Chapter 22

"Okay, I've got blood samples of a dozen ill victims," Doc Frank told his mother. "Can you teleport me to my lab at University?"

Tanya didn't bother to answer. Instead, she stood up and reached out to touch his arm. They both disappeared, along with the samples Frank Jr. had been holding, leaving Ivory behind with the Mayor.

"How long do you think this will take?" the Mayor of Utopia asked, anxious that his townspeople retained faith in his ability to guide them.

"Who knows?" Ivory replied. "Shouldn't take more than a day or so, though. My husband's got some pretty fancy equipment at University – some, he designed himself."

"That's good to know," the Mayor decided.

"May I ask a question?" Ivory queried. "It's about your goddess temple and the goddess who resides over this domain. There doesn't seem to be a goddess in residence, here."

"There isn't," the Mayor replied. "Our little community is too small, and most of our residents are refugees from Earth, so they're not used to having a lady justice presiding over them. That's why I became Mayor – to hold the position of Justice here in Utopia. However, there are several temple maids at the temple who perform some of the goddess' duties."

"So basically you are the presiding administrator of justice," Ivory asked, "and you have girls who provide sexual services for the men in your community?"

"You make it sound as though I'm running a brothel," the Mayor countered Ivory's statement. "Why would you ask such a thing?"

"Well, this morning, and yesterday, as well," Ivory told him, "I was approached by two men who seemed to believe that, since I was staying at your residence, I was one of your 'temple maids' – and they expected me to service them. One became quite irate when I refused."

"Young lady," the Mayor urgently responded, "This is just a misunderstanding, and I promise to correct the behavior of those two men. I can assure you that nothing untoward is going on regarding the maids who reside in the goddess' temple."

"Nothing 'untoward'?" Ivory smirked, raising her eyebrows. "Where I live, men go to the temple to worship their goddess – let's make that – worship their goddess' bodies. In other words, to have sex! I myself have been to some of those 'worship' services, and most of them turn into all night orgies. What kind of 'justice' do you dish out where a girl is ordered to perform for a hoary bunch of horny men? Where I come from, that's rape!"

"Now, wait just a moment," the Mayor protested. "It's not like that at all. The girls in the temple are orphaned, or sentenced to provide temple service because of misbehavior on their part. Providing these services is a life lesson in humility that improves their overall behavior in the future. In the seven years that I've been Mayor, I've had many young girls pass through my courtroom who later became very good wives to loving husbands."

"And the orphans?" Ivory asked, her frown giving away how she felt about what she was hearing. "You work them in your manor? Do they maybe keep your bed warm at night for an extra pastry in the morning?"

"They provide a service," the Mayor explained hotly, "and they are provided for in turn."

"You're running a sex shop," Ivory accused him. "A brothel. You've perverted your position as Justice for your own personal desires. Those temple maids are slaves to the men who desire them and your household women are forced to remain here to provide you with sex."

"Now see here young woman..." the Mayor shouted, raising his voice. "They are not slaves. They are well provided for and..."

"Is there a problem in here?" Frank Sr. asked, having just entered the room. "You two are starting to get a little noisy."

"And you, Sir, and your lady friend are getting a little nosy!" the Mayor sputtered indignantly.

"Well, if that's your attitude," Frank Sr. replied, not showing much concern, "We'll take our leave of you and find other sleeping arrangements until my son is finished with his business here. I'll not have my daughter-in-law propositioned by every 'businessman' who comes in here offering or asking for favors."

"Wait, Pops," Ivory pleaded. "This is serious misconduct. I want to bring charges against..."

"Can it!" Frank ordered. "We are guests here in Utopia. The Mayor is the law here. Now unless you want to apply for the position of Temple Maid yourself, I think we should take a little walk so you can settle down a bit."

"Settle down?" Ivory practically shrieked. "You want me to settle..." Her words were cut short as her father-in-law grabbed her by one arm and began to haul her from the room. "Stop that! Pops, what the hell's the matter with you? Leggo – stop pulling on me!"

Frank looked back at the Mayor as he continued out the door. The Mayor sighed with nervous relief and nodded, grateful for the other male's understanding of the circumstances here in Utopia. This little situation had almost come to the point where the girl would have had to be arrested for civil misconduct. Usually, he relished such an occurrence, but the girl's husband was a doctor, and upsetting the doctor might cost him the opportunity to find out what was happening to his community's health. He'd already had the girl's mother-in-law, and her husband had understood the advantage of playing up to the local authority, namely himself, and had not seemed jealous or upset – though he couldn't really understand why. If he had a wife like Tanya, he'd not let her out of the house. And he'd certainly not let another man near her.

"Dad! What the hell's the matter with you?" Ivory exclaimed as Frank Sr. practically dragged her down the steps of the Mayor's mansion and into the street.

"Just keep walking!" Frank growled, "and for God's Sake stop making so much noise! You're gonna get us killed!"

"Killed?" Ivory squeaked, "What do you..."

Frank dragged his daughter-in-law around the corner of the mansion and slapped his hand up against her mouth, forcing her to "Shut the Fuck Up and Listen!" Ivory stopped, stunned that her husband's father would treat her this way. Luckily, she was too enraged to even speak! She stood there, glaring at him, her mouth opening and closing every few seconds with no sound coming out. Frank could feel her rage, though. In all his two centuries of life, he'd never seen a female so upset and angry – not even Lisa.

"You are in terrible danger!" he told her, his whisper hoarse with urgency. "We have no protection here, no goddesses, no ruling authority! Any threats you make will set the local justice against you in this Male Dominated society! You will keep your big mouth shut until you can talk face to face with a goddess or a Phoenix. To do otherwise will get us all killed! Do you understand?"

"Good God, Frank," Ivory gasped, overwhelmed at his attitude "What's wrong with you? That man – that Mayor – is running a Sex Brothel out of the goddess temple! He's a fucking pimp! And you're telling me to keep my mouth shut about it?" She was breathing heavily and gasping for breath, now – hyperventilating with her rage.

"Ivory, that's exactly what I'm telling you!" Frank insisted, his anxiously whispered voice as quiet as hers was vocal. "You can't stand up to the ruling order here and condemn them to their faces! You will disappear and you just might take all of us with you! Think about your husband! Think about me! We don't have any authority that the Mayor will recognize in the short term, and he won't think ahead far enough to believe he can't get away with murder to protect what he's got until it's too late!"

"You mean to tell me that," Ivory replied, still angry but matching the volume of her voice to his, now, "if I make an accusation, he'll have me arrested?"

"It's more than possible," Frank told her, "it's pretty much guaranteed! This is an Earther's town. There's no goddess here, there's no authority here – not in the way that you understand it. Here, women are second class citizens, and you don't have a voice," he raised his hands as Ivory opened her mouth to protest, "you don't have a voice here. You'd simply be locked away; no hearing, no trial – you'd just ... disappear."

"So you want I should wait?" Ivory asked, physically shaking with frustration and anger.

"Yes," Frank told her. "Wait until you're in a position of power. Take your case back to the queen and make your accusation there."