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Seline didn’t seem to like the attention either, because she drew the long black cape which had come with the dress around herself closed and frowned. But then she put a hand to her head, as though she had a sudden headache. Nox was about to ask her if she was all right when Lendrex spoke again.
“Look, Master Nox,” he said. “I know how fond you are of Seline, but surely the key to unlocking the mysteries of the multiverse is worth trading away one little pleasure slave. You can always find another.”
“Never!” Nox barked. Or tried to, anyway. But his tongue suddenly felt thick in his mouth and the world was swimming around him. From the corner of his eye, he saw that Seline had laid her head down on the table, the Far Box abandoned beside her.
“I thought you might feel that way at first,” Lendrex remarked. “Which is why I took the liberty of dousing my half of the Far Box with a potent knock-out drug. Don’t worry—it won’t last for long. Just enough time for me to get my new pleasure slave back to the Halls of Pain.”
“Seline…isn’t…yours,” Nox managed to get out, even though his tongue felt like someone had dipped it in lead. His vision was getting blurry—he was seeing two of Master Lendrex—and it was difficult to know which one was the real one. “She’sss…minnne,” he slurred.
“Not anymore,” Lendrex said crisply. “She is mine—in exchange for my half of the Far Box. A more than generous exchange, as I’m sure you’ll agree, once you wake up and think things over.”
He picked up the steaming cup the two-faced Fe’goin waiter had brought him and downed it in several long gulps. Lovely only took a sip of hers before putting it back on the table.
“Ah…refreshing as always,” Lendrex said, nodding at the waiter. “Now be so good as to watch over my friend here. He’s going to take a little nap and no one must bother or molest him while he sleeps. When he wakes up, he’s going to go back to his ship and be on his way.”
As he spoke, he pressed a large denomination cred chip into the waiter’s hand.
“Of course, my Lord Lendrex. I understand—no one will bother him until he wakes,” the waiter said, both faces speaking at the same time for once.
Lendrex nodded—all three of him did, since that was how many Nox was now seeing.
“Good. We’ve made a fair trade, Master Nox,” he said and his voice seemed to echo oddly in Nox’s ears. “Don’t even think of trying to go back on your part of our bargain—Seline is mine now and I’m going to train her to be a proper pleasure slave. In fact, I think she’ll be going in the Box at the earliest opportunity to teach her a lesson about respect. After that, I’m certain she’ll be much more docile.”
Nox felt a sense of horror creeping through him as he fought to stay awake—this was what Seline feared the most! Being put in the Ghost Box to be raped by the angry spirits that resided there! He couldn’t let that happen to her—he must protect her at all costs!
But even as he thought that, his eyes were closing as the drug overwhelmed him. The last thing he saw was Lendrex raising Seline’s limp body and throwing her over one broad, golden shoulder. Then he and Lovely turned and left The Hungry Biped, taking the woman Nox loved with them.
THIRTY-EIGHT
NOX
A sharp pecking on the top of his head woke Nox from a heavy sleep—so deep it had been completely dreamless.
“Ouch!” he complained, waving one hand which felt as heavy as lead at whatever was pecking him. “Fucking hurts!”
The pecking continued, however, until he at last opened his eyes and raised his head. Then it stopped for a moment and he heard a flutter of wings by his ear. Looking down, he saw a little pink bird-like creature hopping around on the metal table he had been sleeping on.
Sleeping on a table? Why was I doing that?
Nox blinked owlishly, looking around him in confusion. His head was pounding and there was a strange, unpleasant taste in his mouth. There were people seated at tables all around him but none of them seemed to be paying any attention to him, even though he had been sprawled on the table just a moment before. They were talking and laughing and eating, minding their own business.
A two-faced Fe’goin waiter was moving around the tables, taking orders and bringing food and drink. He looked familiar to Nox for some reason, though at first he couldn’t understand why.
Then he saw the waiter handing someone a steaming glass of something to a diner and he began to remember.
Lendrex—he had been here and he was drinking a drink like that. What else had happened? Nox had a feeling it was something bad—something very bad.
