es, although it was much harder for Maria. Worried about Joseph, it took her several days to come to terms with her new position, and, even though she knew she had no choice about being there, she had to admit that she had been treated well. Atamo hadn't pushed her as much as he probably could have, he was no fool. He knew that breaking Maria in slowly would yield him the sweetest fruit. He was a patient man. There was one way that Maria and Tonya were treated alike. Maria noticed it only after a couple of days, while it took a week for Tonya to catch on. Neither of them were ever fucked, by anyone! At night, Atamo would indulge himself fully with both his bed companions, but it was always Misa with whom he committed this particular act. At first Maria didn't mind, she was finding it hard enough just to succumb to his other sexual needs, but as time went on, self doubt began to creep into her mind as night after night her body was spurned in favor of Misa's. She began to wonder what is was that was wrong with her. What was it about her that repelled Atamo and caused him to perform that most intimate act with Misa alone. She began to see herself as less of a person and unconsciously began to strive harder to please him. Tonya didn't notice because at first she was unaware of how sexual favors were dispensed among the slaves and crew. Through talking she found out that each night in a separate room, three girls were kept for the entertainment of the crew. With three different girls being taken each night, Tonya figured that she had to come up in the rotation sometime, but for some reason she was being skipped. Oddly enough, it was Tonya who found out why. Carmen, the German girl who was the only other non-oriental slave aboard, told her that the only reason she hadn't been given to the crew yet was because she had yet to see Atamo's private doctor to be surgically sterilized. All of Hiro Atamo's women were given hysterectomies. This scared Tonya, she wasn't ready to give up their ability to have children some day. For Tonya, it was a big reason to get off the boat and back to her real life. If she had known that Maria was aboard and in much the same position, it would have worried her even more. Misa held out on giving Maria this vital information. Atamo had ordered her to keep silent about it. He knew what it was doing to Maria, and welcomed it. Feeling the pressure of time, Tonya knew she had to talk with Rhianna Summer. On the eighth day of her enslavement, she thought she had a way of doing so. One of her tasks in the galley was to clean the vegetables, a task she performed at the galley's sinks when there weren't any dishes being washed. During this time the FBI agent scrubbed the floor. Keeping one eye on the cook, Tonya waited until Rhianna was close by and then nudged a wire basket of mushrooms off the counter beside her. She immediately dropped down to pick them up, now coming face to face with the startled agent. "Rhianna." Tonya whispered, franticly picking up mushrooms. Rhianna's normally blank face focused for just a moment, and Tonya wondered about how miserable the woman had to be. Unlike all the other women on the boat, who had volunteered to be a part of this life, here was a woman who had been dragged in against her will and beaten until she had submitted. "Rhianna, you aren't alone here." Tonya whispered again quickly. "I can get a message out...OW!" The cook had come over and had begun hitting Tonya with his spoon. She gathered up the last of the mushrooms while a nervous Rhianna moved away on her hands and knees, her heavy chains dragging on the deck. The cook stood over Tonya smacking her with the spoon for the better part of an hour before settling down, and Tonya hoped that he pain had been worth it. Had her message gotten through to the beaten woman. That evening the schedule changed. Atamo was sitting in his office looking at a prospectus that one of his guests had left him. A company called B.E.I. was doing research on electronically controlled bondage toys, and needed some start up capital to begin development. Atamo thought the idea amusing, and made a mental note to check in on it at a future date. Mako appeared at the door. "It is time, Atamo-San." He told his boss. Atamo nodded. "Fetch them." Mako bowed, and left. A crewman turned up in the galley just as the after meal clean up began. The cook wasn't happy, but directed the man over to Tonya who was busy unloading dishes from a dumb waiter. Without any ceremony, the man pulled Tonya's apron off and undid the manacles on her wrists, recuffing them behind her back. He then took hold of one of Tonya's nipples and, with a smile, pulled the helpless girl out of the room. The man pinched hard, and Tonya didn't want to cause herself even more pain, so she hurried along as best she could, along the passageway to the ladder leading to the fore deck. She was helped up the ladder onto the deck and stood there blinking, puzzled as to what was going on and suddenly unused to being naked outside again. All this time, the only time she had ever been naked was in the bunk room. Otherwise she was always given something to cover herself up with. She was also unused to the sun. The deck cleaning was usually done just before dawn and any sunlight she saw was usually low in the sky after just having come up. Now the sun was bright and hot and felt very good to her sun starved skin. She was led forward toward a group of men standing at the bow and had a sudden recall of what had happened to Kina here just a week before. Her fears grew when Atamo joined them. "Welcome." He said, smiling. "While we wait for our other guest let us prepare you." He gave a short order, and Tonya's cuffs were removed. Her hands were brought forward and a set of suspension cuffs were fitted. Tonya couldn't understand it. What had she done? Could she have been found out? She was about to risk asking when a ballgag was placed in her mouth and buckled on tightly. Fear gripped her as lines leading out over the water to the end of the spar were attached to her wrist and ankle cuffs. The men paused for a moment and Tonya turned to see where they were looking. Another woman was being led toward them, naked as she was, except for a much finer and more ornate gold chastity belt. She was already gagged and her eyes had a frightened look that must have mirrored her own. It took a moment to realize who it was because the other woman was bald too! It was Maria. Maria recognized Tonya too, and she was very glad that she was there. Although the fact that Tonya seemed as well bound as her didn't give her much confidence about her situation. As Maria was being trussed up like Tonya, Atamo made a short speech to both of them. "Welcome, welcome. As you can see we are about to make land fall," he said, pointing out in front of the boat. Both women looked and could see a smudge on the horizon that could be interpreted as land. "my island home. It has been my tradition to arrive here with my newest acquisition hanging from the prow, as did the pirates who plied these waters hundreds of years ago. The two of you have the honor of being the jewels of my latest voyage. And so the honor of leading my ship to port is yours." Both women fought the men who picked them up and lowered them over the side of the boat. They feared that they were about to be drowned, but the lines they were attached to pulled them up until they hung side by side over the racing water, their legs pulled back until their bodies held the same angle as the prow. The water being pushed aside by the fast moving ship, sprayed the two of them down, making their skin glisten, and the wind produced by the ships speed rang through their ears. Strangely, Tonya was reminded of the movie "Titanic" and she considered how the box office would have been even bigger had Kate Winslet been strung up like this, instead of just standing at the prow. The thought nearly made her forget her fear. "You should be in no danger." Atamo called down to them. "The water here is warm, it is not the punishment it is in the North Atlantic. Also, you should be clear of sharks!" Atamo's laughter faded away and the two women stared at each other as the island drew close.