Mistress of the Air

By morning, after flying through the night,

The Corseted Domme

was deep into the Prussian Empire, starting her descent into the Ruhr. Lady Sally, after a little early morning flagellation to get her going, took up a place alongside Captain Wyndham and Clarissa in the control cabin.

Lady Sally looked askance at the automaton with her sleek, auburn wig, short skirt and peaked cap, "Clarissa's dressed very sexily, I see."

"Yes, that was Victoria's doing," explained the captain.

"Yes, she's quite incorrigible. I know I shouldn't encourage her but it amuses me to give her these little pleasures sometimes. Now, captain, you must follow the line of the river."

Lady Sally was guiding her pilot to the airship station where they needed to land, as she had visited these workshops before, and was familiar with the terrain.

They were flying low over the manufacturing nucleus of the Prussian Empire. Lady Sally and the captain looked down upon a concentration of coal mines, factories and foundries. The air was thick with smoke and grit spewed up from the chimneys on the ground. This was where steam-powered vehicles, trains and weaponry were manufactured. The area was a hive of activity; people and goods were on the move everywhere.

Whatever the technical advances of this region, it had still never seen an airship on the scale of

The Corseted Domme

. She attracted curious and excited looks from people on the ground as she slowly steered towards the airship landing station on the outskirts of the city of Essen. Viewing him first hand, Lady Sally was impressed with the skills of her airship pilot as he manoeuvred the cone at the front of the massive dirigible into the gaping hole in the landing stage so it could be fixed onto the mooring mast by the landing wires. The riggers soon set out the guy ropes to secure her, and Lady Sally was ready to disembark.

She was met at the foot of the mooring mast by a steam-powered carriage. Lady Sally looked positively demure in a royal blue velvet dress and black mantle, which covered her décolletage.

"I'm not a fan of these steam-powered vehicles," she explained to Captain Wyndham, who was accompanying her on this outing, along with her maid. "They are so noisy and smelly. I much prefer my charabanc. I believe the combustion engine will be the vehicle of the future when its engines are perfected."

The carriage delivered the group outside a factory, proudly bearing the name

Ernst von Siemen und Unternehmen, Hersteller von Automaten.

Lady Sally was greeted with enthusiasm by an elderly gentleman with white hair and whiskers in overalls, brass goggles dangling around his neck.

"Lady Sally, it's a pleasure to zee you again," he said, giving her a big hug before ushering them into the works.

"Ah, vud you like a glass of

Schnapps

?"

"That's very kind, but no thank you Herr Siemen. I fear I drank rather a lot of champagne last night to celebrate the inaugural flight of my airship and am somewhat feeling the effects of it this morning. A cup of tea would be lovely though."

"Ah, ze English ladies and their teas," laughed the German.

This workshop was obviously an assembly room. There were broken moulds scattered on the floor, and parts of automatons stored on the shelves... brass heads, arms, legs and torsos, indeed every part of the human anatomy moulded in brass, including the male phallus. Captain Wyndham noticed a line of crates against one wall, stamped with the words,

Rudston-Chichester Brass Company Incorporated-Zanzibar

.

"Can I say how impressed the captain and I are with your automaton co-pilot. I have named her Clarissa."

Mr Siemen acknowledged the compliment.

"It's good to visit your workshops again. How are you... and how is business?"

"Business is booming, but for ze wrong reasons. I'm afraid I have bad news for you, Lady Sally. I've been ordered by the

Ministerium

to convert all my production over to ze war effort."

"Oh, how very tiresome."

"Zey consider my other lines of production to be, how do you say in English... frivolous."

"Frivolous... how dare they! Your ground-breaking work is of the utmost importance, and will bring unimaginable pleasures, as I intend to prove on my travels," she said with a mysterious glint in her eye.

"I'm sorry Lady Sally, but it is the way ze world is going. I have no choice in the matter, inspectors have been placed in the foundry to make sure all production is dedicated to automatons that contribute to ze preparations for war."

"How bothersome. I will not put up with that. I'm sure you understand, but if you are not producing automatons for pleasure, or for the benefit of ladies like myself, I cannot possibly supply any foundries in Prussia with brass from my mine."

"I know Lady Sally. I warned them this was likely."

Captain Wyndham, looking a little bemused, attempted to interject, "But surely brass is..."

"And the brass from your mine in Zanzibar is of ze highest quality. Many of my creations would be impossible without brass with such outstanding properties. I fear she," said von Siemen, gesturing to a crate stood upright against the wall, "may be the only one of her kind for many years."

Victoria's eyes lit up, "Is it another female automaton, madam? Can I open the crate up and touch her?"

"Certainly not. You are not to go near that crate without my permission, and if I catch you trying to sneak a peek inside, then you will be punished severely."

Victoria looked crestfallen.

"Ve must keep in touch Lady Sally, whatever the future holds. Your projects have always been the most interesting ones to work on."

"That's very kind, Herr Siemen, I'm sad our business relationship has to end in these circumstances, and wish you personally all the best for the future."

Victoria and Captain Wyndham loaded the crate onto the steam-powered carriage as Lady Sally and Herr Siemen said their farewells.

They arrived back at the mast where

The Corseted Domme

was moored to be met by a moustached gentleman in a bowler hat and pin-striped suit.

"Lady Sally Rudston-Chichester?" he enquired.

"Yes, that is me. What can I do for you?"

"I'm from the British Consulate in Essen. I am to deliver this letter to you from the Ministry of War. I've been directed to accompany you back to England with your airship, it's being requisitioned by the Ministry."

Lady Sally opened the letter and read it. It basically reiterated the message the gentleman had just conveyed. She passed it to Captain Wyndham to read.

"I'm sorry, Lady Sally," he said, with genuine sympathy and disappointment. "And so soon after you'd set off on your adventures."

She fixed the captain with a piercing and meaningful gaze.

"Indeed. Leave this to me captain. I shall discuss the arrangements with the gentleman from the Ministry here. In the meantime, I suggest you take the cargo aboard and fire up the engines

so we can make as quick a departure as possible

... for the benefit of the man from the Ministry, of course."

She was plotting something, "Of course Lady Sally, I'll have her ready to set off

as soon as madam is aboard

."

"Thank you, captain," she said, turning back to the gentleman as Wyndham and Victoria heaved the crate into the lift in the mooring tower.

"Well, I can't deny I'm not disappointed, sir, but never mind, these things happen. Stiff upper lip and all that, what? You are most welcome on

The Corseted Domme

, I'm sure you'll find me most accommodating."

Lady Sally did indeed have a plan.

Stage one: play for time and lure one's victim into a false sense of security.

"Let it not be said Lady Sally Rudston-Chichester is not a hospitable host. We must partake of some tea when we board. I'm sure you must be parched waiting out here for so long. How tiresome for you. I recommend a nice cup of Darjeeling. It makes a very refreshing brew. Did you know the leaves come from my own plantation in the foothills of the Himalayas? I am something of an expert on the subject and take pride in ensuring only the most fragrant of leaves are used in my teas..."

Lady Sally proceeded to describe her plantations in great detail and the flavours of the teas grown on them. She gave a lecture on the benefits of tea drinking (so much more invigorating than that horrid, bitter coffee stuff) and explained how the British Empire was built on tea drinking.

Eventually, after a ten-minute diatribe, Lady Sally heard the engines fire up.

Stage two: make best use of one's assets

"Oh dear, all this talk of tea has made me quite hot and bothered."

She removed the velvet mantle from her shoulders. Her breasts, pushed up by the corset under her dress, were beautiful orbs of white flesh. The man from the Ministry, being somewhat shorter than Lady Sally, had a view right down her cleavage. It never failed. Lady Sally had found that every male, when faced with a pair of such magnificent boobs, would lose all concentration and sense. Throughout her life this was a weakness she had learnt to exploit.

Stage three: act swiftly.

She brought her knee up into his testicles. Lady Sally's aim was very precise; it came from years of practise. She knew the exact spot to cause the most excruciating pain. The man from the Ministry doubled up in agony.

Stage four: press home one's advantage.

With the gentleman bent over clutching his aching balls, Lady Sally wasted no time in pushing him against the metal frame of the mooring tower. She produced coils of thin cord from within the confines of the velvet dress, and within seconds had the man's wrists secured to the tower. She soon had his ankles tied together. The man from the Ministry did not know what had hit him.

"You dally with England's strictest dominatrix at your peril, sir.

The Corseted Domme

is built for pleasure... my pleasure, and I will not have her used for any other purpose, certainly not to propagate any pointless war. I bid you good day, sir. This is a busy airship station so I expect somebody will be along soon to release you."

At that, Lady Sally left her unfortunate victim tied to the mooring tower, and headed off for her airship.

She burst into the control room. The engines were already thrumming, and the propellers whirring. Captain Wyndham was ready for launch and Clarissa had her brass hand clutched on the tiller ready to operate the elevators.

"Set off now, captain. We need to get away as soon as possible."

The captain gave the order to release the cable from the mooring tower. In an instance the giant dirigible reversed, turning around in one sweeping movement, and accelerated up into the air.

"Where's the man from the Ministry?" asked Captain Wyndham.

"He's a little tied up at the moment."

The captain laughed. He knew Lady Sally was planning something, "How did you manage that?"

"As a strict dominatrix, I always carry rope in my undergarments, one never knows when one might require some. Oh, and I kneed him in the balls too."

Wyndham was in hysterics. She was amazing.

Victoria was more concerned for her mistress, "But the Ministry will be after you now. You could end up in prison."

Lady Sally was still fuming, "Don't be such a fuss-pot, Victoria. I will not have them take

The Corseted Domme

away. She is built for pleasure, and no other purpose. They can do what they like, but this airship is an English woman's property, and I will protect my rights. In the meantime, I will continue with my travels.

"Full-speed ahead, captain."