Into the Flames - Chapter 6.5

     Two hours passed and there was no sign of or word from Lakshmi. Kuen paced around the room, at times clasping his hands behind his back and at other times clenched in fists at his sides. It wasn’t long before Michi strode into the room. Mihail was nowhere in sight, though he could smell the scent of satiation on her.

     “Kuen, where is Lakshmi?” she asked, smoothing her sable hair with one hand.

     “She has gone to the University,” Kuen said. “She left two hours ago and I have heard nothing since.”

     “She most likely has not even reached it yet, given the time of day,” Michi said. “Traffic will be backed up as tight as the molecules strung together to make our DNA. I would not expect her back for another five or six hours, assuming they do not give her trouble at the University since she is not the entering student.” She scowled at him. “Why did you not go with her?”

     “You gave me freedom of movement around the estate, but not off of it,” Kuen said. “I am abiding by your direction, Mother.”

     Michi had to stretch to do it, but she patted his cheek. The long, gold nails troubled him for some reason. “You are turning into a very obedient son, Kuen. This pleases me greatly.”

     Kuen felt a little thrill as she bestowed a smile on him that was far more than the usual little half fake quirk of the lips. “That is what I hope to do, Mother,” he said.

     “Your servant, on the other hand, while satisfying in certain respects was far from pleasing,” Michi said with a sigh, turning away. “He had no stamina and could not endure more than even the slightest bit of pain. He was not what I was looking for in a sexual partner.”

     “Was?” Kuen asked, dreading the answer. “So you do not wish to continue with his company this evening?”

     Michi laughed. “Kuen, my darling boy, no one will ever enjoy his company again. The poor thing died by the time I was finished with him. Hence my comment about a lack of stamina.”

     “So Lakshmi will have to go to the market to find me a new servant,” Kuen said, dreading his mother’s irritation over that one.

     “No, though she will be punished for bringing home such an inferior specimen,” Michi said. “There are still several hours of daylight left, and I desire a chance to leave the house. We will go together to the market so you may choose your own servant. And who knows? I may find a new playmate or two that will last longer than that useless, quivering ball of wasted flesh. Besides, I also need to make the arrangements for having a body removed.”

     “Mother, do you have a preference in the gender identification of my servant?” Kuen asked.

     “Of course not,” Michi said. “I have my own servants who offer certain benefits. Lakshmi is one of the few I have given up on dragging to my bed after my first few attempts were rejected.” She shrugged one elegantly clad shoulder. “There is little I can do against a woman with as strong a will as Lakshmi’s without falling under a breach of contract. She is not an indentured servant, after all. She was freeborn and free she has remained, other than being in my employ.”

     Kuen nodded. “Then shall we go?” he asked.

     “First, you will do something with that hair of yours,” Michi said. “I do not approve of flyaway hair on men.”

     “Mother, my hair is partially contained in a silver clip. It will not be in my face,” Kuen said. “Nor will it give a convenient handle for someone to latch onto should I be attacked. Granted it is harder to cut off like this, but I am willing to accept that fact since you were the one who insisted I let them grow it out.”

     “Kuen, a true gentleman wears his hair contained in a braid at the very least,” Michi said.

     Kuen smiled. “Perhaps I will set a new style then, Mother. Think of the prestige that will grant me.”

     Michi pursed her lips, then gave him one of her fake half smiles. “You may do as you wish this time, Kuen. You have been very obedient, after all. However, do not think this gives you freedom to do as you please at all times.”

     “I would not dream of it, Mother,” Kuen said. He bowed deeply to her, enjoying her throaty laughter. “I believe we are ready then?”

     “We are,” Michi said. “With the exception of our jackets. It will be chilly in the market. They should be here momentarily. I already sent a servant after them.”

     True to her word, a servant brought in a pair of light coats for the two of them. Kuen made sure his was buttoned up properly and smoothed any unwanted creases with his hand. Michi motioned for him to follow her and led him out of the house.

     The car waiting for them wasn’t the limousine he was expecting. It was a cherry red Sunstar Flare, one of the new, top of the line models. “Mother, I do not remember this flitter from when I looked in the garage,” he said.

     “It arrived this morning,” Michi said. “It is the main reason I was holding you here on the estate. The flitter is designed specifically for someone of your height and body mass. I will be directing you. You will be the one driving to the market.”

     “I will strive to drive in a manner you find acceptable,” Kuen said. Michi got into the front passenger seat while Kuen settled himself behind the controls. He familiarized himself with the setup before lifting the small hovercraft off the ground and heading out for the main road.

     It only took an hour and a half to reach the market. There was one conveniently located near the Nakano estate. Once there, Michi took the time to explain how the market was set up and how it worked. Then they entered.

     Kuen looked around at the cell like rooms set up with two to three indentured people seated in each one. A panel set in front of each told about their specific education and abilities. They also gave warning of bad behaviors, proclaimed the good behaviors, and celebrated any special rewards they’d been given.

     Kuen and Michi wandered through the area where the servants who could be both servant and personal aide to the elite were gathered for over an hour. Kuen didn’t care for the look of any of them. He saw his mother was growing more irritated as he refused every one she pointed out.

     He was about to take the next one his mother chose for him simply because he was exhausted when a flash of red caught his attention. It wasn’t very bright, but it did draw him down the line to the demure looking young woman sitting alone in her cubicle.

     He found himself looking at a rather lovely red haired young woman. She looked legal, but just barely. He shook his head and went to her information panel. He saw just how violent and depraved she’d been until something caught her eye.

     “Mother, what does ‘reprogrammed’ mean?” Kuen asked.

     “It means they did things to them that even I would never do to a servant, and I know I am one of the more depraved of society,” Michi said. “Why?”

     “Her information says she has been reprogrammed,” Kuen said.

     Michi came and looked at what he was reading. “Interesting,” Michi said. “She is actually an indentured woman from the Aureliya Sector. That is very unusual.”

     “She is from Oanov,” Kuen said, frowning as he dredged up the memories of his classes on the various planets in the different sectors. “It is a very repressed world, Mother. Women have strict roles they are required to adhere to as per their traditions.”

     Michi tapped her fingernail against her lips. “How odd,” she said. “Usually when the women run from Oanov, they go to the Duyelia Sector. As backwards as it is, that area is still a step up. Do they give any other information on her past crimes?”

     Kuen bit the inside of his cheek to keep from snapping at her. “Let me see. I am still reading on how long it took to re-program her,” he said.

     “What time frame did they give?” Michi asked as he moved beyond that point in the data.

     “Nearly two weeks,” Kuen said.

     Michi let out a soft moan. “Two weeks of enduring such intense torture,” she said, burning eyes locked on the young woman’s face. She licked her lips. “The amount of willpower she must have once had would have been an amazing thing to see.”

     “The documentation warns that she is still fairly willful,” Kuen said. “Even after the reprogramming. They do state that they cannot guarantee that she will not revert to her personality prior to their attempts at correction, simply because she is the most strong willed woman that this particular agent has ever dealt with.”

     “Does it say what her background is?” Michi asked.

     “Temple slave on Oanov,” Kuen said, reading. “Though their official term is ‘Temple Helpmeet.’ These are women who, for one reason or another, are not allowed to marry and have children in the usual way.”

     “Now that I was not aware of,” Michi said.

     “I learned the term while at the Academy, and got the truth of the meaning from another cadet whose mother was a Temple Helpmeet,” Kuen said. “She was one before she died.”

     “How could he have known that? Children as young as the Tribunal usually requires should have nothing but the barest memories of their parents,” Michi said.

     “The Tribunal made an exception in his case as he was nine when he arrived. My belief, and his as well, is his father was a member of the Tribunal and needed to do something with him to avoid embarrassment,” Kuen said absently as he continued reading the information sheet. “Do not think he is weak for having entered so late. He is one of the better soldiers, though he is not at my level.” He frowned. “She fell into debt from all of the court costs and fines leveled against her for denying all men who came to her their ‘rightful dues.’”

     “Rightful dues?” Michi asked.

     “She most likely refused him sex and fought back when he tried to rape her,” Kuen said. He shook his head. “I would adore a chance to have such a creature at my beck and call, but will I have time to attend to the matter if she breaks her reconditioning?”

     “I think we should get her,” Michi said. Kuen didn’t miss the slight twitch on the red haired woman’s face.

     He smiled. “What will we do if she breaks her reprogramming?” he asked. “I do not have the skill or the time to spend forcing her back into place again.”

     “That is very true,” Michi said. “And sadly, I will be leaving in a few days to resume my work offworld.” She fiddled with her necklaces. “Lakshmi will be coming with me this time, so you will not have her to fall back on. Nor will any of the other servants be up to the task.”

     “My lady, my lord, are you perhaps interested in our Gypsy?” an obsequious woman dressed in a black bodysuit with red epaulets asked as she joined them.

     “Gypsy?” Michi asked.

     “That’s the name we gave her when we reprogrammed her,” the woman said, clinically examining the pale red head sitting in front of them. “She has the name her parents gave her, of course. But we won’t use that, just in case it draws the old personality back.” She sighed. “Not that we think Gypsy was actually broken.”

     “Why do you say that?” Michi asked.

     “Gypsy is – unique,” the woman said. “She was raised in the Temple, the daughter of one of the other Helpmeets. As such, her only available fate was to become a Temple Helpmeet like her mother. From what I’ve been told, when she learned that she’d never leave the Temple complex, she hit the one who told her that. Repeatedly. She ended up breaking his nose and jaw, as well as a couple ribs if I remember correctly. The string of violence continued until we got her. Even then, we’ve had so many issues with her costing us money that we considered letting her be killed and being done with it.”

     “She is too lovely for that,” Michi said.

     “Oh, my boss agrees with you, My Lady,” the woman said. She reached out and played with a few strands of Gypsy’s hair. “The only other option we had then was reprogramming her.”

     “How much is her debt now?” Michi asked.

     Kuen pulled it up before the woman could speak. “She owes several hundred thousand, Mother. Far more than that one who just left our service.”

     The woman smiled. “Ah, but Gypsy here’s had her genetics dumped in the breeding market. During her reprogramming we took some of her ovum and froze it.”

     “What do you plan to do with that?” Michi asked.

     “Most of it’s going back to Oanov,” the woman said. “The Temple there keeps genetics on hand so if a war or plague wipes out their population, they’ve got back ups based on their own genetic template.”

     “That sounds very close to genetic manipulation,” Michi said.

     “My lady, that’s no more genetic manipulation than compiling data would be,” the woman said. “There’s no alteration of the genetic material. It’s just simple storage.”

     “So if you sold her ovum, how is it she still owes so much?” Kuen asked. He glanced over his shoulder. “Mother, I know you came for me, but I think they just sent a young man out over in the next aisle who might interest you.”

     Michi’s head rotated on her neck, her spine stiff. Her eyes widened. “Kuen, unless you decide to purchase this young woman’s contract, you will not leave this spot. I will rejoin you shortly.”

     “Mother, I have no way to buy the contract. My limit is still set,” Kuen said. Michi handed him her chip. She slid off into the crowd, moving like a predator fixated on her next morsel of prey.

     “You chose a good distraction, My Lord,” the woman said, looking over at the next aisle. “If it’s the one I’m seeing, she’ll be over there for a while.”

     “You are quite fortunate I was able to attract her attention elsewhere,” Kuen said. “My mother has little tolerance for rudeness, and your attitude when answering her about genetic manipulation displeased her. There is hazard in angering any in my caste, but my mother is the worst one to anger.”

     “Out of curiosity, my lord, what is your family name?” the woman asked.

     “Nakano.” Kuen smirked at her sudden gasp. “She is Michi Nakano, matriarch of the family.”

     “And you are?” the woman asked, more deference in her tone.

     “Kuen Nakano. I am her son and heir,” Kuen said.

     “Lord Nakano, what exactly are you looking for?” the woman asked.

     “I need a servant who will also be my personal aide,” Kuen said. “I am intrigued by Gypsy, however if she is going to need constant retraining she will prove to be more of a burden than something useful to me.”

     “My lord, Gypsy won’t need much retraining unless you expect to take her to your bed,” the woman said. “That’s why we were forced to reprogram her. Gypsy is an intelligent woman who was trained to serve as an aide to the priests in the Temple on Oanov. She was supposed to be the personal assistant to one of the High Patriarchs, but when he tried to rape her, she fought back.”

     “It seems to me that reaction is a much more natural one than what I have been told is required of women there,” Kuen said.

     “We can’t even defend ourselves if it’s our own family, let alone a man we were assigned to serve,” the woman said. She smiled sadly, fingering a scar running along her jaw. “My lord, I was a Temple Helpmeet. I was sold into indenturement after I reacted badly to a priest trying to take his due from me. If not for the fact that my current owner saw something more in me than just a pretty face and someone to have sex with, I’d be in Gypsy’s place.” She rubbed her forehead. “Lord Nakano, I’m going to be very blunt with you. That’s not something I’m supposed to let myself be with those of your caste, but something tells me you’d prefer that to me still trying to be the perfect saleswoman.”

     “I would,” Kuen said.

     “My lord, please buy Gypsy’s contract,” the woman said. “I’m not lying when I say she’s very intelligent.” She turned and looked at the red head. “I know the reprogramming didn’t completely take. The pain weakened her mind enough for our suggestions to be planted, but I doubt they’ve done more than give her a little more restraint. Gypsy will be a very good aide to you, my lord. Just keep your hands to yourself.”

     “As I have no desire to take anyone to my bed at this time, I think such an arrangement would be manageable,” Kuen said.

     Gypsy’s head slowly rose. “He’ll punish you for this, Tanesha,” she said in dulcet tones. Her accent was more pronounced than the other woman’s, but now that Kuen could see Gypsy’s face he saw that the two of them shared some common ancestry.

     “Only if he sees this as having an impact on his profits,” Tanesha said. “Gypsy, he wants you sold. If I can do it by being honest with someone, I’ll tell the truth.”

     Gypsy rose from her chair and walked towards them. Kuen saw the glint in her eyes. “Can you keep your hands off me, rich boy? Will you be able to keep your instincts in check when you see me in something other than this smock?” She gestured to what she was wearing.

     Kuen looked at her coldly. “While you are lovely, you are not the type I would seek to have in my bed. You do not have the personality I find attractive.”

     “So you want me to believe that you’ll hire me as just an assistant, an aide,” Gypsy said.

     “That is precisely what your purpose will be. Am I safe to assume you know enough about Bouarus High Society fashion to make certain I do not embarrass my mother when in public?” Kuen asked.

     “Don’t you mean humiliate yourself?” Gypsy countered.

     “Ah, but any embarrassment I bring to myself is also brought to my mother,” Kuen said. “While I admit I do not have my mother’s sense of societal censure, I do know that her displeasure will be severe. You will reach threshold far sooner than you might expect.”

     “Your mother fines her indentured slaves then?” Gypsy asked.

     “So I would surmise, given what happened to my last aide,” Kuen said.

     “Tanesha, how much is he selling my contract for?” Gypsy asked.

     “The full amount of your debt unfortunately,” Tanesha said. “He’s already out so much money because of you that he wants to recoup all of his losses.”

     “That’s over two hundred thousand credits,” Gypsy said.

     “That is nothing compared to our fortune,” Kuen said. He turned to Tanesha. “I will buy her contract.”

     “Thank you, my lord,” Tanesha said. Kuen pulled out his credit chip and paid the fees. The contract was signed over to him. “Gypsy, stay out of trouble. My lord, if she becomes too much to handle, my master will take her back and refund your money. Gypsy, you don’t want that. It’ll ensure you reach threshold and you’ll be killed.”

     “Okay Tanesha,” Gypsy said. “I’ll behave.”

     “Follow me,” Kuen said. He led her towards where he’d last seen his mother. Michi was where he thought she’d be, still ogling the very attractive young man who was preening for her pleasure. “Mother, I made my decision.”

     Michi turned away from the young man. “You chose this one, even though there are risks involved?” she asked.

     “Yes. I have been assured we will be well compensated should any trouble occur,” Kuen said.

     Michi turned back towards the young man. “I have looked at the particulars of this one. He is well versed in the kinds of games I prefer to play. If the information is correct, he will also have the desired stamina.” She tapped her finger against her lips. “Return my chip to me. I think I will make the purchase.”

     “Of course, Mother,” Kuen said. He gave her back her access to the family fortune and waited while she bought her new playmate.

     Kuen let Michi precede him out of the market, her toy in tow. Gypsy followed along behind him. “My lord, am I going to be safe with your mother around?” she asked in a soft voice.

     “She will be offworld soon enough,” Kuen said. “She has business to attend to, and from what I understand she is rarely on Bouarus.”

     “Male or female, I’m not for anyone’s sexual gratification,” Gypsy said. “I won’t let her do anything to me any more than I’d let you.”

     “Gypsy, should you resist her – if she becomes interested in you – then you would most likely die by her hand.”

     “She’d be in violation of the laws protecting indentured servants,” Gypsy said.

     “The laws do not apply to those in our caste,” Kuen said. “Especially when it comes to the Nakano family. My mother is the most powerful woman in the twin systems, and as her heir I am afforded the same protections as her.”

     “My lord, I think I’m beginning to regret you buying my debt,” Gypsy said.

     “You have nothing to fear from me,” Kuen said. “And everything to fear from her.”