would think it was my fault. Like the penalties for me will be serious too.
“You’re not married Miss Tanner. Who did you have sexual intercourse with?”
“No one.” A dumb answer. I feel like a kid in school again. Who broke the display screen? No one. Who took the data-pens? No one.
“The Pleasures don’t open for another twenty minutes.” She pauses there for effect. Like I’ll just spill everything to fill up the silence. “If you’re having a sexual relationship with a young man it’s worthwhile registering it. Registration makes it more likely that he’ll choose you when he decides start his harem.”
“He’s already married,” I say.
Doctor Jiang frowns at me. “Married men aren’t permitted sex with anyone but their wives, outside the Pleasures.”
I hang my head. It’s not like I don’t know this rule. Women are never blamed; it will all be on him, but now I feel like somehow I made him do it. I’m pretty sure that’s how Doctor Jiang feels too.
“Please tell me the name of the harem husband in question.”
“Wilton Kay,” I say. “You’ll find a record of the whole thing in his private legal sub folder. We were in his office.” It feels good to turn him over. The fucker deserves it. I’d love to see the look on his face when he gets the citation.
She clicks on a keyboard off screen. “Wilton Kay has been fined before for extramarital sex. Was he interviewing you to join his harem?”
Fuck. I guess that’s not very surprising.
“Yes,” I say. I’m the stupidest woman who has ever lived.
“Well, that’s his MO. Did you not check his file before agreeing to the interview?”
My fault. All my fault. Poor Wilton Kay was only doing what men do. Getting away with anything and everything because he’s one of the lucky ones who survived the Expiation. I wonder how many of his friends he gave up for that survival. I’ve heard that some men sold out their own sons to the cut gangs.
“No. I guess I forgot.”
“Next time you are interviewed take the time to do a little background. It goes a long way.”
“All right. I will.”
Doctor Jiang sighs and gives me an exasperated look. “Do you want to make an appointment with a medic or counsellor?”
“No,” I say. “I feel a little dirty now, though. Can I go outside?”
She clicks a few things off screen. “I’ve given you a credit for the Emerald Waters. Body work only, no sex. I suggest you visit them tonight for a massage and a soak. They open in about fifteen minutes.”
“Okay.”
“Be a bit more discerning in the future, O’Mara. You don’t want to get a reputation.”
“No. Of course not.” Because that would fuck up my chances of making a good marriage. To someone who doesn’t force his wives into group sex with his friends.
“Is there anything else I can help you with?” Doctor Jiang asks, which is code for ‘this unseemly conversation is over’.
“How much will the fine be? The fine you give Mister Kay?”
She pauses before she answers, as though she doesn’t like the answer she has to give.
“One hundred credits,” she says.
One hundred credits.
About a quarter what it would cost him to fuck a low grade servant girl in the Pleasures.
Chapter Three – Tully
“Tully Portero?”
The two servants sitting across from me snort with laughter. Portero is the surname of The Authority Chairman, Trenoweth Portero, the one everyone is pretty sure was the chief instigator of the Expiation in its early days. He bought and bribed and killed his way to the top of the pile back then and has sat there, collecting wives and influence ever since. Not much lowlifes like me can do about it. So whenever Culls are required to provide a full name, our tradition is to use his name. It’s a giant daily “fuck you” to the one who destroyed our lives.
I stand as the nurse looks up from her clip board. “You can go in, Mister Portero .” She smiles at me. The nurses are in on the joke. They