Page 68 of Savage Union

“Nothing! There’s nothing there!” Pingly shouted. “A female—it’s an ill-luck female and she’s got a Synth!”

And before I could scramble up off the floor and pull up my pants, he was kneeling beside me with a long, curving silver blade in one hand.

“No!” I gasped and tried to wiggle away, but it was too late. The huge Salashion had me by the arm. One of his four hands was gripping my shoulder and the other had me by the elbow. The third, which was holding the knife, sliced right through my uniform shirt and then into my flesh.

“Fuck you! Get off of him!” I heard Turk shouting but Pingly’s fourth arm had drawn a blaster and was holding it on him, so he could only watch as my arm was sliced open. A moment later theSalashion was pulling out the small silver Synth implant—now streaked in my blood.

“Ow!” I gasped. That had really hurt! My arm wasthrobbing.

Pingly held the bloody implant high to show to the others at the table.

“There! I told you! My nose never lies!” he exclaimed. “And look—the shaft is gone!”

My heart was pounding miserably as they all looked between my legs. The little shrimp of a shaft was indeed gone and there was nothing there but my pussy—completely on display.

Turk, who had been shouting angrily a moment before, stared in silent surprise. Then he looked at my face and back between my legs again. At last he said in a low, hoarse voice,

“Jessina?”

The huge Salashion had loosened his grip on me now and I twisted away from him. Arm still bleeding, I reached down and grabbed for my uniform trousers. Dragging them up, I fastened them as quickly as I could.

“Sheisa female! And ill-luck female!”Master Gobosh exclaimed, rather belatedly. “How dare you bring a female amongst us?” he demanded of Turk. “This House of Business has stood for centuries and notoncehas a female come through its doors. Now may your life be foreshortened by this blasphemy! You have defiled our dealings here for now and ever afterwards!”

I didn’t need to hear any more to know I was inbigtrouble. Scrambling to my feet, I rushed through the gold and green archway and down the hallway. The voices of the portraits followed me in a rising cacophony, all trying to tell their stories, as I ran as fast as I could through the darkened space towards the foyer.

But then I remembered the guard—would he try to stab me with his spear for “defiling their House of Business?”

Taking a risk, I took a turn at the end of the hallway and found myself heading to what I hoped was the back of the house. Behind me I heard a lot of commotion but I couldn’t tell if it was Turk and the Salashions or still just the portraits shouting.

At last, after another series of turns, I found myself in front of a plain blue door. I opened it and was relieved to see that it led out of the house and into a dim back street.

My relief was short-lived, however, because I heard Turk calling my name.

“Jessina? Jessina! Where are you?”

I knew I couldn’t let him catch me—he would be so mad! I had ruined his Clan’s business deal!

Turning, I ran down the narrow side street, clutching my bleeding arm with one hand as I raced as fast as my legs would allow. I had to get away. I would go to the spaceport and apologize later, I told myself. But for now, I just couldn’t face him. Icouldn’t.

The side street seemed to be some kind of alleyway that led between a lot of grand houses. I could see the backs of them flitting by as I raced down the narrow road. There were several twists and turns and I took every one I could, trying to get away from both Turk and the Salashions, who were also presumably chasing me.

At last I couldn’t run anymore. I stopped, bending over to hold the stitch in my side and catch my breath as I panted as quietly as I could.

After I straightened up, I took stock of the situation. I couldn’t hear anyone coming for me anymore, so I guessed I had lost them all. Which meant I was safe, right?

Well…

I looked around, finally taking better stock of my surroundings. The grand houses that had flashed by on either side were long gone. Now all I saw were ragged, dusty dwellingsthat didn’t look very prosperous at all. Most of them were set far back from the road, which was bordered by a long fence missing slats on one side and a brick wall on the other.

The other thing that worried me was the fact that I was still bleeding. The Salashion’s knife had cut deep and then he’d gone digging around to get out the implant. I needed to disinfect the wound but for now all I could do was rip up the sleeve of my uniform shirt and tie it around the cut.

Then I had to admit to myself that I had no idea where I was or how to get back to the spaceport. I had run too far and too fast and I hadn’t been paying attention to anything but getting away.

I was alone and bleeding on a strange planet in what looked like the bad part of town with no way to get back to the ship.

What was I going to do?

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