CHAPTER TWELVE
Mar. 8, 2007, late evening
Getting used to a cover as part of an academic couple was harder for Miss Parker than for Jarod. She hated wearing those ridiculous plain frame glasses and having her skirt almost to her ankle was a bit disconcerting. Did Academics really dress that way? Yet, Jarod told her that professors and such were so engrossed in books, they never bothered about fashion anyway, as if she had to listen to a piece of property, someone she used at night. He was, however, the father of her children and that Official Joining made them legitimate.
She did make a furious phone call to Sydney the next day, which went something like this:
"Why didn't you tell Jarod about Shakespeare?"
"Who is this? Oh, it's you Miss Parker."
"Yes, we went to a production of Hamlet, the first one he apparently seen and he almost embarrassed me, saying that Hamlet was in the graveyard, gaining evidence for his father's murder, to our second oldest, mind you."
"The Centre gave me strict orders never to allow Jarod to learn of any culture!"
"Oh yes, he's not to learn about Shakespeare, he can learn about Wagner, he can only listen to one piece by Mozart, he can learn about the oppression of one race to another, but not about that race to its own, so that he never knew he was a chattel until Damien blurted it out! Did you really think learning about Macbeth is going to get him to turn against the Centre?"
Sydney did not say anything nor was he given a chance to for Miss Parker turned off the cell phone and if it she had not paid full price for it and had a three-year contact, she would have slammed it on the floor.
Jarod was getting the plane ready for takeoff and during that time, Miss Parker recalled that week after the court case when they went through the Super Merging or Ultimate Submission, the term used whether the Favorite was a Dominant (in the first case) or Homo Sapien.
It was certainly not a romantic thing, and certainly not like that MI5 agent's journal that the Rurales mailed back to his family in England where he wrote of the Nazi breeding program and this SS lieutenant getting up, giving the Nazi salute, mind you in his shorts — so ridiculous that someone would act like that! And that Nazi bitch who supervised the whole show says, "that's all right get back to what you were doing" or something like that. She should have "all right Lieutenant, get back to producing those horrible little Aryan babies. Tomorrow night, you'll be with Elsa!" I wonder what bed sheets they used, probably with little swastikas all over them or miniature pictures of Hitler. In spite of herself, she started to giggle.
Jarod did not have a stitch on, of course and he did not grovel, or acted degraded. It was just normal for him.
She wore her blouse and a full skirt she had bought for walking along the beach and knew that her acceptance of having sex with Jarod with an audience was because she had been brought up with the Centre's philosophy based on the culture of ancient Greece and Rome before Judeo-Christian morality messed things up. The Parkers wanted others to regard them as gods, especially Raines. It was, as Antonio had said, for the glory of man or rather for the glory of the Parkers.
"What was the reason for all this?" she had asked one of the Dominants after she got up from Jarod who calmly reached for his shirt and pants, putting them on as if it was nothing, showing no shame or degradation by his actions.
"To strike fear in the captives that at any time, in any place, in the street of your crowded cities that even if they obey our orders in detail, we can anything to them," the Dominant watcher said, "but it has never been done."
She never knew who they were, because certainly those favorites and concubines who had gone through the Super Merging, acted as if they always did, with no fear of the consequences, and thee way they talked back to their owners made Miss Parker realize why they were called favorites.
She put on a sweater and walked outside, feeling the cold air on her legs.
"Jarod have you got the plane fixed yet?" she asked.
He came from under the right propeller and it was a good thing there was no one about even though it was pitch black. "Just about."
"Well as soon as you finished, get inside. MacLean'll bring the children later."
"I'm almost done."
She heard a screw turn, and some hammering and Jarod went into the plane. A few minutes later, Miss Parker followed and ordered him to lie on the floor.
Miss Parker never let Jarod kiss or hold her unless she permitted it. Even when she was pursuing him and they ran into each other, there was this social gap between them that they suspected but did not voice. He kept his arms at his side until she said, "All right Jarod just squeeze me tight, no not that tight. I can't breathe!"
Making love was a bit difficult, however, for Miss Parker was three months pregnant and the next batch of Dominants she carried were rather active. She could not go down as far as she liked. If he were a homo sapien, she would ask him to touch her belly and he would make remarks like "they're sure strong" or "boy does that one kick" and she would say, "yes, I feel it too," with the usual warm glow. She did get him to kiss her nipples rather vigorously, while she made some remarks about his body being for her use, him being her possession whose main purpose was to give her children, although it was in a much cruder manner.
Still she was a bit annoyed that he would not protest and she could blame the Centre for that. Miss Parker knew that had the Centre had treated a homo sapien like Jarod, he would have reacted by making himself fat, going on a killing spree, or losing all sense of manhood if he did not committed suicide first. There was nothing similar for the Dominants. Their unwillingness to fight against their captor was an undying code in their genes, similar to the one where the serving maids of the ancient queens willingly allowed themselves to be entombed along with their mistresses. Jarod had first showed it when he told her to shoot him in the back when he wanted to search for his mother. He was willing to let me kill him and now I can do anything to him, and he will not object! Maybe MacLean is correct. We're more a danger to the Dominants than they are to us. At least, they would only kill us!
"MacLean'll bring the children," she said, moving off Jarod.
"Maybe I should get them," he said.
"Not the way you look."
Jarod gave her a funny look. "I'm all right. It's still warm outside."
She smiled as she went to a case at the back of the plane, opened it with a key, and tossed something to the Pretender. "Put these on and help MacLean with the children. I'll wait."
So, she waited, trying to understand how the Dominants acted like the Centre and yet Jarod did not mind and then she remembered something Lewison told her about a 1.5 change. Was this why Jarod told her to kill him?
She then thought about the stages the Pretender went through changing from 1.2 to 1.6. The Dominants said there was 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, and 1.6, but why no mention of a 1.5?
Maybe it's when his senses mature, that five minute sensing, jumping three stories without getting hurt, opening a door and breaking the handle. She could look at the book, but at the time of its writing, they did not know of the 1.5. Maybe I can ask Jarod what happened when he no longer became angry, but then he'll talk about Lyle forcing him to Africa and I really don't have to ask, I can just say, "I want to know this" and he'll tell without question.
She checked the supplies, a can of coke (yes that definitely was a necessity), chocolate bars (another necessity), matches, extra gas, smart cards, bullets, canned food, pet's milk, dehydrated vegetables, and soup. She should have told Jarod to get some diapers and infant sized baby clothes just in case, but she was sure he took care of that.
Miss Parker opened a box, crammed under the back seat. Yes, he had.
Through the window, she could see Jarod and MacLean with the children and the luggage coming towards the plane. Jarod, as usual, carried the most, and looked the most comfortable. One thing about Dominants, their extra strength was an advantage. Making one realize he was just a chattel had to be done in other ways and even that did not change his nature.
Roderick had explained it to her. "If you tell him to do something even to lick your feet, and he protests, you can use the pain inducer at the high level. We Dominants feel pain, but we do not voice our agony until it seers."
She had said, "But he loves me I can't do that to him."
"He'd despise you if you didn't punish him for disobeying. We Dominants are not like you homo sapiens. If we were to protest, you would kill us. We want to survive."
Of course, Miss Parker hardly ever had to use the pain inducer except when Jarod held her without permission, something he never attempted until he was free of that drug. She watched him put the children in their seats, and fasten their seat belts, telling them not to take them off like last time. He then faced her after MacLean got in his seat, bowing slightly, but only his eyes wrinkled. His face remained the same.
Jarod, she thought, when are you going to get back that childlike smile you had, but she knew that was lost forever. The Centre had treated him too much like a little boy even when he became a man, so the only time she knew he was happy was when he made a humorous remark.
Jarod was now at the pilot's seat besides Miss Parker. "Obviously, it'll be the last place to look, so we go there first." He pointed to a red dot.
