Tuesday 15 December 2015

Silhouette Sunday


Part 1

“Whores”
“What are you?”
“Whores”
“What are you?”
“WHORES”

I screamed out the word with all the other women. Kneeling on the hard concrete ground shoulder to shoulder, all of our eyes were fixed on the priest in front of us. For the past hour the old priest has been lecturing us on a woman’s role in the Church of Shadow, and as a relative newcomer to the church, I was lapping up very word.

“Bow and lay yourself out like the whore you are. Remember your body of sin and lay down in the dirt where you belong. LAY DOWN IN THE DIRT WHERE YOU BELONG!”

At the thundering words from the old priest, all the women threw themselves to the ground. Face down on the ground; I lay there on the floor as I heard the footsteps of the priest walking out of the room. Only after hearing the door closed did I dared moved.

One by one, all of us women slowly got up from the ground. We kept an eye on the door where the priest exited. Occasionally, the priest in charge of the sermon would re-enter the room to continue the sermon. If that happen, all the women would throw themselves to the ground immediately as the priest continue the sermon. After 9 years, even I knew that a woman should never stand in the holy presence of a priest of Shadow. Of course after kneeling for an hour, we couldn’t be quick even if we wanted to.

Like most Church of Shadow, our local church was spilt in 2. Men and women had their own chambers and priests delivered different sermons to their flock. Once through the door, men and women would separate in the lobby. Men would then enter through another set of doors into the main chamber, whereas the women would go down a flight of stairs into the basement chamber where their sermons would be held. Slowly, we made out way back up the stairs.

Once in the lobby, I saw that the men were missing. As usual, the men’s sermons were longer than the women and I waited patiently with all the other women. After the first few times this happened, I asked Roy why the men were always late. His reply was that after the sermon, the men would usually loiter around inside the chamber having small talk and enjoying the refreshments made available that day. I was pissed at this at first, but after a couple of months, this became something that I had come to accept. Silhouette is a man’s world and if you wanted to live here, you had to accept things like this.

All the women moved restlessly around the lobby. The area was almost completely silent with only the low rustling of cloth breaking the pristine silence. For women on Silhouette talking in public was allowed but speaking in any holy place was ‘discouraged’. The fact that we were in the lobby of a church we were attending was a further deterrence to all of us. As none of the other women will talk, I too kept quiet, waiting silently for my man like a good little woman. No one wanted to risk their heaven.

It is at times like this that I miss Earth. At least on Earth, I could pass the time looking around checking on the other women’s cloths. On Silhouette, the sumptuary laws make that a total waste of time. The laws of the planet stated that women must be covered from the top of her head to the bottom of her feet, with only the upper face and the hands allowed free. As the Church of Shadow control most things on the planet, and its teaching involved a lot about how women are sinful creatures who must constantly do and think pure thoughts, women on the planet had adopted the nun habit and veil as the clothing of choice. You can almost call it the planet’s uniform for women as over 95% of the women on the planet wear them.

The only exceptions I could think of are off-planet tourists and women who were born off-planet and were relocated to Silhouette for work, or in my case, following her husband though his work. Like those women, I used to go out of the house dressing normally with only a shawl or scarf over my head and one hand on an umbrella. However we often got strange looks from the locals and foreigners like me stayed within the ‘Live Zone’ where almost no locals lived.

During my first year on the planet, Roy found a house that was both cheap and beautiful. I loved it. However it was located in a normal Silhouette neighbourhood and after we moved out of the ‘Live Zone’, I knew that I had to don the habit and veil to fit in (and to avoid the uncomfortable stares). However, the uncomfortable stares did not stop. Women in the neighborhood for safety, and in a further act of devotion to the church, covered the lower part of their face with a veil. As the only unveiled women in the neighborhood, I quickly saw that the uncomfortable stares were more intense than ever. Having a conversation with anyone in the neighborhood was impossible as the men were too embarrassed, while the women were too angry at me. It didn’t help that in Silhouette, only men carry umbrellas. Donning the veil was Roy’s suggestion and I was grateful of that. I was too proud to choose to veil myself, but it was a decision I knew I had to make if I intended to speak to anyone outside the house. I just needed a push, and Roy knowingly provided that. Thinking back to those early days, I couldn’t help but smiled.

It wasn’t long after that the men came out of their chamber. When I first landed on the planet, I often wondered how men knew where their women were. For what I saw, all the women were wearing a habit that brushed the floor, with a nun's veil that covered the top of the head flowing down around and over the shoulders. The face-veil further eroded any chance of recognition they have. The answer was amazingly simple.

All you need to do was to look carefully at the height of the woman, as well as her way of walking. After a few weeks, you could recognize people even without looking at their face. The only problem was if the woman in question was a distance away. Another way of recognizing woman was through their family crest. Each household on Silhouette has what they call a family crest. Styled after an ancient practice on Earth, the family crest was a symbol of the family and men and women wore them on their everyday clothing. For women, the crest was usually placed at the face-veil that covered their mouth. Having no idea what a family crest was, I first thought the symbols were just decorations. Only later did I understand how important it was to the people of the planet. That was just on the outside; on the insides of the women were the neurons.

My thoughts were interrupted when I saw Roy approaching. I swept one foot behind the other and use my hands to hold the skirt of the habit out from my body. As Roy reached me, I bended my knees and bowed my head. The curtsy was the formal greeting between men and women, and it was something I enjoyed. I had only seemed a curtsy in period movies before I came to Silhouette and it was something new and unique to me. It was also more difficult to get right than it seems. The curtsy on Silhouette required the women to tilt her head slightly to the side (to give off a shy look), and to have her eyes at the waist of the man. When I first did it, I was told my curtsy had a long list of problems, everything from not bending my legs properly to tilting my head too much. It took me months of practice in orientation class before I got it right. When the instructor finally told me it was okay, I felt like jumping for joy.

Right now however, I gave the prefect curtsy and held the position. Roy’s hand was perfectly in place at the side of his waist. “Stand” The order came and with permission given, I stood. I lowered my hands and slowly stood up. I kept my eyes down, looking at his waist as Roy attached a leash to me. The neck and shoulders of a woman is covered by a piece of garment called the wimple. On Silhouette, the wimple has a hook right where the Adam’s apple should be. The people of Silhouette called this hook the Eve’s apple. After attaching a leash, Roy led me to the door of the church where we partake in the holy water of the planet. A drink of the church, everyone who enter a church of Shadow are required to drink a glass of holy water before they are allowed to enter or exited the church. Not a problem for men, but for a woman like myself, I have to drink it through the face-veil. With the family crest on the veil itself, this drink was even more symbolic for women than it was for men.

Before exiting the church, I put the second face-veil over my face. Our habit came with 2 face-veils that were hung loose by the side of the veil that covered our head. A woman usually unattached the outer one when they were indoors. The outer face-veil was waterproof and as we exited the church, we were immediately pelted with rain. As much as I loved the people and way of life here, I must say that the weather of Planet Silhouette was every bit as dreadful as rumored. It rained 3 days out of 4 and when it was not raining, dark clouds filled the sky. They say there hasn’t been a sunny day on the planet for years; Silhouette years, which is about 3 times longer than 1 Earth year. The fact that the rainwater was mildly poisonous to a woman’s Y-chromosome made me glad that my waterproof face-veil was on. Although it wasn’t poisonous to the touch, any woman who drinks the rainwater on Silhouette would likely to be ill for the next 4-5 days.

Roy quickly opened an umbrella that sheltered him from the rain. As a woman however I was left following him in the rain. When I first came on planet, I thought this was cruel and unfair. However my perception of men being safe from the rain, while women were left soaking was wrong. Even though I was walking in the rain, I was perhaps drier than Roy. The only concession I had to make was to keep my head down as my eyes were uncovered. I wasn’t even cold as the habit was thick and it helped kept out the cold weather. In fact, every part of my outfit was waterproof and the only part of me that was wet was my feet as Roy liked the idea of me walking barefooted in the streets. If anything, Roy was the one whose suffering from the weather as all he had was a short-sleeve T-shirt with jeans. His attire may be more comfortable than the habit but it wasn’t as practical on Silhouette. 

As I saw my husband walking with my leash in his hand, I thought of our time together and how things had certainly changed since we first met. I find I don’t really mind being led on a leash, because it felt right. Even if I was unhappy about it, I wouldn’t voice my unhappiness. That Starfleet officer was right; it’s something in the air.

About 10 years ago…

The room was grey and the interview was more sombre than I had envisioned. The Starfleet officer sitting in front of me was Miss Amanda Johnson. An officer from the Foreign Office, she had been trying to make me change my mind on going to Silhouette. She’s not having much luck and her frustration was beginning to show.

"You've never been on Silhouette before, Miss Turner," she said, her voice crackling. "If you did, you will run for the hills, much less insisting on going there."
I rubbed my forehead; the frustration was getting to me as well. I took a breath and tried to calm myself. I put on a smile and hoped I looked more relaxed than I felt. "I’m no fool officer. I love my husband, I’ve been away from him for 3 years and enough is enough. I know what I’m getting into.”
“No you do not.” Give her credit; Officer Johnson was nothing if not persistent. “Do you even know the history of Silhouette?”
“Actually I do,” I saw that my smile was infuriating her. I smiled wider. “A convey of colonists whose ships suffered a malfunction crashed onto a then unknown planet. The survivors called the planet Silhouette.” 
“Those colonists were Christian zealots.” Officer Johnson took over the story. “Not the popular smile and sing for peace Christians, or even old-school Western Christianity; we are talking about ancient fire and brimstone Christianity here. When those zealots crashed onto the planet, they saw the dark sky and red soil of the planet and truly believed they landed in hell.”
“Calling them zealots…”
“It’s actually right!” Officer Johnson thundered. “When they managed to contact us again, almost 95 years had past. When Starfleet found out there were survivors, we rushed there but the people didn’t want to leave. That had already built a city and achieved some sort of understanding with the wildlife there. Their way of live evolves around their religion that has changed beyond anything seemed in the Federation. Hell, they even named the planet Silhouette in honour of their new sect, The Church of Shadow.”
“You haven’t told me anything I don’t already know Officer Johnson.”
“Listen to me! They are allowed a chance to build a society from the ground up without any inference! They did not have Starfleet to keep them in check, they did not have to considered how their actions will be view by the rest of the human race, they did everything their way.” Officer Johnson sat up straighter, “And their way view women as whores, as sinful, as creatures who are not even humans!”
I tried to maintain my smile, but could feel it slipping. "You are being a little overdramatic Officer"
“No I am not,” Officer Johnson said it with so much authority that for a moment I seriously wondered if she was right, that I was truly making a mistake. “Forget women’s rights, women on Silhouette don’t even have human rights! From the age of 15, all women on Silhouette are subjected to neurons injections. Once the neurons are in, the women are completely under the control of their Viewer.”
“Neurons injections are hardly illegal Officer Johnson. We use it in our prisons for…”
“My point is that they are more than that Miss Turner,” Officer Johnson then went on a speech that sounded rehearsed. “Here in civilization, when we placed the neurons inside a prisoner, the Viewer in charge of the prisoner can monitor the prisoner remotely. He can even send a one-word message straight to the prisoner to give instructions. In Silhouette, it is more than that.” The officer stopped for a moment. When she saw that I refused to be baited, she continued. “Somehow the men there discovered a way to expand on the neurons. They can literally control the brain of their woman. We’re not sure how they do it but they are can send messages that affect the brains of their women. Pain, pleasure, any basic emotion; can all be ‘manufactured’ by these new neutrons they developed. It’s a way of mind control.”
“I have no wish to join the church Officer Johnson.”
“It doesn’t matter.” This surprised me. “I have seemed hard-nosed female drill-sergeants entering that planet and come out as doormats. There’s something in the air there Miss Turner, and whether you want to or not; you enter Silhouette, you will be changed.”

Part 2

Roy led me along the pony track as we made our way to the clubhouse. The clubhouse was situated near the church and Roy told me before that this wasn’t by accident. It was designed from the start that after Sunday service, men could easily bring their women for their weekly exercise. The pony track started at the clubhouse and weaved its way through several neighbourhoods before coming back to the clubhouse.

There were actually 3 other clubhouses along the route. These clubhouses served the other neighbourhoods that also used the same track, so it wasn’t a surprise when I heard a cart coming behind us. I wanted to look but not having permission from Roy, I kept my eyes to the ground. However, Roy knew me well and the order came in my head. “Look”

I looked behind and stared the passing cart. The woman was in a full bodysuit, with knee high boots and a head harness. In keeping in the style of Silhouette, the lower half of her face was covered with a mask. The top half of the harness totally covered the head with only a hole at the top for the woman’s red hair to come out from. Two large buckles near the ears served as the anchors for the reins. It was quite a sight seeing a redhead with her hair flowing behind her, pulling her master in a pony-cart. I must say I was a little jealous at her beautiful form.

Galloping at a high speed, they were soon upon us. Only at this point did I look at the man driving the cart. The man was in a full-length coat with one hand holding the reins while the other hand was holding a whip. The man must be a lover of the Victorian times; he was even wearing a bowler hat! The man saw us looking and tipped his hat as he went past. Roy nodded his head in polite greeting while I respectfully looked at the ground in reply.

I looked back up after they had past us. The man was driving a hard pace and I must have been staring at them for a while because Roy tugged on the leash. Immediately embarrassed at my envy, I looked at the ground again. Envy is a sin, and I had just committed it. It would be in my confession later tonight and Roy would decide on my appropriate punishment.

The clubhouse was just a small hut where the drivers can sign in with their DNA signature. Naturally, this means the men. There are several designs of the pony attire for the drivers to choose and as I had expected, Roy picked his favourite. Taking the attire, he led me to the changing room nearby. The leash was unhooked, the attire was given to me and I stepped into the room.

I took off my habit in a hurry. Wearing the habit everyday made this a simple task, but wearing Roy’s favourite pony-girl attire was something else. I started with the corset. It looked like a round metal tube at first, but I stuttered at the sight of it. Taking a deep breath, I stepped into the harmless looking round metal tube and lifted it to waist level. Making sure the area for my breast was in the front, I pressed the button to activate the corset. The corset started to shrink in size. Soon it was hugging my body, and then it got smaller. It shrank to the programmed 20-inch waist Roy wanted. I took some time to get used to the corset, cursing the wonders of technology.

When people buy cloths nowadays, they buy one that is about their size. With a press of a discreet button somehow on the cloths, the cloths would shrink to fit the wearer. They call this “liquid clothing technology” but I prefer to call it “liquid torture technology” because on Silhouette they took things a step further. Roy had informed the crew at the clubhouse about the size he wanted and they had programmed it into the corset. The corset is designed to get to the designated size without consideration to the comfort of the wearer. So now my 22-inch waist was in a 20-inch corset, and there’s nothing I can do about it.

With no choice in the matter, I put on the rest of my pony-girl outfit. The hot-pants were cut scandalously short, the boots were knee-high, and the collar was heavy with a ring in front to act as my Eve’s apple. The last part of the outfit was my head harness. It was actually more like a soft helmet than a harness. Putting it over my head, a strap cut across my forehead. Using that as a base, a big strip of leather goes across the top of my head to another strap that cut across the back of my skull. 3 big pink feathers rise out from the big strip of leather. I arranged it so that the feathers would be place directly on top of my head. When it was in place, I pulled the lower mask across my face and strapped it on.

I looked at the mirror to check myself out. The harness covered my lower face, my corset covered my body from my breast to my waist, and my hot-pants barely covered my buttocks. That was all that was covered and to say that I was showing a lot of skin was an understatement. The Church of Shadow only recognises 2 roles for women, the Maiden and the Whore. As a Maiden, women wore the nun habit as a shown of purity, chastity and obedience. As a Whore, there was clothing like this pony-girl outfit.

As I stood looking into the mirror, I couldn’t help but wondered who this woman in the mirror was. When I first met Roy, I was the chief finance officer of an inter-stellar company while he was a space shuttle technician. I was traveling to Mars and he was the technician on the shuttle. A low cost shuttle, space was tight and we met. It was just a bad match. I was 1.9m tall with blond hair and bright green eyes whereas Roy top at 1.65m and was kind of plumb. I even briefly flirted with the idea of being a model during my teenage years. Now I was a faceless woman who is led through the street by a leash and who will soon be pulling her man on a cart like an animal. How did I end up like this? A wave of self-pity came over and tears came to my eyes. “Hurry” The order came in my head as I remembered that Roy was still waiting for me. My husband, lord and master was waiting while I was asking myself stupid questions. I can’t believe what a stupid bitch whore I was.

I quickly folded my habit neatly and came out of the changing room. For once I was glad of Roy’s orders that I was to be always barefoot; wearing boots would have cost me even more time. I kept my eyes down on the ground and offered my habit to R…my lord and master. I could almost feel the questioning look on my master’s face and I resolved to be even more obedient than usual. The leash was hooked on my Eve’s apple and my master led me back to the clubhouse.

After checking in my habit at the clubhouse, he led me to our cart. As I was the only one pulling, Roy only rented a small one. It was a 2-wheel cart with 2 long poles extending in front of it, and a seat with a foldable cover to keep out the rain. It was supposed to be ‘inspired’ by the rickshaws of old colonial days, but I had never saw a real rickshaw before so I can’t make any comparison. I stood between the 2 poles and kneeled. Roy hooked me into the cart as various chains were connected between my corset and the poles. These hooked me to the poles and made it easier for me to pull the cart. Roy then hooked another leash to my Eve’s apple. Roy took the 2 leash and went to sit on the cart. It wasn’t necessary as the track is one-way but Roy, like most men, enjoyed the illusion of control the leash gave him.   

“Up” I stood up as the order came into my head. “Trod” I went into a slow trod as my warm-up began. After about 200 meters, a new order came. “Jog” I quicken my steps as my trod became a jog. After about 400-600 meters, the order I was waiting for came. “Run”

I put my back into it and launched into a run. As the track was 3 kilometers, I tried to pace myself but it was hard. Like most women in Silhouette, my place was at home. In the house from Monday to Saturday, my time was filled with either housework or prayers. I was only allowed outside the house once a week for the weekly grocery shopping, and even then the time was limited. As such, I found that I looked forward to this weekly run. From my talks with other women during our grocery trips, most of my neighbours felt the same. With cars flying over our head and the wind and rain pouring onto our faces and hair, this was the only time we were free from the shackles of the habit and it was a great feeling.

“Slow” The order came as Roy obviously thought I was going too fast. I slowed only a little. I still wanted to run. It was a mistake.

“Pain” I heard the order in my mind, but this time the order wasn’t for me. It was for my brain. As the order came, my brain responded by sending a shock racing through my body. My steps faltered as my body came on fire. In Silhouette, orders come only once. If the whore does not obey, then punishments must be swift. “Stop” As the order came, the pain subsided. I was grateful it only lasted a few seconds, I had heard of some men punishing their whores by making the pain lasted for hours. The longest I ever had was about 40 minutes and even then, I couldn’t move for hours afterwards.

“Jog” I went back into a jog as shame rushed over me. Here I was resolving to be more obedient than usual and I went and screw it up less than 20 minutes later. Without question, I was a stupid whore who deserved to be punished. The rest of the run went without incident. Run, jog, trod, run; I obeyed Roy’s orders without question as we made our way around the track.

As we came back to the clubhouse, Roy signed back in and I changed back to my habit. Then we went back home and my day returned to normal.

Part 3

Our house was located about 15 mins from the clubhouse. Like most houses on Silhouette, we have a prayer room inside it. That’s where I am now. On my knees with my head locked to the ground and my ass high in the air.

This is how I usually spend my evenings. From Monday to Saturday, I spend the mornings and afternoons tending to the house, looking after the 2 children and prepareing for the arrival of Roy in the evening. After eating the dinner, I would wash up the dishes and then Roy would locked me in the prayer room for my daily prayers. As I kneeled there, Roy would take over the duties of looking after the kids in the evenings. The kids look forward to this as they get to spend time with their dad and can do stuff like watch television and use the Galactic Internet. As I’m not allowed to use or even watch the television, the internet, and even the news screens; the kids spent their time with me reading books, cleaning the house or taking afternoon naps. Not actually the things kids aged 8 and 6 liked to do for leisure.

While the kids were enjoying their evening with their father, I am in the prayer room paving my way to heaven. I had exchanged my habit for more relaxed attire. A neat lace headdress covered my hair, and a loose transparent face-veil was covering the lower part of my face. I wore a loose long-sleeve blouse and a pair of loose comfortable pants. I had also exchange the wimple of the habit for a loose collar.

My Eve’s apple was hooked to the ground with my bowed head facing a hologram picture of Precious Alamgir, the Chirst Reborn. It was unthinkable that a woman, a whore, a creature of sin, like myself be allowed to lift my eyes to a picture of the great man, so Roy locked me in tight to the ground. Idle hands do the devil’s work, so my hands are also locked behind me. In my hands was a rosemary and I passed the time by reciting my prayers. In front of a picture of the First Father of the Church of Shadow, I could only hoped that will be enough to save my soul from damnation.

When I got to my 265th prayer, I heard the door being unlocked. A few small footsteps later, a small hand unlocked me from the ground and I heard the commands. “Father want you whore.”
As the leash was attached to my Eve’s apple, I asked my 6 year old son, “May I may stand sir and walked out of the room.”
“Father did not say, so that means no,” Roy Jr. tugged on my leash. “Come on whore.”
“I hear and obey sir,” I shuffled on my knees, following my son out of the prayer room. I was careful to keep my head lower than the height of Roy Jr. For some reason I had less problems thinking of Roy Jr. as my master than I did for Roy. I guessed this was due to the fact that I never knew Roy Jr. as anything other than my master.

When Roy and I got married, I was earning more as I had a better paying job. I even ‘asked’ Roy to sign a pre-nup before our wedding. After the marriage, he wasn’t really a househusband but he no longer took any job that required long distance travel. He found a job as a port technician, repairing space shuttle that were in between trips. It paid a lot less but with my high-paying job, we didn’t really need the money. The job was to keep Roy busy more than anything else.

All that changed when the economy collapsed. The stock markets of the United Federation of Planets (UFP) had been going upwards for years. As they say, the higher you go, the heavier the fall. The bubble burst and the economy went into another depression. Even though we were doing well, the company I worked for had no chance to survive the bloodbath. Thousands, maybe even tens of thousands, of companies in the UFP were faced with bankruptcies in the aftermath of the stock market crash of 2857 and we were not big or strong enough to survive. Suddenly I was out of a job and as credit tighten; we had problems paying off the mortgages on our house.

There was a severe shortage of jobs for an out-of-work chief finance officer, and Roy’s job became more important to us. As it doesn’t pay much, Roy began sourcing for another job. He found one from a small planet millions of miles from Earth. Nestled on the outskirts of the charted galaxy, Silhouette was an anomaly. It was one of the few planets humans had colonized that was still free of pollution, mostly due to the religious doctrines of the people. More importantly for us, they were willing to double his pay.

Roy said yes and then he was away. For 3 years we were separated before I finally had enough of sitting on Earth waiting for the economy to turn. That was about 10 years ago.

“The whore is here father.” Roy Jr. announced. As I stopped behind my son, I could fell my leash being handed over to Roy. A tug on my leash and I shuffled over to Roy. Roy told me before that he loved the sight of me on my knees with my head to the ground. I was moving my head to the floor to please him when the order came in my head “Look”.

I lifted my head as ordered but kept my eyes downward as required. A hand came under my chin and I gently let the hand lift my head up. I saw Roy sitting there with a smile on his head. A movement at the side caused me to glance over to my daughter, Rachel. She was dressed similar to me but without the face-veil. As she was unmarried, an indoor face-veil was a privilege she had yet to earned.

“I hope you have enjoyed your run today.”
“I have my lord. Thank you for allowing me this joy.”
“I am glad. Do you have any sins to confess today whore?”
“Yes my lord.”
“Tell me.”
I started with the usual. “My sins start with my birth because women are whores, creatures of sin. Women are weak with less ability in both mind and body, and my sins are that I required a man to guide me to my path to salvation.” Once those were out of the way came my failings for the today. “My sins are also for remembering of my times on Earth before I reached the holy planet and received the holy teachings. Today I committed the sin of envy. My envy is to the beauty of the redhead pony-girl that captured my eye today at the track. I thought of obeying you my master in all things but I was unable to hold on to my own promise for more than a few minutes once I started my run.”
“You know the sins you have committed today whore?”
“Yes my lord.”
“Tell me.”
“The sin of envy, the sin of remembrance and the sin of disobedience.”
“That plus you sin of being a whore makes it impossible for me not to punish you today.”
“I beg my lord to guide me on my path to salvation. Punish me so that even a whore like myself may one day be saved from damnation.” I can feel tears coming to my eyes as I said this. Part fear, part relief, part acceptance; this was my life on Silhouette. Outside the peace of my prayers; the boredom of housework; my days were also filled with the pain of my punishments.

Gently Roy lowered the veil on my face with one hand, this was the only time when my children saw me without a face-veil, with his other hand Roy showed my holy bit to me. Shaped like a man’s penis, Roy put it in front of my mouth. “Take this bit while you suffer whore. Remember your sins and repent.”

I opened my mouth and took the bit into my mouth like I would a man’s penis. “Kiss the ground whore.” I threw myself at the ground. Laying there on my belly, I felt my legs being shackled. “I take no pleasure in this but I must as your lord and master do this. Lay there and suffer whore. Repent for your sins.”

And then it begins. The one word that was terror to all women in the Church of Shadow. The thought came into my head, “Pain”.

I whimpered and thrashed but to my avail. My hands and feet were locked useless as fire raged in my body. The neurons in my brain worked their magic as shocks after shocks raced through my body. Then relief came. “Stop” The neurons stopped the moment the order came. I lay there motionless as the pain in my body slowly subsided. I then felt Roy’s feet pressing my head to the ground.

“You have confess your sins whore and have received just punishment. With my ears, I hear your sins. With my command, I gave you punishment. With this foot on your face, I Roy Turner, a lay priest of the Church of Shadow grant your sins forgiven for today. Be grateful whore for tomorrow is a new day and the sins of a whore is forever. Be grateful for your purity however short it last. Amen.”

With a painful breath I whispered. “Amen”

Later…

Roy wasted no time. There was no foreplay, no words spoken, and no commands given. Roy got into bed and just took me. As I had been lying on the bed waiting for my lord and master, this wasn’t that surprising. I opened my legs wide and waited for the order in my head.

“Pleasure” The order came in my head and pleasure flooded my body. Roy entered me without any word and my body’s reaction was immediate. I felt absolute total joy as the neutrons filled my body full of endorphins. Emotions can be ‘manufactured’ by the neutrons but it didn’t matter. Who cares if machines manufactured it when it felt like this?  I didn’t care because as usual it was my best normal orgasm plus 10. Somehow the Church of Shadow has found a way to make the neutrons do this. As a whore, I never knew how but I do not care. The pleasure I felt now made it a fool’s question.

The pleasure I felt now made all the pain, suffering and humiliation worth it. It was behavior modification taken to the extreme. Officer Johnson was right about one thing; it was a method of mind control. The Church made their whores so happy that its no wonder hard-nosed drill-sergeants became doormats. If Officer Johnson were here, she would do anything she was told just to make sure she could have pleasure like this every night. All she had to do was obey. Which was what every women on Silhouette did. We obey and we got to taste heaven like this.

It lasted minutes but to me it was like hours. I cum just as Roy did and as I lay on the bed, I heard Roy’s whisper. “You did well today whore. Be as obedient tomorrow and I shall give you heaven again.”

He turned away to switch off the lights. As my lord and master lay down to sleep, I laid on the bed feeling heaven leaving me and vowing to do anything to have it back. All I have to do…is to obey.

Wednesday 18 November 2015

Silhouette Guidance



“Forgive me Father for I have sinned. It has been 4 weeks since my last confession.”
“Sinning is natural for a woman for all women are sinners. Tell me woman, how you had sinned?”
“In the past 4 weeks, this woman had felt jealousy towards her sister-slave.”
“Your sister-slave?”
“Yes Father. This woman’s lord and master has 3 slaves which I am but one. This woman is the oldest, the eldest and the most senior of my lord’s slaves.”
“So you are the head slave. What are you jealous of woman?”
“This woman’s lord took in a wife less than a year ago and she is 15 years younger and much prettier than this woman. This woman’s lord pay her more attention and…well, recently she had been blessed by our lord with child.”
“I see. Again woman, what are you jealous of? Is not been blessed with child a joyous thing for your husband?”
“It is Father. This woman knows that and while this woman knows it is unbecoming, this woman is still jealous of the attention the youngest has been receiving.”
“I see. You say you are the oldest, the eldest and the most senior of my lord’s slaves?”
“Yes Father.”
“You do not act that way.”
“I… this woman knows Father.”
“The Church of Shadow teach that women must constantly do and think pure thoughts. Do you know why woman?”
“It is because women are sinful creatures and women must constantly do and think pure thoughts or the society we built, the planet we built would be weaken by women’s fear, sin, and weakness.”
“Woman, you know the teachings but you do not follow them.”
“…This woman do not understand Father.”
“That is understandable. Understanding is the first step to your salvation and know that as a woman, you are but a fool. A fool who is nothing but a slave to your lord and master. A lord may do what he wants with his slave. You are a slave but you forget yourself, thinking your lord need to give you attention when he has a younger and pettier meat at his command. You are a woman so it can’t be helped that in your weakness, you forget your role as slave and thinks that you deserved more than what your master gives you. You have committed the sins of envy, wrath and greed.”
“This woman request enlightenment Father on her sins.”
“What are women?”
“Father, women are sin.”
“What are you?”
“I am a woman Father. I am sin.”
“Like I said earlier, you forgot yourself woman. You thought that your lord should give you attention when you deserved none. Your lord is the only one who can decide the attention you deserve, not you. However you thought yourself above your lord.”
“Never! This woman never thought so Father. I am woman. I am weakness. I am sin. I am wickedness. This woman knows all that and would never think of herself as above my lord.”
“Then why are you jealous of your sister-slave? If you do not think yourself superior to your lord, that you deserve more than what he is giving you, then why are you jealous? You are so greedy for your lord’s attention that you were envious of your youngest sister. You are so angry you are unable to even feel joy that your lord would soon have a child. Greed, envy, and wrath. Woman, you are weak, wicked and sinful!”
“…This woman was weak. Thank you Father. You are right; this woman has no right to be jealous.”
“That is correct! A woman should get her pleasure in knowing she is doing her duty as a woman. In her obedience and suffering, she would receive salvation from her lord and master but you…you instead longed for things you aren’t entitled to. Are these not sins?”
“Yes Father, this woman had sinned.”
“Know this woman, you are like all women. Women are sinners. Every thought that entered your mind is a sin, which is why you should and must leave all you’re thinking to your lord. You must be a mindless slave to your lord and you would be much happier in the end once you accepted that.”
 “This woman understand Father. Thank you Father for your guidance.”
“Do not thank me yet woman. The sinfulness of woman are well-known, and it is no surprise that you are afflicted with the weakness of your gender but you had still dishonoured your lord with your senseless thinking and for that, you deserved punishment.”
“There is no forgiveness, only punishment. Thank you Father for correcting me. Please give this woman her deserved punishment for her sins.”
“It is not for me to punish you woman for your sins were not against me. For your punishment, you will go to your lord tonight, confessed everything and begged for harsh punishments. How often does your lord allow you pleasure?”
“The…yes Father, this woman knows and obey. My lord allow his slaves pleasure at least once a week. More if we do well at home.”
“I see. You will tell him there would be no pleasure for you for at least 2 weeks. Your lord may extend this period as he sees fit. Also your lord must add at least one additional punishment for you…tell him it must be something humiliating.”
“Yes Father.”
“Do you anything else to confess woman?”
“No Father. This woman thank you for your guidance.”
“Then this confession is over. Leave my presence woman.”
“Yes Father.”

I waited till I heard the sound of the woman leaving the confession box before I glanced at my watch. It had been vibrating since the start of the confession but as a rule, I do not take calls during confession, even when the confessor was a simple woman. I hit the "accept" button and the hologram projection sprang up. A man in priestly garb was projected, showing that the message was from the church.

“Father Perry, please be informed that you are required to attend a meeting at City Hall tomorrow afternoon at 3pm. Thank you.”

A male voice spoke the message and the meeting was at City Hall. This meant the meeting was official business. Someone in City Hall wanted to meet me and for the life of me, I had no idea why.

The next day

Holling City was honestly little more than a big town and like most small cities, the city government tried to make up for it in other ways. One of the ways was by trying to build the most impressive city hall on Planet Silhouette.

A beautiful dome building, City Hall was by far the most impressive building in Holling City and most residents were rightly proud of it. In most planets of the Federation, such a grand government building may trigger protests but on Silhouette, most City Halls also served as the local church headquarters and as such, anyone who was unhappy about the matter knew better than to speak out publicly about it. That includes me. 

When our ancestors crashed landed on the planet centuries ago, a group of survivors were from a Christian religious group and led by their tough and steadfast leader, Precious Alamgir, these survivors made a new home on the planet. Not only that, with their religious discipline, they strived on their harsh new planet and eventually managed to remake contact with the Federation just 95 years after the crash.

Now a full member of the Federation, the Church of Shadow was no longer as powerful as they once were but they were still part of the planetary government. Social services like welfare, social security and public education were run by the church and the church also held a lot of moral influence on Silhouette. Everyone knew that without the church, anyone who survived the crash centuries ago would have died long ago.

So if the local church wanted to build a grand building for itself, most people accepted it. Personally I thought the Holling City Hall was way too much but as I entered the building and saw the bright yellow lights coming from the chandeliers, I can’t help but admit it was a beautiful building. Still, I had no intention of staying in such decadence a moment more than I had to.

I approached the reception desk and the male receptionist gave my identity. After a quick check, the man hit a button on his counter and asked me to wait for a minute. After a few seconds, a woman came. Like all women of Silhouette, this woman was properly dressed in accordance to our planet’s sumptuary laws. On Planet Silhouette, this meant the woman was dressed as a typical Christian nun. 

A loose black tunic hid the woman’s body from view while her head was covered by a white coif with a black veil over the top of her head. Her face was hidden by a black veil that covered everything below her eyes with her second face veil hanging over her head. Women only pulled down the second veil when they went out under the rains, and her hands were covered by a pair of black gloves. Even though she was dressed like every other woman on the planet, a woman’s dress could still tell you a lot if you knew where to look.

My practiced eye saw that the woman had a small cross hanging from a black cord around her neck. This told me the woman was under the church’s protection. There was no ring on her finger which meant she was unmarried and the sleeves of her tunic were folded up, showing to the public her gloved hands and arms. This meant she was at work.

A woman working in City Hall under the protection of the Church of Shadow, it would not surprise me at all if this woman was a young female and was an orphan in the care of the state. She was probably assigned here as a work detail while the church selected a husband for her. 

The church ran orphanages throughout Silhouette and when the young girls came of age, the church would take the place of the girl’s father and select a husband for her. On Planet Silhouette, marriage was decided by men. Fathers would select their daughter’s husbands based on the men’s family background. Young men who came from poor families or who some other shortcomings like poor education levels had little to no chance of getting a wife themselves. The church with their many orphanages solved this problem. Young men from poor background could apply to their local church for a wife and the church would select one for them from their orphanages.

However due to the fact that the men selected were usually men who were poor, this meant that their new wives had to work. Thus young girls in the church orphanages were trained to serve their men not only at home and also to work for their husbands. Of course, any work for females on Silhouette were usually of the menial low paying kind and since females cannot own cash or credit of any sort, their pay were directed straight into their husband's back account. Since this young woman was currently under the care of the church, this meant her pay was directed into the accounts of the Church of Shadow. 

A small way for her to repay the church for taking care of her all these years. 

The receptionist told me to follow the girl as she would guide me to the meeting room. Honestly, the guy could have just given me directions but it was typical of the nonsensical menial jobs given to women that I had to follow the girl to a meeting room on the second floor of the building. A quick knock on the door later, the girl opened the door and bowed. I entered without a second glance at the useless girl. 5 men were seated behind a long desk and I recognized all of them. All of them held senior positions in the Church of Shadow. Seeing these men, only one question came to mind.

“What the hell was going on?”

Later in the evening

Planet Silhouette was a dark and depressing place, or so they say. The sky was constantly dark and rain belted down from the clouds most of the year. Most visitors from the Federation preferred sunshine and dry clothes. I preferred the wet rain. It helps me think. Unfortunately, there was no rain today and the sky was a bright red. That didn't help my mood at all.

When I entered the priesthood, my motivation was to gained knowledge. The decision was simple. I would gain knowledge on the religion and guided the flock towards the correct path as was prescripted by the church. However I never saw myself as the missionary type. I guided my flock who were already followers of the Church of Shadow, I never thought of going into the Federation to gain more members for the church. It’s just wasn't me.

However, that was exactly what I was told to do. Due to my good work in the Jalan Eastman Church, the Church of Shadows had assigned me to one of the Deep Space Stations to setup a local church. The church had decided that since Silhouette is now a member of the Federation, we had to spread our teachings throughout it. 

That at least was a decision I understand.

The Federation had looked at the church with a critical eye ever since contact had been made between the survivors of crash and the Federation. It would not surprised me at all if the Federation had wanted to wipe out the Church of Shadows but were prevented only by their Prime Directive. However everyone knew application of the Directive could be "selective" at times so spreading the church throughout the Federation could ensure the survival of the church if the Federation ever changed their minds. However why did it have to be me?

My musing was stopped when I realized that I had reached my house. A small house at the end of a small road, it was provided by the church and suited my merger needs. Men of God should not show wealth. I considered myself old fashion in that way; probably why I dislike the City Hall building so much. Still with doubts on my mind, I opened the door and was greeted by my wife’s raised ass.

On Planet Silhouette, men worked while women stayed at home. A woman’s place was at home where they look after the children, clean the house, and prayed in their free time for their salvation. Outside their weekly church meeting and pony run, they stayed in the house. When their husbands and master came home, the women would greet them at the door. Each home had their own way of greeting, ranging from a simple bow from the women to more complex humiliating positions.  It was really up to the men to decide.

I decided that everyday when I returned home, I would want to be greeted by my wife kneeling on the floor with her head to the ground and ass high up in the air. For an added bonus, she would be facing away from the door with her tunic folded up to her upper body. So now when I entered the door, I saw my wife’s ass facing me for me to do as I please.

Normally I kicked her, a small one. On bad days, I would kick harder but today was different. I was torn between my personal desire to stay on Silhouette and my orders to spread the gospel. I needed clarify. I needed direction. I needed a way to clear my doubts. However I was tense, nervous and I knew I would never cleared them in such a mental condition. I needed to relax.

I took off my belt and as the automatic door closes, I raise the belt over my head and used all my strength to whip it across my wife’s ass. Her scream echoed throughout the house, but a good woman and wife, she stayed obediently in position. I raise the belt again and her scream echoed into the house once more. 3 more times this happened before I felt the tension beginning to leave me.

I walked into the living room and sat in my favourite sofa. A few seconds later, my wife came and knelt beside my sofa. I looked at her. She was dressed in relaxed house attire. Her hair was in a bun that was covered by a blue lace headdress, and a loose transparent face-veil was covering the lower part of her face. A collar around her neck, a long-sleeve blouse and a pair of harem pants made out the rest of her outfit. I could see that she was terrified that I would punish her again but as a good wife, she knew her duty was to be there near her lord and master in case she was needed. 

She was needed as I was still tense.

I pointed at my manhood and she immediately knew what to do. She knee crawl towards me and opened my pants. Pushing down her veil, she got to work doing her duty as a wife and woman. As she began, I felt myself relaxing and enjoying the attentions of my wife and slave. I decided it was time to give her a little reward.

Arousal

A grunt came from my wife as the neutrons in her body slowly filled her up with endorphins. From 15 to 18, my wife had been having neurons injections and part of the Silhouette marriage ceremony involved her father giving me control of her neuron interface.

I mentally command her neutrons to arouse her and my wife shook in response. I raise my belt and crashed it on the back of her. My wife responded with a cry and started to deep-throat me. The belt crashed onto her back again. My wife started to suck my cock faster. Pain mixed with pleasure; I always believed women with their sinful nature responded best if you mixed these two together.  My wife was the perfect example of how right I am.

Within a minute, I shot my load and my wife’s mouth was filled with my seed. Knowing how displeased I would be, she was careful not to spill any. She lifted her head up and showed me her open mouth.

Swallow

She did as commanded and then opened her mouth again to show me her now empty mouth. With my free hand, I gave her a tight slap across the face.

“Cover your face slave,” I commanded. “Do not attempt to temp me to sin.”

Obediently, my wife lowered her head and lifted her veil. As she did the adjustment, I collapsed into the sofa. My tension had left me, and not for the first time, I enjoyed the power that came with being a man in the Church of Shadow. I had total control of my woman, and the best thing was that she would not have it any other way. My control of her interface meant she would do anything I command for the pleasure I could give her. I pity the men of the Federation for…

That was it!

That was my answer! How could I be so selfish? Enjoying myself on Silhouette while men of the Federation suffered under the illusion of equality. I now had the chance to guide these people to the teachings like my flock in the Jalan Eastman Church and I doubted. What kind of a fool am I? This was why I entered the priesthood in the first place! I smiled at my wife and patted her on the head.

“In case you are wondering slave, you did nothing wrong.” I began. “I had a dilemma that I could not solve and needed your body. Your presence helped me in answering the question I had. Thanks.”

My wife looked up at me in surprise. Unlike some men on Silhouette, I don’t believe in the notion that you should never thank women for anything. If my wife did well, rare as it was, I had no problems in thanking her. In rewarding her. 

Pleasure

The neutrons in her body kicked into gear and my wife had to put her hands on the floor to prevent herself from collapsing. On her hands and knees, she looked at the floor and I could hear her heavy breathing, desperately trying to control herself. Less than a minute later, with her control breaking, I heard her plead.

“Please my lord, please allow your slave to cum.”

The first words from her since my return was a plead; begging to be allowed to cum. I could feel my smile getting bigger. Yes, this was what it meant to be a man in the Church of Shadow. The total control of pain and pleasure. 

“You may cum, slave”

She screamed; throwing herself into the pleasure her neutrons was giving her. Her hands gave way and she dropped onto the ground. I was pleased to see that her head was near my feet. I lifted my foot and stepped on her face. My wife’s body wrecked with pleasure as multiple orgasms hit her and her hands was feeling her body in sinful joy. I decided she had enough joy for one night.

Stop

At my command, the neutrons stopped but my wife’s hands did not. She was feeling the aftereffects of her intense orgasms but pleasure time was over. Again I lifted my foot, this time giving her a small kick on the head. My wife had long since been trained that this was a signal for her to get to her knees. She struggled to do so, but as a forgiving master, I decided to overlook her tardiness.

“Did you enjoy yourself slave?” I asked and my wife answered by comically nodding her head. Her nodding was so quick, I half-feared her head would fall off. I can’t help but chuckled at her actions and my wife’s eyes gleamed with joy at my happiness.

“Glad to see that,” I continued. “Now I got a job for you. Start packing. We are going off-planet for a few years.”  

Monday 19 October 2015

A Family Interview


The fusuma opened and the girl glided into the room with a grace that showed her years of practice. She turned and slide the doors closed. Folding her hands in front of her, the girl then turned back towards them and walked slowly, gracefully towards them.

Chika took a good look at her and saw that the girl was dressed in a blue silk kimono with patterns of flowing water on it. The kimono was tied tightly to her body with a silk obi. Her head was covered with a black hoodveil with only an opening for her eyes.

The girl stopped in front of them. For a moment she just stayed there, then in a flowing motion she knelt, put her hands together on the ground and bowed her head in submission. Her head to the ground just above her hands, the girl greeted her future superiors.

“This girl is Hiromi. Hiromi is 18 years of age and respectfully greet her future mistresses.”

Chika did not want to admit but had to. This girl was grace personified but as the second wife of the Date family, it was not Chika’s place to reply. This task was left to her lord’s first wife, Nanao.

“This woman is Nanao Date, first wife of Fujio Date. Stand Hiromi-san.”

Nanao phrased it as a request but none of the three women in the small room had any doubt it was anything but. With her seemingly customary grace, Hiromi stood but maintain her submissive posture by putting her hands in front of her and her head looking at the ground.

“Hiromi-san, strip.”

Hiromi did not hesitate. The moment the words came out of Nanao’s mouth, the girl opened her obi and let her kimono slide to the ground. Chika couldn’t help but admire the girl’s grace. She had little doubt her lord would be pleased with Hiromi but she got a job to do.

“Chika,” Nanao said. “Check her.”

As first wife, Nanao was kneeling in front of Chika. Chika was kneeling behind Nanao to her right and Chika stood as ordered. She walked towards Hiromi and stood in front of the poor girl.

Standing in front of the naked Hiromi, Chika understood the humiliation the young girl must be feeling. 10 years and 3 children ago when she was being interviewed by Nanao, Chika stood where Hiromi was today. It was a day she could never forget.

However this was not the time for remembrance. Chika walked around Hiromi who was now naked except for her hoodveil. Chika looked over her body for any blemishes, scars or birthmarks. Any such information had been given to the Date family earlier by the matchmaker but it was always good to check. Chika was checking if there was anything that was missing in the reports.

Chika couldn’t see any problems and was soon standing back in front of Hiromi. Nanao told the girl to look up. Hiromi did as ordered and Chika quickly raised her hands to Hiromi’s breasts and squeezed. The girl’s breasts were soft and firm but Chika didn’t care about that. She was looking at Hiromi’s eyes. What would her reaction be to her breasts being violated? Fear, anger, acceptance, maybe even pride? Would she accept what was done to her or would she pulled back in disgrace?

No. Hiromi stood where she was and Chika saw resignation in Hiromi’s eyes. This was a girl who did not like what was being done to her but was resigned to her fate. She was the second daughter of her father’s second wife and was now to be married to be the third wife of a man chosen by her father. She might even knew that this marriage was not for her happiness but to tie the two business families together in one.

In Hiromi’s eyes, Chika saw that the young girl was resigned to her fate. She knew her wishes and happiness had less than nothing to do with the marriage. This was a marriage for their families, not for a silly little girl. Hiromi knew this and accepted it.

Chika was pleased. Hiromi had the making of an obedient third wife. Chika turned to Nanao and bowed her acceptance to the first wife. A wave of Nanao’s hand later, Chika went back to her place kneeling behind Nanao.

“Make yourself decent Hiromi-san.”

Trained from young to be obedient, Hiromi obeyed. Picking up her kimono from the ground, she put it on and tied it tight with her obi. Everything was done with a flow, pleasing and graceful to the eye. Oh yes, Chika knew for certain now that her lord would be very pleased with Hiromi.

Seeing that Hiromi was now properly dressed, Nanao told Hiromi the news she needed to hear.

“Hiromi, you are here today because you are to be the third wife of my lord and husband, Fujio Date. I will tell this this so that there would be no misunderstanding in the future. You are young, petite and beautiful but those are not the reasons why you are here. You are here because your marriage to my lord would tie our families together. You are but a side-note to the business deals our families would agree to. This is why there is a marriage. When you are married, you will be expected to serve, slave and obey. You will give the Date family many children and served the boys with the respect and honour they deserved. You will train your daughters to be obedient so that in the future they will become good obedient wives to their future husbands. Husbands that will be chosen for them by our lord. Those will be the only reasons for your existence. In the Date family, our husband is our lord, master and god. Not only have that, as the third wife of Fujio Date you will also be expected to obey every word of me and Chika here.”

Chika nodded her head at the mention of her name but kept eyes on Hiromi. Her reaction now would determine if this interview would be a success or a failure. Nanao and Chika waited in silence and they were not disappointed.

Hiromi knelt and once again bowed her head to the ground.

“Hiromi knows and understand. It would Hiromi’s great honour to serve as the third wife of Fujio Date, a slave to the Date family, and a servant to Nanao and Chika Date, first and second wife of the Date family. Hiromi begged for the chance to marry, serve, and slave in the Date family.”

Chika smiled behind her hoodveil and she knew Nanao was smiling too. From today, the Date family would have a new wife, servant and slave. 

Saturday 10 October 2015

The Cowherd and The Weaving Maiden


Long ago, there was a travelling merchant from the west. Travelling along the Silk Road, the merchant would bring strange goods from the west to China where he would trade for the finest silk. One day while in China, the merchant saw a man looking longingly at the night sky.

Far from home, the merchant knew the look on the man’s face. It was the look of a lonely man longing for his loved ones. The merchant sat beside the man and the two men began talking. The man told the merchant his story and it was a most wonderful tale.

Once, the man was but a poor orphan boy who only had an old buffalo for company. He and the buffalo worked together for a farmer and the two were inseparable. The villagers nearby jokingly began to call him the Cowherd. The man did not mind. Despite his great age, the ox was a handsome creature whose golden hair shone in the moonlight. The boy loved the buffalo and could not imagine having a better friend.

One day, when they were out on the hills, the buffalo turned his great head to the boy and spoke. The boy was shocked but he listened to his good friend. The buffalo said he was a demigod and it was almost time for him to leave the world and go back to heaven. However the divine buffalo wish to see the boy married before he leaves the world.

The boy climbed onto the back of the buffalo as he was instructed and together they flew through the sky. They passed a mountain and the buffalo landed near a small lake. The boy was directed by the divine buffalo to the bank of the lake where he saw seven set of clothes. The buffalo instructed the boy to steal one set of the clothes. The boy did not wanted to but thought a mortal like himself should not disobey a god. The boy reluctantly obeyed and soon seven maidens came out of the lake onto the bank. The maidens knew right away that somebody had stolen one of the clothes and shouted threats to the night air.

The maidens said they were the weaving maidens of the sky and their father was the Jade Emperor, the ruler of the Celestial Heaven. The boy almost fainted. He had just stolen from gods, and not just any gods but heavenly princesses! He was certain he would be banished to the 18th level of hell for his actions.

However, as terrified as the boy was, he could not take his eyes away from the maiden whose clothes he had just taken. She was hiding naked behind a bush and was without question the most beautiful creature he had ever laid eyes on. With courage that he did not know he possessed, the boy came forward and offered the clothes to the maiden in return for her hand in marriage.

Amazingly, he was not struck down on the spot. Instead, the seven weaving maidens laughed at his audacity. The maiden whose clothes he stole then surprised him by agreeing to his proposal. She promised to stay with him for 2 years in return for her clothes.

The boy was overjoyed and quickly returned the clothes. The couple was quickly married and the remaining 6 maidens even stayed for the wedding.

It was a happy marriage. They were happy together and before they knew it, 2 years had passed. On the last day, the boy brought his wife to the lake where he first laid eyes on her. The 6 maidens had arrived to the lake too but instead of going with them, the boy’s wife decided to stay. They were in love and from that day, they would be together.

Alas, the happiness was short-lived. 2 years on land was but 1 day in heaven but after some time, heaven noticed that they were missing one of the heavenly weaving maidens.  It did not take them long to notice where she was.

The Celestial Empress gave her daughter two choices: return to the heavens or witness the destruction of her husband. His wife had no choice. No one could withstand the will of the heavens.

The boy was despondent. He thought of death but knew he had to live because he wanted to see his wife again. One day, his old friend came to him. The buffalo who had returned to heaven was now the Ox Star of the sky and once again offered to help his friend. Every year on the seventh day of the seventh month, the Golden Ox Star would carry his wife from the heavens to the world and for one day, the couple would be reunited.

The man speaking to the merchant looked up in the sky again and told him what he already knows. This man was the boy in the story and he is waiting for the day his wife would return to him. The man cried in despair and loneliness, but the merchant could do nothing but offered empty comforting words to the man.

The day broke and the merchant went on his way. Along his travel route, he asked around and found that the story of the man was well-known but most considered it nothing but a legend. The few who did believe in the story said that there was nothing that could be done as the possibility of successfully going against the will of the heavens is remote.

The merchant went on back to his home in the west but the story of the man and his despair stayed with him. He knew there must be something he could do so along the Silk Road, he visited every magician and magi he could find. One finally gave him an answer.

The next time the merchant came to China, he visited the man on the seventh day of the seventh month of the Chinese Lunar Calendar. As he had hoped, the couple was together. The merchant approached the couple and offered his help. He showed them his gift from the west, a burqa made from magical clothes.

Being Chinese, the couple had never seen a burqa before and the merchant had to explain to them what it was for. The burqa was to be worn by the maiden whenever she goes outside the house. Made by a magi from beyond the borders of China, the burqa would covered the maiden totally so that no heaven would not be able to see her. The burqa was made out of the enchanted cloth so that no magic could detect her, and the merchant even gave the maiden a gag that would prevent the maiden from speaking so that heaven would not be able to hear her. With these items, the couple would be able to stay hidden from the heavens.  

The couple thanked the merchant for his help and the merchant left the couple to enjoy the rest of the night. It was the last time the merchant saw the couple. Years later while back in China, the merchant heard the folktale called “The Cowherd and The Weaving Maiden”.

It was said that a couple settled down in an unknown village where the man worked in the fields while his wife weaved at home to help support the family. The wife was a mute and for some reason always covered herself in a strange blue cloth whenever she left their house.

However the wife was an excellent weaver and the villagers all admired her amazing weaving skills and even learned from her. The girl became known as the Weaving Girl. Her work was so well-known people paid good money for it and the man used the money to buy cattle and land. As the family’s fortune turned for the better, the maiden gave birth to 2 children, a boy and a girl.

One day, Celestial guards came to their modest home and the villagers knew the truth. The man was but a cowherd who managed to capture the heart of one the heavenly weaving maidens and together they eloped. Using foreign magics, the couple ran till they settled down in the village.

When heaven finally caught up to the couple, over a decade had pasted and the children had grown. Seeing their love for each other, even the gods began to sympathize with them and the Jade Emperor lifted the Cowherd and the two children to heaven alongside their mother. So now when you see the sky, you could see the star of the Cowherd high above and the star of the Weaving Girl clear and bright.

It was the love story between a humble cowherd and a goddess of the heavens. The merchant smiled.  



Sunday 16 August 2015

New Girl

At first glance, the Sun Horizon Building was a nondescript grey building that everyone would walked passed every day without a second glance.  That however was not the case.

A failed work discrimination lawsuit filed against the Sun Horizon group a few years ago made huge news. The group was accused of discriminating against its female employees but it was the group’s response that was so unusual. The group almost admit to the discrimination, but say their female employees were working there willingly and the “accusations” were more due to cultural differences.

The lawsuit failed but that was not the end of the matter. The building was now a weekly protest site for feminist groups. The Sun Horizon group responded by ignoring the protests and continuing their unique company work culture. It was this “unique company work culture” that attracted Myra Fox to the company.

Ignoring the 10 to 15 protesters outside the building, Myra walked into the building in her best power suit and headed straight to the reception table. The woman sitting behind the desk was dressed in the most unusual receptionist “uniform” you would ever see in America; a burqa.

Myra approached the blue burqa and noticed the “Karen” name tag. That’s about the only thing of note. The burqa has no embroidery of any sort outside the skullcap and the mesh for the eyes. Myra noticed the mesh was wider than the burqas she saw on TV news and guessed it was probably done so that the receptionist could see. Myra gave her best smile to “Karen” and hoped the woman could see her smile behind the mesh of the burqa.

“How may this girl help you Madam?” the burqa called Karen said.
Myra maintained her smile despite her discomfort speaking to someone she couldn’t see. She knew if she was successful, this was something she need to get used to. “My name is Myra Fox. My husband, Reggie, work here. I’m here for a job interview.”
“How may this girl help you Madam?” Karen said again. It was as if she never heard Myra and Myra immediately realized her mistake.
“This girl’s name is Myra Fox.” Myra replied back quickly. “This girl’s master, Reggie, work here and ordered this girl to report here today for a job interview.”
“Please wait here Myra while this girl checked with her superiors.”
“Of course and thank you.”

Myra bit her lips while Karen spoke to someone on the phone. She had somehow managed to screw up within 10 seconds of entering the building. She just hoped it would not count against her. Karen put down the phone and informed to take the stairs to the 5th floor. Climbing the stairs left Myra breathless. Her slim figure was achieved via yoga and diet; exercising was a distant third. Myra found a woman waiting for her.

Dressed in an all-black outfit that covered her from top to toe, the woman was wearing a indaba that covered her face but for a small slip for her eyes. Myra saw that the woman had a name tag declaring her name as “Wendy”. Wendy was carrying a clipboard which she glanced at before asking for Myra’s name.

After providing it, Wendy signalled Myra to follow her. After following her down the corridor, Wendy opened a door and signalled Myra to go in. It seems that among the women of Sun Horizon, words weren’t used very often. Myra walked into the room and saw another woman sitting on the floor.

She truly was sitting on the floor. The room was simple and there were no tables or chairs in the room. Dressed like Wendy, the woman was totally covered in black with a niqab covering her face and her name tag state her name as “Lucy”.

Wendy closed the door behind her and left with little choice, Myra walked towards the sitting woman. In front of the woman, Myra saw a red box and two palm prints painted on the floor. She was wondering about them when Lucy told her what they were for.

“Kneel with both knees inside the box and place your hands on the prints.”

Myra felt a rush at the order. This was a test and the reason why she wanted to join the company. She knelt and placed her hands on the floor as ordered. She immediately realized she looked like a total fool. Dressed in power suit; blazers, blouse, and mini-skirt; she was now on her hands and knees like a bitch. She looked up at Lucy. The silence stretches for seconds before Lucy began speaking.

“Congratulations girl, you just passed your first test. Not everyone who entered this room would willingly do what you just did.”
“Thank you…” Myra discovered she had no idea what to call Lucy. Can she call her “girl”? The answer was no.
“You can call me Madam. If you are accepted into Sun Horizon, you will start as a female intern. All girls in Sun Horizon are below all men; all female interns are below all girls. If you passed your 6 months internship, you will be promoted to “girl” status. Until then, you will address all girls as Madam.”
“Yes Madam.” Myra said. “May this girl asked what does she…”
“Girl” Lucy corrected.
“Sorry Madam. May this girl asked what does this girl called a man who worked in Sun Horizon?” This way of speech will take some getting used to but Myra was more than willing to do the practice.
“All girls in Sun Horizon, without exceptions, must call all men “Sir”.” 
“Yes Madam. Thank you Madam.”

Lucy nodded and Myra thought she was smiling behind her niqaab. She then asked a question that shocked Myra.

“Do you and your master do this often?”
“Madam?”
“BDSM, domestic discipline, Gorean; whatever you’re into to. You seem to have some experience on your hands and knees.”

Myra knew her face coloured and she quickly looked down in embarrassment.  That prompted a laugh from Lucy. “That’s not something you need to be ashamed of here. Most girls in Sun Horizon are in some variety of these relationships. The company attract…a certain kind of girl. I just hope you are for real.”
“Madam?” Myra asked in surprise.
“I had seem many girls who enter this room thinking of some sort of “Fifty Shades of Grey” romance. Sun Horizon is not like that. The men here are not going to sweep you off your feet. They expect the girls to be obedient servants. If you’re not into that…”
“Madam, this girl is married. This girl is not here for romance.”
“Then why are you here Myra? Why do you want to work in this company?”
In hindsight, Myra should have knew that the company would ask her this question but she didn’t and she wasn’t prepared. She said that first thing that came to her mind.

“This girl is here because she do not want to pretend anymore. This girl…this girl want a place where she can be what she is without any need to pretend a “face” to others in public.”

There was no need for Lucy to say anything more. She just nodded. Myra looked back up at Lucy and realized she was smiling. It’s amazing what you can tell just by looking at another person’s eyes. Myra was going to feel right at home here in Sun Horizon.

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Wendy directed Myra to the basement of the Sun Horizon Building to the “Ghost Room”. It was the locker room for women to change into their uniforms and considering the uniform of Sun Horizon, Myra guessed the nickname fits.

Controlling her excitement, she took off her clothes, her heels and started to put on the uniform given to her by Wendy. Unlike the uniform of Wendy and Lucy, it was all in white. Myra guessed it was to indicate her status as an intern.

She started with the white long-sleeved blouse. The sleeves of the blouse covered her arms but left her hands free and more importantly, it was about 2 sizes too big for her. Myra would have commented on this if she didn’t knew about it before walking in. Reggie had told her that girls in Sun Horizon always wore uniforms a few sizes too big for them. Sun Horizon was a Middle East company and the size policy was installed to prevent “distraction”. Girls in Sun Horizon were expected to be submissive but shapeless.

Next up was the white harem pants. Like the blouse, it was too big for her and Myra had to tie up the end of the pants to her ankles with a string to make it of the right length. Then came the white socks and white shoes provide by the company. The shoes were made of some soft material that was supposed to make no sound when she walked and accordingly to Reggie, it actually worked as it’s supposed to.

The last part was the signature piece of the Sun Horizon uniform; her white niqaab. Consisting of an upper band that is tied around her forehead and a long piece of fabric which flows down covering her face, after putting it on Myra saw that outside an opening for her eyes, her face was totally covered.

In fact, her whole body was totally covered thus the nickname for the room. Girls entered the room as women but came out of it without shape, figure or face; like a living ghost. Myra felt her body’s excitement at the thought.

Myra turned to face Wendy who again signalled her to follow her. Climbing up the stairs, they exited the stairway and entered a floor. Myra wondered if Wendy had counted the floors because there were no signs stating the floors but that’s a question for later. For now she just followed Wendy to the end of the floor where Myra was directed to kneel beside the door of an office. To her surprise, Wendy knelt beside her. Myra looked at the door and sat the name “Abdullah bin Ismail” on it. She guessed it’s time for the next part of her interview.

They knelt patiently till a call came in for the secretary. Mr. Abdullah’s secretary then came to open the door. Two women crawled out of it on their hands and knees. Although she had heard about this from Reggie, it was still a shock to Myra’s system when she saw this. In Sun Horizon, girls were not allowed to walk into the offices of higher executives. They could only crawl into them.

It seems this was another test for her.  The company wanted to see if Myra had what it took to work in Sun Horizon. Myra don’t crawl at home with Reggie, they were more into shibari, but she could learn. She could learn in a hurry.

Wendy started crawling and Myra could do nothing but to follow. She put her head down to follow Wendy and immediately found a problem. When your head was down, the veil of the niqaab flowed downwards, blocking your view. Myra quickly raised her head and found that the niqaab works as it’s supposed to. She saw that Wendy was crawling with her head raised up and that’s how you were supposed to do it. Myra followed Wendy’s example and found this even more embarrassing and humiliating. With your head facing down, your face wasn’t facing the world. With the head up, you are crawling and facing the world doing it.  

The room was dominated by a big desk and Myra saw a Middle Eastern man sitting behind it. There was no doubt this was Abdullah bin Ismail, the Head of Human Resource. There were 2 empty chairs for guests but of course they were not for girls. The duo crawled between the 2 chairs and stopped. Myra saw the man smiled and had no doubt of the reason. Which man won’t smile when 2 girls crawled towards him and stopped with their hands and knees on the floor?

The office was silent and Myra knew Abdullah was making the two girls wait on purpose. Was this a test or was he just a jerk? It doesn’t matter. Myra knew better than to ask. Her husband and master, Reggie, had made sure she understood the culture of Sun Horizon before today. In the company, a woman do not speak to a man unless she was spoken to first. Myra would wait as long as it please Abdullah.

“You are Mrs. Myra Jackson?” He finally asked.  
The wait was over. “Yes sir,” Myra replied softly, making sure to sound timid and submissive to the man who would have the final say on whether she got hired or not. “This girl is Mrs. Myra Jackson.”
“It state on your record you are a nurse?”
“Yes sir, this girl is a nurse.”
“You know and understand the position you are applying for in Sun Horizon?”
“Yes sir, this girl understand.”
“What is it?”
“Sir, this girl is applying to be an office girl.”
“The pay for your new job is much lower than your current one. Are you certain that you understand the requirements of the job? Do you want to continue the interview?”
“Yes sir, this girl will serve the men of the company in their daily work. This girl will serve them coffee, tea, clean their desk and obey them in all matters.”
“Before that, you have a 6 months trial period when you will be tested to see if you have what it takes to be in our glorious company. During this period…well, you have the janitorial position. Is that okay for you?”
“Yes sir, this girl is aware and understand the need to prove herself to the company.”
“You have no problem with your pay cut?” Myra saw Abdullah’s smile growing bigger; he was enjoying this. That’s okay, so was she.

“Yes sir,” Myra said. “This girl’s husband is working for Sun Horizon. This girl understand if she joined the company, this girl’s husband’s pay will increase by 25% due to his guardianship. This girl’s husband’s pay rise will offset her loss of income.”
“Your husband will be your guardian in the company. You understand this means your performance will affect his performance review and any poor performance from you will affect him adversely. Your pay, low as it will be, will also be directly credited to him as well. You are aware of this?”
“Yes sir, this girl understand.”
“Do you have any problems with all these arrangements?”
“No sir, this girl have no problem with any of it.”
“One final question then,” Abdullah said. “Why should I hire you? Why do you want to work in Sun Horizon?”
It was actually two questions but Myra knew better than to correct the man. She recited her prepared answer. “This girl want to join Sun Horizon because women are treated as they should be in the company. Women are servants to men. Women should serve men. This company allowed women to be treated as the servants they are. Sun Horizon should hire this girl because this girl know and understand what the company is trying to do. The company is trying to allow men and women to be in the roles they were born to be in and if hired, this girl will be a competent obedient girl who believes strongly in the company’s rules and policy.” 
Silence greeted her statement before Abdullah answered Myra’s prayers. “You are hired. Both of you can leave.”
“Thank you sir.” With the answer, Wendy and Myra crawled out of the man’s office.

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After the interview, Wendy led Myra to the 7th floor. They entered a small room on the floor where Myra saw Lucy waiting with 4 other girls in white. Lucy was sitting on the floor while the other girls were kneeling on their face facing the wall.  Lucy signalled Myra to join the girls.

Obediently, Myra joined the line and knelt. A hand on her shoulder told her to go closer to the girl beside her. Moments later, Myra was kneeling facing the wall shoulder to shoulder with the other girls. Minutes after that, Myra heard the door opened and felt another girl joining the line beside her. Myra then heard Lucy speaking quietly to another girl. Once they were done, Lucy addressed the six kneeling girls facing the wall.

“Congratulations girls! The six of you are accepted into Sun Horizon. There is a 6 months trial period. In these 6 months, you six will be interns. This means for the next 6 months, you girls will be washing the toilets, sweeping the floors while also learning on your assigned floors. Once the trial period is over, you will be full members of the company. For now, you will all wait here till your guardians come to fetch you home. Do not worry, they have been informed of where you are and will come here once their work is over.” Myra could not believe what she was hearing. Surely the company can’t expect her to wait 3 hours for her husband to get off work?  Luckily, Lucy wasn’t finished. “Till then, the six of you can relax. There’s some mineral water here. Just remember not to leave this room.”

With that, Lucy left the room. The six girls then stood and wondered what they were supposed to do. After a period of uncomfortable silence, one girl flipped her veil over her head and introduced herself.  The ice broken, the remaining girls followed suit.

Each introduced herself and Myra quickly deducted the reason the six of them were left in the room. The six of them were all new girls of the company and this time was for them to know each other. The new girls sat in a circle and spoke about themselves. The six of them were of various races; an Asian, an Arab, two whites, and including Myra, two blacks. They were of various religions; Muslim, Christian, and a Buddhist. However they were all here and accepted by the company because they believed in the superiority of men.

They spoke more about each other and Myra quickly found out the reason why each of them joined the company. Some of the girls want to be in an environment that allowed their private life and personal life to be the same. One just want to be working in the same company as her husband while two of the girls were joining to prove to their boyfriends they had what it took to be their wives. It seems their boyfriends promised to marry them if they managed to finish their internship.

Some of the girls also took some serious sacrifice to join the company. One of the girls was a lawyer, while another was in medical school when she decided to quit studying and join the company instead. The former medical student was one of the girls who was to be married once her internship was over. All the girls had husbands or boyfriends working in Sun Horizon who would be the girls’ guardians in the company.

Before they knew it, the girls had talked for hours. The door opened again. Lucy walked in and told Myra her husband was here to fetch her. Myra stood and immediately noticed Lucy pointing her finger downwards. Obeying her superior, Myra knelt and started to crawl. She crawled out of the room and notice her husband standing behind Lucy. He saw her immediately and after the initial shock, he laughed. 

Myra never felt as demeaned or humiliated as she did then. At the same point however, a strange joy arose within her. She smiled behind her veil as Reggie squatted and kissed her on her forehead. Myra couldn’t help herself but giggled at the act.

Reggie stood and walked towards the lift. With no orders to stand, Myra crawled behind her husband like a good pet. She had been a good wife, a good slave when they played “games”, so why not a good pet? The smile she had grew bigger. From now on, there’s no need for her to pretend to be normal. From now on, this was the new normal.

Myra Jackson couldn’t be any happier!