Mercenaries of Gor (59 page)

"Various things might then happen. He might have you sign a slave document, in the presence of witnesses. As soon as your signature is on the document, of course, you are a slave. On the other hand, he might proceed even more simply. He might merely have you utter a formula of enslavement, though, again, doubtless in the presence of witnesses, who might sign a paper certifying their witnessing of your declaration. Let us suppose you utter such a formula. The simplest is perhaps, 'I am a slave.' You are then a slave. He will perhaps then say, 'You are my slave.' This claims you. You are then his slave. This is sufficient in the context for in that context you have been momentarily an unclaimed slave, who may be claimed by the first free person who chooses to do so. Too, in this case, there are, of course, no counterclaims to be adjudicated. He is there first, so to speak. His claim is fully (pg. 417) warranted, unchallengable and legally indisputable. This is again done presumably in the presence of witnesses, who may be asked to certify their witnessing of the action. You might then say, though it is not necessary in the context, for you are, anyway, by this time, clearly his slave, 'Yes Master, I am your slave.' By this utterance you officially acknowledge him as your master. It is sometimes thought this sort of thing is good from the slave's point of view, that she hears herself say this. It is legally unnecessary, but it is sometimes thought to be a psychologically useful act on the part of the slave. She, in this pronouncement, at any rate, clearly acknowledges that she knows who owns her. This, too, of course, may be attested to in writing by the witnesses."

"There is then little left to be done with you, except perhaps to take you below, to the pens. There you will presumably be branded and fitted with your first collar. You might also then be given your first whipping in order that you learn almost immediately to fear, and terribly fear, the slave whip. You might then, afterwards, when you can eat, be given a handful, or two, of moist slave gruel. You might also be permitted to lap some water on all fours from a pan, or from a puddle, where it has been poured onto the floor. You might then be chained in a training kennel. In the morning I suppose your training might begin. On the other hand, perhaps you would be simply shipped out of the city to a distant market, there to be put on the block for your first sale."

"My sale," she whispered, excitedly.

"Yes," I said.

"Do you think I would bring a good price?" she asked.

"Yes," I said. "I think so."

She shuddered with pleasure.

"I think I will take you home now," I said.

"I thought you would not take me home," she said.

"No," I said. "I will do so."

"Why this sudden change of heart?" she smiled.

"I am not sure," I said. "Perhaps it is because I now know you better. Perhaps it is because it is now later in the day."

"Or perhaps there is another reason?" she said.

(pg. 418) "Perhaps," I said. "I am not sure.

"Bind me, and take me instead to a slaver's" she said.

"No," I said.

"I would not have the courage to turn myself over to a slaver," she said. "I would be afraid."

"I understand," I said.

"I could be killed," she said.

"If you are obedient and pleasing," I said, "there is usually little to fear, other than the normal rigors and exactions of bondage."

"Surely they are fierce enough," she said.

"Sometimes," I admitted. Not all masters were pleasant with their properties.

"But I could be killed." She said.

"You are in far greater danger of being killed as a free woman," I said. "Just as it would not occur to most men to kill a pet sleen or a kaiila, it would not occur to them to kill a slave. She is, like other such domestic animals, not a person, but a property. She, like them, has certain sorts of work to which she may be put, and very pleasurable work often, and, like them, has her many values and uses. If a city is taken, while free folks may be fleeing about, and be subject to indiscriminate slaughter, she is likely, instead, to be secured and protected. She is, you see, like the sleen and kaiila, part of the clearly understood spoils of victory. Surely you can understand that you yourself, for example, might make delicious booty."

"I?" she said, softly. "Booty?"

"Yes, "I said, "if you were slave."

"I understand," she said, trembling. I saw from the way she said this, so softly trembling, so thrilled, that she belonged, truly, in a collar.

"To be sure," I said, "the slaves in such a situation would be well advised to be as obedient and pleasing as possible."

"Of course," she said.

"Particularly as the killing lust might still be upon the men."

"I understand," she said.

(pg. 419) "But slaves are generally well trained in placatory behaviors," I said.

"Of course," she said.

"And they serve well, naked, in the victory orgies," I said.

"Yes," she said.

"But then even free women may be used in such orgies," I said.

"I do not think they would long remain free," she said.

"No," I said. "That would presumably be their last night of freedom."

"Do they serve naked at the orgy, as do the slaves?" she asked.

"Of course," I said.

"Are such women sometimes enslaved before the orgy?" she asked.

"Yes," I said, "presumably that they will then understand the totality of what will be expected of them at the feast. Too, some commanders think this is an excellent introduction to her new condition for a former free woman."

"They are probably right," she said.

"We must get you home soon," I said.

"Why?" she asked.

"You are tempting," I said.

"But if I were a slave," she said, "I would be subject to penalties."

"Yes," I said. "The master would own you."

"I could even be killed," she said.

"It is one thing, of course," I said, "to be subject to penalties, and it is quite another for them to be inflicted."

"That is true," she said.

"For example," it is one thing to be subject to the whip, and to know that subjection is quite real, that the master can, and will, whip you, and well, if you are not pleasing, and something else to be actually whipped."

"I understand," she said.

"But in general it is similar with all the penalties," I said, (pg. 420) "even those which are seldom, if ever, inflicted. She must know that they exist, and that, for her, they are real possibilities. She must know, whether they are inflicted upon her or not, that she is truly subject to them.

"I understand," she said.

"This is the sense in which she knows that anything can be done with her, that she might even be killed."

"I understand," she said.

"Without this," I said, "her slavery would be incomplete. She would not be a total slave."

"That is true," she whispered.

"Most simply put," I said, "she belongs to the master, fully, totally."

"I understand," she said.

"So let us now return to your residence," I said.

"I could accept that risk," she said. "It would be part of my fulfillment. Indeed, without it, I could not truly, fully, belong to him."

"You are so confident of your ability to please?" I asked.

"I am confident of my ability to try desperately to please," she said.

"We must be on our way," I said, sitting up.

"Take me to a slaver's," she said.

"No," I said.

"Are you a true man?" she said, petulantly, rising up on her knees.

I regarded her.

"Are you?" she challenged.

"You belong in a collar," I said.

"Take me to a slaver's!" she said. "See that I am put in one!"

I did not speak.

"Let it be such that I cannot remove it!" she said.

"It would be such, I assure you." I said.

"Take me to a slaver's!" she said.

"No," I said.

"Are you afraid?" she asked.

"No," I said.

(pg. 421) "Look upon me," she said. "Am I not the sort of woman who might suitably be taken to a slaver's?"

"Yes," I admitted.

"Do so," she said.

"No," I said.

"Look," she said, but inches from me, as I sat there, observing her. She suddenly rose up a bit on her knees and thrust her belly forward, toward me. "There!" she said. "Would any but a slave do that?" she asked.

"No," I said. Perhaps it would have been better for her, I thought, if she had not done that. She was attractive.

"Take me then to a slaver's," she said.

"No," I said.

"You are no true man!" she said.

I then stood up before her. She looked up at me puzzled, I then, after regarding her for a time, suddenly with the back of my hand, struck her fiercely back from the mat, she twisting and falling back, flung to the side from her knees, almost half on her feet for an instant, then losing her balance, then falling back into the trash at the side of the wall. She, from the midst of the garbage, half on her side, looked at me wildly, her hand at her mouth, blood between her fingers.

I pointed to the mat. "Here," I said. "Kneel."

She hastened back to the mat and knelt before me. She looked up at me in wonder, blood at her mouth. She had been cuffed. "Did you strike me because I challenged your manhood?" she asked. "I did not really mean it. It is only that I was terribly angry. I did not think.

"You were not struck for such an absurd reason," I said.

"You are after all, a free woman, and free women are entitled to insult, and to attempt to demean and destroy men. It is one of their freedoms, unless men of course, should decide to take it from them. You were struck, rather, because you were attempting to manipulate me."

She nodded, putting her head down.

"Do you recognize your guilt, and the suitability of your punishment?" I asked.

"Yes," she said.

(pg. 422) "Also," I said, "I would not, if I were a free woman, go about moving like that before men."

"But I am not really a free woman," she whispered.

"You are at this time in your life," I said, "legally free. Do not forget it."

"Yes," she said, "-Master."

"Do not call me 'Master,' I said. "That is for slaves."

"Yes, Master," she said.

"You seem to have a curiosity as to the slave experience," I said.

"I am a slave," she said. "It is only natural that I would have some curiosity about what it is to be a slave." She put down her head. She wiped some of the blood from her mouth.

"You have no idea," I said, "about what it is like, truly, to be a slave."

She did not respond.

"Perhaps I can change your mind about its desirability," I said.

"Master?" she asked.

I then took her by the hair and, twisting her about, as she cried out, flung her forcibly, on her back, on the mat. I then, ruthlessly, angrily, swiftly, caring nothing for her feelings or sensibilities, exploiting her, employing her for my pleasure. I then, in a moment or two, stood up beside her, and rolled her to her side, spurning her, with my foot. She lay there on the mat, gasping, her legs drawn up.

"So," I asked, "Free Woman, what do you think?"

She turned about and looked up at me, through her hair.

"It is thus that a slave may be used," I said.

She looked up at me. In her eyes there were tears.

"How did you like it?" I laughed.

She went to her belly and reached for my foot. She put her lips over it and kissed it tenderly. Then she looked up at me, again, her hair about her face. "I loved it," she said.

I cried out with rage, and pulled my foot away from her.

"Put on your garment," I told her, angrily.

"Yes, Master," she said.

(pg. 423) In a bit she had donned the brief leather garment. It amazed me that it could take her so long to get into so little. To be sure, she had had to smooth it out, and had not been hurrying. She looked down at the garment, now on her. She pulled down a bit at the sides. "It is not very large, is it?" she said.

"No," I said.

"But I suppose," she said, "if I were a slave, I might be given things much less than this to wear, and things far more revealing."

"Quite possibly," I said. I saw no point in telling her that that was almost a certainty.

"But I am a free woman," she smiled. She looked down at the garment, ruefully. "Are you really going to take me through the streets in this?"

"Yes," I said. "I certainly have no intention of buying you a new outfit."

She laughed. "No," she said. "I suppose not." She looked at me. "Clad like this," she said, "I suppose I should heel you."