by L E Boyd
However, there were some who were made into C.H.I.P men who had now been serving as companions to some of the highest ranked women in society, and now ones were being issued to every woman with a zero percent incident rate. But she didn’t want any of these perfect and obedient men. She just wanted him to be her true self.
“Still sucks, though, but I’m glad I can see you. At least for now,” Kelly said as he rubbed her cheek.
“I wish I could split you in two,” Martha said to him. “Two,” He asked.
“Or rather, become your true self and be the real Kelly like you want to be,”
“Oh,” Kelly said gently kissing her on the forehead.
“Maybe someday I can be…..be the woman I was born to be. But for now I”m just a man trapped but happily trapped with...oww”
Kelly looked down to see where the pain pain in his leg came from. It was from a syringe that Martha was pushing into his thigh.
“Sorry Kelly. I promise it’s for the best,” She said to him as he crumbled into the floor and passed out.
Martha stood, grabbing her phone she dialed.“Yes, he’s ready.”
***
“Chancellor Wolff, it’s so nice to see you again,” Secretary Dillon said to a slightly older, tall blonde German woman.
“Riva, it is nice to see you as well,” Chancellor Wolff said to her with a heavy German accent.
The two world leaders were standing on top of the Alps in one of the most beautiful and historical places in all of Western Europe: Kehlsteinhaus.
“Who knew a Sephardi would be standing in Hitler’s eagle nest?” Riva said as she looked out at the endless mountain range. The mountains were covered in white snow-capped trees, the beauty and grace like a beautiful blanket covering the dark secrets hidden below.
“It is ironic, is it not?” Chancellor Wolff said.
“Very much so,” Riva replied. “Now, let’s talk business.” Riva lead Chancellor Wolff back inside the mountain retreat. Once inside she pulled out two stacks of paper and a single black pen from a black leather portfolio. “This will allow me to bring Americans here.”
“But only the best and the brightest,” Chancellor Wolff said.
“Yes, of course,” Riva agreed. She watched Chancellor Wolff sign gracefully.. “Good,” Riva said.
“This is only to be used in an emergency, though, Secretary,” the chancellor stated. “The earth's resources are getting more and more limited, and we need to become more honest about what is going on with our people. In particular, your people.”
“We will be honest with the American people when the time is right,” the secretary responded confidently. “We as a nation have been and are still going through a great deal,” Riva said as she turned to leave.
“The men do more daily than the women. You hold them in cages like wild animals,” Chancellor Wolff said to her.
“We do?” Riva said taking a deep breath. She moved and stood up and began walking around the room.
“You know, there is a Native American tale about two wolves that live inside us all. As the story goes, there was a grandfather who had a grandson who told him one day that he had an internal fight. The grandfather told him that inside all of us there are two wolves,” Riva continued. “One is evil—he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.” She continued, “The other is good—he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. The same fight is going on inside you—and inside every other person, too. The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, ‘Which wolf will win?’” She said pausing behind Chancellor Wolff.
“Well, which wolf wins?” Chancellor Wolff asked.
“The one you feed.”
Chapter 14: The Reforms
In a lab beneath the bowels of the Capitol, a lone woman was running on a treadmill with doctors and nurses watching her heart rate, O2 levels, and CO2 production. She had light blonde hair and pale skin, which was covered in sweat. Her brown eyes were focused on the poster of space in front of her.
“Five...four...three...two...one,” Zora announced as she slowed the treadmill down.
When the treadmill came to a walking pace, the blonde woman gasped for air and clutched her knees.. “Did...did I...do it?” she asked.
Zora paused and analyzed the readings on her computer and smiled. “Captain Bria Zorrs, you’ve done it!”
“Woo hoo!” The Captain said as she slowed down to walk from her sprint. “When can I leave? Is the team together?” she said, panting and standing, putting her hands on her hips. “How much more time do you need?” Bria asked.
“You’ll be leaving tomorrow morning,” Zora said to her calmly. “Your crew of thirty men have been put into a cryogenic sleep in the cargo hold. All of them are professionals in their respective fields of science, technology, agriculture, architecture, and medicine. Your central crew will consist of five other astronauts who, like you, are former military pilots, but unlike you, didn’t lead a force in the resistance.”
“Ah, of course,” Bria responded. She stopped the treadmill and walked to a chair where her towel, jacket, and pants were. She started to put them on and prepare to leave.
“You’re going now?” Zora asked.
“Yeah. I mean, after tonight I’m not going to see my wife probably for the rest of the year and then some,” Bria began.
“But the President,” Zora began.
“Catherine knows where I live,” Bria was quick to respond. “If she really needs to see me, she can come find me,” she continued as she put on her jacket.“Besides, you guys get to have Audrey as Chief Medical Officer of the Repopulation Initiative.”
“True, but you need to be here on time tomorrow.”
“And I will be. Don’t worry.”
***
They were a mix of rebels, outcasts, and fighters. Covered in tattoos, piercings, and rainbow colors of hair, they were all out of line and had been convicted of not adhering to government standards on female appearance and conduct.
Some had been caught at secret parties for those who had been against the party in charge, like Catherine and Grace. Some were caught driving in their hometowns, like Priscilla and her sister, Belle, and there were the others. Single, unmarried, and undesirable until they were “fixed” by the government with a prison sentence.
“Alright, ladies. Move out,” the prison bus driver called out. He pressed a silver button on his dashboard and immediately the collars and the chains connecting them shocked them simultaneously with enough electricity to make them wince in pain and jump out of their seats.
They moved together as they vacated the bus and entered the prison’s razor wire covered gates. Dressed in bright orange scrubs, they stood out against a gray tower. As soon as they entered the wide dual doors, they would shed their uniquely cultivated ones for ones issued to them.
They were immediately stripped of their orange uniforms and undergarments and thrown into hot showers. They were instructed to use bars of green and neutral shaded soap that smelled like spearmint and covered with white baby powder before being allowed to exit the showers.
Then they continued down the path and into a room where they were given a towel and lotion which again smelled like spearmint. They were given two minutes to dry themselves off and put on the lotion.
From there, they were taken to a dressing room. They were given white plain cone bras, white brief panties, white panty hose, and a white slip for undergarments. Then they were given a simple one piece orange tea length dress that had a white apron sewn on top of it.
Barefoot, they were led down to a hair salon. Their hair was washed, brushed, and dyed blonde, brown, red, or black. After this, they were given a pair of black tennis shoes.
They were all guilty of standing out in a society where fitting in was mandatory. And now they were made to fit in.<
br />
***
Meanwhile, in other places in the country, women who were believed to be perfect and ideal, stood in auditoriums ready to become brides, some willingly, others not so much.
In Detroit, Martha and Kelly held hands in a select group of high society individuals participating in a unity ceremony.
Martha’s new husband Kelly was not a stranger to her. He was her best friend,an astrophysicist and a pilot, specializing in the exploration of galaxies beyond our own. He had been to space five times for a total of three hundred thirty-eight days.
But he was also a transgender.
That word which was heavily scorned by the world and an ignorant public simply meant that he enjoyed wearing women’s clothes when he was not working or had public obligations. In the privacy of his own home, he wore dresses, skirts, and blouses he had someone buy and drop off at his home. Occasionally, he would do his makeup but only when he was in the mood to do so.
Most people did not know that he engaged in this outlawed behavior. He was unmarried
and lived without roommates. Kelly was a successful astro engineer and no one dared to invade his personal life because his public life was built from making rockets for the government.
The only reason Martha knew was because of a particularly bad night at home with Jack. His alcoholism had driven her to Kelly’s doorstep with a black eye and a bloody nose. She violently banged on it, praying he would open it at 2:30 in the morning.
“Kelly? Kelly please?!” Martha begged.
Eventually, he opened the door for her standing behind behind it in the darkness. He then shut the door and revealing himself to her. He was wearing a long black haired wig, a lacy red blouse, black pencil skirt, and black riding boots.
“Oh,” she said, initially surprised to see her friend in clothes that she would normally wear.
“Please, please, please, don’t tell anyone,” Kelly begged.
Martha looked at him, up and down. She wasn’t horrified. She was awestruck.
She raced over to him and kissed him passionately, catching Kelly completely off guard. “I won’t tell anyone, I promise. ” She said breaking the kiss.
“And you look very nice,”
“Oh,” Kelly said blushing.
“Thank you,”
It was now law that all citizens of the United States were to be married and focus on producing offspring. Kelly was a single man with a dark secret and Martha was a widow who knew his secret and had kept it for years in addition to her own.
They were perfect for each other.
“Are you ready?” she whispered to him.
“I think so,” he replied. “You know, one day this tyranny is going to end. But for now we just have to live in it and survive.”
“And one day once again, we’ll thrive.”
Chapter 15: The Ceremonies
As Kelly and Martha were willingly giving themselves to each other in a union to please their government, others were not as becoming.
Beneath the rotunda of the capitol building, a mandated wedding ceremony was about to occur. Dozens of the top single female military officers across the branches had been forced into chairs in front of white tablecloth draped chairs. They had been changed into a white ancient spartan-style dresses with lower torso, waist, and undercarriage gold belt, gold shoulder circular clips at the very top, and gold tie up sandals on their feet. They were crowned with wildflowers woven together into wreaths placed over their heads. On their necks were name plates that had their first names on them. All of these women were strapped down to wooden chairs by their arms, legs, and necks.
One of these women was Major Elizabeth Lane, aggressively attempting to get out of her chair next to others doing the same.
“Come on. Come on. Ahhh!” She yelled in frustration.
“It’s no use,” another woman said next to her.
“I am not doing this,” Elizabeth responded. “I am not marrying someone for the good of the government.” She still tried to break free from the reigns of the chair but was pushed back down.
There was the sound of doors creaking open above them. All of the women looked up and saw Adam Blackstone and dozens of other men. They walked down the stairs like robots and sat in front of the women chained into the chairs. From above, Blackstone looked down at the crowds, smiling deviously.
“Welcome to the Commitment Ceremony,” Blackstone beckoned. “You are contributing to the birth of a new and better nation. A new and better America. Gentlemen, look at your wives.”
All of the men, both young and older looked at their brides sitting opposite of them. Some smiled, eager to begin this new chapter of their lives. Other had a look of fear in their eyes as they were unwilling participants in a mandated system.
“Dearly beloved, we are joined here together to unify these descendants of Adam and Eve in holy matrimony in order to create a new, better and stronger world, unified in common beliefs and a common system of patriarchy,” Balckstone began.
As he cleared his throat, Elizabeth began to slowly cut the ribbons that held down her hands my quietly moving them back and forth against the wood of the chair, sawing rope.
“Gentlemen, look at your wives and repeat these words,” Blackstone continued. All of the men in the room sat and looked at their brides.
“I, state your name…”
“I, Evan Booth,” the man in front of Elizabeth said.
“Take thee, state your wives name …”
Evan looked at Elizabeth, who was still planning her escape.
“Take thee, Elizabeth.”
“To be my lawfully wedded wife…”
“To be my lawfully wedded wife,” the group of men said in unison.
“Women, prepare to say your vows,” Blackstone bellowed.
An extra charge went through the chairs all the women were sitting in and it made them sit up straight and focus.
“I, state your name…”
“I, Elizabeth,” she said along with a mix of the other women in the crowds.
“Do solemnly swear…”
“Do solemnly swear.”
“To love and obey my husband…”
“To love and obey my husband.”
“Then, by the power vested in me by the government of the New America, I now pronounce you man and wife.”
With that announcement, there was the sound of applause from an unknown source. Elizabeth looked up and saw that members of The Bull party were watching the wedding ceremony.
“You may kiss your brides,” Blackstone announced.
Evan leaned in and began to kiss Elizabeth’s lips. She felt his slightly bristled face touch hers as he leaned in. She felt the pressure inch closer and closer on her face, suffocating her and tightening like a seal around her mouth.
As he kissed her, Elizabeth got one of her hands free and saw something metal an shiney in Evan’s waistband. She took a chance and pulled out the weapon she knew he was carrying: a Beretta M9 pistol. She felt for the safety and clicked it off as she pressed it against his waistband. Then she kissed him more intensely, grasped the trigger with her index finger, and squeezed.
***
Zora sat at her desk at the new NASA headquarters, looking at photos of earth from the Hubble II Telescope she had helped install nearly a decade earlier.
The Earth looked so mystical and small from a distance. Covered in puffs of white clouds, neverending pools of deep dark blue water, rolling spirals of storms forming off of the coast of Africa, lush green lands across northern Europe, the red and brown sands of the Middle East, all looked peaceful and small from millions of miles away. Just looking at them gave her the feeling of weightlessness she had in her last space mission. She could feel her body spinning as she went from one image to another, reliving the feeling of weightlessness in the cabin of their rocket.
“Who knows. Only time,” she said quietly to herself.
There was a loud knock at the door quickly snapping her out of her spac
e trance.
“Yes,” she called out, sitting up straight in her chair.
The door opened and a secret service agent stood. “Zora, the astronauts are ready for their final briefing,” the agent announced.
“Alright, I’ll be there momentarily.”Zora scooped together the photos on her desk and put them in a folder. She then, walked down a grey hallway and into a classroom where eight women waited for her.
“Good morning, ladies. This is the start of the new world and the end of the old world.”
Chapter 16: The Reflections
“Owww,” Priscilla said as she awoke in a sea of tall green grass. She was covered in cuts and bruises from falling out Belle’s car but the car had landed her in the right spot: California.
“Belle,” she said, looking for her her sister as she held her left arm. The backpack she had been instructed to hold onto had broken the majority of her fall and protected her from further damage.
“Oh.” She slowly stooped down and scooped it up with her good arm and put it on her back.
As she stood, she surveyed the land. There was nothing but long grass and sparsely rooted trees. Then she saw what looked to be a rubbled mash up of a navy-blue car.
“Belle!” Priscilla screamed. She started to race across the field only to fall to her knees and crawl to the car wreckage. She saw her sister’s face through the window frame. It was covered in blood and marred with dirt. Her eyes were frozen open and still.
Belle was dead.
Priscilla’s eyes filled with tears as she held her sister’s cold hand. It had only been mere minutes ago when they had been floating in the air. Suddenly,the smell of kerosene and rocket fuel grew unbearable. The leak was too bad and they crashed. But not before Belle told her to carry on with her mission and to find Boudica.
Priscila knew she had to keep going and that if she stayed, she would be spotted. She wiped her eyes with a corner of her dress, tore off a large piece to make a sling for her arm, and another piece to cover a large cut on her thigh.