Page 10 of Under Control

“No,” Tracht said, very carefully. “And frankly, I don’t care. What you did was over the line. You are not responsible for the containers or our clients, Ms. Espinosa, and that you would break our agreement with the client— You’ve opened us up to all manner of lawsuits.”

“But, sir,” Espinosa said. “That’s the thing. This is a bondcollar. But not one of the standard ones. These are black market goods. These things…” she clicked on a button, and sharp, hooked needles shot out of several spots around the collar. “I’ve taken a look, and there are chemicals inside. There were even instructions included. These collars turn their wearers into mindless zombies.”

A clear liquid dripped out of one of the needles—probably the aforementioned drugs. Tracht could see the appeal of these collars. He remembered the time he’d drugged Alex and had his way with Alex’s limp body, all while Alex whimpered and cried. Of course, Espinosa was unlikely to see things his way. Getting angry wouldn’t help deter her either, and he still needed her as his First Officer.

He mulled over what to say, but he must have waited for too long. Espinosa went on, “The ethical implications of this! Can you imagine? I understand the need for the bondservant system, even though I—” she broke off and averted her gaze, although Tracht didn’t miss the clear judgment there. He’d known she wasn’t quite happy with the system in general, but she’d managed to keep her opinion to herself. Until now.

“Anyway,” she said, “even bondservants deserve to have free will. You agree with me, right? That’s why you’ve been training Alex up, despite his checkered past and despite how untrustworthy he is.”

Tracht had to catch himself before he rolled his eyes. “You don’t need to convince me. I already understand. But that doesn’t change the fact that we’re now liable for damages, possibly exposed to a lawsuit—”

“Paris & Lyons lied to you! The contract they sent is null and void, because this is so beyond silicon. I’d say half, at least one third, of the container is packed tight with these collars. We need to contact the port authorities as soon as we’re in comm space!” Her voice rose far beyond what Tracht had ever heard from her, and that hammered home how carefully he had to tread.

He wouldn’t be able to get her to ignore the matter. The best he could do was get her not to act on it.

“Ms. Espinosa,” Tracht said, placing his hands on her shoulders. The touch was perhaps excessive, but it got her attention. “You’re right. I’m sorry I doubted you. This is a disaster, even beyond the business implications. As always, you’ve displayed impeccable instincts on the job.”

He let go and took a step back. “I’ll take care of everything. I’ll contact the authorities and send them the proof you’ve gathered. In fact, let me handle it and keep your name out of it. I can weather any repercussions far better than you could.”

He saw the way her muscles relaxed, and the small sigh she released. “Thank you, sir. I know it wasn’t my place, but I thought about the consequences for the Sigrun if that container was checked by customs. Or worse, if customs didn’t catch it. The thought of those poor people being forced to wear those collars…”

“Yes,” Tracht said. “It would be quite unfortunate for these collars to hit the black market on Atalanta, or potentially even Pylos.”

A shame that the collars were probably all counted meticulously. Tracht wouldn’t mind keeping one for himself. Not that he wanted Alex wearing it permanently, but it could be fun. Maybe he could buy one off of whoever came to pick up the container.

Then he would have to admit to them that he knew what was inside. Better not. He’d have to find a way to fix the lock so that its tampering wasn’t obvious.

“I hope you can go back to concentrating on your regular duties now?” Tracht said. “Or, given the hour, getting some rest. I believe you aren’t on shift right now.”

She smiled and ducked her head a bit. “Thank you. I just couldn’t leave it alone. But now that we have a clear plan, I can rest easier.” She straightened her posture back to professional. “By your leave, sir?”

“Of course. Dismissed. And thank you for bringing this to my attention.”

As soon as she was gone, Tracht opened up his computer and looked through all the documentation he had for the container locks. He’d probably need to pull in somebody from engineering to fix it, but he couldn’t risk the Nilsens thinking he’d gone back on his word.

Chapter 4

“So how’s that all work?” Bauer asked Alex. “You being a bondservant, but also being a crew member?”

Alex was starting to like Bauer, even if she had shitty taste in dudes. She and Giehl were apparently shacking up regularly, if the ship gossip was to be believed, and Alex saw no reason not to believe it. He was tempted to tell her that Giehl got off on Alex’s body, but he remembered that Bauer hadn’t exactly protested any of the scenes she’d witnessed.

On the other hand, although she perved on Alex like the rest of them, she still talked to him normally and was willing to play pool with him. Sometimes she goaded Alex into playing cards with her and some of the others, but that was a bad idea because Alex’s poker face hadn’t improved much in the past three years, and he usually got soundly beat.

Alex lined up the cue stick with the ball and shot it forward. Nick had been better at pool than him, way back then, but Alex thought maybe he’d be able to beat him at it now. And then he got pissed off all over again that he still thought of Nick so often, even though he hadn’t spoken to Nick since he and Tracht had messed Nick up so good.

“I dunno. At first Tracht was just keeping me in his quarters, but he wanted me to be useful around the ship too, so he made me study and learn and stuff.”

He managed to get two of his balls into the pockets, which made him grin widely. Bauer got ready for her own shot.

“That’s nice of him. My dad had to be a bondservant too, mostly because he was really, really bad with money. But his new boss didn’t give him schooling, just fucked him and made him work as a servant in her apartment.”

Bauer took her shot, but she didn’t put enough force into it and her ball stopped short of the pocket. “Damn.”

“You’re hitting it too lightly.”

“I know. It’s hard to judge though. I’m pretty good at pool on station, but the different gravity here is throwing me off.” She grinned at him. “Maybe you can join us at a bar once we hit Atalanta? I know this great place—”

“Uh, no.” Alex said immediately. “Can’t go to bars.”

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