Chapter 19: Cassie in Hartglade Pt III

CASSIE

Madame escorted me out of what she called her House. I had mixed feelings about the place. Was it a den of iniquity as I had been led to believe since childhood? Or was it simply providing an outlet that men needed, as the Pionovian part of me proposed? Was prostitution in itself an evil part of society?

I began to consider that very carefully; what was wrong with it here? Few of the men's partners appeared to object. I tried to relate it to other pastimes of men who had a woman and possibly a child at home. Many perfectly good family men would drop into a bar for an hour or so to unwind after work before retiring to their house. Many women complained their husband was drinking, or that he ignored his family, but surely after a hard day's work a man needed to unwind? What was the difference between having a pint of beer and popping into Madame's social club for an hour?

It was like that with prostitutes too; OK, on Earth there were problems of doped-up whores who would pass on diseases but here that argument just did not apply.

Damn! I was so confused, I should be mounting a protest against prostitution!

But Chuck? I certainly missed having spoken to Chuck. And for some reason I was pleased that that girl, Beth, was making him happy. A part of my upbringing made me want to feel jealous of the bitch who had taken my man. But even that jealousy was tempered by common sense, the common sense that came from living in Pionova.

I began to see the problem was with ME! I was scared. What was I turning into?

In fact it was the attitude of that prostitute who made me feel so guilty. It made me feel a little ashamed on Amina's behalf. Why? Because neither she nor I set out to provide pleasure for our man like that girl Beth did. Even as we were walking across the town I was wondering what I could do to ensure that if ever I were fortunate enough to be invited into Chuck's bed, I would satisfy him.

Dammit! I might be happy with a slim figure, but I began to feel quite conscious for the first time that the lack of boobs must really turn him off. No wonder he had been so aggressive the only time we had been intimate. I tried to convince myself of that, but hardly dared admit that the fault really lay at my own feet, my attitude stank! I had treated him and others like shit!

By now we were at the Breastworks, a funny name for this female refuge. One of the bitches in charge turned to Madame and Laeticia, "If you will wait there a moment, we shan't be too long."

Addressing me, she took me into the treatment room which I entered with dreaded foreboding.

Why?

It was her attitude, as if she and her mate were ganging up on me for some reason. "We've had a big, long meeting about your little problems. Both of us were of the opinion that your titties need a little bit of a boost to get them started before your natural hormones kick in, in about five months or so." The one who spoke, grinned malevolently in my direction.

"But your pimples, " the other pronounced even more evilly, "they really do need some attention. We see no hint of development there at all."

They were like a dramatic duo, one saying one sentence and the other the next, "The treatment is quite painful to entice each nipple to emerge from the surrounding areola."

"Otherwise Junior," the woman smartly smacked my belly to emphasise to what she was referring, "won't be able to get anything between his lips and will end up hungry."

"I'm expecting a boy?" I jumped in.

"Don't be silly. How do we know? You are naïve, aren't you? The probability of a girl is much more likely. Now just hold still."

They caught me unawares. By this time I should say that I was stripped to the waist and was sitting upright on one of their examination tables. "Eek!" I screamed as a large hypodermic needle was inserted sideways in such a way through my skin as to end up behind my small nipple. If that wasn't painful enough, the process of depressing the plunger on the syringe was pure agony after a second or two. I didn't know what it was, but the fluid containing the oestrogen extract just appeared to swell and swell most painfully, putting pressure on my skin as if it would burst.

"Don't be a crybaby!" I heard, as the pressure of the increasing fluid building up seemed to push my small pointed nipple outwards, in fact, it was so great that I'm sure some fluid was escaping through the tiny milk ducts.

"Now what shape shall we give you, Dear?" I hadn't a clue as to what they meant. Anyhow, the woman was talking to herself. "I think we'll go for 'regular'."

The other one and murmured something in agreement, adding, "If we leave it completely free, during a boosted growth spurt they tend to get a bit too bulbous."

It was now that I realised that they were talking about the shape of the nipples, my nipples. I think it was the pain that made me shout out without much thought, "I want them long, long and thin, VERY THIN."

Where had that come from?

It had been in the back of my mind for the previous hour or so.

Could I detect a hint of nasty glee? The nurse was still depressing the plunger and finally exhausted the reservoir before withdrawing the needle, uttering, "Oh, that won't be too easy for you."

Like a rocket, the second woman latched some form of suction tube over my nipple. That was hurting so much and it was aggravated by her clicking a bulb onto the end. She depressed the bulb a number of times. I've no idea how the thing worked, but it was obviously a form of vacuum pump. "Eeow!" I screamed only to merit their belittling comments. I could feel the pressure of liquid in my nipple, as it enticed my swollen areola to release some of its liquid that was under pressure.

The moment a little of the oestrogen extract seeped out from the narrow tube over my nipple, the woman ceased her pumping and detached the vacuum bulb, On my chest, held in place by the suction, was a thin tube. The pain was excruciating. I could hardly hear her instructions, it was so agonising. I got the impression that Madame was brought in to ensure that she could repeat the vacuuming treatment on me afterwards, when I wasn't in so much agony.

As if I were not really present, I heard Madame being told, "For some reason, little girly wanted narrow teats, so we've started a week's treatment today." I didn't catch the rest as another large reservoir of their oestrogen extract was pumped into my right hand boob, now. Another vacuum tube was placed over my little nipple and the process started all over again. It was sheer agony.

I only learnt later that the process was to be repeated every evening for the next week. Then, whenever the vacuum tube felt loose, the little pump was to be attached and the vacuum re-pumped up to a dozen times overnight. I think the only thing I understood was the fact that during the daytime, if the vacuum pumps fell off they could be left until the evening. Thank goodness! The other thing of which I was aware was that Madame said that she would ensure that I would have a place to live in town for the next week, as I underwent this treatment.

It was a relief to be left alone in a side room under strict orders not to touch my nipples or the torture instruments attached to them. I sat silently with tears running down my cheeks. After a time I began to recognise what was happening in the next room.

Laeticia had been summoned and she was dragooned into being a patient next door to me. I heard every word of the conversation, "You should have visited us before."

"Visited you?" replied the gardening woman.

"You have been here some weeks now, and we usually like to give our new arrivals a check over before the first prenatal examination."

"Check over? Examination? What you mean, prenatal exam?"

Almost ignoring Laeticia, I heard one of the bossy 'wise women' again address her just like I had been spoken to, as if she were a fifteen-year-old school kid who had been naughty. "How far along are you? When was your last period?"

"My last period?"

I heard the harridan make a comment aside to her companion, "Is she deaf? We have a woman in her twenties who doesn't know what a period is?"

Angrily Laeticia responded, "Of course I know what a period is, I've only just had one."

"Had one?"

"Are you sure?" the second woman demanded.

Though I couldn't see her, it was quite obvious that Laeticia were starting to lose her temper, "Of course I'm bloody sure when I had my period, regular as clockwork they are."

For some reason this confused the two women who chatted and chuntered between themselves for a few minutes before demanding the question again, "You've just finished your period, how's that?"

Even I was beginning to think two women were stupid, one of them tentatively enquired of Laeticia, "You're not pregnant?" as if she were really confused.

Facetiously, Laeticia responded, "It's a bit difficult to get pregnant without having intercourse first."

"You've not been latched?..." I heard before the two women expressed themselves more clearly for Laeticia, "You've not been having sex with your man, it's Chuck, isn't it, Mr. Charles?"

"Of course I've not. I think he's got enough on his plate with that sex-mad Indian girl and the skinny one throwing herself at him every minute."

There was a murmured, "But, we only asked," followed by more serious and subdued discussions between the two harridans.

I really made an effort to listen in and began to learn something more about Hartglade, "It is expected that all the women who come here are made pregnant within a few weeks of arriving at their destination in the Deer Valley."

Then Laeticia snorted at the pair of women, "Well this is one woman who won't be getting in the family way."

This caused a great deal of consternation, and the two women went off into a huddle as if the end of the world had been announced. I know that they called Madame into their dialogue. Subsequently it was she who was left alone with Laeticia to explain matters. Obviously they were so concerned that they had forgotten my presence behind the curtain.

Now another conversation took place between Madame and Laeticia. It was quite amazing. Again I was more than surprised that Madame referred to pre-regeneration times. I know Chuck had referred to it previously, very briefly, and he had insisted that my previous life should never be discussed. Yet this was exactly what Madam was doing when she was talking to Laeticia.

She started by prompting Laeticia's memory. I'm not quite sure what it had been like on Earth for the gardener and her daughter, Lucy, but Madame certainly had a good idea herself. How was that?

However Madame had known, she then went on to describe to Laeticia a few of the basic rules that all regenerated females had to abide by, "Unless you are sent here to work in my brothel, then you really should get pregnant."

"Get pregnant!"

"Laeticia, I don't know or understand the whole system here, but I can assure you that if the wise women in this place say you should be getting pregnant, then you should. I know that there is some move to increase the number of people living here by natural means, otherwise you would not be here in the first place. That means, all the women who come here are meant to get preggers."

I got the impression that Madame wasn't letting on to all that she knew. I still leant over to catch everything that was said, "I thought that the fact that you were a specialist gardener might have exempted you from this requirement but evidently not so. You really are meant to get pregnant."

"You can't just tell a woman to get pregnant!"

I could hear Madame laughing to herself, "You can, here!"

"And there's no way I'm going to have any more children, Lucy's birth was difficult enough as it was."

"Oh, the women here don't appear to have very difficult births."

"That's fine for them, but not me! Anyhow, that's not the point," argued Laeticia. "There's no way I'm going to have sex with a man just to have a baby for some stupid 'rule'."

I was intrigued as Madame went on to explain, "It's not some stupid rule. I don't know whether you can remember when you were... ," she dropped her voice very quietly and I couldn't quite catch what she was saying. I heard a couple of words, "on Earth ... dying ... given a choice ... agreed..." Then her voice resumed its normal volume and I began to learn some more about this place.

Almost apologetically, Madame was explaining some real facts of life that were quite frightening, "If you're not prepared to have a baby then you would be thrown out of Hartglade. If that happens, I shall be honest; I have no idea what will happen to you. I've got the distinct impression that your existence here will be terminated and probably the presence of your daughter, Lucy, too."

"Presence terminated?" I could tell by the sound of her voice that Laeticia was getting worried. She was picking up the vibes from Madame.

"Think back to when you are given the opportunity to extend your life by coming here. You made an agreement. I don't know what the agreement was in your case. In my case I agreed to continue my life as a whore. In fact here, I have had a much better life than I ever had in Europe. I have a very strong feeling that if I had not agreed to continue to prostitute myself for the Frontiersmen, I would've found myself back on Earth - DEAD. I can think of no other alternative. Do you want that to happen to you?"

Even I was shaking in fear, sympathetically for Laeticia. I knew she had no alternative. In fact, a lot started to make sense to me now. It was scary.

"You mean, I've got to go and have sex with somebody I don't really know and just hope that I get knocked up?"

I found it was quite frightening, put like that.

Madame laughed. "Just hope that you get knocked up! Believe me, I'm sure that if you have sex a couple of weeks after your last period you will almost be assured of getting knocked up. Women here have a tendency to be in the best of health, and VERY fertile."

Without actually hearing while it was being said, I understood that Laeticia was trying to come to terms with the facts of life.

"But? I can't, not just ... any man."

"Oh, you're lucky. For you, I don't think it is just ANY man, Chuck's your man. He employs you, both of you. I can assure you, you will be the envy of any unattached woman here."

"Chuck!"

"Yes, you're sort of in his family. Once his house is built you'll be living in it, both you and Lucy.

"But! I told you, I understand that he's got Cassie in the family way but his real girlfriend is Amina."

"And what's to stop him sleeping with you too?"

There was a stop in the conversation, undoubtedly while Laeticia considered the question.

I thought about it too, I considered what Madame had said. Why had she asked that? There was nothing to stop Laeticia sleeping with Chuck, I saw nothing wrong with it. I had no problem in Amina sleeping with Chuck, so why should she?

Bloody Hell! I ought to be a raving green-eyed jealous monster! I had to think. Why wasn't I green with envy at the idea of Beth's sleeping with 'my man'? The idea had never crossed my mind to be jealous of Amina. And why, when the 'wise women' next door had been suggesting that Laeticia have a baby with my Chuck, hadn't I objected?