Page 61 of Under His Heel

If Tracht let Alex out tomorrow. “Yeah, maybe.”

Parsons kept talking, telling Alex about his life on Khoina and the brother-in-law who was caring for Meilin in his absence and how he’d started with the whole sailor thing. Kind of boring, but at least Alex didn’t need to contribute to the conversation.

Then Parsons slowed down. “Hey. Khoina doesn’t have a bondservant system. If you went there you’d probably get out from under the captain’s thumb. I could see if my parents would help you get settled, and—”

“I can’t go on planet!” Alex said angrily. “The gravity or the diseases would kill me! And how do I get off once I’m down there?”

“Uh, no, the gravity doesn’t—it would take some adjustment, probably, but Khoina’s gravity isn’t much heavier than the artificial stuff on the stations. And you get vaccines against the diseases,” Parsons explained. “Once you were on planet, you wouldn’t need to leave. You’d be pretty safe.”

Alex had heard enough about planets to not want any part of them. The gravity was heavier than on stations or ships, and Alex already hated the transition from ship to station. He thought of the crushing weight on his bones, keeping him locked in place. Supposedly water and ice fell from the skies sometimes, and it was possible for the sun to burn a layer of your skin off.

And if he got in trouble while on planet—didn’t matter which planet, really—it would be a lot harder to leave than if he was already in space. The costs to get from Atalanta to Pylos or from his home station of Gatineau to Khoina were astronomical. He was pretty sure the reverse was true as well. If he didn’t have Nick with him, there was no way he’d ever be able to leave.

“Forget it. I’m fine with how things are right now,” Alex growled. “I’m on Tracht’s good side, and I’m not gonna do anything to mess that up.”

“But he’s—”

Alex shook his head. “No. Let’s keep going. You wanted to eat.”

They walked the rest of the way in silence.

The food court was pure torture. All the delicious scents were making Alex’s stomach tighten in protest. Maybe just one small bite of something—No. Alex wrapped his arms around himself.

“I’m gonna go wait… over there.” He motioned in a vague direction. “Where I won’t be tempted.”

Parsons frowned lightly. “Sure. I’ll find you once I’ve bought my food.”

They parted ways. Alex sat down on a small bench outside a pet store, where the smells from the store helped distract Alex from his growing hunger.

He thought about what Parsons had said. It felt too much like Nick’s simple solution of running out on the contract. Their plan had been to go to Cassiopeia for a few months, just enough to find money to skip to another solar system entirely. Then they would have been safe from the Nilsens for sure.

According to Tracht, Parsons was a ‘nice’ person. Did that even mean anything? Nick was plenty nice to Alex. Tracht was nice occasionally, although at least Tracht was pretty clear in what he wanted and didn’t do much pretending.

Alex didn’t want Parsons to be like Nick. But running away from Tracht again... yeah, not happening. Tracht would hold a grudge even if Alex did make it to Khoina somehow. And he was rich and well connected.

Besides, it really wasn’t that bad anymore. He knew what to do on board the ship, he could handle Tracht, Parsons was there, and—

Alex froze mid-thought as his eyes caught on a security official walking by. Not an uncommon occurrence, but something about the guy’s face was familiar.

When their eyes met, Alex’s entire body tensed. Yeah. Yeah, that face was definitely familiar. It was the same guy who’d broken Alex’s nose. From the guy’s expression, he recognized Alex too.

Alex stood up and considered, briefly, starting a fight. Then he clinked his tongue piercing against his teeth, and decided that no fucking way was he risking anything like that again.

He bolted.

He thought he caught a glimpse of Parsons, and he definitely heard the security guy shouting for him, but it didn’t matter. Alex rushed through the streets and towards the docks, his breathing coming in painful pants and his thighs burning. He didn’t know how close to him the other guy was, but Alex had to get to the ship. He had to get to Tracht. He’d be safe with him.

He hoped he’d be safe with him.

Living on ship had made Alex too complacent, too soft. This brief run shouldn’t have been so hard, but—yeah, he was hungry and thirsty too. No way around it.

The guard by the ship’s entrance gave him a funny look when he rushed past, but thankfully didn’t try to stop him. Alex slowed down only marginally inside, walking purposefully to the elevator that would take him to Tracht’s room.

Once there, he collapsed onto the bed. He had just enough energy to take off his clothes. Sweat covered his body, he was panting hard, and all he could think about was that he needed to leave Atalanta immediately. There was a reason that he and Nick never went back to stations they’d visited before. They just weren’t welcome in most places anymore.

[Chapter 20]

He must have dozed for a little bit, exhaustion and hunger winning out over the adrenaline in his veins. He started awake when he heard Tracht coming in.

---