Free The Usurper by John Norman

something.”
    â€œI do not wish to be late, to report to Master Ottonius,” Filene had said.
    â€œMany slaves,” said Nissimi, “would be frightened to be sent to the furs of a barbarian. He is not of the empire. He is different. You were of the empire. Perhaps he will beat you, or break an arm.”
    â€œI am not afraid,” said Filene, and felt a bit of blood at her lip, where she had inadvertently closed her small, fine white teeth on that soft tissue.
    â€œYou are a virgin!” laughed Nissimi. She had had, of course, no access to the blonde’s slave papers.
    Filene looked away, angrily.
    â€œI wondered about that,” said Nissimi. Virgin slaves, of course, are quite rare.
    â€œIt improves my price,” said Filene, petulantly.
    â€œI doubt that it did,” said Nissimi. “The virginity of a slave is of no more interest than that of a pig.”
    â€œI see,” said Filene.
    â€œYou expect him to be considerate on that score, to be understanding, sensitive, patient, kind?”
    â€œThat would be my hope,” said Filene.
    â€œHe is a barbarian,” said Nissimi.
    â€œI see,” said Filene. If all went well, of course, she would carry her virginity to the Narcona , and to Inez IV itself.
    â€œIt seems Mistress lay in wait for me,” said Filene.
    â€œI am unwilling to send an unkempt, unprepared slave to the quarters of a guest,” she said.
    â€œOf course,” said Filene. “Do I pass Mistress’ inspection?”
    â€œYour attitude,” she said, “is less that of a slave than that a free woman.”
    â€œI was free,” said Filene.
    â€œSo were most slaves,” she said. “Few slaves are the issue of the breeding houses, the produce of the slave farms, and such. Why spend years breeding and raising slaves when one can pick them up, and ones quite as good, or even better, on the streets?”
    â€œBut seldom legally,” said Filene.
    â€œMany men,” said Nissimi, “believe that all women are bred slaves, the product of lengthy natural selections on thousands of worlds.”
    â€œMen are beasts,” said Filene.
    â€œAnd our Masters,” said Nissimi.
    â€œNo man is my Master!” said Filene.
    â€œTrue,” said Nissimi, “your Master is the empire.”
    Filene wondered what it might be, to have a Master, to belong to a given man, to be his owned animal. This thought disturbed her, and made her muchly uneasy, that for no reason she clearly understood.
    Filene struggled to recover herself. She should not have cried out, certainly not in such an exasperated manner. She must recall her role. She must do nothing which might jeopardize her business, her evening’s dark work.
    â€œAlas,” said Filene, putting down her head. “I am only a poor, and miserable, slave.”
    â€œI have heard,” said Nissimi, “that on some worlds subtle and pervasive conditioning regimes exist, the products of social engineering, emplaced to extract the Master from the hearts of men.”
    â€œI have heard so,” said Filene.
    â€œI trust I will never be on such a world,” said Nissimi, “one so unnatural and pathological.”
    Certainly Inez IV and Tangara were not such worlds.
    â€œSuch worlds exist,” said Filene.
    â€œI think so,” said Nissimi, “Same Worlds, and such worlds, where men are taught to resent and repudiate the Master in their hearts. They are taught to fear the Master in their hearts. They are taught to betray him. They are taught, even, incredibly enough, to be ashamed of the Master in their hearts. It is demanded that they deny him, that they do treason to their blood. If vi-cats, lions, the hroth , and such were rational, doubtless we could also divide them from themselves, and ruin them with self-doubts, self-conflicts, and shame, stunting their minds and shortening their lives. The lion who pretends to be a lamb is a