“So… You have a place to stay for the night?” Amber asked, picking up her third bottle for the night.

She pulled open the cap with her mouth and spat out the cap on the table before taking a swig from it.

I tilted my head slightly, “I figured I would just be sleeping in my ship.”

Unexpectedly, she slammed her beer on the table and gave me a look as if I suggested kicking a puppy.

“What?! Are you serious?! Are your sleeping quarters that good that you would rather sleep on your ship than on a station?!”

I blinked at her, “I… I mean… I’m not really that picky? As long as I have a bed and a roof over my head, that’s good enough for me.”

That wasn’t even a lie.

If you had seen my house back in my previous life, you would realise that aside from the VR Capsule, there wasn’t much in terms of amenities in my house.

And it’s not even because I can’t afford it, it’s just… I guess I don’t really see a need to get stuff that serves no practical purposes or get things I won’t really use anyway.

She narrowed her eyes at me, “Really… Is your bed comfortable though?”

“Yes,” I answered without hesitation.

Seriously, it’s really good. At least… If it’s compared to my old bed… So I don’t really know if it was actually just my own opinion or not.

But I tested it by laying on it and… It’s really comfy~

Amber lifted an eyebrow, “Really now… You’ve got me all curious about your ship. Do you mind if I come over and check it out?”

I was about to ask if she was not afraid that I’ll assault her then I realised I still did not have a dick.

Fuck.

“I don’t mind but… Could I ask that you introduce me to a good… Err… What are they called again? Gene mod clinic?”

“You mean a Gene Splice clinic? Why? Are you planning to mod yourself?”

I wasn’t sure if such a topic was taboo but decided to just wing it since she already knew about my memory problem anyway.

“I… Heard from the security officer about them and… I thought about getting myself a dick.”

Her eyebrow lifted a little higher, “A dick? Huh… So you like to fuck someone?”

“Err… If you’re asking if I have someone in mind that I would like to… To do it with, then no. But if you’re asking about my preference in my position during sex, then yes, I would prefer to be the one doing it.”

She looked at me silently for a minute, as though inspecting me for the first time.

Without a word, she brought her beer to her lips and took a mouthful of it before speaking again.

“I see… Do you have a preference for your partner?”

Err… Why does it feel like an interrogation now?

“Umm… I like girls?” I relented.

Her lips curled up into a smile and she threw back her head to finish off the rest of her beer, emptying the bottle in mere seconds before she slammed it back down on the table.

“Thanks for the meal boss!! Let’s go, Tera! I want to see your ship!”

Err… What?

Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

She got up and tapped what looked like a smartphone on a tablet near the entrance and the screen beeped to show that sixteen hundred Credits had been deducted from her.

I hurried after her, also giving my thanks to the boss of the place as I left to catch up with her.

She grinned at me when I did, “I’ll just go ahead and tell you that if you want a premium Gene mod, they can be quite expensive.”

I nodded, “I heard that it could cost me a million Credits at least.”

Amber huffed, “That’s probably the price for a custom model with all the bells and whistles on it, including giving you the ability to control your fertility and refractory period. If you just want a piece of meat between your legs that you can feel pleasure from, you could probably get it at a few thousand Credits or so.”

I almost tripped over my feet, “What?”

“Yeah. If you want the cheap ones I can introduce you to an unlicensed one I know.”

“Oh wait, you’re talking about those underground clinics or something? I don’t want those…”

She smirked at me, “That security guy told you some scary story about his friend going to one of those places didn’t he?”

I nodded.

She rolled her eyes, “Typical lawful types. I can tell you that it’s not as bad as he says it is. Sure, if you want to be absolutely safe, you’ll have to go for the legit ones. But unless you have no idea what you want and you’re going into this blind and find a scammer instead, then you shouldn’t end up with the same problems. Most of the time the unlicensed clinics are unlicensed simply because the doctors can’t afford the exorbitant licence fees. Did you know that even after you get a licence, you still need to pay to keep it?”

“Err… How much is it?”

She shrugged, “I don’t know, but it’s high enough that doctors that operate in the fringes like these would struggle just to pay for it. There’s a lot of doctors who end up losing their licence later but they are still real doctors.”

“Has no one complained or even fought against these licence fees?”

She turned to me, “Complain to who? And besides, most of the doctors are fine with this. The ones that can afford it will just pay it off and the ones who can’t will just continue as unlicensed doctors. It might be illegal on paper for them to continue their practice but there’s enough people who require the cheaper alternatives that would cause an uproar if anyone were to try and stop them. Trust me, there was an attempt.”

I see…

“So what would you recommend me to do? Should I just look for an unlicensed doc?”

She stopped and turned to look at me seriously, “Hmm… If it was anyone else… I would just recommend to go to an unlicensed one… But for you, I believe you can actually earn enough to afford a licensed one. But I do have someone in mind that I can introduce to you if you’d like so that you have more options.”

I shrugged, “I don’t mind having more options.”

“Perfect~ Well, I’ll bring you there tomorrow, the place is closed now anyway. So let’s go see that ship of yours!”

She continued leading the way back to the hangar, seemingly more cheery than before.

I tried to ask the question in my mind, “Are you… Also modded?”

She chuckled, “Ahahaha~ It’s more difficult to find someone who isn’t modded nowadays. Before you ask, I won’t tell you what my mods are though. For Mercs like us, mods are part of our trump cards so I’ll tell you when I can trust you. Same goes for you though, so don’t go spilling out your own secrets to anyone you just met. You never know when that hidden grenade launcher built into your arm would come in handy just because it’s hidden. The fewer people who know about it, the better.”

… Why does it feel like she’s speaking from experience?

Well, I got the hint not to ask her that though.

We reached our ship easily enough and I found it a little ironic that she preached about hiding your trump cards when I’m letting her take a peek inside mine. Aren’t our ships also our trump cards as Mercs?

Oh well… I at least trust her enough to let her in for now. If anything happens, I at least have the home ground advantage.

I don’t think she’s actually going to try stealing my ship here but… I guess I’ll just make sure to lock the ship using biometric and password locks after we get on board.

I took over the lead as we clambered up the boarding ramp of my ship, which led directly to the cargo hold at the ship’s belly.

She gave an appreciative whistle as we walked past but kept her comments to herself.

Deciding to keep things safe, I led her directly to the living quarters and the woman let out a gasp when she saw it.

“What’s this?!! You have a kitchen too?! And… Two bedrooms with attached baths?!! What the fuck is this luxury?!”

“Err… Is it that big of a deal? The pirate ship I got has a kitchenette too.”

“That’s a repurposed civilian ship! It’s normal for ships like those to have them! But for Mercs like us, having anything more than a bed is already a luxury on our ship!! You’re a new Merc and yet this is the ship you start out with?! Even Gold Mercs wouldn’t see these specs normally!! I knew it! You’re definitely some rich lady before you lost your memories!!”

I shrugged, “I dunno.”

She then grabbed me by the shoulder, “Hey, Tera… I’m going to be serious here… Please let me be your partner!”

Err… Ermm… Is that a proposal?