Chapter One
“You know what I’m looking for.” There was no inflection, no interest in the prospective buyer’s voice. Straightforward demand and unveiled aggression were all Glabrx offered. He was not in such an undignified a pit for niceties—the best flesh market it may be—he had come for a singular purpose.
“Yesssss.” Pleasure radiated from his lanky alien host, the gray boney protuberance of two digit hands waving toward the veiled display zone. “You will see this specimen is special. Set aside for one such as yourself. No other lifeform gracing Yarblock’s Life Emporium has yet to see it. When rumor tickled my ear that a warrior of your species and stature might frequent my simple showroom, I had it set aside immediately.” With a bow, the insectoid added, “The Cenoid race respects the Necrimata immensely.”
“I am the first you’ve shown this to?” A shadow of appeasement led to the potential buyer’s curled lip.
Traders could seldom be trusted on any word. The Cenoid arthropod might have dripped honeyed words, but it was money and rare collectables the Necrimata found on their hunts that often brought such merchants to slithering flattery.
“The fiiiiirst, yes,” hissing clicks confirmed, the merchant’s mandibles rubbing together, two greedy serrated fangs that sang when moved in the ugly fashion. “This one was collected recently, yet kept in sensory deprivation. This we did in place of it being fit with a control circle.”
Glabrx was not a simple-minded buyer. His species were not kind, patient, or willing to deal beyond a very specific line. He refused to be led, swindled, or manipulated—things all too common in the Rpond Nebula. “A circlet? It’s a sentient being?”
“The best vessels always are.” The seller rubbed its two knobby digits together, stroking them up and down—fingering the bone, the round bulbous knuckles—hinting at what was to come. “There is more. This one offers a rare and coveted delicacy. You can use it for your pleasure”—overexcited mandibles clicked—“and feed from it.”
Now that was something altogether intriguing. Eager to see what might lie behind the shining rare wool of so red a curtain, the huge warrior pushed past a squawking flesh trader. “Show me.”
Fabric lifted, behind it a black energy barrier parting to reveal something unique. A vulgar display.
The upper half of the creature’s body contained in a capsule, the being laid upon its spine, well fleshed, prettily colored. The bubble-like barrier around the pet was set so that Glabrx might look upon it, but it was unaware of everything outside the restraint pod.
Human.
The species was listed in the categories his kind learned after metamorphosis from larva to adult: mammals, restricted, base beings, untouchable.
Yet, this one… its lower extremities were free of containment. Very touchable. Ankles held in manipulation cuffs, legs spread wide, its limbs bent at the knee for maximum exposure of what parts the flesh dealer considered worthy of display.
The parts would be attended to in mere moments. What mattered now was the remainder of so rare and collectible a being.
Inside the containment, it looked startling. Soft, red filaments grew from its head, arranged on a pillow to highlight the structure of its facial bones. Skin that leaked no slime, covered in little more than practically imperceptible fine hairs. So near a Necrimata’s build, but smaller, delicate in a tasteless way. This was no warrior.
Yet Glabrx’s gums foamed venom all the same. Teeth involuntarily snapping from excitement.
Unaware, resistant, and mentally stymied, the flesh market dealer’s catch lay still as floating jetsam, moving in natural waves to relive whatever motivated it to resist.
Arms stretched and bound, waist pinned by restraint beams, there was no part of its body the small thing might more than twitch in its wave. It was perfectly vulnerable. Visibly delicious.
So tempting that a trap was clear. “This is a mammal. A protected species… How did you come across one?”
The Cenoid arthropod clicked in its gullet, “It was acquired by poachers. My company intervened before it might be damaged. As collection had already taken place, galactic laws state it cannot be returned to its primitive home planet.”
The lie was obvious, but in order for the human to be for sale, the ruling body of the quadrant would have had to mark the human as Emporium property. Otherwise, it would have been euthanized. Enough government tape had packaged up this tidbit, making so rare a catch truly available. And clearly, the Emporium wanted to be on excellent terms with the Necrimata to dare such a delight.
Complications…
Glabrx had not come to take part in dishonorable business, but if all was legal… “If I find out there is so much as a mark against my name in standing here, I’ll see your entire spawnage crushed.”
So deep was the bow. “I would not presume to implicate the great Glabrx in an illicit trade. Documentation has been filed, approval given to sell this human female as a Class One protected pet.” Waving toward the exposed folds between the human’s thighs, the merchant assured, “I guarantee, once word gets out, wealthy buyers will flock to one so exotic. Are you not pleased?”
That fleshy slit between the creature’s legs meant nothing to Glabrx, but the scent radiating from it was delightful. Intoxicating.
Bending forward, the Necrimata warrior pulled aside his facial mask, exposed his jaw, and inhaled deeply.
That was the scent of… the ineffable. “Speak on.”
“This rare prize is extremely special… not for general consumption or auctioning. It has been carefully prepared for many phases.” One of the merchant’s long, bulbous-knuckled fingers pointed to the contraptions encircling the fleshy mounds on the human’s chest. “This female has been chemically roused to begin lactation. As you can see, light, stimulating suction has already been applied to lengthen and engorge her nipples. Her mammary glands are developing in perfect harmony to optimally produce.”
The Cenoid arthropod’s many feet shuffled over the floor to show another reading. “Should you be blessed, you might get that first drop to sample before your time here is up and the next customer is invited forward.” Mandibles rubbing together, he clicked in awe. “Projections estimate copious output. Such a delicacy can be harvested at your leisure, enjoyed… even sold.”
Perhaps n