The Zone Read online

  The Zone

  Barbara Karmazin

  All rights reserved.

  Copyright ©2008 Barbara Karmazin

  Warning: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.

  ISBN: 978-1-60521-039-1

  Formats Available:

  HTML, Adobe PDF,

  MobiPocket, Microsoft Reader

  Publisher:

  Changeling Press LLC

  PO Box 1046

  Martinsburg, WV 25402-1046

  www.ChangelingPress.com

  Editor: Chrissie Henderson

  Cover Artist: Bryan Keller

  This e-book file contains sexually explicit scenes and adult language which some may find offensive and which is not appropriate for a young audience. Changeling Press E-Books are for sale to adults, only, as defined by the laws of the country in which you made your purchase. Please store your files wisely, where they cannot be accessed by under-aged readers.

  The Zone

  Barbara Karmazin

  Captain Axel needs a med-tech in order to stop the authorities on Luma from grounding and impounding his spaceship. When advertisements on the local net fail to secure any prospects, he and his men search the Zone for a new crewmate.

  Pinned by the blaster fires of a drug war, Jeresa accepts the spacers’ offer of a job and the chance to escape off-planet from capture and enslavement.

  To her surprise, the offer to join the crew includes sex with the four men who’ve rescued her. Escaping the blaster flames, she has jumped into the carnal fire of erotic love. Is her heart strong enough to survive the searing sexual attentions of four randy spacers?

  Chapter One

  Night had arrived at Agape spaceport on Luma Six. Luma’s sun, listed as Chara on galactic star charts, had set a half hour ago. Two small moons drifted above the cityscape. In another hour, the third moon would rise and chase the two smaller ones across the star-studded sky.

  The flat-screen viewport in the ceiling of Jeresa’s five-meter wide eco-dome was the only thing that kept the cramped space from feeling like a prison cell. Not that it mattered much, she could barely pay for her expenses from the miniscule credits she earned from her dead-end job at the local pharmacy and first aid clinic.

  A palm-lock panel glowed beside the habitat’s only entrance. It was a crude but necessary security measure within the Zone’s slum district. Squatters roamed the cramped alleys ready to rush in and claim unlocked shelters.

  Jeresa detoured around the two bio-engineered pit bulls eating their supper. She unsealed the seam from neck to crotch of her coverall and let the faded fabric fall to the stained plast-steel floor.

  Another night in paradise. One more hour of free time before I have to go to work.

  Bending over the low, padded bed, she retrieved a cheap, mechanical vibrator from a storage drawer. The curved phallus warmed under her touch. A slight current of stale air flowed over her skin. Lying on the thin mattress, she opened her legs and slipped the vibrator along the tip of her aching clit.

  Set on low speed, the vibrator teased and lulled her into a state of almost pleasure. A gentle man, that’s all she wanted, a strong man who’d love her and treat her right. His hands would be callused, knowledgeable, tender and caring.

  She closed her eyes.

  With broad shoulders and space-browned skin, he stood beside her bed. Stubble highlighted the stark planes of his high cheekbones. An impression of dangerous strength loomed in the silent perusal of his dark, hooded gaze.

  She arched her body in an instinctive display of lush, feminine curves.

  An arrow of dark hair led past his taut stomach down to the solid column of aroused cock standing at attention at his crotch. White beads of pre-cum dripped from the bulbous head. Tight balls hung full and heavy between his strong thighs.

  “Pretty lady, I’ve been looking for you all my life.”

  The deep, rich rumble of his voice burned in her blood and bones like an uncontrollable fever. Big hands, hard and callused, engulfed her breasts, lifted the soft globes of flesh and plucked at her nipples.

  A shiver crested through her body. She stifled a moan.

  “Mine. All mine.”

  He fastened his hot mouth on her nipple and sucked with an intensity that bordered on pain. Heat arced to her crotch in delightful anticipation of carnal satisfaction. He lavished the same attention on her other breast. Moisture dripped from her sex.

  Yes! Exactly what I want.

  He released her breasts. The weight of his hard-muscled body settled between her legs. Those big hands eased over the bare, sensitive ripples of her ribs and tested the contours of her belly. “Your skin. So soft and beautiful. Like molten gold.”

  She squirmed, eager and trembling.

  His hand drifted lower. Long fingers stroked the soft, wiry curls at the apex of her thighs, parted the plump lips.

  She sucked in a breath. Her body went stiff with diamond-bright awareness. All her senses waited on the edge, centered in time and space on the assured caresses of his hands, the slow, deliberate strokes.

  He took his time. Gentle touches feathered between the plump, wet lips of her pussy. His skillful thumb rotated across the swollen bud of her clit, teasing her to the trembling cusp of ultimate satiation. Long fingers eased inside her cunt, hard and swift, opening her, prepping her for the hot, vibrant assault of his penetration.

  Her heart skipped a beat. She pressed her head against the pillow. Soft, gasping breaths escaped her parted lips. Her hips rolled up, meeting each deep stroke of his fingers. A mindless moan bubbled against the hard, tight band of her throat.

  He removed his fingers. “Look at me.”

  Bright specks of green and gold gleamed in the dark brown depths of his eyes. He braced his weight on his arms. The heat of his body scorched her skin.

  She whimpered. Creamy warm moisture bathed the empty opening of her sex.

  The fat head of his cock parted her plump pussy lips. She rolled her hips in a silent plea.

  He plunged the sweet, hard length of his cock inside. A muffled cry burst from her throat. She met each long, glorious stroke with hard, eager bucks of her body. Pushed her body against him. Rode him. Drove that wonderful cock deep into her core, while the sweet torment of climax hovered just beyond the next stroke.

  The pace quickened. Her breath roughened into a keening series of moans to guide the maddening pounding of his cock. Liquid heat exploded from the tight bud of her clit and thrummed through her pelvis in hard ripples of pleasure and release. She cried like a child. Tears tracked her cheeks.

  Gasping, she sagged against the cot, every muscle loose with satiated pleasure.

  Not bad. Too bad he isn’t real.

  She pulled the vibrator from her pussy.

  Of course, as long as she was taking the liberty of indulging her favorite fantasy, why not throw in the rest of her dreams? The dream where she won a full scholarship that paid her student loans in full. The dream where she finished medical school and her internship, aced the final board exams for full certification as a physician and tomorrow morning she’d start her new job at Agape Central Medical, the most prestigious hospital on the planet.

  She heaved a sigh, opened her fingers and dropped the vibrator on the cot.

  “Mommy sad.”

  Jeresa opened her eyes. Gem and Star sat on their haunches beside the flimsy air mattress. Bioengineered pit bulls, they tilted their heads with doggy patience. She might as well get dressed. With both dogs staring at her, she’d never be able to concentrate enough to have another orgasm.

&nbs
p; Her shift at the free medical clinic started at midnight, less than an hour from now. “Mommy’s fine. Just a little sad. I go to work soon.” She sat up, the air mattress sagging alarmingly under her weight. It had so many small leaks she had to pump it up every eight hours just to keep it from going totally flat.

  She’d cut her costs to the bare bones by moving from her cheap city apartment into a welfare ecodome with built-in microwave, food cooler, standard sonic-cleaner and sanitary cubicle. The dome had no holovid and no net link hookups for newsvids and entertainment. A bare-minimum wristband gave her access to the local library network. Last, but not least, an antique deck of playing cards provided hours of free entertainment.

  Jeresa selected faded blue pants and tunic from the storage cube. Undergarments were too expensive for her miniscule budget. She’d gotten this far through sheer stubbornness. No way was she going to quit now and become just another Zone prost with a local drug dealer as her protector and lover. She stepped into the sonic-cleaner, flipped the switch for a fifteen-second session and spun in a slow circle while the sonic waves removed accumulated dirt and oils from her body. After donning the pants and tunic, she braided the unruly mass of her hair by touch and tied the end off with a string.

  Star whined. That particular whine meant the mute dog wanted to tell her something important.

  Jeresa unlatched the sonic-cleaner’s door panel and peered out at the dogs.

  Gem opened her mouth, panted and cocked her left ear back at the dome’s sealed entry door. “Bad mens outside. We show teeth. They run away.” Her voice came out in a rough and distorted growl.

  Jeresa sucked in a quick breath. Three days in a row, strangers had crept and skulked around her neighborhood. What were they looking for? Drugs? Sex? Could they be bored rich kids high on crush-speed, ready to use sonic-whips for slap-sex and end their fun with the visceral rush of snuff-rape?

  She hunkered down on her heels and cupped Gem’s broad muzzle in her hands. “Were they the same men you chased away yesterday?”

  Star gave a vigorous shake of her head.

  Gem said, “Different mens.”

  Star waddled forward, stuck her nose in Jeresa’s crotch and took a good long sniff. Jeresa shook her head and brushed the pit bull’s wet nose aside. Doggie socialization techniques were a bit crude.

  Star plopped on her haunches, looked at Gem, whuffed, whined and barked a series of short, harsh barks.

  Gem cocked her ears at Star, then Jeresa. “Star say Mommy needs good mens. We go find good mens. Good mens help us keep Mommy happy.”

  Jeresa bit her lip.

  Oh great. My love life has sunk so low that Gem and Star are going to start a doggie dating service. They’ll probably sniff the crotch of every male in the Zone, and try and convince any male who pats them on the head to follow them home. Then all the local pimps and prosts will go berserk thinking I’m trying to horn in on their turf.

  She sank to the stained plast-steel floor and sat cross-legged. Both dogs came up and stuck their broad snouts under her hands for a thorough petting. Their tails thumped on the floor. “No. Stay with Mommy. Do not look for good mens. Come to work with Mommy. Guard Mommy.”

  Chapter Two

  Axel Dane-Niallsen, captain and pilot of Nebula, sat in the command chair on the bridge. The ends of his stumps itched. He rubbed his hands over his legs and massaged the tight muscles bunched around the links to the control chips in his prosthetic legs. Not much else he could do about that. A decent med-tech could take care of that minor glitch in the programming with his or her eyes closed.

  Except their med-tech had walked off during their first hour in port for a higher paying position with guaranteed retirement benefits on one of the corporate freighters. Technically, the corporate freighters operated under the guise of sanctioned businesses but their practices amounted to blatant piracy. Nebula was too small to be a pirate. Her weapons’ capabilities were a joke.

  Speed and maneuverability were their only advantages. If they didn’t have a med-tech on their roster by tomorrow morning, the dock master would lock down their ship and refuse to let them leave. Every day they sat in port increased the total amount they owed for dock charges. Charges that would eat away at their profit margin and eventually allow the city of Agape to impound Nebula for the auction block, or worse yet, resell it to a dump as recycled scrap metal.

  The holds were full of cargo, handcrafted artwork, gemstones and alien plant and animal DNA samples for research and zoology labs. They’d topped their fuel tanks off yesterday and their ship engineer, Derek Jacob-Niallsen, had completed all necessary upgrades and repairs.

  Axel checked the local net grid one last time and found no response whatsoever to the ad with his generous offer of an equal share in his ship’s profit for a med-tech. A guaranteed berth, salary and benefits from a corporate freighter were more reassuring in the long run than the minimal profit range associated with a privately owned independent freighter.

  Spacer born meant more than dirtsiders realized. Based on the complex genealogical records stored in Nebula’s databank, his crewmates all carried the Niallsen name and were his cousins by blood. All major decisions regarding the well-being of the ship must be made as a group.

  Axel sealed the bridge controls, vacated his chair and exited the bridge. Time to find his crew and see if they could come up with a better plan to find and hire a med-tech from this world.

  * * *

  The steel-clad double door slid open at his approach. Axel entered a crowded barroom. The commingled aromas of cheap alcohol, nicotine, cannabis and sweaty sex hazed the air. A live band played a loud, thumping beat for the raunchy lyrics sung by a singer whose bloodshot eyes proclaimed his drug and booze addled state of mind.

  Nude dancers copulated on tiny platforms to the roaring cheers of the drunken crowd. Men and women strutted through the room, their shipsuits opened from neck to crotch for easy access by roaming hands, mouths and/or cocks.

  He elbowed his way through the thickest mass of the crowd where he figured his crewmates would probably be celebrating in full force. And sure enough, he found them. Derek and Marcus had their pants down around their ankles. Two eager partygoers, one male and one female, were bent over a table with their naked asses tilted at the perfect angle for a good reaming.

  Derek moved forward and rammed his cock into the woman’s ass. Marcus grabbed the man’s ass and slammed into him with brutal force. The wet, slapping sound of balls against skin blended into the background music’s frenzied beat.

  Alex hardened immediately. His heart kicked into warp speed and his cock strained against his shipsuit. He tugged on the release tab. The fabric opened from neck to crotch.

  He grabbed his cock. Pre-cum dribbled from the tip. He slicked the white, sticky fluid over the glans.

  Garian moved into position beside him. “We’re next.” He pumped his erection with eager abandon. “You want the man, or the woman?”

  Alex fisted the thick barrel of his cock in the ragged rhythm of raw fucking. His crew had captured the essence of a night out in the Zone in explicit detail for their session in their ship’s holodeck porn theater. And now that he thought about it, a trip to Luma’s ragtag Zone of slums filled with thieves, pimps, prosts and assorted squatters living on the edge of the spaceport might be their best chance to find a med-tech. “I’ll take whatever I can get.”

  * * *

  Jeresa leaned against the foamplast reception desk and sucked in a couple of deep breaths. Hopefully, she wouldn’t have any more patients within the next five minutes. Gem and Star tilted their heads to the side and waited for her orders.

  She pointed at the foyer door. “Guard door. Allow no one out of foyer until I return to desk.”

  Gem pressed her nose against the glowing noseprint lock panel at the base. The inner door opened and both dogs raced inside. The door sealed itself behind them. A blastproof window equipped with full body medical and weapons scanning capabilities gave Je
resa a full view of the foyer’s two empty benches and the closed main entry door.

  Jeresa pushed away from the counter. She ducked into the sanitary cubicle in order to relieve the pressure of her aching bladder. Judging by the blast burn injuries and frantic pace of incoming patients at the clinic tonight, two, possibly three of the Zone’s drug lords were having a major turf war.

  No wonder she was the only clinic employee who showed up for duty. The other employees must have accessed the latest net news and decided to take emergency vacations. Maybe she should start looking for another, safer job.

  * * *

  Axel sighed. Everyone in the Zone was twitchy tonight, flinching at the slightest sound and looking over their shoulders. He and his crewmates had hit ten bars so far and hadn’t found anyone willing to sign on as their new med-tech.

  They strolled past a dirt-encrusted plast-steel wall that marked the border between old town and the Zone. A ball of lava-hot plasma splashed against the wall. Axel hunched his shoulders and dove into the nearest doorway. Derek, Marcus and Garian crowded in behind him.

  More blasts peppered the plast-steel domes, storefronts and rapidly emptying bars. Silent explosions splashed the night above the chaos of screams and running feet. The shots were aimed high, driving the crowd ahead of them. Axel dove into the running, screaming crowd with Derek, Marcus and Garian right behind him. His prosthetic legs were strong enough for him to keep running forever as long as he ignored the pain shooting up his thighs.

  A man’s body toppled to the ground a few yards ahead of them. A plasma blast had seared his head off. Cauterized. No blood spurted from the blackened neck stump.

  Axel jumped the body and kept running. They needed to get away from the crowd. A dark side alley loomed a few feet ahead. He glanced over his shoulder at his crew and jerked his head in that direction.

  They linked arms with him. Four men, tough and wiry from years in space, they formed a solid wedge of muscle, bone and titanium alloy steel and plowed their way out of the crowd into the alley. They raced to the other end and slowed to a stop behind a scraggly line of windowless ecodomes. A trio of desperate stragglers ran by with panicked and glazed eyes.