Asteroid 6969: Tiger Gold Read online

  TIGER GOLD

  An Ellora’s Cave Publication, April 2005

  Ellora’s Cave Publishing, Inc.

  1337 Commerce Drive, #13

  Stow, OH 44224

  ISBN MS Reader (LIT) ISBN # 1-4199-0195-8

  Other available formats (no ISBNs are assigned):

  Adobe (PDF), Rocketbook (RB), Mobipocket (PRC) & HTML

  TIGER GOLD Copyright © 2005 SAMANTHA WINSTON

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. This book may not be reproduced in whole or in part without permission.

  This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely coincidental. They are productions of the authors’ imagination and used fictitiously.

  Edited by Martha Punches and Ann Leveille.

  Cover art by Syneca.

  Warning:

  The following material contains graphic sexual content meant for mature readers. Tiger Gold has been rated E–rotic by a minimum of three independent reviewers.

  Ellora’s Cave Publishing offers three levels of Romantica™ reading entertainment: S (S-ensuous), E (E-rotic), and X (X-treme).

  S-ensuous love scenes are explicit and leave nothing to the imagination.

  E-rotic love scenes are explicit, leave nothing to the imagination, and are high in volume per the overall word count. In addition, some E-rated titles might contain fantasy material that some readers find objectionable, such as bondage, submission, same sex encounters, forced seductions, and so forth. E-rated titles are the most graphic titles we carry; it is common, for instance, for an author to use words such as “fucking”, “cock”, “pussy”, and such within their work of literature.

  X-treme titles differ from E-rated titles only in plot premise and storyline execution. Unlike E-rated titles, stories designated with the letter X tend to contain controversial subject matter not for the faint of heart.

  Asteroid 6969:

  Tiger Gold

  Samantha Winston

  Chapter One

  Furzbas

  Furzbas are native of Terra Lima, a planet colonized three centuries ago. But the slinky, furry, inquisitive creatures have slunk into spaceships and cargo-ships and have made themselves at home in small, manmade spaces everywhere. Now, you can find furzbas on any planet, and probably on any space vessel, if you look hard enough. Like rats in the olden days, furzbas live in the vicinity of men.

  Furzbas don’t eat food, they eat energy. They feed off minuscule amounts of electricity, no matter how it is generated, be it battery, engine, or nuclear power plant. They multiply at a high rate, and they don’t need heat or much to breathe. Scientists have been studying them for ages trying to find out what makes them tick. Most people consider them pests.

  They look like little fur balls. The first people to see them cried, “Look, fur balls!” and the name stuck. They have one tail, four short legs that they can pull into their body to hide, and flat faces with three, big, round eyes. They are harmless and don’t do real damage, but they can be annoying if there are too many of them infesting a spaceship. It is considered extremely bad luck by spacers to kill a furzba. There is just one thing that takes care of them. You have to trap them and set them loose. But you can only do that if you set the ship down and all systems are turned off completely.

  - From The Revised Galactic Dictionary, page 5,567 – “Furzbas”

  The lights on the ship’s console dimmed. An ominous rattle sounded from the control panel, and a red button suddenly flashed and began beeping. There was a loud sizzle, a burst of sparks, and then a trickle of smoke appeared between the power generator and the stabilizer levers. The spaceship shuddered.

  Lance Rocket, captain of the Juniper and also the pilot, brought his fist down with a “whack” on the console.

  The smoke stopped, the lights brightened, and the ship straightened out as the rattling noise was replaced by a comforting hum.

  “Hey, Jack!” Lance spun his chair around and shouted out the cabin’s door.

  Steps were heard, then Jack, a short, stocky man in mechanic’s overalls stuck his head in the doorway. “Yo. What was it? Another furzba?”

  “We’re infested. That is the third time today I had to scare one out of the generator hub.”

  “What should we do?” Jack didn’t look too worried. He held some cards in one hand, and a bottle of green beer in the other hand.

  “I’m setting down at the nearest spaceport. Asteroid 6969. It’s derelict, so there won’t be any Federation police, and we can get the furzbas cleared out of the engine.”

  “Asteroid 6969?” Jack grinned. “That’s where Fanny’s Fandango House of Pleasure and Fantasy, various dance establishments, bars, etc. is! Why, it’s reported to have the prettiest gals in the universe there, and they’re all well-trained in the arts of pleasuring a man.”

  Lance’s eyebrows rose. “Don’t tell me you’ve been reading the Galactic dictionary.”

  “Hades, no! That won’t be in there. I had a friend who went there. Told me it was not to be missed.”

  Lance scratched his chin. “What I need is a hot bath and a shave. If they have a bathhouse there, I’m in.”

  “A bath and a shave? Is that all you want at Fanny’s?” Jack shook his head in mock pity. “Don’t you know her chicas are so hot they sizzle your eyeballs? Are you turning into a eunuch in your old age?”

  “You know me better than that, Jack. I don’t spend my money on whores, no matter how hot they are. Besides,” he gave a rueful laugh. “I don’t have enough money to get a bath and a whore.”

  Jack’s grin widened. “Well, you got your priorities straight anyhow. This ship smells bad enough as it is. I think I’ll go to Fanny’s and try my hand at winning some money.”

  “If you do win, think about getting the sonic shower fixed. We’re all pretty ripe. Just don’t lose all your credits.”

  “Don’t worry. I’ll keep them all snug in my COK.”

  “Credit Output Keeper. Whoever thought of that had a dirty mind,” chuckled Lance.

  “Well, call me if you need me.” Jack gave a mock salute with a deck of cards.

  Lance raised his eyebrows. “Got your cards all ready to go?”

  “We have a game of poker going in the galley. I’m going to practice before we get to Fanny’s.”

  “Don’t plan on staying too long,” Lance said, spinning his chair back around to face the console. To himself he added, “I, for one, don’t intend to stay here a minute longer than I have to.” He ran his hands through his hair and winced. A real, hot water bath would be a welcome. And a woman…his cock stirred and he put his hand on it. “Down boy,” he said. No use dreaming about a woman. He had just enough credits to get enough fuel to get them to their next job. A whore was a luxury he could ill afford.

  Not that he even really wanted a whore. He was starting to think about finding a woman to settle down with. Shaking his head, he grimaced as he thought of his present situation. Sure he owned the ship, but he didn’t have a Federation license, so he could only land on space stations, non-Federation planets and asteroids. The only jobs to be had in those places were hauling raw ore, some seed or medical trips to Settler planets, or smuggling. None of those jobs, except maybe smuggling, paid enough to let him get ahead. So far, he was barely keeping his ship in space and some food—if you could call it that—in his belly. Well, he’d been raised on protein packs so it wasn’t like he wasn’t used to space food. But he’d like to eat some real fruit and vegetables more often. The only time he got those was when he landed on a Settler’s planet during harvest time.

  Someday he’d earn enough to maybe think about courting a woman and settling somewhere. Anywhere, that is, b
ut a Settler planet. Space was vast and there were plenty of terraformed planets to populate. Those were called Settler planets. The Federation didn’t care if the settlers lived or died, but if you worked hard and were careful, you could sometimes prosper and send your kids to a Federation planet. Getting off a Settler planet was the goal of every settler he’d ever met.

  His parents had once been settlers. They’d worked themselves literally to the bone to be able to get off the planet and buy a little property somewhere. But they never earned enough to buy anything but a small mechanic shop on a space station. Well, that’s where he’d grown up, and he was lucky it hadn’t been on one of the Settler planets. His parents’ stories had given him nightmares.

  And now they were heading for Asteroid 6969. It had been terraformed by the Federation so that it could be exploited and mined by settlers. It was just another type of a Settler planet, and just thinking about setting foot on it was giving him stomach pains.

  He wasn’t usually so sensitive to places. But he’d always been canny like that—his mother teased him by saying he had fortune-telling blood. Something told him that Asteroid 6969 spelled pure trouble.

  “Don’t be ridiculous,” he said to himself. “How can just getting rid of a few furzbas and taking a hot bath be trouble?”

  But the niggling anxiety he felt would not go away. With a sigh, he switched the intercom on, set the ship’s control mode to manual and prepared to enter the atmosphere of Asteroid 6969.

  “Everyone grab a seat and put on your safety belts. We’ll be landing right soon,” said Lance into the intercom. The darkness of space gave way to a faint orange glow as they entered the atmosphere. The spaceport came into view and Lance shook his head. It looked like someone had blasted half the terminal away. Well, the landing pads were all intact and well-marked. He set his course for Landing Pad G-5 and hit the back burners. With a roar, the Juniper tilted gracefully up and settled onto the wide expanse of dun concrete.

  The space station had several shuttles leading down the mountainside towards the main town. To get to the shuttles, the crew had to leave their ship and go through the main terminal. Once the ship had been docked and the systems shut down, Lance and the crew started to clear out the furzbas. This job lasted several hours, as it meant literally opening up the ships innards and crawling through them with a small net and lots of patience. The air ducts were easier to clear out—a strong blast of air through the system shot the invading furzbas right out. The hardest part was the electrical system, and Lance did that one, most of the time in a most uncomfortable position.

  When he finished, he was covered in engine grease, dust, and furzba fur. His clothes were a mess. His hair was matted, and he could only think of one thing. A bath. A real bath with water.

  He didn’t bother to change. He closed the last trapdoor behind him, made sure the ship was locked up, and headed to the main terminal. There, some hand-painted signs caught his eye. They were garish and cute at the same time, and all of them advertised a certain Fanny’s Fandango House of Pleasure and Fantasy, various dance establishments, bars, etc.

  Whew! That was a mouthful. He had to meet the lady that thought up that one. He pushed the shuttle button and when the doors slid open, stepped in and took a seat. The shuttle whooshed down the mountainside and deposited him on Main Street

  . From there, a sign said, it was just a short walk to Fanny’s Fandango House of Pleasure and Fantasy, various dance establishments, bars, etc.

  Well, what was he waiting for?

  Chapter Two

  Asteroid 6969

  In the outer reaches of the Crab Nebula, in a godforsaken corner of the sprawling Milky Way galaxy, lies a mine-pocked asteroid orbiting a red sun. Asteroid 6969 is eternally bathed in a ruby glow as it orbits but does not rotate around its sun. One side bakes under the relentless sun, while the other side lies in eternal darkness. New Dodge City, built along the shadow edge where sun meets shade, was once a bustling, prosperous mining community.

  But Asteroid 6969 was depleted of its resources, and those who could afford to leave have gone. The old town has attracted a new clientele, space pirates and adventurers have made it their home and hideout. The spaceport—once home to intergalactic transport vessels carrying tons of ore—is now controlled by smugglers and riffraff.

  The town has become a den of iniquity—law and order have vanished. Ruling the asteroid is the Condozzi gang, and no one wants to cross their path. Travelers are advised caution when entering the area. The Federation has removed Asteroid 6969 from its legal jurisdiction and responsibility. Anything that happens there is your own problem.

  - From The Revised Galactic Dictionary, Section Fifteen “Asteroids”, Appendix “A”

  Heidi hung by her wrists. The ropes cut into her skin, and her arms felt like they were pulling out of her shoulders. The blindfold covering her eyes made it impossible for her to see anything, and heightened the feeling of claustrophobia. Her heart felt like it was about to burst through her chest. Each breath hurt. Each movement was agony. And the worst part was not knowing exactly where she was.

  She knew who had her—the Condozzis, may their souls rot in Hades. She thought she knew why—Gront-the-disgusting Condozzi had decided he wanted her as his woman. But she had no idea where they’d taken her. And she didn’t even want to think about what they were going to do to her. Instead, she thought about what it might feel like to die. All the pain would vanish, along with her dreams, her hopes and her… She choked back a sob. How could she think about dying? She had to be strong.

  She’d always been strong. Since she was born she’d had to fight for nearly every possession she had, every morsel of food, and every bit of learning she could accumulate. She’d even leaned to read, something most of the denizens of this godforsaken asteroid had no idea how to do. Ha. That did a load of good right now. Sharp, blade-thin pains, like drops of burning oil, made their way down her shoulders. Nerves were stretched to their limits. Soon she would beg them to release her.

  “If you want, we’ll cut you down. All you have to do is ask nice-like. Just ask nice, and we’ll set you on your feet.” The voice was oily and made her skin crawl. She thought she recognized Gront speaking, but it could have been one of his slimy henchmen.

  “And when you do set me down, then what?” She tried to keep her voice level. It was hard. She was terrified and her heart pounded so hard it made her whole body shake.

  “Why, then we’ll tie you on the table over there.” She couldn’t see where he meant, but when his hands touched her thighs, she understood perfectly what he meant. Tied to a table and served up to the goddamn Condozzi gang.

  Rough hands parted her thighs and rubbed suggestively up and down. Then the fingers tightened and, to her relief, let go.

  She licked her dry lips and tried to make herself think of something else besides her predicament. Anything to take her mind off the ropes cutting into her wrists and her arms slowly dislocating from her shoulders. She’d seen what hanging from one’s arms could do. Nerves torn, forever useless. Even the regrow vats at the best hospitals in the galaxy couldn’t make nerve tissue come back.

  Don’t think about that! Think about better times… Her childhood had been pleasant, if boring. Her parents had worked hard, but she’d had friends, and her parents’ house, though small, was tidy. But the good times didn’t last long. Her good memories were used up in a matter of seconds.

  She had been seven years old when the spaceport shut down and the last star-freighter had lifted off with those who could afford to leave. Everyone else had to stay on the asteroid. Everyone else had been condemned to the oubliette of space. Mined-out asteroids. Everyone knew about them. Places where criminals hid out, where space pirates did their business, where the Federation, may it rot in Hades, never went.

  The Federation simply erased mined-out asteroids from their database. Asteroid 6969 had officially ceased to exist. She might have only been a child, but the seriousness of the situa
tion didn’t escape her.

  “At least we don’t have to pay taxes no more,” her father said, tousling her hair with a hand callused from hard labor in the mines. He died not two months later, victim of the red fever that swept across the asteroid. The doctors had all left, and there wasn’t enough medicine to go around. The space pirates hadn’t made the spaceport their home yet, so there was no one to help them, no one to stop the ravaging disease. Her mother died a month after Heidi’s father died.

  Seven-year-old Heidi became an orphan. She hid in her dwelling, living off canned supplies, until the Condozzi gang spotted her, and then for five horrible years she worked as one of their house slaves.

  How she hated the Condozzi gang. They’d emerged from the chaos of the leaving time and taken over the eastern side of New Dodge City. They’d moved into the former mayor’s abandoned house, and they’d captured a handful of scrawny kids to do their cooking, cleaning, and bidding.

  About that time another person took over the west side of New Dodge City. Heidi had heard stories about her from the Condozzis. They griped about someone called Fanny, who had hired some guys to clean out the place. She’d somehow found guns and ammunition, and that pissed the Condozzis off the most. They’d wanted all of New Dodge City. Fanny told them if she found one of them on her side of the gully, she’d shoot them and no questions asked.

  A deep ravine, called the Glitch Gully, separated East from West. To the north, the spaceport, a small town in its own right, might have attracted the Condozzis—but they feared the space pirates and so kept well away.

  All this Heidi had learned while she lived with the Condozzis. And then, when she was about twelve or thirteen, the boss’s son, Gront, had decided she would be his woman.