Chapter 8: The Pool and Tickle Torture

At 900 hours, the day after departure, the AI informed me that the CS office already had fifteen calls from sponsors demanding that the CS office take concubines from them. They were told they had to wait until 1530, but the AI estimated that at least five of the calls should not wait that long. The AI also had two sponsors placed into custody for assaults on a dependent and their concubines and dependents were already in the CS concubine pod.

The AI informed me that day after departure was always a busy day for the CS department. It was falsely believed by the general population that this was the first day that they could order concubines recycled without the concubine being sent to the CS department automatically. What they did not know was that each ship had policies regarding the recycling of concubines and the Taurus Clipper’s captain had set a policy that no concubine could be recycled without approval of the senior or acting CS officer. That was me.

I had intended on spending several hours in the sleep trainer learning about stellar navigation, something that a ship’s captain needed to know. Instead, not having much of a choice, I headed off to the CS office in the first CS pod to handle the issues.

One of the things I needed to deal with was that immediately after extraction, every sponsor had been ordered not to waste the ships resources. Specifically, they were warned about injuring their property in ways that would require the use of med tubes. That didn’t mean that they could not punish them or have fun with light S&M stuff. They just needed to be careful. It was pointed out that concubines living in fear of their sponsors did not lead to sponsor level children, which was one of a sponsor’s duties.

Strangely enough, the first five calls were from female sponsors presenting one or more concubines to be recycled. When I arrived at the CS office in the pod it was chaos, with the concubines and sponsors exchanging insults. I scheduled them fifteen minutes apart, hoping that the situations could be resolved quickly.

It was explained to me by the AI that my job was to evaluate for the Captain all cases where recycling was requested, even if the cases were straight forward violation of Confederacy law. On a ninety-six pod Aurora, the captain of a ship had less to do than on a one thousand twenty-four pod Kilo. He didn’t have time to evaluate every case. I was to screen the requests and pass my recommendations on to the Captain for approval. The Captain would usually just act on my recommendation.

For the first appointment, the female sponsor appeared ten minutes late. The male concubine who was in the custody of a group of Marines pitched a fit saying, “This is what I have to put up with every day.” When the sponsor appeared, she had two black eyes and a swollen chin. As she walked, it was pretty obvious she had other injuries. She was in a Fleet Auxiliary uniform with the rank insignia of private. The sponsor immediately apologized for being late, since she was cleaning up and had a hard time getting dressed. There was a petition from the Marines to recycle the concubine. It took about five minutes to view the evidence, which clearly showed the concubine getting mad because the sponsor showed up late for bed. He was on his third haymaker to the sponsors face when the Marines arrived and stunned him. The AI piped in that she was an abused ex-wife of the concubine.

I announced my judgment, first ordering the sponsor into the pod’s med tube and then passing on my recommendation for the concubine to be recycled.

It took five seconds for the Captain to reply, via the AI, <<Recycling so ordered.>> I announced, “The Captain had approved the recycling request and ordered the concubine’s recycling. Captain of the guard please stun and recycle the concubine.”

The next case was another male concubine who had struck his sponsor in retaliation for the sponsor striking him. There was not much to do here as the one thing that was made crystal clear is that a concubine striking a sponsor was an automatic death sentence for the concubine. I checked recordings. The concubine forgot that the sponsor was in charge and had slapped the sponsor. The sponsor was not very happy with the concubine but seemed to think that the concubine should not be put down. Again there was a petition from the Marines for the recycling of the concubine. I asked the AI if I had any wiggle room on this. It said that if the sponsor did not want the concubine put down, the sponsor could appeal to the Captain through you, for clemency. It did not think it likely that it would be approved.

I made my ruling that that I was recommending the concubine be recycled and that I was recommending that the sponsor’s request for clemency be rejected. I said that I would ask the Captain to give the request for clemency a review, because the sponsor was so adamant. I told the sponsor to contact the Captain and ask for clemency immediately via the AI. Soon the sponsor was in tears and it was pretty clear what the Captain had told her.

The sponsor looked at the concubine and said, “I am so sorry.”

He replied, “Don’t be! This was my fault! I let my emotions rule me. I deserve what I get. Take care of our children!”

“I will. I Love you!”

“I love you too!”

After I received confirmation from the Captain, I told the Marines to recycle the concubine.

We proceeded to the third case. This was a case where a female sponsor ordered a male concubine to lick her asshole and he refused. The sponsor attacked the concubine kicking him in the balls several times. The concubine restrained the sponsor because if for no other reason his balls were hamburger. In the process of restraining the sponsor, the sponsor demanded that concubine to let her go. He refused the direct order and the Marines were summoned. The sponsor demanded the concubine be recycled. I decided that the concubine had done nothing seriously wrong; he even protected himself from his sponsor without striking her.

I suggested “Why don’t you punish him in another way and not recycle the concubine just because you are pissed off.”

She said “That was what I was doing when I was making pasta out of his balls, he stopped me. I want him recycled.”

I responded, “His balls are crushed. He is bleeding internally. He defended himself without striking you. That makes his only offense his refusal to obey your orders. You, on the other hand, disobeyed the captain’s orders not to waste ship’s resources by inflicting injuries that would need a med tube to heal.” I showed her the pictures.

She looked at me, the fury left her eyes, “I was so angry, I didn’t think.” Suddenly she calmed down. She raised her hands to her face and said, “Oh my god, I can’t believe what I have done. Jesus, they say absolute power corrupts absolutely. I must be out of my mind. Please do not recycle him. He is a stud and I haven’t had my physical enhancements; he could have killed me if he wanted. He didn’t even hurt me.”

I immediately had the concubine healed. I was not sure what I would do. Since the sponsor had decided to remove the request for recycling, I was pretty sure that the concubine was safe.

I recommended she house her concubine in the CS pool temporarily and that I was recommending both her and her concubine to receive counseling; her for anger management and him for his authority issues. The sponsor did not like it, but knew she was already in hot water and did not complain.

The next two were cases where female sponsors who wanted to recycle their female concubines because they could. Both were cases where the concubine had done nothing wrong. They were revenge killings for things that happened on Earth. <<These two are urgent because often the sponsor in question attempts to kill the concubine, and we prefer to preserve their genetic diversity. Both have been under surveillance.>>

<I see.>

In the first case, I found no cause for recycling. I recommended the concubine be placed into the CS pool. I didn’t tell her she could still kill the concubine herself. The sponsor was obviously relieved. She said, “Very well. I realize that I was reacting in vengeance but I could not have the concubine in my harem. As the AI told me, killing her will not make the hurt go away. Please take her into the pool and find a place for her.”

I intended to make sure that the concubine was fit to be acquired by another sponsor before going any further.

The second sponsor was a piece of work. Apparently, her concubine had tormented the sponsor her entire school life. The sponsor had beaten the concubine mercilessly her entire time on ship. She was done now and wanted to finish off the concubine by recycling her. The AI was giving me the full details on the one-sided discussions the sponsor had with the concubine, along with the life threatening injuries the concubine had sustained. One look at the concubine it was clear that she was blind and had both her nipples cut off.

I also now knew why two Marines were always stationed inside the CS office when it was open. Unfortunately, because the office was closed, there were currently no marines. I asked the sponsor her rank and name.

<AI, please contact Sergeant Moore and tell him I need support in the CS office now.>

<<He asks if the CS Office is open and what type of support you need.>>

<Tell him I need to arrest a sponsor.>

<<The sergeant has sent a team and guards for the CS office. The sergeant requests that you to notify him whenever you open the office, no matter what the day and time is. He is most emphatic.>>

<Tell him I understand and this will not happen again.>

The sponsor noticed my distraction because I was staring off into the air. I told the sponsor, “I was checking on things and I’ll deal with you in a second. I order that this concubine be removed from your harem and be placed under the control of CS.” I went to the concubine and started to lead her to one of the test drive rooms.

The AI stated, “Acknowledged.” It was one of the things I could do as the senior CS Officer.

The sponsor asked, “Where are you taking her?”

I replied, “Someplace to await my decision.”

The Marines arrived. The sponsor realized that if I were going to recycle the concubine I would have turned her over to the marines. She said, “What is going on?”

“You have abused your concubine, and severely damaged her causing her to need serious medical attention. Corporal, place this sponsor under arrest for disobeying direct orders concerning concubines.”

“Yes sir.”

The sponsor turned to me and said, “Well then I’ll do the job myself.” Before I could blink, she turned to the concubine, pulled a knife and slit the concubine’s throat. I quickly reacted and knocked the sponsor on her ass away from the concubine. Now I knew why there was a medical tube in the spares pod. Within ten seconds I had the concubine in the Med tube and I ordered the AI to heal her.

“AI, contact the captain and ask him to contact me.”

“Acknowledged, healing in progress. The Captain is on his way.”

About five minutes later the Captain arrived and said that I had done the right thing. The Marines added another charge for carrying an unauthorized weapon on the ship and hauled the sponsor to the brig. I ordered the sponsor’s other concubine and her dependents transferred to the CS pod immediately; until the sponsor’s court martial was complete.

The injured concubine was out of the med tube in sixty minutes, still scared to death but sedated. The AI said that it would be a while before she would be completely recovered. About that time, the second concubine arrived with the dependents. She had been beaten up badly also. I helped them settle into the CS pod. I then ordered the second concubine into a CS med tube and instructed the AI to heal her. I also added more charges to the sponsor.

The second concubine was out of the med tube in thirty minutes looking absolutely beautiful. I explained to the concubines that they needed to relax the rest of the morning and that I would be back at 1500 hours.

I went back to my pod and asked my concubines what they had scheduled for the rest of the day. It turned out to be minimal training modules that would take less than two hours in the sleep trainers. I instructed them to finish up by 1500 hours, because I had a job for them. They knew about my CS position. If nothing else, this morning made it clear to me that this afternoon I was going to need help.

I then entered the sleep trainer and asked the AI to present the module on the Code of Military Justice for the Confederacy (CMJC). I knew I would receive training on it on the way to Bedfordat, but I wanted it in my head for my job as temporary CS officer.