Laricon's Ways

by Patricia Green

  Nina stuck out her chin a bit and defied the instruction.

  The matron clucked her tongue. "Take off the cape or I'll call the guards and they'll do it, none too gently I assure you."

  Nina looked into the woman's brown, birdlike eyes, and saw iron there. She dropped the yellow cape.

  Those dark eyes roved over her critically as the woman circled her, clicking her tongue now and then. When she came round to Nina's front again she said, "I'm Matron. I have no first name, nor last. You'll simply call me Matron. I'm in charge of the women in the Great Man's Palace. I didn't come to this position easily, and I won't be defied or refused. Do you understand so far?"

  Nina nodded.

  "You will say, 'Yes, Matron.'"

  Gritting her teeth, Nina ground out, "Yes, Matron."

  "Good. Apparently, the Great Man has chosen you to be his consort. I don't know why he chose you specifically, and I don't care. My job is to train you to be obedient, keep you clean and attractive, and make sure you don't get used by other men without his permission. Acknowledge."

  "Yes, Matron."

  "What's your name, girl?"

  "Nina St–"

  "Nina is enough. You have no last name here."

  "Matron," Nina broke in, "I don't understand what this is all about. I don't want to be fuckin' 'trained' and I'm getting pretty damn tired of being ordered around!"

  Matron slapped her across the face, then looked slightly amused, her piercing brown eyes glittering. "This is your home from now on. You won't be going back to wherever you came from. No one has; no one will. Do you understand?"

  "This is kidnapping! It's illegal!"

  "You couldn't possibly be so stupid or the Great Man wouldn't have chosen you for his consort." She took Nina's wrist and dragged her to the right-most of the three doors at the back of the large chamber. Inside was a medical suite, a gynecological table to the left and a great many drawers and cabinets to the right. The lights overhead were bright and glaring. Nina came to a halt upon seeing the room. The matron tugged at her wrist until she took several steps inside. Another woman, this one dressed in a diaphanous, translucent blue gown came in behind Nina. The matron indicated her with a wave of her hand. "This is Monica, our Med-Tech. She'll be examining you and fixing up any damage caused during transport. Were you raped?" Nina shook her head. "Very well. You will comply with her instructions, or you will be punished."

  "Damn it! I don't want to be examined. What more can you people do to me?!" Nina cried out. She raced to the door and found it locked.

  "Stupid, stupid, stupid," muttered the matron as Nina desperately tried to get the door open. Nina felt a sting in her right buttock and whirled around to see the matron standing nearby, a hypodermic spray in her hand. "Compliance is required. You'll get that eventually."

  Nina's knees began to get rubbery, her limbs loose. She sank to the floor, not sedated, but entirely relaxed. "Oh God," she whispered. "What have you done?"

  "Just a little obedience-helper, you might say." She nodded to the other woman. "Monica, help her onto the table and see what you see. The traders are sloppy with their scans. Let me know if you find anything troubling."

  Monica took Nina by the arm and got her onto the table. Her feet went into the stirrups almost of their own accord. Although she was paying attention, it was a little hard to concentrate. It must have been something strong they'd shot her up with!

  The speculum was cold, as they always are, and Monica was none too gentle as she poked and prodded. Nina couldn't seem to care, though it was uncomfortable and humiliating. "Nothing unusual here." A finger poked up Nina's anus and she gasped at the cold slipperiness of the invasion. "No anal damage either. A nice, clean female, I'd say." She patted Nina's crotch lightly with her gloved hand, and got up to make notes on a pad. "How many sex-partners have you had?"

  "None of your damn business!"

  "Calm down," Monica advised. "I'm just going to write down ten."

  Nina gasped. "I have not!"

  Monica looked at her expectantly.

  "Four," Nina ground out, reminded again that one of those was Michael O'Malley. The hated Michael O'Malley she revised.

  Monica snipped off the green ankle band and affixed it to the data pad. "I'm going to run a scanner over the rest of you and we'll put a little topical anesthetic on those nipples. They must hurt."

  Nina nodded.

  "Yeah, well, you'll get used to it." The scanner showed Nina to be in fine health, albeit with bruised nipples. "She's a good specimen," Monica said as she turned back to the matron.

  "No surprise there. The Great Man knows quality when he sees it."

  "What a waste, though," Monica murmured.

  "Hush," the matron sharply replied.

  Her limbs were still feeling heavy and disjointed, so they helped her from the table and the matron led her from the medical room. Nina hoped she'd never have to see it again.

  They moved back into the big chamber and through it to a deep alcove to the left of the entry and through another tall door. The room they entered was somewhat steamy but bright from indirect lights up against the ceiling. Large glass windows would let in the outdoor light during the sun-hours. Three other nude women lounged within, around a lovely, steaming pool of blue water.

  "Into the water, Nina," the matron ordered.

  "In? But I don't know how to swim!" So much water was virtually unheard of for recreation or bathing on Earth. It was considered a waste of resources. Sonic showers took care of cleanliness, and if one was really determined, there were areas of oceans and lakes to swim in, though even that was limited to prevent ecological degradation.

  Nina felt the slap on her buttock about a second after she heard it. It resonated vaguely through her tissues.

  "Address me properly, girl!"

  "Yes, Matron," she replied sleepily, and rubbed her hot bottom. Gotta remember that, she told herself.

  "You won't drown. It's only a meter deep. And Suze and Sally will make sure. Right, girls?" She gestured to the two women sitting close together, dangling their feet in the water. Nina had to look twice to decide that they weren't twins, despite both being buxom brunettes with slightly Asian eyes.

  "Of course, Matron."

  "They're Walker's women. And that one over there is Crystal. She belongs to Army Chief General Liebmann," the Matron supplied. "You'll meet the others later."

  "Others … Matron?" Nina asked as she lowered herself into the incredibly luxurious water.

  "Yes, there are a dozen consort-class women in the Palace right now. Most taken, but a few spares reserved for guests. And, of course, there are the bang girls, but you won't be spending much time with them."

  Nina was amazed to hear these women spoken of like towels to be used and put back in the laundry. Yet they just sat quietly. Why didn't they object? And what were "bang girls?"

  The matron apparently felt she'd done enough for the moment. Once Nina was up to her neck in the fragrant blue pool, the older woman walked away and out the door.

  "So you're the one, hm?" Suze or Sally said.

  "I'm sorry?"

  "She means the one to replace Irena. For the Great Man," the other supplied.

  Nina smiled weakly. "I don't know. I guess so."

  "He can't get it up, you know," Crystal said. Her blonde hair lay in a straight silky sheet down her back, but she flung a non-existent strand off her shoulder anyway.

  "Crystal!" said Suze.

  "Watch what you say," said Sally.

  Crystal sniffed and moved from her lounge to climb down into the pool. "I don't care. Liebmann will protect me. And anyway, she'll find out soon enough."

  Suze and Sally looked at each other, then back at Crystal. "You'll wind up a bang-girl," one remonstrated.

  Crystal paled slightly through the flush of warm water rising up her body. "I'd kill myself first."

  The brunettes laughed. "Oh sure. You'll slit your wrists with sharpened fingernails."

&nb
sp; "Wait," Nina said. "I saw a woman in the outer chamber with 'BANG' written on her belly. That's a bang-girl, right?"

  Suze and Sally both nodded. Crystal ignored her.

  "Well, what makes a woman into a bang-girl? What is a bang-girl?"

  "We don't like to talk about it," Suze answered.

  "Just be good and you won't have to worry about it," Sally added.

  "But…"

  The other women's faces were closed, and Nina turned to Crystal. "Will you tell me?"

  Crystal moved languidly through the water until she was very close to Nina. She slid her manicured hand around Nina's waist as she spoke conspiratorially, her green eyes glittering. "Bang-girls are the general use girls. Anyone who wants them can have them anytime. They're girls who've misbehaved too many times."

  "God…"

  Crystal laughed lightly. "You don't know the half of it." Her hand moved over the small of Nina's back, and Nina had to work at not showing her discomfort. "You see, we all get used, at least by one man, so that's not enough. They punish a disobedient girl by surgically removing her clitoris first, right before they tattoo 'BANG' on her belly."

  Nina gasped.

  "Not only do they serve any free man who wants them, but they can never, ever, enjoy it. All they do is produce babies for the country. If they don't die from abuse first." She moved her hand over Nina's flank to rest on Nina's thigh. "I'd rather be dead, wouldn't you?"

  Nina felt sick and didn't try to hide it. This place was much worse than she could have imagined. She was in seriously dangerous territory and she was going to have to use all her wits to come out alive and whole. "I think I'm going to throw up," she said, moving out of the pool as quickly as her drugged muscles would allow. She made it to a corner before her stomach let go, and she retched and retched until she was too exhausted to retch anymore.

  And all the while, Crystal laughed uproariously.

  Chapter 3

  The maintenance drone which whizzed in to clean up the vomit also alerted the matron. The older woman came quickly and led Nina to a hallway on the other side of the big chamber, throwing a dark look over her shoulder at the three women left at the bath.

  The hallway had a series of glass doors, each leading to a small chamber. Nina's was the third down the right side. The chamber was comfortable enough, although only three meters on a side. Her bed was soft and covered with cushy white comforters. There was a small table and one chair on one side of the glass door, and a four-drawer chest on the other. Everything was white.

  "Are you sick?" the matron asked as she sat Nina on the bed.

  "No, Matron. Not really."

  The matron eyed her suspiciously. "Those girls did something, didn't they? What did they do?"

  Nina knew better than to get the others in trouble on her very first day. "N-nothing, Matron. It must be a reaction to the damn drug you gave me, or something."

  The matron clicked her tongue. "Maybe. Maybe just nerves. You need to watch your language. It's not seemly for a consort to curse so much as you do. We'll address that in training, of course." She moved toward the door and slid it open. "Whatever your illness is, if it gets worse, you let me know immediately. There's a button right by the door here. That calls Monica or me." She turned in the doorway. "And the toilet is down the hall where we walked. You'll hear a tone when a meal is served. Put on a garment and be back in the main chamber directly after that tone. If I have to come and get you, you'll be punished. Acknowledge."

  "Yes, Matron. I'll be there."

  "Good." She closed the door behind her and hurried away down the hall.

  A quick search of the room found nothing unexpected, except for the contents of one of the four drawers. Inside were seven folded, translucent robes of various shades, but unlike the robes she'd seen on Monica, hers had a gold filigree around the neckline. These were obviously her garments. No underwear, no shoes, just flimsy, clingy things with odd catches on the bodice.

  Nina donned a soft blue robe and went out to the main chamber. She tried to open the big silver doors, but they were solidly locked.

  A voice came from behind her as she rested her forehead on the cool steel doors, thinking. "What are you doing?"

  Nina turned to see a very petite strawberry blonde with rich brown eyes watching her curiously. "Trying to get the hell out! There must be a way."

  "No. But you will certainly see other parts of the Palace in time," the girl said. She fussed with a wrinkle in her lavender robe.

  Nina hurried over to her and took her by the arms. "Look, don't you want out? Maybe we could work together and find a way."

  The girl laughed – a soft tinkling sound. "You're new. Are you a spare, as I am?"

  Nina released her with disgust. No comrade there. "Spare? What the hell is that?"

  "A spare is an honorable palace position where a girl provides entertainment and comfort to council members and their honored guests."

  "You sleep with whoever asks. Is that what you're saying?"

  "Sleep? Well … perhaps. Generally, I provide comfort and entertainment. Though I have only been in the palace two days myself. I have not been needed thus far."

  "Yeah, well, I guess I'm not 'a spare,'" Nina grumbled. "I'm supposed to belong to some fucking old man."

  The younger woman grasped Nina's hands and smiled. "Oh, the honor! You're to be the consort to the Great Man?" she gushed. "Oh, I would give anything to be in your place!"

  Nina frowned. "This is too damned weird. Weren't you kidnapped, too? Or are you drugged and hallucinating?"

  The girl's brow wrinkled in puzzlement. "I was raised on The Farm. Not like you who was brought here specially. Maybe you think that's an inferiority, but let me assure you–"

  "Whoa! I don't think it's an inferiority. I'm just trying to figure this place out, okay?"

  The girl nodded.

  "So … this place is your home."

  Again, the girl nodded.

  "Well, sister, this place isn't my home. I'd like to get back to my home, as a matter of fact."

  The girl shook her head and sighed. "You'll learn with training. All you older ones do eventually."

  Nina bit her lip in frustration. There was no information to be had from the petite strawberry blonde. "Fine. I'll learn. Whatever. I'm Nina. What's your name?"

  "Alyssa."

  "Nice to meet you, Alyssa. Too bad I won't be here long enough for us to get to know each other."

  Alyssa took Nina's hand and patted it. "I think you are wrong, Nina. Perhaps we can find the time to become friends. I would very much like to hear your stories of the world which was your home."

  Nina smiled, though the expression did not reach her eyes. What a twit! "Yeah, maybe sometime."

  Alyssa clapped her small hands with delight. "Excellent!" She stood on tiptoes and kissed Nina on the mouth lightly.

  Nina drew back in surprise, just as a tone sounded.

  "Come," Alyssa said, tugging on Nina's hand. "Dinner is served. I am hungry, aren't you?"

  Nina's response was a sigh.

  She followed Alyssa through the left-most door in the large chamber and discovered it was a large dining room. The walls were draped with pale green velvet, the table a deep red wood. Alyssa took a straight-backed chair toward the middle of the table, and pointed at the empty chair at one end of the table. "You go there," she advised.

  Nina did as instructed, taking the key seat but wondering if she was really meant to. All the chairs at the sides were quickly filled by lovely women in the ever-present diaphanous, clingy, gowns.

  The matron showed up a moment later and took the head of the table for herself. She looked around the room at each of the women in a quick assessment, then clapped her hands.

  A door slid open along an inner wall and a girl of perhaps eleven wearing a black pinafore over a white blouse came in pushing a large cart of prepared plates. The food smelled delicious, and Nina suddenly realized how hungry she was. One by one the girl served a pl
ate to each woman; the matron first and Nina second. Nina's mouth watered as she looked down at the meat and vegetables on her plate. The serving sizes were fairly small, but she didn't care.

  Suddenly, the open door to the outer chamber was filled with Jerold Laricon himself. The women quickly scuffed back their chairs, opened their bodices to expose their breasts, and prostrated themselves on the floor. Nina viewed this with a gimlet eye, and instead, stood up and faced him. He took in the scene before him with a benevolent expression, walking softly to Nina.

  "You have not been trained yet, I know," he said. "So I will take a moment to instruct you myself." He looked her over then reached for the front of her robe. "These catches," he said, pulling them apart, "are meant to open quickly so that you may bare yourself and show the proper subservience to free males; all free males." He gazed hotly at her full breasts. "Any free male you encounter will expect you to reverence him so." His hands slid over her breasts and cupped them. "However, you are my property. Is that clear?"

  She nodded, her flesh squirming. "Yes, sir."

  He smiled, his yellow, crooked teeth showing. "And once those pretty tits are bared, you are to get down on your knees and lower your eyes. You will not seek the eyes of any free man, nor look at him unless you are spoken to. Is that also clear?"

  Nina's teeth were grinding together as she considered the debasing ritual. "Yes, sir."

  "I can see in your eyes that you consider it humiliating for women to respond to men this way." His hands continued caressing her breasts, her nipples rising against his palms despite her loathing. "But women have risen above their station over the last millennia, and here in Laricon we are doing our best to correct that sociological error. I assure you the women are much happier, knowing their place. And eventually, you will enjoy humbling yourself before me." He took her chin in hand and forced her to look up at him. "Now get down on your knees, press your pretty brown nipples to the floor and kiss my boots."

  Nina swore at him in her mind, growled softly to show her displeasure, but obeyed. The hard cold marble of the floor on her nipples brought a chilly determination to her heart. She stayed down after kissing his black hide boots, afraid that her expression would betray more fury than he would allow.