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divinewill · 2 years

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Capítulo Diez: Rape Me

I watched the young mother interact with a team of linguists. She had already come to learn many words, but the grammar of the English language would evade her for quite some time still. Contrary to my expectations, she appeared more at ease around the men than she was with the women, whose relatively otherworldly attributes and attire made her tense.

The staff gave her a tablet with a live video feed, directly monitoring the development and healing of her precious babe; the salvaging of whom gave her the trust necessary to co-operate with us in complete faith. She never parted with this tablet, even keeping it next to her when she slept.

The young mother cleaned up extremely well. While she was clearly not used to wearing a shirt, shoes, or even a dress, she quickly understood that this was the custom of the people here. So she deigned to comply.

Under the white light of the hospital, her achromatic skin and hair seemed to glow ghostly pale—an etheric effect that drew attention to her already considerable beauty. To smoothen her integration, the SDMC issued her some comfortable clothes: a shirt, dress and socks made from 100% cotton, and five-toed shoes that allowed her the full mobility and freedom of her feet. She found everyone she met fascinating, paying close attention to the details of their faces, limbs, frames, and dress as to suggest that she had seen no one like the peoples of Earth or Hecate.

She seemed to have never seen wavy or curly hair and showed a fascination with our complexions. Because of their diminutive size and youthful features, she had a great fondness for the Rose Pygmies of the ASSDF and SDMC, although she also seemed quite interested in the Kyanonesian medical personnel for their incredible stature, gentle disposition, and blue pigmentation. The ears of the Grue Goblins proved particularly fascinating to her, and the SDMC quickly found out that she enjoyed watching them wiggle their enormous pointed ears.

Her people would be albinic if their coloration were because of a lack of melanin, but her glow under the white light was a clue that she had pigmentation of a kind not native to humans on Earth or Hecate, reflectin. A pigment that did not exist in her eyes, explaining the bright red of her irises.

There was something about this that made her seem mystical in a manner distinct from siddhis, which was something I had become demystified of in the GSSDO. There was a juxtaposition in my mind between the image of this lovely and studious stranger in a strange land, and of her as a wounded young lady, horrified and terrified that her hitherto unknown assailant could have murdered her baby in her womb. That image of blood seeping from between her legs would not leave my mind.

I wasn’t alone in the observation room. Hyechin, Mālhlin, Breedlove, and Dr. Lovelace were all there with me. We were curious as to the fates of the women rescued from death and enslavement before our eyes. Ms. Breedlove was especially concerned about the wellbeing of the young mother and her child. Her toddler twins accompanied her on this visitation behind a bullet resistant one-way mirror.

Hyechin couldn’t help but comment, “She’s so pretty!”

Ms. Breedlove smiled and agreed. “Yes. She is. Her husband is a very lucky man.”

Ms. Breedlove was someone who experienced a sense of vicarious joy at seeing other people happy and cried with others when they broke down into tears.

Mālhlin was writing in a notebook, but not in the sigillary script of Blue Rose Chinese. Rather, she was writing in High Elvish. Orthographically, it was an abugida of a similar nature to the Brahmic scripts, including Devanāgarī and Tamil, though it shared some commonality with Canadian Aboriginal syllabics, Ditema, and Hangul. This orthography was featural, directly encoding information about the place and manner of articulation of consonants, as well as the position, shape, and height of the vowels, even the length of both, in the characters written.

This notebook, annotated with sticky notes, was one of many which she kept in a binder. Using a four-color pen to visually distinguish between topics in a manner.

Dr. Lovelace was there to inform us of the progress regarding the salvaged women whose rescue we witnessed.

She told us, “We’ve identified how their potēns works.”

We all listened intently as she explained, “Turns out Dr. Makēsvaraṉ’s remark was right. There are no rape victims here, at least not male-on-female. Turns out they come from a single-sex planet: the native population propagates through parthenogenic reproduction. That’s why there’s an uncanny homogeneity between them. Apparently, they have no control over this ability and become pregnant with every ovulation. For this reason, the ASSDF has classified her lineage as the subspecies Homō sapiēns parthenogenoi.”

The ASSDF, because the alien races encountered, do not speak of hominid populations from the same world, such as Neanderthals, Denisovans, Heidelbergensis, and even Erectus, as if they were distinct species or subspecies. Rather, they regard such as lineages of a single species. The ASSDF reserved the designation of human subspecies for human populations discovered on alien worlds, such as the Hecateans.

Our scientists also invented a secondary classification system, used in parallel with the first, to distinguish between different metahuman lineages. They differentiated traditional humans, referred to as Homō sapiēns magkl, from metahumans, with earthly metahumans identified as Homō sapiēns superior, through a similar but distinct binomen. In keeping with this system, we gave the Hecateans the Latin name Homō sapiēns magī, literally meaning “magical wise man”.

Breedlove mused, “But if there are no men in their world, then I think that might have something to do with it… Men and women balance each other… A planet of only women would be forever unbalanced…”

No one objected to the suggestion. Given what we’d seen in the ASO, that assessment seemed completely reasonable and was in line with our personal views. Therefore, it did not merit elaboration.

The thought of anyone intentionally bringing harm to a baby in the womb deeply disturbed Ms. Breedlove, who simply could not understand what could motivate such a vile act.

Our guest seemed to sense she was being watched and turned to look in our direction, but of course, she could neither see nor hear us.

Breedlove noticed an opportunity to ask Mālhlin about her project. “Um, if you don’t mind me asking, what kind of writing is that?”

Mālhlin smiled at her, showed her the notebook, and explained, “This is High Elvish. It is written using an abugida, similar to the writing in the Indian languages. This script was conceived by a revered sage, a scholar of languages and grammar, who grew dissatisfied with the needlessly intricate writing system used by the ancients, which hindered the lower castes from learning to read. His goal was to fashion a writing method so straightforward that even a simpleton could grasp it within a day. His revolutionary innovation swiftly gained popularity, enhancing the efficiency of all castes in fulfilling their roles more effectively.”

Hyechin asked, “You mean like Sejong the Great?”

Mālhlin elaborated, “Only in that one aspect.”

She pulled out a note card from the binder then began writing in a radically different language and script as she told us, “The followers of the great sage, referred to as the ‘Featuralists’ by your people, ventured forth into the lands of Boreal dwarves, Kyanonesian giants, and even the Sea peoples. Their influence played a pivotal role in the orthographic reforms of many languages spoken in Hecate. Their impact was so far-reaching that even the adversaries of the Elvish, such as the Red Spider Lily Orcs and Thorn Orcs, adopted this approach in their writing systems. The only ones who refrained from embracing this approach were those whose languages consisted mainly of monosyllabic units and numerous homophones. For such tongues, a logosyllabic or logoconsonantal orthography held greater merit.”

Ms. Breedlove couldn’t keep up with the conversation, but she was too sweet to dare to interrupt the flow of the conversation when she knew she could ask about it later and one-on-one.

She handed Hyechin the card, which she could not read, and explained, “This is an example of Kyanonesian. Due to its simpler syllable structure, the Kyanonesians adopted a syllabary system, akin to the Cherokee script of Ms. Bunchûai’s country.”

An allusion to the fact that I have birthright United States citizenship, unlike Hyechin.

Ms. Breedlove once again observed, this time about these alien writing systems, “They’re both so pretty.”

Mālhlin continued, “Indeed, Ms. Breedlove. Us Featuralists firmly believe that the written forms of a language should not only be easily mastered but also gratifying to both the eye and the hand. We do not seek to present something that is merely functional yet unsightly. Rather, we advocate for genuine beauty in the art of writing. These scripts complement the languages and cultures they were created for. Typically, it was a skilled artisan and a native speaker of the language who devised the scripts now employed by the various nations of Hecate, resulting in a delightful array of styles. The Sea People employ an abjad system, akin to the Arabic and Hebrew scripts of Earth. The Dwarves employ an alphabet arranged into syllabic blocks, much like the Korean Hangul. As for the Red Spider Lily Orcs, they make use of a linear alphabet, similar to the strategies employed by the Greeks, Romans, and Runic scripts. The Thorned Orcs, on the other hand, present an anomalous case, as they employ a semisyllabary system. In their system, certain characters represent complete syllables, while others depict individual consonants or vowels. I must confess, the reasoning behind this decision eludes me, but that is how they choose to convey their written language.”

Hyechin noted, “The Goblins didn’t seem to take to this idea.”

Mālhlin informed us, “From what I understand, Goblish, being a polysynthetic language, incorporates numerous single-syllable morphemes, similar to Chinese. Hence, the abundance of homophonic morphemes did not lend itself to a featural script, unlike other writing systems.”

Hyechin and I were both aware of the failed movement to replace Chinese characters with pinyin, and so we understood how this might mirror the failure of the Featuralists to change the manner in which the Goblish writes.

Hyechin joked, “Well, it’s good to know that we won’t have to worry about any Featuralist attempts to reform English spelling.”

Mālhlin missed the joke entirely. “Certainly not. We already have three standardized versions of English, two of which are easily understood by all, effectively encompassing the innumerable dialects of the language. Any endeavor to reform the system would only result in unnecessary complexity and hinder the learning process. Which would undermine the very point of an orthographic reform.”

Hyechin asked, “Three? Are you including Scots?”

Mālhlin said, “Yes.”

Dr. Lovelace mentioned, “You Featuralists might have your fair share of work to do here. The young mother seems enchanted by the staff writing, as if she had never seen it before. When given a paper and pencil, she produces clearly asemic and formless material. This leads me to believe that this young mother is illiterate or has never seen writing, and it is entirely possible that these people never invented proto-writing.”

Ms. Breedlove asked, “So, you’re a Featuralist? Do you have a specific language you would like to work with?”

Mālhlin admitted, “I do.”

She excitedly flipped over to another notebook within her binder, which appeared entirely written in American Sign Language, and showed us.

She explained, “I recall the moment when I first encountered ASLWrite. It captivated my father and I. In all of Hecate, no one had ever conceived the notion of employing featural principles to encode the parameters of sign language into a written script. It is remarkably ingenious, and I aspire to introduce this form of writing to the Chinese, Vietnamese, and Japanese sign language families.”

She continued, “But I’m not alone in this mission. Although my preference lies in collaborating with the deaf communities of Asia, my father is inclined to assist the Polynesian peoples. He aims to support them in creating a distinctive script that can contribute to the preservation of their languages.

“Many of the Featuralists among us share the same goal, as we seek to focus on endangered, extinct, and minority languages. The existing orthographies for these languages may not truly align with their unique characteristics, and the development of a new script could rejuvenate them. Our aim is to create something that these communities can take pride in. To make something that can assist them in safeguarding their linguistic heritage.”

We all understood the importance of this project for the preservation of history, along with the revitalization and reformation of culture. It was something we all saw as a boon, but it clearly seemed a little abstract for Hyechin, who did not have any cultural connection to a language that went extinct outside the GSSDO. As someone who had to learn Manchu, I immediately understood the importance of language preservation.

Dr. Lovelace, picking up on this, gave her an example, “Consider the invention of N’Ko, Sulemana Kantɛ only invented the orthography because a Frenchman rightly pointed out that the writing strategies used by Mande speakers at the time simply did not fit the language. The creation of N’Ko was a boon to these languages’ health. There is a similar case with Adlam, which displaced the use of Ajami, or transcription into the Arabic abjad, for the Fulani language.”

The doctor continued, “We have Featuralists within the ASSDF who are looking to work with Na-Dené, Pama–Nyungan, Khoe–Kwadi, Caucasic, Macro-Jê, and Jarawa–Onge to help with their preservation. Some are looking to language isolates, like Zuñi, Sandawe, San Martínian, and Ainu, hoping to revitalize their use.”

The young mother suddenly looked in our direction despite being unable to see or hear us. Her vibrant red eyes seemed to pierce through us, then the doctor told us, “Let’s move on to the next patient.”

We all agreed and let the doctor lead us to another observation room. This time we visited the emasculated one. She was being held in the same hospital as the young mother. Mālhlin put away her notes, and Hyechin offered to carry one of Ms. Breedlove’s twins. To no one’s surprise, there was a deep depression that was cast over the next patient because of what their captors stole from them.

Dr. Lovelace explained, “I’ve already explained this to Bunchûai, but the potēns of this patient’s people have the same intersexuality Bunchûai has. They possess a novel sex chromosome that allows them to develop the secondary sexual characteristics of women, but the primary sexual characteristics and powers of both traditional sexes. The only actual difference being that Bunchûai’s powers emulate and defictionalizes a Japanese fictional archetype, whereas these people’s traits are significantly more modest.”

I asked, “Do you know what happened to her?”

Mālhlin, Hyechin, and Breedlove turned to see me, responding with concern to the tone of my voice.

Dr. Lovelace explained, “Specifically, no. Generally, yes. They are victims of genocidal rape. A hitherto unidentified population attempted to destroy their ethnic and cultural identity by ensuring that their bloodline would be irreversibly bound with their conquerors, and by depriving them of the good that is fatherhood, they destroy the chain of cultural transmission, as the father that would raise their children is the very rapists who enslaved them.”

Ms. Breedlove held her sleeping babe close, and stepped adjacent but slightly behind me and said, “Are you okay?”

I was not, but I lied and said, “Yes, I’m fine.”

I don’t think anyone believed me.

Dr. Lovelace told me, “The perpetrator’s plans were foiled, simply because their victims are in our care. Remember that the SDMC can take their cells, revert them to undifferentiated stem cells, and print new specified tissue. We can regenerate the masculinity of the emasculated.”

Mālhlin, ever perceptive, noted, “It is merely coincidental that this would not only foster a profound sense of indebtedness towards the GSSDO in the newly formed population but also enhance recruitment efforts.”

Dr. Lovelace responded, “As WARMASTER Jeż would say, Deus vult.”

Hyechin stepped next to Mālhlin, then Ms. Breedlove’s babe squirmed in her arms and accidentally kicked the binder from her hand. Exposing the papers within as they scattered about. That’s when we saw something we were not expecting. A charcoal drawing of a pubescent boy with an erection curled into the fetal position, sleeping in the embrace of an unconscious teenage girl. This sight deeply disturbed us all, Ms. Breedlove most of all, who transitioned from deeply disturbed to a still horror as she held her son close. Shielding his gaze from the awful sight as her eyes transfixed on the malevolent image. Her breathing quickened and became shallow.

Hyechin gagged at the sight, as Dr. Lovelace simply said, “Oh, no” and I, unthinking, asked, “What the?”

Mālhlin immediately placed a sleeping spell on the young boys, then gathered up the papers. She admitted, covering the offending one up first, “Oh, that. It’s just a recurring nightmare that has been troubling me.”

Dr. Lovelace looked at her as if she were a pitiable thing.

What they saw in those pictures horrified Hyechin and Breedlove, but not Dr. Lovelace.

I looked at her, completely confounded, querying, “What’s the meaning of this, exactly?”

Mālhlin admitted, “I have been informed that in order to overcome traumatic memories, one must confront them directly. So, I started drawing the images that haunt me in my dreams. It grants me a sense of control as I face the source of my nightmares...”

I shook my head in befuddlement and cut her off. “Hold on. Did you just say ‘memories’, as if this is something you’ve seen?”

That athletic beauty looked at me with a stoic but obviously pained expression and admitted, “Yes, these are victims of the gryphon sacrifice. It is a practice that my people, originating from the Bālrālmư̄nic Republic, abandoned centuries ago. However, it continues in the Savage Lands.”

Dr. Lovelace commented, “I’ve heard of that barbaric rite. It’s the ceremony which crowns a new sovereign to rule the Shrādtēgsrids Kingdom. Believe it or not, it used to be more horrifying than it is now…”

I probed, cautious of the answer. “What happened?”

Mālhlin had difficulty maintaining eye contact, but before she continued, she told Ms. Breedlove, “I have cast a slumber spell on your sons. They will be unaffected by any part of our conversation. Once he leaves this room, the spell will be lifted.”

Ms. Breedlove struggled to say, “Thank you. Please tell us what happened.”

Mālhlin revealed, “I accompanied my father on a diplomatic mission representing the Blue Rose Empire to the Savage Lands. The previous warrior-king had passed away, and our purpose was to ensure peace between our nations. We expected to arrive after the completion of the king’s initiation rite, but the shamans delayed it. Therefore, we found ourselves compelled to witness the coronation of the new sovereign.”

She admitted, “The most horrifying thing I have ever seen is the griffon sacrifice rite of the Savage Lands. There, to ordain a new king, they take a wild albino gryphon, which had been broken like a horse, and the boy who would be king invokes the spirits then strikes it in the braincase with a polearm. Killing it instantly. After killing it, he removes his clothes and covers himself with its blood.”

“At that macabre moment, a naked maiden, betwixt the ages of twelve and fourteen years, and a nude boy, at least twelve years of age, but always of equal or lesser age to the maid, were unveiled before his malevolent presence. The ritual called for the maid to be intoxicated with a substance akin to ayahuasca. They forced the boy to consume an aphrodisiac before the rite.

“We could see the horror reflected in their eyes, as the girl descends into the depths of narcotic madness: plagued by hallucinations, haunted by elusive specters that torment her senses. Meanwhile, the boy, possessing his sanity, anticipates the impending violence that awaits them.

“That monster bound the thrashing girl’s hands and feet, so she couldn’t struggle, then did the same to the boy… after which, he forces the boy onto the girl. Pressing the boy into her and keeping them conjoined until he ejaculates, then forcing them apart to rape her himself. After which he strangles her to death with his bare hands. He then sodomized the boy and strangles him to death as well.

“Following that diabolical ritual, they buried the sacrificial victims side-by-side, as if they were lovers, adorned with many offerings. The boy was meticulously manipulated into a fetal position, while the girl was positioned to cradle him, their lips tenderly meeting the boy’s forehead. Their countenances were artfully manipulated to resemble a peaceful slumber. Their lifeless forms were then petrified, ensuring their eternal embrace in the mausoleum.”

She finished her story with, “My father and I were compelled to witness this horrifying spectacle, alongside the other hapless spectators, as a dragonslayer looked into the abyss and became a dragon himself.”

Ms. Breedlove asked, in abject shock, “What would compel anyone to do anything like that?”

Dr. Lovelace said, “You earthlings are not so different. The Indo-European tradition of horse sacrifice involved the amalgamation of animal and human sacrifice, with the violation and slaying of a maiden through strangulation serving as a pivotal component in the king’s ritual of initiation. A Mexica chieftain, upon securing the hand of a princess from Culhuacan in matrimony, he flayed her skin and donned her blood-soaked cloak during a meeting with her father, displaying his unwavering devotion to his iṣṭa-devatā, the god of war Huītzilōpōchtli. The ancient Egyptians and Mesopotamians endeavored to preserve the bodies of their human sacrifices; the former through mummification and the latter through embalming with mercury.”

Mālhlin noted, “The Elvish people, in the past, would initiate their kings into power through the sacrificial rape of a young girl and sacrificial sodomy of a young boy. The Kyanonesians, too, had a history of consuming human flesh to such an extent that, even after generations have passed, I have retained immunity to the effects of Kuru. Even in recent times, you Americans allowed the heinous act of infanticide within the womb in certain states, and even permitted parents to castrate their children in service to a Queer, Gnostic God. The GSSDO itself is not exempt from this. After all, who deprives adolescents of the opportunity to fully develop their nature, even if it is the only way to pilot a Neodeus?”

Dr. Lovelace continued, “The Calvinists are right to observe that there is a disorder deeply rooted in every human being, but they are mistaken to extrapolate that fact to mean all men are totally depraved. Every culture has some practice which is objectively horrifying to the eyes of God. We are blind to these horrors in our own cultures because it is our culture which we take as normative. The key is not destroying the culture but reforming it. Bringing what lies in the disorders of vice and delusion into the light of virtue and truth.”

Mālhlin explained, “That very same dragon I saw resides deep within your shadow. Many flee from this dragon, but such avoidance does not make it disappear. In fact, the dragon pursues you relentlessly until it either destroys or possesses you. Remember, the only way to conquer this dragon is to confront it directly and prevail.”

She continued, “There is a deep symbolism in every tradition of the griffin sacrifice. These traditions are the magic which have sustained this repugnant and unequivocally wicked rite through the ages. It is because of this ritual that I embraced the teachings of the Mohists.”

I asked her, “How does that relate to Mohism?”

Mālhlin expressed, “Much like how Ms. Breedlove’s Anglican faith is fortified when she encounters events of this nature, my beliefs as a Mohist are strengthened, as well. On that day, I realized the existence of true evil, and if evil exists, then goodness must also exist, for evil is simply the privation of goodness. No degree of evil can shatter my faith in Heaven, for my monotheism finds reinforcement in the presence of evil.”

Ms. Breedlove cradled her sleeping son in her arms, horrified by the story she had been told. It was apparent that she took this recounting more personally, which caught Mālhlin off guard.

Mālhlin inquired, “Ms. Breedlove, are you well?”

Ms. Breedlove was breathing erratically, so I moved to comfort her.

I Reminded her, “Control your breathing, Breedlove.”

Hyechin gave the child in her arms to me and then signed manually encoded English to Mālhlin, explaining, “Ms. Breedlove was raped three years ago, but she remembers nothing about it. The fathers of her children remain unidentified.”

Mālhlin signed back, “My apologies. I assumed she was a widow.”

Hyechin was momentarily stunned at this assumption, before remembering that young marriages were quite common among Kyanonesians, and explained, “No. Her dream is to get married, and she wants more children, many more in fact, but she conceived her current children through rape.”

Ms. Breedlove was trying her best to control her breathing as she prayed an Anglican rosary, using prayer beads with a Celtic cross as a mnemonic tool to keep track of where in the prayer she was.

Hyechin explained, “A genome sequence showed her sons are half-brothers. We know virtually nothing about the father of the older one, but the younger child’s father is a serial rapist, with over five hundred children across the United States alone.”

Mālhlin signed a question. “Are you telling me he has more victims outside of the United States?”

Hyechin told her, “Yes. Whoever he is, he travels around quite a lot. With victims across Asia and Africa. Even within the United States, his crimes span across Texas, Hawaii, Alaska, and New York.”

Mālhlin looked shocked at this revelation.

Dr. Lovelace explained, “Simply put, none of the victims can recall the event, and thus identification of the perpetrator based on a witness description is impossible.”

Mālhlin signed, “Could you not identify him through genome sequencing?”

Dr. Lovelace had a far more in-depth understanding of the inquiry into her sexual assault than anyone else in the room, and so she explained, “Yes, but it is a bit more complicated than you think. With our superscience, we could reconstruct a semblance of the assailant’s genome, but that would require co-operation across nations to obtain a genetic profile of the children and his victims. Though, that is a luxury we do not have, and might never have. After all, most countries of the world do not perform a full genomic sequence of their citizens for a reason. We do that for our membership to anticipate and remedy genetic predispositions, but that’s not something a country should do. A far simpler solution is to simply wait for a DNA sample from him or a family member to reveal him.”

Mālhlin signed, “So, you must wait for him or one of his family members to commit a different crime that renders evasion impossible?”

Dr. Lovelace shrugged in a manner that admitted her assessment was accurate.

Ms. Breedlove spoke up, “It’s not about me. I love my precious babies, and if I could go back in time, I wouldn’t dare to change what happened to me if it meant losing them, but what he’s doing is evil. It’s not right to deprive a woman of her virginity as she sleeps… It’s not right to deny a woman of the right to give her virginity to her husband… It’s not right to abandon your children… It’s not right to deny the mother of your children a husband… Simply put, it’s not right to use people, and then toss them away like they’re trash.”

She had gained conscious control of her breathing at this point.

Mālhlin made the obvious observation, “It seems implausible that a lone individual could commit such a magnitude of sexual crimes without being apprehended... Is it conceivable that he is a metahuman?”

A thought that Hyechin, Breedlove, Dr. Lovelace, and I all contemplated independently, but hesitated to voice. I remember Warmaster Jeż telling me that a diviner foretold, “All fiction becomes real”. There was a dawning realization that “all fiction” did not just include kaijū, faeries, supersoldiers, supervillains, devil cultivators, pet monsters, and horrors of superscience, but might also include depraved pornographic fictions. After all, my unique condition was essentially something out of a pornographic genre which centers on outwardly feminine characters with varying degrees of intersexuality, otherwise known as futanari.

Dr. Lovelace explained, “That seems to be the only reasonable possibility, but that doesn’t tell us anything about the situation: We don’t know if he is using a perception filter, hypnosis, mind control, inducing unconsciousness, programming the victim’s mind to simply not recall the event, or just wiping memories to go undetected.”

Mālhlin asked, “Have you consulted a diviner?”

Hyechin asked, surprised by the suggestion, “You’ve never worked with a diviner before, have you?”

This question was, of course, rhetorical. Divination, as a power, works differently between the Hecatean and Earthling. Divination was but only one skill among many that a Hecatean could learn, but simply put the shear extent and degree of that power, even for the most skilled Hecateans, could not compare to the Earthlings whose only seminal power was the ability to obtain hidden information remotely. The two were simply not comparable.

Dr. Lovelace explained, “The powers of most diviners are quite limited, but the more powerful ones have the opposite problem. They become trapped in their own ability. It fractures their mind and is the only species of power known to do so. There are exceptions, of course: the Supreme Commander seems to be an extraordinarily powerful diviner, but we simply do not know how his powers work with any specificity.”

Mālhlin asked, “Since it is highly classified… and as the Supreme Commander, he possesses absolute authority over the declassification of information. Which he has not seen fit to disclose.”

Dr. Lovelace confirmed, “Exactly. Most WARMASTERS keep the specifics of their powers close to the chest.”

Mālhlin admitted, “A respectable practice, indeed. We, the Bālrālmư̄nic people, encode spells into every garment we wear using an encrypted ceremonial language. Kyanonesian women tattoo protective spells on the parts of their bodies concealed by their attire. Maintaining secrecy regarding these enchantments is crucial for personal protection.”

A thought crossed Mālhlin’s mind, and she asked, “Ms. Breedlove, if I may inquire, will your realm undergo transformation as you learn more about the GSSDO’s guests?”

It was apparent that she intended to move the conversation away from what troubled poor Ms. Breedlove and used this as an opportunity to do so.

Ms. Breedlove admitted, “Yes. I add a new world to my collection every time I encounter a new school of art. I don’t have to understand the rules of the thing. It just appears, and the moment it does, I know it and its contents.”

When Ms. Breedlove got full control of her breathing, Dr. Lovelace lead the way, “Come on. We’ve spent enough time here, so now let’s meet our new resident goddess.”

She led us to the room with the hyperanthrope, and even after only a few days, her healing was astounding.

Dr. Lovelace explained, “It seems she can regenerate any tissue: brain matter, bone, tendons. How her body accomplishes this is unknown, but it occurs at a rate exceeding the most aggressive cancers, so she’ll be like new before you know it.”

Ms. Breedlove revealed, “The thing she was clutching in her hands. It was a baby.”

Everyone looked at her as she continued, “The ASO only rescued two people from her end. And the only other one was an infant child, who is unharmed.”

I asked, “So, is it her child?”

Dr. Lovelace told us, “Yes. We couldn’t reasonably get a hair, skin, or blood sample because of her being, well, invulnerable, even as the immolated and comatose mess she is currently. So, we took a spit sample, which confirmed that the baby is hers.”

Mālhlin asked, “So, what is the plan regarding her?”

Dr. Lovelace affirmed, “Same as the others. Rehabilitate her. Integrate her into Earth society, and then try to recruit her. Respecting her decision whether she accepts or declines or offer.”

Hyechin asked, “So all the damage was external?”

Dr. Lovelace looked at her and said, “Of course not. Structural neuroimaging shows some degree of rapidly healing brain damage, so it won’t surprise me if she experiences post-traumatic amnesia, but again, I won’t know until after she wakes up.”

Mālhlin asked, “What if she becomes panicked?”

Dr. Lovelace explained, “One of our WARMASTERS is a hyperanthrope, so we have that base covered. Plus, we could always just put her back into suspended animation.”

Mālhlin probed, “Isn’t it interesting that in a galaxy suspected to be teeming with distinct magic systems as numerous as inhabited worlds, Zleŋ’ selectively gathered worlds that are easily manageable with your current resources, rescuing only two hyperanthropes who pose no significant risk to the GSSDO?”

Dr. Lovelace turned to see her and explained, “You think this is by design?”

Mālhlin answered, “It was solely by the will of Heaven that my compatriots and I were delivered into the care of the GSSDO, and it must also be by the will of Heaven that Zleŋ’ reconstructed and adapted the sage summoning rite to extend the Human Salvaging Operations throughout the galaxy. I am merely alluding to the rumors suggesting that Zleŋ’ was born from a fallen star. I wonder if being partially half-starfallen explains why this initial selection, rather than being random, appears to be reasonably calculated."

Dr. Lovelace admitted, “Dr. Cutter was the one who asked Zleŋ‘ if she had some ability to place filters on the rite, to make the initial salvaging more manageable. Not that an entire population of hyperanthropes would have done much harm. We have safely locked the inbound patients in a state of suspended animation until we can reasonably attend to them. That said, even though it is highly probable that the father of Zleŋ‘ was a spacefarer, she doesn’t seem to have a detailed knowledge of the inhabited planets.”

Everyone remembered how that intersex woman clearly recognized something specific in Zleŋ‘, which seemed to be familiar to her and yet distinct from the rest of us. However, what it was, even the ASSDF did not know.

She then directed us, “There is nothing more to show here, so let us move on to the next patient.”

The girl with the squirrel's tail and cat ears. She had a wrapping over her left wrist for an injury I did not recall from when I last saw her.

Dr. Lovelace told us, “These people are kemonomimi. Their powers seem to have twisted their bodies into a new form, which is slightly zoomorphic. This one shows all the behavioral signs of sexual assault: engaged in self-harm, is afraid of being touched, demonstrates emotional withdrawal, frequent crying, bouts of anger, severe nightmares, a lack of trust, withdrawal symptoms from what appear to be a substance dependency, which we are currently addressing, and she seems to have conditioned herself to not resist other people physically moving her about.”

I kept a hand on Ms. Breedlove’s shoulder to keep her calm as she prayed her rosary.

Dr. Lovelace explained, “Our best guess is that she was a sex slave. We can’t know the specifics yet, but we have determined that she is two weeks pregnant with twins.”

Hyechin asked, “Is that tattoo on her related to this?”

Dr. Makēsvaraṉ entered the room and explained, “That’s probably an identification code, similar to a serial number.”

Me, Hyechin, and Lovelace stood at attention, but she told us, “At ease warriors.”

Ms. Breedlove simply turned and greeted the doctor. “Good evening, Dr. Makēsvaraṉ.”

She was a buxom, middle-aged Dravidian beauty. 173 cm tall, with wide hips, beautiful brown eyes, and coarse, straight, black that reached to the middle of her back.

She simply asked, “What are you doing, Lovelace?”

Dr. Lovelace admitted, “These lovely ladies were witnesses to the salvaging of these pitiful souls, so I am catching these lovely ladies up on the progress of the women that Ms. Breedlove helped to save.”

Dr. Makēsvaraṉ thought aloud, “Oh, I supposed that is understandable. It’s not like I need to remind you to respect the patients.”

A bit of time passed as Drs. Makēsvaraṉ and Lovelace talked with each other and Mālhlin. All the while I was thinking about what this girl might have gone through to have landed her here and in this state, so I asked, “Is there any way I can volunteer to help, even if just for today?”

Hyechin listened intently.

Mālhlin and Breedlove already knew how they could volunteer, as they didn’t have to contend with an immanent deployment to a distant location. Mālhlin was almost certainly going to assist with the application of medicinal magic, whereas Breedlove was likely to volunteer to help babysit the children of these women and simply spend time with these women.

Dr. Makēsvaraṉ reminded her, “You’re scheduled for orbital deployment, along with Hyechin, so there’s not much you can do.”

I was desperate to at least do something for these poor girls in the SDMC’s care.

Dr. Lovelace, reading my face like a book, pointed out, “Remember your role in this operation. Dr. Makēsvaraṉ handles the medical and psychological aid. Your role is to slay monsters. Keeping them safe from the same kinds of monsters that ravaged Japan is how you can help them.”

Deep down, I understood this, but it didn’t feel like enough.

Dr. Makēsvaraṉ remembered, “Actually, there is something you can do…”

Dr. Makēsvaraṉ suggested, “Warmaster Jeż is also going to be deployed soon, so he wrote each of them a letter.”

I asked, “A letter?”

She explained, “Yes. He wrote to them about his sympathy, how his God loves them, how we love them, and finally, how they could turn their suffering from something destructive to something salvific.”

Mālhlin commented, “There is wisdom in his words.”

I felt sympathy for him. He had fallen away from his faith before he joined the WARMASTER program, and now that he had rediscovered it, he must live with the fact that so much of his humanity was irrevocably lost, with his full consent and knowledge, to be reforged into a monster.

It wasn’t so different from my own role, willingly giving up my mortality and cooperating with a monstrous nature as a Neodeus pilot. That was simply the warrior’s journey: to obtain the monster’s power and wield it in service of the good, a pursuit that always came with sacrifice.

I simply wanted to let these women know that it was going to be okay, but I knew better than to speak through the intercom. So, at that moment, I decided that when I got home, I would follow the WARMASTER’s example and write a letter to them expressing my sympathy and hopes for them, as well as my intention to protect them the only way I can.

Dr. Lovelace received a clipboard from Dr. Makēsvaraṉ, who told her, “I have an assignment for you that needs immediate attention.”

Dr. Lovelace accepted with “Roger, Dr. Makēsvaraṉ.”

Then she left, and we followed suit, but we did not follow her. Rather, Dr. Makēsvaraṉ led us to the next girl, the burn victim. Surgeons have already provided her with skin grafts, which we printed from cultures of her own cells to help her heal from the severe burns across her body. A controlled supply of analgesics kept the pain of her injuries manageable.

Dr. Makēsvaraṉ told us, “This subject’s people are sequential hermaphrodites: cycling between the sexes. So, this one was at one time a man, and she will become a man again in the future, though before that, she will become like you, Bunchûai: perfectly intersex. In fact, we have examples of male, female, and intersex patients in suspended animation.”

Breedlove made a quick connection and asked, “Like Ranma ½?”

Hyechin added, “Or, The Left Hand of Darkness.”

Dr. Makēsvaraṉ softly corrected, “Not quite. The sequential hermaphrodism of the former does not present any in-between form and is triggered by the temperature of the water used to douse the subject. That of the latter involved the people being sexless for most of their lives. Rather, these people never lose their sexual nature, it just cycles in a manner that cannot be sped up or slowed down through external methods. Although, it is for that apparent similarity that the ASSDF has named their race Homō sapiēns gethen.”

The doctor spent some time acquainting us with her, before moving us to meet the woman who could transform into a beast.

Revealing, “She is a victim of an onychectomy, with the distal phalange of each digit of her hands having been mutilated. A blade was used to cut through the bone, seemingly to prevent the transformation of her nails into claws. For some unknown reason, she seems to have not been subject to canine ablation, which many of her people seem to have been subject to as well.”

Finishing with, “We call this race Homō sapiēns bestia.”

The descriptions of happened to her made Ms. Breedlove wince and say, “That’s so awful…”

Dr. Makēsvaraṉ explained, “You’ve already seen her powers. She can turn into a bestial form, and that might explain why her people were treated this way.”

Hyechin noted, “Like a cat or snake…”

Dr. Makēsvaraṉ confirmed, “The leading theory was that these people were slaves, and that their slavers robbed them of their primary physical weapons so they could not oppose their masters. We can provide a prosthetic for the teeth and even help regenerate their fingers, but that is all I can say about this patient, so let’s meet our last guest.”

Then she took us to see her final patient. The gracile lagomorphic woman patched up with stitching and bandaging. Despite the apparent structure of her face, the muscles of her mouth could make the same movements as ours. Her self-talk showed that, unlike the animal whose image she bore, she had human speech.

The doctor couldn’t reveal much about her, relative to the others, aside from, “Despite her appearance, she is totally human. The magic her people inherited seems to twist their bodies into something zoomorphic, but unlike the previous patient, she cannot transform. Her mother conceived her this way and she will die this way. Until a few days ago, she would not have even known that this state was a superpower. The only world she would have ever known is a world filled with lineages associated with different therianthropic variations. And it is for this reason we have named them Homō sapiēns bestius.”

Mālhlin noted, “That does not sound like proper Latin.”

Hyechin explained, “The ASSDF named these people after a vaguely similar race from a tabletop RPG.”

Mālhlin mused, “An interesting choice…”

Dr. Makēsvaraṉ informed us, “And with that, your tour of the facilities is over. You’ve seen that the women are in my excellent care, and my next appointment is coming up. So, I will head out. You girls have a lovely day. These ladies and all their countrymen will be fine.”

She left, and the rest of us departed shortly after as well. I walked Ms. Breedlove, Hyechin, and finally Mālhlin home.

As we walked to her quarters, Mālhlin told me, “My father is currently working on a constructed language specifically for you.”

I asked, “For me? Why?” She explained, “Because I proposed to you. It is customary for Elven children to learn a ceremonial language corresponding to their sex as they transition into adulthood. Therefore, if we were to marry, it would not be appropriate for our children to learn either the Gentlemen’s Tongue or the Ladies’ Tongue, as they would not become gentlemen or ladies. Instead, a new language must be devised for their novel sex, and it must be crafted by a master of initiation, such as my father.”

I asked, “So he would teach it to our kids?”

She elaborated, “Ideally, he would teach it to you, and you would become a master of initiation yourself.”

I inquired, “So, what can you tell me about it?”

She admitted, “I have no knowledge of his project. As a lady, I am prohibited from learning the Gentlemen’s Tongue, and consequently, I would be forbidden from learning the Intersex tongue as well. However, even if you reject my proposition, which I highly doubt, my father will continue his work on the project. Eventually, one of the Bālrālmư̄nic women will marry one of our intersex guests, necessitating the novel tongue.”

A thought crossed my mind, “So what about the ones that Dr. Lovelace said were sequential hermaphrodites? If an Elvish married one of them, then what tongue would they learn?”

Mālhlin was stumped by this line of questioning, and after a bit of thought, humbly admitted, “I cannot say for certain. That decision lies with the sages, I suppose.”

I asked her, “I thought you were a Mohist? You follow the Elvish sages as well?”

She explained, “No, but the Bālrālmư̄nic linguistic customs exist to safeguard both sexes from abuse.”

We continued to talk until we arrived at her house, where she kissed me on the cheek, and we parted ways. My face was flush, again, but when I went home later that day, my thoughts continued to turn to the patients that Drs. Lovelace and Makēsvaraṉ showed to me.

I sat down at my desk, pulled out a pen and paper, and wrote:

“Dear precious guest,”

“I know it will take time before you can understand the contents of this letter, but I hope it finds you well. I was one witness to your being salvaged by the ASO rite. I cannot suitably find the words to express my sympathy for those horrors I cannot possibly comprehend that you have endured, but know that you are among people who genuinely care about your well-being and know what you have gone through.

“By the time you can read this, you have known people who have either descended directly from salvaged victims of genocide or survived genocide themselves. In fact, in 1937, my then fifteen-year-old great-great-great-great-great-grandmother was salvaged by the GSSDO after being sexually assaulted and left for dead in Nanking. Because of their intervention, she survived and conceived a precious baby, without whom I would not have been here to write this letter today. Know that you are not alone, and know that your child, here, is beloved.

“Because of my deployment, I cannot properly introduce myself for some time, if ever. Though, if I ever meet you in person, I would like to invite you to dinner. To hear about your life, about how you are doing, about your precious baby, and to share with you some sūzǐyè dòubāo, roti sai mai, or maybe a classic American apple pie. If, by that time, you are married, then I would invite your husband as well.

“So please, lovely one, cooperate with the SDMC and ASSDF. It was you who was chosen to help facilitate the integration of your people into Earthling societies, and it is with your help that they will receive the information necessary to save others, just like you. Please refrain from the self-abuse observed while in medical custody. I hope you desire to be well, as you have the best doctors, pharmacists, therapists, and spiritual guides on the planet willing to help you find your life.

“I promise I am going to do all that I can to make sure that you won’t have to worry about eldritch powers. So please, live a long and happy life.”

I ended with the motto of the GSSDO, “For the Greater Good of God,” and signed my name simply as “Love, Bunchûai.”

I wrote a letter to each of the women we witnessed rescued by the ASO. Aiming to be as earnest as I possibly could.

At the end of this, I sighed, looked at my phone, saw the time and thought to myself, “Our time off is over. Tomorrow, we go into orbit…”

I wondered what it would be like to see the world overhead.

I wondered into what country we’d have to drop from orbit to rescue.

#psychological horror #magical girl #superhero #super robot #dark fantasy #worldbuilding #military moe #military science fiction #anthropological sci-fi #original story #original character

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