”“Well, I started working in the factory, learning the different jobs per my father’s instructions.”“What do you mean?”“I mean, I haven�...�t been fully honest with you, or Jimmy for that matter. I’m not like most of the staff who works there, dependent on every paycheck. I’m being groomed to take over the company.”“So you’re…”“Eric Dougherty. Keller is my mother’s maiden name.”I choked on my coffee and coughed. I couldn’t believe my ears. Dougherty was the name of the man who owned the factory,. He bent forward and kissed her cheek and then said gently, ‘I want you to know that I’ll miss seeing you and working with you… maybe if we’re lucky, we’ll got a lot more assignments together during these next four months! Come on… let’s get back inside! I am the guest of honor and some people may be looking for me by now!’ As he took her hand in his and led her back inside the nightclub, Kris Davidson felt confused as she heard a strange voice inside her head… You’re damn right he’s going to be. But she laughed and informed everyone that she wasn’t so old or decrepit that she couldn’t stand for a minute or two. Still, I had a chair standing by in my ready room just in case. I had charged her unofficial guards to keep an eye on her and get that chair the second it seemed she was tiring.I glanced around the room. Everyone was looking at me. The anticipation was thick. “Communications open a channel to Mars station departure control.”“Aye Sir, channel open.”“Independent vessel Seward’s. I started imagining.Maybe I could find a Mistress of my own. Maybe a Master. Maybe a title-less stud in the back of a bar. Anything that didn't require batteries.Again, I know of the stereotypes, and most of you sneer whenever theMistress takes a lover. But what the hell can we do? Our men have becomewomen, dickless caricatures of sexless femininity. Men who get off ontheir own boyfriends while we have none at all. No one values a cheater,or someone who violates their wedding vows. So we are.