Chapter 1

 

The four of them initially gravitated together from a common interest in and skill at gymnastics while at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. It was just the two pairs originally and then the two couples joined up. In time, they learned of another common interest: slavery. The acquisition, training and sale of human beings. And then the breeding of new slaves also entered into the mix.

At the time of their first get-togethers Peter was aged twenty-five and the other three, twenty-two and were about half-way through their respective courses. Peter Griffiths was a medical student and a very gifted one. His girlfriend, Jane Arnold, was studying genetics as part of a science course, while Jim Jones and Maggie Bond were both physical education students and also boy and girlfriend.

But as said earlier, all were very keen gymnasts and competed for the university in that sport. This led to a friendship that became very close and resulted in their renting a house together in nearby Clayton.

This growing association and friendship led to the discovery that each of the four them harboured a rather outré interest in slavery and their mealtime discussions more and more centred around that subject.

And then it in turn led to a plan to become slavers themselves. Not that they seriously contemplated it ever coming to fruition but it was wonderful to pretend they were actually planning to set up a real-life slaving enterprise in this modern age.

Slavery was still very much a highly secret and underground business. Oh yes, now and then the media would latch on to some notion of 'white-slaving' where comely young women and men disappeared and slaving was mooted as the possible motive for it but no-one seriously believed it although many read the article salaciously and dreamed of owning a harem of beautiful girls (and the gays among them, handsome young men).

The discussions turned into real planning sessions with potential locations being investigated, buildings planned, kidnappings of likely slaves (often the sons and daughters of well-to-do citizens) thought out and even breeding plans to 'grow' their own product were in the melting pot. Contacts with likely customers in Africa and the Middle-East were invented and their island stronghold planned to include an elegant showroom and luxurious accommodation for potential upmarket clients.

They delighted in these discussions and actually delegated specific tasks to each of their number, thus Peter offered to research the availability of a suitable island off the beaten track but accessible by sea or helicopter; Jane was to look into the process of acquiring suitable slaves; Jim volunteered to develop training regimes for them and Maggie to investigate possible clients.

Even with these rather extensive investigations, none of them thought of them as anything other than a delightful pastime, even if more and more of their limited free time was taken up with them.

Their sex life was normal in the extreme, even if rather energetic. They weren't into kinks. Not even to swapping their girlfriends or indulging in group sex with the other couple. As the months and years of their university lives passed, their 'hobby' became almost an obsession although they were ultra-careful to mention it to no-one outside their immediate circle and while they continued with their gymnastics practice (for they were also obsessive about building and maintaining perfect bodies and gymnastics alone, at least apart from ballet, is the perfect tool to achieve that end) all other outside activities were abandoned.

Jane, Jim and Maggie graduated the same year but Peter, as a medical student still had a year of residency. If he wished to practice medicine as a GP in Australia, he would also have to acquire the further qualification from the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners.

But after graduating, the other three (as well as Peter, of course) decided that their friendship (and their joint hobby) was more important than seeking well-paid jobs in other climes and each of them found a niche at the university, Jane as a research assistant with her professor and the other two as teaching-aides in the physical education department.

And still they continued with their investigations, now having a room in their house set aside for their files and other results of their researches.

Still however, it was all clinical. They didn't play at being master (or mistress) and slave, and all their subjects were pure myth. They never discussed a friend, acquaintance or even a passer-by as a potential slave. Weird? You bet it was. But they didn't think so. To them, this was just a hobby, albeit one which they never mentioned to anyone outside themselves so their parents, relations and friends (what remained of them, anyway) had no inkling of their strange investigations.

But then it all changed. It was right at the end of Peter's residency and he was now a fully-qualified MBBS, if not an FRACGP. Every week they had an ongoing entry in Gold Lotto and that Saturday night, the numbers they had been entering (largely unsuccessfully) each week over the last three years came up and they were the only ones to have them and they were richer to the tune of twenty-five million dollars.

They sat there in front of the TV, stunned and checking the numbers over and over again, but then the phone rang and the Gold Lotto official on the line confirmed it for them.

And still they sat, silent but with eyes searching those of their companions until finally Peter voiced what had been tumbling through each of their minds for the last hour.

Could they actually do it? They now had the wherewithal and their plans had told them the initial setting up of their enterprise could be within their new resources and no, the luxurious accommodation and sales area would have to wait, but they were already sure that if they had the product, the buyers would forgo the five star quarters.

 

"Let's do it, people," said Jane, her brown eyes flashing in excitement at the prospect. "We've worked hard. We've crossed all the T's and dotted all the I's. We even have an island selected.

And the others were just as excited. That they were considering embarking on a highly illegal and morally reprehensible undertaking didn't even enter into their heads. Were they mad? No, not in the legal sense, anyway. It was just that this whole thing had become a total obsession with them all.

Maggie had developed a list of people, mostly from Africa and the Middle East but some from Japan and other parts of the Far East as well as a few in other locations, who proved to be genuine buyers of slaves and who had the means of keeping their purchases secret.

She had even contacted one, an oil-rich Middle-Eastern nabob named Ali who had assured her that if they ever got their business up and running and were able to market the quality of slave she had intimated, the rewards would be very generous indeed.

Jane had been concentrating on suitable slave material. Here at least they had some scruples. Not many, but some. While good looks, muscularity, skin tone and availability were prime concerns, the moral worth of the victim was a consideration as well.

And so once the first four criteria were satisfied, she had looked into the characters of her subjects. Many, she rejected as being model citizens. Some she filed for further consideration, but others she included in her final list.

Of necessity, her guinea pigs were all local Melburnians as she had neither the resources nor the time to investigate further afield than her home town. But she had still built up an impressive list of around a dozen male and female subjects who fulfilled all the necessary qualifications and were bastards of one sort or another into the bargain.

Ann Fothergill is a prime example. She was the beautiful daughter of a very successful businessman who had made millions in a relatively short time and like many of the newly-rich, was not only gauche himself but spoiled rotten his snobbish and even more socially inept daughter.

They had all agreed she would be the first of their acquisitions once (if) they ever started out for real.

Ann is indeed beautiful and she knows it and flaunts it, but then snaps at anyone who doesn't kowtow to her. She is a classic beauty with lovely violet eyes, a figure to die for and 'peaches and cream' skin as good as it gets. Her breasts are not too big but perfectly complement her slim waist and hips and her thighs and legs are just right, too.

But her bad manners and contempt for anyone she considers beneath her make her an extremely unpleasant person. People still sucked up to her though, because of her father's wealth and he was a doting parent who was quite insensible of her bad points.

The four slavers now decided she would be their first acquisition.