[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
.It gives her an opportunity, too, of course,to show the lover that she, in her love, and in the intensity of her feelings,offers herself up to him.I had once been Tiffany Collins, of Earth.I was now a collared slave girl onGor.I touched the collar.It was light, but, too, it was efficient andinflexible.I supposed it would not do to tell anyone but I loved it on me.I felt,somehow, it belonged on me.It was right, I felt, somehow, on me.But, too,sometimes I was terrified to wear it.I knew that it meant that I was owned,and at the mercy of men.I knelt there.I was no longer free.I could now be bought and sold.Imust obey.My major fear now was that I might be sent back the Mill.I, and, indeed, theother girls, had been given little or no Opportunity to prove to the mastersthat the slave bells tied on our ankles were not an inadvertence or a mistake.At various times during the supper I had tried to be attentive to one man oranother, and as a slave, and as my belly had seemed to beg, but, each time, Ihad been brushed away or dismissed.I had been rejected.This stung my vanity, as well as increased thefrustrations of my scorned femininity.I feared, too, it betokened that I,perhaps found insufficiently pleasing, might soon be returned to the mill.I watched the men, talking, and finishing their liqueurs.I watched, too, theone or two girls still in attendance on them.They were beautiful, in their grace and serving.How perfect and natural itseemed that they should be serving.I touched my collar.Women by naturebelong to men, I thought, and I am a woman.Why had men on Earth, Iwondered, allowed themselves to be tricked out of their sovereignty by man-hating and vicious women, abetted by frustrated, weakling males? When willthey take us again in hand, I wondered, and own us? But the men, on Earth,with few exceptions, I feared, were lost to manhood.Teela came and knelt down beside us, only another slave girl. May I speak? I whispered. Yes, she said. I have tried to be attractive, I said. I have tried to be desirable.I havetried to serve well.But no one has taken me.No one has used me. Page 162 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html No one has been taken.No one has been raped, she said. The men talk politics and business. May I inquire as to the nature of these discussions? I asked. The usual rumors about a truce between ourselves and Cos, she said. In business, the master is sounding out his colleagues about the plausibilityof a venture involving feast slaves. What are they? I asked. Girls, maids, entertainers, dancers, rented in groups to private individualsor organizations for feasts, and such, she said. Such enterprises exist now, do they not? I asked. He is considering the desirability of investing in the area, and perhapsforming his own company to enter the field. I see, I said. But trained girls are expensive, are they not? Yes, she said. But mill girls are cheap, and might be trained, I said. Precisely, said Teela.I trembled. Emily! Tiffany! called Aemilianus, sitting behind the long, low table, withhis friends.We quickly leapt up and ran to kneel on the tiles before him. These are mill girls? asked a man. Yes, said Aemilianus, but now, as you can see, they are not in the companyuniform. Some silk, some cosmetics, makes quite a difference, said a man. They cost me only twelve copper tarsks each, said Aemilianus. But that is scarcely fair, Aemilianus, said a man. You purchased them fromyour.uncle s mill.Had you bought them in an open market they doubtless wouldhave cost you more. something more, doubtless, said Aemilianus. It is nice to know that such girls occasionally come to the mills, said aman. I see that I shall have to make more inspections of uncle s mills, saidanother young man, one who, I gathered, must be a cousin of Aemilianus. It is not that rare, actually, said Aemilianus. Too, remember there areseveral mills.Too, almost any girl, with the proper diet, exercise andtraining, and properly costumed and made-up, and knowing herself subject tothe whip, can become of considerable interest. That is true, said a man. Pausanias, who is the mill master in Mill 7, said Aemilianus, has informedme that, in his opinion, there are many lovely girls even in Mill 7. Interesting, said a man. Are these two, asked a man, from Mill 7? Yes, said Aemilianus. They are the two found there
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]