"On your belly," I said. Then I went to her and untied her hands. Quickly she rose to her knees before me. She held my legs and, softly, kissed my left thigh.
"Now that I have had you, and I have decided to keep you about, at least for the time," I said, "we must try to think of some name for you."
"Yes, Master," she said.
"But there is no great hurry in the matter," I said.
"No, Master," she said. For now she would continue nameless. Many times, incidentally, a new girl is not immediately given a name. If one doesn't know if she will work out, or be kept, it is sometimes not thought worth the while to waste a name on her. Similarly, sometimes a master waits a few days to name the slave, to see if an appropriate name, one seemingly right for the girl, suggests itself. Most of the time, of course, it must be admitted, the girl, like a pet sleen, is promptly named. It makes it much more convenient to refer to her, and summon her. The name she is given, of course, is a function of the will of the Master, and names may be changed, as he pleases. Sometimes, for example, a girl may be rewarded with a lovely name, or punished with an ugly one.
"Thank you for my slave rape," she said. "It is how I wished first to be had by you."
"It seemed appropriate for a low slave," I said.
"Yes, Master," she said. "Thank you, Master." I felt her nibbling at the tunic at my thigh, and kissing, softly, through it. I felt the dampness, the wet, from her small, warm mouth, and, too, through the cloth, the movement of her tongue. "Master did not even remove his tunic," she said.
"Do you object, in the least?" I asked.
"No, Master," she said. "I am only a slave."
"To your work," I said, jerking my thumb toward the table.
Startled, she rose swiftly to her feet and went to the table, where she, kneeling down, began to gather together the dishes and stack them.
It pleased me to see her, naked and in my collar, engaged in this necessary and menial labor, fitting for a slave. This also gave me the opportunity I desired, unseen by her, to fetch forth from the chest an object which, long ago, I had purchased for her on the great concourse near the wharves.
I moved quietly behind her, as she knelt, working, at the table, the object, in several loops, held between my hands. I then, with one motion, slung the loops over her head and body, and jerked back, straightening her body, and pinning her arms to her sides. "Chain!" she cried. "Master!" She tensed her body and struggled, but only for an instant. I tightened the chains. She ceased struggling. The chains were tight in her flesh. "Master?" she asked. I then lifted the chains from her, and held them out, before her. "It is beautiful," she said.
She saw now that the chains had been the loops of a single, graceful body chain, sinuous and glossy, closely meshed and dark, ornamented with colorful beads of wood, semiprecious stones and bits of leather. Its full loop is some five feet in length, and it can be wound and looped, and twisted and strung about a woman's body in a variety of intricate fashions. It is light and the closeness of its meshing allows it to follow closely the contours of a woman's body. It is unbreakable. It may be worn with or without clothing. By means of small clips, snap clips or lock clips, it may be used to secure as well as adorn a woman. It is to be worn, of course, only by a slave.
"It is beautiful, my Master!" she said. "Is it mine?"
"It is mine," I said, "as you are. You own nothing. It is you, rather, who are owned."
"Yes, Master," she laughed, "but did you not buy it for me?"
"For you, or for any other slave," I said, lightly.
"I think I am the slave you had in mind," she said.
"Perhaps," I said.
"The first time you ever looked at me, on the campus of the university," she said, "you looked upon me as though I might be a slave."
"I did?" I asked.
"Yes," she said. "Do you think a woman does not know when she is being looked upon as though she might be a slave? We are not stupid, my dear Master. Furthermore, you looked upon me as though I might be your slave."
"I was not, at that time, clearly aware of such things," I said.
"And, in my heart, beneath those ridiculous garments of Earth I then wore, I knew that you were right."
"You would scarcely greet me," I said. "It seemed you would scarcely deign to recognize my existence."
"I was afraid," she said. "Everything was suddenly so different. Can you imagine what it would be for an Earth girl, with all her conditioning, and her education and training, to suddenly recognize that she is a female, and has met her master?"
"Doubtless it would be a troubling insight," I admitted.
"Put the chain on me, Master," she laughed. "I am eager to see how I look in it!"
"Vain slave," I said. Then she stood and I, from behind, looped the chain about her. She hurried to one wall, where there was a full-length mirror, and, turning and posing, and adjusting the chain on herself, she examined herself.
"It is beautiful," she said, turning. "How I pity poor free women who cannot wear such things." Then she looked at herself, frontally, and, skeptically, tilting her head one way and another, experimented with the chain, varying its lines, loopings and tensions. She adjusted it with her small hands with meticulous care and fastidious taste. "I think I would bring a high price," she said, not taking her eyes from the mirror.
"In a market," I said, "you would not be sold in the chain."
"Even so," she said, "if I were a man, I think I might buy me."
I did not respond.
"Of Shirley, Peggy, Lola and myself," she asked, "who is the most beautiful?"
"Most men," I said, "would probably pay most for Shirley, as most men would regard her as the most desirable, if not the most beautiful. Then I would think that Peggy would bring the next highest price, and then Lola, and then you."
"I would be last?" she asked, still looking in the mirror.
"I think so," I said, "clearly."
"But surely some men would find me attractive," she said.
"Of course," I said.
"I think I would bring a good price," she said.
"You might," I said.
"You do not find me unattractive, do you, Master?" she asked, lifting her hands to her head and throwing back her hair, regarding herself.
"You are being kept," I pointed out, "at least for the time."
"You do find me attractive, don't you, Master?" she asked, turning to face me.
"You are not found to be entirely displeasing to my senses," I said.
She swiftly came to where I stood and knelt down before me, and kissed my feet, and then lifted her head, looking at me. "That pleases me, my Master," she said.
I then lifted her to her feet, but did not permit her to press her lips to mine.
"Do you like the chain?" I asked.
"Yes, Master," she said, "it is beautiful."
"It is not expensive," I said. "It is a common piece of slave jewelry."
"Fit for a low slave," she smiled.
"It also has certain features of which you might not be immediately aware," I said.
"Oh!" she said. Then she tried to pull her wrists apart, from behind the back of her body. "I am chained!" she said.
"Yes," I said. With the small clips, using convenient portions of the chain, I had fastened her hands behind her. With the clips, of course, she may be chained by the hands and feet, and waist and neck, in almost any conceivable position.
"I now see why free women do not wear these things," she smiled.
The chain was now secured with snap clips, which are usually perfectly adequate, as the girl, as she is chained, cannot reach or undo the snaps. I had also, however, purchased a set of lock slips, which are useful in some chaining situations or out-of-doors, where, say, one would not wish a stranger to be able to gag the slave, undo the clips and carry her off from where, perhaps, she has been chained to a post. The body chain I had purchased, though efficient, and attractive and sturdy, was not an expensive one. Some such chains, of course, such as those sometimes worn by high slaves, are quite expensive, being of gold and set with such stones as rubies, sapphires and diamonds.