The Cost of My Dreams Ch. 06 - Outbound

[LoyalHound]

The Cost of My Dreams Ch. 06 - Outbound
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.

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I'd been listening to Master Black practicing his cane strokes for a few minutes before I reported to my kennel area aboard Ares Rising to receive what I was due. My stomach was in a knot and I was shaking a little as I put on wrist and ankle bands and waited for Master Black to finish his practice.

"Control your whip, control yourself, control your slave," Master Peterson had taught him. Master Peterson had always emphasized correct form, which is difficult to maintain in zero gravity as, even with the aid of other restraints, the master has to actively restrain his own movement with one arm while wielding the cane with the other. Still, Master Black was doing an admirable job of administering just the right amount of impact on the practice dummy. This was going to hurt a lot and mark me, but not break the skin.

At his command, I unbuckled the dummy from the switching horse and put it into storage. I was, as always, slave naked so at least I didn't have to strip to prepare myself. Heart in hand, I approached the horse and used a bungee to lightly secure my belly against the main bar of the horse.

Master Black secured my wrist and ankle bands to fittings on the horse, adjusted my position, and used a strap around the horse and my body above the waist to hold me firmly in place.

"Why Star? Why are you being punished?" asked Master Black.

"Star is being punished for using corporate resources to stick her nose where it doesn't belong," I said. "Star is being punished because her idle curiosity led her to use Michael to investigate free people. Star begs for the instruction of the cane that she may learn to restrain her curiosity to more appropriate targets."

Master Black positioned himself carefully and I heard the cane cut thru the air. The impact didn't seem so bad when the cane hit, but then I experienced the afterburn and stiffed a moan.

He waited a bit and then delivered the second blow about the first. He almost immediately administered a third blow below the first and I gave myself to the pain, crying and moaning, the tears accumulating in my eyes. He gave a fourth blow, then a fifth as I cried but did not beg for mercy. Finally, he administered the sixth blow, released my wrist and ankle bands, and unstrapped me, taking me into his arms. It was a minute or so before I felt able to say, "Star thanks you for the instruction of the cane that she may learn to better control her curiosity and not offend free people."

He continued to hold me until I stopped crying, using a towel to absorb what would have been my tears had there been gravity to make them run as I blinked them out of my eyes. At least I was forgiven. I'd had several hours to contemplate this punishment.

It had been four months since Ares Rising had departed for Mars and I had been about to finish my two-hour morning workout in the ship's gym when Master Black entered and called me over to him. I unhooked from the equipment I was using and reoriented myself to his perspective, assuming, though floating, a kneeling position near his feet.

"Star," he said, "Gretchen Springfield sent a message suggesting you be caned for sticking your nose where it doesn't belong. She claimed you used Michael to poke around in Ms Brown's sexual history and that of her lover. What, exactly, were you doing?"

"Master, Mistress Brown no longer exists. For the next seven years, the woman you knew as Ms Brown is only a female slave known as Two Seven Nine One."

"Excuse me, what? Start from the beginning."

"Master, you remember when Thunder developed slave mind? Star could never make sense of why that was allowed to happen, master. Star considered that if what happened to Thunder didn't make sense when considered in isolation, then it did not occur in isolation, master. When enough time had passed, this girl started to look at what had happened to some of the other people involved, master, and what might have been predicted as fallout from the event."

"I'm coming to understand why Mister Peterson emphasized the difficulty of managing slaves that have to think for their masters. What did you find?"

"To start with, master, although the woman I knew as Mistress Brown and as slave Two Seven Nine One was manumitted a few weeks after we left for Mars, master, she is currently serving a seven-year indenture and is owned by Master Harold Booth, formerly of the Martian Exploration and Colony Company."

"And how did she end up in a seven-year indenture? And ease up a little on the slave speak."

"Yes, master. Shortly after she was manumitted, she started dating a man named Master Andre Lee. From what Master Michael was able to gather, this man is a major player, master. He attended the best schools, owned a two hundred thousand dollar car at age eighteen, and currently owns at least four expensive homes. It's hard to be sure, but he's associated with at least nine women who were enslaved following reversible auctions that were not reversed. In two of those cases, it's almost certain he was the one who didn't reverse the auction. All of the nine enslaved women he was definitely associated with were doing well financially but were not truly rich. One was a doctor. One was an Engineer with multiple patents to her name. All would have been missed by the organizations they formerly worked for, master.

So, master, after Mistress Brown is manumitted, he shows up. He drives the most expensive cars, gives expensive but thoughtful gifts and Master Michael has verified that he took Mistress Brown VIP to exclusive shows and on an expensive vacation. Star speculates that he convinced her that he loved her and, at some point, he convinced her to sign up for a reversible auction, possibly as a means of getting past her experience with slavery or as proof of her trust in him, master."

I thought about how that must feel, knowing you had been betrayed and were now sold to a man who had decided to collect you. Still, she'd been to the Sharks; she was well familiar with serving men who were beneath her standards when free.

"How does this relate to Angela's slave mind?"

"Master, it was predictable that Mistress Brown would be punished for her actions. Star would have guessed Mistress Brown would be fired, which would make Master Lee's attention to her that much more appealing as her life spun out of her control, but after three months of slavery, she was probably very vulnerable anyway. Slavery messes with your mind, master. One can, at the same time, enjoy serving those who would have been beneath one's notice when free and still long to be treated as a treasured partner by one who is your equal or superior. While Two Seven Nine One seemed to enjoy serving janitorial staff, she was probably ready to be treated like a princess and Master Lee may have convinced her that she needed to face her status as a formerly enslaved person so she could move on from it, master."

"That seems a little weak as an association. How did Booth end up owning her?"

"Master, records indicate she was purchased by Master Booth at her reversible auction. While it is possible to possible to place an auction watch for a particular person, especially if you have her SIN, Master Michael has found a picture of Master Booth and Master Lee together at a public event last year, master."

"How did Mister Marshall react to losing Ms Brown?"

"Star does not know at present, master."

"What happened to Thunder?"

"Thunder is currently under a protective enslavement order and is owned by her parents but is no longer being treated for slave mind, master. Presumably, there is no point in further treatment. In such a case, protective enslavement can be converted to regular enslavement, allowing her sale, master."

"Star, you are a slave, livestock not human. You cannot poke around in the affairs of free people. Especially, you cannot use corporate resources to poke around in the affairs of free people. If Andre Lee is everything you believe, he is still a free person and your superior. You are out of line and the corporation is doubtless pursuing these inquiries without your help. I understand your interest but Michael's purpose is not to indulge your idle curiosity about free humans. I don't need Gretchen Springfield in my email and I do not, we do not, want to be micromanaged. Make no further inquiries that require Michael to make inquiries or go on image searches. You are also to make no inquiries by email. You may have Michael monitor routine news reports transmitted to us, but that is all. Except for that, you must drop this matter. Report to your kennel area for correction area at 1430 hours. You ought to have known better."

"Yes, master, this girl supposes she should have."

"But?"

"But Star is having a hard time accepting that Thunder was just pissed away, master. Please forgive Star, master."

"I don't think you understand just how unpleasant and inconvenient your behavior could become for me and the rest of the crew if it continues. Equip yourself with wrist and ankle bands when you report at 1400. I will forgive you, but I will correct you first, for your own protection and improvement."

"Yes, master."

After that little conversation, I finished my workout and washed with damp towels and no-rinse soap. I then checked the schedule and went to the maintenance vehicle access rooms to try and diagnose what the hell Mistress Gonzales had done to the guidance system of the first maintenance vehicle.

Yesterday, Mistress Gonzales had been testing the vehicle systems in preparation to take it out and fix an issue with a power system. Instead, the whole guidance system had gone unresponsive. Nothing we did seemed to help and all of the hardware diagnostics came back normal. We had ended up referring the matter to mission control, but they had been unable to reproduce the problem. They had Master Michael run thru a set of custom checks. I had thought on the matter and was going to run thru a few more checks this morning, notwithstanding the distraction of my impending punishment.

In the end, trying to work on the problem but distracted by the thought of the swish of the cane heading to my ass, I cheated a little. I invoked the function of one of the bespoke chips implanted in my brain.

"Master Michael, it is 1030. Master, this girl requests that you invoke the concentrate function for one hour."

"Your next scheduled event is to serve a meal at 1200," said the AI. "This will leave you with about a half hour from the end of the concentrate function until your next scheduled event. One hour is the maximum allowable invocation of the concentrate function. Are you sure you wish to do this?"

"Yes master," I said and much of the world receded while I worked on the Scorpio 7 mod 2 maintenance vehicle. I went thru check after check but got nowhere. It seemed like no time at all before I came back to myself and noticed I needed to stretch. I was, at least, in a lot better shape than I had been the first time I'd tried the function.

I spent a couple minutes stretching and then checked email before preparing to serve what to me was the midday meal, though to Master Jefferson it was quite literally a midnight snack. He liked to break up his sleep period anyway, and, like most free persons, enjoyed being served by a slave who knew herself such.

I had some personal email from FINO Cloud (Cheryl) and FINO Rain (Susan). Slave service had proved to be so much of a morale booster at Eagle base and on the two space stations that Cheryl and Susan had been persuaded to enter into corporate FINO contracts to provide slave services for a full six months after their indentures ended, while the Martian Exploration and Colony Company attempted to recruit qualified candidates for the new "Slaves in Space" program.

FINO Cloud stayed at Eagle base on the lunar surface and FINO Rain alternated between the construction station and the lunar gateway station. There were news articles about how civilized these stations now seemed, now that slave services were available. One magazine had a cover with Cheryl kneeling, serving three crew members at Eagle base, with the title "Slaves in Space: Bringing Civilization to the Frontier." With the payments accumulated in trusts, Cheryl and Susan might never need to work again, and part-time slavery (even if it was most of the time) was a good introduction to returning to freedom. We exchanged email and they kept me up to date about what was going on at the stations and warned me about some of the things I would have to watch out for when my indenture ended.

"Slaves in Space" was being managed by another one of the executives who had run cover for Master Booth and been forced to accept a three-month indenture and training at the Sharks. While becoming slave sexual had doubtless been a life-changing experience for Master Young, he had demonstrated the wisdom of Master Marshall's choice of punishment by converting his experience as a slave into a key qualification for his new role.

The blatancy of the program was astounding. Why limit yourself to competing against the most qualified people on earth to get a shot as an astronaut when you could also sign up for Slaves in Space and compete against a much smaller pool of applicants for, it must be said, a much smaller number of positions? Why not do both if you want to be an astronaut so bad? My dad was right; they were selling slavery as a path to glory.

After checking my mail, I straightened myself out and went to the wardroom to serve my masters and mistress.

As Master Black, Master Jefferson, and Mistress Gonzales entered and strapped themselves into chairs facing a triangular table, I heated their food and fetched drinks for them when they asked. When not serving them, I secured myself to the same surface the table and chairs were mounted on, kneeling with my knees spread. While sometimes I ate slave kibble on my own, more usually one of the masters or the mistress would hand feed me people food, which was what happened this time. Master Jefferson had an extra meal with an extra drink. He scooped food with his fingers and I sucked and licked the food from his fingers. (If the meal had been something in a tortilla, he would have held it while I nibbled at it with my hands held behind my back.) When he held a drink bag out for me, I took the straw in my mouth without attempting to touch it with my hands.

I was also not usually allowed to talk during these meals and I was not permitted to talk on this occasion. I was, after all, livestock, and this was just one more way of reminding me of that fact. I served in silence and tried to express my gratitude for human food through my expressions and behavior.

After the meal, I brushed my teeth and prepared for a session with Mistress Gonzales in her quarters, a small private chamber where she slept and received sexual service from this slave. I equipped myself with wrist and ankle bands and a slave belt, gathered a few sundry items, and reported for her service. When I entered her quarters, I positioned myself in what would have been a kneeling position if there had been anything to kneel on near her feet.

"Michael," ordered Mistress Gonzales, "activate my libido chip at level two and stop all monitoring in this chamber until Star leaves it."

"Your libido chip is activated at level two. All monitoring will cease until Star has left the chamber," said the AI.

Mistress Gonzales relaxed and stripped off her coverall and floated before me naked except for the collar she and Master Jefferson wore as the backup slaves and her body harness. I removed my wrist and ankle bands and passed them to her, and she bucked them snuggly in place. I removed my slave belt and buckled it on her. Mistress Gonzales was a naughty girl; she liked me to dominate her and treat her like a slave for these sessions. Yet another free woman who liked to play at being a slave.

I clipped her wrist bands together behind her back, clipped a spreader bar between her ankle bands, and put her in a slave hood, which covered her eyes and upper face but had a hole for her nose. I secured her harness with two bungees to hold her in place and then commanded "Open."

She opened her mouth and I secured a gag with a pad that went inside her mouth in place, then added a set of headphones that were already programmed to play brown noise when activated, then turned them on and checked the time. She liked this portion of our session to last about fifteen minutes.

I realized I had forgotten to bring a vibrator and opened the door, checked the area outside, then went to my kennel area and retrieved the vibrator, returning to her room and closing the door behind me.

I started caressing her, kissing her breasts and licking my way down her belly. When I got out the vibrator, she started to buck.

I removed her headphones and said, "You are a naughty girl, mistress. Does mistress desire sexual release?"

She grunted into her gag and I undid it, wiping the spit away from her mouth with a towel. "Do you beg sexual release, mistress?" I asked.

"Yes mistress," she said. "Five Two Nine Eight" begs sexual release from Star."

I teased her some more and asked a variation on a standard question with a standard answer "Does mistress belong in the collar?"

"Yes mistress, Five Two Nine Eight belongs in the collar and is properly enslaved," she replied.

I ran her thru a few other slave mantras, having her affirm her fitness for the collar and her desire to serve me. Then I brought her home with my tongue and held her while she came back to herself. Then I removed her slave hood and unbound her.

"I can see why you don't like using the libido chip," she said. "My need is still unfulfilled."

"It, and the horny juice, are tools used to acclimate women to slavery, mistress, and to make their chains lie easier upon them. Once this girl accepted that slavery was not just her life, but part of her identity until manumission, and embraced the life of a slave, it was no longer necessary, mistress. While Star is a slave, she is a slave and will act as a slave."

"What about the male slaves?"

"Males need no horny juice, mistress. Sometimes they need erectile dysfunction medication. Rarely a chastity device is used to frustrate them into accepting that they are slave sexual, mistress, but that is not commonly needed."

"They truly are just pigs, aren't they?"

"Mistress might not think so if she was truly enslaved. This girl would not dare to think so, mistress."

"You enjoy their attention, which may be why you ended up in the collar," she said. " I would never beg for male attention as you do."

And I had only liked men, but a slave must adapt and serve. Slavery wasn't a game for me, as it was for her, but how could I explain that without insulting her?

When you realize you're in a hole, stop digging. "Mistress, this girl begs the correction of the shock collar for imagining that mistress would ever crave the attention of males."

"Not this time, slave, but, in the future, watch your mouth."

"Yes mistress," I said. After I left, I started reviewing the problem with the power system and the fix that was needed until the time arrived for my correction from Master Black. After I had recovered from my caning, I continued to review it until kennel time.

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The next morning, after I had completed my time in the gym and cleaned myself, I checked my schedule. This day's schedule had been wiped clean, noting only that I should meet with Master Black on the bridge at 1030.

At 1030, I reported to the cramped space of the bridge and clipped my harness in place next to where Master Black had tethered himself.

"Star," he said, "I need you to prep the first and second maintenance vehicles for an EVA late this afternoon. You've reviewed the necessary repairs and they really can't wait much longer. You're going to have to take the second vehicle and do the repair."

The first and second maintenance had been on warm standby. The third was in deep sleep and would need a number of hours to be made ready for flight.

"Master," I said, "the failed guidance system on vehicle one is a down gripe. Is master sure that master wants to use it as the backup vehicle for my EVA?"

"Do you think that only you can run a Scorpio Seven using the MM Manual? I have a decade of experience on you, Star. Using it as a rescue vehicle is not ideal, but we probably won't need it anyway and I don't want to wait until the third vehicle is ready to move."

"Yes, master. Please forgive this girl, master."

"You are forgiven. You are, after all, supposed to serve me with your mind. However, the decision is made. Skip your service at lunch and have the vehicles ready by 1400."

"Yes, master."

I went to the service bay and started prepping the vehicles, putting on my EVA suit and life support pack, purging the suit with pure oxygen, and going outside to top off fuel (hydrazine) and oxygen, then coming back in, stripping off the suit and recharging my life support pack as I finished the prep. I skipped lunch and was ready at 1330.

Master Black had been watching me via video feed and he called me from the bridge. "If you're ready, put on your suit and start your EVA."

I put on my suit and life support pack and purged the suit with pure oxygen, so I could operate at a reduced pressure of 35 kPa rather than the 101 kPa maintained aboard Ares Rising. I entered the airlock, reducing suit pressure until I was at the target as the pressure in the airlock dropped. When I was ready, I exited the lock, closed and secured the door behind me, entered the second maintenance vehicle, and hooked my life support pack to the vehicle coolant, oxygen, and power feeds. I strapped myself in place and undocked. I maneuvered carefully, making my way about halfway back along Ares rising, to where to problem was.

Tanks of reaction mass and sun shielding lay ahead of me and behind me. The drive section was still in the distance when I brought myself to a stop next to a set of two solar arrays rising from the stem of Ares Rising like two-dimensional trees and a set of lithium-ion batteries that were used to stabilize the system, meeting peak demand when solar power alone could not.

I used the main claws on the vehicle to anchor it in place and then said "Mistress Gonzales, Star begs you to de-energize main power circuit three."

"Solar panels for system three are isolated. Batteries for system three are isolated. Undervolt on main bus C. Regulation and supply module for system three isolated," she reported. "Wait one while I discharge capacitance." After a minute she said, "Commander Black, I have discharged capacitance in the regulation and supply module of power system three battery interconnect."

"I verify zero volts in the regulation and supply module of power system three," said Master Black.

"Proceed with the repair, Star," said Mistress Gonzales.

I used some more delicate manipulators to undo and unplug the existing regulation and supply module. Then I hauled it over to the work basket attached to the maintenance vehicle and secured it in place. I retrieved the replacement unit from the basket and did as much work as I could using the claws. Then I attached a safety line to my EVA suit, unplugged my life support pack from the vehicle, and, very carefully, made my way out to finish the installation.

It took me about twenty-five minutes to finish the hookup and verify everything was properly in place, run the diagnostics, and make my way back aboard the maintenance vehicle. I reattached my life support pack to the vehicle feeds and released the claws holding the vehicle to Ares Rising. I was about to start backing away when Mistress Gonzales said "I going to reenergize now."

This was a violation of protocol, but before I or Master Black could object, I felt a solid thump as the vehicle was driven away from the power unit and started to tumble. My whole board went red. Undervolt on main bus A, oxygen system losing pressure, fuel system losing pressure. About the only saving grace was the guidance system fell back to main bus B and held and I hit the buttons to automatically stop the tumble and bring the vesicle to a halt relative to Ares Rising. The vehicle briefly stopped tumbling and falling away from Ares Rising but then started a slow tumble and roll as the vehicle oxygen finished venting to space and the hydrazine fairly spewed. Before I could do much but correct the roll and tumble the last of the fuel was gone. Then I used the reaction wheels to orient the vehicle facing the sun, turned on automatic altitude control using the reaction wheels to keep me facing the sun, and opened the rear of the vehicle so that my life support pack could radiate heat directly if the vehicle coolant system went.

Main bus B held and I assessed my situation. Still receiving vehicle power, still receiving vehicle coolant, but vehicle oxygen was gone as was vehicle fuel. I said, "Ares Rising, this girl realizes that masters and mistress have problems of your own, but Star begs you to know she is stranded out here without vehicle oxygen."

"So noted," said Master Black. "I see you've stabilized the vehicle as much as you can. There's no checklist for it, but run down everything you can think of that you would need to do before invoking your coma chip."

The coma chip, or extreme oxygen conservation mode, was one of the chips implanted in my brain that I hoped I would never have to use. Under current circumstances, however, it might just save my life.

"Yes, master," I said. "This girl begs you to give her a couple of minutes to make sure her life support pack is ready to fall back without Star's intervention and that the vehicle is set as well as Star can manage, master."

"Don't doddle," he ordered. "Take your time in a hurry. Every minute you don't invoke coma mode is a few minutes of life support in coma mode."

"Yes master," I said. I ran thru every check I could think of think of, but there was no help for it. Coma mode was the correct choice. When I'd finished the check, my stomach started to knot. Now I was free to feel fear

"Master," I said, "This girl is ready for coma mode."

"Michael, invoke coma mode for Star."

"This will leave her unable to assist you further until some time after coma mode is lifted. Are you sure you wish to do this?" asked the AI.'

"Yes, invoke coma mode for Star."

"Coma mode is invoked."

I waited a few seconds while nothing seemed to happen. The next thing I knew, I was waking up.

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When I awakened, I was floating in medical, wearing a thermal suit. I was startled that I was attended by Mistress Gonzales, who was naked except for her collar, her harness, and wrist and ankle bands locked upon her. Then I realized: I had been incapacitated and her indenture had been activated, so she wasn't just naked, she was slave naked and properly so as the slave she now was.

"How are you feeling?" she asked.

I took stock and answered "Not so good, mistress." They would surely lift her indenture shortly and it wouldn't due to get on her bad side. "Star feels wiped out and is slightly dizzy, mistress."

"Get better quickly so I can be out of this indenture. You've been out since Master Black brought you back aboard and they've kept me slave naked and enforced slave speak on me. Not just attention shocks but punishing shocks if I don't address everyone as master. They've even turned on the retched libido chip and it's driving me batty."

I saw the clock read 0853. It had taken that long to undo the coma and raise my body temperature back up from extreme oxygen conservation mode. "Mistress, Star will try to recover as quickly as possible."

"You'll recover now, damn it. I don't want to be a slave."

I hadn't either, though I had consented to it, and neither had One Nine Seven Five (the Japanese wife) and neither had Twilight but they'd shown adaptability. "Star is bound to answer her masters truthfully, mistress. Star is not currently recovered."

She slapped me but neglected to brace herself and went tumbling. Then she screamed as a punishment shock was applied from her collar multiple times.

"Five Two Nine Eight will now thank me for the instruction of the shock collar and apologize to Star," commanded Master Micheal.

She was crying as she said "Five Two Nine Eight thanks Master Micheal for the instruction of the shock collar. This girl apologizes to Star for slapping her."

Linda received another shock and Master Michael said "Say 'Five Two Nine Eight thanks Master Micheal for the instruction of the shock collar that she might learn to not assault a fellow slave.'"

Linda glared daggers at me as she said "Five Two Nine Eight thanks Master Micheal for the instruction of the shock collar that she might learn to not assault a fellow slave."

I received an attention shock and Master Michael said "Star, Five Two Nine Eight is not your mistress and should be addressed as a fellow slave."

"Yes, Master Michael," I said.

"Look what you've done to me with that retched accident," said Linda. "I'm slave naked and treated as a slave. You should be the slave."

"Yes Linda, I signed on to be the slave but, at the moment, we are both slaves. I will endeavor to recover as fast as possible."

After I ate a full meal and drank a bag of coffee, I started to feel better. In an hour or two I moved from the medical area to the gym and started some light exercise. I cleaned myself off afterward, had some replacement fluid, and assessed my condition. "Master Michael," I announced, "This girl, while not one hundred percent, feels ready to resume her duties."

"Please join Master Black, Master Jefferson, and Five Two Nine Eight in the wardroom," said the AI.

Master Black and Master Jefferson sat strapped into their chairs as Five Two Nine Eight knelt, secured in place near their feet. She had been serving them lunch and was being hand-fed her own lunch when I arrived. She looked embarrassed and angry as she licked Master Jefferson's fingers, but she had evidently served them tolerably well, or they might have made her go hungry.

"Master Black," I said, "this girl thanks you for saving her. This girl owes master her obedience regardless of how he treats her, but she is very pleased to obey the master who took a maintenance vehicle with a down gripe to save her."

"Tell him you're fit for service so I can get out of this wretched indenture," ordered Five Two Nine Eight.

"Actually, vehicle one didn't have a down gripe when I went to get you. Elain Whitacre was watching when the news of the battery explosion came. She spilled the beans as soon as she knew I was going to have to go after you with the MM Manual. She spilled the beans, while Five Two Nine Eight remained silent. It seems that Five Two Nine Eight didn't want to do the maintenance EVA. She thought it was slave work, so when Ms Whitacre emailed her how to put a key component of the main board into a test mode where it would neither function nor show up as non-functional, that's just what Five Two Nine Eight did."

Five Two Nine Eight went pale. Master Black went on "Five Two Nine Eight, I could have forgiven you if you'd confessed as soon as you knew I was going to have to take a compromised vehicle out to rescue Star, but you didn't. You were willing to put my life at risk, and Star's, because you were too scared to tell me the truth. What should be done to punish you?"

Five Two Nine Eight remained speechless. Master Black went on, "Legal has reviewed your indenture. It was properly invoked when we activated Star's coma chip. It does not automatically end if Star becomes fit for duty. I would have to lift your indenture, and I do not choose to do so.

Michael, please play the audio you recorded in Five Two Nine Eight's cabin yesterday, edited as we discussed earlier."

Fuck, I'd exited the cabin and Michael had resumed monitoring. Had I done that deliberately? I wasn't sure.

The recording of Five Two Nine Eight's voice, addressing me as her mistress and proclaiming herself properly collared played over Master Michael's speakers. The rest of the scene played out, with Five Two Nine Eight answering my questions with slave mantras. When that finished, the scene skipped to her telling me she would never beg male attention and the recording ended.

"I'm minded to try an experiment," said Master Black. "If you belong in the collar, as you say, I wonder if you would not, properly trained, beg male attention. It is, after all, what slave girls do."

"Do not do this to me!" shouted Five Two Nine Eight. She grunted as she as Master Michael gave her a punishing shock from her collar. "Master," said Five Two Nine Eight, "please do not do this thing to me. Five Two Nine Eight is not a slave, master. Five Two Nine Eight is free crew, master."

"Five Two Nine Eight, you are not worth as much as one of Star's used tampons as a crew member. As a slave, you might have some worth, so slave you will remain."

He turned to me and said, "Five Two Nine Eight has much to learn about her new role in this mission. Star, I appoint you her slave mistress. Teach her to be a good slave."

"Backhands," I ordered Linda. She initially balked until Master Michael gave her a punishing shock from her collar. Then she put her hands behind her back and I clipped her wristbands together. "Wait here in silence," I told her and got some soft rope.

I clipped her ankle bands together and I bound her ankles and feet together, so the ties couldn't slip up her legs. Then I clipped a leash to a ring in her chest harness, put it down the front of her body, and tied it to the tie on her ankles and feet. I shortened the leash so she was held in what would have been a tight kneeling position if there had been gravity to give her a surface to kneel upon, and then moved her into her former room and tethered her in place.

"This is so unfair," she said. "I wasn't the slave. You should be the slave."

"I am a slave and so too are you," I said as I turned out the lights in the room and shut the door, leaving her alone and bound in the dark.

"Master Michael," I said "Star begs that you set a half-hour timer so that this girl knows when to check on her. Star further begs that you monitor her closely for anything that threatens her safety and that you increase the boost on her libido chip to level six."

"I will notify you in a half hour and monitor her safety. I have increased the boost of her libido chip to level six," said Michael.

"Will a half hour be enough?" asked Master Black.

"Master, if a half hour is not sufficient, Star will give her as much time as she needs to accept her new status. That tie will become extremely uncomfortable in a half hour, master. Between that and the libido boost, she may be in a more receptive state of mind in a half hour, master. If not, Star will give her more time until she accepts that she is a slave that has much to learn."

When I visited her after the first half hour, I asked "Is a slave ready to learn?"

"I shouldn't be a slave. You should be the slave. Untie me."

I left without a word, turning off the lights behind me. When I returned in another half hour, she said "Please mistress, loosen this tie."

"Who begs that I loosen the tie?

"Five Two Nine Eight begs that you loosen this tie, mistress."

I floated in silence for twenty seconds and then said "That's a start," I said, "but if you want out of the tie, you have to convince me you desire to be a slave serving the pleasure and convenience of your masters. Five Two Nine Eight, do you belong in the collar?"

She hesitated and then said, "Yes mistress, Five Two Nine Eight belongs in the collar and is properly enslaved."

I let another twenty seconds go by before I said "Once more and with feeling, do you belong in the collar?"

"Yes mistress, Five Two Nine Eight belongs in the collar and is properly enslaved," she said, loudly and clearly.

"You have much to learn, Five Two Nine Eight."

"Yes mistress, Five Two Nine Eight is grateful for the opportunity to study and train to please her masters."

I ran her thru a number of the mantras, listening to her increasing desperation to please me as she loudly proclaimed her slavery and desire to serve. I finished up with a question that was not a mantra, but followed from an understanding of the mantras, "What is it you most desire?"

She thought for a moment and answered "Five Two Nine Eight desires to serve the pleasure and convenience of her masters."

I untied her leash from her ankles.

"You will be allowed to serve the pleasure and convenience of your masters. You were tied for an hour. If we have to repeat this, you will not get off nearly so easily."

"Yes, mistress."

I untied her feet, unclipped her ankle bands, and helped her back to the wardroom. Master Black was waiting. "Beg to serve the pleasure of Master Black," I said.

"Five Two Nine Eight begs to serve the pleasure of Master Black," she said.

Master Black took her to my kennel area and restrained her on the switching horse. He bungeed himself behind her and started caressing her. With the level six libido chip boost, she was quickly panting with need. He teased her with his fingers and his tongue. He said, "Beg me for use."

"Yes, master. Please master. Please master, take this girl. Use this girl, master," she cried.

She came shortly after he grabbed her hair and entered her, but he took his time finishing. After he finished, I caressed her face and said, "You are now slave sexual, like a proper slave should be. You beg male attention most prettily, as a proper slave should. Star thinks you were meant to be a slave, Five Two Nine Eight. Star thinks that you will grow to love your collar."

--------
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I was still a slave, of course, but Linda inherited my kennel and I now slept unrestrained, as befitted my superior position to her. I made it a point to repeat my mantras twice a day and ensure my service didn't suffer from undue pride in my new position. I had a sister slave, but I was still bound to serve my masters with all of my being and I tried to keep that in mind, always.

With the aid of the libido chip and the encouragement of her shock collar, Linda adapted to her new role quickly, not that I cut her any slack. As a slave, I found it comforting to be held to a high standard. In my new role as slave mistress, I ensured that Linda learned to meet the same standard. She fairly thrived under strict discipline. Maybe the tabloids were right; maybe smart girls did thrive in the collar.

Angela had never been my friend, and she'd gone slave stupid by the time she suggested it, but that didn't make her wrong. Maybe I could be a slave mistress. The way I treated Linda, maybe that was what I deserved. Maybe that was all I deserved.

Vehicle two might be repaired, but we found it easier to bring vehicle three from cold sleep to warm standby. We used vehicle one to do the work to fix the damage to the power system.

With the assistance of the mission control and my fellow astronauts, we cobbled together a fix for the damaged power system and I, and Master Black, made a total of three EVAs to implement. Much of the work had been done by my former fellow slaves and the first and second backup crews. My former fellow slaves (Mistress Erin Byrne and Mistress Denise Miller) in particular set a standard of dedication to the design, review, and testing of the fix. I took heart in the dedication they showed to the work, and I was more grateful to them than I can make clear.

We were fully operational as we proceeded to Mars.

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________________________________________

[jeepster]

Great chapter but I really thought it was about to end abruptly! Well done!

[LoyalHound]

Great chapter but I really thought it was about to end abruptly! Well done!

Thank you, jeepster. After the mistakes I made in chapter 5, I was hoping that this chapter would be a return to form.

[timerider]

Nicely done.

[LoyalHound]

Nicely done.

Thank you, timerider.

[ElJefe]

There's a lot to unpack in this installment.

First, Jerry. Jerry might be the most technically qualified man on the planet for the mission, but he is not a great commander. He is a good commander, but he, like a lot of astronauts who got that way through military aviation, is too overconfident for that role. I've worked with both good and great commanders (and a couple of commanders who didn't measure up), and no great commander would decide to use the first maintenance vehicle in that state when #3 could have been pulled from cold storage. It's not a matter of whether he has the skill to use the thing in manual, it's the cost to the mission if manual mode fails on him: Complete and total loss of mission, and loss of 4 lives.

Consider, they're outbound. They can't just turn around and come back. They would be down both Black and Star, and the repair Star had set out to do would STILL be unfinished. It would be up to Jefferson and Gonzales to first finish the repair and then finish the mission with only one maintenance vehicle. Not completely impossible, but a supremely shitty situation and one in which the odds would be against them. NOT worth the risk.

Next, the enslavement of Brown. EVERYONE is wrong here, save possibly Star, and she's not squeaky clean herself. If Brown wasn't worth saving, they'd have never indentured her; they'd have just let her go. She was a valuable executive, and now she's gone. Worse, she's now owned by Booth, who hit his golden parachute at the first opportunity. Now, the only reason you give someone like him a golden parachute is because you value his contributions and want to keep him from jumping ship to greener pastures. And the cost of an Angela-sized fuckup is that he has to use his parachute. All debts are paid.

But the story doesn't end there. Star has uncovered evidence that he's STILL fucking over the company, even though he's no longer an employee. Buying Brown is not the issue, he's just a lucky bastard who has enough money to do so. But COLLUDING to enslave a corporate asset is sufficiently hostile to justify an additional rolling head for not being aware that Brown was vulnerable. From what we see, the company was fat, dumb, and happy right up to the moment Brown's auction was not reversed. Inexcusable.

Star may be a slave, but she's a slave that is expected to think. No, she did not have permission to use Michael to follow up on this, and for that she does deserve a good, hard caning. But now what?

Put yourself in Jerry's shoes, and you'll see why he fucked this up. He shouldn't be listening to Gretchen, and his focus should NOT be on "putting the slave in her place". That needs to be done, but it's a secondary objective. The primary objective is to see to it that the crew does not get distracted from their primary mission. Look over his exchange with Star; and think how she would have reacted if he'd had pointed out that chasing after unrelated items put the mission (and her crewmates) in jeopardy. The way Star thinks, she'd have felt guilty over this for light-years (or at least an AU or two).

I don't expect him to be a slave psychologist, but is a 20-year-old wrangler, even the best 20-year-old wrangler on the planet, the right authority? Nope. An effort this size, with so many slaves in key positions, AND WHO HAS ALREADY LOST A SLAVE FOR PSYCHOLOGICAL reasons, should be able to afford a full-time slave psychologist. That slave psychologists are rare is not an excuse...astronauts are damn rare and look how many they have working for them! Now, what would a good slave psychologist suggest as the ideal solution?

For about six months, someone like Star can "bury" her curiosity about what happened to Brown if she needs to. She gets that she's not a free person, she gets that she has to serve, and good service means not distracting herself or others about matters not directly connected to getting their asses to Mars and back.

But it takes longer than six months to get to Mars and back. Star is extremely talented, dedicated, and hardworking. She's not superhuman.

I have firsthand knowledge of how this works. Google Skylab 4 for NASA's "come to Jesus" moment about this. It was when NASA learned you can't treat humans like slaves and expect them to just complete work units as if they are automatons. You might be able to get away with that with someone who has slave mind...but then you can't assign them the high level tasks that you need a special slave to do.

After about six months, she is going to be MORE distracted over not being able to chase down the Brown-Lee-Booth rabbit hole than she would be if she was allowed to pursue it at her leisure on the sly. She will be MORE productive and MORE focused if she is allowed to keep investigating, albeit with firm guidelines and restrictions in place. For example, take a certain percentage of her leisure time, allow her to spend that much time and no more chasing rabbits, and require her to get permission in advance for certain searches. The blanket prohibition on data could REALLY bite them in the ass if there is a serious threat to the mission and she gets the bright idea to go off on her own and try to solve the problem...only to be squelched by Black's blanket prohibition.

This, of course, sets up the problem of "allowing her to win" and get the upper hand. Of course, that has to be squashed. Perhaps six cuts of the cane wasn't enough. If you're going to give her the "reward" of allowing her to spend a percentage of "her" time on playing Sherlock Holmes, you might have to emphasize more how irresponsible she was for not getting permission first.

Moving on, I don't understand the terminology of "down gripe". I mean, that has a meaning to me, but it's not a phrase in common use in either the aviation or space communities. In the aviation world, this would be known as a "squawk", in the space world it would probably be called an "anomaly" or a "mal" (short for "malfunction").

Reviewing the events of the EVA and maintenance operations, it's my understanding that from egress to the initiation of the coma wasn't more than about 2 hours or so, and that Star was out for at least 12 hours and possible as long as 18. I don't have an issue with any of that, stuff takes as long as it takes. I would expect her to be safely onboard and in medical no later than 10 hours after Jerry was out the hatch; that's just a function of personal endurance and available consumables. Again, Astronaut Black is tough but he's not superhuman.

Next thing, the battery explosion. We would say that there was a keep-out zone where no EVA crewmember or maintenance vehicle would be allowed during battery re-energizing. I presume that's the "protocol" you mentioned. Flipping that switch before the vehicle was outside the keep-out zone was a MAJOR safety violation. If possible, it would cause a stand-down while a massive review of procedures and crew fitness (specifically, Linda Gonzales fitness) went on. That alone would make anyone seriously consider putting her on slave status until she was cleared. If it was anything other than a brain fart, it seriously places the whole mission in jeopardy. Tell, me, what critical function would you ever trust her with for the rest of the flight?

This brings us to the main board trick. This must first be considered completely separately from the premature battery turn on. First, I find it hard to believe that anyone wouldn't jump at the chance to do an EVA - EVA is very prestigious. It isn't "slave work". Never mind the ridiculous risk to the mission...let's say she was motivated by the thought that EVAs are dangerous (they are) and that the slave was more expendable than she was.

It's acceptable to be overwhelmed by fear - and that is a matter for the crew surgeon (who would bring in psychological support for the afflicted crew member).
It's acceptable to be concerned that there is some safety issue with the planned EVA - this calls for a day's delay while the crewmember's concerns are addressed.
It's even acceptable to decide that a more expendable crew member take on a certain risk - this is, after all, what slaves are for...PROVIDED that this plan is discussed and agreed to by the rest of the crew (and probably Mission Control as well).

It is utterly NOT acceptable to "create" a malfunction in a critical piece of gear to get out of a job, and to do it in secret for any reason.

If I'm Black, she's not getting out of the collar until Ares safely docks in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) at the end of the mission. If I'm the company, I'm reviewing Linda's contract to see what punitive options are available to me. This is a colossal fuckup on the scale of Lisa Nowak (Google her). Lisa was let go by NASA, she was a serving naval officer at the time. The Navy first transferred her to an out-of-the way duty station, then separated her with a reduction in rank and an other-than-honorable discharge. Whatever similar consequences are available in your world should be the outcome. The only way she gets out of it is if she somehow saves the mission as a slave, in which everyone pretends this just didn't happen...and she quietly finds some other employment after she returns to earth.

Elain needs to be investigated, also. It's possible she was somehow duped by Linda into coming up with that plan. But if she knew Linda was planning on ditching an EVA, she should get pulled from her flight.

I went over the sequence of events during the repair, and they seem spot on. That's a difficult technical thing (I should know, I am a bona-fide expert in writing procedures like that), and it was handled well.

A nit: It's spelled "dawdled", not "doddled". However, the whole concept of "take your time, quickly" is precious beyond words, and probably not emphasized enough in our culture. It's exactly how you do things under stress and time limitations. Very well done.

[LoyalHound]

Let me start by thanking you for this detailed response. I'm very pleased that you liked this chapter, and I'd like to respond to you point by point. So going back to my old (RIP) USEnet roots (deleted text not always noted):

First, Jerry. Jerry might be the most technically qualified man on the planet for the mission, but he is not a great commander. He is a good commander, but he, like a lot of astronauts who got that way through military aviation, is too overconfident for that role. I've worked with both good and great commanders (and a couple of commanders who didn't measure up), and no great commander would decide to use the first maintenance vehicle in that state when #3 could have been pulled from cold storage. It's not a matter of whether he has the skill to use the thing in manual, it's the cost to the mission if manual mode fails on him: Complete and total loss of mission, and loss of 4 lives.

That was kind of what I was going for with that character. I'm glad you don't think it was totally implausible that a commander might do that. I'm not going to recon it, but the scene could also work if Black had already been told what was causing the problem. After all, if Elain knows about the component that can go into a test mode where it neither works nor shows as defective, other people do too.

....

Next, the enslavement of Brown. EVERYONE is wrong here, save possibly Star, and she's not squeaky clean herself. If Brown wasn't worth saving, they'd have never indentured her; they'd have just let her go. She was a valuable executive, and now she's gone.

Absolutely correct. I was offered an opportunity move from engineering to management part way thru my career and just about had a heart attack thinking about what that would entail. The managers I dealt with worked harder than any of us worker bees and there was always a Friday afternoon crises for them to take care of. Intelligent capable workers are a precious resource and capable managers are more precious still.

You'll have noted that, even though she was still enslaved, Brown was back at her job not too long after she returned from the Sharks. The punishment she and the two male executives got is, in the 34th amendment universe, in some significant ways, a complement. All three of the executives now have relevant experience in managing slaves and are more valuable to the company as a result.

....
COLLUDING to enslave a corporate asset is sufficiently hostile to justify an additional rolling head for not being aware that Brown was vulnerable. From what we see, the company was fat, dumb, and happy right up to the moment Brown's auction was not reversed. Inexcusable.

No argument here, but I'll address it a little more below.

Put yourself in Jerry's shoes, and you'll see why he fucked this up. He shouldn't be listening to Gretchen, and his focus should NOT be on "putting the slave in her place". That needs to be done, but it's a secondary objective. The primary objective is to see to it that the crew does not get distracted from their primary mission. Look over his exchange with Star; and think how she would have reacted if he'd had pointed out that chasing after unrelated items put the mission (and her crewmates) in jeopardy. The way Star thinks, she'd have felt guilty over this for light-years (or at least an AU or two).

She would. She absolutely would.

...
An effort this size, with so many slaves in key positions, AND WHO HAS ALREADY LOST A SLAVE FOR PSYCHOLOGICAL reasons, should be able to afford a full-time slave psychologist.

You are correct. While slavery is common enough in the 34th Amendment universe that people think they can just wing it, and while Peterson has a practical command of slave psychology, the company would have had at least one slave psychologist on staff or as a consultant. With the resources involved, it would be negligent not to. That's a mistake on my part.

....
After about six months, she is going to be MORE distracted over not being able to chase down the Brown-Lee-Booth rabbit hole than she would be if she was allowed to pursue it at her leisure on the sly. She will be MORE productive and MORE focused if she is allowed to keep investigating, albeit with firm guidelines and restrictions in place.

You are correct. My thought here is that, a this point, the company has pulled its head out of its ass and realized that it is under attack. Professional investigators should have been hired at this point, and Springfield may only have been told to keep Star from muddying the water. The links between Booth, Lee, the vice president in charge of operations for the sharks, and people who might profit from the company having problems are sure to be of concern now. This should have started while Star was still recovering from surgery.

That said, after the dust has settled a little, Black may arrange for Star to pursue her investigations as you suggest. She will not, after all, be the only one. Denise, for example, may have an interest as well.

Moving on, I don't understand the terminology of "down gripe".

My bad

Reviewing the events of the EVA and maintenance operations, it's my understanding that from egress to the initiation of the coma wasn't more than about 2 hours or so, and that Star was out for at least 12 hours and possible as long as 18. I don't have an issue with any of that, stuff takes as long as it takes. I would expect her to be safely onboard and in medical no later than 10 hours after Jerry was out the hatch; that's just a function of personal endurance and available consumables. Again, Astronaut Black is tough but he's not superhuman.

Your timeline is correct. While I could come up with a variety of pseudo medical reasons for the recovery to take this long (hence, the remark about bringing her body temperature back up to normal) the real reason was story considerations. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.

...
Flipping that switch before the vehicle was outside the keep-out zone was a MAJOR safety violation. If possible, it would cause a stand-down while a massive review of procedures and crew fitness (specifically, Linda Gonzales fitness) went on. That alone would make anyone seriously consider putting her on slave status until she was cleared. If it was anything other than a brain fart, it seriously places the whole mission in jeopardy. Tell, me, what critical function would you ever trust her with for the rest of the flight?

None, hence Black's remark that she was worthless as a crew member. That incident alone, together with Linda's revealed interest in playing at slavery, could be enough on it's own to justify keeping her enslaved. That might have made the whole plot point about sabotaging the vehicle irrelevant and I should have considered dropping it.

....
[L]et's say she was motivated by the thought that EVAs are dangerous (they are) and that the slave was more expendable than she was.

That may be her real motive regardless of what she told Elain. Also, however she reacted to her actual enslavement, Linda had slave fantasies. The fantasy of replacing Star as the slave crewmember may have adversely affected her judgement. (A lot of people in this story are trapped by their fantasies.)

....
If I'm Black, she's not getting out of the collar until Ares safely docks in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) at the end of the mission. If I'm the company, I'm reviewing Linda's contract to see what punitive options are available to me. This is a colossal fuckup on the scale of Lisa Nowak (Google her).

Linda may not be getting out of her collar at the end of the mission. I remember Lisa Nowak, though I didn't remember the name. Smart and accomplished isn't enough if you personal life goes to shit. I laughed at her at the time, but I'm actually much more sympatric to her now. I'm glad she moved on.

....
Elain needs to be investigated, also.

She does, but she isn't in the kind of trouble Linda is in. I've got something in mind for her that doesn't involve enslaving her for any extended period, makes use of her talents, and gives her a path to redemption.

...
I went over the sequence of events during the repair, and they seem spot on. That's a difficult technical thing (I should know, I am a bona-fide expert in writing procedures like that), and it was handled well.

That is praise indeed.

A nit: It's spelled "dawdled", not "doddled". However, the whole concept of "take your time, quickly" is precious beyond words, and probably not emphasized enough in our culture. It's exactly how you do things under stress and time limitations. Very well done.

Yea, I suck at spelling. Thank you, very, very much for taking the time to write this. I'll be doing a response to your post on chapter five as well, but I've just spent a few hours on this (I boomered the interface a few times. For the love of God, don't let me near space systems.) so I'll come back to it tomorrow.

[ElJefe]

Let me start by thanking you for this detailed response.

You're very welcome. You're constrained by the fact that this is a near-future space story, which imposes a lot of constraints. I'm just jealous that you beat me to the premise!

Linda may not be getting out of her collar at the end of the mission. I remember Lisa Nowak, though I didn't remember the name. Smart and accomplished isn't enough if you personal life goes to shit. I laughed at her at the time, but I'm actually much more sympatric to her now. I'm glad she moved on.

As an aside, I've spent some time with her ex, Rich Nowak. They have essentially the same resume. I am told they basically flipped a coin to see which one would try for astronaut and which one would stay in Mission Operations and watch the kids.

Rich worked super extra hard to keep the marriage together, but it just wasn't possible. I really don't understand what was inside her head to make her chase guys that were essentially unavailable to her.

Also, it's very much known within the astronaut corps who is dating who about half the time. There are occasional escapes, such as Mark Lee and Jan Davis's secret marriage just before their joint flight. It would be very normal for romantic liaisons to form between crew members, even crew members assigned to different missions. Possibly even between a crew member and a slave, especially if there was a bright future for the slave post manumission.