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The woman sighed. “I might be able to find something that might fit you. Something stretchy or maybe a wrap dress. Wait.”
Since Phuong was literally in a cage, she couldn’t really do much else.
“Wrap dress, I think. Let’s get…that…off of you.”
Phuong looked at her dress. She hadn’t noticed before, but her fall had ripped the bodice of her gown. Things were popping out, giving Marc and the lift operator a free show.
Phuong’s cheeks turned pure red. She pulled together the pieces of her expensive but ruined dress with one hand, but the damage had been done.
“Off,” the woman said impatiently. “Are you slow?”
Phuong pulled her ruined dress off. The woman thrust a floor-length scarlet dress through the bars of Phuong’s cage.
“Hurry up. You have to be ready in time.”
Phuong looked at the red gown and thought about refusing.
“Don’t even try,” the woman warned. She crossed to the side and took a wand.
“Do you know what this is?”
“No.”
“It can send different voltages through you at a distance. If you would like to be shocked into behaving, I’m more than happy to do it. You Yore don’t know how to act.”
“I don’t need a cattle prod. I’m not a cow!”
“Then don’t behave like one.”
She looked at the red gown again. In other circumstances, she’d be happy to wear something so beautiful. It was a princess’s dress, and she was just an orphan. How could something that looked so innocuous be part of something bad?
Now she was a doll, a possession. She would wear what they wanted her to wear.
She didn’t know if they would report her, but the Draka justice system didn’t have a lot of mercy for Yore renegades. Even something as simple as stealing was punishable by death. There were far fewer Draka than Yore. The Draka maintained their stranglehold on the planet by being as brutal as they could be. If any Yore put a toe out of line, her life would be forfeit. Any of the Draka could make the call.
She felt sick to her stomach. She’d gone here for their very last job, and now she would be trapped for only stars knew how long.
She didn’t like being caged or displayed, but she put the red dress on anyway. The bodice seemed simple enough when she’d first gotten it, but it showed far too much of the shadow between her breasts for her comfort. What were they going to do to her?
“What is that unsightly bump at the base of your skull?” the woman asked.
“It’s my implant.”
“That will definitely be removed today. Now. I don’t want any buyers to think that you’re defective.”
Phuong’s heart soared. Could she get the implant removed today, even without paying an exorbitant amount to a black market surgeon?
The woman went to a glow pad on the door. Phuong’s cage was pushed out into the main room and placed into a small room that smelled like antiseptic.
“Hello,” a man wearing a healer’s white robes said to her, ignoring the fact that she was caged.
“I hear you have an implant that I should remove.”
“Yes,” Phuong whispered, terrified that he would change his mind.
“I’m afraid I’ll have to knock you out for its removal. General anesthesia for a little while.”
With that, he slapped a button. A robot arm grasped a needle firmly. Before Phuong even had time to relax, the needle was jabbed into her.
