Chapter 2

After breakfast the AI directed Zeinab and Adeena to their respective lecture rooms. When Zeinab arrived at sponsor training, there were more than a dozen women in black coveralls waiting in the room, among them the two other women sponsors she'd seen back on Earth. She sat down and waited. A few more women arrived, followed by a man in a blue uniform. A man. Suddenly she realised that he was the first man she'd seen since the bus driver. Why was that? Surely there were more men in the Confederacy. Where were they?

"As-Salaamu 'alaykun," the man in blue started. "I am Corporal al-Mansur and I will be your guide for the next few days. This base holds up to half a million people, very few of them Muslim and very few of whom speak Arabic. For that reason we have temporarily placed you new arrivals from the Arab League in a separate area where most of the people you will meet can speak at least some Arabic. Here we can give you the special training you need to help you adjust to your new lives in the Confederacy. This lets us make the necessary changes to your lives gradually, not all at once. Some changes have already started and we will introduce others shortly. By the time we finish, you will be much better fitted to join the general population of the base for the rest of your training.

"The Confederacy is not the Land of Islam, so you will need to make many adjustments. Very soon nowhere on Earth will be the Land of Islam, but instead either the Land of the Sa'arm or the Land of War. For the foreseeable future, neither Earth nor the Confederacy will be the Land of Islam.

"Most of you will need to learn a new language. The most common languages in our colonies are English and Chinese, with Spanish coming third. None of the Confederacy colonies speak Arabic, I'm afraid. You will need to decide what language to learn. Tell the AI so you can start training. With so many people to train, we use a lot of recorded lessons, and you will need to understand them." Zeinab knew some English and no Chinese at all, so that was an easy decision for her. She confirmed it immediately with the AI.

"As well as picking a language, you sponsors will need to decide on a service: Marines, Navy, Fleet Auxiliary or Civil Service. There are presentations describing the roles of all four services, which your AI can show in your apartments. Although you are all wearing black, this has nothing to do with the black Navy uniform. We chose it to match the colour of your usual outdoor clothing. You are all free to pick any service you wish."

One of the women raised her hand, "Why did you dress the concubines in those short grey shifts and not in respectable clothes?"

"For two reasons. First, all Confederacy dress codes distinguish concubines from sponsors, so they wear different clothes. Second, concubines have a lot of adjusting to do before they can fit into the Confederacy, more than for sponsors like yourselves. We need to move faster with their changes as they have more to learn in the same time." He paused, looking around the whole audience, "If any of you have questions during my talk, please use your interfaces to ask the AI. If you need a more comprehensive answer, then you can talk to me at the end."

Zeinab hastily redirected her own question to the AI, «Is the lack of men here due to our being separated off from the main part of the base?»

«Correct. The presence of men would have made things much more stressful for female concubines required to wear shifts. There will be the usual number of men when we integrate this group into the main base population.»

The corporal had paused to allow the silent questions to finish. Once the AI notified him, he restarted. "The Arab League has not always got on well with the Confederacy, so they put out a lot of propaganda about us. Like all good propaganda it was based on the truth, but took it to extremes. For example, concubines are slaves and have to provide sex. However, concubines belong to their sponsor, so they do not have to sleep with everyone. Just their owner and whoever their owner directs. A wife has sex with her husband. The only change for a concubine is that her master may offer her to someone else. That is different, but not as bad as the propaganda said. She will not be freely available to everyone. You here are all sponsors, so you can keep your concubines within your own families. Provided you select a male concubine or two, there is no need to look outside your own family at all. You will have a lot of control over your concubines, so you will be able to make their lives more like it was on Earth, if that is your wish."

That was as Zeinab had anticipated. The propaganda put out by the Arab media was obviously propaganda, but it wasn't pure fiction either. It was an overdone and slanted version of the reality of life in the Confederacy. As the corporal had pointed out, she could shield Adeena and her other concubines from the worst impact of the changes to come.

"Later today you will be getting a general introduction to picking your concubines," the corporal told them. "That will be a translation of one of our standard lectures, so it won't mention the separate group of Muslim concubines. If you want to pick any Arab women, then you should do so in the next few days, while you are all still isolated. After we merge your group into the main base, there will be a lot more sponsors looking for concubines, and most of the available concubines won't be Muslims.

"There are other things that the standard lectures don't mention, such as halal food and Ramadan. You can get Halal food from replicators. I think you will be very pleasantly surprised at what is available. The Confederacy is carrying some extremely well-connected people to Escardis, so the Arab League has supplied us with a wide range of good quality food for them on their journey. We have copied those replicator templates, and they will travel out with you to your new homes as well." That explained the excellent soup at lunch, Zeinab realised. Yesterday's evening meal had also been nice. It seemed that the good food would continue. Something to look forward to.

The corporal continued, "Your AI can enforce the dietary rules, and that is already set as the default in all your apartments. You may overrule that default if you wish. Out in the wider base, non-Halal food and alcohol are on the menus, but you can instruct the AIs not to allow your concubines to select those items. The AIs will flag all halal options for you; choices that are not flagged are likely not halal. At best they are doubtful, mushbooh.

"You will not be on Earth for Ramadan. Many of the faithful use an AI to calculate the elapsed time between sunrise and sunset at Mecca each day and fast for that period, starting at their local sunrise. Other variants are possible, but that is the most common."

At the end of his talk, the corporal asked for questions. One woman stood up and pointed at Zeinab, "Why is she wearing a niqab? I wasn't allowed to!"

"What did the AI tell you when you asked it?"

"It said that she had permission and that I didn't need to know why."

The corporal paused, "That's exactly what the AI tells me as well. I don't need to know either." He turned, "Zeinab, would you like to add anything?"

Zeinab thought for a second. She didn't want to tell everything, her teeth still embarrassed her, but she felt she owed the other woman something. "It is for medical reasons, and is only temporary," she explained. That 'temporary' pleased her. She'd checked her teeth in the mirror when she got up this morning. They still ached, but they were definitely looking better. In another day or two they would look normal.

When they met in the canteen for lunch, Adeena didn't look happy. "I'll have to change back into that indecently short grey thing soon. Before we join with the main base they'll change the rules on what concubines have to wear."

"But you belong to me now. Maybe I can tell them to let you wear something better?"

The AI interrupted through her internal link, «That will not be possible. Dress codes for concubines will be strictly enforced in the moonbase and while in transit to a colony.»

Zeinab could see Adeena's face fall. "Were you able to hear that?" she asked, puzzled.

Adeena tapped her collar. "The AI talks to me through this. I don't have the internal thing you've got."

"Did it tell you that we're going to learn English? None of their colonies speak Arabic."

"Yes, it told me. The unselected women have to start learning both English and Chinese until somebody owns them. And they'll have to be naked!"

"Naked!" That shocked Zeinab. Maybe the stories about naked concubines had some truth behind them? "Not even one of those short grey things?"

"Yes, completely naked," Adeena confirmed. "It's horribly shameful. They want to be able to tell owned slaves from unowned, and that's how they do it. You own me, so I can wear a smock."

After lunch, Corporal al-Mansur showed Zeinab and the other new sponsors a video on how to select concubines. The AI provided an Arabic translation, but it was obvious that this wasn't an Arab production. Some of the things they showed were so indecent! Far too much nudity, and as for what happened during the so-called 'test drives' ... It was as bad as what she'd seen on TV last night. She could understand the stories that life in the Confederacy was one long sex-orgy. Once again, there was some truth hidden under the propaganda. There was some useful advice among the filth, but she could have done with a shorter, cleaned-up version. The video certainly reinforced the point that her life was going to change.

The corporal let them go early so they could get started on language training and look at the presentations about the four services. Zeinab started with an English lesson in one of the sleep-learning pods in her apartment before watching the presentations. The AI left in the English narration, adding Arabic subtitles. That helped. She could already tell that the sleep-learning session had increased her English vocabulary.

It was very quickly obvious that there wouldn't be much of a future for her in the Fleet Auxiliary. A lot of their work was evacuating people from Earth to the colonies. As the Sa'arm tightened their grip, that would fall off greatly. That was not good for her promotion prospects. She wondered what Corporal al-Mansur would do. He was Fleet Auxiliary since he wore their blue uniform.

She liked the look of the Civil Service, working to help concubines. Then she discovered that a Civil Service job might involve running a brothel! So, that was out as well.

That left either the Navy or the Marines. Having met Barika, she knew that women could be Marines, but she wasn't sure she wanted to be that big. The Navy might be the better choice for her, at least they were normal size. She decided to think some more about it and pick later. She had until morning; that should give her long enough.

The next thing to do was choosing her concubines. The corporal's advice to pick from within the Arab group before they were dispersed sounded good. She already had Adeena, who'd suggested Bushra as a second concubine. That left a third woman and a man to find, assuming that Bushra worked out.

The AI approved, "Bushra al-Tuluni will be a good match for yourself and Adeena. She will likely fill the Head Concubine role in your family as she is more comfortable in a leadership role than Adeena would be. She was her former husband's principal wife on Earth."

"You have done her full test then?"

"Yes. Her scores show a superior capacity for leadership, including experience in her former family and good motherhood scores in both potential and experience." The AI displayed a wall full of numbers as it explained Bushra's results. So much detail! No wonder a full test took over two hours.

Putting Bushra in charge would be sensible. Adeena had been happy to accept a subordinate place to Tahira on Earth. She'd said that she liked Bushra, so having the younger woman take the role of Head Concubine shouldn't be a problem. "Can you ask Bushra to come for an interview with myself and Adeena once she has finished her training this afternoon?"

After a short delay the AI came back with, "Bushra agrees to an interview. She wishes to know if you expect her daughter Leila to attend as well, or if she should make childcare arrangements."

"Leila is ten, isn't she?" Zeinab remembered that Adeena had mentioned Bushra's daughter.

"Correct."

"Let her come as well then."

"Confirmed. Will you be selecting your last two concubines now?"

"No, I'll wait until I know if Bushra will be suitable. Please prepare a list of potential candidates, assuming that I pick Bushra. One woman and one man."

"Do you wish me to search female candidates only from within the Arab group or to make a wider search over all available unselected female concubines in this base?"

"Within the group please." Zeinab picked up on the way the AI had phrased its answer, "Are there any men in our group?"

"There are three men in the separate Muslim group, all sponsors, and hence not available for selection as concubines."

"There aren't any men in our sponsor class."

"The men are in a separate class for the moment," the AI informed her. "We will transfer them to the main base at the same time as yourselves."

"So I'll have to pick a male concubine from the pool in the main base?"

"Correct."

"Are any of them Muslim?" she asked.

"A small number of them are, but none of those currently available would be suitable as your concubine. Muslim men generally expect women to defer to them. While they would be appropriate as a lead concubine for a male sponsor, they would not be a good match for a female sponsor such as yourself. They would probably attempt to take control away from you, which would have serious consequences for them."

"If the Muslim men are not suitable, then whom would you suggest?"

"There are unassertive young men with low aggression and a non-religious background and who would not object to being subordinate to a woman. While not Muslim, they would follow dietary rules and similar if ordered to do so."

"I'll need to think about that." She could see the AI's point that a Muslim man might not be happy with a woman in charge. An infidel Westerner? She definitely needed to think about it.

Adeena, Bushra and Leila arrived together. Adeena introduced everyone and fussed around getting a fruit juice for Leila and coffee for the adults. Already she was falling naturally into a subordinate role. Leila was on her best behaviour, obviously having been spoken to by her mother, but even so it was clear to Zeinab that she was another Rasha – young and enthusiastic about everything. Like Rasha, she would be an asset to any family she joined.

At Zeinab's signal, Adeena took Leila away, leaving Bushra and Zeinab alone to talk. Initially, Bushra looked nervous. "All the films they showed us said that sponsors would want to test us by having sex. I'm not like that..."

"Neither am I," Zeinab reassured her. "I'll be getting a male concubine for that sort of thing." She could see the older woman relax in relief. They talked for a time, mostly about their lives on Earth. Bushra was a little younger than Adeena, twenty-six to Adeena's twenty-nine, slightly taller and a little prettier. She had been her husband's principal wife, but unfortunately, she had been unable to conceive again after Leila. By putting her forward for the Confederacy, her husband had been able to gain favour in the eyes of a local Sheikh who wanted to send one of his sons to Escardis. Bushra herself didn't mind too much. She could see that a divorce was coming anyway, and the Confederacy had cured her!

"I did the first test in a small room with a chair and a screen," she explained. Zeinab nodded, that part was the same for her. "Then the voice said that I needed a medical check as well. They took me to a different room with one of those big tubes, like in Medical. They did a quick diagnosis and decided that I could be cured. They accepted me and fixed things when I arrived here. I can have children again!" She smiled broadly at the thought.

"You're divorced then?"

"Yes, Ahmad divorced me before I left. I think he was looking forward to a new wife who could bear him more children."

Zeinab liked this woman. She was obviously a realist, someone who could make the best of her situation no matter how it changed. That would be important once they all reached their new home. Meeting Leila confirmed that her mother had done a good job raising her. Everything she had seen supported the advice she'd had from both Adeena and the AI.

"So, Bushra, do you want to be my concubine? Naturally, I'll take Leila as well."

Bushra smiled, "Yes please."

"Confirmed," the AI noted. "Unattached concubine Bushra al-Tuluni is now the registered concubine of sponsor Zeinab Filali. Leila al-Tuluni is now the registered dependent of sponsor Zeinab Filali." Both women jumped, they had forgotten its presence during their conversation. It was so easy to forget that the AIs were looking and listening all the time.

"Can I change..." Bushra indicated her grey shift.

"Of course. AI, another grey concubine coverall for Bushra please."

"It will be available from the kitchen replicator."

A smiling Bushra, dressed in her new clothes, took Leila back to their old apartment to collect their things – mostly a few toys and clothes for Leila. The girl herself was bouncing around like Rasha at her most energetic. She had learned enough to know that being in Zeinab's family would be a good thing for her and her mother.

Once they had left, Zeinab asked the AI, "Where will Leila sleep tonight?"

"She can either share with her mother or use one of the spare concubine bedrooms. If you intend to select two further concubines today, I can make alternative arrangements."

She still hadn't decided what to do about a man, but she could look for her third female. What sort of woman did she want? If Bushra was her chief concubine, then she needed another subordinate. Adeena was twenty-nine, and Bushra twenty-six, so it might be nice to have someone closer to her own age. The AI had advised picking a young man, so if she followed its suggestion, he would have someone close to his age as well. The video on picking concubines had emphasised that the AIs were generally a good source of ideas. Maybe she should follow its advice?