Chapter 40: RS01-Pi, Day 6, continued

"The surviving male is named Raul Santiago," Zookeeper's voice told Steve as he made his way to the transportation system. "The deceased male was Johnny Armstrong. There are ten women from each household. There are signs of at least minor injuries to all of the women, but those from Johnny's household are somewhat more severe.

"Most of the women are in the bedrooms, and are segregated by original household. One of the new women is currently with Raul; the monitors will not release any information beyond that; even that much information required application of emergency protocols. There are two women in the common area, one from each household. Good luck."

Steve approached the entrance to the Santiago household, and spoke to the room monitor. "This is an emergency override. Do not announce my arrival. Lock down all occupied bedrooms; do not allow any entrance or exit until further notice."

Steve touched the panel beside the entrance to the house, and walked in when the door opened. Two women stood arguing with each other, and they both looked at him as he walked in. One was tall and slender, a Caucasian brunette with firm breasts and ass. The other was shorter, and Hispanic, with short black hair and a stocky build.

The Hispanic woman spoke first, in an angry tone, "What is this, another pervert to destroy the balance in our home? Have those beasts not done enough damage?" It took Steve a moment to realize that she was speaking Spanish, but that something was translating her words into English, using her own voice to do so. It was a good thing, because his visits to the American Southwest hadn't taught him nearly enough Spanish to let him keep up with her.

The brunette's tone was quiet, almost beaten-down. "I suppose it's too much to hope for that you're here to help? Please, he's raping Tina. We tried to stop him, but he doesn't care; he's gone insane."

Steve noted a large bruise on the side of her head, and shook his head in anger. "I don't know what's going on here, but I'm going to find out. I want each of you to pick an unoccupied bedroom and go inside. Wait until I call you. I'm going to talk to Raul." He faced the brunette directly, and said, "Not to be insulting, but are you sure it's rape?"

The brunette nodded, saying "Tina's gay; she turned him down three times, and he decided not to take 'no' for an answer. Sounds like rape to me."

The Latina looked like she wanted to object, but Steve glared at her, and pointed to the bedrooms. "Go. Now." Her eyes flashing, she turned on her heels, and stalked off in the direction he'd indicated. She entered a bedroom, and Steve told the room monitor, "Lock-down protocol for her as well." He gestured the brunette into another room, and said, "I think I can trust you; don't come out unless I call for you."

The brunette stepped quickly into the indicated room, and said, "My name's Beth Andrews; Raul's victim is Tina Wilkinson. Please hurry, I'm sure he's hurting her." Steve nodded, and said, "Steve Miller, at your service," over his shoulder as he turned towards the 'master' bedroom.

When he reached the door, he touched the panel, and entered the room. He found a half-naked Latin man lying on top of a motionless Caucasian woman, fucking her harshly. Steve wasted a second coming up with a plan to separate them without harming the woman, then yelled out, "Get off of her, you pathetic cocksucker!"

Raul roared in rage, and pulled out of his victim, turning to Steve as he rose from the bed. He took a step towards Steve, murder in his eye, and Steve spoke again, saying, "Room Monitor. Restrain him." Raul froze as invisible hands grabbed him, and held him motionless. His eyes blazed, as he threatened Steve with a long painful death. Steve spoke a third time, "Room Monitor. Do you have anywhere you can isolate him?" "Yes," came the reply, "there are several unused residences at present."

Steve nodded. "Sedate him, and transfer him to one of the unused residences. Confine him to the master bedroom suite. Limit his replicator access to food and drink only. He is to be confined until I can assemble a jury of his peers to judge him for his actions." "Acknowledged. Implementing."

Raul's eyes glazed over, and a shiny oval bubble surrounded him. The bubble rose from the ground, then vanished, taking Raul with it.

Steve turned to the woman still lying on the bed. Her eyes were clenched closed, and tears were running down her cheeks, but she wasn't moving, or speaking. She was nude, and there were several bruises forming on her face, her firm breasts, and her hips. A trickle of blood ran from her vagina, which was still gaping open from Raul's assault. Another trickle of blood ran from the side of her mouth down her cheek. Her lip was split, and one eye looked like it would be black soon. Even in her current state, she was strikingly beautiful.

Steve shook with anger at how Raul had treated her, but struggled for control before he spoke. He managed admirably, and when he said, "It's OK, Tina, he's gone, and he'll never hurt you again," it was in remarkably calm tones. Tina didn't respond to him, and he nearly touched her cheek to gain her attention, before good sense prevailed. "Room Monitor; urgent message to Beth Andrews in this residence. Come to Raul's room immediately; Tina needs you. Don't worry about Raul; he's gone, and he's not going to get near any of you ever again."

A moment later, Beth burst through the door, gasping and crying when she saw Tina. Steve was standing off to the side, and said to her, "She's been like that since I got Raul away from her. He was fucking her when I got here; she didn't make a sound then, and hasn't since. I'm afraid to touch her; I don't know what kind of state she's in, but it can't be good.

"I suppose it would be too much to ask for you or any of the others to have training in dealing with rape trauma. I'm completely out of my depth here. Tricking assholes into stepping away from their victims is easy. Helping the victim afterwards is the hard part."

Beth was crying as she said, "I'll try to help her. You're right; none of us has any training that I know of. Betty was kind-of our leader when we were still with Johnny; she may know more. I think she's in the second room on the right; a couple of Raul's most recent victims are in there, and she was looking them over."

Steve nodded, and said, "I'll go talk to her. I'll want testimony on everything that's happened, eventually, and I'll have to ask Raul's women as well. I can testify on my own that Tina was beaten and unresponsive when Raul was raping her, which should take care of his sorry ass. I still need testimony on what happened to Johnny, and to the rest of you."

Steve stopped, and spoke to the room monitor, "Monitor; can you perform a medical check on Tina, and the rest of the women, and report any serious injuries? Record the scans for use as evidence later under whatever legal protocols are required."

The room replied. "Scans complete. One of the women in the other rooms has a serious injury, already under treatment. The other women are suffering from minor injuries, requiring no particular medical treatment beyond analgesics. Tina is suffering from a serious tear in her vagina, and another in her rectum. Immediate treatment is strongly suggested. Treatment devices are waiting in the replicator next to the rest facility. They should be inserted into the injured openings, and will begin repairs immediately."

Steve walked over to the indicated alcove, and found two objects that looked like alien sex toys. One was slender, the other slightly fatter; both looked more like misshapen dildos than any treatment device he'd ever seen. He collected the objects, and walked back over to Beth.

"I think she's going to need to be sedated for this. Anything going in either opening is going to scare the shit out of her. Do you think she'd rather you did it? Can you handle it?"

Beth nodded, her eyes wide. "Yes, I think she'd rather I did it, and it's the least I can do for her."

Steve thanked her, and gave her a hug. "I'll leave you alone, then. Room Monitor; accept instructions for treatment of Tina and any other injured from Beth. In particular, she has authority to sedate any of the women from her group as she deems appropriate."

Beth stared at him as he left the room, then shook herself and went to work on Tina. The monitor reported that Tina had been successfully sedated, but there was no obvious change to her expression. It must have worked, though, because she didn't react when Beth slid the treatment devices into her cunt and anus.

Steve walked down the hall, and stopped in front of the indicated room. There were two different lock icons lit on the panel, one red and one blue. "Monitor, confirm that this room contains Betty from the transferred group. If so, release the lock-down." The room voice replied, "Occupancy confirmed. Lock-down released. Door is still locked by occupants." The red icon had vanished, but the blue one remained.

Steve considered his options, then spoke again, "Monitor: message to Betty. My name is Steve Miller; can I come in? Raul is out of the picture; it's safe to come out."

There was a long pause, then a voice came from the speaker next to the door. "How do I know you're not like him?" Steve shrugged, and said, "I don't suppose I can prove it. I could tell you to call my wife, Anna at SM03-Pi and ask her, but that wouldn't prove anything. If I'm like Raul, I could have beaten her into saying anything I want her to say by now. The problem is that if you don't trust me, then we're stuck with all of you women behind locked doors, and Raul rotting in his lockup as well. And I was really hoping to get home tonight."

There was a chime, and the blue icon vanished. Steve stepped up to the door, and it opened. He walked in, and stopped just inside the door, which closed behind him. There were three women in the room, two reclining on the bed, with ice packs against their faces, and hastily donned jackets covering their chests. The third woman was standing in front of the first two, like a warrior protecting her clans-women. She too could have used an icepack, as a large red hand print covered the side of her face.

"Hello. My name is Steve. You must be Betty. Beth said you were in charge in the old household, so I figured I'd start with you. The aliens sent me here because they realized they'd made a mistake sending you all here, and I'm supposed to figure out how to fix it. Since I'm notably unskilled in raising the dead, or erasing painful memories, I don't see much hope of that, but I should be able to keep any additional damage from happening.