My Voyage of Submission Ch. 18

"Could you please check with your superiors at the moment to see if these young women might be able to stay here overnight. We seem to have acquired a number of young women who were freed, including the bride of the wedding we had tonight who bore witness against Mr. Rasheed. It's been our experience that initially, they don't actually believe they are free, and putting them together with other women who have been, reinforces their freedom. We have a nurse and medic who are qualified to do rape kits in New York criminal courts, who can give them a medical exam, complete with any pictures and documentation you may require. Additionally, Dr. Sadiq may be able to address any psychological problems they may have, and is one other person who speaks their language. I have the card of the Home Secretary if you have any reservations and need to make inquiries. Additionally, my wife has been working in the US House of Representatives to address the problem of Human Trafficking, so we have a very real understanding of the toll it's taken on the victims."

Master handed him the card with the Home Secretary's private number on it.

"We have no plans to leave any time in the next couple days. Your investigators could return here in the morning to question anyone, and if you have a place to bring them tomorrow, at least they won't be sitting in the Constabulary overnight while arrangements are made."

"Yes, I'll check with them right now." He stepped off to the side and began talking to his superiors.

"By the way, Mr. Rasheed, Mr. Kahn, that deal we worked out a couple days ago; you can forget about it. I don't do business with human traffickers. Plus, it doesn't appear you'll be free anytime soon anyway. Dr. Sadiq, since you might end up being here longer than you expected when invited to a wedding, may I offer you and your wife the hospitality of my ship? I do have another guest cabin available, though I'm carrying many more people now than I expected when I started this cruise."

Felicity nodded her head. "Let's stay, Mahdi. This is so exciting. Human Trafficking rings, human slaves, police. It's like a drama on the telly."

Dr. Sadiq smiled at his wife. "Thank you, Mr. Greenbriar. We'll accept your offer."

"I appreciate it. Ateefah is the only other one who can speak to these young women and it is her wedding. I'm sure she has other plans for her wedding night than reassuring young women they're no longer slaves."

"Quite right."

The sergeant came back. "I've talked to my bosses who spoke to the Home Secretary. It appears you have another couple guests for the night. A couple of investigators from Scotland Yard will be here in the morning to talk to the young women and take their statements. Your medic can do the medical exam, but it may require him to testify if this comes to a trial."

"I'll fly them in from anywhere if that becomes necessary, no expense to the prosecution."

"Have a pleasant evening, Mr. Greenbriar. Come along you two. It's the gaol for the both of you."

Sumrah and Hafsa began to follow their owners off the ship until Doctor Sadiq told them they were to stay, their owners were being arrested, but they were not.

They looked at each other, then knelt and Sumrah spoke in her language.

Doctor Sadiq answered and they looked at each other again, then slowly stood.

"What did they just say?" I asked.

"They wanted to know who their new Master was. I told them they didn't have a Master anymore. They were free and I told them to stand up and kneel to no one again."

"We'd best bring them down to sick bay," Master said. "Doctor Sadiq, if you'd please go with them to interpret anything which needs to be asked or answered, I would appreciate your assistance. I'll have someone show you to your room when you're done. Manuel, Sherry; we have two more. Please do a complete work up with documentation for the police. You've done it often enough now, it should be second nature. I guess everyone else can return to the festivities."

Dr. Sadiq followed Manuel, Sherry, and the two young slaves, Sumrah and Hafsa, to sick bay.

******

Master and Miranda rejoined their table, while Felicity and I talked as the festivities continued on without us. Dance music was now playing and people started dancing. They started drinking too, as the alcohol came out. Not a lot, but enough to toast the couple. A few of the people snuck down to fix up James' and Ateefah's cabin for the honeymoon night. Francesca and Belle asked if I wanted to join, but I said I'd keep Felicity company while her husband was busy since she didn't know anyone else.

"Are they together?" Felicity asked after they left.

"Like a couple?"

"Yes."

"I guess the answer is yes and no. They're not married or exclusive. Belle is Francesca's submissive, but they're both having sex with others as well, both male and female."

"What's that like, having sex with a woman?"

"I enjoy it a great deal. Everything is softer, smoother, gentler, less hurried."

"Do you prefer men or women?"

"Men, but I'd hate to give up one for the other. Both have their appeal."

"Have you had sex with either of them?"

"Both. I was the first woman Francesca ever licked. I was the reason she chose to get a female submissive for herself. She figured she could still date boys, but wanted a girl as a submissive."

"Was that when she was working for the Congresswoman?"

"Before. Francesca and Miranda met each other through me, I suppose. I knew Francesca before I came on the voyage and she visited me. Miranda had already gone back to Washington, DC after marrying Joshua, but Francesca was told to see Miranda about a possible job."

"How did you meet Miranda Ward?"

"Joshua had meetings with several Senators and Representatives, business dealings, but Miranda also spoke to Joshua about getting some assistance in finding out if a particular woman was enslaved in Africa, then sold to a man in Suriname. It's how we kind of ended up in the job of freeing slaves."

"What do you do on the ship?"

"In addition to working on my Doctoral thesis, I'm involved in crew morale."

"Really, what does that consist of?"

"You're getting quite personal, Felicity."

"What do you mean? How is that too personal." I looked at her with a smile on my face. "Wait, you don't have sex with them do you?"

"The crew has very high morale."

Her eyes widened. "Everyone?"

"Not the married ones." Except for Master and Miranda of course, and the married ones when they were single. Oh, and Hannah and Angelique. Too personal.

"Oh, my."

"It's part of my submission. I enjoy it. Please don't gossip about this to your husband. I want him to trust me to do the right thing by the freed slaves, not turn them into people like myself. I understand everyone isn't like me and that's not my intent. I'm actually trying to tone down the sexuality they might be compelled to do by their slavery. Everything should be a choice."

"No, of course not. Oh, my! All those people."

"Not all at once, you understand. More like one or two per day. This is not something you could do as a Muslim submissive. As Sahar would say, you would go to hell."

"Are you not religious?"

"Not in the go to church every week sort of religious, but I do believe in a deity and I do pray, and I believe religion is a good influence on our lives, and tempers some of the worst impulses we have. I tend to believe that if God or Allah or Jehovah creates us to love men or women, then he must see the need for it. I would hate for anyone who only feels an emotional connection with their own gender, to go through life loveless and alone. Surely a merciful God would understand that, and I do believe in a merciful God, not one looking to send his sinners to eternal damnation. I believe whatever consenting people do with each other that doesn't harm another person, is not inherently evil, even though I understood the original reason religions created such rules in the first place."

"Which would be?"

"Social order, primarily. For example, when the Jews fled Egypt and wandered into the desert for forty years, they needed a social structure to promote peace and tranquility between their members as they were beset by enemies on all sides. They needed a strong structure to maintain that order and discipline so their society wouldn't devolve into social squabbling and succumb to outside forces. And, they had limited science. So they recognized people get sick after eating pork because they didn't understand trichinosis, so made the law against eating pork so people weren't sick when they were attacked.

"Now, we know how to cook our pork so people don't get sick. It doesn't necessarily make sense to keep that rule, yet it remains in religions to this day. All powerful leaders, whether secular or religious, made rules to govern the populace in ways that kept the kingdom from descending into chaos, created order and prosperity. Laws are necessary even now, though they're more often created by civil authority rather than religious.

"Muhammed lived in a society where slaves existed. He didn't believe he could do away with slavery altogether, but he did set guidelines by which slaves were to be treated, creating a better life for them. Slow progress towards a better society. Most Muslim countries recognize there is no reason for slavery and outlawed it, despite the existence of slavery in the Qur'an. Now, almost every country in the world has outlawed slavery, yet it still exists in every country. But it is illegal, and hopefully, those who still perpetrate this injustice, can and will be prosecuted and convicted, until we are a better social animal who doesn't require laws to do what is right to one another."

Doctor Sadiq and the others returned from sick bay. Master ensured they both got iPads so they could start communicating with others, Ateefah showing and explaining how to work them and telling them they were free to wander around the ship and they'd be shown a room they could share together. Master made a loudspeaker announcement to the crew that the two new women, named Sumrah and Hafsa, were to be left alone just as Yasmine was. If and when anything changed, they'd be informed, but the London police might not be done with them.

Doctor Sadiq came back, angry and disgusted. "The things done to those women were disgusting. They still had scars and bruises from beatings they received. How those men could call themselves Muslim is beyond me. I wanted not to look because of their modesty, but they had none, and it was too horrible. They would have done anything they were told."

"I was just talking religion with Felicity. People don't always act in the way they are taught to believe. Muslims are not the only ones guilty of such an offense against God. Some of the other women were taken from people calling themselves Christians. It is not what you call yourself that makes you religious. It's how you act towards others all your life. Those men could call themselves whatever they liked, they were still pigs."

"You're right! No man of God, whichever he claimed to follow, would ever do anything like that."

"If you'll excuse me, let me find out what room you've been assigned. I'll show you where it is, though you need not retire yet. If you wish to dance or eat more, you may, but you will be able to find your room when you're ready to sleep. Would you like a wake-up call so you can shower and eat before the police arrive?"

"Perhaps seven."

"I know you didn't foresee staying. Would you like robes and would you like your clothes laundered before morning?"

"Please."

"Leave them in a laundry bag outside your cabin and they will be returned before seven, folded and ready to wear."

I went to Hannah and was told what room to put them in. She put them in the last of our guest suites, and I also told her they'd leave their clothes in a laundry bag outside their room and would need them back by seven when they wanted a wake up call. She said she'd handle it with Pedro. I went back to the table and escorted them to their room.

"This is the largest of our suites. It's on the deck above the main deck where the reception is held, on the port side and towards the prow of the ship. Only the bridge and the Captain's cabin is in front of it." I went to one of the linen closets at the end of the hall and pulled out two robes. "You may use these robes. Just leave them in your room when you leave."

I went back to the reception and danced with several people, both men and women. At 2130, James and Ateefah went to their room to some good natured jests and jeers. At 2200, Master and his slaves went to bed, not to sleep yet, but to remind ourselves how good it was to be alive.

The fun and games over, Master was stroking one of Miranda's breasts while I nibbled on the other. Francesca and Belle were cuddling.

"Does Dr. Sadiq know about us yet?" Master asked me.

"Not yet. I don't know how many times I had to stop myself before I said Master instead of Joshua, but I suspect he'll know or guess before the morning is over."

"Perhaps I should ask him to see all of you as patients."

"Why?" Francesca asked.

"Doctor/patient confidentiality," Master and I both said at once.

We laughed and Master said. "He'd have to keep everything secret."

"Though his wife isn't bound by the same restrictions," I added. "We'll have to depend on the kindness of strangers."

"What did Felicity want to talk to you about?" Master asked.

"She thinks she's submissive."

"How would that work out?" Belle asked.

"Very carefully," I said. "Muslims have so many rules."

******