“And you’ve survived all this time. ”
“Yes, and we’ve thrived. We continued to have our females with us and our male lovers. We have no worries about overpopulation, of course, so we enjoy our females as we like. We also take male love slaves. ”
Larsson shifted uneasily by his feet, and he put a hand on his shoulder. “I see. ” He quirked up an eyebrow. “And is this how my men fit into the situation?”
Julan shrugged. “Over the years our male love slaves died out, of course, and there was no way to replenish our stock. We have had traders who stop by from time to time, usually about once a cycle or so. They bring us certain goods from other worlds, but we have little to trade, other than animal skins and some produce from our farms. On occasion, they bring in male love slaves, and as you can imagi
ne, over the years, they have become quite a prize. We have our own females, naturally, but males suitable to be our love slaves are few and far between. ”
“Like the little human I saw as I came in?”
“Oh yes, lovely, isn’t he? He belongs to my younger son, Ranon Seneca. Ranon is one of our very best warriors, second only to my son Rabb. He was able to win him, you see, in a competitionjust after Rabb had mated with his female and expressed no interest in the human. ”
Tarr was beginning to get a very bad feeling about all this. “A competition?”
“Yes. A Game. Surely you still have them on Tygeria. That world couldn’t have changed so much. A competition among our warriors for their choice of a nobyo. We have one planned for your men. Your former men, I should say. They—along with your very beautiful nobyo—are now prizes to be won in our Games. ”
The next few minutes were rather chaotic and Tarr never remembered afterward if it was he or Larsson who jumped up and took Julan Seneca to the ground. Possibly both of them. All he knew was that when the red haze over his vision cleared, he was locked in a cell in a small, stuffy, hut-like structure, and Larsson had been thrown into a cage nearby. By straining a bit, he could just make out the top of his curly brown hair thrust up against the bars of the cage. He’d tried calling to him earlier, but had gotten no response. He was afraid they’d knocked him out again with another dart. To the best of his knowledge, Larsson had still been fighting when he’d been dragged away by four or five or their warriors.
Just in front of Tarr was a cage holding one of his men. The hut wasn’t large enough to house more than the two cages and the cell, and he was thankful that he and Larsson had been put in the same hut at least.
The man in the cage nearest him was a young Rogernamed Jaxper, a cook in the ship’s galley, if his memory served him right. He was hunched up naked in a corner of the cage, a few big bruises staining his backside had faded to yellow at the edges. He was dirty, and their captors had shoved in a small pan of water for him that he was taking a drink from as Tarr regarded him. Using his hand to scoop it up, Jaxper turned and saw Tarr watching him, and his face turned red.
“They don’t feed us much, Captain, so the water helps a bit. I think they want us weak for the Games. ”
Tarr was a little startled. “You know about the Games?”
“Oh yes. One of those big Tygerian took great pleasure in telling me all about it while he was whaling away on my ass. ”
Tarr shook his head. “Are you all right? That looks pretty painful. ”
Jaxper shrugged. “I always bruise easy, and that big boy didn’t seem to know his own strength. He wouldn’t fight me like a man, though I’m sure if he did, I wouldn’t be around to tell the story,” he said with a chuckle. “He just pulled me down over his lap and blistered my ass for me. He called me his ‘little nobyo. ’”
Tarr had the good grace to feel embarrassed at this, and he felt his cheeks heat up. “Well, that’s what Tygerians call their, uh…male lovers,” he explained.
“Oh yes, sir, I know. I tried to tell him I like the women. I mean, naturally a man has to take his pleasure wherever he can, and there have been times on long voyages that I…” He shrugged and smiled. “Mostly I like the women. ”
“Hmm…” Tarr replied, as noncommittally as he could. If these people had their way, Jaxper wouldn’t get a chance at ‘the women’ ever again.
“’Course it don’t matter what I prefer, I guess. Not any more, anyway. I’ve about made up my mind not to fight it any more. That little human comes in sometimes to feed us, and he says the Tygerians here are good to their nobyos. Treat them well. ”
“Oh—well—good. ”
“I was sort of hoping, though, sir, since I saw them bring you in, that you might be able to get us out of here. ”
“I’ll try my best, Jaxper. I promise you that. Can you tell me what happened to your shuttlecraft?”
“I don’t exactly know. They took it away, of course. I overheard one of them talking about using it for spare parts. I understand a little Tygerian, though these folks don’t talk it like you do. ”
“They’ve been here a very long time—it’s an old form of our language. ”
“Oh. Well, that’s all I could understand, anyway. ”
“I’ll do what I can for you, Jaxper. I hope you know that. ”
“I do, Captain. Maybe it won’t be so bad. That Tygerian is good-looking enough. I just don’t like the idea of being anybody’s slave. ”
Tarr nodded, but before he could say more, the door to the room opened and Rabb Seneca, the Tygerian he’d first met—the one who’d attacked his nobyo—strode confidently in and up to his cell.