"What about it?" she asked. "I was under the impression we were having consensual sex. But that kind of thing involves two partners, not a man and his receptacle. If you want to finish it, you'll have to rape me."
She stood facing him, hands clenched tightly on both hips. The knot in his chest grew heavier. He was losing her already.
"You won't have sex with me?"
"I'll have sex with my lover," she said. "You're my captor. I suppose you have the option of raping me."
He stared at her, utterly confused. How had she managed to turn this into rape? His cock was throbbing, but it was nothing to the pain inside of his heart. They had fucked a hundred times; he'd never felt low and dirty before now. Somehow she'd tied him up neatly in a little knot and made him feel like a criminal. How had she done it?
"I'm going to go look through the viewing port," she said, turning and walking about of the room.
Jess felt naked and foolish. He had to find some clothing, had to find a way to regain control of the situation.
He had never felt so alone in his life.
Jess' hand gripped her arm tightly as they stepped through the airlock several hours later. He had warned her not to say a thing when they entered the space station. He seemed to be afraid she was going to try and escape. Of course, she didn't know that for sure, as they had hardly spoken since their abortive session in the shower. Not that he needed to worry.
It was all she could do to put one foot ahead of the next.
Never in her life had she seen anything like the Discovery Station port. She couldn't have even imagined something like it existed. There were hundreds of people all around them, each dressed differently. They were all sizes and colors, although most seemed to be essentially human. The women were the most amazing. All her life she had been taught that females should be modest, obedient, but these women walked and talked like men. They even wore tight, form-fitting clothing that showed off their every movement.
Some of them wore hardly any clothing at all.
She watched in wide-eyed amazement as one, wearing only bits of feathers attached to some kind of string and draped around her breasts and waist, walked up to Jess and kissed him deeply on the mouth.
"Why don't you park the wife and come visit with me?" she asked him seductively. Bethany stiffened terrified by her suggestion. What was going on here? To Bethany's horror, Jess simply laughed.
"I have other business to take care of," he said. "Maybe another time."
"Any time for you," she said. "Just ask for Mary. You can always find me if you ask."
"I'll keep that in mind," he said, laughing. Bethany fumed.
He tugged at her arm, pulling her to the center of the massive corridor.
"There's a transit tube here," he said. "We'll take it to the center of the station; I've reserved a room for us there. Then I need to take care of some business."
"Are you going to sell the ship?" she asked, wondering what other kinds of business he had in mind.
Would he be going back to see Mary once he got rid of her?
"Yes," he replied. He pulled her through the crowd, and she soon forgot to be angry.
Trying to see everything around her while keeping up with him was nearly impossible. She watched with wide eyes as the crowd swirled around them, unable to imagine why he was afraid she'd run away from him in this place; she was simply terrified that they'd get separated.
He pulled her on to a small platform, and then a pod-like vehicle was pulling up next to them. The door opened, and a rush of people came out. Jess pulled her inside, gesturing for her to sit down on a plast-crete molded bench. The doors slid shut, and the pod started moving at an incredible speed. She closed her eyes, feeling dizzy.
"All the ships have to dock on the station's outer concourses,” he said. "If we tried to walk the entire way, we could spend the next ten hours trying to get there. In fact, we're lucky to have gotten a docking place at all; sometimes ships are placed in a holding pattern and you have to ride a shuttle in."
She nodded, pretending to understand him. She was trying to figure out just how big Discovery Station really was. The entire mining station she'd grown up on could have easily fit in this corridor alone.
They had only traveled a few minutes when the pod came to a stop. Jess tugged her arm and they stood. The doors slid open, and a rush of people came at them. She cowered back, but he held her firmly and pushed forward through the crowd. They stepped out of the pod, and suddenly they were in a broad cavern of a place. At first she thought it was simply the largest room she'd ever seen. Then she realized that above her was open space; her heart started racing instinctively. How could they possibly be safe in a place like this? What was holding the air in?
"Don't worry," Jess said, seeming reading her mind. "This dome is made out of the same material that protects the Emperor's sky palace on Tyre. We're perfectly safe."
"Oh," She replied, unsure of what to say. She certainly didn't feel safe, no matter what he said. For all she knew, he was making it up, just to calm her down. "How do you know that?"
"I did grow up here," he said, pulling her through the crowd. It was hard to hear him through all the noise. There was music and advertising everywhere and she could feel a dull throbbing starting in her head. If they didn't get somewhere quieter soon, she was going to go crazy, she thought desperately.
Someplace quiet and with a ceiling, she thought.
"In here," Jess said. He pointed to a door with a sign above it that she couldn't understand.
What's that?"
"It's a hostel" he said. "I'm going to drop you off at the room and then go out to take care of my business."
"Is your sister here?" she asked, trying to focus on what he was saying. "Are you going to find her?"
"Yes," he said. "She's here, but I'll go and get her later. Right now I want to pick up some things for us, and I have an appointment with a broker to discuss the ship."
"Aren't you afraid that someone will recognize you?"
"No," he said. "The population of the station changes pretty quickly. Even if someone did see me, they have no way of knowing why I'm here."
"Don't you think they might find it kind of strange that you're back here after being shipped off to the mines?" she asked. He frowned, and she realized all her questions were starting to annoy him.
"Let me worry about that," he said tightly. "All you need to do is wait for me to take care of everything. We'll be getting a new ship soon, and then we'll go back for Bragan. You'll like Calla. She's a great girl, sweet."
He pulled her through the entryway and back down a hall lined with doors.
"I've gotten room for us already," he said. "You'll just need to wait for me," he added, opening one of the doors.
She looked around the room. It was small, but very nice. In fact, she found the close quarters somewhat comforting after all that open space. Like home. Then something strange caught her attention; there was some kind of covering on the floor. Unable to control herself, she pulled away from him and dropped to her knees. She had to touch it. It was so soft…How would anyone be able to keep such a useless and decadent thing clean? It was crazy.
"What is this?" she asked softly. Jess started laughing and she blushed.
It's called carpet," he said. "It's very common, at least in places not owned by Pilgrims."
"I've never been anywhere that wasn't owned by Pilgrims," she said with a shaky laugh. He smiled.
"I think you'll like t here a lot more than any Pilgrim station," he said. "Come here."
He stood near the bed, reaching one hand out to her in invitation. She stood and slowly walked toward him. They still hadn't resolved their earlier fight, but she found herself wanting his touch regardless. Discovery Station was so new and strange. It was exciting, but a small part of her was frightened, too. There were so many things she'd never seen before, never dreamed could exist.