"Man hungry?" said Evelyn. "I have heard how you bite your chains, how you whineto be released at night."

"It is no secret in Kailiauk," said Ginger, "the fingernail scratches in yourkennel!"

"I cannot help it if men have released my slavery," said Evelyn, tears in hereyes.

"They, too, have released my slavery," said Ginger, "and fully."

"I am more helplessly passionate than you" said Evelyn.

"No, you are not," said Ginger.

"It is well known in Kailiauk that I am a better slave than you," said Evelyn.

"I am a better slave than you," said Ginger, "Slave Slut!

"No, you are not, Slave Slut," hissed Evelyn.

"Be silent, Slave Sluts, ' I said.

"Yes, Master," said Ginger.

"Yes, Master," said Evelyn.

Beneath the dress the girl was wearing a full, knee-length slip of white silk.

The dress, then, by cutting with the knife, and ripping, was removed from her.

It, too, was then thrown on the flames, following the dress sandals and pearls.

I saw, then, that the slip had small, over-the-shoulder straps. These weresevered and then, cutting and ripping from the back, the auctioneer loosened theslip. It could now, at his least convenience, be removed from the girl. At theleft knee it had a deep cocktail slit. This interested me, suggesting that thegirl might have good slave potential. This slit, affording an exciting glimpseof the girl's calf and lower thigh, was, of course, drawn to the attention ofthe audience by the auctioneer.

I wondered why the two tavern girls, Ginger and Evelyn, had sought me out.

Obviously there were many men in Kailiauk. Indeed, at this time of the evening,it seemed strange to me that they would even be absent from the tavern. Surelythis was the time of the evening when they might be expected to be applyingthemselves to the business of making a living for their masters, performingexquisitely, chained, in their alcoves. I dismissed the matter from my mind.

"No," begged the suspended girl, "please, don't!"

The slip was then lifted away from her body.

"A silver tarsk," said a man.

"Excellent" said the auctioneer.

This seemed to me an unusually high bid for a raw, untrained barbarian slave,particularly as an opening bid. On the other hand, I had noted that girls seemedto bring high prices in Kailiauk. Several of the girls had gone from the sideblocks, for example, for prices ranging between thirty and fifty copper tarsks.

In certain other markets these girls, in their current state of barbarity andignorance, might have brought as little as seven or eight tarsks apiece. Theseprices, of course, were a function of context and time. In Kailiauk there aremany affluent fellows, rich from the trade in hide and horn, and the traffic inkaiila. Furthermore, this close to the perimeter, only a few pasangs from theIhanke, far from the normal loci of slave raidings, and slave routes, femaleslaves, particularly beautiful ones, are not abundant. Accordingly men, comingin from surrounding areas, are willing to pay high to have one in theirblankets.

The girl now wore a brassiere, a garter belt and stockings. Too, beneath thenarrow garter belt, in what was perhaps an indication of charming reserve, Icould see silken panties.

"She is not really ugly," said Ginger.

"No," said Evelyn.

The girl watched in horror as the remains of her silken slip was cast upon theflames, causing them to spring up anew. Her Earth clothing, before her veryeyes, piece by piece, was being destroyed. It was thus being made clear to herthat she was making a transition to a new reality.

"No," she said, "Please, no."

The auctioneer freed her stockings from the hooks and buttons on the four garterstraps. In a moment the auctioneer had drawn the stockings from her legs,slipping them underneath the ropes on her ankles and discarding them in theflames. Then, after viewing her for a moment, he stepped behind her. He undidthe two-hook back closure on the garter belt. This article of clothing, too,then, in a moment, was cast into the flames. She then hung before us clad only,save for the ribbon binding back her hair, in her brassiere and panties.

"Undo her hair! ' called a man.

"Yes!" called another man.

I smiled to myself. Yes, it was the exact time for the woman's hair to beunbound. The hair of slave girls, incidentally, unless shaved or shortened as apunishment, is usually worn long. There is more, cosmetically, which can be donewith long hair and such hair, too, is often useful in the performance ofintimate duties for her master. Too, of course, it can be balled and thrust inher mouth, for use as a gag, either, save when one does not wish to hear her fora time, or, perhaps, if one wishes, to silence her cries in the throes of hersubmission spasms. Too, of course, she may be bound with it.

"Of course." said the auctioneer. He then untied the hair ribbon, which hadbound her red hair back so primly. He threw it in the fire. He then fluffed herhair and brought it forward, over her shoulders. He then brushed it back, behindher back, and smoothed it. He turned her on the rope, to the left and right,that men might see the cut and fall of the hair against her back. It was pretty.

Then the auctioneer turned her so that she was, again, helplessly, exposedfrontally to the crowd.

"She is really quite pretty," said Ginger, irritatedly.

"Yes." agreed Evelyn.

"But not as pretty as I," said Ginger.

"At least not so pretty as I," said Evelyn.

I smiled. I had little doubt the suspended girl would bring a higher price thaneither of them, though they both were, admittedly, obviously full and desirablyluscious slaves.

"Two silver tarsks," said a man.

"Excellent," said the auctioneer.

The girl looked out on the crowd with fear and misery. Doubtless she hoped,against hope, that she had now been adequately dismayed to the crowd. Surely thebrutes would not dare go further. That she had been brought clothed into thehall surely argued that her dignity and pride would continue to be respected, atleast to the degree that she was now concealed. Too, had the fellow attending toher not now paused in his abusive, insolent labors? But then she glanced to theside blocks. There there were women, much like herself; they, fixed in place,wearing collars and chains, she could not help but note, were absolutely naked.

But she, surely, was different from them! She was finer, and more delicate.

Anyone could see that! Then she hung, relieved, in the ropes. The auctioneer wasconferring with an attendant, to the side. Her ordeal, as she conceived it, wasnow concluded. The exposure and disgrace which had been visited upon the othergirls was not to be her lot. She was better. She was different.

The attendant, to whom the auctioneer had been addressing himself, took hisexit.

But did the girl not know that she was not different? Did she not know that she,too, was only a slave?

"I wonder if she is beautiful," said Ginger.

"As she is now clad, it is not difficult to speculate on the matter," saidEvelyn.

"Why don't they take off her clothes, so we can see, said Ginger.

"Yes," said Evelyn.

I smiled to myself. These girls, at any rate, understood something of the natureof a Gorean market.

"Were you a side-block girl?" asked Ginger.

"No," said Evelyn. "I was auctioned."

"I, too," said Ginger.

"Were you brought in naked?" asked Evelyn.

"Yes," said Ginger.

"I was, too," said Evelyn.

"Do you think that they think she is better than us?" asked Ginger.

"Perhaps," said Evelyn. "Men are fools."

"No!" cried the suspended girl, suddenly. "Don't! Please!" The auctioneer wasbehind her.

"No" she cried. "I am a virgin I have never been seen by men!" "No!" she cried.

Her breasts were lovely. Would the last vestige of her modesty not be permittedher?