Chapter 3 Angela enters the duels
June 2045
IN A CONFERENCE ROOM IN A HOTEL IN HAMBURG
The Markus SΓΆder Hotel was named after the Bundeskanzler, who agreed in 2027 to keep Bavaria from forming an independent country as long as he became Chancellor of Germany for life. At the hotel, the Reverend Mark Tailor Brown, Elvis ("Neck") Wallace of the Wallace Import & Supply Co., Senior "Kultur, Sex und Sport" reporter, Lena Fesch, and junior reporter,Angela Assad, gathered for Ms. Assad to sign a contract. Under the contract, Assad would receive 5000 Euros (worth about 2000 Euros in 2020 Euros) from the Wallace Import and Supply Corp. to participate in a paintball gun duel at High Noon the following Saturday with 15 other women.
Merely participating in the duel was not the major component of the contract. Assad was to receive much more money for winning a duel and would leave the field after she won a duel. If she lost, there would be another duel. But if, after three losses, she made it down to the final duel and lost that final fourth duel, Angela Assad would become an indentured servant -- some would say "sex slave" - for twenty years on a large ship cruising on rivers or seas flowing in or near the Free American States under God (FASUG). The FASUG is one of the countries formed in 2030 from the national divorce that broke up the United States.
"Reverend Brown," Lena asked, "does one of the major Free States under God ministers attend every contract signing in the FASUG?"
"No, Ms. Fesch, of course not," Rev. Brown replied. "But we need a holy witness to the first contract signed by every woman who agrees to participate in these indentured servant contests to make absolutely certain that there is no form of coercion involved in the agreement."
"Is poverty a form of coercion?"
"Loosely speaking, maybe some socialist-minded people might say it is, but if the desire to have material things were considered a form of coercion, there could be no contracts for anything, and no work would get done," the reverend answered.
"I'm sorry, just one more question, and I'll be quiet for a while," Lena said. "Has anyone ever completed their obligation to be an indentured servant and returned to where they were before they were the loser in one of these contests?"
"No, of course not, Ms. Fesch," Rev. Brown said, "as you know full well, we've only been holding these contests for 9 years, so no one has finished a twenty-year contract obligation. There are a couple of women who were on boats in penal servitude who finished the terms of their sentence. They were encouraged to emigrate to the Social Democratic States of America or some other place as ex-convicts who have served on the boats do not fit well into Free State society."
"Nun, Angela," Lena Fesch said, "Do not tell anyone I told you to do this because I did not suggest you do this."
"You've done much crazier things than this, Lena. What you are doing is like James Bond telling someone not to become a traffic Polizei because being a policeman is a dangerous job. I have been practicing my shooting for a whole month, and I do not think I will lose before I write a story that will make my name as an investigative reporter. And I do not think I will have to work as a prostitute, be raped in a war zone or risk death in a dozen ways like the crazy Schlampe now telling me to be cautious," Angela said.
Angela signed the agreement, gave Lena a smug look and suggested that they head for the office of "Kulture Sex und Sport," the publication for which Lena and Angela worked.
Lena said, "Wait, I have just thought of a couple more questions for Reverend Brown. Reverend, why is it okay to do things on the boats that are not otherwise permissible in the Free States under God? Does it have to do with holy water?"
"No, Fraulein Fesch, it has to do with the fact that the boats are isolated from Free States society, and activities can go on without contaminating the society."
"Reverend Brown, I think you have been watching old movies. 'Fraulein' has not been used to address grown women for decades. But to follow up on my last question, why are some things considered by you to be sins allowed on the Boats, such as gambling and sex outside marriage, while other things, such as abortion and birth control, are not."
"Why is gambling allowed but murder not allowed? Is that what you are asking? Obviously, the religious leaders who make decisions for the Free States have had to make some concessions to the imperfections of human character and allow some sins and not others. Abortion is murder, and anything that prevents a potential human being from developing into a baby is abortion."
"What if I abstain from sex for the rest of my life and all the potential human life from my eggs goes unrealized. Did I commit murder?
"Are you trying to be funny? Your eggs are not a human being; they are half the genetic material needed to make a human being."
"Does that mean that every time I have a menstrual period, I commit half a murder?"
"I am not going to put up with this insulting nonsense, Fraulein," Reverend Brown said as he and Neck got up, with Neck trying his best to maintain a straight face.
"Fraulein, you and your kind mock beliefs that were generally accepted until 80 years ago, a mere blink of the eye compared to the 6070 years since God created Adam. Of course, couples should be fruitful and multiply, women should obey their husbands, and sex is only proper within marriage for women who naturally must remain pure as women are to raise innocent babes.
We do not encourage men to go onto the boats to have sex with women outside the community, but we recognize that many men cannot control their sinful impulses and must be granted an outlet. Women are naturally better at controlling such unholy impulses, and the dangers from them failing to do so are far more grievous. The creator knew all this and made women accordingly."