Women's Planet - 6. A Long Trip
It was a hot day in a very dry region. This made Steven’s work pretty hard, especially after a few hours. The girls didn’t even think about it: they had parasols, sunglasses and an ice-bag with fruit and drinks. Comfortable on the rickshaw, cross-legged and pretty, they enjoyed the breeze from the forward motion. Danielle whipped Steven every time he seemed to slow down a bit. She was so happy, looking forward to reach their destination.
After a while, they came behind a slightly slower group formed by three rickshaws. As soon as she saw enough space, Danielle pulled the left bridle and whipped Steven three times in a row: she wanted a quick pass. While Steven summoned all of his energy to obey, Monica lifted her arms in a victory gesture and exclaimed: “Woooohooo! We’re the fastest women in the universe!”
The girls on the other rickshaws heard that and decided to respond. This triggered an improvised race, with a sequence of passes for the fun of the girls… and the pain of their slaves! The sound of whips, steps and laughs continued for several minutes, then all the drivers saw a service station and decided to slow down and stop.
Even though theirs was the only rickshaw with two passengers, Danielle and Monica arrived second at the service station, only beaten by Marjorie, the most attractive of the other girls. All the girls got off, stepping on their sweaty and exhausted slaves, and sent them to the stables. Then they walked into the bar to get acquainted.
Service stations had fully equipped stables, with some public servants in charge of looking after the slaves of any traveller. The valets washed the exhausted slaves and quenched their thirst. Men were not allowed to talk, unless questioned by women, yet a question could still be expressed through glances: were they going to survive? Each summer, many slaves were ridden down to death during those trips to the shore across the desert. Slave rental offices made that kind of accidents less problematic for travellers, who could proceed with their own rickshaw and keep a rental slave for the holidays. But Steven and the others were first quality young slaves, so they quickly regained their energy.
In the meantime, the women were enjoying a drink at the bar, talking about how stressful those long trips were. They found out that Marjorie’s house was close to Danielle’s, in the beach town. She was heading there with her friends Lindsay and Jennifer, so the five girls decided to spend the holidays together.