Scenes From Space

Chapter Four: A New Name

The planet Kiri'ee was a small, oxygenated, planet of islands. Some islands rose out of the sea to be mountains while others stayed flat. Around the equator, the ring of islands resembled fiji and the farther north or south the islands got closer to Iceland. As we pulled in close, Graham hailed the spaceport that floated outside the Kiri'ee's atmosphere. He gave our fake credentials. Apparently I'd be going by Gen for this mission. Genevieve Smith, daughter of free humans from the planet Baltuu. Graham was Greg Sanders, son of free humans from the planet Baltuu. And we were seeking work to pay for our partnership ceremony. Graham had told me that we were going to pretend to be engaged for the mission. It seemed to be an inconvenient situation considering that my job was to take off my clothes for other men but whatever.

We docked at the port and took the elevator down to land. The main island on Kiri'ee was called Hulloon, it was a high tech island, and mostly used for the government and transport to and from the port. We grabbed a boat and headed to Lulloon where Amber's dance house was. The island of Lullon was crescent moon shaped and right on the equator. It was a dormant volcanic island with expansive, black sand beaches that gradually rose up to a jungle covered mountain top. Amber's dance house was located right on the beach. The building was three stories and each story had a deck for outdoor entertainment and a view of the beach. I ran a hand over the railing on the stairs as we entered the Dance House. It felt like the building was reinforced stone, dyed to look like wood.

Amber was behind the bar when entered with our bags. Her eyes were soft but her smile was wicked. She was wearing a see-through white dress and had a towel over her left shoulder.

"I assume you're my new bartender and dancer," she greeted.

"I'm Greg and this is Gen," Graham said with a wave to me.

"Let's get you two sorted first," Amber said. She hung the towel over a handle on the bar and motioned for us to follow her up the stairs. Our room was on the third floor, down the left hallway, at the end.

"Your room is passcode entry, which you set from the panel on inside," Amber said as she opened the door and gestured to the interior panel. There was a big bed, two end tables, and two dressers. There was an attached bathroom. It looked like an Earth bathroom. There was even a shower curtain, complete with wave print. The room looked like a tropical themed hotel room but everything was off. The palm tree wallpaper had too many palms. The seashell lamps on either side of the bed were outrageous jagged shapes.

Amber opened the bottom drawer of the left side dresser and pulled out skimpy board shorts and a gauzy tank top. Both were turquoise. "Boy's uniform," she informed Graham.

"Dancers have different outfits depending on the routine." Amber had moved over to the right dresser. She pulled out a turquoise bandeau and mini-skirt. "But, when you are not on stage, this is your outfit." I nodded at her in response. "Pick a dance outfit and meet me on the second floor for a training session."

"Yes, Ma'am," I said and started to look through the drawers. Amber turned and left. The door closed behind her. Graham set the panel to English and the passcode to 4-7-3-4-4-3-6. It spelled 'greggen' if you were using the Earth dial system. I took a costume into the bathroom and shut the door a little harder than I meant to. I exchanged the comfortable undergarments for a pair of lacy black boy shorts and a matching triangle bralette. I made sure the boy shorts came up high enough to cover the tattoo on my right hip and that the band of bralette came down far enough to cover the tattoo on my left rib cage. Then I pulled on a long, loose, white button up. The buttons were snaps for easy removal. I slid my feet into the strappy stilettos. Fuck. My feet hurt immediately after. I hadn't worn heels since being abducted.