Craig called for Nancy then told her to gather the slaves together in the living room. They filed in, led by Nancy. He had said nothing to her about the what or why of having all of them come in, so she took no chances and rather than take a seat, she went to the center of the room and knelt in the high kneeling position. She looked at the floor in front of her, unconcerned as to what any of the other slaves might do. After seeing what Nancy did, none of the others even so much as thought of sitting, and they all followed her lead, kneeling in a line abreast of each other, all facing the chair Craig was sitting in.

When the last of them was on her knees, he announced, "I have some assignments for most of you. This will be a chance to earn some brownie points if you do the job well. I will also approve street wear for each of you while you're working on your project. This should be an opportunity to enjoy yourselves if you wish it to be."

"We will be moving out of this apartment. Aside from the fact that it's getting crowded, I want a more appropriate home. I want a home designed with slaves in mind. Rita, since you're the decorating talent around here, you will take the lead in finding the new place. I seriously doubt that what I want exists, so it will most likely have to be built. Try for something already built first, but don't spend a lot of time looking. Having it built means having it designed, and that's where I think you'll do the most good. Go talk to five or six architectural firms, come back to me with two or three for me to consider. I want to know they're capable of producing the kind of house I want. You will get a better understanding as to what that means when you hear some of the other assignments."

"The house itself will be large. I've always loved the large, stately homes you see in movies. That's the kind of thing I want. I want something set on a large plot of land with nicely landscaped grounds. I don't particularly care what the exterior design looks like, I expect that you, Rita, will have a better eye for that. What I do want is a classic, elegant house. That means, at a minimum, paneled library, music room for my stereo, perhaps a second for a piano. Large, formal dining room and smaller breakfast room or informal dining room. Game room.... billiard room, actually, I want a pool table in it. I suppose a video room too. Formal sitting room, with huge fireplace...heavily paneled....something that will not be crowded with twelve or fifteen people in it. Perhaps a larger one too. Sun room. The kitchen should be capable of turning out a meal for twenty to thirty guests, plus their slaves. I'm sure you, and probably the architects are fully capable of creating what I want. Underground I want a large, fully equipped playroom. Cells and cages will be in a separate area. The playroom is to be equipped with hoists and moveable overhead attachments. The playroom is to look like what it is; a dungeon with punishment and torture equipment. I will interview each of the competing architectural firms before deciding on which one will get the commission, and you should make it very clear to them that their input in designing an acceptable dungeon will weigh heavily in their favor. In that same vein, while I will want the upstairs rooms...the library and the like, in fact every room, to be fully slave-handling capable, I don't want the chains and hooks to be visible when they're not in use. All of the main floor slave handling equipment should disappear into cornices, cabinets, and columns... whatever. They'll need to factor that into the design."

"Sasha, I hope you were paying attention, because that point touches on your assignment. You will have two primary assignments. First, I want you to begin looking for a suitable piece of land for this to be built on. I want privacy and lots of room. Nicely wooded will be ideal. In addition to the land, you will begin finding a contractor. I want craftsmen doing this. Quality workmanship throughout. I want a contractor who either has these kinds of skills on staff, or can get them. You will make sure that's what happens. Visit places they've built. See what they can do. Verify the quality of their work before I get too far involved with them."

"Nancy, you will handle the electronics. I want the house fully wired. Eventually each of you will have a full set of chips installed in you. Nancy, the house should be wired to accommodate that. Until the chips are installed, and also to be able to accommodate visiting Masters whose slaves aren't 'chipped', the wiring should also include the usual Bluetooth controls, and provisions for future upgrades or totally new technology should be on the list. I know you can't predict what will come in five years, but we should have some extra wires in the walls and extra space to allow for something without me needing to tear the place apart to put it in. Rita, that should not be a significant factor for the architects, but make sure they're aware of it. There will not be any 'dead' spots in the house. I'm not overly concerned with what the second floor looks like as far as the number of bedrooms and such. Naturally, every bedroom is to be designed with holding and controlling slaves in mind. Whipping posts, shackles on the walls and ceilings and such in every room. Slave handling equipment in the bedrooms should be plentiful in each room, but need not be hidden and need not be as complete as the dungeon. Just a good basic set in each room. Except, of course, for my bedroom. Bathrooms, naturally, will need to be appropriately outfitted. Probably two or three of them should be capable of handling "toilet slaves", in the event I have any guests staying overnight who are into that sort of thing."

"Jodi, until the business with Manny is over, you don't have any other jobs. You stay with me. Monica, I don't have a specific assignment for you just yet, but you're pretty busy with your piano lessons, so stay with them. If any of the other slaves need help, perhaps you'll be able to pitch in and assist. It just occurred to me, now that I'm thinking about it, you should probably begin to study up on acoustics. At least get familiar with the concepts if not expert in them. You have a good ear, so you will assist in making sure the two music rooms are properly designed and furnished. I want the music rooms to be properly designed for their functions, and I would like a second opinion to what the architects might suggest. Audio fidelity is most likely not in their repertoire of expertise, but they won't admit to that. In fact, talk to loudspeaker manufacturers or high-end component manufacturers, they will probably be able to help. In fact they might even push you in the direction of design consultants or builders who are used to working with these issues. I guess that means you do have an assignment. Follow up on that."

"That's it. Each of you, start thinking about what you have to do, and get to it. I'll be out of town on business beginning tomorrow for a quick overnight trip, then again for part of next week. That will be a good time for you to begin scheduling appointments. Nancy and Jodi, you two are coming with me. Jodi, let your cop friend know whatever he needs to know."

"Right now, Monica, you're up. Bring a riding crop. You may not like it, but you perform better after you've been warmed up a bit with one, so this time we'll see what you can do after I get you really hot with it."