“Information,” I say, and wait.
He sips his brew again, unhurried. “I might be able to help with that. What sort of payment are we talking?”
“A large one.” I decide to put it all out on the table. “I need information on a cloning lab.”
The retriever doesn’t blink. “Any particular kind of clone?”
Helen’s gloved hand steals over to one of my fried leaves and snags one. “The type of clone is confidential,” I say. “I’m just looking for cloning labs that are working outside of regulations.”
“To clone another qura’aki?”
I keep my face calm, but inwardly I’m seething. Has someone spread information about Helen’s arrival? Who could possibly know that we’re here? It would have to be one of our inner circle—
The praxiian taps his nose. “Before you panic, this is what tells me the truth. The disguise, it is no good.” He gives a dismissive look at Helen. “So let us be honest now. “Do you want to know about cloning outside of regulations, or do you want to know about cloning that one in particular? Because that will narrow things down.”
“This one,” Helen chirps. She leans over to me. “I didn’t think about smells.”
I squeeze her hand under the table. “It’s fine.” Praxiians have the best noses in the universe anyhow. We’ll just have to avoid them in the future. I nod at Lukzar. “That’s what we want to know. Where such a lab might be located and how we can get there.”
“There is probably more than one,” Lukzar admits.
“Then we want information on all of them.”
He grins, showing sharp white teeth. “That’ll be expensive.”
As if I don’t know. “Then we’ll have your undivided attention, won’t we?”
The praxiian stands and drains one glass of ooli brew, and then the other. He makes a purring belch and then nods at me. “I’ll contact you when I have more information to pass on. You can wire payment for the first round of information to my account.”
“But you haven’t told us anything yet,” Helen protests.
Lukzar just smirks. “I will, trust me.” He nods in my direction. “Let me know if you’re interested in selling her at any point.”
This time, I’m wishing I could shoot him in the balls myself. Keffing bastard.
CHAPTER 33
HELEN
I didn’t like that man. He wants to buy me away from Mathiras? Just hearing that has ruined my evening. I put my food down. Everything is less fun now. Meeting with him has just reminded me that to most of the universe, I’m a thing, an object to be possessed. I’m not a person to them.
It makes me sad.
“Helen?” Mathiras touches my leg under the table. “What did you think?”
“I think I want to go back to the ship now,” I admit.
He gives me a thoughtful look but tosses some credits on the table and then gets to his feet. I take the hand he holds out to me and emerge from the booth, following close after him as we make our way out of the cantina. It was all exciting before, but now when we pass by the dancers, I see cuffs on their ankles and it makes me realize that they’re not here because they want to be here. It just makes me sadder.
We emerge from the cantina and this time I’m not even sad that I don’t get to spank the bird lady. She probably doesn’t want spankings, just like I didn’t want pinches when I first woke up on the Buoyant Star. All of this makes me feel bad. Mathiras escorts me toward the elevator, eyeing the unfriendly-looking people in the hall. We get on the elevator and start riding down again, whizzing past floors at top speed.
Mathiras squeezes my hand. “Helen? You’re very quiet.”
“I’m sad,” I say. “Let’s just go home. I don’t want to be here anymore.”
He watches me for a moment and opens his mouth to say something, but a mama alien and her children get on the elevator and we move toward the back to give them space. Mathiras leans forward and punches a button on the elevator and then settles in next to me, putting his arm around my shoulders. It should make me feel better, but I’m too busy thinking about the praxiian and how he wanted to buy me. What my fate could have been if I’d have been sold to mean men instead of ending up stranded with Ruth, Jade and Alice. Did those ladies never get a Jade in their lives who gave them hugs and reassured them everything would be okay? Did they not have a Ruth they could snuggle with at night when things got scary and overwhelming?
I hate it and I hate this place and I want to go back to the Star right now. I want to go home.
The elevator stops, and we get off of it. Instead of heading to the next elevator, Mathiras grabs my hand and weaves down the crowded hall, tugging me behind him. “Are we using a shortcut?”