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Zetithian at the same time, and the dumb-ass Cylopean was still pointing his pistol at me when his former slave lowered his head and launched himself at him—chains and all—with a deep-throated roar.
    My reflexes, on the other hand, were pretty good and I had my own weapon in the palm of my hand in less time than it takes to tell it. I knew I’d better do something pretty damn quick, because if that creep got hold of the wrong chain…well, let’s just say it could get messy! I got closer and kicked the pulse pistol out of the Cylopean’s hand as they wrestled in the dirt, noting that the Zetithian was attempting to wrap the chain that ran between his right hand and foot around the Cylopean’s neck, while the former slave master tried to grab the chain to the genital cuff. Muttering, “Oh, what the hell…,” I set my own pistol on a wide stun and shot them both.
    “Whoa! Good shootin’, Tex!” I said as I holstered my weapon. As split-second decisions go, it was probably
one of my better ones, for not only did it stop the fight without killing anyone, but it also meant that I didn’t have to take any lip off of either of them. I struggled with the impulse to simply get back on my ship, close the damned hatch, and take off, but once again my softer side got the better of me. I dragged the Cylopean clear of the blast zone for my take-off, rolled my slave onto a blanket, retrieved the remote from where he’d dropped it—along with the credits I’d given him—and pulled him aboard. Then I closed the hatch, fired up the engines, and took off. I just hoped that my second decision was as good as the first, because if not, I was going to have an extremely unhappy little slave boy on my hands.
    After getting clear of the solar system, I set the autopilot to fly while I consulted the star charts. Statzeel was only about five light-years away, but going there first was probably not the best idea, unless I just wanted to turn the Zetithian loose there. I needed somewhere to take him to if I didn’t decide he was worth the trouble, or at least find someone to get his restraints off if we couldn’t figure it out between the two of us. I hoped he would be a bit more cooperative and not too pissed to listen to reason when he woke up. On the other hand, the Cylopean had said that he’d been seen in the area around my ship. Could it be that he had been looking for me, and not his former master? But, why? Did he realize he needed my help, or what? Had he attacked the Cylopean because he was threatening me, or just on general principles? I hoped he’d at least be honest with me, but I also knew I couldn’t count on it.
I glanced up from my charts to see him lying there, still inert upon the floor. In my haste to depart, I had simply left him there, just inside the hatch, sprawled out on the blanket and fully exposed. He was certainly an interesting looking creature, with definite feline characteristics, for, in addition to the vertical pupils and rather pronounced and sharp canine teeth, I also noted that he had slightly pointed ears which I hadn’t been able to see before due to the mass of filthy, matted hair that covered them. His penis, of course, I had gotten a really good look at, and it was still quite impressive even in its flaccid state. I was pleased to note that he hadn’t ripped the ring out of it when he’d attacked his former master, either. He was still extremely dirty, however, and as such, didn’t exactly smell like a rose. Fortunately, he didn’t smell anything like the atmosphere of the planet we’d just left, for if he had, I’d have been sorely tempted to space him.
    I picked up the remote and studied it, wishing that whoever had made it had seen fit to use pictographs instead of the local symbols to describe the function of each control. I toyed with the knobs on the top, thinking, righty tighty, lefty loosey. I wondered if that was as universal wherever this device had been manufactured as it