold and
platinum in both ingots and coins… pearls, emeralds, rubies, sapphires, opals (both crystal and black),
diamonds, and several types of gems Turquoise was unfamiliar with, though they certainly looked as
valuable as the rest. Many were loose, but at least half were in some kind of jewelry or decoration.
Having shopped some of Panish’s finest jewelry stores with her late husband, Turquoise had some
notion of what they were looking at. There was almost certainly over a billion stells in the room…
possibly more. It was certainly enough to buy a small fleet of top-quality space yachts in her world.
          “This is my emergency fund for traveling. Back home on Tertius, we have several hundred
times as much, which doesn’t include actual business holdings, et cetera.”
          “So you don’t really need my money at all.”
          “Need, no. But having legitimate interests here, in this continuum, without having to convert any
of this… that’s not something to brush aside lightly.”
She didn’t give up trying to pin him down. She truly felt she needed to know why he chose her.
          “So my money is important.”
          He turned her to face him.
          “Turquoise, if you didn’t have one single stell to your name, I’d have come for you. Do you
understand? Money is just a tool. It’s people that are important. You are important.”
          “Why? Why me and not the hundreds of others who get kidnapped and sold each year?”
          “Because I don’t know them. You I know. And I knew that you deserved better. I wanted to see
that you got it.”
          “What happens if I say I want to go back? Back to Panish. Back to my old life.”
          “Then I make sure you’re safely returned to your home and I probably miss you a great deal
when I go. And the continua keep spinning.”
          “Would you stay with me if I asked?”
          He stopped cold.
          “You mean leave Phoenix?”
          She nodded.
          Sadly, he shook his head.
          “I can’t. I have too much to accomplish before I can possibly retire. One of the things I have to
do is put a stop to the slave trade here, and without Phoenix, I doubt I could even make a dent.”
          She nodded. “All right. Then I guess I have to come with you.”
          “You don’t have to make a decision yet. You can give it a try for a while and see if you like the
lifestyle. Then we can see what you think.”
          “Okay. But don’t expect me to change my mind.”
          After dropping off the slavers and crew, unarmed and unclothed, on the primitive world of Beata,
they returned to Turquoise’s universe to discuss her options. The discussion lasted several days (local
time, irrelevant to Tertius time), during which Quinn taught Turquoise much about Tertius culture and
Turquoise frequently taught Quinn her preferences involving sex.
          It was a very enjoyable several days.
          True to her prediction, she didn’t change her mind, for which he was deeply grateful.



