The Life of Koru, Chapter 6
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"I tell you, Sir Reginald, Jared stole it! The document was in my suitcase when I paid him a visit!" Sir Ishmael said.
"Whoa, hold on there!" Sir Jared protested. "You're making a serious accusation right now!"
Sir Reginald was listening to both of them with increasing boredom.
"Who else was there with you in the room last night?" he said.
"Two koru slaves: Mulo and Peon!" Jared exclaimed "Koru slaves are known for stealing shiny colorful objects that appeal to their senses. I think they took the document to jerk off to the photos!"
"You just gave yourself away!" Sir Ishmael noticed. "How did you know that the document had photos?"
"What was that document exactly?" Sir Reginald asked.
This question made Sir Ishmael think carefully about his answer:
"It was a facsimile of this month's internal report from the Plantation's Registry."
"A confidential document I reckon. Who gave you permission to get that facsimile?"
Sir Ishmael stood there silent.
"You didn't get any permission, did you?" Sir Reginald said. "Who is the stealer then?"
Sir Reginald's words sounded very harsh. He thought better about them and told Sir Ishmael:
"Look, I know you only have the best intentions, I know you want to help the animals in need, but you have to understand that every company has its own way of running things. You cannot interfere into our private matters without making us feel that you want to undermine our authority!"
Then, looking towards Jared, Sir Reginald said:
"Jared, what do you think we should do to find Sir Ishmael's facsimile?"
"We should check the burrow of the slaves. Immediately! They stole it! The document might still be there!" Sir Jared said.
The idea that Mulo and Peon could have stolen the document seemed far-fetched to Sir Ishmael, especially since he didn't remember seeing them taking it when they left the house. Nevertheless he followed Sir Reginald to the koru camp to see what they could find. The first thing they noticed was the smell -- the smell of abject slavery which permeated the place -- layer upon layer of sweat, layer upon layer of cum and piss and other kinds of filth. The camp was empty because all the slaves were at work, but the stench still remained.
Sir Jared and Sir Ishmael went to Mulo and Peon's burrow using a lantern to see inside. They had to keep their noses covered, as the smell was even stronger there.
"What's this?" Sir Ishmael said when he encountered a strange primitive charcoal drawing on the wall.
"Oh, it's just koru art," Sir Jared said.
Sir Ishmael looked at it carefully. The image represented a large Sun with a face reminiscent of a Black Lord. Below the sun there were naked silhouettes bowing down low, which Sir Ishmael identified with the koru.
Sir Jared noticed Sir Ishmael's curiosity.
"This is the Black Man in the Sky!" he said pointing to the Sun face. "He is the god the koru pray to. They believe he is the same as the Emperor of the Black Empire."
"Oh, indeed! I know that the koru pray to our Glorious Emperor!" Sir Ishmael said. "But it doesn't make sense to say that he is identical with the Sun..."
Sir Reginald chuckled:
"I can't argue with that... Look, it's complicated. It's a dumb religion made by primitive apes. What do you expect?"
"What is the purpose of these images?"
"They protect the place, something like that. Yeah, I think they protect the place."
"Well, I don't see my document anywhere so I think that they didn't steal it and you are lying!"
"Have you looked everywhere, for example under that patch of wet straw?"
"I am not touching that thing! It looks like dung or something."
"Oh, no, it's just wet straw from what I see, and look what lies under it!"
With a swift movement, Sir Jared raised a piece of soaked paper from the ground. It looked crumpled and severely damaged by the exposure to the elements, but still kept enough recognizable features to make Sir Ishmael exclaim:
"That's the facsimile I was looking for! How did it get here?"
"They stole it! As I said!"
Sir Mazi Kwame, the Chief Overseer of Nnamani Plantations, was a muscular man of about 40 years old, very skilled in dealing with the slaves. He had supreme authority in the fields, so slaves respected him like a god. When he said something, it was sacred law for the slaves. When he ordered something, it was divine decree. His whip blows were the most feared, as they tore right into the hides of the helpless apes, leaving them with permanent scars.
That evening Sir Mazi was coming from the fields, riding his majestic black horse, followed by other Black overseers on horses and a large group of tired koru who were walking behind him in a single line.
When reaching the koru camp, Sir Mazi met Sir Jared and Sir Ishmael, and the news he heard from them made him furious.
He looked with disdain towards the koru herd and yelled:
"Apes Peon and Mulo! Come to me! NOW!"
"Yessuh Chief suh!" the slaves answered while hastening to come to inspection.
As soon as they were there, Sir Mazi snatched their ears and started to squeeze violently.
"Ayy!" both of them yelled.
"It hurts, doesn't it, apes? That's what you deserve for what you did!"
"We'se dindu nuffin', suh Chief suh!"
"Really? You <dindu nuffin'>? Then what is this?"
Sir Mazi showed them the damaged document that was found in their burrow.
"You stole this from Sir Ishmael's suitcase! You are guilty of stealing a Black Lord's property!"
"Suh, please! Is not true, suh... We'se dindu steal, suh!"
"To the whipping frames with you!"
"Suh, please! Don't whup us, suh! Please suh!"
"Heck! I want to see this!" Sir Reginald said as he watched Mulo and Peon dragged by their ears by Sir Mazi to a place where different whipping frames were erected. Sir Mazi instructed some of his slaves to prepare the whippings with ropes and pulleys.
The two apes were tied to whipping frames next to each other, with limbs spread wide apart in a spreadeagle position. The ropes were pulled to acquire maximum tautness, making the slaves dangle in the air until their toes were barely touching the ground. And when the ropes were tight, they were pulled even more, until the bodies came close to snapping.
"Please, suh Chief suh! We'se dindu nuffin' suh!" the slaves kept pleading. "Please, suh!"
Sir Mazi slapped the two bodies on the frames and decided they were stretched well enough. Then he rolled up his sleeves and grabbed his large hippopotamus hide whip.
Sir Jared watched with amusement as the two slaves pissed themselves in fear. What else could they do? The look of the whip alone inspired dread. It was a gigantic snake that glistened in the sunset light, looking almost metallic.
"Each one will count to 20! Got it?" Sir Mazi instructed the slaves.
"Yessuh Chief, suh!" Mulo and Peon answered.
And so it went:
"One, suh! AAAAH!"
"One, suh! UGHHH!"
"Two, suh! AAAAH!"
"Two, suh! UGHHH!"
By the end of it, Mulo and Peon were sweaty and moaning, and their backs had deep swollen cuts.
"Do you now admit your guilt, apes?" Sir Mazi said.
"Su-su-suh?" the slaves mumbled.
"Your guilt! Your guilt! Do you admit it?"
The slaves were too afraid to say "dindu nuffin'" again and receive more whipping, so they admitted what they didn't do:
"We'se did it suh! Yessuh, we'se did it!"
"What did you do?"
"S-stealing, suh?"
"Stealing what? "
"Stealing the thing, suh! Yessuh, stealing the thing! For jerkin' off, suh!"
"I'll take that as an admittance of their guilt!" Sir Jared intervened.
"Listen here!" Sir Mazi said. "Stealing is a serious offense in my domain. I should have these two nailed at the entrance of the camp to rot there, as an example for the other apes, but they are very good workers, so I am inclined to forgive them, especially if Sir Ishmael is okay with this."
"I never needed that document anyway," Sir Ishmael said.
"Good!" Sir Mazi said. "Then I guess their punishment will be to send them in the jungle sector for a while, to carry tree trunks. That's a hard job even for these brutes!"
"That's a good idea, Mazi!" said Sir Jared. "I will talk with our friends from the Tree-cutting Department."
"Alright!" Sir Mazi concluded. "I think that's settled!"
Only Sir Ishmael said nothing for he was still not convinced about the story that the slaves had stolen his document.