The Superiors Read online

  One night Draven went to Estrella’s after his shift, just before closing time. He’d had a busy night—he’d reported a restaurant overdrawing its saps, and he’d stayed most of the night with the team of Enforcers who came to confiscate the weak and nearly lifeless sapiens.

  He entered Estrella’s to find Cali sleeping on her arm. He took her other arm and held her elbow in his palm while he massaged her upper arm. Hair stuck to her face when she sat up and blinked at him. She brushed it away and then, clearly without thinking, reached both her arms above her head and curled her whole body into a stretch. Her bouncer stepped forward and crushed her arm down on the table.

  She winced and looked at Draven and bowed her head. “I’m sorry, Master,” she said quickly. “I was half asleep. I meant no offense or disrespect, sir. I apologize.”

  “It’s alright,” he said, taking her arm in his hands and resuming his preparation. She looked at him, studying him, like she was trying to figure if he was angry. “Really,” he assured her with a small smile. Saps were always so frightened, like his aim was to hurt them instead of just to sustain himself.

  She offered a tentative smile and sighed. “Thanks.”

  “I’m not a horrible person who wants to hurt you,” he said, shaking his head and flicking her vein. It bulged suddenly, beautiful and pulsing with life. His teeth throbbed a painful stab deep into the root. “I have to eat, and then I will speak with you,” he said. He lowered his head and buried his teeth in the relief of her nourishment.

  Some of the saps babbled while he drank, and some whimpered, and once in a while, one screamed. Some, like Cali, remained silent, and he liked this best. When he finished, he closed the two small punctures and turned her arm to gently lick away the last traces of sap, his tongue and lips moving over her warm skin. He felt her shiver and lifted his head to look at her. “Are you sick?” he asked, remembering that common symptom of sapien illness.

  “Your mouth is just awfully cold. Most of you don’t…linger.”

  “I apologize,” he said, releasing her arm. “Does it cause you severe discomfort?” He had forgotten that saps were bothered by temperature change. They could even die from it. Of course, saps could die of any little thing, or nothing at all.

  “I guess not,” Cali said. “At least you’re thorough about closing.”

  “Animals shouldn’t suffer without purpose. If I could make it painless, I would. I just don’t like the drug taste.”

  “You can taste that?”

  “Of course. I can taste anything you’ve eaten or drank or taken, or even that you are of breeding age, unlike the first time I drew from you.”

  She squirmed and put her knees together. He didn’t know what to think of this delicious little sap. She didn’t seem much different from any other sap, and yet… She looked like she was experiencing a sort of embarrassment. But he must have been mistaken. Saps weren’t intelligent enough to experience this sensation.

  Chapter Five

  Auction night always excited Ander—even more so when he had some anyas in his pocket. He prided himself on the thoroughness of his inspections and his selectiveness. He wanted the best of the best, and today he could choose two saps. Business boomed if you just picked the right business, and he had. After all, everybody had to eat.

  He walked along the platform looking over the livestock. He’d read a book once about the slave trade in human times, about how slave owners tested to see if slaves were healthy, and he’d borrowed a few of their techniques. Slaves were just homo-sapiens, after all, and that’s what he needed. Some healthy saps that would last for a good many years in his restaurants. Of course, the ones who didn’t do so good could always be sent down to South End, where no one cared if saps were healthy or not.

  Ander stopped and looked over a young sap. She had long legs and a pretty face, good hair. She smelled nice, too, and he guessed her age to be pushing twenty.

  “Open your mouth,” he said, and felt inside when she obeyed. He ran his hands over her bare skin and took in all the smells of her. When he had finished he nodded to one of the attendants and the woman stepped forward to record Ander’s bid in the system. He bid on two more saps and then moved back and sat in the audience, watching the screens where the saps’ numbers scrolled along, the highest bidders changing now and then.

  It sure beat the old auctions where people had to yell out bids. Like most things, auctioning had gotten a whole lot better when Superiors set things up. Of course he’d heard the old saying about how it had taken Superiors a hundred years to wreck everything humans had built, and a hundred more to put it back exactly as it had been. Ander didn’t agree with that, but then, he’d never been around when humans ran things, so he didn’t know for sure.

  But he’d read books, and from what he could tell, the world was a less shitty place now. Or maybe power just kept Superiors happy. Nothing could keep whining, pathetic bloodbags happy. Even when they’d been the top of the food chain, every book he read made it seem like they were just a bunch of sniveling, self-absorbed pricks. Plenty of pricks among the Superior crowd, too, but most of them didn’t whine.

  The saps on the auction block weren’t whining, at least not the ones Ander wanted. Unlike slaves in the old days of human rule, sapiens didn’t wear chains. They were stupid as a rule, but not suicidal. Like most animals, they had an instinct for survival that Ander shared. When you came right down to it, Superiors and sapiens were built the same way and had about the same instincts. The sapiens knew they damn well better stand there and submit to the examinations, so they mostly did. They knew the consequences of disobedience.

  After a while, someone outbid Ander and he punched in the number for the leggy sap with dark hair and upped his bid. One of the other saps he’d bid on had already gone over his price limit, but the other two were still good options. He watched the screens until the last bidder sat. Only four or five bidders had come after him, which he liked. He tried to get near the end of the line, see what other Superiors were putting down for the saps he liked before he put too much on them.

  After the last bidders sat, the whole audience could use their pods to up their bids. This went on for a few minutes. Ander had to bid twice more on the leggy sap, and he went a little higher than he usually would have, but goddam she looked good up there without any clothes on. He could always make her earn it back at one of the restaurants, renting her out to the more adventurous clientele. Ander didn’t judge men by their sexual preferences. To each their own, that was his thinking. He enjoyed illicit dabblings with his saps on the side now and then himself.

  He liked to try out his new saps, see if they would make good earners and where they’d fit in. He had a handful of restaurants, and he prided himself on his judgment of where each sapien would best fit the needs of his clients. When Ander finished transferring money to the sap farmer who’d held the live auction, he took the two saps he’d won and drove back to his place. He knew some Superiors abhorred the thought of letting saps ride in the car, but he’d never much cared. Why waste money renting a trailer when he had three extra seats in his car?

  Back at his house, the two saps followed him inside. He ordered them to his room and they obeyed—an encouraging sign. Ander fed on both of them and then sat in his chair smoking and looking over his purchases with satisfaction. He’d done good. They looked good and they tasted good, and he was sure they’d do well at the restaurants. The leggy one, Nina, would probably fit in at 28 Flavors. Maybe the other one, too. He hung around that restaurant most, and he could enjoy his new purchases until they lost the appeal of novelty.

  He had a few hours until bedtime, so he thought he’d have a little fun with his new saps before putting them up at the restaurant.

  “Take off your clothes,” he said. The one named Cheryl obeyed—a good thing for her. Nina hesitated, and Ander stood holding out his hand impatiently for a minute before she followed suit.

  Ander sat back and smoked the rest of his cigarette. H
e could have gone down to South End and gone to one of the sex movies, but here he could have the live show. Lots of Superiors from this side of town headed down there after a long night to catch a show at a theater or visit with a whore. Ander didn’t much care if anyone saw him going into one of the theaters, but this way he didn’t even have to leave the house. Of course these girls weren’t Superiors like the ones in the movies, but sometimes he liked that. The movies had a choreographed feel to them, with the staged situations and the girls all panting and moaning at calculated paces.

  His show had a more natural, organic feel to it. The best thing about having the real thing right here was that he could direct the show. And when he got bored of watching, as he always did after a few minutes, he could star in it too. Sure, he knew all about what people thought of that—cruelty to animals, violation of their rights, it was unnatural and brutal, blah blah blah. The human rights activists were always up in arms about the matter. But Ander didn’t much care about that, either. The human rights activists could go suck a sapien for all he cared.

  Ander didn’t see what all the fuss was about anyway. Sure, sapiens were a different species and all, but they had the same hole in the same place, and that was good enough for him. Didn’t seem so unnatural when you thought of it that way. He liked the cowering way sapiens obeyed, too, not like the whores who always looked bored or tired or sullen, or worst of all, coy.

  As far as rights went, saps didn’t have any claim to rights. After all, Ander fed them, and clothed them (most of the time), and put a roof over their heads, and kept them warm. The least they could do was, on occasion, keep him warm in return.

  Chapter Six

  On days when he got held up, Draven didn’t get to draw from Cali, and he missed the taste of her. He no longer felt satisfied after his five rations if hers wasn’t one of them. Her sap capped the night like a delicious dessert. But he had a job to do, and some nights he didn’t make it to Estrella’s before the bells signaled the end of working hours.

  He hadn’t had any luck with 28 Flavors on his earlier attempt, so he went back several times. One night he found a plump sap with dark hair and arms severely scarred with pockmarks. She smelled pleasant, so he sat down with her. “You must have very strong veins,” he said, squeezing her upper arm. Her repulsive warmth and the doughy quality of her flesh made him cringe. He looked at the bouncer. “Do you have a cord, please?”

  The bouncer produced a cord, but it looked harsh and not well padded. Draven used it anyway. It was better than finding the veins in her soft arm.

  “I been in the restaurant business near eight years now,” she said, her accent strange to him.

  “From where did you come?”

  “Up north of here, near the panhandle,” she said. Her sap had an appealing robust quality. She continued talking while he drank. “Yeah, I been all over the place. They say I have a generally appealing sap. I’s born up there, yep, and bought by a feller from up north o’ there, and then north of that, in them mountains where it snows all winter. You wouldn’t believe how cold it gets.” She laughed, carrying on this pleasant conversation like he was some sort of friend.

  He concentrated on measuring off his ration, but her talk distracted him.

  “You don’t feel that cold, though, do you? Y’all are like snakes, right? Freeze right through and y’all still healthy as hens. Anyhow, I was stolen from my master one night and bitten up right nasty, I was. Them gangs got me for a while, and then they done left me near drained out. But someone found me out in the cold and took me in and nursed me back to health, he did. I owed that Superior my life, and I still serve him with a smile on my face. He owned a restaurant up there, see, and I was happy to help him start up his business. And now he got this place, and I’m still serving just as faithful as ever.”

  “And do you serve anyone else? I can pay well for another hour of your time.”

  “Oh, I only serve the master in that way,” she said, laughing heartily. Some joke. “But if you’re of that inclination, that’s what you’re looking for.” She nodded towards another table where a younger female sat with a man. She had long dark legs and long dark hair.

  “And I could use her as I wished?” Draven asked.

  “Yeah, she’s the prettiest so she’s rented out the most. But there’s a few others, too. They’re all busy now, though.” The woman craned her scarred neck to look around the restaurant. Draven didn’t like to hear stories like hers, but he knew many similar stories existed. Like his. But he had more important things to think about, like getting proof of a restaurant prostituting a sapien.

  This woman’s master could indulge himself in his own saps without anyone finding out, but prostituting them violated the law. So did the owner’s indulgence, but that was impossible to regulate. Draven liked calling in a raid when he discovered that kind of activity. It wasn’t as rare as he would have liked. The thought of burying himself in the hot flesh of a sap made his stomach lurch.

  He tried to keep his face from showing his disgust. “I like the look of her,” he said. “I may go gather some money. Do you know how much she is worth?”

  “Ain’t too much, I know that.”

  Draven got up and went out to his car. He made the call and waited a few minutes before going back inside. “I’m interested in some extra services I’m told you provide,” he told the host. “I would like to inquire how much is the cost of the sap called Nina.”

  “You want to buy her?” asked the skinny host, swaying in a feminine manner. He was thin as string and wearing tight leather pants and a shimmering shirt. He looked like a kid playing dress-up. Calling him a Superior felt like a joke, but when Draven thought of the saps, he decided the flamboyant host was indeed far superior.

  “Perhaps just borrow her for, say, an hour. If that would be possible.”

  The boy looked him up and down. “Are you an Enforcer?”

  “No. You’re not going to report me, are you?” Draven tried to sound convincing. He was a practiced liar and it came easily enough.

  “Just asking. Nina’s very popular. The ripest age for many of us. I myself prefer the males. Not just sapiens, either,” the boy added, looking Draven over in a more appreciative manner.

  “Is that right? Perhaps I could persuade you to let me spend a little time with Nina outside the restaurant. In my car, for instance? I’d let you punch my ration card twice if I took too much.”

  “I’d let you punch my ration card,” the boy said, smiling up at Draven from under his eyelashes.

  Draven smiled a bit. “I’m just interested in her, for tonight at least. I’ll only take one ration in the whole hour.”

  “You look like you know how to control yourself, make it last. I like a man who takes his time.”

  “I do like to take my time,” Draven said, glancing at the door. He needed to speed things up. He leaned on the host’s stand and smiled at the boy. “And if I brought Nina back and I had indulged other appetites, could you keep it between us?”

  “Our little secret.”

  “And how much would that cost me?”

  “Eight anyas.”

  “Is that all?”

  “And maybe a little nibble for me later.”

  “I’m sure that could be arranged,” Draven said with a smirk. “Is there a place I can use here, or shall I take her?”

  “We have rooms that can be used for two more anyas, if you can keep things quiet and not upset the other saps. Nina’s a pro. She can be quiet. But can you?”

  “I’ll do my best.” Draven handed the boy the ten anyas and made a mental note to get it back after the raid. It was almost a night’s wage and he’d come up short on last’s week’s rent.

  “Here you go,” the boy said, gesturing for Nina. She came swaying over, very much the professional the boy had advertised. If he didn’t know better, Draven would have thought she looked forward to this. “By the way, I’m Crane. Don’t forget me, pretty boy.”

  “I won’t
forget.” Draven took Nina’s arm and glanced at the door one more time, hoping the Enforcers would be quick for once. He couldn’t hang around without drawing suspicion, so he forced a look on his face that he thought would convey desire when Nina smiled up at him. He thought of the smell of Cali, the taste of her. His teeth sang quietly like the reverberation of a high-pitched noise through a glass. He smiled down at Nina, who took his fingers in her own and led him down a shadowy hallway. He trailed behind, listening for sounds of an impending raid. Nothing yet.

  Nina swayed into a room and closed the door behind him. She kept up the persona when they were alone. He could hear a human and a superior moaning in the room beside them, could hear the sounds of their copulation. He suppressed a shudder. He hadn’t made a prostitution raid since retaking the job. He forgot how sick it made him. Even overdrawn saplings weren’t as sickening as a Superior fornicating with a sap.

  “So, what’s your fantasy?” Nina purred at him. “What do you want to do to me?”

  He wanted to push her away, to throw her on the soiled bedspread and escape, to tell her to stop. But he had to endure until the Enforcers descended. If he had to put up with this and the slow response time of the raid team, he might as well get some benefit. Who would notice in all the commotion?

  “I want to draw from you,” he said.

  “Oh, all right. Didn’t you just drink from Big Bertha?”

  “Are you questioning me?”

  “Oh—no, Master.”

  “Good.” Draven pushed her down on the bed and sat on the only other object in the room—a worn metal stool, the seat rubbed shiny silver and the legs covered with layers of chipping paint in various colors. He pushed up Nina’s sleeve and saw many scars, most small and well closed. “How long have you worked here, Nina?”