'Of course,' I said. 'That is why it is used.'
'In a few moments, the man made an adjustment in the chain, spinning one of thewooden handles. He could the control it with one hand. He tightened it, halfchoking me and then released it, slightly. He had well displayed his power overme. He then released it a bit more. 'That's better, isn't it, Baby? he asked.
'Yes, Sir, I said. 'Good,' he said, 'we have a long drive ahead of us. We thendrove on, I terrified, he giving me directions. From other can it would haveseemed merely that a man, leaning forward, perhaps smiling, perhaps conversingwith me, was in the back of my vehicle. If any saw the slender golden chainabout my throat they did not, doubtless, conjecture its significance.'
'He was not masked?' I asked.
'No,' she said.
'A mask would have aroused suspicion,' I said.
'Yes,' she said. 'Do not fear to look upon my face, you wish, he said, 'foryou will not see it again, after you have been delivered. 'Delivered! Iexclaimed. 'Yes, he laughed, 'delivered, my pretty goods. We then drove on. Helet me engage in what, I suppose, are the standard threat and pleas of thecaptured girl, but, then, when he grew we of this amusement, he stopped me. Aslight pressure on chain sufficed. We then continued to drive on. The terrainbecame more remote, more desolate. Soon we were driving on graveled roads. Thenwe were driving on dirt roads, dark and lonely lined with trees. I grasped verylittle of what was going on. I was terrified. The chain was on my throat. Thebeams from the headlights seemed wild on the road ahead of me. 'Slow down here, he said, 'and pull into those trees, an stop. I obeyed his commands. I switchedoff the car lights and turned off the car engine. I had delivered myself, thoughto whom, or what, or for what I had no idea. He took me from the car by thechain and soon I was in the hands of other men. He left, dropping the chain,with its handles, in the pocket of his jacket. I was thrown to my stomach in thegrass. My hands were fastened behind me in some sort of metal restrainingdevice. It was snug, and inflexible. My ankles were crossed and tied togetherwith a short piece of rope. A metal anklet of some sort was fastened on my leftankle.
'A girls identificatory anklet,' I said. 'It is removed after her delivery toGor.'
'A boxlike device was then placed near my head,' she said. 'It was hinged at oneend and, on the other side, where it opened, there were matched, semicircularopenings. My head then, by the hair, was placed in this box, and it was closed,enclosing my head, and shutting snugly about my neck. This opening was thenfurther closed by wrapping thick cloth about my neck and thrusting it up, sothat it filled the space between my neck and the edges of the now closedsemicircular openings.'
'Interesting,' I said.
'My head enclosed in the box,' she said, 'I heard a car being driven away. Itwas doubtless my own, driven by the fellow with the chain.'
'That is quite likely,' I said. 'He would wish to have means to return to thecity and, of course, it would be important to abandon or dispose of the car farfrom the scene of the abductors' rendezvous.'
'And I must remain behind,' she said, bitterly.
'Of course,' I said. 'You were then only a delivered capture.'
'A gas was then entered into the box,' she said. 'I tried to struggle. A man'sfoot held me in place. I lost consciousness I awakened, I do not know how muchlater, in a grassy field on this world, chained by the neck with other girls.'
'Interesting,' I said. 'I do not know, but you may have been stored for a fewdays, perhaps even a few weeks.'
'Stored?' she asked.
'Yes,' I said, 'perhaps hibernated. Then, when the order was complete, it couldhave been shipped in its entirety.'
'You speak of me as though I might be an object,' she said, 'a mere commodity.'
'You are,' I said.
'Yes, Master,' she said.
I thrust the slave tunic up and then, pulling her to a sitting position, Ipulled it off, her arms rising, over her head.
'Do you object?' I inquired.
'No, Master,' she said. 'I may not object. I am a slave.'
I cast the scanty garment to the side, on the grass.
'Lie down,' I told her, 'on your back, with your arms at sides, the palms ofyour hands up, facing the moons of Gor.'
'Yes, Master,' she said.
'Lift your left knee, slightly,' I told her.
'Yes, Master,' she said.
I stood and looked down at her.
'I now lie exposed before you, as a slave, Master,' she said.
'Is that fitting and proper?' I inquired.
'Yes, Master,' she said.
'Why?' I asked.
'Because I am a slave,' she said.
'The answer is correct, and suitable,' I said.
'Yes, Master,' she said.
'Are you a new slave?' I asked.
'Yes, Master,' she said.
'That is incorrect,' I said.
'Master?' she asked.
'The only sense in which you are a new slave,' I said, 'is that it has not beenlong since your legal imbondment.'
'Master?' she asked.
'For years, you have been a slave,' I said, 'only one who was not yet properlyowned, a technicality recently remedied on Gor.'
She looked up at me.
'This is what, implicitly, in effect, your aunt was recognizing,' I said,'though perhaps not fully consciously. It seems to have been recognized evenmore clearly by your former superior, the female executive. She dressed you, andtreated you, did she not, as, in effect, a slave?'
'Yes,' said the girl, angrily.
'I think,' I said, 'in spite of other possible considerations and advantageswhich might have been involved in her behavior attitudes, she was trying to bekind to you, trying make it clear to you what you were, trying to encourage youto be true to your own nature.'
'Perhaps!' said the girl, angrily.
'You like pretty clothes, do you not,' I asked, 'and like to be attractive tomen.'
'Yes!' she said.
'On Gor,' I said, 'as opposed to your world, It is customary to enslave slaves.'
She looked up at me, angrily.
'On Gor,' I asked, 'have you been branded, and enslaved.'
'Yes, Master,' she said.
'Why?' I asked.
'Because I am a slave?' she asked. 'Yes,' I said.
She turned her head, angrily, to the side.
I looked down at her. She was exquisitely beautiful. I did not doubt but thatGrunt could get five hides of the yellow kailiauk for her.
'Look at me, Slave,' I said.
She regarded me, quickly. 'Yes, Master,' she said.
'Slaves such as you, on Earth,' I said, 'not legally imbonded, often use theirbeauty to their own advantage. It opens doors. It smoothes ways. It makes thingseasy for them. They use it to further careers, to buy wealth, and to
