Slaves Dont Need Visas Ch 04 06

4. Just a few last checks

Melissa looks forward to being released to her boyfriend.

"Miss Maurer?" she heard a voice call her.

Melissa was sitting in a cell. It was a small three by two meter barred holding cell with a hinged wooden board hanging from two chains fastened to the wall serving as a bench and a toilet at the far side of the wall.

After concluding the formalities with the legal officer, Melissa had expected to be released to her boyfriend Arbek so they could move on and leave this all behind them.

Yes, she would have to be naked in public at first because her collar unmistakably identified her as a slave. The thought of this devastated Melissa. But Arbek would have the collar replaced with his own, so the police would remove her current collar. Then, once they were alone, Arbek would remove his collar from her, and she could wear clothes and present normally again and forget these embarrassing events had ever happened. She would tell him that it was urgent. That she wanted this damn collar off as soon as possible, so she would not have to be nude in public. Arbek would probably find a collar and get it over with the same day.

But the supervisor had not given her to Arbek. Instead, he had deposited her into this holding cell as she was: Naked and collared. She had asked him what would happen next. The supervisor had replied that she would have to wait and there would be some checks before she could be released. As they walked, the supervisor had held her upper arm with his left hand and he'd been holding the baton in his right hand, absentmindedly tapping his leg with the baton. Melissa, naked as she was, had felt vulnerable. Her soft white skin was fully exposed, and any touch from the sparks of the device would sting painfully. Her hands were cuffed behind her, so she would not even be able to use her hands to protect herself. She did not want to risk him using his taser on her again so she did not probe any further. It would be best not to engage with this brute, she thought.

Melissa turned her head and saw the guard. "Yes," she said and stood up.

The guard frowned. "That is 'Yes, Sir' for you, young lady," he admonished her. "As a slave you are to address all free people with 'Sir' or Ma'am'."

"Yes, Sir," she quietly said.

The guard held out what looked like a bundle of chains. "Hold out your hands," he ordered her.

The bars of her cell had a chaining port. A gap in the bars at waist height and another at ankle height. Both gaps were connected through a vertical gap in the bars.

Melissa put her hands through the gap at waist height. The guard locked a pair of handcuffs around them. Then he let the rest of the chains fall, and Melissa saw that the handcuffs were connected to a chain that had a pair of leg cuffs at its other end.

"Step closer to the bars," the guard said. Melissa moved her feet closer to the gap and dropped her hands so the leg irons were low enough that the guard could secure them to her ankles. When he was done he unlocked the cell. "Step out of the cell," he ordered her.

Melissa carefully moved out of the cell. The leg cuffs only allowed her to make short half steps. She tried lifting her hands. The center chain went taut right away. When she pulled a bit more the cuffs around her ankle slipped upwards a bit and she was barely able to bring her hands up to her navel.

"Damn, these are tight," Melissa thought as the guard walked her down the corridors. "But at least I'm finally getting out." She felt a sting of embarrassment at the thought that this is how she would be handed to Arbek: Naked, collared and tightly chained up. She wondered if Arbek would enjoy seeing her like this. She doubted that he would admit it but she suspected he would be aroused to see her like this.

Officers walked back and forth. As if her nudity wasn't bad enough, she felt humiliated for being walked in chains. Did they really think she would run? Naked as she was? She walked past four people in plain clothes who were sitting in chairs in front of an office, waiting. They looked at her with curiosity as she approached. A middle-aged man among them smiled at her. Melissa stared at the floor in front of her and walked, wishing this would all be over.

She couldn't wait to get out of here. The supervisor had mentioned some final checks would be needed to be done on her. Then she would be released to Arbek. The thought of Arbek made her furious. This was not how his plan was meant to play out! He had made this sound so simple. She would scold him for this alright. She was making mental notes about every detail of her treatment, and she would tell him all about it to make him feel guilty for what he had put her through. Then, she would order him to take the steps to get her collar off so she could have a normal life again. He would procrastinate as usual but she would tell him "right now!" and he would feel guilty and hurry up.

They arrived at a staircase and Melissa sighed. This would be difficult.

With her movements restricted, Melissa cautiously tackled each step. The chain linking her ankles was just long enough to let her move from one step to the next, but it was a precarious balance, and the handrail was out of reach due to her handcuffed hands tethered by a central chain. She was thankful for the guard's grip on her upper arm, providing some stability.

Melissa looked down the stairs and saw a black woman ascending. She was elegantly dressed, a folder tucked under her arm. The woman looked up and when their eyes met the woman gave her a nod and a friendly smile. Melissa, not sure how to react, nodded and smiled back awkwardly.

Proceeding with her descent, Melissa misjudged the placement of her back foot. As she lifted her front foot for the next step, the ankle chain suddenly tensed, causing her to trip. "Aah!" she cried out, her instinct to brace herself thwarted by the central chain making her handcuffs painfully dig into her wrists. Fortunately, the guard's hold prevented her from falling, helping her regain her footing.

When they arrived on the ground floor Melissa felt the smooth cool marble under her bare feet. Her ankle chains clanged on the marble floor as the guard walked her toward what appeared to be an exit.

A man was standing near the exit. Next to him was a cage on a dolly. Melissa felt queasy as she approached.

"This is the slave?" the man sounded surprised.

"Yes," her guard replied. "Miss Melissa Maurer. Ready to be picked up."

The man opened the door of the cage. "Get in please, Miss."

No, this was not right. They were supposed to release her after some formalities. Melissa turned to her guard, her voice tinged with anger, "This is not right. I was supposed to be picked up by my boyfriend!" Her chained hands clenched into fists, pulling her chains tight.

"Arrgh!" she exclaimed as the guard swiftly used his baton to deliver a shock to her upper right leg. She doubled over, the pain forcing her into a crouch, her muscles seizing.

As she fought to keep from collapsing, the guard withdrew the taser. The guard corrected her: "I was supposed to be picked up by my boyfriend, Sir," emphasizing the 'Sir' at the end. "And mind your tone, Miss Maurer," the guard's expression was calm with no hint of any anger.

Melissa breathed heavily and felt her heart pound. Shaking as she stood up straight, Melissa winced from the pain in her wrists, likely from an involuntary jerk during the shock.

"I'm sorry, Sir," she whispered, still out of breath. "I meant there is a mix-up, Sir... I was told... Mr Gurtan would collect me... after some formalities." She looked at his chest, afraid to provoke him by making eye contact, still breathing quickly, then quickly added another "Sir."

The guard produced an envelope from his jacket. He examined the document it contained, then grabbed the D-ring on Melissa's collar. He pulled it towards him and adjusted it upward and sideways, positioning it so he could easily read the collar's inscription without stooping.

Melissa was yanked closer. She felt the collar press sharply into her neck, forcing her to rise onto her tiptoes and to tilt her head back to lessen the strain. She twisted her head to align with the direction of the guard's pull on the D-ring. Her hands instinctively rose, but the cuffs tethered to the central chain halted them abruptly, causing her pain. As she shifted, Melissa couldn't help but yelp "ouch" several times.

Melissa struggled to maintain her balance on her tiptoes to prevent the collar from causing further pain. She was furious about the guard's rough treatment of her but the taser had served its purpose, and she decided she would not give him an excuse to use it on her again.

"Is there a problem?" the man next to the cage asked.

The guard checked the number on Melissa's collar against the one on the form. "No, this is all in order," he confirmed.

He released the tension on Melissa's collar, allowing her to lower herself back onto her heels.

"Step inside the cage, Miss Maurer," the guard commanded.

Melissa's eyes searched the guard's and the man's faces with a silent plea. The man, holding the cage door ajar, gave her an encouraging smile. The cage resembled an oversized kennel for dogs. Fearing another encounter with the guard's taser-baton, Melissa approached the cage, convinced that all of this was a big mistake. But she could not do anything with this trigger happy brute around. She crouched down, navigating her entry into the cage with caution due to the limited slack in her chains, careful to avoid the discomfort of the cuffs biting into her skin. After some effort, she managed to get into the cage standing on her hands and knees. The cage was a bit larger than her body in this posture but not by much.

The guard proceeded to close the cage's door, which comprised the whole front panel of the cage, and secured it with a sturdy padlock. He put the key into the envelope and handed the paperwork to the man and left.

Melissa carefully sat down on the back on her feet and tried to straighten up but her head hit the bars at the top of the cage. So she shuffled around a bit until she sat cross legged on the cage floor, leaning with her back against the bars. The cage was just high enough to allow her to sit straight this way.

The man looked down at Melissa, now locked in the transport cage and said, "I'll be with you in a moment." Without waiting for an answer he pulled out his phone and started calling someone. Soon he was in a cordial conversation. Melissa couldn't understand anything because he was talking in Ghrabesian. But the voice at the other end was female and she imagined he was checking in with his wife. He walked around the entrance area as he was speaking and ended up looking out of the windows on the other side.

Melissa sighed and rubbed her wrists. She wanted these chains off. Why did they even need to keep her chained in here? She was caged anyway! She took account of her situation. She had suffered so many indignities today. And the airport police had taken everything from her. Literally everything she thought, looking down at herself. She was naked and collared. "Up to code," as Mr Mengistu, the legal officer, she was sure would attest if he could see her. It was time for them to give her to Arbek so they could move on with their lives.

Then the door opened and someone came in from outside. Melissa peered through the bars of her cage. She recognised him. It was the legal officer. "Mr Mengistu!" she called out. "Mr Mengistu!"

The legal officer, who had just finished a cigarette break, stopped and turned. He appeared surprised at the call of his name. His gaze went down at the cage and he saw her. Recognition flashed on his face. "Ah, Miss Maurer! I see you are ready for pick up!"

"Mr Mengistu!" She cried again unnecessarily. Melissa grabbed the bars of her cage.

"Mr Mengistu! There is a misunderstanding. I was supposed to be released to Mr Gurtan but they put me here. I think they want to ship me somewhere," she said desperately. And added: "Sir!"

The legal officer approached the cage. He stood before her and looked down at Melissa. Melissa looked up at him through the bars of her cage.

"There is no misunderstanding Miss Maurer", he explained. "We did say that a few checks were needed before you could be cleared for import. We do not perform these checks in-house. This is an airport after all. The courier here" and he nodded toward the man who was still on the phone "will bring you to the health office and they will perform the checks."

"What kind of checks are these?" Melissa asked bewilderedly.

"Oh just the standard procedure for livestock." the legal officer said. "As a slave you are not an immigrant but an import. An import of livestock to be precise. And all livestock have to undergo routine checks upon import unless they have already been certified. It is in the regulations for import of livestock."

"Livestock," Melissa repeated. "Livestock..." She was speechless. "But, but..." She wanted this nightmare to end, she wanted to be released to Arbek but it seemed like she would be going on a detour.

"Yes, because of diseases and they check for overall health." He leaned on her cage as if this was a casual chat and he was making himself comfortable. "We don't want to import diseases into Grabesh and have them spread here. Normally livestock imports come from the port. People usually relocate livestock via ships. That is much cheaper. It is rare that it is us who send animals to the health office for checkup."

"Look, this is all a big mistake, Mr Mengistu," she pleaded desperately from her cage, glossing over him referring to her as an animal.

In her unease, Melissa transitioned from sitting to kneeling. The cage's bars restricted her from lifting her head fully, so she arched her back so she could make eye contact with the man who was her last hope of getting out of her situation.

She gathered all her courage and said: "I'm not really a slave. This was just a ruse to get through the border checkpoint. It was a stupid idea. I understand that now. We thought this would be quick and easy. We were wrong. I take it back. I'm not really a slave. And I'm ready to bear the consequences and go into immigration detention."

"I see," The legal officer looked down at her. "Unfortunately, Miss Maurer, you have declared yourself a slave in front of witnesses. As a free woman you had ownership of yourself. That means you had the right to transfer that ownership to someone else. By declaring yourself Mr Gurtan's slave you have transferred your ownership of yourself to him. There are witnesses that you have done so and it has been formally documented. That makes you Mr Gurtan's slave. As a slave you can't undo this by declaring yourself to be free or 'not really a slave' as you put it. Only Mr Gurtan can do this. Your boyfriend would need to free you and only that would release you from slavery."

"Can you get him here?" she tried. "He is waiting for me here at the airport. If you make an announcement, he will come and we will set this straight. I can't take this Mr Mengistu," she sobbed. "I want out of this cage," she said and tried to grab for the bars in front of her, but in her kneeling position her ankles were further away and the central chain went taut just before she could reach them, so she put her hands back on the floor.

"I want these chains of me," she said, lifting up her chained wrists." And I want my clothes back," she said, covering her breasts with her hands. "Please, Mr Mengistu before this guy comes back and takes me away."

Kneeling proved too uncomfortable within the confines of this cage so Melissa moved back into a sitting position and raised her eyes to the officer with a beseeching look.

"It is ok, Miss Maurer," he said. "Don't worry. As I said: As livestock you need to undergo the standard checks. I can't change that. And in any case, there is nothing wrong with getting a health check. Think about it Miss Maurer, what if they find something you didn't even know about. Then you might be glad that you had an extra health check." He concluded, "We have a great health care system here in Grabesh. You'll see. It will be fine."

He tapped Melissa's cage twice. "Ok I've got to go now. It was a pleasure to meet you, Miss Maurer." Then he gave her one last smile, turned around and left her.

Melissa was left dumbfounded in her cage.

The supervisor had not mentioned that she would be transported to some other place to be checked. And with sudden worry the thought flashed in her mind, "How would Arbek find her?" He had wanted to pick her up from the airport police after what was supposed to be formalities. Well, those had been quite the formalities! But when he turned up now, she would no longer be here. She hoped that the police would tell him where they had brought her.

She had settled to sit with her legs crossed inside the confined space of the cage, a position that inadvertently left her vagina somewhat exposed to observers. However, her handcuffed hands naturally fell in front of her, providing a shield for her most private area from direct sight, while still leaving the top portion of her pubic hair visible.

She had had enough of this. More than enough. She wanted to get out of here. But these people had her helplessly trapped. When she got out of here she would be so mad at Arbek! Arbek and his careless happy go lucky attitude. He just didn't think things through. She looked down and saw the shackles around her ankles, her wrists and the chain linking them in front of her wiry pubic hair. This is where Arbek's incompetence to plan had got her.

And had the legal officer just referred to her as an "animal"? The thought suddenly flashed in her mind. An "animal" and "livestock", she recalled with a sting in her gut.

She looked up through the bars of her cage and saw the man, the courier, approaching her.

"Alright, ready to go Miss Maurer?" The courier said while loosening the brakes on the wheels of the dolly. He chuckled as if he had made a joke. He took the handle of the dolly and pulled Melissa behind him in her cage while humming to himself.

He pushed through the exit, revealing a step leading out. Melissa jolted in her cage as the front wheels fell off the step, eliciting a sharp grunt from her, followed by another jolt from the rear wheels. The courier didn't hold the door, so it struck the cage on its way back, dragging along the metal bars before shutting once the cage was clear.

As Melissa was pulled out of the door, she felt the warmth enveloping her, a stark contrast to the air-conditioned coolness of the airport. It was like passing through an invisible barrier into a balmy embrace, which she found comforting.

Glancing around, she saw they were in a parking area. The dolly's wheels grumbled loudly over the asphalt, and the cage's metal base trembled, causing her chains to jingle and stimulating her bare skin. The vibrations created tingles of lust in her vagina, igniting a subtle flare of arousal that made her current exposed state more bearable.

The sun was already setting. Only a short distance later, they moved out of the building's shadow, and Melissa's pale skin basked in the gentle warmth of the late sun.

The courier pulled her to a parked van, opened the doors at the back and unfolded a ramp. He pulled the dolly with Melissa up the ramp into the van.

He unloaded the cage from the dolly and fastened it to fixtures on the wall of the van. As he was busy doing this, he asked Melissa: "By the way, my name is Karel. What's your name Miss Maurer?"

"I am Melissa," she replied.

"Melissa," he repeated. "So why are you here?"

"Because this country is insane and uses humans as slaves," she answered.