I knew something was wrong the moment I woke up to complete silence in my parents' quarters.

The ship was old. There was always this heavy thrumming noise when we were still in hyperspace. I overheard my Dad say that the hypermotors needed to be repolarized. Anyway, the point was, I should be hearing them, but I wasn't. We weren't supposed to get to the Polaris 4 stargate for another two days.

I slipped out of bed. My nightgown caught and tried to pull up over my hips. I yanked it down with a flare of heat to my cheeks even though I was alone and I had at least panties on under it. Who was I afraid was going to see me?

I sighed as I ran my fingers through my ginger-colored hair. I was getting tired of this. I was sixteen and skittish about being nude in private. I hadn't even yet dated a boy. All because of my damn mother's precious work.

I felt a chill against my body, as my legs were bare and the nightgown was not very thick. The floor was cold against my bare feet, which was unusual. "Turn up the heat, please," I said, expecting compliance from the ship's AI.

"My apologies, Sarah, but I cannot comply."

I was so surprised at that reply, delivered with the usual and unfailing perfect politeness, that I was confused. "Huh? I don't understand. I just want it warmer in here, that's all."

"My apologies, Sarah, but I cannot comply. Ship power systems are in conservation mode during alert."

"During... ?"

An alert! So something had gone wrong. I almost hoped the hypermotors had finally burned out. Even if it meant the expense of getting someone to come out to fix them, maybe then I wouldn't have to deal with the awful racket they made. Anyway, it would be their own damn fault. They insisted on leaving port without my Dad. He's the only one that managed to keep this hunk of junk together.

And just maybe if it cost too much, my Mom would give up her stupid idea of a career. Shit. You want your life screwed up? Have a parent who's a xenoarchaeologist and a workaholic! I think even my Dad's tired of it. I think he made up that excuse so he didn't have to make this run with my Mom.

I sighed and turned towards the head to see about a shower.

I was just about to cross the threshold when the deck abruptly lurched under my feet and sent me to the floor. My heart started pounding. I don't care how old this ship is, that was not supposed to happen!

I bolted back to my feet in a panic. "What the hell was that?! Tell me!"

"My apologies, Sarah, but I cannot comply. The..."

"You stupid AI! Why can't you just..."

"... while battle stations are in effect."

I stopped. Suddenly I felt a lot colder. Battle stations. Oh my God.

There was a hiss that made me gasp and my heart leap into my throat. I jerked my head around to see that it was just the door to the quarters that had slid open. And I was never more glad to see that particular person in my life.

I ran over to her. "Mom! Mom, what's going on?! Why have we stopped?! Why did the AI say..."

"Sarah, please, hush!" my mother cried.

I stared at her, wide-eyed. My mother had a look in her eyes that was bordering on panic. She never panicked. Now I was really scared.

My mother paused, as if trying to compose herself. She gripped my arms tightly. When she spoke, there was a horrible nervous quaver in it. "Sarah, I need you to listen to me very carefully. Please. Will you listen to your mother? You will do what I tell you to do?"

I nodded quickly. I didn't even know what was wrong and I was already terrified.

"I want you to go down belowdecks and find someplace to hide."

I gaped at her. "You... y-you want me to what?!"

"Listen to me!" she cried, shaking me. She caught herself and took a deep breath. She was on the verge of tears. "P-please, Sarah. There isn't time for me to explain! Over on the port side, there are some crates marked 'Tau Ceti 6'. The artifacts in there disrupt sensors. Hide behind them. You'll be safe there."

Now I was in tears myself. "Mom, safe from what? What am I hiding from? What..."

The ship lurched again, and we both tumbled to the floor. There was a horrible metallic rending sound in the distance that reverberated through the ship.

Suddenly everything around us turned crimson and the klaxon began blaring.

"ALERT ALERT ALERT... HULL BREACH... FOREIGN BIOHAZARD SUBSTANCE OR NANOTECH DETECTED IN ENVIRONMENT... "

I scrambled to my feet. "Mom! We have to get to a life pod! Mom? MOM!"

My mother groaned. She tried to rise to her feet, slipped, and fell back to the floor. Her eyes were taking on a glazed look.

I reached down and tried to haul her to her feet. "N-no, S-sarah," she said in a slurred voice, her eyes staring. "R-run... go belowdecks..."

"Mom, what's wrong with you? Stand up! Come with me!"

"I c-can't, it's affecting me... I... y-you're... incom... incompatible..."

I didn't understand a word she was saying! What was wrong with her? What...

I heard a soft thud in the hallway. I leapt back to my feet and dashed outside.

It was one of the techs. He had just slumped to the floor, with the same glazed look in his eyes as my mother. Down the hall, half a dozen other crew members were in a similar state. Some managed to stay on their feet, but wandered about like zombies.

"Sarah!" My heart lurched at my mother's voice. "R-run! Now!"

More frightened than I ever was in my life, I fled.

In my panic, I went the wrong way and had to backtrack. But when I was about to turn down the right corridor, I saw movement up ahead, though a cloud of steam from a ruptured coolant line. Quickly I ducked back and peeked around the corner.

It took me a moment to see anything. There were two of them, at the far end of the corridor. I could see only their legs. They were long and lanky, peeking out from flowing robes of silver-gray. At first I thought they were wearing some sort of blue-colored stockings, until I realized that it was the tint of their skin.

My blood ran cold.

Oh God oh God oh God. Don't let it be them. Anyone but them. Please.

Pirates. Black marketeers. Privateers. Rebels. Escaped criminals. Anyone. Just NOT THEM.

Yet the next moment, the steam cleared briefly just long enough for me to see one of them perfectly. I saw her tall, voluptuous form wrapped in her tight, thin robe. I saw the blue cast to her skin, and the fall of coppery hair. I caught the intensely violet eyes even from this distance. It was all I could do not to whimper in terror.

Velqui slavers!

There were two of them, carrying scanners. They were searching all the compartments. Occasionally I would see one disappear inside, there would be a pause, and she would emerge again. Frozen in my panic, I stared at them as they did this three times.

On the third time, the pause was much longer. This time, when she emerged, someone was with her.

My breath caught in my throat, and I had to bite my lip to stop from gasping. It was Terri! My only friend on the ship! And she was naked!

I wanted to shout to her to run for it! Until I realized it was already too late. Oh my God. She was... touching herself. They were making her do it. They made her feel up her own tits, touch her pussy. They had slaved her already! God, is it that fast?!

A third Velqui emerged from the end of the hall, took Terri's hand, and led her away. She padded behind the alien like a little puppy dog. It shocked me out of my paralysis and I ran.

But I didn't know where I was going. My only route to belowdecks was cut off.

I simply ran to the other side of the ship from where I saw the Velqui. My only chance was to stay away from them and hope they satisfied themselves with the other crew members. They never took a whole ship as slaves. They were very particular. They took who they wanted and let the rest go. Now I understood what happened to my Mom. They always inject the ship with nanotech that makes everyone docile before they board it.

But why didn't it affect me?

I ran until I couldn't go any further, which put me in the ship's laundry. I ducked in and around the huge hampers and found a tiny closet in the far end of the room.

I squeezed myself inside of it and slammed the door shut behind me.

Silence fell, save for my own ragged breathing. I could hear my heart hammering in my chest. I only realized then I was still dressed in just my nightgown and panties. The sides of the closet felt ice cold against my body.

I gasped when I heard a low vibrating sound. It was me. I was trembling so badly that it was making the metal walls shake.

I forced myself to take a few deep breaths. I had to calm down! Once the Velqui left, I had to remember how to activate the emergency transponder. We may be just close enough to the border for a Terran Hegemony naval ship to respond.

Oh God, I hoped my Mom is okay!

No, they won't take her. She's well into her forties. They'll take the young ones first. Young like... me.

No, they won't take me! They have plenty to pick from! There's Mindy, she's only a year older than me. And Frank, he's twenty. And the twins, Joanne and Jill, they're my age. They would be perfect for...

I stopped myself and nearly burst into tears. What was I thinking?! I didn't want to see any of them taken! How could I think of something so horrible?! Oh God. I already kept replaying Terri in my mind. The Velqui couldn't have been in that room more than a few minutes.

The Velqui used nanotech. A few minutes. A few minutes to rewrite a brain and erase a person. Terri was gone in less time it took most people to dress in the morning.

I tensed. I heard a noise.

I swallowed hard. My throat was so dry it made an audible click. The noise came again, closer. Someone was in the room!

Oh God oh God oh God...

Wait. Stop. Don't panic. It may be a crew member. Maybe the Velqui left and the crew was recovering. And now they were looking for me. It had to be that. I was all the way on the other side of the ship. They don't want me.

Footsteps. Coming straight for me. They were soft. Through the metal slats on the door, I caught a brief sight of a robe swishing around feet. No! NO! Not me! NOT ME!!

The door opened and all hope died.

I was too scared to move or speak. The Velqui stood for a moment, her head tilting to one side as she regarded me. She was beautiful. Her skin was smooth and perfect. Her robe was drawn tightly at her slim waist, her breasts swelling round and full against the fabric. She shifted her weight as her deep, violet eyes flicked down to the scanner in her hand. Her breasts jiggled slightly. She didn't wear a bra.

She lowered the scanner.

"Come out, little one."

Her speech was galactic standard, but with an almost musical, birdlike quality to it. It hardly sounded menacing at all. I cowered inside the closet anyway.

She smiled and lifted a delicate-looking hand. "I will not harm you. Please come out."

I was nonplussed for a moment at the alien's gentle manner. I had expected her to reach in and haul me out. Or just slave me and I'd be a mindless little toy. I still wasn't any more inclined to emerge. "L-leave me alone."

She lowered her hand. "As I said, little one, I will not harm you. But you must come out."

I began sobbing. "I d-don't want to b-be taken. I don't want to be s-slaved. P-please. Find someone else."

"At the moment, I am merely curious about you."

I blinked away tears. "C-curious?"

"You were not affected by the docility nano. This intrigues me."

"Does that mean y-you won't take me?"

Before I could respond, there was movement off to the side. I gasped as the second Velqui came into view. "You have found her. Is she... ?"

The first raised a hand briefly. The second one stopped and kept her distance, putting her scanner away and folding her hands before her. The first one turned back to me.

"I can promise you nothing, little one. Except that I do need you to come out of there."

There was a little bit more command in her voice this time. I sighed in defeat and slowly stepped out. What was the point of staying in there? I had nowhere else to run.

I felt my breasts loose against my chest. Flushing with embarrassment, I folded my arms over them.

"What is your name, little one?"

I blinked. The question was totally unexpected. "S-sarah."

The Velqui smiled. It actually looked pleasant. "Now, I wish you to answer truthfully, little Sarah. Have you any shielding?"

I looked at her oddly. "Shielding? You mean... like against the nano?"

"Yes, against the nano."

I shook my head. I didn't think there was any defense against it. The only way to protect against Velqui slaver tech was to not encounter it in the first place.

"You would detect it if she were, sister," the other Velqui spoke again, startling me.

"Most forms," the first answered. She raised her scanner again. "But some do not register."

I didn't understand what they were talking about.

"Still, little Sarah, you are not affected, and I need to find out why."

One of her hands tapped the side of the scanner. A compartment opened, and she extracted a small hypospray.

"Extend your arm, please."

I gasped, panicking, and staggered back towards the closet, shaking my head violently.

"I wish only a blood sample, little Sarah. That is all."

I swallowed, shaking. My eyes flicked over to the side. I contemplated making a run for it. The other Velqui must have sensed I was thinking this, for she shifted to one side and blocked any escape route.

It was useless anyway. There were likely just more of them out there.

I took a deep breath and extended an arm towards her. I flinched when her fingers closed around my wrist. Her touch was surprisingly gentle. I braced myself, tensing as she pressed the hypo into my arm. There was a tiny pinprick and a hiss, and it was over.

I snatched my arm back, heart thumping. If she had actually injected slaving tech into me, would I even know it? What would I feel? Would I even be able to ask these questions if I had?

The Velqui popped the hypo back into the scanner and paused. A thoughtful look came over her face. She gestured, and the other Velqui came over.

"See this," said the first, pointing at something on the scanner.

"Ah, yes," said the second. "A genetic abnormality."

"But not natural."

"Clearly not. Carrier RNA sequence rewrite method. Primitive, but effective."

The two lapsed into jargon that was far beyond what I learned in biology, but I caught enough to make my heart race. Somebody had altered me! Somebody gave me protection against their nano!

Suddenly I heard the second one say something that jolted my attention back to them.

"Can you compensate for the neurotransmitter incompatibility?"

My mouth fell open. That's what my mother had said! She said I was "incompatible". But did that mean the same as immune? Was I safe?

The first one looked thoughtful. My heart pounded. She glanced at me. "Not completely."

I swallowed hard. Was that good? Were they going to let me go?

"Enough?"

"Perhaps."

Now the first Velqui turned to me again. I was quivering in fear again, and I backed up against the wall, my arms hugged tightly around me.

"Lower your arms, little Sarah."

My throat locked up. I shook my head.

"Please. I do not wish to harm you."