The Taming of Archer Cordell – ebook

Excerpt

Archer Cordell hadn’t been the same since he’d freed Alcina, and Daviel wasn’t sure what to do about it.

Daviel had been Archer’s slave and chief factotum for over ten years. Archer had long since given him a blanket offer of manumission, which Daviel kept in a file folder in his desk drawer, but he never chose to file the papers. He had all the money he would ever need, thanks to generous stock options and his own personal investments, access to a practically unlimited expense account—and nothing to spend it on since the death of his lover Cyril in 2010. Daviel had spent every dollar he had on Cyril’s health during his final struggle with AIDS, then embezzled more, resulting in his arrest and enslavement after Cyril’s death, ironically one of the last deaths from that terrible plague. By then, he didn’t care about anything, and accepted his fate with resignation.

But slowly the spark of life grew within him, and he found new purpose in managing and organizing the chaotic entrepreneurial life of Archer Cordell. He tried to help him on the personal side as well, for Archer was a man at war with himself, in conflict between the two faces of his identity: the one he presented to the world and the one inside himself.

Alcina, the lovely slave who had saved him from the clutches of the Countess Esmeralda, had reached Archer Cordell on that deeper, personal level. But after the trauma of his captivity and torment at the hands of the Countess, he had closed down, freed her in order to free himself, and thrown himself back into his work with a frenzied drive that was more about escapism than about productivity. Daviel was worried about him, but knew from experience that there were barriers even he as a favored slave dared not cross.

Today he was at a slave auction hoping to pick up new staff for Archer’s office. The line of criminally-convicted and volunteer slaves was set up for the inspection of the small group of very wealthy owners. Archer never came to the auctions himself; Daviel picked out the slaves and negotiated the purchases.

General office and technical slaves were difficult enough to come by, but the highest prices came for those special slaves who were available for any service a master or mistress might desire. Those slaves were displayed naked, shackled and spread, for the delectation and arousal of the shoppers as well as to humiliate and break the will of the new slaves.

Daviel smiled at the sight of one thick and swollen male organ that quivered as a single bead of clear viscous fluid collected at the tip. Not only were sexual slaves chosen because of their innate libido, special implants stimulated their mental pleasure centers at electronic command, turning the slaves into helpless creatures of pure lust at the whim of any master, mistress, or whoever held the controller. There were other circuits as well, able to stimulate whatever response was required. This was particularly important in managing criminal slaves.

Daviel had his own implant, though thanks to Archer Cordell’s programming staff, he now controlled his own circuits. This was good, because a recent hacker sport had been to crack the radio frequencies that controlled the stimulators and play a variety of wicked tricks on the helpless slaves.

Daviel examined the female selection with a clear intellectual eye. They were all beautiful, of course, and wet and writhing from the action of their own pleasure chips. Eager buyers examined the merchandise, most getting altogether too wrapped up in the lust of the moment.

But much of it was an illusion. In this age of genetic manipulation and advanced medical science, movie star or supermodel beauty was available to anyone with even a moderate amount of money and desire. Slavegirls often had their treatments paid for as part of a slave contract, a rewarding investment for everyone concerned.

Because physical perfection had become common, Daviel looked at the merchandise more carefully, because issues of soul and personality were less easily manipulated. Sexuality was easy with the pleasure chip, but there were things harder to fake. He’d scored a winner with the slavegirl Alcina, although how much of a winner he hadn’t realized until later. But perhaps it would not be a good idea to introduce anyone like that to Archer anytime soon. Perhaps not ever.

He worried about Archer. Alcina had been good for him, even though he didn’t realize it. But how could Daviel make things right when Archer didn’t want to cooperate?