Lunar Hustle: a Dipole Shield mini-adventure (The Dipole Shield Book 0) Read online

  LUNAR HUSTLE

  By

  Chris Lowry

  Copyright 2017

  Grand Ozarks Media

  All rights reserved

  LUNAR HUSTLE

  "Relax ladies, I am here," Tinker announced as he stepped through the airlock.

  There was no one there to greet him.

  He took a sniff of his grimy flight suit, eight days in it trapped in the claustrophobic confines of the ship he loved, the NS-17.

  "Do I offend?"

  Not that he really expected anyone to greet him on the pleasure station. Still, he was a regular, at least as regular as runs would allow.

  He tried to think of the last time he was there, but it was hard to remember through the moonshined soaked fog he kept himself in.

  It just made long slow hours of space travel more bearable.

  He had a lot of hours in the ship.

  His ship.

  He reached a hand back and patted the hatch, then remembered he needed to secure the airlock.

  Tinker glanced around to make sure no one was watching and used his body to shield the keypad as he keyed in the security sequence.

  He got ten yards from the ship, when he remembered to check for his credit chip. It wasn't in his pocket.

  "Damn it," he grinned.

  He'd probably forget his head if it wasn't for his neck.

  He did a wobbly about face, lined up with the air lock and stumbled back to the hatch. He made it inside on the second try, then spent a half hour digging through the chaos that was the cargo hold and cockpit searching for the tiny piece of magnetic plastic he earned on his last run.

  It wasn't much, but it could buy a couple of hours with a real woman, and replenish supplies. He'd have to pick between renewing his replicator menu, or fuel, but that was a price he was willing to pay to be wrapped in the arms of a lovely companion.

  "What did I do with the damn thing?" he wondered then caught sight of his reflection in the polished surface on one wall.

  He'd taped that plastic mirror against the bulkhead to make the space look a little larger, but it had an added benefit of making him feel less alone during the long trips from station to station as he smuggled goods.

  One day he might work up to people. That's where the real money was, but for now, stuff was the key to eating. And drinking. And sex.

  He saw a bulge in his chest pocket and let his fingers explore the square shape.

  "There you are you little bugger," he grinned and dipped the credit chip out to show the blurry guy staring back at him.

  He dropped it back in his pocket and decided a celebratory drink was in order, since his buzz was wearing off.

  Then it was off to see some old friends.

  CHAPTER

  "You have some nerve showing up here, you son of a bitch."

  Tinker put a hand on his lanky chest.

  "Who me?"

  "Yeah you," the short woman pulled a knife from the flowing sleeve of her gown and placed it on a podium that served as a check in point at Mama Sue's House of Pleasure.

  Tinker tried to remember if he skipped out on the bill last time, but he was pretty sure he didn't.

  In fact, he was pretty sure they made him wait in the elegant foyer for two hours for his favorite friend, plied him with cheap rot gut liquor, before she bathed him in a long shower and he passed out.

  "What did I do this time?"

  Her glare melted into a shallow smile.

  "You didn't leave a tip last time."

  "I didn't? How did I get back to my ship then?"

  And who took my credit chip, he almost added, but he didn't want to get kicked out before he had some fun.

  The host, Su, was the third Madame of the place since he'd started coming there four years ago, and so far, she was the meanest.

  Not much understanding for a man who just wanted a little drink, and a little loving. Su was all about business, and her business was making cash.

  Of course, the original Sue had been about the credit too, and retired to a ranch on the outskirts of Musk to paint Martian landscape portraits.

  The second Sue married one of the customers, and Tinker was pretty sure he still saw him in the House the last time he was here. Maybe he got a discount.

  Su number four bounced between a tight smile and a death glare, before settling on something in between.

  "Part of the service," she snapped. "We want you safe to come again."

  "I don't know that I did the last time," he said under his breath.

  "What?"

  "Nothing."

  "You got money?"

  "Do you think I'd show up without it?"

  He patted the tiny lump in his pocket.

  She held out her hand, palm up. Tinker dug it out and dropped it on her smooth skin.

  "Not all of it, okay? I still have to resupply."

  Su shrugged.

  "Don't drink so much this time. You emptied my bar last time."

  "I thought that was free."

  "The only thing free babe are the smiles."

  But she didn't give him one of those either.

  "And you need a shower."

  Tinker nodded. Maybe his sniffer was off line due to being locked up in a cabin for over a week.

  He would have taken one in his Captain's Quarters, but the shower needed a new part. He could have bought it with the credit he was about to spend at Sue's, but priorities.

  "You gonna scrub my back?" he winked at Su.

  She lifted one lip in a disgusted snarl.

  "You can't afford me," she snapped back.

  "Well just who can I afford?" he joked, trying to win her over with his charm.

  It was lost on the hostess.

  She snapped her narrow fingers and a female wrestler stepped out of the curtain that separated the private compartments from the front.

  Tinker started at her feet and stared up at her. She was taller than his six-foot frame, and outweighed him by at least a hundred pounds.

  Her hair was buzzed into a pink Mohawk and beady eyes studied the pilot what he feared was a lascivious hunger.

  "This one needs a shower," said Su.

  "I can do it," Tinker offered.

  "She makes sure you do it right."

  "You want me to give him the special?"

  "I don't want the special," Tinker interjected.

  Su looked at him, sniffed and nodded.

  "Give him the special," she commanded.

  Tinker was about to protest again, cite the rights of a paying customer.

  But the woman grabbed him by the flight suit and carried him into the back.

  He hated that it was kind of a turn on.

  CHAPTER

  There was nothing special about the special. It hurt.

  The Amazonian warrior unzipped his flight suit even as he protested.

  She lifted him up and shucked his boots into a corner and peeled the fabric from his skin.

  "You stink," she informed him.

  "I've been kind of busy," he covered up his newly exposed nakedness and cowered as she grabbed him under the arms and put him in a shower stall.

  "I can do it," he protested.

  "I can do it better," she said and turned on the needles of ice that passed for cold water.

  He tried not to scream and bit back most of it.

  "Toughen up," she grunted and squirted soap into her hand.

  Her calloused palms dumped it in his hair and proceeded to lather him up. He tried to relax as the water shifted from freeze your balls off to barely to
lerable without crying, but the wrestler added what felt like sandpaper to the mix. And glass.

  She rubbed a rough sponge over his tender bits front and back, and he was pretty sure there was blood leaking down the drain but was afraid to look.

  The water finally started to warm up and she turned it off.

  He watched her reach toward a soft plush robe hanging from a hook, push it aside and grab a thin cotton shift that might have once been a hospital gown.

  She grabbed Tinker by the arm and jerked him out of the stall, took a look at his dingus and giggled.

  "It was cold," he said.

  She shook her head, towering over him, and manhandled him into the hospital gown.

  "I'm paying for this," he grumbled as he shivered, feet freezing on the cold metal deck.

  "You're paying extra for this," the wrestler agreed.

  "Then how about a little kindness," he muttered. "Maybe a drink while you're assaulting me. Or a rub and tug."

  He wiggled his eyebrows.

  She smirked, grabbed him and squeezed.

  "You sure about that?"

  He shook his head in slow panic, no sudden movements that might startle her into pulling anything off.

  "That's what I thought."

  She grabbed him by the arm and walked him back to a private compartment where she left him inside alone.

  It was a simple affair. Full size bed against the wall, simple seal hatch to afford some privacy. Silks on the walls.

  He also noted the cameras which he hadn't seen before, tiny black eyes that stared from the corner by the door.

  A girl stepped through and pulled the hatch closed behind her. She wore a silk bathrobe, flowing around her long muscular legs, and smiled at Tinker.

  "I heard you got the special."

  "Don't I look it?"

  "And survived," she bit her bottom lip and stared at the hospital gown. "Impressive."

  "You're making me blush," said Tinker. "I haven't met you before."

  "I'm new. Su thought we should get acquainted."

  Tinker nodded.

  "I'm ready to acquaint. I haven't acquainted in a long time, so-" he shrugged.

  "I hear that a lot," said the woman. "I'm Boo."

  "Like a ghost?"

  "Exactly," she smiled and sat next to him on the bed.

  Tinker forgot about the cold shower and all the raw bits as the warmth from her leg hit his.

  He leaned over to nibble her neck, since most of the women here didn't like to be kissed. He'd learned that the hard way once.

  Worse treatment than the shower.

  Boo pushed him back.

  "Not too fast," she said. "I want you to get your money's worth."

  "You could offer me a drink?" he suggested.

  "Great idea," Boo hopped up.

  Tinker was sad at the disappearance of her warm leg against his, but enjoyed the rush of anticipation for the drink.

  "I'll be right back."

  He watched her leave through the hatch, stared up at the camera and grinned for the birdie.

  He could have sworn it blinked back at him. The silky shimmering tapestry over the airlock swished aside.

  Another woman stepped through, watching over her shoulder as she did.

  “Hey,” Tinker perked up. “I can’t pay for double cause I still need some supplies, but if you’re willing to give me a buy one, get one, I’m all aboard.”

  She looked at him, tears in her eyes.

  “I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings,” he stuttered. “I was just kidding.”

  He cleared his throat.

  “Well, I wasn’t kidding cause you know, if you wanted to join in I’m not going to say no, because I’m not an idiot-”

  “All appearances to the contrary,” she snapped and stared at the camera.

  “Huh?”

  “I meant you appear to be an idiot, yet I’m told you know how to fly.”

  “I’m a pilot,” he stuttered in confusion. “You’re not here to double my pleasure?”

  “We don’t have much time,” said the woman as she moved to stand over him.

  She held out a credit chip.

  “I have heard you are for hire, and I want to hire you.”

  Tinker looked at the piece of magnetized plastic in his hand and back at the woman. She was average height, pretty, but plain. Jet black hair, narrow eyes that hinted at an Asian ancestry.

  “I’ve never been paid for sex before,” he told her. “But I’ll try to give you your money’s worth.”

  He folded back the cheap cotton gown to give her an eyeful of the goods she bought, at least for the next half hour.

  She snorted.

  “You guys keep it cold in here,” he said. “And the gorgeous lady of wrestling violated me in the shower.”

  “They’re going to turn the camera back on,” said the woman. “I want to hire you to find my sister.”

  “Not for sex?” he curled up his eyebrows in confusion.

  She stared at his crotch for a moment.

  “I don’t think anyone is paying you for that,” she said. “But the rumor is you’re a pretty good flyer.”

  “I’m an excellent pilot,” he repeated as if he’d said the phrase a thousand times.

  “And you haven’t been caught.”

  “Caught what?”

  “Good. That’s the attitude we need if we’re going to do this.”

  “I’m serious,” said Tinker. “Caught doing what?”

  “You smuggle, right?”

  “What are you? A cop?”

  “I don’t have time for this!” she looked over her shoulder and then bent down to take his face in her hands.

  “I need you to rescue my sister. She’s been kidnapped by a guy who was obsessed with her.”

  “How am I supposed to do that?”

  “I don’t know,” said the woman. “But figure it out.”

  “I mean, I don’t know you lady. And I just fly the ship. I’m not a bounty hunter or anything.”

  “There’s enough on there to hire a hunter or a PI,” she indicated the chip and started backing toward the door. “I’m paying you to smuggle her back here.”

  She slipped through the curtain and left him staring at the billowing silk with a frown.

  He jumped when she ducked her head back in.

  “And don’t tell anyone about it. If Su knew I was trying to bring her back, she’d kill both of us. All of us.”

  Then she disappeared again.

  Tinker held up the credit chip, for a minute and closed it in his palm just as the lens flickered back to life with a wink.

  “Who the hell was that?”

  The curtain parted and Jade slipped back in.

  “Who are you talking to?”

  She held out a small glass which he took and drained in one quick swallow.

  “You guys have ghosts in here?” he asked.

  She climbed on top of him and ran her fingers through his hair.

  “I think ghosts cost extra,” she purred.

  The curtain whisked aside again and the wrestler was back. Tinker thought she looked even more pissed than during the shower he would never forget.

  “Su wants to see you,” she growled.

  Jade slipped off and shoved him toward the door.

  “What about?”

  But as he looked back, Jade waved good bye. He kept his fist closed around the chip and tried to keep up as the giantess hauled him down the corridor.

  CHAPTER

  Tinker struggled to keep up with the Amazonian woman as she dragged him down the corridor. She gripped him by the bicep on one arm, keeping him high enough so just the tips of his toes could brush the deck.

  "Easy, easy," he advised, his alcohol befuddled mind trying to shunt the blood from its previous destination back into his head so he could figure out what was going on.

  "Su want's you," the big woman said again.

  "Look, I like being popular with the ladies, but you'
re damaging the merchandise," he tripped as he dragged his feet and tried to reassert control.

  Big Cindy just picked him, tossed him over her shoulder and carried him into the foyer.

  She set him down in front of Su and it took a moment for Tinker to get his bearings.

  The bodyguard's grapefruit sized shoulder had cinched his tender bits and ground them against her skin.

  It was a breath-taking feeling.

  Literally, he couldn't breathe for a few moments and blinked away popping blue flashes that danced in front of his eyes while the Madame stared at him.

  "This the guy?" she asked.

  "You tell me," Tinker answered. "I was in the middle of something when you brought me up here."

  Su pointed behind him.

  Tinker turned around and found two goons glaring down at him.

  He wasn't a short man, but there seemed to be an overabundance of large people in the employ of the pleasure house and whoever these two belonged to. He started to miss the comfort of his solo time on his ship.

  "That ain't him," said the one on the left.

  "It ain't," the right one repeated.

  "I'm not," Tinker confirmed to them and to Su. "What's this about?

  "We're looking for somebody," said Lefty.

  "We're looking," Righty repeated.

  "I got that fellas. The whole drag me up here by the scruff of my balls thing was a dead giveaway."

  "Watch your mouth," Lefty growled "They're ladies present."

  "Watch it in front of the ladies," Righty added.

  Tinker blinked.

  "These guys?" he tossed a thumb over his shoulder to take in both Su and Cindy. "Ladies of the night. Well, one was. I don't know about the big one. Not my type, really, but you two are welcome to take a shot at her. What do you go for hon? Do you charge by the pound.”?

  Su pulled her knife out of her sleeve.

  Lefty didn't like it, so he pulled a blaster from the small of his back.

  Righty took one look at his partner and repeated what he did.

  "Hold on now, wait," Tinker held up his hands. "I just run my mouth when I get nervous. Nobody needs to get hurt."

  "What makes you nervous?" asked Lefty.

  "You nervous?" Righty took initiative and pointed his small blaster at Tinker.