Word was buzzing excitedly through the remote agri-colony of Orion IV, a fleet of Cyber-Gypsies had jumped into system and were heading towards the planet, to land in just a few cycles. None were more excited then Kiara. She begged her parents to let her take the family shuttle to where the fleet was going to land and set up and visit and it wasn’t hard to tell why.

The Cyber-gypsies were fleets of nomadic spacefarers, wandering the endless reaches between inhabited worlds. The cyborg enhancements were necessary to support them during their long sojourns out in the empty voids. They supported their traveling communities in a thousand different ways: conducting minor trade on frontier colonies too small and poor to attract the major intersteller shippers, prospecting uninhabited planetoids and asteroid fields. Some said they were criminals, stealing from the planets they visited and were connected with smuggling rings, pirates and slavers. But the thing they were most know for was entertaining isolated colonists starved for new and unusual things on their tiny, boring worlds.

That was what piqued Kiara’s interest. She couldn’t imagine any existence less interesting and filled with drudgery then growing up on an agricolony. Her days were spent monitoring and tending the remotes which worked the endless fields of identical crops, only broken up by the occasional social event held by another family within shuttle distance or the annual festivals held during harvesting season when the big grain freighters arrived to collect the years produce and the farmers found themselves flush with spending cash for once. In that, the Cybergypsies had timed things well. The harvest had been less then a dozen cycles ago and many people still had loose credits they could be easily seperated from.    

But what most interested Kiara was just the idea of their nomadic existence, traveling from place to place, seeing a new world, meeting new people every cycle, instead of the same boring farmhouse, the same boring neighbors and their boring farm-boy sons and their awkward attempts at courting.  

To her absolute delight, her parents gave their permission and in a few days she and a few of her friends were skimming over the rolling fields in Kaira’s father’s shuttle. Suddenly, they crested a hill and the Cyber-gypsies’ fleet came into sight. There were about a dozen or so ships, arranged in a semi-circle across an open plain. They ranged from small tramp freighters and tugs, big enough to hold one or two families to large freighters and passenger ships that could comfortably carry hundreds across the stars.

In the center of this half-ring, the nomads had unloaded their crafts, setting up a wide assortment of tents, pavilions, even some pre-fab buildings, all brightly colored and decorated. As the shuttle flew over, heading towards a nearby spot where other locals had parked their own cars, Kiara could see a large crowd moving between the different tents and stalls and huts.

The Cybergypsy camp was everything Kiara had hoped for and more. She and her friends ran eagerly from place to place, everywhere surrounded by a riotous display of sights and sounds and smells, like nothing they’d ever seen before in their young lives. One building showed off a display of plants and corals and crystals and all other manner of natural phenomena collected from a dozen stellar systems, (entrance 2 credits each). A stall sold brightly colored clothes and jewelry and other items, all hand made and beautiful, unlike the autofab’ed, skintight and oh so practical jumpsuit Kiara was wearing. From another half dozen stalls, a bewildering array of mouthwatering smells wafted, advertising foods and drinks and spices from many different worlds. Kiara had to force herself to hold off, otherwise she’d have thrown away the handful of credits she’d, luckily, saved from her allowance within the first ten minutes.

She did toss a credit to a lovely musician playing an instrument she couldn’t begin to identify but sounded wonderful and another to someone claiming to be a Jungaria from the Typhos-rift. If they weren’t, they’d done an amazing job getting just the right shade of blue, flecked with gold for the skin and their second set of arms were wonderful roboprosthetics, looking completely natural as they weaved with the other arms, keeping a swarm of brightly colored juggling balls in the air.

It was Kiara’s best friend, Sitham who spotted the prefab building, tucked between two other merchant’s stalls. Outside, a holographic sign displayed a large, stylized eye, rotating gently and flickering every now and again.

“Hey! Let’s go get our fortunes told!” She said, the rest of the girls eagerly agreeing to the proposal. Giggling with excitement, they ran to the door and went in. On the other side, they found themselves in some sort of waiting room. It was decorated in an odd style, with drapes and strange ornaments here and there. Scattered around the floor were piles of cushions, evidently for those waiting. The air was heady with some strange fragrance while a low, mournful song played in the air.  

“Welcome...those who would seek the wisdom of the Cybergypsies.” A melodious voice called from the other side of a beaded curtain. “Make yourselves comfortable and ponder the questions you wish to see answered...”

Eagerly, Sitham ran forward, throwing the beads aside as she darted through. The other girls took their seats, chatting in low voices with one another as they decided what each of them wanted to ask the cybergypsy. Would the next harvest be a good one? Would they marry the cute boy on the next farm over? Would their application to the star academy be approved?

Finally, after a few minutes, they heard the woman on the other side of the curtain call out “Who will be first may enter!” Sitham jumped to her feet and made straight for the curtain, throwing the beads aside as she darted through. Kiara leaned towards it, but try as she might, she couldn’t hear anything on the other side, though she was certain in a building this small, her friend could only be a few feet away with only a thin screen of beads and sheer cloth between them. A clever trick…

Not ten minutes later, the gypsy again called, beckoning another of the girls through. She did, though Sitham did not come back out. The remaining girls waited another five or ten minutes. Kiara’s head swam a bit, unused to the odd musk of smell filling the small room. When the gypsy called next, she got up and went through.

Kiara’s first thought on entering was surprise at how young the cybergypsy looked. From holovids and such, she’d gotten the impression that such fortune tellers tended to be elderly crones, stooped over with the burden of their many years and the weight of the knowledge they held.

This one...well didn’t look all that much older then Kiara did, a tall slender young woman with dark skin and dark hair, dressed in a black top and scarlet skirt. One of her arms was robotic and a glowing green visor covered her eyes. Those were the visible cybernetic enhancements, though what lay underneath her clothing Kiara could only guess at. She was seated at a small hovering table, opposite an empty seat which she beckoned Kiara to take. Awkwardly, the young farmgirl did so.

“Welcome Kiara...” The Cybergypsy said, evoking a gasp from her visitor.

“How did you know that?” Kiara asked.

“I know much and can tell you much...” The other woman replied, letting her voice trail off slightly. There was an awkward pause before Kiara got the hint. She drew out a handful of credits and counted them out until the other woman seemed satisfied.

“Now...” The cybergypsy spoke up. “Let us see what the energies of the universe have planned for you...” She extended a hand, holding it out palm up. Tiny hologenerators were built into the palm and each fingertip and they lit up now, combining into a display of swirmling, glimmering lights. Kiara cooed softly, watching the beautiful light show. She leaned forward, elbows on the table, mesmerized.

Pretty as it was, the display didn’t hold any sort of meaning to Kiara. But it seemed to for the cybergypsy. Her visor lit up, flashing green as she leaned her head forward as well, peering into the roiling mists of the ball of light.

“I foresee travel in your future, a voyage to faraway places...” The Cybergypsy said in a singsong voice.

“How did she know that?” Kiara wondered. If she’d had a chance to give it some thought, she might have realized the waiting room must have been bugged somehow. The other woman had been listening in on Kiara and her friends talking. But at that moment, in the strange and fantastical room, filled with the atmosphere of mystic knowledge, Kiara was ready to believe everything the other woman was telling her was secret knowledge, drawn by lost art from the very essence of the cosmos.

“Yesss...a long, long voyage. You will see many new things...strange things...things beyond your wildest imaginings...”

“When will I take this voyage?” Kiara asked, mumbling the words. The scent of the incense was thick now, clouding her head. She gazed deeply into the light show flickering in front of her eyes. She was finding it hard to keep focused, her thoughts stumbling over each other in her head, distracted by the words of the cybergypsy and the dazzling lights.

“Sooonnn...very sooonn...” The other woman said in a low low voice, almost whispering in Kiara’s ear. She grinned, noting the half-lidded eyes and vacant look in her eyes.

For Kiara, the rest of the session passed in a blur. The cybergypsy continued to speak, but is all ran together into a stream of unintelligable, but lovely singsong. The lights continued to fance in her eyes. Then, she found herself getting up from the table. As if sleepwalking, she followed the cybergypsy to the otherside of the room and a small door, hidden behind a curtain.

On the other side, in a room smaller and unfurnished unlike the waiting room they’d come from, Sitham and Kiara’s other friend were waiting, standing against one wall. They both had vacant looks on their faces as well, dazed smiles as they gazed at something invisible just in front of them.

Kiara was stood beside Sitham. The cybergypsy raised her mechanical hand up, waving the light show in front of the three girls’ faces. When she turned and walked out of the room, closing the door behind her, the lights remained, shimmering just in front of Kiara’s face.

There, they waited, a minute, then two, then three. From time to time, Kiara would get the vague feeling that she should go somewhere...do something. But the thought quickly slipped out of her mind, and she’d watch the lights some more. The lights started to fade somewhat after a while, Kiara’s head began to clear…

But before that happened, the cybergypsy came back in, leading another friend, with the same blank expression. Once again, the light display was held up to Kiara’s eyes. She slipped back into the dull stupor as before.

When the last of the girls had been brought in, the cybergypsy now led all of them in a line out of the building. Like a dream, the world seemed to blur around Kiara. She walked out of the cybergypsy’s hut and through the crowded fair, coming to some stand with a large arch and beyond one of the migrant ships…

“Got a couple more passengers for you! For the long voyage” The cybergypsy said, her words briefly stirring Kiara from her daze. She thought she should say something, that she couldn’t go on any trip, much as she’d love to. She was expected back at her parents farm with the shuttle before sundown… But for whatever reason, she just couldn’t bring herself to speak up.

“Good job. Go round us up some more customers quick. We’ll be taking off soon enough...” A man said. Kiara felt someone with strong, cold, metal hands take hold of her, practically lifting her off her feet. Nearby, the rest of the girls were likewise swept up and carried through the archway and up a ramp into the ship. Things blurred for Kiara again, she had no sense of where she was being taken.

When she next regained her senses, she was shocked to find herself in a narrow, metal alcove. Her back was pressed against the wall. Tight metal bands circled her upper arms, her wrists, her ankles, her waist, locking her in place. She was shocked to find her jumpsuit had somehow been removed, though she wasn’t completely naked. Two metal cups covered the tips of her large, round breasts, while a third, larger metal piece was slipped between her legs, covering her crotch. The latter incorporated a pair of hard plugs which were slipped, uncomfortably, into the young woman.

“Mmmppphh!!!” Kiara grunted in shock and horror at the situation she found herself in. As she breathed in to scream, the air had an unpleasant, rubbery tang. A face mask, incorporating some sort of rubber plug gag, covered the young woman’s mouth and nose. A hose ran from the front to a panel on the side of her alcove.

Kiara’s heart raced, helping to overcome what was left of the drugged incense and cyber-hypnosis. Not that it helped much. Squirm as she did, she remained a trapped captive. From her present vantage point, all she could see a small slice of a starship corridor, plain and utilitarian metal walls and mesh flooring and directly across from her a panel, like to a small cargo container. A sign on it read “To Saturn Station 2– One Way.” From the sounds of movement and muffled cries of fright, Kiara guessed she wasn’t the only girl to find herself in this predicament. Someone, several someones, were likewise prisoners nearby.

“What’s going on? What are they doing with us?” She thought, fear rising. Even with as sheltered an upbringing as she had, Kiara had heard about the pirates and intergalactic slavers, who snatched innocent colonists and starfarers, to be sold in black markets for all sorts of horrid purposes. Could she have fallen into the clutches of slavers? Kiara squirmed and struggled with all her strength, but the steel bands holding her in place were unyielding.

After a minute, she heard footsteps coming up the corridor. She whimpered in fright as she heard them talking. “Got a good load of… ‘passengers’ for this haul. Should be a profitable trip.” A voice said.

“yeah...but we won’t be heading back to this planet anytime soon. Oh well, not much profit here apart from these.” Another answered.  

“So, we ready to take off then?” The first spoke again.

“Just about...Hand me a few more screws. I just need to seal up these last two...” A second later, a shadow fell across Kiara’s alcove. She cringed, seeing a tall, burly man standing over her. His metallic arms and the blank, robotic face mask covering his visage clearly marked him as a cybergypsy. He reached out with one of those metal hands into the alcove, towards Kiara. She cringed, shrinking back as far as her steel shackles allowed…

But he reached past her, to the small panel her face mask was attached to and flipped a switch. There was a quiet hiss and a moment later the air she was breathing took on a faint chemical whiff, almost lost amongst the sharp taste of rubber. Almost immediately, Kiara began to grow woozy again. It became hard to keep her head from drooping forward.

As she struggled to stay away, she saw the slaver lift up a metal plate into place, covering her alcove completely. She was plunged into complete darkness. Just before she slipped away, she heard the sounds of the hatch being screwed shut, sealing her in. Then she drifted off, sleeping through the long voyage to her destination, and the new life that awaited her there...