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24
“Come, Ciara, I must walk you back to the compound. I must rejoin my brothers or they will come to look for me if I am late,” Christof said pointing back the way we’d come.
As we walked I took Christof’s hand in mine. His presence was a blessing and I was glad for it.
“Why are you doing that?” he asked looking at our joined hands.
“Because I want to,” I answered grinning.
He pushed me gently against a tree and ran a finger under my jaw. “Does it mean something?” he asked watching my eyes.
“On my planet when two people hold hands it’s because they like each other,” I said watching him.
“I like you too, Ciara,” he said grinning at me. His face turned to a frown quickly, “My brothers, when they come, will probably just feed you.”
“That’s okay with me,” I said, “I appreciate knowing someone understands.”
We walked back to the Keeper’s compound holding hands the whole way.
The other girls were dying to know why Christof took me outside. I lied and told them he had wanted to have sex.
“He wanted sex out of doors?” Rose asked suspiciously. “They hate that. They all hate that, I thought. He really is strange,” she mused
I hadn’t known that would be a mistake and asked her why they didn’t like sex outside, normally.
“The way the women take them is not comfortable for them. They like to use us privately in their places for resting, where everything is comfortable,” she answered.
I didn’t talk to her anymore about it. My gut instinct told me what Christof and I did at lunch didn’t usually happen. It was best to keep it a secret.
After lunch I had to pee, really bad. Fuji told me to go tell the Keepers. I wasn’t permitted to go by myself. Much like at my new home I was watched and cleaned, it was weird.
I was distracted from the strangeness of it all by our after lunch activity. The Keepers took us outside the back of the compound. We walked through sand and I was thrilled to see water in front of us. The sea, much like the sky was a shade of bluish purple. The Keeper’s compound sat right on the shore.
We were in a protected alcove with rock walls almost encircling a little bay. The beach was beautiful, it was a light coral color. The sand felt like sand at home. Little waves broke on the beach. I almost ran into the water with my outfit still on, Fuji stopped me.
“You have to get permission from the Keepers to be in the water and they will take off your panels. Your owners will get mad if it gets dirty,” she said pulling me back.
I went and asked the Keepers and they said I was allowed to swim. My owners had permitted it. They took my little outfit off of me and placed it to the side.
When they undressed me I had tried to help them and they looked at me like I was strange. Despite my discomfort of sitting around nude with my new friends, I raged at the other women that I could take care of myself. Rose laughed at me.
“It takes some getting used to,” she said, “but this is the way they look at it. You can’t do anything for yourself. It stems from the experience with their earliest slaves. They bought the ones that fought them, but broke them. They treated slaves horribly and the slaves lost the will to live. If they didn’t do everything for them after they were broken they died faster.”
I shuddered and she continued, “The Paterians got competitive about keeping slaves alive. Eventually they figured out the slaves that were given less pain and more pleasure did better. They also learned the better they cared for their slaves the better they did. It became a sign of the men’s training and ability to keep a healthy slave. The end result is you get treated like a prized pet.”
I listened with interest, but was dying to get in the water. Rose shooed me and I ran to the shore, dipping my toes in the ocean. The water was cool, but not bad. Wading out into waist deep water I swam around. The water got deeper toward where the inlet was. I dove down and inspected the rocky shelves.
All of the sudden I came across a barrier. I reached out and touched it. It was a large metal grate that covered the opening to the inlet. It ended right at the water line. The grates weren’t small, but I couldn’t get through them. Little barnacle like creatures covered the metal from top to bottom.
Swimming to the other side of the inlet under water I found a place where the grate was open. It looked like it must have gotten broken by something. There was a hole large enough for me to fit through. Surfacing, I looked back at the shore. The Keepers were busy with the other girls, no one was watching me.
Feeling wicked, I slipped through the grate and explored the ocean outside the inlet. I surfaced just long enough for air. Not wanting to get caught I slipped back through the grate. Making a note, I decided I’d have to do that again. I swam around until I was called in by the Keepers.
Much like kindergarden we were picked up at a specified time. A little bell rang and we all went into the courtyard and kneeled on our pads waiting. The Warriors came in and picked up their slaves, sometimes stopping and talking to the Keepers.
No one came for me. I waited a long time after everyone else was gone, I thought I might have been left. Perhaps Christof had repeated what I had said and it had made them angry. I jumped when boots appeared before me
“Get up, slave,” Master Evan said towering over my kneeling frame.All content © N/.ôvel/Dr/ama.Org.
I hadn’t heard his approach. Looking up all my owners were standing there glaring at me, except Christof who looked amused.
I followed them out the wall and balked when I saw the transport pad. My uncles all rode roller coasters, but I was too chicken. I’d never even been on an airplane. I hated heights.
“This eve will be very difficult or very enjoyable for you, depending on how you act,” Master Damien threatened in my ear.
Gulping back my fear I followed him onto the pad. It shot up like a rocket and I screamed, dropping to the floor. My eyes were shut tight as I begged them to please make it stop. When the thing started to move forward I grabbed onto the closest leg and cried.
I felt hands removing me from the pant leg I was clinging to and Master Damien’s voice was in my ear, “You will learn to stand and act respectable during transport. We are taking a trip tonight. It will only end when you stop this ridiculous behavior.”
They had the driver swoop the pad every which way. I screamed I would fall off and die crashing to the ground. They thought that was amusing.
“Do you remember the currents that prevented you from moving at the auction?” Christof asked. “Similar barriers prevent you from falling off the sides of the pad.”
“You should try them,” Master Evan said pushing me with a quick thrust toward the edge. He was supremely annoyed.
I yelped but didn’t go off the side of the platform. They were right, something was stopping me. The invisible barrier swooshed against my hand when I hesitantly tried to place it outside the bounds of the pad. Turning around I smiled at my owners. The operator of the pad acted like I wasn’t present, most of the rest glowered at me.
The anger on their faces was undeniable, except for Christof, who still just seemed amused. The lines of skin color that were usually so light seemed to darken with anger. They looked slightly feral and I made up my mind to overcome this fear immediately.
Finally, I learned to watch the horizon and relax on the pad. It didn’t matter if it went up or down, zipped left or right. I stayed in my position and kept my eyes open. The scenery was beautiful. Mountains were in the distance every which way and the ocean bordered on all other sides. In any other circumstance, I would have enjoyed the view.
The sun had set and the sky was dark by the time the man dropped us off in front of our door. I waited patiently for Master Damien to open the gate and followed him off the pad. It felt funny walking on solid ground again, like when you get used to wearing roller skates.
The rest of the evening was quiet. The men took me down to bathhouse with them after dinner. I heard several Warriors commenting on my morning ride. Evidently, everyone had seen that little fiasco.
The comments the other men made were upsetting to my owners. In turn, my owners were colder and less interested in me than they had been the last two days. I learned the lesson quickly, a good slave does not embarrass its Masters.