The Joy of Serving: That I Never Wanted

It was harder than I thought--standing there watching Syra’s literal bone crushing exploits to get people to join. I had never seen such aggressive tactics. I started going in first to just about beg these people to join knowing what they could expect from her. They got angry at me and would holler at me and curse me. I tried to calm them and help them find a way out, which seemed to make them even more angry.

When Syra came in she would lay it on them hard. They would often glare at me or attack me then, instead of her. I think I made a peaceful target. And then she would just get brutal. This happened so many times that I would have to start beating the crap out of them before they could escalate to save them from being hospitalized. To be truthful, they were rather stupid and arrogant. I could see how a person could start enjoying a job of kicking the shit out of them.

Syra stood over a very small woman who was at the point of tears on my last day of service as a Knight. I would be part of the High Council the next day. This woman had made the mistake of being arrogant to the point of violence and it hadn’t turned out very well. As Syra was about to stomp the woman's throat I cleared my throat loudly. She stopped and looked at me. I shook my head and she stopped and got control of herself. The woman turned toward me and our eyes met for a few seconds. An understanding passed between us. I guess she could see the hidden look of shock and concern for her in my eyes.

“I’ll join!” She whispered up at Syra. “Please stop. I’m sorry. Don’t hurt me anymore…please.”

“Oh. I didn't mean to hurt you,” Syra said. “We don’t like to hurt people, Ben, do we?”

“No we don’t, Syra.”

“No we don’t,” She said. She stepped back. “So I am going to step out and calm myself a little while Ben here gives you the specifics, tells you the ins and outs and signs you up. Is that all right?” She looked up from the floor and nodded. “Good. We’re on the same page. And maybe you can tell us if any of your friends would like to join. That would be good too.” The woman nodded just wanting to get away from her. Syra brushed herself off and headed to the front door. The door closed gently and the door knob clicked. I walked over and helped her up. She snatched her arm away, but only after she was standing.

“Don’t expect me to feel sorry for you, you A-hole. I told you what to expect. Go wipe your face and then get back in here and listen.” She headed to the small restroom just off of the living room. I could hear water running for a few moments. He came out with a damp towel dabbing it onto her bruises. I sat on the sofa and patted the seat beside me. She looked at the adjacent chair. “Do I need to have Syra come in again?” She just about threw herself onto the sofa.

“Good decision!” I said. “You may think that we are some real pricks. I would agree. But if you say that in front of Syra or any of the other Knights I don’t know what will happen to you. You can take a punch, I’ll tell you that.”

“I was a fighter for 6 years before this, and yes I can, can you?”

“I’d rather give one than take one,” I said with a grin. She smiled a bit. “I was a miner. My contract was up about 3 weeks ago.”

“I’m supposed to be leaving in a month or two. What the hell is going on?” I looked at her and arched my brows.

“It’s true,” I simply said. “The rumors are true.”

“No way. The rumors about people not leaving.”

“Now you know what’s going on. So welcome to New Nobility. You are volunteering to be a Knight and we are taking your application into consideration. In fact it has been accepted provisionally and we expect to see you at the round table in about a month. And please don’t try to leave. I did.” I stood. “Are we clear?” I asked. She gave me a nod, reluctantly. “If you talk with someone about this, you could damage them so please don’t. I know that by experience.” I reached down to shake her hand. She stood so we could make eye contact and took my hand. She had a firm grip. A lot of character. I turned, gathered my things and Syra, the warrior queen's things and left.

Syra was outside leaning against the door in the narrow hallway. “Well do I have to go back in,” she asked, approaching me for her things. She stood close as I handed them to her. I looked at her face and her hair all muffed up. Turned me on for a second or two. That was strange. She looked up and into my eyes and grinned.

“Time to go, Ben,” She said. She began to walk and I hurried to catch up. She turned toward me walking backwards and pointed both fingers at me, thumbs up like guns. She gave me a wink as she made a shooting sound. “Got you for a few, didn’t I?” I didn’t know how to answer. “You did a good job there, Ben. Or should I call you Sir. You’ll be on the council tomorrow. Isn’t it sweet, and if you don’t have any objections, I’ll be your knight.”

“You. Are you serious?”

“I never joke.”

“Yes. I’ve noticed that.”

“I joke with friends.”

I haven’t noticed any of your friends.” I turned to her. “Oh, you mean Mark and those other Knights. Ha. I can’t imagine.”

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t even need to answer that.”

She grinned. “Already acting like a councilman. Good.”

***

I thought the Knights were weird. This council was really a bunch of nuts. Myra sat there looking out the window. She wore a long, white, loose fitting gown like the pictures I had seen of ancient Earth about Greek and Roman life. The men wore something they used to call togas, which were similar. I was quickly given one. The only difference between all of the togas, which I later discovered was what Myra was wearing, was the colors. For some reason I was given a red one. We looked like the colors of the rainbow. There had been six, I had become the 7th. Only seven of us ruling a large region of this asteroid.

I took a seat as I was introduced to Myra, Kenny, Sherrie, Michelle, Byron, and Braxton. They welcomed me wholeheartedly. “I’m not good with names,” I said. “Forgive me if I don’t remember yours right away.”

“No worries,” Byron said. “By the time you’ve been meeting with us here you’ll know everything about us. We have long hours. Welcome to the High Council.”

I sighed and took a seat. “Another recruit,” Myra said, still looking out the window. She turned to me and brushed a lock of long red hair out of her eyes. She was a fairly attractive woman with a pale complexion and blue eyes. She looked to be in her mid-forties with small wrinkle lines forming around her mouth from smiling so much. She grinned for a moment and then looked back out the window.

“That’s all you're going to get from her for a while,” Sherry said. “She was much younger than the others with light brown skin and braids hanging down almost to the middle of her back.” Byron shook his head. “What, Byron!” She asked.

“Don’t go getting on Myra.”

“You her Father or something?”

“He’d like to be, or something,” Michelle said with a grin.” She had Asian features, but was very tall for a person of Asian Descent. Her hair was long and thick, but dyed blonde.”

“See what you got yourself into, Braxton said. “We think we are, but we aren’t perfect.” She stood tall and had a regal appearance. Her hair was long and dark. She had a Mediterranean look about her. Very dark brown eyes, but a mischievous grin that lit up her face. Kenny, the Black Man just shook his head and scratched his beard.

“Speak for yourself,” I was a miner,” he said.

“How lucky you are to have been promoted,” Michelle said with a smile. “I’ve been a noble all of my life.” They all looked at her, but were silent. She walked toward me and extended her hand. “Welcome,” she said, with her dark eyes seeming to bore into me. Her hair was blonde and long too, but she was somewhat dark for such light hair. I shook her hand. “And of course, I’m the Chair. You may have a seat. We’ll have refreshment sent in before we start and then…let’s get cracking, shall we?”

I frowned. “I like him already,” Sherrie said.

“New recruit are you,” Kenny asked. “How’d they threaten you?”

“With prison or something. Maybe mining on an asteroid somewhere.”

“I would say that works pretty well,” he said.

“Enough of that,” Michelle said, cutting in. “You are on my time.”

“Ha!” Myra responded. “We are equals here. We are not your slaves.”

“That could change overnight. Don’t you try me," Michelle responded."

“That was never my intention," Myra coolly responded.

“I’m sure it wasn’t.”

“So you are a Knight?” Byron asked.

“I was. I’ve seen what they have to deal with, and what they are like when they recruit. It is brutal.”

“Good. They get who we need,” Michelle said. Everyone glared at her. She shrugged. “Just saying. You know what we have to deal with and the amount of goods we have to supply to stay alive. Would you rather we not make our quotas and see this asteroid turn to dust?”

“What does that mean?” I asked.

“It means we don’t own it,” Michelle answered. “And to keep the people alive we have to make a quota to be given to those off planet or people will die. It is up to us by any means possible to make our quotas every month or people die. Is that clear enough for you?”

“Yes it is. Even without the bad attitude, Michelle. That is your name isn’t it?”

“You know what my name is?”

“Oh. I thought you were someone else.” Myra started smiling. Syra came walking in leading wait staff with refreshments. I was surprised.

“Ah. This is your Knight?” Kenny asked.

“I guess so. I don’t own her.”

“Unfortunately,” he said with a grin.

“These are the pages assigned to your meeting,” Syra said, totally ignoring the comments. “They are here to provide anything that you need. And I mean, anything.” She looked at me. "I will see you later in your resting place.”

“Ok.” I hadn’t expected to have a bodyguard. Was that position so dangerous? She left the room as the pages began to set up the refreshments. They were very attractive men and women. I didn’t even know they had pages, especially ones who would supply us with anything. I thought that kind of...insane. No wonder the Knights were so mean. They must have gone through a lot as pages. They finished and left the room. Michelle quickly ceased the gavel I hadn’t noticed in the center of the table and picked up banged.

“Meeting called to order,” she said, as the recording system came on. I ate some grapes and shook my head. First on the agenda, recruitment. That is in your portfolio,” she said, turning to me. Everyone’s eyes were on me. I didn’t know what they wanted.

“Everything is going smoothly,” I said. “And I wasn’t aware that I was supposed to be in charge of recruitment.

“Good preliminary report. We will expect more tomorrow,” Michelle said. “I apologized for not informing you early. We will have the briefs sent to you by this evening. It has been a very busy week for us and unfortunately, our knights haven’t been up to speed.” I bit my tongue and didn’t say a word. Myra looked at me out of the corner of her eyes and smiled as Michelle began to present us with an agenda. We would be there meeting several hours a day for at least a week.

After about two hours we took a short break. Myra sauntered over to me as I leaned with my back against the wall wondering what I had gotten into. Kenny made his way over too.

“Only about a week to go,” he said, with a grin. Myra was quiet. She cut her eyes over at him and smiled, but didn’t say anything.

“This will be like working the mines except doing it while you're sitting on your ass,” I said. Myra smiled

“I would say that you are accurate.” She looked a bit more serious. “What about your briefs?”

“My briefs are fine,” I said. “They're clean. Want to see them?” Kenny chuckled. Her lips flattened.

“Not those briefs,” she leaned in, “the important ones.”

“I never received any. Not that I would have read them anyway.” Kenny began to laugh out right.

“Tonight. Your place. We will go through your…” she thought for a moment, “job description together.”

“I would love it,” I said. Not very sincerely, but trying.

“Good. You will make a great Nobleman.”

“Noble Person,” Kenny corrected with a grin. She frowned and walked away. His grin spread more. “Nice woman for a Blue Blood,” He said. “You know she is one of the original Nobles. That’s what they call themselves anyway. They were just a bunch of CEOs and the like with billions of dollars who had the nerve to go out into space early to mine or from comets and asteroids. That was a long time ago and now, here we are.”

Don’t you feel good about yourself now? You pulled yourself up from poverty and obscurity and now you have the great chance to help free all that poor rabble from themselves.” I turned to him. He didn’t look serious. He went on. “We’re going to save them because we love them and you will have your hand on that plow to save those poor workers who are about to go out into the universe free from that. I think you should be proud, don’t you?” I frowned.

“And what do you do?” I said.

“I count our money. I’m the treasurer.” I rolled my eyes and he laughed. He slapped me on the shoulder. “Welcome to the real world,” he said, followed by a booming laugh. I looked over at Myra who was floating from person to person like a butterfly.

I nodded my head toward her. “What’s she all about?”

“She’s a networker. Floats here and there. She doesn’t have to be here, you know? Just loves her job. I hear she’s kind of…very friendly, if you know what I mean.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“She likes men very much.”

“Oh yeah. Does she like you?”

“No. I like men very much first of all, and she doesn’t like ex miners. She’s looking for something special. I don’t know just what.” He looked at her for a few moments and leaned closer. He lowered his voice. “Something strange about her. I think she has alien DNA.”

“Alien DNA?” I repeated back trying not to smile, but doing a bad job.

“I’m serious,” he said. “And don’t say that or let anyone know you heard me say it. Be careful around her. I think most of the original Founders have alien DNA and powers we don’t know about. I think they're telepathic or something.”

I looked over Myra. She was a bit older, but a very attractive being, whatever she was. I looked back at him. He shook his head. “What?” I said. “She is kind of attractive. A little old, or older than I am but…she looks kind of...”

“Yeah. You just listen to what I’ve said and don’t go pillow talking about this with her.”

“You've gotten way ahead of yourself with this one,” I said.

“I’ll give it a week,” he responded. Michelle began to circulate and call us all back to the meeting room. Next topic: Company Unions vs. Labor Unions.

***

It was a long day. I didn’t get home until about 6. We were supposed to have dinner together, but I just needed to be alone for a while. I hadn’t talked so much in years with no downtime. I sat in my large apartment looking out the window. The stars were beautiful that night, sparkling like diamonds in a sea of blackness. There was just something moving about looking at the starlit sky from an asteroid.

No moon, no artificial light…artificial everything else, yes, but very little artificial light outside, to any extent, made every star stand out, and every moment tranquil. My doorbell rang and I wondered who it was. I was starving. I hadn’t eaten and it was almost 930. I went to the door and opened it slightly. Myra was standing there with what looked like a covered plate and a large container of some type of liquid. I quickly opened the door.

“Come on in, Myra. This is a pleasant surprise. I thought you changed your mind.” She walked in carrying her gifts.

“I’ll put these on the counter,” She said. “I had a feeling you’d be too tired to fix anything, so i brought you some of our dinner.”

“That’s very kind of you,” I said as I approached. This was a surprise.

“Yes, but…we still need to go over the briefs tonight.”

I sighed and she looked at me and smiled. “Don’t worry. It won’t take so long and it will be painless. I’ll even let you eat first. We have all night. I take that back. We start again 730 with breakfast.”

“Why so early?” I removed the cover from the plate. It looked good to my starving stomach. I pulled a stool up to the counter. “Would you have some?” I asked.

“No thanks. I’m quite full.”

I sat there just choosing what to bite first. Instead I opened the liquid container and took a drink. “Alcohol?” I asked. “You are just full of surprises.”

“No one has ever said I’m predictable.” She sat on the sofa. “You just eat. I’ll keep myself busy until you're done and then we can pull up your job descriptions. I was about to say briefs, but we all know that joke has worn thin, don’t we?”

“I don’t know. I think it’s still a pretty good one.”

“I’m sure you do,” she said, with great emphasis to “You do.” And that was the beginning of a troublesome relationship.

We had dinner a few more times between the bi-weekly meetings we had, constantly. As a member at large of the Council, she was curious about all of our portfolios. Every so often we would visit the sites where someone had been recruited, as they called it, to measure the fallout. Usually I would go with my knight, Syra. Every so often she would accompany us. Things went smoothly, until she made the arrangements one night.

I noticed there were only two apartments reserved. “I thought that we were wasting the state's money,” She said. “I thought that two of us could double bunk with no negative ramifications.’

“I guess so,” I said. “We better ask Syra about it first, don’t you think?”

“What’s it have to do with her? We’ll be sharing an apartment. She is altogether on a different budget.’

“Really? Do you think that would look right?” She shook her head.

“And what are you expecting?”

“Nothing. But people will talk.”

“As if that means something, and as if they need to know.”

“It would look bad if they found out that we had kept such a thing secret.”

“What Benjamin? It’s an apartment, not a motel room. It has a bedroom with two beds, it has a sofa, it has a living room. What do you expect?”

“Nothing. I’m just saying…”

“Well stop saying. The reservations are set.” I was silent. “Don’t go all silent on me. I know what I’m doing. I promise.”

“I’m sure you do,” I said.

When I told Syra of the arrangements, just a slight smile and lifting of the eyebrow. She turned and walked away. I stood there watching and shaking my head.

Nothing happened with our strange arrangements that evening. I began to go to many meetings in between our High Council meetings and Myra would accompany me. We were getting along very well. One night after a long meeting with the locals we retired to our apartment. It was my turn to have the bedroom. She was sleeping on the couch. I heard the door knob turn in the middle of the night. I was already awake. I yawned and looked at the door as Myra came in. She walked over to the side of the bed and looked down into my face.

“Good that you are awake, I would like to sleep here,” She said.

“Hay. You had your turn last night.”

“I’d like my turn now.”

“OK. I’ll go to the couch.” I threw the covers back and began to get up. She put her hand in my chest and pushed me back.

“You don’t get it. I want to sleep with you.”

***

Other than hovering a little too close every so often, she acted as if nothing had happened at all. I thought that strange, but followed suit. Day after day we would see each other acting as if nothing happened. Some nights…here she was again. I began to wonder what was with her. This continued even after we went back to our bi-weekly meetings for a month or two. I wasn’t going to say anything. I was glad that she wasn’t clingy.

In the meantime Syra and I got to know each other better. She did have a personality buried deeply beneath her hard exterior. She was somewhat like a bodyguard, except she wasn’t there all the time. She was off threatening people and making them give up their rights to serve in some government post or the other. Whenever I mentioned Myra, however, or she saw us near each other she smiled.

We were sitting in the small apartment one night just having a nightcap when Syra turned to me. “I don’t know how to say this,” she said, “But the Founders aren’t completely human…I mean, from Earth. They have a lot of DNA from another species. No one really knows who they are, or where they’re from, and they work hard to keep it secret. When they mate they have to find a genetic match. All of the genes don’t have to line up, only a few.” I waited. What was she talking about?

“Myra is coming to the age where it will be dangerous to bear children and she hasn’t found her match yet. You know that we have files on everyone and their genealogy don’t you?”

“I’ve heard that, even though it's illegal,” I commented. She pursed her lips and looked at me. “You don’t think she wants to have a child by me do you?” I asked. She didn’t say anything.

After a long pause. “Oh. I don’t know. That’s just rumors floating around. Anything could be true…Daddy. No wonder they wanted you on the High Council. You're part of the royal family gene pool. You are a Blue Blood somewhere down the line, or something related to the Founding species. I find that fascinating.”

“I’m sure you do.”

“Yes. I do. Don’t you? Have you had a genealogy test done?”

“Of course not. Why would I?”

“You should. Or you can ask for the copy of the one they did on you.” She grinned and then laughed a little. “You really don’t know what kind of world you’re living in do you? Welcome to the real world, Benjamin.”

The End (Part2)

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