Asteroid 6969: Tiger Gold Read online

  She knew what happened between men and women. Privacy didn’t exist anywhere in the Condozzi mansion. Doors had been ripped off their frames and sex wasn’t taboo. But childhood status was sacred—even to the Condozzi scum—and it protected her. However, as soon as her body began to change Gront started watching her closely. She could feel his eyes on her from across the room as she worked, and he took to calling her over to him more often.

  Usually all he wanted was for her to shine his boots or fetch something for him. But one day he reached down as she rubbed his boots with a rag and grabbed her chin. Lifting her head to face him, he said, “So, how old is our Heidi now?”

  She pulled away from him, rubbing her chin because his touch had bruised her, and said, “I dunno.”

  “Turning into a right beauty you are,” he said, his voice growing husky.

  Heidi felt a stab of pure fright. She’d heard that tone before. Gront used it on all his women when he ordered them into his bedroom. “I ain’t a beauty,” she said, standing up and taking a step backward. Gront horrified her.

  “You got tits now. Makes you a woman in my mind. You bleed yet girl?”

  She jumped, but she didn’t dare lie. Lies were punished by thrashings. “Ye—es,” she whispered hesitantly.

  Gront slapped his thigh. “Knew it,” he crowed. Raising his voice so that everyone around could hear, he said, “Know this—Heidi is now my woman.” He leered at her, and ran his tongue over his lips. “Why don’t you go make my bed? I’ll be in to check your progress.”

  Heidi felt sick, but all she could do was nod. But then, from somewhere deep within her, she felt a surge of courage. She’d always been quiet and docile…and scared. Now a steely determination filled her. There was a window upstairs with some bars loose. She pried one off and squeezed out, then climbed down the crumbling wall. Praying no one would see her, she managed to reach the ground and find her way out of the guarded grounds.

  Just as she’d pushed her way through a hole in the sheet metal fence, she heard Gront’s screech of rage coming from the mansion.

  * * * * *

  She gave a dry laugh and immediately regretted it as her shoulders exploded in pain. Things got hazy then, and she guessed she must have passed out. When she woke up again, her face hurt, so someone had been slapping her.

  “Hey, boss. She’s unconscious.”

  “Cut the stubborn bitch down.”

  “And tie her on the table?” Whoever spoke, he couldn’t hide the excitement in his voice.

  Big boss Condozzi—aka Gront the Gross—snorted. “Toss her in the cell for a while. She’ll want to get cleaned up and dressed before dinner.” The words ended in a snicker, so Heidi knew that a bath and decent clothes were out of the question.

  When they cut her down she fell and couldn’t put her arms out to catch herself. The thick cloth wrapped around her head to blindfold her was a blessing now, as it protected her from the hard concrete. Someone hauled her to her feet and she was half dragged, half carried down some stairs into a dank, smelly place. She heard a door creak open and then a hand between her shoulder blades shoved her forward. The door slammed shut behind her.

  “Don’t thank me or anything,” her captor quipped.

  Heidi just concentrated on not screaming as the blood rushed back into her hands and arms. When she was finally able to, she reached up and with trembling fingers, undid her blindfold.

  Well, it was dark anyway. No windows, no lights. Or else she’d gone blind. For a minute she panicked, then she calmed down and tried to take stock of her situation. She put her hand out and groped around. A small room. A bench along one wall. The door…locked, and no handle on the inside. She sat on the bench and breathed slowly and evenly, trying to slow her pounding heart.

  Chapter Three

  Damn that stupid Gront to Hades. What right did he have to make her life one misery after another? She’d thought she’d escaped the Condozzis. For five years, she’d even managed to be halfway happy. And she’d met Lance.

  Even half-dead of thirst, pain and fear, a rush of joy and pure animal heat flooded her belly when she thought of Lance. A space pirate, with a rusted ship called the Juniper, of all things, and not a blasted credit to his name.

  Heidi’s head swam and she rested it against the dry stone wall. She’d met Lance at Fanny’s. Maybe it wasn’t the best place in the galaxy to meet someone, but she’d come to think of Fanny’s bordello as her home.

  The memories submerged her, and she let herself drown in them. Anything to get away from the present pain.

  * * * * *

  As soon as Heidi could, she’d snuck across Glitch Gully and found her way to Fanny’s place—a bordello called “Fanny’s Fandango House of Pleasure and Fantasy, various dance establishments, bars, etc.”.

  The sign took her three minutes to sound out. It was the longest piece of reading she’d done since she taught herself to read.

  As she’d stood there, nose in the air, squinting at the garishly lit sign, a woman had come out of the front door. The woman was tall and curvy, with long, bleached blonde hair. She wore the most beautiful dress Heidi had ever seen. It was red velvet with sparkly sequins sewn to her bodice and sleeves. She was the prettiest woman Heidi had ever seen. She’d stood on the porch, arms crossed across her chest, and she’d watched Heidi.

  Heidi acted as if she didn’t see her. She kept reading until she reached the end of the sign, lips moving silently.

  “You done pretending you can read?” the lady called to her. “Now git outta here.”

  Stung, Heidi replied, “I ain’t pretending.”

  “So tell me what it says.”

  “I’ll tell you if you let me stay here,” said Heidi, digging her toes in the dusty street. “I can work hard. I know how to clean, cook, and wash clothes.”

  The woman laughed, but her eyes narrowed as she looked closer at Heidi. “Deal,” she said, after a minute. “Read it or git outta here.”

  Heidi took a deep breath. “Fanny’s Fandango House of Pleasure and Fantasy, various dance establishments, bars, etc.”

  “Ettsy?”

  “I don’t know that last word,” Heidi admitted.

  “What’s your name, girl?”

  “Heidi.”

  “Mine’s Fanny. And the last word is short for et ceteras. It means ‘so on and so forth’. I got more to my establishment than just bars and dancing.”

  Fanny had taken her in. She hadn’t made her work like a drudge, like the Condozzis had. All she had to do was sweep upstairs, clear the table after dinner, and help out the cook in the afternoons. For a while, Heidi didn’t know what to make of the situation. Fanny gave her a room of her own, and decent clothes, and she even got to go to school, for Fanny’s establishment included a school for children.

  Three days after Heidi arrived, she woke up when Fanny came to her room and told her to get dressed and get ready for school. Heidi was tired, and wasn’t used to getting up early. No Condozzi had ever woken up before noon.

  Yawning, Heidi said she didn’t see the use of schooling, that she already knew how to read. But Fanny explained that it would be nice to have people skilled in medicine, science, and all sorts of things to make life better on the asteroid.

  Heidi remarked the best thing would be to study rocket building, so they could all get the fuck off the planet.

  Fanny had frowned mightily, and had told her in no uncertain terms that young ladies didn’t use that sort of language. If she wanted to be a ruffian, she could go right back over Glitch Gully and hang out with the Condozzi gang.

  Heidi had started to cry then, the first time she’d cried since her parents died, and Fanny had held her until her tears had finally all gone. Then Fanny had kissed her on the cheek and told her all about the Fandango House.

  “You know why I set up this place?” she said.

  Her eyes still swollen from crying, Heidi shook her head.

  “Because I do want everyone to get off this ast
eroid. It’s worse than Hades here, I know that. But we’re stuck. For now. But bit by bit, I make enough money to buy safe passage. You know what that is? It’s what it costs for a ship to take someone to a Federation planet and get them set up as a real citizen there with papers and everything. It takes lots of money, but it’s worth it. So far, I’ve sent five young’uns away. And they send money back to me, so I can help others.”

  “Safe passage.” Heidi whispered the words, her heart beating fast. “I want to help. Let me help too. We have to send Ivy off next. She has a cough, and it ain’t getting better.”

  “I know.” Fanny looked sad, and gave Heidi another hug. She also shook her head. “You know what? You’re the first person not to ask for safe passage for yourself. You thought of Ivy first.”

  Heidi looked down at her bare toes, wiggled them a bit. “Well, I was going to ask for it after Ivy,” she said, shrugging. Actually, she hadn’t even thought about it. Getting off the asteroid was almost too much to wish for—it was like wishing that the stars would fly down from the sky and make a necklace for her. She looked at Fanny. “I want to stay and help you. I can earn money too.”

  Fanny raised her eyebrows. “And just how do you plan to do that?”

  Heidi’s plan had been simple. They needed clients. The west side of town, where all their regular clients lived, had a fair-sized population, but money was scarce. There were a few other seedy bordellos, most of them owned by sleazy types. The east side of town had the Condozzi bastards. But the spaceport was virgin territory. So far, no one really controlled it and it still got a fair amount of traffic from smugglers and such.

  Heidi got to work painting signs, and early one morning she’d gone to the spaceport with Clive, Fanny’s right-hand man, and they’d put the signs up everywhere.

  “Spaceport bar closed for repairs? Spaceport beer flat? Spaceport dancing girls ugly? Come to Fanny’s Fandango House of Pleasure and Fantasy, various dance establishments, bars, etc. and have a great time on Asteroid 6969!”

  The signs had done their work.

  And Clive had made sure the spaceport bar wouldn’t be open for business any time soon.

  “You used too much explosive,” said Heidi, awed, as half the building turned to rubble.

  Clive just shrugged, a grin on his face. “Not to worry—no one was there. But next ship that lands here will see your signs, and Fanny will get new clients.”

  And that’s how it went.

  But as Heidi grew up, she wanted to do more than just paint signs, help the cook, and do housework. She begged and she pleaded, and finally Fanny gave in.

  “All right. You want to lose your virginity, you silly twit?” Fanny had started to yell at her, something she hadn’t done in years.

  Heidi pushed her chin out stubbornly. “I’m eighteen years old. I’m emancipated and have all my shots. Why can’t I have some fun? I see what goes on between men and woman, by Hades! I see it all the time. I get so horny some days I come just by crossing my legs!”

  “So get a vibrator!” cried Fanny.

  “I already have a vibrator. But I’m sick of it. I have an idea. You can make even more money off me. You can auction me off.”

  Heidi had thought it a brilliant idea. Fanny fumed and fussed, and finally gave in.

  Looking back, Heidi figured it was the stupidest thing she’d ever done.

  * * * * *

  She breathed slowly, rubbing her arms as the terrible ache persisted. In the darkness she couldn’t see the welts and bruises on her body. She was glad. In the dark, she could pretend she was still untouched. Still pure. Still a virgin. Until the auction. Until Ivan had bought her.

  Heidi had been too greedy. She’d wanted to make enough money for two safe passages in just one night. What better way than to auction off her virginity? She’d even painted signs for it and had posted them up in the spaceport—despite Clive begging her not to. And that’s how Ivan had come to find out about the sale.

  Ivan wasn’t a newcomer to the establishment. He’d swaggered in one day and had announced he was looking for a new slave girl to tie up and beat.

  Heidi had been horrified, but a couple of the girls on the floor had gotten off their chairs and had strolled over, their eyes bright. Fanny obviously knew he wasn’t dangerous, because she hadn’t ordered Clive to shoot him. Heidi’s curiosity had been piqued. When Ivan took his woman into the bondage room, Heidi, for the first time, had gone to the peephole to look.

  All the rooms had peepholes. It was for the girls’ protection. Heidi had never looked, although some girls loved to do that. And the bondage room had never interested her before. But this time she was curious. She knelt in front of the peephole and watched.

  Ivan took his time. First, he ordered Claire to do a striptease. Then, when she was naked, he made Claire lie down on the bed and made sure she couldn’t get loose. But he did it gently, with hands that fluttered over her body as he attached the handcuffs and ankle restraints.

  “What’s the safe word?” Claire asked, her nipples hardening beneath Ivan’s firm touch.

  “Spaceship,” said Ivan, and he twisted her nipple.

  Claire gasped, but she didn’t say anything, and Ivan took both nipples and twisted them cruelly. Heidi wondered if Claire would shout “spaceship!”, but she just arched her back and said, “More!”

  When he was finished with her nipples, Ivan took a little leather crop and slapped Claire until faint red lines appeared on her thighs.

  Heidi thought that Fanny would come in and take the crop away, but she didn’t, and Claire started writhing and moaning in a way that made Heidi think Ivan wasn’t hurting her all that much.

  When Ivan finally took Claire, Heidi had been worked up into a state of excitement she’d rarely experienced. Seeing a woman tied up and spanked had at first horrified, then wound her up. She’d rushed to her room and grabbed her vibrator, and put it to good use. All the while thinking about handcuffs, crops, and Ivan.

  At the auction, Fanny had announced that Heidi was a virgin, and a submissive. The winner would get Heidi as his main woman for a whole year. He’d get her virginity, and he could come back during the year and ask for her, and she’d have to drop any client she had to service the winner first.

  The crowd, already the biggest crowd ever at Fanny’s, had gone still. And then an eager murmur swept over it. The bidding was fierce.

  When Ivan finally won, Fanny had looked uncertain. Ivan was a regular, but he didn’t have the best reputation. Some girls had refused to serve him after a few times, although no one ever made a formal complaint. Clive said that Ivan got most of his money fighting sabre duels at the spaceport, which might have had something to do with the lack of complaints.

  But Heidi had gotten wet just thinking about getting tied up, and Ivan’s bad-boy reputation had titillated her. Once they were all alone in the bedroom, Ivan had told her about the word “spaceship”, and how it was the safe word and would make him stop whatever he was doing. Heidi nodded. She’d felt perfectly secure.

  Then he’d sternly told her what he wanted her to do, and she’d nearly come all by herself…and afterwards he’d left, and she’d waited. And waited. And waited.

  * * * * *

  “Ivan?” Heidi looked over her shoulder. Ivan stood in the doorway, fully dressed. His eyes roved over her body and his mouth curled in a smile.

  “I see you obeyed me.” He stepped into the room and stood near her.

  Heidi raised her eyebrows in surprise. “Of course I did. You asked me to take off my clothes and put the handcuffs on. It wasn’t that hard. But my arms are getting tired and…”

  “Not another word. If you’re to learn to obey me, you have to learn that you cannot take initiative, either by questioning me or complaining. You will wait for your orders and execute them. That is all.”

  “But…”

  “No buts.” Ivan took a small whip from the bedside table and smacked her savagely on the rear. “Each time you speak
I will hit you.”

  “Ouch! Spaceship.”

  Ivan gaped at her. “What did you say?”

  “Spaceship. You heard me.” Heidi wished he’d hurry and unchain her because her butt stung horribly where he’d whipped her. She wanted to rub it and then maybe give him a smack on the butt. Didn’t he know that thing hurt? She bet she had a welt. She had wanted to be tied up and stroked, and then have little smacks all over, mostly on her thighs and butt. Not a huge, cutting blow to her rear end. It had been a huge blow to her ego.

  “But…but that’s our safe word!”

  “You should know, you gave it to me. Now, take these things off.” Heidi shifted her weight a bit. The bed bounced beneath her knees and she lost her balance. The handcuffs kept her from falling, but she really wanted to get free. “Come on, hurry up.”

  “You didn’t give it a chance,” sputtered Ivan. His face had turned a deep red.

  “I waited here for an hour. I don’t know what you were doing all that time, but you could have been here an hour ago. Then you hit me for no reason.”

  “I went to play cards, and it’s my prerogative to be able to hit you. You didn’t submit correctly, that’s why I whipped you. I have to teach you to submit. It doesn’t come easily.”

  Heidi had heard that for months now, and it was true that she’d decided to give it a try. Submissive slaves were in highest demand at the Fandango House. But staying all alone chained up for an hour and then getting a welt…She looked at her butt. A red line marred her smooth skin. “Goddamn it, Ivan, look what you did to me!”

  “It’s proof of my love.” He didn’t look as if he loved her. He looked cross.

  “Ivan.” Heidi rattled the handcuffs. “Off. Now.”

  He glared at her. “You are not making the slightest effort.”

  “You are not taking these off. Spaceship, Ivan. Spaceship, Spaceship, Spaceship!”

  He heaved a deep sigh and took off the handcuffs. His eyes glittered strangely as he looked at her, and Heidi rubbed her wrists and wondered what she had been thinking to get herself in such a pickle.