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Chapter 4 Chapter 6

Trance's Tale - Chapter 5

Time passed and Trance, under Fagin's enforced tutelage, reluctantly became a proficient picklock. To add to the girls' woes Fagin had raised what he euphemistically called their dues but was in reality payoff money to be allowed to work as a thief in Lowport. He stated that now that the girls were making more money and since Trance needed to pay for the training he had provided for her, their dues would be going up. The fact that the girls didn't want to become burglars or that Trance didn't want the training never entered into the equation. When the girls attempted to balk Fagin sent Sikes over to the house to 'explain Mr Fagin's position'. He was accompanied by a new girl, apparently he had 'broken' Molly. When he had finished with his 'explanation' Concepcion had a dislocated shoulder, Trance had a broken bone in her tail from where Sikes had stomped on it and all three girls were bruised. As Concepcion had said 'nobody says no to Fagin' and with the threat of ending up like Molly hanging over their head the girls followed Fagin's orders.

The girls were still living in their old house but were spending more time in Highport than the entertainment area. They were also playing for higher stakes. The police hadn't come knocking at their door yet but it was obvious from the looks they were getting that the authorities had their suspicions about what they were doing. When they had been petty thieves stealing from visiting spacers the police had been able to wink and look the other way, rationalizing that the girls needed to eat and no one was really getting hurt, but breaking and entering was different. Not only were the girls targeting locals as well as visitors, but there was the chance that someone could get seriously hurt if the inhabitant of the dwelling they were robbing came in at the wrong time. It was only a matter of time before something went disastrously wrong.

The disaster came during the jewel wing convention. The jewel wing was a native Bathshebian animal much like an Earth butterfly. And like the butterfly was often collected, with some specimens being worth tens of thousands of crowns to other collectors. The girls had received a message from Fagin stating that an off planet collector had arrived with his collection and was currently staying in a hotel in Highport, and that Fagin knew someone who would be interested in acquiring the collection. He also stated that that it would be in the girls' best interests if they could acquire the collection for him and that they had best hurry since the visitor would be leaving the spaceport to attend the convention on the northern continent tomorrow. With virtually no time to plan Jenni and Trance decided that they would be the ones that burgled the room.

The hotel room's lock proved no challenge to Trance. She would have had a harder time picking the lock on the house were the girls lived. Within minutes they were in the room, had closed the door and begun looking for the collection. They were so focused on looking that they didn't hear the door open behind them. There first indication that they were no longer alone was when they heard a man's voice say.

"Hold it right there ladies and put your hands where we can see them."

Trance and Jenni spun around to see three hotel security guards in the doorway. Trance froze for a fraction of a second but Jenni didn't hesitate. The only possible way of escape was to go through the guards so she charged at them with Trance a step behind her. Fortunately for the girls the guards weren't armed with anything more lethal than come-alongs and tanglefoot gas sprayers and hadn't drawn the sprayers. The guards soon realized that they should have broken out the tanglefoot spray. Neither girl was a skilled fighter but they were both were strong, healthy and desperate. Two of the guards converged on Trance while the third grabbed Jenni. The guard who was grappling with Jenni made the mistake of bringing one of his hands too close to her mouth and she bit down hard at the same time Trance wrapped her tail around his leg and pulled. With a yelp of pain the guard released Jenni as he struggled and failed to retain his balance. Free from the guard's grasp Jenni used the opportunity to try to pull Trance loose from the grasp of the other two guards. When one of the guards grappling with Trance released his hold on her and tried to grab Jenni, the other girl broke free and ran from the room. The guard tried to follow her only to be tripped up by Trance's tail as it wrapped around his leg. With Jenni loose the guards turned her attention to Trance who seeing the situation was hopeless meekly surrendered.

A short time later Trance was in the port jail where she was booked, and her personal belongings cataloged and confiscated. She was allowed one free call. Rather than risk involving Concepcion in the fiasco she called Fagin, he wasn't in but she left a message. Fortunately the jail wasn't crowded at the moment and she had the holding cell to herself.

About mid-morning the next day the ward matron came by and opened her cell. "You've been released," she said. "There's someone waiting for you in the reception area."

The someone was Fagin. "You're free on bail he explained. The magistrate didn't think you're much of a flight risk. Lets go."

Fagin ignored Trance's thank yous, remaining stonily silent as they climbed into his ground car and drove back to his pawn shop. As soon as they were both inside he locked the door.

"Thank you Fagin," began Trance. "I..."

Whatever else she was going to say was cut off as Fagin slapped her so viciously that it knocked her to the floor.

Chapter 4 Chapter 6