Chapter 17: Busted From the Army

Colonel Mary Chamberlain was waiting in the small interview room when Second Lieutenant Gordon Brian Venters the Third, also known as Trey, was escorted in by the guards.

"Lieutenant, I need to show you something," Colonel Chamberlain stood as she spoke. "I intend to scare you senseless. Follow me soldier."

"With all due respect--" Trey began.

"Your objection is noted, Lieutenant," the colonel snarled, "now MARCH!"

Trey's objection was cut short by the colonel's finger on a button controlling Trey's harness. Similar to the bio digital implants, the control harness could override voluntary muscles, stun the wearer, monitor vitals and locate the wearer worldwide. Colonel Chamberlain commanded the harness to march the mute Trey outside. Escape from the control harness was very difficult without external assistance--and when tampered with, the control harness would render the wearer unconscious and then sound an alarm, drawing law enforcement in the immediate area to the wearer's location.

On the parade field every Capitallian military person not on the security details, both active duty and milita, were standing at Parade Rest in their full dress uniform. Humans have trained themselves to ignore odors, at least the sublte ones. The stench of fear was not subtle. Obviously the collected soliders on the parade field feared the ordeal ahead--even though they were not the subject of today's activity.

"The scumbag's name is Jeremy Perryman," the colonel told the lieutenant. "He was convicted by a court martial for raping and killing several children. Today you will witness his last few moments as a human being. Jeremy Perryman has been sentenced to reduction in rank to private, a dishonorable discharge, branding and whipping in public and lifetime enslavement as a military zombie."

"ATTENTION TO ORDERS!" The amplified voice of the adjutant echoed across the parade field as the prisoner, Jeremy Perryman, was marched out. The adjutant read the laundry list of charges, the guilty verdict, and then the sentence. Sharp eyes would have noticed the control harness--and Jeremy fighting against it. Colonel Mithras and the base Command Chief Master Sergeant marched in front of the weeping prisoner. Colonel Mithras pulled off the uniform buttons and ripped the uniform from Perryman's quivering body. Eglin Air Base's senior enlisted man ordered Perryman to assume the position and the naked prisoner stood with feet apart and arms held out to the side parallel with the ground. As the discharge orders were read, the Command Chief Master Sergeant prepared the cat o'nine tails and swished it from side to side. Colonel Mithras ordered the punishment to commence and ten brutal lashes were administered. If not for the control harness's gagging function, Jeremy Perryman would have screamed his head off. Next, the adjutant read the enslavement order as the colonel heated up the branding iron. The sizzle was clearly heard across the parade field. Several soldiers assembled in formation to witness the punishment being carried out had fainted. Many were openly weeping.

Colonel Chamberlain swallowed back some bile and glanced at Trey. He had fainted, too, but the control harness forced Trey to remain upright. Colonel Chamberlain used her remote control and the control harness revived Trey.

"Pay attention," Colonel Chamberlain ordered, heedless of her own tears. "You still have two options. You can choose to be tried under courts martial law and face a strong possibility of receiving the punishment you just saw given to this soldier. I am duty bound to defend you to the best of my ability within the framework of military law. I cannot win an acquittal for you against such overwhelming evidence. All I can do is argue your state of mind and plead forleniency. It is possible your judges would not mete out the death penalty but would instead mete out a lesser punishment of enslavement for ten or twenty years. Then you would be formally stripped of your rank and uniform in front of the assembled soldiers and then sold naked at public auction in the nearest Florida city. Anyone might buy you — including Hank Dalton. Or you can accept Hank's gracious offer and enslave yourself to him voluntarily. Colonel Mithras is willing to have you enter slavery through a less public and less demeaning ceremony if you do volunteer. As your legal counsel I am advising you that this is by far your least risky option.

"I hate the institution of slavery. No human should be permitted to own another!" Colonel Chamberlain scolded. "But you broke the law, Lieutenant Venters. You broke your oath! You betrayed a trust. Didn't you learn anything in those fancy schools? Slave Amanda was a medical slave. She volunteered for full enslavement so that Doctor Dalton could treat an attachment disorder. I'm telling more than I should, but I have Doctor Dalton's permission to explain why Slave Amanda volunteered for slavery. Amanda is learning to let down her guard and trust someone enough to love them."

The ceremony concluded when the new slave was marched naked off the field--naked except for his control harness. At the edge of the field was scaffolding that was just larger than a man. Slave Jeremy marched into the scaffolding and was secured in position. A large collar was fitted around Jeremy's neck. A doctor attached some silver cylinders to the collar. Colonel Chamberlain marched her own prisoner over as the doctor checked each strap, rechecked the collar and the attached cylinders.