Page 9 of Under Control

Then Singh should have broken and brainwashed her. Tracht didn’t say that, of course. “Either convince her, or if that’s not possible, just shop for another one. I’m sure there are plenty of bondservants who would be more than happy to shack up with you and Dr. Fontaine, with kinks that align well enough. And if their kinks don’t align… well, that’s why they’re bondservants.”

The look she gave him could have frozen a volcano. “We don’t all disrespect basic human autonomy the way you do.”

Tracht laughed. “That’s very rich coming from you, Dr. Singh, considering how enthusiastically you help me torture Alex. And don’t I recall you and Dr. Fontaine being quite nasty to Claude Dubois?”

“Fine, fine. It’s mostly because Charles has a hang-up about piercing unwilling people. He draws the line at unwanted body modifications.”

There was a reason why Tracht would never enter into an agreement with another sadist. He refused to compromise on any matters. He wondered what Fontaine thought of Alex’s tongue piercing, or if Singh had framed it in a way that would be more appealing to him. Technically, Alex had consented to the piercing anyway.

“Getting back to the real issue: what do you expect me to say? I don’t know enough about Dr. Fontaine or your Nadia to judge, and it sounds like you already have a desired solution in mind.”

Singh shook her head. “No, that’s the thing. I adore having Nadia with us, and the past eight years have been good. But I wonder if I’m a superfluous element in this relationship. Naturally, Charles and I are incompatible on one sexual level. We enjoy each other immensely, but we both enjoy Nadia more. And they’ve proven they can get along well enough without me.”

Dear god, Tracht did not want to listen to this any longer. He struggled to find a way to end the conversation, but everything he actually wanted to say would create tension between him and Singh. He checked his tablet and hoped somebody had requested his assistance, but naturally the ship was running smoothly.

“I know you don’t care at all, Captain,” Singh said after he’d been silent for too long. “I just needed to vent a little bit. I understand that I’m the only one who can make these decisions for myself.”

“Perhaps Mr. Strobel can be more of assistance to you? He tends to have a sympathetic ear,” Tracht said. If Strobel weren’t such a good navigator, Tracht would have gotten rid of him long ago on the basis of the man’s overly friendly manner. At least Strobel had figured out to keep his enthusiasm away from Tracht.

“Pff, if I ask him, he’ll start telling me all his own relationship troubles.” She took a sip from her water. “No, it’s all right. Tell me why you actually came. Fun plans for Alex?”

That was one quality about Singh that he appreciated immensely. She didn’t get insulted by his lack of empathy, and she was quick to return to business. Or, in this case, pleasure.

“Yes, in fact. He’s been getting a bit cocky lately, and I thought we could have some fun with—”

The door slid open, interrupting him. He made a frustrated noise and swiveled his chair around to glare at the interloper. He was prepared to make a snide remark about somebody’s incompetence, only it wasn’t a sailor with an unfortunate injury. It was Espinosa, her face pale and her lips drawn thin.

“Captain, there you are. I’ve been looking for you.” She nodded at Singh. “Good evening, Dr. Singh.”

“What did you need, Ms. Espinosa? Dr. Singh and I are a bit busy right now,” Tracht said. “If it’s a work-related matter, I hope it can wait until tomorrow. You should be resting right now too.”

He had a bad feeling he knew what this was about. Espinosa tended to be calm and composed, but he could see the sheen of sweat on her forehead, and her short hair was curling around the edges due to the dampness.

“Sir, I must insist that we speak in private. No offense to you, of course, Dr. Singh, but this pertains to confidential matters.”

Singh held her hands up. “No problem. I don’t want to get involved in anything that isn’t related to crew health.”

There was no benefit to staying. He doubted Espinosa would decide to postpone whatever she wanted to say to him, and he agreed that Singh had no business being involved.

“Very well. Let’s go to my office. Dr. Singh, we can discuss the other matter at a later time.”

“Of course. I’ll think of some things that might be fun.”

Espinosa was quiet on the way over to the office, which wasn’t uncommon for her, but the quality of the silence was another hint as to what was bothering her. As they passed by the lounge, Tracht hoped for some sort of disruption, but even with Alex in there—he could hear Alex laughing loudly at whatever movie the crew was watching—everybody was behaving.

His own fault for running such a tight ship.

Finally they got to the office. Tracht didn’t bother to sit down. “Well? What’s the issue?”

“Sir, I know you said to drop the matter of the container, but nothing about it sat right with me.” Espinosa held up her tablet to him, this time displaying a series of electromagnetic measurements. “I measured the electric activity from the container, and it is significantly higher than would be expected of silicon.”

“And?” Tracht grimaced at the numbers. Yes, that was noticeably off. Between that and the weight, it was hard to argue that the container was exactly what it appeared.

“So, I thought it might contain materials or products that could be hazardous to us.” Espinosa put her tablet away and reached into her other pocket. “I took it upon myself to break into the container to see what was actually inside.”

Blood rushed to Tracht’s ears, and for a second, he couldn’t breathe he was so infuriated. “Excuse me?”

“I know that it’s a breach of contract on our part, and I know the lock will show it was tampered with. However, I was right!” She pulled what appeared to be a bulky collar out of her pocket. It reminded Tracht of the bondcollars, which held an electronic lock and transmitters, only this model was thicker and had a smaller circumference. “Do you know what this is?”

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