The Boys of Colony Theta Ch.02

"Yes, My Mistress." Danny replied, "Why, My Mistress?"

"It's... complicated." She said, "But it won't be forever - just until you are more settled. And that goes for the TV in your room as well. In fact, Ginnie, could you go and disconnect the signal input from his TV please."

Virginia stood up and went to Danny's room to disconnect his TV from the media channels.

"You can still watch movies and things that are stored in our home databank, just not the live channels, that's all." Rebecca said.

Danny knew it was not his place to question his mistress's logic and so he merely nodded his understanding.

It had been a long day for Danny. It had been exciting, scary, daunting, mesmerising, confusing and fascinating all at the same time. As he lay in bed that evening he found himself unable to sleep. The silence truly was deafening. Danny was used to sleeping communally in bunk beds in barrack-like dormitories along with all the sounds and smells that went with it. Every night was a cacophony of breathing, tossing and turning, squeaky bedsprings, yawns, farts and snoring. Trying to sleep in a room without those was difficult - after a while one gets used to them. Eventually one becomes dependent upon them to be able to get to sleep. To suddenly be without those familiar sounds and smells was decidedly unnerving.

His thoughts turned to his two friends. He wondered where Harry had ended up and what lay ahead for him as he was trained for a life of pleasuring women. He wondered how Jim would cope with having to stay inside the colony for another five years, to be forced into siring as many children as he possibly could. In some ways he envied him - not for the obvious sexual nature of Jim's continued confinement, but rather that he got to stay 'home'. The colony may have seemed like a prison of sorts to those women who had only known life on the outside, but for Danny it was a happy place, the venue for his childhood and his adolescence. The only world he had ever known. The only world he knew how to deal with.

A NEW DAWN

The sun was rising over the rooftops of central Manchester. Danny got out of bed and padded naked into his bathroom. This was another novelty to him - showering alone. Up until now, all of Danny's daily ablutions had been communal - suddenly having a shower all to himself was quite a luxury. He dressed in the same clothes from the day before - the only clothes he now possessed. The plain grey discharge uniform of the breeding colony that consisted of a grey shirt, grey socks, grey knee-length kilt and plain black shoes, was still clean however.

He went into the kitchen and set about preparing breakfast. He wanted to get his new life with his new mistresses off to a positive start and so he proceeded to fry up a full breakfast of sausage, bacon, eggs (both scrambled and fried), fried bread, toast, mushrooms and tomato. He also brewed up some fresh coffee and a large pot of tea and rounded everything off by providing a large jug of orange juice.

Virginia was the first to be roused from her slumber by the enticing aroma that emanated from the kitchen.

"Mmmm... smells nice," she said with a yawn as she took a seat at the counter, "I think I could get used to having you around."

"Good morning Mistress Virginia, what would you like?" Danny said.

"Oh please, everyone calls me Ginnie." She replied.

"Sorry, Mistress Ginnie."

"I might as well have a bit of everything." Virginia said.

Danny served her a full breakfast with a large cup of fresh tea and took a seat beside her to eat his own breakfast. Once she had finished, Virginia disappeared back to her room to get dressed for the working day ahead.

Rebecca was next to appear. She was dressed smartly in a tailor-made business suit. She hadn't thus far informed Danny as to the nature of her employment but he figured it must be some kind of corporate position that obviously paid well enough to afford a penthouse apartment.

"Good morning, My Mistress." Danny said politely.

"A cooked breakfast, eh?" Rebecca said as she took her place at the kitchen counter, "You have been busy haven't you!"

"I just wanted to get off to a good start," Danny said, "and also as a bit of a thank you for taking me in."

"Well that's very sweet of you," Rebecca said, "but there's no need to go to all this trouble every day. Usually we just have toast and cereals for breakfast."

Rebecca tucked in to her cooked breakfast whilst Danny cleared up after himself and Virginia, loading their plates into the dishwasher. Once she had finished, Rebecca and Virginia headed out off to work.

"Eve has the day off today," Rebecca said as she picked up a briefcase, "I told her she is to take you into town so that you can buy some new clothes. Normally, a boy leaving the breeding colony would have to spend part of his discharge grant on new clothes but I've given Eve 2,000 credits for you to spend."

"Thank you, My Mistress," Danny said gleefully, "have a nice day at work!"

The door closed behind them. Seconds later, Eve came into the room wearing her pyjamas. They were smart, navy blue, silk and obviously quite expensive.

"Good morning Mistress Eve." Danny said as courteously as he could, remembering her admonishment from the previous day, "Can I interest you in a cooked breakfast?"

"That'd be lovely." She said, "Look, I really am sorry for slapping you yesterday. It's just that from day one a girl is taught that we're superior to males and that they must always address us women as Mistress - I just got carried away."

"Apology accepted, Mistress Eve." Danny replied.

Eve sat down and helped herself to breakfast.

"Wow, it's not every day we get treated to a full cooked breakfast around here." Eve said as Danny served her.

"Well, it's mainly to say thank you to you all for taking me in and also for introducing me to Chinese food!" Danny said with a smile.

"Mum tells me that I have to take you into town to buy some clothes." Eve said as she ate.

"Yes, My Mistress says that she has given you 2,000 credits for me to spend. She seems to be a most generous woman."

"Well, traipsing around shops all day buying clothes isn't exactly my idea of fun but it'll be nice to get to know you a bit better and also to show you around."

"That would be great," Danny said, "although I don't know if I'll find it too scary."

"Scary?"

"Well, once I stepped outside the colony for the first time yesterday, I became overwhelmed by the sight of the sky." Danny said, "I'd never seen it before. Not properly anyway."

"I thought the roofs of the domes allowed sunlight in? Surely that means you could see the sky from inside."

"Only up to a point - apparently, or so we were all told, the material the domes are made out of diffuses natural sunlight so that it doesn't get too hot inside. We could see when it was light or when it was dark but other than that we couldn't see anything of the sky."

"You poor thing," Eve said, "I can't imagine growing up without ever seeing the sky. Now that I think about it, there are a lot of things you have grown up without isn't there? I mean, you have no idea who your mother or father is, and you have no brothers or sisters. You don't even have much in the way of possessions either."

"Well, in fairness, you have no idea who your father is either, Mistress Eve. Nobody knows who their father is."

"That's a fair point I suppose." Eve mused, "But still, it can't be easy not having a mum and coming from inside the colony out into the world outside the domes totally alone."

"It certainly feels a lot colder, but at least I have you and Mistress Ginnie and My Mistress to look after me now." Danny said.

As soon as Eve finished her breakfast, she headed to the room she shared with her sister in order to shower and get dressed. Danny finished up cleaning away the breakfast things and tidying up the kitchen. After a while, his thoughts turned to the previous days events. Especially the bizarre little exchange between the two sisters about what was behind the door at the end of the bedroom corridor. His curiosity getting the better of him, he went to the door. It had a shiny black hand-scanner pad identical to the one by the front door of the apartment. He placed his hand on it like he had seen his mistress do the day before.

A red light came on accompanied by a buzzing sound.

Just then, Eve exited her room.

"What are you doing?"

"I was um... curious, Mistress Eve." Danny said sheepishly. "I just wanted to see what was in the spare room."

Eve sighed.

"It's probably best you keep out of there, for the time being at least." Eve said, "It's locked for a reason".

"What is in there?" Danny demanded, "Why the big mystery?"

"I can't say." Eve answered, "Only that mum said I can tell you that you'll find out once you've had a few days to settle in properly."

Danny and Eve rode the lift down to the lobby of the apartment block. He wondered why the room at the end of the hall had to be so mysterious - was there something in there that was dangerous? And if so, why was it dangerous? Did Eve know more about what was in there than she was letting on? Danny reasoned that she must - it was impossible that she could have lived there for so long and never to have been in there, even with the hand-scanner lock.

The city centre of Manchester was a truly awe-inspiring, and at first, terrifying place for Danny. But he felt safe with Eve to protect him and after a while he began to feel a little more relaxed as he acclimatised to the urban environment. Having his very first taste of retail therapy helped - with the distraction of shopping for clothes, he soon forgot about how scary the outside world was.

The huge maleswear sections of the various stores in the city centre were truly dazzling places to Danny.

For the women of the world in the aftermath of the Andrasta plague, there were many words and phrases that simply either did not apply since there were no males outside of the breeding colonies, or had gradually fallen out of use over time. Many of the words that had fallen out of use were masculine nouns. Father was still applicable - after all, every person still had a father, even if they had no idea who their father was. But one word that had fallen out of use was 'man'. The human male was referred to simply as a 'male'. This included all areas of everyday life - there was no such thing as a 'gentleman', a 'guy', a 'bloke', a 'dude' or a 'lad'. The only terms to describe a human in possession of a Y-Chromosome were 'male' or 'boy'.

Of course, with all males under the age of 18 being confined to the breeding colonies, no woman, other than those who worked inside, ever saw a real live boy in the flesh. They always emerged from the colony as fully grown, if emotionally immature, adults. Boy was simply used as an alternative to male.

Eve could never understand why the womenswear sections were, by contrast, usually only a quarter of the size of the maleswear sections. Once upon a time, things had been the opposite way round - it was the womenswear sections that took up the most retail space. That was in the days when a woman was expected to look good for the men in her life. Now, with women making the vast majority of the workforce, there was less time for the pursuit of clothes and the gender bias of the fashion industry shifted from being a typically female pursuit, to being a typically male pursuit. A male was expected to look good for his mistress at all times. A well turned-out and fashionably dressed male reflected well on his mistress. If a male looked scruffy and unkempt his mistress would be sure to be seen by other women as a failure, that she was unable of looking after the males in her charge. There was, as a result, enormous social pressure on males to look their best.

Eventually, Eve had helped Danny pick out a whole new wardrobe for himself. A selection of new kilts (all of which were shorter and more revealing than those he had worn inside the breeding colony), waistcoats, shirts, figure-hugging leggings and suitably alluring underwear designed to show off 'a male's best assets' had been purchased and almost all of the 2,000 credits Rebecca had given Danny, had been spent. He had spent some of his own money on a new bookscreen that had been pre-loaded with a whole selection of books, some holo-pictures for his bedroom walls and a plethora of toiletries including some rather expensive aftershave. A boy had to smell as good as he looked at all times after all.

He also purchased a selection of cufflinks and tiepins, some of which were studded with tiny jewels. Finally, as an apology for hitting him the day before, Eve bought him a gold bracelet.

By the end of a tiring day of shopping and weighed down with bags and boxes, a footsore Danny and Eve boarded a taxi-pod and headed for home. Danny had to make a start on the evening meal before his mistress arrived home.

The following day, Danny got down to the business of housework. All boys were trained to be adept at household chores such as cooking, cleaning, laundry and other handiwork, so Danny was no stranger to domestic servitude. Rebecca's apartment had many labour-saving devices and automated systems so Danny found the work itself to be pretty minimal. The only part of his day's chores that proved to be taxing was tidying up the girl's bedroom. It seemed as though there wasn't an inch of carpet that didn't have at least one item of unwashed clothing strewn upon it and he filled an entire basket with the twin's underwear alone. He piled it all down the laundry chute and then rode the lift down into the basement to the laundry room. Here he used the washer-drier to clean all the dirty laundry and then loaded it all into the automated steam ironing and folding machine.

The laundry taken care of, he turned his attention to cleaning and dusting the girl's bedroom. He found the lewd holographic posters that graced the walls and ceiling to be most distasteful, as though their subjects were mere objects to be ogled at instead of living young males with hopes and dreams and feelings of their own. He felt like tearing them all down but he knew that it was not his place to do so. Reluctantly, he left them where they were.

After several hours of toil, he was finally satisfied with his work. The hard part was done; all he needed to do now was to keep on top of it. The rest of the apartment only needed a light dusting and vacuuming, and the machines would take care of that for him, all he had to do was program them and set them off.

EAVESDROPPING

Danny had almost finished cooking dinner for the evening. It was just about ready and so he went towards his mistress's bedroom to tell her it was ready. Just before he knocked on Rebecca's door, he could hear that his mistress was on the vidifone to someone.

"Oh you should see him Em, he's absolutely adorable!" Rebecca said. Is she talking about me? Danny wondered, his ear pressed against the door.

Rebecca must have been using the wireless headset to talk with whoever was on the other end of the line, as he couldn't hear any reply.

"Daniel, although he prefers to be called Danny." Rebecca continued. The person at the other end of the line had obviously enquired as to what his name was.

Another unheard reply.

"Only once so far and even then only briefly - that'll all be about to change soon of course."

What was that about?

Danny looked around to see if either of the girls was observing his eavesdropping.

"Well, I thought it only fair to give him a couple of weeks to settle in before..."

Danny couldn't make out the rest of that sentence.

"Well, yes of course you can come. You were first on my invitation list, how can I not invite my best friend?"

"There'll only be about ten of us, including the twins - I don't think it's fair on him for there to be too big an audience. I remember when we went to Sally's that time, there must've been about 80 of us there - the poor boy was terrified!"

An invitation-only event? An audience? What on Earth was going on? What was Rebecca planning?

"Well, I'll be first of course and then I promised the twins that they could each have a turn..."

A noise from the living area distracted his attention. He craned his neck to see what it was. It didn't seem to be anything to worry about so he turned his attention back to the ongoing vidifone conversation in the bedroom beyond.

"Okay, well I'll see you then. About 8 o'clock. Oh, and don't forget to bring a bottle."

A brief silence ensued as the person at the other end spoke.

"Well if you want one of your own, all you have to is put your name on the waiting list. Anyway, I'd better hang up - Danny will have dinner ready in a minute. Bye Em!"

There was a brief tone and then a computerised female voice announced,

"Transmission terminated - thank you for using vidifone services."

The dinner! Danny panicked as he dashed back to the kitchen. He was just in time to stop a pan of potatoes from boiling over. Upon checking the oven however, he discovered with dismay that his grilled steaks and roasted vegetables looked decidedly overdone.

He sighed. He knew he would be in trouble for this.

He plated everything up and then announced that dinner was ready.

His culinary transgression did not go unnoticed.

"I'm sorry My Mistress," Danny said apologetically, "I'm afraid I got distracted for a few moments."

"Distracted? What by?" Rebecca asked.

"Oh, erm... just something on the television." Danny replied.

"I hope it wasn't a commercial." Rebecca said.

"Why, My Mistress?"

"Never you mind why." Rebecca said tersely, "What was it that distracted you?"

"Oh, it was an article on the news." Danny improvised, "About that fire at Breeding Colony Gamma the other day."

Danny hoped this seemed plausible enough. There had been a fire in the discharge centre of Breeding Colony Gamma, deep in the Rocky Mountains in Colorado. Dozens of boys, some merely hours away from being released from the colony, had perished in the flames before the blaze could be brought under control. Rebecca seemed to buy into Danny's falsehood, much to his relief.

"I'm sorry My Mistress, I won't let it happen again."

"It had better not happen again." Rebecca said, "But I'll forgive you for getting distracted and ruining dinner on this occasion."

"Thank you, My Mistress." Danny replied.

"However," Rebecca said gravely, "you know full well that you are not allowed to watch television unattended - even if it is only the news channel. So I'm afraid that I shall have to punish you for that after dinner."

"Yes, My Mistress." Danny said with a sigh of resignation.

Rebecca was true to her word. After dinner, once Danny had taken care of the dishes and all of the pots and pans, Rebecca called him into the living area. There, in front of the two girls, she ordered him to lie across her lap. Danny dutifully did as instructed.

"I didn't want it to have to come to this, Danny." Rebecca said, "But you must learn to be obedient, not just to me but to all women."

Rebecca lifted up Danny's kilt and then pulled down his underwear just far enough to expose his smooth buttocks.

SMACK!

Rebecca spanked his bare bottom causing him to yelp from the sudden sting of pain.

SMACK!

A second spank - a second yelp.

SMACK!

Danny looked at Eve and Virginia as they sat opposite in rapt fascination.

SMACK!

A tear welled in the corner of Danny's eye.

SMACK!

"OWWW!! P... please, My Mistress."

SMACK!

Rebecca ignored Danny's plea for clemency.