A Galaxy Unknown (20 page)

"Neither had I until I got here. I'm just over six foot tall so I've always done my level best to appear smaller than I was. It's difficult to find a guy taller than you when you're as tall as I am. And now I have to wear shoes that make me look like I'm six and a half foot tall. How many guys want a freak? Anyway, this is the lowest pair of heels in your closet." 721 let go of Jenetta's foot. "Okay, that one's buckled, give me your other foot."

With both shoes fastened, 721 helped Jenetta stand and walk around the cell. After a few minutes, 721 released her and had Jenetta walk around by herself for about five minutes.

"Okay, you're doing great, 726. Here, put this slip on."

As the slip settled over Jenetta's body, 721 held a dress out for her to step into.

"The slip is riding up with the dress," Jenetta said, as 721 raised the ultra-tight garment.

"I'll get it, hon," 721 said, and reached up under the dress.

Jenetta squirmed her legs and shifted her hips to get into the dress as 721 maintained a tight grip on the bottom of the slip. Finally, the dress was all the way up, but when 721 tried to close the full-length zipper, it wouldn't budge. "Suck in, hon," Jenetta heard at about the same time that the corset started to constrict again. A second later, the zipper easily moved all the way to the top of the dress.

"I can't breathe," Jenetta wheezed.

"Sure you can. Maybe not the full breaths that you're used to, but you can breathe. Just— take smaller breaths. Now, come over to your makeup table and sit down."

Over the next two hours, 721 taught Jenetta the basic tricks of makeup application. Having always been something of a tomboy, Jenetta learned much that she'd been unwilling to learn from her mother and friends while a teen. The use of makeup was forbidden at the Academy.

"Okay," 721 said, "time to finish getting dressed."

"I am dressed."

"Not yet you aren't. Here, put on your gloves. Slaves must always wear their gloves. Some guests are funny that way, I guess, because I have more pairs of gloves than dresses and shoes combined. The guards tell me that they make me look even sexier," 721 said, giggling.

Jenetta had no desire to look sexier for the guards, but pulled on the opera-length gloves that 721 handed her. They reached almost to her armpits.

"Now put your restraints back on."

"I thought we were done with them?"

"Not hardly! Until you become a trustee, you're only allowed to remove them while you're getting dressed, undressed, or bathing. And everyone must wear them from night bong to morning bong, even trustees. M girls normally wear special restraints with attachment rings. You'll probably get your new set when they wipe our minds."

Jenetta replaced the restraints, telling herself,
‘Just for a little longer.'

"You have a beautiful face, 726. You'll probably be a duration girl."

"A what?"

"A duration girl. You know, at the resort. There're three different types of girls, hourly, daily, and duration. Hourly girls are available to any client on an hourly basis. The daily girls stay with the same client for a full day, and duration girls remain with the same client for the duration of their stay. They're the most costly and they're treated the best. They get the nicest clothes, jewelry, and food, and also the most rest."

"How do you know all this?"

"From my trainer. She knew someone who had been there as a client many years ago, and he told her all about it."

"You don't sound all that upset about going there."

"I'm not upset—
anymore
. Oh, I admit that I was, at first. I've always been pretty strong-minded and independent, so I naturally rebelled, but I got shocked so many times that I lost count. Then slowly I just seemed to get used to the idea. They'll feed me and clothe me, and all I have to do is lie around and look pretty. And it will be so great to get out of this hole."

"Are you kidding? You'll still be a slave. Even if you don't have any work to do, they'll still tell you what to eat and when you can eat it, when to sleep and when to get up, what to wear and who you can be with. Is that a life?"

"It's not so bad. It could be worse; at least I'm going to be a regular."

"A regular? A regular what?"

"Regular sex. No serious kink, dominatrix, or masochism stuff?"

"Umm, what am I supposed to be?"

721 hesitated, and a pained expression came over her face. "I'm sorry, hon. You're going to be an M girl."

"An M girl? You used that term before. What's an M girl?"

"The big M, like in Sado-Masochism."

Jenetta felt her abdomen constrict. "How do you know?"

"Look in your closet."

Jenetta's eyes flicked to the closet, and she hobbled over to examine the clothes.

"What? I see a lot of black leather, but that doesn't mean anything. They're trying to turn us into whores. Isn't this what whores typically wear?"

Moving behind Jenetta, 721 put her hands on her shoulders to comfort the seemingly younger woman. "Not exactly, hon. Look at this dress here," she said, pointing to one on the rack. "The sleeves are stitched solidly together in the back from the elbow down. When it's pulled up, your arms are trapped behind you. Once the front zipper is pulled up, even a Houdini couldn't get out of it on her own. And look at your boots. Twelve-centimeter heels every one, and they lace right up to the top of the thigh, with rings attached every dozen centimeters on the inside surface so that your legs can be easily secured. And although the company likes tight dresses, you don't have a single one that you can walk in. Look what it took for you just to get over to your closet. The company doesn't expect you to be walking very much because M girls spend most of their time tied to beds, or suspended in restraints. I understand that the M girl rooms are outfitted like mini torture dungeons. The guest can do anything to you except brand you, cut you, or kill you. If they accidentally kill you, or even permanently disfigure you, they have to give the company the amount you would have earned in ten years of service. If the guest can't pay up, and I would bet that the charges would be astronomically high, they become slaves themselves. Brandings, or scarring from cuts, are pro-rated depending on the amount of damage."

"I don't believe it! Arneu said that I'd be too valuable, for too long. They wouldn't risk my getting killed or damaged and only receive the equivalent of ten years of service."

"The clothes in your closet say different, 726. My trainer told me that M girls fetch a considerably higher premium than regular girls. Probably because they need time to heal between customers."

Jenetta didn't respond for several seconds and then said quietly, "This has to be Arneu's revenge for my attacking him. And he did tell me that they had performed DNA changes on me that would make me heal much faster than other people."

"There you go then. They probably also implanted thoughts that will make you love the pain. Pain will make you feel euphoric and you'll crave more. My trainer told me that M girls can't get enough, which is why so many are injured so badly. They keep goading their tormentors to hurt them."

"I'll feel better when I'm subjected to pain?" Jenetta said incredulously.

"That's what my trainer told me." Attempting to change the mood, 721 said brightly, "Now come on, let me see you put your face on again."

With 721 watching, Jenetta removed all the makeup she was wearing and applied new. As she worked, 721 taught her a few more small secrets about its proper application. They continued talking afterwards, about clothes and fashion, until Bellis arrived to take 721 back to her cell.

"Wait, how do I get undressed?" Jenetta asked quickly as 721 started to leave. "I'm still wearing the restraints."

"Oh, the guard will release your restraints an hour before lights out. Built into your makeup table is a timer that begins when you're released. You'll have 30 minutes to undress and get ready for bed. You have to have the restraints back on when he returns or you get a level two shock. After they pick up your breakfast tray in the morning, you'll be released again, and you'll have one hour to bathe and dress. You must have the restraints on again when the guard returns." Putting her hand lightly on Jenetta's arm, she said, "Good-night, 726."

"Goodnight, 721. Thanks."

"You're welcome, hon. See ya."

Romeo came by her cell and released her restraints an hour before lights out, as 721 had apprized. Just as he had done when he delivered her food, and again when he picked up her tray, he made a number of lewd comments and suggestive remarks concerning the way she looked. Jenetta had always ignored such flirtatious comments from men, but now she discovered they excited her. It had to be the result of the conditioning she was being subjected to. She silently vowed that Romeo would never suspect that she was being affected in the slightest.

With her restraints released, Jenetta was able to undress, but she pressed the wrong button on the white controller and the corset started to tighten when she touched it against her body. She quickly pressed the other button because she didn't want the pain to set her off. She would need to remain completely in control if she was to escape from the detention center.

Quickly stripping off the clothes and putting on a teddy that she found in the closet, she put the restraints back on before sitting down to remove the makeup. When Romeo returned, she hopped onto the circle and he solidified the bands. Her closet yielded a pillow, sheets, and a soft, thin blanket, and for the first time since she'd been captured, she slept peacefully. The cot still wasn't anything like the temperature and hardness controlled beds that she'd always had on Earth and aboard ship, but the bedclothes made a world of difference.

* * *

After retrieving her breakfast tray the next morning, Hawkface released Jenetta's restraints. She peeled them off, removed the teddy, and gleefully hurried to the shower where she spent fifteen delightful minutes in the hot spray, then toweled off quickly. Once dry, she pulled on the panties and bra that she had brought into the bathroom, and went out to her cell to finish getting dressed.

Jenetta meticulously examined every outfit in the closet before selecting a black leather skirt with matching vest. For footwear, she chose a pair of knee-high black leather boots. As with the shoes that she had worn yesterday, the stiletto heels were at least twelve centimeters.

She began getting dressed by putting on the corset, but only tightened it a little at first. As she rolled her stockings on, she found that she had started to enjoy the sensuous caress of the gossamer material on her legs. She again wondered how many of the new sensations she was experiencing lately were the result of the ‘therapy' that she'd received so far. After attaching the garter belt and putting on the boots, she tightened the corset until her breathing became labored. Next came a black half-slip, and then she wrapped the leather skirt around her. With a rear zipper that ran from the waist down to the bottom hem, she didn't have any trouble getting the zipper started because she only had to adjust the corset, but getting the zipper down over her tush and closing the skirt around her thighs was difficult. Once zipped, she could barely walk, but she found that by swinging her hips, she could take tiny steps.

The vest-like top did little to cover her natural attributes. As with all the clothes in the closet, her chest was prominently displayed, with her ‘slave' identification clearly visible. After pulling on the required opera length gloves, she finished dressing by replacing the restraints.

There was still some time left, so she sat down to brush her hair and put on some makeup. She didn't apply it as heavily as 721 had, but it was much more pronounced than she would ever have considered before, and when Hawkface came back to solidify her restraints, he actually entered the cell after he had secured her. He circled her twice as she stood stone-faced on the black position mark.

From behind her, he said, "Wow, you sure clean up nice." She felt the warmth of his breath as he put his head near hers and sniffed the sweet fragrances left in her hair and on her skin by the shampoo and soap. Then he extended his tongue and licked her neck from the neckline of her vest to her hairline is one slow motion. "You are
one hot chick,
" he said breathlessly, as he finished.

Jenetta could hear the silent plea in his voice, but kept her eyes focused straight ahead. She suddenly flinched her head a few centimeters and Hawkface jumped back a full meter. He naturally knew of her effective attack technique, and her willingness to use it. Arneu hadn't been seen since the incident and the current rumor was that he was holed up in his rooms because his nose was the size of a cantaloupe.

Stepping close again, with his head to one side, Hawkface wrapped his arms around her and began massaging her breasts. In a voice dripping with lust and desire, he asked, "How do you like this, honey? What say we get it on? I could be real nice to you if you were nice to me."

Jenetta felt her pulse quickening and knew she was becoming aroused by the physical contact. As she struggled to keep her breathing regular, she asked evenly, "Are you looking to get tossed out an air lock without a spacesuit?"

Hawkface stopped, then looked at her with a saturnine expression. His lips twisted with contempt as he stormed from the cell and locked the door. Jenetta was afraid that he was going to leave her secured, but after a minute, the slot opened and she was released. Once the slot had closed again, she allowed herself a little shudder and took several deep breaths to shake off the sparks of passion that were coursing through her. Hawkface held absolutely no appeal for her so the undesired response
must
be the result of the conditioning.

Knowing that she must make good her escape before they were taken to the transport ship and placed in stasis sleep, Jenetta spent most of the morning pacing around her cell, working on her plan. She felt she had solved the problem of how she would get out of her cell, but there was still so much that she needed to know with little chance of learning it while she was stuck in the detention center. The success of the escape would depend upon having information about the layout of the base, and coming up with a plan for commandeering a tug, or at least a shuttle. Her chances were slim enough without wandering aimlessly about the base trying to find usable, unmanned, and unguarded transportation. Then there was the matter of food and water. She knew GA regulations required space tugs and shuttles to carry a week's worth of emergency rations for a crew of four, but the Raiders made their own rules. She had no way of knowing if they subscribed to the basic rules of ship safety that everyone else was
required
to follow. Part of the information she needed would come to her in a most unexpected way.