Chapter 6

"I am not a spy," Qi said for the second time.

"I see that the Farendass worked you over pretty well. Your bruises are still healing and you have a tooth missing," the Volentin interrogator said.

Qi rubbed his cheek. He said, "Funny, but this isn't from any interrogation. Yahvi has a peculiar taste in foreplay. Blood and violence gets her in the mood, if you know what I mean."

The woman stared at him. She was older than he was but he wasn't sure it was that many years. There was a weary air about her as if she had too many responsibilities and he was an unwanted addition to her list. He wasn't sure if she was disgusted with him or with Yahvi, although he was certain she had a whiff of disdain about her.

"Please understand," Qi said, "she cold cocked me with her weapon at the TSC warehouse when I had already surrendered, as it were. I mean, I asked her for a ride off of the complex and she just walloped me. She locked me in a small storage hold with a mat and bucket. She kept calling me a 'normal', dismissing anything I said as a lie, and treating me like an insect. I challenged her to a fight as my only chance to win some respect. On my mother's grave, I didn't know I was going to get laid after she pinned me to the floor."

"How long did you last in your fight?" she asked.

"I lasted twenty or twenty-five minutes, I guess. If I hadn't slammed myself into the wall of the hold, I could have held out a little bit longer. She was crazy good, which I already knew. The strategy was that if I could hold her off for long enough, never trying to go in for a kill, then I could gain some respect. I fought for a stalemate."

"You want me to believe that you held off a Farendass operative for twenty minutes?" the Volentin woman said. "I find your tale highly unlikely."

Qi looked at her with a tired look in his own eyes. Maybe he would have been better off facing the inept goons at TSC. He hated second guessing himself though and shifted his back to sit up straight. "If you were hunting for a challenge fight, all you had to do was say so. All I ask is you put away your knives."

She snorted.

"I'll make you a bet," Qi continued. If I last at least twenty minutes against you or whomever you pick, I get a real room and privileges. If I don't, I'll submit willingly to whatever you desire."

"Vague, but doable," she said. "Quiyo is at loose ends and needs the practice. Her moodiness has become tiresome to me. Follow me to the fighting pit."

The ship wasn't nearly as big as the Khan ship had been, which wasn't saying much because Qi had been taken aback by the sheer size of the Khan transport. As he gazed at the beam of Khan ship from inside his helmet, he could imagine such a behemoth hauling a ship's fusion core. The Volentin ship was smaller but its design was radical. Rather than long and thin as most ships were, this one was a globe with two concentric rings that could rotate independently around the torso of the ship. The rings were studded with flattened pods that looked like energy beam ports. Since he was being transferred between the two ships without an umbilical cord, he hadn't had much time to look as he clung to the ferryman for dear life.

The term "fighting pit" was jarring. Qi was no longer sure what kind of society he was facing but it was violent. Farendass Family was not an exception, but an example of how these families lived. He had just learned a valuable fact. However, challenging these people to a fight appeared to be the right thing to do. Somewhere on Earth, Tomas would be dancing with joy if he knew that Qi had to fight for a living, or fight to survive.

The corridor was crowded with people who were all dressed as he was. Qi wondered if he was a prisoner after all. He should have asked that question earlier, yet the time to question had now passed. Before he could drum up any other regrets, they stepped through a port and into a room with a fighting ring.

His guide had him wait in a corner of the room while another nondescript Volentin family member kept watch over him. After a few moments the room started to fill with spectators. They approached him and eyed him up and down. One demanded that he take off his shirt. A demand which his guard insisted he comply. Qi listened to the obvious sounds of bets fly around the room.

Finally a young, blond woman stepped into the room and went straight to the ring. She was petite with a tight, compact body. Qi's heart sank because she was a smaller target than he was. She threw off her blouse and stood proud without a bra. Her breasts were small and they pointed at him like daggers.

Qi was pulled and then pushed into the ring. He felt something pressed into the middle of his back and then he was spun around. Another sticker was placed on his chest. When he looked at his opponent, he saw the same patches on her.

"Here are the rules," his handler said. "The rounds are five minutes each. Head shots are not allowed and forfeit the match. The first one to remove both patches from the other wins."

The rule concerning no head shots was a welcome development. However, trying to protect dots on his body was an entirely alien concept. All he had wanted to do was pound the crap out of somebody for the hurdles and strangeness that had been thrown at him. Just when he had worked up a righteous anger, finesse was required.

"Afraid to hit a woman?" his opponent taunted him. She danced around him, playing with him and taunting him.

Qi stayed in his fighter's crouch waiting for the first attack. Qi refused to be drawn out and he was not impressed with her taunts. Tomas would have already tagged his legs or arms by now but she wasn't Tomas. Qi smiled and launched a punch only to let it die and step to the side. She took the bait and left him an opening. He quickly struck out with his opposite foot.

She recoiled and Qi grabbed for her sticker. He missed, pinching a breast in the process and leaving a red mark behind. She charged and he parried. She kept trying to crowd him, a tactic which he knew would put him at a distinct disadvantage. He needed to develop a hit and grab strategy to use his longer arms to partially negate her advantage in speed and agility. Besides, she knew what she was doing and he was inexperienced.

She may have been small but Qi wasn't assuming that she couldn't punch hard or wrestle him into a compliant position. She charged again. He stepped past her and shoved his elbow into her flank with a solid blow. Spinning he snatched the dot from between her breasts.

He held it up in triumph until he saw she was holding the one from his back.

"Five," his handler called out. His opponent retreated to one side of the ring and he walked to the opposite side. Carefully, he rolled his head and neck to release some of the tension. Next, he let his shoulder blades gently rotate. As he lifted his head, he heard the buzz of excited voices around the room. He took a deep breath through his mouth and the rasp drowned out the other noise. Qi was ready.