'I will obtain the full value of my wages from her,' said the Lady Tima, 'even untrained as she is now. You will see. And, in time, she will conduct a sale as skillfully as any female slaver.'
I now, sitting upon the platform, bent forward, removed my shoes and stockings. I then knelt.
'I will get at least four tarsks for you,' said the Lady Tima. I assumed she meant four tarsks of silver. This was a high price. Lovely women often go for a silver tarsk or two. I did not think she would manage to get four silver tarsks for me. I was now being bid upon rather as might be a work slave, though there was some ambiguity in the bidding. The least valuable slaves are often female work slaves, purchased for the public kitchens or laundries. The next level of slaves, not generally thought to be of great value, tends to be male work slaves, usually used in cargo galleys, on the wharves, and in the fields or quarries. The next level of slaves, and the most common form of slave on Gor, is the female who can be used as a pleasure slave. It is my conjecture that some ninety percent of Gorean slaves are female, and that some eighty percent of these fit into the category of slaves who must figure into their duties the serving of the pleasure of men. Indeed, even the miserable females in the fields, or those in the kitchens anal laundries, know that upon occasion they will be used, usually chained, to slake the lust of their foremen or masters. The female slave on Gor, knowing herself owned, is usually in little doubt as to what can occur to her in her slavery. The next level of slaves is that of male silk slaves. These usually bring higher prices, on the whole, than female pleasure slaves. This, it seems to me, is purely a matter of supply and demand. Female pleasure slaves, given slave raids and the sackings of cities, are relatively plentiful on Gor. Male silk slaves are not. The explanation for this, I think, is reasonably clear. Gorean males seldom make good silk slaves. The explanation for the much smaller number of male as opposed to female slaves on Gor, speaking now generally of male work slaves, is also clear. First, the female tends to be the desirated object of the slaver's seizure. She brings higher prices than male work slaves. Secondly, in battles, often male defenders have been slaughtered or driven off. Their, females thus remain as spoils for the chains of the victors. Too, male captives are often killed. Female captives, on the other hand, particularly if comely, are usually spared for the collars of their conquerors. They learn to yield well to their masters. The most valuable general category of slaves, however, much to the chagrin of some male silk slaves, is that of the particularly desirable female. These are usually extraordinarily beautiful Gorean girls, once of high caste. Sometimes they are dancers. Commonly they are highly trained. Sometimes they are even passion slaves, girls literally bred for the pleasure of men. The prizes purchased by Ubars and rich men for their pleasure gardens usually belong to the types of girls included in this general category. Girls of political interest, too, it might be mentioned, are usually included in this category. For example, a captured, enslaved Ubara would commonly bring a very handsome price. These general remarks, of course, if they were to be made more accurate, would require numerous qualifications. For example, the prices of Earth girls have tended to improve in the past few years on Gor. Gorean men tend to enjoy teaching them their slavery. Too, once they have learned the meaning of their collar, they are extraordinarily delicious slave girls. Some authorities believe that Earth girls should be a special category of slave. Others dispute this. I agree with those who dispute it, regarding Earth girls as only being women like other women. To be sure, there is a special spice and flavor in owning them. I have not mentioned exotics, incidentally, slaves bred or. trained for unusual purposes. I have not mentioned, either, slaves with professional competences, such as medicine or law, or fighting slaves, in effect gladiators, men purchased for use as bodyguards or combatants in arranged games. The intricacy of the institution of slavery on Gor is prodigious. These general remarks, dealing only with major and obvious categories, should be understood as no more than a crude orientation to the subject matter as a whole. The utility of generality must not be permitted to blind us to the specificity of reality. There are always market variables, and buyer and slave variables. A girl who seems to most men only a lowgrade kettle-and-mat girl may be to a given man very precious. She may be as valuable to him as a collared Ubara, one who must now, strictly, be taught her duties as a slave.
'I have now a bid of one sixteen,' said the Lady Tendite. 'Surely, noble buyers, you will bid more realistically for such a splendid property?'
'I will have at least four for you,' said the Lady Tima to me.
'Why is the bidding not higher?' I asked.
'They are afraid of you,' she said.
'I see,' I said.
'But I will teach them they have nothing to fear,' she said.
I looked at her, with apprehension.
'Bring on another slave!' called a woman.
'Bring on another slave!' called yet another.
The Lady Tendite, distraught, turned to the Lady Tima. 'I shall close the bids,' she said. She knew she had not done well. She was disappointed with her performance.
'May I continue?' asked the Lady Tima.
'Certainly,' said the Lady Tendite, gratefully.
'Bring on a new slave!' called a woman.
The Lady Tima, suddenly, cracked her whip, the blades, loud, snapping in a staccato burst of leather, almost at my ear, the crowd instantly still, its attention arrested, stunned, alert.
'Stand!' ordered the Lady Tima. 'Strip! Kneel! Knees wide!'
Startled, terrified, scarcely knowing what I was doing, I found myself kneeling before the buyers.
'Crawl to the Lady Tendite,' ordered the Lady Tima. 'Beg to be collared.'
I found myself terrified, crawling to the Lady Tendite. The whip snapped again, behind me.
'Please collar me, Mistress,' I begged.
'Louder!' said the Lady Tima.
'Please collar me, Mistress!' I begged the Lady Tendite.
'Stay on your hands and knees, head down!' ordered the Lady Tima.
A collar was brought, one which had been lying at hand, with other accouterments, at the rear of the platform. It was identical to that which I had worn in the room of preparation.
I felt it clasped about my neck and locked shut. I shuddered.
I saw the Lady Tima throw what garments I had just torn from my body into the shallow bowl of burning wood.
I was aware of applause, Gorean applause, from the tiers.
The Lady Tima, with her whip, indicated my shoes and stockings lying on the platform. 'Take them, one by one, in your mouth,' she said, 'and discard them in the fire.'
The whip cracked again.
I began to comply with her request, shattered, terrified, a slave.
I heard bids now from the crowd. 'Two tarsks!' I heard. 'Three tarsks!' I heard. 'Three five!' I heard. 'Three six!' 'Three ten!' 'Three twenty!'
The bidding was at four eighteen when I had jerked back my head from the flaming cubes, my right shoe thrown from my teeth into the fire. My knees hurt. I could feel the smooth wood of the platform beneath the palms of my hands. I was stark naked on Gor, save that I wore a steel collar. I saw the last of my clothing burst into flame. I saw fire licking about the shoes, which I had placed in the dish.
The whip snapped again. 'Here, Jason!' ordered the Lady Tima, pointing with the whip to a place at her feet.
I crawled to her feet.
'Five tarsks!' I heard.
'Stand, Jason!' ordered the Lady Tima.
I stood.
'Here is the slave,' said the Lady Tima. 'You have seen him kneel naked to a woman and beg to be collared. Has not your lovely auctioneer, the Lady Tendite, well prepared him for his sale?'
'Six tarsks!' I heard.
There was applause for the Lady Tendite. I was bitter. I realized now only too well that the room of preparation had been for me just that. It had been where the Lady Tendite had prepared me for my sale, even to having me, unwittingly, dress myself as a man of Earth. It was there that she had laid the snares and set the traps, earning my trust, building up my hopes, which had made me so additionally vulnerable to the humiliations and miseries of my sale. She had done her work well. What a fool she had made of me. What a splendid joke for
