Plunder of Gor by John Norman Page A

until the master sees fit to relieve them of the impediment. Such things help a girl better understand her slavery. The keyed devices in which Paula and I were placed were doubtless intended to make it impossible for us, should we attempt to do so, to dislodge the bits. My wrists were still bound behind me, tightly, with one of my nylon stockings. A handcuff was snapped about Paula’s right wrist, and she was drawn toward me. The other cuff was then snapped about my left wrist, after which I was unbound. We then stood before the men, bitted, and handcuffed together, her right wrist to my left wrist. The cuffs were the same as those in which I had earlier awakened. We were then hooded, blankets thrown over us, and belted about our necks.
    â€œYou will be fed in the van,” said the leader.
    â€œSlave biscuits,” laughed the third man.
    The simplicity of his remark startled me, and dismayed me. I did not fully understand it, but I was frightened. Slave biscuits! Did he think I was an animal? To be sure, when I was hungry, I would learn to accept such fare, even beg for it.
    â€œThe trip,” said the leader, “will take several hours. There will be a sheet on the floor of the van. I trust you will be comfortable. You may have to be caged for a time in the warehouse, as additional stock is expected.”
    I was not stock, I wished to protest, but could not do so, as I was bitted. And, too, I feared I was now stock.

Chapter Four
    In the van, after the first hour, we were unhooded and unbitted. We were given small, thick disks of what I took to be some sort of unleavened bread.
    â€œEat,” said one of our captors, who rode with us in the back of the van.
    We obeyed.
    We were given water, as well.
    We were not permitted speech.
    We were kept handcuffed together.
    This very much displeased me, for I had taken a great dislike to Paula. She was not more attractive than I! I had rather scorned her, and even felt sorry for her before. Now I resented her. One needed only examine the models in the fashion magazines, watch television commercials, watch beauty pageants, attend to the standardized ideals of womanhood promoted in our culture, so much at odds with the normal, typical woman, to recognize the naivety and ignorance of our captors. They knew no more about beauty than sculptors and painters, from ancient Greece and Rome to the Renaissance, to the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century, and so on. But, too, if she was really so beautiful, I was not that different from her, really! I suppose she was intelligent, but surely not more intelligent than I. She could not be too intelligent; she read books. There was likely to be little there, in such reading, having to do with enhancing your appearance, improving your popularity, manipulating others, advancing your career, or such.
    â€œMay we speak, Master?” asked Paula.
    â€œNo,” he said.
    â€œWell, I will speak,” I informed him.
    â€œDo you wish to wear a slave bit?” he asked.
    â€œNo,” I said, “no!”
    I had had more than enough of that hideous device. I would do much to avoid it. I would be very obedient. I would try to be pleasing. I would smile. If worse came to worst, I might even let one of those insensitive brutes kiss me.
    â€œIn another hour,” said the fellow, after a time, glancing at his watch, “we will arrive at the embarkation point. You will be briefly housed there, with others, in a well-lit subterranean warehouse, prior to your shipping. You will not be shipped immediately, as other merchandise is currently en route to the embarkation point. You will receive a briefing, a short orientation, such that you will understand what you now are and what you are now for, and some preliminary training. We want you to survive your first week on Gor.”
    â€œGor!” I thought. “Surely he does not expect us to believe that there is such a place, supposedly another planet, supposedly another