He had actually asked. He wanted to rape her. What should she do? Maybe her owner would say no. Please say no. Please say no. What would happen if he said yes? Josef K would rape her.
Would she be able to prevent it? She would have to make a run for it. Would that work? Hard to tell. She would not be able to take anything, so she would probably get caught or starve to death. She would have to cooperate. She felt extremely powerless, knowing that only a single word separated her from getting raped, and that, if this word were to be issued, she would have to cooperate with her rapist or throw her life away. She didn't know what would be the right choice.
"I got my hands on a shipment of rare European wine", said Louis K "twenty barrels, going to keep one for myself and auction the rest in about three weeks. Think you guys may be interested".
"Swell", said Dr. Evans, "What wine is it?".
"Ten barrels are from northern Italy, ten years old, five from southern France, seven years old, three from West Germany, eight years old, and the rest from Spain, eleven years old"
"Wow, how much did that impressive collection cost?", asked Dr. Evans. Louis K had distracted them. While it probably wasn't deliberate, it might prevent her rape. Maybe she could keep them distracted long enough to keep Josef K from raping her.
"Well, I payed on average one thousand Franc for each barrel", said Louis K.
"Speaking of wine, our glasses are empty", observed the symmetrical bald man.
"Maka, bring another bottle of wine", ordered Dr. Evans.
"Yes, master", said Maka and went down into the basement. What wine to pick? A completely viable strategy would be to get them drunk. Then they would be unable to rape her. Or maybe they would decide to do it together. Maka grabbed at one of the bottles in the rack and looked at the label. There was a picture of slightly rotted grapes on it.
"Wait, you can't serve that wine. Richard's allergic to noble rot", said Vanessa.
"Who's Richard?", asked Maka.
"Dr. Eisenberg's bodyguard. If he goes down because of the wine, everyone will assume you wanted to murder Dr. Eisenberg. Then you'd get tortured and killed", said Vanessa.
"Thanks for warning me", said Maka as she put the wine back, "Than which wine should I take".
"How about this one?", asked Vanessa, after she had grabbed another bottle.
"I don't really know anything about wine", said Maka, "but the picture is nice". The picture was a drawing of a grape. Maka took the wine from Vanessa and carried the bottle back up, where her owner examined it before asking his guest, who nodded in agreement. Then Maka went to serve the bottle. She wondered what they had talked about while she was downstairs. Maybe her owner had given Josef K permission to rape her. Maybe Josef K had forgotten about it. Maybe they had all forgotten about it. But that was probably nothing but wishful thinking. If he wanted to rape her, and he wanted to, he probably wouldn't forget. But maybe he hadn't gotten permission yet. While it was unlikely, Maka was not about to pass up that chance. She would try all that she could to prevent Josef K from raping her.
Maka carried the opened wine bottle into the kitchen and filled all of the glasses, nervously watching Josef K. He took a sip of his wine, then another.
"Say Josef, what do you think about the war in Wyoming?", asked Dr. Blackstar.
"The new Confederates started an offensive last week, which turned out to be a huge success. Some installations in which the bank had shares in where lost, causing massive finacial damage", said Josef K, "I've been working overtime for a week now, just to contain the mess".
"Any other interesting conflicts?", asked Dr. Evans.
"There's a slave revolt in northern Michigan", said Louis K, "started as a dispute over horses". Maybe Maka could join the slave revolt. On the other hand, getting there would be much more difficult than just returning to her homeland. But fighting for the abolition of slavery would be a very noble cause, almost as noble as fighting for her homeland.
"How did they start a war over horses", asked Josef K.
"The revolt was started by a horse trader, Michael Kohlhaas", explained Louis K, "Some aristocrat stole his horses".
"Couldn't he just have sued the aristocrat?", asked Dr. Evans.
"He tried, but the aristocrat's relatives prevented it", said Louis K, "When his wife tried to hand in the documents for him, they killed her".
"I guess that's when he lost it", said Screwhead.
"He then gave his slaves weapons and started by ransacking a fuel farm", said Louis K. Maka followed the story about the revolt with interest. Maybe she could start one herself, although it would be a bit more difficult for her than for Kohlhaas. Josef K also seemed to have forgotten about raping her.
"Why a fuel farm?", asked the redhead.
"Because slaves on a fuel farm are so miserable from the irritants and carcinogens in the plants that they are ridiculously easy to push into rebellion", explained Dr. Eisenberg, "So if you ever need a bunch of completely untrained soldiers, attack a fuel farm".
"He then started to destroy the aristocrat's assets, pillaging and burning any settlement that he happened across", said Louis K, "I've been supplying him with weapons, and he gave me the captured population of those villages he came across". So the revolting slaves were enslaving other people themselves. They knowingly inflicted their suffering on others. Michael Kohlhaas must be a cruel, heartless man and a brilliant demagogue if he could inspire former slaves to themselves become slavers. Maka would never support this cruel warlord. In fact, she had a lower opinion of Michael Kohlhaas than of Dr. Eisenberg. While Dr. Eisenberg was a slaver, he could at least honestly say that he didn't know what it was like to be a slave. Kohlhaas, or at least his men, knew it exactly and was still inflicting it on others.
"Does he do business fairly", asked Josef K. Maka wondered whether Josef K had forgotten about raping her or if he had gotten permission while Maka was fetching wine.