Slave Ship Pt. 04

John turned from the whiteboard and asked, "Do we have any other options or are these three it?"

John looked around the room and nobody said anything, so he called for a vote. Of the 13 council members 0 voted for option one, 2 voted for option two, 8 voted for option three and 3 abstained.

John had his vote and plan going forward. He dismissed the meeting and started thinking about his meeting with Bahati in 15 minutes. Then he was distracted as he saw Duane helping Stephanie out of the Council chamber. She was still reliving her experience with Bahati and was walking unsteadily as Duane helped her leave the room. He wondered if they may come to regret this decision.

John jotted down a few notes and left to go meet Bahati at the airlock. John arrived about five minutes early, but Bahati was already there, along with Zane his second-in-command. John held out his hand in their now familiar greeting and both responded likewise. He motioned for them to follow him and they walked through the station to the Council chamber.

When they arrived at the chamber John motioned for them to sit in the chairs and both could barely fit. John tried to be a good host and asked, "Would either of you like anything to eat or drink?"

John was now getting used to the delay as the translator spoke in their guttural language. Both had apparently picked up some gestures as they shook their head negatively. So John dived headlong into their discussions, "So how did you like the sovereign space station Venus yesterday?"

Bahati began, "We enjoyed your station greatly. We especially enjoyed your entertainment and the rest of my crew is anxious to partake."

John felt the sweat trickle down his back as he asked, "How many members of your crew are there? Also, how long are you planning on staying?"

Bahati seem to John as he said, "40 crew and six command. We are searching for new opportunities. We don't know how long that will take. When can we begin shore leave?"

John rubbed his sweaty palms on his pants before he continued, "Your skin has an unusual effect on our women and we are currently unable to grant you shore leave. However, we have an option we would like to present to you."

John saw Bahati and Zane both start to rise out of their chair when he said they could not be granted shore leave. They sat back down and he said he had an option to present. John felt sweat gathering under his arms and down his back as he continued, "We would like to hire and your crew as performers on Venus. Just like you did last night, you would be involved in the various shows on Venus and he paid for it."

Bahati and Zane both looked at each other quizzically and then began a rapid-fire discussion that the translator could not follow. Bahati finally turned to John and said, "My crew would be paid for mating with your females?"

John shook his head yes, but added, "Yes. However we have no idea what you use for currency. You could be paid in precious metals if that works. However, you could only mate with volunteers we have in the various shows. You cannot just take any woman you see."

John wasn't sure, but both Bahati and Zane seem to be grinning at the thought of being paid for something they would normally be paying for.

At this point John considered their reaction to be positive and brought in Ken, George and some of the legal staff. Since they had no idea what their written language looked like, everything was a verbal contract. The next two hours were spent grappling details of how this arrangement was going to work.

It was finally agreed that they would be paid in platinum and there would be only 10 aliens on board Venus at any one time. Once a verbal contract was agreed upon Ken left the room and began working with marketing group on the campaign to get people up to Venus to interact with the aliens.

All of Bahati's crew was anxious for shortly and they decided to begin that night with alien and human performances. John still had his doubts about this course of action but he knew he would get feedback immediately. Lisa's friend Nathalie was scheduled to perform that night and had volunteered to interact with the aliens.