Booty Hunter (Harem Station 1)

I scoff. “Believe me, no one is coming to save me, Serpint. But thanks for your concern. I can see you’re all torn up about my situation.”

“What situation? And why wouldn’t they come? You’re one of the important ones. I know that much. We don’t ever get pink princesses here. So who are you, really?”

“I’m Lyra,” I yell. “And I’m so fucking done with this day! Why can’t I just take a shower, eat something, and go to sleep? I’ve only been on the run for three days and I’ve already had enough. Why can’t you just… be normal?”

“Normal?” He laughs. “I don’t even know how to answer that. I am normal, you’re the one who got me mixed up in this huge mess.”

“Well… then just sell me a ship and I’ll be on my way tomorrow. How about that? That work for you?”

“Sell you a ship?” He just squints at me. “You have credits to buy a ship?”

I sigh. “Again. None of your business.”

“Can you fly a ship?”

“I’m not answering that.”

“So you can fly a ship,” he says, his voice softer now. Like he’s talking to himself and not me.

The bot hovers over to him, stopping at his shoulder, and begins to beep out a whole litany of bullshit.

“What’s he saying?” Serpint asks.

Luckily for me, Serpint can’t understand him. “He says you should let me take a shower, feed me, and then give me your bedroom so I can sleep. Alone,” I add. Just to make it clear that we won’t be having a repeat of the exam room later tonight.

The bot begins beeping like crazy and I swear to the seven suns, I just want to slap that thing so hard right now.

“That’s not what he said.” Then Serpint opens up that air data display thing and pulls up a program that will translate the 700 Series bots. “Say again, bot.”

Well, fuck. Now I’m really done. Because a tinny, automated AI voice says, “She’s the queen’s niece and she wasn’t kicked out of the Cygnian System.”

“She wasn’t?” Serpint says. “Then why—”

But the bot interrupts him. “She escaped from prison. Was tried for treason and found guilty.”

“Oh-ho-ho,” Serpint says with a guffaw. “Was she now?”

“That’s not really what happened,” I say, unsure why I’m even telling him that. “He’s just pulling things off the galactic web. And everyone knows that anything people report about Cygnians is just gossip. Nothing escapes from that system.”

“Except you, apparently.”

“And her sister,” the bot adds.

“Would you shut up already?” I hiss.

“There’s two of you?” Serpint asks, raising his eyebrows. The bot begins to beep and chirp again, but Serpint swipes his hand through the data display and turns the translator off and the annoying robotic voice goes silent.

“No. Another lie,” I spit.

But he doesn’t believe me. Because he turns away, rubs a hand over his scratchy jaw and says, “Holy suns. Two of these mouthy little pink minxes.”

“She’s not pink,” I say.

Serpint spins towards me and points his finger. “So you did escape with her!”

I just sigh and close my eyes, wishing I could go back three spins and make better choices. “Can I please just take a shower now?”

Serpint thinks for a moment. But I’m pretty sure he’s not wondering if he should allow me to take a shower. “Treason, huh?”

“I told you, that’s not what happened.”

“Then what did happen?”

I can see he’s not going to give up on this so I sigh, like I’m giving in, and formulate a new lie on the fly. “We… got caught.”

“Doing?”

“I mean, you have a whole flock of Cygnian swans—”

“Swans?” he asks.

“Yeah, that’s what we call princesses at home. If your feeble brain is having trouble keeping up, I’ll use the word ‘princesses,’ better?”

He points at me. “You’re breathing thin atmo right now, Lyra. Don’t get mouthy on me or I’ll drag you down to Crux, no asshole AI required.”

“I’m just saying, we get out all the time. You know this because this station is famous for collecting them. It doesn’t take much brain power to figure this out.”

“So what did you do?”

I bite my lip.

“And don’t lie to me. I can totally tell.”

“Fine,” I say. “I helped someone escape a while back.”

“Escape? What? Why are people escaping?”

“We’re a closed system, Serpint. How do you not understand this?”

“Like… they don’t let anyone leave?”

“Yes, exactly like that. They don’t let anyone leave. It’s like… well, not like here. You’re not allowed to do anything. You can’t speak your mind or read anything that’s not approved by the monarchy.”

“It’s a police state? A dictatorship?”

“Yes.” I sigh. Thank the suns for men who like to fill in the blanks. “Yes. Exactly. And I helped my sister escape because she…”

“She what?”

“She got caught sending messages out of the system. And they were going to kill her. So I put her on a ship and sent her away.”