Chapter 12: Five Golden Swords

When I woke up from the sleep learner my mind was filled with the Twelve Days of Christmas. You might have experienced how that song sticks in the mind. My own fault entirely. I had taken those people who were in sleep learners or medical tubes along on a Christmas trip to a virtual edition of Disneyland. Were you aware that "it's a small world" adds "Jingle Bells" and "Deck the Halls?" I made a mistake and put the "12 Days of Christmas" sound track—hey, a version of that is at the Haunted Mansion's Christmas version!

So when I was removed from the sleep learner and confronted by five golden swords next to Goddess Lilith, I just belted out "Five Golden Swords."

"You become intoxicated in sleep learners, don't you?" Lilith asked.

"Yes, ma'am," I admitted.

"Or perhaps it's what you're doing in the sleep learner?"

"Could be, milady," I nodded.

"I was there, you know."

"Yes, Governor."

"You do surprise me," Lilith said. "I don't like clothes. Why clothes?"

"That's part of the Disney Experience," I replied.

"You gave me what I asked for," Lilith pointed to the swords. "All of them work. What was that about making a force blade?"

I explained it, along with the modifications to the shield to prevent the force blade from slicing through it. Then there was the stinger adaptations.

"A personal force field will make a halo around the person's head," Lilith told me. "Good work! Now tell me what these are."

'These' referred to a pair of training swords. One was molded in red and one was molded in light blue. The tip was blunt and there were no edges. The material was a stiff plastic. For the record, I could probably kill with these training Smatchets even though they were designed to be safe for sparring. The carbon steel and stainless steel Smatchets were heaviest at about 22 ounces. There was some variation in factory-made blades. The titanium edition was 19 ounces. The ceramic was only 12 ounces and the carbon fiber was 14 ounces. The plastic training weapons were only 10 ounces despite being the same approximate dimensions. I explained that NATO used light blue for training devices and American police used red—in the bad old days police would take "inoperative" revolvers and spray paint them red to denote that they were training dummies. Some training devices were black plastic for tactical training—but the red or blue ones were 'safe.'

Make that 'safer.' If misused, I could kill with them. The point was blunt but I could generate enough force to penetrate a throat or eye socket or temple or the point just under the sternum. I fractured Boo's wrist when I misjudged my strike. It didn't make me feel any better than I had disarmed Cor a moment before and had laid her out with a back-stroke to the side of the neck with her own blue plastic training sword. Both Confed Marines took being clobbered by a naval officer in good humor—but I wasn't supposed to INJURE anybody.

Lilith placed my black Smatchet on the table beside the other seven for comparison.

"Dimensionally they're identical," I said, "except that the red and blue plastic are thicker and have blunt edges and points. Different densities."

"You don't need to go technical on me," Lilith raised up on tip-toe to kiss my cheek. "You did well. Now I have something I want you to do. Spank me with the flat of this sword."

Spank? Lilith? I must have gone into shock because it took her a moment to get my attention. She explained that the spanking was going to be a token of Lilith's sexual submission to me.

"Accepting your seed is an act of submission," Lilith declared.

"Really?" I asked. "I thought it was a mutual thing."

"You have a lot to learn about women," Lilith said.

"I can't dispute that," I agreed. "Not all women are the same."

"I want you to strike me with a lethal weapon," Lilith said. "I won't retaliate. Humor me on this."

The next several minutes of instruction left Lilith with a red butt and teary face. She taught me how hard to spank, and she ran the routine of asking me for the next one and counting each stroke. The lesson was interrupted when a dozen bald women entered the room—with one spotted cat.

"Spots," I knelt in front of the jaguar. "I don't have any excuse."

Spots licked tears from my cheeks. I was crying? The jaguar was the first to embrace me in a big kitty hug. Where there was Spots, Dawn was nearby, and I recognized her when Dawn touched me. The group hug made me feel better.

"I told you," Tess was telling Lilith, "he feels the pain that he inflicts on others."

"He has to learn," Lilith said. "Line up, ladies."

The women were Tess, Mary, the six Confederacy Marines, the two stable attendants, Dawn and a girl I knew only from my dreams, Candi. Lilith made it 13. Spots didn't count. The physical affection Spots and I shared wasn't sexual—we were different species.

"I don't get it," Candi said. "Jaguars are not tame. He didn't even think of being hurt!"

"More like he was too miserable to care," Mary Popov, my commander, said. "It wouldn't matter. I've observed him playing with wolverines and those animals are just plain mean! Wolverines don't even get along with other wolverines."

"Wait until I introduce him to our baboon troop," Lilith chuckled. "Listen to me, Thomas. Your next exercise is to spank all of us. Six of the best. The idea is that we submit to pain inflicted by you. Start with me again. Thomas, it's supposed to hurt. There would be no point if it didn't hurt."

"One point," I said. "Spanking sponsors, okay. I can deal with that. Concubines and children—not unless I have to punish them. Sponsors volunteer. Concubines and children can't"

"I'm no longer a child," Dawn said indignantly.

"She's not a sponsor, either," Mary said. "Your animal minders are in a special status between concubine and sponsor. They're not sponsors. They belong to the stables or the kennels and they have specific duties. With those responsibilities they have limited authority. Medical treatment for their charges. Feeding them. Exercise. Training. Their authority extends to children who enter the stables to train with or have fun with their animal charges. We had to argue with the AI but it was a win-win situation. I don't need to tell you how important our animals are for educating everybody."

"Special status?" I smiled. "Instead of smacking them with a lethal weapon, how about the training weapons? They can even keep them in their quarters to remind them that they're in my power."

"I like that!" Lilith exclaimed.

"Do you have any colors other than red or blue?" Dawn asked.