Glimpses of the Island

Prior Preparation

Ben Jaffe leaned back in his chair as he watched Elise on the monitor. What he saw confirmed the impression he had gleaned from her training records. Not once had she stood up since the guards had put her in the holding cell. The key to understanding her was the principle of order imposed from without. It explained her dedication.

He recognized it from the way she completed her writing assignments. When instructors had provided an outline her prose had been concise, consistently on topic and never straying from the guidelines given to her. But if there was no outline and the purpose of the assignment was vague or poorly defined she tended to ramble, her thoughts presented in a disorganized manner.

He first noticed the discrepancy when he had been provided with a selection of case histories of trainees. After an initial consultation with the Director of the Facility, Clancy Yates, Ben had been given a brief description of several women who might be appropriate. Elise had been one of the prospects.

Elise had stood out. What first caught his attention was her education, a degree in nursing and experience as a surgical assistant. He knew what that represented. She had the ability to stay cool under the incredible pressure an operating room could produce when something went wrong. Assisting in major surgery required both confidence in her own ability and an innate trust in the doctor's instructions, even if they appeared to contradict her training and experience.

Once last time he thumbed through the copies of some of her essays. The instructors had graded them on content more than style. The stated goal had been to stress the attention to detail, to teach her to express herself no matter what the writing task given to her. He was as much interested in the organization as what she had actually written. He had been told the style wasn't especially important since it wasn't a composition class, but he believed the way she tried to go beyond the minimum, to make it interesting and entertaining, the way she chose particular words, all demonstrated her determination to do her best but stay within the parameters of her assignment.

The director, Clancy Yates, had indeed done his homework too. The two women brought in with Elise had worn the standard Facility uniform, but Ben recognized the reason behind Elise's change the moment he saw her on the screen: tznius , the Hebrew word for modesty in dress, which he had casually mentioned to Clancy in their first meeting. He hadn't asked for it nor had he expected to see her dressed to suit his own preferences.

Movement on the monitor caught his attention. He looked up to see her stretching her legs. He asked the camera operator to switch the angle from the ceiling corner to the camera hidden in the corridor wall outside her cell. She must be getting tired. And anxious too , he thought as a smile crossed his face. He turned to the technician sitting behind him. "Could you arrange for her to be taken to the interview room in, hmm, say five minutes?"

"Right away, Dr. Jaffe." The operator picked up his phone and dialed an intercom number. Ben turned back to the monitor screen. She didn't seem to be aware that she was on camera.

The chains on her ankles, and the way her hands were restrained, only added to her attraction. At an instinctive level it affected Ben, stirring his desire not just to protect her but to own and control her as well. In a sense she was his for the asking. She had surrendered her right to refuse anyone the moment she agreed to come to the Facility. In turn the Facility had singled her out as, in their opinion, an excellent match to the type of woman he was seeking. If physical attraction was his only criteria it would take no more than a few words to claim her.

Ben had some ethics though, moral principles he lived by that would not allow him to drag home an unwilling woman to be a sex slave. The Director's sarcastic comment from their first meeting came back to him as he watched Elise on the monitor. The purpose of the Facility wasn't to prove its critics accurate but to produce a unique type of woman, one who would proudly stand at his side in public but be just as comfortable kneeling in submission in the privacy of their home. He had to be certain Elise was that woman, and that she believed he must be the man who possessed her.

On the monitor he saw her suddenly sit up straight, and then stand as the guards came to the door. Surprisingly Ben didn't feel nervous. He knew exactly how he would conduct the interview, and felt confident he would earn her respect. That was crucial for him. He knew he had to make a good first impression too, or she'd never truly accept him as her master. On the monitor she disappeared as the guards escorted her out of the waiting cell.

The video operator switched cameras, following her in the hallway and stopping outside the interview room. There were no cameras in the room itself. The two of them would have complete privacy. A few moments later the phone buzzed. The surveillance operator picked it up, listened, and hung up. "Dr. Jaffe? Whenever you're ready, she's in room seven across the hall." Ben stood up, buttoned his jacket, took a deep breath, and thanked the camera operator. You make your own luck , he told himself, so don't blame anyone else if this doesn't go well. It's no different than surgery; the scalpel is in your hand, no excuses.

In the hallway he could see the guards leaving the interview room. The last one out turned to him after closing the door.

"Dr. Jaffe? She is inside, waiting for you. As you requested she is facing the wall away from the door. Take as long as you like. When you are finished let me know. We'll be down there at the end of the hall." He pointed to a desk past the surveillance room door. "Oh yes, you might want these." He held out a set of small keys. "They are for her restraints."

Ben took them and dropped the keys in his jacket pocket. He thanked the guards as they left him alone by the door. He reached for the doorknob but stopped. Let her wait. It will be interesting to see how it affects her , he told himself. He took out his pocket watch and opened the cover. I'll give her two minutes. That should be plenty for her to imagine all kinds of disasters .

The waiting tried his own patience, but it did give him time to compose his thoughts and review one last time his plan for their meeting. He closed the cover on the watch and put it back in his pocket. Then he turned to the door and opened it.

Inside her back was to the door, precisely as he had intended. She knew he was here, but couldn't see him. He entered the room, closed the door behind him, pulled out his chair and sat down. She hadn't moved. He nodded in approval.

Finally he could see her in person instead of on camera. Nice looking legs , he thought, they belong in chains . He touched the keys. I could let her go if I felt like it . He took the keys out and dropped them on the desk.

Time to begin . In a moment he would order her to turn around and face him.