The Erotic Mind-Control Story Archive

Jimmy Rankstrom methodically, soberly contemplated the problems inherent to stereotypes. For the hundredth time, he wondered what ought to be the answer; what should a normal person, an average person, do when confronted with a particular orthodox, conventional image of someone he or she has just encountered … one who just happens to fit a particular mold? In his brief experience as a psychological professional, he’d met them, of course. One of note was a large-breasted blonde that fit the pattern of bimbo to a tee. The girl he’d encountered was intelligent. Very intelligent. Intelligent enough to figure out that meeting everyone’s expectations might just pay off if handled correctly. Jimmy had tried to talk her out of that mindset; and now, here he was, more or less doing the same sort of thing. At best, he was a hypocrite. At worse, his whole view of mankind was patently wrong.

Jimmy fit another stereotype: the tall, heavyset African American with a rich bass voice. Most large black men didn’t, of course. Have a deep basso voice, that is. Well, a couple did. James Earl Jones and Michael Clarke Duncan. That was about it. But they were enough. Folks saw his height, his size, his coloring, and they just naturally assumed the voice would go along with it. And when it did, that misconception seemed justified. So now, here he was, turning it all into cold hard cash. Just like the brilliant bimbo had done.

“Where are you going?” Beth asked him. “Why didn’t you finish getting dressed? Is that all you’re wearing? No jacket? Just that black, open-neck shirt?” She followed as he left the dressing room and mounted a set of winding stairs.

“Yeah,” he answered abstractly, climbing to the lighting platform above the stage. “This is pretty much it. There’s a cape, but it gets in the way, so I usually leave that off until the last second. I still have to spend a few more minutes on makeup, but it can wait.” He stepped aside so that she could him in the cramped space.

“Wow,” she murmured, looking around at all the stage lights hanging from a spiderweb of chains, cables and ropes all around her, swaying rhythmically, as if perfectly choreographed, while the ship gently added its dynamic to gravity afloat. They were uncomfortably high up. This platform was obviously meant to service the various lighting devices directly over the stage. There were a lot more lights across the theater space. “Why are we up here?”

“I don’t know why you are up here,” he answered. “I’m here to prep for the performance. They’ve opened the front doors early so people can order drinks before the presentation starts. I’m up here to pick my marks before the act. You didn’t think I chose folks at random, did you?” He was silent for a moment. “How are you feeling?”

She shrugged and commented without looking at him. “Better, thanks. That pill really worked. I don’t have any seasickness at all now. What are you looking for?”

“There are lots of tells. Lots of things that make a successful subject. And lots more that can cue me in about what makes a mark unsuccessful. Drunks for example. You might think that a drunk would make a good hypnosis subject; but even when they’re under, they’re just hypnotized drunks. Very unpredictable. And a pretty girl puking her guts out on stage isn’t very pretty, trust me.”

“Show me!” she ordered. “Who are you looking at?”

“Two of the three girls at table four look promising,” he said, “but not the third. She gives off a decidedly belligerent vibe. I’d either have to break them up somehow or forget them altogether.”

“Where? Which one’s table four?”

“Eleven tables per level. Table one is all the way to the left,” he answered, pointing. “The next level starts with table twelve, then twenty-three. After that, the levels get shorter. There are numbers, if you can see them. My biggest problem is accessibility. If somebody gets groggy from the opening induction, they might stumble and fall getting down to the stage. And if the seas start getting rough, it can get really tricky.”

She was silent for a while after that. He seemed to be making mental notes. Finally, she asked: “Who else?”

“I’d love to use the girl at table eleven.”

She shifted her gaze all the way to her right and steeply downward. Her breath seemed to catch. “Oh, Jimmy! She’s so … sweet! So innocent! And she just oozes submissiveness! She’d be perfect!”

He shook his head. “Her husband gives me the willies. I don’t know why, but I find the guy abhorrent. I think I’ll steer clear.”

“You’re probably just jealous. And what makes you so sure they’re married?”

“Both wearing rings.”

“Christ! You’ve got the eyes of an eagle! I can’t even see their fingers clearly from up here.” She paused, thinking. “You should still do her. Steal her away from the guy. Take her back to our cabin and screw her brains out!”

“Think ahead, little girl. Who are you going to bunk with on this voyage after an irate husband kills me?”

“I’ve told you over and over, I’m not going to BE in the cabin. It’s all yours. Trust me, I’ll find another room for the night. I’ve already been asked by two girls in the bar, about an hour ago. And you should go for it, Jimmy! She’s perfect! Turn her into your little hypno fuck toy and ….” And she gasped. And she pointed. And she said: “Oh, Jimmy! Look!”

“Where?”

“There! In the middle! What is it? Table … seventeen, is it? All alone! All by herself! Jimmy, she’s crying!”

“Yeah, I’ve been watching her.”

“Why is she crying?”

“I’m sure there are dozens of reasons. But since she’s alone, I’m guessing THAT is why.”

“Because somebody stood her up for this theater act?” Even she knew that wasn’t very likely. He stopped scanning the crowd to give her a condescending look, and she gasped again. “You think somebody stood her up for the whole cruise?! You think she’s alone for all four days?!”

He checked his watch. “I keep telling you, think of it as three nights, not four days. And yes, that would make the most sense, given her body language, emotional state, and the fact that we just left Long Beach six hours ago.”

“Twenty minutes, doc!” a gruff voice floated up from the dressing room area.

“Thanks, Frank! I’ll be ready,” he called down.

Beth ignored the interruption. “We have to help her, Jimmy!”

“What do you mean ‘help her’? Help her how?”

“She’s crying, Jimmy! She’s in pain!” She paused a beat. “Call her up on stage as a volunteer. Once you have her under your power, we can help her!”

“’Under my power?!’ Are you nuts? You know it doesn’t work like that! And she’s not very stage-worthy. I’ve already discounted using her.”

“Stage-worthy? Oh, Jimmy …” her voice was suddenly cold and filled with disdain. “Please tell me you aren’t talking about her not being pretty enough!”

Her tone made him very uncomfortable. “Beth, this is a stage act. There are certain … um … criteria.” He ground to a halt as she gave him a stern look.

But her demeanor softened, at least slightly. “She’s just as much a sub as the girl at table eleven. And there’s a killer body under that top! Get her blouse off on stage, and nobody’s going to be looking north of her tits.” She paused again, studying his expression. “And if you use her, you can have me, too.”

“What!?”

“You heard me. Not sex, obviously; but you can have me for the act. Take us both, and I’ll give in to your induction. You know I can do it. I’ve let you do it before; like at that party in Malibu. I’ll just surrender to you emotionally and let myself float away on your voice. And in the next fifteen minutes, I’ll have her talked into doing the same thing. How about it?”

Beth as a subject onstage was a temptation too great to resist. But the violation of ethics demanded a little argument, at the very least. “I can’t use my act to influence a girl’s sexual persuasion, you know that. A hypnotist is not going to turn a straight girl into a lesbian. It probably isn’t even possible. And I wouldn’t attempt it, if it was.”

“Give me a break, Jimmy! You know I would never do something like that. But just look at her! She’s barely holding it together. In her current state, she’s going to fling herself into the arms of the first guy that gives her a fumbled pickup line; and it’s going to be something she’s really going to regret later!”

He sighed heavily as she started down the spiral stairs. “And you’re really not going to hold back?” he asked. “You’re going to let me use you in the act however I want?”

“I trust you. You’re the best friend I’ve ever had.” She tossed him one last glance before she continued downward. “Just like in Malibu. Use us both, and I’m all yours.”

And she was gone.

He found himself rewriting the entire script at the last second. If Beth was up on the stage with him, it could lead to all sorts of avenues he’d never been able to consider. The vast majority of a hypnosis session was taken up with the chore of suggestibility. That’s what made the girl at table eleven so attractive. He instinctively knew that he wouldn’t be burdened by the task of establishing credulity. She would trust instinctively. She would follow. She oozed innocence. If she just didn’t have that asshole husband with her!

He spotted Beth maneuvering between the tables as she made her way toward her weeping target. When she had finally reached her goal, the plain young woman exhibited all the emotions he anticipated: mild shock, confusion, curiosity … and then finally trust and acceptance. The tears stopped. God, Beth was good! She obviously invited herself to sit, and then did so immediately, without even the whispered possibility of rejection. The girl’s posture and countenance changed. She had been ready to throw herself sexually at the first person who expressed any interest at all. And now, something completely unexpected and awe-inspiring was offering itself as an alternative. Friendship. The possibility of finding a friend on the cruise was something she had clearly never even thought about. Oh, this was a concept so overwhelmingly attractive that she would do anything … anything … to make it come true.

Quickly, he completed his mental list of possible subjects for the act. He thought he had them all pegged.

But he always kept coming back to the girl at table eleven.

Dinah Melnyk reached toward her left and placed her hand atop her husband’s, pleased and only mildly surprised when he did not pull away from her. He had been acting strangely since they had boarded the ship, and she had grown too paranoid to ask again what it was she had done that had led to his standoffishness. This was their honeymoon, after all. He had at least kissed her when they had been shown to their inner cabin belowdecks; but he’d left her alone almost immediately; and she had remained solitary and isolated for two hours before he had returned, smelling of alcohol, just in time to meet the deadline for the last seating for dinner. After a time, she had finally given up trying to make conversation during the meal; but she was granted moderate solace when he had let her accompany him as he visited three more bars following the evening meal. At least it beat reading alone in their room.

The liquor seemed to have little effect on him, as if he was used to consuming monstrous quantities of the stuff. She, in turn, had sipped dutifully at the glasses of wine he purchased, but she left most her drinks unconsumed when it came time to try out the next venue. She couldn’t help but notice how he frequently checked his watch; and he made sure that they were the first in line for the big stage show, arriving a full forty-five minutes prior to the midnight curtain call, despite his having pre-arranged for tickets to the performance.

She wasn’t sure what to make of all the signs and notices outside the theater entrance. In fact, she wasn’t sure what to make of the entire cruise. She hadn’t put it all together until they were actually boarding. The “four-day-three-night excursion” to Ensenada was apparently billed both as a “couples cruise” and a “carefree exploration for sensual, consenting adults.” Warning signs at the auditorium door bespoke “sexual content” that was strictly for adults only. The burly gentleman at the entrance who checked their ID’s issued them a key that fit one of the lockers lining the foyer. He instructed them that ALL electronic devices were banned from the theater proper. She had even left her e-reader entombed there.

The principal act was being performed by “The Famous Doctor Murmez,” Master of the Sensuous Mind, Purveyor of Titillating Fantasies, and Grand Virtuoso of Amatory Interplay; who would help the audience better understand their innermost erotic needs, and learn to surrender to their most profound prurient desires and basest animal urges.

Dinah couldn’t even begin to imagine what all that meant. Sex, obviously. She and Ivan had done it twice in the past three weeks, but she still felt as if she knew practically nothing about the act. They would most certainly do it tonight though. This had been their wedding day, and so sex would be a requirement, surely. In just a couple more hours, they would be doing it. She was an adult, after all. Her twenty-one years of life declared it outright. Her ID card proved it was true, and that big guy at the door had certainly studied hers carefully, making doubly-sure that it was indeed a fact. So, why did she feel like a little girl in a very large room of people who all looked and acted like adults?

The place was almost full, the noise generated by more than a hundred voices nearly deafening, all raised to be better-heard above the din. But the cacophony lessened slightly when a door beside the stage opened and a pretty girl emerged. And oh, what a girl she was! Dinah had never seen such an erotically attractive female. Since she had come from somewhere near the stage, many in the crowd probably assumed that she signaled the start of the production, but it soon became clear that she was just another spectator who had somehow wound up behind a door marked “Employees Only” by mistake. However, the continuation of the minor hush that descended on the room was for another reason altogether. Dinah sudden realized that she wished that the girl might look her way … might make eye . And, of course, that was the wish of practically every person who had seen her. The young woman had a thick mane of chestnut hair that bounced and swung with every movement she made, caressing the shoulders that were left bare by the halter dress she wore. And her body did make movements. Oh, yes, it did. But the girl’s attention never strayed. It remained riveted on her destination, which was apparently a table near the middle of the seating area.

Dinah had the wherewithal to glance about her, noting the vast number of eyes tracking the lady. Ivan was watching, as well. But he lost interest when the girl reached the table, occupied only by one other female, and she sat down. The world began revolving again; the voices in the room rose again. That particular train of thought derailed completely as Ivan took her hand in his. Startled and completely alert, she gave him her full attention.

“Do you know what type of act we are about to watch?” he asked her quietly. She had to lean toward him to hear.

“Um … I think it has something to do with sex.” She couldn’t keep the blush from her cheeks.

“The man is a magician; a sensory illusionist.” He paused for effect. “A hypnotist.”

Her brow furrowed. “Oh.”

“I want you to do something for me. Will you?”

“Yes, Ivan, of course.”

“I want you to do whatever the man says.” He studied her eyes intently. “You will do that for me, won’t you?”

But she couldn’t make her brow relax. Simultaneously, her cheeks felt even hotter. “Yes, Ivan. Um … but he won’t be speaking to ME, will he? Oh! I don’t have to volunteer for something, do I? I mean, I … um … I don’t have to get up in front of all these people, do I? I mean … Ivan, I think I would just die!”

His voice was stern. She hated his voice when it was stern. “No, I will not force you to volunteer. I suspect that he will start his act by speaking to everyone in the theater, all together. But in your mind, I want you to imagine that he is speaking to you personally. And I want you to do what he tells you to do … to think what he tells you to think. Do you understand? Will you do what I want you to?”

She gripped his hand more tightly. “Yes, Ivan, I will, I promise. Please.” She wasn’t sure what she was begging him for, exactly.

“Wonderful.” Oh, thank God his voice was no longer firm! She watched him as he nodded to her; and then, miraculously, he kept holding her hand as he seemingly dismissed her otherwise and looked around the theater some more. She sighed heavily. Just another hour or two, she told herself. They would be making love as man and wife in just another hour or two. If she could just keep from making him unhappy until then, maybe the day could end the way she had hoped. Maybe she could please him the way a woman should please a man. Maybe ….

“Ladies and Gentlemen, your attention please!” a voice boomed around them. The house lights came down as the stage was flooded with brilliance. “I am Jason, your social director, and on behalf of Royal Aphrodisia Cruise Lines, I welcome you aboard the crown jewel of our fleet, the Bawdy Strumpet! While California state law prohibits us from banning individuals based on age, our rules are allowed to relax after midnight. Still, I am required to remind you that we must all be cognizant of our younger engers during normal, daytime hours. No nudity will be tolerated after 6:30 A.M. ship’s time, and adult sensual congress or other displays of overt sexuality are not allowed where minors are present. Some spaces are designated Adults-Only. You are now sitting in one of those places.

“Please direct your attention to the twelve spots high up that I am now indicating with red laser lights. Those are computer inputs that are run through AI algorithms that are capable of identifying more than seven hundred brands and types of cell phones, digital cameras and other recording devices. those ‘Memorandums of Consent and Understanding’ that you scrolled through quickly and didn’t bother to read? Well, tucked into all that fine print somewhere, you consented to the fact that, should we catch you with one of those devices in this theater during the next seventy-five minutes, we will immediately stop the performance, seize the device, expel you from the theater, kick you off of this ship in Ensenada tomorrow, keep your device and your money, and you can find your own way home. Also, we will add your name to a list of ‘unruly engers’ that will then be shared with every cruise ship line and airline in the world. I will give everyone here exactly twenty seconds to raise your hand and turn in any such device without penalty.”

There was a long pause while seemingly everyone in the room looked around expectantly, but no one raised a hand.

“Excellent!” the Master of Ceremonies, continued. “We are alone together, without fear of outside interference or eavesdroppers. WE will not record what happens in this room; and so, the only copy of what you are about to witness will be in our memories alone. And, my friends, I can guarantee you: memorable it will most certainly be! Without further ado, I present the Master of the Erotic Mind; your guide to the sensuous; the man who will convince you that pleasure is not only limited the sensation of touch, but something that can be truly experienced through all of our senses! Ladies and Gentlemen, Royal Aphrodisia Cruise Lines proudly presents: The Amazing Doctor Murmez!”

There was a thunder-like crack that reverberated and echoed all around the theater. A blinding flash seemed to have produced the sound, as if lightning had struck the very center of the stage, exactly where the MC stood. Dinah, along with most women (and some men) in the audience screamed. It took a few seconds for retinas to adjust following the brilliant burst of light, only to find that the place where the cruise director once stood was now completely obscured by smoke. Slowly, the fog blew backwards, retreating from the crowd, revealing that the man was still there. Ah, but no! It was not the announcer at all, but a man much taller, much larger; an imposing African American man in a black cape, who was now removing a top hat and bowing deeply to the spectators, as the applause began raggedly and then gained strength to become a deafening ovation, accompanied by shouts and whistles.

“Thank you, my friends; thank you so much!” he said, his rich bass words filling the theater like those of a commanding mountain king in his cavernous hall. Dinah gasped. The voice seemed to vibrate inside her … her head, her chest, and an achingly hollow place just below her belly.

The man half-turned, removed his top hat once again, and with a violent flick of his wrist, he sent it spinning toward a curtain behind him and to his left. The hat sailed upward on a high, curved trajectory, always spinning as it flew; but at the top of the arc, it seemed to stall, hanging in mid-air, spinning, spinning. The curtain parted, and a stagehand dressed in overalls pushed a standing coat rack onto the stage, then stood patiently waiting. The man checked his wristwatch, and started tapping a foot impatiently. Eventually, the hat continued its path, and landed perfectly on one of the hooks on the rack. Bored, the man turned and pushed the thing back offstage, the crowd cheering wildly.

“Tonight,” the tall man said expansively, “we will study the sexual dynamic between the dominant and the submissive souls among us. It is not our intent to alter that which makes us unique. We have no interest in changing those qualities that create the desires … the impulses that define our personalities. Instead, we will attempt to understand … and accept. If your deepest craving is to sensually submit; if your sincere yearning is to surrender your body; if your innermost desire is to be dominated sexually; then tonight, we will help make that happen. And, if you are an alpha, frustrated by the conventions and limitations between you and your lover, then—with your partner’s express consent—I will help show you how to throw off the restraints that have always prevented those gnawing urges from gaining fruition. You will then be able to guide sexual satisfaction for you both. And let there be no misunderstanding: if you are the dom, then you are responsible for not only your own erotic satisfaction, but that of your sub, as well. For the sub’s basest desire is to GIVE. You, the dom, are in charge. You must gratify your mate sexually … and then fulfill your lover’s greatest need, and TAKE!”

The lighting changed dramatically. Screens behind the man lit up with slowly spinning spirals, while the spotlight that had illuminated the doctor himself, dimmed. “Let us now explore our innermost feelings and desires,” he droned, without losing any of his volume. “Please relax and pick one of the designs behind me. I will help you on your exploration of your innermost self.”

Dinah felt her hand being physically pried from her husband’s. Confused, she glanced his way, though she found that she really didn’t want to look away from what the man onstage was showing her. Firmly, Ivan guided her hand to her own lap.

“You told me that you would watch and do as the man said,” he hissed in her ear. “You promised, Dinah!”

She turned back to the man on the stage. That’s what she really wanted to do, anyway. “I will, Ivan. I promise.” And for some odd reason, she repeated it. “I promise.”

The man was telling her to relax, and so she did. He told her to pick one of the spirals to focus on, but she had already chosen the one in the upper right. In the absence of him telling her which to choose, she desperately hoped that she’d picked the correct one. He told her to breathe in. He told her to exhale. He told her to do something else, but she’d somehow lost track of what it was. That should have panicked her, but for some reason, she was very calm. His voice felt marvelous in that hollow place below her belly.

Oh, she didn’t want to wake up! Was the alarm going off? What time was it? Why was it so noisy this morning? And her eyes popped open. OH, NO! She was leaning heavily against her husband, and she jerked upright, blinking, flustered.

“Ivan, I’m so sorry!” she said too loudly. He shushed her, but he was laughing. That confused her even more. She suddenly realized that this was the first time. In these past three weeks, she had never once seen him laugh. “Ivan, I’m sorry! I was listening; I swear I was! I was doing exactly what he said to do! I must have fallen asleep! I didn’t mean to ….”

But he silenced her with a fingertip to her lips; and then he used the finger to point to her right. She followed the digit with her eyes and saw the immense man in the cape walking directly toward her. Puzzled beyond measure, she turned back toward her companion; but her eyes locked onto a dark spot on the shoulder of his shirt. Idly, she reached up and put her left fingertips to her lower cheek. She had salivated in her sleep! Frantically, hoping to complete the task before the doctor got to them, she snatched up a cloth napkin and began frantically rubbing the spot on her husband’s shirt.

A strong, soft, massive hand rested on her right shoulder. She stopped rubbing and turned, looking up into the darkest eyes she had ever seen.

“I drooled,” she said meekly.

His lips smiled, and his eyes did, too. Her heart melted. “You were under very deeply,” he told her softly. He seemed to echo.

“I … I think I fell asleep.” Her own voice was reverberating, as well. How odd. She thought about looking around to find out why, but she found herself incapable of breaking eye .

“Yes,” he answered, echoing. “Yes, you did. What’s your name?”

“Dinah.”

“Dinah, I need your help. Will you help me? Please?”

“Yes! Yes, of course!”

He took a step back and held out his left hand to her … the one not holding the microphone. Blinking, she stood, swiped the slobber off of her chin with her right palm; and then she reached out and put that same hand into his. She grimaced. The same hand. The hand that she had just used. The hand that was wet with saliva.

He was leading her toward the stage. She realized briefly that she hadn’t looked back at her husband before leaving him, but she ignored the thought. “I … I can’t believe I just did that!” she murmured. “I got your hand wet with my ….” She shut up when he paused, halfway, and turned back to her.

“I think I’m beginning to like you very much, Dinah,” he said softly. No echo. He had turned the microphone off. That hollow place moved even lower. She knew she was breathing, but somehow, she wasn’t getting enough air.

Onstage now, he pointed to a chair and she sat. “Dinah,” he told her over the microphone, “I need to go escort our other volunteers. Since you just woke up from my hypnotic induction, you are going to find that it will be very, very easy to slip back into sleep for me. Please have a pleasant dream; and I promise to be right back, okay?”

“Um ….”

He held up his right hand, his middle finger and thumb poised. “Sleep!” Snap!

“Wake up silly girl!” her mother laughed.

“Mommeeee!” she whined. “Pleeeease let me stay in bed! Just a little while longer!”

“Wake up!” Oh, how she adored her mother’s voice!

“My bed is so warm! So soft! Pleeeease!”

“Wake up!” Snap!

“OH!” She sat up and immediately touched the side of her chin. Dry. Thank goodness she hadn’t drooled this time. She looked around hazily. The lights were so bright! The chairs were arranged in a gently arc, so she could see the others seated beside her. She started to count them, but stopped when she suddenly recognized the woman sitting near her. Not the one right next to her, the one just beyond. It was the remarkably sexy girl that had walked from the stage area to the table in the middle of the room. And now, she was even sexier. Because now, she was naked.

Everyone seemed to be confused, looking around, befuddled, embarrassed. And yet, none of them seemed to be shocked enough to get up. They all seemed somehow compelled to remain seated.

Dinah turned to the brunette girl beside her; not the sexy one with auburn hair … this was the weeping girl at the table Miss Sexy had been walking to. “You forgot your clothes,” Dinah told the girl, realizing as the words left her lips just how imprudent the statement was.

The girl’s expression was a mixture of wonder and humiliation. She blinked slowly and stared at Dinah questioningly; then she turned the other way, toward the wonder-girl sitting beside her.

“Beth, I’m scared!” she whispered.

But the beautiful woman was staring intently straight ahead into the blinding stage lights, obviously enthralled by what was occurring there. Both other girls naturally shifted their gazes to determine what it was. Slowly, Dinah figured out, at least to some extent, what had happened. The huge man in the cape must have just awakened all of his sleeping subjects simultaneously; but one of his newly-acquired female assistants, completely naked, was standing with him, downstage center, as Dinah and the others awaited their turn as his helper.

“Let me just tell you this,” the dark giant said, raising a forefinger to make a point. The girl with him immediately seized his hand, dragged it toward her face, and captured the finger in her mouth, her cheeks hollowing as she sucked. The crowd laughed hysterically. “Please, miss. That’s inappropriate!” he chided. “Please stop doing that.”

Startled, the woman blinked up at him and stepped away a half pace, her cheeks red with humiliation. “Oh! I’m sorry! Please forgive me! I … um … shouldn’t have done that,” she stammered.

“No, you shouldn’t,” the big man rumbled. He raised the finger again for emphasis. “And furthermore ….”

The woman grabbed the hand and slurped the finger into her mouth again, sucking for all she was worth. The laughter’s roar drowned out everything else.

Beth the Beauty finally realized that she had been spoken to and turned to her companion. “It’s going to be okay, Tina,” she whispered to her friend, holding her hand; but she suddenly made eye with Dinah. “Oh! It’s you! Table Eleven!”

“Uh ….”

She made a motion with her finger and they leaned in closer together as the crowd, beyond their field of vision, giggled and hooted loudly at the woman sucking the magician’s finger. “What’s your name?” she asked, whispering just loudly enough to be heard above the din.

“Dinah.”

“I’m really glad to meet you. You’re even cuter up close, and I think you have a great body. You, too, Tina.”

Dinah shook her head in the negative. “You can’t see my breasts! They’re ugly! I have saggy-baggies!” And to demonstrate, she moved her shoulders a little from side to side, making her breasts swing wildly. She gasped loudly. “Oh my gosh! I don’t have any clothes on! I … I must have forgotten them! They must be back in my cabin!” Miraculously, she hadn’t raised her voice, so no one else had heard.

“Me, too,” Beth and Tina answered simultaneously. But Beth’s expression turned thoughtful. “Hmmm. Jimmy ….” she muttered.

“What?”

Beth leaned in. The three heads actually touched. “Can you two keep a secret?” She waited until the other two had nodded. “That guy up there. The big guy in the cape. I know him. In fact, he’s my best friend in the whole world!”

“What’s he like in bed?” Tina asked, a hint of longing in her eyes as she looked at the hypnotist. Dinah had been about to ask much the same question, though in decidedly different .

“Nope. Not like that. We aren’t … um … sexual. We’re just friends. We rent a two-bedroom house in West Covina.”

Tina spoke in her lowest voice. “I think if I rented a house with him, I would want to ….”

“What’s the secret?” Dinah interrupted.

“That he’s a great big pussycat!” she told them softly. “He’s just about the nicest guy I’ve ever met. Whatever he’s planning … whatever he’s going to ask us to do, he won’t hurt us. I guarantee that. I promise you.”

The three of them moved apart and faced forward as the whole area erupted into even louder applause. “Farrah,” the large man said into the microphone, “I’m very sorry that we were unable to cure you of your oral fixation. It appears that hypnosis cannot solve every problem. I hope your boyfriend is as understanding as you have been. He will, I am sure, be pressed into service to appease your addiction just as soon as you return to your cabin.” The crowd laughed as she licked her lips.

“I suppose you have done that to him many times before,” he continued, while she nodded emphatically. “And I also suppose you know exactly how he smells ….” She was breathing very deeply. “… and tastes ….” She whined pathetically. “… and feels in your mouth, as he swells ….” She moaned loudly. “… and he cums!” And with a loud, strangled cry, the woman reached up with her right hand and grasped her left breast hard, while running the fingers of her left hand through her hair. Her knees turned inward slightly, and she collapsed straight down, seemingly in the grip of a violent orgasm.

This appeared to catch the main actor completely off guard; and he grabbed frantically at the woman in an attempt to keep her from injuring herself. The microphone clattered loudly to the floor of the stage, and chaos and chuckles reigned supreme for the better part of a full minute. Finally, he had the girl back upright and composed. “Okay … always a surprise in every show,” he confided confidentially in the mic. He took a deep breath. “The problem here, Farrah, is that now everybody in this theater knows exactly what you are about to do to your boyfriend when you get back to your cabin. Every single person you meet or talk to or see; they’re all going to know exactly what you intend to do when you get back.”

The woman was breathing hard. “Oh, God! How embarrassing!” she mumbled into the microphone. She was blushing beet-red. He walked a few steps and retrieved a paper shopping bag that obviously had several things in it, and he handed it to her. “What’s this?” she asked.

“That isn’t important to you, but I want you to give it to your boyfriend, okay?” He waited until she nodded, then he turned to face the crowd. “We owe Farrah our respect. As she makes her way back to her table, I’m sure no one will attempt to reach out, touch or molest her in any way. Let’s all express our thanks for her participation!”

The spectators went wild as Farrah, naked as the day she was born, made her way across the floor and between the tables until she stood meekly, offering a man the bag. He took it, set it on the table, and wrapped the girl in his arms as everyone clapped even more.

“We need to move things along now,” the doctor said, turning toward the seated helpers, who all looked at him questioningly. He started with the man at the far end of the half-circle of chairs. “I don’t want my esteemed guests to be bored before I get to you personally,” he said, contemplating the man. “And so, for now …” and he reached out and touched the man on the forehead. “… Sleep!” The naked man collapsed in deep slumber. The caped magician regarded him for a moment, then took a step to the side, stopping before the woman sitting next to him. He reached out and touched her in a similar manner. “Sleep!” And she, too, slumped in slumber. And he took another step to the side.

Dinah saw now that there were seven of them in total. She, herself, was not the last. There was a man seated to her right. When the doctor reached Beth, she seemed expectant, a knowing smile on her lips as she looked up into his eyes before he touched and gave his order. But the results were exactly the same, and she was now apparently deeply asleep. Dinah noted that Tina was breathing raggedly, and that her nipples were very erect. He ordered her to sleep, and she collapsed. And now, it was Dinah’s turn. His eyes were dark and almost liquid, fathomless.

“Please,” she whined. Why was he making her wait?

But he only smiled down on her. “Go ahead, little girl,” he said very softly. No fair. She didn’t get to feel his touch. Her world faded to the sound of laughter.

It wasn’t so much that she woke up. She simply found herself standing beside him, facing the blinding lights and the clapping audience out there somewhere. There was a naked man walking quickly through the crowd, his erect penis wagging wildly, while he made his way to a seat in the upper level near the back. Dinah had heard singing while she was asleep, and she somehow knew instinctively that the naked man had been the source. He had a surprisingly good voice. He was holding a paper grocery bag; and as he found his table, he handed it to another man, then fell into his embrace. The cheering of the crowd wasn’t as emphatic as it had been for the sucky-girl, but the applause and shouting all seemed to be positive.

The huge man in the cape gripped her shoulders in his massive hands and turned her to face him, their sides now toward the throng of people. She looked into his eyes expectantly. “You are married?” he rumbled.

“Yes.”

“How long?”

“Um … about nine hours.”

His mouth hung open in shock. In the radio biz, they would have called it “dead air.” “Uh …” he fumbled. “Congratulations.”

“Thank you.”

He coughed. “And … you chose a sex cruise for a honeymoon.”

It was not a question, so she didn’t answer … she didn’t tell him that she had no idea what kind of cruise it was until very recently, after they were already aboard. It was rather obvious that he was really struggling with this conversation. He turned toward the audience and exclaimed loudly, proudly: “And that makes sense! When you think of romance, you automatically think of Royal Aphrodisia Cruise Lines!”

Only a few people laughed at that, but they did so very vocally. Obliquely, Dinah wondered if only people of a particular form of intellect could appreciate the doctor’s overly dry, slightly twisted sense of humor. As near as she was to him, even she had to study him very closely to tell that the shape of his mouth wasn’t really a smile at all.

“You seem nervous,” the doctor commented, trying desperately to get the show back on track.

“It seems I forgot my clothes,” she said. “Maybe I should go back to my cabin and find them.”

“Alas, there is no time. Perhaps no one will notice.” Snickering seemed to come from everywhere. “Will you help me?”

“Um … yes, of course.”

He held up a plastic syringe. “This,” he announced, “is filled with a new, government-created formula containing thousands of nanobots; which, unfortunately, will all die in the next ten seconds unless they are injected into the body of a pretty girl. It can only be given to your bottom. Please turn around and bend over. Hurry!” Quickly, she did so. “The needle is so thin, it can hardly be detected by the human eye,” he continued loudly. “I doubt you will feel any pain at all.” She felt a slight pressure on her left butt-cheek. “All done! You can stand up now!”

“It didn’t hurt!” she told him happily.

“Wonderful! Now … face the audience. That’s it. And now, close your eyes. Very good. The nanobots should give you X-Ray vision. And now … open your eyes! Very good indeed! And now … as you look out over the crowd, it will appear that their clothing is fading … fading … fading … and now, it’s all vanished! To you, it appears as if everyone is naked. But YOU know, of course, that it’s only the effects of your X-ray vision. You are the only one who sees them this way. No one else. Just you.”

She blushed furiously. “It’s really … um … very embarrassing!”

“We must test this!” he declared. “We must prove to everyone that this is real!”

He pretended to scan the entire audience carefully before pointing. “You, sir! Could you please help us?”

The man laughed. “If you don’t mind, I think I’ll stay right here. Thanks anyway!”

“Ah, you misunderstand. Please, just move your chair a little to your left and sit facing us.”

He waited while the man reluctantly did as he was asked. The doctor leaned close to Dinah and said in a low voice, directly into the microphone: “Do you see him, Dinah?” He waited until she had nodded, blushing. The man in the crowd was wearing khaki pants and a tee shirt; but, finally catching on, he grinned and slowly spread his legs apart, as giggles and guffaws broke out all around him. The magician continued: “Do you see ALL of him?”

“Yes!” Dinah shrieked, burying her face in her hands.

“And you, sir!” the caped marvel declared, pointing. “Could you please do the same?”

“Why, it would be my pleasure!” a guy in blue jeans and a cowboy hat declared.

Dinah took a long peek. “Oh, my God!” she murmured.

“We have to prove this, Dinah,” the hypnotist implored. “We have to ask you. Which man has the bigger cock?”

“Oh, no! Please!” she wailed. And then, reluctantly, almost painfully, she pointed toward the man in the cowboy hat.

“YES!” that man shouted, standing and giving a fist-pump.

“Perhaps a second opinion?” the first man implored beseechingly.

“Wait!” the Great Murmez shouted. “This isn’t a true test! Please be seated, gentlemen! Dinah, we need to induce a sexual response in these men somehow. I think the best way would be for you to start tugging and pulling on your nipples. Please do that now.”

Dinah began doing so immediately. “But why?” she pleaded. “I have awful breasts!”

“I think they’re just fine. And if a man sees a pretty girl with erect nipples, he will almost certainly become erect himself. A sexually excited woman is always sexually exciting to the man.”

“She … she is?” Her breathing was becoming deep, almost shuddering.

“Very good, Dinah. I’m sure that is having the desired effect. And now, reach down with one hand and masturbate.”

“No.”

He paused for a long moment, and he dropped the hand with the microphone to his side as he stared openly at the woman onstage with him. Dinah had her eyes closed, and she continued to pinch and pull her nipples. He started to say something to her directly, but obviously thought he could salvage the situation while staying in character. “Dinah, just pretend you are all alone in your room,” he cooed softly into the mic. “All alone. Now, reach down and touch yourself between your legs.”

“No.”

He dropped his hands again, his shoulders slumping in defeat. He glanced at the audience, which was suddenly silent as a tomb. Shrugging, making sure that his voice was as soothing and gentle as possible, he raised the mic to his lips and said: “Why not?”

“Because it’s wrong.”

Gently, gently: “Who told you it was wrong?”

“Sister Agnes.”

Another deep breath. “How old were you when Sister Agnes told you this?”

“Ten.”

“And after that, you never did it again?”

“I never, ever did it at all. Sister Agnes said ….”

He reached out and put his hand on her shoulder. “That’s all right, Dinah. Everything’s just fine. I need to do something to the nanobots. It will only take me a minute, but it’s going to turn off your hearing until I’m finished. When my hand is gone, you won’t be able to hear anything. Just keep your eyes closed. You’ll know I’m all done when you feel my hand on your shoulder again. Then you’ll be able to hear once more. Do you understand?”

“Yes, I understand.”

He moved a step back away from her and turned to face the crowd. “I’m going off script here, folks. Sorry to interrupt all this fun.” A dead hush engulfed the area. “Using hypnosis, can I make this nice girl do something that she patently does not want to do? To be quite frank, in the case of a subject this wonderfully suggestable, I probably could. It would take some time, and it would entail a lot of deceit and trickery, but I might eventually make her believe that I was Sister Agnes, and that masturbation was really God’s will or something. The big question, of course, is: would I ever consider doing that? And since I’ve just stopped the act to explain this to you, you already know the answer to that one.

“Now, this is a SOCAL cruise. I’m guessing that there’s at least a dozen men and women in this group right now who are prospective actors. Let this be a lesson to you! You can practice all the improv you want, but when you finally get on live stage, there will always always always be something you cannot possibly anticipate; and it will always always always happen when you are least prepared for it. Believe me, I never expected this reaction from this subject.” He shrugged. “End of lesson. On with the show.”

He turned back toward Dinah, but had to wait while the applause died down. Glancing out, there were thirty or forty men and women clapping loudly, and they were all standing. He nodded in recognition, and gave the girl onstage his full attention, reaching out and laying a palm on her bare shoulder. “Good news, Dinah! Simply pulling on your erect nipples was enough! Open your eyes and look at those men! Both of those guys are fully erect! The sight of you overwhelmed them with sexual desire! See how big and long and hard their cocks are?”

“Oh, my gosh!” Dinah gasped.

“Now, I don’t want you to be concerned. Obviously, they want you sexually! They desire you intensely! They both want to take you … to breed you! But they are actually both gentlemen, and they are promised to their girlfriends, anyway.”

“Damn straight!” a female voice floated down from the general direction of the first guy.

The magician waited for the laughter to subside. “Which one is it, Dinah? Which fully erect cock is the biggest?”

The sense of mystery was palpable. Everyone was leaning forward in anticipation. Blushing furiously, Dinah pointed a shaking finger at the first man. Yelling loudly, that fellow leapt to his feet, held his arms up in a “V,” and spun around, dancing in place, mimicking Rocky after he’d won by a TKO.

It took a full half-minute for the pandemonium to subside. “We still have the grand finale to go, ladies and gentlemen! But before that, we must bid a fond adieu to our fair lady Dinah!” She was shocked at the volume of the applause. “The nanobots will wear off by morning,” he told her seriously. “Until then, however, everyone you meet will, of course, be nude … at least in your eyes. But I know you will be able to handle it. I wish to congratulate you on your marriage. I’m sure others will wish to do the same. And when they do, you will undoubtedly realize that they will be envisioning your husband and you, making love on your wedding night. In fact, each and every person who congratulates you will be seeing you, in their mind’s eye, naked, with your legs spread, and your husband’s cock deep, deep, deep inside your body. And you will know that is what they are thinking. Won’t you, Dinah? Why, you might even FEEL it as they think it!”

“Oh my gosh oh my gosh oh my gosh!” she exclaimed, flushing, breathing hard.

“Uh … That IS what you want, too; isn’t it, Dinah? To feel that tonight?”

“Yes! Oh, yes!”

“Oh, thank God!” he muttered, just loudly enough for the microphone to pick up.

He handed a paper grocery bag to her. “What’s this?” she asked meekly.

“Give it to your husband. Dinah, please believe me when I say that I will never forget you. Goodbye.” And he pointed at table eleven.

She smiled wanly as the clapping continued and she made her way back to their table. Ivan was standing, waiting for her, and actually grinning. He gave a small wave of recognition to the room as he took the paper bag and held her chair for her to sit down.

Her new friends, Beth and Tina were on stage with the mysterious doctor. Beth was standing tall and proud, wearing a pair of high heel shoes, but she was otherwise nude, like all the other volunteers. Tina, nervous and meek, stood beside her, holding what appeared to be whips, one in either hand. A nude man groveled, naked and prostrate, at Beth’s feet.

“Here,” Ivan said, handing Dinah the blouse from the paper grocery bag.

She gasped. “My clothes! You went and got them from our cabin! Oh, Ivan! Thank you!” She took the blouse and looked expectantly at the bag. “Um … did you to bring me a bra?”

He held the bag so that only he could see inside. “No, sorry. No bra, no panties.”

“Oh.” She fought, and barely succeeded in keeping the smile in place. “That’s okay. It certainly beats not wearing anything at all, that’s for sure! I’m so sorry I forgot. Thanks for understanding.” When she was finished with the blouse, she waited patiently for him to hand her the skirt, and finally the flat shoes.

A roar of laughter from the audience drew her attention toward the stage. Beth was “beating” the naked man with all of her strength; but the “whip” she was using was actually a piece of satin ribbon tied to a short stick, which was evidently the device’s handle. The man cried out in seemingly real agony as each blow landed, but his cock was very erect.

“Mercy, Mistress! Mercy, please!” he wailed.

Breathing from the effort of wielding the “whip,” Beth tossed the makeshift device to Tina, who fumbled it, but held on. “The Cat!” Beth snarled. “Give me the cat-o-nine-tails!”

“Yes, Mistress!” Tina responded, handing over the other short stick, this one sporting several ribbons tied at one end.

The magician allowed the torture to continue for another thirty seconds before calling the proceedings to a halt. He gave each of the final three participants his or her own shopping bag and sent them back to their seats. As this occurred, the house lights rose from their dimmed setting, and Dinah, for the first time, could see that many of the spectators were in various stages of amorous coupling. Some were openly making out, with a few of the twosomes approaching the point of outright copulation.

“We are wrapping things up for the evening, and I would truly like to say that you have been a wonder audience. And … thank you for your patience as we witnessed aspects of sensuality that were, at times, unexpected. I, for one, have had a great time, and I hope you did, too.”

Applause.

“For all of the volunteers!” he said in a much louder voice. “Thank you, and wake up, refreshed and happy, NOW!” and he snapped his fingers right next to the microphone. There were gasps and groans scattered across the theater. Dinah blinked, confused.

“And now, it is time for our sensual theater production to end. Clear heads will henceforth prevail. Make-believe is wonderful, but reality is how we must live. If a couple wants to do something, they should. But if one person in that couple says ‘no,’ then the make-believe must end. Fantasy is good. Respect is real. Please that! On your way out, you will a large bowl of condoms. Explore your fantasies, if you wish. But please, keep things real. Ladies and gentlemen, good night!”

From the prolonged cheers, Dinah assumed the production was greatly successful. She started to stand, but Ivan reached out, grabbed her arm and maneuvered her back into her chair. She looked at him questioningly, but he refused to comment, so she didn’t either. “Unbutton the top three buttons of your blouse,” he told her sternly. Oh, how she hated his voice when it was stern! She took a breath to argue, but rethought the strategy and silently unbuttoned the fastener at her neck, and then the next two. She could feel a draft on the insides of her breasts.

A woman stopped at their table. She was pretty, and Dinah guessed her age to be mid-50s. “I like you,” the woman said, unabashedly. “Quick, what color bra am I wearing?”

Dinah never hesitated. “You aren’t wearing one.”

A slight smile crossed the woman’s features. “Close enough,” she said. “Oh, and congratulations.”

Dinah gasped sharply, as an explicit image filled her mind: she was lying on her back, legs spread wide, while Ivan thrust strongly, strongly, strongly into her soft, yielding depths. “Thank you,” she squeaked, as the woman’s small smile morphed into a sort of smirk.

Three girls and a guy walked by, each smiling broadly, each expressing congratulations. And each time, the images in Dinah’s mind and the feelings in her body became more and more explicit.

“Ivan,” she begged. “Ivan, please, can we go now? Can we go back to our cabin? Please, Ivan?”

“Not yet,” he declared. Oh, God. His voice was still stern! She stopped asking and sat, mute and suffering.

The room was almost empty now … empty enough for voices to echo the way they do in a high school auditorium before anyone else comes in. At long last, he rose and offered his hand, helping her rise. But instead of leading her toward the exit, he walked them to the door beside the stage; the one marked “Employees Only”; the one that Beth had come out of prior to the act. She desired desperately to ask, but she didn’t want to invite a return of the stern voice. The door was unlocked, and he led them through without hesitation, pausing only a moment to look down a short ageway, and finally stopping in front of a door with a star on it, knocking firmly.

She heard the doctor’s deep, rumbling voice, but couldn’t make out the spoken reply. Ivan turned the knob and walked in, no longer holding her hand, and she stumbled a little as she followed. The tall man was fastening the front of a pair of blue jeans. He seemed in no hurry at all as he zipped up the fly and fastened the buckle of a leather belt. He was silent as he openly studied the man she could now call husband, his countenance sober and unreadable. After a maddeningly long moment, he shifted his gaze to her: first her face, then her chest, then her face again. She felt her breasts sway slightly to the left, then gently back to the right, and she felt the coolness of the air-conditioning on their innermost surfaces. He smiled, and her heart did something, though she didn’t seem able to grasp just exactly what that something was.

“Hello, Dinah,” he rumbled.

The corners of her lips jerked upward unbidden. “Hi.” Oh Lord, she sounded like an idiot!

The big man turned toward the intruder. “May I help you?”

Her husband stuck out his right hand. “I am Ivan Melnyk.”

The doctor contemplated the hand for a long two seconds before sighing noticeably and taking it in his own. “Jimmy Rankstrom. What can I do for you, Mr. Melnyk?”

“I have a business proposition for you.”

“Not interested. Thank you very much for dropping by. You two lovebirds need to get on with the celebration. Have a nice night.” He checked his wristwatch. “Or morning.”

Ivan stood his ground, his expression completely unreadable. “You really owe it to yourself to hear me out. It’s easy money.”

“There never has been, nor will there ever be, ‘easy money’ without a catch so large that the only thing you wind up getting is regret. No thanks.”

Still Ivan refused to be swayed. “It’s going to mean paying for that last semester you so greatly desire.”

Jimmy took a step back, his butt coming into with the edge of big dressing table. There were three mirrors above it, and they shivered at the gentle impact. He was now regarding the man in a different light altogether.

“Who the hell are you? What is it you really want?”

“Who I am … is nobody. I give you my word. I am not connected to any organization. Nothing criminal or otherwise untoward. I wish to keep everything honest and above-board. And what I want … is exactly the reason I am here. I just wish to discuss it. Please, my friend. May we talk?”

Jimmy said nothing for almost a full minute. You could see the thought processes churning away, see the lists of pros and cons as he methodically checked each one. Finally: “Okay, let’s hear what you have to say.”

Instead of coming right out and finally stating what he wanted, the husband turned to Dinah. “This is talk best left to the menfolk, my dear. Please, go on back to our cabin. I’ll see you there shortly.”

The statement seemed to knock the breath out of her. “Ivan … I … Oh, Ivan, please! Please don’t make go back to that room alone! Can’t you see how much I ….” But she couldn’t find the words she needed to convey. A tear slid down her left cheek. Every time she tried to speak intelligibly to the tall doctor, she found herself completely incapable of pulling it off. And now … oh, now her husband’s face was getting that “look” about it. The stern voice would be next! It was coming!

“Stop!” the huge, dark man said in his deep, grumbling voice. Not really daring to hope, she glanced in his direction, only to find that he had advanced all the way to her. Each of her slight shoulders was now being clutched in his massive hands, and he maneuvered her backwards and down onto a couch, much the same way a child might treat Raggedy Ann before a tea party. He was doing whatever he wanted with her body, and she was more than satisfied to let him do exactly that.

Seated now, looking sharply up into his fathomless eyes, she tried to process his words. “My name is Jimmy. I want you to call me that. What is my name?”

“Jimmy,” she breathed.

“Breathe in, please.” And she did. “And now, exhale.” He waited patiently. “And relax.” And her shoulders slumped, her hands falling uselessly to her sides. A fingertip was descending toward her forehead; but before it could get there, she whispered again.

“Jimmy.”

Jimmy turned reluctantly away from the form of the sleeping girl. He knew he was beginning to take entirely too much interest in this pretty lady. It wasn’t so much that the lass had exactly the face and body type that he ired more than others, but he found that her pure innocence was intoxicating beyond the point of resistance. This could only lead to pain.

Giving the intruder his entire attention, he grumbled: “What’s your game, Melnyk?”

The man refused to be either swayed by Jimmy’s attitude or intimidated by his size. He seemed utterly in control. “It is no game, Mr. Rankstrom. You obviously don’t like me. I regret that, but this is the only personality I have. I am attempting to act in a way that I believe is in the best interest of my wife. In order to obtain what she wants, I am in need of your assistance.”

Doubts suddenly crowded Jimmy’s head. Was he being prejudiced? Just because there was … something … about Melnyk that sounded every single alarm bell in his mind, that didn’t mean the man wasn’t acting honorably. He thought back over the past hour, trying to find a single justification for his negative opinion and he came up blank.

“And just what is it that Dinah wants?” he asked.

“Breast augmentation surgery,” the man answered frankly. “For as long as I have known her, she has complained. I have told her frequently that I adore her just the way she is. But she talks about it constantly. She wants to change. And even though I am perfectly satisfied with her appearance now, I love her enough to her desire for that change.”

Jimmy looked at the man while trying to comprehend the problem. Answers are meaningless if you don’t know the questions. “If she wants something and you agree to provide it, then I see no reason for outside assistance.”

The man looked down and shook his head. “I am not explaining this well. It IS difficult to comprehend. She wants it. She talks about it all the time. But she is reluctant to actually do it. I have set it all up, including a preliminary consultation the day after we return from this cruise. But when finally faced with that deed itself, she finds excuses about doing it. Her own insecurity is working against her. After seeing the amount of influence you can wield over her, I believe you can break this … um … emotional logjam, so to speak.”

Jimmy shook his head. “This whole thing doesn’t add up. If you like her just fine the way she is, and if she wants to wait, then ….”

“I can’t go into details with you, I’m sorry. Suffice it to say, I have the money now … indeed, I have more than enough … not only to perform the procedure, but to pay you handsomely for your assistance in helping her to take the action. In another few weeks, the funds will no longer be there.”

Jimmy came within a hare’s breath of telling the man to shove it up his ass. This thing stank to high heaven! The entire concept was simply too outlandish to be true. But then he decided to beat Melnyk at his own game. That would certainly be more satisfying. Let Melnyk be the one to turn HIM down!

“If I agree to … um … help, I would be helping her alone, not you. I would ask HER what it is that SHE most wants; and then I would assist her in accomplishing HER goals. SHE will be the one to decide all aspects of the procedure. And if she wishes me to help her overcome her reluctance and anxieties, then SHE will be the one who has to ask.”

To his utter astonishment, Melnyk smiled, held out his right hand and said: “Deal!”

Dumbfounded, Jimmy shook his hand.

From an inner jacket pocket came a thick white envelope, and the shocked hypnotist took it automatically. “Here’s five thousand dollars. If she agrees to meet with the doctors right after we get back, I’ll give you another ten. In another two weeks, if she’s gone through with the procedure, you’ll get ANOTHER ten. You can quit anytime you want. And from this moment forward, you work only for her. I’ve arranged a private cabin up on “A” deck, and the two of you can stay in there all day tomorrow before your show, if you need it. In fact, you can have the cabin for the entire length of the cruise. Sound okay?”

At least the asshole had the good grace not to smirk at Jimmy’s discomfort. Instead, smiling broadly, the man made a motion toward the sleeping girl. “And now, if you could please awaken Dinah, we’ll finally be on our way.”

Almost without conscious thought, moving and speaking by practiced rote, he spoke to her, counted to three for her, snapped his fingers for her, and watched as she and her husband prepared to leave.

“Mr. Rankstrom has agreed to meet you for a late breakfast tomorrow,” Melnyk told his wife.

“He has?”

“Yes. You and he will spend all day tomorrow alone, getting to know each other better. He’ll tell you all about it then. The forward dining area on deck “B?” he asked. “Say ten thirty?”

“Yes,” Jimmy told her. “I look forward to seeing you then.” He shook her hand, but not Melnyk’s, since the husband had already turned away. After holding her dry, dainty hand for several moments too long, he said: “And congratulations.”

Dinah moaned, placing her left palm against her lower belly. She took several deep breaths, and finally looked longingly into his eyes. “Doctor … everybody’s still naked.” She said it barely above a whisper.

“A standard post-hypnotic suggestion. You are wonderfully impressionable. It will all be gone tomorrow when you wake up. Good night, Dinah.”

“Good night … Jimmy.”

And they were gone.

Thoughtful and disillusioned, he checked that the dressing room was in order; then he clicked the lock on the edge of the door, made sure he had his keycard, pulled it shut and left. His stateroom was on “C” deck, but he knew the way well by now, and was soon back in his cabin. Beth’s small suitcase was gone, so he assumed she had found a lover for the night. Or perhaps it was plain young Tina, who had proven to be a remarkably good volunteer for the act. Beth had said she would be.

What was he missing here? He hated Melnyk … hated everything about the man … hated his type. But wasn’t that simply the definition of prejudice? Hadn’t he only today been thinking about stereotypes? Something was wrong. He somehow knew he was making a massive mistake. But where was the evidence? Where was the proof? SHE would ultimately be in charge of whatever decision was made. Of course, the financial incentive was there. The more things that went Melnyk’s way, the more he would get paid. But even in the face of that, he felt confident that ethics would be his overriding criteria.

His greatest concern was the idea of spending the day with her tomorrow. My God, he ached for that girl! She was quite possibly the sexiest creature he had ever set eyes on; but, of course, in his vision, innocence was the sexiest of all characteristics. And right now, she was in her cabin, flat on her back, legs spread wide, doing exactly what Jimmy had told her to expect. With the man Jimmy hated the most. He felt hollow. He felt angry. He felt ….

There was a knock on the door. He was right next to it, having just taken a beer from the mini-fridge; and he jerked the thing open. A blonde girl was standing there, meek and timid and terrified. He recognized her; and somehow, he knew what was different. Her bra was gone, and she had unbuttoned her blouse to well below the level of her breasts. She carried a bulging purse, dangling from a thin strap. That’s obviously where the brassiere had gone.

“Doctor … um … Mur … um … Doc … uh ….” And she stopped, her shoulders slumping, and she started to cry.

“Why are you crying?”

“Be … Because you didn’t pick me! You don’t even know who I am!”

“Table four,” he said softly.

She gasped audibly. “You DO know! Why didn’t you …?”

“Where are your two girlfriends?”

“Windy went off with some guy and Rhonda said she was going to the lesbian bar on “B” deck, and I … um … I’m all alo ….” The last word trailed off into silence, not quite reaching completion.

“How did you know which room I was in?”

“I saw you … uh … walking down the corridor … um ….” She pointed abstractly toward her right.

“What’s your name?”

“Thea.”

“Thea, normally, I make it a point never to engage in one-night-stands. But at the moment, I’m sort of in need of ….”

“I think being needed right now would be just about the best thing in the whole world!” she said softly.

He stood aside, allowed her to enter, taking her hand as she ed, spinning her toward him and stepping into her. Her hands came up instinctively, and she placed flat palms on his bare chest, suddenly cognizant of the fact that she couldn’t breathe without gasping. As she started to raise her hands to put them around his neck, he grasped both wrists and brought them down to her sides. She was looking up into his eyes, trying to figure out what he was doing, what he wanted from her; and she was suddenly amazed that her blouse was falling from her body. When had he unbuttoned the last two buttons? But now, after allowing the garment to fall, she stood on tiptoe in order to encircle his neck with her arms as her breasts bulged and flattened into his lower chest.

His left hand was caressing her right cheek, and she snuggled her face into it, her mind suddenly in overload, her feelings and emotions coming in flashes of brief reality; his lips against hers, his tongue probing the inside of her mouth, his pinching fingers playing with a nipple, her weak knees threatening to send her slithering to the floor; but he had taken the hand from her face and encircled her body with his strong left arm around her waist, making that patently impossible. God, he was strong! He could crush her! It was the best feeling she had ever had.

The hand left her breast, and again the side of her face was nestled into his palm, forcing her eyes to his. Her need was so powerful that she couldn’t think. The only thing in her universe was desire. He took away the palm, held his hand and fingers poised as his eyes bored into her, and he snapped his fingers. “Cum!”

The orgasm crashed into her from all directions at once, her body completely disconnected from any thought processes at all, and she spasmed and flopped and shuddered and moaned and moaned and moaned. She was floating, and slowly came to realize that she had been lifted into the air, into his arms, and her naked body was being gently deposited onto the bed. When had he removed her shorts and panties?

“Wake up,” she ordered gently. Snap!

He was guiding her hand to his cock, and she squeezed and caressed automatically. Slowly, she became aware that he was ignoring her for a moment, then realized he was unwrapping a condom. He handed it to her.

“I’m clean,” she told him. “You can have me any way you want me.”

His smile was almost patronizing. “I just gave a hundred twenty people a mini-lecture on safe sex. I’d feel like a hypocrite.”

She took it and rolled it over him. “You … you hypnotized me.”

“You said you wanted to be chosen.”

“I … I don’t you doing it.”

“You want to be controlled,” he said. “I am doing that. You have no say in what I am about to do to you. That’s what you want. That’s what you’ve always wanted.”

“Yes,” she said in a small voice.

He ordered her to line him up … to put him inside her opening, and she never hesitated. And he took her hard, powerfully, just as she’d hoped, just as she had dared to wish. She awoke, and he was still going at it, still thrusting like a jackhammer. When had she fallen asleep? Did he ever stop?

“I want to feel you cum around my cock,” she stated between lunges. He held fingers poised in front of her face. “Cum!” Snap. And she thrashed and clutched and screamed and grasped him rhythmically deep inside her body.

She opened her eyes, and she was lying on her back, her head on a feather pillow, his left forearm under her neck, his right fingertips stroking her left breast. She felt empty inside without him in there. He had been speaking to her, but she only just now was able to understand his words.

“I have given you a post-hypnotic suggestion. You may fight against it, if you wish. Tomorrow, ashore, you will go to the plaza and find a shop called La Mujer Atractiva. In English, it means ….”

“The pretty woman,” she said.

“It is a sex shop. As you look through their wares, you will imagine your boyfriend using each item; and you will purchase what you want … with him in mind. When we get back to L.A., you will call and ask to see him; and, assuming he wants you back, you will confess to him exactly why you turned down his marriage proposal. Be patient with him and make sure he understands your innermost feelings. Explain to him how you were ashamed of your submissive feelings, how you’ve always wanted him to take control, to overpower you, to possess you. Make sure he understands that the reason you rejected him was because you were ashamed, and didn’t want him to think you a slut. Show him the brand-new things you purchased, and tell him that you want him to use them on you. If he still wants you, then, from now on, be open with him. If you read an adult story online about bondage or d/s that you find particularly lustful, then show it to him and tell him your feelings. And … if he rejects your new choice of lifestyle, then you will be no worse off than you are now. You will find your soulmate eventually. I hope he is the one; but if he doesn’t want to play, then feel assured that you will find a life partner eventually.”

After failing for a full thirty seconds to find an appropriate response, she simply said: “Yes, sir.”

“And now,” he whispered softly, touching her on the tip of her nose, “sleep.”

And she relaxed and smiled as the world went dark.