Jo shook her head and said “He despises me or he would not have treated me the way he did”.
Ileya held up her hand once more and in a stern voice replied “You have too much to say, that is a problem that will have to be solved, but I digress, stay silent until I tell you to speak. Understood?”
Jo bit her lip angrily but nodded her head.
Ileya continued “We Sceriae are an old and, for many centuries, well respected specie in the universe. We have travelled beyond our planet and our own galaxy, for many thousands of years, we have watched planets like your planet, Earth, evolve especially over the last few centuries. We were very interested in Earth people as they are the specie closest to us that we have discovered.
We watched you fight each other, probably in the same way as different bands of Sceriae fought each other, millennia ago. We resolved our differences and gradually came together to breed the Sceriae we are today. However with each war on Earth you made bigger and more powerful weapons with which to kill each other, and your different cultures seemed to move further apart instead of joining together. The few times any sights of our ships were spotted on Earth the more we realised that we could not visit your planet in peace, for maybe hundreds of years to come. We who had conquered many planets and become friends of many more, decided to leave Earth to work out its own destiny. Speaking bluntly you were too much of a problem for us to bother about”.
Jo went to speak but Ileya said “Hush, I am talking” Then she carried on with her lecture.
“So we left Earth alone, until a terrible disaster befell us. We had always had a stable population, males and females born in equal numbers but then our doctors and scientists noticed that the birth of females was dropping. This continued to happen over the next generations until it really speeded up. Very few females were born each year. Our scientists and doctors tried everything. As with everything on Scerior, medicine is very advanced, we have no disease and our surgery procedures are amazing. We can grow back arms and legs, anything that may be damaged in an accident or war. But we came to realise that we couldn’t stop the decline in female births. My generation are the last female Sceriae.
On Scerior females have always ruled. We have a Queen and a council who are all female. Our top doctors, scientists, engineers, and inventors etc are all female.
Male Sceriae are firstly soldiers. Some like Acorus are full time soldiers and others who are interested in other things are part time soldiers, ready to protect Scerior or if we find a rich planet with a vicious race in power they go to fight the same as the full time soldiers. My mate Lord Acorus is supreme general over all Sceriae males; I am a doctor and also sit on the supreme council.
We tried everything, desperately trying to solve our problem. After a lot of tests and experiments we came to the conclusion, that it is the female Sceriae who are the problem. We produce an enzyme that stops eggs, that would be female, from surviving. Our bodies are literally killing off our race! For a long time we searched for a solution. We called together all our best brains, both male and female, on our planet. After thousands of hours of committees and think tanks we all came to one conclusion.
We decided that we had to bring new blood and DNA to Scerior. As we had proved that it was the females who were at the centre of the problem, we had to bring new females to Scerior.
Jo looked at Lady Ileya open mouthed, “You mean it was the women who kidnapped girls from Earth?”
Ileya compressed her lips and sighed “Of course we didn’t do it personally. It is only the males and Escorii who travel to other planets. We females have always been too busy or too pregnant to go gallivanting around the universe”.
“That’s what Kylie meant when she said that the General had no choice either” Jo thought remembering her night with Acorus. Until the morning when she had said “No” it had been amazing. Even as she thought of what Acorus had done to her she felt her traitorous body tingling at the memory of his hands and mouth on her body.
Ileya raised her hand and said “Of course he had a choice, and at the beginning he would have nothing to do with an Earth female. But he was responsible for the plans to capture them. At first we discussed whether we could approach the governments on Earth, but which government. There are so many different countries with so many different types of government. Then we discussed conquering Earth but is not, usually, the way we do things”.
Jo interrupted curtly “Not the way you do things! What about the Escorii. You must have conquered them to turn them into your slaves!”
Ileya looked at her in astonishment “The Escorii are not our slaves. They are valued members of our society”.
“Ha” said Jo “They rush around waiting on you hand and foot, and now you have them as guards to your male’s female slaves!”
Ileya nodded her head “I can see now why Acorus punished you. You’ve reached your own conclusions and have got the wrong answer”.
“I know what I have seen” snapped Jo, jumping up.
Ileya drew herself up to her full height, a good ten inches taller than Jo, and said
“Sit down and be silent. One more rudeness and even Acorus will not save you!”
Jo looked at Ileya and felt her anger, quiet controlled anger, and was more afraid than she had been when Acorus had raped her. She sat down.
After she too had sat down Ileya said “Jo-Anna, please control your temper. It is not acceptable behaviour for a female. Female Sceriae have ruled here for thousands of years, purely because we are not driven by temper, lust, jealousy or hate. We leave that kind of puerile behaviour to the males”.
Jo glanced up in time to see the glint in Ileya’s eyes and the twitch of her mouth.
“Now” Ileya continued “Please let me finish what I was saying. I am getting rather weary. Firstly the Escorii. A thousand years ago we found the planet Escorion. When our soldiers landed on it, they found a dead planet, no water, no vegetation, nothing. Then an Escorii leader was brave enough to approach them. Because they communicate thought not words our soldiers were able to understand them. Our leader at the time was Lord General Atorus, one of my Acorus’s, great ancestors. He was of the same nature as Acorus a great brave soldier, a good honest leader, very clever for a male. He gave the Escorii leader safe passage and assured him that the Sceriae meant him no harm. He was only searching for planets we could trade with.
The Escorii leader told Lord Atorus that Escorion was dying and that his people had been driven to living, or rather existing inside the planet. Eventually it would be impossible to do that so the Escorii race would cease to exist”.
Jo listened enthralled, thinking of all this happening when Earth was in the dark ages.
Ileya continued “The Escorii leader took Atorus to see where his people were living.
No food, hardly any water and in nearly total darkness. Atorus was horrified and had his soldiers fetch food, water, light and heat for the Escorii.
When he returned to his mother ship he sent a fast fighting ship back to Scerior to inform the council of what he had found. Then he went back and told the Escorii that he would take them all to Scerior until they could decide where they wanted to settle. He left them to decide, and the next day the remains of the Escorii appeared before his ship and he brought them to Scerior”.
Jo asked “Did they decide what they wanted to do?”
“Eventually” smiled Ileya “For a few hundred years their males travelled with our ships to other planets but in the end they preferred to stay here. They are a proud, gentle intelligent race who have been a great asset to Scerior. Two of their leading females sit on our council. Their advice is greatly valued. The male Escorii join our soldiers in expeditions to other planets as their ability to communicate with most advanced life forms is invaluable, they have even managed to teach us Sceriae how to communicate telepathically”.
&n
bsp; “So do they have to perform the menial tasks that they do?” asked Jo
“As far as both the Escorii and Sceriae think, no task is looked on as menial. We all have a job to do in our society. No one life form is considered better than another no matter what job they do. Ah, no there is one exception, the army. Only because in certain situations orders have to be obeyed instantly, so the officers, some of them, get a bit, what do you call it big headed, at times”.
Ileya looked at Jo and then they were both laughing. Jo then sat thoughtfully, thinking about what Ileya had told her.
“So” she said “you brought girls here from Earth to have half breed female babies. Didn’t you think how awful it was for the girls, and for their families wondering what had happened to them? Then again, how could you guarantee that they just had female babies?”
Ileya looked down at her hands “I have to admit, at first it was awful! We couldn’t guarantee the sex of the babies. When boys were born we couldn’t allow them to survive. They would have reduced the Sceriae DNA in a few generations. We were sickened by that so we scanned each pregnant girl as soon as possible to see whether the foetus was male or female, if it was male it was aborted”.
Jo tried to imagine what it must have been like for those first girls. Kidnapped from their homes by aliens, raped until they were pregnant, only to have a live baby killed because it was the wrong sex!
“How long has this been going on?” she asked
“This is the twelfth year. We learnt very quickly from our mistakes. We were as horrified as you are at having to kill male babies, so we threw everything we could into research to make sure only female babies were conceived. Also we learned that Earth females have to be stimulated to mate, so now it is a much better situation for everyone”.
“Don’t Sceriae females have to be made love to and not just forced”? queried Jo, desperate to understand so that she might manage to make a life like Kylie and Julie had.
“Over the generations Sceriae females have become more interested in using their brains. We have made great strides in science, engineering and medicine. Even the females who live in the areas where food is grown have contributed to the advances we have made. The Sceriae over the centuries, have come to be ready to mate only once a year. When that happens we need no stimulation, we take our mate and become pregnant straight away”.
Jo looked at Ileya in astonishment and remembering what Acorus had done to her blushed deeply “You mean you just mate, like a dog or a cat, you don’t make love?”
“We don’t need to. When our eggs are ripe we mate and have young” Ileya frowned, “I think you are remembering what Acorus did to you, aren’t you. Your face is red. I understand that is a sign of embarrassment. Why are you embarrassed?”
“Well on Earth we generally don’t talk about sex so bluntly”.
“Oh” said Ileya looking puzzled “But on Earth you mate for fun, not to get pregnant”.
“Well sometimes we want to get pregnant. Like if we are married or in a long term relationship, but, yes it’s mostly for enjoyment” answered Jo. Then she asked, still feeling very embarrassed “How do your males know how to make love, if it is something you never do?”
“They had to learn very quickly, I don’t think it was a hardship for them!” and Ileya laughed “With the first Earthlings we made very bad mistakes. It shamed us, as we never wanted to harm them. Some were injured by our males, as you know they are so much bigger and stronger than your men. They just took the girls, and could not understand why they were not ready for them. Some girls even killed themselves to escape. It is a time we are greatly ashamed of. But we did not want our race to die out. We, the females, decided we had better investigate how men and women mated on Earth. Actually it was the Escorii who came up with the solution. They like Earth, as their planet, whose history they still cherish, was very much like Earth. So they have spent a lot of time investigating Earth’s cultures etc. They told us about made up stories, that you call films, which depict love and love making. We travelled to Earth and the Escorii got into places where these films were kept and took some. They also took the machines that made the films come to life. We also make films, but usually of other planets wildlife and flora. But your films would not work on our machines as they are too advanced for them”.
“So your males learned how to make love from watching films. Our films are not usually so explicit” Jo laughed.
“Yes we discovered that. On a lot of the films you could not see what they were doing, so the Escorii brought back pornography” replied Ileya.
Jo nearly choked, imagining the Sceriae watching pornography, “Some of those are a bit too extreme”.
“We realised that” snapped Ileya “We know that Earthlings do not mate with dogs or donkeys!”
Jo couldn’t contain her laughter and after looking cross for a few seconds neither could Ileya.
“Oh, Jo” she gasped “I think you and I could be friends. We have watched you for a few years, and although we could have taken you anytime over the last three years we wanted you to finish your Earth education, because we hope that you and your children will be a great asset to Scerior”.
“But I was only fifteen, three years ago, underage and still very young” said Jo.
“Females on Scerior mature at fourteen or fifteen. We realise that on Earth maturity comes much later, but at that age you would still be fertile, whatever age you felt in your mind”.
Jo thought “Thank god they left me alone; it’s hard enough to cope with this now. I would not have coped then” she said.
“But why were you watching me all that time?”
“After the disastrous start we had with our plan we decided we should choose with more care. So we looked for blue eyed white females who had proved capable of overcoming sorrow and hardship by their own will and intelligence”.
Jo frowned “Then you saw me lose Gran and Gramps, and be put in that horrible foster home”.
“Yes, we were watching you and many others”.
“How” asked Jo.
“From our ships we can see the smallest detail on the planet below us. Maybe one day if things work out as we hope, you will see that too”.
“You mean I could go to other planets?” asked Jo in excitement.
“If you become a valuable citizen of Scerior, who knows” replied Ileya mysteriously.
Jo felt the excitement well up in her. She had wanted a degree so she could help and study endangered species. Now she could maybe help anywhere in the universe.
“First though”, said Ileya “You must do what you were brought here to do. Breed females with your bravery and intelligence to repopulate Scerior”.
“With the General?” she asked quietly.
“He is the one who chose you, and watched you grow up. You belong to him in the same way as I do”.
What do you mean, the same as you do?” asked Jo, quietly seething at the thought of belonging to anyone.
“Lord Acorus chose me; I had no say in the matter. He has been a kind and generous mate and we have become good friends” answered Ileya.
“You don’t love each other; that is sad” said Jo.
“No, it is the way of our planet, and suits us fine. We may have to change the way things are done, when the first cross breeds mature, but we have a good three or four years before that happens” replied Ileya “But enough, we have talked for hours, go to the door and ask the guards to tell the Escorii we are ready for refreshment”.
Jo did as she was told. Her head was spinning and she still had many questions, but she knew that Ileya had spoken long enough.
Chapter 5
As the Escorii brought in snacks and drinks, Kylie and Julie joined Ileya and Jo in the main chamber. Ileya was chatting away with them as if they were good friends, getting down to a good
gossip. They were talking about things and people that Jo knew nothing about, and no normally she would have been agog with interest. However what Ileya had told her was going round and round in her head.
It felt as if she was living in a fairytale or was it a horror story? It just didn’t feel real but she knew deep inside her that it was only too real. She had to find a way to come to terms with what had happened to her, but how?
From what Julie and Ileya were saying it appeared that Julie worked for Ileya in a secretarial role. Jo couldn’t understand how she could accept being forcibly pregnant and work for Ileya, who she seemed to like and respect very much. Kylie on the other hand didn’t work for anyone. It seemed that she spent all her time at her painting. From the conversation that Jo was half listening to, it appeared that the people on Scerior liked Kylie’s paintings very much and actually bought them.
“I wonder who gets the money?” thought Jo
At that moment Kylie jumped to her feet and hurried into her room. She came out carrying a large canvas and placed it on the easel. Ileya stood up painfully it seemed, and went to look at it.
“Oh, it’s such fun” she said laughing.
Jo’s curiosity got the better of her and she got up to have a look too.
It was a painting of Bugs bunny, with a large carrot in one hand, and one of the fingers on his other hand in the end of the hunter’s gun, and it was very good.
“Kylie” she said “that is so good. You are a brilliant cartoonist”.
“Thank you” said Kylie grinning happily “I’ve always loved cartoons and when Lady Ileya saw me doodling on some scrap paper, she arranged for me to have all these paints and stuff”.
Ileya put her hand on Kylie’s shoulder and said “You earned them Kylie. Our people love your paintings. They are such fun. Now I must go, and you three must have your showers and massage”.
Scerior Page 6