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ONE

Market Station, the Lorezostellar Empire

The year 2450

Rance Conlan prowled his cell like the caged wolf he was, anger boiling through hie, since the cell held only a cot built into the floor and a toilet unit that thrust from the wall Both were stark, white, and rounded, without so much as a sharp corner he could put to bloody use

Not that it s, claws, and two meters of olf muscle at his disposal Trouble was, the slave collar wouldn’t let him shift

One of the new slaves sobbed in her cell on the other side of the bulkhead, her voice thick with despair and aching grief Her tears scraped at Rance’s Freeworlds-bred instinct to protect and co to his frustration, the doorway of his cell lacked either bars or barrier field, creating the illusion that escape was possible

Unfortunately, Rance knew better If he so ony would cripple him

Bloody collar

He glared at the e fury All his life, his nanobot system had provided him with absolute control over his body The ave him the ability to heal any illness, tap superhuth, communicate over vast distances, access any fact he needed to know Even change into so not quite human

On the savage world he called home, a man had to be more than a man to survive

Rance’s nanos had given him that kind of power—until slavers had captured hio The collar they’d locked around his neck had reprogrammed his nanosystem and turned it into the instrument of his enslavee hi red hell

But that wasn’t going to stop him Nanos or no nanos, he’d find a way to escape The traitor who’d handed hi to pay

“Mad Dog!” The voice rang down the corridor, arrogantly nasal The sobbing from the cell next door cut off as if a switch had flipped

Sirl

“Mad Dog, I’ve found a potential buyer” The slaver strutted through the cell doorith two hulking cyborg bodyguards at his heels “An aristo courier looking for a olf bodyguard And you’d better not space the deal, or you’ll curse youryou into hell”