Chapter 17: The Planning Meetings

The day after the Lois and Jim left I called a meeting of the 10th tier sisters. There was a lot of stuff I did not still understand about the Reverend's household and it was time to start figuring it out. I wanted to hit the ground running when I arrived. I was quite concerned that I did not understand what exactly the sisters did. I had been way to busy initially getting to know the ladies to completely understand what the household actually did.

When the 10th tier sisters and I arrived in my quarters, I asked them to explain the duties the Reverend's household carried out.

Paula explained that the Reverend's household was in charge of the entire government and economy of the planet Jewel and her sister colony, Apple. Each Order was in charge of one or more major areas of the economy of the planet:

The Order of the Brush:
Child Development and Education of children under 14 year old.
Legal Services for the Reverend's household.

The Order of the Strap:
Overall Male and Female Training and Education Coordination. Men were
trained and educated also, but the sisters were only responsible for
coordinating the training, the Reverend oversaw the male training program
himself (this was not as large a problem as one might think will under two
hundred males coming of age annually.
Entertainment.

The Order of the Cane:
Law Enforcement.
Communications.

The Order of the Birch:
Medical Services.
Veterinary Services.

The Order of the Wooden Spoon:
Economic Services.
Banking Services.

The Order of the Ebony Paddle:
Goods Manufacturing.
Raw material acquisition (mining).

The Order of the Leather Paddle:
Planetary Agriculture.
Energy Production.

The Order of the Breadboard:
Household Services.
Waste Management and Recycling

The Order of the Riding Crop:
Planetary Transportation.
System Self Defense Forces

The Order of the Tawse:
Interplanetary Relations.
Interplanetary Commerce.

The Order of the Leather Belt:
Computer Services.
Design and Engineering services.

The Order of the Wooden Spatula:
Household Construction.
Civil Infrastructure.

Each Order also ran 10 Universities each, located at strategic places throughout Jewel. The Universities trained men and women in the areas expertise they supervised. The women are housed in dormitories called Convents. They were called convents because the women were off limits to the men of the planet while they were in the convents. The women were housed inside the convents while the men lived off campus. The Reverend's Household ran the Universities with the University's president being a 10th tier Order member and between usually about 20 household members being assigned as department heads. The rest of the University's staff was hired from other households in the vicinity of the University. This meant that while the Reverend's household was huge. It was small in comparison to the University staffs were approximately twice the size.

I then asked about the Reverend's household structure. The Reverend's household was structures in 5 levels. There were four 10th tier ladies at level 1 with the senior member of the household leading the group. The other 3 10th tier ladies had 3 8th and 9th tier ladies reporting to them at level 2. The level 2 ladies had between 2 and 3 6th and 7th tier ladies reporting to them at level 3. 4th and 5th tier ladies rounded out the staffs at the 4th level. The household staffs were limited to 125 ladies per Order by the Second Reverend, 1200 years ago.

Yoko mentioned that 125 ladies might have been enough back then but now they were staffed very thin and could use more people.

I asked, "What did the previous Reverend think of that?", and they all went silent.

Finally Yoko said, "Sir you do not understand our training. What I just said to you I would never have said to the Reverend. It was his job to see this and make a decision on staff size. Frankly I doubt he felt he could handle his sexual duties if he made the staff bigger. Remember the household's ladies are off limits to the rest of the males on Jewel, including the University staffs. That means roughly 10 women a day, since every one of my sisters gets to sleep with the Reverend at least three times a year. You visit each University twice a year for two nights to sleep with the staffs there.

"We would never suggest he increase his work load, even if it was not generally dangerous thing to do. Our time in bed with him annually is limited to roughly 4 hours, and we share that time with 9 or more others".

I had not worked through the sexual logistics of the size of the staff. I could now see the problem though.

There was a lot more discussion about the situation and how to handle it when we arrived. Everyone agreed that settling the household down was top priority.

Paula seeing Yoko was finished continued, "The Reverend was forming two new orders, to deal with several issues of stretched staff. Those orders would have taken over some of the jobs of other orders, making our lives overall easier. Each order has tasks it does that are on the fringes of it responsibilities. I don't think any of us knows what the Reverend planned for the new orders, even the new order leaders on Jewel probably do not completely know".

At the end of the day I talked to each tier 10 lady alone for about a half an hour, discussing their history and training. When I was done I noticed an interesting coincidence. A plan began to form in my head. Still I wanted to wait for a while before mentioning it to the ladies. I wanted to make sure I had a better understanding of the workings of the household before I jumped in with both feet. I did not want another case of "Male Foot in Mouth Disease".

We talked the next two days about various options. On the 4th day in the morning I asked them to recommend how we resolve the current crisis and get enough people in the places we need them to handle the various needs of the planet. I have never seen 12 people look so uncomfortable in my life.

I knew they had ideas but they all were afraid to voice them. I had a plan but I was sure I'd never hear their suggestions if I gave voice to it. I also knew that they had been talking privately about some solutions. When they didn't speak, I decided a little coaxing would help (or at least I hoped it would).