Astra Attempts to Bargain with Zerm

Astra braced herself, expecting to hear a scream from the poor victim on the rack, but the link was purely a telepathic one and all that she would hear over it would be Zerm's directed thoughts. After a few seconds, she heard from Zerm again. "Now I can give you my undivided attention, my dear. So you've had second thoughts about my offer, and are ready to become my slave and plaything?"

"No, I have a different offer for you."

"How disappointing. And how audacious of you to think that you can bargain with me."

"Wait till you hear the details. Are you missing a very valuable item, a certain jewel-encrusted goblet?"

"As a matter of fact I am. I only missed it recently. Did you take it? Or your brother - I mean sister? I knew that I should never have let you leave."

"No, it was someone whom we encountered recently, a Robert Billingsley."

"Ah, I should have realised. Thank you for the information."

"You seem very calm about it. I had hoped that you would punish him severely, for he is a nasty piece of work. And in your gratitude, you might consider turning Alexis back to Alex again. Also perhaps you would consider reducing the size of my breasts."

"Why? I don't remember them as being over-large, though they were certainly very nice."

"You can't see me, then? We found a bottle with a genie in it, and Billingsley received three wishes. He used one of them to double the size of my breasts. Unfortunately the genie says that only men can have wishes, so I'm not in a position to undo it, even if I could gain control of the bottle. Billingsley has used up his own three wishes, but there's another man here - a Lord Fred from Allaria - who is under his control, and that potentially provides him with another three wishes. I left the bottle in the care of Alexis, but I'm not sure that she'll be able to hang on to it. We're all marooned on a tropical island, by the way."

"Do you know where the goblet is now? Does Billingsley have it with him?"

"I don't think so. No, I'm afraid that I don't know what became of it."

1. "In that case, though I shall punish Billingsley in due course, you had better find out from him where the goblet is now, if you hope to get any sort of reward."
2. "Not to worry. I can extract that information from Billingsley myself."
3. "Well I suppose that you merit a reward. And I shall certainly deal with that wretch Billingsley."
4. "Since you were naive enough to tell me all that I needed to know, I don't need to reward you."
5. "I'm disappointed in you, Astra. I hadn't thought that you were a sneak. I'm afraid that it's you who must be first to be punished."
6. "I want the bottle and the genie for myself."
7. "Unless and until you can negate the power of the genie, I'm not doing anything. Genies are too powerful for even me to safely interfere with."

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