Arriving at their rooms they were both pleased to help each other get out get out of their armour. Acorus showed great restraint and Jo, although relieved was also a little put out. Then she told herself not to be silly, the fact that he was being so considerate when it was obvious that he was aroused, just by being near her, surely showed how much he cared for her.
They were sitting at the table when Tchu and Tjai came in with their food. Once the food was laid out Tchu said “We’ll leave you now if you are alright, Jo”.
“Yes I’m good thank you; you’ve had a busy day, so go and have a good rest. Thank you for your care”.
“Goodnight, Jo” both Escorii said, and bowing to Acorus, took their leave.
Discussing the girls they had rescued, not abducted, they were both pleased with the raids. They had gone so smoothly, hers especially. Then when she pointed out how she had assisted his raid as well, Acorus held up his hands and gave her best. Then he became serious and started to discuss Pengha. He had spoken to Gherta and the other officers on the flight deck and had discovered that he had been a careless captain, leaving the running of his ship to his juniors.
He must be disciplined, but Acorus must do everything by the book because Pengha was highly connected. Jo had already realised that Pengha could be a problem but told Acorus that no matter who he was she would have acted the same. He agreed that she had been absolutely right and told her not to worry. He was totally responsible for the army and Andea would agree that Jo was in the right. Also Pensus was not overly fond of Pengha as Pensus was a brilliant, conscientious star ship commander, commanding a fleet of nine ships.
The reason they had to be careful was because of the likes of Bezra, who might use this incident to stir up trouble for Jo.
They spent a short time discussing how Jo should deal with the girls, and especially any who were still children, then both tired, they retired to bed, had a kiss and a cuddle and fell asleep, spooned together.
Chapter 37
When Jo woke up the next morning Acorus was gone. She was a little upset that he had gone without saying goodbye, but knowing how he usually woke up she realised it was probably for the best, her body was feeling heavy and she still felt a little weary. As she lay there comfortably, she started to formulate her plans on how to deal with the girls.
Would they be relieved to be free of the slave traders or angry and frightened, as Jo had been, at being taken to an alien planet? They’d had all night to imagine horrific things that might happen to them. The girls on Jo’s ship had imagined being eaten, experimented on, aliens bursting out of their chests. Even Jo had thought she was going to be raped by a monster and would be better off dead. Even though he now treated her with care and respect, she was still sometimes frightened by him. He was just so big and powerful, thinking about him she wondered if that was why sex with him was so mind blowing.
Realising that just thinking about sex with him was making her want him; she got out of bed and went to have a shower.
As she was drying, Tjai entered the bathroom and said that she must give her a massage. Jo was only too pleased as she still felt weary, so she got on the massage table and relaxed. Tjai used invigorating oils everywhere but on Jo’s stomach and breasts, where she used oil to keep them supple and free from stretch marks. When Tjai was finished Jo felt so much better, and putting on tunic and trousers she went through to the bedroom. Tchu had just finished changing the bed and food was laid out on the table. Saying good morning to Tchu, Jo sat at the table and asked if they would join her, which they did happily.
While they ate they discussed how Jo would approach the girls, should she go in her armour or as she was? As they discussed the pros and cons Jo remembered that she would have two guards with her. Surely the way they looked would subdue the girls? Wouldn’t they talk more easily to her if she looked human? Then she realised that many might not speak English so she’d need Tchu to translate. Once they had eaten Jo was itching to get on with her day so leaving Tjai to clear the table she set off to the girl’s quarters.
Two guards were already stationed outside her door, obviously ordered there by Acorus, and they saluted her and fell in behind her and Tchu. When they got to the girl’s quarters there were four guards standing to attention outside. They saluted Jo and when she asked why there were four of them, the one in charge told her that in the early hours four of the girls had tried to get out. They had been caught and then sedated, but General Acorus had increased security.
“OK” Jo thought “I may need to be tougher with these girls than I thought”.
Telling two more guards to accompany her Jo ordered her guards to open the door and go in first. A babble of noise hit her, then silence. Once it was quiet Jo swept in with Tchu and the other guards just behind her. The girls were scattered about the room in little groups, the silence that had greeted Jo’s guards turned to gasps. Jo stood for a few minutes then she said, “I am Lady Jo-Anna, in charge of your welfare. You are and will continue to be well cared for. However if you cause problems or disruption to this ship you will be punished. The Sceriae are a decent, caring race but only if they are obeyed. I am human like you and like you I was abducted. The reason for your abduction is to take females to Scerior to help continue the Sceriae race”.
Here there were gasps from a lot of the girls, but a few had clearly not understood English. Jo paused while those that had understood translated her speech. Then some started to cry and the noise increased until Jo shouted “Be quiet or I’ll have you silenced!”
Most gasped and shut up, but one or two continued to scream. Jo nodded to her guards and quickly the screaming girls were hauled before her. With the Sceriae holding them as if they were rag dolls they quickly became quiet.
“You are fools. If I had not been here you would probably be dead. Now listen, all of you. You should be grateful to the Sceriae; they rescued you from a life of being drugged, beaten and raped. Here you will be given to one male only and will be treated like princesses. Scerior is a beautiful planet where everyone is treated equally. Your children will be precious and once you have acclimatised you will be able to choose whether you have a job or just stay at home. Either way, you will live in luxury. Now I want you all to sit down quietly and I will sit with you and answer your questions”.
As the girls chose seats so that they were close to Jo she asked their guards who the girls were who’d tried to escape, and was told that they were still sedated and in their cubicles to avoid them distressing others. Wondering how she could punish them, she turned to Tchu for help, saying that they were used to being beaten and starved so that would be no good, she was at a loss what to do! Tchu thought for a while, then she said that there was usually a ring leader, so she was the one to deal with. The thing to do was to get the four away from the others in case they stirred them up. Jo agreed that was a good idea and asked Tchu to have them moved to the secure prison area. As Tchu went off to sort that out Jo had a chair brought for her and sat down. Once she was seated she waited for silence, then told the girls that they would each get a chance to talk.
The first question was, naturally, how could humans have babies with the Sceriae. Jo told them that already there were hundreds of girls on Scerior who were happy, living with a Sceriae male and having babies. She also told them that she was pregnant, loved her mate and was happy.
But, a girl said they were such monsters, so big and dreadful looking. Jo’s guards were standing to attention but Jo could tell that they were feeling awkward. Wishing that Acorus was with her, Jo wondered what he would say if she told her guards to take their helmets off.
When Tchu came back Jo asked her what she thought and surprisingly Tchu said that it would probably make the girls happier, after all the Sceriae weren’t exactly ugly. So turning to the four guards, Jo speaking in Sceria, asked them to take their helmets off, so she told the girls that what they could se
e was armour.
As the guards unfastened their helmets and took them off there were gasps from the girls” Wow!” one said “Are their bodies as good as they look in armour?”
One of the guards grinned and said “Better”.
At Jo’s glare he shut up “Now you understand. In all the universes the Sceriae know, we humans are the nearest species to them. Their females have not produced female babies for a long time, so their survival as a race is in danger. Already human/Sceriae females are growing old enough to have babies of their own. It is a double bonus with you girls as we have rescued you from a, probably, short horrific life. And by killing the scum who had you we have saved other girls from that terrible future”.
A babble of questions broke out and Tchu hushed them and told them, one at a time.
The one question Jo wanted to answer was how they could ensure only girl babies were conceived, and once Jo had explained, the girls sat and talked to each other. The one who had asked about the guard’s bodies approached Jo and asked her about the children that were in the room with them. When Jo asked her to point them out, the girl first insisted on knowing what would happen to them. When Jo asked her what she was called, she told Jo that her name was Annya; she was Russian and had unknowingly got involved with a guy in the Russian mafia. When he got tired of her he moved her into his harem of prostitutes. She tried to run but was caught, beaten and drugged. She didn’t know where she was when the Sceriae abducted her.
Telling Annya that any underage girls would live in a nursery, be educated and loved until they were old enough to choose a mate, Jo saw Annya’s body language change. She had been uptight and defensive, now she started to relax. Jo could see that she would be very pretty once she filled out a bit.
“Tell me truth, please lady, this that you say is all true” she begged.
“I swear it is the truth, if you do as you are told you will have a wonderful life” Jo promised “Now please tell me where the children are”.
Annya pointed out four in the room; one aged only eleven and the others under fourteen. Then she told Jo that there had been another, that the general had carried out last night. Jo said that she knew all about her and that she was happier and safe. Once Jo had answered all the girls’ questions she realised that it must be lunchtime as she was hungry again. Telling Tchu that she was hungry she said that she’d decided to eat with the girls so Tchu organised the Escorii to fetch food.
Deciding that it wouldn’t hurt for the girls to see the guards eating and chatting naturally she asked them to join her. They were a bit unsure to start with but gradually relaxed and were soon chatting with the girls. When they discovered that the Sceriae could understand and speak their languages they were delighted and bombarded them with questions. Tchu was watching them closely and when a couple of them started to flirt with the guards, she spoke sharply to them and they quickly stopped. The two guards were quite flushed as they weren’t used to such behaviour and Jo felt a little sorry for them.
Once everyone had eaten their fill the tables were cleared and the girls seemed to have relaxed, and were sitting chatting happily. Jo asked the Escorii to bring the very young girls to her, in a quiet corner of the room, including the one who had been kept separate the night before. The four children were almost numb from what had happened to them and cowered away from Jo and Tchu. But when the other girl was brought in she saw Jo and ran to her. Hugging her Jo asked if she was alright and the child told her that everything was so wonderful, the food, being clean, the clothes and the Escorii. She was so excited she couldn’t stop smiling. The other children were watching and gradually they stopped cowering into the corners of the sofas and started to sit up and watch Jo and Tchu.
With Maria who was Bulgarian, still sitting on her lap Jo started to learn about the others. The eleven year old was Romanian, an orphan, sold by the very people who should have been caring for her, to the white slave traders. She was a beauty, with white blonde hair and enormous turquoise eyes, and already carried herself like a model. Jo had to admit that she did look a lot older than she was. Like the others she had a dull acceptance of what had happened to her body. Evidently she hadn’t fought as she had not been beaten, or maybe, because of her beauty, she was worth a lot of money.
The oldest who was fourteen was tall and skinny, had dull mouse coloured hair, and had been sold by her father, a gypsy from Slovakia, as none of the men in her clan wanted her. Her dull eyes and lack of intelligence worried Jo more than her looks. The two others, surprisingly were British, one from Glasgow, and the other from Wigan. When Jo told them she was from Leeds, they opened up and told her their stories. Katy who was twelve had been on holiday with her mum and dad in Bulgaria when she had been snatched from a busy market. That had been six months ago as far as Jo could work out. She was a pretty little thing with ash blonde hair and almond shaped blue eyes. To start with the traders had kept moving her so she hadn’t been touched, but when she arrived at the place the Sceriae had raided; one man or another had raped her every day. They had told her that would be her life from now on so they were ‘kindly’ breaking her in.
She was a bright intelligent girl, but the matter of fact way in which she spoke of being raped brought tears to Jo’s eyes. When Jo told her that from now on she would be treated like a princess, she looked at Jo cynically, and said that there was no need to lie as there wasn’t anything that she... Katy, could do about anything anyhow.
The fourth girl was thirteen, from Glasgow. Telling Jo that her name was Moira she told a sad story. Her dad had left when she was eight and two years later her mum’s new boyfriend had moved in. Right from the beginning he had touched her and when her mum was pregnant, he had raped her. When she was twelve she ran away from home. Arriving in London she had been easy prey for a pimp, who of course, at first had been kind. He’d given her heroin and kept her dependant on him. A gang had moved in on him and taken his girls. Moira or Molly as she preferred to be called had fallen into a drug induced sleep, and woken up as the Sceriae raided the slave traders. Distressed at the wickedness of her fellow humans, Jo could hardly speak.
It was Tchu who told them that they were now safe, telling them that the Escorii never lied, she told them that life from now on would be wonderful. Then turning to Jo she told her that she needed to rest, so Jo stood up to take her leave, telling them to behave and enjoy the luxury they were in now.
Before she left the girls Jo turned to them and said “I know that you must be in a daze, everything is strange and I do know how frightening all this is. But I can tell you that after what you went through on Earth, this is paradise. I also must tell you not to be stupid; you are in deep space on a star ship. If you cause any trouble you will be punished, you may even be killed. So do as you are told, listen to the Escorii, they only have your welfare at heart. I will come and see you again before we reach Scerior”.
Then waiting for her guards to open the door, she left the room, leaving a babble of noise behind her. Walking back to her quarters Jo asked Tchu how she had done. Tchu thought that she had done very well, telling her that she had shown a good mixture of understanding and power.
Thinking about the girls who had tried to escape Jo decided to leave them locked up for the time being, and work out how they could be punished. Reaching her room Jo thanked her guards for their help and made for her bed. Kicking off her shoes she got onto the bed saying “I won’t need a massage this afternoon to help me sleep”.
Tchu told Jo to let her take her tunic and trousers off, as it was a pity to spoil them, so Jo slipped them off, got under the covers and in a very short time was fast asleep. Hanging her clothes up neatly Tchu silently left the room.
Chapter 38
Jo had slept for four hours and woke up feeling a lot brighter. She lay for a while thinking about what she had said to the girls. Hopefully they would settle down and decide that they were better off wit
h the Sceriae, rather than the white slave traders. Then she remembered the four she had sent to the prison area “What to do with them” she mused.
Deciding that she needed to talk to them before she made any decisions, she got up and went into the bathroom to have a shower. She was just drying her hair when Tchu arrived; her ability to know when Jo was awake still amazed her. Tchu said that food was ready when Jo was and also that Hersha requested to speak with her. Putting on her armour and carrying her helmet Jo went into the bedroom. Telling Tchu to ask Hersha to visit her Jo started to eat her breakfast.
Ten minutes later there was a knock on the door and at Jo’s “Come in” Hersha entered with Tchu close behind. Evidently he had heard from Acorus who wanted to speak to Jo. Once she had eaten he was to take her to the flight deck. Pleased that Acorus was thinking about her, Jo made short work of her food and declared herself ready to go. Still carrying her helmet she walked with Hersha to the flight deck, chatting about how the girls were getting on. Once there Hersha told the communications officer to let Acorus know that Jo was there. Impatiently Jo waited for Acorus to appear on the screen, when he did she was disappointed to see that he was wearing his helmet. He was very serious when he told her that there was a lot of action over Britain. Jet fighters and helicopters were everywhere, and there was a lot of police and army presence on the ground. They had decided to leave Europe alone and have a look at America.
Leaving Europe alone meant that they would not be able, this trip, to rescue more girls from the slave trade. However in future trips, things would have settled down, but now they were going to take girls individually from the less populated areas of America. He was warning Jo as he knew she wouldn’t be pleased, but he had no choice.
Scerior Page 42
