Episode I: Interstellar Bounty Hunter
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I
She made sure to shyly avert her gaze when her eyes met his from across the strip club.
Waldo had seen her as soon as he entered the main room, with its dim lighting and blaring, thumping music. She was standing between the women's changing room and some stairs that led up to the main stage. Another anxious girl stood immediately behind her and a bouncer loomed over any patrons who stumbled too near.
Waldo looked about the room and spied two gorgeous, large-breasted women on stage, each wrapped around a pole and with nothing wrapped around them. They were typical peelers, with a bruise here and there, forced smiles and eyes that revealed either addictions or complete boredom with their job. A few waitresses, comparatively modestly dressed, patrolled the tables and dodged groping hands while they filled drink orders. Waldo spotted a half dozen bouncers along the walls, theirs eyes searching for any behaviour deemed dangerous for one of the girls or not-yet-paid-for.
His attention was drawn back to the first woman he had noticed, and the one behind her. They both wore semi-transparent, plastic lingerie, which still left some mystery as to what they were going to show on stage. They also both seemed strangely nervous and then he remembered the sign outside the front door: 'Free Tryouts Tonight Ladies! A Chance to Earn Some Easy Credits!' He suspected that the two waiting their turn by the stage were here to earn those easy credits. Fingering the credits in his pocket, he wondered exactly what they would buy him if he were to try to make a deal with either one of those girls. Then he smiled and wondered if he had enough to make an offer to both girls. Waldo was quite willing to take advantage of a woman in a desperate situation.
He took an empty seat in front of center stage, scowling at the man who had been about to sit there. Keeping an eye on the current dancers, he ordered a drink from a passing waitress. Waldo kept an eye on the entrance as well, just in case someone he should be wary of walked in. He'd been to this bar every night for the last four days. It had been a mistake to get into this routine, but he'd been on the run for so long and he'd had no fun at all since that socialite's family had decided to send bounty hunters after him.
Once again, Waldo silently cursed the universe over his misfortune. All he had done was kidnap the young woman. She was moderately famous and her family was excessively wealthy. Add to that her habits of partying, alcohol indulgence and drug usage and she was a prime target for someone like him. It was her own fault, he thought with a snarl. Sure the family had paid up, but Waldo had also been contacted by an agent from Rixlox who had offered him a near fortune for this celebrity. They were always on the lookout for sex slaves and were willing to pay top dollar for untrained girls.
Waldo slammed his drink down on the stage. The stupid Rixlox ship had been captured, the woman returned to her family and he had been blamed for what had almost happened to her. Her family had contacted the Bounty Hunter's Guild and Waldo had been on the run for the last seven months.
As their music ended one of the dancers sauntered over to him, somehow sensing he had some credits to spend.
"Fuck off," he told her and he took another drink. He was waiting for the frightened girl by the stairs to come up on stage; she didn't look as well used and Waldo preferred his playthings to be young and easily surprised.
Waldo took another look at the entrance and then scanned the crowd. One of the bounty hunters had admitted that there were three in total, right before Waldo strangled him. The crook had spotted one of the remaining hunters on Mars. He was an ox of a man, but he had been slow and Waldo had eluded him easily. He hadn't seen the other hunter and figured that the man had never picked up his trail. He was almost free now, he congratulated himself, all he had to do was reach Terra and he could lose himself in the billions crammed onto that tiny planet. That was why he had come to this station, despite the fact that the Bounty Hunter's Guild was headquartered here. Terra was one short drop down the gravity well.
The bouncer gently urged the first girl up the stairs. As she reached the stage, she seemed to become more confident. A few lewd calls from the various patrons didn't seem to distract her at all.
The lights began flashing and soft music, with a very steady and deep beat, began playing throughout the club. The girl walked slowly to center stage and suggestively wrapped her hands around the pole. She had a slim build and smooth, firm legs fully revealed by her short and semi-transparent negligee. Her breasts strained against her tight top and looked firm to all admiring eyes. She had long brown hair, green sparkling eyes, full red lips and a pert nose. She wore high heels, but was apparently not used to them as she kicked them off before starting to dance.
The girl walked around the edge of the stage, eying all the men in the front row. Then she came back to stand right in front of Waldo. He waved a few credits at her to ensure she didn't move away and her fear seemed to evaporate as she stared at Waldo's offering. The fact that she was so easily bought brought a smile to his face.
She shifted her hips from side to side in time with the beat while she brought her hands up from her hips, across her stomach and then over her breasts, after briefly squeezing them together. Her hands rose to her throat and then into her curls and were lost from sight. She looked straight down into Waldo's eyes, opened her lips and then her tongue seductively licked those same red lips.
Waldo was mesmerized, staring at that face. He barely heard the sudden shouts and the cessation of the music. All thoughts of keeping a watch for his pursuers vanished from his lust-filled mind. He somehow knew that this girl was only here for him as their eyes locked.
His gaze slowly travelled down from her face, until he noticed the girl was pointing a laser pistol at his chest and holding a bounty hunter's badge up for everyone to see.
"Waldo Smitts," she said calmly, "you're coming with me."
II
"What else have you got? There must be another job," complained that same girl to an official at the Guild later that day. After dropping Waldo off at the Guild holding cells and receiving her payment, she had quickly headed for her assigned room and showered thoroughly, as that pole in the strip club had been slick. Then she changed into the standard white Guild uniform, ate and headed to the Assignments Office to find what new work was available. Waldo's bounty had been big, but it had barely finished paying off what she owed on Ship and there hadn't been anything extra for the upgrades she had wanted. Ship's behaviour was unusual at times.
The sixty year old man behind the desk scratched the stump of his left arm thoughtfully. "Look, Minx, I've got nothing suitable for you. You know that the more crowded and civilized planets have a glut of hunters. It's safer to hunt your prey there or on a nice space station like this one. The crooks know this too and rarely come to these locales anymore. So there's rarely work. There were three of you out hunting Waldo!"
"You must have something for me," she pleaded. With a body like hers she wouldn't starve, but the most likely work she could get would be stripping, prostitution or porn. She had been a librarian, but she didn't think she could go back to that now.
"Oh, I've got lots of jobs, but no one willing to take them. They're too damn dangerous." His eyes shifted down to her breasts and then back to her face. She knew that he meant the jobs were too damn dangerous for a woman.
"Tell me about them and let me decide."
"Okay. Okay," he surrendered. "The first one is on Rixlox." Her eyebrows went up. "We've actually got about a dozen job requests for that planet. Various young women taken there by Rixlox agents and their families are willing to pay us huge fees to get them back or, if they are 'too damaged', kill the bastards responsible. You know the dangers."
Indeed, she did know the dangers. Every citizen of Rixlox carried an identification chip in their brain that identified them either as an owner or as owned and it was very difficult to mimic. Strangers were not allowed to visit Rixlox. Anyone breaking the law on Rixlox became subject to lifelong punishment. For a man it meant torture for public amusement or the body banks. For a woman it meant torture for public amusement, the body banks or enslavement and possible torture for private amusement. She was not going to Rixlox!
"What else have you got?" she asked with a sinking feeling in her stomach
"Hrmph! A bounty hunter is needed to find one Cyros Cuthbert on the planet Rigel VI." He looked at her questioningly.
"That might be the one. What can you tell me about Rigel VI?" She leaned forward, with her hands on his desk.
"Well, it's a swamp planet with only three major cities. There's a fairly big and organized criminal element there. Cuthbert is believed to have gone off into the swamps to avoid the local 'officials'. Rigel VI is an old world. The life there's adapted to almost every possibility. They have a few types of deadly insects and one type of water worm that anaesthetizes its victim while it bites an opening into the flesh. They then lay their eggs inside the living victim. The eggs hatch within twenty-four hours and the larvae begin burrowing deeper and deeper. They enter a symbiotic relationship with the host and grow and grow. When they reach maturity, they begin eating the host from the inside." He looked at the screen he held. "Plus quite a variety of carnivorous plants, some large enough to devour humans. Oh, and sixteen fatal diseases which currently have no cure. When you leave Rigel VI you have to spend two weeks in quarantine to make sure you're not carrying anything out with you."
Minx felt a little ill. "That one's not for me."
"The rest are pretty much the same, sweetheart." He placed his hands on the table and gave her a paternal look. "Maybe you're just not cut out for this line of work?"
"I don't like my other options." He nodded in response, again glancing at her breasts.
"Go have a drink in the bar. Rest for a few days. Maybe go down to Earth and visit some of the pleasure domes. They have perversions to fit anyone's tastes."
"Yeah, maybe. Let me know if a job comes up."
"Why in Hell would I bump you to the top of my list, Minx?"
She left his office, disappointed and pondering the wisdom of her switch in careers from librarian to bounty hunter. She fit in well to both jobs, surprising many of her fellow hunters. She had only been trailing crooks for a few years, but she was resolved that she was not going back to being a boring librarian. Not after the exciting things she'd seen and done recently.
She didn't remember reaching the Guild bar or finding an empty table. She ordered a scotch from the robot bartender and the thing tried to start up a conversation with her. Damn artificial personalities, she silently swore. She shooed the mechanical man back to his bar and then wondered how her life had gone so wrong.
The robot bartender asked her a second time, "Did you want another drink miss?" She nodded her head and then looked down at the single empty glass on her table. She looked at the digital clock in the table.
"An hour and I've only had one drink! I must be upset." She looked about her and saw most of the other tables were occupied, many by friendless hunters sitting alone. Everyone's in a funk, she thought. Then she heard laughter behind her. Minx glanced quickly at who was there and saw three older hunters. One appeared to be buying drinks for the others and all were in a celebratory mood.
"I tell you lads, going to the fringe was the best thing I ever did. There are tonnes of bounties available and few hunters. You pick a planet and you're probably the only bounty hunter there. Hell, you pick any group of systems and you're probably the only hunter there. I'm here for a year to throw away my earnings and then I'm back out making more money. And that's not the best of it."
