Tymber Dalton - Spider Bight

Emi swallowed hard. “I’m sure he is.”

Rawin smiled and returned her attention to Emi. “Any or all of our pleasure males,” Rawin said, “free for you to use for the night. We have never had a human male before. We promise to keep him very busy so he doesn’t have time to miss you. And if money is an issue, we will be happy to compensate you for his use.”

Diplomacy be fucked! Emi pasted a smile on her face and prayed it stayed there long enough to get them out of there. “That is a very generous offer, but I’m afraid I will pass on it tonight. I need to return to my ship as soon as possible. We have a critical mission we were pulled from. It is vital we get underway as soon as possible.”

Without waiting for a reply, she grabbed Aaron’s hand and almost tripped over the four males eagerly waiting behind them. Weaving around them, she nearly broke into a run and headed for the front door.

“Emi—”

“Shut up, Aaron. Regulations, smegulations. We’re getting the twins and getting the fuck off this goddamned rock of horny women right now ,” she muttered.

Caph knew they couldn’t refuse the errand, since Mauri seemed cheerfully insistent that Emi partake of their planet’s most-desired export on her royal dime. With a map and list, along with a voucher from Mauri loaded into their handheld, they set out on their expedition.

“I’d feel better if we had a guard,” Caph griped. “Or a tour guide. At least we wouldn’t get lost.” He didn’t like the curious stares they received from both Moran women and men alike. And he felt worse than naked in the getup they had to wear.

“Oh, hush,” Ford said. “This is a piece of cake and it’s not that far away.”

They followed the handheld map until they arrived at a storefront a few minutes later. Caph looked up at the sign. Written in Moran, he couldn’t decipher it. “Is this the place?”

Ford double-checked the handheld. “It says it is on here.”

Caph took a deep breath. “I’ll be so damned glad to get back to the TB ,” he muttered, low enough three Moran women walking past them couldn’t hear him. “I hate this fucking place.” He adjusted the collar on his neck before tugging at the G-string. “This damn thing is squeezing my balls nearly up into my ass.”

“Yeah, it’s not exactly my cuppa either, big guy. Let’s do this and get it over with. The sooner we do, the sooner we can head home and change. Remember, we’re supposed to be diplomatic.”

“Hard to do that dressed like this.” He followed Ford inside the store and grabbed a shopping basket from the rack of them by the door. A chime sounded at their entrance.

It was the right place. Fragrant displays of jars, bottles, and tubes, as well as what looked like candles and potpourri, were tastefully displayed in the busy store, even if the two men couldn’t read a single word on any of the packages. They weren’t the only men in the place, however. Caph spotted one naked Moran man wearing an orange collar and dutifully following behind his owner, carrying a full armload of stuff in an overflowing basket while she took her time browsing. The door chime sounded every time someone entered or left the store.

Caph followed Ford over to a woman standing behind a counter. Despite the differences, it seemed shops all over the universe had a lot of the same features in common, like checkout counters and clerks who didn’t want to be bothered by customers they considered beneath them. Ford pulled up something on the handheld and showed it to her.

Caph also guessed disdain was a universal expression. The woman arched an eyebrow at Ford as she glanced at the screen of his device. Then she walked around the counter and led them to a display along the far wall, pointing but not walking them through their list.

“Thank you. Eh, cah’shleay ,” Ford said.

She let out what sounded to Caph like a snort of derision. “You are welcome, Earth man,” the Moran responded in accented, but understandable standard dripping with contempt.

“Huh,” Ford said, watching her walk away. “Didn’t think they spoke standard.”

“Many of us do,” a Moran woman said from behind them.

Caph turned to find himself nearly eye-to-boob with a tall Moran woman.

“Sorry?” Ford said as he looked up.

“Because we are used to hosting people from all over the galaxy, many of us speak standard.” She carried a shopping basket and pointed at the wall display directly behind where Ford stood. “You are not from here.”

“Oh, sorry.” He moved out of the way so she could reach the display. “It’s that obvious, huh?”

“You have been on our news. You and your captain, the doctor.” She picked up a jar, looked at the label, and added it to her basket. “She must be a very rich woman to have three men of her own as well as a ship.”

Caph had a weird feeling at the base of his neck. He didn’t like the way the woman’s eyes kept running up and down their bodies. Especially his. He wanted to get their stuff and get out of there and back to Emi. Ford would stand there talking all day if he let him.

“Could you help us find these?” Caph grabbed the handheld from Ford and showed her the screen. “Mauri Dob’antu told Emi…eh, Captain Hypatia, she wanted her to have these things as gifts for bringing the ship back for them.”

The door chime sounded yet again. Caph glanced to see a Moran woman enter. She cast her gaze around the store. When her eyes met Caph’s, he looked away quickly. He didn’t like the hard, intense stare she gave him.

The woman helping them looked at the handheld’s screen and turned back to the display. She selected three different items and placed them in Caph’s basket. “They are made here on our planet from what you would call organically grown plants. No chemicals are added to them. Women from various planets, and not just human, pay dearly to have this imported from us. Mauri is very kind and generous to those in her favor.”

She reached over to another display and grabbed two more items, tubes of what Caph assumed were lotion, and placed them in his basket. “She might also enjoy these.” She smiled, but it held no humor that he could see. “I hope she enjoys them.”

“Thanks,” Caph said. “We really appreciate your help.” He tapped Ford on the shoulder and pointed at the counter. “Let’s get out of here.”

They turned to make their way over to the counter when the woman Caph had seen entering the store approached them. He didn’t like the smirk she gave before she started screaming something in Moran.

Caph and Ford looked at each other. “What the fuck?” Caph said.

Immediately, two Moran guards rushed up and grabbed Ford and Caph.

Ford struggled. “Let go of us!”

The woman spoke quickly in Moran to the two guards, who ripped the basket out of Caph’s hand before slapping their version of handcuffs on them and bodily dragging them from the store.

“What the hell is wrong with you people?” Caph yelled, trying to fight.

They were dragged into an awaiting vehicle with a logo on the side that Caph assumed meant it was one of their security force vehicles. When they both continued trying to resist, the cuffs delivered a stunning shock that left both men immobile and disoriented for several minutes.

Ford groaned. “Aaron’s gonna kill us,” he said from his place on the floor in the back of the vehicle.

“Screw that. Emi’s going to kill us,” Caph said.

Emi and Aaron quickly made their way back to the main Imperial Home. Rawin didn’t follow them, much to Emi’s great relief. Once again, every nerve in Emi’s body was screaming in protest, and nothing she told herself would settle her. The only thing that would help, she knew, was getting Ford and Caph and getting the hell back to the Bight .