Then George came into the discussion. “You both know that from the first day Jenny’s girls referred to themselves as the Leper Colony.” He chuckled, shook his head and continued, “Well, about ten days ago one of the girls made a little sign that said ‘Leper Colony’ and hung it beside their door. Let’s see what’s going on now.”With that he rose and led the way down the hall to the girls’ office. Brad and Kim were puzzled, but clearly George and Bill were amused by the whole thing. When they got close, they could see a large white board about two feet by three feet hanging on the wall beside the door.George stopped to fill them in. “Well, shortly after the girl put up the sign, it was replaced with a larger one, lettered in red, that said ‘The Beauty Queens’. It’s been going on ever since at the rate of a change or two a day. Yesterday’s Beauty Queens sign was done on a steel panel that was painted and then treated with a very expensive material that sheds everything. And I mean every

Then Müller began to laugh. And his laughter just grew in volume. Finally, he controlled himself and said, “This is so incredibly funny! We came to meet a screen actress. Instead we meet one of the world’s foremost mechanical engineers — your book is even now being translated for immediate publication in German — and a woman who speaks our language better than we do!” Then with his eyes sparkling he feigned a frown and asked, “What other surprises do you have in store for us?”Kim just shrugged again and shook her head.To Brad, Müller asked, “What about you, Captain Kramer? Do you speak any German?”“Oh, sure,” Brad replied airily. “Enough to get by over here.”“And that is... ?” Müller prompted.“Ein bier, bitte!” Brad replied with a grin.“But that’s just ordering a single beer,” Müller protested. “You aren’t even specifying a brand.”“And in Germany, does it really matter? You have something like two-thirds of the world’s operating breweries, and almost all of their beers are good

“I became Brian’s mistress, and the other three — Joan, Cammy and Lois — enslaved themselves to the others.” She paused and then continued slowly, “I guess the Russians changed us permanently. You see, we’re now all more than a bit masochistic.” Rising from her chair, she turned and showed the girls recent whip marks on her back and buns. “This is the way we’re forced to complete our assigned exercises.”Then Janet Cox changed the subject slightly. She pressed a button and a moment later a girl of about 15 appeared. She, too, was naked and very obviously pregnant. “Chris,” she said to the girl, “please check to ensure that the gym is ready for our exercise period.”“Yes, mistress,” the girl replied and then left.“That’s the other major change,” Janet explained. “Although we didn’t make much noise about it, many of the girls who were with us before the war — including you, Kelly — were sent here because of our severe discipline. This place has always looked like a prison, and given the