" Hold on," I said again as I checked the anatomograph. "I'll try to get a reading of where you are." After looking, I said, "Not this again?" Pod Tw... responded, "Not what again?" Pod Two," I began, "you're going the wrong way. Instead of going to her ear canal, you're heading to the underbelly of her body." I waited for a response with none coming. "Pod Two, are you there?"Something was obviously interfering with communication. With no answers from either pod, I knew I had to do something.. ”“I know.”They sat in silence yet again, listening to the hum of the House around them for another half hour.“How scared are you?” Tamara asked, her voice soft and timid.“Terrified. I’m ... honey ... I haven’t been this scared since I crippled Rachel.”“And how will you handle this fear,” she said.“I’m going to make Wolfgang Anson pay and I’ll cheat to do it. And it’s not some macho toxic masculinity “I have to beat him so I’ll feel like a man again” ... if I let this fear rule me, control me. In that wind the other night, I thought my bed was going to go flying and my poor bum would freeze." Not much I can do about that. Tim McNish ever come to visit you? Boy's a good carpenter." You know I'm not going to tell you who comes to my bed. That's my business, but I think I am going to have to go down to Georgetown for the winter again. It'll be December soon." Damn hard, Annie. Thought with the stove, you could stay," Beall said, shaking his head. "Say, did you ever know a young whore. "How does it feel, slave?" She looked down at her nipples for a few brief seconds and couldn't help but think that it didn't feel nearly as bad as she remembered. "Lift your head." As she raised her head he gently lifted her hair and slid a blindfold over her eyes, then lightly touched her forehead so she knew she could lower her head again. She heard him reach into the bag again and wondered what was next. Perhaps a gag? Weights to connect to the clamps? Maybe some sort of paddle to spank.