Living a CAP Based Present
Chapter 7: Reviewing the Rules

Copyright© 2016 by Allan Joyal

“I’d call you to attention, but I expect none of you know how to do that properly,” the man said. “Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Leftenant Wilhelm Bismark. Its more properly Lieutenant, but I prefer to use Leftenant. My duty is to act as the liaison between you and the Confederacy during the next four weeks as we travel to Crucibleat. Once there the commander of the planet will issue your final orders. I will let you know right now, I have no idea what those orders will be. The AI does monitor your actions during the trip and there are some training sessions and orientations available. Your posting will depend on your interests and performances in the training sessions. Please do not ask me or any of marines on the ship about what will happen once we reach Crucibleat.”

“Why not?” a female voice called out.

“Because as I said, we don’t know,” the man said calmly. He seemed unsurprised by the outburst. “Please, if you do have questions save them for the end of my presentation. It makes things simplier.”

The room remained quiet. I tried to find the person who had spoken but was unable to spot the speaker. “What are you looking for?” Lenore whispered to me.

“Trying to get an idea who asked the question,” I replied quietly as I watched Wilhelm walk towards the middle of the room.

He reached the center of the room and scanned the room again. “Now, there are a number of things we have found we need to go over right after pickups. Each military base will be different, but there are some common rules. They have to do with concubines.”

The Leftenant stepped up to one of the tables. “First, as you will find out over time. The AI units are vital to the smooth running of just about everything, and they enforce the rules regarding concubines. They will ignore concubines unless the owner of the concubine has given that specific AI instructions to respond. And even then there are times they will ignore all concubines.”

“Nothing we haven’t already noticed,” Lenore whispered.

“Why is that?” someone shouted.

Leftenant Wilhelm glared in the direction of the voice. “If that was a concubine I do hope the owner properly punishes them. And that is the proper term. As far as the laws are concerned concubines are owned by citizens. They have about the same rights as a pet back on Earth. But with fewer protections.”

The temperature in the room seemed to drop. I could see Aine shiver as Leftenant Wilhelm paused in speaking for just a moment. He waited and then continued. “So, I can start with the second part. Concubines, you are property as I said. The citizen who you followed aboard owns you. Any instruction they give you should be taken as a demand. If your citizen tells you to jump, jump into the air immediately and then ask ‘how high’. If they want to loan you to another man, don’t fight it. And never, cause harm to a citizen.”

“Like I’d want to,” Kathy whispered. “I love my mistress.”

I could see Jessica put an arm out and place it on Kathy’s shoulder. I reached out to caress Lenore as the speech continued. “I will warn you that the rule against causing harm is very strictly enforced. The AI units won’t ask why you did it. Honestly, they don’t care for concubines. You are considered necessary for the morale of the citizens, but that’s it. If you harm a citizen, you will be executed. Also your citizen can just decide that he needs to get rid of you. Hopefully, he or she will be willing to work out a trade, but they can kill you should they choose.”

Aine gasped. Ashley put a hand on her shoulder and then leaned in to whisper to her. There was a lot of whispering going on as Leftenant Wilhelm just stood and watched.

“About what I expected to hear,” I said.

“Hopefully there will not be many concubines angering their owners,” Leftenant Wilhelm said. “Now, owners, you are responsible for your concubines. Anything they do will reflect on you, and if they damage the property of another citizen you can be punished for it. You also will need to keep them fed.”

“What about clothing?” someone shouted. It sounded like a woman’s voice.

Leftenant Wilhelm smiled. It seemed almost sinister. He turned to look in the direction of the voice. “Citizens get to decide if their concubines are going to wear clothing. Like I said earlier. You own the concubine. You get to do what you want with them.”

I was nodding. Leftenant Wilhelm waited a moment and then spoke again. “That is about all I have to say for now. The AI units in your home pods will alert you to any training sessions.”

“What about our homes?” a man shouted as he stood and turned to look at the Leftenant. He was a bit older than Morgan but powerfully built.

“The Glowworm is a modified freighter the aliens were using before they first approached humanity. The modification was to the cargo attachments and the cargo pods. Your homes started out as cargo pods for trade. They have been made into large two story housing units. Each unit has its own replicator, AI unit and a backup power system that can keep the unit running for several days should it not be attached to a ship or a planetary power network. The pod you are in is yours. It will be dropped onto Crucibleat when you arrive and should you move to another planet, it will be sent into orbit and picked up by a transport. If you want to decorate or modify the unit you can,” the Leftenant said.

“Why not ask a question?” Lenore asked me.

“Nothing I feel we need to know. We know about the replicator units. The only question I can think about would be the medical checks,” I said.

“That you should ask,” Lenore said using her elbow to nudge me in the side.

I looked around the room. No one else appeared prepared to raise their hand. I thrust my hand into the air. “Sir! Leftenant!” I called out.

“You have a question?” Leftenant Wilhelm asked. “And who are you?”

“Mark Parker, sir. I was picked up earlier today. I was wondering about medical checks. I thought everyone was processed through medical. Also can’t we request cosmetic changes to our ladies?” I asked.

“They aren’t ladies boy!” a man shouted from the far side of the room. “But I heard that too. How do we go about fixing up the chassis on our fucktoys?”

I could see the Leftenant scowl. “Remember that concubines are here to help keep you relaxed and focused. Calling them fucktoys is devaluing just how much a good concubine can do for you. As for the other questions. Those were intelligent questions, thank you. Medical checks should have already started, but the medical units were being recalibrated. We will have the AI start to alert the citizens when they can come down. I know some of you only have two concubines and still have young dependents. We’ll bring those households down in stages. With the first visit being that for a single concubine then the citizen and second concubine will enter the pods. I recommend that the single concubine be very good with the dependents.”

“Who watches them while my Nora is in the pod?” someone shouted.

“You and your second concubine will be watching the dependents while your first concubine is checked. Medical checks are quick and take less than an hour unless something critical is found,” Leftenant Wilhelm said. “Now if I can continue.”

The room was quiet, but I could hear a couple men muttering angrily. Miki giggled and leaned in front of Lenore. “We should offer to have Erica watch them, but what would we ask for?” she whispered

The whisper appeared to have been unheard by anyone near us. Leftenant Wilhelm was looking in the direction of the man who had asked the last question. “Good,” he said. “As for cosmetic changes to your concubines. We have to complete all of the medical checks first, and that means we have to wait for all the pickups to be completed. However, once we break orbit we can begin to make changes. These can take several hours, so we limit households to only one person being in the pods at a time once we start cosmetic changes. I should note that most citizens will also have to return to the pods so they can receive their nano upgrades.”

“Nano upgrades?” someone shouted.

“You don’t think marines are grown that way? The Confederacy medical technology is used to give them increased musculature as well as greater endurance and reflexes. If you are slotted for a position in the Navy there still are some minor upgrades that help in the performance of your duties,” Leftenant Wilhelm said. “And before I’m even asked, yes, if you want to improve the size of your prick you can.”

“Yuck,” I whispered to Lenore. “I can picture how uncomfortable that might be.”

“You don’t want a twelve inch pianist?” Lenore said with a giggle.

“Please,” I hissed back as Leftenant Wilhelm scanned the room.

The man waited a couple of minutes. There was a faint uneasy murmuring floating through the room, but it seemed like everyone was unwilling to protest further. He raised his hand. “If that is all, I recommend that you think about what I’ve said. If you want to stay here and meet people that is fine, or you can rush back to your home pods. Announcements are sent through the AI system. Do remember that while the next four weeks are going to be spent heading to Crucibleat, you are in the military and ignoring an announcement is not permitted.”

“What will you do to us?” a man said mockingly. “You are just one man.”

“The replicators in your pods can be set to only provide bread and water. You can be locked in your pod. And once we arrive at Crucibleat you can be put through a mandatory retest. I’ve heard most people fail a retest if they were disciplined during the journey to their training colony,” Leftenant Wilhelm said.

“What?” the same man shouted. “You mean I can be kicked out of this chickenshit outfit?”

I jumped to my feet. “And are you saying that you won’t follow orders? We were selected because of a promise. We promised the aliens that we would fight for them and obey the orders of our officers as we defend the alien Confederacy against these interstellar locusts we know as the Sa’arm. For the next four weeks the only order is that we respond to the AI instructions as we are tasked through a few meetings and training sessions. You have a great opportunity here to do something special.”

“Mark?” Jessica hissed. “What are you doing?”

“That’s a good question,” the man who had been acting like a jerk said as he stood up. He appeared to be in his late forties. His hairline had retreated enough to double the size of his forehead and what hair remained was gray. The man glared at me. “You are a boy. How can you tell me anything?”

“I wasn’t ordering you. I was merely pointing out that your complaints are foolish. Was anything I said untrue?” I asked.

“How should I know? I don’t listen to boys,” the man said arrogantly.

Morgan stood up. He was sitting two rows away from me. “Then perhaps you’ll listen to me,” he said. “I’ve known Mark for a long time. He pays attention. If he is saying something about the terms of our citizenship I’d expect that he is right. Besides, can you deny that you agreed to join the Confederacy military?”

“No dammit,” the man said. “But why are the rules so strict? I thought these Sa’arm thingies were supposed to be stupid.”

“It’s a hive mind. They don’t think as dynamically as we do, but I’m sure they solve problems incredibly well if they have enough members. They also don’t forget so few surprise tactics will work more than once,” I said. “And that is why we have to obey orders. The officers we have are going to know more about what needs to be done. We trust them, and hopefully they give use the right orders.”

“Hopefully?” the man said.

“No plan survives contact with the enemy. Mistakes will be made,” I said. “All we can do is train hard and be as prepared as possible. That way should something go wrong, the soldiers don’t just stand there and die.”

“I’m not going to die,” the man said haughtily.

I just shook my head. The man laughed at me and then looked down. “I still say I don’t have time for this. Bea, Cee, stand up and let’s get back to the pod. You owe me.”

“Yes, Lord Mike,” two women said. I was a bit surprised to see two thirty something women standing up. It was hard to make out their bodies. They were in shifts, but both women had crossed their arms over their torsos and they were hunched over as they dashed off after the man.

I watched the man walk out of the room. His exit inspired others and most of the people in the room rose up and began rushing towards the doorway. I waved to my ladies indicating that they should stay seated as the crowd made their way from the room.

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