Drinking in the sight of the girl stretched out on his special couch, Clive thought that she was probably his best-ever acquisition. Her skin was a lovely golden brown, a trifle darker than was typical for an Englishwoman of Punjabi heritage, and her darker lips were a perfect Cupid's bow. Her face was perfectly symmetrical, framed by a mass of straight black hair that curled just a little as it touched her shoulders. Perhaps she would benefit from having her eyebrows narrowed just a little. He was thankful that she had resisted the modern fashion for piercings in her nose or upper lip, but he would think about ringing her tongue. Her body was also perfect. She was slim without being bony or angular, and her breasts were above average in size, shapely and firm, with round, dark-brown areolae and prominent nipples. Below her flat stomach, her labia were also dark and inviting. She was clean-shaven, although there were signs of stubble and she would have to be properly depilated. Her legs were shapely, but not long enough to give her the 'catwalk' look that he found off-putting.

The girl, who was twenty-one and so far had no name, was bound in an 'X' shape on the couch that was about the width of a double bed, but with an alloy frame to which her bonds were attached. As she had not yet woken up to find herself restrained, he was expecting a stormy half-hour and had used the shock-absorbing cords and cuffs that would minimize the damage to her wrists and ankles as she fought them with all her strength. He had designed and commissioned the bed-cum-bench-cum-gurney as the perfect holder for new acquisitions. It could swing from horizontal to upright, and at that time it was about twenty degrees from the former. It could tilt and turn, and the frame could lift and rotate, allowing occupants to be turned over without adjustments to their restraints. Generally, he preferred them face-up, but should he need to whip them he could quickly expose their backs and buttocks. A nearby rack held numerous instruments of punishment, and a selection of gags and blindfolds.

The girl was beginning to stir, and as the drug wore off very quickly once it started, he affected a neutral expression and ensured that his shirt was buttoned and his flies closed. On the ship he often went naked, especially when alone with a pleasure slave. Her eyes opened wide and stared at him, and she began to struggle as she realized that she was bound and at an angle that imposed a gentle but firm pull on her arms and wrists. 'Who . . . who are you?' she asked, in a voice that was meant to be imperious but only sounded trembly and frightened. 'Why am I tied up like this?' Then, much more stridently, 'Why am I naked? What sort of pervert are you? Let me go!'

He took a deep breath and began a speech that, with appropriate variations, he had made many times before. 'Try to relax, my dear. This will be difficult for you, but there's no point in mincing words or trying to break the news gently. I am a slaver for an alien race called the S'sith, and you have been taken. Your old life on Earth is over, and your new life as a slave is just beginning. The more quickly you accept it, the easier it will be for you.'

'A slave?' she squeaked; 'Don't be stupid. There are no slaves on Earth. You've made a mistake. I'm not rich. No-one will pay a big ransom for me. I don't know where we are, or who you are, so if you just let me go and leave the area, there won't be any repercussions.'

He was beginning to wonder whether it had been a mistake to let her regain consciousness without a gag. She had already called him 'stupid' and would have to be punished for that. He sent a mental signal to the 'bus' and the top and sides turned transparent. They were in orbit around Mars, with Phobos clearly visible only a few dozen miles away. He had chosen the position purely for its visual effect; he had no particular reason to be there. She knew immediately that it was not faked as she worked for a firm that was at the cutting edge of three-dimensional imaging. She renewed her battle with her bonds. 'Who are you really?', she demanded. 'Why have you done this to me? I'm no use to you.' She sobbed as she added; 'I've never done anyone any harm. Where are we? Where are we going?' She closed her eyes tightly, as if she could make the scene go away by shutting it out. 'Why am I tied up like this?', she asked again.

He realized that, although the view of their surroundings had convinced her that they were not on Earth, she had never been in space and had no idea where they were. Her mind was shutting out that problem and concentrating on what she understood. She had been kidnapped, she was bound and stretched-out naked in the presence of a male stranger. She was thinking about ransom, which probably frightened her badly since she was not wealthy, and rape. She had already forgotten his mention of the S'sith, and of slavery. That didn't happen to people like her. He would have to either explain it to her patiently, over and over again, or to shock her into facing her new reality. He was not a patient man, and his 'bus' lacked the supplies to stay in space indefinitely. He had always intended this trip to be a short one, which was why he had only brought one of his slaves with him.