Planet of Pain (19 page)

The story made Jo even more angry, but she couldn't keep up the onslaught. After a few minutes her muscles, unused to such effort, gave out. Her arms fell to her sides, and she stood there gasping.

‘Here, let me,' Ruth said.

She took over, and was soon shifting stone at a far greater rate with far less effort. Jo's labour of rage hadn't been entirely fruitless, however, for a crystal surfaced just minutes after Ruth took over. And it was another big one.

‘Seems my luck's in,' Ruth muttered, but too soon. Karlyn returned, and again ordered Jo to stand aside. He waited, lash in hand, watching Ruth's efforts, and just moments before it happened Jo realised what he was going to do. Maybe Ruth did too, but there was nothing she could do about it. As she started to prise the crystal free he swiped her across the buttocks, seemingly with every ounce of strength he possessed. Ruth shrieked and jerked, and the crystal shattered.

‘Oops,' Karlyn said, as he walked away grinning.

Ruth stood there a moment, hands clenched by her sides, then she sighed and shook her head, and carried on working.

 

Karlyn must have been keeping a close eye on them from the access tunnel, for within seconds of Ruth locating another crystal he was there again, lash at the ready, his plan clearly to make sure Ruth broke every crystal she found, virtually guaranteeing she would earn herself the day's low-weight reprimand, and sure enough, at the critical moment he drew back his arm.

But as the lash swung forward Jo stepped between him and Ruth and the stick – the part to which the leather thongs were attached – caught her on the hip. It hurt but she stayed put, and with an enraged cry Karlyn lashed her three times across the buttocks. The pain was acute, but still she didn't move. He gave her three more and she stepped away finally, rubbing her burning behind. Then he struck out at Ruth again, but too late. Thanks to Jo's intervention the crystal was already free, and in one piece.

Karlyn glared furiously at the pair of them, then stalked off without another word. Ruth shook her head sadly.

‘I thought I taught you better than that,' she said quietly. ‘Now he'll have it in for you, too.'

‘You reckon?' Jo muttered. ‘Well, Karlyn can go screw himself for all I care.'

Ruth's eyebrows arched and she regarded Jo steadily, as though seeing her for the first time, then finally she smiled. ‘Yeah,' she said, ‘I think so too.'

But despite the bravado Jo was anxious as she waited for the trustee to return. She had little doubt that he would, and even less that he would make both of them suffer for her defiance. Time passed, however, with no sign of the man, but in some ways that was even worse, for she imagined he must be dreaming up some truly terrible fate for the pair of them.

Whatever that might be, the routine went on. Stone was chipped away and crystals dug out and taken to be weighed and logged. With no interruptions apart from water breaks and the occasional scrabbling of the chiselling implement, Ruth was able to make good progress and Jo's fears about the low-weight reprimand began to recede.

The fourth period started, which meant they were out of Karlyn's reach, at least for today. His replacement was a surly brute with shifty eyes, who lashed Ruth's back as she worked, calling her a lazy bitch and ordering her to dig faster, and from the look he gave Jo as he walked away, she knew Squires and Karlyn weren't the only ones who would make a point of seeking her out tomorrow.

The shift ended at last, and Jo discovered there was one final indignity in store. Before leaving the mine everyone was body-searched, and when Jo's turn came the man asked if she had any contraband on her. She shook her head, whereupon he tugged down her pants and slid his middle finger first into her vagina, and then her anus. He probed deeply, taking his time and grinning at her all the while, but eventually she was allowed to pass through into the cage, to be whisked back up to the facility.

 

Jo never thought she would be happy to be back in limb four, but she was. After the mine the place felt positively cool and fresh.

They waited in the dayroom for the shower bell, sitting on the floor with their backs to the wall. Ruth closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep, her head on Jo's shoulder. She didn't even wake when the shift supervisor showed his face briefly and announced the name of the person with the lowest weight – a man in gang two – finally dispelling Jo's fears on that score.

The bell sounded at last, but even that didn't wake Ruth, and Jo was obliged to shake her. The brief delay put them almost at the back of the line, which was unfortunate. But Jo did the sums and calculated that the entire shift would be showered and done in a little under seven minutes, and though the prospect of a shower was tantalising beyond belief, she felt she could hang on that long.

As the first batches went in and they began to shuffle forward she saw the plump woman – the one who had been tormented and taken away by the runt and his pal – coming down the line towards them. Several of Ruth's ‘beasties' were already cruising the corridor, up to their tricks, and Jo guessed the plump woman was deliberately changing her place in the line in an attempt to escape their notice. Her eyes met Jo's, and perhaps she saw a sympathetic face, for she approached.

‘Can I wait with you?' she asked. ‘Do you mind?'

‘Of course not,' Jo said. ‘Why don't you stand here, behind me?'

She pushed in gratefully between Jo and a man who didn't even seem to register her presence. Ruth scowled and it was clear she disapproved, but Jo was determined to do what she could to help the poor woman.

‘What's your name?' she asked.

‘Jo,' the plump woman said.

‘Really? Mine's Jo too. Short for Josephine?'

The plump woman shook her head. ‘Joanna.'

She peeped anxiously around Jo's shoulder, presumably looking to see if the runt and his pal were on the prowl. Jo hadn't seen them, but that didn't mean much as she'd quit the dayroom so late. The two men might be in the shower block right now, just waiting. ‘Pleased to meet you, Joanna,' she said, holding out her hand.

The woman looked startled, but shook hands anyway. Jo heard Ruth swear softly, but she ignored her.

‘Have you been here long?' Jo asked. ‘I only arrived yesterday. I can't get over how hot it is.' She chattered away inanely as the line progressed, trying to take Joanna's mind off her troubles. She wasn't entirely successful, though once or twice she drew an uncertain smile from the woman, so perhaps she helped a little. Then it was their turn to go in, and as feared, the two guards in question were waiting. She did her best to shield Joanna from their view, but it was no use. The runt spotted her and came straight over.

‘Hey, here she is!' he cried. ‘Don't worry, jugs, you don't have to do a thing. I'll wash you; I even got me a sponge, see?'

He had too, and when the water started he scrubbed Joanna vigorously, especially her breasts and between her legs. He was getting splashed in the process, but didn't seem to mind. As for Joanna, she raised her hand once in the feeblest of protests, and after that just stood there under the spray, sobbing miserably.

The water cut off and they all trooped to the blowers, where the runt stood with the rest and dried his hair, though his uniform remained damp. His pal had his hands on Joanna's shoulders, turning her this way and that as though she hadn't the sense to dry herself unaided.

‘How we doing there?' the runt enquired jovially. ‘Hair dry, is it? Let's have a see.' He felt Joanna's groin as Jo watched, angry, but not foolhardy enough to try to intervene, but he was suddenly aware of her scrutiny and stared at her. ‘You got somethin' to say to me, bitch?'

Jo shook her head, and turned away.

‘Come on, jugs,' she heard him say. ‘It's fucky-fucky time.'

As they started to leave Jo glanced up, and found herself staring straight into the runt's eyes once more. She knew that wasn't good and wasn't wise, but right at that moment she hated and despised him too much to care. He didn't say anything more; he just held Jo's gaze a moment or two longer before leading his victim away, and the last thing Jo heard was him telling poor Joanna everything they were going to do to her. It was a long and sordid list.

‘What the hell do you think you're playing at?' Ruth hissed. ‘Are you trying to bring them down on you or something?'

Jo's anger was still there, coiling inside her like a serpent. ‘To hell with him,' she said tightly. ‘He can go screw himself too.'

They retrieved their clothes and made their way back to the dayroom, and Jo's rage began to subside, though it didn't disappear entirely. She only had to think of Joanna, and how she had looked when the men were mauling her, for it to bubble up again.

A few yards from where they sat Nathaniel was combing Eli's hair with his fingers. Jo saw he was straggling it deliberately as he dragged it over her face, and realised he was making her as unattractive as he could. He noticed her watching, and winked in a conspiratorial fashion.

‘You do what you can,' he said, with a rueful smile. ‘Cover up her pretty face; make her a dress from a stolen grain sack; teach her to stand knock-kneed and round-shouldered when she's waiting in line for a shower.'

Jo had never thought of Eli as pretty. All she had ever seen was a skinny-limbed ragamuffin with a rat's nest of tangled hair. Which meant Nathaniel had done an excellent job on her disguise.

 

 

 

 

The next few days were sheer misery. The work in the mine was hard, and Jo felt permanently shattered, even when she was off-shift. The one good thing was that Karlyn wasn't there to abuse her. Apparently his previous visit was unauthorised, and soon after their confrontation he'd been spotted and sent packing by blue shift's supervisor, which explained why he never returned to take his revenge. But that one bright note apart, things were pretty grim. The trustees' lashes were rarely still, and Squires in particular took great delight in disciplining her for no reason, so that her buttocks burned constantly.

At the start Jo broke more crystals than she recovered whole, so it was fortunate they gave her time to build up her skill as well as her strength, or she would have been punished for low-weight without a doubt. But after a while she seemed to develop the knack of teasing the gems out of their stone bed and her productivity increased, as did her stamina. It remained a gruelling, painful eight hours, however, and she slept the sleep of the dead each night.

Then, a week or so after she went solo, as gang four was waiting to go through into the dorm, the Harpy pack came hunting once more.

‘Oh Jesus,' Ruth muttered, as they heard female laughter in the corridor, ‘it's them.'

Once again the trio took their time, but eventually, inevitably, they came into gang four's dayroom. It was the same as before with every woman keeping her head down, praying she wouldn't be the one taken, and Jo no braver than the rest.

‘Hey, Ruthie!' one exclaimed. ‘How's that nice tight ass of yours? Still sore, is it?'

Ruth didn't respond. Someone laughed – Jo thought it sounded like the redhead – and one of them came closer still.

‘Stand up, blondie.'

Trin's voice. Jo climbed slowly to her feet and looked into the other woman's eyes. Trin regarded her thoughtfully. Without a word she reached up and unzipped Jo's coveralls to the waist, exposing her breasts.

‘Wow,' the redhead said. ‘Great tits. Do you think she's fun to play with?'

‘Hell, that's easy,' the tall one said. ‘Let's try her and find out. She's damn cute, ain't she? Can't imagine how I never noticed her before.'

‘Too busy looking up Ruthie's skirt, I expect,' the redhead said dryly.

‘Seems we have us a winner,' Trin said. ‘Come on, blondie, I can hardly wait for your tongue and my snatch to get acquainted.'

It was strange, but from the moment she heard their voices Jo was never in any doubt she would be the one they'd pick. Trin had virtually promised as much, after all, and it made the whole thing somehow easier. She thought of Stella, who would probably have said she wanted to be picked. Jo couldn't go that far, but calm acceptance was maybe a good halfway house.

They took her back to the hub. The cabin the three women shared was tidy, with clothes and other gear folded and stacked neatly. There were posters on the walls, mainly scenes of Earth's mountains and rivers, and even a vase of paper flowers on the folding table. The one discordant note was a big poster over one of the bunks showing a heavily muscled man with tattoos, piercings, and a huge erect cock. She guessed it was tall one's bunk.

‘Home sweet home,' the redhead said. ‘Anyone thirsty?'

‘Me,' the other two said simultaneously.

Jo was thirsty too, but said nothing, doubting that the offer extended to her. The redhead poured out three beakers from an insulated jug, and Jo guessed she would just have to stay thirsty. But then Trin brought her beaker over and held it up to Jo's lips. It was plain water, but cooler than she was used to. As she drank gratefully Trin reached inside her coveralls, which were still unzipped, and stroked her nipple. Jo felt a flutter of anxiety, and her so-called ‘calm acceptance' began to waver. The tall one pulled a mattress off one of the bunks and laid it on the floor, then stacked three pillows in the middle; and the retreat of Jo's composure turned into a rout.