by Johnny Stone
Burke growled in disgust, flicking his cigarette butt into the water with a distant hiss. His brother, Donovan, the one man that actually had the money and ability to help, would doubtfully consider it if asked. Margo would be nothing but another slave to him, an insect barely worthy of his precious time, and an annoying distraction from his all-consuming world of running the family business. No different than Donna had been.
The hard steel of inflexible compromise filled Burke’s soul. He was going to have to find the solution himself, no different than usual. There’s no such thing as a no-win scenario; I’ll have to find another way to free her is all. Burke turned away from the pond heading back to his quarters for the night, with a grim sense of determination. Because I’m sure as hell not going to make the same stupid mistake twice and let Margo slip through my fingers again.
Chapter Seven
The light in my room sprang to life with glaring ferocity, forcing my bruised and aching face deeper into the pillow. Something that sounded vaguely like a groan followed shortly thereafter. Every cell in my body felt worn and totally drained. How long had I slept? Minutes, a few hours if I were lucky? I don’t remember coming back from the party last night. I don’t remember much of anything in fact.
The morning chime called me to service from a thousand miles away. My sore and sticky thighs drew apart with a racking whimper, hips groaning in protest. Slowly, biting against the pain, I reached back to find a score of raised welts covering my ass. Fingertips glided across swollen cheeks that throbbed in distress, before finding the source of my next discomfort. They came away moist and slick, with just a bit of dark blood on them. My asshole felt puffy, red hot and ached deeply. I barely remembered the dream of having it stretched painfully wide with some sort of speculum, followed by an innumerable number of male party guests masturbating into my gaping ass.
I lay in bed unmoving, fretfully letting the cool air dance between my legs. The fiery burn in my raw and gaping cunt felt like lava, like I’d had continuous sex with a hundred men throughout the night. Hell, maybe I did for all I know. Even the gentle touch of a breeze brought forth more agony. I tried to remember the night in detail, and how I’d wound up in such a sorry state, but couldn’t. Maybe in the recess of my mind, I didn’t want to remember.
“Get up, 18, it’s morning, no slacking,” A harsh voice growled through my door. I groaned, but couldn’t bring myself to rise.
“I said, get up!” The voice drew closer, followed by the shock of a stun baton on my leg. I jumped, squealing in distress, before my old misery returned, crushing me beneath it again.
The sound of frenzied scuffling was followed by a welcome voice. “Leave her alone, Eric!” Something heavy slammed against the wall out in the hallway. “Don’t ever touch her again, ever!”
“But, Mr. Burke, I was-!”
“Get out of here, go see to the others, and tell Torri to give the morning briefing for me. Move!” There was a rush of air at my side.
“Nathan?”
“Quiet, don’t say anything.”
I was carefully lifted from bed, cradled in his arms. A primal screech crawled from my parched lips, followed by the first trickle of a tear down my swollen cheek. My eyes cracked open, gummy and dim. Where did all the blood come from? Fear stared back at me, cascading like a waterfall behind Nathan’s deep gray eyes. I threw an arm weakly around his neck, in a feeble effort to hug him.
Nathan carried my limp body briskly down the hall under a blur of overhead lights that seemed to twist and turn at random. Every footfall sent jolts of excruciating torture through my already ravaged body. My head swam, and I closed my eyes against the sensation of sickening nausea setting in. I heard voices whispering on the edge of my consciousness, pony voices of concern, just before I smelled the wet heavy air, scented with salt and chemicals, of the bath area.
“Are all of you blind, none of you saw the condition she was brought back in? Everyone out, I’ll see to her myself!” The quick footsteps of the terrified attendants faded, and the door slid closed behind them.
“Try to relax, and don’t say anything. I’m going to put you in the whirlpool.”
I screamed, trembling in near shock, as I sank gently into the warm bubbling water. Nathan was at the controls, working them with skilled expertise; I felt its healing effects almost immediately. I smelled more chemicals coming off the mist, and I inhaled deeply, while a numbing relaxation started to spread throughout me, pushing away the pain.
Nathan removed a small cylindrical object from his pocket, setting it on the lip of the whirlpool near my head. A strange, sub-harmonic vibration tickled the inside of my brain, and I looked at the device more closely; it was a white noise generator and video jammer. It had never occurred to me that the rooms might be under surveillance.
He dug through a nearby wall cabinet, returning with an auto-injector gun filled with a vial of swirling silver. “Don’t move, I’m going to give you a nanite injection.” I grimaced feeling slightly uncomfortable when he placed it against my arm, followed by the sharp sting of them entering my body.
I called them gremlins. They were military grade nano-bots originally developed to treat severe wound trauma on the battlefield. They really were amazing though, able to do just about anything short of setting bones and regrowing amputations, in a relatively short period of time. I just didn’t like the idea of little creatures running rampant inside me; they could rend and tear, killing a person just as easily as healing them, if something went wrong with their programming. It gave me the creeps just thinking about it, not to mention slightly nervous. I found it hard to believe my condition was serious enough to warrant them in the first place. I should be good as new in no time at all though, an hour at most, and then the little buggers would begin their journey out of my body along with the other normal, bodily waste.
Nathan pulled up a chair beside me, intent with worry. He didn’t say anything while my strength slowly returned over the next few minutes. In time, I cleared my throat with a gravelly cough, wincing, trying to speak. It felt like I’d been throat fucked for a day or so, and I could still taste the Master, or someone, in my mouth.
“Feeling a little better?” I nodded weakly. “It’s safe to talk now. Damn, I’ve seen a lot of ponies come back after a night with Michael, but nothing this bad. If I would have had any idea… I’m so sorry.” Worried eyes continued to dart over my body, inspecting the atrocity of my flesh, even as it faded.
“I really don’t remember much,” I rasped, swallowing painfully. “It’s all a hazy blur after you and your- Dammit! Why didn’t you tell me she was your sister, Nathan? Why didn’t you tell me you were one of them? This isn’t funny, what’s going on?”
“It’s that damn processor in your head,” he growled to the floor. “You were so pumped up with endorphins he could do about anything to you, and by the looks of it, he did. I saw the reports from the Holloway Company and our own people; I know what that thing can make you do. The son of a bitch, I’ll beat him to a pulp!” Nathan was shaking with rage. I didn’t care about that right now, I wanted answers.
“I’ll be fine, it’s nothing I haven’t been through before,” I choked out hesitantly. “But I asked you a question, don’t change the subject. If this is some sort of a sick game on your part, because if it is, I swear to god-”
“Remind me never to piss you off,” Nathan smirked lightly. “You’re half dead and still trying to chew me a new ass.” Then he smiled with just a hint of the old mischief in his eyes that always made me feel warm and tingly. “It’s nice to see you back, Venom, I missed you.”
I blushed with a shameful frown, looking down at the swirling mass of bubbles around me. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to snap at you like that, but I…I was just afraid that-” Nathan leaned down, pulling my head to his chest, kissing the top of it. My arm looped up around his neck.
“Don’t sweat it, ace, it’s probably time I leveled with you anyway. I
never meant to mislead you, things are just complicated is all.”
I closed my eyes against his chest, soothed by the sound of his voice, as he began the sad tale of his life, and how he’d ultimately come to be is sister’s dutiful keeper after leaving the service.
Nathan Burke had been born into an extremely wealthy family, the youngest of three children. His parents were dead, killed in an accident fourteen years ago. Nathan and his sister had always been close, while Donavon, his older brother, remained an aloof entity throughout most of his life. He’d left home before Nathan was even born.
By the sounds of it, Donovan had always been a ruthless businessman in his own right, a man with a knife fighter’s edge to destroy anyone, or thing, that got in the way during his quest for power. Donovan held the reins to the family empire now, consumed in a world of money and big business, growing even more distant and cold-hearted in the process. I shook my head in disgust when Nathan told me his brother actually had the audacity to seize his share of the inheritance after their parent’s death. The story at the time was that it was for his own good. Yeah right… In the end, Donovan had ultimately used it for his own personal gain, to no one’s surprise.
“I trusted him and he shafted me, taking everything that mom and dad left me. I never had the business sense he did; I never saw it coming. Besides, I was always on board a ship someplace, or on some ball of dirt to do anything about it anyway. All I have left now is my pension and disability, and what I make here. I took the Overseer position purely out of boredom; I don’t care about the money, I never have. Maybe that’s why Donovan and I never really saw eye to eye in the first place.” Nathan paused with a huff.
“Well, the same air car accident that killed our parents left Donna in a hospital-induced coma for several months. She wasn’t the same person after coming out of it, basically left with the mentality of a seven-year-old. At least she didn’t suffer any physical impairment as a result of the accident.”
Nathan had only been able to see her briefly during her hospitalization, and not again until many years afterwards. Leave from the service during the dire time of interstellar war, even for a situation like this, was a rarity for anyone, let alone an officer that was considered mission essential. With Nathan’s continued absence, Donna had been left in the care of their cold, self-serving brother. During the course of trying to contend with the vast responsibility of running a mega-corporation, he continually pushed the responsibility of Donna’s care into the hands of others. At first it had been his servants and droids, then finally Michael Savota, one of his business associates. Things only spiraled downward from there.
Donna and Michael were married shortly thereafter, and at first Nathan had only suspected it was because of the money, and the opportunities that would present themselves by marrying into the family. Now he knew for certain of it. Over the years, she had been more or less tricked/coerced into signing much of her immense wealth away. An unscrupulous doctor’s recommendation that she was unfit to manage her own affairs, given her current condition, didn’t help in the legal sense. Donovan was still the executor of her estate, but Michael now had full legal control over the day to day running of the ranch: the land, the disbursement of funds, and the slaves. Her status had been reduced to nothing more than a figurehead, for all intent and purpose. Donna’s child-like mind, and her misguided trust and love for a greedy and manipulative man, had been returned with nothing but lies until he got what he wanted from her. Now it isn’t even that much.”
“Does she still love him?”
“No, I don’t think so; they’ve grown apart over the years. They even have separate rooms, and as far as I know, they don’t sleep together any longer. Michael has more than enough slaves for that, ones that are easier to control and more susceptible to his perverse tastes.” He looked away from me ashamed. “He pulled that crap with Donna in the past though,” Nathan’s voiced turned hard as steel. “After I got here it stopped. No amount of money can bring you back from the dead if you know what you’re doing, and I made sure he understood that.” Apparently, Michael’s treatment of her ran the full spectrum of abuse at one time.
I looked up at Nathan, stroking his cheek filled with guilt. “It’s not your fault this happened. How could you have known?”
“I should have been here for her, Margo; I should have never trusted Donovan to look after her in the first place, let alone a shitbag like Michael. If I would have known things were as bad as they were, I would have resigned my commission and left Fleet sooner.” The poor guy, he was blaming himself for everything that had happened to his sister over the last twelve years during her marriage to Michael.
“I still find it hard to believe your brother would just throw her to the wolves like that. It’s just so wrong.”
Nathan shrugged. “Honestly, I don’t think he knows. He might talk to Donna once or twice a year, and hasn’t been home since our parents died. He gets periodic updates from Michael and hands out the money if needed. That’s about the extent of his interest in the whole situation, from my perspective. Needless to say, Donovan and I don’t talk anymore; I doubt he’d be able to find the time to return my calls anyway,” Nathan smirked sarcastically. “Even if he did believe me.”
“So why keep you and her around then? Its sounds like if he wanted to, Michael could divorce her and still keep everything.” Nathan was thoughtfully quiet for a few moments.
“I think it is because of Donovan. My brother might be a heartless bastard, but in the back of his mind he still wants what’s best for Donna. She has the best medical care here and more than enough people to look after her needs. If Michael were to get rid of her, or maybe even me for that matter, I think my brother would come down on him with an army of lawyers, destroying the little world he’s created for himself. Donavon’s a powerful man, not only here but also in the business community as a whole. He owns a majority share of stock in Slave World now, not to mention being one of the senior members of the Landowners Association.
“Besides, why would Michael want to get rid of her and take the chance of jeopardizing things? He has everything he could possibly want because of her money, with no one to answer to for his actions. It’s a win-win situation for him.”
“Then why not just leave? Why not just take Donna, and get the hell out of here?” I shivered, looking at the bruises covering my arms, and the fading welts on my breasts. God, I don’t even remember how I got them. Is that a bite mark? “If he… abused her in the past, then why-”
Nathan shook his head, giving me a sorrowful smile. “This is Donna’s home. She feels safe here regardless of the relationship with Michael. I think she may have feelings for Cirus too; that’s the impression I get anyway. She doesn’t mess around with the other slaves like Michael does, but I know her and Cirus spend time together occasionally.”
So I was right. Why in the hell would she want to sleep with that asshole anyway? Something wasn’t adding up here; if she and Cirus had some sort of relationship going on, then why give him permission to fuck all the other ponies whenever he liked? That didn’t sound like normal behavior for two people in love, at least to me anyway.
“She won’t ever leave, at least not of her own free will, which means I’m staying as well. I still have the ability to keep that asshole, Michael, in line whether he thinks so or not.”
I looked long and deep into Nathan’s pained eyes, understanding all too well what kept him here now: love and selfless duty, born from delusional guilt. I wanted to reach out and hold him, to comfort him in some way. It’s a hard thing to live with guilt for so many years; I know because I feel it every day of my life for what I put my mom and sister through years ago. And now I have the guilt of unfaithfulness to deal with as well. The Master had taken a piece of my soul last night that could never be returned. I’d betrayed Nathan, whether it was voluntary or not, but the worst thing was, that I knew I’d enjoyed it, begged for it, because of that goddamn remote.
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The whole comment about Cirus and Donna left me concerned, partially for Donna, but more so for Nathan. He cared for her so deeply that I wouldn’t have been able to live with myself if something happened to her, and I’d kept quiet about it. I told Nathan what I knew, and was greeted with complete surprise.
“No, she would never give him permission to do that. Donna doesn’t even know about the breeding schedule the ponies have. I didn’t know about Cirus’ visits to the other pony girls at night.”
I was content to let Nathan think in silence for some time, closing my eyes and relaxing as my body regained some semblance of normality again. I was so tired and strung out from last night that all I wanted to do was fall asleep in his arms. Actually I did nod off at some point.
“Something isn’t right here. I have no idea why Cirus would be screwing around, fucking everything in sight when they aren’t together. He shouldn’t be doing that anyway, there’s to be no sexual contact between ponies outside of the schedule. He knows that, the guards know that, those are the rules.” Nathan was on to something, and none of it made sense to either one of us, apparently.
“I’m going to check into this, Margo, I’m going to check into a lot of things as a matter of fact. I’m also going to have a little talk with Michael about last night. You’re his slave and I can’t stop him from taking his liberties with you, but as the stable Overseer I can raise hell about the condition you came back in without raising suspicion.”
I reached for his hand, pleading. “Nathan, please… I don’t want to see you get in trouble. I…I can learn to live with what Michael does to me, it…he means nothing to me.” His fingers wrapped gently around mine.
“I need to find a way to get you out of here. He can do anything he wants to you because of that remote, and you’ll only beg for more, even if it kills you. That’s far too much power for him to have over anyone, slave or not, especially you, and it needs to stop.” I hung my head ashamed; I felt so polluted after last night.