Yates led him through a large hatch and stopped, inviting Gary to look around. The room was crammed with strange-looking devices. One looked like the bicycles he’d seen on the flicks, the others were completely new to him. He heard the hatch hiss closed behind them as Yates pointed to the devices and named them, one by one.
“Leg-breaker, jaw-smasher, muscle-puller, chest-thumper ...”
He turned back to grin toothily at Gary. “Just kidding.”
Gary swallowed, hard.
“I read your medical report,” Yates said. “It made interesting reading.”
He went on before Gary could point out that reading medical reports without the permission of the patient was illegal. The whole process had pushed the legal limits, Gary was sure; the ship’s doctor had poked and prodded him in crevices he hadn't even known he had, before brusquely confirming that he was as fit as could be expected. Gary had been so unnerved by the procedure that he hadn't waited around as soon as he’d been told he could go.
“You are not particularly healthy,” Yates continued. “A steady diet of algae-based food is not good for long-term health, although you can survive on it. And they didn't give you any gene-spliced treatments to help you cope either, which isn't too surprising. Earth has always been reluctant to provide such treatments without a very valid reason.
“Most importantly” – he turned to face Gary, his expression dark enough to send Gary inching backwards – “you are physically weak.”
“I know,” Gary said, numbly. He knew he was weak. His face was rubbed in that simple fact every time Barry – or one of the others – picked on him. There was no point in fighting, not against someone far bigger and stronger than himself. Even the girls were stronger than him. “But I can't do anything about it.”
Yates placed his hand on Gary’s shoulder and squeezed, gently. “Why not?”
“Because ... because I can't,” Gary said, desperately. “I just can't fight.”
“That’s an attitude you need to lose,” Yates said. He nodded to the machines. “These machines are designed to help spacers maintain their physical fitness. Given a proper exercise program, you could start building up muscles within a month or two. It wouldn't be easy, not with your body as badly degraded as it is, but it would be doable.”
He met Gary’s eyes. “If, of course, you are willing to make the effort,” he added. “Or you could just stay a victim for the rest of your life.
“Your teachers will have told you that fighting is morally wrong, of course. That’s the message they’ve been told to give you and they will give it to you, even though common sense should tell them otherwise. And you haven't been given much physical exercise at all ...”
Gary winced. The handful of mandatory PE classes had been hellish. It had been a relief to be allowed to go study instead, knowing that Barry and Moe wouldn't drop their chance to play just to come torment him. How could he enjoy himself when half the class had thought that slamming the ball into his face was funny?
“They should have made it compulsory,” Yates told him. “Maybe separated out the weaker students and helped them to develop muscles. But that would have forced them to acknowledge the simple fact that some people are violent. And that, no matter what they told you, the violent are rarely punished.”
“I don't know if I can do it,” Gary confessed. “I ...”
“It won’t be easy,” Yates said, again. “Your body will hurt and you’ll curse my name. But if you make the effort, it will be worthwhile. And, one day, you will be able to fight.”
It seemed impossible, Gary knew. How could he fight? But if Yates was right ...
“I’ll try,” he promised. He looked at the machines, doubtfully. “Where do I begin?”
Chapter Twelve
This also warped the incentives faced by the teachers. Failing to get their children through the exams would make it seem that they were poor teachers (and thus risk them being sacked). Naturally, they taught to the test, rather than teaching the children to develop their own minds. There was also a strong incentive to cheat, particularly when they knew the tests were largely worthless.
- Professor Leo Caesius. Education and the Decline and Fall of the Galactic Empire.
Kailee looked around nervously as Janet led all six of the girls into a large compartment and closed the hatch behind them. The trip had been boring so far – none of the other girls shared her interests – but she couldn't help feeling worried. Janet had watched all of them so closely that Kailee had become convinced that she was being assessed for something. But what?
She’d certainly learned more than she’d ever wanted to know about Meridian. Yates and Janet were good teachers; every day, they’d spent the morning lecturing their charges, then giving them material to read that tied in with the lectures. And they were tested, not just on what they’d memorised, but on its implications. Kailee had never felt quite so tested in her life. Even the endless exams at school hadn't been so bad – but then, she’d been able to refuse to actually do the work. Here, she had the feeling that not trying her best would have unpleasant consequences.
Janet motioned for them to sit on the deck. Kailee sat, silently cursing her shipsuit under her breath. It covered everything below the neck – taking it off to go to the toilet was a major hassle – but it was tight enough to leave nothing to the imagination. The boys gawked and stared at the girls, not even trying to hide their reactions.
“I shall be blunt,” Janet said. “You are all vulnerable.”
Kailee couldn't disagree. The one lesson hammered into the head of every girl born within the CityBlock was pretty much the same. Girls were vulnerable, more vulnerable than their fathers, brothers and sons. If Kailee had been inclined to doubt it, there were no shortage of real-life horror stories shared in whispers, ranging from rape to slow torture and murder. She knew a dozen girls who had been raped outright – and others, who hadn't been openly raped, but hadn't really given their consent. The schools taught that consent was important, yet the authorities did nothing to ensure that rapists were punished.
If you go somewhere, Aunt Lillian had said, go with friends or your brothers, people you can trust to look after you. But don't trust anyone completely.
She’d been right, Kailee knew. There were stories of girls sold into prostitution by their families, often to pay debts to the gangs. No one could be trusted completely, no one at all.
“You have also been denied any form of self-defence training,” Janet continued. “In their infinite wisdom” – the words were sneered, rudely – “the authorities on Earth frown on teaching anyone how to fight. To add to this problem, most of you are actually quite puny by my standards. In short, you are largely incapable of protecting yourselves. Tell me ... what would you actually do if rapists attacked your group?”
Kailee swallowed, feeling a chill spreading through her body. The girls had told themselves that they would fight, but they’d never really been tested. What would they have done if the boys had launched a mass charge, instead of merely wolf-whistling from a safe distance? It was hard to imagine herself actually fighting.
“We would have tried to fight,” Li said. She sounded worried, as if she didn't quite believe her own words. “And we might have won.”
“Might being the operative word,” Janet sneered. She pulled back her shipsuit sleeve, exposing a muscled arm. “None of you are strong enough or practiced enough to defend yourselves – and believe me, there will be dangers wherever you go.”
Kailee looked at Janet, then asked the question that had been bothering her since Janet had begun the lecture. “Are there rapists on Meridian?”
Janet gave her a droll look. “Do you think they need to import them?”
She pressed on before Kailee could say a word. “The first step towards true independence is learning to take care of yourselves. You’re from Earth; you know how savage life can become, even in a so-called civilised CityBlock. And believe me, having your rapist hanged afte
rwards doesn't really take away the pain.”
The girls gasped. If they’d grown up in cityblocks too they'd probably run the risk of being raped every day, just like Kailee herself. Some of the girls she knew who had been raped had seemed to take it in their stride, others had killed themselves soon afterwards. Maybe the attitude some of them had to ‘surprise sex’ was a mental defence against the realisation that one had been forced into it against one’s will. But it was still rape and it was still sickening.
“So,” Janet said, into the silence. “There is a truth that your teachers never taught you, probably because they never knew it themselves. You can choose if you are going to be a victim or someone who will stand up for herself. If the former, you might as well roll over and spread your legs for the first tough-looking guy who comes along. If the latter, you might still die ... but you will have clawed the bastard nice and proper in the meantime.
“I don’t promise that I can turn you into Stellar Star,” she added. “You won't have the benefit of a scriptwriter, cosmetic body-shops, a stunt double or a set of enemy goons who know that they have to stick to the script. What you will have, if you work with me, is the confidence to stand up for yourself and a chance to hurt someone who might hurt you.”
Kailee hesitated. She had never really thought of actually learning to fight – in hindsight, it was clear that the whole idea had never been suggested to any of them. But ... did she have the determination to fight? She knew that there were girls who had tried to fight, when confronted by a mugger or a rapist; those girls had invariably come off worst. If any of their attackers had been hurt, no one had ever said anything about it.
She stuck up her hand. “Can you really teach us how to fight?”
“You have to be willing to learn,” Janet said, bluntly. “And you have to develop the attitude that will allow you to fight. Because, right now, the impression I get from each of you is that you will surrender to the slightest challenge. If you feel, deep inside, that submitting yourself to the whims of a random man is the only way to survive, you may as well do just that. But if you want some control over your own lives ... well, this is the only way to get it.”
Kailee remembered the moment when Darrin had tried to ask her out. They'd been alone ... and she had feared that he would hurt her, or worse, if she turned him down. Darrin hadn't ... but she knew that there were others who thought that they could just force themselves on the girl and she would submit to them. Maybe, just maybe, they thought it because they knew that the girl wouldn't fight and there would be no real risk of injury. Would the rapists stop if they believed that their targets would fight back?
“You will have been told, no doubt, to stay with your friends and families,” Janet continued, breaking into Kailee’s thoughts. “But relying on someone else for protection is always a bad idea. What if they let you down? Or what if they turn on you?”
She was right, Kailee knew. A protector could turn into an enemy very quickly. She knew women whose husbands had become monsters after they married, yet they didn't dare leave for fear of what might be lurking outside their apartments. And there were girls in her school who had found themselves pushed into becoming more and more ... accommodating to their boyfriends, or eventually sold into slavery with the gangs. It was horrific ... and yet it happened. No one in authority seemed to bat an eyelid.
Kailee leaned forward. “Can we actually win?”
Janet snorted, rudely. “There is no guarantee of anything,” she said. “Your teachers won’t have told you this either, but I think you already know it. On average, a man is thirty percent stronger and faster than a woman. That’s a fact of life, at least on Earth. There are planets where men and women have been engineered to be equal, or women have been designed to be stronger than men, but you don’t happen to live there.
“Training can make the difference,” she added. “If you know what you’re doing and the man doesn't, you can kick his ass from one end of the planet to the other. There are women in the military, even in the Marines, who would have no difficulty breaking your male compatriots, one by one or all together. But those women ... even the least of them spent years learning their trade.
“I don’t propose to turn you all into soldiers,” she concluded. “But I swear to you that if you learn from me, you will develop the attitude that will allow you to kick a rapist so hard that his balls end up in his eye sockets.”
Honey frowned. “What happens if we run into a trained man?”
“Then you lose,” Janet said, flatly. “But if you believe that you’re always going to fail, you will fail.”
Kailee hesitated, looking from face to face. She hadn't discussed anything sensitive with them, she had no idea if any of them had been raped or not. But some of them looked eager to learn and others seemed to have their doubts. Kailee herself was unsure. She’d put a great deal of effort into maintaining her body and she didn't really want to risk damaging it. A muscled woman might not get the best roles, at least outside pornographic material.
But what did she actually want? She asked herself the question, time and time again. It was easy to say that she wanted to become an actress, but what else did she want? What if Janet was right and learning to look after herself might actually help in the future? After all, what would she do when she was kicked out of her family’s apartment? There just wasn't enough room for all of them, certainly not once Kailee was of age.
She found herself torn in two. Part of her wanted the lessons, wanted Janet’s easy confidence – she hadn't seen Janet show any doubt or hesitation around the boys – but part of her was scared. What if she damaged her own body? Or what if she looked too confident? There were stories of boys deciding that certain girls were too uppity and ‘teaching them a lesson ...’
“I will be talking to each of you, individually, over the next few days,” Janet said, breaking into Kailee’s thoughts. “But, for the moment, you can take some time to think about what you actually want from life. Come back here in an hour.”
The other girls stood and headed for the hatch. Kailee saw, suddenly, just how strange the dynamic actually was. She'd known the girls in Rowdy Yates; they’d been her allies, even if they hadn't all been her friends. But the girls here were strangers, not just to her but to each other as well. There was no strength in numbers, she decided, when the numbers didn't really add up properly. Or was she merely imagining it?
A hand fell on her shoulder and she jumped, then turned to look at Janet.
“Staying here?” Janet asked. “Or do you want to talk?”
“I want to talk,” Kailee said. “I don't know what to do.”
“A common problem,” Janet agreed. “You were never taught how to be decisive, were you?”
The blunt contempt in her voice stung. “I did the best I could,” Kailee said. “I’m going to leave, if this hadn't happened ...”
“Leave?” Janet asked. “Leave where?”
Kailee hadn't meant to tell anyone, but there was something in Janet’s voice that made her spill the beans. She told her about her plans to become an actress, how she planned to leave the CityBlock at the earliest opportunity and make herself famous and successful. And then she confessed how she’d always underestimated Aunt Lillian and never really realised that her aunt was trying to take care of her. Janet listened, her face expressionless, as Kailee finished, then smiled.
“At least you have ambition,” she said. “I’ve noticed that very few of your friends have any ambition, any desire to better themselves.”
“Thank you,” Kailee said. Was that a hint of approval in Janet’s voice? She couldn't say for sure. “I don't really want to waste time ...”
Janet caught her arm, preventing her from continuing. “If you never listen to anything else I tell you,” Janet snapped. “listen to this. This trip is the best thing that has happened to you – and will ever happen to you. You may not believe it, but you will have opportunities aplenty to grow and better yourself over the comin
g months. I strongly advise you to take advantage of them!”
Kailee tried to step backwards, but Janet held her arm too tightly. “You cannot afford to assume that you can coast along for a few months, then return to Earth and the fame you feel you deserve,” Janet added. “This trip will give you opportunities, if you use them. Use them!”
She smiled and let go of Kailee’s arm. “If nothing else, you will have something to brag about on the talk show circuit.”
Kailee rubbed at her arm. Janet really was quite strong, stronger than any other woman Kailee had met. She found herself studying the older woman, trying to determine if she had worked hard to build her muscles – or if she had gone to the body-shops and had her body reshaped into something more suitable for her. Kailee had never been able to go herself, save for a handful of minor treatments. The idea of completely revamping her entire body was a dream she knew would never be realised, at least until she was rich and famous.
“I don’t know,” she confessed. “Will anyone really care?”
“It’s always hard to know what Earth will care about,” Janet said. “It’s a strange place.”
Understanding clicked in Kailee’s mind. “You're not from Earth, are you?”
Janet shook her head. “I was born on Hamish’s World,” she said. “You probably wouldn't like it very much. Marshal Hamish believed, very strongly, that technology had to be tightly restricted for the betterment of the human soul. My parents were farmers; I practically grew up staring at the back end of a mule. We had nothing like the readers and wristcoms and other junk you’re so used to on Earth. Our nights were spent playing board games or reading the bible.
“When I was fifteen, the local squire decided to have some fun with me,” she added. “The entire community thought he was a noble man – quite literally. I didn't see trouble coming as he rode up on his horse and jumped down beside me; by the time he had grabbed me, it was too late. I fought, as desperately as I could, but he held me down and ...”
The Empire's Corps: Book 07 - Reality Check Page 11