Adam guided Dream out of the hangar as Roks worked the secondary utilities. It became apparent to Adam that it was better to have two than one on the bridge. Once they had made it out and set the course, they turned to each other.

“So what now?” Roks said, “I have two books, but I think we should also contact Jork. He might know something about this. It's his people, after all.”

Adam nodded and looked down the hall. “Okay, keep them busy. I don’t want them to hear us debating this. For now, you don’t do anything. It might be completely normal in their culture.”

Roks got up. “ Yeah, but five young and one old? It just feels wrong. I never heard of that in a good way before. But I guess there is a first time for everything.” Then he walked out, and Adam closed the door behind him and turned to the communicator; after a few minutes, he got it to work. He really should get somebody to deal with this. He had accidentally scanned the whole system for minerals and got a warning from the hub.

“Yes, sir. What can I help you with?” Jork was at his post as he answered.

“Hi there, I have a weird question. How many wives are permitted in your culture? We have a passenger with five wives.” Adam didn’t want to small talk as he didn’t know if the line would last after they reached the jump point. He guessed he would have at most ten minutes.

“Five wives? Is it a noble or a priest? Normally, we have enough with one. Nobles can afford more, but those would have their own ships. Some priests marry old widows to ensure they are well taken care of.” He replied, a little shocked.

“He seemed like a priest of Gurron. He said something about being blessed with many wives and that they were going to start a family. The wives looked young, very young," he said, and Jork thought for a second as if he tried to recollect something, then sighed.

“He is a Gurron worshipper? That’s a cult, so yeah, that is something I would not put past them. They are not very much liked. They claim it's their duty to be bountiful and have many offspring they can make, so they do crazy stuff like this. Be careful. I don’t want to seem prejudiced, but those guys have been known to be in league with criminals. The reputation is that they use their wives as prostitutes to help get them pregnant. It's all about having many kids.” Jork said with a serious voice. “But I only heard and read about them, never met any.”

Adam nodded. “So we are talking about religious zealots. Okay. Thank you for your help. Did you get my instructions, by the way?”

“Yes, I'm looking for areas; the students are building a map of potential sea levels we can experience later, so I'm trying to find a safe place. One of them mentioned it might be smart to build an aquatic base already since it is easier to build it while the land is still dry.” He replied.

“Sounds like this seems like a good idea. Find a safe location, start producing earthquake sensors, and deploy them along the fault lines. That way, we can monitor it and keep the students busy. Okay, I’m getting to the jump point now. I will lose contact; if something important happens, call the lawyers. The hub has enough communications arrays to contact us in hyperlanes. Cya in a few weeks.” He hung up and got ready for the jump. It went smoothly, so he went to find the others. He found Roks and Fader Kungo Mytt in the mess hall.

“Where are your wives?” Adam asked as he entered, and Fader Kungo smiled at him. “ They are in the cabin, where they belong. I will bring them food later, " he replied, and Adam looked at him and then at Roks.

“I'm sorry, but why? Some religious reasons?” Adam said as he got out a bottle of dark fizzy drink and sat down.

Fader Kungo nodded. “ You are strangers and I am alone. They would feel safer there. You are not Buginos. No offense but it’s scary for young women to see such strange creatures.”

“Oh, they have nothing to fear from us. I'm a second father to one, Miker. He's a beautiful little boy.” Adam replied, and Roks agreed.

Fader Kungo smiled. “Miker? It sounds like you have gained somebody's trust. Who are the parents? And what denomination do they belong to?” He asked as he sipped the coffee that Roks had given him.

“I don’t know which denomination, and the father works for me; unfortunately, the mother has passed. He doesn’t speak too much about his people. I know his late wife was the love of his life, and it broke his heart when she passed.” Adam replied as he studied the man in front of him.

Fader Kungo drank more coffee. “I'm sorry to hear about her passing; he should get more wives and spread the love. If you bring him to the colony, I might be able to help him with that. “He sipped his coffee and smiled. “This is good. I would love to buy more. It seems to give me energy.”

Adam thought about it. He could actually plant beans. He had the seeds, and it would take at least ten years before he could get enough to sell. “I will keep it in mind. But as you see, you don’t need to lock your wives in the cabin. As you know, it will be seven days before we arrive, and the more, the better the company.”

Roks smiled slightly. “He told me he plans to open a Tavern on the colony. He already has friends there waiting for him.”

Adam nodded to Roks. Something about this didn’t sit right with him; they needed to get more information if he could only get the wives out of the cabin.

“Yes, company is always better,” Fader Kungo replied as he ignored Roks. “But I'm worried since they are not properly trained yet.” He leaned a little forward. “But maybe you could help me train them for a price, of course .”

Adam looked at him, then at Roks and back to the Fader. “I thought you said they were scared of us?”

“Yes, but they need to get used to it; of course, they will mostly deal with our people, but there are always some with strange urges.” The Fader replied. “I'm too old to keep up with five young ones; I might as well earn some money on them as they increase the fold. Better to be pragmatic about such things. My lord commands me to ensure a big brood.”

“Well, we do not have such urges, but they are free to walk around and get used to strangers.“ Adam said. This would work to their advantage, and they could find out if they were okay with what he felt was a horrible fate. He wanted to help if he could, but this might be completely normal for them, poor souls. Roks was tense, and Adam could sense it; everything he said went against his Tufon honor, but he held his tongue. Fader Kugo nodded. “I see you won't stop asking, but it will cost you 14 credits, even if it is just looking, but it is for seven days straight.” Adam sent him the money. Adam could see Roks would rather jump the Fader and tear him apart but restrained himself, and the old man left for the cabins. The moment he was out of hearing, Roks turned to Adam.

“What's wrong with you? We should toss him out of the airlock. He is about to turn them into whores. And you are paying him!” The words were whispered with a growl, and Adam looked after the Fader,

“How else can we talk to them and find out if they want this? They might be religious zealots who want this. If we kill him, we will be branded as pirates; we need to find a way to rescue them and not be seen as pirates. Having them locked in the cabin will only make that harder. We need to separate them from him so we can get them to talk. If we find out they are held against their will, then we will rescue them.“ Adam spoke quickly so they could finish this before they returned. “Besides, you can look through the books and see if you can find anything we can use.”

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

Roks calmed down a little and took a deep breath. He still wanted to kill the old man but tempered himself. Soon, the Fader returned with the wives, now dressed much more revealing clothes, leaving little to the fantasy. They looked shyly around. Like Jork they had the spotted grey pattern going down their arms and back, but their skin was of different shades of yellow to green, and they had green to orange hair hanging loosely down or in complicated braids—their four eyes color from blue to bright green. Their clothes were made of layers of silk that barely hid anything. They were as tall as Adam, and for a second, he just looked; it may have been the shock of the complete change from what he had seen at the hub. Then he caught himself and stood up.

“Welcome, ladies, make yourself at home. These are the common areas, and you are all welcome to relax and enjoy food and drink. There are two alcoves along the wall where you can watch entertainment or listen to music. Please ask before you go to the bridge, engine room, or storage. The rest of the ship you can walk around in.” He said with a smile and they all bowed, as they looked shyly around.

“They only paid for the company, nothing else. If they ask, they have to pay first. Remember that,” Fader Kungo said as he found himself a new cup of coffee without asking and sat down. Adam just smiled and showed them around. It felt like talking to teenage girls, which made him sick to his stomach. Only one of them seemed to be an adult. After the girls and the Fader retired, Roks and Adam sat down on the bridge to discuss it. They both wanted to toss him out of the airlock, and Adam started to think they could not make this trip without killing Fader.

“I hate this. I'm not a killer, but it's testing my limits,” Adam said as he looked out the window; Roks sat at his station scanning the books.

“I have no problem with killing; just give the order, and he will be dead, " he replied, and Adam sighed.

“What if it's all legal? Then, we are criminals and can be turned into slaves. Everything we have done goes away. If we do it, we need to do it legally.” Adam countered. He didn’t like it, but he also had to think about the others.

“Well, nothing in the books stops it; any man can marry as many as he wants in their laws as long as the woman has come of age. And they have no laws against prostitution. It seems what he is doing is legal, even if it is disgusting.” Roks said as they turned the screen off.

“Woman of age? What does that mean? And can they be forced to?” Adam looked at him, and Roks opened the screen again and quickly searched the question.

“Coming of age for women is sixteen years old in their culture, and they are sold into marriage and have no rights to deny, though most seem to ignore that part. Remember Jork told us he proposed to Mike’s mum after dating for two years? " He said as he read the laws.

“Looks like we got the good one back home and met the asshole version here. Okay, we need to talk to them without him being around?” Adam mused.

“Whiskey, we put it in his coffee, and he will fall asleep or get talkative. Remember, Jork can't hold his liquor; he goes to sleep early.” Roks suggested, and Adam thought about it.

“Okay. Computer. When Fader Kugo orders coffee, I want you to add a little whiskey, not too much; I don’t want him poisoned. Do not inform him about it, but start monitoring him so we can make sure we are not killing him with the coffee. Don’t let him know.”

“Affirmative, starting protocol now.” The computer replied, and Roks looked at him.

“We are looking for a reason to kill him, so why be so careful? Happy accidents happen.” He said, and Adam chuckled.

“Yes, but I’m securing our ass as well so if anything does happen, we can prove we didn’t intentionally try to kill him.”

“You are too kind. I'm going to bed,” Roks said and headed out. Adam sat down in the chair and looked out into the vastness of space as it flew by.

The plan worked perfectly. The Fader really liked the new coffee even better, and he quickly fell asleep, leaving the girls alone with Adam and Roks. In the beginning, the girls seemed to fear what the men would do to them, but after a few days of Adam letting the youngest, who was only sixteen, watch movies and listen to music while they talked to the two eldest, they calmed down.

The following days they got to know the girls better, the oldest was Skee Laf. She was 23 years old. Through her, they found out they are all sisters bought by the Fader when their family got into debt with a group of criminals. Skee had been studying at the university and had just finished her master's in ocean biology. She returned home to the family farm when the criminals threatened to kill their parents and older brother if they didn’t pay. Apparently, their parents had borrowed money to send her to the university. Then Fader Kugo suddenly showed up with money and told them he would pay the debt and give them some extra for the right to marry all the sisters. Her brother had tried to fight it, claiming Fader Kugo was part of the gang. The next day, he was beaten to an inch of his life by the gang by a chance encounter.

“That’s it! I'm killing him.” Roks hand went to his pistol and Adam stopped him.

“Stop, let's be smart about it. I want something on him; if we can get him to admit what he did, then we can arrest him and release them from their bondage.” Adam said, and then the second oldest. Maya shook her head; she had been sitting next to Skee and listened.

“No, they are waiting for him at the colony. He sent a message to them telling them about your ship. They are planning to steal it. That’s why he wants us to distract you guys and wear these ridiculous clothes.” Maya said. Roks and Adam looked at each other, and then Adam looked back at her.

“When did he send the message?” Adam asked

“Yesterday, as we were getting closer, we arrived tomorrow, right?” she replied, and Skee looked at her.

“How do you know this?” She asked, confused.

“He always wants me to sleep in his bed, remember? He thought I was sleeping as he sent the message.” She replied, and Adam looked at the sleeping Fader.

“What system did he use? His own or the ship’s?” He asked.

“Your ship’s, he is so impressed by it. He wants it for himself.” She replied and Adam got up and walked over to a terminal.

“The computer showed me all the messages Fader Kugo sent, and three messages popped up. The first was about the girls with a clear indication of being put to work, and the second was the description of the ship and Adam and Roks. There was a reply from somebody about how they would get ready to take the ship; the last made it go cold down his back; not only were they planning to take the ship, but he asked them to get a crew ready so they could raid Dirt. He turned to Roks.

“Toss him into the airlock now while I stop the ship. We are not going there. He is a pirate, and now we got the evidence. I'm going to sentence him before we toss him out.” He said coldly, and Roks grinned. Then he immediately moved over, lifted up the drunk Fader, placed him in the airlock, injected him with sober medicine, and walked out, closing the Fader in the airlock. Adam stopped the ship in the dead of space, then went to the airlock, played the three messages over the loudspeaker as he looked at the Fader.

The Fader looked at them as he stood up. “Let me out and I will let you live. If not then know they will find you and kill you for this. My son will have you killed! And they will find those bitches’ families and kill them too. “

Adam looked at him for a while as the old man ranted, and then started cursing him. He pressed the speaker and addressed the old man.

“In the name of the federation I, Adam Wrangler, captain of Dream and clan leader of the Wrangler clan, sentence you to death for planning to commit piracy on my ship and suspicion of extortion of the family Laf. We are confiscating your cargo, and the cargo that was supposed to be sent to your team, which we now know is waiting for us. We will inform the law when we return to the hub. May whatever gods you believe in have mercy on your soul. Because I don’t, I curse you to the coldness of space forever.” With those words, he pressed the button, and The Fader vanished into the cold, dark space.

“Let's get you girls safely home.” Adam turned and went up to the bridge to set the course for the hub.

The girls looked surprised, and the younger panicked for a moment. Skee ran after him as Maya calmed her sister.

“What are you going to do with us? If you send us home, they will just kill us. You might have killed our parents by doing this. Those guys are not the forgiving type.” She seemed worried and on the brink of panicking.

“We must report it, or they can claim we are pirates.” He took a deep breath. “I can't believe I'm going to say this… “He turned to look at her. “I know of a colony where you can be safe. It’s a planet we are terraforming, so the atmosphere is not breathable yet, but we have space. Enough for your whole family. If you accept, you can travel there and be free from them. We can probably pick up your parents if it's not too far away.” He looked at her, and she thought about it.

“It's about two weeks to travel there; is that too far?” She looked at him with puppy eyes, and Adam cursed, then chuckled.

“Aww fuck it. Why not.”

Two and a half months later, Dream landed on Dirt with a new family and a cargo filled with farming equipment. The record and some expert legal arguments from Minna had secured them the rights to the cargo and annulled the marriages of Fader Kugo. Adam saw the planet was covered with dark clouds. They got into view, and he immediately scanned the planet. The atmosphere was 70% of the desired goal, and five great lakes were being formed. However, the air was still not breathable.