Huh. Did they have bad experiences getting hired to work on the components of interstellar spacecraft? Who in hell would trust them to do that?
"What does the average customer want?" I asked.
"You get what you want," the chimpy guy replied, waving his arms toward the gathered girls. They must be the workers lined up waiting for work like illegal immigrants at Home Depot. "Some human want to watch them clean. They like seeing body. Then Peggy girls show you stuff. They touch your stuff. You touch their stuff, just not rough. You have good time and send them back before you go. Price is by the day or the hour. How many girls you want? Discount for three or more."
While I was listening to the sales pitch Portia had walked a few steps to the left to engage in conversation with the help.
"Do you select your attire?" Portia asked the girls. Perhaps she was jealous. She was not permitted to select her own. Lin and Nancy picked out her clothes specifically to make her less alluring.
They shook their head and pointed to the man behind the counter.
"Do you like wearing these clothes?"
Just blank stares then, like they were trying not to show their fear in answering the question.
"Do you enjoy working for this company?" my android continued her questioning.
"Stop!" the Peggy man yelled. "Tell your servant to not ask girls questions. Look, touch, do not steal!"
"Steal?" Portia asked.
"He thinks that you are planning to offer his employees a better work environment," I explained. "From the look of them it shouldn't be too difficult to lure them away from this business."
"Girls like the work!" the chimp pimp was getting angry. "They feed families. You pay for girls now or you leave. No more questions."
Two gorillas then stepped into the room from the back, walking through leafy vines that served like beads in some homes back on Earth. They were possibly the same species but another race. Not as big as me, but huge for a Peggy. They were only wearing shorts. Sculpted muscles were clearly visible on their chests and arms.
I had my rifle over my shoulder. When I carefully placed one hand on the end of the butt stock, Portia took it as a sign. Surprisingly fast she stepped between me and the newcomers. When one reached forward with his long ape arm for her shoulder, she extended her arm swiftly with a quick step forward. Her palm struck the Pegillian bodybuilder in the chest and sent him promptly on his ass. I could feel ice water pumping through my bloodstream as the confrontation turned physical.
"What you do!" the guy behind the counter screamed. "You go now! No help here for you!"
"We're going," I told him, gesturing for Portia to join me. She turned her back on her opponent, which is not something that I would have done. Backpedaling toward the door I saw both goons leap for my android. I didn't even get a word out before Portia turned around to face them again.
She swung her arm as she pivoted, striking one gorilla in the shoulder in such a way as to send him into a cartwheel toward the other. Goon number two didn't have time to dodge and got tangled up in the snowball effect of black fur. Ice froze my core as the scene played out before me.
"Stop!" mister chimpy yelled. This time to his employees.
We left the building quickly and I watched over my shoulder for pursuit. No one followed us out the door. When Portia grabbed my forearm firmly, I came to an abrupt stop just before I could plow into a small Peggy female.
"Help, please," she begged. "It is my first day. I don't want to work here. Will you hire me?"
"What? No, I can't," I answered. It was one of the small breasted topless girls from inside apparently. She must have slipped out another way, which probably wasn't too challenging considering structure’s design and her inhuman agility. "We are not hiring anyone. I was just curious about the business. We don't need anyone to clean our ship."
"Captain," Portia released her amazing grip on my arm and got my attention. "There is a government office on our way back to our ship. Shall we provide escort for this female?"
"No!" the petite creature said. She was speaking our language better than her boss. "I cannot go there. They will label me as a troublemaker and send me back for punishment. I don't want to do this work, but I must feed my family. Mother is ill. Sister, too."
I reached into my pocket and pulled out a few currency chits that I got as change last night at the bar. The grateful look on her face was heart wrenching as I dropped them into her tiny hands. She thanked me repeatedly as she backed away. Then she squatted down in the middle of the path, waiting for us to go. Once we got fifty meters away, she scurried back into the same business that she had left, claiming not to want to work there. The cry of Peggy laughter inside the structure explained everything. I had just been played.
"Well, fuck me," I muttered.
"I'm sorry, captain," Portia responded in her normal tone. "It is inadvisable that I fulfill your command for sexual activity at this time."
Chapter Ten
"I have collected more data than I expected today," Portia told me. I just had to imagine the happy tone that should accompany the statement.
We had stopped in a few more shops, but back toward the busier part of the district. It gave me a better feel about the way things worked on this planet. To a large degree it
