by Desy Smith
Division
Book One
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Division
Book One
Could you live on a planet separated by sexes?
In the year 2100, Earth is overran by The Disturbed – Zombie - like creatures who can infect you with their spit or blood. Fearing for their life, a group of men and women make a hasty escape from planet Earth. For days they find themselves stuck in space and eventually develop powers. The women become telepathic, whereas the men become telekinetic.
When things seem hopeless, they finally find refuge on a planet called Gaia. There they begin anew, creating separate societies: a female society ruled by Highness called DIARA and a male society ruled by Emperor called SCIPIO. Both societies flourish and everyone appears to be happy and ignorant, or so they think.
500 years later
A young Essence and Horatio are snatched from their current lives by the very people Highness and Emperor trust with their lives, for a fight that no one is aware of. They’re both special, but neither one of them knows it yet. When these two meet for the first time, they discover a similarity they both share. One that makes them both targets of Highness and Emperor.
Join Essence and Horatio on Planet Gaia, where the lies are by the dozens, and the people you trust the most, should be the ones you fear.
Table of Contents
Chapter One – Essence
Chapter Two – Horatio
Chapter Three – Essence
Chapter Four – Horatio
Chapter Five - Essence
Chapter Six - Horatio
Chapter One – Essence
Planet: Gaia
Diara: Women’s Division
The sound of high heels clicking against the freshly waxed tile floor alerts me that someone is on their way. I mentally begin snoring, believing it’s one of the maids, tidying up. They’ll hear me telepathically and turn around, continuing with their work for the night. The sound stops suddenly— mission accomplished. When it starts back up, I groan quietly. Madame must be doing her rounds, again. She’ll make me write sentences until my hand bleeds if she catches me up and not in bed.
I quickly rise from the floor and click off the flashlight, I stole from Madame’s private quarters. Another reason she’ll punish me for sure. I tuck it deep inside my bed and toss the book I was reading under the bed. It’s the very book we aren’t permitted to read due to the belittlement of women— Madame’s words, not mine. Quite honestly, I didn’t know what the word 'belittlement’ meant, but I dared not ask Madame. She’d only make me look it up and write an essay in response, both of which I hate to do.
Just before the doorknob turns, I dive under the covers, quickly re-tucking myself in. When the door squeaks open, I close my eyes shut, pretending to snore again, hoping like hell I’ll fool Madame this time around.
“Do see to it that the maids look at that door,” says a raspy voice belonging to not Madame but Grand Dame herself. A new panic overtakes me. Grand Dame is high on the scale of important people. She wasn’t Highness, but she was Highness’s right-hand woman. Her leaving the comfort of the palace to speak with us commoners, grade school girls to be exact, definitely meant bad news. I recall back to when Buffy, five classes ahead of me, was called to Madame’s office for an impromptu meeting with Grand Dame just over a year ago. We haven’t heard from her or seen her since. I keep my eyes shut and quiet my mind, pretending to snore again. Projecting thoughts I want others to hear is a skill that I’m still learning, I knew I wasn’t good at it.
“You aren’t,” Grand Dame says in annoyance, reading my mind. My eyes stay shut. “Buffy isn’t dead, Essence. We do not kill our own,” she reminds me. “Do stop the dramatics.” Still, I don’t move, and my eyes stay shut. “Please stop the façade. I’ve listened to you read for the past hour.” Dang it, I’ve been caught red-handed. “That you have,” Grand Dame says, still sounding annoyed
The lights flash on as I sit up. I look to Madame, who’s leaning up against the wall in her night attire, a basic matching pants and top set, with no makeup on. Her hair also appears to not have been combed. Even she didn’t know about this meeting.
I’m not privy to everything, Madame tells me mentally. Before I can question her about listening in on my thoughts, Grand Dame turns to Madame with a glare.
“Do I need to remind you, Yvonne, that communicating telepathically, with her in my presence is not only rude but against out commands,” Grand Dame warns her. Madame turns a bright shade of red before she nods her head once. We can all communicate telepathically, in addition to our reading thoughts and forcing each other to do things against one’s will. But when we directed our thoughts to a person, only that person can hear those thoughts. In Diara, it is considered offensive to communicate with another woman telepathically when other women are present in the room, especially if any of the greats, like Grand Dame or Highness, are around.
I glance at Grand Dame, who is now approaching me. She wasn’t dolled up, nor would she ever get dolled up as Madame or Highness would. Grand Dame is a warrior and she always carried herself as one. Today, her black dreads with grey and purple highlights are pulled into a high ponytail. She wore little make-up. She is dressed in a half-top with high-waisted joggers and very high heels, heels which she used in battle when planet Earth was attacked five centuries ago, according to the teachers here. I notice a small smile appear on her face at my mention of that.
I look back to Madame, who also has her eyes on Grand Dame. Why is she here, I wonder? When she reaches under the bed and pulls out the book I put under there, I suck in a breath, not knowing what she’ll do next. She looks at the cover and chuckles.
“I’ve been told you like reading books,” she turns the book around to show me, “specifically books where the males and females are friends.” I don’t know what to say or how to respond, so I don’t say anything. She takes the book with her as she walks to my study desk. She runs her fingers over the top of the chair and table before examining her finger closely.
Satisfied, she places the book on the table and takes a seat in the chair, gracefully, and faces me. We look at each other a long second before she speaks to me telepathically.
That was not a rhetorical question.
My apologies, Grand Dame, I respond back telepathically to which she clutches her forehead in pain.
“Speak out loud, Essence,” she tells me, still holding her forehead. Madame said my telepathic voice is loud. Fingernails on a chalkboard is how she described it. I still did not know what a chalkboard is and Madame offered no explanation. I thought Madame said it to make fun of me. I was not the most well-behaved girl. I now knew her words were true. “I’m still waiting,” Grand Dame says.
“My apologies, Grand Dame,” I repeat again, this time out loud. “No,” I reply just as I’ve been instructed to do from Madame herself and the teachers here.
“Try again with honesty,” Grand Dame says, reading my mind. “That is a command, or you’ll lose your head.”
“Yes, well . . . ” I clear my throat, knowing if I want to keep my head I had no choice but to be truthful. “They’re fun, that’s why I read them,” I admit honestly. I’ve never told an adult the reason behind my reading. Still fearful, I’m curious to see how she responds.
“You aren’t curious about the males?” Grand Dame questions. She says the word ‘males’ with disgust, which is the norm when referencing the opposite sex.
“No, ma’am,” I reply quickly.
“You’re what? Nine? Ten?” Grand Dame questions.
“Ten, ma’am,” I reply. She looks to Madame, who is still looking down at the ground. I know she said s
omething to her telepathically because her head shoots up.
“Yes,” Madame replies after she clears her throat, now looking at Grand Dame. “The girls are curious, but I don’t believe they’re curious about sex at this age,” Madame replies, which makes Grand Dame turn her attention back to me.
“Are you curious about sex?” she asks me. I know a blush forms on my cheeks. I was no stranger to sex. I haven’t indulged in it myself, but I like to think of myself as an expert as a result of what I learned in class.
“You aren’t,” Grand Dame says before snorting, still reading my mind. “You have yet to answer my question, Essence,” she reminds me.
“No,” I reply.
“It’s quite okay if you are. We women do have needs, even though the men think otherwise,” she tells me. Again, I had no clue what she meant. What needs do we women have? When would I start to have these needs?
“I can see you aren’t interested in sex,” Grand Dame states now tilting her head. “I suppose you do only read them for fun,” she states, utterly shocked.
“Yes,” I reply. I didn’t understand why she didn’t believe me.
“People often say one thing but mean something different,” Grand Dame states, with a shrug of her shoulders, still reading my mind. “Essence, are you familiar with the women’s story, why we’re here on Gaia?” Grand Dame asks me as she looks to Madame. Madame shakes her head so hard, I’m surprised it doesn’t fall off her body. Madame hears that thought and glares at me before she turns her attention back to Grand Dame.
“Of course, Grand Dame, she knows the story,” Madame replies. “All the girls and young women attending Gaia School Number Three are properly educated according to the wishes of Highness.”
“Is this true, Essence?” Grand Dame asks me. “Are you being taught the history of Gaia? Is Madame following the teachings of Highness.”
“Yes,” I reply, not having to lie about it because she is.
“Very good,” Grand Dame says as she looks to Madame. “Highness will be elated to hear so. I will inform her immediately.” A smile appears on Madame’s face.
“Thank you, Grand Dame. It is my honor to please Highness,” Madame replies.
“As it should be,” Grand Dame says before turning her attention back to me. “Re-tell the history.” Madame opens her mouth but closes it when Grand Dame raises her hand.
“Not you.” Grand Dame looks to Madame before turning to me. “Essence.” Madame clears her throat.
“Essence is only ten, Grand Dame,” Madame replies. “Her comprehension isn’t there.”
“Hey!” I exclaim to Madame, knowing what she means by that. Our English teacher is always speaking of comprehension, especially when we read our History books.
Madame rolls her eyes at me before speaking. “Our history, who we are as women, what Gaia means to us, will hold no value to her until she gets later on in her years.” Grand Dame waves her off.
“I’m aware of the minds of our young girls,” Grand Dame says. “Still, I wish for Essence to tell it. Will you deny me this request?”
“No, Ma’am,” Madame replies quickly, stuttering over her words.
“Very well. Essence,” Grand Dame looks to me. I didn’t know how to start or even where to begin. “You begin at the beginning,” she tells me.
“In the year 2100, men and women . . . ” I begin, but Grand Dame interrupts.
“Women and men, I believe you meant to say. Remember, as the more intelligent sex, we always go first in the order.” I never understood that considering M came before W in the alphabet, but I continue.
“Women and men lived together on planet Earth. Women were finally getting the treatment we deserved, or so we thought.” I shrug my shoulders, not understanding what the ‘so we thought’ meant, either. “We were finally viewed equally in men’s eyes. Our fighting, protesting, it finally paid off,” I finish.
“Yes, it did,” Grand Dame says, shaking her head in agreement.
“No longer were we under them, and we weren’t expected to be submissive to them any longer,” I continue. I recall looking up the word ‘submissive’ and I didn’t like what it meant. Why did we, the girls, have to answer to the boys? What made them so special?
“It was a horrible time, Essence,” Grand Dame replies shaking her head, as if she was trying to shake the memory away. “Be happy you weren’t alive to experience it.” I nod my head at that. “Now go ahead and finish.”
“The men didn’t like the new us, and to teach us a lesson, they began messing with our birth control.” I never truly understood this part of the story. “They added extra ingredients to it in hopes of reverting us to our former selves, and we were forced to take them,” I recall slowly. I knew birth could control our menstrual cycle, which I have yet to receive, and decreased a lot of other symptoms that both women and men hated. But at my age, I didn’t understand how - well, why - the men were in charge of the women’s birth control. Better question, why would we women take birth control? Is the menstrual week really that horrible?
“You have a lot to learn, Essence,” Grand Dame replies. “Being a woman does have its burdens.” I didn’t know what that word meant either. I was beginning to realize I didn’t know a lot. Grand Dame chuckles. “ You’re young Essence, that’s normal. In time, you’ll learn.” She tells me reading my mind. “Continue the story.”
“Whatever the men added to the birth control, it changed us, turned us into creatures . . . ”
“The Disturbed,” Grand Dame says. Yeah, I think back to a picture of the Disturbed. They appear to look like the women and men here on Jubilee, except they smelled like rotting eggs. The stench, according to my teachers, is so bad that if you caught a whiff of it, it causes you to pass out. She said the smell came from various open sores on their bodies, from the chest, downward. They had no open sores on their face. Although, their face, rather skin, appeared paler than ours, a sickly pale.
“Yes, and the Disturbed could infect you by way of those sores, through sexual intercourse, blood, even spit. Before long, the majority of Earth’s population was infected,” Grand Dame says.
“Highness saved us,” I reply.
“All hail Highness, may she live as long as the light in Gaia shines,” Madame and I chant as is customary when referring to the story and Highness out loud. Grand Dame coughs. I wait for her to say it as well, but she never does. Um . . .
“Continue,” Grand Dame instructs me, waving her hand impatiently in the air not acknowledging at all she didn’t say the chant. I clear my throat.
“Highness with a group of women, and Emperor with his men escaped in a shuttle. But due to them leaving so soon, they weren’t prepared for the trip. Somehow during that trip, we women received the power of telepathy, where we can read, control each other’s minds, and speak to each other mentally. In addition to immortality, we stop aging after the age of thirty.” The ending of this story never added up to me. How did our trip to Gaia give us the power of telepathy? I suppose it could happen. According to my teacher, crazier things have. Still, it didn’t add up.
“That’ll do,” Grand Dame says as she gets up. “Call a maid to gather her things.” My eyes widen in shock. No, no, I did not want to go with her. I turn to look at Madame, whose eyes were enlarged as well, surprise written all over her face.
Madame, please? I beg her mentally. Who knew what Grand Dame would do to me?
“Grand Dame,” Madame sputters as she approaches me
“Calm down the hysterics, the both of you,” Grand Dame says in a bored tone, stepping in Madame’s path, blocking her sight of me.“And stop arguing with me before you both lose your heads.”
“Yes, Grand Dame,” Madame and I reply simultaneously, both of us too afraid to argue with her. A woman dressed in black, with shorter dreds in a high ponytail, appears at the door.
“Serenity will take you to the car, where you are to wait for me,” Grand Dame instru
cts. I look to Madame, who has taken back her position up against the wall, now looking everywhere else but at me. There was nothing either of us could do.
“Now, Essence. You’re testing my patience.” I nod my head once as I get out of bed, wearing my matching long sleeve pajama set. I walk in Grand Dame’s direction but stop suddenly.
“My books,” I plead to Grand Dame with a pout.
“Car, now!” She screams in reply, to which I hold my head down and continue walking.
Bye Madame, I tell her telepathically. I’ve always thought of her as my mother. I spent more time in her office, a majority for punishment, than I did with my teachers or in my assigned bedroom.
Make me proud, she replies back. I don’t dare look behind me at her. I did not want Grand Dame to know we were communicating telepathically again. I’m going to miss her.
As I’m walking down the hall, I hear Grand Dame say, “Assemble everyone in this house, and I mean everyone, even the women who aren’t scheduled to work today. I want to have a chat with you all.”
I sit in the Towncar limousine, quietly looking at Serenity who’s reading the female magazine subscription for the women of Diara. When I try to ask her why Grand Dame took me, she turned away from me. When I asked her about my books, she stuffed tissue in her ears and continued reading her magazine. We sat in the car like this for two hours.
Grand Dame’s inner thoughts make me look up from the magazine I picked up myself just minutes ago.
They can’t remember her. This won’t work if they remember her, Grand Dame says. What, I question, not understanding what’s happening. I listen in mentally to the many voices inside of the house until I find Madame's distinctive mental voice.
Why doesn’t she want us to remember Essence? Madame questions in her mind before I hear the voices of many chanting, Forget, forget Essence. I scream, alerting Serenity, who drops her magazine suddenly. I reach for the doorknob, successfully opening it until Serenity grabs my hands, roughly pulling me to the floor.