Nita coughs discreetly before giving me a wide-eyed look. She whispers, “That’saverage? I’ve seen beer cans with less girth!”
Ynez taps the tablet and another much more frightening creature takes the Pizat’s place. This one has a heavily muscled humanoid torso, but instead of legs, there is a mass of tentacles below his belt.
“TheBeisteis only allowed to fuck certain species,” she explains, her lion-like eyes roaming over us, gauging our reactions. “I doubt your species is hardy enough for their… specific tastes. Still, they are another frequent customer, so it’s best to be familiar.”
With a swipe of her finger, she gives the hologram a spin, causing the alien’s tentacles to flail out, revealing… No, that can’t be right.
“Beiseslike to strangle their partners when they ejaculate.”
Skylar makes a choking sound and covers her eyes with her hands. I’m frozen, staring, because, apart from the strangling, thethingbetween its—under its tentacles—isn’t like any cock I’ve ever seen before. Christ, I never could have imagined all those ridges and bumps and flares on my own. And on top of that, it’senormous!
“It’s not as bad as it sounds,” Ynez tries to assure us. “When done correctly, it can be quite enjoyable for both involved.”
I’m fairly certain Skylar, Nita, and I give her the same slack-jawed look of disbelief.
“Anyway,” Ynez clears her throat, and another hologram appears, “we also see quite a fewEpsilonmales.”
I’m expecting another monster, but instead I find myself leaning forward to get a closer look in order to believe that I’mnotlooking at some gorgeous human athlete.
“Now that’s what I’m talking about!” Nita giggles.
A set of pointed elf ears and the sheen of iridescent scales that cover his arms and chest are the only things giving him away as alien while he stands shirtless, wearing only a pair of tight black pants, and putting all of his rippling muscles on full display.
“Their high-ranking officials often book an extended stay. They always pay well and are accomplished lovers,” Ynez says, gazing up at the hologram wistfully.
I can’t help notice even Skylar is peeking at this one through her fingers. Nita notices too and elbows her with a laugh. “See? There are some perks to being stuck here.”
The younger girl gives her a horrified look before covering her eyes once more.
* * *
By the time the dinner cart arrives, my head is so full, I doubt I’ll ever be able to keep all of the different alien species straight, let alone recall which ones are potentially dangerous and which ones aren’t.
We’re all quiet as we eat our meal: tender slices of meat, some sort of cooked grains that remind me of quinoa, and a crisp vegetable that is some kind of cross between a green bean and a potato. Nita eats with gusto, scrolling through a tablet filled with the holograms we were shown earlier between bites. Skylar is once again pushing her food around on her plate. Meanwhile, my mind is spinning. Being abducted by aliens. Being auctioned off and sold tomorealiens, only to end up in a brothel where I’m going to be expected tofuckaliens!
Can I do that? I mean, I’m hardly a virgin, but I’ve never slept with anyone I didn’t at least feelsomethingfor. I’ve never even had a one-night stand. All of my partners have been men I was in some kind of relationship with.
My palms grow damp as I try to imagine myself with any of the holograms. Some are human-looking enough, it might not be so bad, but there is an actual chance some of these aliens could hurt me, whether they mean to or not.
What if I hate it?
What if I like it?
What if I can’t differentiate between the two?
My gut clenches, my dinner threatening a reappearance. No one has outright said I’ll be forced to perform, but their brand of coercion looks an awful lot like rape.
Just calm down.I tell myself.No one is making anyone do anything.Yet.
After everyone has eaten, the girls disappear through the large double doors for the night. It’s too quiet, the large room too empty, with them gone.
After I’ve loaded the cart with our empty plates, I make my way back to my nook to find Skylar already curled up on my pallet.
For some reason, seeing her sleeping peacefully, her face relaxed so she looks even younger than I know she is, is what breaks me. Tears sting my eyes, and my throat closes up. Spinning around, I flee to the other side of the room, where I collapse onto one of the overstuffed floor pillows. The unfairness of everything that’s happened pours out of me in waves of racking sobs.
I cry for the loss of my childhood because I was forced to grow up too fast. Losing my mother because she refused to take care of herself, and then my sister because her grief turned her to drugs. Finally I cry over the loss of myself, because they took everything from me and then left me all alone.
Maybe if I’d been a better daughter, or a better sister, if I only could have done more for them, I wouldn’t be on this station looking at a life of prostitution.
Hopelessness presses down on me like lead, and I cry until there is nothing left inside of me. At some point I fall into a deep and dreamless sleep, and I don’t wake until the next day.
