Chapter 9 #2
“No, no, no,” I say to myself. Two half-hour periods a day? Walking around this place at the end of a leash? After having nothing but open sky above me for so long, that would be a prison.
I will be changing that.
5. Clothing and Presentation
The Owners will determine how the Pet is clothed and presented, including her garments, footwear, cosmetics, hair and adornments.
They’re going to have me naked. Naked and leashed.
I tighten the oversized robe around my body and continue reading.
6. Food, Hygiene and Care
The Owners must provide sufficient food, clean water, warmth, weather protection, bathroom access, bathing, clean bedding, adequate sleep and all necessary medical care.
The Owners may determine mealtimes and posture, whether the Pet feeds herself or is fed by hand and whether she is permitted utensils. They may supervise or perform her bathing and grooming and inspect her for illness or injury.
The Pet must report concealed injuries, illness or any physical inability to obey. Food, water, warmth, sleep and medical treatment may not be withheld as punishment.
I think of Arrek holding the duck between two fingers while I crawled forward and took it from his hand.
That was not something he improvised because I was hungry. They have put it in writing. Food is guaranteed, but the dignity of feeding myself is not.
A flash of recognition stops me.
Was he allowed to do that last night, when I had not signed this contract?
I file the question away.
My eyes return to another sentence.
They may supervise or perform her bathing and grooming.
I read it again. Then a third time, recoiling from the page.
Perform?
I know how to wash myself. If one of them bathes me, it will not be because I need help. It will be because he wants me naked in that enormous bath, steam curling around us while his huge hands spread soap over my body.
It is already hard enough for them to control themselves while I am wrapped in this robe. What will happen when I am bare, wet and slick beneath their hands?
The image comes too easily. Six enormous hands passing over my skin, washing my hair, my breasts, my stomach and between my thighs while I sit trapped among their bodies.
Disgust twists through me, muddled with a pulse of heat I refuse to examine.
I search the remaining pages for some limitation. Lower down, one sentence catches my eye.
The Pet must remain legally and medically virgin throughout the Term.
I release a long breath and shake my head. In the forest, I felt how close they were to snapping. If they break that, they die. Aurelian law is merciless. So what is this? Why would they want to torture themselves, play this game of... pushing themselves to the edge?
If I end up signing, I’m going to be living with increasingly pent-up, pissed-off aliens who are only going to get more blue balls the more they torture themselves. Sooner or later, they’re going to try some... sneaky little trick to get what they want.
I’m not going to let them.
7. Commands, Conduct and Searches
The Pet must promptly obey nonsexual household and training commands, including commands to come, stop, sit, stand, stay, turn, kneel, heel, assume or hold a position, enter her enclosure, return to her assigned place, remain silent, present her throat, hands or feet and open her mouth.
Except for the reporting duties imposed by this agreement, the Pet is under no obligation to answer questions.
The Owners may search the Pet, her enclosure, bedding, clothing and possessions. They may confiscate weapons, medicines, cord, keys, tools, and any object that could assist escape or disobedience.
Looks like I’m not getting my climbing spike back.
I take the pen and add beneath the provision:
“The Pet may not be punished for any item in her possession.”
I’m not letting them give me a knife and fork for dinner, then later decide they can beat me for it.
8. Discipline
It takes me a second to force my eyes lower. This is the one I’m most worried about.
Disobedience may be punished through restraint, enclosure confinement, silent status, a shortened leash, additional training, loss of privileges or physical discipline, including spanking by hand.
Physical discipline may cause pain and temporary redness but may not break the skin, impair movement or inflict lasting injury. Food, water, warmth, sleep, bathroom access and medical treatment may not be withheld.
My bottom prickles beneath the robe.
They want to spank me. Not merely threaten it in the forest, but bare me, position me and make it a legal consequence of disobeying them. And if I’m not careful...
I don’t trust these three not to manufacture some impossible rule or command and then take it out on me, especially when they get frustrated that I play the part perfectly.
That, too, I’m going to have a word with the Commissioner about.
I lower the pen and write:
“No punishment may result from a trap or trick, a manufactured offence, a rule imposed after the act, or conduct constituting prompt and full obedience to a lawful command once it was understood. No command may be given for the express purpose of manipulating a scenario that ends in punishment.”
My pen almost rips through the paper as I write it.
“All physical discipline and the preceding offence must be recorded by an independent closed system. The Owners may not view, alter or erase the recordings. A recording may be released only if the Pet requests formal review by the supervising Commissioner.”
I wish I had a legal scholar advising me. I’m not sure on all my wordings, but I don’t think there can be any double meanings here.
And plus, I’ll be safe for a while.
That should buy me a few days while they set up the system and make them think twice about putting me over one of their laps.
I hesitate before writing one final demand. Then I grit my teeth, because these three... need training of their own.
“An Owner who physically disciplines the Pet for an offence she did not commit, or who deliberately manufactures an offence to inflict physical punishment, will forfeit the hand used. The hand may not be restored through a Med-Bay.”
9. Sexual Control and Preservation of Virginity
The Pet may not deliberately stimulate herself for pleasure or bring herself to sexual release without permission from an Owner.
All three Owners are jointly responsible for preserving the Pet’s virginity, upon penalty of death. No Owner may take it or permit another person to do so.
I read the section again, then once more. Their coercion is so painfully obvious.
Two years. Two years they expected me to only be able to get release under their command.
That’s their entire plan? Cut me off from sensation unless it is given by them?
It’s so... unsophisticated, so out in the open, so crude.
It’s not like I do that often, but I’m no prude.
Even a few weeks wouldn’t be fun. But two years?
I don’t know what they think is going to happen with me staying with them, but I don’t have the same endless urges as these... beasts.
I shake my head and roll my eyes. That’s what they were planning. Just get me pent up until I go to them for release. That was the extent of it. Their master plan.
I laugh to myself, then read the next paragraph again.
I’ll remain a virgin throughout.
They can command me. Cage me. Strip me naked, leash me, feed me from their hands and spank me when I disobey.
But they cannot take my virginity.
Not without dying for it.
A strange thrill moves through me.
I’m not just forbidden fruit. They think it’s me who’s going to become a desperate, needy little thing. But the way they look at me... if I can make them snap, it’s over.
But wait.
Why would they let me go if they fuck me? They’d be dead anyway. They’d just take me aboard that Reaver and make me their prisoner.
I turn back to the amendment beneath the discipline clause. Recorded is not enough. I draw a hard line through it and rewrite the protection.
“All conduct between the Pet and the Owners, including any alleged offence and resulting discipline, must be transmitted live and continuously monitored through an independent system administered by the supervising Commissioner. The Pet may not be taken into any unmonitored location. The Owners may not view, interrupt, delay, alter or erase the live transmission or its recordings.”
Then I add another provision beneath it.
“The Owners’ Reaver must remain with all Orb-Shifting functions disabled throughout the Term. The Pet may not be taken aboard any spacecraft without the supervising Commissioner’s direct authorization.”
Fuck it. If some Aurelian technician, stuck in a monitoring station with a dull job, jerks off to me being a pet, that’s better than these three disappearing with me.
I read the entire contract again. Then again.
It’s better, now...
But I’ve got one more card to play.
I stand up, smooth the oversized robe, and look at the door. Then I take in a deep breath, grab the handle, and prepare to negotiate...
Because they’re going to sign, and they aren’t going to like what I have in store.