“How do you feel about your chains?” he asked.
“They hold me well,” she said.
“What do they tell you?” he asked.
“That I must do as I am told,” she said.
“You are familiar with the usual punishment for unlicensed prostitution, aren’t you?” asked the masked figure.
“Yes, your lordship.”
“What is it?”
“Reduction to slavery,” she said.
“But in your case,” he said, “I am prepared to be lenient, and have you sent to a penal colony.”
“The minimum sentence to such a place is twenty years,” she said.
“Yes,” he said.
“What does one do there?” she asked.
“The guards find applications for female prisoners,” said the masked figure.
“The charge would be unlicensed prostitution?”
“Yes,” he said.
“Such a sentence, with all due respect, your lordship,” she said, “would be mistaken.”
“How so?” he asked.
“I am not a prostitute,” she said.
“What are you?” he asked.
“I am a slave girl,” she said.
Tuvo Ausonius gasped.
“You are not branded, you are a free woman,” said the masked figure.
“In my heart, your lordship, I know that I am a slave girl,” she said. “I have known it for years.”
“Interesting,” said the masked figure.
“Disgusting slave!” cried Tuvo Ausonius.
“I beg your indulgence, and forgiveness, your lordship,” she said, “for my debasement, my degradation and weakness. But there are such women, and I am one of them. I do not think that there is any longer any point in denying it. I want to be owned and mastered, to have no choice but to obey. I want to love and to serve, selflessly, unstintingly, with all that I am and can be.”
“Surely you are terrified at the thought of becoming a female slave,” said the masked figure.
“It is what I am,” she said. “Beyond that I do not know what to think. I sense that it is my true freedom. I do not think I could be happy in any other life.”
“Your thinking must be corrected,” said Tuvo Ausonius.
“To agree with yours?” she asked. “I have spent my life with such thoughts. They are gray, meaningless and empty.”
“Terrible, terrible!” said Tuvo Ausonius.
“Some women want to know that they are alive, really,” she said. “They desire real experiences, strong experiences.”
“What of tenderness and sensitivity,” said the masked figure, amused.
“Such things,” she said, “are surely very precious, and doubtless a girl muchly treasures them, but they are meaningful only when set against a background of power and mastery.”
“Degraded slut!” cried Tuvo Ausonius.
She looked at him, angrily. “I do not apologize for what I am!” she said.
“You would choose the brand, as opposed to a mere twenty years in a penal colony?” asked the masked figure.
“Yes,” she said.
“Why?”
“I am a slave.”
“I think I shall send you to a penal colony,” said the masked figure.
“Please do not!” she said.
“I can do what I wish,” he said.
“Yes,” she said, putting her head down, trembling, “the power is yours.”
“What do you think I should do, Tuvo Ausonius?” asked the masked figure.
“It matters not to me, of course, your lordship,” said Tuvo Ausonius.
“She is well curved,” said the masked figure.
“I am a same,” said Tuvo Ausonius, “we do not notice such things.”
“The penal colony is, of course, by far, the lesser punishment,” said the masked figure.
“The lighter punishment might be appropriate for a different woman, a higher woman,” said Tuvo Ausonius, “but consider this one, what she is, her debased nature, the utter worthlessness of her.”
“True,” said the masked figure.
“Too, as a free woman she would be priceless, of course, but she would actually have no value,” said Tuvo Ausonius. “As a slave, she would presumably be worth at least something. For example, she could be bought and sold.”
“True,” said the masked figure.
The masked figure turned to Sesella Gardener, the stewardess, from the line Wings Between Worlds.
“You understand,” he said to her, “that as a slave, you might come into the keeping of anyone. For example, you might be sold, and you would then belong, wholly, to whoever bought you.”
“Yes,” she said.
“You might even come into the keeping of our esteemed Tuvo Ausonius,” he said.
“Oh, no!” she cried. “Please, no! Do not jest, your lordship! Do not even hint at such things!”
“It is surely a possibility,” he said.
She struggled helplessly, futilely, but she could not even rise to her feet, as she was held.
“You are to be herewith, on numerous grounds, and particularly prominent among them those of fittingness, with my next words,” said the masked figure, “pronounced slave.”
She looked up at him, trembling.
“You are a slave,” he said.
“Take her away,” said the masked figure. “See that she is branded before nightfall.”
The slave’s guiding rod was freed from the sockets and she was pulled to her feet.
“Trust that you come into the keeping of a good master,” said the masked figure.
She was thrust from the room.
She looked back, once, wildly, over her shoulder at Tuvo Ausonius.
“She came to your room, did she not?” asked the masked figure.
“Yes,” said Tuvo Ausonius.
“One wonders why,” said the masked figure.
“Yes,” said Tuvo Ausonius. “It is all very strange.”
“She mentioned that there was another reason, other than her concern with her position with the company, and such.”
“As I recall, she did,” said Tuvo Ausonius.
“I wonder what it might have been,” said the masked figure.
“I have no idea,” said Tuvo Ausonius.
“Some women have needs,” said the masked figure, “a complex spectrum of needs.”
“Perhaps some low, terrible women,” said Tuvo Ausonius.
“Such as slaves?”
“Perhaps,” said Tuvo Ausonius.
“She is now a slave,” said the masked figure.
“Appropriately so,” said Tuvo Ausonius.
“I think she may have found you attractive,” said the masked figure.
“Surely not,” said Tuvo Ausonius.
“You are not a bad-looking fellow,” said the masked figure.
“She hates me,” said Tuvo Ausonius.
“That might make it interesting then, to own her,” said the masked figure.
Tuvo Ausonius regarded the masked figure, startled.
“Surely you found her attractive?” said the masked figure.
“I am a same.” said Tuvo Ausonius. “Such matters are of no interest to us.”
The masked figure turned to the commissioner, and the two officers who had remained in the chamber. “Thank you, gentlemen,” he said.
They bowed and withdrew.
“Tuvo Ausonius,” said the masked figure.
“Yes, your lordship,” said Tuvo Ausonius.
“I am confident that you are innocent of peculation, and such, but the evidence is surely serious. I fear you have enemies.”
“I do not know who they could be,” said Tuvo Ausonius.
“I, too, have enemies,” said the masked figure.
“You, your lordship?” said Tuvo Ausonius.
“Unfortunately, yes,” said the masked figure. “In these days intrigue, ambition and malice abound.”
“I am innocent,” said Tuvo Ausonius.
“I think that you are likely to fare very badly if you do not obtain a friend, a protector, in a high place, someone of importance, someone with considerable influence.”