Norman, John - Gor 23 - Renegades of Gor.txt

by Renegades of Gor [lit]

  “It is our understanding that your hair was shorn only yesterday, and against

  your will, in a cell in the citadel, by an escaping prisoner.”

  “Surely you do not believe that, Commander,” she said.

  “Lady Claudia, the traitress, and an undisputed free woman,” he said, “is in our

  power. Shall she be brought forward to testify as tot he circumstances in which,

  and the time at which, your hair was shorn?”

  “No, Commander,” said the girl.

  “You do not dispute what I have said then?” he asked.

  “No, Commander,” she said, defeated.

  “It is also believed that you carried much gold with you, in your purse,

  presumably, again, to improve your chances of persuading victorious Cosians to

  spare you, resources incidentally much beyond the reach of most women of Ar’s

  Station, thus, again, supplying you with an advantage over them. Is this

  disputed?”

  “No, Commander,” she said. She knew, of course, that Lady Claudia could testify

  as to the presence of the gold in her purse. Indeed, interestingly, although

  this was not known to the girl, that very gold had been used after the fall of

  the gate to assist in the escape of Aemilianus and his colleagues to the piers.

  I had scattered it behind mercenaries, to clear a passage.

  “You have not charged me,” she said, “with not wearing robes of concealment.”

  “In Ar’s Station,” he said, “as in Ar, robes of concealment, precisely, are not

  legally obligatory for free women, no more than the veil. Such things are more a

  matter of custom. On the other hand, as you know, there are statutes prescribing

  certain standards of decorum for free women. For example, they may not appear

  naked in the streets, as may slaves. Indeed, a free woman who appears in public

  in violation of (pg.368) these standards of decorum, for example, with her arms

  or legs too much bared, may be made a slave.

  “There was no crime then,” she said, “in my appearing in public as I did, even

  though, say, I wore but a single layer and my calves, ankles and feet were

  bared.”

  “Whether the degree of your exposure was sufficient to violate the codes of

  decorum is a subtle point,” said Aemilianus, “but I will not press it.”

  “Surely may low-caste girls go about with only as much, or even less,’ she said.

  “But you are of the Merchants,” said Aemilianus, smiling.

  “A low caste!” she said.

  I smiled. The Merchants often maintain that they are a high caste, and should,

  accordingly, be included in the councils of high caste. Now, however, it seemed

  she was eager to accept that, and stress that, the Merchants was not a high

  caste. The traditional high castes of Gor are the Initiates, Scribes, Builders,

  Physicians and Warriors.

  “I do not press the point,” said Aemilianus.

  “And if I dressed in such a manner that my caste would not be clear,” she said,

  “it is no more than many women do upon occasion. Surely such women even reserve

  the caste robes and colors for such things as formal occasions, and some even

  for ceremonial functions.”

  “True,” said Aemilianus.

  “I do not think then I should be held accountable under the charge of attempting

  to deceive with respect to caste,” she said. “For example, I engaged in no

  business under false pretenses, and I never claimed explicitly to be of a caste

  other than my own.” It seemed to me that she did have a point here. The legal

  problems connected with intent to deceive with respect to caste, of course,

  problems of the sort which presumably constitute the rationale of the law,

  usually come up in cases of fraud or impersonation, for example, with someone

  pretending to be of the Physicians. “And, too,” she continued, “if conquering

  Cosians should have seen fit to take me for a simple, low-caste maid, I see no

  reason why the laws of Ar’s Station should now be exercised against me. What

  would be the point of that, to protect Cosians from a mistake which they never

  had the opportunity to make?”

  “You hoped by your mode of dress, and such,” said (pg.369)Aemilianus, “to

  conceal that you were of a caste on which vengeances might be visited, and thus

  to improve your chances of survival.”

  She tossed her head, and the chain dangling from her collar moved in its staple.

  “I am not a man,” she said. “Indeed, I can barely lift, let alone wield, the

  weapons of men. I have nothing of their strength. I have nothing of their power.

  I am other than they. I am a woman. I am something quite different from a man. I

  think that I am entitled, then, to attempt to secure my survival as best I can,

  and in my own way.”

  “In the way of a female?” asked Aemilianus.

  “Yes!” she said.

  “In doing what you did,” he said, “in going barefoot, in baring your calves, in

  not having your hair shortened, in carrying gold and such, you arrogated to

  yourself considerable advantages over other women in Ar’s Station.”

  “It is every woman for herself,” she said. “It is not my fault if other women

  were not as clever as I. It is not my fault if they did not judiciously bare

  their bodies, and design themselves clothing such as might appeal to a

  conquering invader. Too, it is not my fault if they lacked the gold wherewith to

  sweeten a petition to foes for the collar. Am I to be blamed, too, for being

  more beautiful than many women of Ar’s Station, for I am certain that I am, and

  for thus having some additional unfair advantage over them?”

  “Why did you not donate your hair to the defense of the city?” asked Aemilianus.

  “I did not want to,” she said.

  “Why not?”

  “It was pretty,” she said, angrily.

  “And?” he asked.

  “I thought I would be more attractive with it,” she said, angrily. “I thought if

  I were captured by Cosians, I would be more likely to be spared, if it was not

  cut.”

  “While the women of Ar’s Station had theirs cut?”

  “If they wished,” she said.

  “And thus might be less likely to be spared?” he asked.

  “That is their business, not mine,” she said.

  “What of the desperate need of cordage for catapults?’ he asked.

  (pg.370) “Let the hair of slaves be shorn,” she said.

  “And what if there was not enough?’ he asked.

  “Then get hair from the women who are willing to give it,” she said.

  “What if there was not enough?” he asked.

  “My hair would make no difference,” she said.

  “What if all the free women took that position?’ he asked.

  “They did not,” she said.

  “For one in chains you speak rather arrogantly,” he observed.

  “Surely they will be removed in a moment,” she said.

&
nbsp; “What did you do to contribute to the defense of the city?” he asked.

  “I accepted a duty,” she said.

  “Bit it is true, is it not,” he asked, “that you did this only late in the

  siege?”

  “Yes,” she said.

  “And only after it had been made clear that women who did not participate in the

  efforts of defense were to be lowered over the wall at noon, naked, to Cosians.”

  “Yes,” she said, angrily.

  “What duty did you choose?” he asked.

  “I served as a warder in the citadel,” she said.

  “Why did you choose that duty?” he asked.

  “I thought it would be easy,” she said.

  “And in such a place,” he said, perhaps it would have seemed less inappropriate

  to wear garments such as you did, and go barefoot, and such?”

  “Perhaps,” she said.

  “You did not choose to work on the wall?’ he asked.

  “No,” she said.

  “Why not?” he asked.

  “I am not strong,” she said.

  Straighten your back,” he said.

  She did so.

  “There seems nothing wrong with your body,” he said.

  One or two of the men smiled.

  “Slight as it is,” he said, “it seems such that it could be appropriately

  subjected to lengthy servile labors.”

  She looked at him, frightened.

  “Or perhaps more appropriately yet,” he said, “to numerous, (pg.371) various

  labors of a more delightful sort, labors particularly suitable for females.”

  “Commander!” she protested.

  He said nothing. I wondered if he were not, in his mercy, giving her an

  opportunity to request permission to speak. I was curious to see if she would

  ask such permission.

  “Have I heard the sum of these charges?’ she asked.

  “Your behavior of this morning might be included,” he said, “in which, before

  your compatriots, you in effect begged the collar of Cosians.”

  “I had no idea, Commander, that you or the others were here,” she said.

  “We gathered that,” he said.

  There was laughter.

  “I beg your indulgence,” she said. “I am only a female.”

  Aemilianus did not speak.

  “I do not think my behavior so untoward, unpredictable or surprising for my

  sex,” she said.

  The face of Aemilianus remained expressionless.

  “I do not think that other women, those of Ar’s Station, or of other cities,

  under similar circumstances, would have behaved differently,” she said.

  “Do you think they would have behaved so, so readily?” he asked.

  “I do not know,” she said. “Perhaps stupider women would not have. It is every

  woman for herself!”

  “I understand,” said Aemilianus.

  “If that, then,” she said, “is the sum of the charges against me, I request that

  they be dismissed. Surely my defense, even if you do not approve of me, is

  sound. Surely everything that I have done, including the matter of wanting to

  keep my hair, lies within the prerogatives of a free female. Similarly, it is

  surely within her rights to pursue her own best interests, selfishly or not, as

  she understands them. Similarly, it is not her fault if other women are not as

  favored as she with intelligence and wealth, and perhaps beauty. If there is any

  objection to my conduct, surely it must be merely that I was not, in your

  opinion, sufficiently patriotic, and surely it is no crime to be insufficiently

  patriotic. Therefore, remove my chains.” At this point she lifted her chained

  wrists to Aemilianus.

  (pg.372) “The matter,” said Aemilianus, “is considerably more complex than you

  seem to understand. There are more subtleties here than you seem to realize. For

  one thing, your conviction that it is not a crime to be insufficiently patriotic

  may not be shared by everyone. In particular, it may not be shared by those who

  risked their lives in defense of the city, those who, say, fought upon the wall,

  or at the gate, or on the landing or walkway. Secondly, there is the

  consideration, subtle at times, to be sure, of conduct indicating suitability

  for the collar.”

  She shuddered.

  The principle he had alluded to pertains to conduct in a free woman which is

  taken as sufficient to warrant her reduction to slavery. The most common

  application of this principle occurs, in areas such as fraud and theft. Other

  applications may occur, for example, in cases of indigency and vagrancy.

  Prostitution, rare on Gor because of female slaves, is another case. The woman

  are taken, enslaved, cleaned up and controlled. Indulgence in sensuous dance is

  another case. Sensuous dance is almost always performed by slaves on Gor. A free

  woman who performs such dancing publicly is almost begging for the collar. In

  some cities the sentence of bondage is mandatory for such a woman.

  “Conduct indicating suitability for the collar,” of course, can be interpreted

  in various ways, and more broadly and narrowly. It is almost always understood,

  of course, fortunately for women, and as I suppose the phrase itself makes

  clear, in the special legal sense of the phrase, as having to do with overt

  behavior rather than psychological predispositions and such. Many Goreans

  believe that all women are natural slaves, and thus, in a sense, are all

  eminently suitable for the collar. But even taken in the appropriate, legal

  behavioral sense the phrase is, as may well be imagined, subject to diverse

  interpretations.

  For example, in the present one, a judge would be expected to decide whether or

  not the behaviors of the sort performed, constituted behavior for which the

  collar might be suitably imposed. Also important, of course, at least in the

  eyes of some, might be her failures in the defense effort, her refusal to be

  shorn, contributing her hair for use as catapult cordage, in spite of the

  desperate need for such materials, and (pg.373) the fact that it was only after

  the imposition of a severe penalty for noncompliance that she accepted even a

  small duty in the siege.

  It was on the basis of considerations such as these, and perhaps cumulatively,

  taking into consideration their conjoint weight, that a determination might be

  made as to whether or not it was fitting that she be made a slave. Her begging

  for a Cosian collar but moments ago, and her open admission of the fittingness

  and rightness of her being collared, interestingly, would probably not be

  considered at all. In most cities such things are taken for granted, the natural

  righfulness of slavery for females, and such, and are accordingly seldom

  regarded as germane with respect to the legal imposition of a sentence of

  bondage.

  “You do not think then that these charges should be dismissed out of hand!” she

  asked, faltering.

  “I would certainly not think so,” said Aemilianus.

  “I see,” she said, fright
ened. She was kneeling up, off her heels.

  We heard a Vosk gull screaming overhead.

  From where I stood I could see the linked ankle rings on her fair ankles, and

  part of the long chain running from the ankle-ring chain up, before her body, to

  the staple on her collar. The wrist-ring chain, in front, was attached to the

  same long chain. I could see also the metal collar on her neck. It was in plain

  view, of course, as I had cut her hair.

  “What then is your decision upon the charges, Commander?’ she asked.

  “’Charges’?” he asked.

  “Yes,” she said.

  “Charges,” he said, “are appropriate to free women.”

  “Commander?” she asked.

  “They might be involved, for example,” he said, “in a trial.”

  “Of course, Commander,” she said.

  “Whereas in your case,” he said, “such considerations, being pertinent to free

  women, may be simply beside the point.”

  “But surely I have been on trial!” she said.

  “Perhaps, rather,” he said, “as I suggested earlier, we are not engaged her in a

  trial but in something quite different.”

  (pg. 374) “I do not understand,” she said.

  “Perhaps this is more in the nature of a little hearing, a quire informal little

  hearing, or inquiry.”

  “Commander?” she faltered.

  “And perhaps what we are really concerned with here are not charges, which are

  pertinent only to free persons, but causes for punishment, which are pertinent

  to slaves.”

  She looked at him in terror.

  “To be sure,” he said, “anything, with or without reason, may be done to a

  slave.”

  “Commander—” she said.

  “I do not think we need now concern ourselves with matters such as intentional

  misrepresentations of caste, violations of decorum, arrogation of advantages,

  jeopardization of fellow citizens, and insufficiency of patriotism. We must

  rather consider matters which, I believe, are more pertinent in your case, and,

  I fear, unfortunately for you, far more serious.”

  “What matters?” she asked, terrified.

  “Chief among them,” he said, “would seem to be misrepresentation of status.”