Chapter 2

The sun was shining, and a pleasant breeze was making the long grass wave idly in the fields. Liam was enjoying the day. He was walking with Sofia at his side, holding her hand. Sofia swung her arm forward, giving him a little bump with her hip while his hand was out of the way. He bumped her back with his shoulder.

Sofia was dressed in her customary bikini top and harem pants. They were blue today, with matching toenails, peeking out of her sandals. They made their way past a fallow field. Summer flowers were mixed with long grass, gone to seed. A pair of first year trainers were having a collar pet duel in the field. Two sabre hounds snapped at each other as their masters fumbled with their wristbands trying to control the animals. Blood was flowing as one of the hounds tore into the shoulder of the other. Liam and Sofia ignored the duel as unimportant.

“We’ll be graduating soon,” Sofia said, bumping him with her hip again, “We can get away from this place and find our adventure.”

“We have to pass the final exam first,” Liam replied.

“Shouldn’t be a problem,” she said, “We’re both ready.”

“Yeah, fair enough. Weird thing is, from what I’ve heard, a lot of students quit a week before the exam. The week we’re in now.”

“Quit? Why?” she asked.

“I have no idea,” he replied, “But apparently it’s a thing.”

They arrived at their destination. It wasn’t much, just some benches set up at the edge of the field. It was a common spot for student trainers to congregate and practise with their collar pets. Sandra was waiting for them, sitting on a bench.

Sandra was Sofia’s friend from childhood. They joined the trainer program together and often helped each other study. She was friendly with Liam, but she could be a bit prickly at times. He wasn’t complaining though. Sandra was fiercely loyal to Sofia, and she was easy on the eyes.

She was wearing hiking boots, short shorts, and a crop top. The outfit showed a lot of smooth leg, and she had wide hips which gave her a shapely butt. The crop top and a push up bra helped to accentuate her small breasts. Her toned waist was accented by a gold belly button piercing. Her lips were a wine red, presumably from lipstick, and she was wearing a little bit too much eyeliner. The heavy makeup obscured her eyes, but Liam knew that they were almond shaped and slanted upwards at the outer corners. She was of mixed heritage, one of her parents was born off world.

Her hair was under a nondescript ball cap, kept in a low ponytail that reached down to her mid back. It was lavender in color with darker highlights. Up until recently, he assumed that she dyed her hair, but Sofia set him straight on the subject. It was her natural hair color. An odd aspect of her mixed heritage.

“Hey there princess,” Sofia said, drawing a scowl from Sandra.

“Yeah, keep calling me that, see what happens,” Sandra said, standing up.

They hugged each other in greeting. Sofia made a show of it, bouncing on her toes to press her breasts into her friend’s smaller chest. Sandra just shook her head in resignation, hugging her back. As they released each other, she made eye contact with Liam and smiled at him. She had green eyes that contrasted nicely with her lavender hair. He nodded back.

“I guess this is where we separate,” he said to Sofia.

That drew a reaction from her. She released her friend and turned back to him. Pressing into him for a goodbye kiss. Her soft lips opened and her tongue darted out to taste his. Her eyes were open as they kissed, full of promises for later.

“Ugh!” Sandra exclaimed, “You can have her later. She’s mine for now.”

They broke the kiss and Sofia bounced back to stand with Sandra. They linked hands and started walking away together. Liam watched them go for a moment and then started on his way as well. Within moments, he realized that all three of them were going in the same direction.

“Ummm, this is awkward,” he said as they looked back at him.

“We’re supposed to have separate classes today,” Sandra said. As they walked, there were more students, members of the same class walking in the same direction. At a glance, all of the students were female.

“Yeah, the message I received from professor Brevifolia was to go to Camsel Gym,” Liam replied. More of their classmates joined them as they drew closer to the building containing Camsel Gym. All of the classmates were women. Some of them were giving him weird looks. He was beginning to feel distinctly unwelcome.

“Ummm Liam, that’s the same place we’re going,” Sofia said.

“Maybe Brevifolia thinks he’s a girl,” Sandra said.

“Maybe he really is a girl,” a woman’s voice called out from behind them.

He looked back to see Evelynn. She was a short woman who had her hair up in pigtails. Her clothing was very childlike, a schoolgirl style dress with long knee socks and a tie. It looked like a school uniform, but there was no school uniform for trainers. Her face showed the artificial youth of a regeneration treatment, which put her at thirty-five years of age at a minimum, and probably a lot older. Every time Liam saw her, she was dressed in a similar way. She seemed to have a weird fixation with dressing like a child.

“I can assure you from personal experience that he isn’t a girl,” Sofia said.

“Ewww,” Evelynn replied.

“I think professor Brevifolia gave you the wrong location,” Sandra said.

Camsel gym was easy enough to find, they’d all been there dozens of times. Sandra opened the door and they went inside as a group. The gym consisted of a walking track around the outside of the room, surrounding an area with a padded floor in the middle. The padded floor was large enough for two trainers to work with collar pets simultaneously without getting in each other’s way. There was seating on one side, enough for a couple dozen people to watch a demonstration in the padded area. A large folding table was set up off to the side.

Professor Brevifolia was in the gym, standing near the chairs. He was wearing his customary plaid brown suit, custom fit to his small frame. He was talking with Priestess Josephine and a female police officer. Priestess Josephine’s tall frame made her look like she was towering over the smaller man. She was wearing a thin robe overtop of a non-descript tight bodysuit. An errant breeze plucked at her hair and made the hem of her robe dance. Liam was expecting both of them for today’s class, but the police officer was a surprise. She was in uniform, of course, including a plasma pistol on her hip, and a truncheon on the opposite side. He wasn’t sure why she would be needed for the class, but he also didn’t know why trainers quit during this test. He wasn’t entirely sure what was going on.

Liam made his way towards the center of the gym. It was all women in the room, with the exception of Professor Brevifolia. Liam was the only male student. He was about to ask what was going on, but Evelynn beat him to it.

“Professor why is Liam here?” she asked.

“Yeah, I don’t want to strip in front of him,” another girl called out.

“Do you want to field this mister Smyth?” Professor Brevifolia asked, using Liam’s last name.

“Ummm, I don’t know why I’m here,” Liam replied, “Did you invite me to the wrong class?”

“It’s Liam C Smyth, correct?” the professor asked, consulting his tablet.

“Yes.”

“You don’t know?” the professor asked.

“Know what, sir?”

Professor Brevifolia turned to the priestess and showed her something on his tablet. She looked at it and they started talking to each other in low voices. Liam couldn’t hear what they were saying.

“Maybe you really are a girl,” Evelynn said.

“Okay, mister Smyth. This is not how you should be learning about this. Your parents should have told you, but we are on a tight schedule, so I’ll make it a teaching moment,” Professor Brevifolia said, projecting his voice so that everyone in the room could hear him.

Liam flinched at the mention of his parents. There were a lot of things they should have done for him. Apparently, there was a new way in which they chose to screw him over. Sofia stepped over to his side and took his hand in both of hers, silently offering her support. She knew his family history.

“Miss Grace,” the professor said, speaking to Evelynn, “Can you tell me what percentage of female sabre hounds can be captured using a standard collar?”

“Ummm, seventy-five percent?” Evelynn asked after thinking for a moment.

“That’s correct. Similarly, what percentage of male sabre hounds can be captured by the same standard collar?” Professor Brevifolia pressed. Evelynn looked blank. She didn’t know the answer.

“That’s easy, its twenty-five percent,” another student called out.

“Oh, I get it, holy shit!” Sandra said, looking at Liam.

“What?” Liam asked. He didn’t understand what this had to do with him. Sofia squeezed his hand, comforting him.

“I still don’t get it,” Evelynn said.

“Let’s walk through it then. What percentage of human females can be captured with a standard collar?” Professor Brevifolia asked, pointing at Sandra for the answer.

“Ninety-nine percent,” she replied confidently. Everyone knew that answer.

“And thus, what percentage of human males can be captured by a standard collar without any special preparations,” he asked.

“One percent,” Sandra replied looking straight at Liam.

“Wait, what?” Liam asked as the meaning of what they were saying started to sink in.

“You can be captured just like any of the women in this room,” Brevifolia explained, “It was in your medical file when you joined the trainer program. You should have known. Your parents should have told you when you were a child. You don’t need a Tiresias stone or infusions of Salmacis. A capture device will work on you directly. It’s actually considered to be an advantage by many people.”

“Does that mean he’s really a girl?” Evelynn asked with an evil smile. Liam lifted a hand towards her, extending his middle finger.

“No, it doesn’t mean he’s a girl, or gay, or anything else,” Professor Brevifolia said, “It’s just a quirk of his physiology. There’s nothing visibly or psychologically different about him. It’s just random chance.”

“What you call random, we call a blessing from the goddess,” Priestess Josephine said, stepping into the conversation, “Do you have a priestess who is helping to guide you through your life path?”

“Ummm, what? No, that’s for...” his voice trailed off. He was going to say that was for girls, but then he remembered how it worked. The priestesses would only start providing guidance for girls when they turned eighteen and could be captured by a collar. Sofia squeezed his hand, this time with excitement.

“I knew there was a reason I liked you,” she said bouncing on the balls of her feet and giving him another squeeze.

“Let’s talk later,” Priestess Josephine said, “But for now, we should move on.”

“Right,” Professor Brevifolia said, “The purpose of today’s activity is to give each of you the experience of what it feels like to be captured and wear a collar. This is a mandatory requirement in order to graduate. I don’t want to hear any complaints. This was in the curriculum when you signed up for the program two years ago.”

Some of the women in the room looked unhappy, but nobody was complaining. The professor was right. They walked into the room knowing they would be captured today.

“This will help you to become better trainers. After this, you’ll have more empathy towards your collar pets. You’ll have some idea of what they are experiencing,” Brevifolia continued, “Officer Watson is here as a witness. She will not be interacting with you unless one of you panics and uses the failsafe.”

Officer Watson gave a little wave as the class turned to look at her. That was all the explanation given or needed for her presence. It also helped to explain why some people didn’t make it past this class. Either they used the failsafe, or they chickened out and refused to be captured.

“To be clear,” Brevifolia said, “Using the failsafe will be grounds for immediate expulsion from the program. If you want out of the collar, then all you have to do is ask. There will be no collar girl abuse today, thus there will be no need to use the failsafe.”

“Okay ladies,” Priestess Josephine said, “I know some of you have tried this before. Please put your hand up if you’ve been captured.”

Sofia proudly raised her hand. She had no shame and almost seemed proud of it. A couple of other hands went up around the room. Sandra tentatively raised her hand as well.

“Wow, really?” Liam asked.

“Shut up!” she said, her cheeks going red.

“Great! That’s wonderful,” Josephine said, “Now, I need one of you, who has her hand up, to volunteer to go first.”

Sandra dropped her hand, as did most of the other women in the room. Sofia’s hand was the only one still in the air.

“All right hun, looks like you’re up,” Josephine said.

Sofia gave Liam’s hand one last squeeze and then she went to join the priestess in the center of the gym. She looked proud to be there, happy to be the first one up. Priestess Josephine pulled a capture device out of one of her pouches. It was the standard model, a wristband connected by a short post to an open collar. Somehow, it looked more menacing now that he knew it could be used on him. Josephine twisted the handle, extending the connecting rod. With a second twist she set it so that it was ready to capture a person.

“A careful trainer will make sure that the capture device is properly lined up in order to minimize discomfort,” Priestess Josephine said.

Sofia smiled at her and lifted her chin, presenting her neck. Josephine positioned the capture device in front of her neck so that the post was in line with her chin. It was the perfect alignment. Josephine smiled and then intentionally twisted the device to the side so that she was at a forty-five-degree angle before pressing it into Sofia’s neck.

Sofia gasped in alarm and tried to pull away, but she was too late. The collar snapped shut like a spring-loaded trap. She squirmed as the collar held her neck in an iron grip. It slowly rotated on her neck, lining itself up into the proper position. Sofia started turning red, her mouth opening and closing as she tried to breathe but couldn’t.

“Today, we’re here to learn what it’s like to be captured. This isn’t a game or some sort of overly complicated foreplay. This is surrender. This is losing your freedom. I am going to dominate you. I will make you do things you don’t want to do. I will force you to submit to me,” Priestess Josephine said to the class as Sofia struggled, “I know what some of you are thinking. You figure that you’ll just follow my orders without surrendering inside your mind. That’s not how the collar works. In moments, the payload of nanofibers is going to deploy into her brain. The collar will be inside her mind. She will submit to me, and when the collar is in your mind, you will submit to me as well.”