Comfort Cargo

[caela]

"Take a look at this, Yasmin. Do you need another kick for encouragement?"

Yasmin growled but turned her head to look at the screen. It was a picture of her wearing her shipsuit while eating earlier in the day.

"I was on duty in the infirmary and Doc told me to go get something to eat. You're the one that said I could wear the shipsuit while on duty with Doc. Or was that just bullshit? Maybe you're just as sadistic as Hebart. Will you show him this video later? Both of you get a good laugh out of it?"

If she'd been able to she would have lifted her head enough to spit at Gibon, as it was she simply turned her head again refusing to look at him or the picture any longer.

 

[Otto26]

"No, I told you you could wear a shipsuit while you were in the infirmary. When you're out of the infirmary you're supposed to be naked. Slavers said you were smart, Doc says you're smart, so I know you didn't misunderstand me. You thought you were being clever and finding the loophole in the agreement. I can't have you running around doing that. So I've got a couple of choices."

He ticked off the options on his fingers. "One, you and I can reach an agreement that you'll abide by. Two, I can put you on the brothel option. You can spend anytime you aren't working in the infirmary or sleeping chained to the floor like this. Three, I can go ahead and admit that I can't control you and let you take your chances with the captain. I don't think he'll pay for your food, clothing, air, and room, but maybe I'm wrong about a man I've known for fifteen years."

"I'd prefer the first option because it's easier and makes more money for me. Which do you prefer?"

 

[caela]

"I'd prefer the first option because it's easier and makes more money for me. Which do you prefer?"

"A bargain that isn't one besmirches the honor of the one trying to make it," she said quietly clearly quoting someone. "It was one of my father's favorite quotes. He was big on honor my father. He also thought the buying and selling of humans was dishonorable...now I know why."

Turning her head to look at Gibon the fire and fury had left her face, replaced instead with a cold blank stare that seemed to cut right through him.

"I tried bargaining with you but I'm done now. Do what you like Gibon, you will anyway because no bargain you strike with me will ever hold weight. You don't see a human being, you see a piece of property, a thing only there to make you money.

I'm done Gibon."

Holding his gaze for a moment longer she finally turned her gaze away from to look at the other wall once more, her voice brittle and tired when she spoke, "If you're going to leave me like this please take the reader back to Doc. I won't be able to study the sims on it he wanted me to go over this way, and the inventory lists are on it. He'll need those."

 

[Otto26]

Gibon shrugged and picked up the reader. "Speak up if you change your mind. And let me know when the crew get tired of you. Hebart was asking when you'd next be free," he called as the door closed behind him. On the walk back to his room he cursed bitterly, though silently.

'Costing me more money. Should have gone for the stupid one,' he lamented.

Putting his dirty clothing into the laundry receptacle he walked down to the infirmary.

"We've got a problem," he said.

"Unless you need medical attention, Gibon, I don't have a problem," Doc replied.

"Console, display vid feed one from personal quarters Yasmin," Gibon ordered. "Take a look at that, Doc. That's how I've got to leave her. Too damn stubborn to see any sort of sense."

"You could try reason," Doc pointed out.

Gibon waved a hand dismissively. "What happens when I tell the Captain she can't come to the infirmary any more because I can't control her?"

Doc frowned.

Gibon nodded. "Cert. He won't be pleased. Want to guess how he'll handle it?"

The Doctor shook his head slowly.

"Neither do I. You ready to do that modification we talked about?"

"Gibon, that goes against my medical ethics! I won't operate on a patient without permission."

Gibon shrugged. "If you'd left well enough alone she'd be safe in that cabin. But now the Captain is interested. He might already know; I turned off the public feeds but the mandatory safety feeds are still in place. If one member of the bridge crew has an itch they want to scratch for free..."

"Can I try talking to her, Gibon? Privately?" Doc sighed.

"Cert, Doc, give it your best. I'm going to go to sleep, call me when you've made up your mind."

***

Doc opened the door to Yasmin's room and walked in. He sat down on the floor where Yasmin could see him.

"Well. This is a mess," he said.

 

[caela]

She'd waited until Gibon left before she let her body shudder and tears roll down her cheeks. With him there she could stay angry and lash out at him, without him there it was all to easy to let her self pity roll over her. She'd tried bargaining with him, thought she could manage to make things semi-tolerable but the simple fact that he could do this to her drove home the fact that nothing she did mattered.

She only cried for a few minutes before just going limp and staring at the wall. She heard the door open but didn't bother turning her head to look and see who it was.

Then Doc sat down on the floor where she couldn't avoid seeing him.

"Well. This is a mess," he said.

"Not such a mess," she said quietly. "Shouldn't last too long. Either Gibon'll dump me at the nearest ship dock or apparently the Captain might void me. Either way I'll be out of your hair Doc."

 

[Otto26]

Doc shook his head. "Gibon won't let matters go that easily, Yasmin. You underestimate him because you misunderstand him and lack sufficient knowledge of him. If I told you Gibon owns more of this ship than anyone else aboard, including the Captain, would you be surprised? Yet he does. He worked his way up from a position almost as bad as yours. Tenacious."

Doc paused and gathered his thoughts. "It's four months to the next system, Yasmin. The money he'd make on selling you when we get there... it wouldn't cover the costs of getting you there. You're not going to get sold off this ship. And if you were sold, what would you be sold as? An untrained, rebellious pleasure slave? You think you'd end up anywhere but a slave brothel? Chained to the deck just the way you are now? If you had time to complete your certification you'd at least have a chance of a medical position."

He swallowed and then plowed on. "Gibon came to see me. He wants me to perform a procedure on you; libido amplification. The last time he asked me, I refused. This time... I haven't refused yet. This is where medical ethics gets fuzzy, Yasmin. When you get this far out on the fringes of civilization the choices become very hard and very... debatable."

He sighed, searching for the right words for a harsh truth he hadn't spoken of in a long time. "I had my own station. I was a missionary, sent out to provide care and instruction and help make the universe a better place. We had an outbreak of disease, I don't expect you'll have ever heard of the disease. It was localized and nasty and very, very painful. When we finally identified the vectors we were horrified to learn they had spread the malady on purpose. They had evaded health controls, had deliberately murdered hundreds of people and wrecked the economy of an entire system. Because of their beliefs."

"I had them brought to the hospital and put into isolation. And then I did not treat them. I gave them food, water. But no medicine, no painkillers, no video but footage of dying children. I did not harm them, except that I did not treat them. The disease killed them very slowly and painfully. They had broken no laws, you see. No one had ever thought someone might do something like that. The authorities even thanked me. The brotherhood saw matters differently, of course. They cast me out and demanded a sentence of death. So I fled."

He looked away and simply breathed for several minutes, until he felt he could talk without croaking. "The point, I think, is that I am faced with the choice of allowing you to die or performing a procedure that you don't want. Gibon's manuevered me into this position; pointing out the responsibility I bear for bringing your medical skills to the attention of the Captain. Playing upon my affection for you. Even playing upon my beliefs. And the horror of this is that your situation will be worse. The hyper-libidity... you'll fight it until it overwhelms you and you find satisfaction and then you'll feel tremendous guilt until the cycle starts to repeat. He'll chain you up during your lucid times, sell your body when you're out of control, and there's no benefit to you."

"Can't you play him?" he suddenly hissed, leaning forward. "Buy some time. I can have your basic certification in a month and by the time we dock at the next station you'll be good enough to work as a ship's medic anywhere the Free Trade Association reaches; hundreds of systems. More than good enough for station-side help. If you won't do it for yourself then do it for me. I don't want to make another choice like this."

 

[caela]

Yasmin listened as the doctor talked. She let his voice soothe her as nothing else could have. He was the one person on the ship that not only treated her like a human being but hadn't paid Gibon for the use of her body. In her eyes that scored him points that no number of boxes of candy, or changes in room temperature, could. He didn't treat her like property.

As he told her his story she sighed softly. She didn't have it in her to feel sorry for what he'd done. The very idea of people spreading disease deliberately was abhorrent to her and she couldn't help but think she might have done the same thing.

"Can't you play him?" he suddenly hissed, leaning forward. "Buy some time. I can have your basic certification in a month and by the time we dock at the next station you'll be good enough to work as a ship's medic anywhere the Free Trade Association reaches; hundreds of systems. More than good enough for station-side help. If you won't do it for yourself then do it for me. I don't want to make another choice like this."

She was startled at the sudden anger and frustration in his voice and would have jerked back at it except that she couldn't. Bound as she was the only part of her body she could manage to move was her head and even that was only from side to side and only slowly.

"Buy time for what Doc? So I can just be sold again? I don't know if I can," she admitted quietly. "I don't know if I can endure another four months of rape and torment, of being passed around from person to person as if my own thoughts and feelings didn't matter. No, it's worse, as if I don't think or feel at all. Not all of them are bad, Izumi and Ozumi were gentle enough in their own way but that doesn't make it any less rape Doc.

I was born free! And to parents who thought the trade of humans like animals was one of the most abhorrent things in our universe. And the worst of it really is that in another six months...six short months Doc...I'd have reached the age of majority on my world. Do you know what that means? It would have meant that no slavers net could ever have held me. When you reach the age of majority on my world you can't be made a slave any longer Doc, something about not being psychologically capable of handling it anymore. They had to terminate too many and finally outlawed taking us after a certain age.

Six months," she whispered and tears filled her eyes, rolling down her cheeks to splash on the floor under her. Her body shuddered as sobs wracked it and finally she turned her head away from the doctor, not wanting him to see the despair in her eyes.

How long she cried she didn't know she finally murmured just loudly enough for him to hear, "I'll try. I can't promise I'll manage, but I'll try."

 

[Otto26]

Doc nodded, even though he knew Yasmin wasn't looking at him. "Can't ask more than that," he said. "I'll tell Gibon."

He tried to find some way to offer Yasmin hope beyond what he'd already given her or, failing that, some sense that she wasn't alone.

"You grew up free," he told her, "so at least you've had that. The Moscatiello boys didn't. Never felt the wind on their face in their entire lives either. Next shift will be hard for you, but so long as you live you can win."

He stopped in the doorway. "And I'll expect you to have studied your assigned work. I have high standards for my students."

***

In the infirmary he found Gibon sleeping on the examination table and had to wake him up to tell him that Yasmin had agreed to obey him.

"It's fragile," he tried to impress upon Gibon.

Gibon shrugged, "If she breaks then you can put the fix in or I'll dump her in the Captain's lap. If she does what I say, makes my money, then I won't be difficult."

"Gibon," Doc said quietly, "you put me in a position where I had to choose between my ethics and my morals. I'm very concerned about what might happen if I found myself getting into the habit of compromising those. I really am afraid of that."

Gibon made no response, but was thoughtful as he walked out of the infirmary.

***

The door to Yasmin's room admitted him and he walked in and sat down on the chair. He ran his eyes over her for a long centisegment, admiring the curves of her body and the way the restraints forced her body into those curves. It seemed, though he was not a poetic man, that the restraints merely emphasized some of her curves. There was philosophy in there, somewhere, but Gibon was not a man to venture that particular territory.

"Doc says you're going to behave. I want to hear it from you," he said quietly.

 

[caela]

"You grew up free," he told her, "so at least you've had that. The Moscatiello boys didn't. Never felt the wind on their face in their entire lives either. Next shift will be hard for you, but so long as you live you can win."

Yasmin wondered what he meant about the Moscatiello boys. She thought he meant Izumi and Ozumi but she wasn't certain. She didn't know their last names but it made sense for it to be them since they were the only brothers she knew aboard ship and she doubted Doc would mention people she didn't know. Still she didn't know what he meant about them not growing up free. Had they been slaves as children or just never had choices beyond a ship?

If they'd been slaves themselves perhaps they'd have more sympathy for her situation than she would have expected.

She was left alone with her thoughts when the Doc left and wasn't surprised when Gibon showed up a few minutes later. Apparently Doc hadn't had to go far to find him.

"Doc says you're going to behave. I want to hear it from you," he said quietly.

"I'll behave as well as I can," she said quietly without bothering to turn her head to look at him.

 

[Otto26]

"I'm not going to argue. You'll do what I say or I'll wash my hands of you. Now, about wearing your ship suit to the dining room... Console, play recording guilty one," he ordered.

"Take your ship-suit with you, but only wear it in the infirmary. And leave your blanket on your bed. Your pretty naked body is the best advertising in the world," the computer played back Gibon's orders to Yasmin from earlier.

"Yes, I thought those were my words," he said after the recording was finished. "Not, while you're working but, when you're in the infirmary. You don't have to like me, but you have to pay attention and obey me." He went over to the bag of toys and rummaged in it until he found a heavy belt.

"Pay attention, Yasmin," he said and swung the belt, cracking it across her ass.

 

[caela]

"Pay attention, Yasmin," he said and swung the belt, cracking it across her ass.

She'd heard him rummaging through the bag but hadn't known what he was doing until she felt the sudden flare of pain as the belt cracked across her ass. Crying out sharply her body jerked forward so sharply, despite her bonds, that she wrenched her shoulder and choked against the collar on her throat.

Falling back into position she whimpered softly, her body aching and shuddering how, a constant flare of pain radiating from her shoulder and ass both and her neck roughened from jerking against the collar.

What the hell did he think he was doing?! She'd said she'd behave! Ohhhh, how she hated him in that moment, more than she'd hated anyone or anything in her life she hated and despised Gibon.

 

[Otto26]

He watched her, carefully debating whether another swing was necessary. Strangely, to people not familiar with him, emotion didn't enter into the debate. He didn't find her pain or her restraint particularly arousing. They were just tools for achieving a desired end.

'One more,' he judged. He swung the belt a second time, laying it across the red trace of the first blow.

"And that," he said as he put the belt back in the sack, "is that. I trust you understand that you are to be naked anytime you step outside of the infirmary."

He released one of her ankles and then the other and finally her neck, but not her arms.

"Don't get too comfortable. Someone will be in to see you in a few centisegments. Do a good job and then you can study."

He walked out of the room. 'Who can I get on short notice?'

 

[caela]

"Don't get too comfortable. Someone will be in to see you in a few centisegments. Do a good job and then you can study."

Yasmin didn't say anything to him. She simply waited until he had left the room to move. Getting up was difficult without the use of her arms but she did manage it and whimpered as her body protested. She'd been trapped on the floor long enough that her muscles had tightened and didn't want to release easily.

As best she could she stretched out her sore muscles but found even this difficult without the use of her arms. Still she worked on it until her muscles loosened. Her shoulder still hurt and she was fairly certain from the feel of it that she'd be asking Doc for painkillers later.

Once she'd done all she could she sat down on the edge of her bunk and waited to see who Gibon would send through the door and silently praying it was one of the Moscatiello boys.

 

[Otto26]

When the door opened Ozumi stepped into the room. He was slightly hesitant, but that hesitation was replaced by alarm. "You look terrible, Yasmin," he breathed. He stripped out of his clothing and went over to the bunk and sat down next to her. "All this for wearing your shipsuit at mealtime?" he asked as he started to gently guide her down onto her back.

 

[caela]

"You look terrible, Yasmin,"

She hadn't looked up until Ozumi spoke and when he did she laughed brittlely. She could only imagine how she looked, her face streaked and splotchy from crying, her skin pale from despair and fear and sitting gingerly because of the welts forming on her ass from Gibon using the belt on her tender skin. She really didn't know what to day to it so she just didn't say anything.

Apparently she didn't look too bad because the first thing he did was strip.

"All this for wearing your shipsuit at mealtime?"

She let him lay her back though with her hands still cuffed it pulled at her injured shoulder and made her whimper in pain. Trying to squirm to be a bit more comfortable dragged her ass on the bed and that hurt too so at last she just lay still, her head turned away from him and hoping he'd just finish quickly so she could clean up and lose herself in the reader Doc had given her.

 

[Otto26]

Ozumi spread Yasmin's legs and positioned himself between them, the head of his cock pressing against her sex. He tentatively moved his hips and then stopped, puzzled.

"Yasmin," he said tentatively, "do you enjoy dry penetration? I wouldn't normally presume to ask you your business, but... you seem out of sorts. I could help you if you like," he added, happy to have asked the difficult question and to have managed to bring the subject back to his comfort zone.

 

[caela]

Yasmin whimpered when he started to press into her. It shifted her body on the bed reminding her of all the places she hurt and adding to them with the fact that she wasn't at all prepared for him. She was grateful when he stopped though the confused look on his face almost made her laugh.

"Yasmin," he said tentatively, "do you enjoy dry penetration? I wouldn't normally presume to ask you your business, but... you seem out of sorts. I could help you if you like,"

The question almost made her cry again. It was so naive in it's simplicity.

"No Ozumi I don't," she said quietly and then looked away from him once more having to fight to keep from snapping at him. Her situation wasn't his fault. "But then if what I enjoyed mattered much Gibon wouldn't have sent you here when he knew I was hurt. My shoulder was wrenched while he was punishing me but that didn't stop him from leaving my hands bound behind me and every time you move me it hurts Ozumi," she said by way of an explanation and tried to keep her fury with Gibon out of her voice.

She couldn't blame Ozumi for her situation. In his own, naive, way he'd been nothing but kind to her and it wasn't as if he knew her story. For all he knew she'd been born a slave, she couldn't fault him for expecting her to be sanguine with her situation.

 

[Otto26]

"Oh," he said. The inadequacy of the response was apparent, even to him. "I'm sorry, Yasmin, but I can't undo your restraints. Gibon was very clear about that. I can do something about the pain, though."

He rose from the bed and went over to his ship suit and retrieved the worm from the pocket he kept it in. The console gave him a cup of water and he went over to kneel next to the bunk.

"Willow Worm," he explained, holding the inch long creature between a forefinger and thumb. "Izumi and I always keep one in our personal emergency kit for pulled muscles. Doc processes them, but they're better raw because they contain an analgesic and a very mild soporific. A little bitter, but they act faster if you chew them well. The water will wash the tast out of you mouth," he assured her.

"Ready?"

 

[caela]

"I'm sorry, Yasmin, but I can't undo your restraints. Gibon was very clear about that. I can do something about the pain, though."

Looking up at him she was curious what he thought he could do about the pain and was startled (and mildly grossed out) when he came back to the bed with some sort of small worm-like creature. Before he even spoke she had the horrifying notion that he was going to tell her she needed to eat it.

"Ready?"

Biting her lower lip she almost told him no but when she tried to shift and pain flared through her shoulders again she swallowed her pride and opened her mouth. She tried to hold her breath while she chewed so she's taste it as little as possible but she did as he'd said and chewed it well before swallowing.

Once she'd swallowed she tipped her head up, taking the water he offered and swallowing it eagerly to get the bitter taste out of her mouth. While she was drinking she started to feel the analgesic effects of the worm and sighed softly as her shoulder actually relaxed under her.

"Thank you Ozumi. That was incredibly helpful," she said with a tight smile on her lips. She still wasn't happy but at least she wasn't in pain anymore.

 

[Otto26]

The compliment washed over Ozumi like warm water and he beamed. "I'm glad, Yasmin. I wouldn't want to hurt you and, to be honest, I'm a little nervous. I've never been with a woman alone," he confessed. "I'm used to having Izumi with me and... this is a little strange. Thanks for being pleasant. Here, I'll help with the lubrication."

He set the glass down, stood up, and bent so that his head was between her thighs. He kissed her sex and began to nibble at the folds of flesh with his lips and to trace them with the tip of his tongue.

 

[caela]

"I'm glad, Yasmin. I wouldn't want to hurt you and, to be honest, I'm a little nervous. I've never been with a woman alone," he confessed. "I'm used to having Izumi with me and... this is a little strange. Thanks for being pleasant. Here, I'll help with the lubrication."

"That still puts you ahead of me," she murmured and watched him as he moved down her body unsure what he was going to do. "Until yesterday I hadn't been with a man at al..." her voice trailed off suddenly as Ozumi's mouth moved to the juncture of her thighs.

As he kissed and nibbled at the most intimate part of her body she whimpered and squirmed on the bed surprised when a surge of warmth ran through her. It was a feeling she'd never expected to feel with any of the men aboard the ship, she'd only thought to feel it when she masturbated in the mornings before her day truly started.

"Wh-what are you doing Ozumi?" she gasped softly.

 

[Otto26]

Ozumi looked up. "I'm helping, aren't I?" he asked, suddenly intensely worried that he'd made another wrong move. "This will lubricate you so I don't hurt you when I enter you. We learned about this in sex education before we left the creche, but Izumi and I can't afford a lot of time with a lady, so I haven't done it in a while. Am I not doing it well? I'm not a professional," he offered by way of explanation.

 

[caela]

"This will lubricate you so I don't hurt you when I enter you. We learned about this in sex education before we left the creche, but Izumi and I can't afford a lot of time with a lady, so I haven't done it in a while. Am I not doing it well? I'm not a professional,"

Yasmin couldn't help but to laugh softly. Somehow it was good to know that he was just as lost as she was. It seemed to even things between them a bit even if she was the one that was bound.

"I wouldn't know if you were doing it well or not Ozumi. No one's ever done it to me before. I told you, until I came to the ship yesterday I'd never been with a man...at all. It feels good though if that helps," she admitted and felt her cheeks warm with the admission.

Curious by something he'd said she looked down at him and asked softly, uncertain if he'd answer, "What's a creche?"

 

[Otto26]

Ozumi blinked, 'Never?' he thought.

"Oh, you didn't call them creches? It's where children are educated and cared for. Uhmmm... Console, alternate word for creche?"

NURSERY, the soft voice suggested.

"Thank you," Ozumi said. "A nursery. When our mother sold our contracts we went to live in the creche and learned to be environmental technicians. What do they call a creche where you come from?" he asked.

 

[caela]

"A nursery. When our mother sold our contracts we went to live in the creche and learned to be environmental technicians. What do they call a creche where you come from?" he asked.

Again Yasmin bit her lower lip, this time in thought but she couldn't come up with a word for it and finally shrugged, "I'm not sure if my planet had an equivalent word. What contract did your mother sell? I've not heard of a mother doing that before either, is it a shipside thing?"

Perhaps if she knew more she'd be able to come up with the equivalent of how he had been raised on her world. To her it almost sounded as if he'd been raised in an orphanage but those were for children without parents, not children whose parents had sold contracts on them. Had their mother sold them off into some sort of indentured servitude when they were just children? The thought made her shudder and not with pleasure.