The Possessed

"Me too," said Erin, "me too."

********************************************************

Katrina sat on the balcony of her private chamber looking at the ocean. On the table before her sat 'breakfast'. Across the table, Prudence sat, sipping coffee and eating toast. Although the women were eating their morning meal, it was past three in the afternoon. Katrina had risen about thirty minutes earlier and had not yet dressed, a black silk robe covering her otherwise naked body.

After leaving Alex and Cathy in the dungeon, she had returned to her birthday party to continue the celebration. The party was breaking up, with the guests either getting ready to retire or preparing to continue the evening's activities in the dungeon, depending on their status and tastes. Katrina had long ago abandoned any pretense of participating in the goings-on that occurred in the dungeon. Instead, despite her status, she went straight to her room to prepare for bed. However, she was not so old as to forego the 'treat' that Prudence had arranged for her that evening.

Waiting in her room, kneeling on the bedroom floor, were April and Mari, diapered and deliciously pregnant. After disrobing, she had sat on her bed with the two pregnant slaves before her. April had been the first to pleasure her, followed almost immediately by Mari. The later had been so embarrassed that she had messed herself almost as soon as her lips had kissed Katrina's loose, but still excited, pussy. Afterwards, Katrina had April remove her diaper and watched as Mari brought her to orgasm. April had come quickly and intensely, blushing in embarrassment as she cried out in pleasure.

Katrina had then dismissed Mari, but invited April into her bed. She had been fascinated by the younger woman's body, and spent almost an hour studying it and exploring it with her hands and tongue. April, of course, had been severely embarrassed and ashamed by her condition, but this just added to Katrina's pleasure. Rubbing her swollen belly, Katrina had moved her hands between April's legs and explored her pussy. The bare lips stood loose and open and Katrina was able to stick her fingers easily inside her vagina. Inside, April was wet and slick and Katrina noticed that she moved her hips so as to take the penetrating fingers deeper inside her. April closed her eyes and moaned softly in pleasure at her Mistress's touch. "Are you excited like this all the time?" she asked.

"Yes Mistress," replied the slave.

"Fascinating!" said Katrina. And she was. The thought of being in a permanent state of sexual excitement intrigued the older woman and she made a mental note to have a talk with Manuela sometime about this phenomenon. After engaging in cunnilingus with April, Katrina had dismissed her also, and went to sleep.

Upon awaking, she had asked Prudence to join her for breakfast. "How is the professor doing?" she asked after their food had been served.

"She's resting now Mistress," said Prudence. "After Alex was finished early this morning, she checked on her, and Professor Long was most anxious to discuss the evening's events."

"Good," said Katrina. "What did you find out?"

"It appears that Erin and the others took our bait. They correctly concluded that we were impregnating the slaves, but did not realize they would be forced to remain pregnant and carry to term. Unable to determine the reason, they became curious and decided to investigate. Last night, they landed on the south end of the Island about midnight and penetrated the dungeon. Their objective was to copy our infirmary data records and record what they found. In this they, unfortunately, appear to have succeeded."

Katrina frowned, clearly displeased. "Will they be able to read the records?"

"Highly unlikely Mistress; they are secured by persona. Only myself, Anne, and Manuela have access," replied Prudence.

Katrina nodded and grunted. "Very well," she said.

"How do you wish to precede Mistress?" asked Prudence.

"Give them a day or two. Once they convince themselves that the records are useless because they cannot be read, they will be more amenable."

"Unfortunately Mistress, they know about the pregnant slaves," said Prudence.

"So?"

"If they release this information Mistress, it will impact our plans."

"Possibly, but we have something they want."

"Yes, Mistress," said Prudence.

********************************************************

Erin, Kelly, June, and Pam sat around the conference table in the great room. Pam had just finished summarizing Stacy's progress with the data records from the dungeon infirmary. "Then we can't read them?" said Erin.

"That's correct," said Pam. "They are protected with personas, similar to those used in financial transactions. Cathy had warned us about this."

Erin frowned. The records were useless. Even with Cathy's help they would be indecipherable; reading the records would require methods beyond all but those found inside Blue Onyx, the creator of the personas. Even then, they might still be unreadable. Since it was unlikely that Katrina would assist them, their efforts had come to nothing. However Erin was not unduly disappointed since there had always been a high probability that they would not be able to read the data. More perplexing were the pregnant slaves. Cassandra had left a message requesting a conference, and the four women were discussing status while waiting for her call.

A few minutes later, Cassandra's image flashed into existence before them. Looking around the room she said, "Greetings".

"Greetings," said Erin and the others. "Did you find anything?"

"Yes," said Cassandra, "most interesting, too." The four women waited in anxious silence for her to explain. "Current law says almost nothing about the offspring of slaves. Daughters of women sentenced to servitude are, of course, not subject to any penalty or other legal sanction because of their parent's misdeeds. This concept has existed from the time of inception of our current government and legal system."

Erin and the others nodded. This was common knowledge and it would be difficult to imagine the law as being otherwise.

"In fact," continued Cassandra, "the concept of punishing the offender only and not her descendants goes back centuries, if not millennia. One needs to go back several thousand years before finding examples of such punishments. However, this does not quite cover all the possibilities."

Erin looked confused and said, "How's that? What other possibilities are there?"

"There are in fact three," said Cassandra. "First is the situation we have just mentioned. A woman has a daughter or daughters, commits some offense, and is tried, found guilty and sentenced to servitude. Her daughters, as we just mentioned, remain free women and are not subject to any legal penalties."

"Yes," said Kelly nodding. "But what other possibilities are there then?"

"I would think these would be obvious in light of what you discovered," said Cassandra. Looking around, she could see that Erin and the others were still confused. "The second possibility is that a woman convicted of a crime and sentenced to servitude is pregnant at the time. The third possibility, of course, is that she has offspring after starting her sentence."

"But this is ridiculous," said Kelly. "Women don't get pregnant..." But she stopped as the implication hit her. "Oh!" she said after a few seconds.

"Let's examine the third case first" continued Cassandra. "It is unusual for a slave to have offspring after starting servitude. Although not unheard of, there are examples. The offspring of such women (slaves) are, by law free women, as one might expect."

"OK" said Erin "so what about the second case?"

"That's where matters get interesting" said Cassandra. "After examining the law, I found nothing to address this situation. This makes sense when you think about it. There are no pregnant women nowadays, so it comes as little surprise that the law does not address this situation."

Erin nodded in agreement. It made sense, after all. Who would even consider such an option nowadays? Still, it was unlikely that Zax would take the risk on an ambiguity in the law. "So you're saying Zax is trying to take advantage of the fact that the law is silent in this area? Aren't they taking a rather large risk? Furthermore, the slaves were not pregnant when they were sentenced, so what we observed is more like the third case you mentioned."

"Yes," said Cassandra. "Those were my thoughts exactly. As for your last point, Erin, the legal assumption is that the offspring of the slave would result from modern reproductive means, not pregnancy. Zax could, of course, proceed as you suggest, impregnate their slaves and take their chances with the law, afterwards. However, it is unlikely that this approach would succeed. Most likely the daughters of the slaves would be declared free women. After all, there is a precedent already in the law."

"So then, what's going on?" asked Erin.

"Well, I decided to investigate further," said Cassandra. "It turns out, that historically, the Servitude Laws did not just spring into being a hundred or so years ago. Rather, they evolved, for lack of a better word, from previous laws, that go back several hundred years. When our current set of laws were created and adopted, older, existing, laws were 'folded' into the set of laws we have today. Some of these laws were superseded by new laws, but others remained on the books, so to speak. Some of these laws addressed exactly the topic we are discussing: the disposition of the offspring of pregnant women convicted of crimes and sentenced to servitude or the offspring of such women after becoming slaves.

Cassandra paused to let Erin and the others assimilate what she had said and then continued, "To make a long story short and spare you the historical and technical details, the natural offspring of any diapered slave born after her sentence commences is, herself, a diapered slave."

"What do you mean by 'natural offspring"? June asked.

"'Natural offspring' is the technical, or polite term (if you wish) for any daughter born via pregnancy" answered Cassandra.

"So this portion of the law is still in effect?" asked Erin.

"Apparently, yes," replied Cassandra.

"Then the daughters of the pregnant diapered slaves will automatically be diapered slaves when they are born?" said Kelly.

"When they reach the age of majority," said Cassandra.

"And until then?" asked Erin.

"They are considered as human chattel," replied Cassandra.

"What's that?" said Pam.

"Property; legally they belong to Zax as slaves, but since they are minors they cannot be sexually or otherwise exploited. In fact, by law Zax is required to provide them with a minimum education and training and refrain from working them or imposing adult punishments. However when they attain legal age, they can be immediately humiliated (publicly, if desired) and diapered. At this point, they legally become diapered slaves just as if they had committed a crime and been sentenced as such."

"Is there some time limit, after they become of age, for diapering them?" asked Erin.

"Yes. Zax has one year. If they are not humiliated and diapered after that time, they become free women."

"Not likely Zax will let that happen," remarked Kelly.

"Agreed," said Erin.

The four women sat silently absorbing the information Cassandra had supplied and the counselor waited awhile before speaking again. When she did, she addressed Erin directly, "This is all very interesting from a legal point of view however it does little to help Cathy. Again, what are you going to do?"

Erin sat looking at the counselor's image for a few moments and said, "Expose them."

"Expose them for what?" said Cassandra.

"For what they are doing," said Erin.

Cassandra looked at Erin and became serious. "I warned you about this. You can't 'expose' them for anything. What they are doing is perfectly legal, albeit probably unethical. If you tell anyone you would be divulging proprietary information. Zax would almost certainly sue."

Erin smiled slightly and said, "I said expose, not divulge". Cassandra and the others looked at her confused and Erin continued, "I've been thinking about this for some time. Zax has spent a great deal of time and effort on this project and they have gone out of their way to keep it secret. They must have known before beginning that what they were doing was legal. If so why all the secrecy? Why bother trying to hide what they are doing?"

Erin paused and looked around the room, but the others sat looking at her, waiting. "Because they don't want the law changed," said Erin answering her own question. "At least not until they have produced at least one, if not more, generations of slaves."

"But who would want the law changed?" said Cassandra. "Legally it's a boon to all the diapered slave holders, and for everyone else, well slavery is just not a big enough issue, politically; most women simply don't care, as you well know."

"I agree," said Erin, "however, it's not a legal or political issue. It's economical."

"Economical?" said Cassandra, confused.

"Look," said Erin, "there are currently very, very few diapered slaves. This makes them extremely valuable, especially when you consider that they cannot be 'manufactured'. The only way to 'create' a diapered slave is for someone to commit a serious crime and be so sentenced. Since serious crime is almost non-existent, new diapered slaves become available only infrequently and sporadically. What Zax is doing changes all this. If you examine the numbers, it becomes clear that in a few generations, they could easily double or quadruple the total number of diapered slaves in their possession. Furthermore, since most diapered slaves are owned by large organizations or extremely wealthy individuals, there is the potential that others will imitate Zax and produce additional diapered slaves in the same manner. Within just a few generations the total number of such slaves could increase dramatically. At some point, this would force a substantial decrease in their value."

Erin paused and then continued "Now when I worked for World Insurance, diapered slaves were considered so valuable that they were factored into the calculations for determining the net worth of companies and other organizations. A decrease in their value would have significant negative financial repercussions. My guess is that if the other owners knew what Zax was doing, they would fight to remove this loophole from the law, to protect their investments. This is why Zax wishes to keep what they are doing secret."

Cassandra nodded her head and silently agreed with Erin. It made sense, however she said, "I can find no fault with your reasoning, however this still does not change anything. You can't legally use the information you obtained without being sued."

"I don't need to," said Erin.

"How's that?" said Cassandra.

"All we need to do is publicize the loophole in the law. This and a few well-placed rumors that one of the owners (who would of course remain unnamed), might be impregnating their slaves, should do the trick."

"Very clever," said Cassandra smiling. "You may have out done Katrina at her own game."

"I hope so," said Erin. And to herself she added: for both my sake and Cathy's.

********************************************************

Erin sat patiently looking at the image of the beautiful blue-eyed blond haired woman who was Prudence's assistant. "She'll be with you in a moment," said the woman, looking at something out of Erin's view and half a world away. Pam, Kelly, and June sat near Erin, but out of the woman's view. After consulting with Cassandra, Erin and the others had decided to make their move. They would trade their temporary silence about the law and the goings-on at Zax in return for Cathy's release and an end to the impregnation of the diapered slaves. Although Pam, Kelly, June and the others considered this a great victory (stopping the 'breading program' as they called it) Erin was less sanguine. In the end, not a single slave would be freed as a result of their work. They would only prevent the creation of more slaves. Dianna, Lisa, April, and the others would remain slaves, as well as their children. Still, as Pam pointed out, you had to take your victories where you could find them.

Outwardly, Erin appeared relaxed as she waited, but inside she was nervous. She was confident that they would persuade Prudence to release Cathy, but Erin was afraid of Katrina. Despite Cassandra's comments about out-doing Katrina, Erin had no illusions. Katrina was perhaps the sharpest living mind on the planet, and Erin knew she was outclassed. Negotiating with her was like dancing with the devil: one misstep and you would be burned.

After a few minutes, Prudence's image flashed before Erin. "Greetings," she said.

"Greetings," replied Erin.

"I've been expecting your call," began Prudence.

"Yes," said Erin trying to maintain her composure.

"Officially I must protest your unauthorized visit to Zax Island the other night. The Island is private property and visits are by invitation only," continued Prudence.

Clever, thought Erin. She's trying to put me on the defensive immediately. Perhaps even get me to admit to trespassing, or worse. However, Erin remained silent, starring impassively at Prudence.

"Perhaps your right," said Prudence after a few moments of silence. "Let's get straight to business. What do you want?"

"I want you to release Professor Long, immediately," said Erin.

"And what makes you think I even know where she is?" responded Prudence.

Erin could see that Prudence was still trying to get her to admit being on the Island, but she refused to take the bait. Instead she said, "I think you do."

"Interesting," said Prudence, eying Erin. After a few moments she said, "OK, for the sake of argument, let's suppose that the good Professor is a guest at the Castle. Why should I force her to leave?"

"I hardly think occupying a cell in the dungeon qualifies her as a guest," retorted Erin.

"That, as you well know, is a matter of opinion. I know many women who would do almost anything to get into our dungeon."

Erin ignored the slight and said, "Do you really wish to continue this verbal sparring?"

"No," said Prudence. "But you have not offered me anything in exchange for what you have demanded."

"I offer my silence, at least for the time being," said Erin.

"Silence?" said Prudence, her eyebrows rising.

"We know about the law governing the offspring of pregnant diapered slaves," said Erin.

"So?" said Prudence.

"Let's not play games," said Erin. "If you're not willing to trade, then I know several other owners who would be quite interested in finding out about this clause in the law. They might also be interested in knowing that one of the other owners has decided to take advantage of this loophole."

Prudence's face became grave and she said, "That is confidential information. Its release would force Zax into legal action to protect its interests."

"The law is hardly confidential," said Erin. "And I didn't say I would name anyone."

Prudence, frowned, her brows furrowing. "OK," she said finally.

"Not so fast," said Erin. "I also want your 'breading program' stopped, immediately."

"That's not possible," said Prudence. "Besides, as you pointed out, impregnating diapered slaves is perfectly legal."

"For the time being," said Erin.

Prudence looked at Erin, studying her face and said, "Such a program, as you call it, is time consuming and expensive. It can't just be stopped."

"Perhaps," said Erin. "Maybe 'permanently concluded' would be a better choice of words."

Prudence paused for a few moments to consider and then said, "Very well. However we will need some assurance of your silence until matters can be 'concluded'".