The Patriarch Alliance were among the planets lost to the Walien Theocracy in 7816… the planets had taken the alien’s social, political and even religious doctrine as their own. Most humans consider the humans of the Alliance more alien then human.

                                                                                               The Outer Planets,
                                                                                               The Lost Terran Empire
                                                                                               Published in Year 8024

Part 3

“You hungry?” The woman asking Jenny sat on the floor. “There’s still some food in the kitchen.”

“No. We ate on the transport.” Jenny looked around her as she settled on the floor. The room was big. After Boris left with Alfred, his mother half-dragged Jenny into the kitchen. A downward staircase from the kitchen led to the current room Jenny was in. Jenny saw many single beds with a small cupboard placed in front of every bed. There were however no chairs, so Jenny and every woman in the room were sitting on the floor in the centre of the room.

“Should we be talking?” Jenny asked. “No speaking unless spoken to.”

“Cows are allowed to speak first in the kitchen, in the bedroom and in the pen,” the woman replied kindly.

“Pen?”

“This room. The cows’ room.” 

“This is called the Pen.”

“Where all cows sleep, til her man calls her to his great presence.” Another woman spoke. She wore the same outfit as Zhang only without the hood. Once in the house, Zhang took her hood off as well.

Just like an animal. Jenny was proud that she managed not to shudder.

“Where does Boris sleep?”

“Upstairs. In his room, of course.” Boris’ mother sound surprised at the question.

“So the men have their own rooms… while the women sleep together.”

“Yes… and we are not women. We are cows”

“That doesn’t sound very fair.”

“We are cows,” Boris’ mother smiled. “They are men. Glory to the man. It is only right.”

“OK.”

Glory to the man? What the hell does that mean?

“A lot to take in, isn’t it?” Boris’ mother asked kindly.

“Yes. May I ask a question?” The look on the women’s face told Jenny she’d made a mistake. “Did I say something wrong?”

“Nothing major,” the mother assured her. “Cows should always speak of themselves in the third person. Try never to use ‘I’.”

“And call yourself something low and useless.” The woman that spoke was Zhang. “For example, you should say something like ‘Can this worthless piece of meat ask something’ or ‘could this stupid beast ask something’.” All the other women nodded their head in agreement.

“Oh.” She was right. It was a lot to take in. “Can this worthless cow ask something?”

“Of course dear,” Boris’ mother smiled again.

“What’s your name?”

The women all stopped. Jenny was afraid that she had made another mistake… then the room exploded. Every woman in the room was laughing her guts out.

“She got you there Mary.” “She too happy after seeing her son.” “Not bad for a first timer.” Everyone was talking at the same time.

“Ok, OK. Everyone calm down,” Mary said, though in truth she was having a hard time controlling herself as well. Looking at Jenny after a long time, she said. “Sorry. You’re right, introductions first. This is Mary of Frings, second of Abram, mother of Boris, mother of Daniel. My true name is Useless.” Mary bowed her head slightly as she spoke.

“Second? That means you are the second wife?”

Boris didn’t tell me that.

“That’s right. Sonia here is first.” Mary pointed to a much older woman beside her.

“This is Sonia of Frings, first of Abram, mother of Alfred. My true name is Worthless Cunt.”

“This is Glory of Frings, third of Abram, mother of Chan, mother of Elrond. My true name is Used Pussy.”

“What is a true name?” Jenny asked quickly. She was very interested in why they keep calling themselves these horrible names.

“Your name is the name your father gave you when you are born. When you marry, your husband will rename you. This is your true name. The name only your new family would know. No one else.”

“Oh… something liked a family secret.”

“That’s right.” Mary smiled again.

They are smiling? After all that!

“This stupid cow is Zhang of Frings, first of Abram, mother of Avery. My true name is Faceless Whore.”

“That’s Avery?” Jenny asked. Pointing to the baby Zhang was carrying.

“Yes, cute isn’t he?” A mother’s pride was evident on Zhang’s face.

“This is Kris of Frings, second of Abram. My true name is Piss Drinker.”

“This is Roc, daughter of Abram Frings.”

”This is Yancy, daughter of Abram Frings.”

Roc and Yancy were dressed differently from the rest of the women. Roc had on a sleeveless red dress with a gold bodice. The dress was cut at mid thigh. Yancy had about the same outfit, only it was a blue dress with a light-blue bodice. Both dresses were very eye-catching.

“You’re Boris’ sisters.” Jenny asked. “He said he has three sisters.”

“Siti is a worm now,” Mary said. “Roc’s my daughter, Yancy is Glory’s.”

“Worm? What’s that?”

“A female of Kadir. Females are called worms on that planet.” Sonia replied.

“So, women are called differently on different planets?” Jenny was surprised. Boris never said anything about this… again!

“Yes. On Thordaw, cows. On Kadir, worms. On Whiteside, pigs. Don’t worry; most outsiders make the same mistakes.” Mary assured her.

“And treated differently as well.” Kris added.

“Differently? How?” This was something new to Jenny. Her research never said anything about this.

“Jobs, education and the females are dressed differently as well,” Mary replied. “By the way, how tall are you?”

“1.84m. Why?”

“We’ll get you a toh-an tomorrow.” Mary looked at Sonia. “We got anything her size and height?”

“Size yea. Don’t know about height” Sonia replied.

“So she’ll be showing a lot of leg,” Kris said. “The men won’t mind.” Kris was smiling at Jenny with a hungry look in her eyes. Jenny, with a start, realized that she was not the only one.

“What’s a toh-an?” Jenny wanted to move the conversation along.

“What Roc and Yancy are wearing,” Mary said. “All unmarried females wear the toh-an. When married, you wear the toh-gan.” Pointing at the grey oversized (and very uncomfortable-looking) robe she was wearing.

“Oh… but we are getting married?” Jenny knew Boris long enough to know how stubborn he could be. She had no doubt that they would be married.

“No ceremony, no test. So you are unmarried.” Mary said.

“OK,” Jenny said. Something must have showed on her face. Mary reached over and touched her hand.

“Don’t worry,” she said kindly. “Glory to the man. Boris is smart. He would not ask you to come to Thordaw if he think you can’t handle things.”

“He is smart.” That was true. Boris was one of the smartest man Jenny knew.

                                              “He is strong, He is smart,
                                                He is fast, He is wise,
                                                He is My man,
                                                He is My master,
                                                He is My God”

Every woman in the room intoned the chant. One that Jenny knew.

Time to impressive them that I’m not a total idiot.

“That’s the 8^th chant in the Way of the Female, isn’t it?” Jenny tried to sound as innocent as possible.

“Yes.” Mary looked shocked. “You know the chants?”

“Only the nine major ones. Boris insisted that I learnt them along with some positions.”

“Glory to the man. Your man is wise.” This was Zhang. She sounded impressed.

“Jenny?” Glory said.

“Yes”

“Answer me with the first thing that comes to your head.” Glory looked serious.

She’s going to ask me a question.

“Ok…”

“Which chant do you most agree with?”

“The 5^th.” The answer was out before she could do anything.

All the women looked at Jenny. Some nodded their head, some didn’t. Everyone intoned the 5^th chant,

                                               “All woman are cows,
                                                 Cows are weak, cows are stupid,
                                                 I am a woman,
                                                 I am weak, I am stupid.
                                                 I am a cow.”

Jenny was surprised that she had chanted along with the women. “Is that important?” she asked on one in particular.

“Very important.” Sonia said.

“Why?”

“The chant a cow most agree…” The answer was never completed.

“MAN!” Jenny didn’t know who shouted but without hesitation, every woman turned toward the door and fell to their knees. Heads flew to the floor and everyone assumed the family position. Jenny was not going to be the only one sitting when everyone was bowing. She assumed the position as well.

“Cows.” The voice belonged to Alfred.

“Yes, Sir.” It sounded to Jenny that everyone had shouted the reply.

“Father will have Useless today. I will take Faceless Whore,” Alfred said.

“Lights out in 15 minutes.”

“Yes, Sir.” Again the reply was shouted back. Jenny heard Alfred walking away. She was not going to risk a look. When the footsteps were on the stairs, Mary and Zhang jumped up and ran to the back of the room. There was a shower at the back along with a sink. There was also a hole in the ground for the toilet. Several mirrors lined the back wall. Mary took off her toh-gan and jumped into the shower. Zhang was brushing for teeth furiously at the sink. All these were happening right in front of Jenny. There was not a single door for modesty.

“What’s going on?” she asked.

“Mary and Zhang will serve their men tonight,” Sonia said. “They need to get ready.”

“This is what Mary said earlier?” Jenny asked. “The men pick, then the woman go up to their room to… serve?”

“Yes and we are not women.” Sonia said. “We are cows. We are worthless pieces of meat that are useless unless we are in the presence of a man.” It was then that Jenny first discovered that the woman… cow called Sonia was a very religious female.

“Oh.” Jenny saw Mary and Zhang switch positions. “What about me? I mean with Boris?”

“Did you spend the night with him last night?”

“You can say that. We were together in the transport.” Jenny saw that everyone was preparing for bed.

“A cow may not spend two nights in a row with her man,” Sonia was smiling as she said that.

“WHAT?” Jenny was in disbelief.

“In the spirit of fairness, no cow may spend two nights in a row with her man.” Sonia continued, “That way, all the cows in the house can spend one night every five days with their man.”

“So, the rules are that you get to spend one night every five days with your man?” This could be harder than Jenny thought. “One fuck every FIVE DAYS?”

“No, of course not!” Sonia was laughing again.

Why do they laugh so much? They should be crying!

“A man can have his cows anytime he wants. He just has to… fuck as you say it, every cow he has at least once every five days.”

“So,” Jenny think she is beginning to understand. “A man can have a max of five wives and he has to screw everyone he has at least once every five days?”

“Yes”

“And he can screw them twice in a row?”

“He can do whatever he wants.” Sonia replied. “He just have to make sure he is not neglecting anyone.”

“So in the spirit of fairness, he is not allowed to spend two nights in a row with any one cow? Even when he only has one wife?” Jenny saw that Mary and Zhang are putting on make-up.

“Yes. That’s right.”

“What if he wants to spend the night with the same worm… cow?” Sonia’s look told her to change her sentence to ‘cow’.

“Men have rules just like cows,” Sonia replied patiently. “They must follow their rules just like we follow ours.”

“If they don’t want to?” Jenny was very uncomfortable sleeping alone on her first night in Thordaw. “You said that they can do what they want. Right?”

“Men have rules.” A look of sadness crossed Sonia’s face. “A cow that disobeys the rules get punished. A man that flouts the rules get death.”

“A death sentence?” Boris told Jenny that the men of the Patriarch Alliance had laws that they were harsh, but never this serious. “For something like this?”

“It is not unheard of.” Sonia looked at Jenny and said, “In some ways, pigs, cows and worms are more protected under the laws than men are.”

“Ok. Then I sleep here?”

“This bed.” Sonia pointed to the bed in question. “It used to belong to Siti.”

“My luggage?”

“Useless.” Jenny grasped at the woman. “You will wear the toh-an tomorrow and everyday until you are married. Then you will wear the toh-gan.” Sonia said not unkindly. “What you had belongs to your man. Your man will provide, you will serve, what you have before you came to your knees are useless in your new life as an animal of your man. Your man will order you, command you, and protect you. You will obey, you will understand, you will care. You will suffer and you will be happy. Nothing else matters.”

Jenny stood there shocked. Beyond shocked. She was very turned-on by Sonia’s speech and that was more surprising than anything that had happened.

“Sleep tonight.” Sonia said kindly. “Tomorrow you serve. And you will love your new life.” For some reason that she can’t understand, Jenny believed her.