She could hardly believe it!
“Can I watch as we leave?” she asked excitedly. She had all but forgotten he was angry with her. Seth looked at her with surprise; such enthusiasm wasn’t something he’d expected.
“Very well,” he said after a second. It wouldn’t harm anything, and while he was still upset with her for refusing to come with him earlier, she was his now. He could afford to give her this. “The cockpit is up the ladder. Go stow your things in the sleeping room, then join me there.”
Nodding, Calla all but ran through the all-purpose room toward two small doors on the other side. She looked back at him questioningly, wondering which one she should use. With a gesture, he indicated the door on the left. The other must lead to the cargo area, she concluded.
The sleeping area was not what she’d expected, since at the hostel she had cleaned his room many times. There had been nothing personal there, but this was different.
Clearly he had lived on this ship for a long time, because there were pictures littering the walls. Setting down her satchel, Calla examined one closely. There was a man who looked somewhat like Seth, with a woman and three little boys. Seth’s brother? She wondered.
There were quite a few pictures of children in the room, she realized, looking around more carefully. Several were of the boys in various stages of growth. There were also colorful drawings, clearly the work of a child. One showed a large house, with two suns shining down on it. Another was a picture of a woman holding a baby. In large, scrawling print across the bottom was the name “Tasha.” Next to the drawing was a photo of the little girl. She looked about six months old, and she was smiling beautifully for the holo-cam. The fearless warrior had a loving family back home, Calla thought.
Somehow it made him seem more human.
A vibration went through the floor beneath her feet. Seth was powering up the drive; it was time to get up to the cockpit.
Calla made her way back through the main room then pulled herself up the ladder to the cockpit. She noticed a series of handholds along the way, and wondered if the ship was big enough to have artificial gravity generators. The only other time she’d been in space was when she’d come from the slave farm. There was no gravity for that flight, and the experience had been hideous. She’d never forget the sounds and smells of thirty children vomiting for days.
Pulling herself into the cockpit, Calla gazed around in excitement. Seth was seated in a comfortable-looking chair in front of the main computer. There was a large view screen in front of him, but it was covered by a set of metal plates for the moment.
Turning briefly, he gestured to the chair beside him.
“You’ll want to strap yourself in,” he said without looking at her. “It shouldn’t be rough, but it’s usually about five minutes before the internal gravity comes on line.”
He was being extremely civilized about things, Calla thought as she strapped herself in. Dani had overreacted. She wasn’t in any danger from Seth.
It took him several minutes to run through his pre-flight checkout. Once it was completed, he tabbed the com panel and asked the station’s flight control for clearance.
The flight controller gave it to him and with a flick of a finger he pressed a button to open the panels covering the screen.
Calla gasped with surprise and pleasure at the vista unfolding before her.
It wasn’t a view screen after all, she realized, it was actually a window onto space.
To one side she could see the mass of the station’s exterior bulkheads stretching away from them. All around were ships, and in the distance she could the faint outline of an enormous ore-transport at one of the free-floating processing plants. She had lived on the station most of her life, but she’d never personally seen the commerce that gave it life. Vid screens weren’t the same, she realized. What else would she see on this trip?
Trying to act casual, as if this was nothing new to her, Calla asked Seth, “Are we going to light speed, or are you planning to use the standard drive for now?”
Seth looked at her curiously. He thought everyone knew you couldn’t use a warp drive in an asteroid field; it was simply too dangerous, not to mention overkill. But then again, she was a pampered pleasure contractor who probably never had to worry about transportation. She had clients to take care of that for her, he thought with a spark of disgust.
“We’ll be using the standard drive,” he said curtly.
Okay, he doesn’t want to talk to me right now, Calla thought. That was fine–he might still be angry, but she wasn’t going to let it get in the way of enjoying this experience.
The vibrations running through the hull increased in pitch, then with a click they broke free of the station and the vibrations eased. Seth eased forward with a small control stick.
Calla realized he was manually guiding them. She’d thought computers would do all that.
As if reading her thoughts, Seth spoke. “I like the feel of the ship under me,” he said softly. “She’s small enough that I can feel every motion, every change in tempo.
Sometimes she’s touchy, and I can handle her better than any computer program.”
The sound of his voice, low and smooth, sent a chill through Calla’s spine. He spoke like the ship was his lover. She wondered if he would ever speak about her that way, then mentally kicked herself for the thought. She had to keep her priorities straight: Seth was a Saurellian. He wouldn’t stay interested in her for any length of time. Dani had told her time and again not to allow herself to get attached to him. Their futures were too far apart for anything other than sex.
The ship was moving through the traffic now, joining a ragged line of other ships, transports, and even the occasional cruiser headed toward the belt. After about half an hour they had cleared the worst of the traffic. Seth switched on the autopilot, then pulled up a course-plot on the holo-projector.
“We’re headed to mining outpost 12563 first,” he said, pointing to a small dot on the chart. “It’s here, in the alpha quadrant of the field. It should take us about three days to get there.”
Turning the projector off with a click, he turned to face her.
“So, how are we going to pass the time, Devora?” he asked, inspecting her slowly from the tips of her small feet to her carefully groomed hair. His voice was low and smooth, and his eyes flashed with desire. He licked his lips, and smiled as Calla shivered in response. He was a predator, and she knew instinctively that she was the prey. “Any suggestions?”
Chapter 5
The question hung in the air between them.
“Well, I suppose there are a number of things we could do,” Calla finally said, unable to bear the silence any longer. “I’m here to serve you. What would you like?”
“Why don’t you show me what you have to offer?” he said, gesturing languidly toward her small frame. His gaze moved across her body in a mixture of lust and something else, making her feel naked under his stare. “Unless you want to talk? We could discuss your refusal to start your contract until now.”
The something else was definitely anger, Calla realized. She had to distract him quickly, before things got out of control.
“I’d rather show you what I have to offer,” she said, purring sensuously. Turning her chair to face him, she pulled off her veil and shook out her long, brown hair. It was nothing special, but with Dani’s help she’d put in some soft highlights. Seth failed to respond, but Calla decided she just needed to take things a little further. Kicking off her shoes, Calla raised one foot delicately and rested it on his lap. Then she leaned back in her chair and started unbuttoning her dress slowly.