The Missing Half

When she saw them approach, she stood to meet them with fists on her hips. The gray jumpsuit she wore covered everything, but its slight bulkiness couldn't hide her feminine form. Her face was visible through the transparent mask that fully protected it. The rest of her head was fully exposed to the air, letting her short hair flutter in the breeze.

"Any word yet on other survivors?" she asked.

"None," said the lieutenant. "But in the meantime, we've brought someone over to.explain the, uh, situation on our planet. Communications Officer Annita Moore, please meet Professor Darrin Wesley."

She looked at Darrin with a piercing gaze that disarmed him completely. She actually rolled her eyes! "Alright," she said to him. "Get on with it. I'm tired of you beating around the bush about these hazards. I can't wear this mask forever, you know."

Her dismissal made Darrin trip all over his thoughts. "Um, the empire first fell on this planet and started the war." He paused. "No, wait, it wasn't like that."

She erupted in laughter.

He could see in her expression that she was trying to stop, but couldn't control herself. For awhile, she managed to regain her composure. She looked at them in the eye for a few moments. But when Darrin and the lieutenant simultaneously looked at each other with worry, she started laughing again.

Darrin was in awe at the beauty in the sound of her laughter. But the sound was close enough to the shallow giggling that he had heard all his life. It reminded him of what this woman could end up becoming.

"Sophie's tits, girl!" His voice boomed through his mask. "This planet can make you suffer a fate worse than death! You had better get yourself together and listen!"

Her laughter died down and settled to a smile. "Finally," she said. "It looks like someone here can speak without stuttering after all. I was beginning to think you're all as skittish as mice."

"We can't help it," said Darrin. "You're a mythical creature, the first woman on this planet in generations."

"The first woman? Then how do you..." Her voice trailed off and she chuckled. "It's a long story, isn't it? Come on. Let's get a seat."

***

A few days later, across the border.

The scenes switched from one to another with the jarring transitions that belonged to dreams. The violent force of the escape pod launch pressed her deeper into the impact gel. The heat of re-entry engulfed her body. She rolled down a hill helplessly after leaving the pod. A flash of light blinded her eyes when she was found in a thorny bush. The primitive vehicle shook as she was transported like cargo.

Then, Terisa woke from the nightmare and found herself in a soft silken bed. After a few breaths of disbelief, she slowly became aware of the aches scattered around her body. She leaned up to inspect herself and found that, other than bandages, she was completely naked. A groan escaped her lips when she discovered that moving was painful yet tolerable.

"Oh, you're awake," said a high pitched voice to her side. Teresa turned to see its source. She blinked and took a second look in case she was still dreaming. But the image of the girl who had spoken remained the same.

The girl wore nothing but gold jewelry around her wrists, upper arms and neck. Sheer pink cloth connected bracelet to arm band and arm band to collar. The filmy material didn't cover her arms like sleeves. It just hung limp from the jewelry, mocking the very concept of clothing.

The girl stood and revealed that she was naked down below. "You stay right here while I call master," she said before walking out the room with a sway in her step.

Terisa groaned again in pain. Of all the planets to crash on, it had to be the planet of the sexists. She scanned the room for something to cover herself with or a weapon to fight with. But when she didn't see anything, she wondered whether that was even the correct approach. Perhaps it would be better to go with the flow. This place might not be so bad. Maybe the male servants dressed similarly, with pretty bows of cloth tied on their dicks.

The humor from the mental image gave little respite and she cursed silently at the crewmen who saved her. Both of them probably received more diplomatic training than her and would know how to deal with this situation. Damn them both. She was a marine, it was her job to die for them. Instead, all they saw was a damsel in distress. And now, they even succeeded in turning her into one!

The door to the room opened and her hands moved to cover herself. Then, she put then aside in a snap decision. Nudity might not be a big deal to them. And even if it was, it was better not to show a hint of vulnerability.

To her disappointment, the man who walked in was overdressed even by imperial standards. His coat was covered in badges of rank, even up to the cuffs and the high collar around his neck. The metal of his medals and the leather of his boots shone with a flawless polish. His confident gait made it even plainer that he was in charge.

He was flanked by two more girls who were dressed similarly to the first one. One of the girls broke formation and went to Terisa's bedside, holding a tray with a pitcher and glass.

"Please," said the man. "Have a drink."

"Thank you," said Terisa. The serving girl bent down so Terisa could reach the glass.

The man spoke as she gulped down the water. "I am Kaiser Alderson, leader of the Marlowist Federation."

She held her cup out, to signal the serving girl to refill it. Hopefully, that would give her some semblance of command. She hid her sigh of relief when the serving girl started pouring and made her own introduction. "Captain Roza, acting commander of the Starship Mercury's marines in service of the Solar Empire." She didn't mention that her rapid promotion was only because she suspected everyone else was dead.

The kaiser simply nodded. If he was shaken by her rank, he didn't show it.

"Have you recovered any other survivors?" she asked before taking another sip, trying not to gulp it down desperately like the first one.

"I'm afraid not. We've only recovered wreckage."

She couldn't tell if he was lying or not.

He seized the opening as she drank. "Tell me, Terisa, is the empire returning with more ships?"

So this federation of his wasn't loyal to the empire. "I am not at liberty to discuss the plans of my government," she answered.

"I see." His predatory smile told her that forcing the truth out of her was only a matter of time. "You must be hungry as well," he continued without giving her time to reply. "I'm sure you would appreciate a hot meal and some rest before we continue our discussion."

On cue, a serving girl entered the room with a bed tray in hand. The moment Terisa caught the scent, she knew she couldn't turn it away. "Yes, please," she said. It was a minor consolation that the tray would cover her privates in its shadow.

"After you've eaten and rested, would you like to go on a tour of the palace?" he asked. "I'm sure it would help us come to an understanding when we negotiate. Our situation isn't like anything you've seen before."

"Yes, I would like that very much," she replied. "But before I leave this room, please provide me with an officer's uniform. It's only proper, given my active rank."

"Of course. I'll oversee the arrangements myself while you eat and recover. If you have any concerns, please don't hesitate to ask any of my girls." He left the room, leaving the serving girls behind.

His claimed ownership over the girls was worrying but the warmth of the food in her stomach relaxed her. It was so comforting that she found it easy to sleep and not care about anything. She pushed the tray away and closed her eyes. Peace almost came to her until the nightmares arrived.

The two crewmen left the lifepod and floated towards her in the zero gravity. She shouted, ordering them to leave her behind. Instead, they helped free her from the web of wiring and pushed her towards the pod. There was a flash of light and one of her white knights was gone. The pod door closed automatically before she could see what happened to the other one. The next thing she knew, she was accelerating and the impact gel was deploying and she sat up, awake on the silky bed.

Three serving girls by the foot of her bed sat on chairs facing her, waiting. Two carried a fresh set of food and drink on their trays. The other had the officer's uniform on her lap.

They all stared into space and didn't notice her stir. It was only after Terisa stretched her arms when the more observant one noticed she was awake. She whispered to the ones who were zoned out then they all giggled simultaneously. Only then did the two girls with the food and drink stand up to serve Terisa.

"How long was I out?" asked Terisa as they placed the bed tray in front of her.

"I don't know," answered the one with the food. "I was just ordered to wait."

"Fuck," whispered Terisa. What had she gotten herself into?

"Okay," said the one of the serving girls.

The girl walked to the foot of the bed and started to spread Terisa's legs apart before she realized what was about to happen. "Stop that!" said Terisa. "Just, just let me eat me out. I mean, get out from there let me eat in peace."

"Okay." The girl looked disappointed and returned to the side of the bed.

As Terisa ate, she composed her thoughts and made plans to deal with the situation. These people needed to know as soon as possible that she should be treated with dignity, even if she had to bare threats.

When she finished her meal, she sat at the foot of the bed and had the uniform held up for inspection. To her relief, it was a decent set of pants and coat that covered everything. It even had too much buttons in weird places just like the dress uniforms back home. The set didn't come with any underwear, but she was glad anyway that she had something to shield her nudity.

With the uniform on, she paced around the room and stretched cautiously to feel the limits of her injuries. Other than a few aches, she was fit and ready for anything. Bless that marine training.

"Summon the kaiser," she ordered. Upon hearing this, the serving girls all bowed and left her alone.

Terisa stood at attention, facing the door and mentally prepared herself for the confrontation. The kaiser made her wait, but she stood there, coiled and ready.

When he entered, she didn't give him time to speak. "Give me the truth, kaiser," she said with cold menace. "Are women in your federation treated like slaves?"

He turned to look at his servants. "These girls aren't women."

"Spare me your technicalities. You know very well what I'm asking for."

The kaiser answered in a lecturing tone. "Just like when a boy becomes a man, a girl is supposed a woman when she comes of age. This is the point when we can assume that she has matured physically, emotionally and intellectually. But on this planet, something else happens in the middle of puberty. While girls still develop physically,their emotions and intelligence degrade instead."

It wad worse than she thought. These people have culturally regressed a great deal. "Impossible," said Terisa. "Nothing but primitive superstitions. A mutation like that can't possibly spread in just a few centuries."

"It's a virus," said the kaiser calmly. "An engineered plague released by your empire. The virus remains dormant throughout childhood until triggered by the hormones of puberty. It then alters the girl's mental pathways, turning her into the simple creatures you see before you. They're all docile, eager to please and find happiness in the basest pleasures. Their intelligence is limited and they're incapable of deeper thought. I'm sure you've gotten to know them by now."

"Is it contagious?" asked Terisa, matching his calm even if she felt a momentary panic.

"It only spreads from mother to child. You should be safe."

She breathed a sigh of relief.

"There are other effects, but there's one which is especially interesting," continued the kaiser. "While it's slow for girls to learn new skills or memorize new facts, they don't lose anything they already have. Instead, existing expertise is set in stone and a girl becomes very efficient in doing what she knows. This makes for some very creative applications." He opened the door and beckoned her to follow. "Come. Let me show you."

They walked down the corridor and were soon flanked by servants and soldiers. He wasn't even trying to hide the fact that she was a prisoner.

"Our great breakthrough wasn't technological," explained the kaiser when they reached a set of double doors. "It was sociological." At his signal, the serving girls opened the doors and everyone headed inside.

Terisa gasped.

Rows and rows of girls sat at desks and straight ahead onto a blackboard with complicated looking equations on it. Most of them were motionless with hands clasped on their desk. Others made small cyclic motions like twirling a pencil or spinning a finger on the table.

They all wore elements of what had been part of a school outfit but their choices in clothing were hardly uniform. Knee high socks, pleated skirts, blouses and ties were all common themes but most only wore one or two articles.

"Go on, you can touch one if you like," said the kaiser.

Terisa approached the girl nearest to her and brushed her on the shoulder as if the girl were asleep. She wore a long skirt and an unbuttoned blouse. Her hairclip had a butterfly on it.

The girl stirred and turned at Terisa. "Hello!" said the girl with a child's enthusiasm. "My name's Gina. What's yours?"

"Terisa," she answered. "What are you doing?"

"I'm practicing my mental math while I wait for work."

"And what kind of work do you do?"

"I'm register eight two two two five two."

Terisa noticed that the number repeated itself on the girl's armband. It still made no sense to Terisa until the kaiser stepped in to explain. "All these girls were identified to have an aptitude for numbers at a very young age. Before they hit puberty, we gave them the rigorous training required for them to compute accurately and efficiently. When brought together, they grew up to become living circuits in a computing machine. The end result is computation power more advanced than what our industrial base would suggest."

Terisa was speechless.

"Observe," he continued. "Kernel?" he said loudly.

A girl in the center of the room stood up. Her armband was colored differently. "Yes master!" she said with a salute. The other women stirred from their trance and looked at the kernel.

"Compute pi to the five-thousandth digit," ordered the kaiser.

There was a bustle of activity as the kernel assigned tasks to the girls around her. A few started working equations on paper then passed them around. It was a simple task, so not all of them were part of the workflow. After awhile, one of the girls approached the kaiser and handed him a piece of paper with the solution. When he showed it to Terisa, she saw that even the handwriting was mechanical in its perfection.

He tore up the paper. The girls didn't break their smiles.

"Our ancestors were afraid to tap the female potential like this," said the kaiser as he crumpled the sheet in his fist. "They saw it as dehumanizing without realizing that their sisters, wives and daughters were no longer human. The modern federation is more enlightened. With girls specializing in menial tasks, us men are free to pursue the progression of civilization."

"What about their rights and welfare?" asked Terisa.

The kaiser put his hand on Gina's shoulder, causing the girl to shiver and smile. "What makes you happy, Gina?" he asked.

"Oh, I like math and obeying and fucking," she answered.

"And do we give you all of that?"

"Uh huh," she said with a few vigorous nods.

"This was Marlow's vision," said the kaiser to Terisa. "He wanted a world where people could be happy by living simple, productive lives instead of wanting more and doing less. He looked at Terisa in silence then sighed. "You don't approve. I see the empire hasn't changed. You would still reject the solution that your most brilliant scientist had invented."

With her thoughts betrayed, Terisa decided it was best to say them out loud. "When the rest of the empire gets here, we'll find a cure for this disease and put stop to the atrocities you commit in whoever's name. Your early industrial tech has no hope of matching our starships. You don't even have nukes!"

The kaiser made a gesture and two soldiers grabbed Terisa before she could react. "This is an act of aggression!" she said, knowing it was useless to fight her way out in her weakened state.

"Kernel!" shouted the kaiser. "Give me a copy of the starmap from last night's computations."

There were no calculations. A few girls simply transcribed it from memory then handed it to the kaiser.

The kaiser held the map where Terisa could see and pointed at a dot. "This is our star." He tranced to another dot. "And based on your vector, you left from here. That gives us at least decades or so before your empire realizes your disappearance. We might even have a century or two, depending on how tied up your forces are."

Terisa remained expressionless as not to betray that he was dead on. It would be another century or so before the second set of scouts arrived to investigate her starship's disappearance. Then, it would take even longer for a true task force to arrive.

"With your help," continued the kaiser. "We'll have the jumpstart we need to get the weapons to challenge your empire. If we could salvage the base on the moon, it would even be better."

"What makes you think I'll cooperate?"

The kaiser came closer to Terisa until they were face to face and she could feel his breath on her. "The virus," he said, "is airborne."

Terisa panicked at the touch of his breath. She tried to headbutt the kaiser but he leaned backwards before she could hit him. The soldiers holding her tightened their grips and she could feel steel cuffs being wrapped around her wrists and ankles. She pushed at the soldiers anyway and stumbled to the floor. When she looked up, she saw the kaiser smiling down at her. A collar snapped shut around her neck.

***

Author's Note

Continuation coming next year! Okay, maybe not that late, but writing this had already stalled months ago. I've got an outline and all, but the spirit isn't willing.

It's selfish of me to ask for feedback because I rarely give it, but I still appreciate receiving anything.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons CC BY license because I'm a hipster and copyright is too mainstream.