Chapter 2

I started on my inspection of the complex, leaving a roomful of softly buzzing teenagers behind, considering what I had just said. I had no way of knowing that I had just presented them with a problem. Up until that moment, most of them had always had someone tell them what to do -- or at least what was expected of them. Having to deal with it on their own was unexpected.

I moved down the hallway, only to realize that Rebecca was following along behind me. I contemplated telling her to go back, but for heaven's sake! She was twelve or thirteen! I couldn't run over her dog! I laughed at that. Of course, if I followed that thought to its logical conclusion, before too long she'd be in my bed and I'd make a woman out of her. I laughed harder at that. Was twelve old enough to become a woman? I didn't think so.

The kitchens were ample, with pots, pans, dishes, and hot water. There were storerooms with all sorts of dry and canned food. Nothing fresh, but there were about three large orange trees worth of frozen OJ.

One of the largest rooms that hadn't been labeled on the map had a combination lock; one of those where you push clunky buttons labeled with numbers. I pushed 3 and 7 and sure enough, it opened. It was a heavy steel door and I could tell why -- inside was the physical plant, and it was a little noisy. Outside in the corridor, though, you couldn't even feel any vibration.

The stairs were industrial steel steps that led up, ten five-inch steps between landings, two landings to the floor, I thought, except that there weren't any doors, just another landing. We went up six landings before there was a door and I opened it. It was a dark tunnel, but as soon as I opened the door, once again the lights turned on. They stayed on as we walked about a hundred feet to another door. This one had a picture and a warning. "Self-Locking Door! Push the key twice to unlock!" The picture evidently showed the outside, and there was an arrow that pointed to a rock on the side of a hillside. I opened the door and looked around, but didn't go outside.

I could see the "lock" and I could see a few more things, but beyond that, I couldn't see jack. The snow was coming down in buckets and there was at least a foot on the ground with more coming. The wind was blowing hard, with a few occasional, much stronger, gusts. Not to mention, it was well below freezing out there!

I closed the door, staying inside. "Brother Jerome is a man of very great means," I whispered, half to myself.

"He is a prophet, a most holy man," Rebecca told me. "Brother David ... please. You didn't say anything before when I asked you if you'd bring me to the Light."

"I'm not sure I'm holy enough." I knew she thought I meant "holy" when I really meant "wholly insane."

"You brought us fearlessly from where the wicked wished to take us away from our families, from Brother Jerome and from our Faith. You held steadfast to your mission and brought us here safely. Clearly, God's blessings are upon you."

"I had a few doubts along the way," I told her dryly.

"Brother Jerome says that it is quite proper to have doubts. You have to listen to them and pay attention, because sometimes the Devil will lead you into error if you aren't careful. Or, sometimes, you are just foolish and make bad choices.

"Brother David, doubts are normal. What isn't normal is to put them aside and continue to persevere. That makes you better than most."

She touched my arm. "Brother David, my mothers and my sisters spent much time teaching me about what to expect and what I should do. Please, Brother David -- I can pleasure you as well as any woman can, just so long as you bring me to the Light."

I was suddenly curious. "What do you mean, 'bringing you to the Light?'" Evidently it didn't mean what I thought it meant.

"Brother Jerome teaches us that at the height of passion there is a burst of light and at that moment you and your blessed partner are one with each other and with God. It is a perfect moment, a moment of Divine Grace. After that, he teaches us that we will come to know the Kingdom of God through our husband, and that God's grace flows through us to our children.

"He says that it is very important to a young woman to have that first moment perfect so that she understands what the future holds for her, so that she need not fear it, but to welcome it and look forward to it. For too many young women it's hasty fumblings that aren't in any way perfect."

I swallowed. Wow! If you're going to lie, Hitler was right! Lie big!

"What does Brother Jerome teach about a man having more than one wife?"

She looked at me, her face serious and intent. "Why, that perfect moment puts you face to face with God. Brother David, there are two thousand women in the Church -- and only six hundred men. Brother Jerome warns that the devil fills many men with unnatural lusts and that they will seek to turn you away from the path to God. They want sex so that they are pleasured and the woman is not, and as a result, they know God and the woman is denied. That is a grievous sin."

She shrugged. "It is always acceptable to have just one man and one wife -- whatever the couple feels most comfortable with. Most people, it seems, are happiest with that arrangement. There are some men and their wives who are blessed by having the ability and the desire to share the grace of their lives with others. The Faith does not tell them no."

Well, evidently the women in Brother Jerome's church weren't the empty receptacles that the papers said. I should have known better -- I knew how unreliable newspapers were. TV? Laughable!

She went on. "Brother Jerome says that a man with many wives can't keep them all as close to the Light as they should be, so that it is all right if sister wives seek to pleasure each other in the ways of the body. The joy that comes from such is a different sort than with a man, as your husband will kindle the spark of life in your body. A sister wife just kindles sparks ... but they can lead you to the Light as well." She giggled then.

I wanted to faint. Who knew? Brother Jerome also taught the women of his church to be bisexual? Giving each other pleasure? No wonder the Mormons and the other sects had nothing to do with him!

I coughed, trying not to giggle foolishly.

Rebecca smiled at me. "My mothers and sisters have spent many hours teaching me how to pleasure a man, and many more showing how my sisters and I can pleasure each other. After a woman is first shown the Light, until she is ready to be with child, she has to rely on her sisters to bring her to the Light."

She smiled winsomely at me. "Of the fourteen of us, myself and Sister Nadine and Sister Sharon are to be brought to the Light; Sisters Judith, Georgia, Sarah and Karen await the quickening of their first child. Sisters Diane, Naomi and Anna are pregnant already with their first child. Sisters Beth, Nancy and Susan wished to leave the Temple before the statists arrived. Sister Rose is a special case."

I swallowed. Okay, I was supposed to get four teenage girls pregnant and pop three cherries. What red blooded American guy could say no to that? Well, one with brains, if nothing else. If I started down this path, I'd be just like my uncle. Except I didn't believe in any divinity -- much less my own. It was stark, raving madness; a justification for those "unnatural lusts" that Rebecca had mentioned.

She smiled at me. "Brother David, there is one amongst us who is most holy and Brother Jerome wanted to you to decide about her."

"Decide what?"

"She is eleven, Brother David, and most would account her too young to come to the Light. My sweet Sister Rose says that she is indeed old enough, and I know that many sparks have been kindled between us in the last days. Brother Jerome says that we can rely on you to make a fair judgment."

"I don't want to sound argumentative or dismissive, Rebecca, but I have a question. In Brother Jerome's church, girls may 'come to the Light' as early as what? Eleven?"

"Once it was ten, Brother David."

"As young as ten, then. Rebecca, there has to be a lower limit."

"Of course there is, Brother David! You don't think that the men of the church bed us on our birthdays, do you? Each of us comes to the Light when we're ready; physically and mentally. We know, our sisters know, and the men of the church check anyway, just to make sure. It is the same thing with the decision to have a child. It is a requirement for marriage within the church -- a woman must bear her husband children and most of us want that so very much...

"But it isn't for all, and some turn away from that path. Some leave the church, some wait ... it is up each of us to make our own choice. Certainly our sisters and the men of the church discuss our choices with us! Why would we shun the advice of those closest to us?"

"It might be biased," I said, knowing it was a bad argument.

"We are all biased, Brother David. Some of us favor some things, others don't. We discuss the matter and come to a decision. What could possibly be wrong with that? Isn't that how decisions of great importance to you and to others should be made?"

"And you see nothing wrong with a man of Brother Jerome's age 'bringing to the Light' eleven year olds? Ten year olds?"

"Brother David! The worldly, statist society decrees many things that are false. In many cultures, and in fact, throughout most of human history, girls of that age have made such decisions when it was permitted to them. Even now, others make the decisions for many of that age, and they have no say in the matter. Aye or nay, sooner or later, this person or that person. One of the tenets of our faith, Brother David, is that we question everything. And when we find something we don't think is right, we examine and discuss it until we are as sure as we can be, and then we change how we do things. Afterwards, we examine how our choices work, to see if the results are what we expected. That is only rational, Brother David."

Well, she was right about that. It was unexpected hearing such reasoned thought from someone so young -- but that was a quibble. The basic philosophy was something I personally believed in ... except about the sex.

Rebecca waved down the steps. "We should return to the others or they might worry."

We walked back down the stairs, until we reached the bottom. I walked into the main room and found all of the girls there, either reading or talking among themselves.

"Brother Jerome and the church has provided us very well in our hour of need, sisters," Rebecca announced. "And I am working to convince Brother David that there are worse duties that bringing us to the Light and quickening new life."

There were titters of laughter.

"There may be steps up to the house, but I haven't found them yet," I told them. "It is snowing very heavily, at the rate of perhaps four to six inches an hour. Right now the power is coming from the utilities, but that could change any moment." I smiled at the memory, "Brother Jerome said about six PM. Don't use the elevator to go upstairs until we find the steps."

One of the girls, older, blonde and good-looking, spoke up. "Brother David, the steps to the house are in a small room off the pantry and opens behind a cupboard in the pantry upstairs. To open the upstairs door, just push heavily against the cupboard. It spins around."

"Okay, that sounds good.

"We're likely to be cut off here for a while," I told them. "Snowed in and all of that. It's blowing hard outside, and we can expect to be here for a while before it stops snowing, and then we'll have to wait until it melts. I don't know if the utility company will come out here to check on us or not."

The blonde girl met my eye. "My mother was one of those who built this place; it's called the Lower Temple. The local utility company is owned by the church and they will send someone to check on us. They will call first, so that we won't be surprised. It is unlikely that the statists know of the house above us, and very unlikely that they know of the Temple. We are safe here."

She smiled at me. "I am Nadine, Brother David, and I look forward to you bringing me to the light." She was tall and fair and looked a year older than Rebecca.

Another girl, about Rebecca's age spoke up. "I'm Sister Diana, Brother David," she said with a grin. She had thick brown hair and an impish smile.

Sharon was short and had reddish hair; Sarah was a little taller and blonde. Georgia had a simply amazing resemblance to a younger version of Carrie Fisher. The others gave their names as well, but the six lucky girls stayed standing. The last was a another blonde, with pigtails and looked eight or nine, not eleven. "I'm Sister Rose, Brother David," she said with considerable pride, beaming at me.

I went to the map of the "Lower Temple" and found that the largest bedroom hadn't been taken. I went to check it out, dragging my suitcase behind me. I put the bag on the bed and looked around. It was like a well-appointed hotel suite, right down to the small refrigerator, a counter with a sink and a small microwave.

There were two queen sized beds and I wondered about that for a bit, but ended up sitting on the empty bed, contemplating life, lust and young girls.

There was a soft knock on the door to the bedroom and I looked up to see Rebecca and Nadine standing there. "Brother David, may we talk to you?"

I nodded and the two of them came and stood in front of me, lightly holding hands.

"We have been talking among ourselves," Rebecca told me. "It is our custom to select a temporal leader and a spiritual leader for each project we undertake. The temporal leader deals with the mechanics of what is to be done, the spiritual leader advises and acts as a liaison between the congregation of the faithful and the project. Traditionally, they are Husbands and Wives of the Faith. We don't have any such here, so we had to improvise.

"We have decided that Sister Nancy will be the temporal head of our stay here, seeing to schedules and Sister Susan is to be the spiritual leader. Sister Nancy is sixteen, Brother David and Sister Susan is older. It was thought it would be better if none of the leaders were to be brought to the light by you."

"Okay," I told her. I wasn't going to be bringing anyone to light, so finding some were out of bounds was just fine with me.

"Nancy and Susan met briefly, and asked me to help educate you in our ways about how and why we do things the way we do, as members of the Faith, our congregation and as individuals.

"The first thing I need to tell you is that there are various what we call 'lines' in each congregation. A congregation is a geographical grouping of members of the faith. A line is a group of people within a congregation with common interests and abilities. For each congregation there is an Elder, there are from two to six deacons and then a number of journeymen, each journeyman with two pupils. Congregations are based on geography, while lines are based on interests and skills.

"I am part of the Priesthood line of the Mother Temple, Brother David. No matter what the statists say, women in the Faith can become priests if they so desire. They also serve in all levels of the congregations' leadership. My teacher is Brother Jerome."

I nodded. Another strike against the media, although it was possible that the "congregation" wasn't entirely forthcoming to reporters.

"The preferred method of teaching is a mixture of Socratic questioning and other questions in the form of a catechism -- a list of prepared questions and answers. You probably haven't heard any of our lists of standard questions and answers -- although we have them on many topics.

"So, since you don't know the Faith's responses, what I will do is ask the question of you, and you can answer to your knowledge and then I will give you the answer that the Faith holds to be true. Is that satisfactory?"

I sighed. It was too much to hope that the storm would pass by tomorrow and the next day we'd be on our way again. Brother Jerome had said two weeks -- I was going to die of boredom if I had to listen to religious lectures for that long.

"Do I have a real choice?"

"Of course. I ask a question and you may shake your head, showing that you don't want to answer it. At any point if you'd rather do something else, just tell me."

I laughed at that. Rebecca was a formidable person and not many were going to shake their heads when she smiled and asked a question.

"The first question is, historically, what is the role of women in society?"

I looked at her. "I suppose it's having and raising children."

"It is the duty of a wife to raise her children and assisting her husband with securing the needs of their families."

"Okay," I told her.

"What is the historical role of men in society?"

"They provide for the family, food, shelter, clothes, and defend them against threats."

"Just say a husband's duty is provide for their families and defend them. There are things that you have to defend against that aren't threats per se."

"Okay," I repeated.

"At what age do men become sexually mature?" she asked.

"I'm not sure. Twelve or thirteen. Maybe a little older for some."

"Men become sexually mature at twelve for a few, most at thirteen and the rest at fourteen," she explained. I nodded.

"At what age do women become sexually mature?"

I contemplated that. "I'm not sure based on my own knowledge. From hints," I smiled at her, "I'd say twelve."

"Women start reaching sexual maturity at eleven, most by twelve, and then the rest at thirteen and fourteen.

"Brother David has there been any change in the age of onset of sexual maturity for men in modern times?"

I shrugged. "Not that I know of."

She nodded. "There is no evidence for a change in the age of sexual maturity for men in modern times.

"Has there been any change in the age of onset of sexual maturity for women in modern times?"

"I assume not."

"Since the start of professional record keeping around 1890, the age of the onset of menarche, a woman's periods, has steadily moved towards a younger age, averaging in the US at roughly a month per decade. Historically, girls matured at fourteen. It's now twelve for most, and even younger for some. In truth, there are young women these days at age nine and ten experiencing their first periods."

She smiled at me. "God created men and women in his own image. Did God create women and men capable of experiencing sexual pleasure with all the joys and promises that comes with it, and then expect them not to?"

"I don't know," I told her. "Maybe it's a test."

"God is all-knowing and all-seeing. Why would he need to test us, when he already knows the answers?"

"I assume you mean, he already knows what the answers are about what we know."

"Yes, Brother David."

"I don't know about that, either. It doesn't seem reasonable.

"What is the age of legal sexual maturity in the United States?"

"Seventeen, I think."

"It is eighteen in California, Arizona, and some other places; seventeen in Texas -- and goes as low as sixteen in some states. That's for men and women. Sex between members of the same sex is more problematic, as the laws in many states have been thrown out in the various courts."

Again, I nodded.

"The drive to reproduce is one of our strongest urges. Women are required to wait four or five years after sexual maturity, men three or four. What is the purpose of such a delay?"

"I suppose it is so that the men and women can gain a little experience in the world, to further their education, and to make sure, at least for women, that their bodies are fully developed before they start having children."

She nodded. "While the delay has valid grounds in health and mental preparation, it goes against our basic urges. How should those urges be dealt with by men and women?"

"I think I know the answer for your faith." I paused, considering it. "At least for women. I'm not so sure about the young men."

"We can estimate the age a girl will have her first period fairly accurately. The sisters of her congregation show her the joy of sex and how close she can come to the Light during sex. First by ourselves, then with our sisters, and finally with one of the Fathers of the Faith.

"A young woman of the faith at age sixteen may elect to have a child by a Father of the Faith if that is their wish. I might add, that all of these things are voluntary. I can't say that there isn't peer pressure to agree, because there is, but we don't permit overt compulsion.

"The statists believe that a woman has to have had a baby to be married in the Faith; that is untrue. It is our belief that a baby fathered by one of the holy men of the Faith brings a special blessing to the mother and the child for all time to come. A man who marries a mother of such a special child must accept the child as his own and promise to treat the child no differently than a child of his flesh.

"For young men," she paused and looked at me, "there are unmarried women in the church, past the age where they can or wish to have more children. Many of them are widows. Some of these women may elect to show young men what the future holds in store for them. Young men aren't to seek pleasure with each other; they are expected to use the time before they can marry in useful pursuits of knowledge and hard work to raise their status.

"The statists try to make an issue of the difference in retention between young men and young women; the so-called 'lost boys.' Brother David, what did you do after you reached age 18?"

"I left home in Arizona and went to college in San Antonio," I told her.

"And did others of those you know choose to go to college, away from their parents?"

"Yes, a good many."

It was a mini-revelation for David. He'd been a "lost boy" himself, hadn't he? And he hadn't been a member of the Faith. His best friends in college had been the same -- they'd gone away to college. Sure, they all said it was so they could attend a fine university, but in his case he'd wanted to get away from home, just as much as he wanted a good education. His mother had known and understood -- and only told him of her cancer after he'd decided to return to Phoenix for graduate work at Arizona State. That hope had ended with his mother's illness. He'd cared for her until the day the cancer took her.

"Brother David, you chose to leave your home and family. Many of our young men chose to do so as well. Life in the Faith requires discipline; no one will tell you any differently. Young men in their late teens and early twenties are frequently unable to control their desires of the flesh and simply aren't suitable husbands for a woman of the Faith. Such men are turned away. Some of them mature and return -- but not many. It is a tenet of the Faith that it is the failure of the individual when that happens and not the Faith.

"For those men who wish to marry in the Faith, they may take a first wife at age eighteen or later, a second wife by age twenty-five and a third by age thirty. After the first marriage, any further union must be approved by a congregation as a whole as well as be voluntary by all of the adult parties. True, the statists say that such marriages are arranged, but that is in most senses incorrect. A congregation does, at times, see itself as a matchmaker, but it is suggestions only.

"I cannot stress too much how voluntary such things are. Any adult member of a marriage may veto such a marriage as well as the prospective husband or wives. They never have to explain themselves."

Again, I nodded.

She smiled broadly at me. "There is another thing, Brother David."

"What's that?"

"Young men, unable to marry, or who haven't found a woman to bond with, may pleasure themselves. If two sisters wish it, they may allow a man to watch them pleasure each other. Occasionally, a husband and a wife may allow themselves to be observed."

She waved at the two beds. "Brother David, you will have to pick one bed or the other. Fathers of the Faith never sleep alone in their bedroom. A Father may sleep in the bed of one of his wives; in the same bed as one he is to bring to the Light, a woman who wishes him to quicken her, or any unmarried woman over eighteen. Once the door closes, however, the woman can choose to sleep in the second bed.

"I have roughly three weeks left in this month before the moon rises at dusk again -- that will be the first time it will be possible I will bleed the first time. It is extremely unlikely I will have my first period before then. It is somewhat likely it will happen in the following lunar month. In the third lunar month, it will almost certainly happen, if it hasn't already.

"I am eager, Brother David, but I understand your hesitation. That said, it has been a particularly stressful two days for both Nadine and myself and the two of us are going to kindle sparks with each other on one of these beds. Please, Brother David, stay and watch."

"Do I have a choice?" I said as I stood up and picked up my bag and put it on the floor next to a chest of drawers.

"Of course; always there is a choice. Brother David, please, this would please both of us. It is the duty of all men of the Faith to protect the women of the Faith, foremost those of their own family or their congregation, but certainly the rest when the situation requires. We really would like you close to us, to remind us that we are safe."

What was I going to be able to do about this? The rational thing to do would be to tell them "No!" in no uncertain terms, and then toss them out of my rooms. I had a sneaking suspicion that they were a lot more determined to get me in bed that I was determined not to let them.

Worse, what Rebecca had said made sense. Yes, it was clothed in religious arguments, but the fundamental concepts seemed to be self-evident. If a young woman could experience an orgasm -- and from the descriptions that Rebecca had related to me they did -- why not? The usual reasons about avoiding unwanted pregnancies were trumped because the youngest women were literally too young to get pregnant. But wasn't that too young to be having sex? If someone could have an orgasm, but wasn't going to become a mother, why not?

I'd never had a problem with the thought of someone masturbating; I did it myself and had since I'd been twelve or thirteen. What was wrong with someone pleasuring themselves? Nothing that I could see. Two women pleasuring each other? Not likely going to be any unwanted pregnancies there, either! It sounded like the young women of the Faith were educated in how to get pleasure from sex, but taught to wait for sex with a man, once she was fertile, until she was ready for a baby. Sure, it wasn't the Western way for a woman to have to prove herself as a mother before she married, but I'd taken anthropology in college; a lot of the Pacific Island cultures had felt the same way. I was pretty sure I remembered hearing that they weren't the only ones.

And they weren't proving themselves able to have children -- it was something else. I'd read someplace that Mary, the sainted mother of Jesus, was fourteen when her son was born. Did God, prophets or holy fathers have to follow the same rules as everyone else?

From what Rebecca said, it wasn't cut and dried, either. It was up to all of the parties involved.

The babies weren't unwanted and they were raised by not only the mother, but the rest of her "congregation" with a promise extracted from a future husband to treat the child as if it was his own. How was this different from adopting a baby?

Was there something inherently wrong with sex if you were too young? What made a woman too young? Again, what was it that Rebecca had said? At orgasm you are closer to God than at other times, and that was a good thing wasn't it? Was it all baloney, to justify sex with young girls? I wasn't sure any more. It was a religious belief ... but then, so was the transubstantiation of Christ, the miracle of the virgin birth and, for that matter, the Ten Commandments, the burning bush and the parting of the Red Sea.

Yes, there were arguments that the older member of such a relationship was taking advantage of the naïveté of the younger. But what if the younger member was completely cognizant of what was involved?

Were we supposed to ignore all religious beliefs if some of their miracles looked even slightly implausible? That would invalidate a lot of tenets of a lot of religions; I didn't think so.

I froze into stillness, suddenly hammered. My mother had told me that I was the product of a one-night stand, and she hadn't told my father that she'd gotten pregnant. What had my uncle said? There weren't going to be any consanguinity problems with the girls? In theory, there would be no one closer than a first cousin and I'd heard that the church had no problems with that, now and then.

But, what if I was closer than first cousin to some of the girls? Were some of them were actually my sisters? Not just some, but a significant number of them?