Chapter 5: First Duties
Master was already up and dressed. "Get cleaned up. We have to leave in 15 minutes." I went into the bathroom and took a quick shower and dried off. It's amazing how much quicker it is to get ready in the morning when you don't have to get dressed. It also seemed that I was getting used to Mr. V. as my master, even thinking of him as such. Great! Just great! Only five days and I was already falling into slave thinking patterns.
A bellhop came to the door to carry the bags downstairs. He looked at both of us a little strangely before he picked them up. It dawned on me that he was surprised that I was not carrying them. Maybe most slave owners he had encountered had their slaves do all the heavy lifting. Here was enough stuff that I was not sure I could have carried it all. I would have tried to carry twice that much, though, to avoid some of the things I suspected I was going to be told to do.
As we left, the Gravelian that had shadowed us unobtrusively all night yesterday was waiting outside. "Slave, this is Grankt, my bodyguard. He has bound himself to me. Do you understand what that means?"
"Yes master." I certainly was. Gravel is one of the few planets to have more than one sentient species develop on it. One was the furred saurian that was the body guard. The other was a small humanoid species that would be often mistaken for human dwarfs if they still existed. The humanoids used to hire the saurians as mercenaries of all types, in singles, small units and even whole armies. They lived for battle and honor. That was before the frontell plague. Humanoids were especially susceptible to the plague and it decimated all humanoid species before it was cured. Gravel was the first planet hit and the humanoids that employed the saurians were eradicated. Now the saurians, the only Gravelians left, hired themselves to anyone who would pay. Their code of honor makes them the most reliable mercenaries and body guards in the Federation. The only reason they are not the only warriors used through out known space is their slow breeding rate and their low tolerance for faster than light travel. With less than a million in the race and only 1% able to tolerate being in a Dolman field, there were simply not enough of them to go around.
Master was continuing, "Understand that his contract is to protect me. In the unlikely event of violence, he will not only not protect you, he will sacrifice you to save me, if necessary."
"Yes Master."
Grankt was good at his job. Everywhere we went, he checked the security, and most people did not even notice him doing it. I could just make out the shimmer of a multi-spectrum lens in his right eye that I'm sure let him scan broad bands of light and maybe even see sonic and electric fields. One reassuring thing about him was that since he was on duty 24/7, he would not be partaking of my 'pleasures'. Rumors about Gravelian sexual organs were frightening.
We took a cab to the spaceport and got out at the private gate area. Master seemed to know just where we were going. We passed through security (I have never passed through the scanners so quick before) and out onto the tarmac where a Vellin class freighter was sitting, a red cap carrying his luggage. An off white shape seemed to ooze down the loading ramp and flow across the field towards us. I was familiar with many races, but this was a new one on me. Once it was close enough, it looked like a three foot across amoeba.
"Greetings Captain," Master said as it stopped some two feet away. "I everything in order?"
An appendage protruded and formed a mouth, "Yes Mr. Valenshenko, all is in order. Have you made a decision concerning the price?"
"Yes, I will be taking you up on your alternative offer."
All this time, other pieces of the Captain(?) were in a constant state of formation and re-absorption. Three looked like eyes that stared unblinking at me. "Will she be able to provide what I need?"
"I think you will find she will serve your needs very well."
"Good, good. Let us board. I wish to lift off within the hour. I've bribed someone at traffic control to give us priority clearance."
We boarded the ship and the Captain showed us to the room we would be using. It was small and only had one bed. There did seem to be as much storage space as there was people space. I had the feeling that the 'stateroom' was cobbled together from one of the ship's storerooms. I had a bad feeling about my sleeping arrangements.
"Slave, store the luggage and join me in the galley. Bring the virtual room with you. It's time you showed me just what you are capable of with it. I better not have wasted my money."
"Yes Master. You did not waste money. If I may say so, I'm the best there is at financial and fraud analysis."
He said nothing as he left. There was nowhere to put clothes in the room, so I arranged the bags with the clothes on top where they could be easily accessed. By the time I was done, the only space left was a two foot wide space next to the bed and the bed itself, which only had two feet of clearance above the mattress. Definitely not the Queen Lucy. Taking the virtual box, I left (there was no way to lock) and went forward to find the galley.