Shadow Force 1: the Garden Planet (10 page)

“Harrod tells me you might like to sample, as well as inspect our merchandise.” I said basically to let Max in on this development.

“If we find your merchandise sufficiently interesting, then we will pay the price.” The taller man said.

As the door opened I saw Izzy lying naked on a bed that looked as though it had seen hard and recent use. A few seconds later Sara stepped out of the shower cubicle with a towel wrapped about her.

“Sara, look two for you three for me.” Izzy said the base tones of her voice making her meaning clear.

“My, aren’t you the insatiable one?” Sara replied. “I thought you’d had enough.”

“I’ll never have enough.” Izzy said as she rose off the bed and walked over to the two men. “Especially when there are men as handsome as these two around.”

“They are rather good looking, aren’t they?” Sara said as she removed the towel then walked over to the pair of men, rubbing her body against the shorter one, just as Izzy was doing to the other man.

“Gentleman.” I injected feeling sick to my stomach as I watched the woman I loved fondling this man. “If you wish to sample you must pay.”

“That won’t be necessary,” the tall one answered. “We are interested, and will attend your auction tomorrow.”

Relief washed over me. I wondered what I would have done had the deposit been handed over. I was certainly happy that I didn’t find out. “Max please show our guests out, I need to have a word with Harrod.” I finally said.

“About your fee Harrod.” I said.

“Ah yes, isn’t it wonderful? I’m finally going to get to enjoy you two marvels.” Harrod said to the girls, basically ignoring me.

“That’s what I wanted to talk to you about.” I said.

“I will return at eight tonight if that is acceptable.”

I looked hopelessly at Sara who said, “We have been anxiously awaiting the moment Harrod, you shall have more pleasure tonight then any Sheik has ever imagined.”

“Ah the waiting will be torture; alas I must go and finalize this business. Until tonight my lovelies.” Harrod replied.

“Until tonight.” they answered in unison.

Until tonight my ass, I thought. There had to be a way out of this. Only I couldn’t think of it. I asked Sara and Izzy to join me in the lounge as soon as they were dressed. A short time later my frantic brain came up with a possible solution. “Shadow, how fast can you cause someone to lose consciousness using the interior defenses?”

“Two one thousandths of a second.” My trusty computer responded.

“Once unconscious could we use the teacher program to make an individual believe he is taking part in certain activities, even though in reality he is not?” I asked.

“There are variables that make a definite determination impossible. The best chance for success will be had by making the minutes before and after consistent with the program introduced.”

“And the individual will not know he was stunned?” I asked.

“Theoretically no, still the mental imagery must be sufficiently stimulating at the time.” Shadow answered.

I had one last question. “How long can someone be kept unconscious while still meeting the other parameters I have laid out?”

“A maximum of twenty-four hours.” was the answer. Finally something was going right. A few minutes later my little crew joined me, and I explained what I had in mind.

“Could it actually work?!” Sara exclaimed, the relief in her voice so evident it tore at my heart.

“According to Shadow, it’s possible. Yet we will have to choreograph each move perfectly.”

“Then let’s get busy. Harrod will be back in less than five hours.” Izzy stated.

By seven thirty we had everything worked out. The girls had recorded the audio and visual images that would be used to convince Harrod he had been paid in full. The portable teacher unit was programmed, and the resonator was operating at one hundred percent. The only thing missing was Harrod, who twenty minutes later we went to the airlock to meet. Max and I left the girls to prepare a scene that would sufficiently engage Harrods mental imagery.

Chapter Eight

We took Harrod to the lounge and gave him a drink laced with a sedative that would help to keep him under. We then explained the rules.

“You will be monitored by ship's security at all times. Should you attempt to damage our merchandise the consequences will be severe.” I informed Harrod.

“How could anyone consider damaging such exquisite beauty?” Harrod replied.

“We just wanted you to be aware of that rule, our one and only.” Max said.
 

“The girls have been ordered to accommodate your every desire. You are going to have a night to remember.” I added.

Harrod was getting visibly excited as he contemplated the last statement, it was now or never.

“Come with us.” I said. “It is time for your payment.”

“Wonderful, my whole body is tingling with excitement.” Harrod replied.

Even I was shocked when I opened the door to the girls' “cell”, and I knew that it was faked. Lying on the bed were Sara and Izzy. Both naked their bodies entwined and writhing as though in great passion. I glanced at Harrod who was staring at the scene with obvious delight. Then the next second he was a heap on the floor.

The girls jumped up and helped undress Harrod and get him into the recently vacated bed. After attaching the teacher and some of us getting dressed, we went back to the lounge, leaving Harrod to his imaginary night of a lifetime.

“That was a very convincing show.” I said. “Are you sure you two wouldn’t want to share a cabin on a full time basis?”

“Maybe you're right.” Sara answered sharply. “After all Izzy is obviously a lot more sensitive a partner then you!”

“Sorry.” I said. “Bad joke.”

“Very bad!” Sara agreed.

I asked Izzy and Max to meet us back here in the lounge at seven the next morning. The plan being to awaken Harrod at eight, and once again we would have to set the stage. Taking our leave of them Sara and I went to my cabin.

“Jon, do you really think that I have been enjoying myself during these last few days?” Sara asked once we were alone.

“Sara, I was only joking around.” I said in my defense.

“I know that, still how could you joke about something like this? If I hadn’t been sure of your love and support I could never have gone through with any of this.”

“Sara, I truly am sorry. I love you and I appreciate the difficulty of what you have done.” I answered hoping to defuse the situation.

“Difficult!” She practically screamed. “Shit, paying taxes is difficult. What I have been doing is suffering. Losing what little self-respect I’ve been able to build up over the years since I was rescued. Wondering if I am any better than one of Mohammed’s prostitutes.”

“Sara, stop it, you’re no prostitute!” I answered for the first time realizing just how much she had been putting on the line for this mission.

“Really! What if the deception tonight hadn’t worked? What if those other two had handed over their credit chips? What then? Whose bed would I be in? Not yours, no. I’d be with Harrod right now. Smiling, telling him what a great lover he is while pretending to enjoy the experience. If that’s not a prostitute, what is?”

“A person who sells their body for personal profit” I said “is a prostitute.”

“What have I been selling my body for?”

“For me, for us, for all the children who should be allowed to grow up, for all the old people and everyone in-between, for the whole galaxy God it's called self-sacrifice, not prostitution.”

“Oh hell you’re right, still I feel dirty.” Sara replied, looking as weak and defeated as I have ever seen her.

“Sara, it will be all over tomorrow, and then this will just be a memory. Only you and I are forever.” I said to her, hoping to ease her pain. “I for one consider us lucky to have found one another. Two lost souls, living in pain, living for revenge.”

“I know we're lucky, I’m lucky. You know that I never thought I would love anyone, ever again. After I was rescued I couldn’t even bear to be alone with a man. Gradually that phobia eased; still the thought of being intimate made me sick. That is until the night at Rashid’s casino. I was looking at you while we were eating. All of a sudden there it was, I wanted you! For the first time in my life I wanted to make love to someone. Let me tell you it scared the shit out of me. That’s why I planned the episode at the beach; just to be sure you were a pig. Only then would I be safe, all desire gone. Then you turned out not to be a pig, and I wasn’t safe. So this is the result. I’m in love.”

“You still love me, insensitive jerk that I am?”

“Yes, and you know it.”

“I don’t know, I think you’ll have to prove it.”

“How?” She asked as she found the zip-seam to my jumpsuit.

“I think you already know.” I replied.

Chapter Nine

At eight o’clock the next morning, the girls slipped back into the bed were Harrod was still unconscious. He awoke a short time later.

“It’s about time you woke up.” Izzy said. “We thought you were going to sleep all day.”

“Ah, my darlings, such joys I have never experienced. Please let us indulge one more time.”

“If only we could!” Sara said as if it were her deepest desire.

I opened the door then. “Come.” I said to the girls. “You must make yourselves ready for sale.” I then asked Harrod to join Max and me in the lounge as soon as possible. He joined us a short time later. The girls had gone to my cabin to stay out of sight.

“You truly are not thieves.” Harrod said to Max and me when he came into the lounge. “Never has a bargain been so honorably upheld.”

“We are nothing without our honor.” I said, ecstatic that our plan had so obviously succeeded.

“I must leave now to see to the final details for the auction. I will return at three-thirty. The bidders will arrive starting at four for the viewing, with the auction to start precisely at five.” Harrod said, rising to make his exit.

“Harrod, are any of the bidders representing the black market?” Max asked.

“Why, two of the most powerful members will be in attendance. I thought I’d mentioned that.”

“Not to us.” Max said.

“Please forgive the oversight, it was unintentional.” Harrod answered.

“No matter.” I said. “You’ve done a fine job Harrod. We will see you this afternoon.”

After I saw Harrod out the airlock I gathered the team in the lounge.

“The black market will be represented at the auction.” I told Sara and Izzy.

“When did this develop?” Sara asked excitedly.

“I’m not sure. Harrod just mentioned it when Max asked.” I replied.

“Jon, this may be the opportunity that I have been waiting for.” Sara stated.

“What opportunity?” I asked.

“Well, if we’re going to break up the slave trade on this planet, we needed a starting point. Now we have one.” Max injected.

“Max, we’re here to grab Anwar, no other reason.” I said my frustration starting to show.

“There is no reason that we can’t expand our mission to encompass our mutual desire to crush slavers wherever, and whenever possible.” Izzy said. “It’s part of who we are.”

“Jon, you can’t believe that after all we have been through, we are just going to forget this do you. Or that we could actually leave without doing some damage.”

“Do you have a plan?” I asked knowing that I had lost this argument.

“Let’s hear your plan first.” Max said.

“Alright, I’m counting on Anwar being the successful bidder. If he is then while the girls pretend to prepare to depart, you and I will get rid of the other bidders. We then get off this rock, and back to Mohammed.”

“What if Anwar is not the successful bidder?” Izzy asked.

“He has to be.” I stated.

“My, that’s some plan.” Sara said.

“You got a better one?” I asked.

“I do believe we do!” Sara replied.

“I’m dying with suspense.”

“Well then I better tell you, I kind of like you alive.” Sara said with a smile. “The plan is really simple it’s just the details that are tough. First of all, the people coming are all part of the problem. So let's just take the whole group out of circulation.”

“Are you kidding?” I said dumbfounded. “What are we going to do with ten prisoners?”

“I don’t know, that’s one of the details.”

“A rather big detail, don’t you think?”

“Maybe not; all we would have to do is make a quick trip to Macdill, then turn them over to Rosen, and buzz back to New Libya.”

How we were to pull this off I had no idea. “How are we supposed to subdue ten men?” I asked.

“Shadow?” Sara called.

“Yes mistress.” Shadow answered.

“Mistress?” I asked just slightly bewildered with my super computer. “What did you do to my ship?”

“Nothing much, still I couldn’t help but notice that Shadows personality has been missing lately.” Sara stated.

“Of course it's different. Shortly after you and Max came onboard I instructed the central processor to subdue the personality program.” I answered.

“Why ever would you do that?” Sara said.

“Let’s say, I didn’t think you appreciated the sense of humor I had instilled in it.”

“Well, I did.” Sara replied. “Now I’ve reprogrammed it.”

“Reprogrammed how?” I asked a little pissed.

“We are all now officially partners, at least according to Shadow. My first command was to reactivate the personality program with a few modifications.”

“What modifications?” I asked.

“Well the first was to make me the mistress of the ship.”

“Rather a big decision to make on your own. So, do I still have any authority here?” I asked only half-jokingly.

“A little.” My new found love replied. “Shadow is it possible to isolate the platform we’ve set up with a force field, protecting us while stunning everyone else in the room?”

Of course I knew that it was possible, still the thought of having to deal with a bunch of prisoners was not to my liking, even as I realized that Sara’s plan was workable.

“What about the slaves who are undoubtedly being held by the black marketers awaiting sale? We can’t just abandon them.” Max chimed in.