Clive Bedford - Mistress of torment

"Did you struggle?" asked Dodds.

"No. What was the use? Besides, I've told you. I'm timid… In fact, I'm a damned coward! I was petrified with fear if you want to know… A bit later, some more of these people came into the room, and one of them pressed a mask against my face. I went out like a light, and I know it was some kind of anesthetic. When I came to, I was lying on my back on the couch, and I was loose… not strapped down I mean and the back of my neck was sore, as though I had been stung by an insect!"

"That was when they fitted that micro-miniature transmitter to him," Dodds said to Gerry.

"It must have been, if you say so. It was several days before the place stopped itching, but I did not attend to it because I assumed something had stung me as I walked on the common in the dark…" Johnson subsided into silence, and for one dreadful moment Dodds was afraid that the Andromedans had brought him under control.

"What happened next?"

Johnson roused himself with an effort. He had been lost in thought. "Another one of these people… I've told you they all seem to be women, haven't I… came into the room. She was very tall and beautiful, with dark hair. And she spoke English. The others had jabbered among themselves in a language like nothing I had ever heard before… but she spoke English; very good English too."

"That was probably the one you found at the Westland," muttered Dodds to Gerry. "Go on…"

"She talked to me…"

"What about?"

"She told me… that I was perverted. She made me crawl around on the floor… and… and… kiss her boots… they had the highest spike heels I have ever seen… and she whipped me… not too hard… not like that American girl got whipped tonight… You know, I'm terribly sorry about that. I'd never have…"

"Keep to your story for now," said Dodds, gently.

"Well, the upshot of all this was that I… I ejaculated if you must know. It was an experience I had always dreamed of… but it had never happened before…"

"Me to the life," thought Gerry, grimly. He was beginning to perceive that the Andromedans knew a whole lot more about human nature than he had imagined.

And then she made me lie down on the couch again and she brought this sheath thing; like a chastity belt and fitted it on me…

"How did she do that?" asked Dodds, suddenly interested.

"It was wet… it stretched to fit over me then she dried it with a gun-shaped thing, like a hair-dryer… and after that I couldn't get it off. I've worn it ever since… It's very difficult I'm totally deprived of sexual satisfactions except when she lets me have it."

"How? How does she let you have it?"

"I can't explain. Fantastic visions seem to appear in my mind, and after a bit I have an orgasm. That's all I know. It's wonderful when it happens, but I have no control over it at all. I never know when it's going to happen…"

"And then?"

"Then some of the others came back and took me back to the entrance. They shoved me into the vestibule where I found my clothes. When I was dressed, the door opened and the ladder went down. I went down to the grass and I heard the door close… I ran like hell back to my car… and when I reached it the thing had – disappeared. Just like that. Without a sound. There was only that faint phosphorescence glowing over the grass… I drove back to my apartment very slowly. I felt that I must have had some kind of brain-storm… until I got home and found that the chastity-belt was genuine enough…"

"You did not report this to the police?"

Doctor Johnson stared at Dodds, pityingly. "Chief Inspector Dodds, from your rank I assume you to be an intelligent man. Can you imagine me going to the police with a tall tale like that? Imagine trying to explain that kind of story to a station sergeant in the early hours of the morning! Imagine my position as consultant at a leading hospital if some scruffy newspaper reporter had been there with his ears flapping! No, the police have their uses, but with all deference, innocent people are best out of their company!"

"What happened after that?"

"Nothing for a couple of days. Then I began to get instructions."

"Instructions?"

"Yes. Like the ideas in my mind. No words, but ideas… that's the best I can say to describe it. I feel, 'I must do so and so', and I have to do it."

"Why do you have to do it."

"If I don't, I shall be punished."

"How?"

"I'm not sure. Once, early on, it was not convenient to obey at once, and after fifteen minutes I had a terrible, blinding headache come on. I thought I'd go mad… but since I had to stop seeing patients until I recovered, I did what I'd been told to do, made a phone call… and at once the headache stopped, just like that… I imagine, now I know, that for extreme disobedience they would kill me!"

"You may be sure of that," said Dodds, grimly. "However, I want you alive for a time because as far as I know at present you are our only possible contact with the Andromedans. Glasner, give me a sheet of your notebook and the pen." He took the paper and printed on it, in large capitals, "DO NOT KILL THIS MAN HE WILL HAVE MESSAGES FOR YOU FROM BRITAIN."

"Hold that in your hand and keep concentrated on it. It's your only hope – and it may be ours too! If you let your mind wander, you'll be dead in seconds after they make contact with you." He stood up, staring down at the doctor, who sat with his eyes wide, staring at the sheet of paper, which trembled visibly in his grasp.

"Poor devil," he said, surprisingly. "It's funny but a coward always dies twice – once when he gets the warning, and again when it happens – Oh well… we'd better go, Gerry. There's things to be done. You can spend a few minutes with Sonia Evans if you want to."

Sonia did not speak. She was heavily sedated. But she recognized Gerry, and when he took hold of her hand, she returned the pressure. He bent over her and whispered something, and she smiled wanly. Then he turned to the door where Dodds was waiting.

"Now let's get you cleared before we go," said Dodds. "By the way, what did you say to make that poor girl smile, if it's not too personal?"

"I asked her to let me know the date of our wedding next time she saw me," smiled Gerry. Dodds felt he would never cease to wonder at the sheer optimism of human nature that would make plans for marriage even though the world was about to go up in flames!

Gerry waited at his apartment as he was told, guarded by armed men inside and out. It was embarrassing for him when he had to ask one of them to unlace the back of the corset, but his grim face dared the officer to make any comment. Clothed, with his own personality restored, bathed and fed, he felt a whole lot better and more able to cope with what might happen. Around 10:30 a.m., the phone rang and one of the guards answered it.

"For you," he said, giving Gerry the phone.

"Dodds," said the voice. "I want you to meet me outside Number Ten at 11 a.m. precisely."

"Number Ten Downing Street?" asked Gerry, incredulous. "What other Number Ten is there? Don't be late."

Replacing the phone thoughtfully, Gerry called his office and asked to speak to Chief Inspector Dodds.

"Was that you who called me a minute ago and asked me to meet you in Downing Street Sir?"

"Yes. Why?"

"Just checking. Didn't want to walk into a trap."

"Good man. See you!"

To Gerry's surprise they took him to his interview in an armored limousine, usually reserved for visiting heads of state. And instead of driving to the front door, they smuggled him into the house through a mews at the back. He was shown into an anteroom where Dodds was already waiting.

"Getting the VIP treatment, Glasner," he smiled. "We shan't have to wait long."

A few minutes later a grey-faced, soft voiced young man in a morning suit took them away and showed them into a room, more like a gracious living room in a private mansion, which in a way it was, than an office which, in another way it also was. The man behind the desk had a strong face, lined and anxious-looking. But he greeted them cheerfully and invited them to sit down.