The Trial of X

V

X was repulsed by himself, by everything about the situation, but mostly by himself. To have been shown to be at the mercy of the lesser gender was one thing, but his inability to control himself disgusted him far more than Tech's manipulations or that of her evil consort.

X grouped them together now, the evil Tech and her wicked little mime, Lila. After the scene in the bath they had finished by removing the hair from his legs and finally had lead him back to his room, where he spent the rest of the day in bed, curled in the fetal position refusing to move or speak or make any notice of his situation. This seemed to be exactly what Tech wanted as she sent no one to disturb him and for the most part left him alone to his own devices. He didn't care, he had lost interest or concern in caring. This, at least, was how he tried to placate himself. It was the lie that he told to make it easier. Upon awaking the next morning he began to plot his escape.

He began by looking out the windows of his room. As he has noticed on his first day in the place he seemed to be surrounded by forest on all sides. If there was a rode he could not see it from his room. He held out hope that his window only faced some enormous backyard and that the front of the house would provide a more adequate means of escape. Unfortunately the window seemed to be bolted shut from the outside so it was impossible to open it. It was also barred, as if Tech had anticipated X's desire to make a break for freedom from the glass portal.

He moved around the room examining the various drawers and the large closet set into one wall, but to his dismay he found nothing in the room. It was empty aside from the bed. There was small bathroom off to one side were he was able to relieve himself in privacy for the first time in what, according to Tech, had been months. X tried the door, but each time he tried it he found it locked.

He returned to his bed to sulk, and wondered if Tech would come at all. He had begun to become quite hungry, as he could not remember the last time he had actually eaten. It went on like this and for the next two days X found himself locked in the room uncared for, unfed, and undisturbed.

On the morning of the fourth day X began to worry. He had never been so long without some kind of sustenance. He had been reduced to drinking water from the bathroom faucet out of his hand, which was in and of itself disgusting. He would have killed for a nice bottle of Evian, or something more appealing to his palate, but could get nothing but the iron tinted water from the faucet. His hand would brush against the red stain that had formed between the faucet and the drain and it only filled him with more repugnance.

He tried the door again, still locked, and returned to his bed. He awoke after having passed out without even noticing. He felt weak and tired and began trying to figure out how long he had been asleep. It was at this moment that the door opened and X looked up to see Tech standing there smiling at him.

"Well good morning my pet, and how are we today?" Tech smiled and asked in the most sugary and syrupy voice. X glared at her, but his stomach began to growl. When Tech had opened the door the scent of food had wafted into the room with her, and now X's body was reacting. Tech smiled. "Whatever is the matter? What's the noise?" Suddenly her face became grim and she rushed to him.

"Are you sick?" she put a hand to his head as if she were checking for a temperature.

"You know damned well that I'm hungry." X finally spat out at her.

Tech only smiled again. "What did you say? I'm afraid I can't understand your garbled baby talk. What is it that you want?"

"I said you know that I'm hungry. It's all fine and well to lock me up, but are you going to starve me to death as well, is that part of your sick plan?"

Tech frowned. "I really have no idea what you are saying. I would think that someone as grown up and refined as you would have learned some kind of language by now, but it appears that if you did know anything you certainly have forgotten it. Well, it's no matter. We shall worry more about that later. At the moment it is time for lunch and I thought you might like to come have a bite to eat with us."

X glared at her, thinking to himself that he was not going to give in to her ridiculous nonsense about not understanding him. He returned to his dumb stance and looked away from Tech.

"Unless of course you are not hungry?" Tech asked in the most insulting way possible. X looked at her again, continuing to glare. "If you are hungry nod you head and you can come down to eat with us."

"I already told you I'm hungry."

"Now, dear, I really must find some way to communicate with you and I think the easiest way at the moment would be through a nod of your head. Like this. You see how easy that is. They say even a baby only two months old can learn sign language, so I should think that you would be able to learn to nod you head. Now, are you hungry?"

"Yes." X spat out again.

"Alright, this is the last time I'm going to ask. Otherwise you can just stay in your room and sulk for another day, and I'll just pop in and check on you later when I have time. Are you hungry?"

X acquiesced and nodded his head, realizing that whatever game Tech was playing was worth playing along if it meant he could have some food.

"Excellent, well then, we shall prepare you for you walk." At this Tech clapped her hands and the ever silent and pale Lila entered the room with her red hair blazing. Today she was clothed in a maids outfit, black with a rather large puffy petticoat underneath. Her legs were done in fishnet stockings, and her feet encased in patent leather black heels. She looked devilishly sexy and X could not help remembering just how much he was drawn to her as he watcher her move. She had in her hands a large silver platter with a lid and carried it forward to Tech.

Tech lifted the lid and X saw on the platter not the hoped for or proffered lunch but instead what look like an attachable leash. Tech picked it up and reached for the maiden, lifting it to expose the bottom. At the lowest part X realized there was an attachment and Tech clicked the leash into place giving it a firm tug as she did so, sending pain shooting through X's body. It took him a moment to recover, a surprisingly short moment and X realized that he was beginning to grow accustomed to the tremendous amounts of pain that were being inflicted upon him by his bondage.

"Yes, I know that I have a leash already, but I wanted something more substantial. Fret not though, as you can see the handle of this leash as the same buttons as the leash I was using the other day. Not to be confusing but I can control you as easily with this as with anything else. Now, up you go." She tugged on the leash again and X stood up.

"Oh, now, we can't have you walking about on a leash now, can we. On your knees as would be proper." X only stared at her, having not considered that form humiliation. "On your knees." Tech pushed the button on the leash and X was flooded with pain, but unlike the last time it did not cease after a few seconds but continued until finally when the blinding blackening flash of it was over and his breath was coming in shallow gasps he looked up at Tech from the floor, on his knees as she had asked.

Before he could say anything Tech tugged at the leash again and X lurched forward walking like a dog on his hands and feet. "Come along them, I'm hungry, really, I do hate to be kept from lunch." X wanted to protest saying that he had been kept from lunch for at least a few weeks, but found that it was all he could do to crawl fast enough to keep up with Tech as she walked down the hall with Lila following him close behind him. Every once in a while Lila would kick X sending him sprawling forward into Tech, who would then tug the leash and push the button shocking X's body with pain. After a few moments X no longer had any idea where they were going or when they would arrive being blind by pain and near exhausted when Tech finally did stop walking.

Lila kicked him again, and then walked quickly away and in front of Tech. X listened as her heals clicked against he floor and she rushed across the room towards a great glimmering red wall and suddenly, with an amount of strength that seemed impossible for her body, flung open the long heavy red drapes hanging across the windows. X was illuminated in the noonday sun and Tech pulled him forward towards a large banquet table set in the middle of the room.

Lila rushed toward tech and pulled out a chair for her. Tech sat easily in it and crossed her legs. "My but the food smells good, I can't wait".

X began to rise and Tech pushed the button without mercy causing him to black out for a moment as the pain engulfed him. He came back to consciousness lying on his side and looking up at her. "And where did you think you were going? You think that you have suddenly earned the right to stand on two feet like a person. I think not, my lovely, perhaps once you are talking properly, or are otherwise behaving as you should, but for now, I'm afraid it shall be the floor for you. Now Lila, please begin serving, I'm famished."

At that Lila rushed from the room and began what must have been a grueling task of caring out tray after tray after tray of food until finally the entire banquet table was filled. There was hardly any room left for food. X began to wonder why Tech didn't have more servants with the monstrous chores she assigned to the lonely one. Suddenly the room rang with a large, deep, resonant "Dong" and Lila raced from the room.

"Ah, the guests have arrived. And just in time."

"Guests?" X asked. He looked up at Tech who sat smiling in triumph at him, and then said with her most quizzical look, "What was that?"

X glared at her again. Guests. That was something he had not imagined. Just the thought of other people seeing him like this, in this humiliating condition, was stomach churning. With a few simple words Tech had managed to entirely kill the appetite that had been building slowly in X over the last few days.

Guests. Who could they be? Would he know them? X had a thousand questions to ask, but he knew already no answer would be provided. He sat on his knees, and suddenly felt pain explode around him but only for a flash.

"I did not say you could sit down, my lovely. You shall stay just as you are, on your hands and knees like a proper pet. We would not want my guests to believe that you are human, now, would we? Appearance is everything, and I have no intention of being humiliated in front of my friends by such stupid behavior. I will warn you now, just this once" Tech said looking at him coolly "that you shall not utter a single nonsense gibberish of yours. For one, the won't understand you, and two, I will gag you. If I gag you, I will not be giving you lunch, so keep that in mind. If you behave yourself like an admirable little pet I shall be very kind and you shan't want for anything. Do you understand?"

X found himself nodding his head before thinking. Regardless of the sickness he felt in his stomach the thought of not eating for another day was maddening, especially with the smell of food filling his head. He couldn't help himself. X wanted desperately to eat, and eyed greedily the chicken breasts that where stacked on a nearby tray. But before he could make a move in the direction of food the door to the hall suddenly opened and in walked the expected guests.

There were four in all. Each woman distinct in her own way reflecting many things, not the least of which was X's taste in women, as surprisingly X knew each one of them, intimately. There was Dina a pretty Greek girl of medium build. She was followed closely by Carey a striking brunette with a smallish waist and rather well endowed with breasts larger than that of any other girls in the room. Jia-Li came in dressed from top to bottom in vinyl and carrying with her what looked like a riding crop. X had dallied with her once a few years ago when he was trying to broaden his cultural appreciation. And last put certainly not least was Emma, a striking red head who looked very much like Lila. Her hair was straight falling to her shoulders, almost curtaining the smallish face with a hawk-like nose, and emerald green eyes.

Tech stood as they entered and greeted each in turn with a quick peck on the cheek and a polite bit of small talk as they each walked towards the table. None of them seemed to notice X where he was on the floor, which was possibly the only relief X was given after the realization that each was a woman he had known. He also had to consider the fact that with each of them he had ended the relationship in much the same way in which he had finished with Tech, simply leaving out of boredom with no explanation.

The women sat down around the table and Lila began the task of dispensing drinks to the throng, while the women talked quietly, X listened to the conversation, mostly about the various events that were currently taking place in what he considered to be his community. None of which he had heard of making him realize a bit more the predicament he was in. Perhaps Tech had not been lying to him about the term of his engagement and he really had been out of circulation for more than a month. Oddly, X could not help feeling a strange sense of anger at those whom he considered to be his friends. That he could be gone so long and not one single person had taken any kind of notice.

"Oh, no, I think it quite remarkable that you have already trained him to be so obedient, Tech, I would have thought it would take months to take the fight out of him, so conceited, he was." He suddenly heard Elisa say.

"I'm not surprised" piped in Jia-Li as she smiled at Tech and suddenly struck Lila brutally across the buttocks as she leaned over the table to begin serving the food.

"It's a method my dears" Tech replied. She pulled X's chain and he suddenly found himself forward at her knees "you simply have to push the right button." With that she pressed the control and X was no longer conscious.

He sensed something, but could not pin down the voices, and his struggle seemed to fill him with only more pain and less of an ability to grip his surroundings. He heard:

"amazing device-the Swedes¡¦modifiers¡¦more advanced..few-"

"-cost¡¦prohibitive?"

"permanent are the effects¡¦the subject has been under for-"

"-you teach the body to respond to stim-"

"-avable is it once they have undergone long term-"

He passed in and out picking up the various strains of the conversation, realizing that it was focused on his condition. X began to feel his body again without pain and suddenly found himself drifting back towards consciousness. He was on his back, looking up at the ceiling. The ceiling was painted in strange colors and in the middle was what looked like a crucifixion, and yet, the imagery was far more perverse, surrounded on sides by people copulating in various positions. The image on the cross looked like a grim specter of himself with eyes closed, head bowed, and just the hint of straps leading away from the mouth implying a gag. What perversion would have to lie in the soul of an artist to have painting something so grotesque and fantastic at the same time?

He could see the face of Emma above him smiling down while taking in every inch of his body. He shuddered involuntary and could not suppress a wave a rage stronger than the hunger that was burning his stomach. He looked at the women, haughty and triumphant over him, and he could not check his pride. He jumped to his feet and slashed out a hand and slapped Emma hard across the face. X did not think about the choice, but it was perhaps the fairest choice of all the women who watched him. At one time he had seriously cared for Emma, only to find her as dull as the rest, unchanging in her petty and childish ways and driving X away. Emma was a girl whom X had desperately wanted to find special among women, not only for her beauty, but for her intelligence, and yet, he had found nothing of the sort. As he struck her, though, his mind was only on Tech, and her humiliation.

"Damn you all, I'm not a thin-" He began before he suddenly found himself jerked to the floor by a sharp tug of the leash. In a second Jia-Li was on top of him, and easily threw him on his back, placing her hand upon his neck and applying enough pressure to make the sudden danger of his situation quite clear.

"Enough." Tech said quietly. Jia-Li relented, but only after Tech had repeated herself. X took several short gasps and placed a hand on his neck.

Jia-Li stood above him, her whip at the ready.

"Lila, bring it please." Tech asked, looking more amused then ever. "I do apologize for his behavior, as you can see he is still in training."

"Why don't you give him what he deserves?" Jia-Li asked, indicating the button on the leash, but Tech only smiled.

"Oh, I'm appalled by his behavior but at the same time I'm quite pleased. Where there is a spark there is fire, and fire is so much more interesting then nothing at all." Lila stood next to Tech with a tray, and Tech lifted from it the gag.

"I did warn you." She said, she motioned for Jia-Li to hold him down as she fastened it quickly into place.

"Oh, what a nice shape," Dina said, smiling at Tech with approval.

"With everything you do there must be first patience, and then a willingness to act. When you train a child you must teach that child to respond to your desires and not respond to the desires of the child. The child understands from the first that various actions from it will produce consistent reactions from you. The child will test that boundary, discovering limits to the effects that are produced by it's actions and seeking ever new and interesting ways to reverse the consequences if they are not desirable. Thus as the child becomes an adult, it learns how to control and manipulate its environment. A child will always recognize the environment in which it can have the maximum amount of control that it desires, and then, having found that area will stay there, maintaining its status and position without change. Thus any intelligent child can be a big enough fish, but never so big that they cannot control what they desire. This, my ladies, is why so many want power but so few actually take it.

To take power requires stepping outside of your comfort zone and very few people will ever do that completely. Now, with X, he has learned to provoke a response, and it is one he can understand, therefore the response must be adapted to fit my whims, not his, so you see" and Tech directed her attention at Jia-Li, "what he wants is what you think he deserves, but that response does not best fit my desires at the moment. Jia, if you really want to become that which you profess to be, you too must learn self restraint and control."

Tech smiled at X who looked up at her with disgust.

"See how he hates me now that he begins to understand. When I am finished her will thank me. Look at Lila¡¦Lila, my sweet, what do you think of me?"

"I loathe you and I love you, as you desire." Lila said very quietly. X raised an eyebrow. He had not expected that answer from the meek Lila, he assumed that she was nothing more than a willing sycophant, how could she loathe Tech? Was she not a willing participant? Again, questions raced through X's mind about the nature of this strange girl. What was her fate that she remained here, when she was obviously free to act on her own desires?

Jia-Li smacked Lila brutally across the chest, Lila, flinched but did not back away. Tech stepped forward and took the crop from Jia-Li.

"I will permit you many freedoms, Jia, but I do have my limits, even with my guests. You think to control only with pain. You have not learned to understand the differences between pain and power. Someday you shall have slave who won't be broken by the whip alone, and you must learn what to do then."