by Lance Berry
Sara pointed to the rear of the apartment, a confused look on her face. Mark smiled reassuringly. “I’m just trying to surprise her, is all. Have you been having a good day?”
“Uh-huh,” she replied quietly, joining in the conspiracy.
“How’s Peter been?”
“Okay.”
“Has Mara been feeding him a lot?”
Sara shrugged. “When he cries, and if it’s ‘cause he doesn’t need his diaper changed.”
Mark nodded. “Does she feed him in front of you? With the formula?”
Sara thought about it a minute, then shook her head. “She goes in his room or her room. She always tells me to stay here.
I don’t see her use the formula.”
Mark almost frowned, but kept it in check. It wouldn’t do for his youngest to see him disturbed. “Mrs. Tan is waiting outside. I’m going to have you go with her to her house for a bit. Would you like to play with Courtney and Tommy?”
Sara nodded enthusiastically, but then a curious look came over her face. “Is Mara in trouble?”
Mark’s mask almost slipped for an instant. “No, baby. But we do have to talk about some grown-up stuff. It’s important. I promise you, she’s not in trouble.”
Sara nodded, satisfied. “Okay.”
Mark led her to the door and opened it to reveal Kim Tan waiting outside—her youngest child, Tommy, half-dozing in a stroller while four year-old Courtney held tightly onto her mother’s hand. Courtney let go as soon as she saw Sara, and the two friends ran to each other and hugged. Mark nodded gratefully to Kim, and closed the front door.
“What are you doing?”
Mara gasped in shock, her head snapping around as she looked in horror at her father, who was standing in the door frame of Peter’s room. His hands rested securely on either side of his waist as he looked at his eldest daughter sitting in a chair next to the crib, breastfeeding her baby brother as if it were the most natural thing in the world for her to do.
Mark entered the room fully, going to his daughter’s dresser and rifling through the drawers. He found bra pads, two empty bottles of lactastisis and a couple of dsp’s. He quickly tabbed in override commands to break through his daughter’s passcodes, and found instructions on infant nursing, as well as copies of his work schedule. He threw the materials back into the drawer and wiped his hands as if he had touched something unclean.
The look of shock mixed with a type of revulsion on her father’s face automatically broke Mara’s heart. Everything she had done to care for her brother, to show her father how much she loved him and the family, seemed to come unraveled in that instant. Her body shuddered fiercely, and she burst into tears even as she tried in vain to pull her bra back up to cover her nakedness.
Peter’s mouth came unlatched from the breast, and the baby started crying. Mark hurried over, clutching him as firmly as he dared as he lifted him away from his sister. “Give him to me, give him to me…” He held the baby close to him, rocking him gently in an attempt to calm him while Mara slowly brought her bra up in trembling hands, fumbling to secure it.
Mark shook his head and turned away, humiliated enough for them both.
After a short while, Mark did manage to get Peter to calm down enough that it only took one mild burp for him to settle down into his crib for a nap. Mara managed to get herself dressed, and she and her father went to sit at the living room table. He stared at her a long while, trying to formulate what he had to say. Mara looked down at the floor, unable to meet his eyes. She started when he reached over and gently took her hand in his.
“Look at me.”
Three small words, uttered not as a command, but with so much love behind them, that she gasped as she did look up into his eyes, which seemed to reflect the pain and shame she felt.
“I got a call from Tallworth’s receptionist today,” Mark informed her. “I want you to tell me everything, right from the beginning. I want to know exactly how this came about. I love you, Mara, with all my heart—but no matter how old you get, even if you live to be a hundred, you are always going to be my baby girl. And I will not let anyone harm my baby girl.”
And with that reaffirmation of his love, Mara’s fears were dispelled. She threw herself into her father’s arms and new tears fell upon her cheeks. Yet these were tears of utter and complete relief, and they helped strengthen her as she told him everything.
Chapter 7
“Wow, you look great today,” Tallworth said as he closed the exam room door behind Mara. She wore the heels he liked, along with a mini-skirt and button down blouse. He had told her to come with her hair tied in a ponytail, which she did.
“Thank you,” she said softly, and reached into a small pocket in her skirt, producing an empty lactastisis bottle. “I need more pills—” she began, but the bottle slipped out of her fingers and to the floor at Tallworth’s feet. “I’m sorry,” she said hurriedly, but he waved her off and reached down to pick up the bottle. As he did, she surreptitiously reached behind her back with one hand, quietly turning the doorknob and pulling the door open just a crack. As he was still bent over, she deliberately walked past him, making certain he got a look at her legs.
Tallworth let out a small excited gust of air, following her in a hunched over manner like a dog sniffing another’s scent. He shoved the bottle into his pocket and stood, reaching out to lift up the back of Mara’s skirt. He shook his head disapprovingly.
“I told you to wear nothing underneath,” he said as he reached beneath the skirt and slapped the silken red fabric which covered her purity. “I do think there’s a spanking in your future, bad girl,” he added lasciviously. Mara wasn’t facing him, and so allowed herself a moment to grimace in rage and disgust at the touch of his hands upon her. To her surprise, she managed to instantly wipe away the expression as he grasped her arms and turned her to face him. “Why did you want me to not wear any panties today?”
Tallworth smiled, amused as always by her naivety. “Same reason I wanted you to wear a ponytail. I like to grab onto it from behind.” He looked her over a moment, his eyes gliding lustfully from her lips down to her breasts, lingering at what lay between her legs, hidden by the skirt. Mara couldn’t help it; she glanced at his pants and saw the bulge there, and knew what waited for her beneath. She had only seen it once, had only had to do that…thing…to it once, but now she knew that he had something entirely different in mind today.
When she looked up again, she saw him staring at her. He smiled knowingly, thinking she was eager to see it once more, when the reality could not have been any further from the truth.
He nodded. “It’s time, baby. Today’s your final lesson in womanhood.” He reached into his other pocket and pulled out a pea-green pill wrapped in plastic. He offered it to Mara, and she reticently took it in her hand. “What’s this?”
“It’s a pre-emp. It prevents pregnancy for up to a week.”
Mara’s eyes widened. “W-what—?”
Tallworth took off his medical coat and tossed it over a chair as he spoke. “When we’re done, I’m going to give you the code for the front door lock to my place. I’ll give you a schedule for when you should come over. You’ve been a good girl, very obedient, and I’m proud of you. As of today, we’re officially a couple.”
Mara glanced at the pill in shock, then back to him. Even with all he had done to her, all he had made her do, a part of her still couldn’t believe that he was so depraved. “No! I don’t want to do this!”
Tallworth chuckled in amusement as he unzipped his pants.
“You didn’t want to do a lot in the beginning, but you did.
Remember, I felt you tremble in my arms the first time. I didn’t force you to, you wanted it.”
“No I didn’t,” she said darkly, tears of anger beginning to well in her eyes.
“Oh, please. I seem to remember you swallowing like an old pro, a couple weeks ago.”
“I didn’t have a choice!”
“An
d you don’t now, either. Take the pill, get on the table and let’s get started.”
“NO!”
Tallworth’s face darkened, and he snatched the pill from her. He ripped off the plastic and before she even knew he had moved, he clamped his fingers tightly around her nose so hard she thought it would break. On reflex, her mouth opened to allow her to continue breathing, and Tallworth popped the pill into her mouth. She tried to fight him off, but he used his other hand to push her chin up, keeping her mouth closed. “Swallow it and you get to breathe. Swallow…”
Tears ran down Mara’s face as she swallowed, unable to do anything but comply with his wishes. As the pill slid easily down her throat, he released her mouth and nose and she fell back against the examination table, gasping for air. He reached down, pulling it out, and she tried to make a run for the door.
Tallworth grabbed her by the waist, spun her around and slammed her face down against the table, his sudden weight on top pinning her very effectively. “It takes about a minute for the pill to take effect,” he said, his short, heavy breaths pounding in her ear, “but I think it’ll be okay if we get started.
Worse comes to worst, I know a place we can go for an abortion.”
His weight kept her held in place as he pulled her skirt up and swiftly pulled her underwear down around her thighs. His strong hands forced her legs apart. Mara pushed against the table, trying to force him off, to no avail. “Dan, please,” she begged. “I don’t want to do this…STOP!!”
And as her voice rose on this last, there was a booming sound from the front of the office like a crack of thunder.
“GET THE HELL OFF OF HER!”
Mara slumped against the table as the pressure on her back suddenly eased up. She quickly pulled her panties up as she looked over her shoulder to see her father had entered the room, Zuk-lar handgun pointed squarely at Tallworth, who had moved away from her and raised his hands in surrender. Five security officers followed behind Mark, their faces mirroring his own anger and disgust upon seeing Tallworth standing helplessly with his penis dangling out, and realizing what was about to transpire in this room.
“Are you okay, baby?” Mark asked his daughter, barely sparing a glance in her direction—the entirety of his attention holding Tallworth in a hate-filled gaze.
Mara stood fully now, pulling her skirt down securely about her and wiping her tears away. “Yes, Daddy. I’m fine.”
Tallworth looked at her aghast. “Oh, you bitch…”
Mark was over to him so fast it seemed he had left an afterimage where he had been standing. He kicked out with his heavy regulation boot, nailing Tallworth squarely between his legs. The doctor cried out in agony as he fell to his knees, cradling his injured member with both hands.
“Get him again if you want, sir,” Mark’s second, Sumo, prodded. “I’m pretty certain none of us will see anything.”
There were a couple affirming nods from the other officers.
Mark stared at Tallworth a moment, then shook his head. “Oh, no. I’ve got something else in mind…”
Mark kicked Tallworth in the face, sending him sprawling onto his back, blood covering his upper lip from the remnants of his shattered nose. Mark knelt down, one knee coming down hard on the doctor’s chest, knocking the wind out of him further. He then grabbed Tallworth by the hair, forcing his head up, making the doctor look him in the eye. Mark then placed the Zuk-lar’s barrel firmly against Tallworth’s forehead, his finger tightening on the trigger…
“Dad, no!” Mara cried, and kicked his hand aside. The gun went off, scorching the floor only an inch away from Tallworth’s head. Tallworth shuddered, tears streaming down his face as he let out a pitiful moan. Mark grimaced and jumped up, away from him as the doctor began to urinate himself, the liquid spraying on his own leg and onto the floor.
Mark turned on his daughter. “Just what the hell do you think you’re—”
“Saving your career,” she snapped back. “He’s not worth ruining everything you’ve built here. And if you want real justice for me, then he needs to be alive to stand trial.” She stood only an inch or so apart from her father, eyes locked fiercely on his, unwilling to budge on the matter.
Mark stared back just as intensely, but he was finally the first to blink. He nodded very slowly, averting his gaze for a moment, then looking back at her. “Good thinking, Mara.
You’ve got your mother’s level head.”
With that, he wrapped an arm around his daughter, who eagerly leaned against him. Once Tallworth finished pissing himself, Sumo ordered a couple of the other officers to take him into custody. Mark read the doctor his rights, decked him once more for good measure, and the group left the office.
Chapter 8
In the year 2173, justice was swift. Gone were the millions of tiny loopholes that allowed a suspected criminal to be freed on the basis of circumstantial evidence, or the ability to plea-bargain for a lesser sentence. Tallworth was arrested, arraigned, and held in a cell until it was time for his trial, which took place within a matter of weeks. Based on the type of trial it was (in this case, non-consensual sexual acts and assault), the media were not alerted to the case, and the trial itself was ordered private and overseen by a single judge, who listened carefully and objectively to arguments from lawyers for both sides.
The only ones present in the court on the final day of trial were Judge Janice Warrington, Mark and Mara with their lawyer Arnold Lambston, Tallworth and his lawyer, Emilio Navarrez, and two bailiffs. Both sides finished their closing arguments, and then Judge Warrington addressed the group.
“First of all, I want both parties to know what a difficult case this was to hear. Not just because of the he-said, she-said nature of it, but the circumstances itself. While pondering the minute amount of evidence in this case, I have come to one conclusion which is absolutely irrefutable: Doctor Tallworth, for whatever reason, did deliberately mislead Mara Elliot in the purposeful use of the medicine lactastisis. The problem deciding in what category to actually judge this case is caused by the fact that at the time of the alleged incident, Miss Elliot was eighteen years old…and seventeen is considered a legal adult age under UEF law.”
Warrington let out a breath, then continued. “The only known, verified incident where Miss Elliot told Doctor Tallworth to stop his sexual advances was when he was apprehended, rather brutally,” she emphasized this last word as she shot Mark a stern glare, “by Captain Elliot and his security team. Another problem is posed by the fact that Doctor Tallworth’s receptionist reported to Captain Elliot only the facts of the misuse of the prescription medication, and her suspicions as to what Tallworth was doing with Miss Elliot behind closed doors. I am sorry to say that while my gut tells me that Miss Elliot was coerced into a sexual relationship with Doctor Tallworth, as an officer of this court, I cannot judge based on my gut. For all I will ever know, the intimate touching between the two adults might have been entirely consensual. I cannot therefore rule this as being a case of non-consensual sex.”
Tallworth allowed himself a brief smile as his lawyer clapped him on the shoulder. The Elliots’ lawyer, however, shot to his feet. “Your Honor, with all due respect, we had enough solid evidence based on Miss Elliot’s erratic behavior after her first visit to Tallworth and—”
“Be silent,” Warrington said sharply, pointing a long finger at him. “You’re a good lawyer, Lambston, but if you say one more word out of turn, you’ll be in contempt.”
Lambston huffed, bit his lower lip and sat down.
Warrington shifted her attention to Tallworth and Navarrez once more, and the expression on her face wiped the triumphant smiles right off of theirs. “I am, however, going to rule this case as a sexual assault, based on the extremely compromising position in which Doctor Tallworth was found with Miss Elliot, having pressed her forcefully down on the examination table with his own body atop her. The fact that she did shout out ‘no’ and ‘stop’ on several occasions in a clear and loud voice a
lso weighs heavily in this decision. Doctor Tallworth, are you aware that there hasn’t been a reported case of rape on Earth or its lunar colonies in close to twenty years?”
