by ID Johnson
Rain’s Rebellion
The Motherhood Book One
ID Johnson
Copyright © 2020 by ID Johnson
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Book cover by Sparrow Book Cover Designs
Created with Vellum
For Jennifer
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
A Note From the Author
Also by ID Johnson
Chapter One
“We, the women of Michaelanburg, in order to create a perfect nation, where women are free to follow their dreams and correct the injustices of the past, do solemnly uphold the laws, beliefs, and sanctitude of the Motherhood. In all that we do, let us put our sisterhood above all else, standing shoulder to shoulder, pledging to sacrifice our individual needs for the betterment of Womankind.”
The words to the national pledge were etched above the plasma screen at the front of the room, as they were in all classrooms. Rain’s eyes drifted upward, tracing over the message, as she simultaneously listened to Mother Swan’s lesson. She knew every word of the pledge, having learned it at age two, like all of the other women in the country, but something seemed different about it today. For some reason, her eyes were focused on one word--sacrifice. What had the Mothers meant when they’d included that word? Had it been written so soon after the Claiming, the time when woman seized power from the male oppressors, that the word was referring to the threat of injury or death during the fighting, or was the pledge alluding to the fact that they were still sacrificing today, almost two hundred years after the Claiming? If so, what were these sacrifices? What was she missing out on?
Rain’s attention was brought back to class as she realized the period was almost over. Mother Swan, a middle-aged woman with dark hair and the ability to freeze a student in her seat with only a stern glance, was finishing up the lecture. As she closed the program she’d been using to cover the complexities of the incubators they were studying, she stated, “Tomorrow, we will be in the lab all day, so make sure you wear comfortable shoes.” Rain perked up. Lab days were so much more interesting than lectures.
The sound of the school bell pealed down the hallway, causing Mother Swan to raise her voice as she added, “And don’t forget your lab coats!” Rain barely heard her over the noise from the rest of her classmates gathering up their tablets and shoving them into their bags. She took a few seconds to make a note so she didn’t forget, locking the information into her electronic planner where she kept everything. The last thing she needed was to show up to class late because she’d forgotten her lab coat.
“You coming?” Cloud asked, standing a few feet away, on the other side of a row of desks. “I’ll walk home with you.”
“Yes, I’m coming,” Rain replied, slinging her backpack over her shoulder and eyeing the instructor. A few of the other girls were gathered around Mother Swan near her desk, so Rain determined the question she had considered asking, the one about which path she should take once she completed her required medical training, could wait a bit longer. It had already been two weeks since she’d first got the urge to ask the Mother for advice.
The legs of the chair next to hers screeched across the waxed floor as Rain squeezed her small frame through a slightly larger opening, righting a desk as she went. She followed Cloud out into the hallway where other girls were either standing in clusters talking or making their way out of the building toward the various dorm-like structures in which they resided. Rain was anxious to get home and change out of her uniform. While the beige pants and white pullover she wore each day to signify she was a member of the School of Medicine were comfortable enough, she had a pair of jeans that fit her like a glove, and she was looking forward to slipping into them.
Cloud, who was a full four inches taller than Rain, with blonde hair and a small hitch in her nose that made it slightly crooked from the side, had been in the medicine program a few months longer than Rain, but because Rain had done so well on her assessments her second year, she’d been promoted. It was unusual; most of the girls stayed in their pods until they completed their degree. Despite her advanced academic achievements, most of the time, Rain felt a little lost, and she was glad Cloud had befriended her, even if she didn’t live on the same floor in their dwelling, Weather House.
“Mother Swan was in her element today, wasn’t she?” Cloud asked, hugging her tablet to her chest. She wore no backpack and only carried her tablet with her in a shatterproof sleeve. Rain thought it was odd that the other girl never brought water or snacks to school with her, but then Cloud was a little odd. She imagined she might purchase anything she needed between classes since she worked part time at the medical building. Third and fourth year students were allowed to do that, and Rain was looking forward to starting her own rotation in a few months, once finals were over, assuming she passed them.
“Yes, Mother Swan certainly loves to talk about procreating,” Rain agreed, flipping her long red braid over her shoulder. She wasn’t sure what else to say about the subject. It hadn’t been the act of creating babies that had drawn her interest in studying medicine. It had been care of the offspring. And yet, the more time she spent in the lab, the more she learned about what actually went on there, the more she wondered if perhaps she should’ve chosen a different focus. She swallowed hard and rubbed a hand across her forehead, trying not to think about it. If what Cloud’s friend, Deer, said were true, Rain would never be able to become a practicing Neonatal Physician.
Cloud tugged on Rain’s arm and pulled her closer to her on the sidewalk that ran along the road as a group of older girls came by, laughing and not paying any attention at all to the pair coming their direction. Rain stepped out of the way just in time to avoid colliding with one of them. “Thanks.”
Cloud nodded, her eyes following the gaggle of six as they went by. “They must be on their way to IW,” she said, shaking her head slowly. “I just don’t understand why some girls think it’s so entertaining. It’s a duty at best.”
Rain’s blue eyes focused on the girls for a moment before she turned back around. Mostly, she agreed with Cloud’s as
sessment. She had one of her weekly appointments at the Insemination Ward tomorrow—and she certainly wouldn’t be walking there in a group of girls laughing. Although, 24C did make things a little easier....
She realized Cloud was still talking and caught the end of her sentence, “It’s not supposed to be fun.”
“Right, I agree.” She hoped the first part of whatever Cloud had stated was actually something she shared her sentiment about, but since she had no idea what she’d said, she could only just suppose. “When do you go again?”
“Thursday,” Cloud said, her eyes downcast. “I really wish I didn’t have to.”
“You’re twenty-two, aren’t you?” Rain asked, thinking Cloud was a year and a few months older than her. “Still in your practice rounds?”
“Yes, and those girls looked to be a year or two older than me. They can’t possibly be in mating yet.”
“No, I don’t think so.” Rain turned all the way around and looked at the group who disappeared inside of the medical building, using the entrance closest to IW, as all of the girls called it. Rain spun back around, making sure she didn’t run into anything this time. “I have heard there’s not too much difference between the two though, just whether or not a woman can fulfill her duties and become a Mother.”
“Well, I’m not looking forward to that either,” Cloud admitted. “Having my offspring taken from me to be grown in a machine doesn’t sound particularly motherly to me.”
Rain looked at her sharply. While she wasn’t excited about becoming a mother either, she knew better than to say it out loud. Not that she always followed all of the rules. In fact, she was thinking of breaking an implied one later that day, if Mist were around and up to it. Still, it wasn’t smart of Cloud to start speaking out against the rules of the Motherhood. “Cloud, it’ll be all right,” Rain assured her as the front steps of Weather House came into view ahead of them.
The structure was large enough to house four years of weather girls, almost four hundred girls in total, as well as their Mothers, which were four per year, sixteen total, and the Head Mother, Thunder, who was twenty years their senior. Naming in the Independent Nation of Michaelanburg, which was the formal name of the country recognized by the rest of the world, was according to ten criteria and rotated every year: plants, animals, natural elements, weather, colors, gems, land masses, historical cities, legends, and bodies of water. Likewise, the naming committee in each town was careful to register each girl’s name so that none were repeated within a lifetime. Rain was the only Rain in her town—Gretchintown, and her official name should she ever relocated would be Rain Gretchintown. She imagined there were other Rains, probably one in each of the other eleven cities in Michaelanburg, each named for a heroine of the revolution, a lieutenant in Grand-Mother Michaela Torres’s victorious army, but just in case there should ever be any confusion, each girl also had an identifying number. Rain’s happened to be 8,253,309, which she assumed meant over 8 million other girls had been created in Michaelanburg in the last one hundred and seventy-five years since women had thrown off the heavy hand of men and established themselves as rulers in parts of what used to be known as the United States of America. What else was out there, Rain wasn’t completely sure, but sometimes she wanted to find out. Other times, she was content to stay in Gretchintown her entire life and never cross the border of their little haven, an invisible barrier every woman who lived in Michaelanburg was apprised of from the moment she was old enough to graduate from Nursery and move into one of the houses. One must never, ever cross those barriers, no matter what. The dangers that lurked outside of Michaelanburg were rarely discussed, but the idea of places where men were free and could do as they chose were enough to put the necessary amount of fear into the citizens of the relatively small nation, especially those who lived in border cities, like Gretchintown
Following Cloud up the wide marble steps, across the porch and past the ornate white pillars, through the thick mahogany doors, Rain attempted to listen to her friend’s recounting of what she’d discovered in her chemistry class earlier in the day, a class Rain only had on Tuesdays and Fridays, whereas Cloud was in the Monday, Wednesday rotation. Rain was having trouble focusing. Thoughts of what else was out there had her thinking about what she’d discovered in the woods a few weeks ago with Mist, and even though she knew it was dangerous to go back, she hoped her friend would be up to another jaunt into the forest because sometimes a little bit of danger was the only adventure Rain got to experience.
Chapter Two
Mist was in their shared room, her nose glued to her tablet, and Rain would’ve assumed she was studying for one of her classes if she didn’t know her friend better. Mist’s caramel blonde hair was down, flowing across her back, frizz setting in with the afternoon and Mist’s fingers constantly playing through it. Rain couldn’t help but smile at her as she watched from the doorway of the room the pair shared with two other girls. When they were twenty-five, in four years, they’d be able to move to their own quarters, on a higher floor, should they choose to. Or they could stay in shared accommodations, if they preferred. Most women decided to stay with the same pod until they reached Grand-Motherhood, unless they chose to marry, in which case they’d be given one of the apartments on the other side of the building where couples were given more privacy. While there were benefits to marriage, Rain didn’t think that was the route for her. Not having to visit IW anymore would definitely be a good thing--as would not having to become a Mother. But she just didn’t feel the same sort of attraction to other women the way the Marrieds did. Rumors that some of them faked it to get out of IW or other duties seemed farfetched to her. After all, attending regular sessions at IW so as to reach Motherhood was an esteemed part of their society, not one to be tossed aside lightly. As for becoming a Mother, well, Rain could appreciate that they all had a duty to carry on womankind, but never knowing what would become of her children was an unsettling idea to consider.
Rain pushed all of that aside as she strolled into the room and put her backpack on her designated hook. Mist finally noticed her and looked up from her tablet. It was a nature video she had been watching, just as Rain had imagined. Mist was certainly more aptly named than she was. “Hey,” Rain said over her shoulder, finding the jeans she was looking for and stepping behind the privacy screen to change her clothes. “How’s your day been?”
“Good,” Mist said, a lilt to her voice. “We got out of agriculture class a little early, so I went out to the woods.”
Her voice was a whisper, despite the fact that the door to the hallway was closed and their roommates, Stormy and Sun, were not in the room. Still, Rain understood why she was whispering. She stuck her head around the screen momentarily as she fumbled with her black T-shirt. “Without me?”
“Sorry,” Mist said with a shrug. She was up now and crossing to the screen as Rain finished changing and dropped her uniform down the laundry shoot. The laundry girls would clean it and get it back to her, thanks to the scannable code sewed into every garment each girl was owned. Every girl served in the laundry room for at least three years, between the ages of ten and thirteen, and Rain had enjoyed her time there, but not enough to want to be a full-time laundress when she grew up, like the women who supervised the workers. There were also seamstresses who designed and sewed the clothing, which was also a highly regarded task, since it acknowledged the history of women, though some found it demeaning. Still, Rain had always known she wanted to work in medicine, though her current confusion about exactly what path she should take seemed to become further muddled the older she got, rather than clearing up as it tended to for so many others.
Rain stepped from behind the screen and sat down on her bed, the bottom bunk across from Mist’s. It was a decent sized room, large enough for the four beds, a programming screen on the wall, and a sitting area consisting of a large sofa and two chairs between the beds and the door, in front of the programming screen. But the women ate all of their meals in t
he cafeteria, and any snacks or other food were also consumed in the main hall where there was also plenty of seating and a programming screen. The screen in the cafeteria replayed videos about great Mothers that had come before them over and over again, reminding the girls of all the sacrifices other women had made so that they could enjoy the comforts they had today, living in a world where men could no longer hurt them. Most of the girls ignored those films that played in the background like white noise, preferring the programming that was available on each girls’ individual tablet. Many of the fictitious videos available, even the new ones, were so similar to the girls’ everyday life, they didn’t spend a lot of time watching programming anyway--except for people like Mist who loved to watch the videos of nature and animals and other non-plotted programming.
“Did you go back out there?” Rain asked, fixing the cuff of her jeans as Mist dropped down beside her. There was plenty of room for the girls to sit upright without hitting their heads on the bottom of the upper bunks.
The blonde shook her head, and her eyes began to sparkle slightly, the way they always did when she had something she wanted to say but she was afraid to say it. Rain looked at the door. Closed tightly. She had friends in Communications and knew the rumors that someone was always listening in on conversations, even in private rooms, wasn’t true. “Did you find something… else?” Rain asked.
