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Gender and Race
When the Constitution was suspended, laws and regulations regarding gender shifted dramatically with regards to hiring and criminal justice and general indenturement. The same was true for race, but was less drastic.
The Emergency Committee formed to respond to the debt and employment crises agreed from the first full session that the reintroduction of slavery would include very few women. Two stipulations required of the Committee and a few practical concerns made this something over which there was no argument.
First, there would be no slave labor of any kind the Free Cities and no permanent free residents in the territories after the relocation period. Second only licensed Holding Companies would be able to purchase and use slave labor. To obtain these licenses, the Holding Companies had to be able to purchase a minimum of one thousand and that at least two-thirds of the work expected would fall into a list of `heavy industry' outlined in the Committee's aegis document. This meant that the domestic work that has always fallen to females throughout history would not be permitted. The ratio was later relaxed with regards to territorial slavery, but did not affect any aspect of female slavery in any direct way.
Three other factors could not be ignored and the time for trying to ignore them had passed as the crises grew more dire. Even the lower end of the labor capacity expectations were going to be beyond what at least half the female population could maintain. The second was sanitation. Men can go weeks without showering and, while that may not be pleasant, it isn't a high sanitation risk. For that reason Holding Companies were not going to be required to provide facilities for regular, frequent bathing of the full population except where the industry itself would require it for health reasons. Thus it was going to be unlikely that a Holding Company would want to go through the extra expense necessary to account for menstruation. There would also be added expense to maintain strict gender separation. The thought of how to handle rules regarding sex and pregnancy in the territories was nearly impossible to imagine (until this later became necessary, but that scheme would keep costs, supply, and demand under tight control).
Once the Committee's rules were announced and the relocation began, everyone was surprised at just how little argument the public offered. Cultural shell shock from the crises was part of it, but the logic was also impossible to argue.
The flip side was a significant gender imbalance in the Free Cities. Women, a majority anyway, became a super majority. Among the Committee rules were equal pay and a mechanism for job and education application that left out both name and gender. Qualification alone would be what determined an applicant pool, not quotas or initial bias (post interview bias would be handled as needed). Technically that was out of their authority but it was seen as the answer to a problem that 1) existed already and 2) would only get worse if not handled at the outset.
Race underwent a similar, smaller shift. No one could argue from decades of prison data (and all of the initial slave population would be from prisons) that separating the races (and even factions within) made prison management easier. Holding Companies could determine for themselves how much or whether to mix the population, but they could not purchase "out of balance." If the company purchased an equal mix of black/white/Hispanic, then their management and overseeing personnel had to be roughly equivalent. This was also decided without argument in the first few sessions. Though part of the minutes that were never released, the Committee realized that once begun, the new labor scheme would be essentially impossible to undo, but to stop a new abolition movement by removing key motivators was the goal. Since the initial population was the incarcerated and that population turned the idea of majority' on its head with regards to the population as a whole, this meant that Holding Companies would have to hire minorities' in direct proportion to the race ratio of those they purchased. Since heavy industry and agriculture would be the ones most likely to form Holding Companies, the bankruptcy rules were changed to give preferential treatment to traditional minorities for the first five years of the labor scheme. This was reviewed after that time period and the rule terminated since the desired equilibrium had been met early and was holding steady.
No labor was going to be imported. A majority/plurality could not exploit a minority slave labor pool in the way it has been done in slave societies in the past. The full labor scheme that was phased in during those first five years ensured that the racial makeup of the slave population would begin to mirror the racial makeup of the Free Cities and would vary only slightly throughout.
Implementation
Rules originally defined half a dozen labor classes and attached a fixed cost per property based on classification, age, and health. Objective criteria based on physiology (particularly muscle to body mass ratio and bone density) were determining factors in labor classification.
Holding Companies applied for licenses that spelled out their industries, the classification mix and the actual cash on hand to purchase the mix and employ a balance of management and overseer personnel. Starting pay for those positions had to be the same based on position not race or age and the mix had to be correct from the beginning and license renewal, every three years, rested first on this ratio before any other considerations.
Implementation of the labor scheme was going to come in three initial waves that was anticipated to take five years but was completed in three. First was all males in prison, on parole for any class A or B felony, or on probation for the same. Additionally, male on probation for a class B (or higher) misdemeanor, and who was unemployed was declared `enslaved.' Those not in prison or jail were given two weeks to report to the police in their area. Harboring any male in this initial wave would result in enslavement of all males considered to be in residence. If the residents were all female, a heavy fine was imposed. The estimates were that roughly ten percent failed to appear by the deadline. Within six months all but a fraction of a percent was located. The mass migration from the territories to the Free Cities shook loose most in hiding since hiding them in transit to, and new housing in, the Free Cities was costly and extremely risky.
The second wave covered unemployed males. Once the initial population had been settled, new Holding Companies could be licensed and existing ones could expand. This defined a desired labor pool. All unemployed males were registered. Certain hardship cases exempted the men from the rolls. Employment timetables would mean that some could be exempted for as long as they were employed. If they didn't believe they could find employment during that time they could forfeit then, otherwise they had two weeks after the end of the timetable to present themselves with the same penalties etc as for the first wave.
This wave was more chaotic especially as the deadline approached. There had been mild violence and a handful of deaths in the first one. There would be riots and more bloodshed in this wave. The population of the territories doubled once this wave was absorbed.
From the distance of history the third one should have been the most chaotic, but by the time it began the free population was either resigned or inured to it so it seemed like the next logical progression. Any male over eighteen unemployed for more than 4 months was enslaved. Any male over sixteen and employed or not could "forfeit." This meant that the fixed purchase price for his classification would be paid to the family. Finally any male child 11-17 could be forfeit following a process that ensured that all living guardians of the child agreed. The first day that option became available, the Bureau expected few if any to apply. They were inundated. Bureau employees called this day the Shock and six weeks later the Big Shock when the first group was to be processed – many parents whose child or children were to be processed in the next two groups showed up early. There were no riots or deaths. Three hundred thousand were processed in 6 months. Approximately forty thousand a year since then have been forfeit in the same way.
"Impossible to maintain"
The main argument against wasn't the ethics of forced labor. Instead it was that the scheme was impossible to maintain because without breeding and without importing labor, once the slave population aged, their productivity would drop and as their numbers fell, the production would drop further.
Faultless logic. So the argument was either that the Bureau had some unreleased plan or the migration would happen in reverse so that the territories would become free again and a rush of labor would return to mine and field to once again produce the needed goods in the standard manner. Obviously the "unreleased plan" had been ready from the beginning of implementation and didn't stay secret once the migration was complete.
First, crime and unemployment and so-called surplus population was not going to go away even if it did drop significantly. Statistically this meant that the territories would expand a bit in the first few years then maintain that level for approximately twenty years.
"Then what?"
If necessary the Free Cities would expand and take over farm and other areas containing vital raw material that they already bordered. Should the slave population continue to shrink, then what the doomsayers indicated would happen, but it wouldn't be precipitous but would happen organically. Meaning that slavery would end on its own the way it did in nearly every other society, naturally and without violence because its need would simply disappear. As far as the Bureau was concerned, this was the best possible outcome, but the sociologists the Bureau used said this outcome would become less and less likely the longer the system stayed in place.
They indicated that since the Free Cities had no contact with slave labor and directly benefited from it, the motivation to end it would be low at best. What was intended to keep as much peace as possible and stave off any abolition movement had the consequence of making the free society unwittingly totally dependent on the slave labor meaning it would be in their best interest to see it maintained. Their analogy was that pre-crises most consumers didn't think twice that a twenty dollar shirt was made by sweatshop labor in a country they couldn't locate on a map. The consumer would get upset to see it on television, but it wouldn't take long, if any time at all, for them to return to the same store and buy some other low cost item made by the same sweatshop labor in the same unlocatable country. It cannot be called cynical if it is a fact.
The last element was obviously the most controversial but was not released until twenty years after the end of the migration. The statistics had proved correct and the population in the territories was actually a bit larger than the math predicted, but the initial estimates only went out thirty years and while the numbers for the years following that looked ok, they did start to dip based on the models being used.
Families in the Free Cities were still forfeiting children at this stage (and would continue). The mechanism in place to prevent kidnap was also well established. Families were prohibited from selling more than two children for the first two decades. After that ...
Restrictions were lifted for families wanting to participate, however the price given for each child was going to be small enough to discourage the vast majority from wanting to participate, but the option was available. The next little step was also the last the Bureau had as part of its original mandate. Any healthy unmarried woman could opt to be inseminated by slave. The newborn would be purchased and raised in the territories. This included females whose main purpose at that point would be breeding.
This was strictly voluntary. To protect women from being forced by a new form of pimp, her health was regularly monitored, movements randomly checked, and finances monitored. It was going to be possible for a pimp-like system to pop up but it was going to be difficult and very expensive to maintain. Also, the woman was not permitted to change her mind; once pregnant the woman was no longer carrying her child. Due to this the subcommittee that drew up this contingency called the Brave New World scenario and assumed few would do it. The Bureau had to scramble to create nurseries and appropriate growth centers for the influx of children. They also had to draw up new rules for handling breeding within the territories. Two rules went into effect immediately, the Bureau would actually own the female slaves and that operation would be overseen and managed only by females.
The subcommittee that drafted the rule thought that any woman who opted to do it would be considered a pariah which would just be one more reason not to do it. Instead small societies like book clubs popped up throughout the Free Cities. Enough people remembered the crises. Enough and more became accustomed to the post-migration prosperity and stability and didn't want to risk either of them. If the children of so-called seed pod women were part of the unseen engine of this world, then so be it. No one would admit to liking it, but the women were respected the same way any other pregnant woman was, and the notion of what I can't see can't hurt me ruled.
Empathy Assay of Thomas Copeland performed by Dr. Ashley Erikson
"I have to read this to you so just be patient please." Ashley makes a note that Thomas is fidgety but not excessively, mainly just bouncing legs.
"This interview is being recorded. You have been chosen randomly to undergo an empathy assay or test to determine any performance affecting changes working as a slave trainer at a federal slave processing center. You are not here for disciplinary reasons. You are required by law to answer the questions fully and honestly to the best of your ability. It is possible that the outcome of the assay indicates a situation that might require an adjustment in duties which can include reassignment to a different silo but this will not affect seniority or salary. Since this not disciplinary, you cannot be terminated." She puts the paper on the desk and finishes with: "I will be asking you questions, some of which are in your profile, but I haven't read that yet, so please don't answer with something like It's in my file' or I already answered that when I got the job.' Finally, please don't use gestures to answer questions, use actual words. We good?"
"Yes ma'am." Confident but not cocky.
"What is your official title?"
"Group A Slave Trainer Standard Grade."
"So that means slaves from eleven to small thirteens?"
"Um, yea, don't want to be rude ma'am but don't you know what the titles mean?" Not afraid to question authority but possibly temperamental – is this in the original profile?
"Yes, but please understand that this is a psychological test so what I know or don't know isn't the issue. For your purposes, assume I don't."
"Sorry ma'am." Sincere and self-soothing.
"Did you do your junior grade assignment in group A?"
"No ma'am. I was doing group B."
"Since the normal process is to request reassignment, did you do that or were you assigned for another reason?"
"Requested ma'am." Matter of fact, no clear sense of pride or shame evident. Still, wonder if this was a truly random pick since most requests for reassignment are to move up in age instead of down.
"Why? I'm sure the answer is complicated, so take whatever time you need."
"Couple of big reasons I guess. It was ok with group B, but the slaves come in on the fight side of fear instead of the hidin' side. Most of the guys with me liked that because it was more active and they liked to stay super fit. I liked to be fit too but there was just too damned much noise and too much need to scream for my tastes. Sorry for swearin' ma'am." Is this due to emotional sensitivity or sensory sensitivity?
"Feel free, if that makes you more comfortable, nothing you say will bother me. Keep going."
"It also took too much time to get the slaves settled in my opinion. They said that's normal but it seemed to me that maybe there was a better way to do it because it's only supposed to take six weeks to get them purchase-ready but we had lots of `em that took a couple of weeks longer. I know we had to get them right no matter how long it took but it just seemed off somehow. I'm not bright enough to know the answer but it was a problem I didn't want to fool with no more.
"I heard that it usually took less time to get the group A's ready which told me that there was probably less fightin and hollerin and that by itself would be enough." Pause wanting acknowledgement. Obviously an active listener himself, he seems to want to make sure others are also.
"Is there more?"
"I used to help my dad train pups. It's much simpler to train a pup than a dog. If we take slaves as little as eleven that's more like a pup than a dog so I figured my skills was best there instead."
"How long have you been a standard grade?"
"Right at a year ma'am"
"So you requested the reassignment when you were promoted?"
"Yes ma'am."
"Have your skills been better put to use in your new assignment?"
"Yes ma'am." First instance of pride.
"Tell me more about that."
"Most of them show up scared of their own shadow. Instead of lashin out and creatin a mess they are more likely to piss themselves. That by itself means that screamin wouldn't work it would just make them too scared to do much of anything. For the higher groups, if you push too hard on a borderliner you're more likely that he goes bull and it takes a bunch of guys a long time to get him settled down again and that makes things worse for the slaves that are doing good because he upsets the environment real bad. For the group A boys, you scare them too bad and they actually just shut down. It sucks for them but it doesn't have the same ripple problem that one going bull does.
"Most of them come in holdin on to each other. It usually takes just like two days to get them past that so they are confident enough to sit and sleep without holdin on to a bud."
"How do you handle one that `shuts down'?"
"If they came in clingin to one in particular then we take both of them into the clinic in the barracks. If they came in shyin away from everybody then we pick another one the same size. We let them take a nap or sleep there if it's late enough. After they wake up we feed them and just let them cry as long as it takes for them to get tired again and if they ask questions we answer them honest. We also stay on their level so we either put them on the exam table or kneel down so we are always eye to eye. That's usually enough, if it ain't then we give them a little more time. I've never had one go into total blackout. It's pretty odd to have one shut down after the first few days, when that happens we just put them in one of the observation cages in the barracks to calm themselves down."
"Is that in the handbook?"
"I think the first part is now ma'am, but the second is just standard."
"Meaning it was your idea?"
"Yes ma'am." Why would he be sheepish?
"Please explain."
"The beginning is different than all the rest of the time they will ever have. So lockin them down alone after they started the process makes sense. The beginning all of `em are shit scared so from the whole group point of view taking just one away will amp up the fear so bad you really can smell it. Takin' two calms that down a bit because whether they actually know it or just feel it, they know nothing real bad will happen. For the one that shuts down havin the buddy there just makes the calm down go faster."
"A skill from puppy training?"
"Yes ma'am."
"Do you often run into what you called bulls in this group?"
"Sometimes but it's always with the ones that are called small thirteens and are littler but are still post puberty and still wantin to try to be a man I guess."
"Do you handle them any differently than one that shuts down, meaning is he handled the same way as a bull in the higher groups?"
"It's different. We just lock them up the same way as a later training shutdown but someone has to watch them to make sure they don't hurt themselves by trying to bust through the cage."
"How is that different from the higher groups?"
"Shit, totally. The higher ones have to be broken and that takes days and usually means having to bring in a heavy licensed overseer. He's worked hard by hisself but where most others can see him. He's worked to pukin' and passin' out. No heavy whippin for a day sometimes two dependin on whether he breaks from just the work. If not then he's whipped in public twice a day between the work until he finally takes his place."
"What kind of problems did you run into implementing the buddy system?"
"Only a little at first. I just did it on my own. The center manager saw it and just asked me why and I told him. He said we'd try it for three cases and if it worked we would keep doing it and he would recommend it to the other group A centers. I guess the system is built so the managers of those centers have to be less brutal than the ones in the higher groups. Can you tell me if that is like official?"
"Yes and yes that is the case."
"Good." Confident comment instead of topic closure.
"Why good?"
"I ain't read studies or whatever but it don't take a genius to know that if you scare a kid too bad what you get as they get older is a scared kid in a bigger body. If the whole point of the system is to train a slave to be as obedient and efficient as possible, then buildin it all on fear will prolly make them obey but it will take away from the rest because they use too much energy tryin to not be scared. Even the large thirteens have prolly matured enough to be able to handle the fear right but it would be the rare one under that that would be able to." Will trust that he has not read a study, but we already know this to be true.
"But does a more considerate manager guarantee a considerate group of trainers?"
"I can't speak for none but the one I'm at but it only makes sense. I know that everybody that gets assigned or picks to get assigned to group A gets tested to remove the sickos that just want to abuse or rape the kids so that takes away the biggest prollem. Skin and physical reaction will tell the rest. If the slave's beat too bad the manager looks into it and if the trainer went too far that's taken care of. If especially a group of slaves get real nervous around a guy or actually piss theyreselves, and that's a real common fear thing for this age, then we can kina guess that the trainer nearest them isn't being what you're callin considerate."
"What would you call it?"
"Professional ma'am." There is every indication he has had this discussion with someone before.
"Does that mean that you and others in higher group centers are not professional?"
"Knew that was comin. No, if we follow the rules for our jobs then we are all professional. The stupid sayin, well the meanin ain't stupid, just the sayin is that group A works by bein firm not fierce. But what all of us have to do is take people and break them to do what others say no matter what so even if the people are kids it ain't always easy to know when you're goin too far. I mean it ain't like we scold them and put them in a corner."
"Have you lost your temper?"
"Yea. Ain't proud of it but there ain't no way around it either as far as I can tell. I tell em all that whining won't be tolerated. Cryin is different and except when getting a hidin most of em stop doing that after a week or so. Whinin's like nails on a chalkboard to me and only bein insubordinate will make me whip one faster than whinin. I just tell em to suck it up. There ain't no joy in learnin to be a slave but they got no other choice and whinin or bein uppity won't make things no better."
"Can you give me an example of what you did when a slave whined and you lost your temper?"
"You know how boys can get real moody when they're going through the change? Anyway, I think that was happening because this one had been easy to adapt first off but towards the end got whiny about the food sayin it tasted bad. I think that is also something that happens during the change. I told him to cut it out but he did it again so I used a strap on his butt with him in stocks. He started beggin and since that is basically whinin I just amped up the power. I only realized I'd gone too far when I saw blood which shouldn't happen with the strap I was usin."
"Did you get in trouble?"
"No ma'am. I went to the manager and told him straight up what happened and he just said it happens and be careful not to let it happen again."
"Did you apologize to the slave?"
"Ma'am?" Cocks his head, he heard but is buying time to handle the confusion.
"Did you apologize to the slave?"
"No ma'am. I think even if it wasn't against the rules I wouldn't do it and part of that is bein kind and I'll go ahead and answer that bit now. It ain't the body we are breakin, that would make the slave useless. I think you guys call it reshaping the personality or summin, we just use the old sayin of breakin the spirit. If we apologize it gives their spirit some fake hope that maybe their lives will be less hard. Yea even something that little will give a strugglin spirit something to hold on to and make them just a little harder to break and will leave them more broken than they would be otherwise."
"Yes we do call it reshaping the personality."
"Can I ask why?"
"Spirit isn't a word that psychologists use and we definitely don't `break' people. Enslavement is part of the reality that the profession faces, so we understand that slaves will not have the same sort of respect for personality as the free population but that does not mean we need to ignore it. You fully understand that, otherwise you wouldn't have used your insight to improve on a system that has been in place for decades. And unless you have any other questions I'm finished."
"Did I pass ma'am?
"This isn't something you can fail. But if you are concerned that it will change anything for you the answer is maybe, but I can tell you that if it does, the change will be positive and more of your making than not."
"Thank you ma'am."
Dr. Erikson's report:
Thomas Earle Copeland, 24, Group A Slave Trainer Standard Grade. Currently Location Group A Center, Spokane, WA.
Official Recommendation There was nothing in the interview that indicated any current issues with regards to empathy and based on stated experience, there is little reason to indicate this will change significantly in future.
[Dr. Erikson now accesses Thomas's post-hire evaluation and employment history to determine if there are any specific notes she needs to add to the scant recommendation.
Thomas's careless grammar puzzled her during the assessment. She got a sense that he hadn't finished high school and while it is somewhat common for Holding Companies to hire high school dropouts, it is unheard of for the federal government to do so.
His file indicates that he did finish and did so with honors. She concludes that the dialect he uses is lax because there is no need for it to be formal and to use it would be to `put on airs' which would obviously be considered a negative where he is stationed. His background is entirely rural having lived on a patch of ancestral land in coastal Virginia that had was converted into a repair shop and did a side business in, of all things, hunting dogs.
Processing centers look for trainers who have a measurable ability to handle multiple processes by making practical decisions rather than emotional ones. This means that the `subjective skill' most sought is pragmatism. Mr. Copeland is among the most pragmatic people Dr. Erikson has interviewed.
The information in his file is brief and glowing and the scores on his tests were all in acceptable ranges with none of them spiking in any direction. But what gets her attention is an attached audio file dated at the time he requested the reassignment. That interview was conducted by a distant colleague: Dr. Kevin Davis.]
Davis: This is a partial section of the full recording, but is the only relevant section needed for this file.
Davis: I concur with your explanation of how group A training functions. I'm also fine with most of the explanation for why you're requesting it, but I'm less convinced of others. I'm not saying you are lying. I think it is more likely I'm not asking the questions in the right way to get the information I need.
Copeland: Yes sir.
Davis: You volunteered the information that you have no moral objections to enslaving juveniles. Since it is a sensitive area and one most likely for someone to want to try to abuse or sabotage, we are very careful about who is selected. So why did you volunteer that?
Copeland: Just figured I'd answer a question I knew you'd ask. My manager at Lexington seemed to be worried about the same thing so I just guessed it was something you'd want to know.
Davis: No doubt that is true, but I get the distinct feeling that there is more to it.
[Long pause]
Davis: Is there?
Copeland: Yes sir.
[Pause]
Copeland: I got to ask something first if that's ok.
Davis: I can't promise that I can answer but ok.
Copeland: What does my file say about my family does it say I have any siblings.
Davis: Let's see, living father, deceased mother, one older and one younger sister.
Copeland: Thought that might be why you keep askin. It's a record keepin problem I hope won't get me fired.
Davis: Sorry?
Copeland: Mom is deceased because she died in childbirth havin her youngest, my brother Dylan. He was a accident.
Davis: And what happened to him?
Copeland: Sold when he turned eleven.
Davis [alarmed apparently] Legally?
Copeland: Yes sir. Dunno why none of that is in the record, but somebody somewhere has to have the information.
Davis: You understand now why anyone would be suspicious of your motives for wanting reassignment to group A?
Copeland: Yes sir, but they'd be wrong.
Davis: Please.
Copeland: All us, even Dylan, knew he'd be sold, we knew it way back since we were barely scrapin by. Pop said that it was prolly best to get Dylan trained up before leavin so it would be easier on him.
Davis: And you did that?
Copeland: Yes sir. Trained him like we did pups. Since we knew he was gonna be sold he wasn't sent to school and so we started trainin him to do just general stuff and to have the kind of respect that we thought slaves would have to show and all that. None of us was happy about it but it's one of them decisions families got to make nowadays. I guess we all say the same things to ourselves when we have to do it, if we keep them then we all go hungry and risk forfeitin more than one, but if we pick then he is fed and taken care of and the rest of us can go back to just scrapin by.
Davis: So you're saying what exactly?
Copeland: Since I got experience with it already, I figure it'd be better for all if I was reassigned to the younger group.
Davis: End of portion. It is recommended that Thomas Copeland's request be accepted. I have verified that the brother, Dylan, was legally remitted to the bureau in Richmond five years ago and is currently located in Arizona. Given standard regulations, I would recommend his placement be either the site in Spokane or Klamath Falls.
Processing Slave WK-M-KT35221, Spokane WA, (POV Group A Slave Trainer Standard Grade Thomas Copeland)
(Author's note: As stated above, this section involves training younger slaves. It will be focused largely on one to be called ermine – slave number above -- in later installments. Here he 12 However, this section covers intake and only implies what happens after .)
Today's shipment included 30 slaves in all pretty much divided evenly between 11's, 12's and 13's. Manifest says two of em are showin signs of puberty. Based on weight and nutrition info from the initial intake, my guess is that those two will quickly advance and at least 3 more will start showin. On top of the 20 we got now, that will not be a fun group to have to align.'
They get here and 2 pairs is holdin hands. Half of `em are shaking and the rest with the gave up look. Essentially a standard shipment.
"You'll hear lots of rules tomorrow but for now it'll just be a medical evaluation, food, and rest. Trainin will start tomorrow."
One says "Does that mean shots" and several others shush him.
"Yes, ain't no reason to lie. They'll be takin blood too. Ain't no way around it, but they ain't going to try to hurt you."
I get em to line up tallest to shortest with the 4 holdin hands or hugging in the back.
"Go on and walk through that door and sit on the bench in order. In a few some doctors'll come out and take you in to get your exam. After all of you're checked out, you'll be fed."
They all sit and at this point most are shaking. Even the ones that try to look tough can't keep that look for long.
The two docs come out and take one slave each. It'll be almost two hours before they get to the last 4.
"Anybody got to pee?" Some hands go up. "Poop?" A couple of others go up.
I point for the pissers to go outside and point the others to the toilet. After a bit they come back and sit.
Finally we get to the last four and I have them all go to the same doctor. WKM seems to be the strongest, so I get him up on the table first.
"The rest of you just watch. It ain't that bad."
The nurse comes in and says, "Let's go ahead and get the needle part done first."
Most of these boys should be able to be brave enough at this point to handle getting these things taken care of with a minimum of fuss, but they `regress' as the psyches say, so treatin them like 8 year olds works best.
"I'll draw blood first." The nurse gets his arm ready and puts the needle in. WKM sucks in a bit but doesn't scream. The nurse looks at the other three and says, "See, I know what I'm doing."
Whether that ever calms any down is questionable I guess, but it don't make things worse.
"Now there is nothing I can do about the shots. They're going to hurt, but I'm fast with the needles so they won't hurt for long. And all of these will have to go in thighs and hips." He tells WKM to sit on his hands and relax his thighs. "It hurts much less if you keep the muscle loose. I'll put two in each thigh and two in each hip." WKM tenses.
This nurse has an odd, torturous in a way, system of getting the shots in without the kid screaming. He asks them questions like whether they had pets and then has them tell him stories about the pet. If not it's a favorite place and to tell him about that. The kids, honestly, wince some while telling, but the tactic works. I say torturous because they'll never be able to have or do those things again. Still it is very early on and it does keep the very nervous way calmer than the situation would normally be.
Once the process is done, and none freak, but one comes close. I take them to then through another waiting room then to the lunch room. Here they see two other overseers and get their first taste and experience of slave chow. They all have the same reaction with wanting to poop but all but one are able to let it pass. He is `in distress' long after the normal period so it's obvious that we're gonna have a mess unless we let him hit the can.
Full of chow and full of shots and beginning a bit to relax, they are all exhausted, except the 4. So the other overseers take the twenty-six and take them to the post-med holding cages. I take the others with me to the recovery bunks.
"A'ite boys. Tonight you sleep in here. Once the doc says you're good to go, you go out for trainin. This ain't a matter of scared or brave, just know you ain't gonna die and you're gonna be able to rely on each other."
They nod, then nod off.
[TC as he is called, knows that in as little as a week, these boys will be like the others. All of their butts will be red the whole time. Most will be pink the next week with a few still red. Except for trouble makers, backs and butts will be tanned and stripe free. By this point he wonders if there is any spirit at all left.
The boys have learned a couple of basic things that make it very difficult to tell. The first is the standard posture, so they never stoop unless the tasks require it. The only words they speak are exactly the same as all other slaves of any age learn. They have learned to tell overseers what the men with whips want to hear. There is uniformity in almost all things. So they are certainly a group and can fit into any group so long as the standards of training are maintained wherever they go. They have been taught to look straight ahead or down at boot level depending so there is a stare to them that doesn't display spirit or its lack.
TC is certain that some leave with the spirit destroyed. There is no way around it. He cannot determine – no one can or has ever – whether this is good or bad. Good: they never feel enslaved, humiliated, lack of fairness, hope; bad: they never feel meaningful companionship, a slave-self respect that really does impress most overseers, hope. It is the last that is most difficult. All agree that short-term hope for something like freedom is dooming and cancerous to the soul/spirit. If not kept in check in some way or another, it will break the spirit by devouring it. If it is a long term hope for something like relief, then it is something that actually nourishes the spirit. But this circles back again to whether or not even hope is a good thing.
In as much as he can decide anything, TC thinks as a free man does. A broken spirit is almost immeasurably sad, but then one who can leave the territories and lead a free life will almost always think that way.
{He cries inside from time to time. Knowing it is harmful, Thomas nevertheless keeps a photo of Dylan in his journal that he only opens to look at. He really never wanted to enter the territories and honestly, until Dylan was about 9, didn't think Dylan would be sold. Once he knew there was no other way, Thomas admitted to himself that he would not be able to live with himself if he didn't have some idea what Dylan would face. Finding a different profession would have been possible given his academic skills, but it would mean he would have to forget his younger brother and didn't think that possible, so not knowing anything about the process would eat away at him.
He feels no guilt. By the time Dylan and Thomas entered the territories, the Free Cities had been used to slavery for almost 80 years. He knows his contribution of what he knows to be compassion is temporary but at least there is some of it. He can live with himself and his reflection and can sleep at night. Still it is difficult to imagine a more difficult job in the territories that isn't being a slave itself.
Originally he thought he would do his job, whatever he was assigned, well enough to be owed a few favors so he could at least find out where Dylan was at the time of asking, then he would quit the territories for some other profession. He has a bank of favors. He no longer wants to know. He is powerless to find his brother and, what is indescribably worse, what he would find – as his job here specifically requires – would not be his brother. Dylan would have a different name if a name at all. He might bare a resemblance to the 10 year old in the photo Thomas keeps, but if there is a resemblance Thomas would be rent by sadness; if there is no resemblance, Thomas would be torn by a sadness of a different flavor. The first would cause Thomas's familial protection to kick in and would probably be impossible to suppress causing no end of emotional grief if not professional ruin. The second would simply cause a grief of something even more deeply lost: body, spirit, and even resemblance all gone.
The photo is a type of headstone – most families do not hold on to these mementoes --Thomas cannot consider shutting himself from it.}]