Captivity

"Is there anything more wonderful than being a girl in her 25^th cycle," the handsome woman gushed to her daughter and the five young women dressed in sleeping attire who were gathered around her. "I remember being your age. Just out of military service, flush with cash from my first installment of the public endowment, my friends and I were ready to go wild. You know, sow a few wild oats, drink a little too much. My mother's generation had finally done away with all of the drudgery of life, giving the next generation the ability to take a big bite out of it. You've got to savor it while you're young and strong. There are pleasures you get in my stage of life, but nothing beats the way you feel right after celebrating your 25^th cycle."

She was owed respect for all she had accomplished in life, and though the girls in the room were anxious to get back to the drunken debauchery they'd intended for Lucinda's birthday, they had at least stopped their giggling long enough to nod their heads in sober agreement. They were happy that their grueling stints in the military had concluded, leaving them battle hardened, physically fit, and generally exhausted. Lucinda had been the last of them to reach her 25^th cycle, and now that they could all legally partake of the benefits their society bestowed upon women their age. They were ready to celebrate without reserve.

"I can see you girls have a party planned, and I don't want to delay you any further. I'm grateful for your patience. I just wanted to drop off a gift for Lucinda that I picked up along the way." She clapped her hands, and a servant wheeled a large rectangular green box into the center of the room. The box was closed on all side, but it had what looked like a gate on one of its ends. "I was going to give it to Lucinda right after she got home, but it just arrived today, and well, it won't keep. It's probably just as well. It'll probably amuse you tonight as you party, and maybe one or two of you can help Lucinda figure out how to take care of it." And with that, Mom and her servant left the spacious bedroom where the girls had gathered and returned to Mom's wing of the mansion.

"What dya think it is Cindi? I bet it's a puppy," said Marsha, a tall thin brunette who was sitting cross legged on the floor in her baby doll pajamas. She reached over and tapped on the box, and when she did, something inside it moved.

"Nah, Mom doesn't like animals. Doesn't think they belong in the house. They make a mess with their hair and their droppings, and besides, they tie you down. Unless you saddle somebody else with the chore of watching them, you can't leave them alone in the house indefinitely. They can't bathe themselves or take their own food. You have to walk them and let them out of the house so they can pee and shit."

"But there's definitely something alive in that box," chirped Carol, another brown haired woman, who despite being the smallest of the women in the room, had the biggest boobs proportionate to her body and couldn't help the fact that they were in rebellion against the cream colored lace gown that was trying to restrain them. "You better get it out of that box before it gets too agitated to be contained without making a mess. If it gets too excited or terrified, it could crap in there, roll in it, and then you'd have to find a way to clean it. Ew."

"Maybe it's a snake," said curvy blonde haired Pam who was sitting next to Lucinda in a conservative looking pink nightie, brushing her best friend Lucinda's long black hair. "Maybe your mom wants to prank us. I hear that people in her generation used to do that all the time."

"It's not a snake, Pam. Mom's likes a good prank as well as the next one. But these 25^th cycle celebrations are important to her just in general, and I don't think she'd want to spoil this for us with something as awful as a snake. Besides, she's a big believer in karma, and I don't think she'd expect her wild child not to return the favor in an even bigger and more humiliating way."

"Well, Cindi, wasn't there that time when you . . ." a sexy olive-skinned beauty in a white negligee started.

"Yeah, Rosa, there was that, but she's already gotten me back for it." Lucinda said, laughing. "I think we both consider the score settled."

There was more rustling from the contents of the box. Tina, in a tee shirt and boxers said, "Cindi, you're just going to have to open the box and see what's inside."

Lucinda climbed off the sofa she was sitting on with Pam and Tina, got down on her hands and knees, creeping like a dog to the gate on the end of the box. It was dark inside, but Lucinda could see what was inside of it. "Aw, he looks like a cute little fella." She opened the gate and said, "It's all right," she cooed, "you can come out. We don't bite. We won't hurt you." She reached into the box with her right arm, grabbed something and pulled.

Everyone gasped in surprise as Lucinda's hand emerged from the box with a firm grip around an ankle. The ankle was attached to a shin ensconced in a military camo pants leg. As Lucinda pulled, another ankle in another military camo pants leg emerged from the box. The legs belonged to a disoriented but nicely built young man with closely cropped blond hair, about 20 cycles old, who had apparently been a soldier His face was angular and smooth, not more than a few hours from his last shave. His hands were bound together in a sturdy pair of metal cuffs. The note pinned to the back of his shirt said, "The Quellenal will wear off by morning. Until then, expect some weakness and sluggishness. You'll have several hours of safe play before you have to begin taking firmer precautions. There are some supplies for that in a small box in the crate. I'll be back in a few hours to see if you liked the gift and want to keep him. If so, I'll collect him for processing into our household. Enjoy!"

"Whoa, Mom really outdid herself this time," Lucinda gushed. "I've always wanted one of these. Thank you, thank you, thank you."

"Must be nice to have that kind of money," said Carol. "When I got to my 25^th cycle, we could only afford to rent an older model for a few hours. You are going to share, aren't you?"

"Of course I'm going to share with my besties," Lucinda retorted. "It is a party, and it would be downright rude not to include everybody in the fun. But since it was my cycle gift, I get first crack. Tina, you're the strongest of us, help me get him on his feet. Let's let him hold the back of that chair for balance."

Tina walked over to Cindi's gift and shoved her hand under his armpits. She gave a yank while Lucinda pulled him up by his arms. The dazed soldier managed to find his feet while the two girls maneuvered him into position behind an overstuffed chair the others had pushed into the center of the room in front of the sofa. Tina and Lucinda helped the woozy soldier rest his hands on the back of the chair. He gradually gained his balance as his eyes adjusted to the light.

Lucinda stared directly into the soldier's eyes without blinking. "Don't even think about it, soldier. The six of us are fresh out of the military. We were an elite assault team highly skilled in hand-to-hand combat. You're currently feeling the effects of a sedative that has reduced the efficacy of your muscles to about 25%. It's also slowed your voluntary reaction time significantly. Your hands are bound, and you have no shoes. We're about a mile below the surface of this planet, away from the radiation left over from the war. Even if you could get out of this room, you'd have to deal with the security systems that guard all access to the elevators that could take you to the surface. You're not going anywhere, and there's no place to go."

"Hey, I'm a prisoner of war, and I have rights," he blurted. Lucinda looked at her friends, first with an expression of mock consternation, and then of mirth. They all shared a hearty laugh. "The dead don't have any rights," she chuckled. "Your ship crash landed on our planet. As far as anyone knows, you died in a fiery explosion. All that's left is a crater. Our planet is off limits to everyone and if anyone comes looking for you, they won't find any signs of life. It won't be worth fighting the radiation to mount a search for your body. You're gonna have to make peace with the idea that life as you knew it is over. For good. Now, be a good fella and shut up while I have a look at you." Looking at Marsha, formerly the group's drill sergeant, she said "Did I do that right?"

Marsha laughed and said "You're hysterical. Sorry, but though everything you said is true, you're just not scary. You're all of 5 point 3 measurement units, your muscles aren't visible under your pj's and you're wearing slippers that look like big floppy eared puppy dogs."

"Hey, let's see what your mother left in the crate to help you deal with him when the drugs wear off," said Carol. She crawled halfway into the crate and retrieved a red box with a thumbprint lock. "Looks like your mom set it up for you to open," she said and handed the box to Lucinda. Lucinda pressed her right thumb into the hole where the fingerprint censor was, and the box's latch popped open.

"Looks like some pretty standard gear," she said, picking up a solid black metal collar to inspect it. Dangling from a D ring attached to it was a charm engraved with the first letter of her name. There was also a chain with a hook, a ring, a bottle of disinfectant, a small electronic box peppered with buttons of various sizes, and little electronic booklet.

"Hey Carol," Lucinda said. "Walk us through the electronic gear."

"I hate these instruction books," Carol replied. "No words. Only pictures. I wish these manufacturers would stop assuming we're imbeciles."

"Give 'em a break," said Marsha. "They probably sell these things in all kinds of places and trying to translate instructions into all those languages would probably cost a fortune. Just muddle through, Carol, I'm sure you you'll figure it out as we go."

"OK. First picture shows a disinfectant, a small cloth, and the fourth finger of your right hand. I think it wants you to wipe that finger because the next picture shows the ring and an arrow pointing to that finger." Lucinda wiped her finger with a paper towel and the disinfectant and then slipped the ring on. Apparently sensing Lucinda's body heat, the ring shrank to fit her perfectly and then injected microfibrils into the fleshy part of it. It stung for just a second and then a small amount of warmth spread from her finger up to her neck. In a moment, the feeling subsided.

"I've seen this kind of thing happen before. The microfibrils are stronger than spider silk and they've integrated with your nerves and your brain. That will let you control the collar just by thinking about it," said Carol. There's another picture with the finger, the ring, and an arrow pointing away from the hand and a communicator number. I think it means that if you ever want to take the ring off, you have to call first."

"OK," said Lucinda, "Phase 1 accomplished."

"Let's see if it works," said Carol. "Think about a small electrical shock." Lucinda did so, and her hand spasmed as a slightly painful spark of electricity shot from the collar into her hand. Everyone laughed in surprise as the collar fell from Lucinda's hand to the floor.

"Let's move to Phase 2."

"The picture is showing the cloth and disinfectant, and there's an arrow pointing to the back of a man's neck. I think it wants you to wipe his neck down. Then, it shows the collar snapped into a circle sitting on the man's collar bone."

The soldier had seen what the ring had done and the kind of shock it had just delivered to Lucinda's hand. He was having none of it. He tried to stand up straight, and when he did, Tina delivered a punch to his abdomen that bent him back over the chair. Immediately, three strong sets of female hands grabbed the back of his head and pushed down firmly so that he couldn't stand back up.

"Honey, look," said Lucinda. "There's nothing you can do here. I already told you that you've been drugged so that you're as weak as a baby. What's going to happen is going to happen, whether you like it or not. Let's do this the easy way. Keep your head down and your neck stretched out." And with that, she disinfected his neck, placed the collar around it and snapped it shut. The collar gave off a hiss as its two ends fused themselves together. Just as the ring had done a few minutes before, the collar sensed the soldier's body heat, shrank to make a comfortable fit, and then injected microfibrils deep into the soldier's spinal cord.

"The collar will let us all relax. Once the Quellenal wears off, soldier boy, you could be pretty dangerous to everyone here--including yourself--if you try to do something stupid. If I think about it, like this," he winced in pain, "you'll get a shock. I thought about a mild shock for demonstration purposes, but I'm sure I can give you something that would knock you on your ass in an instant. I think I can also give you something that sends you to the hospital. Shall I try?" The soldier grimaced and shook his head. "Didn't think so. Carol what else with this thing let me do?"

"Before we get there, I think he ought to be warned about trying to take that thing off. There's another picture in here with a broken collar and a guy in a wheelchair. It's probably trying to tell us that tampering with the collar could result in paralysis or worse. There's another picture here with an open collar and another communicator number. Probably means that you have to call the company if you ever want to remove the collar."

"Now," Carol continued, there's a picture here of a guy sleeping on the floor. I bet you can put him to sleep."

Lucinda pictured the soldier yawning, closing his eyes and sleeping. In response, the soldier's legs buckled and he collapsed onto the floor. He started to snore. Everyone chuckled.

"I bet that's a security precaution. It will let you immobilize him without hurting him so that he sleeps when you do," said Carol.

"That's pretty handy," Lucinda said. "Let me try to wake him up."

"I don't think you can just think him awake. The picture next to the sleeper shows the remote control and a numerical sequence." Carol picked up the remote and punched in the numbers shown in the instruction booklet. As soon as she completed it, the girls saw the soldier's eyes flutter open and his body arch in a stretch.

"No sleeping on the job, soldier. No time to relax. On your feet. Now!" Lucinda barked, channeling Marsha. Everyone laughed as the soldier struggled to find his feet. "Keep going, Carol."

Pam picked up the little electronic box. "What else does this thing do?" she asked.

Carol paged through the rest of the instruction manual and responded, "It looks like this lets someone who isn't wearing the ring control the collar. That's smart, since otherwise, the person who is wearing the ring would always have to be around the person wearing the collar. Handy, since the collar wearer is likely to need training and maintenance that the ring wearer isn't trained or interested in providing."

Carol returned her attention to the instruction manual and continued. "It looks like the collar's an updated model, and there are some cool things you can do with it beyond punishing the wearer and putting him to sleep." She grinned mischievously. "There's a picture of male on this page with various parts of its body circled in red."

"Really?" chirped Rosa. "Is its . . ."

"It certainly is!" Carol answered. "So are its fingers, lips, and knees."

"Let's see!" squealed Rosa.

"All in good time," Lucinda responded. "I think he should get to know us a bit better before we get," she paused looking for the right word "down with him." Looking into the soldier's eyes she said, "Unfortunately, it doesn't look like mom left me the key to your handcuffs, so you're going to have to play with two hands tied in front of you," she smirked. "Now, here, let's have a little drink with Cindi." Rosa handed Lucinda two glasses, one of which had twice as much of the amber liquid Rosa had just poured from the liquor bottle. Lucinda took a satisfying sip from the smaller of the two of it while Pam held the other to the soldier's clenched lips.

"Really?!" Lucinda sighed. "Do I have to give you another shock, at a higher intensity than before? This doesn't have to be miserable. We're here to party. You're here to party. Just drink your drink." The soldier grimaced, but let Pam pour the contents of the glass into his mouth. He obviously considered spitting it out on the floor, but as Lucinda toyed with her new ring, he thought better of it and swallowed. "See, that wasn't so bad. It's probably better than anything you've got back wherever you used to call home. Centuries of refinement make a difference."

"Now, let's have a look at you. C'mon girls." And with that, the six women circled the soldier with wide eyes and devilish grins on their faces. He winced as they invaded his personal space and began to touch him with abandon. Their hands snaked up his thighs, across the front of his pants, along his abs and pecs, along his obliques and up and down his back and ass.

"Nice broad shoulders and big arms," commented Tina. "I can't even get both of my hands around his bicep."

"Who care about the biceps? This soldier's got a nice tight pinchable ass," said Carol as she goosed his right butt-cheek, drawing a flinch that landed the front of his pants right into Rosa open palm. She gave it a little squeeze on impact

"Whoa, unless this guy is packing a potato in there, I bet he's quite well endowed. Let's see!"

"Contain yourself, Rosa, all in good time," said Lucinda. "The evening is young and we're not nearly drunk enough. Aw, look at what you've done. He's blushing. I think he's embarrassed. Rosa, go apologize." Rosa winked at Lucinda, grabbed the soldier's head and pulled his face to hers so that she could plant a noisy, wet kiss on the soldier's lips, using hers to pry them opened.

"Jeez, Rosa, has it been that long for you? Can't you even wait a minute?" asked Lucinda in a snort.

"Aw, c'mon Cindi. You're taking way too long. I bet the waiting is torture for him. And besides," she said, drawing a chuckle from everyone "I'm about to stain my negligee."

"Oh, all right. I think it's fun to tease him, but I know a couple of you like to get down straight to business. "Now, who wants to help? Rosa, obviously, and how about you, Pam? I don't think you've ever had one of these." Pam, blushed, mockingly placed her face in her hands and then moved next to Rosa, flashing everyone a huge grin. "Carol, can we get you on the camera recording the festivities. Marsha, you man the bar."

"Now, let's get started. Rosa, you see that strip of animal hide around his waist. I believe they call that a 'belt'. I understand that it's designed to keep inquisitive hands out of his pants. Undo it, pull it out of those loops and hand it to me." Rosa did as Lucinda asked. As soon as she had the belt in her hand, she passed one end of it around the back of the soldier's neck, took the loose end in her other hand and dragged his head forward so that they were nose to nose. "Boy, but you are a handsome thing. I bet there was a long line of little girls back home just dying for you to pay them some attention. Did you? Did you take advantage of them? Love 'em and leave 'em? Slam, bam thank you ma'am? Who could blame you if you did?"

"I would blame him," chirped Carol.

"So would I," agreed Tina. "Where he comes from they don't care much about breaking female hearts. It's kinda how they were raised."

"Well," Lucinda replied, "we don't do that on our planet. Hey big boy. I guess somebody needs to answer for the way your society treats women. But, unfortunately, even if you personally weren't a heartbreaker, you're the only representative of your society we have in front of us." Turning to her girlfriends with a snorted laugh Lucinda intoned "Ladies of the jury, this soldier stands accused of something or other that his people do to women that makes those women feel bad. Under our laws, that's punishable by flogging. What say you."