"A gas was then entered into the box," she said. "I tried to struggle. A man'sfoot held me in place. I lost consciousness I awakened, I do not know how muchlater, in a grassy field on this world, chained by the neck with other girls."
"Interesting," I said. "I do not know, but you may have been stored for a fewdays, perhaps even a few weeks."
"Stored?" she asked.
"Yes," I said, "perhaps hibernated. Then, when the order was complete, it couldhave been shipped in its entirety."
"You speak of me as though I might be an object," she said, "a mere commodity."
"You are," I said.
"Yes, Master," she said.
I thrust the slave tunic up and then, pulling her to a sitting position, Ipulled it off, her arms rising, over her head.
"Do you object?" I inquired.
"No, Master," she said. "I may not object. I am a slave."
I cast the scanty garment to the side, on the grass.
"Lie down," I told her, "on your back, with your arms at sides, the palms ofyour hands up, facing the moons of Gor."
"Yes, Master," she said.
"Lift your left knee, slightly," I told her.
"Yes, Master," she said.
I stood and looked down at her.
"I now lie exposed before you, as a slave, Master," she said.
"Is that fitting and proper?" I inquired.
"Yes, Master," she said.
"Why?" I asked.
"Because I am a slave," she said.
"The answer is correct, and suitable," I said.
"Yes, Master," she said.
"Are you a new slave?" I asked.
"Yes, Master," she said.
"That is incorrect," I said.
"Master?" she asked.
"The only sense in which you are a new slave," I said, "is that it has not beenlong since your legal imbondment."
"Master?" she asked.
"For years, you have been a slave," I said, "only one who was not yet properlyowned, a technicality recently remedied on Gor."
She looked up at me.
"This is what, implicitly, in effect, your aunt was recognizing," I said,"though perhaps not fully consciously. It seems to have been recognized evenmore clearly by your former superior, the female executive. She dressed you, andtreated you, did she not, as, in effect, a slave?"
"Yes," said the girl, angrily.
"I think," I said, "in spite of other possible considerations and advantageswhich might have been involved in her behavior attitudes, she was trying to bekind to you, trying make it clear to you what you were, trying to encourage youto be true to your own nature."
"Perhaps!" said the girl, angrily.
"You like pretty clothes, do you not," I asked, "and like to be attractive tomen."
"Yes!" she said.
"On Gor," I said, "as opposed to your world, It is customary to enslave slaves."
She looked up at me, angrily.
"On Gor," I asked, "have you been branded, and enslaved."
"Yes, Master," she said.
"Why?" I asked.
"Because I am a slave?" she asked. "Yes," I said.
She turned her head, angrily, to the side.
I looked down at her. She was exquisitely beautiful. I did not doubt but thatGrunt could get five hides of the yellow kailiauk for her.
"Look at me, Slave," I said.
She regarded me, quickly. "Yes, Master," she said.
"Slaves such as you, on Earth," I said, "not legally imbonded, often use theirbeauty to their own advantage. It opens doors. It smoothes ways. It makes thingseasy for them. They use it to further careers, to buy wealth, and to belittleother women."
"Yes, Master?" she whispered.
"But here, on Gor," I said, "Things are quite different."
"Yes, Master," she said.
"Here, on Gor," I said, "your beauty is owned, and fully, as are you."
"Yes Master," she said.
"To whom does your beauty belong, on Gor?" I asked.
"To the master," she said.
"Yes," I said, "and it is he, not you, my dear, who will decide what is to bedone with it, fully, and how it is to be used."
"Yes, Master," she said.
"Your palms," I said, "have them facing upward, to the moons of Gor."
"Yes, Master," she said.
"Have you had your slave wine?" I asked.
"Ginger, one of my Mistresses," she said, "forced me to drink a bitter beverageby that name."
"Why has your Master, Grunt, sent you to my blankets?" I asked. "Why has hehimself not seen fit to open your slave's body to the pleasures of men?"
"I do not know, Master," she said.
I crouched down beside the naked body of the former Miss MillicentAubrey-Welles, who had been a debutante, now that of a mere slave, supine on myblankets.
"What are the duties of a slave?" I asked.
"They are complex, and manifold, Master," she said.
"Speak generally," I said.
"We are to be absolutely docile," she said, "totally obedient and fullypleasing."
"Are there any qualifications to that?" I asked.
"No, Master," she said, "There are no qualifications. We are slaves.
"And are you prepared to fulfill the duties of a slave?" I asked.
"Yes, Master," she said, "and I must, Master, for I am a slave.
"The answers are correct, and suitable, Slave," I said.
"Thank you Master," she said.
"I am to take your virginity," I said. "You understand that?"
"Yes, Master," she said.
"Would you prefer that your virginity would have been taken from you while youwere a free woman?" I asked.
"No," she said, "rather as a will-less slave, as I am now subject to thedecision and imperious will of a strong master."
I held my hand, opened, a bit above her left breast. She arched her back,pressing that marvelous, lush contour of her enslaved softness against my hand.
I did not move my hand. She lay back, tears in her eyes. "You well know how tohumiliate a slave, Master," she said. I smiled. The test had been an interestingone.
"Do you think, in time, you will prove to be a hot slave?" I asked.
"Hot?" she asked.
"Yes," I said, "responsive, sexually vital, owned, helplessly and uncontrollablypassionate."
"I do not know, Master," she said. "What if I do not?"
"Then you will presumably be slain," I said.
She shuddered with terror.
"But do not fear," I said. "Most masters are patient. You will, most likely,have a month or more in which to develop the appropriate secretions and spasms!
She looked at me, with misery.
"I do not think it is anything to worry about, really," I said. "Most girls,under the circumstances, find very little difficulty in becoming passionatefemale slaves. Too, the entire Gorean milieu contributes to the development ofpassion in the female slave. She is dressed in a certain way, for example; sheis commonly collared; she is subject to discipline; her performances arecommanded, and subject to scrutiny and improvement, and so on. The main thing isto attempt to be fully pleasing to the Master, in every way. Too, you willcommonly have a gauge of your progress; if your master is not pleased you willbe beaten or whipped."
"I see, whispered the girl.
"I have seen girls such as you before," I said. "They commonly develop into thehottest of slaves."
She trembled, frightened.
"Remember," I said, "it will be to your advantage to be a hot slave, and,indeed, the hottest slave you can be. This will make you more pleasing to yourmaster, and to those to whom he, at his caprice, consigns you."
"Yes, Master," she said.
"The true wonder in these matters," I said, "and what seems most delightful tome, is the way, gradually, the girls heat begins to develop from within, untilshe is transformed, in effect, into a needful slave. She is then, of course, notonly legally and physically at the mercy of men, but needfully, as well."
"How much a slave she would be then!" exclaimed the girl.
"No one claims that the Gorean slave girl has an easy lot," I said.