The Slave Planet Read online

  The Slave Planet

  The Slave Planet, Volume 1

  Seven Steps

  Published by Seven Steps, 2016.

  This is a work of fiction. Similarities to real people, places, or events are entirely coincidental.

  THE SLAVE PLANET

  First edition. October 31, 2016.

  Copyright © 2016 Seven Steps.

  ISBN: 978-1310928222

  Written by Seven Steps.

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  The Slave Planet

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  CHAPTER 1

  CHAPTER 2

  CHAPTER 3

  CHAPTER 4

  CHAPTER 5

  CHAPTER 6

  CHAPTER 7

  CHAPTER 8

  CHAPTER 9

  CHAPTER 10

  CHAPTER 11

  CHAPTER 12

  CHAPTER 13

  CHAPTER 14

  CHAPTER 15

  CHAPTER 16

  CHAPTER 17

  CHAPTER 18

  CHAPTER 19

  CHAPTER 20

  CHAPTER 21

  CHAPTER 22

  CHAPTER 23

  CHAPTER 24

  CHAPTER 25

  CHAPTER 26

  CHAPTER 27

  CHAPTER 28

  CHAPTER 29

  CHAPTER 30

  CHAPTER 31

  CHAPTER 32

  CHAPTER 33

  CHAPTER 34

  CHAPTER 35

  CHAPTER 36

  CHAPTER 37

  CHAPTER 38

  CHAPTER 39

  CHAPTER 40

  CHAPTER 41

  CHAPTER 42

  CHAPTER 43

  CHAPTER 44

  CHAPTER 45

  CHAPTER 46

  CHAPTER 47

  CHAPTER 48

  CHAPTER 49

  CHAPTER 50

  CHAPTER 51

  CHAPTER 52

  CHAPTER 53

  CHAPTER 54

  CHAPTER 55

  CHAPTER 56

  CHAPTER 57

  CHAPTER 58

  CHAPTER 59

  CHAPTER 60

  CHAPTER 1

  CHAPTER 2

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  About the Author

  Also by Seven Steps

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  The Escape: Prequel to The Slave Planet

  Night of the Broken Moon: Two Companion Short Stories to The Slave Planet

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  Always and Forever (Spring 2016)

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  The Slave Planet

  Seven Steps

  SAVING KILN

  Chapter 1

  Outer Ring, Habitat Alpha

  Planet Venus

  7009

  On unsteady feet, sixteen-year-old Nadira Marie gripped the side of the iced over, metal vat. She raised a clear bottle to her lips and took a deep drink of blue wine.

  Above, the orange and black Venian atmosphere swirled and coiled, clearly visible through the transparent dome. The clear, metal walls of the Habitat were hundreds of feet thick, built to withstand the pressure, heat and general fury of the planet’s atmosphere.

  Around her was the Reservoir. The vats agitated and churned as they pumped water through underground tunnels and into the homes of the women and men in Habitat Alpha. Ahead, firelight bounced off the vat’s scrubbed surface.

  Nadira took another swig of wine, the liquid sloshing in the bottle as she stumbled forward. “May our mother’s be well, and may we never become them!”

  Kiln, her Prime Servant, laced an arm around her waist, his massive biceps squeezing her close to him.

  “Steady Naddie.” With gentle hands, he plucked the bottle from her fingers, ensured that she was steady on her feet, and freed her from his grip. Six and a half foot tall, and blonde, he held the bottle out of her reach.

  “I think you’ve had enough,” he said, his nineteen year old voice deep and clear.

  “Do you?” She reached up on tiptoe, clutched the back of his neck, and drew him to her awaiting mouth, covering his lips in a brief, drunken, wet kiss.

  One side of his mouth broke into a lopsided grin, and he set to kissing her back, dropping his arms to wrap them around her. Seizing the moment, she snatched the bottle from his distracted hand, and held it over her head in triumph.

  “You are too easy,” she slurred, taking another sip before falling on her backside.

  Kiln let out a frustrated breath, reached down, and set her back on her feet, “Naddie, I think we should go home.”

  “No. I want to see my friends.”

  “Alright, but just for a few minutes. After that I’m taking you home and straight to bed.”

  “So you’re my master now?” Nadira teased.

  “No, but if an Enforcer finds us out here, it’ll be our third infraction, and I’ve made it a point not to die this week.”

  Two hovercrafts turned their noses to the walls of the dome. In unison, they shot forward. Their reflections grew as they got closer to the wall. Then, at the last possible second, they pulled up, followed the wall upwards, touched the ceiling, and looped back around to do it again.

  Ahead, three girls and a dark haired boy sat around a crackling fire. Their voices echoed through the reservoir.

  “... and then she said, Kiera, if you can’t respect my home, I’ll have no choice but to send you to Habitat Omega.” Kiera, a dirty blond, shrieked to be heard over the sounds of the crackling fire and the gurgling vats. “Let’s see how disrespectful you are when they’re shaving your head and making you an Enforcer.”

  Kiln guided Nadira to the colorful blankets that were strewn on the dusty ground around the fire. Once she was settled, he planted himself next to her.

  Shar-jon’s her blonde hair was almost white against the flames. “Do you think she was serious?”

  “She made the comm,” Kiera said. “I’m leaving the day after tomorrow.”

  Shar-jon wrapped her arms around Kiera’s shoulders and sniffled.

  “You can’t go,” she said, her voice heavy with threatening tears. “You’re not
cut out to be a baldy.”

  “Tell that to my mother,” Kiera said. “But don’t worry. I have a plan.”

  “What are you going to do?”

  “Tomorrow, after nightfall, when everyone’s asleep, I’m running to Mahala. Me and Satch will be free.” She took the hand of a raven haired, freckled, blue-eyed boy who sat next to her.

  “Mahala?” Bragnia, a soft-spoken redhead, gasped. The daughter of a retired High Priestess of the Temple of Venus, Bragnia was new to the Outer Ring. “The free slave place? Kiera you can’t. What if the Enforcers find you?”

  “Then we’ll die together. Either way, I’ll never be an Enforcer and my mother won’t control me anymore.”

  “Do you remember Empress Star’s daughter?” Shar-jon asked. “They say she ran away to Mahala too.”

  “That’s not what I heard.” Kiera put a hand on Shar-jon’s knee. “I heard that she refused to apply to Beta Council and her mother went nuts and killed her.”

  Shar-jon wiped her nose with the back of her hand. “That’s crazy. Mother’s from Beta aren’t like that.”

  “All mothers are the same,” Kiera said. “But, on the off chance that I’m wrong and Star did run away, I’ll say hello when I see her in Mahala.”

  “No one is going to Mahala,” Nadira slurred. “You don’t even know where it is.”

  “Satch does,” Kiera said. “He’s been there before.”

  The group took in a collective gasp, and Kiera's Prime Servant’s pale skin gained color as all eyes turned to him.

  “You’ve been to Mahala?” Kiln asked.

  Satch cleared his throat. “Well not there, but close. Kiera’s mother sent me to work in Habitat Beta for a few months to pay off a debt. In the forest, near the wall of the Habitat, we would sometimes hear singing, and smell smoke. None of us were brave enough to sneak out and investigate, but we knew that something was out there.”

  “This is insane!” Bragnia threw up her hands. “You can’t turn Rogue and run away to Mahala.”

  “Better than being an Enforcer,” Kiera replied.

  “You're throwing your life away.”

  “What life? The life that my mother wants me to have? No, I won’t be her puppet.” She drank from a brown bottle and leaned against Satch’s shoulder. “Think about it. We’ll be free. Free from their stupid slave laws, free from the petty rules of High Council, free from my dumb mother.”

  “And free from their ancient ideas,” Nadira said. “Don’t feed on the lies your mother tells you. Life isn’t just about who’s getting the High Council seat this year or who has the most control over their minions. How we’re living, what we’re doing, it’s a prison.”

  “Don’t you think you’re being a little dramatic?” Bragnia asked. “We’re women. It’s not in our nature to be brutal.”

  “How else would you describe a society that buys and sells men from all over the universe, takes them away from their families, wipes their memories, presses them into slavery, beats them, and, when they’re done with them, kills them?”

  “I’d call it progressive. After all, men were doing it to women long before we did it to them. Look at Mars. They keep women locked up in camps and impregnate them in public. It’s disgusting. We are only passing along the practice to those that invented the concept.”

  “You don’t really believe that, do you?” Nadira asked.

  “Everyone believes that,” Bragnia answered.

  Shar-jon threw a bottle, missing Bragnia’s foot by a few inches. “I thought I was inviting you here, not your mother.”

  “May our mothers be well!” Kiera called.

  “And may we never become them!” Nadira answered, completing the group’s mantra.

  “I’m not my mother!” Bragnia pulled her knees into her chest. “I’m just level headed.”

  “More like brain washed,” Satch spat.

  Bragnia ignored him. “Kiera, please don’t run away. There has to be something you can do.” She snapped her fingers. “Maybe my mother can talk to your mother, you know, get her to change her mind? My mother used to be a High Priestess in the Temple. She can be very persuasive.”

  “Yes, that’s an excellent idea,” Kiera mocked. “Please tell your mother about our little talk and perhaps, if the Mother Goddess wills it, instead of turning me into an Enforcer, they can execute me instead.”

  “I was just trying to help.”

  “Yeah, you were trying to help me. Help me right into the grave.”

  “Whoa, everyone calm down!” Nadira raised her hands, tried to stand, swayed, and fell down again.

  Shar-jon’s twin slaves rejoined the group. They were indistinguishable from each other, both possessing barrel chest, and powerful builds. They would have looked like any other man, if not for their green skin, long canines, and amber colored eyes. They sat, on either side of Shar-jon, the one on the left passing a bottle to the one on the right. The left one waited until his brother drank his fill, then reached his hand out for the bottle and took a long drink.

  Nadira watched them, an idea slipping into her consciousness. “We will settle this with a hovercraft race.”

  “A hovercraft race?” Bragnia asked. “That’s ridiculous and unsafe. You know, I would have expected more from an ambassador’s daughter.”

  “I’d expect a mother to say that.” Kiera rolled her eyes. “It sounds about right coming from you.”

  “Empresses please! If Bragnia beats Kiera to vat twelve, then Kiera stays, and calls Bragnia’s mother for help.”

  “And if I win?” Kiera asked.

  “Then Kiera does what she wants, and Bragnia has to bring her Prime Servant with her the next time we meet.”

  “Why would I bring him?” Bragnia asked.

  “For the same reason anyone brings their slaves here,” Nadira turned to Kiln, kissed him slowly to the oohs and aahs of her audience.

  “That’s disgusting.”

  “Have you tried it?” Nadira asked. “Come on Bragnia. What’s Kiera’s future worth to you? One little race? One little kiss?”

  “Don’t bother,” Kiera flicked her wrist. “She’s afraid, and her slave is disgusting. I wouldn’t want to kiss him either.”

  “Nadira, is this about the junior High Council seat?” Bragnia whispered. “It’s down to just me and you isn’t it? Are you trying to sabotage me so that you can take the seat for yourself?”

  “You can have the junior High Council seat. I never wanted it in the first place, my mother did.”

  “I’m sure,” Bragnia sounded incredulous.

  “First off,” Kiera said. “Nadira will never serve on High Council because she has a brain and can think for herself.”

  “Yes!” Nadira cried.

  “And second,” Kiera continued. “Don’t change the subject. I’ll take you up on that race. I’ll have you know that I am unbeaten in a hovercraft.”

  “You’ve never raced in a hovercraft,” Satch said.

  “Not now Satch,” Kiera retorted. “So, Bragnia. What do you say? Race for my life?”

  Bragnia squeezed her lips together, her already red face turning crimson.

  “Fine. I’ll play your stupid game.”

  Kiera smirked, and stood as the crowd’s whooping and hollering floated over the bubbling reservoir.

  Two hovercrafts sat close to vat number eleven. Each of their bodies were constructed of a single, circular frame that housed the seating area, and a long, straight tale making the ships appear like strange, white dragonflies.

  Kiera climbed into one while Bragnia climbed into the other.

  Kiln followed Bragnia in.

  “Do you know how to fly one of these?” he asked.

  “I’m not an idiot, Kiln. I’ve been flying hovercrafts since I was twelve.”

  Kiln held up his hands. “Fair enough. Just go once around vat twelve and back.”

  She smoothed her red hair back into a ponytail, her eyes focused on the vat. “I’ll be fine. I don’t need help
from a slave.”

  Kiln frowned. “Fair enough.” He climbed down from the hovercraft, and took his place next to Nadira.

  “What did she say?” Nadira asked.

  “She said that she doesn’t need help,” Kiln replied.

  “Foolish.”

  “I have a bad feeling about this.”

  “Don’t be such a worrier.” Nadira hit him playfully on his bicep. She admired his strong profile, his well-muscled build. “Would you go with me?” she asked.

  “Where?”

  “To Mahala?”

  Kiln paused, turned to her. “Is that the alcohol talking?”

  “Maybe. But if it wasn’t, what would you say?”

  “I would say that we don’t have to make that decision yet.”

  “But if we did?”

  Kiln didn’t respond, his eyes turning back to Satch who had taken his place between the two hovercrafts. He held up three fingers, then two, then one. When all of his fingers disappeared, the two hovercrafts were off.

  The race was neck and neck. Then, Kiera’s ship gained speed and pulled away on the outside.

  Bragnia revved forward.

  Kiera was a ship’s length ahead as they reached the vat and headed in for the turn.

  Bragnia’s ship, flying on the inside, turned wide. Too wide. She bumped the tale of Kiera’s hovercraft, turning its nose toward the vat.

  Kiera’s ship flew forward in its new direction.

  In a panic, Bragnia stopped short, then pulled up just as Kiera’s ship raced past her, and slammed hard into the side of the vat. Kiera’s body flew out the front window and exploded in a mess of blood and gore down the scrubbed walls of the metal tank.

  Icy water sloshed over the crushed ship and its driver.

  “Kiera!” Nadira screamed, running to the ship. She reached the vat first, her stomach lurching as she took in the sight of her mangled friend.

  Kiera lay broken and bloodied atop the wreckage of her crushed ship.

  Satch pulled up short behind Nadira. He screamed. Falling to his knees, he crawled to his dead love, pulling what remained of her body into his embrace as the hovercraft glowed red, comming the Emergency Medical ships to their aid.

  Chapter 2

  Time stood still.

  Alone in a cold cell within the Enforcer station, Nadira stared at the dirty green, potholed walls, her mind replaying Kiera’s death on an endless loop. Her crushed head, her bloody clothes. Nadira’s mind reminded her of every gory detail.