"That is true," I said.

"But surely there is little danger," she said, "of a girl being stolen from her master's compartments."

"Not while he is there," I admitted.

"Then why are they chained like that?" she asked.

"Because they are slaves," I said.

"Yes, Master," she said, putting her head down.

"It is nearly time to tie you for the night," I said.

"Oh, please, Master," she said, lifting her head, "let me speak but a moment more with you. Do not tie your slave just now."

"Very well," I said.

She knelt back, happily, on her heels. She put her hands on the tether at her throat.

"Wasn't it horrifying," she asked, "what Kisu did to Tende today?"

"What?" I asked.

"Making her dance naked," she said.

"No," I said.

"Oh," she said.

"She is a slave," I reminded her.

"Yes, Master," she said. She looked at me. "It is permissible for a slave to dance naked?" she asked.

"Yes," I said.

She looked down. "Master," she said.

"Yes," I said.

"Am I a slave object?" she asked.

"Of course," I said. "And a very delicious one," I added.

"Thank you, Master," she said.

"Does it trouble you to be an object?" I asked.

"I do not feel like an object," she said.

"Technically," I said, "in the eyes of Gorean law you are not an object but an animal."

"I see," she said.

"In one sense," I said, "no living human being, nor bird nor squirrel, can be an object. They are not, for example, tables or rocks. In another sense all living creatures are objects. For example, they occupy space and obey the laws of physics and chemistry."

"You know what I mean," she said.

"No," I said, "I do not. Speak more clearly."

"A woman is treated like an object," she said, "when men do not listen to her or care for her feelings."

"Surely women, in the single-minded pursuit of certain goals, can treat other women and men, in that way?" I asked. "And men could treat men in that way, and so on? Is not the problem you have in mind a rather general one?"

"Perhaps," she said.

"Similarly," I said, "do not confuse being treated as an object with being an object. Similarly, do not confuse being treated as an object with being regarded as an object. For example, individuals who treat human beings as objects very seldom think that they are really objects. That would suggest insanity."

"You do not respond properly," she smiled.

"Is your criterion for being treated as an object that men do not agree with you?" I asked. "If so, that is somewhat obtuse."

"I suppose perhaps it is," she said. "If men do not do what we want, then they, so to speak, have not listened to us or paid attention to our feelings."

"That is a very interesting way of thinking," I admitted. "By the same token, if women did not pay close attention to the wishes of men and comply with their desires, then men might be entitled to regard themselves as being treated as objects."

"How silly," she said.

"Yes," I said.

"It is hard to talk with you about these things," she said.

"I think so," I said.

"You are not familiar with the slogans," she said.

"That is perhaps it," I admitted.

"I shall try again," she said.

"Do so," I encouraged her.

"Men," she said, "are only interested in women's bodies."

"I have never known a man who was only interested in a woman's body," I said. "This is not to deny that some such unusual person might somewhere exist."

She looked at me.

"If what you say is true," I said, "it would be the case that it would make no difference to a' man whether the woman with whom he was relating was conscious or not. Indeed, if what you say is true, it should not even make a difference to him whether he held a sentient woman in his arms or an unconscious mechanism designed to resemble such a woman. I submit, with all due respect, that that is not only libelous, but preposterous. Surely no rational person, male or female, if they took a moment to reflect, could entertain so peculiar a hypothesis. No man with whom I am familiar would be content with a woman who lacked consciousness. That sort of thing is simply stupid. It seems to me it would even have limited propaganda value."

"The men of Earth can be confused and terrorized by such assertions," she said.

"Some, perhaps," I said, "idiots."

"Perhaps," she said. "But such assertions can be politically effective."

"Yes," I agreed. 'The trick is to make a charge so obviously false or hopelessly vague that your interlocutor, who is usually concerned to be polite and congenial, makes a fool of himself trying to treat it seriously. It is a little like the fellow who tries to respond to the charge that he is a mad sleen by discussing the results of his blood tests."

"Perhaps what is meant," she said, "is that men do not pay sufficient attention to the thinking and feelings of women."

"That is a totally different charge," I said, "and one that may well be true."

She looked at me.

"It is a common property of human beings," I said, "that they, for better or for worse, do not pay much attention to the thoughts and feelings of others. Thus, it would not be surprising if most men did not pay much attention to the thoughts and feelings of women. If it is any consolation, they do not pay much attention to the thoughts and feelings of other men either. Similar remarks, of course, hold for women. Many women, for example, are excellent in not listening to others. No one sex has a monopoly on dogmatism." I looked at her. "If you are interested in this sort of thing from the Gorean viewpoint," I said, "free men and women are usually attentive to the thoughts and feelings of one another. Not only are they free, but they may even share a Home Stone. Free women, in being free, command attention when they speak. It is their due. The case with slaves, such as you, my dear, is of course much different. The difference, however, is that respect and attention is not due to you, that it need not be accorded to you. You are slave. In actual practice, of course, masters tend to pay a great deal of attention to the thoughts and feelings of their lovely slaves. It is rewarding and delicious to do so. How wonderful it is to know another human being so intimately, especially one one owns. There are no secrets between masters and slaves. Her deepest thoughts and desires, as well as her most trivial fancies and observations, are open to him and, because he owns her, of great interest to him. A man is much more likely to be in-tensely fond of a girl he owns than of a free individual toward whom he stands in a mere contractual relationship. The latter he does not own; the former he does. The owned girl is a valuable; she is precious; this makes her much different from a business partner. For what it is worth, the most intimate and deepest loves I have know have been between masters and their slaves, that between the love master and his love slave."

"But the woman is still a slave," she said.

"Yes," I said, "totally and categorically. She may even be sold, if he wills."

'The attention and love such a girl obtains," she said, "need not be accorded to her."

"No," I said. "It is a gift of the master."

"He could, at any point," she said, "simply order her to silence and put her to his feet."

"Of course," I said, "and sometimes he will, if only to remind her that she is a slave."

"She is, then, for all her freedom, yet absolutely under his will."

"Yes," I said. "She is his slave."

"I love you, Master," she whispered.

I listened to the crackling of the fire, and the sounds of the jungle night.

"As an Earth woman," I said, "you are doubtless not accustomed to thinking of yourself as an article of property."

"No, Master," she smiled.

"But I think, now," I said, "that you. may be ready to understand the sense in which you are a slave object."