Stars Fallen - An IID Casefile [Mr. M & Jaijin]

[Mr Master]

Interstellar Intelligence Directive
Mission Briefing RK-349-J-278-P-886-M-767-A

Six months ago, a previously-unrecorded human-species colony was detected in System 447-Gamma-16. The colony, called "Helios" by its citizens (note: this makes the 67th "Helios" in the history of the Pax Interstellar) could have resulted from any of five colony ships lost in that vicinity between approximately twenty and two hundred years ago. The origin of the colony is not as important as evaluating its condition with the ultimate goal of bringing it into the Pax. Investigation is accelerated due to the presence of apamanthic ore in the mountainous area outside of the main Helios settlement, which is useful for weapon and stardrive purposes.

Orbital observation and remote sensors revealed a great degree of social regression, even compared to 200 years ago. Gender dimorphism is highly exaggerated, social and political power structure is entirely weighted toward the male gender, leaving females powerless. A central colony authority provided dictatorial control over technology and expansion of the colony, with the result that conditions are almost pre-technological through most of the settled area, with high technology kept strictly for the colony authorities. Discontent is rife, but is harshly controlled by the colony police force.

Infiltration agent Jeffer Cadmus was inserted via stealth drop pod six weeks ago. Cadmus made contact with a group of traders that is discontented with colony authorities, the MacFannish clan (actual Scottish heritage is highly doubtful). Under I.I. permissions, he offered a reasonable exclusive deal on technological trade goods to the traders in exchange for assistance infiltrating the power structure. Cadmus assumed the local name "Jeffincott deCadum," following practice of pseudonyms being reasonably close to real names.

Two weeks ago, Cadmus failed to send a coded report burst to the orbital monitor. Satellite imagery is unable to locate him. Remote viewers are unable to get far enough into the city center to mount an effective search. The clear choice is to send an agent in to locate him, and if rescue is impossible, to obtain the most recent data he had acquired.

Field personnel within reasonable distance from Helios 67 are limited. Due to the primitive and restrictive social system on the planet, a male operative is recommended, if one is available. However, the importance of the apamanthic ore is such that a female operative, properly briefed, is acceptable if time does not permit a suitable male operative to make the drop.

~~~

"There's more, of course," said Field Director Tommas after he'd let her read the briefing overview. "Several pages of what little we've been able to find out, all from Cadmus's reports. You'll have time to read it all on your flight from here to Helios 67. The biggest thing I want you to notice is: females have no power down there. That's going to be your biggest challenge."

The gray-haired man leaned forward slowly. Anti-aging treatments worked wonders, but time eventually caught up with everyone, and he was still years away from qualifying for a deep-regeneration treatment, so he put up with the elderly body's occasional aches and pains and did his best at the desk job he now had. He looked at the woman sitting in the other chair, and shook his head: he remembered when he'd been in the prime of his life like her, or like Cadmus. Back when he'd be the one hopping in the drop pod. "Honestly, I was worried enough about that, I almost volunteered to go myself, but medical forced me not to."

He shook his head. "They're going to implant you with a comm unit before you go; in case Cadmus' problem is just faulty equipment, you won't have the same difficulty. It'll bluetooth into your usual stealth gear, but it only charges up enough for one burst transmission a day, so be wary."

"You're familiar with delicate situations like this: the government structure doesn't allow for us to just drop in there and be liberators, but we want to establish some sort of relations in order to get the ore. The Helians aren't prepared for an enlightened social structure like ours, and they'd reject us out of hand if we tried to force it on them, but they'll need to accept it if they're ever going to join the Pax. It's tricky, I know. So I want you to just focus on the immediate: get down there, get to Cadmus, get the data, get away. Got it?"

 

[Jaijin]

Dr. Jayden Lee at thirty-five looked not a day older than twenty-three and would for years to come due to widely available life-extending medical therapy and careful genetic engineering when she was but a few cells in a test tube. Recently promoted to IID, Agent First Class—one of the youngest in recent history—she felt a responsibility to push a little harder, a little faster than some of the other agents. Jayden wanted to justify her society’s faith in her abilities and she had aims of someday standing in the shoes of the current Field Director and perhaps higher some day.

Fully trained, this would be the fourth field assignment recorder in her jacket and her first as an Agent First Class. A slim-bodied woman with the traditional 36-24-36 figure, which the majority of parents selected for their daughters in this genetically engineered era, she stood 5’8” tall and had an athletic, well-toned body. She had straight, glossy dark brown hair that fell just below her shoulders, a common cut for both men and women, and almond eyes. She had a full mouth and high cheekbones that gave her a vaguely Asiatic look with a neutral light brown skin tone. Hers was a reasonably attractive, common look for a lot of people whose parents had the wealth and connections to ensure their children the best genes and start in life.

As she listened to Field Director Tommas speak, she frowned in apparent discomfort at the notion that men and women had disparate treatment on this Helios. The idea that all genders and sexual orientations would receive scrupulously identical treatment was one of the great advances made in the Paxian society. Any reference to women being treated as somehow less than men was akin to farting in company, it just wasn’t done. “I can’t imagine the treatment toward women is quite as bad as you imply Field Director,” she finally said politely. “We aren’t talking cave men here. In any case, I’m sure I’ll manage. And I do have my locator.”

They continued to discuss the mission for a short time before he dismissed her. As Jayden walked away, she couldn’t suppress a feeling of excitement at the idea that she might meet and work with Jeffer Cadmus. He had an almost legendary reputation within IID. While some of his exploits were surely exaggerated, more than one of his missions had been case studies when she was going through field school.

Nineteen hours later, she was finally on her way to Helios and to her fateful meeting with the MacFannish Clan. She had elected not to bring anything more than a simple side arm in terms of weapons. If this mission went that far South, weapons would not save it. And Pax could not morally or ethically afford to allow higher technology weapons into this more primitive society. She had quite a load of what she analogized to trade beads for the natives: various items of technology, valuable jewels, and other small and easily transported items that could be converted to wealth or used to secure an advantage.

 

[Mr Master]

Between the preliminary scouting, the telemetry of the drop pod, the telemetry of Cadmus's gear, and his various reports, her drop zone was pretty well-defined. When the crew strapped her into the coffin-like pod, they made sure she had on her datagoggles. Not only were they good eye protection and vision aid (low-light, thermographic, telescopic, and microscopic vision assistance came standard), they were also data feeds; they could display information from the pod computer or her own gear straight into her personal field of vision, including allowing her to view the sensor data from the outside of the pod, like a VR of the descent. They'd discovered long ago that this eliminated much of the claustrophobic reactions some operatives would have.

Securely strapped inside, with just enough pseudogravity to keep her feeling safe and stable, Dr. Lee was released into orbit when the target zone was just entering night-side. Every operative was well-trained on drop procedure, but only very rarely was such an insertion required, and this was Dr. Lee's first actual field drop, which gave it a headier sense of risk. The pod's automatic maneuvering dropped lower into the atmosphere, special heat-sinks absorbing the friction of entry to minimize the thermal glow. State of the art sensor countermeasures flexed, unnecessarily but out of habit, as the pod flashed lower, streaking lower in what was technically a spiral, circling the planet in a descending course aimed at the deserted patch of wood about two kilometers worth of farmland away from the MacFannish clan stronghold, according to the Cadmus data. The pod's chromatic skin changed color to match the sky, or the clouds, or whatever was above it, as it raced over seas and land. The colony wasn't huge, but there were a few outlying settlements, and who knows what explorers might happen to be passing underneath.

Finally, the draw of actual gravity superseded the false gravity generated by the pod, and the gentle rattling of the internals quieted down as the small vessel shed its speed and kicked its gravitic propulsion into high, changing its downward spiral into a lateral zipping dash as the computer sought out an ideal landing place. It finally settled in the shadows between several trees, and the clamshell doors unsealed themselves as the straps all released at once, freeing Dr. Lee into the night air of Helios 67. It was a rural planet, like any other, with minor variations such as pronounced rocky terrain and a strong whipping wind, but air and gravity were within norms, and her datagoggles threw up directionals and identifiers, showing that there was a road over the next rise, that the border of the main city of Helios was approximately ten or so kilometers to the east, and that the MacFannish stronghold was a little over two kilometers to the south-southwest. She'd been updated on the local accent and language variations, she had knowledge of the lay of the land, and access to all the gathered I.I. data of the culture, and she had on a reasonable facsimile of a local conservative-style female outfit (which wasn't altogether comfortable, but that was a minor detail compared to the necessity of fitting in).

She was, in a word, ready. Time to go.

 

[Jaijin]

Jayden stretched to remove the kinks from landing. Then she shook out her hair and adjusted the emerald green enveloping outer garment apparently worn by the women of this culture. She found it interesting to think that men and women had separate clothing styles here. She knew this was often the case with historical cultures. But she had grown up enjoying the practical, unisex clothing of her own culture.

Once she had acclimated to the grounds, Jayden check her equipment, set the pod’s controls pursuant to her instructions and then closed and locked it up. She began to hike at a comfortable, kilometer eating pace toward the McFannish holding. It didn’t take long before she was challenged by a powerful man’s voice. “Ho, be ye Dr. Jade.” As he spoke, a powerful spotlight lit up the surrounding night and Jayden found herself blinking against the beam as she tried to see who had spoken. The datagoggles were secured as she saw no need to shout I’m from a technologically superior culture the moment they met.

“What a moment,” the voice sounded both confused and a little angry. “You’re a woman.”

Jayden wanted to laugh at the outrageousness of the statement. But she maintained a professional air. “I don’t think there’s any disguising the fact,” she said politely, indicating with one slender hand the colorful woman’s clothing she wore. In truth, even if she wore the standard unisex garb of her own culture, it would have been immediately obvious that Jayden was very much a woman. While there had been a trend for a number of years for both men and women to be genetically programmed for an almost androgynous look, her parents along with the parents of most of her contemporaries had followed the more modern approach and Jayden had a very feminine body with an almost hourglass 36 24 36 figure.

She adopted an apologetic tone. “I’m afraid our only male agent is already down here: the redoubtable Jeffers Cadmus.” She said the last with a slight smile. “I promise to do my best to go along with your cultural norms.”

The tall McFannish male shook his head. “It’ll be up to me brother, the Chief of our clan.” He then gestured behind him toward the stronghold. “Come along with ye.”

Jayden nodded and moved in the indicated direction. She considered herself reasonably tall at 5’8”, but next to this 6’6” male she felt positively diminutive. Unlike her own carefully programmed and blended features, he was aggressively Caucasian with broad shoulders and classic red-headed Celtic features. She wondered if they had at some point had access to genetic engineering. Perhaps the original colonists had planned a Scottish themed utopia. Her mind spun through the possibilities almost eagerly. She loved researching new worlds.

 

[Mr Master]

The MacFannish man barely paid her much mind, other than to be sure she was following him. He didn't even turn when she stumbled on the craggy ground one time, which would have been polite for any escort. But he led her true, and they soon came upon the wide, low structure that was the MacFannish stronghold. She knew from her briefing that much of it was underground, with the surface providing very little to be a target or an impediment to any windstorm that might arise. He slowed a bit as they came near to the wide front door, allowing her to catch up.

A man stood out from a sheltered alcove as they stepped up the path. He was dressed near to identically to her guide, but he proved that whatever colony ship had crashed here had possessed a full suite of genotypes by having skin so dark it was nearly black. But he spoke in the same accent as her guide. "Here, Sammy, you're a wonder; ye go out to meet the newcomer and come back with a fair piece of girl, after all, din ye?" His quick eyes looked Jayden up and down, even with her cloak concealing her. "She for the House pool, or ye claiming her private? And where's a leash, now?"

"This," her guide, "Sammy," said in a voice that seemed weary and confused, "is the self-same Dr. Jade as we were told of. But they dinnae mention a woman, I know, ye needn't bring it up. I'm ta bring 'er to Danny, and ye best be shaping up your approach, Connor. She's a guest."

The black man straightened immediately. "Aye, Mister Samuel, sir!" He turned and approached the front door, and Jayden's sharp ears (somewhat designed so from birth, somewhat enhanced by the I.I. for her work) caught him muttering "a guest, AND a woman; the world's a mess, it is," as he rapped on the doorframe, a quick little rhythm. "Oi, it's clear," he called, before stepping back into his shelter. A peephole in the door shone briefly, darkened, and shone again before a heavy lock clanked and the door swung inward.

Samuel glanced back at Jayden, nodded to the door, and then turned to lead her in. As she passed by the guard station, she could almost feel the guard's gaze on her as he sighed and muttered under his breath, "a loss, not having her in the pool." And then she was in, and it was warmer and there was light and a number of curious faces, and Samuel was walking uninterrupted, farther in and toward a wide staircase leading down.

 

[Jaijin]

Jayden’s intelligent eyes darted here, there, and everywhere on approaching the compound. It was both her desire and duty to understand this colony with its atavistic view of women and their role in society. Even knowing in advance the McFannish clan would react to her gender; she found it curiously disturbing to realize just how primitive this culture was. One statement truly puzzled her, the reference to a leash. She also found the idea of being part of a ‘house pool’ curiously disturbing, disturbing enough to send an almost sexual shiver down her spine.

In her culture, the relationships between men and women tended to be sexually open. They had long ago abandoned ideas that a man might own a woman or a woman might have the right to deny her man a little harmless physical release when separated from her. In these days of easily available genetic testing, the idea of wanting to be sure that your child was your offspring was viewed as somewhat laughable. But Jayden suspected the idea of a house pool might refer to something darker, a female collective available to any mail regardless of her own desires.

She found these men vigorous and appealing. They stood out from the carefully controlled men of her culture, but if she had any curiosity regarding them sexually, she quickly suppressed it. She felt warmth cross her face when the darker man referenced the pool. She felt embarrassingly flattered and curiously feminine for a moment. She wondered what it might like to feel a stranger’s masculine warmth pressing her down and then she quickly dismissed the thought and hurried to catch up with Samuel.

As she followed Samuel down the long, winding staircase, she saw an occasional curious face. She tried to smile back, wanting to show that she was friendly. But when she did this to one hardened masculine face, the man visibly licked his lips and made a rude gesture unmistakable in any culture. Quickly she turned her eyes downward until they reached the bottom floor. “We’ll have to talk a bit about you and the ummm ... situation.” Samuel told her. Jayden knew her situation referred to her gender, but she was here as a guest and taking offense would have been impolitic.

“I understand,” she simply said.

“I’ve a room you can wait in,” the tall red-headed man said roughly. He then gestured to a door and led her into a small, simply furnished room. It was almost a little studio apartment in that it had a bathroom and a tiny refrigeration unit. “You’ll stay here awhile,” he said.

Jayden sat down on the one chair and said, “I appreciate your courtesy.” She wasn’t sure if she still appreciated it a few minutes later. On testing the door, she realized that she had been neatly locked away in this small room.

 

[Mr Master]

While the chronometer read only handful of minutes had passed, the subjective time was much longer to a woman locked in a room in a strange culture that considered female humans to be property. Eventually, however, she heard voices in the corridor, raised voices. As they came close, she thought she recognized the voice of Samuel MacFannish, although both of them sounded similar, particularly when they were deep in the almost incomprehensible (at least through a closed door) Scots brogue.

Finally, there was a clanking as the door was unlocked, and Samuel entered, leading another man that was similar in appearance but even larger. His bear was thicker than Samuel's, but the hair on his head was thinner, something else that didn't generally happen by accident in Jayden's culture, not anymore.

"Dr. Jade," Samuel rumbled, "this is Daniel, headman of the MacFannish clan."

"Are ye really a female doctor?" Daniel interjected, his voice a shade deeper than Samuel's, but filled with as much wonder and confusion and an edge of irritation as his brother's had been when he first met her out on the moors. "Jeff said your ways were strange, but I dinnae think they'd be so..." he waved his hand a bit, searching for the right word, "... unnatural."

Samuel cuffed his brother in the shoulder, an action that, in a different, less deadly-serious context, would have been amusing in its universal application to sibling interaction. "Oi, leave off! She's what we got, an' if we want to help Jeff, we must trust she knows her business, aye?"

"Aye," Daniel grumbled. Then he stared hard at Jayden, and his eyes... she didn't know whether it was a fact of his position, or the situation, or if he just looked at all women this way, but his gaze was piercing and pitiless. "So, if ye came to help Jeff out of whatever bog he's gotten hisself into, we're ta be givin' you what assistance we can. Though, of course, it might get expensive, but we had a deal going with Jeff, we'd extend the same to ye and yours." A strange expression crossed his face, almost of disgust, but he controlled it. Was it really so strange to him, dealing with a woman?

 

[Jaijin]

Jayden had frowned on learning they had locked the door. But on reflection, she chose not to panic. In a paternalistic society, she suspected they wanted to maintain control over dangerous influence. A woman with a brain and a degree, she smiled wryly. They likely viewed her as akin to culturally upsetting dynamite.

The minute had ticked by slowly. While waiting, she carefully braided her dark brown hair in a classic French braid style and then tucked the braid up with a band into a chignon. She thought if this culture was truly primitive in its view of a woman, it would be better not to have her hair down. Not long after, she heard voices outside. Jayden stood and assumed a calm, untroubled demeanor.

When the door opened, she was glad to see Samuel MacFannish again. He seemed a little cold, but she thought to herself, better the devil you know. At his introduction of Daniel, the clan chief, and the following question. She responded in a calm voice. “Yes. I have a Ph.D. in Cultural Psychology.” She almost bit her lip after mentioning her area of specialty. It might seem condescending to them, the idea that she – a mere woman might have been sent to study their culture – but she liked to think they were adult enough to realize that each of them had their own roles to play.

“We each have different views of woman’s roles in our respective societies,” she said in response to his follow up point. “Our culture sees men and women as essentially equal, though different.” She smiled to take any sting of criticism her words might appear to hold. “I’m fully briefed as to what we need to do. I understand your clan has formed a close connection with or attachment to Jeffers. We deeply appreciate this fact.”

As she sat trying to respond to Daniel, she sensed that he had a much stronger antipathy to her as a woman than Samuel did. She found this both interesting and unfortunate. So she tried to turn the conversation to more productive areas. “We’re deeply concerned that we’ve lost touch with Agent Cadmus. And I was asked to respect your advice on how best to return him to the safety of your stronghold. We understand Jeffers is with a different clan now?”

 

[Mr Master]

"Ach, it's worse than that," Daniel said, and she could hear the worry in his tone. "He was in the city, all 'research the power structure' this and 'make contacts for the future' that, and he went to a meeting at ColComm and never came back."

"That's Colony Command," added Samuel helpfully.

Daniel nodded. "And we'd go investigate ourselves, but they bloody hate us, the MacFannish, which is why we have our manor way out on the bloody blasted moors, rather than up near Land's Hall like the rest of the clan heads."

"That's the city center, Land's Hall, off of 'landfall', where the colony ship crashed."

"Oi, why d'ye have to go explaining everything I say and making me look like a bloody twee idjit?"

"Well, she dinnae know, does she? Ye've got a fine head for leadership and a brilliant mind for business, but your diplomacy is for shite, brother."

"Oh, aye, let's have a family row right now in front of the alien woman guest visitor, let's do, shall we?" Daniel muttered darkly, and then turned to Jayden with an affected smile. "Now, girl... I mean, Dr. Jade. We do not have any agents on the inside, there at Land's Hall. But with you showing up, I think we might be able to get ye inside, anyway."

Samuel stared at his brother and continued slowly. "If I take Daniel's idea properly, we likely can get ye inside, but it's going to be a little... difficult for ye."

Daniel nodded. "Aye, likely. See, the only way I can figure is to set you up as a house girl, there. And that means learning how to operate the way the girls here on Helios operate." He raised an eyebrow at her at this.

 

[Jaijin]

Jayden felt an inner tension within relax as Daniel and Samuel began to actually address the mission with concrete details. Her expression as she listened was thoughtful and intelligent. When Field Director Tommas had briefed her, she had wondered about the odd location for the MacFannish manor. No one could argue that it was unexpected that a clan willing to work with outsiders the mission would have difficulties with the other clans of its culture.

Frankly, she was shocked at how much the infiltration agent had accomplished in the six months. Jeffers had obviously formed close ties with the MacFannish people, close enough that they felt a sense of responsibility to securing his rescue.

As they spoke, she asked occasional questions. “What is the role of Colony Command? Are the clans independent? Or does ColComm hold authority over the clans?” Jayden would have loved to sit across the table from Jeffers and listen to his take on the political situation down her. The information he held would be priceless in the coming months. But then the subject turned to her specifically.

“Is a house girl a sort of maid?” She asked hesitantly, biting her lip as she pictured the role. “Wouldn’t I be able to pass as a native? What sort of information would I need?” It sounded a little exciting actually, real field work, real infiltration. She smiled. “I’m very anxious to help Jeffers. I could play a maid I imagine. I wouldn't have to appear too bright, it would work.”

 

[Mr Master]

"ColComm is the remnants of the crew and authority of the colony ship. The clans come from the settlers, how we organized ourselves once everyone was thawed and started working the world," Daniel said. "ColComm keeps a stranglehold on the technology, which is why our man Jeff was such a godsend!"

"Aye," Samuel nodded. "His exclusivity with his trade goods is one reason we want him back. The longer he's in ColComm custody, the more likely they'll find out about the rest of ye, and where will be be then? On the ColComm shite list, bounty on our heads without even the money from high-tech goods to buy us goodwill with the rest of the clans."

"The clans and independent families manage the settlement of Helios, the day to day. ColComm sits in their digs up in Land's Hall and collects their taxes and trickles out medicines and gear and whotsit, and the rest of 'em just lap it up like good little doggies," Daniel spat, getting worked up about the whole situation. Samuel put a hand on his shoulder, and he calmed down a bit. "The MacFannish don't like ColComm's miserly attitude. They keep the best bits for themselves, rather than develop industry or a means to share with the colony as a whole. Even selling the tech, I could understand. The way they do it, though, is just about criminal!"

~~~

The brothers glanced at each other as she asked about a house girl. "All right, Jeff had a misunderstanding about things, too, so we'll set ye straight like we set 'im straight," said Samuel.

He continued, "Here on Helios, we follow God's natural order and Danny Wren's philosophy. Ye got yer men, of course, and ye got yer girls. Every girl is owned by, and is the responsibility of, somebody. It's their family until they get to saleable age, and then they're either privately owned, or they get placed into a house pool, for the clan or family or business what buys them."

Daniel nodded. "Private girls' duties are whatever her Master says they are; that's between them. House girls do the cleaning, the cooking, the fucking, the childminding, and any other incidental duty they're asked to do. Owned by the house as a whole, you see, and therefore beholden to any male member of it, and under the authority of any senior house girl, too."

"We know it's very different from how ye were raised," Samuel said, shrugging. "But it's been that way since the colony was founded. Ol' Captain Wren saw to it."

Daniel continued. "It'd be easy to get ye in, you see, 'cause nobody looks at a girl much. Well, actually," his eyes traveled up and down her still-cloaked form, "just from what little you're showing, I imagine most everybody would look at ye. But they wouldn't worry about ye, is the thing. We could just sell you to the ColComm house, and you'd be in and able to go find Jeff, long as you didn't raise suspicion."

Samuel gestured at her clothes. "Of course, you'd have to learn how to dress and act like a native girl. But you'd pass the looks test just fine."

 

[Jaijin]

Jayden listened intently as the two men explained the situation. Her only sign of the stress she felt was the steady drumbeat of her fingers tapping against her thigh. Some of the information she already knew from Agent Cadmus’s detailed reports. Other information they had divined from orbital observation. But they had not realized the extensive control of technology kept by ColComm. And none of them had digested just how primitive this culture was in its treatment of women.

Mentally, she was already preparing recommendations for her next report. Frankly, she saw the political situation on this colony as a powder keg primed to explode into war. Nor did Jayden like the idea that they were advancing this culture’s abusive treatment of women, keeping them as mere slaves without allowing them the freedom to advance independently. Thankfully, Jayden had ample training for her work as a field agent. None of her distrust and disgust showed on her almost placid expression as she listened to Samuel and Daniel expound on the situation.

When they came to their plan, her heart thumped heavily several times before she calmed down enough to speak. Undoing the hood of the cavernous, tent like creation these primitives had come up with to conceal her sexuality from other male eyes. Jayden exposed her straight silken hair the color of mink to their gaze. She raised an eyebrow, flashing them a deeply skeptical look.

“I’m to walk into a hostile house where I’ll be raped, ideally impregnated, and put to cleaning toilets? In the meantime while I’m on my knees pleasuring my masters, I’ll undoubtedly be kept segregated from an important political prisoner such as Jeffers Cadmus.” She had spoken in a calm voice, her words clipped a little shorter than her usual tone of voice. “Pardon me, if I’m skeptical as to that plan. Might it be better for me to go with a delegation as the private girl of you or one of your men?

My point is you surely have contact with the ColComm. You could go there under the guise of diplomacy. Once I’m in the compound, while you negotiate, I would be supposedly locked away safely in the room of whatever master I’ve come with.” Jayden concealed her inner amusement at the idea of having a master. If women are ignored as you say, once inside, I can reconnoiter in an attempt to located where Jeffers is held. As a girl with an attachment, I hopefully won’t be molested while I’m doing this. I’ll be honest, I’m not sure my variation would work. But I’m not going to place myself in a situation where I’ll be raped and enslaved without any real hope of accomplishing my mission.”

She smiled. “On the other hand, we’re both in agreement that I need a quick course on how a woman should behave in your culture. I have no problem with being educated in those details.

 

[Mr Master]

Daniel objected, "Firstly, ye don't rape what doesn't have..." and this is where Samuel stepped in front of him.

"The biggest difficulty with that is that were we to send a delegation without pretext, the ColComm would be highly suspicious of us and our servants. If anything, they'd be kept in our quarters even when we were allowed out for meetings, assuming we even would be given quarters. Females are often ignored, but only if they're supposed to be there, is the point. The only girls who get free access within the Hall are the girls belonging to the Hall. So while selling you is perhaps a bit much, we at least have to put you in as one of the ColComm girls, you see."

"Look, Dr. Jade... just let us work on these details a bit more. It'll take a while to set something up, regardless of what we do. So you can spend that time learning how to operate in this culture."

Daniel nodded. "Aye. For one thing, all that..." he gestured to her outfit, "...is unnecessary inside the house. What, you think we give our girls these giant cloaks and then dress 'em up further inside all of that? In the winter, outside, you might see that, but it's not been winter for weeks now."

"Here." Daniel went to the door and opened it, gesturing. "This here's Kathleen, my favorite girl. She can tell you what you need to know."

The brown-skinned woman who entered was approaching her forties, but looked excellent for her age. Jayden could tell, because she was nearly naked, wearing just a support brassiere with open-fronted cups, revealing her nipples that were slightly stiffened in the chill of the underground, and a utilitarian g-string. Her long black hair was plaited into a broad, flat braid down her back, and her brown eyes were downcast as she entered quickly and knelt on the floor next to Daniel. He patted her head fondly as he looked back up at Jayden.

"Kathleen comes to us from the MacWashington clan; a clan's females are traded with other clans at saleable age to avoid inbreeding. She's not the eldest of the girls we have in the clan, but she's earned her position through intelligence and skill. Isn't that right, Kathleen?"

"Aye, me lord," she said in a quiet, musical voice. She didn't look up yet, but she was definitely staring at Jayden's boots. She seemed perfectly relaxed at Daniel's side, but was definitely alert and curious about the newcomer.

 

[Jaijin]

To be a man’s slave, the idea shot an unexpected, but not totally unwelcome, frisson down Jayden’s spine. In her relatively short life, she had entered into seven intimate relationships with a variety of men. Some saw sex as romantic and were kind, considerate lovers. Other men approached sex as a sport and they had engaged in sweaty, hot physical acts of love that left bruises on her body and a soreness between her thighs. But she had always been in control of what happened.

The idea of being out of control, being possessed by a man, taken as his regardless of her own desires called to her on a primeval level. She carefully masked her inappropriate curiosity as she listened to the men. Whatever her own intellectual curiosity might cause her to wonder about, she was also a modern, educated woman and she had no intention of giving in to her baser desires.

“To put it into your own cultural terms,” she said. “Think of me as the property of our own Interstellar Intelligence Directive. It’s a possessive organization, but it also can be an extremely generous one. We need to deal with someone on this planet. And we’ve chosen the McFannish. But if not only do we lost contact with Jeffers, but I’m raped or otherwise abused while down here, I can assure you, IID will reconsider its original choice.”

She listened to their response and added, “I like your idea of my learning to interact as a woman in this world while you help craft a plan that will work for us.” Jayden then turned to Kathleen and smiled as she listened. Nodding at their comment regarding her outer garment, she reached behind her and unfastened the buttons allowing it to fall at her feet.

Jayden wasn’t shy about her body. Her hair was thick and loosely waved a dark brown silken waterfall that fell just below her shoulders. Her skin was smooth and soft with all of the beautiful elasticity of a young woman in her early twenties. She looked at them with her large dark eyes, knowing that they would likely find nothing unpleasing about her body.

She had the tight physicality of a long-distance runner or gymnast with the curves of a woman intended to please a man, bear his children, and have them suckle at her breasts until old enough to eat solid foods. Her perfectly proportioned hourglass figure tended to draw a man’s eye even in her own culture where so many other women shared her genetic perfection. She wore a tight, synthetic body suit that outlined every curve of her body.

Jayden smiled. “So teach me to be a woman.”

 

[Mr Master]

"Roit, well," said Daniel, clapping his hands. "We'll leave you in the capable care of Kathleen. Come on, Sammy. We have plotting to do."

"Oh, aye," Samuel murmured, apparently mesmerized by Jayden's form. "I'll get right on that. Awk!" he made a strangled noise as Daniel snagged the collar of his shirt and dragged him out of the room.

When they were gone, Kathleen looked up abruptly, meeting Jayden's eyes. Her vaguely Hispanic features were suddenly shrewd and focused, a swift change from the affable blankness she'd displayed earlier. "Well, one of the first things ye will have to learn is how not to put on airs in front of the menfolk. But the first thing we can most easily accomplish is your kit."

She stood up abruptly. Her outfit left literally none of her well-formed body to the imagination, but she seemed to ignore her exposure as she circled around Jayden, looking her up and down with a critical eye. "Oh, it's clear ye have a form the men will go wild for, and ye have little fear of showing it off." She reached out and snagged the neckline of the bodysuit and snapped it against her neck. "This is a mighty convenient barrier. Lets you show off what you've got without actually showing it. Self-consciousness is something for menfolk; we women can't afford it, and we grow up without it here. But I hear you and Master Caddy grew up off-world. So you've got lessons to unlearn." They were of an age, but Kathleen looked at her like a callow youth, someone she needed to mold. "We may as well get ye dressed right."

She crossed to the door and as she pulled it open, her whole attitude changed, as she grew suddenly demure and respectful and subservient. She opened the door and addressed the guard there. "I'm sorry to bother you, sir, but could you send for one of the girls from the pool? I need some things for our guest." The man agreed, and Kathleen bowed her head and closed the door again. Turning back to Jayden, she was all business again. "Roit. So we'll get some proper clothes for ye. In the meantime, strip that kit off and we'll stash it for when ye go home again. Ye shan't be needing it here, if ye expect to pass for one of us."