After I collared the tech I took my time to think about my situation while moving into the kitchen to get something to eat a little bit more substantial than the ‘liquid all protein’ diet the slavers had me on. The compound was actually exactly what I needed. Secure, many rooms and a big lab section. I could convert it to a street surgery relatively quickly, but I would need help. Sure, I could use androids and bots for most of the menial work. Thinking about it, I ordered a group of them. But as I had just proven, depending on your computer exclusively for security is a fool’s strategy. I would need warm bodies. And not the future slaves, aka former slavers. These I would never be able to trust.

No, I needed people who were at least somewhat trustworthy.

With that, I walked to the storage room. The intended slaves in the cage were, at first, rather listless on my entry. Until one of them saw me alone and clothed.

“Shit. Red. What the hell…” And pandemonium broke out. It was, for a few minutes, impossible to understand a single word. After the racket died down a bit, I was ready to answer.

“I told you in the van that even if I had a plan I would not tell it. Well, surprise, I did not tell you about it.”

I walked into the middle of the room.

“Now I have a proposition for you. I decided to use Frankel’s hospitality a bit longer. Especially as he and his boys will move shortly. In here, to be exact, as soon as I have them all collared. So this compound here will be my new base of operation. I will be in need of people I can trust to not slit my throat. So I offer all of you the choice of not only letting you out of the cage and removing the collar but living here and working for me. Of course, I would ensure that you won’t simply try to overpower me. Any thoughts?”

From one of the cages in the back of the room, one of the, so far un-introduced, men made his opinion known.

“I will be damned if I work for a Pure bitch. How about we simply kick her ass and keep the house for ourselves? Anyone with me?”

Wow, the brightest he was not. I chose to make the situation clear to him, and all the others.

“Ok, he is out. Not only is he unwilling, but he is an idiot on top of that. One, you are still inside the cages. So overpowering me is a bit hard to do. Two, I managed to take out the whole of the slaver gang. They were armed, and 2:1 in advantage compared to you. So the options you have are:

You can work for me, except for loudmouth over there. Obviously, I will then let you out of the cage, remove your collar, and then you can get your equipment. Or equipment from the slavers if you prefer that stuff. You can, politely, decline my offer. You will still be let out of the cage, and be decollared. You get your property and can leave. You can, like the idiot, insult me, and make it clear that, if you could, take what I have gained from me. In that case, you will be dragged out of the cage and out of the house. Have fun getting the collar removed. And I hope you get undercover before you freeze to death. Lastly, you can try to deceive me. Should I later find out about it, well then you get a brand new collar and can stay in the cage until the collar owns you.”

I turned around and looked at every cage.

“One thing you should know beforehand. These collars have a rarely used feature that Frankel had deactivated, but that I activated before coming in here. While they can’t compel you to tell the truth, they show when you lie. So do yourself a favor and be honest with me. Clear?”

A few of them nodded.

“And before you decide, one of the perks of working for me is that you can play with my new toys. Any questions?”

It took a moment before the mutant raised its hand.

“Yep. How the hell did you do that?” “I will tell that to people I trust, at least somewhat. Other questions?”

Marc Holt had surprisingly one.

“What about me? You have made it clear you can’t stand me. So will I remain in the cage or walk outside naked?”

That was a good question. For many, it would be an easy one. But I had thought about it already.

“Nope, you get the same chance as everybody else. Just one thing. If I tell you to leave me alone, get the heck out of my private sphere. Understood?”

I could see his Adam’s apple move. It had to cost him dearly to swallow his pride. But he showed that he was better than I thought by doing it.

“Yeah, I understand. And I accept your offer. As long as you don’t fuck with me, I will not fuck with you. All right?” The front plate of his collar flashed green. I would never have thought that he would be the first, but that’s life.

“Yeah, all right. Welcome on board.” I opened his cage and sent the order for his collar to disengage.

“You know where your clothes are. I haven’t found our weapons yet, but there are quite a few E-Lasers lying around. Dress, grab an EL and come back. Oh, and be careful. The security system is still in overdrive until I find the time to tune it. I can’t predict what it will interpret as threatening.”

Then I turned back into the round.

“See, so easy. Who is next?” It took longer than expected, but of the 10 remaining captives, two proved they were at the lower end of the intelligence scale by being hostile and aggressive.

They of course remained in their cages with Mr. Loudmouth.

Of the others, three, including Ernie chose to leave us with their property intact.

Marc’s friends and the remaining woman took my offer.

Then we moved the not yet collared slavers into the cages. It was quite a bit of work, but it had to be done.

As soon as that chore was behind us, we met in the mess hall. Each of them was soon busy filling their stomachs, while I looked through the inventory of the compound for our equipment.

It was not long before I found everything except the Owl. The grav ship was neither at the airport nor anywhere else in the inventory anywhere in New York.

“Ok, good news bad news time. The good news is, with one exception everything the jerks took from us is here in one of the storages. It seems they did not yet come around to examine it closer.”

With that, I stood up and got myself a soft drink.

“The bad news is for you, Ernie. The one exception is your ship. I can’t find it. Frankel had it moved somewhere else from the airport, but where to is not in the computers here. Maybe we can find out when we begin to interrogate the slavers, but I don’t have high hopes.”

It was easy to see that this information was unwelcome. Ernie first got ghostly pale, just to get burning red the next moment.

“Shit, you just want the ship for yourself. I should have known that we can’t trust a Pure bitch.”

I slowly began to get mad.

“If I had wanted your rust bucket I would not have let you out of your cage. I honestly don’t know where the slavers took it. Maybe they scrapped it.”

Ok, not the nicest thing to say, but the past few days had worn down my patience. Ernie seemed to be equally incensed.

“Sure. First, you ruin my negotiations with Frankel, and then you make it clear that there is much to get from us and then you walk around without a collar. I bet you planned it so from the beginning. Did you call Frankel? Tell him we were coming? That he could get all we have?”

“Mr. Willinger, if I could remind you, it was you who was the only one who knew Frankel before we reached New York. It was you who failed to inform us that there may be problems at arrival. It was you who had 50,000 dollar debts with a slaver. It was you who landed here without care and led us all into the trap for you. We were collateral damage. And I still let you out of the cage. I should have left you in there and showed you over the next week how Frankel liked to play with us women.”

My voice rose louder and louder, and I could feel my temper flaring. I took a few slow deliberate breaths and fought to get my calm back. And then Ernie had to go that one step too far.

“You pretend as if the playtime with Frankel was such a chore for a Pure slut like you. I bet you enjoyed every minute.”

I never fully registered how the E-Laser sprung into my hand, only that Ernie suddenly was convulsing on the ground while a scream of rage ripped from my throat.

Then I was over him, kicking and hitting. At the same time, my vision began to blur. And then nothing.