It's My Party

"Such a change," Bambino thought as he stared at the welts. "A month ago, I would have been so excited at the thought of two young and cute women showing me their bare butts. But this?!"

Bambino called out in a broken voice that he wasn't going to use the latex gloves. The two women stood up and turned to face him. Bambino noticed a surprised looked on Kiyoko's face. Their eyes met for the briefest of an instant. Somehow Bambino thought she might have whispered thank you.

Bambino gave Kiyoko permission to go upstairs but he ordered Ann to follow him out of the barn. Diego was the exterior guard that evening. It was breaking the rules for Bambino to have unchained pussy hoofing outside the barn, but Bambino explained what he wanted to do and he ordered Ann to turn around. Diego took one look at her bare butt and nodded and waved them through.

Two doors down from the pussy barn was a drug store. Bambino rooted around nervously for several minutes, praying and no one besides Diego would discover what he was doing. Ann meekly followed by his side, so tired and so used to her treatment that she made no effort to hide her indecency. And then Bambino found what he was looking for, a supply of wound and burn ointment. He handed several tubes of it to Ann and smiled.

He was expecting her to smile back, but instead she started to cry. Akiko's ankle, she wailed. The women were afraid she was developing an internal infection. Could Bambino find some antibiotics, something Akiko could take orally?

Hell, that's not what Bambino had in mind. He was risking a major blowup with Uno even doing what he was doing. Maybe he was even risking torture. And now this ungrateful hoof pussy wanted him to start searching the second floor of the drug store?! No way! He marched Ann straight back to the barn, frowning but letting her keep the ointment.

And now here he was, ten days later. "Ann," he thought, "What the hell had happened to you, and Carol and all the others?" Bambino sighed. Would he ever know? Somehow he hoped Ann's ass was better now. Somehow… It was so strange. Later that night, after he had given Ann the ointment for the welts, Bambino kept telling himself he had done something kind. He had giving Ann the ointment. But his conscience kept objecting, saying that true kindness would have been to give Ann what Ann wanted, not what Bambino wanted to give.

Bambino patted Cassie's rump as she slept beside him. Could he ever raise such a welt on Cassie? No, of course not. And Bambino saw now he would never spank her bare butt in front of other men. He'd have to find some other way to teach her the lesson.

"What lesson?" Bambino stirred. The question had come from his conscience, just as he was falling asleep. "Why, the lesson that the men are in charge," his sleepy mind replied. He reached inside Cassie's shirt again and idly squeezed her tits a few more times, just to show her sleeping body who was boss, and then he drifted off.

Time: Thursday, January 17, 2019 11:57 AM

It was three minutes before the start of her next janitor lesson when Kiyoko noticed the sun breaking the horizon, beginning the day's five-minute allotment of orange sunshine. "A pretty color," she thought wistfully, "but I think I miss the lovely butter yellow sunlight of Earth. And the sky too. The hints of teal and green are very pretty, but I miss the pure cornflower blue."

Kiyoko and had a nice early lunch with Aggie who was keeping her company at the Green Mall home complex. Aggie was also making hourly hops to the Black Mall sky-bridge to keep an eye on Chico's progress. Meanwhile the scheduled work at Yellow Brick was complete and their group was now installing a dual sensor net from the Green Mall sky-bridge, the only sky-bridge still without one. The party was working their way to Kiyoko's location first, installing the net from Green Mall kilometer marks 37.6 to 18.7.

After that, the fastest way to return to the sky-bridge would be to bike another dozen kilometers to the Green Mall home complex and then jump back to the sky-bridge. The group planned to have a brief lunch at home before the afternoon half of their work, completing an overlapping net all the way to the Hilton Executive Conference Center, Green Mall's terminal store. They had phoned in ten minutes ago and said they were on their way. Kiyoko was glad. She loved the company of people in the complex with her, even if she was busy with her lessons.

Would they continue installing sensor nets after today? Maybe. It was a topic of discussion for tonight's meeting. All the terminal stores except Green Mall and Yellow Brick would still be without one.

Kiyoko's terminal beeped, indicating the interface was prepared to begin her next Janitor lesson. Kiyoko preferred mouse and keyboard over the voice interface, and she clicked the accept icon.

Time: Thursday, January 17, 2019 2:18 PM

They'd been pulling the sleds for less than ten minutes when it became obvious there was something different up ahead. Chico sent out a two-person reconnaissance party with one gun (Bambino and Cassidy) to check it out while the main group continued to plod along more slowly. Not long afterwards his whole party was standing near the sky-bridge and peering into the two stores the bridge seemed to connect. There was Rubin's Kosher Deli on the inside arc and The Modern Coin Superstore on the outside arc. They had no idea two women were silently watching them from the second floor of the coin store.

Cassidy was examining the stores, walking back and forth between the two transparent closed doors and peering inside. "I think both stores are largest we've seen, sixty meters, and they both have doors near the… Chico, should I call it a walkway?"

Chico smiled. "Excellent guess. That's what I'm thinking too. Pity it's not transparent like the doors."

Toro was staring into the coin store let out a loud groan. "Oh, fucking hell Chico! There's a whole section in there on gold and platinum coins! I'll bet there are millions of dollars of gold just beyond this door."

Chico laughed. "So what?"

"So what?! What do you mean, so what?! Chico, how can you say that?!"

"Toro, have you forgotten where we are? Think about it. If the door were open, how much gold would you walk off with?"

"As much as I could carry!"

"And do what with it?"

"Chico, what are you talking about? Gold isn't for doing stuff with. Gold is for having." The two men walked away from each other, both shaking their heads, both thinking their friend's perspective was ridiculous.

Bambino had a different set of thoughts, and he walked over to Chico. "A few weeks ago, I was on the expedition that explored almost this far. None of these stores were locked. If we had orders to explore just a little further, we would have"

Chico interrupted him. "Hell, I know Bambino. We were busy, remember?"

"Huh? Busy doing what?"

"Setting up the pussy barn."

Bambino froze for a second and then nodded glumly, glancing to make sure he was out of earshot of the muchachos. "Uno and Santos and Gilberto, they were the three champions of that idea, and the muchachos too. Hell, they really screwed us. We should have been exploring."

Chico took a deep breath and sighed. "They really screwed the women. We all did. Come on. There's nothing for us here. We have to keep moving." A minute later the expedition continued their journey.

"Interesting man Chico," commented Jada at the observation center on the second floor of the coin store. "A bit crude, but he seems to have a conscience."

"From what I've seen, that's true for Toro also," Ann replied. "And even Bambino has some kindness in him. His flaw is not cruelty but a lack of courage." Ann paused for a moment. "These three are perhaps our best hope for people whom we might be able to forgive. My feeling is they got sucked into a whirlpool of depravity that the others created."

"You think so?"

Ann nodded. "Toro picked me several times, checked me out of the pussy barn I mean."

Jada gave a quick grimace and then a sad sigh. "So he raped you."

"No, he didn't. He never asked me to do anything at all, not sexually. And after two hours in his bedroom, we'd just go back and he'd return me to the barn. He even trusted me. I think we shared some eye contact without knowing what we were doing."

Jada was curious. "May I ask? What did you do in his bedroom?"

"Usually I would just take a nap on his bed while Toro rested in a nearby chair. He never asked me to do anything I didn't want to, not in his bedroom. And sometimes we'd talk a bit if I wanted to talk, which wasn't often. Mostly he just left me alone. Once he even asked me if I'd like a book."

"Why not just let you sleep in the barn?"

Ann shivered. "Jada, these were the evenings I was scheduled for night shift work. Don't you see? Toro wanted to save me from the muchachos." Ann rubbed her ass thoughtfully. "That damn Ricardo and his canes. Do you remember the welts I had, before the autodoc cured me?"

Jada answered in a dark voice, "Ann, it would be impossible to forget. How are you feeling now?"

"Completely cured, not even a scar. It's miraculous." Ann paused for a moment at the memory of the burning pain on her left buttock. "It was the damn muchachos. I was forced to lie face down on the floor. Ernesto was holding my ankles. Geraldo was straddling my neck… And I hadn't even done anything… nothing disobedient…"

Jada shivered. "Ann, I didn't mean to pry for details on how you were tortured. Is this too personal?"

"Oh, I don't mind. Actually, I think I want to talk about it, if you're willing to listen."

The two women locked eyes. A silent thought, "An honor to help you Ann."

Ann nodded and broke the connection by turning her head to the side. "I think I'd like to tell you verbally. The mind link is just a little too intimate." She paused and added, "The mind link would take you into the room with me. That would be cruel, and there's no need."

Jada nodded, reaching over and holding Ann's hand.

Ann squeezed back and began her story. "Geraldo brought me clothes to wear, fresh underwear and an expensive looking blouse and skirt, fancy leather shoes, it was actually a pretty outfit I guess. They took me to their rooms upstairs. I was frightened. The muchachos were acting friendly, saying it was just a group date, but there were four of them and one of me. It felt really strange. And Ricardo was making that damn whooshing noise, snapping his cane through the air."

"And then Geraldo started explaining to me in a very matter-of-fact manner that I was going to be branded now. The privilege of group sex with them would come later. This night would only be for my branding."

Ann took a deep breath. "It felt so surreal. I couldn't believe my ears. I could either cooperate or not, it was my choice. But if I struggled, it might take a lot of strikes with the cane to get the brand down right. Gilberto said if I were obedient, it would only be two quick strokes. But I'd have to keep very still so Ricardo could lay down the marks in exactly the right spots." Ann shivered. "What would you have done Jada?"

The question struck Jada like a physical blow, causing her to gasp. "I don't know. You had no chance to fight back."

"No. My only choice was to let them break my spirit or my body. I thought I could work on repairing my spirit, so I surrendered it to them. I told them I would submit."

"They had me lie of the floor, face down with towels underneath me. They would try to brand me low on my left butt first, and if they weren't satisfied higher up next. Then they'd do the same on the right cheek, then turn me over and try to put the brand on my stomach. That scared me, thinking about being caned on my stomach. And if that didn't work, they would turn me over again and try the backs of my thighs… You get the idea?"

Jada nodded in silence.

"Jada, I thought it over and decided to obey them. I felt Ernesto taking off my shoes. Geraldo lifted up my skirt and pulled down my stockings and panties. I could feel the room's cool air… And then Geraldo sat on the back of my neck, locking my head with his knees. He didn't have to. I was being cooperative. But it was very effective humiliation. If they had brought me in naked from the start, maybe it wouldn't have been so bad. But to be undressed like that, knowing what was coming, forcing myself to cooperate… It was very, very effective humiliation."

"And then I waited. I couldn't see anything. Geraldo's knees were blocking my side views, and I was kissing the towels. All the men were telling me to keep absolutely still, and then they were silent. Ricardo started making strikes in the air. At the sound of every whoosh, I tensed up, expecting to be hit. And the men kept saying not to do that, that I had to keep my butt absolutely still and relaxed to get a proper brand. It was so ridiculous, but so, so effective."

Ann sighed in sadness. "That was pretty much it. The mental torture became boring. And then the first strike hit. The pain was about what I expected, but not the shock of it. It drove the air out of my lungs. And the sound, so loud, like a pistol shot. I remember Geraldo and Ernesto getting off me. They examined the first half of my brand for a while and said they were satisfied. And then Ricardo prepared for his second strike. I was left alone on the floor for that one. I think the muchachos were trying to give me a chance to mess up."

Ann shrugged. "I kept very still and took the second strike. It seemed to burn more than the first. More examinations. The muchachos decided they were satisfied. They put me in an adult diaper so I wouldn't drip, and then marched me back to the pussy barn. And that was my first date with them. That was it."

"My God," Jada whispered. She felt ruined inside, unable to speak for a moment. She kissed Ann's hand before letting go.

Ann turned the controls to zoom in on the departing group and got back to business. "We now have an access point between this group and their home base. If we desired, we could set up a roadblock, cut these people off."

"Our three guns versus their three guns?"

"Yes, why not? And we could build covered positions. They would be very exposed in the corridor. They have no means to make shields, no means to make anything at all."

Jada was silent for a long moment. "Interesting thought. We'll have to discuss it tonight. But think Ann, the men will become desperate after their water runs out. They could use their women as human shields."

Ann blushed. "Oh hell, I hadn't thought of that." She turned back to the monitor, and in silence she and Jada watched Chico's group slowly drag their sleds towards Hex Hall.

Time: Thursday, January 17, 2019 3:10 PM

"Such an incredible place," Mark thought tiredly as traced a final line of a map in his small notebook. "Such grand symmetry on this level, one-hundred hundred-meter segments, ten kilometers in all, perfectly balanced, five kilometers of perimeter paths and five kilometers of interior paths, such a grand design."

He gave a tired chuckle and thought, "Emily would love the puzzle of this place. It's a variation of the traveling salesman problem. What's the shortest path to cover all the segments? We didn't travel it today, that's for sure. We've must have walked thirty kilometers at least these last six hours… or is it seven?" He had no power in his phone, no way to know the time. He thought for a moment and decided to guess it was about 3 PM, about three hours after they had seen the brief sunlight through the perimeter windows.

They had just barely managed to hear Emily's suggestion earlier this morning before the phone gave out. Toshi tried using the lock on the door and then removing it. There was still no access button. Then she tried again, and again. After her fifth failure, Mark was about to suggest she give up, but he stopped himself. They had nothing else to do. Why stop her?

And on her sixth cycle, Toshi removed the lock and then clapped her hands in delight at the sight of the access button. They opened the door and quickly went through, locking the door behind them with the mushroom. So began one of the strangest explorations in Mark's life.

And now he had a map of the place. Sort of. They had made no explorations of the areas away from the corridors yet. They didn't even know if they could. But they'd have to try something soon. They were all getting thirsty, and Toshi's bottle of iced-tea had only a gulp or two left.

Forty-nine hexagons made up the diamond array. There were three areas that the walkways defined to be singular areas, the hexagon in the exact center of the diamond, the southern hexagon that was the home complex of Black Mall, and the northern hexagon that Mark in his thoughts referred to as the chamber of horrors. Frida had given the central hexagon in the center of the diamond the nickname of keystone.

There were four groups of seven hexagons each, arranged at each of the four corners of the diamond. The central hexagon shared its eastern and western faces with two of these seven-hexagon clusters. Each major cluster was comprised of a core hexagon and the group of six hexagons surrounding it.

There were also six three-hexagon mini-clusters, fitting in like hexagonal jigsaw pieces between the four major clusters. Each mini-cluster could be thought of as a vertex and the group of three hexagons sharing it. Such an elegant design, Mark thought. So amazing to build such vast geometrical constructs.

The walkways on the ground level extended around the perimeter of each interior cluster. They had spent hours exploring and mapping the bland passageways. The question now was, what next?

They had an exit. The home complex of Black Mall butted into the two southern hexagons of the seven-hexagon cluster at the southern end of the diamond. There was an exit-only door there, leading to dual parallel corridors at the northern vertex of the home complex. A few meters from their door was the door to the vestibule and first-floor library of Black Mall.

There was no way to get inside. The ground-floor vestibule, like the one upstairs, would only open from the inside, just as their door from the array would only open from the inside. The landscape outside looked frightfully cold and forbidding. Frida shivered and urged her two companions to return to the array.

And now here they were, hours later, at a northwestern vertex of the eastern major cluster. They were pausing near one of the many airlocks.

According to Mark's maps, each group of hexagons except the keystone had two airlock entrances. From his conversations with Emily and Aggie, he was somewhat familiar with the design. They could either be bidirectional or unidirectional. Once they went through, they might be able to come back out. And they might not.

Even with the risk, their course of action seemed obvious. The corridors were barren, a desert. Without water, they were not prepared to survive here. Mark thought for a moment and said, "Before we try anything, I think we should return to the ivy chamber."

Toshi turned to him with a surprised look. "Why's that?"

"See that indentation on the airlock door? I want to go back and pick up the mushroom lock?"

Toshi shrugged and pulled the map out of Mark's hands and stared at it for a moment. "We're one kilometer from the ivy room, ten segments." She pointed with her finger. "Five interior segments to orbit this mini-cluster, and then we track the perimeter of the northern major cluster. We could be back here in twenty minutes. Mark, the airlock is open. Why do we need the lock?"