Robert helped Alexia get the old mattress out of the way, and get the new one on. "I forgot how heavy these damn things are." Robert says, breathing a bit hard.
"My old one at the apartment was light, but it was also very thin, and very uncomfortable." Alexia says, sprawling out on the new mattress. "Mistress Jane sounded a little panicked about Mei. Do you think she will be alright?"
"I think she will be." Robert says. "She gave her word to Mei and Mrs. Chen, and the idea of letting them down is probably freaking her out a bit. We should probably go down and help Lucia find the profile, a photo of her profile with her not looking totally upset would probably help tremendously."
The pair walk down the stairs, Robert detouring to Jane's office to get the girls' phones. "Any luck yet?" He asks, handing each of them their phone.
"Not yet." Lucia says. "Do either of you remember her exact age?"
"I think Jane said 19." Robert says. "Can you filter by ethnicity? That would probably be faster, there isn't a large Asian population here."
"I did, but nothing came up. I don't know that they are using all of the filters yet." Lucia responds. "I'll try no kids, red card, and 19, and see how far that narrows it down. If that doesn't work I'll just go through them one by one."
"We can always take turns." Robert says. "She may not even be in yet, do you see a way to tell when it was last updated?"
"No, honestly this site kind of sucks." Lucia says. "Wait, I think that's her." The photo was of a young woman, not smiling, but not crying like most of the others.
Robert leans in closer and says. "I think so too. I'll send a photo to Jane for her to confirm."
He takes the photo, and then sends it to Jane, asking her to please let him know as soon as possible, so that they would know if they needed to keep looking. "Is there a phone number on the site for people to call?"
"Let me look." Lucia says, and scrolls around the site a bit, switching pages a few times, before finding one. "You could try this one. Why are you calling though?"
"I want to see how soon we can get Mei, and if there is anything we can do to make sure of it." Robert says. "I want Jane reassured as quickly as possible."
Robert's phone buzzes, and it's Jane, confirming that the photo is Mei. Robert texts back that he will call her in a few minutes.
"Can you find Mei's profile again? I'd like to see everything that's on it, and I might need her ID number." Robert says, dialing the number Lucia showed him. Alexia waves at Lucia, to show she is going upstairs.
After a few rings, Robert gets an answer.
"Better America support, how can we help you?" A female voice says.
"Hello, I'm an approved green card bidder, and there is a profile on the site that I'd like to ensure I get. I've already used my claims, is there any way to expedite the process?" Robert asks.
"What's the profile number?" the woman on the other end asks.
Robert reads the number off the screen into the phone.
"Let me transfer to your local Better America office, they should be able to let you know for sure. Each area is doing things a bit different, based on the amount of bidders, and the amount of women available." the woman says, and a moment later, Robert hears hold music.
"They are transferring me." Robert says. A moment later, someone picks up. "Better America, how can I help you?"
"Hello, I'm an approved green card bidder, and there is a profile on the site that I'd like to ensure I get. I've already used my claims, is there any way to expedite the process?" Robert repeats himself.
"Hang on a minute, let me transfer you to my boss." the voice says.
Robert sighs, but thankfully someone picks up after about 30 seconds. "Hello, I understand you are calling about buying a concubine?" A man's voice says.
"Yes, I'm already an approved bidder, and a green card. There is someone on there I know, and I'd like to make sure I end up with them, as soon as possible preferably." Robert explains.
"What's the profile number?" The man asks, and Robert reads it again.
"And your bidder or license number?" he asks, and Robert gives him that from his green card.
"So she's scheduled for auction in about 10 days. We are doing them in batches, eventually the site SHOULD have an auction date on the profiles. Right now the plan is to do one per day, with a preview window before the auction for both that day and the next day's concubines." The man explains. "You said you know her personally?"
"Yes." Robert says, biting back the urge to explain more.
"You may already know this, but orange card auctions are on Saturday. If you line up a few more you want, I could put a small red card group together for after that. We are giving green cards first pick there as well. I can't guarantee you would get her, but you'd at least get to bid on her, and if you win, take her home that day." The man explains.
"I'll go through the profiles tonight, can I email you a few others once I do?" Robert asks.
The man agrees, and gives Robert his email address. "Just be prepared to bid on any red cards I move up for the Saturday auction at your request. And if there are orange cards that don't get bids at the end of the night, be prepared to be assigned one. We're at a 2 to 1 ratio right now, and we are getting more in every day."
"I understand, and I greatly appreciate that." Robert says.
"All bidders are going to start receiving information in their email soon about auction times and dates. I suggest showing up early if you want to preview in person, that starts 2 hours before auction time." The man says. "Any other questions?"
"I hesitate to even ask, but is there a limit on how many women I can bid on, and how many I HAVE to bid on?" Robert says.
"The numbers aren't finalized yet, but probably be Saturday morning you should be able to go to the BAA site and put in your ID number, and it will show you a minimum and maximum. Based on the information I'm seeing, I would expect your numbers to be higher than most. You've got the household income to support a reasonable amount of concubines, and you don't have a ton of kids already."
"Shit, I'm going to need a bigger house." Robert says.
"There are going to be programs for that." The man says. "Lots of houses are coming empty, so some people will likely split their concubines between a few. There is also a relocation program being planned, though that may not be announced for a while."
"Thanks." Robert said. "You've given me a lot to think about."
Lucia looks at him questioningly, and he explains the phone call. "Amazing how much more sense a conversation makes when you can hear both sides." She says. "So we need to find a few more red cards you can live with ASAP?"
"Apparently." Robert says. "Do you mind starting to look until Jane gets home with the food? And then maybe we can pair up after dinner and do more looking?"
"I'm already looking." Lucia says. "Alexia and I talked to Jane about it earlier, but do you have any preferences?"
"Not everyone we pick has to be to my taste." Robert says. "The best picks will be people who get along with all of us."
"Yes, but I can't tell personality from a photo of a distressed woman." Lucia tells him with a bit of sass. "I need filters, there are simply too many profiles to go through all of them."
"Fine." Robert says. "What are the filters?"
"First one is age." Lucia says. "How about 18-26?"
"I don't mind going higher." Robert says. "I'm not exactly a teenager myself after all."
"We discussed it with Jane, and she has good reason for the logic." Lucia says. "So unless you tell me you are more attracted to women above that age, I'm keeping it."
"Fine, we can keep it. What's next?" Robert says.
"Ethnicity." Lucia says. "It doesn't appear to work for all of the profiles, but if there is something you want to filter out..."
"Let's leave that for now. I definitely have a thing for Asian and Latina girls, but that doesn't mean I don't find other women just as attractive." Robert says.
"Card status we already have selected, and no kids." Lucia says. "And before you object on the kids thing, you will have to talk to the Mistress, she was firm on that."
"I'll talk to her later, but I'm sure I know her reasoning." Robert says. "If you are good, I'm going to call Jane, and check on Alexia."
A moment later Robert was explaining his conversation with the BAA people to Jane. "So we can potentially bring her home on Saturday?" Jane asks hopefully.
"As long as we can get a few more profiles together, and he actually bumps the auction date to Saturday." Robert says. "I've already got Lucia sorting through profiles, but I think tonight we should pair up with the girls and try to keep going until we have at least 5 good options."
"Didn't he say you have to bid on everyone you send?" Jane asks. "Are you prepared to bring home 7 women at once? We don't even have enough beds for that."
"We won't be the only ones bidding I'm sure, and worst comes to worst, we can probably fit all 4 of us in our bed, put 3 in the spare room, and then 4 on the bunk beds. Or put someone on the couch temporarily." Robert says. "It's worth it if it keeps you from melting down waiting two weeks to find out if we can get Mei."
"I won't melt down." Jane insists. "Pizza is ready, I'll be home shortly."
"Drive safe honey, Love you." Robert says, and hangs up.
Jane sighs as she hangs up, walking up to the counter to pick up the pizza. As Jane walks to the car with the pizza, her phone starts ringing again. She puts in the trunk, and then looks at the phone again. She doesn't recognize the number, and it's already gone to voicemail. She gets in the car, and waits a moment for the voicemail to come in. Once it does, she hits play.
"Mistress, this is the slave girl Amber. My Master did not return home last night. This slave was instructed to inform you if this occurred. This slave will remain here until she hears from you." With that the voicemail ends.
"Fuck." Jane said. "This is the last thing I need right now."
Jane picks up the phone, and dials Robert instead of calling back Amber.
"Jane, is everything ok?" Robert asks.
"I'm fine." Jane huffs. "I swear, this day went from awesome and relaxed to super stressful. I just got a voicemail from Amber. Her Master didn't come home last night, and apparently he instructed her to call us if that happened and await our instructions."
"Shit." Robert says. "Have you called her back?"
