“I don’t care what he is,” my sweet partner interrupted again, that “no” clear in his eyes. “You’re all finished playing around with him. It’s almost time for us to be moving on, so you’d better get up and get dressed.”
“Now, you wait just a minute!” I growled, but I was already talking to his back. He had gotten up from the bed and was heading toward the door outside, and then the door was closing behind him.
I sat for a minute just staring at that closed door in disbelief, then sank back down against the pillows. I was more than willing to believe I was still dreaming, but things like that didn’t happen in dreams, only in nightmares. My brand new, totally inexperienced partner had not only just ignored a direct order from the assignment leader, he had also turned around and issued an order of his own that he intended seeing obeyed! It looked like being in a position to run things had gone to Val’s head even above the point of getting even; he was really beginning to believe he could tell me what to do! I had no intentions of listening to him, of course, even if it were my choice about whether or not to see Greg again, but his attitude was more than a pain. Sure as sin, there would be more trouble over it than he was anticipating.
The room I sat in was pretty, but my mind jumped back to Radman again, so I took Val’s “suggestion”
and got up to get dressed. In the middle of all the melon ruffles and lace was my luggage, since that was the room I’d been assigned to for the post-physical-exam period. Val had brought me there and put me into the bed, and I’d slept until only a few minutes earlier, when my system had finally been able to break loose from the trystisil. On top of the single, small trunk I’d brought from the Station lay a squarish brown dress with fluffs and a full skirt, obviously another “suggestion” from my “uncle.” He’d been wearing white slacks and a lemon-yellow shirt, but he wanted me, completely covered and in a dark, sweaty dress at that. I threw the thing onto the floor and opened the trunk, then pulled out a white shorts outfit I’d brought along, something of mine that any female of any age could wear, provided she had the figure for it. Once I had the outfit on my figure and had added white deck shoes, I repacked the brown monstrosity and reset the trunk lock before closing it up again. Giving Val access to my wardrobe had been a mistake, but at least it was partly correctable.
Val was outside waiting for me, but not directly outside the door. The room I left was one of a string that circled an umbrellaed lounge area, and Val was at a table with John Little, the two of them sipping something tall and cool. When I walked up to their table and took the third chair, Val’s eyes stayed on me until I was seated.
“That isn’t what I took out for you to wear,” he commented after along minute, his tone unexpectedly unargumentative. “Didn’t you like my choice?”
“As a matter of fact, I didn’t,” I answered with restrained surprise, only glancing at the naked servant who was putting a glass of tall and cool whatever in front of me. “It’s much too hot here for a dress like that.”
“Too hot for a summer dress,” Val answered with a small smile, glancing at Little as if he were sharing an inside joke, and then he showed a faint grin. “Well, it so happens l prefer your choice, too. I like the way you say, ‘thank you for saving me.’ ”
“You expect me to thank you for pulling me out of some-thing you got me into in the first place?” I asked with all the sarcasm I was capable of, just short of laughing in his face. “If you do, you’re dreaming. I didn’t put this outfit on for you. ”
“‘Methinks the lady doth protest too much’,” Little quoted as he sipped at his drink, the amusement still in his eyes. “Appraisal bares one’s true nature, Jenny, and I saw the way you were holding your uncle around when he carried you away from it. Are you sure you aren’t the least bit curious as to what it would be like to go through the Sphere partnered with him? You’ve learned what other men are capable of; are you sure you don’t want to know what he can do? And are you completely sure you don’t secretly like what he’s been doing to you?”
I stared at Little open-mouthed, finally understanding the line Val must have handed Radman’s assistant.
My “uncle,” after finally noticing the largesse under his nose for so long, had also discovered that his little niece had a crush on him. She wasn’t about to admit that crush, of course, but why shouldn’t he use their presence on Xanadu to take advantage of the situation? It had to be something like that for Little to get such a kick out of it, but there was no reason for me to go along with it.
“You’re both crazy for even suggesting something like that,” I told them, getting stiffly to my feet. “If you think I’m going to stay here and listen to any more of it, you’re . . . ”
“Jennifer,” Val interrupted, his voice low but his tone somewhat-implacable. “Sit down and drink your drink, and behave yourself. You’re not going anywhere until departure time, and then you’ll be going with us. If you try disobeying me; I’ll punish you.”
Those black eyes stared up at me, telling me I had no choice, telling me his threat wasn’t simply window-dressing. He’d told Little I secretly enjoyed being roughed up by him, and to prove the point he’d do whatever he had to in the way of “punishing.” Come hell or high water he’d go with his own decision, and I didn’t have to wonder what his “punishment” would consist of; he got his own back from females in only one way, and there was nothing I could do to stop him or escape him. I was a minor, he was my legal guardian, and I couldn’t even simply pick up and walk away. I now had a reason for going along with him, but once that assignment was over . . . I sat down again without a word, letting him see the fury in my eyes, but all that did was make him and his friend chuckle again.
“Quite a decision, wasn’t it, Jenny?” Little drawled, leaning back from the table to let me see more easily the ridicule in his eyes. “But have no fear, my girl. I’m sure your uncle will find any number of opportunities to punish you in the following days. You haven’t really lost out on anything that would give you pleasure.”
I couldn’t help giving him an infuriated glance, which amused him even more. Val was amused too, but for entirely different reasons. I wasn’t amused at all, but nobody gave a damn.
After a short wait we three and the other people around us were led to large, sybaritically furnished barges, the sort with wide, soft cushions, striped awnings, and naked slaves with feather fans almost as tall as they were. Drinks were again available, soft, cool, alcoholic, or any combination of the above, along with snacks, cakes, ices, fruits, breads, you name it. Soft music came from four naked slave musicians, and everyone seemed delighted with the arrangements-again with one exception. When I picked a large, blue cushion to lie down on, I didn’t get to do more than make myself comfortable under the awning before I had company on the cushion. Val lay down behind me and put an arm around my waist, and I wasn’t permitted to either push the arm away or squirm loose from the spread-fingered hold.
I was laughingly ordered to lie still and enjoy the cool breeze playing around us, but what I really did was make sure my eyes would be wide open for an opportunity to leave Val behind. He’d shown me the benefits in working with a partner, all right, which underlined my wisdom in usually working alone.
The barges took us across the lake to the opposite side we’d started from, then went down-current a considerable distance until they reached a long, festively decorated docking. The weather continued beautiful and the crowd continued happy, but everyone was more than simply happy. The drinks had been subtly added to again, and no one was finding fault or feeling bored with anything, especially with the extra slaves sent out to meet us. Laughing, naked females surrounded the men and their grinning male equivalents appeared around the women, and that way we were separated and led to individual pavilions.
At first Val had been reluctant to be separated from me, but whatever had been in our drinks convinced him quickly enough that the female slaves were worth his attention for a while. Little had been led away by a couple of pretty boys, and an interesting all-male specimen had attached himself to me, taking my hand to direct me while his eyes moved over every inch of me. I discovered I didn’t mind his attaching himself to me in the least, and by that understood the drug had a tenuous hold on me as well. As long as I was aware of it and therefore had the option of going along with it or not, there was nothing to get excited about, but I couldn’t help wondering what the drug was and what purpose it had. If it was reaching me it had to be powerful, and I didn’t think the Management would use something that powerful just to turn their clients happy.
The pavilion I was led to was powder blue and white, large and square and deliciously secret-looking, as though all sorts of forbidden pleasures might be found in it. I knew that strange an idea had to be caused by the drug working on me, and the first words spoken to me by the slave holding my hand confirmed the guess and added to it.
“Inside these cloth walls I’m yours completely, mistress,” he murmured, his light eyes looking down at me as he held aside the cloth draping the entrance. “I’ll do whatever you order me to do, give you pleasure or take it from you, anything you like. All you have to do is command me.”
I walked past him into the pavilion without answering, in the process pulling my hand loose from his, most of my attention on the room I entered. Blue and white silks hung on the walls, white furs lay scattered on the floor with blue cushions, and the other rooms of the pavilion were closed off from that one by more drapes. Pleasantly low lighting came from some invisible source, the air was cool and comfortable as though conditioned, and small tables of dark wood held wine flasks and glasses and small assortments of food to be nibbled on. I heard the naked male slave enter the pavilion behind me and resettle the drape over the entrance, making the room complete in its attractiveness, but I was beginning to feel an impatience that the drug couldn’t overcome. Fun is fun, but all that messing around wasn’t doing a damned thing to bring me closer to Radman.
“How long do we stay in this place?” I asked the slave without turning to face him, wondering if I could justify taking the chance of grabbing Little and drugging him. He had to know where Radman was, and if I could get the location out of him I could see about moving on ahead of this, group inching its way into the Sphere. The sooner that assignment was over the sooner I could get back to a normal life-and away from slaves anxious to please.
“If you’re really as bored as you sound, I must be losing my appeal,” another voice answered for the slave, an amused voice I recognized. “Don’t tell me you’re going into tri-v withdrawal?”
The voice was Greg Rich’s, and I turned slowly to see the Management rep standing just beyond a draping to the right. He had to have been waiting in another room of the pavilion, and had shown himself only after I had entered. The male slave who had led me there was on his knees with head bowed, a definite nervousness and purposefully obvious subservience in his manner due to the presence of one of his true masters. The sight of his slavish posture sickened me, but I didn’t realize how much of my opinion was visible until the amusement left Greg’s face.
“You really don’t like slaves, do you?” he asked, true puzzlement in the question. “Most people jump at the chance to lord it over them, taking to slave-enjoyment the way they take to breathing pure, sweet air.
What makes you dislike it so?”
“I suppose I have a better imagination than other people,” I answered with only a brief hesitation. “I’d hate being a slave, so I don’t like seeing people who are slaves. What are you doing here?”
“You mean, after I was ordered to stay away from you?” he asked, again amused. “It so happens I wouldn’t make much of a slave either, especially when it comes to taking orders. And I wanted to find out if you were all right.”
“Why shouldn’t I be all right?” I asked, suddenly finding the pavilion too airless and enclosed. “Uncle Val yelled at me about not seeing you again, but he didn’t do anything beyond yelling. Why should anything be wrong?”
“Jennifer, I can’t tell you what happened, but take my word that something is wrong,” he answered soberly, beginning to move slowly toward me. “A louse named Gil tried to ruin things between us, and don’t think I haven’t reported him for it, but-that doesn’t change what he did. Even if you don’t remember what happened, I’d like a chance to make it up to you. Will you give me that chance?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I answered, finding that I had to turn away from his brown-eyed stare. I wasn’t supposed to remember anything that had happened while I had been under the influence of the trystisil, but feeling uneasy in his presence without knowing why was only to be expected. The fact that I did remember, all of it, was giving me something of a hard time, and I had to see if I could get rid of him.
“I’m talking about the fact that part of you believes I want you as a slave,” he said from right behind me, and his voice had softened. “You don’t need to know why you believe that, but I give you my word it isn’t so. I don’t want you as a slave, Jennifer-but I do want you.”
“Greg, please give me a little time alone to think about this,” I began, the palms of my hands moist, my eyes locked to the blue, and white silks on the pavilion wall in front of me, my fingers uselessly pulling at one another. Having him around was dangerous in more ways than one, and if I could get him to walk away, even temporarily . . .
“Time spent alone won’t do it, Jennifer,” he denied immediately, and then his palms were stroking my bare arms. “If I don’t show you how wrong you are right now, there will never be a later. Don’t you want there to be a later-as well as a right now?”
I discovered that my eyes had closed at the first touch of his hands, and my heart was pounding so hard the slave must have heard it on the other side of the pavilion. I did remember the appraisal, all of it, including how much in love I had been with Greg in the situational. Telling myself”the love wasn’t real didn’t help; no love was real or lasted very long, but that didn’t stop it from tearing you up inside for as long as it held on. I didn’t want to go through that again, I didn’t, but he had said he didn’t want me as a slave, and then his hands were turning me around so that his arms could hold me, and it felt so good I nearly moaned with the pain. I might have been able to control myself if not for the latest drug I’d been fed, but with that pulling at my strings of judgment, all I could do was let my own arms steal around him.