“But that’s horrible!” Bobbi protested.
The other girl shook her head listlessly.
“It’s not so very bad. Especially in this house. Rep. Zerlix often gives us the red hand potion before he takes us—that makes everything much easier to bear.”
“What is the ‘red hand potion’?” Bobbi asked. They had finished with the geezers and now her new friend started helping her with the bullah bulbs.
“It’s a formula that makes the sex act easier for females to bear,” Keelah explained as she peeled one of the enormous bulbs, releasing its pungent aroma.
“But how?” Bobbi asked in confusion. “Does it knock you out so you don’t feel anything?” She was thinking that this “red hand potion” must be some kind of roofie or something.
But Keelah shook her head.
“Oh no—nothing like that.” She frowned, as though trying to think how to explain. “It…makes you eager for the sex act rather than dreading it,” she said. “So eager that you’ll do almost…almost anything in order to get your male to breed you.”
She looked studiously down at the bulb she was working on as she spoke but Bobbi thought she could see a faint greenish tinge in her flat cheeks. Was she blushing in shame?
“So it’s some kind of mind-altering aphrodisiac, then?” she asked, frowning. “Keelah, you shouldn’t have to take something like that just to want to have sex. If you’re with the right guy—a man who truly loves and respects you—”
“Men love and respect their wives—not their Pleasure Girls,” Keelah interrupted her. “And I will never be a wife now. I have been used by too many men. The most I can hope for is that Rep. Zerlix is able to fertilize at least one of my eggs and that it hatches into a son for him. Then he would certainly keep me so that I could raise the broodling.” She shook her head. “But that’s not likely. The owner he bought me from had me go through the sterilization process—it makes all a female’s eggs so brittle they break even as they form. So my chance of laying an intact, fertilized egg—especially one containing a male—is almost nothing.”
“Oh, Keelah—I’m so sorry!” Bobbi squeezed the other girl’s arm sympathetically. What a terrible life she’d had—prostituted at such a young age and then stripped of any chance of having children! Her heart ached for the female Saurian, who was so young and yet had already lost so much.
“It’s not so bad.” Keelah lifted her chin and tried to smile. “As I said, I’ve lasted here a lot longer than most of the Pleasure Girls that Rep. Zerlix brings home. Maybe he’ll decide to keep me forever.” She looked at Bobbi. “What about you? Do you think Dragon will keep you?”
“Oh, I think he’ll try,” Bobbi said grimly. She was thinking again about the Kindred of the Mother Ship. They were certain to come looking for her and when they did, there would probably be a bloody showdown. It might be better if she could escape on her own first. But how could that be accomplished?
“You think he’ll try?” Keelah echoed, her eyes going wide. “What do you mean by that? Are you afraid that another male will try to take you from him?” She lowered her voice confidentially. “I had heard that Rep. Zerlix was saying that he Claimed you first and he was determined to have you, whether Rep. Dragon agreed to give you up or not.”
“You did?” Bobbi wasn’t exactly surprised, but it was disconcerting to know that Zerlix was spreading his intentions to take her away from Dragon far and wide.
“Oh yes.” Keelah nodded solemnly. “There is some concern over what will happen. A Blood Feud between brothers of the same Clan is bad business—very bad business indeed. Some are saying that Rep. Dragon should simply give you to Rep. Zerlix to keep the peace, since he is Rep. Dragon’s Big Brother, after all.”
The idea of being given over to the sadistic Saurian made Bobbi’s blood run cold. But then she remembered the look in Dragon’s bronze eyes and the strange, rumbling echo in his deep voice when he said, “Mine.”
“That’s not going to happen,” she said confidently.
“I hope not—for your sake,” Keelah said and then her voice sank to a whisper. “For unless Rep. Dragon beats you unmercifully and uses you very hard, you’re better off where you are.”
Bobbi felt a stab of sorrow go through her for the Saurian girl. She understood what Keelah was saying—Zerlix abused her horribly. And yet, she wanted to stay in this abusive situation because things could get so much worse for her!
Poor thing! Bobbi thought. If I do run away, I have to try and take her with me.
But it was too early to start planning her escape yet. First she had to learn more about the Saurian culture and then she had to use that knowledge to her advantage.