The Escape

"You can't fix it, we need to go!" Harris yelled.

"I can fix it!" I yelled back, trying to shinny under the bulkhead to get to the power core from the back side.

"You can't! We have to go! Almost everyone else is already gone, it's a lost cause, please! I am going, Cass! Come with me now, before it's too late!"

"I can fix it!" I yelled back, stretching. I was still a foot short and I couldn't wedge myself any closer. "Shit! I can't fix it," I breathed, then began wriggling out. I was terrified at how long it was taking, how much longer I had to reach an escape pod. I jumped up, barely clearing the rail with my head and swiped the display to see if there were any pods left and where. There, three of them, not far away. I sprinted full tilt, knowing I was one of the last people on the ship, if not the last besides Harris. Harris would take one, there should be at least one left for me. I rounded the corridor and shot into the loading dock bay where the last three pods were. I watched as one ejected, and I knew it was Harris.

"Hey!"

I skidded to a halt on my way to the closest pod and turned to the voice.

The prisoner.

He was still strapped to one of the bulkheads. The ship wasn't built to transport people and especially not prisoners, but the bounty hunter had just strapped him to a bulkhead. And left him there when he escaped apparently.

"Hey, let me go! There are two pods left, don't leave me here to die!"

"You are a murderer! Wanted on seventeen planets!"

"I have told you people, I am not him! I haven't even been ID'ed and tried yet, come on! You can't condemn me to death! You have the tools to free me right there on your belt! I swear to you I will get on that pod and you will never see me again. You will be safe. Don't let me die like this, tied like an animal for slaughter!"

I hesitated, looking at him. He looked desperate, but not harmless at all. He was huge, his muscles bulging in his black tank top as he strained against his restraints. He was tall as well, a giant of a man. I was small for a girl which was why I was the engineer rat. He could snap me in half. I licked my lips, looked back at the two pods, but I knew I couldn't leave a man to die.

"You swear you won't kill me?"

"You have my word, you will not die by my deed or action."

I cut his bonds on his hands, and was halfway through his feet when a security officer came skidding around the corner.

The prisoner yanked free and stood, just as the officer pulled his gun and pointed it at both of us. "Stay right there!" he yelled, backing to a pod quickly. He got in and only moved the gun when the door shut.

The prisoner shot forward and jammed the door, then flipped the fuel switches on the pod as I ran to the other pod. He caught my arm and held me as he entered something on the panel. He let me go with a small shove and got in the other pod. I had a moment of panic. I was going to die, burn up in the ship. There were maybe seconds left. He sat down, then motioned to me.

"It isn't built for two and you are huge! We won't make it!"

"Now! Or I am leaving you behind!"

I jumped in and he yanked me against him as he strapped us both in and started the eject sequence.

"What did you do to Lakewood?" I asked fearfully, thinking about the security officer.

"No one points a gun at me and lives."

"I thought you said you weren't him?"

"I lied. Be quiet and hold on."

"We won't have enough fuel!"

"I topped ours off with his and jettisoned the rest. Brace!"

I braced as we ejected from the ship and he did an immediate short thrust course correction, turning us away. He looked back and maneuvered up slightly, but he wasn't going anywhere!

"We are too close! We need to go, it's going to blow any second!"

"That's the hope. We are going to ride it."

"Are you out of your mind?"

"You want us to make it to that planet or not? Shut up and be still. I need to keep us right here where we are, behind this magnetic seal."

"The pulse shockwave. It will hit us before the debris!"

"Exactly. Hush. We..."

The pulse hit hard and he wrapped his massive arms around me tight, not that I could move at all as we propelled into space. I was having trouble breathing, getting light headed before we finally slowed enough that I could get my bearings.

He let me go and yanked the tight restraints off, sitting up and shoving me off his lap to the tiny floor space between his legs.

"You will stay there and be quiet," he demanded. "I owed you a life and I will pay it, but that doesn't mean I owe you more. What is this planet we are being sent to?"

"Class M, closest one the navcomputers found when the core began meltdown. It was a mining planet, but it was abandoned a century ago."

"Your parents just left you behind?"

"What?"

"Your parents. Where are they?"

"Umm. Bardoo, I guess? I... I am twenty two."

"The fuck you are. What do you do?"

"I am an engineer?"

"This shit your fault?"

"No, I wasn't on shift. I tried to get to it to fix it, but I couldn't get close enough, even from the back way."

"No one can fit in that way, not even close."

"I could have if I'd had an extender. I didn't have time to get one."

"That is why they wanted you. You can fit in tight spaces, do things that should be impossible. Are you really twenty two?"

"Yes."

"When we land, you are going to keep your mouth shut about me escaping, do you hear? I will put us down away from the group and you will go to them. Say you came alone."

"Ok."

"I mean it."

"I got it. You realize though, that once the beacon reaches another ship and we are rescued, you will be stuck there alone?"

"I am fine with that. Class M planet, I will be fine. Just forget you ever met me once we land. Got it?"

"Yeah. Do you have a name?"

"You don't need to know it."

"I'm Cass."

"Don't care. Try and get some sleep, it's a three day trip."

"Did you really leave Lakewood to die?"

"I told you, no one points a gun at me and lives. Be quiet. I am taking a nap."

I went still, watching him lay back with his eyes closed. I was too cramped and uncomfortable to sleep, my head hunched down under the com-panel. I was squished in, between his calves, the panel above me forcing my head between my knees, the seat and the floor. I started feeling like I couldn't even breathe!

Finally, I eased myself out, using a harness to hold on to and stretched before sitting on his leg and leaning back on the side. He opened a single scowling eye, then closed it again. I stayed still, watching the distant stars slip by.

I have no idea how long I sat there, my feet up on the other wall. Before I realized I was even sleepy, I was jerking awake. I had tilted against him, my head on his massive chest. I sat up quickly, shivering.

"It's freezing!"

"Turned the heat off to save fuel. If you have to be up here then you will have body heat."

"Aren't you cold?"

"I am not as weak as you are. Stop moving so much."

"My hip is asleep."

"Then let it sleep."

I sighed, but carefully and slowly moved to his other leg so my hip would stop hurting. He moved his arm, reaching up to hold one of the cross bars, making room for me to lay against him again. Did he expect me to just cuddle him like he wasn't a murderer? Actually, I guessed he didn't think about it like that at all. He expected to share body heat. I was freezing, so I leaned in, turning myself and bringing my arms in because he was warm. He let go of the bar and draped his giant arm over me. If it wasn't so warm, I would have complained. Instead, I fell back to sleep almost immediately.

I jerked awake again, curled into a ball against him and he was holding me. I could see my breath!

"You talk in your sleep." he stated.

"Yeah. Sorry."

"Who is Lenny?"

"Winnie. She was my sister. She had..."

"I don't really care."

"Do you have any brothers or sisters?"

"Not your concern."

"Where are you from?"

"None of your business."

"How old are you?"

"When are you going to get the point?"

"Well what else am I supposed to do?"

"Would you be talking so much if you were in here alone? No. Pretend you are alone."

"I would have heat if I were alone and a WHOLE lot more room."

"Keep complaining and you will go back to the floor."

I sighed and huddled in tighter, trying not to shiver too hard. "Just a little heat? So we don't freeze?"

"It is on, keeping it from freezing us to death. We can survive this temperature just fine."

"Ugh. I need to stretch my legs."

"You move too much."

"How do you stay still so long?"

"Spoken by someone who has never been tied down in the same position for a week. For nine days, like I was on your freighter, for example."

"They didn't let you move from there? They just kept you tied there like that?"

"What do you think? They weren't thinking much about my comfort. I have more self discipline than you do."

"Or you are a masochist."

"Keep talking. I bet that space down there on the floor is warmer."

I grumbled as I put my feet on the floor and held onto the bars above the com-panel. I stretched and twisted, arched my back and just moved as much as I could in the small space. I sat back down, my body feeling less tight now. I let out a deep sigh and let myself lay back against him, no longer really caring about his complaints. There was no room and I was pretty sure he wasn't nearly as nasty and mean as he was pretending to be. He didn't complain or move, just sat as I made myself comfortable. I even moved his arm so I could lay back on it as I tucked in to fall asleep, pressed up against him, curled up on his lap. He closed his arms once I got situated and trapped in the warmth, using me to make himself warm as well.

I drifted off thinking that his arms were warm and comfortable and actually kind of nice.

His hand moved, sliding up my ribs, cupping my breast and my breath caught as pleasure rode through me. I slid my hand up his bare chest and his hand explored my bare breasts, caressing and twisting my nipples. He lifted me higher, his mouth finding mine and I moaned into his mouth as he kissed me. His hands went to my bare hips as he moved me, grinding me over his cock, hard and ready. I was wet, ready for him and I wanted him. He pushed me forward, bending me over the com-panel and slid his cock along my slit, teasing me with it. I moaned again, wanting to slide back onto it, but he held me firm as he continued to torture me with need, sliding his cock over my clit again and again.

I jerked awake with a gasp as he chuckled darkly, his hand between my legs over my pants. "You are putting out heat like a furnace. Good dreams?"

"Don't!" I cried, shoving his hand back and sitting up.

He laughed again as I sat there panting, horrified at the dream I'd been having and the fact that he knew what sort of dream I had been having.

He pulled me back against his chest, his hand moving back down between my legs. "How close are you?" he asked as I tried to twist away. "Be still," he whispered, his hand deftly undoing my pants before sliding his hand in. He chuckled again as his fingers met with slick need.

"Stop!" I begged as he rolled his fingers over my clit, but I stopped struggling as my need rose again, already so close!

"Spread your legs wider," he whispered.

I shook my head, but let him work his hand further in, spreading my legs.

"That's it," he whispered, working his fingers faster.

My back arched, so close as I whimpered.

When the arm he was holding me against him with slid back and he cupped my breast, it sent me over the edge and I screamed when I came, my body going tight and rigid all over as the orgasm hit me. I bucked with each wave, crying out a long wail of pleasure. It finally abated and I relaxed a little at a time, panting as I came down.

He chuckled again as he slid his hand out, then pulled his hand up, licking his fingers with a smirk down at me. I felt my face turn red as I fastened my pants and sat up, embarrassed.

He laid back and shut his eyes, still smirking.

I had no idea what to do now. My body was sated and tired but my mind was racing. Was I just supposed to lay back down and go to sleep? Pretend that never happened? What else could I do? I moved carefully, curling back up to get warm again now that the adrenaline was fading and I was getting cold again. His arms closed around me again, like he hadn't just done that. I hid my face, trying not to think about it.

I woke again when my stomach growled loudly. I looked up and he was watching out the window. I shifted, sitting up and switching sides, looking hard out the window and not at him. He said nothing, as quiet as he had been before. I was fine with pretending it had never happened.

"Did you really kill all those people?"

"They tried to kill me first, the first six. I stopped letting people point guns at me at all. It would have been called self defense if they weren't lawmen. Didn't matter that they were dirty. The bounty hunters who come after me have it coming if they think a payday is worth a man's life and they point a gun at me."

"How did the bounty hunter on board catch you?"

"He didn't, not really. He heard a rumor on where I was, where I might have been, then poisoned the water supply. Put the whole station to sleep. I got wind of it and went to that station to... check on someone. He had them. We were supposed to meet, trade me for... them. Something happened, the air filtration shut down. It was a fluke, skipped maintenance. Too much carbon dioxide in the bay where I was waiting and I was found, almost dead. He killed the man who found me and had chained me up, then loaded me on the first freighter out before anyone found the man he killed. I am guessing that will be laid at my feet too."

"What about the girl?"

"I said nothing about a girl."

"The person you were checking on."

"He said he killed them, which makes him a dead man. He was already a dead man, but now he will suffer on top of it."

"Was it a girl?"

"Not your concern."

"Did you love her?"

"She was all I had in the world to care about."

"I'm sorry."

"She was getting old anyway, she couldn't travel anymore. I left her with a man who promised to take care of her. I paid him enough to take care of her for the rest of her short life."

"Like... your grandmother?"

"She was a dog."

"Oh. I'm sorry," I said, confused. He had a dog? A dog he cared about enough to walk into an obvious trap? That seemed... out of character. Didn't it? He had saved my life after promising I would live. He had kept me warm enough and not complained too much. He had... made me come and said nothing about it after, and not expected anything in return. Maybe he was nice enough that a dog could love him and he could love a dog. "I've seen dogs before and heard a lot about them. Are they really as smart as people say?"

"Sometimes."

"Was yours?"

"Yes."

"What was her name?"

"Maya, after the station I found her on."

"I've been there. How old are you?"

"You already asked me that, why so concerned?"

"Because I can't put an age to you. Usually I can. Part of you looks late twenties, part of you looks late thirties. Your eyes seem old, like they have seen a lot."

"Because they have."

"What's your name?"

"You already asked me that, too."

"What should I call you?"

"Don't. Like I said, forget I exist. I died on that freighter."

"So you get a new name. What new name do you want?"

"I don't. I intend to live alone on the planet we are landing on."

"Forever? Won't you get lonely?"

"No. People aren't worth it."

"Not everyone is bad."

"Everyone has it in them to be horrible. Everyone."

"Some people are good though, I have met good people."

"A face they put on."

"You can't know that. I refuse to believe there are no good people in the universe."

"Then you are in for a lot of disappointment. You need to be quiet, you talk too much."

I turned and looked back out the window, thinking about what he had said. I leaned up on the com panel and put my chin on my arms, looking up at the stars passing and wondering how long until we would be rescued from the planet. And how long until we reached the planet? I sighed then froze as his fingers moved over my bare back. My shirt must have pulled up and exposed a swatch of skin above my pants. I started to sit up, but he planted a hand in the small of my back, holding me down.

I felt panic rising up as he pushed my shirt higher and took hold of my hips with both hands, his thumbs in the dimples on my back.

"Stand," he commanded.

My breathing was rapid as I stood awkwardly, and he pushed me forward to bend over the panel again. He reached around and undid my pants and I whimpered when he jerked them down to my thighs.

"Please..."

"Shut up," he demanded and I could feel him moving, undoing his own pants. I squeezed my eyes shut, terrified.

I jumped when I felt his hand on my hip again, his hand sliding over my back and down to cup my ass. From the movements of his body, I knew he was stroking himself. Getting himself hard and ready? He squeezed my ass cheek gently, then slid his hand back up to my hip, rubbing his thumb on the small of my back. I could hear his breathing become more ragged and I realized he was jerking off. He was just looking, touching lightly and not hurting me or raping me. I was trembling in relief, but still embarrassed as his hand gripped my thigh. I needed to speed this along, get it over with. I arched my back, moving slightly closer to him and putting my ass higher in the air. He had gotten me off, I could pose a little for him.

"Turn around," he demanded breathlessly. "Lose the shirt. Hold the bars."

I turned, pulling my shirt off as I shivered and looked up at the bars as I held them, not wanting to look down at him. His hand played up my ribs, then caressed my breast before rolling my nipple between his thumb and forefinger. He trailed it down my belly and into the smooth mound where my pussy began. I pulled back, my ass on the com-panel, but he used my pants to yank me close again. I looked down, alarmed and he was still stroking his thick cock, his hand going back to my hip and pulling my hips closer. An inch from his pumping fist.

"Knees," he grated. "Now."

I went down to my knees, my heart hammering in my chest as he grabbed a fistful of my hair and yanked my face against his cock.

"Mouth open," he panted.

I shook my head, horrified, but he yanked my head hard and I opened my mouth with a whimper just before he shoved the head into my mouth. He came immediately, shooting into my throat as he pulled my head down on his cock and I squealed and gagged on it.

"Swallow!" he raged.

I swallowed, terror filling me. He groaned as I closed my lips around him and swallowed every shot, though I felt like throwing up. He finally let my hair go and laid his head back. I pulled back, panting and trembling as I snatched my shirt up and pulled it on. I stood to pull my pants up and he fastened his own. I turned, still standing awkwardly and wiped the tears from my eyes.

"Asshole!" I managed, still shivering.

He chuckled. "Pure protein. Your stomach has been growling for six hours and you are complaining?"

"I am supposed to believe that was for my benefit?" I asked incredulously.

"You benefited from it, even if it wasn't just for you. Quit complaining, you enjoyed giving me a show. I could see how wet you were."

"I was trying to speed things along!"

"Tell yourself what you need to. Bet you are still wet. Should I check?"

"Don't touch me!"

He laughed again and closed his eyes, laying his head back.

I stood there as long as I could, hunched over and awkward before finally leaning gingerly on his knee, shivering from head to toe.