'Yes, Master,' she said.
'To be sure,' I said, 'the bodies of women are not without interest, and theylook well in slave chains.'
'Yes, Master,' she said.
'But you must understand that what wears the chains, so curvaceous, beautifuland helpless, is the whole woman.'
'I understand, Master,' she said.
'You do not have a name yet, do you?' I asked.
'No,' she said. 'My master has not yet named me.'
'What was your former name?' I asked.
'Millicent Aubrey-Welles,' she said. 'Oh!' she said. 'Your hand!'
'Do you objects?' I asked.
'No,' she said. 'I am only a slave. I may not object.'
'That is an unusual name,' I said. My hand rested, softly, on her left thigh.
'Such names are not unusual in the social stratum which once was mine,' shesaid.
'I see,' I said.
'My family is from the upper classes, the very upper classes, of my world.'
'I see,' I said.
'I now lie beside you in a slave tunic,' she said. 'But I am an upper-classgirl, a very upper-class girl. You must understand that.'
'Once you were,' I said.
'Yes, Master,' she said.
'You are now only a nameless slave,' I said.
'Yes, Master,' she said.
I smiled.
'I was a debutante,' she said.
'I understand,' I said.
'We are used to consolidate family alliances,' she said, and are given asawards, in matings to energetic young men, often rising in our fathers' companies.'
'A form of slavery,' I said, 'but without the honesty of the collar.'
'Yes,' she said, bitterly.
'Women have often been used for such purposes,' I said.
'My aunt told me that it was all that I was good for,' she said.
'Your aunt was mistaken,' I said.
She gasped. My hand moved higher on her thigh.
She controlled her breath. My hand, now, was again still.
'We, of course,' she said, 'would be permitted our clubs, our activities, ourparties, our affairs.'
'Yes,' I said.
'But it would be a meaningless existence,' she said, 'meaningless.' 'Oh!' shesaid.
My fingers now rested on her brand. 'What is this?' I asked.
'My brand.' she said.
'You must be a slave,' I said.
'Yes, Master,' she said.
'Your existence on Gor,' I said, 'you will find far from meaningless. You willfind it quite meaningful, I assure you.'
She shuddered.
'It is rather something else which you will find is meaningless on Gor,' I said.
'What, Master?' she asked.
'You, yourself,' I said.
'Me?' she asked.
'Yes,' I said, 'for you will be only an article of property, a meaningless,purchasable trinket, a worthless bauble, an owned woman, a slave.'
She looked at me with horror.
'Surely you are aware that you may be purchased or sold, or bartered, or givenaway, or commanded, as men please, that you are naught but an imbonded woman, atotally meaningless slave?'
'Yes, Master,' she moaned.
'Did you wear a white gown, of ankle length, when you were presented as adebutante?' I asked.
'Yes, Master,' she said.
My hand was now tight upon her brand. 'Say,' I said, 'I am now naught but abranded slave on Gor.'
'I am now naught but a branded slave on Gor,' said the girl.
I moved my hand upward, to her hip, and to the sweetness of her waist at thehip.
'Your hand is high beneath my tunic, Master,' said the girl 'Do you object?' I asked.
'No, Master,' she said. 'I am a slave. I may not object,'
'The clothing in which you were exhibited to the buyers,' I said, 'which wasremoved for their interest, in your sale, did not seem to me the clothing of adebutante. It seemed to me rather the clothing of a girl, and a certain sort ofgirl, who works in an office.'
'I wished to avoid the imminent and obvious fate of the debutante,' she said,'to be bartered, for position and power on the marriage market.'
'This was the occasion, doubtless, in which your aunt expressed her view thatsuch, in effect, was all you were good for.'
'Yes!' she said. 'Oh!' she said.
'You have lovely curves,' I said.
'Are you warming me for my taking?' she asked.
'They would bring a high price,' I said.
She moaned.
'Your aunt,' I said, 'surely had a very limited conception of your utilities. Itprobably never even entered her ken, for example, that you might one day be ascantily clad, branded slave.'
'Master?' asked the girl.
'On the other hand,' I said, 'she knew you very well, and, in some way, may havebeen touching on something of importance.'
'I do not understand,' said the girl.
'I do not mean to insult you, a girl from Earth,' I said, 'but you an obviouslyextremely feminine. You have, doubtless, a large number of female hormones inyour body.'
'Master?' she asked.
'Your aunt was then, perhaps, trying to convey to you that your most congenialand appropriate destiny, what might be best for you, what might be most naturalfor you, would be for you to find yourself naked in the arms of a man.'
'As little more than a slaver she asked.
'As perhaps no more than a slave,' I said.
'I cannot help it that I have a feminine face, that I have feminine body,' shesaid. 'I cannot help it that I am feminine nine' Why would you want to help it?' I asked.
'It is wrong to be feminine!' she said.
'That is obviously false,' I said. 'What is your next point?'
'I know that I am feminine,' she wept. 'I have known for years, from my desiresand feelings, even from before the interior truths of my reality manifestedthemselves so unmistakably, so unrepudiably, in my body, shaping and curving mefor the destiny of the female, and for the lustful, appraising eyes of men.'
I regarded her, not speaking.
'I am afraid to be feminine!' she said.
'Why?' I asked.
'Because,' she wept, 'I sense that it is, ultimately, to be the slave of men.'
