[1] I hadn’t expected the door to open like that and I automatically looked around to see if anybody had seen, as if I had done something wrong. The girl from earlier was now in the corridor, watching me. I wanted to talk to her, to ask her who she was, to whom she’d been assigned, anything but walk through that door, where my partner was certainly waiting for me.
[2] No wimping out now, Aliya, I admonished myself and pushed open the door. The first thing I noticed was the boy – my partner – looking awkward on all fours, obviously just in the middle of getting up from the mattress that covered much of the floor. He rolled quickly to his feet and approached me with his hand out.
[3] “Hi!” he said, maybe just a bit too eagerly. He stared at my face for a moment, which I guess was fair, since I was staring back at his. “I’m Andrew Tome.” Well, he was nice-looking, anyway. Pretty average in build and height, which put his mouth right at the level of my eyes, but his eyes were brown and warm, and his disheveled dark hair contrasted with the starkness of the room behind him. He was wearing a navy blue uniform, which suited him a lot better than my red one suited me.
[4] “A-Aliya Brendon,” I stammered, shaking his hand.
[5] “Leah?”
[6] “AH-liya,” I repeated, stressing the syllable he’d missed. “Ah-LEE-ya. It means, ‘the act of going up.’”
[7] “Huh. That’s nice. I’ve never heard anybody with that name before.”
[8] “Yeah, my parents–” I heard beeping and looked over to see the panel I’d touched to open the door flashing impatiently.
[9] “Oh. You shouldn’t leave the door open like that,” Andrew said, backing up to give me room. I followed him in, closed the door and then turned back. For the first time I actually looked at our ‘cubicle.’ The term suggested a very small enclosed space, and this definitely qualified. The room was only about a meter wide and three times that in depth, its only obvious features a door on the far wall and enormous computer screens covering the top half of the long side walls. Aside from the mattress and ourselves, the room was empty.
[10] “Home sweet home,” Andrew smiled, seeing the stunned look on my face. “Not much to look at, but…” He trailed off as I looked away from him. One of the screens was lit. I recognized the images; anybody would have – they were part of the standard history of The War. He followed my gaze. “Yeah, they’re making sure that we know why we’re here. Not that we both haven’t seen it a dozen times… I can turn it off.” He waved his hand at the screen and it went black. “Um, there’s an orientation video; they told me to wait until you got here before watching it.”
[11] I shook my head. I didn’t want to think. I just wanted to collapse. “I suppose we’re required to watch it?” He nodded. “What else do we have to do?” He met my eyes and then looked at the mattress that had been crowding us into the first meter of the room. “Just like that?” I squealed, horrified.
[12] “Well… this can’t be a surprise to you. I mean, you know the rules.”
[13] “Yeah, but… that’s not… I mean…” He was looking at me and it was making my skin crawl, but I wasn’t sure what I meant. It’s why we were assigned together, after all – to breed. But…
[14] “Yeah…”
[15] “I’ll bet you’re enjoying this,” I snapped.
[16] “What?”
[17] “Guys always talked about how much they couldn’t wait to have sex, and here’s your chance to force yourself on a girl you don’t even know.”
[18] “Wait a minute!”
[19] Some part of me knew I wasn’t being fair to him, but the whole thing wasn’t fair to me! “You know what they call it when you force yourself on a girl, right? It’s rape!”
[20] “Hey!” he protested, putting up his hands as though I was about to attack him. He backed away from me and tripped on the mattress.
[21] “I mean, that’s really subtle, isn’t it? I walk in here, and you’ve already got the mattress out!”
[22] “I was sleeping!” he said defensively, scrambling to sit up on it.
[23] “So naturally, you assumed I would join you. Is that it? Did you think of my feelings at all?” It was too much. If I’d had a real partner, one I’d chosen myself, we’d have had time to get to know each other, we’d have had a real bed… On top of the sudden culling, the humiliating nudity in the induction center… the next thing I knew, I was sobbing with my arm’s clutched to my chest.
[24] After a few moments, I heard a whisper. “Aliya…?”
[25] “What?” I sniffled.
[26] “I’m sorry?”
[27] “What are you sorry about?”
[28] “That… this whole thing. I know you don’t want to be here.”
[29] I sniffled again in response. “It’s not your fault,” I told him. Of course, technically, it was. He had done whatever stupid criminal thing he’d done, and the stupid computer had picked me to go with him.
[30] “I… I don’t really know what I’m doing… I mean, this is my first time, too.”
[31] “I know.” Everybody came to his or her partner a virgin. For all their talk, I knew none of the boys had actually done it with anyone. Or at least I was pretty sure. Oh there was talk, but we generally assumed that jumping the gun, as it were, pretty much guaranteed culling – and that somehow they would find out. So nobody was really going to risk it.
[32] Only now, I had to. That woman had been pretty clear. It was my duty. Now I’m not going to pretend that I hadnt looked forward to sex with my partner, one day. But not with a stranger. Not with some common criminal I didn’t even have a choice about!
[33] “May I… put my arms around you?” he asked, sounding way more tentative than I would have liked. Couldn’t he at least be firm and aggressive? Benedick wouldn’t have asked, he’d just have done it and laughed if Beatrice had struggled. Not that she would have, of course. Even for…
[34] I nodded my acquiescence. His arms were gentle, but strong. “I’ve done a lot of thinking about this,” he said, as I rested my head on his shoulder. “We’re going to be together for along time, and I don’t want to start out wrong. If you’re not ready, we’ll wait.”
[35] “There’s only so long we can get away with that, you know,” I said. “Partners aren’t supposed to abstain.” I did appreciate the offer.
[36] “I’m sure they won’t notice if we wait… a few days? Maybe even a week? I guess the whole thing’s been a real shock for you. I can’t imagine what it must be like to be culled.”
[37] I looked up in surprise. “Wait. They told you I was a cull?”
[38] “No, see my blue uniform? That shows that I’m a… um, draftee. Voluntary recruits wear green, and culls,” he added, pointing to my outfit, “wear red. Besides, draftees are almost always matched up against culls, because of the selection process and all… genetic matching, cultural compatibility, and so on.”
[39] Draftee, huh? That was so much a nicer way of putting it than criminal. Suddenly I felt a bit uncomfortable and pushed away from him. “So what did you do? What did they mean by reckless endangerment?”
[40] He turned almost as red as my coverall. “I, uh, turned the wrong way down a one way street, late at night, right in front of a police car.”
[41] “Now that’s plain stupid. You could have killed somebody. You’re just lucky you wound up here instead of dead.”
[42] He shrugged and sat back down on the mattress, resting his back against the wall away from the lit screen. “I know,” he said. Then he looked up, caught my eyes, and patted the mattress next to him.
[43] After a moment, I sat where he’d indicated. He’s not that bad, I thought. He’s actually kind of nice. “Did you have a career in mind?”
[44] He laughed. “Oh, yeah. I’m an artist. I was hoping to do graphic design or something like that.”
[45] “Wow, that’s kind of a hard field.”
[46] “Yeah, not much call for that kind of thing in New Texas. I even thought of going off-planet, sometimes.” He smiled at me. “I’d love to draw you. When we get some time, I mean.”
[47] “Oh. Well.” I guess I blushed a bit at that.
[48] “What about you? What did you want to do?”
[49] He shouldn’t have asked that – not if he didn’t want to hear me go on and on. I’d always fancied myself as a sort of artist, too, but of a literary style. I’d written stories, and done plays, and… a career as a writer wasn’t all that easy to get, either, but I could have done it while home with my babies, at least once I’d established myself. He was very patient, listening to me telling him all about my dreams. I’d imagined myself giving video performances of plays I’d create, dramatic readings of books I was going to write. I’d plan to find a partner late in my bachelor years, and then if it took me a few months to get pregnant, I could have had almost three years to become known. Then people would be waiting eagerly for what I’d write while raising my family.
[50] Jon had laughed when I’d told him, saying that it was harder than I thought, but Andrew didn’t laugh. “If you do get a chance, I’d love to illustrate your books,” he said. Yeah, he was really nice. I leaned against him. We sat in silence for a moment. He smelled nice, too. I thought hard. Then I looked up. “I’m ready.”
[51] “Ready for what? Really? Wow!” He actually blushed, which I thought was kind of charming.
[52] “Well, as you say, it is the law. And we’re going to be together for a long time, so… OK.” He reached for me. “Only… my girlfriends say it would be better if you took your time. If you could. Please?”
[53] “I’ll try,” he said, sounding serious.
[54] “And could we turn off the lights, first?” I added. He nodded and ordered the computer to do so. At least I hoped it was the computer. I didn’t really want to imagine somebody listening to our conversations.
[55] It was… interesting. He would stop from time to time and mumble to himself as though trying to remember what Grudens’ had said. Then he’d touch me or kiss me. He’d ask me if I wanted him to do something differently, when I think I would have preferred he just get it over with. I knew it was supposed to feel good. Grudens’ had listen all kinds of things the guy was supposed to do the make the girl enjoy it, but sometimes he’d do something and suddenly correct himself. Then just when it was starting to feel good – pain, and… it was over. I was so glad we couldn’t see each other. I think he was horribly embarrassed; I know I was.
[56] Afterwards, I remembered, we were supposed to shower. “Do you mind? Not looking, I mean?” I asked, covering myself as I got up. “Just put the lights on enough so I don’t trip over things, OK?”
[57] “Wait, after that…?” he asked, surprised.
[58] “Yeah, please.” Besides, I was about to cry all over again. Sharing his bed was one thing, but at least that had been in the dark. I wasn’t ready to expose myself. I didn’t know if I would ever be ready for that.
[58a] Silently, I raged at him in the shower. Why couldn’t he have known what he was doing? Boys were supposed to. Why did my first time have to be such a rotten experience?
[59] By the time I came out wearing a robe I’d found in the bathroom, he was wearing one, too, although I had no idea where he could have gotten it. I explored the computer screen while he was showering and found that I could command it to open various closets and drawers in the walls. There were additional uniforms for each of us, and what I presume was some kind of laundry chamber. I put the uniforms we had been wearing into it, changed into a fresh one, and set out one for him as well. I made sure my back was turned when he came back, and waited until he told me he was dressed. Finally, we both sat on the mattress together. It was really awkward to have to walk around it, but if we put it away would have to sit on the hard metal floor.
[60] “So now what?” I asked.
[61] “Well, we have almost half an hour. We should probably watch the orientation video, now. Then the computer will give us our assignments.”
[62] “When do we sleep?”
[63] I saw him wince. “You haven’t slept?”
[64] Then I remembered the shuttle. “I don’t know if it counts, but they put us to sleep on the way up here. I guess I’m not tired. I just thought you were supposed to sleep… afterward.”
[65] “Not this time. Our sleep period ended a little while ago.”
[66] We sat on the mattress and watched the orientation video. I was really tempted to lean against him, but somehow it didn’t feel quite right, just yet. We’d built up a bit of a connection by talking, but that had been it.
[67] I was prepared to be bored with the video. After all, who ever saw an ‘orientation’ video that wasn’t boring? And I was already familiar with its main focus, the colonization fleet. I knew about its main branches: the colonists, which was where most of us would end up; the soldiers, which was the second largest branch; and the space force, which had always struck me as the most boring. I’d even heard of the smaller, elite branches: the Scouts, the Pathfinders, and the Deep-space Miners, but about all I’d known about them was that the last had the reputation of being crazy. The joke was that if you could be a space miner without going crazy, you had to be insane.
[67b] But the whole tone was very different than I had ever heard before. Colonization Fleet videos back on NT were always well, patriotic. You know, bands playing, flags waving. This video was almost the opposite: clinical, full of facts and statistics, and the announcer spoke in sharp edges and nasal vowels, which I had to strain to understand. It was several minutes in before I realized where I’d heard a similar accent. There was a character from Newtonia in a vid series I used to watch who spoke like that; all cold and scientific. We used to say that Newtonians didn’t need wrist comps, that they were half computer themselves. Did that mean that we might run into real live Newtonians on ship? The idea intrigued and frightened me.
[68] Suddenly the computer broke into the video:
Aliya: Report to training room A18
Andrew: Report to training room A18
[69] Well, this is it. “Same room, huh?” I commented.
[70] “Not exactly,” he said, rising. When we were both standing on the floor, he lifted the mattress and it slid against the wall. I would have preferred to make up the bed first; next time, I promised myself.
[71] He led the way out of our room and down the hall. At the end were a number of girls and boys, the girls vanishing through a door on the left, while the boys took the one on the right. “You see?” he asked, and I nodded, following the line of girls.
[72] The room on the other side of the door was only about five meters square, and as girls piled in it soon become awkwardly crowded. On the left side of the room were five open floor-to-ceiling cabinets, and there was another in the front right corner. The edge of that cabinet seemed to demarcate a line over which the jostling girls were reluctant to pass, clearly intimidated by the officious-looking gray-uniformed and dramatically pregnant woman, a few years older than us, who paced the front of the room.
[73] “Come in, come in,” she said impatiently. “Line up against the wall, facing the door.” She pointed to the cabinet at the front. We crowded over as much as we could, and I found myself in the middle of a line of about a dozen girls, with more entering as we waited. “Until you are pregnant,” she announced, “you will do this each and every morning. Strip and go into the med cabinet one at a time. When it lets you out, get into a VR suit from the supply cabinets.” The girl at the front of the line looked at her, hesitating. “Get going!” she snapped.
[74] So. Once again with the public nudity. Did these people not know New Texans at all? Or did they simply not care? I started taking my shirt off slowly, as I waited. The girl at the front undressed looking straight ahead and then jumped into the cabinet as soon as the last of her clothing hit the floor. The rest of the girls in front of me were clearly trying to take their time, as I was, but we were all naked and blushing before the first girl re-emerged.
[75] She came out slowly, clearly trying to pretend that she didn’t mind being stark naked in public, side-stepping the line and the piles of clothing that were gathering behind us. Eyes front, she moved to the suits and, following the older woman’s instructions, donned one as quickly as she could. I tried to watch both her and the line in front of me, wishing for it to move faster.
[76] As we trembled with the cold and embarrassment, the main door opened again and three chattering girls entered in robes, which they doffed and hung on hooks on the back wall. Then they joined the line, still gabbing as though being seen naked was the most natural thing in the world. Where are they from? I wondered. Finally, I was able to enter the cabinet and gain a moment of privacy. A moment all too brief, as the cabinet quickly opened again and I forced myself not to run for the suits, covering myself with my hands.
[77] By the time I got there, there were what looked like three shiny black featureless statues hanging from the ceiling. One of the girls ahead of me was wearing a suit that matched them, and I was watched, she clamped on a helmet and the pregnant girl pulled a loop from the ceiling over her torso and made a gesture which lifted the suited girl to the ceiling then along rails to join the others. I struggled into my own suite as quickly as I could, sighing in relief once I was covered again. Then I put on my own helmet.
[78] It was only as I felt myself lifted into the air that I allowed myself to remember the boys who had been passing outside the entrance to our room while we were naked. I only had time to whisper a hope that they hadn’t looked when the world changed.
Notes so far
2: He would be nearing the end of his sleep shift, and came yesterday. This will affect several things in the chapter, and make some of Aliyahs accusation more unreasonable, which shoudl be good, no? He can defend himself with that, too.
32: The ‘manual’ is actually a private work that is ‘all the rage’ in NT, written by a long partnered couple, counselours. NT is a ver modest society, so parents are happy for a book that they can just give their kids and say ‘read this’.
If Andrew and Aliyah did follow ‘the manual’ (which would have the name of the author or title… like ‘Grudens Successful Sex in Partnership’) the sex would not have been ‘short’ (Grudens emphasizes a long warm up period, lots of petting etc.) and Aliyah would have lots to do as well (Grudens is very explicit and detailed).
[37] I looked up in surprise. “You’re not a cull?”
did she forget already?
32: Not quite as far as he could get without actually standing on the mattress.
This doesn’t quite make sense. Is she saying ‘not very far away’? Or ‘as far away as he could’.
[52] “Well, as you say, it is the law. And we’re going to be together for a long time, so… OK.” He reached for me. “Only… my girlfriends say it would be better if you took your time. If you could. Please?”
[53] “I’ll try,” he said, sounding serious.
She needs to insist on the lights out before this.
[54] Well, it wasn’t spectacular, and it hurt, and it was over really fast. Not exactly what I’d been expecting.
Somehow this sentence structure leads me to expect a ‘but’… “Well, X and Y were wrong, BUT at least Z…”
[51] “Ready for what? Oh! Oh! Really?”
A little awkward. I mean, awkward for awkward. I like the situation tho. Maybe:
“Ready…? You mean…?” He blushed furiously which made me feel a bit better, actually.
[34] If you’re not ready, we’ll wait.”
[35] “There’s only so long we can get away with that, you know,” I said, but I appreciated the offer.
This probably needs to be a bit clarified, readers might not understand that he means ‘a few minutes’ instead of ‘until next week’ or something.
[46] “Yeah, not much call for that kind of thing in New Texas. I even thought of going off-planet, sometimes.” He smiled at me. “I’d love to draw you. If they ever let me have drawing materials, I mean.”
He has his comp, he can draw anytime. It’s what he’s been used to.
[57] “Yeah, just keep the lights off while I go shower, OK? I’m kind of shy.”
It’s interesting that you downplay the anger here. but that might well work.
[66] I guess I hadn’t really been tired, or the orientation video would have put me to sleep. There was really nothing new. It was all, “Oh my, the horrible space baddies are coming to get us, and rah, rah, New Texas has heard the call and stepped up to help.” It sure felt a lot different to hear that as a cull. I really wanted to believe that there was a good reason for my being here.
This sounds very mocking, which doesn’t really fit with the end of the paragraph, nor with the culture of New Texas, which tends to be rather respectul, patriotic, etc. Think WWII.
[76] I wonder where they’re from I wondered.
you wonder if you wondered all over the plain…
[1] I hadn’t expected the door to open like that and I automatically looked around to see if anybody had seen.
Umm, why?
>>And turn off the lights, first? Please?”
[53] “I’ll try,” he said, sounding serious.
Awkward. Perhaps break her paragraph apart?
This is not what happens with the suits:
“Your trainer will take the three of you at once,” she said.
But I will have to think about how to explain it.
[38] “No, see my blue uniform? That shows that I’m a life recruit. Temps wear green, and culls,” he added, pointing to my outfit, “wear red. There aren’t all that many culls on board, of course. Most of us are volunteers.”
Besides, recruits are almost always matched up against culls, because of the selection process and all… genetic matching, cultural compatibility, etc.
I nodded, I had known that, of course, but, well, I wasn’t thinking at my best.
>>and then ran for the cabinet as soon as the last of her clothing hit the floor.
And then got in the cabinet as soon as…
Otherwise it sounds like they made her undress at one part of the room, and run to the other part.
I like your ‘orientation video’ idea, and think I am going to do something plot/foreshadowy with it.
[67] The video was very patriotic, and I tried to feel the same enthusiasm I was used to, but it sure felt a lot different as a cull. Then the video cut off suddenly, and was replaced with orders:
[67] I was prepared to be bored with the video. After all, who ever saw an ‘orientation’ video that wasn’t boring? And it did cover subjects I was already familiar with: the main branches of the colonization fleet: the colonists, which was where most of us would end up; the soldiers, which was the second largest branch; and the space fleet, the smaller branch and, in many ways, the most boring.
It also covered the small, elite, branches: the Scouts, the Pathfinders, and the Deep-space Miners: who had the reputation of being crazy. It was a common saying that if you could be a spae miner without going crazy, you had to be insand.
But the whole tone was very different than I had ever heard before. Colonization Fleet videos back on NT were always well, patriotic. You know, bands playing, flags waving. This video was almost the opposite: clinical, full of facts and statistics.
And the accent of the announcer was almost impossible to understand, all sharp edges and nasal vowels. I searched my mind to try to remember where I had heard such and accent before, adn suddenly I knew: Newtonia!
Suddenly the computer broke into the video:
changed it
>>If I’d found a partner at the end of my bachelor years
This doesn’t fit her personality. More like, “I’d find a partner toward the end of my bachelor years: I’d never want to wait for the humiliation of final choice, but, hopefully, it would be a little while before I got pregnant and…”
fixed
56] Afterwards, I knew, we were supposed to shower. “Do you mind? Not looking, I mean?” I asked, covering myself as I got up.
[57] “Wait, after that…?” he asked, surprised.
[58] “Yeah, just keep the lights off while I go shower, OK? I’m kind of shy.” Sharing his bed was one thing, but at least that had been in the dark. I wasn’t ready to expose myself. I didn’t know if I would ever be ready for that.
[59] Then he showered, and I didn’t look, either. I’d baby sat little boys, so I did know what guys looked like, sort of, although I knew there were differences between boys and men. Finally, we both sat on the mattress together. It was really awkward to have to walk around it, but if we put it away would have to sit on the hard metal floor.
If they are keeping the lights off, what’s with the ‘covered myself up’ and ‘didn’t look’?
[77-78] end with her closing her helmet, not going into another room. The way the suits work is, once you are in your suit, the computer reels you up to the ceiling, or close, with enough room between you and the next person that you can (and do) make any movement without hitting them. So the room she comes in is, by the time the girls are all simming, filled with hanging suits.
Partial rewrite of Grudens stuff
He was almost in tears himeslf. “Rape?! I would never… I was only going to…” his voice dropped into a mumble and all I caught was ‘Grudens’.
I almost laughed, at his pathetic look and his mention of Grudens. It’s whole title was ABC and right now Grudens was THE popular sex-ed book on NT. I still remembered my mother, her face beet reed, handing me the book (in a bag!) and telling me to read it and to ask her if I had any questions; with a voice that said clearly that she hoped to heaven itself that I would NOT have any questions.
…
He did go slowly too! A couple of times I wanted to scream at him adn tell him to hurry up! I would have, too, except he was so nervous already that I thought it would kill him; and I was so nervous about the things that I was supposed to be doing! The final deed, though, did go very quickly as the book (in the chapter entitled ‘grils only’) warned would probably be the case. I didn’t know whether to be glad or upset.
“Should I turn the lights on, now?” he asked, and I could hear the eagerness in his voice. Grudens had said that boys really liked that part, getting to see the girl. But it had also said that it was entirely up to me whether I was ready for that part. “Coupling is mandatory,” it had said, “for the good of the race. But no one need to pretend to feelings they don’t have, and it is entirely up to you how much of your body you share with your partner outside of bed. Especially at first many girls are nervous about letting their partner see them undress, or undressed. Feel free to take your time with this. Some partneres always prefer disrobing in the dark.”
Well, that was me, definitely. “No, thank you,” I said. “I would prefer if you waited until I had showered and dressed.”
“OK,” he said, and I was actually a bit pleased by the disappointment in his voice. At least he didn’t find me ugly.
Revised paragraphs 32, 55-59, and 73-end to address the above few comments.
If you’re not ready, we’ll wait.”
Was he that naive? Everyone knew they checked for that! And I had no desire to come in for counseling… or the kind of notoriety that, at least on NT, going to counseling brought you in for! But it was nice of him to suggest, anyway…
I’m trying to ramp down the creepy intrusiveness just a bit. I’d prefer not to be quite so explicit about the idea of them checking for loss of virginity.
>>I’m trying to ramp down the creepy intrusiveness just a bit. I’d prefer not to be quite so explicit about the idea of them checking for loss of virginity.
it’s not ‘loss of virginity’, it is sexual congress. And let’s see how it goes with my new stuff. Sorry your creeped out 🙂
>> it’s not ‘loss of virginity’, it is sexual congress.
OK, that’s worse. If they don’t check for evidence of sexual congress by testing loss of virginity, how do they do it? My direct observation of the couples?
Oh, my, no. The med scanner does it. It can tell if someone has, ahem, in the last few hours. Oh, my, no wonder you were offended!
On the planet it is even less intrusive; basically if you are still having children. But the cultural pressure is strong, and either the partner or partnere will definitely be offended if sex isn’t offered and given.
== Staring from ‘I walked thorugh the door… and it made everything she said sound cold and detatched.
“Come here, dear,” a voice said and I looked to see a middle aged woman, a baby strapped to her back. She was standing next to a medical cylinder, a thing I had only heard about. “Climb in, dear,” she said, when I came up to her, “don’t worry, it doesn’t hurt.”
“How can they do this?!” I pleaded even as I got in, “I graduate tomorrow!”
“I’m sorry, dear, just a step back.”
“But my life is finished!” I wailed, and her face changed, hardened.
“Dear,” she said, closing the bottom half of the cylinder. I felt the sensor fingers closing over me, and relaxed a little as I was now covered below my waist. “I’ll set up a reminder on my comp and, in ten years, I’ll write to you. And you’ll write back and tell me that today was the best day of your entire life.
She closed the top of the cylinder and, as I felt a wave of sleepiness cover me my brain struggled, unsuccessfully, to grasp her statement. The best day of my life…?
I awoke with a start. It felt like pins and needles were jabbing me all over. As I struggled to open my eyes, which felt glued shut, I heard a door opening in my face. “Wake up, dear,” I heard, and I finally got them open to see that same lady, with her same baby. “Can you stand?” she asked me and, when, after moving my feet a little I nodded, she opened the rest of the cylinder.
“Go take a seat on the floor, dear,” she said, and I saw that there were already rows of girls, as naked as I was, sitting on the floor. Blushing I walked over and sat down, ending up next to my ‘friend’ from the office. Standing in front of us was an older woman, dressed in gray, with an amused, mocking, and condescending look on her face. She glanced at me and I felt tempted to cover myself and, even as I stopped myself I saw her mocking grin grow wider and she moved her glance to the next girl to come out of the cylinders… who came hurrying across the room to sit next to me.
I flet a hand in mine. It was my neighbor from the center. She didn’t say anyint, but squeezed my hand and we sat together like that, wating.
“Welcomd to the CF,” the lady in front said, finally, when we were all seated and the other lady was pushing the last of the cylinders back out of a door. “You are mere culls, I realize, and currently useless, but, neer fear, we may make something out of some of you.
As she spoke I struggled to under stand her accent. It took me a while
“You have been culled in order to be partners to criminals from your own planet. If you had joined up, or at least partnered, you would not be here… but you were too foolish or that. I have a brief lecture for you on various rules and expectations; what we will expect from you over the next few days and weeks.
The first is that you are expected to couple with you partner, to have sex, to breed, immediately. My ears burnt at such a casual and open way of discussing the great mystery of physical union.
“Now I know, everyone knows, that people from NT are incredibly prudish, and that you are very poorly educated in such things, so I will tell you what is required.
And she did. She launched into an incredibly detailed account of what we, and our partners, were required to do. I was appalled, and shocked, and embarrassed. My ears glowed bright read and I stared straight ahead, unable to even dream of letting another gril see me hearing this. At the same time it was, actually, useful to have a couple of things laid out concretely that Grudens had treated rather euphemistically.
“Now I will tell you what you are *allowed* to do,” the lady said. “these are not required, not officially. The first is that you and your partner are allowed to spend you time in bed, and in your room together, undressed. The ship is climat controlled and most partners appreciate seeing their partnéres undressed. Next…” she said, and proceeded with a list so graphic that it was all I could do to keep from screaming.
Suddenly I felt a tap on my shoulder and the lady with the baby was there, handing me a uniform. The girl next to me already had hers and was struggling into it. And several other girls were already dressed. I looked at it. It was a loose, one piece, jump suit. There was nothing else, no undergarments and so, glancing at my neighbor to see if I understaood, I pulled it on.
It was very, very loose: as I sat down it flopped and rubbed uncomfortably. But, then, as I sat trying to listen, it started to feel very different. It was shrinking! Over the next couple of minutes it got tighter and tighter. As it finished I glanced down, and looked hastily back up. The top of the chest had tightened and fit more closely than any bra I had ever worn. I looked… startling on top!
The Newtonian lady eventually ran out of things we were ‘allowed’ to do, ending with this warning: “now, remember, you are required to couple. We will be assigning you partners in a few minutes and you’ll be checked each shift to see if you have c oupled. And, if not, both you and your partners will be whipped,. Now, on to the orientation video.
video> More names and crimes> “Aliyah Brendon. Well, aren’t you lucky. You get a recruit for a partner. I hope you’re worthy of him. Stripe red green red…
“OK, parners. When I call your name, stand up. name, crime, stripe>
Keep up the good work Russ, I’ve read all of Take a Lemon and loved it, and you’re off to a good start here. You have a way with words which lets your stories flow through conversation and descriptions seamlessly. Better than some published author’s I’ve read. So I hope your just too busy to write, not that you’ve given up.
Russ and I have been taking a little break. Glad to hear you are enjoying it.
Pingback: Cull » Blog Archive » 02: The first thing I noticed
“I’m Andrew Tome.” As in a book? or like the baseball player, Tomé (Tomay)?
“jumping the gun, as it were, pretty much guaranteed culling” Interesting society. Very ‘moral’ to basically treat pre-marital sex as a crime, but not very liberty-oriented, assuming you mean consensual (“jumping the gun” chosen by both at once).
“blue… draftee. Voluntary recruits wear green, and culls… red” Ah, 3 classes. Green volunteered (for what time length? I think Von had a couple or three time-commitment gradations: 5, 10, life–Are these in addition to or instead of those?), blue got ‘drafted’ (conscripted) as a consequence of a crime (involuntary but deserved), and reds were culled randomly (or not so randomly?) involuntarily undeserved.
“I’m an artist” Very convenient pairing, graphic artist with writer. I wonder how much matching algorithm there is (versus human choice) and how much weight it puts towards synergetic desired occupation versus genetics.
“Wow, that’s kind of a hard field” ‘Hard’? Anyone can draw, although only those who put in a lot of time can draw well. Then again, they seem to be talking “hard to make a living at” which is definitely true.
“find a partner late in my bachelor years, and then if it took me a few months to get pregnant, I could have had almost three years to become known” Very interesting implications for expected mating timing: after one year of finishing school they’re in their ‘bachelor years’ (or maybe they began right after high school?), and two-and-a-half years into that is ‘late’? The State may be pushing them into partnering, but it sounds like Society already expects it of them very quickly.
“they put us to sleep on the way up here” I don’t exactly know what she means by “up here” other than “in the sky somewhere”. Does she know more? It sounds like she does, like she knows that she’s on Station Near-Earth 2 or Round Luna 4 or some standard place post-shuttle pre-journey-to-front-lines. But I’m in the dark as the reader. As far as I know, they could be on a ship already hurtling toward the CF frontier, which I wouldn’t exactly call “up here”.
“back on NT” Ah, New Texas is a whole planet (as I should have guessed) instead of a region on Earth or some other planet (as I have been assuming for some dumb reason)!
“A18, A18… “Same room, huh?” “Not exactly,”” Well it sure sounds like the same room! There’s no previous indication of sexual separation, even less of implicit separation despite identical labels. Co-ed class she was abducted from, for example.
“public nudity. Did these people not know New Texans at all? Or did they simply not care?” Sounds like New Texans are a definite minority.
In [77] “and I was watched” looks like it should be “and as I watched”. I’m sure she was watched, as well, but the point seems to be action occurring in front of her while she watched.