It didn't take long for Alex to realize what kind of ship he was on. The thought surfaced when he saw the things under his bed. Things Will could have sold, gotten good credits for, if he hadn't forgotten about them. He'd ignored it. He'd also ignored the way Anders looked at him, hungrily, viciously. He could have just been one of those people his mother told him inhabited the universe, bad people, who used their skills to survive.

    Maybe Anders and his friends were security. Freighters had to need muscles to protect them from pirates. The universe was a scary place his mother had said often when he was a child, when he dreamed of exploring it, like all children did.

    There are monsters out there, she told him. And not all of them have claws and scales, or pitch black skin and glowing eyes. Some of them looked human, just like him, but there was something twisted inside them, and the universe took that and made it worse.

    That's why you have to stay home, she said. When he'd been older, when his father kicked him out for loving one of those aliens, he understood why she hadn't defended him, why all of them had sided with his father. They'd decided he was a monster too. If not for his grand parents, he might have believed it too.

    So Alex was willing to give them the benefit of the doubt, they might not be nice people, the universe did have ways of testing them, but that didn't mean they were criminals. It was the weapons that forced him to admit to himself he was on a pirate ship. There were just too many of them, enough to arm more than the crew, even if it was close to the hundred Will thought they were.

    He had a moment of panic when it sunk in, a long moment. If they hadn't been in space at that point, he would have run off the ship, but he realized that running off wouldn't have helped him.

    No other ship went close to Samalia. This was the ship he had to be on. If it was a pirate ship, then so be it. He was just a passenger, and it wasn't like they'd force him to take part in anything. He resolved to keep his head down until he reached his destination.

    * * * * *

    "I'm sorry you got stuck doing this," Alex told Will again, as he scrubbed the wall.

    "Nah, s'okay." Will replied, moving the cleaner across the floor. "this' better than listening to Meloy tell the story about how he met his first girl. He's always telling that story, He told it to me when I started on here. You're better company."

    "I am?"

    "Sure. you've seen the cities. I only see the ports, if I can get off station. Captain doesn't let a lot of us loose, says he can't trust us not to cause trouble, so it's the port for us."

    "I haven't seen cities, just two. where I grew up, and where I worked."

    "How was that?"

    "Where I grew up wasn't really a city, just a lot of lands and houses. It was a farming planet, but my father worked for one of the transport companies."

    "Well, So this is what the captain's got you doing?" Anders said, appearing around a corner. "I can't believe he hired a fucking maid."

    "What d'you want Anders?" Will asked, looking at the cleaner he was moving left to right across the floor.

    "I want to know what that's doing on our ship." 

    "Crimson's on the ship because the captain said he could. You aught to go ask him."

    "What? your fat friend can't speak for himself?"

    "Sure he can, but you ain't worth talking to, so I do it." Alex watched them, unsure what to do.

    "I aught to break your neck."

    Will finally looked up. "I don't think the captain'll let you do that. but I don't mind if you try. Gives me a reason to kick you in the ball."

    "That was a lucky kick," Anders growled.

    "Sure, and I could get lucky for a fifth time." With a snarl the small man turned and stumped off.

    "Are you telling me you actually kicked him in the nuts?" 

    "Course I did, I said so the other time."

    "I thought you were joking."

    Will smiled. "Never joke about a kick in the balls."

    They finished the hall, their third one of the morning, and Will looked back on it, his smile wide. the floor had turned out to be gray under the brown grime coating it. the walls had been white, but Alex had had to scrape the coating off to remove what ever it was that had been stuck to it in places.

    "Why did the captain wait until I was here to get this clean?" Alex asked.

    "Captain didn't say to clean." 

    "No?"

    "Nah, he said to keep you busy. Dirty stuff makes my skin crawl, so I get you to help me."

    That explained their room. "Now we go eat."

    The dining hall was only a quarter full. In the few days since he'd been on the ship Alex had noticed there were no set eating time. anyone showed up when they wanted and there was always something to eat, and it was good food. Not slop like he'd seen in adventure vids that had pirates in them. There was various types of steaks, vegetables, fruits, even the desserts were things like cakes and cookies. It was all simple foods, but quite good.

    Alex wasn't sure Will noticed the food. Each time they were in the dining hall, the young man only saw the head cook, Carlina. He'd put things on his plate without looking at it, then eat it. After the time Will poured gravy over his cake, Alex got in the habit of picking his food for him.

    After three weeks, Alex thought they had cleaned maybe a quarter of the ship. He had no idea what the layout was, the few time he'd ventured out on his on he'd gotten lost, and Will had to come find him. He'd tried to used the ships system to get the layout, but that computer was insane. It had been for a time, and after exploring its structure Alex determined that the only reason the ship still function was that someone had gone through and compartmentalized everything. It hadn't help the computer's mental state, but it had meant nothing would try to kill them.

    Alex tried to help, but while he could cause that kind of damage if he applied himself, fixing it, healing a computer so far gone was beyond what he knew how to do, not that he had time to work on it, maybe once he and Will were done cleaning the ship he'd see about getting instructions. he could ask Marie, at Luminex, she'd been part of the team in charge of ensuring the company systems stayed in good mental health.

    On the fourth week, Alex almost had a heard attack when he pushed the floor cleaner into an intersection as the captain crossed it. Alex expected to be spaced as the older man got up, he certainly looked angry enough. Then he looked at the clean corridor, where Will was scraping the coating of the wall. The captain nodded thoughtfully and walked on.

    * * * * *

    Alex entered the common room. It was only is second time there in his month on the ship. The first time had been a couple of days in, when he'd explored it and came across the lockers filled with weapons. He'd been scared of going back, but he had had enough of being cooped up in his and Will's room. He was now familiar enough with the layout he no longer needed Will to guided him everywhere, although the younger man was with him most of the time, as a buffer between him and the roughest of the crew, but now Anders was the only one left who seemed to make a point of harassing him.

    Will was already there, somewhere in the large room, he'd come here an hour ago. At the time Alex had declined the invitation, but he'd grown bored. The captain wasn't allowing any transmissions, so Alex couldn't get anything new to read or watch, and trying to access the entertainment library among the nightmare that was the ship's computer wasn't worth while when it was all accessible in the common room.

    Alex spotted Anders immediately, at a table, drinking and talking with a people, not his usual group. Alex had gotten in the habit of looking for him any time he entered a room, He didn't want to be surprised by him. Will had told him to kick him in the nuts, but Alex couldn't shake the feeling that wouldn't help him.

    He picked one of the vid units as far from anders as he could and sat among the others there. They were watching a show, something violent and bloody. Alex didn't care for violence, but now that he'd sat down, he didn't want to get up, and after a moment he found himself transfixed by the gore on the screen.

    "You look pretty good," Someone whispered. It was loud enough to pull Alex out of the show, the killer had dismantled the bounty hunter's family in a very graphic way. Alex was reminded of some of the pictures from Tristan's file, but the scene he was looking at didn't have the same effect on him. What he was seeing was gory, but it was missing something, it didn't feel real to him.

    "I said, you look pretty good." The voice was louder, and, Alex realized, close to him. The man was seated behind him, about his height, with a pockmarked face. Like everyone on the ship he was muscular. The man smiled at him.

    "Thank you," Alex replied, a little uncertain, and looked back at the screen.

    "How about we go back to my bunk and make it rattle?" 

    Alex stared at him. "What? No."

    "Why not? are you too good for me? is that it?" 

    "Of course not."

    "You think I'm ugly?" 

    "No. I have someone."

    "You have someone?" he repeated, his tone dubious, "here?" 

    "No, not here. That's who I'm going to see." Alex stood, but the man grabbed his arm. "Look, I don't want to cause trouble. I just want to get to my destination."

    "You don't want to cause trouble? Well then, you should have kept your mouth shut, shouldn't you?"

    Alex pulled on his arm.

    "You think It wouldn't get back to me what you said about me?"

    "Look, I have no idea what you're talking about." Alex pulled hard, and his arm came free. He didn't question his luck, he headed for the exit.

    "Don't you fucking walk away from me." The man bellowed. "You think you can question my place here? my abilities? And not answer for it?"

    A wall of people formed between Alex and the exit. He tried to push them out of the way, but they didn't move.

    The man grabbed his shoulder and pulled. Alex flew back and landed on the ground. Standing he looked around. A circle had formed around them.

    Alex raised his hands. "I don't want to fight. I don't know what you heard, but I'm sorry. I didn't mean any of it."

    The man laughed. "Fight? We're not going to fight." He grabbed his crotch and shook it. "I'm going to show you that I can perform better than anyone else you've ever had." 

    "You're going to what?"

    "I'm going to fuck you. If you didn't want a piece of this, you shouldn't have been talking about it."

    "I haven't said anything!"

    The man snorted. "Well then, once I'm done with you, you're going to have plenty to say." He took a step forward and Alex darted to the side. The man turned so he could keep facing him. "No where to go. You're not getting out of here until I've had you."

    Alex tried to push through the people again, but it was like hitting a wall. "Please, I haven't done anything, Just let me through." Hard faces looked back at him. Someone pushed him back.

    The man caught him. "I knew you'd change your mind."

    Alex spun and slapped him across the face, surprising both. 

    "Well well, I do like for my bitches to have a bit of fight in them." He back handed Alex and sent him to the floor.

    Alex ran a hand over his mouth and he was horrified to see blood on it. His nose hurt and it felt like it was runny. The man was smirking.

    "Come on, get up. Show me you have a bit more fight in you."

    "Look, I don't want to fight you. I don't even know how!" 

    "well, then, it's going to be real easy. Drop your pants and turn around."

    Alex shook his head. "No. I'm Jack's." 

    "No Jack on this ship."

    "He's who I'm going to."

    "Then I'm going to have to show you who's boss here. I don't care about no Jack. You're mine. When I'm done with you I'm going to offer you to anyone who wants you."

    Alex shook his head. "No."

    The man shrugged. "I guess I got to hurt you some more then."

    Alex raised his arms to protect his face as the man approached him, but the fist hit him in the stomach, lifting him off the ground and sending him crashing back into the wall of people. The people moved and Alex slid to the ground.

    Feeling like he was going to throw up he saw the man lumber toward him. Alex scrambled back and the people moved out of his way. If he could turn around, get up, he could race for the door, but he was lucky to be able to push himself with hand and feet. The man laughed as Alex widened the distance between them. A little more and he'd have the time to stand, then he could run.

    His hand came down on something uneven and he twisted his wrist. Pain erupted and he couldn't stop the yell. Eyes tearing up he looked at what it was. A gun.

    He grabbed it with his good hand and pointed it at the man.

    The people around him moved away. 

    The man stared at him. "Well, who's the idiot that's leaving weapons lying around?" He demanded. A murmur traveled through the crowd, but no one responded. He shook his head. "okay, hand it over before you hurt yourself."

    Alex shook his head. He wasn't relinquishing the only thing that evened out the field.

    "Don't be stupid, There's no way you even know how to use that thing."

    "Stay away." Alex said through gritted teeth. "I don't want to hurt you."

    The man snorted. "Don't worry, you won't. I, on the other hand, I'm going to hurt you if you don't give me the pistol." He motioned with his hand.

    Alex placed a finger on the trigger, hoping that would convey his seriousness.

    "Oh, you're all brave now that you're armed, aren't you?" he looked over his shoulder. "You people are going to want to get out of there. If he fires he's bound to miss me." He took a step forward.

    "Don't come any closer!"

    "Or what? You'll shoot me? Go ahead. shoot. I'm standing here, not moving. Come on, shoot me already, because if you don't, I am going to fuck you so bad that Jack fellow isn't going to want to have anything to do with you anymore."

    He had to shoot him. He didn't want to be raped, even less to be hurt, and he believed that man when he said he'd do that to him. he couldn't see any mercy in those eyes. They reminded him of Tristan's eyes for a moment, but instead of being ice cold, those were burning hot. He had to pull the trigger.It was he only way to make sure he'd see Jack again. He had to pull the trigger.

    The man laughed. "Told you. You're not tough, like us.

    You're a groundling. weak. You don't have the balls it takes to survive out here, so you're going to be my-" he Jerked forward-"Bitch!"

    Alex startled. There was a flash of light. Then the man was staring at Alex, stunned. He looked down at the burned hole in his chest, before crumbling to the floor.

    Alex watched the unmoving body for a moment then dropped the gun. What had he done?

    "Alright," The captain said, in the exit, "What's going on here."