My Voyage of Submission

"You're very good at it. I know it was painful for her to talk about it." I turned up my face and kissed him. "This extra day in Suriname is going to make us late to Rio by a day. Professor Kline will be there before we get there. I'm sending Leo to pick him up. He can make up the extra distance much easier than the ship can. He goes as far in a couple hours as we do in twenty-four. He'll need to make a couple fuel stops and need to sleep at some point, but he'll be there to pick them up. Hannah notified the Klines of the change and the reason for it."

"Thank you, sir. How did the crew accept the news at muster?"

"I told them essentially what you told us at dinner. Manuel showed them a few photos from her file. They were all pretty angry and pissed off at what had been done to her. It's going to be hard not seeing you naked all the time. I do enjoy it."

"I enjoy being naked for you, Master. Even Fatima admitted it would be tough for her and her experiences when naked aren't nearly as good as mine are. At least you have the rest of your life to see me naked. We're not limited to one year anymore." He kissed my neck and I arched against him. "Mmm. I'm so fucking lucky to have you," I said.

"Not half as lucky as I am." He started caressing my sex and I felt his cock beginning to grow against my thigh. "You may ride me this time since it is your favorite position."

I slid down the bed so my mouth could finish the job his imagination had started. When hard enough, I mounted him, sinking over his shaft with a sigh.

Twenty minutes later, he orgasmed again, and we sixty-nined until both of us were tidy. I found my slumber wrapped in his arms.

******

When I checked my room upon getting up, I found Fatima sleeping on the floor by the door.

"Why didn't you sleep in the bed?" I asked.

"I wasn't allowed a bed unless I was sleeping with Master."

"Well, you're allowed to sleep in a bed now. I don't want you sleeping on the floor. This is what I mean about progressing. I want you to develop the ability to do what you want and not what someone told you before."

"I'll try, Beth. I want you to be happy with me."

"I want you to be happy with yourself. What I think of you is of no consequence."

Master skipped my usual morning spanking and took us down to breakfast and there was no leash, no nudity. Both of us had clothes on, Fatima the clothes she'd worn last night. Me in some exercise clothes. We sat down and all during breakfast, crew members came up to her and apologized for what happened to her. They offered to help in whatever way they could. They offered tours of the ship, to teach her how to play pool, darts or cards up in the game room. Roberta offered her a massage. Edgar offered to teach her how to defend herself. Fatima seemed a little overwhelmed by it all.

"Do I have to do all of these things?"

"You only need to do what you want to do. They want you to know they're ready to help in any way they can. You do as much or as little as you want."

We held morning muster and I explained they held a muster every morning to make sure no one had fallen overboard during the night. They also drew a name for employee of the day. Jake won me. Master told me I could take care of it later when I wasn't occupied with caring for Fatima. We spent the rest of the morning holed up in Master's cabin finishing up with the details of what she remembered of her initial captivity. I looked at the drawings she'd done last night and they weren't bad. I don't know how much they might be able to glean from her information, but it was relatively detailed.

After lunch, the Investigators returned and spoke to Fatima again. I stayed with her as she seemed comfortable around me. They were somewhat amazed at the amount of detail I'd been able to glean from Fatima. She had a floor plan of what she believed the place to look like from the places she'd been inside of it. A couple of her pictures showed what appeared to be guardhouses which she'd been able to see from her windows. I took their business cards and told them we'd email any further documentation if she thought of anything more.

"We haven't been able to confirm Fatima's parents are dead," Fritz said. "They supposedly were tied and gagged and the maid found them the following morning. They reported you were taken, and they apparently stayed for an additional week at the hotel hoping you'd be found. Someone matching their description and using their passports returned to Spain, but your old house appears to have been sold and your parents disappeared. It's possible people pretending to be your parents returned to Spain so no suspicion would fall on the hotel, and the perpetrators sold everything to make more money for your kidnappers, then vanished, leaving everyone in the dark about where you and they are. We're still looking. There does appear to be a suspiciously high number of people taken from that hotel, but not so obvious it makes them look complicit. People disappear from other hotels as well. It could be they have a number of informants who keep their eyes open for young, pretty, or rich tourists. The Algerian authorities have a little less interest in foreigners taken than they do their own citizens. If you'd been taken in Spain, Spanish authorities would have searched high and low for you. The Algerians cared less about you."

"The highest part of the Atlas Mountains are on the Western side of Africa, near Morocco," Geraldo said. "The higher peaks are over 13,000 feet and do have snow on them all year long. It might help narrow our search. It makes it possible that Mahmoud is a Berber. Many of the people living in or near the Atlas Mountains are Berber."

They took all the notes and drawings and promised to keep her informed of her search for her parents. Leo and Edgar brought aboard several bags of clothing, all of them more modest than what she'd worn before, even before she'd been kidnapped. They also had things like a hairbrush, hair pins and head bands, earrings and other feminine adornments. They'd even gotten her make up in a color that complemented her. I helped her put the clothing away in her room as I didn't have room in mine. I wasn't expected to have much in the way of clothing. We weighed anchor and headed to Rio in Brazil.

For the rest of the day, one of the Dominants would occasionally give Fatima an order. None of them were too outrageous, but she snapped to do what they said without hesitation. Never once did she say 'Mota'. I kept reminding her she had no responsibility to do what anyone ordered and could choose what she wanted to do. She nodded or said she understood, but continued obeying the slightest command or even suggestions as if they were orders. I hoped Professor Kline would be able to help.

Master kept giving me orders and if appropriate, I said 'Mota' and I was never punished as a result. If the other slaves were being punished, it was behind closed doors. Nothing was done in front of Fatima. That night, she slept in my room, though she slept in the bed instead of the floor. She used her room as a place to keep her things, but my room was her sanctuary. It was just Master and me for the second night in a row. We were still keeping others out of our bed until Fatima would claim her own room.

******

The following morning, Master skipped any punishment again and the scene at breakfast was roughly the same. Several people came up and asked if there was anything they could do to help her.

"You have very friendly people on board, Master," Fatima said. She was eating healthily, not worried at the moment if she'd get fat.

"Friendly and good," Master replied. "I trust all of them to do what's right."

At morning muster, we had three drawings; one of the day, the week, and the month. Darla was employee of the day. Dave was employee of the week, entitled to two hours of my time, and Manuel won employee of the month. He would get me for six hours. Since he was Lynn's slave, I wondered how that would work. I asked Master.

"I don't know. You'll have to speak to Lynn, and possibly Sherry since he's engaged. I have nothing to do with it except to provide you for six hours."

I was still Fatima's baby sitter, so we were still putting off their rewards for a more convenient time. If this went on for much longer, I would be a very busy girl when the time came to pay up.

I took Fatima down to the gym with me when I went to exercise.

"Your Master doesn't want you to get fat either," she said.

"Everyone is expected to keep in shape to a certain extent," I said. "We're all expected to help repel pirates or anyone else who tries to come on the ship without permission. Sometimes these people will be armed so I'm learning to shoot and defend myself from them. I don't want what happened to you to happen to me. But I do more exercise than I'd have to. I want to compete in Ironman competitions when the cruise is over, so I need to run, bike, or workout every day so I can compete."

I had to explain what the Ironman competition was. Fatima had never heard of it before. "I don't get as much swimming as I'd like, despite being on a ship as it's almost always moving, but I can do the rest. So I'm going to spend an hour running and an hour biking, then I'm going to work on my shooting and self defense.

"If you want to use any of the equipment yourself, I'll show you how to set it up."

"Your Master doesn't care if you learn how to use a gun? Isn't he afraid you'd try to kill him?"

"Unlike your Master, I don't hate mine. I love him very much. I want to be with him for the rest of my life. He actually expects me to learn how to protect myself so no one can hurt me as you were hurt."

"Edgar offered to teach me self defense. Do you think I should let him?"

"I think you should do what you want, and if you want Edgar to teach you, he's a very good instructor."

I showed her how to work a treadmill and she was soon walking beside me. Others came down and worked out for awhile, coming and going as their schedules permitted. Everyone said hello to Fatima. When she quit walking, she'd look at another machine and the others would ask if she wanted to learn how to use it, happily showing her its operation. She was nervous and jumpy, but everyone was quiet, friendly, smiling and she didn't get struck even once, not even the tiniest swat on the ass and you could see her relaxing more and more as the morning progressed.

I finished my workout and started my practice on the gun range, the Hogan's Alley, with the rifle. She watched closely and saw how well I was doing. I would still get shot once in awhile, but not frequently and I hadn't accidentally shot a friendly in four days.

"How long have you done this?" Fatima asked.

"About seven weeks," I said, "although I didn't start with this display. This is called a Hogan's Alley. It's modeled after the ship. I started with a normal bulls-eye like this." I changed it to one of the round targets. "They wanted to be sure I could shoot well enough I wouldn't accidentally shoot a friend."

"And no one would care if I learned how to do this?"

"Not at all. Everyone should know how to defend themselves a little. There are bad people in the world as you well know. You don't have to remain a victim forever."

After finishing the Hogan's Alley scenario, I went to the heavy bag and did my best to beat it to a pulp. Fatima continued to watch.

I finished my workout and we headed back to Master's Cabin so I could shower before lunch. "Why do they have a drawing every morning?" Fatima asked.

"Every day they have a drawing for Employee of the Day. The person who's name is submitted has been chosen by their supervisors to have done exceptionally well the previous day, to have worked hard. There are six names in the hat, one from each of the Department Heads and one by Master of a Department Head themselves, so they have a chance to win. The winner gets a prize. They hold another drawing for the Employee of the Week and Employee of the Month. They receive bigger prizes for being chosen."

"What's the prize?"

Okay, this was going to be tricky. "I'm the prize," I said. "And I remind you that I've agreed to this ahead of time. I'm not doing anything against my will and can get it to stop at any time. The daily winner gets to have an orgasm with me. The weekly winner gets me for two hours and the monthly winner gets me for six hours. They are subject to the same limitations as Master is, and in fact, even more. They may only have sex with me. They can't punish me at all. Only Master or someone he designates is allowed to punish me. The others only get to have sex with me."

"I haven't seen you have sex with anyone other than your Master."

"You've seen me have sex with my Master?"

Fatima stopped, put her hand over her mouth and said, "Please don't punish me. It sounded as if you were enjoying yourself and I peeked through your door."

"I'm not going to punish you, Fatima. I would prefer you not watch me have sex without my knowledge, but enough people have seen me have sex it's not going to irritate me over much. I'm trying to keep you away from sex for your own good, but it's not as though you don't know what we're doing and have to be protected from the knowledge of what sex is. In answer to your original statement, I haven't had sex with any of the winners the past two days. Since I'm trying to protect you from sexual things, their rewards have been banked and they get to have sex with me when we resume normal activities."

"Do you enjoy sex with people other than your Master?"

"I do. Let's keep walking. I need to shower. I enjoy sex with anyone. Master has said he'll continue doing this as long as everyone treats me with kindness and respect. Like anything else, I can stop it if I cease enjoying it. I think to a certain extent, Master wouldn't mind if I wanted to stop it. Our relationship has changed from what it was at the beginning. I now know he loves me a great deal and I think it bothers him slightly when I have sex with others, but not enough to stop it unless I want to. The crew are all nice and it allows me more sex than Master alone might be able to provide. I'm not unhappy to be shared with others."

"Your Master hasn't punished you at all the last couple days. You told the Investigators you were punished every morning. Why is that?"

"For the same reason I don't want you observing sex, Fatima. Those things were used against you in horrible ways. You had no choice in the matter. Watching someone else be punished might make you relive those horrible feelings yourself. Even if they're not the same as what you experienced, and even if it's not happening to you, doesn't mean you won't suffer all over again if you witness it. Like Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, loud noises often make the sufferers relive the horrors of combat. A car backfiring can be devastating. It would be like that and can't possibly be good for you. The crack of a whip or the smack of a paddle will make you experience it again. I want you to feel safe. Watching other people be punished won't make you feel safe. Just asking if you'd seen me have sex with my Master made you cringe and beg not to be punished."

"Is it something you enjoy?" We'd reached Master's cabin and we went in.

"It's part of my submission, which I do enjoy. I don't always enjoy the punishment, but it's never as bad as you've had. I have no scars or bruises from it. It frequently leads to sex, which I love, and I've been known to orgasm from some punishments, although never as enjoyable as orgasms from sex.

"Wait here. I'll take a shower and then we'll go to lunch. Or do you need one too?"

"I could use one."

"Go get some clean clothes and come back here. This is a larger shower."

She left and I got in Master's shower. Before I was halfway done, Fatima had returned. Her clothes were off and she was standing outside the shower.

"I'll be done in a minute."

Fatima stood outside and watched me shower. I had no idea how communal things were for her elsewhere, but at least she didn't try to come in with me. I was still trying to avoid touching her and any sexual activities around her. I finished and came out drying and told her the shower was hers.

She went in and it only took Fatima a few minutes to shower, as if she were scared of wasting water. I'd already put something on by the time she was done. She put on her own clothes and we went to the mess and stood in line for food. Again, everyone was friendly and kind. Lynn told her to bend over and touch her toes. Fatima did. Lynn tsked, then kissed her forehead.

"Did you want to bend over and touch your toes?" I asked.

"No."

"Why did you? You won't be punished if you disobey. Just say 'Mota'. Everyone knows what it means now. We're testing you. We want you learning you don't have to obey every little order. The only ones you need to obey would be for your own safety, like fire, move so we can put it out, or abandon ship, or you'll sink with it. Those are because we like you and don't want to see you hurt, like saying 'duck', if something is thrown at your head. There was no reason at all for you to bend over and touch your toes."

"I'm sorry."

"Me, too."

Edgar stopped by the table to say hi. Fatima surprised me when she asked, "Sir, would you please teach me self defense like Beth?"

"Aye, lass. Be happy to. We'll start tomorrow at nine, if that's okay with you."

She looked at me. "I'm not in charge of you. If you want to meet at nine, say fine. If you'd prefer a different time, say so."

"Nine would be fine, sir."

"Wear loose clothes and comfortable shoes," Edgar said.

"Yes, sir."

Edgar walked away whistling jauntily.

"That wasn't so bad, was it?" I asked.

She shook her head and smiled.

******

After lunch, we were sitting in the top deck spa in our swimsuits. Out of the blue, Fatima asked, "Can I have a massage?"

"We can check with Roberta and see if she has an opening. Why do you want one?"

"I've never had one and wondered what it was like."

"Do you want your hair done, too?"

"Can I?"

"If not today, then some other day. Give me a minute to see if she's busy."

I went into the salon. "Fatima was wondering if she could get a massage and style?"

"Shit. I've got an appointment at 1430 with Ethan. Wait a minute, if he knows who it's for, he'll let me move it. Give me a sec."

She made a quick phone call, explaining the situation. "Great. Thanks, Ethan. I've penciled you in for tomorrow morning. You're a dear."

She gave me a thumbs up. "Tell her I'm all hers."

I went outside and gave Fatima the good news. "Come on, Roberta has an opening now."

We went inside the massage salon and Roberta was arranging the room with a few scented candles and soft Eastern music. A fluffy towel was on the massage table. She saw Fatima had a wet swimsuit on. She glanced at me. I shrugged my shoulder, mouthing, "Ask her."

"Most people wish to have a massage with their clothes off and we use a towel to protect your modesty. Would you like to take it off?"

"Oh, please, can I? I'm not used to clothes and my swimsuit feels wet and clammy now."

"Be my guest. You can use the screen to disrobe behind."

Almost as soon as the word guest left Roberta's mouth, Fatima's suit was off and she was standing in her altogether, holding out her suit. Roberta laughed and put the swimsuit in a sink to drip dry. She stopped laughing when she saw the extent of Fatima's injuries.

"Lie down on the table and put your face inside the round pillow."

Fatima lay down and Roberta put a towel over her buns.

"The massage cream I'm going to use today has a lot of Vitamin E and Aloe and it will help heal your skin and reduce the scarring. And may I say that if I ever meet the bastard who did this to you, I'm going to gut him and cut off his prick."