Chapter 10: The Council Meets

Dinner was completed quickly, although clean up suffered, as both Bethany and Janice demanded their fair share of kisses and caresses. I did sneak out long enough to have the replicator produce the schoolteacher outfit for Bethany and a cheerleader vest and skirt for Janice. Meiko seemed disappointed until I pulled out the schoolgirl blouse and skirt that she put on while blushing, immediately receiving cries of approval from the others.

I had to laugh, but wanted to sneak in another hour of instruction, so after having the girls get naked to protect their outfits, I gave them permission to have fun within the pod while I studied.

My second hour of the day was a martial arts class, specializing in handling a larger opponent in close quarters. After my run in with Larry, I wanted more and better memorized options than the two I had used earlier. Fortunately, I found a class on crane form maneuvers, which used distraction and speed to disable an opponent.

When I woke up Bethany had gathered the ladies in the other room and was running them through hands of bridge and basic bidding. Tina was the most cutthroat at bidding but her play tending to be a bit wild. I watched a couple hands and then suggested that I pair with Meiko while Bethany partnered with Tina, and Janice would swap in after a game.

The idea met with approval, and the games started. At first Tina's aggressive play worked, but over time it was Meiko who seemed to pick up some of the subtler plays faster, often surprising her opponents with delayed trump draws. Janice quickly picked up the card play, but the bidding confused her a bit, especially many of the unusual conventions that I only imperfectly remembered.

The games lasted several hours before everyone's yawns suggested that it might be time to call it a night. After an instruction to the AI to wake us all in six hours, we headed to the bed and collapsed in a pile, too tired to do more than cuddle.

The next morning, I woke with the AI, and quickly got the sleep trainer set up for another round of lessons. I hoped to sneak in two hours before the day started, and I found myself swamped with dealing with the process of setting up the new colony, or at least my little corner of it.

My first hour was a lesson on the use of some of the heavy lasers the confederacy produced. I had to smile as the lesson ended, because one of my early concerns was using any kind of projectile in the corrosive atmosphere. Even a fast moving bullet would be passing through a mist of acid and I could see that having a negative effect on accuracy and range. A laser would avoid that problem.

Unfortunately, it appeared that confederacy lasers used a system wherein a crystal was excited by a blast of high-energy particles and would emit a short pulse of coherent light. It was incredibly destructive, but also meant that replacement crystals were needed after each shot. I found myself trying to come up with a way of using these lasers for planetary defense, which would be especially vital for the first few years.

The second lesson was a primer on Sa'arm ground forces and tactics. It was clear that individually they were not dangerous, but the hive mind and their sheer size they shared made them dangerous, especially as all Sa'arm in an area could sense what one could. Hit and run tactics would be the only way to fight them if we were outnumbered.

I exited the second lesson a bit depressed to find Meiko waiting for me and holding a tray with breakfast. She smiled shyly and then indicated that she was ready for her martial arts lesson, so I quickly got the system set up and sent her for her sleep training before looking for the others.

At least they didn't surprise me, as Bethany and Janice were sitting with Tina and working on her reading. Trying to read over Tina's shoulder pained me. I had thought that no one had worse handwriting than me, but I was proved wrong by that quick glance. It did appear that Tina was having much less trouble recognizing how letters matched sounds, although I could imagine her struggling with all the exceptions English seems to have accumulated.

Bethany waved and I would have asked her a question when the AI chimed. "James, you have a request from Tiffany Jenkins to allow her and her twin over for a meeting."

"Just them?" I asked in response.

"No," the AI replied. "I understand that Yvette is attempting to retrieve Terrence from the red ring and requested one of the marines to help by escorting Donna from the blue ring."

I sighed. "Has it been getting worse out there?"

"Volunteer Ellen killed her female concubine during the night," the AI replied.

"Shit! How many deaths is that now?" I cried out.

"There have been four concubines who have died since boarding," the AI tonelessly replied.

"You'd better go," Bethany said. "We'll clean up a bit."

I nodded and went to the master bedroom where I retrieved the stinger I had placed in my wardrobe. Bethany and the others followed to get dressed in their mini-skirts, with Janice joking that it would be 'uniforms' for the day. I had to laugh, but quickly headed to the door and down the hallway for the pods where the twins resided.

I found green four first and called out for the AI to alert the occupant that I was outside. When the door opened a young woman of about twenty-five met me, clearly the young teacher the twins had mentioned a couple days before.

"Oh, excuse me," she said as I tried not to look up and down her naked body. "Tamara didn't say that she expected a visitor."

I tried not to laugh. "That's because I'm just the escort service to a meeting." I leaned inside the doorway, and shouted. "You ready to go, or should I check on your twin and then return?"

I could hear a giggle from somewhere deep in the pod, and the woman shook her head. "I think that might be wise," she said with a sigh.

The door closed as I walked further down the hall to reach green three. Once there I again had to wait for the AI to alert those inside that I was waiting.

This time the door opened to reveal a young black lady who screamed in surprise and dashed naked back into the pod. Her scream brought a middle-aged but athletic man running to the front, but he stopped when he saw my upraised hand.

"You do know that concubines who attack sponsors tend to get in a lot of trouble," I said quietly.

"You aren't going to hurt Tiffany or Jillian," he growled as he stood just inside the doorway and glared at me.

I laughed. "Why would I? I'm just here because a message was passed to me about a meeting at my pod, and I was asked to come escort Tiffany and her sister Tamara. As you've probably heard, we have a few problems with the wildlife on board."

The man glared at me for a moment, but did nothing as Tiffany appeared from the back, dressed in a schoolgirl's uniform of black skirt and white blouse. It was surprisingly modest compared to what many girls were wearing back on Earth and I smiled as she approached.

She reached out and touched the man on the arm. "Craig, its ok. He's just here to take me to a meeting on what to do once we are at Ishtar."

Craig glowered at me, but stood aside to allow Tiffany to pass. I saw the look in his eyes and sighed.

"AI, is Yvette still in her pod, or is she already on her way to the red ring?" I asked.

"Yvette is at Red six and in discussion with Terrence, should I interrupt them?" the AI's voice replied.

I silently cursed. "No, I can ask her my question at the meeting."

Tiffany seemed a bit puzzled. "What question?"

I looked at her. "Your concubine needs someone to talk to him about the realities of being a male concubine and I thought that Philippe, one of Yvette's concubines would be a good one to give it."

"A talk!" the man fumed.

Tiffany just looked more perplexed. "Why? Craig is a nice man and would never hurt anyone."

"The problem is that he still thinks of himself as a free man. He was growling at me, despite the fact that he has no rights anymore," I replied. "Its not a problem if he growls at me, but many of the other sponsors will smack him down for it, and he cannot respond."

"What!" Craig shouted as Tiffany just shook her head.

"I don't understand," she whined.

I sighed. "Tiffany, did you have any briefing after pickup?" I asked.

She looked puzzled. "Tamara and I were picked up by the ship Foxfire, but as soon as they sent us to our pods, we were informed that the pods were going to be transferred and told to remain inside as the pod would be transferring. The first briefing we went to was the one where we met you."

"God," I muttered. "No wonder you don't understand." I paused to take a breath and then spoke very clearly. "Tiffany, you seem to not quite understand how the Confederacy works. Concubines are not considered people according to the laws. They are property. Craig only has the rights you grant him, and that is only as long as he belongs to you. If you tire of him, you can trade him away, or even demand that he be killed. The confederacy doesn't really care."

"They wouldn't!" Craig shouted.

Tiffany stared at him, and then looked back at me. "I can't believe that."

I shook my head. "The first breakfast I had on this ship, one of the sponsors, Ruth, was subjected to a torrent of abusive language from one of her concubines. He was quickly stunned by one of the nearby marines. She told them to get rid of him, and the AI now reports him as dead."

Craig was continuing to mutter, as Tiffany looked thoughtful. "AI, can you confirm that?" she called out.

The AI immediately responded. "Sponsor Ruth did repudiate one of her concubines at the breakfast briefing three days ago. Said concubine was terminated at her request. There have been three other concubine deaths, all at the hands of their sponsors."

Tiffany was clearly a bit shocked. "What action was taken with the sponsors?" she asked.

"None," I replied before the AI could answer. "The only action has been to pass around warnings to the other sponsors about the incidents. The laws don't allow any other action by the marines, although they did remove a thirteen year old girl from a pod when the sponsor in the room indicated he did not want to wait for her fourteenth birthday."

I could see Tiffany thinking again, but Craig jumped right in front of me to scream in my face. "What's that got to do with me?" he demanded.

I sighed and looked over at Tiffany. "Do I have your permission to damage your property just a bit?" I asked.

Tiffany gave me wave and went back to thinking. Immediately, I grabbed Craig's arm and twisted it behind him, forcing him up against the wall. He gasped out in pain and Tiffany looked up in shock. "I thought you said my property!"

"He is your property. That's what I'm trying to get through to both of you," I replied. "That's why I want him to talk to Philippe. Philippe had a similar issue until Yvette showed him how it was going to work."

"But?" Tiffany said.

I sighed again, still holding Craig against the wall, but reducing the pressure a bit. "Tiffany, I'm trying to help you and him. I wasn't there, but Yvette saw one of the sponsors pound a concubine to the ground as the marines watched, and the concubine wasn't his. We do have some nice people on board, but some are not so nice, and I do not want to see Craig hurt because he forgets that many sponsors aren't going to worry about hurting him."

Craig was futilely fighting me, but Tiffany looked at him and shook her head. "Craig, stop for a moment. I don't think James is trying to hurt you. And think, doesn't it match all that we hear about in school and on TV?"

I could feel Craig stop fighting as he tried to analyze what was said. "But why doesn't he talk to me?" he whined.

Tiffany turned to me silently. I waited for her to speak and the silence extended for a moment until she seemed to realize the problem. "You are waiting for me to acknowledge the comment to you, aren't you?" she asked.

I nodded. "Its one of the more effective ways to remind any concubine of the fact that they aren't considered citizens," I said. "Normally I wouldn't do it, but it was clear that Craig doesn't understand yet, so I was being a bit of a jerk about it. Others won't be as forgiving of a concubine who talks out of place."

Craig seemed thoughtful. "But that's unfair. And hard! How do I know when I can talk and when I can't?"

"Tiffany will decide that for you," I said. "She has the power over you, up to deciding if you live or die, from now, until she decides that you are no longer part of her household."

I could see a bit of fear in his eyes, but Tiffany surprised me by giving the man a gentle hug. "Be a father to my sister and me, and love all of us. We'll need you for a long time, especially to help raise the kids."

I laughed. "AI, are Tiffany and Tamara set up at a mutual tunnel termination so that they get a combined household?"

"Not at this time," the AI responded.

"Well, how about they get one down the corridor from mine. They are going to need it," I said

I could see Tiffany look at me in shock. "That's allowed?" she asked.

I shrugged. "The AI appears to be accepting my requests as long as it decides they are reasonable." I felt the problems with Craig were about over and I released him carefully. He took a moment to shake out his arm and return some feeling before holding his hand out to shake.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I guess I didn't understand."

I looked down at the hand and then turned to give Tiffany's a shake. "You still don't understand it all," I said. "But we can help you learn."

I could see Craig blush, but Tiffany merely waved him back into her pod and ordered the door to close as I walked down the hallway towards her sister's pod.

"I hated to do that," I said to Tiffany as we walked away. "But I could see he wanted to get physical, and that would be a death sentence if he pulls that with most of the sponsors."

Tiffany just smiled and gave me a hug. "You cared enough to try. And you were careful not to really hurt him. His pride is probably a bit bruised, but I think he's smart enough to calm down and realize it."

I nodded as we reached Tamara's pod. "I hope so," I said as the pod door opened and Tamara rushed out, blushing.

"Sorry about your first stop," she said looking down. "I was..."

"Checking your property to make sure it was properly cleaned?" I asked with a wink at Tiffany, who blushed and then giggled.

"What?" Tamara asked.

"Later," her sister responded, taking her by the hand. She quickly started walking down the corridor towards my pod.