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“But I heard... I heard many of those women wanted security. Easy work. Guaranteed income and safety.”
“Yes, there are some who came as a contracted companion and later became wives and mothers to widowers with surviving cubs.”
“Offering a marriage contract wouldn’t be out of line, then?”
Marcus’ eyebrows mingled with his mane. “Out of line? No. Out of the ordinary? Yes.”
Ardol rose eagerly, his overtaxed brain shoveling out ideas faster than common sense could examine them. “Well. I’m not your ordinary Leopardine!”
Chapter Three
Jade slid her comm through the credit scanner at Hillhead’s one and only lodging house, managed by a kindly yet formidable old Lynxian Queen, Griselda.
“Thank you, Miss Jade. I hardly know what I’d do without you.”
“Wait for the next bunch of humans.” Jade managed a tight smile. She was the only guest in the lodging house—the last one of the original twelve women who had landed on Lynx-Nineteen over a year ago. There were no apartments in this little town, just farms, wooden and stone homes, mines, and empty space. It was a world away from the dirty, congested cities of Sapien-Three and a whole new life after working almost a decade in the Pleasure Parks. Oh, she had been one of the “window girls” when she was young, a woman who enticed sexually desperate patrons into the lavish halls, but window girls needed to be rotated out every few cycles or they’d lose their appeal. She tried being one of the media girls, one of the comm girls, the women who provide long-distance sexual satisfaction—but Jade quickly found herself receiving poor ratings. She was cold. Mechanical. Her comfort didn’t matter if clients weren’t getting their credits’ worth. Soon she was doing simple sexual services, poses and touches, then using her hands on her clients, expertly making them come just as their credits ran out.
That work was easy and mindless. She didn’t care about who she touched or who saw her body after a while.
Jade didn’t like to think of those days. She definitely didn’t like to think about what happened during her third year at the Parks, but yet she found herself thinking of it more and more with every passing week. All of the other girls who had arrived with her were now married to the rugged miners, farmers, or even the shopkeepers in the area. Avis had snagged herself the widowed mayor. Cherie had claimed an adorable sheriff who adored her.
“Morning, Miss Jade!”
Jade jumped inside. It was only Miles, an older Lynxian who was widowed and didn’t care to remarry. She didn’t need to worry about his advances.
Not that the Lynxian males (they called themselves cubs, Knights, or Kings depending on age and marital status) were demanding or threatening. Jade had originally believed she’d landed among beasts—but the longer she was with the Lynxians, the more she saw that the human men who came to the Pleasure Parks were the true predators.
“Miss Jade, do you want a lift to work?” Miles let his shuttle hover near her.
“Yes, thank you.” Jade eagerly accepted and hopped in. She let Miles talk about the millet crop and the late kidding season for the goats. All the while—she kept an eye on the horizon, scanning for the thick, bowl-shaped clouds that were the harbingers of dust storms that would render the town dark and shuttered for hours or days.
The people were kind, but the weather was not. Dust storms. Methane blizzards. Sulphuric hail...Winters were the hardest. They were lonely. One was enough to teach Jade that she hated winter on Lynx-Nineteen. All Jade had done during her first (and hopefully her last) winter on the planet was sit in her small room in the lodging house. Her job as a farm hand was over until spring. Some of the other women had seasonal jobs, too, but at least they had families or partners to ease the long, bleak hours. All of the women she’d arrived with were now cheerfully involved with someone, most were married. She was the odd one out.
Jade the Unwanted. Unclaimed.
Jade the Exhausted. “Why did you become a farmer?” she asked, trying not to groan. It was only an hour since she woke in her small, soft bed. Her body shouldn’t ache already.
It used to hurt worse. So much worse sometimes.
But those were different muscles, and eventually, Jade learned that you could ask for shots of Lidoblock before meeting clients and that they paid more when they didn't have to be careful.
Of course, Lidoblock wore off, and the pain came back...
“Well, there’s not a lot of choices here. If you don’t want to open up a shop, work in an office, or work in the mithrium mines, farming is what you do.” Miles seemed surprised at the question.
“There aren’t very many offices.”
“Don’t need ‘em much.”
“On Sapien-Three, everything is managed to the tiniest degree,” Jade laughed bitterly. “They have offices for the people who manage offices.” She didn’t miss feeling like she needed a permission slip to pee, but she missed the comforts of her room at the Pleasure Park, the lavish choice of clothing, the gifts from regulars, and the tips from nervous newcomers. She missed the communal dining room, where she could talk to someone who understood her situation, or at least sit there in the comforting, noisy chatter while eating hot, fresh meals.
After a while, the full belly hadn’t outweighed the empty gnawing in her soul, something inside that kept insisting the “job” had become her whole life, and it wasn’t a life she wanted.
“I guess you’ll be thinking about another job, won’t you?”
Jade blinked, wondering how the old Lynxian guessed. “I... Yes.”
Miles nodded knowingly. “When I was young, and my cubs were just little softpaws, I always had to take winter work in the mines. They sure could use the extra bodies.”
