Guards accosted me as I strode towards the Assembly of Worlds chamber, but they couldn’t hurt me, and I just pushed them aside as I threw open the d...ors. The Speaker, Shirley Vanstone, was a beautiful blonde woman who appeared to be in her mid 20’s, but was actually well over 300 years old. Regeneration had been discovered in 2143, and was used by wealthy men and women to keep themselves physically young effectively forever; they could also use gene therapy to make themselves look good if. Maybe that was the best part. Or was it when Don, having learned to judge exactly the right moment, would put his reading aside, lean down to take the collar from her hands, then gently brush her hair away from her neck before enclosing it within the collar, fastening it with a firm click?For Anita that one sound, the smooth, metallic latching of the collar around her neck, was the sound of a door being closed on her entire, frantic daily existence. There was no company to run, no clients to. "I don't mean to sound prudish. It's just that there are certain words..." Yeah," interjected Ron, "especially the "F" word." And why is that, Jennifer?" asked Tremper, looking amused.Feeling as if she were being baited, Jennifer replied, "Let's just say it's a word I would never use." Never?" queried Tremper."Never!" Nothing could make me use that word!" she responded as she again saw her husband's employer smile furtively.Jennifer felt a chill run down her spine as she realized that Tremper. The two guys watched, one sort of interested, the other (the one that had been rubbing up against her) sort of pissed. When the girls came up for air, he said something to her. She smiled, gave him a deep tongue kiss and slid her hand against his crotch. She yelled something in his ear (the music was really loud) and he nodded and went over to the bar.Right about this point Val slugged me in the arm. I had been ignoring her for at least 15 minutes while I stared at Isabel. Apparently she had.