Thess
"Laura" a distant voice called, "Laura, wake up. We're there."
Laura stirred sluggishly. She was curled up on her side in a soft bed of some sort. The coat of ooze from the Conversion Tank was gone. She was wearing what felt like a t-shirt but nothing akin to pants on her feline body, and her hair was damp. "Laura!" She opened her eyes. Alex was standing over her. "We've arrived at headquarters. They're coming to take you to market." He held up a silver-colored collar.
Something flashed deep in Laura's subconscious. She knew that all new slaves were taken to market before being sent to the work camps. It was her chance--for many slaves, the only chance--at becoming a Quara. It was still close to the bottom of Radinri society, but it was an escape from slavery. Otherwise...the vision faded, but she didn't need to know exactly what happened to unmarketable slaves, she knew to avoid such a fate.
"If you come quietly," Alex continued, "I won't have to use this," he said indicating the collar. Laura got up slowly, and Alex led her out of the ship, into the ruined cityscape. A pair of Radinri were waiting for them at the bottom of the ramp, armed with laser rifles. One of the guards moved toward Alex and whispered to him nervously. After a brief, hushed conversation, Alex departed back to the ship, and the two guards led Laura onward.
As they walked through the city's wrecked streets, Laura felt curiously numb. Like all the bizarre changes she had experienced hadn't impacted her emotionally. Maybe it was a side effect of the Conversion. Maybe she was a ticking time bomb.
They arrived at the backdoor of a warehouse and went inside. "Wait here," a guard instructed Laura "When it's your turn, you'll be appraised, then sent to the show room." The two guards left and locked the door behind them, and Laura looked around. They were in a small back room of the warehouse, which was filled with other Thess. They were all wearing gray shirts, like Laura, and all appeared to be young and able-bodied. Of course, it was rare for anyone who wasn't able-bodied to have survived the invasion at all. Most of them were sitting or standing in silence, though a few wept softly. Perhaps it was the lighting, but their coloring seemed to be uniformly dull brown or gray.
Laura walked into the room and sat down on the floor (she wasn't sure that Radinri even had an equivalent for chairs, considering their physiology). The door to the outside opened, and a pair of guards ushered another new Convert in. This was a teenage girl with light gray fur. It began to dawn on Laura that her black and white fur, with the unnatural marble pattern, must be unusual for a slave. Perhaps, she thought, that was why Rysthin Ka'Ar was so furious when he saw her. A few minutes later, another door, this one leading deeper into the warehouse, opened. A guard called one of the other Thess.
Laura lost track of how long she waited. Every now and then one of them would be called to leave. No new Converts came from outside. Laura had no idea whether or not that was normal. Some part of her that remembered being human was glad that no more humans were joining the ranks of the conquerors. On the other hand--or paw--the humans who didn't join the Radinri were probably killed. Eventually, Laura was called.
They took Laura to another room of the warehouse. Two Radinri were waiting for her there. One looked her over briefly and entered something into a wall-mounted computer. The other was wearing an elegant black tunic with a belt designed for holding money. Laura recognized him as a contract salesman. "Thess Laura," the salesman said, "I'm legally required to inform you that it is, technically, up to you who gets your contract." Laura's lesson in Radinri history resurfaced. Thess were slaves, and could be bought and sold. However, each Thess had a standard price, and auctions were impractical given the large numbers of Thess. So in order to one-up each other, rich Radinri had started offering wage-earning contracts to potential purchases. This caused legal awkwardness, since slaves could not technically enter into contracts, but making the slaves into free citizens would give them too much power. So a new caste was created, the Quara, between slave and citizen. Soon, so many wealthy buyers were offering wages, that a buyer who didn't offer a position as a Quara had no hope of making a purchase. Essentially, the slave trade had become economically impossible for everyone except the government, so private citizens created a servant market. If Laura was bought, the government would get the asking price for her, and she would get whatever additional compensation her new owner offered to her.
The salesman Radinri snapped a silver collar around Laura's neck. Although there was no physical connection between the salesman and the collar, Laura felt herself being pulled inexorably after him as they left the room. They entered the main floor of the warehouse, where other salesman with other Thess peddled their Convert contracts. Wealthy Rysthin in their elegant dress armor scrutinized the formerly-human wares. Laura shuddered briefly at the idea of being offered for sale, but she reminded herself that she was essentially interviewing for a job. The alternative was slavery. She straightened the human part of her back and did her best to look appealing, though she realized that she had no idea what appealing was to these aliens. She knew she had until the end of the day to get a job. The pressure was on.
Written by Zodiac on 27 December 2008
