crossed. She has a crude eye patch over one side of her face.
She looks irked, too. "What the kef is that?" the newcomer snarls as she stares at me.
"Merchandise," says the other. "I'm taking it to med-bay to see if it has parasites. You never know with humans."
"I had a human once,” the female muses as she turns back into the room. "Unclean little shits. Give it a good scrub."
Fuck you, too, I think as the male hauls me along after him. If he scrubs me, he'll find the blaster hidden in my breast-band. "I have to urinate," I say, desperate. "Right now."
"It can wait," the male says.
"No," I cry. "Right now! Or I'm going to go everywhere!"
The alien growls in frustration and takes a sharp right turn into a side-hall. Before I can say anything again, he slaps a hand on a door panel and it slides open. "If you keffing shit everywhere, I'm going to make you clean it up," he snarls at me.
I don't have to feign my whimper, and when he makes a disgusted sound and slaps the door panel again, I watch as the door whizzes shut. He must figure I'm safe here on the ship. That I'm helpless and stupid.
Well thank god for that. Quickly, I fish the sweaty blaster out of the underside of my breast-band and look for a place to hide it.
63
JADE
"Did you know that you're pregnant?" The male holding the med-scanner glances up from it to look at me.
"What?" I'm seated on the table in the med-bay, wearing a plas-film little gown as he scans my mostly naked body. I should feel vulnerable and afraid, but I'm too worried over Adiron in Shaalyn's clutches to give myself much thought.
"Pregnant. You." When I continue to stare at him, he talks slower. "There's a baby growing inside your belly."
I blink, stunned. I touch my stomach. Here I thought I was sick of noodles and my breasts hurt because we were too vigorous in bed. Instead…I'm pregnant? "How is that possible?"
The male pirate sighs, as if utterly beleaguered by my questions. "When a male puts his penis inside of a female and ejaculates, his sperm can fertilize an egg inside of her."
I know that part, I want to snap at him. I press my lips together firmly, so I don't lose my shit. "I don't understand how I can be pregnant," I say, choosing my words carefully. "I'm not mesakkah. I thought humans and mesakkah weren't compatible."
"They're not, usually." He shrugs, tapping away on his device as if it's far more important than answering my questions.
I reach out and put a hand over the damned thing, getting his attention. I ignore the cross look he gives me. "So…how?"
He tilts his head. "How did you end up on that ship?"
I lick my lips, thinking hard. "I…I don't know. I was stolen from my planet. Woke up in a stasis pod."
He pries my fingers off his device. "That'll do it, then. It's common among some slavers to give merchandise fertility treatments. They shoot you full of hormones and put you to sleep. Your new owner can decide if he wants to breed you or not. Kinda a bonus for reluctant buyers, you know?"
Oh my god. I think back to the other humans in the stasis pods. How there were a few pregnant ones. How, when our captors first woke us up, they were very, very careful to always use plas-film…
Oh my god.
It never occurred to me that this could happen. Now it's not just me and Adiron in danger. It's this baby. Shit…I don't even know if Adiron wants a baby. Kinda late to ask, though.
My captor turns back to the device in his hands, frowning. "Not sure if Shaalyn's going to want me to take it out of you, though. She didn't say."
"Leave it in for now," I blurt.
He looks up at me. "What?"
"More leverage," I say. "It's Adiron's. He's going to be very protective of it."
The pirate grunts. "Good point. I suppose we can always get rid of it later if we have to."
I want to scream at how casual he is. I want to wrap my arms around my waist and race out the door, but I know I have to play this cool. I have to be just as stupid as they think I am, so they don't suspect anything. Then, when their guards are down, I can go retrieve the blaster I have hidden away underneath one of the sinks