chapter 2

Exhausted as they were, the three women slept even asl the afternoon sun crept through the large window in the common area. They were roused instead by a knock at each of their doors by Colton as he repeated, “Ladies? It is time for breakfast. I’ll wait for you out in the hall.”

Once they all showered and got a change of clothing out of the closets, they opened the door to find Colton waiting for them. “This way, ladies.” He led them to the same dining room as before, but the table was piled with breakfast foods this time.

Each of the young women hesitated for a moment as Colton pull a chair out for her, but inevitably sat down. They started picking at the small pile of food on their plates, and ate nominal amounts in small bites.

Colton looked on at this display of moderation, and stated, “Surely you would like to have more than that. There is plenty here, so there is no need to restrain yourselves.

The girls looked at each other amid the piles of pancakes, sausages, and other foods. After a moment, Anaisha said, “Thank you, but I have eaten all that I need, and it appears the same is true for Tia and Lucile.”

Colton replied, “But you ate a healthy amount yesterday, so it was assumed you would eat similarly today.”

Tia spoke up. “Yesterday, we’d been literally starving, so we overdid it a bit. Now that isn’t a problem anymore, thanks to your hospitality, so we don’t need to eat as much.”

“Are you certain you don’t want more? I don’t know if you saw the sweet rolls over here between the waffles and the bacon…”

Lucile interjected, “We said we are finished! Girls, allons y!” She backed her chair out and stood. The other two followed suit and the three went back across the hall to their rooms.

As they left, Anaisha added, “Please let us know when you’ve contacted help for us. Thank you.”

Colton walked them across the hall and replied, “I will be on my way to the communications room now, in fact.” He ushered them in an closed the door.

The young women all sat down on the wide padded chairs in the common area. Tia asked, “What do you think that was all about? How could he expect us to eat even a sizable fraction of all that food?”

Lucile replied, “I neither know or care. He just better be talking to someone in that communications room!”

In a room full of computer monitors showing video feed from cameras scattered all about the property, Colton watched the one showing the girls’ common room before turning to a lone screen showing a shadowy figure. “Sir, as you can see, they aren’t going to overindulge on their own. The odds were extremely low that all three had the right personality type.”

A digitally altered voice came through the speaker. “Well then, Colton, you’re going to have to ‘persuade’ them to be. I’ve decided I want these three to be my ‘ton of girls’ that I have often talked about.”

“I remember sir - a small group of women that combine to weigh a ton. Just to clarify, that is a metric ton, is it not?”

“Of course it is! Now, get started. Execute any of the measures I have approved, just get those women to a ton as fast as humanly possible!”

“Yes sir, it will be done.” As the communication screen went black, Colton turned to watch the women sitting and talking before going to make sure everything was in order.

Back in the common room, the women talked and just relaxed, not having been able to do that since before the flight. Even so, Lucile was a bit peeved. “I don’t see how it is taking so long just to have someone come and get us! How hard could it be to send a plane, or a helicopter?”

“They might not have an airstrip here,” Tia reasoned. “For that matter, we don’t even know where we are, only that our plane crashed somewhere in the ocean.”

Anaisha remained silent, but gave a small sniff when Tia mentioned the plane crash.

Tia reassured, “Please don’t cry, Anaisha. For all we know there were many survivors.”

“Yes, please don’t cry...again,” Lucile chimed in, and then, at a look from Tia, asked, “What?”

As Tia opened her mouth to speak, there was a knock on the door. “Ladies?” Colton’s voice said, “I have news.”

“Come in.”

Colton opened the door and said, “I feel I should start with an explanation of our situation. This island has but one plane, except at the times when my employer is using it to conduct business, as he is now. He is generally incommunicado until her returns, which on this occasion won’t be for weeks.”

Tia interjected, “Wait, he just leaves you and the staff here without any way to get off the island?”

“Well, there is the radio equipment. However, it has been faulty recently, and it took some effort to reach anyone. You see, we are outside of any major shipping lane or commercial flight path, so raising someone, even when the radio is functioning properly, is difficult. However, I was able to contact a vessel of the U.S. Navy that was performing drills or some such in the vicinity, and is willing to take you aboard for humanitarian purposes. They should be here in under a week.”

The young women smiled and started talking at once. Eventually Tia’s voice rose above the other’s as she said, “That is good news! Thank you, Colton!”

Colton remained stoic and replied, “It is nothing, Madam. Now, if you’ll permit me, dinner is served.” He turned to the doors across the hall and opened them. Curious what gluttonous extravagance awaited them, they all got up and followed him, only to find the table only had a few dishes in reasonable quantities.

Allowing themselves to be seated, each woman was please to have normal portions of meat, potatoes, and even a salad grace their plates. They talked and ate and generally relaxed. Once they were done, Colton pulled out their chairs for them without any coercion, and they went back to their suite.

After a while, Colton saw in the monitors that they had fallen asleep in the common room. Knowing that the drug that was in their dinner worked as planned, he pressed a button. The door to the hall opened, and in walked three metallic androids. Each gently picked up one of the women and took her to her bedroom. Once they had them laying under the covers, Colton hit another button, and three snake-like tubes descended from the ceilings above them. In unison, the androids took the tubes and safely inserted them down the young women’s throats. Another button pushed, and a viscous liquid slowly made its way down each of the tubes and into their stomachs. Its pace was enough to make them full, then only add more as they digested it through the night.

All through this process, Colton watched on the monitor.

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“Yes, Mother, I am having a wonderful time. Three more cities and then I’ll be home. Okay, love you, au revoir.” Lucile hung up her phone just as a Middle Eastern couple made their way back to the coach section. They were late enough that the attendant had just closed the curtains between sections, and had to open them for the pair. Feeling inconvenienced for no good reason, Lucile said to no one, “Can’t people board when they are called?”

As the plane took off, she used this opportunity to look around at the men in first class with her. She was looking at how wealthily they dressed, and how calm and confident they were during the ordeal of takeoff. Spotting a few potential candidates, she made a point to get to know them during the flight.

Unfortunately, no sooner had they collected the champagne glasses than a voice came over the loudspeaker. “Ladies and Gentlemen, this is your Captain. We are about to experience some severe turbulence, so we would ask all passengers to return to their seats and fasten their seatbelts until further notice. Thank you.”

As the violent shaking started, Lucile tightened her seatbelt and cursed the turbulence fro delaying her flirtatious plans.

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