"Gonna stay that way too- it's for our little demonstration."Gonna stay that way too- it's for our little demonstration." "Might one inquire what we'll be seeing?" asked Mandy drily. "One might," shot back Billy, "and you might even get an answer. Then again, you might not! Hah! But seriously, this is sort of our unveiling. Jerry, my slave you know, is a chemical engineer, works in the rubber industry. Been a rubber nut since he was a kid. He's cooked up some new materials, and when we met Miss Kat at the Eccentric Fashion Show, she just had to make some things out of them. Wait till you see this- every rubber and bondage fetishist in the world is gonna want what we've got! Too bad it's so damned expensive to make, though. We're gonna have to charge an arm and a leg for it." The door to the other rooms of the suite opened, and the elfin face of Miss Kat appeared momentarily, catching Billy's eye. She nodded, walked over and chatted with her for a moment, then Miss Kat disappeared again. Mandy, Flora and Jason wondered in that direction, but at that point Billy hopped up on the dais, momentarily endangering the tortured seams of her dress again, and yelled for silence. "ALRIGHT, LISTEN UP! Alright, everybody, this is the moment you've all been waiting for. What we're going to show off tonight is just a few prototypes that Miss Kat has been working on, made from a new uh, e-lass-toe-mer," she enunciated the word with care, and Jason realized she hadn't stopped drinking after they'd left the bar. "That's it, elastomer, that my husband has been working on. Wave to everyone, Jerry!" Jerry, looking decidedly self-conscious in his maid's uniform, waved timidly from one corner of the room, a tray of hors de'oeuvres balanced on one gloved hand. "I'm sorry about the temperature in here folks, but the reason will be revealed momentarily. And now..." she paused, probably imagining that she was being dramatic, "I give you..." another embarrassing pause, "MISS KAT!" The door closest to the dais, and not far from where Jason stood, opened, and the well-known figure of Miss Kat appeared, smiling demurely, and leading two figures by leashes. Jason was startled to see that she looked much smaller in real life than in her advertisements. A draft of very warm air came from the other room, and he imagined it must have been sweltering for the two rubber-dressed models to dress or wait around in there. |