Exiled Read online

  One good thing she noticed was that she wasn’t the only one wearing a bizarrely revealing dress. She’d barely been able to force herself to leave Lady Sha’rak’s house in the thin jade green dress that hugged the sides of her breasts and her hips while leaving her nipples and crotch completely bare. The idea of going out in public with her private areas on display was almost more than she could stand. But as she looked around, she saw that everyone had on the same kind of dress.

  Bare breasts and shaved mounds were visible everywhere, peeking boldly through lace, silk, and satin. Lissa couldn’t help noticing, however, that the guests who had already been through the receiving line and were milling around the vast space had strange black dots covering their nipples and crotches. Were those the sensation pads Lady Sha’rak had been talking about? Whatever they were, she hoped the adhesive they used to put them on wasn’t too sticky. She wasn’t anxious to try yanking what amounted to tape off her most sensitive areas at the end of the night.

  Suddenly a strong floral odor assaulted her nose and a high, reedy voice said, “A drink, my lady?”

  Lissa turned to see a strange creature that looked like a blob of bright pink jelly with a face staring at her. It was seated inside the chest cavity of a bulky black mechanoid with bright red lights for eyes. The blob peered out at her from between metal bars that kept it confined inside its automated prison.

  “Excuse me?” Lissa said blankly. It was such an odd looking creature she couldn’t help staring although she was sure it was probably very rude to do so.

  “A drink, my lady. Would you care for a drink?” The jelly thing waved one limp looking tentacle and the mechanoid’s arm came forward, offering a tray filled with small square glasses of pale brown liquid.

  “Oh.” Lissa reached for one of the glasses. “Well—”

  “I wouldn’t, my dear,” Lady Sha’rak said in her ear. “It’s Lushian ale. You won’t like the side effects.”

  “Side effects?” Lissa drew back her hands.

  “Makes you grow extra appendages,” Lady Sha’rak said. “You know—hands, arms, legs…breasts. Some say it adds to the overall sensation play experience but I’ve never thought so. And sometimes it takes days for the effects to fade—it’s never fun waking up with an extra nipple in the middle of your forehead. Or an extra vagina where your navel ought to be.”

  “I guess not!” Lissa took a step back and shook her head at the blob thing. “No thank you!”

  “Suit yourself, my lady.” It did something with its tentacles that caused its robotic casing to bow and then clanked slowly off to offer the strange liquor to someone else.

  “What was that thing?” Lissa asked, watching it go. She noticed that as it left the strong floral scent she’d smelled went with it. It was a relief as the cloying aroma had been giving her a headache.

  “Oh, just a nenarch. I guess you don’t have them on Zetta?”

  Lissa shook her head. “What kind of creature are they?”

  “Well, they’re sentient, obviously, but they really can’t move very much—those jelly legs of theirs are nearly useless. I’m afraid our mining here on Yonnie Six disrupted a great deal of their homeland. So some of the more liberal-minded ladies have been employing them as mobile air-fresheners and butlers.”

  “Air fresheners?” Lissa frowned. “I thought that strong smell was coming from the drink it was offering me.”

  “Oh no, my dear. Every nenarch has a different smell. It’s a defense mechanism you know, to ward off predators. But they can turn it on at will—it’s very useful for keeping the air fresh in such a large crowd.”

  Lissa wanted to say she thought the nenarch stunk, but it didn’t seem polite. So she only nodded and said, “I see.”

  “You don’t yet but you will. Once you start into a sensation scenario you’ll find the scent much more enticing. Speaking of which—oh look who it is!”

  Lissa turned to see a petite girl of about her own age or a little younger approaching them. She had pink, green, and blue streaks in her ebony hair and was wearing very high heels and what looked like an extremely form fitting pink body suit. When she got a little closer, however, Lissa saw that it wasn’t a suit at all but some kind of paint. It covered her nude body without leaving anything to the imagination, but she seemed supremely confident as she swaggered up to them.

  The girl was leading a slave on a leash behind her—a male so massive he made even Saber, who was well over six foot six, look small. Lissa looked up at him in awe—he was even bigger than the half-breed warrior, Merrick, who up until that point, was the biggest male she’d ever seen. As if to make him even more imposing, the slave’s face was covered by a snarling animal mask with glaring green eyes and lips pulled back to show a slavering red tongue and sharp silver teeth.

  Altogether, it was the most bizarre combination Lissa could imagine. She wondered who in the world the outlandish woman and her mountain of a slave could be.

  “Lady R’awr, meet our hostess for the evening, Lady Hake’bean,” Lady Sha’rak said, smiling broadly. “Snyra,” she added, turning to the pink painted girl. “It’s so nice to see you again—the party seems to be going splendidly.”

  “Yes, it is, isn’t it?” The girl smiled in a self-satisfied way Lissa disliked at once. “It ought to be—I don’t like to tell you how much credit it cost to bring in the amount of Dream Gas needed to get this many guests sensitized.”

  “I’m sure.” Lady Sha’rak gave her a respectful look and murmured to Lissa, “Lady Hake’bean just recently came into her fortune after the unfortunate death of her mother in a star ship accident.”

  “Oh, I’m so sorry for your loss,” Lissa said at once.

  “Don’t be,” Lady Hake’bean said dismissively. “Mother was such a bore—we never did get along. And now I can spend my credit however I like.” She waved at the party. “As you can see.”

  “Lady R’awr here is visiting from Zetta Prime,” Lady Sha’rak said, nodding at Lissa. “She’s never been to a sensation party before.”

  “Well then, you’re in for a treat.” Lady Hake’bean grinned at Lissa. “The first time you try Dream Gas is always the best.”

  “I can’t wait,” Lissa said politely. “You seem to have so much going on here.”

  “Yes, there are stations for every genre you can imagine. I’ve hauled out all of Mother’s old collection from historical drama, to biographies, to zeno-porn—any scenario you can think of, I have a document for it. Ask any of the nenarches wandering around and they’ll tell you which station is which.” She nudged Lady Sha’rak. “Of course the porn station is the busiest.”

  “I guess so!” Lady Sha’rak giggled. “I know it’s the one I’m looking forward to. But Lady R’awr here is most interested in history.”

  “Specifically the Hoard Wars that occurred on First World about a thousand years ago?” Lissa asked hopefully.

  “Oh yes, I think we have something along those lines,” Lady Hake’bean said vaguely. “You can ask one of the nenarches to direct you.” She sighed and put a hand to her forehead. “I’m sorry I’m not more help but Mother had so many documents. Still, if we have Hoard War papers anywhere they would be in the historical drama section.”

  Lissa felt a surge of hope. “I’ll be certain to check.”

  “Do that, just be sure you don’t get so into your sensi-play you miss the punishment show.” Lady Hake’bean yanked on her massive slave’s collar, bringing the huge male closer so that he was towering over her. “Beast and I will be putting it on in an hour or so.”

  “Oh, all this and a punishment show too?” Lady Sha’rak looked even more excited. “But you’re putting it on yourself? Couldn’t you find someone else?”

  “Well, normally I could count on Lady Pope’nose—she loves to punish slaves. But since she’s put all of hers into pain collars, she hardly bothers with the rod anymore.”

  “Mm-hmm, she was saying something like that to me the other day when she came for