Chapter Nine
Sakura rose early the next cycle, tired from a restless night. The horrorfying mental picture of Kerocrashing against the wall, intermingled with thouhts of Li and her mating with him, had robbed her of sleep. She'd been relieved to find him gone after her shower, although the emptiness of Kero's case, along with a sense of profound loneliness, almost made her long for Li's comforting prescence.
Somehow he knew when she stirred from her bunk, because he rang her panel tone just minutes after she arose. Sakura stiffened, not ready to face Li just yet. But she knew well enough that he'd enter her cabin with or without permission.
She braced herself. " Come in. "
He did, prompting her to take an involuntary step back. He always had that effect on her, his size crowding out everythng else in her small cabin.
Dark circles accentuated his eyes, amking him look at tired as she felt. " How are you feeling this morning? "
His deep voice brought unwelcome images of the two of them intimately entwined. She forced breath into her lungs. " Fine. "
He studied her intently. " You'll probably be sore for a few days, but Sakura . .
I'm sorry about last night. It should never have happened. I take full responsibility. It wasn't your fault. "
Sakura saw no cause for blame. Li had mistakenly mated with her, and now he regreted it. Simple - and understandable. " It's ok. " she whispered through a tightened throat.
Li stepped toward her, halting when she scooted away. " You don't have to worry about it happening again. " he said quietly.
She knew it wouldn't. Not with Li, not with anyone. She met his intent gaze with as much composure as she could muster. " I understand. "
There seemed no need for further words, and with a brief nod, he left.
For the next few days, he appeared as anxious as Sakura to avoid all contact. Their only real discussions occurred when she didn't want to come to the gallery for meals. He would have none of that. She was going to eat - with him - and that was final.
Even though Skura avoided Li outside of the stilted meals they shared, the computer drew her like a magnet. With Kero gone, her cabin seemed even more stark and lonely. Li had never moved Kero's case, and it served as a glaring reminder of her loss. To escape her grief, she fled to the cockpit, seeking comfort in the wealth of knowledge found in the computer.
Enmeshed in the IAR link, she learned of fabulous other worlds, while Li stared stonily at the controls. Even as she tried to ignore his prescence, Sakura found herself drawn to him. She sneaked furtive glances at his handsome profile, admiring the breadth and power of his shoulders.
Memories of his touch and the desire their mating had evoked filled her mind and sent strange sensations coursing through her body. She tried to push the disturbing feelings away, but every time she saw Li, they surfaced.
He seemed unaffected by her prescence, however remaining aloof and distant. Bitterly, Sakura understood his coolness all too well. He wanted nothing more to do with her, with her ugly body and freakish seizures. Although she'd faced this scenario for seven seasons, had dealt with being spurned and ignored, somehow Li's rejection hurt worse than the others.
So she buried herself in the computer, trying to push the ache that arose in her chest every time she thought about him.
She kept an anxious check on their destination. Thirteen days had passed since she'd been injected with Orana, almost half the time she had left. She should have been in Sonoma five days ago. Dark fears of not reaching Sonoma, of failing at her mission and then dying an agonizing death nagged her. But she reassured herself with the knowledge that they would arrive at Star Base Intrepid in three days. She's still have almost two weeks to get to Sonoma. So far, no signs of the disease had surfaced.
On th third day out of Calt, she slipped quietly into the cockpit. Staring at the terminal, Li ignored her, as he had for the past two days. Sliding into her chair, she immediately checked the destination screen, which she did every morning shift.
Shockwaves spiraled through her. Bold, onimous letter flashed across the screen : DESTINATION: ELYSIA. Sakura stared at the words, dread settling in the pit of her stomach. Not only were they going away from Intrepid, but Elysia was still another day away.
She gripped the consolem, trying to calm the ensuring panic. How could she convinve Li to take her to Intrepid without revealing the fact that she was a Shielder? She stared at his stiff, unyielding back. No matter that he had treated her injuries, no matter what had passed between them, inclusing the shared intimacy of mating, he was a shadower.
Capturing and turning in Shielders comprised many a shadower's financial mainstay. Controllers paid handsomely for Shielders, who could be identified by a simple blood test. Of course, Shadowers couldn't go around the quadrant giving blood tests, which was why they frequently hired renegades Shielders. Traitors, like Eriol, who knew their own kind instantly, and who were granted immunity from destruction. Why Eriol hadn't revealed Sakura's identity remained a mystery.
Even if Li cared enough to forego financial gain, he certainkly wouldn't be able to override the formidable mind control implanted during indoctrination. It was a mental domination so powerful that it had enabled Controllers to rule the quadrant for hundreds of seasons.
No, she couldn't tell Li the truth . . . not even after lying naked in his arms. The insiduous shadow of Controller influence infiltrated even the most private bonds. If Li knew she was a Shoelder, he would surrender to the inexorable compulsion to turn her in.
Gathering her courage, she rose and moved behind him. " Captian Showron, I'd like to speak with you. " she managed to keep her voice calm, but her control falted when he swiveled around, his cool gaze locking with hers.
" What do you want? "
Clutching at the fabric of her tattered robe, she drew a deep breath and asked Spirit for a mighty dose of bravery.
" I want you to honor your word to take me to Star Base Intrepid. I want to go there imediately. "
Sakura stood stiffly before him, glimpses of her pale flesh peaking through her torn tunic. The woman wanted to get to Intrepid as quickly as possible, and probably not just for that damned eclipse, either. She'd made it quite clear she wanted nothing to do with him. Not that he blamed her. Yet even as he stared at her, his gaze coming to rest on her generous mouth, his body stirred.
He should be concentrating on second-guessing Nakaru's next move, but he couldn't stop thnking about the velvety smoothness of Sakura's skin. Her cries of passion. Her incredible tightness around him as he'd initiated her into womanhood.
Knowing he'dbeen the first man to touch her so intimately affected him profoundly. The urge to possess her pulsed through him like a primitivelitany . . . accompanied by an equallyatrong urge to protect her. He had to oput an end to these dangerous feelings - and quickly.
At the next possible opportunity, he'd get Sakura to star base - and out of his life. He'd been foolish to give into temptation and head for Elysia. Marak had been among those who murdere his people, true, but he was merely one of Nakaru's liutenants, acting on her orders.
Besides, Marak was an idiot, leaving trails as clear as nebula. Li would easily get him sooner or later. But since he'd comethis far toward Elysia,he'd go on and capture Marak.
Then he'd take Sakura to Intrepid. The sooner the better. She created a definite distraction from his goal.
Revenge. It was all Li had left, his entire purpose for existing.
" Captain, did you hear me? "
He met her gaze. " I don't like ultimatums, pilgrim. I make the descisions on this ship and I give the orders. I have some business to take care of on Elysia. "
Her hands clenched into fists at her side. " Keeping your word should also be your business, Captain. "
Li checked his rising temper. Sakura could rouse his emotions with alarming swiftness.
" You seem to foeget, pilgrim, that I'm a shadower. It's not my word that's important; it's my ability to track and capture criminals. The curvival of the fittest - that's all that counts - not some misplaced code of honor. But my word is good. You'll get to Intrepid - when I decide to go there. Argue with me again and you'll finish your journey inside the brig. "
He didn't like threatening her, but fear helped foster distance between them. He needed some way to keep her in line, for she exhibited a surprising determination and tenacity.
She paled, as she always did when he mentioned shadowers or talked about the brig. Her slight body trembled, and he wondered again at her fear of shadowers and being locked up. Silently she retreated to the relative safety of her cabin.
Li turned back to the computer, feeling strangely alone.
Sakura released her safety harness and slowly left the cockpit. Already beside the hatch, Li was checking his weapons. She watched the now-familar routine, noted the remote expression blanketing his face as he mentally readied himself for the challenge ahead.
Why? she wanted to ask. Why do you do this? How can you hurt living beings and turn them in for money? Suddenly it attered very much that Li was a shadower, and not just because of the threat he posed. Shadowers were the scourge of the universe, the lowest of the low. She knew Li to be more worthy than that. But Controller indoctrination destroyed free will- and the choice between right and wrong.
Li strapped on a blaster, then slipped on a backpack containing a poratble body wheeler. The enormity of his chosen occupation swept through Sakura. By the Spirit! She had lain with him, allowed him to touch her with shocking intimacy. She had yielded her body to a shaodwer! An odd trembling seized her and she steadied herself against the wall. She had to elude him and find a way to Sonoma.
" Captain Showron, about my earlier suggestion - I could catch transport here on Elysia."
Li met her gaze, his eyes impassive. " I've already given my answer. The transport leaving Elysia are not safe for a lone woman.We'll be here a day. After that, we'll head for Intrepid. "
Day fifteen - time was radidly diminishing - and she couldn't trust him. " But I read in the IAR
that Elysia is a big trading center. Large numbers of people come here to buy and sell all kinds of goods. Surely commercial transports are available. "
Li shook his head as he pulled on his leather gloves.
" There's a lot you don't understand. Hai, many wares are sold on Elysia. It's been said that whatever could be desired can be purchas here. Which is why I can't let you off the ship. "
Sakura mulled over his mulled words. " I don't know what you're talking about. I don't plan to buy anything, except transport to Zirak. "
Opening the portal cover. Li scanned the outside landscape, as he always did. " Not just material goods exchange hands here. Bodies, souls, human dignity. They all go to the highest
bidders. Greed and lust drive this marketplace. "
He snapped the cover back on the portal and turned back, sudden emotion flaring in his eyes.
" Some claim Elysia is the most beatiful planet in the quadrant, but it's escence - it's soul, if you will - is blacker than that of Calt, or Alta, or any of the penal colonies."
Sakura shivered, although not from cold. He muct be referring to thr slave trade openly practiced on Elysia. Yet how could that - or anything - be starker than Calt, or offer darker memories? Especially after losing Kero there. " I don't care what kind of transport Elysia offers. I must go to Zirak, and quickly. "
His eyes narrowed. " Forgt it Sakura. I won't allow you to board an Elysian transport. I don't even want you walking around out there. And to make sure that you don't leave the ship while I'm gone, I've reprogrammed the hatch. Only my code will activate it. "
To surprised to react, Sakura watched him swing open the hatch. " It's twelve hundred hours now. I'll be back here by sixteen hundred hours. We'll take off immediately. " with those final words, he left, the hatch slamming behind him.
She waited several minutes, then she tried to open the hatch. Nothing. Anger swept through her and she kicked the hatch, then winced and shook her throbbing foot. Damning Li, she limped back to the cockpit.
In pure defiance, she sat in HIS chair and used HIS keypad. Accessing the PWL file, she pulled up her program . .. and froze.
She starred at the screen, her heart accelerating. Her knowledge of encryption technology had paid off. The password file had been decoded,obviously by the third program, which she had effected yesturday while Li was excercising. With the push of a key, all of his security codes transmuted into legible alpha/numeric sequences, right before her eyes.
Excitement raced through her. Sakura considered all the possibilies these codes offered. She could unlock Li's vault and help herself to his miterons. Or open his armory and take his weapons, even hijack his ship.
Hisd ship . . . The prospect whirled through her mind.
With the ship she could travel so swiftly to Sonoma, she'd be there within seven days. She fingered the controls, imaging how it would feel to be in command of such an incredible space vechicle. Then her concience stepped in. She couldn't do that to Li, not after all he'd done for her. He had no family that she knew of. He had nothing perhaps except this ship. She couldn't steal it. Not when public transport to Sonoma was all she needed.
She sighed. Well, she could at least open the hatch now. She'd take one or two of Li's weapons for protection. No one would bother her if she pointed a wave-based weapon at them. And Li would never expect her to leave the ship, so he wouldn't be looking for her.
She printed off the codes, then began accessing and scanning secured files. Now able to open Li's armory, she took a blaster and phaser. She also found a knife, similar to the one she'd lost of Calt, which she slipped into her boot. She left the vault containing the miterons alone, not wanting to take more from him that she absolutely needed. Retrieving her bag of food from her cabin, she decoded and opened the ship's wide corridor, she stepped out . . .
. . . and into virtual paradise. Sakura stared in awe at the scene before her. Green and lush, Elysia sprawled as far as she could see, an oasis of the senses. Massive palm trees jutted up from the rolling landscape,waving gently in the balmy breeze. The scents of exoctic flowers growing everywhere in profusion intermingled with the delicious aromas of cooking food.
About two hundred meters away, the market place began, neat rows of bright;y coloured tents. Teeming masses of people packed the wide thoroughfares winding through the tent rows. Sakura heard thebable of voices, although she couldn't distinguish any words at this distance.
She moved toward the bazaar, attracted like debris to a black hole. No one seemed to notice her. Her tattered pilgrim's tunic wasn't out of place here, she realized, not in this melting pot of beings and costumes. Looking for signs to the transport base, she stepped into the melee.
Rows and rows of goods, a thousand times more than she'd seen in Madison's mercantile, lined the tents. Merchants hawked their wares. Silks, weapons, food, clothing, computers - hai, computers!Animals, soundmakers and musical instruments, furniture, numerous items she couldn't even identitfy. Wonderous things!
Even in a hurry, Sakura slowed to look at the different merchandise. She'd never seen anything like this marketplace and probably never would again. When she spotted lanraxes for sale, she stumbled and almost fell. These were babies, their fur not yet long, but oh, how they reminded her of Kero, with their chaterring and hissing. They scrabled about in a case, and the woman selling them wore gloves so they wouldn't smell her scent and bond with her.
A lump rose in Sakura's throat and hot tears stung her eyes. Stars! She'd cried more in the past four days than she had in seven seasons. Resolute, she shoved past the lanraxes, blindly shaking her head at the vendor's urging to buy.
Her spirits dampened, she hurried by the rest of the vendors. Beyond the stall area lay two gracefully curved white domes, painted with colourful, exotic symbols. Sakura realized they must be the Pleasure Domes. She had read about them in the IAR, but she was just beginning to understand what they offered.
Stunning men and women, dressed in sheer layers of silk, gyrated in sensula dances along the walkways leading to the domes. They beckoned to those passing, trying to lure them inside to enjoy every type of errotic, physical pleasure - for a price, of course.
Unbidden images of Li's body over hers flashed through Sakura's mind. Pushing away the unwelcome thoughts, she skirted the domes. Releived, she finally cleared the main market area, intending to stop someone to ask directions to the nearest transport station. Then she saw the slave marketplace. She halted, riverted by the scene before her.
Sakura had read about slave's Square in the IAR, but she'd refused not to dwell too long on the issue of slavery. So many people in the quadrant suffered under the cruel anmd abusive rule of the Controllers that the plight of slaves didn't seem any harsher than most. But the actual slaves, naked and bound by electronic shackles, brought home the horrorfying reality in a way the computer couldn't convey.
Age, nationality, and sex didn't seem to have no bearing on who could be a slave. Small children, elders bent with age, white, black, orange, fur-covered beings, hairless beings; there were a variety of hapless slaves lined up in their shackles; if they moves too far or too fast, the shackles issued a severe shock.
The slavemasters, dressed in glittering gold robes and jewled-encrusted sandals, ringed the slaves. threatening them with the electrolyzer rods. Their leader, an obese man with a neatly trimmed beard, stood on the dais, calling out to potential buyers.
" Hear, hear, citezens! Come buy a slave! Buy as many as you wish - we have plenty to chose from. No reasonable offer will be refused. Why do your own fighting? Or harvesting? Or upkeep of your dwelling ship? Slaves are an economical way to have all that tiresome labor done for you. They sleep standing up. Our slaves are trained to see to your needs - and I do mean your EVERY need. "
People milled around the square, physically inspecting slaves as if they were animals. Nauseated, Sakura tore her gaze away from the morbid scene.
Sakura raced away from the slave market square as fast as her leg would allow her, dodging through people and ducking under creatures carrying huge packages, as she searched frantically for the sign that would lead her to the transport station. But the sudden sensation of another Shielder jerked her upright. Oh, no! Not Eriol! He couldn't be here. He just couldn't be.
She whirled around in a 360, taking in the market place around her, frantically searching for him. He couldn't see her out here amongst the comings and goings of the market place. He'd report her to Li like he had done before, and then she'd have to explain to Li how she got the codes, then how she was able to manipulate his computer - that was something she didn't feel like explaining, expecially to Li Showron.
She stopped and looked to the left and spotted him. Damn. He had his back to her and she stiffened as she watched him straighten up and look around him. He was carrying two small packages and he turned and looked in her direction. She gasped and brought her left hand up to shield her face as she ducked behind an extremely tall and wide creature and matched her pace to it's as it walked down the street.
Eriol frowned. He could have sworn he'd felt a familar Shielders prescence. But there was nothing there anymore. Still frowning he turned back to the person he had been talking to and put it out of his mind.
Sakura's eyes gleamed as she looked up and read the sign ' ELYSIA TRANSPORT STATION '. She sighed and couldn't help but smile. Free of Captain Showron at last! She hobbled into the space station and looked up in awe at all the different ships being loaded and unloaded with cargo of kinds.
She gasped as a particually huge creature lumbered past her carrying a huge wooden crate, nearly stepping on her in the process. Just as well that she had stepped out of the way in time, she thought shakily.
She made her way further into the huge warehouse type-thing and ran into someone. She looked up startled and faced an angry man, dressed in normal every day clothes.
" Watch where yer going! " he barked.
Sakura blinked several times, too afraid to move. Muttering the man stalked off, and Sakura knew that if she was going to find any transport, she'd have to start somewhere.
" Excuse me! " she called clutching her back pack in front of her like a shield.
" What?! " the man called over his shoulder signing something that one of the creature brought him.
" Umm, where might I inquire about transport? " she called back, walking slowly towards him.
" Depends where you wanna go. " he shot back.
" Sonoma. " she replied instantly.
The man turned to looked at her. He looked her up and down and, to Sakura's annoyance, rose an eyebrow at her.
" Sonoma? " he asked.
Sakura nodded shakily all the things Li had said before he left about Transport stations coming back to haunt her.
" I can take you to Sonoma. " the man replied.
Sakura eyes brightend, her fear forgotten.
" For six hundred miterons. "
Sakura gaped.
" Nani?! " she cried. " Six hundred miterons? But I only have four hundred. "
" I'll only do it for six. "
Sakura's shoulders slumped.
" Isn't there anyone else that can take me? "
The man burst out laughing.
" Get the six hundred miterons and you can go to Sonoma, if not, " he shrugged, " That's your problem, not mine. "
Sakura watched him walk off.
" Great. " she muttered. She glared at the back of the retreating figure. " Baka mona xie xie. "
She turned and walked dejectedly out of the hanger. She walked down the colourfully decorated street and paused. Hang on. She had the codes to the vault back on Li's ship. If she could get the money, then she'd be out of Li's way, and he wouldn't have to put up with her anymore. She couldn't garuntee that she'd be able to ever repay him back, but with her coincience nagging at her, she took off running - best she could with her leg, back towards the ship.
She just had to get away.
Away from Li, and save herself and her people.
She had no idea what time it was, according to the ships clocks, but only a few hours had lapsed since Li had left. If she hurried, she could get the money and return to the transport station before Li returned.
To be continued . . .
BW2
'Baka Mona Xie Xie ' is Japanese for " Die Stupid Pig. ".
Note : Spelling may be innacurate.
Sakura rose early the next cycle, tired from a restless night. The horrorfying mental picture of Kerocrashing against the wall, intermingled with thouhts of Li and her mating with him, had robbed her of sleep. She'd been relieved to find him gone after her shower, although the emptiness of Kero's case, along with a sense of profound loneliness, almost made her long for Li's comforting prescence.
Somehow he knew when she stirred from her bunk, because he rang her panel tone just minutes after she arose. Sakura stiffened, not ready to face Li just yet. But she knew well enough that he'd enter her cabin with or without permission.
She braced herself. " Come in. "
He did, prompting her to take an involuntary step back. He always had that effect on her, his size crowding out everythng else in her small cabin.
Dark circles accentuated his eyes, amking him look at tired as she felt. " How are you feeling this morning? "
His deep voice brought unwelcome images of the two of them intimately entwined. She forced breath into her lungs. " Fine. "
He studied her intently. " You'll probably be sore for a few days, but Sakura . .
I'm sorry about last night. It should never have happened. I take full responsibility. It wasn't your fault. "
Sakura saw no cause for blame. Li had mistakenly mated with her, and now he regreted it. Simple - and understandable. " It's ok. " she whispered through a tightened throat.
Li stepped toward her, halting when she scooted away. " You don't have to worry about it happening again. " he said quietly.
She knew it wouldn't. Not with Li, not with anyone. She met his intent gaze with as much composure as she could muster. " I understand. "
There seemed no need for further words, and with a brief nod, he left.
For the next few days, he appeared as anxious as Sakura to avoid all contact. Their only real discussions occurred when she didn't want to come to the gallery for meals. He would have none of that. She was going to eat - with him - and that was final.
Even though Skura avoided Li outside of the stilted meals they shared, the computer drew her like a magnet. With Kero gone, her cabin seemed even more stark and lonely. Li had never moved Kero's case, and it served as a glaring reminder of her loss. To escape her grief, she fled to the cockpit, seeking comfort in the wealth of knowledge found in the computer.
Enmeshed in the IAR link, she learned of fabulous other worlds, while Li stared stonily at the controls. Even as she tried to ignore his prescence, Sakura found herself drawn to him. She sneaked furtive glances at his handsome profile, admiring the breadth and power of his shoulders.
Memories of his touch and the desire their mating had evoked filled her mind and sent strange sensations coursing through her body. She tried to push the disturbing feelings away, but every time she saw Li, they surfaced.
He seemed unaffected by her prescence, however remaining aloof and distant. Bitterly, Sakura understood his coolness all too well. He wanted nothing more to do with her, with her ugly body and freakish seizures. Although she'd faced this scenario for seven seasons, had dealt with being spurned and ignored, somehow Li's rejection hurt worse than the others.
So she buried herself in the computer, trying to push the ache that arose in her chest every time she thought about him.
She kept an anxious check on their destination. Thirteen days had passed since she'd been injected with Orana, almost half the time she had left. She should have been in Sonoma five days ago. Dark fears of not reaching Sonoma, of failing at her mission and then dying an agonizing death nagged her. But she reassured herself with the knowledge that they would arrive at Star Base Intrepid in three days. She's still have almost two weeks to get to Sonoma. So far, no signs of the disease had surfaced.
On th third day out of Calt, she slipped quietly into the cockpit. Staring at the terminal, Li ignored her, as he had for the past two days. Sliding into her chair, she immediately checked the destination screen, which she did every morning shift.
Shockwaves spiraled through her. Bold, onimous letter flashed across the screen : DESTINATION: ELYSIA. Sakura stared at the words, dread settling in the pit of her stomach. Not only were they going away from Intrepid, but Elysia was still another day away.
She gripped the consolem, trying to calm the ensuring panic. How could she convinve Li to take her to Intrepid without revealing the fact that she was a Shielder? She stared at his stiff, unyielding back. No matter that he had treated her injuries, no matter what had passed between them, inclusing the shared intimacy of mating, he was a shadower.
Capturing and turning in Shielders comprised many a shadower's financial mainstay. Controllers paid handsomely for Shielders, who could be identified by a simple blood test. Of course, Shadowers couldn't go around the quadrant giving blood tests, which was why they frequently hired renegades Shielders. Traitors, like Eriol, who knew their own kind instantly, and who were granted immunity from destruction. Why Eriol hadn't revealed Sakura's identity remained a mystery.
Even if Li cared enough to forego financial gain, he certainkly wouldn't be able to override the formidable mind control implanted during indoctrination. It was a mental domination so powerful that it had enabled Controllers to rule the quadrant for hundreds of seasons.
No, she couldn't tell Li the truth . . . not even after lying naked in his arms. The insiduous shadow of Controller influence infiltrated even the most private bonds. If Li knew she was a Shoelder, he would surrender to the inexorable compulsion to turn her in.
Gathering her courage, she rose and moved behind him. " Captian Showron, I'd like to speak with you. " she managed to keep her voice calm, but her control falted when he swiveled around, his cool gaze locking with hers.
" What do you want? "
Clutching at the fabric of her tattered robe, she drew a deep breath and asked Spirit for a mighty dose of bravery.
" I want you to honor your word to take me to Star Base Intrepid. I want to go there imediately. "
Sakura stood stiffly before him, glimpses of her pale flesh peaking through her torn tunic. The woman wanted to get to Intrepid as quickly as possible, and probably not just for that damned eclipse, either. She'd made it quite clear she wanted nothing to do with him. Not that he blamed her. Yet even as he stared at her, his gaze coming to rest on her generous mouth, his body stirred.
He should be concentrating on second-guessing Nakaru's next move, but he couldn't stop thnking about the velvety smoothness of Sakura's skin. Her cries of passion. Her incredible tightness around him as he'd initiated her into womanhood.
Knowing he'dbeen the first man to touch her so intimately affected him profoundly. The urge to possess her pulsed through him like a primitivelitany . . . accompanied by an equallyatrong urge to protect her. He had to oput an end to these dangerous feelings - and quickly.
At the next possible opportunity, he'd get Sakura to star base - and out of his life. He'd been foolish to give into temptation and head for Elysia. Marak had been among those who murdere his people, true, but he was merely one of Nakaru's liutenants, acting on her orders.
Besides, Marak was an idiot, leaving trails as clear as nebula. Li would easily get him sooner or later. But since he'd comethis far toward Elysia,he'd go on and capture Marak.
Then he'd take Sakura to Intrepid. The sooner the better. She created a definite distraction from his goal.
Revenge. It was all Li had left, his entire purpose for existing.
" Captain, did you hear me? "
He met her gaze. " I don't like ultimatums, pilgrim. I make the descisions on this ship and I give the orders. I have some business to take care of on Elysia. "
Her hands clenched into fists at her side. " Keeping your word should also be your business, Captain. "
Li checked his rising temper. Sakura could rouse his emotions with alarming swiftness.
" You seem to foeget, pilgrim, that I'm a shadower. It's not my word that's important; it's my ability to track and capture criminals. The curvival of the fittest - that's all that counts - not some misplaced code of honor. But my word is good. You'll get to Intrepid - when I decide to go there. Argue with me again and you'll finish your journey inside the brig. "
He didn't like threatening her, but fear helped foster distance between them. He needed some way to keep her in line, for she exhibited a surprising determination and tenacity.
She paled, as she always did when he mentioned shadowers or talked about the brig. Her slight body trembled, and he wondered again at her fear of shadowers and being locked up. Silently she retreated to the relative safety of her cabin.
Li turned back to the computer, feeling strangely alone.
Sakura released her safety harness and slowly left the cockpit. Already beside the hatch, Li was checking his weapons. She watched the now-familar routine, noted the remote expression blanketing his face as he mentally readied himself for the challenge ahead.
Why? she wanted to ask. Why do you do this? How can you hurt living beings and turn them in for money? Suddenly it attered very much that Li was a shadower, and not just because of the threat he posed. Shadowers were the scourge of the universe, the lowest of the low. She knew Li to be more worthy than that. But Controller indoctrination destroyed free will- and the choice between right and wrong.
Li strapped on a blaster, then slipped on a backpack containing a poratble body wheeler. The enormity of his chosen occupation swept through Sakura. By the Spirit! She had lain with him, allowed him to touch her with shocking intimacy. She had yielded her body to a shaodwer! An odd trembling seized her and she steadied herself against the wall. She had to elude him and find a way to Sonoma.
" Captain Showron, about my earlier suggestion - I could catch transport here on Elysia."
Li met her gaze, his eyes impassive. " I've already given my answer. The transport leaving Elysia are not safe for a lone woman.We'll be here a day. After that, we'll head for Intrepid. "
Day fifteen - time was radidly diminishing - and she couldn't trust him. " But I read in the IAR
that Elysia is a big trading center. Large numbers of people come here to buy and sell all kinds of goods. Surely commercial transports are available. "
Li shook his head as he pulled on his leather gloves.
" There's a lot you don't understand. Hai, many wares are sold on Elysia. It's been said that whatever could be desired can be purchas here. Which is why I can't let you off the ship. "
Sakura mulled over his mulled words. " I don't know what you're talking about. I don't plan to buy anything, except transport to Zirak. "
Opening the portal cover. Li scanned the outside landscape, as he always did. " Not just material goods exchange hands here. Bodies, souls, human dignity. They all go to the highest
bidders. Greed and lust drive this marketplace. "
He snapped the cover back on the portal and turned back, sudden emotion flaring in his eyes.
" Some claim Elysia is the most beatiful planet in the quadrant, but it's escence - it's soul, if you will - is blacker than that of Calt, or Alta, or any of the penal colonies."
Sakura shivered, although not from cold. He muct be referring to thr slave trade openly practiced on Elysia. Yet how could that - or anything - be starker than Calt, or offer darker memories? Especially after losing Kero there. " I don't care what kind of transport Elysia offers. I must go to Zirak, and quickly. "
His eyes narrowed. " Forgt it Sakura. I won't allow you to board an Elysian transport. I don't even want you walking around out there. And to make sure that you don't leave the ship while I'm gone, I've reprogrammed the hatch. Only my code will activate it. "
To surprised to react, Sakura watched him swing open the hatch. " It's twelve hundred hours now. I'll be back here by sixteen hundred hours. We'll take off immediately. " with those final words, he left, the hatch slamming behind him.
She waited several minutes, then she tried to open the hatch. Nothing. Anger swept through her and she kicked the hatch, then winced and shook her throbbing foot. Damning Li, she limped back to the cockpit.
In pure defiance, she sat in HIS chair and used HIS keypad. Accessing the PWL file, she pulled up her program . .. and froze.
She starred at the screen, her heart accelerating. Her knowledge of encryption technology had paid off. The password file had been decoded,obviously by the third program, which she had effected yesturday while Li was excercising. With the push of a key, all of his security codes transmuted into legible alpha/numeric sequences, right before her eyes.
Excitement raced through her. Sakura considered all the possibilies these codes offered. She could unlock Li's vault and help herself to his miterons. Or open his armory and take his weapons, even hijack his ship.
Hisd ship . . . The prospect whirled through her mind.
With the ship she could travel so swiftly to Sonoma, she'd be there within seven days. She fingered the controls, imaging how it would feel to be in command of such an incredible space vechicle. Then her concience stepped in. She couldn't do that to Li, not after all he'd done for her. He had no family that she knew of. He had nothing perhaps except this ship. She couldn't steal it. Not when public transport to Sonoma was all she needed.
She sighed. Well, she could at least open the hatch now. She'd take one or two of Li's weapons for protection. No one would bother her if she pointed a wave-based weapon at them. And Li would never expect her to leave the ship, so he wouldn't be looking for her.
She printed off the codes, then began accessing and scanning secured files. Now able to open Li's armory, she took a blaster and phaser. She also found a knife, similar to the one she'd lost of Calt, which she slipped into her boot. She left the vault containing the miterons alone, not wanting to take more from him that she absolutely needed. Retrieving her bag of food from her cabin, she decoded and opened the ship's wide corridor, she stepped out . . .
. . . and into virtual paradise. Sakura stared in awe at the scene before her. Green and lush, Elysia sprawled as far as she could see, an oasis of the senses. Massive palm trees jutted up from the rolling landscape,waving gently in the balmy breeze. The scents of exoctic flowers growing everywhere in profusion intermingled with the delicious aromas of cooking food.
About two hundred meters away, the market place began, neat rows of bright;y coloured tents. Teeming masses of people packed the wide thoroughfares winding through the tent rows. Sakura heard thebable of voices, although she couldn't distinguish any words at this distance.
She moved toward the bazaar, attracted like debris to a black hole. No one seemed to notice her. Her tattered pilgrim's tunic wasn't out of place here, she realized, not in this melting pot of beings and costumes. Looking for signs to the transport base, she stepped into the melee.
Rows and rows of goods, a thousand times more than she'd seen in Madison's mercantile, lined the tents. Merchants hawked their wares. Silks, weapons, food, clothing, computers - hai, computers!Animals, soundmakers and musical instruments, furniture, numerous items she couldn't even identitfy. Wonderous things!
Even in a hurry, Sakura slowed to look at the different merchandise. She'd never seen anything like this marketplace and probably never would again. When she spotted lanraxes for sale, she stumbled and almost fell. These were babies, their fur not yet long, but oh, how they reminded her of Kero, with their chaterring and hissing. They scrabled about in a case, and the woman selling them wore gloves so they wouldn't smell her scent and bond with her.
A lump rose in Sakura's throat and hot tears stung her eyes. Stars! She'd cried more in the past four days than she had in seven seasons. Resolute, she shoved past the lanraxes, blindly shaking her head at the vendor's urging to buy.
Her spirits dampened, she hurried by the rest of the vendors. Beyond the stall area lay two gracefully curved white domes, painted with colourful, exotic symbols. Sakura realized they must be the Pleasure Domes. She had read about them in the IAR, but she was just beginning to understand what they offered.
Stunning men and women, dressed in sheer layers of silk, gyrated in sensula dances along the walkways leading to the domes. They beckoned to those passing, trying to lure them inside to enjoy every type of errotic, physical pleasure - for a price, of course.
Unbidden images of Li's body over hers flashed through Sakura's mind. Pushing away the unwelcome thoughts, she skirted the domes. Releived, she finally cleared the main market area, intending to stop someone to ask directions to the nearest transport station. Then she saw the slave marketplace. She halted, riverted by the scene before her.
Sakura had read about slave's Square in the IAR, but she'd refused not to dwell too long on the issue of slavery. So many people in the quadrant suffered under the cruel anmd abusive rule of the Controllers that the plight of slaves didn't seem any harsher than most. But the actual slaves, naked and bound by electronic shackles, brought home the horrorfying reality in a way the computer couldn't convey.
Age, nationality, and sex didn't seem to have no bearing on who could be a slave. Small children, elders bent with age, white, black, orange, fur-covered beings, hairless beings; there were a variety of hapless slaves lined up in their shackles; if they moves too far or too fast, the shackles issued a severe shock.
The slavemasters, dressed in glittering gold robes and jewled-encrusted sandals, ringed the slaves. threatening them with the electrolyzer rods. Their leader, an obese man with a neatly trimmed beard, stood on the dais, calling out to potential buyers.
" Hear, hear, citezens! Come buy a slave! Buy as many as you wish - we have plenty to chose from. No reasonable offer will be refused. Why do your own fighting? Or harvesting? Or upkeep of your dwelling ship? Slaves are an economical way to have all that tiresome labor done for you. They sleep standing up. Our slaves are trained to see to your needs - and I do mean your EVERY need. "
People milled around the square, physically inspecting slaves as if they were animals. Nauseated, Sakura tore her gaze away from the morbid scene.
Sakura raced away from the slave market square as fast as her leg would allow her, dodging through people and ducking under creatures carrying huge packages, as she searched frantically for the sign that would lead her to the transport station. But the sudden sensation of another Shielder jerked her upright. Oh, no! Not Eriol! He couldn't be here. He just couldn't be.
She whirled around in a 360, taking in the market place around her, frantically searching for him. He couldn't see her out here amongst the comings and goings of the market place. He'd report her to Li like he had done before, and then she'd have to explain to Li how she got the codes, then how she was able to manipulate his computer - that was something she didn't feel like explaining, expecially to Li Showron.
She stopped and looked to the left and spotted him. Damn. He had his back to her and she stiffened as she watched him straighten up and look around him. He was carrying two small packages and he turned and looked in her direction. She gasped and brought her left hand up to shield her face as she ducked behind an extremely tall and wide creature and matched her pace to it's as it walked down the street.
Eriol frowned. He could have sworn he'd felt a familar Shielders prescence. But there was nothing there anymore. Still frowning he turned back to the person he had been talking to and put it out of his mind.
Sakura's eyes gleamed as she looked up and read the sign ' ELYSIA TRANSPORT STATION '. She sighed and couldn't help but smile. Free of Captain Showron at last! She hobbled into the space station and looked up in awe at all the different ships being loaded and unloaded with cargo of kinds.
She gasped as a particually huge creature lumbered past her carrying a huge wooden crate, nearly stepping on her in the process. Just as well that she had stepped out of the way in time, she thought shakily.
She made her way further into the huge warehouse type-thing and ran into someone. She looked up startled and faced an angry man, dressed in normal every day clothes.
" Watch where yer going! " he barked.
Sakura blinked several times, too afraid to move. Muttering the man stalked off, and Sakura knew that if she was going to find any transport, she'd have to start somewhere.
" Excuse me! " she called clutching her back pack in front of her like a shield.
" What?! " the man called over his shoulder signing something that one of the creature brought him.
" Umm, where might I inquire about transport? " she called back, walking slowly towards him.
" Depends where you wanna go. " he shot back.
" Sonoma. " she replied instantly.
The man turned to looked at her. He looked her up and down and, to Sakura's annoyance, rose an eyebrow at her.
" Sonoma? " he asked.
Sakura nodded shakily all the things Li had said before he left about Transport stations coming back to haunt her.
" I can take you to Sonoma. " the man replied.
Sakura eyes brightend, her fear forgotten.
" For six hundred miterons. "
Sakura gaped.
" Nani?! " she cried. " Six hundred miterons? But I only have four hundred. "
" I'll only do it for six. "
Sakura's shoulders slumped.
" Isn't there anyone else that can take me? "
The man burst out laughing.
" Get the six hundred miterons and you can go to Sonoma, if not, " he shrugged, " That's your problem, not mine. "
Sakura watched him walk off.
" Great. " she muttered. She glared at the back of the retreating figure. " Baka mona xie xie. "
She turned and walked dejectedly out of the hanger. She walked down the colourfully decorated street and paused. Hang on. She had the codes to the vault back on Li's ship. If she could get the money, then she'd be out of Li's way, and he wouldn't have to put up with her anymore. She couldn't garuntee that she'd be able to ever repay him back, but with her coincience nagging at her, she took off running - best she could with her leg, back towards the ship.
She just had to get away.
Away from Li, and save herself and her people.
She had no idea what time it was, according to the ships clocks, but only a few hours had lapsed since Li had left. If she hurried, she could get the money and return to the transport station before Li returned.
To be continued . . .
BW2
'Baka Mona Xie Xie ' is Japanese for " Die Stupid Pig. ".
Note : Spelling may be innacurate.
