This story is a spin off from the novel Praxton, Slaves of the Rogue World. I tried to give a brief summary of the future world in the story but a lot of the detail, including the history of Praxton, had to be left out. I'm sorry if there are some gaps in the story.
As always I appreciate any comments you may have about the story. NS Howard
*
Jennifer pushed back her long black hair from her face and looked at Mel sitting across from her. Her apartment was small, though the decor was carefully laid out. She had not been able to find the high paying job the college course was suppose to give her, struggling to make ends meet with an office job for the time being. She refused to give up new clothes and decent furnishings and decided to pay a smaller rent in a less desirable area.
Her clothes reflected her taste in furnishings; not a lot of items but of high quality that would stand the test of time. Jennifer didn't have trouble generating interest from men, and some women. Her figure had the right curves and with cobalt coloured eyes and full lips she often had propositions. Her downfall was finding a man who had confidence without having a huge ego and money without flaunting it. The final criterion was one who looked past her looks and was willing to listen to her interest in exobiology. It was a tall order and it explained a lot of her short romances and the reason she kept on returning to Melvin until she tired of his unkempt ways. If she could find a clean cut duplicate of him it would be almost perfect.
"What's in this box Mel?"
The box was the size of a suitcase but made of plastic. She took in grin and wondered what he was up to. Melvin was the same height as her until she put on her shoes, but unlike some men it didn't seem to bother him. He was heavyset with a dark complexion from too much time working outside doing geology work. He was good enough looking in a rugged, scruffy way, keeping his hair short and always seemed to have a bit of shadow on his face. Jennifer might not ever have gone out with him the first time but found his deep voice and almond coloured bedroom eyes hard to resist. Her attempts to clean him up met with failure and eventually they drifted apart.
"Well I told you where I've been for the past year," he said as a way of a hint.
"Praxton." Her voice didn't let on whether she approved or not of his choice to work on the outlaw planet. She returned her gaze to the box.
"Is this from Praxton?"
"It is."
He leaned back in his chair, enjoying her puzzled look.
"So you have come bearing gifts from Praxton. Am I suppose to look inside the box or is there a catch here?"
"The catch here is I want to take you out for dinner first, though there is one item in the box I want you wear now."
She bit her lower lip and then gave him a smile. "You always did like to tease me. What's inside the box that you want me to wear? I haven't agreed to this dinner yet or wearing whatever this is."
"Don't be a spoil sport. Open the lid."
The lid crackled in protest as tore it open. Inside the box she saw several packages, all wrapped in plastic, hiding their contents.
He picked up a package and handed it to her. "All I ask is that you try this on for dinner tonight."
He stood up.
"I'm going to go back to my hotel and get changed. I thought we could go to Firemagic. I understand the food is good there."
Her eyebrows lifted. "It's a little pricey there."
"No problem. Pick you up at seven?"
"And this?" She held up the package. "What if I don't want to wear this?"
He grinned. "You'll want to wear it."
As soon as he left, Jennifer ripped open the package, letting the packaging fall to the floor. She already had an inkling what it was by the weight and size. It turned out it was what she thought it would be but it still surprised her.
***
The world of Praxton had been under scrutiny of the Charter of Conduct Office for contravention of social and cultural laws. The violations were obvious and well known but enforcement was difficult. Praxton had not joined the Alliance Worlds and therefore did not have to adopt the Charter of Conduct laws.
Women on Praxton, who outnumbered men by a considerable amount, wore collars that identified their male guardian. Besides the collar the women would also wear cuffs, wearing them as a form of jewellery. The problems with the Charter of Conduct Office didn't stop there. The guardian was also expected to hand out discipline to the females he controlled, which included spankings and light whippings.
The offences of Praxton were well publicized but demands that Praxton conform to the Alliance World laws didn't materialize. A larger part of that problem was the women on Praxton had not asked for any help and defended the culture of their world.
The tourist zone of Praxton was another concern for the Charter of Conduct Office. Visitors flocked to purchase collars, cuffs and other restraints, plus the fashions of Praxton and drugs. The fashions of Praxton were definitely more revealing than on the Alliance worlds for both sexes. A few days after arriving on Praxton women often went native, wearing collars and cuffs joined by small chains. Unlike other worlds women only wore skirts and dresses. Bras were rare and instead breast and nipple jewellery were prevalent. Men wore open shirts and pants with decorative flies that were partially revealing.
The drugs were used for cosmetic reasons, to change breasts, muscles, skin texture, hair and other assorted human appearances. While the drugs were also available on Alliance worlds on Praxton they were considerably less expensive, avoiding the high luxury tax normally placed on them.
***
Jennifer turned the collar around in her hands, not surprised what it was. It suited Melvin's sense of humour. What opened her eyes were the gems embedded that followed an engraving that spiralled around the wide, white metal collar. The collar was a luxurious piece of jewellery and well made with the hinge and locking mechanism hidden.
She knew what the collar represented but felt it looked classy. Jennifer held it open in her hands, looking at the detail. A half ring swivelled at the centre of the collar that she fingered, understanding that a leash could be attached to it.
Carefully she placed the collar on the top of her dresser. As she undressed she stared at it, wondering exactly what he expected as an outcome if she wore it. She considered it could be his way of romancing her but he might be just teasing her -- again.
Jennifer applied her makeup, wearing only a pair of thong panties. She knew the reputation of Praxton women; dressing carefully in revealing clothes and wearing restraints, they had earned the reputation of being the sexiest in the galaxy. She considered the collar. Some claimed it was only another piece of jewellery, just another kind of necklace. This was the explanation given by some women on the Alliance worlds who took to wearing collars and occasionally cuffs -- just another fashion statement.
But Jennifer felt it was deeper than that; the collar, to her, represented giving up control to a man. It was that thought as she slipped the black dress on. The dress hugged her figure and the slit that went from her knee to mid-thigh was necessary for walking. The back of the dress was bare and the front had a simple scooped neck, a look she felt was both sexy and classic. It was also her only electronic dress. The latest fashion was for evening dresses to have built-in circuits that could change the colour of the dress or even make parts of transparent, sometimes in alternating patterns. Jennifer thought that fashion was likely to disappear but her dress did have self illuminating sparkles of colour lights. It did add something to the dress and if electronic dresses became passé the dress could be worn without the sparkling lights on.
She swallowed as she lifted the collar up with both hands. Not to wear the collar might mean she was rejecting Melvin, but she doubted that would dissuade him. She knew him, among other things, to be stubborn and undaunted by setbacks. Her decision to wear the collar was based on curiosity; what it felt like around her neck, and what it was like to have a guardian for at least one evening.
Jennifer slowly placed the collar around her neck, closed it, and heard the click as the lock secured the ends together. She released her breath as she opened her eyes and saw herself in the viewscreen, taken aback by the sight of the collar on her neck.
'It better be a damn good dinner.'
***
"You clean up pretty good." Jennifer appraised him in the dark blue suit.
He laughed. "For the price of the suit I better look halfway decent. You look pretty good yourself. The collar suits you."
She felt herself starting to blush and quickly looked away.
He laughed. "Sorry, didn't mean to embarrass you."
She smiled back. "It's okay. I should be used to you by now. By the way the collar came with two keys, one of them in wax."
"On Praxton the guardian would have the normal key, in theory only he could unlock the collar. The female would have the wax covered key and in case of an emergency could unlock the collar. Because the wax would be stripped off the guardian would know she had removed her collar when he was not around. In practice most females have another normal set of keys. They don't want to have to go to their guardian every time they need to remove it."
"Interesting." She held the two keys in the palm of her hand, and then dropped the wax key into her purse.
"Make sure you return this one to me at the end of the evening."
She handed him the other key.
He clutched the key tightly in his fingers and then put it in his wallet, looking suddenly relieved.
***
Her apartment opened to a wide concourse. Preteen boys raced past them playing an unknown game as a woman yelled at them to watch where they were going.
Jennifer grinned. "Welcome to the good life in building B3, thirtieth floor."
She knew with the electronic security in place there was never any real danger in any of the buildings. Hidden cameras everywhere watching all public areas fed information to a computer. Anything suspicious was relayed to security who made a final decision to respond. All the same it was nice to have Melvin walk next to her. Even in his suit he could look menacing and others cleared a small path for them.
Firemagic was located in another building a mile away and on the four hundred and twenty second floor, giving a real view of the seascape beyond. The pedway whisked them across the city and then the elevators climbed the ear-popping ride to the restaurant.
"You have done well on Praxton I take it."
He tried to act modest but ended up smiling. "I managed to get lucky and find a major deposit of blue minutor gems. From there me and another guy formed a company and, well, business has been good."
"Good for you. And your love life?"
She swirled her glass of red wine. The small table was covered with a starched tablecloth and with more glasses and cutlery than she suspected she had in her whole apartment. The concave seating effectively hid the rest of the restaurant from them and gave them a view of a fireplace and the window. She saw the twinkling lights from boats from far below, thinking they looked like stars.
"Hey, I live on Praxton. I have two females. I can't complain."
She shook her head and grinned. "Two women and you take me on a date. A little greedy are we?"
He laughed. "Tell me what guy wouldn't do the same if he could?"
"Good point. Are you going tell me why we're on this date? Can't be just a friendship date, not with this collar you gave me."
"Come, let's dance."
He stood and offered his hand. She took his hand and laughed.
"When did you learn to dance? I don't think you ever danced with me before. What did you say about dancing before? The only dancing you liked was when the woman was on stage."
"I still like that kind of dancing. But one of my females has insisted on teaching me on how to dance so I thought I might as well make use of it."
"You dancing? Be still my beating heart."
His moves were not fluid, almost mechanical, but he wasn't bad and she thought he could become a decent dancer with practice.
"So tell me why we're on this expensive date."
"Jenny, we always have had this on and off relationship. We broke up because of me each time, I just wasn't ready to be civilized enough for you. But I'm changing and the more I change the more I want you, think of you."
"That's nice. But where does that take us? You live on Praxton with two women and I live on Earth."
"You know me. I ain't poor if that makes any difference to you. I will always treat you right. Come to Praxton with me."
He stopped dancing and looked at her.
She looked at him and then at the holographic band with the polished looking crooner singing a song of heartache. She looked back at his anxious face.
"I don't know Mel. Leave Earth to live on a planet where women dress like they're slaves and share you with two other females? Not exactly the dream I had as a young girl."
