Not for the first time the Mistress' assistant glowed with admiration as the great Woman worked.

The subject was not unusual -- another fluid donor being prepared -- but as with everything the Mistress did, the workmanship was perfection itself.

The subject's cries of pain seemed not to be heard by the Mistress as She hummed quietly to Herself, carving precise, broad incisions deeply into the skin.

The subject was strapped face down onto the operating table, his legs suspended from the ceiling so that his genital area was clear of the table.

The subject's arms were also fitted with wrist straps suspended from the ceiling.

The position itself was uncomfortable -- arms and legs seemingly being pulled from their sockets as the trunk was tightly strapped at the waist and just below the shoulders.

That made the procedure all the more fun -- the more discomfort a male endured, the better the Woman liked it.

The subject's head was fitted into a sort of helmet, fixed to the end of the table, to keep him absolutely immobile.

His mouth was kept open by a device which forced the lips open and kept the throat clear of fluids. This was to prevent the subject from drowning in his own vomit.

The laser scalpel buzzed again and the Mistress had completed the first incision around the top of the subject's left thigh. There was little blood -- the scalpel also cauterized the wound as it passed through. Even so, the exposed muscle and flesh appeared to quiver under the bright operating lights.

The Mistress replaced the laser scalpel in its stand and with Her hands She pulled at the two sides of the wound, so that She had sufficient room for the bone cutter. This pulled out even wilder screams of the hapless subject.

The male assistant helped and in a few minutes the two edges of the wound were almost three inches apart. Satisfied, the Mistress nodded to the assistant who passed over the microwave bone cutter.

A click and the bone cutter whirred into action. The Mistress positioned it over the subject's exposed femur. It instantly crumbled to dust when the microwave beam was focused.

As the cutter severed the bone away from the male's body, his lower torso dropped a little and his amputated leg swung from the ceiling.

The assistant unbuckled the ankle strap and placed the leg into a freezer cabinet to one side of the operating room as the Mistress was already starting the incision on the wailing subject's right thigh.

This operation is performed regularly in the Committee for Security Headquarters. Even with the technology available on Earth in 2110, the Committee, or Security as it was called, usually in hushed tones, always needed `fluid' donors to help keep their prisoners alive longer during interrogation.

The fluid donors were chosen from Level-5 stock, the main criteria being a strong heart and a sound constitution. As Level-5 were the laborers and unskilled workers of the community, there was always a large pool from which to select potential donors.

The operation is quite simple. The subject's legs are amputated at the top of the thigh, close to the buttocks,^(footnote.1) and his arms are amputated at the shoulder.

This is to ensure that the blood and lymphatic fluid produced by the body is available for general circulation and is not wasted on unnecessary extremities, such as arms and legs. These limbs are of no use to the donor anyway.

The subject then has a tube inserted in his aorta so that most of his blood flows through the tube, leaving just sufficient flow to keep the brain and other vital organs functional, and a return tube fits into his right auricle.

In this way the donor can be gradually conditioned so that he is acting purely as a blood pump and filtering device. With more than two hundred fluid donors in operational condition at all times, this usually guaranteed ample blood supplies for the interrogators.

Again the bone cutter whirred into action and a few seconds later the subject's right^(footnote.2) leg was placed in the freezer cabinet. The Mistress worked quickly and efficiently, and soon the right elbow joint was exposed.

The Mistress is very strong and She severed the male's right arm by dislocating it at the shoulder -- grabbing the arm and twisting it one way as She threw Her weight against the suspended body the other way.

The Mistress never bothered with the bone cutter for arms. She contended that it was a complete waste of time.

The Mistress went to work on the left arm and this too was ripped physically from the elbow socket minutes later.

The Mistress set about preparing for the internal surgery as Her assistant cleaned up the four wounds before dressing them. They took great care to prevent any form of infection and a massive dose of pan-spectrum anti-bios was pneumatically injected into the subject's left buttock to reinforce the shots he had been given before the operation.

The male assistant undid the straps holding the limbless torso to the operating table and then released the subject's head from its restraint. Easily he spun what was left of the man onto his back and strapped him down again, this time at the waist and upper chest.

Next he unclamped the head restraint and repositioned it before replacing it on the subject's head, finally forcing the dilator into the donor's unwilling mouth.

The Mistress always performed these operations without any anesthetic -- after all, that was a waste of State funds -- no need for such luxuries for a male. The new donor would even be awake during the open heart surgery, or at least most of it -- until he passed out.

The assistant swabbed the subject's chest and the Mistress took a laser scalpel, much smaller and lighter than that She had used for the amputations, and carved a neat, thin incision, about four inches square, above the male's heart.

She peeled back the meat and skin and forced Her fingers between the ribs over the heart and pried, forcing the cartilage and bones apart, exposing the male's beating heart.

The assistant clamped metal rods in place -- to hold the ribs apart so the Mistress could let go. The assistant then handed Her the first tube which the Mistress welded into the top of the aorta, just about two inches from the heart itself.

The subject was gurgling now but his throat was being kept clear of fluids and oxygen was getting into his lungs, so death was not going to offer him any escape.

Potential donors were always strong -- that was a prerequisite. This meant they usually lasted well into the operation before they succumbed to the pain and fainted. This subject was no exception and the agony from the amputation wounds combined with the activity now going on around his heart must have been quite excruciating.

The second tube was welded into the large vein just as it joined the right auricle. the Mistress replaced the ribs, taking care not to damage or pinch the tubes, and welded the skin back into place. The whole operation had taken less than one hour.

The tubes were connected to a temporary conditioning unit and even as the Mistress was closing the incision, blood was flowing through the subject's new circulatory system.

As anticipated, the male had fainted by now. In this case, it was probably the welding of the skin which had finally pushed the pain above the level he could bear.

The assistant unstrapped the subject, then unclamped the head restraint without removing it.

The Mistress, meanwhile, had removed Her surgical gloves and had thrown them into a bin. She pressed a red button on the wall.

Almost instantly two gowned male orderlies entered and, without any instructions, they lifted the donor's inert, limbless body onto a trolley.

As one orderly strapped the male down, his companion was reclamping the head restraint to the trolley.

The circulating unit was then mounted onto brackets at the foot of the trolley and the fluid removal and respiration unit, attached to the head restraint, was fitted to the other end before the orderlies wheeled the new donor out of the operating room and took him to the recuperation area.

The Mistress and assistant disrobed and, naked, showered together in the anteroom.

She touched his shoulders and he obediently dropped to his knees as she fingered her personal parts, prying open the lips as Her toilet opened his mouth and tilted his head back and hyperventilated.

She sat on his up-turned face, lining Her anus up with his mouth and Her urethra with his nostrils, flaring her lips and enfolding them over his nose. She enjoyed his hot breath fluttering her personal lips, tickling up into her recreational parts.

She then released, pissing into his nostrils and shitting into his mouth at the same time.

he gulped and snorted as quickly as he could, trying not to let a drop of Her precious gift slide across his cheeks to his chin. he couldn't, of course.

Had he been an ordinary male rather than a trusted assistant, he would have been severely punished. As it was, She didn't say a thing, just lifted up enough so he could breathe again then allowed him to lick her anus clean and the last drops of urine from her lightly furred personal part.

She then allowed him to lave Her -- tenderly and lovingly -- and then rinse Her before patting Her dry and dressing Her in the standard white uniform.

While She was combing Her own hair, he washed and shaved and dried off and dressed in an identical white uniform -- almost identical -- cut for a male instead of a superior Woman -- white pants, white tunic, and white shoes.

They then walked together down the corridor to the recuperation area. Since She was such a senior officer, she was allowed to bend the rules and have a male as her personal assistant.

Normally males were not allowed to rise to such positions, but rank has its privileges -- and she enjoyed using a male's stuffer if he had the ilusion he was a person instead of just a thing.

Sure, sexers were more filling, more exciting, more muscular, more beautiful -- but that is all physical. And there is more to stuffing than just stuffing -- more than just body parts. There's that ineffible quality of spirit that law and custom says males don't have but which She knew from experience did exist.

And that ... that "soul" -- if a male could be said to have a "soul" -- that made stuffing much more fun -- more than just an exercise -- a game.

There was a difference in their uniforms despite the superificial alikeness -- like all Women, She wore a metalic badge -- gold in Her case -- while he wore a plastic ID badge.

As Chairman of the Committee for Security and as Senior Surgeon at the Headquarters, the Mistress was Grade-3, only two ranks below the State Chairwoman.

Her assistant was a lowly but tallented male who had caught the Mistress's eye several years earlier when he was first assigned to Security from Medical School, and he was soon to be promoted to Grade-10 -- a very high grade for any male, though not exactly equivalent to Female Grades.

Shortly after, when She took him under wing, his plain blue ID badge was upgraded to "Special Exemption" -- with diagonal red stripes, indicating his trusted state.

The donor was still unconscious when they arrived but a glance at the monitoring unit indicated that all was well and that, barring anything untoward, the operation had been a complete success.

The two surgeons checked another two occupants of the recuperation area -- one was a donor who had been operated on two days previously -- he was due to be transferred to the second conditioning area the following day.

The second male was recovering from a particularly harrowing interrogation at the hands of the Mistress. He too was doing well -- or as well as was to be expected -- and tomorrow the interrogation would resume.

The public address system softly announced that it was time for evening rounds, but the Mistress was exempt and so, therefore, was Her assistant.

They strolled to the elevator which arrived as the button was pressed and in only seconds it whooshed them up from the seventh lower level to the thirtieth high level, where the Mistress's office was.

She entered Her office and without a word the assistant poured a mug of steaming coffee which he placed on a marble coaster on the side table. The Mistress entered Her ID into the computer terminal behind Her desk and looked into the retinal-scan.

Her ID confirmed, the computer gave Her Her messages. She entered comments on some, approvals or rejections on others, and authorizations for some to be disseminated immediately through the Security Data Network.

Within less than an hour the Mistress had completed Her administrative chores and dismissed the assistant until the following day.

She had one last thing to attend to that evening, and She could easily handle that alone.

The assistant left, going straight to the male rectory. Despite his striped badge and "special exemption" status, he was not allowed to dine at a restaurant when the Mistress was not with him -- or, more accurately, when he was with Her.

The Mistress went over to a cabinet which stretched the whole length of the office wall. Her fingerprint on the touch panel was instantly recognized and the doors slid open with a faint hiss.

The Mistress studied the titles on the holodisks and after a few minutes She selected one which She inserted into the playback machine.

She went over to a woven leather settee and, kicking off Her shoes, She lay down lengthwise, wriggling to get into a comfortable position. When She was settled, She picked up the remote controller from the side table and pressed the  button.

Immediately the picture unfolded before Her.

This was a moving hologram, not new technology now but still immensely popular, and extremely useful.

The Mistress had selected an old holodisk, taken about 2002, more than a century earlier, and this was a classic. Recorded in the period between the conflagration, in 2019, and the eventual emergence of the New State in 2025, it was one of several thousand similar holodisks in the Mistress's renowned collection.

The era in question was particularly difficult for the human race. Most of the population of the Earth had been wiped out and there was a great deal of rivalry among the survivors which culminated in a number of wars.

The New State was then just a vision of the handful of great Women who knew that this was the only chance for the continuation of homo sapiens, and the decision was made that all oppositionists were to be crushed, decisively and quickly.

It was then that the Committee for Security, then it was called the Anti-Oppositionist Department, was formed, and so started an era since termed, by the intelligentsia who developed out of the recivilization of the Earth, the New Inquisition.

Much of the technology which had been used in the virtual destruction of the Earth had itself been lost, and so the methods of breaking up the Oppositionist groups were, to say the least, primitive.

Of course, this was also the period when all decision-making positions were reserved for Women -- since they did not suffer from testosterone hostility -- a disease inherent in males that leads to violence and sociopathic behavior.

Since Women were so important to reëstablishing civilization, the burden of carrying fœtuses was consigned to surrogates -- large ungulates and machines at first but as more and more males were raised, castrated males.

In the ensuing century, the divergence of the sexes has become more pronounced, with Women the privileged class and males filling all menial and hard labor niches. Males have also been stripped of all rights during this period.

This is why videos from the early days are so entertaining -- it was an era when males actually believed they had rights. They had expectations, hopes, dreams. They were almost real persons. Their destruction made for more entertaining diversion that the destruction of the sub-human creatures males have devolved into.

The scene was an interrogation room in the old A-OD head quarters. The Mistress knew every one of the people before him, even though they were long dead before She was born.

The "star"' was the leader of one of the groups who had chosen not to join the New State but instead had started their own community -- one that rejected the privileged status for women.

He had been brought in for interrogation as a result of the recent murder of a New State agricultural officer in the area they were situated. With him were three of his Council members.

The chief interrogator, Committee Chairman Karla Junger, cleared Her throat and, looking directly at the Mistress, or so it appeared, explained that these four men had been "invited" to shed light on the unfortunate demise of a certain Agricultural Officer Clara Mills.

Karla Junger continued that She would be assisted in this task by Committee Member Sandra Olsen and two Grade-10 interrogators, Juanita Sanchez and Julia Johnson.

Turning to the prisoners, Karla Junger identified them as Frank Promer [the rebel leader], Andrew Wallis, Charles Cooper and Kozo Futaya.

Futaya was a small, oriental looking man in his early to mid twenties. All four of the men looked scared and Promer tried to speak, but received a vicious blow across his mouth with a wooden baton for his trouble.

Karla Junger barked an order and Futaya was brought closer. His clothes, such that he had left after what had apparently been a severe whipping, were ripped off and his wrists were locked into rings suspended from the ceiling by chains.

He was quite short and struggled on tiptoe to try to ease the strain on his arms.

A device resembling a mini guillotine was wheeled over and Futaya's eyes opened in horror as Sandra Olsen pushed the device against his naked body.

Futaya started crying. He promised to tell them anything -- even to sign a confession -- and he would join the New State -- if only they would release him.

Of course, his pleas fell on deaf ears. The recording of this session would have never been preserved otherwise!

The interrogators knew that this little man was of no consequence and they were just going to use him to scare the others.

Sandra Olsen pulled Futaya's genitals through the small hole and then tightly clamped a wooden bar squeezing the penis and scrotum painfully against the base of the hole.

Juanita Sanchez brought over a shining blade which She lightly scraped along the prisoner's tautly stretched arm, shaving his arm hair without the slightest pulling. She grinned and then lightly slit an X into Futaya's freshly shaved skin, drawing blood to prove how sharp the blade was.

Juanita inserted the blade into a slot at the top of the guillotine and Futaya screamed as She let it go.

But Futaya had not been castrated. Not yet. The blade thudded to a halt against a wooden pin.

There was a cord threaded through a hole at the top of the blade and Juanita pulled the blade up with the cord and then put the other end of the cord in Futaya's mouth.

Karla Junger now explained to Futaya and the viewer that the pin in the guillotine was about to be removed and that he alone had control over the blade -- if he released the cord, goodbye manhood.

The young oriental sobbed but gripped the cord between his teeth as tightly as he could.

Julia Johnson had moved behind Futaya and there was a whistle as a whip sailed through the air and caught the prisoner unawares.

Futaya was able, just barely able, to muffle his screams between his clenched teeth. The first blow was followed by a second, then a third.

The little man's torso was soon bright red with blood -- with yawning, slavering red 'mouths' where his flesh was ripped through skin, fat, and muscle.

The fifteenth lash was too much for the little man and he lost his grip on the cord. The weighted blade pulled the cord from Futaya's mouth and he desperately snapped for it, to no avail.

The room was filled with a high pitched scream as the razor-edged blade sliced into Futaya's penis.

The penis was nearly severed and blood was spurting against the blade.

Juanita Sanchez put Her thumb on the top edge of the blade and pushed down, rocking it side to side till it sawed through the rest of Futaya's penis, down through the neck of his scrotum to the stop.

Futaya's whole genitals dropped into the 'head basket' and Juanita picked them up and held them up and closely examined them. She licked some of the blood off and grinned at Futaya then wiped them on Futaya's cheeks, 'blooding' him with his own genitals.

She handed them to Sandra Olsen who waved them to the other three prisoners, now all sobbing incoherently.

Juanita wheeled the guillotine away and blood was spurting from a gaping hole between Futaya's legs.

No attempt was made to stem the flow but Sandra Olsen took Futaya's genitals and, with the assistance of Julia Johnson who held the weakening prisoner's mouth open, She shoved the bloody end into the dying man's throat.

Futaya tried to gag and spit them out but Sandra kept up the pressure and the prisoner's throat could no longer resist the invasion. The base of Futaya's penis was pushed past his epiglottis into his larynx and with the testicles also blocking the windpipe, the prisoner choked and gagged.

As his companions watched helplessly, tears of fear and of sympathy streaming down their cheeks, Futaya struggled for air, but none could squeeze past the blockage in his throat. His eyes almost popped out from their sockets as his body convulsed in the vain attempt to bring precious oxygen to his lungs.

For almost two minutes he held on, still trying to breathe until it was clear that he could last no longer.

Sandra Olsen then pulled the genitals from Futaya's throat. Futaya rasped in pain as he gulped air into his empty lungs past his battered larynx. Then, as he settled into an easier rhythm of breathing, Sandra Olsen again forced the penis into the prisoner's mouth and again pushed it deep into Futaya's larynx to block off the airflow.

This time, though, She did not remove it. Instead She took a wooden truncheon and started to hammer Futaya's throat.

As the prisoner swung from his arms, no longer able to maintain a steady footing, Sandra smashed his windpipe with repeated blows so that not only was the man unable to gasp air, he was now beginning to drown in his own blood pouring down his larynx into the bronchi.

Julia Johnson took another truncheon and in a single shove sank it deeply into Futaya's anus. She then started to push the stick in and out, without benefit of lubrication, until that too was covered in blood where it had ripped the prisoner's anus to shreds.

The intercom buzzed and the Mistress put the hologram on hold as She stood up, stretched and moved behind Her desk.

"Yes," She rapped into the intercom.

"Sorry to disturb you, Chairman," said a voice "but we apprehended two Oppositionists attempting to distribute male-equality literature this afternoon and we have just completed the chemical debriefing. I thought you would wish to be informed immediately."

The Mistress thought for a few seconds, then spoke into the intercom,

"Have them prepared for secondary interrogation in room A, Eighth Lower Level. I shall do this myself in thirty minutes or so."

The voice acknowledged the order and the intercom clicked off.

The Mistress looked at the still hologram -- like a room full of statues.

It seemed so real, as though She could walk in and touch the prisoners, especially the one who was about to die -- Futaya was suspended, eyes wide open, his throat now smashed to a pulp, filled with his own genitals.

His body was red with his blood, but the blood from the gaping wound from which the genitals had been so awkwardly severed seemed fuller and redder, dripping down the prisoner's inner thighs and calves, along his feet onto the floor.

More blood was pooling on the floor behind him where Julia Johnson's truncheon had just destroyed Futaya's colon.

The look of desperate agony was exquisite, the Mistress mused. She clicked the remote controller and the scene continued.

There was no respite for Futaya and he died a more painful, ignominious death than he could have possibly imagined even in his wildest nightmares.

But that had been Karla Junger's intention. The only purpose of that little display was to sow fear into the other three prisoners. And it was working.

The three were audibly weeping now, begging for mercy, offering to do anything to escape a fate such as that they had just witnessed. They were ready for the real interrogation.

Karla Junger decided on Cooper next. The big man was over six feet three and one hundred eighty pounds. He was unshackled from the wall where he and the others had watched their companion meet his death.

Cooper tried to struggle and received a jolt from a cattle prod which Sandra Olsen applied to his tatters covered crotch. Cooper screamed and jerked at Her.

Sandra jabbed the prod into the rebel's Adam's apple. Cooper gasped and fell to his knees. She then stomped Her boot into the small of Cooper's back.

As Cooper was trying to regain his balance, She pressed the prod against the back of his neck.

he fell forward, onto his face. Julia Johnson took Her truncheon, still covered in Futaya's blood, and hit the prostrate Cooper behind the ear, knocking him out.

With the help of Juanita Sanchez, Julia was able to tie Cooper's ankles to chains hanging in the center of the room, and soon the unconscious prisoner was hanging, head down.

The Women ripped his tatters off and then fixed his wrists to other chains which were also pulled so that now the man was hanging by wrists and ankles in a stretched, spreadeagled position.

Karla Junger checked that all was well and then instructed Juanita to revive the prisoner.

Two buckets of cold water and Cooper came groggily back to reality. He groaned and tried to struggle but soon stopped, evidently realizing the futility of resistance -- soon realizing the more he moved the more pain he suffered.

Satisfied the prisoner was fully awake, Karla began the questioning. She asked the man's name.

Silence.

Karla nodded. Sandra pushed the cattle prod into Cooper's unwilling anus and pressed the button. The prisoner's body jerked and he screeched in agony as the charge coursed through the tender membranes of his colon.

He gasped deeply, trying to recover from the heart-lung crushing pain that had just enveloped him when Sandra gave another jolt. Cooper screamed again and again his body convulsed involuntarily from the high voltage.

Karla repeated the question.

This time Cooper replied, panting out his name between deep, sobbing gasps. Without further prodding, he volunteered that he had never been involved in Mills' murder, that he had told them not to do it -- 'them' being Promer and Wallis.

Cooper promised to 'go straight', to join the New State, attend the indoctrination school and denounce all oppositionist thoughts.

Cooper, then paused and wriggled, trying to watch his interrogators to see their reactions.

Karla questioned him further about the murder. Cooper answered -- the big man was broken and he knew it.

Karla looked into the holorecorder again and spoke softly.

"The prisoner, Cooper, has denied participation in the murder of Agricultural Office Mills, but has admitted being an accessory after the fact by failing to inform the Committee of the circumstances and perpetrators of the crime.

"By the power vested in me as Committee Chairman, I hereby sentence the prisoner to death."

Cooper wailed, begged, pleaded but he was not heard.

The method chosen for the execution was to be "internal corrosion", as it was known.

A tube was to be inserted into the prisoner's anus and pushed deeply through his colon to the large intestine. The anus would then be plugged to prevent egestion of the tube. Another tube would then be fed down through the prisoner's windpipe and esophagus into his stomach.

This was completed quickly -- these Women were practiced at this form of execution, and it was very popular in the New State -- as much for the pleasure it gave the executioners as for the declared deterrent effect it was considered to have.

Cooper was wriggling and struggling in his bonds but this scarcely seemed to bother Juanita Sanchez and Julia Johnson as they efficiently went about the task in hand.

The tubes in position, Sandra Olsen fitted a funnel to each and these were hooked on to a stand, the sort use in hospitals for intravenous drips.

Ready, Sandra Olsen brought a glass flagon, marked ACID in red letters, and handed this to Karla Junger who had donned elbow length rubber gloves and a face mask.

Karla removed the stopper from the flagon and a whiff of vapor was released. She dipped a thin wooden stick into the contents and rubbed this onto Cooper's body a drop at a time.

Cooper screamed again as a drop landed first on his right nipple, then his left, then several drops in his navel.

Finally, Karla dipped the stick into the acid again and while Sandra Olsen, also wearing protective gloves, held Cooper's flaccid penis, She forced the stick into his urethra as far as it would reach.

Cooper's agonizing wails were completely ignored by the executioners and Karla lifted the flagon and started to pour the contents slowly into the first funnel.

They all watched the acid running down the clear tube and grinned like little girls torturing a cat.

The Mistress also grinned to Herself, imagining the searing pain Cooper must have felt as the acid ate his nipples off, as the acid ate right through his navel into his guts, as the acid ate his urethra totally away, as the acid ate into his intestines.

No matter how many times She watched one of these acid executions, the Mistress enjoyed it like She was watching it for the very first time.

After about two pints of acid, Karla Junger moved to the second funnel and slowly poured another two pints into Cooper's stomach.

The acid was having its effect. Cooper's face was contorted in terror as he knew for sure he was going to die -- there was absolutely no escape now. Even if he was 'rescued', he was still dead -- his guts were corroded away, his body rotting before he was even dead.

Cooper's pleas and gasps turned into shrieks and grunts.

Karla poured another pint into the first funnel to empty the flagon. She handed it to Juanita and then they all stood around the dying Cooper, relishing the agonizing death they had chosen for him.

Promer and Wallis were also wailing, denying Cooper's charges and pleading for mercy. Promer at one point asked for a quick death -- he would do anything to avoid internal corrosion.

Cooper lingered for almost thirty minutes, never stopping his squealing and snorting -- what of it that passed the tube down his throat.

The acid on his skin had eaten away his nipples completely. And as he had involuntarily attempted to urinate, his acid-eaten urethra sprayed around the stick now welded to what was left of the urethra.

From autopsy results, the Mistress knew exactly what was happening to the prisoner.

Inside Cooper's guts, although the damage could not be seen, the destruction was far worse. From the large intestine the acid had started down and had now eaten through the intestine wall, colon and as far as the rectum where it was now burning the skin around Cooper's blocked anus to find an escape route.

The acid in the stomach had caused some vomiting and was now burning Cooper's esophagus up as far as his larynx. His grunts and squeals died to weak gurgles until they could barely be heard.

As the acid broke through the alimentary tract at various places it started eating through other organs -- liver, kidneys and bladder, dripping down to the inner surface of the prisoner's back where it attacked from within.

The acid was able to perforate the skin in several places and acid started dripping onto the floor.

Juanita Sanchez had been prepared and now She was hosing the corrosive fluid into the drain with a torrent of water.

But the internal hemorrhaging created too much of a shock to Cooper's body and he finally breathed his last, rasping breath in agony.

The Mistress again paused the holorecording. It was time for Her to conduct Her own interrogation.

She hated to stop the recording, the way She loved watching those old, primitive methods, from which She had learned a great deal.

From the advances in interrogation technology, most especially with modern drugs, it is now easy to learn just about anything you needed to know from even the toughest prisoner. But, the Mistress mused as She sped down to the Eighth Lower Level, much of Her function was deterrence -- and what better way to deter those who advocated male equality -- or at least 'humane treatment' males -- rebels and misfits -- from resisting the New State than the fear of a barbaric, painful, lingering death. After all, as everyone knows, a male is too stupid to respond to reason -- at least that is the official dogma.

The Mistress was an expert in such deaths. Once a prisoner was interrogated by the Mistress he would only live as long as She wished him to live. None, not one of the Mistress's prisoners ever survived. That was part of Her great reputation.

The Mistress arrived at Interrogation Room A and the door opened. This particular room was one of several designed by the Mistress. It was equipped with the very latest in microwave technology with which you could bombard an area of the body as small as one sixteenth of an inch across without affecting surrounding skin.

The two prisoners had been prepared. They were both strapped face up on a tilted work table, legs held apart at the knees and ankles, arms by their sides.

The Mistress adjusted the tables so that they were both at about twenty degrees from the vertical, and then turned them to face each other.

A Grade-10 interrogator, this one another Female, handed Her the report -- there were very few trusted males and none others trained to the Mistress' satisfaction. She could have ordered Her own assistant to help, but She hadn't -- musing to Herself that perhaps she was giving him too much consideration.

The chemical debriefing had been comprehensive. The Mistress rarely bothered to attend these sessions Herself and it was clear that these two were a couple of idealistic amateurs of no real threat to the State.

A metal table on castors was wheeled over to the Mistress as She stood eyeing up Her two prisoners. One of the young men was no more than twenty or twenty-one, his companion probably thirty or thereabouts. They were both muscular and well toned from the hard life led by rebels in the countryside.

The younger man was about five foot ten, one hundred fifty pounds, very tanned and with long, pitch black hair. The other prisoner was two inches taller and twenty five pounds heavier, also tanned, though less so, and with short cropped brown hair.

The males were scared. they knew that no one ever survived an interrogation from the Mistress, yet still they dared to hope against hope that there was still a chance to get out of there alive.

The effect of the drugs used in the chemical debriefing had worn off and was now replaced with a different feeling, also drug induced. The new mixture had been formulated over many years and was designed to enhance the sensitivity of the nervous system, thus intensify the degree of pain felt while also increasing the flow of adrenalin and other body fluids which would maintain consciousness even under extremely agonizing torture.

Other components of the new mixture would tend to increase sexual arousal, too, and the Mistress particularly enjoyed working the microwave lance playfully against a fully erect penis.

All was now ready and one of the interrogators had set up a small microwave unit on a bracket fixed to the movable table. The Mistress adjusted the height of the lance and swung it towards the younger prisoner who was whimpering with fear and anticipation.

The first area that the Mistress intended to work on would be the man's nipples and She carefully adjusted the tilt angle of the lance so that it was aimed squarely onto the target.

A twist of the intensity control knob and a low whine indicated that the unit was beginning to generate the high frequency electromagnetic waves that were to be fired at the young prisoner.

The Mistress turned the knob further and the prisoner's whimpering turned into a long, plaintive scream as his right nipple and the surrounding skin melted under the microwave bombardment.

Taking great care not to penetrate too deeply and cause internal damage -- it was far too early for that -- the Mistress slowly slid the bracket along the table and the microwave beam traced a thin line of seared flesh across the prisoner's chest, resting briefly to vaporize the left nipple.

Again, not allowing the microwaves to penetrate below the epidermal layer, the Mistress moved the lance this way and that as She drew a pattern of intricate lines across the screaming man's chest and belly. The pattern moved lower until the Mistress stopped the lance for a few seconds on the prisoner's left knee which soon began smoking as the flesh and bone were cooked from inside.

The lance was turned off so one of the interrogators could wheel the table across to the other prisoner who was also begging for mercy between his wailing sobs.

The Mistress again set the lance onto the older prisoner's nipple which was bigger and tougher than his companions, but within two seconds it also had been turned into molten mush as the microwaves traced their pattern across the tanned chest, bringing wisps of smoke as it burnt off the light covering of hair, to rest briefly on the other nipple until it too was melted.

The procedure was consistent -- the Mistress always started on the nipples, then wove a pattern across the prisoner's front.

Now, as the Mistress well knew, a watershed of pain had been established which would form the basis for the tortures to follow. Enhanced by the same mixture of drugs which denied relief from fainting, the level of pain would be increased far beyond that which could normally be tolerated by the strongest human being, and the object of setting an initial constant pain level was for continuity between different torture methods.

The Mistress ordered the tables to be tilted so they were both horizontal. This way, the prisoners could look up at the mirrored ceiling which reflected every action around them.

A second, larger wheeled table was brought over with a microwave lance already set up on a sliding bracket. the Mistress aimed the lance at the older man's right foot and slowly turned the intensity controller until the flesh started turning red, blistering slightly, then to a deep, luxurious brown color.

She increased the intensity and the beam played across the prisoner's ankle until it had burned completely through, separating the man's foot from its owner.

The Mistress picked up the foot with a pair of tongs proffered by an interrogator. It was still steaming hot. She waved it before the horrified prisoner's face, then suddenly She pushed the piping hot foot, toes first, into the man's open mouth, stifling the man's startled scream.

The prisoner tried to spit out the foot but all he succeeded in doing as to scald his tongue and mouth as the Mistress pushed the foot deep into the back of the man's throat.

The younger prisoner watched in terror as his companion was being tormented this way, and was trying to whisper to one of the interrogators that he would do anything, anything at all to escape such horrible treatment.

The interrogator simply grinned and repeated the young man's representations to the Mistress, whose own face broke into a rarely seen smile.

The Mistress still held the freshly cooked foot into the older prisoner's mouth with the tongs in one hand while with the other She started to maneuver the man's lower jaw into a chewing action, grinding his teeth into his own foot.

One of the interrogators held the prisoner's nose, forcing him to swallow his own foot flesh to prevent himself from choking. Soon he had swallowed all five of his toes -- and most of his sole before the Mistress removed the foot.

The prisoner tried to gag but when the Mistress threatened, by action rather than words, to replace the half eaten foot in the man's mouth he reluctantly suppressed his gag-reflex and resigned himself to what had happened.

Satisfied that the prisoner was not going to attempt to vomit out the flesh he had just eaten, the Mistress took the remainder of the cooling foot and, leaning over the weeping younger prisoner, chewed noisily at the heel -- slurping at the juices and smacking Her lips, savoring the taste of fresh human meat.

As She was teasing the young man like this, the interrogators were readjusting the position of the older prisoner for the next stage in his torturous execution. His legs were released from their bonds and forced back towards his shoulders. His knees were strapped to restraints on either side of his shoulders but his lower legs were not tied, just left bent at the knee.

In this position the Mistress had open access to the prisoner's anus and genitals, plus She could work on the man's legs and other foot without the restraints getting in the way. She would just have to watch out in case the prisoner kicked out, deliberately or by reflex.

The Mistress took the first microwave lance, the smaller unit, and set it up to point directly at the prisoner's tightly clenched anus. It was clear that the man was trying desperately not to evacuate his bowels.

Having positioned the lance exactly on target, the Mistress, assisted by the interrogators, then placed the larger microwave unit above the prisoner's semi-erect penis.

One of the interrogators took an ultra-violet vibro-unit from a cabinet and as the Mistress adjusted the intensity controls on the smaller lance, the interrogator teased the prisoner's penis to an engorged full erection in seconds.

At first the small lance was set to a very low power level, just sufficient to create an agonizing burning sensation in the tender anus lips without destroying the flesh completely. Even this was too much for the prisoner who could control himself no longer and spurted stream of loose, wet excrement which sprayed across the table and onto the floor.

This was not unusual, and the interrogators immediately hosed down the prisoner, table and floor, making sure that they did not cross the microwave beam.

There was a little bonus to washing the prisoner down in this way, as they all well knew. The water that remained between the prisoner's legs within the beam of the microwave lance soon boiled, scalding the man's already sore anus as well as spitting and spluttering droplets of boiling water to polka dot his inner buttocks.

The prisoner was experiencing the largest erection he had ever known, though he was most certainly not enjoying it. The combined effect of the sexual arousal drugs and the ultra-violet vibro-unit had resulted in an obscenely engorged member which was soon to be the source of untold agony.

The Mistress stroked the penis gently for a few seconds, then lightly scratched the man's scrotum before enveloping the prisoner's two testicles in Her hand and slowly, deliberately, mashing them in Her immensely strong grip.

It was not possible now to determine what exactly was the cause of the noises being made by the prisoner, but perhaps his screaming did go up an octave as the Mistress crushed first one testicle then the other to a fleshy pulp -- at the same time bursting several blood vessels in the scrotum itself.

The Mistress relaxed Her grip and slowly increased the intensity on the larger microwave lance aimed at the recently crushed gonads. The blood which was seeping around the sac began to simmer and boil as the crushed testicles inside were stewed in their own blood.

The man was in so much agony by now that his lower legs, one with just a bloodied stump where the foot had been, were wildly flaying around in the air. Careful to avoid the man's involuntary kicking, the Mistress slid the lance along its track and played the beam up and down the involuntarily erect penis.

One of the interrogators checked the small lance and reported that the prisoner's anus had curled open so that the beam was now aimed directly into the rectum. The Mistress instructed Her to reduce the power level since She did not want the rectum membranes perforated -- just yet.

Still moving the larger lance up and down the prisoner's engorged member, the Mistress increased the power on that unit to cause the blood to boil until the erectile sinuses burst apart from the pressure and the penis collapsed into a shapeless red mess of bloody goo.

The Mistress returned to work on the anus. The lips had curled up under the microwave bombardment and the aperture was now an open hole, about two inches in diameter resembling, the Mistress thought, a face with the mouth pursed.

An interrogator passed Her an inspection light and the Mistress peered into the prisoner's rectum. She made small adjustments to the angle of the lance and then increased the intensity.

The microwave unit whined louder and soon rivulets of boiling, spluttering blood oozed from the prisoner's anus as the beam burned through the rectum and colon into the large intestine, bursting blood vessels in its path.

The Mistress's experience told Her that this man could be kept alive only for a few more minutes, unless he was hooked up to a life maintenance unit, which was not planned for this particular prisoner.

The Mistress switched off the microwave lance to prolong the man's dying agony. Then the table was wheeled away to give room for the final torture.

The interrogator aimed the water jet into the dying prisoner's gaping rectum and flushed out loose chunks of meat, membranes and blood.

The hole cleaned out to Her satisfaction, the Mistress ordered the two interrogators to grab the prisoner's thrashing legs. Now, while She was working through the man's now non-existent anus, they were to twist and tear the man's lower legs away from the knee joint.

The assistants positioned themselves as instructed and the Mistress thrust Her hand into the washed and cooled inner depths of the prisoner's lower intestines.

She poked and prodded, squishing mushed intestines against the muscular back abdominal wall till She found a kidney. She grabbed it and clenched Her fingers deep and clawed at it till She wrenched it away from the back and the organ pulled away at the root.

The Mistress pulled it out and stuffed it into the prisoner's screaming mouth. The man immediately spat it out but the Mistress had already returned to grope for its twin.

She stuffed this one too into the prisoner's mouth. This time the Mistress forced him to chew the organ meat.

While this had been going on, the two interrogators twisted the man's legs through a full circle at the knee joint.

They had both broken the joint and the taller interrogator, who was working on the footless leg, had been able to bend the leg backward and rip the skin behind the knee.

Now She was tearing at the cartilage and muscle with Her fingers, separating the upper and lower parts. The leg was held by only strips of skin and small, stringy muscle strands.

The other interrogator had hold of the prisoner's remaining foot and was twisting a third full circle. The sound of popping and snapping cartilage was loud enough to be heard clearly, even above the other noises in the room, including the whimpering pleas of the younger prisoner, witnessing the scene through the mirrored ceiling as he awaited his own fate.

The dying man himself was unable to scream. He was chewing his own kidney so he wouldn't choke on it, though why anyone would still struggle for life was a mystery.

``Where there's life there's hope'' one interrogator mumbled, quoting a centuries old Yiddish expression.

The Mistress released the prisoner's mouth -- She pushed Her arm once more into the man's now devastated innards, the dying man spat out the chewed remains of his kidney.

The Mistress grabbed a piece of small intestine and then shoved Her other arm into the aperture, ripping the raw, weakened skin apart. Now, with two hands She wrenched off the intestine where it joined the stomach. She brought the free end out and tugged until She had pulled out its entire forty or so feet.

The prisoner was gasping -- each breath a little harder as the pain racked his body and caused involuntary convulsions. By now both of his legs had been torn from the knee sockets and blood was spurting from the two wounds as well as from his torn rectum.

The Mistress ordered the prisoner released and when the straps had been untied, the interrogators lifted the convulsing body, now barely alive, and laid it on top of the younger prisoner.

They maneuvered the twitching, shuddering legless man so that his gaping rectum, blood pouring from the perforated anus and from inside, was over the younger man's face.

The young man tried to keep his mouth closed but a squeeze of his very ample genitals by the Mistress soon made him open it to scream and a block was quickly inserted to keep it open.

Now the older man was fading and his lifeblood dribbled into his younger companion's open mouth. The young man was forced to swallow his friend's blood to keep from drowning. It took all his mental concentration just to keep from gagging from the putrid stench.

The Mistress wanted a break and so decided to terminate the first prisoner without waiting for the natural death.

The interrogators sat the semi-conscious man upright, his gaping rectum enveloping the younger prisoner's face and the Mistress selected a laser scalpel from the rack and quickly removed the older man's genitals which She stuffed deeply into the man's throat -- the same way as on the hologram She had been watching before coming down here.

The man again gasped for air, but with his own penis firmly blocking his larynx, he couldn't breathe at all. In less than two minutes his body twitched for the last time and he was dead.

Meanwhile his younger companion was himself fiercely fighting for breath from within his dead friend's body cavity.

The interrogators removed the blood ridden corpse and threw it into a freezer chest. Since it was deformed this body would go to the male rectory -- it was not good enough for Women -- citizens, much less the upper echelon groups.

The Mistress stripped off Her clothes and an interrogator hosed Her down with fresh, cold water until all traces of blood and flesh had been removed.

Donning a surgical gown and slipping on a pair of white canvas shoes, She gave some instructions to the two interrogators and walked out of the door to the elevator.

Within minutes the Mistress was back in Her office. She briefly studied the hologram, now in still life, before Her.

Cooper had just died, his insides eaten away by the highly corrosive acid and Karla Junger was about to announce the next interrogation.

The Mistress knew this hologram by heart, She had watched it many, many times. She slipped the gown off, kicked Her shoes aside and flopped down on the settee. She pressed some buttons on the controller and the playback unit skipped forward to the electronically marked point She had chosen several viewings before.

The scene which burst to life was of the same room but the two remaining rebels had been brought from their places chained to the rear wall and were now standing in the center.

The two men had been fitted with ankle straps, broad leather belts, between which each was a round, two foot long rod. This had the effect of keeping their feet apart and making them look bow legged.

Each's arms were pinned against his body with a strap which passed around the chest, enclosing the arms immediately below the elbow.

The Mistress had skipped Karla Junger's explanation to the two prisoners that they were to fight to the death with the survivor being allowed to go free.

This offer, of course, was a ruse. Karla Junger was just offering these two rebels a faint chance, and any chance would be grabbed.

Encumbered as they were, Promer and Wallis would each be given a wooden truncheon -- the same ones used by the interrogators on Futaya and Cooper. The object of the exercise was for each prisoner to use his truncheon in any way he could to injure, disable and finally kill his opponent.

The men had been friends when they were captured but now that their very lives were at stake a look of hatred and determination was apparent on both.

Promer was taller and heavier, just six feet and almost one hundred eighty pounds. Wallis was five feet ten and one hundred sixty pounds of solid muscle.

Despite the difference in size and build, this promised to be a good fight.

The truncheons were handed over and Chairman Karla Junger said,

"You may begin."

Their movements ungainly, the two young prisoners tried to circle round each other, looking for an opening. Promer lunged first in an attempt to knock Wallis' stick out of his hand but he miscalculated and Wallis stepped aside and brought his truncheon down on Promer's forearm.

Caught off balance, Promer fell to his knees and Wallis, who was now behind him, hit him a glancing blow behind the ear.

This had little effect on Promer who was struggling to get back on his feet and they were both starting to realize that the very restricted movement they were allowed, particularly the small radius through which they could swing their sticks, called for more imaginative techniques.

Promer was still on his knees as Wallis moved in and he thrust the truncheon upwards in an attempt to hit his opponent's genitals.

The stick just caught Wallis' testicle a glancing blow but it was enough to cause him to wince and the second upthrust from the kneeling Promer forced his truncheon right past Wallis' anus and into his rectum.

Wallis yelped with pain as he lost balance. With Promer still pushing the stick painfully against the rectum wall, Wallis fell backwards.

Promer shuffled forward and, his stick still in Wallis' anus, he fell forward on top of his opponent's legs and with his free hand he grabbed Wallis' testicles.

Wallis screamed as Promer forced the entire exposed fifteen inches of the truncheon past his colon and into his large intestine while at the same time squeezing and twisting his tender testicles.

Wallis tried to kick Promer off him while hitting him across the head with his stick, but the short reach was insufficient to hurt Promer and he kept up his attack.

Wallis was breathing heavily, trying to think of a move that would extricate him from this present predicament.

With his free hand he grabbed Promer's hair and slowly twisted his opponent's head to one side. With Promer's face exposed, Wallis whacked his tormentor's mouth with the stick. As Promer opened his mouth to scream, Wallis plunged his truncheon into Promer's mouth and down his throat.

Promer let go of Wallis' testicles as he tried to reach his opponent's hand to pull the stick free but it was impossible.

For a little while they both struggled to get into a better position -- Wallis' stick deep into Promer's mouth, causing him to vomit over them both, while Promer's own truncheon was embedded in Wallis' rectum from which blood was beginning to seep.

Karla Junger was getting bored and so She ordered Juanita Sanchez and Julia Johnson to push the two fighters over. This did not work as neither of the prisoners was willing to give up the small advantage each believed he had over his opponent, and so Karla ordered Her Women to lay into the rebels with whips.

They did so with gusto and, as Promer turned to fend off the barbed end of a whip, he was able to push his truncheon far enough into Wallis to perforate the large intestine wall and it was swallowed up by the man's sphincter.

Wallis was in agony but still had hold of his own stick and, as he slid further down so that Promer took more of the whip blows, he started pumping the truncheon down Promer's gullet in short, sharp movements.

Promer was vomiting more and as one particularly vicious blow caught him off guard, he slipped forward and Wallis' truncheon burst through Promer's windpipe and out of his neck. The truncheon burst Promer's larynx. His breathing burbled from the bloody hole in his neck.

Vomit was also oozing from the hole and it was clear that unless this was cleared, Promer would drown.

Valiantly he attempted to cough the obstructions away but without success, and his chest reddened and heaved as he fought to draw oxygen into his depleted lungs.

The only result was he sucked vomit, phlegm and saliva into his lungs. Even if his windpipe had been cleared, he was drowning himself.

Promer was strong and it was a full three, gasping, writhing minutes before he finally slumped over, unconscious -- for all practical purposes already dead.

Junger's Women dragged the dead man from Wallis, whose ankle restraints they now released. But they left his arms pinned and he quickly realized that it was not yet over.

Julia Johnson took Her truncheon from Promer's dead throat and started teasing Wallis with little blows to his genitals and buttocks. Wallis did his best to avoid the truncheon blows -- which were joined by those from a whip Juanita Sanchez wielded.

Wallis tried to circle around, kicking at his attackers but his feet did not even get close. He was tired from his fight with Promer, he had not slept or eaten for two days and his arms were painfully strapped to his body. Add to that the aching from his bleeding intestines as the truncheon inside pressed against his kidneys and bladder whenever he moved.

Wallis soon fell, sobbing, to the ground. Immediately he was leapt upon by Juanita Sanchez, who turned him face down to the floor, pinning him by the shoulders.

Sandra Olsen took Julia's stick and thrust that into the squealing prisoner's anus to join the first.

Then, as Julia and Sandra each held one of Wallis' legs down, Karla knelt between the man's outstretched thighs and pushed Her hand in to the exposed and invaded anus to find the sticks.

When She had the handle of the first truncheon, Karla Junger pulled it out and groped around for the other, which She also removed.

Karla then balled Her right hand into a fist and punched firmly into Wallis' bleeding anus lips which tore apart, somewhat reluctantly, to admit the intruder.

Karla again groped around inside Wallis' colon to find the curved part to the cecum where She grabbed a handful of tissue and ripped a gaping hole in the soft membranes.

Wallis' screams were partly muffled by the floor as Juanita held the prisoner's head against the hard ground.

Wallis' belly undulated like the water over a sharks' feeding frenzy as Karla Junger forced Her arm deep into Wallis' guts, punching and clawing Her way through, pushing further and further until Her arm was almost to the shoulder.

Each time She withdrew, She dragged pieces of gut and other vital parts from the dying man until She was eventually able to remove Wallis' liver, bringing part of the stomach with it.

That was all that the poor prisoner could take and he died screaming just seconds before Karla ripped his heart apart and pulled the pieces out through the dead man's ragged anus.

The Mistress switched the holorecording off and again arose, stretched and moved behind the desk.

After checking Her computer for messages, She dealt with them and informed the duty officer that She would be retiring for the night and could be reached in Her official apartment should an emergency arise.

She took a tunic and pants from a closet, slipped on a pair of white hospital shoes and threw the discarded gown and shoes into the clothes chute. After replacing the holodisk in its place, the Mistress closed and locked the cabinet -- it could now only be opened by Her fingerprint -- scanned both for ridges and for Kyrillian effect emanations, so it could not be faked by any copy -- not even Her own hand if She was unconscious or dead.

The Mistress left Her office and took the elevator to the twenty eighth high level to Her apartment.

She usually preferred to stay at Headquarters while She had subjects awaiting interrogation. Tomorrow She would finish off the young pamphlet distributor, then She could attend to the prisoner now recuperating in the medical area.

No sooner had the Mistress dropped onto the king size bed than She was asleep, perhaps dreaming of the interrogations and tortures to come.

The Mistress awoke early to the buzz of the Intercom.

"It is five thirty, Ma'am," the duty officer's voice said through the speaker. "You left instructions to be called at this hour."

The Mistress acknowledged the call and the intercom clicked off. She got up from the bed and padded naked to the bathroom to enjoy a long cold shower.

Refreshed, the Mistress donned a tunic and pants, put on a pair of white shoes and left the room on Her way to the eighth lower level.

On arrival at room B, the Mistress was greeted by a lone Grade-11 interrogator, again a female. Her trusted male was doing some research for Her in the Library. That would be more help there than on this routine torture.

The Mistress planned to finish off this young subversive quite quickly in order to give Herself plenty of time to work on the tougher prisoner, still recuperating in the hospital area one level above.

The ambient light in the room was low but the table on which the prisoner had remained strapped all night was brightly lit with an operating cluster.

The man had defecated and urinated, and the Grade-11 interrogator had been cleaning up the mess when She heard the Mistress arrive. She resumed washing the prisoner down with a strong jet of icy cold water, aiming the nozzle directly at the man's exposed genitals causing his testicles to be squashed into his body -- both from the force of the jet and from the scrotum itself pulling them tight in reaction to the cold.

As the cleansing operation was completed the Mistress stripped and hung Her clothes in a closet, donning a white rubber knee length apron instead. She slipped white sandals on Her feet and was ready to start.

The prisoner was sobbing quietly, trying to contain his fear and apprehension as the Mistress approached. he was still strapped face up on the table, still horizontal. His knees were pulled apart and strapped to the edge of the table, as were his ankles. His body was strapped down at the shoulders and waist, arms at his sides. -- In this way the Mistress could work on the man's genital area, legs and feet with ease -- these were the areas the Mistress had chosen to torment.

The Mistress explained this to the young man -- his sobbing increased as the Mistress explained in detail what She was about to do.

During Her explanation, the Mistress administered a pneumatic syringe full of booster drugs, including the standard pain enhancers, sexual arousers, and consciousness maintainers.

The Mistress continued to tell the frightened young man details of his pending demise while the drugs took effect, bolstering those given earlier. The Mistress poked and tweaked the prisoner until he was satisfied the drugs had taken effect.

Then She took a small microwave unit from the cabinet. She adjusted the beam wide and the power low. Then She started waving it up and down across the prisoner's genitals.

Very soon the man's black pubic hair frizzled and smoked and burned off, accompanied by the musical screams of the young prisoner.

The Mistress played the unit further up and down the prisoner's body, regularly returning to the genitals and as far as She could reach into the crack between the man's buttocks. Soon all of the young man's hair had been burned away from his lower body -- genitals, legs and even the soft, downy growth from his belly.

The depilation complete, the Mistress instructed the interrogator to wash the young man down again. This time the young man must have felt the cold water even more intensely -- he screamed as it fell on the now tender hairless flesh.

While the wash-down was going on the Mistress had readjusted the microwave unit, tightening the beam and slightly increasing the power level.

When the interrogator had finished washing the prisoner, the Mistress switched on the hand held unit and carefully traced a line, burning and melting the flesh from the screaming young man's inner thigh down to his knee, then back up again, crossing just under his scrotum and repeating the pattern on the other leg.

The beam had been set to penetrate the epidermal layer and now the skin had just melted away in a line about one quarter inch across -- exposing the muscles inside.

The Mistress was extremely skillful, and practiced at this, and She had deliberately lingered longer between the prisoner's legs where She had now burned a hole right through the skin exposing the base of his urethra -- from which blood and urine were now dribbling.

Next the Mistress adjusted the beam to its minimum width and maximum power, and She aimed the unit into the pulsating slit, at an angle, to separate the skin from muscle. The prisoner's legs quivered violently as the microwaves burned and cooked their way under the skin.

Repeatedly, the Mistress cut vertically for a few inches, returning to the sharper angle, so that in a matter of minutes the man's inner thighs showed a pattern of red lines perpendicular to the main opening.

When She had completed one leg the Mistress instructed the interrogator to repeat this on the other leg, and She Herself sprayed water onto the wounds to cool down the scorched skin.

Soon as the skin was cool enough to touch, the Mistress jerked it back, none too gently, so that She had exposed raw muscle from knee to crotch about six inches wide.

The Mistress bent forward and licked the fresh blood from the quivering wound, slurping it noisily as the prisoner's animal screeches echoed through the room.

When the interrogator had completed Her work on the other thigh, the Mistress opened the skin there, too while the microwave unit was replaced in the cabinet.

The Mistress selected an old fashioned steel scalpel from a tray -- sometimes She preferred these ancient tools rather than modern laser and microwave devices.

She slit deeply into the trembling, jellylike muscle along the edges of the wound. Placing the scalpel onto the tray, She then put Her strong hands into the wound and literally tore the muscle from within the thigh to expose the bare femur.

With the scalpel She cut two small pieces of the partly cooked flesh and, giving one to the interrogator, She popped the other piece into Her own mouth and chewed it lasciviously to the horror of the young prisoner.

The Mistress then cut a larger piece. As he realized that this piece was intended for him, the terrified man tried to clench his mouth shut. But his involuntary screams made it hard to keep his mouth closed.

With only a little effort the Mistress dropped the meat into the man's mouth. She held the man's mouth closed with Her hand and forced the prisoner to chew, then swallow his own flesh.

Still chewing on the almost raw flesh, the Mistress returned to the exposed thigh bone and plunged Her hands back into the wound near where the femur joins the innominate bone at the hip.

With Her immense strength, the Mistress grabbed and twisted the bone easily from its socket.

Dragging the bone out with tendons and cartilages still attached, the Mistress snapped it out from the knee joint and ripped it clean from the prisoner's convulsing leg.

Taking the bone in both hands, the Mistress used it to hammer the prisoner's genital area. Soon the man's testicles swelled twice their size, stretching the scrotum purple-black.

Still, the man's penis was involuntarily partially erect. That was a good sign, since it indicated that the drugs were still very much in effect, and the man would remain conscious for even more dismemberment.

The Mistress took a saw from the tray -- again the old fashioned manual type. She sawed through the prisoner's leg immediately below the hip, then instructed the interrogator to cauterize the wounds as She went to work amputating the other leg.

The interrogator took a small laser cauterizing unit and quickly stemmed the blood flow, doing the same to the other leg once the Mistress had severed it.

The good leg was put into a freezer cabinet; the femurless leg sent to the male rectory along with other offal.

The Mistress ordered the prisoner's waist restraining strap released. As the interrogator placed a block under the man's lower back to expose his anus, the Mistress thrust the femur right into the orifice, tearing the soft skin apart as it entered.

The Mistress kept pushing and the bone forced its way deeply into the squealing prisoner's guts until it split open the man's liver and finally burst through the stomach wall.

Knowing time was now short, the Mistress quickly amputated the prisoner's arms at the shoulder, again having the wounds cauterized.

Satisfied that the execution was almost over, the Mistress ordered the prisoner, still alive, though barely, to be thrown alive into the rectory chute to follow his deboned leg.

Then leaving the interrogator to clean up, the Mistress left the room, bounded up the stairs to the next level, and entered the recuperation area.

The interrogator unstrapped the squealing, limbless torso and as instructed, dropped him into the offal chute.

This was a pneumatic device which sucked everything placed in it up to the second lower level where all kitchens were located -- even those for the male rectories.

The suction drew the barely living, mutilated body through the network of tubes, smashing him against elbows and tee junctions, as he joined other dismembered and damaged human parts.

On reaching the rectory receiving bins, the prisoner's body slammed into the air grill onto a tray where, released from the main suction force, he dropped into a bin, already half full.

The prisoner landed face up and watched in horror as blood dripping limbs, intestines, heads and other components which had been freshly removed from their erstwhile owners, poured down on top of him until light and air were blocked out.

He was gasping for breath in the tight space but blood was dripping into his mouth and the weight from the body parts above was increasing, pressing on his chest and throat.

The bin filled up and the incoming meat was diverted to a second bin while the kitchen porter pushed this bin to the cold room.

The prisoner was still alive but as the bin was wheeled over the threshold of the cold room, the load was shifted slightly and, as he had his mouth open attempting to draw in as much of the scarce air as possible, the man suddenly felt something enter his mouth.

Unable to spit it out, the flesh, a soft penis recently removed from a newly entered slave, was blocking his mouth and this, with the blood that continued to trickle into his mouth and around the blockage, deprived him of even the smallest amount of precious air, so he finally choked to a convulsing, pain wracked death.

The Mistress arrived at the recuperation area. She first looked at the new fluid donor. Pleased to see that all was well, She ordered the donor to be transferred to the pre-production area at midday.

She next inspected the prisoner on whom She had been working two days previously. This man was very tough and was a member of a group who had managed to develop compounds offering immunity from the Security interrogation drugs.

These compounds also contained brain destroyers which reacted against the Security chemical interrogation to destroy the person's brain, thus rendering useless any further interrogation.

The subversive fanatics would do anything, the Mistress mused -- even allow their own brains destroyed.

Fortunately, Security had only lost one or two rebels this way, and once they established where the problem lay, the laboratories were put to work to develop a counter compound.

In the meantime, as they still worked on this project, consuming up to one hundred low grade males per day, what they had been able to discover was a detection test to confirm the presence of these immunity compounds.

It was now a matter of routine to test all anti New State prisoners for immunity and if they were positive, conventional, some said archaic, interrogation methods were used.

At these, the Mistress was the New State expert and She was the inventor of many of the techniques used today. -- Of course, She did copy a great deal from the scenes in Her extensive holodisk library, but very few people knew about that.

This particular prisoner had managed to survive twenty hours of intensive torture without revealing anything, but the Mistress was confident that She could break the man in this session. -- She was counting on it as the session was to be conducted before an audience of senior Security personnel as well as trainee interrogators.

The Mistress had one little trick up Her sleeve. She had learned from the research laboratory head that only the previous day they had been able to make something of a breakthrough and had isolated certain drugs used by Security in tortures, some of those drugs which enhanced pain, increased sexual arousal and prevented fainting, which with slight modifications were not nullified by the immunity compounds.

This meant that a moderate dose of these isolated drugs could be administered, without damage to the prisoner. The laboratory head had assured Her the risk of failure was almost non existent.

Although not quite as concentrated as the drugs normally used, the Mistress considered that they would be sufficiently strong to improve the Mistress's chances of a successful conventional interrogation.

The Mistress' assistant entered the recuperation area and was instructed to have the prisoner taken down to Room G -- the main Interrogation Demonstration Theater.

While this was being carried out the Mistress made a cursory inspection of the pre-production area, and then the main fluid production area. This second room was very large and contained rows and rows of donor racks, identified according to blood group, sub group and immunity block factor.

Certain special donors, for instance those producing a rare blood group were kept at the far end of the room, each with his own monitoring station. All of the regular donors, however, were monitored from a single computerized console in a room to the right of the entrance.

After acknowledging the monitoring orderly and taking a brief look at the panel, the Mistress started Her stroll around the room.

The donors were strapped to the racks across the chest and hips. All were limbless. They were sitting on a stainless steel platform in the center of which was a steel tube, twelve inches long and three inches in diameter which was deep inside the man's colon. Each of these tubes was connected to a large brown pipe which ran beneath the racks.

Those donors who still had penises were fitted into a rubber sheath from which a pipe led into a yellow pipe which also ran under the racks. Those without penises simply had the pipe coming from the scarred area from which their manhoods had been removed.

Nothing was wasted here, so the yellow and brown tubes fed directly into biogas and fertilizer plants in the adjacent mega-structure.

The head of every donor was kept immobile in a helmet similar to that used for the operation. The helmet supplied controlled air, in some cases mixed with drugs, with an increased oxygen level or other special requirement. A thick clear plastic tube was inserted into the windpipe to the epiglottis, with a smaller drain tube past the epiglottis in case fluid entered the lungs.

The larger, feeding tube came from a pale blue pipe running above the racks and the drain tube went to a small white pipe alongside the blue one. The air pipes were connected to manifolds of different colored pipes, each containing different gases.

The tubes emerging from each donor's chest were connected to red and dark blue pipes. In addition there were a number of wires connected to sensors on numerous parts of each body leading to the control console.

Mounted like this were about two hundred regular donors and another thirty or so specials.

The Mistress continued Her rounds, recognizing immediately those She had converted Herself, listening to the faint whir of the air conditioning and the occasional gurgle in the pipes as one of the donors defecated or urinated into the brown or yellow waste pipes.

It was almost an hour before the Mistress finished Her inspection and signed the monitoring orderly's logbook on Her way out.

Again She took the stairs down to the eighth lower level, then strode purposefully along the corridor to the anteroom of Room G.

Her assistant was again a female -- this was too important a demonstration to risk offending the conservatives by having a male assistant. She had already changed into a knee length surgical apron and white slippers, and the Mistress soon dressed in the same way.

There was still a few minutes to start and the Mistress asked the assistant to fetch Her a cold drink before they began.

As the younger Woman left, the Mistress entered the Theater. It was almost completely dark. She went over to the prisoner who was sitting in a restraining chair to one side of the stage.

Careful to ensure that the screens on the viewing windows were still shut, the Mistress produced a pneumatic syringe from Her apron pocket and shot the new drugs into the prisoner's thigh.

Certain that She had not been observed, the Mistress returned to the anteroom and sent the syringe into the contaminated garbage chute.

After enjoying the cool fruit drink brought to Her by Her assistant, the Mistress called the duty officer to send up two interrogators to help with the prisoner, and then returned to the Theater.

She clicked on the light switches, then operated the viewing screen control buttons to reveal a mass of faces behind the glass all peering in anticipation at the great Woman below.

The two interrogators arrived as the screens slid aside and the Mistress instructed them to transfer the prisoner to the torture chair at the center of the stage.

This chair looked similar to the restraining chair at first glance, but it was far more sophisticated.

The prisoner was forced down onto the open seat so his buttocks bulged out under the seat frame, then his legs were strapped to the sides of the chair, about two feet apart, at the knee, calf and ankle.

Then his arms were tied to the arms of the chair at the bicepses, forearms and wrists, with a broad strap being pulled across his chest, just below the nipples, and fixed behind the chair's upright back.

Then a chin rest was inserted through holes in the chair back so the posts passed on either side of the prisoner's neck and the rest pressed against his throat, above the Adam's apple.

An interrogator wheeled over a small trolley and positioned it under the prisoner's exposed buttocks exactly, as instructed by the Mistress. Then with a slight hiss, a shiny steel tube emerged from the trolley and kept rising up to meet the crack between the prisoner's buttocks.

The man squirmed as the tube pressed against his unwilling anus but with a press of a small button the Mistress shot an electric charge through the tube and the lips parted involuntarily to allow the tube to enter the prisoner's rectum. It penetrated only about four inches before stopping.

The Mistress looked up at Her audience and briefly explained the circumstances of this particular interrogation.

The man had resisted previous interrogations and how he had tested positive for immunity compounds.

The prisoner had been identified as one of the senior members of a rebel group operating outside the city who had been responsible for attacks on State Agricultural Complexes in the countryside.

These attacks had resulted in the deaths of several male workers at the complexes and injury to some female officials.

The object of the interrogation was to establish if he truly was the person Security thought he was (actually KNEW he was), why his group had carried out the attacks (they knew that too), and, finally the present location of the group's camp.

It was this latter piece of information which most interested Security but the Mistress knew She had to put on a good show and so She would go through the motions of extracting the minor information first. This warmup would also act as a control so that they could differentiate fact from fiction.

Her speech over, the Mistress turned Her back to the audience and issued some brief commands to Her assistant and the two interrogators.

It took only a few minutes for the instructions to be carried out and the Mistress recommenced the interrogation. This time, She knew (but no one else present knew) She had the advantage of drug support. So She decided not to inflict too much pain just yet but to start up slowly.

Naturally, the prisoner refused to give his name when asked. The Mistress repeated the question, this time She was holding the prisoner's ample scrotum in Her talloned hand. As the prisoner again refused to disclose his name, the Mistress closed Her fist and dug Her eagle-claws into the prisoner's testicles.

The drugs were working and the man screamed in pain while his penis started to swell slightly into the beginnings of an erection.

As the prisoner tried to rock his head side to side, the tight grip of the chin support pressed into his throat and restricted his breathing. He soon learned to stay as still as possible as he coughed and choked his first plea for mercy.

The Mistress repeated Her questions again. This time the prisoner did answer, confirming what the Mistress already knew. But he refused to answer the next question -- even while screaming in agony as the Mistress clawed the prisoner's right testicle to a shredded pulp.

Even as his testicle was being destroyed, the man's very large penis continued hardening. The Mistress instructed Her assistant to arouse the prisoner into full erection as She prepared for the next stage.

The prisoner's penis was at its full twelve inch length and a swollen two and one half inches across when the Mistress returned to the chair carrying a small tray. She set the tray down on one of the work tables placed around the chair and selected a steel rod, over one quarter of an inch in diameter.

As the assistant held the penis, drops of smegma oozing from its tip, the Mistress slowly but smoothly pushed the rod down the prisoner's penis into the base of the urethra. She then applied tape around the tube and the circumcised penis bulb to ensure that the rod would remain in place.

Taking a small hammer and two stainless steel nails from the tray, She drove the first nail into the prisoner's still complete left testicle, pinning it to the wooden front rail of the chair, repeating this with what was left of the shredded right gonad.

To stop the prisoner's agonized screams, the Mistress ordered him gagged temporarily. Even if he wished to answer now, the prisoner would not be heard as the three inch diameter rubber ball was forced into his mouth -- over his tongue, keeping his teeth apart while the gag was tightly strapped behind his neck.

The Mistress hummed quietly to Herself as She connected leads to the rod now firmly set in the prisoner's erect penis and to a terminal on the tube in the man's rectum.

The Mistress turned a valve on the trolley. With a faint gurgling noise, a special electrically conductive fluid was pumped into the prisoner's anus, filling his rectum and colon and forcing its way against the natural peristalsis well into his small intestine.

The prisoner's belly distended visibly, straining against the straps holding him to the chair back, before the Mistress closed the valve, automatically shutting the pump off.

The assistant positioned several conductive plastic pads under the straps already holding the prisoner in place.

Finally the Mistress took two more leads each connected to a steel nail only slightly smaller than that now pinning the prisoner's testicles to the chair though with less of a head.

Grabbing the bound man's right nipple firmly with a pair of pliers, She pulled the nipple till it looked like it would tear off. Then the Mistress shoved the nail through the stretched skin, repeating this with the left nipple.

A last check that all was well and the Mistress moved to the electrical control console.

The Mistress played to the gallery as She made adjustments to the controls, then began the electrical torture.

As with every aspect of interrogation and torture, the Mistress was very adept at this technique.

The Mistress had set the sequence perfectly for the viewing audience. She dimmed the lights in the interrogation arena, and as the electrical pulses varied in intensity and direction to a programmed pattern, the prisoner's body twitched and writhed within his tight restraints.

As the frequency rose and different signals reacted to generate electrical harmonics, sparks flickered between electrodes -- the first up the legs to produce a purple aurora of dancing sparks around the crotch with crackling rays of bluish light running up and down the prisoner's erect and impaled penis.

The program continued and the sparks moved up to flicker across the man's quivering belly and chest to form a dancing pattern between his nipples.

The intensity increased and the electrical field leapt directly between the blood filled penis and the nails in his nipples creating the impression of a miniature lightning strike playing across the sky.

Now the program moved faster, and with it the patterns of electrical aurora. Soon the squirming prisoner was lit from chest to feet, including around his exposed buttocks.

The most eye catching part of the scene, even for those who had seen this type of display before, was the reaction of the conducting fluid filling the prisoner's intestines. The man's belly fibrillated in time with the signals being sent by the console.

The audience was on its feet, applauding the beautiful show the Mistress was putting on for them. The whole sequence lasted about an hour. The prisoner was not allowed to pass out the entire time and had been forced to endure untold agony within as well as outside his tortured body for the entertainment of the attending dignitaries.

For several minutes after the program was completed and the lights had been turned back on, the prisoner's belly continued to twitch and undulate as his digestive system attempted to recover.

The Mistress ordered the prisoner's gag removed, and as the ball was pulled out from his mouth, the man could be heard moaning and whimpering in pain and terror.

The interrogation now continued and, as the Mistress had counted on, the prisoner was broken. He revealed all of the information required of him concerning the location of his group, plus much, much more.

The details were immediately transmitted to the Operations Group for action, and the prisoner was of no further use to Security. This allowed the Mistress to continue Her demonstration of torture techniques to the appreciative onlookers, without concerning Herself with getting coherent answers to questions.

She called for a fluid donor to be brought in. This was unusual since normally the fluids were brought in containers from the production area, but no one was going to question the Mistress and in a few minutes a donor matching the prisoner's blood group and sub groups sufficiently for these purposes, was wheeled in on his rack -- which had just been disconnected from the main piping system.

The donor's blood was now circulating through a holding tank hanging on the rack and his urine and feces pipes both led into another smaller tank for later use. The donor was set up in front of the prisoner, but slightly to one side so as not to impair the audience's view.

The Mistress removed the electrical leads from the nipples and limb restraints. She left the nails in place, though. The lead from the anal tube She immediately replaced with a pair of smaller leads connected to a small box on the floor.

As soon as She had made the connection, the Mistress flicked a switch.

The Mistress explained to Her listeners that the box was a simple DC power source and that there were two electrodes set inside the steel tube.

Now, unseen from the outside, a simple process of electrolysis was going on, meaning that oxygen and hydrogen gases were being produced inside the prisoner's intestines.

The effect would be increased pain from the pressure -- to add to the wrenching left from the earlier electrical treatment.

The Mistress made an incision in the prisoner's thyroid artery and slipped a clear tube into the hole, sealing it up with surgical tape. She connected the other end of the tube to a small pump on the donor rack and switched it on.

Now, as the Mistress explained, blood was being added to the prisoner's system, forced by the pump into the brain. Unable to faint, this slight increase in blood pressure would soon create an intense headache, with ringing in the ears and blurred, flashing vision.

But that was not the object of this particular ploy. Now the Mistress was going to bleed the prisoner.

She selected a scalpel, a steel one, from the tray proffered by Her assistant, and began to carve deep cuts into the man's quivering belly -- up his chest and around his nipples. The blood began to trickle from the wounds and the Mistress collected some into a small basin.

An interrogator jammed a block into the prisoner's open, screaming mouth and the Mistress poured the fresh blood down the man's throat, forcing him to swallow.

Then She bent over the prisoner and licked the wounds, savoring the taste in a sensuous way, teasing the audience who were all avidly watching through the viewing windows.

The Mistress knew She could not swallow too much of this man's blood as it was laced with drugs, and the new blood coming from the donor had also been reinforced with the drugs. Even so, She was able to make the onlookers very envious.

The Mistress took the scalpel again and gently sliced open the prisoner's scrotum, then tore the skin away from the nail. The testicles, still connected to the prisoner's body, were now fully exposed -- nailed to the chair.

The Mistress began slicing the intact left testicle into thin strips about one eighth of an inch across, taking care not to sever the cord connecting it to the body.

Finished, the Mistress tugged the sliced gonad free from the nail and fanned the slices into the palm of Her hand, keeping to one side to give the audience a good view.

The prisoner's wails were sounds of desperation, like those of a dying animal -- which is exactly what he was as far as the Mistress was concerned. Besides, his wailing helped to entertain the spectators and participators alike.

With a swift, economical movement the Mistress severed the testicle and dropped the slices into the prisoner's mouth. Again the prisoner was forced to swallow or choke.

The right testicle was little more than pulp so the Mistress just ripped it off the nail, and then from the man's body, dropping that, too, into the prisoner's mouth.

The Mistress decided to work on the nipples now, damaged though they were. She tugged away at the nails which She had earlier inserted, stretching the perforations into large holes. The nipple buds were left hanging from the man's chest.

Bending over the Mistress bit off the two nipples and fed these to the prisoner.

The Mistress then asked for a taper. An assistant brought one, lit. The Mistress warned the assistant to stand clear as She made a deep incision into the prisoner's abdomen, pinching the cut closed with Her left hand as She pulled the scalpel back with the right.

Next the Mistress took a metal tube about six inches long and a quarter of an inch outside diameter. She inserted this into the incision, keeping Her thumb over the open end. Then She moved Her thumb from the tip of the tube then put it back over the tube. She waved the taper over the prisoner's chest. A whoof of flame flashed.

The Mistress explained that the prisoner's guts were full of the hydrogen and oxygen produced by the electrolysis.

The Mistress put the flame near Her thumb, stretching his body back. She looked up to the rapt spectators and grinned. She removed Her thumb and jerked back as a flame whooshed out of the tube.

The frightened prisoner gasped for breath. The flame flickered and then was out.

Instantly there was a bright explosion in the prisoner's belly. The man's waist was three to four times its natural size for a split second before the belly ripped open and steaming guts flew everywhere, splatting sticky bits of guts all over the viewing plastic.

The prisoner's abdomen was nearly blown away. Blood was spurting several places. The whole lower body was shiny with wet blood.

The assistant, covered in blood and bits of guts, rushed in with a laser-cauterizers and closed all the spurting arteries. Then She sprayed the prisoner's insides with an alum derivative, coagulating the blood instantly into a hard caked black-red crust.

The Mistress towelled off as much blood and guts as She could and washed Her face in an eyewasher then patted Her face off with a fresh towel and rubbed Her hair. She shook Her head and then finger combed Her hair.

The assistant rushed back to the fluid donor, checking monitors and tubes.

After checking the blood flow from the donor Herself, the Mistress cut away flaps of abdominal skin. She rummaged Her hands through what was left of the prisoner's digestive track. She grabbed a hunk of small intestine and gently pulled it, trying not to make any sharp moves which might allow the prisoner to be overcome with pain despite the anti-fainting drugs and pass out.

The blood and gut streaked plastic was now dark from the mass of spectators pressing against the plastic as if they could press more of the unfolding execution into their senses by squashing themselves against the plastic.

The Mistress knew that the man was close to that stage and She wanted him awake for a while longer yet -- to prolong the spectacle as long as possible.

The intestines coiled easily across the Mistress' expert hands. The Mistress laid the coils across the prisoner's heaving chest and draped them around his neck as She cleaned all the guts and pieces out of the prisoner's lower abdomen -- all the bits and pieces of small and large intestines, spleen, appendix, everything.

The Mistress' face was determined, reflecting Her intense concentration in Her quest to keep from ending the prisoner's agony too soon.

Eventually what was left of the prisoner's entire digestive system from stomach to colon was strung around the prisoner's neck like a bizarre lei. Despite the coagulants, the organs oozed blood and other fluids streaming down the prisoner's body onto the floor.

The Mistress thrust Her fist into the dying man's lower gut through the man's anus, ripping the scorched muscle.

The spectators laughed and pointed at this reverse fisting as the Mistress grabbed Her right hand with Her left like She was shaking hands through the man's anus.

It was clear the donor's blood reserve was not going to be sufficient to compensate for the prisoner's losses, but the Mistress elected not to call for more but to keep the man alive as long as She could with the available blood.

The liver and kidneys were still intact, more or less, inside the prisoner's otherwise empty abdominal cavity. The Mistress stepped back and let the assistant recauterize the larger wounds and spray the whole cavity with coagulant again.

Blood now continued to flow to the brain -- the direct flow being helped by the blood pumping from the donor. Blood to the limbs was returning to normal as more blood from the donor was pumped into the prisoner's body.

With most major internal veins and arteries sealed or pulled out with the intestines, the normal volume required for that part of the body was now not needed.

The Mistress took Her scalpel again and made a long incision under the prisoner's throat, down each side of his chest to the top corners of the gaping hole that had been his abdomen and back up to the throat again.

This gave the appearance of an almost perfect square with a vertical line cutting it into two.

The Mistress took a longer scalpel and, by slitting under the skin, She peeled these flaps of skin back to each side, letting the folds rest on the prisoner's arms.

Now the prisoner's front torso was almost completely skinless. The prisoner revived a bit and wriggled, popping beads of shiny blood across his skinned pectorals and lower chest.

The Mistress now cut the ends of the muscle mass wrapping the prisoner's chest and forced his fingers between bone and muscle.

With Her renowned strength, the Mistress tugged and twisted till muscle separated from bone -- seemingly as easily as a cook deboning a chicken breast.

The Mistress forced Her fingers between a couple of the lower ribs and pulled them apart, cracking them and pulling them back.

From here the Mistress went up the right side of the man's chest, breaking and pulling back one rib after another, baring the man's blood soaked lungs -- now no longer needed for oxygenation since the man's blood was now being supplied by the fluid donor.

The Mistress cracked and pulled back the left ribs then stood back and to the side so the spectators could see the purple-red heart flopping in a pool of blood.

The dying rebel's animal squawks had long since become silent -- no matter how hard he tried to scream, there was no air to feed his voice now that his lungs were inert masses.

Even so, the Mistress wanted to show off some of Her suffocation techniques. She slit the prisoner's throat, right under the chin rest, taking care not to sever any major blood vessel, and with Her fingers pulled out the thyroid cartilage and ripped it from the prisoner's neck.

Had the man had lung function, this would have silenced his screams, converting them into bloody burbble-gurgles as he gasped through the hole.

The Mistress now cut off part of the folded back chest skin and rolled it up and stuffed it into the prisoner's nostril. She slit another strip and rolled it up and shoved it into the other nostril. She removed the man's mouth block and stuffed his throat with his own skin.

This would have blocked the prisoner's breathing, had his lungs and throat been intact.

The Mistress knew that if the prisoner fainted now he would most likely never regain consciousness. As the end was near anyway, the Mistress decided to give the audience one last showpiece.

The interrogators set about unstrapping the prisoner from the chair as the assistant removed the chin rest. When he was free, a rod still deep inside his artificially erect penis, two straps were lowered from the ceiling and secured under the prisoner's arms and tightened with a strap behind his shoulder blades. Then he was hoisted up so that his feet swung just clear of the floor.

He was a beautiful sight, that dying rebel prisoner -- his lower torso cleaned out, intestines laced around his neck. Two folds of skin hung loosely from his chest, his lungs drooped useless, but his heart was still pumping, still strong -- blood oxygenated by the fluid donor, fed through a flexible clear tube now pulled almost straight.

The Mistress pulled the rod from the prisoner's penis and then cut the penis off and stuck it into the hole in the man's throat.

Again, this would have suffocated the prisoner, had his lungs been working and the only supply of oxygen to the man's body.

The Mistress made a new incision from the base of the belly wound, past the hole that had been the seat of the man's genitals, between the legs to what was left of the man's anus.

Then each interrogator took hold of one foot and pulled horizontally until the man's legs were split apart and the gash tore up to the base of the prisoner's spinal column.

The prisoner's heart was still beating, though his face was blank and there was no way to tell if he could feel anything.

The interrogators kept up the pressure and gradually the man's body continued to split up the back -- his backbone cracking audibly on occasion, until his body was in two pieces up to the shoulders.

One last tug and the prisoner's body fell to the floor in two parts, the left side to which the head was still attached, eyes rolling like the man was giving one last look to the appreciative spectators.

The man was certainly unconscious and probably dead. The trembles and twitches were most certainly only the result of random nerve discharges and muscle realignment as they relaxed in death.

The audience, still standing at the plastic, applauded the Mistress in appreciation for such an entertaining educational show.

The screens whirred closed. A clean up crew came in and threw the remains of the prisoner into the male rectory chute, then set about cleaning up the Theater.

The Mistress and Her assistant showered in the anteroom before going up to Her office to find out what else was waiting for Her that day. If She was lucky, nothing -- then She could play hide the sausage with her favorite assistant. After this demonstration, She could indulge Her unconventional whims.