Part two of a multi-part story about a young woman working as an intern at a slave market. It is set in the same world, city, and place as my previous series
Three Sisters
so it may be useful to read that first. Note that this story contains bondage, slavery, physical harm including branding and whipping, non-consensual sexual submission, and a character's struggle to come to terms with all of it. All characters are at least 18 years of age.
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Note to readers: I worked some backstory or history of the world into this part, hopefully it doesn't feel too forced and helps explain - or at least hints - why some things are the way they are.
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"You okay?" Sandy asked.
"Yeah, just need a minute to catch my breath" Michelle said. "I didn't expect us to go through them so quickly." She wiped a bead of sweat off her forehead with the back of her forearm.
"
Go slow to go fast
; a coach of mine swore by that, and she was usually right. You start off with each one slowly to focus on form, then as they get into muscle memory they speed up."
Michelle nodded, leaning against the wall of the HCI classroom. It was after work, and Sandy was teaching her to perform the basic control positions, AKA "The Foundation." A lifelong swimmer, lettered in high school, Michelle was in good shape but even so, the last round had left her winded.
Sandy leaned against the wall next to Michelle. "You're doing really good, though. You've got the individual moves down, all you need to do is combine them into a single flow and you'll be golden."
"As long as Ms Steiner is happy, that's all that matters to me." Michelle said between pants.
"No worries there. You'll do fine, she just has really high standards, not just for us but for herself." Sandy said.
"Why? Why is this important to her?" Michelle asked. "She told me something about learning to follow and learning to lead, but don't think that's all there is to it."
"Heh, I'm surprised she told you that much" Sandy replied. "But yeah, part of it is her theory of leadership, which I think is sincere β she really thinks it helps gain insight into the minds of slaves β but I think the other part of it is that she's just a natural perfectionist."
Michelle nodded. "We've been here almost an hour. Do you want to call it a night?"
"Sure," Sandy said, "keep it up on your own, then let's meet again on Friday and check on your progress."
"Okay, sounds good." Michelle said. "Thanks again for doing this. Can I repay you with dinner Friday night?"
Sandy glanced at her sharply for a moment before falling back into laid-back mode. "That sounds nice, thanks. You ready?"
Michelle nodded again, and Sandy pushed off the wall and headed toward the door. She was wearing a ribbed tank top and track pants; Michelle had spent the entire time trying to get a good look at her back to no avail. She sighed, pushed off the wall and followed Sandy out the door.
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Since she had stayed late, Michelle treated herself to a rideshare car and arrived home less worn out than she did from riding the bus. She hated riding the bus, but she had to for the essay: experiencing the lives of the working class and all that.
Opening the front door, she saw the telltale blue glow of the TV coming from the back of the house; Dad must have waited up for her.
Indeed, he was sunk into the couch watching The History Channel β what is it with fathers and The History Channel? she wondered β so she came up behind him and kissed him on the top of his head.
"Hi Daddy!" she said. "What's on?"
Her father reached out and squeezed her hand. "Hey sweetheart, welcome home." He waved at the TV: "Oh, just something on the war."
Michelle sighed: the war, of course. Hers was the first generation to be born after the Sino-Taiwanese War, or the Russian-Chinese War, or whatever they were calling it now. Because of the weapons unleashed the world population is a fraction of what it was when her parents were born.
Now the show was talking about the bio-engineered "Widowmaker" virus that had devastated the male population, targeting anyone with a Y chromosome. Not only did it kill lots of men, it screwed up every remaining male's reproductive system: only about one out of every four children born now are males. As a young woman, that statistic was terribly depressing.
Still, time with Dad was time with Dad. "Scoot over" she said, and climbed over the back of the couch.
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The next morning Michelle was checking in a new arrival when she paused and called Sandy over.
"Would you look at this?" Michelle asked, handing Sandy the data pad. "She's already owned and trained, and she's typed as a domestic, and she's listed as NFS. Why is she even here?"
Sandy looked over the fields. "Yeah, this is pretty new. You got the Not-For-Sale flag right, but look down in the comments field: she's here for punishment."
Michelle raised her eyebrows. "Punishment?"
"Yeah, it's a new service they're trying out, so the software hasn't been updated yet." Sandy handed back the data pad. "Pay to get your slave publicly punished by a professional in front of a crowd. I think they're doing it monthly until the advertising catches up. If you look at the end of the comments there's a code: in this case, she's getting whipped."
Michelle looked at the woman. She was quite pretty, surprising that she was only graded Choice: white creamy skin, reddish-brown hair and a generous spray of freckles over her face and shoulders. Maybe it was her body? She's not fat, but she has naturally wide hips and small breasts. Too bad, Michelle thought, I think she's quite attractive, even if she is wide-eyed and trembling.
She had arrived in a car, which was unusual in itself, and a very well-dressed older man with a thick mane of silver hair had led her up to the entry door by a leash (she was already naked, collared, handcuffed and gagged), handed the leash to Michelle, returned to his car and left without a word.
Michelle replaced the slave's silvery collar with an HCI model, then removed the ball gag. "Can you understand me?"
The slave cast her eyes down and replied "Yes, ma'am."
Michelle recited her spiel: "You are at the Houston, Texas location of HCI Incorporated. You are here to receive punishment, apparently, which is new to me. I am required by law to tell you that the collar you are wearing can deliver a powerful and extremely painful electric shock if you attempt to leave this building without permission, and all HCI employees are authorized to use any means necessary to compel you to comply with all orders given to you, and those means include electrical shock and whipping. If you follow my instructions you will not be hurt. Do you understand?"
Without hesitation, the woman replied "Yes, ma'am."
Sandy nodded, then told Michelle "She can skip the processing line, and you can take her straight to holding. Now that she's listed as "received" it's the responsibility of an Auction Ops person to take her from there."
Michelle clipped a leash to the slave's collar, and led her through the maze of pens and cages to one with "019" painted on the floor in front of it. She put the slave inside, but as she sat down on a plastic bench the watching Michelle was overcome with curiosity: "2904, do you know why you are being punished? Because I don't."
The woman looked directly at her for the first time. "Mistress," she said, "because I am a slave and it pleases my master."
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Michelle hurried out of the pens back toward her station, but as she reached the first control door (an automatic door that only opens for HCI employees, it acts like an "air lock" to keep escapees from leaving the pen area) she literally ran into the warehouse crew foreman, Ed.
"You must be the newwwww girrrrrrrrl" he drawled, grinning, as Michelle took a step back. As foreman he didn't have to wear coveralls, so he wore a plain work shirt with an HCI patch above one pocket, jeans, a heavy leather belt and boots, and his omnipresent ball cap. He put one hand high against the wall and looked down on her: he must have at least a foot of height on me, she thought, maybe more; he is literally almost twice my size. "I'm Ed, warehouse dayshift foreman" he said, and held out his hand.
Michelle took it β his hands were incredibly rough, like sandpaper β and gave it a shake, but Ed did not release his grip.
"I believe I saw you bringin' a sweet little thing into this pen" he asked, looking around. "Which one did you put her in?"
She looked up at him and couldn't speak for a moment; when his gaze swung back to her she managed to stammer "nineteen."
"Show me" he said, but then pulled her along behind him. They reached 019, he unlocked the door and β still gripping her β walked into the pen. The slave looked up at him, too startled to lower her gaze.
"Hello there," he said to her, "I'm Ed, and I'd like to welcome you to HCI. You doin' alright so far, little red?" The slave nodded at him.
Ed swung Michelle around in front of him, and with one hand pushed her against the wall to his right; she was now between 2904 and Ed, but to one side, like a point on a triangle.
"It's a tradition for new residents to show off their cock sucking skills" he said, "and especially for ones who're gonna be here a few days and don't want to make anyone upset at 'em." Ed unzipped the fly of his jeans and unreeled (that's the word that came into Michelle's head) the largest penis she had ever seen, even larger than the porn stars she was familiar with, in length and girth...and it was still flaccid. Both women stared at it in something like amazement.