anything close to beautiful. They don't wind up in the pleasure quarters of some far off planet like women like me do. I'm a good buy and a steal from a slummy town like this. Hours pass and I get hotter and hotter. Water is distributed and a little food. We eat in silence and watch as buyer after buyer inspects the cages. I cannot hide forever and eventually a few point me out. One man in particular looks hard at me. He is ugly by a factor of more than I can count and has a nose that seems nearly bursting with boils from overexposure to the sun. I can see in his eyes that he is not looking for farmer workers. The glint that enters them when he notes me is positively hideous. Eventually I take the stage. Each slave is bought up and bid on then disposed to either the cage for those leaving or those who will return day after day until they are sold or die. It takes no time at all for the bidding to get hot and heavy when I am shown off. “And do we have 50?” A squat man with a hunch back but fine clothes throws up his hand. I look to him. I hope with all my heart that I am not taken by this one. He is so ugly as to make me want to puke. Slaves are often 'used' or 'tested' before being sent off to wherever they are to work. I would not want to lie with that one. After a good 10 minutes of bidding it is a close battle between the hunched one and the man with the ugly nose. I stand there tenser than I have ever been in my life. Tonight is going to be one of the worst evenings of my life by the looks of things. I have done many bad things in my life, but I think that the punishment that I will receive tonight will be worse than death. “100?” is asked by the auctioneer who by now is looking quite tired with the endless back and forth of these two men. “100!” the man with the nose shouts. There is silence. It is a high number and probably too much for a woman of my appearance. This would be more what one would expect of a noble taken slave, not a thief turned slave like myself. The hunchbacked man nods his head in defeat and the sale is finalized. I am moved to the cage with the others that are to leave and wait. In an hour or more the bidding will probably be over. I was one of the last few to be sent to the great stage at the end of the square. There will not be much time before I am defiled. When the ugly man comes, he has guards with him. They are alien and I do not recognize their race. They wrap me up quickly and carry me over one of their shoulders to a small waiting cart. I am put in the back and the beast and driver that they have start off at a slow pace down the road that leads out of town. The man looks straight ahead throughout the journey and doesn't bother to look at me. He is a cold one and I am afraid for the first time that this might not end with me in some pleasure quarter but in this man's house as a slave to his needs. No worse fate could be imagined in my mind. I would rather die than lie with this one for life. The thought alone horrifies me. We come to a small house. It is a construction of sand stone and metal. The surrounding pastures are dry and untiled and there is nothing growing in the near dead earth. I am taken to the door of the building and thrown inside. The man with the bad nose looks down at me and for the first time smiles Strangely, he has all of his teeth. “Your first customer will be here within the hour, girl. Make sure you please him or I'll have you hung and whipped.” Just like that I have been made a whore. I curse the day that I was ever caught by that evil magistrate. He must have known what he was getting me into. Death would have been more kind. The door closes with a thud. Soon, within the hour, it will begin. The hell that I fear is here.
*****
He enters and I slide to the wall. I thought about fighting. I thought about taking my life. I even thought about trying to escape, but in the end I stayed. A slave that runs get what is coming their