Immersion (Part 1)

Tara

Jeanne ran up the hill and with some relief saw the homestead. Both hands holding onto the front of her robe as she did not want to trip, she ran towards her home. She was glad for the knee high socks she was wearing underneath her robe when she saw her mother-in-law in the fields.

As Jeanne ran towards her, Kristina saw her and threw down her rake.

“Jeanne, what are doing here?” Kristina asked immediately.

Jeanne could tell from her voice that she was surprised to see her. Jeanne’s hand lowered her robe as she did not want to show her in-law any disrespect. “Master and I were on the road to the city when we found droppings. Master said they were from a herd of goats had stayed overnight and want me to come back to take a basket for them.”

“He told you to run back for some droppings?” Kristina sounded slightly incredulous at the action of her son.

“Yes,” Jeanne nodded. “Master says it will be great fertilizer for the farm.”

“Very well then,” Kristina sounded resigned. “Come on, let’s tell master.”

          The master in question was Soshi Chang, father of Jaya Chang, master of the House Chang. Both women ran towards the homestead and they found him sitting as expected in his rocking chair just into the living room of the house.

          Soshi Chang was dressed in an open cross-collar shirt with a pair of wide pants. His hair was long and in keeping with the tradition of men in Pladir was gathered up into a ponytail called a queue. With soft music in the background and a book in his hand, Jeanne thought his father-in-law had grown a little soft in his old age. He even had a little paunch, a sure sign of good living. However this is the land of Pladir and he is the head of the house, so it means the old man was nothing short of God to any female in the family.

          Kristina and Jeanne stood at the doorway and kneeled. When the old man turned his gaze towards them, both women lowered their head to the ground.

“What do my animals want?”

Kristina as the senior woman was the one who answered. “Master, Sir Jaya found some droppings along the road and said it would good fertilizer for the farm.”

“Where is Jaya?” Even with her head to the ground, Jeanne heard a note of surprise in the old man’s voice.

“My master was on his way to the city when he saw the droppings, Sir.” Jeanne answered. “My master told his animal to run back to take some baskets to carry the droppings back.”

“I see.” Silence followed this statement. Jeanne kept her head on the ground and waited. “Very well then, both of you take a pan and go report to Jaya immediately.”

“Yes Master” Both females answered.

          Jeanne led Kristina to the location and getting there wasn’t easy. Pladir was a hilly land which baked under a hot sun and both women had to run up and down several slopes before they reached the location. With a wicket basket tied to their backs, running under the sun in their heavy clothes and hood was an exhausting affair for the women. When they finally reached the awaiting Jaya Chang, both Jeanne and Kristina were panting and out of breath.

They were only too grateful to kneel before the man and showed him their proper respect.

John

Jaya Chang was sick of waiting. When he finally saw the two females running from the direction of the homestead, he almost wanted to jump for joy. Fortunately, he had better control than that and kept the impatient/bored look on his face.

When they kneed and bowed before him, Jaya even waited for the proper 5 seconds before acknowledging them, “You took too long.”

“Yes Master. This worm is sorry and begged for your punishment.” Jeanne groveled before her husband.

“Later. Get the dung back to the house.” Jaya just wanted it to be over with.

“Yes Master,” both women replied.

Jaya sat there as he watched the 2 females got to work. Jeanne and Kristina, his wife and mother, put their wicket baskets on the ground and using their hands, they started scooping the droppings into the baskets. Looking at the two females working, Jaya could guess why it took them so long to come back.

Both females were dressed in traditional clothing of married women, a long sleeved white robe that reached from their necks to their ankles called a g’ao. The sleeves of the robe are wide and so long that it even covered the hands of the women. Their necks and heads were also covered by a cheche. A long garment that was wrapped several times over their heads and necks, it covered the whole head with only a small area left open for their eyes. Long white gloves and knee high socks covered the women’s hands and feet. Under the gaze of Ramertusa, neither woman exposed a single piece of flesh to the sun god but the clothing was not made for long distance running.

The robe is supposed to be pure white from the collar to the frills that swept the ground but Jaya could see that the robes of both women were dirty and even from where he was sitting, he could smell the sweat of their work. Although he would never admit it, Jaya was secretly proud as both dirt and smell were signs of a good Pladir women; obedient, hardworking, and covered.

After filling the baskets, Jaya saw both women trying to tie the baskets to their back. “Stop!” Jaya had a better idea. “Carry the baskets on your head. Walking beneath smelly droppings is what you animals deserved for taking so long.”

Both women kneeled and bowed their heads to the ground. Obediently, they then lifted the baskets onto their heads and Jaya led them in the direction of the homestead. Jaya glanced back a few times and saw that both women were very careful walking with the baskets on their head as the baskets were almost as board as they were.

Tara

Jeanne was totally exhausted when they finally reached the homestead. She wanted nothing but to drop herself down on the ground and sleep. However work for the day was not done yet as her Master ordered the women to store the droppings and both she and Kristina obeyed. While they were piling up the droppings in the storehouse, Ramertusa began to set and her master called her over. Jeanne kneeled and bowed her head to the ground.

“You were slow today.” Her master said.

“Yes Master”

“I will give you a choice of punishment.”

It was a battle to keep from groaning but Jeanne managed it. “Thank you Master.”

“You can have 20 strokes of the cane or you may lick my boots clean with your mouth.”

With her face to the ground, Jeanne could not take a good look at her master’s boots but it had to be dirty with travel and it might even had droppings on it. It was an easy choice. “I will have 20 strokes of the cane Master.” Jeanne managed to sound grateful. “Thank you for your kindness, master.”

“Get back to work.” Her master sounded like he was disappointed.

“Yes Master.”

John

          The setting of Ramertusa was greeted by the daily ritual of the women kneeling and facing towards it. Both Jeanne and Kristina were kneeling in the clearing in front of the homestead and both women were looking at the setting sun.

Jaya stood far away from them by the doorway of the house as even he knew not to intervene in this ceremony. Jaya quietly waited for their ceremony to be over.

          As Ramertusa disappeared, both women began their ritual. As usual, they started with their cheche. Custom has it that Pladir women were babies who could never grew up and tradition had it that all hairs on their bodies must be shaved regularly. As the cheche was taken off, Jaya could see the shaved heads of the women for the first time today.

          Both women then stood up and started to undress. The gloves came off first, then the g’ao, and finally the socks on their feet. Both women were naked under the sky as they turned away from Ramertusa and faced The Twins.

          Jaya looked at the two moons and saw Red began slowing leading Blue on their nightly dance across the sky. Under the soft glow of The Twins, the women started their bath. Covered from the harsh gaze of Ramertusa during the day, the women were beginning their nakedness during the night. Jaya stood and enjoy the spectacle as the two women scooped water from a big barrel and poured it over themselves.

Dawn and dusk were the two times of the day when Pladir women changed themselves and Jaya always preferred the change in dusk. In the light of The Twins, it looked almost peaceful.

The bath was soon over and both women took their bundle of clothes in their arms, walked to the entrance of the house and kneeled before Jaya. Jaya spoke to his mother first, “You go in first.”

Jeanne handled over her clothes to Kristina and bowed her head to the ground. As Kristina quietly shuffled into the house, Jaya took a position behind Jeanne. He took a moment to admire the form of his wife. He always got a kick out of standing over a kneeling female. The combination of beauty and power was incredible.

“Count the strokes worm.” He raised the cane and slashed it across Jeanne’s back. The sound was deafening but he could hear the cry of “One Master” from his animal. The cane came up and down again. The count continued from Jeanne.

Up and down the cane went and cries from Jeanne soon turned to screams. Jaya felt himself rising and almost lost himself when he heard the cry of “20” from Jeanne.

The punishment was over and Jaya took a sound to get his breath under control. Jeanne was sobbing on the ground and when he finally trusted himself to speak, “Crawl to the kitchen and help prepare dinner.”

His animal crawled into the house as fast as her hands and knees could take her. Jaya watched at the beautiful sight and…

Hal

“Program cancelled.” The couple opened their eyes as the gas is slowly pumped out of their capsules.

“Door opening. Please wait.” The glass doors opened and both of them walked gingerly out. Hal Green was there waiting eagerly for their verdict.

“Mr. and Mrs. Mitchell, the hour is up. That’s the program for today, hope you both enjoyed the experience.”

The laugh that greeted Hal was music to his ears. “It sure was an experience,” John said. “Wow! That was great. It was as if I was really there!”

“Yes, the program link your brain neurons into the game and mentally transport you into a virtual world,” Hal carefully explained. “With some work, we can design any world that comes to mind and this program will make it real.”

“You sure it is safe?” Tara asked. “It’s like I could feel pain when I was inside the program. I even felt tired as I was running.”

“That’s just a reflex Mrs. Mitchell,” Hal quickly explained. “Your body is unhurt but the virtual world inside the program is so real, your body just reacted the same way it normally would in real life. You suffer no physical or mental trauma. You feel nothing the moment you came out right?”

         Hal gave a small sigh of relief when Mrs. Mitchell nodded a confirmation to her husband. He was less delighted with her follow-up question. “Why do I feel compel to do something I normally wouldn’t do? Even enjoy it?”

“The program put you “into” the minds of the characters in the program. At the start of the game, the program will put players into a character and have their traits and beliefs. It’s called “immersion” and...”

“But I don’t get to choose my character.” Tara said. “As a paying customer, don’t I get a choice in what character I am playing?”

          Hal gave a quick look at John Mitchell and saw his slightly guilty look. A bulb lighted up in his head but this was not the time for it.

“The choice is made by the program Mrs. Mitchell,” Hal lied effortlessly. “Were you two unhappy with the choices it made?”

“No, no. It was fine.” Even though John Mitchell said that, Hal saw that he was looking at his wife for her reaction. He almost gave a sigh of relief when she nodded ruefully at him and Hal guessed she enjoyed the experience more than she is letting on.

“Well if you are unhappy with the Pladir program, we have other programs in our database. There is even the Pladir expansion you can enjoy, just tell me your…” he never got to finished.

“Expansion?” both Mitchells asked.