When Doris awoke in the morning, Raja, the harem master, led her and the other women to gymnasium where they worked out until every woman was drenched in sweat. After that everyone was bathed and a light breakfast was served. Again, Doris was floored by the amazing taste of the food.
After all had eaten the women who would be serving in the throne room were prepared for their day.
Doris gazed longingly as the other women were clad in lace and silk and other gorgeous fabrics Doris could not identify. Everything was designed to be both revealing yet tasteful. Doris would be serving the entire day naked, her collar and diamond studs her only adornment. Wentro showed off his conquests to both demonstrate his taste in female flesh, his sexual prowess, and to obtain a thrill by vicariously lusting after his harem through the leers of other men and foreign diplomats. Doris dreaded going on display without even a token of clothing to shield her nudity. However, she knew that complaining would cost her her life. Doris tried to mentally prepare herself as best as she could.
Raja placed a glittering tiara in Doris's carefully coiffed hair and handed her a long cylindrical object. "You may not hide yourself behind this rhythm stick. If you know any music and have any kind of voice it will be to your considerable good fortune to play and sing for the Emperor. Please him and he will be generous with you."
"But I don't know how..." Doris began before Raja slapped her on the butt and had Doris fall into line at the proper place. Doris felt every eye upon her as she strode to her place to the right of Emperor Wentro. She hoped it was a good sign that the large gray being smiled at her broadly as she settled into her assigned place.
The Cavernous room was full of people. It had been explained to Doris that folks would be there to petition the emperor, demonstrate new military hardware, and talk of various diplomacy threads. It would be a full day. Wentro's current conquests lifted the monotony. When the spotlight hit them they were to perform, either singing or dancing or both. Those who most delighted the crowd were showered with gifts by Wentro and kept in his inner circle. Doris did not see much pleasure in that prospect but Raja assured her that it was the place she wanted to be.
The largely male crowd drank in Doris's nudity. The platform she stood on slowly rotated so that every bit of her would eventually be witnessed by the room. Doris heard loud applause and even some wolf whistles that would not have been out of place on earth when she took up her place. Doris held the Rhythm stick as though it were a guitar. Doris could already feel the chopping block under her throat. "Once they find out I can't play this thing I am as good as dead."
Doris's spotlight flared to full. She felt every eye, the anticipation was palpable. Doris mindlessly played her hand over the musical instrument and it made a beautiful sound! Amazed Doris thought of a tune and the device began to play it. Realizing that the instrument was somehow reading her mind, Doris recalled the Cole Porter tune "I get a kick out of you." after a few fumbling seconds Doris began singing the tune in time to the music in a sweet alto voice.
Her performance went over very well. Applause impelled Doris to play the tune a second time. As her spotlight faded, Doris could see Wentro beaming broadly at her. Doris realized that she had earned herself at least another day of life. In her mind she tried to recall that amazing jazz riff she had heard in Harlem just a week before she and Pete Brown had been abducted. Doris wondered where Pete was or if their paths would ever cross again. Alone among the men on this planet Pete was the one most likely to be able to return her to earth. Dejectedly, Doris wished that she had been nicer to him, "Why would he rescue me?" she thought to herself, "I treated him like garbage for purely selfish reasons. If he does find a way home, no doubt he won't risk his life to try and rescue me." Doris wore a smile on her dais but her emotions were as cold as the arctic.
As for Pete Brown, at that very same moment he was deciding that there were some quite nice benefits to serving in Emperor Wentro's Air Corps. For one thing the officers were less of hard asses than the ones he had served under in the British army during the Great War. The hours were not bad either. Short of an emergency or a war declaration, it was basically a nine to five force. Of course you had to take your turns on the night shift but that duty fell to everyone of all ranks. Best of all was the company brothel. Oh, the women were nowhere near as beautiful as those in Wentro's harem but some were pretty cute. When not reading technical manuals or challenging his new Air Corps buddies to games like assembling a thruster blindfolded, Pete spent a lot of his down time amongst those working girls.
During his first day the Turgans plugged into something called a "plastic educator" an an hour later he had full knowledge of how all of Wentro's incredibly beautiful vehicles flew, how to pilot them and how to repair them. Pete was so sure of his abilities that he felt sure he could build one from scratch. If he ever made it back to earth, Pete could patent everything he learned and become a billionaire. For that reason alone he sought opportunities to escape. Turgan spacecraft were heavily guarded and complicated enough that he would need at least one other person to help him fly the smallest model home.
Pete knew that he could not confide in any of his fellow soldiers. Emperor Wentro provided vast sums of money to any soldier who betrayed one of his fellows who was planning either rebellion against his rule or desertion from his military. Pete had seen the films of men who had simply deserted their posts. Their deaths were the most horrific thing Pete had ever seen. Pete realized that if he had any chance of returning home, the only person her could trust on this world was Doris Dowd. But Doris was now firmly ensconced in Wentro's harem. Pete wondered if he would ever see her again. The mechanic let his mind roll back to the day when Wentro had stripped Doris in her cell. Pete felt guilty at becoming aroused at the poor reporter's predicament but she was still the most beautiful woman Pete had ever seen clothed, let alone naked. Always when he was visiting the company brothel, the girl he was with became, in his mind, the ivory skinned and spectacularly built Doris. Pete ached for her in ways he had never ached for another woman.
Back in Wentro's throne room, Doris realized that the hardest task of the entire day was the prolonged period without a bathroom break, Doris was fairly floating when the chimes indicating that the day in the throne room was at an end. Once the women were out of sight of Wentro and the throne room, there was a mad dash for the bathroom. For a fraction of a second, Doris was grateful that she was naked. She did have to remove anything to answer nature's call. A short time later Raja herded the girls to the dining table as he debriefed everyone on how they had done. He saved his final assessment for Doris,
"You did very well earth creature. Emperor Wentro has informed me that you may keep the tiara you wore in court today and that he would like you to sing to him tonight, something soft and romantic. His eminence will have my head for saying this, but I think he is quite taken with you."
Doris smiled at the praise and prolonged life but her mind was elsewhere. She never imagined that she would be in an exclusive relationship this early in her life. Doris had not planned to settle down for at least a few more years. Her own mother had married late and had always encouraged her daughter to follow in her footsteps. Doris's days as a single woman unwound in her mind. She recalled the men she had been with, none of them were as powerful as Emperor Wentro but those men had given her memories that the gray reptilian man could never hope to match.
She recalled sneaking into the darkened Polo Grounds locker room after a July fourth double header, on an air mattress covered with towels her catcher had taken her three times, getting her off with each copulation. There had been the movie star who had dropped by her apartment every time he was in town. Doris also recalled a day aboard a yacht where a certain millionaire had taken Doris and his wife in rapid succession and then how utterly debauched Doris had felt when she and the millionaire's wife had made love to each other as the husband cheered them on! Doris did not want to give up that life, but what choice did she have? Doris would treasure each memory and cling to them to help her serve Wentro to the best of her abilities. Wentro was not without his own charms, she reasoned. He was by far the most well hung man she had ever met and his lovemaking was every bit a generous as it was demanding. She clutched the tiara which had just been gifted to her. Diamonds, rubies, emeralds shown in gold fittings. "If I ever make it back to earth, I can retire on what I will be able to sell this for." she contemplated to herself. The thought of earth made her homesick however so she forced her mind to dwell on other things.
