by Alma Nilsson
The High Priestess nodded to the nuns in the back who came forward and took both Ket and Drusilla by the arms, lifting them and undressing them. When they stood before the High Priestess naked, being held by the nuns she said, “Now let the punishment commence.” The High Priestess handed two whips to two nuns and then the other nuns held Drusilla and Ket, side by side.
The first blow to Dru’s back was so painful she cried out. Ket looked over at her and gave her a worried look, but the High Priestess slapped him across the face.
“Don’t look at her, focus on your punishment.”
“May the gods be great,” he answered.
After the next blow, Dru felt the tears welling up in her eyes and tried not to cry out but this hurt worse than anything she had ever experienced. There was no way this was a regular whip, she thought.
Then, the High Priestess slapped Drusilla across the face, “You must say the words after each stroke. We have to start from the beginning again. Gods guide our hands.”
Dru was struck again, it hurt so much she could not remember the words. The High Priestess had the nun whip her again and then she cried out, “I can’t remember the words.”
“We will whip you until you do remember them.”
“I, Drusilla of House Vo, atone for my sins,” Ket provided for her.
“Don’t help her. Now we will have to begin this whole thing again, but I will double the number of lashes,” she nodded to the nuns, “Begin.”
Dru couldn’t remember when a lash struck so she just repeated over and over again, “I, Drusilla of House Vo, atone for my sins.” She had never been in so much pain before, she just wanted this to end. Her eyes focused on the nun’s shoes on the bloody stone floor and knew now her blood and screams were being added to this shrine too.
By the time they got to ten strokes, Drusilla was in tears, the nuns had to hold her up. Her back was angry with blood and welts, as was Ket’s, but when they were finished, he took hold of her and gently put her dress on even though she protested every second of it, “Not my dress, no it hurts too much, I can’t.”
Ket kept thinking, We only need to make it outside the shrine, and then I can bring you comfort.
Ket had to carry Drusilla outside the shrine as she was too hurt to walk. He did so and then immediately used influence to lessen her pain as he walked with her in his arms to the transport. He was in a lot of pain as well, but this was not the first time he had been punished in this way. Once inside the transport he took off her dress and began healing her with a med polymer. It was against the law, but he had always done it and received a fine. Then he asked her to heal him. When it was all over, they lay together in the transport, in each other’s arms half naked and exhausted.
“I’m never having sex before marriage ever again,” Dru said.
Ket smiled, “It was worth it.”
Ket and Dru spent the next month on honeymoon in a secluded rustic home near the sea. Most days were sunny, but cold and windy. They took walks during the day and didn’t sleep during the nights. They spent hours conversing in front of the fireplace with French wine and Alliance Zota. Meals were brought to them by slaves and for the first time in Dru’s life she felt like she belonged with someone and that someone really understood her.
Dru watched Ket as he looked out the window and watched the rough waves crash onto the rocks. She knew he loved watching the sea. He loved every part about being there. She assumed it was because he had to be away in space so much, and because as an Alliance man, it was uncertain whether he would have ever gotten married with the demographics issue. To be here on honeymoon carried a sense of pride for him as well. She decided in this moment to project to him what she had been thinking for days now, You are my other half, Ket.
Ket turned and looked at Drusilla relaxing in a large chair next to the fire, As you are mine, Wife. Then he returned to look at the sea for one last time before going to her side and extending his hand. Come, it is time.
She looked at him and nodded. She realized now that he preferred not to speak but to just use his mind to communicate with her. She didn’t mind at all, but she did remind him sometimes that she liked to hear the sound of his voice as well.
They went up into the bedroom and she took off her dress as he prepared the embryo from the small medical unit, they had brought with them.
She laid down on the bed with her knees up to allow him as much space as he needed. Ket activated the small robot that would guide the embryo to the best place in Drusilla’s uterus and inserted it.
“Gods forgive us,” he said after it was finished.
Dru didn’t move or say anything. She had pushed Ket to do this. She and Zol. Zol had obtained the medical device that would go unnoticed from the Imperial Palace and Dru had convinced Ket. To promote human women within the Empire they needed to have a daughter quickly. There was already unrest with protest that the other human women, were more trouble than they were worth and only had sons anyway. It didn’t help that Dru had insisted on taking binding tattoos either. It was a very unpopular move, as a lot of Alliance people felt she was questioning their whole slave artist system, and many people were upset by it.
Ket lay down next to Dru as she lay there mostly naked now. Their faces were millimeters apart. He was stroking her face. “We will be seriously punished by the High Priestess if this ever is known. I, most certainly, will be put to death.”
“I know,” Dru sighed putting her hand against his face, “But we can’t let innocent human women’s lives fall so drastically in the Empire because I have made you take the binding tattoos. We must have a daughter to show our union is in harmony with the gods’ wills and I have faith that the gods will keep us safe.” She put one finger over her heart, to indicate her sincerity.
“It feels as if we are pushing the gods’ wills.”
“No, they are pushing us to do their bidding.”
Ket closed his eyes and said out loud, “I hope our daughter is better at lying than you are.”
Dru smiled and closed her eyes too.
A True Second Life
Dru felt the strongest urge in her life to push. She almost fell over. She called the slave to get her mother in-law fast. Dru went into the largest bathroom they had, which was about 20 square meters and had floor to ceiling windows on three sides overlooking the House Vo garden below and an enormous bathtub in the middle of the room. “Fill bathtub, water temperature 40C,” she commanded the bathroom and took off her clothes. In the minute that it took the bath to fill completely she got in and had the strongest urge to push. It felt like a long time before her mother in-law appeared but thankfully, she was clever enough to have brought her medical bag.
“What are you doing?”
“What does it look like? I’m having this baby. It just happened. Help me.”
She put down her things and looked into Drusilla’s vagina through the clear water, “Gods, I can see a head.” Then she looked up at Drusilla, “I called the midwives, but I think they will be too late.”
“No, really?” Dru said sarcastically. She couldn’t help it; she was somewhere else now. All she could hear suddenly were her own primal sounds and she didn’t want to hear that. “Computer turn on my music. Playlist A.”
“That is forbidden until you have your first child.”
“She is coming, and I need it. Now,” Dru was in pain now and wondered how she could have not realized their baby was coming. She closed her eyes and just focused on the music and the strongest desire she had ever felt in her life to push this baby out, no matter what. She pushed her mind away from all the births she had seen go wrong. She willed herself and this baby to make it out okay. The midwives will be here soon. Zol is the Imperial Doctor, I am not in the Exterior and I am not going to die, and neither is this baby. “I need you to get in the water with me, now,” Dru was barely able to get out.
Zol didn’t question this but just did it. She had never witnessed a natural childbirth before and nor
a humans. She also knew that Drusilla had witnessed and helped in a lot before she left her hometown, so she trusted her now to know what was right. Zol removed her shoes quickly and jumped into the water. She didn’t need Drusilla to tell her what to do, it was obvious. She was squatting and Zol took both of her hands to steady her. She also used her influence to dull some of the pain, however she was no midwife, so she was reluctant to get rid of the pain entirely, she assumed some of the pain was supposed to be there to make the birthing process work. There were no computers or machines to help them, this was all on their instincts. Alone. And Zol had never felt so exhilarated or alive.
Dru had never wanted something so much as she wanted the child out and healthy. She squatted and pushed when her body instructed her to do so. There was no talking now. Just the sound of her pushing, that primal sound she had heard so many women do before her, the sound of a woman birthing a child. Her mind was gone, her body completely focused on this one thing.
When the baby came out into the water, Zol picked it up as Dru fell back. It didn’t take long for the little grey skinned girl to begin wailing. Zol put it to Dru’s chest and helped her manage the afterbirth, not knowing what else to do and wondering where the midwives were. It felt as it had been at least an hour.
It had only taken the midwives 11 minutes to get from the hospital to the bathroom where Drusilla gave birth, but they had still missed everything. However, they were able to help get Drusilla to her bed with the baby and do all the regular checkups of baby and mother. Both were deemed healthy.
As Dru lay in her bed, with her daughter lying next to her in a protective transparent bubble, except for one button, she could feel her daughter’s little mind reaching out to her and she used her own influence to comfort her. She had read a lot in her Alliance baby books about doing this for her children, if they were telepathic, which, of course, she knew their daughter would be. She had been completely engineered, telepathic, grey skin and red hair. The only thing they left up to chance was her eye color.
“I didn’t know I was in labor,” Dru said annoyed at Ket. The midwife said that it was supposed to hurt worse than menstrual cramps and it didn’t.
“Thankfully, my mother was also at home, so you weren’t alone with only the slaves,” Ket said holding their daughter.
Dru laughed, “Yes, that would have been terrible. I’m sure there would have been lots of broken things from me throwing things at them to do something. I think your mother rather enjoyed it too. It was the first time she had ever seen a natural birth. By the time the midwives arrived, our daughter was already here. Now, for a name. How about an Alliance name?”
Ket knew of the compromise Drusilla had made with his mother and his mother had already told him the name she had chosen, “How about Lia?” He was pleased though that Drusilla practiced going through the charade though.
“Is that an Alliance name?”
“Yes, of course it is.”
“It’s also a human name.”
“Is it?” Ket asked feigning ignorance. Zol had told him she had researched all the names that were both reasonable and existed for both humans and Alliance people.
Dru gave him a big smile. She looked at the baby who was sleeping in Ket’s arms and said, “Lia. It’s perfect.” She had red hair and grey skin. Her eyes had the shade of blue that probably wouldn’t remain so they would just have to wait. But Dru could feel she was content in Ket’s arms. “She knows you.”
“Of course, she does. I’m her father. I reached out to her every time I was home throughout the pregnancy. She recognizes my presence and my voice. It’s amazing to feel her little mind reaching out to us,” he said lovingly as he looked at the sleeping baby in his arms.
“I hope her hair won’t be too shocking and she will not be bullied for it.”
“I think it’ll be quite the opposite. She’s the first female born in such a long time, everyone already looks to her for hope, just like we had assumed.”
“Good,” Dru looked at Ket then and asked, “And I hope that you will be here for some time now? I have missed you and I want to spend this time together.”
“I will. We must have her blessed as soon as possible and …”
“I know I said I didn’t want the gods’ protection, but I do. We will sacrifice the animals at the temple.”
Ket looked at Drusilla a bit stunned she had changed her mind, “I’ll arrange it. What made you change your mind?”
“Kara messaged me and said that now that I have given birth, she needs me to do something,” Dru knew that that something would not be legal, nor would it be safe.
“We must trust in the gods to guide all of our destinies now, Drusilla. I’m glad that you have finally begun to see their light. I have faith that they will protect us,” Ket said and placed his finger over his heart.
Dru had the strangest feeling looking at Ket holding their daughter as if she had veered from the path set out by the gods and would be punished for it now. She closed her eyes and half thought and half prayed, I had to have them both. Now is the time to make a deal if you want a deal. I will do your bidding.
Unbeknownst to Dru, the goddess of home, heard her and was ecstatic at this tempting offer. She replied cheerfully from her high palace, “We shall make a deal, fiery human.”
Dru didn’t hear the goddess’s words but knew she had been heard by a deity and that her life was truly interconnected with the gods now. That a deal had been struck in that moment. Her spirituality had been flipped like a light switch and she wasn’t sure if she was ready for it to be on. But when she looked at her infant daughter and Ket, she knew she would do anything for them, anything the gods or Kara asked of her. She was ready now and knew this was who she always was supposed to be in the galaxy, the catalyst for change in the Alliance, and she would help bring the Empire to its knees for their disobedience. She also knew in this moment, without a doubt, humans were the Lost People and the Alliance had knowingly abandoned them.
Dru closed her eyes and spoke to the goddess again, First, one more thing for me though, erase the memories of all that knew what happened when I escaped the Exterior. I don’t want to carry that shame with me and longer. Dru could feel in that instant it was done and she knew she would have to pay dearly for it, but she would never again have to confront those memories to anyone but herself. And she hoped in time that even she would forget.
Then Dru could hear the goddess in her mind and knew somehow it was the goddess of home, Now Drusilla James of House Vo, you will do my bidding. There is a lot to be done. The Alliance people have been very disobedient. You will be my vessel for righting these wrongs.