(Note #1: All comments and constructive criticisms are welcome and appreciated.

Note #2: Those of you wishing for a quick story to wank to will want to look elsewhere. Although chapter  7, chapters 9 to 12 and chapter 16 of this story featured the characters fooling around, the next few chapters won’t see anybody getting their freak on. If you want to skip ahead, the sexual shenanigans will commence again in Chapter 20.

Note #3: The first and last illustration in this chapter were created by Faith Desky. The second and fourth are by the Imagineart AI Art Generator and the third is by the Pretty Perchance AI Art Generator.

Note #4: And finally, thanks to volunteer Literotica editor TheNyxianLily for her help with editing.)

It was a few days after Calley had first gone out dancing that she got to meet the five men who often accompanied Daznee, Yutag and Mix on their evening romps. All were in their early to mid-twenties. They were an eclectic and rambunctious group of guys.

The oldest, at 25, was Spiroo. He was a professional gambler who was an expert at various card games played in the system’s gambling halls. Like Daznee and Yutag, he was an immigrant, having only been in-system for a few cycles. He was about the same height as Mix, 170 centimeters maybe, though his complexion was more akin to Yutag’s pallor. As he wasn’t a Kutalan like her, he had no dark pigmentation under his eyes. He explained that he was more active at night which was why his skin was so pale. But it was his eyes that gave away how he made his living. They were deep blue, always observing people like he was trying to read their expressions for information he could exploit. He had his blond hair cut in a feathered style Calley found a little effeminate but Daznee insisted was very fashionable for young men. He commanded his fair share of attention from the ladies at clubs they went to, but never seemed interested in any save for Calley and her friends.

If Spiroo always looked his best, Deltai was always looking tired and a little disheveled. He was a man of Calley’s height who worked for the system’s holo-vid network, helping to produce some of its shows. Mix and Daznee were always trying to get him to gossip about the holo-vid stars he usually wrangled. He always insisted his stories were too boring, but would follow up that insistence with wild anecdotes about the stars’ unhinged behavior. He was the member of the group Calley saw the least as he worked long hours and his work schedule was chaotic. But when he was there, he seemed the most in need of blowing off steam. This was perhaps why, despite being slightly heavy-set with thinning brown hair and a worn look on his face most of the time, he was a whirling dervish on the dance floor.

Vijjah was a full two meters in height, looking like a hulking brute. He was a low-ranking patrolman in the system’s security forces and kept himself in tip-top shape. He was a bald, brown-skinned man with dark grey eyes and a nose that looked to have been broken sometime in the past. Calley offered to reset it but he told her he liked how it made him look. He was a very sardonic man who didn’t speak as much as the others but always landed a good verbal jab when he did. He favoured tight outfits that showed off his impressive arms, usually clad in short-sleeved shirts. Like with Spiroo, the female club-goers took notice of him on the dance floor. He seemed to enjoy the attention, which irritated Yutag. She was possessive of all the men in their group when it came to women outside the quartet, but it showed the most when one approached Vijjah.

Mitchewl was another member of the militia, a pilot in the space corps. He was a red-headed man with a slight build, green eyes and a short haircut. He engaged in a lot of good-natured ribbing with Vijjah due to the different branches of the militia they served in. The bigger man called him a “plasma-jockey” and the pilot called his friend a “dust-breather”. Despite this, they were obviously close companions. It turned out Mitchewl had met Calley before, being one of the pilots who had escorted the Ravenfang to the Command One station. He’d commented, upon meeting her again, that she looked good in her robe. Calley reminded herself not to be so casually dressed when approaching her destinations in future.

The final member of the group was Pyerick, the youngest, having recently celebrated his twentieth birthday. Like Calley, he looked young and was frequently asked to prove his age when frequenting a new club. He had black hair, red eyes and tan skin like Mix. He didn’t have patterns drawn on his face or hands like she did though. Calley learned that the patterns were an affectation specific to unmarried women of their culture. He was studying history and political science at what he insisted was the system’s best university. He only stood 160 centimeters tall but made up in energy what he lacked in height. He was always the first on the dance floor and the last to leave it. When not dancing, he was a chatterbox, always with interesting stories about some historical event, person or place.

It was a trivial bit of such knowledge that endeared the young man to Alezanna and Sal. About a week after the crew had arrived in-system, Pyerick had come to the Command One hanger to give Calley a ride to the group’s chosen hang-out for the evening. While aboard the Ravenfang, the academic asked the captain where he’d found such a splendidly-maintained Ferrella Starchaser. When Sal asked him what he meant, Pyerick explained that he’d recognized the vessel as a Starchaser-class interceptor from the Ferrella Corporation. He further expounded that Ferrella was a company that was known mainly for making gravmobiles but had dipped its toe into military shipbuilding a century ago. According to the young man, the Starchaser had not sold well so the company had abandoned the market.

All of this was news to the three spacers. Alezanna immediately looked the Starchaser up on the holo-net and found the schematics for the ship. This thrilled her as it answered some maintenance questions she’d always had about the ship. Before Pyerick and Calley left for the evening, the Bellixan planted a long kiss on the young man’s lips in gratitude. For the rest of the evening, he was walking on air. Calley made it a point to mention the kiss to the rest of the boys that evening, and they all, having met Alezanna, were quite impressed.

The weeks that followed turned into a familiar pattern for the Gynapsi. She would spend her days fixing up the Ravenfang, her evenings with her new friends and her nights back on the ship. She and her crewmates continued to make love before going to sleep, though their encounters were shorter due to general weariness. Alezanna had finished the dresses for the Madzens and was spending her days taking charge of repairing the ship. As for Sal, he was continuing trade negotiations with the Palsidians, never sure if he was making progress or not.

Calley’s sex life did not include anyone from the group she went clubbing with. The men all flirted with her and she quickly got the hang of flirting right back at them. She didn’t flirt with the women. Not because she wouldn’t have been interested, but because the three seemed to have their hands full with the men. When the nine friends were all together at a club, each woman would pair up with one man as a dance partner for the evening, with two men (usually Vijjah and Mitchewl) engaging in a harmless rivalry for the same woman’s attention. As Calley was the new member of the group, she’d often be the one being fussed over. If it wasn’t her, then it would be the man-crazy Yutag. The small woman was always playfully stirring things up among the men to get attention. Calley learned a lot about flirting just from watching her.

Daznee and Mix could be flirtatious as well, but far less so than the Kutalan. They seemed more relaxed in their interactions with the men, less hungry for attention than their diminutive companion. Mix was affectionate with whomever she was cozying up to for the evening, a little free with her hands. Daznee was a little more imperious, verbally sparring with her partner for the evening as if to make him prove he was worthy of her presence. She wasn’t obnoxious about it, but there was no question, when all were together, that she was the leader of the group.

Calley did notice that on some nights, it seemed some of the couples were going to be more than dance partners for the evening. Yutag was not discreet when it came to letting one of the men take her home. As a matter of fact, she seemed to do it most of the nights they were out. The dark-haired woman herself joked that she spent so many nights away from her domicile that she sometimes forgot where it was. Mix wasn’t quite as boastful as her smaller friend. In her case, it was more a lack of concern that made her speak openly about her plan to bed one of the men in the group. Daznee, on the other hand, never spoke openly about her choice of lover for the evening. Calley simply realized that whichever one of the guys she was dancing with that evening was going to share her bed later on.

There seemed to be no jealousy or serious rivalries in the group. The five men and three women would exchange companions, be they dance partners or bedmates, like it was no big deal. And indeed, to them, it wasn’t. Calley wondered how this understanding had developed between them all. She’d always assumed most people were monogamous, yet neither her friends or shipmates seemed to be.

As for herself, she had never given much thought about it. She’d been single for so long that she hadn’t thought about being in a relationship, let alone several at once. Now, she saw no harm in it. She was vary happy with Sal and Alezanna. Her friends seemed to be happy with their own situation as well. But Calley didn’t consider sleeping with the men she went dancing with. She liked them fine, but when it came to choosing between a night with one of them versus a night with her shipmates, the latter won out every time. It was simply a case where she liked the guys, but she loved her crewmates. She was always looking forward to their nights in bed together.

However, things did eventually change between the spacer and her Rangxu friends. It all started during the fifth week of the Ravenfang’s overhaul. Calley had once again spent the day working on repairs alongside Alezanna. Since the power and communications systems were now repaired (and the station’s anti-incendiary robots had stopped hovering over the damaged vessel), the mechtech was teaching Calley the finer points of engine maintenance. After the end of the afternoon, Mix came by to meet Calley and bring her up to the executive hanger. Yutag and Daznee were already waiting for them in the Vottonian’s shuttle when they got there.

Calley asked Daznee, ”So where are we going this evening?” It was always the social secretary who decided the group’s destination.

Before Daznee could say anything, Yutag told her, “Before you decide, Daz, I’ll point out that tonight’s the last night of the sub-cycle. And it’s been a while since we went to see Janite.”

“Oh my Gods!” Mix exclaimed. “It’s perfect timing! Tonight’s the night Calley can dance there!”

Daznee frowned as she told her friends, “I dunno, ladies. That kinda dancing might not be Calley’s thing.”

“What kind of dancing? And why can I dance tonight and not other nights at this place?” the spacer asked.

“Strip-tease.” the Vottonian explained. “Our friend Janite’s an exotic dancer. The club she works at has an amateur night at the end of every sub-cycle. It gets a pretty good turn-out ‘cause there’s always women who need starcred to make rent the next day. And there’s always men eager to see new dancers. You get a hundred star credits for dancing to a couple of songs. At the end of the night, the crowd picks the best dancer and she gets an extra two thousand. Sometimes she gets a job offer too if she’s popular enough.”

Calley was surprised at what the women were suggesting. “You think I should do that?”

“Why not?” Yutag answered with a shrug. “We’ve all done it. We went to see Janite dance one night and I got into an argument with a dancer who got too interested in our guys.”

“She was just trying to get them to buy a lapdance, Yutag,” Daznee pointed out.

“Well, anyway, she said I couldn’t cut it as a dancer and I got pissed off,” the Kutalan continued to explain.  “Since amateur night was gonna happen the next night, I decided to go back and show that bitch I was as good as she was. And I did! Won the prize too!”

“And you two danced that night too?” Calley asked.

“Oh no!” Mix answered. “I could never compete against my friends! But after she won that contest, Yutag danced way better when we went to clubs. I saw that she was more liberated, less inhibited.”

“Not a word we usually associate with our girl,” Daznee threw in as she playfully put her hand on the Kutalan’s shoulder and gave her a shake.

“But it’s true,” Yutag said. “After I danced in front of all those guys and proved to everyone that, short or tall, there was no woman better than me that night, I never worried about what I looked like on the dance floor again.”

“So the following sub-cycle,” Mix returned to her story, “I decided to try it out myself. And I had a good time doing it.”

“Did you win the prize too?” Calley asked her.

The tan-skinned woman was almost embarrassed as she answered, “Yes, but it really isn’t that important. I was enriched by the experience more than by the starcred. I think it really helped my dancing after that.”

“You’re being too modest, Mix,” Daznee admonished her friend. “The club’s owner offered you a job after you won. Not only that, but Janite told us the runner-up girl got the job at the club after you turned it down.”

“Well, I only beat her by fifteen votes,” Mix pointed out.

“Doesn’t matter,” Yutag stated. “You beat a woman who went on to turn professional. Shows you got the goods, girlfriend!”

Calley turned to Daznee to ask her, “Did you decide to do it to dance better too?”

The teal-skinned woman shrugged and answered, “Not really. I just felt weird being the only one that hadn’t done it. And I guess I’m a little vain too. I wanted to be appreciated the same way Yutag, Mix and Janite were. Not by our boyfriends. They already show their appreciation just fine. But as stupid as it may sound, I wanted to hear that crowd cheer for me too.”

“And you won the prize too, of course,” Calley said with certainty.

“By twice as many votes then the runner-up,” the green-haired woman said with a smile.

“Your mom must have loved that,” the Gynapsi said and then came to a realization. “Wait a minute! The night we met, when you were getting measured by Alezanna. That was what your mom was talking about when she said you get naked too much!”

“Yeah, she’s still giving me shit whenever she remembers I did it,” Daznee confirmed. “But it was no big deal. Nobody knew I did it except the people in the club. Maybe not something I’d do in an election year, mind you. Anyway, we all did it and we all had fun. If you wanna try it out, tonight’s the night to do it.”

“I dunno…” the copper-haired spacer said as she examined the idea in her mind. “I mean, I could use the starcred, sure. Sal and Alezanna’s work is paying for the repairs and I’d like to contribute my fair share too. A hundred star-credits would help there…”

“And two thousand if the audience likes you best!” Mix reminded her.

“Maybe,” Calley replied. “Do you really think I have a shot?”

“A damn good one,” Yutag answered. “You’ve gotten pretty good at dancing in the last couple a’ weeks. As good as any of us, almost. And you’re pretty cute. Even when we’re not out with our guys, it’s not like you don’t get some male attention. I could see ‘em voting for you in a contest. If you’re not too shy to show off what ya got, that is.”

“It’s all about sharing your beauty with everyone,” Mix added. “And you have a lot to share.”

“Wasn’t expecting to share that much tonight,” the medtech mused. “But if you all did it and liked it, I suppose I can give it my best shot.”

“That’s our girl!” Yutag exclaimed. “All ya gotta do is listen to us and dance like we tell ya! You got three contest winners to coach ya so you’re gonna be a shoo-in! Daznee’s Dilettantes are gonna be four-for-four!

The quartet shared a laugh at Yutag’s name for the group. “Oh no!” Madzen declared. “We are not calling ourselves that! A name like that is tailor-made for the news-vids and I don’t want everything we do to get reported. I don’t wanna be blamed for the trouble you get into, Yutag!”

Mix snickered but then turned a bit more serious as she asked Calley, “Are you going to be okay with the guys coming to see you too? If they come, it’ll be more votes for you, but I’ll understand if you don’t want them there.”

Calley shrugged and told her, “I guess I can use the support. Were they there when you all danced?”

“Not when I did it,” Yutag said. “It was kind of a last-minute decision. Also, we didn’t know Pyerick yet. But the guys saw Mix and Daznee dance. And anyway, they’ve all seen me naked other times.”

There wasn’t a trace of embarrassment or modesty in the Kutalan’s words, which dispelled all doubt from Calley’s mind. “Then it’s settled,” the Gynapsi said. “Let’s call ‘em up and make sure they’re there.”

Daznee nodded and pressed some buttons on the shuttle’s communications panel. A few seconds later, Spiroo’s face appeared on the vid-display. “Good evening, ladies!” he greeted them. “What’s on the schedule for us tonight?”

“Calley’s gonna dance at the Sapphire House,” Daznee informed him.

“Sweet!” came a voice from off-screen which Calley recognized as Pyerick’s.

Daznee continued on with, “Can you round up the rest of the guys? Calley’s gonna need our votes to win the big prize.”

Spiroo smiled as he told her, “I’ll get the word out. They should all be free and I doubt any of ‘em will wanna miss this show. That said,” he added, looking past her at Calley, “I’ll vote for whichever lady puts on the best performance. So you better be the best dancer on that stage tonight, Calley.”

“I’ll vote for you no matter what, Calley, I promise!” the unseen Pyerick declared.

“See you both soon,” said the green-haired woman as she terminated the communication. She then turned her seat around to look Calley over. “Your top’s okay.” she decided. “The dark blue’ll come off as black in the lighting of the club, but that’s okay. It’ll still contrast when you start showing some skin. Pants are okay too. Not too tight to move in but they show off your hips and butt just fine. It’s a good thing you wore your heels tonight. You gonna be okay to dance in ‘em?”

“Sure,” Calley assured her. “I’ve had some practice since you took me shopping.”

“Good,” Daznee declared. “That leaves us with the question of your underwear. You’re not wearing a bra, are you?”

“You know I never do,” the Gynapsi answered.

The three other women all frowned at Calley’s answer. “That’s a problem,” Yutag decided. “The whole point of the strip-tease is the tease. You don’t go out there and flash your goodies right away. You take your time, make the audience anticipate when you’re gonna reveal what ya got. You got anything her size in your wardrobe?” she asked Daznee.

“No, all my bras would be too big on her,” the social planner said.

“I suggest,” Mix added in, “that you dance at the beginning while you pop the buttons on your blouse. One at a time. Start from the bottom and work your way up. When you’re down to the last one, take your time undoing it. Do moves where the audience’ll think the button might pop off on its own. Then, when you’re ready, you pop that last button and whip off your top.”

“Yeah!” Yutag agreed. “Do it all in one motion if ya can. I seen some girls cover ‘em up with hands and arms after they lose their top. But I think that’s lame. When you get topless, be proud of your chest. That’s what I always say.”

“About ­my chest or women’s in general?” Calley asked her.

The four young women all shared a laugh before Daznee told Calley, “Okay, let’s see your panties.”

The medtech stood up and quickly dropped her pants to show she was wearing a pair of light blue underwear. They weren’t particularly sexy, she realized, made of cotton instead of silk or lace. She also had a passing thought that this was the second time in the last few sub-cycles that she’d been asked to show off her underwear in a ship’s cockpit. I seem to be developing a strange habit, she silently told herself. Is this the beginning of a fetish?

“Well, those are okay, I guess,” Daznee said critically. “but I think I can do better than that. Follow me.”

 The four women made their way to the shuttle’s holding area where the socialite kept her entire wardrobe. She went to a particular cabinet and opened various drawers until she found the pair of underwear she was looking for.

“Here we go!” she declared as she pulled out a very skimpy pair of red underwear. There was so little fabric to the garment that Calley almost couldn’t note the colour. “I bought these a while back on a whim. Never wore ‘em. I think they’re what you’ll need tonight.”

“Oh, those are perfect!” Mix exclaimed. “The crowd’ll definitely love ‘em! Put ‘em on, Calley.”

The spacer quickly slipped off her underwear and put Daznee’s pair on. She turned to look at herself in a nearby mirror. She noted how the garment left her asscheeks exposed and barely covered her pubic hair. “Pretty skimpy,” she announced to her friends. “They really don’t leave much to the imagination, do they?”

“No, they don’t,” Daznee agreed. “They show off a lot, but not quite everything. They still cover up your pussy so that it’ll still be exciting when you choose to take ‘em off.”

“But you don’t do that ‘til your second song is nearly over,” Yutag chimed in.

The quartet made their way back to the cockpit where Daznee got the shuttle on its way to its destination for the evening. On the way, Yutag and Mix took turns advising Calley on how to perform on stage. The Kutalan advised her to be aggressive, to not hesitate and always act like she was in control of what was happening. The Rangxuan, for her part, counselled her to let the music and lights guide her along. They disagreed on how to treat the audience. Mix favoured forgetting they were there whereas Yutag was adamant Calley acknowledge and let her dancing specifically excite them.

Meanwhile, Daznee only threw in a comment here and there as she flew the  shuttle through the crowded spacelanes. She didn’t seem to favour either Mix or Yutag’s approach, agreeing with one or the other as the discussion played out. Calley tried to commit as much of it to memory as she could. Not just because she felt her friends were giving her good advice. She also didn’t want to let her nervousness take a hold of her. She caught herself, on a few occasions, wondering why she’d agreed to do a strip-tease in the first place.

Eventually, the ship approached the second inhabited planet in the star system. This was the one the Ravenfang had been near when it had first entered the system. Daznee told her, “This is Ulgawl. The terraforming here didn’t work out too well. You can walk around fine but it’s a hot planet with almost no water. Plenty of mining. Mostly zanzonite, which is why the terraforming got a little wonky, I guess.”

“A planet full of miners, eh?” Calley said. “I’ll have to watch my step.” Despite her wishes, thoughts of Palcon crept into her mind, along with a certain group of miners that had been less than friendly.

The shuttle flew over a desolate landscape of flat terrain until it approached a settlement. It had a spaceport, but it was the smallest and dirtiest one Calley had seen since arriving in the Rangxu system over a sub-cycle ago. It didn’t really bother her, though. It was just that this was her first time travelling to a planet in the system. All the other places her friends had taken her to had been on space stations. She had to admit that, as dry s it might be, it felt nice to breathe natural air again.

The Sapphire House wasn’t near the spaceport, so the four women piled into Daznee’s gravmobile. After exiting the shuttle and locking it up, she deftly drove the ground vehicle through the spaceport’s streets. Once they reached the edge of the settlement, the socialite floored the accelerator and the gravmobile shot forward. Calley was pinned to the forward passenger seat beside her friend.

“The nice thing about this place,” the Vottonian explained to the startled Gynapsi, “is that the terrain is so flat. You can really open up the engine here and not worry about hitting anything.”

“Woo-hoo!” Yutag hollered from the back seat she shared with Mix. “The Four Furies are hitting Ulgawl hard! Hard and fast! Just the way I like it!”

The quartet shared a laugh and all agreed “The Four Furies” was a better name for the group then “Daznee’s Dilettantes”. Calley asked the Kutalan what they should call themselves when the boys were with them. Mix answered “Lucky?” which elicited another round of laughter.

They continued talking and joking as they quickly made their way to an isolated building far from the settlement their shuttle was docked at. The sun was setting over the horizon as the gravmobile slowed down to approach the club. As a spacer, Calley hadn’t seen many sunsets and the beauty of this one impressed her greatly.

The gravmobile was one of many parked near the Sapphire House. Calley thought there must be nearly a hundred lying idle near the club. Mix noticed them too as she declared, “Gods, look at all the gravs! The club must be almost full! I hope the guys can get in when they get here.”

“Always a good turn-out when there’s new dancers on stage,” Daznee said as she led the group to the club’s entrance. The bouncer, a tall, well-built Rangxuan with slicked back dark hair, wasn’t familiar with the four women so he asked Yutag and Calley for their ID. Once he determined they were old enough to enter, the four women did so, though Yutag grumbled at him as she did.

Like the Power Kiss Lounge and many other establishments she’d frequented in the last few weeks, the club’s vestibule contained a weapons check area. Unlike the other clubs’, this one was manned and the weapons scanner near the door leading to the building’s interior clearly active. Calley hadn’t brought along her carbine or tools so there was no reason for the scanner to object to her presence and it didn’t. The only issue was that the attendant, another Rangxuan who looked much like the bouncer outside, wanted a ten-credit cover charge before she could go in. Daznee informed the man Calley was going to dance tonight so the fee was waived for her, though the other three women had to pay.

With the heavy metal door sliding open for her, Calley walked into the main room of the Sapphire House. There was a long bar along the right side of the club, this one manned by actual bartenders instead of robotic ones. Along the left wall was a slightly raised area with small tables surrounded by comfortable chairs. The main floor had plenty of similar furnishings but was dominated by the stage. It looked like a fashion runway like the ones Calley had seen in countless holo-vids. It started at the back wall of the room and extended about seventy meters into its centre. It was about two meters wide, save at it’s centre. The centre was a circular area with a circumference of about eight meters. If Calley doubted that was the main dancing area, the metal pole that extended from the stage to the ceiling above convinced her. The entire stage was almost a meter higher than the floor. The Gynapsi saw a large set of doors along the far wall which she realized must be how the dancers accessed the stage.

The floor was full of people, the vast majority of whom were men. There were a few tables with women around them, but more women were wandering around the club acting as wait staff for the patrons. They were easy to spot, as they were all scantily-clad and in excellent shape. There was no set uniform for them, but all were wearing short tops that didn’t cover their navels along with short pants of various lengths, though none reached the women’s knees. They all seemed to be coming and going to the bar or to an arch on the left side of the far wall. Calley assumed that must be where the kitchen was. There was a similar arch on the right side of the far wall, past the bar.

The walls had many neon light designs but they didn’t provide much illumination. Indeed, the entire club was dimly lit, with what little light there was being reflected off the stage or coming from overhead. Over the noise of the crowd and the low synth music playing, Calley heard Pyerick’s voice shout out, “Over here, girls!” The women navigated themselves in the shout’s direction until they found their five friends sitting at two tables they’d moved together. Mix and Yutag sat in two of the three empty chairs while everyone exchanged greetings. Calley and Daznee remained standing.

“I’m surprized you beat us here,” Daznee told Spiroo.

“You were on Command One, right?” the gambler asked her. Without waiting for a response, he continued on. “I was with Pyerick over on his school’s station. So we didn’t have to travel as far to get here. We picked up Deltai along the way and met our militia guys at the spaceport.” He nodded his head towards Vijjah and Mitchewl.

“We were both assigned to duties not too far away,” Mitchewl informed the ladies. “I managed to cram this brute into my fighter’s spare seat, and he commandeered a transport the five of us could use to get from the spaceport to here.”

“No big deal,” Vijjah said in his rumbling voice. “Patrolmen can commandeer military vehicles if they need to. And this one decided he needed to see this lady dance tonight.” He flashed a big smile as the group showed their amusement.

“Well, we better get this lady signed up, then,” said Daznee as she pulled Calley away from the group.

“Good luck Calley!” Mix said as the two women started to move away from the table.

“You’re supposed to say ‘break a leg’, dummy!” Yutag admonished her friend.

“Oh! Okay, break all their legs, Calley!” the Rangxuan shouted after the departing duo. Calley heard all her friends break into laughter at this.

Daznee led the medtech through the club’s packed floor to the archway near the bar. As they approached it, Calley saw a beautiful woman holding a large datapad. It was obvious she worked for the club, though she was dressed differently than the wait staff. They all favoured sensible shoes whereas she was wearing long black high-heeled boots. Her legs were encased in fishnet stockings that reached all the way up to her hip hugging bottoms. Her midriff was bare, and her breasts were covered by a white tank top. This contrasted with the formal long-tailed jacket she was wearing. She was very attractive, with a small button nose, blonde hair and green eyes like Calley’s. The medtech sincerely hoped she wasn’t dancing tonight because if she was, Calley’s chances of winning the big prize were in serious jeopardy.

“Hi, Janite!” Daznee greeted the woman once she and Calley were close enough not to have to shout to be heard.

The woman looked up from her datapad and gave the social planner both a smile and a hug. “Daznee!” she said with mild surprise. “How you been keeping, girl?”

“Pretty good! You look great! It’s been too long since you hung around with the gang, Janite.”

“I’m busy the nights you go out, honey. I’m the master of ceremonies in this place now. Still dance sometimes too. We just have different schedules. Are Mix and Yutag with you?” she asked as she looked over Daznee’s shoulder to scan the crowd behind her.

“We’re all on the other side of the stage. The guys are here too. You should come over and say hi when you get a chance.”

“Sure, but later. Right now I’m putting together the dancers for tonight.”

“About that…” the governor’s daughter said as she turned to introduce her new friend. “This is Calley. She wants to dance tonight.”

Calley stepped forward and produced her datapad with her skillsheet called up. Janite took it and looked it over. “Nice to meet you, Calley. Not a professional, I see. Good. Tonight’s strictly for amateurs. We don’t even let prize winners from other nights dance again. Well, not on Amateur Night anyway. You planning on starting a new career or doing this for kicks?”

“For fun, I guess.”

“That’s good, ‘cause I’m pretty sure medtechs make more starcred than dancers,” the taller woman informed her. She handed Calley’s datapad to Daznee. “No electronics backstage. Some of the girls used to get their boyfriends to scan the earlier dancers so they could know and copy what the other girls did. So now we ban ‘em until the show’s over. That gonna be a problem for you?”

“No, that’s fine. Nice to see everybody gets a fair shot.”

“You make it on looks and talent. Once you’re backstage, you stay there until it’s your turn to dance. When you’re done, you go backstage again until the end of the show. Then everybody comes onstage again and we announce who won. You got that?”

Calley nodded and the blonde dancer asked her, “You wanna dance under your own name or do you have another one?”

“A dancer name?” Calley asked.

“Yeah, like ‘Stardust’. It’s what Janite dances under,” Daznee told her.

“It’s ‘Lady Stardust’ these days,” Janite corrected her. “I’m moving up in the stripper hierarchy. Someday, they might even call me ‘Dame Stardust’ if I keep at it long enough. And isn’t that something to aspire to?” she said sardonically.

Daznee and Janite both chuckled but Calley was remembering how beautiful she’d found the vision of the sun setting on the flat horizon of Ulgawl on the way here. “Can I call myself ‘Sunset’?” she asked the veteran dancer.

“Hey, that’s not bad!” the blonde said approvingly. “Simple, classy, easy to remember. Good choice Calley. Now, you gotta dance to two songs. What are they gonna be?”

“Well, I was wondering if I could dance instead to just one long one. ‘One Sweet Ride’ by The Blue Breadmen. It’s an older song but—”

“Yeah, I know it,” Janite interrupted her. “Not really one I’d dance to, personally, but not a bad choice, I guess.” She looked it up on her datapad and announced, “Eight minutes and thirty-seven seconds.  Yeah, that’s long enough. And we’ve got it in our music library.” She typed into her datapad as she said, “Sunset dancing to ‘One Sweet Ride’. Okay, go inside. I’ll see if I can get one more dancer to make it an even twenty for the night. I’ll be along with the dancer list so you’ll know when it’s your turn in about ten minutes. We randomize the order the girls dance in. Keeps some people from getting here early and leaving after their favourite finishes up.”

Daznee hugged Calley and told her, “You’ll do great! Break all their legs!”

This last remark earned the Vottonian a raised eyebrow from Janite, who didn’t understand it. Daznee left to return to their friends so Calley stepped through the archway and followed the short hallway to the dressing room. Inside, she found eighteen women trying to keep themselves busy. A few were sitting in front of the mirrored far wall doing their makeup. Others were standing and stretching or pacing nervously. Very few were talking to one another. This didn’t surprise Calley, as they were all competing against one another for the night’s big prize. She also assumed that these women were all dancing at the club for the first time. It turned out she wasn’t completely right. A few of the women were talking amongst themselves and Calley overheard them discuss how they’d competed before and lost. It seemed there was no rule preventing women from competing on Amateur Night repeatedly, so long as they hadn’t won yet.

Soon, Janite entered the room escorting a nervous-looking woman not much taller than Calley. “Okay ladies,” she announced, “here’s the order you’ll be on stage tonight. Eerika, you’re first. You go on in five  minutes. Everybody else, check the list. No leaving this room except when it’s your turn to dance. Anybody caught peeking at another girl’s performance gets disqualified.”

The women all made their way to the front wall where Janite had posted the dance order. Calley saw she’d be the eighth one. She wasn’t sure if this was a good or bad thing and decided not to think about it.

She spent the next hour watching other women get called when it was their turn. When they returned, most were nude except for their shoes. One came in still wearing a pair of underwear and cursing herself for having forgotten to remove them. Most of the women seemed glad that they’d finished for the night and appeared much more relaxed than before. Some of the ones who’d yet to be called asked the ones who had what it was like out there. They all agreed it was hot under the lights and that the crowd wasn’t making much noise. A few mentioned knowing where their boyfriends or husbands were in the crowd and “aiming” their performance in their direction.

Finally, Janite entered and called for Sunset. Calley followed her up a small flight of stairs to a platform behind the stage doors. The blonde pointed the Gynapsi to a spot and told her to wait there until the last girl finished up. She then stood a meter behind the doors and told Calley that once the dancer left the stage, Janite would go out to introduce Calley and that when she did, the copper-haired woman should take her place behind the doors. Once they’d open again, she was told, Janite would step inside, Calley’s song would start and it’d be time to go on.

About a minute later, the doors opened and a full-bodied woman stepped inside from the stage. Aside from a pair of low-platform shoes, all she was wearing was a pair of tassels on her nipples. Calley heard applause coming from the crowd as Janite stepped through the opening and the doors closed behind her. Calley moved herself to Janite’s vacated spot and took a deep breath as she waited for the doors to open again.

NEXT CHAPTER: Calley shakes her starcredmaker.