Gravity (Dark Anomaly Book 1) Read online

  Vrateus suppressed a sigh of relief. With Crux, open disobedience was just a matter of time.

  “I saw her first.” The errock took a wide stance, not moving away from the girl.

  Vrateus didn’t spare her a glance. She didn’t matter. If Crux got his way, she’d be dead before morning anyway.

  And if the errock didn’t get his way, Vrateus risked a mutiny.

  There was no place for a woman on the Dark Anomaly. The last few females brought to the Anomaly by its gravitational field had died within hours, brutally raped to death, their bodies eaten by the ognats and kreers.

  That was ten years ago.

  Vrateus had been the captain for seven years, now. He’d fought hard to gain control over the feral shipwreck population. And he had been working even harder to maintain the fragile order ever since.

  Now, the sudden appearance of this female threatened to undo the results of his labor in seconds.

  “She is mine,” Crux gritted through his teeth.

  The errock’s jaw muscles twitched, his massive hands fisted at his sides. He was obviously waiting for a better moment to start a fight, to claim what he had already believed was his—the girl.

  Vrateus’s hackles rose in response. His tail lashed against his boots.

  “Yours?” he forced himself to lower his arm but didn’t send the gun to its holster. “For how long?”

  “For as long as I want her.” Crux glowered at him.

  “Which would be an hour. Maybe?” Most likely less than that. At least a decade older than Vrateus, Crux had taken an active part in that last brutality. The lives of at least a few females killed that night were on Crux’s hands. Rough and vicious, he would give the woman zero chances of survival. “Then what?”

  Crux rubbed the back of his neck. “Who cares?”

  “I’m sure the rest of them would.” Vrateus tipped his head over his shoulder, gesturing at his crew.

  “Let all of us have her then!” one of the ognats yelled, Naizu, the most bloodthirsty of them all.

  Vrateus’s law forbidding cannibalism was especially detested by ognats. However, they were not the only race on the Dark Anomaly that would eat sentient beings if given a chance. Most of Vrateus’s crew would want to fuck the girl first, but some might also eat her afterwards.

  “And how is that going to work?” he asked, sarcastically.

  “We’ll take turns!” someone excitedly shouted from the crowd.

  Several growls supported the idea.

  That would create a fuck frenzy that Vrateus wished to avoid—for the female’s sake, he realized with annoyance. Part of him wished the girl would have died in the crash. Saving her life seemed to be a nearly impossible task now.

  Maintaining power over his people meant carefully balancing the often-opposing interests of different groups and species. If Vrateus kept them divided, he held control over all of them. The presence of the female now gave them a reason to unite against him.

  The simplest thing to do would be to give her to them. Let them do whatever they wanted with her—fuck her or eat her.

  There were over seven hundred of them, though. Most wouldn’t get anywhere near her before every trace of her ravaged body would be annihilated. Then there would be fights, murders, and more cannibalism.

  Restoring order would take everything he had with no guarantee of success.

  He rubbed his face. Running this place was exhausting.

  A huge issue was that he had already stopped Crux. Letting the errock have his way now would make it look like Vrateus was giving in. He did not give in to anyone. For seven years, Vrateus had ruled with undisputed authority. He could not afford to have his decisions questioned publicly—even the decisions he hadn’t made yet.

  He had no idea what to do with the girl.

  “Yeah, so, who’s going first?” Naizu hissed, inching closer on his skinny legs. Saliva dripped from both corners of his lipless mouth.

  “Me!” Crux stood over the girl, his fists raised to defend his prey. “I saw her first.”

  “But you didn’t fight for her,” Krakhil, a dimo, roared.

  “We need to pull numbers! Lottery!” The shouts came out of the crowd.

  “That’s fair,” others agreed.

  The air in the corridor was charged with lust and aggression—an explosive mix waiting for the slightest spark to detonate into violence.

  “Fuck the lottery. I want her now.” Naizu dove for the girl, grabbing her ankles. His long black tongue slicked out, running over his sharp teeth.

  She jerked back with a grimace of utter horror, letting out a panicked scream.

  That scream...

  It pierced Vrateus’s brain with memory, painful and toxic.

  “Back!”

  He shot. The bullet hit Naizu in the back of his head.

  Thick greenish blood splashed over the pristine white of the girl’s bodysuit. The scream caught in her throat, turning into a gurgle of shock as the ognut dropped to the ground, dead, his head landing between her legs.

  “Anyone else want to try?” Vrateus released the second gun from its holster inside his sleeve, wrapping his fingers around the smooth metal handle.

  He had a laser gun strapped to his thigh, a knife hidden inside each of his boots, two swords attached criss-cross to his back, and a dagger concealed in its sheath at his chest. That was his light, every-day armament. Had he known there’d be a female on the new shipwreck, he’d have at least doubled it.

  His crew stilled, those in the front shuffling back. No one but him was allowed to wear weapons of any kind on the Dark Anomaly. Vrateus was the only one armed. He had made sure of it.

  “All right.” He took a pause, sweeping the crowd with his gaze to make sure all attention was on him. “There are seven hundred and forty-four—” he glanced at the dead body of the ognut. The girl had shrunk away from it, hugging her legs. “...forty-three of you. And only one female.”

  “We’ll take turns,” Brel, a kreer, suggested again, only in a slightly less sure voice now.

  “Seven hundred and forty-three, Brel. She’d be dead within the first hour if you all get on her at once. Most of you would get nothing at all.”

  “We’ll space it out.” Krakhil elbowed a yourlu, shoving his hard-plated elbow into the yourlu’s soft shoulder. “Qen here wouldn’t mind waiting for his turn. Would you, Qen?”

  Qen rubbed his shoulder with one of the three tentacles he had where a left arm would have been.

  “How long would I have to wait?” he squeaked.

  “Good question.” Vrateus shifted his weight to his other foot. “If each of you got her for a day, how long do you think those at the back would have to wait?” He paused for effect, not expecting an answer—math skills were not one of the strengths of his crew. “Almost two years.”

  Groans of frustration filled the corridor.

  “She can be fucked more than once a day,” someone grumped, disheartened. “Twice? At least?”

  “That would still be nearly a year wait for those at the back,” Vrateus retorted. “And that is if the guy before you has been gentle enough for you to get her alive.” He leveled a pointed stare at Crux. “You know there’s an excellent chance she will not survive that long. Not all species have the endurance for that lifestyle. And she is...” He finally took a good look at the girl, trying to identify what species she was.

  She glared at him with her big, dark-colored eyes. The long filaments on her head looked more like hair than fur—a deep shade of brown. Her skin was of a similar color to his, maybe a shade or two lighter. He saw no wings, horns or claws on her. The only tail she had was on the back of her head, but it didn’t seem to be functional, hanging limply down her back. She might have injured it during the crash.

  What was she?

  “Who are you?” he asked.

  She straightened her back. Her composure was admirable, though it wouldn’t help her situation.

  “I am the mission specialis
t with the research team from Earth. My planet is the newest member of the Federation—”

  “Species?” he cut her off.

  Her dark eyebrows moved closer together as she gave him a disapproving glare.

  “Human,” she said, with a snappy note in her voice.

  He searched his memory for the species with that name and found nothing. He was certain he’d never seen anyone like her before.

  Staring at her, he’d lost his train of thought and had to gather his focus before addressing his crew again.

  “As I said, the wait for those at the back would be nearly a year.” He still had no definite plan, working on it as he went. “Do you want to spend that much time, not getting a thing from our bounty here?” He glanced down at the girl again, and she gave him another glare, filled with shock and resentment.

  “What other choices do we have?” came a question from the crowd.

  Over the years, he had trained them to expect solutions to problems from him.

  “I’d say, fuck the waiting. Let’s have fun now!” Krakhil roared. The dimo’s deep, rumbling voice rising over the noise.

  “It would be a very short-lived fun, I’m afraid.” Vrateus kept his own voice calm and even. Showing any emotions would only fuel the excitement of the males already charged with lust in the female’s presence.

  “You want to keep her to yourself!” Crux roared accusingly.

  Vrateus considered that option briefly and quickly dismissed it.

  Taking the girl for himself would ignite a riot. Crux would be the one to start it. The errock had laid his hands on her—in his mind, the girl was already his property. If denied any access to her now, Crux would snap, all errocks would follow, quickly joined by the others.

  All seven hundred united against Vrateus.

  The exact situation he had been masterfully avoiding for years.

  “Give her to us,” several voices demanded. “Even if for just one night of fun.”

  The strangled gasp of the girl reached him. Without looking at her, he sensed her tension. Her fear.

  “It might be fun. But only for some.” He let his words sink into their minds. An idea formed in his head, but he knew he needed to lead them to it carefully. “What do you do for fun now?”

  “Fight!” many yelled.

  That was true. Most of them participated in the nightly fights he organized to let them work out some testosterone and aggression.

  “What else?”

  “Eat!” someone shouted.

  After the years of hard work Vrateus had put his crew through, the Dark Anomaly finally was producing enough food to sustain them all. There was enough to eat for fun, not just for survival.

  “Gardening,” came a quiet voice.

  Malahki.

  The damirian spent a lot of time in the in-door gardens, taking care of plants. Vrateus didn’t expect to see Malahki here. The damirian had no gender. It was neither male nor female. Lust didn’t affect its species at this stage of their development.

  Curiosity was not a gendered quality, though. Anything out of the ordinary passed for entertainment on the Dark Anomaly.

  “What else?” he prompted. “What else do many of you do for fun before falling asleep?”

  “Fuck!” Trox, one of the errocks, smirked.

  “You can’t call it fucking if you’re on your own.” Nocc, another errock, guffawed, shoving an elbow in Trox’s side. “You jerk off.”

  “Right.” Vrateus tilted his head, carefully keeping the mood of his crew in focus. “How about if you had a female sitting next to you while you did that?”

  “While I’m jerking off, you mean?” Nocc huffed another laugh. “She wouldn’t be sitting next to me! She’d be right on top of me!”

  “Or under!” Someone yelled, cheerfully.

  “With both of my cocks deep inside her!”

  The crowd grew loud with approval, threatening to get out of control at any moment.

  “We’ve already established that can’t happen!” Vrateus raised his voice, speaking over the increasing noise. “You can’t all have sex with her and make the fun last. But you can have her next to you—”

  A series of confused exclamations interrupted him.

  “What for?”

  “Naked?”

  “Is she gonna touch me, Captain?”

  He lifted his arm in a wordless call to silence.

  “No touching. But you can see her.” He gazed over their faces, gauging their reaction. “And yes, she’ll be naked.”

  “Watching her while I’m jerking off?” Crux stared at him with less hatred and more confusion.

  “You can see her naked flesh as you stroke yourselves,” Vrateus explained, evenly. “You can hear her moans as she touches herself—for all of you to watch.”

  Crux’s green-spotted yellow eyes flashed with lust. Vrateus forced down the uncomfortable feeling. Sexually exciting his second in command was not his intention tonight, or any night for that matter.

  The words worked, though. He put an image in the heads of the males. Now he needed to firmly nail that idea to their brains.

  “You will be able to watch her every week, for as long as she shall live. And this way, she shall live much longer than just for a night. We’ll start tomorrow.”

  It was time to leave.

  He needed to remove the girl while the males mulled over his idea. Having her sitting here as an invitation for immediate action was dangerous.

  Vrateus also needed to keep Crux from touching her again. He had to put the scent of another male on her, to eliminate any trace of Crux’s claim.

  “Wyck, get her up,” he ordered to the youngest errock.

  As soon as Wyck complied, Vrateus motioned for him to take the woman down the corridor, keeping the rest of the crew in his view.

  The crowd’s excitement ran too high to settle right away.

  “Why tomorrow? Why not right now?” they shouted at his back as he headed after Wyck and the female.

  “She’s hurt and filthy,” he threw over his shoulder, not slowing down the pace. “Once she has eaten and rested, she’ll moan louder.”

  Chapter 3

  WHAT ON EARTH HAD JUST happened?

  Could any of this be real? Or was I hallucinating, still lying unconscious after the crash?

  With Wyck’s meaty hand around my arm and Vrateus walking on my other side, I was hurried down the corridor to keep up with their pace. It was especially challenging over the uneven floors, bulging up in some places and dipping in others. It required concentration not to trip.

  More creatures stared at us from side corridors and doors as we passed. Some moved my way, but Vrateus and Wyck shoved them aside.

  My stomach was tied in knots, my head swam with dizziness, and my legs barely obeyed my brain.

  There must be something wrong with my translator. Otherwise, I would have to believe that the leader of this bizarre group had just promised his people some sexual favors on my behalf.

  It was absurd.

  Yet I hesitated to clarify anything with him while we remained in the presence of others. The tension of the crowd had crackled in the air, threatening to erupt into something dangerous. It felt safer to wait for a chance to talk to him alone. Though I wasn’t looking forward to being one on one with him, either.

  “Here.” Vrateus stopped in front of a round, pewter double door. “She’ll stay in this room.” He hit the side panel with his palm, making the doors slide open, then walked in.

  Wyck let go of my arm but didn’t follow his boss. Instead, he silently nudged me toward the open doors.

  “Are you coming?” Vrateus snapped at me, with an annoyed glance over his shoulder.

  Anger flared inside me. I dug my heels in defiantly, folding my arms across my chest.

  “I believe you owe me an explanation,” I said in a much less diplomatic tone of voice than before.

  Crux and some of the others came into view at that moment. They rushed our way dow
n the corridor. Wyck’s chained monster hissed.

  Even annoyed at me, Vrateus still seemed like the lesser of two evils, and I promptly entered the room. He immediately hit the door’s side panel, shutting the doors with a soft swishing sound.

  “You’ll stay here.” He stepped aside.

  My breath suddenly caught in my throat with a gasp.

  The room was made entirely out of glass. Like a soap bubble with a flattened bottom for the floor, it protruded from the wall of the ship into the vast space beyond.

  Outside looked like nothing I had ever seen, even after nearly a year of working in space. Shimmering waves of multi-colored lights ebbed and curved through the absolute darkness surrounding me. Beyond the magnificent lightshow, distant stars twinkled.

  Standing on the clear glass, surrounded by undulating lights from all sides, made me feel like I was falling.

  “Ahh!” I exhaled in shock, spreading my arms in an attempt to hold on to something.

  Then the sensation of floating in space came.

  “You’re not afraid of open spaces, are you?” Vrateus asked calmly.

  “No. Not afraid. It’s just...” I swayed, struggling to find a reference point for at least a modicum of balance as everything around me appeared to move along with the lights. “Unsettling. Like a free fall. Or flying. Weird, but not scary.”

  “Good.” He moved back to the entrance, leaving me in the middle of the floor, my arms spread wide like wings. “Errocks are terrified of open spaces. They’ll never come in here.”

  His comment hardly registered.

  “What’s generating the light?” I asked, mesmerized. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”

  His chest expanded with a deep breath as he folded his arms across it.

  “That is the Dark Anomaly. You must have known you were near it when you crashed.”

  “Do you mean space anomaly GR-A8502?”

  “We call it ‘the Dark Anomaly.’ But sure, why not assign it a number?” He shrugged on his way to the door. “I have to go. There is always a lot of work with each new ship’s arrival. Don’t stare at the lights for too long. They can drive you mad.”

  The space abnormality my team had been studying had looked dark on the images. Upon its discovery, it had been initially mistaken for a black hole. Professor Zhang Wei Liu was the first one to calculate a number of dissimilarities in its behaviour. A significant one being that unlike black holes, the Anomaly did not grow. Neither did it suck in any celestial bodies nearby. It didn’t absorb planets or stars.