Part 11: Orientation
They are now captives
some for better, some for worse,
but they will all change.
Everything was dark. Not city dark because in any city you had lights on somewhere that gave the city its glow. Not country dark, because out in the country you could look up and see the stars. Instead it was cave dark. Scary dark, because you could not see your hand in front of your face, and you knew you were waving it wildly trying to catch some reflected hint of movement. There was a complete absence of any visible light.
Hearing was diminished because there were no familiar background noises. No traffic, no planes, no animals, no youngsters, not even the creaking noise of a settling house. The hint of a hissing sound so faint that it was easily dismissed as imagination pervaded the cells.
The lack of any smell made the room seem sterile. They could smell the stench of their own fear, but nothing from their surroundings, which were sparse.
Every one of the eleven new slaves to A-H Estates had a dry metallic taste in their mouths and their tongues felt just slightly swollen. All but a couple had sore throats from screaming, which got them nothing but a sore throat. There was no way to measure whether time was still going forward or not. By this time, most had given up beseeching a deity for divine intervention although some were still silently babbling to themselves.
And they were cold. Set to keep each of them individually on the verge of shivering, the air conditioning was keeping each cell at 2-degrees above shiver cold. Allowing for each woman’s individual adaptation to the cold, Lee’s people kept them miserable.
With the suddenness of a thunderclap an overhead speaker in each cell boomed out, “Hello, slaves. My name is High Lord Grandville. If addressed directly, you will call me High Lord Grandville and nothing else. Have I made myself clearly understood?”
Duke watched the camera feeds and two of the women did nothing to show they heard or understood what he just told them. Flipping a switch he said, “Amelia” into one of the cells and flipping that switch off and another one on he said “Cecelia”. He then flipped both switches back on and continued.
“You will acknowledge my questions when I ask them. Just because you can’t see me, does not mean I can’t see you. I can. You did not acknowledge it when I asked that question about how to address me. Did you understand how you will address me?”
Neither one of them showed any sign of response so Duke continued talking just to them.
“You will learn to obey the most complicated commands, the simplest commands and every command in between. You have been given one demerit for failure to comply. After your third demerit you will be beaten. Every third demerit will earn you another beating. Continuing to disobey will be very painful, and unpleasant for you. Now, back to my regularly scheduled program.”
Duke flipped the switch that piped his voice into all eleven cells.
“Slaves, I am the ultimate authority that determines whether you will get punished for bad service, or whether you will be rewarded for good service. You are by no means the first slaves we’ve brought here and trained, nor will you be the last. Yes, you are now slaves. You no longer have a voice or a say in how your life will progress. I will determine whether you are a slave that wears fine clothes and expensive shoes, or whether you wear nothing but heavy chains and scrub the toilets of other well-behaving slaves. And you will do what I tell you to do. You no longer have a choice. You are slaves.
“We are not holding you for ransom. Most of us are richer than the men you were with, so asking money for what we want out of you is ludicrous. You will serve the desires of one of the High Lords or High Ladies here, and your comportment and demeanor will determine who I assign you to. I am that absolute, ultimate authority. You will have no say in who you are assigned to. You are slaves. I can give you to someone who will cherish you and make your stay with us as pleasant as possible, or I can assign you to the meanest, self-absorbed, heavy-handed, sadistic, son-of-a-bitch, or shrew-bitch on these Estates. That decision depends on how you comport yourself during your training, and that starts today. Am I clearly understood so far?”
Again, Amelia and Cecelia did not show any sign of acknowledgement, and in fact Cecelia stood in the middle of her cell and threw both fists up and extended both of her middle fingers. Duke just shook his head and said to everyone, “I will continue your orientation after some discipline. One of you just earned her first disciplinary beating for getting three demerits in under ten minutes. I’ll be back when she is in a proper amount of pain.”
Duke sent in Paul and Dennis along with Alan and Kevin. All four had on night vision goggles, and all of them were prepared for this. Alan and Kevin held Cecelia down while Paul tied her feet together. Then Dennis and Paul tied a long rope to each wrist and attached them to the overhead winch. With a universal remote they hauled Cecelia about six inches off the ground. She was yelling to be released, screaming for a lawyer, for god to help her, and even for Sanford and Bernardo to help her. That was until the first flogger hit her back. Dennis had one side and Paul the other and each one was hitting her with all their might, one at a time on each shoulder blade. They pounded her six times each and then let her hang while Duke turned on the communications to just her room.
“Gentlemen, do you think she’s had enough?”
Dennis said, “She did flip us off High Lord Grandville, so no, I don’t think she’s had enough.”
“Slave, you’re sentenced to three more each, for belligerence. Gentlemen, you may commence,” and each of them hit her three more times, hard.
“Thank you. Please release her and then you may go.”
When they did, Cecelia collapsed in a heap still trying to suck in enough breath to breathe properly. The extra three had knocked the wind out of both of her lungs and her wretched gasps were pitiful. Duke had piped the beating into all of the other cells as an object lesson. The last thing they heard before he shut off the feed to Cecelia’s cell was her dry heaving as she tried to throw up the contents of her stomach. Luckily there was nothing still in her stomach.
“Slaves, you just heard one of your fellow slaves take a short brutal beating for trying to defy authority. She did not respond to either question and then she extended both of her middle fingers in defiance which we found insulting. Another of you has two demerits already and something similar will happen to her if she defies our authority again. Slave number three was the first to feel the lash. You heard her belligerence until the first whip strike and then all you heard was her painful moans and her retching. Do you want to feel the same thing or worse? Trust me, my men and I like beating women who defy us. We also like rewarding those that please us. Now remember, just because you can’t see us, or the hand in front of your face for that matter, we can see you. There’s no need to prove it. You will figure it out shortly anyway.
“Now that the object lesson is out of the way, men will be coming around to each cell shortly to tie your arms behind your back and put high heels and a collar on each of you. We have your measurements already, and we know who each of you is in the dark, so don’t worry about a thing. Once you are properly attired, you will be led into the main hall. You will do whatever the groom tells you to do. You will each be given a number for identification purposes. If he speaks directly to you, by that number, you will address him as M’Lord Groom, only, and you will do whatever he tells you to do. Have I made these instructions clearly understood?”
This time, all eleven showed some individual sign that they understood, even Cecelia, who was still kneeling in a heap in the center of her cell.
Three grooms went into each cell. The first thing they did was to tie the slave’s wrists together palm-to-palm behind her back. Then they tied their arms together at the elbow so that they were close but not touching. With one of the grooms making sure that she wouldn’t fall, one held her foot up while the other slipped her foot into a five-inch stiletto pump with three thin straps across the instep and an ankle strap. Doing this without any light impressed most of the women except Diane, who mentioned that any moron could intimidate a woman in the dark by wearing night vision goggles. Two of the grooms said nothing while the third said, “That’s one demerit number four.”
From the overhead speaker came, “Copy that, one demerit for number four, for speaking without being asked a specific question.”
“Oh, fuck all of you. Just tie these damned ropes tighter because I could wriggle out of these and then beat me to get it out of your systems you pathetic dickless wimps.”
The same voice that gave her the first demerit said, “That’s three more which means an immediate disciplinary session. We all know of your martial arts training, so do you want to take one of us on in the dark, or would you rather just take your beatings with a cane?”
Even with her arms tied behind her back she picked her foot up and slammed her high heel down onto the instep of the groom closest to her. To her horror the heel of her shoe broke off when she hit the layered ballistic plastic armor over his insteps, which extended down from his greaves. With one last effort she spun and tried to knee him in the groin but hit the ground sobbing when her knee hit his rigid aluminum cup.
The same voice asked, “Did you really think we would be so unprepared as to let a slave get the best of us? You may be good, but we are much better and have had long years of experience training slaves like you. By the way that’s two more demerits and that makes six, so you now get a double beating.”
Tying her suspension ropes around her chest and connecting them to the looser arm ropes that she was complaining about, they hoisted her up about six inches off the floor and caned her on both her butt and on the fronts of her thighs. Nine went on the left cheek, nine on the right cheek, with nine more each on the front of each thigh. Number four was screaming by the third hit and was hoarse from sobbing and pleading by the end of the 36 strokes. They untied her ankles and let her sink to her knees on the floor.
From over the speaker all of them heard Duke say, “And everything hurts worse when you’re cold. Did the rest of you slaves hear what happens when you defy us? We are not playing. We have an agenda to finish today but we will always take time out to correct or modify behavioral problems. There are several of you, so we do not have the time for the niceties. We expect obedience and will not settle for disrespect. Is that understood?”
All eleven of them signaled in one-way or another that they understood.
“Now, back to your training. Once tied, collared, leashed and heeled you will be given a number that is your identification number for the length of your orientation training. You will not need your names anymore. They belonged to your old life. This is your new life. Those that please us will in all probability be given their old names back as an identification, but some of you seem too headstrong for that privilege. That’s OK. Remember, bad behavior will be punished, and good behavior will be rewarded. Say that over and over again to yourselves because that is the main rule you will live by.
“OK, it’s time to go over a few other rules that will be important to you. Rule number one was what to call me.
“Rule number two was that you will learn to serve the High Lords and the High Ladies of these Estates to do anything that pleases them.
“Rule number three is that you will do anything a groom or a High Lord or a High Lady tells you to do without question.
“Rule number four, you will address all grooms as M’Lord Groom.
“Rule number five, you will speak only when spoken to directly and asked for a response. Then you will answer succinctly and not babble. If you need to ask for clarification about something you were told to do, you will say, ‘M’Lord Groom, may I ask a question?’ and then you will wait for him to give you an answer, either yes or no. Do not speak until you get his answer.
“Do not just automatically assume you have permission to speak your question. That is rule number six.
“And what is rule number seven you may ask yourself? Well, rule number seven is, never, ever argue with someone in a position of authority to you. I do not care whether you think you are right, or not. You are slaves and have lost the privilege of debate or argument with a superior.
“Rule eight should be self-explanatory but here goes the long version. You know all of the other women in this room either as business acquaintances or as social friends. We wanted to upset Tangram-Tessera, so we took all of the big shots’ women. At least the ones that were worth having. Those of you that will be missed know each other or know of each other. But you cannot talk to one another unless you are given specific permission. You may not ask for permission to chat with your old friend, whoever, and you surely may not comfort them if they’ve earned their own discipline. Got it? You are an island. They are islands, and there are no boats going between these islands, no communications whatsoever between islands, and attempts are demerits. Nasty, ugly, mouth-filling, speech-nullifying gags are close at hand and will be used judiciously.
“Rule number nine, you have no rights. These Estates are located on American soil, but you lost all the rights of a citizen when you woke up in your cell. I’ll say it again because it is a large and totally encompassing mantle for each of you, and that is that you have no rights. Don’t expect any and don’t think you can get them back. You are slaves for life, but never forget you are slaves, with no rights.”
All of the grooms could watch these eleven women look around trying to see who was next to them, and who they knew. All of them had already figured out that Cecelia and Diane were the two who had taken a beating, but they were all dying to know who else was there, but afraid to call out and ask.
Duke continued with, “We can see that several you are ready to call out to see who answers, figuring that it’s only one demerit and that if you’re a good girl you won’t get beat, but remember, your placement in the good training protocol, or you placement in the not so nice protocols also depends on comportment. Trying a fast one like I just described hurts your chances to be treated well. Now I know that at least one of you out there is thinking to herself that if you all yell at once that we won’t know who yelled out and who didn’t but guess again. Our electron pushers are recording all of this for our records and considering that we have a copy of each of your voiceprints, we can parse out the different voices, reward those that kept their mouths shut and punish those that tried to pull a fast one on us. This is not our first dance with slaves, and I doubt that any of you can think of something that at least one of us hasn’t seen before. Understand that it’s a matter of approximately 14 of us for every one of you and we have the upper hand in every way. Just learn to obey and your life can be relatively happy. Continue to think you can eventually find the upper hand and your life will be difficult, painful, boring, shameful and a true drudgery. You will get old before your time and no one will love you. Please us, and you will be cherished as a member of a household, loved and cared for. Your choice slaves. You have no choice as to whether you are slaves or not, you are. You do have a choice as to what type of slave you will be trained to be. Think about it while we feed you.”
Each of the grooms that had a lead in his hand led that slave to a table. Each groom sat in a chair and directed the slave to kneel on the mat to the left of the table. Making small corrections by verbal commands the grooms settled each of them in the proper positions. He then got up and crossed and tied her ankles together. Another groom came around and served a steak, baked potato, grilled vegetables, a piece of pie as dessert and a fruit beverage to each of the seated grooms. Alongside each plate was a bowl of gruel. While the grooms ate their steak dinners, they fed each slave from their bowl of gruel.
“Slaves,” came Duke’s voice again over the overhead speakers, “What you will be eating is called slave’s gruel. Our doctors and nutritionists have individually designed each type of gruel specifically for you. This gruel controls your calories, gives you every nutrient that you will need to thrive, not just survive, but thrive, and tastes as bland as we can make it. Real food is a treat for very good behavior. Now each of your grooms will be feeding you your meal, consisting of gruel, and going over the list of rules I just gave you. Prove to him that you were listening and trying to be studious and you will be rewarded.”
Each slave was fed their gruel mouthful by mouthful, by touching their lower lip with a spoon signaling them to open their mouths and accept their food. Several slaves got demerits for spitting their gruel out or proclaiming they wouldn’t eat ‘that crap’. Geneva, number five, was the worst. She just would not eat the gruel, earning a double beating before the groom just gave up fighting with her. He finished his dinner and then waited. Amelia, number one, earned herself a beating too, but she just spit out the first mouthful. Of course, she already had two demerits from before and when the groom reminded her of this, she finished the rest of her meal without a fight.
The grooms actually worked with the new slaves trying hard to get them to ingrain these few simple rules into their minds. All in all, the sisters, Malory, number eight, and Ariel, number two, did the best, repeating all of the rules immediately back to their grooms and doing it in order. Their grooms moved the mats they were kneeling on around 180-degrees.
Each of them was told, “Your hair is a mess. Now hold still. You two have earned favor,” and the grooms brushed out their hair for them, taking the time to make them feel special.
Jackie, number six, Leigh, number seven and Vivian, number eleven, got all the rules right, but didn’t do it in order, so they just got their hair brushed.
Phyllis, number nine, and Serenity, number ten, got most of the rules right but took a long time to correct their responses into something favorable, so they got nothing but gentle encouragement.
Amelia, number one, Cecelia, number three, Diane, number four, and Geneva, number five who didn’t even try to repeat back the rules to her groom.
Amelia was the first to be disciplined after their meal. Her arms were untied and then re-tied together in front of her. They left her ankles tied. Hoisted up off the ground, Amelia took a flogging of six per shoulder and was then let back down. She’d cried a lot, but being no stranger to a good flogging, she was not all that upset with what they did to her. Back on the ground the grooms re-tied her arms behind her back and let her kneel by the table.
“That wasn’t too bad was it slaves? Now number five’s punishment is another double, and because of the nature of her defiance, not only is she going to be hungry tonight, but she gets the cat-of-nine-tails on her back and a cane to her butt. Gentlemen, string her up.”
Strung up just like Amelia had been this beating was decidedly worse. Geneva screamed from the first impact of the cat and continued screaming and begging for mercy through the last impact of the cane. It was noted though that at no time did she proclaim that her behavior would improve or that she was sorry for her offenses. She just wanted mercy. It never showed up. Many of the slaves were crying, as she got beat. They had heard the other beatings but listening to one this close, where they could smell the terror and hear the tools strike the flesh struck an emotional chord in many of them. Knowing better, none of them cried out for her, but all of them recognized who was getting beat and felt pity for her. They all learned another object lesson from this. Most were glad that they had obeyed, and a couple were sorry that they hadn’t.
As beginner grooms set up individual lanes with ribbons attached to poles on the ground, each woman was given a set of headphones and each apprentice groom walked behind her giving her personal instructions on how to walk in a straight line in the dark. The slaves walked up and down their aisles. They were reminded not to slouch, lift their heads up and stick their tits out, to walk heel-toe, and how to swish their hips. Most of them caught on quickly to this form of training and none of them earned a demerit during this part of their training.
“You slaves did very well after dinner. We did not have to hand out one demerit. I am pleased. So, while you have been working, so have we. We’ve installed cage beds in each of your cells. These are simple cages with a mattress on the top surface. Ten of you will be sleeping on the mattress tonight, but one of you gets to sleep on cold steel inside the cage. In fact, five of you have been gifted with a sleeping bag on top of your mattress. You will discover which of you got what when your groom returns you to your cell. He will take off your heels and tie you for sleep. All of you must get used to sleeping in some form of bondage, and here’s the deal. Tonight, it will be simple bondage. We will just tie your wrists in front of you and tie your ankles together. If you have not untied them during the night, tomorrow night you will sleep with your wrists tied in front. If you do try to untie yourself, even if you try to tie them back up to fool us, it won’t. You will receive one demerit and tomorrow night you will sleep with your arms tied tightly behind your back, which can be a bit uncomfortable. It is your choice as to whether you cooperate, or not. So good-night slaves, tomorrow will be a much longer and busier day for each of you.”
And with that their grooms led them to their individual cells and put them to bed. Number five was thrown in her cell and cried herself to sleep. Numbers two, six, seven, eight and eleven snuggled into their sleeping bags, and the rest of them had an uncomfortable night thinking about their misadventures.
Some slaves learn slowly.
Some learn quickly how to please.
Some slaves never learn.