that new technologies permitted new perversions. This man preyed on other men. A decade ago he would have to have satisfied himself with beating the shit out of me, or killing me, to express his dominance. Now he needed only to transform his victim into the kind of person who would respond to his aggression with proper submission. Why kill a man, when you can transform him into a woman, use her, and have your victim agree it's the best thing for her?
None of the things he did to me that night were left open to interpretation. In all things I was his servant. He was careful when he fucked me from behind not to even touch my clitoris - my satisfaction was expressly forbidden that night. And when he chained me spreadeagled to a rolling drawer and slid me under the bed for the night, I heard him climb onto the mattress above me and I cried silently. No longer of use, I'd been put neatly away, just as he'd neatly hung the quirt and riding crop he'd used on me.
Chapter 12
The next morning, after I had served him breakfast on my knees, and washed him, and dressed him, he had me kneel on the coffee table once more. My wrists were padlocked together in front of me.
He set the key to the padlock in a small steel box, and placed a pager next to it, and shut it.
"The lock will disengage at ten AM. You may remove your restraints at that time, dress and leave. Take the pager with you and wear it at all times. When I want you, I'll send a text message telling where and when. You will show up at the appointed time and place, with no excuses or exceptions.
"You have done well, Anne-Marie. You showed no sign of inward or outward disobedience. But this first chapter of training was simple stuff, to take your measure and to give you a sense of the kind of behavior I expect from you. I think you understand that I believe you to be worthy of nothing better than the pathetic role I've cast you in.
"The next time will be harder. I will begin to train you in earnest. Simple submission will not be enough."
He left. I realized then that I hadn't spoken a word since I'd first walked onto the elevator.
Chapter 13
I opted to wear the pager on my belt, rather than hide it in my purse. That way I could keep it on vibrate and not announce to the world that I was at the beck and call of a relative stranger.
I wasn't wholly good. Over the next week, even as I began classes, I did some furtive research on how to get myself out of this mess.
My own nano lab was off-limits; by now it was in use by my old colleague, Johnny Dentz, and even if I snuck in at night the doors had DNA locks on them. I was the last person in the world they would open for.
Besides, I didn't have the crypto to break the mods on my DNA. I needed better facilities than even I had had to crack them.
There were such facilities in town, and I briefly considered applying for a job at one of them - as secretary, washerwoman, whatever - but even if I did this, and somehow got surreptitious access to their systems, the kind of background knowledge I would need was not currently available to me. I cursed myself for suppressing all academic knowledge beyond that typical of a freshman college student. It more or less put a monkey wrench in my plans.
School work also kept me busy. I found myself reapplying myself to subjects I was sure I had known before, but were now fresh and new to me.
It wasn't until a week later, that I thought of a possibility. I needed help. I obviously couldn't look to John for it, since it served his purposes well to keep me as I was. I would have to let someone else in on the secret. Someone I trusted. Johnny Dentz. Not exactly a saint, but he had the ability to do what I needed done, and he had most of the facilities.
The only problem was, though I had trusted him implicitly when I was a man, my intuition told me I would now have to be careful around him. If I let him in on my secret, he'd