"I want him to whip me," she said.
"Why?" I asked.
"Because I love him," she said.
Then, at a glance from Teela, across the room, we were both quiet.
I was somewhat upset. The men had had, on the whole, a very decorous supper. I had thought, given our garb and bells, that we might have been expected to serve in more exacting and intimate fashions than we had been called upon to do. The supper, on the other hand, had apparently been a rather normal one. To be sure, the men, being men, and no free women being present, had had the supper, for their pleasure, served to them by beautiful, revealingly clad women, collared slaves.
I glanced over at Emily. She could not keep her eyes off Aemilianus.
Some women desire occasionally, or at least once, to be whipped by the man they love. This has to do, it seems, with deep psychological feelings, feelings probably connected with the woman's desire to submit and fulfill her biological destiny, "this perhaps being a manifestation, within the human species, of the dominance/submission ratios endemic in nature. This involves, of course, an intense sentient interaction with the lover. Intense emotions, sensations and feelings are involved. In this situation the woman, who desires to surrender and yield, understands that she is now at the mercy of the lover, and is helpless under his will. 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 on Gor. I touched the collar. It was light, but, too, it was efficient and inflexible. 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. I must obey.
My major fear now was that I might be sent back the Mill. I, and, indeed, the other girls, had been given little or no Opportunity to prove to the masters that 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 or another, and as a slave, and as my belly had seemed to beg, but, each time, I had been brushed away or dismissed.
I had been rejected. This stung my vanity, as well as increased the frustrations 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, the one or two girls still in attendance on them.
They were beautiful, in their grace and serving. How perfect and natural it seemed that they should be serving. I touched my collar. Women by nature belong to men, I thought, and I am a woman. Why had men on Earth, I wondered, allowed themselves to be tricked out of their sovereignty by man-hating and vicious women, abetted by frustrated, weakling males? When will they 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 have tried to serve well. But no one has taken me. No one has used me."
"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 plausibility of a venture involving feast slaves."
"What are they?" I asked.
"Girls, maids, entertainers, dancers, rented in groups to private individuals or 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 perhaps forming 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, with his 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 company uniform."
"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 from your. uncle's mill. Had you bought them in an open market they doubtless would have cost you more."
"something more, doubtless," said Aemilianus.
"It is nice to know that such girls occasionally come to the mills," said a man. "I see that I shall have to make more inspections of uncle's mills," said another young man, one who, I gathered, must be a cousin of Aemilianus.
"It is not that rare, actually," said Aemilianus. "Too, remember there are several mills. Too, almost any girl, with the proper diet, exercise and training, and properly costumed and made-up, and knowing herself subject to the whip, can become of considerable interest."
"That is true," said a man.
"Pausanias, who is the mill master in Mill 7," said Aemilianus, "has informed me 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."
"You needn't depend on the mills, of course,"
"You can buy in the market."
"You could also buy trained slaves to man.
"They are more expensive," said a man.
"That is true," he agreed.
"I shall show you one advantage of the anus. "Emily," he said, "do you wish to mill?"
"No, Master!" she said.
"Tiffany?" he asked.
"No, Master!" I cried.
"The motivation of mill girls, as you can see," said Aemilianus, "is high. Accordingly, they may be expected to train swiftly, desperately and superbly." "Have you discussed your ideas with Mintar?" asked a man.
"Yes," said Aemilianus, "and he has given me license to proceed." "Would this be involved with the enterprises of Mintar?" asked a man. "No," said Aemilianus. "It would become one of the enterprises of Aemilianus." My uncle, of course, will extend the initial loans at nominal rates," said Aemilianus.
"I see," said the man.
"I am not sure this is practical," said a man.
"It will be a difficult field to break into," said another man.
"It is a question," said Aemilianus, "of providing a quality service at competitive prices."
"Perhaps," said a man.
"Emily, would you please come around the table and kneel here, beside me?" asked Aemilianus.
Emily instantly leapt to her feet and scurried to kneel in the indicated position.
This left me, somewhat disconcerting me, alone before the table.
"Would you please stand up and remove your silk, Tiffany?" said Aemilianus. Immediately I stood and slipped from the silk. I held it dangling, from my right hand.
"That is a mill girl?" asked a man, skeptically,
"Yes," said Aemilianus.
"Those are slave curves, if I have ever seen them," said a man.
"True," said another.
"You are very pretty, Tiffany," said Aemilianus.
"Thank you, Master," I said.