Chapter 130: Well Paint Me White and Call Me a Harlequin

Mjrrr huddled in her cage, clutching her son.

Not that long ago, the [email protected] station came under attack, and from what she could tell, it was, in complete defiance of all suspension of disbelief, falling…

...and falling quickly.

Something was tearing the mighty [email protected]'an apart.

How did they get past their massive fleet? This station was in orbit above their very homeworld!

The market was empty save for the slaves themselves, abandoned in their display cages or left shackled along a wall or at one trader's shop or another.

Why would they leave them?

Who were they leaving them to?

A hatch opened from deeper inside the station, and brightly dressed humans with strangely painted faces charged in…

She didn't know much about them. Only that there were a few of them among the unfortunates in this market.

They seemed like a nice people, though. One even shared some food with her son even though he was clearly hungry himself.

She felt hope for the first time in a very long while. She recalled that the human who shared his food said his people hated slavery. Maybe they were liberators?

The humans were shouting and barking in some strange guttural, sibilant, alien-sounding tongue as they moved impossibly quickly across the large market, many leaping, flipping, or cartwheeling as they did so.

Groups ran over to the cages and groups of chained slaves.

They were going to be freed!

She looked over at the nice man who had shared his food and was in the same large cage with her expecting to see joy on his face…

...There was no joy…

only… Terror

Moments later, one of the humans tossed a small cube in front of their cage, which flashed and surrounded them with swirling, glowing holographic walls.

As soon as they were concealed, the human approached her.

He was trembling?

"Ste'hen?" she asked. "What is..."

He touched her arm, a signal to be silent, as he brought his head close to hers.

"Mjrr..." he whispered as he pressed something into her palm.

It was sharp!

She glanced down to see a small piece of… something… ground to an edge… A weapon!

"Ste'hen, what is this?" she asked in alarm. A weapon was grounds for the most severe of punishments. Where did he even get it?

"It's for your boy," he said grimly.

"My boy?" Mjrr whispered in confusion, "He knows not how..."

"It's for you to use on your boy," he whispered. "These people… If this goes bad… You can't let them have him, Mjrr… you just can't..."

He positioned himself between them and the cage door.

"I'll try to hold them up," he whispered, "When I do, grant him mercy."

Mjrr, stunned with confusion, fear, and dismay, just crouched there, pressing the shiv into the fur of her thigh.

"I don't understand," she whispered, her voice shaking, "Are we not being saved?"

"Saved..." Stephen chuckled ruefully, "these people don't save. The Devil has judged the [email protected]'an, and she didn't send her angels… not that they would have been much better, come to think."

He giggled quietly but hysterically.

She looked over at the other human in the large cage, Ste'hen's mate, who was looming in front of the only other child in their cage, a frail-looking Meekxe.

They were preparing to fight?

She knew not how much time had elapsed. Perhaps it was only minutes. Perhaps it was hours.

Suddenly, the "walls" around their cage started to fade as the room was filled with strange, strangely serene, alien music.

As she could once again see beyond the walls of her cage, her heart froze…

It was nightmarish!

It was worse than even what she had beheld when her ship was overrun by the [email protected]'an pirates!

Bodies… of [email protected]’an and other races alike…

Mangled… mutilated…

And not all were dead. Some were still alive, wounded, or captured and begging for mercy.

A single one of these new humans, dressed in white pants stained with splashes of purple, a beautiful glossy red coat with tails, and a fancy hat, approached. She seemed younger(?) than Ste'hen's mate and certainly more… sleek(?).

The most notable thing about her, though, was the way she moved as she silently approached their cage. Each move was exaggerated and "awkward," but yet it wasn't. Her limbs looked as if they were controlled by another as if she was a traditional puppet from her homeland.

She stopped before their cage and performed a deep, sweeping bow seeming to almost fall over before returning to her full height and looking at them with wide open, unblinking eyes.

Mjrr looked at her with horrified awe. She was both one of the prettiest and most terrifying things she had ever seen. Now that she could see it clearly, the human's face was a piece of living art, pure white decorated with vibrant colors exaggerating or concealing her natural features with strange symbols on both cheeks (A very embellished heart on one cheek and an equally intricate diamond on the other).

The only thing that looked out of place was the purple stains around her mouth…

running down her chin…

her neck…

...and staining the beautiful ruffled collar...

Oh, benevolent spirits! Mjrr prayed silently.

She knew what that "purple" was.

The "beautiful doll" standing in front of them smiled, revealing wickedly sharpened teeth very unlike the teeth that the humans she had seen before possessed.

The Harlequin bent forward at the waist almost ninety degrees as she silently stroked her chin, examining them.

She then snapped upright with exaggerated surprise and pointed at Stephen, waving frantically as she made a huge smile, the face paint exaggerating it further.

She then snarled and adopted a wide-legged stance with her fists raised as she bounced back and forth for a few moments before she popped up again and silently mimed human laughter as she clutched her sides.

Wiping an imaginary tear from her cheek, she shook her head and made placating gestures with her hands before falling to her knees, hands raised in a universal sign of begging for mercy.

Stephen's shoulders slumped a little.

She then made a few other, more species-specific gestures that Mjrr didn't understand, and Stephen seemed to relax a little.

She then pointed at Mjrr as she mimed stabbing someone…

and held out her hand.

Mjrr numbly stood, shuffled towards the door, and gave the shiv to the human.

The Harlequin then looked at Stephen's wife and contorted the upper part of her face as she made a strange wiggling motion with her index finger and held out her hand again.

"I don't have anything!" the human cried.

The Harlequin started tapping one of her feet…

and then mimed shoving her fist inside something, grabbing something else, and yanking it out forcefully.

The human female sighed, backed to a corner of the cell, and turned her back…

Moments later, she stepped forward holding a tightly wrapped small item, offering it to the painted young woman…

Who actually spoke.

"Ew."

She pointed at the ground.

The captive human tossed the item where the Harlequin pointed, and then the brightly dressed woman kicked it a surprising distance away.

Then, with surprising clarity, the brightly dressed and painted woman communicated that they were okay, wouldn't be harmed, and they should just wait a little while…

All without saying a word…

Then, she crouched down and stared at Mjrr's son!

She beckoned to him, smiling "pleasantly" (and without showing those horrible teeth).

He timidly approached. Every instinct inside Mjrr screamed that she should stop him, that what he was approaching was a dangerous animal, perhaps the most dangerous creature Mjrr had ever or perhaps would ever encounter…

But a more rational voice said that they were entirely at that demon's mercy, and the only thing she would do would be to alienate it…

So, praying with every bit of her soul to every single being she thought might listen, she didn't stop her son.

When he arrived at the wall of the cage, the Harlequin waved.

Her son, eyes wide, waved back.

The Harlequin took off her hat, revealing light silver/brown hair, and shook it soundly, showing the child the inside.

Then she rolled up the sleeve of her jacket and removed her purple-stained white glove, carefully showing the child both sides of her hand.

She then smiled and snapped her fingers.

Mjrr gasped. There was suddenly a brightly wrapped food bar where there was nothing before!

How could it be?!? Were they… magic?

The magical human then tossed the bar from one hand to the other…

And there were TWO bars!!!

She smiled and pointed first to her son and then to the other child in the cage as she gave Mjrr's overjoyed son the bars.

The Harlequin then rose and flipped her hat into the air with her boot…

where it then landed perfectly on her head.

With a skip and a jump, she trotted over to the next cage.

"Nobody touches those bars except for the two kids," Stephen said quietly and gravely, "The Harlequin are showing mercy to us. That can change at any second. If it does..."

He pointed at the horror that they had all been successfully distracted from for a few moments…

***

Not that much later, Mjrr, Stephen, and all the rest of the slaves found themselves being led down a corridor by the same cheerful and bright Harlequin in the red coat, now dancing and skipping along while waving two rods with long holographic ribbons that danced in impossibly complex patterns around her…

and accompanied by some rather less "fancy" but much better armed (or visibly armed) harlequins…

A much nicer-looking hatch automatically opened…

The slaves all gasped as they walked into a beautiful "shopping mall" concourse…

Standing before them were nicely dressed and absolutely terrified looking [email protected]'an.

The "doll in the red coat" happily gestured at the slaves and twirled about with her ribbons…

One of the [email protected]'an glowered at her…

With a smile, the Harlequin twirled towards him, letting one of her ribbons wrap around his neck…

… and take his head off, showering the others with bright purple blood.

She then danced and twirled around the other [email protected]'an ribbons flickering around them as they stood perfectly still, some with their eyes wide with terror, others with their eyes tightly shut…

She then cartwheeled, ribbons flying everywhere, back in front of the slaves and gestured happily towards them again…

"Bow!" another harlequin shouted.

Everyone, [email protected]'an and slave alike, bowed instantly, causing the doll in the red coat to mimic roaring with laughter.

"Stop bowing!" the same Harlequin shouted, and everyone did so, afraid to disobey. "You purple snacks, get these people dressed. Give them anything they want. You serve them now. Take their measurements at the restaurant, so they don't have to wait."

"Y-yes, sir..." a [email protected]'an female said, completely terrified.

The Harlequin in the red coat made a "tut-tut" sound and approached her with disapproval in her eyes.

"Performers… or livestock… do not speak unless given leave," the speaking Harlequin said in a matter-of-fact tone.

The [email protected]'an whimpered as the red-clad doll walked towards the [email protected]'an with heavy, exaggerated, puppet-like footsteps.

The doomed shop clerk burst into tears, wetting herself.

"Please..." she whispered… "Pl—"

The word froze in her throat as the mime, inches away from her face, "tut-tutted" again.

The clerk closed her eyes…

And felt a gentle kiss on her forehead and a firm but equally gentle pressure on her lips.

She opened her eyes to see the blood-stained silent demon smiling(?) at her with one of her fingers on her lips and one on her own…

She then patted the clerk on the shoulder, backflipped away a few times, gestured to the slaves, and then skipped and cartwheeled down the concourse, leaping from bench to bench, hopping from planter to planter, and swinging from any convenient signage as she did so.

Eventually, she stopped before a large, richly decorated set of double doors and opened one with a sweeping, bowing flourish, indicating that the slaves should go inside.

More than a little stunned, they all stumbled into a fancy restaurant, where more very well-dressed and absolutely terrified [email protected]'an awaited them.

"W-welcome to (hurk!)"

A Harlequin kicked it in the gut, causing the [email protected]'an to crumble to the floor.

"tsk..." the doll in the red coat huffed. "Bla bla bla..." she said as she opened and closed her hand in front of her mouth.

"Stop laying around and greet our guests!" another harlequin shouted as they kicked the poor [email protected]'an again.

"W... (gag)… Welcome to… (cough)… The house of...(hurrrg)..."

The doll harlequin sighed heavily and just made a scooching gesture toward the seating area.

"Come on," another harlequin said as they gently herded the slaves into the restaurant proper.

Mjrr flinched as she heard a wet, snapping sound behind them, followed by that scary red-coated one scampering past with a giggle… leaving fresh purple footprints on the carpet as she did so.

The red-clad Harlequin cartwheeled into the center of the room and then clapped her hands.

"Those of you who we have spared can now come forward and serve our guests!" a harlequin shouted, "You are allowed to speak."

A few [email protected]'an, who had been huddling along the walls, timidly stepped forward, tablets in hand…

***

"Say what now?" a very displeased-looking xeno wearing surprisingly human-looking dockers and a polo shirt said as it ruffled its thin wispy pangolin-like scales.

Grace smiled pleasantly.

"I said that I was wondering how you would like to refund my employer concerning the work that these invoices claim was performed on his vessel that was, in fact, not performed and what we are going to work out concerning these so-called 'repair parts' that you stated right here were both new, and the exact replacements specified by the manufacturer when in fact they are poor quality salvage pulls that wouldn't have met specifications when they were new."

The xeno growl-hissed.

"I don't appreciate you makin' these wild accusations about my workers and my business when you have nothin' you can back it up with!"

Grace pulled out their only cracked tablet and started scrolling down a long list of ship readouts.

"What's all that then?"

" This," Grace smiled, "are detailed ship logs, status indicators, photographs of the shit parts you claim to have replaced, and much more that back up exactly what I am talking about."

"Good luck trying to get anythin' of that to stick," the xeno replied, "the magistrate don't understand none of that, an' he's my cousin anyhow. Get lost."

"I wasn't going to show it to the magistrate," Grace purred, "I am going to put this on every board and email it to every single ship in the sector! I'm going to put it on repeat and blast it on the open channel. Every single ship's captain across the sector will know all about you and the shit you pull, and they will understand what's on this tablet."

She sat on his desk.

"I wonder if that cousin of yours will give you a job after this place tanks."

"You got a lot of nerve for someone who could go missin' real easy… slave..." the xeno said as several rough-looking beings who were lounging nearby stood, and the ship's mechanics stopped work and started stepping forward.

Grace stood up and smiled, eyes sparkling.

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"Alan," she crooned, "Why don't you and Beep go looking for some salvage we can buy? I'll catch up."

Alan rushed up to Grace.

"Grace!" he whispered urgently, "No! Bad Grace! Bad!… We are harmless… remember… harmless..."

"Well, you're no fun at all..." Grace replied a bit louder. "Fine, we'll do it your way..."

She turned the tablet to face the leader.

It had a huge red "send" icon on it.

"Wait!" the xeno shouted.

"Let me handle this," Alan replied. "Look, Garrvix… can I call you Garrvix?"

"No."

"We are all reasonable people, Garrvix," Alan smiled. "We don't want to cause you trouble, and you don't want to cause us trouble, right?"

Garrvix just stood there, staring at the big red button and Grace's finger hovering just over it.

"You just want to make a buck… sorry… some credits," Alan said reassuringly, "We get it. We do. Neither my friend nor I are angels by a long shot, trust me."

"And you should be happy about that," Grace chirped, much to the xeno's confusion.

"We don't care if you rip other people off," Alan smiled, "Hell, anybody who can't catch this sort of scam gets what's coming in my book. I'd probably scam them too."

Alan stepped forward in a completely non-threatening manner.

"Tell you what," he continued, "work something out with us, and I'll show you something that will make this sort of scam a LOT harder to catch."

"Yeah," Grace said, "a couple of little nudges and all of these ship logs will match what your invoice says."

"That has to be worth a few parts and some supplies, right?" Alan smiled.

"An' you'll just show us how to do that?"

"Sure, why not," Alan shrugged, "I only owe these guys, not the whole fucking galaxy."

The xeno shrugged, walked over to a nearby fridge, and pulled out four bottles.

"Can you guys metabolize fructose?..."

***

"I can't be-lieve that worked!" Beep said a little while later as they, with the assistance of some very happy xenos (including the one in the "polo shirt") were loading up an impressive amount of parts, wire, cable, tools, scrap, more parts, broken parts, parts that sort of fit and parts that didn't fit at all.

"Business is business," Alan shrugged as sweat beaded on his bare back.

"It's all about the creds, Beep," a shirtless Grace replied. "Once they knew we wouldn't take shit and we knew they wouldn't take shit, it was just a simple transaction. The first bit was just getting to know each other, one of our handshakes, if you will."

"Listen to the human, featherbutt," the pangolxeno chuffed happily. "She knows. She was the rough fist with the 'claim' and pressed it hard and proved that she knew more about those hidden logs than we do, which is saying somethin'. He was the smooth fist that held the actual deal they wanted all along in its grip. When the claim failed… and I showed my rough fist and showed that I was exactly who they were actually looking for… it was time for the smooth hands to grasp arms."

"But why did it have to be so scary?" Beep asked.

Alan facepalmed as the xeno roared with laughter.

"I ask myself that every fucking day featherbutt," the xeno chuckled.

They resumed working for a bit.

"So what's the deal?" the xeno asked Alan as they drug a "worthless" chunk of hyperdrive into the transport, "You and the other human could eat these loom-baits for breakfast… literally… I looked you guys up on the 'net before I came out here."

"We don't all do that, you know..." Alan grumbled, "Hardly anyone does that anymore. Jesus…”

"Even so," the xeno said, taking care that Beep didn't hear," They own you? That makes no sense. You could take them down anytime you want."

"And crew their ship with two people?" Alan chuckled quietly, "We'd wind up working ten times as hard as we do as 'slaves'..."

He smiled quietly.

"Besides," he added, bringing his head close to the xeno, "sometimes it's best to have someone else's face in front of yours, understand?"

The xeno's eyes sparkled knowingly.

"Ah," he said sagely. "You make the deals, and you run the ship, but they take the fall."

Alan smiled.

"I have no idea what you are talking about. I'm just a simple slave… innocent and harmless..."

The xeno snorted loudly.

“Ok… Marrkuhunna...”

“Marr… what?”

"An old story from where I come from. He was just an innocent slave too..."

"Got it," Alan smiled. "The wiggle worms are actually pretty decent guys, though. Fortunately for them, we really like the little dudes. They actually gave us set contracts. We're 'indentured servants', not 'slaves'."

"A what now?"

"Okay," Alan said, "Here's the deal..."

"Farewell," the xeno said as they finished loading up the transport, "be sure to drop by any time you are around here. We'll happily buy any 'salvage' you come across."

"Oh, we will," Grace said with a big grin as she clasped his arm.

She leaned in close.

"You guys can chop ships, right?"

"Oh yeah," the xeno whispered. "We can move just about anything you 'find'."

"Good to know," Grace whispered back and winked.

***

When they returned to the ship, the transport nearly dragging on the ground, they were confronted by a very unhappy captain...

"...Yeah..." Alan winced, "They do that sort of thing..."

"But you said that humans didn't do 'that sort of thing' anymore!" the captain exclaimed.

"Technically," Grace replied, "we said that it 'almost never happened'..."

"Almost?!?"

"...except for the 'absolute worst' of the houses..."

"And the Harlequin are pretty much the worst," Alan added, "well at least in the top five..."

"Yeah, they are real freak shows, the lot of them," Grace said nonchalantly. "I dated one of them once… total psycho. I had to… um… I had to be very firm when I broke it off."

"From what I heard, he was really 'broken up' over the whole thing," he smirked, "completely fell to pieces..."

Grace punched his arm and gave him 'the look'.

The captain and crew didn't notice such subtleties. They were kind of distracted at the moment.

"They say they are going to hunt down everyone who has enslaved or bought a human!!!" the captain stress whistled.

"Yeah," Grace shrugged, "So?"

" We bought a human!!!" the captain whistle-shrieked," Two humans!!!"

"And you then liberated us from slavery and offered some very attractive labor contracts," Alan replied, "What's the big deal?"

"The big deal is that those… flesh eaters… aren't going to know that!" the captain shouted the same way a tea kettle would if you kicked it in the nuts.

"Oh yeah..." Grace laughed, "that might be a problem."

"AAAAAaaaaaAAaaaaaa!!!!" the captain shrieked with horrified, frustrated rage.

Alan sighed and looked at Grace.

"No!" Grace shouted. "No fucking way!"

"We gotta, babe," he replied, "Even if we leave right now, there is a good chance that the eggheads are going to track us down. You know how they can get. If they say they are tracking down all the humans, then that's exactly what they are going to do."

“Fuuuuuuuckkkk...” Grace moaned and facepalmed.

"We gotta make this right," Alan sighed, "If we don't and we aren't here… Do you really want the Harlequin to pay these guys a visit, maybe drop by their colony...where their kids are… You know these guys are edible."

"Wait!" the captain exclaimed, "We're edible?!? When did you know that?!?… Why do you know that?!?"

"Hey," Grace shrugged, "we didn't know if you were nice guys or not when you 'saved' us..."

"So you were going to eat us?!? You said that never happened!!!"

"We said that it 'almost' never happened," Grace said defensively. "How long are you going to keep going on about that?"

"About the fact that you were considering killing and eating us?!?"

"We never seriously considered that," Alan said smoothly, "We hadn't really even figured out how to take the ship when it became pretty damn clear that you were okay dudes, and we wanted to be a part of this."

"And we weren't going to eat you..." Grace said, "...unless it was going to be a long trip..."

"What?!?"

"Nothing!" Grace smiled innocently.

"Can you please let the whole 'cannibalism' thing go… please!" Alan exclaimed.

"I'm finding that rather difficult at the moment!" the captain tea kettled.

"Would it help if I said that I would have felt bad about it?"

"No!!!"

Alan facepalmed.

"Look, Captain..." Alan sighed, "We found out how great you guys are pretty damn quick," he said earnestly, "we never maliciously planned to do anything to you, not really..."

"Not really?!?"

“(sigh)… It's just that…"

Alan pondered things for a moment.

“This world… galaxy I mean… It's not a nice place, and not nice things happen because of a lot of not nice people. We wanted to believe that we found a nice place and that you were nice people, good people..."

"We really did," Grace said without her usual swagger.

"As long as you were exactly what you said you were," Alan continued, "we were never going to do anything other than fulfill our contracts and do exactly what we have been doing. Since you are some of those rare few good people in this messed up galaxy, you had absolutely nothing to worry about from us."

"Yeah..." Grace said earnestly, "we really like you guys… We..."

She looked down.

"We want to stay," she said quietly. "We want to try to build a life here, with you guys, just a quiet little life where we can fix ships and pick through scrap."

"If you don't trust us anymore," Alan said, "and you want us to leave, we will. We would hate it, but we will. We'll be just fine..."

He looked at the captain with a very serious expression.

"But, regardless of your decision," he said, "we'll clear up things with the humans, so you don't have to worry."

"We know a guy..." Grace said as she smiled.

"At least let us fix up your ship before you make us go, huh?" Alan said hopefully.

The captain stood there and pondered things.

They needed these humans. It wasn't a matter of want. They needed their skills.

They were so very close to failing, and if they did, they would become slaves themselves… if they were lucky.

Ruin on one side and humans on the other…

Great Heap, give me warmth...

***

Grace and Alan twisted nervously before the grim-faced grey-haired man wearing a charcoal grey business suit who looked disdainfully at them from thousands of light years away.

"You actually were captured and sold as slaves?" he asked in a perfectly calm, even voice.

Alan squeaked.

"Well, any concerns about us dragging you back are now completely unfounded," the man replied in the same professional tone.

His attention turned to a very nervous feather duster trying not to wiggle behind the pair.

"And you are the one who purchased them?"

"He is… sir..." Alan stammered.

"Slaves do not speak until they are spoken to," the grey-haired man said as Alan's soul perished, "Captain, Vexp is it?"

"Y-yes… shirp?" Captain Vexp said, trying to use the human word.

The human smiled.

"Such honorifics are unnecessary between free men," he smiled, causing both Alan and Grace to shrink even further. "You can call me Quinn. I am a representative of the Forsaken and empowered to speak on behalf of them and on the behalf of Jessica Morgan, a name you perhaps have heard recently?"

The captain nodded nervously.

"The… Harlequin… are one of the houses who serve her… and the Forsaken, of course," Quinn smiled. "Word of humans being victimized in your region of space reached us, and the decision was made to take decisive action to discourage these abuses in the future. It seems that they are doing the job that they are known for. Have you seen one of their little 'shows' yet?"

"N-no… Quinn."

"I would advise against it," Quinn said with a thin smile. "Please rest assured that they are not representative of a typical human nor represent the… spirit… of the Forsaken as a whole. You will find us very reasonable and easy to deal with as long as our people or our interests are not threatened."

He looked at Alan and Grace.

"These two are also not representative of us," he said coolly, "They are willing slaves. I would advise against believing that is the norm. The next human you 'save' could very well slaughter you all before they realize that you are actually offering (scoff) an employment contract."

Grace looked like she was about to throw up.

"I will never buy another human again!" Captain Vexp cried.

"That would be exceedingly wise," Quinn smiled. "Normally, I would insist that you bring the humans someplace where we could separate them from you for physical examination and questioning to ensure they aren't being coerced or otherwise influenced, but I know the boy and have some capacity to detect things from here..."

He does?!? Vexp silently gasped.

"Your slaves can give you the details concerning that," Quinn smiled. "Oh, I know they are no longer officially slaves. I know what they are. But from where I'm sitting, there is little difference where those two are concerned. I would rather just file this under 'birth defects' and move on. There is no need to expose our embarrassment to the Harlequin."

He looked at Grace, who wanted to melt and ooze under something dark.

"I have spoken with your people as well, and they believe the same," he smiled, "In fact, they do not even wish to speak with you."

Grace made a strangled noise.

"From what we understand you… eloped..." he hissed. "Obviously, none of us is pleased with this one bit but considering that neither of you are members of our families anymore, the personal affairs of 'slaves' is no concern of ours. You want to run off and get married? Fine. Both of you choose a new last name, email it to the Forsaken omnibus for registration, and never call upon us again. Do you understand?"

Both Grace and Alan nodded.

"Captain Vexp," Quinn said with a much more pleasant tone. "I wish you well in all of your future endeavors. Can we count you as a friend of humanity?"

"A-absolutely!"

"Splendid," Quinn smiled, "and we consider you a friend of ours as well. We may have liberated slaves looking for work, actual work. If your people are as fair as these two labor contractors claim that you are, there may be others who wish a similar deal. As long as you treat them fairly, and by that, I mean as you specify in your contract, we will have no problem with you. Humans do not need to be treated gently or with any undue preference. Work them until they drop if you wish. We are actually pretty good at that sort of thing. Just don't abuse the contract or treat them to any cruel, unsafe, or otherwise unexpected environments. I have a very low opinion of the two you currently own, but they can provide guidance… and supervision… should the need arise."

"T-thank you… Quinn..." Captain Vexp replied, "But I think… I think I need a break from humans for a bit… at least until I find out how these two turn out."

"Probably for the best," Quinn smiled. "They can get you in touch with the right people should you desire. Any questions or concerns before I terminate this call?"

The captain's plume twitched nervously.

"Actually," he said cautiously, "I do. H-how common is… is… humans… I mean, how often do you… actually… um..."

"Eat other sapient races, including our own?" Quinn chuckled.

Captain Vexp nodded.

"Oh, it hardly ever happens," Quinn replied politely as he terminated the call.

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