I LOVE YOU, was scrawled in block letters across the paper.
Raven sank onto the kitchen chair and fought back tears.
She was a few minutes late arriving at her office. It had somehow taken Raven longer than usual to shower, dress, and gobble a breakfast bun.
Her desktop screen bore a command. SEE ME AS SOON AS YOU GET IN. EVAN.
Alicia Polanyi was not at her desk as Raven entered Waxman’s outer office. Good, she said to herself. Polanyi’s silent, accusatory stares distressed Raven.
Waxman was at his desk, speaking through his computer screen to one of the engineers. He waved her to the padded chair in front of the desk without missing a syllable of his ongoing discussion.
Raven sat and tuned out Waxman’s voice. Quincy’s going to be a problem, she told herself. One night in bed and he thinks he’s in love. Probably wants to marry me. She almost smiled at the thought. But she realized, I’m going to have to handle him carefully. Let him down gently.
Waxman ended his phone discussion, cleared his desktop screen, turned and smiled at Raven.
“And how are you this fine morning?” he asked, his smile showing teeth.
“I’m fine,” Raven said. “And you?”
Waxman pursed his lips, then answered, “I’ve got a bit of a problem, Raven.”
“Oh?”
“That call you put through to the IC.”
Raven felt her entire body stiffen.
Calmly, still smiling, Waxman went on, “I don’t allow calls to the Interplanetary Council for a reason, Raven. I control all communications with Earth. I and I alone.”
“Oh. I didn’t know.”
“Whether you did or not is immaterial.”
Raven stared at him. The man was still smiling, yet his expression made her shudder.
“Your call came to me. It never was sent to Earth.”
“I see.”
“No, you don’t see,” said Waxman. “But you will. You and your oaf of a boyfriend.”
“Quincy’s not my boyfriend!”
“Perhaps not,” Waxman said, his smile turning dangerous. “But he’s going to be.”
PUNISHMENT
Trying to keep her breathing under control, Raven asked, “What do you mean?”
Waxman leaned back in his desk chair, his eyes never leaving Raven’s face.
“You tried to go around me, Raven. You tried to make contact between Umber and the Interplanetary Council.”
“I…”
“Don’t bother denying it.” Waxman leaned forward in his chair, placed both his forearms on his desktop. “I can’t trust you, Raven. But I can punish you. You and the lummox who helped you.”
Raven heard herself protest, “Don’t blame Quincy! He didn’t know what I was doing. He had no idea.”
“He’s got to learn to be more careful. And you have to learn to be more grateful to me.”
“I am, Evan. I’m very grateful. For everything you’ve done—”
“You’ve betrayed me, Raven. After all I’ve done for you.” Waxman shook his head sadly. “I can’t let that betrayal go unpunished. You’ve got to learn to be obedient.”
“Wh… what do you mean?”
“You’re going back to your old life, Raven. Once a whore always a whore. But this time you’ll be working for me.”
Raven blinked at him. “I don’t understand…”
“How could you?” Waxman’s smile turned malicious, nasty.
He pulled open a desk drawer and took out a thin vial containing a reddish dust.
“You were curious about Rust, weren’t you?” He held the vial between two fingers and shook it slightly. “Well, this is what the stuff looks like. You notice the vial is half empty? The other half is floating in the air of this office. You’ve been breathing it since you walked in here.”
Raven’s eyes went wide. That’s why Alicia wasn’t at her desk! she thought. But Evan’s sitting there, breathing in the Rust, and he’s—
Reading the expression on her face, Waxman said, “I’m wearing nose filters, Raven. But you’re not.”
Raven’s immediate thought was to get out of this office, this trap that Evan had set for her. She tried to push herself out of the chair, but her legs wouldn’t support her. Then she saw that Waxman’s desk was dissolving, its side softening, liquefying, dripping onto the carpeting like the wax of a melting candle.
With a malicious smile Waxman said, “I can see that the Rust is taking effect. Good.”
Raven watched as Waxman’s desk faded away. Still seated in his chair, he too began to melt and stretch out into a long multicolored ribbon.
“Enjoy your trip, Raven.” Waxman’s voice boomed in her ears as she felt herself dissolving, liquefying, sliding into another dimension.
She couldn’t move, couldn’t even blink her eyes. She stared as the world around her coalesced into a kaleidoscope of vivid, pulsing colors.
Raven was floating, rocking gently on a sea of surging colors. She felt hands on her body, stripping her, groping her, pawing her, and all she could think was More! More! Time was stretching like taffy. She lost all awareness of who she was, what she was, all lost in the overwhelming sensations of being stroked, touched, caressed.
The first lash of the whip made her scream, but the only words she heard were “More! More!”
Floating on a sea of frenzy, she writhed and twisted, but strong, powerful hands held her as Waxman’s voice boomed like the trumpet of a god, “You’re a whore, Raven. That’s all you’ve ever been and all you’ll ever be.”
And she was screaming, sobbing, “Yes! Please! Please!”
Her body pulsed and writhed with agony that was exhilarating, overpowering, stretching her consciousness and her bodily sensations beyond endurance.
Everything went dark. She thought she must be sleeping, but this was much deeper. She could feel nothing, hear nothing, see nothing. Only darkness and a throbbing pain deep inside her.
She awoke, alone and naked in a bare little room. A cell. A prison. She propped herself on one elbow. Nothing to see except cold gray walls.
She heard a sound. The soft fall of a naked foot. All around her a cluster of men came into focus, naked, erect, intent. And Alicia Polanyi stood among them, also naked and smiling mirthlessly down at Raven.
“Welcome to my world, Raven,” Polanyi said, with a cheerless smile.
The men crowded around her, seized her arms and legs and lifted her off the cold bare floor. One of them stepped between her outstretched legs, grinning wickedly. “I’m first,” he said, grinning down at her naked, struggling body. “But I won’t be the last.” The other men laughed and gripped Raven tighter.
An animal roar shattered the gray-walled cell. The locked door crashed to the floor. The men grasping Raven dropped her painfully onto the cement floor as a huge apparition took form in their midst.
“Quincy,” Raven whimpered.
Another man’s form coalesced between Raven and O’Donnell. “It’s not your turn yet,” said Evan Waxman. Unlike the others, Waxman was wearing a multicolored floor-length robe that shimmered with his every motion.
O’Donnell stared at him. “You promised me,” he growled.
Waxman smiled knowingly. “Not just yet, Quincy. We’re not finished having our fun with her.”
For an eternally long moment, O’Donnell stood before Waxman, blinking uncertainly, his hands balled into fists, his hairy chest heaving. Then he glanced down at Raven, lying helpless and naked on the cold bare floor.
“You’re finished!” O’Donnell bellowed. And he swung a backhand swat at Waxman that sent him staggering to the floor.
The other men scattered and disappeared. O’Donnell stepped down and lifted Raven gently in his arms, then turned and started for the open doorway. Beyond the door was light, so bright it hurt Raven’s eyes.