Fic: Arc (cont.)
Jan. 8th, 2010 07:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jeriendhalHeh. I've got a scene towards the end of the story where we see how Whitepelt made out as a mother. Suffice it to say her experiences in the creche left her... ill-equipped for the task.
“We’re leaving this station. If want to come with us, there will be a place for you,” Marty told her.
“I can’t!”
“I understand. Put her down, Whitepelt.” She let the galen woman drop down into her seat while a pair of creo medtechs in blue hospital scrubs poked their heads out of the door leading deeper into the crèche. Whitepelt eyes went wide when she recognized one of them.
“Hello, Nurse Stonebender,” she called out.
The older nurse started, looked at her carefully, then said, “Hello D6. What are you all doing here?”
She drew in a breath, trying to steel herself. “We’ve come for the cubs. We’re leaving.”
Nurse Stonebender shook her head sadly. “You can’t do that dear. That would be against the Wise Master’s orders. You shouldn’t be here at all.”
From around the time she’d first stood on her own footpads Nurse Stonebender had been one of the constants in Whitepelt’s life, until she was removed from the crèche at age twelve to start her training on the station’s docks. She wondered if that made the old creo her mother.
“Your job is done, Nurse Stonebender,” Marty said. “We’re leaving the station and taking the cubs here with us.”
“Taking them with you?” she exclaimed. “Where do you think you’ll go? Who are you, you aren’t from my crèche.”
“He’s from outside the station, Nurse Stonebender,” Whitepelt said. “Outside, where things are supposed to be different than they are here.”
The old creo’s grey face paled. “Oh, dear. Oh dear. You shouldn’t be here. He’ll tell you lies, D6. You mustn’t listen to him.”
“The only lies being told are the ones your “Wise Masters” have inflicted upon the vulpine here,” Marty said. “You are a mother. Do you not cherish your children? Why should you deny that joy to the children you have nurtured on Social Shaper’s behalf?”
“We have to do what the Wise Masters order!”
“We don’t have to do anything. Not without consent. Not perpetuating the horror that has gone on here. Have you never lain awake at night, wondering if what you were doing was right?”
He lies, he lies, he lies, a seductive voice whispered in Whitepelt’s head. Silence him, and restore your faith in the Wise Masters.
She shook her head, and tried to concentrate on the argument between Nurse Stonebender and Marty.
“It doesn’t matter what I think!” Nurse Stonebender insisted. “But we must trust the Wise Masters and obey.”
“I trust only the Holy Den Mother now. She does not want Her children raised in bondage, to be born and live and die in a cold metal tube floating in the vacuum. So we are freeing them today. Please step aside.”
“You heard him,” Whitepelt said. She raised her hand and laid it on the old creo female’s shoulder. “You raised me, but I can’t stay here, and neither can the children.” She pushed Nurse Stonebender and her companion gently out of the way, stepping into the crèche proper.
It was much as she remembered it, a junction of hallways leading to the practical classrooms. Creo and galen teacher looked them in alarm as the crowd of adult vulpine filled the halls, blocking the doors. Further in were the sleep learning centers, with row after row of young vulpine ranging in age from four to fourteen, lying on couches in the darkened rooms, their ears and eyes covered by VR helmets, tubes leading from the hypno-induction drug feeds in their chairs to the youngsters’ arms.
Finally they came to the cub crèches, where two hundred or more sets of eyes turned to stare at them blankly in one housing unit, as the adult vulpine crowded inside to stare back at their children they’d never seen before.
* * *
Testimony of Deesix Whitepelt as presented to the Galactic Sapiens Alliance Truth and Reconciliation Committee, cont.
What was the crèche like? It wasn’t that bad. People seem to think we were beaten with shock sticks or something if we got out of line, but it wasn’t anything like that. The nursemaids were usually nice and we always had food.
Protein units, not that different from space rations. Yes, all the time. You think they were importing vegetable mass there? It wouldn’t have been efficient.
Games? Uh, well, we had learning games of course. “Name the colors” and “Find the breaker switch” or “Emergency Drill”. The last one wasn’t much fun though. All the loud noises and flashing lights tended to scare the cubs.
Ball games? Like dexterity training?
Sorry, what about the walls? Um, they were beige I guess. No, just beige. Except for the signs of course.
Yeah there were pictures, we had display screens everywhere.
Oh, you mean pictures. No, nothing like that.
Well, we worked in the learning centers mostly, hypno training for knowledge skills, and classroom work for practical stuff. Then we did our maintenance chores in the aft shift, and then had our sleep period. I don’t know what you mean by “recreation” time.
Really, it wasn’t that bad.
TBC
“We’re leaving this station. If want to come with us, there will be a place for you,” Marty told her.
“I can’t!”
“I understand. Put her down, Whitepelt.” She let the galen woman drop down into her seat while a pair of creo medtechs in blue hospital scrubs poked their heads out of the door leading deeper into the crèche. Whitepelt eyes went wide when she recognized one of them.
“Hello, Nurse Stonebender,” she called out.
The older nurse started, looked at her carefully, then said, “Hello D6. What are you all doing here?”
She drew in a breath, trying to steel herself. “We’ve come for the cubs. We’re leaving.”
Nurse Stonebender shook her head sadly. “You can’t do that dear. That would be against the Wise Master’s orders. You shouldn’t be here at all.”
From around the time she’d first stood on her own footpads Nurse Stonebender had been one of the constants in Whitepelt’s life, until she was removed from the crèche at age twelve to start her training on the station’s docks. She wondered if that made the old creo her mother.
“Your job is done, Nurse Stonebender,” Marty said. “We’re leaving the station and taking the cubs here with us.”
“Taking them with you?” she exclaimed. “Where do you think you’ll go? Who are you, you aren’t from my crèche.”
“He’s from outside the station, Nurse Stonebender,” Whitepelt said. “Outside, where things are supposed to be different than they are here.”
The old creo’s grey face paled. “Oh, dear. Oh dear. You shouldn’t be here. He’ll tell you lies, D6. You mustn’t listen to him.”
“The only lies being told are the ones your “Wise Masters” have inflicted upon the vulpine here,” Marty said. “You are a mother. Do you not cherish your children? Why should you deny that joy to the children you have nurtured on Social Shaper’s behalf?”
“We have to do what the Wise Masters order!”
“We don’t have to do anything. Not without consent. Not perpetuating the horror that has gone on here. Have you never lain awake at night, wondering if what you were doing was right?”
He lies, he lies, he lies, a seductive voice whispered in Whitepelt’s head. Silence him, and restore your faith in the Wise Masters.
She shook her head, and tried to concentrate on the argument between Nurse Stonebender and Marty.
“It doesn’t matter what I think!” Nurse Stonebender insisted. “But we must trust the Wise Masters and obey.”
“I trust only the Holy Den Mother now. She does not want Her children raised in bondage, to be born and live and die in a cold metal tube floating in the vacuum. So we are freeing them today. Please step aside.”
“You heard him,” Whitepelt said. She raised her hand and laid it on the old creo female’s shoulder. “You raised me, but I can’t stay here, and neither can the children.” She pushed Nurse Stonebender and her companion gently out of the way, stepping into the crèche proper.
It was much as she remembered it, a junction of hallways leading to the practical classrooms. Creo and galen teacher looked them in alarm as the crowd of adult vulpine filled the halls, blocking the doors. Further in were the sleep learning centers, with row after row of young vulpine ranging in age from four to fourteen, lying on couches in the darkened rooms, their ears and eyes covered by VR helmets, tubes leading from the hypno-induction drug feeds in their chairs to the youngsters’ arms.
Finally they came to the cub crèches, where two hundred or more sets of eyes turned to stare at them blankly in one housing unit, as the adult vulpine crowded inside to stare back at their children they’d never seen before.
* * *
Testimony of Deesix Whitepelt as presented to the Galactic Sapiens Alliance Truth and Reconciliation Committee, cont.
What was the crèche like? It wasn’t that bad. People seem to think we were beaten with shock sticks or something if we got out of line, but it wasn’t anything like that. The nursemaids were usually nice and we always had food.
Protein units, not that different from space rations. Yes, all the time. You think they were importing vegetable mass there? It wouldn’t have been efficient.
Games? Uh, well, we had learning games of course. “Name the colors” and “Find the breaker switch” or “Emergency Drill”. The last one wasn’t much fun though. All the loud noises and flashing lights tended to scare the cubs.
Ball games? Like dexterity training?
Sorry, what about the walls? Um, they were beige I guess. No, just beige. Except for the signs of course.
Yeah there were pictures, we had display screens everywhere.
Oh, you mean pictures. No, nothing like that.
Well, we worked in the learning centers mostly, hypno training for knowledge skills, and classroom work for practical stuff. Then we did our maintenance chores in the aft shift, and then had our sleep period. I don’t know what you mean by “recreation” time.
Really, it wasn’t that bad.
TBC
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no subject
Date: 2010-01-15 12:09 am (UTC)...because she did not know different...
*poor cubs*
mjkj