After reporting safe arrival at village 921, he relaxed in the afterglow of flight, delaying for a moment the realities of life on planet Eden that would begin on opening the cockpit.
Too soon, the flash of a blue robe stirred him. He exited and strode towards the silver-haired man coming out to meet him, graciously reducing his vigorous stride to match the Village Master’s dignified pace. ‘Bless the Holy One!’
‘May the Holy One be blessed. Welcome to Apostle Creek, Examiner! Your Journey was pleasant, I trust?’
‘Yes, thank you Master; I always enjoy my flying.’ They were technically of equal rank – it was safe to be this informal, but first: ‘Lord Sevolian thanks you for your report and sincerely hopes that it is not exaggerated in any way.’ Sevolian’s exact words – standard intimidation a High Lord used on his Village Masters. That was how Eden worked, top-down terror, an unbroken chain from Disciple to peasant.
‘I can assure you it is not!’
Some of the kneeling villagers stirred.
‘Hush my brother, it is his Lordship that must be assured.’
‘Of course, Examiner, I spoke hastily, but I am confident his Lordship will be delighted when you take her to him – as I am certain you will. Now, let’s see … all men of military age are off-world on the Crusades, leaving mostly the women and girls. Aha! We are in luck – there she is! When I raise them you will see her. Over there, by the stocks.’
The Examiner glanced at the frames, manacles and chains. They appeared slightly derelict, unlike the bright metalwork of some zealous villages. It told him much about the place. ‘I see this is not a flogging village.’
‘The stocks are rarely used here. Before she died, there was an old crone always insisting I should sentence public punishments – I kept her in check with threats of calling in the Witch Finder!’
Both men were laughing as they strolled towards the Master House.
‘Hadn’t you better raise them?’
‘Of course.’ With outstretched arms, the Master signalled the people to their feet.
Then The Examiner saw her.
His journey had not been wasted; High Lord Sevolian would be more than pleased to add her to his collection of handmaidens. She was tall and slim-waisted, with the womanly outline his Lordship demanded. Those curves just had to be genuine; village women had no access to the black-market corsetry worn by their richer sisters in Sion, flouting religious law. (For it was written in the thirty-eighth Commandment: Woman, thou shalt not tempt Man.)
And those grey, penetrating eyes – so distinctive. Not pretty in the usual way. He had never seen a woman remotely like her.
He tried not to stare, but for a moment their eyes locked.
She smiled.
He found himself seated in the Master’s study, a drink of the usual Moonsglow in his hand – he had no recollection of the intervening minute or so, just the knowledge that already she had somehow communicated her … essence to him.
‘You don’t like her, do you?’
The Examiner realised he’d been frowning. It would do no harm to let him think that – it was amazing what revelations could be brought forth with a little pressure upon an anxious Master. ‘Her face is not as pretty as other maids in his Lordship’s household, and to be frank, her physique may be a little too … well-developed for his tastes.’
‘That’s not what I heard! Apparently he likes them …’
A warning glance let the Master know he was on dangerous ground. The Examiner eased his expression. ‘I’ll examine her of course,’ he gestured dismissively, ‘but are there any others?’
The Master paled. ‘Well, Examiner, I would have thought … Well, yes, there are a couple of other girls who come to mind, not exactly petite – but attractive young women, nevertheless. All of these girls have been on the Alpha education program for the last five summers – I’m sure at least one will measure up.’
He was beginning to sound desperate, terrified that the Examiner would return empty-handed to his Lord after a long, wasted journey.
‘Can you provide a secure place where I can carry out the examinations without disturbance?’
The Master nodded. ‘Certainly; right here in this study.’
‘Thank you.’ He looked at the worried old man and took pity. ‘Let us see how your girls measure up.’
‘You mean …?’
‘Of course! You are very welcome to observe the examinations.’
The first girl was summoned within the hour. She had clear blue eyes and the delightful promise of a shapely figure under her best whites.
‘Bless the Holy One!’
‘May the Holy One be blessed, Master.’
Fifteen Eden summers, her file said; just over twenty standard years old, thought the Examiner. She would’ve been snapped up and married summers ago if the Disciple hadn’t conscripted all the younger men for his crazy interstellar crusades. She looked up at him, bursting to find out the real meaning of all this. From that too-innocent look in those blue eyes, he thought she had a good idea already.
‘You may rise,’ said the Master. She arose with a rustle of linen. ‘My guest has been sent by High Lord Sevolian himself!’ Her mouth opened in awe.
The Examiner unfastened his case. The girl’s mouth opened further as she saw the shallow crown with its diamonds, sapphires and emeralds. He carefully placed the glittering device on her head. She remained quite still, staring at him as if there were no one else in the world.
‘I am the Examiner. The Master has gone and we are alone. You will only hear me when I talk directly to you. Do you understand?’
‘Yes, sir.’
‘Good. When I take the jewels off your head you will remember only a wonderful experience. I am going to ask you to do some unusual things, things you may never have done before. This concerns your oath of fealty. Do you remember your oath of fealty?’
‘Certainly, sir; Obey ye and follow in joy, without question or doubt, the orders and guidance of thy appointed Lords.’
‘Good. His Lordship requires me to examine you. Go behind that screen. You will find a chair and robe. Leave all your clothes on the chair and put on the robe.’
She went behind the screen.
‘Great Lord! So that is the “Probe” … she will remember nothing?’ the Master whispered.
‘Only because I asked her.’
‘My God! The ultimate control …’
‘It is merely a tool, nothing “ultimate” about it! Like any tool it must be used with some care. The jewels are genuine. Electrodes stimulate hormonal flow and heighten suggestibility but the subject remains fully conscious as you can see. She cannot be made to do anything that is fundamentally disagreeable to her.’
She emerged in a short robe. The Master stared. Bare arms and thighs were rarely seen in his puritan society.
The Examiner was very calm. ‘Come to me. Don’t lower your eyes. Good. There is something you really want to do. You want to show me your body. It is quite all right; I would like to see it.’
After a slight pause, she gasped, ‘Yes, sir, I really would.’
‘Then hand me the robe.’
It was late morning in the long Eden day when Andromeda was summoned. She dropped to her knees at the sight of blue robes.
‘Please stand.’
She stood and smiled that smile again. Close up, her physical presence was almost overwhelming, but the Examiner began his routine. Somehow it seemed crude and inappropriate for a woman like her. Now here she stood in the same robe that had briefly covered the other two girls, but he hesitated to bare her to the old man.
‘Shouldn’t she be nude by now?’ said the Master, talkative with the Moonsglow, and the confidence that the girls couldn’t hear him. ‘I can’t wait to see her tits; they must be fantastic! Sevolian will be unable to resist them, I’ll wager! After all this feeling and fooling around I’d like to see you actually spear this girl. Like to poke-in myself, for that matter, but his Lordship wo
uld have our balls for bangles, eh? Ha, ha!’
‘We mustn’t rush this one, Master.’
‘Oh? Why not?’
‘Remember, basically they must want to be examined, and the suggestion takes time to sink in. In this case I sense a reluctance.’ It was a lie. He knew her feelings by the look she gave him. But she was special. He could not examine Andromeda with this drunk about to paw her. Something had to be done.
‘Master, come a little closer to us, I want to try something.’
‘Ha, ha, always, ready to try something … Hey, what are you …’
The Examiner swiftly removed the device from the woman’s head and planted it on the Master’s. The Master stood still, his head slightly tilted to one side, looking like some senile monarch.
‘Master, you are feeling extremely tired. In a few moments you will sleep in your chair, and when you awake you will remember that we examined Andromeda exactly like the others. I let you touch her as much as you wished, and you were very pleased with her; she was exactly as you’d desired. Now sit down … that’s good. You will now fall into a very deep sleep, and if I don’t awake you earlier, you will sleep until the study clock chimes the sound of midnight.’ He carefully removed the crown from the snoring head and put it to one side.
Andromeda was holding the thick sweep of dark hair where the device had rested. ‘How do you feel?’ he said with infinite kindness.
‘I … I can’t remember what I’m doing here … this robe … I don’t have anything on underneath …’
‘You have a headache?’
‘Yes, a bad one. I hardly ever have them.’
‘I’m so sorry Andromeda; I had to quickly remove a machine that was on your head – a kind of hypnotic probe. The headache will fade in a few minutes.’ He looked at her as he gathered his thoughts. She gazed straight back at him, trusting him.
‘Andromeda, sit with me.’
They sat on the large sofa, away from the sleeping man. ‘Listen carefully; I have much to say. I’m going to tell you many things about this world – the not-so-beautiful Eden – the real world outside this village and the way it is run. I’m going to tell you who controls it, and why I am here. This is all very dangerous knowledge – I am heavily involved with evil, the evil that wraps this planet like a cloak.’
Andromeda listened for more than a standard hour. Who was this tall, dangerous-looking visitor in his blue robes who spoke so well and openly to her? She began to find out. He seemed quite different to the few Holy Men she’d seen or knew of, such as the Master or the Disciple (whose picture hung in every dwelling-place on the planet). She hadn’t realised that Holy Men could be so young. Before today – right up to the moment she had seen him dash youthfully out of his flying machine, there had been no other man for her other than Gareth, away on Crusade, but this intelligent, sophisticated man was in another league altogether.
He told her many things; about his mission, about the Probe and the other girls, about the High Lords and their harems of women; about the tyranny of the Disciple. Finally, and with obvious sensitivity, he told her of the lies and fairytales of the religion she’d grown up with. How it had been cynically patched together from the worst parts of old Earth’s religions to enslave Eden, and now, through the Crusades, to try and conquer other settled worlds and systems.
She understood it all. It had to be true. Instead of shattering her world, it made it real at last. The very basis of the life she had been taught to live was exposed as the sham she’d always suspected it to be.
She had to escape somehow, and this wonderful man was the key. ‘Why do you tell me all this, Examiner?’
‘Don’t call me that. That is just my function. I’d rather you spoke my name.’
‘What is your name?’
He hesitated. ‘Call me John.’
‘John, you are a fine man.’
He didn’t answer. Perhaps he could tell that she was well on the way to loving him, as many women must have before her.
‘What about the Master?’ she asked, looking across to the old man.
‘I have sent him into a deep sleep with the probe … he won’t even know that it was used on him.’ The Examiner shook his head. He looked so unhappy.
She stretched a comforting arm around his broad back. ‘So you will leave me here and return empty-handed to High Lord Sevolian?’ As he nodded she came to a decision. Thoughts of Gareth had long faded from her mind. ‘Examine me as you did the others. You will not need the probe – I want to have the memory of the experience. Let me remember what you did and then take me with you to Sevolian’s castle. I’ll take my chances there – I can’t stay here any longer.’
A loud peal of thunder broke overhead and rumbled slowly away into the distance. A heavy drumming began. The afternoon rains had arrived early. They sat in silence for a while.
‘Very well, Andromeda, we’ll begin your examination…’
He stood, and she rose to face him.
‘At this point I ask if you would like to …’ he felt ludicrously embarrassed.
A wry smile crossed her face. ‘Take off this robe?’ She opened it and let it slip from her shoulders to the floor. From vast experience he knew how she would look, and yet the actual sight of her body aroused him deeply. Womanly perfection. Her pointing nipples (just a little darker and larger than he had imagined) held out high, breasts swinging slightly as she breathed. He could never allow another man’s hand to touch this piece of heaven.
‘I suppose now you feel my breasts?’ She was smiling, aware of her power, swaying her body slightly.
‘I measure you next Andromeda, so please stand still,’ he said thickly. He fumbled with the recorder like an inexperienced boy. He gently pressed it over the creamy white flesh of her breasts, over each nipple that firmed with its contact, and into the deep valley between.
‘Couldn’t you get my size and form from a holovid of me?’
‘How do you know of holovids?’
‘Whispers, underground talk … other villages must be the same, surely?’
‘The ’vid comes later, but it doesn’t measure …’ He was absurdly embarrassed again.
‘Softness,’ she supplied, pushing her left breast deep into his hands. He felt yielding firmness, his long fingers cupping automatically around her flesh, her nipple pushing hard against his palm. He almost lost control with his wish to suck and bite that dark focus of his desire. He felt his body stiffen and rise in anticipation of a service an Examiner was forbidden to perform. The hardness was uncomfortably restrained by his robes.
As he let go of the squeezed breast, the white finger-marks persisted around the dark central disc. Both breasts seemed to look at him like big brown eyes. Her real, grey eyes held him for a second before their mouths and bodies came together. He gripped her waist. Their tongues met. His hands slipped lower, sliding over the skin of her hips, squeezing the cheeks of her buttocks. He pulled back abruptly.
‘Andromeda,’ he said harshly, ‘Have you had lovers?’ The bad question was deliberate. With a lesser woman it would have killed the sex there and then, bringing back memories and past promises.
‘Oh, John … Not as you would define it, no. I was betrothed to a boy away on the Crusades …’
‘Was? Your file says you are betrothed.’ His voice was still harsh.
‘Not after today.’ Looking up into his eyes she moved against him, pressing her body against the hard outline she could clearly feel through his robe. ‘I knew there would be a file. What else does it say?’
‘It says that you are highly intelligent – the brightest person in the village, in fact.’
‘That is hardly a compliment in this village!’ Her hands slipped under his robes and closed around him, feeling his length. The rains were drumming harder on the roof as he let her free him from his cloth. Soon he stood as naked as she. Her touch was delicious. He saw her frightened look as she gently cradled the dangerous weapon in her hands. Despite her great boldness
she was inexperienced. She lightly traced a finger around the taut, curving head. Her mouth opened in a soft gasp. ‘John, you are so big; how can you go inside me?’
‘I must not go inside you, Andromeda.’
It would be the end for both of them if Sevolian ever found out, he explained.
‘Unless you took me for wife?’
‘You are desperate to escape this village!’
‘No. I want you, and I want to leave this prison.’ She squatted down. Very deliberately, she drew the head of his penis up to her mouth, kissed the glistening tip while laying the shaft along her right breast. As her lips enveloped him he cradled her breast, pushing its projecting nipple under his sac, against the very root of his shaft where it curved up into his body.
There was a change in the room; the drone of conversation had stopped, leaving only the subdued roar of the rain. Then the Study clock slowly chimed the fourteen strokes of noon – or midnight. He was so tired, but this was the signal he must obey. He opened his eyes. He saw the woman. He remembered how the Examiner had let him handle her delicious body.
He saw her long bare back with the cascading hair dark upon it, her slim waist and broad heart-shaped bottom as she knelt before the naked man. Her left breast was pushed out sideways by his thigh … the man’s hanging fingers were stroking the standing nipple … she was sucking on him.
The sex began and there was no turning back. She’d experimented a little with Gareth, so this was not quite her first time.
She drank the early fluid that oozed deep into her mouth as he gently explored her breasts, her thighs, her buttocks and the folds between. She began to moan. Eventually, she pulled her lips away, sucking and licking the tip as another drop welled out. She ran it along her lips with her tongue as she fixed her grey eyes on his. ‘Now fuck me, John,’ she whispered.
She had released him. By the Disciple! He caught a fantastic glimpse of her as she turned, dropping onto her hands and knees, hair cascading forward, now hiding the tips of her magnificent tits as they brushed the carpet. The Examiner had seized her offered up buttocks and was lining up his long cock to take her from behind.
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