Preface

 

Thank you for downloading my book; I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. When you have read it, please give it a rating and, if you have the time, a review, because feedback helps me to decide what to write next.

 

This story is self-contained and is not a sequel or part of a series, but it does share the assumptions about space travel found in my other science fiction novels; particularly Slaves of Atlantis (2019). A 'donor race', facing extinction for reason or reasons unknown, ensures its place in galactic history by packaging the sum of its achievements in a series of radio transmissions, designed to be interpretable by any advanced species. As well as medical and other scientific knowledge, they include the secret of travelling faster than light by going between, into the gaps that separate alternate universes.

The packages of data are received on Earth in 2028, and the exploration of the galaxy begins almost immediately, using small and relatively cheap vehicles easily afforded by private syndicates and corporations, as well as governments. The Human Commonwealth of the newly colonised planets is no more than a loose association, forced to assert itself more strongly when the first alien civilisation is encountered.

Although the donor race could travel faster than light, their radio signals could not, and reached the various civilisations of the galaxy tens, hundreds or thousands of years after transmission. The people who called themselves the S'sith received them some six hundred years before Earth, and had discovered mankind by about 1600. For centuries their existence remained unknown, while under the cover provided by shipwrecks, piracy and the terrestrial slave trade they quietly collected enough humans to breed a population of millions on their home worlds. By the period in which this story takes place, the Human Commonwealth is extensive, but far more individuals live as the slaves of other species, over an unimaginably larger area.

 

An acknowledgement: hastily deciding what to call the alien being that she meets towards the end of the story, Jenni borrows the name 'Kraken' from John Wyndham's The Kraken Wakes (1953).

 

 

Introduction: The Monopoly

 

Millennia had passed since the S'sith had first encountered humanity and begun the process of acquiring slaves, building up their numbers quietly over centuries by taking those believed on Earth to have disappeared on sea voyages, fled from cruel husbands, fallen victim to human slavers, or become fugitives from justice. When, four hundred years later, Earth received the gift of interstellar travel, it was becoming much more difficult, and they were relying much more on breeding programmes and methods of extending human life. Then formal contact took place, and a short war that was in the interests of neither side. Under the terms of the peace settlement it was agreed that the S'sith would cease and desist from further raids, and would return prisoners taken during the conflict. They would, however, keep their existing population of slaves, breed them, and enjoy a monopoly of trade in them outside the Human Commonwealth, which was already vast. By that time there were tens of millions of human slaves serving in the S'sith Empire, which was more compact but almost as populous. Over the following few centuries, many more sentient races were discovered, most of which were more or less humanoid. No other civilization was discovered that would countenance its people being enslaved by aliens, but many could find uses for humans. Gradually the slave trade became the cornerstone of the S'sith economy, and whole worlds were given over to vast breeding farms and training ranches. Although free humanity grew and prospered in the expanding Commonwealth, the majority of the species were slaves in the service of alien civilizations.

In time thousands of the most hospitable planets were claimed by one civilization or another. They were not all fully exploited; often very small numbers of settlers occupied a system to establish ownership, and challenges became less common as it became easier to cover much longer distances. The original donor technology had made it possible to travel between, using the gaps between alternate universes to move hundreds of light-years in a matter of hours. Vehicles were small- little more than buses- but as more journeys involved longer distances, it became less efficient to include the kind of life-support, catering and rest facilities that were needed for journeys that took as long as a terrestrial week. The donor technology files were vast, and had transformed every civilization that had received them, but much had never been clearly understood. The new drive for further expansion drove the scientists back to them, and the means was discovered of building ships of almost unlimited size. Voyages lasting months were now possible, and the S'sith took full advantage, planting colonies tens of thousands of light-years from the mother worlds. There was little competition, as there seemed to be far fewer sentient species in the neighbouring galaxies, and those that did exist would not receive the donor technologies for millennia. Most of the new worlds were slave-farms, and to carry the products, the S'sith needed suitable ships. This is the story of one such ship; how she came into being, and how she came to face dangers that had never been anticipated, and perform tasks for which she'd never been designed.

 

 

Chapter One: A Just Reward

 

Using the donor technologies, most species had eradicated disease, found solutions to genetic problems, and accelerated healing. Mankind had developed the ability to regrow lost limbs and organs and make artificial substitutes. The lifespans of humans and S'sith were similar; when they encountered one another officially, the average was about a hundred and fifty Earth years. Further research produced, not magic bullets, but small increments, finally reaching- and sticking at- about a thousand years. Humans made most of the discoveries and sold them to their neighbours, who all kept more or less in step. Slaves shared in the benefits, assuming that they thought their lives worth living, as most did. Their monetary value varied to a large extent with their life expectancy. With the genetic alterations- which were inheritable- a person grew to adulthood at the usual pace, and then changed almost imperceptibly over the following centuries, appearing to be about thirty-five when nearer nine hundred. Many other qualities changed; naiveté, curiosity, and a sense of wonder were all gone, in most cases. Conversation could be almost intimidating, even for an owner. But for a young master, or any S'sith unused to such luxuries, a night with an eight or nine hundred-year-old pleasure slave could be an unforgettable experience, and one that would benefit all future partners, slave and free.

The laws of every culture dictated that slaves be allowed to live out their lives. It was written into the S'sith covenant with the Human Commonwealth, and a condition of sales to other species. Many pleasure slaves were prepared for their twilight years, becoming their owners' cooks, housekeepers, accountants, managers, or governesses. Male slaves, rarely used for sex by the S'sith, already occupied many of the professional roles, so really rewarding jobs were in short supply. Many owners were content to let their female slaves retire, spending their last hundred years as respected and much-loved members of their households. In recent decades, however, new possibilities had been opened up.

Human cloning had always been taboo in most of the known civilizations, though S'sith law allowed it under strictly controlled conditions and for one 'generation' only. Then a series of new discoveries eliminated all possible objections except those based on religion, and after a long and pointless delay the restrictions were eased, though the market for cloned slaves was still very limited. It became possible, however, for any person, S'sith or human, slave or free, to become virtually immortal, for as they reached the end of their lifespans their brains could be transferred into new, mindless bodies. Then the final breakthrough came, when no surgery was necessary, and consciousness could be transferred electronically. It was illegal to force a slave to undergo the procedure, and many, like their owners, were ready for eternal rest after a millennium of service. Minds could also be kept in storage for a predetermined length of time. These procedures were, of course, very expensive, and available only to the very rich and their favourite and most highly valued slaves.

One such slave was a woman belonging to the S'sith central government's Minister for Colonial Affairs, an immensely powerful and charismatic being who was over eight hundred Earth years old. He had inherited Jenni from his father who had died four hundred years before, just missing the chance to be immortalised. She had warmed the beds of father and son for seven hundred years, but they had never tired of her. That was not as unlikely as it seems, for naturally they owned dozens of pleasure slaves and constantly exchanged them on loan with friends and colleagues. They also had their S'sith wives. Jenni's owner probably used her no more than a dozen times a year, but she lived a very full and busy life. From her earliest years it was obvious that she would become one of the finest pleasure slaves on the home worlds. She was unusually beautiful at a time when beauty was taken for granted, and naturally buxom when breasts could be remodelled in a few hours. She was curvaceous but not plump; her skin was pale but not pallid, and her lips full, soft and inviting. Like all pleasure slaves her responses had been enhanced and all her openings were sensitised, but her users, so many of them connoisseurs, could tell that she naturally- sincerely- loved having sex with them. She made the plainest male feel like a film star (they still existed) and her intelligence and wit made her popular with their wives, though lesbian relationships were very rare among that species. She enjoyed her life among them, and acted- and was treated- more like a courtesan than a slavegirl. In one respect, however, she was very much a slave. She adored bondage, whether in ropes, irons and chains, frames, pillories, straps or binders. After hundreds of years her limbs, joints and muscles could tolerate days of helplessness without serious discomfort, and she could relax during long hours in hoods and blindfolds, or with her mouth packed and gagged.

She did suffer her share of pain, however. Because she was regarded as a bondage slave as well as a pleasure girl, she was often loaned to males- and to a few females- who liked to whip human beings. She couldn't honestly say that she enjoyed it, and she was not one of those women who have a sexual response to pain or the lash, but she accepted it as the price for her popularity, and her security with her very powerful owners. At least their status guaranteed that she was never seriously injured, but in her nine hundred years of life she suffered approximately twelve thousand lashes, many of them later on in her life, during competitions. Among the S'sith masters and mistresses precision whipping was a popular sport, though they believed they'd learnt it from humanity. There were several disciplines, though the favourite involved laying down a regular pattern of marks on the back of a slave who was stretched out in an upright 'X'. Both of her later masters professed a total lack of interest in the sport, but it was noticeable that the younger minister almost always used her for sex when her marks were at their freshest.

With another owner, she'd probably have felt the lash much more often, for competitors often remarked on the clarity and definition with which her skin presented their marks. The males made a point of using her for sex whenever they could and treated her well, feeding her treats and giving her little presents. They may well have hoped that she'd influence her master to let them whip her more often, for they were always short of subjects on whom to practice. As time went on, however, her participation in the sport declined, because she'd acquired another, more important function. She became a valuable tool in her master's diplomacy, for much of his work involved relations with other species.

Being born and raised among the S'sith, human slaves took it for granted that they'd be used by them for sex. There was nothing off-putting about them; they were entirely humanoid in form, but slightly larger, and had a curiously unfinished look about them, as if they were blanks waiting for the final details to be added by a sculptor. They looked rather like the shapeshifter in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, which still had its fans thousands of years after it was made. Visitors from human space often struggled to recognise individuals, which could be a problem for newly imported slaves. Some found their small, lipless mouths unappealing. Jenni took them all in her stride, and never found it difficult to accommodate herself to their desires. In their sexual habits, the S'sith males were very conservative. They were fastidiously clean and avoided practices they thought 'dirty', so sex was mainly vaginal, occasionally oral, and very rarely anal. Even 'watersports' were rarely practiced, and it was easy to see how, over many centuries, a good pleasure slave might develop a certain ennui which would affect her performance. Fortunately, most were able to couple frequently with other human slaves, both male and female. A small minority of those with professional skills were allowed, in their later years, to set up their own homes, sometimes in the grounds of their owners', and the most highly regarded and valued had pleasure slaves at their disposal. Others were used to serve free humans who were present on the S'sith worlds as tourists, diplomats or traders. Even those who served in brothels or single-slave households were usually allowed some access to other humans.

The minister's work gave Jenni a different kind of outlet for her surplus talents. Although his portfolio was colonial affairs, he was ambitious to expand his sphere of influence, and kept in his own hands the responsibility for marketing the produce of the distant slave farms. That meant entertaining, and cultivating relationships with ambassadors, consuls, commercial secretaries, slave traders, and visiting notables of all kinds. They were provided them with every comfort, and his ministry kept a stable of pleasure slaves who were trained to cater for particular species. Jenni wasn't one of them, but she often helped to entertain at the receptions that he and his wife held on an almost monthly basis, and sometimes more often. He also took visitors to see the wonders of the home worlds, or hunting, or fishing, or whatever he'd been told that they liked to do. Again, she was often present, sometimes to serve drinks, sometimes to hand out equipment or weapons, sometimes to make conversation, and sometimes just to look pretty. She was always in some kind of bondage, but if she had no specific function she was always restrained very strictly, often in the 'reverse prayer', or with a tight armbinder holding her elbows together behind her back. Ropes or straps would bulge out her breasts, and her feet would be locked into impossibly High heels. She was presented as an example of the best goods that the S'sith had to offer, superbly trained and totally subservient to with whims of free beings of any species.

As she was not expected to service the aliens sexually, it was mainly the senior civil servants who used her, if her master chose another slave. She was usually assigned close to the end of the evening, and before that, free to circulate, she began to flaunt herself in front of some of the more presentable aliens, standing close to them, pointing out the best tit-bits on the snacks trays, and starting conversations on harmless topics; usually the food or the climate. Once she got them talking, she'd move to more suggestive areas, asking them, for instance, to point out which parts of her body were different to those of their own females. They were often interested in her breasts, for in most species they were less prominent and less sexualised, and intermammary intercourse was unknown beyond the human and S'sith civilisations, the latter having imported the practice from the former. By the time she'd persuaded them to let her examine their male organs (or if they were women, to compare their vaginas with hers) she had usually managed to draw them aside into one of the many small rooms and curtained alcoves that were provided for couplings. Often they took her to their quarters for the night, or even asked her master to lend her to them for the duration of their visits. At first he was worried about her lack of experience with aliens, but soon accepted that her instincts made up for that.

While not all her lovers were God's gift to a human slavegirl, she found them interesting, and she taught herself to value diversity. She put herself in the role of an artisan, whose craft was to find the best ways to stimulate and pleasure every species she encountered, and also the best ways to take pleasure from them. The more tightly she was bound, the greater the challenge, though some of the aliens preferred to loosen her bonds to let her show them what she could do for them. Usually, she wasn't their first human slavegirl, for they were all associated, though often distantly, with the trade. That didn't matter, for most girls were passive with them, not daring to take the initiative, and in alien brothels human slaves were often presented in very rigid bondage, serving as little more than warm sex toys. The trained girls were taught to respond but not to lead. Most saw the assignment as a punishment to be endured, and almost never added to the existing body of knowledge about their users' preferences. Once her master found out how popular Jenni was with his guests, he debriefed her after each encounter; a more interesting process because she often demonstrated what she'd learned on his body. It was immensely valuable to know more about what he could offer potential customers. She was creating a luxury market for sex-slaves to serve in the homes of the rich and powerful, as the best of them did for the S'sith lords. She also brought occasional nuggets of other kinds of intelligence. She didn't actually spy on her lovers, but she did ask innocent-sounding questions which elicited valuable insights, especially on commercial issues.

 

***

 

To set herself a challenge, Jenni resolved to mate with examples of every known sentient species that breathed anything like an oxygen-nitrogen atmosphere. If their laws and customs permitted it, she was determined to sample both genders. There were fifteen known civilizations, some of them closely related to one another. Some were very humanoid, but often with different skin textures and facial features. Some were almost impossible to kiss, having lipless mouths lined with very sharp teeth, and one group, having very large eyes and transparent membranes instead of lids, had a very unnerving stare. Some had their testicles hidden inside their bodies, and one species had a (literal) bone in the male penis, which could be very satisfying during a long session. Sex-slaves who had been with one species for many years learnt to distinguish individuals as if they were humans, forming loyalties, likes and dislikes, and enjoying some users more than others. Newcomers, when they had overcome any initial reaction to beings with scaly faces or greenish skin, tended to think of them as dildos, not paying much attention to the individuals. With their artificially enhanced responses, they usually performed adequately, and rarely encountered a native connoisseur of the human slavegirl. Jenni's had the huge advantage of being virtually species-blind. To her, all sentient beings were individuals with something to offer her, and sexual needs that cried out to be understood and satisfied. She discovered the tiny nodules in the assholes of Llanwfrith females that, when pressed, were like buttons that caused their vaginas to flood with orgasmic sensation. She explored and mapped the little ridges of flesh at the bottom of the Manhfleth male organ, tracing the nerves that connected them to various erogenous zones that were scattered over their bodies, apparently at random. She was the first non-Elfine person to understand that, as the males thrust their huge organs into a female's vagina, the pitch of her squeals made a huge difference to the quality of the climaxes they experienced. These revelations, passed on through her master and included in training schedules for all inter-species pleasure slaves, greatly increased their value, and thereby multiplied her own. Her achievements were the outcome of her attitude to her lot in life. Sex-slavery was not for her a fate, a job, a means of filling her stomach or avoiding punishment. It was more even than an enjoyable profession, or a duty to be loyally performed. It was her mission in life; her calling.