Page 12 of No Strings Attached

Vi found herself repeating, “Um…great…thanks,” as the trawg nodded and wagged its tail with gusto, and the eunuch next to him interrupted.

“Madam? I beg your pardon, but I believe you are making a terrible mistake.”

“Is that so?” She turned her head toward him and looked into his piercing blue eyes.

“Indeed. Any escape plan that you make will almost certainly fail, and then you will be subjected to even greater misery than you have been so far between now and the auction.”

“Auction?”

“Yes.”

Vi turned her head back to her own cage and raised her voice, “Bobby, is that true? Are we all going to be auctioned off?” Shecouldn’t see him through Mister Beastly, but she half-heartedly hoped that Mister Beastly wasn’t hurting him too badly.

“Yes,” he said with his voice equally raised. He didn’t sound particularly strangled. That was good.

“When?”

“A little less than a month from now.”

“Why the delay?”

“Um, I really don’t know. Maybe travel time for the buyers?”

She turned back to the eunuch, “What’s your name?”

“Caussus, madam.”

“Caussus, are you with us or against us?”

“I am not able to make those choices independently, madam. I belong to my owner. Currently, my owner is Qlu. In about a month, it will be someone else. I am programmed and conditioned for absolute obedience.”

“Do you wish to be free?”

“I am not capable of generating those feelings, madam.”

“OK, work with me here. Let’s see, you are currently property ofandcaptive of Qlu, isn’t that right?” Caussus nodded. “If I freed you, then threatened you with this shock stick, you would be my captive, right?” Another nod. “And also my property, correct?”

“Yeeessss…madam? Perhaps. Hmm, ownership is a tricky category of galactic law.”

“Don’t worry about the law, just check your instincts and answer me honestly. If I freed you and told you that you were my property, would you follow my orders?”

“Yes, I believe so, madam.”

“Would you work against me to get back to Qlu?”

“No, madam, I don’t think I would.” He thought about it, then allowed a small smile to appear, which transformed him from merely beautiful to stunningly gorgeous, “Especially if you directly ordered me not to.”

Vi nodded. They could work this out. “So, at that point, once I freed you and ordered you to comply with my directions, and to not betray us, you would be a trustworthy member of the crew?”

Caussus said again, “Yes, madam, I believe so.”

Vi shrugged, “Works for me.” She turned her head back to the right and regarded Friend. “What about you, buddy? Are you with us?”

“Yes!” He said, instantly. “I’ll go anywhere with you, Vi, especially if you sing! I love you.”

Vi nodded, thought about it, and said, “You’re a very good boy, Friend.”

The whole trawg commenced to wagging, nose to tail.

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