“Okay, the way I see it, we have forty-eight hours to find you a place where you can get off of this station.” Guy declared.

“Is that when your ship leaves?” She asked innocently.

“Wouldn’t you like to know!” Guy shot back.

She chuckled. “What is your ship even called, anyway?”

Guy nearly tripped before shooting her a glare. Wasn’t the name of the ship prison ship? He wasn’t aware the ship had a name! What dock was the ship on anyway? He had been so eager to get Harmony away from the ship he hadn’t looked at anything. Ah, crap! He was lost. Guy frowned unhappily before grabbing her hand and pulling her along.

“The area near the docks is a rough area…” Xara warned as she looked around nervously.

Guy had been pulling her away without really paying attention to where he was heading. This was because he wanted to make sure she was as far away from the ship as possible and wasn’t tempted to go back. However, if they were looking to get her on a ship, wasn’t the dock the best place to be? No! Guy shook his head. He had to think with what he knew. You wouldn’t find a captain at a dock. That’d be like looking for a pilot at an airport. Where did you find a pilot? The bar near the airport.

Guy didn’t need to be a genius to know what a bar looked like, even in this strange station, which had a wide metal path resembling a pedestrian street that was lined with shops. An airport terminal would be a good way of describing the place, except that it was hotter, darker, with more greys and unfortunate smells, and grungier. Then, of course, there were the hundreds of aliens walking around them. No two looked alike, and some of them didn’t even have two legs and two arms.

“I’m breathing oxygen.” He observed as he saw an alien with a respirator on.

“You realized that now!” Xara looked at him incredulously.

“No!” Guy denied it. “I was just thinking out loud.”

Of course, it had never really occurred to Guy before seeing an alien walking around in a mask. Ten wore a mask as well. He wondered if it was because she couldn’t breathe the atmosphere. He hadn’t thought much about it before now. If he wasn’t dead, it didn’t seem like that stuff mattered all that much.

“It’s actually a specialized mix called Respirall.” Xara shrugged. “It’s a blend of a dozen different atmospheres but includes specialized chemistry that renders harmful and poisonous gases inert while allowing you to absorb what you need to survive. About 95% of all existing species can survive on Respirall, or so I’ve heard.”

“Okay…” Guy wasn’t that interested in knowing about these details, but he guessed it made a kind of sense. “Here.”

His eyes finally landed on a place that had neon lights and a seedy appearance. He had a feeling that it would be a good place to get rid of this girl. He immediately pulled her into the shop. She allowed him to take her without making a fuss.

“You’re taking us in here?” Xara asked, sounding slightly surprised.

“What’s wrong with this place?” Guy demanded, walking up to a part of the bar that wasn’t already filled with aliens and taking a seat as casually as possible. “Bartender, a drink.”

Bars were a good place to get a drink. He also needed to get a feel for this place. On the ship, he had been bored most days without having any idea of what he was supposed to do other than survive. It was kind of nice to have a goal as well as be out of an environment with a bunch of crazed women. What Guy assumed was the bartender because he was wearing an apron turned in his direction. The man was extremely bulky with short arms. He was also bright red and had a head that kind of looked like a fish and a reptile combined. Guy tried not to look directly at his fish head.

“Women first, then drink.” The bartender snorted.

“Eh? Is it lady’s night?” Guy pondered, but Xara pulled on his shirt, causing him to turn to her.

“It’s always lady’s night.” She smirked. “It’s a brothel.”

Guy raised an eyebrow, finally looking around. Had he been on Earth, it would have been impossible for him to not realize the difference between a brothel and a bar. After all, there would be tons of beautiful women dressed extremely provocatively, and the place would have a very distinct smell covered up by loads of perfume.

He had only taken a quick glance around and hadn’t noticed it. This was for many different reasons. First of all, many of these so-called women were weird-looking aliens, and with some partners chatting, he couldn’t even tell which was the woman and which was the man. The second reason he put on the quality of the women aboard the prison ship. Whether it was Cerisa who walked around naked until very recently when she suddenly started wearing clothes, Vienna, or Dia… they were all beautiful humanoid women who dressed very scantily. He had become conditioned to expect that, so he hadn’t noticed the outfits of the people here.

However, as he spent a few moments carefully looking, he could see alien women leading alien men up to their bedrooms on an upper terrace. A girl couldn’t dress more scandalous than Vienna, but a few got close. He even noticed one that appeared to be of Dia’s species, and she had six boobs. It wasn’t as hot as Guy would have hoped. Oh, he’d still fuck her, but more just for the curiosity of playing in that boob forest. Would she have a six-slitted pussy, or did they all have three?

“Ahem…” Xara cleared her throat, and Guy let out a cough. “You didn’t by chance come in here without knowing what this place is, did you?”

Her voice was innocent, but she had a certain mocking tone to it. Guy was getting the sense that this girl was using him for entertainment. He felt she was grinning at his expense, and it only made him feel more annoyed by her.

“I meant to come here.” Guy declared. “Don’t you understand men at all?”

Xara blinked and looked uncertain for a second, which pleased Guy.

“What do you mean?”

“When a guy has been out to sea… ahem… I mean space for a long time, the first thing they do when they get back is find a beautiful woman. Thus, there are probably a lot of ship captains here for a bit of downtime.”

Guy used the same logic that brought him to the bar in the first place. He didn’t think he was wrong. After all, if prostitution had been legal and brothels were sitting just outside airports, pilots would be there getting some strange. They only went to the bars in the first place to pick up some airport strange from a girl who felt like if she was on a business trip then it didn’t count if she banged a pilot. Then, there were the girls who wanted to bang a pilot because pilots had money. Well, a direct monetary exchange for service was the truest form of business and prostitution was the oldest profession. That held true even in space.

“You looking for a ship captain?” The fish bartender had heard our conversation as he was cleaning a glass and glanced back at us.

Guy smiled triumphantly, leaning forward. “A pilot… and a woman.”

When in Rome, you do as the Romans do. Since Guy found himself in a brothel, why wouldn’t he indulge? Plus, there were bound to be some interesting women among all of the aliens. He had already experienced a couple entertaining rides among the prison ship. At least these girls were legit and unlikely to try to kill him.

“Try Bobo over there.” He nodded toward a very fat-looking man sitting at one of the couches.

Guy looked in that direction to see a man covered in piercings with chains running between them, making his face look like a curtain of metal. He wasn’t wearing a shirt, and his grotesque pink hairy belly was sticking out. That wasn’t to say he had the skin color of a human. His body was completely pink. Guy didn’t know if the guy was actually fat, or this was just a native appearance of his species, whatever that may be.

He had a woman in each arm. They were both small, frail-looking things compared to him. However, they had forced smiles on their faces and were giggling. One of them was holding his mug of alcohol and giving it to him when he asked.

“Bobo, huh?” Guy asked casually.

“Bobo is a merchant. He brings us most of our women.” The bartender explained.

“He’s a sex trafficker.” Xara hissed.

For the first time, Xara’s expression had turned serious for a moment, and there was a look of anger and disdain in her eyes. She may not like him for what he did, but Guy didn’t want to give up the opportunity. Besides, it would teach her right for putting him in such a situation if her means of getting off this station was through the ships of someone she detested. He considered that poetic justice.

The bartender shrugged. “The women are all willing. They signed the contracts and don’t make a fuss.”

“They always do…” She spoke quietly under her breath.

“Look, if you require a ship or women, he’s the best bet in this place. If you were trading honestly, you wouldn’t be looking in a brothel!”

Guy flushed slightly at those words. It was true that he was here because he had no clue where else to look and was getting irritated by Xara’s condescending looks and otherwise unwillingness to reveal information unless it made him look like a fool. However, wasn’t she trying to escape from her family? So, a smuggler or someone who had experience moving living merchandise was exactly what he needed. As for what the man did, Guy didn’t approve, but he was also a human in a universe of aliens. How could he say anything? This was a matter that had nothing to do with him. He also didn’t care what happened to Xara after she got her ride.

“Let’s go.” Guy smiled at Xara, and then grabbed her hand and pulled her toward the man.

Her eyes went wide, but once again she went along with him. He wished she’d be just a bit more difficult. It would make him feel better about his decision to ditch her.

“Bobo! It’s good seeing you! It’s been a while!” Guy declared familiarly.

Bobo looked away from his giggling women and up at Guy, narrowing his eyes. “Do I know you?”

He had a deep baritone voice. It was at a level that women who heard his voice but didn’t see his body would actually be quite turned on. He could probably make a living doing announcements for movies, working in radio, or something like that on my home planet. However, Guy had no clue how his voice affected alien women, and he wasn’t going to go out of his way to find out.

Xara looked surprised as Guy started to speak with him with familiarity, and then confused. Guy just put on a big smile and winked.

“I’m Guy, we met a few years back at that thing… you remember the thing… then again, you were pretty drunk.” Guy sat down, laughing as if he was remembering it.

“Ah… that’s right… the Duront festival.”

“Duront?” Guy blinked, “No, no, no… it was that other thing.”

“The Bezar party?”

Guy snapped, nodding. “That was the one, ahhh… how are they doing anyway?”

“Bezar is dead.” He grumbled.

“Seriously?” Guy’s eyes grew big, and then he laughed. “Well, it’d be like ‘em to get killed, right?”

Bobo stared at him for a moment and then burst out laughing. “He was always a reckless fool.”

“Seriously!” Guy chuckled, pulling Xara onto his lap, causing her to cry out. “He was also dumb too.”

“You said it.” Bobo chuckled. “How have you been then?”

“Ah… I’ve been dealing in prisons… um… prison transportation.”

Xara was staring at Guy like she didn’t know what to make of the situation, but she was sitting on his lap quietly without complaining. All in all, his little con was going perfectly. If you approach someone with enough confidence, it didn’t matter what you say. They’ll nod and smile. If they’re a proud person, you can even convince them everything is true. They’d rather believe lies than admit they were foolish or made a mistake. That was what Guy found.

Guy continued to speak with Bobo, all while pushing more drinks on him. Actually, he had no clue if aliens responded to alcohol, or if the contents of the drinks contained alcohol. Maybe they were made of alcohol, a drug that got 95% of aliens drunk. Guy had no clue if such a thing existed, but it was a possibility. Still, the drinks did the job of lubricating the situation, and soon he had Bobo speaking like they were old friends.

“My ships? I’ll be sending a ship heading out to Judeal tomorrow morning.” He chuckled touching his nose.  

“Judeal? Ah!” Guy’s eyes brightened, and then he blushed. “Oh, nevermind.”

“What is it?”

“It’s just… my lady friend here, she’s been wanting to go to Judeal.”

“Really?”

“Oh, yeah. She’s been my girl since I got here. She’d dumb as a brick, but she really loves cock.” I laughed.

Xara shot me an angry look, so I pinched her leg, causing her to cry out.

“Hehe… I’ve never seen her species before. She’s a rare beauty.” Bobo nodded in agreement.

“Anyway, I’ve been promising her that if she gave me a ride, I’d give her a ride… and what do you know, my next transport takes me the exact opposite direction from Judeal. You’d really be doing me a solid if you could allow her to travel along. She’ll keep quiet and mind her manners. You can count on me.”

He thought about it for a moment and sighed. “It’s not that I care. The problem is that Judeal is in the Galactic Alliance. Does she have any papers? If she doesn’t…”

Guy gave an innocent shrug. “If she had papers, she wouldn’t have begged me. However, given your… expertise… I didn’t realize you wouldn’t be able to manage this.”

“Hehe… It’s not that I can’t do it.” He stiffened. “It’s just that I usually don’t put my transports at risk unless the price is right.”

“Then, it sounds like we’re just discussing the price then.” Guy grinned.

“Hey, do you even have any money?” Xara hissed in Guy’s ear.

He ignored her and continued to shoot Bobo a grin. Of course, he didn’t have any money. However, the first thing about cutting a deal is not revealing your trading position. First, he’d find out how much Bobo valued this supposed transaction, then he’d talk him down, and then he’d convert money into favors. Favors were free, and Guy would make sure he was out of here before he had to cash in on such a favor, so it was all going to work out.

After Bobo watched him for a few seconds, he barked a laugh. “Alright, I like you. I’ll tell you what. I’ve laid with hundreds of women. I make it a habit of tasting every type of woman I’ve ever seen, but I’ve never tasted anything like the one on your lap. How about you lend me her for the night, and then she can have a ride anywhere she wants. That’s the same offer she gave you, isn’t it?”

Guy hadn’t expected him to make such an offer so suddenly.

Xara stiffened, but Guy tightened his arm on her to warn her to remain quiet. “Here’s the thing. She hasn’t paid me yet either. If I just handed her over to you, I’d be feeling like this isn’t so much a favor, as me getting outbid.”

“You aren’t able to get her what she wants.” His expression darkened.

“I’m here, aren’t I?” I responded. “Are you suggesting headhunters are undeserving a finder’s fee? If that was the case, then what is the point of knowing people?”

The jovial atmosphere seemed to start to drop. There were two men that Guy didn’t notice before they stepped forward, waiting for Bobo to give the order. It looked like Bobo had his eyes set on Xara, and Guy was just in the way. If things went that direction, it could get messy. Guy had already been warned that anyone carrying weapons on this station wouldn’t have the guns intended to incapacitate. They’d be strong enough to kill even Guy.

Just as Guy started to think of an exit strategy, Bobo broke into a laugh.

“No worries!” He laughed. “Pick any woman here you want. My gift. You enjoy her for the night. I enjoy this pointy-eared dick-lover for the night, and everyone wins.”

Guy smiled. “I can’t argue with that.”

“What are you saying?” Xara hissed in Guy’s ear.

“Look, do you want off this station or not?” Guy shot back.

“No one said anything about me having to bang a fat Gorathian!”

“Yeah? Well, you see those two burly guys? They work for him. You’re going to get banged by a fat Gorathian one way or another. The only question is what happens to me. I can get some hot alien strange while you take one for the team and we can be on our ways, or I can die a horrible death and you can get raped and probably turned into a sex slave.”

“I will never allow that to happen!” Her voice came out heavy.

“Then close your eyes, imagine it’s a cute guy, and dream of this grand old adventure you’ve been wanting to have. I can guarantee you this will be a good preview. You’ll be getting fucked everywhere you go That’s what an adventure is like. Take it from someone who knows.”

“Y-you’re the worst!” She shot a hateful glare.

“Yeah… well, tell your woes to uncle Bobo!”  

“So, what have you decided?” Bobo asked, but his voice sounded a bit dangerous.

Xara glared at Guy for another moment and then turned away. Guy looked up at Bobo and smiled.

“Show me what ladies you’ve got.”