He turned his attentions back to the naked property.

"She looks pretty good," he commented. "Probably better than that last one. She didn't last very long at all."

"You're rough on them."

"Of course. They're only terries, after all! Bred to be beautiful and sexy. And cheap enough. If one doesn't last long, just toss her out and buy another."

"Of course."

Again he looked askew at her. "You know," he began slowly, "it might be a good idea if you were to learn a little respect. Maybe a day spent as a property would teach you something."

It was hard to tell, but Tara thought that Dee's face turned a little pale.

"You wouldn't do that."

He said nothing and Tara could not tell what he was thinking. From what she had learned so far, terries were considered less than dirt by these people, and she doubted someone would treat one of their own like that. But... This was a strange world she had awoken into. May well be that was no idle threat.

Whether the byplay between those two was serious or not, it was pushed aside by his turning back to Tara. "Take her down to her cage and get a permanent collar on her."

"Right away. Come on, terrie."

Tara followed Dee out of the room but could feel the man's eyes burning holes in her back. Or maybe it was just that he was watching her ass wiggle as she walked out.

The house was apparently quite large. They passed through several rooms before coming to what looked like a closet without a door. Tara saw no one else and wondered if that big house held only the two she had seen. At the doorway, Dee stopped and pushed Tara into the small closet ahead of her. As soon as they were in, she said, "E down two." The floor immediately began to lower. It was an elevator but not a box shaped one. They passed the floor below the one they entered on and then stopped at another level below that. This area had only a corridor passing left and right with half a dozen doors. Unlike the level above, all the walls in this one were painted depressing blue-gray. Even the floor and ceiling were of the same color with only the doorframes breaking the monotony. Dee led her to one of those doors and touched it. The panel disappeared and she was led into a room that instantly turned her blood cold.

It was a torture chamber, nothing less. The walls were either real stone or a good simulation thereof. The ceiling had wooden beams with a few metal hooks and rings here and there. Around the floor were scattered what were obviously torture devices. Tara saw a pillory, a set of stocks, a full functional looking rack, two posts going from floor to ceiling, a chair made of flat iron bars, an ancient scarred wooden table and an assortment of ropes, chains and whips lying about on the table and various hooks on one wall.

"Oh, I forgot to tell you," Dee said with a healthy dose of humor. "This is his idea of a dungeon. He got it from some videos of such places on Terra. He was fascinated with the idea of a room devoted to cruel and crude instruments of torture. Oh, and they all work, he saw to that. Over there is your cage."

Tara looked in the direction indicated and found, in the corner, a cage made of iron bars. What frightened her the most was that it was only three feet tall, not much wider and only seven feet or so long. The end swung open like a door and she could see hasps and locks where it could be closed and locked. She shuddered.

"Oh, you like it! He will be happy. The prior terrie toys we've had spent their nights in there. And a lot of their days. When no one was using them. It's small and dark there and cold and totally, totally secure. A hydroserpent couldn't break down those bars."

Dee went to one of the stone blocks on one wall and touched it. The stone disappeared and shelves were visible. From one of them, she took a circular band of silvery metal.

"This is your collar. You will, of course, wear it at all times. Here, bend your head down and I'll put it on."

"I don't think I want it," said Tara with a tremor in her voice. Shock upon shock was piling up on the poor girl and fear was eating away at her insides like a vicious rat. Ever since waking up in that cold coffin, she had been trying to keep a level head on her shoulders and both understand and accept what was happening to her. But this dungeon was just too much! She wanted to break down and cry - or maybe scream a bit.

"Would you rather I use the rod on you?" Dee asked calmly. "It does hurt a hell of a lot."

Tara looked to the red rod on her belt and shuddered. "Please... This is getting to be a bit too much."

Dee sighed and reached for the rod.

Tara began softly crying but bent her head down. Dee placed the silver band around her neck. She could feel it closing by itself and almost molding itself to her neck. When Dee moved her hands away, Tara lifted her head. She knew that the band was now locked on with no keyhole or seam. It was about two inches wide, rather thin and cool on her skin at first. After a while it warmed up to body temperature.

"This collar will stay on you forever. It will only unlock itself if you die." Dee seemed delighted to be telling this to Tara. "I can't take it off. And I'm not sure if anyone else has a key. But don't worry, you'll get used to it. Before long you'll forget it's there."

"Thanks."

"Was that sarcasm?" asked Dee. "Sometimes with you terries it's hard to tell what you mean."

"I meant nothing by it," she responded, eager to offer no offense.

"Good. I don't like sarcasm. That would earn you punishment."

Tara almost opened her mouth but shut it. She was about to say, "That does not surprise me," but thought better of it.

"Now you can crawl into your cage," Dee told her.

"What about my arms? Aren't you going to take these things off?"

"Why? You don't need your arms for anything. You can't do a thing to that cage. Besides, leaving those on will keep you from playing with yourself. Property is not allowed to pleasure itself. One of the rules." She said it with a sweet smile on her lips.

Once again Tara held back a retort. Instead, she walked over to the corner where her cage rested and looked down into it. There was no bedding, nothing. "Don't I get something to sleep on?"

Dee smirked happily. "Of course, you have the stone floor."

With a sigh, Tara lowered herself to one knee then both. She was still too tall to crawl in, so she had to bend over. Shuffling in on her knees, she went into the cage, feeling the iron bars closing in around her. When her feet had cleared the end, Dee shut the door and placed two large padlocks through the hasps. The clicked shut loudly.

"Would be a lot easier to use mag locks but this is more authentic. It is, isn't it? More authentic, I mean."

"All the best dungeons have them," she said.

"That is sarcasm, isn't it? Well, maybe I'll punish you later. Right now, it's lunchtime and I'm hungry. See you later, terrie."

She did not await any reply from her property. When she was gone, Tara shifted onto her side and allowed herself a good cry. Her shoulders ached, the stone floor was cold, and it seemed to her that the bars and stone walls were closing in on her.

Besides, Dee had just reminded her that she was hungry.