Chapter 6

Lenny Morgan went to the dressing room to clean up after her triumph. For it had been a triumph after all, no one else could have passed that test so well, she thought to herself proudly. Well, she reconsidered, perhaps that dark-skinned gypsy girl, Lenora, she was pretty extraordinary. It was not common that Lenny felt strong sexual urges toward other women. Lenora, the marvelous harem leader, was a brilliant exception. Her dusky flesh with its smooth, blemish-free glow, and her unbelievable sexual appetite, those things combined to arouse both desire and respect in Lenny's usually cautious soul.

Nevertheless, the two women made no advances to each other. Though they bathed together in the gold-gilt tub, neither had the energy to do much more than smile wanly and assist each other in the bathing.

As Lenny rubbed the soap into a lather on Lenora's gently curving flanks, she wondered why Boss Carl hadn't chosen this extraordinary vixen as his star. A certain uneasiness crept into her heart, then. Perhaps there was something more to the role she was going to be asked to play than money and stardom. With a shudder she realized that the task cut out for her might simply be too dangerous to risk the favorite harem girl's safety.

Lenora noticed Lenny's sudden agitation.

"What's the matter doll?" the gypsy woman asked.

"I-I'm sort of wondering now, wondering what he has in mind for me."

"Boss Carl?"

"Yes. It seems sort of frightening now that I've passed the tests. I mean, Lenora, why were the tests so hard? What is it that I have to do?"

Lenora shook her head solemnly. "I don't know baby," she mumbled pensively, "but it must be something mighty big, because if you hadn't passed his test, he was planning to have you, uh, executed."

Lenny Morgan was trembling as she rose from the tub and took a plush towel from the attendant.

Louie entered the bathing area from a side door.

"Hey, leetle sexy one," he called out, "you must come quick, the boss, he wants to see you."

Lenny nodded and tried to pull herself together. It was the sort of fear one has shortly after a near miss on the highway. She had felt almost no fear at all while going through the final test, but now that it was over, she could barely keep from falling in a helpless, trembling heap.

After she had slipped into a sheer robe, Louie ushered her into the basement offices. These were even more plush and important looking than the offices in the Phylogem Club. Lenny stared about her in awe.

The desk was a huge L-shaped affair. It seemed to be made of teakwood polished to a deep glowing brown, almost black. On the short side of the "L" were tiers of telephones, intercoms, and what looked like radio transmitters and receivers. On the long side of the "L" was the usual desk with a velvet blotter, a gold pen set, and a small model of some sort of complicated machine.

To the young and voluptuous blonde, it was like standing in the private office of the President of the United States of America.

Seated in a power-operated swivel chair, Boss Carl wore a clean trench coat and smoked serenely on a thick cigar. The putrid smoke from this cigar wafted towards Lenny as she was given a chair directly in front of the elaborate desk. The odor made her faintly nauseous.

Louie closed the door behind him very carefully, as though he was afraid that someone might try to eavesdrop on their conversation.

For a long moment, Boss Carl sat and stared coldly at the young blonde dancer. Then a huge, happy smile creased his thick, pallid face.

"Baby," he said in genuine respect, "you are really some cookie. I think we're gonna be able to do business."

Despite her previous trepidations, Lenny Morgan was truly flattered at this praise. She had already come to realize that Boss Carl did not throw laurels around carelessly.

"I..." she could barely speak through her still trembling lips, "I'm real glad that you liked my work, but, well, Mr. Boss Carl, I don't really understand what you want me to do. To be really honest with you, I'm getting a bit worried that I may be in over my depth."

Boss Carl laughed his hideous hyena laugh. "Don't sweat it, chickie. You gonna do just fine. The tests were tough because the job is tough. I won't lie to ya about that, but you came through with flying colors and there's no reason why you can't do just as well when the real thing comes up."

"What real thing?"

Boss Carl threw a meaningful glance in Lyle Montagne's direction. Lyle cleared his throat and began to explain the situation in his clear, actor's voice.

"Well, Lenny," he proceeded, "it's a pretty complicated thing to explain. But you have a right to know all the facts before you begin your assignment."

"Assignment?" Lenny interrupted suddenly, "What am I supposed to be? Some kind of a spy or something?"

"Well," Lyle was trying to make his tones as comforting as possible, "in a way that's precisely what you're going to be. You see this machine model here?"

Lenny nodded and stared at the strange device in confusion.

"That machine is called a xylotrope. It was invented by Masters McClain, president of Xylotropic Industries Incorporated. It is beginning to present a real danger to our vested interests."

Lenny crossed her soft thighs under the sheer dressing robe, "I don't get it, Mr. Montagne."

"You may as well call me Lyle," he said with a twinkle in his eye.

"All right, Lyle," she went on, "but I don't understand what I have to do with this Xenoschalmic industries thing or whatever the hell it is, and I don't see what that stupid little machine has to do with anything."

Lyle chuckled condescendingly, "Of course you don't just right now." He straightened his wide tie and explained, "This little machine is called the xylotrope, as I said. Its function is sexual. The people at Xylotropic Industries have spent years developing it."

"Fiendish little device," Louie interrupted heatedly, "thees foul leetle sonofabeetch!"

"Yes, well, as you can see," Lyle continued, "we are rather upset by this whole business.

You may not know it, but Carl Industries Incorporated, of which the three of us here are the controlling stockholders; Carl Industries Incorporated does the vast bulk of its gross business in the erotic entertainment line. Of course, we have other enterprises that net us a great deal of profit; movies, television, records etc. But far and away the most important product we have to sell is the exclusive and exotic entertainment such as you have seen in the Phylogem Club. It is Masters McClain's plan to crush Boss Carl and his entire company by introducing a machine that will replace the usual performers in this field. Do you follow me so far?"

Lenny nodded weakly. It seemed quite far-fetched to her, but men like Lyle Montagne and Boss Carl did not fool around very much.