The Cost of My Dreams Ch. 05 - Final Selection

[LoyalHound]

The Cost of My Dreams Ch. 05 - Final Selection by LoyalHound
This is a work of Erotic Fantasy. As such, it is not real and does not depict real events or any real person. All characters, businesses, institutions, places, publications, and events in this story are either fictional or are used fictitiously as you might expect in a story where slavery is legally enforced throughout the modern United States. All characters are adults.

Note: In addition to the other mistakes I made in chapter four, I introduced a continuity error: In chapter one, our heroine described training on the Ares Four transport vehicle. In chapter four I wrongly described the current vehicle as the Ares Three. In this chapter I’ve elected to preserve the original continuity.

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I was confined to a hospital bed after surgery but the project had continued. Cheryl, Susan, and the second backup crew had been lifted to low earth orbit and were preparing to move the Ares Four, now dubbed "Ares Rising" to the lunar gateway station so it could be fueled for the trip to Mars. There was a lot of information coming in plus I was reviewing the documentation for the chips they'd implanted in me when I got the bright idea of using the concentration enhancement function.

"Master Micheal," I said, addressing the AI "this slave begs for you to start a three-hour trial of the concentration-enhancing function."

"I will activate the concentration-enhancing function for three hours. Are you sure you wish to do this?"

"Yes master," I said and much of the world retreated. My focus narrowed and I went thru page after page of the documentation and reference studies of the chips and of reports from the Ares Four, not conscious of time passing. After a time, my focus abruptly ended and I came back to myself.

A doctor, Master Gupta, and a nurse, Mistress Bowie were in the room. My eyes felt dry and irritated, my head felt muddled and I really needed to stretch and make water. I shook my head and tried to clear it and stretched as much as I could. I felt wasted.

"Master," I said to the doctor "Star begs for the bedpan that she might not mess herself and this bed."

Master Gupta told the nurse "Help her," and the nurse got me the bedpan which I used while he studied me.

He said "I see you've been experimenting with the concentration enhancement function. You seem to have overdone it."

"Yes master, Star has overdone the concentration enhancement function. She underestimated the power of the function and regrets the inconvenience this has caused you, master."

He leaned over, tapped my head with his finger, and said "Star is valuable and expensive property, yet a thoughtless slave has ignored instructions and put that property at risk. What should be done with a slave who fails to protect her master's property?"

Crap. "Master, Star begs for correction that she might learn to better protect her master's property."

"Micheal, please administer fifteen punishment shocks at level ten to Star."

The pain hit and the muscles under the electrodes of my collar contracted. Then a brief period of relief, then another shock. I had been warned to take it slow when testing my new abilities. At first, I attempted to remain silent and bear my punishment as befitted a slave receiving a well-deserved correction from her master, but I could not help crying as the shocks continued. After the fifteenth such shock, I pulled myself together and said "Star thanks you for the instruction of the shock collar that she may learn to better protect her master's property."

"How did you find the experience? With the concentrate function, I mean."

I tried to control my tears. "Master, Star has never been able to concentrate so hard before but does not know how long she experienced it. She believes that the concentrate function is, perhaps, too strong."

"So noted," said Master Gupta as he sat on the bed and held me until I stopped crying. Then he said "You experienced the full three hours you requested. In the future, a maximum of one hour will be permitted at a stretch."

"Master is wise and kind," I said. Indeed, he was kind: Disobedience, endangering a valuable slave, and inconveniencing medical staff, disrupting their schedules because I thought I was being clever. I probably deserved the cane for that. A good thing I wasn't in charge of my own punishments.

"I'll be back in an hour so we can start getting you on your feet. In the meantime, no further study. Stretch, do your bed exercises, watch a video or two, or put on some music."

"Yes, master."

I should have known better. I really should have known better but at least I could learn from experience. That was probably why Master Gupta had let the whole three-hour trial run to completion: So I would get the whole corrective experience. These bespoke chips were like a cursed artifact: You'd pay a price if you abused them.

While I was recovering from surgery and learning to use my new brain chips, I followed the fallout from Angela's case of slave mind and what a fallout it was. Even though the Sharks weren't charging for Angela's extra training and there was absolutely no need to rush, Deputy Project Chief Master Booth of the Martian Exploration and Colony company had insisted that it was imperative that she achieve her training goals ASAP and demanded they push her hard, regardless of consequence.

The Sharks had objected, but Master Booth was their official contact with us. Master Crenshaw and Mistress Forrester had insisted that just a few weeks would do the trick without the danger of slave mind and warned him of the risk if they pushed too hard. They objected strenuously and with the support of the other wranglers at the Sharks. But when Master Booth signed a letter explicitly acknowledging the risk and ordering them to proceed, Mistress Watson, the Sharks Vice President of Operations, had overruled the wranglers and the Sharks had done as he had ordered.

There was no hurry with Angela, especially since she wasn't in the top three. Angela had had brains and skills that were hard to replace and now she was just a fucktoy, abet a good-looking, well-trained, and talented one. Master Marshall was livid. What had Master Booth been thinking, risking that? What had Mistress Watson been thinking, risking their reputation on Master Booth's whim? Mere stupidity couldn't explain it. Was it deliberate sabotage? Did they both have it in for Angela? I could find no good answer but there had to be one.

Master Booth resigned before Master Marshall could fire him. Instead, Master Marshall found the three remaining people most responsible, junior executives who had reported directly to Master Booth and had run cover for him, following his orders and ignoring the overall impact to the company and the project of possibly losing Angela. Master Marshall offered them all a unique training opportunity at a very expensive school, where they would learn all about just following orders. He also included financial compensation. They all had enough debt that they might end up in the collar anyway if they found themselves both unemployed and, quite possibly, unemployable. They signed three-month indentures, were processed in Jacksonville, and sent to the Sharks. They did not get a direct shipment. Instead, they got to experience the wonders of travel via The East Coast Slave Transport Market LLC, which doubtless increased the educational value of the experience. Indeed, the educational enhancement may have started before they got to Jacksonville.

Master Marshall made his point: Intelligent disobedience isn't just for service animals. A rather expensive point, considering what the Sharks charge and the financial compensation he arranged for the three executives for their indenture, but a point nobody was likely to forget.

I did wonder how the trainers at the Sharks would treat them. Probably very professionally, I decided, however much they might want to give them an extra special experience. "Control your whip, control yourself, control your slave."

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I also experienced the power of the libido chip. It was much more versatile than horny juice and could very arousal levels over a few minutes if needed. Generally, the chip was set at a low level most of the time, boosted during free play to encourage us to remain slave sexual, and turned up to moderate levels about an hour before we were scheduled for slave use.

I haven't dwelt too much on our slave use by the crews, executives of the Martian Exploration and Colony Company, wranglers, and assorted visitors, but this was an ongoing demand on our time, though it was only the crews that had the privilege to use us at any time. Otherwise, it had to be scheduled.

The man who had wanted to try me out on the flight down from Temperance, who I will call Master Kingmaker as I do not want to give his real name, booked me for four hours one day and brought two assistants, one male and one female, with him.

I was, of course, slave naked but I had been ordered to wear wrist and ankle bands and a slave belt. They sat at a table in the visitor's suite and I served each of them fully.

After I pushed a service cart into the suite, I knelt before them with my knees spread and my hands laced behind my neck to await their pleasure. After a few minutes, Master Kingmaker motioned to me and I approached the table and said, "This girl lives to serve your pleasure, master, and begs to know your desire."

Master Kingmaker did not drink alcohol and for him, I retrieved a glass from the service cart, filled it with ice from the cart and opened a refrigerated bottle of a carbonated grapefruit-flavored soft drink once favored by a certain president. I knelt before him with my knees spread, filled the glass with beverage and, placing the bottle on a coaster on the table, offered the glass to him with both hands saying "This girl thanks you for the opportunity to serve you and begs you to use her however you wish."

The male assistant imitated his boss and also ordered the grapefruit beverage and I served him similarly. The female assistant ordered sparkling water instead, and I served her as well, saying "This girl begs you to know she is eager to serve you however you desire."

As they enjoyed their drinks, they questioned me on many aspects of the flight to Mars, the state of our training, and the activities we had scheduled, not just around Mars and after we landed, but the training activities in low earth orbit, during preparation at the lunar gateway station and in transit to and from Mars. I refilled their drinks several times, and Master Kingmaker excused himself briefly to use the bathroom at one point. Eventually, they were satisfied with the information portion of the interview and Master Kingmaker directed me to follow him into a bedroom where he had ordered me to my knees and elbows and took me from behind, pulling my hair and riding my ass as though I were trying to get away. He didn't last long, but with the help of the libido chip, he didn't have to. I screamed loudly as I came, since that is what he seemed to want. He had me lick him clean and give him a blowjob.

Next was his female assistant. The woman was nervous, so I helped her as much as I could, becoming the aggressor for this session, kissing her boldly, pressing her against the wall and working my way down breasts and belly. By the time I reached her pussy, she was into it and let me lead her to the bed where I licked her to an orgasm as loud as mine with Master Kingmaker.

Finally, the male assistant took his turn. The male assistant wanted my ass so I used the grease gun on my anus and he too took me from behind. He lasted longer than his boss and I was more restrained as I came, since he seemed to want a less vocal performance. I was wrong about that; after I had licked him clean, he restrained me spread-eagled on the bed and used a vibrator to make me howl. It was a good thing he was last; I was pretty spent after he was done.

On the whole, it was a most satisfactory session. The masters were fulfilled and so was I. I hoped I had properly represented my owners, The Martian Exploration and Colony Company.

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The second week after our surgery, the primary crew, the first backup crew, and Erin, Denise, and I plus two male slaves moved offsite for a few days to an area under a huge tent, like a circus tent, where astrogeologists and engineers had excavated and prepared a ten-meter thick area of simulated Martian regolith similar to an area of thick regolith near where we would land so we could practice excavating and installing two small sections of a future underground habitat. (The sections we worked with here were not stuffed - that is, did not contain the wiring, ductwork, insulation, and such the real section would - and had been deliberately lighted to reflect the lesser gravity of Mars. The simulated regolith used a lot of light aggregate and talc to try and reflect its reduced weight to the extent possible.) We also did simulations of all equipment operations and the engineers found new and exciting ways our environment might adversely affect our equipment and tested us on them.

We stayed in a rather cramped, simulated habitat when we weren't working. Eleven of us jammed together, unable to get away from each other. That five of us were slaves, bound to submit and accommodate the least wish of the others, made things more tolerable for all of us. A slave's place was at the very bottom of the hierarchy, but it was a place I knew and could deal with.

There wasn't room enough for organized slave yoga in the habitat, but Denise, as it happened, had had some training in slave dance at some point, probably to help raise her slave grade. We created a makeshift stage and she performed for the crew and instructed Erin and I in dance, which helped us exercise and release stress. When we got back to Cape Canaveral, we begged Master Peterson for dance instruction, and he arranged for remote instruction from a slave mistress.

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During the fourth week since our surgery, Master Peterson scheduled me for his personal service. When the time of our coupling approached, I was surprised that the libido chip, far from starting to boost my arousal before the service, seemed to have cut out entirely. I asked Master Michael about that.

"Master Michael," I asked "Star begs you to check the function of her libido chip. It doesn't seem to be working, master. "

"Your normal libido boost has been canceled until after your coupling with Master Peterson."

I restrained the urge to ask about that. Ideal curiosity could be punished in a slave and it was almost certain that the order to cut my libido boost had come from Master Peterson and, from my readings, I had a pretty good guess about the reason.

When the time came, chip or not, I was looking forward to it. When I had arrived at his quarters, he motioned me to the foot of the bed, where he had the usual bondage items and he undressed. As I secured a leash to my collar and an eyebolt in the floor and put on the wrist and ankle bands, the gag, the spreader bar, and the slave belt, my desire grew, not to the level it had been with the chip, but I was still excited by being retrained and used as a slave. Before he secured my hands to the slave belt, Master Peterson had me kneel and kiss his bare feet and slowly work my way up his bare legs. When he secured my hands and positioned me on his bed, he took his sweet time with me, extending the foreplay beyond what I needed when the chip was employed. I nevertheless warmed quickly, if not as quickly as when the libido chip was engaged. The sex was satisfying in a way it never quite was with the insatiable need of the horny juice or the chip, though my pleasure was not so intense.

Afterward, he told me "Up to now, almost all your sexual activity as a slave has been under the influence of either horny juice or the libido chip. Until now, you've been able to tell yourself you didn't really want to be fucked and degraded by the commonplace slaves, that was just the horny juice. You didn't really want to provide slave services to Joe or Ed, that was just the chip. But now you see it wasn't just the horny juice. The horny juice was a tool to ease your transition into slavery and make you a better, well-adjusted slave but that transition is now complete."

As I expected, he was using the "Willful Participation Paradigm", which is a standard slave training technique wherein a slave is made to accept that, at some level and to some degree, she wants and deserves the treatment she receives. Having a name for it didn't mean it wasn't both true and effective, however. "No master, it wasn't just the horny juice; it wasn't just the chip. Star chose this indenture, master. Part of Star likes being a slave, master."

"Only part?"

"Yes master, the rest of Star looks forward to the end of her indenture, master. If master wants Star after her indenture ends, master will have to court her in a more conventional way." Then I added, "Star would welcome such a suit."

"This is sounding like one of those slave romance novels."

"Master is not a billionaire and Star is not innocent."

"Don't expect me to go easy on you."

"No master, Star is counting on you to make her the best slave she can be, master."

True to his word, Master Peterson did not ease up on me even a little for the duration of my enslavement and I would have lost respect for him if he had. He also disabled my libido chip boost for all of our future couplings and, when I requested it, with all future couplings with the primary crew and other wranglers. I found I still looked forward to all of my couplings with the primary crew, even with Mistress Gonzales.

When Mistress Gonzales called me to her service and we kissed and fondled each other, I was eager to go down on her, even though I had not been a lesbian. What I was was a slave eager to please her mistress. I would give and accept such pleasure as my role allowed. I did wonder if I would remain slave sexual after my indenture ended.

Erin and Denise were puzzled by my declining the use of the libido chip for my couplings with the primary crew and the wranglers. Eventually, they tried it too, and eventually joined me in asking that the libido chip boost not be used for their service to the primary crew and the wranglers. While we were slaves, we were slaves and we no longer needed to kid ourselves about how comfortable we had become in our collars. If the masters wanted it, we were happy to obey.

Although I declined the boost from the libido chip when servicing the primary crew and the wranglers, I still wanted its aid when I serviced cooperated officers and investors. The primary crew and the wranglers I recognized as, somehow, my real masters and mistresses. The cooperate officers and investors seemed masters and mistresses only in the same sense that all free persons were, though I was careful to say my mantras before any scheduled coupling with them, as they still deserved my best service by reason of their being free.

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"Master Michael, this girl begs you to start a three-minute timer," I said.

"I will notify you in three minutes," said the AI.

I petted the hair of the woman I had known as Mistress Brown, one of the executives who had covered for Master Booth. Slave 2791 was my less than willing assistant as I practiced punishment ties.

"Only three minutes," I told her. "You can bear it for three minutes."

She struggled a little as the tie became increasingly uncomfortable. Her hands were secured behind her back with linked wristbands. Her ankles had been secured together with ankle bands, to which I had added rope about her ankles and the bottom of her feet, so the tie couldn't slip up and become too tight. A rope ran from that tie to a ring on her chest harness, holding her in a tight kneeling position with her head on the floor. A classic tie that could persuade even the most stubborn of slaves to serve her master properly.

I continued to pet her as she struggled until Michael announced "Your three-minute timer has expired."

I rolled her on her side and cut the rope holding her chest harness to her ankles. Then I had her roll on her belly and started to massage her, getting her relaxed for the next tie.

Time had been running out when 2791 was kenneled with our group. In another two weeks, we'd be boosting to low earth orbit for the last of our training and then join Ares Rising at the lunar gateway station for the final inspection and selection of the fourth crew member. We were in unstructured study Mistress Springfield showed up and put a new name card for "2791" in what had been Angela's kennel. Mistress Springfield was a stickler for not rewarding curiosity in slaves, but she would have been disappointed if we didn't ask, so we did and got the predictable put-down in response.

During free play, Mistress Springfield led 2791 in on a leash. 2791 was a thirtyish white woman of medium height with brown hair. She was slave naked, of course, and wearing a high-tech collar similar to ours. Notwithstanding her changed circumstances, I recognized Ms Brown, who had reported to former Deputy Project Chief Master Booth and helped cover for him. So did the others. Erin, Denise, and I all gave her unfriendly looks.

"Storm," said Mistress Springfield, addressing Denise and giving her a riding crop, "take charge of Two Seven Nine One. Help her become the slave she needs to be for the remaining two months of her indenture. Pass on your experience and restrict yourself to ordinary slave on slave discipline."

"Yes mistress," said Denise. She pointed at a slave pad and ordered: "Slave spread." Two Seven Nine One knelt, her knees spread wide and her fingers laced behind her neck.

Denise controlled her anger while walking around behind Two Seven Nine One. I said "Thunder was worth three of you. Maybe we can make you as happy as she is now. Would you like that?"

"No mistress," said Two Seven Nine One. "Two Seven Nine One seeks to preserve her mind for the pleasure and convenience of her owners, mistress."

Denise circled Two Seven Nine One a couple of times and then said "Master Marshall has given you the opportunity to learn from your misjudgment. Are you being scheduled for slave service full-time or only after hours?"

It was Mistress Springfield who answered. "Full time until you lift for low earth orbit, then she'll return to her normal duties during working hours and be available for slave services to janitorial staff, maintenance contractors, and others who she would not, in the ordinary course of things, direct or answer to, after hours."

"This girl thanks mistress for allowing her to instruct this new slave," said Denise. "This girl will ensure that Two Seven Nine One receives such wisdom as this girl has gained in her indenture, mistress."

"Very good," said Mistress Forrester. "She is a high-value slave and should be managed as such. That doesn't mean you shouldn't be strict with her; quite the opposite."

She walked over and stroked Amy's face. "Be a good slave and learn from this experience."

2791 was required to address all of us as mistress and provide slave services for us and we took great delight in making her grovel and lick us. There were strict limits, however, as Master Michael never slept and never stopped monitoring us. Besides, she had a future at this company. We might end up answering to her at some point.

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I was exchanging email with Susan and Cheryl. Ares Rising was being fully fueled at the lunar gateway station and Susan and Cheryl spent much of their time providing slave services for the astronauts on the station. Cheryl was about to be dispatched to Eagle Base on the lunar surface. Until Ares Rising departed or their indentures expired, they would remain slaves, and there had been no slave astronauts until now.

Both Susan and Cheryl provided details about how to have sex in zero gravity. Basically, you needed external elastic measures to keep the partners together while allowing movement, unless you were doing oral, and even then it was far better to be bungeed to your partner. One favored position was to restrain the slave bent over an object and use bungees to hold the master's waist near the slave's rear and have him take her from behind. There was also a two-part suit for face-to-face intercourse. Because of the limitations of the zero-gee toilet, however, anal was off the table.

Slave services were not, of course, limited to sex. Simply getting a meal or drinks served by a suitably submissive slave is one of the pleasures of a master. While zero gravity makes ordinary slave yoga commands impossible, having the slave serve the other astronauts and restrain itself in a kneeling position near their feet while they ate and drank, was satisfactory for the station staff.

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I measured the distance with a laser and used the reaction wheels to adjust the attitude of the Scorpio 7 mod 2 maintenance vehicle. I was about to use the navigation jets to move to my next objective marker around the construction station, but I thought better of the matter. It was easy enough to do this thru the regular navigation system, but I was here to train, not prove I could do the easy.

"Master Black, Star would like to try reaching the next waypoint using the MM Manual," I asked over the radio.

"Wait one," said Master Black. Then, thirty seconds later he said "Proceed, but if you manage to run out of fuel so we have to send someone out to get you, be prepared for a caning. Watch your fuel and don't overcorrect."

I powered down the main guidance system and energized a set of emergency controls with its own power system, entirely separate from the main power systems of the vehicle. Direct, unmoderated control of the navigation jets. I could control the jets individually or use a six-way joystick to control yaw, pitch, and roll.

I was mostly going sideways with respect to our orbit, and I had already completed my course calculations and pointed the vehicle accordingly, so I gave a burst of the jets and started moving toward the objective but the burst had been centered slightly below the center of mass, so I started to pitch slowly upward. Carefully I stopped that pitch with the joystick and, after a few tries, managed to correct the attitude. Nothing I hadn't done in simulation, but the first time I'd tried it using the actual vehicle.

I made it to the next waypoint and used backing jets to stop, relative to the marker. I developed a downward pitch and corrected that, then used the vehicle's claws to attach to the marker. Master Black said, "Do the next waypoint the same way." For most of the remainder of the exercise, I used the MM Manual, though I needed guidance computation from the station for some of the maneuvers. I did turn the guidance system back on for docking. No point in risking damage to the vehicle or the station.

I unplugged my life support pack from the power, oxygen, and coolant systems of the vehicle, exited the vehicle and climbed carefully into the airlock, entering the station.

Per my standing orders, once I was thru the airlock I stripped quickly. When I was slave naked, wearing only my collar and a body harness, I secured my harness to a fixture and started to clean my EVA suit. Denise put on her suit and went out to service the vehicle and do her training. Erin was still working on her life support pack from her own training. She said, "Do you remember when my brother got tossed out by the Sharks?"

I nodded and she continued, "He's been unemployed and underemployed since then. No one wants to be associated with him. The bank just foreclosed on his student loan."

I wasn't sure how to respond for a moment, but then I realized that, if she wanted a nuanced or sympathetic take, she'd be emailing Susan. Since she was talking to me, I said "He's handsome if a little rough looking, muscular and he has anger issues. I think he'll sell as rough trade."

"He might make a pony boy instead."

"He could, but everyone's seen his little temper tantrum on the news. It's the one thing that's special about him. After what he did to you, it's what he deserves."

"God help us all from getting what we truly deserve. I deserved this indenture because of my foolishness."

"If you don't get the fourth mission slot, will you be sorry to have experienced slavery?"

"I'm not sure. We've been sheltered from the worst of it, but it hasn't been nearly as bad as I feared. I have new skills. I'm out of debt. It has changed me in ways it will take me years to understand. What about you?"

"It would be completely unworkable, of course, but if we're to have a system that allows slavery, everyone should have to experience a few months in the collar. If this is what our economy is built on, everyone should have to know about it firsthand."

"Even if you could make that work, it would just make a lot of them that much crueler. You're my friend, but you would be a very difficult mistress to please and unstinting in your corrections. Slavery hasn't made you sympathetic to slaves."

"It's not about being sympathetic; it's about being informed. As easy as we've had it in so many ways, we now know something of the life of a slave. The rest of society should too."

"All hail Star, high priestess of the Temple of Persephone," she said, smiling. "Let her show you the true path of enlightenment via the collar and the whip."

I smiled too; it was a hopelessly impractical suggestion. While we worked, we joked about which politicians and celebrities we'd like to enlighten and with what implements.

Our days included two hours of exercise to maintain strength and fitness in zero gravity. When we weren't training or studying, we provided non-sexual slave services to the station crew, serving them food and drink while proclaiming our slavery to them. Sometimes we performed sex acts on each other while they watched. They could look, but they weren't allowed to touch.

Erin, Denise, and I were assigned in rotation each night to a different member of the primary crew. Sometimes, they were not in the mood for sex and instead only talked with us and possibly accepted oral. As Khan's Handbook notes, talking with a slave who knows herself such is an underrated but very real pleasure of the master or mistress. It was not just our bodies, but our minds that were to be used for their pleasure and convenience.

Master Black was interested in my upbringing and I told him stories of my dad, my first love, and my slave grading at the Baltimore Slave Market. Master Jefferson was interested in why I accepted my indenture and what I planned to do after I was free. He also shared my sadness for the old commonplace slaves at the Sharks. Mistress Gonzales was interested in my slave training and what had been done to me at the Sharks. She had, in fact, quite an interest in the whole process. She professed to be horrified but I could tell it aroused her. She even had me demonstrate some of the ties from Alfred's Traditional Slave Ropework on her, restraining her as I went down on her and drove her to orgasm while she attempted to resist.

When we completed training, we were moved from the construction station to the lunar gateway station. Then we started the final inspection of Ares Rising and its associated vehicles. Master Black called me to a conference room on the station to interview me.

"Why should I pick you?" he asked.

"Master should choose Star because Star has a passion for this mission and her slave skills are better than those of Flame or Strom and Flame, Storm, and Star are all technically qualified. Star will serve her masters with all her heart, master.

"Why should I pick Storm?" he asked.

"Master should pick Storm because of her willpower, focus, and her determination to anticipate the needs of her masters. She is qualified both technically and as a slave, master. She would serve you well, master."

"Why shouldn't I pick Flame?" he asked.

I took a moment to think. I did not want to undercut Erin, but I had to answer my master's question truthfully. I said "Flame is smarter than Star is, but she was tricked into her indenture, master. She did not love this mission so much that she would volunteer for slavery, master."

"Do not discuss this with the others until I've interviewed all three of you. Get Flame and send her to me."

When all three of us had been interviewed, we reviewed our questions and answers. Erin told me "I think you've finished me, but I forgive you. You didn't betray me; your answer was correct. I didn't love this mission enough to volunteer for slavery and I'll be happy to be free again. If you win, that's nineteen more months of slavery."

Denice was less than forthcoming about what she had said, which I forgave. Running us down wasn't necessarily a winning strategy. If she won, I would shortly be free, wiser and stronger for my experience as a slave. As booby prizes went, that was not such a bad one.

Master Black called the rest of the primary crew and the three of us to a conference room the next main day morning after breakfast. He said "Star, your interview proved that you would serve me with your mind, even if it went against your own interests and values. You are my choice for the fourth crew slot."

Erin hugged me. The choice was made. I would be going to Mars.

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