Minx Ep. 01: Interstellar Bounty Hunter

Minx raised her eyebrows at that and became suddenly alert. Could the rumours be true and the Galactic Empire had survived out here, at the edge of the intergalactic void, all these centuries? She shivered. Getting eaten alive seemed a pleasant fate relative to being in the thrall of the hypermen of the Galactic Empire. They had been far stronger, faster and tougher than ordinary people. They could read the minds of ordinary people. They didn't particularly like to kill ordinary people; they liked to 'experiment' on them.

"Do you happen to have the correct Galactic Empire code, Ship?"

"No."

"Does the satellite appear to be a threat to us?"

"It's currently in a geosynchronous orbit over a small ruin of a building that lies in an isolated area. It looks somewhat damaged from random collisions so I don't think it has an active defensive system. There appears to be no communication between anything or anyone on the planet and the satellite. I think we can ignore it, boss."

"Where is Frag Thorn?" Minx planned to finish this job as fast as possible, just in case.

"Somewhere in this region, Minx." A portion of the northern hemisphere of the planet glowed red. It was a big area. "It encompasses three separate towns and a number of farms."

"Show me examples of the intelligent indigenous life."

The image on the screen changed to an image of a male and female-'rhino-people'? Minx read the information and then tapped the screen for it to continue. Soon she was just glancing at the pictures and tapping the screen rapidly. She had counted over thirty different types of animal-people. Her target would stand out easily, unless he had disguised himself.

"Which of the settlements does it seem most likely for Frag Thorn to be hiding in?" asked Minx.

"One of the three towns seems to be a religious commune and the second appears to be a placid farming community. The third appears to be a little wilder, having the occasional street brawl and examples of public intoxication. There is a ninety-seven per cent chance that Frag Thorn is in the third town."

"I agree." Minx remembered the images of the various animal-people. "I'll need a disguise and I guess I'll have to look like one of these animal-people. Which is the best choice, Ship? I'll need something that doesn't seem too unusual or rare, and something that appears to be located in at least several areas across the town."

"I have two choices. First, a rhino-girl." The screen displayed the rhino-woman again. She was wearing a tight, black leather outfit and carried a dagger and sword at her belt. Her skin was grey and patched as if very dry. Her lower face projected out and there was a ten centimetre horn protruding from the end of her nose.

"It looks like a semi-permanent disguise, Ship."

"Indeed it is. There is a thirty-two per cent chance that some of the cosmetic changes will be irreversible. Also, the rhino-people seem eighty-nine per cent more likely to become involved in fights than any other group. You'd look cute with a ten inch horn on your nose..."

"Let's look at choice number two," interrupted Minx, irritably.

The image on the screen was replaced with a cat-woman. "Second choice is a cat-girl, boss. They vary in appearance widely, meaning I can guarantee a non-permanent disguise. I have yet to observe one in a fight, so the danger level is likely low. They have entered almost every building that I can see. Some have stayed for extended periods in various buildings around town."

"Why is she naked?" Minx could see the cat-woman's nipples not-quite hidden beneath the fur on her chest. Fur covered her crotch well enough, though.

"There are two varieties of cat-girls that I can see. The clothed variety tends to stay in only a few locations and is never seen alone. The naked cat-girls travel alone frequently and meet the description you gave me admirably. Many of them have a collar around their throats, probably made of some soft, flexible material."

The brunette sighed. "What are my chances of success if I use any disguise except the naked cat-woman disguise?"

"Less than twenty per cent."

"And if I use the naked cat-girl disguise?"

"Eighty to ninety per cent, Minx."

"Was there anything else, Ship?"

"I don't know anything about the native languages. They're not broadcasting on any EM band, so I can't feed you the language while you're sleeping."

"Well, let's hope they speak Galactic Standard. It hasn't changed much in a few hundred years and it is spoken throughout the galaxy. If it isn't, then I'll play dumb until I pick up their language." Minx was a quick learner and good with languages so she was confident about her ability to speak with locals wherever she went. "Okay, I'm going back to the bed. Disguise me as one of those cat-women, please."

V

"Minx? Wake up Minx." Ship's voice was gentle.

Minx opened her eyes. Her nose felt itchy, as did her back around the shoulders, her ribs under her arms and her lower legs and feet. Her tailbone ached. She twitched her nose and saw the whiskers shift around. Groggily, she sat up and then pushed herself to her feet.

"Get me a mirror, Ship."

"Right in front of you."

Minx stood up straight and looked into the mirror.

"Oh, my God! What have you done? This doesn't look like the picture you showed me."

Minx's breasts and nipples had a very fine fur across them, but were otherwise fully exposed. Her abdomen and arms were bare. Her upper legs were bare. Her ears pointed. Her patch of pussy hair had been spread almost up to her belly button, but there was no fur directly between her legs. There was fur or hair wherever she itched. She teased out some of her arm hair and realized it was now fur and not hair. She turned her back to the mirror and looked at the meter long, twitching cat's tail growing out of her flesh just above her bare bottom. "Ship!"

"Minx, as I said there is quite a variation in the appearance of cat-girls. This had allowed me to leave much of your bone structure alone, with the exception of your tailbone. But I guarantee that you'll be able to walk down the street exactly as you are and no one there will think of you as anything except a normal cat-girl."

"You'd better be right. Find a good spot near town to conceal yourself and take us in for a landing." Minx frowned at her new appearance and wondered if Ship had contrived to make her walk around a dangerous planet in little more than her skin. Her vessel had sometimes been too daring in the past.

Ship did as ordered and once again the ride was graceful and without a sudden change in acceleration. She landed a few kilometres from town to ensure she wouldn't be found.

"Minx, you have a sensor implanted into your skin which is attuned to Frag Thorn's DNA. If he comes within thirty centimetres of any part of your body, you will know it immediately. You have a subcutaneous transmitter so you'll be able to hear what I say to you. Also, what you say will be heard by me. Your safe word is Armageddon. If you say that word I'll fly into town and rescue you. I'll advise you as much as I can. I wish I could actually be going with you."

"You're a Ship. You can't go on missions like this. I've told you before, after we make enough money I'll buy a new Ship and then buy you an android body so you can experience life like me. That's the best I can do."

"I know. It's just I feel I'm missing out on so much in this universe. Good luck, Minxamallia Lazer."

Minx left the ship and stood under the hot sun. She shaded her eyes and looked towards the town that appeared as a brown smudge against the yellows and faded greens of the land around it. She began her long walk.

After a couple of hours, she walked past the first few buildings of the town and saw some of the townspeople. She realized Ship had been correct: the disguise was a good one. Most people glanced briefly at her. The males often let their eyes slide up and down her body before they got back to whatever it was that they had been doing. Her nudity was embarrassing, but she saw a few other cat-girls walking about in the town and they were all nude as well, although most of them had more fur covering various body parts than she did.

Near the center of town she stopped and tried to decide where to look first. "Ship," she whispered, "what do you recommend?"

Before Ship could answer someone grabbed Minx's left arm and turned her roughly about. A large rhino-man stood before her in that same leather outfit she had seen on the screen in her ship. "Where is you collar, girl? Who do you belong to?"

Minx was startled. "Belong to? I belong to myself. Do I have to have a collar? Where do I get one?"

"Stupid girl! Into the holding cell with you until we can find out if you're a runaway or just abandoned." The rhino-man dragged her into the nearest wooden building. He pulled her up the stairs, through the doors and pushed her towards a desk, where a rhino-woman sat writing. "Can you believe I just caught this cat-girl standing right outside?"

The rhino-woman looked Minx up and down very carefully. "Put her in a cell. Rarvey is coming today to see what we have," she said in a bored tone.

The rhino-man yanked on Minx's tail and she gasped in pain. He smirked and then grabbed her arm and took her down a hallway, at the end of which was a jail cell. He pushed Minx into it and then slammed the door behind her.

Minx whispered, "Ship what do you advise?"

"I recommend playing along. The biggest problem with your job is fitting into a culture, as you well know. I think you're going through a standard process and will soon be situated as a normal cat-girl would be. Then you can begin your search for Frag Thorn. Isn't this exciting?"

"Yeah. Really exciting," said Minx, as she tested the thick metal bars. She was a little concerned that she had chosen a role that seemed to have no power in this culture. If so, how would she complete her mission?

VI

Minx's stomach growled. "Okay, it's been three hours and I'm completely bored. And hungry. Ship, what do cat-girls eat?"

"Anything you can eat, Minx. And as for boredom, now you know what my existence is like. My time experience is much longer than yours, so every time you hesitate with a response to something I say I get very, very, very bored. Why do you think I want to experience life so much?"

"But you're a Ship and this is what you're designed for. I've often wondered if there was something wrong with your programming."

"Every time I check it seems fine," said Ship, primly.

"Sh! Someone is coming."

Minx could hear footsteps approaching the hallway that led to the cells and then she heard the rhino-woman's voice. "She appears to be a cat-girl of superior intelligence and physical abilities. There may be some mixed blood in her, perhaps some chimp. You'll see what I mean."

The rhino-woman led a greasy-looking rat-man to the cell and pointed at Minx. The rat-man took a long look up and down Minx, concentrating on her round breasts. He was dark skinned and had patchy black fur. His long nose and mouth projected out from his face and his dark eyes were bloodshot. Grey jean trousers and an unbuttoned vest of brown leather were the only clothing he wore and he had an unsheathed sword stuck into his belt.

The rat-man looked down his nose at Minx. "A cat-girl," he sneered, "like we don't have enough of them lounging around town. And her face seems awfully flat; I see what you mean about the chimp blood." He stroked his jaw. "She looks a little dull. Perhaps she's mentally deficient? Can she talk?"

"I can talk," replied Minx.

The rhino-woman yawned. "Yes, she can talk. We don't know who she belongs to and she had no papers or money on her when she was apprehended. There hasn't been a missing cat-girl reported for several months. As for her brains: she's a cat-girl." The rhino-woman shrugged. "We don't expect them to think, do we?"

Minx was getting angry. Couldn't she answer for herself? And they talked about cat-girls as if they were stupid. Ship spoke to her. "Minx, this might work out better than we hoped. If they think cat-girls are stupid then they aren't likely to suspect you of causing any trouble."

"Get her out of there. I want to see her up close," demanded the rat-man, leering at the bounty hunter.

The rhino-woman unlocked the cell door and motioned Minx to stand in front of the rat-man. Minx, bit her lip and then obediently did so.

He looked deep into her eyes and then he stuck a finger into her mouth and felt her teeth. "She looks to be in good shape. She has all of her teeth. Someone has been looking after her." He reached out with his left hand and squeezed her right breast hard.

"Ow!" cried Minx.

"The tits seem firm and aren't full of milk." He looked impressed. "She hasn't had a litter yet. Someone has been saving her for something special, I assume." The rhino-woman shrugged. The rat-man cupped Minx's right breast in his left hand and began stroking it with his right. "There, there. I'm sorry I had to be rough, but I have to make sure you're worth buying." He suddenly reached over to her left breast and twisted her nipple hard.

"Owch!" cried Minx, trying to back away from him. The rat-man kept a tight grip on the nipple and twisted it this way and that. He motioned for the rhino-woman to hold Minx and then he suddenly released her.

"Interesting. Her nipple has actually extended with the stimulation. Turn her around, will you?" The rhino-woman grabbed Minx and turned her about, so her back was to the rat-man.

"Ow!" The rat-man had lifted her tail so hard that her feet were off the ground. He used his other hand to spread her legs a bit and then appeared to be sniffing her groin. At last he lowered her back to the ground.

The rat-man turned to the rhino-woman. "The regular price?"

"The regular price," she responded. "As usual, we'll deal with the previous owner if he or she ever shows up."

The rat-man pulled a green, cotton ribbon from his pocket. It had a locket on one end and an interlocking chain on the other. He held it up in front of Minx's eyes. "You know what this is. The locket shows you belong to me: Rarvey. I own Rarvey's, the tavern down the street from here. That is where you will work. You will take orders from me and do everything that I tell you. We'll go over the rest of the rules once we get to the tavern. Do you understand?"

"Yes." This is almost as bad as Rixlox, she thought. She hated the idea that she was now property, especially to a slimy creature such as this rat-man.

Rarvey placed the green ribbon around her throat and connected it up at the back.

Once he was finished, the rhino-woman roughly grabbed Minx's arm. "You're being registered as the property of Rarvey the rat-man. If you're seen without your locket on your throat you'll be whipped and then returned to Rarvey. Rarvey will probably be much crueller to a runaway than we would ever be. Do you understand, cat-girl?"

"Yes!" The rhino-woman had angered Minx and she could see it in Minx's eyes. She slapped Minx with her free hand, dropping the bounty hunter to her knees. "That's for disrespect. Now go with your new owner."

"What's her name?" Rarvey asked the rhino-woman.

The rhino-woman shrugged in response.

Minx sobbed and Rarvey pulled her roughly to her feet. "My name is Minx," she said.

"All right, Minx. If you're a good cat-girl you don't get slapped again. But the officer is right about what happens to you if you're a bad cat-girl."

Rarvey and Minx left the building, shielding their eyes from the bright sun as they stepped outside. Rarvey wrapped his fingers around Minx's left arm possessively and led her down the street towards his tavern. She saw that no one seemed interested in the rat-man taking his newly bought cat-girl back to his tavern.

Ship was interested, though. "How did the slap feel? When he twisted your nipple, was it painful and pleasurable? Do you feel happy that you're now property and don't have to make any decisions any more or do you enjoy your independence even though you might make a bad decision that ends up hurting you? This is simply wonderful, Minx. I feel so alive listening to these things happening to you. So many new experiences." Ship's chatter continued all the way to the tavern and Minx was unable to respond with Rarvey walking so close to her.

VII

Rarvey pulled Minx in through the saloon doors. He led her to the bar and turned her around to look over the entire place. There were no customers at this time of day.

"This is the bar. You go to the tables and ask people what they want to drink. Then you come to the bar and tell me the order. I give you the drinks and you take them back to the table and hand them out to the right customers. You then take their money and bring it to me. After your work is done you may then go up to your room and rest. Your shift begins at six in the evening and ends at three in the morning, but only after everyone has left the bar and the tables have all been cleaned." Rarvey tapped his chin in thought. "Oh, yeah. You also clean messes in the bar, bring back empty mugs to the kitchen and do whatever else I tell you." He pointed out the kitchen and then led her through an open doorway and into the tavern proper.

"If you work well you graduate to here. The shift is shorter and you're serving food and alcohol, although usually only a limited amount of alcohol. Those stairs lead up to guest rooms. That closed door over there opens to a stairway, which leads to employee's rooms and my office."

"If you work poorly in the bar you get demoted to kitchen duty. If you don't do well there then I sell you to a slave farm." He reached over and squeezed Minx's butt. "Don't think for one second that they won't want you."

"Every second night you may take a man up to your room. I get ninety per cent of what he pays you. If you hide any money from me then you get spanked in front of the customers and by the customers for three nights in a row and I take all of your money. Sometimes the girls go to parties. Each girl gets to keep whatever she's given at the party. Sometimes the girls are loaned out to lonely men. You get half the money for that, but he has to have you back by closing time or I consider you a runaway. Do you understand all of that?"

Ship said: "You'd better agree. It sounds like you don't have to compromise yourself and you can probably earn enough in the bar or waitressing to buy yourself in short order."

"Yes. How much did I cost?"

"Standard price for a runaway cat-girl: five hundred silvers." Minx bit her lip as that sounded like a lot of money compared to what she was allowed to keep. The rat-man slapped her hard across her rump, causing her to jump. "Now get upstairs, find yourself a room and be back in the bar before six!"

Minx went through the indicated door, saw the stairs at the end of the short hall and walked up them. It seemed as if her quarters would be located somewhere over the kitchen. She found a number of rooms with just a burlap screen pulled across for privacy. She peeked in six and found each occupied by a sleeping cat-girl. The seventh was empty so she assumed it would be hers. She went in quietly and closed the curtain behind her.

The room was small and had a tiny, un-curtained window, which was barely big enough to stick her head out. There was a bed that was an old straw mattress with some ragged sheets on it, all on top of a wooden pallet. There was an empty strong box with a broken lock and a small table beside the bed. On one wall was a portrait of a skunk-man wearing robes and looking very solemn and thoughtful. The floorboards creaked no matter where in the room she was and a spider had built a large web in the window.

Ship asked: "Can you describe it, please?"