《Goldilocks Zone》 Chapter One Chapter One ¡°Breathe,¡± a low voice said gently. ¡°Breathe. Take your time and when you¡¯re ready, open your eyes.¡± Ornette took in the deep breath the voice recommended and then said saucily, ¡°What? No kiss?¡± ¡°No kiss,¡± the man¡¯s voice confirmed. With her eyes still closed, Ornette had no idea who she was talking to. When she was put to sleep in cryostasis, she had specified what kind of contract she was looking for. She wanted to be sold to a man for no more than two years, the sum of money was non-negotiable, and she had to be sold for her expertise in fashion. She had refused to be sent out toward Mars and Jupiter, which meant that her contract had to be on Earth, the Earth¡¯s moon, or Venus. With that, she had been put in cryostasis. Her worry when she wasn¡¯t kissed was that she had been left on the shelf at Sleeping Beauty Inc. for too long and she hadn¡¯t received a contract at all. That would have been very unfortunate for Ornette. She had sold herself repeatedly, but she didn¡¯t have a penny to her name. No kiss could mean that she hadn¡¯t been sold. Preparing herself for the worst, she opened her eyes. The man standing over her cryochamber was unfamiliar. He wasn¡¯t the pilot who usually transferred her between the Earth and Luna. The first thing she noticed about him was the way he was dressed, which she found encouraging because his clothes did not have a Sleeping Beauty Inc. logo on them. He looked tall from where she lay in the cryochamber, but she knew that angle was deceiving. He had white hair that did not look artificial; not dyed and not a wig. It looked naturally white. He had grayed completely young. He gave her a crooked smile that marked him as neither young nor old by how many creases appeared in his skin when he moved. Ornette looked at him with wide eyes. Even though he didn¡¯t look like a Sleeping Beauty Inc. employee, he also didn¡¯t look like a buyer. He was wearing a white T-shirt that gently hugged his form and white trousers that didn¡¯t have a touch of dirt on them. The cleanliness was normal. One glance at the room around them and Ornette knew exactly where she was. She was in the bedroom of a Cannonball III solarship. ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± she asked, keeping her voice low to match his. He had three matching silver bracelets on one wrist that projected a tiny hologram of a to-do list and a fourth bracelet on his other wrist. The three on the one wrist were fascinating. They did not touch each other but stayed an equal distance from each other without clanging together. ¡°If you¡¯re awake, we can get started. My name is Desmond and I¡¯m here to give you a touch-up,¡± he said smoothly. Ornette put her perfectly manicured fingers to her cheeks. ¡°Why do I need a touch-up? When they put me to sleep, I was perfect.¡± ¡°Your cryochamber wasn¡¯t tampered with, if that¡¯s what you¡¯re wondering,¡± Desmond said as he offered her a hand up. She took it and let him lift her up to a sitting position and then onto the floor. ¡°No. The problem is that your hair and makeup were not done to a high enough standard,¡± he said, leading her toward the vanity mirror and dressing table. Ornette looked at herself in the mirror. She looked exactly the same as she had when she had been approved by the head stylist at Sleeping Beauty Inc. Headquarters, North America Division. She looked polished and professional, but better than usual. It was what she usually looked like when she was sold. She raised an eyebrow at Desmond and drew an invisible circle around her face. ¡°This isn¡¯t good enough?¡± He took her left hand in his and showed it to her. Under her Sleeping Beauty Inc. bracelet, there were burn marks that weren¡¯t quite covered by the makeup the head stylist had applied to her hand. ¡°I¡¯ve seen tattoos covered better,¡± he said without emotion before pushing her bracelet as far down as it would go toward her knuckles. Then he popped open a bottle of cleansing solution and started cleaning the area. ¡°If you don¡¯t mind me asking, why were you not on holiday until the burn marks had vanished?¡± Ornette directed her gaze toward the ceiling like she was a dumb girl who was trying to search her limited mind for an answer¡­ Or perhaps she looked away in the same way a person looks away when they are getting blood drawn and they don¡¯t want to see the needle. ¡°Uh¡­¡± she finally said. ¡°My skin doesn¡¯t turn flesh-colored on that wrist anymore. Most of the time, I cover it as best I can with makeup. The stylist who was working on me used the same makeup palette I¡¯ve always been sent to cover it. Are you saying it¡¯s not good enough?¡± She didn¡¯t see Desmond¡¯s face, but she heard him answer. ¡°That¡¯s what I¡¯m saying.¡± ¡°Has Sleeping Beauty Inc. developed a new kind of makeup to cover it?¡± she asked, feeling the tremor in her left hand acting up. Girls who were sold for temporary contracts were sometimes administered electrical shocks through their bracelets if they disobeyed their masters. The dark skin under Ornette¡¯s bracelet was proof that Ornette had been shocked many times. ¡°No,¡± Desmond answered. ¡°But that doesn¡¯t mean that other technologies haven¡¯t been developed elsewhere. He took Ornette¡¯s right wrist in his hand and with a handheld scanner, he scanned the skin of her unblemished wrist. ¡°This will tell me the right color mixture for the inside of your wrist, and the outside of your wrist. I¡¯ll mix the colors and apply them. Then, I¡¯ll give you enough makeup to keep it covered for as long as your current contract lasts. Try not to get a tan.¡± ¡°Do you know who bought me?¡± she asked, her left wrist trembling again. She hid it in the folds of her dress. It didn¡¯t seem like Desmond noticed. He was busy comparing the different colors of her skin. ¡°I can¡¯t tell you,¡± he answered absently. ¡°It¡¯s imperative that it remains a surprise.¡± ¡°It¡¯s working in fashion though, right?¡± she asked him eagerly, hoping desperately that the lines of her desired contract hadn¡¯t been blurred by her seller. He looked at her blankly, like he was the kind of locked box that never cracked. ¡°Come on,¡± she pleaded in a voice of panic. ¡°You can tell me that much, can¡¯t you? Will I be working in fashion, or not?¡± His head bobbed a fraction. Ornette let out a relieved sigh and took a few deep breaths to stabilize herself. ¡°Is it that big of a deal? That you¡¯ll be working in fashion?¡± he asked gently as he transferred the reading from the scanner. Ornette nearly screamed, but she stifled it. ¡°Yes,¡± she said tightly. ¡°It¡¯s very important. If I¡¯m going to work in fashion after this, I have to have enough experience to start a career.¡± ¡°So, you get work experience as a model as well as the bucks to fund it?¡± he said without emotion as he fiddled with a machine on the floor that Ornette realized was the foundation mixer. ¡°Who gets the bucks?¡± she said with a sudden giggle. ¡°Not me, but it sure would be nice if it worked that way.¡± ¡°So, where does the money you earn go if you don¡¯t get it?¡± Desmond asked, peering at her with his navy eyes. For a second, Ornette was transfixed by his navy eyes. They had tiny lines of white light in them like white thread on the fabric of the night sky. He waited for her to answer and she realized she was staring.This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. Ornette had been working with Sleeping Beauty Inc. too long to stick her nose up at the therapy sessions offered by hair stylists and makeup artists. She took every scrap of advice and sympathy they had to offer. ¡°Sorry,¡± she fumbled. ¡°Debt. I¡¯ve had debt. Most of it is paid off, so I should get about half of my fee this time around.¡± ¡°And then you¡¯re out?¡± he asked, acting like a hairdresser making conversation while the makeup poured. ¡°If I¡¯m lucky, I¡¯ll be out. Half of my fee this time should have me squared off. The other half should pay the damage deposit on a flat. If I can¡¯t get a job doing something better than this, I¡¯ll be back. If I can¡¯t make rent, I¡¯ll be back. If I have to run away from someone, I¡¯ll be back.¡± ¡°Who would you have to run away from?¡± Desmond asked curiously. That was the moment when Ornette realized that she was not talking to a typical stylist. A typical stylist would know dozens of people a woman who looked like Ornette would have to run from. Ornette glanced at herself in the mirror. Her blonde hair was unreal in its color. It was naturally blonde, but not that naturally blonde. It had been almost white when she was a child but had become increasingly dark as she matured. Her last hair treatment had been unusually well done. The stylist felt sorry for her blackened wrist and gave her special care. Otherwise, Ornette had a very pretty nose that did all kinds of heavy lifting with buyers. The nose was natural, so it was much prettier than the girls who¡¯d had their noses fixed. Otherwise, she had blue/green eyes and held her own well when compared to other blondes. She was a Cinderella model, but if she had been two inches shorter, she would have been a Thumbelina. Ornette had a slight skeleton. She always thought that was the biggest reason she had been abused by her owners in the past. When hit, she really flew across a room. When she thudded against a wall, she barely made a sound. All of a sudden, she needed an explanation. ¡°Who are you? What¡¯s your job at Sleeping Beauty Inc.?¡± He dropped his gaze. ¡°I don¡¯t work for Sleeping Beauty Inc.¡± Ornette¡¯s jaw dropped. ¡°Then why are you here, aboard a Cannonball III? Why are you putting makeup on me? Why are you able to touch me without shocking me?¡± ¡°I¡­¡± He stumbled for the correct word and then landed on it like a champ. ¡°I represent your buyer. I¡¯m acting as his proxy getting you ready for the moment when he opens your cryochamber.¡± ¡°Who is he?¡± ¡°I can¡¯t tell you. It¡¯s part of the surprise.¡± ¡°Where are we?¡± ¡°Outer space.¡± ¡°Are we going to the moon or Venus?¡± ¡°It¡¯s a surprise,¡± he said evasively. At that moment, the makeup mixer finished the first color. Desmond opened the slot and removed the finished product. It was the paler shade that was supposed to go on the inner part of her forearm. He transferred the information for the darker shade to the mixer and started applying her makeup. When he touched her, she started trembling again. ¡°Do you shake like that because of all the past shocks?¡± he asked gently. ¡°Uh¡­ Maybe,¡± she said, trying hard to stay still and failing at it. It wasn¡¯t that she was bad at controlling her tremor, it was that he was touching her. She always trembled when men touched her. She watched him sponge the makeup down. He wasn¡¯t doing it with his bare fingers, but his other hand was holding hers. His thumb was over her bracelet to keep it out of the way and his grip was meant to keep her still. It wasn¡¯t working, but it didn¡¯t matter that much. It wasn¡¯t like the makeup on her arm needed to be as precise as the makeup on her face. ¡°Ornette,¡± he said. The use of her name brought her eyes up to meet his. His gaze was very steady and the look on his face was nothing like the way her buyers looked at her right before everything went wrong. Looking into his eyes, she matched his breathing and felt the knots in her shoulders unwind. ¡°Good,¡± he said as he finished the first application. ¡°Listen, I¡¯m going to do something special for you.¡± ¡°You can do something special for me?¡± she asked incredulously as he let go of her hand. ¡°Yeah,¡± he said, putting his set of three bracelets close to hers. ¡°Right now, for all intents and purposes, I¡¯m your owner, so I have the authority to do this. I¡¯m going to lower the voltage on your bracelet.¡± He put his index finger to his lips. ¡°You can¡¯t tell anyone about this. The longer you and I can keep this secret, the better it will be for you. I¡¯m going to lower it to a level where you will still feel it if you¡¯re shocked, but it won¡¯t hurt you. I¡¯m sure you know how to act if you¡¯re shocked so that you can convince anyone that it is still working.¡± ¡°You¡¯re kind.¡± Ornette smiled, a little condescendingly. ¡°Try it.¡± ¡°Why?¡± he asked, his interest piqued. ¡°I¡¯m worried you¡¯ll set the voltage too low and I won¡¯t be able to feel it at all,¡± she explained. ¡°I can¡¯t do a sample shock. Your bracelet would send a special notification to your new owner. What voltage would you recommend I set it?¡± She gave him a number. He set it. Then he applied the dark makeup on the outer portion of her wrist. When he was finished, Ornette had to admit that her left wrist looked exactly like her unblemished right wrist. Desmond put the finished makeup tubes in her overnight bag. That was what they called the essential bag every Sleeping Beauty Inc. model kept with her during transfers. ¡°Is that all we have to do before you put me back to sleep?¡± she asked, taking a moment to stretch her arms as much as her gown would allow her. ¡°Uh¡­ The makeup on your face isn¡¯t very good,¡± he admitted hesitantly. ¡°You want to redo it?¡± He nodded. ¡°I¡¯m worried I¡¯ll shake,¡± she admitted. ¡°I am too, but I¡¯m also worried that you won¡¯t look very good when your cryochamber is opened. It would be a shame if you didn¡¯t look your best.¡± Ornette glanced at herself in the mirror. ¡°I thought this was my best.¡± ¡°You¡¯re very pretty,¡± he said in a tone that was reserved entirely for softening a blow. ¡°But if your cryochamber is opened with you looking like that, it won¡¯t be good enough. Nowhere near enough. I can leave your hair the way it is, but your makeup must be ripped back and redone.¡± ¡°Are you a makeup artist, then?¡± she probed. ¡°Uh¡­ No. I sent your picture to someone I know who is a makeup artist and they told me what they would do for you instead of what your makeup artist has done. Here.¡± He brought up a hologram of her face. It was a picture she knew well because it was the one that was used on her profile page when Sleeping Beauty Inc. sold her. She was wearing the same makeup at that very moment because Sleeping Beauty Inc. wanted her to look exactly like her picture. They didn¡¯t want to sell a product that looked different when it was delivered. ¡°This is what you¡¯ll look like with my friend¡¯s suggestions.¡± He scrolled the picture out of view and brought up a new hologram. She raised her eyebrows. That was what led to her lying all the way back like she was in a dentist''s chair. Desmond didn¡¯t know how to do makeup the way his friend did and it was easier for both of them if she lay all the way down and he leaned over her. She didn¡¯t shake as much and for some reason, the whole thing was a thousand times more comfortable for her. She felt like she was in his lap, next to his heart, and the object of all his attention at the same time. It was very comforting. She didn¡¯t shake. And when he messed up and had to try again over and over, she was very understanding. ¡°What do you really do?¡± she pried. ¡°I do everything. I do everything so much that I find it completely fascinating that I¡¯m so bad at this.¡± ¡°Have you ever done makeup before?¡± ¡°Lots of times,¡± he admitted, ¡°because I do everything, but it has never been this important. Your makeup has to be perfect.¡± When he rose her up in the chair and she saw herself in the mirror, she saw how completely he¡¯d nailed it. ¡°Well, your friend should be gratified that you know how to follow instructions. I guess that was why they went through the trouble of giving you instructions at all. They knew you could follow them.¡± Desmond smiled. ¡°I wish you were my owner,¡± she said dreamily as she looked at the bluish sparkles like mermaid scales on the sides of her cheeks. His face hardened, giving him the look of a stranger instead of a friend. She didn¡¯t know him after all. She thought she did because she¡¯d heard his heartbeat next to her ear. Also, she didn¡¯t normally get that kind of attention from the men who bought her. They bought her to be the woman on their arm and be a workhorse on the design floor. They didn¡¯t pay her any attention unless something was wrong. ¡°Do you want to put me back to sleep now?¡± she offered. He nodded. ¡°Do you want to kiss me before I go to sleep? Some owners like to do that at the end of our contract. I imagine that when I wake up, I¡¯ll have a different owner.¡± Desmond led her to the cryochamber and helped her inside. Once she was lying down he leaned in and said, ¡°It¡¯s probably better if you don¡¯t tell anyone about our little meeting.¡± Ornette smirked. ¡°If that¡¯s what you want, Master.¡± He didn¡¯t get the joke. He didn¡¯t get what was funny about his request. However, he did kiss her. He kissed the back of her right hand before he closed the lid. That way, he didn¡¯t spoil her makeup. Ornette did not even bother to keep her eyes open as the chamber filled with gas. She had been put into cryostasis so many times, she knew there was no point in hanging onto what could not and, most of the time, should not be kept. He didn¡¯t get it. Every single master she¡¯d ever had wanted her to keep ten thousand secrets. Even if Desmond had only been her master for a few hours, he couldn¡¯t escape asking her to keep just one more secret. The best way to keep a secret was to forget completely that there was a secret to keep. Therefore, Desmond was out of Ornette¡¯s mind like he had never been there before she took her last breath. Chapter Two Chapter Two Ornette fully expected to be woken by a kiss when she fluttered her eyelashes open after finishing her cryosleep, but she was awoken by a green flashing screen. It was flashing the word ¡®Congratulations!¡¯ over and over. Under the flashing word were the words, ¡®You are being filmed. From now on, you will be filmed at all times except for safe zones. The only guaranteed safe zone is the bathroom. Take care to remember that everything you say and do will be filmed for the next thirteen weeks.¡¯ That was not the sort of thing Ornette wanted to read on the underside of her cryochamber lid. However, she breathed a few times and allowed the sleep to fall off her. When she refocused her eyes and could see through the other side of the glass portion of the cryochamber, she saw a camera lens trained on her. It was a huge camera on an electronic arm. She didn¡¯t see a person, just a lens like a metal eye. There was someone on the other side of the camera watching her, but she couldn¡¯t see them. The most important question was, who was filming her and why? She opened the lid to her cryochamber and saw that she was in a wide hall with rows of other cryochambers opening their lids. She wasn¡¯t the only Sleeping Beauty Inc. model they¡¯d purchased. She was part of a shipment. Had they all been bought by the same person? The camera trained on her followed her line of sight as she peered into the unopened cryochamber of the girl next to her. Ornette looked inside. She knew her! It was Clandestine. Her screen was flashing the word ¡®Congratulations¡¯ at her, but Clandestine hadn¡¯t moved. Ornette circled around the chamber and found the controls. Something was wrong. The cryochamber was malfunctioning. From the readings on the outside of the glass, it was spewing sleeping gas in Clandestine¡¯s face when it was supposed to be filling her chamber with fresh air. Ornette closed her mouth, pinched her nose, and pressed the emergency button that instantly opened the chamber. The lid opened and the sleeping gas escaped in a white cloud that dissipated into the air of the high-ceilinged room. The fans above carried the gas away and Ornette let go of her nose. Then she reached into the cryochamber and put her fingers to Clandestine¡¯s throat to feel her pulse slowly return to normal. The girl in the chamber took her first breath in and Ornette breathed her own sigh of relief. It would have been awful if something had happened to Clandestine. They were not close friends because it was hard for Sleeping Beauty Inc. models to be friends. They were always in competition with each other for contracts. As a general rule, Ornette got slightly better contracts than Clandestine, but that was because she was blonde and the other girl insisted on having red hair. Neither of their hair colors was real, but according to company statistics, blondes were paid more than redheads. Ornette had often wondered if she ought to point out the trend, but in the end, she always decided to stay silent. She didn¡¯t think Clandestine would take the advice anyway. Once the redhead¡¯s eyes were open, Ornette tapped the screen on the lid of the cryochamber with her finger but didn¡¯t say a word until Clandestine was awake and had read the rules regarding the recordings. ¡°What happened?¡± the dizzy woman asked. ¡°Were we bought by the same buyer?¡± ¡°I think so,¡± Ornette confirmed, letting her hand span the room so Clandestine could see the other models wake up from their sleep. Clandestine bit her lips together. ¡°I think I know what¡¯s happening here. We¡¯ve been sold to someone intending to make a reality TV show.¡± ¡°Really? That could be okay,¡± Ornette said slowly. Clandestine kept her eyes on the other women waking up around the room as she got out of her cryochamber. ¡°Maybe. I suppose the biggest question is what kind of show they¡¯re planning to make.¡± ¡°A fashion show?¡± Ornette suggested. The other girl smirked. ¡°If they hired us all to be models that do actual modeling, that would be amazing. Let¡¯s walk around and see if there¡¯s anyone we know.¡±A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. Even though they weren¡¯t close, they linked arms and started to walk down the aisle between the open cryochambers. ¡°Say something if you recognize anyone,¡± Clandestine advised. Ornette agreed and they started their evaluation. There was everything. There were twelve women, but there was every kind of woman there. The only thing all of them had in common was that they were all skinny as rails. ¡°This can¡¯t be for a fashion show,¡± Ornette said, a little disappointed. ¡°If they were trying to turn us into walking hangers, we¡¯d all look alike so that we didn¡¯t come off as more interesting than the clothes.¡± Clandestine let go of Ornette and approached the next girl they saw. ¡°Hey,¡± she said, getting up in the face of a living porcelain doll. ¡°I¡¯m in the Diva category. So is she,¡± she pointed her thumb back at Ornette. ¡°I¡¯m a Repunzel Diva. She¡¯s a Cinderella Diva. Are you a Diva too?¡± The black-haired woman nodded. ¡°I¡¯m a Snow White Diva.¡± The woman at the cryochamber next door, a woman with brown skin and flowing peach hair that reached her knees came over immediately. ¡°I¡¯m a Diva too.¡± She did not need to explain that she was a Repunzel. Clandestine¡¯s directness caused a circle to appear around her. ¡°I¡¯m a Diva too,¡± the next woman declared. Soon, it was obvious that every single woman who was in the hall was a Diva. They all had the Sleeping Beauty Inc. label that proclaimed they were into fashion. The other categories like Repunzel, Thumbelina, or Snow White described how they looked, not their specialty. The women started saying which fairytale they were named after when a chiming sound came from the speaker above them. Ding! Ding! Ding! ¡°Sleeping Beauty Inc. models, welcome to Venus!¡± It was a man¡¯s voice, dripping with enthusiasm like a game show host. Ornette clenched her teeth. She¡¯d been on Venus before. It wasn¡¯t great. It was better than Mars, but everything was better than Mars. ¡°If you¡¯ll all please head back to your cryochamber, there¡¯s a gift for all of you waiting in the hatch of your cryochamber.¡± Clandestine linked arms with Ornette as they headed back to their side-by-side chambers. If anything, Clandestine was more tense than Ornette. She didn¡¯t blame her. If her cryochamber had malfunctioned, she¡¯d be stressed too. As it was, they parted as they popped the trunks of their cryochambers. Inside was a fancy papered cardboard box with a pink ribbon around it. Ornette knew what it was without having to open it. She¡¯d seen many of those boxes in her day. It was a dress. More specifically, it was a black dress. There was a pair of black flip-flops under it. Ornette pulled at the fabric. It was a knit cotton, single strap on one shoulder with some extra fabric falling in loops over her upper arm. No wonder Desmond hadn¡¯t been interested in changing her dress. It didn¡¯t matter what she wore because they were going to take it off her immediately. The voice came back on the speaker. ¡°There are privacy chambers for each of you to change your dresses in. When the buzzer rings, please get changed. Please note that there will not be any points added for making any alterations to the garments you¡¯ve been provided. At this time, the organizers ask that you all dress identically. Thank you.¡± The buzzer rang and Ornette went into the changing room she had been assigned. It looked like it had been designed for the beach, which was odd. There were no beaches on Venus. She pushed aside the curtain. There were several hooks on the wall, a full-length mirror with an empty shelf under it, and a stool in the corner. All in all, it was pretty luxurious compared to other places she had been asked to change clothes. She undid the zipper on the side of her blue Cinderella dress and dropped it at her feet. She was usually sold wearing that dress. It was her inclination to kick it out the curtained door and let it lie discarded at the foot of her cryochamber, but the dress was hers and not the property of Sleeping Beauty Inc. That was why she was sold in it. She owned it. Her new owner didn¡¯t have to buy it. The guys who bought her liked that. Why they were so concerned about counting their pennies baffled her, but the fact that she owned the dress made them feel like they got a discount on her because they didn¡¯t have to buy her anything new. If she was truly confident that this would be her last sale, she would have kicked it, but¡­ she wasn¡¯t. She thought her last two sales would be the last. They weren¡¯t. The value of money had changed. Other expenses arose. Stupidity abounded¡­ Maybe hers especially. She hung the dress on the hook and wondered if there was a camera watching her change. The truth was that the idea that she was being snooped on did not bother her in the least. Working in fashion, modesty was the least of her worries. Modesty was a luxury. After adjusting her bra so that both straps went over the same shoulder, she decided that the changing rooms had to offer the privacy they promised. The announcer could have told them all to strip out in the open. They were all wearing bracelets, so they would have had to do it if they were so ordered. She doubted even one of the women would have been shocked. They would have all been instantly obedient. The idea that their new owner was offering that kind of luxury gave Ornette a burst of hope that whatever the gig was, it wouldn¡¯t be that bad. They were even wearing flip-flops instead of punishing heels. When she came out, the women were lining up at the door following the orders of a male organizer wearing a black baseball cap with the words ¡®Goldilocks Zone¡¯ embroidered in gold thread. She breathed like Desmond was whispering in her ear, telling her to stay calm. Why she thought of him, she couldn¡¯t say. She always did her best not to think about her old owners. Chapter Three Chapter Three When all the models were changed into their identical black dresses, they were lined up and led into a domed outdoor theater. There was nothing unusual about being under a dome on Venus. Every colony on the planet was built on a floating island. From space, Venus was a mottled orange and yellow with black streaks across it. The floating cities looked like scraps of bubble wrap with uneven bubbles covering the skyscrapers. However, those buildings were mostly for show. The majority of the people lived with the domes high over their heads. Ornette had had two previous contracts on Venus. One was working on styling a millionaire who had a serious problem controlling his temper. The second had been designing clothes for a man who fancied himself a clothing designer. What that meant was that he owned four Sleeping Beauty Inc. models who designed clothes for his collection. He chose his favorites and claimed the credit for designing them. All in all, he had been one of the best owners she had ever had¡ªdefinitely in the top three. She didn¡¯t care if she got credit. She was getting her fee and she had the freedom to try all kinds of bonkers designs. He often took her work and paraded it around in high Venusian society where he received top marks for it. He mostly kept his hands to himself because his clothing designs got him down the pants of women much fancier than her¡­ Most of the time. It was a shame Ornette couldn¡¯t remember his name as she stood under the dark yellow sky where she could see the clouds whipping overhead with the speed of the wind. The air on Venus wasn¡¯t breathable and the wind made everything unstable. The humming of the wind stirring the heavy metal under her feet never stopped on the yellow planet. Again, it was a shame she couldn¡¯t remember that designer¡¯s name because of the fifty men staring at her, he was in the forefront. It was okay. She had time to think it over. He couldn¡¯t come up to her immediately. She was part of a show and he was part of the audience. In front of the women, lined up all twelve in a row, there were three thrones¡ªseats of honor. Her old boss was not included in the three head organizers. There were two wings of men flanking the thrones. There was more than one row. She did the math quickly and saw that there were twenty-five men on either side. The show wasn¡¯t just for them though. There were still cameras floating and sticking out everywhere. It was being filmed for a later broadcast. Ornette did everything she could to keep her chin up and to keep her expression neutral with a slight tick toward the positive. Looking scared wouldn¡¯t win her any points here. Now, if only she could remember the name of that designer. Once everyone was in place, the man in the center throne had an assistant in a black baseball cap adjust his microphone and step forward. Ornette didn¡¯t have a microphone. She wasn¡¯t going to need to talk at this phase of their show. ¡°Welcome!¡± he said again (he was clearly the owner of the voice that spoke to them over the speaker system when they first awoke). ¡°Welcome, My Beauties from Sleeping Beauty Inc. Welcome to the first episode of the new reality show, Goldilocks Zone. I¡¯m your Papa Bear, Varner Hutchings.¡± The man calling himself Papa Bear looked like a retired Ultimate Fighter champion. He had muscles bulging from everywhere. The man was even wearing a suit and he was causing the lapels of his suit to widen and open to accommodate his pecs. He had been waxed and tanned to perfection, his brown eyes shining under his dark eyebrows and his weirdly exact hairline. He was precisely the kind of man who scared Ornette most because she was built like a bird. If a man built like that decided to take a swing at her, he¡¯d break open her braincase. Her left hand started shaking. Her dress had enough folds for her to hide the telltale sign. Varner drew the two men on either side to join him. ¡°This here is Rolf. He¡¯ll be your Uncle Bear. And this is Tommy. He¡¯ll be your Brother Bear.¡± Rolf bore enough of a similarity to Varner that Ornette immediately categorized him as another Ultimate Fighter. Tommy was blond and round. He wasn¡¯t really round, but when he stood next to Varner, he looked pudgy, round, and short. He stopped looking that way once he took a step away. A few paces off, he looked kind of cute in a non-threatening kind of way. The freckles across his nose made him look harmless, but Ornette had been fooled by that look before. As she was now, she¡¯d bet her braincase he was more dangerous than he looked. Varner had the look that made him appear the most dangerous. If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. ¡°In this Goldilocks competition, we aren¡¯t looking for the woman who is ¡®just right¡¯. We¡¯re looking for the one who is too hot.¡± Screens lit up on either side of the models with the words, ¡®Too Hot!¡¯ Ornette struggled not to roll her eyes. She bet she knew what this competition was about. She hoped they offered good rewards because otherwise, it was going to get boring fast. ¡°As some of you have already guessed, all of you are Diva models. This is going to be a fashion competition with rewards and penalties. On this side of me is a collection of clothing designers who will be participating in challenges with you and judging your efforts.¡± That was the side Ornette¡¯s mystery designer was sitting on. ¡°On the other side, we have prominent businessmen who will provide opportunities for collaborations and judge you with their votes at the end of episodes.¡± Ornette didn''t know what any of that meant. She was focusing on the men and trying to spot anyone else she knew besides the designer on the first row. She found one. Desmond was sitting among the businessmen. He was in the back, but he stood out enough to be noticed with his shock of white hair. His legs were crossed in a careless way and he looked painfully bored. His eyes were directed away from the ladies on the floor. Varner was still explaining. ¡°We¡¯ll spend the first two episodes getting to know you and helping you to get to know our panel of designers and businessmen. This week is merely a meet and greet. Next week you¡¯ll be assigned a designer who will present you with one of his creations. You¡¯ll participate in a fashion show and then attend a wine and cheese reception with all the designers, businessmen, and us, the three bears. Depending on how well you perform, you could end up with a public contract as an understudy to a famous designer, or you could be the face of a lucrative company, or you could end up as the woman on the arm of one of us bears! That would be the best of all three worlds, a career in fashion, fame, and enough money so that you¡¯ll never have to sell yourself again!¡± All that sounded too good to be true to Ornette. There had to be a catch. For starters, Ornette did not care for the theme of the show. Being a Cinderella model was bad enough, but being cast as Goldilocks was terrible. What kind of awful challenges had they thought up? Eating something too hot or too cold? Sitting on some man¡¯s lap like it was a chair and letting him decide whether her ass was too hard or too soft? Or getting into someone¡¯s bed and someone judging her on whether or not she was too hard or too soft in the sack? Not only that, but considering who was there, what they were offering, and how things normally went when poor people came into a sudden flush of cash, Ornette had a hard time believing that any of the possibilities Varner offered were even possible. If her contract came into the ownership of her past designer (who she still couldn¡¯t remember the name of), she knew exactly what would happen. She¡¯d make designs for him that he would take credit for until her contract was up. That wouldn¡¯t be that bad. If her contract ended up being the property of one of the businessmen, that would be worse than getting a greedy designer. She knew how that would go too. She¡¯d become a model exclusively, she''d never get to design clothes, and modeling all the time meant starvation to a woman her age. Not to mention how handsy drunk businessmen got. As for getting one of the three bears to choose her, Ornette did not think there was even the vaguest possibility that would happen. The competition would be insane and dangerous. Ornette decided to do everything she could to help the other models know that she was not trying to get the attention of the three bears. She would point to her old designer owner and claim that she only wanted to get a contract with him until she was blue in the face. Anything to avoid unnecessary conflict. If only she could remember what his name was. For the rest of Varner¡¯s speech, Ornette focussed on keeping her left hand steady and not rubbing away the lines of frustration that were peaking between her eyebrows. ¡°There will be elimination rounds most weeks, and there will be ways to get immunity. I actually have a surprise for you all. I wasn¡¯t going to award immunity to any of the models for the very first elimination round, but I was told there was an unusual act of bravery performed by one of the models.¡± Ornette felt choked. What was Papa Bear saying? Papa Bear couldn¡¯t be saying what she thought he was saying. ¡°Ornette Cleft¡­¡± He was saying her name. He shouldn¡¯t be saying her name! ¡°Ornette noticed that her neighbor¡¯s cryochamber was malfunctioning and before an assistant could come in and fix it, she had already finished the rescue.¡± At this point, Varner started walking around casually. ¡°One of the things I was told when I pitched that I wanted to do this show was that Sleeping Beauty Inc. models would tear each other to ribbons if they were in competition with each other, but more specifically that Divas, Sleeping Beauty Inc.¡¯s fashion category, would kill each other for the contracts we¡¯re offering. Ornette didn¡¯t know what we had planned. She didn¡¯t know this was going to be a reality show. Now ladies, you know and I know that we want drama for this show. We want excitement, but we don¡¯t just want to see fierce competition. We also want to see the kind of thing Ornette displayed. It warmed our hearts and it has won her immunity from the first round of elimination.¡± Ornette¡¯s thoughts raced in all directions. None of the other models other than Clandestine knew who she was. The last thing in the world she needed was for Varner to make a big deal out of her and make it look like she was way ahead of the other models in their competition. Her eyes met his. The broad grin on his face was daring and threatening all at once. Ornette dropped a shoulder and smiled at him. He was a pile of poo. He was a huge pile of poo. What he was saying was not what he meant. He was trying to draw attention to her, trying to make the other girls envy her, trying to cause drama right at the get-go. His words were painting a target on her face. A waiter arrived at Varner¡¯s elbow with a tray of champagne flutes. Papa Bear himself took one from the tray and strode up to Ornette deliberately. Handing her the glass of bubbling liquid, he said indulgently, ¡°Welcome to Goldilocks Zone.¡± Chapter Four Chapter Four The cameras dispersed. The businessmen stood up, the designers stood up, and waiters with appetizers and drinks circulated between the models and the men who outnumbered them. Ornette expected Varner to leave her side, go talk to someone more important, move away from her, and give her some space. He did no such thing. Instead, he took a second goblet from the tray and leaned in to talk to Ornette more privately. ¡°Actually, three of the cryochambers were set to malfunction,¡± he confided in her. ¡°But you were the only model who noticed and did something about it.¡± He was quite a bit taller than her, so she had to tilt her head up to speak to him. ¡°Should you be telling me that? There are cameras everywhere.¡± ¡°Yes, but I¡¯m in charge of the show, so anything I want deleted is deleted,¡± he said with a throaty chuckle. She nodded and smiled like his power somehow benefitted her. Then she took a fake drink from her goblet. She never drank. Either she kept her lips closed when she put her mouth to the cup or she let the liquid enter her mouth and then swish out again. This time she did the swish. It looked less suspicious when someone intelligent was close by. ¡°I think you¡¯re going to win this competition,¡± he continued, taking her by the elbow and leading her away from the thickest part of the group. Ornette didn¡¯t think he believed that. He was trying to get her riled up, to ignite her fighting spirit. He didn¡¯t know that much about her if he thought it would work. Did he know anything about her? ¡°You¡¯ve seen our files? Why do you think I¡¯ll win? Do I have more experience in fashion design than the other models?¡± she asked sweetly. He blinked twice. ¡°It¡¯s because your designs are so much better.¡± ¡°You¡¯re too kind,¡± she said, putting up a figurative barrier between them that was as thick as a bomb shelter. He was lying. She didn¡¯t have a portfolio. Every design she had ever done had been stolen or fallen by the wayside. He couldn¡¯t know what she was capable of designing unless What¡¯s His Name told him. What was that guy¡¯s name anyway? She couldn¡¯t ask. It was so frustrating. ¡°So what¡¯s your favorite kind of buyer?¡± Varner asked, placing her hand with its birdlike bones against the thick meat of his forearm. ¡°The male ones,¡± she said evasively. Saying that meant nothing. That was one of the only qualifications she needed in her Sleeping Beauty Inc. contract. At that exact moment, a model with hair like blue cotton candy and skin like pulled taffy approached and started gushing about how much she wanted to meet him. Ornette took the hint and let her steal him from her. Once she was alone, she searched the room for Clandestine. She spotted her, but she couldn¡¯t get anywhere near her. There were fifty-three men to twelve women. Every single woman was surrounded by a knot of men. She was mobbed as soon as she stepped away from Varner, who was effective at clearing knots. He was the alpha male at the party whether he normally had more power than other men or not. The two other people Ornette wanted to see were the designer who used to own her and Desmond. She spotted him. He was by the door talking to a set assistant in a black baseball cap. Ornette couldn¡¯t speak to him. If she pushed aside the men who were thronging her and sought his attention, she would have two faux pas to deal with that night. It was already bad enough that Varner had marked her as the person to beat. Involuntarily, she gave Desmond a side glance. Once. Twice. Actually, she couldn¡¯t stop looking at him. No matter who she talked to or what they said, she couldn¡¯t stop directing her eyes toward the man in the white suit with the white hair. Granted, he didn¡¯t look very white in the hazy orange light of Venus¡¯ twilight, but his look held her attention so completely that she didn¡¯t notice it when her old designer owner joined the group of men talking to her. ¡°Ornette, it has been ages,¡± he crooned. She took his hand, leaned in, and gave him the customary air kisses he gave everyone. She couldn¡¯t remember his name, but she could remember that he gave everyone air kisses? Incredible. His logo was a C with a cross through it. That was it. His name was Crois which meant cross.You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. ¡°How have you been keeping your pulse throbbing?¡± he said with unnecessary emphasis. She ran her finger down his chin saucily. ¡°It¡¯s been just terrible without you,¡± she pouted. He gave her a double take and his eyes lit up, warming his face until he smiled. Yes, she was acting weird, but she had to. For starters, Crois was pansexual and he made the hugest fuss over everyone whether he thought they were a hag or diva. At least he was pleased. That was good for her. Even though he had taken advantage of her, he had taken much less advantage of her than her other owners. She had been sad without him. There was no exaggeration there. If she ended up with him at the end of the show, she¡¯d be patting herself on the back for years. So she made nice with him by chatting him up, complimenting him, and drawing him into an exclusive little world that she made in the middle of the crowd until her knot of men dispersed. The party wasn¡¯t supposed to be long anyway. It was just supposed to be an appetizer, not a full-course meal, so once the men had had a nice long look at the models, the party ended. Ornette said goodnight to Crois and then glanced at the door for another sneaky look at Desmond before she was carted off to her room. Taking the time to look for him was surprisingly worth it. He was alone, leaning against a wall. He was looking at her and his expression read that he was frustrated. He hadn¡¯t been wearing a tie, but his shirt had been done up to the second-highest button. Ornette had glanced at him just in time to see his eyes connect with hers. He let out an aggravated huff before he unbuttoned that number two button, and gave his throat a little extra room to breathe. The models were lined up and escorted out. That was when they met The Coordinator. Ornette didn¡¯t usually refer to anyone in that way. The Coordinator was a person who required capital letters. It was a man in his late twenties who had made a career out of being uptight. Even his teeth looked like they had been set too straight and too close together. He started out by briefing them. ¡°You¡¯ve all been assigned numbers from one to twelve and you¡¯ve all been assigned individual suites in case any of you were afraid you¡¯d have to share. Your suites include a bedroom, a bathroom, and a walk-in closet. Meals will be served in the cafeteria on most nights, but tonight you may order room service as our way of welcoming you. You should order as soon as you get in your room. The kitchens will close in an hour.¡± Ornette was starving, undoubtedly because she had been woken mid-cryosleep for a makeup session that took hours. ¡°Number one,¡± The Coordinator called, ¡°Claudia Clements.¡± She was a platinum blonde and Ornette knew for a fact, she cost a lot more than Ornette did. Actually, seeing her there scared the crap out of Ornette. She wondered why she hadn¡¯t noticed her before. She usually commanded the attention of the entire room. The Coordinator called out the next model. ¡°Number two! Silvania Taiki.¡± That was not that girl¡¯s real name. She was Asian and cute as a row of buttons. ¡°Number three: Orpah Tenor.¡± She was black and managed to look exactly like a deer. That was how graceful she was when she moved. She was made for the catwalk. If she was a designer to boot, none of the other women had a chance. ¡°Number four: Clandestine Frost.¡± Red-haired Clandestine was next. That made Ornette wonder if she would be after her. After all, their cryochambers had been right next to each other. ¡°Number five: Mikayla Harvardson.¡± Mikayla was dark-haired, dark-eyed, and white-skinned, but she was not Asian. ¡°Number Six: Ivanka Channels.¡± She was an Amazon. She was the only woman there of the correct size to get together with Varner. If he pushed her around, she¡¯d laugh and push him right back. She had blonde hair, done in Viking braids. She was the last person you¡¯d want to tick off. ¡°Number seven: Starling Jenns.¡± She was a member of the Church of Voynich, so she had black skin, blue eyes, and forest-green hair. On paper, it was a terrible combination. In-person, she caught the eye in a way no other women there did. She looked fierce and indomitable. Ornette admired that. ¡°Number eight: Summer Evans.¡± That was the woman with the peach hair and the creamy brown skin. She was very sweet. Ornette hoped she stayed sweet. ¡°Number nine! Tania Martins.¡± She had blue eyes and blue hair and looked like a mermaid who had just got her land legs. ¡°Number ten: Jane Eiderdown.¡± She was another blonde. ¡°Number eleven: Yilin Sweet.¡± She was the porcelain doll from before, another Asian though not as impressive as Silvania. That was when Ornette made an unpleasant realization. They had been called out in the order that had been decided upon by the organizers. They started with the most impressive models (Claudia and Silvania) and ended up with her. Why had Clandestine been ahead of her? Something had happened since Ornette had last surfaced that made Clandestine more valuable than her. She was the least valuable woman there. They had organized them by purchase price and she was at the bottom of the stack. She was called out as number twelve and when she entered her room, she found that a lot of time had passed in the hallway as The Coordinator had given everyone their rooms. Not everyone had been in the same wing and there had been quite a lot of walking around between rooms. The suites weren¡¯t small and that made for long hallways. The Coordinator had taken too long and the hour he mentioned, as a window where the contestants could order food from the kitchen, had passed. It was too late for Ornette to order anything. Chapter Five Chapter Five ¡°You¡¯ve been sent a gift,¡± The Coordinator said when Ornette answered the door to her suite half an hour later. ¡°What kind of gift?¡± she asked suspiciously. ¡°It¡¯s a sandwich.¡± ¡°That¡¯s fantastic,¡± she said, not changing her tone from suspicious. ¡°Who sent it?¡± ¡°Desmond Falstead.¡± ¡°Oh? Then I would be delighted to take it,¡± she said, still sounding suspicious. If anything, she sounded more suspicious. The Coordinator looked at her oddly and held the sandwich back. ¡°You know who that is?¡± ¡°Yeah, but I also know a few other people who were in attendance tonight. What¡¯s the big deal?¡± That was what she said, and she said it casually, effortlessly, carelessly. She did not say that she didn¡¯t know what he did for a living, what his role was on the show, or who he worked for. She topped it off with a sudden question. ¡°Has there been some news about him while I¡¯ve been in cryostasis?¡± The Coordinator swallowed. ¡°I just didn¡¯t want you to get too excited. He has a vested interest in the show and he sent sandwiches to every model that didn¡¯t arrive back at her room in time to order dinner.¡± He held out the cylindrical meal. Ornette took it, thanked him, and closed the door. The sandwich was nothing fancy. It was the kind of thing that was sold in a vending machine, so Ornette didn¡¯t think there was anything significant about it. More than likely, he was making sure all the girls got something to eat because he wasn¡¯t a heartless dickwad. As Ornette took her first bite, she decided that even if he sat with the other businessmen, he wasn¡¯t in the pool of people who would have a chance to take home a model. He just had an interest in the show. Doubtless, it was a financial interest. That made it likely that he was an investor. She chewed. It was going to be interesting for her to see how Varner would warp the men by their desires using the models as bait. That was it, wasn¡¯t it? It wasn¡¯t just about making good TV, making good clothes, or hooking up the right buyer with the right model. There was more at stake, more in the background, more to win, and more to lose than what Varner had said. There were too many men and not enough models. Everyone was going to be twisted around. Some people would lose. Ornette wandered through the suite. It was nicer than the places she usually stayed when she worked. She ate the rest of her sandwich, got a drink from the mini fridge (no prices on the contents), and wandered into the bathroom. There were a lot of supplies in there. Bubble bath, waxing strips, razors (both electric and stationary), and chemical hair removal kits. Ornette laughed when she saw them. Like a model who habitually worked for Sleeping Beauty Inc. had a single hair growing on her legs or under her arms. Ornette didn¡¯t have any hair on her arms or even up her nose. It was hilarious considering how hairy many of her buyers were. There were skylights in her bathroom and they let in a warm yellow light that was almost magical. The sun was so much brighter on Venus than it was on Earth. She felt warmed and renewed just standing in the bathroom. In the bright light, she inspected the makeup Desmond had done for her more carefully. At first, she thought that it was supposed to make her look like a mermaid. After seeing the woman with blue hair and blue eyes, she changed her mind. She was supposed to look like something else, but she couldn¡¯t decide what. She had been about to throw the sandwich wrapper away when she saw something written on the inner part of the wrapper. Desmond had sent her a message. She was hoping it was a hint or a clue as to how to make it through the competition without getting sold to a horrible man¡­ But that was always a risk when taking a contract through Sleeping Beauty Inc. When she thought about it that way, she calmed down completely. The problem with the unknown master was always her fate once she¡¯d signed the papers. It was just that in the show, she¡¯d see the sale process for herself. Desmond was of no help anyway. Well, not entirely. He had sent her a sandwich and sandwiches were not nothing. Inside the paper were merely the words, ¡®Hang in there.¡¯ It was charming. She dropped the wrapper into the garbage and forgot all about him for the second time. *** The next day, Ornette was matched up with the clothing designer who was going to dress her for her first runway show. But she hadn¡¯t met the designer yet. It was morning, breakfast time, and she was in the cafeteria standing in line with a tray. She was told she was allowed to eat two hundred and fifty calories for breakfast, so she was choosing dishes that were preplated behind glass. She got a banana (120 calories) and a low-calorie muffin (130 calories). It was a breakfast meant to keep a girl slim. She took a bottle of water and her breakfast and went to find Clandestine. The redhead was sitting at a table by herself with an empty cup in front of her that had once contained fruit.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. Ornette slid into the seat across from her. ¡°You started making more money since I last saw you.¡± It was not a question. It was a statement. Clandestine smirked. Her feelings toward Ornette had obviously cooled since Varner had made such a fuss over her at the welcome reception. ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m making all the money,¡± the redhead said in a singsong voice. ¡°You make more than me. Admit it.¡± Without further ado, Ornette went ahead and told her the exact dollar amount for her last contract. ¡°Oh!¡± Clandestine exclaimed, almost hopping in her seat with surprise. Then she relaxed and shrugged. ¡°You¡¯re right. I do make more money than you.¡± She took a drink from her bottled water and did not tell Ornette how much money her last contract paid. Ornette didn¡¯t care if they weren¡¯t sharing information equally just then. If she didn¡¯t give something, she had no hope of getting anything in the future. ¡°Listen, I think our numbers were assigned according to our value. You¡¯re number four and I¡¯m number twelve.¡± That got Clandestine¡¯s attention. She¡¯d had less time to observe the models she was dropped off at her suite the night before. ¡°Are you saying you¡¯re the cheapest model here?¡± ¡°Yeah,¡± Ornette said before she cracked the neck of her banana. Clandestine crossed her arms. ¡°I don¡¯t know why you¡¯re sharing that with me, especially when we¡¯re being filmed.¡± The cameras were less obvious in the cafeteria than they were in the reception hall or in the theater where they were introduced to the three bears, but they were still there. Maybe Ornette had been a little careless when she shouted out numbers. She clucked her tongue and said, ¡°You must know that I didn¡¯t save you because I was trying to outdo you or anyone else. I didn¡¯t know this was a competition.¡± ¡°I wouldn¡¯t have died if you hadn¡¯t done anything. I didn¡¯t even know my cryochamber malfunctioned. You didn¡¯t tell me about it and the only thing I knew was that you woke me up. Don¡¯t expect a parade from me,¡± Clandestine said testily. ¡°Fine,¡± Ornette said plainly without a hint of snark. She also didn¡¯t move. She sat and ate her banana until it was gone. Then she peeled the paper off her muffin without a word. ¡°You¡¯re here because you want to be friends with me?¡± Clandestine asked quietly with her red eyebrows drawn together. ¡°Well, I thought you wanted to be friends with me when you linked arms with me and let everyone here know we were BFFs. Have you changed your mind completely after Varner made that fuss over me at the reception ceremony?¡± ¡°It wasn¡¯t that what you did was that annoying. It¡¯s that he is obviously the man to please and I don¡¯t know if you kept eyes on him after he was whisked away from you, but he didn¡¯t treat any of the other models with any kind of preference. Not even me!¡± ¡°Were you expecting him to? He thinks I¡¯m going to be out first thing, so it¡¯s okay if he shows me preference. He wants to make the rest of you earn it. He would be a fool to let his favorites be known right off the bat,¡± Ornette pointed out. ¡°Okay,¡± Clandestine agreed, pulling in and leaning closer to Ornette across the table. ¡°If you think you¡¯re going to be out second thing (not first thing because of your immunity), do you have a plan to save yourself?¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°No?¡± Clandestine was clearly surprised. ¡°Why not?¡± ¡°How am I supposed to make a plan? We don¡¯t know what they¡¯re looking for other than that they want us to be ¡®hot¡¯.¡± Ornette did the air quotes with her fingers. ¡°That¡¯s not what the Goldilocks zone means. It means that something is not too hot and not too cold, but just right. So, they want hot. What¡¯s hot? Naked? Fashion isn¡¯t naked. Fashion is making a naked body look better. But our first mission is just to allow ourselves to be dressed. No one is being eliminated during the next episode. They¡¯re just introducing us to the audience and the judges.¡± ¡°Do you want to be a model or a designer?¡± Clandestine asked. ¡°Who here wants to be a model? They don¡¯t mean a Sleeping Beauty Inc. model, they mean a runway model. None of us want that. It¡¯s meant to be a punishment if our designs aren¡¯t good enough, don¡¯t you think?¡± ¡°Have you been designing clothes on your contracts?¡± Clandestine asked, strumming her fingers on the table. ¡°Yes. I won¡¯t take anything that isn¡¯t designing clothes. Although, it¡¯s not fun design work. Most of what I¡¯ve done since I finished working in Crois¡¯ shop has been designing men¡¯s clothes to work around medical augmentation.¡± ¡°Huh¡­¡± the redhead said pensively. ¡°So, you¡¯re being hired by men who have tubes in their bodies that keep them alive, but they still want to look normal?¡± Ornette nodded. ¡°Yeah. There¡¯s a lot of velcro in work like that.¡± She showed Clandestine her blackened wrist with no makeup on it. ¡°They shock their servants because they can¡¯t do anything else to command compliance. Some of them can¡¯t even shout. But I decided to take those contracts because the other kinds of owners would get so angry when they were drunk that they¡¯d chuck me across rooms. No matter how much I got paid in those days, I didn¡¯t think I¡¯d live long like that. Why? What have your contracts been like?¡± ¡°How did you get chosen for something like this?¡± Clandestine wondered, a flabbergasted look on her face. ¡°Have you ever been your master¡¯s primary model?¡± Ornette shook her head in the negative. ¡°Have you?¡± ¡°My last three masters had other models that were less important than me. I had controls that I could shock them if they didn¡¯t obey. You¡¯re right. You¡¯re going to be booted from this competition as soon as possible. You¡¯re not prepared, but¡­ Someone wanted you here and they gave you an opportunity to stay more than one round in the form of putting your cryochamber next to mine and letting mine malfunction. Your story also explains why you thought to check my chamber out. You¡¯re used to doing lower-level work.¡± She leaned forward. ¡°Who¡¯s your backer? Is it someone from the designer¡¯s side or someone from business class?¡± If Ornette had to bet, she¡¯d bet on Desmond rather than Crois, but she didn¡¯t know why she would interest him. He had even met her aboard the Cannonball III to help her look better. After seeing the high standard of beauty the other models rocked, she knew she would have been horrifically outclassed without his help. ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± she lied, keeping Desmond a secret. She¡¯d already shared more than enough. ¡°I know more than just Crois from the designer¡¯s side, but there¡¯s probably nothing to it. They probably just didn¡¯t want to spend a lot of money on the girls who were going to be eliminated first. Number eleven probably isn¡¯t worth a whole lot either.¡± ¡°Hmph,¡± Clandestine thrumped. ¡°If we end up getting handed out according to our pay grade, I won¡¯t get a spot with one of the three bears.¡± ¡°Surely, it won¡¯t be that simple,¡± Ornette disagreed. ¡°Do you want to be chosen by one of the three bears? Did you like Varner?¡± Clandestine smirked. ¡°I didn¡¯t get to a higher pay grade than you because I was willing to make partnerships with lesser models. You shouldn¡¯t talk to me anymore.¡± Ornette raised her eyebrows. ¡°It¡¯s nothing personal,¡± Clandestine said, waving her hand like she was refusing dessert. ¡°I just think I can play the game better if I don¡¯t waste time talking to a contestant who is going to be eliminated in the second round.¡± ¡°Okay,¡± Ornette said with a laugh as she stood up to discard her trash. ¡°Wait,¡± Clandestine said before Ornette walked away. ¡°You¡¯re not hurt?¡± Ornette put her discolored hand up to her chin. ¡°You think you can hurt me with your rejection about this little competition? I¡¯m not sensitive and I don¡¯t think there will be any winners. Not even the girl who lands Varner will win. This competition is not about giving any of us what we want. We¡¯re being used, but we signed agreements saying it¡¯s fine¡­ So, it¡¯s fine. I¡¯ll stay away from you, but you can come talk to me later if I¡¯m still around.¡± Ornette didn¡¯t stay to see the look on Clandestine¡¯s face as she walked away. By the time Ornette had disposed of her banana peel and her muffin wrapper, she¡¯d already forgotten all about her. Chapter Six Chapter Six The designer assigned to dress Ornette for her first fashion show was a man named Fenrir Charming. It wasn¡¯t his real name. That was the name of his designer label. He went by Fen, and yes, he was a wolf of a man. In appearance, he was the kind of man who had all the muscles a male physique demanded, but he dressed like an eighteenth-century courtesan. A male courtesan, to be clear, but the fashion had changed so much, it didn¡¯t translate. All that meant that he dressed much more like a modern woman than a man, with frills at his cuffs and his shirt mostly open. He grew his hair long and wore it in a low ponytail down his back. He also wore a goatee. No one was actually going to mistake him for a woman with his facial hair and pecs partly on display. Ornette was delivered an invitation to his studio that morning and then she had cameras in her face while she tried to replicate Desmond¡¯s makeup. She got it wrong half a dozen times before she got it passable. At the very least, she looked like the same person who had been in the cryochamber the day before and that was what was most important. It didn''t matter if she got the makeup right. She was supposed to look plain and boring when she arrived at the studio. There wasn¡¯t any point in taking a beautiful woman and making her look the same, so Ornette¡¯s passable makeup and ordinary hairdo were just what the TV producer ordered. Transportation on Venus was all by air because even though it was possible to travel between the multitude of domes that made up the city, Nepra, it wasn¡¯t at all glamorous to do so. Some of the tunnels were glass above the foundation and that was beautiful, but it was hard for them to keep the transparent tube tops clean, so it was far more glamorous to battle the wind in a helocarrier designed to combat it. If the weather was bad, they wouldn¡¯t be able to fly, but on that day, the wind was downish (it never died down completely on the floating city), so they were flying. Ornette got on the helocarrier, flying with three other models. She flew with Tania, Jane, and Yilin. So, she was flying with numbers nine (Tania), ten (Jane), and eleven (Yilin). They were all loaded into the back and given noise-canceling headphones, with speakers inside them so they could talk while they flew. Tania, the blue-haired, blue-eyed, mermaid girl was the first to speak. She turned to Ornette and said, ¡°I hope you don¡¯t mind, but I heard a little of what you were saying to Clandestine in the cafeteria. Did you say that you were the lowest-paid model here?¡± Ornette nodded. ¡°Was I wrong? Do you make less than me?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± Tania said, showing the same hesitation to talk about financial compensation as Clandestine. Ornette was not in the mood to play games. She was going to be eliminated in the second round. There was no point in holding anything back. She opened her mouth and simply said how much her contract was for. It didn¡¯t matter much. She¡¯d already heard her talking to Clandestine. Then she finished up with the question, ¡°Do you make more than me?¡± Tania was horrified Ornette had simply said such a thing. ¡°I make more than you,¡± Jane, the other cheap blonde voiced. The reason why was apparent immediately. She didn¡¯t think she was different from Ornette. She thought they were exactly the same. ¡°If you can¡¯t be eliminated in the first round. It will be me. Blondes are out of vogue.¡± Ornette laughed. ¡°What are you talking about? Blondes are never out of vogue. Blonde hair makes men insane and it has for as long as it¡¯s been a thing. That¡¯s why I dye my hair. If blonde hair didn¡¯t do the heavy lifting, I¡¯d dye it a different color.¡± ¡°She¡¯s right,¡± Tania said fervently. ¡°I don¡¯t dye my hair blue because it makes men insane. I do it because it makes me distinctive. I need the distinction more than I need a man to get hot for me. I mean, that¡¯s what I normally need, but this is a competition where we¡¯re supposed to be hot, hot, hot! I¡¯m going to dye my hair blonde as soon as possible.¡± ¡°But then you¡¯ll look like us!¡± Jane shouted into her microphone to make sure she could be heard. ¡°And we¡¯re getting eliminated first thing.¡± ¡°I think she¡¯ll get eliminated first,¡± Tania said, pointing at Yilin. Yilin gave no indication that she¡¯d heard what they were talking about and maybe she didn¡¯t. Maybe she¡¯d turned off her microphone and the speakers in her ears. Her black hair kept getting swept toward her mouth and sticking to her lip gloss, but she didn¡¯t move like it didn¡¯t bother her. She was dead inside. Ornette got that. Tania went on. ¡°We¡¯re not just getting voted on by designers, but also businessmen and the three bears¡­ And who knows what they want?¡± ¡°They want hot. They said that¡¯s what they want,¡± Jane reminded them. Tania smiled. She had such beautifully shaped teeth that Ornette practiced smiling with her lips closed. She absolutely could not compete against Tania¡¯s open mouth. If she became a blonde¡­ It didn¡¯t matter. Ornette already knew she was going to be eliminated in the second round. ¡°Can you be hot enough for them?¡± Tania teased, putting her elbow into Jane¡¯s ribs. Jane rolled her eyes back into her head. ¡°Let me ask you a question. How many times have you been sold? What number is this? Your third? Your tenth?¡± ¡°Seventh,¡± Tania said with almost the same amount of outspokenness as Ornette when she told them how much money she made. ¡°Then you know,¡± Jane said crankily. ¡°That nothing that is supposed to be sexy is sexy anymore. Not to us. Is there anything you haven¡¯t done to please your master? We are not like other women. We¡¯re not even like whores who make an art of it because we¡¯re not hired with the intent that we¡¯ll be used for sex exclusively. I don¡¯t know about you, but I wear the clothes they give me and then I look bored in a corner until I¡¯m asked to do something, usually just fixing drinks. I¡¯ve done more bartending than if that was my career. My masters thought that if they threw enough clothes at me and let me stand beside them, then I must be the happiest side-piece in the world and that I would be delighted to crawl under their desks.¡±Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. Ornette knew exactly what she was talking about. Her earlier masters had been exactly what Jane described. Ornette stopped accepting contracts like that and instead got actual jobs designing clothing, though not for the clientele she imagined. She wanted to ask Jane how many masters she¡¯d had. Tania was considered a seasoned model at Sleeping Beauty Inc. with seven contracts, but Ornette had had fourteen. This was her fifteenth sale. When she finished it, there was an award waiting for her back at Sleeping Beauty Inc. North America Division. She¡¯d store it in her attic¡­ If she ever got anything as fancy as an attic. What Jane said hinted she was going to get killed at the design portion of the competition. Her work experience meant she might do a lot better impressing the businessmen as a runway model than the others. She was blonde and she knew every thought those disgusting men had before they had it. Who knew? She might go all the way. The helocarrier landed before Tania could answer. As she was number nine, she was the first to be dropped off. She swung her blue hair and smiled for the cameras that were in her face as soon as she got off the helocarrier. Of course, they were being filmed all the time they had been flying, but the cameras mounted in the helocarrier were not designed to get beautiful angles. The drones and cameramen that flocked to Tania when she got off the helocarrier were a completely different matter. They were designed to make her look beautiful, not to act as surveillance in case any of the women said anything juicy while they were being transported. ¡°I agree,¡± Ornette said to Jane once the doors were closed and they were back up in the air. ¡°Nothing is sexy anymore. I don¡¯t have any idea what¡¯s hot. I mean, I know what¡¯s hot to those men, but nothing is hot to me anymore. Part of this is that they want to see their contestants get sexually excited. Which one of us isn¡¯t going to fake liking them? We¡¯re models from Sleeping Beauty Inc. That¡¯s our job! Does Papa Bear Varner think that his muscles will make us swoon? When I see a man with muscles, I feel myself getting slammed against a wall and I hear the sound my head makes when it hits drywall. And it doesn¡¯t echo. I hit a stud every time.¡± ¡°Same. How do the dudes even know where the stud is? I have never once broken through the drywall between the studs,¡± Jane wondered, shaking her head. ¡°I¡¯ve thought about this,¡± Ornette went on. ¡°It¡¯s cause they¡¯re rich and their homes have double drywall and better structural engineering than the places where most girls like us grew up,¡± Ornette explained, but she didn¡¯t get to explain anything else before the helocarrier landed and Jane had to flip her pretty hair and get out of carrier like she was a Playboy Bunny. Alone with Yilin, Ornette tried to have a conversation with her. ¡°Hey, can you hear me?¡± Ornette asked in as soft a voice as she dared through the speakers. Yilin pointed her face further away from Ornette. Which answered her question. She could hear her. She just didn¡¯t want to talk. Ornette could respect that, but it was a longer flight to where Yilin was getting dropped off than it had been for the other women. Ornette busied herself with braiding her hair. She was not going to get off the helocarrier like a supermodel. No one explained it to her, but she needed to give the illusion that Fen made her over and turned her from an ugly duckling into a swan. And more than anything, she needed to do exactly what he told her. If she thought he could do better in some way or another, she needed to keep it to herself. If he failed in some way that she recognized, and she later had to design a dress for herself, she could use that information. She needed to learn from Fen¡¯s mistakes and she needed to present herself as someone who was completely moldable. She would smile and do everything he asked. Pleasantly. She reminded herself she had to be pleasant. That was when Yilin was dropped off. As soon as the door shut, something amazing happened. The co-pilot who was riding in the front took off his helmet and joined Ornette in the back. To Ornette¡¯s astonishment, it was Desmond. He grabbed a discarded headset, put it on, and buckled himself across from Ornette. ¡°How¡¯s it going?¡± he asked pleasantly, placing his navy-colored eyes on her in a way that let her know she had all his attention. ¡°Could you hear our conversation?¡± she asked without saying hello. ¡°Yes. You should know that someone is always listening, even now. It¡¯s just that when I talk to you, the recording will be deleted. Though you should try not to say anything too salacious to me in these moments, someone might be tempted to click ¡®save¡¯.¡± Ornette did not want to smile. She didn¡¯t want to think he was cute and that his taking a second to speak to her privately made her a little happy. She leaned into it. ¡°Okay. What do you want, Hotstuff?¡± ¡°Hotstuff? Don¡¯t talk to me like that. It won¡¯t have any effect,¡± he said, giving a tiny hint as to who he was behind his white-laced navy eyes. ¡°Kay. Do we have much time to chat?¡± she asked. They were already back up in the air. ¡°We don¡¯t. I just have to tell you one thing. Do not try to impress the designers in this competition.¡± ¡°Why not?¡± Ornette complained. All men were a little gross to Ornette (except Desmond), but the businessmen were worse than the designers. The designers were trying to make clothes, which was at least interesting to Ornette, but the businessmen were bratty losers who knew they could get whatever they wanted if they threw enough money at it. He took one of her hands in his, proving he could touch her¡­ but maybe everyone could touch her with her bracelet¡¯s current settings. She could still be shocked though. Desmond wouldn¡¯t have bothered to change her voltage if she couldn¡¯t be. ¡°There¡¯s one reason. I have seen your designs and I¡¯ve seen the other women¡¯s designs. Considering what the designers are looking for this year, you¡¯ll lose.¡± ¡°And you don¡¯t want me to lose?¡± Ornette asked mock-suspiciously. She didn¡¯t care what happened because she didn¡¯t believe in happily ever after. There was only the end of the two-year contract and getting a more prestigious master didn¡¯t necessarily mean having a better time while she waited out the clock. He cleared his throat. ¡°This isn¡¯t just about the game. I want you to impress the businessmen and if you do, you have a much better chance.¡± ¡°A much better chance for what?¡± she asked, her interest finally piqued. ¡°Money,¡± he said without hesitation. ¡°The girls are going to be awarded bonuses based on how long they stay in the competition. The top prize adds an extra zero to your usual fee.¡± ¡°Why didn¡¯t they open with that when Papa Bear was explaining the competition?¡± Ornette whined. ¡°I don¡¯t know. I¡¯m not in charge of this thing.¡± ¡°Then are you cheating by telling me this?¡± she asked frostily. ¡°Am I cheating just by talking to you?¡± ¡°There¡¯s no such thing as cheating in this,¡± Desmond said, looking bored. ¡°What are they going to do to you? Send you home? Look, I don¡¯t have anything else to say except that you can¡¯t play this two ways. You can try to win it following Varner¡¯s instructions, or you can play it sideways and decide that I¡¯m the person to please if you want to win.¡± ¡°And who are you?¡± ¡°I¡¯m the Cheshire Cat,¡± he said with a grin. Ornette squashed her feelings, but she wasn¡¯t able to squash them enough to deny that maybe something was still sexy. Okay, a man openly calling himself a cat, even a confusing cat who confounds the heroine, was exactly the kind of thing that got Ornette. He put a hand on her knee and patted it. ¡°Try to impress the businessmen,¡± he advised, before giving her one more convincing look before pulling his headset loose and returning to the front of the helocarrier. Chapter Seven Chapter Seven ¡°You¡¯re too short,¡± Fen remarked crossly as he examined Ornette as she stood on a pedestal in his design room. ¡®Surely you didn¡¯t need to strip me down to my underwear to see that,¡¯ was what she wanted to say, but she couldn¡¯t say anything that antagonized him. They would cut anything that embarrassed him from the final cut of the show and she did not need to make an enemy of him. She didn¡¯t say anything, she just stood there admiring the cut of his shirt. It was transparent, made of thin gauzy material that made his skin under it look all the more dark. The contrast between his dark skin and the white material showed how well the shirt he was wearing was made. It was perfect and it was much easier for Ornette to look at his shirt than at the bulging muscles of his body underneath. Men that ripped terrified Ornette. If he hit her across the face, her skull would break. ¡°I will have to design something new,¡± he lamented. ¡°I have nothing that would suit a woman as petite as you.¡± He sent a few of his underlings scurrying to bring him his tablet and other design tools. Then he looked at Ornette and followed her eyes down the length of his shirt. ¡°See something interesting?¡± he asked her, drawing her attention to his face. ¡°Your shirt is so exquisite,¡± she said dreamily, thinking about the stitches in the gauzy fabric rather than his face. Fen cocked his head. ¡°My shirt is magnificent, but why do you think it is?¡± She reached out for his cuff and he gave her his hand. Ornette was experienced at handling people when she fitted their clothing and shifted into that mode so that Fen was not a man she found repulsive, but a figure she had to dress. ¡°Every single thread has been woven in. The entire thing was stitched by hand, wasn¡¯t it? Every edge has been properly finished and hidden. When I look at you, the shirt covers your body in a way that makes sure I see the shirt, but I don¡¯t at the same time. It makes me look under the shirt, hides anything about your torso and arms you want to hide while at the same time draws someone in. They want to look at you and your clothes, but they don¡¯t know why. They¡¯re lost in a swath of white sky over dark mountains. And they never want to leave¡­¡± She trailed off, mesmerized by his shirt and his skin and the powerful effect of a brilliant designer who also had a fantastic body. Fen kissed Ornette. He placed his hand on the back of her neck and drew her to him in an elegant motion reserved for dancing. He did it because he was allowed to touch her. Ornette took the whole thing to mean that any of the men she was with were allowed to treat her as they wished. Ornette let him kiss her. As far as forced kisses went, it was on the pleasant side, very respectful. He did not thrust his tongue in her mouth or say disgusting things to her, so she let him kiss her and when he was finished, he pulled her into his arms for a soft embrace. Then he whispered in her ear. ¡°I sewed this shirt myself. I wear it often in situations like this, when I am designing clothes for important clients. No one has ever told me it was special, but I¡¯ve always known it was. Your description moved me. Shall I make you something that accomplishes the same thing? Something that turns the dress into a sky and your skin into the mountains under it?¡± She whispered into his ear. ¡°Is that even possible with a body like mine?¡± He backed off and looked at her again. She was still in her underwear. It was white filmy underwear almost the same color as her skin. She was skinny. She had been on a calorie-restricted diet for a long time, so she didn¡¯t have a luscious body. Her hips jutted out because that was how her skeleton was built, and her breasts had a little too much curve to them due to her age. It would have been better if she had been a little more boyish on top. Clothing designers liked that¡ªevenness throughout the figure¡ªhips and bust with the same measurement. She was in an odd place where she knew she was too fat to be one thing and too skinny to be another. Why had Desmond told her that she had to aim to impress the businessmen? They all wanted runway models to showcase their products. That wasn¡¯t her. Fen was looking Ornette over. ¡°What kind of mountain and what kind of sky? We can give you anything. What do you see for yourself? Mermaid vibes?¡± he asked, touching the bluish spot under her eyes. ¡°No. I want to look like Venus.¡± ¡°Very traditional,¡± he replied, turning away from her like he was bored. ¡°Doesn¡¯t everyone want to look like the Goddess of Love?¡±This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. Ornette shook her head. ¡°No. I mean, I want to look like the planet Venus.¡± Fen turned back. ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°My name, Ornette, means baby eagle. What about a golden eagle? Could I become something like that?¡± ¡°What kind of sky will you fly through?¡± he asked, a touch of amusement in his tone. ¡°Venus¡¯ sky. An eagle has never flown through the sky here before,¡± Ornette said. A smile touched his lips. ¡°Then you shall be the first.¡± Fen took his tablet from his assistant and started sketching. First, he drew a form and explained to Ornette that he was seeing her wear a gold bodysuit for the underlay. The suit would have feet and go directly into sharp-edged high heels. The bodysuit would cover her arms completely and the cuff would point out beyond her knuckles. The sharp edges at her feet and hands would give the impression of claws. ¡°The neckline must be quite open,¡± he explained as they sat on the carpeted stairs leading to his showroom. ¡°If you were a man and gave me the brief you¡¯ve given, I¡¯d make a cravat for him that gave the impression of feathers, but that¡¯s not right for you. You¡¯re a woman and your breasts are unusually large for a runway model. We may as well make the most of it. You¡¯re not shy, are you?¡± Ornette brought her head so low she almost placed her head on his lap as she said to him gently, ¡°I will wear anything you give me with pleasure.¡± It was the sort of thing Ornette was used to saying to her masters, but it felt a little different on her tongue when she said it to Fen. He was a skilled designer and she had probably never worn anything in her life as finely made as the shirt on his body. If he was going to make her something to wear, it would be more amazing than Ornette could take. He looked at her lovingly. ¡°Are the other girls like you?¡± he asked, as his hand moved his stylist in swift strokes against his tablet screen to capture his idea for the outer layer of the dress. ¡°They¡¯re probably better,¡± she said, trying to angle herself so she could see what he was sketching. ¡°They probably have better bodies and better brains. In short, they''re hotter than me.¡± ¡°Why do you think you aren¡¯t as good as them?¡± Fen asked, making a motion with his hand to swish away his employees. The room was empty before Ornette could reply. ¡°There are a lot of reasons. You¡¯ll understand them better when you meet more of them,¡± she whispered. ¡°I can¡¯t take you to bed,¡± he said suddenly. ¡°That¡¯s against the rules of the competition.¡± ¡°Oh?¡± He chuckled. ¡°You didn¡¯t know. Please tell me you weren¡¯t trying to sleep your way to the top.¡± She didn¡¯t change her body language. She stayed exactly where she was on the stairs, close to him, gazing up adoringly at him. ¡°I would fail if I tried at such a thing. I just want to enjoy this time I have with you when I can watch you make clothes.¡± Fen swallowed. ¡°Here¡¯s the dress,¡± he said, turning his tablet toward her and showing her his initial sketch. The dress was like his shirt, cut in a way that made them twins. The cuffs were the same, the neckline the same, the tails of the shirt fell down her frame, and became something that circled her body in a way that was exactly what she had told him she loved most about the shirt he was wearing. When she saw it, her eyes were aqua jewels on the verge of tears. ¡°It will be the most beautiful thing I¡¯ve ever worn.¡± He kissed her again. Then he got to work ordering the fabric. It would arrive the next day. When he was finished, he took Ornette into his design studio where he showed her his work. He asked her what she thought of it and when he heard her responses, he drew her close to him and held her like she was made of polished glass and he couldn¡¯t let her out of his sight. When their time together was over, Desmond came to collect her. He was wearing a helmet that covered most of his face, but he got in the back of the helocarrier with Ornette and put on a headset. ¡°Did you have to let him get that handsy with you?¡± he asked, getting more worked up than Ornette thought he had any right to be. By the time Desmond said those words to her, she had already put Fen completely out of her mind. She was thinking about dinner. Fen had not fed her lunch even though she had been with him from eleven in the morning until five in the afternoon. It didn¡¯t bother her. People like him kept their eating habits a secret. They didn¡¯t want people to know what they ate or how much. Except, she was starving. She turned to Desmond and said, ¡°I offered you more than I offered Fen. Don¡¯t you remember?¡± She was referring to the time they met and what she said to him before she got back into her cryochamber. She asked him if he wanted to kiss her. He kissed her hand and put her back to sleep. Desmond looked at her quizzically in the back of the helocarrier like he didn¡¯t really understand something about what she said. ¡°I offered you more,¡± she reiterated. ¡°You turned me down and the moment passed.¡± She had not asked Fen to kiss her. She didn¡¯t know why what she said to the designer had such a profound impact on him that he wanted to kiss her. At the very least, it had not been terrifying. He handled her carefully and respectfully. He was also going to make a beautiful dress for her. Since her mind had already moved on from Fen and Desmond, she asked, ¡°Will I get to keep the clothes after this?¡± ¡°They¡¯ll be auctioned off for charity,¡± he said coldly as he went back to the front seat. They landed and picked up Yilin. Chapter Eight Chapter Eight Ornette went back to Fen¡¯s every day for the rest of the week. She helped with the fitting by modeling and after she had watched the way his seamstresses worked, she was allowed to help with a few of the stitches at the cuff. It was really nothing. It was just them being nice to her. Fen¡¯s seamstresses were ruthless terrorists. They wouldn¡¯t have let her help with anything but Fen kept her under his arm the whole week, asking her questions and kissing her like he was a teenager and she was his new girlfriend. One of the seamstresses looked at Ornette from under her unibrow and said in an unusually gruff voice, ¡°I¡¯ve never seen him like this.¡± Ornette wanted to laugh. Usually, it was some pretty girl like a hero¡¯s sister or cousin in a romcom saying how he¡¯d been with dozens of women but they never meant anything to him, but now that the heroine had come along, she¡¯d never seen him like this. The seamstress talking had three one-inch hairs coming out of her chin, but she was so good at cutting, it was clear it didn¡¯t matter what she looked like. They spent a day sizing her for high heels. They spent a day choosing her jewelry. Fen was quite serious about choosing a piece for her. They were only allowed to put two pieces of jewelry on her so he had decided that they would put a bracelet on her and a pair of earrings. The earrings were long, dangly things that touched her shoulders. The bracelet he decided on was a ridiculous piece of gold beads. Each bead was as fat as two of her fingers, so she thought it was too big for her, but he insisted it was the perfect piece. Then on the last day, Ornette was sent to a spa where she had a couples¡¯ treatment with Fen. ¡°Do you know how they matched us up?¡± she asked him as he had his shoulders massaged. ¡°Yeah,¡± he breathed. ¡°It¡¯s by lottery. They didn¡¯t show the first round in the show because they needed to get on with things and they decided it wasn¡¯t worth the screen time. They didn¡¯t even do it with the contestants around. They announced the lottery right before they led you all out. That way they could show the girls who were won alongside the designers who get to work with them for the first event. They did a split screen in post-production. It was aired later that night.¡± Ornette didn¡¯t say anything in response to that. She just lay on the table and absorbed the information along with the massage. ¡°How come you¡¯re not asking me what my first response to seeing you was?¡± Fen questioned. ¡°Surely, you noticed that I didn¡¯t talk to you after Varner made such a big deal over you.¡± Ornette almost snapped her fingers in reply to that. Yes, she should have asked Fen what he thought of her at first sight. She should have asked, but the truth was, she didn¡¯t care. She had to tell him the truth, but she had to tell him the truth in a way that didn¡¯t spoil anything. ¡°If I were to guess, I¡¯d imagine that you were disappointed when you saw me,¡± she said quietly.Stolen novel; please report. He rolled over and discarded his masseuse. ¡°Why?¡± Ornette followed his lead and waved hers away too. ¡°I¡¯m short. You would have been able to see it from the stands.¡± Then she artfully lowered her eyes. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t have blamed you for being disappointed in me.¡± He looked away. What she said was true. He put his hand out and touched hers. ¡°That was before I knew you. I¡¯m really excited to get to know more about you as we go forward in this competition.¡± Ornette rolled onto her side. ¡°When ¡®we¡¯ go forward? Unless I¡¯m mistaken, the next phase of the competition will be introducing me to the businessmen. I¡¯ll get assigned to a businessman and he¡¯ll show me what he does for a living. Won¡¯t we be parted then? I¡¯ll spend my days with him instead of with you. We aren¡¯t going forward together.¡± Fen sighed. ¡°The episode after this one, they¡¯ll go into elimination rounds.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll be eliminated in the second round. You should expect that,¡± Ornette informed him like it was already a fact. ¡°Why are you so positive about that?¡± he asked angrily. The way he moved made all the muscles in his bare chest ripple and Ornette was reminded who she was dealing with. Her head hurt like she¡¯d already hit the wall. ¡°There are a lot of really beautiful women in this competition. I¡¯m not the same as them. You¡¯ll see.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll see them in a different light after tomorrow. I¡¯m dressing you personally. When I see the other models backstage, I¡¯m sure I¡¯ll see them in a way that not even you can predict.¡± ¡°I hope you get me in the end,¡± Ornette said candidly. In the moment she said it, she really meant it. ¡°That¡¯s all I wanted to hear.¡± Fen smiled, patted her hand, and waved for the masseuse to come back. Ornette got back into position. She couldn¡¯t tell Fen any of the things she really wanted to tell him. She wanted to tell him about how she had fourteen owners before she had been purchased this time. She wanted to tell him that her body was thirty-two and her age was forty-three because of the time she¡¯d spent in cryostasis. She wanted to tell him about the design work she had done and about the kinds of owners she¡¯d had. She even wanted to tell him about how her hand had been burned black. Except, if she did¡­ the bloom would come off the rose in a big way. He was a luxurious person. He had been born rich. He had something to prove about how clever he was and how sexy he could be, but that didn¡¯t stop the fact that he had probably never been forced to do something he didn¡¯t want to do in his whole life. She didn¡¯t know why, but at that moment forgotten Desmond popped into her mind. He knew all those things without her telling him. He had seen her file and read her history. He had removed her makeup and seen her bare-faced. He even knew all about her black hand and what had happened to her to cause it. It was very black when there wasn¡¯t any makeup on it. Her hand started trembling. She tucked it under her thigh. Nothing else interesting happened during their spa day. Fen kissed her when he said goodbye and promised that he would make her look dazzling at the show the next day. Ornette knew he would. Chapter Nine Chapter Nine Tiny romances were lovely. They were even more lovely when the man you¡¯re having a tiny romance with is a clothing designer, and a good one too. In the open dressing room, Ornette saw the other designers working with their models. They were backstage, quite far backstage, but Ornette could already see the clear winners. She didn¡¯t calculate herself in those numbers. She couldn¡¯t see herself. Fen had her facing away from the mirror while he worked. What she felt were his hands all over her. He was fitting her bodysuit and he wanted to make sure it pulled correctly. It would have been the same ordeal if any man insisted on helping a woman put on pantyhose. Except, the pantihose covered most of her body. The fit was tricky. He was gentle but very possessive. She wanted to lean over and tell him that it didn¡¯t do any good to be possessive over a model from Sleeping Beauty Inc. They were yours for the time that they were yours and then they belonged to someone else. ¡°What was your last owner like?¡± he asked suddenly, crouching at her feet and smoothing the fabric out over her stomach. If she had answered honestly, with no filter, the answer was, ¡®He was a quadriplegic.¡¯ She couldn¡¯t answer like that. Fen wouldn¡¯t know what to do with that and it would change the way he saw her. It was in her best interests to say something that kept his illusions of her in place. ¡°He knew what he wanted,¡± she replied, giving her voice a warning edge. Fen glanced up at her as if to ask for more information. She shut him down. ¡°You shouldn¡¯t ask about old owners.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°You don¡¯t want to hear about them,¡± she replied as he helped fit her arms into the bodysuit. ¡°But I said I did,¡± he replied. ¡°Then you should have asked me about them on a different day. Right now, I¡¯m a little busy preparing myself for the catwalk,¡± she said, reminding him she needed to keep a clear head. Those were words Fen appeared to understand. He promptly shut up and finished helping her bring the bodysuit over her elbows, breasts, and shoulders. With the first step complete, he took a step back to admire her. ¡°You look fantastic. I wish I¡¯d had more time to prepare the bodysuit. I could have fitted jewels intermittently through the fabric. It would have been captivating, except we didn¡¯t have the time or the resources for that level of design. It¡¯s a shame.¡± The goldish transparent dress that went over was lovely. It flounced in all the right places. Looking down at herself, Ornette almost burst into tears because she¡¯d never worn anything that lovely in her whole life and she probably would never wear anything that lovely again. ¡°Don¡¯t cry, Baby,¡± Fen said, taking her hand in his and kissing her palm because her knuckles were covered. ¡°Can I look in the mirror now?¡± she asked, breathing hard through her nose as she tried to dry out her sinuses. ¡°Not yet. Frankie is coming with your headpiece.¡± ¡°I have a headpiece?¡± she asked in wonder and surprise. Fen smiled widely. ¡°I knew you¡¯d be excited when I told you. I¡¯ve been keeping it secret from you. It¡¯s a headband, but it looks like a crown even though it¡¯s not made of metal. It should be very comfortable. You should be able to wear it all night.¡± He leaned in and said, ¡°I also managed to arrange for two to be made for the outfit so that you can take one with you at the end of the night.¡± Ornette shrieked in joy and threw her arms around Fen¡¯s neck. That was what he wanted from her the whole time and his arms came around her eagerly. ¡°Calm down,¡± he said after a moment passed. ¡°I need to get your jewelry on you and Frankie isn¡¯t here yet.¡± Carefully, he secured her dangling gold earrings and clicked the closure mechanism on the bracelet around her wrist. Frankie did arrive on time and presented Ornette with the two crowns. They were gold and pointed upward like an eagle beak. Fen and his assistant finished arranging Ornette¡¯s curls and finally, when the crown was in place, they turned to show her herself in the mirror. It was better than anything Ornette had ever seen. Everything the other women were wearing backstage fell back into nothing. It didn¡¯t matter what they were wearing anymore. She didn¡¯t care what they had on. She had the best dress and the best designer and the best everything. She couldn¡¯t stop thanking Fen. Even when they called her number and told her where to stand, she had trouble leaving him. She had to be behind the curtain ten minutes before the catwalk. She stood where she was supposed to, but she couldn¡¯t think straight. She looked too beautiful to think straight. She was too happy to think straight. She was supposed to start walking, just to get to her position behind the curtain, but she was in a daze. She was walking through a corridor. She was going through a revolving door. She was supposed to come through on the other end, but something happened. A door opened inside the wall of the revolving door and she was pulled the wrong way. Was she in a closet? The next second, Desmond was in her face. He was very close in the small space and the scent of his cologne made his next words more powerful. ¡°You look beautiful,¡± he said hurriedly as he grabbed her hands. ¡°What are you doing?¡± she asked, confused and defensive. ¡°I need to change your bracelet. The one you have on is no good.¡± He figured out which wrist wore the offensive piece of jewelry and he took it off her. Then to Ornette¡¯s surprise, he replaced it with one that looked exactly the same. ¡°Have a good show,¡± he said pleasantly, before chucking her out of the closet back into the revolving door. She had to rush three steps to catch up with the other models. Ornette was lucky she was number twelve and that the fashion show they were doing was not a normal fashion show where someone was out on the stage for two minutes and then back behind the curtain for a wardrobe change. They weren¡¯t there to show off a designer¡¯s collection. Instead, Claudia (number one) went out. The designer she had been paired up with explained his design while Claudia showcased the outfit. The girls behind the curtain could watch on a screen. Ornette watched. Claudia was the finest model they had and it made the dishrag the designer had made for her look like gold. That was when Ornette realized that she was going to have to watch everyone else have their turn before she got to go on. It had been good because she needed time to collect herself after Desmond surprised her in the revolving door, but she was also losing the energy she had for the show as she cooled her heels. She started evaluating the other models. They started looking at her. That made Ornette nervous. The Coordinator was behind the stage with them, but he was a skinny dude with a lot on his mind. You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. ¡°Ornette, your dress is so golden,¡± Tania, the blue mermaid girl huffed over her shoulder. It wasn¡¯t her fault, she told herself. Tania was just in a bad mood because the designer she got hadn¡¯t finished her dress and it was looking spotty because she had been sewn in it at the last minute. Ornette turned to her and said, ¡°You won¡¯t get eliminated tonight. I know you¡¯re nervous. No one is getting eliminated tonight and it might even work in your favor if your designer sucked because if you can make enough of the voters feel sorry for you, that might work better for you than if he nailed it.¡± ¡°Mack Strap said it was finished,¡± Tania crabbed. Ornette had never heard of that designer. She had heard of Fenrir Charming. ¡°Who did you get again?¡± Tania asked Ornette. She said. Jane whistled (the contestants she shared a helocarrier with were the only women near Ornette in the line). ¡°I like his designs. He looks like he knows more about comfort than other designers. Are you comfortable in your gold dress?¡± ¡°Yeah. It feels like snug pajamas,¡± Ornette confessed. ¡°I envy you,¡± Yilin said with an emotionless mask on her face. Her dress was a skeleton of a dress, with all the bones out and nothing to wear that kept her warm or even covered. Her panties and bra straps were completely visible. More models went out, but because of the way they were arranged, Ornette could only really see Tania, Jane, and Yilin. It was like that until the models appeared on the screens over their heads. Then they could see what everyone watching Goldilock Zone could see. Some of the designs were good. Some of them were average, and very few of them were spectacular. As the models went out one by one, Ornette remembered the day she met Fen. He had been so fired up to make her something so beautiful because of what she said to him. Ornette felt a little bad about it. She meant what she said to him, so she shouldn¡¯t have felt bad, but the other models had failed to ignite their designer the way she had. Maybe they were saving themselves for further into the competition, but what if they weren¡¯t matched up with the same designer again by lottery? There were twenty-five designers and only twelve models. The number of models would go down as they got deeper into the episodes. There would be fewer opportunities. Saving yourself seemed like a horrific waste of time. When it was Ornette¡¯s turn, she felt hot like fire. A fire ready to ignite the stage and impress everyone with her blaze. She was a tiny girl. She was never the star of the show. It was her time, even if she got eliminated in the second round. She went out and did her catwalk the way she had been instructed. Her heels were high, but Fen had been careful to get her heels that were natural for her to wear before he fitted them into her bodysuit. He stood behind a podium, holding a microphone for traditions¡¯ sake, even though he had a second microphone at his collar. It was just nicer to hold something when you talked in front of a crowd and Fen loved the attention. For once in his life, he wore a plain tuxedo because the last thing he ever would have wanted to do was outshine his creation (and the man could have outshone Ornette if he put his mind to it). He stood up in front of all of them, the three bears, the designers, and the businessmen. ¡°Good evening. I¡¯m Fenrir Charming. Doubtless, you¡¯ve all heard of my brand. Tonight, I¡¯m here dressing contestant number twelve, Ornette. I want to give her the last name of Charming as well because she is truly charming. As I¡¯m sure all of you designers know, dressing a woman with only seven days'' notice is asking a lot. It¡¯s asking a lot more if she doesn¡¯t have the standard model frame. Ornette is tiny. When my name was drawn for the lottery last week and I got her, I thought I was so lucky to be selected in the first round. When she came out to be introduced, I thought I was unlucky. When she turned out to be Varner¡¯s favorite, I thought I was lucky again. When I got her in my studio and I realized again how tiny she was, I believed I was unlucky again. But then Ornette started talking with me. I won¡¯t share with you what she said, but she lit a fire in me I haven¡¯t felt in years. Let me walk you through our creation.¡± Ornette beamed when he used the word ¡®our¡¯. It was so generous of him, she almost spilled her heart out onto the floor. ¡°Her name, Ornette, means little eagle. Let me take you through the different parts.¡± He named the types of fabric, the types of stitches, and the inspiration behind each aspect. He finished with, ¡°What you must understand about this design is that it was able to come about so quickly because Ornette found beauty in my existing designs and wished for something that was a mild, but powerful, variation. Each and every part of this dress was something I was familiar with making and could have made in my sleep, but she was the one who envisioned something so fresh. She said she wanted to look like Venus, not the goddess, but our world and an eagle flying through it.¡± He said his last line in such a breathy romantic murmur that Ornette turned to see his face. His brown eyes were alight with the yellow reflection of her dress and all the lights on her. He was in love with her. He snapped out of it and turned to face the crowd. ¡°Thank you very much.¡± After Ornette had been shown, Varner got up and spoke to the audience and the cameras. ¡°Now that you¡¯ve met our models for the second time, I hope you¡¯re getting more comfortable with them and choosing your favorites. The next part of the show is the lottery we did at the beginning of last week¡¯s show. All the models will line up under their numbers and we¡¯ll choose the businesses they¡¯ll represent in next week¡¯s episode.¡± Ornette went and stood under her number. Yilin was next to her but didn¡¯t say anything even though they were quite close together. The names were called. None of them meant anything to Ornette. She saw Desmond in the crowd. He was easy to spot because of his white hair, but he wasn¡¯t chosen. Her businessman for the next week¡¯s show was a man named Joel Fibers. He owned a sporting equipment business. Ornette was deeply jealous of Jane¡¯s man. She got a soft drink company president. If only! After the episode would be a reception with drinks and food where everyone could talk to the models. It was almost the exact same party they¡¯d had on the first episode, except this time it was a more intentional speed-dating scenario. Ornette was passed around from man to man to man, never getting anywhere near Fen, Desmond, or Crois. Instead, she ended up paired with a businessman who confused her. His name was Albert Gilt. He was older, ordinary-looking, and boring. Him possessing those attributes didn¡¯t confuse her. What confused her was why she wasn¡¯t getting passed off to the next man. No one came to claim her, so she just ended up stuck in a conversation with him where he droned about the unfairness of doing business in the new world. He thought everything was rigged to make him fail. Having a conversation of that nature with a model from Sleeping Beauty Inc. was the most ridiculous thing Ornette could think of. He thought his freedoms were being removed (she bet he had never been refused reasonable pay and resorted to selling himself in a form of legalized slavery). He thought doing business in the new age was hard (she bet he¡¯d never had his ass slapped). He thought everyone was out to get him (she bet he¡¯d never been thrown across a room or electrocuted for saying no). Because Ornette couldn¡¯t bang him over the head with her champagne goblet (she actually would have preferred to shatter it and stab him with the pointy end), she decided to just start agreeing with him as loudly as possible. ¡°And then they started taxing the fuel,¡± Albert complained, his face getting redder. ¡°Can you believe that?¡± she uttered in the most dumbfounded tone. ¡°And then they started limiting how much fuel you could buy,¡± he went on, getting redder still. ¡°No way!¡± ¡°They fine us if we go over the limit,¡± he wheezed. ¡°How dare they!¡± He raised his goblet in Ornette¡¯s face to make his point and then he fell on the floor. He was having a heart attack. Ornette got on the floor with him and yelled for someone to call a doctor. She put her hand to his throat to measure his heartbeats. Her bracelet fell against his neck and he gasped all the harder. There was a doctor in the building who came running. He was the president of a medical supply company and he couldn¡¯t do a thing except shoo helpless Ornette away from Albert and wait for the ambulance like everyone else. It was quite the scandal. The cameras were all over it. When things quieted down, Ornette got back to her place as twelfth in line as they toddled the girls back to their rooms. When she went through the revolving door, Desmond grabbed her again. ¡°You need your bracelet back,¡± he said pleasantly, grabbing her wrist and switching her bracelet for the one Fen had originally put on her. She wanted to question him. She wanted to ask him a million questions, but as soon as the change was complete, she was shoved back into the circle of the revolving door and the little closet Desmond had opened was shut tight. She had to catch up to the other girls. Fen was waiting for her in the dressing room. Apparently, he got to have one more moment with her for him to ensure the dress he designed was packed up properly for cleaning and then for auction. ¡°Thank you for saying all those kind things about me,¡± Ornette said gratefully, ¡°but are you sure it was the right thing to say them?¡± ¡°What are you talking about?¡± he said pleasantly. ¡°You made me sound so wonderful. If you sold those designers and businessmen on me, it might be harder for us to be together later on in the show.¡± He scoffed. ¡°I thought about it too. I think it¡¯s in our best interest if you go as far in the show as you can. I don¡¯t know which way it will go, but I decided I want to play the long game.¡± ¡°What does that mean?¡± she asked, breathless. ¡°It means I want us to be together when your contract is up, no matter what happens on the show,¡± he said with a look of determination on his face. ¡°Are you sure? What if I do badly? Won¡¯t that be an embarrassment to you?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t do badly. Kill them.¡± He kissed her one more time and said goodbye. His last words were still dangling in the air over her head when she lay down to go to sleep that night. He said, ¡®Kill them¡¯, but she didn¡¯t think she could put on a better show than the other models. She couldn¡¯t beat Claudia. The woman looked like gold even if she wore a dishtowel. Chapter Ten Chapter Ten The next morning in the cafeteria, Clandestine sat down across from Ornette without an invitation. ¡°Okay,¡± she said gruffly. ¡°I want to talk. What the hell did you do to Fenrir? Your bracelet won¡¯t let you sleep with him or do him any other ¡®favors¡¯, so what did you do?¡± Ornette rolled her eyes and crossed her ankles under her chair. ¡°I worked with him.¡± ¡°Well, if you¡¯re so good at ¡®working with¡¯ designers and men and all that, then why are you the lowest-paid model here? Was there a scandal that lowered your price? Is something icky going to come out? Spill the tea.¡± Ornette wrinkled her nose. There was, but there was no need for Ornette to tattle on herself. Just because she had been forthright with Clandestine once did not mean she was always obligated to be an open book. She swallowed and said clearly, ¡°I don¡¯t think there¡¯s anything special in my file that every one of us is not guilty of. It would be in poor taste for you to throw rocks when you live in a glass house yourself.¡± ¡°Okay, fine,¡± Clandestine fumed. ¡°Let¡¯s say you didn¡¯t do anything against the rules with Fenrir. What did you do?¡± Ornette leaned in to make her point extra clear. ¡°I worked with him and he was very nice to work with.¡± ¡°I saw him kissing you,¡± Clandestine shot back. ¡°He¡¯s a good kisser,¡± Ornette snapped. ¡°Besides he was allowed to kiss me. He did it like a hundred times and no one got snarly with him.¡± Clandestine sat back in her chair like she¡¯d figured it out. ¡°I didn¡¯t know the guys could kiss us. Did any of you know?¡± she asked the room at large. No one said they knew kissing was allowed ¡°So, none of you got kissed by your designer?¡± Ornette asked the room. There was a dull silence that seemed to indicate no. If anyone knew anything more, they kept it to themselves. ¡°Still,¡± Clandestine said, tapping her manicured nails against the table. ¡°It seems weird that you would have been able to control him so completely with only a few dozen kisses. Did you excrete drugs from under your tongue?¡± Ornette laughed. ¡°I wish.¡± ¡°Well,¡± Clandestine said, getting up and kicking her chair back into position. ¡°We¡¯ll see how things go in the next round. Do you know anything about the guy you got?¡± Ornette made herself look bored. ¡°I know I got a guy who sells sporting equipment and owns gyms. I¡¯m about as sporty as a set of gym clothes left in the closet. At first glance, it¡¯s not a good match.¡± Clandestine leaned forward and rested her elbows on the table and said saucily. ¡°But you¡¯ll make it a good match, won¡¯t you?¡± ¡°Wouldn¡¯t you?¡± Ornette said back. ¡°I¡¯m not going to be a brat and ruin this show. Are you?¡± Clandestine straightened. ¡°I guess not.¡± ¡°Who did you get?¡± Ornette wanted to know. ¡°Oh, I got someone good. I got the president of a jewelry chain. It¡¯s going to be excellent.¡± ¡°Yup. Enjoy trying on diamonds and rubies. I¡¯ll be somewhere sweating to a song that should have been taken off the radio thirty years ago.¡± ¡°Well, you would know. You were around to hear it.¡± Ornette laughed. Ribbing her about her age was hilarious. She was not ashamed of her age. ¡°That¡¯s a good one. Try to think of a few more zingers like that while you¡¯re at the jewelry store.¡± Ornette got up, threw out her trash, and went to get herself cleaned up. Once again, she had to look fabulous before she met the loser man she had to impress. He wasn''t a designer. He didn''t need a blank canvas. *** Two hours later, Ornette was back in the helocarrier with Tania, Jane, and Yilin. ¡°Who was that guy who collapsed at your feet?¡± Tania asked Ornette, excited for gossip and bored when there was no one to talk to. ¡°Albert¡­ something,¡± Ornette answered lazily. ¡°You don¡¯t even know who he was?¡± Jane snarled, her lips twisting on a warped smile. Ornette sighed. ¡°Of course not. The only thing I knew about him was that he kept talking and he wouldn¡¯t let me leave.¡± ¡°Was he gross?¡± Tania persisted. ¡°Yeah. He was a little gross,¡± Ornette agreed. ¡°Not majorly, but a little. He was the kind of guy you wouldn¡¯t want as a master. You¡¯d have woken up in your cryochamber with his blubbery lips all over your face and you¡¯d be a little too groggy to make a fuss. Then you¡¯d spend the next eighteen months to two years listening to him whining about how each and every one of his actions had a consequence and how tired he was of not winning at everything he tried to do. He¡¯d get you to wear the lowest cut dress in the boutique every single time and he¡¯d hover over your chest so persistently that he¡¯d keep dropping his crumbs between your cleavage.¡±This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work. ¡°Not all of us have that problem,¡± Jane smirked. ¡°You didn¡¯t have a master like that?¡± ¡°Of course, I did,¡± Jane sighed noisily. ¡°I¡¯ve had plenty of masters like that. Good-looking men with good manners don¡¯t have to pay their arm candy.¡± ¡°But¡­¡± Ornette stressed. ¡°That sort of guy wasn¡¯t the worst kind of master I¡¯ve had. You know, if I understood anything about Albert from our conversation last night, I didn¡¯t like him. I¡¯m glad he didn¡¯t get me for this week¡¯s activities, but I don¡¯t know that I got anyone better. Have any of you heard of the businessman you¡¯re set up with?¡± Tania picked at her nails and said no. Jane whacked the back of her head against the wall of the helocarrier and said no. Yilin nodded. ¡°I¡¯ve heard of him.¡± ¡°Who did you get again?¡± Tania asked. ¡°Chip Bickman,¡± she replied. Ornette hadn¡¯t heard of him, but Jane knew all about him. ¡°He bought me six years ago. He¡¯s fine. It seems like you had a rotten designer last week. This week will be better. He never hit me. He only shocked me a handful of times and only because his friends were watching and they wanted to see what happened to a model when her owner shocked her. He was less traumatizing than a lot of other owners I¡¯ve had. He¡¯s in the shoe business. You¡¯ll have fun if you get to model shoes. He makes really good shoes.¡± Ornette let her jaw drop in envious surprise and then she slapped Yilin on the knee in a playful way. ¡°Lucky! I¡¯m going to go work out for a week when I¡¯d rather starve myself than do a million sit-ups to stay slim. I¡¯d love to try on shoes.¡± Yilin looked a little happier at that moment than she¡¯d ever looked before. She was able to chat a little more with the other models before Tania and Jane were dropped off. When she and Ornette were alone, she told her how much she liked Ornette¡¯s dress at the show the night before and how fortunate she was to have the opportunity. Things were very cozy by the time Yilin was dropped off. Once she was gone, Ornette cast her eyes to the front of the helocarrier. No Desmond that day. There was only one pilot. That had been the case most days when she was dropped off at Fen¡¯s. She leaned back in her chair and waited to land. It turned out that she wasn¡¯t being dropped off at Joel¡¯s headquarters. Instead, she was dropped off at a gym where she was met by one of his assistants and rushed to do a full slate of workout classes for the day. She started with a spin class, then was moved to a yoga class, then to a water class where she had to run in place underwater, then she was taken to a cafeteria where they fed her a salad the size of a dog house. It was under her calorie count, so even though it tasted like nothing, she ate the whole thing. Then she was taken to a completely different wing of the building where she worked with a trainer who knew she didn¡¯t work out and that every single one of her muscles was screaming from the morning classes, but who did not let up. By the time she met Joel at the end of the day, she was pathetic and weak. ¡°You¡¯re not in great shape,¡± he said, coming up behind her. Joel would have killed for Fen¡¯s body type. Even though the man had clearly worked like a slave in the gym to try to improve his body, he would never look like Fen. Fen¡¯s charms were genetic. Joel¡¯s were hard-earned. ¡°I admire your dedication,¡± Ornette said, trying to get to her feet to welcome him properly, but he waved her down. He had a nice face, and he was young, younger than Fen, and therefore much younger than Ornette. ¡°I know I have no business being here,¡± she admitted with a rasp in her throat. ¡°I suppose you saw footage of me working out and how depressing it was. I¡¯m sorry. I tried my best, but I wasn¡¯t sold as a fitness instructor. I designed clothes.¡± ¡°I¡¯d send you to the design floor of my office building, but that¡¯s not the purpose of our week together. I¡¯m supposed to figure out how you could sell my product and then let you be in an ad campaign. Then we are to show the ad at the end of the week. You spent the day seeing what we do. Did any of it appeal to you at all?¡± ¡°The yoga was best,¡± she volunteered. ¡°I know it¡¯s not a great match, but I¡¯m flexible and I would like to sell yoga mats and yoga classes.¡± Joel frowned. ¡°We don¡¯t really need that. Yoga sells itself. I¡¯d rather we didn¡¯t waste our time coming up with an ad campaign that doesn¡¯t support one of our struggling sectors.¡± Ornette wanted to grouse at him, ¡®Then why did you let me choose anything? Why didn¡¯t you just ask me to choose from the list of departments that weren¡¯t banking?¡¯ She refrained from saying anything. The thing was, it had been a miracle that Fen had fallen in love with her. Joel was not going to follow suit. It seemed like such a thing was repugnant to him. He wanted to keep her at arm¡¯s length and make sure he didn¡¯t get emotionally involved. He wanted the benefit of her to go to his company, not to himself. ¡°What are the struggling sectors?¡± she asked sensibly instead. Before he could talk, she put up her hand. ¡°I bet I know something I could help you with.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°I bet women don¡¯t feel safe at the gym and I bet I could help with a campaign that would help them feel safer.¡± Joel scoffed. ¡°That is asking too much from anyone. No one can make ladies feel safer at the gym. The only solution is to have a ¡®women only¡¯ gym, but men hate that. They want the ladies to see them because they want to impress them.¡± ¡°You¡¯re thinking too hard about this,¡± Ornette said from her creaky position on the couch. The couch didn¡¯t creak, her bones did. ¡°What I¡¯m suggesting is that I spend a week going to your gym and from that experience, I write a statement that says that I wasn¡¯t bothered by any men while I was working out and it was amazing. At the end of the week, we can film a little commercial with me in one of your gyms where I say what I wrote. You don¡¯t have to change anything about the way you run your business on short notice. You don¡¯t have to promise some crazy thing your company can¡¯t provide because men are men and women are women and they¡¯re still your customers. What do you say?¡± Joel looked at her critically for a moment and then his face softened. ¡°Actually, I¡¯d say that¡¯s not a bad idea. You are a smaller woman, so your testimonial might be more meaningful to the more petite women. Can we start out with you saying your height and weight? The camera won¡¯t show how tiny you are.¡± ¡°Anything you want,¡± she replied, wheezing into her water bottle. ¡°Then I¡¯ll fine-tune your plan tonight and you can come to the gym tomorrow to work out,¡± Joel said, the cadence of his voice was kind. ¡°For now, you look bushed. It¡¯s early, but I¡¯ll call your transport back so you can rest a bit before dinner.¡± ¡°That¡¯s very kind of you,¡± Ornette said, smiling at the corners of her slightly blood-shot eyes. His expression was unreadable. He took a step back, paused to say something, refrained from saying what was on his mind, nodded his goodbye to her, and disappeared out the glass door he had come in by. Chapter Eleven Chapter Eleven The next day, Ornette was met at the gym by a company stylist who fixed her up with five outfits to wear at the gym. The last set of exercise clothes was the one she would wear for the commercial. Then she met with an assistant who gave her a list of the places in the gym where a woman was likely to be harassed. The dumbbells. The juice stand. The treadmills. The cafeteria. The spin room. The pool. The entrances into the changerooms. Ornette was to spend an hour at each location for five days. Occasionally, she¡¯d see someone with a camera filming her. She was introduced to the photographer and told to expect him because he wasn¡¯t harassing her. He was doing his job. Ornette was bored going through the routine. She was painfully bored. She moved slowly as she did the sets on the weights the sheets recommended. Other people at the gym saw her and from what she was doing, how often she was looking at her sheets, and the bored look on her face, they knew she didn¡¯t really belong. On the first day, a few women came up to ask her if she needed help. She smiled and said no. Which was a shame. She was really bored and she would have loved to talk to someone, but she worried it would ruin the experiment, so she refrained. She sat in the cafeteria and read literature published by the gym to stop her time there from being utterly pointless. At the very least, she¡¯d be able to answer five hundred questions about Joel and his gym. On day three, she was approached by a man who had all the muscles on top and not enough on the bottom. Ornette scoffed. Even she knew about leg day. He came up to her at the juice stand and sat on the bar stool next to her. ¡°I¡¯ve been watching you. You don¡¯t seem to know the ropes. I was hoping I could help.¡± ¡°What¡¯s your name?¡± Ornette asked, spotting her photographer buddy over the guy¡¯s shoulder. ¡°Bruce. What¡¯s yours?¡± ¡°Ornette.¡± He laughed into his overly large beard. ¡°I¡¯ve never heard that name before.¡± ¡°Yeah?¡± she said, flapping her company magazine closed and giving him all her attention. ¡°You don¡¯t seem like you want to work out. What are you doing here?¡± he asked, his eyes mostly hidden by a pair of mirrored sunglasses. ¡°I¡¯m hiding out,¡± she said drolly, taking her juice off the table and sucking the straw. ¡°You¡¯re right. I don¡¯t really care about working out, so I don¡¯t need any help to make it better.¡± ¡°But if you¡¯re going to be here anyway, why not let me make it fun?¡± he suggested. ¡°I¡¯m not available,¡± Ornette volunteered. ¡°If your offer to help me work out has anything to do with a date or something romantic in the possible future, I have to tell you I¡¯m not available. I¡¯m the least available woman you¡¯ll ever meet.¡± ¡°Where¡¯s your ring if you¡¯re married?¡± he asked. ¡°I¡¯m not married. I didn¡¯t say I was. I said I was unavailable.¡± She gave him a screw-off look before drinking from her straw again. ¡°I¡¯m the most unavailable woman on Venus.¡± ¡°Can¡¯t we be friends?¡± he offered, trying with all his heart not to sound like a sexual predator because she was staring him down like he was one. Ornette needed to keep her experiment clean, so she said the only thing she had left. ¡°Bruce,¡± she said, leaning forward. ¡°Before you came over to talk to me, we had a beautiful relationship. You watched me, I knew you were watching me because you¡¯re not the only man watching me in this gym, and I didn¡¯t mind. You could look at me and that was fine. But now that you¡¯ve come over and said hello, that great relationship we had has come to an end. Please don¡¯t mind me. I have a whole host of problems you don¡¯t need right now. You should walk away from me and if you ever see me again, please smile and wave. I¡¯ll do the same, but then it¡¯s time to move on. Do you get my drift?¡±The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. He nodded and stepped away. Then he smiled and waved. Ornette did the same. When he was gone, Ornette started to get worried she hadn¡¯t scared him off by herself. She needed to scare him off by herself. Had he seen the cameraman or had he seen Desmond? She had kind of expected Desmond to pop up somewhere soon since she¡¯d seen him a couple times during the previous week with Fen. She really liked the clothes the fitness stylist at the gym had given her and she wouldn¡¯t have minded Desmond seeing her in them, but he was nowhere around. For the rest of her week, she kept looking over her shoulder and every time she saw a man with white hair, she craned her neck to see if it was him. It never was. The whole thing was like looking for your missing cat. Every cat looked like yours until he turned around. It was like a cruel joke the Cheshire Cat did not mean to play on a little blonde girl. Ornette was kind of mad at herself for that. She was breaking her own rules by not forgetting him every single time she saw him. After all, she had already forgotten all about Bruce. *** On the last day Ornette was working out, Joel came to join her while she was doing laps in the pool. She laughed when she saw him coming and pulled herself up to the edge of the pool. ¡°You know,¡± she said playfully. ¡°I¡¯m not supposed to be attracting men and if I¡¯m not supposed to be bothered by any men, you coming to see me is a little iffy.¡± ¡°Yeah,¡± he agreed, ¡°but if I don¡¯t spend a little time with you, I can¡¯t report on what you were like to work with. So, I¡¯m here.¡± He pulled his shirt over his head in a practiced motion and tore away his track pants, revealing very posh swimwear. He sat on the edge of the pool with his calves dangling in the water. Actually, from a physical perspective, he was Ornette¡¯s type far more than Fen had been. Though Joel had muscles to spare, he had a slighter skeleton, and he didn¡¯t look like his hobby was chucking women against walls. ¡°Do you rock climb?¡± she asked, thinking that his skeleton looked as light as a bird¡¯s. ¡°Yeah.¡± She nodded. ¡°Your body looks like you do.¡± He looked down at his chest, pleased at his accomplishment. ¡°And what did you do while you were working out?¡± ¡°I did the things on the list your assistant gave me,¡± she replied while she waited for him to lower himself into the water. ¡°Only those things?¡± Ornette nodded. ¡°Of course, I did the things your assistant told me to do. Exactly.¡± ¡°Did you get to take a yoga class then?¡± He was concerned. His eyebrows were pulled together. ¡°No. Women are not usually harassed during a yoga class. I was in high-risk areas all week.¡± He pushed the water out of his way in a futile effort as he walked closer to her swim lane, so they could talk without raising their voices. ¡°What happened? Were you harassed?¡± ¡°Well, I wasn¡¯t harassed, but multiple men spoke to me.¡± Joel looked alarmed. Ornette rushed to defuse him. ¡°Please relax. Nothing happened. I wouldn¡¯t be able to hold my head up as a Sleeping Beauty Inc. model if I didn¡¯t get approached in public. I have to be pretty enough to be worth approaching, but I also can''t let random men take advantage of me. I can take care of myself.¡± ¡°Hmm¡­¡± he said, regarding her carefully. ¡°Why is one of your hands a different color than the other?¡± he suddenly asked. ¡°Uh!¡± Ornette dropped her hand into the water. ¡°Sorry. You weren¡¯t meant to see that. Normally, I wear makeup to cover it but it comes off in the pool and if your boy films me, I need to have my hands as close to the same color as possible. I can¡¯t remove the makeup. I have to add more.¡± ¡°So your hand is much darker than what I saw?¡± Joel asked, turning his attention to the ceiling instead of at her. Ornette didn¡¯t answer. She didn¡¯t need to. Surely, he understood what it meant for a Sleeping Beauty Inc. model to have a blackened hand. She was about to suggest that they do some laps when he asked another question. ¡°Did you have an unreasonable boss or is that par for the course?¡± ¡°Unreasonable bosses are par for the course when you work for Sleeping Beauty Inc.,¡± she replied softly. ¡°Then why do you do it?¡± he asked, his gaze personal and in her face. ¡°I haven¡¯t had great opportunities,¡± she confided. ¡°Until now?¡± he challenged. Ornette looked every which way. She wanted to lie. She wanted to fudge it over. She wanted to do laps, but her body was aching from all the sudden exercise of the past five days. She would rather do that lap and feel the pain that was squeezed out of her muscles at every stroke, but if she evaded him, he wouldn¡¯t like it. For all intents and purposes, he was her master and her masters did not usually ask her those kinds of questions. She got a little closer to Joel in the pool and whispered, ¡°I didn¡¯t sign up for this. You know that. You saw the footage of us waking up in the cryochambers and the big surprise they had for us. I was surprised. I¡¯m still surprised, but even though the format for this gig is different from my other jobs, I don¡¯t know that it will actually be different in the end.¡± Joel nodded as if he understood, but Ornette knew he didn¡¯t. He lived in a different world than her. He had opportunities and probably money to begin with. ¡°Shall we do a few laps?¡± Ornette asked lightly, hoping to brighten the mood. ¡°I want to ask you more questions,¡± he said, stopping her from swimming away with his voice. ¡°I¡¯m going to take you to dinner tonight.¡± Ornette nodded. She couldn¡¯t refuse. Chapter Twelve Chapter Twelve Ornette got out of the pool and had a shower. The facilities at the pool were magnificent and she had a private shower stall with a pebble floor. By the time she¡¯d dried off and styled her hair, one of Joel¡¯s assistants was knocking on her door and passing her a dress. It was in a big flat box and Ornette placed her bet as to what kind of a dress it would be based on what kind of a man Joel was. ¡°I think,¡± she said out loud. ¡°That this is a red dress. It has spaghetti straps. It¡¯s backless and has a million crisscrossing straps in the back. It¡¯s ankle-length, but it has a slit that goes up to mid-thigh.¡± Ornette was wrong. It was a black dress with a built-in sports bra with racerback straps and his company logo in white over the right breast. However, she was right about the length and the slit. She pulled it over her head and was immediately in love. It was a really nice dress. Cozy and supportive. He didn¡¯t send shoes, so she put on her black ankle socks and put the athletic shoes they¡¯d given her back on. Looking in the mirror, she looked perfect. She didn¡¯t need high heels to go with the dress. As a matter of fact, high heels would have looked stupid. She did her makeup and took care to apply the makeup on her hand correctly. When she was ready, she shook her hair out and went out to meet Joel. ¡°I get you until midnight,¡± he informed her pleasantly as he took her up the elevator to the helocarrier pad. As they went up in the elevator, Ornette was a little too excited. Even though she was a Sleeping Beauty Inc. model, she was rarely wined and dined. She wasn¡¯t sure that the dining experience would be what you would expect from going on a date with a super-rich man. The dress hadn¡¯t been what she expected. She turned to Joel and gushed, ¡°Thank you so much. I love this dress.¡± ¡°You do?¡± he asked, a playful smile on his face. ¡°What do you love about it?¡± ¡°Where to begin?¡± she beamed. ¡°The bra inside is a miracle. Do you know what¡¯s difficult about wearing racerback straps? The bra under it. To look super classy, the bra and the dress have to work together in perfect harmony. The bra straps cannot be seen, but the bra needs to give adequate support. This dress cuts out the need for the bra entirely. I¡¯ve only got panties under it. And the style? I can wear these comfortable sports shoes instead of some ridiculously high heels that don¡¯t distribute my weight properly. By the end of the night, I¡¯d be rubbing my feet and crying, but in this outfit? No such thing. I love it. It¡¯s magical.¡± Joel moved to kiss her and stopped himself at the last second. Of course, Ornette did nothing to stop him from kissing her. If he wanted to, he could as far as she was concerned, but he stopped himself. As a model and a slave, it was out of the question for her to kiss him first. ¡°Sorry,¡± he said, catching his wits about him. ¡°I¡­ uh¡­¡± He had placed a hand on his mouth and he took a step away from her in the elevator. Ornette was not embarrassed just because he was. ¡°Don¡¯t give it a second thought,¡± she said, still beaming. ¡°I got carried away, but I really want to ask you something. When this is all over, do I get to keep the dress? The shoes? Any of it?¡± ¡°I have to provide the show with an outfit you wore during your time with us for them to auction off, along with a swag bag, but I can let you choose which thing you want to auction off. You can keep the rest with my compliments,¡± he said, waving away her request. To him, a week¡¯s worth of fitness wear was at the very bottom of his list of concerns. ¡°Thank you. That¡¯s very exciting.¡± She smiled, warmth on her cheeks. When the elevator finished, Joel led her onto the helocarrier pad. There was no pilot and no crew. The bright sunlight on Venus made everything golden in the late afternoon, making the whole world black and gold.You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. Ornette put out a hand and caught Joel by the elbow. ¡°Are you going to fly us?¡± He nodded. Ornette was very impressed as he got her seated and took the pilot controls. She wasn''t sure if he was the kind of rich who did things themselves or paid someone else to do them for him. Within a few minutes, he had them up in the air and across to the other side of their bubble to the restaurant he¡¯d chosen for the evening. They had a rooftop view. He poured her a bubbling drink and admired the way the sunlight touched her bare shoulders. ¡°Would you have minded if I did kiss you?¡± he asked. She scrunched her nose. ¡°I worry I would have disappointed you if you had kissed me.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°I¡¯m a Sleeping Beauty Inc. model. I¡¯ve been kissed a lot,¡± she put her gaze in the corner over his head. ¡°And every kiss is beautiful and different from the last, but you deserve better.¡± ¡°The women I date are greedy, but in a different way from you,¡± he said, taking a sip of his drink. ¡°They¡¯re not greedy for a couple hundred dollars worth of sportswear. They want to use me to take everything I have. It¡¯s not good to be left penniless on Venus.¡± Ornette nodded, understanding completely. ¡°No. It isn¡¯t.¡± People who didn¡¯t have money to pay the taxes to keep the city floating were deported¡­ Immediately. If you missed one payment, you were captured and shipped to Cerise to work mining asteroids. If you thought for one minute that you couldn¡¯t make your payment, you had to get yourself off-world later that day. That way you could go somewhere else: to Earth, to the Moon, the moons of Jupiter, and even Mars might be easier to work with than Cerise. A lot of people never earned enough money to get off Cerise. ¡°Do men like you lose all their money in divorce settlements?¡± she asked conversationally. ¡°The marriage laws are harsh. One supposed violation and a man¡¯s wife could take half his company, half his property, and more. What¡¯s worse is that the women insist on prenuptial agreements that go beyond the law. They want to take everything if one thing goes wrong. The greed is overwhelming. I¡¯ve often wondered if it might be better to simply buy a companion than bother with marriage.¡± Ornette looked at him across the table. He suddenly became a different man to her. She thought he was one thing, but he was actually the same as all the other men who had hired her. In a way, it comforted her. In another way, it discouraged her. Had she been hoping to marry her owner someday? Not Joel, but one of them? The half of her brain that usually remained silent exploded, screaming, ¡®Stupid! Stupid! Stupid. They never marry the women they hire. Everyone just thinks that it¡¯s a possibility because Harrison Fox married Paige Waters. That was a once-in-a-lifetime happenstance! It will never happen again! And It will never happen to you!¡¯ Ornette smiled and said, ¡°Well, if you want to ask me any questions about Sleeping Beauty Inc. or the way the agreements go, I¡¯d be happy to give you all the information you desire.¡± ¡°I was thinking that I¡¯d like to buy you when your current contract expires. That is... if I lose the auction for you.¡± He smirked the last part of his sentence. He clearly did not think he would lose the auction. ¡°You can certainly put in a bid,¡± she said with a smile, tipping her glass at him. As far as she knew, she had never had a bidding war over her. She had merely had men who bought her from the showroom or worse¡­ online. Ornette spent the rest of the dinner telling Joel everything wonderful she could think of to say about her experience working out at his gym for the week. She showed him the barely bulging muscles in her arms and told him that it was all thanks to him. When he dropped her back at the dorms attached to the studio, she was quite done with Joel, but since she couldn¡¯t communicate that to him, he just kept getting warmer and warmer, enjoying her more and more. He kissed her in front of the glass doors of the dorms and Ornette had to offer him her compliments. He was a good kisser, even if she found the romantic philosophies that came out of his mouth a little gross. When she came tripping through the glittering studio doors, she saw Desmond standing by the front desk. He was wearing a three-piece suit like he had just come from an important dinner himself. His eyes were on her. He had clearly seen the kiss and clearly had a collection of thoughts on the subject that were merely an extension of what he had told her when he confronted her about making out with Fen. ¡°Nice date?¡± he asked sourly. She had already put Joel out of her mind, so she was free to give all her attention to Desmond, who looked very nice in his vest with the coat of his suit all the way open. He had a way of leaning against the high front desk that made his hips look very, very nice. ¡°There¡¯s no need to be jealous. I¡¯m all yours if you want me,¡± she said saucily, but maybe she had accidentally sipped too much champagne when she meant to spit it out. The Coordinator stepped forward and put himself in between Desmond and Ornette. ¡°You¡¯re back right on time,¡± he praised as he checked Ornette in at the front desk and then escorted her to her room. As they left the lobby, Ornette glanced over her shoulder and she saw a particularly dangerous look on Desmond¡¯s features. Maybe it had to do with her. Maybe it didn¡¯t. All the same, a corner of Ornette¡¯s mouth went up. He was adorable when he didn¡¯t get what he wanted. Chapter Thirteen Chapter Thirteen Backstage before the show, Ornette was at her assigned dressing table, except this time she was with Joel instead of Fen. He wasn¡¯t dressing her, but he was showing her the two different cuts they¡¯d made of the commercial. They¡¯d already chosen which one they were going to present, but he was showing her both all the same. He¡¯d brought her a dress, though it was clearly not one he¡¯d chosen or even thought about. It was made from the same pattern as the dress he¡¯d given her for their date, but the new one was covered in rhinestones. Ornette loved it and was not shy about how much she loved it when he informed her that the executives had already told him that the rhinestone dress was the one they were going to auction off and, no matter what, she didn¡¯t get to keep it. Ornette was not disappointed. She suspected as much when she opened the box containing it. But something interesting happened. When Joel was showing her the commercials, a piece of news popped up on the screen. He stood up straight and stopped the commercial to read the news bite. ¡°Huh?¡± he said, as he held the hologram over her head. ¡°You know that guy who had a heart attack in your arms last week?¡± ¡°Albert?¡± she recalled sweetly. ¡°Of course, I remember him. Was the news about him? Is he alright?¡± ¡°Uh, he lived,¡± Joel said absently. ¡°He¡¯s going to be okay, but he¡¯s got a different problem now. His heart is the least of his worries. He was the CEO of a helium trading company and he had a clause as part of his contract that if he had another heart attack, he¡¯d be replaced. Apparently, the board of directors suspected that he had minor ones that he¡¯d been covering up, but when he had one in front of all those cameras when he was talking to you, he couldn¡¯t hide it anymore.¡± Ornette stood up next to Joel and looked at the hologram news story. ¡°He was fired?¡± Joel took a long breath in. ¡°Yeah. I guess you could call it that.¡± ¡°That¡¯s so shocking!¡± Ornette exclaimed, but she didn¡¯t mean that it was shocking that Albert had had a heart attack, or that it was shocking that he¡¯d been fired. What was shocking was that Desmond had met her in the revolving door, changed her bracelet, and sent her out. Then she¡¯d been stuck in a conversation with him that placed her bracelet so close to him. It has been against his chest, close to his heart. Did Albert have a pacemaker? Did her bracelet do something to disrupt the function? She was very shocked. Lucky for her, to Joel, it just looked like she was the hooker with a heart of gold, and he seemed to admire her all the more for her worry. He put his arm around her and comforted her while she read the news story on his wrist hologram. Her eyes raced over the words of the article, but she didn¡¯t find any mention of a pacemaker. ¡°He¡¯ll be out of the game now,¡± Joel said, flipping the screen on his hologram to go back to showing her the commercial. ¡°Will you be okay?¡± ¡°Absolutely. I¡¯m kind of a flutter brain,¡± she reassured him as she fluffed her hair. ¡°I can¡¯t think straight when I¡¯m wearing a dress this pretty.¡± ¡°Do you really think it¡¯s pretty after what Fen had on you last week?¡± Joel asked, sounding a little grouchy. Ornette did not have a lot of practice defusing that kind of jealousy. ¡°Did something happen since our date?¡± she asked, giving him a coy little look. ¡°No,¡± he said, clicking his tongue and realizing that he needed to act like a grownup. When Ornette went through the revolving doors to the waiting area behind the curtain, Desmond did not pop out of nowhere when she went through the revolving door. Instead, she was on time, she was in her place. She stood behind the velvet curtain with Tania, Jane, and Yilin. They watched all the contestants¡¯ advertisements together. Ornette had been the front-runner the week before, but in her estimation from her place behind the curtain, she would only place in the mid-ranks on the second week. It wasn¡¯t like it mattered much. No one was being eliminated that week either. They wanted both the designers and the businessmen to each have a no-pressure week. Besides, being eliminated probably wouldn¡¯t be that bad. They were just going to be auctioned off¡­ to a designer¡­ or a businessman. Neither of those things sounded very appealing, but work was work. Besides, that was what normally happened when Sleeping Beauty Inc. models were sold off. No matter what, everything that was happening was work. That was what she reminded herself when she went out in her sequined dress and stood with Joel while he told all of them about her performance and showed them the commercial they¡¯d made together. ¡°Ornette is not a gym rat,¡± Joel explained, sounding perfectly reasonable. ¡°I¡¯m not sure if she had ever attended a gym before. On the first day we met, she told me that women her size weren¡¯t comfortable going to a gym because they were worried about how they would be looked at and treated by the men who went there all the time.¡± Ornette smiled and linked her arm with his in a way that would have been completely impossible the week before with Fen. She absolutely could not have her clothes mussed that day, but the sequined dress was hardy and her arms were bare, so she clung to him with a little less tenacity than a baby chimp. The lights were too bright to see anyone in the audience, but the stakes were rising. She could feel them getting taller as she was scrutinized by Fen, Crois, Desmond, and Varner. Varner was the most obvious of the four. His eyes were dark and intense, but that was also because he was at the table at the bottom of the stage and the lights were positioned so that she could see him. But why? When Papa Bear, Varner, singled her out and drew a target on her back in the introduction segment, he had hoped to create more drama than he had. Her telling everyone how much she made had cooled any aggression that had been directed toward her. Naturally, the aggression had gone back up after she had her show with Fen and the other models had figured out that she really was a force to be reckoned with. They tried harder with their commercials than they had with their runway shows¡­ Or maybe her superiority had everything to do with Fen and very little to do with her personally. She was not in command of who she got to work with. Joel continued explaining how charming she was and how easy she was to work with while she gushed and returned his compliments, saying gooey lovely things she made up, but crossing her heart and hoping to die that they were all true. Joel kissed her hand before she was led to join the other models who had already had their commercials shown. Then he joined the businessmen who had worked with the women in the previous week. Then Varner got up. He stood in his fabulous tuxedo that would have made normal women salivate but had no effect on Ornette. She didn¡¯t think it had any effect on the other contestants either. They all knew that there were hard limits to how much they could expect from an owner. The system of Sleeping Beauty Inc. was to prevent the models from taking an equal share in a business relationship or a romantic relationship. It didn¡¯t matter to the contestants what he looked like, he was just like any other owner who had his reasons why it was better for him to hire a woman than to find an equitable relationship elsewhere. ¡°For our first elimination round, our designers and our models will be creating a line of three pieces of jewelry. They can choose between creating a necklace, earrings, a tiara, a bracelet, a ring, an anklet, a belly chain, or any other ring someone can put in a hole. I¡¯m thinking of you, Silvania,¡± he said, calling out to her. ¡°I know you have your eyebrow pierced.¡±This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. She gushed like it was a rare piece of trivia and maybe it was, but as soon as he had finished looking at her, he started looking at Ornette. Actually, anytime he didn¡¯t need to be looking somewhere else, he was looking at Ornette. He moved from looking at the camera to looking at her to looking at the businessmen to looking at her. Ornette directed her attention elsewhere. The safest place she saw was the board where all the designer¡¯s names and numbers were displayed. Fen¡¯s name and number were back up. However, there was a mark on the board that indicated he and Ornette were not allowed to be paired up again. The names were drawn and the designer she was paired up with was Mr. Hans Switzer. She knew him. He was a famous watch designer. He was also a hundred years old and as frail as a newspaper printed the day he was born (when they still printed things like newspapers). The man had no weight, only frail white skin covering his bones. The brain encased in his skull was different from the brains of the other men there because he was an old-school watch designer who still used gears and wheels. However, the luck of having been chosen by that designer was completely wasted on Ornette. She had immunity for the first round of elimination. In three seconds, she understood without a doubt that the game was rigged. There was nothing random about the designers or businessmen who were drawn to work with. They had to let Hans do the jewelry round. It would be a disappointment to him and everyone watching if he couldn¡¯t participate that week, but they couldn¡¯t let his superiority give too much of an edge to the contestant he worked with as far as elimination went, so they gave him to Ornette who had earned immunity that week. The episode ended and Ornette went to the after-party where she wanted to seek out Hans and talk to him, but she was swarmed by fitness-related businessmen. There were three of them and that was enough to block all her paths of escape. They talked to her about her experience at Joel¡¯s gym and she was forced to fake enthusiasm, even as she saw Hans make eyes at her from behind his fur collar and his position at the door. He tipped his tophat, took his cane, and disappeared from the celebration without speaking to her. She supposed it didn¡¯t matter. She would see him the next day. There was dancing that night. She had to dance with each of the fitness boys, all of whom gave her the creeps before she found herself standing beside Fen. ¡°You look so cheap in that dress,¡± he said seductively, whispering in her ear. She turned back to him and said lovingly, ¡°I can¡¯t always wear something you design.¡± ¡°Some day you will,¡± he promised. ¡°Are you going to ask me to dance?¡± she asked, looking at how every other contestant was out on the dancefloor and if he didn¡¯t ask her soon, he would lose the chance. ¡°I¡¯m not allowed. I¡¯m not allowed to ask you for another thing until we get matched up again when you¡¯re eliminated and up for auction. I have to make room for the other men who haven¡¯t worked with you.¡± ¡°I see,¡± she said, nodding with understanding and pouting in disappointment. He hadn¡¯t been chosen to work with anyone that week. A few of the other designers had been chosen twice, but not Fen. That was the moment when Desmond appeared at Ornette¡¯s elbow and asked her to dance. Ornette was relieved. She wanted to talk to him and she didn¡¯t know when he¡¯d show up again. He did seem to have unusually clever connections. He extended his white-gloved hand and she took it. It seemed he actually knew how to waltz as he spun her in three/fourth circles. ¡°Did you like the bracelet I wore last week?¡± she asked, trying to sound cute and not at all accusing. There were a million people around them and it wouldn¡¯t be the thing to say something that might get caught on the wrong microphone. All the same, Ornette was suspicious about Albert¡¯s heart attack and if she had had a role in causing it. ¡°Were you wearing a bracelet?¡± Desmond replied in an unconcerned tone. ¡°I can¡¯t remember anything about what you wore last week except that it didn¡¯t show enough of your chest for my taste.¡± He had never talked to her like that before. In a normal work setting, saying something like that was sexual harassment. For a model from Sleeping Beauty Inc., it was par for the course. Anyone was allowed to talk to her like that and the men she was working with on the show had already showered her with similar comments. He was talking like that to fit in with them. Incidentally, it was a hilarious dig. Her dress could not have had a lower neckline. All the same, his evasion confirmed her suspicions. The bracelet had caused Albert¡¯s heart attack. Ornette tried to think of something to ask him. There had to be a way for them to talk about what was going on and his role as a show organizer because he had to be in on the production side of the show. His access behind the curtain, in the helocarrier, and when he met her aboard the Cannonball III all proved he was working with the show¡¯s organizers. The Coordinator had even delivered a sandwich from him. She was thinking about it when he started whispering in her ear as they swayed to the music. ¡°I wanted to tell you that I was sorry.¡± ¡°You¡¯re sorry for what?¡± she breathed into his ear. His lips parted and he was about to tell her when Varner cut in. ¡°Move aside, Dezzy. You¡¯re in the way,¡± Varner said scornfully, standing in front of them like a mountain. Ornette did not want to dance with Varner. There actually wasn¡¯t a man there that she wanted to dance with less than Varner. Regardless of her preference, Desmond took his gloved hands off her and passed her off to Varner without a word. He didn¡¯t even look defiant. Papa Bear¡¯s hand was hot and meaty as he took Ornette in his arms. He looked in her eyes and led her around the floor in a way that she would have expected to be more clumsy, but was highly polished as they got the attention of two main cameras. ¡°Did you have a good time at the gym last week?¡± he asked pleasantly. ¡°It was such a pleasant surprise,¡± she gushed like a fountain of lies. She hadn¡¯t had a fun time at the gym. She had a passable time at the gym. If that was her life, she was sure she could find even more things that she liked about being there. For instance, it would have been more fun if she¡¯d made a friend. As things were, it hadn¡¯t been hell on earth and that was enough for Ornette. ¡°So, tell me,¡± she said, taking the opportunity to ask him a question. ¡°I¡¯m not sure I understand how you and the other bears can participate in the bidding. Could you explain it to me?¡± ¡°I can remove a model from the bidding and take her for myself,¡± he said, his tone lined in his satisfaction with his own magnificence. ¡°Why?¡± she asked in a little-girl voice. ¡°Because me and my brother bears organized all this fun.¡± ¡°Are you my owner?¡± ¡°I may as well be. I''m running all this. The game says that me and my boys can each take a model for ourselves, except if there¡¯s a disagreement, I get who I want because I put the most amount of money into this business venture.¡± Ornette should have expected that. ¡°What happens if you don¡¯t like any of the models when it actually comes down to bidding?¡± She asked it with the most innocent expression on her face like she was afraid something like that would happen, and it would be such a shame if he wasn¡¯t entertained by his own game. He paused. Ornette stopped breathing. It was exactly the same look Fen had on his face right before he kissed her. Joel had a similar moment in the elevator. He didn¡¯t kiss her then, but he warmed up to it over the course of their dinner date and then he kissed her in front of the hotel when he dropped her off. She knew what caused it in Varner¡¯s case. It was that she seemed more worried about him and his interests than she was for herself. She did not ask Varner what would happen to her if no one bid on her. That was the most natural question for most people. It was, ¡®What will happen to me?¡¯ Not, ¡®What will happen to you?¡¯ Eventually, Varner clicked his tongue. ¡°There¡¯s no need to worry about that. I chose you.¡± ¡°You chose me?¡± she cooed in delight. In truth, she was not delighted. She was relieved she wasn¡¯t left in cryostasis and that she had a job, but she was not delighted. She only pretended joy. She didn¡¯t experience it. He nodded, but the way he nodded was odd. He was lying. She knew immediately. He had not chosen her. He had been involved in the selection process, but she had not been a special favorite of his. He was using her to make his contest more exciting. At the base, he and his friends had organized the competition, but perhaps they had not funded it as completely as he suggested. He was trying to make himself sound richer than he was. So, he got to choose which model he wanted disregarding any other concern. He looked like a hero because he was allowing all the money the designers and the businessmen bidded on the girls to go to charity. What about the money earned from the ratings? She bet he¡¯d make a killing on it. They continued dancing and he didn¡¯t say a single thing that indicated he was even a little bit worried about what would happen to her. Chapter Fourteen Chapter Fourteen The next day, Ornette was in the cafeteria grateful that she had spat out every drop of alcohol that had been handed to her at the party. Quite a few of the other contestants were nursing hangovers. Ornette peeled her banana and knew exactly why the other girls drank. They didn¡¯t care if they were eliminated at the end of the first episode. That was especially true for the group of four contestants in the middle group. That was Mikayla, Ivanka, Starling, and Summer. They all sat at the same table. ¡°Did you ladies have a drinking contest last night?¡± Tania asked them caustically as she walked by. Mikayla stood up with a bob of her dark hair. ¡°Hi. I¡¯m Mikayla Harvardson and I¡¯m an alcoholic. I fell off the wagon last night.¡± Starling, the woman who belonged to the church of Voynich, kicked the back of her knees in. ¡°Shut up. You¡¯re not at an AA meeting. You¡¯re here with us on the Goldilocks Zone and you hardly fell off the wagon. You only weigh 80 pounds and so every single drink you have knocks you into the gutter. Look at Ivanka. She¡¯s made of meat, so she can handle her drink.¡± ¡°Please don¡¯t talk to me like that,¡± Ivanka said from behind her dark glasses. ¡°I have a normal body. It¡¯s the rest of you that are freaks. You¡¯ve all been butchered by plastic surgeons¡­ Except her.¡± She pointed at Ornette. ¡°And why hasn¡¯t she been butchered by a plastic surgeon?¡± Summer wanted to know. She was the model who looked like the human equivalent of a ripe peach. ¡°If she was getting stuff fixed, she would have got her hand fixed, instead of dousing it in makeup and risking getting foundation all over the place. Isn¡¯t that right?¡± Ivanka said to Ornette. ¡°It¡¯s true,¡± she agreed loudly. ¡°I haven¡¯t had any work done, but that¡¯s because if I had any money to spare I wouldn¡¯t reinvest it in myself as a Sleeping Beauty Inc. model. Not only that, but soon I¡¯ll be too old to bother with any of this stuff.¡± ¡°You¡¯re old?¡± Mikayla asked, still so hungover that she couldn¡¯t see what was obvious. ¡°Yeah. I¡¯m over 30 in model years and over 40 in real years.¡± ¡°Is that why you¡¯re the cheapest?¡± Mikayla asked. ¡°Because you¡¯re the oldest? So our prices can only go down from here?¡± In her drunken state, she¡¯d hit the nail on the head. Most models didn¡¯t go up in value after they were 30. Most declined slowly until they hit 40 and then declined faster until working as a model was no longer worth it. At that point, if a model had put away enough money, she could retire. If she hadn¡¯t, it was time to get a real job. The real job was waiting for Ornette, but she was happy about it. She was really tired of rich men and what they wanted. If her debts were paid, she was going to get a job doing something quiet that only had to pay for her life, not her debt. She thought about the money Desmond told her would be awarded to contestants who lasted in the competition. Then she stuffed the rest of the banana in her mouth. *** Things were quiet in the helocarrier on the way out to the designers. None of the women were feeling very chatty. Chances were that everything would be less tense once the first contestant was eliminated and everyone saw what happened to her. Again, Ornette was dropped off last. She was always last, but in this case, it seemed like a blessing to the other women. Tania was dropped off at a studio that looked very much like a warehouse. It probably was a warehouse. They got a lot closer as they landed. It was a warehouse. Jane was dropped off at a metal refinery. It was less horrifying, but it was still horrifying. Yilin was dropped off at an air dock where another helocarrier was picking her up. When Ornette saw it, it reminded her of the saying that when you were being kidnapped, you needed to stop your kidnapper from taking you to a second location. More than anything, it seemed like a sign that her designer had fallen on hard times and he didn¡¯t want the cameras to film where they would be doing their work. Ornette didn¡¯t think there was much worry over that. Most places where designers did their work were not glamorous, but maybe it was a lot worse than she imagined. However, Ornette was taken to Hans¡¯ most famous storefront. The place was like a fairytale for clockmakers and steampunk chicks. Hans did not meet her at the door. Instead, he sent a spry 76-year-old woman to lead her around their showroom. Ornette did not feel even the tiniest need to fuss as the woman led her around. Actually, she was so bored by the whole thing that she didn¡¯t catch whether the woman¡¯s name was Laura, Lara, Lauren, or Laurel. It was one of those, but Ornette didn¡¯t care. Everything in the shop was perfect. It was silver, gold, black, red, shining, sparkling, polished, cared for, brilliant, and fecking stupid. The shop was also within spitting distance of where Ornette grew up. She had passed the building (as it had been there 35 years before) when she went down the street to buy iced pops when she was a child. Hans¡¯ store was boring because it hadn¡¯t changed in 35 years. That was tradition. Ornette had already seen everything. She used to look up at the beautiful cogs and wheels in the sign and think that Venus was such a magical place. Well, it wasn¡¯t. It had only seemed like that then because she hadn¡¯t understood how Venus worked. She tried to look at the things Lau-whatever showed her, but she couldn¡¯t manage more than a polite nod no matter what she was shown. When she was finally taken up to Hans¡¯ office, she was starving. It was past three o¡¯clock and she had not been offered lunch. His office was as sterile as an operating room if not as terrifying. Ornette sat in the chair she was offered with her back straight and the corners of her mouth pointed down. Enthusiasm would not impress Hans. He had probably been watching her with surveillance software since she arrived. ¡°Do you have any interest in watches?¡± he asked Ornette once they were alone. His voice was like someone crushing aluminum foil in their hand¡ªcrinkling. Ornette spoke like a person in a trance. ¡°Your work is very beautiful.¡± He was bored. She was bored. She turned her greenish eyes on his grayish eyes. ¡°We¡¯re not allowed to create a watch together, and actually, I don¡¯t think we should. I don¡¯t think we should make anything that competes with your current product lines.¡±Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. Hans moved his hand slightly to show his agreement. ¡°What kind of piece would you like to create?¡± ¡°I¡¯d like to take your garbage and make something out of that,¡± she said, unintentionally making her voice like his. ¡°My garbage?¡± he queried softly. ¡°Yes. Things that can¡¯t be used because they¡¯re damaged.¡± ¡°Most metal is recycled,¡± he offered, ¡°but I suppose I see where you¡¯re going. There is no need to reinvent the wheel.¡± ¡°Were you planning on making something marvelous to spur sales and make people more interested in your shops?¡± Ornette replied. He blinked at her slowly. ¡°I was not.¡± She was somewhat surprised by his answer. He continued, ¡°I actually tried to enter the contest as a businessman, but there were more than enough in that category because everyone needs a spokeswoman who can get attention. I was refused, but I was told that I could enter if I agreed to enter as a designer.¡± That explained why he didn¡¯t have a grubby studio and why he had her brought directly to the store. He had no need for her to help him design anything. ¡°I believe there are some watch bands that might make stunning bracelets if they¡¯re modified. Why don¡¯t we start there?¡± he asked, rising from his desk like a vampire rising from his coffin. Ornette nodded and stood also. He moved fluidly as he came around to join her. ¡°I must also thank you for the approach you¡¯ve taken to our meeting. I feared greatly that you would remain the ball of enthusiasm Mr. Fitness credited you as being.¡± Then he offered Ornette his elbow and together, they made their way to the design floor. *** Ornette had a small neck. She had such a small neck that one woman''s watch band could be put around her throat and tied with a ribbon. The ribbon was half her neck, and the bracelet covered the other half, but it was more than sufficient. Hans looked at the gorgeously fat red silk ribbon tied around Ornette¡¯s neck and said plainly. ¡°This is not what we will use for the day of the show, but it gives me a host of ideas. Do you have an opinion, Ornette?¡± ¡°I love the red. Isn¡¯t there a way to keep the red in the design?¡± ¡°I will think on it,¡± he said without warmth. ¡°I think we should do a necklace, a bracelet, and a ring,¡± she told Hans. ¡°We need to choose options that show the classical nature of your brand. What do you think?¡± ¡°Very sensible,¡± he replied dully. That was the moment when she thought that she was going to get through the week without having a romantic encounter of some kind with Hans. Surely, he didn¡¯t want anything like that. Surely, he was an old withered man who had lived his life as a gentleman and he would die like that. That was what Ornette thought, but she was wrong. He came and stood behind her, fiddling with the red ribbon encircling her throat. His gaze was on her reflection in the sparkling mirror in front of them. He tried the ribbon one way, then pulled it loose. He tried the ribbon a different way, then he took a moment to really examine her reflection. He placed his hands on her shoulders. She tightened the muscles in her body on instinct. His touch traveled down her back. One hand lingered at her waist while he grazed her bottom with his fingers before grabbing her fully with fingers as bony as a skeleton. Ornette gave no reaction. Clearly, he was looking for one. His eyes were on hers through the medium of the mirror, but Ornette did not look like it concerned her. The moment hung, his grip as strong as the metal he worked with. She wondered if she¡¯d have a bruise. He let go. When he finally spoke, he said, ¡°You¡¯re more beautiful than I thought you were. Perhaps these odd pieces of jewelry will not work for a woman like you. Fenrir and Mr. Fitness gave me the impression that you were a foolish creature who bubbled and giggled on her way to the guillotine because she didn¡¯t know any better.¡± ¡°They were wrong?¡± she asked, with a coldness in her voice that matched his. She could have been colder. She just chose not to be. She chose to match him. That was what he wanted. He wanted to look into a mirror, see her face, but also himself. He wanted to feel her body, not like she was a woman, but like she was a racehorse and he was considering whether or not he ought to buy her. Ornette wasn¡¯t sure if she passed the test regardless of what he said. The compliment he offered her might be all he planned to give her. Hans sent her away that night with a dismissive wave of his hand. She was the first to be picked up by the helocarrier. The next day, it was clear that she had impressed Hans. He showed her sketches and plans for the collection of pieces he was having made and asked her if there was anything lacking from them. More tests. Those kinds of men couldn¡¯t stop putting the people around them through hoops to make them test their worth and their loyalty. Ornette looked at the designs. They were beautiful, but they were incomplete. Well, they were complete to the untrained eye, but to Ornette, they were incomplete. He was giving her an opportunity to join in the design phase, which was what he was supposed to do as part of the competition, but he could have chosen to discard her opinion. Even still, she might be too cowed to give an opinion. Ornette straightened her back and said, ¡°The basic design for the flowers is really beautiful. I love the metal edging with the red underneath, but I think it¡¯s a shame to have them be the same on all three pieces, even if they are part of a set.¡± ¡°How would you change them?¡± he asked without emotion. ¡°The bracelet and the necklace look almost identical with a thick chain and one flower with four petals. When I think about it that way, the ring is the same too. I think they need to be distinctive and beautiful in different ways even as they are beautiful in the same way.¡± ¡°How so?¡± ¡°The ring is the best of the three. It just needs more petals. It should have as many as it can have sensibly without losing functionality. We don¡¯t need to make something that¡¯s cumbersome. It should be a statement¡­ Especially because you¡¯re setting bits of ribbon into the metal like tiny embroidery hoops. It gives a completely different impression than rubies. It will still be light even if you add more petals.¡± ¡°The bracelet?¡± ¡°Give up the flower altogether. Instead, place the petals of the flower into each of the elongated links of the bracelet. At first, I thought we should do whole flowers all the way around, but when I started to think about what would make the ring cumbersome, I thought flowers all the way around would be awkward and too high off the wrist. The ornament should lie flat. Flat petals like a lover¡¯s trail into a bedroom.¡± Hans touched her hand. Ornette gave him a cold stare. ¡°What is it?¡± He lifted her hand to his mouth and kissed it with his cold lips. She closed her mouth to stop herself from gaping and waited for him to finish. When she directed her gaze at him in that way, he seemed to realize that he was interrupting their work and that was actually the last thing he wanted to do. He removed his hand and said, ¡°Continue.¡± She drew in a breath to collect herself before explaining her design ideas. ¡°What I want for the necklace is tricky. I hope you have an idea to counter the problem I¡¯m seeing.¡± ¡°What problem?¡± he looked instantly concerned. ¡°There¡¯s no problem with the sketch you¡¯ve presented to me. There¡¯s a problem with what I want to do. I want the bloom to rest on my jugular. Right here,¡± Ornette pointed to the place at eleven o¡¯clock on her neck. ¡°Nothing wants to stay in a place like that. If I wear a necklace with a flower there, it weighs more than any other part of the necklace and it always falls forward. How can we keep a heavy blossom in that asymmetrical position?¡± ¡°We put a weight on the back,¡± Hans supplied. ¡°I can¡¯t tell you how exciting I find that. We use weights like that when we make grandfather clocks. If you wear a dress with a plunging back and your hair up, I think we can create something that¡¯s quite exciting.¡± He took the tablet from her and began sketching a new design. ¡°You want more flowers on the necklace?¡± ¡°I want a single flower dropping petals.¡± ¡°Like a vampire lover has bitten you? The flower is the place bitten and the dropping petals are the drops of blood?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± He nodded. ¡°Then we understand each other.¡± For a man who didn¡¯t really have emotions, his expression appeared shockingly satisfied. ¡°I will send this sketch downstairs for them to make a prototype. Let me take you to lunch.¡± *** Lunch was in a cold restaurant where precious little food was served. There was sparse conversation and all Ornette had to do was hold her head up and keep her reactions neutral. It would have been delightful with the arched ceilings over her head, the classical music playing in the background, and the high profile of the restaurant, except for the elephant in the room. Hans was not an elegant man. He only pretended to be so. He did not eat in a place like that. He ate on his own privately. He had to. Not even he could maintain his skeletal body on what he consumed at the restaurant. He came to be seen and to see others. He wanted to be seen with her. It was probably the finest compliment he could offer anyone. After lunch, he sent her back to the studio and he did not call her back until two days before the show. Chapter Fifteen Chapter Fifteen Ornette was surprised that she was not the only model in the cafeteria during lunch on her first day off since she had begun Goldilocks Zone. Who was in the cafeteria surprised her most. Claudia and Silvania were there. They were contestants one and two. Claudia was the most expensive model in the show. She was a leggy blonde. When she came in, she was sweaty from a workout and was more interested in the enormous salad waiting for her than she was in talking to Ornette. That was fine by Ornette. She was taking lessons just looking at Claudia with her back turned. What blonde beauty from the past was she trying to emulate? Ornette had gone through a phase where she tried to look like Marilyn Monroe, but that hadn¡¯t really worked out for her. She didn¡¯t have the hips and Marilyn wasn¡¯t just about how she looked. She came off as an innocent sex magnet¡ªa woman who knows nothing about anything but sex. She¡¯s so innocent that she doesn¡¯t even know that sex with the wrong person is bad or that what she¡¯s doing is driving a man crazy. That wasn¡¯t a good way to live. Ornette knew. She had given up trying to be a woman altogether, Marilyn or otherwise. It was better to match the man she had to please without confining herself to a particular style of behavior. It also didn¡¯t do her a lick of good to leave her owners hot and bothered all the time. She tried not to let it happen, but their minds were already alive with the mischief of buying a woman, and it was hard to let them cool. Claudia wasn¡¯t trying to be Marilyn. Her look was less glamorous but more statuesque. Maybe she was simply trying to look like a model who walked the catwalk. Finally, Ornette couldn¡¯t take it anymore and she asked Claudia, ¡°Who are you trying to be?¡± Claudia looked away and answered in a firm voice, ¡°Myself.¡± Ornette barked a disbelieving playful laugh. ¡°Okay.¡± She went back to her food. Claudia got her food and kicked a chair at Ornette¡¯s table so she could sit on it. She sat down without an invitation. ¡°Are you trying to be someone you¡¯re not?¡± she asked accusingly. Ornette was unphased and answered plainly. ¡°When I was young, I tried to look like Marilyn Monroe so that I could offer my clients something they were familiar with. Doing my hair like that with the rollers and pin curlers every day was such a hassle. It was a waste of time. I¡¯m not curvy and I¡¯m not friendly. I want to design clothes. I don¡¯t make a very good model. I''m the wrong size and shape. But if you¡¯re so secure in who you are that you never try to emulate someone else, that¡¯s good for you.¡± Claudia blinked at her. ¡°Are you really the least expensive?¡± ¡°I am,¡± Ornette admitted without hesitation. ¡°And who are you trying to be now?¡± Claudia asked. She was pumping Ornette for information. Ornette was very lucky that that was the moment when Silvania joined them. She was very quiet and well-mannered, but Ornette gave Claudia a ¡®later¡¯ look that she never planned on following up and they chatted together at the table. ¡°Who do you want to buy you?¡± Silvania asked Claudia in her slight accent. ¡°Varner,¡± Claudia answered simply. ¡°Why?¡± Ornette asked, trying to keep her tone as neutral as possible like she was curious about the reason instead of why anyone would want to be purchased by a man whose forearms rippled when he moved his fingers. ¡°He already owns five models. It¡¯s better to be part of a team taking care of a man like that,¡± she said. Ornette nodded. When she had been owned by Crois, he had owned lots of other models to work for him in his factory on the design floor, but they didn¡¯t need to take turns pleasing him. They just did their work. He wanted designs where he could own the copyrights. He did not ask the models he hired to go to bed with him. He liked getting stuff like that through his own charms. Ornette would have liked him wholeheartedly if he hadn¡¯t occasionally slapped whoever gave him bad news. Claudia returned the question to Silvania. ¡°Who do you want to buy you?¡± ¡°I want to get bought by Shin Raleigh,¡± she admitted. Shin was a businessman who was the newest money on the businessmen''s side. He owned a business that turned old plastic into the kind of fuel that was required for rocket launchers. Harrison Fox still hadn¡¯t managed to make a rupter that could power a rocket launcher, so Shin was rolling in coins. Of course, he wasn¡¯t the only man who made a lot of money and had agreed to do the show. ¡°Why?¡± ¡°He¡¯s my richest relative,¡± Silvania admitted. ¡°We are third cousins. I met him at family functions sometimes when I was growing up.¡± Ornette looked at Silvania and thought a wild collection of things all at once. First, she had never met anyone who had been purchased by a relative. Two, she thought that Silvania would be horribly disappointed if he did not bid on her. Three, she wasn¡¯t sure it would be a good situation for either Silvania or Shin if he won the bid if the organizers of the show made the fact that they were related public. ¡°What about you?¡± Silvania asked, turning the question to Ornette after the important people had spoken. ¡°Oh, I haven¡¯t got anyone picked out,¡± Ornette admitted honestly. ¡°You didn¡¯t set your heart on Fenrir after he fell madly in love with you?¡± Claudia asked suspiciously. Ornette held her head high. ¡°Getting purchased by Fen would be lovely, but there are a lot of things that are going to happen all at once in this thing. How do I know I won¡¯t do something with another man that will rub him wrong? I may have already ticked him off bad enough that he might not want to buy me. I feel like I can¡¯t get stuck on one particular bidder. I have to stay fluid.¡± ¡°Or maybe you want to get purchased by the man with the white hair?¡± Silvania offered. Ornette didn¡¯t answer. She wasn¡¯t sure if everyone knew Desmond or if only she did. In her heart, she wasn¡¯t sure if she wanted him to bid on her or not. ¡°A better question is why you two are not off with your current designers?¡± Ornette said instead. ¡°Mine is sick today,¡± Silvania replied. ¡°Mine threw his back out yesterday,¡± Claudia explained with a slight nod. She wasn¡¯t the least bit bothered about her back. Ornette gave up and told them that her owner simply didn¡¯t need her that day. Claudia and Silvania exchanged looks. That didn¡¯t look like a good sign to them. *** That night, Ornette was in her room. She was pretending to smoke a cigarette. Ornette didn¡¯t smoke, but she found that breathing like she did calmed her. She lay flat on her bed without a pillow under her head, stared at the ceiling, and pretended to smoke. In her head, she blew out smoke of all different colors and all different shapes. Sometimes, she filled the whole ceiling over her head with light puffy clouds and let hot air balloons rise up in them. She imagined the stars coming out one by one and she¡¯d make little wishes on them like a little girl who believed that wishes could still come true. ¡°I wish,¡± she said quietly, ¡°that I could be kissed by a man who loves me instead of himself. And I wish that¡­ I was as pretty as Claudia. That my hand wasn¡¯t black. Or,¡± she said, gaining enthusiasm, ¡°that both my hands were black.¡± There was a weird sound she kept hearing, like knocking, like thudding, like something crawling in the walls. Ornette put those thoughts out of mind. If the studio and the dorms fell through the base level of the cloud city and the whole thing came crashing down on the surface of Venus, that was fine with her. If there were rats crawling through the walls, that was not her problem. If the Yilin was having an unscheduled visitor, there was nothing Ornette could do about it. And if none of her wishes came true¡­ Sleep was still waiting for her and that in itself was a wish come true. ¡°Wake up,¡± a low voice whispered in Ornette¡¯s ear. Ornette stuck her tongue out and bit it softly. Yilin wasn¡¯t the one getting the unscheduled visitor. It was her.The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. She opened her eyes. Desmond was sitting in a chair next to her bed. ¡°You know, you really have amazing access to be everywhere you need to be. What do you want?¡± The man looked grim. ¡°There¡¯s going to be a little shakeup during the taping of the next episode. We¡¯re getting a replacement for Albert. It¡¯s Rowan Hamelton. Have you heard of him? He¡¯s a politician running to be the next mayor of our cloud city, Nepra.¡± ¡°And you want me to slip something into his drink?¡± Ornette supplied. ¡°Nothing so taxing. I need a DNA sample. I have people who want to run a paternity test on him, but he¡¯s been a slippery customer. I think you can get close to him. It might surprise you to know it, but our men have been a lot more into you than the other contestants. Is there a man you can¡¯t charm?¡± Ornette rolled her eyes. ¡°It¡¯s not that I¡¯m more charming than the others. It¡¯s that I come off as more saddle-worn. They¡¯re less worried about crashing a used helocarrier than a brand new one. But let me get this straight, you want me to steal a hair or you want me to kiss him and let someone swab my mouth?¡± ¡°Exactly. Well, spit into a tube, but six of one, half a dozen of the other.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t see why I should do anything for you. If I kiss some stranger at the after-party, I¡¯m going to piss off Fen, Joel, Hans, and probably a host of other dudes who haven¡¯t worked with me. Is he even cute? Is there any advantage for me doing exactly what you say?¡± she asked in exasperation. ¡°If you get the sample, I¡¯ll give you something you want.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Name it.¡± ¡°You could let me own you for a while after my contract is over,¡± she suggested, stifling a giggle. She could have asked for money. She should have asked for money. Except, Desmond was something she couldn''t get with money, even if she had all the money in the galaxy. She could never hope to keep a man like that, but if she could have him for a bit¡­ that would be like making all the poofy clouds in her room real, if only for a little while. ¡°How long?¡± he asked, not at all put off by the idea, as he pulled at a stray thread in the hem of his pants. ¡°A day?¡± she wondered aloud. ¡°Yeah, a day is the right amount if I can snag a hair. What does Rowan look like? If he¡¯s a beast and I have to stick my tongue in his mouth, I¡¯m gonna need a solid week. Seriously, is he cute?¡± Desmond regarded her stiffly. ¡°No, but I dislike his politics so much, I think I should have to give you a month if you have to put your tongue in his mouth.¡± ¡°Gross,¡± she said distastefully. ¡°Is any man going to want to kiss me again if I do that with a camera on me? Maybe a month isn¡¯t enough. If it damages my worth when I go for resale, I may need more compensation.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll pray you get the hair,¡± Desmond said with a pensive expression. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t mind being owned by you for a month, but I think you¡¯re right, the idea of you kissing him would certainly ruin how I feel about your lips.¡± ¡°You¡¯re making this arrangement sound less desirable by the second,¡± she complained. ¡°Will I have more than one chance to get the hair, or if I don¡¯t get it on the first go, you¡¯re in trouble?¡± ¡°The first go is ideal,¡± he confirmed. ¡°Will you give me something to collect it in?¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± He reached into his pocket and withdrew two vials. ¡°This one is empty. If you kiss him, spit into it afterward. As soon afterward as possible. The second one has some tacky guck in it. The guck is nothing special, but if you put it on your hands, you¡¯ll do better at catching hair. You have to be sure it came from him. If you come back with a cat hair or a dog hair or someone else¡¯s hair, that isn¡¯t going to help.¡± ¡°I need some gloves to help me,¡± she replied. ¡°Evening gloves. You know the kind? Black satin. Tight. Can you bring me some before the show?¡± He pulled a face. ¡°I¡¯ll send you some. I can¡¯t come back here before I get the samples from you after the show.¡± ¡°You won¡¯t come back tomorrow night to drop off the gloves?¡± she asked cautiously. ¡°I¡¯ll send them. I need to keep my visits rare. Hey, Ornette¡­¡± ¡°What?¡± she asked his shape through the darkness. ¡°Why are you willing to do this with so little persuasion?¡± he wanted to know. ¡°Did you try the other contestants first and landed on me after being refused by eleven other women?¡± ¡°No. I''ve only worked with you.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°There are a lot of reasons. I guess if I have to say a few, I''d say it''s because you have more power over the men you work with than they do, and you seem like the only one who doesn¡¯t secretly love the super wealthy.¡± The last thing he said was true. She did not love the super-wealthy. She also did not love muscles, power, or heavy breathing. She just couldn¡¯t go to poor people to help her pay her debt. Only rich people had money. ¡°Have you seen the footage of the other contestants when they¡¯re with their designers or businessmen?¡± she asked suddenly. He nodded. ¡°Then you¡¯ve seen mine too. You must know what I do differently than them. It must be obvious,¡± she said simply, hoping the simple nature of her words would make him drop a few hints about how the other models were handling their partners. ¡°It was obvious what Fen liked about you. What you said about his shirt would have charmed the pants off him if the situation had been a little different. It was less obvious what you did to Joel to make him like you. You do not seem like his type at all. He was also unlikely to be seduced by your felicitations over the dress with the bra in it. There was something else going on that the camera didn¡¯t pick up. Want to tell me about it?¡± ¡°Was the footage edited so much when you saw it that you couldn¡¯t figure it out?¡± Desmond made a face. ¡°I¡¯m sure it would have made sense if you saw everything that happened instead of a highlight reel,¡± she continued. ¡°Can¡¯t you just tell me?¡± She flicked her hair away from her face. She didn''t want to tell him that Joel wanted something safe and he viewed her as safe. She brushed it off. ¡°I suppose what is happening with Hans is even more confusing for you.¡± The look on his face said it even if he didn¡¯t say a word. What he did say was, ¡°Why are you so charming?¡± She rolled onto her side and let a misbehaving hair tendril fall between her eyes. ¡°Am I charming you?¡± He leaned in and nodded. ¡°You¡¯re confused why all your insides are a knot when I¡¯ve completely undone you?¡± He chuckled. ¡°Not that far, but yes, something like that.¡± She fell back onto her back. ¡°I¡¯m not telling. Besides, if you read my file, you probably know all about me.¡± ¡°Have you read your own file?¡± he asked curiously. ¡°Why?¡± ¡°There¡¯s nothing in it. There¡¯s your height, weight, measurements, age, talents, and a bunch of other meaningless facts. They don¡¯t even point out that your hand is black. The discoloration was something I noticed when you were in cryostasis. Your hand was on your chest and it was obvious because it was on top of your other hand. I decided I needed to wake you up to fix it and while I was working out the details, I decided to redo your makeup. I didn¡¯t wake any of the other models. Having read your file means nothing,¡± he finished. ¡°I don¡¯t know anything about you.¡± ¡°You want to hear about me?¡± she asked incredulously. ¡°Yes. Among other things,¡± he answered, inadvertently wetting his bottom lip. ¡°What other things?¡± she exclaimed in mock surprise. ¡°Are you here to break all the rules and find out how hot a model from Sleeping Beauty Inc. really is?¡± He put a hand to her mouth to stop her from talking, but he did not touch her. His finger hovered away from her lips like her imaginary cigarette. ¡°No. That would land me in big trouble and if you didn¡¯t already know, I¡¯m already in big trouble. This whole thing is big trouble. No. Not that.¡± She smiled at him. ¡°If you can¡¯t do that, can you get under the blankets with me and let me sleep on your arm?¡± He huffed a laugh. ¡°Is that something you want?¡± ¡°Desperately,¡± she answered in a voice that was all breath and no voice. ¡°Listen, if you can¡¯t fool around with me then you can give me something I want.¡± She sat up and rearranged the bedding to make room for him in the double bed. When he didn¡¯t move, she pouted and said, ¡°I don¡¯t want to tell you about myself. I try not to think about myself. I¡¯m boring. I eat. It¡¯s boring. I breathe. It¡¯s boring. I have to spend a shocking amount of time blow-drying my hair and setting it in curls. I don¡¯t want to talk. I¡¯ll do what you want by gathering the stray body parts of suspicious politicians if that eases your mind.¡± He didn¡¯t move. Ornette couldn''t stand it. ¡°Get in bed with me or get out. I can¡¯t sleep with you staring at me like that.¡± Desmond hesitated and then swallowed. He pressed a few buttons on his bracelet. Ornette knew what he was doing. He was setting a timer. He didn¡¯t want to fall asleep and then be caught in her room when he was supposed to be elsewhere. He was going to make his bracelet vibrate and shock him rather than make a sound. Interesting. He finished, pulled off his shoes, and got into bed next to her. He put his arm out and Ornette cuddled up to him like she had been his little wife for the last three years. At least, that was the feeling Ornette hoped she gave him. She was not trying to turn him on and Ornette had been used too many times to get turned on by most things. She just wanted body heat, companionship, and a moment of togetherness with a safe person. That¡¯s all it should have been, but her head didn¡¯t stay on his arm. She migrated, bringing herself close until her ear was cupped on his chest and she could hear his heartbeat. She slipped a leg up to fall between his. He was so warm, and the scent of his body was like something delicious and expensive that she¡¯d smelled before. To get more of that flavor, she mushed her face into his chest. It was an action like a kiss. ¡°Don¡¯t you want to know who I am? What I¡¯m doing? How all the little pieces fit together?¡± he whispered in the darkness. ¡°Don¡¯t be stupid,¡± she whispered back. ¡°You could be Batman or Beckett Beltrose for all I care. Not only that, but I already asked you on day one and you blew me off. Like I care now. You¡¯re in charge of my bracelet, so as far as I¡¯m concerned, you¡¯re my owner. It¡¯s all good in my mind. Besides, if you really want to understand me, the first thing to understand is that there is no yesterday. Yesterday never happened. There is only today. Anyone who loved me yesterday is gone. Anyone who hated me yesterday has changed their mind. Anything that hurt me was an accident. And most importantly, anything I ate isn¡¯t filling me anymore.¡± ¡°So, you always have to start over?¡± ¡°I always have to start over.¡± She cuddled closer to him. ¡°In my life, I¡¯m never held. I¡¯m pretty excited about your body temperature in the bed. It¡¯s always too cold sleeping alone. Your body temperature is just right.¡± ¡°Right. The Goldilocks Zone. When is it too hot?¡± ¡°Some men run hotter than you. Their feet stink and they sweat. You¡¯re not doing either. Actually, there¡¯s a long list of terrible things they do that you¡¯re not doing. You shouldn¡¯t be here. Putting Goldilocks to bed. You¡¯re such a naughty Cheshire Cat, but then I guess you don¡¯t really care if I get caught by the bears. You¡¯re like every other man here. You''ll keep yourself safe, disappearing and reappearing as it suits you while I¡¯m in danger of being torn to shreds.¡± He didn''t deny it. That would be more alarming if her life wasn''t like that all the time. At least this way she had a man to snuggle. She trailed off and fell asleep. He really was the perfect temperature. He pulled her closer and kissed the top of her head. Seemingly, for no reason at all, Ornette was in the place she found most comfortable. She slept. Chapter Sixteen Chapter Sixteen Hans called Ornette back to his building two days before their episode was set to be filmed. He had a collection of prototypes ready and he wanted to try them on her, as well as the dress he¡¯d chosen for her to wear to the episode recording. When she got there, Ornette was in a dressing room while a seamstress pieced the dress on her body. Ornette usually used a mannequin for such things when she sewed, but the seamstress in question did not believe in them. Model number twelve had to stand still while the dress was pieced and pinned. Hans leaned against the wall in the corner and observed. He held a pocket watch which he snapped open and closed at the same pace the clock inside it ticked. He was quiet for the first ten minutes or so, but when the seamstress grew quiet as she pinned the hem, he started asking Ornette questions. They started out harmless. ¡°What¡¯s your favorite color of metal?¡± ¡°Tungsten,¡± she replied. She didn¡¯t love tungsten particularly. It was a dark metal like tarnished silver. She chose it because it was a heavy metal with a hardness of 8, like a sapphire, and thus was harder to work with than softer metals. If he was asking her because he was going to make her something, she wanted to make it as annoying as possible. Hans touched his collar like something about what she said had suddenly made him hot. His next question was, ¡°Have you ever worn a piece of clothing made of chainmail?¡± She had. It was horrible if it was against bare skin because the metal was cold. If there was something between her and the chainmail, it was fine. Otherwise, no. How should she answer him? It didn¡¯t matter. Both answers were bad. If she lied and said that she had never worn it, it would excite him to imagine being the person who introduced it to her first. If she told the truth, she would appear more experienced to him and a man his age did not always have patience for little girls who hadn¡¯t done anything. ¡°I have,¡± she said, choosing not to elaborate. ¡°What pieces have you worn?¡± he asked, his voice drawn and creaking like a door that needed oil. ¡°Everything,¡± she admitted. ¡°Necklaces, tops, bottoms, dresses, gloves, and hoods. You name it, I¡¯ve worn it.¡± ¡°Panties?¡± ¡°Of course,¡± she said somberly, looking down at the seamstress as if to remind him that they were not alone. ¡°Did you like wearing chainmail panties?¡± he pressed. Ornette felt like clocking him (no pun intended). He sounded like a perverted little boy asking questions his mother would highly disapprove of. The fact that the seamstress was there and couldn¡¯t protest probably made the exchange more enjoyable for him. Ornette glared at him momentarily with her cold eye color doing the heavy lifting for her. ¡°If you¡¯re asking me if having metal between my legs turns me on¡­ That¡¯s a secret between me and my panties.¡± He left the room. Ornette glanced down at the seamstress on her knees, still pinning the hem. She did not look up at Ornette. She continued making the adjustments to the dress and when she was finished, she sent a message down to the design floor that it was a good time to try the jewelry on Ornette. She was wearing what she would be wearing for the show the next day. However, it was a solid half an hour before Hans and a member of his design team joined them in the dressing room. Ornette was left to stand in her pieced together dress with ten thousand pins threatening to pierce her if she moved. While they waited, Ornette tried something she thought might be helpful to Desmond. ¡°Do you think long gloves would look good with this dress?¡± she asked inconspicuously. The dress was charcoal gray and the company-brand red. There were watch cogs on the shoulder that had not been added yet that were going to be placed on massive ruffles of fabric. The cogs and ruffles covered a strap that was desperately needed considering the sheer weight of the gown. The boning in the corset was going to be exposed metal with the company name etched in over and over. The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. ¡°What kind of glove?¡± the seamstress asked because she was interested in design. Ornette described a charcoal glove that would be worn on her left hand. It would need to come up to the elbow or over the elbow. ¡°The point of it,¡± Ornette explained slowly, ¡°is to allow my arm and wrist to be photographed and filmed with the bracelet and ring on it without losing any attention to my skin.¡± ¡°If that were necessary,¡± the seamstress replied, ¡°then wouldn¡¯t it make more sense to have you wear a high-necked gown instead of showing off your collarbone and your cleavage?¡± ¡°Agreed,¡± Ornette said with a smile. ¡°But my collarbone and cleavage aren¡¯t dripping in foundation.¡± ¡°And your hand is?¡± the seamstress questioned doubtfully, but no sooner had the words escaped her lips than she understood what Ornette was saying. ¡°Just think of the glove as the satin lining inside the jewelry box,¡± Ornette suggested. The seamstress did not wait any longer, but immediately started taking the necessary measurements in order to make a glove for Ornette¡¯s left hand. ¡°Should I make two sets of gloves or just one?¡± she asked just as Hans returned with the jewelry. ¡°Gloves?¡± he said upon entry. ¡°Ornette doesn¡¯t need gloves. She has beautiful hands.¡± The seamstress was about to pipe up with the reason Ornette had given her. She had opened her mouth and was about to spill it all over the place like a glass of black wine that slipped when it was supposed to be sipped. Ornette stopped her as cleverly as if it had always been her plan. ¡°The gloves are not about me. The display of jewelry is not about me. It¡¯s about your red. What if we made a glove out of your red and then when the crews film me and my wrist and my fingers with your beautiful ring on it? They''ll see your red like the inside of one of your jewelry boxes. They¡¯ll be taught about the beauty of your brand through the beauty of the shape of my wrist. I¡¯m here to represent your brand, not for your brand to represent me.¡± ¡°The jewelry is already red,¡± he pointed out. ¡°Your charcoal then?¡± she suggested. He took a step away from her in quiet contemplation before turning to the man behind him and clicking open the wide, flat box that contained the necklace. His movements as he removed the metal chain from the container were fluid and practiced, confident and polished. His movements alone would tell a customer, ¡®I have the best merchandise in the universe. Do not waste my time. Pay full price and thank me for letting you wear my design.¡¯ He turned to put the necklace on Ornette, but when he saw the ruffle and cogs at her shoulder, he turned again and returned the necklace to the box. Then he closed the box like he did not want the necklace to see what he was about to do. ¡°The design of the necklace does not match the design of the dress. She has this huge ruffle here. Are we selling ruffles? It needs to be removed at once. The dress should be strapless.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll unpin it,¡± the seamstress agreed, stepping forward. ¡°No need. I¡¯ll do it.¡± Ornette stood as still as a memorial statue on the headstone of a grave while Hans unpinned the ruffle and changed the shape of the dress with pins and shears. Ornette was then touched professionally and unprofessionally. The jewelry designer Hans brought with him stood still and watched while the seamstress watched his hands without judgment. ¡°We can¡¯t let her breasts touch each other. I want each to appear separate and rather out of the way. I want the bones over her heart to show so that her heart appears completely open,¡± he explained as he changed the pin formations. When he was quite finished, he turned again to the box that contained the necklace. Hans didn¡¯t own her look until he placed a necklace of his own creation around her neck. It was a more solid feeling of ownership than Ornette had ever felt before and she had been owned by many owners. The feeling of his metal creation around her neck was as real as if his hand were around her throat, threatening to choke her at any moment. The glittering of red blooming at her throat and spilling down her chest made the threat so much more real. When he placed the bracelet and the ring on her, he glanced up at her with eyes that understood. The makeup was good, but not good enough to fool someone whose whole life revolved around the watches people wore on their wrists. ¡°We¡¯ll go with a pair of charcoal gloves, but if you have extra time, whip up a pair of red gloves. That might be more stunning than I¡¯m able to see with these old eyes,¡± he instructed the dressmaker without taking his eyes off Ornette. ¡°Get her out of that frock. We¡¯re finished.¡± ¡°Should I send her home?¡± the seamstress asked. ¡°Put her in brown paper and send her to my house. I¡¯ve been asked to give her a tour of my home for the show. They¡¯re sending a special camera crew. She¡¯ll be spending the night, so make her up an overnight bag.¡± Ornette was horrified to hear of that development, but she kept her disappointment off her face. When she thought about it, it utterly thrilled her that Desmond could come and go from her room in the studio dorms without anyone noticing. Now, instead of her being back in dorms wondering if he would make an appearance, she had to spend the night at Hans¡¯ stuffy old mansion. Boring and bony. He would probably grab her with his bony fingers when he thought everyone was looking. Chapter Seventeen Chapter Seventeen Ornette knew the house in question when she arrived inside the bubble gate. It was a house in her old neighborhood. Everyone knew it. It was spectacular. It was huge. It was modeled after old buildings back on Earth. It was extravagance to a fault. She was not literally wearing brown paper. The seamstress explained to her that brown paper was what he referred to when he spoke of company swag. She was wearing a black sheath dress. They¡¯d given her panties, but no bra. She hated that. Ornette did not enjoy the feeling of her breasts flopping around. They were too heavy to go braless. Suddenly, she wished she was back with Joel. That dude had not been her idea of a good time, but the dress he had given her was a power move she could get behind. The dress Hans had given her made her want to fold her arms across her chest in a defensive pose and keep them there. When the doors of the house were opened to her, she was greeted by a butler and a camera crew. They were to do the tour of the house without the master of the house present. Apparently, they couldn¡¯t even suggest that Hans had time for such a task. He was entirely too busy. Ornette thought that the problem was that he didn¡¯t want to be filmed in case someone didn¡¯t like something he did. He¡¯d rather be bland than awful, which was what he was. Some public relations officer in the past had probably told him how to be media savvy and he was still taking their pointers by staying away from the cameras in general. His mansion had everything. Indoor pool? Yes. Ballroom? Yes. Library? Yes. Balconies? Yes. Decks? Yes. Grass? Obviously. Flowers? Too many to count. Anything grown on Venus that couldn''t feed someone was luxury beyond luxury. After Ornette had seen so much that she felt a little sick at the contrasting life situations she had experienced in her past, she was taken to the room where she would be sleeping that night. The room was beautiful, but as soon as the camera crew had gone, she was informed by the butler that it had all been a ruse. She would be staying in the master bedroom with Hans. ¡°He knows he¡¯s not allowed to sleep with me, right?¡± she clarified, feeling uncomfortable. ¡°He is absolutely allowed to sleep with you,¡± the butler replied. ¡°He¡¯s not allowed to have sex with you, which he would never do.¡± Ornette rolled her eyes. The evening wore on the way the butler had hinted it would. Hans surfaced from somewhere lower in the mansion. Then he brought her into the dining room where he fed her foam and crumbs for dinner. The silver forks and knives clattered on the plates as though they were empty. Dessert was meringue that was made from half of an egg white that had been whipped until it was a dollop of white on her plate. If it had been sweetened, Ornette couldn¡¯t tell. She and Hans did not talk. They dined alone. He only said offensive things to her when there was someone around to hear it. Otherwise, he wasn¡¯t interested. Instead, he seemed satisfied to look at her across the table. If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. After dessert, he took a sip from his full goblet and said, ¡°Are you impressed by my home?¡± ¡°A strong impression has been left on me,¡± she replied, not clarifying whether or not it was a good impression or a bad one. Instead, it was merely an impression. ¡°Could you see yourself living in a place like this?¡± he asked, again seemingly pretending to drink his white wine. ¡°I could see my body in this chair from somewhere up above,¡± she replied. Ornette had no idea if Hans understood that what she was saying was that if she stayed in his mansion she would surely die of malnutrition and her spirit would be hovering over her dead body. Whether he understood it or not, he looked satisfied with her answer. ¡°What do you normally do after dinner?¡± she asked, drinking from her water glass. ¡°I go to bed,¡± he answered crisply. Which meant Ornette was going to bed with him. She sat as still as a statue as she waited for him to blot his mouth with his napkin, rise from his chair, and come to her seat at the table to collect her. If Ornette was honest, she was quite bored. His bony hand on hers as he helped her rise from her chair and the chill of his skin as he retained his hold on her as he led her across the house to his private room. The reason she was bored was because her favorite part of the whole selling herself transaction was the opportunity to design clothes. Owners who enacted these kinds of seduction scenes did it for their own amusement. Most times it didn¡¯t make for a very interesting evening. If she was allowed to be honest, she would have told him something that would have turned his already cold blood to ice. Whatever he had in mind, she¡¯d already done it. With someone else. She¡¯d already done it. She¡¯d already done all of it. As they walked, she refrained from sighing and asked clearly, ¡°What do you have in mind?¡± ¡°Nothing,¡± he replied. ¡°I¡¯ll just get you in your nightgown and put you to bed.¡± ¡°A chainmail nightgown?¡± she asked, still bored. She¡¯d worn one to bed before. ¡°No. I¡¯ve been informed that if I want to continue to be part of the show, I mustn¡¯t do anything that causes you to report a scandal.¡± ¡°The Coordinator gave you that limitation?¡± she asked curiously. ¡°No,¡± he said, holding the bedroom door open for her. ¡°The head of my public relations department gave me that instruction.¡± That made sense to Ornette. He was probably hanging on by a thread. Men in his position could do anything¡­ Just so long as no one found out about it. The nature of the show, her place on it, his place on it, and everything being so totally in the public eye protected her. On his grand four-poster bed, he had a black box for Ornette to open. It was a red nightgown. Hans insisted on dressing her himself, which was little more than a view of her in her underwear and two uncomfortable squeezes. Then he opened the bed for her and instructed her to lie down. He tucked her in and asked her what kind of stories she was told as a little girl when she was going to bed. ¡°I wasn¡¯t told stories. Not until I was sold as a model,¡± she said, refraining from saying that she had been raised a few streets over in a skyscraper penthouse. ¡°How did you go to sleep?¡± he asked, pressing her for details. She raised her cold eyes to his. ¡°I was told to go to sleep and left alone.¡± It was true. He stood up and said in his sternest, old man voice, ¡°Go to sleep now, Child.¡± Then he flicked the bed curtains shut and disappeared from view. Ornette looked at the ceiling and waited for him to join her. Any moment now, he would stop playing daddy and become Daddy (with a capital D). He wasn¡¯t allowed to do much to her, but she wondered at his self-control. She waited with shallow breaths until she heard him snoring from the position of an armchair on the other side of the room. That was lucky. She still didn¡¯t sleep. When she finally did sleep, she slept like a helocarrier that was only idling, but not off. In the morning, she was taken to the office where she tried on everything for the show and was approved. Then she was taken back to the dorms where a package from Desmond was waiting for her. It was the gloves she¡¯d asked him for. She put them on as she sat on her private bed and fell asleep wearing them. She slept all day. Chapter Eighteen Chapter Eighteen In the dressing room before the show, Hans made sure Ornette was perfect. The woman he¡¯d hired to do her hair was a designer who had a reputation so large, that she could have joined the show on the designer side, but she was a woman. Goldilocks Zone was a party for boys. In any case, she made Ornette¡¯s hair so beautiful, it rocked the entire planet. Hans refrained from touching Ornette inappropriately while in the dressing room and maintained his professional facade later on stage. It must have taken all his self-control to accomplish such a thing. He loved it when people watched him do inappropriate things and there was a huge audience right in front of him. His imagination must have been barely contained. It didn¡¯t matter to Ornette what happened on the show that night. She wasn¡¯t competing. She had won immunity. She wasn¡¯t getting eliminated and sold. However, she appeared to be in the highest tier of contestants. Not the highest, but a strong contender. It was all because of Hans. Whoever controlled his public image did a great job. The surprise new businessman came out. It was Rowan Hamelton just like Desmond said it would be. Ornette didn¡¯t know who he was before he was introduced, except what Desmond had told her. He looked ordinary. He was blond with a receding hairline of wispy hair, a sure sign that he hadn¡¯t spent his years in cryostasis, but awake and causing trouble. Ornette pegged him as her target for the evening. Desmond wanted her to get a DNA sample from him. She would do it, and it would be fun. At least it would be more interesting than spending the night in Hans¡¯ bedroom. Hands¡­ Hans had opted for the red gloves after all, and Ornette clapped her hands together as Rowan was introduced. When it came time to announce who was being eliminated, the votes were cast as to who was least wonderful, fascinating, beautiful, sexy, marvelous, and Mikayla was eliminated. Ornette remembered her as the one who held her drink the worst, which was a pity. She was prettier than Ornette and in better condition. She just hadn¡¯t yet learned how to lie about how much drink she consumed or maybe she liked drinking. Ornette wanted to give her tips on how to fake it, but it was already too late. She probably wouldn¡¯t get another chance to speak to her. Then Papa Bear, Varner, stopped the game to announce that Clandestine had been granted immunity for some incredible emergency CPR she¡¯d performed on her designer when he floundered in a swimming pool. It took all the control Ornette had to keep her eyes from rolling into the back of her head and never rolling back into place. Clandestine had saved that man from drowning as much as someone saved a duck from drowning. His primary job was designing bathing suits. But Clandestine looked pleased. That was enough for Ornette to get a grip and give a genuine smile as she clapped for Clandestine. Then Varner brought Mikayla back up to the main stage to be auctioned off. That was when things really got interesting. Varner explained the rules. ¡°All right. As all of you know, if you win a bid on a model, she¡¯s yours for the rest of the show, so you won¡¯t be able to continue playing. You take your girl and you head home. Then we offer your spot to one of the designers or CEOs we have waiting in the wings. I want to remind you that your bid will go The Children¡¯s Charity here on Venus. It prevents children who lose their parents from being shipped off to Ceres. Now let¡¯s talk about Mikayla.¡± He went on to give Mikayla a glowing recommendation, listing her talents, and twirling her on the stage. He even favored her with a deeply admiring look that she completely deserved, except that she had already been given something to drink that night and faltered a little in her high heels. Ornette winced. Venus had its own currency. It had its decimal point in three spaces over instead of two so that a dollar was a thousand cents instead of a hundred. They did it to make their fabulous sums of money sound like less because they didn¡¯t need to make it sound like more. Not only that, but they disliked the term billionaire because everyone who owned a piece of real estate in a cloud city was one. They always tried to downplay how much money they were really hoarding. They didn¡¯t need any of the common folks on Earth or anywhere else, realizing how deeply they were screwing over the lower classes. Calling themselves billionaires instead of trillionaires or quadrillionaires made them so much more comfortable. Varner started the bidding. ¡°Let¡¯s begin at three hundred thousand.¡± Ornette winced again. That was a low bid. She wasn¡¯t even sold for a year for that little money. Ornette hoped the men bid high and brought the number up. It would seriously damage Mikayla¡¯s resale value at Sleeping Beauty Inc. if she was sold on the live media outlets for such a low number. The air was quiet. No one was bidding. Ornette¡¯s whole body was plunged into a hot sweat on Mikayla¡¯s behalf as it was quiet as a church in the auditorium. Did no one want her because she was the first to go up for auction? Did they all have their eyes on the other models? Ornette swallowed. Finally, someone raised their paddle. ¡°You have three hundred thousand.¡± Ornette swiveled her head around. Her face pinched together on instinct when she saw who had bid. It was Rowan.Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. That was bad news. He stepped into the aisle and made sure the cameras got good shots of him. He was doing it as a PR stunt. That way, he got as much attention as possible, he participated in the show but was off as soon as possible. Regardless of his motive, it was bad news for Desmond. If Rowan won Mikayla, it would be way weirder for Ornette to get a DNA sample from him at the after-party. How could she fuss over him when there was no chance he would bid on her later? She couldn¡¯t butter him up if he was already going to be off the show. It was still quiet. No one else was bidding. Desmond put his paddle in the air. ¡°Three hundred and fifty thousand,¡± he bid as casually as possible. He did not stand up, but the camera that displayed him on the jumbo screen still got a beautiful shot of him in his seat with his white-trousered legs extended casually into the aisle. Ornette felt a rush of saliva fill her mouth. He looked fantastic. She wanted him to bid on her, but she wasn¡¯t up for auction. She suddenly wanted it badly. She hadn¡¯t realized he was able to bid. She thought that even though he was there on the side of the businessmen, he would refrain from participating. No one had been paired up with him for a challenge. If he won Mikayla¡­ Ornette felt the flood of saliva in her mouth turn to ash for three seconds before she got a grip. He wasn¡¯t doing it because he wanted to buy Mikayla. He was doing it because he didn¡¯t want Rowan to win her. He wanted Rowan to stay on the show, not go home that night with a little brunette wrapped up like a present. If Desmond won Mikayla¡­ What would he do with her? He wasn¡¯t going to win her. He was going to drive up her price. Rowan did not want to be beaten and he stuck his paddle back in the air even though he was already standing. ¡°Four hundred thousand,¡± he bid. That was a bit better as far as Mikayla¡¯s resale value went and Ornette felt her body temperature drop a few degrees. ¡°Four hundred and fifty thousand,¡± Desmond bid. He looked bored. Ornette¡¯s jaw dropped. Her mouth hung in that astonished position for a solid ten seconds before she processed her emotion. She wanted him. The feeling was not just that she wanted him to buy her, but for once in her sell-out life, she wanted to have a real romantic moment with Desmond. He looked delicious even when he looked bored. The boredom enhanced his appeal because it was obvious he understood that everything around him was stupid and it was. It was a giant peeing contest for rich men and they were all engaged with all their attention on who could pee the farthest and be the biggest man. Desmond was not. The jumbo screen showed him pick a piece of lint off his white lapel and Ornette wished she was the one to do that for him. She never wished for that sort of thing when she dealt with owners. The screen panned back to Rowan and she realized she¡¯d been staring with her true emotions on her face, which was something she must never do. But no one would have noticed. No one was watching her. They were focused on Rowan, Mikayla, Varner, and Desmond. She would see Desmond later. He would surprise her by showing up somewhere unexpected. A helocarrier, a revolving door, the lobby of the dorms, in her room¡­ In her bed. She wanted him to be Goldilocks for once and get in the wrong bed. Please let it be hers. Rowan slapped his paddle against his shoulder. ¡°Five hundred thousand.¡± Mikayla blew him a kiss and a third paddle went up. Ornette didn¡¯t know him. He was just some other guy. He was from the businessman side, but he suddenly bid five hundred and fifty thousand. A fourth completely different man bid six hundred thousand and Desmond did not bid again. Across the stage, across all the seats, over all the heads between them, Ornette had her eyes on Desmond. He was close to the back and most of her view of him was blocked, but she could see his white head and it looked for all the world like he was staring back at her. Rowan lost the bidding. Someone else took Mikayla home. As they finished up the show Ornette fished the tube of stickum Desmond had given her out of her bodice and put it on the first two fingers and the thumb of her right-hand glove. If she ruined them, she was sure Desmond could cover for her. She stowed the tube next to the other tube in her bra and went down to the afterparty. As usual, she was swamped by a load of new admirers. Fen, Joel, and Hans were not allowed to approach her. They¡¯d already had their fun. It was easy to steer the crowd toward Rowan and it wasn¡¯t long before she was meeting him. He was more impressive up close than he had been across the auditorium. Up close, he was tall with hands like pudgy claws, but he also had very full, very messy, eyebrows. Ornette gushed on command. She pulled him a little closer to her. ¡°Do you have any idea how distinguished your eyes are?¡± He looked surprised, almost like he¡¯d never heard a woman compliment him before. That couldn¡¯t be true. Venus was swarming with gorgeous women who had married unfortunate-looking men for their money and had unfortunate-looking daughters as a consequence, but they all had surgery and improved their situation. Ornette had been the daughter of just such a woman. She had just had the luck to resemble her mother instead of her father. The point was that even if the women on Venus were not born with astounding good looks, they all had them in the end. If no one had complimented him before¡­ That was a red flag. Desmond had really thrown her to the lions. Provoking a man who was so icky he had never been complimented by a pretty little gold digger was a dangerous move. Ornette didn¡¯t trust Desmond to protect her. You didn¡¯t buy a woman so you could protect her. You bought a woman so she could protect you. Ornette smiled even bigger. She couldn¡¯t help it. Even if that was the situation, that was always the situation. She¡¯d been selling herself for decades. She still thought Desmond was the finest man who had ever been her owner. So she smiled at Rowan like he was Desmond and told him he had powerful eyes and then she carefully smoothed out his eyebrows with her sticky thumb on the one side. It was dark in the reception hall. The sky must have been covered by a black cloud instead of a gold one. She couldn¡¯t see if she¡¯d got a hair from his eyebrow, so she let her right hand go over his shoulder and into his blond hair at the nape of his neck. She thought he would object to her touching him like that, but if she didn¡¯t get the hair, she¡¯d be shoving her tongue down his throat. She muttered things in his ear that she wanted to say to Desmond, but could not. ¡°You looked so powerful when you were bidding on Mikayla. I thought she was so lucky.¡± ¡°But I didn¡¯t get her,¡± he commented ruefully. She was about to say more when Papa Bear himself pulled her off him. Ornette had never experienced anything so forcefully flirtatious in her entire life. Varner came up to her, pulled her hand away from Rowan, and swung her into his arms. Their eyes met and he gave her a look that read, ¡®You can¡¯t behave like this. You¡¯re mine.¡¯ She was astonished and said absolutely nothing. He didn¡¯t wait longer than two seconds for her to respond before he threw her over his shoulder and said noisily, ¡°This one is mine tonight.¡± Over his shoulder, Ornette balled her right hand together. If she was lucky she got a hair. Chapter Nineteen Chapter Nineteen Ornette was taken to a private room off the side of the reception hall. More than anything, it reminded her of the back of a limo with cramped quarters, plush seats, and drinks. Once inside the room, Varner lowered Ornette to her feet with a series of gentle, but firm touches. She was uncomfortable with the gaze he directed toward her, but she kept looking back at him without averting her eyes. Eventually, he dropped out of their staring contest by letting his gaze travel down until it rested on her clenched fist. He curled his hand around her fingers gently. ¡°You can relax, you know. Nothing is going to happen. You know the rules of the game.¡± Ornette followed his suit and stepped away from him to remove her gloves. She started by taking off the right glove. The room was more lit than the hall they had just left and she saw that she had accomplished her design with Rowan. There were a few hairs sneaking out from between her clenched fingers. The stickum would hold the hairs in place without her clenching her fist. She folded the glove up casually like it was a ribbon and placed it on the glass coffee table top in the middle of the leather sofas. ¡°What do you want from me, Varner?¡± she asked, still casual. Actually, she was light as a feather. She didn¡¯t wait for him to answer and continued stripping her arms of her accessories. The bracelet came off and then the ring. ¡°I want you to look at me,¡± he said smugly. Obediently, she raised her gaze to meet his. ¡°Done.¡± ¡°No,¡± he amended. ¡°I want you to look at me the way you look at Desmond Falstead.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re talking about,¡± she refuted. ¡°I saw you,¡± Varner persisted. ¡°I saw you looking at him during the bidding. I know Sleeping Beauty Inc. models aren¡¯t supposed to fall in love with their owners, or anyone else, but when he was bidding on Mikayla, your interest was all over your face.¡± ¡°I just get turned on by bidding. That¡¯s part of the reason I sell myself. I love the bidding process. It¡¯s so sexy when men will say how much they¡¯re willing to pay for what they want.¡± It was a lie. She hoped he wouldn¡¯t know the difference. Ornette actually found the whole bidding process a soul-sucking nightmare, but she would rather anything than admit to Varner that her heart of stone had beat for Desmond. Would he buy her story? Varner inclined his head. He was willing to accept the excuse, probably because he didn¡¯t know enough about Ornette to call her on her pretenses. ¡°You¡¯ve seen the footage of how I behave,¡± she began. ¡°Would you like to have the version of me who lived under Fen¡¯s arm? Maybe the version who went out to dinner with Joel? Or would you prefer the version of me that Hans tucked into his very own bed?¡± She was teasing him and he was jumping for the bait. ¡°I want a version you make for me,¡± he said playfully. Ornette raised her eyebrows and refrained from saying anything close to the truth. Varner¡¯s comment showed how much he did not care for her. If he was truly interested in who she was, he would not want a version of her that she created to please him. He would want who she really was. He was not interested in that. He wanted a version of her that was made to please him. She removed her other glove and placed it on the table. ¡°Are you going to ask me to sit down or are we going to stand here bickering until my handlers come to take me away?¡± He sat down and pulled her onto his lap. His lap was enormous. His chest was enormous. His shoulders were enormous and, at close quarters, even his head was enormous. Ornette was nothing on his lap. She was a doll¡­ who had to start breathing like a dragon to keep herself from panicking. Her left arm had already begun to shake and it was hard to hide that kind of thing when she was in a man¡¯s lap. Varner noticed immediately and put his hand over Ornette¡¯s. ¡°What¡¯s the matter? Haven¡¯t you ever sat in a man¡¯s lap before?¡± Of course, she had, but he was huge and she was terrified. Her brain was refusing to give her a play. She should be able to turn the situation on its head. She should be able to say something that would put him in his place or repel him somehow. She should say something that made her less sexy or something. Anything. He pulled her into a hug. ¡°It¡¯s okay,¡± he whispered. ¡°What do you mean, ¡®It¡¯s okay¡¯?¡± she hissed back. In her experience, a man telling her it was okay was a precursor to something absolutely not okay happening. She didn¡¯t know what kind of control Varner had over her bracelet. He said she knew the rules of the game, but she didn¡¯t feel like she did. It didn¡¯t seem like he and Desmond were working together, but it did seem like Varner had more control over the situation than he showed. He was the MC of the show for pity¡¯s sake.The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. ¡°Nothing bad is going to happen tonight,¡± he said to her soothingly. ¡°I¡¯m your Papa Bear, little Goldilocks.¡± They were being filmed. That was why he mentioned his role in the show. She stopped trembling instantly. ¡°Have you brought any of the other models into this room with you?¡± He nodded. ¡°Which ones?¡± ¡°Claudia, Orpah, Clandestine, and you.¡± ¡°So, you brought someone here during each afterparty?¡± she persisted. He nodded again. She got up off him. ¡°Sorry, I made a mistake. For a second, I thought I was special to you in some way. You made that big fuss over me on the first day, and you pulled me away from Desmond when I was dancing with him last week and away from Rowan tonight. I thought maybe something was happening between us. Now I see that is not true.¡± He tried to pull her back, but she was fast enough to evade him. She thought that was a lucky happenstance. She hadn¡¯t always been lucky. ¡°Wait, I¡¯m supposed to bring a different woman in here each week,¡± he tried to explain. ¡°Yes. I know. It¡¯s for the show. I¡¯m in here with you because it¡¯s for the show. That¡¯s fine. I¡¯m here with you. Would you like me to fix you a drink?¡± He moved so he was sitting on the edge of his seat. ¡°Yes. I met with the other contestants because the producers of the show asked me to, but I did it so subtly that you didn¡¯t even know I did it. I carried you in here over my shoulder! Everyone knows I brought you in here. Everyone knows I singled you out. You¡¯re my favorite.¡± Ornette hesitated. His speech had been a little moving, but she did not jump into his arms. ¡°Why am I your favorite?¡± He would have won harder if he hadn¡¯t hesitated. ¡°I¡­ uh¡­¡± She laughed. ¡°Do I remind you of Goldilocks? Am I a better Goldilocks than Claudia because I¡¯m smaller, like a little girl?¡± ¡°Uh¡­¡± He tripped over himself again. ¡°I should tell you right now that I am a woman. I¡¯m also older than Claudia and quite a few of the others. I¡¯m in my forties. I¡¯ve just been in cryostasis so long that I haven¡¯t aged properly. That¡¯s because I¡¯m less popular than the other girls. I¡¯m the least popular of the Sleeping Beauty Inc. models you guys purchased. That¡¯s why I¡¯m number twelve.¡± Varner¡¯s face changed. Perceived value was a serious thing on Venus. What something appeared to be worth meant a lot. He had mistaken her value, but why? ¡°Why am I your favorite?¡± she asked, getting on her knees to bring herself to his level like he was a child who needed the adults in his life to be more understanding of his situation. The motion was nothing like a woman abasing herself for a man. ¡°Maybe you¡¯re not,¡± he said with a cocky grin. It was a terrible smile. It started with his tongue in his cheek and ended in a flash of white teeth. It was the smile of someone who knew he had the advantage. Nothing Ornette could do would turn the tables on him. Not really. She could banter. She could pretend to put him down, but in the end, he held all the cards and the only thing protecting her was the fact that they were making a show, so he didn¡¯t want to bloody her up to put her in her place. Nor did he want to screw around with her and ruin her value to the other participants. ¡°Maybe you¡¯re not special,¡± he continued, leaning forward and towering over her. ¡°Maybe that¡¯s what I like about you. Maybe I like that you¡¯re the cheapest. Maybe I like that you¡¯ve been sold so many times and you still look like that. You¡¯re not that many ticks below Claudia, you know, and she¡¯s been sold four times. You¡¯ve been sold fourteen times. She won¡¯t look as good as you after she¡¯s been sold fourteen times. You¡¯re made for this kind of thing, aren¡¯t you? Made to be used by a man?¡± He licked the corner of his mouth suggestively. ¡°It¡¯s hot.¡± Ornette had been knocked off her game by the close quarters of his body. She had started trembling in his arms and that had embarrassed her. She leaned forward and whispered, ¡°Do you want to hear a story about what this Goldilocks did to a Papa Bear who took things too far?¡± He looked so into her that he was going to start salivating around his fangs like a real bear. Ornette placed herself next to him on the other side of the armrest of the sofa. She didn¡¯t have to lift herself that far up to put her mouth right in his ear. ¡°One time,¡± she began. ¡°I had an owner who was in a wheelchair. He got in the habit of shocking me with my bracelet whenever I was slow to respond to his call. His use of my buzzer was so common that he was shocking me several times a day. Finally, I¡¯d had enough. I was nearby. He called me. I stood behind his chair and waited for him to shock me. When he did, I shoved my bracelet and half my arm with it in his mouth.¡± Varner gasped. ¡°What happened?¡± ¡°I blackened his lips and left marks on his face. He filed a charge against me, but when the evidence was examined, the judge ruled against him for violating our contract. I was dismissed from serving him and Sleeping Beauty Inc. let me go back to work for them without a mark on my record. Except, after this round and being on this show, I¡¯m not going back to Sleeping Beauty Inc. Try me.¡± She backed off and said in a sing-song voice. ¡°You¡¯re right, I am cheaper than the other girls.¡± When she saw Varner¡¯s face at what she said, she couldn¡¯t tell what effect it had had on him. Was he like Fen who wanted to pull her into his arms and let what little love could exist between them take over? Was he like Joel who wanted to make plans, but needed more information before he could make a decision? He didn¡¯t want to get screwed over. Or was he like Hans who just wanted a cheap thrill? Varner didn¡¯t move at all. He just looked at her like he had no idea what to say. She sighed. ¡°Thank you. With that out of the way, would you like me to fix you a drink?¡± ¡°Yes,¡± he said like he wasn¡¯t struggling to say what he wanted. ¡°Would you like it too hot or too cold?¡± she said bitingly. ¡°Don¡¯t answer that. I know you want it too hot.¡± He smiled and gave her a look that let her know he was enjoying himself immensely. ¡°That¡¯s going to make a great sound bite.¡± ¡°I know,¡± she said as she flicked the switch to start the coffee maker. Chapter Twenty Chapter Twenty Half an hour later, Varner let Ornette leave his private room. After her comment about him wanting his drink too hot, he spent most of the reception talking to someone from the control room. They were unhappy because whatever Ornette had whispered into Varner¡¯s ear had not been properly picked up. He¡¯d knocked his microphone off when he hefted her onto his shoulder and he hadn¡¯t fixed it when he put her down. The sound guys were asking Varner to make her repeat it, but she would not. She said she couldn¡¯t share that kind of confidence more than once. It was a shame they hadn¡¯t caught it. Varner drank his coffee. It was tiny, an espresso, and he watched Ornette as she crammed her leftover jewelry into the bodice of her dress (along with all the other things she¡¯d crammed down there), and carried her gloves in her hands. Once back with the other guests, the party was basically over and she was the last one to go through the revolving door, Desmond pulled her into the secret room installed as part of the door. ¡°Did you get it?¡± She slapped the gloves in his open palm. ¡°I think so.¡± Ornette expected him to toss her out so that no one would guess she¡¯d gone missing, but instead, he said softly, ¡°There was footage of Fen kissing you.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°There was footage of Joel kissing you. Did Hans kiss you too?¡± ¡°No, but he touched me everywhere he could that didn¡¯t constitute a sexual act or a pelvic exam,¡± she admitted. ¡°They edited it out?¡± he asked, his navy eyes looking both sorry and peeved at the same time. ¡°I didn¡¯t see the aired show,¡± she said airily, ¡°so if they didn¡¯t show anything like that, then I guess they did.¡± ¡°What about Varner?¡± Desmond continued. ¡°Just now. Did he kiss you in his little room?¡± ¡°No,¡± she answered, trying to look bored. She wanted her expression to look exactly the way he looked when he bid on Mikayla. ¡°And you didn¡¯t have to kiss Rowan. You got a hair.¡± ¡°If I had kissed Rowan, it would have been your fault. You asked me to do that for you. Listen, I have to go.¡± She reached down into the bodice of her dress and pulled out the vial he¡¯d asked her to collect her spit in if she¡¯d had to kiss Rowan and the vial of stickum she¡¯d used on her gloves. ¡°You may as well have these back. Please, sneak into my bedroom later. I want you in my bed tonight if you have nothing better to do.¡± He took the vials from her as casually as someone accepted a cigarette¡ªthe first one between two fingers and the second one between three. ¡°I don¡¯t know if I can come back,¡± he said, looking bored. It was the exact expression she found the most attractive on his face. She licked her cupid¡¯s bow. She had to do something to replace the motion of kissing or she was going to kiss him. Seeing him was as good as she¡¯d hoped. Wanting him badly, she said saucily, ¡°If you¡¯re so bothered by who has been kissing me, I don¡¯t think you¡¯ll be able to stay away.¡± She didn¡¯t wait for him to reply, but gathered her skirt and swept out of the small space and back into the revolving door. She slapped his door shut and then banged on the glass revolving door like she was trapped. Yilin came back, but Ornette pretended to have gotten whatever was stalling the door fixed and came careening through it before Yilin got to her. No one noticed anything was out of the ordinary. Ornette went to the changing room with the other contestants and turned over her dress and jewelry which would be going up for auction. ¡°Where are your gloves?¡± The Coordinator wanted to know when she didn¡¯t include them in the pile of items she was returning. ¡°I lost them. I took them off in the room with Varner and then¡­ I don¡¯t know what happened to them. Is it a big deal if they can¡¯t be replaced?¡± It was at that moment that the seamstress from Hans¡¯ workshop stepped forward. ¡°I have a spare set of charcoal satin gloves that were made for Ornette if you can¡¯t find the red ones.¡± ¡°Thank you,¡± The Coordinator said absently as his eyes traveled over his checklist. He was barely paying attention to Ornette, but his eyes did travel downwards to see the seamstress place the extra gloves on the pile. He thanked her again. ¡°If we find the red gloves, what should we do with the charcoal ones?¡±This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. ¡°Send them back to Hans. I¡¯m sure he¡¯d like them as a keepsake,¡± the seamstress replied. She gave Ornette a look that was neither pity nor admiration. Then she nodded and disappeared toward the exit. ¡°I¡¯m sure they¡¯ll turn up. I just had them,¡± Ornette said to The Coordinator. He nodded like he was too busy to care. ¡°What¡¯s most important is that the jewelry didn¡¯t go missing. We¡¯re having these auctions every week. Did anyone tell you that your golden eagle dress sold for the most money in the first round of auctions?¡± ¡°No,¡± Ornette balked. That was nice to hear. She bet that made Fen happy. ¡°Who bought it?¡± ¡°They¡¯re silent anonymous auctions. They don¡¯t tell who bought the things.¡± ¡°Has the auction for the sporty dress happened already?¡± The Coordinator nodded. ¡°Your dress wasn¡¯t the highest seller, but it did pretty well. It¡¯s just as important that we get high bids when we sell off your clothes as when we sell you off. The jewelry designed by you and Clockwork Hans should bring in a small fortune.¡± He paused and looked at Ornette like he hadn¡¯t realized who he was talking to. ¡°What are you still doing here? Get to bed.¡± Ornette ducked out. She didn¡¯t have to wait for the other contestants now that everyone knew their way around the complex. In her dressing gown and slippers, she walked back to her room. Once inside, she was starving, but there was nothing to eat. She went and got a drink from the fridge. She got a meal replacement and drank it as she wandered around her suite. Wandering around got her thinking and wondering how Desmond had entered her room the night he snuck in. He hadn¡¯t come in through the door. There was another entrance. Wandering around, she looked for panels or fixtures against walls that were large enough for a person to fit through. She found three. One was behind the medicine cabinet in the bathroom, but that came off the wall without a hitch. The wall was unbroken behind it and putting the cabinet back on the wall was a pain. The second one was a bookcase in the living room that didn¡¯t have any books on it, but just little statues and plants. She cleared the shelves and moved the case, but again, the wall was unbroken. The third was her closet. The closet was mostly empty. There were a few things that had been given to her, but mostly, it was empty. It was made for someone who came with a lot of clothes to do a show they were filming on the premises. The shoe rack was the thing that was most interesting and most suspicious. It was round and fat, a huge cylinder that rotated. Ornette counted the places where shoes could be displayed. The shelving unit could hold a hundred and twenty pairs of shoes. Could someone fit in the shaft and open a door inside? Ornette looked at it again and decided that was how Desmond could come and go from her room. Ornette got really involved with the shoe rack. She got right up in its face to see if she could pull the rack apart or what she had to do to get it to open and show how he¡¯d got in. It was a locked box. After a little examination, she gave up. There was no way to crack it apart. ¡°Come on, Desmond,¡± she started whispering into the shaft of the shoe rack. ¡°Come on. Sneak in here. I didn¡¯t want you before, but I want you now. I want you so bad, I can¡¯t even¡­ Give me something else to do... a little mission to keep me busy, to make me useful to you. Tell me you¡¯re the Cheshire Cat and wrap your tail around me.¡± She scratched the shaft, but nothing happened. Even if nothing else, she felt a little better having said what she was thinking out loud. Slowly, she lolled away from the shoe rack, turned out most of the lights, and slipped out of the underclothes they¡¯d given her to wear under Hans¡¯ gown. She let the panties and the corset fall to the ground before she snatched up the housecoat and wore it into the bathroom. She brushed her teeth, letting the robe gape open. Slipping a hand into her hair, her tresses were stiff like cardboard from the handiwork of the hairdresser. She started the water. She needed a shower. And she needed to change her mind. Ornette had her habit of forgetting whatever happened to her each day at the end of the day. The cycle of working on Goldilocks Zone meant that her daily cycle was being replaced with a weekly one because that was when she got a new man. That meant she hadn¡¯t been forgetting her day properly at the end of the night. The shower water would help remind her who she really was. Once in the shower, the water was nice at first, but it became less so as Ornette was forced to shampoo her hair over and over again to get all the product out. She wondered how much money the show was spending on water for her hair and how much would not be given to orphans on their way to Cerise. When she finished, she was finally tired. She laid two towels over her pillow and went to sleep in her housecoat. She picked up the gloves Desmond had sent her. They were on the nightstand. She put one on and perked up. There was a piece of paper inside the glove. She had worn the gloves earlier. There hadn¡¯t been a piece of paper in them before. She pulled it loose and unfolded it. I missed you. He had come in while she was in the shower. He couldn¡¯t wait around so he¡¯d left. She snatched up the second glove. The note inside that one read: I¡¯ll give you a month. Her jaw dropped. Of all the things she¡¯d ever been promised by owners if she did a good job, she had never been offered for him to become her slave! And for a whole month! Ornette melted into the bed. He had to be lying. Obviously, she knew he was lying, but it was such a wonderful lie that she fell asleep on it and dreamed of floating through orange clouds with a man with navy eyes. Chapter Twenty One Chapter Twenty One The businessman Ornette was paired with for the second official week was a man of industry. His company was Venus Floats. They manufactured the base of the floating city. His name was Westen Falks. She was supposed to meet him at the reception the night before, but she had been preoccupied with Rowen and then she was hauled off by Varner, so she¡¯d missed her chance. Regardless, Westen was a man of business, and she was sent an itinerary that she was forced to read over during breakfast. Instead of making an ad campaign, she was supposed to go around to each of his factories and do some internal relations work by handing out swag to his employees. His situation was unique on Venus. He didn¡¯t need to do public relations. Everyone on Venus needed his services. If a panel of floating city started sagging, it was up to his company to get it rising again. Not only that, but no one could build on Venus without first purchasing a floating panel from him. There were a bunch of companies that held indestructible monopolies. There were the companies that controlled the floating panels: Venus Floats worked with the company that made the bubbles that went over individual properties and city districts, Bubble Works, and the company that filtered and supplied air to all those places, Air Supply. They were all owned by the same people, the same connection of friends and family. In this round, Ornette was the only one who was sent to work for one of the big wigs. The itinerary was laid out for her. Day 1: Lunch with Westen. Shopping for wardrobe and toiletries. Day 2: Tour of Bayara Factory. Travel to Sholpan destination and arrive in the morning. Day 3: Tour of Sholpan Factory. Travel to Vishera Vallis and arrive in the morning. Day 4: Tour of Vishera Vallis Factory. Travel to Vakarine Vallis, will arrive early. Day 5: Tour of Vakarine Vallis Factory. Return to floating city Nepra Day 6: Dress fitting. Dinner with Westen. Day 7: Goldilocks Zone filming. The biggest question Ornette had was whether or not Westen was going to accompany her to all these locations himself, or if he was going to send her on her own. She chewed her breakfast slowly. She was not in a rush to go to lunch with Westen. Once she finished her breakfast, she had to go back to her room and do everything she could do to make herself look fantastic. She had things to wear to her other meetings, but she was running out. There wasn¡¯t much left in her overnight bag. After breakfast, she found The Coordinator and explained her problem. He gazed down at her like he was so busy he couldn¡¯t be bothered. ¡°Didn¡¯t you see on your itinerary that you¡¯re going shopping today?¡± ¡°Yeah, but isn¡¯t that just clothes for this week?¡± Ornette countered. ¡°It¡¯s okay if you show up for the luncheon in brown paper. The sadder you look, the more likely Westen is to fork out a decent amount of money for your things. Go in what you¡¯re wearing now.¡± Ornette looked down. She was wearing a white sports bra with a tie-dye maxi shirt and the runners she¡¯d got from Joel. ¡°Really? This is fine?¡± The Coordinator looked down at her body until his eyes rested on her bare stomach. ¡°Ornette, you¡¯re winning this game.¡± ¡°There are no winners at this game,¡± she replied. ¡°There are two winners. One is the model who stays in the game the longest. The other winner is the one who gets Papa Bear to bid on her. You¡¯re well on your way to winning both.¡± Ornette struggled. ¡°And what does a girl get if she achieves the highest bid? What does she get if she gets Varner to bid on her?¡± Desmond had told her that there were cash prizes for the girls and the figures earned were based on how long they managed to stay on the show, but he hadn¡¯t given actual numbers, so it was hard to get excited. The Coordinator looked at her like she was stupid. ¡°Why are you trying so hard at this if you¡¯re not interested in winning just for the glory of it?¡± She gave him a dead-eyed stare. ¡°I haven¡¯t been trying.¡± His eyes bugged out. ¡°You¡¯re not?¡± ¡°No. I¡¯m not. If I¡¯m doing well, it¡¯s because the game is rigged to suit someone who is a good Sleeping Beauty Inc. model. That¡¯s all.¡± The Coordinator¡¯s expression grew more and more puzzled. Finally, he averted his gaze and went back to looking at the tablet in his hands. ¡°Uh¡­ There are rewards. Trust me. Rewards are in store for you if you keep doing what you¡¯re doing. You don¡¯t need better clothes than what you have on. What you¡¯re wearing now will mildly offend Westen, so in that case, you¡¯re right, but it¡¯s okay to offend him. He¡¯ll buy you the most wonderful clothes to match his ego.¡±If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. Ornette rolled her shoulders in response and went to her bathroom to do her makeup and hair. If she had to wear what she was wearing, she¡¯d have to beef up her game in other areas. If she didn¡¯t even want to win, what was she even doing? *** Lunch was at the same extravagant restaurant Hans where had taken Ornette, except Westen got a private room because he was one of the wealthiest men on the planet, far wealthier than Hans who only made timepieces. Westen was a man of fifty with all his hair, blue eyes that looked as intelligent as helium balloons at a fair, and a smile permanently affixed to his face. Yet, even though he couldn¡¯t stop smiling, he still managed to look disapproving of Ornette¡¯s outfit. Otherwise, he put her in a chair across from him, ordered what she would eat for lunch without consulting her, and explained to her that he enjoyed fashion and he had made arrangements for her to be dressed by a clothing supplier he knew. He made the whole thing sound very low-key, like nothing at all, but Ornette didn''t think that could be true. ¡°Did you already choose what you want me to wear for the four days I¡¯m touring factories?¡± she nodded. He nodded. ¡°I¡¯m sorry. You must be disappointed.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not disappointed. I¡¯m sure you chose beautiful things for me to wear,¡± she replied, and she smiled. He was an idiot, and Ornette was looking down on him as she smiled at him. Okay, he wasn¡¯t a complete idiot, but he was going to pay for a shopping spree for her whether he liked it or not. If he had bought her clothes from a private designer¡¯s collection, those clothes would not be her size. They would be made for women who were taller with smaller breasts. He was about to watch her try on a collection of clothes she would either swim in or not be able to do up. At least he fed her. The food he ordered for her was actual food and it filled her. It was fish that had been raised on Venus at a fish farm. Ornette hadn¡¯t had anything that delicious to eat since she was a little girl and she thanked him, not only for lunch, but for ordering something so perfect for her to eat. ¡°Thank you,¡± she said sincerely. ¡°If you choose clothes as well as you choose lunch, I¡¯m in very good hands.¡± They finished eating and he took her in his private helocarrier to the clothing supplier. When they got inside the vehicle, he directed her attention to the pilot. ¡°This is Stonic. He¡¯s our pilot today, but he¡¯ll also be transporting you to the factories. You¡¯re going to spend a lot of time with him.¡± Ornette did not look at the pilot. She looked at Westen. ¡°Aren¡¯t you coming with me to tour the factories?¡± He was about to answer her when the answer popped into her head and then out of her mouth. ¡°But that would defeat the purpose of having a spokesperson to do the rounds for you,¡± she supplied. Westen smiled. ¡°Exactly right. Let¡¯s just have a good time today and then I¡¯ll see you again for your dress fitting on the last day.¡± ¡°Perfect,¡± she said compliantly. Then she turned to give her attention to the pilot who was going to be her actual owner for the next few days. The first thing she noticed about him was that he had a wildly boyish face. He looked like a baby who had never grown up with enormous dimples. He turned in his pilot chair, hooked his headphones around his neck, and shook her hand with vigor. ¡°He¡¯s not my man,¡± Westen explained. ¡°He¡¯s on loan from Sleeping Beauty Inc., so he has a bracelet like you. He used to pilot models between the moons of Jupiter, so he has so much experience dealing with women like you that he can be trusted completely.¡± Stonic had never flown Ornette before, but she wasn¡¯t surprised that Sleeping Beauty Inc. brought a few of their boys home for this very week so that other models could be ferried around without their potential buyers present. With that, Stonic turned back to the controls and within a few minutes, they were up in the air. At the clothing supplier, Ornette met the tailor. It was a bent man who had worked for Westen¡¯s family for decades and just as Ornette predicted, not a single thing he had in the place fit her. She tried on everything and when she came out of the dressing room with the sagging or stretched piece of clothing she tried to make it sound like the piece of clothing was not at fault. It was her who was wrong and she could make what they¡¯d given her work. Piece after unfitting piece, Westen got more and more uneasy. The tailor struggled. He didn¡¯t want to let his best client down, but he was not used to dressing a woman of Ornette¡¯s height. He was trying to fit her in trousers and low-cut tops, exactly as his boss asked him. The legs of the trousers were too long. The tops were worse as they were made of stretchy material that was really meant to hang loose, but Ornette¡¯s shape contorted them so that she was showing so much of her breasts as to make her look utterly unprofessional for the task at hand. After the fortieth try, Ornette heard the tailor on the phone arranging for a petite clothing supplier to send some clothes immediately. What should they bring? Anything her size. He was reading her measurements off on the phone the way a fighter pilot sends bogie coordinates. Five hundred miles an hour simply wasn¡¯t fast enough. He ordered from three places while his underling hemmed a pair of pants for her. All the while, Westen got increasingly peeved. The tailor emerged from the back room. ¡°I have some children¡¯s clothes in storage and a friend of mine who specializes in dressing petite women is sending some of her samples over. They should be here within the hour.¡± ¡°I leave it in your hands,¡± Westen said, realizing that it would be more trouble than it was worth to stand around and wait for the tailor to work it out. He didn¡¯t say anything to Ornette on his way out. Ornette watched him go with a smile on her face. She wasn¡¯t going to have to deal with him! After Hans, she was delighted not to have to bother with another handsy man. She was not properly dressed for the tour of the factories until after dinner. The toiletries had been ordered and were set to be delivered to the studio dorms by morning. She did not see Westen before she was picked up by Stonic in his helocarrier and returned to the dorms. He gave her a reminder of what time he would be there to collect her to take her to the first factory. It was part of Nepra, so it wasn¡¯t a long ride first thing in the morning. He told her that the back of the helocarrier would be configured differently and she wouldn¡¯t have to worry that there wouldn¡¯t be a place for her to sleep while they traveled. There would be. The back would have two beds and two seats. ¡°One bed for you and one bed for me?¡± she asked, trying to be friendly. ¡°Yes,¡± he said, obviously anxious to finish their conversation and be on his way. Ornette complied and got out of the helocarrier. She strode into the dorms. She was tired. Long days filled with clothes made her happy, but they also tired her out. She walked in just in time to see Desmond leaving the lobby. He went a different direction than the way to the contestant dorms, but the man was in the building. Ornette smiled at The Coordinator as she came in. ¡°Did you get some good clothes?¡± he asked sharply. She scrunched her nose. ¡°Yes! I got the best clothes.¡± Naturally, she did not get the best clothes, but Desmond was in the building and if he was in the building, she thought he might show up in Goldilocks¡¯ house and sit in her chair or take a nap in her bed. The thought put a naughty smile on her face. Chapter Twenty Two Chapter Chapter Twenty Two The next day, Ornette was picked up from the dorms by Stonic. He was taking her to the Bayara factory (which was only a few hours away), and afterward, he was taking her to the next place on their itinerary, the Sholpan factory. Ornette got in the front seat of the helocarrier beside Stonic and covered her ears. Stonic barely looked at her. He seemed like the type of person who didn¡¯t properly wake up until mid-morning or early afternoon, so she kept interactions to a minimum. Glancing over her shoulder, she saw that the back of the helocarrier was more like the inside of an RV than anything else. There were two twin beds set close to the walls. There was a bathroom in the back and a kitchen so tiny, it was a sink and a fridge. There was a wardrobe that had her clothes at the head of her bed. It was clear the back of the vehicle was interchangeable and they had made up the design to handle Ornette and Stonic¡¯s days of travel. They arrived at the Bayara factory before Stonic had woken up to one hundred percent. Ornette took off her headphones, fluffed her hair, and went to meet the factory workers. Ornette should not have been surprised by what the factory was like, but she was. The factory was not a factory. All the pieces needed for the manufacturing of the floating pieces were made elsewhere (most likely Ceres) and they were sent to Venus. The thirty people who worked at the factory were expected to do little more than oversee the machines that put the pieces together. Westen had sent a personalized care basket for each of the workers, so Ornette went into the factory, had a little tour, and then met every single person who worked there for a special little brunch where she laughed and talked with the workers. Then she handed out the care baskets. They were each a little different depending on how long each employee had worked for the company. Apparently, Westen did not want to hire new employees so he was quite willing to reward the longer-lasting workers. There was no other company hierarchy. No one had a higher position than anyone else, no matter what their job was. They all reported to an HR worker at company headquarters in Nepra, and no one had a position anywhere near Westen¡¯s in the company. It was his company and that was all there was to it. The HR worker in charge of their factory didn¡¯t make more money either. The only reason their job existed seemed to be to stop Westen from having to talk to his employees directly. That had to be avoided. Ornette tried to be comfortable. She tried to be friendly, bouncy, encouraging, and everything else a good spokesperson was, but she was very uncomfortable. She knew firsthand that the working conditions on Ceres were unregulated and being with the workers on Venus and seeing their comfortable spaces and their perfect little lives made her a little sick. She found her left arm trembling more often than that. When she was finally finished, she said goodbye and went back to the helocarrier. Stonic was passed out in the back. Ornette didn¡¯t wake him. She bet he had a timer set on his bracelet. Someone from Sleeping Beauty Inc. would have set it and they wouldn¡¯t let him sleep longer than he was allowed. Ornette removed the most painful parts of her outfit: her shoes, her jacket, and her belt before peeling back the cover on her bed and getting in. She was exhausted as she placed her head on her pillow so it was a bit of a shock when Stonic¡¯s alarm went off. With no lead-up, he sat bolt upright in bed and almost shouted to Ornette, ¡°It¡¯s time to move into the front seat, Ma¡¯am.¡± Ornette rubbed her neck and sat up. ¡°Great. Let¡¯s go.¡± She had bedhead when she got into the front seat and put on her earphones. Stonic looked the same as he did before his nap, like his hair didn¡¯t move, like he didn¡¯t wear makeup to get smeared by sweat, like he was used to doing whatever his job required within seconds of achieving consciousness. They started flying. The clouds were deep and thick and swirled around them. The strong winds knocked the helocarrier around. Ornette did not expect Stonic to say anything, which was why she was in for another surprise when he tilted his head toward her and asked, ¡°How are you doing? Are you good? Are you awake or did you go back to sleep?¡± ¡°I¡¯m awake,¡± she answered in her microphone as she stifled a yawn. ¡°I¡¯m awake. I just¡­ really enjoyed sleeping.¡± ¡°Missing cryostasis?¡± he asked with a smile directed toward her. ¡°There is something pretty magical about cryostasis,¡± she agreed. ¡°You¡¯ll be back to sleep again in no time,¡± he responded with a dark chuckle. ¡°Listen,¡± he said, changing the flow of their small talk. ¡°Sleeping Beauty Inc. isn¡¯t super impressed with what Papa Bear and the others are doing on their show. They¡¯re annoyed that they haven¡¯t revealed who the owners are to their models and they¡¯re taking matters into their own hands. You have to know who your owner is in accordance with Sleeping Beauty Inc.¡¯s contract with you. Since they won¡¯t tell you, head office is going behind enemy lines to inform each contestant of who her true owner is.¡± ¡°Mine is Desmond Falstead, isn¡¯t it?¡± Ornette questioned. ¡°You know?¡± ¡°He told me.¡± ¡°Good. If he told you, you¡¯re the only one who has been told. I don¡¯t know why they¡¯re keeping it a secret when it means they¡¯re violating their contracts. Under normal circumstances, Sleeping Beauty Inc. would cancel the contracts and bring their models home, except for the show, so they''ll going to be charged penalties, which would mean more money for the company and the models¡­¡± He trailed off, realizing he¡¯d said too much.You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. ¡°But because Desmond told me I belong to him, I don¡¯t get the same bonus?¡± Ornette finished for him. ¡°Y-yeah,¡± he stuttered. ¡°Sorry. That must be a disappointment for you.¡± Ornette looked out the window instead of looking at Stonic. ¡°Desmond is a shrewd man. There¡¯s no way he would be in violation of his contract. He¡¯s too careful for that. So¡­ I know his name is Desmond Falstead and that he has my bracelet on his arm. I don¡¯t know another thing. Even if it doesn¡¯t give me a bonus, is there anything else you can tell me about him?¡± ¡°Off the top of my head, he¡¯s the great-nephew of Silver Ashley.¡± Ornette sucked in her breath hearing that. If Venus had anything like a queen, it was Silver Ashley. She used her enormous wealth to build the first of the floating cities on Venus. She was an astronaut, a scientist, a quadrillionaire (even with the forgiving decimal point), and rather famous for being partly mad. It had been fifty years since the end of Silver Ashley¡¯s hay day, but she was still alive. She had her own floating city called Nimbus. Everyone who lived there worked for her. And Desmond was part of her family¡­ which made everything more curious. ¡°He¡¯s her sister¡¯s grandchild,¡± Stonic supplied. ¡°So why would a guy like that choose the cheapest model to play his game?¡± Ornette questioned, keeping her voice neutral in the microphone. ¡°How am I supposed to know that?¡± Stonic groaned. ¡°All I know is that Silver Ashley has a lot of nephews and great-nephews. He¡¯s one of them, but he¡¯s one of the boys who has a good reputation with her. A lot of the members of her family have been disinherited, but he hasn¡¯t. He¡¯s a good boy.¡± ¡°Even with this game, he¡¯s playing publicly?¡± Ornette asked with a snarl of her lips. ¡°Silver Ashley has no problem buying and selling slaves. They say that she has a man locked up for her personal use. The rumor is that she didn¡¯t buy him. He¡¯s involuntary.¡± ¡°That¡¯s awful,¡± Ornette snapped. Even though Ornette had been cheated and scammed through the voluntary slavery machine, the thought of involuntary slavery practically made her break out in hives. ¡°Well, we know that Sleeping Beauty Inc. didn¡¯t sell him. Jewel Girls didn¡¯t sell him. Risky Boys didn¡¯t sell him. No one sold him,¡± Stonic said, canceling out agencies. ¡°It could have been one of the smaller companies,¡± Ornette hoped rather than believed. Stonic cocked his head. ¡°We¡¯re not going to know. It¡¯s not like either of us have an invitation to Nimbus City, but who knows where your relationship with Desmond could take you?¡± Ornette chucked. ¡°It¡¯s not going anywhere. He¡¯s going to allow me to be sold off on the show and that¡¯s fine. That¡¯s what I was sold off to do and as long as I¡¯m on the show, I¡¯ll have fourteen weeks without a proper master. It¡¯s practically a vacation.¡± ¡°Isn¡¯t it more work having to impress a different man every week?¡± Stonic asked with a half smile. ¡°Nah. It¡¯s easier. The first week at work is always the easiest. For some reason, the master always wants to start on the right foot. They behave themselves almost perfectly for the first week. Things just get shadier from that point on. Besides, don¡¯t you know that? Haven¡¯t you been sold in a contract before?¡± ¡°Not as such,¡± Stonic said into his microphone. ¡°This is a good job.¡± ¡°Is it?¡± Ornette asked curiously. ¡°Maybe I should have trained for a job like yours.¡± ¡°Mine¡¯s taken,¡± he reminded her. ¡°Forget it,¡± Ornette said, putting a hand in the air to stop him from getting carried away. She was already bored with the idea. ¡°Getting back to Goldilocks Zone. I want to know if I understand this correctly. Desmond and a bunch of his buddies purchased a dozen girls. That way they share the largest financial burden of the show?¡± ¡°Something like that.¡± ¡°Okay. Good to know.¡± For Ornette, that explained Desmond¡¯s financial interest in the show. ¡°Are you going to stay on the show until the bitter end? If you do, you¡¯ll end up getting bought by Papa Bear. Is that what you want?¡± Ornette refrained from laughing, even though she wanted to. ¡°Look, if that¡¯s what happens, it won¡¯t be that I ended up with him. It will be that he ended up with me.¡± ¡°You¡¯re that much of a fighter?¡± ¡°Normally, a man his size isn¡¯t allowed to buy a woman my size, is he?¡± Ornette wondered intently, as she stared off into the clouds. She was sure of it, but she would appreciate Stonic¡¯s confirmation. ¡°Not normally. If you qualified as a Thumbelina model, he definitely wouldn¡¯t. Those women are reserved for smaller clients. It¡¯s close. How much does he weigh?¡± Stonic thought it over. ¡°I bet he weighs more than a hundred pounds more than you, which goes against Sleeping Beauty Inc. regulations. If you want to get out of being sold to Papa Bear, you might be able to use that as an excuse to get out of it if he does bid on you. He gets you if he bids on you. That¡¯s how the Goldilocks Zone works, isn¡¯t it?¡± ¡°And if he wins me through Goldilocks Zone instead of buying me in a showroom?¡± Ornette asked, refusing to let her trembling left arm be seen by the pilot. Stonic sucked in his breath. ¡°I imagine it would be the same. He could win you, but he couldn¡¯t take you home with him without meeting Sleeping Beauty Inc.¡¯s requirements.¡± ¡°Mikayla didn¡¯t have a problem that way, did she?¡± Ornette asked, remembering the previous episode. ¡°No. That guy weighed less than her. He was wearing those shoes that look like sneakers, but are actually high heels.¡± ¡°Fascinating,¡± Ornette said, letting her cynicism out in her tone. ¡°Of the men who¡¯ve had me for a week, they were all under the weight cap? You¡¯ve been watching the show, right?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not sure if Fen was, but the other three guys are definitely ideal buyers¨Cweight-wise.¡± ¡°Three?¡± Stonic laughed. ¡°Are you not counting Westen?¡± ¡°I guess I wasn¡¯t. He wasn¡¯t very interested in me. He didn¡¯t even want to play dress up with me and dudes who buy girls love watching their girls play dress up. It¡¯s their favorite thing¡­ Unless they¡¯re hiring her to work on their design floor.¡± Stonic shrugged his shoulders and kept his eyes on the clouds. ¡°Has Desmond been good to you so far?¡± ¡°He could be better, if you know what I mean,¡± her tone indicating that he hadn¡¯t been fooling around with her. Stonic acted scandalized. ¡°I didn¡¯t think Sleeping Beauty Inc. models welcomed that kind of attention.¡± Ornette started listing his virtues. ¡°He¡¯s rich, he¡¯s fit, he¡¯s stylish, he¡¯s nice to me, his face isn¡¯t bad to look at, and he¡¯s my owner. I¡¯m not really in a place where I can ask for more.¡± ¡°He¡¯s not going to give you that kind of attention if he doesn¡¯t win the bid on you,¡± Stonic retorted. ¡°Forget making out with the contestants, those guys weren¡¯t supposed to tell the models who had bought who. He reads contracts and follows them. That man is going to keep his hands to himself.¡± ¡°Well, he told me¡­¡± Ornette trailed off. She suddenly realized two things. One was that Desmond was wearing slavery bracelets. He had one on one wrist that was connected to her bracelet. Then he had three on his other wrist. What did she want to bet that those were connected to his family and that was how he had stayed in their good graces? He was essentially their slave. The second thing she remembered was that he promised to sell himself to her for a month. That offer couldn¡¯t possibly mean anything if he was Silver Ashley¡¯s great-nephew. It had to be a manipulation. That idea made her sad. She really wanted some time with him. Chapter Twenty Three Chapter Chapter Twenty Three The rest of Ornette¡¯s time touring the factories was fairly uneventful. She got along with Stonic all right. He told her stories of being a solarship pilot in the Jovian region, going as far as Saturn and touring their moons, and how dark it was as far out as Saturn. That was why he took a tour doing helocarrier work on Venus. He didn¡¯t want to pay for a vacation and Sleeping Beauty Inc. let him come to sunny Venus to cheer him up before sending him back out to Jupiter. Ornette thought the stories were interesting. She had only heard horror stories of Mars and she thought the other colonies must be similar, but Stonic reassured her over and over again that that wasn¡¯t true. ¡°When you¡¯re under the watch of Jupiter, you¡¯d better believe that the whole planet is like a star all by itself. It¡¯s very bright,¡± he explained pleasantly as they ate together in the back of the helocarrier. They sat on their beds and looked across at each other. ¡°It¡¯s especially wonderful when you¡¯re on Calisto or Ganymede.¡± ¡°Not Europa or Io?¡± Ornette asked curiously. ¡°On Europa, they just shove you under the ice as soon as you get there. I¡¯ve been told it¡¯s only mildly less dreary than the mine shafts of Mars. It¡¯s less dreary because they have windows that look out onto the sea. There¡¯s a lot of water under the ice sheets there and the ice doesn¡¯t utterly block the light, so you can see sea cows and other weird things swimming by. It¡¯s nice, but it¡¯s not as nice as being out in the light on Ganymede or Calisto. And yes, you¡¯re out in the open on Io, but Io stinks, and the population is wildly against slavery. Both of us would be arrested if we ever set foot on Io. Sleeping Beauty Inc. has utterly pulled out of that moon.¡± ¡°There¡¯s no slavery there?¡± Ornette asked curiously. Being a slave had not given her access to all the latest current events. Everything he said was news to her. ¡°None. The Church of Voynich won¡¯t allow it.¡± ¡°But it stinks?¡± she persisted. ¡°Yeah.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°The ground itself stinks. It¡¯s the sulpher,¡± Stonic explained patiently. ¡°But from what I¡¯ve heard, once you get used to the smell, it¡¯s one of the most beautiful places in the universe. There are big yellow sand dunes everywhere, a black sky, stars, Jupiter, and the sand fairly glows. That much I¡¯ve seen for myself, but it smells like rotten eggs that burn the hair right out of your nose.¡± Ornette chuckled. ¡°Another perk of your job. You¡¯re allowed to have nose hair.¡± Stonic looked at her levelly and responded accordingly. ¡°You¡¯re not going to make me feel bad for you. You¡¯re beautiful. You¡¯re in a bad position. I¡¯m the only person you have right now to turn to, but I¡¯ve gotten mixed up with Sleeping Beauty Inc. models more times than you can even guess. It used to be my job to remove their bracelets and give them quarter physicals. I¡¯ve had my fair share of unhappiness falling in love with friggin¨C¡± Ornette cut him off. ¡°You got all that from nose hair?¡± A second on the clock passed and then he burst out a laugh. ¡°Okay. I got a little carried away. I¡¯m just¡­¡± ¡°Heartbroken?¡± Ornette finished for him. ¡°Yeah,¡± he agreed, rubbing the back of his neck in frustration. ¡°What happened?¡± she asked sympathetically. ¡°Nothing special, the same old story. She got bought by someone who was rich enough to pay her fees. Then she had her contract renewed for an even greater amount of money. Then she took a third contract. I hardly noticed. I was in cryostasis almost the whole time. She scheduled a vacation after her third round with him. She was going to spend it with me. She came. We had dinner. We talked¡­ And everything was different. She had changed. She had aged six years, but I hadn¡¯t changed. I¡¯d stayed the same. She was bored. She was supposed to hang out with me for two weeks. She was done after two days and went to take the rest of her vacation elsewhere.¡± ¡°That had to have hurt,¡± Ornette agreed. He clenched his jaw. ¡°Don¡¯t show me sympathy. I don¡¯t feel sorry for myself. It¡¯s happened before. She paid for the rest of my vacation and I bummed around Calisto for twelve days. It was fine. Afterward, I went to Saturn. After that, I came here. It¡¯s just annoying because there¡¯s always news about her in the Sleeping Beauty Inc. literature. She¡¯s super famous now and she makes wads of cash so large they make the angels weep. What¡¯s in your future? Do you want to make money like that?¡± Ornette fumbled with her answer. Despite how frank Stonic was acting, Ornette did not want to tell him her plan to leave Sleeping Beauty Inc. If she said those things to him, he would think she was trying to convince him that a romance with her was entirely possible when it wasn¡¯t. He was right about the way romances went in their industry. Ornette had scores of personal anecdotes to support his rhetoric.Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. ¡°I haven¡¯t so far, and I¡¯m not getting any younger,¡± she replied lightly. He opened a bottle of something bubbly and agreed with her. They got along fine. They visited the factories they were supposed to visit. Ornette arrived back in Nepra in time for the dress fitting for what she would wear to the filming of the show the next day. They said a pleasant goodbye that was filmed by a film crew, which Ornette thought was strange. It turned out that Westen did not have time to dine with her or go to her dress fitting. He was having a team of writers work out what he would say when it was his turn on stage, but otherwise, he was too busy to bother with her. The camera crew had not been told, and they were annoyed. They were supposed to get footage of Westen with Ornette. Ornette didn¡¯t care. She did a happy little dance in her room to celebrate. The day before the show was filmed, she went to the dress fitting. When she saw the dress on the hanger, she thought it was designed to be an insult. It was supposed to make her look boring. It was beige with hardly any flare or adornment. When she saw it on the hanger, she thought that it was a surefire sign that Westen¡¯s business was in trouble, but the only way that was true was if he had made some terrible mistake to screw it up. Everyone always needed new panels for the floating cities. The old ones did not last forever and they needed to be replaced from beneath. If he was having business trouble, that was a very interesting subject. Ornette put the dress on and something amazing happened. Sometimes a dress is not supposed to look good. It looks like a rag in the catalog. It looks like a rag on the hanger. It even looks like a rag in the changerooms until the very moment the zipper is done up and then, miracle of miracles, it looks amazing. That was what happened to Ornette when she put on the dull beige dress. She put it on and suddenly, it was not beige, it was sunkissed silver. She was made of gold. Everything looked beyond perfect. She came out of the changeroom and the sad little tailor who¡¯d given it to her seemed like he swallowed his dentures. He put a hand to his mouth and through various tongue maneuvers, he corrected whatever had come loose in his mouth. He looked at Ornette and when he finally spoke, he said faintly, ¡°I¡¯ve never seen a more beautiful woman in my life.¡± Ornette believed him. And, since Westen had made no move on her, and didn¡¯t appear to be interested, she swept up her skirt and kissed the tailor on his cheek. The man turned all kinds of red, but he managed to get enough control over himself to remember his job, so he offered Ornette her choice of the jewelry they¡¯d rented. *** That night Ornette went to the cafeteria to eat dinner. The place was empty as all the other contestants had hot dates with their temporary owners on the last night and she was alone. There was no staff around and the only food that was there was food that had been there all day. So, there were a few plastic-wrapped sandwiches with wilted lettuce, an apple, and a bag of chips so tiny that it was under a hundred calories. No matter how sad that sounded, it was actually a lot more food than she had to eat the previous week when she dined with Hans, so she wasn¡¯t unhappy as she ate. She expected someone to make an appearance. The Coordinator would come in and talk to her breezily about this or that for a few minutes, or one of the other contestants would get dropped off early, or maybe even Desmond would show his face. No one came. That was fine by Ornette. She ate her food in silence, cleaned up in silence, and returned to her room in silence. In her room, she wasn¡¯t bored. She had a ton of grooming to do that she hadn¡¯t really been able to do while she was on tour with Stonic. She gave herself a facial, a pedicure, then a manicure, and finished her evening with a full round of meditation. Her meditation routine was done in bed when everything else was done. She imagined the clouds as heart-shaped balloons and tried to find that pleasant place where it didn¡¯t matter what had happened to her last, whether it was good or bad, it was time to let it go like a balloon that floated up into the air until it got so high, she couldn¡¯t tell what was balloon and what was cloud. She fell asleep that way. ¡°Move over. You¡¯re in the middle of the bed.¡± Ornette¡¯s eyelashes fluttered in the half-light. ¡°Did you come in through the shoe rack?¡± she asked Desmond. He pulled her onto his chest and kissed her temple. ¡°Yes. Do you like shoes?¡± ¡°I love shoes,¡± she agreed, pulling him closer. He sighed. ¡°I don¡¯t know why you want to do this.¡± ¡°You''re curious why I want you to hold me even when you can¡¯t fool around with me?¡± Ornette questioned drowsily. ¡°Mmm-hmm.¡± ¡°I wasn¡¯t held exactly like this when I was little, but something like it. And one day, it was all over and I was never held again.¡± ¡°You weren¡¯t with your parents?¡¯ ¡°No. After that¡­¡± she said groggily. ¡°I was in a spacesuit. It was dark all the time. I was afraid. I even slept in my suit, and when I finally came out of it¡­ I was being slapped. I was being thrown across rooms. My head was banging against drywall. I wasn¡¯t safe. That was when I started forgetting everything on purpose, but no matter how hard I try, I can never forget about that time at the beginning when I was held and I thought that nothing would ever hurt me.¡± He kissed her head again. ¡°You¡¯re very brave and you¡¯re not what I expected when I signed up for this thing.¡± ¡°What did you expect?¡± ¡°Someone thoughtless.¡± ¡°You chose me and bought me, but why me? Especially when I cost so much less than the other girls? It must have made you look foolish in front of your friends.¡± Talking to Desmond like she was in a dream in the clouds was strange when she was only sleepy and imagining clouds when there were real clouds all around them. She didn''t need to dream of clouds on Venus. That was something she dreamed of when she was in outer space. ¡°I liked something about your profile,¡± he answered vaguely. He kissed her a third time. ¡°Stop asking questions and go to sleep. I can¡¯t stay all night and I don¡¯t want to sneak out while you¡¯re still awake.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t sneak out. Stay forever,¡± she whispered, once again enjoying the feeling of a bed that wasn¡¯t too hot or too cold. It was just right. Chapter Twenty Four Chapter Twenty Four The next day at the filming, Westen would not come to the dressing room to see Ornette to make sure she looked good enough. The Coordinator stood over Ornette in her dressing gown with his tablet in hand, tapping his foot and looking pissed off. ¡°Westen is supposed to approve your look before you go on stage. It¡¯s in his participants¡¯ agreement. If he doesn¡¯t come back here¡­¡± ¡°What are you going to do?¡± Ornette smiled mockingly at him. ¡°There¡¯s nothing you can do. So, you can listen to me. I was styled perfectly yesterday. I am a designer in my own right. It¡¯s not like I need a man to help me get ready. I can put on my own clothes. He wasn¡¯t there for the fitting and whether he¡¯s here or not, I can still make him and you look good. Trust me.¡± The Coordinator stopped tapping his toe and put a hand on his hip. ¡°I¡¯d believe you better if you had something a little more¡­¡± Ornette glanced over her shoulder at the reason for his distress. It was her dress. As it had the day before, it looked like a dishrag¡­ and a sad one at that. ¡°That dishrag is phenomenal,¡± Ornette reassured him. ¡°When you see it on me, it¡¯s going to give you a whole new definition of the word triumph.¡± The moment hung while The Coordinator and Ornette stared each other down. Finally, he dropped the hand on his hip. ¡°If I don¡¯t like it, you¡¯re wearing one of the dresses Fen sent you.¡± He went to leave, but Ornette grabbed his elbow. ¡°One of the dresses Fen sent me? I wasn¡¯t aware he¡¯d sent me anything.¡± ¡°You¡¯re not allowed to have them until the show is over,¡± The Coordinator shot back. ¡°But they¡¯re made to fit you and if that dishrag doesn¡¯t do you justice, I¡¯ll send you on stage in one of Fen¡¯s creations. It¡¯s against the rules, but perhaps more allowable if Westen won¡¯t come back here to approve your look. Varner will excuse me for approving it in Westen¡¯s place, even if Fen is not supposed to get more attention than Westen. Papa Bear does not want any of his girls looking like a paper bag full of groceries.¡± ¡°I want you to call me that in half an hour,¡± Ornette grinned. ¡°I would love that. You walk back here after I¡¯ve got my dress on and you call me a paper bag full of groceries. I would just enjoy that so much.¡± ¡°Enough nonsense. Put it on,¡± The Coordinator ordered. ¡°Right now?¡± Ornette asked with a little nose wrinkle. He didn¡¯t answer, but planted his feet and stared at her. Ornette clapped her hands. ¡°Yay! I get to put it back on! Yay! Yay! Yay!¡± The Coordinator watched as Ornette slid out of her dressing gown and reached for the hanger. She unzipped it but found a note pinned to the label inside. ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± The Coordinator asked cooly. Ornette unpinned it and opened it. ¡°It¡¯s a note from the tailor. He says he has managed to get an identical dress in bronze at a discount. He¡¯s going to send it to me as his personal gift to me.¡± ¡°The tailor?¡± he asked quizzically. ¡°Yes. Westen wasn¡¯t at the fitting yesterday either. I told you that already. If he had been there, he wouldn¡¯t have missed today. He would have stepped over his own sister for the fun of being backstage with me in this dress.¡± The Coordinator gave her a stunned look and balked, ¡°You have got to be kidding me. He wasn¡¯t there either? I¡¯m gonna see if we can get him tossed out. It¡¯s very clear now why there was no interesting footage provided of you during this last week.¡± Ornette turned away while The Coordinator continued his rant. She did not care if Westen got kicked off the show or not. The only thing on her mind was the beige dress that no one was supposed to love. She bet Westen had bought it at a discount too. No one had wanted it because it looked so drab on the hanger. She bet no salesgirl had ever even bothered putting it on a mannequin to see how it fit on a real person. On, it was utterly majestic. Ornette did up the zipper and tapped The Coordinator on the shoulder. His back was to her and he was talking to someone through an earpiece, but when he absently turned and saw Ornette, he shut up. Very suddenly, he shut up. ¡°What is this vision I see before me?¡± he finally uttered with his eyes as wide as moons. The skirt of the dress had an extraordinary shape. The top hoop of the skirt did not connect to the waist. It connected at the place where the fullness of the hips stopped and the slimness of her legs began. Then the skirt rose in height on the sides to caress her hips without touching them. It looked like the bottom of the dress was a flower with very few petals and Ornette was rising out of it. It might not have even been a flower. It might have been a dragon¡¯s mouth. It was a shape, but what it was exactly was up to the imagination of the viewer. The beige dress hugged her hips, dipped in at her waist, and rose up around her chest in waves of fabric that may have been transparent, showing her skin, or may have been opaque and only gave the illusion of emptiness. If the skirt was a flower, Ornette was the stigma. If the skirt was a dragon, Ornette was the tongue. No matter which way you viewed it, the sexuality was poignant without being crass because she was fully covered. It was an achievement. ¡°That¡¯s why he didn¡¯t need to be there,¡± The Coordinator whispered. ¡°How interesting.¡± ¡°Come on,¡± Ornette chided. ¡°Call me a paper bag full of groceries.¡± The Coordinator looked around her dressing table with searching eyes. ¡°That moron is supposed to be here to help you fit your jewelry if nothing else. Well, if he¡¯s not here, I might as well do the honors.¡± With that, The Coordinator helped Ornette with her necklace, her beige feather earrings, and the bracelets she would wear (mostly to cover her Sleeping Beauty Inc. bracelet). They were nothing compared to what she had worn the previous week, but in that case, the jewelry had been the star of the show and not the dress. This week it was the opposite. Then The Coordinator sent her to join the others heading to the stage with a sigh. When Ornette went through the revolving door, she hoped Desmond would snag her. She hoped he had a job for her. She hoped, but she went through the door without interruption. Behind the stage curtain, Ornette met up with Westen. The old businessman looked at her like he didn¡¯t understand what he was looking at. He choked on his words twice before he managed a very ordinary, ¡°Good evening.¡± Ornette used her most melodic voice to return the greeting. ¡°Good evening,¡± sounded very different on her lips than it had on his. His hands were empty. He didn¡¯t know what to do with them. He didn¡¯t know where to direct his gaze. He didn¡¯t know what to say to Ornette. Her look had knocked the stuffing out of him. She took his arm and positioned him to escort her on stage and she took charge of their interaction. They would just keep standing there stupidly if she left it to him. ¡°I so loved visiting your factories. I was greatly impressed with the care you put into the baskets that were sent to your employees. They love working for you so much. You would not believe all the kind things they said about you.¡± ¡°Did they?¡± he asked, pulling at his collar like the room had suddenly gotten too hot for him. Ornette didn¡¯t want to make the man pass out on the floor, but she did mean to put him in his place with as much kindness as possible. ¡°And I will never forget how kind you have been to me. This dress is extraordinary. You must remember to tell everyone that it is beige and not gold. That way if anyone accuses you of trying to outdo Fen with another gold dress, you have something to say in response. You must also lie to them about how much it cost,¡± she advised him sagely. ¡°You must say that you hardly spent anything on it. It was almost free.¡±If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. His eyes became wide and perhaps a little bloodshot. She had guessed it. Somehow, the dress had been free. ¡°You¡­¡± he began slowly, taking his pocket square from his breast pocket and dabbing at his sweaty forehead. ¡°You¡­¡± He didn¡¯t get any further before they were called to the stage. When they were in front of everyone, he had a teleprompter that showed him what to say¡­ Except he didn¡¯t say what was written. He didn¡¯t say anything. The words on the screen were nothing. They were easy. They just said what she had been doing for him during the last week. They were neither flattering nor condemning. They were nothing. He should have been able to say them. He was a company president. He was in charge of a million things. He had charm, charisma, and vocal cords. There was absolutely no excuse for him to find himself so tongue-tied that he couldn¡¯t say anything. After allowing Westen a moment to get a grip, it became obvious that he wasn¡¯t going to get one. Ornette pulled him closer to her like the two of them were the closest of friends. The action had the advantage of pulling her closer to the microphone, she said what he was supposed to say, but a little different so that it made sense. She spoke of her time in the factories and they displayed images of her touring them. There was even a picture of her and Stonic outside the helocarrier. By the time she¡¯d said every single one of his lines, none of them intended to flatter her, Westen had got a grip on himself. He took the microphone from her and told the audience. ¡°It may come as a surprise to some of you, but I was disappointed last week when I was chosen to work with Ornette. She seemed like everyone¡¯s darling, but in my experience, ¡®everyone¡¯s darling¡¯ isn¡¯t my darling. I thought she¡¯d be arrogant, pushy, and determined in a way that would clash with me, but she has been nothing of the sort. She has been just as beautiful as what you see before you.¡± He took a step away from her and started clapping for her. Soon the whole audience was clapping with him. None of the other models had received an extra applause. Ornette kissed Westen on both cheeks (she had to hop up a bit to get him), and said goodbye as she went to join the other models on their podiums, but even though she was moving, even though she was blinded by stage lights, she didn¡¯t miss Varner¡¯s expression as he took the stage. He was irritated. Then he smiled for the audience and continued his job as MC. They were voting off another contestant. He started the voting. When the results came in, Varner looked stunned as he read the results on his palm tablet. ¡°We have a tie,¡± he announced. ¡°For all of you watching at home, we do something special when we have a tie. We have already voted here in the studio, so if we get a tie, we open up voting to the public and let the wider audience decide who will stay on the show and who will go.¡± Everything went quiet as Varner prepared to list the names. He could not seem to stop his teeth from scraping in annoyance as he read, ¡°Jane and¡­ Ornette.¡± Jane looked horrified that she was up for elimination in the second round. She was blonde. She was pretty. She was probably prettier than Ornette. She did not understand why she had been chosen and she could not conceal how upset she was. In contrast, Ornette was smiling. She couldn¡¯t help it. The fact that they had chosen her for elimination meant something different in her case. She had done well in every single round. She was beloved by everyone surrounding her. She had pleased everyone. The reason she was selected was because the businessmen (and maybe the designers too) didn¡¯t want to wait to bid on her. They had already seen enough. Why wait when she could be available for purchase that night? If that failed, it was more interesting to try to force Varner to bid on Ornette and get his bid out of the way than to keep her around. If he bid on her, it would effectively ruin his game show. The whole thing was fascinating. Except the viewers at home didn¡¯t view it that way at all. They didn¡¯t have the same investment in the show as the men who came on to promote their business or their design company¡¯s reputation. They weren¡¯t taking the losers home as trophies. The viewers just wanted to keep the interesting, pretty people on the show. At least, that was the way Ornette saw it. She wasn¡¯t getting voted off, but if there wasn¡¯t a tie, she would be voted off the next week. Just as she said at the beginning, she was going to be one of the first to go. It was nice that it wasn¡¯t for the reason she initially thought. She was satisfied that she had represented herself well. No matter what happened, whether she was voted off or stayed on, she¡¯d be able to turn the whole thing to her advantage. Whether she got her wish and got to stop working for Sleeping Beauty Inc., or if she had to keep working for them, the money would be better because of her work on the show. She felt confident as they moved her and Jane together on the stage and put a single spotlight on them. Then, the unthinkable happened. Varner had to kill time to allow the viewers at home to vote. He turned to Ornette and asked her how she felt about leaving the show if the vote didn¡¯t go in her favor. The cameras were on her, the mics were on, and everyone was listening. She smiled warmly. ¡°No matter what happens, I just feel grateful to the people who¡¯ve been so kind to me on the show. Everyone has been so generous. I¡¯m full to the brim. I just know that if I¡¯m put up for auction tonight, the man who buys me will be kind to me too. If he¡¯s a designer, we¡¯ll make something beautiful together and if he¡¯s a businessman, we¡¯ll make his company even more spectacular. I¡¯m so full!¡± Varner cast his eyes toward her heaving chest. He was pissed. He was concealing it by giving the cameras his profile. Then he turned to Jane and asked the same question. Jane was not feeling as steady on her feet as Ornette and she wobbled. Ornette immediately put her arms around her and let Jane use her as a crutch. Finally, Jane said simply, ¡°This has been an experience I will never forget.¡± With that, the time they were allowing for voting was over. The voting machines were only open for five minutes, but that was more than enough time to get an idea of how the viewers were voting. Varner went to announce the winner. ¡°Ornette,¡± he said loudly, ¡°will stay on. Jane has been eliminated and will be put up for auction.¡± Ornette hugged her. ¡°Sorry,¡± she whispered into her hair. ¡°I¡¯ll get eliminated next week.¡± ¡°You¡¯re sure?¡± Jane hissed back. ¡°Yeah,¡± Ornette hurried to tell her before Jane was whisked off to the platform where they placed her to begin the bids. Much to Ornette¡¯s delight, her old owner Croix bought Jane and took her away. Ornette waved to her. Jane saw the wave, but she did nothing. She took Croix¡¯s arm and went to the back. It was time to announce who had won immunity for the next round. Varner announced it was Silvania. Then he made the biggest announcement of all. ¡°For the fifth week of the show, we¡¯re going to do something a little different. We¡¯re going to play a dating game. We¡¯re going to draw the contestant¡¯s names: three will go to Uncle Bear, three will go to Brother Bear, and four will go to me. We¡¯ll take all our contestants out for dates, and slowly eliminate the undesirables until we land on the contestant of our choice.¡± Ornette was bored. She tried not to look bored. The names came out of a brandy glass they were using for drawing names. They were trying to make it look random. It wouldn¡¯t be random. If Ornette had to bet, she would guess that there was nothing written on the papers at all and Varner was just saying the choices the bears had already made. ¡°Silvania will go to Uncle Bear. Ivanka will go to Brother Bear. Clandestine will go to Varner. Ornette will go to Varner. Tanya will go to Brother Bear. Orpah will go to Varner. Yilin will go to Varner. Claudia will go to Uncle Bear. Starling will go to Uncle Bear. Summer will go to Brother Bear.¡± The lineup was hardly shocking. Ornette clapped and went to the reception where she was mobbed by men asking her what she thought of the possibility of being auctioned off early. Ornette smiled and brushed off any of their pretended feelings of concern. They pretended to be shocked that anyone had wanted her off the show and auctioned off when they were the ones who had voted for her to be removed so one of them could take her home. She pretended to listen. She pretended to think they were her friends. She was actually looking over their shoulder hoping to see Desmond. Where was he? He was nowhere. She didn¡¯t see him anywhere. When she left the reception, she went through the revolving door, only to be caught in his arms and pulled into the secret room. ¡°What do you want me to do?¡± she asked, ready to accept her marching orders. ¡°Open your mouth,¡± he said exactly one second before he covered her lips with his. Ornette was never kissed properly. If her master kissed her, she was usually tasted the way a man would sample a dessert he was planning to spit out. Even when Fen kissed her, she was kissed because he enjoyed the feeling of her under his lips, not because he wanted to evoke a feeling in her. Men like that took pleasure for granted. They expected it. In contrast, Desmond was on fire and he was trying to set her on fire too. It was working. The heat of his breath, the press of his body in the small space, and the rapid rate of his heart, all screamed a kind of oneness Ornette never experienced. It was overwhelming for her to be set on fire. ¡°What are you doing?¡± she whispered. ¡°I can¡¯t stand this. I bought you. I should be able to have you. Kiss me,¡± he said, pushing her against the wall. ¡°I¡¯m going to be missed,¡± she reminded him between hot kisses. ¡°I should care. I should care a lot.¡± He kissed her one more breathless time, sucking the oxygen out of the fire and starving it, before saying harshly, ¡°Fine.¡± He pushed her back through the revolving door. Ornette hurried to catch up with Yilin. ¡°You have no luck with revolving doors.¡± Yilin threw the words over her shoulder before snapping her head forward and continuing their march to the dressing room. ¡°I have all the luck with revolving doors,¡± Ornette disagreed as they hurried down the hall. Chapter Twenty Five Chapter Twenty Five Clandestine, Orpah, Yilin, and Ornette were the four girls assigned to Varner for the week. He got four, while Uncle Bear and Brother Bear only got three each. That was because they only had ten contestants left. However, to act like the choices were random was ridiculous. Varner got perfect diversity in his haul. Clandestine was a redhead, Orpah was black, Yilin was Asian, and Ornette was a blonde. Ornette got an itinerary through her bracelet the next morning. Day 1 - Shopping. Varner was sending them to a mall on Venus. The goal was that they needed to buy everything they needed for the week with Varner by the end of the day. It was a shopping challenge. The contestants had to buy four dresses, including the one they would wear for the episode filming on Day 7, plus accessories. They also needed to be measured for two athletic suits. That was straight-up scheduled for the afternoon. They could continue shopping in the evening if they hadn¡¯t finished their shopping that morning. Day 2 - Photoshoot. Ornette guessed Varner wanted to make a memory by getting his photo taken with all four women surrounding him before he booted one of them off. Day 3 - Bubble Sailing. That was when you shot through the clouds in an individual aircraft. The vehicle was surrounded by its own bubble so that the person flying could see as much as possible without all the ugliness of a spacesuit. It was terrifying for people who were afraid of heights, but honestly, if you were afraid of heights, you should not have agreed to be on Venus in the first place. There would be an elimination at the end of the day. Day 4 - Meeting Mother. Varner was taking the remaining three contestants to visit his mother, and she was going to interview them at a garden tea party. Another elimination. Day 5 - Meeting Father. Varner¡¯s parents were divorced. The remaining two contestants were meeting his father at a sky shield. They were going to be bungee jumping. It was all going to be inside a bubble large enough for a city, but there was no ground at all where they would be falling. It would look like falling from the top of the atmosphere to the cloud line that hung closer to the surface. The last elimination would take place that night. Day 6 - Spa Day. Then, dinner with Varner for the winning contestant. Ornette put on the runners Joel had given her for the shopping trip. Then she wore her crappy tie-dye skirt and an athletic bra. She had nothing to wear over it, so she went like that. Orpah was at the helocarrier pad waiting for the others when Ornette strode over. Orpah was dressed perfectly. She had sunglasses (practically a necessity on Venus) and a white pantsuit with a silver sequin top on. Ornette felt wildly outclassed with her crunchy blonde hair tied up in a Barbie bun, but that didn¡¯t stop her from gushing at Orpah. ¡°You look exquisite.¡± Orpah gave her a funny look over the rim of her sunglasses and didn¡¯t acknowledge the compliment. ¡°After last night, that¡¯s what you¡¯re wearing?¡± Ornette shrugged like a ditz. ¡°I never dress up to shop.¡± There was a camera crew with a camera in her face, so her next line was chosen with care. ¡°It¡¯s more fun for everyone if the sales girls can give you a little makeover. Besides, when you¡¯re with a man like Varner, and everyone knows it, no shopkeeper is going to be snooty. You can basically walk all over them.¡± ¡°Can you?¡± Orpah said, pulling her sunglasses clean off her face. ¡°Is that professional behavior?¡± Ornette didn¡¯t flinch. ¡°We have to get four complete formal looks. We have three hours before lunch. After lunch, all of us are being removed from the shopping mall and are being measured for flight suits. If we don¡¯t finish, we¡¯ll be allowed a little more time after dinner, but keeping the entire mall open just for us after nine will not work. We¡¯re going to need to make time. We can¡¯t keep them open after midnight. I bet the sales girls would prefer us to be bossy than make them work overtime. Finding four formal outfits is going to be hard. When I have an important event I¡¯m shopping for, sometimes I need weeks to bring it together. We have one day for four looks. It¡¯s going to be tough.¡± Orpah¡¯s look of hostility vanished. ¡°I didn¡¯t think of it like that.¡± She took a step closer and lowered her voice. ¡°Why are you sharing this with me? If you hadn¡¯t said something, I might have been time-blind and done exactly what you said, keeping the mall open after hours thoughtlessly. I might have been eliminated for such a thing. Why are you giving me the edge?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not,¡± Ornette protested. ¡°We can say the same thing to Yilin and Clandestine. We can even work together to get this done right. Besides, none of us will be competing for the same clothes. We all have different coloring. What we really need to do is keep all of us in mind when shopping. If I see something that I think will look amazing on you, I¡¯ll ask the shopkeeper to hold it for you. It would be lovely if you could do the same for me.¡± ¡°How will I know what you want?¡± Orpah asked. ¡°I¡¯ll tell you right now, I¡¯ve worn a lot of gold and black on the show so far. For this week on the show, I want to wear turquoise. If you see anything dazzling in turquoise, set it aside.¡± ¡°What if I wanted turquoise?¡± Orpah protested. ¡°Then I¡¯ll pick a different color,¡± Ornette offered flexibly. Orpah put a hand on her hip. ¡°Really? What color will you choose?¡± ¡°Hmm¡­ I could choose yellow, or white, or red.¡±Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. ¡°Why are those the colors you chose?¡± ¡°Well, Clandestine is likely to choose green because she¡¯s a redhead, and Yilin is likely to choose pink because she¡¯s Asian.¡± ¡°You are both nice and sucky,¡± Orpah observed honestly. ¡°You really are. You¡¯re helpful, but you¡¯re also sneaky. If you go out in yellow, that will be the same as the gold you¡¯ve worn so far and will solidify your brand. If you go out in white, you¡¯ll look like a bride, and if you go out in red, that will make all the men mentally ill like they¡¯re wolves, and you¡¯ve just brought out a fresh steak. You¡¯re not leaving me any choices except to give you what you want because that¡¯s the least offensive.¡± ¡°Fine,¡± Ornette shrugged. ¡°I¡¯ll choose something else. I¡¯ll look good in anything. How about purple?¡± Orpah dismissed her. ¡°Fine, I¡¯ll take white. You can have your turquoise.¡± Ornette gave her a cute smile. ¡°So, you want to look like a bride? For Varner? That¡¯s very interesting.¡± She shook out her well-manicured nails and took a side-step away from Ornette. ¡°It¡¯s a complete mystery why all the men like you.¡± ¡°They don¡¯t like me,¡± Ornette bantered. ¡°They¡¯re trying to vote me off.¡± ¡°Only so they can start abusing a professional relationship as soon as possible. You¡¯re never going to struggle to get a buyer again.¡± ¡°Please tell me I won¡¯t be peeling men¡¯s hands off my ass for the rest of my life!¡± Ornette gasped. Orpah huffed. ¡°You know as well as I do that would be the mark of a good career.¡± Ornette sighed. Yilin and Clandestine joined them. Before they got on the helocarrier, Orpah told them the idea about them all choosing one color for their outfits for the week to help streamline the shopping process once they were at the mall. She said it like it was her own idea, which Ornette thought was hilarious because there were so many cameras pointed at them. The woman probably didn¡¯t want to say that or mean to say that. She was just so used to taking credit for other people¡¯s work that she couldn¡¯t stop, even when she knew it was a terrible idea. ¡°I¡¯ll take gold,¡± Clandestine said easily. ¡°That was my plan anyway. Got to make a strong brand statement, and if Ornette wants to look like a mermaid instead of an Academy Award, that¡¯s great for me.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll take black,¡± Yilin said sharply. ¡°That will make the best impression with all of us together. Black, white, gold, and turquoise. The pictures tomorrow will look best that way.¡± Ornette took a step forward. ¡°Are you sure that isn¡¯t taking one for the team a little too much?¡± Yilin glared at Ornette. The expression meant one thing and one thing only. If she had spoken, she would have said, ¡®I want off this damn show.¡¯ Ornette took a step back, and they all got aboard the helocarrier. *** At the mall, they split up, and all went to different stores. When Ornette stepped into a store, she had a camera crew following her. She found the manager and told her to make piles of their four chosen colors. It would save time. When she went into stores the other contestants had been in, she found they were sometimes trying on clothes in the changing rooms. She would take a stall next door, but she wouldn¡¯t talk to them. They needed to do the challenge independently, and so did she. The two easiest looks were the one for the garden party and the dinner out with Varner at the end. She started with the garden party dress. It needed to have a high neckline. It needed to stay off the floor. If it leaned a different color, it needed to lean toward white. A day dress needed to scream, ¡®light feminine energy!¡¯ She ended up with a dress with a petal skirt and a boat neck. It had a belt with a huge white flower on it that sat over her left hip. The belt was tied in a bow in the back, and the tails were longer than the skirt. The skirt ended at the knee. Ornette got matching white flowers to go in her hair and turquoise heels that were almost the right color. At this point, she found The Coordinator in the hallway. ¡°What¡¯s my budget?¡± she asked him breezily. He looked at her blankly. ¡°There is no budget. Spend whatever you like. It¡¯s on Varner.¡± ¡°Do I get more favor for spending more or spending less?¡± He rolled his eyes. ¡°That¡¯s something for you to figure out.¡± Off at the next store. For her maybe/maybe not dress for the dress with Varner (she hoped she¡¯d be eliminated before she got to wear it), she opted for a strapless dress with very little adornment. It was long. Hopefully, she wouldn¡¯t step on it. She got a thick crystal necklace with many strands to wear with it. Then she got flesh-colored ballerina flats to wear with it. She did not need to be off-balance when she was out with him. High heels were not your friends when you were with a man you didn¡¯t trust. The second two dresses were tougher. The one for the photoshoot was important because she would bet money that when everything was over, the photos taken with all three of them and Varner would probably be what was shared more often. They might even use footage from that shoot to advertise the show for years to come. The one for the filming of the episode was important because she was unlikely to be on another episode. For the final episode, she opted for a mermaid dress with the nearest thing to a bustle that anyone wore. It gave the back of her bottom a look it would never have had on its own, and if Ornette could have one thing for the final episode, she wanted something that made her bottom look amazing. When a girl walked away, she wanted her butt to look spectacular. The hardest was the one for the photoshoot. She didn¡¯t get it before lunch. The contestants had a reservation at the fanciest restaurant in the mall, and they sat together and chatted about their finds. ¡°I got two,¡± Orpah bragged. ¡°I got one¡­ and a half,¡± Clandestine complained. ¡°I would have finished the second look if I had just ten more minutes.¡± ¡°I got all four,¡± Yilin said, not bragging in the least. She didn¡¯t give a rip what she wore, and so she¡¯d made her selections quickly. ¡°I got three, so I¡¯ll be back tonight,¡± Ornette volunteered. ¡°Which one are you missing?¡± Clandestine asked curiously. ¡°The photoshoot. What are you all wearing? Can we do a theme? Wait¡­ I have an idea. If Yilin already got her dress, what did she get? Can we get the same dress in different colors?¡± Yilin nodded. ¡°I made all of my selections from a bridal boutique. It was a bridesmaid¡¯s dress.¡± ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°It¡¯s a strapless dress with a pencil skirt and a tulle peplum.¡± ¡°I can get behind that!¡± Ornette cheered. ¡°What do you all think? Can we all wear that?¡± Yilin put her eyebrows in the air and said disinterestedly, ¡°I don¡¯t care what you wear. It doesn¡¯t matter to me if you impress Papa Bear. You could probably set fire to him, and it wouldn¡¯t change the result. Every single one of us has immunity this week. You¡¯re getting voted off.¡± ¡°Yeah, I know,¡± Ornette shrugged. ¡°But let¡¯s not think about that. What do you two think?¡± She turned to Orpah and Clandestine. ¡°Have you already got your photoshoot dresses?¡± ¡°I haven¡¯t,¡± Clandestine admitted. ¡°I¡¯m happy to strike one off my list by following the norm. Which boutique was it?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll do it too. I look good in anything,¡± Orpah said in a complete reversal of attitude and saying the exact words Ornette had said in front of the helocarrier that morning. Chapter Twenty Six Chapter Twenty Six Ornette fell asleep on a plush sofa as she waited to be measured for her flight suits. When she woke up, an understudy tailor/aeronaut was trying to measure her without waking her. The digital measuring tape he had in his hand was ridiculous. ¡°Would you like to choose your styles, miss?¡± he asked cautiously. Ornette stood up to let herself be measured efficiently, chose her styles, and went back to sleep. ¡°Is something wrong with her?¡± Orpah asked the other contestants, unfortunately, her voice was not quiet enough for Ornette to miss hearing. ¡°I dunno. She needs to go. The show will be a lot more fun and a lot fairer once she¡¯s gone,¡± Clandestine said with her nose in the air. ¡°The men like her because she¡¯s broken,¡± Yilin said, not lowering her voice at all. ¡°Most of the men who are running this show are old. They don¡¯t want a young horse they have to break in. That bores them. They¡¯ve already broken in all the lovers and business partners and friends they¡¯d care to. It¡¯s like training a puppy not to pee on the carpet. They don¡¯t want to bother with that. They want a dog who knows where to pee. Likewise, they want a woman like her who is still beautiful, but who knows the business. She¡¯s been sold more times than any of us. She knows exactly what they want. She¡¯s giving it to them because, at this point, it¡¯s easier for her to do that than to do anything else.¡± ¡°Do you want her to leave the show?¡± Clandestine asked Yilin coldly. ¡°No. She¡¯s been very considerate toward me, but that¡¯s probably just because that¡¯s who she is not. She thinks of herself last except for when she needs to look good because if she looks bad, that will make someone else look bad. It¡¯s the sixth love language¡ªlooking good. Anyway, I¡¯d rather she didn¡¯t leave, but she¡¯s going to. The wolves are hungry for her.¡± ¡°Aren¡¯t you worried about being filmed saying something like that?¡± Orpah asked, clearly she had been thinking about what she had been filmed saying and doing. ¡°No. They like thinking of themselves that way. They want to be wolves,¡± Yilin said tersely before turning her back on the other women and sitting on the couch cushion Ornette wasn¡¯t sleeping on. She sat near her like she was watching over her. *** With Yilin¡¯s help, Ornette finished the last of her shopping almost immediately after dinner. The two of them talked as they got on the helocarrier to head back to the dorms. Ornette could not stop gaping at the shoes Yilin had chosen to go with the peplum dress. They were closed-toe heels with humongous gauze bows on the backs. The dress was so short that the shoes were on display. Ornette got the black ones, the exact same as Yilin, and got a wide black choker to wear around her neck. Yilin was going to wear a pendant. Ornette sent messages to Orpah and Clandestine that they could choose any shoes they liked, but the ones Yilin chose were awesome and they might as well get them if they couldn¡¯t think of anything else. When they arrived back at the dorms, Ornette sent her clothes to her room ahead of her and marched down to the cafeteria to see if anyone else was there. She wanted to hear reports of how things went with Uncle Bear and Brother Bear. Did they have similar setups, or were they doing something completely different?¡± Silvania was there and spilled the tea about what it was like to be owned by Uncle Bear for the week. Her group had an almost identical schedule except they had one more day where no one would be eliminated because they had only three contestants instead of four. It just meant that no one would be eliminated after the photoshoot. Their schedules were staggered. Her group had been measured for the flight suits in the morning and the other group was being measured that evening. Otherwise, they laughed and talked as more and more of Ornette¡¯s group returned from shopping and the more sociable ones met in the cafeteria. Ornette thought it was a pretty nice night. She went to bed happy. *** Photoshoot Day was less fun than Ornette had been prepared for. If she had been a bride, there would have been fewer pictures. If she had been a self-obsessed bride who insisted on a crazy amount of pictures, she would have had fewer pictures. If she had been the Queen of Venus, there would have been fewer pictures. Varner was wretched. He had bowties to match each of the girls. He had individual pictures taken of him with each woman and the bowtie that matched. He made them take odious pictures of each girl ripping it off him with lust in her eyes. When Ornette saw her pictures with him on one of the side monitors, she wanted to scream. She was less than half his size. Yes, he was all muscle. Yes, she was little for a woman, but all the organizers and Varner himself should have known better than to attempt to pair the two of them. It wasn¡¯t a match. She was the size of his leg, half his abs, and one of his pecs. Forget about his arms, shoulders, and his head. It was ridiculous. Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. When they weren¡¯t taking pictures of her, she sat in a chair, closed her eyes, and deliberately dissociated to get herself out of there. She closed her eyes and pictured orange clouds, golden clouds, and then pink clouds in a navy sky. Desmond. She was thinking about Desmond again. He was nice to think about. He had snuck into her room the night before. He¡¯d kissed her mouth gently, pulled her onto his chest, and she¡¯d had a really good sleep. She hoped he¡¯d sneak in again that night, and every night for the rest of her life. That put a dreamy smile on her face as she sat still with her eyes closed. Naturally, she was interrupted. She had to do group photos where all of them swarmed Varner like they were all vying for his attention. The way Ornette saw it, Orpah and Clandestine actually were vying for his attention, but their motives weren¡¯t exactly clear to her. Yilin wanted off the show. She treated him with a kind of indifference that she completely got away with because she was Asian. He didn¡¯t seem put off by it. She was allowed to be snootier. Ornette tried to mirror it, but that didn¡¯t seem to put him off either. When they were finally finished, he took them all to dinner¡­ at his house. Ornette didn¡¯t see the footage taken to distort reality and tell a specific story, but it was a little funny that Varner¡¯s house was not nicer than Hans¡¯. In fact, it made Hans¡¯ house look more luxurious and if Ornette was honest, even though she did not like Hans at all (she thought he was a hundred kinds of creepy), she would rather get him than Varner. The more time she spent with Papa Bear, the more she felt she couldn¡¯t stand it. After dinner, he took them into his sunken living room and said they were going to play a game where he got to ask them questions out of a box. He directed his first question to Yilin. ¡°How many sexual partners have you had?¡± Ornette felt her whole body clench. She¡¯d played this kind of game with owners before, but never in front of a camera. She hated this kind of thing. She hated it madly. Her heart was thudding madly and her left hand began trembling. He hadn¡¯t even asked her the question, but she knew he¡¯d ask her an equally odious one soon. Yilin looked bored as she answered. ¡°How many stars are there in the sky? I¡¯ve had more lovers than every point of light in the night sky.¡± Varner looked impressed before turning to Clandestine and asking from a card, ¡°How old were you when you lost your virginity?¡± It was a terrible question to ask a woman who put herself up for sale. She¡¯d probably been sexually abused since before puberty. Ornette hated Varner for asking such a question. Clandestine absolutely did not have to answer that¡­ Except she did. Those were the rules of her contract. The redhead looked unfazed. Without batting an eyelash, she hedged, ¡°I like to think that every time is the first time.¡± Varner did not like that answer. He wanted the girls to open up to him, but if they were going to answer flippantly, he was not going to get the good TV he was aiming for. He turned to Orpah, ¡°What¡¯s your favorite position during sex?¡± She smiled. ¡°All of them.¡± His smile dropped, but he was going to try asking Ornette a question before he complained. He pulled out another question out of the box. ¡°Ornette, who has been your favorite owner?¡± ¡°The one who paid the most for me,¡± she replied, deciding to stand in solidarity with her sisters by giving vague answers. ¡°Who was that?¡± he pressed when he hadn¡¯t pressed with the others. ¡°I don¡¯t remember,¡± Ornette explained. It was absolutely true. ¡°I always forget what happened with my last owner when I take on a new job.¡± He squinted and asked her more seriously, ¡°With a memory wipe?¡± ¡°Certainly not,¡± Ornette insisted. ¡°That would lower my value. No. I just don¡¯t ever think about them again. There is no immortality in a woman you rent. If you want more than just the time you pay for, you have to marry her.¡± ¡°Would you ever consider marrying an owner?¡± he pressed. ¡°I have never been proposed to.¡± ¡°What does that mean, exactly?¡± She smiled. ¡°No man has ever asked me to marry him. If such a thing did happen to me, I don¡¯t think I¡¯d believe him. Owners can get carried away. They don¡¯t know what they¡¯re saying. Though I¡¯ve never been proposed to, I have had owners promise to pay more for me than they paid the previous round.¡± ¡°And do they go through with it?¡± ¡°No. I¡¯ve never been purchased by the same owner twice. They say they¡¯re going to pay more for me. They don¡¯t mean it. They might think they mean it at the time but when it comes to the actual moment, they don¡¯t follow through. Maybe they buy another model for cheaper. Maybe they buy a better model for more money. Maybe they decide to go through a different agency. Maybe they decide to hire a whore. Sometimes I think they just go for the maids who are already in their homes instead. They¡¯re there and nothing is better than a woman who is just there.¡± ¡°Are you saying you wouldn¡¯t believe me if I told you that I was going to bid on you when you went up for auction?¡± he asked, looking affronted. ¡°Well, if I went up for auction in the last round, and it could have happened,¡± Ornette acknowledged carefully. ¡°It would have ruined your show for you to have bid on me. How could you come back and create drama and mystery surrounding the auctions for the next nine weeks when you¡¯d already bought me? It wouldn¡¯t have been a smart career move, in front of everyone. It would show that you were the kind of man who follows your whims instead of sound business sense. You don¡¯t need investors, or indeed, the whole of Venus thinking that way about you.¡± Ornette didn¡¯t know why he was fussing. The whole show was rigged. Then suddenly she knew. She knew that parts of the show were rigged, but one part of the Goldilocks Zone that couldn¡¯t be rigged was the voting on who should leave the show. Each member cast their vote and if they all met afterward and compared their votes, they could easily test the validity of who went up for auction. Even if every other part of the show was geared to flatter and please Varner, that one aspect couldn¡¯t be faked. He gave Ornette a spiteful, angry look, before wiping his face and asking Yilin another terrible question. Chapter Twenty Seven Chapter Twenty Seven Day 3 - Bubble Sailing The whole point of a man taking a woman bubble sailing was so a woman had to spread her legs around a piece of machinery to mount it and then he mounted it, spooning her from behind, and ¡®showing¡¯ her how to use it. Men had been using that trick to get close to a woman since horses, since motorcycles, since sea-doos, and maybe since bicycles with banana seats. Yilin, Orpah, and Clandestine all let Varner show them how to use one, but Ornette said she knew how and instead of riding with him, she raced him, and whatever woman he had with him at the time. She wasn¡¯t better at piloting the small crafts than he was, but he was a little handicapped by having one of the other contestants with him. From Ornette¡¯s perspective, the bubble craft wasn¡¯t even a little difficult to pilot. Children on Venus used them to get around instead of bicycles. Adults loved to send kids around in them. For one thing, if a panel that was part of a floating city was poorly attached to the other panels, the bubble around it kept the child safe. Don¡¯t get the wrong idea though, if a panel was poorly attached and someone fell between the cracks, they wouldn¡¯t fall to their death and pass through kilometers of cloud to land on the rock-hard surface of Venue. No, they¡¯d fall between the cracks. It was more like falling into a well. There were twists and turns. Fishing someone out from between the panel cracks was the stuff of nightmares. Even though bubble riding was something children did, what Varner had in mind was something with a little more bite to it. He was proposing that they fly out off the panels and ride for a while with only clouds under them and wind around them. That meant the bubble crafts were sturdier than what would have been given to a child, but the principle was still the same. Afterward, he took them back to his place for dinner. Unfortunately, Varner had not bought extra clothes for other parts of the day other than the flight suits, so Ornette was wearing the dress Joel gave her. Varner saw it and gave her a dirty look. ¡°I have to save the other dresses you bought me,¡± she pointed out saucily. He was scandalized. ¡°Are you saying I didn¡¯t buy you enough clothes?¡± ¡°If you had, I¡¯d be wearing something you bought me and not something Joel bought me,¡± she replied with a nose crinkle. Then she straightened and relaxed her face. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. If I run out of clothes, The Coordinator said that Fen has been sending me dresses. I can pick up one of those in a pinch.¡± Maybe Ornette shouldn¡¯t have teased him like that, but she couldn¡¯t help it. She honestly did not like him and if possible, she wanted to rub him wrong so he would eliminate her. That thought percolated in her head like aromatic tea. If he eliminated her, she could spend more time with Desmond¡­ If he was available. If he wasn¡¯t available, she could spend time with the other contestants in the cafeteria. That would also be better than hanging out with Varner and playing his gross little games. What could she do to turn him off? The after-dinner game was a drinking game. Ornette thought that was a terrible thing to do since the next day they were going to meet Varner¡¯s mother at a garden party. He would be terribly disappointed if the women didn¡¯t drink with him. He would also be terribly annoyed if they showed up at his mother¡¯s garden party hungover. The contestants would have to hit the right balance, or the wrong balance if Ornette wanted to be eliminated from Varner¡¯s mini-game. Luckily, the drinking game wasn¡¯t associated with him asking them horrible questions. It was a mercy, but it was a dice game where you rolled five dice at once and if you rolled specific terrible numbers, you had to take a drink. The first few rounds were easy, because they were collecting numbers that were forbidden. It meant that when Varner rolled the dice, the number he rolled became one of the forbidden numbers. He got a sixteen. With five six-sided dice, it was unlikely to roll numbers under ten and over twenty, so most of the numbers would be in the teens. Each contestant rolled the dice, and none of them got a sixteen. The next round he rolled an eighteen. Again, they went around. Clandestine rolled a sixteen and had to take a drink. There was a bartender nearby and he asked Clandestine what she would like to drink. Apparently, if she rolled a sixteen again, she would have to drink what Varner chose for her. She chose a peach cooler with the lowest possible alcohol content. ¡°What?¡± Varner complained loudly. ¡°That¡¯s a sissy drink. I have some terrific bourbon and some aged whisky.¡± Clandestine tilted her head like a ditz and said, ¡°I¡¯m a cheap drunk.¡± He nodded approvingly. He loved cheap drunks. She took her drink and they started rolling the dice again. Yilin had to take the next drink, but she clearly did not care about meeting Varner¡¯s mother the next day. She had a shot of soju and seemed eager to roll the wrong number again. When Ornette rolled the wrong number and the bartender asked what she would like, she ordered the whisky. ¡°That¡¯s my girl!¡± Varner praised. Ornette took the glass and lifted it to Varner. She took the shot and promptly hiss-spat it all over the front of her dress. She held her mouth open and let her tongue drip onto her dress for a horrified second before grabbing a napkin and shoving it into her mouth so it would absorb as much of the alcohol as possible. Varner was laughing like it was the most hilarious thing he had ever seen. ¡°How do you drink that stuff?¡± Ornette yowled when she pulled the napkin out of her mouth. ¡°It burns. It burns.¡± Varner called over the bartender and had him pour him a shot of whiskey. When he held the glass in his hand, he said, ¡°Like this.¡± Then he swallowed it like a champ. Ornette fanned her bare tongue with her hand and got up. ¡°I need to clean up. Which way is the bathroom?¡± Once in the bathroom, Ornette took her sweet, sweet time. She rinsed out her mouth seven times, had a drink, dabbed at her dress, and felt a bit sad that she¡¯d had to spit on the great bra-filled dress that Joel gave her until a maid showed up and asked her if she needed any help. Through the door, Ornette got the maid to volunteer to wash her dress while she stayed in the bathroom with a housecoat. The housecoat seemed fairly generic and Ornette thought it was reserved for guests instead of something Varner wore. After a few more seconds of thought, Ornette realized that it couldn¡¯t belong to him because it was too small. Just when Ornette was getting really comfy in the bathroom, the maid came back and told her she had to return to the game even if that meant that she had to wear the housecoat out to the living room. Out she went. When Ornette opened the door, she saw the maid she had been talking to through the bathroom door and she was a little bowled over. The maid was blonde. She was in her early forties, exactly the age Ornette would have been if she¡¯d stayed out of cryostasis. She was faded, probably in her last year before she stopped looking like a beauty and started looking like an old woman. She had multiple scars that sliced through her lips, like she had anciently had knives in her mouth that had made quick deep cuts. No stitches. The wounds had been taped shut, but in a place like a person¡¯s mouth that had to be opened and closed for eating, the cuts had not healed well. Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. Had Varner done that to his maid, or had he rescued her from someone else? The thought was removed from her mind as she was brought back into the living room. They¡¯d already done a whole round and it was Ornette¡¯s turn. The new forbidden number was twenty-one. Crouching next to the ornate coffee table, Ornette rattled the dice between her cupped fingers. She rolled well and didn¡¯t need to drink. When Clandestine had to drink again, she took another sip of peach cooler and Varner¡¯s shoulder fell in disappointment. She was boring him. But she didn¡¯t want to. She was clearly uncomfortable, so she pointed out the obvious, ¡°I don¡¯t want to be knee-walking drunk when I meet your mother tomorrow.¡± ¡°So, you¡¯re okay with displeasing me today?¡± he asked coldly. Clandestine¡¯s eyes went wide in horror. She did not want to get kicked off, but she was struggling to figure out what she should do. Yilin was throwing back soju like tomorrow never happened while Orpah had not had to take a drink at all and Ornette had already spat her drink onto her dress. What was left for her to do to make herself stand out? It was Ornette¡¯s turn to roll again. She got three ones, a six, and a two. That gave her a score of eleven. Seeing all those ones reminded Varner of something and he piped up. ¡°I forgot to tell you, if any of you roll all ones or all fives, I have a special treat for you.¡± ¡°What?¡± Yilin asked excitedly. That was the first time she¡¯d looked excited. ¡°Well, you get to make a wish,¡± he offered tantalizingly. ¡°And I have to grant it.¡± ¡°What kind of wish?¡± Yilin persisted. ¡°Anything you want.¡± ¡°I want a case of your soju,¡± she said plainly. ¡°Can I have that?¡± He nodded. ¡°But you have to roll all ones or all fives.¡± Ornette ran the numbers in her head. It was pretty unlikely that any of them would roll that well, but it did make a game that was already interesting even more interesting. ¡°What would you ask me for?¡± Varner asked Orpah. ¡°It sounds like we¡¯re talking about things in this room. Are we?¡± ¡°Or out of it. Not cash though. That¡¯s crass,¡± he said, ruling out money. Orpah¡¯s eyes scanned the room. There were decorative knives and swords on the wall. Not a lot of art in the form of pictures on the walls, but there were smaller statues and other decorative pieces adorning each surface. ¡°I want one of your tie pins, to cherish,¡± the perfect-roller decided. Ornette thought that was a great idea since Orpah was trying to please Varner. Saying that he was the most valuable thing in the room and giving him a compliment was pretty clever. It got extra clever because if he didn¡¯t choose her in the end and the experience of being on Goldilock Zone ended up not being a delight, it was only a tie-pin. It took up almost no room in her luggage. Not only that, but for that moment, they were talking in hypotheticals. He hadn¡¯t actually offered to give her anything. ¡°I can definitely do that,¡± he said, getting lost temporarily in Orpah¡¯s beauty. Honestly, it was a relief to see him show some genuine interest in someone who was not Ornette. So far, most of his attention seemed to be going to her and she didn¡¯t want it. ¡°What about you?¡± he asked, remembering what he was supposed to be doing and directing himself toward Clandestine. ¡°I want the shirt you have on your back,¡± she said with a winning, although rather desperate, smile. From the look on his face, she¡¯d bombed it. He was not impressed. She¡¯d tried to do the same thing as Orpah but failed. He didn¡¯t even answer her, but instead turned to Ornette. ¡°What would you want?¡± ¡°You said I could have anything as long as it isn¡¯t money?¡± she clarified. ¡°Yeah. Test me. What can I get you?¡± Ornette decided to flush the whole thing down the toilet as hard as she could. Maybe she¡¯d swallowed more of the whisky than she¡¯d meant to, which was none. ¡°I want a dinner date with Desmond Falstead.¡± The look on Varner¡¯s face was the one cartoons get when they¡¯re hit square in the face with a frying pan. ¡°Desmond?¡± he asked blankly like he couldn¡¯t believe his ears. ¡°You want to go on a date with Desmond?¡± ¡°Who is that?¡± Yilin asked, a large number of her inhibitions washed down with the soju. Orpah answered. ¡°He¡¯s the businessman who raised the bid on Mikayla. He¡¯s got white hair and he usually wears all white, though I have seen him in a black suit on non-recording days.¡± ¡°He hasn¡¯t had a contestant for a week, has he?¡± ¡°No,¡± Orpah replied. ¡°And you want to go on a date with him?¡± Varner asked again, hardly moving. ¡°Why?¡± Ornette was suddenly aware that she had gone too far, as Varner seemed almost blind with rage, but she could hardly take it back now. ¡°Why does anyone want to go on a date with anyone?¡± she hedged, unwilling to back down, but also keeping a little of the hangman¡¯s noose between her figurative fingers. ¡°Should we roll the dice?¡± she said, handing the dice to Clandestine. They did a few rounds with Varner in a stupor until Orpah rolled a forbidden number. ¡°What would you like to drink?¡± the bartender asked her. She glanced at Varner, who was still out of it. ¡°I¡¯d like Varner to choose for me,¡± she said, waking him. ¡°What?¡± he said with a bewildered glance. ¡°I rolled a forbidden number. What should I drink?¡± she reminded him. ¡°Red wine,¡± he said, aware that allowing her to keep her alcohol content down would keep her out of the tough spot he¡¯d put all the contestants. He watched her drink it like a dainty little bird before saying that he needed to talk to The Coordinator. ¡°Why did you say that?¡± Clandestine fumed at Ornette once he was gone. ¡°He was in such a good mood and you ruined it.¡± ¡°You should be thanking me,¡± Ornette shot back at her cleanly. ¡°You were going to be eliminated tonight and now I will be.¡± ¡°Why do you want to be eliminated?¡± she hissed back. ¡°Elimination will mean so many bad things for your career. You know what? That¡¯s why you have never got anywhere and why you¡¯re worth less than the rest of us. You don¡¯t know what¡¯s good for you even when it¡¯s right in front of you.¡± ¡°Varner can¡¯t have me,¡± Ornette said simply. ¡°Think of the handbook. Think of the rules. Varner can¡¯t have me.¡± ¡°What rules? There¡¯s no rule to prevent Varner from buying you.¡± Ornette rolled her eyes and stared at the ceiling. ¡°Wait,¡± Yilin said across the coffee table. ¡°I know what rule she¡¯s talking about and she¡¯s right. Varner can¡¯t have her. It would be a violation of the rules. And I agree with her. It is better for her to screw up and be out of his favor than for her to go all the way with him, leading him on and taking all the attention she can get when she knows it can¡¯t lead to anything. If he bid on her and couldn¡¯t have her, that would ruin the show.¡± ¡°What rule?¡± Clandestine fumed. Ornette or Yilin probably would have answered her, but Varner returned to the room in a much better mood. ¡°We¡¯re done with this game. I have news! You¡¯re not going back to the dorms tonight. I have enough guest rooms to accommodate all of you. We¡¯ll have your clothes brought here and I¡¯ll play host to you all until the sixth day. Then I¡¯ll send the remaining contestant back to the dorms. Sadly, we have to say goodbye to one of you tonight, so let¡¯s move to the hall for that. We have a ritual.¡± ¡°Is it roses?¡± Yilin asked with a snide grin. ¡°Are you going to give us roses if you choose us?¡± ¡°No. We have ribbons,¡± he replied with a slight frown. Ornette guessed that real roses were outside their budget. Cheapskates. Once they were all in the hall with their shoes in a line waiting to be worn by the contestant that would leave. Varner stood in front of them and addressed them with the cameras on him. ¡°I set this up because I have always been fascinated by the marriage rituals of ancient people. I''m interested in the ceremonies and trials they used to find a bride for the king. Women would have to fit through cutouts and if their body was too large, they were eliminated. They would have to drink and if they couldn¡¯t, they were eliminated. There are more trials to be sure, but I want the woman I would choose to be with me to be able to endure anything I would choose to inflict upon her.¡± At this point, it seemed like he was about to order them to do something crazy. Ornette saw The Coordinator making a mad cut gesture across his neck. He knew whatever Varner had planned and he was advising against it as hard as he could. The maid with the scarred lips was gone. Ornette had to press on. She didn¡¯t think Varner would listen, but she was past caring. He was about to eliminate her and more than anything else, more than seeing Desmond that night, or having a sparkling career, or staying on the show, or whatever¡­ She wanted to be away from Varner. Her survival was the most important thing and she felt certain that if she stayed with him, he would ruin what was left of her. If he asked them to bow to him as their king, which seemed to be the thing on his mind, she would refuse to do it. She straightened her shoulders and imagined clouds. In a brave new world, Varner didn¡¯t say anything more and instead picked up a ribbon. It was yellow. The color of fourth place. Slowly, as if to keep the camera on him as long as possible, he gave it to Clandestine. He pinned it around the strap of her dress. ¡°I liked you very much,¡± he said kindly¡­ too kindly¡­ like he studied how to look and be kind at this very moment. Ornette ground her teeth together. What did she have to do to get away from him? Chapter Twenty Eight Chapter Twenty Eight Desmond did not sneak into Ornette¡¯s studio dorm that night, or if he did, she wasn¡¯t there. Her dorm room was empty. Instead, she was in a room in Varner¡¯s house. It was a room that didn¡¯t have any windows. Lots of bedrooms on Venus didn¡¯t have any windows. Sometimes, that was the only way to make sure there was enough darkness for a person to sleep. Desmond did not sneak into Ornette¡¯s bedroom, but Varner did. She wasn¡¯t sleeping anyway and turned on her bedside lamp to see him creeping across the room. ¡°Papa Bear may have been unhappy to find Goldilocks in his house, but on that occasion, he didn¡¯t invite her to stay over. What are you doing here?¡± Ornette asked firmly. ¡°I want to talk to you about what you said earlier,¡± he replied, putting his hands in the pockets of his pajama pants and trying to look harmless. ¡°Which thing?¡± she asked drolly, unwilling to say a word unless he spelled out what he wanted. She slid her hands under the covers, found an emergency button on her bracelet, and pressed it three times. Pressing it once would send a message to Desmond saying that she had found herself in a tricky situation and she was requesting aid (because he was her owner). Pressing it twice would send an alarm at the Sleeping Beauty Inc. head office on Venus. Pressing it three times did nothing, but Ornette felt like it helped her feel better. ¡°About Desmond. You can¡¯t really want to go on a date with him. Why didn¡¯t you say you wanted to go on a date with me?¡± He was trying to make his voice soft, he was trying to make himself sound the way he had when he sent off Clandestine, but no soft sound was going to change Ornette¡¯s mind. He was in her room when he shouldn''t be and he was not like the other men who had ¡®borrowed¡¯ her for their little game show. The game was set up so he could break the rules. She removed her hands from under the blankets and tried to take a position that communicated indifference, resting her cheek on her hand and scratching behind her ear with her other hand. ¡°Uh¡­ Varner, you don¡¯t want to have this conversation with me.¡± ¡°Why not?¡± he asked, sitting on the floor beside her bed rather than on her bed. It was a non-threatening move and she appreciated it. If he was off the bed, he wasn¡¯t on it. ¡°Because I didn¡¯t always work for Sleeping Beauty Inc. I used to work for Jewel Girls.¡± He returned her stare blankly. ¡°What does that mean? How are they different? I thought they were just competing brands.¡± ¡°They¡¯re not. Sleeping Beauty Inc. is classier because they¡¯re kinder to their models. The thing is, I have read the Sleeping Beauty Inc. owner manual more times than a saint has read the Bible.¡± She was lying. She didn¡¯t know it that well. She got her hot tip from her conversation with Stonic, but it sounded better the way she was spinning it. ¡°I know what¡¯s in it and I know that Sleeping Beauty Inc. would never sell me to you.¡± His expression became one of confusion and overwhelm. ¡°Are you telling me to rig the game?¡± Ornette snorted. ¡°I¡¯m not telling you anything of the sort. I¡¯m telling you that the rules of your game cannot trump the rules of my contract with Sleeping Beauty Inc.¡± The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. The look of outrage and confusion on his face was priceless, not because Ornette had any wish to see him put in his place specifically, but because he looked like the kind of spoiled emperor who had never been told he couldn¡¯t have what he wanted in his entire life. There was a sudden knock at the door. The Coordinator opened it without waiting for a response. ¡°Varner,¡± he said gently. ¡°Can I talk to you for a microsecond?¡± The intensity of the shock and outrage on Varner¡¯s face only intensified. ¡°What are you doing here?¡± he hissed furiously. ¡°We need to talk¡­ like¡­ seriously,¡± The Coordinator insisted, not entering the room further but stressing his words from the door. Varner didn¡¯t move but pointedly stared at his subordinate. ¡°You do not want to hear what I have to tell you in front of Ornette,¡± The Coordinator insisted. ¡°Does it need to be a secret from her?¡± he snapped. ¡°I¡¯m not having you tell me that I have to leave when she spent the night in Hans¡¯ bedroom.¡± The Coordinator did not like the position he was being put in, but he wasn¡¯t a coward and he squared up to Varner while keeping a look of understanding on his face. Ornette thought it was quite the feat. ¡°Hans meets Sleeping Beauty Inc.¡¯s criteria for an owner for Ornette,¡± he explained carefully. ¡°You don¡¯t. None of this is a secret to Ornette. She knows full well that you would never qualify for a contract with her.¡± ¡°Why?¡± Varner shouted, completely unconcerned over who could hear him or what could be caught on video. ¡°You¡¯re too large,¡± The Coordinator said helplessly. It could only be explained one way. Varner¡¯s face changed completely. ¡°This is unbelievable,¡± he spat. ¡°I¡¯m not that big.¡± The Coordinator cleared his throat and expanded his patience. ¡°Ornette is not allowed to be paired with a man over two hundred and ten pounds. She¡¯s five foot three and she weighs a hundred and ten pounds. Sleeping Beauty Inc. has rules that models are not to be sold to men who weigh over a hundred pounds more than them. You were two hundred and thirty-seven on your last weigh-in. You match up fine with every other contestant.¡± Varner¡¯s face changed again. ¡°That pencil-neck did this on purpose to ruin the show,¡± he said harshly. ¡°Get him on the communicator. I need to talk to him.¡± He didn¡¯t say Desmond¡¯s name, but he couldn¡¯t have meant anyone else. Papa Bear got up and took two steps away from Ornett¡¯s bed before he turned and asked her in a lighthearted tone, ¡°You think it¡¯s a stupid rule, don¡¯t you?¡± Ornette smiled faintly and said, ¡°I would only think that if I was a bigger woman.¡± He seemed to think that meant she agreed with him as he strode out of the room. When he and The Coordinator had wished her a good night and the door between them was shut, Ornette tried to go to sleep, but it was impossible. Her mind was on fire. The truth was clear as a bell. Desmond had known about the rule and he had got her because she was probably the smallest woman Sleeping Beauty Inc. had in the catalog who liked fashion that wasn¡¯t a Thumbelina model. He did it on purpose to screw Varner over¨Cabsolutely. It perfectly explained why he took such good care of her. Desmond had known Varner would be brainbreakingly interested in her and he wanted to make it worse. She was his type if he already had a maid that looked like her. That was why Desmond woke her up from cryostasis, fixed the makeup on her hand, and helped give her better makeup on her face. She bet that Varner hadn¡¯t bought any of the girls himself. Each girl had a different backer. They were betting on which of their choices would win him over, except Desmond had chosen someone Varner could never have to spite him. It was pretty beautiful when she thought about it, partly because she did not like Varner, and partly because she still felt chapped at the Venecian aristocracy because of what they¡¯d done to her when she was a young girl. What Varner accused Desmond of, trying to ruin the show, had to be somewhat, if not completely, true. She hoped it wouldn¡¯t come back to bite Desmond in the face. He had such a cute face. Chapter Twenty Nine Chapter Twenty Nine Meeting Varner¡¯s mother was boring. Ornette didn¡¯t care what the old hag thought of her. Instead of trying to impress her, Ornette sat very still and listened to the woman talk. Like most people, Varner¡¯s mother still loved it when people appeared to be fascinated by her. Ornette didn¡¯t overdo her expression. She sat as still as a statue and gave all her attention to Varner¡¯s mother like she ought to be reverenced instead of gawked at. The woman was gaudy and had clearly spent much of her life being gawked at, so she loved Ornette¡¯s attention. It was an easy hurdle for Orpah and Yilin as well. All the girls made good impressions. Ornette heard a little of her interview afterward and it was very favorable toward all of them. That night, when Varner was handing out the ribbons, she knew The Coordinator had advised Varner to give the third-place ribbon to her. Honestly, Ornette was chomping at the bit as she and the other contestants waited in his grand front hall. Once he gave her that little slip of white satin ribbon that signified third place, she could go back to the dorms. Maybe she could fall asleep in Desmond¡¯s perfect arms. Even if she couldn¡¯t see Desmond, she wanted her bed in the dormitory. She hadn¡¯t slept well the night before and another night in Varner¡¯s house was the last thing her body needed. She couldn¡¯t rest with that man on the prowl. Varner stood in front of the three women. He was holding the white ribbon. He was fiddling with it like it was a fidget toy. ¡°Before I give this out, I want to ask each of you a question to help me decide.¡± The women looked at him eagerly. ¡°Orpah,¡± he said gently. ¡°What is your favorite thing about me?¡± ¡°How kind you are without being showy,¡± she replied with a moonlit glow to her dark cheeks. To Ornette¡¯s mind, what she was saying was a blatant lie, but she didn¡¯t want to be eliminated, so she was going to say whatever it took. Her compliment was well-chosen. At that moment, he needed to be complimented on his kindness and his humility. He needed to think that he didn¡¯t ask too much of the people around him and that he was a master who was more than fair. It was a lie and it was a lie that wouldn¡¯t work in Ornette¡¯s favor. Ornette would have cursed her if she hadn¡¯t been so beautiful. Even Ornette was enchanted. This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. He seemed content with that response and moved to Yilin. To her, he asked, ¡°If we could do anything in the world tomorrow, what would you want to do?¡± ¡°Go drinking,¡± she said with a giggle. She was still trying to get kicked off. Ornette wanted to curse her too, except she wanted to get kicked off too, so she could hardly blame her. ¡°Ornette,¡± he said, trying his best to conceal whatever feelings were bubbling just beneath the surface. ¡°Do you still want that date with Desmond Falstead?¡± ¡°Has something changed since yesterday?¡± Ornette asked cluelessly. Ditziness was her friend. ¡°I need to change your mind,¡± he said, and then he gave the white ribbon to Yilin. Ornette hugged her and whispered in her ear. ¡°You suck. I wanted to go home.¡± ¡°We¡¯re both stupid,¡± Yilin mouthed back, ¡°but not the same kind of stupid.¡± Ornette agreed with her with a head wave. They said goodbye and Yilin left. Ornette hoped she would be allowed to head back to her room, but Varner insisted on taking Orpah and Ornette to an orange-lit balcony for dessert. Ornette¡¯s dessert was smothered in so much cream, she had to ask, ¡°Are you trying to get me to gain weight.¡± He laughed and denied it. Ornette ate the whole thing knowing fully that it would not disrupt her diet. It was merely her cheat day. She sat like a third wheel while Orpah flirted insanely. Ornette snuck out while she was playing a kissing game with him. The Coordinator caught her in the hall. ¡°Varner wants you to return to the balcony,¡± he said, his voice ricocheting in the vast space. ¡°Fine, but could you tell me why he didn¡¯t take your advice?¡± she asked unassumingly. The Coordinator was a lovely man and he proved it by what he said next. ¡°Varner just doesn¡¯t like being told that he can¡¯t have everything. That¡¯s all. It¡¯s too bad he didn¡¯t get turned off by your spitting down your dress. If you could manage some actual vomit, that might help.¡± ¡°Have you got a pill or something I could take? I¡¯d do it. I¡¯d throw up all over me, all over Orpah, all over Varner, and all over every last stick of furniture in this place if it would get me away from him,¡± she offered. ¡°He¡¯s not going to hurt you,¡± The Coordinator clarified seeing Ornette¡¯s passion and having a very reasonable idea of where those feelings came from. ¡°Yeah, except they have.¡± Ornette licked the back of her hand and left a mark of black for The Coordinator to see. His jaw clenched as he got her meaning. ¡°I can¡¯t make Varner eliminate you. Probably the extent of my power is making sure that he does not bid on you when you go up for auction. If things go the way they went last week, you¡¯ll be off the show¡­ And if I know Desmond, he won¡¯t let you go to another bidder. You can bank on that.¡± Ornette sighed. ¡°I¡¯m glad I wasn¡¯t just hoping for that all by myself. I¡¯ll go back and be a good girl. Can you send me another serving of dessert? If I have absolutely nothing to do, but watch those two make out, I¡¯ll be so bored.¡± ¡°Will do,¡± he said as he clicked on his earpiece to take a call. Chapter Thirty Chapter Thirty Bungee jumping into a wall of clouds was not something Orpah wanted to do. She was standing on the platform and she was literally crying with tears running down both cheeks. Varner was clearly embarrassed that the idea was so terrifying to her. ¡°This isn¡¯t that different from the bubble sailing,¡± he said reassuringly. Ornette watched while he fumbled, trying to get her to do something that was easy and natural for him, but impossible for her. Ornette was standing next to Varner¡¯s father. He was an old space cowboy and he was looking at his son like Orpah was a foal and his son, who he had such high hopes for, was unable to ride her. There were two kinds of people who ventured to live in outer space. There was the kind like Orpah, who wanted outer space to be like living on Earth. She wanted to have normal showers, wear makeup, sleep in a bed in a room with gravity, and a million other things people who grew up on a water planet expected. Then there was the other kind. These were people who had learned not to mind their inner ear being wildly confused. These were people who had not been raised having a bath a day. They were people who had hung upside down so many times that their bodies scarcely knew they were doing it. The two groups weren¡¯t the same. ¡°I¡¯ll do it,¡± Ornette said when it became clear that they weren¡¯t going to be able to get Orpah off the platform. ¡°You will?¡± the father asked in shock. ¡°But you¡¯re a tiny little thing.¡± Varner winced at his father pointing out Ornette¡¯s size. ¡°Yeah, well, I¡¯m not scared.¡± She stepped forward and let the tech get her ready in the harness. Bungee jumping was vanilla for her. Varner stood behind her and watched them check her straps. When the tech declared her ready, Varner whispered to her, ¡°You¡¯re not afraid of this, but you¡¯re afraid of me?¡± Ornette looked him dead in the eye and then as if to push him away, she put her hands on his chest and she pushed herself off the platform. She fell. It was the most natural thing in the world to her. The golden orange clouds that surrounded her were what she dreamed of every night. It was what she thought of when she needed to relax and just because it was all happening so quickly didn¡¯t change how she felt about it. She was fine. Even if her cord snapped and she broke her braincase open on the bottom of the bubble, that was fine. She¡¯d tried her best. The very best she had, she¡¯d tried it. She¡¯d tried it all and nothing Varner could do would change that. When they pulled her back up, Orpah had stopped crying. ¡°How did you do that?¡± she wailed. ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure dying is my happy place,¡± Ornette replied like it was nothing. ¡°You¡¯re allowed to kiss these girls, Son? Am I allowed to kiss these girls?¡± the grisly father asked, reaching for Ornette. His son blocked his hand. ¡°Why does everyone think they¡¯re allowed to kiss her?¡± Ornette looked from father to son. They weren¡¯t related. They were saying they were for the show, but their interaction was funny. The man asked if he could kiss Ornette, but the way Varner behaved was more like he was dealing with one of the stage grunts than someone he owed for providing some of his genetic material. The man had been hired because he was handsome and he looked enough like Varner to pass for his father. There was probably more to the story than that, but Ornette couldn¡¯t make herself care. What they said to each other was none of her business whether they were lying to the world about their relationship or not. Ornette ignored their comments about kissing and asked instead, ¡°Can I go again?¡± The tech nodded and Ornette pitched herself off the platform like the eagle she was named after. *** Varner was explaining to Orpah that he was choosing Ornette as the final contestant because she had won the bungee jumping competition. Ornette was more bored than ever. Just a few more hours. Then it would all be over. She wouldn¡¯t even be on the show anymore. She would be auctioned off and if everything went well there, she would be sold to Desmond again, and then¡­ all good things. Ornette couldn¡¯t even be sure what all those good things would be. She just had such a good feeling about Desmond she couldn¡¯t describe it. But Orpah was leaving and she was alone with Varner. When they were alone, she said dully, ¡°You should have chosen Orpah. Tonight is going to be boring. We have no chemistry.¡± ¡°I think we do,¡± he said, pouring her a glass of white wine at the bar. Ornette took it and pretended to sip it by becoming the queen of backwash. ¡°What are you going to drink?¡± she asked in a disinterested tone. ¡°Whiskey.¡± Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. ¡°Okay. I hope you¡¯re good at holding your liquor. You¡¯ve got a nice stretch of wall over there. It would be a shame if something were to happen to it.¡± She was thinking of all the times she¡¯d been chucked across a room like a cheerleader chucked to the top of a pyramid¡­ except not. ¡°Why are you so against me?¡± he asked as he removed the stopper in the crystal whiskey bottle. ¡°Varner, I¡¯m a Sleeping Beauty Inc. model. My preferences in a partner for business and sex are the same. And they¡¯re not a secret. They¡¯re in my file. You are not my type. If you want me to make nice with you, I can, but I don¡¯t want to make you think that I think something I don¡¯t. I kid you not when I say that every single man I¡¯ve been paired up with so far is more my style than you.¡± ¡°Which was your favorite?¡± he asked, getting into the nitty-gritty. ¡°Fen.¡± ¡°He¡¯s not that different from me.¡± ¡°He¡¯s shorter,¡± Ornette said, counting the reasons on her fingers. ¡°He does have some pretty sweet muscles, but even though he¡¯s shaped like that, he isn¡¯t built to your scale. If you took pictures of him and pictures of you individually, someone might be tempted to think you¡¯re cut from the same cloth, but side-by-side, you¡¯re totally different. I fit under his arm. My shoulder fits in his armpit. If I¡¯m next to you, do you know how much room there is between my shoulder and your armpit? Like a mile.¡± ¡°Is that all?¡± he said, sounding bored. Obviously, he knew how different their sizes were. There was only a bar between them. ¡°Fen is a wildly talented designer,¡± Ornette praised. ¡°He¡¯s brilliant. So brilliant, I can¡¯t even. I¡¯d make out with him for a week just for the pleasure of looking at his designs for an hour. All of us divas worship people who make beautiful clothes. I haven¡¯t seen anything to indicate you design clothes or anything. Other than running this show, I can¡¯t tell that you do anything. No one has told me anything about you. What do you do?¡± ¡°Uh¡­¡± he hesitated. ¡°You¡¯re rich so you can do whatever you want?¡± she supplied for him. He nodded and took a drink. ¡°I guess, but this show isn¡¯t nothing.¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t say it was nothing,¡± Ornette said bluntly. ¡°I said I like clothing designers. I¡¯m a clothing designer myself and someday, I¡¯m going to have some time to myself and I¡¯m going to make something jaw-dropping.¡± ¡°Desmond is not a clothing designer,¡± Varner pointed out sharply. Ornette shrugged. ¡°You¡¯re so hung up on Desmond. Give it a rest. Of the men you recruited for this thing, visually, without knowing anything much about him, I like him. He¡¯s my style.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°I like the shape of his neck,¡± she replied. She¡¯d not thought much of his neck, but Varner had called him a pencil neck and she wanted to add lemon to their conversation. Varner was sour with or without it. She shrugged her shoulders. ¡°I like slim men.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°They don¡¯t hit as hard,¡± she replied lazily. She faked another sip of wine. ¡°Do you like white wine?¡± he asked, perhaps noticing the pinched look on her face. ¡°I do not, but you did not ask me what I like.¡± ¡°Is that a metaphor?¡± ¡°A metaphor for what?¡± Ornette asked curiously. ¡°For our situation?¡± Ornette didn¡¯t answer. ¡°Are we drinking for the rest of the night, or did you have something else planned?¡± ¡°What would you like to do?¡± Ornette got a happy look in her eye. ¡°I¡¯d like to watch the episodes of the show that you¡¯ve already released. Can we do that?¡± Varner looked surprised and pleased. She was finally showing interest in him. After all, it was his show. ¡°Yeah. We can do that,¡± he said, enthused. So Varner got a bunch of snacks and drinks and set them up in his home theater and they watched the episodes. There were four of them and each of them was an hour long, so they were still watching them by two in the morning. Ornette found the footage of her with Fen to be kind of embarrassing, but when she came out in the eagle dress he made for her, it was completely worth it. Everything included was utterly magnificent. In the second episode, she was with Joel. There was a lot less footage of her as there was an interesting storyline with Summer and the salon owner who had her for the week. Ornette hardly knew Summer. It was all too interesting. Ornette got a lot more screen time in the third episode when she was with Hans. Everything there looked so perfectly above board that it felt criminal. No one who saw it would have guessed how weird Hans was. Again, whoever was in charge of his public relations was killing it. There was almost no footage of her in the fourth episode, other than Westen¡¯s stunning review of her and her almost getting kicked off. Ornette really enjoyed watching the episodes, she laughed, asked Varner what he thought of various things, and gave him her attention when he responded. All in all, it was the best way she could have spent the night. When they were finished, Varner leaned back in his chair, put his hands behind his head, and questioned, ¡°How can you say we have no chemistry? We¡¯re getting along.¡± ¡°Getting along is not the same as having chemistry. If we had chemistry, I would want more than a friendly conversation with you. As it is, I sincerely hope that I can have a friendly conversation with anyone.¡± His expression went weird again like it had when The Coordinator had told him that he couldn¡¯t have what he wanted. If he felt one way for Ornette, it seemed impossible for her to have different feelings toward him. ¡°And Desmond¨C¡± ¡°Forget about Desmond,¡± she wailed noisily. When she finished, he said cleanly, ¡°I know he¡¯s your true owner. I was told about the kerfuffle with Sleeping Beauty Inc. and their contracts stating that the girls need to know who owns them. Apparently, Desmond is the only one who missed paying the fine because he told you. Are you acting the way you are because you know he¡¯s your true owner and that¡¯s how you honor your contract.¡± The Coordinator had probably told him that to make him feel better about her showing favor to Desmond, who Varner disliked. Ornette would hate to undo his hard work. She liked The Coordinator and she didn¡¯t need to make his life harder when she was going to get auctioned off in two days. She avoided his eyes. ¡°I would like it if you understood that the problem is not personal. Those weight restrictions are not my rule, but I wanted to have my contract moved to Sleeping Beauty Inc. because I needed those restrictions to protect me. I have been very hurt by men who look just like you.¡± ¡°I would never hurt you,¡± he emphasized. ¡°I¡¯m not saying you would.¡± Then she looked at her bracelet. ¡°I will do all I can to honor my contract. It is with Sleeping Beauty Inc., not you. I need to go to bed now. Goodnight.¡± She got up and The Coordinator was waiting for her at the door to the theater. He escorted her to the bedroom she had been staying in. When he went to say goodnight, he leaned in and whispered, ¡°I¡¯m placing bets on who will bid on you tomorrow. Who do you think will bid more for you, Desmond or Fen?¡± ¡°Desmond,¡± she replied clearly. ¡°He can¡¯t let me go to someone else.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll send you roses,¡± he chuckled as he checked something off on his tablet and she shut the door between them. Chapter Thirty One Chapter Thirty One The last day was a spa day. Ornette was lying on her stomach receiving a couple¡¯s massage at the same time as Varner, except two girls worked on him while only one girl worked on Ornette. It made sense. His body was so large if only one girl worked on him, she¡¯d never get his whole body rubbed down on her own. Ornette tried to enjoy it, but her body felt brittle. The masseuse hardly touched her, and Ornette kept wincing and pulling away. ¡°Have you had a lot of damage to your nervous system?¡± the masseuse asked kindly. ¡°Some,¡± Ornette admitted. ¡°Perhaps I could take you for a different treatment. Perhaps a mud wrap?¡± she suggested. Varner was quick to pull the plug on any treatment that would take Ornette away from his side. ¡°I only get her for today, so please don¡¯t take her anywhere.¡± He said it nicely, but he didn¡¯t mean it nicely. ¡°Sir, I can¡¯t do a mud wrap treatment in here,¡± the masseuse ventured to say. ¡°Then she doesn¡¯t get a mud wrap treatment,¡± he answered firmly. The masseuse averted her eyes and tried to rub Ornette¡¯s left hand, causing her to flinch every three seconds. The girl opened her mouth to say something, but Ornette put a warning finger to her lips, and the masseuse stopped whatever she was going to say. They had lunch between spa treatments. It was a salad for her. It was an oversized burger for him. Ornette picked at the salad. Varner tried to ask her questions more than once, but they were seated next to a very noisy fountain (a luxury item on Venus), and she begged off answering him, saying that she couldn¡¯t hear him. After lunch, they had manicures and pedicures. That was a place where they could talk. He got to ask her his questions then. ¡°What was your last owner like?¡± ¡°I can¡¯t remember,¡± she answered vaguely. ¡°Why not?¡± ¡°I always throw away all my memories of the last man when I get a new owner. I can never go back to the old owner. It doesn¡¯t matter how I feel about him. Thinking about him is a waste of time. If he was nicer than my current owner, it does no good to pine for days long past. If he was abusive, the faster I put him out of my mind, the better,¡± she explained like she was reading a recording. ¡°Who was your best owner?¡± he continued like he was reading a script because he was. ¡°I don¡¯t remember.¡± ¡°Who was your worst owner?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t remember.¡± ¡°Will you remember me?¡± he asked, perhaps going off-script. ¡°No.¡± ¡°Will you remember Desmond?¡± ¡°No. I¡¯ve already forgotten about both of you several times. I really focus on the owner I have, and I keep getting new ones on this show. Tomorrow, I¡¯ll get a new owner again, so there isn¡¯t much point in getting attached.¡± His expression fell. What had he been hoping for? Varner was shooed away once it was time for Ornette to start her hair treatments. Ornette was dressed up by professionals for her dinner with Varner. Ideally, he shouldn¡¯t be around for the final parts of the process. Dinner was a lavish affair. Obviously, she was getting the best food, venue, clothes, and jewelry the show had to offer, but Ornette acted like a statue. Varner didn¡¯t seem to be aware that anything was wrong. ¡°Wouldn¡¯t you like to live like this all the time?¡± he asked brazenly, flaunting what he had in front of her nose. She resisted the urge to tell him the truth. She had had all the wealth he was giving her a taste of. It just hadn¡¯t lasted and no one could convince her that someone had the trick for making wealth last forever. It wouldn¡¯t. She smiled and agreed in her sideways way. ¡°It¡¯s all so beautiful.¡± ¡°Where were you raised?¡± he asked, trying to make a conversation for the cameras to film, and talking about her was much better than talking about him. She rolled her eyes. ¡°What happened to your questions about sexual positions and how many men I¡¯ve gone down on?¡± ¡°Are those questions better?¡± ¡°No. No questions are best. You need to understand that models are not often wined and dined in this way. That¡¯s not to say we don¡¯t eat good food or go to nice places. We do. It¡¯s just that when I go out with an owner, I¡¯m there to do something for him. I¡¯m there to tell the people we¡¯re with how wonderful he is. I¡¯m there to help him navigate difficult meetings. I¡¯m there to say nothing and be as much of a person as the helocarrier we rode in on. I¡¯m not supposed to be a human with thoughts and feelings and a past and a future. You¡¯re humanizing me, and I don¡¯t like it. I¡¯m here to do a job, and that job cannot be to arrange my past masters into categories to entertain you. You must know that I¡¯ve signed non-disclosure agreements. If this night was about pleasing me, I¡¯d be allowed to finish eating and then I¡¯d be returned to the dormitory early so I could get some sleep.¡± Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. ¡°You haven¡¯t slept well while you¡¯ve been in my house?¡± he asked crankily like that meant his home wasn¡¯t luxurious and she¡¯d just accused him of having an uncomfortable home on television. ¡°No. I haven¡¯t,¡± she said, without backing down. ¡°You could have asked for a pill or some tea,¡± he offered, trying to soften his tone. ¡°I could not have,¡± she replied drowsily and could not stop herself from yawning. His eyes went wide. He dropped his napkin frostily. ¡°Am I that boring?¡± ¡°I¡¯m that tired. I haven¡¯t had a day off in weeks. You know that. You know the schedule, and last week was especially taxing, getting hauled all over Venus in the wind to visit factories. I¡¯m very tired. If you want to treat me like I¡¯m your horse, at this point, you¡¯re whipping me until I bleed.¡± ¡°How dare you? I have given you a beautiful opportunity,¡± he breathed like he was one heartbeat away from storming off angrily. Ornette hoped he would. She hoped he¡¯d leave in an angry huff, and The Coordinator would escort her from the property. She didn¡¯t answer, and he sat there, stunned. ¡°You really don¡¯t appreciate this?¡± he hissed. Ornette couldn¡¯t have said if something violent was going to happen at that moment. It could go either way. Varner pulled the earpiece out of his ear and pulled the microphone off his chest. In a quick motion, he threw them away. Ornette wasn¡¯t wearing a microphone, but there was one hidden in the flowers in the middle of the table, and Varner pulled that one free and chucked it away as well. ¡°Off the record, what is your fucking problem?¡± he spat at her. The look in his eyes was wild. ¡°I have been nothing but nice to you. I¡¯ve even been nice to you when you deserved far less. You shouldn¡¯t even be here. You¡¯re here because I¡¯m being nice, and you¡¯re such a child of hell that you can¡¯t appreciate it?¡± ¡°Yes,¡± Ornette agreed. ¡°You¡¯ve absolutely given your kindness to the wrong woman. You should have eliminated me instead of Clandestine. She liked you. She wanted you to like her. It¡¯s a shame that you cared so little for her affection.¡± ¡°Everyone pretends to love me,¡± he said, in what felt like a rare moment of insight, ¡°but they love my money. You don¡¯t even love that. You don¡¯t love this opportunity. You don¡¯t love the drinks, you don¡¯t love the food, you don¡¯t love the room, the setting¡­ The only thing you seemed to love was throwing yourself headfirst off my father¡¯s tower with a bungee cord attached to your feet. What is wrong with you exactly?¡± She glared at him. ¡°What do you have planned for after dinner?¡± ¡°Dress up. Don¡¯t you models love doing dress up?¡± ¡°You weren¡¯t going to dress me up like Goldilocks, were you?¡± she asked suspiciously. ¡°The show is called Goldilocks Zone. It¡¯s supposed to be an honor for¡­¡± He kept talking, but Ornette had figured it out. ¡°You want to dress me up like a little girl, and you want to dress up like Papa Bear and chase me?¡± When she said it like that out loud, he seemed to realize that it was too late to hide his secret. He had thrown away his microphone, but Ornette had heard him clearly. He had a thing for scared little girls. If they played dress-up, those scenes wouldn¡¯t be aired with the show. They already had plenty of footage. The game was to reward him for being a good boy. Even if Ornette was in her forties, it didn¡¯t change his fetish. He liked little girls. ¡°Do the little girls calm down when you tell them you won¡¯t hurt them?¡± she asked quietly. ¡°There haven¡¯t been any little girls,¡± he denied stiffly. ¡°Hmph,¡± Ornette clucked her tongue at him disbelievingly. ¡°If you want my opinion,¡± she said, leaning forward to add a little intimacy to their conversation. ¡°When the time comes, you should bid on Starling. That is the contestant you should crown as the woman who is too hot. She¡¯s from the Church of Voynich, and even though she sold herself as a model with Sleeping Beauty Inc., the people from that church take their church with them wherever they go. That is what you need to do if you want to look like a hero at the end of this. If you want to look classy, you have to set her free and give up on keeping a model for yourself. There is no other way.¡± Ornette stood up. His voice went friendly. ¡°Wait, I think I gave you the wrong impression. It¡¯s not gross to like putting on a bear costume.¡± ¡°No. It isn¡¯t.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not gross to like reenacting stories for dramatic purposes,¡± he stressed. ¡°It¡¯s fine,¡± Ornette agreed. ¡°Then why are you looking at me like that?¡± ¡°Because I was once a little girl of fifteen who was desperate, who sold herself thoughtlessly thinking that her life was already slave labor, so what would be the difference? If I sold myself through an agency, I¡¯d at least have jewelry. I¡¯d at least have delicious food and get to visit nice places. I was wrong. It has been a poor trade.¡± Ornette stood up. ¡°I know I¡¯m still doing it. I sold myself, so I¡¯m still doing it, but I¡¯m not doing it thinking that it¡¯s okay or that I¡¯m okay. And when I sit here with you and I remember what fragments of myself I can remember, I think I made a mistake. I should have stayed where I was. I should have fallen into the stars and let the stars take me. And you are everything I hate.¡± She walked out. ¡°Where are you going?¡± he shouted to her retreating back. ¡°Shock me if you don¡¯t like it,¡± she yelled back as she went into the house. She almost ran headfirst into The Coordinator. ¡°Get me out of here. I¡¯m going back to the dormitory.¡± ¡°You can¡¯t walk out on Papa Bear.¡± ¡°If you take me back to the dorms right now, I¡¯ll sign a non-disclosure agreement regarding what he said to me when he removed his microphone. If you don¡¯t, I¡¯ll tell everyone what he said.¡± Ornette was bluffing. What Varner had said to her was nothing, but that didn¡¯t change her impression of him or the fact that he made her skin crawl¡­ so much so that her whole body was running from him. If she was a betting woman, and she was, she bet that The Coordinator knew a lot more about Varner than she did. She bet he had secrets that absolutely should not come out, and The Coordinator would do what he could to protect him. She stared at him with steel in her eyes and waited for his answer. ¡°Shit,¡± The Coordinator rushed Ornette down the steps without another word and out to a helocarrier that was waiting on standby. That response answered her questions nicely. Varner was as dangerous as she suspected. Ornette didn¡¯t know the helocarrier pilot, but she got in the front seat with him. ¡°I¡¯ll send your clothes,¡± The Coordinator told her before he closed the door to the helocarrier and gave the signal for them to lift off. Ornette did not envy The Coordinator his job. Not at all. He had to go back and face a raging bear in a man¡¯s body. Ornette did not envy him at all. Chapter Thirty Two Chapter Thirty Two Ornette slept in her dorm room from the time she was dropped off until one hour before she was supposed to be in the dressing room. Then she rose like a zombie from the dead, stumbled to the cafeteria, ate something that might have been brains (it might have been a quinoa salad), and went back to her room only to brush her teeth before taking her seat to prepare for filming. ¡°How was your time with Varner?¡± Clandestine asked, coming up behind Ornette and meeting her eyes in the dressing table mirror. The redhead looked sleek in her dressing gown with her eyebrow raised. Ornette had already signed her nondisclosure agreement. ¡°About the same as my night with Hans,¡± she replied. Clandestine pinched her shoulder. ¡°You should have acted just like Orpah when you guys went bungee jumping. Maybe if you cried louder than her, he would have chosen her instead of you.¡± Ornette¡¯s eyelashes fluttered at half-mast. ¡°I agree. I didn¡¯t even think of it. I just love throwing myself off things.¡± ¡°Well, stand up,¡± Clandestine ordered like she was Ornette¡¯s mummy. ¡°I want to say goodbye to you properly before you get kicked off the show.¡± Ornette stood up, and Clandestine hugged her with both her arms pinned to her sides. ¡°Look, I¡¯m sorry I was snotty earlier.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it,¡± Ornette said, trying to pat the other woman¡¯s elbow with her arms pinned. ¡°I¡¯m not the only one who¡¯s sorry,¡± she said, backing off and looking into Ornette¡¯s eyes. ¡°I¡¯ve been counting my rosary beads that you¡¯ll get bought by Fen or that man you mentioned, Desmond. You deserve to have a nice purchaser... For once.¡± Ornette was truly touched. ¡°Thank you. That¡¯s very kind of you.¡± Yilin came up behind her. ¡°I¡¯ve been cheering for you too. Though I am sad you¡¯re going to get kicked off the show before me. I thought it was going to go the other way. I thought they were going to save the most desirable women to be auctioned off last, but it seems it¡¯s going the other way. Mikayla was just everyone testing the waters. You would have been off last week if the viewers didn¡¯t want to keep you on. After all the good ones are gone, Papa Bear is going to be left with the least desirable of us all.¡± ¡°Is that you or me?¡± Clandestine asked Yilin sardonically. ¡°I hope it¡¯s neither of us. That guy is gross, but after Ornette goes, he¡¯s going to chase me,¡± Yilin bemoaned like it was already a fact and not a prediction. ¡°Why?¡± Clandestine frowned, looking confused. ¡°I¡¯m the next smallest. Silvania is also Asian, but she¡¯s tall and I¡¯m short. I figured out his kink. Varner likes tiny girls. He¡¯s going to say something gross about how I¡¯m his little China doll and make me sit on his lap.¡± ¡°That¡¯s a weird kink,¡± Clandestine said, allowing her frown to deepen. ¡°How much do you weigh?¡± Ornette asked Yilin. ¡°A hundred and thirty-seven pounds,¡± Yilin said with an eye-roll. ¡°Can you starve yourself down five pounds just to be safe?¡± Ornette asked seriously. ¡°No. I have already been taken aside by The Coordinator. He told me that if I try to shed a few pounds by refusing to eat, they¡¯ll sue me for breach of contract. The amount they¡¯ll sue me for will be more than my salary for the whole contract. I already spoke to a rep from Sleeping Beauty Inc., and they say I¡¯ll be on the hook for it. I don¡¯t have the money, and they say the math is sound, so I should be safe. The Coordinator is no joke, and he¡¯s offered me an insane bonus if I don¡¯t squirm.¡± ¡°So, you¡¯re going to stick with it?¡± Ornette asked carefully. ¡°Yeah, well, I could use the money, and every dude in the universe loves carrying a tipsy Asian girl on his back. So I can drink my way through it,¡± Yilin said in a sweet and sour tone of voice. Ornette was sorry and wanted to say more, but The Coordinator came over and shooed the other girls away. ¡°You¡¯re lucky,¡± he said as he helped Ornette with the corset laces on her back. ¡°Varner sent me a message saying that he can¡¯t come to help you get ready. He¡¯s busy.¡± ¡°Hooray,¡± Ornette cheered as The Coordinator finished tying her. That was when Ornette¡¯s bracelet started to beep. ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± he asked, looking over her shoulder. ¡°It¡¯s a message from my owner saying I have to return to my room,¡± she explained. ¡°That¡¯s weird.¡± ¡°That¡¯s very weird,¡± The Coordinator said. ¡°You have to go because it¡¯s an official request, and Sleeping Beauty Inc. rules trump ours, but make it snappy. Like really snappy!¡± ¡°Really? I¡¯m number twelve. Everyone else goes before me.¡± ¡°No. You¡¯re number ten now because two other girls were voted off. Hurry.¡± He swatted Ornette and sent her back to the dorm rooms in her turquoise gown. Ornette unlocked the door by waving her hand in front of the lock and entered the suite with a flourish. ¡°Desmond,¡± she called once the door was shut. She couldn¡¯t see him. She went into the bedroom, and at first, she thought there was a trail of red rose petals that led from the white linen bed to the dressing room. Then she realized the red marks were not rose petals, but blood splatters. She raced to the dressing room. This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. Desmond was there. He was half inside the cylinder of the shoe rack, and he had blood stains spreading on his white suit. There were two gashes in the side of his neck, and that left stains down his lapels and a deep red mark widening at his hip. ¡°What happened?¡± she asked, rushing him. ¡°Well, someone didn¡¯t want me to attend the auction tonight, and he thought that if I had a few nicks in my neck and a few blood stains on my suit, I would be forced to stay away,¡± Desmond explained, a little drooper than usual. ¡°You mean Varner?¡± ¡°Yeah, except he didn¡¯t think I¡¯d feel the same way about keeping him from the auction, so I got him on the side of the head, and that really pissed him off, so he knifed me in the appendix.¡± ¡°How do you know that¡¯s your appendix?¡± she shouted. ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± he said, his voice mangled with pain. ¡°I know he got me in the right side above the hip. That¡¯s where your appendix is.¡± ¡°Have you called a doctor?¡± ¡°I called you. Help me tie this up.¡± ¡°How?¡± ¡°Surely, you have something with a little tension to it that you could wrap me up in. Women have things¡­ scarves, leg warmers, yoga pants, pantihose? We need to stop the bleeding.¡± Ornette grabbed a box of pantyhose and started pulling them free. He grabbed the tie-dye skirt and shoved it over his injury. Ornette used the pantyhose to bind it down. After tying it, she grabbed another set and did it again. ¡°Do another pair,¡± he begged after she was finished. ¡°The pressure helps.¡± ¡°You need a doctor,¡± she insisted. ¡°The wound is not that deep. I¡¯m just being a baby. Help me down the tube.¡± ¡°In this dress?¡± ¡°Take it off if it¡¯s bothering you, but we need to go.¡± She was confused. ¡°We? I¡¯m not doing the show?¡± ¡°The MC stabbed me. No. You¡¯re not doing the show,¡± he said as he attempted to reposition himself so he could make his way down the ladder in the center of the shoe rack. Ornette undid the zipper on the side that was the quick way out of the dress after the corset had been tied. Then she stood staring at the clothes in her closet like a weirdo. She had no pants. Everything was dirty. She grabbed her bathrobe, threw it over her shoulders, stuffed her arms in the holes, and tied it at the waist. The tube beneath them was long, with emergency lights at regular intervals on the way down. The bottom of the tube was lit, and Ornette could see a white floor, so she wasn¡¯t scared. The only thing that worried her was whether or not Desmond could make it down safely. He was moving slowly. ¡°How are you doing?¡± she asked. ¡°I¡¯d be able to go faster, except I keep accidentally looking up at you coming down the ladder. It¡¯s quite the show,¡± he said with a rueful chuckle. ¡°Shut up,¡± she instructed with an eye roll. The view up her housecoat was nothing to write home about. She was wearing opaque pantihose and though it was brownish, it did not look anything like her bare skin. ¡°Like seeing up my housecoat is a treat.¡± ¡°I wasn¡¯t talking about seeing your pantyhose. I was talking about seeing you in the tunnel. I have been aching to take you out of your room. I have been parking my helocarrier under your room since we began this. I wanted to sneak you out and take you for a ride.¡± ¡°Where would we go?¡± Ornette wanted to know. He was talking about taking her to the actual place she dreamed of when she closed her eyes and meditated to clear her mind from the cobwebs of the day. Her inner vision opened to orange clouds and something indelible from her past that made her feel safe, even when she knew she hadn¡¯t been safe. It had all been an illusion, but Desmond was talking about giving her the closest thing to it. ¡°Must we go anywhere?¡± he asked, arriving at the bottom of the tunnel and slumping against a wall while he waited for Ornette to descend the remainder of the ladder. ¡°It¡¯s Venus. There¡¯s nowhere to go, and yet, there¡¯s everywhere to go.¡± Ornette arrived beside him and pulled his arm so he would put his weight on her shoulders. ¡°So, we¡¯d just fly around?¡± She was used to talking in a way that kept all her feelings to herself, so she didn¡¯t sound excited about the prospect of cruising on Venus. ¡°Unless I¡¯m very much mistaken, you are the kind of girl who just wants to fly around.¡± Ornette¡¯s breath caught, and her heart skipped a beat. She almost forgot he needed a doctor. They were in a helocarrier antechamber. Ornette helped him into the pilot seat, and she took the co-pilot chair. Once they were buckled in, he started the sequence to initiate liftoff. They were under the floating city. ¡°How was this built under my room?¡± she asked curiously. ¡°I¡¯ll explain later,¡± he said shortly through the microphone at his mouth that relayed into the headset she wore. ¡°Right now, we need to get out of here and I¡­¡± He pressed the wrong button, and Ornette immediately slapped his hand to stop the action. He had just opened the landing gear, which he really didn¡¯t need at that moment. ¡°Are you feeling well enough to fly?¡± she questioned desperately. ¡°I¡­¡± he said faintly. Ornette didn¡¯t wait for him to answer. She pressed the controls to turn the co-pilot chair into the pilot seat, and she finished the liftoff sequence. In their case, it meant falling into the clouds instead of lifting off into them. ¡°Where are we going?¡± she asked as they skimmed under the metal panels of the city. Ornette had never been under a floating city on Venus, and she loved the experience. She loved it so much that she forgot to listen to his answer. A second later, she was asking the question again, but Desmond didn¡¯t answer. He was slumped in his chair. If he was unconscious, he was done giving commands, and Ornette plotted a course to the nearest hospital. It would have been great if she could have gotten there, but the circular monitors on the dash were going berserk. There was an alarm going off that she¡¯d never seen before. It took her a moment to understand what was happening. The engine compartment was being sealed off because their ruptor had breached, and with the glass case broken, the dangerous aspects of the ruptor were spilling all over the engine. Ornette had never seen an error like that in a helocarrier before. Rupter cases were made of plate-diamond. If it was breaking, that meant someone had broken it on purpose. They were losing altitude. Ornette sent out a distress call, but they were losing power. As they fell, Ornette held onto the controls and stopped them from spinning, but she wasn¡¯t able to gain altitude. The view from the windshield was the story of her life. She had been coasting between orange clouds, skimming in impossible places, and suddenly, everything had gone dark. The clouds had changed from rich cotton candy to angry, black clouds with bronze linings. She was falling, falling, falling. She was supposed to fly. She was supposed to rise, but the descent could only be slowed; it couldn¡¯t be stopped. The bronze lining disappeared, and the yellow light was blocked utterly, like a dragon cloud swallowing the sun. When the ground rose to meet them, the helocarrier crunched in a way that terrified Ornette. What if the engine case cracked and the virus that powered the ruptor came through the cracks into the cockpit? Ornette did not need to die from MTN after everything she¡¯d been through. She pressed the buttons to send out a non-stop distress call. Then she undid her five-point harness and reached to Desmond¡¯s belt to undo it. The fall had woken him. He was groaning. ¡°What happened?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t talk. We need to move to a compartment further back and seal off the cockpit.¡± Once they were in the back with the cockpit sealed, there wasn¡¯t much they could do other than wait for help. Chapter Thirty Three Chapter Thirty Three Desmond¡¯s helocarrier was tiny. It had two rows of seats. It was much tinier than the one Ornette had ridden with Stonic. They faced each other, so the interior was more like a limousine than a van, but the size was still comparable. Outside the windows, it was foggy, but the fog was lit by the impressive sun that hung in the sky. On the surface, the light was much dingier than it had been on Nepra, where the sun reflected against the mountain-sized swirling clouds where the city nested. The change in the light was eerie, as well as the view of the ground. The mantle of Venus was dark grey where the lava had flowed, cooled, and cracked. The fog made ghostly shapes of machinery that had fallen from Nepra and other cloud cities. In the fog, she could see the outlines of fallen panels that had landed on their sides like enormous tombstones. It looked like the god Atlas had failed to hold up the sky, and he was buried there. Other rubble surrounded the fallen panels, but whether or not there were abandoned corpses that fell like dead machinery, the reality was cloaked in a yellowish mist. Ornette had never seen the landscape up close and honestly, she never wanted to. The whole thing gave her the creeps. Ornette clicked her tongue. ¡°I sent out a distress call and checked the oxygen levels. It looks like we have two days'' worth of emergency oxygen. How well are you stocked for water and food?¡± ¡°All these seats have emergency rations in them,¡± he said, twitching. ¡°What happened?¡± He was trying to keep calm. He was trying not to explode. ¡°The ruptor burst,¡± she replied. ¡°That doesn¡¯t happen. That has never happened. Ever. Not to anyone,¡± he replied. ¡°Oh relax,¡± Ornette chided him. ¡°It just means that your helocarrier was sabotaged. Someone knew where you parked it and messed with it. It probably had a diamond drill rigged up to start drilling as soon as you started driving. Who knows? Maybe it had been drilling for weeks, and we only had the misfortune of it bursting today. In any case, I¡¯ve sealed off the cockpit.¡± ¡°Have you ever heard of something like this happening before?¡± he asked, wincing as he tried to position himself more comfortably. ¡°I know ruptors don¡¯t burst on their own. They¡¯re supposed to remain intact through any crash. The people inside can die, but the ruptor will stay unharmed. I used to know about things like that. You know¡­ in my other life.¡± ¡°What other life?¡± he asked, wincing again. ¡°There¡¯s got to be a first-aid kit around here somewhere,¡± she evaded and started snapping open compartments over their heads until she found the red box. She opened it and found all the good stuff. She gave him a pill for the pain and then popped open a needle pack to administer an antibiotic shot in his hip in case his injury was thinking about getting infected. She knew how important it was to talk to someone who was in pain to help them focus on something else, so she needed to talk but wasn¡¯t great at small talk. More importantly, she didn¡¯t want to bother with it. She wanted to tell him the truth. She always wanted her hairdresser, stylist, or nail tech to tell her something real instead of something fake. They were all in it together. She didn¡¯t usually talk to her masters like they were real people, but suddenly, she wanted to talk to Desmond. Ornette gave him the pills, and he swallowed them dry. ¡°Don¡¯t you need a drink of water?¡± she questioned. ¡°Nah. Do you want to redo my dressing?¡± he asked, looking at the first aid kit. ¡°I think it would be better to shoot you up with the antibiotics through your pants rather than risk reopening your wound.¡± ¡°Fine,¡± he agreed as he clearly tried to swallow a gush of his own saliva to help the pills go down his esophagus. She discharged the syringe into the tissue of his bottom, and he groaned. ¡°Sure you got the right place?¡± ¡°Yes,¡± she lied. Then she got out the antiseptic to clean the cuts at his throat. She dabbed at them with a moistened Q-Tip. ¡°Did they tell you I was born on Venus?¡± she asked. ¡°No.¡± ¡°My parents¡¯ highrise apartment was down the street from Hans¡¯ watch store.¡± Desmond¡¯s attention snapped toward her. ¡°Is that so?¡± ¡°Yeah. I used to go there when I was a kid and stare in the window. It was pretty magical in a grown-up fantasy world kind of way... Like staring into steampunk. The shop was new then. Hans was probably in his forties. I think I saw him coming and going from the shop. He wouldn¡¯t have noticed me, though. No one noticed me.¡± ¡°Were you there with your parents?¡± Desmond asked. ¡°No,¡± she said, finishing with the antiseptic and moving on. She unwrapped the bandages and positioned them over the cuts on Desmond¡¯s neck. ¡°No one would think that a child raised in the penthouse of a highrise wouldn¡¯t have proper attention. My mother died when I was four. My father hired a nanny, but she only worked for us for a few months before she left. That began the trend of hiring nannies that would leave us¡­ That would leave me.¡± ¡°Why did they go?¡± Ornette chuckled. ¡°My father didn¡¯t pay enough. Nannies on the rise would take the job working for him to name-drop him as they tried to get better jobs. By the time I was ten, my father couldn¡¯t pay them anything, so he stopped hiring them. We didn¡¯t have maids. There were robots. They broke, and my father couldn¡¯t pay to replace them. The only reason we weren¡¯t thrown out of the penthouse was that my father owned it utterly. I was alone a lot. The technology in our home kept breaking until I didn¡¯t even have a phone. That was how I ended up on the curb outside the watch store, looking at all the beautiful things they had inside. I had nothing to do, and no one seemed to mind me.¡± Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. Ornette started packing up the scraps left over from her first aid. Desmond¡¯s hand shot out, and he stopped her hand in mid-motion. ¡°What happened after that?¡± ¡°My father racked up enough debt that he couldn¡¯t pay the fees that every Venecian citizen must pay. He had to sell the apartment, but the price of it couldn¡¯t cover the cost of his debt. He couldn¡¯t afford to keep me anymore. I don¡¯t even know what happened to him. I was sent to Ceres, and I worked in the mines. Thus, I can fly a helocarrier. That¡¯s one of the best jobs for the children on Ceres.¡± Desmond lightened the pressure on her hand and held it warmly. ¡°What was it like there?¡± She shoved her garbage in the tube that accepted garbage with her spare hand. ¡°I lived in a space suit. A person is much safer if they don¡¯t take it off and they¡¯re at their most vulnerable on washing day. One time, I read something about sloths on Earth and how they only came down from their tree once a week to pee. That was a pretty accurate description of how I lived. Except you can pee in your suit all you want. But you have to get out of it from time to time to clean it and to clean yourself. That¡¯s when you¡¯re most vulnerable.¡± ¡°Did you ever get hurt on washing day?¡± he asked gently. She huffed her answer. ¡°Yes, but there are ways to protect yourself when you¡¯re not a newbie. You need to make friends, and you all need to shower together, clean your suits together, swear you¡¯ll never hurt your group, and vow that you will stab anyone who threatens your group.¡± ¡°So, you¡¯ve stabbed people?¡± he asked incredulously, with wide eyes. ¡°I have,¡± she confirmed gently. ¡°I¡¯ve been stabbed too. It¡¯s better to leave your wound as it is until you can be seen by a real doctor.¡± ¡°How long were you there?¡± he questioned. ¡°Until I was fifteen and old enough to sign a contract with Jewel Girls,¡± she answered. ¡°This story just gets worse and worse. I¡¯m scared to ask, but why did you do that?¡± ¡°When I was transported from Venus to Ceres, the Venician government explained that freeloaders were not allowed on their planet, and if you couldn¡¯t pay their fees, you couldn¡¯t pay for transport off Venus. So, they paid for your transportation to Ceres. You just had to work there until you had paid the transportation fees. But, it¡¯s a trap. They take money off your salary for your food, your housing, your spacesuit, your water, everything. By the time they¡¯ve taken off the expenses you need to live, there is almost nothing to pay for the transportation fees. If you want to leave, you have two options. You either have to have someone come and pay your fees for you, or you have to get a corporation to pay the fees for you, but then your debt just moves to them. It¡¯s a cruel scheme. No company will offer a contract to someone under fifteen, and the only group that would offer anything for a fifteen-year-old girl was Jewel Girls.¡± ¡°Was that as bad as I think it was?¡± Desmond asked, swallowing more spit. Ornette lifted up the seat next to her. She needed to find him a bottle of water, regardless of what he said about swallowing pills dry. The first compartment was empty. She had to keep talking. ¡°This is going to sound crazy, but I¡¯m not sure which of the two lives was worse. It was close. I wasn¡¯t regularly sexually exploited on Ceres. It was dark there. It was lonely. Showering with everyone naked made me feel like seeing yet another person naked was no big deal. Generally, I was uncomfortable all the time on Ceres. Sleeping was tough. The food was gross. The work was hard, and it had to be precise. I began to long for clothes, quite desperately.¡± She looked in the compartment in the second seat. It was also empty. ¡°That makes sense,¡± Desmond agreed. He still seemed sympathetic, so she kept talking. ¡°In my contract with Jewel Girls, I was in the sunlight on Earth mostly. I like Earth. I like Earth much more than Ceres. There is just so much more sunlight. I was told over and over again that Ceres is very painful for Venecians because, on Venus, the light is so much stronger. All their slaves come from Venus. Even in their spacesuits, you can hear them cry. On the dwarf planet further from the sun than Mars, they cry.¡± ¡°And the sex?¡± he asked, cutting across her thoughts about light. ¡°It was awful,¡± she confirmed. ¡°That was when I started forgetting everything that happened to me. That was when I started forgetting my whole day at the end of every day. I even started forgetting my day partway through. I was forgetting breakfast, lunch, dinner, after dinner, where I went to sleep, and more. I¡¯d forget if I went to the bathroom or not. Eventually, I got a lawyer to help me move my contract to Sleeping Beauty Inc.¡± ¡°How was that?¡± ¡°It was better. For starters, at Jewel Girls when they said the girls were working in fashion, they were just playing dress up for their owners. I didn¡¯t get to design clothes or make clothes. I just paraded around in stupid outfits. The owners I got through Sleeping Beauty Inc. actually wanted their models to do work in the fashion industry. Sometimes, I was hired to work in personalized sweatshops. That¡¯s what I did when I worked for Croix. Most of my most recent jobs were working for people with severe disabilities who needed to have clothes altered for them to match their disability.¡± Desmond¡¯s face was warped. ¡°What were you doing when your wrist was burned?¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t get shocked very often when I worked for Jewel Girls. In those cases, I was parading around in dumb outfits, and then I was a punching bag. I was thrown against walls and I had so many head injuries that I was able to opt out of my contract with Jewel Girls. That was what my lawyer argued. It¡¯s not nice to say, but it was my disabled employers that shocked me so many times, they burned my hand permanently. They couldn¡¯t punish me, some of them couldn¡¯t even speak, but they could shock me and they did.¡± She kept checking the seats. ¡°There¡¯s no food or water in any of these,¡± she finally realized. Desmond rolled his eyes. ¡°That¡¯s because I¡¯m not supposed to crash and miss the show. I¡¯m supposed to die. That¡¯s why our rupter broke too. Forget the distress call. It probably won¡¯t work anyway.¡± He started messing with the three bracelets on his wrist. He systematically sent a distress call out with each one. ¡°This one is for my father. This one is for my great-aunt. The last one is for her slave.¡± ¡°Her slave?¡± ¡°She keeps a very talented slave,¡± Desmond answered with a flat expression. He hadn¡¯t finished sending out the last distress call before a hologram poked out of the middle bracelet. It was a woman with white hair, white skin, and navy eyes. She looked as young as an elf. It had to be Silver Ashley. ¡°Desmond, what has happened? You have never called me for help before.¡± ¡°I¡¯m crashed on the surface of Venus. I¡¯ve been stabbed, and the ruptor has burst.¡± ¡°Have you sealed the cockpit?¡± ¡°Yes,¡± ¡°Which helocarrier do you have?¡± ¡°1136.¡± ¡°Have you stopped the bleeding?¡± ¡°I think so.¡± ¡°Are you alone?¡± Silver Ashley persisted. ¡°No. I have Ornette with me,¡± he said, turning the camera in his bracelet to include Ornette. ¡°On the show, they¡¯re telling the audience that she¡¯s sick and so she can¡¯t be bid on this week. That¡¯s what Papa Bear is spewing on Goldilocks Zone right now.¡± ¡°Fine by me,¡± Desmond groaned. ¡°Jellica is telling me that she can¡¯t find your serial code when she scans the planet. Were you just under Nepra when you went down?¡± ¡°Yes,¡± Ornette relayed. ¡°She¡¯ll scan it, looking for the homing beacon in your bracelet. It¡¯ll just take a little more time. Venus is huge, and the cloud cover is thick. She¡¯ll send drones, and then she¡¯ll come get you. How are you for supplies?¡± The conversation went that way until Silver Ashley and Desmond had worked out their rescue. Chapter Thirty Four Chapter Thirty Four By the time Jellica found where Ornette and Desmond had crash-landed, Ornette was so thirsty that she would have drunk her own blood, so it was wonderful for her that the rescue helocarrier was stocked with provisions. She and Desmond sat in the back as the chauffeur flew them to Silver Ashley¡¯s private panel, Nimbus City, eating snacks so fancy that Ornette felt spoiled. Had the boys hosting Goldilocks Zone been holding out on them? Every morsel of food was perfect. They were fed chocolate-covered strawberries, stuffed strawberries, mini cheeseballs with salty crackers, avocado dip, orange chocolate cookies, and more. ¡°Why are we going to Nimbus City instead of a hospital on Nepra? I bet the hospital is closer,¡± Ornette asked Desmond, partly to keep him awake and partly because she actually wanted to know. ¡°Ashley has a doctor of her own. She would never send me to a subpar physician.¡± ¡°Who¡¯s the doctor? Are they famous?¡± ¡°They¡¯re sort of famous,¡± Desmond confirmed, ¡°but not for being a doctor. It¡¯s her personal slave, Vangelis. I¡¯m sure you¡¯ve heard of him. She¡¯s had him for over fifty years.¡± Ornette swallowed. The food in her mouth had gone a little sour when she heard the word slave. In her mind, a model from Sleeping Beauty Inc. was a completely different thing than a slave. Her contract as a model would end. A slave contract would never end. ¡°I¡¯ve actually never heard of a man who would take a contract as a slave,¡± she said, hinting that it was an involuntary contract, which was the scariest idea that had ever entered Ornette''s mind. Desmond looked at her oddly. ¡°Are you hinting that her acquisition of him was not above board?¡± She looked at the ceiling of the helocarrier as if the blank panel above them had the answer. ¡°I don¡¯t think I¡¯d like to insinuate any such thing whilst I was in a helocarrier owned by such a person.¡± ¡°The story is that she rescued him,¡± Desmond explained. ¡°He was a teenager. He had been purchased at auction by a miner from Mars. Ashley was visiting the mine looking for raw materials. She saw him being abused by his owner, and she decided to kill his owner and take him for herself. It was probably the action that ruined her heyday because she didn¡¯t seek to retain as much power for herself after that. She stopped being the Queen of Venus in the most literal way and gave most of the responsibility to others. Everyone was disgusted. She was a woman in her fifties who ran off with a teenage boy who, as a slave, was less than a person. He was property. It was scandalous.¡± ¡°So they¡¯re lovers?¡± Ornette asked softly. ¡°Does that offend you?¡± Desmond asked, giving her a look that suggested that to hint that it did would be beyond stupid. Much, much stupider than accusing her of owning a slave. ¡°Is she over a hundred now?¡± Ornette asked, trying to focus on another aspect of the story rather than the one she personally had a hard time envisioning. Desmond nodded. ¡°Was that her talking to you over the hologram?¡± Desmond nodded again. ¡°She looks amazing! She looks like a child,¡± Ornette said sweetly. ¡°Vangelis is a cosmetic surgeon,¡± he continued. ¡°She had him trained that way when he was young, and he¡¯s very good at it.¡± ¡°That''s interesting. She didn¡¯t look anything like other old women who have had tons of cosmetic surgery,¡± Ornette continued, pleased to have found a subject that didn¡¯t risk putting her in hot water with Desmond. ¡°Listen,¡± he said, interrupting her and pulling her hand into his. ¡°Regardless of how it looks, how it began, or what anyone has been led to believe¡­ If Vangelis did not want to stay with her, he could have left her a hundred times over already, and she would have let him. My family has found that slavery-grade bracelets, which basically amount to a contract, are the best way to keep tabs on your family and keep them safe. Every other kind of technology is too concerned with the privacy of the wearer to be effective. Today, we were able to be rescued because of my slavery bracelets. Everyone should wear one.¡± Ornette nodded. She thought of the one instance during the filming of Goldilocks Zone when she had pressed the emergency button on her bracelet. It had sent a message to Desmond, and it had sent a message to Sleeping Beauty Inc.''s head office on Venus. Shortly after she pressed it, The Coordinator saved the day, but if she had to bet, the reason he had come so quickly was because Desmond had made a call, not because anyone at Sleeping Beauty Inc. had acted that quickly. A call bracelet was only helpful if the person, or entity, on the other end gave a rip about what happened to her. ¡°I won¡¯t say anything to embarrass you,¡± she whispered assuringly. ¡°I won¡¯t say anything at all if that makes you most comfortable.¡± He gave her a funny look. ¡°When we get there, Ashley will send me off with Vangelis to have my wounds dressed. She may want to talk to you. If she does, you need to answer her questions. I saw early footage from last week¡¯s filming. Think of how you acted when you met Varner¡¯s mother.¡± ¡°Will that behavior do?¡± Ornette asked eagerly. ¡°No,¡± he said cleanly. ¡°I¡¯m telling you this because Silver Ashley will not be impressed by that. If you want to impress her, you have to be who you truly are. She¡¯s too old to be fooled by your look of awe and respect for someone who has done nothing to deserve it. It¡¯s a good act, and I praise you for it, but it will not work on her. She¡¯ll know everything you¡¯re thinking before you think it, so just say what you really think. That¡¯s all.¡± That was when their helocarrier was docked at the main mansion at Nimbus City. *** Just as Desmond predicted, he was met by a collection of personnel dressed in hospital scrubs. They were women who were going to prep him for surgery. Over their heads, Ornette spotted the only person who could be the doctor, Vangelis. He was beautiful beyond reason, with a face that looked like it was chiseled out of marble. He wore his sideburns rather longer than usual and had a tattoo down the side of his neck that was a Roman numeral for seven. His hair was medium brown and his eyes a deep blue. They were made even more blue by the gold of the Venus sky. Ornette swallowed. She guessed only people as rich as God were allowed to be that beautiful. Jellica, the helocarrier pilot who came to rescue them, exited the front of the craft and pulled Ornette apart from the medical team. She was a woman with ash-blonde hair tied into a French braid and aviator shades on her face. ¡°They¡¯ll take care of Desmond. He¡¯s their darling. Don¡¯t worry about them. Silver Ashley asked me to bring you to her room to meet her.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not sure I¡¯m comfortable meeting the Queen of Venus in her bedroom,¡± Ornette balked. ¡°You¡¯re not meeting her in her bedroom,¡± Jellica assured her. ¡°She¡¯s the Queen of Venus. You¡¯re meeting her in her throne room.¡± The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Ornette exhaled a fake sigh. Of course, she had a throne room. ¡°Well, that¡¯s all right then.¡± Naturally, the idea of meeting Silver Ashley in her throne room did not make Ornette feel any more comfortable, but she allowed Jellica to lead her down the hall. The pilot swung open the massive double doors, bowed, and gave Ornette plenty of room to enter. It was a white space, huge and modern. It was all white marble, or what appeared to be white marble, with intricate patterns of indirect light making the room even brighter. As she took a few steps further in, she realized that the light was coming from outside. There were tiny lines of windows letting the light of Venus filter into the room. At the end of the long white carpet was the throne Jellica had mentioned. It was a huge white monstrosity. On it sat Silver Ashley, a tiny thing with her legs dangling from the throne. Was she even shorter than Ornette? At a glance, it was suspicious if Silver Ashley was wearing a wig or not. Her hair was thick and tied into a half-up style that was held together with dangling hair sticks. Her dress was poofy, and she had white ballerina slippers on her feet. She wore giant diamond rings on the outside of her gloves. Clearly, she was in her statement jewelry years. ¡°Hello,¡± the old lady called. Her voice sounded a million years old, even though her face showed no signs of aging. There was no anti-aging surgery for vocal cords. ¡°Hello,¡± Ornette responded, ducking her head in a little bow because that seemed appropriate. ¡°I won¡¯t ask you to sit down," the Queen began, indicating the lack of chairs. "I never let anyone but me sit down in this room. I make them stand while I talk to them, and I want to talk to you. Tell me, Ornette, is that your real name?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°And what is your last name, little slave?¡± ¡°Halverson,¡± she replied, wishing she did not have to say it. ¡°I see. I remember the doom of your family. I did not know what happened to you when your family imploded, but I see you did not land on your feet if you¡¯re selling yourself as a model for Sleeping Beauty Inc. All the same, I need to congratulate you on being as big a daredevil as your father. It''s a shame about him. Even eagles fall,¡± she said tragically. Ornette did not know what happened to her father. She was scared to ask. Besides, she doubted Silver Ashley knew the details. She probably only remembered the scandal of lost wealth. It was a common story on the yellow planet. The Queen of Venus continued, ¡°I need to thank you for your help. Getting Albert Gilt removed from his CEO position was crucial to so many plans. Excellent work. I also need to congratulate you on getting a DNA sample from Rowan Hamelton. We knew he was lying about his parentage, but we didn¡¯t know how much he was lying. We worked out his whole DNA string and informed a few of his ¡®relatives¡¯ that their relation was quite a bit slimmer than he had shown them. They withdrew their support, and it does not look like he will become Mayor of Nepra after all.¡± She began cleaning the half-moon glasses hanging from her throat by shimmering cords that she had not put on her face. ¡°Was there anything else you needed me to do?¡± Ornette asked. ¡°The show is still going on.¡± ¡°Indeed,¡± Ashley said, dropping her glasses. ¡°If we could pin Varner onto a bed of wax¡­ That was our next goal. We were hoping he would choose you and you¡¯d get more access to his life so that, eventually, you¡¯d publicly disgrace him, but his stabbing Desmond works just as well. We¡¯re still deciding how we want to use that.¡± ¡°I could have done better with Varner if I¡¯d known I was supposed to,¡± Ornette volunteered. ¡°If I¡¯d been given a heads up, told that I was working toward his destruction, I could have done better.¡± Silver Ashley smiled. ¡°I bet you could have,¡± the old lady conceded. ¡°Historically, he and Desmond have been contemporaries. Desmond has always wanted to hurl him into the sun, but he¡¯s a slippery bastard. We would just let him be if his father wasn¡¯t constantly operating against me." That confirmed what Ornette already believed. Varner''s father was not the man they''d gone bungee jumping with for the show. It was someone else. Someone who did not want to be known to the public. "Make no mistake," Ashley continued. "This is still my planet.¡± ¡°So it¡¯s true that Desmond chose me because I¡¯m too small for Varner, and he wanted to make sure that he couldn¡¯t have me as a final dollop of spit in his face?¡± Ornette asked. ¡°Is that why he chose you?¡± Silver Ashley said with a sly smile. ¡°I never heard a reason why he chose you. I mean, I knew he intended to use whoever he bought to be a dagger clenched in his fist, but Desmond did not tell me the details. Is there a rule enforced by Sleeping Beauty Inc. that a woman your size can¡¯t go to a large man?¡± Ornette nodded. ¡°First I¡¯ve heard of it. Personally, I think it¡¯s a magnificent idea.¡± She swung her feet under her throne, accidentally emphasizing her miniature stature. That was what Silver Ashley said, but Ornette was confused and needed to ask directly. ¡°You mean, he didn¡¯t choose me based on that criteria?¡± ¡°He may have,¡± the old lady answered. ¡°I don¡¯t know what he had on his mind. I trust Desmond to make my enemies bleed. I have watched the episode where you were chosen by Varner over and over again since it aired last night. The footage was chosen carefully, not to offend Papa Bear, but he did not come off as the successful lover regardless of the editing, which is what he wanted above all things. I know!¡± she suddenly exclaimed happily. ¡°We should have you stay for some kind of medical treatment, and we¡¯ll let people think that he hurt you because he was frustrated about being so unsuccessful with you. What do you think? Shall we cut you open? Do you need any work done?¡± ¡°My hand is black,¡± Ornette volunteered. ¡°Perfect. I¡¯ll get Vangelis to figure that out, and we¡¯ll keep you here as long as we can,¡± she exclaimed. ¡°Oh, delightful. I hear you had something to eat on your way over. Are you full, or do you need dinner?¡± If the old lady was letting Ornette make demands, there was something she wanted more than food. ¡°Uh¡­ if possible, I¡¯d like to be near Desmond when he wakes up.¡± Silver Ashley smiled wickedly, and Ornette knew she¡¯d ticked her off. ¡°Instead of that,¡± she said in a voice that made commands and did not accept requests after all. ¡°We¡¯ll put you in cryostasis and wait until Desmond calls for you. How about that?¡± ¡°That sounds perfect,¡± Ornette agreed, aware that disagreeing with the Queen would not get her anywhere. ¡°I knew you¡¯d love that. I like it, too. It stops you from being any trouble. If we do that, we don''t need to bother with anything like cosmetic surgery. You can relax, and you won''t age a day. Jellica,¡± she called on a consul that was part of the armrest of her throne. ¡°Come get Ornette and put her in cryostasis. She¡¯s tired from her ordeal.¡± When Jellica appeared behind Ornette at the double doors, Ornette ducked her head in a gesture of respect before following Jellica out of the throne room. Ornette looked over her shoulder to see the Queen of Venus smiling like a sphinx before the vertical crack into the door closed completely. ¡°Do you want to be told a fairytale before you go to sleep?¡± Jellica teased as she led Ornette down the hall. ¡°Nah¡­ I¡¯m good,¡± Ornette replied. ¡°I don¡¯t really like fairytales at my age.¡± ¡°What do you like?¡± The pilot wanted to know. ¡°The inside of Desmond¡¯s mouth,¡± Ornette answered cheekily. Jellica snorted. ¡°And that¡¯s why you¡¯re getting put in cryostasis. That woman doesn¡¯t miss a beat. What on earth did you say to her?¡± ¡°That I wanted to be nearby when Desmond was finished in surgery.¡± ¡°Oh¡­" Jellica hummed, thinking it over. "How did you say it? Nevermind. That woman is sharp. She doesn¡¯t want you stressing him out with your feelings. I¡¯ll put you to sleep, but do not blame me if you end up waking up on Earth after your contract has expired.¡± ¡°I won¡¯t,¡± Ornette said with a struggling sigh. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t dream of it.¡± In truth, Ornette didn''t even think that would be such a bad ending, considering all the bad endings she''d already endured. In a room with nothing but a cryochamber, Jellica lifted the lid, and Ornette obediently got inside. She was still wearing her housecoat. She wondered if the fact that she was still wearing it was what ruined her chances of staying near Desmond and how she could have played it so she could have kept his bed warm while he recovered. Surely, Desmond needed a little distraction while he recovered. Why couldn¡¯t it have been her? She buckled herself and thought about orange clouds. This was the moment when she was supposed to wash her mind of all her memories of Desmond. Just like Jellica said, it was a definite possibility that she would wake up back on Earth with his money in her fat fist and her chance at loving him gone forever. Jellica was about to close the lid on her, but Ornette put her hand in the way. ¡°What?¡± Jellica asked. ¡°Can you give him a message for me?¡± ¡°Ew. What kind of message?¡± ¡°Can I write him a note and you can look at it or not, but if you could just give it to him, I¡¯d really appreciate that.¡± ¡°Fine. But I¡¯m not giving him anything tangible for you. You can send him a message through your bracelet. I¡¯ll give you a minute to send it before I flood the chamber with gas, but that¡¯s it.¡± She closed the lid on Ornette, and Ornette heard the locking mechanisms click into place. ¡°You¡¯d better hurry,¡± the pilot shouted through the glass. Ornette pulled up a hologram and recorded a voice recording of the only thing she wanted to say to him. It was the only time she¡¯d ever wanted to say those five particular words. ¡°Desmond,¡± she whispered. ¡°You can have me for free!¡± She sent the recording, and Jellica flooded her cryochamber with gas. Chapter Thirty Five Chapter Thirty Five When Ornette was woken from cryostasis, she was being kissed. She was being kissed carefully by someone who was a complete pro. Even though she was groggy, she didn¡¯t have any questions about who she was kissing. It was Desmond and he was finally kissing her the way she wanted. She leaned into it but abruptly pulled back. ¡°Sorry,¡± she said, covering her mouth with her hand. ¡°I opened my mouth and I shouldn¡¯t have. I forgot. When a model from Sleeping Beauty Inc. is woken with a kiss, she¡¯s supposed to keep her mouth closed.¡± He huffed. ¡°You¡¯ve only been in cryostasis for two days. It¡¯s not like your mouth has turned into a cave with crystals growing in it in forty-seven hours. Open your mouth and kiss me.¡± ¡°No. It¡¯s gross. All the literature¡­¡± He shut her up by kissing her. Well, if he didn¡¯t think it was gross¡­ She kissed him back. Then the buckles came off from around her and he lifted her out of the cryochamber. ¡°Where are you taking me?¡± she asked. ¡°My room,¡± he answered before he was stopped by a sharp shock of electricity from his bracelet. He dropped her. Ornette fell back in the cryochamber and Desmond disappeared from view as he fell on the floor beside her. Ornette sat up and saw Vangelis standing at the door with a finger on a bracelet on his wrist. Ornette remembered what Desmond had told her about who controlled his bracelet. His father, Silver Ashley, and her slave, Vangelis. He had dropped Desmond with a shock. The slave came over looking bored. He directed his droll comments to Desmond on the floor. ¡°We told you you weren¡¯t allowed to carry anything heavier than twenty pounds after we stitched you shut. You¡¯ll rip your stitches open. Can¡¯t you follow directions?¡± Desmond lay panting as he recovered from the shock. Vangelis continued talking. ¡°I know Ashley told you you could come get Ornette when you were up to it, but I wouldn¡¯t have permitted you to wake her for another two weeks. I don¡¯t need you finding new ways to rip open your stitches.¡± He put out a hand and helped Desmond to his feet. Desmond favored the doctor with an ugly scowl. ¡°I can¡¯t wait.¡± Vangelis smiled. ¡°I can imagine how difficult that will be for you. Here, I thought you had no desires. Yet, it seems you finally want something. Competition makes cheap things valuable.¡± Ornette knew instantly that he meant her. She was a cheap thing, but through the magic of the competition of Goldilocks Zone, she had become something valuable. It was rude to say, but it was also true. She got back inside the cryochamber and started doing up her five-point harness. ¡°If I¡¯m not needed and I¡¯m not allowed to be awake, please put me back under. I would hate to be a nuisance.¡± ¡°Can¡¯t I have her while I¡¯m recovering?¡± Desmond argued. He did need a toy after all! Vangelis answered coldly, ¡°You could if you didn¡¯t try to lift her, have sex with her, or otherwise disrupt the good work I did on your torso. Sadly, you¡¯ve already ruined my trust in you. I¡¯d put you in a coma to heal if Ashley didn¡¯t want to hear your opinion about her plans every five minutes.¡± ¡°Can you just leave Ornette awake until I talk to Aunt Ashley then?¡± Desmond tried again. It was at that moment that Desmond¡¯s position as an underling of the Queen of Venus came home to Ornette. He was a slave, exactly like she was, except he had been born into slavery, not submitted to it. Maybe his slavery was more complete than hers. She thought hard and decided his hardships were different and perhaps unequal. What did it mean to be born into slavery? For starters, it had to be involuntary. You didn¡¯t choose what family gave birth to you. She had narrow choices: the mines or Jewel Girls, then Jewel Girls or Sleeping Beauty Inc. Maybe he hadn¡¯t had any choices at all. Maybe his torture was opposite to hers. Instead of having his pants pulled down, he had his pants sewn shut. She didn¡¯t know how hard that would be or what that would mean. The curiosity of an unopened door might be unendurable if one didn¡¯t know that the hardships on the other side were worse than any innocence. She didn¡¯t know. She didn¡¯t have any curiosity. She was about to say something when a wheelchair was brought in and Desmond was invited to sit in it for his journey to speak to Silver Ashley. ¡°I¡¯ll keep Ornette awake until I hear the results of your discussion,¡± Vangelis offered. Desmond got in the chair and was wheeled away by the mechanism in the chair that was programmed to take him to his great-aunt. Vangelis stayed with Ornette and leaned against the wall before speaking to her. ¡°Could I offer you a beverage?¡± ¡°Hot apple cider?¡± Ornette suggested as she tried to moisten her mouth with her dry tongue. He sent a message through his bracelet to a lesser servant. ¡°What did you think of the show?¡± she asked the doctor, in order to make conversation since they were just hanging out there. He was leaning against the wall. She was sitting up in her cryochamber seat which was roughly the equivalent of a dentist''s chair. Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. ¡°I thought the other contestants on the show were very young,¡± he said calmly. Vangelis couldn¡¯t be young. He looked it. He looked young and unwrinkled, muscular and vital, but the math didn''t add up. If Ornette hadn¡¯t known who he was or what kind of life he had led, being Silver Ashley¡¯s plaything and a surgeon who kept himself and everyone around him young, she would have been very attracted to him. Physically, he was the most impressive man she had ever seen and the tattoo under his jawline threatened to make her insane. As he stood there, she decided that the thing that made her most uncomfortable about Varner was that he reminded her of the first owners she¡¯d had. Those men were pedophiles who didn¡¯t need another scandal, so they got the youngest girls they could get legally and had their fun. It was disgusting. Vangelis was repellant in a different way. He was more like the men who had made the rules of Venus and decided that even children who couldn¡¯t pay their way had to be sent to Ceres. He seemed that cold, that distant, and that unconcerned with what crisis could be happening in someone else¡¯s world. In the end, she didn¡¯t like him, not even his looks. ¡°Can you tell me about the Children¡¯s Charity the money from Goldilocks Zone is supporting?¡± she finally asked. She didn¡¯t think she would get much out of him, but she bet she would get more than she would if she asked The Coordinator back on the studio lot. ¡°No one knows anything about it,¡± Vangelis answered, obviously grateful to have something to talk about that was not Desmond, Silver Ashley, or the silly girls on the show. ¡°It¡¯s one of the things Desmond was supposed to uncover when he arranged to be chosen as a participant. Having his investigation stalled is one of the unhappy consequences of this chain of events. If Varner had not gone so crazy for you, Desmond would have had more time to follow the money. He needed to see a few more girls auctioned off.¡± ¡°I was hoping it was meant to benefit children who were sent to mine on Ceres when their parents ran out of money. I was one of those children,¡± she offered. ¡°Of course, you were,¡± Vangelis replied, his face becoming a little softer. ¡°I was sold off at a young age too. If Varner¡¯s scheme is less horrible, it will be a charity that gives a little money to help children who would have been sent to Ceres to go to Earth to be adopted instead. Of course, the charity would absorb most of the administration costs and provide the main funds for other seasons of Goldilocks Zone. If it¡¯s worse, none of the children it ¡®helps¡¯ will go to Earth or Ceres.¡± Ornette let her head loll backward as she considered how Vangelis'' words could be warped into the worst possible outcome. She flipped her tongue over and said clearly, ¡°Certainly, they won¡¯t be sent to Mars. Isn¡¯t Mars unrecognizable since it was terraformed?¡± ¡°No. They would not be sent to Mars. Mars is being run by people who have the same philosophies as the Church of Voynich on Io. Slavery is not allowed. No one can be brought onto the planet without protections from the government and anyone who participates in any kind of slave contract as an owner is severely punished. On Io, they strap them to the Breastplate of Loki and let Jupiter¡¯s gravity tear them to shreds. On Mars, they strand them on Phobos¡ªa death sentence. No, we think they might be keeping them on Venus.¡± ¡°Where? This place is like a space station. There are no uncharted spaces. Where are they going to put a pleasure palace?¡± Vangelis looked around and said calmly. ¡°What about here?¡± Ornette pulled her eyebrows together. ¡°What are you saying?¡± He scoffed. ¡°I¡¯m saying that I¡¯m an involuntary slave and, whether you realize it or not, so are you. How many times have you had all the money you were supposed to have saved to pay off your Ceres transportation costs, only to wake up from cryostasis to find that it¡¯s all gone because of rising interest rates or inflation and you have to go back to slavery?¡± Ornette choked on her dry tongue and whined. ¡°Yeah. That has happened a few times. I¡¯ve been a slave for almost twenty years.¡± He shook his head. ¡°You¡¯re not counting the time you spent as a slave in a mine on Ceres? If you do, it brings your number up to twenty. The number is even bigger if you count the time you''ve been in cryostasis. You have been a slave for twenty-seven years, Ornette. And you¡¯ll never stop being one.¡± ¡°No. I have my transportation costs paid up,¡± she tried to explain, but the look on Vangelis¡¯ face told her she was missing something. He shook his head again and explained her naivety. ¡°You¡¯re probably only being allowed to pay off your Ceres transportation debts now because of two things. One is that you haven¡¯t been making enough money to make your sale worth the effort and the other is that if you stay in the game much longer, you¡¯re going to muddy the brand. You¡¯re too old and your hand is black. Silver Ashley asked me to have a look at it, but I see that Desmond has been using the makeup kit I sent on you. Can we clean it off so I can see how much damage has been done?¡± Ornette nodded and he took a package of wet wipes to her hand to remove the makeup. ¡°I thought Sleeping Beauty Inc. was better than Jewel Girls,¡± she said pitifully as she let him work on her left hand. It had started trembling. He calmed her by rubbing her hand down. ¡°From what I have understood, the contract from Jewel Girls was not completely dissolved by your contract with Sleeping Beauty Inc. Sleeping Beauty Inc. still had to play the game that was set up for you through Jewel Girls. The way the money flowed would stay the same, but you would get better treatment through Sleeping Beauty Inc. I think it was worth it for you to change, but they were going to get their money out of you no matter what. The biggest question is where does all that money go?¡± ¡°Why does Silver Ashley care where the money goes? She has slaves. She has you,¡± Ornette moaned. Vangelis was bored as he explained, ¡°I have accepted Ashley for who she is, and she is someone who notices where all the money generated by slavery goes. The money she spent to get the first floating cities up in the air came from mining and drilling on Earth. Earth had to be raped to give birth to Venus. That¡¯s what she thinks. So, something or someone is being raped to make other things, but what and where? She wants the money flow to change directions. She wants it to go to terraforming Venus. She¡¯s trying desperately to get Beckett Beltrose to come to Venus to have a better look at the problem. He accomplished what no one else could do on Mars and she wants him here. He¡¯s not that different from Ashley. He came from a rich family. He owned slaves. Even so, he still hated slavery and used his power and his hatred to destroy what Mars was and make it into something new. She adores him¡­ And if she can find evidence that heinous acts of involuntary slavery are happening on Venus, she thinks she might be able to get him. We¡¯re looking and the best place to start looking is Varner and his little Goldilock show where he puts slaves on display to try to make slavery look okay, fun, like the girls are enjoying themselves.¡± ¡°Papa Bear must have hated me,¡± Ornette said with a ghastly chuckle. ¡°Of course, he hated you. That¡¯s why he wanted to rape you,¡± Vangelis said without humor. He dropped the wet wipe into the garbage. ¡°If he hadn¡¯t had the confines of the show to deal with, he would have done it already.¡± Ornette felt sick, so sick she felt like she was going to vomit blood. Being forced into something with an owner was one thing, having the owner be a man with the size and muscle of Varner was something else. Her blood was cold and her hands were suddenly frostbitten. ¡°How are you guys going to nail him?¡± ¡°That¡¯s what Silver Ashley and Desmond are discussing. They¡¯re deciding if they want to withdraw from the show and take you with them or if they want to send you back and see if you can work your magic with Uncle Bear and Brother Bear. Do you have an opinion?¡± Ornette grabbed her blackened hand to stop it from shaking. ¡°Uh¡­ I guess it depends on what sort of plan they have. If I think I can do it or not. I¡¯d hate to fail. I mean¡­ I already made it very clear that Varner disgusts me. I won¡¯t be able to go back and pretend to play nice with him.¡± It was at that moment that the servant arrived with Ornette¡¯s hot apple cider. She took it in her hands and was warmed by the heat of the cup. ¡°Don¡¯t spill that,¡± Vangelis advised, noticing her tremor. ¡°We¡¯ll wait to hear what they decide.¡± Ornette nodded and tried to drink the spicy liquid. Chapter Thirty Six Chapter Thirty Six Vangelis passed the time waiting with Ornette by having dinner with her. He fed her mushroom soup with garlic toast. It was a meal that put heat in her body and calmed her soul. Then he put a guard on her and let her watch the last episode of Goldilocks Zone. He left her to watch TV while he ducked in on the meeting between Silver Ashley and Desmond. Ornette watched the show on the screen with unfeigned interest. She watched as Orpah won immunity for the next round and Starling was eliminated. That was too bad for Varner, who should have done everything in his power to make the only member of the Church of Voynich his Goldilocks. Well, it had been proven that he didn¡¯t control how the designers and businessmen voted. He didn¡¯t have a hand in it. The next challenge was one where the designers each got a model and their goal was to design a bathing suit. Ornette was assigned a designer even though she was absent. When Vangelis finally emerged from the throne room, he came back announcing that it was time to put Ornette to bed. She gave him a funny look. ¡°You¡¯re going to put me to bed?¡± The look on Vangelis¡¯ face said that nothing could bore him more. ¡°Apparently, I¡¯m putting you in Desmond¡¯s bedroom and setting his bracelet to a setting so cruel that if he lays a hand on you in the wrong place, he¡¯ll be zapped within an inch of his life. You¡¯ll be shocked too, but it appears your settings are set too low for a significant electrocution.¡± ¡°Are you going to change that?¡± she asked, more than a little concerned. ¡°No, Precious,¡± he said like she was the least precious thing in the world. ¡°I do not have authorization to do that, but I can do whatever I like to your boyfriend. I¡¯m telling you this so you don¡¯t get any funny ideas. If you do anything to him beyond having a little cuddle, he¡¯ll get zapped. I¡¯m sure you wouldn¡¯t want to burn him to a crisp.¡± Ornette laughed. ¡°Fine. I won¡¯t screw him. Twist my arm already.¡± It was Vangelis''s turn to give Ornette a funny look. ¡°Did I misinterpret the scene I walked in on earlier? It seemed like you were as raring to go as he was.¡± Ornette stood up and stretched. ¡°I don¡¯t actually remember what happened just then. We were kissing and you came in? He picked me up and you came in? We were going to go somewhere and you came in? Sorry, I really can¡¯t remember that long ago. I¡¯m programmed to forget everything as soon as it happens.¡± Vangelis stared at her, perplexity written on his face. ¡°There is something about you. It¡¯s dangerous and intoxicating at once.¡± Ornette had heard that kind of thing from potential owners before. Granted, Ornette didn¡¯t have that many conversations with men who were not owners or potential owners. She didn¡¯t know what any of them were talking about. She had scratched it up to mean that they wanted to compliment her, but they didn¡¯t want to say that they found her beautiful because she was not as beautiful as the other women. They wanted to say something nice, but they were at a loss for words. How did a man compliment a woman he wanted to buy? Vangelis snapped his fingers. ¡°That¡¯s it.¡± ¡°What¡¯s it?¡± she asked, looking over her shoulder at him. He explained, ¡°Though I don''t have the power to shock you with your bracelet, I have near-complete power over you while you are here and you don¡¯t acknowledge it. You change the power dynamic with a flick of your hair.¡± ¡°What are you talking about?¡± she asked, turning the rest of the way around and resisting the powerful urge to flick her hair because he mentioned it. He pressed a button that closed and locked the doors, locking them inside. That made Ornette¡¯s skin crawl. She placed her arms across her chest and tapped her toe impatiently. ¡°What are you doing?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t want anyone to overhear us,¡± he said, coming closer. Ornette did not take a step back. There was nowhere to run or hide. The guard who had been assigned to her was mysteriously missing and all the doors surrounding them were locked based on Vangelis¡¯s order. If he was going to throw her against a wall, she wasn¡¯t going to race him to it, so she stood her ground and held her left arm with her right to stop it from shaking. ¡°The most effective aphrodisiac in the universe is power. Who has it? In the case of the sort of men who buy women to do their bidding, the power balance is simple. They¡¯re in charge and they¡¯ll put an electric charge through you if you don¡¯t obey. In your case, you don¡¯t care if they shock you. Your black hand proves it. They¡¯re not in charge. You are. It shouldn¡¯t be sexy. It shouldn¡¯t turn them on because it¡¯s the exact opposite of what they¡¯re paying for. But it does.¡± ¡°Are you turned on right now?¡± she asked with a morbidly curious twist of her tongue. He didn¡¯t say any words, but the look on his face, in the veins throbbing in his neck, it was obvious he was. That was the reason he had locked the doors. ¡°Won¡¯t you get shocked?¡± Ornette asked, still holding her left arm in a vice grip. ¡°Silver Ashley does not allow me to keep other lovers,¡± he answered in dark measured tones. ¡°It¡¯s not that I want to drag you to my room and undo you. I want to understand what Desmond is saying about you in his meeting with Ashley. I¡¯m afraid a bit of his hunger for you is wearing off on me. It¡¯s notable because he¡¯s never outright said he was hungry before. I¡¯m worried Ashley is going to give him her permission to do something crazy tonight and I¡¯ll have to stitch him back up in the morning. If she does, I sure hope you¡¯re as good a lay as he thinks you will be.¡± Finished with the conversation, Vangelis unlocked the doors, motioned for her to follow him, and led Ornette to a different part of the panel to a bedroom. ¡°This isn¡¯t Desmond¡¯s bedroom,¡± she said as she went in. From the entry, it looked as plain as a hotel room with no personal possessions anywhere. ¡°It¡¯s his room when he stays with us. Have a good night.¡± Vangelis snapped the door shut with himself on the other side. Ornette exhaled, shook off her housecoat, and got directly into Desmond¡¯s bed. She should have had a neat little thrill about being where the man she liked slept, but it felt about as personal as staying in his favorite hotel. The bedding had been put down clean an hour beforehand. She got comfortable and closed her eyes. From there, she didn¡¯t know if Desmond came in a minute later or several hours later, but eventually, his soft touch was on her bare shoulder. She rolled over, suddenly aching from the structured undergarments she hadn¡¯t removed when she got into bed. She cracked her eyelids open and saw him. He wasn¡¯t in the wheelchair anymore but was sitting in a chair placidly by the bed. She turned to him drowsily, ¡°Is it time to talk? Did you and Silver Ashley figure out a plan?¡± ¡°Uh¡­ I got permission to talk to you. We might have to return to have a word with the Queen together,¡± he affirmed. ¡°But let me ask you your thoughts on a few things.¡± ¡°Okay,¡± Ornette said, sitting up. ¡°Our first question is if you would mind joining the show again?¡± ¡°I¡¯m your slave and if you tell me to join the show and behave a certain way, I will do it,¡± she said without hesitation. ¡°What about Varner? Aren¡¯t you scared of him?¡± Desmond pressed. ¡°He¡¯s not allowed to own me according to Sleeping Beauty Inc. regulations. I¡¯m not allowed to be afraid. I¡¯ll go back and do whatever is asked of me that¡¯s in line with the contract I signed,¡± she reminded him. Desmond paused. ¡°You have no personal preference?¡± ¡°Have you never owned a slave before?¡± she said in a shallow growl. ¡°My opinion is not important. My job is to do what you say and get paid for it.¡± ¡°That¡¯s what Silver Ashley says, that you¡¯re a professional and you¡¯ll do as you¡¯re told,¡± he sighed in something like resignation. ¡°What a compliment,¡± Ornette said blankly. Desmond blinked and in that time, he got wind of what Ornette was saying. ¡°Silver Ashley wants to send you back to the show. In exchange for not filing a lawsuit against Varner for stabbing me until after the show has aired, she wants to make him organize the remainder of the show so that you are nowhere near him and make him promise not to bid on you. She wants you to go back with the goal of being purchased by Uncle Bear or Brother Bear. Have you had anything to do with either one of those guys?¡± ¡°Neither,¡± she admitted. ¡°Silver Ashley thinks they are looser cannons than Varner and she thinks you would do very well breaking down Brother Bear. He¡¯s lighter weight and he¡¯s more sensitive about his lack of girth. She wants you to get bought by him, go home with him, and find out all you can about their fake charity.¡± ¡°So she can impress Beckett Beltrose with the horrors of Venus?¡± Ornette supplied. ¡°Yes,¡± he said without apology. ¡°And what do you want?¡± she asked, turning her full charm on Desmond. ¡°Silver Ashley is not my owner. You are. What do you want?¡± He fell onto the bed with a sigh. ¡°I want this to be over.¡± ¡°The show?¡± she asked, lying down next to him so she faced him. ¡°No. All of this,¡± he said, indicating the whole room around them. ¡°I¡¯m exhausted. You don¡¯t know it, but I have been playing my own elimination game all my life. The other contestants are all my relatives: my siblings, my parents, my cousins... anyone I''m related to. Who can do what Silver Ashley wants the longest?¡± This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. ¡°Are you winning?¡± Ornette asked. ¡°I have been, but I¡¯m getting very tired of this game. She keeps her last will and testament a secret, so I don¡¯t know if I¡¯m the frontrunner, but I am the one who has done what he was told the longest. My other relatives bowed out, saying they would rather have their independence than her money. Most of my relatives do not even live on Venus anymore. I don¡¯t know where they live or how they live.¡± ¡°What about your father?¡± Ornette asked, running her fingers up the length of his arm until they rested on his trio of slave bracelets. ¡°He never activates it,¡± Desmond explained. ¡°He¡¯s more interested in his other children.¡± ¡°Is no one else playing her game anymore?¡± Ornette wondered. ¡°There are some relatives that are still doing what they¡¯re told. I¡¯m the only male left. The others are girl cousins who are having babies. Ashley approves of that¡­ heartily.¡± ¡°Are you bad because you haven¡¯t fathered a child¡­ Or have you?¡± she asked in a squeak. He shook his head. ¡°I haven¡¯t. I haven¡¯t had a lot of free time to get a girlfriend, let alone romance her well enough that she¡¯d want to stick around.¡± ¡°Have you had a slave before me?¡± He looked away. ¡°I¡¯ve had five. They were all sent back to Sleeping Beauty Inc. before the first month was out.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°They don¡¯t train Sleeping Beauty Inc. models for corporate espionage and that¡¯s all I do. I¡¯d own one I could use as a plus one for a vacation and that was all.¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t think they normally let models be sent out for that short of a time period.¡± ¡°They don¡¯t. They were paid for nine months and only used them for one.¡± Ornette gulped. She hadn¡¯t been lucky enough to have a buyer with that philosophy. ¡°Did you ever have the same model more than once?¡± His head snapped to attention. ¡°Listen, Ornette, you seem like you¡¯re looking for sordid details. They were models who were not chosen by me. They were chosen by Silver Ashley and sent in a package to my hotel where I was vacationing, pretending to be a playboy. Of course, I wasn¡¯t actually doing anything of the sort. I was greasing wheels and doing that with a beautiful female friend is easier than doing it on my own. It was supposed to be entertaining because it was on a Starline cruise ship or something, but it wasn¡¯t my idea of fun. I just needed her to make me look desirable for a month or so while I gathered a collection of women vacationers who were interested in me, and I could send her back. It looked like we quarreled and she left me. Before she left, I''d have her visit any woman I particularly wanted an in with to tell her she was leaving so she could have me. It wasn''t fun. It was work like everything else I do. I haven¡¯t had a break in seventeen years.¡± He was exhausted. She looked at his white hair. His story checked out. ¡°What color was your hair originally?¡± she asked softly. ¡°Black,¡± he replied like he was bored with answering that question. ¡°It was gray by the time I was twenty-five and white by the time I was thirty. I didn¡¯t try to keep it black. Blue eyes pop next to black hair, but not like they pop next to white hair. It would have been more trouble to keep it dyed than it would have been worth.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t doubt it,¡± she agreed. ¡°The thing is, Ornette, I didn¡¯t like any of those women. They were shockingly young and used to being spoiled in exchange for their very presence. I have never had it easy and I was born into a family that is richer than god. It didn¡¯t seem like those women had anything in common with me. If they had hard lives, they hid it because it wasn¡¯t something they could share with an owner they¡¯d had for a month. By then, I was bored and ready to move on. The other women were women I was using to get corporate secrets. I couldn''t get attached.¡± ¡°What did you want?¡± she asked. ¡°I wanted someone who was like me, who had had it rough, rough enough that she couldn¡¯t hide it. Silver Ashley didn¡¯t choose you. Goldilocks Zone was something I decided to stick my nose in and I got myself on the show without her help. She¡¯s interested now because it suits her purposes, but I chose you.¡± Ornette laughed. ¡°You chose me because I¡¯m short?¡± ¡°I did,¡± he admitted, obviously not wanting to hide it. ¡°When I went to the head office, I had the client coordinator make a pile of all the blondes who were just a little too tall to be in the Thumbelina category. I chose you for your burned hand and your history of violence against your masters.¡± Ornette swallowed. ¡°How did you know about that?¡± He clarified, ¡°The client coordinator who worked with me did not want me to buy you. She had someone else in mind that she thought would fit the bill much better and cost a lot more. I think she cost more than Claudia. She was pushing her on me because she knew I could easily pay a higher price than most of the other men who were there purchasing that day. One of the bullets she used to dissuade me from buying you was telling me in a tight whisper about your past violent actions against masters.¡± ¡°And you thought¡­¡± she began with her mouth agape. ¡°Honestly, I was impressed you¡¯d gotten away with it. None of that stuff was on your permanent record. I¡¯m still impressed. If we weren¡¯t trying to find Varner¡¯s honey trail, I¡¯d have had you slip him a lethal dose of poison the same way I had you give Albert a heart attack and rob Rowan of his DNA.¡± Ornette let her mouth fall the rest of the way open. ¡°Varner is a violent person,¡± Desmond continued. ¡°He stabbed me because he wanted you and he was explosively angry that I had set it up so he couldn¡¯t have you. Have you ever seen white-hot jealousy before?¡± ¡°Not over me,¡± Ornette confessed. ¡°Listen, Varner gives me the creeps because he reminds me of the kind of man who used to buy me when I was a teenager. If he¡¯s doing what Vangelis says he is and his charity is forcing children younger into involuntary slavery here on Venus, I want to help you stop him.¡± Desmond rested his cheek against his fist. ¡°I won¡¯t let you go back to the show if Silver Ashley doesn¡¯t get you the working conditions I mentioned,¡± he promised. ¡°If you can get purchased by Rolf or Tommy, they¡¯ll take you home with them and it will be the perfect opportunity to snoop. Naturally, if that happens, I won¡¯t be allowed to win you when you go up for auction.¡± ¡°That¡¯s a shame,¡± Ornette moaned and she really meant it. Desmond stuck his tongue in his cheek and groaned. Desire was all over his face, in every straight and every bent limb of his body. It seemed like he really couldn¡¯t wait another minute for them to be together. She put out a finger and pushed on his temple lightly, but he fell over at the slightest touch. She laughed at the sight of him sprawled on the bed. ¡°Other than the obvious, what, praytell, were you going to do with me?¡± ¡°What do you think? Play dress up,¡± he admitted with a grin. She looked at him quizzically. ¡°Really? Why dress up? Haven¡¯t you seen enough of that with the show?¡± Desmond looked at her with a facial expression she¡¯d never seen before. Usually, her owners got this sick little grin on their faces before an activity like dress up. Was she going to get dressed up like Goldilocks? Little Bo Peep? Little Red Riding Hood? The look on Desmond¡¯s face was so different. That meant he wanted something different. What? ¡°I don¡¯t mean for you to try on a collection of clothes or costumes for me,¡± he said, seeing that he needed to spell out his intention for her. ¡°I am wildly disinterested in turning you into a Barbie doll. Not that something like that wouldn¡¯t have its charm, but I agree. I think both of us have had more than enough of that with your interim owners.¡± She eyed him suspiciously. ¡°Then what did you have in mind?¡± ¡°Designing clothes, what else?¡± he answered, suddenly pressing bracelet buttons on the inside of his wrist. ¡°Isn¡¯t this one of your designs?¡± Ornette frowned at the dress design worn in the hologram he projected. It was one of her favorites. It was a dress that was hardly there, but it was meant to cover a bathing suit. The lines of the suit were visible through the loose weave while still maintaining a particum of mystery. Ornette blew a raspberry in Desmond¡¯s face. ¡°I don¡¯t own the copyright for that. Croix does.¡± Desmond cocked a white eyebrow. ¡°Not anymore ''cause I bought it off him.¡± Ornette straightened. ¡°You did what?¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t spend that much money for you compared to how much was shelled out for the other models, but I¡­ decided to gamble on you a bit,¡± he confessed rather cryptically. ¡°What does that mean?¡± He shut off the hologram and reached to take her hand in his. ¡°It means I researched you thoroughly before I bought you. I wasn¡¯t going to get the cost of you back. There¡¯s no way for me, or any of the financial backers, to recoup the costs of our models. I decided that you were resourceful enough that you could be my partner in my overall mission to uncover examples of involuntary slavery on Venus. That is what Silver Ashley wants from me. The show wasn¡¯t her idea. She doesn¡¯t believe in micromanagement. She left me to do it my way. I got involved with the show, I researched you, I bought you, and then I cleverly bought the patents for as many of your clothing designs as I could before you were delivered on Venus for the start of the show.¡± Ornette stared. She couldn¡¯t speak. What was he planning to do with the rights to her designs? ¡°They were cheap,¡± he explained further. ¡°They wouldn¡¯t be cheap by the end of filming. Already, they¡¯re worth much more than what I paid for them. You¡¯re so popular,¡± he said admiringly as he touched the side of her face. ¡°What are you going to do with them?¡± she asked hesitantly, not entirely sure if she could trust him. ¡°I promised you money if you did well on the show... if you impressed the businessmen,¡± Desmond replied smoothly. ¡°My idea was that if you did well, I could gift you your own designs and you could sell them to those old boots without having to sell yourself. The better you did on the show, the more money you could earn with each sale.¡± Ornette sucked in her breath. No one had ever offered her anything so grand in her life¡­ Not even close. It wasn¡¯t just giving her her designs, it was also arranging a situation so that they would be worth something to someone, maybe everyone who watched the show. She was overwhelmed. ¡°Why would you do something like that for me?¡± He shrugged. ¡°It was nothing. I was in the right place at the right time.¡± For a moment, Ornette¡¯s brain zipped down an old neuropathway. He was lying. He had to be lying. If he was like any of her old owners, he was lying. Some of them promised her big things before. She hadn¡¯t believed them. Why was she on the verge of believing Desmond? Had she become so desperate to escape her life that she didn¡¯t see a lie for a lie? He yawned. ¡°Look it up.¡± ¡°What?¡± she floundered. ¡°You don¡¯t believe me,¡± he accused gently. ¡°I can¡¯t say I blame you, but if you access your Sleeping Beauty Inc. profit statements, you¡¯ll see that although your money didn¡¯t change, there have been changes under your ¡®other assets¡¯ tab.¡± Ornette fiddled with her bracelet. ¡°I can¡¯t access banking info with my bracelet.¡± ¡°I know. It¡¯s a locked vault because bracelets are too easy to hack. All the same, they have a computer at the front desk of the studio dorms that was installed by Sleeping Beauty Inc. You can see for yourself¡­ if you go back. I sent you the rights for a hundred of your designs after you gave Albert a heart attack and another fifty when you got one of Rowan¡¯s hairs for me.¡± Ornette gaped. She had been labeling her designs with her own serial code for years. There were over seven hundred. A lot of them were crap, but there were also a lot of gems. Which ones had he given back to her? He stroked the palm of her blackened hand with the tips of his fingers. She had so much nerve damage in that hand she barely felt it, although he would occasionally touch a sensitive spot and her hand would flinch. ¡°Since you¡¯ve done so well, I am going to turn the rest over to you when we finish, regardless of the outcome of the show. After that, if you are able to turn your designs into millions of dollars, it will be a direct result of how well you did on the show, and what a great designer you are. You will earn whatever you get¡­ So it won¡¯t be like a gift from me. It will be more like I set things right than that I gave you a gift or a reward. You deserve the credit for the work you did.¡± At that moment, all of Ornette¡¯s doubts took a dive. Ornette kissed him. Someone had done something like that for her? If she forgot everything at the end of every day, she wanted to enjoy the day that was still playing. She kissed him. She kissed him with her mouth closed. She kissed him with her mouth open. She kissed him and felt his breath. She kissed him and tasted him. She kissed him and wound her arms around him until he was dropped to the ground with an electric shock. Her bracelet went off too, but the shock was more like a mild vibration. Desmond was shaking like he was in an executioner''s chair. She really should have taken Vangelis¡¯s warning more seriously. Chapter Thirty Seven Chapter Thirty Seven Morning or night? Night or day? Yellow or black? The gold necessary to live on Venus was worth more than blood. Those were the sorts of thoughts that ran through Ornette¡¯s mind. Vangelis had popped into the suite to check on Desmond after their fooling around caused his bracelet to shock him. The slave didn¡¯t say anything much, but he had a second bed wheeled into the room from the hospital floor and had Desmond installed in it. Vangelis checked on Desmond¡¯s wound and having pronounced him well enough to stay the night with Ornette, he stood by the door. ¡°I can trust you two to keep off each other for the rest of the night? The shock was enough to teach you not to get fresh? I would hate to have to come back in here,¡± Vangelis said coldly. All the heat he had during his last conversation with Ornette had gone. ¡°We would hate for you to come back just as much,¡± Desmond replied humorlessly. On the other side of the room, Ornette was ignoring them. She was in Desmond¡¯s closet and she didn¡¯t care much if Vangelis stayed or not. It wasn¡¯t like she and Desmond were going to have another heart-to-heart. He needed to rest and she needed to get out of the corset she¡¯d foolishly fallen asleep in. Inside Desmond¡¯s closet, she had undone all the laces in the back without having to turn it around. It should have had an easy way out, like hooks, but it was medieval in its design. It was her own fault. She¡¯d chosen it for its color, not for its functionality. And maybe a little because it was hard to get out of. She¡¯d chosen it for Varner. She needed all the complexity she could stand in case he decided to ignore regulations. It was fine by her if it took an hour to remove. In Desmond¡¯s closet, she was not self-conscious. She took off every stitch of clothing she was wearing and put on Desmond¡¯s clothes like they were her own. She put on a pair of his briefs and they barely stayed on. She was so tiny. Then she found an undershirt and slid that over her head. Glancing at his tie rack, she couldn¡¯t resist and selected the most beautiful tie. It was navy blue with silver stitching in the shape of stars. She bet it looked amazing on him when he wore his white suit. Should he wear it with a blue shirt or a white shirt? She thought it over playfully as she tied it around her neck like she was a young businessman about to go to work. Ornette was about to choose a shirt and get dressed up exactly like Desmond to surprise him. Surely, they¡¯d have a laugh together¡­ Except something caught her eye¡­ Something over her shoulder¡­ Something outside the closet. When Vangelis came in, he turned on all sorts of lights that Ornette had not turned on when she entered the suite. She hadn¡¯t seen the painting that was catching her attention when she first came in. The painting wasn¡¯t staring at her. There were no eyes pointing toward the audience. Yet something about it caught her attention and made her pause in her hilarious prank. Having looked once, twice, thrice¡­ She couldn¡¯t stop herself. She dropped the trousers that she had been about to pull up to her waist and opened the closet door the rest of the way. She stared. It was something she had seen before, but not quite. She pointed. ¡°Desmond? What is that?¡± His head lolled toward her. Across the open floor plan, he could see her. He could also see the painting that hung over the sofa. ¡°The painting?¡± ¡°Yes. The painting,¡± she clarified, almost stupefied. How could he have the picture that was in front of her? It was impossible. It was a picture of the front of Hans¡¯ watch factory. The window showed the gears and wheels of every tinkerer¡¯s dreams. A little girl with blonde hair stood outside the window and her expression of unbridled astonishment at the display was visible in the reflection of the glass. The closer Ornette got to the painting the more she could see. The artist had painted the things that were behind the glass of Hans¡¯ shop, but they had also painted the things that the glass reflected. The most obvious was the little girl. How many times had Ornette stood outside that window like it was a screen with delightful things to show her? This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. But the little girl wasn¡¯t the only thing in the glass. Behind her was a black helocarrier that had landed outside the storefront. With the window down, she could see inside. In the back of the helocarrier was a little boy with black hair. Ornette gasped. ¡°This picture is the only thing I remember from my childhood,¡± Desmond said, suddenly standing behind her. Ornette stood, in his underwear, wearing his most fabulous tie, and she grasped the collar of his pajama top in a death grip. ¡°What do you mean?¡± He was not bothered by her commandeering hand on his clothes and explained, ¡°I don¡¯t know what kind of childhood you had, but I wasn¡¯t allowed outside. Venus is built with the idea that people are allowed outside, just so long as they are inside the bubble, but I wasn¡¯t. I was always in a helocarrier going from this place to that place. Sometimes we were parked outside that watch store and I would see that little girl who was allowed to go wherever she wanted. She was free.¡± ¡°How old are you, Desmond?¡± Ornette questioned suddenly. ¡°Forty-three. Why?¡± ¡°That¡¯s me!¡± she said, her eyes on the picture and her fingers on the dusty frame. ¡°It can¡¯t be you. You¡¯re at least ten years younger than me,¡± he replied. ¡°No. I¡¯m not. I¡¯m forty-three. I¡¯ve just been in cryostasis so long¡­ that I have only been awake for thirty-two years. You have seen my file!¡± she asserted. His eyes went wide. ¡°Oh. You¡¯re right. We¡¯re the same age.¡± They did the math and Ornette was two months older. ¡°I told you that I used to stand outside Hans¡¯ shop,¡± she reminded him, feeling desperate and off-kilter. ¡°Yes, I remember now, but I didn¡¯t think anything of it except that maybe that was a hot spot for kids to hang out. Is that really you?¡± ¡°Who painted it?¡± she asked weakly, feeling dull and funny inside. ¡°I did.¡± ¡°You did?¡± she asked accusingly. He bobbed his head in confusion. ¡°Not with a paint set and brushes like a fifteenth-century painter, but on a tablet with a stylus. I had it enlarged to this resolution and I had it placed in this room.¡± Desmond looked at her distraught expression and then back at the painting. ¡°If it is you, it doesn¡¯t have to mean anything if you don¡¯t want it to. I didn¡¯t know it was you and I didn¡¯t put it here to trap you. I didn¡¯t know you would ever be here. If I had won you at auction or if, by some freak miracle, Varner decided to let me have you for the week, I would not have brought you here. I have a place in Nepra I could have taken you. It would never have entered into my mind for you to come here and see this. I certainly would never have planned it.¡± ¡°If this painting is so valuable to you, why is it here instead of at your place?¡± she wanted to know. He huffed. ¡°Do you think I¡¯m allowed to own things?¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not allowed to own things,¡± he replied. ¡°I can have houses and cars and solarships and whatever else, but I¡¯m not allowed to have memorabilia. Silver Ashley can¡¯t let her people have their hearts out on display. Either this painting had to be here, in her palace, or I had to get rid of it. You think I¡¯m allowed to be a person and be her only male heir? I¡¯m not allowed to do anything for myself unless she thinks it will go along with her wishes, her dreams for Venus.¡± Suddenly, he shut up like the walls had ears. Saying more would be dangerous. Ornette swallowed and loosened her hold on his collar. ¡°I¡¯m not trying to blame you for anything,¡± she said softly. ¡°I just didn¡¯t think anyone saw me or remembered me or anything from when I lived on Venus before I was sent to Ceres. When I spoke to Silver Ashley, she remembered my father¡¯s name. That was one thing, but something like this shows that I was remembered by someone else. The feeling is a little overwhelming. I¡¯m acting badly. Looking at it makes me feel like you know me, that you did something different than me when things got tough. You didn¡¯t forget everything because it hurt too much to remember. You remembered me even though it was tough, even though you¡¯re not allowed to own anything¡­ You kept me.¡± She breathed heavily. ¡°That¡¯s overwhelming.¡± He pulled her into his arms and rested his cheek on the top of her head. ¡°It¡¯s been tough for all of us.¡± ¡°For so long, all I¡¯ve been concerned about was surviving. Except, I¡¯m not sure I survived. I think maybe I didn¡¯t. Perhaps every time I had a different boss, I gave up something of myself to him until the woman you see before you is a creature who has nothing in common with the little girl that I was.¡± She pointed at the picture. ¡°Once upon a time, when you were a blonde little girl standing outside of Hans¡¯ watch factory?¡± Desmond supplied. She was quiet. ¡°I don¡¯t like skipping down memory lane.¡± ¡°I saw you there,¡± he said. The fact could not be ignored. Ornette scoffed, hoping to end the conversation. He held her without speaking. Ornette tried not to be moved, not to cry, and not to feel anything. Finally, when he spoke, he said something unimaginable. ¡°Maybe this is the turning point for both our lives. I was a little boy and I wished I had nowhere to go and I could stand there on the sidewalk with you. You were a little girl who just wanted to go somewhere safe. Maybe now both of our dreams can come true at the same time.¡± Ornette looked at him, looked into his navy eyes with her aqua ones. The moment hung as they peered into the windows of each other¡¯s souls. It didn¡¯t matter if she believed him. Nothing more could happen that night. They put their arms around each other and she got into the bed Vangelis had brought for Desmond, intending to keep them apart. Maybe nothing could keep them apart. Chapter Thirty Eight Chapter Thirty Eight Silver Ashley, Vangelis, Desmond... They had decided that Ornette should go back and try her luck with one of the other bears. When Ornette walked back into the front entry of the studio dorms, she paused. It wasn¡¯t that she didn¡¯t trust Desmond. She trusted him. If he said he had transferred a hundred and fifty of her designs to her, she believed him. She was just curious to see which designs they were. She signed herself in with an employee at the front desk who was a stranger to her. He offered to carry her bag, which she allowed. It contained the dress she had left wearing while she wore one of Desmond¡¯s suits for her grand return. Although, it wasn''t one of his white suits. It was probably a death sentence coming back wearing his signature look. She had ''borrowed'' a gray one that hadn¡¯t fit him for some time. Ornette paused at the front desk and sent the bellboy ahead of her with her keys since she wanted to have a moment with the computer that Desmond told her was in the lobby. The Sleeping Beauty Inc. computer was a pink, gaudy thing that was kept in a corner behind a plant to stop the thing from ruining the lobby¡¯s aesthetic. Ornette chuckled as she brought up her banking info on the screen. As Desmond promised, there were additions in her ¡®Other Assets¡¯ folder. Not only were the dress designs there, but there were also gifts from Fen, Joel, Hans, Westen, and Varner. She pushed all those description links aside and reviewed the designs Desmond had given her. All the ones she saw were garments she had designed when she was owned by Croix. That had been a good period. Most of the designs she made for him were functional, beautiful, and useful for mainstream consumption. Some of the pieces she had designed since then did not have mass appeal because they were designed for people on life-support machines. She nodded thankfully and wished she could have spent more time with Desmond. Then, she did something she wouldn¡¯t normally have had the opportunity to do. She clicked on the Sleeping Beauty Inc. search engine, Lamplight, and typed Fen¡¯s name into the search bar. The information that could be attained through a Sleeping Beauty search was limited. For instance, her file was technically clean, but she had done many things to tarnish it. The fact that it was so clear was obviously a source of irritation to other Sleeping Beauty Inc. employees who hadn¡¯t been as lucky as her. That was why Desmond had been told the truth about her. Someone was grouchy. However, if Ornette typed Desmond¡¯s name into the search bar, which she immediately deleted Fen¡¯s name in order to do, his file came up. True to his word, he had owned six models. Ornette was the latest. The other five women he had owned told tiny one-paragraph stories about how they had been hired to go on vacation with him. The vacation had been cut short, and the models spent the rest of their time in cryostasis. Ornette rolled her eyes. Having it say exactly what he told her struck her as a red flag. Obviously, he was rich enough, had enough connections, and had everything a person would need to get the remarks saved by the girls to say whatever he wanted. Suddenly, it occurred to her that perhaps she had not been ratted out by a spiteful client coordinator. Maybe it went the other way. Desmond had bribed the client coordinator to find him the most violent model with the cleanest record. The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. Ornette scoffed. She couldn¡¯t be the most violent model. At least, she shouldn¡¯t have been. Then she looked up Fen. That was a sudden revelation. Fen had also owned five models before appearing on Goldilocks Zone. The first model said all she did was stand still at events like a real-live dummy. She said it was hard on her feet but completely worth what he paid for her. The second explained that while she was working for him, he got obsessed with bathing suits and ocean themes. For the larger part of her contract, she wore a mermaid tail and lounged around in a huge cocktail glass filled with water. Her exact words were, ¡°Even if he wasn¡¯t having guests over, he would have me put on the mermaid tail and hang out in the cup. I had prune fingers for over a year.¡± Afterward, she had her designation changed from Diva to Domestic Goddess because she did not want another contract that had the possibility of turning into what she had with Fen. She decided she¡¯d rather be a fake Parisian maid than swim the length of a hot tub a thousand times a day for another year. The third said Fen was obsessed with birds, feathers, and air when he owned her. She said he kept her in a locked birdcage for almost the whole eighteen months. She wore clothes made of feathers. Eventually, she was not allowed to speak unless she pretended to be a parrot. She was still allowed to sing, but after a while, he stopped tolerating her singing in words and made her work harder to imitate the sounds birds make. When she was finished, she took a job in administration with Sleeping Beauty Inc., even though she was a solid fifteen too young to consider such a job. The fourth said that the enormous cocktail glass was emptied for her and, instead, it was filled with sand. She was asked to bury herself in the sand every morning. She was not allowed to speak or sing. She was also not allowed to get dressed. Her clothes were the grains of sand in the enormous glass. During that time, Fen designed some of the most beautiful dresses of glass and rock, but they were not meant to be worn by a person. They had more in common with statues. After the contract was over, the model quit Sleeping Beauty Inc. The information on the fifth woman was sketchy. It sounded like Fen wanted to continue the theme of earth, air, and water with fire. The last woman was only in his care for three months when she was removed. The details were absent from public record, but the result was not. Fen was reprimanded and he was given a ban on purchasing new models from Sleeping Beauty Inc. for five years. His five years were up, and now he was able to buy girls again. Ornette wondered if he had learned his lesson. As she thought it over, she remembered the sketches he had shown her, and something in her throat tightened. She had thought that the blowy wisps of things in his designs were fabric. Now she wondered if they were live flames that were supposed to be contained on the model¡¯s body. There were so many of them. He¡¯d been making plans for five years, and he was going to get his model to live out his fire fantasy? Was that what was happening? Was he planning on using her if he bought her? She didn¡¯t have much more time at the computer. It was almost supper time, and she needed the food. She sped up her searches. Ornette typed Joel¡¯s name into the computer. His slate was clean. He¡¯d never purchased a model through Sleeping Beauty Inc., but Ornette couldn¡¯t do a search to see if he¡¯d bought one through Jewel Girls. She didn¡¯t bother typing in Hans. She knew all about him, or enough about him to not want to know anything more. She typed Westen¡¯s name. He¡¯d never purchased a model either. There was no information. Suddenly, Ornette got curious about what he¡¯d sent her and hoped it was the dress she¡¯d worn with him on stage before she remembered that it was auctioned off. The gift from Westen was a duplicate of the basket she¡¯d given out to his employees. He¡¯d had extra, and he decided to send one to Ornette. For a rich man, he was unbearably cheap. Her curiosity got the better of her, and she looked at what Joel and Hans had sent her. Joel sent a complimentary package of his fitness line. Ornette didn¡¯t particularly want it, but aside from the dresses Fen had sent her, they were the best. Fen was a madman, but at least he was a madman who knew how to design clothes. Hans sent her a pair of chainmail panties. Ornette turned off the computer and went to her room. Chapter Thirty Nine Chapter Thirty Nine When Ornette woke up back in her dorm room, she sighed. She woke up because someone was tapping on her door. She had to answer it. She didn¡¯t want to answer it. She wanted to take the day off. She wanted to sit in her stupid room and take things slowly. She¡¯d have a bath. She¡¯d read something about a way to do her nails better. She¡¯d blow-dry her hair properly (the way she liked), and she¡¯d prepare herself to go back on the show. Instead, she had The Coordinator banging on her door with a closed fist like the police and calling her name through the door. ¡°Ornette! Ornette! Open up!¡± She pushed off the blankets and dragged herself to the door with the air of a teenager being called for school. She opened the door. ¡°What?¡± The Coordinator was on the other side of the door, but so was Varner. They were both there, standing in the hallway. ¡°I didn¡¯t think you were coming back,¡± Papa Bear said coldly. ¡°I didn¡¯t think I was coming back either,¡± she supplied, trying to keep her voice light. After all, The Coordinator was there, and if he was there, everything would be all right. ¡°Are you okay?¡± The Coordinator asked sheepishly, glancing over his shoulder at Varner, wondering what was safe to say in front of his boss. ¡°I¡¯m great. I got through everything without a scratch on me,¡± Ornette said cheerfully. ¡°So, you can try on bathing suits?¡± The Coordinator pressed. ¡°Naturally,¡± she said, with a professional smile. ¡°However, I would appreciate a few minutes to ready myself for the day. I haven¡¯t had breakfast, and, honestly, I haven¡¯t had a chance for proper grooming in the last few days. Could I possibly have an hour?¡± ¡°Get a spa tech up here,¡± Varner said grouchily. ¡°Have her ready to try on the suits in half an hour.¡± Ornette gawked. ¡°Can¡¯t I have more time? I can¡¯t eat while I get my face washed.¡± ¡°Like I care if you eat,¡± Varner spat back. ¡°Half an hour.¡± *** Half an hour later, Ornette was trying on bathing suits with the designer (a nameless grunt of a man) who had been paired up with her, Varner, Uncle Bear, Brother Bear, The Coordinator, and three other dudes Ornette had never seen before. They were all watching her. It was okay. She was up for it. She kept her back straight, stepped carefully in her high heels, and plastered a look of perfect tranquility on her face no matter how the men looked at her or what they said. The man displayed a shockingly wide range of emotions. The designer looked at her analytically. He was as heartless as a robot, and Ornette appreciated it, even if she didn¡¯t catch his name. Uncle Bear was bored. She wasn¡¯t his type. Brother Bear was more interested, which was lucky for her since he was the one she was supposed to seduce. She kept throwing him flirty glances. It should have helped her cause, except he didn¡¯t look like he knew what to do with them. Instead, he kept his mouth shut and only gave her cursory glances. He was in a room watching a woman parade around in different swimsuits. It should have entertained him, but it didn¡¯t. He was clearly preoccupied. The Coordinator was worried. His anxiety was pinching his shoulders. His eyes darted about the room like a cat that was expecting a rat to jump out at him. The three dudes in the back row seemed like they were there as a favor from Varner, so they were having a good time. At the very least, they didn¡¯t want to show their disinterest, so they spread grins on their faces and made little awed sounds when she came out. She liked them, even if she thought they were full of crap. They wanted to be in Varner¡¯s good books more than they cared how she looked in a bathing suit. This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work. Varner was an unsheathed sword. He was furious. He had no patience for what was happening. He had already had everything explained to him. He could not bid on Ornette. After the show was over, he would be prosecuted for stabbing Desmond and have to deal with whatever fallout that created. So, he was doing what he was allowed to do now, which was watch Ornette try on bathing suits when he wanted to rip them off her. He knew how important it was to keep his cool. He knew the reasons, yet he was having trouble containing himself. He was too angry. It was spilling all over the place. ¡°None of these swimsuits are for the show,¡± the designer explained to Ornette. ¡°I¡¯m just putting them on you to see which suits flatter your lines. I¡¯ll watch the footage of your little modeling show tonight and make some more notes. Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯ll have something for you to wear by the end of the week.¡± Ornette was impressed with his compartmentalization. Whatever was bothering Varner wasn¡¯t bothering the designer. He couldn¡¯t care less. She winked at him as he said his goodbyes and The Coordinator herded the other spectators out of the room, but he was so focused on everyone else that he didn¡¯t notice Varner taking Ornette by the arm and shoving her back into the changeroom she had been using. ¡°Did you sleep with Desmond and get it out of your system?¡± he asked crankily when they were alone. ¡°Like sleeping with a man once would get him out of anyone¡¯s system,¡± Ornette scoffed. ¡°I¡¯d have to sleep with him a hundred times to accomplish that, and I assure you, he wasn¡¯t up for it.¡± She jabbed herself in the hip with her index finger in the place where Varner had stabbed Desmond. ¡°What? Did his family not want you pleasuring their precious son?¡± Varner continued poisonously. Ornette nodded sadly. ¡°Exactly. They sent me back here, didn¡¯t they? It¡¯s such a pity.¡± Hearing that loosened Varner¡¯s shoulders. ¡°I want to make a deal with you.¡± ¡°A deal? What kind of deal?¡± she asked, grabbing a silky housecoat off the hook off the back of the dressing room door and swinging it over her shoulders. ¡°You can cancel the clause in your contract that forbids the weight difference,¡± he said nonchalantly. ¡°The Sleeping Beauty Inc. rep I spoke to said it was possible.¡± ¡°Why would I do that?¡± she wondered as she tied the belt at her waist. ¡°Or rather, what reward would I receive for doing that?¡± ¡°You would get double your fee,¡± he supplied. She smiled to cover her thoughts. It wasn¡¯t worth it, even without the copyrights Desmond had given her. Double her fee? Triple her fee? It wasn¡¯t worth it. A man like Varner? There was no happy ending. She would rather be sold again under her terms than take a man like him. It wasn¡¯t just his weight. It was also his temperament and the cold fact that he had stabbed Desmond. He couldn¡¯t undo that. ¡°I¡¯ll think it over,¡± she lied. He looked hopeful for a moment before the look on his face fell. He realized she was only saying that to get him out of her face temporarily. Later, he would hear that she had rejected his offer. ¡°This is your last chance,¡± he threatened. She nodded. She was very aware of that. ¡°Yeah. I¡¯ve had lots of ¡®last chances¡¯. Plenty. Do you know what happens when the last chance comes?¡± He didn¡¯t move his head. He waited for her to answer her own question. ¡°The worst scenario happens anyway,¡± she replied with a graceful shrug. His face grew dark, and he loomed over her. ¡°Do you like it when it happens anyway?¡± Ornette was about to answer like a soldier on the front line when The Coordinator burst into the changing room. ¡°Varner, you can¡¯t be in here!¡± he exclaimed. ¡°I was just leaving,¡± the big man said, backing away from Ornette. The Coordinator shooed him out of the room and all the way out to where he¡¯d said goodbye to the other guests. Then he came back to the change room. The door was open, and Ornette had not yet changed out of the swimsuit. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you scream or something?¡± he asked impatiently. ¡°Why didn¡¯t I call out and act like a scared little guppy?¡± Ornette replied. ¡°What good would it have done to let that man intimidate me and to make it clear that I was wildly uncomfortable? I¡¯ve already done that. You¡¯re not going to be able to protect me from him indefinitely. The Queen of Venus sent me back here to finish the show. There¡¯s nowhere to run.¡± ¡°No. We¡¯ll be able to keep your contract intact. I know he seems a little rough, but he hasn¡¯t actually¡­¡± The Coordinator trailed off as he absorbed the expression on Ornette¡¯s face. She knew something he didn¡¯t know. ¡°I¡­ uh¡­¡± he stuttered. Ornette glanced around and spotted a camera in the hallway just outside the dressing room. ¡°You know this has gone on too long, right?¡± she said, stepping closer to The Coordinator, who was standing in the line of the camera. ¡°What do you mean?¡± he asked, frazzled, ruffling his hair. ¡°I mean that Varner has been showing me interest for too long for him to give up now. He¡¯s thinking things like ¡®he hasn¡¯t come this far to only come this far¡¯. He wants to stick it to Desmond and take what¡¯s his. Varner¡¯s obsessed, and he won¡¯t feel better until he does what he has to do to ¡®take what is Desmond¡¯s.¡¯ If you stick your neck out too far, you¡¯ll get your head chopped off, so forget about me. Instead, go book me a hospital stay. If he gets his hands on me, I¡¯ll need the rest of my purchased year in a recovery wing.¡± ¡°He isn¡¯t likely to¡­¡± The Coordinator started and then stopped. ¡°Please. Do as I say,¡± Ornette said softly, brushing him aside so she could change in peace. He followed her. ¡°Isn¡¯t there some other way to get you off the show?¡± he asked. She shrugged. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t know. Are you going to watch me get out of this bathing suit, or are you¡­¡± He didn¡¯t move to leave immediately, and she laughed as his eyes lingered on a bit of her bare skin in a fascinated way. ¡°Really? You¡¯d stay? I didn¡¯t think you were into women.¡± He rolled his eyes. ¡°No one does, but I am.¡± He shut the door behind him and acted like a guard on duty. He took a call on his headset on the other side of the door while Ornette peeled off the bathing suit. Chapter Forty Chapter Forty Aside from the awkward bathing suit fitting, Ornette didn¡¯t have to do much that week. She had a spa appointment, which she was told was arranged for her by the designer who made her bathing suit, but she didn¡¯t believe it for a minute. Varner arranged for it and paid for it. It was his way of making sure she was clean after her ¡®outing¡¯ with Desmond. He didn''t want to touch her if she still had Desmond''s fingerprints on her. She had encountered a few guys with quirks like that. A woman wasn¡¯t clean unless he had paid someone to clean her. As revenge, she spent the whole massage pretending it was Desmond rubbing her. She would have done the same with the pedicure if the tech hadn¡¯t needed so much feedback from her. The only other thing she had to do on the last day was try on the bathing suit the designer made for her. She still didn¡¯t catch the man¡¯s name. They had a whole meeting, and she asked for his name twice. Both times, she was rewarded with a word so incomprehensible that she began to doubt whether or not he was actually a designer and not just a plant Varner hired so that he could have more access to her. Except, Varner thought she¡¯d slept with Desmond and enjoyed it, so he was too disgusted to come see her himself. The bathing suit was not something she would have chosen for herself, but it was perfect for the occasion because it was more like the bodice of a dress. From the look of it, no one intended for her to get wet in it, so the enormous white bow that cinched her waist and dangled its tails on the floor was not a problem for anyone. The suit was black with white edging at the chest, strapless, backless, and it needed adhesive tape to stay on. Ornette got prettied up in the dressing room by her designer before the show, who fussed over her and made sure her blonde curls were unlikely to fall. He checked her body everywhere and spent a solid hour making sure her white high heels fit to perfection. They were very high and likely to result in an embarrassing fall or an injury if they didn¡¯t fit right. He was a nice man, but Ornette could not shake the idea that the designer was actually a stylist and that he was not prepping her for the show as much as prepping her for auction. Everyone knew she was going to be voted off the show and put up for auction. Everyone knew Varner was not going to bid on her. It would be unthinkable for him to bid on her. He had to stay on the show and bid on the very last girl. Except the show wasn¡¯t going the way he planned¡­ Would he still do what was expected of him, or would he go off-script? Ornette puzzled over it as she walked last in line through the revolving door to the stage. Just as she predicted, the secret door in the revolving door opened, and she was yanked into the little closet. Except it wasn¡¯t Desmond who had grabbed her. It was Varner. ¡°What do you want?¡± she hissed. ¡°I have to get on stage.¡± ¡°You can¡¯t go on stage,¡± he replied hoarsely. ¡°Why not?¡± she fumed. ¡°Because you can¡¯t go up for auction!¡± he hollered. Ornette rolled her eyes. ¡°Just let me go. Let me get auctioned off. It¡¯s for charity. It¡¯s fine. I signed up for this.¡± A flash of silver caught Ornette¡¯s attention to the right. She didn¡¯t need to see exactly what it was to know exactly what it was. It was a set of metal handcuffs. He was going to lock her up to stop her from going to the auction. The metal brushed her hand as she slammed the heel of her palm into Varner¡¯s nose. She wasn¡¯t sure if she could break his nose when she threw out her hand, but she prayed she could. She heard the sickening crack. Varner¡¯s nose hadn¡¯t started bleeding when he automatically shot his hand out to hit Ornette. She turned her face away, but she took the impact on the side of her head, and just like she had done so many times before, she went flying. She expected to feel the thud of studs and drywall against the other side of her head. As expected, an impact came, but it was not the one Ornette was anticipating. She was thrown against the secret door that led to the revolving door. It gave way, and she was sent sprawling onto the floor of the revolving door. Unlike any other time that Ornette had been in the secret room, someone noticed she was gone. The Coordinator had been checking the line of contestants and noticed Ornette was missing. He was on the other side, banging on the glass and asking her if she could get up. This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. Ornette had taken so many hits that Varner might have cracked her skull, and she could still shut off the pain enough to get up and push through the doors. The door to the secret room had closed, and Ornette wasn¡¯t sure if The Coordinator had seen Varner on the other side or even if he had seen there was a door. ¡°Did you fall?¡± he asked, examining her tousled hair and the red marks on her cheek. ¡°Are you hurt?¡± Ornette looked at him like he was insane. If it was business as usual, she needed to get a grip. ¡°Do I look all right?¡± She straightened her swimsuit by picking at it to loosen the fabric. The whole thing had crawled uncomfortably up her body. Even the underwires in the top were out of place. ¡°You need a touchup,¡± he commented drolly. ¡°Then do it or get Desmond. He¡¯s super good at makeup.¡± ¡°Desmond is not here tonight,¡± The Coordinator informed her as he motioned for a hair stylist to fix Ornette¡¯s hair. ¡°I would have thought you would know that.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not his wife or anything,¡± she hedged as she was rushed to an emergency dressing table just behind the stage. A makeup artist joined them and turned a cool electric fan in Ornette¡¯s face, and a hairstylist removed the pins holding Ornette¡¯s hair up while the makeup artist tried to remove the redness on her banged-up cheek. The color did not look like blush. In the corner of the mirror, she could see The Coordinator¡¯s face. ¡°What happened in the revolving door, Ornette?¡± he asked sternly. She avoided eye contact. ¡°You scraped me off the floor. What more do you need to know?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think you fell on accident,¡± he pressed. ¡°Why not?¡± Suddenly, he grabbed her wrist. Her Sleeping Beauty Inc. bracelet was administering shocks to her over and over. She just wasn¡¯t feeling it because of the settings Desmond had put on it. ¡°How come it¡¯s going off like that?¡± The Coordinator asked. ¡°There¡¯s only one reason why it would go off like that.¡± Ornette knew the reason. She knew it because it had happened before. It only went off like that, with repeated shocks, if she attacked someone. And she did. She had hit Varner in the face, and her bracelet was attempting to punish her for it. She giggled to cover the truth. ¡°It must be malfunctioning. Maybe you should call Stonic to help me with it. He¡¯s the only Sleeping Beauty Inc. rep I have met since arriving on Venus. Why? Is there someone else you can call?¡± ¡°It¡¯s lucky you¡¯re the last one to go on stage,¡± The Coorindator said elusively. Then he stepped away from the dressing table and started talking on his earpiece. ¡°I need a location for Varner. Is he in position? Uncle Bear is welcoming everyone as the MC for the show?¡± he asked, completely confused. ¡°Where the hell is Varner?¡± If there was more to that conversation, Ornette didn¡¯t hear it. The Coordinator was too far away for her to pick up the rest. Instead, she relaxed in the hands of the stylists and breathed deeply. That was when her head started to hurt. ¡°This is swelling up,¡± the makeup artist complained. ¡°We need ice! This is really swelling up. I don¡¯t think Ornette can go on stage like this.¡± ¡°Someone tell this girl to shut up,¡± Ornette said, opening her eyes and issuing angry commands. ¡°Get me a numbing agent. I know you morons have stuff like that in case you want to give someone a last-minute piercing. Get it. And you,¡± she said, pointing at the hairdresser. ¡°If I¡¯m a swollen walrus, I can¡¯t have my hair up. Give me a middle part and mess up my curls to give me beach waves. That will cover both my cheeks. We¡¯ll get that stylist to put glitter on my lips, and as long as I¡¯m not wincing from the pain, no one will notice anything amiss. I need to be auctioned off tonight. Even if I have to go to the hospital instead of home with my bidder¨CI have to be sold tonight!¡± ¡°I would never sell myself,¡± the makeup artist said as she dabbed the numbing agent onto Ornette¡¯s cheek. ¡°Neither would I,¡± Ornette replied. Then she shut up and held still while the two girls worked on her hair and makeup. When it came time for Ornette to hit the stage, the numbing agent had worked its way down to her jaw. She couldn¡¯t smile evenly. One side of her mouth drooped. ¡°How are you doing?¡± The Coordinator said, returning to help Ornette up from the chair. ¡°I think she put too much on. I can¡¯t feel my face,¡± Ornette stuttered a muffled reply. He took the tube of numbing cream in his hand and read the side. ¡°She sure did.¡± Then he pulled on the curtain of Ornette¡¯s hair and saw the bump forming on the side of her face. ¡°You sure look beautiful tonight. I¡¯ll arrange it so you don¡¯t have to answer any questions. If you can stand there looking elegant, that will be enough.¡± He put out his arm and helped Ornette rise from the chair, then with their arms still linked, he walked her to her position outside the red curtain. ¡°You broke Varner¡¯s nose,¡± he informed her quietly. ¡°He¡¯s bleeding like a pig and crying like a baby. I see your bracelet has stopped buzzing. I heard you saying that you had to be sold tonight. I admire your bravery, and I want to tell you that if I were one of the men on the floor tonight, I would bid on you. You¡¯re going to get scores of bids, and none of them will be mine, but I hope the thought counts for something.¡± Ornette tried to talk, but her face was so frozen that her mouth was wrecked. It was all she could do to stop herself from drooling. Instead of talking, she squeezed his arm and brushed the tip of her nose across his cheek. ¡°That was better than a make-out session from one of you girls,¡± he said with a smile. Then he sent her onto the stage for the last time. Ornette was going to be auctioned off.