TWENTY-FIVE
“Just step up here now, girly,” the guard with lemon-yellow hair said to her. “Time for a scan.”
“Wait, Nak—scan her luggage first,” the other guard with the green hair said.
“Ah—good idea.” The first guard yanked the golden suitcase that Kat had packed for her out of Iyanna’s hand. Before she could protest, he placed it directly under the thick copper arch—which was at least twelve feet high and broad enough that it could have let three people walking abreast pass through it easily.
“Stand back,” the second guard, who must be Gorn said, and pressed some buttons on the side of the arch.
The arch’s humming suddenly rose to a clattering crescendo, like someone pounding on a hundred drums at once, Iyanna thought. She had to fight the urge to put her hands over her ears—it was really loud.
After a few moments of the intense drumming, the arch’s tone dropped to a hum again.
“Well?” the first guard, Nak, demanded hopefully. “Any contraband?”
“Hmm…” Gorn, who was clearly working the enormous machine, peered at a monitor attached to the wall. He shook his head in apparent disappointment. “Nah—nothing but clothes and female items.”
“Damn!” Nak was clearly disappointed. “Well, we still have to scan the female herself,” he pointed out. “Maybe she’s got something on her.”
“Or in her.” Gorn gave Iyanna a nasty, leering grin. “Get her under the Arch and let’s have a look.”
“Hey, wait!” Iyanna protested as the first guard shoved her towards the enormous, burnished bronze arch. “What is this thing, anyway? Does it emit radiation? Don’t I get any kind of shielding? What if this affects my fertility?”
She didn’t want kids right away, but she might someday and she knew that most scans at the airport back on Earth had to do with some kind of radiation. And the enormous copper Arch looked like it could emit a hell of a lot of radiation—if that was what it was using to do the scan.
Gorn, who was running the Arch, snorted laughter.
“Silly little bitch—you can’t shield yourself from a superconducting magnet!” he told her derisively. “Once you’re in the magnetic field, you’re fucking in it.”
“But I don’t know—” Iyanna began.
“Get in there and hold still!” Nak barked at her. “Or do I need to use the manacles?”
He nodded up at the inside wall of the Arch and Iyanna saw a detail she’d missed before—there were handcuff looking loops sticking out on either side. They were made of the same copper material the Arch itself was made of and they looked like they would easily hold someone much bigger and stronger than herself.
Still, she resisted being pushed under the Arch.
“I want to talk to a lawyer,” she told the guards, her voice trembling more than she liked. “Or whoever represents people in a court of law here. I need to understand more about this device before I let you scan me with it! I want to know the long-term effects. The—”
“Look at her, resisting!” Gorn exclaimed. “She wouldn’t resist if she wasn’t guilty!”
“That’s not true!” Iyanna cried. “I just want to know what you’re doing to me—I have the right to know! I told you, I want to talk a lawyer or some kind of legal representative!”
“Females don’t get represented in court except by their Masters or husbands,” Nak told her. “And you’ve got neither. Now get under the Arch and let us scan you or you’re going to be sorry!”
“No!” Iyanna struggled to break his grip but he was a foot taller than her and much stronger. Then Gorn came to help him and there was no way to break free—before she knew it, she was manacled inside the enormous copper Arch, her hands stretched wide on either side of her.
Iyanna thought she had never felt so helpless in her life.
“Good—now scan her!” Nak said, stepping out from under the Arch.
“On it.” Gorn was already pushing buttons. “She’s a feisty one, isn’t she? Haven’t ever had to use the manacles on a female before.”
Nak’s answer was drowned out as the cacophonous drumming sound filled the air again.
Iyanna squeezed her eyes shut, wondering if she as going to go deaf. It was so much louder under the Arch itself and it felt as though waves of vibrations were washing over her body in a most unpleasant way.
And then she felt something else—a very unwelcome sensation of cold air blowing across her breasts and crotch and ass.
What the hell?
Opening her eyes, she looked down and saw that the golden embroidered modesty patches had fallen off her crimson outfit. They lay on the floor at her feet like discarded rags, leaving her breasts, pussy, and ass completely exposed!
Iyanna stared at them in disbelief.
Oh no—oh my sweet Lord! What’s going on? Why did that happen?
She was so horrified she forgot to be overwhelmed by the immense drumming noise—which stopped abruptly as the Arch went back to humming to itself.