Chapter 14

We had our phasers set for stun and had them in our hands as we were transported to Shorne, which was the name of their home planet in the alien language. We arrived with our belongings in backpacks of the type common on Shorne. We wanted to act as if we were some country bumpkins on our first visit to the big city of Horner. Hopefully, that way we would be excused for minor errors in decorum.

It was getting toward supper time and people were going into the various restaurants we could see lining the street. It was just by coincidence that we had wound up in the restaurant district, but it was a good time to check them out. If the restaurant was busy, we were less likely to stand out if we did something wrong.

We walked along the street until we found a place that seemed to cater to the working class, so that looked like our speed. OOPS! Ann couldn't go in there. They had a big sign advertising a free blow job by the waitress for every customer. That was a sure way to "blow" Ann's disguise. We changed our path and headed for what looked like a cafeteria. That should be safer for a lack of waitresses.

We went in and found that it looked very much like the kind of cafeteria that I was used to, except for the way the servers were dressed. Namely, they weren't! Every woman working in the cafeteria was naked, except for flip-flops. Well, not quite every woman—those doing the serving up of food were wearing transparent aprons to protect their skin from hot food. These women were all reasonably good looking, too; not a hag in the bunch! OK, so I got a hard-on while my food was being dished onto my plate. The women couldn't help noticing, considering the way our clothes were tailored, but they ignored me and continued on with their work.

Before leaving on this mission, our digestive tracks had been treated so that we could eat anything, and it would pass through us without causing any affect. We could have drunk concentrated nitric acid and there would have been no harm to us, so we were not afraid to eat what we had bought. We had skin implants which would provide us with the nutrition we would need for the two days we planned to be on Shorne.

We listened to the conversation at nearby tables and learned a lot of local gossip, plus picked up a few hot betting tips on the upcoming freswa game, whatever that was, between the Horner team and their arch rival from Varst. Neither Ann nor I were much for betting, so we decided to forgo that side issue.

After supper, we looked for a bar or saloon where we might get some questions answered. We encountered an occasional female as we walked down the street, and we were shocked every time. In every case, the woman was accompanied by a man who was holding what looked to us like a leash. The woman's end of the leash was fastened to a ring passing through her pussy lips. Usually, the woman was nude, except for the flip-flops, but a few were dressed in a transparent shirt which never extended beyond the woman's belly button. The shirt was loose-fitting so that it would not restrict the jiggle and sway of her tits.

We went into a bar and struck up a conversation with the female bartender, who was undressed the same as the other women we had seen. She, like all bartenders I had ever met, was quite happy to talk on any subject as long as the customer continued to buy drinks. We were able to find out a lot about the culture of Shorne, much of which was, to put it bluntly, sickening!

We talked to the bartender until it was time for the floor show. She recommended that we watch, since the management was very proud of the daring show the performers put on. I guess it was daring, all right: over a period of about 20 minutes, the performers, all women, put on clothes! When they completed the act, the performers were covered from head to toe with clothes colored taupe and mauve. The only skin not covered was the face, the tits, and the pussy. Ann and I applauded along with the rest of the customers, some customers even stood while they applauded! The bartender advised us that if we thought that was great, we would appreciate the private show they put on for an additional charge. In that show, they actually covered their pussies, but they had to be careful who got in to that show, because they could be busted for lewd and lascivious performances if they were caught covering their pussies. Both of us acted suitably awed by that prospect. She asked if we wanted tickets, but I said that we simply did not have that much spare money, yet. We'd be back when we had jobs.

We got directions to a low cost hotel and left the bartender with thanks and an extra tip. The hotel was nothing to brag about, but it would serve our needs for the one night. For the first hour or so, there was almost a constant stream of prostitutes stopping by our room looking for our business. They all showed us their government licenses and permission from their owners. Some almost went so far as to beg for our business, but we steadfastly refused. Shit! I could come to hate this place real quick-like. Finally, we were left alone, and we both got a couple of hours sleep, not because we needed it, but because we needed to kill the time while we waited for the new day and for life to return to Horner.

The next morning, we dressed and checked out of the hotel. Our next step was to look for a job. We bought a newspaper and looked at the help wanted ads. There was very little there, and what there was, was for very menial jobs that I thought were better suited to robots than to people.

The newspaper was filled with what I call "happy news." This was being done for the people, and that was being done for the people, but none of it looked very substantive to me. It reminded me of the kind of news I used to see in "The Weekly Reader" back in school when I was a kid. I suspected that it was the same kind of propaganda that Josef Goebbels put out in Nazi Germany in the 1930s and early 40s. Anyway, I saved the paper to take back to headquarters for the experts to go over in detail; maybe they could get something useful from it.

There was a construction site a few blocks down the street, so we visited it to ask for a job. When we got there, we found the boss and asked if there were any jobs to be had. He looked us over very carefully, as if he expected to be trapped into something. Finally he said, "You can't work here unless you belong to the union. You should know that. Go to the union hall and they will take care of you." We got directions and went to find the place.

We found the union hall and went in. Man, this place was a dingy mess. There were chairs scattered about and trash all over the floor. Half a dozen or so men were lounging in some chairs, mostly sleeping, though a couple were talking very excitedly about the upcoming freswa game scheduled for two days from now. There was a sign over a desk that said "Information," so we ambled over to see what we could learn.

I let Ann lead the discussion this time. She said that we had been by the construction site looking for jobs, and the boss had sent us here. She asked what we had to do to get hired as common laborers and was given a long and involved pitch about joining the union and the wage kickbacks we had to pay. There was a kickback for the union, a kickback for the site boss, and a kickback for the foreman of whatever work crew we got assigned to. All of this amounted to 53% of our wage! This would have left us with barely enough money to survive, had we been ordinary citizens of Shorne.

We started to leave, but the clerk reminded us that this was about the only job we could get as unskilled laborers, so we better reconsider. Ann said that we would be back if we couldn't find anything better, and we really did leave this time.

We hardly got out the door when we were accosted by four burly men who claimed to be police. They were startled when we did not cower in fear at the mere thought of dealing with the police. Obviously we were country bumpkins who didn't know what we were in for. We were marched to the police station and thrown into separate cells out of sight of each other. Our "telepathy" implants made it easy for us to talk to each other, so we were not intimidated.

They had taken our backpacks, but had not done a very good job of searching us, so they had missed our phasers and our communicator for talking to Lars. Abe, how are we going to play this?

Let's let it ride for a little while. I suspect that the labor boss tipped off the cops that we were acting suspiciously, and that's why they picked us up. I'm curious about how they will treat us. They may just hit us for bribes and let us go when we pay up. Scream for Lars to pick you up if things get rough, and I'll do the same ... Say, that gives me an idea. You go with the bribe approach, and I will be dumb and stubborn. Let's see what each type of attitude gets us.