Paolo

Zero

The Special-Needs Slaveboy

Chapters 5-8

Chapter 5
Sleepover

"Don, I'm bothered by his scar," Collins was saying, as I followed him out to go and fetch Zero from wherever Sebbie had taken him.

"And I'm bothered by the idea of rabbits. My nephew had a dog once, a puppy. It grew up into the Hound of Hell, and guess who had to take care of it?"

Never mind the fact that I was bothered by Sebastian II (Sebbie) in general. The pierced and tattooed eleven-year-old slaveboy was just downright creepy! I was also wary of this doctor who specialized in males only, free and slave, inviting us in like long lost relatives or something.

"You forget, Zero is a slaveboy!" He smiled. "You make him take care of his pet. Don," he paused, leading me to another door that opened into yet another stairwell. How many floors of this building did he have? Did he rent or own? "I realize he's special. I'm not disputing that. In fact, I think you're on the right track. But firm, gentle discipline is required in this case. Savants are capable of learning, and animals can work magic on them."

"I'll think about it," I conceded. After all, rabbits were cute, cuddly, and they didn't bark.

We emerged onto the next floor up to find the good doctor's living quarters. Several interior walls had obviously been removed to make open-concept space, and the support pylons were covered in a light wood. The whole place was done in earth tones, wood trim, and it looked as if the doctor collected antiques. So, we had a common interest. I assumed he knew this from the personal data that was easy enough to gather on anyone. Information was a commodity, after all.

But there were no windows.

"Shoes, if you don't mind," Collins suggested. We kicked our footwear off at the door of the stairwell. I could see why – the piled plush carpet looked expensive. "I never wore shoes until I was eighteen years old, other than the occasional flip-flops," Collins told me. "I had a bitch of a time trying to learn, too."

"That might be why Zero trips so much in those old sneakers," I agreed.

"Shoes aren't good for a slaveboy, anyway," Collins grinned, "Make him run across burning hot sand at the beach, or walk on hot concrete in the city all summer, and his feet will toughen right up!" He laughed. "I remember my friend Alex had these trainers, sorry – sneakers – once, and I thought they were so very cool. You should have seen the beatings we both got when he let me try them on! Of course, they were too large. You see, Alex was a consensual slave, and went to regular school with free boys, while I was…" his voice trailed off. "First and only time I wore trainers until I was emancipated!"

'Trainers'? Was Collins British, then? He had just the very faintest accent.

"Zero clearly isn't used to shoes," I agreed. "I wonder if he hails from a warmer climate?"

"I've been meaning to ask, why did you name him 'Zero'?" Collins wondered.

"It was his lot number at the sale, and they wouldn't tell me his real name," I explained, "His dossier, you saw, had next to nothing in it, either. I just didn't want to call him 'slave' or 'boy' or 'hey you'! I wish he could tell me his real name, but he seems to like it."

"Creative! I like it. But as I was saying, Don," he went on, "I'm bothered by that scar on his head, and the evidence of a skull injury. You know, it almost looks like what might happen if one were shot by an automated nail gun: blunt force to the forehead, straight, with a very thin, hard, pointy object."

There was more to it than that, though. It was his tone of voice. "Just say it, Doc," I pressed him, as we rounded a corner and emerged into a hardwood-floored kitchen, complete with a very old cast iron black stove. I was impressed!

"I'm not saying he didn't run into something, or fall on it, whatever it was, Don. But a wound like that is very suspicious. It's too perfect, especially given his other broken bones. I wish we'd had time to view the scan of his brain, inside the skull." He paused, opening what looked like an old-fashioned icebox and offering me a drink. "You remember I was concerned about the deviation in muscle mass of his right arm and leg?"

I nodded. Then I remembered something.

Uncle, why is it that Grandpa can't talk or move around good anymore?

"You think he had a stroke?" I gasped. "A kid his age?"

"No, Don," he gestured to sit at the round cherry wood table. "Of course we can't be certain until we see the scan of his brain. I just wish it could be in more detail. But that 3D image will tell us what I'm suspecting."

"Which is?" I pressed him.

"Zero cannot speak, or rather, speaks only a few simple words: 'Uncle', which sounds like 'Uhn-ka', 'no', 'Zee-whoa' for 'Zero', and 'bee-bee' for 'baby'. He can't say the words right, you see. He can't even say 'Sebbie'. And the scan shows signs that his left side has done a lot more work in the past than his right. Have you noticed that very slight limp of his?"

"I didn't… ah, no, in fact?" I admitted.

"And which hand does he favor?"

"His left," I breathed. Yes, Zero used his left hand to eat, scratch, point, and scrub dishes.

"Just like a stroke victim would," Collins surmised, "The left side of the brain controls the right side of the body, as well as speech. Damage it, and you lose those abilities."

"Are you saying someone damaged his brain ON PURPOSE?!" I exclaimed, "Punched a hole in his head to do it?!"

"Daddy, are you talking about me again?" Sebbie interrupted us, laughing, as he came in. He got in the icebox, then looked up and saw me. He snapped to at once. "SIR!" He almost yelled, bowing.

"Sebbie, my boy, run and get Zero, would you?" Collins asked, in a tone that told him to do it, actually. Sebbie bowed and fled, leaving the fridge open, moving as fast as his chained ankles would let him. Collins laughed. "I love to do that to him! He'll be fretting about being punished in some horrible manner for this all evening long!" He sipped at his drink. "Of course, he didn't do anything wrong. We're upstairs, he's got a guest, and he didn't know we were coming. You see, I gave him a limited amount of freedom in telling him to go and play with Zero."

"It's all very confusing, this slave-master relationship," I admitted. "But back to Zero? It does make sense, you know."

"I just hope I'm wrong," Collins said, "I can't even begin to comprehend doing something like that to an innocent child. It just smacks of the days of barbaric medicine, like frontal lobotomies or… forced sterilizations. Well…," he sort of let that one go.

This from the man who had conceived a son for the sole purpose of raising him as his own personal slaveboy?!

Collins looked up at me over his glass. I held mine. I didn't even realize he'd served me iced tea with lemon. It was quite good. "You're disturbed by my son, aren't you?" He asked bluntly.

"Is this another of those 'open with slave owners' questions?" I retorted, not trusting this at all.

"Yes, you could say that," Collins nodded. "To answer your question," he rolled up his sleeve, "I was fascinated with tattoos when I was a boy. I saw my first ones when I was very little. I used to draw on myself with markers, so Master decided to let me have one." He showed me the barbed wire tattooed over his wrist, winding up and around his forearm. "I was getting my own back piece started when I was ten or eleven, much like Sebbie. I used to have a very serious piercing fetish as well, but that…" his voice trailed off again. "Never mind. In short, I was almost totally covered in ink by the time I went to college. I suppose it's only natural for Sebbie to have the same interests. Perhaps it's genetic. Perhaps it's nature, exposure to it, you know."

I didn't know what to say.

"SIRS!" Sebbie called as he and Zero entered the room.

"UNCLE!" Zero yelled, jumping on me, clearly wanting to tell me something, and looking flustered that he couldn't. He did babble, though. He was doing that a great deal today, even though it was all gibberish.

"At ease, son," Collins sighed, and Sebbie went to sit in his lap. He kissed the boy on the mouth, passionately, and I felt my cock hardening. Zero sat on my lap and laughed.

"As I was saying, it'll be late by the time you get home. Why don't you and Zero stay? We have a few guest rooms, and we can go to dinner. I know this wonderful Mexican place that permits slaves inside, as many restaurants do not."

Sebbie whimpered.

"'ay?" Zero asked, smiling, "Uncle! -ay?" Was he trying to say 'stay'? I certainly did NOT feel comfortable with that.

But Collins laughed. "In case you don't know, plugged slaveboys cannot fart," he explained, tickling Sebbie's ribs. "And Mexican food gives Sebbie gas. Unbelievable gas!"

"Daddy!"

"Sorry," Collins grinned wickedly at him. "But seriously," he went on, "I'm sure it would be good for Zero, and it would save you time. Isn't your office just down the way? You could pick up a new chip and install it in the morning, fake your work orders, say you drove, and we can have more of a look at Zero's scans while the computers are profiling his DNA?"

"Uhm, am I being billed for all this?" I asked.

"Only what I'd bill SHC for a free boy's exam, minus a 50% slave discount," Collins grinned over his tea.

"I like discounts," I conceded. "I had no idea owning a slaveboy could cost so much so fast."

"But they're worth every CR," Collins replied, "Used to be, 'worth every penny', until they did away with currency. Damn CR system. Makes it impossible to cheat on your bloody income taxes, but some of us in the underground still use a monetary and barter system," he winked.

'Underground'? I thought he'd mentioned that before, from when he'd been a boy and slavery hadn't been legal. But now that it was, what – exactly – still had to be 'underground'?

"Uncle!" Zero then smacked the tabletop, with his left hand. His right wasn't paralyzed, not by far, but I was beginning to see how much he favored his left. Maybe he was just a leftie? Lots of boys were. It wasn't confirmation of anything, especially not the idea that someone had intentionally damaged Zero's brain.

"Do you always invite patients to stay the night?" I had to ask, getting on with it.

"You find it odd?" Collins smiled at me, "And I don't blame you. One cannot be too careful, even in our circles. No, I am simply being practical. I would like to have Zero on hand, much like an overnight in hospital for observation, you see. I'd like to record his sleeping patterns, too. And fuel cells aren't cheap, mind," he added.

He had a point there. I hated commuting, but I also didn't want to live in the city.

"Uhn-KUHL?!" Zero insisted, rubbing his tummy.

"He tries to talk, sirs," Sebbie cut in, holding up his hobbled hand. "He really does! And you didn't tell me he knew how to play 'Vengeance in the Underworld'! He smoked me at it!"

"A video game," Collins explained, "He played? And won?"

We were all shocked.

"Zee-whoa!" Zero smiled at Sebbie.

"How can you hold a controller without thumbs?" I had to ask.

Sebbie blushed. Collins tickled his ribs. It was his permission to speak, I guessed. "I was grounded for sneaking snacks, sir. A week with no thumbs," he admitted. "It makes it very hard for me to do anything like this, sir!"

"When a slaveboy enjoys pain so much, it's hard to come by a punishment that will work on him," Collins explained. "And sensory deprivation can lead to psychoses, you know."

I raised an eyebrow. Sebbie shivered again. Collins hugged him. What kind of twisted punishments (tortures?) were involved in this seemingly incestuous master/slave relationship?

"So, are you joining us for dinner tonight for Mexican? I hear the habanero peppers are fantastic!" Collins smiled.

Sebbie cringed, his face paling. Zero was cocking his head. "Those are hot peppers, Zero. Hot. Burn. Like a stove."

"Oww-wee?" Zero asked, pointing at his mouth. I nodded. "No!" He declared, and we had to laugh. I kissed him again.

"Let me get him washed up and dressed, and we can feed the poor starving things," I conceded, figuring that saying no would hurt Zero's feelings. He was doing so well so far with strangers, and he seemed to just adore Sebbie now. That bothered me, though. God, what if he wanted a tattoo or something pierced?

"Bathroom, around the corner," Collins pointed, "Down the hall, fourth door on the left. And the boys are already dressed, aren't they? Did you bring Zero's chains, or do you need to borrow a set of Sebbie's?"

"Pardon?" I gasped. No way was I parading Zero around dressed only in gear down Main Street, then showing him off to the Sunday night crowd in a restaurant!

"You can get a hefty ticket if you dress him up and try to pass him off as a free boy," Collins warned me, "And all slaves dining in with their masters are scanned and tracked. It's market research, so they say."

"That's up to Zero. Zero," I asked him, "Are you OK with that? Can you go out where everyone can see you, wearing your gear and no clothes?"

Sebbie was patting his father's arm; he wanted to speak. Even at the table, at home, he was a slaveboy. I didn't expect that of Zero. Collins nodded to him.

"I go out like that all the time, Zero," he said.

"Uncle," Zero nodded. After all, I had no idea how long he'd been a slaveboy, so perhaps being naked in public didn't bother him. Or was his empty tummy overriding his sense of modesty? Or was it that he was accepting his role as a slaveboy? I hoped it wasn't because he was afraid I'd punish him. It was too soon for that.

"Do you like Mexican food?" I asked him. I honestly didn't know. Zero shrugged. "Tacos? Corn chips? Enchiladas? Burritos?" Zero just shrugged again and rubbed his tummy.

"Let's go get our boys presentable, then, shall we?" Collins suggested. "I think Zero is just smashing in gold, as he is."

The bathroom was antiqued as well, and I was impressed with Collins' eclectic and scattered collection. I could see Sebbie being punished for breaking things, until I realized that the slaveboy was probably the one in charge of keeping them clean. Zero fidgeted while I washed him up and tried to tame his wild hair. I failed spectacularly.

Sebbie, on the other hand, returned to meet us at the stairs looking like something out of an S&M magazine for kids! His hair had been gelled up again, and his freckled face accented with a slight touch of makeup that brought out his cheekbones. He was also wearing a touch of metallic eye shadow, eyeliner, and deep red lip-gloss. His earrings were now large diamonds that almost covered his lobes, and his nipple rings were now connected by a delicate silver chain. In his nose was a silver septum ring, which I assumed was a clip-on, which sat just above his upper lip.

His black leather gear shown with polish, and his shorts had been replaced by a silver pod that displayed how small his genitals really were – and the fact that he had no hair 'down there'. He also wore what resembled a black leather jockstrap, but with no front, which was secured by silver locks and connected to the pod at both ends. His posture collar had been replaced by a tall and thick black leather one, studded in sharp pointed spikes. There were black leather cuffs on his biceps and thighs, and he had also put on a chest harness in matching black with many a D-ring attached to it. The 12" [30 cm] chrome chains that connected his wrists and ankles were also joined at a heavy gauge ring just in front of his cute little 'outtie' navel. He still wore his gauntlets to immobilize his thumbs, and Collins was leading the barefoot boy by a length of chrome chain attached to his wicked collar.

I was sure that Zero felt underdressed!

"Ooooo!" Zero gasped, pointing at Sebbie. "Sehh!"

"You don't put Zero on a leash, or chain him? Up to you," Collins seemed to disapprove. "Let's go, then! Hold his hand, at least, or you'll get a ticket here in the city for 'allowing a slave to roam'."

We went down the stairs to the main elevator again, which Collins activated with a key. Sebbie couldn't do much of anything, carefully scurrying and clinking along to keep up. We emerged to find that the rain had stopped some time ago, the walks were dry, and the summer sun was back with a vengeance. It was hot and humid.

"Awwwww," Sebbie whimpered, looking at the sidewalk that I knew had to be hot by now. We'd been inside for quite some time.

"Be glad it's not been sunny all day, boy," Collins told him, giving his leash a jerk. Sebbie stepped gingerly, but Zero started crying. I picked him up. Sebbie glared at him jealously, then sighed. Collins gave me a disapproving look, but said nothing as Zero put his shaggy head on my shoulder.

But he was still crying, and I knew why when he pointed at Sebbie.

"Uncle! Sehh, no!" He moaned, "Oww-wee! Sehh oww-wee feeh oww-wee!" He kept repeating, tears on his cheeks.

"Empathetic, too," Collins smiled. "Don, I think you have a treasure there! He's upset that Sebbie might get hurt."

"It's OK, Zero, I don't mind, really," Sebbie smiled at him.

"No," Zero said, and he squirmed out of my arms. He winced when his bare feet hit the hot concrete. He grabbed Sebbie's hand, put on a brave face, and with the barefoot slaveboys between us, we walked six blocks on more hot concrete to the restaurant.

Zero never once said "oww-wee."

Nothing really exciting happened at the restaurant, so we'll skip over most of that. Suffice it to say, they had a restroom for slaves in the front where the boys could wash their feet after their walk. Zero was a bit put out when the waiter (another slave) presented them with the 'slave menu' and he ordered a huge meal that Collins selected from the main menu instead. Note to self – Zero isn't a cheap date! Then he finished off what I couldn't eat.

I wondered if our slaveboy server, perhaps seventeen, had ever eaten any of the aromatic food that he was forced to carry – or if he was in constant torment and existing on 'slave loaves'?

The only other exciting thing that happened was Collins giving Sebbie looks that kept him from reaching for the glass of ice water placed temptingly in front of him. I wasn't about to let Zero touch hot sauce or peppers, but I could have sworn that Sebbie was enjoying the torment of being made to eat the spicy meal while being made to wait for water while Zero sipped a diet lemon-lime soda.

There were a few funny looks at Zero, and whispered comments, but if the boy heard any of them, he didn't let on. He had a good evening out – no meltdown, no resisting, and no diaper.

By the time we arrived back at Dr. Collins' building, taking him up on his offer sounded more like a good idea. He did make the boys take the stairs all the way up, though, citing the need for exercise after a heavy meal. Given the weight of their gear, and the fact that Sebbie was chained while Zero was not, I didn't think it was quite fair. Collins took Sebbie's wrist chain and I put it on Zero's ankles to even the score. Needless to say, we had two tired boys when they reached the thirteenth floor some time later! Zero had whined a bit at first, but of course, Sebbie turned it into a race and admitted "Zero won," when they arrived, panting and puffing and sweating.

I wasn't too keen on the idea of them having a bath together, either, but when Collins stripped Sebbie down to only his pod (and when Zero saw the palatial bathroom), my boy answered that question for me. I'm sure Collins was wondering by then, who was really the master here? He assured me that Zero's belt would not be damaged by soapy water, so I caved in and the let boys have fun. Damn, but it was hot watching the two little slaves splashing around in the sunken bathtub. I almost came in my shorts when Sebbie washed Zero's back, my little boy groaning in pleasure while Sebbie scrubbed at him with a luffa sponge.

"Sometimes watching is more fun than participating," Collins told me, as Sebbie attempted to do something with Zero's wild hair.

"Daddy," the strange little ginger slave said, "Maybe Master Jameson should take Zero to see Mr. Ralphie at his salon?"

"'Mr. Ralphie'?" I asked.

"An acquaintance of mine," Collins nodded, "Wonderful idea, son."

"Does he charge much?" I had to ask. So far, Zero was running up all sorts of bills!

Collins laughed. "Finest barber for slaveboys there is!"

Once we'd extricated the boys from the tub and dried them off, Collins suggested that there was just enough time for them to watch a movie before bedtime. We put the boys back in their gear and chains, and I was surprised when Collins went back down to the 'hospital floor' and returned with a Goodnights for Zero. It was printed with bunnies and carrots on it. Zero was thrilled. They watched an anime movie about a boy-robot (the third or fourth remake, I think) that I remembered Nephew had just adored when he'd been small.

Wow, wouldn't it be cool to have a laser in your finger? He can't take those red boots off, can he, Uncle? And what about the black shorts? How does he pee? (Looking back, Nephew had looked really hot dressed up as that robot-boy for Halloween, too! He never got it that robots didn't pee.)

What was a bit disturbing, though, was how Zero seemed to just go blank when the scenes came on that showed what the robot-boy was seeing – computer data and graphics spinning by quickly, strings of numbers and code. He just stared at it, and a few times, he shook his head and snorted as if something were wrong with it.

Bedtime brought another idea I wasn't sure about. Collins brought it up, but I figured he'd mentioned it because of the pleading looks that Sebbie was giving him when the slaveboy showed us to our guest room.

"What is it now, son?" Collins asked, "As if I don't already know?"

"Can Zero sleep with me tonight, Daddy?" He begged.

"Thanks, but I'd rather he sleep with me," I interrupted. "It's a habit I don't want to start, but…"

"Oh not at all," Collins cut in, waving it off, "A slaveboy should sleep in his own bed, and like it. That's when he is permitted to sleep in a bed, that is. Sleeping with his master is a special treat, and must be well earned."

"Yes, sir," Sebbie agreed.

Not 'Daddy' this time? I was confused. "Perhaps little master Zero should have his very own guest room?" Sebbie suggested. He sounded very disappointed, though.

"Sebbie," Collins told him, "Zero isn't like Mason or Henry." (I figured, with a shiver, that those were some of Sebbie's other 'playmates', and wondered just who they were!) "He's getting used to sleeping in his own room in his new home, and he should probably sleep with Uncle tonight."

I… I had a bad dream, Uncle. Can I sleep in your bed tonight? Just tonight?

"No," Zero whined, moving away from me and taking Sebbie's hand again. "Sehh," he tried to say it. Collins nudged Sebbie.

"Zero, say 'Sehh' again," Sebbie told him.

Zero did that.

"Now say 'bee-bee'." Zero cocked his head, but he did it.

"Now say 'Sehh,' but say 'bee' just one time."

Zero screwed up his face in concentration, and bit his lower lip. "Sehh-sehh-SEB-B-EE" He then said proudly. "Sehh-BEE!"

"Very good, Zero," I congratulated him. Zero clapped his hands, his chains jingling musically.

"Do you want to sleep with Sebbie tonight, Zero?" I asked him. "Would that you make feel safe in a new place?"

"Uncle!" Zero nodded. "Sehh-bee! Sebbie!" He finally got it right. I was so proud I could have burst! Never mind that I was afraid of letting him do just that.

"Don, they're both in gear and belted. It's not like Sebbie can molest Zero or anything!" He laughed. "Besides, they'll be restrained in the bed, and Sebbie has a panic button in case anything happens."

I sighed and looked at the ceiling. When I looked back down, Zero looked afraid – like he'd done something wrong and was expecting to be punished. I took him in my arms. "If you want to sleep in Sebbie's bed, you can," I conceded.

"UNCLE!" Zero yelled, and I had two boys on me before I knew it. Zero hugged me so hard he was choking me.

"Thank you, thank you, sir!" Sebbie was saying, over Zero's babbling.

"Give us a moment to get Sebbie ready for bed," Collins suggested with a wink, "We have a little master/slave ritual for discipline that we must perform each night, if warranted. For the most part, not much is warranted tonight. However, he did leave the refrigerator door open, he popped off once in the exam room, he let us take him by surprise, and Zero doesn't want to see it. Besides, Sebbie wouldn't be able to sleep if he didn't get it," Collins patted Sebbie's bare butt, the boy jumped, and I noticed that the black jock and silver pod must be his pyjamas. "Then after that ritual, there's the father/son ritual."

"I'll come get Zero when Daddy's done, OK?" Sebbie nodded with a bright grin. I didn't get it. It was 'Daddy' again, and he was smiling about being spanked? I knew that that had to be it. Then again, Collins said he'd been training him to enjoy pain?

Twisted…

I couldn't imagine hitting Zero. I just couldn't.

They left us alone, and I took Zero in my arms. He was so happy, but he'd wet himself in the excitement. We cleaned that up, and I told him why Dr. Collins said he did it. "When you're older, and a little bigger, your bladder will grow and you won't do that anymore, OK? It's not your fault, Zero."

"No?"

"No," I assured him, which appeared to be such a relief that he cried. I held him until Sebbie returned, and the little ginger's cute butt was a cheery shade of magenta.

"Ready, sir?" He asked, yawning. So what was it, a spanking settled him right down and made him sleepy?

"Come with me, Zero," Sebbie held out his hobbled hand again, and Zero kissed me goodbye – hard – like he must have seen Sebbie do. He opened his mouth, offering his tongue, which I accepted. My boy tasted of wintergreen toothpaste, fresh and clean, and I was so damn hard in my shorts that it hurt! Not complaining, but Zero was a very slobbery kisser. I could imagine what else he could do with that mouth, after the incident with the chocolate lolli-cock!

I held up a finger to say something, but the boys were out the door.

"Goodnight, sir," Sebbie called back, and shut the door. Had I just been dismissed by a slaveboy?! Or was it 'Sebbie-the-son' again? What if I wanted to see where Zero would be sleeping? For all I knew, Sebbie slept in a coffin! That was a chilling image, let me say!

I found out later that night that if Zero had a nice room full of stuff, that 'Sebastian II the son' was a spoiled brat. I wasn't sure about 'Sebastian II the slave', though. I'd expected to see an empty room with only a cot in it, such as I'd read in the book. But Sebbie's room was huge, and full of – stuff. Some of it I wasn't sure about, like the manacles hanging from the ceiling in a corner, or a small collection of modest whips mounted on the wall, but that's another thing!

It turned out that the boys had slept together in Sebbie's king size bed, but with a catch – Collins had connected their collars with a 12" [30 cm] chain, and also locked Sebbie's left wrist and ankle cuff to Zero's right ones. One length of chain had secured them in the bed by the feet, so that they could not get up. They could turn and snuggle, though.

This was probably a good thing, since Zero had a nightmare around three in the morning. Another night of sleep interrupted! It was Dr. Collins, in a white bathrobe, who came and got me.

"Sebbie's panic button just went off," he shook me awake.

That was all it took. I was up, not even thinking to grab a pair of shorts as I followed Collins from the room.

I don't remember it, Uncle? You said I was screaming and running around the house naked? Maybe you better lock my door at night?

Zero was pinned to the bed under Sebbie, who was heavier and stronger. Zero was screaming and struggling, his eyes wild and spittle flying from his lips. He was babbling, staring at the ceiling, but I was sure he was still asleep. Nephew had usually never remembered things like that, the really bad dreams, and I hoped that Zero wouldn't either. Collins unlocked their chains and cuffs to separate them, rather, he unlocked Sebbie. As the ginger rolled out of the way, Zero's wide eyes locked onto Collins and he screamed again.

It was a horrible sound like none other he'd ever made.

The look on his face was frightening.

Zero wasn't only afraid – he was enraged!

Despite his chains, he swung his fists at Collins and landed a solid surprise blow to his chin, knocking him backward and off the bed. "NO! NO! Z-Z-Zee-NO!" He just kept screaming, struggling with his chains. Then he started to hit himself in the head. On his forehead, on the left side. I noticed his fingers moving, fast, like he was totaling up a sale or something.

"Daddy, let me," Sebbie offered, as he jumped back on the bed and grabbed Zero in what looked like a wrestling hold. "ZERO!" Sebbie yelled at him, crooking an arm around Zero's neck, "Zero! It's Sebbie, your friend! Remember? Zero, you're in my room, OK? It's fine! No one is going to hurt you!"

The longer Sebbie talked, the more it calmed Zero down. I felt so helpless, just kneeling there at the foot of the bed and watching. Sebbie was amazingly strong for a boy, and my puny little Zero had no chance of breaking loose.

But when Zero saw Collins again, he started screaming all over yet again, trying to scoot back and away.

"NO! Oww-wee, no!" He cried, covering the front plate of his chastity belt with his hands. "NO!" Then he curled up, hiding his head under the pillow.

I pulled him from the bed by force as Collins released the chain holding his feet to it. I held him tightly, until his struggles weakened. I kept telling him it was OK, Dr. Collins wouldn't hurt him, since he was Sebbie's daddy.

"What did you tell him?" I heard Collins asking Sebbie in a dangerous tone.

"Nothing, sir!" He snapped to, "Honest! We… we cuddled and kissed for a while. I talked about the rabbits, sir, and the restaurant. It was like me asking, and him answering, since he can't really talk, sir!" Sebbie sounded frightened now as well.

"You didn't press him? Ask him things that could upset him?" Collins asked, and Sebbie was trembling now. Hell, the look on Collins' face had me scared. My first thought was to grab Zero and leave!

"N-no sir! But… but he talks, or rather – he babbles, mumbles – in his sleep. I don't know what he was saying, sirs!"

"It's not him, Collins, it's YOU!" I interrupted, before he could scare his son any worse. "Didn't you see that what set Zero off was you?"

By now, Zero was coming around and rubbing his eyes. He looked all around the room, yawned, then just whimpered and buried his sweaty head in my shoulder.

"I should have guessed," Collins admitted. "The exam today probably brought back some memories, maybe repressed trauma. I'm so sorry, son. I'm sorry, Zero. Doctor should have known better."

Sebbie just stared at him, his eyebrows raised in shock and mouth hanging open. "Close that mouth before I put something large in it," Collins grinned at him, holding out his arms. He held his son, and I could have sworn he was biting back tears.

"I love you, Daddy," Sebbie then told him. "I'm sorry I was afraid."

"You have to learn absolute trust, son," Collins told him, as I rocked Zero. What were they talking about? "But Daddy messed up first. I just assumed you'd scared Zero, you see? I didn't think it through."

"It's OK, Daddy, really!" Sebbie nodded, and I couldn't believe it when I saw the creepy boy begin to cry. I could never have pictured it. Sebbie with a chainsaw – yes! Sebbie crying? Never.

"I want to give you a new standing order, boy," Collins then said firmly, and Sebbie sat upright at once, his back rigid and chin up.

"Sir?"

"You will never, ever, let me rant at you like that again in a crisis. Even if you only think it might be an emergency, or you think I'm not acting right, you stand up to me, boy! You tell me to cool off and count to ten and think before I snap at you, or worse! Got it? Use the word, if you have to!"

What 'word'? I had to wonder? Some magic word to intervene?

"Yes, Daddy," Sebbie nodded in a small way, with a very small voice. I could tell that that was going to be a very hard order for the slaveboy – or the son – to follow. I could also see that something had just changed between them. Sebastian II the slave, perhaps even Sebbie the son, had just passed a significant milestone.

"I thought he did very well, Collins, the way he handled Zero," I offered. "Zero responds to him, even in a panic. I think that's just amazing. Normally, he just shuts down and rocks and moans." Then I looked at Zero, who looked totally humiliated again. The poor kid. He just looked totally crushed.

"Zero," Collins rubbed his own chin, still cuddling his son, who was nodding again. Zero had landed a good one on the doctor, I had to give him that!

"Again, Doctor is so very sorry. I want you to understand that if Uncle lets me be your regular doctor, that I will never hurt you on purpose. I might have to give you a shot, or fix it if you get hurt. That might hurt you, but that's part of the job of healing. Do you understand, Zero? You see," Collins shivered, looking away, "A man hurt me once, a long time ago. I never found out if he wanted to or not – if it was an accident. But he hurt me, and he never said he was sorry. It wasn't playing, either. Something went wrong. He hurt me, and he did it because he could. My master was so mad at me – at first – for letting it happen. He yelled at me like I just did Sebbie. But just like I told Sebbie now, I was so hurt in my body and in here," he touched his chest, "That I didn't care. That man violated my trust, which is what I've tried so hard to teach Sebbie all his life. And then my master didn't believe me. I think that was the worst of all, and that was what hurt me more than my broken bone."

He placed his son back on his bed, then turned back to Zero, who was sitting on my lap. It was ridiculous, really. There I was, naked, with a throbbing erection that was sticking out between Zero's legs and making it look like he had a huge dick!

Collin had to laugh and wipe his face. Zero didn't get it. We didn't explain the joke.

"I think I got my clinical observation, Don," Collins added. "I believe it best if Zero goes back to bed with you now. We'll talk more tomorrow. Sebbie?"

"Huh?" The boy whimpered, exhausted now that the adrenaline rush was past.

"Sebbie, come sleep with Daddy now, OK?"

"No!" Zero piped up, moving to take Collins' hand. I was shocked. Only moments ago, Zero had been screaming in panic and had punched him! "Oww-wee?" Zero asked, placing his hand, palm down, on Collins' chest. Then he touched his own head. "Oww-wee." He pointed at the bed. He touched Collins' chin. "Ow-wee," he bowed his head and sniffled.

Zero was trying to say he was sorry.

And that he understood Collins' boyhood tale.

"I think this one understands more than we think he does," Collin sighed.

"D-d-duh," Zero was trying to say something. "Duck!" He finally blurted out. "Zee-whoaz duck!"

Duck? A bird? Duct? As in 'duct tape'? What did he mean?

"Zee-whoaz duck, no oww-wee," Zero nodded seriously, as he then hopped up on the bed. "Seb-bee. No," he looked at me, patting the bed.

He wanted to stay.

For as terrifying as it had been, Zero wanted to stay with his new friend. It was unbelievable.

He laid down next to Sebbie, who by now, had gone back to sleep. He snuggled up next to him, and held up the chain on his collar. He saw the open padlock, and without being told, connected himself to Sebbie. Then he kissed him, tenderly, on the lips. "Wuv-voo," he whispered.

We covered them back up, as the blankets were everywhere in the cool room. It was half past four in the morning, and Zero had a new friend and a new doctor. He'd accepted them, and I wasn't about to contradict my special boy's wishes.

"Coffee?" Collins asked, "Since we're already up?"

I shut off the light on the way out.

From the darkness, just the tiniest little voice whispered "Uncle" and then was silent.

At the kitchen table, Dr. Collins was sitting and staring the coffeemaker.

"I yelled at him," he muttered, as I sat down. "I lost control. No Master – no father – should ever do that."

"It's easy to do, when they won't let you sleep," I offered, trying to change the subject.

"I wouldn't blame you if you packed up Zero and left right now," Collins shook his head. "I swore, Don! I swore to myself when that man beat me so badly that I would never do anything like that to a boy – if I ever owned one."

"But you didn't hit him?" I was confused.

"Not with a weapon, Don, with words," Collins sighed, pouring coffee for us. He sighed again and sat down heavily. "Like I told Zero, what hurt me more was the way my Master reacted to my injuries. He didn't listen to me, and to this day, I don't think he ever believed me. I can still hear him blaming it all on Alex, my best friend…" His voice trailed off.

"Sebastian, Zero apologized to you in his unique way," I reminded him. "He not only talked to you, he touched you! Then he got right back into bed with Sebbie, where he'd been so terrified, and chained himself back up to his best friend – his only friend – without even being told. I bet if you turned on the video monitor that I know you've got in that room, you'd see all the proof you need."

"How'd you know?"

"Because I installed one in my nephew's room when he came to live with me, and it still works for Zero," I informed him. "It's a failing of mine – I have to know where he is and what he's doing at all times."

"That's not a failing, that's called 'being his Master,'" Collins corrected me, as he pulled a remote from his robe pocket and clicked it at the small monitor at the end of the table.

The enhanced image showed the boys in bed, spooned up together, with Zero's shaggy head snuggled into Sebbie's shoulder. The blanket was pushed back to their waists, and Zero was clutching the chain connecting their collars in his tight little fist.

"I can't – I won't – take that away from Zero," I said.

"But what if he hates me in the morning?" Collins asked, his face stricken, "What if he hates me like I hated my Master for so long? How can I punish him for that, for something that I did?"

"I think it's Sebbie who's punishing you, without even knowing it," I mused.

Collins nodded sadly. It was so out of character for him. "Makes me wonder who the real Masters are here."

Chapter 6
Haircuts & Other Adventures

Note – look for allusions to the wonderful Istari's Universe!

The boys were allowed to sleep later Monday morning.

While I didn't fully understand the complexities of the Master/Slave relationship that I was witnessing, what I did understand was the feeling of someone having done irreparable damage to a father-son (or my case, uncle-nephew) relationship. It was clear from the doctor's behavior that the episode from the night before was weighing heavily on his mind.

Collins was pretty much ignoring Sebbie that morning and had simply told me, "He knows what to do."

Sebbie might have known what to do, but his Father/Master's standoffish attitude was making it impossible for him to do it.

And I had no idea what to do. I wasn't even sure of why the two of them were acting like that.

What snapped Dr. Collins out of it was when Zero unceremoniously kicked him in the shin once we'd unlocked them and gotten them into the bathroom for the usual routine of a smaller morning enema and a quick shower. I'd noticed Zero giving his new doctor '[a look', but I certainly wasn't prepared for that!

"Sebbie," Zero said plainly, then, turning to Colins, "Att-ohh!"

"Did he just call me an asshole?" Collins asked, dumbfounded.

"I think so," I replied.

Collins hesitated, all the while, Sebbie staring at him with such a sad face that it was hurting me.

"I think he's right," Collins finally sighed in admission. "Last night was… was…"

But he didn't finish the sentence. He simply turned towards the bathroom door, leaving the hot water running.

Then Sebbie, standing there – naked except for his small silver chastity pod and smaller jewelry – said one word that stopped Collins in his tracks.

"ALEXANDER."

Collins froze, then stiffened. He turned around slowly.

"Daddy, I'm not ready," Sebbie whimpered, tears on his face.

Apparently, that was the magic word that Collins had mentioned – the one word that would stop anything and everything in its proverbial tracks.

"J-just because someone did something to bad to you, once, Daddy, doesn't mean that you'll do something bad to me… or Zero, or anybody!" Sebbie cried.

Zero was squeezing my hand so tightly that it hurt.

And I still had no idea of what was happening between our hosts. (Years later, I would understand it, but that's neither here nor there for now.)

"Last night, I almost…" Collins started to say –

"…but you DIDN'T!" Sebbie interrupted him, "And I know you WON'T! Not ever!"

"My boy," Collins whispered, taking the shivering little slave in his arms.

Then he suddenly swatted the boy's bare butt! SMACK!

Sebbie gasped, and amazingly, smiled.

Whatever had been so badly wrong was now obviously passed?

"Every morning, every day since I brought him home, it's been the same routine," Collins explained, "I gave no thought to that just now. Routine is very important for a slave, and a son," Collins went on clinically, seemingly back to his old self. I had to wonder if he might be bipolar? "Released from his bed, a few swats to keep him in line, a cold shower, a quick enema, and a bit of pleasure if he deserves it." He looked at the boy, once again Sebbie the Slave (not Sebbie the Son), and politely asked me to take Zero to our guest bathroom. "I think my BOY deserves a tiny bit of pleasure this morning, Don, if you'll excuse us? We'll see you at breakfast."

I didn't ask. It was sort of like 'don't ask, don't tell.' Zero looked like he understood it, though, and hugged Sebbie on the way out.

"Hands behind your back, boy," I heard Collins ordering him, and a CLICK! Then a squeal of surprise as the water came on.

"You're getting a hot shower," I told Zero, who sighed in relief.

"Sebbie dit da, Sebbie wid," Zero mumbled, shaking his head. "Uncle?"

I had no idea what my boy wanted. I so wished he could talk, or at least, form comprehensible words.

Long story shorter – I stripped Zero of all gear, gave him a quick hot shower, which was a new thing for him. A few shots of the small bulb enema, back into his gear, and a confident promise from the boy that he didn't need a diaper. I didn't even attempt to do anything with hair.

The only incident, if you could call it that, was when I went to put Zero's plug back in him. I think he might have expected another prostate massage, but I slowly explained it to him that we couldn't do that every day, or it would spoil it for him. It was only for special occasions.

I think he understood me, but he did look a bit pouty as he danced around for a moment to seat his plug and just shrugged.

Zero and I also had enough time to polish all his golden gear. I had a good idea of what Collins and Sebbie were doing in there!

When we arrived for breakfast, Sebbie was serving scrambled eggs, seared ham, toast, milk and juice, along with small fruit cups. He was dressed in a gray set of soft suede leather gear, sans studs, cuffs and chest harness, and rather plain looking. His collar was a typical dog-type one, gray as well, and locked of course. His piercings had all been changed to small silver rings, demure, and his violently orange hair was perfect. He was wiggling his ass as if he weren't getting along with his plug, and he had a silly grin on his face as he served us then took a seat on his Master's lap.

I noticed that he was also wearing gray short pants, with locks at the fly and legs, and barefoot – as always.

Collins ate his breakfast first while Sebbie just sat and watched, the adoration clear on his shining face. When Collins was done, he pushed his plate aside and pulled Sebbie's over. Then he fed the boy from his used fork.

Zero, of course, wolfed his food with his hands. I was so embarrassed.

"So, Don, what are you going to with Zero while you're working on my computer?" Collins asked.

"I'm not sure," I replied. "Any ideas?"

"Sebbie thinks it would be an awfully good idea to take him to see Master Ralphie for a haircut, and perhaps have his tattoo taken care of later today – before you get a hefty fine?" Collins asked, poking a bit of banana into his boy's mouth.

I admit, I was startled, but it was something that had to be done. I didn't want to put Zero through that kind of pain, but Zero was a slaveboy. That was that. There was no way out of it. Chest markings and barcode tattoos, I knew, were done in magnetic ink with non-toxic trace compounds for verification. Only licensed artists could tattoo a slave barcode and chest ID, but any artist could do other tattoos – as Sebbie's body was clear evidence thereof.

"Uncle?" Zero whimpered, as I was wiping breakfast off of his face, "NO!"

Sebbie held up his hand, just like a schoolboy.

"Daddy can do it, and he can make it so you sleep through it," Sebbie said, "I promise, Zero. It won't hurt."

Collins nodded once. "And while you're at Master Ralphie's, why don't you have Zero's ears pierced? I'd do it myself, but I'm so busy today – and so are you, Don. He has a wonderful numbing gel he uses for special cases, but he's not licensed for official slave tattoos. I'll call and make the arrangements, shall I, what?"

It seemed that my decisions had been made for me.

"How much is this going to cost?" I had to ask.

"Same as a free boy's price list, from Ralphie," Collins replied. "He doesn't discriminate. In fact, he does a hell of a trade. But first," he went on, getting up and giving Sebbie a quick swat to his behind. I noticed that there was a clear plastic window in the seat of the slaveboy's chastity shorts to allow his barcode to show and be scanned. "I'll have to scan in the boys' barcodes and enter their, shall we say – mission plans – into the central legal computer. It just won't do to have slaveboys out free-ranging all day now, will it?"

I was surprised that Collins was sending the boys out alone, but the fact that their collars contained GPS trackers – which he would also activate – allayed any fears I had of kidnapping. I was just worried about how Sebbie would handle it if Zero had an accident or a meltdown.

"Trust me," Collins assured me, "Sebastian," he ordered his boy, "Go and fetch your backpack, lighter chains, bring a set for Zero as well, and a spare 30cm [12 in.] to connect the two of you with. You'll be doing some shopping once your little friend is all finished at Ralphie's."

"Sir!" Sebbie snapped to, as off he ran. Collins began scribbling out a list.

When the boys returned, they were fitted with the ankle and wrist chains. The spare bit of chain connected them via one wrist, so they couldn't get separated. A small combination lock held the connecting chain to Sebbie's cuff, while a small padlock held it to Zero's. "The boy doesn't know the combination, but Ralphie does," Collins explained. He handed Sebbie the list.

"Awwww, Daddy," the boy whined, going back into 'son-mode' as Collins attached the custom backpack to the boy's chest harness.

"No elevator, coming home later," Collins added.

Sebbie gave him a pleading look. Collins smiled and kissed him, seriously, on the mouth. Zero did the same with me. Once their agenda had been input into the computer, and butt-barcodes scanned, we were off.

We fed and watered Sebbie's animals on the way out, then rode the elevator down. The day was sunny, and the pavement was sure to be hot on the boys' bare feet in no time at all. I could only imagine how hot those leather shorts of Sebbie's would be. Zero didn't say a thing about going out dressed only in gear.

I walked the boys several blocks to my office building, and then we parted company. The whole time, Zero was just looking all around, taking it all in with a sense of wonder. He kissed me goodbye, then patted his own head. A neat trick with the chains on!

"Hehw?" Zero asked.

"You get your hair done however Sebbie or Ralph says to, OK?" I told him.

"He can look at pictures in a book, sir," Sebbie informed us, "He can pick it out himself, since no Master is coming to tell them what to do, sir."

"Very good. Love you," I told Zero.

"Wuh-voo," he replied, and off they went without a glance back. I started to worry at once. I went inside, and then it hit me – I missed Zero already. It was all I could do to not run after him.

Uncle, I'll be fine! It's just a weekend campout!

I really didn't need to go to the office, since the new chips were being shipped to Collin's office. I had an idea, however, and I wanted to see if it would work. If it did, it would save me bundle in fuel cells, CR's, time, and save the company some money as well. That, and I could get it all done in one shot and go right back to Collin's place.

From Sebbie's Point of View

Since Zero couldn't talk that good, I did most of the talking. It was like he had his very own language or something, you know? He could say my name OK, he could say 'Uncle', and 'no'. Anything else, pretty much, was just gibberish. It was nice to be out in the sun, even though the hot weather made walking barefoot on all that cement a real bitch! Zero never cried, though.

Daddy warned me that Zero was messed up, but man – I wasn't ready for that! Daddy told me they'd beat him real bad, and cut up his boy-bits so much they might as well have just cut 'em off. He teases me about it, too, but I know he won't do it, because he always promises me someday I'll be allowed to touch my penis!

I think it's when I graduate medical school – I forget now!

That made me think of Henry, and how hot he looks. Henry's my good friend, a slaveboy like me, and he comes over a lot. His Daddy goes on a lot of business trips, and sometimes he can't take Henry with him. He's thirteen, but he's 'bout the same size I am, and Daddy says I'm kinda small. I think Zero would like him, too. He's a good kisser, Henry is. He's kinda chubby, because his Daddy makes him eat a lot. He says, "I don't like skinny kids." Henry ain't fat, but he's plump, OK? He's blond, but he gets his hair buzzed to 1/8 inch [~3 mm] once a week so he looks bald. It makes his head feel like velvet, too. It's sooooo hot to rub it, too! Henry's chest tattoo is simple outlined black, and 'sides his butt-code one, he doesn't have any more. His Daddy won't let him get pierced either, and I think that's silly.

Where was I?

Oh, right! Zero getting his bits cut up so bad reminded me of Henry because he's a eunuch. That means he had his nuts cut off. He's been a slave since he was like 7 or 8, but he got an infection when they sterilized him and his nuts had to come out. Daddy did the surgery, and bitched the whole time at Henry's Daddy for not having him do the vasectomy to start with. Sometimes Masters want Daddy to cut their slaves' stuff off, but unless the State orders him to do it, Daddy won't do it. It really pisses him off when Masters want boys castrated.

Anyway, we had to go to Master Ralphie's first. He usually cuts my hair, since Daddy fucks it up every time he tries it. One time, he had to shave my head with bare-blade clippers to fix it, and I don't look good bald! Don't tell him I said that, or he'll beat me silly! That, or he won't beat me. I don't know which is worse.

Zero must'a thought the city was really cool, since he just kept looking around and making these cooing sounds. When he'd point, though, I'd almost slap him, since we were chained together by one hand apiece. A cop stopped us once on our way to the barber's, but when he scanned our butt-codes, his padd gave him our day plans and it was OK.

When we got Master Ralphie's, his boy met us at the door and held it open. Tahj is black too, and Master Ralphie got him on the International Market in New York. Tha's how much money HE has! I think Tahj might have scared Zero a little bit, since they say "Never trust a bald barber." Master Ralphie isn't bald – he's got long cornrow braids, but he shaves Tahj's head with a razor every morning. He makes him wear heavy chrome gear, too, and most of the time, a posture collar. It really shines against Tahj's really dark brown skin. Tahj is fifteen, so he has to get his face and body waxed a lot, too. That hurts like a bitch, I can tell. I wanna try it sometime!

"See-bahhhhh-schee-ahhhhn!" Master Ralphie greeted us when we walked in. He always says my name like that. He's from Jamaica, and he's so black you really can't see him at night. Seriously. He's hard to understand, too, with how he talks. Almost as bad as Zero, you know?

Now Daddy warned me that Zero might have a fit or something, but he must have liked the place. I felt kinda weird – me being so white, and everybody else being so dark. I think that made Zero feel good, and he just stared at Master Ralphie right off.

"Sebbie!" He pointed at him.

"Dis da speshul boy yo Daddy done tell Ralphie 'bout?" He asked us.

"Yes, sir!" I told him, "This is Zero. He needs a haircut, sir!" I bowed. So did Zero.

"Yah t'ink?!" Master Ralphie laughed at us, "My God, I not seen an afro gone to seed like dat since I wuz a boy!" He looked Zero over. "He not all da way black, be he?"

"Zee-whoa," Zero told him, shaking his head. Master Ralphie laughed.

It was Tahj's job to show customers the book if they wanted it, and get drinks and stuff. He was in charge of the scanner, too, so he did that. I didn't want anything to drink but a very little cup of water. I'm not allowed fizzy drinks often – they make me pee, and I'm not allowed to pee without permission. And if I have an accident, I have to wear a Foley catheter for two weeks. I hate that!

Zero didn't want the book, though. He walked over to Master Ralphie, kinda dragging me with him, and reached out and touched his hair. Since Zero is special, Daddy says, he gets away with a lot of stuff like that.

"Oooooo!" Zero said, "Hewh!" He touched his head then. "Zee-whoa hewh?" I think he meant to say "Zero hair."

"Yo friend like Massah's hair," Master Ralphie told me, "You wan' ol' bah-bur to do yo' hair up like dis?" He patted his own head.

Zero nodded hard and he just smiled. He said "peas." I think he meant 'please'. Not sure? I mean, he couldn't be hungry after that breakfast he'd just ate!

Master Ralphie unlocked my wrist from Zero's then, and picked him up to put him in the booster chair for kids. Zero went right to him, and didn't mind at all when Master Ralphie locked his cuffs to the chair. Me and Tahj went to sit in the chairs for waiting customers, but no one else was there.

"You two sit an' be quiet," he warned us, as he leaned the chair back so he could wet down Zero's hair.

Master Ralphie is good. Period. His hands moved so fast combing out and pulling Zero's hair that you could hardly see his fingers. Zero gasped a few times when he'd tug his hair, but Master Ralphie never hurts a customer – free or slave.

When he was done, Zero had tight braids that were so long they came down to his gold collar. Master Ralphie wasn't done, either. He made Tahj fetch a box of gold metal beads, and he put about six of them on each braid. Whenever Zero moved his head, his braids would bump the beads into the collar and make a chiming sound. It was cool! Then he got the straight razor out and shaved Zero's neck and sideburn fuzz.

"Say on data padd that little boy Zee-whoa gettin' him earrings, too?" Master Ralphie asked. "Not like you, See-bah-schee-ahn?"

"No, sir, no other piercings," I told him.

A nod from Master Ralphie sent Tahj to go and get the display box of earrings, so Zero could pick some out. Tahj has flesh tunnels in ears, big enough for me to put my pinky in! And he's got a real septum ring, too.

"When yo' Daddy gon' let Master Ralphie do dat septum o'yours?" Master Ralphie asked me, while Zero was thinking. "Silly clip-on!"

"I don't know, sir! I hope soon," I told him, and I'm not kidding. I wanna get that done, and snakebites, too, but Daddy said I'm too young.

Finally, Zero picked out gold disc earrings with a bigger than usual stud. Master Ralphie held 'em up to his ears, and they were big enough to almost cover up his whole earlobes. Zero just nodded and smiled at him.

Tahj got the gel, since Master Ralphie must have known all about Zero from his padd when our scans came back to him. I didn't wanna see Zero get hurt either. I mean, Daddy whips me sometimes, but he doesn't leave scars. Poor Zero had scars – a lot of 'em. It made me wanna cry when I thought about how bad somebody had to'v hurt him once.

So Zero got locked down over in the piercing room this time, and we had to wait for the gel to numb his ears. While we were waiting, Master Ralphie touched up my fade cut and shaved my neck. He laughs at my orange hair, too, but it's OK. He didn't even scan me for a fee for the trim – he just asked for a kiss. It drives me nuts when he sucks on my ears, though! My penis tries to get hard, and since it can't, it hurts. But I kinda like it when it does, you know?

By then, Zero's ears were ready. Master Ralphie got out the clamps, you know, the kind with short tubes on 'em? He locked 'em onto one ear, ran the needle through, took off the clamp, and connected the earring to go right in. A shot of "No-Bleed" and an alcohol wipe, repeat, and Zero had his earrings.

He looked totally wicked!

He didn't even look like the same kid, really. Those braids and earrings, all that gold, him being so brown – damn, he was cute! My dick was hurting, too.

Zero just stared at himself in the mirror, his mouth was open and his eyes were wide. "Zee-whoa?" He asked. Tahj let him loose and gave him a hand mirror. Zero stuck it right up to his nose, crossed his eyes, and laughed. Then he tapped his ear. He tugged on the top of it. He rubbed the backside of it.

"Too much gel, make 'is whole head numb!" Master Ralphie laughed, "Bad as da dentist!"

"NO!" Zero told him, and they both just looked at him. I guess Zero was scared of dentists? He pointed at his mouth. "No!"

Zero did have pretty good teeth, too, you know. I bet the last dentist he'd seen, probably at the Clearing House, had hurt him too.

"No, no bad man gonna mess with you teeth," Master Ralphie told him. Zero must'a believed him, because he hugged him. Master Ralphie is so big, anyhow, that Zero like grabbed him around the waist. Master Ralphie picked him up, and his beaded braids jingled on his metal collar. I wondered why his Daddy had said he was afraid of adults? He sure liked Master Ralphie.

"Leetle boy like his hair?" Master Ralphie asked him.

Zero nodded and jingled some more, and he just smiled. Then he kissed Master Ralphie. I gotta tell ya, Zero can sure do that. He might not talk good, but he can kiss! Then Zero kinda froze, and just laid his hand on Master Ralphie's cheek, staring him in the eye.

"Such a sweet boy," Master Ralphie told him, "You tell yo' Uncle, he get tired of you, Master Ralphie buy you off'n him!"

"NO!" Zero told him. "Uncle, no!"

"I don' blame him," Master Ralphie smiled. "Jus' a joke, boy. OK, we be all done here, boys." He scanned us out, a kiss goodbye, and then he locked our wrists back together. When he straightened up, I could see he had a big hard-on!

It wasn't a big shock. Just fixing up Zero's hair and dressing him up in gold was like a butterfly coming out of a cocoon. Hell, I was hard, too – or trying to be!

"Tahj, you help Massah come and clean up in da back now!" Master Ralphie laughed, and I knew Tahj was in for a good fucking. I know that look when Daddy gets it, but I didn't think Zero got it. I figured I better not try to explain it, either. Not my job.

The sidewalk was hot when we went back outside. I mean, HOT. It was gonna be a hot day, too. Tha's one good thing about being a mostly naked slave – hot days ain't so bad, but I sure wanted my sandals. Zero did too, the way he was walking, but oh well. We were barefooted, and that was that.

"C'mon, Zero, I gotta go get rabbit food now," my to-do list said, "20 lb [9 kg] bag. Then we get to go to the grocery store, but you have to carry some of that, OK?"

"Sebbie!" Zero nodded, real serious, and his braids jingled. He laughed and touched his hair.

When we got to the pet store, I didn't think I'd ever get Zero out of there. He wanted to touch every animal they had, and I had that 20 lb [9 kg] sack of rabbit food stuffed into my backpack. It's heavy, OK? Note to self – send a rabbit home with Zero!

We were in there for like an hour, but since we were paying customers, they didn't mind. Zero was petting the rabbits, while my back was already staring to hurt, when a customer came in with his 'pet'.

All right, it wasn't a pet, really, but I guess he was. Some people like to modify their slaveboys and pretend they're dogs. I think it's sick, myself, but like Daddy says, "To each his own."

The kid's brown hair was cut long on the sides to look like a hound dog's ears, and short in the back and kinda long in the fringe. He had a shock collar on, a flea collar too, and he crawled around on all fours. His butt plug had a tail thing attached to it, and he was on a leash and wearing a ball gag/muzzle thing to keep him from talking. His knees were padded, and his hands were covered with long mitten things like puppy paws to keep him from using them. He wasn't wearing a chastity device, either. There was no need for one, since his uncut little penis had been stretched and surgically attached to his belly going towards his navel, like a dog's would be. He'd been fixed, too – just like Henry, nothing else under his penis. He must have been happy, though, 'cause his tail was wagging. I wonder how it did that?

Zero looked up from this fuzzy Angora rabbit he was petting and froze.

Then Dogboy whined, scratching at a sack of puppy treats with his 'paw'.

Zero backed up and knocked over a stand of pet care books. I knew from the look on his face that he was going to freak out, and I pulled him around to the other aisle and ran for the door. He was starting to shake and whimper, and his eyes were really big.

When we got outside, he was shaking so bad and hyperventilating that I had to break protocol and beg an employee who was out on a smoke break to please get me a paper bag for Zero. I didn't care if he reported me or not, but he did think to scan us out of the pet store – or we'd have been in big trouble! At least he was nice about it.

It took a while to get Zero settled down again, breathing into the bag. I tried to explain it to him, but all he did was gasp "No!" over and over again.

Anyway, I used the paper bag to blot off his chastity belt, since he'd had an accident. I found a shady spot on the north side of the store so we could sit down without burning our butts on the pavement, and Zero breathed into his bag and cried the whole time. He was embarrassed and scared, but – at least he couldn't run away! I mean, if he tired, he'd be dragging me and 20 lbs [9 kg's] of rabbit feed!

"C'mon, let's go get groceries," I told him, worried since Daddy told me Zero had a meltdown in the store the first day he'd been taken there. "Then we can go home, get lunch, take a nap, and play with the rabbits, right then? You can even take one home, too, for your very own. I promise."

That cheered him up right off, so I thought he'd be OK. I mean, the kid had only been in his new home with his new Master for what – three days?

And they sent ME out with him? What was THAT?

OK, I hate the big grocery store. There's dirty free kids running around in there everywhere, and a clean slave has to put on this thing like a giant freezer bag. It's not fair! I guess it's no worse than one of those rain suits I see some of them crazy running people wear in bad weather, and it helps since the grocery store is always so darn cold inside. That, and people stare. I hate being stared at. Daddy says it's because I'm so cute. I think it's because people look at me and think 'freak'.

So anyway, we got scanned in at the store and 'bagged up'. Zero's was too big, it crinkled really loud, but it was the only one with connected inner arms, since we were chained together. Some weird looks, but nothing happened until we were in the checkout line. The lady recognized Zero. "Somebody got a haircut and some new gear!" She smiled at him and told him he was 'just so cute'. Then she turned the register sign around so we couldn't see the stuff totaling up. She scanned it all in, then Zero held up one finger. Then three. Then his fist. Then five, and pulled my arm up with his to make a nine. Our total owed was 130.59CR. She spun the sign around. It said the same thing!

Zero was a math whiz!

He grinned at the lady. I guess he didn't know much yet, or if he did… hell, I don't know. There's not much a slaveboy can do for a girl, you know, what with being locked up in gear. Besides, that's gross! I can't imagine kissing a girl or much less doing anything else with one. I know the difference, OK? I'm not that dumb! If you think I'm gonna stick me face down there in a girl's … never mind, OK? I'm making myself ill talking about it.

Right, then – I know my Daddy is a homosexual, and so was my biological mother. Daddy calls her my egg donor. I know I'm genetically engineered to be gay, and a bunch of other things Daddy told me about. I like it, all right? It's a hell of a lot better than Mother Nature throwing dice to make babies, ya think?!

I was thinking I was gonna vomit while the checkout girl was hitting on Zero, then some old guy in a suit behind us in line said something. I guess he knew Zero too?

"And how is our little savant today? I see you're in your pretty new gear and got your hair fixed up?" He asked Zero. Zero just kind of bobbled his head at him and made his beaded braids jingle on his collar. He wasn't scared of him, though. The guy got his sale checked out, Zero knew that amount, too, and got outta line. The old guy helped us out of our 'freezer bag', and the guy working the parking lot scanned us out.

I know better than to talk to strangers, but this old guy knew Zero's name already. I figured he must have been one of Master Don's friends, and like it would do any good to ask Zero!

So the old guy is chatting us up about our Daddies, asking us this and that and the other. Then he asked Zero if we were going to Daddy's Boys store today. I started getting suspicious. Zero had just been bought, and I was the first friend Zero made. He didn't know anyone else, he hadn't had time, but I knew he'd been out to get gear. I figured he got his gear at DB's, too. Was this old guy following Zero around?

"Dat bo'," Zero shook his head.

'Bo'? Was he saying "boy"?

I figured he must have met Boy at the store. I knew him too, since my Daddy was his doctor. Boy was on that new Testroxil drug, but that's another story. I just hope MY Daddy doesn't want to put ME on that dick-shrinking stuff! Hell, I don't wanna be 19 or 20 when I hit puberty! Luprox is fine for some boys, I knew Zero was on it, but…

…Anyway…where was I?

Oh, right then – the old guy was chatting us up, then he reached into his pocket. I don't like to fight, and it's a serious offense for a slaveboy to strike a free person. But I tensed up. Abductions are rare, since most slaveboys have GPS collars, but collars can be broken and tossed into a dumpster, OK? At least, the smart Masters put GPS collars on us, and I had one. I always had one, and sometimes, a wireless voice transmitter collar too – but I never knew which of my collars were 'bugged'. It keeps me on good behaviour, Daddy tells me!

Then the guy offers us candy.

Huge no-no, right? Sugar? I'm not allowed. I politely refused and told Zero 'no'. The old guy said he understood, and asked us if we could help him unload his cart – said his back was bad.

And mine wouldn't be by the end of the day? Hello?!

So you might as well know, I know how to fight. Daddy started that when I was little so I'd know how to protect myself. He never said why, but I thought it was because his Daddy never taught him anything like that and Daddy got hurt when he was a boy. I think. He never talks about it much, but I'm trained in Shaolin Kung-Fu as well as good ol' street brawling. So are Mason and Henry, but tha's another story!

I figured even with Zero chained to me, I could take this guy out if I had to. So we helped him load his stuff. He had a lot of chemical stuff, cleaners and crap like that.

"We gotta go, sir," I told him, then he offered us a ride.

That was it.

I've got a panic button transmitter in my left wrist cuff, and I was reaching for it when the old guy reached into this pocket again. He pulled out something rectangular and black about the same time I hit my button.

Good thing I did, too.

The noise scared the guy so bad he dropped it, and Zero almost jumped over the next car, I think!

I looked at the old guy's hand, at what he had.

It was a taser – the kind that fires two wires.

Zero knew what it was, too, by the look on his face.

OK, so you know – when a slave fires off his panic switch, it not only makes a loud noise. It calls up the cops, too. Things could have got ugly, but we got lucky.

There was already a cop on the lot.

I kicked the taser outta his hand, but the old man got it and jumped in his car. With my ankles chained, I couldn't get a good kick at it, you know. All I know is that his car was white – no name emblems, no decals – and no registry scanner plate. By the time the cop got to us, the old guy was peeling out and Zero was freaking out.

Then Zero saw the cop and literally dragged me over to him and jumped him.

"Officer Clemens, sir!" I gasped.

"Boys! What's going on here? Unit 34 responding to slave panic alarm, 12th and Main, over," he told his microphone clipped to his lapel, "Situation is well in hand."

Literally, I thought, because Zero wasn't going to let go of him. Zero was panicking again, sobbing and shaking. I felt like doing the same. My feet hurt, my back hurt, and it was getting close to my naptime.

"What happened?" Clemens asked, watching the unmarked car speeding off and calling it in.

"He tried to taser us, sir!" I told him, while Zero just cried. I guess they'd already met, because he wasn't scared of Master Clemens, "I think he was gonna grab us!"

"Did he tell you his name, do you know who he is?" Master Clemens asked us.

I had no clue. I'd never seen the guy before in my life.

Then Zero looked up and nodded at him.

"DAT!" He pointed at the black marks the car had left when peeling out. He sniffled, wiped his nose on his arm, and Master Clemens tried to clean up his face while Zero was pointing at his own collar, his cuffs, the groceries, and babbling. "Bo'! Zee-whoa, imm, dehh, Uncle."

"Not much to go on," Master Clemens shook his head. "Damn, and you can't talk," he sighed at Zero, bending down and pulling us both in close. "I'll call for a car unit right now, boys," he told us, giving our bum-codes a scan – and our bums a good feeling up! "I'm taking you both home RIGHT NOW!"

"Uncle…" Zero just kept whimpering, even when the car showed up to take us home.

Note – Zero apologizes for being away so long. He's been very busy!

It was a busy day in the office of Doctor Sebastian Collins.

With the boys out on 'safari' to procure groceries and rabbit food, and get haircuts, and thus not underfoot, I got a very good look at the thriving practice that supported Collins and his slaveboy-son, Sebastian II (or Sebbie, as he preferred). He had a full schedule, men and boys, free and slave, and I was once again surprised with the personality of this enigma of a man.

My first priority was getting the medical imaging systems back up and running. When we'd scanned Zero, routing full power to the high-resolution holo-imaging chips had blown the system – just as I knew it would. It was a design defect that we were still working on, and one that I was somewhat responsible for. I was still working on the problem of trying to rebuild the chip that, for starters, wouldn't be the size of a compact car…and wouldn't cost a fortune to build. The problem was conductivity, and degradation of data along the circuit pathways, but I digress. It was broke, and I had to fix it before a patient who really needed it came in.

Getting the system back up and running was the easy part. All I had to do was stop by the office and pick up some spare parts that I anticipated had blown out, and would not have shipped automatically. Computers are nice, when they work, but I was right – the explosion had taken out a couple of the networked terminals' power supplies as well. Human intuition does sometimes win out, even today!

With diagnostics back up and running, as well as the simpler office computers for basic record keeping and payments, Doctor Collins was back in business for the little things. I listened in and tried not to stare as I continued to install and reprogram the holo-systems.

"Oh, don't mind him," Collins told everyone, as I came and went with my head mostly inside a piece of equipment as I checked for collateral damage. Collins was doing his healing while I did mine.

His first patient was a free boy with shaggy brown hair and a broken leg. Technology may have advanced considerably, but there was still nothing but time to fix a broken bone. The smell from that boy's hard plasticized cast as Collin's lasered it off was overwhelming. I remembered reading something somewhere that they used to use plaster over gauze? Can you imagine that smell? When it was finally off, Collins suggested to the happy boy's mother that she take him down to floor #9 for some gentle physical therapy in the pool. The persona of the doctor here was the doting parent that I'd seen with Sebbie.

"What's on the 9th floor again?" I had to ask, waiting for the holo-system to reboot and find the new chip.

"Gymnasium, pool, and overall recreational center," Collins replied, bidding his first clients to have a good time as the boy hobbled away on his crutches, still testing his leg and whimpering. "Just sign in with John, will you?" He called after them. I gave him a puzzled look. "John? College boy, downright hot if you ask me! Maybe that's why I hired him, but he's so … asexual? I'm not even sure if the boy knows that he has genitals," Collins informed me. "Always got his head in a book, when it's not looking over my shoulder. Bit annoying, sometimes, really. Plans to be a doctor someday, so this is good practice for him and it pays his rent."

"What else have you got on all these floors?" I had to ask. After all, it was a tall building.

Collins grinned, then consulted his padd, which was now communicating with the main office computer again. "Apartments, for one. Where do you think John lives? Master always said you should diversify!"

"And?"

"Parking, for another. Your auto is on the first floor, you know. Dave brought it in." He noticed my puzzled look. "Maintenance man. Old guy, semi-retired. You think I make Sebbie take care of the whole building?" He grinned again. "My car collection is on the 2nd floor. I'll have to show you the 2012 Corvette sometime. Classic!"

The next few patients were rather boring, and I noticed at once that Collins' demeanor shifted anew with each one. With obviously heterosexual and free men, he was brusque and almost rude. It was almost as if they expected it. He diagnosed and treated a sinus infection, stitched up and did dermal-regeneration on a badly cut foot, cleaned and dressed a rather nasty infected cut on another fellow, did an emergency cleanup of a skinned knee from a pedestrian just outside on the sidewalk, and I excused myself when he ordered an older gentleman to drop his pants so he could have a look at some bothersome hemorrhoids.

I distracted myself with the television in the waiting room, where I met up with a young man who was apparently the receptionist. He hadn't been there when I'd come back from my office earlier, and he startled me. He introduced himself as one "Matthew Black." He was rather unremarkable, and I wouldn't have given him a second look on the street. We made idle conversation while he scanned his scheduling padd and half-listened to the television.

"In other news," the talking-head anchorman was babbling, "The African Union's threat to the Mid East Conglomerate seems to be cooling off, as AU President Kabila signs off on budget cuts to the military, citing a slowing economy and EuroZone refusal to release frozen assets from Old Swiss banks. Cleanup in the AU capitol city of Nairobi continues, in the aftermath of a botched coup de tat which claimed the lives of several members of the ruling fam-…"

"That's sure to speed up the export of slaves," Matthew mumbled, tapping at his padd again. "Just what our job market needs."

Matthew had a point. I recalled from history that as far back as the Roman Empire, slaves had performed many jobs that could have been paying positions, especially for soldiers returning home from the wars. Having too many slaves could be, and sometimes was, a serious problem. Hell, there were even TV shows now, I'd seen advertised, that starred slaves in 'reality' roles. This was the main reason that I didn't watch TV anymore. Just like the news in the capitol city of the Africans, it was nothing but bad.

"Zero's lucky to be here, now," I said to myself, unable to help but wonder if he, or his past family, might have come from that area? Probably not, as he looked part-Asian. Still, it could have been worse – he could have been a white slaveboy in South Africa. I shuddered, recalling a news story about that from the time I'd sworn never to watch the evening news again.

I was just thinking about Zero and what adventures he and Sebbie must be having in their day on the town when 'hemorrhoid man' checked out. He was rather jovial; I assumed he was feeling much better.

"Please tell me there's something fun coming up next," Collins sighed at Matthew.

Matthew smiled at him. "Oh, I think you'll like the next one, Doc. Male, of course," he snickered, "Urinary problems, let's see…ah!" He exclaimed, "Slaveboy, sixteen, looks like one of our notorious red-tags!" Matthew laughed unprofessionally. I had to wonder if not all of Matthew's duties were clerical?

Collins explained that a red-tag patient was a regular, always a slave, and that the problem being treated wasn't a necessity. In fact, red-tags were always something to do with fetishes for the Masters bringing their slaves in for some type of modification or servicing – or a rare emergency medical treatment like thrown out backs or dislocated shoulders.

"I can only imagine," Collins smiled back in anticipation. "Don, how long until that chip gets going?"

"Maybe half an hour?" I guessed. "Then we try to get it to run without blowing out again."

"Good. I really want a better look inside Zero's head, remember," he nodded seriously, his personality shifting yet again into serious professional mode. "We're going to find out what's going on with his left hemisphere, even if I have to buy the next set of chips!"

"I'll fix it," I promised, since I wanted to know just as bad. Worse, in fact. I wanted to know who had done what to my boy, and if that little white scar on his forehead was from an accident – or something unspeakable. It made me angry thinking about it.

The chips were set and booting back up when the red-tag slave arrived with his master. He was naked, of course, except for the usual gear. He was Caucasian, well-tanned, and looked to be near fully grown. It was obvious that he must spend a great deal of time working out, for as lean and hard as he was. I had to admit, he was nice to look at! And the late teens were those years where one could really see the man that the boy was evolving into. He wasn't there yet, but he was getting close. He had the features of a man on a still-boyish face covered in smooth, unlined skin. I could see why his master wanted this one, and could only imagine what he used him for! Somehow, I didn't think that this boy was just a groundskeeper.

'Shit, I owe Cory for the lawn this week,' I remembered.

While Zero had picked out striking gold-toned gear, this handsome young man's was rather plain brown leather. His brown hair was buzzed short, he had a red ball gag in his mouth, and the standard ankle chain clinked along the floor as they entered. His hands were secured behind his back, but he looked calm and relaxed, as if this were just another day at the office for him. I wondered what it was that his master had in mind for him?

I also wondered again what Zero and Sebbie were doing? They'd only been gone a few hours, and I was surprised to notice just how much I was missing him. Them. Somehow, the doctor's office didn't seem right without the unusual little slaveboy staring at me with those hard, blue eyes of his.

As I had to be in the office with the imaging system, I couldn't help but overhear their conversation about this new, handsome arrival. I wondered what could be wrong with such a picture of seeming health?

"You're sure, Sam?" Collins was asking. "Because once I put this thing in, the only way to remove it is some major and potentially damaging surgery – not to mention how expensive that'll be!"

I glanced up to see 'Sam', obviously the Master, unlocking and removing his boy's chastity belt. Beneath it, the boy's modestly sized and hairless genitals expanded a bit in freedom. He got up on the examination table, as ordered, with a muffled "mmmpfff" through his gag. Collins had him roll over, and donning some rubber gloves, removed a plug from the slave's butt that was frighteningly large. He then cleaned him up with something that smelled… medical, to me.

Once the boy was turned back over, and the table moved so that he was not quite in a sitting position, Collins secured him at the wrists and ankles. He then attached straps across the boy's thighs and waist and gave him a pillow so that he could see what was going on.

"We're sure, Doc," Sam replied. I raised an eyebrow, trying to be discreet. Sam was a very large bear of a man, in fact, larger than the proprietor of the shop where we'd bought Zero's gear. And that guy, "Daddy", as his signage called him, was huge! I wondered if Sam here hadn't been a professional athlete at some time?

"Is his bladder fairly full?" Collins asked. Sam nodded, handing Collins a sealed clear bag. It contained what looked like a slightly curved and thick metal pipe, no longer than my pinky finger, rounded and smooth on the ends. It had a long string attached to one end.

On the table, the boy was looking nervously at the small implement. Whatever it was, it was going into him – somewhere – and it wouldn't come back out.

"One more time," Collins asked, "So he wants to be a fulltime diaper-boy?"

The slave nodded and made a muffled sound. I had to imagine that even if he didn't want to, he was going to be anyway! That was what his Master wanted. I reasoned that the little pipe was a urethral stent.

"And you know, Sam, this means very gentle prostate milkings, so you don't puncture anything? And no more catheters, since that would push the stent up into the bladder?" They both nodded. "Because once it's in, it's in," Collins repeated. "No more bladder control – forever!" Collins then put a large towel on the table beneath the boy's genitals.

On the table, the boy whimpered once. His eyes were wide, and he'd become erect in anticipation. This was obviously something that they'd planned for a while, and the boy seemed to realize that he was going to be punished for having an unauthorized erection. He yelped into his gag as his Master took out a small leather whip and lashed his erect but thin and throbbing penis back into submission, which couldn't have been more than 4 inches [10 cm] at the very most. I expected that the boy had grown up in a very constraining device of some kind, and that it had stunted the growth of his cock. He screamed into his ball gag as his erection was whipped back down.

I thought about Zero, and how embarrassing it was for him to have to wear diapers. He was always so proud of himself when he could make it without one. And here was a perfectly fine specimen of teenage slave-hood, apparently about to be made totally and permanently incontinent!

Collins then picked up a syringe, filling it with some clear gel of some kind. He pressed the tip of it into the boy's urethra, and squeezed the plunger. The boy made a small noise, squirming in his bonds, as the lubricant filled him all the way up to his bladder. Collins then dropped the syringe, grabbed up a long-handled clamp, and quickly locked it across the boy's flaccid member. He yelped into his gag again as the clamp pinched his penis closed to secure the gel inside.

Collins then took the device from the bag, rinsed it in some smelly brown fluid and uncoiled the string. He gave Sam a look. Sam nodded. He then placed the curved tube near the boy's urethral meatus, released the clamp, and began inserting the small bent pipe. It didn't take long for it to disappear up into the boy's penis, leaving the string behind it. Collins then picked up a long bit of tubing, to facilitate pushing it all the way in.

I watched, fascinated, while the new chips loaded into the system. They didn't need my help to do that, after all. More and more of the tube was being pushed up into the boy's penis, then it stopped. The boy gasped. "Relax," Collins told him, pushing a bit more, "Now, release!"

The boy did that as Collins pushed again, and urine flowed out over the towel beneath him. Collins was feeling at the boy's perineum, adjusting the stent, working it with the urethral tube before retracting it yet again. "Take his gag out," he said, and Sam did that. "You should feel it seat itself," Collins told the slaveboy.

"Y-yes sir," the boy gasped. Then his eyes went wider. His jaw dropped, and he trembled even more. Collins asked if it hurt, "No, not really, it's just… weird, sir!"

Collins was watching the urine flowing into the towel slowing down to a trickle. So far, it looked like a normal pee. "Clamp down and stop peeing," he ordered the boy.

"I… I CAN'T!" The boy exclaimed, "I feel like… I have to stop, but… It's like I have to go, and I can't do that either!"

"All right, Sam, you can set it," Collins offered, holding up the length of string coming out of the boy's penis. "He's going to scream, and there's going to be some blood in the urine once the hooks get set. You pull that string, and they'll pop out and embed into the sphincter walls, thus holding it open and holding the stent permanently in place."

Master Sam took the string, assured his slave what a good boy he was, and yanked on it. Instead of pulling the stent back out, the string came out free. The slave screamed and tried to jerk in his restraints. I saw a bit of red trickling out of this penis onto the towel.

"Congratulations, kiddo," Collins then slapped his belly, "You'll need a diaper for the rest of your life, now!" He paused, "Unless your Daddy wants to pay for major surgery!"

They released him, Sam helped him up, and the boy stood there staring in shock as bloody urine dripped out of him and onto the towel on the floor. "It… it won't stop!" He gasped again.

"I'd recommend a penis plug, until he begs for relief," Collins said in that maniacal Master-tone I'd heard him threaten Sebbie with. It was yet another side of his multi-faceted self. "Then you can uncork him, and let him leak, knowing there's not a thing he can do about it! In the meantime, rinse his urethra with salt water three times a day for two weeks."

The two men laughed as Sam produced just such a plug and inserted it. He'd come prepared, it seemed. Then he put his boy's chastity belt and butt plug back on, had him wash up in the adjoining bathroom, and left.

I looked up. "I can't believe you did that! What happened to 'do no harm'?"

Collins laughed. "The hooks on those stents will rot off in about 6 months and he'll pass it."

I just gaped at him. "You said it was permanent?"

"I lied." He paused, smirking. "But did you see the look on the slave's face? He doesn't know that!" He laughed again. "Who's next?" Collins asked, as if this were all perfectly normal.

Matthew looked at his padd. "Little Joey Richmond's been eating cheese again," Matthew informed him, "His dad wants to know if he can bring him in?"

I wondered what they were going to do to Joey?

Collins nodded. "Constipation, he's good for one visit a month," he informed me. I remembered that my nephew had had that exact same problem, and a good high volume enema was the cure.

The phone rang.

"Doctor Collins' office? I'll ask, sir, one moment please," Matthew said, "Henry's dad has to go to Denver, and he can't take the boy this time. Work issues. Can you and Sebbie watch him for a week?"

I knew that Henry was one of Sebbie's friends, but other than that, I had no idea.

"Bring him over, we'll have a gay old time," Collins laughed. "Sebbie will be thrilled." He looked at me. "I'm sure Zero will love him, too, Don. You simply must stay and meet Henry."

"SYSTEM ONLINE," a mechanical voice called from the exam room.

"Wow," Collins checked his watch, "And no bill for overtime?" He laughed.

It had been a busy morning, and we were just about to call up Zero's scans again when the waiting room door burst open. It was that cop that had pulled us over, and helped Zero eat his chocolate lolli-cock!

My heart stopped.

He was carrying Zero, who was clutching him as if for dear life, and crying into his shoulder. He also had Sebbie by the hand, and the little slaveboy looked angry. In fact, the look on his face frightened me.

My first thought was that Zero had been hurt.

Don, you've got a call on line 1, they're taking Petey to the ER! Seems he fell off his bike again.

"WHAT'S HAPPENED?" Collins demanded, as his son ran to him, jumping into his arms. His façade suddenly broke, and Sebbie started to cry as his father held him. It was yet another side to Collins' personality as well, as he looked his boy over from head to toe.

Dr. Sebastian Collins, who'd just painfully taken away a slaveboy's bladder control and laughed about it, was terrified.

"Don, nice to see you again," Officer Clemens offered Zero to me.

I took him. When he'd left that morning, he'd looked like a smiling little brown dandelion with a black head gone to seed. Now his unruly hair was in neat cornrow braids, with gold beads that jingled on his gold collar. I scarcely had time to take in the new golden disc earrings when Zero seemed to realize that someone else had a hold of him. His eyes went wide.

"UNCLE!" He yelled, nearly choking me as he started sobbing again. He was shaking so badly that I was afraid he'd work himself up into a heart attack!

Don't send me back to that place, Uncle, I swear, I won't do it again! I'll be good, I promise!

"What happened?" I demanded of Clemens, while Collins was still looking Sebbie over.

"Someone tried to abduct the boys," the cop replied.

"WHAT?!" Collins gasped.

"It seems that Sebbie here gave him something to remember him by, too," Clemens went on. "I'm having the groceries and such delivered, by the way. The boys did nothing wrong, Sebastian. I'll handle the report. The store's also sending over a download of their surveillance video to the station, I'll send you a copy when we get it. Anyway, some old man feigned needing help in loading his groceries. Like the good boy that Sebbie is, he and Zero helped him."

"He knew Zero, Daddy," Sebbie sniffled, all traces of the Master-Slave relationship now gone again, "He knew him! He knew he got his gear at Daddy's Boys store!"

Zero's head came up. "Uncle! 'im! No! Zee-whoa no 'im! No dat mah'!"

"You know him, you know the man that tried to grab you?" I asked, nearly in tears myself at my boy putting together a coherent sentence!

Then it hit me. Clemens' padd beeped; he'd received a still image.

"The old man who bought the taser," I said darkly, recognizing the urbane fellow at once.

Zero nodded.

"You know this man?" Clemens asked.

"We've met. He was in the grocery store the first day I had Zero, and he bought a taser when we returned Zero's delivery gear to the slave accessory shop. That was the only thing he bought there."

"This taser?" He produced a sealed evidence bag. "That's the one," I nodded.

Clemens pulled out his own data padd again. "What day were you in the grocery store? They log all that stuff, you know. We can go over their video and sales records." He thought for a moment. "Seems our old man who likes tasers, and tries to steal other men's little slaveboys, buys a lot of food, then? You know, back in the old west, they'd take a horse thief and hang him!"

"What did you do?" Collins asked Sebbie, some degree of decorum returning. "Are you in trouble?"

"Sebbie very probably saved their lives, Sebastian," Clemens replied, "He kicked the guy in the face, and kicked his taser away." Clemens interrupted Collins before he could start. "It's perfectly legal, we have video, I saw it all, and besides – I don't think the would-be abductor is going to press charges!"

"I… I'm sorry, Daddy," Sebbie was still crying, and so was Zero.

"Matthew, would you go and get me a few cc's of Ativoll?" Collins asked, "I think these two need a long nap!"

Zero was still babbling through his tears, though. He was also still choking me.

"Your boy got a good look at the car, Don, but unfortunately, he can't tell us much about it," Clemens said. "You say you've met this man?"

"I think he's been following us," I told him, "It can't be a coincidence. Very dignified, quite urbane. The kind of guy you'd expect to see starring in one of those awful British dramas on the retro channels, you know?"

"Were you followed when you took Zero home from the slave auction?" Clemens asked.

"I don't think so?" I replied. I didn't really remember. There had been quite a bit of traffic that night.

"Anyone else you can think of that might want to hurt Zero, or you, for that matter?" Clemens pressed.

I thought about it. "I'm sure the auctioneer wasn't too happy with me when I hacked his data padd and made him sell me Zero for what he did," I admitted.

"Good, too bad you couldn't plant a virus in their net and bring them down," Clemens complained. "I'll get back with you," he assured us, and took his leave. Right after Sebbie and Zero thanked him affectionately. I was surprised; Zero really seemed to like Clemens.

Matthew returned with the Ativoll, which would relax both of the boys and put them to sleep for a few hours. Zero yelped at the injection, but I think he was still too upset to really notice it.

Collins ordered them to go and pee, then go straight to bed. Both of them insisted on being cuddled until the drugs kicked in, and they began yawning. We then locked them both in Sebbie's room, after restraining them together as they'd been the night before. They were asleep before we could even close the door. Neither of them protested a bit.

"Never a dull moment," Collins sighed, as we returned to his office.

"Will they be up when this Henry gets here?" I had to ask, wondering just what I was going to see in that boy.

Collins looked at the clock. "Yep, just in time for a late dinner. I know his daddy well, and Henry likes to eat. He's a fat kid, by the way."

"Pardon me?"

"Well, he's not fat-fat, he's a bit plump. He's thirteen, not much bigger than Sebbie, and his daddy likes him… plump!" Collins made a gesture with his fingers, indicating 'a little'.

"I wish Zero was plump," I admitted. When I'd held him, he'd felt so damn bony. But with the way he ate? Maybe if he worked out and gained some? More protein?

"We can fix that," Collins assured me, "Now, let's have a look at the scans of our hero, before Joey gets here!"

"Let's just isolate the head," I suggested. I brought up a view of Zero's head, which looked real enough to be a Halloween decoration – a severed head on a plate!

"My God, is that what I think it is?" Collins gasped, just as the door opened.

"Joey's here!" Matthew called, and a man yelled. "Cool!" A boy's voice declared. I switched the holo of Zero off.

We turned to see a young man standing there with a rather upset looking boy. He looked to be about seven or eight, a handsome young lad with sandy hair and a dash of freckles across his nose.

"I hate those scanner things," his dad declared, giving the little boy a push as Zero's floating head image vanished. "You know the drill, Cheese-boy," he snapped at him. "Doctor, he admitted he's not had a good movement in three days! Although I very nearly had one just now!"

"Sorry, sir, I'm here fixing the imaging systems," I offered.

"I can fix it, too," Collins grinned at the boy, gesturing at the side door to the bathroom. "You know the drill, Joey," Collins informed him.

"I know, I know," the boy whined, "Get naked, get on the table, get a hose put up my butt!"

"I'm beginning to think some time in a slave collar might do this one some good," Collins whispered to me. I snickered.

The analysis of Zero had to wait. I went back to checking over the computer, and I noticed that something wasn't running right in the imaging array. I called up the image again, tried to zoom it, but it froze. The image was distorted, but I figured there was no way I could be seeing what I thought I was seeing. Internal scans dealt in interpolated color, and the Zero's left hemisphere was the wrong color?

Meanwhile, little Joey was protesting. I looked up to see the naked boy strapped down on a sort of exam table, his dad glaring at him, as Collins was inserting a lubricated nozzle into his butt. Then he leaned the table back, elevating Joey's feet, and tipping him a bit to the right.

"I think a good dose of coconut oil soap should do it," Collins told him, "Let me know when it starts to cramp, Joey."

Of all the demeaning things a free boy could be put through, an enema in front of his dad had to be one of the worst. Joey's face was red, and his little cocklet was standing at full attention as Collins worked the plug nozzle into him. He then attached a small black ball to it, much like a blood pressure pump, and gave it a squeeze to inflate the nozzle so that Joey wouldn't leak.

"HEY!" Joey shrieked, as Collins turned on the flow. Joey trembled and began to sweat.

I fiddled with the imagers some more, but they weren't going to run. The image of Zero was frozen. The chip was good, but the system was hanging. It was like it was very busy with something else, but nothing showed up. I was perplexed. My first thought was a virus, as Clemens had suggested, but with the security? There hadn't been a case of a virus breaking into one of our systems in years! That was what I got paid for, and I did my job well.

I studied the problem while Joey was inflated like a water balloon. He whined and cried, and when he was finally allowed to evacuate his bowels, he looked pregnant! The procedure was repeated three times, and the boy could hardly stand when he was finally done. The smell was awful.

"No more cheese," Collins told them, for what I guessed was the umpteenth time. "And take a spoonful of this with each meal," He handed the dad a bottle of something. "For the next week!"

"Where's your boy, Doctor?" Joey's dad asked, "Isn't he usually here?"

"He's napping," Collins replied, "But thanks for asking."

"He's so well behaved, Doc. I might have to bring Joey over sometime to learn how you do it!" Joey's dad smiled.

"I'm sure we could take care of that," Collins grinned darkly at him.

Joey shuddered. It was clear that he was afraid of Sebbie! Or afraid of ending up like Sebbie, I had to wonder?!

"Awwwww!" Joey then whined, pulling his clothes back on and hastily heading for the door. "Well, tell Seb hi for me." Joey fled.

"Do take a rabbit home, won't you?" Collins called after them. "Problem?" He turned to me.

"System's hanging," I muttered, clearing it out and rebooting it.

"WORKING," the blasted machine said, "PROTECTED MEMORY CORE RESET!" That meant that the operating system was reloading itself back into RAM from its protected home on the main board, where it couldn't be damaged.

I looked over the hard drive files. I opened a large still-image file, one that would make a 3D printout. It was fine. I opened a video file that I found on the hard drive. It was enormous – nearly 15 terabytes of video. It played. I coughed. My face grew hot.

It was Sebbie, and he was cuddling and making out (well, as best that two chastity-locked boys could do!) with a plump little blond boy.

"Henry, I take it?" I laughed.

"It's legal, so long as I don't try and sell it," Collins defended himself. "Isn't he darling?" He added, but in a strange tone. He sat down heavily in a chair, trembling.

Again, the stern doctor and/or the strict slave's Master were gone. Collins was again a terrified parent who had just realized that he'd nearly lost his child.

I pulled up the images of Zero again.

The system hung.

Matthew screamed. We'd wiped out his winning streak at Solitaire.

"This is damn peculiar," I observed, giving Collins his dignity by not looking as called Matthew to bring him something to drink.

"Related?" He suddenly exclaimed. "Don, I find it hard to believe that the computers can run a 3D movie like that, but they can't replay Zero's holo-image?"

I rebooted the systems.

Collins scanned my hand. It was fine. He scanned his. Fine. Pictures, prints, movies, small holos of other people – fine.

Collins then called up a holo-image of Sebbie, full body. It ran fine for several minutes. "It works for images of Sebbie, but not Zero?" He then punched up another file. Without the full-res, which was what blew the chips, it played the image of a scan of broken-leg-boy, the one who'd just left.

But it wouldn't play Zero?

"I'll work on it tomorrow. I have some personal days I can take, in fact, I've not taken any for so long that I have a pile of them coming to me!" I said, "But no, I agree – there's something fishy going on here."

"The computers don't like Zero?" Collins mused, as his next client arrived.

It was an old man who had to be at least a hundred years old.

"Damn guard dogs!" He was yelling.

"Mr. Smith, those are Sebbie's rabbits," Collins reminded him. "Did your son bring you in today, Mr. Smith?" Collins shouted back.

"Rabid? I ain't rabid!" He groused, wheezing. "That last one sure were good, though! You got any good pork chops on sale this week, sonny?"

"Last… erm… you didn't?!" Collins gasped.

"I'll just go check on the boys," I offered, leaving Collins to tend to Mr. Smith – who had obviously thought that Collins' standing offer of rabbits was for grocery purposes!

"Where's that damn doctor at, boy?" Smith yelled.

"Sir, I'm the doctor, remember?" I could hear Collins shouting as I headed for the elevator.

Chapter 8
Henry

"Guess that defective kid of yours broke it?" He laughed. "Your personal day, do what you want with it."

"Asshole," I muttered, as I closed the connection and gave up on my project for the day. I could hear a chime sounding throughout the place.

"Henry's in the lift," Collins told me, as we headed down to the arboretum floor to greet him. "He must have taken a taxi."

As Collins had said, Henry wasn't fat, as in 'obese'. He was overweight, though. He was just a little plump, but nothing that a few months of dieting wouldn't solve. He was far from an unhealthy weight, and he had the kind of build that just made you want to squeeze him. Especially those cheeks. I had the overwhelming desire to pinch his pudgy cheeks!

He also had small buds of breasts, like most overweight boys do. They were about the size of a girl's just entering puberty, perhaps at the moment that she discovers that she's finally growing some. 'Little fat-boy boobs', I guess you could call them. All in all, he looked like a big cherub without the wings.

His blond hair was parted down the center, long and reaching past his ears, and all the same length. He had mischievous green/hazel eyes, and he was dressed only in slave gear that looked lightweight in a brushed aluminum finish. He wore cheap plastic flip-flops on his small feet, I assumed since he was traveling, and the usual slaveboy chain connected his ankles. But what caught my eye was the front of his belt – there was no pouch or bulge. It was flat against his crotch, with only a small drainage hole at the bottom. When he smiled at us, I could see braces on his teeth.

Henry had dropped his suitcase and bowed when the doors slid open. The he spread his feet, hands behind his back, eyes forward, standing at attention. "Hello, Master Sebastian!" He smiled adoringly at Collins. "Hello, sir," he glanced quickly at me.

"Henry, you will treat Master Don with the same respect that you do me," Collins warned him.

Henry's eyes went wide. "Yes, sir!" He snapped, bowing to me. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Master Don, sir. I'm sorry, I didn't know, sir! You may punish me if you like, sir!" He then turned and bent over, presenting us his well-padded buttocks.

"Uh, no, not yet?" Collins pressed him further.

Henry cocked his head, looking back around, confused. Collins held out his arms. Henry trotted carefully to him, and hugged him. If he'd jumped like Sebbie did, I figured he would have knocked Collins down! Then he kissed him on the mouth, very seriously.

"It's very good to have you here again, Henry." Collins turned to me, "Don, this is Henry. He belongs to a good friend of mine, Barry Jordan. Barry was doing some architectural redesign for the new City Center some years ago, when he found Henry living in an abandoned building. We just sort of kept him, once we got him away from the tender care of child services, that is," Collins' voice changed to something of a growl. There was a look in Collins' eye that told me that taking custody of young Henry perhaps hadn't been totally legal.

"Hello, Master Don!" Henry greeted me again, giving me the same greeting he'd given Collins. It wasn't as wet as Zero's kisses, but he was close!

All right, I admit it – I squeezed him. I figured he expected it. I mean, the kid was just… I don't know… what's the word? 'Squeezable'?

"Sir, where's Sebbie?" Henry asked, picking up his bag again. It took both hands for him to lug it.

"We were just going to get him up, he and his friend are down for a late nap. They had a bit of an ordeal this afternoon," Collins informed him, shuddering a bit. I saw him take Henry's bag and hold the boy's hand.

"Is Mason here too?" Henry's face lit up.

"No, but Sebbie has a new friend staying here. His name is Zero, and he's Master Don's new boy. You should know, Henry, that Zero is… unique. He can't talk very well, and he only says a few words. He's about your age, but he communicates on the level of about a three year old. You can't understand half of what he says. Do you understand?"

I was surprised to see Henry's round face go hard. "Did his old masters beat him up?" Henry asked me, his voice icy, "Want me to kick their ass, sir? I'm trained, you know."

"Thank you, Henry, no. Perhaps later you can give us a demonstration?" I had to repress a grin, "Zero is autistic, or something. He's very very good with numbers, but he has a hard time talking. He's also very emotional. He might be afraid of you at first. But yes, I think someone was very bad to him in the past."

Henry sniffled. "Didn't they feed him?" He asked, looking like he might cry.

OK, what did you expect from a fat kid?

The elevator arrived at the Collins' living quarters floor, and we got out. Henry kicked off his flip-flops and discarded them in the trashcan. He made a swift little bow, Collins removed his leg chain and dismissed him, and the pudgy blond scampered off with his suitcase to 'his room', as he was there whenever his Master traveled. Apparently it was often enough to warrant having his own bedroom?

"The thing about Henry," Collins was saying, as we went to get the boys, "Is that he's a stereotypical blond!" He laughed, "He's not too swift, and he's a little slut!"

"What?!" I exclaimed. What kind of way was that to talk about a child, slave or not?

"I am not!" Henry denied it, coming back down the wide hall. "Sirs!" He added. Then he patted his head. "Well, I am a blond." Then he thought about it. It looked painful for him. "What's a slut, sir?"

Collins grinned at me. "It means you'll let anyone who has a hard cock stick it in you," he told Henry.

Henry seemed to have to think about that one. "Oh, no, my daddy wouldn't like that, sir," He said innocently, looking like he was afraid he'd done something wrong. "Only you and him and our friends," Henry explained seriously. "But I guess since you're Master Collins' friend, Master Don, you can too – if you want to?" He nodded earnestly. "I mean, you don't have to, sir, since you've got your own boy. But I wouldn't mind if you did, sir!"

"See?" Collins smiled at me.

OK, so Henry was a dumb blond, and a slut.

We arrived in Sebbie's room, and Collins gently shook his son awake. He unlocked the boys, and Zero bolted upright as he always did, with a little squeak. He smiled when he saw me. "Uncle!" He called, rubbing his eyes as Collins hugged his dozy son. Then Zero spotted Henry.

"'ooo dat?" Zero asked, pointing. It was another step in the right direction for Zero; he hadn't panicked when he woke up, and he wanted to know who Henry was.

"Zero, this is Henry. He's Sebbie's friend, too. He's going to stay here while his daddy is off at work. OK?" I explained.

Zero walked over to Henry and poked him in the tummy like the Dough Boy on the old baking products commercial. "'eN'whee?" Zero said.

I saw Collins nod to him. Sebbie was still yawning. I guessed that he wasn't a quick riser.

"Hello, Zero!" Henry offered his hand. Zero just stared at him, seemingly fascinated.

"'dat eN'whee? Zee-whoa, Sebbie?" Zero kept pointing at himself, then the other two boys, in a circular motion.

"I'm sorry, Zero, Uncle doesn't understand?" I offered helplessly.

"Zee-whoa," he pointed at his own chest again. I remembered that I had just a bit over three weeks left to get his 'SLAVE' tattoo done there. "One," he pointed at Sebbie, who was now fully awake and cuddling with his father, "One," Zero pointed at Henry. "One," he pointed at Sebbie again. Then he shook his head. "One," he pointed at his own chest again. 'One' was a new word.

"Yes, Zero," Sebbie spoke up, "Henry's a slaveboy, just like us. See his collar and belt?"

Zero bent down and looked at Henry's belt. He tapped it once with his finger. "No oww-wee," Zero declared, nodding as if he finally approved of Henry. Then he held out his arms and hugged him, standing up on his tiptoes, and kissed Henry's cheek. Henry smiled at him and hugged him back, leaning down to kiss Zero's forehead.

"Can I touch your hair?" Henry asked Zero.

Zero nodded, and Henry ran his fingers over Zero's braids, making the gold beads clink on his collar. "You look so cool, Zero! Wish my hair could do that!"

Zero reached up and pushed the long hair off Henry's ears. They were unpierced and small, perfectly shaped with attached lobes. Zero petted Henry's long blond hair. Then he laughed again as Sebbie joined them, giving his old friend a passionate kiss.

"How long can you stay?" a now-awake Sebbie asked anxiously.

"A whole week!" Henry smiled. "Is Zero staying, too?"

Zero looked at me with those pleading brown eyes of his. It was at this point that I realized that Zero hadn't even really seen his new home in the daylight, on a good day, or even seen the back yard yet! Yes, it had been an exciting weekend.

Zero was nodding, his front teeth visible on his lower lip, nodding and begging silently…

"I think he is staying, yes," Collins suggested, in that tone that more than confirmed it. "Don, I think Clemens is right. Someone may be following you. I think you should stay. It's much safer here." He seemed to consider the boys for a moment, then he produced a key from his pocket. "Henry, did your daddy send your key with you?"

"Yes, sir, but I don't know why. It only works at home."

"Go and get it," Collins smiled.

I thought, What?

Collins rolled his eyes and sighed as Henry fled. Yes, Henry was a blond! Collins then unlocked Sebbie's gear, leaving him in only his little silver chastity pod. He used Henry's key to remove his gear.

"Wow, it works!" Henry laughed, placing his discarded gear with Sebbie's for later cleaning.

I unlocked all of Zero's as well, which he didn't seem to mind. I wondered why we were doing it, when I noticed Henry's crotch.

He wasn't wearing a pod like Sebbie's. He couldn't have, because Henry had no scrotum or testicles. All he had below his lonely penis was a faint white scar. He penis, such as it was, was capped with a metal crown that looked like a small golden acorn with a ring coming out the point. It looked like a tiny little ornament of some kind stuck onto his body, or that his penis had been coated in gold. I know I was staring at him, and so was Zero.

"'dat'a'oww-wee?" Zero asked curiously.

"What? Oh!" Henry squeaked, not the least bit self-conscious. "You like that, sir? Daddy calls it my acorn cap!" He laughed. "It's a little lock-cap for my dick, so I can't touch it."

"Henry had a beastly infection when Barry got custody of him," Collins explained, "Child services carried out the mandatory sterilization, since he was a foundling, but Henry got an infection that was so severe as to warrant the removal of his testicles. A few more days, and I'm not sure I could have saved him."

"I was real sick, sir. I was in the hospital here for a long time," Henry confirmed, nodding. "I had a pod like Seb's, but now I don't have any balls to hold it on. It's OK, though, 'cause I got a cool ring pierced in my dick to hold the cap on! Watch this!"

Henry then rotated the ring, which I thought must be wide enough to make urination difficult for him, as it would block up his urethra. He spun the ring around a few times, and I could see that it didn't have a seam.

I wasn't sure which was more arousing – the fact that Henry was a eunuch with a PA ring holding a chastity cap on his tiny cocklet, or the fact that the ditzy blond was so proud of it! I then noticed Zero shifting his weight from foot to foot.

"Go pee, now!" I told him.

Zero ran. I glanced over at the bed, as he hadn't been wearing a diaper, but it was dry. I congratulated him heavily when he returned, smiling.

"Zero, would you like to borrow a spare pod from Sebbie, to protect your parts?" Collins asked him seriously, pointing at Sebbie's pod. Zero smiled brightly and nodded. He even let Collins put it on, only whining a little, then he tapped it with his finger.

"Tak'ooo!" He gave Collins a kiss in return. It was so damn cute, how he didn't feel left out as he went to stand with Sebbie and Henry. He pushed between them and put an arm around each of their waists. He was just tall enough to reach their shoulders.

"Boys, now that you're stripped and won't sink, I want you in the pool for two hours," Collins told them, his old Master persona returning. Henry and Sebbie straightened up at once. Zero did too, when he saw them do it. "Your exercise is sadly lacking, I am sure! Sebbie!"

"Sir?"

"Get Zero a life vest. Or can you swim, boy?" Collins asked of Zero.

Zero nodded, making swimming motions with his arms. "'immm!" He squeaked, bouncing up and down in anticipation. Sebbie coughed. Zero flinched and snapped cutely back to attention.

"I shall be watching on the monitor while we make dinner," Collins warned them, "I want laps, boys!" He looked at Sebbie. Then his face softened. "But have some fun, too, OK?"

"Yes, Daddy!" Sebbie replied, and off they went.

"Don't worry, Sebastian is fully trained in lifesaving and CPR," Collins assured me. "Shall we make dinner, then?"

"I suppose?" I replied, imagining that Sebbie was probably good at mouth-to-mouth, too!

"This is all very… odd," Collins mused, as he rummaged around in the refrigerator. "Good thing I sent the boys out for supplies. If I'd known Henry was coming… the last thing we want is for him to lose any weight, as he always does when he's here. Barry will accuse me of starving him!"

Collins then switched on the monitor. The pool on the 9th floor was quite large; I wondered if I could even swim from one end to the other as I watched the three boys going back and forth, which soon turned into a race. I was amazed that Zero could swim so well. "He's just full of surprises," I thought aloud.

"So he is," Collins replied. "Clemens sent me the dossier on Zero, you know. I was surprised at how little information was in it. Don, I have to admit, I don't buy the back-story on Zero. Not a bit. I've dealt with slaves from our local Clearing House before – locals, long distance transfers, even imports. Imports are the worst. Any high school computer geek can almost always find some evidence of tampering in their dossiers. Which is why I'd like Matthew to take a copy. I'm sure one of his friends at the University can find something interesting in it.

"I'll give him the manufacturer's access code," I offered, "So long as he doesn't let it out! When I hacked into it when I bought Zero, all I really saw was how much they had invested in him. Then again, I didn't look hard."

"That's a huge help, if you've broken the data open already. The copy they gave you will have the encrypted data in it. It's the law."

"There was nothing else in it, Sebastian," I reminded him, and there hadn't been. "Not even the poor kid's name." He looked at me as if something were wrong. Unfortunately, my padd from the purchase of Zero was at home in my safe.

"Impossible. The bill of sale must, by law, contain all relevant data pertaining to the slave in question," Collins informed me. "Failure to do so will result in heavy fines. Our local vendors here nearly put themselves out of business about five or six years ago when they unloaded a bunch of Asian defectives on the local market. I know," Collins paused, throwing some steaks at the counter as if it had been their fault, "Because I had to try and clean up the mess."

I made a connection when he turned to face me. Again, the parent-persona. The pain in his eyes, the set of his jaw.

"You bought one of them?" I offered, "And he was sick?"

"No, Clem… Officer Clemens did." Collins said softly.

"That's why he's so hot to shut the place down?" I realized.

Collins nodded. "An adorable Chinese boy, about ten years old. Didn't speak a word of Standard. Come to think of it, it was a lot like having Zero around?" He sounded melancholy again. "I knew something was wrong with Jian when he bruised so easily. He was always cold, too. Pale, didn't gain weight, and Clem stuffed him with food," Collins used our officer friend's name in a diminutive, I noticed, as his tone changed more. "It sneaked up on all of us. Pancreatic cancer. He was dead in six months. I did all I could, but… he… Jian was probably sick when he was imported. I should have caught it. I should have had the full workup done, but… but…"

"But Jian was a slave, he looked OK, and why spend the CR's on a slaveboy for a full workup?" I prompted him, too coldly, perhaps. "Why buy the filet, when hamburger will do?"

"An apt analogy," Collins agreed. He picked up a coffee mug and threw it, shattering it against the far wall as I saw his anger beginning to cool.

Fragments of 'World's Best Master' and broken little chains of baked ink on porcelain lay all over the floor.

"I… I m-must sweep that up, Don," he added, distracted, "Do get the sprouts steaming, won't you, old boy? The boys will step on the shards, yes. Can't have that. We grow surprisingly attached in so short a time, you know?" He asked, grabbing up an antique broom off of the wall. It smelled of cinnamon as he swept. "Sebbie was only five. He looked up to Jian like a big brother; Clem was here so much, you know, left Jian when he was on the beat. Poor Henry and Mason, too – I scanned and poked and analysed them for weeks thereafter. Spent tens of thousands of CR's making sure they were fine. SHC doesn't cover most slave bills, you know. Sebbie was just devastated."

It had only been a few days, but I understood his words. Given the weekend, the transaction record of my purchase of Zero had probably just cleared the banks that day. And already, I couldn't begin to imagine life without him as I turned to stare at the monitor. Henry was coaxing Zero up onto the diving board.

It's only for a few weeks, Uncle! It's not like the troop is gonna fall over a cliff or anything!

I understood that void that Jian had left in this mysterious little circle of slave-owning friends. I hadn't seen Nephew in so long. How long had I been puttering around that big empty house of mine? A house that Zero hadn't even fully explored yet?

A house that might not be safe for him now?

The sprouts were steaming while the meat was thawing. We watched the monitor. Henry did a spectacular cannonball into the deep end.

"You have to give them a little freedom, now and then," Collins mumbled. "I was never sure what to do when I was left to my own devices, though. It's good for them to have friends, you know. Someone they can get into trouble with. It's always better to get into trouble with a friend," Collins sniffled. I made as if I hadn't noticed.

The boys played in the pool for almost two hours. They reported in to the kitchen when Collins called them, dry but still smelling of chlorine, standing there naked in a row. Zero went to fetch his glasses while Sebbie and Henry set the table. Sebbie uncorked a bottle of red wine, and I was surprised when Collins told him to fill four glasses. Zero took a sniff of the wine and promptly said, "NO!"

I had a pretty good idea of why Collins was serving the boys alcohol. "But it's good for the cardiovascular system," he informed me.

"Earthy, with an edge, a hint of oak and berry," Sebbie sipped the wine. "This the '27?"

"'29," Collins corrected him.

"Oh," Sebbie looked confused, as if his wine had talked back at him. "Not it's not, Daddy!"

Again, 'daddy' and not 'sir'.

Collins smiled at him. "Sebastian has quite the palate," he said seriously, "I was just testing, son. Very good." He smiled, all traces of his momentary grief and outburst now gone. I had to wonder about his state of mind. I was also amazed at his passion for a boy that wasn't even his. Just what kind of Master was Collins?

A good one that I can learn from, I told myself.

"Sit at the table boys," Collins ordered them, which confused Henry when he saw the five chairs and five set places. The boys did as they were told, all of them sitting at the back corner together.

They devoured their rare steaks, steamed sprouts seared in grease with cheese sauce, and salads in bleu cheese on the side. Zero wrinkled his nose when he saw his friends drinking wine, and was content with iced lemon water. I thought the wine was quite good. It was funny watching Sebbie trying to teach Zero how to use a fork, and I was certainly glad that I'd cut his steak beforehand! When dinner was over, poor little Henry just sat there perplexed.

Zero ate his meal. He ate what I didn't. He ate what Sebbie couldn't.

"Where'd he put it all, sir?" Henry asked me of Zero. If you could impress the fat kid, I suppose, you were really accomplishing something?

Collins then served a honey-sweetened cheesecake for dessert. Henry's portion was a bit larger, but Sebbie looked worried. "You'll pay for that tomorrow," Collins warned him, "I don't want you gaining weight, and Barry will be angry if Henry loses any."

"Yes, sir," Sebbie sounded worried, but he did eat his.

Amazingly, Zero took one bite of his and pushed it away. "No," he shook his head, but he did pick the berries off and eat them with his fingers. Zero didn't like cheesecake?!

Once the boys had done the dishes (Zero only broke one salad bowl), we retired to what passed for the family room. Collins turned on the television and let them watch an old movie while they cleaned their gear. Soon the smell of polish and chlorine together became overwhelming. I noticed Henry rocking against the couch with his legs crossed, buffing away at his aluminum-finished collar.

"I know what you're doing, sit still, Henry," Collins snapped at him.

"Yes, sir! Sorry, sir!"

"He's moving his plug around, trying to pleasure himself," Collins informed me, "The little sneak just can't wait."

Zero was sitting next to me on a loveseat, continually showing me his progress on cleaning his gear and not interested in the movie in the least bit. That was, until the main character – a spy – went to key in a stolen access code for a bank vault that he was breaking into. Zero locked in on that, and started babbling the words "one" and "zee-whoa" so fast that I couldn't keep up.

"Zero, buddy, what are you talking about?" I asked him. He reached into my pocket and pulled out my phone. He saw a money icon on the screen and touched it. He stared at it intently. Collins came to watch.

"Dat," Zero said. Then he pointed at the TV. Then he went back to staring at the phone. The display was moving slowly, as if it were hanging up. I looked at Collins. Zero had only had my phone once, and that was when he'd called Marv for me after only having seen his number dialed once.

As Zero stared at the phone, the browser opened and went to my bank's website. Zero had called it up, somehow?

"Welcome, Mr. Donovan Jameson, input access code," the bank's automated site spoke through the phone. Zero began pecking at the touchscreen, his face hard and intense.

"Daddy, the TV froze up!" Sebbie then exclaimed.

"Dat," Zero said again, and handed me the phone. I looked up. The TV was frozen, all right. But my phone wasn't. Zero smiled at me.

"Mother of hell!" Collins gasped, his jaw dropping. "Don, look at that! Is that right?"

My account balance was CR+64,000,000!

The TV unstuck, skipping ahead several minutes into the movie. The spy was long gone with the money.

"Boys, go and run a bath, now," Collins told them. "Plugs out, in the sink, lots of soap. Zero, you make sure and soak your hair good, OK?" Collins said, "I need to talk to Don, all right?" He added firmly. The boys fled. Zero lingered a moment, then he kissed my cheek. "Dat," He pointed at the phone again. "Uncle?"

"Yes, it's very nice, Zero, thank you," I told him, unsure of what had just happened. Then he took off, laughing.

"My, my, you're rich, old man," Collins smiled at me. "Money like that, and you bought a cheap slave?" He joked.

"I don't have millions of CR's!" I blurted, "How did Zero do that?!"

"The TV froze when he grabbed the phone," Collins mused, "Holo-scans of him won't play? He blew up the computer system yesterday? The new system hangs today? I have a hunch," Collins went on. "He was babbling, ones and zeroes. What works with only ones and zeroes?"

"Computer code, binary," I replied, "It's the standard. That's how computers 'think'. One or zero, yes or no."

"Right," Collins agreed, looking pleased about something, "But we'll deal with it tomorrow."

"I'm going to prison for embezzlement!" I fretted. "Zero's gone and stolen someone's money! BUT HOW?!"

I turned the phone off, dropping it as if it were a snake.

"Clemens will fix it," Collins assured me, "And if not, I know a Federal agent or two."

There was much splashing and carrying on coming from the bathroom. Collins was deep in thought. "Let's go make sure the boys get their enemas. Left to his own devices, a slaveboy will never give himself one that's hot enough, soapy enough, or with enough volume."

As he'd suggested before, I only gave Zero a couple rinses with the bulb. Henry and Sebbie, however, got the full red bag treatment. Collin had them get out of the tub, fetch a couple of small padded benches from the closet, and lay there on their backs until the both of them had been given about one litre [~1 qt.] each. Collins didn't want to overload them, since they'd only eaten about three hours before. Two rinses was all it took. When they were done and washed off, they were all sent to get their clean gear and put back in it – sans plugs.

"Don, why don't you and Zero take your guest room? It's getting quite late, and well…" he left it hanging.

From the looks on Sebbie's and Henry's faces, I didn't have to guess what was about to happen to them!

"Unless you'd like to…?" Collins hinted, glancing quickly at Zero.

"Oh, I don't think that's a good idea, not yet," I replied graciously. "Say, do you have a hair dryer for Zero's braids?" I tried to change the subject.

Sebbie went and got one. Henry looked a bit hurt.

"I have to take care of Zero, Henry," I told him. "OK? Maybe next time?"

"Yes, sir," Henry smiled, obviously relieved. "I was afraid you didn't like me, sir."

I gave him another squeeze. He was just so damn adorable, with the disappointed way he'd reacted when he'd realized that I wasn't going to have sex with him.

"Sebbie, why don't you go and show Henry how happy you are that he's come over to play?" Collins suggested to Sebbie. "I'll be along shortly."

"Yes, sir!" Sebbie snapped to.

"Uncle?" Zero asked, as I dried his hair on 'low'. He was fascinated by the dryer and kept trying to grab it.

"Bedtime, soon," I told him.

"Oh," Zero said. Then he got up, kissed everyone goodnight (seriously and wetly, as always!) and came back to get his hair dried.

"He doesn't know, I don't think," I could hear Sebbie telling Henry on the way out. Henry got a smart slap to his plump arse on the way out from Collins.

Our room was far enough away that we wouldn't hear anything, for which I was glad. Zero had been through enough already, and I was certain that he didn't know what Henry and Sebbie were in for. It wasn't that I didn't want to. Sebbie was very enticing – in a strange, psycho-killer sort of way? Henry, on the other hand, well… who could say 'no' to a plump little blond doughboy like that?

Me, apparently.

Once I had Zero dried off, he retrieved his plug and a pair of Goodnights, holding them both out to me. I fitted his plug, while he squirmed and cooed, and then stood there shifting around until it got to where he liked it. I strapped it in place to his belt. Zero tapped the front cover, where his diminutive genitals were safely locked away, and laughed. He held out his arms, and I picked him up and carried him to bed.

"Guess you get to sleep with Uncle tonight, buddy," I told him, depositing him in the bathroom. Moments later, teeth brushed, peeing done, and we were in bed. It had been an exhausting day.

"Uncle?" Zero asked, as I checked over the short chain I'd chosen for his legs so he couldn't go wandering or sleepwalking. "Sebbie, iN-whee, doc – bet?"

It was the first time Zero had said 'doc'. I guessed that he meant Dr. Collins. "Yes, they went to bed, Zero. Doctor is very upset by what happened today, and he wants his boy safe with him, like us, OK?" Zero nodded at me, snuggling closer. He was shaking, just a little, as he remembered it all.

I pulled him close and kissed his bent little nose. He looked like a totally different boy with his hair in beads and braids and his new earrings. I could feel my cock hardening, suddenly jealous of Collins and what I knew must be going on at the other end of our residence floor.

"Zero, do you know what sex is?" I asked him.

"No?" He replied. Then again, 'no' was a standard answer.

We cuddled and kissed for a while. Zero seemed to like that. He'd whimper when I'd touch him in certain spots, and he'd tense up and yelp when I touched his armpits. He was extremely ticklish, and he squirmed and laughed when I sucked his earlobes. I was rubbing his tummy with one hand, and reached around to gently manipulate his plug with the other. It wasn't easy through his big-boy diaper, but I also didn't want to hurt him. Zero whimpered and kissed me harder.

I could tell he was enjoying it.

Myself, I was almost in pain! I so wanted some relief, but as bad as I needed it, I didn't want to scare my boy. Not after the day he'd had. I laughed when I thought about the role reversal – I was his master, but I was only concerned with his pleasure.

Then he said "no" again. I stopped.

"Didn't that feel good?" I asked him.

Zero nodded, but it was clear that he wanted to stop. He then sat up, crawled down a bit, and pulled my boxers down. My cock sprang straight up, already wet with precum and aching. Zero studied it intently. I had to wonder if he knew that he'd never grow up to know the pleasures that a man can have? Or would he? Would his little mutilated balls ever be able to send him through puberty? Could he even feel sexual pleasure, as a man, if just touching his genitals made him cry now?

"Zero, what are you doing?" I asked.

He then kissed the tip of my cock, a thin strand of juice connecting his lips to it when he pulled back. He licked his lips, looking adorably confused again.

"You don't have to do that, Zero," I told him, although I certainly wasn't going to stop him – so long as he didn't bite me as he had that chocolate sucker!

Zero smiled and shook his head, his beads jingling on his collar. Then he took my cock in his mouth, sliding his head down and taking it just as he had the candy. Every now and then, I felt his teeth as he worked, but only a bit. Back and forth, he moved his head, that melodious jingle keeping time with his movements.

I'm not exactly huge, mind you, but I'm well within the Bell Curve for size, OK? And Zero had no problem taking my entire length. It was clear that he knew what he was doing, after a few minutes!

That, or he was one hell of a quick study.

A few minutes was all it took. I held him by the upper arms as I felt climax approaching. I made to push him off, but Zero would have none of it. He tightened his mouth, gripped my forearms in his small hands, and took my entire load as I groaned in relief.

For all things, they say, there is a first time.

I was spent.

I looked up, but Zero had a strange look on his face. His cheeks were popped out, much like a squirrel who'd found a nut to store. He licked his lips once, catching a small drop of goo that had escaped. It looked like he didn't like it? Then he hurriedly hopped down, shuffled to the bathroom as best he could, and soon I heard some rather soulful spitting! "Ewww! Ewww! Ewww!" He was babbling.

I had to laugh. Water was running, and Zero was brushing his teeth again! I laughed harder. I laughed until I was in tears. I heard him gargle, as he'd seen me do, and he smelled of mouthwash when he came shuffling back and crawled in beside me.

"You OK?" I asked, kissing his nose.

"Ohhh-taaay," he parroted me. "Wuv-ooh, Uncle," He said.

Then he snuggled in beside me, gave me a minty-wet kiss on the mouth, and went right to sleep. It was like nothing at all unusual had just happened. He'd given me the best blowjob I'd ever had, the very first one, and now he was just going to go to sleep?

'Sixty-four million'? I thought about the phone incident again.

There was certainly more to my Zero than met the eye.

NEXT PART