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“C-can I put my contract up? Personal companion. Wife, mistress, Queen...” Jade twisted her hands in her lap, and Barnabus, the young, dapper-looking contract manager, let out a startled purring sound.
“You sure can! But if you do that, you’ll have your paws—I mean, hands—full of offers in ten minutes flat. You’ll have your pick of miners, millers, farmers, and even contract managers. Like me.” Barnabus nervously pulled on his whiskers and shoved his thick ruff of gray fur down, trying to make his fur as sleek as his waistcoat and trousers.
Jade instantly put on her “please the client” face. “Oh, you flatter me. I’m sure I wouldn’t attract that much attention.”
“I don’t see why you’d even need to put your contract up, Miss Jade. Just go along to the local dance, and you’ll have your pick of the local gents.”
Jade let the carefully contrived look that she often wore when speaking to men fade. The doe-eyed look of vapid submission and politeness was replaced with something cool and calculating. “I prefer not to trust my future to something as unprofessional as love. I like the factual terms and protections of contracts.”
“Ah. I see. I’ll put it on the local database as soon as you fill out your terms, Miss Jade.”
“Local? I’m hoping to attract offers galaxy-wide. I hear there are Knights in need across the Felix Orbus System.”
Barnabus frowned. “That’s up to you, but I very much doubt you’ll get a nibble from farther afield, Miss Jade. Not that you’re not worth nibbling—no! No, oh, my.” Barnaby twirled his whiskers in dismay.
She waved him on impatiently, faux sweetness dimming even further. “Why not?”
“Well... Hardly anyone comes ‘round these parts. This is the tail tip of the Lynxian System, not to mention the Felix Orbus Galaxy.”
“I’m willing to travel—for the right price and the right man. Knight? King?”
“With you on his arm, a Knight becomes a King.” Barnabus’ eyes were suddenly very luminous—almost hungry. His tweedy voice deepened to a purr that sent a long-dead shiver of interest up her spine.
Jade composed herself, plaited fingers resting on her knees giving a sudden squeeze of self-control. “I offered my contract for an off-world position once. I got trafficked here, but even though my journey started as a kidnapping, it became the best rescue I’ve ever had.” That much was true. She felt lonely sometimes, but when she was honest with herself (something that was hit or miss), Jade knew the walls separating her from others could come down anytime she chose.
She just preferred the fortress to stay up. Protect her mind. Her heart.
Her body?
It had endured pretty much everything. It was the least of her worries—and yet this place, aside from its methane blizzards and dust storms, had made her feel physically safe for the first time in a decade.
“That’s awful flattering, Miss Jade.”
“I think that the Felids treat women with far more respect than the men on Sapien-Three. I’ll gamble a little. Let’s go beyond local, beyond the Lynxian System. And—could I use one of the database computers to search for positions?”
“Improve your odds, hm?” Barnabus rummaged in the top drawer of his wooden desk and pulled out a key. “Here you go. You can use it until I have to lock up for the night. Hope you find something.”
Jade nodded and took the metal key from him, turning it over in her fingers. So many things on Lynx-Nineteen were archaic to someone who had grown up on Sapien-Three, where the world was full of plastic and screens, and everything felt cheap, fake, and synthetic. Here, things were made of wood, stone, and cloth. Instead of the smoggy vapor and chemical fog that made up most of Sapien-Three’s atmosphere, you could see the sky on Lynxian-Nineteen.
And the methane blizzards. Don’t forget that you can see those, too. Jade shook herself. She ignored the little voice that whispered she would hate to leave this place. Maybe twenty years ago, when she was just a little kid, she would have said this was her dream world—a world where the people were kind and things were simple. Where you could be real. Be yourself.
“Little Jade... Named after something pretty and precious. Now all that’s left is something hard to carve into.” Jade slid into the chair in front of the database computer with a sneer. Practicality was the watchword now. She would lose her looks in another five or ten years. Better lock in her “retirement” now.
Her fingers flew over the large database computer keys easily even though they were made for large Felid paws. Jade typed in “Female companions wanted.”
She used to spend hours on contract sites, usually after particularly unpleasant or demeaning sessions at the Pleasure Park. Back then, the site had automatically been set to the parameters of Sapien-Three. All the results were for Pleasure Parks, married men seeking weekly escapes at seedy hotels, or collectors with private “stables” of women.
It made sense that the Contract Management Office here was calibrated to search the Lynxian System. She’d have to change the parameters—
Except that her search actually turned up something.
Contract Offer: Handsome, educated, and financially stable Leopardine seeks human or Felid Queen for marriage. Fertility must be verified through a comprehensive fertility exam. Human applicants must be willing to discuss possibility of assisted reproduction. Must be willing to travel on a long-haul freighter for the remainder of the Felix Orbus Galactic year before settling in the Leopardine System. Must be willing to learn about and participate in Leopardine culture.
Non-Negotiables: Must agree to at least one video comm prior to meeting. Must provide your medical records with application.
Compensation: Negotiable. Generous credit allowance deposited into your account each cycle for personal and household use. 50 thousand credit bonus per heir produced. Bonus increased for a male heir.
Jade stopped reading. The list of compensation was long, and the list of requirements was short. The destination was off of this primitive rock.
