by Sharon Green
"Some people do, but they're the ones who let their fear and hatred rule them," Tain answered, since she was the one Risdin had spoken to. "Just as some men blame all women when it was only one who hurt them. Killen, you and Tandro can make yourselves comfortable in the best way you can, and then we'll talk. I have a few questions for you that may let you complete your chore faster and easier than you were expecting to."
"Wait a minute," Risdin said as the two men began to look around at the bare floor. "I'll get out blankets for them. Letting them lie down on the floor will make me feel like a savage."
"We very much appreciate that thought," Killen told Risdin, then he turned his attention to Tain. "What do you mean, I can finish my chore faster and easier? I thought we'd be heading back home right away."
"Not quite yet," Tain answered after sipping at the strong, black coffee. "Before we go home we're going to try to end slavery."
If for no other reason than to make sure we don't have to come back here again, Tain thought as Killen stared at her. Once I'm off this world I don't ever want to have to come back…
Chapter Twelve
Jake Killen was still in quite a bit of pain and had only a shaky hold on his sanity, so he gave himself a good talking to while he adjusted the blanket he'd been given. The worst of what he'd been put through was now over, he pointed out to himself, so losing it at this point would be stupid. He'd been dreaming of getting back to base and having that lousy drug cleared from his system, but listening to what Tain had in mind didn't mean he'd never get back.
Easing himself down on his left side on the folded blanket was a relief to his legs and knees even if his pride was still taking a beating. Tain hadn't told him and Tandro that they could put on the body cloths they were still just holding, and without a deliberate order they continued to be bound by what Himlin had told them. Jake understood now why Tain hadn't let them dress earlier, but now that the woman they'd met had calmed down…
You seem to be forgetting something, pal, Jake said to himself as his previous thought petered out. You still have no interest at all in sitting down, so what makes you think you'd enjoy having that cloth touching your behind? Will being covered again make the pain worth it? The ones who laughed aren't here anymore…
Jake felt the urge to close his eyes, but instead he looked at Tain where she stood drinking coffee. At some point during the torture of the day, he'd managed to remember that he'd given almost the same humiliation to Tain that he was being given. He'd let that female slave into the room while he spanked Tain, and the girl had laughed just the way everyone now laughed at him. He no longer wondered why the episode had been so shocking to Tain; what he wondered now was how she'd retained her sanity. And why she hadn't made any effort to kill him…
"Let me start by asking a question that's been bugging me," Tain said suddenly, claiming Jake's attention. "Not that I'm really complaining, but why were you two taken captive instead of killed?"
"We filed a formal complaint against the slaver Himlin, who was responsible for hiring those assassins sent against us," Jake answered, hating that he had no choice but to answer. "If we leave or die without withdrawing the complaint, Himlin can be arrested the first time he shows his face back here. That's why Himlin did what he did to us, to make us really want to withdraw the complaint without messing around. He told us that if we did anything to let people know we were under his control, he'd have someone find us wherever we went and bring us back to him."
"And you were supposed to believe he'd let you go free if you got the charges against him dismissed?" Tain asked with a snort of derision. "Did he order you to be that naive?"
"He might have thought to order us to believe him tomorrow, when he came back," Jake answered with a sigh and a shake of his head. "I noticed that some of his orders were designed more for women than for men, and there is a difference in dealing with the two genders. I think Himlin is too used to having frightened women to order around, victims who are too afraid to do anything but what they're told to do. Even if they have the choice."
"So the humiliation was designed to terrorize you," Tain said with a thoughtful nod that suddenly bothered Jake quite a lot. Just how much of what was done to him and Tandro did she see…? "I can understand why a slaver would think the ploy would work, considering that you're right about the kind of slaves he's used to. Okay, now for my next question: what were you supposed to do here in this town?"
"There's a man in this town named Gordi, who happens to be a strong leader," Jake responded, galled that he was being made to discuss a matter he'd kept private until now. "I was supposed to see and talk to Gordi and convince him that slavery was holding him and his people back from advancing into the modern universe. Since the man is supposed to be a bit above average in intelligence, we had high hopes for the plan."
"What has intelligence got to do with emotions?" Tain asked, her expression showing scorn again. "If it feels good to have slaves around you and someone comes along and tells you that having those slaves is holding you back, what you'll most probably do is ignore the someone. Having a slave who has to do exactly as you say is intoxicating, Killen, a fact you yourself can't argue no matter how much you might want to."
Jake would have enjoyed protesting the accusation, but he'd already been forced to admit the truth of that claim. Having someone in your complete power was a heady drug, and not even being against slavery in general was enough to keep from being enticed into excess.
"It's come to me that what you really need to change your outlook is a taste of what you consider so acceptable for others," Tain went on, drawing Jake's attention again. "Can you say truthfully that your emotional reaction to slavery hasn't been changed by what you went through?"
"No, I can't say that and not be lying," Jake agreed, now seriously bothered. "I disliked the idea of slavery before, but now I'd kill or die to keep it from happening to me again."
"And the only way to be absolutely certain that you can never be enslaved again is to make sure no one can be enslaved," Tain said, smiling grimly as she nodded. "You as an individual may be safe today, but as long as it's possible to enslave someone you might suddenly find your safety gone tomorrow. Does this strong leader you mentioned have friends or enemies with as much influence as he does?"
"I'm sure he does, but I don't know who they are," Jake answered, glancing at Tandro where he lay on his stomach on his own blanket. "Tandro only knew about Gordi, so he was the one we meant to talk to. If we can talk Gordi around, and there's a good chance of that in spite of your point being valid, he ought to call in the others and let us talk to them as well."
"I'm not as big a fan of calm conversation as I used to be," Tain remarked, looking into her coffee cup before draining it. "I'm more of the opinion that one good experience is worth a million words instead of a thousand, not to mention twenty-five words or less. If the man really doesn't want to hear what you have to say, you'd be lucky to get in even as many as twenty-five words. Risdin, you and I need to talk."
And with that Tain walked over to the native woman and began to speak to her in tones too low for Jake to hear. He was being shut out of Tain's plans just the way he'd shut Tain out of his, and Jake found that he didn't like it any more than Tain had.
"What's going on, Killen?" Tandro asked from where he lay only a couple of feet away, his expression as calm as it usually was but agitation showing in his eyes. "Are we going to be free, or have we simply exchanged owners?"
"I'm sure we'll be free, but the question right now is when," Jake answered, speaking as softly as Tandro had. "I wanted to go straight home, but if there's a chance we can end slavery before we go then I'm willing to wait. Do you feel differently?"
"I can't decide," Tandro admitted, defining the agitation Jake had seen. "I want to be free as soon as possible, but now that I know that drug will work on me as well as it does on women my familiar world suddenly scares me. How can I go back to living a normal life if that life can be stolen
from me with very little effort? If your woman needs us to tell Gordi how bad being a slave is from the male point of view, I know I can be more than a little convincing."
"You and me both," Jake agreed, suddenly noticing that the woman Risdin had made a fresh pot of coffee as the aroma of the fresh brew began to fill the room. "If having us speak to Gordi of what we went through is part of Tain's plan, I'm hoping she doesn't ask us to go into real detail. Talking about it won't be quite as bad as having lived it, but I don't expect the experience to be pleasant."
"You really do like understatement, don't you," Tandro commented dryly, then he shook his head. "I'm trying very hard to forget those details you mentioned, but looking at your woman isn't making the effort easy. That insertion isn't affecting me any longer, but the outfit your woman is wearing is bringing back some of what we weren't allowed to relieve. And speaking of women, where's the girl?"
"Ennie must be safe, or Tain would hardly be acting so unconcerned," Jake assured the other man, bothered that he hadn't noticed the girl's absence himself. What he had noticed was the costume Tain still wore, but he'd finally remembered how to control himself. Without the insertion egging him on, controlling his reactions was no harder than standing on his hands for an hour would be. The effort would exhaust him, but it was possible…
And thinking about other things helped a good deal. With that in mind, Jake concentrated on the aroma of coffee brewing to blot out awareness of how badly he wanted to take Tain in his arms and make love to her…
* * *
"We now have a workable plan," Tain told Risdin as soon as she'd moved far enough away from the men to make the conversation private. "If the only way to make men eager to end slavery is to force them to experience the state, we now have the perfect man to start with. As soon as we make Gordi ours we'll get a list of names from him, then we'll do the same with as many of the men on the list as we can."
"That's a great idea, but I'm afraid there's one small thing wrong with it," Risdin said, her expression not quite ridiculing. "We could convince Gordi if we could get to him, but we have no way of getting to him. Inviting him to come visit and be enslaved probably won't work."
"That all depends on how you word the invitation," Tain countered, then waved away Risdin's immediate protest. "I'm just joking. I know you and your people can't get to Gordi, but Killen and I ought to be able to. We're trained for this kind of thing, but we won't be able to do it tonight. Killen is hurting too badly and we all need to get some sleep, not to mention the fact that we have to stay out of that slaver's way. Is there some place other than here where we can all hide out until tomorrow night?"
"You think there's a chance we'll be found in this room?" Risdin asked, now looking faintly worried. "The others and I have always been safe here, so what makes you think that won't continue to be the case?"
"As soon as the slaver finds Killen and Tandro gone, he'll probably have his men search everywhere in the immediate neighborhood," Tain explained patiently. "He'll know that his former victims were too hurt to go very far, so he'll search hoping to find them again. And since he'll certainly be back first thing in the morning, we'll be best off not waiting to go elsewhere until his men are knocking on the door."
"Knocking down the door, you mean," Risdin corrected ruefully. "And if you and your friend do manage to take Gordi, we'll need a place to keep him while we show him what slavery is all about. All right, we'll move everything out of here to where we keep it when the warehouse is being used, and then we'll get some sleep. But first I've got to tell Areen what we're doing. Help yourself to the fresh coffee and I'll be back in just a little while."
Risdin waited for Tain to nod agreement, then she turned and went to one of the cabinets in the wall to the far right. Instead of opening the cabinet doors she felt under the bottom of the unit, half her arm disappearing in the attempt.
When Tain heard a small click and then saw the whole cabinet section swing away from the wall, she understood where the other women had gone. A lantern hung on the wall just inside the hidden opening, but once Risdin was back on her feet and moving past the cabinet she left the lantern where it was and disappeared down what looked like wooden stairs.
"Your new friend seems to be very well organized," Killen commented from where he lay on the blanket he'd been given, his attention and Tandro's on the opening in the wall. "If that's where we'll be moving to, I can't tell you how glad I am to hear it. Thinking about the search Himlin will have his men make in the morning would have kept me, at least, from sleeping at all tonight."
"I didn't want to scare Risdin, but we might not have until morning for that search to start," Tain said, drawing the men's attention. "Your original guards stood their post for three hours before they were relieved, so that's the absolute maximum amount of time we can count on before the next pair of guards shows up. If I'm not mistaken it hasn't yet been an hour since I took out the guards, but I'll feel better getting us under cover as soon as possible. Do you think I'm wrong?"
"No, I couldn't agree with you more," Killen said at once, and Tain saw a look of fear ghost through his eyes before he regained control. "I was going to ask if I could have a cup of that coffee, but now I'd rather get started moving down those stairs."
"We'll have to wait until Risdin gets things set up," Tain said, seeing how the man would have jumped to his feet if he'd been in better physical condition - and was allowed to leave the blanket. "It shouldn't take her long, so we might as well spend the waiting time stoking up on caffeine. Would you also like a cup of coffee, Tandro?"
"Yes, please," the native answered after the barest of hesitations, his own gaze hidden from Tain's sight with the turn of his head. What Tain could see of his body looked more tense than usual, which meant that both men were feeling the same fear. Not being sure you'd be able to protect yourself was definitely something to bring on fear, and Tain didn't have to work to understand how they felt. She'd felt the same herself when she'd been under Killen's control…
Rather than dwelling on the past, Tain found two more cups, filled them with coffee, then brought the coffee to Killen and Tandro. The men accepted the cups with thanks, but the thanks were mumbled and the coffee was swallowed in gulps in spite of how hot it was. Tain went back and refilled her own cup, pretending she didn't see how rattled Killen and Tandro were. The fresh coffee was strong and hot and felt good going down, but if Risdin wasn't back in another ten minutes Tain meant to leave that good coffee and go looking for the woman.
No more than five of the ten minutes passed before Risdin reappeared at the top of the stairs, a smile on her face.
"Areen loved your idea, and she's now passing on the word and then she'll be back to help us move things down," Risdin announced as soon as she stepped through the opening. "I thought about waiting for her, but on the way up I decided I'd rather not. If that slaver finds out sooner than morning that his prisoners are gone, we don't still want to be in the middle of moving."
"You're right, so let's get to it this minute," Tain said, putting her cup down and moving off the wall she'd been leaning on. "You men pick up your blankets and body cloths, and you can carry those along with your cups. Risdin and I will carry the heavy stuff, and you can take your turn with doing more tomorrow, when you're not quite as stiff and hurting."
"What idea is Risdin talking about?" Killen asked as he and Tandro both began to get to their feet. "You haven't yet mentioned what you have in mind."
"You'll know when you need to know," Tain answered, feeling the least bit childish but not really caring. "But don't worry that you'll be left out of things, because you won't be. Pandora's box has been opened, and since you're the one who opened it you'll even get to tell people all about it."
"What's Pandora's box?" Risdin asked as Killen turned away to hide whatever his expression was like. "And what can a box have to do with any of what we're in the middle of?"
"Pandora's box is from very old folklore," Tain explained while sh
e and Risdin began to empty the space behind the wall of what it held. "Pandora was given a box and told not to open it, otherwise something very terrible would happen. The girl was able to stay away from the box for a short while, but eventually her curiosity got to be too much and she opened the box. The box held all the evils of the world, and once it was open Pandora found that it couldn't be closed again. All the evils escaped into the world, and that was supposed to be the reason that bad things happen to good people. Because someone didn't know enough to leave things the way they were."
"That doesn't make much sense," Risdin said as she led the way to the opening, bedding and blankets filling her arms. "If the person who gave Pandora the box had told her what was in it, she wouldn't have opened the thing. Not telling her just about guaranteed that the evils would be let loose, so it wasn't Pandora's fault but the fault of whoever gave her the box."
"I agree with you up to a certain point," Tain said, knowing the two men were following her the way she followed Risdin, her own arms full of food supplies. "Pandora should have been told what was in the box, but would knowing the truth have helped? If all the evils in the world were inside the box, Pandora had no real idea what evil was. Sometimes you have to know, personally, just how bad a thing can be before you can tell if it's something that shouldn't be allowed to exist. And you have to understand how far the evil can spread, otherwise opening the box doesn't seem to be a bad idea at all."
The silence behind Tain suggested that Killen might be thinking about what she'd said, or maybe he was ignoring it. She'd finally remembered hearing Killen tell Tandro that using the slave drug on a man the first time had been his idea, a doing that had been completely out of the question until that moment. Killen was definitely the one who had opened Pandora's box, so he couldn't very well complain that bad stuff was falling out of the sky all over him.
