Chapter 16: Emma's Conversion

During the early evening the Emir sent for Thomas and explained what he needed. A trust fund of about five million English pounds had been set up to endow a Chair at Oxford. Because the Emir did not trust the University not simply to redirect the money to other purposes, he had insisted that the fund would be hedged around with restrictive conditions. One was that the Emir's personal representative would be able to veto any unsuitable candidate; another safeguard was that if the College tried to get round the veto by not appointing anyone for a long time, the money would be taken away from the University and the funds applied at the University of Kobek. The money was already in an account in the Royal Bank of Kobekistan on which the College trustees could draw, once all of them had been appointed. The only conditions that really mattered were that nobody could be appointed to it who had ever held any other Chair, and that nobody could be appointed to it who did not already have a Ph.D. in a Topological subject.

The Emir came to the point of their conversation, "The awarding panel consists of as many nominees as the College sees fit, and one representative of myself, who has a veto over any appointment. However, only the College can propose a candidate, and the veto can only be used if one of those two conditions is not met. Naturally if the Chair remains vacant for one full year, the funds revert. I wondered if you would care to be my nominee? There will not be much money in it. I thought a small retainer and your normal rates for attending meetings, which probably won't be more than one half-day a year."

Thomas was staggered at the offer.

'What else might it lead to?' he thought and accepted with alacrity.

At dinner that evening in the Captain's stateroom there were the Emir, Thomas Parker-Wilkinson, the Captain and three other officers of the Imperial Voyager, and Emma, who felt completely out of place in this all male company who did not really include her in their conversation which was mostly about ships and hunting. The meal was excellent and after they had eaten, coffee and brandy were served from a side table as the attendants cleared the meal and moved the main table out of the way.

Emma found herself talking to the Emir in a corner of the stateroom. Emboldened by the wine she had drunk, she decided to flirt a little with him, especially as she found him rather attractive.

"Is it true, Your Magnificence, that your word is law in Kobekistan? And that you can do anything you want?"

"That's the theory," he replied, "In practice, bad Emirs get themselves assassinated. Oh, and please do not stand on ceremony, calling me Sir is quite sufficient."

"So if you, say, murdered someone, you could not be prosecuted? As an example, you understand; I didn't mean to..." her voice trailed off as she realised how terrible that sounded.

The Emir was not in the least upset, rather more intrigued, as he replied, "No. It is not possible for me to commit murder. Let me explain; my word is the law here. Therefore nothing I do can ever be illegal. I cannot murder anyone, since murder is defined as unlawful killing. I can, however, do anything I like; absolutely anything."

"So you can have any woman you want brought to your bed, whether she is willing or not?"

"The women are usually willing," responded the Emir, still wondering where this was leading, "You see the attitude to sex is far different here from that in England. Here a new bride considers it an immense honour to be deflowered by the Emir, as do her father and her husband."

Emma felt a twinge in her clitoris at the thought of ritual defloration.

"How does that actually work? I mean when and where?" she asked.

"Well, for someone who is honoured in this way, the wedding ceremony is usually in the Golden Palace and, of course, the only woman present is the bride. When the ceremony is over, the bride and groom and the bride's father and I go into a side room. Very occasionally the bride's mother is also there, but only in the most modern families. Then I deflower the girl in front of the witnesses. The resulting blood is mopped up with one of my monogrammed handkerchiefs and that is given to the bride to keep as proof that she was deflowered by the Emir. Of course, I never ejaculate during this process; that would lead to too many complications for the succession."