BY: JAMANDEB
CHAPTER ONE: IN THE YEAR...
DALIAH’S VIEWPOINT
It was the year 2525 and yes, man was still alive, unfortunately. The world was being overrun with Calahouns. The Calahouns believe in the creation of a superrace. They had recently taken over the governments of the world, led by some weird guy called "Brain Hitler II" and here I was, being taken to the breeding grounds. The breeding grounds is where they did genetic tests and then had a "compatible" man and woman...ahem...breed. They would then take the offspring away and train them to be the first generation of the "Superrace".
I looked around. Some of the girls didn't object to this at all. "What's so bad about it?" asked one, "You get to sleep around and you don't get in trouble if you get pregnant." "And they'll take care of the kid," said another, "And you get to start over." "I can't believe what I'm hearing!" yelled a tall, frizzy-haired girl at the others, "We're all just being used by a lot of bourgoisie pigs and you're enjoying it?!" "Judah calm down," I said to my best friend, "It won't do any good." She sighed. "I don't know what to do. They can't force us can they?" "Well," I said, "From what I understand, they put you in a room with this guy and...well...let you do the rest." "Well I'm not doing anything," Judah growled, "So tough on them."
We were all wearing the short-skirt uniforms the officials had given us. All of us girls stood in line for us to be individually paired up with someone. Judah grumbled. I thought of Vashti. She had been selected to be a "harem girl" for a rich official. Only the sexiest, most beautiful girls get selected for that and if they are liked enough, they become the official's wife. I thought of Abigail and Ruben, who were the only ones who made it out. A group of us were trying to escape but Thomas, a friend of ours, was caught and then betrayed us into the hands of the Calahouns. He wasn't killed, but I never wanted to see him again. I thought of Asher, who I knew had taken a liking to Judah but was too shy to say so. He was very submissive and obediant, even though he didn't like the uprising either. I thought of Gideon, who said that he had a different way to stop the Calahouns and didn't want to escape. I thought of Simon, my boyfriend. He wanted to protect me but he was taken away. I expected the worst.
I watched them do genetic testing on Judah. "It's perfect!" said the man in the white lab-coat. "Take her to room 216 and begin breeding immediately!" "Your a quack!" Judah yelled at him, "A quack I say!" "Well well," said Dr. Quack, "At least we can remove the gene for...spunk...So long as it's only in ONE of the parents...We can't have that now can we?..Ah, you must be Daliah." I nodded. He pricked my finger and did genetic testing on my blood. "Do you have any preferences for a partner?" he asked. "Uh." I stammered, "Can I be with my boyfriend?" "Name?" "Simon Nezareth" He looked at the file, computer, and test results and then gasped. I didn't understand until he signaled for the guards to take me away. "So sorry my dear," he called as I was being dragged away, "But your children would not do...Not at all...Next!"
I was tossed into a cell like room with a bed, bathroom, and dresser.
I understood completely. The whole plan was to create children for
the superrace who would do whatever they were told. One thing Simon
and I had in common is that we're both rather rebellious. No wonder
they didn't want us to have kids. I just didn't understand why Judah
was forced to. She had more spunk than the both of us put together,
but he DID say he could remove it if only ONE parent had the gene.
I guess they found someone without any genes like that for her. It
wasn't that I wanted to actually sleep with Simon because I didn't.
That would be against the Bible, which was the only moral thing left in
this hectic world. My only copy I had given to Abigail. "At
least they won't make me..breed with anybody," I said to myself, "Oh Lord,
Where are you when I need you?"
CHAPTER TWO: THE WAY TO THE TOP
GIDEON'S VIEWPOINT
I must be a great actor if they fell for that. I constantly sweet-talked the officials. First I was an ordinary laboror, not fit for breeding. Then I was a personal slave for the Head Honcho Supreme. After that, I started getting paid. I pulled the right strings on the right men and soon I was an official myself. I acted and was good at it. They made me one of them. But my real plan was to overthrow the Calahouns and restore the Democracy.
Only trouble is, I didn't know how. I was at the top so now what? I was in a fair-weather friend's home and he was showing me is harem. "I just got some brand-new harem girls today," my fat friend Sacrabob said, "I'll..heh heh..try them out one at a time each night." "Sounds like fun," I said faking a laugh. "Why, you have no harem?" he asked, "Not even a wife...I have twelve wives and sixteen harem girls, what's keeping you?" "Er I am..LOOKING! Yeah I'm presently looking for a..uh...wife." "If that's all," he laughed, "You may have any of my new girls." He nudged my ribs. "Never been used if you know what I mean." "Heh yeah right," I chuckled. I was in deep trouble. "I'm too young for marriage," I thought, "I'm only twenty-one."
A few days later I changed my mind. I was walking with Sacrabob in his vineyard and saw her. "Vashti?" I thought, "Why is Vashti HERE!?" Her face was covered as she and some other girls were picking grapes but I knew it was her. Only she could have that curly black hair. "Those are some of my newer girls," he said, "I haven't tried them out yet." It took awhile but I finally made my decision.
I had just stayed for dinner and Sacrabob was about to go up to bed. "Wait!" I asked, "Are you still up on that offer?" "For what?" "Letting me have one of your girls?" "Of course, which one?" I almost said her name but stopped myself. He couldn't know that I already knew her so I said, "The curly one." "Oh!" he laughed, "Vashti! Good thing you spoke up. She's in my room now. Come on, she will be with YOU tonight." I followed him up to his room. He opened the door to reveal a splended bedroom with a girl sitting on the bed in a thin...very thin robe. "She's all yours," Sacrabob said, "A gift from a good friend!" He took her hand and put it in mine. It trembled and she didn't look up. Sacrabob had another girl come up and they both went into the bedroom as I escorted Vashti away.
I let go of Vashti's hand, took off my cloak, and draped it over
her shoulders. She first looked puzzled but then she looked at me.
Next thing I know she's around my neck. "Oh Gideon," she cried, "It's
you it's you it's you...." "Yes, I know that," I said, "Now come
on." "Where are we going?" "The only way I can protect you
is if we...uhhh." "What?" she pleaded, "I'll do anything if you'll
just protect me from that..ugh..horrible man!" I walked her to my
hovercar. "According to law," I explained, "Any man can take any
woman from any other man except if they're married." She gasped.
"It's the only way," I said to her. She looked down and nodded.
We went to the Justice of the Peace and were married. I then took
her to my home and showed her to her room. "You know," she said,
"You are the first man I've been alone with for a month now that hasn't
tried to take me to bed with him." "Well let's just say I'm as uncomfortable
with it as you are," I said, "Good night...Dear." "Good night...Honey."
She gave me a peck on the cheek, went into the room, and shut the door.
I was a married man, without much of a honeymoon.
CHAPTER THREE: TEMPTATION
ASHER'S VIEWPOINT
I was escorted to room 216 and locked in. There was a small bed with a blanket and two pillows and nothing else. I shivered from the cold draft in the room. All I had been given to wear was a pair of boxers. I sat on the bed and waited for the girl. I really didn't want to give up my virginity now. No one would even believe I still had it, but I did. A kicking and yelling girl was brought and locked in. I stood up and watched her pound on the door crying, "You pigs! You're all bourgoisie pigs! I hate you!" She sat down on the floor and started to cry. I went over and touched her shoulder. She jumped up. "Asher!" Judah said, "What are you doing here?" I shrugged and tried to analyze the situation. I was stuck in a locked room, expected to sleep with this girl, whom I have been in love with for years, and she obviously didn't want to be there.
I was so busy trying to think of what to do that I didn't even notice Judah getting into the bed. A pillow hit me in the face. I looked at her and she said, "You get the floor buddy...Good night." I took the pillow and lied down on the floor by the bed. It was still cold and I wished she would give me the blanket. "Nah," I thought, "She's probably just as cold as I am. They probably cut off the heat to motivate us to...Ok I'll change my train of thought."
This routine went on for a number of days until an official walked in and found me sleeping on the floor. We were both brought before a judge. "So," he said, "You will not cooperate hmmmm?" "Never!" said Judah, "You're bourgoisie pigs! All of you!" I wish I could have told her to shut up but she probably wouldn't bother to listen anyway. "Level two then," said the judge rapping his gavel, "Next case."
In level two they took our clothes away. I sat on one side of the bed and Judah was on the other. We didn't look at each other or even say anything. I held a pillow in my lap and she used the blanket. When we were checked again to see if we had made any "progress" we were again brought before the judge (at least they gave us our clothes back). "Level three," he said, "Your genes are much to valuable to lose this oppertunity."
In level three, we got a smaller room. All it could hold was a bed and two people couldn't be in there at the same time without touching each other. We sat, back to back, with nothing on. We didn't even have a blanket or any heating. I could tell that Judah was breathing and shivering hard and so was I.
"I'll have you know it's nothing personal," she told me.
Why do they want us to do this anyway? Why are our genes so valuable?"
I felt her shrug. "You are pretty submissive Asher."
"Well your pretty strong...in body and will."
"Thats probably it. I heard that quack say that he could remove
my `rebellious genes'"
"I wish Simon were here. I'm worried about him."
"Whatever happened to him?"
"He's in a slave camp."
"Ouch."
"How about Daliah?"
"I dunno...I guess she's here somewhere."
"With who?"
"Beats me."
"I wonder what `level four' is?"
"Please...How could they possibly make this worse?"
It could be seen coming a mile away. "Level four," said
the judge. I was confused when we weren't stripped again. I
was given my own room and Judah another. "Reverse psycology?" I thought,
"What are they up to? Did they give up?" I found out later,
but way too soon.
CHAPTER FOUR: A GOOD ENOUGH REASON
JUDAH'S VIEWPOINT
I slept non-stop for a number of days. Partly because I hadn't had a good-night's sleep for awhile and partly because there must have been something in that water. I was awakened by some ugly fat lady who dragged me to the judge's office. Daliah was there and so was Gideon and Vashti. I saw an old wrinkled guard drag Asher in who was also half-asleep. "Well now," said the judge, "We're all here so I guess we'll start by congratulating you." "For what?" I growled at him. "Why," said the grinning judge, "You are going to be a mother!" I could have killed him. A million thoughts were running through my head and I tried to find the best respose. All I could say was, "What?" "You are with child my dear," he laughed, "Incedentally, you may get up to six." "Start over," I said, "Let's go back to HOW IN THE WORLD DID THIS HAPPEN!!!!?"
Dr. Quack stepped in. "You see," he said, "Since you and Mr. Timothy were relunctant to do it the...natural way...We had to use surgery." I looked at Asher. I could tell he was about to faint. "We simply extracted the necessary cells from you two and combined them." "So thats why we were drugged," I said. I didn't know for a fact that Asher was drugged but assumed it was so. "Correct," said Quack, "We simply replanted two of the zygotes in you." "Two?" I asked, "You want me to have twins?" "Well," he said, "You two are genetically perfect for this purpose and we want as many offspring as possible. We planted two in you and two in each of these other women."
Vashti and Daliah looked at each other and then at me. "Wait a minute," I said, "Are you trying to tell me that both of them are pregnant?" "Yes," Quack smiled. "With MY KIDS?" I yelled. They nodded. Gideon spoke up saying, "But this is MY WIFE!" "You told me yourself that she was unable to have children," said the judge, "Consider it a favor. Your wife will have some of the first in the superrace." "That's impossible.." Vashti said, "I just had my..." "Oh well that's just one of the zygotes," said Quack, "You had two and one just didn't make it. The other probably will." I cleared my head and realized that I just had mine too. I must be having only one kid. Daliah looked sick, but said nothing. "Still," I thought, "I am going to have Asher's baby...And when I do they'll take him..or her...away from me and make `the superrace'" I ran out of the office and back to my room.
I fell onto my bed crying, "Why? Why me? I don't understand?"
I felt a hand on my shoulder. "Go away," I sobbed, "Leave me alone."
"Judah," I heard Asher say, "I'm sorry." I looked up at him.
"It wasn't your fault," I sniffed. "It wasn't your's either," he
said, "All the more reason to..." He looked around to make sure no
one was listening. "To what?" I asked. He leaned and whispered
in my ear, "Escape."
CHAPTER FIVE: ESCAPE
VASHTI'S VIEWPOINT
Gideon acted very strange after that meeting with the judge. I was angry with him for telling everyone that I couldn't have kids. "I'm sorry," he said, "But how else could I explain why we didn't have any kids?" "There is birth-control you know," I snapped. "That would be lying," he said. "And saying that I'm barren isn't?!" I yelled, "I hate you!" "Vashti," he said softly, "I told them you couldn't have kids...I didn't say why." I looked at him, "Meaning?" "You couldn't have kids because you're a virgin," he said, "You can't argue with that...and it's true...it still is." "But Gideon," I said, "I'm still pregnant with a child that isn't even mine...And it's still your fault." "And I'm still sorry," Gideon said kneeling next to me, "Forgive me Vasti...And I'll get us out of here." I looked into his eyes. How could I say "no" to a face like that.
The plan for escape was rather simple. Gideon had bought Simon as a slave. Simon looked a lot worse than the last time I'd seen him. He was to drive the car, with us in it, to the breeding station. There, Asher had been told to get Judah and Daliah to us. Then we were to make a dash for the border. Thomas, the traitor, had given a secret wire from Ruben giving us directions. I didn't trust him, but he told us he wouldn't betray us again.
It took a long time to explain the situation to Simon. "So," Simon said, "Judah is gonna have Asher's kid?" "Right," said Gideon. "And so is your wife?" "No no," I said, "It's still Judah and Asher's kid, I'm just carrying it...And the same thing goes for Daliah." He didn't seem to like the idea of Daliah being pregnant. "Ok," he finally said, "But we better get out before they're born." We loaded the car.
Asher snuck out the other two girls and we took off at a steady pace for the border so as not to be noticed. It didn't work. A police car came after us and Simon had to lose them. "Careful!" said Gideon, "There are three pregnant women back here!" "Well I'm sorry!" Simon called back, "You want to get out or not?" Another car came out of nowhere and crashed into the police car. The man that came out was instantly stabbed to death, a greusome sight, but we got away. We stopped at the base of an emmense mountain. Honk..honk...ha ha honk honk went the horn. The mountain opened and we drove in.
"Who was that?" I asked Gideon. "It was a miracle," he grinned.
"A sad one, but a good one." "You're talking in riddles," I said.
Judah gasped, "You mean...?" Gideon nodded. Daliah started
to cry. I looked at her. She sniffed, "At least...he's in a
better place now." I didn't get it until I looked in Gideon's eyes.
Thomas had redeemed himself.
CHAPTER SIX: THE MIRICLE OF BIRTH
SIMON'S VIEWPOINT
I drove the car into the mountain and it closed behind. I drove down a dark tunnel until I got to a lamppost. I stopped and we unloaded the car. Behind the lamppost was a dark, heavy door which creaked open. Surprizingly, inside the door was a bright light. We entered and the door closed. It was another tunnel, but this one was brightly lit. We were standing on a wooden platform which had stairs that led to the east side of the tunnel. Down the middle of the passage was an underground brook. There were three bridges spanning this and doors in the walls of the tunnel and a waterfall at the end. Our group walked beside the creek, taking all of this in.
"Simon!" called out a familiar voice, "Asher!" "Judah," sang out another voice, "Daliah! Vashti!" Out of one of the doors, I saw my little buddy, Reuben, run out. Behind him came the little blond girl. "Abigail!" sang Daliah, "Reuben! Oh, I am SO glad!" It was wonderful. They were the only two in this particular colony now.
"You see," said Reuben. "There are several colonies down here. Three of the families went further down to make room for you." "So we're the only ones here?" asked Vashti. Abigail nooded and said, "But it's better than...up there...isn't it?" We all agreed to that.
And so our new life began. The waterfall came from another colony, and sometimes the people there would come visit. There were exactly eight rooms in our "neighborhood", four on each side of the river. Each cave was about the size of a small apartment. Mine was between Asher's and Daliah's. On the other side of Asher lived Judah. Across from my place was Abigail's which was between Reuben's and the nurse station, which was closest to the waterfall and on the far end was Gideon and Vashti's home.
Often I would walk down to the waterfall and see the girls showering under it in their bathrobes. They were obviously showing now, but for some reason, Daliah was showing earlier than the others. It wouldn't be long. Daliah would always send me out to get her strange foods. Most of the time she wanted little green mints. Asher teased me by saying, "She wants you to get her little green men?" "No," I sighed, "Little green MINTS, she wants little green MINTS!" "Oh well," he would say. "Judah just wants caramel popcorn and fudge sauce." "Thats nothing," I would add. "I saw Gideon go home yesterday with a bowl of spagettii, a tub of ice cream, a box of Chinese rice, and several jars of guacamoli." There were many strange conversations like that and they would always end with us being hungry and the girls eating all the food.
In the middle of the night, I heard a pounding on the wall. I turned over and saw it was 3 a.m. I rolled over to go back to sleep, but the pounding repeated, louder this time. I yanked myself out of bed and pulled my pants on. I remembered when Daliah said, "When my time comes, I'll pound on the wall and you can come take me to the nurse's station." I ran out the door.
She was calm and ready as I helped her to the station. She had called Abigail already, who immediately took her to a back room. Judah and Asher came in, for they also heard the pounding on the wall. It took a while though. Abigail came out and asked us, "Did you know that she's having two?" "Two?" asked Judah. "I thought she was getting somewhat fatter than you," said Asher. Judah proceeded to hit him on the head.
It was a while before anything happened. Allison needed me to help with the delivery but Daliah wasn't ready yet. I was about to nod off to sleep when I heard screaming. I was a Daliah's side in a split-second and she grabbed my hand. "Ya don't have to wrench it off," I said. She squeezed tighter as Abigail told her to push. After my hand turned blue, I heard a baby's soft cry. I pulled my hand free and saw the little boy which Abigail handed to me. He looked so small and red and cold. I wrapped him up in a blue blanket and he looked at me funny. I took him out to meet his parents, who were overjoyed. "What's his name?" I asked Judah. She just grinned and said, "I don't know. Daliah hasn't told me yet."
A few minutes later, Abigail came out with a little girl. "Daliah wants you," she told me. I went in the room to see my girlfriend. She looked exausted and a lot thinner. "Simon," she said. "If I ever have kids again, I sure hope they're mine." "Honey," I said. "If you ever have kids again, I hope I'm the father." She looked at me, "Is that a threat?" I laughed, "That's an honest-to-goodness proposal baby." She grabbed my shirt and yanked me down to eye-level. I almost thought she was gonna hit me until I felt her kiss. I took it as a yes.
Of course we agreed to wait until all the children were born. Vashti gave birth a few weeks later to a little girl. The twins, Peter and Andrea, welcomed their new little sister, Easter. Judah was the last to bring her child into the world. She named him Tommy.
We had an enormous wedding since four couples were getting married. Gideon and Vashti renewed their vows, Asher and Judah agreed to be proper parents for all four of their children, Reuben and Abigail wanted to start a family too, so we decided it would be easier to have just one wedding. Afterwords, Asher and Judah had two more children the natural way, Gideon and Vashti would have four, Reuben and Abigail had four, and Daliah would give me four.
These are the children who grew up to become the revolutionary leaders. They were the ones who restored democracy to America. Of course, it took a long time and all of us were grandparents by the time it was complete, but we all knew that we had an important part in it. God knew what he was doing.