Chapter 9: Nicole. Saturday Week 4 of Tessa’s stay.

The departure of the participants after any special event is always an interesting sight. After a week confined inside the tower, new friendships will have been formed, old ones renewed, and a few personal scores settled. I watch as the first batch of visitors prepare to walk down to the jetty where the boat awaits. When they arrived last Saturday, the mistresses arrived in the morning and the slaves in two batches during the afternoon. The allocation of seats on the return trip doesn’t give priority to the mistresses. Whoever has the longest journey gets first call on the seats. Kirsty will do her best to ferry everyone to where the bus waits and get back here as quickly as possible. Three round trips will be needed, and if all goes to plan the last boat will depart shortly after lunch.

As usual, a few of the participants have booked to stay on the island for a while longer. In my absence last week, Brooke will have new accommodation organised for the two mistresses and two slaves with extended stays. Rebecca will escort Slaves Tessa and Lauren to the dormitory in building E4 and transition them to their normal slave duties.

I watch Slave Tessa as she farewells Slave Jessica, who is leaving on the first boat. Their fond goodbye is interrupted by Alina, more commonly known as Madame Lash. Alina hands the pair of them her business card and says a few words to both of them. Knowing how Alina works, I’m guessing the two slaves have impressed Alina and she’s making an offer they might want to consider.

“I didn’t anticipate a three-one win to the slaves,” says Monique, coming to stand beside me. “How did the slaves manage that after the shambles on Sunday?”

“I’m not sure, but I think quizzing Slave Tessa might provide the answer,” I reply. “Is it important? Apart from those mistresses who are sore losers, everyone seemed to have a good time.”

“If we want to repeat that format of event in the future, I think we need to understand any loopholes in our design,” says Monique. “We’ll get everyone’s feedback over the next few weeks, but I’m curious as to how the slaves achieved what they did. Either the mistresses were bungling fools, or there’s a glitch in the way we set-up the game.”

“I think the mistresses were simply out-smarted by a few of the slaves,” I say. “I mean, look at the way the mistresses set up their spy network among the slaves. By Wednesday, those who were secretly spying for the mistresses may as well have had ‘SPY’ written across their forehead. But instead of unmasking the spies, the other slaves simply fed them false information.”

“That still doesn’t explain how the slaves managed to capture all the target areas simultaneously. When the game concept was run through a simulator, the odds on the slaves winning more than one game bordered on impossible. Winning three suggests some form of trickery.”

“Hmm. I still think Slave Tessa might know the answer to that. It was her disappearance for an hour on Tuesday that seemed to turn the games in favour of the slaves.”

“Tessa’s here for another week, isn’t she?” queries Monique.

“Another three weeks,” I reply. “That’s assuming she lasts the course.”

“You think she’ll quit early?” asks Monique.

“Had you asked me that three weeks ago, I would have said yes, but now I think she stands every chance of going the distance.”

“That will be interesting to see,” says Monique. “Faye is arriving on Thursday for a ten day stay, and you know her preferred type of slave.”

My heart sinks. While most mistresses can be mean bitches at times, Faye is by far and away the harshest. She’s not unduly cruel, but she tests any slave’s resolve to the limit. And her favourite type of slave is a ‘Buttercup’. Faye and Tessa will be drawn to each other like moths to a flame. Can Tessa withstand everything Faye will put her through?

“Do you think we should do anything?” I ask Monique.

“No,” replies Monique. “Faye is a club member, Tessa is not. Tessa signed the standard agreement, so we have discharged our duty of care.”

I doubt a lawyer would agree with Monique’s statement, but for all we know, we could be jumping at shadows. Tessa proved to be remarkably resilient at the hands of Madame Lash. Perhaps she can do the same under Faye’s dominion.

I go to find Stephanie, who is organising the slave work parties today. I would like the opportunity to question Tessa about the slaves’ victory.

“There are several work parties in the tower, dismantling the props used in last week’s event,” says Stephanie. “I can arrange for Tessa to be on one of this afternoon’s work parties.”

Questioning Tessa at the scene of the ‘crime’ seems appropriate, and I ask Stephanie to arrange it. I spend the next few hours bringing my work up to date.

“Does this bring back memories?” I ask Tessa that afternoon, when I locate her cleaning the Sheik’s Harem in the tower.

“Yes, Madame,” replies Tessa. “I didn’t think it was possible to have so many orgasms in such a short space of time until Madame Lash proved otherwise.”

“Any regrets about joining the special event?”

“No. None at all, Madame. I’m delighted I did so. I had a great time, and I met some new friends in the process.”

“That’s good to hear,” I reply. “You proved to be very elusive when you disappeared for an hour during Tuesday’s game. I think that’s what spoilt the mistresses chance of winning that game.”

“It was the mistresses reaction to my disappearance that wrecked their chances of winning, Madame. They stopped all work on the tasks while they searched for me. If I was a mistress, I wouldn’t have done that. One person cannot capture all the target areas at once, and Madame Lash showed that she could respond to any lamp I switched on before I could reach any others. At best, I could reach two or three targets before being caught. There was no need for all the slaves to stop work.”

“Hmm. So you were aware the captured areas were known to Madame Lash.”

“Yes, of course. I already suspected that the panel behind where you sat indicated which target lamps were on. I merely proved that by switching on one of the lamps and waiting for a mistress to come running. Madame Lash arrived quickly, and since she was stationed in the dungeon, that was obviously where the indicator panel was located.”

“Hmm. But that doesn’t explain how you managed to win the remaining three games,” I probe.

“That was a tactical mistake by the mistresses,” smiles Tessa. “They were over-confident, and only checked the target lamps if the indicator panel was triggered. By disrupting the signal to the panel, we were able to switch on lamps without them being detected on the panel. When we were ready, the circuit was restored.”

“But you, Jessica and Sandra were kept well away from the lamps during the last few games. The mistresses had at least three spies among the slaves. I still don’t see how you won the games.”

“Apart from my initial discovery about the sensor circuit, Jessica’s, Sandra’s and my roles were merely as decoys. Jessica knew other slaves who could be trusted, and it’s they who did what they needed to do to win the games.”

Although it would be inappropriate for me to say so, I admire Tessa’s resourcefulness. I can at least report to Monique that the slaves achieved victory by manipulating the sensor circuits. Whether we fix the issue, or leave it as a deliberate loophole to be exploited, is a decision for another time.

I leave Tessa to her work and return to my desk. Although the next special event isn’t for five weeks, Monique prefers to keep the tower in a state of readiness. The tower was originally intended to be used only for special events. Unfortunately, the wrangling with the regional authorities over projected water consumption is unresolved, and the refurbishment of the north and west side buildings remains stalled. That means the tower accommodation may be needed if we get a large block booking.

“Lady Kirsty has sent a message saying there were two unregistered guests waiting for the ferry, Madame,” says Brooke as soon as I reach the office.