Chapter 20

A murmur of discussion went through them. If questions made me happy, they would tolerate them, the men finally decided. I had been a good slave today, I had earned a question was the consensus. Master Damien raised an eyebrow at me and waited.

"There are slaves on earth and they treat them terribly. I know you could hurt me if you wanted. Why don't you hit your slaves?" I asked rambling, part of me was scared what the answer might be.

Master Damien let the little group file into the bath house and walked with me into a shallow part of the pool. He handed me soap and a silky rag, so I started to wash him.

"We did beat slaves, in the beginning. They never asked questions and they always did what we said. They just didn't live very long."

"We are very competitive, as you've noticed. We started to try to keep our slaves alive. It became an honor, to see who had the oldest slave," he said and then continued with a warning. "Don't confuse not wanting to hurt you