Author's Note
Dear Readers. This is my first story to make it from the movie theater in my mind to word on paper on Literotica.
No sex. Set on planets other than Earth, but very little sci-fi stuff. Spankings (F/F), in college at first. No male MCs. Mild humiliation. No beastiality, Lol.
I am more interested in your thoughts about what might be improved, than in what (little) I may have gotten right in crafting a story enjoyable to read. If you hope for a whack-a-mole, this first of what is planned to be a 3 part series is deficient. Don't penalize me for that, please.
Do what you will with stars, although I have enough of an ego to hope eventually they populate my galaxy.
PS, I'd like advice about tags. What other tags might have I used?
Thank you
Spoiler: Story Synopsis
Margaret, a PhD candidate, can't find a topic for her thesis. Raised on Ganymede (a moon), she attends a university on Gliese, a large planet. After submitting her fifth inadequate thesis topic to her advisor, she is taken to task. The Profesora (Spanish spelling) figures out she is a gifted (but not beautiful) science and sports captain, whose non-teaching assistant private life has become unmanageable. Margo accepts a spanking from her Prof.
CP intertwines with the topic of her thesis and then how she must conduct her field research (in the next chapter). The theme will become how scientists research to make CP -- in non-judicial / slavery settings -- more effective punishment for misbehavior, as a more effective discipline for behavior modification, and as a deterrence for others inclined to naughty behavior. Margo's field research takes place in homes, schools and work places.
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Comparative Punishments Field Notes:
A Spanking Helps Me Find My Thesis Topic
I never thought my thesis advisor had a sense of humor until our last thesis discussion, when she threatened to 'take me over her knee' if I didn't find a viable topic. It has to be a joke because spanking is not a consequence for poor behavior listed in the Universidad's Graduate Student Conduct handbook.
Nor is it a consequence listed for poor academic performance.
My thesis performance makes me miserable. Worry about possible lateness to my appointment, a 'poor behavior' my parents and teachers use painful consequence to 'stress', adds a twisted stomach to my swirling thoughts of guilt and inadequacy.
The walk from my small, shared apartment to the Universidad de Gliese is wet. Unlike many inhabited planets, the atmosphere on Gliese is suitable for humans. The monsoon drizzle is a natural occurrence caused by clouds and not by machines, unlike on my home moon.
Although I normally crave a healthy walk, walking in the rain does nothing to improve my mood today. I cannot afford to take the time to adroitly avoid puddles. The time I should have allowed for this trip I frittered, dithering.
My appointment is with my comparative human psychology thesis advisor. Madame Profesora Lieu. If she were a singer, this tall, formidable woman's voice would be described as straightforward and twangy. She exudes 'profesora' tone and vernacular with flair.
Even in the rain, the Universidad is a glorious sight. One can see buildings made of stunning natural pink basalt, one to three stories high, with yellow tile or turquoise edging around windows and entrances. Student legend says these colors ward off 'evil spirits'.
I've always feared anything yellow since being trapped within the sun-yellow walls of my collapsed home on Ganymede. The Universidad's yellow trim tiles are what the guidebooks call 'daffodil-yellow'. Like giving blood to get over a fear of needles, I tap a yellow tile for 'luck' when entering Universidad buildings. What is a daffodil?
My first thesis topic proposal, Team Sports on Small Colonies: Impact on Community Morale, received a frown and a "no protein in that topic" dismissal from Madame Lieu. Four more topic proposals followed, at longer gaps for gestation. "Done before." "Impossible to fund." "Did you think this through?" The last dismissal hurt the most: "You are too smart for a trivial project like this."
"Ma'am, why?"
"Figure it out yourself, Miss Margaret."
That phrase brought back treasured memories. My daddy, when I asked a 'why' question, and I must have had ten thousand of them, would say: "Figure them out for yourself, sprout."
I'd put my latest proposal together late last night, "Student responsibilities and nutritional habits on asteroids with and without farming domes."
As a college teaching assistant, a girl coming to me with that essay proposal during the last week of a semester-long project deserved a spanking. What is the topic? Comparison, responsibilities, nutrition, or farming? The breadth of the topic(s) would never allow focused research. Nor could it be wrapped-up in any lifetime.
Profesora Lieu stares at my newest thesis topic. Stares at me.
Cryptically, she states: "This needs to be done."
She stands, revealing a dress of teal and electric yellow swirls, and bids me stand. Yellow again today. I don't think I've ever seen her in yellow in two years. I'm sweating.
She rounds her desk, tidies up the other visitor chair in her office, and sits.
"Margaret Arabella, come here." She points to the right side of her hips.
"Ma'am?"
"Surely, Miss Arabella, you haven't forgotten how to listen and obey when you are told to do something promptly by a teacher, have you?"
"Um, No, Ma'am."
"Now."
Oh.
She is going to spank me! I'm too old to be spanked.
I need to be spanked. A spanking always helped me, when I'd boxed myself in with double think in school or worried about perfection, and mom gave me her maternal motivational spanking. But Madame Profesora can't, can she?
"Yes, Profesora."
"Miss Arabella, look at me. Did none of your teachers ever require you to look them in the eye when they speak to you in a situation like this?"
"They did, Profesora."
"Do you know why I require you to look me in the eye before I spank you?"
This is it.
She is going to spank me. Now is the time to protest.
"No, Ma'am."
"Figure it out yourself, Miss Arabella. You certainly have the insightfulness to explain it to me."
"Ma'am.
Oh. Wow.
I've learned a lot about this without knowing it when I tutored and TA'ed. "Looking you in the eye shows my respect, Ma'am. It allows you to assess whether I am paying attention. It heightens my embarrassment, my disappointment at letting you down. Maybe it helps you figure out what correction, what consequences are necessary? Nobody taught me any of that, but..."
"You'll make an outstanding teacher, Miss Arabella, if you can apply such comparative psychology in practical situations."
At the edge of my hearing I hear her murmur, 'perfect thesis'.
"You know what you need now, don't you, Miss Arabella? And before you ask me 'what do I mean?' use the intelligence that drove you to salutatorian in high school and an 'with honors' college graduate. The woman named best TA teacher of the year here at Gliese!"
"Ma'am, you think I need a spanking?"
"Yes. Don't you, Miss Arabella? I may not spank you without your permission. However, I do not need your permission to withdraw as your thesis advisor if you persist in self-defeating behavior. Before you answer, let me tell you I've done my homework for this interview, reviewing your prior school records."
"Ma'am?"
"Do not interrupt, dear."
"Your seventh-year calculus teacher wrote: 'Margaret appears to daydream in class. However, when I call on her, she invariably has an answer. I trust her to give me the correct answer, but sometimes she jumps ahead and solves a problem we haven't covered yet. Or gives me yesterday's answer'.
"Here is a note from Profesoro Gilbert, who taught you advanced propulsion repair in college."
"'In all my years of teaching space mechanics, Miss Arabella stands out. She has only one flaw, and that is her tendency to prioritize taking apart or constructing other students' research-engine projects over her own lab work. Her explanation is always consistent. 'It's just so captivating to observe. I guess it drew me to it. I'll put it back the way it was.' Despite the embarrassment of my rubber-tube-on-her-bare-fanny strapping in front of her classmates, she never fails to fix a project back to its original state after class in record time. All of her work, when focused, is ready to fly'.
"Frankly, Margo, I find this note the most telling about your character. It is an end-of-the-season critique from your Jai Alai instructor.
"'This young lady captained our team to the regional championships. Not merely with her goal scoring or speed, but with quiet, consistent support of every teammate, no matter little skilled. Her only fault is a tendency to pass the ball off too often to a teammate who needs ball-handling time. I placed her over our pommel horse a couple times at the end of practices in front of her teammates. She remained graceful and showed an understanding of why I needed to chastise her'.
"There are a couple of themes in these notes, I suggest, that are applicable today. You know what you need, don't you, Margaret Arabella?"
"Ma'am. Um, Profesora, I need a spanking, I think?"
Margo could not know that her deeply respected teacher kept her hand firm by practice on her live-at-home daughter and her two teenager granddaughters.
"Remove your skirt and... Well, what do you call your nèikù on your home?"
"Panties, ma'am, or bragas."
"Remove your panties, Miss Arabella, and face that wall. Hold up your blouse, so my next student gets a look at what happens to students who lack focus."
