Scerior

by Jilly Bowling

  Jo was a bit worried that they would wade into the crowds and drag Bhathta’s father to her. But they didn’t. First they spoke to Haaka who led them to a Chomanay, the one who had stood up and shouted. They spoke to him then escorted him to Acorus. When he stood in front of Acorus, Jo could see that he was very nervous. Acorus spoke to him sternly, then turned to Jo “Say what you wish, Antora will translate. I must see to the punishment of the soldier who caused all this”, and with that he strode away, looking every inch the Lord General Acorus, ruler of the Sceriae army.

  With her guards around her, Jo asked Bhathta’s father, who she discovered was called Gumar, to walk with her. When they had left the crowds behind Jo turned to him and said, “Gumar, your daughter nearly caused great trouble for people. She will have to be punished, but you will not beat her. She has suffered enough, as did all your females at the hands of the Xenorii. It is time now for her to be given the chance to be a good citizen of Scerior. Instead of idling about the camp flirting with the males, you will set her to work; Antora has told me that she used to sell your crafts at a market. Under Antora’s guidance, Bhathta will do the same. If she makes a working life for herself she will be happier. I know that she must be shown to have been punished, so you will let Antora beat her. That way, she will have no more scars on her body, to add to the stripes you have given her in the past. Do you understand? If I hear that you have hit her ever again I will be extremely angry, and Lord Acorus does not like me to be upset”, and with that Jo bowed her head, and walked back to the camp.

  As she entered the camp she saw that the Sceriae were making preparations to leave. The soldiers were loading the vehicles with their bedrolls, food and weapons. There was no sight of the young soldier, whose name Jo still didn’t know.

  She went to Acorus who was taking his leave of Haaka and the Chomanay council. When he turned away from them and saw her he immediately went to her. She told him what she had said to Gumar and he nodded with approval commenting that she would make a good diplomat, and she laughed and said that it had only been possible because of his backing. He put his hands on her shoulders and said, “You will always have my backing if what you do is right!”

  She said her goodbyes to Haaka and Antora, then Acorus led them all out of the camp to the vehicles. He helped Jo into their vehicle and as soon as they were seated they took off. She slipped on her face mask and sat thinking about what had occurred that day.

  Casting a fast glance at Acorus she saws that when his helmet was closed completely, he really did look like something out of a horror film.

  As she thought of the ship and the first time she had seen the Sceriae, she wondered why they had kept their armour on, on the ship. It was clear that they had done that to frighten the girls. But why? They had been frightened enough already. The psychology of it escaped her. She resolved to find out the reason, at a propitious moment.

  Then she thought of the young soldier, she must ask his name. What would be his punishment? Even Jo knew better than to interfere in Acorus’s business. As they flew swiftly back to the city Jo’s head started to nod, she was extremely tired and her stomach was grumbling with hunger. Eventually she slept.

  Chapter 20

  When Jo woke up she was tucked up in her own bed. She lay there wondering where Acorus was, and how she had been put to bed without waking.

  She didn’t know what time it was but she knew she was very hungry. When the door opened she looked up expecting to see Tchu, Tjai or Tsu, but Acorus was coming through the door carrying a tray, piled high with food. He carried the tray to the bed and said, “Sit up sleepy head, then I can put this tray down”.

  So Jo shuffled up the bed and propped herself up with her pillows. Acorus flipped the legs down on the tray /table and placed it across her lap. All he had on was a towel, wrapped round his waist; he got into bed and leaned next to Jo. He smelled of soap and fresh air, so he must have showered elsewhere.

  Jo’s stomach rumbled and growled as the smell of the food drifted up to her. They both laughed and tucked into the meal. Acorus told her that she was so fast asleep when they arrived at the villa, that she didn’t stir when he picked her up and carried her to her bed.

  Tchu and Tjai had undressed her and tucked her into bed and she had snuggled down without waking properly, He had slept in Julie’s old room.

  When their hunger was reduced, they discussed what had happened the day before. Acorus was so impressed with how Jo had got to the bottom of Bhathta’s lies, that she gathered all her courage and asked him what punishment he had decided on for the young soldier. He was quiet for a while, and she worried that she had gone too far. Then he sighed, “That is a good question. Mating with the Chomanay female is not a serious offence. For that he would get a bawling out and extra training. Round the assault course in full kit, three of four times, or until he dropped. Dereliction of duty however is a serious offence. If we had been in a dangerous situation, it would have been punishable by death. But we were on Scerior, purely helping to build a camp. He has to be punished, but I don’t want him to be turned bitter or full of hate. My soldiers respect me, some even like me” and he laughed “usually the ones I have fought an enemy with or celebrated with!”

  Jo said “I can see how difficult it is. What job don’t your soldiers like to do? To sentence him to a job nobody likes, seems to me to be a good punishment for a young male”.

  Acorus turned on his side to look at Jo “Is that the thinking of an Earthling or a female?”

  “A bit of both” Jo laughed “I know males, anywhere, hate to do demeaning tasks. I think in our army, as well as the assault course, they made soldiers clean the toilet floor with their toothbrush, or peel mountains of potatoes, or paint the stones round the sides of the road, in camp. Most soldiers, at least the decent ones, took that as a fair punishment. Flogging went out centuries ago; it just made the men bitter”.

  “You’re right about the flogging, it just doesn’t work. On Scerior our males want to be soldiers. That is what they are reared to be. But to give him a punishment, doing a task that has to done, but nobody likes, is very clever”.

  Looking at Jo, Acorus went on “It was a good decision of ours not to attack Earth, if all its citizens are as devious as you!”

  Jo frowned “I can’t speak for all the countries on Earth, but my country, Britain, and its allies would have fought you to the death. It would not have been easy”.

  Taking her in his arms Acorus asked “Do you miss your planet Jo?”

  “I miss a lot of things, like music dancing, going to the cinema, but mostly I miss my freedom”.

  “Your freedom?”

  “Yes, to be able to decide everything I do, what I wear, eat or even who I go out with or sleep with. But there are many things I love about Scerior, including you. Some things I don’t like, but know I can’t change them, but then there are many things I hate about Earth.

  One thing I do know is that nowhere is perfect”.

  Acorus was quiet for a while then he said “It is true that nowhere is perfect.

  Unfortunately many of our females think that the Sceriae way is the perfect way. Our way of life has caused male and female Sceriae to be completely separated in the way they think. Because we males travel to many planets, we have discovered that some species way of life, in some respects, is better than ours”.

  Jo thought very carefully about what she said next. Then she said, “On Earth not all people have the same way of thinking or living. But mostly, especially in Great Britain and some of our allies, we try to live and let live. There again it isn’t perfect. Some people are more equal than others. I think in a free society like ours, some rise to great heights, some are in the middle, and some are lower. In the olden days it was called the class system. Upper middle and lower, depending on birth. Now it is not so much about birth, but about how much money one has”.
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br />   Acorus reached over and took her in his arms, cuddling her tightly to him.

  “I’m so sorry I took away your freedom. With your clever and agile brain you could well have climbed to a high level. I cannot give you complete freedom, even I do not have that, but perhaps together we can make Scerior an even better place to live. I know you want more out of your life than just having babies, so we must come up with something really useful that you can do”.

  Then kissing her passionately he ended all conversation for the next hour.

  As they lay side by side resting from their strenuous love making, Acorus said “As for being allowed to choose who you want to sleep with, that will never happen! You are mine until we die. But if you feel unwell or over tired, I will permit you, occasionally to say no!”

  “Well then, it’s a good job I don’t mind sleeping with you, because we human females are born with the ability and knowledge, of how to make a males life hell if they upset us!”

  Acorus laughed loudly “I must learn not to be attracted to females who are strong minded. I will choose cowards from now on”.

  Jo sat up and quickly jumped onto him, hitting him with her pillow and saying “You will choose no one from now on. If I am yours, then you are mine, end of story”.

  He quickly overpowered her and once again their conversation was interrupted. Eventually Acorus had to return to his duties. He left Jo and went to Julie’s old room to shower, and put on his armour.

  Jo had a shower and Tjai gave her a massage. As she lay on her stomach she realised that it was getting bigger. She said as much to Tjai, who nodded and said that she would use an oil that would make her skin stretch easier, leaving no marks after she had given birth. Also she would be given exercises to do to keep her body supple and stop her getting too big. Hesitatingly, Tjai commented “Now you are pregnant, Lord Acorus will be told not to bother you. It is Lady Ileya’s right to do this. She is coming to see you later this morning after she has seen Kylie”.

  “It is between myself and Lord Acorus” snapped Jo “Nobody else will tell us what to do.

  Now finish the massage, so I can get dressed”.

  Tjai was taken aback, no Earth female had ever dared to ignore Lady Ileya’s decisions.

  Jo dressed, choosing to put on leggings and tunic, rather than a kaftan. If she was going to make a place for herself in Sceriae society, then she would no longer allow herself to be treated simply as a broodmare.

  Either Acorus would back her or he wouldn’t. If he didn’t love her enough to stand up to Ileya then she realised that she didn’t care what happened to her. Not wanting to sit doing nothing until Ileya came, she decided to go and see Kylie and Anna. Knocking on Kylie’s door she opened it and popped her head round it “Are you up to having a visitor?”

  Kylie laughed with delight and said “Great, come in, we’re both ready for a visitor”.

  She was sitting in a chair by a table on which was food and drink. Anna was asleep in a cot beside her. Pointing at the food Kylie asked Jo if she’d had breakfast, and she smiled and said that she’d eaten ages ago.

  Kylie told her that Acorus had been to see them, and he’d been in a very good mood, picking up Anna and walking up and down with her. It was him who’d sent her to sleep. Then she asked where Jo had been yesterday, and what had happened. So Jo told her all that had occurred at the Chomanay camp.

  Kylie gasped and tutted all the way through Jo’s story then she said “What about the soldier? What do you think will happen to him?”

  So Jo told her about her discussion with Acorus over breakfast and Kylie commented that it wouldn’t be right to treat him too harshly. Jo agreed, but, saying that he had to be punished to maintain good discipline.

  Then Kylie said that the Sceriae’s personal discipline must be very high otherwise there would be more rapes. If young men by the million were denied girlfriends, sex or the availability of prostitutes, Earth wouldn’t be safe for any woman.

  Jo was surprised, knowing Kylie’s history, at what she had said, but couldn’t help but agree with her.

  When Kylie laughed and said “That’s where the Sceriae have got it wrong. They have brought only very young fertile girls to Scerior. Because we are weak compared to the Sceriae they have only given us to males who are capable of controlling themselves. What the young males here need are brothels full of the type of women I met on the streets. They would quickly tame them!”

  Jo couldn’t believe what Kylie was saying. Surely after being forced into prostitution herself, she didn’t advocate it? She said as much to Kylie. But shaking her head, Kylie said that for every girl like herself who hated it, there had been half a dozen who chose to be prostitutes. Some ran their own brothels, but what had turned everything really nasty had been the eastern Europeans and Russian mafia taking over. Probably a lot of the girls would think life on Scerior was heaven!

  When Jo pointed out that there were prostitutes, called Ghorans, on Scerior and when on other planets the young males were free to have sex with any willing female, Kylie snorted and said “The Ghorans are ugly, don’t talk to the customers, and on other planets god knows what the females are like, are they even female? Young men don’t just want sex; they want laughter and fun and sometimes conversation with women”.

  Just then the door opened and Ileya entered the room. She was surprised to see Jo and told her that she wanted to examine Kylie and the child, so Jo could go into the main chamber. Before Jo could say or do anything Kylie said that she wanted Jo to stay, so she stayed where she was. Ileya wasn’t pleased but didn’t argue, just telling Kylie that she should lie on the bed so that she could examine her properly. Kylie did as she was told and submitted to being poked and prodded. Ileya asked if she had any pain, and Kylie said that she felt fine. It had been a bit sore when the machine was removed, but not any more.

  Ileya declared that she was doing well, cast a cursory glance at the baby and said that she wished to speak to Jo. They went into the main room and Ileya asked her if she felt well, and did she have any problems? Jo answered that she was fine and had no problems. Ileya sat down and pointed to the opposite couch, so Jo sat there and waited for her to speak. She sat for a few minutes looking at Jo, then she said, “I was impressed with the way you helped me with the Chomanay females. However I do not think it is wise for you to go off on a whim, to do who knows what, when you are pregnant. Also Acorus has kept on bothering you, when he knows you are pregnant, and should be kept quiet”.

  “Lady Ileya” Jo spoke quietly but firmly “I am happy to help you at any time. I know you are an excellent doctor and have worked hard to take care of the Earth females. However, you must realise that I am capable of doing many things, even while pregnant. On Earth women work nearly up to the date they give birth. I know that is different here because the baby grows at nearly double the rate that human babies grow. I am also aware that I will get more tired, and need to rest and eat more. As for Acorus ‘bothering’ me, I love him and he loves me. It is perfectly normal to have sexual intercourse when pregnant, so I would be grateful if you didn’t interfere in our business. Once I am named as such, next week, I will be his official mate, and will be called Lady Joanna. Please do not forget that”.

  Ileya leaned back and looked at Jo with a funny half smile on her face. Then she nodded her head “My sisters and I have waited many years to find a female like you. Our hopes have been raised many times. We have thought we have found a strong, intelligent female, only to have our hopes dashed. Some have been strong but not intelligent. They fought the male that they had been given to, so eventually were killed. I am not proud of what happened to some Earth females. Many could not stand what had happened to them, and killed themselves. The ones who have made a life here are pragmatists, they accept what they think they cannot change, instead of standing up and saying ‘No’, this is not how it should be! But you hav
e passed many tests. You saved Acorus’s life; you helped the Chomanay, and would not give up on Kylie’s baby. I think that she will grow up fine, by the way, and now, you do not know what power I could have over you, but still you held your head high and defied me, strongly and quietly. You will meet the Queen in a few days; I think you will like her. But Jo, say you forgive me for the subterfuge over Kylie’s baby; I would not have let her die. All females are precious here not just perfect ones! And I am sorry that we let you think that I would kill Kylie because she was no longer fertile. She is one of our most precious mothers, and will have a good long life here”.

  When Ikeya stopped speaking, Jo could only sit there open mouthed, then she said “Did Acorus know that you were only pretending to not care about Kylie or the baby?”

  Ileya compressed her lips “No he did not. We could not trust him not to tell you that you were being tested. We are aware how much he cares for you and seeing you upset, he might have spoilt the test”.

  “So what happens now?”

  “First you meet the Queen and the council, and be named Lady Jo-Anna, then you will discuss with them what needs to be done to enrich the Earth female’s lives”.

  Jo frowned and said “Ok, so you tested me. Surely it was unnecessary to upset Kylie? The day after the baby was born she was worried sick”.

  “You saw her early in the day” Ileya replied “When I checked up on her later, I told her all was well and explained what was going on”.

  “She didn’t say anything. But come to think of it, she did seem happier later” Jo commented “The little devil not telling me what you had told her”.

  “It’s not her fault, I asked her to be quiet, because I expected great things from you.

  She loves you, and is excited about what you might be able to do to help the Earth females” and Ileya leaned forward and went on “She really wants to be involved with whatever you do”.