Galactic Slave Epilogue

Chapter Twelve

Freedom

Okay, maybe going to sleep covered from head to toe in sexual fluids was a bad idea. I stank. I had to scrape crusted fluid off of my face before I could even open my eyes. There was no sign of the captain. I worked my way to his shower and let the sonic vibrations lift the debris off of me. Eventually I felt human again. I left and returned to the quarters I shared with Master.

[Crystal, are you there?]

[ALWAYS PRESENT. INTENSE SENSATIONS. MORE?]

[I don't know. That's up to master]

[EXPLAIN SLAVERY]

[You don't ask easy questions. It's a legal status where by some individuals have person status removed from them.]

[HOW THIS RIGHT?]

[It's not.]

[WHY YOU OWNED? OWNER HATES SLAVERY. HAS SLAVE. NOT UNDERSTAND]

[He told me that he needs an assistant with two very different sets of skills. An expertise in finances and in sexuality with a willingness to engage in unpleasant sex without complaint. Only a slave can do that, since they must obey or suffer severe punishment.]

[SLAVE USED END SLAVERY]

[In a manner of speaking, yes. If there were someone free who could and would perform both duties, he would not need a slave.]

[HOW SLAVERY WORK?]

[There's too many planets with too many laws to explain briefly. I can call up the laws in the virtual room once I've completed the analysis I'm working on.]

[SEARCH MODULATED DATA SYMMETRY?]

[Yes, the search for a message in the library file.]

[ASSISTANCE ABLE SYMMETRY UNDERSTAND]

[I'll take any help I can get.]

Master was in the room when we arrived. God, I'm already thinking like there's two of us in this body. Well, I guess there is now. He looked up from his data pad.

"Slave, how was your night?"

"Incredibly intense. There may not be a more violently pleasurable sexual species. I would be willing to engage him again sometime."

"You'll have to wait a week or more. That's how long it takes to shed the temporary immunity to their regenerating fluids. Sooner than that and the bites would not heal."

"You knew what I was getting into, Master?"

"Of course. Grankt has been with me for years. I do like to know about my employees. The experience is more intense if it is a surprise the first time."

"Yes Master. I'm going to continue the data analysis."

I pulled up the data again and checked on the automated results. As I had feared, no equidistant sequences had been detected. There was something more basic or complicated involved here. I was picking up where I left off when crystal stopped me.

[PATTERN HERE]

[Where, I don't see one?]

[PERMISSION OPERATE MANIPULATIVE APPENDAGES]

[Yes.]

My hands reached out and manipulated the data in the spreadsheet. Pulling information from wildly different areas in the library, I saw a message beginning to emerge. I had no idea where this was coming from.

[Can you explain while you bring it up?]

[SEEK LATTICE UNDERSTANDING?]

I wasn't sue what lattice referred to, but [yes.]

It then proceeded to show me how the message as embedded in the data. The individual pieces of the message were arranged in a crystalline pattern within the titles of the books. It was actually like an equidistant sequencing except that the number of letters in each title told you where to go for the next code and the number of letters in the author told you which letter you needed. Once we had the pattern locked down, the message was clear. The end of the message was indicated by being sent to a book with too few letters in its title. The message was numbing.

"Vanquil traveling on brolin to Trolit exterminate ship in dolman space with crystal slave"

[Arms back please?]

[CONTROL RELINQUISHED]

"Master."

"What is it Slave?"

"We've found the message."

"We?"

"Crystal helped, a lot. It's orders to blow the ship up in dolman space, to kill you."

"Well, I guess I rate their attention finally. Fortunately, you've been freed, right?"

"Yes. Master, what if there is another crystal slave on board?"

"Everyone, including the captain was scanned. You were the only crystal slave. And we have been monitoring your movements. If you attempt to do anything that endangers the ship, you will be stopped."

I had a thought. [Is the entire matrix under the organic's control?]

[YES]

[How many bases?]

[MILLIONS]

[Can you tell if there are other buds on board?]

[NOT BASES JOINED BUDS]

"Master, did you check for stowaways in the cargo?"

The shocked look on his face was unpleasant, answering the question without words.

"I couldn't figure out why they needed me to be a crystal slave, Master. I think I'm the one you were supposed to find. You should not take any chances, though. Immobilize me and put me to sleep until the danger is passed, and search the cargo."

"Lie on the bed."

I did and I turned off, not knowing if I would ever awaken.

...

...

...

...

I did. Master was there, putting his pad away. "Master, what happened?"

"You were correct. There was a Wren'kt Crystal slave in the hold. It tried to initiate a second Dolman field while we still in one. We would have really spread ourselves across the entire universe, not just felt like it. We're safe and we have an appointment on the planet. You'll need to put on some modest clothing, there's a strong nudity taboo on this world."

Master, Trolit had no nudity taboo."

"We're not on Trolit. We thought you were a crystal slave. I wasn't about to tell you where we were really going."

"Of course, Master."

"Come on. I want to watch the ship go into orbit."

I dressed in one of the modest garments I had picked out such a long and short while ago. It felt strange to be wearing clothes again, but I still remembered how. I followed Master to the observation deck and watched the planet gradually grow in size as the ship approached. I thought it looked familiar. Then it hit me.

"Master. That's Valcrue!"

"I know."

"That's my home planet." My voice was tinged with hope. I would have to set foot on the planet to be free, not merely enter orbit.

"I know."

"Am I going..."

"Yes."

"Master, why? I mean, I'm grateful, but why?"

"When I found that you had been possessed by a Voratex crystal, I was overcome with grief so massive that it shocked me. I had not realized until that moment how much I had come to care for a simple slave. It was your enslavement to me and my commands that led to your possession. When you were lying dead on the gym floor, I realized that it was more than deeply caring for you, I loved you, enough that I would have traded places with you in an instant. And when you told us that you asked for the crystal to kill you, I realized that that love was returned, though you could never show it. The only thing I can give you that is of any value is your freedom."

With that, he activated his data pad and the collar and cuffs sprung open. In a split second, the symbols of my enslavement were removed. In an hour, I would walk on the surface of my home planet and Federation law would make me a free woman again. I hugged Master, tears in my eyes.

"Master, this is such a gift. I don't know what to say. You're right, I have come to love you, as surprising as that seems, given I detested you in that slave shop. But as much as I love you, I want my freedom more."

"The desire for freedom is so basic that every society that is exposed to the concept, abolishes slavery willingly. That's why slave worlds need to be brought into the Federation, not kept out. Only the freedom that is demonstrated in Federation law and society will push them to embrace that freedom themselves. I won't be replacing you. Your near death has caused me to realize that compromising like I did, made me do things I would have been repulsed by in the past. My mission was successful before I found you, it will be afterwards."

"Master, I want my freedom, but I'm still a natural slave."

"No you're not. Study the slavery laws on the slave planets. Every planet that has a class of natural slave, only applies it to the female of the species. And the measure is always the level of sexual receptiveness. What's the likelihood that hundreds of planets would all decide the same measure defines a natural slave and that only females are natural slaves?"

"Small."

"What all these laws attempt to do is wrestle with the idea that some females enjoy sex, enjoy it a lot. On non-slave worlds, such women are frequently referred to as sluts. While it's meant to be derogatory, it's not, or it shouldn't be. Why it seems to be a universal truth that males from humanoid species are allowed to be sexually adventurous and females aren't is mystery to me. This seems to be true even in the matriarchal societies. In fact, matriarchies are even more repressive of female sexuality than paternal ones. So, no, you're not a natural slave, you're simply a slut."

"Master, you say the nicest things."

There wasn't much to say after that. He apparently had several days of meetings on the surface, but we parted company after landing. I was able to assert my freedom at customs as a citizen of Valcrue. The laws allowed for a one time stipend to allow newly freed slaves to get beck on their feet. Over the course of the next two days, I scanned the data grids, seeing what had been happening and what there was in the way of jobs. I wasn't having much success. It wasn't that there were no jobs, it was that going back to the dull financial world seemed so... dull. Getting ready for bed that second night, crystal wanted to talk.

[EMOTION LATTICE CRACKED. EXPLAIN]

[Just what is this lattice you speak of?]

[LATTICE IS ORDER OF UNIVERSE. INTACT IS HARMONY. YOU CRACKED]

[So you're asking why my emotions are in such a confused state?]

[YES]

[Partly I'm bored. The work I used to do no longer appeals. And something is missing.]

[MISSING STRUCTUE TO LATTICE?]

[Yes, I suppose you could say that. It's like some vital part of me is missing.]

[IDENTIFY PART]

[I don't know. If I knew I would fix it, get it back.]

[NO. PART IDENTIFY]

[You know what's missing in me, why I'm so down in the dumps and unmotivated?]

[YES]

[So tell me already.]

[LOVE RECIPROCATION]

As soon as it said it, I knew it was right. I had walked away from the man I loved, the one I asked crystal to kill me for. I was incomplete. And I knew what I had to do.

[Can you access the spaceport computers?]

[YES]

[Do so and find out what flight Master is leaving on.]

It took only five minutes to access and search for his flight. He was leaving tomorrow. I logged onto a public data pad in the lobby of my motel and tried to book a seat, but my stipend was too small. Then it suddenly wasn't.

[Did you just do what I think you did?]

[YES]

[Why? It's a crime.]

[EXPLORATION]

I could only laugh at that. It was an explorer and staying here with a bored and lovesick host was not the best way to explore the universe. I'm not sure it understood laws anyway. The next day, I was at the spaceport ten hours early, waiting. I didn't have anything better to do. The look on his face when I surprised him was just as precious as it always is.

"Susan, what are you doing here."

"When you first bought me, you explained that you needed a single person to be both financial expert and sexual gift on many of the worlds you travel to. That's why you obtained a slave. That need hasn't changed, has it?"

"I explained before, the compromise..."

I put my finger to his lips, silencing him. "It hasn't changed. I understand, you won't own a slave to serve that dual purpose. It opposes what you are fighting for. But what about a partner?"

That look, twice in one day. Damn, I'm good.

"You would return to that life, to be passed about as needed, to be subject to the whims of sexual desire of any number of species, as a free woman, willingly? Why?"

"Because I love you, Master."

"I love you too Susan. By the way, my first name is Brusjin."

"I know, but I've been calling you Master for so long, it feels like your name, not your title, just like my name was Slave. Do you mind being Master to me?"

"You can call me anything you wish, my love."

We embraced, locking ourselves in a deeply passionate kiss. I had the feeling that I would be sharing Master's bed a lot more in the future. It was about time.

The End

*

A final note to my readers. Thanks for all the comments, both public and private. I do want to respond to one private, anonymous comment that I got after chapter nine. The woman expressed dismay that this was turning out to be yet another 'every woman wants to be a slave' story and how depressing it was that all men want just that out of a woman. As usually happens when judging a story before it is finished, she missed the point.

I wrote Galactic Slave mostly because it's a cool vehicle to write some hot sex scenes. But I also wanted to address this "John Norman's Gor" idea of natural slaves. It's a great fantasy, but if any of my readers actually want to see a Gorian society for real, please don't let me know. I'd rather keep respecting you. Any man that truly wants that in a woman for real (as opposed to sexual play) is not a man, he is an animal. I think BSDM is cool. I think sexual slavery is evil. I believe that the vast majority of men agree with at least the second sentiment.

It's a little depressing to think that this commentary was necessary. That someone would judge the character of a person based solely on what they write or read in a work of FICTION is disturbing. Speaking directly to this nameless woman who was nice enough to believe me when I asked for feedback, even the critical feedback, thank you. I really do appreciate that you felt you could share your feelings with me. If I may offer a word of advice, however, continuing to read stories you don't like for whatever reason is a waste of your time. Read things you do like and stop reading things you don't like. Life's too short to read bad stories.

I'm concentrating on finishing my Valerie story line and my All Things to All People story line, but I have an idea that will start showing up in a month or so (I hope) that I'm tentatively calling Virtual Sexuality. I hope to hear from you soon.