Willing Slave, Unwilling Master Ch. 06

At least we made some progress this morning with the subject of her independence. She was able to stand up for herself after a fashion and she even used my name. Though I half suspect that was just her way of shutting down an uncomfortable conversation. Then again the fact that she has the confidence to assert some level of control on our interactions is progress in of itself.

I'm going to need to try find out more about her training I think. Rose is convinced that without me in charge of her she will go insane. It's such a brilliantly cruel way of controlling someone that I'm honestly amazed no one has come up with it sooner. It uses fear, but not of a master or mistress, no. It's fear of your own mind. A constant enemy inside your head threatening you with madness the moment you step a foot out of line.

I cannot believe that any process can exist in nature that would punish an organism for completely subjective choices. The lower Vil being overwhelmed by too many choices? That I can understand. But a brain subconsciously punishing itself for being disobedient? No way. The problem - amongst a whole host of other problems admittedly - Is how to help Rose get over her fear. Saying no to me almost put her in another catatonic state.

I hand a delighted Rose her clothes for the day as she returns from the bathroom. Picturing, for a moment, her pulling her shirt over a baby bump, I shake my head. Before kissing her softly and heading off to brush my teeth, still thinking as I do. Freedom isn't something you can just give the Lower Vil like a present at Christmas, it's a hard fought process and I suspect, sadly, that not all of them will be capable of it.

For years my friends and I have dreamed of this day where we are successful and the government bans slavery overnight. Two weeks ago I would have been outraged if someone suggested that the Lower Vil deserved anything other than total freedom. But things are much more complicated now, there is no right answer. There's no single action we can take that would instantly fix the evil spread across two worlds.

My head is still spinning with thoughts as I leave the bathroom and get dressed, before collecting Rose and heading - rather intermittently - downstairs.

"Sweetie?" I say, watching Rose run her fingers gingerly over one of my Mother's many statues.

"Sorry Master." She replies, pulling her hands away quickly.

"No, it's okay." I pause. "When we are with the doctor if there is anything that makes you feel uncomfortable or upset I want you to tell me okay? Don't just suffer through because you think it will make me happy."

"Yes Master." She nods.

— — —

I must admit before I saw Andrew the vet I didn't really understand how my sister had ended up with him, she generally steers clear of the intellectual types in favor of male models and guys who spend more time on their hair than she does. But looking at him now, all elaborate hairstyle and skinny jeans I think I get the attraction.

He doesn't even look at Rose as he introduces himself in fact; he seems to only have eyes for my older sister. Who throws him such obviously false smiles I'm surprised he doesn't just turn around and leave. Are guys really that stupid? After telling my mother's pet-come housekeeper Anne that we will be busy in the dining room and must not be disturbed for any reason we get started.

"Right, could you just have her lay down on the table." Our would-be doctor asks, again acting as if Rose were invisible.

"You can speak to her yourself," I say, a tad grumpily.

"My apologies, miss would you kindly?"

Now in full slave mode Rose hops up onto the table, looking at me nervously before laying back and fixing her eyes on the ceiling. I suppose to her it's a compromise, because she's unable to stare at the floor. I sit down beside her head and take her hand as the vet heaves a large red bag on the table and begins to rummage.

My confidence in the procedure is not helped by the fact that every gizmo he produces is marked: 'Medi-Pet-Tech!' in big friendly letters.

"I need to lift her shirt." Andrew says, looking at me.

"Is that okay Rose?" I ask, because apparently no one else will bother talking to the pertinent.

"Yes Master." She replies calmly.

The game of Rose in the middle continues as a large tablet covered in a grid of glowing blue lines is slid under her lower back. At a tap from Andrew the tablet begins to beep, before starting to mold itself to the shape of Rose's back. It stops only when the once solid device could be mistaken for a patch of glowing latex. An obviously cold gel is then applied to Rose's stomach, which, like the tablet moves by itself to fit the contours of her flesh. At one point Rose's determination to be obedient must slip because she stops watching the ceiling and turns her attention fully to me. I stroke her cheek as Andrew succeeds in tearing his gaze away from sister long enough to hold a more conventional looking tablet above Rose's pale flesh.

"Hmmmm." He says, consulting the tablet in his hands.

"Yes?" I say, not quite able to keep the impatience out of my voice.

"Well she's not pregnant, but-"

"Oh thank every single one of the eternal stars." I say, kissing Rose's hand. To my surprise Rose doesn't look nearly as pleased as I am by the announcement. But whatever is troubling her will have to wait, I feel like I've dodged a bullet. Heck, I feel like I've dodged an interplanetary battle cruiser.

"But what?" My sister says, glaring at me.

"I don't know, it's weird."

"Well, she isn't an Alsatian." I point out helpfully, feeling suddenly in a much more jovial mood. "Are you sure she's not pregnant?"

"Positive," Andrew replies, "She can't be."

"What do you mean?" My sister and I say at almost exactly the same time.

"How old is she?" The vet asks, frowning at his tablet.

"Rose?" I say softly.

"Nineteen Master." She replies quietly.

"Well her womb and other sexual organs correlate with that, but her ovaries? They are like those of a much, much younger girl." He moves the black device onto Rose's side, "What's strange is that even though they are underdeveloped they are currently going through quite a drastic rate of cell growth, and are catching up to the rest of her body at an amazing rate. So much so that in a year or two they will be perfectly normal for her age and, presumably, will function normally."

"Is that normal for Lower Vil?" I ask, absentmindedly stroking the back of Rose's fingers.

"How the hell would I know?" Andrew says pointedly, "But it's the same story with her liver, only this time the organ appears to be that of a much older woman, the cell deterioration here is really strange."

"What about the rest of her?" Jezebel asks, looking over her ex's shoulder with a morbid curiosity.

With some gentle encouragement and quite a lot of tutting from my sister Rose is soon down to her bra, shivering a little on the cold wooden table. I take her hand once again. She's clearly apprehensive, though she's trying very hard to hide it. I can understand why she might be, but I have to wonder if this isn't the first time she's had something like this done to her. Minus the dining room table and vet obviously.

What did she say?'The only thing that stayed the same was the doctor. Though after we were moved she came to us, rather than us visiting her lab.'

My skin crawls as I imagine just what the hell those fuckers at the compound might have done to Rose. Despite having absolutely no rights there are laws set in place, at the Vil's insistence I'm sure, that protects the Lower Vil from the cruelest forms of torture and punishment, as well as medical and genetic testing, or just plain being killed. Not for the benefit lower Vil themselves, in the eyes of the law they are a possession, but to protect the fragile peace.

Though why a species that sold off the Lower Vil in the first place would care what happens to them on Earth is its own question.

"Wow, this girl can't decide how old she wants to be." Andrew says in amazement.

"She's nineteen." I reply coldly.

"Yeah? Tell that to her heart, or her lungs. Hell, even her skin is messed up. I've never seen such a slow rate of metabolic decay." He shakes his head. "And I notice she's not chipped? Did you abduct her from a top secret lab or something?"

"It's probably better if you don't know." Jezebel says sweetly, "Are you done?"

"I guess. I don't know what to tell you other than she's not pregnant."

"That's all we needed to know," My sister beams, "Now, I assume you can keep this hush, hush?"

"Let me think, do I want to be kicked out of veterinary college for cheating? Yeah, no, nobody will hear anything from me. But you have to keep my name out of this when she's caught, right?"

"Of course we will, silly!" Jezebel giggles, the picture of innocence. "Listen I gotta go takeover from Zacky at the office, why don't we get a drink on the way?"

The Vet's demeanor changes at once as he smoothes back his hair apparently without thinking about it. Deciding to make a run for it before they start making out I collect Rose's shirt and the girl herself, thank Andrew and with my slave girl in tow head for the gardens.

— — —

"Are you okay?" I ask as Rose kneels beside a patch of deep blue flowers.

"Yes Master." She replies distractedly.

"I wasn't happy about you not being pregnant because I didn't want you to have a child, but because it would have caused a lot of problems for us. We might even have been taken away from each other. Do you understand?" It's a stab in the dark but it seems the most likely explanation for what was upsetting her back in the house.

She nods slowly, turning to me. "You want me to have a baby Master?"

"I want it to be your choice." I say softly.

"Yes Master." She replies in a thoughtful tone.

Smirking I tussle her hair. "But for now we are going to focus all our efforts into living as uneventful lives as humanly possible. Another weekend like this one might just kill me."

To my surprise Rose actually giggles, though she looks back at me nervously. Smiling I kiss her lips. Reassured she's still a good girl she continues with her quest to investigate each and every flower, a happy purr deep in her throat.