by Alma Nilsson
There was one class that Babette did enjoy, which was a revelation to both herself and the other women, and that was religion class. She had never thought of herself as a particularly spiritual person before, and she didn’t know if she would ever honestly believe in the Alliance gods. Still, she enjoyed the myths surrounding them, and the prayers came surprisingly naturally to her. Sometimes she wondered when she was saying a prayer in the House Human shrine, particularly in front of the goddess of home, if they really were the Lost People as it felt effortless. But Babette would never tell anyone about this feeling as most of the other women still regarded the Alliance religion and rituals as something that they must suffer through.
Babette was excited when she received her Alliance IC on their second day there. She immediately set up an Alliance social account and added some of the women she had already met in House Human as the contacts and began following the starships Zuin and Fira. She thought it was interesting to get updates on the ships and their crews. Especially since Captain Kara was featured quite regularly, not doing anything in particular but merely being human. Babette imagined her to be a strong risk-taker who didn’t care what anyone thought of her, and she was proud that such a woman represented human women in the Alliance, even if Kara was not technically in House Human, she was still very active in the House. And this made Babette feel safe, that Jane and Kara were looking after all of them. And this was a strange feeling for Babette. She had never considered that she would need someone to look out for her before or the importance of being part of a group. But then she reminded herself she was on the other side of the galaxy living with aliens. Of course, it would be more important now that she be a part of a group than ever before.
The other thing Babette particularly liked about Kara was that she didn’t seem to pay much mind to a lot of the Alliance rules she didn’t like. This led Babette to believe that there was some understanding and leeway for humans in the Alliance, that maybe they weren’t entirely expected to be one-hundred percent Alliance in every aspect of their lives, which was a comfort as well. She had already begun to notice that Alliance people could be quite contradictory, saying one thing while physically doing another. At first, she thought her translator was malfunctioning, but after it happened numerous times, and she discussed it with some of the other women, Babette concluded that Alliance people were really doing these contradictory things at the same time.
After weeks of cultural studies and training, Babette was given a job at the Capital City Library as a junior assistant to one of the librarians. This was the last place that Babette wanted to work. However, when she suggested that she would instead work in a clothing shop, as she had done on Earth, she was informed that as she was of maximum class, that working in a clothing shop was only for middling class people and therefore was out of the question. Every morning after the morning meal, Babette walked through the busy city 20 minutes to the Capital City Library. There she was the Junior Assistant to Chief Librarian Zola.
Chief Librarian Zola had been so impressed with Doctor Drusilla that she had specifically requested a human from the new 1,000 as her assistant. She saw Babette as her pet project and was determined to make the young woman as good of an Alliance citizen as possible. She was convinced that these human women could conform and fit well into Alliance society if they were only educated and directed in the right ways. And the only way that would happen would be through good leadership and discipline.
Babette didn’t hate Librarian Zola, but she definitely was frightened of her and felt that she often demanded too much. Babette found her work at the library so dull that she often made mistakes. She didn’t know how people could focus on such tedious tasks for such long periods. She tried to come up with games to keep her mind focused on the tasks at hand, but often she caught herself not concentrating and then realizing too late she had made more mistakes. Usually, too many mistakes to go back and fix. Her days were filled with her trying to concentrate, losing concentration, messing up, and then trying to do as much damage control as possible before leaving for the day. It was dreadful.
The only highlight of Babette’s days was when she saw Doctor James, who told her to call her ‘Dru.’ Babette was at first intimidated by the young woman even though they were almost the same age as Dru had an unmistakable air of mystery and power about her. And Babette knew that Dru had married an Imperial Doctor which gave her a very high status. Babette hadn’t been in the Alliance that long, but long enough to already be affected by their rigid ranking system and honoring those who were higher ranking than herself.
Dru had purposely gone to the library one week after a human had been assigned to be Chief Librarian Zola’s assistant. She had not been to House Human yet to meet the other women as she had been on honeymoon and was feeling good about her life now, so she wasn’t ready to be reminded of her lonely days at House Human. She actually didn’t know if she ever wanted to step back in that building again.
When Dru spotted the tall and slender blonde woman, who actually looked gorgeous in the terrible Alliance style dresses, she expected the woman to be spoilt and haughty. However, as she approached, Dru quickly read her mind and was surprised and a little charmed that Babette was nothing of the sort, she was humble and genial.
“Hi,” Dru said quietly as she approached. “Would you like to have a quick chat in my private room?” Dru still had the private room Ket had rented for her. She didn’t really need it anymore, but she hadn’t released it yet either, and now it was convenient that she had it.
Babette had not seen the other human woman approaching her and so was surprised to see the red-headed woman standing right behind her. She looked into her green eyes and was transfixed for a moment; it was the oddest feeling. “Hi. Yes, only for a minute, though,” Babette replied softly, “If Librarian Zola sees me slacking, she will have a fit, and I’ve already made more mistakes than usual this morning.”
Dru smiled and easily comforted her through influence by a slight touch, “Don’t worry, Librarian Zola and I are friends. She will understand. You’re the first woman from the thousand that I’ve had the pleasure to meet.” She guided Babette to her private room and then closed the door. “Now, we can talk. Please sit down. Tell me, how are things at House Human?”
Babette sat uncomfortably. She felt like she was being interviewed. “Everything is going well. It’s a nice place. We are learning a lot.”
Dru was reading Babette’s thoughts as she spoke and was relieved that for this woman, she was actually delighted to be in the Alliance and at House Human. “Madame Bai and Jane treating you all well?”
Babette laughed a little, “Yes, except maybe too many classes.”
Dru smiled. She could feel that Babette wasn’t a dumb woman, but she didn’t like to study either. Dru searched further into her mind, she found that Babette strived for status quo, to fit in, to be on the winning side but not a champion of it. And then suddenly, Dru stumbled on Babette’s thoughts about the Alliance religion, as she was thinking about the shrine at House Human. Dru was pleased, “But surely, not all the classes are boring?”
“Are you reading my mind?” Babette put her hands on either side of her head as if that would stop Dru from being able to read her mind.
Dru laughed, “I’m sorry, it’s an occupational hazard. You know all the Alliance doctors are clairvoyant to one extent or another? Sometimes I just do it without thinking. Don’t worry, I can’t read anything you aren’t thinking about consciously,” she lied.
“I heard doctors were mind-readers, but it seems so strange. I just can’t believe it’s real.”
“Well, it’s real, just like a lot of their other strange customs.”
“Have you always been able to read minds, or is this something you learned here?”
“You can only learn to harness it, you either are born with the skill or not. It is not something you can acquire.”
“Is it a gene then? Like good eyesight?” Babette was fascinat
ed, but her mind kept nagging at her, Witch, witch, so she wanted to set her mind straight that this was no magic.
“I’m no witch,” Dru said calmly. “Although on Earth, I have been called that, among other things.”
“Where are you from?”
“The Exterior,” Dru said evenly, studying Babette’s reaction. She only recently began telling the truth about her origins.
“I wasn’t expecting you to say that,” Babette said, surprised. “But I’m from Natchez, so I’m not one to judge. No one can control where they are born.”
“Or to whom,” Dru commented, searching the memories that Babette had thought of when she mentioned her hometown and family.
Babette gave her a guilty smile, “How did you escape?”
“I walked out.”
“I guess that’s why some people might call you a witch. I knew a man sent there who died trying to escape.”
Dru shrugged, “I was lucky.”
“I heard you married recently. How is that if you don’t mind me asking?” Babette was curious as to what an Alliance marriage would really be like. She had read about it and talked about it in their cultural class; however, she had yet to meet a human woman who was actually married to an Alliance man until now.
“I like being married, but the run-up to it and the courting can be terrible. I found it terrible.”
“But you like your husband?” Babette still struggled, actually saying the word, ‘husband.’ It was like calling someone a ‘knight’ or another very old-fashioned word.
“Oh, I love my husband, and he loves me, even though we aren’t supposed to speak about that. It’s just Alliance people have some strange ideas about what is romantic. I don’t know if it is because I had a peculiar upbringing, but I didn’t think any of the courting was romantic.”
“That’s good to know,” Babette said honestly. “I’ve only met a few men briefly on our voyage over.”
“And?” Dru didn’t really need to ask, the memory was so strong and fresh it hit her like a snowball. She had to control herself from not laughing.
“Boring.”
Dru let her smile out then, “I’m sure you’ll meet less boring men soon. Unfortunately, you all were put in quarantine in the Space Port One Hospital.” Dru was reading her thoughts intently now, trying to discern what Doctor Anu was really up to, but all she got was nothing. Before Babette could speak, she asked, “Do you remember anything about your time in the hospital?”
“No, I thought you knew. They wiped our memory of our time there because, apparently, the treatment was too horrific to have us remember.”
Dru was surprised, “Why did you think I would know?”
Babette realized then she said something she shouldn’t have but felt it wasn’t her secret to keep, and maybe some good would come out of telling a human doctor, “Jane said that she would have consulted you about wiping our memories, but you were ill yourself.”
“Funny, she never mentioned it to me even when I had fully recovered,” Dru said more to herself than to Babette. She would need to do some investigating. This was not right, and Jane was up to something. “I’m sure she just forgot, I married and then was on honeymoon. I only recently returned to the Capital City.”
“What is a honeymoon?”
“It’s a holiday after the marriage ceremony between you and your husband. There are a few different places you can go to on the Capital Planet. You spend four weeks together at these honeymoon resorts,” Dru couldn’t help but smile when she thought of how she and Ket had spent their four weeks. She wished she could go back.
Babette didn’t miss Dru’s smile and said, “It sounds really nice.”
“You’ll see,” Dru said reassuringly. “Now I better let you get back to work, Chief Librarian Zola only has so much patience. But if you’d like to meet again, just message me.”
“I will,” said Babette wondering if her offer was really genuine or if she was just polite. Dru was not the kind of woman Babette would have become friends with on Earth. However, they weren’t on Earth anymore and were never going to be, maybe she needed to broaden her horizons. And if she could give Dru anything, it was that at least she was polite to Babette, unlike many of the other human women, even knowing that she was a lowly Librarian’s assistant.
Dru walked the short distance back to the hospital and went to her office. She immediately opened an RVM with Doctor Anu.
“The gods be great today, good to see you, Doctor James.”
“The gods are good, and you, Doctor Anu.”
“What can I help you with? Do you have a medical question?”
Dru really hated this woman, “Or sorts. I was just informed that all the human women’s memories from their time in the Space Port One Hospital have been wiped. I would like to know why.”
“As you can see from their records, which you, of course, have access to, they were all infected with the Zoipli virus and required treatment which many of them found traumatic. It was decided with Head of House Human’s permission that we wipe their memories so that their first memories would not be so traumatic,” Anu left off saying, ‘We didn’t want any more mistakes like you.’
“How could bedrest and light-therapy be traumatic unless you treated them in an unconventional manner which would be breaking protocol?”
“These human women are more delicate than you and your crew. They were traumatized. Read my report.”
“I’m prepared to raise a standard.”
“If you want to raise a standard against me, I can raise one against you.”
Dru was quiet. There were quite a few things Anu could raise a standard against her for, and she needed to decide if Anu’s crime would be higher than any of hers. “What could you possibly say against me?”
“I know your true age. Now that there are more human women here…”
Dru interrupted her, “I don’t know what you are talking about. I am of legal age.”
“Of course, you are, and I acted in the best interest of our new human sisters. Now if you will excuse me, I have patients to see as I am sure you do too. May the gods grant you peace.”
“Walk in their light,” Dru said and closed the connection with a thump. She put her head between her hands and thought, What could Anu be up to? And is Jane knowing or naively ignorant? Dru would have to see Babette again. If she could get Babette to come to her examination room at the hospital, she could probe her mind and maybe uncover what was supposed to be wiped. She knew this was possible, Ket had told her about it. She would have to teach herself how to do it and somehow get Babette to come and see her. Maybe an unfortunate accident, Dru thought.
Babette took a sip of zota and then laughed as she and some of the other women from House Human sat in the drawing-room near the great fire looking at images of eligible young men, some of whom they might be meeting tonight at their first Assembly.
“Wait, go back,” Babette said. “I love that they pose in their professions. Look, he must be an engineer.”
“He can check my inner workings anytime,” laughed another young woman.
Of course, all the images of the men were in the nude. Alliance people loved their bodies, and young men had professional portraits of themselves nude on their social media pages to show women what they might expect. Babette and the other women had at first found these pictures almost embarrassing to look at, but Madame Bai had explained to them, ‘If you meet these men and you tell them you’ve seen and liked their images, they will feel complimented. They all work very hard on their physiques and are very proud. Their good appearances are to attract and keep a wife.’ From that moment on, Babette tried to be more open-minded, but she didn’t know how she would react if she recognized any of the men, she had seen nude pictures of. And then with that thought, another thought occurred to her, What if I see the man who had my quarters on the Fira? Then she did blush. Thankfully, none of the other women took any notice of Babette’s embarrassment.
After a g
ood 45 minutes of drinking zota the women were escorted to the Assembly. It was held in a great hall, lit by artificial candlelight, and the room was lined with some statues of the gods. Babette talked with many men, but only one really held her attention. His name was Tem, and he was in the military, of course, as all maximum class men were. He was second in command on a Beta ship, which Babette knew would be very good for her. Madame Bai had explicitly told them what kind of men they could expect to marry them, given their ranks. Some of the other women had found this information rude, but Babette thought it was useful as she was new to this culture. She didn’t really know where she stood. However, she was fascinated that the other women didn’t realize that on Earth they had been limited too. She had always understood she was limited to the working class.
Tem wasn’t the most handsome man Babette talked to that night, but he was the most charming. Which in a sea full of dull fish being charismatic becomes more important than being good-looking.
Tem thought this human woman Babette was the most exotic creature he had ever seen. He realized early on that she didn’t want to hear about how structured his days were or how well he had planned his future. She wanted to listen to stories. She wasn’t an Alliance woman. She was human. He and his friends had all been talking about these women non-stop since they arrived, and everyone had a different idea of how he was going to get a human to fall in love with him. However, after speaking to Babette and observing some of his friends, he realized that for Babette, she considered all of them stable enough for just being in the Empire and of maximum class. And that she wanted someone to talk to. It was a strange thing, but Tem would comply.
