Between Master and Slave (Manxman, Mature)

Transaction

The bodyguard left me by the corridor. I look at the high star vaulted ceilings and the chandeliers fixed in the centre of each star. This place looks more like an early century rich family mansion than a casino. I go straight to the bar. The barmaid sees me and comes over.
"What can I serve you?" She says with a polite smile.
"I got one of these coupons for a drink at the door." I place it on the bar. "What can I get with it?"
"One drink." She simply adds.
"Any restrictions?"
"No." She looks at me weirdly. I feel I have to explain myself. I am not weird after all.
"It's just that sometime they put restrictions, like only local beers or just the cheap rum."
"No restrictions here." Now she looks at me like if I am not only weird but also cheap.
"Just give me a Bloody Mary please. I think that if I keep on talking I will need a shovel."
My American humor is completely wasted on her. She just turns and gets the drink ready. Soon she is back with a tall skinny glass, filled with the red liquid and a touch of salt and pepper on the rim. I pick it up and leave her a pound sterling. I start looking around. This place must have been a house in the past. The place is made up of small rooms, each dedicated to one type of game. When I came in they also gave me 50 pounds in chips. I decide to try it at the slot machines. With 50 pounds I should keep busy for a while.
The cheapest machine says 1 pound per game. So I sit, put in my money and press the button. Less then a minute later I run out of money.
"What? How could it be?" I look at the screen closely and I understand how it works. There are four rows and four columns. Each time I press the button I play on each row and each column, plus the diagonals. So I am playing, according to the machine 10 games or 10 pounds each time I press the button.
"No wonder it was quick." I tell myself. I keep on touring the place and end at the black jack table.
"What is the betting limits?" I ask the card dealer.
"1000 maximum bet" he replies quickly without even looking at me, as if he gets the question asked often.
"And minimum?" That got his attention, and the stares of the four others sitting at the table. After the awkward moment. The dealer replies.
"I believe the minimum is 10 pounds." Still looking directly at me.
"Could you give me 200 pounds worth of chips please?" I take the cash from my pocket and place it on the table as I sit.
"200?" He stares at the money, as if he cannot believe his eyes. "How would you like them?"
"Tens will be fine." I look at the person on my right staring at me openly, and add. "You know, just to warm up before some real playing."
"Of course," he replies unconvinced.
The dealer looks at his chips. Then adds.
"I am sorry, I am afraid I don't have any 10 pounds chips. The smallest denomination I have is 20." Then adds quickly, "But I can get some if you wish."
"No, 20 will be fine." I have stalled the game far enough.
I like Black jack since every game is you against the dealer. I consider it in a way more strategic then poker. And you have a bigger chance of winning, even if it is less money.

"The dealer stops at 18," the dealer says as he shows the cards.
"Yes!" I exclaim loud enough for the table to hear and look at me. The dealer places a 40 sterling chip on top of my 40 and I pick it up. Everybody stares at me amused. I definitely don't belong in this group. They play with hundreds of pounds every hand and I with tens. They barely acknowledge every win or loss, but I actually get excited.
"Sorry," I add, "I just got on top."
"Got on top?" The gentleman to my right asks.
"Yes, I started with 200 pounds, and with this win I now have 220 pounds."
He just smiles back.
"Mr. Romano."
"Yes" I say as I turn to face my interlocutor to see the bodyguard/slave. "Ohh, it's you. Are they ready?"
"If you would follow me."
"Well, gentlemen, now that I was getting warmed up for some serious play, I have to go. It has been a pleasure." I take my chips and follow the guard.
"Getting warmed up he says," I hear the person to my right as I get away, "maybe he would have played a whole 50 pounds on the next game." They all snicker.
The bodyguard brings me back to the private room upstairs, where the auction was. The room is now brightly lit. There is a table with an open laptop and someone sitting by it, a couple of comfortable armrest chairs with a small coffee table with a pad on it and a well stocked bar.
"Mr. Romano. Nice to meet you in person finally. I'm Vladimir Stenski" The master of ceremonies smiles offering his hand.
"Nice to finally meet you." I smile back while offering him my hand.
"May I offer you a drink." He points at the bar.
"I feel I should celebrate." I notice a bottle of sparkling wine in a bucket. "So I'll have a glass of the sparkling wine."
"Excellent choice." He takes two glasses and pours a good amount in each. He passes me one. "To your excellent purchase."
We both sip.
"I have to say. That I am amazed at how did you call it? The obedience system."
"Yes, it is brilliant I have to admit."
"Did you come up with it?"
"No, it was a bio engineer. I only work for him."
"Russian?"
"Yes I am. You are very observant."
"Thanks. I hope I was not prying."
"Not at all. I would let you know if you were."
"Like if I asked you how you obtained your slaves?"
"Like if you asked how we obtain our slaves." He responds still smiling. He looks at me then adds. "I like you Mr. Romano, I liked you from the first time you contacted us. No fuss around, straight to the point, but still polite, without the arrogance that some of the people I have to deal with have."
"Maybe because I am part of the plebes, the little people."
"You seem to be about one point seven, point eight meters. Not tall, but not that little." He smiles pleasantly, "to the little people then." We raise our glasses again. The bodyguard refills them. He continues,
"I have to ask you. What was that thing you did, pressing three times the button in a row. Was your finger stuck?"
I smile.
"How am I going to answer this one? I thought that I was giving the impression that two bidders were fighting for the boy, and discourage the other bidders in the room." Now he must think I am dumb. He laughs out loud. Yes, he thinks I am dumb.
"Amazing, I knew I liked you for a reason. Very sneaky indeed. Let me tell you though, that tactic would not work if someone would want to spend the money on the merchandise. Truth is, that everybody wanted to see more of the boy before putting money on him. Removing his pants would have raised the bid to over 200, regardless of what you did."
"So why didn't you?"
"I told, I like you!"
"Lucky me." I rise my glass. We drink again. I continue. "So, going back to the obedience system, if I understand correctly, I ask the slave to do something for me. If he doesn't I press the button he goes on the ground and eventually he will do what I want. What stops him, from just running away?"
"Now, you offend me. You did not think we would go through all this trouble to have him go where he pleases. Here, sit down and let me show you."
He sits on one of the arm chairs, I sit in the other. He picks the pad and brings it to life.
"Here, this is the controller for your slave." He opens an app, enters an access code, and a new screen opens up. On the heading I see Number 16. Below there are four buttons map, comms, discipline and terminate. In the bottom right corner a pictogram of a battery shows that the battery is almost full, confirmed by the number clearly visible 95%.
"As you can see," he continues very pleasantly, "the app is easy to operate. Map," he points at the button, "is the one you might use more often, we will cover it after. Comms lets you communicate with your slave at a distance."
He taps on the button, and a screen appears with the buttons back, talk, listen, discipline.
"You activate the button listen," he taps on it, the button lights up, but nothing happens. "Now we hear what he says and some of the background noises, depending on where he is."
"Do you have to raise the volume? We don't hear a thing."
"That is because he is alone right now in a room nearby. So he is quiet. When I press the button talk, he will hear us through the mike of the pad." He taps the button, and speaks.
"Number 16"
The reply comes back almost instantly, the voice seem calm, composed and somewhat mechanic, but the mechanic tone must be the position of the mike or the quality of the connection.
"Yes teacher", strange, I thought he would address him as master. But I keep quiet.
"I am here with your master." I understand he is teacher I must be master.
There is a pause, then the voice comes back more hesitantly.
"Good evening master."
I think I should answer, but what is the etiquette in such a case. I have a role to play for Vladimir, if that is even his name. I remember what I was taught at the beginning of my career, if you have to open your mouth to stick your foot in, don't. Keep quiet and listen. Maybe you will learn something. In fact, the silence does not last long, as the teacher speaks again.
"Is that all you have to say to your master?"
There is another pause, then an even more hesitant voice comes back.
"I look forward to serve you ... Master"
Somehow I figured what to say, as master I am not going to talk to him. Yet I want to reassure this scared kid that I mean no harm to him. I talk to the teacher instead.
"Quite wonderful, I look forward to talk to him in person though." That should do, I hope.
"Soon," the teacher replies. As he presses the button talk and then listen. As he continues talking. "The button discipline is self explanatory, you just tap it and the slave gets a shock."
He presses the back button to bring us back to the main menu.
"The button terminate will terminate the slave. The device we implanted in him works on a lithium ion battery. When you press the button, the system will ask you to confirm by entering the access code of the app. If you do, the battery will be short circuited. This will create a small explosion terminating the slave."
I remember the picture I saw of the young man. So that is how he died, what a horrible death. My interlocutor leaves me time for the information to sink in, then adds.
"Talking about the battery. The display at the bottom, shows the device's battery status. Right now it is at 95%. A charge should last about a week depending on the amount of times you discipline him. It is imperative for the battery not to reach 3%, at which time the slave will be terminated automatically. He knows this and he is trained to recharge regularly."
"How does he do that?"
"Through any standard USB charger, although we will supply a standard wall and car charger. The plug is located in his left ear, where there is also the communication speaker. The mike is in his jaw. It is all quite invisible and discreet."
"Except that I still can't take him to the beach."
"Why can't you?"
"Because of that ugly black box that shows on his back." The minute I finish my phrase I regret it as I see the bodyguard wince. I feel so sorry for him right now. Mr. Stenski however does not even notice the reaction of his own man. He just laughs.
"Ohh, the video. Excuse me, I should have mentioned it. That was then. Now we have a much better way of inserting the device. After insertion we cover it with skin so that the black box as you call it is almost invisible. You will hardly notice it and you know it is there. So no problem if you want to show him off at the beach."
"And now to your question about control of your slave." He touches the button map. At the center I see the shape of a man. The rest is just like any online type maps. Actually on closer look the centre of the map has a bluish transparent color, as if a zone of the map is highlighted.
"This is a map of the area, as you can see. We are right beside Hyde Park. The little man represents your slave. As he moves the map will move keeping him in the centre, just like a car GPS. At the top you see it's coordinates, as well as direction of traveling and speed. The shaded area, represents the area in which the slave can operate. He can only move in the shaded area."
"What happens if he tries to go outside the area?" I ask.
"That depends on you. By pressing the setting button you can change what happens. The basic setting, he gets a warning vibration, followed by a discharge 30 seconds later, and every minute after that. You can change the number of warnings, time between discharges. The area of operation can also be changed, like this. It is important, before you take a trip for example, to change the area big enough so that the plane, let's say, will not travel outside the area of operation. If the area you created is not big enough your slave might be shocked a lot, damaging it and even risk to drain the battery too much and eventually get terminated." While he explains that he shows me how to change the area of operation, by playing with the zoom and drawing a new shaded area with his finger, he draws an area covering all the southern part of England and most of Europe up to southern Puglia.
"How you can see it is very easy to change the area of operation from almost a single room, to an entire continent." He gives me time for the information to sink in.
"Do you have any questions?"
"Not at this time. It all seems quite easy. I doubt you have a return policy?"
He laughs. Finally someone that gets my jokes.
"Not really." He replies in good humor.
"I thought so." I reply with a smile. "What about after sales service?"
"Ohh! That of course is provided. Just reply to my last email if you have any questions and it will be a pleasure to help you out."
"Good then."
"Wonderful, if you come this way we will proceed with the payment. Do you have your bank coordinates?"
"I thought you had them already. You already checked my accounts. I will use my American account for the transaction."
"Straight to the point. I love your attitude. Ivan, please set up the transaction. Mr. Romano, you will still have to authorize it by using your online banking password. No we will not record it."
"I would not doubt your professionalism. You have proven yourself trustworthy already." I say as I reach the computer. I look at the transaction details, it all seem in order and enter the password as my two other interlocutors seem to be fascinated by the wall.
"Done, is there anything else?"
"Of course, now comes the fun part. We will create an identity for your slave, so you can take him around without problems. We will provide a valid passport. After is up to you."
"Ohh cool. I did not think of that. So what do you need from me."
"A name. What do you want to call your slave?"
"I did not think of it. I thought he had already a name."
"Nope, that is why we gave him number 16."
"What about the name he was born with?"
"I don't know it, nor does it matter. It is your slave, for you to do whatever you please with. So it is only logical for you to name it. You would not expect me to name your dog? Would you?"
"I guess not." I think about it. "I guess I always liked the name Francesco. So I would go with that. Do you think people will ask how come he does not look Italian?"
"No, besides, how do you know he is not Italian? What about family name?"
"Mmm, Romano would not do, people may think he is my son or something. How about Picone, Francesco Picone. Yeah, I like the sound of that."
"Me too, when was he born?"
"He looks young, maybe 18 today?"
"Happy birthday Francesco." Vladimir simply adds with a smile. "Where was he born? You can select one of these countries."
On the computer appear a list of about 20 countries. I scan the list and notice Canada, Germany, even Italy among them.
"Italy, perfect."
"Great choice. How would you like your slave to be dressed when we deliver him to you?"
"Jeans and a shirt? Perhaps. What kind of a question is that."
"You know some people buy a fantasy more then a slave. I was asked once for the slave to be dressed as a dog, but with a see through material."
"How did you manage that?" I have to ask.
"Stocking. We used nylon for stocking on which we fixed some short false hairs and a tail. It took me two days of intensive training to make the slave behave like a dog."
"I don't want to know what happened to the poor thing."
"Last time I saw it, Bobby was quite happy, he was good dog, and his master adores it."
"Good for them." I say matter of fact.
"Yes. Is there anything else you wish to ask or know? Things you want your slave to do or learn?"
"I guess nothing that he cannot learn with me."
"Well then, we can deliver him tomorrow late afternoon, let say 6, to your hotel room."
"Perfect, I will see you tomorrow then."
"Yes, ohh and if I may add one more thing. If you have intention of having sex with him, I only say, you will not be disappointed by his size, and two he is still a virgin."
"You mean he has never done it with a man?" Am I that obviously gay? I wonder.
"I mean he has never done it with anyone. I should have sold it for over 250, easy." He stops as if is pondering his mistake. "Ohh, well, there will be other occasions. Have a good evening Mr. Romano."
"Thank you, same to you Mr. Stenski."
The bodyguard takes me back to the casino. However, as soon as he leaves, I head straight for the door. It has been a long and stressful day, and I really want to get to my bed.
As I reach the hotel, my phone beeps. It is a message from De Laurentis,
"You are being spied. Make sure you act the part even when you're alone. We'll contact you when safe"