Chapter 28: The Underground City

““Our city, Pahuna, is beneath the hills at the head of this valley,” says Tambara.

“Does that mean that you live underground?” I ask.

“Yes. Most Merope choose to live inside Pahuna and they rarely venture outside. But not all wish to live that way. My duties as a supervisor of children’s outdoor activity education means that I spend about half my time outside of Pahuna. As you saw this morning, all Merope children are educated in outdoor living so that they may make an informed choice about their future when they mature.”

“How many Merope live here?” asks Makareta as we descend into the valley.

“There are just under thirty thousand Merope living in the underground parts of Pahuna,” replies Tambara. “Another ten thousand live in the open around the city outskirts, the valley before us, or in scattered settlements along the east bank of the river.”

I do a quick mental comparison. No reliable census has ever been taken of Thurn’s entire population. However, I doubt our numbers exceed ten thousand, along with a thousand female elven clones living within Thurn. It’s anybody’s guess as to how many Atenex live in Atene and the surrounding elven lands. Atene is the largest Atenex centre of population, and it houses only a few hundred Atenex. Most Atenex live in small settlements along the river or deep in the forests beyond. Any estimate of their combined population numbers is little more than a wild guess.

“What’s that area over there?” asks Makareta, pointing to a large square area surrounded by a solid two metre high wall with nasty looking spikes lined along the top.

“The breeding pen,” says Tambara, leading us in a different direction so as to avoid getting any closer to the pen.

“What to you breed?” asks Ikaroa, keeping up our steady flow of questions.

“Merope, of course,” replies Tambara. “Atenex aren’t the only race that can produce clones when mated with another race. Merope women can produce clones of themselves when mated with Atenex, Phebes, and Thurnian males.”

“Umm. Does that happen a lot?” I ask, wondering why the breeding pen is needed, and why it is built like a prison.

“Probably no more often than Thurnian men mate with their Elf Maidens. In Merope, being given the opportunity to produce a clone is a highly sought after privilege. I have already given birth to two girls.”

“But why the large wall around the breeding pen?” asks Ikaroa.

“Because access to breeding males is restricted to Merope women approved by the senate. Our scientists spend a lot of time and expense in ensuring the selected males are suitable for breeding with us. All the males receive performance enhancing treatment. Those males chosen for breeding must be confined or they may attempt to mate with unauthorised women.”

“And how do you select these males?” I probe, getting nervous about the possible trap we have sprung.

“Most are volunteers who come to Merope for sex,” replies Tambara. “A few are sentenced criminals who have come into our territory and tried to rob or harm Merope citizens. Do not worry, you are perfectly safe while you are here ... providing you obey our laws.”

Tambara’s mention of volunteers wanting plenty of sex reminds me of the Thurnian men who seek out the elven forest communities for that very purpose. However, in the rest of Thurn the relationship with elves is a male dominated arrangement. Here it is a select group of women who seem to dictate the terms.