“Are doing well,” he smiled at her and said quietly. “Although the food you usually receive is warm, today was to be cold since you now join all of us. Have trouble eating it, child, that more must be changed and in front of all.”
All were glad of the food even though it was cold.
“You see, Sesha dear, the Holy Word says our God made the world in six days and rested on the Seventh, which is this day. That is why – oh,” his words were cut off when Sesha gagged on the cold fish pie, dropping the utensil and clapping her hand over her mouth.
“Cook Miranda,” Allway called out and from the last table the woman rose and hurried over, face down. “Are any fires still in coals?”
“Yes, Most Holy Lord Reverend,” she nodded vigorously. “The big oven keeps coals for three days on its own.”
“Have your boy rekindle the flame enough to heat some soup for the lass. She doth need reviving, an’ doubly so as the weather be changing. More clouds doth show, the wind be brisk. An’ hurry now!” The fire came to life easily; in the meantime a small bowl of Sesha’s special soup was fetched from the cold cellar nearest the Infirmary.
Even though this actually was a normal occurrence, her food was usually prepared by just one other woman in the Reverend’s house or the small Infirmary kitchen. Seeing the fire kindled this day and a woman working to heat the soup drew glares from many who were now almost at a rebellious state after learning that God did not ‘miraculously’ put the Reverend into the pulpit to preach His Word.
Despite this easier meal, Sesha kept dropping her spoon or dozing off, to be nudged awake by any seeing her do it.
“Miss Sesha seems quite sleepy and somewhat weak,” the Reverend Allway said quietly to Monitor Titus. “Perchance if she is taken to the Infirmary, she will sleep through this day’s punishment. Before she is taken, though, nail two thick blankets over the window, shutting out all light and most sound. Assign Monitors Japheth and Amos to do it quickly, as she needs to be abed.” The man nodded, and soon the two hurried to do their chore.
“Reverend,” Hosea sat on the other side and spoke softly, “it be four hours later than is usual for this. The duties of necessity for the day hath not been accomplished, including the dogs be not fed an’ they are refusing to circle the City as guards without, hath been so spoilt because of… her. Must do something quickly or put this off till after even service. Perchance skip that altogether so as to perform it?”
He’d really like that, Shni said sourly to Sesha. Fall asleep, dear.
Knowing he was right and that might happen, seriously throwing off any chance of rescuing the boys, Sesha did it. The atmosphere was nervous, tense and too many of the soft murmurings weren’t verses or Holy speech or recital of the verses he’d quoted that morning but of unhappiness. It would be the best time to do this.
So Sesha ‘dozed off’ again and almost fell into her soup. Hannah pulled her up and leaned her on her own shoulder, holding her until Sarah joined her. They boosted her up and walked to the Infirmary, where they encountered the Monitors just leaving her normal room. Hannah wondered at the thick window covers but Sarah worried. She knew what it was for but to keep up the appearance, shrugged back at Hannah. They helped Sesha out of her clothes except for bloomers and sleeveless camisole and tucked her in.
The horn started blowing for gathering in the Central Square. “Go on out, I shall set her water cup and join you, my dear,” Sarah bent over and kissed her cheek. “The suit is in the bottom drawer under the nightgowns. Darren fashioned a wire with a loop so thou – you - may do the closing on your own. Hurry, child!” and then she was gone, the door shutting behind her.
Sesha rolled off the bed; easiest way to get up on her own and scrambled to the window. In moments she’d ripped the blanket corners free and opened the inner shutters so she could hear, then scrambled to the dresser, stripping the rest of the way. Luckily the clothes of this period, while layered and complicated, had been adjusted for her comfort long ago. It was easier to undo than do up, of course, but Sesha was thankful for that.
The alien woman sat right on the cold, rough floor and started pulling on her Aga Zero while she listened to the charges and punishments being handed down by the Reverend.
John received triple work shifts for his crime of not staying on his knees during a special men’s prayer session. Sesha had heard of this of course and the man had a bad knee, was constantly in pain and limped most of the time due to it not working properly. But quarter in obeying the Lord was never given so he was punished.
“I’m taking the Gem off a moment, Shni,” the suit was on to her hips despite the pain. “I want computer and you fully integrated, so you get to be on top,” despite the situation both beings giggled from the potentially dirty joke. Then she shut it off, removed it and crammed her arms into the sleeves. The material, while seemingly thin and gauzy was very stretchy and stronger than imagined. It also made for problems when dressing fast and damp, chilled skin by sticking. Sesha kept her swearing soft.
Patricia, Gwendolyn and Anna-Sue were sentenced to fast for twenty-four hours straight, with only water, and be lowered into the sewers to clean them out during that time. Crandall was sentenced to 36 hours of continual praying – Sesha remembered listening to this the other night and tuned it out while she put the bracelet on over the sleeve. Sensations of integration were sharper and actually hurt this time, but she endured.
Sorry Sesh… this is setting up for Full Modality so yes its worse. But your codes give you clearance for it. Taking it off will be a relief as you won’t have any adrenalin left in your system. You’ll sleep like a baby for oh… a month?
Think I’ll need 2 after this.
An odd wire was in the drawer too, the one Sarah said was for her to use. The closing pull piece on her suit was shaped like a T on a short trunk. Twisting some, Sesha put the loop of wire over the circle and angled the length to her shoulder. The opposite one seriously protested when her arm went across and over to grasp it and pull. But it worked and the suit sealed.
“Ow!” Sesha yelled. The button was also a connector, plugging itself into the base of her brain. It wasn’t supposed to hurt!
It’s the infection you’re building, Shni told her. Your nerves are getting sensitive.
Playing the sensor of her Wrist-Gem over the dress she’d worn earlier locked in that code then the hood and gloves went on. It only took a thought to become completely invisible now as the codes were still set and active. Sesha ran out the Infirmary’s back door as the Monitors started tossing the ropes over the A-frame, readying for this last punishment set.
The weather got the barest glance; more clouds, the wind kicking up, fine with her as the dust roiling about would help cover. She circled around the house closest to the side of the square, nearest the platform where she crouched.
Now the boys were brought forward shirtless. Sesha patted her flash tube, ensuring it was there – she knew it was, it just helped to touch it, and stepped up on the back of the platform, crouching like a runner ready to sprint fast and short. A quick glance at the guard tower ahead of her showed it was empty as was the one to her right. Everyone, literally, was gathered for this event.
“Ezra Granger and Benjamin Boyard, you stand accused of sinning in a most grievous manner; that of watching the sweet visitor God sent to us for care. An’ this watching was lustful, for you saw the flesh of the woman an’ did not try to avoid the sight! Nay, the sin was so high in the two of thee that the Monitor did catch you in hot words!”
“No,” Ezra tried again. “There weren’t no flesh!”
“Silence, liar!” now the words were a bellow. “Do not think to lie to me for God doth speak directly to me an’ I know thy hearts th’ same as the Creator himself! To see clothes changing is to see flesh an’ it did rouse thee both! Thus saith the scripture, ‘For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he!’ That thou did watch an lust! Therefore both are sentenced to twenty lashes, back and sin area that they,” he
was overwhelmed by the horrified screams from their mothers. Other women were screaming too, but they were the loudest, with husbands crying ‘no’ at the same time.
Ezra’s mother Jemimah lunged forward and tried to grab at her son; arms in the crowd snatched and held her tight while Rebekah, Ben’s mother, pushing against her husband’s grasp screamed,
“Vile monsters! Woulds’t thou be subject to the laws and punishments! Break more of God’s word than anyone here~”
Monitor Titus backhanded her with a wicked smile just before she was pulled back with more help while further screams erupted. The boys were hauled forward, tied hands pulled up to be bound for the beating - the boys were howling in sheer terror –
Sesha pushed off; the computer gave her legs strength far and above normal. Her first step pushed her into high speed just as Monitors Thaddeus and Seth began to tie thick gags around the boy’s mouths. Hosea and Philip were stretching the arms up to connect them to the hooks while the Monitors kept the crowd back. In the second it took Sesha to cross the platform she saw Japheth and Amos not truly doing the work, more caught up with the crowd’s angst of the situation.
Nightgown, Sesha thought just as her arms swooped around the boys’ waists. There was a jerk as they were pulled from the hands of their torturers and all the crowd saw was a white nightgown fluttering right into the crowd.
“Beulah,” Sesha shoved the boys at Darren and Nick, then buried her head in Beulah’s skirts while she ripped the hood off so her head would show, then peeled the gloves off. “Protect the boys!”
“To me,” Beulah whispered, reaching out to the people around her, “stay close to me, my friends, we must stand strong against the Reverend. Tell all those who are of like mind, quickly” Sesha heard it barely as she whipped her body around while the boys were promptly surrounded by the crowd. The Righteous Lady figured, and correctly, the Time had come. The Revelation her husband was about to receive would far outdo the Revelations in The Word.
Spinning, Sesha yelled “No! You will not do this!” Her voice no longer was the sweet toned stumbling English they knew. This was clear, concise and commanding. “This is wrong, and it is time it stopped!” Almost everyone’s jaw – except those she’d told – dropped when they realized she had a nice accent but nothing nearly as strong as just that morning. The crowd fell silent. “I have never been so horrified in my life! What kind of barbarians are you, to put down women, humiliate any person you can and especially, to beat people until they are almost dead for no reason at all?”
“Sesha?” Peter Allway’s voice cracked, he was so stunned. “Child… what is the matter with you? Why are you doing this? I thought you were sick…”
“Sick of you running a slave camp, yes, sick of you committing crimes against people in the name of your god, yes. Sick I couldn’t help anyone sooner, so now I’m stopping this sickness.” Her small hands bunched into fists and rested on her hip, the weapon curled in her left hand. She was going to have to use it, she knew. “And I’m going to start with Japheth and Amos… you two, do you really want to be part of the horror going on here? Want to beat people for no good reason? Get to do all the stuff that inwardly makes you quail?”
The two young men looked at each other, then back at Sesha.
“Amos, I meant what I said the other day after accidentally hitting you with the pillow. You did no sin, you’re a good man. I hope you stay a good man, and you too, Japheth. Accounting is happening now; now you must choose who you stand by.”
To Sesha – and everyone else’s – surprise, the young men moved in sync. The black hats they wore were tossed off, the next second the jacket and long thin ties, leaving them in plain white shirts and black pants. The young men walked away and joined the crowd.
“You – dare – just who,” the Most Holy Lord Reverend Peter Allway collected himself and found his voice. “in the name of the Lord, are you really?” he asked quite calmly.
“My full name is Seshaph’lariminium; Sesha is the part that names my person and I am from far away, that is true,” she replied, facing him. “I did come from a ship, but not like yours that sail on top of the water. My ship… navigates what you call the Heavens. Each one of those stars that shine at night have worlds around them, a lot support some form of life.”
“I gather someone has illicit reading material here and read it to you,” Allway’s tone was droll. “The new tales coming out are quite wicked, which is one reason why I led these people here.”
Sesha shook her head. “No, that’s not correct, Peter Allway. Let me explain. I am, what you would call, a World-wide traveler. Only I travel a multitude of worlds, all vast, all different, stretched out in the Heavens above you. I am a Purchaser for many Rich Beings, and as well, I am one of the Pilots of the ships we travel in. My large ship was hulled, which is as bad as when that happens to yours. We sleep most of the trip after charting the course, I was the one awakened.” Sesha could only spare glances at the crowd, for the Monitors were whispering together and trying to spread out. “If you men don’t be quiet and hold still I won’t be responsible for hurting you,” her grin was feral.
“Oh? How woulds’t thou do a thing?” Monitor Seth laughed a bit. “We all saw and felt thy back; the wounds be horrible an’ e’en now you cant a bit while standing.” He took a step towards her, confident.
“See this?” Sesha uncurled her hand and lifted up the small gray tube. “I know it looks like a metal tube with funny ends,” tilting, she showed the colored spots and pointed front end, “but it is a very powerful weapon. I really don’t want to use it.”
Now Monitor Gideon laughed loudly and suddenly strode towards her. Sesha pointed the tube and did something; his fine-crafted boot caught fire! Everyone screamed but none louder than his. The other Monitors started kicking dirt on him, one finally stomped the toes of his boot to put out the flames.
“I told you… don’t move! Do you see that I mean it? Now let me finish.” Sesha grinned back at Beulah and her group. Florence was laughing! Sesha moved to the other end of the platform and sat down. This was going to take a while and sitting also gave the impression she was weakening, which would relax the Reverend and his men to the point of making another mistake. A strong breeze blew past her and people shifted; the crowd moved closer together a bit more towards her and away from the Monitors in a better line.
“So why are you here?” this was from Monitor Isaac. “If your ship is hulled an’ is in the Heavens as you say, how did you get here an’ whatever for?”
“Fair question. You see, the… fuel my ship runs on is exactly like your seawater. Like wood fuels your fire, seawater fuels my ships engines. All I wanted to do was come down, get some and go back. But there was a bad storm, I had a problem with my small ship and crashed in your forest. Walked here, trying to find the ocean.”
“No, thou did arrive in a buggy,” a voice said from the crowd.
“When you first saw me, yes. You didn’t see me before.”
“How can that be?” came from a woman.
“Look… let’s discuss the problem that almost got Ben and Ezra beaten. What did you say you saw, boys?”
Now the lads crept out some, still surrounded by protecting adults.
“Thou wert in a nightgown as thou – you – are now. Then it just changed to a dress! No skin, no pulling off the gown.”
“Like this?” standing, Sesha tapped on her ‘bracelet’ and the gown changed to the dress she’d been wearing. The gasps from all were horribly loud, but the boys yelled.
“That be the way! See? See? We lied not!” Ben was thrilled despite the awful fright he’d been living.
“So watch this, everyone… this lovely bracelet I wear… is more than that; this is the way I like it to look,” she changed it to her large gemlike arm cover. “Watch and see what it can do.” She stepped up to the Reverend and aimed it at him. Fearing another beam of fire, he flinched. When only light shone on him, not hurting him, he straightened back up.
“Ready?” when there were a lot of nods, Sesha keyed the unit and her dress changed to an exact set of the Reverend’s clothes. The crowd and monitors lunged back more, then crept forward again. Several reached out and felt the “material” and declared it real. Again, she aimed her Wrist-Gem at Ezra’s mother and the Reverend’s garments vanished and a duplicate of that dress appeared.
“That’s what we seen,” Ezra reiterated. “We wasn’t lying.”
“Here’s something else, too. This gem is not really that… it is the most incredible machine you ever saw. It can remember everything, repeat what you said hours ago and in your own voice! Beulah, Darren, Florence, Nick, Sarah, shall I?”
“I say yes,” Darren nodded and the others agreed.
She ran her fingers over it and Allway’s voice boomed out.
Silence, liar! Do not think to lie to me for God doth speak
directly to me an’ I know thy hearts th’ same as the Creator
himself! To see clothes changing is to see flesh an’ it did rouse
thee both! Thus saith the scripture, ‘For as he thinketh in his
heart, so is he!’ That thou did watch an lust! Therefore both are
sentenced to twenty lashes, back and sin area that they –
Everyone gasped; faces paled and many stepped back. “It’s all right, it’s just copying his voice. You all heard him say that a few minutes before so you know this is true. It is what you call a ‘machine,’ Darren and Nicodemus told me, a device made of moving parts, an engine and such. My world can make machines that are extremely tiny but can do many things. This is one. Do you believe this was Reverend Allway’s voice you just heard?”
“Yea, verily,” the crowd responded as one. Even though she’d heard this kind of response before, it was awful.
Weathering Storms Page 39
