Total pages in book: 112
Estimated words: 105936 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 530(@200wpm)___ 424(@250wpm)___ 353(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 105936 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 530(@200wpm)___ 424(@250wpm)___ 353(@300wpm)
It looked so real, I reached down to touch it. My fingers passed through empty air and touched nothing but the soft curls of my mound.
Behind me, the dealer stirred and I hastily pulled my hand out of my trousers and fastened them up again. Luckily, I had been planning my escape for some time so I’d had the opportunity to acquire male clothing in my size. Once I fastened my trousers and put my shirt back on over the compression tank, I really did look male—though still not as old or as imposing as I would have liked.
“Looks like you’re set to go,” the dealer said, eyeing me critically. “Just remember—as long as the implant is in your arm, you’re safe. Don’t get it removed until you’re ready for people to know your true identity again.”
“Got it.” I nodded. “Er, thanks.”
“Don’t thank me, girly. Just doing my job.” He shrugged. “Be safe out there. And if anyone catches you or finds out about the implant, I don’t know you and I never saw you before.”
“Yeah, okay.” I nodded.
It was time to make my way to the Space Port where I knew Turk was getting the Illyrian ready for a long trip to the Triplex Cluster.
I was determined to be on it when he left.
4
TURK
Ikept my word to Slade—I and my crew searched the Space Port from top to bottom, looking for Jessina. But my little bird was nowhere to be found.
Finally, with only a few hours before we were set to lift off for the Triplex Cluster, I had to call a halt to the hunt. I sent Slade a message that I hadn’t found her and went back to The Illyrian with a sore heart. Where could she be?
I didn’t know but I had to push my worry to the back of my mind. I had put out a call for a navigator and a qualified one had applied for the position. I had to interview him and be sure he was a good fit with my crew before I could take off.
It was always a pain, finding a new navvie. Those who are able to navigate outside the galaxy and go where there are no Space Gates to ensure a safe entry and exit from the fabric of Space Time are few and far between.
Illyrian’s last navigator had crafted a bad jump and landed us too close to a brown dwarf star—way too fucking close. We were nearly sucked into the star’s gravitational field before my pilot was able to steer us clear at the last second.
It had been a close call—one I didn’t care to repeat. As soon as we got back to the Imperium Galaxy, I let the old navvie go. He begged and pleaded for a second chance but I’m not that forgiving when it comes to risking the lives of my crew—not to mention the expensive cargo we were carrying. The Clan Savage Chieftain would have been extremely pissed off if that had been lost.
So it was out with the old navvie and in with a new one—I hoped. I just had to be sure the next person I hired was able to jump a star ship outside of intergalactic space without killing me and the entire crew.
5
JESSINA
The Space Port was crowded. Up and down the vast corridors there were vendors with carts and stalls—the curving walls echoed with the sounds of them hawking their wares. Crowds of people were walking swiftly in every direction with their luggage, clearly intent on getting to the right gate in time.
A thousand scents assaulted my nose—sweet spice from the roasted jaka nuts in the stall beside me mixed with the exotic pritha bone perfumes of a vendor to my left. At the same time I smelled the sharp bite of frillian mustard to slather on the fatty huat sausages as thick as my forearm coming from a food cart, which was wheeling slowly through the crowd. And of course, the stink of a thousand people of all races and species from the Imperium Galaxy was also thick in the air.
I saw a group of pink-skinned Jacobians rushing past, twittering in their bird-like language, their long yellow beaks clacking in agitation as they hurried to make their flight. I stepped out of their way only to be elbowed rudely by a Kanth three times my size who snarled,
“Watch where you’re goin’ boy!” before lumbering away, his trunk swinging.
Well, at least my disguise was working.
You may be wondering how I planned to get aboard The Illyrian in the first place. I certainly wasn’t going to go to Turk and let him know who I was—he would send me back to Slade and then I’d be right back at my father’s mansion under house arrest until my Binding Ceremony with the horrible Grr. Malofice.