ELSKA
The Fields of Identity have no Monocultures just Endless Varieties of Wild Flowers
LGBT+ themes running through a tale in which DNA resequencing and mental repsyching are the norm for a secretive high tech group that hides in plain view.
The irony of it was if her mother had loved her enough to have left her father when she was a baby instead of fifteen years later she would have had a daughter. Newly married, she’d been thrilled to be pregnant and had bought all the things she needed for her daughter, but when she’d had Douglas she’d then hated and ignored her because she’d wanted a daughter and had been told she couldn’t have any more children. By the time Douglas was two, her father was viciously cruel to her, both physically and mentally, and said her mother might as well have had a daughter, but school would sort the sissy out.
Douglas was hyper intelligent and resilient and hadn’t really been upset by the brutality and despite she’d been subject to all her life because she knew one day she would leave it all behind her and make her own life, the life she wanted to live. She’d sworn to find her own unique place in the world, doing something worth the doing and to be valued as herself however she chose to present herself. She certainly wasn’t bitter about life, just resigned for the time being. She’d boarded at a major, boys only, English public school and previously at its associated preparatory school since the age of six, where the bullies made life hell for many, but it had been small beer compared with what she’d lived with before going to school, and her intelligence had shewn her ways to find out things about the bullies they didn’t want anyone to know, so she’d used blackmail to protect herself from the world from an early age. It was to stand her in good stead for the rest of her lives. What had really bothered her at school had been her own behaviour which she believed had been forced upon her by her testosterone, especially after puberty when she’d been trying to blend in with the boys. Behaviour which she’d hated, and it had turned out to be pointless because the boys had known it wasn’t really her and they’d never accepted her. Douglas had always stuck out like a sore thumb and had been every bit as much an outsider at school as at home.
Douglas had never understood boyhood and had not only been unnerved by it, she’d often been revolted by it. She’d not been able to stop herself from looking at internet pornography though she’d been upset by anything depicting violence, coercion and what she considered to be unnatural acts, which was most of what she’d come across. She’d closed such down as soon as she’d realised it was not what she was seeking. Pornography depicting frantic acts of sex masquerading as love had never been of interest to her, for it had obviously been no more than filth and that too had upset her. What had been of inexplicable yet irresistible interest to her had been mostly still images of women’s bodies, especially close ups, close ups of arms, legs, thighs, breasts, waists, nipples, painted nails, hips, hands, genitalia, feet, elegant hair styles, bottoms and faces, especially faces with make up, which had all been exciting but had never provided her with any sexual gratification, but then that hadn’t been what she’d been seeking. She’d spent hundreds of hours fascinated by fashion and beauty clips especially those involving hair, cosmetics and lingerie.
Douglas had liked comics too, especially DC comics’ Superman, but she’d never seen herself as Superman. She’d fantasised of being Lois Lane. She’d read a lot of soft porn on story sites where she had always been drawn to stories involving far more romance than sex. She knew she was a girl but in the environment she’d grown up in it would have been far too dangerous to have done anything about it other than dream and create the perfect girl she wanted to be in her head. She’d been dreaming thus as far back as she could remember, certainly as far back as aged three. She’d always wanted to wear girls’ and later women’s clothes because they were appropriate and boys and then men’s clothes made her feel conspicuously vulnerable, but she’d never had sufficient privacy for it to be safe enough to risk. Years later she’d realised that what she had been so ashamed of as an adolescent looking at pornography had in fact been her desperate search for what she wished to look like as a girl and then as a woman. As a result of those searches decades later she knew exactly what she wished every detail of her female form to look like.
Douglas left school and home at eighteen for university, but she’d no more fitted in at university than she had at school. She’d officially studied genetics, but in fact she’d studied her way through the equivalent of a dozen or more degrees in widely differing disciplines. She received her PhD in electronic instrumentation systems, but again that had been the least of her postgraduate studies. She wasn’t interested in the life of a university academic because she didn’t relate to folk well enough, so after leaving university she joined a medical software development company.
In a desperate attempt to fit into society Douglas had married at twenty-five and because her wife had said she wanted a large family she’d fathered six children. She’d been a good and faithful husband and father and a high earning breadwinner, but ultimately that had counted for nothing. Nine years later, her wife had taken up with someone else, and also taken everything Douglas owned and valued, including the children she’d lived for, so thrown on the waste heap of a divorce court she’d become loveless, homeless, assetless and mindless, not just unemployed but unemployable. After a year of sleeping in bus shelters, a cricket pavilion and cardboard boxes, Douglas had recovered enough from her traumatic, messy and unexpected divorce to accept that the powers that be were going to prevent her from ever seeing her children again and she had to start again. Douglas was completely alone, for she was not only rejected by her ex wife and children but by her parents and the rest of her family too and she’d never had any friends, just acquaintances. She decided there was no point to her current existence since she was just a target for her ex wife and her family to take money from which would stymie any attempts she may make to start again, so aged thirty-five she disappeared abroad with the intention of transitioning to what she’d always known she was: female.
Regularly moving and changing jobs, she spent hours, days, weeks and months, which became years, thinking about and refining her new self to be and her circumstances. Though she knew she would be able to alter things after her rebirth, she wanted to have as much settled before then as possible. She became totally reclusive and had started to think and behave like Elska, the name she had chosen for her real self, the self she had a right to love.
Beautiful, tall, slim, green eyed, waist length burnished glowing red haired, hyper intelligent, supremely talented at all forms of sport and artistic endeavour, and though popular, funny and charming Elska would essentially be a loner: everything Douglas had ever wanted to be. Douglas had not decided how old she would be on the day she first drew breath as Elska, the day she resequenced herself into Elska and her consciousness became Elska’s. However, she knew, as Elska, she would have to be young enough to go to school to give Douglas the life chances and experiences she’d always regretted never having. Till that day came she was still working on the creation of her background and identity and the creation of the persons she would need to support her existence. She’d not completed the process but knew, like herself, Elska would have an unhackable organic internet and communication connectivity in her brain faster than any electronic system that no security system was proof against, and her bio-link would give her instant fluency and literacy in any language she wanted. She would have lightening fast reflexes and be very strong.
Fabulously wealthy from Douglas’ and then her endeavours on the world’s stock markets and their cutting edge biogenetic engineering and digital endeavours, she would also be mutually in love with her bodyguard who would be seven foot three, massively built and ten years older than she. Elska would have many of Douglas’ characteristics: she wouldn’t be bothered by her lack of family, only her belovèd great-great grandfather would be alive and he was to be one of her legal guardians. Other than to her bodyguard, her grandfather and her loving step mother, who was to be her mentor and other legal guardian, she would only be close to their security team, who would become her family. Douglas had considered it safer that Elska should have a female relative as a guardian too, for it would head off officious child welfare agencies, and a stepmother who had legally adopted her would provide that safety without having to manufacture an overly complex and thus more vulnerable background. Elska would feel no obligation to society at large: the society whose mores had considered it to appropriate to treat a good husband whose faithless wife had stolen Douglas’ life as disposable, and by the standards of most of the world her unshakeable ethics were brutally old fashioned. It could be said they were old testament rather than new: an eye for an eye rather than love thy neighbour. For a long time Douglas had little idea how she would find or create her new family, but she knew when opportunity came, and it would, she would be ready for it.
Almost fifteen year old Viivishkava was destined to become Douglas’ older sister, mother, confidante and friend. She was an orphan who had been rescued from the most recent Chernobyl disaster, when the entire plant had collapsed sending tens if not hundreds of thousands of tons of concrete crashing into the radioactive dust below to cause a bigger and more dangerous incident than the original disaster forty years before. She’d been threwn out by her relatives to fend for herself when they discovered there was no more benefit to be had for having taken her in once she’d turned fourteen. A handful of years after she had recovered from her divorce well enough to function, Douglas, aged forty-one and desperately lonely, was working abroad whilst she developed her life plan, and had found Viivishkava living on the streets in Kiev. Viivishkava had been glad to be taken in by Douglas, and soon realising Douglas was technically male but dressed, lived and behaved like a woman she’d still been surprised she’d not been expected to share her bed in return for food and warmth, which was how she had survived after being discarded.
The ultimate nerd, over the years Douglas had studied many things including many arcane and supposedly impossible subjects and how to make money quickly and untraceably using the internet. It was whilst living abroad with Viivishkava she’d realised that eventually her studies and researches into biogenetic engineering when combined with some of her more esoteric researches, that had put what was considered by establishment scientists to be no more than fantasy and magic on a sound scientific footing, would enable her to map her knowledge of human genetic sequences, which others would later refer to as the human genome activity map, with physical characteristics most of which were not visible in nature. She would be able to manipulate individual characteristics, but most importantly create what years before she’d laughingly called ‘the new truth’ when describing the processes of lying and creative writing. Her first practical application of her researches was to redress all the damage done to Viivishkava by the events at Chernobyl when the reactor had finally collapsed causing a bigger disaster outside the exclusion zone than the original 1986 incident had caused in the immediate vicinity of reactor number four.
It was not long after meeting Viivishkava before Douglas vanished to become her temporary new truth: Angus, who, unlike Douglas, could at least act and pass as a masculine male. Douglas had become wealthy again and Viivishkava’s experience was so limited that she’d not been surprised when Douglas morphed into Angus. Angus was ten years younger, of a heavier build and six inches taller than Douglas and looked nothing like her. Angus was a temporary, convincingly male persona, created by a biogenetic engineering technique which would become known as resequencing. Angus, who had Douglas’ entire psyche with the addition, by a technique which would become known as repsyching, of no more traits than were necessary to be convincingly male, was necessary to ensure the disappearance of the feminine Douglas was complete and her wealth doubly untraceable. Angus was a necessity to ensure there could never be any connection established between Douglas and her ultimate new truth as a young girl.
Viivishkava knew Douglas was a scientist and initially assumed her skills were widespread in the west. Her experience of life was such that she instinctively understood about not bringing oneself to the attention of the authorities and never admitting to having any information about anything to anyone. So she said nothing about the now vanished Douglas, who as Angus had become even more desirable to her than before. That he changed his name and moved several hundred miles, usually to a different country, every few months, seemed a sensible precaution and convinced her of his ability to survive and also added to his desirability and attractiveness. Viivishkava was more than willing to give all she had to give to a man who had treated her so well with no ulterior motive or thought of reward. Without any experience of love she had fallen in love with her benefactor, and she was happy to realise that would set the pattern of her thoughts for the rest of her life. To her joy Angus was willing to make love with her from time to time, though she’d have liked it considerably more frequently.
They spent the best part of the next decade and a half living mostly in various parts of western Europe where Angus accumulated business contacts and wealth, and Viivishkava accumulated mental attributes via Angus’ skills and a number of mostly female fashionable connections involved in haute couture. She also gradually changed over the years to look increasingly like an unbelievably elegant and beautiful member of the long gone Russian royal family, the Romanovs. For several of those years they gradually moved east across what had been the Soviet Union ending in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky in the Kamchatka peninsula, before taking the ferry south to Vladivostok and then beginning a gradual return west. Angus never explained why they took their extended trip east of the Urals and Viivishkava never thought to ask, but he came back much wealthier than when they set off, and Viivishkava’s transition was complete.
A stranger who could do no more than find parents for her had rescued an abused and damaged toddler of about a year old from a vast East European orphanage that sold children with the collusion of an international bank universally believed to be of impeccable integrity and of the highest probity and rectitude. Elena as they had named her, for she had only had a number: F20234, the F indicated female, was taken immediately and reared by Viivishkava and Angus. They’d been on an equipment buying trip, not seeking a child, but they could no more have left her to her fate than they could have murdered her. It was an outraged Angus who had resequenced Elena’s tissue and skin growth mechanisms to reject the obscenity that was the dehumanising identity number tattooed on her arm. Tattoo and skin blemish removal would later prove to be a lucrative and powerful part of The Towers Health and Beauty Spa’s business. Angus had provided Elena with documentation that evidenced her as his daughter born to a Swedish wife who had died from cancer shortly after giving birth in war torn Serbia where there were no records to be found, and he then ensured what little evidence existed of her largely unknown origins was destroyed.
Angus’ original plan had been to resequence himself as a young teenage girl, but adopting Elena had afforded an opportunity to recompense her for the torment she had been subject to. It had required a major revision of his plan, and made the processes he then desired much more complex. Angus had undone all the physical damage Elena had suffered due to malnutrition and physical brutality easily enough, and in the process had given her the genetics that would enable her to become Elska. However, despite the love Viivishkava and he unstintingly gave her, the emotional damage Elena had suffered was a more difficult matter. It had to be resolved before she could become Elska, for Elska would need to be emotionally stable and psychologically strong to be able to cope with her astounding abilities. Even using his more unusual skills, it took a long time and Elena would be nearly fourteen before she took possession of herself as resequenced and repsyched eleven year old Älska, Älska who as Elska was to become Douglas in Angus’ alter ego. Elska who ultimately would have Douglas in Agnes as her alter ego.
One of Angus’ particular interests lay in digital systems, so it was no problem for him to later return to the UK as a married man with a new identity, the documentation for which had all been automatically issued by the UK authorities via their various computerised systems never having passed under the eyes of a single human being. Viivishkava had returned to the UK with Angus and his daughter, complete with a genuine wedding certificate to facilitate matters, and as a naturalised UK citizen. Her passport shewed her to be twenty-five, but she looked no more than eighteen, and thanks to her husband’s skills she would never age. Legally his wife, she managed his household and their relationship was one of close family, but she still did not share his bed on a permanent basis. Years ago he’d told her he was not particularly interested in women, which had surprised her because she knew he was not interested in men. His lack of interest in women was a source of regret to her because she would gladly have shared his bed every night ever since that cold night so long ago when like a saint Douglas had rescued her from freezing to death, the night she’d fallen in love with her. Angus had imaged the minds of many seeking the skills, knowledge and attitudes that would not only enable Viivishkava to support the character of a Russian aristocrat, but amongst other things be a connoisseur of jewellery, a virtuoso musician and a skilled artisan in the realms of haute couture and cordon bleu cooking. Angus became a recluse, and used his considerable talents to increase his already vast fortune via the internet, all hidden from the eyes of officialdom, especially the taxation authorities, in a variety of names, all different from the one he was using at the time, and all safely overseas. He kept track of his earnings and scrupulously but anonymously donated the tax he should have paid to a variety of men’s rights organisations, none of which were in the UK.
Angus knew everything about Elska including her girlish tastes, so he’d bought a twelve thousand acre estate with a huge three hundred and fifty-five year old property on it called The Towers which was complemented by a magnificent ball room, built at a slightly later date, and an extensive stable block that though co-temporal with the house had been subsequently upgraded internally. The Towers was relatively isolated set in an agricultural part of Cumbria near the village of Millersthwaite. He’d had all completely refurbished and tastefully brought up to date with a large part of the house fitted and furnished ready for The Towers Health and Beauty Spa and its associated laboratories that Elska was going to operate after she left school.
His laboratory equipment had taken a month to move and he took the opportunity to upgrade and improve much of it before its installation. Its ability to map and correlate genetic sequences with high resolution photographic images and other digital data was not only vastly enhanced, but, with Angus’ latest researches into the work of others as well as his own, it could learn and grow in sophistication as new information became available. All it contained was instantly available to Angus via his bio-link which too was constantly learning to enhance itself. He’d also had the estate roads upgraded wide enough to serve as runways for light aircraft, and a vast warehouse complex built in the same stone and style as the house ready for the factories of his electronics technicians, and the workshops and hidden underground armouries and arsenals his security team would require. The warehouse had a reinforced concrete and steel girder frame built on concrete piles designed for security, but its shell was built to look just like the big house from the outside. Only when it had been duly signed off as finished by the building inspectorate were the underground works commenced which caused no problems as the building had been designed to be built thus, and the piles provided the framework of the underground space, which only required the gaps between the piles to be filled with masonry.
The top soil on the field next to the warehouse was pushed to one side prior to construction of the steel reinforced concrete garages which were to house the company’s vehicles, and the vast amount of subsoil from the warehouse excavations was used to cover the garages. The topsoil was reinstated over the now invisible garages and a meadow grass and wild flower seed mixture was sown. The entire operation was complete in a matter of weeks and the gentle knoll looked entirely natural. By the time Benjamin, a sixtyish year old gardener and bee keeper of no qualifications but vast experience, had planted the field with bee friendly fragrant plants, shrubs and trees, supervised the creation of the water features and created the winding pathways and bridges over the new streams that flowed as a result of the artificial springs incorporated into the tree topped knoll over the garages the entire one hundred and twenty-two acre field complete with trompe l’oeil, pavilions and dozens of places to just sit looked like a garden that had been laid out when the house was built.
The largely tumbled down estate wall had been completely dug out and rebuilt on new steel piled concrete foundations to a much more secure standard using all the original stone blended with a huge amount of matching stone, mostly demolition salvage from local buildings but some newly quarried from the quarry that had supplied the stone for the house, buildings and wall originally. The quarry was nearby and well within the estate perimeter. The newly built walls looked three hundred years old and incorporated a protective allure with a step next to the wall all the way round the estate which was also a feature of the massive gates. One could walk round the entire estate perimeter never having to leave the protection the wall afforded. One could climb the step to shoot or under safer conditions walk along it which enabled better visibility.
The planning permission was genuine, no bribery had been involved, but it was perhaps fortunate Angus’ investigations had discovered the mistresses, lovers, perversions, misuses of public moneys and various other illegal activities of some of the planners and councillors. He’d expected to find exactly what he had found, but had been surprised that five of the eight most culpable offenders had been women. To finance it all without delving into the family’s capital he’d had to spend several weeks on the internet manipulating stocks and shares taking advantage of the illegal dealings others supposed to be secret, and finally he’d filled Elska’s rooms with all the clothes and things the lack of which had hurt Douglas so badly as a child.
Djuvec was the resequencing of a homeless man Douglas had met in Prague when she was nine. Accidentally separated from her parents she’d become lost and frightened and Djuvec had calmed her and ensured her safe return to her parents. In the space of fifteen minutes Douglas had come to respect and love Djuvec for his objectivity and humanity and she had wished he were her father and that she could had stayed with him on the streets. Years later Djuvec had been dying from tuberculosis exacerbated by starvation and the thin edge of hyperthermia when Angus finally tracked him down and restored him to health. It had been a close call. Djuvec, who surprisingly had instantly recognised Angus as Douglas from all those years before, had been delighted to be resequenced with all the abilities and characteristics required to become Elena’s ancestor. He looked a venerable age but his body at the sub-cellular and cellular levels was that of a man in his prime and he knew it would remain so indefinitely.
Angus had known exactly what skills and knowledge he had wanted for his alter ego’s future husband, and he had trawled the internet, hacking into the networks of organisations who regarded their security as absolute and uncompromisable, for the men whose minds he wished images of. He sought master criminals, special forces men, intelligence operatives, black ops strategists, gifted assassins and masters of dirty techniques forbidden by the Geneva convention and abhorred by all decent members of society. Such men were relatively commonplace and after imaging thousands of their minds all he had to do was delete all the aspects of their personalities in their images he didn’t want and combine what remained with high intelligence and the even more readily available highly thought of desirable abilities and traits he’d imaged at the same time. That was the easy part. Then he had to find the man he wanted to give those concatenated image attributes to. He’d searched for a long time before he heard of a whisper circulating amongst fishermen in Haverfordwest of a severely disabled man with the courage of a hero who had killed four would be assassins in France and been willing to die to save one of their own. It had not been easy, but he’d succeeded where all others had failed in tracking the whisper to its source: a Cornish fishing boat skipper and smuggler called Denis who sailed out of Looe. After imaging Denis’ mind he knew he had found his man: Thorkill.
Thorkill was an intelligent and perceptive man, but as a result of his congenitally twisted limbs and contorted skeleton he’d been confined to a wheelchair and been even more of a social pariah than Douglas. Excluded from society since birth, his rebirth with a God like body that would never age and a skill set no other had ever had but a part of had given him a sense of obligation to Angus that was almost limitless, yet they became good friends. Thorkill was the head of security for everything connected with The Towers and Angus had explained where their future lay and told him he would require a private army of about two hundred of the best the world could provide. Money was no object. He explained, “If we need more money, I’ll spend a few days on the internet and take some off the real international thieves: oil sheiks, governments, bankers and financial dealers and manipulators. After all they can afford it, and I’ll take it from where they won’t miss it and even if they do they won’t dare report it stolen.” He’d added, “Thorkill, we’re going to need some dangerously skilled women too to protect Elena with no whisper of scandal, and if we end up with a force of two or even three times two hundred that’s fine. Their salaries are a matter of no import and if they’re that good we need them, and perhaps more importantly we don’t want them to work for anyone else. No matter how many we have just keep looking and recruiting.”
Thorkill had chosen his team carefully. All bar two of the nearly two hundred highly paid mercenaries, mercs in their vernacular, were men, and they were all acknowledged experts at some auxiliary skill he wanted Elena to learn. He’d wanted more women because Angus said so, but men with the right skills, background and ethics were rare, women were almost none existent, and he’d recruited both of them. Those skills ranged from piloting anything that could fly to cordon bleu cooking, from calligraphy to survival skills, from navigating and sailing anything from a canoe, an oil tanker or even an aircraft carrier to hawking, from the hacking of totally secure systems to exquisite taste in haute couture, from horse riding and driving to dancing, from burglary to playing bridge, poker, mahjong, go or chess, from driving anything with tracks or wheels to interpreting the body language and the nuanced inflexions of the speech of others as well as many more. All the team were multi skilled and multi lingual, but their most important attributes were they were all intelligent professional killers of impeccable moral integrity with military or security backgrounds, many in both, they all loved children and had an unshakeable belief that old fashioned extended families were the only way that decent folk could survive and rear children properly in the madness of the world they lived in.
Thorkill had combed the world for them and it had not been easy, but eventually he had managed to recruit everyone he had wanted though he continued looking. Many were family men with daughters, but not all. Some had sisters, but not all, but all were hard, tough, ruthless and caring individuals. Thorkill considered the phrase ‘Tough Love’ had been coined with them in mind. Many were ex mercs, but some were ex regulars from the armed forces of nations all over the world, some were ex prisoners from civilian and military gaols, again all over the world, and some of them had been sprung from their high security incarcerations by political horse trading or judicious application of bribes, and where that had not been possible by the skills of their colleagues and Angus. Material from Angus’ sequencer, smuggled in with instructions and they became a handicapped child that had to be placed with appropriate authorities which did not include prison guards. Whilst the prison authorities investigated how a prisoner had escaped and a child, who obviously had no understanding of what had happened, had been smuggled in and why, the much more accessible child had been ‘kidnapped’, to subsequently assume whatever identity she wished. Where required they had been given new bodies and identities by Angus.
All had had their genetics checked and their life time health sequenced along with a few other characteristics of their choice. All regarded themselves as family and Angus, Djuvec, Viivishkava, Thorkill and Elena as members of that family. They were the most effective and highly paid private army in the world, and at any time a proportion of them were somewhere else keeping their skills up to date and learning new ones. Any who wished could live with their families at The Towers, eventually all chose to. They were all, irrespective of where they lived, regarded as close family especially by Elena who played with their children. They were a tightly knit group, effectively an old fashioned clan whose wealth derived from Douglas’ skills via Angus, with all supporting that and contributing to it. In becoming what they all referred to as the Towering Security team they had found what they had all been looking for, many without realising it, a completely reliable and caring extended family. They were just waiting for Elena to mature and for Elska to pick up the reins completely.
Angus had recruited Thorkill’s third woman for the team: Clive. Clive was a retired forty-eight year old RAF ex fighter pilot on the run from the authorities for a hit and run in which a child had died. There was some doubt concerning Clive’s guilt and he’d claimed he’d not been the driver of the car which was known to be a hire car not hired out to anyone at the time of the accident. His problem was he had hired the vehicle for a week whilst his own was being repaired, but the rental company had not collected it from his property at the time of the accident, and no one could be found to substantiate his alibi that he had been climbing Cemetery Gates at Llanberis Pass at the time in question. He was known to be a talented rock climber, but that he had climbed Cemetery Gates solo in poor weather was disbelieved because of the level of skill and recklessness that would have required. It was believed he had said Cemetery Gates because easier, less exposed climbs would have had other climbers on them. The media had dug deeply into Clive’s record once it had been discovered virtually by chance that he’d been a cross dresser since childhood. It had been the resulting guilty verdict in the trial by media that had caused Clive to snap and go on the run.
Having absorbed the media and intrigued by the possibilities Angus had asked Thorkill to track Clive down as a matter of urgency before the authorities found him. The authorities were focussing their efforts on places frequented by cross dressers and the gay community, whereas Thorkill had his agents searching locations where a successful cross dresser who could easily pass as a woman and was possibly trans would be likely to be found. They’d found Claire, as she was now known, working in a beauty salon in the West End and had persuaded her to come to The Towers to talk to Angus. They’d explained sufficient about The Towers to convince Claire she would be safe there whilst she planned ahead, and that had to be better than a life on the run. Angus had poured soothers into Claire’s stressed mind and she unburdened herself in a way she’d never been able to before. She’d explained she’d not been anywhere near the accident, but could not prove it without betraying her ex lover: a married woman who lived near Llanberis. Most tellingly she’d explained, “I only went into the forces to try to hide what I am, and that was why I took a lover every now and again: camouflage, but I can count the number of times I’ve had sex on the fingers of both hands. I always felt dirty afterwards. I’m not gay, but always wanted to be loved by a man. I don’t understand it, but that’s how I am. Could I really work and live here and be safe?”
It took a long time for Angus to not just explain her transsexuality to Claire but to convince her to accept herself and stop hating herself for what was beyond her control. “We all have a right to be and love ourselves, Claire.”
Eventually Claire, after considerable repsyching, was ready to accept what Angus could do for her and twenty-two year old Iwona was born complete with documentation to support her identity. Iwona the woman had replaced Claire the transwoman. Claire had worked in beauty salons because it was the only skill she had that enabled her to eat with out risking gaol, but Iwona was a most welcome addition to Gustav’s staff of pilots and aviation engineers.
Eventually Angus explained to Viivishkava, Djuvec and Thorkill the entire situation. Viivishkava finally understood his lack of interest in her, and she’d been happy at the idea of looking after him as a daughter in the future, but said now she knew there was no chance of persuading him to take her as his woman she needed men to give her the family she wanted. Angus smiled and said when they had recruited all the personnel they required there would be lots of men to choose from and pointed out that she’d always been free to come and go as she pleased, and her favours were hers bestow and enjoy as she chose. He’d said he would arrange a divorce and after all she may find a man when shopping, for Tesco had a very wide range of goods these days. Viivishkava had told him he wasn’t funny and she didn’t want a divorce. All she wanted was children and that meant a man from time to time, not necessarily the same man. She was she said his, he had saved her, so she was his and that meant his responsibility. Angus had asked what did she mean by responsibility, and she said it meant she ought to be allowed to share his bed till she was pregnant or till he became his daughter and she his widow. Angus seeing how much it meant to her agreed.
Djuvec loved being Elena’s grandfather and couldn’t see why anything should change just because she became cleverer as Elska. Elena adored Thorkill and he agreed with Djuvec. Whilst the construction companies, decorators and furnishers completed their work at The Towers, Angus, Viivishkava, Djuvec and Thorkill drew up their plans and set about acquiring the remaining required equipment and personnel. It was only when he’d realised that most was in place and he could finally create the new truth of himself as Elska when the little that remained to be done was ready that Angus had finally started to enjoy life.
Angus had agonised over whether to delete, suppress, or leave Elena’s earlier memories intact when she became Elska. Thorkill and Djuvec had had no opinions on the matter, but Viivishkava had insisted, “Delete them all, Angus. There is too much horror and too little joy there. Give her a new beginning, so at school she will never have to be careful about what she says for her own safety. If she has no knowledge of any of it there is no risk to her or any of the rest of us, and she will need us. As our community grows we shall have to be increasingly aware of security, mostly concerning our past lives. Let us not make life any more difficult for Thorkill, Djuvec or anyone else unnecessarily. Delete everything that occurred before moving to The Towers, and do her and yourself the favour of becoming a girl with no unpleasant past. She’s made amazing progress recently. It’s been six months since her last nightmare, and you are now in the position where you can make sure she never has another. Be kind to both of you. I will tell her she was so ill her memory was affected and remind her of her previous childhood. And whether what I remind her of is true or not you can repsyche it as real memory whilst she sleeps.” Angus had agreed, and eventually all was ready by Easter that year and on the first of April Angus and Elena became eleven year old Elska. Angus was eventually officially certified dead after the light aircraft he was supposedly travelling in exploded half way across the Atlantic. He’d been the only passenger on the charter flight and of Angus and the aircraft no trace had been found.
For Thorkill after Elska’s first breath life became difficult. Elena had adored him and he had treated her as a much loved niece, but Elska, though at first glance identical to what Elena had looked like three years earlier, was subtly different from Elena, and he had fallen in love with her within minutes. Knowing his love wasn’t appropriate and could never be requited he was mortified by what he considered to be a perversion he had not been aware he had. In fact when his physical form had been resequenced his falling in love with Elska had been programmed into his psyche too by the same auxiliary processes Douglas had used when creating Angus: repsyching. repsyching was an umbrella term for several of Douglas’ and Angus’ complementary fields of study, some of which some would regard as belonging to the occult. Thorkill did not have an inappropriate desire for little girls, he had a natural and entirely appropriate, very real love for one little girl. When Djuvec had initially raised the matter, Thorkill had been terrified, not of losing his job nor even of being gaoled, but of being separated from Elska. Djuvec’s explanations had laid that fear to rest, but others remained. That in just a few days Thorkill had become the devoted focus of Elska’s love, with her grandfather’s and stepmother’s approval, had been a wonder to him, and when Djuvec had discussed the matter all he’d said was, “Just protect and love her, Thorkill, that’s all Viivishkava and I want, and all she needs. I know she’s over young for you, but the age gap will narrow with time. I know she will never stop loving you and one day she’ll tell you why.”
In front of Djuvec and Viivishkava, Elska had told Thorkill she loved him and she promised to marry him as soon as she was sixteen. Thorkill had kissed her hand and said, “I love you too, Elska. I do hope you keep that promise, and when you’re sufficiently grown up I’ll ask you to marry me, and if you say yes I’ll take you to buy an engagement ring, but even if all goes well it’s going to seem like a long time to me till we get married.”
Unfortunately Viivishkava had not become pregnant by Angus and after his death she had numerous liaisons with carefully selected men none of whom she became pregnant by. She longed for children, but her religious scruples forbad her to allow Elska to enhance her fertility, so she lavished her love on Elska and eventually moved into Djuvec’s bed when he was a hundred and three going on thirty.
Elska had a strange relationship with Douglas. She never thought of Douglas, or referred to her as Douglas and she but as Angus and he. On her first day as Elska, on Angus’ advice, she had used a self repsyching technique to ensure she replaced Douglas from her birth with Angus and his life as a safety precaution to protect not just Douglas but herself, Viivishkava, Djuvec and Thorkill too. She knew everything Angus had known, and sometimes she was Angus, thinking as and occasionally behaving as him, but most of the time Angus was a consciousness happy in the deep recesses of Elska’s pre-teenage female mind as they thought and behaved as her girlish self. That Angus was aware of Douglas Elska knew and regarded it as sensible for that way nothing was lost, but she couldn’t make dangerous mistakes. Female Elska containing male Angus containing female Douglas didn’t cause her any problems because for her it was normality and she couldn’t imagine herself being other than the way she was. She enjoyed the guidance and experience Angus gave her and the insight it gave her in to the male psyche she considered to be invaluable in her dealings with boys and men too.
Angus had enrolled Elska at Ferngate High, a large state secondary school [US equivalent is a public school] of good reputation twenty-eight miles from The Towers. She would be eleven and a half when she joined the school as a year seven at the beginning of September, which gave her enough time to learn all she needed to know from the children of the The Towers employees, many of whom lived with their families at The Towers, to fit into the society of her school peers. Djuvec had chosen Ferngate because none of the other children who lived at The Towers went there, they all went to Lakevale High, a school which was only six miles away, which he thought would make life simpler for Elska. Like all state schools Ferngate High wasn’t of any academic value by the standards of Angus and Elska, but since Elska wouldn’t need any teaching that didn’t matter. She would be attending for the purpose of growing up as a teenager in the presence of her peers and giving Douglas and Angus the chance to grow into and be herself: Elska. Angus had considered Elska going to a public school [in the UK that is a very expensive, exclusive private school] but had dismissed the idea. Even as a day girl, it would be too restrictive, too demanding of her time and of no social benefit. Elska knew whom she was going to marry and would have no lack of society acquaintance. Her wealth would give her the freedom to pursue whatever outside school activities she chose and she wouldn’t be bothered if that made her a pariah at school. Angus doubted that would happen, but if it did what was new? There were other schools.
Elska had had numerous resequencing and repsyching tasks awaiting her as soon as she had awakened as herself. Her highest priority had been to protect Iwona who as Conner was the pilot of the hired æroplane that Angus had supposedly died in. At Iwona’s suggestion, Angus had resequenced her as Conner and provided all the documentation that entitled her temporary male incarnation to fly a light aircraft. Iwona had arranged the explosion such that not only would any investigation reveal it was caused by a faulty engine fuel delivery part, but Conner would be unhurt and have time to bale out into the sea in an area where he was certain to be found quickly. After being hoisted from the sea by an air sea rescue helicopter, he’d spent less than twenty-fours hours in hospital, and on leaving, as previously planned, he’d made sure he was overheard ordering a taxi to take him to The Towers for a job interview where he’d remained in his room in the infirmary till Elska was ready. Elska merely had to resequence him as eighteen year old Iwona from her data in the sequencer.
A week later two plain clothes police offers had called at The Towers seeking information concerning Conner Wetheral’s whereabouts to be told by Djuvec, “Before we start I should inform you that you have been video recorded since you passed the gates and will be till you pass them on your way out. I also wish to see your warrant cards.”
The two produced their warrant cards and the man said, “We’d prefer you turned the cameras off.”
“I’m sure you would, but I’m not going to. Either you accept that or I shall have you escorted off the premises. You have not started well have you? Well?”
The two looked at each other and the woman said, “Okay, it was a request not an order.”
“I know because you do not have the authority to make such an order on private property. Now how can I help you?”
“We need whatever information you have concerning Conner Wetheral.”
“He came to offer his condolences and apologies concerning the death of my granddaughter’s father. The date and time of his appointment will have been manually added to my auto diary.”
“Don’t you mean your son in law?”
“No I don’t, but I don’t see that the details of my family are relevant. In answer to his query, I told him we had vacancies for pilots, but we soon agreed neither he nor the job were suitable for each other. Pity really, from what he said he was highly competent and would have fitted in well here, but he didn’t wish to live close enough to the job, and before you ask I have no idea where he went and he gave no indication of where he was either going or where he was going to try for a job next. I don’t even know if he was currently in employment.” Just then there was a knock on the door. Djuvec said, “Enter.”
A young woman came in, handed him a file, said, “Sorry for the interruption, Sir,” and whispered in his ear before leaving.
“Thank you, Iwona,” Djuvec said smiling. He opened the file and gave it a few seconds attention before saying, “Sorry about that. Something I need to know about.”
“Did you make any notes at the time, for if so we would like to see them.”
“No. I never even had sight of his CV, for we never got that far. He’d seen a newspaper ad, but his appointment was just that rather than an interview which would have been timetabled by the automatic diary facility. He couldn’t have been here more than ten minutes.”
“That seems to be a strange and haphazard way for a company of this size to go about recruiting, if you don’t mind me saying so.”
“You may say what you like, but I suspect you know as little concerning the way any company recruits as I do about police work, and we are not just any company. We have our own methods and believe to recruit the best individuals unusual methods are required. We are happy to allow them to approach us in their own way and to conduct the interview along any line they choose. After all, they’ll tell us all we wish to know eventually, and if allowing them to tell us in the order they choose makes them comfortable we’ll probably be told more in the long run than a formal so called interview procedure would supply. We derive a lot of information from our psychiatric staff who scrutinise the CCTV footage of the interview. We can certainly tell when we are being lied to. As you are probably aware, we are constantly recruiting via the press and social media, and we use any number of other even more unlikely sounding mechanisms.”
“I see. I would like to see the footage you recorded.”
“I’m afraid that is not possible as it has been destroyed. We only keep records for as long as we are entitled to under the data protection act which states data may not be kept for longer than necessary. Company policy is to immediately destroy all records connected with anyone who for whatever reason has not accepted a job with us, usually within minutes of us knowing they are not going to be an employee.”
“That seems oddly precipitate.”
Djuvec voice went cold as he said, “One could say almost as odd as a police officer questioning us as to why we comply with the law.”
The officer didn’t respond to Djuvec’s remark but asked, “How did he leave The Towers?”
“He was going to order a taxi, but I asked my head of security to drop him off at Carlisle railway station.”
“We’d like to speak to your head of security please.”
Djuvec laught and said, “I wish you joy. Thorkill is the most silent man I have ever met. Other than to my granddaughter, he doesn’t talk unless it’s to ask a question or to tell you something. Either way it’ll only be something he considers important. But I’ll ask him to have a word with you.”
Thorkill arrived and was asked by the female officer, “When you drove Mr. Wetheral to the station what did you talk about?”
“Nothing.”
“You must have said something to each other.”
“Why?”
“It’s a long way to be silent for.”
“Most people talk too much and usually they have nothing to say. He didn’t work for us, so I had nothing to say to him, and he had nothing to say to me. I drove him to the station, he got out of the car, politely said, ‘Thank you,’ and left going into the station building. I dropped him off at the alighting point on the road in front of the station building rather than parking. There were several vehicles behind me, so I pulled off quickly and returned here. That’s it. May I go now?”
“Yes.” Thorkill left with a speaking look at Djuvec. The inspector asked, “What was the look for?”
“Thorkill doesn’t like having to deal with strangers, and probably resented me telling you he drove Wetheral to the station. Don’t worry about it. It’s how he is. He doesn’t dislike you any more than he dislikes any other stranger.”
“What exactly does he do as your head of security?”
“This is the point, inspector where I politely tell you to mind your own business. Unless anything is germane to your enquiries all information concerning our business is just that. Our business. And that I believe concludes our discussion.”
The inspector bristled and said, “I can make it my business.”
Djuvec smiled and said, “I’m sure you can. The chief constable and her husband are dining with us next week and I’m sure she’ll be delighted to view the footage of this interview including your thinly veiled threats. I’m also certain she’ll be interested in the contents of this file which you saw delivered to me. It is a synopsis of dossiers on both of you. No doubt she’ll like to know why two police officers specifically attached to a unit that investigates major drugs importers came here with false identities as ordinary CID officers concerning a missing pilot, so unless you have any further questions I’ll ring for some of Thorkill’s team to escort you off the premises. And don’t bother trying to get hold of the CCTV footage. I am entitled to have my property so protected, and there is a constant uplink that instantly transfers copies to any number of the company’s servers all over the world which will dump the contents onto the media’s connections without a regular instruction not to so do. Should anything unfortunate happen to me to prevent that, for example being taken into custody for further questioning, you’ll be a pair of internet superstars in a microsecond at most and possibly have no career, though that of course would be up to your superiors when they determined the degree of embarrassment you had caused the force. Bringing the force into disrepute is I believe not well thought of. But all this is a little ridiculous considering it is all about a man I met for no more than ten minutes and know next to nothing about.”
“Are you threatening me?”
“No. I’m merely making you aware of the limits of your authority and of your personal limitations too. I invited you into this house as a matter of courtesy, however as a result of your attitude and lack of courtesy I suggest you don’t come back without a warrant, for you will not be allowed on to the premises without one. Good day.” Djuvec picked up a phone and said, “The police officers are leaving now. Please escort them from the premises all the way to the front gates please, and make sure they are the other side of them when they shut.”
Seconds later two of the largest men either of the police officers had ever seen arrived, and one said in a voice totally devoid of expression, “This way, please.”
The two officers left, but the chief constable determined later they’d been there without official sanction and they had considered without any evidence whatsoever that a company that ran its own aircraft had to be drug smuggling. They actually had no interest in Conner Wetheral. As she put it, “They weren’t very good as detectives and are probably better employed directing traffic. I’ll see to it.”
Elska’s second client was Geneviève, a woman in her late twenties who headed the finance, economics and accountancy department which also included the in house bank. Geneviève had total alopecia and had worn a wig, painted her eyebrows on and used false eyelashes since the age of eight. Puberty had not given her any pubic, underarm or body hair. At the age of eighteen she’d had her eyebrows tattooed. After resequencing her growing hair, eyebrows and eyelashes had been noticeable within hours, though she would still never grow any pubic, underarm or body hair. Geneviève was a substantially built woman with large breasts and hips and a generously proportioned backside. At five feet eleven inches tall in her stockinged feet, she was a walking embodiment of femininity, and whilst she had no desire to become a less generously proportioned woman she’d been grateful to the point of tears when Elska had asked casually, “I can remove the tattoos from your eyebrows and all the stretch marks too if you like?”
Geneviève had never been pregnant, and she explained through her tears, “When I hit puberty I grew so quickly that it seemed the stretch marks almost doubled in size and number overnight, every night for twelve months. They appeared on my breasts, belly, thighs and bottom. I was covered in them. I dreaded going to sleep because of what I would discover in the morning. Every boy and man I ever had even a tenuous relationship with made fun of me because of them. After a while I stopped trying with men. That’s why I’m still single.”
More than a dozen men who needed to disappear from the eyes of the authorities or their ex wives had been next and they had required the paperwork to evidence a new identity too, all of which had been straight forward. A number of the initial repsyching tasks involved the resolutions of phobias and freeing from dependence mostly to alcohol or tobacco incurred as a result of abuse, mostly abuse from the so called competent authorities, as government appointed or sanctioned organisations were referred to. A number of staff had needed their self esteem rebuilding after abusive relationships. Most were men hurt by problems of marital origins, but there were few due to the actions of workplace bullies who were mostly women. The small number of cases due to parents who had not enabled their children to thrive were men and women in equal numbers.
What was considered by those in the know to be Elska’s first challenging resequencing was of Greg, though she had considered it to be less problematic than many of the others she had already performed. Greg had taken a job with The Towers in charge of public relations and his first task had been to set up a group of four led by himself to handle the company’s interactions with the media. The group would eventually expand to handle marketing and general promotion of The Towers. It was a saddened Greg who after a couple of months told Djuvec, “I don’t want to leave The Towers, but my ex wife has caught up with me, and I don’t have any choice. Every penny I earn she’ll have the courts order you to pay to her. I’m sorry, Djuvec, The Towers has been good to me, and I was looking forward to finishing the new multimedia suite and television studio, but I have to be able to live, so I need to leave the UK. South America somewhere seems a good destination as most countries there have no extradition or legal agreements with the EU.”
“We will not willingly let you go, Greg. You are superb at what you do, and you’ve done far more for The Towers than your job description requires or indeed than than you agreed to. If you check this month’s salary you will notice you have been given a substantial rise, your standard salary has been doubled and there are bonuses on top of that. We want you and no one else to finish the publicity and marketing suite. Regarding your ex wife we can help. Let’s go and talk to Elska. I’m not going to say any more till you meet her, and I’ll be honest why. If you don’t take us up on our offer Elska can ensure you don’t remember anything she has said.”
Greg and Djuvec talked for ten minutes about his ex wife, and when a puzzled Greg sat down in Elska’s office, she was blunt and business like. “Forget my age, Greg. It will be a shock to you, but I not only own The Towers I run it, not Granddad. Contrary to what most believe, our core business is biogenetic engineering and not electronics. I can give you a new appearance. You’ll look nothing like you do now and I can arrange a complete set of new identity documents to go with your new self. They won’t be convincing forgeries, they will be originals issued by DVLA, the Passport Office, the Family Records Centre, and wherever else is appropriate, and the matching entries in their data bases and back ups will have been present for the appropriate lengths of time. Granddad tells me he doesn’t want to let you go, you say you don’t want to leave, and I am able to make your leaving unnecessary. Do you want time to think about it? Because if you do you may not leave knowing what I have just told you. No one will stop you leaving the estate, but if you do the information you have just been told will delete itself from your memory as you go through the gates. If you require time to think about it we’ll give you that, and if you wish I can find someone to give you escort around The Towers and answer any questions you have till you return to speak to me. Since the moment you leave here all memory of anything we do not wish repeated will self erase your escort will answer all your questions truthfully to the best of his or her ability.”
Greg looked at Djuvec with an incredulous look on his face. “Elska is telling you the truth, Greg. She is the brains behind The Towers, and she can do what she has said. She already has with over a dozen employees, because we only employ the best and then, as I explained, we want to keep them. Many had similar problems to yours, but some needed to evade the police or the courts as well. As long as your loyalty to us, which means to your colleagues and peers, is beyond doubt we don’t care what is in your history. If you’re one of us, you’re one of us, and nothing else is relevant, so we’ll do what ever is necessary to protect you. I’ll not tell you how Elska changes your body because you wouldn’t understand, and anyway I can’t because I don’t understand how it works either, but it involves changing your DNA by techniques developed by Elska and secret to her. Her ability to manipulate memory and personality is completely beyond me, though she has tried to explain it to me several times. As to the documents, that’s easy to understand, for they are not issued by persons but by computers, and all electronic digital systems can be infiltrated. We on the other hand use biogenetic computer systems which are unassailable. Do you wish more time? Or do you wish to take Elska up on her offer?”
“I’d like to take you up on your offer, Elska, but is it safe? Does it mean I’ll be free of my past completely with no chance of my ex wife taking me for anything else?”
“It’s absolutely safe. Greg will just disappear, and your ex wife can apply for you to be presumed dead in seven years. Of course since she left you with nothing you won’t care, and a High Court declaration of presumed death is rather expensive, currently about six hundred pounds I believe. You, however, will be someone else with no connection to Greg, even your DNA will be completely different from Greg’s. You’ll be free to marry again, or not as it suits you. As Granddad told you, we look after our own. Greg’s history will become just that: history, and as far as you will be concerned someone else’s history. All we are concerned with is your loyalty to us, and we buy that with ours to you. I suggest you don’t close your bank accounts, but allow Geneviève’s finance folk to empty them and max out both them and your credit cards. They can do it so the money leaves no trace as to where it’s gone. Your ex wife will end up footing the bill out of what she has already taken you for, or the banks will have to write it off, either way I don’t suppose you will be bothered, will you? The finance folk will deposit it all in your new name as soon as I give them the details to set up your new account.”
Djuvec smiled and said, “It’s all for real, Greg. If you want to live somewhere else, we’ll provide a house or finance will buy you the house of your choice, but you are welcome to continue living here. If we max out your accounts for you you’re only taking your own money from your ex wife and the organisations that sold you out to her, and Elska has good reason to hate ex wives and banks. We don’t use a bank. We act as our own and many employees prefer to bank with us because we don’t find it necessary to part with information about folk who don’t exist, and the authorities can’t access our records. Many employees bank with us for the convenience of it and because we don’t make any charges to employees. The costs involved in administering employees’ accounts are covered by the charges paid by outside customers. They bank with us due to our much lower than typical charges, despite covering our internal costs. We can do that because we only accept outside customers of proven financial responsibility, so we have virtually no bad debts. You may decide to leave your money with us, it’s certainly more private, but it’s up to you.”
“You’ll buy me a house of my choice‽ Why?”
“The company is constantly seeking to increase its investment in local property. Residential, retail establishments, farms and land and industrial properties too. The best way to protect such investments is to have employees live in our houses. A number of shops and businesses are run by the spouses and families of employees. It’s a very satisfactory arrangement, our insurance costs are lower, our employees have the lifestyle they want and we have the properties to use as securities for our activities. Too, if some of the properties we own are chosen by employees wishful of living in them it gives our property portfolio a diversity that would be hard to achieve in any other way, and portfolio diversity is the key to long term investment success as Geneviève tells me regularly. I’m told she has a very unusual mind set for a head of finance of a company of our size. Be that as it may, she achieves remarkable results compared with all of her peers working for others.”
Elska smiled and continued, “But most employees choose to live here.”
“What do I have to do to bank with the company? How does it work?”
“Don’t worry about that yet, Greg. Let’s get you dealt with first, and then you can talk to Geneviève’s folk who in any case will be able to tell you far more than I. Come into my inner office and look at some computer images and see what you would like to look like. It’s okay, Granddad, I shall be safe.” Elska smiled at Greg as she said, “I can always tell, Greg, if anyone has thoughts dangerous to me or the company I can if necessary protect our interests by causing instant selective or total memory loss with or without physical paralysis. Would you please send us some tea, Granddad?”
“Earl Grey?”
“Camomile and raspberry please. Do you have any idea what you would like to look like, Greg?”
“No, I don’t think so.”
“Let me help. I’ll place a few sensors on you and shew you some pictures. The sensors will pick up your reactions and possibly tell us what you would prefer to look like. It doesn’t always work, but it may help.”
“Okay.” Greg followed Elska and looked at every image she had to offer and none made her instrumentation do more than just register he was there.
Elska looked like she was thinking deeply, in fact she was asking Angus for advice, and Greg was starting to feel nervous. “Greg, relax. Drink you tea. It’ll help. Is there something you are not telling me?”
Greg shook his head miserably. “I don’t think so. Am I not suitable to have my appearance changed? Am I going to have to leave after all?”
“Let me try something.” Elska entered a few characters on her keyboard and the faces changed. They were now women and her instrumentation was registering Greg’s interest. “You would prefer to be a woman, Greg. In fact the real you is a woman.” Elska stated rather than asked. “It’s not a problem, it actually makes me realise that I should have written the program to initially include male and female images for all and subsequently self select. I’ll modify it later, but for now we just have to run it through again but with images of women to find your preferred new you. You’ll have more choice as a woman because I asked it to exclude all male images anything like your current appearance. Did you not know about your female identity?”
Greg was bright red. “Yes and no. I wasn’t very successful at being a man. Given a choice I would have been born a girl, but it never occurred to me you could do that.”
“It’s nothing to be bothered by. I’m a blend of three persons and part of me is a sixty-six year old woman who was born a boy. Look at the images and we’ll go from there.”
Greg chose to be Florence, a six foot tall, slender blonde with cornflower blue eyes, and by the time she’d made that choice she’d already forgotten all of Elska’s and Djuvec’s previous remarks.
Geneviève and her staff handled the emptying of Greg’s bank accounts and the stripping of his credit cards, they’d even taken out some new ones in his name and then cleaned them out up to their credit limits too. At Florence’s request the moneys were deposited in her account in The Towers Bank.
A month later Florence enjoyed some serious shopping for clothes on the proceeds accompanied by some of her new women friends. Before long Florence was being courted by Frank, a five foot eight heavily built member of the security team who specialised in leaving booby traps behind as his comrades and he withdrew from territory they had often only taken in order for him to practice his speciality. Frank was near enough a local coming originally from Aspatria in Cumberland. He spoke English with a strong Cumbrian accent and fluent Japanese that sounded as if he’d been born and reared as a member of the Tokyo upper classes. Too, he was an internationally acknowledged expert on antique Japanese porcelain and he’d fallen for Florence on sight, and though Florence hadn’t experienced love at first sight it hadn’t been long before Frank had given up his cottage in Millersthwaite and Florence had moved out of her room to join him in their suite at The Towers.
All mail addressed to Greg at The Towers was returned to the senders with a note saying he had left work on the thirteenth of July and had never been seen again. The letter from Greg’s ex wife’s solicitor was returned by the legal department with the note and a letter which added that he owed the company money because he had not yet paid off his resettlement loan and the company would appreciate any information concerning his whereabouts in order to assist in recovering its losses. As intended the company never heard from his ex wife’s solicitor again.
It was a general cause for quiet celebration amongst the security team when Geneviève moved in with Antonio, a thirty-eight year old member of Thorkill’s team. They were a mismatched pair to look at. In four inch heels Geneviève was almost as tall as her man who was six foot five, but she was of twice his size since Antonio was skeletally thin, and seemed to consist of wire and whipcord tightly stretched over a tiny slender frame. Antonio was a specialist who had usually worked on his own without any support. He made his way into where he wished to operate without any infiltration support, concluded his work, which was assassination, without support and left without any exfiltration support. He’d never been detected, and was completely unknown to any of his client’s organisations. The price he’d paid for that was that he’d had to live a life in complete isolation because it had been too dangerous for him to ever associate with other mercs in case he’d been seen and his anonymity had been lost. He’d never truly been a full member of any particular merc outfit and had always been regarded as an independent contractor brought in as required. He was exceedingly good at his work, and it had made him a wealthy and well thought of yet lonely man.
On Thorkill’s instructions he’d been approached by Diego because Diego was one of the few who had worked alongside him in the past. The opportunity to live a reasonably normal life, and socialise with colleagues in the same line of business as himself that The Towers gave him had been one that he’d accepted as soon as he’d realised exactly what he was being offered. He’d was no ascetic, and had known women, many women, but when he hadn’t paid for their company, they were clearly expecting to be able to make their way from him as he was obviously not without money. It had taken him a few months to accept that The Towers was an unobserved and so safe environment for him. Life there was so good by comparison with his previous existence, and there was so much there for him to do that he enjoyed doing, that he’d told other members of the team that he’d no reason nor intent to ever leave the place, other than for reasons connected with work. In the past he’d never met a woman who he’d for a second considered having a long term relationship with. Then he met Geneviève.
That she was aware of the exact nature of Thorkill’s team surprised him. That she knew what he did for a living and was okay with that took his breath away. “My office handles the money, Antonio, and the contracts, all of the contracts. I personally deal with all of Thorkill’s contract work. Many of the security teams’ contracts are never negotiated other than indirectly, and they are never written down, especially yours which only exist in my head, though Elska has ways that enable backups in case anything ever happens to me. I have to have the total picture of what is going on and why. As to your job, I’m no girl guide, and I have no problem accepting that there are some folk who need to be dead, and someone has to do the job. Here at The Towers that person is you, and we are happy to have someone as talented as you to undertake the work because not having to hire in a contractor improves our security enormously, which as I’m sure you can appreciate makes Thorkill and Alexandre who has direct oversight of internal security much happier.”
“How do you ensure your negotiated terms are actually met when we are working on behalf of outsiders?”
“I make the client very aware that if every detail is not met someone will seek a face to face explanation as to exactly why not, and if the situation is not reconciled immediately that individual will have my permission to take on another job for free.” That was what did it for him. A woman who was not only the most desirable looking woman he had ever met, but who was as interested in him as he was in her, and on top of that a woman who was not only accepting of his trade, but regarded it as a necessary craft in a civilised world and had no qualms about getting her hands dirty in such matters too. He knew he’d made the right decision when she made it clear that she had no objections at all to his refusal to never be out of reach of at least some of the tools of his trade, not even in their bedroom. “It makes me feel safe,” was all she’d said when she discovered one of his knives under his pillow.
Thorkill’s relationship with Elska was much easier on and for Elska than him. Elska loved him, knew he was going to marry her and knew he loved her as desperately as she loved him. That both were going to have to wait till she was sixteen was also harder for him than her, for both had to rely on his self restraint, which since she didn’t want to made things even more difficult for Thorkill. Elska was occupied growing into herself and enjoyed her interactions with both her belovèd and his team.
Elska had always treated Thorkill as though they were married, and his team referred to her as ‘The Boss’ Girl’. They all knew he was a marked man, and considered it to be amusing that so tough and hard a man was putty in the hands of a little girl, almost as amusing as that they were too. Despite that, every one of them was prepared to be absolutely ruthless with her if her actions endangered herself. Her safety was paramount, and they had all seen the peremptory way Thorkill treated her to ensure her safety. They’d also noted her immediate submissive compliance with his orders, and demanded and enforced the same compliance with their orders too when her safety was at stake. She’d soon learnt there was no possible negotiation and no amount of batting her eyes at them would have any effect. If she didn’t comply immediately they just manhandled her to safety, and unrepentantly and insincerely apologised afterwards, knowing that Thorkill would back them to the hilt even if they had acted unnecessarily as long as they had erred on the side of caution. Elska knew they did it because they truly believed it to be the right thing to do to protect her, and that the bonus Thorkill insisted on paying them had nothing to do with how they behaved. They were dependable and decent and she respected them and liked them for it, even if she didn’t like their restriction of her behaviour. It irked her that to ensure the safety of all she had to be safe, but accepted it was unreasonable of her to jeopardise everyone else’s safety in order to gratify her own whims. As a result she did what she was told immediately.
Thorkill was prepared to kiss and cuddle Elska and allowed her to sit on his knee in private, but no more. He’d negotiated that as her price for good behaviour, for, though no sexually precocious Lolita, she was sexually aware beyond her years due to the adult presence of Angus in her mind. Fortunately for Thorkill she had no memory of Elena’s menarche and its subsequent effects and had never thought to ask Angus about her past as Elena since she was unaware of Elena’s existence.
Viivishkava’s creations of her past and Angus’ sleep repsyching had worked well. Thorkill had negotiated their agreement in the presence of Djuvec and Viivishkava, first to ensure it was acceptable with her family, though he’d considered himself as family with Elena he’d never been able to consider himself as family with Elska because that would have complicated his relationship with her too much for him to be comfortable with, and second to have Elska’s terms witnessed so she could not subsequently press him for a greater degree of intimacy without him being able to remind her of what she had promised. Elska understood Thorkill was walking a fine line between acknowledging their love to make her happy and being guilty of offences that carried heavy gaol sentences. She knew he was doing his best for her, but though the Angus in her was patient the dominant Elska was not. She was a girl not yet in her teens, and not above throwing temper tantrums and stamping her feet, though when necessary for her safety and to avoid her embarrassment Angus took over her mind, her emotions and her body in order to control her behaviour. Elska suffered from adult desires which she didn’t understand. Despite Elska’s female Douglas, Angus had only ever lived as a man, so didn’t understand Elska’s desires any more than she because they were the desires of a woman. Because neither Angus nor Elska could understand her desires they made her life miserable. Despite her age, Elska was convinced that making love would solve her problems, but she was in love with Thorkill and was desperate for him to take her. She had never for a second considered anyone else, and she knew there was no chance of seducing him till her sixteenth birthday which was forever away. Nay the less, her desires tormented her from time to time, so she tormented Thorkill from time to time which made him grateful for the foresight that had told him to have their agreement witnessed by Elska’s guardians.
The official story was that Elska had lived abroad and moved a lot as Angus her father had had a consultancy business which required frequent relocation to wherever his clients were based. She’d been delicate with poor health and had been home schooled by Djuvec and Viivishkava who, whilst neither had teaching qualifications, had clearly done an excellent job of educating Elska. It was only after her father’s death that the family had settled at The Towers which they had owned for from before Elska’s birth. Djuvec had explained they had settled there so as to provide Elska with a stable home in an environment she could manage whilst attending a school for socialisation purposes. The school had regarded Djuvec’s assessment of his granddaughter’s intellectual abilities as clearly the nonsense of an over indulgent grandfather. It had been less than two days before they had realised what he had told them of his granddaughter’s intellectual ability was a dramatic understatement.
Elska’s first upset at Ferngate had been with her form tutor, Ms. Williams, a plain, middle aged and overbearing woman who on being briefed on Elska’s background had decided before meeting her she was a rich, obnoxious and spoilt brat from a family that had oppressed the working classes for generations. Elska’s quietness irritated her, for it gave her little opportunity to administer put downs to a member of the old order, so she asked her more questions than any other pupil and made snide remarks concerning her background. Ms. Williams was extremely left wing in her views and resented the existence of the landed gentry and what she referred to as the moneyed classes. That Elska was pretty and she’d always been plain exacerbated her resentment and she took it all out on Elska. Her form left Elska feeling isolated and laught at her discomfort due to Ms. Williams pointed remarks. On Elska’s fourth morning at school she couldn’t force herself to go to registration. She was sitting down with wet cheeks in a quiet area outside the library and conversing with Angus about whom to tell what in order to make their life better. The only conclusion they had come to was that Elska had to change forms, and if that were not possible then change schools, or not bother with school at all. Peter Hargreaves was late, a not uncommon occurrence, and on his way in he saw Elska had been crying. He recognised her as a new pupil and sat down with her. “Are you lost?” he enquired.
“No. I don’t want to go to registration.”
“Who are you? and who is your form tutor?”
“I’m Elska Angusdottir and Ms Williams is my form tutor.”
Peter, like all the staff, had been at the head teacher’s briefing when Elska had been mentioned. He knew Gill Williams well and disliked her intensely. Intelligent, as a result he understood Elska’s tears and why she didn’t wish to go to registration.
“Well, we can’t just leave you here like this can we? I’m Mr. Hargreaves and I have a year seven form. Why don’t you come to my form room where I’ll register you as present and we’ll see what we can do about the situation?”
“Thank you.” Elska was made welcome in Peter’s form and wished she could be there permanently.
Angus said, “It would seem the form takes on the characteristics of the tutor rather quickly.”
Unknown to Elska, Peter looked up her home contact details on the school system and rang Djuvec at morning break. “Mr. Angus?”
“Not exactly, but I can speak for the person you are referring to. With whom am I speaking?”
“I’m Peter Hargreaves. I teach mathematics at Ferngate High and I’d like to speak to Elska Angusdottir’s grandfather or her stepmother please.”
“I’m her grandfather and my name is Djuvec, Peter. What has happened?”
“Elska is physically fine, but I found her very upset during registration earlier. I’m being very careful with my words here, and could be out on a limb which is why I’m ringing you on my mobile rather than using a school phone, but I truly only wish to help.”
“Peter, I’m a good judge of folk. I already suspect you are one of the good guys. You tell it as you wish, and I’ll listen hard for what you are carefully not saying. Okay?”
“Right, thank you. I’m grateful for your understanding. I was a little late for work this morning, and on my way in I found Elska outside the library and unwilling to go to registration. She’d been crying. I have a year seven form, and she willingly went with me to my form room where I registered her as present. She seemed happy there chatting with a group of my girls and boys, and asked if she could register with me after lunch. I agreed, but I can’t do that indefinitely without it being officially sanctioned. I don’t want to say any more, but you need to look into the situation.”
Djuvec said, “You don’t need to say any more. I’ll talk to Elska when she arrives home. Would you be willing to have her in your form were it possible?”
“Certainly, Mr. Djuvec. Ah … would you mind not mentioning this conversation to anyone?”
“Which conversation would that be? Thank you for looking after Elska. By the bye, Djuvec is my given name, Peter, not my surname. I look forward to meeting you at parents’ evening with Elska’s stepmother, Viivishkava, so we can thank you in person. Thank you yet again. Goodbye.”
“Goodbye, Djuvec.”
When Elska came home Djuvec talked to her about school. He didn’t mention Peter Hargreaves’ phone call, but managed to have Elska tell him the entire tale. “So, you would be happier in Mr. Hargreaves’ form would you?”
“Yes. The girls and boys in his form were nice, and they said he is really kind. Angus says we have to change forms, or schools, or not go to school at all. He says Ms. Williams and her form will never change, and he’s sure he can’t manage the situation for us for five years. He said we’d be fine in Mr. Hargreaves’ form, because he thought a new form soon took on the characteristics of the form tutor.”
“I see. You should have told me about Ms. Williams before, but never mind. You go straight to Mr. Hargreaves’ form room tomorrow, and tell him I’ll be ringing the head in the morning. You’ll either be in Mr. Hargreaves’ form or another school next week.”
That night Djuvec spent time investigating the backgrounds of all the year seven form tutors on Ferngate’s staff. Amongst other things he’d discovered Peter Hargreaves had a well thought of Ph.D., but had never used the title Doctor.
Initially placed in middle sets at Ferngate Elska had been recognised as the most able pupil in the top sets within two days. She was so clever all of the staff had heard of her, so when Djuvec rang David Whitman the headteacher at Ferngate and threatened to remove Elska from the school the head was willing to listen.
“I don’t care what the politics of your staff are, but when that means they start victimising my granddaughter you’d better rein them in, Mr. Whitman. Ms. Williams, of whom I have a long and detailed dossier in front of me including her activities which required police intervention and landed her in court to be found guilty of public disorder offences, is an extreme socialist who is taking out her resentment of my wealth on my granddaughter. But for Mr. Hargreaves finding her when she was so upset she couldn’t make herself go to registration I would have removed her from the school immediately. Elska liked him and said, unlike the children in Ms. Williams’ form, the children in his form were nice to her. I want her moved to his form. He’s bright, or so this report says, and he is clearly kind to and supportive of children. That in my book means he’s a good teacher and a decent human being, and without making too much of it he does not have a police record for violence.”
“Mr. Hargreaves already has twenty eight in his form which is the upper limit.”
“Fine. I’ll make arrangements with Lakevale who no doubt will be only too pleased to accept a pupil of Elska’s abilities. And just in case you think I’m possibly holding a pistol to your head I’ll relieve you of your doubts. I am. Where does Elska register next week? With Mr. Hargreaves or at Lakevale?”
Whitman was a bully and a sycophant, and he now realised placing Elska, who it was rumoured amongst the staff was probably the only aristocrat the school had ever taught, in Gill Williams’ form had been a serious mistake. He also considered of the twelve year seven form tutors Peter Hargreaves, after Gill Williams, was the last one he would have chosen for Elska, who was also the cleverest and wealthiest pupil in the school, for he was a maverick the head didn’t like who had no respect whatsoever for the system, and he feared Peter would antagonise her family. The head realised Djuvec had obviously done his research, for he knew Gillian Williams was an extreme socialist activist and when younger had been in trouble with the law as a consequence. He also knew Peter Hargreaves had an international reputation as a mathematician of note, and was popular with children of all backgrounds and abilities. Of the senior staff only Alice Speedwell, the deputy head, got on with Peter, but backed into a corner his choices were to comply with Djuvec’s demands or lose Elska.
“I’ll have Elska transferred to Peter Hargreaves’ form as of now. I’ll have all notified and Elska can register there this afternoon.”
In arctic tones Djuvec said, “Thank you, Mr. Whitman. I’ll let her know.”
Not long into year seven, Miss Jennings the head of year seven who taught art spoke with Elska regarding her teachers’ concerns about her refusal to write notes in lessons. Elska had what she’d presumed was a tablet on her knee during their conversation. Elska’s hands had also been on her lap. Elska shewed her a verbatim copy of their conversation on its screen and said she’d typed a record on the touch pad and that was how she took notes. Initially puzzled that she hadn’t heard Elska’s nails clicking on it, she’d then been shewn the pad was soft to the touch and soundless. In fact it was a device that interfaced directly with Elska’s brain, and only Elska’s brain, and was purely designed to thwart just such an enquiry, for she had no need of any notes. Thinking to acquire some for the school, and not seeing any logos on it, Miss Jennings had asked where she obtained her device from.
“It’s a prototype of one of granddad’s new products. I’m field testing it for the technicians. They’ll probably be in the shops in two or three years when they’ve managed to cure all the bugs and redesigned the case to look better. The biggest problem at the moment is with the link back to my server at home which backs up all my work which the techies say is due excess heat build up causing instability. They’re working on a better cooling system and trying to reduce heat output from the CPU.”
Elska did not attend language lessons at school. She was fluent in every language the school could teach to the point of being able to speak idiomatically in different accents in all of them. The school thought they had managed to provide her with something to learn when a Mandarin speaking art teacher volunteered to teach her. The head of modern languages asked Elska what she thought of the idea. She replied by writing in fluent glyphs something that could be interpreted as, ‘What would be the point of that?’
“You speak and write Mandarin‽” she was asked in a shocked voice, by the art teacher.
“Yes, and Cantonese, Japanese and Korean too. Granddad told me to tell you when any discussion of languages came up that I had to ask you to contact him. He didn’t tell me why.”
“Did you not ask?”
“No. If he had believed it to be in my best interests to tell me he would have done so. I can guess, because he told me that at school I was only to speak English, but my guesses are just that: mine. So I suggest you contact him.”
The school did not contact Djuvec, and Elska’s guesses were ultimately shewn to be correct, but they remained private.
The free periods she thus had she used to write papers which she was going to submit to Bio-genetic Engineering Journals. She didn’t physically write them, but used her ‘tablet’ to digitise her thoughts in a code that the school couldn’t decipher from the closed circuit television images of her screen whilst her fingers flitted about the touchpad to conceal her device’s abilities. Once she realised the school’s CCTV was watching her tablet she blacked the screen out.
When asked about it she replied, “The glare was hurting my eyes, so I altered the pixel alignment to track my eyes. It’s a new development which means I can see the screen, but nobody else can. I’m drafting my ideas for a paper concerning a revolutionary painless permanent facial hair removal technique. The concept will render electrolysis and laser treatments obsolete and the idea involved is commercially sensitive. So till it’s up and running it is a secret only known within the company. I intend to submit it to Well Being and Beauty International which is a journal published on behalf of various plastic surgeons’ professional associations.”
The matter was dropped and Elska was allowed to continue with her activities in the school library during her timetabled language lessons.
Elska wouldn’t do after school activities or play for school teams. She said she regarded games as just that, things only to be indulged in by children and she had better things to spend her time on. She and a dozen or so of The Tower staff’s children regularly enjoyed racing go-carts and quad bikes round the estate tracks. Their current interest was in off road motor bikes which they scrambled through the woods and muddy trails around the lake. Much to Viivishkava’s disgust they were encouraged and assisted to maintain their racers by Pierre and his crew of engineers. Their incentive was Pierre’s statement, ‘If you look after it yourself you will surely understand how to make it go faster.’ Elska, encouraged by Thorkill, was being taught to drive her belovèd’s Bentley round the estate roads by Pierre and, completely illegally, to fly a light two seater æroplane with dual controls by Gustav, and she wanted eventually to be able to drive the company’s heavy goods vehicles and fly a jet and a helicopter.
Pierre had told her in a week or two when she was a bit more confident she could drive his workshop and when she was good enough he’d put the trailer on and teach her how to reverse what was a seventy foot long articulated vehicle. She was looking forward to driving what the rest of the team referred to as Behemoth and Calf. She’d no objection to singing or playing the bayan and viola at school, but was not prepared to do so out of school hours. The phone calls home from various heads of departments at school to Djuvec all elicited the same response. He reminded them that he was complying with the law by sending Elska to school. She had a one hundred per cent attendance and an excellent academic record. He told them they were there to serve his granddaughter and she was not there to serve them. If they had a problem with that and gave her any more pressure he’d withdraw her and home school her again till such time as he found a school aware of the limits of its authority, and naturally he’d make his actions public and put a formal complaint in to the Local Education Authority about the school’s bullying and hectoring behaviour regards his granddaughter. He was sure she would be able to demonstrate to any Local Education Authority inspector she was well in advance of any child of her age.
He also informed David Whitman that Elska spent a lot of her out of school time with her stepmother advancing her hair and skin care knowledge and skills and with him putting together a business plan for The Towers Health and Beauty Spa they were opening after she left school. In fact Elska was not studying beauty care skills but, under the mentorship of Angus, furthering her biogenetic engineering researches, for the Beauty Spa, whilst genuine, was to be the marketing front for biogenetic engineering treatments of all levels of complexity ranging from simple processes like reversing graying hair to its former colour, tattoo, stretch mark, skin blemish and scar removal, including regenerating any underlying scar tissue, to the complex arcane process that had enabled Douglas in Angus and Elena to align consciousnesses and become Elska. The head was seething but knew he had no case, so he instructed all teachers to leave Elska alone concerning any out of school activities because if they didn’t she would be leaving Ferngate.
Just after half term, Elska was asked by Mr. Thomson the head of the current year ten who taught English, “Elska, is your grandfather Polish?”
“No.” Elska’s monosyllabic reply was typically disconcerting of her, both in her reluctance to supply information concerning her background and her unwillingness to engage with the school’s staff. Mr. Thomson, upset she had not told him where her grandfather originated from, got to the point without his planned pre-amble, which he realised Elska would not respond to.
“Do you speak Polish?”
“Yes.”
“The school has recently accepted the children of several Polish families who do not speak English. We’d like you to act as a translator between us and the children and their families too when necessary.”
“It will never be necessary to me, and I’m not going to translate for you.”
“That’s not being reasonable. Why on earth not? You could be helpful instead of making life difficult for a lot of people.”
“The plural of person in English is persons not people or you could use the word folk. People refers to a nationality or a race in its entirety, or at least a sub-group with identifiable characteristics of such. I have no intention of answering your question or of being, as you referred to it, helpful. I told the head ages ago that Granddad had told me to tell the school that he wished to be contacted if the school had any conversation with me in connection with languages. Granddad told me only to speak English at school, and I’m not going to disobey him.”
Mr. Thomson, rattled by Elska’s refusal and correction of his English, but not prepared to argue because she had done it before and had always been proven to be correct, was vitriolically sharp with his response, “Now just a minute, young lady, I’ll not be spoken to like that, and—”
“There is no and. I’m not going to disobey my granddad. It’s a matter of respect. May I go now?”
“Yes, and you have a detention after school on Thursday for bad manners.”
“I doubt it. If you insist on that I’ll not be at this school on Thursday.”
The head contacted Djuvec half an hour later to be told, “I’ve been expecting your call. I know all about the incident with Mr. Thomson, and Elska was correct to behave the way she did. I do not take it well when one of your staff expects and exhorts my granddaughter to disobey me, and then punishes her when she refuses. I do not wish to be bad mannered, but in this case it is unavoidable. We are not English, and unlike yours our culture has not sunk so low as to encourage children to be disrespectful to their elders. Who does Mr. Thomson think he is? I would remind you that, yes, you and your staff are in loco parentis for about thirty hours a week, but even during those thirty hours I and her stepmother have legal responsibility for Elska which your laws and courts define to over ride any responsibility the school may or may not have at any time and thus we not the school would be held ultimately responsible for her well being.
“Also I demand Mr. Thomson apologises to Elska for his behaviour. Since it was a conversation none else heard a private apology will suffice. I’ll send you the video of the incident so you can decide, but if he doesn’t Elska won’t be back, and in any event she is certainly not attending that detention. Now let us consider the incident you have contacted me about. Elska is not a free translation service for the school nor the Local Education Authority. She is at school to acquire an education. Her services as a translator are available at one thousand pounds per hour and her minimum fee is for half a day’s work: four thousand pounds. That’s the going rate, and naturally there is a twenty percent value added tax on that payable to the government, so with administrative charges it will be about five thousand pounds. I am not going to allow you nor anyone else to take advantage of her hard work and achievements without appropriate remuneration. If she has skills or knowledge that you want they have to be worth paying for. If you are not prepared to pay you clearly do want nor need her services. You just desire to parasitise her scholastic efforts. That’s how business works.”
“We are a school not a business!”
“I know. That is what explains your ignorance of the real world. However, I and my granddaughter are in business. I suggest you employ someone who speaks Polish, or you get rid of the children who can’t speak English because this conversation has come about purely because you can’t teach them. It is not my granddaughter’s responsibility to enable Ferngate High School to fulfil its legal obligations. You are paid a hundred and twenty-nine thousand pounds a year to do that, and I find it amusing you cavil at paying Elska a paltry five thousand. Now yet again we come to it. Do you wish Elska to attend your school or not? If you do I suggest you do the job the taxpayer pays you for and stop trying to profiteer out of her.”
The head coldly replied “You know very well I wish Elska to remain with us. May I ask how you knew about the incident?”
“Certainly you may ask, but I have no intention of answering you. I’ll send you a copy of the video and of this conversation. Goodbye, Mr. Whitman.” The telephone line went dead.
Whitman was furious, for every time he’d had a conversation with Djuvec he felt like a guilty schoolboy and the mystery that was Elska and her family deepened yet further. When he, with Mr. Thomson, viewed the video of Mr. Thomson’s conversation he said, “If her grandfather makes an issue of this, and it was clear from what he said if you don’t apologise he will, your career as a teacher is over, Clive. He’ll nail you for bullying even after removing Elska to be educated elsewhere. He made it clear that because there were no witnesses a private apology will do, but had the conversation taken place in front of a class you’d have had to apologise in front of the same class. You apologise, and I’ll advertise for a Polish speaking classroom assistant.”
Elska was in many ways a model pupil in class and in many others a complete nightmare for her teachers. That she learnt subject material instantly was obvious, albeit untrue. She already knew it, and having a bio-online link meant she had instant access to anything that was publicly available and a lot more that wasn’t. What caused her teachers most concern were her creative abilities. She was a prolific authoress and artist and much of the material she created required the knowledge and experience of an adult. The dialogue spoken by her characters in her sex scenes was in the opinions of her teachers and social workers from Children’s Services, masterful and indicated at least a decade of sexual experience far wider in nature than any of them had indulged in and often of betrayal too, experience that she couldn’t possibly have.
Her political and social commentary could only be the result of decades of experience and reflection, and her analyses of the effects of the horrors visited on the abused and the thought processes of their abusers were terrifying and disturbing to read. Her writings concerning love, which were mature and brutally realistic, anything but the maudlin, rose tinted love as portrayed in many women’s romance novels and teenage girls’ magazines, resonated deeply with many adult readers who could not accept they had been written by a girl of eleven, though some of her shorter works had been written under the eye of her English teacher within a single lesson. Why she wrote such stories at all perplexed them, and that what she wrote was entirely believable as the mature writings of a seasoned and published authoress was beyond their abilities to comprehend. Perhaps most inexplicable were her paintings, drawings, etchings and sculptures that always seemed to imply the erotic without it being in any way obvious.
When questioned about her writings she merely said she was intelligent and read a lot of material from nearly every genre available. She said “I don’t read horror or westerns. Horror because it’s sick and anything but entertaining, and westerns because I don’t like being bored by the puerile writings of a culture in love with a past it never truly had.”
She implied that anyone who couldn’t learn from reading was in some way inadequate. She refused to be drawn into further conversation on the matter. She’d been challenged by social workers on the erotic nature of her artwork and contemptuously told them they were a dirty minded pair of low lifes who shouldn’t be allowed anywhere near children and she was going to ask her grandfather to complain about their lewd innuendos. Djuvec did so and passed a copy of her video recording of the interview to their superiors along with the one of her interview concerning her writings. He reminded them Elska was also a Swedish citizen and thus no UK court could prevent her leaving the country for Sweden if she felt threatened by them without creating an embarrassing international diplomatic incident, and suggested they leave her alone or he would be suing them for child abuse.
Her teachers were still concerned, but she no longer allowed them to see her writings before they were published under names other than her own which could not be traced back to her, and her artworks she only displayed at home. All she then produced for school was in her own words, ‘The puerile rubbish that you expected to see’ and at the first opportunity, with her English teacher watching, she ostentatiously threw her latest work into a bin without reading the comments or bothering about the marks she had received. She’d been referred to her year head for her behaviour and had explained, “All I got was serious grief from school who referred me to Children’s Services when I wrote something worth reading. So now I write rubbish that doesn’t get me threatened with being taken into care. What do you expect me to do? It’s the school’s fault not mine. It’s embarrassing to write such dumbed down rubbish, and I’m certainly not interested in anyone’s opinion about it when I know I can produce far better.”
Her teachers knew she was still writing a lot of material which they suspected was in her original style for in every spare moment her fingers were seen to be flickering on her tablet, the screen of which was now never visible to them. When the head of the English department demanded to see what she had been writing Elska had sweetly replied, “Oh, no. I very much doubt that your world view is sufficiently broad and enlightened for you to be able to cope with my latest work, which is based on my analyses of classic Victorian and Edwardian pornographic novels, of which I have an extensive collection, all freely available to anyone to download from the internet.” When he repeated his demand, she said, “I told you. No. You can confiscate my tablet, but you’ll never manage to open it to read it, and Granddad will collect it for me. If I can’t use it at Ferngate he’ll find me another school or teach me himself like he used to. Either way you’re not going to see what I’ve written, and anyway there’s nothing there. As soon as I type, it sends my work to my sever system at home and auto deletes on the remote after three minutes. Granddad’s techies are very clever.”
When Djuvec rang the head, he started by saying, “First I’d like to remind you, Mr. Whitman, that like all my telephone conversations this one is being recorded. That out of the way, I would like to enquire if there is any intention to prevent my granddaughter from using her tablet when hundreds of other pupils use them.”
“Yes, but hers is not a simple tablet is it?” the head replied.
“I’m amazed that you and your staff can’t find something better to do with your time other than harass a little girl who because she is intelligent and well read with catholic tastes and an adult appreciation of literature writes adult subject matter in an adult style. I have no concerns what so ever for her moral safety since I know she considers the unavoidable pornography on the internet to be pathetically ridiculous. Her maturity is such that I have placed no restrictions on her device as to what she can access, and even had I she’s clever enough to hack and delete them. However since her tablet will only open for her and is unhackable to everyone else, including me and my technicians, all other pupils are completely safe. And just for the record, other than when in my company, I doubt she spent more than half an hour in total outside the sight of her stepmother or Judith and Hannah her chaperones in her entire life before attending Ferngate. She has always had adult tastes in literature and has been writing the way she does for years which is what this is really about isn’t it?
“However, this is not about her tablet but what’s on it. I have read everything she has ever written, because she values my opinion of her work, including her latest work on Victorian and Edwardian pornographic novels that she refused to shew your head of English. I am sufficiently well read to be able to recognise the source of much of her reference material, and I have to say it was a far more interesting and educationally challenging task for her than writing a half a page on what she did during her holidays, which doubtless she’d refuse to write about because she would regard that as an invasion of her privacy. However, back to her tablet. Of course it’s not a simple device. She told her English teacher the truth. There would have been nothing on it, for her work as she produced it have been relayed to her server here and auto deleted from her remote after whatever predetermined time interval she selected. It’s cutting edge technology still in a state of development. It’s way beyond state of the art commercially available technology, but what of it? Somebody has to have the best, and since I’m in the business it should be no surprise to anyone that she has it.
“My technical staff regard her as an excellent field tester because her requirements challenge them in ways they relish, but I want a simple answer to a simple question. Do I have to find her a school that will welcome her sufficiently to allow her to use her tablet. Yes or No. I’ll not be put off. Anything other than you assuring me she is welcome at Ferngate with her tablet without any more interference than any other pupil gets before this conversation ceases will mean you have seen the last of her and I’ll have her taught elsewhere. I’m not asking for her to be treated any differently from any other pupil. I am, however, demanding that she is treated exactly the same as every other pupil. I don’t wish to move her for she likes her peers and most of her teachers and lessons, especially the pupils in her form and her form tutor, but she’s adaptable and will doubtless make new friends quickly elsewhere. So what’s it to be? She and her tablet stay at Ferngate or I move her and make this whole pathetic affair public?”
The head did not wish to lose Elska, for she was by a long way the most intelligent individual, never mind child, he had ever met, and he was resentful that some of his staff and Children’s Services had put him in the position of being confronted yet again by Djuvec whose arguments were incontestable. That his staff had complied with the law did not make him feel any better, for they weren’t being flayed by Djuvec.
“Yes. She can use her device, and I’ll ensure she and it are treated exactly the same as any other pupil with a device.”
“Thank you, Mr. Whitman.” Djuvec was a great believer in icy politeness.
Elska continued to publish and sell her writings on the internet, and when she was fifteen a local art gallery mounted a retrospective display of her work to much critical acclaim and the dismay of an outflanked Children’s Services.
Elska became a woman before Christmas in year eight, and as genetically determined her menses were light and of short duration. She was emotionally stable, had no symptoms and none of the discomforts often associated with menstruation.
Last year when Elska had promised Thorkill that she would marry him on her sixteenth birthday he’d said when she was sufficiently grown up he would ask her to marry him and if she said yes he would take her to buy an engagement ring. In private, where she could hug the thought of them being married to herself, she’d often thought of nothing else for hours at a time. She’d replayed their conversation over and over in her head thousands of times, and endlessly pondered what she could use as evidence to prove to Thorkill that she was grown up enough, and had just concluded it was obvious: her menarche.
“I had my first period yesterday,” she told him at her first opportunity to be alone with him.
He’d smiled and asked, “Is that a cause for rejoicing or commiseration? I hope you have had and will have none of the unpleasantness that some women have.”
“My period’s okay, because Angus sequenced it to be okay. It’s a cause for rejoicing of course because it means I’m a woman, and I’m now grown up enough to be engaged. You promised.”
“Yes I did didn’t I. Well congratulations, and I’m glad it’s as you put it okay.” Thorkill went down on bended knee and with great formality said, “I’ve never done this before so I may not be doing what you wanted, but will you do me the honour of becoming my affianced and as soon as you are old enough my wife?”
Elska had tears in her eyes as she said, “That was lovely, Thorkill. I’ll always treasure the memory, and of course I shall.” She took his face between her hands and kissed him. It was a deep and passionate lover’s kiss. That was the instant in which Thorkill realised he was about to spend more than three years navigating the deep, dark and murky waters of love and his little love was obviously already far more skilled than he at doing so. He was going to have to be exceedingly careful and play for as much time as could get. Elska encouraged him to his feet and asked, “What do we do next, Thorkill?”
“Well, I do have a plan. You may not like it much, but I hope you do. I’m not very good at romance because I’ve never had any practice, but so we are not rushed I would like to go engagement ring shopping with you next half term and present your ring to you at an official engagement party on your birthday. You could wear it from the moment we get it, but I’d like to present it to you in front of all our family and friends, and I’d like it very much if you would kiss me like you just did in front of all of them. I do love you and I know you love me, but I’d like everyone to see our love.” He sounded nervous to Elska as he asked, “Would you mind?”
Elska was flooding with tears as she replied, “I think that’s very romantic, and I’d love it. Would you like me to kiss you again? Because if you would I’d like to sit on your knee whilst we kiss.”
Much relieved that his plan had bought him a little time in which to chart a course through the perils he knew Elska’s devious mind were certain to devise when in her attempts to pressure him into intimacy she insisted he was causing her to feel lovelorn, which was why he’d been nervous, he replied, “That would be nice, please.”
Thorkill had been relieved when Elska asked him if he would mind Viivishkava coming with them to go ring shopping because her taste was so exquisite. “I really don’t want to be thought of as tasteless, Thorkill. Please may she come?”
“Of course.”
“Something simple with clean looks is the most appropriate as a statement of love,” Viivishkava had said. “I suggest a brilliant cut, solitaire diamond of about five carats mounted on a plain white gold band which will be shewn to best advantage by Elska’s pale skin and not look ostentatious on her small hands.” Thorkill had nodded his head because Elska had. Viivishkava was the expert and Elska trusted her judgement. He knew absolutely nothing about jewellery, but what his belovèd cared about mattered to him.
They were glad they had checked the weather and dressed appropriately before leaving The Towers with a dozen of the security team, for it was raining in Amsterdam when they arrived at Schiphol, and it was still raining when they entered their first jeweller’s shop. Viivishkava dealt with the jeweller. “About five carats, brilliant cut, water white and mounted on a plain white gold or platinum band with no embellishment to detract from the stone.” After an instant glance at the tray of rings he’d produced for their inspection she walked out back into what was now a positive deluge running off the streets and rapidly causing the water level in the nearby canal to rise.
Similarly she walked out on five other jewellers. Viivishkava said to Thorkill and Elska, “I have saved the best till last, and if Jean Paul Leblond has nothing we shall have to go to Paris, London or New York, or perhaps Moscow would be better.”
As the rain eased and then reluctantly ceased Viivishkava led them through what seemed to be an endless maze of dreary, wet, narrow, ill lit streets with canals on one side and very narrow or no pedestrian walkways in front of the buildings on the other. Eventually they faced a modest establishment with heavily barred, dark windows and a CCTV camera over the substantial looking, metal clad door whose sign over the door merely read ‘JP Leblond’ with no indication as to what activity went on within. After pressing the buzzer, after a few seconds they heard the locks disengage and a speaker announce, in a dozen languages one after the other, ‘You may enter.’ Inside they met an ancient jeweller with a French accent who said in reply to Viivishkava’s request, “ Mademoiselle is clearly a connoisseur with impeccable taste. Is it for your lovely sister whom I have the pleasure of beholding?”
Viivishkava smiled and said, “As a Frenchman your flattery does you countrymen proud, Monsieur. But it is for my daughter whom you do indeed have the pleasure of beholding.”
“C’est impossible, Madam, for one as young as you to have a daughter of such an age!”
To Thorkill Viivishkava said, “Already I like this man.” To Monsieur Leblond she said, “Merci, Monsieur. It is true I have been spared the ravages of time, and I could listen to one who turns a compliment so well all day, but to business.”
Thorkill said, “The ring is for my fiancée, and my mother in law has told me I have to do as I am told.”
The two men smiled and Leblond said, “As do we all, Monsieur, as do we all. Your affianced is very young and very beautiful. You are to be complimented on your taste and your good fortune. Such beauty deserves nothing but the best. May I see your hand please, Mademoiselle?” Elska shewed him her left hand, and he turned to Viivishkava and continued, “A small and very lovely hand. I agree no more than five carats, more would indeed be vulgar, Madam, which is fortunate, for I do have a suitable stone. Malheureusement, I can offer you no choice, for I have just the one stone that will meet your requirements, Madam. It is an exquisite four point eight-two carat clear white stone currently mounted on a plain platinum band. Obviously it could be mounted on gold should you require it, but I have no other stones that would truly meet your requirements, and I should not presume to offer anything I did not believe to be fitting for one of a family, if you would kindly forgive my over familiarity, that is clearly of the old order. I could possibly acquire another stone from other sources within the city and mount it, but I doubt they would be of the clarity and quality of the one I have. May I present it for your inspection?”
“Please do.” Viivishkava nodded to Thorkill and Elska indicating her approval and confidence in the man’s ability and integrity.
As was usual in jewellers establishments the door had locked behind them after they had entered, but he pressed a button on the counter and they felt the thump as the massive door lock wards slid home and located in their housings.
“Very wise, I’m in security,” Thorkill said. Leblond smiled in appreciation of the statement.
He went to his safe, a massive, shiny black painted, ancient affair with highly polished brass ornamentation and gold lettering, at the back of his establishment and eventually returned with a single ring in the middle of a square foot of black velvet plush which he offered to Viivishkava. Viivishkava held her hand out for his loupe, examined it and asked, “Russian?”
“Oui, Madam. My family have had contacts there for generations. It is not good to have to rely entirely on De Beers.”
“It is truly a beautiful stone and superbly cut. The single tiny flaw just adds character to its provenance and of course makes it uniquely identifiable.”
“Madam’s opinion graciously coincides exactly with my own. It takes a trained eye to spot so miniscule a flaw, and there are few who could. I am surprised I am not aware of her as one who has a judgement at least as good as one of the few, and at so young an age! I hope again you forgive my presumption, and I am grateful for your reference to my skill.”
Viivishkava smiled, but gave the jeweller no information as to how she had acquired her knowledge. “Monsieur Leblond, you said exquisite, et c’est le mot juste. Elska, this is a truly lovely stone and I doubt we’ll find one as good within twelve months. If you accept this one, you have met the man whose skill crafted it which is something to cherish as you age and look at it. It is something to tell your children and grandchildren of with pride.”
Elska asked Leblond, “May I try it, please?”
“Mais oui, bien sûr, Mademoiselle!”
Elska put the ring on her finger, was delighted it was a perfect fit for her slender digit and asked, “May I go to the window to see it in daylight?”
“But of course, Mademoiselle! I would expect no less.”
Elska went to the window and as she held her hand to the poor light, turning it every way she could, for a few seconds an aberrant ray of sunshine broke through the dark overcast to illuminate her ring causing her to gasp in delight and wave to the briefly visible security men outside. “I love it, Thorkill. May I have this one?”
Thorkill said to a nervous looking Leblond, “The men outside are my security team. They are with us to protect my fiancée. There is nothing to worry about, Monsieur Leblond.” Leblond nodded with relief though he wondered exactly what rather than who Elska was such that Thorkill had specified her protection rather than that of himself and his future mother in law as well.
Thorkill turned to Elska and said, “I’d thought of something a little larger, Elska. We could try else where, Moscow maybe?”
Viivishkava interrupted him, “Thorkill, anything bigger would make the woman you love look like a harlot or worse nouveau riche. It would be over big for her hands. Do you not agree?” She asked the last of Leblond.
“Madam, I hate to contradict any customer, it’s not good for business you understand, but indeed, given no choice, I have to agree with you rather than Monsieur. Mademoiselle and the ring are indeed perfect for each other. I say this not to flatter but in genuine appreciation, and I would be grateful if you would allow me to take a photograph of her hand to use as promotional material. It would be worth ten percent off the price to me.”
“Fifteen,” Viivishkava instantly responded.
“Agreed, Madam.” Viivishkava’s instant haggling reinforced Leblond’s belief in what he was already certain of: he was dealing with intelligent members of a centuries old family who had managed to avoid the turmoils of the last two centuries with their influence and power, if not their entire wealth, intact, for they had never dealt with anyone without negotiating the price.
“Thorkill?” asked Viivishkava.
“Elska?” asked her belovèd.
“If I may have it I would like it.” Thorkill nodded his agreement. “And I’d like to have a picture taken for you, Monsieur Leblond. I’d also like a picture taken of the four of us with you holding my hand up wearing the ring for my children in years to come and one of the frontage of your establishment, if you wouldn’t mind?”
“Twenty percent if I may keep a copy of the four of us to display here?” he replied.
“Done,” said Viivishkava. Viivishkava’s instant acceptance of the minimum he could accept without making less than a reasonable profit on the transaction without trying for more further convinced him of their background. Viivishkava knew exactly what was and what was not possible for him, as one would expect of a well reared, intelligent aristocrat.
“I have several photographs of me standing outside taken in better weather and light. If you wish you may have one of those, Mademoiselle.”
“Merci, Monsieur. I would be grateful.”
He produced a camera mounted on a small tripod which he set on the counter, gave Thorkill the remote and explained what to do. He held Elska’s hand to the light and Thorkill took the photo of the four of them. Leblond placed Elska’s hand under a light in front of a white background and took that photo himself. He shewed them the photos and asked, “Is it acceptable I use these as agreed?” It was so agreed, so he transferred them onto a small memory device for Elska and said, “All the others of me in front of the shop are on it too, Mademoiselle, but please take whatever you wish from the photographs. I have the digital originals.” He gave Elska half a dozen glossy photos of himself outside his establishment in glorious sunshine. Elska and Viivishkava selected one whilst he and Thorkill were arranging the bank transfer over the telephone.
After selecting her photo Elska walked back to the window to delight in Thorkill’s token of his love. When she had returned from her reverie, she heard Thorkill say “This is our address and the necessary details, Monsieur Leblond. Send the paperwork and all the rest to Djuvec Elska’s grandfather, and he’ll deal with the insurance transfer. Elska will be wearing it now, so send the box to The Towers too. Elska will want it even if she never uses it. In consideration of your quality of service if you like I can send one of my staff, a world authority on safe security, to examine your safe and I’m sure she’ll be able to improve your security enormously for little cost to yourself. If you doubt my sincerity or her credentials you could look up her references with the FBI who had her gaoled for ten years because her skill was greater than theirs and she wouldn’t divulge her secrets. Fortunately for both of us I managed to negotiate her release as part of a larger transaction. Judith Naomi Gilchrist is her name and her picture is on their website. I doubt it would take her half an hour to open your safe without doing any damage to it. Here, I’ll write her details on the back of my card.”
Leblond, who was now of the opinion that nothing would surprise him about these remarkable persons who clearly had money and a great deal of influence, was also coming to the view that they were trustworthy and exactly the sort of customers he should seek to oblige. “Merci, Monsieur. I shall make enquiries though I look forward to meeting your expert. My safe is a collectable work of art in its own right though hardly state of the art. It is a convenience in the shop. Would your expert be able to advise on a more modern one to purchase?”
“Without doubt. I shall ask her to contact you, so you can make your requirements known, and she can make some enquiries on your behalf before she comes to Amsterdam. I’m also certain she will know of someone able to make any new safe look as magnificent as your old one.”
“You have my gratitude, Monsieur. It has been a pleasure to be of service to such beauty, such taste and someone so easy to deal with. Many of my customers are otherwise.”
The men bowed and shook hands, and Viivishkava said, “Monsieur Leblond, I wish an emerald tiara for my daughter’s wedding. Emeralds would normally be considered ostentatious for a bride, but diamonds alone would look insipid against her hair. Something simple and appropriate for a girl about to become a woman. I’m sure you understand. Alas, but those jewels of the family were lost to the Nazi’s. Again I’m sure you understand. We are making a recovery, and I am seeking one of the relics of a bygone age. Nothing of their like has been fashioned for a long time. Keep your ears open for such an item becoming available, for I am sure I could match any new money that would wish to buy such a creation, and of course should you oblige me in this way I and mine would in the future only deal with you and yours. Of course were you able to acquire the stones to create such a piece I would be delighted to behold a piece of your creation, for I have heard of your artistic abilities from several reliable sources. The wedding is just over three years away, so you have some time.”
“Madam, you honour me, and I should be pleased to so serve you. Rest assured, from this moment the house of Leblond shall be paying great attention to the, shall we say, less public sales of such items and the availability of appropriate stones. I would be delighted to enjoy the patronage of your family, for we had such once and like many others hard times came upon us when we lost it due to the war and the subsequent rise of the new money. My family shall pray that yours prospers to its former estate.”
“Merci. Should we do so without doubt your family’s fortunes will prosper too, and I hope to even better than they were of yore.”
Elska was too excited to take much notice of what the others were doing or talking about and had no idea what Thorkill had paid. She didn’t care, for she could put no price on her love for him.
Viivishkava joined her at the window, kissed her and asked, “Happy?”
All Elska could do was cry and hug her.
In late March, Viivishkava asked Elska if she could sequence her periods to be like hers as she usually had heavy and painful menses and this month was suffering from worse than usual cramps. “You poor thing, Vish. I had no idea. I just assumed like everyone else you’d been sequenced. You should have told Angus years ago. He have been able to help immediately. I’ll take a blood sample, analyse it, resequence it and one tiny gasjab later your misery is over for good. It shouldn’t take more than two or three hours and next month and every month thereafter period day will be like every other day. Like me you’ll know it’s going to be the following day and be able to predict its onset when it’s an hour away. I use a tampon before it happens and I’ve never needed more than three, but I’m thinking about trying a cup. Trouble is there are so many makes and I’ve seen the same ones offered at everything from a pound to two hundred pounds, even on eBay. Do you know anything about them, Vish?”
“No. I never even considered one. I wasn’t prepared to risk the embarrassment if it overflowed, but someone here is bound to use one. We could ask next time we’re in the Orangery. If you can oblige me I wouldn’t mind trying one myself.”
The Orangery was a huge glass structure that was nearing the end of a complete renovation and a colossal extension designed to match the original section. It had been in use as a café and a tranquil relaxation area for eighteen months. Like all such facilities it was paid for by the company, but it was run and mostly used by women with children attending the adjacent crèche which one of its extensions had made it contiguous with, so when the weather was poor one no longer had to brave the rain to have a snack. It was a convenient social space for other women who wanted a chat and a cup of tea too and always had a decidedly feminine atmosphere though many of the garden staff, including the men, found it conveniently located for a mid morning snack of toast, crumpets or tea cakes with their tea. Viivishkava hesitated before asking nervously
“What’s in the injection, Elska?”
“Just like last time. Surely you remember when Douglas and then Angus resequenced you before?”
“No not really. I don’t like injections, so I shut my eyes. I was so frightened I was focussed on that not on the injection. I don’t remember them hurting but that could have been because I was so terrified.”
Elska smiled and said, “It isn’t an injection really. A gasjab uses a wide area of application and the material is placed as deep as required by super narrow jets of compressed argon gas that you can’t feel. Douglas developed it years ago as an alternative to insulin pens used by diabetics. In this case it would contain your own genetic material which will have been modified by the sequencer. I don’t need to start from scratch because I know what we need. It’s part of my genetic sequences and is already in the sequencer’s memory. The gasjab also contains genetic messengers, activators if you like, that enable the modified genetic material to change all your original genetic material to match the modified version. There is little to be changed, so it’ll be done quickly because its a chain reaction, each modified bit modifies a few others and so on. I can sequence you for no body hair too if you like. Just head hair, long lashes and eye brows like mine. I could change your skin tone, eye and hair colour too while we’re at it as well if you want.”
“You mean you’ll never get any pubic hair or under arm hair, not even when you’re fully grown?”
“That’s right. Angus told me Douglas hated shaving even though she didn’t have a heavy growth and only shaved once a week. Angus’ sequencing gave him no body or facial hair, so he certainly wasn’t going to to go backwards and have to shave when he became part of me.”
“What a boon! I thought you were just a late developer. But yes please. I hate having to shave my legs and under my arms to wear a sleeveless dress and no bikini line waxing pain in summer will be wonderful. Though it will seem odd to have no pubic hair at all.”
“You’ll soon get used to it, but it may itch a bit as the hair grows out. Try a bit of body lotion. You’ll need to brush or comb the hair to help it come away because there will be no new growth behind to push the old out. Just don’t shave any more or the follicles could become infected. It may take a little time, but by outdoor bikini weather this year it will all be gone. You could of course have the hair waxed by the beauticians in the salon after resequencing and then that would be that. What about the rest?”
“No. Thank you. I like my skin tone, and hazel eyes go with ash blonde hair, and I like both. Can you prevent my skin wrinkling with age?”
“No problem. It’s already done for me. You too I think. I’ll check, but I’m sure Angus already did that for you.”
Just after her thirteenth birthday, Elska was playing with Beauty, and when both became over excited by their game Beauty had nipped her harder than she intended, drew blood and left bite marks on her finger. Beauty was her pet weasel she’d hand raised from a kit when abandoned or lost by her mother. The bite marks were noticed by some girls at school, and she’d had to explain.
“You keep a weasel as a pet? They’re wild animals and are savage and untrainable. I’ve heard that there’s more attitude and savagery per ounce in a weasel than in any other animal on the planet,” Janet declared.
“That’s not true. Beauty is quite timid really, it’s just that when we play she can become a little excited and she forgets herself. It’s my fault really. She’s come to school with me a few times and spent the day asleep in my coat pocket.”
Janet looked at Elska and said, “You’re joking!”
“No. Honestly.”
Beauty polarised pupil opinions concerning Elska even further. Those who liked her considered it to be typical of her to have not only an unusual pet but to have one that all the sources they could find said was impossible to keep as a pet. To those who disliked Elska Beauty was just another reason to resent her.
Elska was excited. Viivishkava was taking her to Paris for a two day shopping orgy over the first weekend in December, and Thorkill would be sharing her bedroom in their hotel suite. That was offset by him sleeping fully dressed in an armchair and his dozen or so guards who would be on the other side of an unlocked door, but still it was an excellent opportunity for sitting on his knee whilst kissing and cuddling. Which unfortunately was still as far as he was prepared to go, but still it was better than being at home where she was safe enough not to require him in her bedroom, or so he said. Men were so infuriating.
That Friday, after school she was chatting with some girls at the front of the school waiting for the limousine that would take her, Viivishkava and their security to the æroport. Alexandre Thorkill’s deputy, who was ex military police, had told her he and the men who’d been in vehicles parked on the road at the front of the school all day would remain to ensure her safety till Thorkill, Viivishkava and their security arrived, and they would be returning to The Towers after her departure, so she may as well enjoy her chat. He added that he had a quarter of sherbet lemons for her. She knew Alexandre used old measures and expressions just to tease and test her, and as he handed her the bag of sweets which were her favourites she said, “I do know that’s just over a hundred and thirteen grams, and thank you, Alexandre.” She liked all of Thorkill’s team who all treated her as a favourite younger sister, daughter, granddaughter or niece depending on their age, so she pulled Alexandre’s face level with hers and kissed his cheek. It wasn’t the first time, and she’d kissed them all at one time or another often in front of Thorkill, for his team were close family in her eyes. Alex kissed her cheek in return.
“If the boss catches you kissing his girl, Alex, you’ll be in trouble,” Joe said with a laugh.
Alexandre was trying to think of something rude but acceptable to say in the presence of the girls when he heard it. He pointed into the sky, and Elska looked to see a helicopter. “I thought we were flying by jet, not by helicopter, Alexandre.”
“You are, but traffic’s heavy, so the copter’s taking you to the æroport instead of the limo. Don’t forget—”
“To put the ear defenders on. I know.” The pair laught at what was no longer a reminder but a ritual, a game she played with all the security team.
Elska rejoined the girls who knew she was going to Paris, but had assumed it would be via the channel tunnel, a long and tedious journey from where they lived near the border with Scotland. As she offered the girls a sweet she was asked, “You have a jet and a helicopter, Elska‽”
“Grandad has three planes I think, Gemma, and I’m not sure how many helicopters. They’re mostly used by the electronics business folk. Granddad hates flying.”
“Wow!”
The helicopter landed and a gorgeous woman in her late teens who was the the most elegantly dressed the girls had ever seen was helped out by Thorkill whom the girls had seen many times before.
“Hey, Boss, Alex has been giving your girl candy in exchange for kisses again,” Joe quipped.
“Remind to kill him later, Joe. Any problems, Alex?”
“No. All’s fine. What kept you? You’re six minutes late, I was getting bothered. At five I was going to call to find out where you were when I heard the copter.”
“Iwona was ready to leave on time, but,” Thorkill looked at Viivishkava, who was hugging Elska, lifted his eyebrows and sourly continued, “Viivishkava only had a fortnight to get ready in, so I suppose I should have expected it.”
Alexandre clapped him on the shoulder and said, “At least Elska is always on time, but she’s young yet, Boss, plenty of time to get like the rest of them. Viv was okay when I met her.” Thorkill threw a dirty look at Alexandre and joined the women. Elska said her goodbyes to the girls and Thorkill helped Viivishkava and her into the helicopter.
Elska had a wonderful time shopping with Viivishkava who knew Paris well having lived there with Angus. They spent a small fortune, and Viivishkava insisted that since Elska was no longer a little girl it was time she had some more adult lingerie which cost another small fortune. What Elska considered to be the most exciting thing of all had been the birthday present she’d ordered for Thorkill. She’d always wanted to buy him something truly special, something uniquely Thorkillish, but had never come across anything she’d considered appropriate. A month ago she’d been researching Viking and Celtic jewellery in connection with a story she was writing and had been struck by the elegance and simplicity of a Celtic torc made in silver. A simple, plain neck ring, at most an inch in diameter, with spherical finials. She’d ordered one in twenty-four karat gold because she liked the red colour, and it had cost her a hundred and twenty-five thousand pounds sterling. It was heavy, about five and a half kilos, but her belovèd would she knew wear it with ease.
Back at school on Monday morning the girls wanted to know all about Paris, but even more they wanted to know about the incredibly glamorous Viivishkava who they thought looked like she had come straight from Hollywood. A few had seen her at parents’ evenings with Djuvec but not known who either were, nor realised that they were connected to Elska. Elska had always known one day she would have to provide details of her family, and had had it all prepared for a long time, including the documentation to prove it should officialdom require it. She’d been amazed she’d managed to say so little for so long.
“Viivishkava, was Dad’s third wife.”
“You’re joking! She doesn’t look much older than us. How old is she?”
“I don’t actually know. She really is that young looking even without make up. She always looked like that as far back as I can remember which is probably about ten years. Dad’s first wife left him for another man and took his children with her. He was never allowed to see them again. My mum, his second wife, died not long after I was born. She was Swedish and just after finding out she was pregnant with me discovered she was dying from cancer. She was in terrible pain, but refused to take pain killers because she believed they would be damaging to me. Dad said no one knew how she lasted long enough with that level of pain to have me, and that the doctors had expected her and me too to die when she’d have been three or four months pregnant. He told me he knew she’d live long enough to have me and nurse me long enough to give me all the protection that breast milk provides against infections and diseases because she was very anti bottle feeding of newborns. She believed newborns needed the protection their mum’s first milk gave them and bottle fed newborns would be weaker their entire lives because they had been given a poor start in life. She was a seriously strong willed woman and insisted I be named Älska, it means love, because she said it was all she could give me. In Swedish it’s spelt with a capital A with two dots over it, but I write it with a capital E which is pronounced nearly the same. I’m going to breast feed all my children because I I owe my life to her belief. Dad always said I was unmistakeably her daughter, cos we were both so determined. Actually what he said was we were both completely bloody minded, but it was years before I understood what that meant.”
Many of the girls had tears in their eyes, and, despite that they’d grown up accepting that breast feeding was somehow disgusting and only done by poverty stricken, third world natives they’d seen on BBC(1) documentary television programmes, accepted that for Elska it was different, for her it was a moral obligation to the woman whose tenacity and love had given her her life at the cost of her own extended pain. Most reached to touch Elska in reassurance, for this wasn’t just an explanation of Elska’s family, it was a soul searing sharing of her very self. For Elska it was a new truth, rehearsed in her mind so often that notwithstanding its complete falsity, in her need to protect those she loved, it had become real. Angus was aware of that, and later he and Elska would reconcile any anomalies.
“After my mum died, Dad couldn’t bear to stay where he’d lived with her any more, so he moved us to Russia where eventually he met and married Vish when I think I was three, but I don’t remember it. As far as I can remember she’s always been there. I’m the only one she allows to call her anything other than Viivishkava. I couldn’t say her name when I was little and I’ve called her Vish ever since. She’s the only mum I’ve ever known, but she’s like an older sister too and teaches me music. Dad died when I was eleven, and his will left the bulk of everything to me. The rest he left in trust funds for Vish and Granddad who are my guardians and trustees. Actually Granddad is really my great-great grandad, my granddad’s granddad. He’s the only one of Dad’s family who stood by him when his first wife left him. Dad also left a trust fund for Thorkill, but he’s so rich he’s never touched it and says he’ll settle it on our children. They are the only related family I have, but all the security team are like family too and I love them all. There are about two hundred of them and their families, so it’s not as if I’m short of persons I’m close to who love me. Their children are like siblings to me so I have a pretty big family really.”
“What about your half brothers and sisters?”
“What about them? I’ve never met them and don’t even know how many there are of them nor their names. They’re a lot older than I, and they’ll probably have children of their own by now. I’ve no intention of looking for them, for they’ve never bothered looking for me. They’re part of Dad’s past not mine. Dad had been wealthy and was so hurt by being rejected by his family and being denied access to his children he was reduced to living rough like a tramp. He told me he’d restarted from nothing, owed nothing to anyone and nor did I. I know they never tried to contact him and they were old enough to understand what had happened. They’re just water under the bridge. I think more of Thorkill’s security team and their families than I do about them. Like I said the security team is family. The guards have always treated me like a baby sister, and they used to give me piggyback rides and sweets when I was little. As you all know, Alexandre still gives me sweets, and I love him like an uncle. Thorkill certainly regards him as a brother. Family is a matter of love, and nothing to do with consanguinity. That means blood relationship. A lot of the team live at The Towers and I’ve always played with their children. We’ve always given each other Christmas and birthday presents, and we have a great time at birthday parties and especially at the Christmas and Midsummer parties. Granddad says it’s silly of me to throw parties like that at my age, but Vish says he’s just testing me and I’m behaving properly and like a lady. She’s pretty hot on me behaving like a lady and gives me a hard time if I don’t measure up to what she expects. Everything I have Dad made after his divorce and I helped. It’s mine, though I‘d give it all away to have Dad back. I’ve run the biogenetic engineering company since he died, not Granddad, he just signs things for me till I’m old enough to legally do it myself. Dad taught me what to do. Granddad manages the electronics business because he’s into that and knows a lot about it. He looks after the family, keeps school and the authorities off my back, manages the accountants and the tax inspectors and at that he’s the best. We argue a lot, but we do love each other.”
“What about your stepmum? What does she do?”
“She tries to keep me out of trouble and calms Granddad down when he’s cross with me. She runs the house and the estate, manages the staff, except Thorkill’s security team and Granddad’s techies, and like I said spends a lot of time trying to make me behave in a more ladylike manner. She taught me to play the bayan and the viola and to sing. She’s a wonderful player of both, much better than I am, and she sings like an angel in at least a dozen languages. Mostly she just loves me, and teaches me about fashion, make up, how to dress and dance, and how to deal with men. I’m not too good at dealing with men yet. Thorkill’s the only one I care about enough that way to want to deal with, and he’s completely unreasonable, impossible to persuade and does exactly what he wants, but who’s interested in a wimp anyway? I’d have been happy to call Vish Mum when I was little, but she said that would be disrespectful to my birth mum. That’s another thing she’s big on: respect. I love her like a mum though, and I know she loves me like a daughter.”
“How does Thorkill fit in, Elska?”
Elska laught and said, “The poor man doesn’t fit in. I drive him demented, and he needs both Granddad and Vish to calm him down after I’ve upset him which I manage to do regularly without meaning to. Truly I don’t wish to upset him, cos I love him, but somehow I just do. I don’t know how he and Dad met but it was when I was only little, or maybe before I was born. I don’t know why but he won’t talk about it, and Dad never did either. He didn’t just work with Dad they were really close friends, despite Dad being so much older than he. I know he was hurt badly by Dad’s death. I think that when I realised that that was why I decided I was going to marry him when I grew up because I missed Dad so badly too. I was eleven when I told him, not long before the beginning of year seven. I know he’s always loved me, and he’s agreed to marry me on my sixteenth birthday. My ring isn’t pretend, it really is my engagement ring. Thorkill officially gave it me last year at my birthday party in front of everyone, but we went to Amsterdam for it in Spring term half term and I’ve worn it ever since.” Elska extended her hand to show the girls her ring.
“Elska, is it really a diamond?”
“Yes. Thorkill wanted to buy me a ring with a bigger stone, but it would have looked clumsy because I’ve only got small hands. We nearly had an argument about it, but Vish said I was right and had excellent taste, and he was okay with this one then. Vish knows a lot about jewellery.”
“What did it cost, Elska?”
“I’ve no idea, and I’m not going to be rag mannered enough to ask. Vish would kill me if she found out I’d done anything as unladylike as that. I heard Thorkill say to Monsieur Leblond who is the jeweller who cut the stone and mounted it in the ring, ‘Send the paperwork and all the rest to her grandfather at The Towers, and he’ll deal with the insurance.’ I think Thorkill must have paid by card, but I was too excited to take much notice. It needs to be stretched as it’s a little tight now, but I don’t want to part with it and all the jewellers in town would have to send it away, so Thorkill’s taking me to Edinburgh on the Saturday after next where they can do it while we wait. They’re going to let me watch. Granddad says I have to be kind to him because I’m too young to know how badly I can hurt him. Granddad’s not always as clever as he would have you believe because I do know, but I just can’t help it. Thorkill is the one who teaches me self defence, shooting, fishing and things, though if he’s busy one of his men teaches me, but that’s not as much fun if we’re fighting because they’re too cautious and won’t risk hurting me. Even Hannah and Judith are too cautious. Thorkill says when he hurts me it’s my own fault because I’m being lazy or sloppy.”
“Wow! I never heard of anyone our age having a fiancé. Is that legal? But I don’t get it. You must be joking. He wouldn’t hurt you if he loves you enough to marry you, would he?”
“You can be legally engaged at any age. It’s just the wedding you have to be sixteen for. And no I’m not joking. Thorkill hurts me frequently when we’re practising self defence in the gym, usually because I’m absorbed looking at him and not paying enough attention, so it’s my own fault, and it’s not that strange really. When he hurts me, he makes me go over why I got hurt and what I should have been doing that would have prevented it. He knows I know what I should have been doing, but he doesn’t care cos he’s a perfectionist and says distraction is the way to get dead. He’s given me some spectacular bruises. I had one once that reached from my left hip all round my bottom to my right hip. The cheeks of my bottom were yellow in the middle surrounded by purple and edged in black just like two huge black eyes. It was weeks before the bruises disappeared and it hurt to sit down for a fortnight. He’s a monster!” Elska grimaced as her sense of fair play compelled her to retract her previous statement. “No he’s not. Not really. I know he does it because he loves me and he wants to make sure if he’s not there to protect me I can look after myself.”
“What does your granddad say about him hurting you?”
“Huh! Granddad’s far worse than Thorkill and is always on his side and says learning is never cheap, you pay for it in money, time or pain. Even Vish says I should pay more attention to what Thorkill tells me.”
Cayley asked, “Who are Hannah and Judith?”
“They’re members of Thorkill’s security team. When Vish isn’t there to chaperone me one of them is there to protect me from what Thorkill refers to as unsavoury gossip.” Elska giggled, “Actually I think he wants them around to protect himself from me.”
“Why do you always refer to them as Thorkill’s team? Don’t they work for your granddad?”
“No. They work for Thorkill. He pays them and everything. They will only take orders from him though they always seem to know what to do without him telling them anything. It’s weird listening to them when they need to make a decision. They talk about the situation, going round in circles and never seeming to decide anything, and then eventually one of the team will say, ‘I’ll deal with it, Thorkill,’ and the conversation is over. His company is called Towering Security Limited, and it gets paid by Granddad on behalf of The Towers Company Limited for providing the security. I don’t understand it, but Granddad set it up that way so we all pay less tax. Thorkill told me he wants more women on the team but hasn’t found any that are suitable. I think he means dangerous enough. Iwona who is Gustav’s number two, he’s the chief pilot, was a fighter pilot with years of combat experience and dozens of kills to her credit. Hannah used to be a combat instructor in the Israeli army, she’s a lethal weapon herself even unarmed. She’s got something going with Joe who’s on the team, he does logistics, which means he’s an expert on getting stuff from somewhere to somewhere else. Judith used to be an American military explosives expert, but the FBI said she had a sideline cracking bank safes for thieves who’d stolen the whole safe. She was doing ten years in a military gaol when Thorkill negotiated her release. Thorkill says she was set up because she was an expert in safe security but wouldn’t share her skills with the authorities. When she married Thomas last year, he’s on the team too, he does communications, she became a UK citizen. I cried buckets at the wedding. She was so beautiful.” Elska sniffed and admitted, “I was so jealous because then I had at least four years to wait. Still, it’s only two and a bit now. Thorkill really does know how to punish me, all he has to do is tell me he’s displeased with me, and I can’t help but be upset. I’m telling you girls, avoid men. Love hurts.”
“You know what, Elska? Sometimes you sound like you’re a hundred and fifty, and it’s always when you’re saying something really scary, and, much as I don’t like to admit it, you always sound like you know what you’re talking about. But your idea of having a good time is definitely not mine. Clothes shopping and dancing yes. Fighting, and shooting no. Not even if I were in love. I’d find myself a different bloke to love.” Most of the girls nodded in agreement with Janet, but a few cast a troubled gaze at Elska’s sombre face because Elska really had sounded like she knew what she’d been talking about.
Elska just shrugged her shoulders knowing they didn’t understand, and they wouldn’t till love hit them, and then, like it had done to her, love would take all their choices away. Thorkill was difficult, stern and completely inflexible, but he loved and protected her, and that completely negated all else, and it really did upset her when she displeased him. If only he’d just throw his high minded principles away and ravish her. He knew she’d offer no resistance, she’d told him often enough, so what did it matter? But she knew it mattered to him, so it mattered to her, not least because she wanted him just the way he was, and not irreparably damaged by the loss of his principles. She’d extracted a promise from him to ravish her on her sixteenth birthday even if they hadn’t managed to get married that day, and she knew he always kept his word, which was why he was usually so disagreeable, but that promise was all she had to sustain her till Thorkill would accept her virginity as a gift and she became not his girl but his woman. It was all she had for the moment, but though it wasn’t anywhere near enough she knew it would have to suffice. Still she was going to work on the matter because she refused to accept he could keep his guard up till she was sixteen.
Janice was a midwife who was regarded by her peers as one of the best. She’d worked for over twenty years for an NHS trust that had seen cuts to funding affecting training, recruitment, retention and quality of care all round. She along with all her colleagues regularly worked over twelve hours a shift, and too often straight through without a break for food or a lavatory visit. She knew it couldn’t continue before she made a tragic mistake as a result of tiredness. She knew there were avoidable deaths of mothers and babies that weren’t recorded properly thus avoiding embarrassing consequences for the administration who were earning many times her salary and never saw a hospital never mind a patient. They all knew. It came to breaking point when a dozen women or their babies died in just over a month due to not poor care but no care, there simply had been no one available to take care of them and most had been known to be high risk pregnancies. For Janice, like for a number of her colleagues, it was too much and she had a breakdown.
She knew she was leaving the situation worse but she simply couldn’t carry on. She’d given her employer as much in twenty years as they’d have had no right to demand in less than forty and had been barely adequately recompensed for her time, and she had no more to give at any price. Even after a breakdown her employers had continued to telephone her at home using emotional blackmail to get her to go in to work. To keep what little remained of her fragile sanity she’d left her landline off the hook and changed the number on her mobile phone. Like her colleagues she then received letters with thinly veiled threats of poor references if she didn’t return to work and callers at her flat door from her employer to persuade her to return to work. She knew she’d never go back to work for the trust, so she rang her brother in Cumbria, explained the situation and asked for sanctuary for a while till she got on her feet again to sort her life out.
Dan was outraged and asked if she needed money. She didn’t, just a bed she told him. She handed the keys in to her landlord that lunch time, told him what was happening and told him to keep the rent she’d paid in advance for the second half of the month. She’d been a good tenant and he told her he didn’t want to inspect the flat before giving her her deposit back then and there. He handed her the second key back and told her to post it to him when she’d collected all her belongings. She went home packed what she hadn’t already packed and waited for the movers to take it to her brother’s where he said it could be stored till she found somewhere. She put the key in the post at the train station. Dan met her at Carlisle station and was appalled at the state of apathy his energetic and enthusiastic younger sister had been reduced to.
The siblings were close having no other relatives, but had never managed to see each other as often as they would have liked. Dan’s wife Jill was more like a sister to Janice than a sister in law, but hadn’t laid eyes on her for nearly five years. Dan and Janice had only met briefly in that time and always at Janice’s flat. Dan was a highly qualified engineer who had served his time as a mechanic and subsequently acquired a degree in mechanical and electrical engineering, and Janice knew he worked for the transport department of a large company based at an old estate and that he lived on site, but still the sight of The Towers took her aback.
Jill greeted her with a hug and said, “You live with us as long as you want, Janice. Let’s get you settled. Dan and some of the men will deal with your stuff when it arrives and see it is properly stored.” Later that night in bed Jill said to her husband, “What have they done to her? She looks ten years older than her age. I nearly cried when I saw her lovely auburn hair was completely grey. She needs months to recover not weeks.”
“I know, Love. I’ll see Elska about her. She may be able to help.”
“I can aid her recovery, Dan, but she’ll go stir crazy with nothing to do here.”
Dan coughed and said, “I was hoping there’d be a job of some sort she could do and stay here, Elska. She’s my only relative and we’re close, but we’ve spent too much of the last ten or fifteen years apart.”
Elska had a gleam in her eye as she asked, “Do you think she’s had enough of midwifery or just had enough of midwifery in the NHS? Because a qualified midwife who maintained her certification would be a positive asset to us here. There’d be no problem concerning delivering her quota of babies because the local NHS trusts are as short staffed as everywhere else and would be delighted to have her services en bloc or as cover, but it would be at Janice’s choice not theirs. Naturally if Janice decided to work for The Towers we should have to protect our investment in her as one of our assets, so we could not allow her to conduct the negotiations regarding her fee herself. That would have to be done by Geneviève’s contract solicitors, though whatever they managed to negotiate we’d pay straight into Janice’s account.”
Elska had a vulpine look as she’d said the last, and Dan, who realised what Elska was implying, straight faced said, “Of course. We all understand The Towers has to protect it’s assets. I’ll speak to Jill about it tonight, Elska, and leave it to her to speak to Janice. It’ll be okay for them to come and talk about it will it?”
“Certainly whenever it’s convenient. I’ll ask Geneviève to start looking into the matter.”
Three days later Janice was helping in the crèche and it wasn’t long before she had her own surgery for patching up skinned knees and the other inevitable collateral damages that childhood assured. Elska had spoken with Janice concerning resequencing and repsyching and taken quarter of a century off her, though other than her restored auburn hair she was only slowly loosing the look of her age. Janice had started seeing Johan a member of Thorkill’s security team. It took a month for the paperwork to be formalised and then she was a registered midwife working in the private sector, though in that time she’d delivered seven babies at The Towers, three in Millersthwaite and another three miles away. Geneviève’s office had made the local NHS aware of Janice’s availability and its cost. The local NHS trust hadn’t liked having to sign a contract before Janice would be available, but “Fair enough. We’ll contact Newcastle then,” changed their mind immediately.
Janice’s first contact with the NHS was at Ferngate High, the school Elska attended, giving year eight girls their HPV vaccination. Thereafter she routinely worked bloc relief as a midwife for the salary Geneviève’s team had negotiated, a salary she found unbelievable at first. Four months after leaving her previous job, Janice started her medical training with Elska. Eighteen months after going to The Towers Janice and Johan were married by Edward in the chapel. The blushing bride was four months pregnant, and given away by Dan. As the population of The Towers increased, most of the increase was due to young couples starting their families, the blocs with the NHS became less frequent and of shorter duration. Eventually after five years Janice had no need of the NHS and Elska resequenced her to be a mature looking eighteen year old, by which time she was a fully qualified doctor, but there couldn’t have been many doctors around who maintained their NMC membership.
Now tall and developing a womanly shape, Elska had been given a hard time by the so called alpha girls who resented the boys’ preoccupation with her drop dead gorgeous good looks and her unerring sense of couture. The school had a least three charity fund raising days a year, referred to as non-uniform days, on which pupils could pay a pound into the fund and wear their own clothes to school. Elska always chose to wear relatively inexpensive, modest clothes that the girls recognised as being readily available in the town. However, Viivishkava had given her an exquisite dress sense and made an accomplished needlewoman out of her, and she altered them for a perfect fit and her accessories were always equally perfect. She always looked like an elegantly dressed young woman of impeccable taste. Whereas, many of her peers, who had spent considerably more money than she, looked like half dressed trainee tarts, and unlike most of them she was used to wearing and dancing in heels so didn’t look ridiculous trying to walk.
When some of the girls, jealous of hearing staff and boys telling Elska how nice she looked, tried to start a fight Angus had used the communication centre in her brain to create a combination of directed frequencies that released their bladders in such a way that the pain when urinating lasted for days and made them too frightened to ever bother her again. They were even more frightened of the ridicule they were sure would ensue if they or Elska said anything about it, or worse if she posted on social media the footage she’d subsequently shewn one them of them wetting themselves.
One Friday, four older boys resenting her cool and uninterested stance regarding them had tried to force their attentions on her after school. They had smugly told her they intended to strip her and have a little fun with the intention of ‘teaching her a lesson for being such a snob’, and if she said anything they would post the footage on the internet and say she had encouraged them by taking her clothes off behind the gymnasium and telling them to form a queue. Their final stupidity had been the ring leader adding that he would have her ring. The threat of them stealing the ring Thorkill had given her provoked Elska into losing control to the point where Angus could not immediately restrain her. Less than a minute later Angus had managed to exert sufficient influence to calm her down, but it was all over. The boys had had a sample of what Elska was capable off, and they were lucky because without Angus to restrain her Elska would have killed them all. Despite their virtually instantaneous communication link, Elska’s call to Thorkill’s men for aid had been unnecessary, for she’d resolved the situation completely at least half a minute before they arrived. All the boys had suffered bone breakages and permanent joint damage of some kind and the ring leader had crushed testicles too which had had to be surgically removed.
The police had illegally tried to interview Elska before she was represented by her solicitor in the presence of a specialist social worker from Children’s Services trained in dealing with underage victims of sexual assault and a parent or guardian, but she had badly frightened them by closing her mind down on Djuvec’s instruction with whom she had remained in constant contact till all proper persons had arrived. That so slight a girl had wreaked so much havoc on her own the police had not believed and they wanted to know who her accomplices were and how they had evaded the school’s CCTV cameras.
Eventually Djuvec’s solicitor told the police, “As you are aware gentlemen, you now have to let my client go or charge her.”
The social worker told the police, “Working on the assumption you took Miss Angusdottir into custody at half past three even should you charge her she has to be allowed a twenty-four hour respite before you may continue questioning her.” The police protested they had an hour and a half left in which to question her, but the social worker said, “As you are aware the law clearly states that unless you can prove that immediately to me, which your illegal actions preclude since there were no independent witnesses as to when you started questioning Miss Angusdottir, my assumptions are deemed to be in the best interests of a minor and thus are the law.” The woman added, “I shall wait till you decide what your course of action is going to be.”
Much to the dismay of the police Djuvec said, “I have nothing to say at this time, but you shall be hearing from my legal team within twenty-four hours concerning your illegal actions.”
The police wanted to release Elska into Djuvec’s custody on condition she remained at home, but Djuvec’s solicitor told them, “That you may not insist on unless you prefer charges. Your options as you well know are to charge my client or unconditionally release her. Which is it to be? If you charge my client and it turns out you can not satisfy a court that you had sufficient grounds to do so we shall be preferring charges against you and your superiors. You have already broken the law on several counts regarding the interviewing of a minor subject to a sexual assault, which the law requires to be the subject of both an independent and a police internal investigation. I suggest you do not dig the hole any deeper. Again which is it to be? Charges or release?” The police let Elska depart unconditionally.
As soon as they reached home, Djuvec, under Elska’s direction, downloaded her video and audio records of the event and subsequent interview from one of the servers linked to her mind and messaged copies to the police, Social Services, his solicitors and a number of other automated servers only accessible by expensive subscription via satellite link. There were several dozen such servers, but only a few were active at any one time, and when one deactivated its memory was passed to its successor before its physical memory devices auto destructed. The servers belonged to The Towers and their burnt out memory modules were replaced by technicians who also replaced light bulbs in the building. The technicians were under the impression that the servers were part of the electronics that monitored and controlled the industrial complex they were embedded in.
Viivishkava asked, “I know you didn’t lose your temper over the threatened loss of a ring, Elska. Why were you so upset?”
Elska took a deep breath and with tears in her eyes replied, “They said they were going to rape me. That would have stolen my virginity from Thorkill. I wasn’t going to let anyone steal anything from him certainly not what I have promised him as a gift. I was still in control of myself at that point and could have stopped them without too much damage, but when they said they were going to steal my engagement ring too I lost my temper. Thorkill gave me that with his love. I’m sorry I lost my temper, but I’m not sorry I stopped them. Please don’t tell Thorkill. I’ll tell him myself eventually when the time is right.”
“I see. I agree with you. Djuvec, ask Thorkill to take close care of Elska please till all is resolved.” Viivishkava hugged Elska and said, “Don’t worry. All will be well, Elska. We’ll let you tell Thorkill when you’re ready. I’ll talk with you after dinner, but I’ll go now. I have things to do.”
Elska didn’t understand what Viivishkava had meant by ‘close care’ and ‘till all is resolved’ but Djuvec wouldn’t explain till Thorkill arrived. “I’m not saying it all twice, Elska. You’ll find out in a few minutes.” Djuvec then called Thorkill and asked him to meet with himself and Elska in his office. Djuvec told him not to let Elska out of his sight till further notice. “By further notice I mean till I am satisfied those boys were acting from hormone driven stupidity rather than as the pawns of someone else. I’ll have the matter investigated and keep you informed. Elska may close her lavatory door as long as you can see it, but other than that she remains within your sight, including getting undressed for any reason whatsoever. She can use a screen, but if you want a chaperone and neither Judith nor Hannah is available I’ll ask Viivishkava to arrange it. Possibly Iwona will be available.” He also added, “If I find out you’ve been bullying Thorkill in any way or flaunting yourself and upsetting him, young lady, there shall be consequences, and I mean in his rooms as well as your own.” He winked and continued, “But a few kisses and cuddles on his lap would seem appropriate to reassure the poor man that you are all right.”
Thorkill gave him a wry grin and on his way out with Elska said, “I’m glad you said that, Djuvec, because I can’t convince her that there are things we just shouldn’t be doing till after the wedding. There’s no way she’ll use a screen and she’ll flaunt herself in front of me at the drop of a hat. She knows it doesn’t upset me any more, so whatever you say she’ll strip to the skin and strut around her room naked getting changed four times an hour just to make me look at her, and the presence of a chaperone won’t make any difference, so I don’t see the point.”
“You’re such a spoilsport, Granddad. You’d think a little girl like me should get some benefit from what I’ve been through. I need all the protection and loving reassurance I can get. I’m traumatised!”
“It’s Thorkill who needs reassurance and protection, Minx, from you, and I don’t want him traumatised by your antics. Now behave yourself and do what he tells you because it’s for your own good. You know he loves you, and further more I know that you know I’m right because you’re not complaining enough for me to be wrong. And pick up your underwear. Viivishkava tells me you deliberately leave it lying about your rooms just to embarrass Thorkill when he does the security checks.”
“I’ll behave, Granddad.” Elska sighed and said, “But it’s no fun being good all the time.” She brightened. “I’ll have to settle for telling him all the naughty things I’m planning on us trying on our wedding night. It’s amazing what you can find on the internet if you really look. And I don’t leave my undies lying about to embarrass him because I know it doesn’t. I leave them lying about because it’s the only way I can get a reaction out of him. He’s obsessively tidy, so he can’t help himself and picks them up despite looking guilty all the while. It’s sweet really. I’ll stop doing it in return for a few extra kisses and cuddles. I’m not unreasonable and won’t drive too hard a bargain.”
Djuvec shrugged, “There’s no doing anything with her, Thorkill. You’ll just have to survive as best you can, but I’ll understand if you leave the country and go into hiding before the wedding. I’d suggest you put her over your knee and smack her bottom, but no doubt she’d go on the internet and find a way to enjoy it.”
As Elska left with her arm through Thorkill’s she turned and stuck her tongue out at her grandfather who just held his hands up in surrender. Once out of Djuvec’s hearing she coquettishly asked, “If you’d like to put me over your knee and spank me, Thorkill, with your very own hand, I’ll need to know if you’d prefer to do it with or without me wearing knickers. And would you prefer me to struggle a bit or be submissive? I could cry if you like, then you could kiss it better. We did agree kisses were okay.”
Much to her dismay, Thorkill merely replied, “I’ll try the lot once you are sixteen, Elska, and I’ll let you decide which you enjoy most.”
The police rang Djuvec to demand why the footage of the incident had not been handed to them when Elska was being interviewed. They also wanted the originals and all copies including those of their interview. They were not happy with Djuvec’s reply, “You frightened her so badly when you illegally began to question her without the required legal representation and adult support that she retreated into herself. I believe Children’s Services are opening an investigation into that, and since Elska’s video camera was still running they have Elska’s video of that as evidence. I saw it was still running as soon as I saw her in custody, but did not make you aware of it because I wanted to see the footage of the entire interview and its aftermath before you did and any thing happened to it. In any event, her camera is merely a remote device which does not store data. The original data recordings are automatically uploaded in real time to a number of private servers in various secure locations round the globe whose sole purpose is to distribute thousands of copies on to public servers all over the world when they are required to do so, and there will be hundreds of thousands of copies downloaded onto private computers by now, millions by tomorrow. So I suggest you admit your mistakes, take whatever is coming as a result, apologise to all concerned and get the rest of this sick and sorry affair dealt with to the letter of the law. I’ll send you an audio copy of this conversation. Good day.” There was nothing the police could do other than take his advice.
Elska’s headteacher had rung Djuvec to say she was suspended for fighting whilst the governors considered the appropriate disciplinary measures, but he was certain it would be expulsion.
Djuvec had replied the matter was now outside his control since he had passed a copy of Elska’s video and sound recording of the incident to the police who after watching it had assured him they would be prosecuting the boys for attempted theft, sexual assault, attempted rape and probably half a dozen other offences too and his solicitors, also in possession of a copy of the recording, were in contact with the Local Education Authority concerning his complaint that the school had failed in its duty of care to protect his granddaughter whilst still on the school’s grounds. No doubt the school would be hearing from them when they had put together a team to investigate the matter.
The head protested it was just a matter of childish behaviour that had gone a little too far, though it was possible the matter could be resolved amicably and Elska remain at school.
Djuvec had remarked, “The matter is so trivial in fact that you’re only threatening to expel Elska as a lever to make me drop the matter. Have you any idea of how ridiculous that offer is? This can’t be conveniently hushed up, it’s already beyond the control of both of us. But answer me this. Just how far is too far where the rape of a fourteen year old by four sixteen year olds is concerned?” Without waiting for a reply he’d continued, “The police and Children’s Services do not view the matter as childish behaviour though the Director of Public Prosecutions has yet to make a decision. Either way either the Director of Public Prosecutions prosecutes or I do with a private prosecution.” And he’d added that his legal team would be seeking custodial sentences for any found to be culpable, pupils, staff and governors alike. He’d recommended the school threw away its childish viewpoint, grew up and started paying attention to the law of the land which did not stop at the school gates and further more that they recognise that the school had made a fiasco of it’s duty of care as far as child protection and safe guarding issues were concerned. He’d also recommended that since he would be passing an audio tape of this conversation to the police it would be in the head’s interests not to contact him concerning the matter again as the police would probably already consider his attempts to hush the matter up as an attempt to pervert the course of justice and further contact would only dig the hole he was in deeper. He’d added, “Mr Whitman, I suggest that you contact your IFA2 with a view to discussing your retirement and pension arrangements as soon as possible.”
Elska went to school as normal the following Monday and, though the matter was repeatedly discussed by the pupils, on the head’s instructions the incident was not referred to by a single member of staff. When Elska’s form tutor had been asked about the matter during registration he’d told the class, “Mr. Whitman has ordered all staff to say nothing concerning the incident. The form tutors of all individuals concerned have been cautioned by the head himself that that particularly applies to us, so please do not expect any comment from me.”
However, there was a lot of online conversation concerning the incident and it was clear some of it must have originated from Ferngate staff. The head fearing teacher professional association retribution was wise enough to make no enquiries amongst the staff.
As a result of the incident, the four boys were sent to a juvenile detention centre, three for three months and the ring leader for six months. They served their time in the hospital wing and none had fully recovered on their release. In addition, Mr. Whitman retired, the chair of governors resigned and a number of staff, governors and Local Education Office officials were given the option of taking a three week course over the next summer on child welfare and safe guarding or face summary dismissal which would prevent governors ever holding office again in any capacity involving minors or the vulnerable and would make it extremely unlikely the teachers would ever teach again. There was a major shake up in the county police force concerning procedures involving minors, and a few officers had their dates for promotion eligibility deferred.
A hormonally driven Elska believed she should be entitled to more intimacy now she was older, but Thorkill held her to her given word: “ ‘Kisses, cuddles and sitting on your knee, but only in private, and no more till I am sixteen,’ was what you promised. I shall be bitterly disappointed if you break any of your promises.”
That he guarded her sleep when not at home upset and irked her, after all she reasoned, “If he’s in my bed chamber why not in my bed?”
But Thorkill was adamant. In an effort to ease her distress he promised to take her camping. They would share a tent, but she had to agree to him having enough men with him for her protection and at least one of the women to prevent unsavoury gossip. Elska had wondered just how much she could get away with sharing a tent with Thorkill. But he, in desperation, had not been even handed, for his sleeping bag was wide and zipped all the way down one side which he always left unfastened so as to be instantly ready to protect Elska. Elska’s was snug and had no side zip, so once she was in it she had limited movement, even with her arms outside it she certainly couldn’t make any inappropriate advances, which made Thorkill feel a lot better. Judith and Hannah told him he was being a little hard on Elska, but on reflection agreed it was for the best. Thorkill told Elska they would be fly fishing and if she were good he would take her on other outdoor activities in the future. He re-emphasised only kissing, cuddling and sitting on his knee and again only in private, which he conceded included in the presence of the security team. Elska agreed immediately knowing he would be a little more relaxed when only his team and no strangers were around. She was good and enjoyed herself enormously, and Thorkill had indeed been more relaxed. Weekend camping became regular events, and she became less impatient with her belovèd because she knew if she displeased him the weekend trips would end, and she desperately wanted the small amount of extra intimacy they gave her, for she now recognised the presence of her grandfather and Viivishkava inhibited Thorkill.
Djuvec and Viivishkava told her they were pleased she was being less difficult with Thorkill. They also told her as a result he’d approached them with a view to taking her to Cornwall for the October half term week on a fishing holiday.
“The whole week? Just the two of us?”
“And his men of course. He said he’ll take maybe fifty of the team,” Djuvec said.
“And that includes Judith and Hannah,” Viivishkava added.
“Camping?” asked Elska, discounting the presence of the team who were always around her and regarded her relationship with Thorkill as a normal part of their lives. Elska considered them to be family, so they didn’t count as intrusion, and more to the point they didn’t inhibit Thorkill.
“You’ll have to ask Thorkill for the details. Viivishkava and I are happy he’ll organise things for your safety with his usual efficiency and attention to detail, but doubtless there will be changes in the light of events. You’ll have to negotiate what is acceptable behaviour with him and do as he tells you without taking advantage of him, or I will put a stop to his indulging you in this way.” Djuvec said.
“And you have to agree right now that you’ll be guided by Judith and Hannah in all other matters,” Viivishkava added.
So happy at the prospect of nine days away with Thorkill was Elska that she agreed immediately, for Thorkill would be no more disagreeable than usual, and Judith and Hannah were rarely unreasonable about her safety, and by ensuring she was given the privacy a girl needed and that she behaved with appropriate decorum in the company of a large group of men in the great outdoors their actions had saved her considerable embarrassment in the past, so she regarded them as elder sisters or aunties whose advice was invaluable.
“Granddad and Vish told me about half term, Thorkill. Are we camping?”
“If, and I stress if,” Thorkill said in tones designed to depress her enthusiasm, “you are good, we’re going sea fishing and shall sleep on the boats all bar the first Friday night and the last Saturday night when we’ll be in hotels. You and I with Judith and Hannah will be on my friend Denis’ boat, The Mary May, with Denis, and the others will be on the other boats. We’ll be doing a bit of shark angling, lobster potting and crabbing, mackerel hand lining and anything else Denis is doing at the time. Denis is a commercial fisherman, so has his own affairs that have to be done. Effectively we’ll be unpaid crew. He is is one of a small but rapidly growing number whose first language is Cornish or Kernowek as he would put it. He’s proud, can’t be bought and doesn’t take emmets out. Emmet is a pejorative term the Cornish use for non Cornish folk whom they regard as foreigners, but he has been a friend of mine for a long time and was pleased to invite us. He refused to take payment as long as we accept whatever he has to do. If Denis likes you he’ll maybe tell you why we are friends. He’s booked the boats and hotels for us. Hannah and Miguel with a dozen of the team are taking a coach and the other vehicles we’ll want down there ten days before the rest of us fly to Bristol and they will make sure everything is organised. Edward and Sven will be going with them and Pierre, Jerry and their crew will be taking their bikes down with Behemoth and Calf with the advance party. Hannah and Julian will ensure your safety. I think you’ll like Denis and enjoy yourself, but you’ll doubtless be glad to be back at the hotel sometime after lunch on Saturday. You’ll probably be even gladder to bathe and get properly clean ready for dinner and the dance. If you are good and very discreet all week I’ve told Viivishkava and your grandfather I’ll wash your hair and back for you when you bathe. And by good I mean you don’t even think about asking me to wash anything other than your hair and your back, which stops at your waist. Djuvec said I must have nerves of steel and Viivishkava wished me luck. I told them that I didn’t need nerves or luck because I knew you loved me too much to disappoint me. Denis is aware of our unusual relationship, but I’ll be very disappointed with you if you embarrass him. He doesn’t deserve that, okay?”
Elska’s was serious when she said, “Yes I do love you that much, but I do make honest mistakes, Thorkill, and I understand about Denis. I’ll be good, promise.” But her eyes twinkled as she continued, “But what if your hands slip with all that soap and bubble bath?”
Thorkill eyed her coldly and said, “They won’t, and you’d better not slip either.” Elska afraid he was going to reprimand her further demurely averted her eyes from his gaze. Thorkill continued, “I understand about you making honest mistakes, and I truly don’t want you to be afraid of being yourself.” At odds with his previous demeanour he picked Elska up, kissed her, smiled and put her down again which made Elska’s heart flutter, for all was well between them again. “Our hotel, The Duke’s Warband, is the centre of social activity for miles. It has a large dance floor and there’s a dance on Fridays and Saturdays so pack something suitable for dancing, Viivishkava will advise you on what to wear for that, and I will want to check your gear for on the boat including checking your life jacket is still a good fit. I’ll do that tomorrow morning, and if you’ve outgrown it we shall need to go for one that fits from City Marine and Chandlery on Saturday. Your grandfather’s technical team have already told me our personal safety GPS transmitter systems have all been fitted with new power supplies and were tested to be okay under salt water last week.
"At the moment the plan is that Alex will meet you outside school on the Friday you break up. He and five of the team will escort you in the limousine and it and the rest of his crew in the other cars will take you to Carlisle æroport where Viivishkava and I will meet you. We’ll fly to Bristol where Miguel will meet us with the transports and we’ll arrive at the hotel in time for you to shower, change, and dine. Your grandfather has said you may have a glass of wine with dinner. One glass. You’ll have plenty of time to get ready for the dance. We’re all going to the dance, so since Denis tells me men who dance are in short supply in the off season we should be popular. The women will be happy to have partners they’ve never met before, and their men no doubt will be happy to be left in peace by their wives to prop the bar up. We’ll meet Denis and the other skippers on Saturday morning, stow our gear aboard, have a barbecue lunch on the dock, or inside one of the dock warehouses if the weather’s poor, organised by Jonny the landlord of our hotel, and sail on the afternoon tide. We’ll be on the boats for a week. The food the boat skippers provide will keep you alive, but it’s hardly cordon bleu. I think they live on fish and dog biscuits, but I’m not even going to try it, so we’ll be taking enough food to feed all of us for the entire week, as well as a pile of pans and the like, and shall take turns cooking. In addition to the usual tins and dried stuffs, I ordered some steaks, chops, bacon, sausages, burgers and fresh vegetables, so you can cook those when it’s your turn if you like. Gordon has said he’ll provide you with a dozen two litre bottles of Irn Bru,(3) but if there’s anything else you’d especially like to eat or drink you should tell him as soon as possible.”
Elska broke out into giggles at that, not because what Thorkill had said about dog biscuits was funny, but because her stern and usually grim faced belovèd had uncharacteristically been guilty of exaggeration.
“We’re travelling home on the Sunday after breakfast, so you’ll have plenty of time to ready yourself for school on Monday. Denis has booked rooms for us all for the entire ten days so anything we don’t want to take aboard the boats can be left in our rooms.”
Elska excited beyond words jumped up and threw herself into his arms and after kissing him soundly announced, “I’ll be so good it’ll hurt.”
Thorkill kissed her and put her down before saying, “We’ll see. In the interests of your safety, Elska, you must promise me you won’t say anything about this to anyone at school or here. You can talk about it to family, the team and senior managers on the board, but no one else. Okay? Promise me.”
“I promise, but I never tell anyone any more about things in advance. Granddad made me promise not to ages ago.”
Elska had a wonderful time. She’d caught and landed, or she speculated perhaps boated was a better word, two modest sized sharks which had looked fearsome and enormous to her before unhooking and returning them to grow bigger. Denis had explained how to do it and said she had to do that herself for them to count. Lobster potting and crabbing, though initially intimidating had been enjoyable. Denis had shewn her the eggs on the egg laden hen lobsters and explained it was illegal and further more stupidly short sighted not to return them to the sea to hatch more lobsters. It was whilst Dennis had been shewing her how to handle the scary crustaceans he had told her of the time when Thorkill had been wheelchair fast with twisted arms and legs and yet still managed to save his life at considerable risk to his own from a group of low lifes high on drugs looking for the thrill dealing out death would give them. “I was drinking at a dockside club in Brittany, Gwenhwyfar has relatives over there, and though not drunk by any means I knew I’d had a drink. Stupidly, instead of calling a cab, I decided to walk the mile or so back to the Mary May in the early hours.
“There were four of them with knives, all high as kites. I offered them my money, but it was a kill they wanted. I’d already made what peace I could with my maker when out of the club front door, a lunatic on an electric wheelchair cannoned into three of them taking them, the chair and its occupant over the thirty foot drop into the harbour. I’d seen him in the club, but because the likes of him embarrassed me I’d ignored him. To my subsequent shame, I realised he was much more of a man than I. I took the fourth one out with a skid I’d seen on the ground and threw him in after the others and dived in for the wheel chair driver. I was only just in time, for there was no way with arms and legs like his he could swim. I can’t think of a more deserving person for that new treatment that your dad gave him. It was a tragedy that your dad died before his time, but it’s good news that you’re going to be continuing with his work. Thorkill told me you’re every bit as clever as your dad and will eventually take over from him. If there’s anything I can ever do, even if it’s only give you a bit of a holiday on the Mary May, just ask. I’d be dead but for Thorkill, and you and he…just ask okay?”
“What’s a skid?” Elska asked, trying to ease Denis’ embarrassment as he skated round acknowledging her relationship with Thorkill.
“A short length of timber used to lift stuff off the ground so stacker truck forks can get under to pick up whatever is on it.”
“What happened to the four men?”
In a voice as cold as ice Denis replied, “I never asked.” His voice returned to his normal tones when he remarked, “You know, Elska, I don’t know which of the two of you is the luckier. Thorkill told me you had promised to be discreet and wouldn’t embarrass me, but I’ll offer you a deal. Invite Gwenhwyfar and myself to your wedding and you can do what you like with Thorkill aboard the Mary May. I’ll tell Thorkill. How about it?”
Elska kissed his cheek and said, “Thank you, Denis. Thorkill can be difficult about us, especially with me, but I’m really grateful because it’s hard enough having to accept he’ll only cuddle and kiss me and let me sit on his knee when other girls of my age have been going all the way for years with boys they don’t even like. At least I love Thorkill. Not being able to have even kisses and cuddles on his knee torments me. I’ll tell him about our deal and you’ll get your invitations to sit on the bride’s side, not the groom’s, okay?”
“You drive a hard bargain little girl, but you go and exercise your lien on the cuddles and kisses he owes you, and I’ll go and be embarrassed somewhere else. You’ve got the rest of today and whatever sleep you’re prepared to forgo tonight. We’re hand lining for mackerel tomorrow, so it’s up at first light, two days and full moon nights of stinking of fish guts and then you can have a bath at the Warband before dining and dancing. Gwenhwyfar and I’ll be there so you can listen to me yarning and her telling you what a liar I am. It should be a good night with plenty of folk there because despite what my missus says I always get a good audience, and I do enjoy myself with the ladies. I’ll expect a dance with you, though you may not want a second one because I’m not a good dancing partner, but I am entertaining as you’ll see.”
That night there had been what Denis described as a bit of a blow. Elska’s limited experience thought it to be a serious storm. Denis had shewn her how to fasten herself into her bunk. “The straps are just seat belts from a scrap yard I had the shipwrights modify and fit for me.” Too excited by the motion of the sea to fall asleep immediately, Elska was enjoying the experience, but, after Thorkill had kissed her goodnight, her mind went back to the story Denis had told her of his meeting Thorkill. Angus knew just how badly Thorkill had been disabled before his resequencing but Elska had not appreciated how badly he’d been handicapped by his disabilities till she looked into Angus’ memories. That even so handicapped he’d been every bit as much a man and as brave as he was now had made her cry when she realised just how wonderful a man loved her. In no way sad, there were still tears on her cheeks as the motion of the boat rocked her to sleep.
Denis true to his word had informed Thorkill of his deal with Elska and at one point after a meal in the cabin had said to him, “For the love of man, Thorkill, kiss the girl. You’re upsetting her, and if Judith and Hannah can cope with a pair of lovers on a tub this size without blushing I’m bloody sure I’m man enough to too.”
Thoughts of the wonderful, brave and principled man she loved were foremost in her mind as on the last night in the hotel Thorkill, as he’d promised, washed her hair and then her back. When he’d finished Elska turned to face him and rinsed the bubbles off her immature but noticeable breasts. In a hesitant tone she nervously asked him, “Do you think I look pretty, Thorkill?”
Thorkill, like all his team, had seen her naked any number of times when she’d been swimming in the heated, indoor pool at The Towers where she refused point blank to wear anything. Thorkill smiled as he recalled the battles of will between Elska and her grandfather over the issue. Djuvec had received no support from Viivishkava who had shrugged her shoulders and said with no truth whatsoever, “She’s half Swedish, so what do expect, Djuvec?” And then she added more truthfully, “Irrespective of her age, every woman with any pretensions to beauty at all flaunts her gifts at every opportunity, or at least she wants to.”
Elska had told her grandfather in the end, “You may as well fill the pool with concrete, Granddad, because I either swim like I want to or I don’t swim at all. And anyway I don’t see what you’re bothered about. I’m at home and there’s no one to see me.”
Djuvec had caustically and angrily replied, “It’s bad mannered and arrogant to refer to the staff as no one.”
“They’re family, so that’s different!” Elska retorted coldly. Elska had continued skinny dipping, and when Viivishkava gave her moral support by skinny dipping too Djuvec conceded with poor grace by ignoring the matter, much to the amusement of the security team.
It wasn’t long before Iwona, Judith and Hannah discarded their bikinis too and joined them. Though a lot of the female staff and their daughters and the male staff’s wives and daughters enjoyed the freedom of naturism, especially when the sun was out and the electrically operated roof of the building was open to it and the breeze, the men and boys continued to wear their Bermudas when swimming. Djuvec’s only comment was, “Women! Exhibitionists! Every last one of them from the cradle to the grave!”
Thorkill recalled to the present by the anxious look on Elska’s face as she plucked his shirt sleeve replied, “Yes. Very pretty and you’ve developed nicely since I last saw you. I can see why we had to buy a new life jacket for you. You don’t have to do this, Elska. I love you, and you’re not going to lose me. Now finish your bath, dry your hair and get dressed for dinner.”
“I know I didn’t have to, but I wanted to. I like you looking at me. Don’t you want to touch me? I’d like you to because I am yours.”
“As you very well know, I’d love to touch not just your breasts, but everything else as well, and that’s why I’m not going to. I do appreciate your offer and you are a vision of loveliness, but you’ll have to be patient. I’ll also caution you yet again, please be more discreet. I have no problems with you showing yourself to me at home as often as you wish, but please nowhere else. I promise I’ll look, and I’ll enjoy looking, but I still won’t touch you till you are sixteen and you did agree to that. Now this was not wise was it?”
Elska brightened at Thorkill’s remark about showing herself to him at home and replied, “Yes it’s not wise. I know you’re right, but it’s very difficult to be patient. However, I’ll try and I promise not to do it again except at home.”
“Thank you, and I’m sure that promise will be a great relief to your grandfather and Viivishkava.”
“Thorkill, if you won’t touch me will you at least sometimes watch me bathe and help me get dressed? At home I mean, or am I asking too much of you?” Elska sounded very young to Thorkill, but he appreciated her more mature concern for the restraint her request would require of him.
He considered her request for a while before replying. “I understand what you’re asking and I do understand why you are asking. You are asking a lot, but as long as you accept I’ll not be a party to more than kisses and cuddles, and those only when you are dressed, and only if Djuvec and Viivishkava find it acceptable I don’t mind, and I’ll enjoy it. I know I have the necessary self restraint to protect us both, but you need to seriously consider do you?”
“Thank you. I’ve always loved you looking at me when I’m swimming. That’s why I don’t wear anything. It makes me feel closer to you. I’ll just have to find enough restraint won’t I if I want you to continue looking at me. I’ve finished now. Would you pass me my robe please?” Thorkill turned to the door to take the bath robe off the hook and turned again with it. Elska had stood up in the bath facing him, and as he looked her up and down and back up again he noticed two things, one she still hadn’t any pubic hair, and two there were tears in her eyes. She looked far too young to him for more than kisses and cuddles.
He held her robe open for her to put on, tied the belt for her, lifted her out of the bath, hugged her tightly and kissed her forehead before saying, “I know. It is very difficult, but there’s no need to cry. I’m not going anywhere, and I’ll still be here to marry you on your sixteenth birthday, and I won’t forget my promise to ravish you. Your grandfather and Viivishkava have already started planning for the wedding, though I’m not sure if I was supposed to tell you, but I think knowing that will help you a bit. I’ll send Judith and Hannah to you to help you get ready for the dance. I think you need to be with women for a bit, Okay?”
“Thank you, Thorkill. Remember when I said I’d be so good it would hurt. Well it does. Why does it hurt so much? I thought love was supposed to be wonderful.”
“It is, but despite that it can hurt. Maybe we need the hurt to appreciate the best bits, but I don’t know, Elska. You are the only one I’ve ever been in love with, so this is as new for me as it is for you, and my age doesn’t help. Maybe Angus can help you. I’ll ask Judith and Hannah to talk to you.” At that he picked her up and kissed her passionately, something only she had initiated before, and left. Elska loved being picked up by him, for it was so effortless for him she always felt she was floating on air, and his kiss had left breathless and subject to feelings and desires she couldn’t entirely understand. She had never felt so happy and couldn’t understand why she was flooding with tears. She was still sobbing quietly fifteen minutes later when Judith knocked on her door.
“Oh dear! Thorkill? Or time of the month?”
“Thorkill.”
“Well, Hannah will be here in a minute and then the three of us can indulge ourselves with a bit of constructive character assassination of men in general and Thorkill in particular. That always makes me feel better when Thomas has upset me.”
Elska smiled, a bleak and wan little smile. “Are they all like that?”
After knocking, as Hannah entered she heard Elska’s question, so she asked, “Are all what like what?”
“Men. Elska’s got a bad case of the Thorkills, Hannah.”
Hannah smiled brightly and said, “Every last one of them. They’re all the same. We can’t live with them, and God help us, but we can’t live without them either. I suppose our esteemed leader has been unspeakably noble yet again. What did he or didn’t he do this time?”
“He kissed me properly for the first time,” said Elska with a sniffle. “And my nails are completely ruined after a week on that bloody boat.”
“Ye Gods woman, you have got a bad case of it this time haven’t you?” Hannah asked not expecting a reply. “I’ll go and fetch Hannah’s magic box of every girl’s mysteries to sort your nails out. I’ve got some self adhesive super thins that will repair the broken ones without making you look like a strumpet wearing falsies, and some transparent nail polish that’s like super glue on steroids. You got any decent hand cream, Elska? Really thick lanolin based stuff I mean that will undo the damage all that rope pulling and fish box heaving that you insisted on doing has caused.” Elska shook her head miserably. “Just as well I have isn’t it?”
As Judith brushed Elska’s hair whilst Hannah went for her magic box and the hand cream she said, “I hate to tell you this, Elska, but it never gets any better. My gran is eighty-two and my grandfather who is eighty-six can still reduce her to tears. Only difference is at her age she doesn’t care what anyone thinks. She told me she called him a bastard to his face for the first time when she was seventy-five and she felt a whole lot better afterwards. We’ve a long way to go before we reach there, but they love each other as much as they did sixty-odd years ago. There’s no understanding men at all. I love Thomas, and I know it makes no sense, but the folk you love can upset you more than anyone else simply because you love them. Gran’s right, men are all complete bastards, especially the ones we love.” The two were both laughing when Hannah returned, and Judith had to repeat her story.
As Hannah restored Elska’s nails from their broken, chipped and generally ravaged state to their usual attractive condition, the rest of the conversation proceeded along the lines suggested by Judith and by the time the characters of men in general and Thorkill, Thomas and Joe in particular had been traduced to the point of absurdity there were more girly giggles, from all three women, than laughter, and as Judith had suggested Elska felt much better.
“You know, Elska, a lot of this is your own fault.”
“What makes you say that, Hannah? What did I do?”
“Well, you’re the one who decided to fall for an outdoor he man type and go huntin’, shootin’ and fishin’ with him. Stands to reason. Your nails were bound to suffer, and you should have used more conditioner on your hair. I’ll use some of the spray on when I do it after you’ve dressed, and that hand cream does you no good at all whilst still in the jar.” That made them all laugh, and Elska was back to her usual self by the time she was ready for dinner and the dance.
To her surprise, Thorkill refilled Elska’s wine glass during dinner and it was a cheerful young woman who had a thoroughly enjoyable evening dancing and chatting. To his surprise Elska danced twice with Denis who, as he’d said, was a terrible dancer and, on land, an incorrigible flirt, but again as he’d said, wonderful company with a seemingly endless supply of entertaining tales to tell. He was clearly a popular entertainer, and Gwenhwyfar proudly told Elska he was the biggest liar in the entire south west, and probably hadn’t paid for a drink for years because he always attracted a crowd of drinkers, but if ever a young woman took him up on his flirting he’d be terrified, which made them all ready for yet another improbable fishing yarn.
According to Denis, he or someone of his acquaintance had hooked and lost Leviathan at least once a year for fifty years.
That night when Thorkill escorted Elska to their suite he told her whilst she readied herself for bed he would do his last minute security checks before returning to kiss her goodnight. When he returned he had a balloon glass exceedingly full of brandy for himself and a mug of cocoa for Elska. Elska was sitting up in bed wearing a completely transparent night gown and a soft filmy négligée that she had not fastened. With some of her long hair falling over but not hiding her breasts she looked achingly lovely and vulnerable, but though the sight of her made his heart miss the odd beat and set his pulses racing Thorkill steeled himself to appear his usual calm self and said, “I’ve told you, Elska, you don’t need to do that. I was going to kiss you, but not if you are only half dressed.”
Tears ran down Elska’s cheeks as she sobbed, “I only wanted to please you.”
“You do please me, and I do understand that your hormones are making life very difficult for you, but I’m not going to take advantage of you, no matter how much you think you want me to because we’d both regret it in time. So fasten your wrap, dry your eyes, have a mouthful of my brandy to calm yourself and come and sit on my knee with your cocoa.” Elska did as she was told and enfolded in the arms of her belovèd, aided by the soporific effects of several mouthfuls of brandy, she was lovingly kissed into oblivion.
When Joe and Judith opened the door on their routine check two hours later they saw the couple still in the chair and Elska was fast asleep. “Thank God you’re on time. Pick Elska up and put her to bed, Joe. My back’s killing me, my legs are numb and I’m not sure where my left arm is, but I’d have woken her if I’d moved.”
Judith turned back the covers and Joe carefully eased Elska out of Thorkill’s arms and into bed without waking her. “You okay, Boss?”
“No. No I’m anything but, Joe, but I shall be when you pass me that brandy,” Thorkill replied standing and stretching the kinks out of his abused muscles. After Thorkill finished his brandy, he stretched again and said, “Elska will probably sleep because I let her drink two or three measures of my brandy, but stay with her awhile, Judith, please. I’ll do the next round with Joe. Apart from anything else I need the walk.”
“No problem, Thorkill. Elska still upset about the pair of you?”
“Yes. She’s not a girl any more, but she’s not yet a woman and doesn’t always know how to deal with it. Mostly she’s upset because I won’t take advantage of her.”
“Yes, well, when her hormones have settled down a bit she’ll realise how lucky she is. You still on for a wedding on her birthday?” Judith asked.
“So she tells me. Djuvec and Viivishkava are preparing for it.”
Joe grinned and said, “I reckon even if her hormones do settle down before then, Boss, your life isn’t going to get any easier till she’s got a gold band on her finger and you in her bed. She’s told us all she wants to be pregnant as soon as possible. If she’s still of that mind then, if I were you, I’d just go with it. If you want a peaceful life that is.”
“I suspect you’re right, Joe, on all counts. Let’s go before we wake her. You want me to send some coffee up, Judith?”
“Tea please.”
Thorkill picked up his empty glass and Elska’s undrunk cocoa, and as the men left, Joe asked, “You know that brandy, Thorkill? Did you see the bottle it came out of?”
“No. But let me guess. It wasn’t a brandy bottle and it had no label on it, right?”
“Yes and no. It was a bloody lemonade bottle with its original label, like the Irish use for poteen, you know like the ones Murph brings from home. Mind, his mum’s milkman drops them off on the doorstep along with milk and pop.” Joe laught and said, “What a country! But they are my idea of civilised. Every bottle with a hair in it to guarantee it’s the real thing, but I’d put a large sum of money on it that that brandy has paid no more tax than I ever have.”
Thorkill laught, “You’d win your bet. These fishermen make far more money smuggling than they do fishing. I noticed Denis had a hold full of casks on Saturday morning when we loaded our gear, but they’d gone when we cast off. It’s said every hotel and pub, and a good few private houses on these coasts too, has had a secret cellar for centuries.”
“Good on ‘em, Boss. I thought I’d have a glass earlier in between dances. I couldn’t believe it. Josie the barmaid that’s Jonny’s daughter must have poured out a quarter of a normal bottle into my glass and said her dad had said our drinks were on the house. But she only charged one of the locals a quid for one the same as mine. Best stuff I’ve ever tasted, but one’s enough. I reckon it’s over fifty percent alcohol.”
“I know, and this was the first balloon glass I’ve ever seen filled to the brim. I had to drink a double or two before I could carry it up here without spilling it. There was a thick layer of dust on a full bottle of Hennessy in the optic. When I pointed it out to Jonny he wouldn’t look me in the eye, but he wiped the dust off it. Just don’t drink the Calvados, it tastes like furniture polish. God alone knows how much fusel oil from the still tailings are in it, but I’m sure it’ll turn you blind if not mad. It’s no wonder the Normandy French drink it soaked on sugar cubes, and only two or three cubes a session. They use the cubes as a chaser with the local red wine which to be honest isn’t that good either. I wasn’t surprised our drinks are free, they probably are in all the hotels because the Cornish are decent folk and in a small area act like we do: as a Celtic clan folk rather than as a community like the English. It’s out of season and we’ve taken every room available for some distance and Hannah paid in advance for ten nights when we’re only staying for two. If I know her she’ll have been generous too, to make sure of good service, and we were invited as guests by Denis who is known for his dislike of tourists and won’t hire the Mary May out to them. Changing the subject. Everything still okay for our return home, Joe?”
“Pierre says he prefers the coach to be transported home for him to sort out in his workshop. Transmission issues I think, or maybe back axle. He didn’t say. He wants the Calf available just in case anything else happens, so he’s arranged for a low loader from Exeter to take it home. He nearly took a fit when the haulage company suggested towing it back because it would be cheaper. He’s gone over the coach he hired and says everything is fine. He intends to follow it in Behemoth, said if it breaks down he’ll tow it to the æroport which is where he’s arranged for the hire firm to collect it from. I don’t think he’s bothered about doing any damage towing it because he won’t have to fix it. But he wants Elska and party in the big limo not the hire coach just in case. You know how he is, if he ain’t maintained something himself he just don’t trust it. All the vehicles are fuelled and checked, but he’ll doubtless check everything again before we leave.”
Thorkill nodded. Pierre was a mechanical and electrical genius who never cut corners, took no chances and loved working for Thorkill because Thorkill wanted everything done properly, the cost was irrelevant. Pierre was a perfectionist who’d always taken as much care when maintaining Elska’s toys as he did with the most sophisticated of the company’s equipment. His mobile workshop, Behemoth, was a massively over powered affair that comprised parts from a military tow truck, a tank extractor and a highly sophisticated mobile army machine shop that he had designed and built himself from military surplus items originating from military forces all over the globe. With it he could fix just about anything, and what he couldn’t fix, with the aid of it’s Calf, an equally over designed self propelled trailer that could be driven on its own, he could get back to what he referred to as his proper workshop at The Towers where he also had commercial quality forging and foundry facilities.
“What about the luggage, Joe?”
“Most of it can go in the coach, but because its smaller than ours Pierre had his crew pack what we’re least likely to need in a couple of stillage crates and he’ll drop them off at the æroport. He and Jerry will take Behemoth and Calf home, and by driving in shifts the convoy will be home somewhere in the small hours of Monday. All vehicles are fully fuelled and the extra fuel tanks he installed last year mean they’ll only need to stop to change drivers, or maybe not. I know they’ve been practising changing over drivers on the move. The lads not driving are going to sleep, eat and probably play bridge on the mini coach. Hannah’s going to pack for Elska. She’ll have enough in the limo to overnight just in case. We’ll go over everything again first thing tomorrow, but we’re okay. Should get to Bristol and have lunch after take off if we leave here at ten. We could stop at Exeter or one of the other services, but I’m against it.”
“Me too.”
“We thought you would be, so Hannah has had Gordon sort out refreshments for all of us on the journey. Unlike the coach there’s no lavatory on the limo, so she’s going to make sure Elska sorts herself before we leave. Iwona rang to say she and Gustav landed at Bristol a few hours ago and the planes have been refuelled. They reckon unless the forecast is way off we should be landing at Carlisle early to mid afternoon which means we’ll be home mid to late afternoon. Three-ish is their best estimate. The extra flight crews are leaving here at six in three cars, just in case, and by the time the rest of us arrive all their pre flight checks will be complete, they’ll have submitted flight plans and be ready for take off as soon as air traffic control gives clearance. Gordon’s organised the food for the planes, said it’s already on board. Thomas has his usual half dozen comm mechanisms set up and said everything is working fine and there are always the mobiles. Alex is handling general security and contingencies and said he’d catch up with you before getting a couple of hours of sleep. He’d still got things to do when I spoke to him, so it’ll probably be in half an hour when he’s finished talking to whoever’s in charge back home about escort and security arrangements for when we land. Once we leave the hotel Hannah and Julian will be within arm’s reach of Elska till we get home. Edward and Sven are following up on bikes a mile behind the convoy with their usual equipment. They are returning with us and their bikes are going on the Calf. Their other bikes will be waiting for them when we land. I think that’s it, Boss. You think of anything else?”
“No, but no doubt something will crop up, Joe. I’ve enjoyed the week, but I’m going to be very relieved to get back home.”
“We’ve all enjoyed being paid for a bloody good fishing holiday, but the relief goes for all of us too. You really can have too much of a good thing. Sitting in a car outside the school for an hour would be a lovely rest. Unfortunately I’m at The Towers doing two weeks worth of equipment maintenance in four days next week and then it’s a fortnight in the desert with Murph and half a dozen others on that new Soviet antitank equipment. You reckon Jonny would sell us some of that brandy, Thorkill?”
“Good idea, Joe. I’ll talk to Denis, he’ll probably negotiate us a couple of casks at cost. Giving the surplus food and all the cooking paraphernalia to the boat skippers after feeding them for the week was a good idea of yours. Dennis told me we are all well thought of, so I’m sure the brandy will be no problem.”
Since their return from Cornwall Elska had informed Djuvec and Viivishkava of her negotiations with Thorkill and that Thorkill had agreed subject to their agreement. “If Viivishkava agrees, then so shall I,” Djuvec had said. “But I think you are asking a lot of Thorkill and I’m surprised he agreed to it.”
“Since in less than eighteen months you’ll sharing a bed with him and he’s agreeable, it’s rapidly approaching the time when it’s none of anyone else’s business, so I’ll leave it to you, Elska. We’ll talk more of this later.” She looked at Djuvec and winked before adding, “Women’s talk.” It was during that subsequent talk that Viivishkava had introduced Elska to nipple tint.
Back at school after Looe, Elska and some of her form were talking about things that made them happy. Most of her peers enjoyed theme parks and dreamt of going to Disneyland. Elska said, “I’ve never been to a theme park and I don’t want to. When I’ve been good Thorkill takes me for a weekend fishing or hunting which is always exciting because we go camping. Before we went on my first camping trip he shewed me the website of an amazing outdoor supplies megastore in America. Their site is fantastic. You pick a character like an avatar and walk her round the store shopping. Your character picks the stuff you want off the shelves and puts it in your trolley. The graphics are really good and you can even go for a coffee or a meal. It’s just like a top quality computer game, and you can customise and save your avatar for future shopping trips. We bought loads of stuff and it all arrived four days later. It was much more exciting than shopping for clothes with Vish. Mind you I think just being with Thorkill is more exciting than anything else, and he’s promised me we’ll visit the store in America sometime. Camping food is pretty primitive really, but I love it, and I enjoy cooking it, especially beef steaks which are Thorkill’s favourite. He likes them raw in the middle and oozing blood, says that’s called a blue steak, but I like mine cooked all the way through with burnt black crispy bits on the edges. Frank, one of the security team, says that’s called kizzent where he comes from. Thorkill says I’m a primitive savage who behaves like I’ve just discovered fire and that Vish is fighting a losing battle trying to turn me into a lady. He also says he loves me just the way I am, so I’m going to carry on cooking my steaks the way I like them.
“We went shark fishing over the half term off Cornwall where his friend Denis has a fishing boat that sails out of a harbour called Looe. That’s L double O with an E on the end. That was really exciting, and five of us slept seven nights at sea on the boat. It’s really strange being in a tiny narrow bed that never stops moving with planks of wood at the side to stop you falling out, and one night the sea was so rough we had to strap ourselves into our bunks. Denis had had them fitted with car seat belts. It’s weird fastening seat belts when you’re lying down. There was a dance at the hotel on our last night that lasted till midnight, and I danced so much that my feet were sore when I went to bed. Heels do that, but they look so good, and they make me a bit taller. In four inch heels I almost reach Thorkill’s chest. I’d like to go big game fishing in the Caribbean sometime, but I’ll have to be really good for ages before Thorkill will agree to that, so I haven’t mentioned it yet.”
As far as Elska’s peers at school were aware she had never actually been punished for her actions, and they really couldn’t understand why she didn’t do whatever she wanted. They did and always got away with it. That retribution was a certainty if Elska overstepped the mark was a concept they were completely unfamiliar with. That the worst punishment she could suffer was Thorkill’s disapproval was also something they couldn’t comprehend. Elska never told them that when she wanted something that currently was beyond what she was allowed she argued her case. Sometimes she prevailed, more often not, but she never deliberately broke the rules first, for she had been taught by Viivishkava that that was bad manners, and she agreed. She didn’t lie, and as a result, unlike her peers, whatever she said was always believed. She respected that the rules were there for not just her protection but for that of all those she loved and cared about too. As she had grown older Angus had aided her to mature and present their case for whatever it was they wanted. As a result she’d gradually been allowed more freedom and Angus and she plotted their next moves which pushed their maturity towards womanhood further. All in all despite setbacks she was happy with her life. She considered life would be perfect if only she could persuade Thorkill to share her bed.
Elska did press for Thorkill to watch her bathe and help her dress at least twice a week, and he not only admitted he enjoyed it but had become at ease with Elska’s complete lack of inhibition with him. Elska had just bathed and now towelled and talced dry was preparing herself to go riding with Thorkill.
“I know I’ll regret asking, but I just can’t help myself. What on Earth are you doing, Elska?”
“Applying nipple tint to make them stand out a little more from my breasts. Vish recommended it, but because my breasts are alabaster white and my nipples and areolae are pale pink I use a deeper shade than hers. Her skin is more golden amber. She says since her nipples are brown not pink she only needs to use it on her areolae.”
“But why is it necessary?”
In tones implying he was being a bit dim she replied, “So when I wear anything thin without a bra or with one of these,” she held a quarter cup bra under her breasts and pushed it upwards to demonstrate her nipples thrusting forward over the top, “my nipples are more obvious.”
“I’m not going to ask.”
“But I’ll answer the question anyway. To make sure you keep looking at my nipples and not someone else’s. Satisfied?”
“I give up.” The couple still had their disagreements and an old one had just been reopened. Elska had always wanted Thorkill to help her into her underwear and he’d always refused. “I’ve told you before, I’m quite prepared to fasten your bras from behind, tighten the laces on your corsets till you can’t breathe, zip up your dresses and button your blouses, but much as I love watching you putting your knickers on I’m not going to help you.”
The latter made her pout and declare, “You don’t have to touch me helping me on with my knickers, and they’re called basques not corsets, so there.”
“I’m still not doing it, and, regardless of what those instruments of female self torture are called, I’m not fastening front fastening bras or buttoning blouses if you’re wearing one of those quarter cup bras either, but I’ll compromise. I’ll fasten your stockings and suspender belts and even install garters on your thighs but only if you are wearing knickers, and that does not include those butterfly knickers which leave your delightful pouting charms fully visible and far too easy to touch if you start squirming as you do due to your ticklishness.
“But knickers go on after suspender belts!”
“Too bad, and don’t tell lies. You can put your knickers on first and slide the suspenders under them, but you do that not me, because I know you’d take advantage of me if you had my hands in your knickers.”
“Oh! I wasn’t telling lies, truly, Thorkill. I never thought of that because I’ve never done it that way. I’ve only ever dressed the way Vish taught me. I’ll do it like you suggest, but are you sure you wouldn’t like to get your hands in my knickers? And anyway you taking advantage of me is the whole point of me getting your hands in my knickers. You can if you like. Promise I won’t struggle any more than ticklishness makes me.”
“Stop it, Witch. I’ll retract my accusation of lying and put it down to innocence, but that’s as far as your innocence goes. I’m certain I would like to get my hands in your knickers, but—”
“I know patience. Don’t you ever tell lies, Thorkill? Even little white lies? You have no idea how dispiriting it is to be told by the man I have sexual fantasies about that he’d love to have his hands in my knickers and then to be told it’s only going to happen in my fantasies.”
“Yes, patience, and no I won’t lie to you. Those fantasies will have to suffice till we can legally take advantage of each other and I promise I won’t struggle either. I’ll even let you take both my hands and put them in your knickers. How does that sound?”
“Not good. Sounds like you’re wimping out and reneging on your promise to ravish me. You’ve always held me to my word, which I have to say was unscrupulous of you taking advantage of me at the age of eleven when I was far too young to appreciate what you would be denying me, and as for making me promise in front of Granddad and Vish that was the most underhanded bit of it all. So, I’m going to hold you to your word. I demand to be ravished. If I’m not I’ll cry. Actually I quite like the idea of being ravished all night, till I can hear the dawn chorus at least. If it’s going to be a problem I’ll tell the cooks to start including ginseng in all your food. How does that sound?”
“Wonderful, but you still haven’t put your knickers on, and we’re supposed to be at the stables in less than half an hour.”
After Elska put her butterfly knickers on she carefully adjusted their separation and herself so they displayed everything they were supposed to display. As she did she blushed and asked, “Do you really think my ‘charms’ pout and are delightful?”As she asked she pushed her hips forward so as to afford Thorkill a better view.
Without a trace of embarrassment Thorkill moved so as to see better. “Without a doubt. They express your dissatisfaction at not getting all your own way as eloquently and delightfully as your face, and let me guess, Viivishkava encouraged you to buy and wear those knickers and quarter cup bras?”
“Of course! She’s very sophisticated. I was a bit shocked at first, but she didn’t need to encourage me. They’re silk. We bought loads of undies when we went shopping in London last week. I love shopping in the sales, it relieves that feeling of depression when Christmas and Hogmanay are just a memory. That’s when I got my nipple tint. She got some lace up basques that she said were of a type only worn by ladies of the absolute highest society and expensive Parisian whores. She looks stunning in them, just like a dominatrix. She bought the whip too just for a laugh. You can see everything, and her charms are very pretty, her nipples too. She said traditionally men buy underwear for their wives in Harlot Scarlet and for their mistresses in Obscene Green. She bought some in both colours. You know what? I think she’s got her eyes on Granddad. I do hope so because if he’s on the run from Vish in her new undies he won’t have the time to be making my life difficult.” She chuckled and continued, “And it’ll serve him right. I wonder if she’s really going to use that whip on him. I’ll ask her. But back to our sex life.”
“Elska, we don’t have a sex life!”
“I know. That’s my whole point, and I want one. Vish said you’d love these knickers and the bras just because you could see my ‘charms’ as you put it and my nipples, and that I owed it to myself to prepare you for our wedding night. After all you promised to ravish me, and I’ll have to look absolutely ravishing and ravishable because I don’t want my ravisher to be totally in control of himself do I? Is ravishable a word do you think?”
“I doubt it, it sounds like you just made it up, but it does seem right in the context. Viivishkava was right. I do love them, almost as much as I love looking at what they fail to cover, and I promise you after years of self control I’m sure I shall be out of control enough, Wretch, to satisfy even your wanton desires and fantasies. But tell me, how do you ensure your charms are always so delightful? And turn round so I can fasten that ridiculous bra.”
“You mean hairless?”
“Yes.”
“Genetics. I don’t have any body hair at all. Nor does Vish now. I did that for her a while back. You must have seen her when we’ve been swimming. It’s very popular now. It’s easy and since it’s already in the sequencer it takes less than three hours. I must have resequenced near enough every girl and woman from birth to the oldest who lives here for no body hair, wrinkles, cellulite and stretch marks along with tiny inner labia, so nothing protrudes, and easy periods. I put them together as a package and am working on including some womanly repsyching too. The good thing is any girls born to them will inherit the lot, and their boys will pass it on, so there can’t be many more to do. Would you like to settle my breasts in the cups? Or even adjust my knickers?”
“Yes, I would, but I’m not going to. As to you, Viivishkava and the others parading your charms, I just thought you shaved, waxed or used that cream I’ve seen advertised. Gunar the sniper is going out with one of the girls who does laser hair removal, and he told me there’s a team in the Health and Beauty Spa who specialise in depilation, so I just assumed you all availed yourselves of the facility. Here’s your blouse, if you’re insisting on that bra you’ll have to button it up yourself. Tell me, do the other girls of your age at school have this kind of conversation with their boyfriends?”
“I don’t know. I’ve never talked about you or us to anyone outside the family because Angus says it’s not safe, so I don’t hear much about that sort of thing. The girls know you own Towering Security, are my bodyguard and that we are engaged. They also know my ring truly is an engagement ring and that we are planning on getting married on my sixteenth birthday and I want a family as soon as possible, but that’s all they know. They don’t know about us kissing and cuddling and me sitting on your knee. They know we go camping, shooting, fishing and things with some of the team and that either Judith or Hannah is always with us, but they don’t know we share a tent or that you sleep in my room when we’re not here. They’ve seen me kissing some of the team especially Alexandre, but they know they’re just family kisses. I’ve been asked about Alexandre because when he’s coming straight from home to school for me he always stops at the grocery shop in Millersthwaite that sells sweets to buy some sherbet lemons for me. The shop and the flat over it is owned by The Towers and lived in by Jane in accounts and her wife who is Vivienne’s sister. I share them with the girls and they all agree they’re worth way more than a kiss. I’ve never kissed you when you collect me from school because I know I couldn’t make it look like a family kiss. A couple of them fancy Lev, but I’ve told them because he’s security I’m not telling them anything about him nor playing match maker. I told Alexandre about it and I noticed Lev has never been at school since which is good because he deserves better.”
Thorkill said, “I know. Alex told me. That was a sensible and clever thing to do.”
Elska resumed when it was clear Thorkill was not going to say any more. “I know I’m not supposed to, but Angus told me to use my communication centre to make them nervous on the few times when they were prying, but I’ve not had to do it for a long time. The last time was about Lev, but now they just don’t ask. I doubt that they have conversations like us though because unlike mine their boyfriends have been making love to them for years.” There was a hard edge with a hint of bitterness in her voice as Elska made her last remark.
It always surprised Thorkill when Elska referred to Angus as a separate person whom she talked and listened to, but he was pleased to hear that Angus was still Elska’s inner voice of caution and a source of instant protection. “That time those girls attacked you, did Angus tell you to release their bladders?”
“No. There wasn’t time. He just did it. Afterwards he shewed me what he’d done and explained how to do it. He also taught me how to control the severity of it because if uncontrolled the pain can kill a person. He wasn’t pleased when I lost control with those boys and spent ages teaching me how to avoid letting anyone provoke me.” There was a long silence before Elska said, “Thorkill, there’s something I’ve been meaning to tell you for ages about those boys. Granddad and Vish know, but I said I wanted to tell you when I was ready.”
“Though I was flattered by your reaction to the prospect of having your ring taken off you I would far rather you lost the ring than I lost you.”
“I know, or at least I understand that now, but that’s not it. Threatening to steal my ring was just the final straw. What made me so angry wasn’t that but they were going to rape me. It wasn’t even that that made me lose my temper. Raping me would have stolen my virginity from you, and I couldn’t allow them to steal that from you. I promised you it would be yours as a gift and I keep my promises. What’s really scary is that if Angus hadn’t been able to stop me I would have killed all four of them.” Elska sniffed, before continuing, “I didn’t tell you before because I was scared you would stop loving me or even hate me. Do you still love me?”
Thorkill smiled as he hugged her and said, “Of course I do. Those boys were lucky you dealt with them because if I’d been there they would be dead. I don’t have Angus to stop me.”
“May I kiss you now? Properly?”
“Yes, but we’re going to be late, and you need to finish dressing.”
They enjoyed their ride and spent some time walking their horses side by side so they could hold hands whilst thinking. On their way back to the stables they raced across the last field. As they drew up in front of the stable block, they could see Jacqueline the head groom waiting to take care of their mounts. Jacqueline was married to Penelope one of the senior gardeners. They lived at The Towers and had twin nineteen year old daughters, Ashlay and Carla, both of who had worked in the stables and on the farm during educational holidays since as far back as they could remember. Ashlay and Carla had both been accepted to read veterinary science by The School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Glasgow in October. Walking back to the house, Elska asked. “Since we came back from Cornwall, you’ve never once used Vish to settle our arguments, Thorkill. What’s changed?”
“You have. Your thinking is more mature and your self control is better, but mostly it’s because it’s none of her business any more. It’s an intimate matter between us, and will shortly be between myself and my wife. It’s fine with me if you talk to Viivishkava about us because you want her advice, but that is then a matter of you choosing as a daughter to talk to your mum, it’s not being imposed on you. Despite the presence of Angus in you, you were a little girl, but though not a woman yet you are no longer a little girl.”
After that holiday to Cornwall Thorkill had a hold on Elska that was as tight as hers on him and things between them were a lot easier for him. Djuvec and Viivishkava noticed the difference and both told him Elska was growing up, but advised him to work it for all it was worth because if he backed up by so much as a millimetre Elska would undoubtedly push forward a mile. Thorkill considered it to be sound advice, so over the next year and a half he stuck to his principles and made sure Elska was always aware that she had something to lose if she stepped too far over what he considered the boundaries of acceptable behaviour. He and Viivishkava filled her holidays, weekends and evenings with activities to keep her busy and her hormones under control. When she wasn’t writing, painting, sewing, shopping or doing whatever she did with Viivishkava in beauty salons, hairdressers, and at fashion shews, learning to drive and use the farm machinery with Pierre, or flying with Gustav she was target shooting on the range under the warehouse, involved in self defence in the gymnasium or riding with various members of the team. Thorkill took Elska pigeon shooting on the estate, grouse shooting in Scotland, pheasant shooting in Yorkshire, deer stalking in Scotland and the States, ratting with Jack Russells with a friend near Manchester, ferreting for rabbits with another friend in Sussex, hawking in France, horse racing at Aintree where she lost money, greyhound racing at Dundalk where she made almost as much money as she’d lost at Aintree, coarse fishing on the estate, fishing for rainbows at a local reservoir, grayling on the Avon, pike on Esthwaite Water, seatrout on the Severn, big game fish in the Caribbean, salmon in Alaska and on numerous other such activities which were the highlights of Elska’s life. These trips were always accompanied by at least a dozen of the team including one of the women, but since they were all friends in the know Elska felt the couple were on their own and was relatively satisfied with life.
It was nine-ish in the evening in early March and Elska was enjoying kissing and cuddling Thorkill whilst sitting on his knee in one of her bedroom armchairs when Alexandre and Thomas burst in on them without knocking.
“You need to keep a tighter watch on your desk, Thorkill, and try turning your mobile on,” Thomas said accusingly. Elska and Thorkill could hear the unsaid, ‘Instead of indulging yourself like a hormone driven teenager.’
“Enough, Thomas. We got a serious problem, Boss, but it’s under control. Elska you need to hear this too. Sorry about barging in like that.” However, Alexandre didn’t seem in the least bit remorseful.
Seeing the looks on their faces, Elska got off Thorkill’s lap and went to her phone, “Elsie, it’s Elska. Send three glasses and a decanter of brandy up to my rooms will you please. I’ve got three men in here who look like they need it.” The three men couldn’t hear Elsie, but it was obvious what she’d asked from Elska’s response. “Yes, the good stuff, and tea for me please. Earl Grey for choice. Thank you.” She put her phone down and said, “You two look like you need it and I suspect my belovèd will shortly.”
“Go on, Alex, and my apologies, Thomas, but my mobile is on. Look. No texts, nor missed calls. I’ll get another and have this one checked by the techies.”
“I’ll let Thomas start, Thorkill.”
“Sorry, Thorkill, Elska, I shouldn’t have said that. I know … Hell! I’m sorry.”
Elska looked at Thomas and said gently, “It’s okay, Thomas. You’re with friends. Forget it and tell us what we need to know. Okay?”
“Thanks, Elska. Just before lunch a routine auto-monitoring surveillance package, sorry, Elska, that’s a computer managed and decoded telephone tap, drew itself to our attention sufficiently to have the line monitored by a technician. We now know one of the Colombian drug cartels knows that Diego is part of the team. We’ve intercepted photos of him in the grounds with the warehouse in the background. We worked out the photos were taken with an extreme high power digitally enhanced telephoto lens from one of those ruined houses across the vale. Judith has taken steps to make sure it can’t be done that way in future and in such a way that a sniper can’t use any of the upper storey windows, one of which was where the photographer had his hide. Lev and Judith are going to level the buildings in the small hours just to make doubly sure. I’ll tell Viivishkava we should be buying up everything we can over there regardless of price. We know the photographer is one of them, not someone from over here just paid to take some photos. He’ll have taken his last photo in a few days at most. Antonio is dealing with the matter.” This was the first time Elska had ever been present when any of the team had referred to assassination as opposed to killing or being killed during a confrontation, but though she knew that was an integral part of their profession she wasn’t in any way perturbed. Diego was family.
Thomas indicated Alexandre was to continue. “As Thomas said, we knew most of that by lunchtime and Joe has been talking to Diego for me regards what he wants to do about it. We thought we’d got a few days whilst they organised sending men over here, but Thomas’ snoops found out a quarter of an hour ago that they’ve already got men over here and they’re coming. Probably anything up to a hundred of them, possibly tonight, but more likely tomorrow night or the one after, but it will be soon. It is obvious from their comms they think we live like they do and that there are only about a dozen of us on the team and the rest are servants. Idiots put that together as a result of seeing Frank carrying a round of drinks out of the bar on a tray onto the terrace. I put the entire security team on full alert as soon as I heard. Whilst you were out riding, every door, window and entrance that can be locked, shuttered or otherwise made secure has been, and been checked by two different groups of the team. Two other combat ready groups will check again whilst the first two groups go through combat readiness drill. At the same time, I sent for a couple of thousand men as soon as they can make it here. Sorry if I overstepped the mark there, Thorkill, but I thought you’d rather I did than we lost someone due to a lack of men that could have been avoided. Elska always says if we need more money she’ll get it for us, she’s produced hundreds of millions in days before, and I reckoned twenty million max if the auxiliaries are here a week and we have a full scale conflict. I’d have had you told sooner, but I was busy and, after instructing that a note be dropped on your desk, your mobile texted, and you be located, forgot about it thinking to catch up with you at dinner or at the latest tonight’s briefing. Then I got a call from Murph to go to the armoury, and we still haven’t eaten. I suspect others were equally busy and forgetful, so when this is over I’ll order a review of internal comms and procedures.”
Thorkill just smiled in acknowledgement of the appropriateness of Alexandre’s judgement and actions, but Elska picked up her phone again. “Elsie, Elska again. There’s a security problem and Alexandre and Thomas missed dinner. They may not be the only ones. Could you arrange some meals that can be eaten on the move with flasks of hot soup, coffee and tea. How many? Oh, play it safe. Say a hundred to start with, and can we have them delivered to Gordon, he’ll take it from there. Send something up for Alexandre and Thomas too please. Yes. Thank you.”
Alexandre smiled and said, “Thanks, Elska. We should have four, five hundred here within a couple of hours, Thorkill, midnight at the latest. Pierre’s arranging accommodation in the warehouse. Diego’s briefed us, and we’re thinking the Colombians will use their usual hardware and we’re planning on using the same to make any ballistics identification more problematic, but for preference we’ll use tranks and go hand to hand. That will be quieter, Elska.”
The brandy, coffee and tea arrived with a plate of sandwiches. Elska gave Alexandre the plate, and he and Thomas started on their belated meal. After pouring coffee and brandy for the men and tea for herself, Elska asked, “Why are they after Diego in particular?”
“He’s responsible for putting dozens of them behind bars and thousands more in body bags over the last thirty years. They’ve been after him for a long time,” Alexandre explained.
“But now they know for certain what he looks like he needs a new identity which is why I said you need to hear this.”
“What are we talking here? A complete resequencing with documentation to match?” Elska asked.
“Yes. Doable?”
“Of course. No problem.” She looked at Alexandre and Thomas and seeing the looks on their faces asked, “What’s going on, Alexandre?”
“Diego is a balding, five foot, fifty-two year old, Hispanic male,” Alexandre looked uncertain.
“And?”
“Joe told me he’d like to be a stacked, hippy, five and a half foot, Irish female complete with white skin, red hair, green eyes and freckles. He kinda likes the name Siobhan, and he wants to still be able to sing.” Alexandre completed his delivery in a rush as if fearful of being thought stupid.
A full body resequencing of this order usually took up to ten days of complete bed rest and required low level doses of analgesics and possibly anti inflammatory medication too, so Elska was silent as she thought about how to give Siobhan the protection she needed as quickly as possible. “Okay. I can do it a little differently with skeletal and external changes done first and quickly to make her safe as soon as possible. In her case there will be considerable long bone and tissue growth requiring significant nourishment initially to build them, and it will be very painful to do it so quickly, so I’ll do it under general anaesthetic. I’ll give her a high protein meal and a calcium enriched high fat milk drink before I start but it won’t be enough, so I’ll have to provide the rest through several drips and she’ll have to be strapped down to make sure she doesn’t dislodge any of the drips. I don’t want her dying of starvation on me. She’ll look like Siobhan by breakfast time, and I’ll bring her round twelve hours after I put her under so she can eat. She’ll feel like she’s starving. After she’s eaten as much as she can hold, I’ll put her under for another twelve hours and drip feed her again. It’ll take another three days to finish, but other than her breasts, bottom and hips which will more or less finish developing by the end of the second day, the rest will be all internal changes so they won’t shew. To prevent Siobhan being in too much pain, she’ll require more than the usual medication, possibly even diamorphine derivatives, but she’ll be safe. I may just keep her under till she can leave the infirmary. Because of the speed of it she’ll be disoriented and clumsy for a day or two, so because I want her up and about as soon as possible I’d appreciate a big man to help her walk about and prevent her hurting herself for at least twenty-four hours.”
“Christ, Elska, just like that‽” Alexandre reached for his coffee and pushed the plate towards Thomas, “You have the last one, Thomas. That’ll do me. Good meal, Elska. Thanks. Rare roast beef sandwiches with horse radish, dark roast, bitter, black coffee and smuggled, over strength brandy. Bloody perfect.” Thomas nodded in agreement as he ate the last sandwich.
“Siobhan is family, Alexandre. Think about my origins. We have no right to question her choices. She has unquestioningly put her life on the line to protect us a number of times. Now our obligation is to protect her. As soon as Siobhan has told you everything you need to know, I want one of you to have her taken to my inner lab and tell her to undress completely and get into bed. There are nighties and pyjamas there, but I’d rather she didn’t wear either because I’ll want to monitor the long bone changes, please make her aware of that and that I’ll provide some knickers when I get there. Thorkill, kiss me once more and then get into hellfire, mayhem and slaughter mode. I’ll be very upset if we lose anyone. I want some assistance in the hospital just in case anyone is hurt, so, Alexandre, organise someone to find me one of the team with first aid and combat wound experience, please. There are thirty or more, but I’m not sure who is away on refreshers at the moment.”
Alexandre laught and said, “No problem, but Diego would have been my first choice. He’s got a full set of up to date tickets. I’ll tell Glenn to assist you. He’s big, so I’ll tell him to stay with you till Diego, sorry, Siobhan doesn’t need his help any more. This little escapade should be over by then.”
Yet again the three men marvelled at the speed with which Elska’s mind worked and how for her Diego was already Siobhan complete with female pronouns. She’d managed half a dozen full body resequences for the team before but had always had time on her side and the men who needed the process had all remained men. For the three of them Diego becoming Siobhan was somehow different, but clearly it was not for Elska. They were aware she’d resequenced males to females before, and a female to male too, but they’d been other employees of The Towers whom most of the team only knew socially. There was no us and them in the relationships between members of the team and other employees, indeed Kebar of the team had married and started a family with Jennifer an electronics technician who’d been Jason, and despite neither ever having said anything concerning marriage to any one Antonio of the team and Geneviève of accounts had been living together happily for a few years now. Frank of the team and Florence of marketing were talking about a wedding and a couple of other members of the team had stable relationships with women who’d been men and possibly a dozen and a half of the team had settled down with women who worked in various capacities for The Towers. It was just that the much more intense and intimate relationships the team members had with each other were based on a professional awareness that they regularly held each others lives in their hands for safekeeping and they had been Elska’s family for a lot longer than the others had worked for The Towers, though they were becoming closer to the other staff.
When Elska arrived at her inner lab, which was like a small private hospital ward with a lot of computerised equipment in it as well as four sophisticated hospital beds, Siobhan was in bed and looking uncomfortable. “Siobhan, I understand you want a classic Irish body type with generous bosom and hips. Is that correct?”
Diego settled by Elska’s use of Siobhan and her matter of fact attitude replied, “Yes. I’d like to look like Gabriella O’Linus, the Irish politician. Not exactly the same, but like her.”
Elska produced from her briefcase some underwear that whilst not overly feminine in any way were clearly women’s knickers rather than menswear. “These will allow you some modesty whilst allowing me to monitor your long bone growth. They are women’s knickers but will work for you before as well as after your resequencing. There is no need to be embarrassed for as far as I am concerned you have been a woman from the moment I became aware you were Siobhan which was half an hour before I entered this room. Elska handed Diego a pair and put the others in a drawer in the bedside cabinet. Elska consulted her bio-online link and said, “Gabriella O’Linus is now fifty-six. How old would you like to be? Most in your position chose eighteen to twenty so as to have their adult life in front of them, but I can sequence you as anything from newborn to over a hundred yet still with years of life in front of you.”
“Eighteen sounds good. What would I look like?”
“I’ve had the sequencer interrogate the pictures of Gabriella on the net regarding her appearance. Of course the rest of your proposed genetics will be little like hers, for a start you won’t develop breast cancer and require a double radical mastectomy at forty-four, and our default includes no body hair at all, easy periods and no wrinkles with age. Your entire genetics will be clean of all health problems, but in a moment the screen will shew the sequencer’s understanding of Gabriella’s physical development from a baby to old age which when satisfactory to you will be your potential physical development. We can stop your ageing at any point or slow it by any desired ratio. It would not be safe to be eighteen forever as Siobhan but of course Siobhan could just disappear if we resequenced you as someone else. Eventually we are going to have to do that for all of us. But back to the present, I can alter anything the screen shews you at any stage to anything you want. Don’t be shy about anything, by that I mean if you want to be taller or shorter, have a lighter or heavier build, bigger or smaller breasts, different shaped breasts, nipples, areolae, the shade of hair or eyes isn’t right, too many or too few freckles, not enough or too much hip and bottom, narrower or wider waist, you need to tell me.
“I can alter details later but for your peace of mind as you change from the woman you are to the woman you wish to be it is better to have as much as we can the way you want it from as early as possible. All my female resequencings have pelvic structures and a few other characteristics designed for easy childbirth and successful nursing. They are non-negotiable because no one can predict when pregnancy occurs and resequencing a pregnant woman is not wise for the baby’s sake. A consequence of some of those changes is almost instant pregnancy for most women as soon as they stop using contraception. Another is nipple structure and shape during lactation is designed for successful nursing. For your safety I’m going to have your appearance altered as quickly as the sequencer can do it which will require a general anaesthetic after you have eaten as much as you can hold to build the new tissue your bigger body will require. Watch the five minute clip on the screen and say stop when there’s anything you wish altered. I can shew you pictures that may help you decide what you want.”
Siobhan said stop a few times and each time Elska altered what Siobhan desired changed and reran the clip. At the end Siobhan had lost all embarrassment concerning her new appearance and said, “I’m happy with my hips, bottom, waist and height. My eye and hair colours are beautiful, and I love my legs, arms, feet and hands, but my face, freckles and breasts aren’t right, but I don’t know how to describe why, and I’d like a flatter tummy please.”
“When you have your eyes tested, during one test the optician asks is this better or this as they turn the lenses over, Yes?”
“Yes.”
“I’ll do the same or at least the sequencer will, and then the image of yourself on the clip will gradually home in on what you want.”
“Okay.”
Half an hour later, Siobhan had her tummy, face, freckles and breasts to her satisfaction, and when Elska reran the clip was delighted by her new self to be which to her surprise was nothing like Gabriella O’Linus. After Siobhan had eaten, Elska had the imagery transferred to the sequencer DNA unit and four hours after meeting Elska Siobhan slid into unconsciousness looking at images of what she would look like when she awoke. As Elska had said twelve hours later Siobhan awoke desperately hungry, she ate till she could hold no more and was rendered unconscious again not having been aware of her brief time of consciousness. Elska decided to keep Siobhan under till all changes were over and Siobhan had been aware of nothing till she was awakened and Elska handed her over to the care of Judith and Hannah rather than Glenn with details of what they needed to be watchful for and what they needed to contact her about.
As Alexandre had said he had hundreds of auxiliaries at The Towers long before midnight. Some dossed down in the warehouse and others set up camps just inside of the perimeter wall with patrols on both sides of it. The inner patrol used the walkway on the inside of the wall that offered protection but enabled them to see and shoot over it. Others were deployed about the house and buildings and set their camps at strategic positions nearby. At three in the morning, Alexandre was checking who was where and doing what when Joe tapped his shoulder and said, “Want the good news or the bad news first, Alex?”
“Go on.”
“The good news is Herman, the South African bloke Geoff recommended, has arrived with his dogs and their handlers. The bad news is he’s got sixty or so really big dogs and we’re going have to pay for a lot of dog food unless they can find some Colombians to eat. Herman says they’re not at all fussy and will eat anyone he tells them to. They are the only completely silent dogs I’ve ever come across. Bloody unnerving I can tell you. Herman says it’s just down to training and if the enemy doesn’t know the dogs are there he doesn’t lose anywhere near as many when it gets messy. They are really friendly and I asked him what breed they were, and he said he bred them himself and just refers to them as Hounds because folk would get nervous at the idea of dogs bred to be strong enough to hunt and kill folk. He also said he’s got a couple of dozen bitches in pup back home bred to one hundred kilo Japanese fighting dogs, and the dogs aren’t dangerous. He reckons they have to be trained to work, but I noticed all the handlers carry handguns loaded with tranks. Telling you, that man is certifiable, nice bloke though, but am I glad he’s on our side. One of his handlers told me they’ve a bit of bloodhound in them and their tracking ability is awesome.”
Alexandre grinned and said, “I’d call that good news and better news, where are they bunking? I’ll pay him a visit.”
“The hay barn next to the stables. The dogs are enjoying themselves in some broken straw bales, and Otto his son and number two is settling the off duty shift in and Herman’s taken the rest on perimeter patrols outside the walls. They’ll have been out there, oh must be twenty minutes now. The food, cook trailers and associated stuff have all been delivered to every one and they’re starting to eat in rotas. Gordon is in his element, says if you give a mob of hungry mercs a quarter of beef you’ve got friends for life and he’s got lots of beef. He’s ordered a couple of tons of dog kibble off a guy who is delivering first thing tomorrow, sorry that’s later today, and made sure any food scraps are available for the dogs. Thomas says everyone we contacted has said they’ll be here by daylight, so if the bastards don’t try it on in what’s left of tonight we’ll be fully set and ready for them. If they do it’ll be a bit busy here if they arrive when any of our friends do, but Thomas is in contact with those who haven’t yet arrived and monitoring the approaches and says he can prevent accidental contact. By midday, I’ll have significant numbers of fully rested men out-posting on all roads up to five miles away and Thomas’ snoops will hear anything with an engine on the ground or in the air. There’s no way they’ll drop in at night and we’ll spot them in daylight. Pierre says he hopes they do because he’s modified his new flame thrower and he’s desperate to field test it. Jerry thinks it’s hilarious, but has promised to keep Pierre under control. Though I think it’s a shame to disappoint a real enthusiast like Pierre. He ought to get some fun out of life.” Joe’s smile matched Alexandre’s, positively evil.
Though he only knew a few of them many of the mercs had been friends of some of the team for decades, and Thorkill was much happier when later that afternoon after three hours of sleep he’d toured all the reinforcements and realised all were fully fed, rested and ready after their precipitous response to Alexandre’s request for their immediate services. He’d got no worries. The Colombians were just city thugs with guns used to dealing with terrified unarmed farmers and shopkeepers. He’d now got a massive numerical superiority and his army were all professional assassins and killers with up to date sophisticated equipment and a wide range of skills. They were used to going up against superior numbers armed with military hardware, not frightened women and children.
Geoff, a massive man with twinkling eyes who’d spent forty years fighting all over the world, asked, “You got any idea why they’ve decided to hit you now, Thorkill?”
“They found out Diego was working for me. You remember Diego?”
“Yeah, little guy, so good you could be looking straight at him from a few yards and miss him. A first class intelligence collector with serious combat skills. He’s been a right royal pain in their arses for half a lifetime. He’s given me a few free tip-offs over the years. I owe him. You know they’ll not stop till they get him, and it’s not safe for him to stay here, so he’s welcome to join my lads under a different name, or have you come up with something else?”
“He’s going to die. Fact is he’s working on it right now. They’re writing ever such a nice eulogy for him. After he’s finished dying, I’ll tell him about your offer, he’ll be grateful. If ever any of your lads get in a similar situation, or get hurt bad, get them here. As long as they’re still alive we can fix them up better than new. We’ll sort out bombproof new identity documents too. No charge. Call it a courtesy extended to a comrade in arms who’s fallen on hard times amongst thieves. You can spread that amongst our friends.”
“Thanks, I’ll bear it in mind. Don’t tell me any more, but are you really that good?”
“I wasn’t planning on saying much more, but yes we really are that good. No need for prosthetics, for the new therapies can regenerate new limbs, organs and different faces. We’re the best in the world. If need be, your own mum wouldn’t know you, and we could provide genuine documentation proving you were her mum. Elska told me to tell you to get all the lads and lasses registered here as patients and to make sure if they hit any health problems of any kind mental or physical they get in touch. She’ll want blood and tissue samples so that the data is in her system. That way buys someone time if they end up here in need of immediate help. She’s working on something that will provide internal healing and buy time for someone hurt badly till they can be brought here. I’ve no idea how close she is to it becoming reality, but I’ll let you know as soon as possible so you can get your team here to be treated. Impress on the troops the importance of registering, but try not to say too much and make sure the details aren’t generally available.”
“I know what you mean, and I know a few who will appreciate it. She’ll have a run on regeneration for a few months. Is she okay with that?”
“Yes. No issues.”
“Thanks. You reckon they’ll hit us tonight?”
“Alex thinks tonight or tomorrow night, he suspects tonight because they’ll know the longer they leave it the greater the chance of someone selling them out. Thomas’ snoops are trying to track movements of anyone who might be associated with them, but we haven’t got any hard intelligence on who or how many and what they’ll be using yet. Alex thinks no more than a hundred because they can’t buy the loyalty of more than that so far away from their base without risking being sold out. Loyalty is not a commodity that scum understand or deal in. We’ve offers out of serious money for information, but had no nibbles yet.”
“Alex knows his stuff, but what does Diego think? He knows them better than anyone.
“Well Diego won’t be available for a few hours, he’s a bit busy dying at the moment.”
“Huh! Well, if I don’t ask, you don’t tell. Not always been the best policy. It didn’t work for the Yanks, but like everything else there are times and places where it’s perfect.”
Alex was wrong, they didn’t arrive that night, but the twenty-three men who arrived just after three in the morning of the following night had been monitored for a couple of hours before their vehicles had pulled up. They were hopelessly outclassed, vastly outnumbered and tempted down an easy seeming, poorly lit approach left for them. They hadn’t been aware of the presence of the killers they had so obligingly invited to practise their craft. None had reached the estate wall and all had been taken out within a few seconds of each other using compressed air rifles firing tranquilliser darts loaded with a cocktail containing carfentanil a synthetic opioid used as a conventional wildlife tranquilliser capable of knocking down or even killing a seven and a half ton elephant, which was as big as ever recorded. The men were never to be a problem to anyone again, for they didn’t awaken. Edward, who before joining a mercenary force in South Africa had been ordained in the Anglican Communion and been a curate and then the vicar of a small parish in what had been Westmorland, said a few words over the corpses which had then been rolled onto plastic sheeting, wrapped and placed in a slurry tanker under cover of darkness. Their disposal had only taken minutes, for the sequencer could generate substances that could turn anything of cellular origins into unicellular organisms with appropriate DNA and anything else of organic origins like plastic into simple molecules like carbon dioxide and water. The tanker of unicellular sludge, which contained no traces of anything mammalian never mind human, had been topped up with liquid manure, generated by The Towers’ dairy farm’s milking parlour, from a slurry tank. The tanker contents would be injected directly into the fields by the farm’s equipment to feed the shortly to be sown spring barley.
Joe had remarked cynically to Murph, “I suppose you could say they’ve been well and truly liquidated.”
“What I like about it, Joe, is you really don’t want to leave that sort of shite just lying about on the ground, now do you? And that’s a knacky piece of kit on that tractor that puts the shite where it ought to be: underground. And I really approve of washing out that tanker afterwards and injecting the rinse water into the ground too. You just never know what you could catch from that kind of slime.” Murph silently passed a Havana cigar and his cutter to Joe before lighting his own. They enjoyed the luxury of Murph’s expensive cigars, which he obtained from the Cuban company who made them and had a bonded warehouse and tobacconist’s shop in London, for a quarter of an hour before Murph remarked, “Funny that. Edward being a priest I mean. Who’d a thought it. He’s a natural merc. I only found out when I saw him take out over a dozen on his own with nothing more than a stick and a four inch knife. By the time the rest of us caught up with him to help it was all over, and he was on his knees in the middle of their guts praying for their immortal souls. I’m tellin’ you that scared the bejesus out of the rest of us. That’s when he told us he was a priest, and a good Catholic boy like meself from Dublin in God’s own country was shocked, shocked to the core. That was somewhere in the Middle East, can’t just remember where, maybe ten, twelve years back. He’s awful good in a tight place, just the man you want watching your back, Joseph, but a bloody priest fer Christ’s sake!”
When Murph had called him Joseph, Joe realised he was truly disturbed by the memory and not just recounting a good tale. “Yeah well it takes all sorts, Murph, and we all make mistakes. I’ll take my time finishing this, for a smoke this good shouldn’t be rushed, and then I’m off for a decent breakfast and a skinful. You coming? I’ve a box of three thousand Capstans to go with the whiskey, if of course you’re interested?”
Murph smiled and said, “That I am. All this work has given me a hunger, and a good fry of eggs, bacon and mushrooms with all the extras would settle my nerves a treat. I haven’t touched the drink since this started. You know after I’ve taken a drop if I like it I may just take another. There’s just been a delivery to the bar and I’ve heard there’s a couple of pallets of twenty year old Bushmills out of bourbon casks and a lake of Donegal Mountain Dew just waiting for an appreciative set of taste buds. That brandy that Thorkill gets is damned fine stuff, but sometimes a man has to revisit his roots, if you catch my drift. I’m only joining you just to keep you company and be sociable you understand. Capstans you say? I haven’t had any of the Full Strength since the last time we took a drop together. I think I’d rather give up tobacca altogether than smoke the pathetic offerings that seem to be all you can easily buy these days. And I’m bloody sick of the government telling me what a fecking eejit I am for smoking and then taking over twenty-five punts a pack off me for the privilege of reading their shite every time I want to enjoy blowing a cloud.”
“Rest easy, Murph. These were completely duty free. In fact like the poteen I’d go so far as to say the taxman is completely unaware of their existence.”
Not a firearm shot had been fired, and all the intruders’ weapons and other equipment that needed to be disposed of permanently as soon as possible had formed part of Pierre’s next furnace feed for his foundry. What little was left of the invader’s clothes and equipment had been put into their three vehicles, which they’d left well off the road in woodland three miles from the estate perimeter. The vehicles had been driven out to be grabbed by Pierre’s crusher, a one hundred and eighty ton machine on a four axled trailer towed by a heavy haulage tractor unit using a fifth wheel coupling. Usually the crusher had a long extending arm with a five clawed grab at the end, but Pierre had had the grab replaced by a huge electromagnet so as to leave no broken glass as evidence. The magnet lifted the vehicles and dropped them into the crush chamber which compressed them into bales. The bales had become part of a load that by lunchtime had joined thousands of others awaiting shredding at Liverpool docks. After shredding, the ferrous material would be loaded using an electromagnetic grab into a ship ultimately bound for China to be recycled as steel for new car bodies, the non ferrous metals separated out using a high frequency electromagnetic grab for further reprocessing, the plastics and rubber cycloned off to be turned into all weather sports surfaces and playground matting and what remained, mostly mud from under the wheel arches used for top soil on land reclamation projects. All of which Thorkill considered to be as fitting an end for their equipment as the end its owners had met.
A week later Diego’s death had been reported in the local papers and a Mass had been said for him in his home village when his ashes had been returned home.
All of the mercs had stayed at The Towers for ten days during which time they’d registered with Elska’s medical department, been checked over and had their data recorded in her sequencer’s memory. Thirty-eight of the mercs had required minor health and genetic issues to be remedied and for Elska to regenerate missing body parts. The most serious was a double leg regrowth, but the rest were nowhere near as serious. Geoff and the other merc commanders had given Elska a list of inactive ex mercs and their contact details who would require her services.
The Towers had been charged only enough to cover the mercs outfits’ costs and the mercs had left after a ten day all inclusive holiday in pleasant surroundings with free food and drink. They had all said words to the effect of, “It’s been a pleasure doing business with you, Thorkill. You run a very professional outfit. If you get any more problems just let us know. We’ll come a running, and thanks for telling us there’s a hospital here providing not just medical help but capable of providing a sanctuary and a new identity too. That’s a very obliging and clever little girl that has her hand round your heart. You look after her.”
The thirty-eight had all agreed should The Towers require their help in the future it would be free of charge, and they would cover their own costs. The mercs had all unknowingly been subject to involuntary discretion to ensure secrecy, but all remained aware that The Towers was now the hospital for mercs and could do wonders for the injured and those needing to drop off the authorities’ radar. The entire affair had been handled perfectly. It had been a complete non-event, and most of the inhabitants of The Towers had been unaware anything had happened.
Over the next twelve months Elska never had less than half a dozen mercs at The Towers undergoing regeneration of various kinds. Many returned back to work, but a few were happy to stay retired. All had discretion imposed, but all contacted other mercs who were told they could use Elska’s services when ever required.
A few days later Elska had asked, “Thorkill?”
“Yes. What can I do for you, Elska?”
“I truly don’t want to interfere in the way you command the team, but I didn’t like having to use the sequencer like that to protect Siobhan. Please don’t interrupt. This is not easy for me. I don’t want to create problems for you, so I’ve thought about it and have come up with a solution that doesn’t involve any killing. The Colombians will be back won’t they?”
“Almost certainly, despite Diego’s funeral arrangements. Probably several times. Why?”
“Instead of using tranks to kill them you could use the darts loaded with a resequencing formula that would say turn them into little girls and boys of any age, babies even. A body change of that order will be extremely painful if done quickly so I’d include an instant knock down and twenty four hours of general anaesthetic, by which time it will be long over, but at least I won’t have to worry about nourishment because they’ll be getting smaller not bigger. The extra body mass will be excreted as urine and passed as faeces, so I’ll need a way to deal with that. I’ll talk to Pierre about it. I wouldn’t have to wipe their memories if they were young enough, for they wouldn’t have any. All you need to deal with is their clothes and equipment. You could deal with the vehicles, but why bother? A few incautious words exchanged in a bar in the right part of Glasgow or Newcastle and someone would steal them. They’re not our vehicles, and will provide no evidence, so we know nothing, problem gone.”
“What do we do with the babies?”
“We already make substantial philanthropic donations. We could fund an adoption agency and orphanage, preferably a long way from here, dealing specifically with abandoned children with nothing known about them. If we found out where the largest number of such children currently turn up, we set it up there and help the genuine abandoned children too.”
Thorkill smiled, “It will work. We’ll need to refine the idea a bit, and I would prefer you resequenced them all as non-European girls of a single ethnicity. Best to choose an immigrant ethnicity with a significant population in the UK that traditionally places little or no value on girls. That way there will be just enough West Europeans, other ethnicities and boys to cloud the issue, but the authorities will focus their investigations on the majority ethnic group. The biggest problem would be transferring them from us to the orphanage, but I can see how that could be arranged. Yes. I’ll put some of the team on it, and ask Djuvec to have oversight of it.”
“Why specifically girls, not boys?”
“I don’t understand the details of repsyching, but it occurred to me that if there were ever to be any original memory or characteristics bleeding over into their new persona as they grow up it would be far safer if that new persona were a female who had been male.”
“I think it highly unlikely if the new person is a baby, but I understand your concerns and they make sense. Baby girls it is. If you come up with a preferred ethnicity let me know.”
“I was thinking whatever is the the most numerous ethnicity originating from the Indian sub-continent, it’s probably Islamic, but I’ll have the matter looked into by Djuvec, would provide the best camouflage, because the refusal of some of them to coöperate with the authorities for fear of exposing illegal immigrants would make any investigation nearly impossible for the authorities, and leave the authorities convinced they were responsible for dumping the little girls. Their refusal to integrate into wider UK society would work to our advantage. What do you think?
“I knew Granddad was cynical, but I’d no idea you were as bad as he, Thorkill. Okay, I agree, but no more slaughter and turning folk into fertiliser.”
“Agreed, but your grandfather is much more cynical than I. Why do you think I wanted him overseeing it?”
“You’re probably right, but thank you anyway. I know what you did was the best you could do to keep us all safe with so little warning, and I don’t regret my part in it. Siobhan is safe, and we are all safe too. But now we can prepare we don’t have the justifications we had last time, and someone will love those little girls who won’t grow up to be evil like those men.”
After a week during which she gradually learnt to walk and handle her new body Siobhan was learning what it meant to be a stunning looking woman in her late teens and had spent the morning in initial unarmed combat training with Judith and Hannah getting used to her new body’s fighting characteristics. She’d been trying out a new sports bra and been impressed, “I’ll order a few of these, Hannah. It’s much better when my bosom is prevented from moving because I don’t have to allow for any shift in my centre of gravity when moving in close for a killing blow. For the first time I actually feel confident about this.”
“I told you it will take time. There are some advantages to fighting in a woman’s body, not many I admit, and there are ways of offsetting the disadvantages, but there are a lot of things to get used to, not just finding a decent bra that suits you. Come on shower and lunch. You coming, Judith?”
“Yes. I’m hungry. One thing thing you won’t have to get used to thanks to Elska, Siobhan, is having to function when incapacitated by your period. That has made my life so much better. I can hardly believe it even now getting on for five years later. And of course it makes life a whole lot better for Thomas though we hadn’t started seeing each other in the days when I used to go through my wicked witch of the west routine every month.”
Queueing for lunch, as Pierre walked by Siobhan asked, “Do all men look at us like that?”
“All the time,” Hannah and Judith chorused laughing.
“Did I?”
“No not really. That’s why I wasn’t surprised by you resequencing as Siobhan. But don’t worry about it. Any of us would tell you, when men stop looking, it’s time to see Elska for resequencing,” Judith said with a chuckle. “Of course Pierre is French, so he’s worse than most, but he’s a perfect gentleman and wouldn’t dream of touching without permission, but he can peel you down to the skin with his eyes. He’s kinda cute though, don’t you think? But he’s in love with machinery, and no woman could ever compete with Behemoth for more than a night or two which doesn’t stop some from trying. I reckon the only woman who could keep him interested would have to be as obsessive as he regards machinery, or maybe a fembot. Pierre and Ava from Ex-machina, a matched couple don’t you think?”
“I noticed Lev looking at your derrière as you wriggled your way past him at lunch yesterday, and I’m certain your wriggle became just a trifle more exaggerated than usual. I heard you specifically asked for those hips, and why would you have done that if you’d no intentions of using what can only be described as weapons of mass distraction. You were trying it on, Girl, and don’t deny it. At his age his blood is running very warm, and he’s always been up for getting his fingers burnt by a bit of hot stuff. You that interested, Siobhan? Think carefully before you turn him down because it’s much safer for us being romantically involved with a member of the team, or at least Towers staff, rather than someone from outside, and he’s definitely interested in you,” Hannah informed her seriously.
Lev was nineteen and had been a master of pyrotechnics for more than half his life. He was one of the finest arsonists in the world and had been a mercenary for four years after a childhood spent dragging himself up in the ruins of the Soviet Union. Where he’d grown up, though not officially declared a war zone, had been worse than many places so declared. He’d started learning the skills of a mercenary when he’d been learning to walk.
“It’s difficult. I was a man just two weeks ago, but it does seem to make less difference by the hour. What is really difficult to handle is what you called wriggling. Everything seems to sway or bounce all by itself when I’m just walking. I’m amazed it doesn’t pull me off my feet especially when I’m wearing heels which only took me half a day before they felt completely natural. I can dance in them now. I asked for the hips and boobs because I always liked looking at them and if I were going to become a woman I thought I’d like it to be obvious. I told Elska I wanted to look like Gabriella O’Linus, the Irish politician. I wasn’t aware I was trying it on, but I’ll not deny it because I do fancy him, and God I’d like to kiss him which is embarrassing to admit, but I can’t help but wonder what his reaction to kissing a man would be. It’s scary. I think I’m afraid of being rejected and don’t know what to do. Will I ever get used to this?”
“Siobhan, you’re not a man. You’re one of us. Look in a mirror. Better yet look in a mirror naked. You’re not only carrying the equipment, the equipment is carrying you forward into a new life. Trust me. I know how resequencing works. Elska wanted you looking like Siobhan and Diego gone as soon as possible for your safety, so she had to do things in a slightly different order and faster than usual. She said that would result in a degree of disorientation and confusion which would soon pass. She told Alex being with other women would help you adjust better and faster, which is why you’re only training and working out with us and Iwona for the next couple of weeks. Another few days at most and you’ll feel like you’ve been one of us all your life. After your first clothes shopping spree you’ll know you’ve been one of us all your life. You’ll remember Diego, but he will be someone you once knew and were fond of. You need to seriously think about how you would have felt when you were Diego about one of us if you’d known we’d previously been a man.”
“I don’t know, Hannah, because I’m not that in touch with Diego any more.” There were tears in Siobhan’s eyes as she spoke. “I’m becoming more and more Siobhan and less and less Diego by the minute. Already I can’t remember how and what Diego thought about women, or indeed anything else. Yesterday, Elska gave me a box of tampons and a menstrual cup and then she explained how to use them. She explained she’d sequenced all the women so their … our periods would be painless and easy. I didn’t know where to look. Having periods explained to me by a girl who then told me how she inserted her cup was the most mortifying experience of my whole life. I was dreading having periods. But that was yesterday. Today I can’t see why I was embarrassed though I’m still dreading having periods. Things are changing so quickly in my head I’m not sure what I think or who I am any more.” Siobhan was flooding with tears, “God I hate this crying business.”
“That’s how it works, Sweetie, and it’s not just we women who understand that. As Diego you’d have understood it too. You were a decent and honourable man, one of the team. Even if you can’t relate to Diego that well any more believe me you would have been completely okay about one of the men who’d needed to do what you have done. I truly believe if you’d been attracted to one of us like that you’d have accepted her as she was, as will all the men accept you as a woman now. No member of the team could be any different, or they’d never have been acceptable. No one else will ever know, and it’s safer if you keep it that way, isn’t it? You were and still are one of the team.” Judith’s words were reassuring, but seeing Siobhan still had her doubts, Judith continued. “You know Otis? Near enough Thorkill’s height, but wider and black as night.”
“Yes. He’s reliable. A decent man. We were buddies in the Middle East for a couple of months last year when I was on a refresher with Sutherland. He said he’d not been a merc long, but he’s good. Why?”
“Otis used to be Phœbe, a tiny blonde from Texas, till two years ago which is why you never came across him till last year. Phœbe married some bastard who beat the crap out of her and brutally raped and sodomised her on her wedding night. He was sober enough to film it all and posted it on social media. She’d met her husband at a rifle club she was a member of, and, common enough story, fell for a guy who was decent enough sober but turned into a psycho when liquored up. Well sweet little Phœbe didn’t take it lying down or bending over. She was top sniper class and joined Sutherland’s corps after leaving her husband before he’d even sobered up. By all accounts she was so good Sutherland was glad to have her. She joined the mercs with a view to getting some buddies to help her stomp her husband’s butt into a puddle. Sutherland told her about this place being able to give her a new identity. Not one to miss an opportunity our girl Phœbe, next thing you know he’s Otis, drop dead gorgeous and hung like a horse, according to rumour backed up by a social media clip.
“Otis tracked Phœbe’s ex down and gave him what he’d given Phœbe in spades. He screamed all night and Otis posted it all on social media. The gutless bastard took an overdose after his first day at work. Otis is bi, he’s got something going with that tall, blond Belinda in accounts, the one who handles the farm’s finances, and with their boyfriend Fergus who works for maintenance. You weren’t here at the time which is why you haven’t heard the tale. The reason I’m telling you this is there wasn’t a man on the team who didn’t buy him a drink when they heard the tale and saw the footages of Phœbe’s rape and Otis’ revenge. We’re family and no one gives a damn about what you were, it’s what you are that counts, and just to be safe Otis will be Owen by next week. White, a foot less tall and less heavily built, though Belinda’s said she’ll dump him if he changes anything else.”
Hannah said, “Anyway by next weekend you’ll be so much of a woman tears and periods will be just part of the deal and you’ll be happy to go skinny dipping with us. Believe me, Lev won’t reject you because he’s smitten and you are gorgeous, but after he’s seen you flaunting it when swimming make the bugger wait a bit before you agree to be on your own with him. He’ll appreciate you that much more. Listen to your big sisters because we know far more about men than they do. They only exist as men, but we’ve studied them since we were little girls, both wild in their native habitat and domestic in captivity, but you’ll soon catch up. You’ve already mastered walking, dressing and make up. You need to put a bit more effort into your hair, but a few days will see it. Trust me, or rather trust Elska. She’s built a whole package of womanliness, not just no body hair and easy periods, into the resequencing and repsyching for girls.
“You’re the first man in the team who’s changed sex but a couple of dozen of the office staff and engineers have needed to escape their pasts, most were men on the run from some gold digging harpy who’s a bloody disgrace to all womanhood, and some preferred to become women. It normally takes a month or so to fully kick in, but for a woman it will when your resequenced hormones and your readjusted psyche fully integrate which usually takes place round about the time you ovulate after your first period. Come on, Girl, pull yourself together. Shower, a sexy frock, put a bit of perfumed cleavage out there, warpaint and dinner, and then we’ll go to the dance. What’s the betting Lev joins us? And don’t forget the third date rule, and that for nice girls it is a rule, not a guide line.”
“What’s that?”
Judith looked her in the eye and said seriously, “No sex till you’ve had three dates. Some girls will have sex on the third date, but me I always played it safe. Till I’d had three dates meant sex only on the fourth. If he wasn’t still around by then, too bad for him and a lucky escape for me, and there are ways of scratching the itch, You’re a big girl, so I’m sure you know what I mean.”
Siobhan blushed, a rosy glow that went down over her shoulders and disappeared into her leotard.
Hannah smiled wickedly and said, “My, my, my, you are a big girl now aren’t you. Not many go native that quickly. Don’t worry, all the very nicest of girls do it too, but if you want to keep Lev at bay tonight I’d suggest a cold shower after you’ve got clean or the pheromones will have you moaning too. Come on let’s go. I need a shower or Joe’ll rape me in public, and I’d probably encourage him. And that’s something else you’ve got to understand. Men are not the enemy. They just do what they’re programmed to do which is as much as you’ll let them. You will be your own worst enemy. You’ve got to understand how your friend down there thinks and keep her under control or you’ll be spending too many nights on your back underneath some sweaty animal with a negative IQ you only just met and too many days with a hangover wondering what the hell possessed you to spend the night with such a piece of pond life. Far better you take up with Lev. He’s young, but most importantly he’s one of us, so you know he’s decent and when the time comes you’ll be safe when you let your friend loose. And never forget some of that pond life is dangerous.”
Judith nodded and added, “We’ve all been there, and remember no matter how good you are, it’s not that easy to get a man who out masses you two to one off the top of you when you suddenly realise that once he’s finished he’s going to hurt you. He’ll want to hurt you because he’ll be ashamed, so to absolve himself from the guilt he feels he’ll mentally re-construe events and his actions to be your fault because you’re a slut, and everyone knows it’s not only okay to hit sluts it’s the right and proper way to treat them, right? There are ways to deal with guys in those circumstances, and we’ll teach you, but unless you find a decent man like Lev soon you’ll be needing that teaching. Much better to know how to deal with the pond life, keep the skills honed, but keep safe and never have to use the skills for real because if you get to be really unlucky you get to be dead. You have no idea how happy it made me to throw my lot in with Thomas, not just because I love him, but because he’s one of the good guys. And we need to take you shopping. You need clothes you chose, not what you’ve been given and got out of the PX to tide you over. The best that can be said of PX underwear is it’s functional and prevents you from freezing your butt off when it’s twenty below, but it’s hardly calculated to send the man of your choice delirious with desire when he gets to take it off, and there are sexier things to wear than sports bras no matter how functional they may be.”
The following morning the three women were setting up for snap shooting at the underground range in the warehouse. “How did it go with Lev after the dance last night, Siobhan?” asked Hannah. “I saw him escorting you home.”
“Not too bad at the dance I think, but I may have blown it.”
“What do you mean you think and you may have blown it?”
“Well, he’s a good kisser. I’ll give him that, and I really enjoyed it without any embarrassment which surprised me. I thought you said he was decent! When we got back to my room I discovered he’s got more hands than a centipede has feet, and he’s way too strong for me to stop without seriously hurting him, so I stopped resisting and told him he could do whatever he wanted with me as long as he was prepared to live with both arms broken and strapped up in slings for twelve weeks and have one of the nurses help him pee and wipe his bottom for him. He became a perfect gentleman at that point. I’m not sure he’ll ask me out again, cos his goodnight kiss was a bit of a let down, but I noticed one or two other men having a good look at me when I was dancing. Did I get it right? Do you think there’s any chance he’ll ask me out? I’d really like him to.”
Hannah and Judith looked at each other with huge smiles on their faces and Hannah said, “She’ll do. My God, she’ll bloody well do just fine. You were perfect, Siobhan, just perfect, Girl. Pond life wouldn’t have believed you, and you’d have had to carry out your threat. Which tells you that Lev is decent because he stopped, didn’t he? Don’t make it too easy for any man, especially one you fancy. Men only value what costs them some effort. Truth is we’re the same too, but we just value different things, so don’t expect a good man to make it too easy for you either. It gets better as you get to know each other better. That’s what it’s all about, finding each other’s boundaries. Lev’ll ask you out, nothing surer. Just don’t forget the three date rule, and you’ll be fine. You think you could love him?”
Siobhan realising this was a serious question and nothing voyeuristic said, “I don’t know. I’ve never been here before, but I think I possibly could.” She paused and said, “I’d like to, and I’d like him to love me. God that was embarrassing!”
Judith shook her head in disagreement and said, “No. We’re just women talking about being women. What’s embarrassing about that? Lev’s decent. He’s already listened to you and acted on what you said, and he’ll do it again if you tell him. If you want a bit more intimacy, but don’t want to go all the way yet tell him you’re interested but not ready. Tell him what you’ll let him do and tell him what your prepared to do for him. Tell him if that’s not acceptable to find another woman and tell him if he tries for more before you’re ready you’ll hurt him. If you want him to go slowly we’ll help keep him in line. That’s what decent women do, help each other, especially with men, but we definitely need to take you shopping before your fourth date. You’re a merc, Girl, and you need some weaponry and ammunition to confront the battles of love with! I didn’t make that up by the way. It’s from a movie I saw years ago. I think it was called Mercenary Women. Victoria’s Secret here we come!”
“Now on to a different subject altogether, but an important one. Alex wants to know what you are going to do as your auxiliary, Siobhan. You’ve plenty of time to decide, but you do need to be thinking about it.”
“Well obviously I’ll keep working out, keep my eye in on the range and get my primary combat skills up to full merc standard as soon as I can, Hannah, but I really don’t want to be a field investigator any more because with these,” Siobhan indicated her substantial breasts, “I’m just not inconspicuous enough any more, and though I’m taller than Diego I’m nowhere near as strong, so I thought maybe first aid. I’ve always kept all my field certificates up to date, but I don’t know if there’s a use for it. What do you think?”
Hannah smiled and said, “We all knew investigating in the field was a non-starter for both the reasons you mentioned, but go and talk to Elska. She’ll be delighted and probably get you logged on to her system for a load more training to upgrade your skills to top nurse at least and probably medic too. She never says, but she’ll have increased your brain power for sure. And she’ll definitely want to train you as a sequencer. You’ll make her day, because she has to do it all herself at the moment, and remember that’s a lot of pressure on a girl who’s only fifteen. I know Janice helps her out as much as she can, but she’s usually busy elsewhere. We need another sequencer far more than we need another field investigator, and Elska needs colleagues she can trust. Your days as a merc may just be over, Girl.”
When Siobhan asked Elska if her skills were useful and explained why she wanted to change her auxiliary the response was pretty much as Hannah had predicted. “Wonderful! I’ll provide computer training for you all the way to the top. I need someone to talk to and bounce ideas off, and for a whole host of reasons, most to do with security but some concerning empathy, I’m only interested in ex mercs, ex regulars at a push. If the going ever becomes difficult tell me and I’ll resequence your brain power up. Better still, if you’re agreeable lets do it anyway and then you can bounce ideas off me. I know some folk wonder why I don’t resequence everyone as geniuses, but nothing comes without a price and being that clever is usually extremely difficult for most folk to live with.” Elska hesitated before continuing, “I am as you know going to marry Thorkill next year. He will do no more than kiss me till then, but though I need more I know it’s not going to happen till then.” Elska stopped and then suddenly asked, “Have you made love as a woman yet, Siobhan?”
A startled Siobhan answered, “No. Why?”
“I apologise for the intrusion, but when you do would you tell me what it’s like? I’m finding life difficult, and I respect Thorkill’s principles, but nothing I can do helps.” Elska had tears in her eyes as she continued, “I just thought you would be closest to me in experience and could help. I’m sorry.” At that point Elska broke down and the woman couldn’t help but be moved by the plight of the girl who had the weight of all their fates on her shoulders.
Siobhan hugged Elska and said, “It’s all right, Elska. I’m not sure I understand properly, but I can try. When I lose my virginity, and I am thinking about it, we’ll talk about it. I don’t know if it will help you, but we’ll talk about it anyway. If you enhance my brain power before then maybe I’ll be able to help more. I’ll risk the difficulties.”
The two women so different and yet so similar had in their shared fears of their burgeoning womanhood become friends as well as family. For Siobhan it was as, only days before, Judith had told her, Diego had indeed become someone Siobhan used to be fond of a long time ago, and she was frequently finding herself running Judith’s advice concerning intimacy with Lev over in her head to create a desired timescale for lovemaking. No longer dreading her first period she was looking forward to it because it would indicate she was a fortnight away from ovulation and full integration of her body and mind as a woman. She’d watched all the DVDs provided and had reached the conclusion she did not wish to take contraceptive precautions. The idea that she wished to be pregnant and then nurse and cuddle a baby was terrifying and she wasn’t sure whether her desires were genuine or due to her lack of fully integrated womanhood they would pass when that integration took place. She suspected some of the DVDs, particularly the ones on pregnancy and breast feeding, had influenced her more than they should have done and decided to talk to Elska.
“It’s true what Hannah told you about full integration, but I doubt you will view the matter much differently after ovulation, for full integration is a process not an event, Siobhan. What’s happening is your mind is viewing Lev as though you are a schoolgirl with a crush on him. I know because some of the time that’s how I think about Thorkill. It’s difficult because the desire to be pregnant with the child of the man you love is genuine. I want to be pregnant with Thorkill’s first child now, not when I’m sixteen, so I’m probably just about the worst person you could ask for advice. However, I don’t like it, but I know Thorkill is right when he says I have to be patient. For what it’s worth, were I in your shoes I’d use contraception for a year or so till I were completely used to being a woman and any relationship I were in had settled down. You’ll be a better mother and enjoy motherhood more that way. In addition your partner will enjoy similar benefits that way too.”
“I don’t think that is poor advice, Elska, so I’ll take it and the implant please.”
“Good. Of course, on the positive side, if you are thinking about having Lev’s child then for sure you love him, so at least you don’t have to worry yourself sick about whether it’s real, or just a temporary infatuation due to your resequencing.
Six more sets of Colombian paid gunmen arrived over the next three years, increasing in numbers to a hundred and twenty on the last raid. Not a one escaped, and there were a lot of happy couples no longer childless as a result. Intercepted communications told of frustrated and angry Colombian drug barons who were desperately offering vast sums, for any information at all, which they never had to pay. The wider underworld knew the Colombian gunmen and the men the cartel had hired had simply disappeared off the face of the Earth before reaching their target, and the barons had begun to look foolish to their business partners. It had become impossible for them to hire anyone to go up against The Towers at any price. That was the point at which it was decided to take the issue back to Colombia. Antonio was resequenced to make him appear to be a completely unremarkable local and six weeks later he was back looking like his original self. The Cartel that had been primarily responsible was no more, and the others were decidedly nervous since the assassinations had all been deliberately public and gory leaving no evidence as to the perpetrator. The message was clear. When a couple of years had gone by after the last raid, Djuvec said, “Maybe the others haven’t got any more men of their own left, or at least no more to spare from running the business. Then again, since they can no longer hire in anyone, perhaps they just don’t want to look like even bigger idiots than the others did. But just in case, Thorkill, have Thomas keep up the surveillance.”
At her careers interview at the beginning of year eleven Elska had said she wanted to continue with year twelve, but she was getting married to her fiancé on her sixteenth birthday during the Easter holiday and intended to start her family immediately. Officiously the Careers Service referred her to Children’s Services who tried to interview Djuvec. Djuvec as a matter of principle never played by any rules other than his own, so he refused to answer their requests. Knowing Children’s Services were full of their own self importance and trying to justify their own existence by implying Elska was in need of their protection he struck high rather than low. After making the entire situation clear to the local media at a conference, preceded by an impressive lunch at The Towers, rather than dealing with Children’s Services himself his reply was via his solicitors who in an open letter to the media merely recommended that if Children’s Services had anything to say it would best be said to a family court.
Despite her creative writings and artworks, Children’s Services had not a shred of evidence to suggest Elska was sexually active, never mind sexually active with Thorkill who they had not believed was her fiancé due to their age difference. They knew Thorkill was her personal bodyguard, who had only ever been seen to treat Elska with the sensitivity of a decent older man dealing with the infatuation of a young girl who had a serious crush on him, and had put the reports of the couples’ engagement down to the romantic exaggerations of Elska’s female peers. It was a shock to Children’s Services to learn the couple were engaged and were going to do exactly what Elska had said they would. With egg all over their faces, after being slated by the media for trying to sully a fairytale like love affair between a beautiful young princess and her handsome suitor, Children’s Services were considered by the entire region to be misusing their authority with the family of one of the most well thought of, decent and respectable employers in the area, and they would be far better confining their attentions to the several thousand under age mothers they could prove had been sexually active at least once. Children’s Services knew they had no case and typically of officialdom did not admit they had overstepped their authority and did not respond. They knew that, completely within the law, Elska would be sixteen and marrying with her guardians’ consent, and after she turned sixteen the couple were entitled to share a bed.
However, the matter was not allowed to rest there, and after Djuvec’s solicitors has issued writs for defamation of himself and Viivishkava as being unfit guardians, and of his granddaughter’s purity, under a law dating back to before the time of James I, Children’s Services had issued a statement, which Djuvec’s legal team after several revisions had agreed was adequate for them to withdraw the writs, of admission that there never had been any case to answer and they unconditionally apologised for their illegal actions. Children’s Services had baulked over the inclusion of the word illegal, but Djuvec had been adamant, defamation was a crime and therefore illegal, and the word was either included in their admission of guilt or he would see them in court. He pointed out, via the media, he had the money to take it to the bitter end and wasn’t over bothered whether he won or lost, because even if he lost they would look like the idiots they were in the media for weeks, but if he won, in addition, the court costs alone, never mind the compensation involved, would probably cost them more than a year’s budget and they would then have to make staff redundant which he considered to be a good thing because there would then be fewer of them interfering in the lives of decent folk. His stance was generally approved of by most in the area.
With the help of her conversations with Siobhan, who had eventually acquired a suite of rooms so Lev could move in with her, Elska came to better accept the limitations Thorkill placed on her, and as she did he came to trust her self control more and was prepared to touch her a little more. She treasured the rare occasions when she’d shivered with delight as he’d run a caressing hand over her bottom or her shoulders. As she blossomed, filled out and approached her full adult height of five feet nine she became very much the young woman and one day, when shopping in a supermarket for food supplies for a camping trip, she hesitantly asked “Thorkill, may I hold your hand? Here and right now, I mean.” Thorkill took her hand and she couldn’t have been happier. She was finally winning, and winning in public, not just at home or when camping.
There was less than six months to go to her ravishment and her fantasies were becoming wilder and, if the truth be told, a bit sillier too. In order to calm herself during the weekends and days off school Elska was working on a new concept in anaesthesia. The concept was simple, the sequencer would tailor the anaesthetic to the individual patient’s DNA for maximum efficacy. The sequencer would be able to monitor the patient’s state of consciousness and administer enough of the drug to keep the patient just unconscious. The benefits would be profound, for it would mean a patient could be kept under for as long as necessary in complete safety, however the basic molecule was complex and the tailoring to the DNA of the patient even more so, but the problems kept Elska busy.
Thorkill had asked her where she wanted to go for her honeymoon. “If you want to go somewhere I’ll be happy to go with you, but for myself I don’t want to go anywhere, for I’m having far too much fun with you sorting out decorators and furnishers in our new apartment rooms, and planning the nursery. Unless it will make you happy I don’t see the point in going anywhere. After the ceremony and the reception I’ll be happy to spend the rest of the Easter holidays in bed making love, and we don’t need to arrange any extra security here at The Towers. I want a baby, Thorkill, your baby, and there’s only one way that is going to happen, and I’d like to think I’d conceived here ravished in my own bed. I can’t see the point in going anywhere over the summer because with a bit of luck by the time the holidays arrive I’ll be three months pregnant, and I want to be with Vish and the women I know and trust, and they all live here. I’d still like to do a bit of fishing and shooting but only on the estate or day trips because if I’m pregnant I won’t want to sleep on the ground, so unfortunately no camping, but we can always have barbecue parties for the food. How does that sound? Am I disappointing you?”
“No. I just wanted you to have whatever you wanted. I should have known it wouldn’t be what most women would want. If you want to stay here and have days out that’s fine with me, and as you said it’ll make life easier for the team. I’m sure Gordon will be happy to manage barbecue parties for you which will make life easier for the kitchen staff. Actually I like the idea of inviting friends for barbecue food on the terrace with access to the bar, dancing and followed by sharing a comfortable bed with the woman I love carrying our first baby. The benefits of camping and the comforts of marriage. What do you think?”
“I like the idea too. I’ll probably appreciate it even more when I’m pregnant.”
“Is there anything else you would like to do?”
“Yes. Vish, Janice, Hannah, Judith, Siobhan and Iwona are going shopping with me in Edinburgh on the seventeenth for baby things. I presume you know about that?”
“Yes. Alex told me this morning. He’s organising security and everything other than transport. Pierre wants to know how much you’re planning on buying. Shall I tell him to send a big white van too, just in case?”
“Please, because I’ll probably be buying furniture for the nursery.”
“So what else do you want to do?”
“I want one of those big old fashioned Silver Cross prams, but I want you to come with me to the factory’s shop to look at them. Do you mind? It’s near Skipton, Yorkshire. I want one custom made for twins. I’m very fertile due to my sequencing which makes it almost certain I’ll have two at least. I thought I might order twenty and put the rest into the crèche, what do you think?”
“I don’t have anything to do with the crèche, so if that’s what you want to do do it. You seem to have done your research. When do you want to go?”
“As soon as I can. I don’t think I’ve ever been this excited about anything before.”
“Okay. Now you may not like this, but please just hear me out. A pram is a wheeled vehicle right?”
“Yes. That’s a bit obvious isn’t it? So what?”
“Who’s the best person you know to look after and advise you about a wheeled vehicle.”
“Pierre of course.”
“Well, I suggest he comes too to see how they are constructed at the factory. He’ll probably want to buy a load of spare parts to put into his stores. What do you think?”
“Yes. Excellent idea. There’ll be security anyway. Can Janice, Hannah, Judith, Siobhan and Iwona come too, and Vish too if she wants to?”
“Of course. Would you like Alex to organise a full day out or a banquet for all the team and their families that evening, or even both?”
“No thank you. I’d like to spend the evening sitting on your knee with a glass of wine whilst you drink some of that Brandy you got from Denis. You need some more by the way, and if you’re going to put it behind the bar again you may as well ask Denis to supply you with a full run. Pierre could collect it from Looe in a shipping container, and Jerry could put customs seals on it. Denis may even be prepared to run it up the Solway. I’ll leave it to you, but I would like a banquet when the prams are delivered to shew them off. That would be enjoyable.”
The holidays and Thorkill helping her bathe and dress had set the pattern for their future relationship as husband and wife, but once Elska had her wedding in sight and had started preparations for married life with motherhood as her primary focus she grew up overnight, became far less insistent with Thorkill, and because she no longer pressed for intimacy she got more of it. The turning point was after the banquet and dance at which her prams had been displayed for all to see. That night before she went to bed she was, as was their usual practice, sitting on Thorkill’s knee lying back against his chest as they relaxed for quarter of an hour in one of the much more comfortable armchairs he had replaced their predecessors with which had been even worse than the one at The Duke’s Warband that had hurt him for days. Thorkill had been stroking her hair as she dozed. “Thorkill, you’re stroking my breast! And it’s lovely. Please don’t stop.”
“I know.” As he spoke he caressed her other breast, but this time his hand was inside her nightdress, and his finger gently brushing her nipple was sending shivers down her spine.
“You said—”
“I know what I said, but you’ve grown up and you are now making your decisions with your heart and not your hormones. What always bothered me was that with raging hormones nothing would ever have been enough for you. If we had made love even that would not have been enough because you’d never have stopped thinking about it and constantly been desirous of doing it again. It would have overwhelmed you, and that would not have been safe for either of us. Can you deny that right now this is what you want and you don’t want it to end just in order to do something else?”
“No. I can’t. But I may wish to put my hand inside your shirt whilst we kiss before I go to bed.” Thorkill didn’t respond but what his hand and fingers were doing made Elska very responsive and as he kissed her neck his breath brought hers to a halt. Gently he took her nipple between his finger and thumb and at the slight pressure she shook in the throes of desire’s completion. It was a minute or two before she said, “That was utterly beyond anything I have ever experienced before, far better than what any of my fantasies about you could conjure, Thorkill. But you’re still not going to touch my ‘charms’ or make love to me before the wedding are you?”
“I’m not.”
“And you’re not going to let me touch you till then are you?”
“Again I’m not.”
“Will you do that again for me before we marry?”
“If you like.”
“Oh yes. I Like.” Elska turned to face him and slid her hand between a pair of shirt buttons and said, “Kiss me please, and don’t be too gentle.” Thorkill did as requested and after a few minutes Elska said, “Carry me to bed please. I’d still like to make love, but maybe I can manage with that.” Thorkill carried her to bed and after kissing her lips he kissed her breasts through her nightdress. “You’re right,” Elska murmured drowsily, “It would never have been enough and I’m not sure it is now, but it’s only a couple of months. Goodnight, Thorkill.” She was asleep before he left her room.
Before the wedding, Viivishkava took Elska away for a long weekend to Paris, where with Janice, Judith, Hannah, Siobhan and Iwona, accompanied by a security team that did not include Thorkill whom Elska missed, they had a wonderful time with a plethora of hair dressers and cosmeticians who usually only dealt with major fashion houses. Nadia, who owned the agency that supplied the hair dressers and cosmeticians, had been a friend of Viivishkava’s for years and said she would do something similar again regularly because her experts had said they’d had fun because it afforded them opportunities to be creative in ways catwalk models did not. Nadia told Viivishkava creative persons needed all the stimulation and opportunities they could get to be at their happiest because only then were they at their best.
Thorkill had been going to wear a dark suit with a white shirt and a bow tie for the wedding because he thought it would be expected of him, but Elska wouldn’t hear of it. “I am going to wear something I am going to feel comfortable in and which will give me fond memories of the day in years to come, and I want you to do so too. You will wear a new pair of those warm, black trousers you like and I am having a Nordic yoked pullover knitted to go with your trousers. Your torc will set it all off wonderfully. I had it made with our wedding in mind. You will look gorgeous and more to the point feel comfortable. I don’t want my husband looking back on our wedding day as a day of awkwardness and discomfort.” Elska had taken the bit between her teeth and the pullover was beautifully patterned from neck to waist rib and Thorkill acquiesced with a sense of relief.
The delicate and tasteful emerald and diamond tiara Monsieur Leblond had sourced the gems for and crafted using platinum was entirely appropriate for a bride and perfectly suited Elska’s colouring. He brought it himself for inspection and made the final adjustments for it to fit at The Towers a month before Elska’s wedding. It was a truly stunning piece, traditional but with just enough of the modern about it to make it truly unique not just as a piece but in its style too. After Viivishkava had scrutinised every stone as well as the piece as a whole she said, “Your creation is a masterpiece Monsieur Leblond, truly a masterpiece. Now to the sordid matter of price.”
Monsieur Leblond had said to Viivishkava, “I wish our relationship to prosper down the generations and I am not a greedy man, Madam. It is my belief unlike many of the old order you are similar.”
Viivishkava nodded and said, “C’est vrai. A fair assessment, Monsieur.”
Leblond nodded and said, “Is there any need for us to haggle? I should far rather offer you the piece for what I am sure you will recognise is fair to both of us. With respect may I do thus?”
Viivishkava smiled and said, “Agreed, Monsieur Leblond.”
“I have two prices. I should prefer you to accept the lesser in money, but for that I would merely wish that when appropriate you acknowledge it is a new piece crafted by myself and my son. I am not suggesting you advertise our work, merely that you acknowledge it. Your daughter is truly lovely and a picture of her wearing my work will be all that is necessary. She need only say my name once, the media will do the rest. But before you answer I have a pair of twenty-four karat wedding bands as a gift for Mademoiselle and Monsieur. They are of the old style, nearly circular in cross section and completely plain as I believe is appropriate for the love that lasts a life time.” He
held his hand up for Viivishkava to see his wedding ring. “My good lady’s is like it too. I wish to give them no matter which price you elect to pay, and whether Mademoiselle and Monsieur chose to wear them or not is up to them. I can size them up to fit now.”
“Name your preferred price, Monsieur Leblond. Why should we be ashamed to admit to the source of such beauty and craftsmanship.” Leblond’s eight figure price was truly eye watering, but Viivishkava knew fair. I’ll send for my daughter and son in law. I understand how the gem stones credit market operates and I know those gems will be costing you money by the hour. Thorkill shall pay you immediately and you can telephone your bank to pay for the stones immediately he has done so. Then you can fit the tiara and the wedding bands. They were going to contact you for rings next week, but I’m sure they will be appreciative of the ones already crafted by yourself.”
“I am much obliged, Madam.”
Thorkill arranged the money transfer and Leblond paid for the stones within minutes. Viivishkava heard what he owed on the stones and indeed his price had been very reasonable.
Monsieur Leblond intended to resize the rings with a portable expander and Elska said, “We are grateful for the rings and I love their simplicity. It is exactly the sort of thing Thorkill likes, his torc is completely undecorated other than the spherical finials, but I imagine the rings to be too expensive to give away. Should we not be paying you for them?”
Leblond laught and said, “Mademoiselle, the gold is little and compared with the gems in your tiara is very inexpensive. The very simplicity of the rings makes them very easy things to make. I offer them shall we say in gratitude for your custom. But a torc? That is unusual in these days, may I see and examine it?”
“Thorkill, may Monsieur Leblond see your torc?”
“Of course, I’ll fetch it whilst Monsieur does your ring and tiara.”
/:
Leblond had stretched Elska’s ring and was in the process of fitting her tiara when Thorkill returned. “I’ll fit your ring first Monsieur before I examine your torc. Business before pleasure you understand.” It took Leblond only a minute or two to stretch Thorkill’s ring. “Magnifique, Monsieur.” Leblond studied, stroked and hefted the torque and said, “Twenty-four karat. I don’t know what you paid for it, Monsieur, but at today’s prices, maybe a hundred and eighty thousand pounds sterling, but still very inexpensive compared with a tiara. May I see you wear it, Monsieur?” Thorkill nodded and placed the torc about his neck. “Entirely suitable, but only I suspect for a man with your physique. Like yourself it has great presence. Its sheer mass commands respect and its antiquity of style and very simplicity makes it an object of great beauty, masculine beauty to be sure, but beauty none the less.”
“What did you pay for it, Elska?” Thorkill asked. “I never thought to ask at the time.”
“A hundred and twenty-five, but that was just over two years ago.”
“That was a very reasonable price even then, Mademoiselle. Who may I ask made it for you?”
“Brockner’s in Paris. They were very accommodating.”
“Ah! My old rivals. I’ll guarantee to undercut any price they could offer you in future for anything, for unlike them I am, as the English say, in this for the long haul. It has been a great pleasure to serve you, and I am truly grateful for the opportunity to create such a piece. Honesty compels me to admit it will add considerably to my reputation and I hope will make me known as one of the best jewellers in the world. It will certainly bring Kristoff my son as a jeweller of the next generation to the eyes of those whom he needs to be seen by. I hope you have a wonderful wedding and on behalf of my entire family I wish you joy.”
As Viivishkava escorted Leblond to the car waiting to take him to the airport she said, “Monsieur Leblond, you have done me a great service, but in future should you come across stones appropriate to my potential future needs, come to me for financing, for even should nothing come of it I have no objection to The Towers investing in fine stones selected by as discerning an eye as you possess. It is folly for such as we to be paying for credit by the hour, n’est-ce pas?”
“You honour me, Madam, mais oui, it is as you say. I shall remember and shall continue to serve the interests of your house.”
“Both our houses, Monsieur Leblond. But come here is your car.”
As the day drew ever nearer, every waking moment for Elska had become an ever accelerating whirl of wedding preparations. But Viivishkava assisted by Judith, Hannah and Siobhan managed all with military precision. It was a frightened and lonely little girl who sneaked into Thorkill’s bed at gone three in the morning five days before her wedding. Startled and wondering what intimacy Elska was trying wheedle from him so close to when she could have everything she wanted he was surprised to hear her plea. “Just hold me, Thorkill.” She wept as she explained, “It’s all happening so fast. I really do want to marry you, but I think I’ll be a little glad when it’s all over too. There doesn’t seem to be any time left for just us, and I feel lost. I want you to cuddle me like when I was little because it made me feel safe.”
Thorkill smiled and said, “What no demands for kisses?” Elska sniffed and snuggled tighter against him. “I don’t want anyone to think we’ve been practising before the wedding, so since you keep your rooms warmer than I keep mine let’s go and sleep in that comfortable armchair. Would you like that?”
“Please.”
“And I’ll sleep there till we’re married if you like?”
“Please. That will be lovely knowing you are so close. Jag älskar dig, Thorkill.”
“Jag vet, en jag älskar dig, Älska. I’ll carry you.”
Elska knew that Thorkill’s life before he met Angus had been dreadful beyond belief and his childhood had been one where he’d been passed from unwilling relative to unwilling relative all over western Europe. His father was Norwegian and his mother Swedish, but because they assumed his mind was as impaired as his body few had bothered to speak to him, so he’d never managed to speak any particular language well enough to be able to differentiate all the many different languages he knew something of. After meeting Angus he had learnt English which had become his native tongue, but intelligent none of what he had learnt before was forgotten. Thus his blending of Swedish and Dutch acknowledging her love for him and declaring his love for her had moved Elska beyond words.
With tears of love in her eyes she asked, “May I borrow your dressing gown, Thorkill? Because it smells of you and it’s very comforting.”
“Put it on and I’ll carry you.” Thorkill looked at his watch and added, “I imagine security will soon realise you’re not in your rooms and will then be looking for you. I’ll have to let them know you’re safe.”
Thorkill didn’t have to because on their way to Elska’s rooms they met Thomas and Murph. Murph smiled and said, “Nerves, little one?” Elska nodded. “When we checked your rooms we thought you’d be with Thorkill. We were on our way to make sure.”
Thomas looking at Thorkill asked, “A brandy and a cocoa?”
“Please, Thomas. Tell everyone on nights I’ll be sleeping in the chair in Elska’s room till the wedding.”
Elska and Thorkill were married in The Towers chapel at four o’clock on Easter Monday by Edward. Elska was given away by Djuvec and attended by Viivishkava, Janice, Hannah, Judith, Siobhan, and Iwona all looking gorgeous in creations of emerald green. Elska radiant in a magnificent gown, conceived, designed and created by Viivishkava carried a single white canna lilly, wore her hair loose cascading about her shoulders and breast, and was probably the only woman there who did not cry that day. Tall and even taller in her shoes which had four inch heels she still did not reach Thorkill’s shoulder, but the couple looked magnificent and as Viivishkava said afterwards, “Balanced entirely.” Viivishkava often used phrases directly translated from her native Ukrainian and various other languages, often blended, many of which did not translate well, but all knew what she meant and agreed with her.
Edward was old fashioned and had agreed with Elska concerning her views on the, to her, obnoxious phrase, you may kiss the bride. As she put it “Thorkill needs permission from no one, not even me, to kiss me. I gave him the right in perpetuity over five years ago.” The couple spoke their responses firmly without nerves and after signing the register walked out of the chapel hand in hand.
After the photographs and video had all been taken the couple still hand in hand led their family and friends to the ball room where Elska announced, “He’s truly mine now! So let’s enjoy ourselves.”
As she reached under her gown for her garter, Thorkill whispered, “I hope you’re not wearing a pair of those butterfly knickers you’re so fond of.”
“Don’t be silly of course I’m not. You didn’t really think I’d be wearing underwear on my wedding day did you? I’m completely prepared for my ravishment.” Thorkill was stunned, but Elska managed to retrieve her garter and throw it into the crowd without bringing a blush to either of their faces.
“You must be the only man I know with the balls to get married looking like that, Thorkill, but I must say you look impressive. I’m amazed Elska let you get away with it.”
“Thanks, Alex, but it was Elska’s idea and she had the pullover and the torc made with our wedding day in mind. I’d intended to look like a penguin, but I feel much more at ease like this.”
“What’s that bloody thing weigh, anyway.”
“A bit over twelve pounds [5½Kg] I think.”
“Christ almighty, Man. It’s as well you’re the size you are.”
Alex gave a lengthy but exceedingly witty best man’s speech, which was fully in accord with the mores of their family and friends. It brought a flush to a few faces, but none were ridiculed. The numerous telegrams from friends all over the world, mostly mercs who had met and liked Elska during what was now referred to as the gathering of our friends, offered the couple congratulations, but there was nothing more salacious than wishing them that all their problems would be little ones, a sentiment Elska was entirely in agreement with. Thorkill was taken aback when Elska used his own words against him, “One glass only, Thorkill. You’ve things to do tonight, and I’ll be very disappointed with you if you break your promise.” Usually she wanted more wine than he been prepared to allow her, but he’d noticed she’d only wet her lips with her first glass of champagne during the toasts and the level of that first glass had not sunk by a quarter of an inch by midnight. He made his glass of brandy last. After dancing for what seemed to both of them an eternity, eventually they left the revellers to continue, and he carried his bride over the threshold of their new apartment and to bed.
“Vish fastened me into this dress, so you’ll have to let me out, Thorkill.” It was a very surprised Thorkill who on removing his wife’s bridal gown discovered that despite the way it looked Elska was now just wearing her shoes and thigh high silk stockings. “Vish is really clever isn’t she? She designed my gown to look like I was wearing a full set of clothes, and sewed it all herself. Now at last!”, Elska kicked her shoes off and rolled down her stockings, “I’m ready to be ravished. Why have you still got clothes on, Thorkill? I want to touch you and I want you to touch my ‘charms’. Come on. You’ve kept telling me how much you’ve wanted this. I’m sorry I can’t put your hands in my knickers, but maybe another day.” Elska hesitated and no longer teasing she became serious. “This may come as a bit of a shock, Thorkill. It was a shock to me when I realised it. I’ve dreamt of this moment for years, but lately it’s changed. I willingly offer my virginity to you as a gift and I do want you to accept it in the next few minutes, but that nasty honesty of yours is catching. Most of all I want you to make me pregnant. Do you mind?”
“Not at all, but we may as well try to enjoy the process, don’t you think?”
They enjoyed the process, but when Elska saw daylight through the gap in the curtains she said uncertainly, “I was only teasing when I said I wanted to be ravished till dawn.”
“I know. But I’ll ravish you again if you like? But then I want breakfast before doing it again or at least some of that ginseng you were going to tell the kitchens to put in my food.” Elska thought ravishment and breakfast to be a good idea. After breakfast in bed, ravishment continued till midday and then they slept till the following morning.
An hour after Elska and Thorkill had left their wedding reception for her bridal bed Viivishkava accompanied a slightly worse for wear Djuvec to his bed and thereafter she never slept anywhere else.
Though no one from school had been invited, Florence had ensured the wedding had been recorded in full by her own staff and several news channels too as well as the papers and society magazines, and all interested eventually saw the footage of Elska’s wedding and the subsequent ball. A DVD of the wedding, like many others of The Towers activities, was available free of charge from The Towers public relations office as well as downloadable via the website and from the local shops that The Towers supported, who were happy to give them space in return for The Towers’ patronage. The shops owned by The Towers all carried every DVD Florence’s department had produced and they too were free. All at school knew Elska was wealthy, but had had no idea till then just how wealthy, and the guest list was eye watering. There had been much speculation as to the value of her tiara, and Jean Paul Leblond had been right. Elska had been asked about her tiara and all she had said was, “Monsieur Leblond of Amsterdam made it for me. He made my engagement ring and our wedding rings too. He’s an amazing jeweller, for his work is beautiful don’t you think?” The media had indeed done the rest.
Thorkill had attracted a little attention in the media too for his pullover and torc, but other than comments on the informality of his attire and speculations as to the cost of a twenty-four karat torc, which the media knew Elska had bought him for his birthday, and the oddity of both little was said for weddings are about brides. “Grooms,” as Joe had said when calming Thorkill’s nerves, “just have to turn up.”
Weeks later Elska worked out that she must have conceived within three days of her wedding, but, given that months in advance she had begun to carefully adjust her cycle so she was most fertile on her birthday, most probably on that first night. She liked to think it happened in that instant of delicious pain when she and Thorkill became truly one.
Elska had given the childcare classes a new focus: relationships. She was known to be tough, ruthless even, but her complete devotion to her incredibly good looking husband since the age of eleven, who the girls knew worshipped the ground she walked on, had given them a new way of evaluating boys. The popular and pretty were now looking for potential good men amongst the boys whom they had previously ignored and derided, but who they now realised would probably make good husbands and fathers in marriages that would last. The shy boys and the clever ones who had previously been dismissed by those girls and were usually nervous in their presence were now subject to re-evaluation. The girls knew, if they wanted one of those nervous but decent boys, as a result of their previous behaviour they were now going to have to woo them, for those boys wouldn’t risk attempting to talk to them never mind woo them. What really upset a number of those girls was the realisation that they were not doing well in competition with the girls they had previously derided, the clever, studious, kind, easily bullied and often plain girls who were preferred by the decent boys who deep down knew they were good wife and mother material. The so called alpha males, also known as the bad boys, were no longer sought by the girls they wanted. Elska had said she only ever used the expression alpha male in the context of non-human primates, usually chimpanzees or bonobos, and the girls had taken that on board much to their discomfort when remembering their previous behaviour. Now only of interest to the not so bright girls, those boys didn’t like it, but the only way to alter things was to change themselves, and most weren’t capable of that.
The school staff and governors had been surprised to learn that Elska had no intention of missing school because she was pregnant which was what all the pregnant girls had done before. Elska was glowing and visibly pregnant by the end of the summer term, and her attitude had given a number of other pregnant girls the courage to attend school too. She was finally married, her love life was everything she’d ever dreamt of and infinitely more fulfilling than her fantasies. She was financially secure, which for her meant her babies would be too, and no one could make her feel anything but thrilled by her doubly enciente state. Djuvec’s solicitors had long since made the Local Education Authority and the school realise they had a legal obligation to provide whatever she needed to learn and to manage her babies, which would include whatever privacy she required.
Elska, much to the chagrin of the school had not wanted a ticket for the year eleven prom. They had initially assumed it was an oversight on her part or her application had been lost. When questioned on the matter by the head, she’d said she was not interested. “Why on earth should I wish to go to an event where most of the folk present I have been trying to avoid for five years, a good few of whom are teachers who would doubtless continue to make pointedly unpleasant remarks about my pregnancy? I have not said anything about them before because my strategy for dealing with unintelligent bigots I would not be prepared to have introduced to me nor to introduce to my husband is to ignore them unless I have to answer a direct question as is unavoidable with teachers sometimes. That hurts them far more than acknowledging their existence by complaining about them which gives them to believe they have an importance far beyond their deserts. And in any event I’d rather spend the evening at home at the party organised by my stepmother where I can dance with my husband and our friends and enjoy a glass of champagne or two in the company of folk of my own milieux.” Elska had not drunk alcohol since her wedding reception due to her anticipated pregnancy, but she had enjoyed what she’d said far too much to be bothered by a lack of veracity.
A shocked and insulted headteacher who had recognised several teachers, notably Gillian Williams, from Elska’s remarks and wondered if Elska were also referring to herself had sarcastically said, “And doubtless you would not be prepared to have myself introduced to you either.”
As she turned to walk away Elska answered, “Since we move in different social circles I doubt the circumstances will arise to render it appropriate, but at least we agree on something.”
There was nothing the head could say because she knew Elska would cheerfully leave Ferngate that instant and either not bother with A’ levels at all or do them at Lakevale Sixth Form College which was much nearer to her home, and her grandfather had influence it was not wise to ignore.
Florence who always invited the local media to social events at The Towers invited them to Elska’s school leaving ball where she was a picture of glowing young motherhood in pearls and an elegant gown which whilst not designed to emphasise her condition clearly was not trying to hide it either. It was noticed that whilst not wearing flats her elegant Cuban heels were far more moderate than the usual stilettos she wore for social events. The pictures and footage of her dancing with her husband told of a couple much in love and thrilled by approaching parenthood. Elska enjoyed herself enormously and despite her bump she and her daughters danced the night away.
“Happy, Minx?”
“Oh yes, Granddad, and you can only have one dance because my card is full, and I want to dance with as many of the team as I can even if it’s only a bit of a dance each. Thorkill has told them to cut in because I want them to but he gets every fifth dance.”
The media had given far more coverage to Elska’s ball than they had to the school’s prom, and senior staff were bitter about it.
When Peter Hargreaves, Elska’s form tutor, was asked for his thoughts on the matter by Alice Speedwell the deputy head who was also in charge of pastoral matters and was one of the few staff and the only senior teacher who thought well of him, he’d replied, “She is a gifted young woman, Alice, whom, in its efforts to benefit from her talents and family, the school has not always treated well. Over the years she’s been threatened for no good reason, with expulsion and being taken into care more than once. I’m sure you are already aware of that and I know because she has told me so and Djuvec her grandfather and Viivishkava her stepmother mentioned the first such incident at parents’ evening when she was in year seven. They are intelligent, charming and clearly caring guardians whose only concern is for their ward. They came to talk to me every year at parents’ evenings and have telephoned me several times a year. I know they didn’t talk to Elska’s other teachers, for Djuvec told me years ago he wasn’t bothered what the school thought of Elska’s academic performance because he didn’t consider the school was fit to sit in judgement on her, and I agree with him, but he wanted to know how she was coping socially because she’d been ill as a young child and had had to be home schooled before coming to Ferngate, so she hadn’t had much interaction with her peers.
“He told me she’d been close to her father and worked with him. He also told me that, despite her age, she is already continuing with his work and it is her intention to completely take it over eventually. The school plays no part in her life outside core hours because she is so busy and doesn’t want it to. She has the right to take that stance. She told me she prefers the company of the estate and the village children at home because they understand the countryside and countryside activities, which she loves. However, her interests outside school have been considered by the school to be of less import than the school’s interests. In short the school has tried to treat her like its property, and incredibly it now wonders why she behaves the way she does. Folly! She has never been antagonistic to the school, she just does what she has to at school and then goes home. She has always done her homework and has never missed even half a day off school in five years. She certainly doesn’t control the media, and it’s not her fault if her family’s affairs and those of their friends are considered to be of greater interest than those of the school by the general public.
“After all her family employs substantial numbers of locals and pays better than anybody else in the county and more to the point they are caring decent employers who bend over backwards to help their staff when they are in difficulties. They even provide free buses for employees who live in local towns to travel to and from work. Hundreds of their employees live rent free in property the estate owns and many of them live at The Towers. The Towers provides a free crèche and nursery for its employees, and folk are desperate to work for them, for they openly admit they only wish to hire the best and having done so they wish to keep them. Look it up. Their staff turnover is nearly nil. Elska is just like the rest of her family, and anyone who treats her with the respect and dignity all, irrespective of age, should be treated with have never had any problems with her. Unlike Gill Williams, I certainly haven’t. I probably don’t need to remind you how Elska came to be in my form, which probably initiated her attitude to the school in her first week here, and it was Gill not I that kicked up so much fuss about her changing forms that David Whitman had to tell her to back off or face not disciplinary proceedings but court proceedings instituted by Elska’s grandfather.
“Elska is not, as I have heard her accused of being, arrogant, aloof or secretive because of her wealth and background. Ask any of my form, for they’ll all tell you that’s nonsense. She enjoys working on the estate farm, go-cart racing, riding, camping, fishing, shooting and spending time with the estate gamekeeper. She has learnt to drive, and willingly talks to me and the form about her life, even about her husband and pregnancy, simply I suspect because we don’t demand anything from her and I am interested, just as I am interested in the lives of all my form. She told me that outside her family I was the first she told she was pregnant and she was thrilled to tell me. She’s a pleasant young woman and I, like the form, like her.” Alice had found out more about Elska in that brief conversation than she suspected anyone at the school had been aware of and her respect for Peter, already high, went up.
Peter Hargreaves had always been considered by most of the senior management team to be not too reliable. Thirty-six, decidedly single and paid at the top of the teachers’ pay scale due to experience and performance he had never applied for promotion nor responded to any of the single female teachers’ advances. When asked why he had always replied “I’m dammed if I’m working twice the hours for five percent more pay, and who in their right mind wants a relationship with a teacher?” That they couldn’t use his considerable talents as a promoted teacher for little extra cost was a source of resentment to the head and governors. Peter was a talented and active mathematician whose major interest was mathematics, and he published highly regarded papers from time to time. His teaching was considered unorthodox and he was only tolerated because his results were far better than anyone else’s. That he and his lessons were popular and he had few discipline problems with children of all abilities, did not like sport, was a loner with no friends on the staff and rarely entered the staffroom did not endear him to the less able staff, which was all of them.
The staff knew he always ate lunch in his classroom, but considered it to be another sign of his unacceptable oddness. They were unaware every lunchtime many pupils ate lunch with him and he helped them with their studies. He was widely educated, fluent in all the languages taught by the school as well as others, and could help with just about anything. Pupils knew his teaching was not approved of by some of their other teachers and they kept quiet knowing it would cause them trouble if they mentioned he had enabled their understanding in minutes of what their subject teacher had failed to get across to them in a couple of weeks. He was protective of the pupils in his form who regarded him as an extra uncle, and in many cases a surrogate dad, and knew he could and would keep secrets he was not supposed to. That he regarded Children’s Services with contempt and to be unfit for purpose and could provide numerous examples of them making children’s lives worse from his own experience and the media was no secret to pupils and staff alike. His time keeping was a bit erratic and it was suspected that his form covered for him at registration when he was late in to work and made sure his register was filled in even if he was not there to do it himself which was illegal.
The head had initially been pleased to accept his resignation just before the summer half term, but when she questioningly said, “I have not been asked for references,” she been surprised to be given no explanations.
He had merely smiled and said in tones that indicated he was not going to discuss the matter, “I know.”
It was only later when Alice Speedwell realised he was leaving, the head was made aware the school had just lost the only teacher who had a meaningful relationship with Elska and who had run a highly successful lunchtime study group for years that she had been unaware of. “I was going to ask Pete Hargreaves to take whichever year twelve form had Elska in it, but if he’s going I’d prepare yourself for a rough two years if I were you, Margery, for it’s unlikely she’ll take to another form tutor. I also doubt anyone else will take over his lunchtime study group, and even if someone does I doubt they’ll get any pupils willing to attend.”
“How long have you known about it?”
“A good few years. He helps across all subjects, and is good at it, but whenever any attention was drawn to it the kids stopped going because it caused them problems with their subject teachers. Despite him knowing at least as much as they, a lot of staff were resentful he was dabbling in their subjects, so it was best to leave well alone. The kids for whatever reason prefer to ask Pete for help. They like him.”
“But he should get some recognition for it!”
“He doesn’t tick that way. He has a Ph.D., but has never used the title doctor, he told me years ago he considered it to be pretentious folly. He would never have accepted any recognition because he would have seen it as the system trying to bribe him and thus create a sense of obligation and exert control over his free time. Dave Whitman tried to force him to make it an official lunchtime club years ago, so he just stopped doing it. It was a term later before he started up again and Dave had the sense to look the other way. He does what he does because he likes kids and he thinks it’s the right thing to do. He doesn’t care what the staff think of him, and he cares even less what senior management think of him, for him it’s all about the kids. Such folk are rare. I doubt you’ll ever employ as good nor as dedicated a teacher again. It will also be interesting to see what happens to examination results now he’s gone. Try taking his results out of last year’s, averaging them and comparing that with the average including his pupils’. You won’t like it. Compare the rest against his. You’ll like it even less.”
“Have you any idea where he’s going?”
“I don’t know where he’s going. I have a suspicion, and it isn’t teaching, but till I know for sure I’m saying nothing.”
On the last day of term when traditionally year eleven came to school dressed up for photographs, leavers’ assembly and to say goodbye to staff, Elska went to school in her uniform, registered and said goodbye to her form tutor. That she explained was the only reason she had come to school. She had impishly said, “I don’t feel too good, the girls are playing up. Now you can truthfully say that I told you I didn’t feel too good due to my pregnancy and went home. Please say all that is proper to keep us both out of trouble.” She’d kissed his cheek and said, “Granddad said to tell you he would appreciate it if you phoned him sometime, Peter.”
Peter Hargreaves was asked by the head had he seen her and when he told her Elska had told him she didn’t feel too good and was going home and asked him to say all that was proper on her behalf she was shocked and asked, “She couldn’t have been that ill. You have thought she’d have made the effort on today of all days wouldn’t you?”
“When she was saying goodbye to me before going home she told me she thought leavers’ day to be pointless and she had better things to do than feel ill just for the benefit of others, and don’t forget she’s pregnant with twins. You’ll be badly thought of if you make a fuss.”
The head considered reprimanding Peter for not insisting on Elska’s attendance because she knew if he’d asked her Elska would have obliged him, but realised since he was leaving too and she still didn’t know where he was going, which irritated her, that too was pointless and likely to result in an unpleasant reply. She was even more irritated later when she saw the huge number of leavers surrounding him, boys waiting to shake his hand and girls queueing to kiss him and cover his face with even more lipstick. There were far more of them than just his form. She’d had no idea he’d been so well thought of and for the first time began to realise that her satisfaction at him leaving was perhaps misplaced and Alice had the right of it.
During the summer holidays, in an interview at The Towers for a business magazine concerning innovation and the marketing of new products, Djuvec had stressed the importance of seeking out staff of the highest abilities and paying them appropriately in order to keep them. “You have to look in unlikely places. Folk with that level of talent are rare and inevitably have unusual interests and they follow them wherever they may go. Often somewhat obsessive, many are regarded as asocial and they rarely have many friends. Most folk try to use them without reciprocating in kind, and after being so taken advantage of eventually they only associate with folk who give as much as they take. Often they don’t know any, so live in isolation. I am by the way not just talking about academics, but tradesmen, gardeners and domestic staff too, and I am speaking with particular staff in mind. If The Towers has a secret for attracting so many amazing folk it’s an open secret that few employers are prepared to risk. We provide an environment where all have the resources to follow their gifts and chosen paths. We consider it essential that for example our maintenance staff, gardeners and domestic staff have not only tools adequate for them to perform their work, but the particular tools they prefer so they can enjoy their work. Look around you at this room or outside at the grounds. They are both maintained by persons who care, persons who are important to us, persons we have no intention of losing. The gardens aren’t hundreds of years old but were laid out recently by our head gardener, a man of extraordinary talent. We also have thirty-four excellent apprentices in various departments. We can chose the best because the terms of their apprenticeships are the best available. We offer good pay, unparalleled holidays and accommodation too if it is desired, excellent training and educational opportunities, some here and some elsewhere, and fringe benefits like driving instruction too. All our employees are respected and valued and we quickly deal with any who do not conform to our policy of respect and dignity for all.”
Djuvec smiled at the thought of what ‘dealing with’ involved. It was after all much easier to repsyche someone than to go through the legally convoluted process of firing them, and if it came to it they could be encouraged by Elska to hand their notice in. “However, sometimes recruitment is just down to luck. I have heard it said there is no such thing as luck, and that what folk call luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity. Be that as it may, we are constantly prepared for opportunity. Our head of analysis and modelling is the most brilliant mathematician I have ever been privileged to meet and he was completely wasted as a secondary school mathematics teacher. Fortunately for us he was my granddaughter’s form tutor and she head hunted him for us. But once you have recruited talent, as I said, you have to be able to retain it. With our pay structure he’ll be earning anything from five to ten times his previous salary depending on how much money we make out of the projects we are currently developing. When The Towers does well everyone who works here does well, right down to the youngest apprentice gardeners and maids. We have never lost a member of staff to another company.”
Six months later, a number of young single female teachers whose advances Peter had been impervious to had been surprised and a little irritated to see the photographs in the papers of his wedding to Lucy, an attractive twenty-two year old solid state physicist with whom he worked. They had assumed he was gay because he had never even acknowledged them as women, just teachers.
Elska returned to year twelve heavily pregnant, and her peers, especially the pregnant ones, were glad to see her return. They perceived her return as a girl facing down the system by doing something many of them had been regarded as sluts for doing before. Elska created a major incident in the local medical staff by insisting that she was going to give birth at home. They tried to say they would not countenance providing a midwife and she had to give birth at the hospital. Elska’s reply was simple, “No. Not going to happen. I wasn’t asking for your permission, so there’s nothing you have to countenance. You agree I’m healthy and the girls are too. We’re staying at home. When I go into labour Thorkill will ring you. If you don’t send a midwife you can live with the fallout. Goodbye.” Elska deliberately had not reminded the hospital that Janice worked and lived at The Towers, so that the hospital did not try to pre-emptively negate Janice’s registration as a midwife with the NMC in some way.
Elska was angry with the health authority’s overbearing attitude and laid her plans to punish them for their arrogance. Thorkill did make the phone call, but Janice, who was still a currently registered midwife and worked for The Towers in various health related capacities, had already delivered Freya and Friia when he made the call. The ambulance arrived without a midwife, and Elska refused to allow the ambulance personnel to even see herself or her babies never mind take them to hospital and refused to go herself. The ambulance personnel were politely asked to leave before security threw them out. Florence asked a couple of reporters who were friends of The Towers if they would like to interview Elska and photograph her with the girls. The story was embarrassing for the Local Health Authority as their bullying was exposed with evidence that was impossible to explain away causing an external investigation to impose serious changes to their treatment of mothers to be.
The girls were born towards the end of the Christmas holidays, and Elska hadn’t officially missed a day off school since the beginning of year seven.
The school nurse asked, “We can provide sterilising facilities in the surgery, but where would you be happiest feeding the girls?”
Elska replied, “Almost anywhere as long as it’s not too cold.”
“What do you mean not too cold?”
The nurse was surprised by Elska’s reply, “I don’t need sterilising facilities because I’ve no intention of giving any children of mine a poor start in life by bottle feeding them, but I’m not going to nurse Freya and Friia in the cold. If it’s too cold for me it’s definitely too cold for them.”
The girls were awed and fascinated by Elska nursing her daughters. In the end she had worked out how to tandem nurse them with Janice’s help. Janice had advised her to watch YouTube videos on tandem nursing because the district nurse was a fifty year old spinster who, in Janice’s and Elska’s opinion, hadn’t got a clue, and the health visitor was a proponent of formula feeding. Breast feeding was something none of the girls at school had ever seen before, despite virtually all having younger siblings. They all knew why Elska was nursing her daughters which was not considered normal nor even decent by some of them. Even more, they were amazed she wasn’t bothered if the boys saw her nursing either. She was always discreet, but said, “It’s a natural and normal thing to do. Maybe some of the boys will grow up a bit if they realise that.” She’d admitted to the girls, “The feelings when a baby nurses are indescribable. It’s just pure love, and it turns your brains off and puts your heart into over drive. I love it when Thorkill watches me nursing. The look on his face tells me how much he loves us, and I can’t wait to have more. I want boys next time. Thorkill’s never said, but I know he’d love to have sons.”
Elska had been courteous but cool towards Emily Burns her twenty-nine year old new form tutor who was also new to the school, and never spoke to Mrs. Burns unless asked a direct question. She was always polite, but it was clear she had no interest in anything Mrs. Burns had to say. Her attitude to the rest of the staff was what it had always been: the same as her attitude to Mrs. Burns. Early in the summer term, Elska had been asked to represent the school in a sixth form academic quiz. “No thank you,” she’d replied.
“Why not?” Elska had not replied. “I asked you why not?” Mrs. Burns asked again.
“I don’t want to, and I don’t have to justify that decision. Now if that is all, I have to nurse Freya and Friia before my physics class.”
“I’ll put you down for the team anyway, then you’ll have to do it.”
“Okay.”
“So it’s okay you’ll do it?”
“No. It’s okay you’ll put me down for the team. Talk to my old year head. I don’t do after school anything.”
Mrs. Burns put Elska on the team. Elska didn’t turn up and Ferngate were thrashed with only three on the team. Mrs Burns read the riot act to Elska who calmly walked out saying, “No one talks to me like that. You’ll be hearing from my granddad. If I don’t get an apology you can keep your sixth form. I don’t want to be here badly enough to put up with your bad manners.”
Like her predecessor the head was flayed by Djuvec on the phone. Not trusting herself, she had Alice Speedwell speak to Emily. Alice shewed Emily the footage of the scene the head had been sent. “I have no idea how Elska recorded this, but she has done it before during rather more serious circumstances than these. You’re going to have to apologise, Emily. Don’t take it personally, but the only member of staff Elska ever got on with here was Pete Hargreaves, her lower school form tutor, and he now works for her. I’m reliably informed she’s paying him four hundred thousand a year. I gave you that form in the hope you may have got on with her, though I doubted it. Let me explain. She’s the brightest person most of us will ever meet and she’s fabulously wealthy from her own endeavours. We need her. She doesn’t need us, and she knows it. She’s taking seven A’ levels and could just as easily take twenty seven. If you don’t apologise she will certainly do what she said she would do and leave. She doesn’t bluff or lie, and she doesn’t need A’ levels, or have any intention of going to University.”
“Why not?”
“Because she is already way past that. I’m told she was frail and educated at home till she came here in year seven to experience socialising with her peers. Please believe me this is not intended as a threat in any way, but if she leaves most of the staff will probably hold you responsible for the A’ level statistics which could mean special measures for the sixth form because she’s predicted to score straight one hundred per cents across the board. Since she arrived she has come to school, done what was legally required of her and gone home. She has never done any after school activities, despite excelling at all sport, music, art and everything else, and her grandfather told Dave Whitman the then head in her first month here that was the way it was going to be because that was what she wanted and if the school couldn’t handle that he’d find her another school that wouldn’t bully her. She is a published authoress of both well thought of scientific papers and fiction and a local gallery mounted an exhibition of her art works when she was fourteen I think. I suggest you apologise tomorrow, she only ever gives one opportunity and if you don’t do it tomorrow she won’t come back. Then leave her alone because for sure she will then ignore you just like she ignores every other member of the staff including me.”
Mrs. Burns apologised and asked, “How do you manage twins on your own?”
“It’s none of your business, and it is presumptuous of you to assume I’m on my own.” At which Elska walked out.
Emily again talked to Alice who told her, “There’re a few copies of a DVD of her wedding in the library. She’s been married over a year. She married on her sixteenth birthday, and her husband is a lot older than she, ten years at least. He used to be her bodyguard, and he’s a multi millionaire in his own right. Elska had been engaged to him since the age of twelve, and if rumour is correct she’d been in love with him from the age of ten. Don’t ask her any personal questions. She’s been wrongly referred to Children’s Services twice, and on both occasions they’ve had to issue very humble apologies. She and her family are understandably angry about it. She justifiably cost the last head and chair of governors their jobs and any number of teachers, Local Education Authority staff and police were told if they didn’t undertake retraining on child protection they had no job.”
“My God! What happened?”
“Four of our year eleven boys tried to rape her when she was in year nine. They waylaid her after school and threatened to put footage of the rape on social media and say she begged for it. When they tried to steal her engagement ring, which is a five carat diamond, she snapped and crippled them all. Her footage recorded the entire event.”
“Crippled‽”
“Yes. Crippled. None will ever walk normally or without pain again, and the ringleader’s testicles were so badly crushed by one kick they had to be removed.”
“How did she do that?”
“She trains with her family’s security team who I am told are all ex military. The men and sometimes women in the vehicles parked on the road all day that bring her to school and take her home are some of them. There’s always been a rumour they are part time mercenaries. Her husband is their employer. After the attempted rape, the police illegally tried to interview her without the necessary adults in support and the head and governors said they were going to expel her. The head was lucky to avoid a charge of attempting to pervert the course of justice as a result of trying to cover the events up. It was a nasty messy business, and if others including the school had had appropriate safeguarding in place it would not have happened. The head and the Local Education Authority both tried to say as head of pastoral matters I was responsible. Fortunately for me, I was on record as having made representation to them both many times on the matter over the last ten years, and the record also shewed I had been ignored every time. Elska was completely exonerated of any blame or responsibility for what happened to the boys, who were locked up. All four will be on the sex offenders’ register for a minimum of twenty years. Her grandfather is actually her great great grandfather, and he’s over a hundred years old, as sharp as a razor and will reach for his legal team before you can turn around, as all found out to their cost.
“She whipped up a major media storm concerning the Local Health Authority when she insisted on a home delivery. The Hospital didn’t send a midwife, and one of her employees, who is a registered midwife delivered the girls. The Health Authority was forced to alter procedures for choices offered to the pregnant by an external investigation, and a number of senior staff were forced to resign. She’s pleasant and polite, but there is no pushing her around, probably due to the unfortunate life she’s had. Her mother died just after she was born and her father six months before she came here. Her stepmother is a bit of an enigma, but clearly old European nobility, if not royalty, and it’s obvious where Elska gets her hauteur from, but there are a lot of the pupils she gets on with who like her, and I have a lot of respect for her. She has a huge presence, and whilst discreet doesn’t care who sees her nursing her girls, male or female staff, girls or boys. She often nurses in the library whilst chatting with the members of her lower school form who stayed on into year twelve. They make up a mixed sex mutual support and study group.”
Alice chuckled and added, “We have a good few boys as well as girls who are experts at burping babies. We have been encouraging other forms to form such groups but haven’t had any success so far. She pays for the crèche nanny who looks after her girls and the other girls’ babies too whilst she and the other mums are in classes. She has said she is going to endow a fund specifically to pay for a nanny at the school in perpetuity and like everything else she has ever promised I am sure she will keep her word. But like I said it’ll be best if you just leave her alone. The only reason I know anything about her is because she used to talk to Peter Hargreaves and her form. Her form have never said anything about her to anyone, so all I know is from what Pete told me.”
The school’s last complaint had been concerning what they perceived to be Elska’s seduction of the girls from academia in favour of a more old fashioned way of life for a woman: life long marriage and motherhood. Elska now pregnant with triplet girls simply had more credibility with the other girls than the school. Djuvec had told the head she was talking to the wrong person, for he was no longer Elska’s guardian. The head had asked coldly, “So just to whom should I be talking?”
“Since Elska is now eighteen she doesn’t have a guardian. You could try talking to her husband, Thorkill, he has a lot of influence over her, far more than I ever had. I’m sure he’ll be delighted to nail you to any wall of your choice for suggesting marriage and motherhood are not appropriate for any woman who has a man worthy of being called a man. I’m sure you read of the change in the behaviour of both your girls and boys back to a more realistic state which can only enhance the longevity of their relationships. The article was I considered to be a most interesting and socially significant piece, journalism at its best. After all a degree in telephone sanitation technology from the university of Utter Pretence in Bradford leading to a life as a poverty stricken single mother on benefits with a mountain of university debt can hardly compete with an affluent and happy family life doing part time work married to a loving craftsman leading to a Silver Wedding celebration in the Red Cat dance hall can it?”
The head had already lost a recent run in with Thorkill concerning his men’s presence in their quasi military vehicles parked on the road outside the school all day which she claimed was intimidating the parents of other children and inconveniencing visitors to the school. She’d almost been able see Thorkill shrugging his shoulders over the phone as he’d said, “The vehicles are taxed, insured and have current Ministry of transport test certificates. My employees all have valid UK driving licences. The road is a public highway with no parking restrictions. My folk have a right to be parked there. They are there in case Elska needs them, and after the incident with that bunch of scum the school did not protect her from they are staying there. Complain to the highways if you like. Djuvec has been told all they can do is prevent anyone from parking there. Should you persuade them to make the road in front of the school a no parking zone Djuvec will ensure it is enforced and anyone, parent, visitor or passerby, parking there will be fined, and of course my men who will be on the pavement all day will be there to witness it all, take photographs of number plates and the drivers and pass it all on for the police to use as evidence.
“Djuvec will ensure their prosecution, for if the police don’t prosecute he’ll instigate private prosecutions. My men will be much more visible on the pavement than in their cars and I’ll provide intimidating looking uniforms for them to wear instead of civilian clothing which is what they wear at the moment. At the moment my men do one hour spells, but if the weather is poor, I’ve enough men to rotate them in twenty minute shifts, and if need be I’ll employ more. Naturally we’ll make all this public, so the parents will know the change to no parking was at the request of the school. If on the other hand you manage to achieve a limited time period for parking I shall use enough vehicles to completely fill the entire length of the road twenty-four hours a day, and have vehicles behind them to occupy the spaces as the vehicles at the front pull off. It could easily be done so that no one else can park there.
“Again we’d make our intentions and justifications public with the emphasis on protecting a pupil you were unwilling to protect because she will not do after school activities. Djuvec will have audio records of every phone call the school has ever made to us because all phone calls are recorded, so we have proof of the pressures the school tried to exert to steal Elska’s private time.” Thorkill smiled, a grim smile without a trace of humour and even less compromise in it that the head could sense, before adding, “We are talking about the safety of my wife who I have loved since she first drew breath and that of my daughters. I’ll wade through rivers of blood before I’ll see a hair on any of their heads hurt. Other folk feeling intimidated is of no concern nor interest to me whatsoever because I am responsible for no one’s neuroses other than my own.” Thorkill quietly put the phone down and informed Djuvec of the conversation.
The head had contacted the Highways department and they repeated what they had told Djuvec, “We could apply to the court for a no parking zone in front of the school, but I doubt we’d get it. We can not legally target specific cars or drivers. It’s all can park or none can park. There’s nothing in between, and public parking by it’s very nature is on a first come first served basis.”
A friend had quietly advised the head to drop the matter because she had no idea what she was up against. The friend refused to give many further details but said. “Elska’s in year thirteen, and before you could get the parking restrictions she’ll have left and you’ll be held responsible for inconveniencing the kids’ parents. Elska’s husband and grandfather are in fact reasonable men, but whether you get the parking restrictions or not unlike them her stepmother would never let it go no matter how long it was since Elska had left. Watch the footage of her wedding again and pay attention to whom Viivishkava dances with and talks to for any length of time and then just drop it, Margery. Those guests are all both business associates and friends of Elska’s family, so for the sakes of yourself, the school, the staff and the kids just drop it.” The head had watched the DVD and dropped the matter.
However, when the Highways committee had been asked by a Councillor whether they were going to recommend the school’s request for a no parking zone outside the school be granted, the initial Ferngate High seeks parking ban headline was followed by an immediate up swell of protest from parents. In the interests of accuracy, Florence had given out copies of the transcript of Thorkill’s conversation with the head to any who’d asked about the issue, mostly the media, and all parents who were subsequently interviewed were insistent, despite the head’s assertions, they had not been intimidated by Thorkill’s men, for, like all other security guards, they were just working men doing a job to feed their families like most of themselves.
Many mothers said they had chatted with them and shared laughs about the behaviour of teenage children from time to time as they’d all waited to pick up their respective charges, and they entirely understood Thorkill’s anger and desire to protect his wife and children. One father said when he’d had problems with his car the team had taken himself and his children home and arranged a mechanic. Most of the fathers interviewed thought Thorkill’s solution to a time restricted parking zone and his threat to hire more men and put them in military uniforms on the pavements was amusing because they saw it as a victory for their side over the power of the school. The school truthfully denied applying for a no parking zone, but had admitted in the interests of child safety they had felt obliged to explore possibilities due to increased traffic volume. As a result the school had suffered considerable derision from their embarrassing climb down, but considered it could have resulted in a much worse outcome. Their denial had however effectively killed the issue, and the head realised that The Towers had made sure she could never resurrect it.
This time too the head considered the matter best forgotten because Thorkill had told her that if Elska was such a problem to her he’d suggest to Elska that they take a holiday when A’ level examinations were taking place and that would get Elska out of her hair before she officially left the sixth form leaving the school time to re-indoctrinate the girls back to pursuing worthless goals that would boost the school’s pointless examination statistics. The head knew should he do so Elska would take the holiday. Elska was taking seven A’ levels, double mathematics, statistics, physics, chemistry, botany and zoology and it was a certainty she’d get one hundred percent on the first five and ninety-eight or more on the other two. She knew Elska had no need of A’ levels being way beyond them, indeed way beyond any first degree.
As a result of conversations she’d initiated with Elska in an attempt to build bridges and a relationship she knew Elska would be quite prepared to leave the school with a massive academic deficit concerning their A’ level statistics because Elska had coldly reminded her of the poor way the school had treated her in the past under both the previous head and herself, and made it clear she was interested in neither bridge building nor a change in her relationship with the school and its staff. “All I ever wanted to do was mind my own business and do what was required of me by law. I am the only pupil in the school with a one hundred percent attendance record. I have given the school more than everything it has been entitled to, but the school never considered that to be enough, and constantly tried to bully me into giving more. The school has never stopped trying to steal my time, my life and my talent for its own use. It set Social Services on to me when I said I was going to get married. I have no need of nor use for the school, and if the school interferes with my private life again I’ll just stop attending.” At her last such conversation, when she’d remonstrated with Elska concerning her lack of loyalty to the school Elska had told her, “I have the same loyalty to the school it has shewn to me and my family over the years: nil.” To the head’s consternation Elska had added, “Under both you and the previous head this school has tried to have me taken into care, to break my family. What on Earth gives you the monstrous hubris to think that I should care what happens to the school?”
As she’d turned to leave she’d quoted, “Galatians chapter six verse seven,” without further explanations. The head had later looked up the reference to find, Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The head knew it would count against the school that Elska was not going to university as an undergraduate, but all knew Elska was going to expand her family’s business activities. The family which included her stepmother, the mysterious and exotically beautiful Viivishkava who looked the same age as her stepdaughter. Small wonder they were opening a beauty spa. She knew Elska as much as her grandfather was the brain that lay behind their family’s incredible fortune and her independently wealthy husband, who apparently had been engaged to her since she was eleven, was her head of security. She was also aware from the media that Elska was being unsuccessfully headhunted by major universities and companies world wide as a lecturer and researcher of biogenetic engineering, which even if successful would unfortunately not redound to the school’s credit.
To no one’s surprise Elska had not attended the sixth form prom, but this time she gave no explanations, and as soon as her last examination was over she had never set foot in Ferngate High again. The truth was she was now completely bored by school and just wanted to get on with her life which school had never been even an insignificant part of. From the school’s point of view that she and her husband were deeply in love and united against all comers was indisputable, and that it was impossible to decide which of the two was more difficult to deal with was equally obvious. The nature of their relationship was impossible to fathom, because it didn’t seem to have changed since Elska was eleven. She was still under the spell of her rugged, massive, impassive, handsome husband who, without in any way becoming less of his own man, was at her constant beck and call, but who could control her just by asking. Elska had never had nor wanted any close friends at school, and the entire staff and governors would have been deeply offended had they realised just how insignificant they had always been to Elska. The only person at school who’d ever been of significance to her was her ex form tutor, now close friend, Peter Hargreaves, who now married to Lucy worked and lived at The Towers. Peter had returned her regard, for after family Elska was the first they told of Lucy’s pregnancy.
Viivishkava had organised a ball to celebrate not Elska leaving school but her joining the company full time, and one of the photos in the local paper had shewn her dancing with her old form tutor. Elska’s last act in connection with the school had been Djuvec’s creation of the mechanism that would pay for the school’s crèche nanny. It was set up in such a way that the money was provided by The Towers crèche trust fund and it could never be used for anything else. No surplus was possible, and should two or more nannies be required The Towers crèche trust fund would provide for that too. Should there be no need for a nanny temporarily no payments would be made till the need returned. Should the school cease to exist, so too would the payments. Needless to say Florence made considerable media capital for The Towers out of it, and it was a very resentful chair of governors and headteacher who were photographed accepting the paperwork from Geneviève who’d diplomatically explained that Elska was fully occupied by recent breakthrough developments in combatting lethal genetic conditions. They were even more resentful when they saw the huge front page photograph in the local paper of Elska signing the documents under a headline that read, NANNY FOR EVER. Their photograph was much smaller and on page seven. The entire article was an interview with Elska, now pregnant with triplets, concerning young mothers. Her intention she made explicitly clear: to assist pregnant school girls, not to support state education. She had explained as well as their apprenticeship programs The Towers already had an interest in education starting with its crèche and its newly established private primary school which had the intention of selectively accepting some local children. She added that eventually perhaps that would lead to a secondary school too and graduate training programs in biogenetics and digital systems. The article merely recorded that the school had accepted the gift.
Elska’s three girls were born in the afternoon during a summer storm. She’d gone into labour after break fast and Belle was born just after twelve, shortly followed by Blanche and at two minutes to one by Fleur. She was tired but not excessively so and later that afternoon said to Viivishkava, “I’m not stopping here you know, Vish.”
“I knew you wouldn’t be. You wish to provide Thorkill with sons don’t you? You’ve never said, but I know how the pair of you think. You have the money to be able to manage a much larger family, and no one who matters will think ill of it. You get some rest before they need nursing again, or Janice will be shouting at you.”
“Vish. I know why you never wanted me to call you mum, and I truly respect your reasons despite you being my mum when I needed one so desperately, and with or without the name you have always been my mum, but Freya and Friia refer to you as Granny Vish. Is that okay?”
“They call me that to my face when no one else is there. Clever little things aren’t they? No that’s fine. I like it. Now get some rest.”
“I’ve been thinking about difficult things for a long time, Thorkill, and I think I know what I want to say, but some of it may not come out right, so be patient please.”
Thorkill recognising a major paradigm shift in Elska’s thinking was about to be made manifest said, “You tell me when you want a response. Other than that I’ll wait till you’ve finished.”
“I’ve looked it up, and I understand how the Geneva Convention defines mercs, the implications of that and how it’s not accepted everywhere. I know the law is different depending on where you are. I understand that the distinctions between regulars, mercs, civilian contractors and security outfits can be hazy and can be the difference between being treated as a prisoner of war or being shot as a criminal. It seems to me that it’s not far off true to say it’s illegal in most parts of the world to be a merc. But, Thorkill, why are mercs so hated? They’re just soldiers and soldiers aren’t hated.”
“It all boils down to control and self image, Elska. Persons in power want to have some kind of moral authority to justify slaughtering innocents, because no matter how careful anyone is in a conflict innocents get killed, maimed, orphaned, widowed and made homeless. It’s in the nature of war. So the powers that be paint it as a matter of patriotism and mercs don’t fit the picture except in a rare few exceptions like the Ghurkas and the French foreign legion for whom they bent over backwards to make the rules fit. Because mercs don’t fight for patriotic reasons the powers that be see that as a situation that could lead to them not being able to control them. For example they know mercs, unlike regulars, will not obey orders and throw their lives away just to make a political point. They’ll pack up and not just retreat but leave. Mercs won’t die pointlessly for idiots, they’ll go home. The folk that cause wars to be fought in the first place aren’t over bright. They can’t be because virtually all conflicts are resolved at the conference table not on the battle field, but it never occurs to them to have the conference instead of the war rather than after it.”
“You seem to exist as a global semi secret society often paid by western governments who are prepared to sacrifice you immediately it suites their purpose. You all know each other, and from time to time someone needs to disappear which is where I have come in. Can’t we legitimise the mercs somehow? They’re decent folk who don’t deserve to be treated as scum.”
“That’s right to a point, but all governments know how to contact us to offer work. You need to understand, Elska, the mercs you know and have met are the best. All are decent folk who won’t kill for money to support some petty tyrant who is a bigger threat to his people than any outside force. The members of our security team are some of the best folk in the world, and, though we function like the mercs many were, most of the time we can no longer legally be considered to be mercs, and you’ve eliminated any possibility any of us can ever be prosecuted retrospectively. But you have to understand there are mercs who are howling barbarians who would think nothing of slaughtering babies by the thousand if there were money in it.”
“Why? Surely they weren’t born that way?”
“Doubtless the odd one or two were, but yes in the main they weren’t. They were made that way usually after mind damaging service in regular forces and as a result of their government’s subsequent treatment. The better the person they were the greater the damage inflicted upon them. Post traumatic stress does strange things, and you, as far as I am aware, run the only unit capable of undoing the horrors that cause it and thus cure, if that’s the right term, sufferers with your repsyching therapies. When a regular becomes no longer fit for purpose due to post traumatic stress he gets scrapped just like a faulty or worn out machine part. Most loose their families when they return to civilian life, many commit suicide, others end up on the street, virtually none adjust to their new life, but a few find their way into the mercs. It’s the only thing they know: killing, and those are very dangerous men and women. What is interesting is that very few who start out as mercs rather than regulars suffer from post traumatic stress. Geoff says it’s because decent mercs only fight on the side of the angels and so get looked after by the angels, but he’s a visionary with the soul of a poet which is just another way of saying he’s as crazy as the rest but it manifests itself differently.”
“I still want to help the folk I like, the folk who dropped everything immediately and came to help and protect us. Do you think that men like Geoff, and Geoff is a lovely man, ask any of our women who met him, would send their mercs with post traumatic stress here for treatment? After all they send them for physical treatments. We could call it R&R which wouldn’t be a lie. If we start with what we can deal with easily first and treat victims, because that’s what they are, in the good merc outfits, and try to extend that to other outfits, we’d improve the image of mercs generally wouldn’t we?”
“How does that help your longer term aims?”
“I don’t know, but it’s a step in the right direction isn’t it?” Elska hesitated in thought. “I know we’ve always been a very private concern, restricting ourselves to our staff and then the mercs, but it occurred to me we could help ex regulars too. Wait, Thorkill, hear me out. Governments pay out a lot of money to veterans who have been hurt, both physically and mentally, and even more to medical organisations that help them. If we could negotiate with them, we could take a lot of money off them and still save them money. I know we don’t need the money, but we could pass enough of it on to the persons we help to give them a new start. It would be a source of legal money and subject to no taxation. We could reserve some of it to help those the governments won’t pay for. Any who are of arguable identity or nationality we could provide documentation for and some western government of their choice has a new citizen. What do you think?”
“Hellfire, Elska, you’re talking about an undertaking of global proportions. The estate isn’t big enough and you don’t have the staff. You’d wear yourself out in a month, and I love you far too much to stand by and watch you destroy yourself a bit at a—”
“Don’t be silly, Thorkill. I’ve been thinking and developing this for a long time. You know years ago I asked Vish to tell the estate management team to buy up everything of any size no matter what via proxies that came up for sale within five miles and they’ve not long since bought The Valley which isn’t as large an estate as this, but the house is larger, newer and can be remodelled quickly. Our farm can easily manage the extra acreage even if they need to hire more staff. I’m told many of the staff who work here have family members who work elsewhere but who would prefer a job with us.” She shrugged and said, “It’ll be expensive, but since I’m trying to help persons damaged by their own governments, those governments can pay for it. As for medical issues, Siobhan and I only need to do the resequencing and repsyching. The rest can be done by nursing personnel. Janice would be more than happy to be in charge of them as long as she has opportunity to work with us from time to time. She’ll be a fully qualified medic soon, so maybe we medics could rotate the job. A thoroughly moral way to acquire enough nursing staff would be to hire intellectually weak girls and women and enhance their intellect and impose discretion in return. Yes I know I’m being sexist, but I want individuals with a female mind set, so I’m prepared to hire males who I can see are really female, resequence them with a new identity should they so wish and impose discretion. Ultimately I’ll want more medics and sequencers, but I wish to reserve those positions for those close to us who will probably wish to live at The Towers. Though of course from time to time there’ll be the odd individual from outside like Janice whom we’d be stupid not to welcome. I want to put the word out to persons like Geoff that I’m looking for mercs to train as medics. Would you be okay with that, Thorkill?”
“Okay, I think you have the beginnings of an exceedingly good idea, but before I agree to it I want to hear what Djuvec, Viivishkava, Siobhan, Janice and our ranking folk think about it. I’m sure they will think it a good idea, but we need to meet and hear their views. That way we’ll get an improved idea. You need to think about who should be at that meeting. I’ll go with your choices, but I’m expecting between twenty and thirty of our folk to be there, including all your health care staff.
Djuvec had returned to Prague to renew his acquaintance with the places of his youth with a well prepared security detail. Officially he died from a heart attack which Siobhan, the certifying doctor, had said was not surprising given that he was a hundred and seven. The body of a very old looking man taken from a morgue bearing Djuvec’s name was cremated, but Djuvec had been resequenced as Stefan an orphan with documents identifying him as a twenty-five year old law student from Gdansk. The original Stefan unknown to the authorities had died illegally ice climbing on a glacier in Greenland by falling into a quarter mile deep crevasse some five years previously which had subsequently filled with shifting ice and fresh snow. Stefan married Viivishkava and became a UK citizen whilst supposedly working as a gardener at The Towers and completing his self study of law. In fact he’d just continued with what he’d been doing before as Djuvec. Viivishkava finally overcame her religious scruples and asked Elska to resequence her fertility so she could have a family. Viivishkava and Stefan subsequently had a son, Dmitri, and over the years another five children.
“Elska, I just took a phone call from someone who said his name was Herman. He said he was a dog handler and both you and Thorkill knew him. He wouldn’t give me any details of anything or why he was calling. He was so secretive he wouldn’t even give me a return number, he said you would know how to contact him and in any event he would ring back at eight tonight. I gathered that would be late evening where he was. He also said the pair of you could do each other a favour. When I mentioned it to Thorkill he just laught and said to tell you to ring him back as soon as possible. I don’t want to pry, but he seemed to be a very odd sort of a person.”
Elska laught and said, “They don’t come any odder, Geneviève, but then he’s in the same line of work as Thorkill, but a lot of his troops have four legs. He runs the only canine merc outfit on the planet. Antonio will know him for sure. I’ll contact him now, but I’ll need to have Thomas establish the contact for me.”
“Elska, it’s good to hear your voice again. How are you”
“Hello, Herman. I’m in excellent health, and my unborn twins are too, but how are you?”
“Congratulations on your twins. I’m well, Elska dear, but I have someone who isn’t, and I called in a couple of favours to have him air lifted to you as we speak. Military jet to Carlisle and a copter standing by to transfer to The Towers. He’s being attended by a medic and has had a transfusion. James isn’t one of my men, but we were working with another outfit, and he got badly hurt. I’ll never work with them again, damned barbarians with no care to their men or each other. James had only been with them a few months and was still too trusting. He was told to take rear guard and when it got hot they sacrificed him. Otto and three of my outfit took twenty dogs and pulled him out. They had to wipe out the opposition pining James down, but left his outfit to manage the rest. Otto managed to talk to him, but he was a bit delirious and probably said more than he intended. He’s damned good with weapons and even better at unarmed combat, but always drew the short straw on anything the rest didn’t want to do because they thought he was gay. He was most of the way through to qualifying as a doctor somewhere in Canada, but got clocked cross dressing in a club and kicked out for bringing the medical profession into disrepute. I have no idea if he’s trans or not and even less how he ended up as a merc in that sorry excuse for an outfit, but I knew I had to get him to you fast because he’s lost a lot of blood and taken serious damage to his left lung. The medic said he knew about you and if he survives the flight the rest will be trivial to you. Geoff told me a few months ago you were still looking for medics from the mercs, and though James has not been a merc for long I thought you ought to know. He’ll be with you in one, one and a half hours max.”
“Thank you, Herman. I’ll do what I can and let you know through the usual channels how things go.”
“I’ve got to go. We need to move out in the next hour, or we’ll all need a bed with you. You take care of yourself, little girl. It was good to hear your voice. Give my regards to Thorkill and the rest of your outfit.”
“You take care too, Herman. Bye.”
“Siobhan, we’re sequencing within the hour. Emergency admission of a badly hurt merc who’s arriving by helicopter. He’s taken shrapnel to his chest and probably lost a lung. Also other lesser injuries. His name is James. He nearly finished medical training, but was expelled for cross dressing. He could possibly be trans, but either way with a bit of luck we may have found ourselves a colleague.”
Siobhan smiled and said, “I’ll have everything ready including some of the team standing by to land the whirligig and carry the stretcher into the operating theatre. How long is it since he was hurt?”
“I don’t know, but from the sound of it too long. Herman said he’d had a transfusion, and is accompanied by a medic who knows of us. He’s on a military jet, heaven above knows how Herman wangled that, but he said he’d called in a couple of favours, coming into Carlisle from some where in Africa, probably the Horn, according to Thomas. He was left as a sacrificial rear guard by his outfit. Apparently gays aren’t human. You know the type. Herman’s son and his squad extracted him. We know what we do because he was delirious talking to Otto on the way back. I’ll get back to the theatre and prepare everything and get ready to scrub.”
“I’ll join you as soon as I can. Does anyone else need to be told?”
“Lev, Vish and Thorkill if you would?”
“Okay. I’ll go.”
Siobhan was watching the monitors when Elska came in. Siobhan sighed as she said, “It was bad enough, but it could have been worse. James got lucky with his genes. That clotting mechanism of his prevented a lot of blood loss, but it’ll mean longer for the resequencing to clean up and repair his lung. I set the sequencer to track it down and it succeeded twenty minutes ago. The sequences involved have been recorded and added to the file ready for the next general update. He’s beyond doubt out of danger and stable now and going to remain so. I suggest we keep him here and under for another forty-eight hours before transferring him to the ward. That way he’ll not need analgesics nor anti inflammatories when he comes to. If we do that there’s no need for both of us, so how do you want to work it? I suggest you let Lev know what’s going on for me and go to put your tribe to bed. I’ll do till four if you take over then till say ten. Irrespective of how far James is along to recovery, I suggest Janice takes a turn. I know she’s already done a shift at the antenatal clinic, but she told me she wants as much experience as she can get as soon as possible over here, and I know she’ll be glad of it. I’ll come back at four and she can discuss what ever she wants for a couple of hours. You get your kids to bed again and we’ll discuss what we’re going to do next when you arrive. How does that sound?”
“I’ll buy it. Thanks Siobhan. You any idea where Lev is or what he’s doing?”
“Not a clue, you’ll have to ask Thorkill or Alex. Last time I saw him he was eating a bacon sandwich on the run and he just waved as he went past in the direction of Pierre’s workshops.” Siobhan looked thoughtful as she said, “I know you can’t go off looks, Elska, but James’ face is so pretty he could pass as a woman with no effort or make up at all, and he has no trace of an Adams apple. He has virtually no body or facial hair and is so slender and petite he’s more like a girl than a woman.”
“Where are you going with this, Siobhan?”
“Well it’s obvious that he has never produced much testosterone. He’s hardly any pubic hair either, and I’ve seen bigger penises and testicles on six year olds. He’s been so little affected by any pubertal influences that I’m not surprised he cross dresses. I’d hazard a reasonable sum that she has always been a girl. The Towers may just be the best thing ever to happen in her life. Still it’ll need to be carefully approached. If it comes to it I don’t mind you telling her I used to be a man, though I have to admit I can barely remember it now.”
“I agree and you’re not saying anything that hasn’t already occurred to me. I’ll remove all the magazines from the ward that aren’t specifically published for women. If he is a man he’ll ask for something else to read, and if she is a woman I doubt she’ll notice or remark on it.”
“James. James, can you hear me?”
James made an attempt to speak and relapsed into sleep again. A couple of hours later after a groggy start he asked, “Where am I? What happened? Who are you? Oh God I’m still alive. I remember now. Why couldn’t I have died?”
“You are at The Towers hospital which is a specialist, private hospital for mercs in the north of England. You were hurt with your outfit. They left you. You were badly hurt and extracted by Otto and some others in Herman’s outfit and he sent you here. I am Siobhan a medic here. Why would you wish to die?” James started crying, and Siobhan saw it was the way a woman would cry. “Why would you wish to die, James.” James couldn’t make himself speak and Siobhan, seeing a way in, threw all caution to the winds. “I don’t think you are James. Who are you really? What is the name you use for yourself that you’ve never told anyone in order to hide what you always thought had to be a secret? The secret that when it came out cost you everything. I used to be a man and was a merc specialising in information gathering in the field before I needed to disappear. I also had a full set of first aid tickets because my dream was to be a medic as well as a woman. That was not so long ago and now here I am, but who are you? And what is your dream?”
James’ tears dried up, “Why are you trying to torment me? Is it not bad enough? You don’t have to lie to me. You can’t hurt me any more than I’ve already been hurt.”
“No one is lying to you. Why would we heal your injuries and then want to hurt you. I told you the truth. I was a male merc, and now I am a female medic. Please tell me your name and what happened to you to make you want to die. Then I will explain more about how we can help you realise all your dreams.”
There was a very long silence. “Kristiana. I am Kristiana. It’s what my mum wanted to call me if I’d been born a girl. I’d nearly finished my training as a doctor in Ottawa, but I was outed and summarily dismissed. My life was over, so I joined a merc outfit hoping I’d get killed. They took me because I was good at self defence and had good combat skills, but mostly because I was sniper class with a rifle, but I’d only ever shot at targets and I never killed anyone when I was in Eritrea. Why do you care?”
“Have you ever heard of this place, Kristiana? The Towers hospital for mercs?”
“Yes. Every one says it’s the best and it can do things that no one else can, but nobody seems to know what things. It’s got a reputation that seems to be a bit like a færie tale, but only mercs seem to be aware of the place. Regulars have never heard of it.”
“It’s true we can do things that no where else can and that includes imposing an inability to speak more than generalities of what we can do. However, this place is for real, it’s no færie tale. I told you I used to be a man, but I have not undergone a transition as you probably understand the term, nor have I had hormones or surgery. My breasts, hips and bottom are real and my face is too, and I was a balding, middle aged southern European man of less than five feet tall. This is done by a sophisticated technique only known to us that we refer to as resequencing because it literally resequences your DNA. You could become Kristiana, biologically totally female and would be just like any other woman who was born female. Like any other woman you would menstruate, and be able to give birth and nurse a child if you wished. Would you like us to do this for you? Ah here is Elska, she owns and runs The Towers. Elska, I would like to introduce Kristiana. We were talking about her resequencing, but naturally she is bothered we are setting her up for more pain.”
“Hello, Kristiana. What Siobhan has told you is true, and there are many women here who used to be men and a few men who used to be women too. You can choose what you wish to look like. The only limitations are such that as a woman you would have easy pregnancy, childbirth and nursing, so there is a minimum hip size you can have but that’s about it. To put your mind at ease that this is not some elaborate hoax perhaps you need to realise the other side of the coin. Has Siobhan told you what in your particular case is in it for us?”
“No, and I never thought to ask.”
“I wish to expand our activities and am desperate for more medics. There are only three of us at the moment, and from time to time we are already stretched too thin regarding twenty-four seven cover. Herman told us you were nearly qualified as a doctor, so you are particularly attractive to us. I prefer mercs because they understand the issues and are naturally discreet.”
“You sound convincing, but if it is just an elaborate lie your work on me will have been for nothing, for I have no desire to carry on like this, and one way or another I shall eventually kill myself.”
“I’ll have lunch brought to you and we can make a start immediately after lunch. First we need more blood and tissue samples for the sequencer to analyse which it can do while we eat.” Siobhan took the samples and left before Elska asked, “What would you like for lunch, Kristiana? There is always a pasta dish. Today there is a chicken korma with rice and a roast lamb full dinner. There is always a huge selection of salad with fruit, nuts, cold meats, eggs and cheese. If there is nothing I’ve mentioned you fancy I’ll ring them to see what else is available. There is always a comprehensive selection of puddings, fruit and cheese and biscuits. Coffees and teas of every description and soft drinks plus anything from the bar though I can’t recommend alcohol at the moment.”
“Could I have a ham salad with English mustard and a bun or some bread, no pudding and apple juice, please?”
“I ring it in for you when Siobhan returns and tells me what she’d like.”
The three women ate their lunch at a table in the ward and then went to Elska’s office where the sequencer had finished. “We can use your X chromosome to generate another or you can use someone else’s. Do you have a preference? It makes little difference in the end because the sequencer will make sure the selected genetic material is safe by altering any dangerous genes.”
“I’ll use my own.”
“Do you wish to remain a white European?”
“Yes.”
“How tall would you like to be, Kristiana?”
“What’s my upper limit?
“I wouldn’t recommend much above seven feet for practical reasons. A standard doorway is six six. My husband is seven three and is grateful we live in The Towers where the smallest doors are over eight feet high. And remember heels could potentially put five or six inches on you.”
“Four inch heels have always been my limit. Could I be a slim six foot?”
“Certainly. How about bust, waist and hips?”
“Forty with a C cup, twenty-six, thirty-eight, but I may change my mind.”
“That will be fine. We’ll shew you what your choices look like before anything is decided, and even then we could resequence you later. What about your hair and eyes?
“I’ve always been strawberry blond and I’d like to remain a strawberry blonde, but I’d like blue eyes not brown, soft blue.”
“What would you like your face to look like? I have to say the one you’ve got is pretty and would be a good starting point.”
“Okay. Let’s start there.”
“At this point I need you to be imaged. You need to stand naked for thirty seconds behind the screen with your feet where the footprints are on the floor with your arms held loosely a little way from your chest. The imager will produce a front, side and rear view, and all can be seen simultaneously on the screen.”
Siobhan took Kristiana to behind the screen and said, “Leave the gown on the chair.”
A minute later Elska said, “Okay, put the gown back on and we’ll start altering your image.” By the time Kristiana came back, Elska had changed the images on the screen to that of Kristiana as she was but with female genitalia, a small bosom, a rounded bottom and no body hair at all, and as she’d intended Kristiana was relieved not to have to view those aspects of herself that had hurt her so much for so long. “I’ll just enter all you have told me so far. You’ll be able to see everything you wanted on one of the views.”
In front of her eyes Kristiana saw her body stretch upwards, her breasts, bottom and hips expand and her waist narrow a little. Her eyes changed colour and her hair grew to cover her rose coloured nipples and her paler areolae. To her surprise it was halfway down her back. “Wow! Can you really make me look like that, Elska?”
“Certainly. That will be nowhere near as complicated as bringing you back to health was. The damage to your lung and your superb clotting mechanism delayed your healing. At this point I have a confession to make. Your clotting mechanism is better than any we had come across so we tracked it down and copied the sequence responsible for it to add to our background sequences for all future resequencing. I’m not going to apologise for doing so but neither do I wish to hide the matter from you. I hope that you are happy about that?”
Siobhan smiled and said, “I’d be dead but for you. It seems a more than fair exchange.”
“Thank you. But there are other things we wish to know. Do you wish a new identity? It’s not a problem to us, for we can do that and give you genuine documents issued by the appropriate departments’ computers. It is the easiest way to become established as a female. We’re rather good with computers.”
“That I have heard about. I have no living family and no desire to connect with any of my past, but how will I be recognised as a qualified doctor?”
“No problem, even starting from scratch as a new student. We have university connections who will certify you after you sit your exams with them. We tell them you have been here for whatever time period is considered normal. We also have processes to help you learn and remember vast quantities of information very quickly. Basically we ramp up your memory and your intelligence because though it’s not necessary to become a doctor it is if you wish to become one of us, a sequencer. We use the quasi military term medic. You may chose to work in a hospital as part of your training and any student we sponsor would be welcome in all of the hospitals within two hundred miles. So do you want a new ID?”
“Yes please.”
“How soon do you wish to be resequenced? Is today to soon? The sequencer still has to do some checks. That’s what the blue light is indicating it’s doing now, but everything will be done by four at the latest. We’d like an xray to check you have no metallic objects in you like screws and the like in your bones, but assuming not we could start by four. The imager has already done a deep scan when it performed the surface scan, so we know you have no soft or polymeric implants. After a simple gasjab the process is under way. It proceeds fastest when you are asleep and with the amount of long bone growth and concomitant soft tissue growth you require it will take about ten days. You will need to be in bed, for it will exhaust you and you will require low level analgesics. We could do it much faster if necessary under a general anaesthetic, but I would prefer not as that is a much more onerous procedure that requires constant monitoring of a whole host of things.”
“I have no job, nowhere to live and no clothes. It seems like a huge leap into the dark.”
“Most of our staff live here. There is no charge. As soon as you say you accept you have a job and a home for as long as you want it. A job as a medic here will provide you with more than enough money to buy clothes. Our commissariat has a limited supply of basic items of clothing that will do in a pinch, but they tend to be military or sporting in style and hardly flattering. However, you can internet shop for some initial clothes and there are a lot of women here who were in your position once who would love to help you on the internet and even go shopping with you. We want you, I want you. Yes it’s a leap of faith, but we have healed you and there is no charge for that even if you walk away now. I’ll shew you some photographs that may ease your mind.” Elska took a card folder from her brief case and passed it to Kristiana.
Kristiana opened the folder and her face paled as she looked at the photographs. “That’s me isn’t it?”
Elska nodded and said, “That one is you on your arrival, barely a week ago. Look at the dates and times on the photos and you can work out the rate at which we healed you.”
“Okay. Thank you. I accept the job. You may as well start the process as soon as you can.” Kristiana chuckled, “You know my only regret? It seems childish, but I left some lovely clothes in Ottawa. I even had some lingerie from Victoria’s Secret that had just opened. Still, to hell with Canada. It’s destroyed itself with liberal snowflake values, yet still it’s not safe for trans folk.”
“You want to be a UK citizen, Miss Kristiana Newsurname?”
“If it can be done please.”
“Okay. I’ll deal with it when we have all the information we need from you. I’ll put it about you want to visit Newcastle and go to Victoria’s Secret when you’re ready. It’s in the Metro centre at Gateshead. There’ll be so many want to go we’ll have to use a big coach if not more than one. I’ll put our names down. How about you Siobhan?”
“Definitely. I’ll gouge Lev for some pennies. He’ll be okay about it as he’ll benefit too. As soon as we get an idea of numbers and a date I’ll let Pierre know about it.” Siobhan saw the look on Kristiana’s face and said, “Pierre is in charge of all ground transport here.”
Kristiana spent twelve days in bed before she had sufficient energy to dress and move into her small suite. Elska had been right she had more friendly women helping her find clothes, cosmetics and furnishings than she had ever met before. By the time Vivienne had styled her hair and Judith had dealt with her nails she was finding it hard to remember her previous life. Elska was arranging her studies and Kristiana now understood the principles behind resequencing and repsyching. Elska had increased her brain power and memory and was teaching her how to use her bio-link. Elska had told her, “Once you have mastered that you will be ready to take your examinations at Glasgow. Probably the end of next month, Kristiana.” In the meantime she was studying with Janice to their mutual satisfaction.
After a month, Kristiana had all her documents evidencing her identity and by repsyching herself, as a practice exercise, she no longer had any surface memory of her old self, but had to think deep and hard to remember anything about James which she considered to be desirable as a safety precaution. Talking about what she’d done to Elska triggered Elska to say, “That’s similar to what I did with myself concerning Douglas, when Angus became part of me. Explain to me again how you programmed it because I was focussed on the what rather than the how of what you did, and I think this is something we should incorporate into all our identity change clients to avoid them inadvertently giving themselves away. In the mean while we’ll set up a program to retrospectively protect all our staff who could use it.”
Three months after Kristiana took up her new self, Siobhan and she were in the ward looking after six mercs who’d been brought in with life changing injuries that would have probably resulted in their deaths had The Towers not been available. Their patients were all unconscious regenerating major parts of their bodies. “Lev asked me last night if you would appreciate him warning some of the men off and telling them to give you some peace.”
“I’m not sure I understand what you mean, Siobhan.”
“You draw men like honey draws bees, Sweetie, but you don’t seem to be aware of it. There are a least a couple of dozen men here who are desperate to start a relationship with you. Part of your charm is you are completely unaware of just how gorgeous you are. You only need to walk into the ballroom and heads start turning, and all you want is a drink at the bar. Lev believes you are still coming to terms with being a woman and not ready for more, and he just wanted to know if you’d appreciate an elder brother’s touch. He considers all the medics to be sisters for a whole variety of reasons which is why he asked.” Kristiana looked upset, and Siobhan hugged her before saying, “That’s not it is it? I suspect you don’t even see them as men, just persons. Have you ever found a man attractive? Or felt a desire to be held or kissed by one?”
“No. Never. Not even when I had a boy’s body. Some folk accused me of being gay, but it wasn’t true. I liked women, but I wasn’t man enough to attract one. I just thought all the men who were annoying me at the bar did it to everyone.”
“They don’t. They’re specifically interested in you. Do you still like women?”
“I’ve never thought about it, but yes I suppose I do.”
Siobhan chuckled, “Well maybe those idiots who were just trying to upset you were right. Maybe you are gay, but being a woman and gay means you like women. There’s more than a few gay women here and doubtless even if one of them doesn’t suit you you’ll find one that does somewhere. Would you like that put about discreetly? Or would you prefer to leave it to happen by chance because it will if you ignore men long enough.”
“I don’t suppose it makes any difference does it?”
“The sooner it gets about the sooner the men will leave you alone and the sooner you’ll have interesting conversations with women.”
“Now I think about it I had one of those interesting conversation with Elise the other day, but was too stupid to realise what was going on. She’s a lesbian isn’t she?”
“Yes. She was in a relationship with a woman from outside for eighteen months. It went south because her lover insisted she quit her job here and move away to Lincoln where she came from. Elise wanted to know where and how they would live and was told something would turn up.”
“What does Elise do here?”
“She’s a highly paid electronic engineer, so she wasn’t too impressed with the idea that something would turn up. What it all boiled down to was her lover was jealous of Elise’s job and accommodation and just wanted her away from The Towers. Elise told her to go and manipulate someone else and that their relationship had just ended. Elise is a kind and decent woman and she didn’t deserve that. Unfortunately one of the down sides of working and living here is that relationships with outsiders often prove to be problematic.”
Kristiana smiled brightly and said, “I’ll look her up and ask if she’d like a drink with me, and if it turns out that I’m a lesbian so be it. At least I won’t have to put up with all those annoying conversations at the bar.”
A fortnight later Elise and Kristiana found a larger suite of rooms and moved in together.
Elska was struggling to manage her medical responsibilities and her family. She was tired and though her colleagues were doing as much as they could for her there was still too much for her to manage. Florence had said, “Elska, you need a PA. If I can’t run promotions without George’s help then you definitely need an assistant. The truth is he runs promotions and I do virtually everything else we have to do. Put your pride to one side and accept that you can’t do it all. You need help.”
Siobhan had told her, “Elska, the maids function a bit like nannies for you some of the time, but that’s neither their job nor their inclination. When there’s no one there to tell them what to do they’re at a bit of a loss, and it’s not their fault. Viivishkava has too much to do to take that on as well. You need a mother’s helper to supervise them and take care of your domestic arrangements.”
Elska knew they were both right, but the idea of bringing in two newcomers into her intimate circle had security implications neither she nor Thorkill were happy with, and Alexandre who handled family security for the entire staff had admitted that if it came to it somehow he would manage, but only because he would have to. He clearly wasn’t happy, but had said “It wouldn’t be so bad if Elska could find the right person to handle the lot, Thorkill.”
Elska had said in response, “But the chance of that is close to nil, Alexandre.”
Thorkill had the final word saying, “Agreed, Love, but it is not nil. You never know what will turn up. Have a word with Florence and let her handle the job adverts and person description and do the initial sifting of applicants. You and the staff have coped so far, not well even you admit, but you have coped, so accept the pressure in the short term and give Florence as long as she needs. If there is anything I or the team can do to help say so, and whilst you’re at it tell all the domestic staff and see what they suggest.” Thorkill kissed her as she nodded.
“I’ll speak to Florence after lunch.”
After speaking to the domestic staff things did become a little better, but it was over four months before Florence produced a candidate for the post.
“In going on for half a year, I’ve only managed to find one applicant I considered worth looking into, Elska, but I’ve found a gem. Jean Margot Svensen is a forty-five year old, single, post operative, trans woman. She left home and school at sixteen after a life of complete hell. She’s never married nor even had a long term decent relationship. As far as we can tell she never had any short term relationships either and Jane and Zoë have no found no indication she’s ever had a one night stand. She had her gender confirmation surgery at the age of twenty-four having worked a minimum of sixteen hours a day seven days a week and lived on fresh air and hope for eight years to fund her own surgeries. After she left home she nearly died a number of times after being beaten up by gangs of bigots. She uses make up to hide the facial scars that resulted from her assaults. She was lucky to only lose the sight of one eye from a razor cut that scarred across her entire face. She was deliberately run down by a van when she was twenty and required extensive surgery. She was in hospital for over six months and had to learn to walk again. The van driver was charged with attempted murder, but got away with manslaughter. He served three years of an eight year sentence. Six months after release, in the early hours of the morning he was outside a gay bar that Jean worked at waiting with two others to beat up some of the clientele as they left. It didn’t work out as they’d planned. The three of them were left with most of their bones broken and a result of a broken neck and a blow to the back of his skull he’s now a blind quadriplegic.
“Jean was inside cleaning up with more than twenty witnesses at the time, but was suspected of involvement. The police questioned her several times but all they got was, ‘I wish I did know who did it. Then I could thank them and buy them a drink. Actually I’d be more than happy to buy them enough drink to keep them pissed out of their mind for a twelve month.’ The media interviewed her and she was famous for a few days for having said, ‘It serves the fucker right. Should happen to more of the bastards, but all’s well that ends well because the bastard won’t be hurting anyone else.’ The police are still looking, but it seems the LGBT community closed ranks and nobody admitted to knowing anything.
“Jean wouldn’t accept life had to continue like that, so enrolled on free self defence courses, one course after another including all the women’s self defence courses run by the police, and she’s now a top of the trees, multi style, martial arts graduate from a number of different places. According to sources the police don’t have, several who tried to hurt her after that ended up with crippling injuries and mutilations. In addition there are suspicions she was responsible for using a cut throat to castrate and cut off the penises of six so called gay bashers. Four of them were found dead, but the other two the police know about never saw their assailant, but the investigators believe there were many more who just disappeared. Despite her cast iron alibis the police still believe she was responsible, or at least involved, and they’re still looking for evidence to link her to the incidents. She really could do with a new identity, Elska, preferably before the police find that evidence.
“I’ve got all the details of her troubles which did end with the law becoming involved, but from our point of view they’re irrelevant because they are all convictions for beating the daylights out of scumbags who tried to hurt her because she’s trans. What’s interesting is the four cases that went to court were brought not by the director of public prosecutions, but by wealthy, middle class parents of spoilt scum who were out of control. The judge in the first case, was a man and not particularly sympathetic to any LGBT cause, but despite a unanimous jury vote of guilty, refused to consider even a suspended custodial sentence but gave her the minimum sentence available, which was a derisory fine to be paid at one penny per year, and refused to award costs or compensation to her so called victims. The judge did not agree with the prosecution barrister who maintained she had used undue force, because given what had been done to her in the past no one could have expected her to have restrained herself in the face of what she recognised as potential death, and further more had things gone a little differently her attackers would have been in the dock charged with attempted murder or even murder.
“The judge regretted, despite it being a clear cut case of self defence against several men with considerable previous convictions for violent assault on gays and trans women, that the law obliged him to punish her, but he deemed it appropriate to set the punishment at a level that would cost far more to collect than it brought in and advised the clerk to the court to officially request the fine be written off as unviable to collect. The clerk to the court privately considered the judge had seen to it that justice had been properly served and agreed with the judge’s statement that bringing the case to court was an abuse of the legal system. The other three judges were two similar men and a sympathetic woman. The judges had obviously researched the first case and their decisions were virtually carbon copies of the first, and the clerks to their courts were in agreement with the first one too.
“Before her gender confirmation surgery she worked as an office junior, a cleaner, a barmaid and an overnight cashier at a twenty-four hour petrol station whilst gaining office and secretarial qualifications at night school and saving for her surgeries. Most of her references aren’t good, bigots again, but those who gave her a fair assessment say she was an excellent all round office worker especially under pressure and they were sorry to lose her. After transitioning she worked in various jobs with children, acquiring childcare qualifications on her way, but she had to keep moving and changing jobs because all her employers manipulated her out as soon as they found out she was trans. Despite her numerous cast iron cases for constructive dismissal, she never bothered to sue because she maintained even had she won she’d have ended up losing due to the dangers the publicity would pose her. None of her ex employers were bright enough to realise that replacing a hard working, bright, creative, caring individual who was well thought of by children and parents alike with a callous jobsworth meant they’d created all the problems those idiots caused. She is clever, tough, a born organiser and survivor and she has a far wider skill set than you require. I’ve spoken to her on the phone and she impressed me with her sense of humour, attitude to life and her way with words.
“You have a meeting with her next Friday afternoon. That’s the fifth. I’ve arranged a train ticket, travelling expenses and suite for her here and she is staying for fourteen days, longer if I can persuade her, to get used to The Towers and us and the pair of you are possibly meeting on Monday the fifteenth at ten to discuss her stay and anything else that occurs to either of you. Only that is if it’s necessary because I’m hoping she’ll have accepted the job by then. No matter what what happens, Elska, it would be a decent and kindly thing to resequence her face and particularly her sight. As you can see, the NHS facial surgery could do nothing for her regarding either.”
Elska looked long and hard at the postcard sized photograph that as requested Jean had provided. “I agree. You don’t have to persuade me. You seem convinced she’s what I need, Florence, so I’ll go with you, but how did you find out all that about her?”
“Even before I opened the envelope I had a feeling something good was about to happen, and I was close to certain as soon as I read her letter of application, application form and CV. There were a large number of the questions to which she’d responded that she either didn’t know or couldn’t remember which I regarded as fair comment for a forty-five year old. I wanted to know as much about her as I could, so I borrowed a couple of Geneviève’s best researchers, Jane and Zoë, and told them to spend a month looking into her using everything we’ve got and only to contact me for funds if they’d already spent a hundred thousand. Now I’m absolutely certain she’s what we all need, Elska. She’s a powerful lady with a mind of her own, but she has gentle side she’s not afraid to show, and she clearly loves kids. You’d be a fool not to make whatever accommodations are necessary to make sure she joins us, and for us to get the best out of her and for her to get the best out of us I suggest we let her define her own job. Given that the police are still trying to gaol her for what she should be made a dame for, she needs to disappear and be given a new identity, and she needs it quickly.”
Florence’s advertisement had been unusual and expensive. At the bottom it had listed all the publications that it appeared in which as well as all the usual publications both print and electronic included all the widely circulated LGBT+ publications and ‘The Big Issue’. It clearly stated The Towers was looking for someone special who could work with both adults and children in a position of considerable responsibility with authority over numerous staff, and provided the skill set and personality was appropriate all else was irrelevant provided full disclose was made. Any criminal record would have to be disclosed including spent convictions, but providing they posed no threat to anyone at The Towers they would be ignored. Disclosure was required so as to be able to protect the new employee from outsiders, for if full disclosure had been made the employee had done all they could be expected to do, and all further blame rested squarely on the shoulders of The Towers. To the disbelief of most who’d read the advertisement it stated that dependant on the exact circumstances being a convicted murderer out on licence would not preclude appointment. The application form required the applicant to consent to The Towers researching the applicant’s background in depth. It also stated that the interview process would take a minimum of fourteen days living at The Towers for both potential employee and existing staff to become used to each other and that full details of the six figure salary and the extensive benefits package included with the position would only be made available at interview.
Jean Margot Svensen was a slightly built brunette of about five feet eight with a cobalt blue eye, a clouded one, a ready smile and a nervous expression on her scarred face. She was born and grew up in the east end of London, currently lived in a furnished flat in Cheltenham Spa and she’d asked Florence during their telephone conversation for directions to The Towers. She’d been told there was an induction pack in the post giving details of her stay, which included a train ticket from Cheltenham Spa to Carlisle and that someone would pick her up at the railway station to take her to The Towers. Jean was amazed to receive a three hundred and sixty-five pound first class, any time return within the month, train ticket from Cheltenham Spa to Carlisle. She would have to change trains at Birmingham New Street after a forty-five minute journey. After a nineteen minute wait for her Carlisle train at Birmingham she had a two hours and forty-four minute journey to Carlisle. She would leave Cheltenham Spa at eleven minutes past ten and arrive at Carlisle at one minute to two. A quick check on the internet revealed her journey could take over twelve hours with up to four changes of train. There were no direct trains, and a single change was the minimum possible, so someone had been very considerate of her comfort. In the package was a note explaining the five twenty pound notes were to cover any incidental expenses she may incur and details of where to meet the car that would be awaiting her to take her to The Towers. Also included in the package were maps, photographs and a mobile phone preprogrammed with a dozen numbers she could ring if things went awry for any reason. She was asked to contact Florence once her train had left New Street so she could ensure the car was there on time for her and to let her know of any delays so her chauffeuse could be kept abreast of developments. Jean agonised over her outfit and decided a professional skirt suit was appropriate. She went for a touch of eye make up, a barely noticeable lip gloss and no perfume.
To her surprise she’d been impressed by her complementary lunch on the train. There had been a reasonable choice on the menu, and she enjoyed her hot cheese and spinach pie. Her train pulled into Carlisle on time to the minute at one minute to two, and she was taken aback to be met on the platform by a casually dressed, tall, skinny looking young man carrying a placard saying ‘Miss J. M. Svensen. For The Towers’. She approached him and said “Hello. I’m Jean Svensen.”
The young man smiled and said, “If you’ll come with me, Miss Svensen, I’ll take you home,” which seemed to be an odd remark to her. She was impressed that his eyes hadn’t even slowed as he took in her face, for most stared when they noticed her blind eye. The driver, who was wearing jeans and a tee shirt with heavy military style boots rather than trainers, though of slight build was impressively muscled and he picked up her two heavy suit cases as though they were empty. She was surprised when he led her to a limousine. The driver carefully placed her cases in the boot and asked, “Would you like to sit in the front or the back, Miss Svensen? I’m Lev by the way. Iwona was supposed to be picking you up, but something came up that she had to deal with. I don’t know what. I’m not high enough up the food chain to be given explanations about things I don’t need to know about, and I’m security not transport, but Elska herself asked me to pick you up. If you travel in the front I’ll answer any questions I can, but if you’d prefer to psych yourself up by sitting in the back that’s fine.” Lev didn’t offer any further explanations.
Jean thought Lev to be more than he appeared. He was clearly more than a chauffeur. “The front please.”
Lev opened the door for her, but before closing it said, “Your skirt, Miss Svensen.”
Her skirt would have become trapped by the door, and she was grateful but embarrassed. She blushed as she said, “Thanks, Lev. I don’t have so many outfits I can afford to trash one, and it’s Jean.” She tucked her skirt under her left leg and Lev closed the door before walking round, sliding behind the wheel and starting the car.
“So, Jean, how can I help you? Florence instructed me to answer anything I can truthfully which I take to mean you are wanted for a senior management position.”
“I really don’t understand exactly what The Towers is or does and how would I fit in. I’ve done as much research as I could, but I’m not really any wiser even after spending hours on the website. I’m not even sure if I am suitable for the job. I certainly don’t know anything about electronics and computers. I’m not entirely sure why I applied. The time between me applying and receiving a reply was so long I just assumed my application had been rejected, though I admit I was a little irritated that the prepaid notice of rejection I’d included with my application had not been returned to me.”
“Give me a moment.” Lev was clearly thinking, but it was a minute before he replied as he focussed on driving. He pulled out of the station car park going uphill and turning left through the traffic lights on green and waiting briefly at the next set till the red turned to green before turning left over the bridge that Jean realised went over the railway lines. “The Towers is a centuries old estate of about five thousand hectares and in addition it owns considerable property and land, mostly locally, but some as far afield as the fells. It was bought and completely refurbished and developed by Angus, Elska’s dad, maybe fifteen years back, but that was before my time here, so I’m not sure. Angus died about ten years ago, and Elska took over at the age of eleven. Being a genius must have helped. The Towers is involved in several activities that are related albeit tenuously in some cases. It is a global player in bio-digital and electronic development. It’s pointless asking me about that because you need far more brains than I’ve got to even understand what that means. I was just reiterating what the marketing folk put out to the general public.
“The Towers runs an exclusive beauty therapy and spa business which has connections to the small but ultra high tech hospital that is run by Elska who now owns The Towers and everything to do with it. My wife, Siobhan, is a medic and Elska’s number two in the hospital. Iwona who was supposed to pick you up is a pilot and Gustav’s number two. He’s the chief pilot. I work for Thorkill, Elska’s husband, who has charge of all security. I’m a pyrotechnologist. High level security is necessary due to the nature of the research the bio-digital and electronic folk do. It’s not long since Djuvec, Elska’s granddad, died. He was actually her great great granddad and was a hundred and seven. He was the company’s legal master mind, and that rôle has been taken over by Stefan who is Elska’s stepmum’s husband and every bit as sharp as Djuvec. Djuvec was also in charge of the techies, but I don’t know how they’re handling that now.
“The Towers is a moderately sized village like community. Everybody is very close, and it has its own crèche and primary school. They’re working on expanding on site education for the kids to include a secondary school too. I suppose soon it’ll be like a small town rather than a big village. I don’t know much about it, but every one says Elska is overwhelmed at the moment. She’s got seven kids, is expecting twins and has a seriously demanding job. As I understand it, and I could be talking rubbish, she needs a PA and someone to manage the nannies, so I’m thinking that’s what you’re here for. Viivishkava, Elska’s step mum who was married to Angus and is now married to Stefan, manages all the staff except security and the techies, so I suppose she’d be your boss. I’ve no idea how old she is but she looks considerably younger than I do.”
“Is Carlisle the nearest town to The Towers?”
“It’s about the same distance to Workington, but there aren’t that many towns of any size in Cumbria. Someone once told me the whole of Cumbria only has a sixth of the population of Greater Manchester.”
“How far is The Towers from Carlisle?”
“Maybe thirty miles or perhaps a bit less. Takes about forty-five minutes unless you get stuck behind a herd of dairy cows at our end. If you get really unlucky you could meet all three of the local herds, one of which belongs to The Towers agricultural department that manages all the farm land, and it’ll take up to an hour and a half. If you work at The Towers there’s always a car available for what ever you want. If you need a driver too someone will help you out. All you have to do is ask.”
“What’s a pyrotechnologist?”
Lev grinned, “An over grown kid who still plays with matches and gets paid to be a pyromaniac. I’m the security team’s expert on how to make something, anything really, burn. Which is a legally neutral way of describing an arsonist and that’s all I’m going to say about that.”
“What is your accent, Lev?”
“A combination of Chechen, Russian, and Ukrainian with maybe a bit of Cumbrian thrown in. The security team come from all over the world. There’re about two hundred of us. I’ve been here ten or eleven years now.”
“You said Elska asked you to fetch me. Why you?”
“No idea. Like I said I wasn’t the first choice, Iwona was. I doubt it was because Elska thought I’d be good at explanations. Most likely explanation is I was available and unlike a lot of folk at The Towers I don’t have a problem making conversation.” He laught and added, “Some of the boffins can hardly string a sentence together unless it’s about their work. No one ever refuses Elska a favour because she’s so considerate and can help anyone with troubles in ways that defy belief, and that’s all I’m going to say about that because it’s on the edge of information private to The Towers. You’ll get to understand if you end up working with us.”
“Okay. Does every one applying for a job get treated like this?”
“All applicants for senior positions do, but that’s not even one a year, because there is no staff turn over. Folk who join The Towers all stay there. We are gradually expanding and that why new senior staff join us from time to time. Elska and, more to the point, Florence, must want you. Florence is marketing and promotions nominally, but George her number two does most of that, whilst she handles high level recruitment and senior staff issues. As far as I’m aware you’re the only interviewee, though Florence said weeks ago there were over twelve thousand applications in then and they were still coming in by the bushel load.” Jean was taken aback by that and conversation lapsed till Lev said, “Once we get round the next bend you can see The Towers just below the sky line about four miles in front of us.”
The sight was impressive though the site disappeared from view for a couple of miles till Lev turned onto a side road. Half a mile up the side road the road forked, and Jean could see a massive stone wall running away to her right on the left hand side of the right fork and also along the right hand side of the left fork which was now in front of her. Lev took the right fork and after three hundred metres turned left to face a massively constructed pair of gates in the wall. The gates opened to let them through and closed behind them. “Who opened the gates?” Jean asked, expecting to be told they were operated by someone watching them on CCTV.
As Lev drove up the two mile long driveway that was edged by two rows of huge beech trees with rows of younger trees fifty feet behind them he replied, “No one. The gates sense the electronics that all our vehicles carry, but we are on camera and all vehicles are logged in and out. Elska and Florence will already have been informed that I’m back with you and we are on the estate. The gates operate automatically for our vehicles, but any other vehicle is sensed and an indicator tells security it’s there. They then operate the gates remotely from the security office.”
As Lev brought the car to a halt in front of The Towers Jean could see how the building got its name. It was, she considered, a good deal more impressive than the photos had led her to believe. There were a dozen substantial towers that formed a major part of the building and Jean could see a similar building a quarter of a mile off to her left. As Lev got out to walk round the car and open Jean’s door the front doors of the house opened and two young women approached the limousine. Lev removed Jean’s luggage from the boot, carried it to just inside the double doors, smiled and said, “See you later, Jean. You would be most welcome to join Siobhan and me for a drink in the ballroom bar later, say eightish. It will make a pleasant change from talking security and health issues. As usual there’s a dance on, and if you like I’ll step all over your toes,” before he drove the car away on a road that seemed to end in a field of pasture grazed by a herd of Jerseys.
To Jean’s surprise the two gorgeous looking women didn’t shake hands but hugged her, and the taller of the two said, “I’m Florence whom you spoke with on the phone. Welcome to The Towers, Jean.”
The other woman who was heavily pregnant said, “And I’m Elska.” Elska turned to a man in his thirties who had looked out of the doors and asked, “Paul, would you please arrange for someone to take Jean’s luggage to her suite?”
“Too much trouble, Elska. I’ll do it myself. The thirsty will have to serve themselves for five minutes.”
“Thanks, Paul.” Paul just shrugged his shoulders and smiled.
Elska explained, “Paul is one of the senior domestic managers. I suppose once upon a time he’d have been referred to as a butler. He’s one of four, the others are women. I gather from what he said he was working behind the bar. We’ll escort you to your suite. You can change into something less formal and more comfortable. Just relax, this is not an interview. As soon as you are ready, just ask someone to point you in the direction of the Orangery. We’ll both be there and we can chat and provide explanations.”
Jean turned back to the Jerseys and to her amazement the limousine had disappeared. “Where did the car go?”
The two women laught, and Elska replied, “The road turns sharply to the left as we look at it and goes behind a small hill that isn’t noticeable from here. The hill is artificial and was deliberately designed so as to hide the vehicle garages underneath it from the view from the house. Clever isn’t it? We’ll shew you to your suite.”
Jean was perplexed by Elska and Florence. Every explanation raised more questions than it provided answers, and they were more like sisters than employer and employee, and Florence seemed to be the more dominant personality of the two, for Elska constantly deferred to her suggestions. When Jean arrived at the Orangery she noticed a group of gardeners busy planting small trees. There were a couple of dozen women, a few with children, and half a dozen who were pregnant, in the Orangery. “We’re next to the crèche here. A lot of women relax here away from the men, though the grounds staff, men and women, use the Orangery for their morning and afternoon break too,” Florence explained.
Elska looked at Jean and said, “We probably know more about you, Jean, than you would imagine possible. We have a department that specialises in information gathering. My apologies, but it was necessary. The post we are seeking to fill is sensitive and we do not wish to have to hide things from who ever fills it. We would far rather it be filled by someone who can use that sensitive information in all our best interests. We know a lot about your childhood and how you struggled to get to where you are today. If you decide to join us, and we have already made our minds up that we wish you to, we can help you beyond your wildest dreams. That is why we took so long responding to your application. Florence needed the time to be sure we had the right person.” Elska stopped and it was clear it was for Jean to speak.
“I don’t wish to doubt you, Elska, but I don’t understand what it is you think I have to offer. Why do you think I’m so valuable to you? I only filled the application form in to get a work colleague who insisted I did off my back. All I have are secretarial skills, and childcare qualifications and I’m good at self defence. And despite your statements to the contrary concerning working here, I can’t help but have doubts because my gender dysphoria and trans status have given me untold grief from all my employers, and most of their other employees too, to date.”
Florence looked at Elska and smiled. “Jean, we have many folk here who were unfortunately born in the wrong body. Truly it is not an issue here. We are only interest in the woman that you are, not the accident of your birth in a boy’s body, and we are impressed by how you became who you are. We have a lot more to say on that matter that you will be interested in, but not today. Elska needs someone to handle her overload. Not to look after her girls, but to manage those who do. She also needs someone to function as her PA, someone who can manage her diary, get rid of folk she hasn’t got the time to talk to and decide who those folk are without bothering her about it. Someone who can tell her what she should be doing next without having to look it up and how long she has in which to do it. Someone who can make decisions for her under pressure when it hits the fan and knows when to tell her to take take time off for herself, her girls, her husband and The Towers.
“I was the one who managed the investigation in to your background, and I think you are perfect. Elska trusts me to make those kinds of decisions, as she wishes to trust you to make decisions of that order too. Your time here is purely to enable us to persuade you to join us, as Elska said it is not an interview, though you may consider that you are interviewing us. We do not wish to try to buy you, but the starting salary would be a hundred and twenty thousand a year and rapidly rising as our profits increase due to Elska’s increased time to spend on research. All staff here have a generous basic salary and receive a share of our profits. If that’s not enough talk to Geneviève in accounts, and she’ll deal with it.”
Florence smiled and added, “When you get dressed for dinner, dress to kill, for there’re any amount of single men here looking to change that and you could have your pick. You’re dining with a few senior managers and their spouses, but you have an escort: Pierre. Pierre is the senior engineer here. He’s a good looking Frenchman in security and knows how to make a woman feel special. He’s got xray vision concerning lingerie, but unfortunately for a number of the women he is in love with machinery. After dinner we’ll all go for a drink at the ballroom bar and dance a bit. And, despite what he said, Lev is a delight to dance with. You okay with that for the rest of the day?”
“Yes. You’ve given me a lot to think about.”
Out of the blue, Elska asked, “What’s your preferred perfume, Jean?”
Too surprised to prevaricate, Jean replied, “Poison.”
Elska looked at Florence, smirked and said, “Well done, Florence! I think we have a winner.”
“What made you say that, Elska?” asked Jean.
“Don’t take this the wrong way, Jean, but someone with the discretion of a lady and the soul of a courtesan will fit in perfectly with all our senior women. You’ll get on like a house on fire with Viivishkava my stepmum. Years ago when I’d started to become a woman, she took took me shopping in London for lingerie. She insisted it was an important part of my education. In a very expensive establishment she bought a pair of attractive basques for herself, and one was described as in harlot scarlet and the other in obscene green. The basque sets were racy but pretty and I’d have bought some myself if I’d have the nerve. I was completely fazed when she bought the leather whip that went with them too and made me buy some quarter cup bras and butterfly knickers. Despite my internet researches, I’d never come across open crutch knickers before. She told me, ‘Men are strange creatures, and a girl should make sure she has whatever it takes to get what ever she wants out of them.’ She does have a wicked sense of humour, but I’ve never been sure she was entirely joking about using that whip.”
Florence chuckled and said, “Probably not, Elska. You know she takes sex as seriously as she takes everything else, even when she’s laughing.”
Elska had an enigmatic look on her face when she continued, “More to the point, Jean, you’ll not only get on with all our senior women, as long as you’re single you’ll keep every man on site in a permanent state of confusion which is excellent and good for them and the rest of us too.” Seeing the look of confusion on Jean’s face, Elska smiled and said, “I can see I need to explain. You dressed in a formal skirt suit and discreetly wore no perfume to what you thought of as an interview. That gets you full marks for perception and intelligence. And then you, a single woman who we’ve been led to believe is trying to change that, tell me your preferred perfume is the ultimate in man bait, full marks again, but this time for perception and seduction. I love it.” The three women chatted till six, during which time Jean was introduced to numerous women, when Elska said, “Time to dress for dinner. Pass the word round, Florence. I want us all putting it out tonight. Who knows if we all get it right we may have a mini population boom in nine months, though of course being already ahead of the game I’m ineligible to compete, but I can get some practice.” Elska looked at Jean and added gently, “And for reasons I haven’t got time to explain tonight that could include you, Jean, if you would like that. We are by a long way the most advanced biogenetic facility on the planet, and are capable of turning you from an XY woman into an XX woman with everything that implies and all the capabilities of all other XX women. So see what you can find. No one will be bothered if you share a bed with a man tonight. Just make sure you pick a good one. Come on, Girls, let’s go and do what we do best.”
Jean was puzzled and embarrassed, but Florence said, “Elska is serious, Jean, and telling you the truth. You’ll learn more tomorrow. Elska, does Thorkill know of your intentions?”
“Don’t be silly, Florence. Some men need time to warm to seduction. Not mine though, he’s always at his best when it’s a complete shock. It can be a bit expensive on lingerie, but it’s worth it, and after all what do we buy it for if not to get what we want: ravishment. I’m off, I’ll see you in the dinning hall.”
After Elska had gone, Jean asked, “Is Elska always like that?”
“It’s hard to say. You have to realise she’s a genius and there are many sides to her. As to her views regarding sex and anatomy remember she is a medic and none of them regard bodily functions as more than their stock in trade, so they do tend to be a bit more graphic than the rest of us. Too, she’s been in love with Thorkill since she was ten, been engaged to him since she was twelve and married him on her sixteenth birthday. She always maintains Freya and Friia her eldest twins were conceived on her wedding night, and for sure neither she nor Thorkill have ever looked at anyone else. She is the brain power that is The Towers, and the security we have is mostly to protect her, for without Elska there is no The Towers. I don’t want to tell you too much because I don’t understand the processes she refers to as resequencing and repsyching, only her team of medics do, but they truly can turn you into a woman capable of carrying a child and breast feeding. I will, however, tell you that eight or nine years ago I was a man.”
“You were a man‽”
“Yes. And now I’m married to Frank and have given birth to and nursed three children. This place is special, Jean, which is another reason security is so tight.” Florence did not mention that Elska would have already placed limits on what Jean would remember were she to leave The Towers early.
Dinner was excellent and Pierre’s conversation and company even better. There was no talk providing information about The Towers, but Jean thought that on first acquaintance all the folk she had met there were persons she liked. “I have enjoyed your conversation, and you are very charming, my dear, but unfortunately I have to leave. We are pouring a casting for The Calf tonight and the steel will be ready in forty minutes. Enjoy the rest of your evening.” With that Pierre bowed himself out leaving a bewildered Jean who had no idea what he had been talking about.”
She turned round to find a quizzical looking Viivishkava. “I see Pierre left you. Doubtless to change a wheel on something that demands his personal attention.”
“Oh no. It was something about pouring a casting for a calf. Have you any idea what he was talking about, Viivishkava?”
“Of course not. Other than when he sets his mind to be charming to a woman, at which he is delightfully French, his conversation is completely inexplicable to any woman of sense, but he’s an engineer, and life without him would be much less pleasant from time to time, so I forgive him. Come, my dear, let us find a replacement for you.” She turned to an amused looking man behind her and said in peremptory tones, “Stefan, I need a man of refinement to replace Pierre for Jean. I leave all to you. I shall chat with her on the folly of men as we make our way to the ballroom.” As they left Viivishkava whispered, “Like all men my husband is a complete beast. It’s their only redeeming feature, my dear, other wise they’d be completely useless.” Though she’d heard the witticism before, the two chuckled as they approached the bar at the back of the huge ballroom which seemed to be full of folk. Jean noticed there was a dais opposite the bar with music stands and instruments but no players there as yet.
As they approached the bar, a woman behind it said, “I’ve just taken delivery of a decent Moët, but it needs another hour in the cooler, so what can I get you to be going on with, Viivishkava?”
“Xérès. I leave it to you, Juliana, but please nothing said to be suitable for a lady. I want something drinkable. Fino, cold and dry, please.”
“I still have a few bottles of what you enjoyed last time we had an emergency with the champagne, and the glasses are chilled too. And for…?”
“Jean, may I introduce Juliana? She is one of our senior domestic managers. She has a fine palate and is one of the few persons I trust to provide me with something fit to drink when things go awry. What would you like?”
“I’ll have a sherry too. What you’re drinking sounds fine, but I can’t drink, so I make them last.”
Juliana, who was impressed that Jean had understood Viivishkava, said, “I’ll deal with it, Ladies.”
“I can’t drink either, but if I have two, at most three and act like I’ve had six or more Stefan is more of a beast than usual, so it’s worth it.” The two women were still laughing when their sherry arrived. Viivishkava shepherded Jean to a table with a dozen or more persons sitting there. Introductions were made and Jean wondered why all the persons she was being introduced to were senior management or upper end of middle management. She mentioned it to Viivishkava who said, “Yes, That is so. There is a reason for that which will become apparent tomorrow. It’s a matter of security.”
At a quarter past eight Lev appeared with an Irish looking woman of great beauty whom he introduced as my wife Siobhan. Lev was a good dancer and his earlier remark about treading on her toes was, as Florence had implied, obviously a joke. Not long after, Stefan introduced Matthew who looked to be in his early thirties. Stefan whispered caustically so Matthew could hear too, “Matthew might not be as good looking, nor as good with sweet nothings as Pierre, but he is a great deal easier to converse with when the topic of conversation is anything other than machinery. More importantly, if you send him to the bar for a drink he won’t be distracted by a faulty beer pump and forget to return to you.”
As Stefan left, Matthew grinned and said, “Hard to believe, I know, but Stefan is a good friend of Pierre’s. Talking of drinks, you want another, Jean?”
“No thank you. I can’t take much and I wish to dance. What do you do, Matthew?”
“I’m a gardener. I have charge of the glass houses and the heated green houses including the Orangery. And you?”
“I thought I recognised you. I saw you working in the Orangery earlier. I’m here for a job interview. I’m a secretary with childcare qualifications.”
“Wow! The penny just dropped. You’re Elska’s PA. I’m top end of middle management, but that puts you right up there. Way over my head.”
“If I get the job, but it’s only a PA, nothing special, Matthew.” It was obvious Jean was becoming upset.
“Sorry if I upset you. You’re the one Lev picked up from the station. Yes?”
“Yes.”
“Well, I’m not speaking out of turn because all the management team members know what Florence has said about you, and we were all told Elska said we could tell you anything we chose if we were lucky enough to get to talk to you. Florence wants you, and they don’t come more choosy than Florence. That’ll be why Iwona and then Lev when she was needed else where were chosen to pick you up. They’re both exceedingly good judges of character. Florence says they’re that good it’s bordering on being a psychic gift, but Lev doesn’t buy into anything he describes as being next door to reading tea leaves. Elska says they’re good at picking up on hundreds of micro behaviours and creating an accurate macro picture of a person as a result. She’s trying to get a genetic handle on that so she can resequence the ability. Any way I guarantee Lev will have been debriefed about you by Florence hours ago. He must think you’re okay and what we want, or he wouldn’t have invited you for a drink with Siobhan. He’s sociable and will talk to anyone, but he’s discriminating regarding whom he will introduce to Siobhan. Like all men here he is instinctively protective of all women and especially so of his wife. Every one knows that you can ease the pressure on Elska, and it’s been made crystal clear that anyone who upsets you will be on the carpet in Florence’s or Viivishkava’s office within the hour, and no one in their right mind upsets either of them, not even Elska. Which may sound odd, but Elska is the genius who dreams up and runs the science here, whereas Florence and Viivishkava are the persons who make sure The Towers day to day happenings run smoothly. Nominally Florence is promotions and marketing, and Viivishkava is in charge of staff, but in practice Florence deals with middle and senior staff, and Viivishkava manages the rest. Most of their supposèd activities they delegate to others, so they can handle anything serious. We all know the job’s yours if you want it, and the entire staff is hoping to hell you do. Want to dance?”
Jean was puzzled yet again by the reference to resequencing, but said nothing. She thought dancing would limit the conversation and make things easier, “Please. How does a gardener get to be top end of middle management, Matthew?”
“Let’s see. The glass houses and cold frames mostly raise bedding plants early in the season that are used by other garden departments and they extend the growing season late in the year. They also produce salad material and other edibles over the entire winter for the kitchens. The hot houses raise quality, expensive cut flowers which is a money maker. They’re heated by biogas generated by the digestion of the slurry produced by the dairy herd, courtesy of Pierre’s engineers and the farming staff. They also raise exotic fruit and vegetables for our restaurantes all year round, all of which serve gourmet cordon bleu food. I suppose the rest of us could get by on beans on toast, eggs, bacon and chips, [US fries] but the restaurantes in the beauty therapy and spa centres have to have the good stuff to be able to charge what they do. The Orangery is in its final stages of a five year refurbishment, modernisation and extension that began as a paper exercise more than a decade and a half ago. The materials took ages to source or have replicas made because they’re exact matches for the originals. The hardest thing to accomplish was incorporating state of the art temperature and humidity control without compromising the original appearance.
“The structure was finished eighteen months back. All that’s left to do is plant the last of the new citrus trees which is my team’s job and it will be completed within a month. I’ve just come back from a three month shopping trip in China with nearly three hundred citrus cultivars that are all new to us, including a couple of dozen varieties of the Buddha’s hand citrus in pots that as far as we are aware are the only specimens in Europe. The scent of the blossom on some of the mature trees in China was amazing. The Orangery is a major player in Florence’s department’s promotional material. Many of the original trees have been lost over the last hundred years, but many survive and are way older than citrus are normally said to live which is about fifty years. We’ve planted scores of cultivars that didn’t exist when the Orangery was new and propagated all the existing trees so their genes are secured. The records tell us that we’ve lost none of the original cultivars because there were many trees of each, and some of each have survived, though we only had one tree left of a couple of them. We’ll have much faster results now because I’ve brought back a few new citrus root stocks from China. A couple are dwarfing stocks that will result in fruiting trees within three years, it normally takes a tree much longer than that to produce fruit.
“The two hives of bees inside the Orangery ensure good pollination, so we can raise a lot of trees from seed. The bees have been selectively bred by Benjamin the head gardener who has kept bees since he was a child over many decades for their gentle behaviour, and they are highly productive too. He has a team of bee keepers and they manage a couple of thousand hives that assist our fruit farmers and the vegetable growers. Some of them are taken to the fells to produce heather honey in the late summer. Most of the citrus trees grown from seed turn out to be worthless, but a few have potential as new fruiting cultivars or even rootstock material. The new Orangery is more than five times the size of the original and you can’t tell the new wings from the original centre section. I got the job because my Ph.D. was on propagation of and disease prevention in citrus trees, and my presentation at interview for my job here was the design of the refurbishment, modernisation and extension to the Orangery that I’d been working on for a while.
“We also grow various tropical curiosities including a few nutmeg trees, vanilla orchid vines and sustainable cinnamon bark trees that we can crop a proportion from every year whilst the trees flourish. As a result of my interests and activities, we grow a variety of other warm climate fruits including figs and dates of hundreds of varieties, and we are the only grower, outside the tropics, to grow durian fruit, of which we grow a dozen species and more than a thousand varieties of them. I am currently experimenting with and breeding new varieties of bananas, derived by sexual reproduction rather than cloning, from the wild varieties that will be able to take over from the Cavendish banana when it is finally wiped out by Panama fungus disease. I don’t doubt I shall succeed, though it may take many years. In the worst case scenario it costs us a small amount of money for years but eventually makes us billions. At best it makes us those billions in the near future. I already have resistant but inedible varieties of bananas and many varieties of closely related plantains. Eventually I’ll get there. Even if one of the other groups working on the problem get there before me it’ll still make billions. Most bananas grown in the world are clones of the infertile Cavendish and given a choice of more than one commercially viable variety in future growers will not be prepared to risk having all their eggs in one basket as is currently the case. The Orangery makes a lot of money for The Towers, and hence the Orangery is important to The Towers, so I guess that’s why a gardener is top end of middle management.”
Jean was stunned that Matthew who described himself as a gardener had a Ph.D.. That he considered her to be considerably higher in the management structure than himself even though she didn’t work for The Towers yet was scary.
Later in the evening, Jean was enjoying dancing with her head on Matthew’s shoulder and he found her fragrance even more distracting than his beloved citrus. He was aware some of it was perfume, but also that some of it was herself. “Is it like this every night at The Towers, Matthew?”
“Pretty much. Some nights there are more folk here, some fewer, but tonight’s pretty typical. Why?”
“There’s a dance band playing every night?”
“Yeah, but there’re lots of folk here who play. I play a button accordion and take a turn playing dance music with a group that plays a lot of Irish and Scottish music maybe twice a month. Xaquelina who’s one of the techies plays the gaita galega which is a melodic bagpipe from her native Galicia with a group of drummers and a squeeze box player. We’ve never needed to have outsiders in. The Towers orchestra is a good one. You should hear Viivishkava play the viola or the bayan. There’s a kids’ band too, and loads of them play all sorts of instruments. We have a lot of folk who sing too, Siobhan who’s a medic could have been a professional world famous soprano and Elska is a coloratura contralto of extreme brilliance. You want a last drink? The dance will be over soon. There’re always a few diehards that stay drinking till the small hours, but once Juliana and her staff go they’ll have to get their own drinks.”
“No thanks. I’ve had enough. I haven’t seen anyone pay for a drink. Does it get put on an account some how?”
“No. The bar is free just like the meals. It’s part of your pay. The bar is not a licenced establishment. You only need a licence to sell alcohol. It doesn’t sell alcohol and doesn’t need to make a profit, so as a result it can’t be inspected by HM customs and revenue or the police, which means all sorts of liquor passes over the bar some of which I suppose is not strictly legal. I know it’s hard for folk to understand when they first arrive, but this is not just a place to work. It’s a community, more like a big extended family really. For a lot of folk here it’s the only family they’ve got worth a damn. Let’s say the cleaners for some reason suddenly get swamped and can’t cope. The rest of us would help out. That’s never happened, but a few years ago Benjamin the head gardener noticed the gardens had a massive influx of Oxford Ragwort. Like dandelion seeds ragwort seeds blow every where, and whilst he didn’t subscribe to the ‘Oh my god the horses are all going to die’ school of thought he was pissed off at the thought of all those weeds seeding later in the year.
“Ragwort plants contain alkaloid poisons and need to be treated with respect if you are going to handle a lot of them, and the weeds were growing all over the place. The ones in the fields were spot sprayed by his team with glyphosphate using knapsack sprayers on days with no wind. That wasn’t possible in the ornamental gardens, so he asked for help and provided gloves and tools. A thousand temporary gardeners brought the problem under control in two days. Maybe three-quarters of the volunteers were kids. The weeds were burnt, and his team dealt with what was left. Because we all help when necessary there’re loads of things we don’t have to pay for. A lot of folk live and work here, but you’ll never see any litter to be picked up. At major celebrations the kitchens get more volunteers than they know what to do with. You got a baby needs christening? Want to get married? Bury someone? You go to see Edward. He’s a biker with security who is also an Anglican clergyman and a registrar, and he uses the chapel here for services. Loads of folk who’d given up on religion go to his services because he preaches tolerance and forgiveness. You want driving lessons, go and talk to Pierre or Jerry. For a pilot’s licence, talk to Gustav or Iwona. It’s how it works. You ready to go?”
“Yes. I’ve had a very enjoyable but long and tiring day, and I’ve no idea what I’m facing tomorrow.”
“Nothing till ten o’clock. I was told to tell you that. May I escort you back to your suite? I’m not assuming nor expecting anything. It’s just that I know where your suite is. Do you?”
Jean laught and said, “I’ve no idea, and I would be grateful.” As they left Jean put her arm through Matthew’s aware that she was interested in the younger man. At her door Jean turned to face Matthew with a questioning look on her face.
“I truly only came to shew you to your suite, Jean.”
“I believe you, but I’m a big girl and I know how to say no. I also know how to say yes. I don’t wish to be seen kissing on a corridor, so you had better come in.” She reached for his hand and took him to her bed room. Jean sat down on the bed and said, “Before you kiss me, I wish to tell you that I wasn’t always a big girl, Matthew. In fact I wasn’t always a girl, so if you wish to leave this is the time to do so. I advise you not to try to hurt me because you’d wake up in hospital if at all.” Jean wasn’t smiling as she cautioned Matthew.
“You invited me in, so I’m staying. You may not always have been a girl, but you are now, and that’s all I see. Why on earth should I wish to hurt you? I came in to kiss you, and I’ll be honest for anything else you’re up for too. I’ve had a number of relationships with non Towers women, which I was warned against, and all went south quickly on me. I was badly hurt when a couple of them ended. I’m looking for a serious relationship and I’d like to explore that with you because you’re an interesting woman. My major concern is that you’ll think I’m only interested in you because of your status. Yes I know. You’re going to tell me you haven’t got the job yet, but we all know the only way you won’t get it is if you turn it down, and I really don’t want you to do that for completely selfish reasons. Kiss?”
Three hours later, Jean said, “I really should get some sleep, but if you want to fuck my brains out one last time before breakfast I won’t resist at all. Promise.”
“I love it when you talk dirty. Do you do that a lot?”
“Only when the situation calls for it which is never outside a bedroom, but I admit to being a bit careless about the use of swear words and can be provoked into swearing without too much effort.”
They arose at eight, and were showered and dressed by half past. Jean dressed as formally as yesterday when she’d arrived. Matthew left while Jean was dressing to go to his rooms to change into something suitable for work. As agreed he was back by nine and held his hand out to escort her down to breakfast. “You’re joking aren’t you‽ Holding hands going to breakfast?”
“No. No one is going to say or think anything except hope that it means you’re staying. I know you’re going to be busy today, but there’re all sorts of things to do here. Fishing, shooting, both at game and targets, go-cart racing with the kids, swimming in a heated indoor pool, pool, billiards, snooker, darts, running, horse riding, walking, you name it. We’ve a first class library, and the system can get you an electronic copy of anything that’s ever been printed. There’s even a machine that will produce you a one off hardback copy of the download if you want one. If working out is your thing the security folk will be happy to shew you the Gym and even offer you a bout or two at any style of fighting you like. I’ll be happy to do what ever you like just so I can spend time with you, though if you’re fighting I’ll just watch.”
“Matthew, you know I’m fifteen years older than you, and I have a serious facial disfigurement. I suggest you put some serious thought into that before your infatuation takes your brain over.”
“Too late, and in any event—” Matthew cut himself off short before saying, “I’ll talk to you about that later. Let’s eat.”
They entered the dining hall holding hands. It was obviously noticed, but none said anything. Jean settled for a couple of croissant with coffee and emboldened by the lack of reaction to her with Matthew she kissed his cheek before leaving and said, “I’ve no idea what I’m doing today, or how long it will take, but I’ll find you when I can.”
On her way to Elska’s office a serious faced girl of maybe five or six with blue eyes and long, blonde hair in two braids wearing a tartan skirt that reached to her ankles and a coordinated, embroidered, dark green blouse ran up to her and said, “Hello, Jean. I’m Tessa. Does your eye hurt?”
“No. It doesn’t hurt, Tessa. It just doesn’t look very nice.”
“I’m glad it doesn’t hurt. Elska will make it pretty again it for you. Bye.” Before Jean could respond Tessa had waved and gone as quickly as she had appeared.
It was ten to ten when Jean was shewn to Elska’s office by a helpful boy of about ten who said his name was Alec. She walked in to find Elska with a pile of paperwork in front of her and three out of four telephones ringing. Elska looked demented and uncertain which phone to pick up. Jean picked the nearest phone up, which was an internal ring tone, and said, “Elska’s office. How can I help you. … Good morning, Jenny. … Thank you. … Yes, with two cups please. … Some biscuits too would be nice. Thank you. … Yes please. Thank you, Jenny.” Jean picked the second phone up to say, “Elska’s office, Admin speaking. … No. I’m sorry that’s just not possible. She’s not available. I suggest you ring Florence in promotions.” Elska could hear a voice remonstrating to be cut off as Jean replaced the phone. The third phone got similar treatment. “Elska’s office, Admin speaking. … I’m sorry, but I don’t know. Ring me back in half an hour, and I’ll have an answer for you.” After replacing the handset, Jean smiled and said, “There’s a pot of tea with biscuits on the way, Elska.”
“What kind, Jean?”
“Twinings Lady Grey and freshly baked ginger nuts with pieces of stem ginger in them. I’m told they’re still warm. Okay?”
“Heavenly. What was the second call about, Jean?”
“I’ve no idea, but doubtless Florence will know. I’ll deal with it. You just enjoy your tea. When did you start this morning?”
“Half five. It’s the only way I can do it all.”
“When do you usually go home?”
“Eight, nine it depends.”
“Ridiculous. I don’t want to see you in here before nine. Ever. You’ve got young children who need their mum. And you leave no later than six. I’ll field the flak. Okay?”
Elska smiled ruefully, “Okay. I take it you’ve decided to take the job then?”
“Yes.”
“What made your mind up? You didn’t seem sure last night.”
“It looks like it’s the only way I’m going to keep seeing Matthew.”
The pair heard Florence’s voice outside saying, “I’ll take that in for you, Milly. Thank you. Could you bring another cup and saucer please?”
“Right away, Florence.”
Florence came in carrying the tea tray. She put it down and poured two cups and passed them to Jean and Elska. “Jean’s accepted the job, Florence, and bought me a few minutes peace by dealing with three phone calls already. She seems taken with Matthew.”
“Excellent. Thank you, Jean. Now I suggest— Thank you, Milly.” Florence poured herself a cup of tea and continued, “I suggest that Jean takes this office— These biscuits are delicious. Now where was I? Oh yes. Jean takes this office and you find yourself another. We’ll have it fitted with an internal phone and an unlisted external phone, Elska. That way you can ring out, folk here can tell you what you need to know and all external calls come in via Jean. Now let’s leave the phones to ring and go some where we can talk in peace till lunch. I suggest the library.”
The three women finished their tea and left. As they were leaving the phones started ringing again, and Elska started to turn back. “Leave them, Elska,” Jean instructed imperiously. “I’ll deal with them later, or tomorrow, or next week. Maybe.”
Elska said, “Sorry, Jean, force of habit.”
“You need new habits, and one of them is you don’t pick up phones. Ever. Someone else picks them up, and every now and again gives you the phone. Most of the time, I’ll deal with the matter or close it down.”
“What do you mean close it down?”
Florence laught and said, “It’s office speak for telling someone to get stuffed and stop wasting your time.”
“It’s what I did with that second call, Elska.”
“You told them to ring Florence.”
“But I didn’t give them a number to ring.”
“What was it about?”
“I’ve no idea and wasn’t going to waste my time finding out. You get to recognise time wasters.”
“But what if had had been important?”
“I’ll apologise and blame the new office junior who alas will no longer be with us by then.”
“What about the third call?”
“Some library wants information on our diversity policies. They’ll keep ringing back till they get bored. In the mean while I’ll program the phone to block the number.”
“I didn’t know I could do that. Listening to you two, I feel like a lamb on a day out in an abattoir.”
“Nothing for you to worry about, Elska.” The women arrived at the library and Elska went to sit at a large table. “Take an easy chair, Elska,” Florence instructed.
“But what if you want to take notes?”
“Secretaries take notes. PAs need to understand what’s going on and why. They need the big picture and that doesn’t require note taking. It requires thought. You need a PA, Elska, not a secretary. I could have found you a hundred excellent secretaries within an hour, and at least twenty of them already work here.”
Jean was nodding in agreement and said, “First when is your due date, so I can make everything revolve round that for a while?”
“The longest day: June the twenty-first.”
“Next. I need your diary, details of your family routines and which parts are non negotiably yours, who has right of immediate access to you, details of anyone you don’t like or don’t want to speak to and anything else you, your husband and your inner circle consider important. I want details of who is important in the organisation and what their rôle is. I need to know not just when you can’t be disturbed but where too, for example is there anywhere in your labs where what goes on is so critical you have to be left to finish. Depending on what you want from me, Elska, I may need a secretary or even three, but you do not, just let it all arrive with me and I’ll pass what little you need to know about on to you. The rest, what ever it is, I’ll have dealt with. Any questions?”
“The maids act like nannies some of the time, but they’re not always sure what to do. They need managing, but I don’t know how they will react to you. How will you deal with them?”
“Simple. Under those circumstances they report to me. If they do what they’re told fine. If they don’t I’ll fire them. You, I’ve been told, don’t have the time to manage them, so someone else has to do it. Who ever that person is has to be able to do so and that includes having the authority to fire them. I doubt it would come to that since their jobs are so highly paid, but they have to comply with orders from higher up the chain of command. I also need to become close to your girls so they accept me as part of their familiar adults group.”
“What do you think, Florence?” Elska asked. “I don’t like the idea of threatening the maids, and it all seems a bit brutal.”
“I think Jean is absolutely correct. It’s critical that we make your life liveable. At the moment too often you are too tired to do what only you can do, and if I’ve heard you say once that you can’t afford to be tired when sequencing I’ve heard you say it a thousand times. We’ve managed a bit of respite for you recently, but you know as well as I that what we have managed is not a permanent solution. Jean is perfect for the job. You haven’t been this stress free at this time in the day for a long time. Have you any ideas how we could ease things initially, Jean?”
“Yes, but how much are you prepared to spend?”
Florence replied, “Cost is irrelevant. If you have even a partial solution Geneviève will find the money, even if it runs to millions because that’s a fraction of what Elska’s time is worth to The Towers. What do you have in mind?”
“Hire half a dozen dedicated nannies working shifts, or even a dozen. They report to me and do no maid work other than look after the girls’ clothes and rooms. Since they start work here reporting to me there can be no resentment. When possible they train with the crèche staff and manage the babies and young children of other staff too. Or alternatively they report to me but look after Elska’s girls at the crèche, or even some combination, but the total cost is possibly a dozen nannies. I know this may seem a stupid question, but why are your babies not looked after in the crèche now, Elska, along with their sisters?”
Elska looked surprised at the question, but said, “It’s saves time if I nurse them at home.”
Jeans bosom swelled with indignation, but she spoke calmly, “Right, forget everything I just said. I suggest you put your babies in the crèche, and I’ll make the time for you to go there and nurse them. I’ll pencil it in as inviolate time and make sure you never forget. That way you get the time off and both you and your babies get what they need, and it’s need not want, Elska: mother and child time. Too, your older girls will have more time with their mum whilst you’re nursing which according to recent research is beneficial for older siblings especially girls. That seems the obvious solution, and if the extra nannies report to whoever runs the crèche, not me, there are no issues of authority to be resolved, though of course when working in your apartment they are told what to do by you, your husband and me if I’m working there.”
Elska said, “That seems like it could work, Jean.”
“I’ll make it work, Elska. That’s my job. It’s either that or you stop nursing and wean then, and with the ones you’re expecting you let someone bottle feed them.”
“No! Never!” Elska shouted before calming down to say, “That is out of the question, Jean. Babies should have a legal right to be nursed. None of mine are ever going to be disadvantaged by the purveyors of formula milk which is nothing short of theft of their life chances.”
Jean calmly said, “I knew that would be your response. I merely wished to give you all the options. I wasn’t seriously suggesting it, but there are a lot of folk at The Towers who are worried about you. If an outsider like me can pick up on that within twenty-four hours the problem is serious. If you like, I’ll start getting things organised this afternoon. The job you are offering me means I need you to be a happy mum and wife first, so that you can focus without distraction on the way you would wish to on your work, but your family has to come first. If you don’t agree, I’ll go back to Cheltenham right now.”
Elska looked stunned and clearly did not know how to reply. However, Florence said, “I’ll agree on behalf of the entire Towers staff to your terms, Jean. You are exactly what we’ve needed for a long time, and I spent a lot of effort and money too to find you. I’m not willing to even consider you walking out on us. Elska is the genius scientist here, but I and Viivishkava are the persons who run the Towers, and I assure you any who get in your way to enable Elska to be the person she wishes to be and to do the job she wishes to shall be history as soon as either of us realise that is the case. More to the point as soon as I have had five minutes chat with Thorkill you shall be bombproof, even if you do go head to head with him from time to time, which I assure you is inevitable. However, I and Viivishkava shall be on your side, so stick to your guns because it’s what we all need.
“I’ll get the word out locally we need nannies before using any advertising, Jean. I’ll make it clear any mother with children can bring them to work. Any too old for the crèche can change schools and attend here if they’re not already here. That way we should get a good response from local women. I know there are a few single mums in the area who are struggling financially because we’re already helping some out, so they’ll respond immediately, and first time mothers will probably be grateful for the advice they’ll get in a practical situation. I’ll deal with the arrangements for interviews and let you know when they’re on. Elska, leave well alone. We can make this work. You have no need to be concerned. This is our work not yours. It’s so obvious, Jean, I don’t know why we didn’t come up with this months ago.”
“You were too close to the problem, and the time saving was appealing. The real problem was Elska was sacrificing her family time in the interests of outsiders. Screwed up priorities, but I’ll deal with it. No one should ever be allowed to intrude on a nursing mother’s time when she’s nursing no matter who or what she is, and I’ll make sure every one knows that I have a seriously bad attitude towards anyone who even considers doing it.”
Elska and Florence looked at each other and grimaced at the mess of their own making that Jean had solved so easily.
After a long pause, Elska said, “You start with explanations, Florence. I’ll need more time. Just get the practicalities of Jean working here out of the way. I’ll start readying things this after noon.”
“Okay, Elska. Jean, I take it you’re happy with your suite?”
Not sure what was going on Jean replied, “Yes. Why?”
“Do you reckon that what you’ve started with Matthew is going anywhere? Because if you do you may as well keep the suite till you decide whether you want accommodation for just you or the pair of you. Sorry to be intrusive, but I just don’t see the point in you moving twice. The Towers is a small community, and I doubt there’s a single member of staff who doesn’t know he spent the night with you, you were holding hands going into breakfast and that you kissed him in the dining hall. Sorry, but I’ve been told about it by over a dozen persons, all of who expressed the hope it meant you were taking the job.”
Unnerved, Jean said, “I don’t know. He knows I’m trans and can’t give him children, and said he didn’t care about that or my face, but relationships haven’t worked out too well for me in the past. And I’m fifteen years older than he.” She shrugged her shoulders indicating indifference, but looked upset, Elska thought, at the prospect of losing him even though she’d only known him a few hours.
Elska said, “I’ll pick up on that later when Florence has finished, but I will tell you that Matthew hasn’t had an easy time of it with relationships either.”
Jean nodded and said, “He told me.”
Florence resumed, “I’ll arrange for your salary to be paid into an account with The Towers bank in the short term. You can decide later if you wish to change that to your existing banking arrangements, continue with us or do something else. What ever you decide, talk to Geneviève who runs accounts and her staff will deal with it for you. As to your hours, you determine those and you set your own holidays. All senior staff do, but you are responsible for any interim measures required in your absence. Basically what I’m saying is what ever it takes is what you do. Elska and I agreed before you arrived that you should define your own job, for that way we all get the best out of every one. Okay?”
“That seems more than generous.”
“You won’t think so when it hits the fan and you’ve worked twenty hour days for a week. But that rarely happens. Are you happy if I leave it to Matthew to induct you into the place?”
“Yes. Very, but why was he chosen for me to dance with last night?”
Florence replied, “No idea. That was Stefan not me.”
“Actually that was Vish, not Stefan,” Elska said. “She likes him and doubtless thought Jean and Matthew would make a good couple.” Elska turned to Jean and continued, “Vish can be difficult to understand. She doesn’t think like anybody else, but she is kind.”
“Ah! That’s another thing, Jean,” Florence interrupted, “Never call Viivishkava anything but Viivishkava. Only Elska and her children can get away with it.”
“I couldn’t pronounce her name when I was little,” Elska explained. Seeing the look on Jean’s face she said, “And I have no idea how old she is. She hasn’t changed in twenty years. Which is a perfect segue to lead us to what I wish to inform you about and discuss. You can go now if you want, Florence, if you have things you wish to do.”
“Thanks. There’re always things to do, but I really need to speak with Geneviève and with Stefan. I’ll catch the pair of you at lunch.” Florence waved as she left.
“I’m sure you have been told a number of things by various folk here that you are not sure whether to believe or not, Jean.”
“Florence told me she used to be a man and has given birth to three of her own children. I don’t wish to call anyone a liar, but if as she told me she only became a woman eight or nine years ago she would have the skeleton of a man, and she doesn’t. Her bone structure is entirely female. As to giving birth, that is the ultimate impossible dream of all the trans women that I’ve ever met and read about, and I’ve no idea what to make of that. She doesn’t seem delusional, so all I can conclude is that she was one of the few unfortunate girls born with a functioning female reproductive system but a sealed vagina, an elongated clitoris and what appeared to be testes but were in fact callused labia. If that were so I am amazed her periods didn’t kill her.”
Elska had a surprised look on her face as she said, “You are well informed, but in Florence’s case and those of a number of women here very wrong. I’ll start with the facts and explanations can come later. Florence was a man, a fully functioning male with testes, penis, male skeleton and male facial structure. He could have fathered children, and did not undergo what you know of as a transition over a lengthy period of time culminating with gender confirmation surgery. The biogenetic skills we have here are unique and known only to myself and a handful of our senior managers of which you are about to become one. Besides myself only Siobhan and Janice are capable of performing what we refer to as resequencing, Janice is usually unavailable to us, but she will be joining us as soon as her assistants can take over some of her more onerous duties, but we’re desperate for more medics to spread the load.
“To put it simply, resequencing literally resequences an individual’s DNA. They can become someone else, or if the resequencing is of a lesser order their characteristics can be altered. Florence was resequenced to become who she is now. She is fully female with XX chromosomes in every cell. She has ovaries, and all the usual female parts inside and out. Her breasts are real, she grew them herself, they are not the result of implants nor of artificial hormones. She menstruates as every other XX woman of her age does and she did indeed undergo three pregnancies. She gave birth vaginally in our hospital attended by myself and Janice, who was originally our midwife but is now a medic too, with no problems to all three of her children and breast fed them all without requiring any hormones to do so other than the ones she produced herself as a result of her pregnancies and giving birth.
“The process of resequencing is sophisticated and normally takes between a week and ten days depending on the difference in body mass before and after. We usually provide a package we refer to as repsyching alongside the resequencing. Repsyching provides what ever mind set is helpful to accompany the resequenced body. Anyone undergoing resequencing can choose their new self. The only limitations I place are on anyone who ends up female, whether they start as XX or otherwise. Those limitations are purely to provide easy pregnancy, childbirth and nursing. I have a combined resequencing repsyching package for women that gives no hair at all other than on the head, eyebrows and lashes, gives easy, light, predictable periods of short duration, including no pain, no physical changes of concern like bloating and no difficult to cope with emotions. It also gives tiny, totally enclosed labia minora and an equally small enclosed clitoral hood surrounding a small but highly sensitive clitoris.
“The repsyching aspect of the package gives a deep satisfaction with one’s femininity and prevents post-partum depression. That’s also called post-natal depression. Every female at The Towers has had the package or, since it is a package of inherited traits, was born with it. There are many other women here who were men once, but that’s for them to tell you about not me. Florence told me she’d told you about herself and said I could discuss that with you. All of what I have told you is highly protected information that we keep secret from most of our employees.” Elska finished and waited for Jean to speak.
“That seems to be science fiction, but I believe you. Why did you sanction others to tell me what they wanted to when I could have blown the whole thing wide open if I hadn’t accepted the job?”
Elska looked embarrassed, “Actually you couldn’t. Lev wouldn’t have told you anything that we regard as secret. We have the means to restrict what folk remember when they leave The Towers and what they can repeat to anyone else. That’s one aspect of repsyching. Once you arrived here, you were subject to that and will remain so till you join us fully. That is why folk were prepared to tell you what they did. Without doubt it is an invasion of privacy, but there are too many persons whose lives could be destroyed if we didn’t do it, and we are only preventing our secrets from being made public. Nothing else is affected, and as soon as someone becomes one of us fully the proscription lifts. At that point it is not in their interests to talk to outsiders of our secrets, though the proscription kicks in again if someone tries to force the information out of them. That aspect of repsyching is something all of us are subject to, even myself. Have you heard enough of generalities? Are you ready to discuss what we can do for you as part of you becoming one of us?”
“I think so, but doubtless things will occur to me later. I’ll ask when they do.”
“We can not only change you from XY to XX we can repair the damage done to your face and restore you eye to what it was.” Elska stopped giving Jean time to absorb that.
Jean had tears in her eyes as she said, “A little girl who said her name was Tessa told me that earlier. I desperately want to believe you and hope this is not some kind of elaborate, cruel hoax because I’m trans.”
“It’s no hoax.” Elska smiled and said, “Tessa is the daughter of Liam our farm manager and my greatest fan. She wants to be a medic when she grows up. I suspect the reason she talked to you was because she is desperate for a mum. Her mother died a year before Liam came here and she investigates every new single female that sets foot here. I’m told one of the farming apprentices has her eye on Liam, so let us hope Tessa will get what she needs before long. She is a very kind girl and helps in the crèche. The staff there tell me she is very empathic and Janice tells me she is clever and ideal to join us in a few years.”
“She asked me if my eye hurt. When I told her my eye didn’t hurt it just didn’t look very nice, she said she was glad it didn’t hurt and you would make it pretty again.”
Elska smiled again and said, “Florence asked me days ago to repair your sight and face whether you took the job or not. I agreed and even if you don’t join us I shall modify your memory of the repair, but I shall do it for you.”
“Why? You hadn’t even met me.”
“Because we thought you deserved it as recompense for the treatment you received at the hands of folk you never gave any reason to hate you.”
“Thank you. Thank you very much, Elska.”
“Are you ready for me to continue? Or would you rather take a break?”
“I’m fine.”
“Okay. I presume you are taking oestrogens in some form?”
“Yes. I had creams and injections to start with but now I’m just on tablets. Why?”
“I would prefer you to stop taking them as soon as you feel comfortable to do so. They may cause complications as you become an XX woman, though I can’t say they will because we’ve never been in this situation before, but I can say they will definitely be unnecessary thereafter. The only other thing of concern to us regarding your resequencing is anything implanted in your body that can’t be reabsorbed. I don’t just mean things like breast implants. I’m including polymeric objects like knee caps, and surgical wires, metal pins and plates too because resequencing will repair all bone and soft tissue damage. Fillings, posts and anything else in your teeth don’t matter as your new teeth will push the old teeth out. Other than that it’s just a matter of you deciding what you wish to look like. I advise a contraceptive implant as soon as you are your new self because the new women’s package will make you very fertile and almost certain to achieve pregnancy the first time you make love. I would advise a year becoming used to being a woman before becoming a mother.” Elska chuckled, “It’s not usual to be pregnant before your menarche.” Elska waited.
“If I’m going for it I may as well follow my doctor’s orders, so I’ll stop taking them as of now. I have silicone breast implants. I also have a plate on my head and some metal and wires in my right leg as a result of a road accident when I was deliberately run over with a van because I was trans by a couple of bigots. Most of my teeth have fillings, I suspect because I wasn’t fed adequately as I was growing up. The doctors said I’d obviously been short of calcium as a child, which was probably because I’d never had milk to drink, nor ever had any dairy products to eat. However, what do you do about the breast implants and the metal, Elska, and how does whatever you do affect me?”
“We need to remove the breast implants and the metal before a full resequencing from XY to XX can take place. Under emergency conditions it can all be done quickly and simultaneously under general anaesthetic, but we prefer not to have to work under the pressure that places us under. We would rather have time to ensure all proceeds well. There have been two occasions when things did not go according to plan because in order to save the lives involved haste was unavoidable. We made things right by a second resequencing, but we would much rather things went according to plan first time around. Simultaneously but slowly is our preferred technique. Siobhan and I will remove the metal under general anaesthetic, but we could do the breast explants under a local anaesthetic if you prefer?”
“No. Put me out please. What happens to my bones when the metal comes out? How do they hold together.”
“The short answer is if there are missing bones the ones present don’t hold together initially. Only when the ends of what is there have grown enough to rejoin do they come into alignment and join. Routine resequencing can be done slowly under a local, but with metal to remove it has to be performed under a general because once resequencing starts as the bones repair they reject the metal. The new bone pushes the metal away into the soft tissue, which is painful, and it has to be removed surgically which is why it has to be a general. Once the metal is removed the resequencing repairs the surgical trauma to the soft tissue as well as everything else. It looks a bit like engineering for a while, and we’ll give you a calcium phosphate drip, amongst others, just in case you need them, but we can keep you under safely long enough so you’ll be in no pain when you come round. It’s a procedure we are very familiar with. If necessary we immobilise the soft tissue in which the bone is regenerating. I say if necessary, but it is never absolutely necessary, it’s just that the process is much faster with the soft tissue immobilised, for it enables alignment and joining to take place much more quickly. Maybe in a quarter or a fifth of the time.”
“How long will it all take?”
“You’re what? Five eight?”
“About that yes. Maybe five eight and a half”
“How tall would you like to be? And what sort of build would you like?”
“I’d like to be about five three and a little more slender than I am now. Is that possible?”
“Oh yes, and quite quickly too. For anyone who wishes to be taller, it’s growing their long bones and associated muscle tissue that takes the time, but you won’t require that, so even allowing for the breast explants and the metal removal probably a comfortable seven or eight days. It does of course depend on how much metal you have and how much bone you need to regrow. You’ll probably only have to be out for three days during which we’ll arrange to have all your skeletal changes finished. After which if you like you can relax in bed and watch your breasts, bottom and hips grow in comfort. If you have any narcissistic tendencies you can watch your face feminise, but you’ve already had that done so I suspect you will not see major changes to your face. How does that sound?
“I’m not sure if fun is the appropriate word, but certainly interesting is applicable.”
“You can choose all details of your body, racial characteristics, eye colour, hair colour, every detail of your facial features and breasts and many more. Nothing is set in stone and all can be altered later if you like. Have you any idea what you would like to look like and how old you would like to be?”
“Twenty, but I’ve no idea what I want to look like.”
“Fine. Twenty, five three and slender is a start. I’ve a program on my office computer that functions like what opticians do. You know, where they switch lenses and say is that better or worse or no different?”
“Yeah. I’m familiar with that.”
“Well, the this or that program gradually homes in on your preferred look. If you’ve no idea at all it can take an hour or so, but most folk only take fifteen or twenty minutes. Okay, let’s get you started. Any questions yet?”
“Yes. How do you change the Y chromosome to an X?”
“The Y is gradually absorbed into the resequencer’s DNA pool to be used as required. The resequencer uses it as base material to create the new X, which is faster than having to create a new chromosome from nothing. If you’ve no desire to use someone else’s X we duplicate your own after checking and altering anything dangerous or undesirable. Some recessive genes are non threatening in a single dose but lethal if present on both chromosomes, however we alter all such so you can not pass them down to your descendants. If you wish to use someone else’s X, many chose a relative, we do the same. I should also add we completely screen your DNA and alter anything dangerous or undesirable any way. For example those with fair hair and pale skin usually have a predisposition to skin cancers, but we can retain the colouration and eliminate the predisposition.”
“How do you do all that?”
“We sample your DNA, it’s simple and painless. A blood sample and a cheek cell scrape from inside your mouth. The samples go in to the sequencer and it gives an analysis of your entire genetic make up. It flags anything in need of alteration, and suggests alterations which the operator approves or rejects. When all is satisfactory the sequencer moves onto the next step. After you’re finished deciding what you wish to look like, that program uploads your choices into the sequencer. The sequencer is told whether to use your X chromosome or another, if another it waits till samples of that are sequenced. It them runs a trial to ensure all is satisfactory. When everything is satisfactory we provide the sequencer with fresh blood and tissue samples from you and the DNA they contain is resequenced to match your wishes. All is checked again, and when okay a tiny amount of a mixture containing your resequenced blood and tissue is gas jabbed into you. The resequenced material is mixed with activators which catalyse a chain reaction eventually changing every part of your genetic material. Your new DNA starts instantly to create you in its image though it usually takes a few minutes to notice any change. That’s a very crude description of a very complicated process. Your case will be of great interest to Siobhan, Janice and myself because you are the first woman we have worked with who has undergone gender confirmation surgery. You have no male organs to be reabsorbed, so the sequencer will use other tissue instead, but since you wish a five inch height loss and a more slender form there will be plenty of tissue available. The sequencer is very efficient, for example it will use the excess bone your new self doesn’t require to provide the material for your wider pelvic structure. All excess tissue is eliminated from the body as faeces.”
“Who dreamt this all up?”
“It’s a long story that if you wish I will tell you when we have time, but in short I did. I created the concept of repsyching from many sources. I designed and built the sequencer and designed, built and programmed all the hardware too. There’s a lot more to The Towers than you could possibly imagine, and one thing you need to bear in mind is the sequencer means someone who appears to be a child could be over a hundred. I could be said to be eighty-five. You will be told all in time, but for the moment we need to get on with your resequencing, so you can take up your post comfortable with yourself. Before we do that there are a few other things you need to be aware of. The bio-digital part of the business is just that. Our computers are organic based not silicon. They are not accessible to any technology outside the company and so are not hackable, but they can infiltrate every system on the planet. All our senior staff have a bio-link to our system which means an instant online capability via their brain that is orders of magnitude faster than any silicon based system. As a senior manager the sequencer will give you that capability though it will take you a month to be able to fully utilise it.
“One of the consequences and benefits of that is we have the ability to create a new identity for someone with genuine documentation to support it. Things like passports, birth certificates and driving licences are not produced by human beings. They are produced by computers, and all they need is the appropriate data. Even photographs have just been data for years. A computer controlled machine prints the document and another puts it into an envelope and sends it to a bin for collection by the post and subsequent delivery. The day after, it arrives at its destination never having been seen by, never mind handled by, a human being. We slip the instructions to produce an extra document into those that are producing a batch and reset the document counter back one. There is a lot more to it than that to ensure secrecy and security, but that’s the heart of the process. You okay to make a start?”
“Are you serious, Elska? That sounds like you are telling me I’ll have the entire web on tap in my head, and I could be a new woman with a new foolproof identity.”
“That’s exactly what I’m telling you, and the most recent repsyching update means you will never give yourself away by accident.”
“I am going to be able to seriously upset folk you don’t need to bother with.” Jean looked like she was thinking hard. “May I repeat this to Matthew?”
“Yes, but why? He already knows everything other than your personal details.”
“I’d like to find out if we have a future together and if so if he likes the name Isabelle. Would it be okay to see you tomorrow about making a start?”
“Yes, but how about you talk to Matthew after lunch? See me after dinner tonight to make a start and meet with him after ten. You can spend the night together. You finalise details with me tomorrow morning, have lunch with Matthew and we’ll start procedures after lunch.”
“You seem pretty sure about Matthew and me.”
“I am, but never mind, you’ll see. A couple of details. Do you want a new ID with no connection to Jean Margot Svensen? I think it would be wise.”
“Yes. There’s no one in my family I wish to keep in touch with. I have no friends just acquaintances, and as you are already aware I’ve done a few things I would do serious gaol time for if any of them were ever connected to me, so I’d like a new start.”
“Okay. I’ll do what I need to and have Geneviève deal with the rest. Have you got much in your flat you wish to keep? Will it all fit into a transit van? Or will it require a shipping container?”
“Not a lot. The furniture is the landlord’s, so what’s mine will easily go in a transit. Why?”
“If you give the keys to Pierre, who manages all ground transport, he’ll send a couple of his team to get it. He’ll send a woman too, he’ll probably ask Gustav if he can borrow Iwona, to pack up your intimates and your flat is cleared. It’s a job they’re used to doing and they’ll buy a load of flat packed boxes when they hire the van. If they have any doubt about anything they’ll contact you before they leave, so you’ll need to carry a phone. I suggest you hand yours in to the technical folk and ask for a replacement. Geneviève’s team in accounts will deal with the landlord in such a way as to leave no connection between The Towers and him. Give all your banking stuff to them as well and they’ll handle it all for you. Unless there’s anything else, Jean Margot Svensen disappears and Isabelle Middle-name Messenger appears.”
“No there’s nothing else. Isabelle Julie Messenger? Why Messenger?”
“It’s Matthew’s surname. Like I said I’m sure. Is it a goer? We meet after dinner?”
“Yes. I don’t know why, Elska, but something tells me I should be feeling pressured and that I’m being forced to make decisions faster than is sensible, but I don’t feel like that at all. Lunch?”
“Yes. Lunch.”
Isabelle and Elska met up with with numerous senior managers at lunch including Thorkill, who’d already heard of Isabelle’s dealings on the phone and suggestions for managing his daughters, “I believe we’re going to get on well if you keep looking after Elska like this,” he said.
To every one’s surprise Isabelle didn’t seem in the least bit intimidated by Thorkill, whose size frightened most till they got to know him. “Maybe. But you’re part of the package too, Thorkill. If I’m organising your wife and your kids it goes without saying I’ll be organising you too. I’ll probably stay out of your bedroom, but I wouldn’t count on it. Very invasive creatures good PAs.” As the entire group around them laught she continued in a friendly tone, “Seriously, Thorkill, if you tell me what time matters to you I’ll make sure you get it. If need be I’ll stand guard outside your bedroom door. On a different topic, how do I find a combat partner? I want someone to work out with on the mat at least once a week, but preferably twice a week. Matthew told me to speak to you about it.”
Unfazed Thorkill asked, “What style?”
“Anything and everything and if someone could teach me some new stuff I’d appreciate it. It’s more interesting learning new stuff. Just keeping in shape and one’s reflexes sharp can become tedious using what you already know.”
“I agree. That’s why all the security team practise the entire range of styles, to prevent getting stale. I’ll ask Judith and Hannah to have a word with you.”
Isabelle was preoccupied during lunch and quiet afterwards when she asked for Matthew’s whereabouts. She found him at the as yet unfinished and unused far end of the Orangery with three others, one of who in spite of being nearly as big as Thorkill like the others looked like he’d recently left school. They were mixing soil, gravel of various sizes, other unidentifiable materials from sacks and small quantities of various other ingredients from large plastic drums. They were mixing them using a cement mixer. “What are you doing, Matthew?”
“Mixing potting compost for the new citrus trees.” Matthew pointed to a row of two to three dozen maybe two to three feet tall trees in pots about a foot in diameter. “They’re what I went to China for, we’re potting them on into their ultimate homes,” he explained. “You looking for me? Or is it just serendipitous that you found your way here?”
“I was looking for you. I need to talk in private. Maybe a hour of your time, and I’ve only got till the end of dinner, and that’s if I don’t eat.”
“I can’t leave, but as long as I’m here keeping an eye on what’s going on the apprentices can manage. I’ll fetch a table so we can sit down and order lunch here. If we’re quiet no one will over hear us. “Lads, something’s come up. I need to catch up on what’s going on and eat lunch early. I’ll stay here, so I’m available. You okay to carry on?”
The lads beamed with pride and all said things to the effect of, “No bother, Matthew. We’ll manage.”
The tall one added, “We’ll finish the rest of the Buddha’s hand first, and you can tell us what to do with the rest then. Okay?”
Matthew gave them a thumbs up, fetched a table, then two chairs and after seating Isabelle sat down and said quietly, “How can I help you, Jean.”
“Well first it’s not Jean Margot any more it’s Isabelle Julie, and I hope you like it. This is not easy, but I’m under heavy pressure, and I’m sorry but that means I’m putting you under heavy pressure too. I’ve accepted the job. I’m now Elska’s PA.”
Matthew interrupted with, “You have no idea how many folk, including me, are going to be saying thank God for that.”
“Be that as it may. Elska is going to repair my eye and face and resequence me as XX female, and she wishes to start defining parameters after dinner. My life to date has been grim, and I want a fresh start, so I’ll be twenty, and I’ll also be having a new identity as well as a new body and face which is why I asked if you liked Isabelle Julie. This is where it gets tricky for me, Matthew. There’s no easy way to do this in the limited amount of time I’ve got. I’m not assuming that just because we enjoyed sex with each other last night it was a commitment to anything more on your part. I want to have children, but I’ve no intention of being an unmarried mother, so I’m looking for a husband who wants a family. If you’re not interested then thanks for last night, it was very enjoyable, but we don’t have a future, and I’ll look elsewhere. If you are interested then I want a proposal of marriage before six tonight to which I will say yes. I need to know if we’re getting married by then because if we are I’d like you to be with me after dinner when Elska’s computer interrogates me to find out not what I want to be but what we want me to be. Sorry about this, but I couldn’t think of a better way to put it.”
Matthew stood, pulled Isabelle to her feet, kissed her thoroughly and shouted, “Phil, Dean, Zeke, I just found out I’m getting married.” He carried on kissing Isabelle to the cheers of his crew before asking, “You want to stay here with me? Or meet me for dinner and use the rest of the afternoon for something useful?”
“I need to speak to Pierre about getting my flat cleared. Elska said he’d organise it, but he needs the address and the keys. I also want to speak to Geneviève about dealing with the landlord, my salary and my existing bank accounts. What do you think? Should I bank with The Towers? Or elsewhere?”
“Don’t even consider banking with anyone other than The Towers, Love. You’ll never have to deal with anything yourself again, for the bank acts as an independent financial advisor for all of us, and there’re no bank charges for employees. Plus the rate of interest on all your money, no matter what kind of account it’s in, is higher than you could get anywhere else. The return on investments is without doubt the best in the UK, if not the world.”
“How do they do that?”
“The bank doesn’t lend money to anyone without a perfect credit rating. As a result it has no bad debt to eat into what it can pay out in interest. Employees get better interest rates and terms and conditions than outsiders, but outsiders still get excellent rates compared with what other banks offer. As a result the bank has lots of customers that don’t work here, who subsidise our bank charges and the like. It also has an unusual and diversified portfolio of high yielding investments based on the expertise of any number employees many of who don’t have anything to do with finance. You go and speak to Pierre and Geneviève. I’ll meet you in the dining hall at ten past six. After we’ve finished with Elska let’s go for a glass or two in the bar, and I suggest we sleep in your suite because the bed’s bigger. We can arrange a wedding and married quarters when ever you wish. How’s that sound?”
Isabelle was crying and managed to stammer, “Wonderful. What are you going to have for lunch?”
“Chanterelle mushroom and rocket omelet. The mushrooms and rocket are grown here by the fungi and the salad teams in the cooler hot houses. It’s a popular light lunch here and very tasty. Why?
“Just wondering. I’ll have the same because it sounds good.” They chatted as they ate, and when they finished Isabelle turned and said, “Till ten past six.” She kissed Matthew quickly and left.
Pierre took her keys and wrote her address down before saying, “It’ll make a pleasant change because we haven’t got much to do at the moment and every one is so bored no doubt I’ll have to have a draw to determine who goes. I’ll send a woman too to pack your women’s things. They’ll be on their way later tonight. I’ve already been told this is a high security matter and part of providing you with a new identity, so we’ll employ every thing we know to ensure that. Elska wishes me to explain in outline how we do this for your peace of mind. The three going will be ethnically Europeans, but all will have been resequenced to change sex and appear to be ethnically Afro-Caribbean of very different facial structures from their usual appearance. They’ll wear appropriate clothes and have new ID documents to suit. Gustav will have them dropped off in the dark before dawn by copter near Cheltenham. They’ll call at your flat, weigh the job up and contact you to make sure everything that needs to go is packed. As soon as they know how many boxes and how big a van they need one of them will go and hire one with a driver. The hire companies all sell flat packed boxes. They’ll pack and help the driver to load your stuff and send him to drop your boxes at one of our carrier’s depots. The driver will then return to his base with the empty van. The boxes of your stuff will be put into a forty foot container for next day delivery here by artic at the carrier depot.
“The container will be just one of hundreds leaving that day and a couple of dozen of them will be coming here with manifests that will not include your stuff. Your stuff will be unlisted and in a partially full container of listed materials, though we’ll know which container it’s in. Under cover of darkness the following night the team will contact Gustav for extraction and once in the air will revert to their own bodies using a pre-prepared gasjab taken down in the copter along with appropriate clothes. Their working clothes and temporary IDs are destroyed down to the molecular level by some clever Elska technology and what little remains, metal jeans buttons and the like, is threwn out. This is a familiar activity for us, and my team enjoy doing it. Even the advertisement you replied to was one of many the Towers placed in the same media, so who is to say which positions were filled and which were not? And in any case our records will shew you’ve been here for twelve months or so, as will the taxation authority’s records. All necessary documentation concerning your new ID will be in place and go back to your completely fictitious birth.
“A common approach is to use the ID of someone with no family who died in their mid or early teens, erase all records of their death, create a name change by deed poll and build from there. It’s been done dozens of times before with many variations. Trust me you will become a new person with no possible link to who you were and no gaps in your new past. Your new self will be repsyched into your memory, so you will never give yourself away. If there is ever an investigation into you, which has never happened before, Elska can image your memories and personality, repsyche you to make you invulnerable under interrogation, and after it’s over give you your original mental image back. If it comes to it you can be resequenced into someone else. The contingency plans have all been in place for years though there has never been a need to use them.”
Isabelle began to realise just how sophisticated a set up The Towers was and wondered how many persons wanted by the authorities had found sanctuary here as someone else whilst their old self had just disappeared. The advertisement had said being a convicted murderer out on licence would not necessarily preclude appointment. When she’d read that she’d thought that to be a færie tale. Now she was sure it wasn’t.
Isabelle handed over her banking details, her investment documents and her rent book to Geneviève and said, “Elska recommended that I just leave the lot for your team to deal with, but there will be some more documents that Pierre and his team will be obtaining for me from my flat. Matthew recommended I bank with The Towers, so I’d like you to arrange things that way please. Do you need anything else from me?”
“Just a scan of your old signature, but take this. You can shop online with it. You pass it over the sensor and The Towers picks up the bill and notes it was you who spent the money because that card is registered to you, but only with us. We’ll sort it all out on the fifteenth of next month. By then we’ll have new ID and your paperwork for your account printed for you. We’ll need a scan of your new signature sometime, but there’s no hurry. Payday is the fifteenth even if that’s a bank holiday. That way you get paid half a month in advance and half a month in arrears, so neither you nor the company profits unfairly from the interest on the money. You have half a month’s salary already in your account with us as a joining bonus. All employees get the same regardless of when they join the company. That way if they join after the fifteenth they are at least solvent. Florence has said you are deemed to have joined us on the thirty-first, so the month you will have been with us will be paid on the fifteenth as usual. If you need more for whatever reason as a result of moving or debts you wish to pay off let me know and we’ll sort it out for you. You get paid thirteen times a year, but a double payment is made in December. It’s a continental custom. Most say they don’t miss a little bit less eleven times a year but appreciate the extra before Christmas.”
“That seems extraordinarily generous.”
“No. It’s just good industrial relations. We expect and receive loyalty from our staff. In return we do what we can and it pays for itself many times over. This is a good place to work. It’s more like an extended family home than a work place. When I first came here and expressed my ideas on such things I expected to be shouted down and told it would be too costly. I could hardly believe it when I was told ‘It’s your department, so you run it it the way you think is best for us all, employees as well as The Towers.’ All heads of departments here are extremely autonomous, but we all share ideas and all benefit from it. When we screw up, as we all do from time to time, we admit it and we all work on fixing the mistake and putting procedures in place so it can’t happen again, or at least to minimise the consequences if it does. As a result the entire management at all levels is remarkably efficient and there is considerable overlap between some departments. Florence’s and my departments work closely together and we are hoping that you will bring others closer too.
“But back to you. We’ll recover all your moneys from your previous life without any connection to you here. If you really wish to know how it’s done I’ll tell you sometime, but it’s actually tedious and mundane. In short we trigger your banks to steal your money and one of their overseas subsidiaries pays random sums to accounts they have no records of due to a serious computer glitch. They aren’t aware of what we’ve done, but are aware of what they have done, so they bury the evidence pertaining to your account by repaying the funds to protect themselves. In short we are relying on their desire for secrecy to cover your tracks. If they were to suffer from a bout of honesty it wouldn’t matter because there is no one to inform of their mistake anyway. The amusing thing is often they find our banking computer services to be the most cost effective way of fixing their problems, and indeed we maintain computer systems for a great many global banking organisations as a key part of our income.
“The only real work we’ll have to do is extract your investment, life assurance and pension funds and reinvest them as though they started years ago with the highest yielding fund holders. That in all probability will be our in house funds because as an employee they yield a better rate of return. Even if you leave The Towers in the future as an ex employee the return rate will not decrease.”
Isabelle couldn’t believe how easy it had all been. With nothing to do, and almost two hours to kill she went to find Elska and see if there was something she could help with in the office. Elska wasn’t there, but the phones were ringing. “Good afternoon, The Towers. Isabelle, Elska’s PA, speaking. How may I help you?” The voice demanded to be put on to Elska immediately without saying who they were or why. “I’m sorry, It must be a poor line because I don’t think you could have heard me properly. I am Isabelle, Elska’s PA, how may I help you?” The voice became abusive, so Isabelle put the phone down and blocked the caller’s number. She picked up another ringing phone as the third stopped ringing, “Good afternoon, The Towers. This is Isabelle, Elska’s PA, speaking. How may I help you?” The voice demanded to know who the hell she was. Isabelle having already answered that one put the phone down immediately and blocked that number too. The first phone started ringing again, and Isabelle recognised the ring tone as that of an internal call, “Hello, this is Isabelle in Elska’s office. What can I do for you?”
“Hello, Isabelle, Florence here. I’ve sixteen interviewing for the crèche tomorrow morning. Do you want to be involved?”
“I’m finalising my resequencing details with Elska tomorrow morning, so I’ve no idea if I’ll be available, Florence. If I can make it I’d like to, but I just don’t know. How many are you thinking of taking on?”
“I’ve spoken to various persons involved with children here including the schools and the crèche, and we seem to be understaffed at the moment, so as many of the sixteen that are any good. With a bit of luck all of them, after all any not suitable Elska can render suitable easily enough. If you’re not available, George and I shall manage. Given that we want them it’s really a matter of assessment and passing the details of any requiring her services to Elska. Usually Geneviève’s senior staff would interview nannies, but they’re busy with system maintenance schedules, so we’ll do it. Hang on a moment, I’m just being passed a note concerning you.” There was a few seconds’ silence then Isabelle could hear peals of laughter at the other end. “My goodness, you are upsetting folk aren’t you? Having the impudence to put the phone down on folk who are shouting at you or insulting you, and then to compound your insolence by blocking the numbers. I love your style. Keep it up, Isabelle. Elska would have listened and allowed them to upset her. My staff are telling callers that even in house only you can contact Elska now. They are saying all communications, not just phone calls, to Elska are now via you, and suggesting since the phones in your office have blocked their numbers if they wish to re-establish communications they may consider writing an apology to you. I’ve never seen so many happy faces being so excruciatingly polite as they terminated calls and then blocked the numbers too. Just don’t tell Elska what’s going on for a few days. What are you doing at the moment?”
“Studying Elska’s diary for the next two days. She hasn’t any personal time there at all. May I come over so you can tell me what some of the more cryptic entries mean. I need to know what I can cancel and what I have to move, so she has an hour mid morning and another mid afternoon for nursing. I want her and the girls to establish a routine that she’s not prepared to upset.”
“Come on over. I’ll contact Thorkill, so he’s there too. He’ll be very supportive of your intentions.”
“I suppose I’d better get man mountain onside, so it’s a good idea. I’ll be over in five minutes.” Florence was still chuckling at the designation of Thorkill as man mountain when Isabelle closely followed by Thorkill walked into her office.
Thorkill listened to what Isabelle was proposing and when she’d finished said, “I don’t want a schedule so inflexible that Elska gets upset when she can’t make it to nurse at the usual time, Isabelle.”
He was completely taken aback when Isabelle didn’t back down at all and insisted, “Well I damn well do. That is her time, her children’s time, your children’s time we’re talking about. I want it to be so sacrosanct that they all get so upset if it’s taken off them that no one will even contemplate encroaching on it no matter what the so called emergency. Only that way can we sort her day out. What’s she like when she’s nursing and immediately afterwards, Thorkill.”
“Calm. It’s special time for her.”
“And so it damn well should be. Once lost it can never be recovered. Does what I’m saying not make sense?”
“I can see we’ll cross swords regularly, Isabelle, but thank you. I accept that you have the best interests of those I love at heart. I agree. Pass me her diary will you?” Thorkill took the diary and a brief look of anger crossed his face. “Some of these folk have no business anywhere near Elska. They are salesmen from suppliers to the spa and hospital and should be talking to store keepers.” He took a pen and crossed out dozens of entries working his way to the blank pages. He handed the diary and the pen to Florence and said, “Your turn, Florence.”
Florence crossed out numerous entries too, though not as many as Thorkill, and said, “There are diaries in the stores. I’ll send you one, Isabelle. Best to file this one. That was a good idea, Thorkill. Can you work with what’s left, Isabelle?”
Isabelle busy leafing through Elska’s diary was a few seconds before she replied. “No problem. I’ll see Geneviève and she can delegate someone in her department to deal with the salesmen. If she can’t spare anyone we’ll hire someone. I don’t consider buying floor cleaner and the like to warrant Geneviève spending time on it either. What time do you want me to protect for the two of you, Thorkill?” Isabelle’s voice was now gentle. “I want to know what you want, not what are you prepared to settle for?”
“I’d like time to be able to play with the girls and be with Elska after we’ve eaten dinner. It doesn’t have to be an hour, they can’t stay awake that long. Half an hour would be wonderful, and if I had long enough to put them to bed occasionally I’d be grateful. And other than when Elska is doing her turn on nights, or there is a reason in the hospital for her presence I’d appreciate nothing after nine o’clock if that’s possible.
“It’s ridiculous to have appointments at that time of night. There’ll be no more after six. What about in the morning? Does Elska still nurse in the middle of the night?”
“The girls are starting to sleep through, but four or five nights a week they awaken, and Elska has to nurse them to get them back to sleep. It usually takes forty minutes. I’d like her to be able to eat an unrushed breakfast with me, so she doesn’t have to start work till eight.”
“I’ll stick with what I told her. Nine, if she’s nursing in the middle of the night. And I’ll arrange for the girls to be collected by crèche staff and taken home too. Send me your diary too will you, so I can coordinate your time off to be with each other. All that okay?”
Thorkill looked relieved, “Yes. More than good. Thank you.”
“I’ll make a start on writing all this up and making the in house changes. I’ll see you at dinner. Thanks, Thorkill, Florence.” At that Isabelle left.
Thorkill and Florence looked at each other both wondering what to say. Florence spoke first. “On the face of it she hasn’t done anything remarkable, certainly nothing we couldn’t have done months ago. It’s just that we didn’t.”
“We didn’t even think to check who all those folk were who were eating into Elska’s day. Salesmen!” Thorkill shook his head in disbelief and embarrassment that he’d not put a stop to it long since.
Isabelle returned to Elska’s office via the crèche where she discussed the changes. At the crèche she met Vivienne and her husband Alex who was introduced as Thorkill’s number two. During her conversation the salesmen were mentioned and Alex said, “I’m almost sure some of those guys are only talking to Elska in an attempt to find out things we’d rather they didn’t. If you keep them away from Elska that’s one less headache for security.”
“If you tell me who you are worried about I’ll have Geneviève source the goods elsewhere, Alex, and none of them will ever get on to the property, never mind anywhere near Elska, again. Then I’ll tell the new salesmen how we intend to conduct business with them and it’ll be a take it or leave it matter. None of them will ever have anything to do with other than whom Geneviève appoints.”
“I’ll have the matter looked into and get back to you. Thanks, Isabelle.”
At Elska’s office she met Elska who was amazed by the proposed changes and a little bothered how some of the changes would be received. “Sorry, Elska, but it’s a done deal, cut by myself, Florence and Thorkill and agreed to by Geneviève. I’ll deal with the fallout. Changing the subject, I know you said I had to be out of it for the metal extraction, but is there any way other than for that and the breast explanting that I could be sufficiently pain free to use a telephone and a laptop even if I had to be bed bound for longer?”
“I suppose so, well yes, but that’s not what most persons want.” Elska clearly wasn’t ready to move the conversation on away from the arrangements that had been made. “You said Thorkill was part of this. How did you do that? He’s the most stubborn man I know.”
“No he’s not. He’s just a man who loves his wife and children. As to getting his cooperation that was easy. I asked him what he wanted, so I could give it to him. He wants to eat breakfast with his wife when she isn’t forcing herself because she’s really too tired to go to work. He wants to play with his daughters after dinner when you’re there and be able to put them to bed occasionally and he doesn’t want anything other than your hospital work to take your evenings off you. I can do all that for you both. Most of it’s already arranged, and Thorkill is going to send me his diary to look at, so I can synchronise as much of your free time as possible. As of now, your most significant diary events are with each other and your daughters. Okay.” The way Isabelle phrased her last sentence it was not a question. Elska was amazed at Isabelle managing to achieve that level of cooperation with Thorkill, but was happy to acquiesce with Isabelle’s ruthless management of her life which was already making it easier, less tiring and giving her time to spend with the family she loved. “Your days of dealing with salesmen are over. If they don’t like it I’ll have Geneviève source the goods elsewhere. I’ve also been told that some of those salesmen are of concern to security. Alex is looking into it, and any he’s got doubts about we’ll replace suppliers as a precaution. Now, after dinner I would like to have Matthew with me. He’s okay with that, but are you? I ask because we’re getting married as soon as he can organise it.”
“Congratulations, and of course he should be with you. Regarding your question concerning your resequencing we can do it in the way you want by breaking the process into four or possibly five separate steps. The explanting of your breasts will be done in minutes and the resultant pain totally controlled easily. You would be unconscious for less than half an hour. Forty-eight hours later after the swelling due to the surgery has gone you’ll only have the bosom that the hormones have given you, but you’ll be completely healed and pain free. If you lose too much of your figure to be comfortable with it we have an enormous selection of breast forms available in the hospital stores. My investment in the company that produces them was according to Geneviève a move of true genius, though it was thanks to her that we now have a controlling interest in the company. So, till you grow your own, you can have whatever makes you feel confident, which will cost us nothing.
“The only unusual feature of your treatment is the requirement to protect your XY vagina and external genitalia from the soft tissue repair which would normally regrow your male genitalia both internal and external, but that is easily managed. Medically I would not be bothered by that as it would only be a temporary state of affairs, but psychologically it would be devastating to you, so even though your current arrangements will be completely reformed as your XX vagina along with everything else we shall insure the current arrangements stay in place till the final resequencing. After the explanting of your breasts, you could then wait as long as you like before the next step which would be the removal of the plate from your skull and the regeneration of your skull and repair of your scalp. The portion of your scalp over the plate will have to be moved clear of it so that as the new bone rejects the metal fastenings and pushes them away we can simply lift it off with the fastenings too. Once the process is underway it is best to proceed slowly which means about twenty minutes before we recover the plate, replace your scalp without sutures and allow that portion of the resequencing process to regenerate the missing portion of skull, the holes where the plate fixings were attached and the scalp trauma. You would be unconscious for between forty-five minutes and an hour.
“The subsequent pain will be minimal, much less than due to the bruising caused by the explanting, and easily controlled. Again after forty-eight hours it will be as though the accident had never happened, and again you can decide how long you wish to wait before allowing us to deal with your leg. Till we have xrays of your leg and know how much foreign material we are dealing with and exactly where it is it’s hard to say much about how long the procedure will take. Removing any wire and pins from your leg will be by far the most complex procedure, but no matter what we face after an hour we should have all wire out of your leg and the pins will be working their way free. Typically such a procedure takes between one and two hours. Any long bone regeneration will take longer than your skull, anything up to three days, and we would immobilise your leg. Long bone regeneration is invariably accompanied by serious deep pain which we can dull to an unpleasant discomfort. Unless we use a general anaesthetic, which we usually do in such cases, we can not totally control the pain, and depending on how much bone has to be regenerated you could be facing a very unpleasant few days under a local.
“As I said, I’ll have a better idea of what you’re facing when I see the xrays which I’ll take after dinner, but if you want to be able to work there will certainly be some discomfort from your leg. However, should the pain from your leg become more than you wish to tolerate the option of a general anaesthetic remains open to you. On the positive side the outcome is guaranteed. We have regenerated soldiers’ limbs that have been lost in battle where the entire limb, soft tissues as well as bone, has had to be regrown, and always with complete success. After ten days your leg will be regenerated, healed and pain free though it would be wise not to subject it to any stress for another three weeks, so working out and fighting in the gym are out. Finally after the removal of all foreign material, we can resequence you to look the way you wish to look. Since your new frame will be smaller rather than larger than your current one eight days of bed rest with low level analgesics and anti inflammatory drugs will probably finalise your resequencing. If you wish to do it that way rather than having the entire process take place simultaneously and slowly under general anaesthetic, somewhere between a month and a half to two months would be my best estimate at the moment for the entire process.”
“That sounds reasonable. I’ll ask Florence to find me a couple of good office assistants to do the running for me if the pain is keeping me bed fast. She’ll have a bit of time because I’ll only need them when you’re sorting my leg out. Better yet if she can find me a general helper who already works here and is cleared to deal with confidential material and someone else with secretarial skills who can type the close down letters for me.”
“I feel guilty that you’re prepared to suffer just to ease some pressure off me.”
“Don’t. I’ve had pain and I’ve had pressure. It’s not much of a choice, but I prefer pain. How long have you been under intolerable pressure? A year, two, ten? And at the end of it all I shall be able to have Matthew’s baby. I’ll go to hell and back for that, Elska.”
Elska sighed and said, “Okay. It’s ten to. I’ll freshen up before dinner and pick the girls up afterwards. I’ll meet you here at what, half seven? I wonder why the phones have been so quiet.”
“Because I blocked several dozen numbers. I don’t need to talk to those folk and you sure as hell don’t, Elska. One lesson I did learn early on was you don’t need permission to spend money. It will spend anywhere. The customer with money, credit is different, can simply walk away from any and every vendor who upsets her. We have money to spend, so those vendors will play the game by our rules, or we’ll pick up our ball, go home and play with someone else tomorrow.”
Elska laught and said, “I think I’m going to have a lot more fun with you around, Isabelle. I’d better go.”
Matthew was early, and after eating he asked, “Do you have to return to Cheltenham? Or can you stay now?”
“I’m staying. I’ve no reason to return, and I don’t want to. I was given a month’s notice when my employer heard I’d got an interview for another job, this job, so when I was told that I walked out right then and there which was in the middle of the day and left them with a problem too. It was worth the three days’ pay they owed me just to see the look on my manager’s face when he realised that he’d have to fill in for me with the two year olds till they found a replacement. He hated kids almost as much as he hated their parents. Pierre’s team are readying to collect my belongings, and Geneviève’s staff are dealing with the landlord as well as handling all my finances. Did you manage to transplant all your trees, Matthew?”
“No, but we didn’t expect to. We’ll finish that batch tomorrow. There’re another three batches, and we’ve been doing a batch a week since I got back. Florence would like us to finish as soon as possible, but we’ve other things we have to do as well, so we can only work on them two days a week. What’s happening with Elska this evening, Isabelle? And how can I help?”
“She wants to xray my skull and leg to see how much metal I’ve got in me and exactly where it is because like my breast implants it’s got to come out before the main resequencing. She also wants to find out and program her equipment with how I want to look. I want to be twenty, about five three and a bit slenderer, but I’ve no idea about face shape, hair and eye colour and things like that. You got any suggestions? Elska said she’d run a computer program that would help me decide. It’s an evening of make your mind up time though she said I could change my mind about things later.”
“Mmm. Well I suppose you should think about the obvious first. Do you want to remain a white, western European? Because you could become anything.”
“I never thought about that, but yes I do.”
“What about hair colour? You’re a mid brunette, so blonde, redhead, dark brunette? What do you think?”
“What do you like? Or even fantasise about?”
“I’ve never thought about it before, but a really intense, deep, dark red would suit your personality. Especially the intense.” He grinned and said,“And look really sexy too! Yeah I could go for that, but seriously it’s not my decision to make. You have to be able to live with yourself.”
“True, but I want to live with you too. I sort of like the idea of dark red. I definitely like the idea of sexy. Suppose I go for it, what colour eyes go with it? Blue doesn’t, and if I have the choice I may as well exercise it.” She filled up and whispered, “I’d settle for two working eyes of any damn colour, even different colours, but at least the bastards that did it will never walk without pain or father kids again. It took me nearly three years to track them all down. They’d called me a sissy, queer faggot before they were disturbed and ran off leaving me for dead. I was lucky they were disturbed, or I would be dead. I dealt with all four of them over one weekend, and as I left them I said the same thing to them all. I’d had a long time to think about what I was going to say. ‘Welcome to sitting down to pee like the rest of the girls.’ Christ that made me so happy.” She was smiling now. “I was so happy I tracked all the rest of them down too, some didn’t survive the experience, but,” she shrugged her shoulders, “life can be tough. I knew that, so I made sure they did too.”
“Bloody hell, Isabelle. Are you okay? Come on, let’s go to the bar and I’ll get you a stiff drink. You look like you could use one. I’m so sorry. I’d no idea it was that bad.”
“No. I’m fine. Anyway I don’t know if I can drink before Elska does whatever it is she’s going to do. Honestly I’ll be fine, but I won’t say no to a stiff one afterwards.” Isabelle smiled and added, “And a drink would be nice too. But about my eye colour?”
Matthew stroked her thigh and said, “I’m sure I can manage both. I don’t know about your eyes. Brown would be okay, possibly hazel. How about emerald green? That would look good with dark red hair.”
“Okay. That’s what I’ll ask Elska to shew me photos of first. What about face structure? I’ve a round face and I’ve never liked it, so maybe a thinner face?”
“Yeah. Oval with high cheek bones. That would look pretty. Pretty rather than sexy.”
“Okay. That’s a start, Matthew. What about boobs?”
“Like you are.” He cupped Isabelle’s breasts and said, “Yeah. Just like you are. That’s perfect.”
“Okay, That’s a D cup, but will probably look bigger when the rest of me becomes a bit smaller.”
Matthew gave a fake sigh and said, “Bigger boobs eh? I suppose I’ll just have to like it. However, let’s have a quick drink before we meet Elska. I could do with something long, cool, sharp and refreshing. There’s a freshly squeezed lemon or lime concoction the bar staff put together using home grown citrus fruit. It’s non alcoholic and still, but excellent on hot sultry summer days like this. It has a bit of salt in it which replaces what you’ve lost due to the heat. Elska says it staves off headaches due to the sun. You’ll maybe meet some more new folk in the bar. You’ll make loads of women friends once it gets out there’s a wedding in the air, and I get to shew you off to all the blokes who will be jealous I got Elska’s PA before they even had a chance to speak to you.”
“Idiot.”
“I know, but the truth is you, Viivishkava, Florence and Geneviève are the four most powerful and influential folk at The Towers. The likes of Thorkill, Gustav and Pierre are security, support and logistics and all the other senior staff make all our lives so much better that I’d hate any to think I was not extremely grateful for their contributions. However, without in any way denigrating the contributions of anyone else on the entire staff, it’s the four of you that directly enable Elska to do what pays all our salaries, and your contribution will make a lot of folk more than grateful.”
Isabelle nodded and said, “It’s finally sinking in just what I can do here, yet at the same time it does seem that enabling my dreams with a hundred and twenty thousand a year starting salary is a disproportionate remuneration.”
“I suggest that you let The Towers decide just what it considers you to be worth.” Isabelle nodded, but it was clear she still had some reservations. “So is that two Long Lemon Sours then?”
At the bar Matthew was subject to a considerable amount of good natured ribbing from the men who thought anyone who could manage Elska’s life for her, and the stories were already general knowledge, would certainly be able to give any man a dog’s life if she chose. Those few who hadn’t heard of Isabelle’s telephone techniques were soon informed and enjoyed a good laugh. The couple left and arrived at Elska’s hospital office a couple of minutes before she did.
“Hello, Isabelle, Matthew. I thought we’d get the xrays out of the way first, Isabelle. If you come with me we’ll do your skull first. This machine will take three xrays of your skull simultaneously all at right angles to each other. The computer will produce a 3D image of your skull and the plate and produce a set of surgical instructions for our equipment and us to work from. I’ll place the source behind you and the cameras above, in front and to the sides of your head. Their positioning isn’t critical because the computer knows exactly where they are and compensates for any positioning errors. Okay? Ready?”
“Yes.”
Thirty seconds later Elska looking at the xrays on the huge wall screen said, “No problems. An absolutely standard cranial plate. The absorption spectrum indicates titanium. The fixings are screws, again titanium, but an alloy. No problems there. Now I’d like to have a full body xray just to be sure there is nothing anywhere other than in your right leg. Okay?” Isabelle nodded and Matthew smiled at her. “Get undressed behind the screen please, you can leave your knickers on but if your bra has hooks and eyes, clips or any other type of fastenings please remove it. When you’re ready stand against the screen, your bottom can touch it, Isabelle. It’s actually a rather fancy xray receiver that will provide a full body medium resolution image. It’s not the most detailed we can do, but it will provide what we need to ensure we know where all the foreign material is located. I’ll pull the source in front of you. You tell me when you are ready.”
“I’m ready.”
A red light came on indicating the machine was active, and a few seconds later it went off and Elska looked at her computer screen and said, “Put this gown on, Isabelle. You may as well be as warm as you can be.” Elska handed Isabelle a towelling bath robe that fastened at the front and had a belt, rather than a traditional hospital gown. “The good news is that other than a small fragment of metal that appears to be a piece of wreckage in your right calf, which should have been removed when your leg was operated on, and which I’ll remove when the soft tissue damage is repaired, there are no hard foreign materials anywhere other than the medical implants on your skull and in your right leg. You have no pins for us to deal with, and the only wire is a single piece of stainless steel in your ankle. The bad news is most of the diaphyses, they’re the long shafts that form most of the length of long bones, of your fibula, tibia and femur are metal rods, stainless steel from the absorption spectrum. It’s unusual to find stainless and titanium used as a result of the same trauma. Did you not know the damage was so extensive?”
“I was in a coma for six weeks. I was told I’d been in theatre for fourteen hours and it had been major surgery, but that didn’t mean much to me. By the time I was ready to take it in I’d been transferred back to Cheltenham General and I was too busy coping with the pain whilst I learnt to walk to worry about what they’d had to do.”
“Where was the surgery done?”
“Queen Elizabeth Birmingham.”
“That makes sense. Well at least you were in the best place with the best folk to look after you, but I’m amazed you didn’t lose the leg. The extensive scarring, soft tissue damage and the rods indicate you were very badly injured indeed, but don’t worry the resequencing will repair all that too. However, I’ll know more about the bone issues when we have the high resolution images of your right leg. so let’s finish the xrays. You can keep the robe on, but tuck the bottom half of it under your hips away from your leg please, and I want you lying down on the couch on your back with your right leg straight in front of you and I’ll take an image from above to start with. Ready?”
“Yes.”
After a few seconds Elska said, “Fine, it’s a clear image. Now I want you to lift your left leg as high as you can, so it is out of the way, and I’ll take an image of the leg from the inside. Then one from the out side. Ready?”
“I am now.”
Elska positioned equipment and said, “That’s clear. I’ll do the other side now.” Elska repositioned the equipment and asked, “Okay?”
“Yes.”
After a few seconds, “That’s clear too. Now bring your leg down and roll over to lie on your stomach. Again tuck the robe up and out of the way of your leg please. I’ll take an image of the back of your leg from above. Some would say it’s overkill and unnecessary, but I don’t agree, and it costs nothing but a few seconds of our time. Okay?”
“Yes.”
A few seconds later, “Excellent. A fine set of clear images. Keep the robe on and give me a minute or so to think about things, and I’ll tell you the implications, Isabelle.” It wasn’t long before Elska said, “As I said, we’ll have the wire out of your ankle within a hour, and there are no pins to complicate matters. Your long bone diaphyses are virtually all missing which means as the rods become pushed free of their attachment points we are going to be involved in major surgery to remove them. This will leave you with a leg with a floating knee joint and and similar ankle and foot structures. We are looking at a three to four hour procedure, possibly longer. Your leg will have to be immobilised for a full week for that is how long it will take the long bones to regenerate sufficiently to be able to support your weight, and it’s going to hurt for at least four days. I can not recommend anything other than general anaesthesia for four probably five days. Most places would be very reluctant to subject a patient to a general for so long, but we use complex anaesthetics which the sequencer tailors to the DNA of the patient. The sequencer monitors the patient till we bring her round and constantly adjusts the dosage to barely keep her under. Whilst you’re unconscious we may as well have your new teeth grow out. It’s an uncomfortable process if you’re awake. As for your sense of responsibility, don’t worry about me, Isabelle. This has been going on for months, and five more days won’t make any difference. You’re already making my life a lot better, so I suggest you establish the procedures you wish to put in place as you have your breasts explanted, and your skull resequenced and leave your leg till you feel happy to be away from your desk for four or five days. Actually it’ll be safer if you plan on a week.”
“But—”
“No, Isabelle. No buts. You don’t understand. It would be easier from a medical point of view to amputate your leg at the hip and regenerate the entire leg which would obviate the need for dealing with the hardware. That would take no longer and may even be quicker. Your breasts and skull are trivial, you leg is anything but.”
“So why don’t you amputate?”
“Because the psychological trauma would mean you would need repsyching on an ongoing basis for a long time. Please don’t fight me on this, Isabelle. I may not be very good at organising my life, but at this I’m the best in the world. Please.”
Matthew had been silent for a long time, but he reminded Isabelle, “You told me you wanted a family, Love. How can you be a good mum, or even enjoy being a mum if you’re away with the mixer?”
“If I’m what?”
“If you’re mentally screwed up. Why are we even talking about this when it’s just four or five days? Christ when I was a student I was regularly drunk for longer than that!”
“Liar!”
“Possibly, but it felt like it.”
Isabelle looked at the concerned faces looking at hers and she hadn’t felt that level of care and love since she’d been a little boy of two before the dysphoria and her family’s reactions to it had shattered her world, and that she could barely remember. “Okay, Matthew. Elska, I’ll do it your way.”
“Thank you, Isabelle. Now I need your full body scanner image. The instrument does two scans in one, a deep scan that shows up soft implants and a surface scan which shows you as you appear from the outside. If you get completely undressed for the scanner we’ll start with your body as it is and work from there. Undress completely behind the other screen.” Elska pointed. “There’s a chair you can put your knickers and the robe on. Stand on the circle there with your feet where indicated and let me know when you are ready.”
Isabelle did as requested putting her feet on the painted foot prints within the circle on the floor and said, “I’m ready.”
“Good. Allow your arms to hang down a little way out from the sides of your chest. Thank you, that’s it.” Isabelle heard a humming sound and saw naked images of herself taken from the front, the side and the rear along side a height scale on a large display screen on the opposite wall. “Fine, I’ve got what we need. You get dressed, and we’ll continue with the images when you rejoin us.” Isabelle dressed and sat down next to Matthew who held her hand. “As you can see, the deep scan indicates no soft implants other than those in your breasts which show up as those bright objects high on your chest. The only other things of any likelihood were plastic nerve shields over your knees though as I suspected you don’t have them. Have you had any further thoughts concerning the new you?”
“Some.” Isabelle told Elska what she had discussed with Matthew.
“Well that makes it a little easier. It’s probably best to shew you photos of real women similar to what you wish first rather than run the ‘this or that’ program. If you choose the ones you like I can create a composite for you and then we can run the ‘this or that’ program on the face before running it on a full body image, front, side and rear. Okay?”
Isabelle not fully understanding nodded, and fifteen minutes later had picked out fourteen faces she liked. She arranged them in order of preference and Elska told her the computer would use them in proportion to her preferences as it morphed them to produce a composite which had the features that Isabelle had asked for enhanced. She looked nothing like any of the constituent photos. “She is gorgeous,” whispered Isabelle.
“You happy with that? Anything you’d like altered?”
“No. Will I look like her?”
“No. You created her. She is you. You will look like yourself.”
Isabelle turned to Matthew and said, “I’m frightened you will think I faked myself to inveigle you into marriage, Matthew—”
Matthew cut her off with a kiss and said, “Don’t be silly. Elska, can you take a few years off me to make me look the same age as Isabelle will look?”
“Certainly. It would be done and dusted within three hours. If you are happy with that, Isabelle, we can proceed to the full body image. First your height.” The three images of Isabelle nude returned. The images didn’t alter but the scale now read five three not five eight. “Now your build.” The images became a little more slender with a more pronounced waist and hips. “Enough or more?”
“A little more please.” The images became slenderer again though the hips didn’t change. “That’s lovely.”
“Bottom, hips, breasts? Okay or not?”
“Just a little more bust please, maybe half a cup. We agreed on as I look now and if that appears a little larger at five three Matthew says he’ll live with it. Can you do that?”
All three chuckled and Elska replied, “Certainly and I’ll add in the woman’s package at the same time as your face.” It happened in front of their eyes, and the woman on the screen now had slightly larger breasts and Isabelle’s new face complete with high cheek bones, emerald green eyes and dark red hair. Isabelle noticed her pubic and underarm hair had disappeared and she had a completely flat mons with nothing protruding from her cleft which she considered to be prettier than her current extremely expensive vulva which had visible labia. “How’s that? We can change anything you like, but will that do to start with?”
“That’s lovely. Thank you,” stammered Isabelle.
“Okay. I’ll pass the data to the sequencer and we’ll put together as finalised a time line as we can regarding how we are going to proceed with your resequencing tomorrow morning. I’ll tell my staff that we’re explanting your breasts tomorrow afternoon, so they can have everything ready. Matthew, do you want anything else besides looking eight or nine years younger, say twenty-one?”
“No thanks. That’ll do.”
“We’ll do you as soon as soon as you have four preferably five days available. I take it you really don’t want to upset Florence who has photographers and reporters lined up to record the completed Orangery in all its glory complete with an interview of its designer and creator?”
Matthew laught and said, “Definitely not. She passes through at least four times a day checking on progress. She never says anything, but she makes those poor teenagers nervous. I haven’t told them they are going to be interviewed too. Florence is going to spring it on them so they don’t take the day off in fright.”
Elska chuckled and said, “I’d better get home to nurse the girls before my breasts explode. I’ll see you here tomorrow at ten, Isabelle.”
It was early, but Isabelle admitted, “I’m really tired, Matthew. This place takes some getting used to. I don’t think I’ve ever lived life at this pace, and I’m still wound up about my leg. I don’t want that drink, so take me home, and let’s have an early night, no wild sex. Just a bit of gentle missionary and a good sleep. I want to get up really early to sort out any idiots trying to get to Elska before I have to meet with her in the infirmary. You okay with that?”
Matthew smiled at Isabelle referring to her suite as home, but it made him happy too. “Yes. But if I’m getting up early when I don’t have to I’m ordering breakfast in bed.”
“What do you mean?”
“The kitchens will deliver breakfast in bed to anywhere in the main buildings as long as it’s before six. They say it helps spread the breakfast rush out. They also deliver to the workshops. Pierre’s engineers prefer to start really early at four with breakfast in the workshops and then eat another breakfast at ten, or maybe for them it’s lunch. They stop work by one at the latest though most are still there working on whatever interests them at the time which may be official work, a personal project or something involving the kids. Some days there’re dozens of kids there in the afternoon.”
“So I can have breakfast in bed delivered at five?”
“Every day if you want.”
“Wild. This place really does take some getting used to.”
Isabelle awoke to the sound of rattling crockery as breakfast was delivered. Matthew was already awake and as he emerged from the bathroom wearing a towelling robe with a toothbrush in his hand he said, “Thank you, Jenny, Melissa.”
The two women pushed the wheels of the bed trays under the bed, and Melissa said, “Be careful with the plates. They’re straight out of the oven, Isabelle, Matthew. Enjoy your breakfast.”
Isabelle had ordered a traditional full English breakfast and a pot of Darjeeling tea whilst Matthew had kippers, kidneys and French toast with blackstrap molasses and a pot of pungent smelling black coffee. “Is that a normal breakfast here, Matthew?”
“No. It’s just everything I like on a the same plate. The kitchen staff just ask me if I want the usual. It wakes me up properly.”
After breakfast Isabelle had a shower, and on her return to the bedroom said, “No touching. I’ve things to do. You’ll have to wait, but if you do I’ll give you everything you like on a plate and call it the usual.” Isabelle looked a little angry as she said, “You know, Matthew, I worked damned hard for years to pay for these breasts, my fanny and the facial surgery, and now I’m here they’re just impediments to a real female body that is going to cost me nothing. I know life isn’t fair. I haven’t expected it to be fair since before I started kindergarten, but it does seem bizarre.”
“That’s not exactly true, Isabelle. I’d say from the little you’ve told me and the much more you haven’t yet, but which I can make some guesses at, you’ve actually paid through the nose in advance to get here for that real female body. It’s easy for me to say forget it and put it behind you, but it’s not easy to do. I do know what I’m talking about because I needed periodic repsyching to cope with the the emotional and physical abuse I suffered in my childhood. It wasn’t till I came here and had that repsyching that life actually became worth living. If the worst comes to the worst we can have repsyching together, but I truly doubt either of us will need it. So smile, and I’ll watch you bounce up and down and wiggle your backside as you dress and then catch another hour. I’ll meet you at one in the dining hall. If you can’t make it get someone to ring the servers to get a message to me. Okay?”
Isabelle returned Matthew’s caring gaze and said, “Okay. I don’t mind doing that for you, but seriously does it get better, Matthew?”
“Well right now I’m having all my favourite breakfast things in bed looking at a sex goddess who’s flaunting her body just to please me and who has made promises of an extremely lewd nature for later, so I’d say yes. It actually does get much better. If you like I’ll see if I can find some Viagra for later?”
Isabelle laught, finished dressing and on her way out said, “I don’t want to boost your ego too much, but you don’t need the Viagra. I’ll find you for lunch.”
On her way to what many already knew was now her office Isabelle met Milly. “Would you like a pot of tea sent to your office, Isabelle?”
“Please, Milly. Could you bring four cups? You never know who will pop in.” Isabelle was amazed that there were so many folk up and about so early in the day, but she reflected nothing was normal about The Towers. On her desk she found not just Elska’s diary but Thorkill’s too, so she started clearing Thorkill’s after dinner time to spend with his family. She couldn’t do much else because there were a lot of entries that meant nothing to her. Milly arrived with the tea and a plate of fresh baked macaroons, and Isabelle said, “Take a seat, Milly, and join me.”
Milly joined her and asked, “Would you like me to find a pretty set of cups, saucers and side plates for your office, Isabelle? Florence has a set in her office. I could get you some silver too.”
“Yes. Please. That’s a good idea. Thank you, Milly.”
The women chatted about The Towers whilst they drank their tea, but eventually rather diffidently Milly told her, “There’s a man from the wholesalers that supplies us with cleaning equipment and stuff like washing up liquid in the kitchens. He wants to speak with someone in authority about renegotiating his contract. He won’t leave.”
“He needs to contact Geneviève’s department. There’s nothing I can do.”
“He said he wants to speak to Geneviève’s boss and he’s very insistent and becoming offensively loud. He’s upsetting some of the younger girls, Isabelle.”
At that point Isabelle took more notice, and realising Milly’s behaviour was that of someone under duress asked, “Upsetting? How, is he upsetting them, Milly?”
“He’s frightening them, specially Jenny. He does it every week. He’s not a nice man.”
“Are we talking about inappropriate touching and sexually suggestive remarks here, Milly.”
“Yu, Yes.”
“One moment, Milly.” Isabelle picked up a phone and pressed the appropriate number. “Oh hallo, Alex. Isabelle here. You’re up early. … Ah well, in that case you need to find your bed and get some sleep, but before you do do me a favour please. There’s a sleaze ball inappropriately touching and making sexually suggestive remarks to the girls in the kitchens. He’s an abusive loudmouth and upsetting the staff there. … A salesman from our supplier of cleaning materials. … He’s demanding to speak to Geneviève’s boss. … I know. … Have him thrown out will you? … Yes, and I’ll ring Geneviève and ask her to find us another supplier. … Thanks, Alex. One last thing. Before you find your bed, try the macaroons from the kitchens, they’re excellent, guaranteed a million calories each, but excellent. … Thanks. … Go and get some sleep.” Isabelle made another phone call, but obviously was talking to an answerphone. “Hello, Geneviève. This is Isabelle, and it’s six seventeen. I’ve just had an abusive salesman of cleaning materials escorted off the premises. He was upsetting the staff, especially Jenny, in the kitchens and demanding to speak to your boss. Sorry to trouble you but we need another supplier. I’d be obliged if you would deal with the matter. I don’t know too much about the matter, so you may wish to make enquiries of the kitchen staff and pass the matter over to Stefan’s legal team. I’ll try to catch up with you later, but I’m with Elska for most of the day. Thank you. Bye.” Isabelle turned to Milly and asked, “That do you, Milly? Tell the staff we do have a no bullying policy at The Towers and it doesn’t just apply to those of us who work here. I’m not having The Towers spend money with anyone who abuses any of us. Okay?”
Milly who had just turned sixteen and was not over bright, nodded and said, “He’s been talking badly to us and touching Jenny up every time he’s come to the kitchens for months. I suppose we should have told on him shouldn’t we? But we were afraid we’d get into trouble.”
“Yes you should have reported him. It’s not your fault and make sure Jenny understands that please. No one is going to get into trouble except him, or anyone else who behaves inappropriately. So please don’t put up with anything like that again. Tell the staff if they are worried about anything to come and talk to me. I may not be able to do anything, but I will know who can.”
“Thank you, Isabelle.” Milly blushed and said, “I made the macaroons.”
“Then it’s I who should be thanking you, Milly. Delicious. They’ll go straight to my hips for sure, but they are irresistible. You’d be on to a winner if you could bake them so they settled up rather than down, but,” Isabelle sighed as she looked at her bosom, “we can’t have it all can we?”
Milly who was a slender woman and all but flat chested giggled, but before she left she blushed and said, “I know what you mean, Isabelle. I’d love to have a little more.”
Isabelle spent the next three and a half hours examining the contents of Elska’s filing cabinets, writing a list of who she had to contact and why, arranging those meetings, talking to staff who turned up at her office to introduce themselves and meet the new brush that was said to be sweeping very clean, and closing down numerous phone calls from folk who obviously thought they were more likely to profit from dealing with Elska than some other person whose job it was to deal with them and others who seemed to have no justifiable reason for speaking to Elska at all. It was clear to Isabelle that the tactic had worked in the past because Elska had agreed with what they wanted just to get them off her back as quickly as possible. The trouble was they just kept coming back for more. Isabelle was amazed that she liked all The Towers personnel she’d met, for she’d never worked anywhere where there wasn’t at least one obnoxious character, but still she reflected there’s time yet.
Intrigued by the noise that seemed to be come from the outside of her office door she opened it to have one of the maintenance workers introduce himself and explain he was changing the name plate on the door. “Is there any chance of having the door replaced by a glass one folk could see in through? I want to be seen to be approachable, William.”
“No problem, Isabelle, but it’ll take the workshop a few days to make one. Every door in this place is non standard and they’re all different. Would you like it glass at the top with a wooden kick panel below or all glass?”
“Actually, could you just remove the door and leave the doorway open, William?”
“In five minutes, and another half hour to remove the door. We’ll store it in case it ever needs to go back. That okay?”
“Perfect. Thank you.”
Isabelle was initially perplexed as to how to resolve her next phone call. Benjamin explained, “May I come to see you. I don’t want to take up any time that Elska doesn’t wish to give me, Isabelle, but it’s about the pot plants and the cut flowers for the house. Elska’s the only one, other than Viivishkava, who’s ever paid any attention to them. She likes plants and flowers too. It’s time to change the pot plants. They can only take the house environment for so long before they need to recover in the hot houses. We grow fragrant flowers for the house because Elska likes them, but we need some input from someone.”
Benjamin was clearly rattled, and Isabelle remembered what Matthew had told him. Benjamin was nearly eighty, had no qualifications at all and was held in huge respect by every one, not just the gardening staff. He was recognised county wide as a highly skilled and knowledgeable bee keeper as well as nationally as a gifted garden designer and estate head gardener. “Of course. Join me for a cup of tea, say in ten minutes or is that too soon?”
As they drank their tea Isabelle spent twenty minutes settling him. Benjamin explained what the flowers and leaves were in the herbal tea they were drinking and who grew them. Eventually Isabelle said, “Benjamin, you must know what Elska likes. Why don’t you decide which plants and flowers to use? I know you are an expert, so why don’t you use all your expertise and surprise us? I’m told that the pastures and woods were planted with mixtures of seeds of your specification so the pastures provide not just good feed for the livestock, but the wild flowers provide beauty for us to look at too and the woodland walks are glorious all year round, so I’m sure you could provide displays that no mere florist would even think of. If you write down a plan for a year’s plants and flowers for the other teams to follow you can monitor what the junior gardeners are doing and alter anything you consider necessary as the seasons unfold. That way Elska, and the rest of us too, enjoys the benefits of your skill and knowledge without having to spend too much time on it, and you don’t have to work too hard. How does that sound to you?”
“How did you know about the seed mixtures?”
“Matthew told me. I may as well tell you before someone else does he is my fiancé.”
There was a silence as Benjamin stared at her. He was obviously thinking deeply. “He hasn’t said anything about that to me.” Why Benjamin considered that Matthew would automatically have told him puzzled her, but he obviously did.
Isabelle blushed as she said, “It’s a very recent development.”
“Ah I see.” Which made her blush more as Benjamin obviously understood more than she had intended to convey. “Well, he’s a good lad and deserves some happiness in his life. A good lass, and I can tell you are, is just what his mother says he needs, and he’ll treat you right, or I’ll want to know why. Not that there’s any chance he won’t.” Benjamin turned away before asking, “May I have a hole drilled at the side of one of the window frames in the hallway so I can have an observation hive in there for visitors to look at whilst they’re waiting to be attended to?”
“I have no idea. Talk to the maintenance team, Benjamin. If they say it can be done, get it done. I’ll authorise it, for I’d like to see that myself. If you need anything else ring me. Okay?”
“Thank you.”
It was twenty past ten when Isabelle walked into the infirmary. “I’m sorry I’m late, Elska, but I had a phone call from Benjamin. I couldn’t just fob him off. It wouldn’t have been right. I invited him to join me for tea in my office and it took a while to settle him to the point where he was prepared to talk.”
“Oh hell. That’s my fault. It’s time to change the plants. I’ll have to find him sometime, because Vish is busier than I am at the moment.”
“Stop worrying. The problem has been solved to both our satisfactions. Benjamin is going to do some thinking out of the box and give us some surprises. I’ve no idea what that entails, but I am looking forward to it. He is going to decide on the plant and flower displays, monitor the junior gardeners and make any changes he considers necessary. You don’t have to do anything.”
“He’s a lovely man, Isabelle, and I’d hate him to be upset.”
“He’s not. He actually sounded excited when he left. He asked me if he could have a hole drilled next to one of the window frames in the Hall for a bee hive. I told him to talk to maintenance, and if they could do it I authorised him to go ahead.”
Elska was puzzled and asked, “Why would he want that?”
“So he can have an observation hive in the hall that we and visitors can watch. I’ll ask Florence to have a chat with him to see if her team can produce a display for visitors to look at too. I’ll make sure she understands Benjamin has the final say on anything they produce.”
Elska shook her head and said in wonder, “His resequencing means physically he is only thirty-five, despite his choice to look his real age which is nearly half a century older than that, but he’s very old fashioned, not a forceful man, and is easily upset, so that’s perfect.”
“Have you heard about that salesman in the kitchens, Elska?”
“Yes, Geneviève told me. Thank you.”
“It was Milly who told me about it. Is there any way you could see your way to giving her a little bit more bosom?”
“She’s only just sixteen and I suspect has a lot of growing still to do, but I can speed the process up without her knowing I’ve done so, but why?”
“It’d been going on for months, but they were afraid they’d get into trouble for ‘telling on him’ was how she put it. She was the one who was brave enough to finally tell someone what was going on. She’d made the macaroons this morning, and I said they’d go to straight to my hips for sure, and joked she’d be on to a winner if she could make them so they settled up not down. She’s very self conscious about being flat chested. I suspect she gets teased about it. When I first lived as a girl, I was her age and though I passed easily I was flat chested, couldn’t afford breastforms, self conscious about it and teased by girls who because I was tall thought I was a late developer and fair game to persecute. I feel for her and I think she deserves something for being brave which is hard for the not over bright.”
Elska smiled and said, “I’ll do it just to make sure she stays and keeps making the macaroons. I can enhance her bosom and intellect too without her being aware of it. I’ll repsyche her a bit more confidence and have someone nearer her status and age make her aware of the breast forms available from the infirmary. You happy with that?”
“Yes, and over the next twelve months I suggest you look over the entire staff, especially the rank and file, with a view to helping out a bit. What we can’t hire we can develop. It’s got to be a winner all round don’t you think? Far better you spend your time and effort helping our own than talking to folk you shouldn’t even be aware of.”
Surprised but pleased that Isabelle had referred to the staff as ‘our own’ Elska replied, “I agree. Can you look into it for me?”
“No. I don’t know the staff well enough yet. Florence or Geneviève would be far better at that than I, or at least they’ll have someone in their departments who is, but I’ll speak to them about it certainly.”
“Thank you. Regarding a time line for your resequencing I have all ready for your explants at half past two today. The sequencer will be programmed by then because I thought we may as well change your hair and eyes and deal with any soft tissue damage, including scars, associated with your leg, scalp and face at the same time. That way when we remove the metal implants from your skull and leg we’ll be removing them from undamaged tissue which will give us no surprises. I intend to remove the wreckage fragment this afternoon. The wire and the diaphyses will conform to the regenerated soft tissue around them. They are designed to. The fragment is not and in all probability will cause you pain when the soft tissue around it no longer conforms to its shape. Although it is embedded deeply it will be easy to extract and by the time you come round all damage will have been repaired. You’ll be on your feet and comfortable by dinner time. You’ll be tired, so whether you’ll want to eat or not I can’t predict. I suggest you wear a very soft front buttoning blouse without a bra for a couple of days. I suggest sports bras for support for a while after that, but you will need help with them to avoid stressing the new tissue. You can get smaller sized sports bras from the commissariat. When you’ve been wearing a bra for couple of days come and see us about breast forms if you would be happier wearing your own bras. After that when you are ready let me know and we’ll deal with your skull and enhance your breasts at the same time. That will much less noticeable to you and require far less painkillers than your explants and no anti inflammatories because there will be no bruising which is unavoidable with the explants due to the surgery. You’ll be fine after forty-eight hours, but let’s leave it four days at least before we do your leg from which point you can fit it in around your diary. We’ll have the sequencer ready programmed for you, so as soon as you feel your workload can take it you can have your leg dealt with immediately. We’ll want you in the infirmary for forty-eight hours after you recover consciousness to make certain there are no delayed reactions to the anaesthetic, but after full recovery from your leg, I suggest leaving it at least three weeks after you come round, you can have your body fully resequenced as XX when ever you feel ready. That will cause no pain, but you will need to be in bed and get a lot of rest because you’ll be exhausted. However, you will be able to use a phone and a lap top. After a few days I’ll arrange for some tuition for you with your bio-link. I’ll probably do it myself. That’s the best I can contrive. How does that sound?”
“Good. Very good. I think it a good idea to get used to being a woman for a while before embarking on pregnancy. I reckon six—”
“I told you. I recommend twelve months, Isabelle. If you like I’ll give you a contraceptive implant when we do your XX resequencing. It will be fully functional by the time you can use your XX vagina. Unfortunately we can’t do it before your XX resequencing because it would be perceived as foreign material and rejected.”
“That seems a good idea. Thanks, Elska.”
When Isabelle came round after her explants, Matthew was sitting in a chair at the side of her bed holding her hand. As she looked at the clock and panicked, Siobhan came in and said, “The remotes told me you’d come round, Isabelle. How are you feeling?”
“What went wrong? It’s only thirty-five minutes since Elska was speaking to me.”
“Nothing went wrong. The explanting of your breasts was straightforward and took less than five minutes. I did the explanting and removed the wreckage fragment whilst Elska used the sequencer to deal with you hair, eyes and soft tissue repair. I made a larger incision that would be done else where with the explants which meant the removal was quicker and easier than it would normally have been, which means less bruising. We can do it that way here because the incision will not result in weaker tissue after resequencing. By the time we change your dressings tomorrow most of the healing will have taken place, and you won’t have any scars. The fragment removal was straight forward and the incision is healing along with the rest of the soft tissue damage to your leg. Your damaged eye has regenerated and is restored to full vision and both eyes are already changing colour though it will take time for your hair to grow to its full length in its new colour. If you like we can temporarily speed your hair growth when we change your dressings, though your female, lower hair line across your forehead will only appear with your final resequencing. But as I asked, how are you?
“I’d like a mirror please.”
“Of course.” Siobhan produced a hand mirror from the bedside cabinet and held it for Isabelle to look at her face.
There were tears in her eyes as Isabelle saw her once ravaged face now restored. She closed each eye in turn several times realising she had her sight in her right eye restored. She blinked the tears from her eyes and said, “Thank you. I feel wonderful. I never thought of myself as pretty, but now I no longer feel damaged and ugly. Thank you again. Now I think about it it feels odd not to have the weight of my breasts on my chest, though I can feel something there, but I feel fine. I am a little tired, but I think that’s due to the stress not the explants. I’d like my hair its new colour please, but when can I go home? I’d be more comfortable in my own bed.”
“Now if you like, but I’d rather Matthew took you in a wheelchair and you didn’t try walking till eight tonight by which time your right leg will be stiff but healed though a little gentle exercise will be required to restore it to full use. Florence and Geneviève would both like to talk to you, but said tomorrow is fine. I suggested afternoon, so we can examine you in the morning, and both agreed. Matthew, take tomorrow off to look after Isabelle. That’s an order from myself and Benjamin. He said he’ll provide your apprentices with something relevant to do concerning citrus trees.”
Isabelle wanted to know, “What do Florence and Geneviève wish to see me for? And where’s Elska and what is she doing?”
“I have no idea what Florence and Geneviève want. They didn’t say other than it wasn’t urgent. Elska has gone to the crèche and is either nursing or playing with her daughters. She agreed to stay there till she takes them home for dinner when I told her it was on your orders. Then she’s going to have dinner at home with Thorkill, watch him playing with the girls and while he puts them to bed and tells the older ones a bedtime story do an hour’s work in her study before having an early night.”
“I didn’t order that, and how come she agreed to it? She’s a workaholic. I thought it would take me weeks if not months to get her to see sense.”
“I over reached myself and told her you’d ordered it because I thought it’s what you would have done. I knew it would work because Elska doesn’t want to upset you, and the rest of the staff are terrified that if they don’t back you to the hilt, even against Elska herself, you will do something they don’t want to even think about never mind experience. I think everything you have done and said in the short time you’ve been here has done the rounds and of course like any tale doing the rounds none of it has lost anything in the telling. After the way you dealt with that salesman the younger female staff regard you as a combination of a guardian angel and a splinter from the true cross. Apparently Alex’s men weren’t gentle when they grabbed hold of him and threw him out.”
To this point Matthew had said nothing but he added, “To the staff your word is now law on any matter regarding Elska’s well being. Thorkill and Viivishkava have both said if anyone has a problem with that they can come and discuss it with them. Now, I helped Siobhan dress you in your nightie when you were still groggy, so do you wish to stay in your nightie or get dressed? I’ll help you if you wish to get dressed.”
“I’ll stay in my nightie. I don’t think I’ll be long out of bed. Can you get me my knickers and something warm to go over my nightie, Matthew? It’s only thin and I already feel a little cool.”
Siobhan said, “Use a blanket, Matthew. I’ll help you with your knickers, Isabelle. Okay ease yourself to sit at the edge of the bed, and I’ll put them over your feet and pull them up to your knees. Okay now stand up. Just stand up. I’ll pull them up the rest of the way for you. I don’t want you exerting your arms at all because the effort will stress your chest. That okay?”
“Yes. Thank you.”
“Matthew, push the wheel chair behind Isabelle. Isabelle, bend your knees a little and sit down in the chair and let Matthew wrap the blanket around you.”
As Matthew wrapped the blanket round Isabelle, she asked, “You will tell me if something happens that I have to deal with won’t you, Matthew?”
“No. All is calm and will be till tomorrow. It’s in Elska’s best interests that you rest and sleep, so that you are fully able to indulge in your personal brand of mayhem and carnage with all and sundry who upset you tomorrow.”
It was a shocked Isabelle who was told by Siobhan, “You know what they say, Isabelle, what goes around comes around, so just for tonight do what Matthew tells you. Please? With a bit of luck we’ll see a rested and refreshed Elska and Isabelle tomorrow.”
Siobhan had stressed the second and in her sentence, and Isabelle was tired, so she acquiesced and said, “Okay. I know how to pick my battles. Take me home, Matthew, please.”
Once in her suite, Isabelle went to bed just asking for a drink of something refreshing that wasn’t too cold. She slept till quarter to nine when after a wash she said she could fancy something to eat. “Lasagna was on the menu. There’s always some food left after dinner because they cook enough to feed those working overnight. How does that sound?” Matthew suggested.
“Delicious. Lots of parmesan, Matthew, please, You going to join me?”
“Yes. I didn’t eat dinner. I stayed with you. I’ll have the food brought here. You fancy a glass of chianti with it?”
“Yes, but I don’t think you’re supposed to mix alcohol and anaesthetic. If you have a glass may I have a sip of yours?”
“Sure. You want it in bed or at the table?”
“In bed if you don’t mind?”
“No problem. I’ll ask for bed trays and join you.”
By the time they’d eaten, Isabelle could barely keep her eyes open, and she was asleep within minutes.
Isabelle awoke at nine and wanted a shower which wasn’t possible due to her dressings. She stared at her face and eyes in the bathroom mirror for several minutes scarce able to believe what she saw. She touched where the razor scar had been, and it felt just like the rest of her face. Matthew, concerned at her silence came in to check she was all right. He helped her wash and dried her off, so she didn’t have to stretch, and helped her put her arms in the sleeves of her blue, brushed cotton, checked blouse before he did the buttons up. She giggled and said, “I always feel like lumberjack wearing one of these, but they’re pretty thin on the ground round here.” After her wash, other than aches that felt like she’d pulled muscles in her chest, she was feeling much like her usual self. She was initially going to wear jeans, but after considering the effort it had taken to put the blouse on decided the wriggling it usually took to pull a pair of jeans over her bottom was neither worth it nor wise, so she concluded a long, pale blue, denim skirt was a safer proposition. A pair of knee highs, which Matthew managed and a pair of black patent leather, peep toe, court shoes and a dark blue button up angora cardigan completed her outfit. She knew it wasn’t the most elegant or well coordinated she’d ever looked by a long way, but it was comfortable and put no pressure on her chest. Walking she found was okay. Her leg hadn’t felt that good since before the accident, and she told Matthew she didn’t need him to watch over her like a mother hen with one chick and suggested he went to the Orangery.
“I don’t mind Benjamin giving me a hard time, and I could probably cope with Elska doing it, but I’d far rather you gave me a hard time than them both doing it which is what would happen if I left you.”
“Okay, but after a couple of pieces of toast and a coffee I’m going to my office before I see Elska at the infirmary, so don’t blame me if you’re bored senseless.”
After their late breakfast in the dining hall, Isabelle read a pile of memos left for either Elska or herself and dropped all bar three in the shredder. Matthew grinned and said, “So that’s the secret to preventing office work piling up is it?”
“That is what is known to office professionals as power filing, and you should be grateful since I believe it’s the gardeners who end up using the shredded paper in compost.”
“True, but it comes to us via the stables who mix it with straw for stable bedding first. I believe it improves the absorbency.”
After making a few phone calls Isabelle said, “That’ll do. The infirmary next.”
At the infirmary Elska asked, “How did you feel when you woke up, Isabelle?”
“I couldn’t believe I had my sight back and my face was scar free. I stared at the bathroom mirror for so long Matthew came in to see if I was all right. My right leg feels the same as the left one. The tenseness of the muscles that used to be there has gone. I feel as if I’ve pulled muscles in my chest maybe two inches below the bottom of my breasts. I expected to feel sore behind them not below them, and it felt weird that my breasts were so light.”
“What you feel is what I would have expected, and you’ll have your breasts back soon. Anything else?”
“All my scars have gone. Will I have a scar from the contraceptive implant?”
“Not only have your scars gone the tissue below your skin is repaired to what it was before your accident. As to the implant after the resequencing you’ll never scar again no matter what you do to yourself. Part of your final resequencing is a degree of self healing which is a relatively recent development. Even were the implant to leave a scar it would not be seen because it’s just under your right shoulder blade.”
“How do you take it out?”
“We don’t. It will gradually dissolve. We’ll give you another one every twelve months, but we’ll alternate using your left and right shoulder blade in turn. When you wish to be fertile we give you a gasjab to accelerate its dissolution which takes at most three weeks. May I examine you now?”
“Please.”
“Well I can see your face and eye are perfect and your eyes have finished changing colour. We’ll do a sight test in a few days. Sit down and pull your skirt up to show where the scars used to be.” Elska touched, pushed and prodded Isabelle’s thigh and calf and eventually said, “The muscles are exactly as they should be. A little gentle exercise would do you good. Take a walk through the hot houses or to the lake. To the lake, not round it. That’s too far. If your leg starts to ache that’s okay. If it starts to hurt that’s not okay.”
“Matthew can shew me round the hot houses. I’ll enjoy that.”
“Remove your cardigan and blouse please, Isabelle. Use the screen if you wish.”
“I may as well do it here because I’d rather have Matthew’s help. The sleeves were a bit difficult and I don’t want to risk any pain or worse damage.” Matthew helped her take her arms out of the sleeves and she said, “That is considerably easier than when I got dressed this morning.”
“As I told you, recovery from resequencing is fast, though not instantaneous, so you still need to be careful. I’ll remove the dressings and I don’t expect to see any cuts or scarring just tender, pink, new skin where the incisions were made.”
Elska removed the bandages from around Isabelle’s chest before dipping some gauze in a bowl. She damped the tape holding the dressings onto Isabelle’s breasts and chest with the gauze.
Isabelle flinched and said, “Hell, that’s on the cool side.”
“It’s a release agent for the tape. It means I won’t have to peel the tape off your breasts. It wouldn’t hurt the skin on the upper surface, but we don’t like to put any stress at all on new skin. After release agent is applied the tape just drops away with the dressings. See? Now you can either lean back or lie on the couch for me to look at the incision sites. Your choice.”
“I’ll lie down if you don’t mind?”
“Matthew, support Isabelle’s shoulders to help her to lie down slowly please. The tapes are no longer keeping the sides of the incisions close together and the entire strain is on her new skin.” Elska used a small, bright LED torch to examine the new skin and seemed satisfied. “I’m going to lightly touch the new skin, Isabelle. I want you to tell me your first impression of my touch. Don’t take time to think about it just tell me immediately.”
Isabelle felt Elska pushing her breast gently upwards exposing the incision site and her finger tip touch where the lower edge of her breast met her chest. “Tender.”
“I’m going to repeat that several times. Just tell me if they all feel the same.”
“Yes all tender again. I think you touched me three times below each breast, at the edges and in the middle, and they all felt tender.”
“No burning sensation?”
“No definitely not. Just tender.”
“Good. I’ll redress the sites with lighter dressings that won’t cover your entire breasts, and you don’t need a bandage round your chest, but the lighter dressings give less protection, so, despite the healing, you still need to be careful.” Elska redressed the incision sites, holding the dressings in place with the same kind of tape she’d removed earlier, and said, “That’s it. You can dress now unless you wish me to give you a gasjab to make your hair grow faster? In which case I’d like access to an arm.”
“Please.”
“How long do you wish to grow your hair in its new colour. I ask because the longer you wish your hair the larger amount of accelerant you need.”
“To here.” Isabelle held her hand level with the top of her breasts.
Elska typed on her keyboard and pulled what Isabelle had thought to be a handle from the front of a complex looking piece of equipment. The handle now looked like a pistol with a solid barrel about an inch and a half in diameter. Elska held the barrel to Isabelle’s arm and Isabelle heard a hiss of air escaping, but felt nothing. “That’s it, Isabelle, till you come back for your skull and breasts.”
“What was that for, and what about my hair?”
“That was a modern equivalent of a hypodermic syringe. It was loaded by the sequencer and put the required dose of hair growth accelerant into your arm using compressed argon. It spreads the application out unlike a hypodermic which delivers its load into one place. That’s why you felt nothing. If when the accelerant runs out you want longer hair see me about it. In the mean while make an appointment with Vivienne to have your hair done. She’ll advise you what to do regards the accelerant, and she’ll probably colour your old hair to match your new. Go and have some fun. Upset folk, it’s what you’re paid for, and I’m told it’s vastly entertaining to most of the staff. Seriously, go and enjoy lunch and after that take it easy if you can. Have coffee with Florence and Geneviève and see what they want.”
On their way to lunch Isabelle was smiled at and greeted by name by dozens of folk she wasn’t aware she’d ever met. “Who are all these folk, Matthew?”
“I have no idea who half of them are. I’ve seen them around and said Good morning to most, but not actually talked to them, but I spend most of my days in the glass and hot houses, so by the time I come in after work most have probably gone home.”
“Matthew, Benjamin came to see me yesterday morning about plants and flowers for the house. I told him you are my fiancé and he seemed a little put out that you hadn’t told him about us. Are you close?”
“I haven’t had time to tell him, so he would be surprised. It’s a long story, but I’ll cut it short. Benjamin is my dad. I’d been dumped into the care system when I was a baby. I was small and timid and was abused and bullied in all my foster homes and schools. When I was not quite fourteen I’d reached breaking point and didn’t want to live any more, so at the beginning of the summer holidays I ran away from the abuse and lived on the streets. Living on the streets in Newcastle was no better. I hadn’t managed to escape the abuse and bullying. Just to get away I hitched a ride with a lorry driver who was going over the Pennine tops on the A69 to several places in Cumbria. Bert’s a decent bloke, and he bought me a meal. When we parted he gave me a tenner and wished me luck. He gave me his contact details and we still keep in touch.
“Somehow I ended up at a poultry auction in Wigton and was buying a burger from a caterer’s van when I met Benjamin. He was there to buy some Indian runner ducks. I don’t really understand to this day how or why it happened, but we started talking and he had my tale out of me before I was aware how much I’d said. He took me home with him, and he and Dorothy his wife took me in and looked after me thereafter. Angus had bought The Towers a few years before then I think, but had not long started to have the place restored and modernised. Mum and Dad lived in Millersthwaite originally, but after starting work for Angus he offered them their choice of the less derelict estate cottages rent free.
“Dad had already started hiring landscapers and gardeners to fulfil his vision of what the grounds should look like when he took me in. Mum was doing a similar job with cleaners and housekeepers for the house which had been uninhabited for going on twenty years. I had a paid job as a runner and fetcher for Dad for the rest of the school holidays. Angus created a new set of documents for me as Benjamin and Dorothy’s son, so they didn’t get any grief from the authorities when I went to school. He was one of the most decent men I’ve ever met, and the first jobs his builders tackled were the estate cottages for the work force. Mum and Dad were moved into the first one that was finished. When the holidays were over, I went to school at Lakevale High and with encouragement became the highest achieving pupil they have ever had, even to this day. Mum and Dad encouraged me all the way and I always worked here with Dad during the holidays paid by The Towers as his assistant. I’ve never wanted to live or work anywhere else.
“I’d always wanted to see the Orangery restored and better still enhanced and I’d drawn up rough sketches and painted water colours of it as I dreamt it could be within a few weeks of living here. Later with Dad’s help and the odd bit of help from the architects long before I’d started university I’d developed my ideas into a workable proposition and drawn up proper scale plans. Angus and Elska had always made it clear that when I’d finished my education there would always be a home and a job for me here. After that my entire education was focussed on my dream for the Orangery which is not far short of completion now.” Matthew laught and said, “I suppose I’ll have to think about something else then won’t I. Mind you the bananas will keep me busy for all the foreseeable future.”
Isabelle smiled and said, “Your dad is a real gentleman. He said you’d treat me right, or he’d want to know why, which puzzled me, but makes sense now. Why do you refer to him as Benjamin and not Dad?”
“I don’t usually, but I get embarrassed thinking new folk will assume I only got my job here because I’m his son rather than because I’m actually good at what I do. Once folk get to know me, I refer to him as Dad.”
“That’s silly. You’ve got a Ph.D. in citrus cultivation and started to design the Orangery restoration and extension when you were what, eighteen?”
“Fourteen, but I started thinking about it the first time I laid eyes on it at thirteen. I know it doesn’t make sense, but that’s how it is.”
Isabelle was quiet for a minute before saying, “I’d like to meet your mum.”
“I’ll find her this afternoon sometime, and get us invited to dinner one night.”
“Don’t you live with them any more?”
“No. I’ve had rooms in the east wing since starting A’ levels. I’d have been fifteen. I needed the room to study, and I took over a separate room where the Orangery was developed from the water colours I painted, the plans I sketched and the large scale model I built. Florence wants to have the paintings, sketches, model and plans displayed somewhere at the visitor centre eventually.”
“Will you shew me the model some time?”
“Sure, but what do you fancy for lunch?”
“Nothing too substantial. What are the usual options?”
“There’s usually a pasta dish, build your own salad from the salad bar, soup of a couple of types with a roll or a sandwich, full English breakfast for the diehards, porridge and haggis breakfast for the Scots, continental breakfast for the late risers, roast meat with two veg and the trimmings for those who prefer to eat their main meal at midday, omelet of your choice, and I can’t think of any more, but there’re bound to be a good few more options.”
“Soup and a sandwich sounds good. What about you?”
“I usually collect sandwiches to eat in the hot houses, or have a snack at the Orangery, but I’ll join you today.”
“Okay. Change to plan D. Why didn’t you tell me about the Orangery option? Don’t answer because that’s where we’re eating.”
“Okay.”
Isabelle was amazed by the buttered crumpets with Buddha’s hand enhanced lemon marmalade. The translucent peels in the pale yellow conserve were sliced so finely they were difficult to see. “The scent off this is amazing, Matthew.”
“I know. The bakers make the crumpets every day, the dairy produces the butter from our own Jerseys and the marmalade is unique. Sandra and her two daughters make dozens of marmalades and hundreds of other jams, jellies, chutneys and other preserves mostly from our our own fruit, flowers and vegetables. You really must try her rose petal conserve sometime. She’s looking forward to the new cultivars in the Orangery maturing enough to produce fruit. A lot of their produce gets sold from the visitor centre and the local shops. It’s well known enough to attract offers from buyers on behalf of major supermarkets, but Florence won’t entertain them. She says if Sandra’s stuff is that good then Sandra and The Towers should get the reputation, not some supermarket who would eventually squeeze us on price, reduce the product quality to make it cheaper to produce and give us no recognition whatsoever. I’m told a couple of major London shops are seriously upset that they can only buy at our retail price on condition our usual label is displayed. Florence apparently told them since they would sell them for at least five times our price they either agreed with our terms or stopped wasting her time, and under no circumstances was she prepared to allow our unique and superior products to be rebranded or relabelled. The Towers products are all well through the patenting process now.
“I believe we are now shipping limited quantities over to the US, but only to establishments that sell UK products, like Haggis, Stilton, Marmite and Coleman’s mustard. Sandra bottles Dad’s honey for him and several of her creations use the honey from Dad’s bees rather than sugar. She and dozens of kids with their mums pick bilberries and cranberries from the fells The Towers own, where Dad takes bees to the heather, and her bilberry jam and cranberry sauce are so good they’re only used in house, none is sold. Dad’s heather honey sections are sold in the visitor centre, but most are reserved for in house use. In an exceptional year a few are exported to the States. His view is that he works to enhance the lives of those who enhance the life of his family. I suppose that could be a Towers’ ethic. The crumpets here can make what has been a really grim morning at least tolerable by the end of lunch. Derek Sandra’s husband makes a lot of the beers, ciders, wines and mead you can get over the bar. Pierre’s engineers made him a still, but of course since to operate one is illegal in the UK, it’s just to look at.” Matthew gave her a completely guileless look as he made his last remark.
“Naturally.”
The two smiled at one another before Matthew added, “There are, however, some very interesting and unique spirits available from the bar.”
“What’s his main job, Matthew?”
“That’s it. He brews and stills. It’s a full time job. So much so that to keep us all supplied he has to ask for help from time to time, though there’s never a shortage of volunteers. The farm grows special varieties of hops, barley and fruit, mostly apples, for him. Dad’s trialling several varieties of hardier grapes, red and white, on the sheltered south facing fields of The Valley. That’s a property The Towers owns a few miles away. He reckons if we plant shelter belts rising in height to black poplars, he favours the Manchester variety which can reach from a hundred to a hundred and twenty feet tall we’d be able to produce a grape crop that Derek could use to provide all of our table wine and some to sell. It’s a big project and there’re lots of people helping during their free time. It’s a popular way for teenage girls and boys who aren’t ready for closer relationships to spend time together. Dad’s absolutely convinced we can create the most northern vineyard in the UK and it will be a commercial success.”
“This place gets stranger by the hour. However, I feel much better now, Matthew. You can stay with me if you like when I talk to Florence and Geneviève, but I’d rather you found your mum. I’ll probably go back to my suite after that for a rest before dinner. Up to you.”
Matthew looked hard at her, but eventually said, “I’ll find Mum and talk to her about us and check back here. Don’t try to change for dinner till I’m there to help please. I don’t want you hurting yourself when you don’t need to.”
“And besides you want to see me naked again, right?”
“Guilty as charged, but I don’t want to find you naked and hurting. I’d rather remove your clothes myself.”
“Perve!”
“It’s expected, if not actually mandatory, for a man to perve with his fiancée.”
“Okay I’ll give you that one. If we aim to eat at seven, can you be back at my rooms for six to help me change?”
“If I’m back at five is there any chance of you making it worth my while?”
“Only if you make it worth mine.”
“Five it is.”
Isabelle went to see Florence who hugged her and kissed her cheek. “Your face looks fabulous, Isabelle, I’m so happy for you. I’ve seen the images of your new self to be, you’ll be gorgeous. Elska told me about you and Matthew, and I have a proposition to put to you. I have Elska’s permission put it to you, but she insisted the final decision be yours. I would like to throw a huge wedding for the pair of you and make the video freely available via our usual outlets. The ceremony would be in the chapel conducted by Edward of security. He is an ordained Anglican clergyman and a legally appointed registrar entitled to celebrate marriages. The reception would be in the ball room. Your dress and everything else would be paid for including your honeymoon which would be totally private. There would be no marketing nor advertising involved just a video of the day itself. To be honest, I just want a big event that puts us in the public eye for a while, because there’s nothing in the pipeline between now and harvest festival other than the midsummer open day. The midsummer party is a private affair just for staff, their families and our friends. We don’t invite the media. The media would be invited to your wedding, but I guarantee they won’t try to talk to either of you. We have rules, and if they break them they know they would never be invited here again. What do you think?”
“I don’t know what to think, Florence. In any case it’s not my decision, it’s our decision, so till I talk to Matthew about it you can’t have an answer. I would like a big wedding, but I don’t have any family, and I’m not having a wedding like that without someone to give me away. I presume we are talking about after my resequencing, so it’s a young woman’s wedding? Because I’m not going for it at forty-five, not even with a repaired face and two eyes.”
“Yes, Elska tells me you will be twenty and Matthew twenty-one or -two.” Florence hesitated before continuing. “If you like I’ll ask Alex to give you away. He likes you, and told me he owes you more than one.”
“What for?”
“He said you’ll be considerably easing some of his security problems when we’ve replaced some of our suppliers, but the real issue was your tip about the macaroons which he said was worth gold. He’s trying to find out who made them.”
Isabelle chuckled and said, “Done. A fair exchange is no robbery, and you can tell him it was Milly who made the macaroons. I’ll speak to Matthew about the wedding tonight. If he agrees, and I’ve no intention of pressuring him just because I would like a big wedding, and he may need time to to think about it, I’ll let you know. That’s as far as I’m prepared to go at the moment, and at the first sign of pressure from anyone the answer will be an immediate and permanent no. I done many things in my life, but changing my mind in the face of pressure isn’t one of them. I do hope I have made myself clear and that no one is going to be stupid enough to think I’m bluffing. I don’t wish to be unpleasant, Florence, but I’m protecting Matthew here. I’ve not known him for long, but I love him, and that creates a pretty fierce protective streak in a woman as I’m sure you already know.”
Florence nodded seriously and said, “Yes, I truly understand your stance. I’d kill or die to protect Frank. Your feelings will be respected by all who wish to retain their job here, Isabelle. I promise.”
“Good enough. I’ll make one exception to putting pressure on Matthew.”
“Who’s that?”
“His mum, and I’m only making that exception because I do recognise when I’m going to be outgunned. Geneviève wishes to speak to me, so I have to go soon, but before I do, how did Benjamin’s chat with maintenance go about his observation hive?”
“They’re drilling for and installing his entrance tube as soon as they get it from the suppliers. Benjamin has sent for some posters from the bee keepers’ suppliers he deals with, and we’re going to enlarge them from A3 to A0. One of his apprentices is going to produce some artwork for us, and another is writing an article on bee keeping at The Towers for the next quarterly magazine. There will be some large photographs of them working the bees which he is going to change throughout the year to reflect their current activities. Every year towards the end of the summer they take some of the bees to land owned by The Towers on the fells. A few thousand acres came with The Towers, but a lot more was bought from other estates that sold them off as they fell on hard times. In addition some thirty thousand acres was acquired when The Towers bought a small estate not far away called The Valley. The bees produce honeycomb sections from the heather which blooms late. It smells fantastic and walks off the shelves in the visitor centre along with the photographs, and postcards made from them, they take during the operation. Benjamin is going to produce more than the usual number of photographs this year for us. He’s going to oversee the entire display and his apprentices are excited to be involved. Dorothy said Benjamin hasn’t been this excited about anything since Matthew was at school. It all worked out rather well, and a lot of staff are interested to see the end result, including Dorothy. Senior management are talking to Benjamin with a view to increasing our beekeeping operation by a factor of five. The maintenance carpenters have said increasing the number of hives and things they make for him will give their apprentices a worthwhile challenge and there are a dozen or so youngsters who live here who’d like to be involved in bee keeping at least as a part time occupation.”
“How can I help you, Geneviève?”
“It’s about that dratted salesman, Isabelle. Stefan and I have interviewed all the kitchen staff, and we have a clear picture of what’s been going on. The man’s a pig, and he’ll never be allowed past the gates again. Stefan says we can easily put him in court and have him found guilty of several offences. It wasn’t difficult to uncover his past. He’s got away with behaving like that for years with young women working for every company he’s ever dealt with because no one has done anything about him, so even if convicted it would be a first offence and it’s unlikely he would serve time, but he would next time. We’ve already changed suppliers and have made it clear to his employer why. The question for us is no longer a legal one but a policy one. Do we wish to be associated with a dirty court case like this would certainly end up as, or do we just let it fade away since his employer has already sacked him? Thorkill says he’ll go with whatever you decide, but he’d rather we kept Elska out of it. Viivishkava wants to hire someone to castrate him, and if Thorkill and Stefan don’t keep her on a short leash she’ll do it. She has the contacts who would count it as repaying her a favour, and they’re good enough not to get caught. The rest of the senior staff, including Thorkill and Stefan, say you stand in Elska’s shoes, so it’s your decision to make. We’d appreciate a reasonably swift answer before Viivishkava turns her dogs loose.”
“Easy. Prosecute the bastard. Play it up as a matter of protecting our staff. Don’t even try to play it down or hush it up. Get Florence’s office to go for the publicity no matter how dirty it becomes. Get as much on him as you can from everywhere you can. We have to have folk believe they and their family members are safe and looked after when working here. There’s also a matter of principal at stake. If we prosecute and he goes to gaol, good. If he doesn’t, not good, but next time he ends in court he goes to gaol, good. On the other hand, if we don’t prosecute, he gets away with it, bad, and next time he does it even if he does end up in court and is found guilty he still doesn’t go to gaol, very bad. Prosecute. From my point of view it’s either that, or tell Viivishkava to contact her friends. I have to say that I could go with castration, and it’s not difficult to do.”
“You make it sound like you have experience.”
“I’ll tell you about it sometime in the bar over a drink or ten, but not till my resequencing is all over.”
“I look forward to it. I’ll inform Stefan what you decided, which was by the way what all the smart money said you’d decide.”
“The smart money?”
“Yes. I guess you didn’t know, but one of the functions of my office is to run The Towers betting shop. Actually it’s run by Enid, she used to be a manager for Ladbrooks out west, Maryport way, till she fell for Göran who works for Thorkill. They live in one of the estate cottages.”
“And just as I thought I was getting my head round this place I discover our bank runs an in house bookies. How’s Jenny?”
“A lot happier now. Your face looks good, but how are you, Isabelle?”
“That is a hard one to answer. I spent a fortune on my various surgeries to become me. For years it was the focus of my every waking thought, and now none it matters. Elska is going to give me what I knew wasn’t possible, yet still dreamt of, and she just regards it as an employee fringe benefit. Right now after the explants, I feel tender rather than sore. I had the implants for so long that for years I had to consciously think about my breasts to be aware of them. I could put a bra on in the dark on autopilot and not even remember doing it, and now I’m constantly acutely conscious of the lack of their presence. Does that make any sense, Geneviève? Or am I becoming neurotic?”
“No. It makes perfect sense. I’ve read of women who’ve had a mastectomy saying exactly the same thing. How long before you have them back?”
“Only three or four days, but it does seem a long time, and I feel that I’m some how short changing Matthew.”
“Don’t worry about that, Isabelle. You’ve got more now than his last girlfriend had, and she turned out to be a hardened gold digger. From all accounts she rationed her charms according to what was spent on her. Benjamin didn’t like her, and Dorothy got rid of her. Dorothy I can understand, she’s no different from any other mum regarding her children, and Matthew is her only child, but how on earth whatever her name was managed to alienate Benjamin heaven only knows. Don’t tell Matthew because like every other man here he’d no idea what was going on. He was upset for a long time and doesn’t need to know his mum got rid of the bitch. Benjamin likes you, and Dorothy will too. Oh, before you go take these forms and answer what you can before you bring them back. It’s just if you want a new identity we need to know a bit about the history of the new you. Don’t worry about anything you can’t invent an answer to. We’ll go over it all with you in detail and then write it all up as a cross between your diaries and an autobiography, and Elska will give it you all via repsyching to protect you. And remember even if you’re going to take Matthew’s name you’ll need a new maiden name for your marriage lines if you’re having a new identity.”
“Okay, Geneviève. Changing the subject completely. The paper diary system we’re using is antiquated, and the auto-diary whilst it was probably excellent years ago simply can’t cope with the volume of data we generate. I need a piece of software buying or writing and installing on our general system. I want it to be able to handle a diary for every single member of Towers staff, such that if I say alter a meeting between A and B I only need to alter it for one of them because the software would alter the diary of the other. Again if it is a meeting involving a couple of dozen folk it should only be necessary to make one alteration. I’m sure other features would be useful, but I’m not a computer techie. What’s the best way to go about it?”
“Easy, Isabelle. Leave it with me. I’ll give the problem to Nikolai. I’ll be amazed if he and his team don’t produce something useable within a fortnight. They’ll relish the challenge. Unlike most of what they do they’ll see results more or less immediately, not in five years. I’ll tell Nikolai to have a word with you. He’ll know which questions to ask so that you get what you need.”
“Thanks, Geneviève. At some time I’m going to need help entering up everyone’s diaries, but I’ll let you know.”
After leaving Geneviève, Isabelle called in at her own office, but there was nothing requiring her attention, so she went back to her suite where she fell asleep in an easy chair whilst reading some promotional pamphlets that Florence’s staff had put together. It was ten past five when Matthew awakened her. He sounded worried as he asked, “Are you alright, Isabelle?”
“Fine. Why? I think Florence’s staff need to redo some of these pamphlets. They had me asleep in minutes. You still want to make love before dinner? I’m asking because whilst I really like the idea I have something big to run past you, and you may appreciate the time to think about it, but I’d appreciate your help undressing, so I can have a bath before changing for dinner.”
“Okay. Do you wish to talk first, or undress first? And should I start your bath running now or later?
“Run my bath now please, and if we’re still talking when it’s ready we’ll carry on in the bath room.”
Matthew came back from the bath room and said, “I’ve turned the taps on slowly so it’ll take a while to fill. What do I need to hear?”
“Florence wants to make an event for The Towers out of our wedding. Everything will be paid for even my dress and our honeymoon. The service would be conducted by Edward in the chapel, and the reception would be in the ballroom. The media will be there, but they’ll be told to stay away from us. Florence guaranteed our privacy. She just wants a big event to keep The Towers in the public eye. Elska has said it’s our decision and there will be no pressure. I’d like a big wedding for a lot of reasons, but there are two of us to consider, not just me. If you don’t like it all you have to do is tell me, and I’ll tell Florence we don’t want it. If you agree to it, Alex is going to give me away because he owes me a couple of favours. What’s your initial reaction? Help me, Love. I want my bath.” Matthew helped Isabelle get her arms out of her cardigan and blouse sleeves, and the rest she did herself. “That gets easier every time, Matthew. I’m going to try to dress myself tomorrow. Bring a chair into the bathroom and we’ll continue. I can’t wait for my final round with Elska’s sequencer, no more leg or bikini line shaving after that, so I’m not going to bother again.” Isabelle slowly sat down in the bath making sure her dressings remained dry.
“Where were we, Love?” Matthew asked.
“Your reaction to a big wedding.”
“Oh yes. I don’t know what I think. It never occurred to me. I’d assumed a small quiet affair, not because that’s what I wanted, but because I’d never envisaged anything else because I knew I’d not be able to afford anything else. Why do you fancy a big wedding? I’m not objecting, Love. I’m just trying to understand in an effort to work out what’s going on in my head.”
“From an early age I never had anything in the way of caring family. I was reviled, despised and treated brutally to supposedly cure me of my dysphoria that was seen as perversion. Later I lost more jobs than I can count due to it, and it cost me an eye and my face and a seven month stay in hospital with my leg. Till I learnt to defend myself and later to fight back, I was beaten up so regularly I was on first name terms with the local casualty staff. All due to something I never had any control over. I never wanted to be a girl, I just was one. I never belonged and was never wanted, never mind appreciated. I know this sounds weird, but I’ve had more folk be nice to me since I came here than previously in my entire life. You can’t believe how strange it is for me knowing every one who counts here knows I was a boy and doesn’t consider it relevant because I’m now a woman, and stranger still they treat me just like they treat every other woman.
“Here my impossible dreams are coming true, and best of all I met you, and I find it hard to get my head round the speed with which that happened. I’ve had precious little that was good and even less fun in my life before I came here. For me The Towers is the beginning of me, the new me, the real me, the me I was always supposed to be, but was cheated out of being, and I suppose I’d like it to start with a fanfare. I’ll be starting a new life with a fantastic, prestigious job I know I’m good at and respected for. I’ll be the twenty year old, pretty bride of a loving husband with the prospect of a family in front of me, and yes I want it all. The prospect of a wedding like Florence wants to put on for us is irresistible to most women, but to me there is the added dimension of it putting an end to all the misery and hurt of the past that will then be someone else’s history. Elska told me her subliminal repsyching means few here will have any memory of the me I was before my resequencing, so I’ll be completely safe. Even I and the few who will know about Jean will not be able to give me away by accident.”
“I can understand all that, from a male perspective of course. My life wasn’t as bad as yours because at least I was me. I was male and happy with that, if nothing else, and I only had to put up with a nightmare for fourteen years. After Mum and Dad came into my life, my life wasn’t good it was absolutely brilliant. I had their love and care, and I lived here where I had a job doing things I was passionate about. Every one here treated me well, for the first time I had friends and I enjoyed school where I had status for being a good student. I can’t imagine what it’s like to be in the wrong body, but I do know what it’s like to be abused. I’m coming to your view about the wedding. We live and work in an environment where we are appreciated, and the reception will be like any other major bash here, all of which we’ll go to and enjoy, so why shouldn’t we enjoy the reception. All our friends will be here and enjoy it, so the hell with it. Tell Florence she can run riot with it just like any other do, and we’ll play our part. In the mean while we can be thinking about where to honeymoon. You okay with that?”
“Yes. That was quicker than I thought it would be. Have we still got time?”
“I don’t mind eating a bit later than usual, if you don’t.” It was nearly eight when they sat down to eat.
Isabelle was in her office at eight. There was nothing critical to do so she reread her notes on who the senior managers were and what they did. She rang Florence to ask for photographs to accompany her notes. Florence told her how to access them from the system so she could copy and paste them into her notes at her leisure. “Matthew said to tell you you can run riot with the wedding just like any other do, and we’ll play our part. He also told me to think about where I wanted to go for our honeymoon. Greece seems to be the front runner at the moment though Matthew wouldn’t mind a trip to Israel to visit citrus growers he corresponds with but has never met.”
“Excellent! Tell Matthew to organise Israel as a separate trip at the best time of year for him. Would you like me to second a couple of my staff to you to help with wedding organisation? I’ll ask Viivishkava to assist with your gowning. She has truly amazing talent and designed and sewed Elska’s wedding gown herself. If you tell her what you fancy she’ll sketch your words for you to look at in minutes.”
Taken aback, Isabelle eventually replied, “Please. I hadn’t expected so much interest to be shewn.”
“You’ve joined a large family, my dear, so you are the latest, but by no means will be the last, daughter of the house to celebrate her nuptials here. Naturally your wedding will become a project every one will wish to have played a part in, and you may not be aware of it but you are highly respected and well liked, as is Matthew.”
“But I’ve only been here four days!”
“And in that time you’ve eased Elska’s work load, making her and her family happier, made Thorkill easier to deal with, tightened up security to the point where Alex has a smile on his face for the first time in who knows how long, instigated proceedings against that sex pest making the younger female staff feel considerably safer and cared for, modified relations with the garden staff and allowed Benjamin to feel far more valued and finally within the next hour you’ll become the reason for the next great event for us all to celebrate. Just accept your value to us all. I trawled though twenty thousand applicants and spent a hundred thousand pounds to find you, because a second best was not good enough. We’d rather have kept looking another half year or longer than appoint an also ran.”
Tears were running down Isabelle’s cheeks as she said, “It’s all so very different, but doubtless I’ll get used to it. Would you join me in the Orangery for coffee at eleven, Florence?”
“Thank you, yes. I’ll see you later.”
“It all seems very quiet in here, Isabelle,” Elska remarked.
“You only need to say no once, Elska. Most get the message immediately, the few who don’t require firmer treatment, but there’re any number of ways of doing that. Are you here for anything specific, Elska? Or shall I put the kettle on?”
“Well yes, but the kettle seems like a good idea too.” As Isabelle started making tea Elska said, “I’m thinking it would be convenient to do your skull and breasts the day after tomorrow at two. That fits in with other things I have to do, but would that be okay for you too?”
“Yes I think so, but I would like to check with Matthew before I commit to it. Is that okay?”
“Yes. Even if you commit to it you can always cancel if events conspire against you. Before you went through my diary if you’d cancelled it would have been a six week wait. Now, and I can’t believe how much free time I have, a day or two to wait at most, and if it were urgent I could do it in the evening. I’m ashamed to admit it, but sometimes when I was nursing I found myself wishing the girls would hurry up.” Elska had tears in her eyes. “Thanks to you, nursing is like it used to be, the most glorious thing any mother can do. Thank you, Isabelle. I’d hug you, but it’s not wise.” As Isabelle smiled Elska sniffed and asked, “Have you tried a sports bra yet?”
“No. I’m going to try one when I change for dinner. Matthew will help me as you suggested. I’m still a bit nervous about exerting my arms because I can feel it affecting my chest muscles below my breasts, so he’ll stretch the bra for me. I’ll just hold my arms out for him to slide it over.”
“Sensible. You’ll be fine in another forty-eight hours and ready for your new DIY enhanced bosom.”
“Elska, will my new breasts be XY or XX?”
“Everything about you will be XY till we do your final resequencing when all your cells will become XX. Genetically till then you will be like a man with extreme gynaecomastia. Even though your nipples and areolae will look like those of a woman rather than those of a man they will be genetically like those of a man at the extreme female end of the male spectrum. However, with appropriate hormones your XY breasts could lactate and nurse a baby.”
“Now I wish I’d not asked.”
“You are a woman, Isabelle. You always have been. We are not changing your gender. We are merely matching your genetics to your identity.”
“That does make me feel better. Thanks, Elska.”
Later that afternoon Nikolai and Isabelle had a productive hour as he ran her through a gamut of questions concerning her proposed diary software. He offered her functionality she had never considered and to her surprise in the interests of security said, “Naturally, Isabelle, every one will have associated with their own diary a list of whose diaries they can view and a second list of whose diaries they can alter. There will be a default hierarchy with my office at the top as system managers able to modify the code and senior managers like yourself next down able to access and change anyone’s diary. Anyone’s position on the hierarchy will be able to be changed by someone higher, though they may not be changed to any higher than the level of the changer. I suggest once we have the beta system up and running the paper system is run in parallel for say six months before it is abandoned.”
“How long do you think it will take before we can start using it, Nikolai?”
“We’ll have some thing with you inside a week. I suggest you only use it for say six persons no more than a month in advance to start with. That way any problems can be fixed without you having too much work to do. We’ll set up a data store, so even if we do a complete rewrite the data you’ve already entered won’t have to be reëntered, but still it’s sensible to start small.”
Isabelle came round from the removal of her cranial plate to see a smiling Matthew and a woman she didn’t recognise. “Hello, Isabelle. It’s five to three. I’m Janice. I’m a medic here too, but I only do a few shifts in the infirmary as I manage the mother and baby clinic because I used to be an NHS midwife. Your plate has been removed with no problems, and you have nearly finished regenerating the missing portion of your skull. Another half hour and the last half inch will have grown and it will be as though the accident never happened. Your scalp has already healed. Just be gentle with your hair for a couple of days. If you are careful you can touch your scalp where the corners of the plate used to be. The little bumps under the skin caused by the fixings are now gone. There’s nothing like a bit of tangible evidence is there? You breasts have started to respond and may feel a little warm and itchy for a day or so, especially your nipples. I suggest using a little moisturiser or even some baby lotion on them. That should help. You will be some where between a B and a C cup by dinner time tomorrow. It could have been done faster, but Elska programmed the sequencer to do it slowly for minimum discomfort. Elska told me to ask if you’d feel more comfortable with breast forms till you regain your figure?”
“No. They’d just be something else to deal with. I know I paid a lot for my implants and they did make me feel happier about my body, but I just can’t be bothered with the faff for less than a day and a half. Matthew will have to resign himself for tonight, but since I never felt my femininity was defined by my bosom, I’m fine with it.”
“You are right,” Janice giggled, “but I wouldn’t like to be without mine, and Johan would hate it. However, Elska has explained how we’re managing your rather unusual scheduling of your overall resequencing, so leaving a minimum of four days once you are happy with your workload you can tell her you’re ready to proceed with your leg. Congratulations to the pair of you on your engagement.”
All that was proper was said, and on their way to the Orangery, where Matthew was going back to work whilst Isabelle rested and watched, she said, “Bloody hell, Matthew, I can feel them growing. Weird!”
Whilst Matthew and his apprentices continued planting more citrus trees in their permanent homes and Isabelle sipped herb tea she was approached by Viivishkava. “Is there any more tea in that pot or shall I order some more, Isabelle?”
“There’s plenty. It’s still warm, so just ask for a cup and saucer.”
Viivishkava breathed deeply and asked, “Rosehip, Blackcurrant and what?”
“Ling heather.”
A cup and saucer was brought and Viivishkava sipped before saying, “I like it. It must be a new blend. I’ll send you some of my own blend. Matthew selects the flowers for me. It’s Oolong based with elderflower and honeysuckle. If you like it tell him to acquire you the makings when the flowers are at the right stage. I’ll shew you how to to prepare it. However, I came to discuss your wedding gown and accessories. Your trousseau has been passed around as part of the wedding presents list. Have you any idea at all of what you would like? White or not?”
“I’d like white, but not a blinding white, more a soft, natural white. Does that make sense?”
“But entirely, and it gives us a place to start. Tell me how you wish to feel on your way down the aisle and at the altar.”
“Beautiful, but not fussy. I’d like a veil that makes me look like I were floating, but not a gown with a train. Elegant, but uncluttered with no ruffles, no ribands and no bits sewn on. Almost a sheath, but I don’t want it to fit so closely that it looks like I’m there just to display my bosom and bottom. I want to be able to walk freely in it unassisted, so I need to look like I’m wearing it rather than being incarcerated in it. I don’t want it to have a identifiably separate bodice. If it looked like it were made of a single piece of fabric that would be good. I’m sorry, Viivishkava, but all those conflicting things probably don’t help and if I got what I were happy with it probably wouldn’t look much like a wedding gown.”
“Oh no! Quite to the contrary. I’ve never been given such a clear idea of how a gown should look, for a wedding gown should look like how the bride feels. You want to feel elegant, sophisticated, ladylike, secretively private but independent and above all unique, so that is how your gown must look. Pour me another cup, my dear and I’ll give you three sketches to look at. Viivishkava reached down for her bag, withdrew an A3 sketchpad and a pencil and her hand flew over the page before tearing it off and placing it face down on the table. She repeated that twice more and not many minutes after she’d started said in satisfied tones, “Enfin! You may look my dear.”
She passed the three sketches to Isabelle. The three gowns were all very different and yet each embodied all that Isabelle had said. The third one made her draw in her breath sharply. It was off one shoulder yet exposed virtually no décolletage. Comprising an apparently single piece of fabric its sheath like construction allowed the femininity of the wearer to be clear, but in no way demanded unseemly attention to her curves, for they were clearly intended for private viewing much later. “This one, Viivishkava. They are all amazing, but this one is incredible. How on Earth you created that from my gibberish I’ll never know, but this one is the one.”
Viivishkava smiled and said, “ I knew it would be. It should be, but a bride has to have some choice. I deplore the modern trend for décolleté wedding gowns. Without doubt there are occasions where not only is a décolleté gown acceptable, but such is mandatory for a woman of beauty and more importantly taste, but her wedding is not such an event.” Viivishkava pondered a moment. “Old silk, with a single plain silk underskirt, no lace nor trimming you understand, but I shall encompass all. Accessories too. I’ll tell you when I have it sewn for the first fitting.”
“Viivishkava, I can’t let you sew it too!”
“I’m certainly not going to allow any other to diminish my creation. Calm yourself. I enjoy dress making, but rarely have such an opportunity, such a challenge, for a wedding gown has to be one hundred percent perfect. Anything less is a total failure. Talk to Benjamin concerning flowers. I suggest like a Elska a single bloom. She carried a white Canna lilly, so avoid that, but Benjamin will know.” At that Viivishkava walked away taking her bag, pad and pencil, but leaving the sketches with Isabelle.
When Matthew walked over and Isabelle passed him the sketch and said, “My wedding gown, Matthew.”
“Bloody hell! I know nothing about weddings or dresses, but I can see that’s fabulous and it’ll be even more so with you in it. How are you feeling?”
“Bigger, fuller and itchy. You can check later when you apply the lotion. You got much more to do here?”
“By rights we should put in another hour, but we’ll be done in twenty minutes, so I’ll call it a day at that and the lads can go home early. Why?”
“I’ll wait twenty minutes, but if you were going to be much longer I’d have gone to find your dad to discuss flowers for the wedding.”
“We can call on the way back if you like?”
“A good idea.”
After explaining what Viivishkava had said, Benjamin said “Brugmansia, Isabelle. Angels trumpets. We’ve got them in many hundreds of varieties. Most produce blooms a foot long or more and with a wonderful scent. We have hundreds of different whites. The ones I’m thinking of have wings at the sides of the trumpet’s flare and look like an angel. If you ask Viivishkava to send me a swatch of your gown fabric I’ll be able to match them perfectly. Come and see me tomorrow and I’ll shew you them in some of Matthew’s glasshouses. I’ll be amazed if you don’t think them suitable.”
The couple left and Matthew said, “That’s Dad’s gift. My team grow brugmansia by the thousand. They sell well, mostly to florists, yet it would never have occurred to me to use one for a bride’s bouquet.”
As Matthew was assisting with the application of baby lotion, he asked, “Does it hurt?”
“What their growth?”
“Yes.”
“No, but it does feel weird. Don’t ask in what way because the only way to understand is to grow a pair yourself. For me it feels weird but right because they are supposed to be there. Their presence is familiar. I was going to say comforting, but that’s not the right word. I am a woman, and women have breasts, it’s simply how it’s supposed to be. I missed them, even though they were silicone, and I’m glad they’re coming back.”
“Me too. Is that enough lotion?”
“Yes, but you don’t need to stop.”
Eight days had gone by since Isabelle’s cranial plate had been removed. Her breasts had stopped growing when they’d reached the size she’d specified and she liked their natural shape far more than the shape her silicone enhanced breasts had had. She was looking forward to her final resequencing when they would appear slightly larger on her five foot three frame than they did on her current five foot eight. The delay was not of medical origin, nor was it due to Isabelle’s work load which now she had delivered a few object lessons had lessened considerably. Elska and Thorkill were amazed and delighted that they could now enjoy family life with their girls in ways that had been unimaginable just a fortnight ago. A few days ago the children of the staff had decided a picnic by the lake and a walk would be a nice way to spend the Sunday, and Elska, Thorkill, their family and friends had joined them. It was the first day in over two years they had done nothing other than enjoy themselves as a family.
The delay in sequencing Isabelle’s leg was due to Florence’s difficulties in finding a suitable assistant for Isabelle from existing staff. She’d found a secretary easily enough from Geneviève’s staff. Gary was highly competent and happy to move to the more varied and challenging work. He was discreet and he and Isabelle liked each other. The problem was finding Isabelle a general assistant. “I don’t mind if she still has a lot of bark left on, Florence. I’d far rather she could deal with problems first time around and upset folk than be diplomatic about it and take forever to deal with a problem or worse fail to deal with it at all.”
“I’ll do what I can, Isabelle. We’ve no one suitable on the staff you can poach, so I’ll speak to staff who live in the village. They may know of someone who doesn’t have any connection with us who would suit you.”
Georgina was eighteen, six foot four and of an intimidating build. She’d left school the summer before with impressive A’ levels, didn’t want a degree badly enough to impoverish herself with student debt for half her life, and had found no one willing to employ her. She helped out in the small shop that was the front room of a large house her parents rented from The Towers that served a small hamlet three and a half miles from Millersthwaite and still lived with her parents. Despite her impressive boson, she’d long had trouble conversing with boys who’d equally long only wanted to converse with her breasts, never had a boyfriend and carried a little surplus weight due to comfort eating. She was a little brusque and withdrawn, despite which she was no shrinking violet. Florence hadn’t been sure what to make of her and had almost decided to say she’d get back to her with the intention of saying there was no job appropriate for her at that time but she would keep her details on file; in other words not bother with her. However, there was something about Georgina that meant she couldn’t bring herself to write her off, so she’d decided to leave the matter to Isabelle.
Isabelle had rapidly considered Georgina to be a decided possibility, so she explained, “I’m Elska’s PA, but I’ve only been here a couple of weeks, Georgina. Mostly at the moment my job is to keep outside folk away from her. The sort of folk who think they need to meet with her for an hour just to sell us paper clips. It’s got to be done, so that she’s got the time in which to do what she’s supposed to do which is research and run the hospital, which incidentally is what ultimately pays all of our salaries. My problem is I need surgery on my leg which is going to put me out of it for five days possibly more, and I need someone who can tell folk where to go and make it stick first time whilst I can’t. I’m not interested in a diplomat, if need be someone else can smooth down ruffled feathers afterwards. I need someone capable of being an unrepentant rottweiler telling folk where to go. Think you’re up for it?”
“I’ve been effortlessly offending folk all my life just by being here. If I deliberately offend someone I’m certain they won’t be coming back for some more. So yes, I can do that if someone helps me to decide whom the rottweiler needs to savage.”
“Good. Viivishkava and Florence will help you with that. You’ve got the job on a three month’s trial. To other matters. As a member of staff you can live here which may be more convenient for you. The downside of that is living here puts you permanently on call. As staff, you have free access to all the amenities including the beauty and health clinics and the spa. Too, there are secrets that have to be kept here. Secrets that you have to be aware of as part of your job. Elska will tell you all about that, and I suggest you come back to see me after she has.”
Elska gave Georgina her disclosure and discretion talk, and Georgina said she wished to take her up on her offer of resequencing her metabolic rate up a bit so she didn’t gain weight and the womanhood package too as she suffered badly with her periods.
“It’s hard to believe what Elska told me, Isabelle, but it all made sense after what she shewed me. I don’t have a problem with her imposing discretion on me, but at this salary and with the benefits she told me about there’s no way I’d shoot my mouth off anyway.”
“Yes I know. I was born in a boys body, but transitioned at sixteen when I left school and home. Elska’s going to make me fully female with everything you’ve got just as a fringe benefit of the job. I also want to be five inches more petite.” Isabelle grinned before continuing, “That’s a girly way of saying shorter. The surgery I need is to remove a load of metal work from my leg that I got as a result of some lunatic trying to kill me with a car years ago because he thought I was gay. Elska’s going fix all that too. She’s already removed a fragment of metal from my leg, the metal plate off my skull and my silicone implants and everything has grown back properly. There’s no way I’d shoot my mouth off either. You’ve heard about my wedding?”
“Yes, congratulations.”
“I’m forty-five, five eight, had a blue eye and a blind one, a razor scar across my face and mid brunette hair. When I get married, I’ll be twenty and five three. You can see I’ve got dark red hair, emerald green eyes and I’ve perfect vision in both and no scars. I’m not a sentimental type, but finding this place and Matthew are the best things that ever happened to me. You got a fella in your life?”
“No. I never met one who wanted to be seen with me. The girls at school gave me a hard time about it.”
“Idiots all of them. I met Matthew here a fortnight ago. I’d had similar problems before because I’m trans, but this place is different. With a pair of girls like yours you’re bound to find someone here. Necks will be twisting off to get a look as you bounce past them. Just make sure you find someone who loves you and considers your girls are a bonus, not someone you loves your girls and considers you to be their transport system that conveniently connects them to your fanny.”
Georgina grinned and asked, “Are you really that cynical, Isabelle?”
“Not usually, but when the topic of conversation involves men and boobs the usual rules are suspended. You ready to start work right now?”
A surprised Georgina replied, “Yes. If you want me to.”
“Good. Let’s go to my office and I’ll explain what I’ve done since I arrived, what’s likely to happen in the near future and the principles I use to help me decide how to handle what happens. My plan is to get you up to speed and able to hold back the idiots on your own within two or three days. I want my surgery as soon as possible, so that I can walk the way you do, or at least have hips that move like yours. However, I can wait, and if need be I’ll leave it a few days. I doubt you’ll have more than two incidents to deal with and Florence and Viivishkava will help you. You just have to make folk insisting on access to Elska bugger off and stay buggered off. If we deal with them commercially and they become a nuisance Geneviève will change supplier if you ask her to. I’ve spoken to her about it and she knows you’ll be standing in my shoes. My best advice is listen to what all the senior managers think, think about it, and then do what you think is right. It’ll be your decision to make because it’s what you’re paid to do. If you screw it up, which I don’t think you will, shrug your shoulders, don’t worry about it and we’ll fix it later. No one will hold it against you, and I’ll still want you doing the job. Okay?”
“Okay. If you think I’ll be ready then I’m up for it.”
“Good. Once all my resequencing is done, and yours too, things should get quiet. If you like I can get you enrolled on a degree course of your choice? The Towers will pick up the bill.”
“Yes please. I wanted to study business, but didn’t fancy the student debt. But how can I study and hold down a job at the same time?”
“The studying will be part of your job, and in short I’ve no idea, but a good few members of the staff are doing various courses as part of their jobs, so someone must know. When I first arrived I was amazed at how this place is run, but surely living locally you must have had some idea?”
“No, not a clue. Even though there are lots of Towers employees living locally there is very little known about the place. Loads of folk visit on open days, or go for coffee or meals at the restaurantes, and even more visit the farm shop and the visitor centre, but no one knows what goes on here, just that the wages are the best for miles and The Towers is the best employer in the county. Those who work at ordinary jobs like cleaners, farm workers and gardeners don’t know anything, and those who presumably do know something don’t say anything. There’s always been rumours that the security guards are actually mercenaries, but most folk say that’s just a myth put about by persons with nothing better to do than make up gossip to pretend they know something. It’s known that the beauty salons and spa are super expensive, and most folk think the security is to make celebrities and folk who can afford to come here feel superior rather than safe. Nobody knows much about the electronics business, but it’s known it’s to do with computers. The æroplanes and helicopters are said to be just taxis for the rich. Most folk don’t care what happens here, it’s good paying work for a decent employer, and no one wants to do anything that will upset that kind of employer, or lose a good job. I was really glad to get an interview here, and even happier to be offered the job.”
Georgina was a perfect fit for the job and within three days had taken up with Phil one of Matthew’s apprentices who made her look and feel small and feminine. Isabelle envied the motion of Georgina’s hips but Phil was mesmerised by it.
Elska, Siobhan and Janice started work on Isabelle’s leg at six in the morning. The wire was out of her ankle by ten to seven. There were no complications removing the stainless rods that served as diaphyses but it took longer than anticipated and it was nearly quarter past eleven when they’d finished and Isabelle was wheeled into the small ward to spend the next six days regenerating unaware of the passage of time.
Georgina spent the time when she was standing in Isabelle’s shoes reorganising several senior managers’ diaries, and only had the one incident to deal with, but it was a major incident, due to the supplier’s position in the local business community, requiring not just Florence and Viivishkava to help handle it. Viivishkava brought in the dozen most senior members of The Towers management to discuss the matter. Walters had been a thorn in the side of The Towers for several years since the terms they now dealt with him on were such that The Towers barely broke even. That alone could perhaps have been tolerated, but he was obnoxious and consumed large amounts of staff time dealing with a self opinionated, bombastic, rabid loud mouth who considered every one at The Towers to be so far beneath him that they stood in need of his guidance. Even that could have been coped with since he had not had access to even middle management for a long time. The real problem was he was a homophobic, transphobic, racist, misogynistic bigot who six months ago had started to publicly denounce The Towers for its policy of tolerance at every opportunity.
Unfortunately it was understood that he was unassailable and The Towers could not get out of dealing with him without it costing a great deal of money. It was seriously being considered whether it was worth paying that money. That is till at Georgina’s request Gary scrutinised every piece of paper and all financial records they had connected with Walters. After two days of scrutinising hundreds of computer documents and finding nothing of help Gary started looking through the boxes of older paper material he’d had brought out of storage. It was when he compared the original contract and the terms and conditions under which they were currently trading which were on the back of every delivery note from Walters that he realised the problem posed by Walters was history. “We’ve got the bastard, Georgy. He’s broken the terms of the contract and it’s void. Here look.” Gary shewed her the relevant portions and said, “I’ll take this to Stefan for him to look at and see what he says, but I’m certain he’ll agree. Just cut him off. Let him sue us for breach of contract. If it goes to court he’s stuffed, but I don’t think he’s stupid enough to risk it. The worst it can cost us is about five hundred quid which isn’t worth trying to recover. Anyway we can write it off under bad debt provision. It’ll hurt him more if he makes it all public.”
Georgina smiled. It was an evil smile. “No! Not enough. I want to crucify the bastard, and I want to do it publicly. Nobody talks to me or my friends they way he does and gets away with it. I want blood, and I want lots of it.”
Stefan was in full agreement with Gary, and The Council, as Georgina referred to them as, a name that caught on soon, came to agree with her solution. Georgina summed up by saying, “We need to make an example of Walters, so others become too afraid to duplicate his behaviour. I’ll ring him up to tell him I need to discuss the details of his new contract. He being greedy will believe we have capitulated and are ready to give him an even better deal than the one he illegally sneaked past us after the original contract was signed. I’ll conduct the meeting in Elska’s new office after taking the blocker to the psycho-active consciousness opening treatment. If the treatment is delivered into the air via the air ducting we’ve got him. Elska can repsyche him, so that it lasts say twenty-four hours, long enough anyway for me to convince him to sign a contract release, an admission of guilt for changing the terms of the contract illegally and an admission that he owes us what he has not paid us. I’ll point out that the terms he sneaked past us are in breach of the original contract and hence under its terms there is no longer a valid contract in force.
“We don’t need the contract release, nor the admission of guilt because we have him on those already. The admission of debt is pretty pointless too since he can’t pay. What we need is him looking like a complete idiot in his negotiations and a rabid idiot after the temporary repsyching wears off. Since we’re going to take him to court to recover the money anyway, money Geneviève tells me he no longer has, we’ll help him on the way to bankruptcy. I’ll have the whole meeting from the moment he gets out of his car to the moment he gets back in it on camera, so when his solicitor contacts us we refer him to Youtube to watch the video. He like every one else, including Walters by then, will wonder what the hell was going on since his client clearly voided the original contract, and anyone with any sense would have realised he was stuffed, admitted nothing, shrugged his shoulders and walked out to do business elsewhere leaving us to fight a civil action that would probably get us nowhere after he put himself through a strategic bankruptcy and carried on trading.
“He’ll wonder what the whole sorry business was really about, but it will take a while for the penny to drop with him and Walters by which time Walters will probably have had to file for bankruptcy on behalf of his company, and we’ll have put him through personal insolvency proceedings freezing his personal finances and taking his house, car and possessions off him. The problem will be well and truly solved. We make sure it can’t happen again by writing into our contracts a voiding clause should any behave in a way that is contrary to our policy of tolerance. I’m sure Stefan’s team can make that bomb proof. I want Jane and Zoë to dig up everything they can on him just in case his wife legally owns the house and other assets. I especially want to know who he’s sleeping with because if it’s not his wife she’ll strip him of everything that no one else knows about too. I want pictures, evidence of any kind we can use. We don’t threaten him with it we just publish it. If we don’t communicate with him at all we can’t be accused of blackmail.”
“Why repsyche him temporarily, Georgina? I can make it permanent and then we recover as much of the money as possible as easily as possible.”
“Because I don’t care about the money, Elska. If you repsyche him permanently he’ll make no fuss, we get paid a tiny amount of money we don’t need and the matter goes away. If the repsyching is temporary, he reverts to his obnoxious self, we probably recover nothing because his solicitors and wife will take everything he has, but he keeps the matter going in the media for weeks and gets crucified by them. That’s what I want, an object lesson to any supplier who is considering being difficult. Since there will be no possibility of blackmail charges we make no secret of it being us that published the dirt on him, so everything we use we have to be able to prove. Anything we can’t prove in the end we can let out as gossip via dozens of different folk who can claim they heard it as gossip in the pub, the hairdressers, the local shop, etc. I’m sure you understand what I’m talking about. Trial by media has tried to hurt The Towers any number of times in the past, but it’s a poor sword that can’t kill on the return swing isn’t it?” There was a grim, but positive, smile on the faces of her audience.
“She did what‽”
“I told you. Georgina video taped the entire meeting and posted it on Youtube. Georgina told Elska she was splitting hairs over the immorality of the repsyching, since she routinely used it to ensure discretion. Georgina asked her if she did not believe she had an obligation to protect the staff, who strove so hard to protect her, from Walters who was threatening the well being of the entire staff with his antics. The Council agreed unanimously with Georgina, and Elska capitulated immediately. It was all a bit of a non event really, Isabelle. Walters is going under, and has filed for bankruptcy. All his personal assets have been frozen. He’s already lost all his customers, can’t get a line of credit and is persona non grata just about everywhere socially. His wife has left him after gutting the house and putting claims in for everything. I know having sex with four sixteen year olds isn’t illegal, but the videos of him doing so didn’t do him any good. Even folk who have no time for LGBT folk don’t want to do business with someone who shoots their mouth off with hate speech at each and every opportunity. They’re just too dangerous to be associated with.”
“And you almost didn’t pass her on to me to interview, Florence. That’s what I call a narrow squeak.”
“Yes I know. We’re working on a set of protocols for interviews to try to make sure that never happens again. Heaven knows staff of that calibre are thin on the ground, and the idea of rejecting one gives me nightmares. The idea of rejecting one who lives on our doorstep gives me more than nightmares. I’ll pass what we come up with around to the Council for their ideas too.”
“That’s the second time you’ve said that. What’s the Council?”
“Georgina’s term for the dozen or so most senior managers. The term seems to have caught on with the staff, so we may as well use it. I’d better go before Janice and Siobhan chase me out.”
“How is the leg feeling, Isabelle?”
“Weird. I can wiggle my toes, but my leg feels strange. It’s probably worse because I can’t see it.”
“No pins and needles?”
“No why?”
“Sometimes nerve regeneration causes pins and needles, but I didn’t expect you to feel any because all nerve regeneration would have been over three or four days ago.”
“So why ask, Siobhan?”
“It’s what medics do to make themselves look clever. Ask questions they already know the answers to. We removed the external splinting that held your foot, knee and pelvis in the correct alignment and replaced it with the inflatable splint to immobilise your leg yesterday morning. Before that you would have been able to see at least parts of your leg. The air splint comes off tomorrow evening when we’ll xray your leg as a precaution, but all should be fine. You’ve been out of it for six days. Elska considered it wise because your leg took longer than anticipated, and in any event Georgina was holding your desk down just fine. Tired?”
“A little. Hungry too. When did I last eat?”
“Six or seven days ago, but we only took the drips down just before bringing you round. Elska will be relieving me soon. Shall I ask her to bring you something to eat?”
“Please. A couple of crumpets with that Buddha’s hand lemon marmalade if she can, and some of Viivishkava’s blend of herbal tea. If you ring Matthew he’ll have someone fetch some from our kitchen.”
“I’ll ring the Orangery to have them ready for her to pick up, and Matthew too.”
“I love these crumpets, Elska.”
“I’m fond of them too. Eat up, drink your tea and get some rest, Isabelle. I’ll have Georgina bring your laptop and help you play catch up tomorrow. We’ll be messing about with you first thing, so I’ll ask her to call at ten. Matthew said to say he will be here at eight tonight. He’s looking at suites of rooms for the pair of you before that. He also said the Orangery want a supply of Viivishkava’s blend of tea, so Benjamin’s apprentices are planting more of the honeysuckle. Apparently we have more than enough elder for the flowers.”
“Thank you for the flowers, Matthew, they’re lovely. What is it that provides the scent?”
Matthew grinned, “Wasn’t me that brought the flowers. They’re from all sorts of folk. The big vase at the front is from Mum and Dad. Mum told him what to cut, and he added the sweet pea and the phlox. I’m not sure what either are called, or even if they have a name yet because Dad bred them. He bred them specifically for their scent to use as cut flowers in the house, but the phlox haven’t been used in the house yet. I saw all the flowers and decided to give it a miss, but one of the citrus that I propagated a few years ago from seed has just come into blossom for the first time and the scent from that will blow you away. Even if the fruit’s no good I’ll keep the cultivar going just for the scent. How’s your leg?”
“Like I told Siobhan when she asked, it feels weird, but I can’t describe it any better than that. There’s no pain nor even discomfort. This blow up whatever it is is coming off tomorrow evening when they’re going to xray it again. How have you been?”
“Worried. About you. I know it’s stupid, but I couldn’t help it. Phil, Dean and Zeke have been really good. Truth is they’ve been carrying me and stopped me making some really stupid mistakes, so I’ll ask Geneviève to give them a raise. Dad’s been keeping an eye on me too, and Mum’s spent at least an hour every day with you. When can you come home?”
“Forty-eight hours. Then it’s just a matter of waiting three weeks for the resequencing proper. Talking of which, did you know that as a result of my resequencing to XX everything is built from scratch including my hymen. You will be marrying a virgin, if of course you can wait that long.”
“Well I never! Who told you that?”
“Elska. Before I went under to have my leg done.”
“You can’t get a better source than her. You want to wait till after resequencing to be deflowered on your wedding night?”
“Yes I do by a professional pollinator, though Elska advises I retain the contraceptive implant till I’ve been an XX woman for twelve months. She also added that one of her fondest memories is of being ravished, her word not mine, and losing her virginity on her wedding night. She was away in a world of her own just recalling it, so I think I’ll go for it too. You okay with that?”
“Oh I imagine I’ll be able to put up with having to ravish a virgin on her wedding night.”
That was the point at which Isabelle attempted to hit him. “You beast! You’d better be at peak performance that night. Changing the subject. Have you found us a suite of rooms yet?”
“Not exactly. I’ve looked at a lot that we won’t want, and have a short list of three for you to cast your eyes over, but I’ve a dozen or so more to look at yet. The three all have wonderful views, all different, but all attractive, and are convenient for both of us to go to work, not that anywhere in The Towers is inconvenient. I’m told there are a couple of dozen properties available in and around the village, but all within five miles, I haven’t looked at any of them because I’d rather live here, but if you fancy having a look I’m open minded about living else where. I suppose it’s just a habit because other than at university I’ve never been happy anywhere else, but I was always glad to return home. We’ve plenty of time. I’ll have looked at everything here by the time you are out of that bed.”
“I’m being examined first thing tomorrow, and Georgina is coming to see me at ten so I can find out what’s been going on while I’ve been sleeping. So how about taking me for lunch somewhere?”
“Okay. Where do you fancy?”
“Somewhere quiet where I don’t get overwhelmed by well wishers.”
“How about lunch at Mum’s?”
“I’d love to.”
“She’ll make sure Dad goes home for lunch. It would make their day if you’d call them Mum and Dad. Would you be comfortable with that?” Isabelle started to cry. “It’s okay if you don’t. Truly, Love.”
Isabelle sniffed and said, “No. I’d love to. You must remember what’s it’s like to have no one and then suddenly to find folk who care about you? It’s a shock, that’s all.”
Quietly Matthew said, “Yes. I remember. They’ll understand.”
The couple chatted for an hour when Matthew saw Isabelle trying to suppress a yawn. “You’re tired. I’ll leave and see you at lunch time tomorrow if not before.”
“So as everything is satisfactory may Matthew take me to his parents’ place for lunch, Elska?”
“Certainly. Use a wheel chair. Do what you will with the day. Come back for eight. I’ll be here to release your leg and do the xrays.”
Isabelle’s conversation with Georgina was more like social chat than anything else. “You handled Walters beautifully, Georgina, not the way I would have done, but beautifully just the same. Don’t worry about Elska, she’s gradually coming round to our point of view. The problem is she’s become used to being taken advantage of. This situation has crept up on her gradually over years and in order to make her life liveable we’re instituting massive change overnight. Deep down she does understand and is grateful. The change is as abrupt to those close to her as it is to her. The only difference between us and them is we’re recent arrivals and can see how shamefully she and her close staff are being treated and neither of us will stand for it. Florence, Geneviève, Viivishkava and Thorkill are on our side, so give it a month. By then all the senior staff will agree with us and we’ll have dealt with the clowns and they’ll either conduct business with us the way we want, or we won’t do business with them at all. I’ve said it before, and likely I’ll say it many times again, you don’t have to ask permission to spend money. If the vendor doesn’t like the way you do business then take your business else where to someone who does. How’s Phil?”
“Nineteen going on nine.”`
“Typical man then?”
“Yeah. I guess, but his mum’s nice, and keeps giving me tips on handling men and Phil in particular.”
“So it’s serious then?”
“Yeah. Why couldn’t I have gone to the same school as him? Then I’d have met him years ago. It would really have helped to have met a boy who was into my backside the way he is instead of that bunch of bastards who took the piss out of it, even if they would have sold their souls to get their hands on my boobs. The girls were even worse. I’d left school before I realised the worst were just jealous.”
“It probably wouldn’t have worked then, Georgina. You are you as you are here and now, and that’s different from who you were at school. The same goes for Phil only more so. Boys take a long time to mature, and many only start when they start work with decent adult male rôle models. In general girls can become women without help, even the nasty ones. It’s easier with their mum’s help, but they can do it on their own if they have to. Boys need the presence of a good rôle model to become men. Most simply can’t do it on their own and fall by the wayside as overgrown boys that no woman of any sense would look once at never mind twice. Just be grateful you met him here and now.”
“You’re damned clever you know that, Isabelle? How was it for you growing up?”
“A bloody nightmare. I was born in the body of a timid small boy who knew he was really a girl, and grew up in a household of religious bigots to whom I was an abomination who had to have the evil beaten out of him. They made every one aware of it, and school was even worse. Every one of my relatives made Walters look like Mother Theresa. I left home and school at sixteen and started living and dressing as the real female me on the other side of Newcastle where no one knew me, but life didn’t get much better till I did self defence and martial arts classes. I’m ashamed to admit, when I’m not enjoying it that is, that I really enjoyed hurting some of those bastards who got their kicks out of beating up those they denigrated as sissies. I managed to earn enough from office work and what ever I could pick up that paid, be it however little, to live and pay for the surgeries, but I never kept a job for long as sooner or later they’d find out about me. I did a good few short courses at night school that were free to those on low income. After the final surgery I changed to working with kids, but again I never managed to keep a job for long.
“Someone I knew whom I worked with behind the bar in a gay club shewed me an ad for this job in QX magazine. The ad was interesting because it listed all the places it had been placed in, and it was obvious they were after a skill set and a personality profile and didn’t give a damn about anything else. I didn’t think I stood a cat in hell’s chance of getting it, but Shelia persuaded me to apply. I told the truth, or all of it that I could remember at any rate. I filled in so many don’t knows and can’t remembers that I gave them every opportunity to file my application form in the bin. I’d signed they could do in depth research on me not thinking it mattered, but I now know they did just that, and here I am the only one they interviewed out of twenty thousand applicants. Gods help us all if I’m the best they could find. But in answer to your other question, despite my beginnings in a boy’s body, I always was a girl, and I was a girl who became a woman without the help of a mum, and it was hard. No harder than lots of girls born in a girl’s body found it without their mum’s help, but hard. I’m not particularly clever. I just got good at weighing folk up. Living as a trans woman with little support your life can depend on your ability to get out of situations before they become life threatening. Those who can’t weigh folk up accurately and quickly get to be dead even quicker.”
“Hell, and I thought I had it bad.” It was just gossip after that, and Georgina left Isabelle’s laptop before going for lunch.
“You ready to go to Mum’s for Lunch?” asked Matthew.
“No. Plans have changed. We’re eating lunch in the Orangery and having dinner at your mum’s. And as long as I’m back by eight I can spend the rest of the day doing what I want. What are you doing this afternoon?”
“Planting the last batch of citrus trees in the Orangery. Why the change of plans?”
“Your mum stopped by earlier and invited us to dinner tonight. I explained about my xrays and she said she’d have it ready early, and if we were there for six there would be no rush. Georgina is taking care of my desk, so we can eat lunch in the Orangery, I can smell your new tree and watch you till you finish. Your mum’s going to teach me to play bridge sometime.”
“That’ll be good, but don’t take any notice of Dad. He’s a good player, but Mum’s national standard.”
“Are you any good, Matthew?”
“About the same as Dad, but he plays regularly. I don’t. I’ll get you your chariot.”
Matthew had a misting system that had been playing up to check on. A new one was on order but it was in use with some cuttings that he was concerned about, so after dinner Isabelle insisted he did not need to accompany her to see Elska, but he did need to ensure his cuttings were watered.
“The xrays shew that the long bones have regenerated their entire lengths. They have met, aligned and fused together, but are neither of full diameter nor of full density yet. The air splint can remain off, Isabelle, but please be careful for another few days. How are your breasts?”
“More or less as I remember them being before the explants, but slightly larger, though I like the natural shape more than the shape the implants gave me. Underneath along the incision lines it’s just me. No evidence of any incision, no tenderness, just me. I need to buy some bigger bras, so Matthew’s mum and I are going to Carlisle shopping next week.”
“And your skull?”
“I’m completely unaware of anything there. When I brush my hair it feels completely normal.”
“Good. What about your leg?”
“No deep ache like you said I may experience and no pain. You know how a bruise feels just before it is completely healed well sometimes it feels similar to that, but I’ve done worse walking into furniture. Good. It feels good.
“Excellent. I’ll load the sequencer with your program and store it to memory, and once we’re into the last week of next month you can tell us when you’re ready and you’ll be done. XX all the way in every cell of your being. We can resequence Matthew after you if he likes, or we can do him any time between now and then.”
“How soon after my final sequencing to XX does my body become functionally female, Elska?”
“You mean how long till your first period?”
“No not really. I meant the whole thing. How long to ovulation and possible pregnancy as well as menstruation. Will I get PMS?
“We are in uncharted waters a bit with you. We normally take ten days for a full XY to XX change or a full XX to XY change. In the case of XY to XX normally the penis and testicles are reabsorbed within three days. It can be done much faster than that, but that is our preferred time frame. During that time internal changes occur that include the laying down of the beginnings of the uterus, the ovaries and associated fallopian tubes and the reabsorption of all male structures. By day four the external male parts have gone and the clitoris, its hood, both pairs of labia and all associated glands are complete. The vagina develops towards the end of day four and finishes on day five. The skeletal changes and fat deposition pattern alterations start immediately but we program them to take place slowly to minimise discomfort, so though the first things to start they are the last things to finish usually by the end of day ten. The process can be done in almost any order and all external changes can be completed in a matter of hours, but that is painful and has to be done under general anaesthetic.
“We anticipate your earlier changes will occur faster since you have no penis and testes, but are not sure how long it will take to absorb your man made vagina and grow your own using the absorbed tissue. I say we are not sure how long it will take, but we do know within which twenty-four hour period it will occur. Your skeletal changes and fat deposition changes will be programmed to take twice as long as usual, to enable you to function better. There will not be much fat to move since you already have a female shape due to the hormones you had been taking. As a result your breasts may become a little larger, but at a later date that can be corrected in less than twelve hours. I expect your first ovulation to take place two to three weeks after your ovaries have formed, some women are aware to the second when ovulation occurs, when the follicle ruptures, but most aren’t. Your first period will be two weeks after that. But for your contraceptive implant you would be able to become pregnant from your first ovulation. Like most resequenced women you will probably be aware of where about in your cycle you are by the way you feel, but the womanliness package means no unpleasant effects, no difficult mood swings, PMS or bloating. You will know the day before when period day is due and probably two hours or so before you start to bleed, but your periods will be light and trouble free.”
“Okay. Thanks for the information, Elska.”
“Most women in your position aren’t usually interested in the process just the result. Truthfully unless you’re a medic the process is rather boring and, to most, a bit gross. Though unlike surgery at least there is no blood.”
“I suppose wanting to be able to function as much as possible makes me interested in the process, but I confess I’m impatient to be twenty, pretty, married and eventually pregnant and a mum.”
“I was like that from the age of eleven, and Thorkill drove me demented with his refusal to touch me till I was sixteen.”
“Men!” agreed Isabelle which made the pair of them laugh.
“Did the Y chromosome not give you any insight at all in how to deal with them, Isabelle?”
“No help at all. It was a bit of a con really. Males were always a mystery to me. It was only when I became a big girl that I realised there was any point or value to them at all.”
“And now?” Elska giggled.
“ You’re how close to giving birth? And you’ve how many kids? And you’re asking me that!”
“I know the answer, but I was asking you.”
“I’ve managed to find a good one,” Isabelle answered with mock dignity, “and I know exactly what the point of keeping him is.” She giggled, “And I may get full value out of him by trying for a flock of kids too.” The two women parted maybe not giggling any more, but certainly amused.
The entire world stopped at The Towers once the word went round that Elska had gone into labour. Thorkill was his usual impassive self and only gave one hint of his emotions when he said to Judith, “Get Isabelle here now. Elska needs her.” When Isabelle arrived Thorkill took her to one side and said quietly so no one else could hear, “Elska trusts you. I trust you. You are the interface between her and the world. You tell me what she needs as soon as you become aware of it, and I’ll make sure she gets it. The girls like you, and as far as they are concerned Auntie Isabelle is their mum’s closest friend, so you are Elska’s proxy, and till Elska can mother the girls herself you and you alone determine who looks after them and what happens. We talked about this a while back. It’s what she said and I agreed. Is that all right, Isabelle?”
“That’s fine, Thorkill. Elska and I discussed it days ago. You go to her now, and I’ll go over to the crèche to check on things. I’ll be back in quarter of an hour. Okay?” Thorkill just nodded.
Four and a half hours later Elska gave birth to a daughter and her sister five minutes later. Elska and girls were healthy and doing well. The rest of The Towers gave a huge collective sigh of relief and went back to doing what they had been doing before they stopped.
Alex, on Isabelle’s instructions, took Thorkill to the bar and poured a bottle of fifty-five percent Żubrówka, bison grass vodka, into him, which whilst it did little to him by way of intoxication it did settle his jangled nerves. Elska, again on Isabelle’s instructions, accepted gratefully that other than being a mum she was going to be doing nothing for a fortnight.
Nothing much had happened over the last three weeks as far as Isabelle and her department were concerned. Isabelle, Georgina and Gary had systematically worked through the diaries of all senior managers and were halfway through those of the middle managers. They’d made every one’s lives easier by pointing out who they shouldn’t be having meetings with and who, if anyone, should be meeting with them. Gary had entered up huge amounts of what had been hand written material on to the new computer system making it easily available. On Elska’s orders, backed up by Thorkill, Viivishkava and Stephan there was nothing they could not look into. It was a house keeping and spring cleaning exercise of monumental proportions. Most of what they looked at was in need of little if any improvement, but Pierre was delighted by their suggestions concerning his record keeping and ordering of spare parts and other items kept in his stores. The actual changes were implemented by Geneviève’s department. After Alex had talked to Isabelle concerning the suppliers he considered to be security risks he was happy to see that Geneviève had replaced them all.”
“I don’t think you need me to carry on for the next eleven days do you?” Isabelle asked Georgina and Gary, “Because I intend to keep a close eye on Elska till she resumes light duties. She wants to resequence me as her first job when she resumes work.”
“No. Everything scheduled is pretty routine, and it’ll take us longer than that to go through all that needs to be done. Any body who needs dealing with, I’ll dig up what they want to remain hidden, and Georgy can use it or not as she thinks fit when she deals with them, Isabelle. You’ll be back long before we need to decide what we’re going to do about the vetting of Elska’s spa customers,” answered Gary. Both originally shy and insecure, Gary and Georgina had blossomed as a result of their supportive friendship, and they were now more like siblings than close friends. Their skills complemented each other’s, and they worked well together. Gary was amazing at forensic analysis of records and correspondence and was now doing a distance learning course to advance his skills into forensic accountancy with a discreet, small and virtually unknown organisation whose principal, for lack of a better term, was a contact of Thorkill’s. Georgina, who allowed only Gary to tease her and call her Georgy, had decided she rather liked looking the way she did, especially since Phil liked it, and Elska had resequenced her accordingly. Georgina was now six foot eight, pretty, of an even bigger frame than she had been, had what could only be described as a commanding bosom and a truly impressive pair of hips with a backside to match. She was also studying for a degree in business with the Open University.
Isabelle nodded and said, “I’ll tell Elska to schedule my resequencing for when ever is convenient then.”
“What you doing tonight, Georgy?”
“Nothing unusual, dancing with Phil and enjoying a couple of beers and the music in the ballroom. Why? You got any plans, Gary?”
“I asked Milly to go to the dance with me, she said yes, and I’m meeting her at the ball room at quarter to eight. I think.”
“Nice one. What do you mean you think?”
“I thought I’d blown it at first. As soon as I’d asked her, she started filling up, and I thought she was going to do a runner on me. I started to apologise, and then she was crying all over me. Jesus, I was terrified.”
Georgina trying to keep her face straight asked, “What happened between that and her saying yes?”
“I don’t know what came over me. I kissed her, and she kind of melted into me. The next thing I know we’re kissing like it’s the end of the world in fifteen seconds, she said, ‘Thank you. I’ll meet you in the ballroom at quarter to eight,’ and then she did do a runner on me, but when she got to the door she turned and blew me a kiss. I hope she actually turns up, which is why you’re the only one I’ve told about it.”
“You really like her?”
“Yeah. I’ve been working up to asking her out for a couple of weeks.”
“She’ll be there, Gary. She’s shy, and you’re probably the first boy to pay her any attention. I’ll bet she’d no idea you were interested and it was a shock. That’s why she burst into tears, not because you offended her. She’ll be there. I wonder if Dean and Zeke would like to got too.”
“Why? You thinking of taking on three lads all on your own?”
Georgina grinned and said, “No, but it’s a thought isn’t it? I was wondering if Jenny and Melissa would be interested too if they knew the boys were going.”
“You match making?”
“I hadn’t thought about it like that, but now you mention it kind of I suppose, but mostly I thought if there were four couples of our age we could do all sorts of things together which would be good. I mean we all get on don’t we? Melissa said it can get a bit boring here sometimes, especially when the weather’s bad. I’ll talk to the girls first.”
The four couples enjoyed themselves dancing and chatting and agreed to spend next Sunday afternoon together learning to ride with Jacqueline who had previously told Georgina that it wouldn’t be a problem. She had several horses up to her height and weight, neither of which she’d added were anything like those of Thorkill who rode regularly. When Jenny saw Melissa kiss Dean after they left the ballroom at one and subsequently hold hands as he was obviously walking her home she asked, “Walk me home, Zeke?”
“Of course.”
Zeke was painfully shy, so she took his hand, put hers in it and said, “I need to get used to kissing you before I do it where we can be seen. It would be just too embarrassing for words if I looked like I didn’t know what I were doing wouldn’t it? So once we reach my room you’d better come in so I can have a bit of practice.”
“Is that it then, Elska?”
“Yes, that’s it, Isabelle. The resequencing has started. It accelerates as the changed genetic material gains the upper hand. It works fastest when you are asleep, so if you get a good night’s sleep tonight all your cells will be XX by the time you awake. By breakfast you will be well and truly genetically female though you body will take sometime to catch up. Just take things easy and if there are any problems at all come and see us. Are you working from home, or going in to your office?”
“Neither. Georgina and Gary are good enough to just get on with it. They’ll know if something needs my attention and tell me about it, but we’re not expecting anything.”
“We’ll check on you twice a day initially to check all is well and every evening once we’re convinced your internal changes are finished, but we’re not expecting any problems. As I told you, you should refrain from vaginal sex till your own grown equipment has stabilised, probably six days better seven, but other than that do what you will. Anything else?”
“Yes. I was thinking last night about what Georgina told me concerning what the locals thought about The Towers. Whilst they have a great deal of respect for us they actually know very little and perceive us as an elitist organisation. It occurred to me that though we interact a lot with the local children we educate, other than employees, we don’t know their parents as well as we could. If we could run a beauty salon and spa at much lower cost for local women, especially reversing gray hair, and do scar removal and muscle damage repair for men too, maybe even something about baldness, Florence’s team could use it for promotional purposes and we would get to know a great deal more about our neighbours. That would give us a wonderful inside track on recruitment. The down side of course is the extra burden it places on you.”
“I think that’s a good idea, and it’s not much extra for me to do because most of what goes on at the moment doesn’t require a sequencer, and in any event most of what does require a sequencer is routine. I’m a lot less busy now thanks to you and there are three of us. I’ll float the idea past Siobhan, Janice and the Council and see what Alex has to say regarding security issues. A good idea. Thank you.”
“Well that’s it. You’ll lose another inch of height and your thighs, hips and bottom will round out a tiny bit more over the next ten days, unless of course if you wish us to speed that up since your team are doing so well?”
“No. Just leave things as they are, Elska. You were right, my breasts have become slightly bigger. I’m a full C cup now, but that can be left alone too.”
“Let me guess. Matthew likes the new improved you.”
“I wonder how on earth you managed to work that out?”
“Easy. He’s a man! You happy with everything else then, Isabelle.”
“Yes. Thank you.”
“What’s next in your office then?”
“After we finish what we’re doing now, which we think will take another fortnight, we start on the spa customers. How they are vetted for you, how Alex can improve the security for customers and The Towers alike and anything else we can think of. Alex is going to be collaborating with us on that. We expect it’ll take a few months. Other than that it’s just the wedding. Matthew will be resequenced before I’m finished and we intend to leave it all to Florence, she seems to enjoy it for which I am truly grateful, for I don’t.”
“I know what you mean. Our wedding seemed to take over everything for weeks before, almost as if it were nothing to do with us. It was frightening. There didn’t seem to be any time left over for just Thorkill and me. I sneaked into his bed one night about five days before the wedding just so he could hold me. He took me back to my room and I fell asleep in his arms in a chair. He slept in the chair till the wedding. I really enjoyed the wedding and the reception, but I’ve always admitted I felt really glad when it was all over and life returned to normal. Without doubt like yours it was a show put on for the benefit of The Towers, and we all benefit from that, but it’s true there is an element of grit your teeth and grin and bear it, for it’ll soon be over with. I suggest you unashamedly enjoy what you can whilst you can and look forward to the Christmas party where if you wish you can be anonymous.”
“My, my. Who’s a big boy then? That’s what I call a super king size dilator!”
“Well Elska thought seeing as I was undergoing resequencing she’d do you a favour. She only told me after the gasjab. It was as big a shock to me as it was a surprise to you. But seeing as the wedding’s nearly a month away you can only play with it till then.”
“Oh I don’t know. I can think of a few entertaining things I can do with it that don’t involve my hymen, Matthew.”
“Is it all done for you now, Isabelle?”
“Not quite. Siobhan told me another couple of days, but I suppose essentially yes. A fraction less height and I little more hip, thigh and bottom, but probably not enough to be noticeable.
“Oh my God, Matthew!”
“Too much? Slower?”
“The hell no. Give me the lot. That is better than it’s ever been. What do you thin—? Ow! Christ that hurt, but it’s getting better. Just give me a minute. Well that’s that. Short of being resequenced again, a once in a lifetime experience, but I’m enjoying it, and I can feel you pushing my cervix back. Okay, Matthew, for real now, and don’t stop.” It wasn’t long before Isabelle had reached the point of no return, and she squealed as her orgasm took over. Matthew went rigid as he powered into her for the last time, and as she felt him release inside her far more sensitive XX vagina than her XY one she squealed again.
“Know what, Love?” he asked. “There’s more to this marriage thing than I thought.”
“Yes and everything Elska told me about the enhanced sensitivity of my new equipment was no where near the truth. Now shut up, take your Viagra and do it again.”
“As you now well know this thing doesn’t need Viagra. Thank you, Elska.”
“I will tomorrow, before we leave for Greece, for both of us.”
Elska gives birth to twin girls
“Isabelle?”
“Speaking, Geneviève. How can I help you?”
“I’m at number four Pasture View. I need you here as soon possible. Security are already here. I’ll explain it all when you get here. The kitchens are sending food for four starving children and their mother. It’s a grim situation, but we can deal with it. If I’d not managed to contact you I’d have made the decisions, but I’ll be grateful for your input.”
“I’m on my way.”
When Isabelle arrived she entered the cottage front room to see two of Thorkill’s team restraining a large powerfully built man who was much the worse for drink. He was shouting profanities at the men holding his arms and threats to beat to death the small woman who was cowering over four terrified children, the oldest of who looked about seven, to protect them. Lev walked up to the man and said, “You are becoming boring my friend. You’ve already said that dozens of times. I suggest you give it a rest before I lose my patience.” The man continued to revile Lev in the coarsest of language. Lev turned to his colleagues and said, “I tried. I really did.” He them punched the man in the gut knocking all the wind out of him and said, “Ah. Peace at last.”
Isabelle looked at the emaciated woman and children, “Have they had something to eat yet, Geneviève?”
“No, but warm food is on its way.”
Isabelle took a small bar of chocolate from her pocket and breaking squares off it handed pieces to the children and their mother saying, “Food is on its way. We won’t let him hurt you any more. We’ll organise somewhere to stay for you at The Towers.” She turned to Lev and said, “Find out where that food is and how long it’ll be, Lev, will you? Is hitting him going to cause you any trouble?”
“No. I pulled him off the woman who was protecting the kids from him and he threw the first one at me. Göran and Davy were holding him, so I didn’t have to really hurt him. He’s a notorious drunk, but has not been around for maybe eighteen months. None of them are supposed to be here. The cottage is empty and it looks like they’ve been squatting here a week or so, but I wasn’t aware he was back, and I never saw or heard of him having a woman and kids before.”
The looks on the children’s faces as they tasted the chocolate told Isabelle it may not have been their first taste, but it was certainly a very rare experience.
Geneviève explained, “Someone phoned to complain the cottage’s tenant was frightening their children. I knew the cottage was unoccupied because maintenance had told me there were a few things they needed to do before I put it on the list of available accommodation. Before I came down I asked Alex for some protection just in case. Lev and his crew volunteered. I asked the man what was going on, and he was abusive. As soon as I saw the children I rang the kitchens for food and then you. I explained he had to leave and he started blaming the children. He was obviously drunk and began hitting the children indiscriminately when the woman threw herself between him and the children. Before Lev could get to him he started punching her. Göran and Davy restrained him, and you saw the rest.”
Just then a van pulled up with food. The man on the floor groaned and started making threats again. Lev kicked him in the belly winding him again, pulled him to his feet and said, “I can hit you so it hurts a lot more than that if you like. Now listen. There are over a dozen witnesses who saw you try to hit me first, so don’t bother going to the police. Furthermore if you do we will go looking for you and,” Lev whispered the rest in his ear. The man paled and Lev continued, “Do you understand?” The man nodded, “Good. Cumbria is a nice part of the world, but it is not good for your health, it must be the damp climate, so I suggest you leave and don’t come back. You are not suited to a life as a man with a woman and children, and in any case they will only hold you back. Here is a few hundred quid,” Lev pulled out his wallet and pushed all all the notes it contained into the man’s shirt pocket. “I suggest when you leave you don’t stop for a drink till you reach Manchester or better still Birmingham. If I or any of my friends ever see you again you will wish that we were going to kill you.” Lev turned to Davy, “Davy, drop him off at Tebay services heading south will you.” Lev turned back to the man “You can hitch a ride from Tebay. We’ll help you to the van.” Lev nodded, and Davy and Göran dragged the man out, threw him in the back of the van locked the doors and drove away.
The kitchen staff had served the meal at the table and the children had made a start, but clearly had no idea what the cutlery was for. Isabelle told the staff, “Help them. It’s not their fault.”
The woman was blubbering apologies, but Isabelle said, “Eat. You need to. We’ll get everything sorted out afterwards. You’ll all have a warm bed to sleep in tonight and plenty to eat. He’s gone and won’t be back. Don’t try to explain, just eat, but tell me your name.”
“I’m Sarah.” No surname just Sarah.
Isabelle asked, “How much did you give him, Lev?”
“Five hundred. It was what Siobhan asked me to get from Geneviève’s office this morning. I hadn’t touched any of it. Still it’s a cheap way to get rid of a problem isn’t it. There’s no way he can put in a complaint now.”
“You were a lot more generous than I’d have been,” Isabelle said. She felt sick with revulsion at the way the man had treated the others and visions of mutilating others like him had flooded back.
“As soon as I get back, I’ll put the money down to the firm, Lev, under the vermin control budget,” Geneviève told him with a smile. “I’ll give Siobhan the money if you like?” Lev just shrugged his shoulders.
While the woman and her children were eating Isabella had rung for a suite to be readied for them, and the commissariat to provide clothes for them. The family were taken to The Towers infirmary in a mini coach so as not to separate them. They were met by Janice who said, “Hello, I’m Janice. I’m a doctor who looks after children.” To the woman she said, “I understand you’ve fallen on hard times. We’re going to provide you with new clothes, but first a shower or a bath and then I’d like to examine you all to ensure we can have you healthy as soon as possible.”
The woman nodded and said, “He took all the money. There was none for food or clothes and he made me…” She broke down and couldn’t continue.
“I take it he wasn’t your husband?”
“No. He found us and promised us somewhere to live, but it was just one squat after another. He brought men… I’m just grateful I’ve only got boys.” Well that answers one question thought Janice. “I’m pregnant.”
“I’m also a midwife, Sarah, so once you’re settled I’ll take a look at you if you like. Will the boys go with the nannies who will help them bathe?”
“Yes. We’re… They’re are frightened of adults and do what they’re told.”
“Burn all their old clothes, and treat the mini coach seating,” Janice instructed her assistants. “They’ve all got scabies and head lice. Use the cream and medicated shampoo on them for now. I’ll explain to Sarah. I want a blood and tissue sample from them all. The boys have obviously been malnourished from birth and Sarah has been pimped out by that piece of offal, so she may well have multiple STDs as well as scabies and head lice. As soon as I have the samples, I’ll run them through the sequencer and resequence them all as themselves back to health. That way they’ll all wake up healthy and I hope considerably happier. In the meantime I need to speak to Elska and tell Geneviève to treat the cottage.”
The boys were led away by the nannies and were completely passive as they were bathed, treated for the head lice and scabies and dressed in clean clothes. Sarah was shewn the bathroom and handed a set of new clothes by Janice who said, “You need to wash your hair thoroughly with this special shampoo, Sarah and after you have bathed and dried yourself you need to rub this cream over your entire body. I mean everywhere, so it’s better if you shave everywhere too. Everything you need is in the bathroom. Just leave the towels and your old clothes there. Okay?”
Sarah was embarrassed but replied, “Yes. I understand.”
When Janice told Elska of her intentions Elska looked thoughtful and said, “I’ve never used the sequencer for the purpose you intend, Janice. I’ve never needed to, but yes it’ll work just fine on the boys. I’m a little concerned about Sarah because she’s pregnant. In theory it shouldn’t make any difference, but I’ve always had a lingering doubt. About what I don’t know, but it’s why I’ve never resequenced anyone who was pregnant. The sequencer should be able to correct any issues with a pregnant mother or indeed with a fœtus that has problems. As I said, I’ve just never done it. I’ll ring Siobhan and Kristiana and we’ll all come to the infirmary and see what we can come up with together.”
“Will it make any difference if the fœtus is male or female?” Kristiana asked.
“Let us assume it does. Clearly a male fœtus would be most at risk, so how would we protect it if we had to resequence its mother?”
“Elska you ask some extraordinarily difficult questions, but I think I have the answer to that one,” Siobhan replied.
Twenty minutes later even Elska’s doubts had been put to rest, for now she knew what it was she’d never been able to put her finger on before, and her caution had been justified. “So, Janice, you can heal mother and children, but I’d like to have full body scans of all of them before and after, so that we can see just what we have managed to achieve and how effective the sequencer is under such circumstances. I think we should do all under a general and have them supplied with all the drips a seriously injured merc would need because we have no idea how badly their growth has been retarded by malnutrition, and we wouldn’t want them starved whilst growing again. A slow process would be advisable to give us time to react to anything unforeseen. Given that Sarah looks half starved it’s likely her baby is depriving her of nutrients so I suggest again a general and the drips which should include everything a pregnancy requires.”
The medics left the small room they used for private discussions and went back to the ward. “Even the nine year old was completely unbothered being bathed and being completely covered in the cream by a woman, Janice. Poor lamb didn’t even bother when I made sure his genitals were covered too. It made our lives easier, but it is unnatural amongst outsiders. It’s not right that children are so badly frightened of adults that they just passively accept what anyone does to them. My sister’s five year old would be mortified at the idea of her seeing him naked. His dad, okay. Her, no way. I don’t think any of them have ever had any degree of socialisation with other children. One of them told Toril that they all slept together with their mum to keep warm.”
“Thanks for letting us know, Theresa.”
Elska’s caution had been sensible, for the boys grew prodigiously over three days, and the drips had been necessary, but when they came round they were healthy but puzzled by their bodies. The sequencer had grown new healthy skin too which had sloughed off the scabies tracks and they no longer itched. A second dose of the shampoo and having their hair combed with nit combs had eliminated all traces of head lice. Sarah had gained weight and no longer an emaciated waif of no figure she was now a full bosomed and hipped blooming pregnant young woman and the picture of health. Elska had been correct mother and children had all needed the drips.
“What have you done to us?” Sarah asked.
“We allowed you to sleep your way back to health. This is what you should look like, and your little girl is healthy too.”
“I don’t have a little girl.” Sarah looked puzzled.
“You will have once she is born. You’re nearly four months. You didn’t look that far along because you hadn’t had enough to eat for a long time,” Janice explained.
“What is this place?”
“This is The Towers. It’s a private estate where computers are developed. We have so many staff we need to have our own hospital. We also run a spa and beauty clinic here too.”
“Oh.”
“You’re not from round here are you?”
“No. How did you know?”
“You have never heard of us and you talk like someone from the north east. How did you come to be here in one of our cottages?”
“He brought us. He said it was his place. I didn’t believe him because he’d said that about all the other places we got threwn out of too, but he knew a lot of folk here, or at least a lot of folk knew who he was.”
“What is his name?”
“I don’t know. Everyone called him Jinksy, but that couldn’t have been his real name. I only took up with him because we were on the street and to start with he gave us food. He was usually too drunk to bother with me in bed, but then someone he knew gave him twenty quid for fucking me. After that even when I’d been fucked by ten a day still he drank and gambled it all away. There was never enough for any food or clothes. I couldn’t leave because I didn’t know where I was and I couldn’t carry the boys. What happens to us now?”
“That depends on what you want to happen to you, Sarah. What would be a perfect life for you?”
Sarah replied immediately, “A man who didn’t hurt us and who earnt enough to feed, clothe and house us. He wouldn’t have to marry me, but I’d treat him right whenever he wanted, keep his house clean and have a decent dinner on the table every night ready for when he came home. I can look after a man properly and I can clean and cook. It would be good if the boys could go to school. We moved too much before, but it would be good if they could read and write and do a bit of reckoning too. I can reckon, but I can’t read nor write, but I’d like them to have the chance. But dream on, Saree. Never going to happen is it? But you asked me what my dream was and that’s it. When do we have to leave?”
“You don’t. This place is special. You asked what we’d done to you and I told you, but we can do a lot more if you’d like. We can give you a job and somewhere to live. The boys can go to school here, we have schools for children of all ages. You’d earn enough money to buy clothes, shoes and chocolate too.” Janice could see the chocolate was an irresistible lure. “It would be a proper job. You wouldn’t have to sleep with anyone you didn’t want to.”
Sarah looked puzzled at that, “Does that mean I don’t have to get fucked unless I want to?”
“Yes. That’s exactly what it means.”
“Oh. I didn’t understand because the boys and I always sleep together, so we don’t freeze to death. I’m scared of dying in my sleep on a pavement somewhere. Stupid that isn’t it because I wouldn’t know anything about it, but there’d be no one to look after the boys. What kind of a job could I do. I only know about cleaning, cooking and fucking. I’d do anything really, but I’d only really like to do any of those three at home if I had one.”
“We could help you to learn how to read and write. You know how we made your body well when you were sleeping?”
“Yes. I don’t get it, but I am really grateful for me and the boys.”
“We can make you cleverer too in your sleep. Clever enough to be a nurse. We need nurses. You are a good person and we would benefit too.”
Sarah thought hard, “Could I wear a blue frock and one of those little white hats?”
“All nurses wear the hats, but only the senior nurses wear blue. You’d start in a green frock the same as the blue ones, but when you became a senior nurse you’d wear a blue one.”
“Okay. I’d like that, but what about the boys when they’re not at school if I’m working? I won’t leave them on their own. Bad things happen to children left on their own, and what happens when I have the babby.”
“We have all sorts of activities for children whose parents are working, and if you had to work a night shift a lot of our older children do overnight babysitting. They are paid by us and do it because it counts towards their education.”
“How do you mean? I get the money, but how does it count as schooling?”
“One of the courses older children can choose to do involves social care. It’s a popular course, and they get credited for helping the elderly, babysitting, helping in the hospital, the schools or the crèche. There is a minimum amount of practical work they have to do to pass. Most parents who need them give them chocolates or small gifts too.”
“What sorts of things would the boys have to do after school and at weekends. They hate sport. When they did go to school they were picked on for being small and no good at football.”
“Swimming, bicycling, horse riding, fishing, shooting, go-cart racing, painting. There’re lots of other things too, but I can’t remember them all. What do they like?”
“They like cars, but haven’t been in many.”
“A go-cart is like a tiny car. Lots of the children here race them round the track Pierre set up for them. He’s an engineer and he and his men help them to look after them in their workshop.
“The boys would like that.”
“Would you like to be a nurse, Sarah?”
“Yes. Where would we live? And you haven’t said about when the babby comes.”
“I suggest you stay where you are for the moment. Is that okay?”
“Yes. It’s nice. A bed each and it’s warm everywhere at night.”
“You get paid maternity pay when you get close and when the baby is little too. Then there’s the crèche. That where a lot of babies and toddlers are looked after when their parents are working and it’s free. The school will be expecting your boys this afternoon. Someone will come to collect them. The other children will help them, not pick on them. We have a number of children here who hate sport. Overall it’s not particularly popular here. Don’t worry we look after our staff here and their families too. The men who took whatever his name was away are our security guards and they will keep you and your family safe.”
Sarah settled in, and enjoyed her job as a nurse. Her boys who’d been repsyched for socialisation skills when they were resequenced were happy and thoroughly enjoyed go-cart racing. It turned out that they all enjoyed all aspects of engineering and soon became favourites of Pierre and his staff.
Elska was over the moon to discover she was pregnant with twin boys
Elska gave birth to the boys and the security team threw a party for Thorkill that lasted three days
Allison and Brian had started working for Djuvec twelve years ago, Allison as a designer of biogenetic processors and Brian as an electrical maintenance engineer for The Towers buildings. Despite Brian’s rather literal and not particularly intelligent mind, he was good looking and more than a few women had tried in vain to bed him with a view to marriage, but he’d had no thought of any woman other than Allison who he thought was pretty and was unlikely to be interested in him because her intellect was so superior to his own, but they’d fallen in love on sight and were living together at The Towers within a month. Allison, who had never had a relationship before, was a highly intelligent, plain looking blonde of twenty-nine when she married twenty-four year old Brian who was tall and decidedly masculine looking with blue eyes and dark hair. Allison knew her husband was good looking and couldn’t believe her luck that he loved her rather than any of the pretty women who’d made a play for him. Brian was a calm man who enabled a stable family environment for their children to grow up in.
Bar emergencies, he worked regular hours and was accepting of his wife’s erratic hours due to the nature of her mind. When she had ideas she couldn’t rest till she’d at least created a record of her thoughts to follow up later without risking loosing those ephemeral whips of genius. They were a happily married couple and Allison had loved every minute of her four pregnancies carrying the children of the man she loved, the man who enabled her to enjoy taking part in a world she didn’t really understand by standing between her and it as an interpreter without making her feel in the least awkward about it. She’d been overwhelmed by the joy nursing her babies had given her and felt a debt of gratitude to the man who had opened her eyes and given her such a wondrous life after the loneliness of the bland, pedestrian, ivory tower existence she’d considered to be the totality of life before she’d met him. She enjoyed the excitement of her love life which involved far more than she had been aware of or even dreamt possible, and the silliness of their childish enjoyment of the things they did together and later with their children provided her with more fun than she had ever had as a child in the austere, university steeped environment of her childhood home.
The richness of flying kites on a blustery March day listening to the squeals of enjoyment of the girls, the wildness of the salty taste of the sea and the freedom as they ran naked on the sand of a family naturist beach in July listening to the mournful plaint of the gulls, the simple pleasure provided by mugs of hot Bovril® whilst watching the sparks and flames of a garden bonfire wrapped up against the sere chill of an October frost, the excitement of feeling like a Victorian explorer in undiscovered lands as they made the first footprints in the snow that had fallen overnight and the freezing damp of melting snow down her coat collar after falling over in the snow whilst helping the girls to build a snowman with a carrot nose and pebble eyes and mouth in December and many other equally unlikely experiences were things she would never have known without Brian and her joy was on a par with that of her children. Such events made her life perfect. They had decided to have six children in two batches of three with a few years gap between child numbers three and four. When the scan shewed her fourth child was a boy she was delighted, and though Brian didn’t seem to care whether he had another daughter or a son she didn’t doubt that he would love his son too.
Everything was perfect till Harry was approaching a year old. Allison had been expecting Harry to be different from the girls, after all boys were weren’t they? But the older he became the more like his sisters he became, he enjoyed playing with their toys and was completely uninterested in the boys’ toys she bought him. It was a shock to her when barely able to speak he said, “No, Mummy! Girl not boy.” As Harry grew older his insistence that he, like his sisters, was a girl, not a boy, became more worrying to her. He refused to wear boys clothes throwing tantrums when she dressed him in trousers, and once he could dress himself at every opportunity he wore his sisters’ dresses even if she’d dressed him in boys’ clothes to start with. The other children at the play group, including his sisters, called him Harriet or Rita and used female pronouns when referring to her. Eventually after a particularly trying argument with her completely obdurate youngest child, who refused to take a pretty, pink frock off that belonged to one of her sisters, Allison, tired and pregnant with another daughter, was nearly hysterical when she insisted Brian sort his son out. Brian calmly said, “Darling, there is no point in making an issue out of it. Either it is something he will grow out of, in which case opposition will probably make him dig his heels in and prolong it, or if it is real there is nothing anyone can do about it. If Harriet is truly our fourth daughter, she more than any will need not just my love and understanding but that of her mum as well.” Brian knew Elska could solve the problem and how she would solve it, but neither Harriet nor Allison would be helped by him forcing the matter till Allison was ready to consider it with Harriet’s interests as her primary concern. That Allison would eventually be able to do so he had no doubt. All that was required was a little patience.
Elska had heard about Harriet and about her parents’ different reactions to the situation too. She had read the crèche and the playgroup reports and was awaiting Allison’s request for an appointment. She considered it unlikely Brian would be there as he was clearly happy with his five girls, and she suspected Allison would seek an appointment without informing Brian of it.
It took longer than Elska had expected, but by the time Harriet was two and a half things had reached a head. After half an hour, during which Allison became more and more distraught and tearful explaining the situation to Elska, the conversation came to where Elska had known it would. “I would like you repsyche him to be happy as a boy, Elska. Surely it’s possible?”
“Indeed it is, but I’m not prepared to do it, Allison.”
“Why not? It’s not as if you can’t do it, and it would make everyone so much happier.”
“That is not true, Allison. You would be much happier, but no one else other than Harriet is unhappy, and you are the one making her unhappy. However, let me point out the ethics of the situation as seen from our perspective, and by our I mean The Tower community’s perspective not just mine. I have resequenced and repsyched any number of persons over the years, but I have only ever done what those persons requested unless the safety of our community was at stake which is not the case with Harriet.”
“Elska, his name is Harry!” Allison insisted.
“I visit all the educational facilities weekly, and talk to as many children as possible. I have been monitoring this situation for months, and your daughter calls herself Harriet, and her friends use Rita as a nickname which she is happy with. Yes, she is your child, but that does not give you the right to ride roughshod over her sense of self, nor does it give you the right to attempt to compromise my integrity.
“Now before this gets unnecessarily unpleasant. I suggest you calm down and take a look at the bigger picture. You have five children, are pregnant with your sixth and all are being educated here, so we have no outside establishment to consider. Your fourth is a trans girl and is deeply upset and confused by her male body. There is a simple solution to that: I resequence her to have the girl’s body she is desperate for. Everyone here including the children will accept her as Harriet, indeed all the children, including yours, already do. Naturally I shall provide appropriate documentation for her. You need to talk about it with Brian, but repsyching Harriet to be Harry is not an option, for if I were to do that there is a good chance she would grow to hate you for it. If any repsyching is to be done it’s you that needs it before your stress levels adversely affect your sixth daughter. You are an intelligent woman, Allison, but good parenting requires more than intelligence. You are a lucky woman to be married to Brian, for he loves you and your children, and he is as good a father as he is a husband. You had an impoverished childhood regarding family loving and you need to accept Brian’s guidance regarding your family. I suspect I understand why this bothers you so much, but I would like you to tell me, primarily because if you say it aloud it will be easier for you to deal with.”
Elska had been pouring soothers into Allison’s mind since the beginning of their talk and she was finally calming down. “I don’t understand it, and I should. It bothers me that Brian isn’t bothered by it. How can he be so calm about it? I’m supposed to be the clever one.”
“That is the key, Allison. Because you are so much more intelligent than Brian, you believe you should be better at everything than he. You can’t cope with this, yet he can, and you feel belittled by that, but why should you be? You have always admitted how much better he makes your life. You had a sterile intellectual childhood, and he gave you joy, yet you didn’t question his being better at providing life with fun than you. You were grateful for what he gave you, as he was for what you gave him. He is a naturally better parent that you. You need to concede that and learn from him. You handle your family’s finances better than he, but he learnt from you, and though he is still not as good at it as you he doesn’t feel threatened nor belittled by your abilities. He loves you and your girls, and all you have to do is the same. Talk to him, talk to Harriet as her mum. Take her shopping for girls’ clothes and let her choose what she wants to wear. When she comes to the infirmary for resequencing bring your entire family and Harriet’s favourite doll too.”
After another cup of tea, Allison left a much happier woman than the one who had arrived, but Elska was considering the repsyching she knew Allison was going to need as soon as she gave birth to her sixth daughter, for she had psychotic issues that would destroy both herself and her family if left untreated. Just how much Elska was going to tell her she was not yet sure, but she was sure not all would be done with prior consent, for consent after the event was always easier to obtain. It would be easiest, Elska considered, immediately after the birth once mother and child had settled, and along with the repsyching she’d do a little resequencing to make Allison prettier, for that was a significant part of Allison’s problems.
“I don’t believe it, Thorkill. I have been more likely to believe the world was going to end today before I’d have believed that Pierre was getting married.”
“Alex, don’t say things like that it’s not good for my heart. You have to be mistaken. Who told you that?”
“Edward.”
“You’re serious‽ Edward told you he was going to be marrying Pierre? Who to?”
“You remember that little nurse with the four boys, two girls and the grim history who joined us three years since?”
“I do. Matter of fact Elska told me she’d just passed all her exams and will be in blue on her next shift. She wants to turn her into a medic eventually.”
“Turns out Pierre is the father of her youngest, but he’d asked her to marry him long before they found out she was pregnant with his daughter. She refused and told him if he was still interested when she got her blue frock she’d say yes. Apparently she made him promise to keep it all a secret and the poor guy’s been chewing his own spleen over it for two and a half years. The engagement party is in the ballroom on Saturday and because he’s been faithful to her and kept his mouth shut she told him he can drink as much as he likes. Florence is going to be doing a full Towers number on the wedding.”
“Sounds like Saturday will be interesting. You going?”
“I’m not bloody missing it that’s for sure, or I won’t believe Pierre has actually got married.”
“I’ll keep you company, Alex.”
“Hypocrite.”
“No. I’ll keep you company. Glass for Glass.”
“I’ve just remembered why I work here.”
Sarah starts medic training.
Elska was trying to explain to her husband how the workings of her mind had evolved over the years. “It’s really difficult to explain, Thorkill, because there’s no one I can compare what I went through with.”
“Was it not similar for Siobhan?”
“Not really. Diego and Siobhan were both adults and she only had one changing consciousness to deal with and she was completely integrated and happy with her situation within one hormone cycle. Whereas Elena and Elska were children and Angus and Douglas were adults and I had three consciousnesses to integrate and it’s taken me nearly seventeen years for us to achieve that level of rapport and total integration, though I admit none of us were in a hurry. I used to have Angus deep in a separate part of my thoughts and Douglas was even deeper in Angus’ thoughts. I think we needed time to get used to each other and we enjoyed the process too much to rush it. All Angus’ experiences were those of a man, and though Douglas had never been a man, she was an adult. All Elska’s experiences were those of a female child. The part of Angus that had lived as a male needed to understand our female body and thoughts, but it was difficult because Angus had to view them through the lens of childhood. When Elska became a woman it was difficult for both of us.
“Like Elska Angus loved our periods starting, but for different reasons. For Angus it was a move towards greater femininity, but for Elska it was a move towards adulthood and you. Angus was as confused by our mood swings and what you called our raging hormones as Elska was. It was a difficult time for us. I’m really glad Elska was so obsessed with you because if she hadn’t been I think we could easily have become a slut jumping on anything and everything that wore trousers. We remember that night you first touched our breasts, the night of our first sexual experience with you. That was so gentle and wonderful and we fell asleep comparing notes. Our lives became so much better after that.
“The most glorious experience of Angus’ life was our wedding night. You ravished us, and we loved it. In the instant of losing our virginity, the pain tore away and rejected what little male memory Angus still suffered from, and that was the first time there was no Angus and no Elska, no us, there was just me, no longer a girl but at last a woman. In that instant, as Elena had become Elska, Angus and the Douglas within became Agnes. Every time we have made love Agnes and I have loved it and we became more and more accepting of each other and so more and more integrated with every experience. We loved being pregnant though the first time our changing body and emotions were difficult for both of us to understand or do I mean feel? I’m not sure, but after our first pregnancy at least we knew what to expect. We must have spent hundreds of hours just daydreaming as we felt the movements of the life we bore. There has never been an us when nursing any of the children, those too were always times of complete oneness.
“Now I’m no longer aware of Agnes as separate from Elska any more, probably because we have totally accepted each other and so we are me. The task of organising all those memories into one integrated consciousness was the last thing we did as separate thoughts before we integrated ourselves into me. I’m Agnes and Elena too now and it’s much more comfortable because Elska doesn’t have to dig for Agnes’ memories any more, they’re mine completely at the front of my mind just like Elena’s are and Elska’s always were. Agnes has always been completely female so can’t be separate from Elska and Elena. You could in one sense say Agnes and Elska are truly gone now, and in another sense they are both fully here. If there is any we left at all, and I’m not sure of that, we are all truly happy being me. That I go by the name Elska is purely a matter of convenience, for I could just as accurately be called Elena, Agnes or something else.
“What is interesting, and I do intend to tell Vish, but not till I understand it myself, is that as Agnes and I consciously integrated our memories all my memories as Elena returned. Most of the earlier ones are not pleasant, and Agnes explained she’d not been sure whether to delete, suppress or leave them. It was Vish who told Angus to delete them for our protection, which I’m sure was the right thing to do at the time. But I’m adult now and I’m glad they’ve returned, for though they are a part of Elena’s past, my past, I can now view them with objectivity and they in no way define me. I handle them similarly to the same way you explained you handle your pre-resequencing and pre repsyching history. I have improved on the way Angus repsyched us to be able to handle that sort of thing better and it is now a standard component of all resequencing and repsyching.” Elska chuckled before adding, “There are not many men who have the benefits of three women in their bed and still only have one mother in law are there?
Elska had had twin girls followed by three identical girls, another pair of girls, twin girls again and then finally to her delight twin boys, all delivered by Janice or Siobhan at The Towers. Then she’d decided to call a halt to pregnancy and nursing and resequenced herself to her former figure though she’d retained a slightly fuller bust and bottom because she thought they were more appropriate for a mum, and Thorkill enjoyed it too. However, the lure of motherhood had proved irresistible and she’d then carried non identical quads, two girls and two boys. She was still nursing the quads, but because she had come to the conclusion she enjoyed pregnancy and nursing she had no intention of curtailing her reproduction for the foreseeable future. However, motherhood for Elska was a mixed blessing. Her milk production had been more than adequate for her first daughters, but it had increased with each pregnancy and was now, despite her resequencing of eighteen months ago, in her opinion, ridiculous because the weight of her engorged breasts meant she had to lean backwards to stay upright. She was looking into why the resequencing had been overridden by her sixth pregnancy and how to control the situation, but in the meantime she’d been looking for anything that would help, and had thought a more substantial nursing bra may be the solution.
“Now do me a favour, Thorkill, fasten my bra for me please. This new one has six hooks. The blurb says,” Elska picked the box up off the bed and read, “The Mother be Comfy nursing brassière has wider padded shoulder straps and six hook and eye fastenings to ensure enhanced support for the busiest of today’s working mothers. The soft femininely styled fabrics incorporate just enough elastane to provide extra support for the conveniently fastening drop down…, blah, blah, blah. What a load of rubbish. All I want is something that stops my breasts pulling my nose to the floor, stops me hurting myself when I turn round too quickly and allows me to feed the babies without having to undress to the point where I’m freezing. Since standing up I can’t reach to fasten it with my breasts this size without risking falling over and you’re not always available a velcro front fastener would have been more useful. Is it too much to ask for? I spent hours trawling the internet last week and this is the best compromise I could find. Maybe we should start a factory making nursing bras based on what women actually want. Know what? I’m going to look into that, because I’m sure most women wouldn’t care what it cost if it delivered. For sure I wouldn’t.”
Thorkill worked away at her bra and eventually said, “There you are, try that. Tell me if I’ve adjusted the shoulder straps too tight and I’ll try again. If you’re serious about producing nursing bras you could get Geneviève to look into its financial viability. Probably the best way to go about it would be to buy up an existing producer and have them make what you want as another line, and even if it’s a non starter you could have some custom made to your requirements, and for the staff too.”
“I’ll have Geneviève make enquiries about bra factories, but I’ll bet most like knickers are made in the Far East. Thank you for fastening and adjusting this one, it does actually feel comfortable.” Elska ran her fingers under the straps over her shoulders. “No, they’re just right. Would you like to settle me into the cups?”
Thorkill turned Elska to face him, and as he caressed her breasts he said, “These opening fronts are convenient aren’t they? This is a much bigger job than it was when you used to wear those quarter cup bras.”
Elska sighed, “I’ll not get into those again for sometime. Not with these balloons on my chest. I’ve a bigger udder than some of the Jerseys and I swear a higher milk yield too, and I really don’t want to resequence myself at the moment because I’m sure the babies would know, and frightening them is the last thing I want to do. Still they are made in bigger sizes. I’ll look into it when the babies are weaned, some butterfly knickers too. I’m sure someone must make them for women with wider bottoms than they had as teenagers. Then again maybe we could make those too. You always did like those. What was it you used to say they gave me? Oh yes, I remember. Rapid access charms, and you said I had a nice rac. That was the first time I realised you had dirty thoughts. A nursing bra and a pair of those must constitute the basic wardrobe for a wanting wanton. After all you’re far too young to be retiring from the ravishing business, and I’d like to be still considered ravishable if not actually ravishing. Oh hell! Look what you’ve done now, Thorkill. Don’t just stand there laughing at me. Pass me my pump.”
Thorkill’s settling her into the cups, a play phrase Elska had coined long before Thorkill had ever touched her breasts and they’d used ever since, had stimulated Elska’s milk to let down and she was clutching a bath robe to her breasts to soak up the milk which before she’d grabbed the robe had sprayed on to her dressing table and was already running down the mirror. Elska sat down on their bed and Thorkill turned her breast pump on and passed her the receptacles. Elska had barely started when Thorkill announced, “I just heard your other pumps starting up, Love. They’ll be awakening now. Will they need changing, or do you want to feed them first?”
“You go, Thorkill. I know you’re busy. Ask Isabelle to come and help me will you. By the time you’re back we’ll have everything under control, or at least Isabelle and Vish will. Vish’ll probably be grateful if I offer to nurse Vlad whilst she changes the boys. That way she’ll have enough milk for him last thing tonight and they’ll get some sleep. God knows, I’ll be grateful for the exchange.” She smiled and said, “Funny the way it works isn’t it? Once she was the mum I needed and I was the child she needed, and now we’re the sisters we both need. Djuvec was the granddad I needed and now Stefan is my brother and the husband my sister needs.”
“Yes and I was the uncle Elena needed and now I’m your ravisher, and just for the record you are exceedingly ravishing and I do hope ravishable. Is ravishable a word do you think?”
Elska laught and repeated his words of years ago, “I doubt it, it sounds like you just made it up, but it does seem right in the context. As soon as I’ve nursed the babies I’ll go and look in on Justine. I don’t expect to have to do anything, because all her physical damage has been repaired and she’s stable now, but it was touch and go after that level of limb loss and other damage. She was lucky that Geoff managed to get her here in time before the brainstem damage closed her down entirely, and even luckier that we had her DNA profile on record because that bought her thirty minutes. I’ll give Siobhan a few hours break and check up on her pregnancy while I’m at it. I’ll be back for dinner at eight. I’ll tell the kitchens because I’d like to eat here. Now go. You have things to do, and I don’t want Alexandre blaming me if you don’t get them done.”
They were both laughing and thinking of events past as Thorkill left. Thorkill, after all these years, had learnt the logic underlying the way Elska used names and pronouns and used them that way himself. Though John had become Justine, Justine was female and always had been and thus John had to be referred to as she, and her and hers were the proper words to use.
Elska wasn’t worried about Justine, for John had entered resequencing in time, if only just in time. All her physical damage had been repaired, and once her new skin had matured she would be in better physical condition than ever before. Geoff had been able to give Elska little information other than, “Last year, our backs were up against the wall just over the Syrian border. We were having a somewhat morbid conversation about reincarnation as we were preparing to shoot our way out. We were expecting to take heavy casualties, and Jake, John’s buddy, told me that some while since John told him that if he ever came back again he’d prefer to be female. We got lucky. An air strike gave us cover and we all survived unhurt, but I never forgot what Jake said. Unlucky bastard bought it this time with Gabby too.” Elska had resequenced Justine as a median, West European female and would await Justine’s awakening from the medical repairs for further instructions. She would give Justine whatever she wanted, but what had been of most interest to her had been Geoff’s off hand remark, “John always wanted to be a doctor, but because of his parent’s poverty he ended up as a merc. Odd really! A guy who wanted to save lives ended up as a merc, and he was good at it, Elska, one of the best. Do what you can for him will you? He deserves it.” It looked like she may have another medic and sequencer, but she wondered why all five of them were women, or was that just coincidence?
Isabelle was now twenty-eight and three months pregnant with her third child. She took one look at the situation, heard the babies crying and, after eight years of associating with the team, said, “Reinforcements. We need reinforcements, Elska.” She picked up the phone and asked for a pot of tea, a maid with a bucket of warm water with some cloths and a bottle of disinfectant and four nannies. Elska with great relief left Isabelle to it and continued with her pump.
Annie the maid arrived within the minute with her equipment and Isabelle asked her to sort out Elska’s dressing table and anything else that needed her attention. Annie who was in her early fifties and a shift supervisor smiled and said, “It’s all part of the joys of motherhood, Elska. It’s actually one of the best things about becoming a grandmother, all the pleasures and none of the personal inconveniences.” As she packed up her cleaning materials she added, “I’ll take these away and return for your robe and clothes and drop them off at the laundry for you, Elska.”
Isabelle laid out some fresh clothes and said, “Thank you, Annie.”
Elska thanked Annie and said, “Thank you too, Isabelle. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
“You’d live like a pig. Your office, infirmary and labs would be as neat as a new pin, but you’d live in chaos and never catch up with yourself, and Man Mountain is a slob and no better, so you’d get no help there.”
Elska smiled, and she could hear Annie laughing as she left, for, to most of the domestic staff’s amusement, Isabelle bullied Thorkill, whom she called Man Mountain to his face, and herself as mercilessly as she bullied Matthew, who loved it, but the truth was she was a born organiser and right. “I’ll finish my tea, shower and dress. Is there anything I need to do before I go to the infirmary?”
“Yes. I’ll give Viivishkava the milk you’ve pumped, but you need to nurse the little ones before you go and I’ll have them taken to the crèche after that. I’ll deal with your children as well as mine till you’re back. They can eat early with us. It’ll be no problem because Georgina and Phil are eating with us with their two. Mum and Dad are joining us, so Dad can deal with the older girls by taking them for a walk to see his bees and the ducks. I’ll collect a bag of bread for them on way way home from the kitchens. I’ll get someone else to deal with the cut flowers Matthew delivered which was what I was doing. Siobhan rang to say the monitors indicate Justine will be coming round in about an hour maybe two. She sounded tired. She needs a rest.” Isabelle sound disapproving, almost accusatory.
“I know, but Kristiana, Janice, Sarah and I want to cover some of her load, but she won’t hear of it. Said we’d all got young children that needed us and when she had too she’d think about it. Kristiana turned up early the day before yesterday and when she suggested Siobhan left early Siobhan pushed her back out through the door.” Elska shrugged. “We can only do so much.”
When Elska arrived at the infirmary, Siobhan looked exhausted, but Elska knew better than to remark on it and asked, “How are you and young Lev?”
“Lev’s probably in better shape than I am. At least his feet don’t hurt and he doesn’t have to change his breast pads every twenty minutes. Other than that I’m fine.”
“I know what you mean. Thorkill barely touched me when he was adjusting my new nursing bra when I was dressing an hour ago and the next thing I knew I’d covered my dressing table with milk from half way across the bedroom.”
“Wonderful! So there are things to look forward to besides changing nappies.”
“Don’t be cynical, Siobhan, it really isn’t you. Go for some tea. I’ll watch the monitors for a while, but I’d appreciate it if you were available when Justine comes round. She’ll be badly disoriented and probably distressed too. When Kristiana arrives I’ll check you over because you’re getting close.”
“I wanted this baby so badly, Elska, and after all those disappointments month after month and you saying there was nothing wrong I was so happy when it finally happened. I really did enjoy being pregnant for the first six months, but now I’ll just be grateful when it’s over. Lev says I look really sexy, but despite craving sex and maple syrup pancakes, not at the same time I hasten to add, I don’t feel sexy at all.”
“I don’t know who to feel sorry for. In my last six weeks with the babies I went off sex all together and was going through four large junk food Black Forest Gateaux a week. Go for you tea, Siobhan. Why don’t you talk to Vish? She’s not got enough milk for Vlad, but he won’t take formula, so she and Stefan are running short on sleep because he’s hungry at night. If you nurse Vlad in the day or pump some for him which is what I usually do she’ll have enough to nurse him last thing so he’ll sleep through the night. In return she’ll do something to get you off your feet. Ask her. She helps me that way, but Vlad needs more milk, and she’s not responding quickly to the prolactin treatment. I give Vlad what I can, but the others still want nursing for comfort too.” Elska watched the monitors as Justine came nearer and nearer to consciousness. Siobhan returned with a tray of tea things and they both watched the monitors as they drank their tea. “Nice. Similar to Vish’s blend. It’s elderflower, but what’s the other taste?”
“It is still honeysuckle, and our own flowers. Matthew still grows then for Viivishkava and she gave me some ready dried, but I think it’s a different variety this time. You’ve not had this blend before. If you ask for Viivishkava’s blend this is what the Orangery will give you now. I suspect the usual variety didn’t grow too well this year. I’ll ask Matthew.”
As Justine started to focus they could see the panic on her face. “It’s all right. You’re safe. You’re with friends. I’m Elska and this is Siobhan. We’re medics. You were hurt, and Geoff brought you here. This is a small private infirmary at The Towers that specialises in working with mercs. You’re safe and with friends. Relax. Would you like to sit up and have a few sips of tea? Your mouth will be dry. Let us help you. This is a merc base with two hundred mercs stationed here. Thorkill is in command. You are safe with friends, with mercs. Nod if you understand.” The barest of nods followed. “Would you like to sit up?” Another nod. Siobhan elevated the head of the sophisticated hospital bed. “Tea? Would you like some tea?” Another nod. For the next two hours, Justine drifted in and out of consciousness sipping tea from time to time. She was never left alone and one of the two women kept reassuring her. You’re with mercs was the key phrase that seemed to reassure her most.
Eventually she asked, “Where am I?”
“In northern England in a small private hospital for mercs. Geoff brought you to us.”
“What happened?”
“You were on patrol and ambushed. You were badly hurt. You’ve been here a month.”
“I don’t feel right. My legs? Will I be able to walk?”
“Yes. You are in fine shape. Everything works just as it should.”
“My head feels funny and my eyes are blurry.”
“Drink this it will help to clear you head.” In a few minutes Justine was asleep. “She’ll be out for twelve hours. You go home, Siobhan. I’ll check you over tomorrow. You need sleep, not me messing you about. Don’t forget to talk to Vish. Kristiana will be here in twenty minutes, maybe half an hour. I’ll go then and Sarah will take over at six tomorrow morning. I’ll return if she rings me.” Siobhan left, and half an hour later after bringing Kristiana up to date with events so did Elska. Sarah arrived at six, and Elska came in feeling fresh at nine.
“She’s not being held under, Elska, the relaxant you gave her has worn off and she’s sleeping naturally now.”
“Good. You get breakfast and some sleep, Sarah. I’ll manage.”
“Thanks. I’ll be back at ten this evening. How’s Siobhan?”
“Exhausted, but you know how she is.” Sarah just nodded.
When Justine awoke the instant of panic was replaced by questions
“Where am I? What happened? Why do I feel so different?”
“Take it slowly. You’ve already had answers to those questions, but you’d been so badly hurt that I expected you to forget. You may forget again, but then one of us will tell you again. I suggest you listen and ask questions at the end, okay?”
“Okay.”
“You were ambushed. You were badly hurt. Geoff got you here just in time. You are at The Towers hospital. Amongst other things this is a merc base commanded by Thorkill. Okay so far?”
“Yes. I’ve been here before when there was some trouble with the Colombians. Who are you?”
“I’m Elska, Thorkill’s wife. I run the infirmary with Siobhan, Kristiana, Janice and Sarah. You’ve been here a month and we have stabilised your medical condition and done some preliminary work for you. Now I need to ask some questions in order to finish that, but we need to know what you want. Geoff said if it came to it you would have preferred to be female and had wanted to be a doctor. Is that right?”
Justine blushed and said “Yes, How did he know?”
“I have no idea. Now don’t panic, but as part of your preliminary treatment you are now female. Check. That’s probably why you thought you felt funny.”
Elska could see Justine’s hands moving under the cover to check her chest and then below her waist. “How is this possible in a month?”
“It’s a secret DNA manipulation technique, not done by surgery. It can be done much more rapidly than it was for you, but we prefer a slower change which is less stressful to the body and allows us to control the nutrition the body needs more precisely. It’s known only to us, and only available at this level to mercs and our employees. It’s reversible and if you are not the woman you wanted to be we can change that. You are currently a median West European woman of about twenty with all of our default parameters. Do you wish to remain a woman?”
“Yes.”
“Do you have any idea what you want to look like?”
“Yes.”
“Give me a moment. I’ll fetch a remote and you can see images of women and we can tailor them to how you see yourself and then the remote can program the sequencer tomorrow and you are done for today.” A moment later Elska was back with a screen that shewed a high resolution image of a naked woman from the front, side and rear with a height scale at the side. “This is you exactly as you are. What would you like to change? Let’s start with the obvious, age and height.”
“Twenty is fine. Just under five feet. She has no pubic hair, why?”
“Just a moment, Justine.” The woman on the screen stayed the same size but the scale stretched to indicate she was now four foot eleven and three-quarters. “She has no pubic or any other body hair because that is the default. You don’t at the moment. Would you like me to change that?”
“No. What did you call me?”
“Justine. We couldn’t call you John, or ask you what you preferred to be called, so we gave you a name. You can change it if you want. It’s your name not ours.”
“No. I like it. What else can I change?”
“Anything you like. What kind of body shape would you like?”
“Slender, very slender, lissome, just enough bosom, bottom and hips to be unmistakeably female.” Justine watched as the woman on the screen morphed towards her preferred image. “That’s fine. She’s beautiful.”
“Yes. You will be. What else, hair, eyes, face?”
“What are my choices?”
“Anything you like.”
“Dark brunette, very dark. Thinner face, narrower nose, lips not as developed as hers. Can I have turquoise eyes?”
Elska didn’t reply, she didn’t have to. The image was now of a very dark brunette with turquoise eyes. “May I try a facial type that I think you’ll like? It commits you to nothing.”
Justine nodded and a thin aquiline Celtic looking face appeared. “That’s perfect. How did you know?”
“It occurred to me that you were tending in the direction of a classic if not particularly common Welsh look. The turquoise eyes are from a princess in a Welsh legend are they not?” Justine nodded. “So I completed it for you. If there is anything else you would like we can do it later, or is there something else you want now?” Justine shook her head. “Would you like me to set this in motion tomorrow? You are over the worst and four maybe five days of bed rest and that will be you, but you need to rest whilst your damaged chest muscles finish healing and your new skin matures. Would you like something to help you sleep?”
“Yes to my body change tomorrow please, but no thank you for any sleepies. I’m so tired I won’t need help.”
The following morning Kristiana and Siobhan were changing the dressings on Justine’s legs whilst she was barely awake. “Good morning, Justine. I’m Kristiana and my colleague is Siobhan. We’ll be finished changing your dressings in a minute. Just your legs to do. I’ll raise your head a bit. How do you feel?”
“Thank you. I wish I knew how I am, because everything feels different. The other woman,” Justine struggled to remember, “Thorkill’s wife said that would be because I’m a woman now, but I ache everywhere a bit. Not hurt, just ache.”
Siobhan said, “That was Elska. She’s head of all health care and the beauty spa. Kristiana and I mostly work in the infirmary with Sarah who is still in training, and Janice who you’ve not met yet works here a couple of shifts a week too. Nearly done. I can give you something for the aches, but suspect your muscles need gentle exercise, but not for a few days. Okay?”
“Okay. I’m not in pain, so I’ll live with it.”
“Just your tampon and we’re done. Just relax your legs and hips.”
Justine felt a pulling from within, and screamed in terror, “Stop! For God’s sake what are you doing? It feels like your going to pull my insides out.”
“I’m so sorry, Justine. I forgot this is all new to you. Just relax. You are now a woman and are menstruating,” Siobhan saw the incomprehension on Justine’s face, “You’re having a period. You understand?”
“Yes,” Justine replied firmly but with a puzzled look on her face.
“My apologies again. I should have known better, for I was a man once and had to get used to things as a woman too. Your tampon needs to be changed. That’s what you felt pulling. Give me your hand.” Siobhan guided Justine’s hand, “Can you feel the string? This type has a small knot at the end of a double string.” Justine nodded, “Okay. You do it. Pull gently in the direction of my hand. Don’t hurry, a gentle and steady pull okay? I’ll keep your hand in place so you’re pulling in the right direction. That’s it. It’s out.”
Kristiana removed a paper towel from between Justine’s legs and said, “I’ll just freshen you up. You’ll need to learn about feminine hygiene, but we have some excellent DVDs on that and many other things too you can watch when you have the energy. There’s a set of eighteen DVDs called On Being a Woman all produced by women like yourself who were once men. They cover every aspect of womanhood from babyhood to being a grandmother and are so good girls and women who were born as girls watch them too and think highly of them. You’ll get bored for the few days before you can get up and they’ll help pass the time usefully.” Justine was aware of totally unfamiliar sensations as Kristiana freshened her up. “You need another tampon. Would you like to do it yourself or me to do it for you?”
“I’d like to try. What do I do?”
Siobhan reached for a bowl behind her which had warm water in it. She put the bowl at the side of the bed with a container of hand wash and a towel. “First wash and dry your hands. It’s easy to pick up infections. A woman’s urethra is much shorter than a man’s so germs have nowhere near as far to go to reach your bladder. I doubt there’s a woman alive who hasn’t suffered from cystitis at sometime and it hurts, a burning sensation when you pass water. Little girls are taught to wipe their bottoms from front to back to avoid any such contamination. There’s a DVD on it.” After Justine had dried her hands Siobhan handed her a tampon from a box on the bedside cabinet. “Check the wrapper is intact. If it isn’t throw it away and use one you know is sterile. Remove the wrapper, the paper is easy to tear, ease the string aside and hold the grip. See the ridges? I use my middle finger and thumb to hold the grip and press the plunger with my forefinger, like this,” Siobhan indicated by showing Justine her hand holding a tampon with her forefinger moving up and down, “but do what is easiest for you. Practise with that one first and then I’ll give you another to use. That’s it. The tampon itself is pushed down the barrel and the string follows it. You can use a little water soluble lubricant to help insertion, but for most women it’s not necessary. The DVD on the subject covers every type and make of menstrual product on the market, but these are of a light absorbancy which is all you will need. Elska’s sequencing has seen to that. There are dozens of ways women insert tampons, sitting down, standing up, squatting, foot on the edge of the bath, the loo, bed or anything else convenient, but the one thing they all have in common is they are aiming for the small of their backs. That puts it at the top of the vagina where most are unaware of it. If you can feel it it’s probably not gone far enough, so just push it the rest of the way with your finger. Never use one for more than eight hours, so always use a fresh one when you go to bed, and change it when you get up. To remove one just pull gently away from the small of your back as you just did. Ready?”
“Yes.” Justine held her hand out for another tampon and asked, “May I sit up?”
“I’d rather you didn’t. I’ll raise the head of the bed a bit more for you. Just aim for the small of your back. Would you like a mirror so you can see what you are doing?”
“Please.”
Siobhan advised, “Separate your labia till you can see your vaginal opening and insert the barrel. Then slide it in and press the plunger. If there’s any resistance you’re pushing at the wrong angle. Sorry to sound so clinical, but most women can do it on auto pilot in less than two seconds. You’ll get there too.”
With the bed head raised and holding the mirror Justine stared at herself with a pinkish glow on her face. John had never been a Lothario, but he’d been a good looking single man in superb physical condition who looked no where near his age, and as a result had seen a goodly number of female genitalia. But this was different, for this was herself she was looking at. As she looked at the mirror the first thing she noticed was her inner labia were completely hidden. All she could see was a central demarcation line down the middle of the space between her legs. It didn’t even look like a cleft and she worried the process had not been successful. Deep in thought she was startled to hear Siobhan say, “It’s okay, Justine. If it worries you and you want some help that’s what we’re here for.”
“Has it worked? I don’t seem to look like a woman.”
“Yes it has worked as you will see if you separate yourself. Resequencing, like any other process, has to have parameters to work to, and the default parameters we use give women quite small labia, both minora and majora, clitorises and clitoral hoods since most women prefer them to be completely enclosed these days. We’ve resequenced hundreds of women born women to look this way at their request, though you could have your genitalia any size you like. The original default parameters provided the same number of nerve endings regardless of genitalia size and some claimed to have heightened sensitivity after such resequencing due to the greater density of the nerve endings. The default parameters we now use give a much greater density of nerve endings which guarantee a more satisfying love life.” Embarrassed and uncertain Justine separated herself and altered the mirror angle so she could see better, and for the first time she noticed the intricate details and just how a woman, this time herself, was formed. “Would you like some help?”
“No. I want to try myself, but what is the thing connected to me I can see?”
“That is a catheter draining your bladder. We’ll leave it another day or two, okay? You’re not ready to use a bedpan or a commode yet. Your vagina is the larger opening below the catheter. Don’t worry. You can’t disturb the catheter.”
Justine did as she’d been instructed and slid the barrel towards the small of her back, “Do I press the plunger now?
“No. Push the barrel all the way till your fingers holding the grip can’t go any further then press the plunger. Good that’s it. Now remove the barrel and plunger and you’re done.”
“That was easy. Thank you for the advice. What about the string?”
“You won’t be aware of it. Leave it loose in your knickers when you’re wearing some. Many women when swimming tuck it up between their labia or even into their vagina. It can’t get lost. The sequencer program details that normally go with the choices you made yesterday are such that when your resequencing is complete your labia will be even smaller, too small to surround the string. That normally goes with the body type you selected, but as I said you could have that sequenced differently if you wish, so in the meanwhile push it in if you’re bothered. It’s perfectly safe to use your fingers to pull it out. Years ago tampons weren’t as well made as they are now and occasionally the string pulled off. Women just used their fingers to remove the tampon, but I’ve never known anyone who that has happened to, though I know one or two who told me it had happened to their mum. The DVD shews a make of tampons made without strings but I’ve never come across them. However, there’re numerous types that come without applicators, just the tampon and string with no barrel or plunger They’re shewn on the DVD too. Are you tired?”
“No, but I’m hungry.”
“I’ll have breakfast delivered. If you’re up to it I’ll bring some of those DVDs, put them in the auto changer and give you a remote.”
“Thank you.”
It was Elska who brought the DVDs. She noted the amount of food left on Justine’s tray which indicated tissue growth was complete. “Did you have enough to eat?”
“Thank you yes. I’d have eaten three or four times that breakfast once. I don’t think I’ve ever left part of a piece of toast in my life, but I was completely full.”
“I’ll take the tray away, but leave the fruit juice. It’s important you drink enough as your new skin and tissues mature because though the process we use produces skin which is ultimately identical to natural skin the immature skin is like that of a foetus and loses a lot more water when exposed to air than immature skin formed by the conventional process. Our process ultimately produces better, more elastic skin which does not tear, but it is softer and vulnerable before it matures which can lead to dehydration which will damage it. Even with the dressings, which as well as protecting your new skin whilst it is vulnerable slow water loss down, you’ll need to drink a lot of fluids for the next week. We planned on removing your catheter tomorrow, but I do not want you not drinking because you are embarrassed about using a bedpan or the commode, so if that bothers you we can leave the catheter in for a few more days. What would you prefer us to do?”
“Remove the catheter as soon as possible. I’ll live with the embarrassment.”
“I thought you’d say that, Justine, because I’ve been told you are adjusting to being a woman much faster than most. Siobhan and Kristiana were impressed by your calm wish to learn how to deal with your period yourself. Most women in your situation initially find the situation a little traumatic. One of these DVDs is on contraception. It’s very simplistic, for it was produced for young girls, but you may find it of some value. As soon as I find out who has the one produced for women in your position, I’ll fetch it for you to view, or I’ll have another copy made available. I’d like to finish your resequencing this afternoon, because the sooner we start the sooner we get you out of here and you can get on with your life. Are you in agreement to start?”
“Yes. Please. Do you know anything about my mates?”
“I’m afraid you’ll have to ask Geoff when he comes to see you. But I believe he’s a bit busy at the moment extracting retribution. I was told he took that ambush rather personally. I do however have one more question for you to think about. I told you Geoff told me you’d said you’d wanted to be a doctor. It is possible to train here. You would be paid as a medic during your training, incur no debt and of course it would provide you with a free home. In three years you would be fully qualified to intern anywhere. We have techniques that would enable you to learn vast amounts quickly and an arrangement with a teaching hospital for examinations and certification. You would end up with an internationally recognised degree. However, I always want medics, but appropriate persons are rare. I’m expanding our activities helping hurt mercs and I want to help regulars too. Particularly those with post traumatic stress. I want to open another hospital for regulars, but I don’t yet have enough staff. I need persons who understand, and would prefer ex mercs. Siobhan and Kristiana are not nurses. They’re fully qualified doctors with a lot of additional skills and knowledge unavailable elsewhere, and both were originally mercs. Janice was a nurse and a midwife originally not a merc, but is also a fully qualified medic, but she has other rôles too. Sarah originally trained as a nurse here, but has now nearly finished her training as a medic.
“You would be ideal from our point of view to join us. If you decided to join us you too would also be fully trained in our advanced techniques, like our skin growth process, resequencing and repsyching, which are available nowhere else. Most of our personnel choose to live here, it’s not obligatory, and we own a lot of property nearby which many live in. You could chose one which like living here would be free, but if you married and had a family, there are many advantages to living here, not least there is the convenience of living closer to the crèche, the preschool play group and the primary school. We have childcare available for children from birth to adult around the clock every day of the year so as to enable our staff to help in the event of any possible situation knowing their children are safe. We have just started our own secondary school which is set to expand in the near future. It takes children from our neighbouring villages too. The Towers is a moderate sized community of about three and a half thousand and our population is steadily growing. There are over four hundred families living on the estate, about half of them here at the house and a few hundred others too. There are three dozen or so women like you who were once men and a couple of men who were originally women. Everyone is supportive of everyone else. It’s a good place to live. Please think about it.”
“I don’t need to think about it. I want it, but I have obligations to Geoff. Contractual as well as personal obligations, and I’m not willing to renege on either, so it may be a while before I can be available. I have eighteen months to run on my contract with Geoff.”
“Geoff has obligations to us too. He told me to do what we could for you because he said you deserved the best. He’ll be more than happy to release you to us as a medic just in case any more of his corps require our services. I’ll ask Thomas who manages communications to get in touch with him and arrange for you to talk to Geoff yourself. You rest. I have things to do to in preparation for you becoming like your image of yourself. Tea?”
“Not if it tastes like that last one you gave me.”
“That had something in it for your mouth. I like Earl Grey and herbal teas. I’d never put something in any of of those.”
“Lapsang? Any chance?”
“Certainly. I’ll have it made.”
“When the tea arrived Justine took a cup and saucer and asked, “Why am I left handed? I don’t mind, but I wasn’t.”
“I’ve no idea. Would you like me to alter that? Being right handed is often more convenient.”
“No. I think I like the idea. I just wondered.”
Elska knew why. John had only had a stump of a left arm when he’d arrived. He’d had it blown off just below the elbow. He’d lost his right arm from above the elbow and both legs from above the knees. Over the years Elska had regrown the limbs of a number of severely hurt mercs by resequencing, though none had been as badly hurt as John, and had discovered it was faster and easier on the patient if she worked with what they had. Once physically restored to health trivial matters like handedness were easily managed. Elska knew that Jake and Gabby, members of Geoff’s corps, had been killed in the ambush that had so nearly killed Justine, but it wouldn’t help Justine to know that for a while. Grief was an impediment to healing. Elska and her medics were not going to tell Justine that John had lost three and a half limbs, suffered massive brain damage and much internal organ damage too. That also would be left to Geoff to tell her, when she was ready to hear it.
Five days later Justine was who she’d wanted to be and chafing to leave her bed for some exercise. Elska knew the only way to convince her she wasn’t ready for much activity was to let her find out for herself. “I can arrange a couple of big men to prevent you falling, so would you like to try a short walk this afternoon?”
“Yes. I want to get dressed please.” She flushed before continuing, “I’ve got to get used to dressing and looking like a woman. I’ve been provided with some clothes from the commissariat and Geneviève and the other women who came for a chat said they’d help me with internet shopping and buying make up.”
“If what you really want to do is start being a woman rather than exercising I’m not so bothered. You don’t need to be in bed so much as resting, so you could try new clothes on and be resting whilst gossiping with some of the off duty staff and mums in the Orangery. It’s a huge conservatory that’s been completely restored and enlarged. A lot of its original Victorian citrus trees are still highly productive, and the gardeners have been busy restoring it to its former glory with new trees too of many different varieties many of which didn’t exist when it was originally built. It’s a café of sorts next to the crèche and is used as a social place mostly by women. The smell of the flowers is heavenly, unique, and it’s there all year round. I go there sometimes to escape the male dominated world of Thorkill and the mercs. I don’t want you over exerting yourself, but can appreciate that your anxiety is pushing you to get the initial hurdles over and done with, and it would be good for you to spend time with other women. You can do some online clothes shopping in the Orangery if you like, and I’m sure you’ll get more than enough advice there. If you like I’ll book you an appointment with Vivienne to have your hair done. She’s always busy and it would normally be three days at least, but if I can I’ll see if I can persuade someone to do you a favour.”
“You have a hair dresser here‽”
“Yes. Vivienne is Alexandre’s wife. He’s Thorkill’s number two. She used to work in the crèche too, but doesn’t have the time any more. She’s looking for either an assistant or an apprentice to help in the salon. We have hairdressers and beauty therapists in both the beauty spas, but for security reasons Vivienne doesn’t want them working over here. She can advise you about make up too and show you how to order what you want online. With your eyes you’ll maybe need some expert advice to start with.”
“Yes I’d like to have my hair done properly. Thank you.”
“I’ll ask Hannah to see you about your nails too. That should take your mind off too much exercise and get the girly stuff sorted first.”
“A manicurist too‽ Is that the right word?”
“I don’t know about the word. It’s probably what I would say, but no. Hannah is a merc who does nails for fun. She does toenails too. I’ll ask her to do yours.”
Elska suddenly thought with a mischievous smile perhaps a bit of exercise would be no bad thing for Justine. Sven was a big man, he’d dated three small brunettes, but their relationships had faded and it was rumoured he was seriously looking for a wife with whom to start a family. Justine would look good in leathers and would be so light she wouldn’t slow his FTL Nortons down by much. Sven, Edward and Pierre regarded the FTLs, their affectionate nickname derived from faster than light, as a challenge, and had uprated their power, speed and handling characteristics several times over the years and refused to even consider they had reached the limit. Sven had helped in the hospital before and was a kind and empathic man. Okay he was forty-two, but he didn’t look it and anyway that was resequenceable. She had an introduction to make, and some repsyching to consider to go with Justine’s resequencing. Sven’s attentions would doubtless help to distract Justine from the inevitable grief that would soon arrive.
In the meanwhile Elska had forty-five clients in the beauty spa building in for various non-surgical treatments to deal with, eleven male tattoo or scar removals, twelve male hair loss restorations, six female breast augmentations, a female weight loss and surplus skin reduction, a female bad case of eczema and fourteen other female patients, mostly wishing gray hair reversal and skin rejuvenation. All twenty-two of the women also wanted stretch mark removal, menstrual regulation, body hair and cellulite elimination, and four required tattoo removal. All forty-five were day care cases and would be paying over half a million amongst them. The money was irrelevant, but they all had considerable political influence and henceforth would be active lobbyists for The Towers. Many of the women would be back as they aged for further beauty treatments, and treatment for alleviation of menopausal problems too. To make it convincing and safe a lot of what such clients experienced was just pampering they could get at every other beauty salon and spa anywhere in the world. Even most of the staff in the beauty clinic had no idea of Elska’s real work and considered they were part of an industry designed to separate the wealthy from their money. She had treated thousands of such clients over the years, had a very long waiting list, and it was only in exceptional cases, where a client was particularly useful to the business, she was prepared to enhance longevity, which none were aware was possible even after it had been done. From time to time, clients booked in for several days had wanted to leave early in order for outsiders to analyse cream residues and their blood, but the creams were placebo and their blood shewed nothing. Also unknown to most Elska had ways of enforcing discretion in any she had treated beyond the beauty treatments, and as result of repsyching none remembered any details of such treatment or even having had it. In a very small number of cases dental work was undertaken, usually new teeth grown in overnight during sleep replacing already repaired teeth that the patient would not be aware of. Even more rarely were missing teeth grown in. In both cases repsyching was applied to enable the patient to believe their teeth had always been thus.
Elska’s salon, spa and surgery for locals were unavailable to the wealthy and powerful and restricted to those living within easy distance of property owned by The Towers. Those with a relative who was a Towers employee or related to someone who had dealings with The Towers were given priority. But many locals who had no such connection were accepted. As Isabelle had suspected it enhanced the way The Towers was considered locally. No longer just respected The Towers was now regarded with admiration and a certain fondness too. Also as anticipated Geneviève was able to target her recruitment amongst locals though that process was also considerably aided by the secondary school which virtually all local children now attended. Tessa, thirteen and blossoming, had started helping at the infirmary and at her request, with her parents’ approval, was now following a syllabus at school, and being helped in every other way possible, designed to assist her to become a medic in the minimum time possible. She was on kissing terms with Brendan a highly intelligent seventeen year old about to sit his A’ levels at The Towers. Brendan was an apprentice to Pierre, and training in all the other skills a merc needed. Elska’s educational philosophy was beginning to pay off.
Sarah finishes her training as a medic.
The process of protecting staff and the organisation had begun years ago and was still regularly discussed by the Council both at the individual staff member level and at the organisation level. Stefan now worked closely with Jorge and a team of a twenty-odd legal specialists though much of what they did was illegal. Jorge was twenty-eight but had been a Enrique a sixty-five year old electronics engineer. Enrique had officially retired and gone to live in Spain where after spending a month to establish a presence he’d been resequenced and Jorge had returned home to the Towers. Jorge’s paperwork shewed he had started work at the towers several months before Enrique retired. The legal team were a combination of multi-national legal experts and intelligence gatherers. The latter were mostly gatherers of cyber data but some were essentially spies whose activities were greatly assisted by the resequencing facilities.
The company had a thriving business treating regulars from all over the world all paid for by their governments. Mercs were different, they were extended family and nothing was too good for them at zero cost, and their image was becoming better. There was some talk of redefining mercenaries at an international level and legitimising their activities subject to regulation which it was realised merc corps commanders would have to be involved in. Most, merc and regular alike, were subject to involuntary discretion, but all were aware that The Towers was the hospital for hurt soldiers and that it could do wonders for the injured. Mercs were also aware it was the place to go for those requiring a new identity.
Many governments, especially that of the UK, had wanted to learn the secrets of The Towers, and had tried by overt and covert means to do so. However, Douglas’ early skills of intelligence gathering and subsequent blackmail had ensured privacy, and large numbers of The Towers staff could recognise the characteristic telltale psyche of spies. Some had simply been escorted off the premises whilst others had been repsyched in various ways, including memory adjustment and a few had disappeared to be placed as baby girls with the adoption agency. Four had been placed directly with Kristiana and Elise with DNA and paper work evidencing them as having been born to the two women. There was no pattern to the way in which they had been dealt with. There had been a few politicians and civil servants who had tried to bluff The Towers with legal threats into disclosure. Their discreditable secrets had been made public with no trace as to who had done so. Equally untraceable had been the misinformation made public over the internet that had traduced their reputations to the point where they’d had to resign. “After all, Thorkill, if you make war on mercs even if you’ve overwhelming superiority of numbers you still need to be thinking about the quality of your troops and their armaments, not just the quantity. I’d quite cheerfully go up against and totally annihilate a million politicians armed with big mouths full of shite with a relatively small number of fully kitted out modern infantrymen.”
“You have the soul of a barbarian poet, Murph,” Thorkill told him, “But it’s been said before that all’s fair in love and war.”
Intelligence gathering, blackmail, misinformation, repsyching, resequencing and the occasional assassination had ultimately ensured the safety of millions, mostly from their own governments. “Wouldn’t it be nice if none of this were necessary, Thorkill?” Elska asked.
“It would, but it’s going to be a very long time indeed before we put ourselves out of a job even with your new infective repsyching. To that end, it is time to have another meeting of all senior staff to plan mechanisms to hide our immortality. I worry that though effective our existing mechanisms may eventually become repetitious and patterns can be analysed. You were right when you said we need to image and clone the minds of all our key personnel, but I do find it amusing that some of the little girls who as gangsters came to kill us a decade and a half ago and the ones who as government and big business investigators who came to destroy us more recently are now going to provide us with long term security as key personnel and the guardians of our secrets. Perhaps we should adopt more of them directly here. It’s something to discus isn’t it?”
Elska looked thoughtful as she slowly replied, “It’s years since we started infiltrating local government civil servants and subsequently had some of us stand for election in local elections. As a result we have considerable local influence.” Thorkill nodded as he wondered where the conversation was going, for it seemed Elska had a serious and significant agenda. “Perhaps it’s time we did something similar at a national level.”
“Are you serious? You planning on taking over the entire country?”
“Well, not any time soon. My idea was that we could start small, maybe the Isle of Man. There’d be no problem delivering far better education and health care systems for the entire population. It would take us little effort to build and staff a first class teaching hospital that would eventually become a full blown university. Either there or somewhere else. I’d want to maintain and expand our presence here though. I haven’t been thinking about it for long, but one thing would be an absolute requirement. Wherever we go first needs to be small enough to enable us to ensure all records are digital. We need to ensure all paper records are converted to digital as fast as possible, so we can create a complete history for any number of resequenced folk easily. The Isle of Man is probably to big in terms of population and too sophisticated in terms of banking and the like, but there has to be somewhere suitable, after all there’s any number of small countries bankrupt with starving populations, but I’d prefer an island as the team could defend that more easily, and being wealthy and well fed we’d need to defend against others who would be neither. My thought is that other merc outfits would be more than happy to join us. I’ll do some more thinking. If you have any ideas do let me know because I want to have things a little clearer in my head before I put my ideas before the Council.”
Thorkill was shaking his head at the enormity of Elska’s ideas, but he was certain that eventually this dream of hers, like all her other dreams had, would become reality. Elska’s mind had moved on from her visions of the future and was aware that deep in her consciousness eighty two years after her birth Douglas had finally achieved what she had set out to do: find a unique place in the world, doing something worth the doing and valued as herself, and she’d barely begun.
1 BBC, British Broadcasting Corporation. The UK's state broadcaster.
Comments
story line.
WOW, what a great story. I started reading it and couldn't stop until the end. I would love to read more on Elska and the things concerning her efforts to protect the immortality that she and others at the Towers have. great writing. Thank You.