The Pharoah Contract

“Where did they come from? Why do they permit criminals to use their world?”

“No one knows. The guesses I’ve heard… maybe they’re a very old warrior race, tired of conquest, but still trying to maintain their way of life. They collect entry fees from visitors, a lucrative business. Or they think they’re running a game preserve. Or perhaps they simply find our antics entertaining.”

They sat silent for long minutes. At last Dolmaero said, “And they watch? They can see us now?”

“They can. But whether or not they’re watching at this very moment… that I don’t know.”

Dolmaero looked at him, eyes wide. “I believe I’ll sleep now.” The Guildmaster crawled into his tubetent.

Ruiz saw that he was the only prisoner still outside. He sighed and went to bed.

He woke in a thrash of terror, soaked with sweat. A moment passed before he remembered where he was. He breathed in ragged gasps and his heart thumped, as if he had been running.

When he was calmer, he heard a quiet scrabbling sound, a sound unlike the other sounds of the night.

Ruiz put his head cautiously through the tent flap. From the wheel of the stars, he judged the time to be well after midnight. He listened. The sound came again, from Nisa’s tent. He craned his neck to look up at the boat. No one stood guard at the top of the ramp.

Adrenaline fired into his blood. He squirmed from his tent, shook off the last of the dreams. Was the cyborg watching from the boat’s control blister? If not, he might have a chance.”

He could not quite reach the corner of Nisa’s tent; the leash was too short. The sounds from inside the tent took on a thrusting sexual rhythm. Ruiz reversed his body and hooked at the tent with his foot. It caught in a loop of cord, and Ruiz gave a great tug.

The tent slid toward him. Ruiz flipped again, and as the herman’s angry face emerged from the flap, Ruiz caught its throat in his hands.

“Hush, Nisa, not a sound,” he whispered urgently. Ayam slapped at Ruiz with its powerful arms, but Ruiz bore down, crushing its larynx under his thumbs. The herman thrashed, clawed at Ruiz’s face, weakened. As it expired, quivering, semen spattered on Ruiz’s stomach.

With a shudder of distaste, Ruiz threw the corpse aside. “Nisa,” he whispered. “Are you all right?”

A muffled sob came from her tent.

“Nisa! Give me its things. Quick!”

He heard her move; a moment later the herman’s blouse and slacks flew out, followed by the stun rod it carried on watch.

Ruiz searched the pockets in a frenzy of impatience, darting an occasional glance at the boat. It remained dark and silent; he began to hope the others were asleep or inattentive.

In the last pocket he found a key and unlocked his leash. He shoved the herman’s corpse into his own tent, then scrambled into Nisa’s.

In the dark, he could barely see her, huddled at the back of the tent. Her eyes were wide, staring. “It’s dead?” she asked.

“Yes. Listen carefully. I’m going to try to take the boat. I’ll unlock your leash; I don’t have the key to the collar. If I succeed, everything will be fine.” He used the key and dropped it in her lap, patted her foot gently. “If I don’t come back in half an hour or so, or if you hear a big fuss inside the boat… you might want to think about running for the perimeter. A hit from the ruptor would be quick and clean. No pain. Do you understand what I’m telling you?”

She nodded.

He turned to go. She reached out and covered his hand with hers for an instant.

* * *

At the foot of the ramp, Ruiz paused for a moment and listened. Nothing. He sauntered up the ramp, rolling his hips like Ayam, in case the boat was equipped to detect motion signatures. At the ramp’s top end, the lock hung open and dark.

He leaned against the cool metal, took a firm grip on the stun rod, and ducked inside. The hold was empty, unlit except for a small red light by the lock mechanism. He went silently to the end of the hold, where a ladder led up toward the crew quarters and control blister. Ruiz mounted the ladder, raised his eyes cautiously above the passageway sill.

He detected no obvious sign of the cyborg or the giantess, but a light showed from the aft-running passageway, back toward the crew quarters. He could see no obvious security cameras or other security sensors. He began to feel lucky.

Ruiz considered. He needed Banessa first. Her collar controller was the biggest danger. Where was she? If she was with Marmo, the situation was hopeless. Did they seem like boon companions? No.

Ruiz decided that Marmo would prefer the company of the boat’s computer, up in the control blister. Banessa might then be in the crew quarters. He slipped down the passageway aft.

Banessa’s cabin was the last one, and the only unlocked cabin. The door stood slightly ajar, so Ruiz applied his eye to the crack.