“Over time, however, once the immediate crises ended an’ there was plenty of women fer all, the Company continued the practice o’ bringin’’em in, but increasingly ta sell their indentures ta those who wanted labor. There’s now a permanent ‘lower class’ of women-called ‘Lascars’ again, I fear-who begat ‘citizen’ children with those holdin’ their obligation. Strangely, it’s they who support the Company more than any since it continues ta add ta their ranks and gives ’em a political advantage in the Court o’ Proprietors, even while the ranks of those who canna’ be citizens grows.” He paused. “I fear some o’ this may also stem from a… perverse reluctance ta dispense wi’ their twisted faith as well. Unlike yer Sister Audry’s approach ta convertin’ ‘heathens,’ Dominion priests’re more… insistent. Add ta this an even more burgeonin’ ‘trade’ since, in recent decades, the Dominion’s begun ta fear our numbers an’ Imperial power. Their ‘Church’ has taken on more an’ more of the pagan rituals o’ the early Indian folk, an’ e’en as the Company trade grows, it’s become more costly since the ‘Holy Dominion’s’ started… slaughterin’ their ‘excess’ females in hideous rituals… Now we have women bringin’ their own daughters ta secluded shores an’ beggin’ the Company ta take ’em!”
There was silence in the wardroom as those present began to digest the enormity of the moral dilemma facing the Empire. The “trade” couldn’t simply be shut down without condemning untold numbers to their deaths, yet the Company fed and grew and gained self-perpetuating power off that very trade.
“I think I’m finally starting to get it,” Matt said quietly. “I see how the Company’s growing in strength, and I understand why the government’s concerned. I also see the moral and political mess the Governor-Emperor’s in. What I guess I don’t see is what the Company hopes to gain in the long run. They’ve saturated the market for marriageable women and they’ll undoubtedly saturate the labor market at some point as well. It appears they also at least contributed to this new-and yes, much more barbaric practice-the Dominion has engaged in. What could the Company possibly hope to gain in the end?”
“Absolute power, for a start,” Jenks said. “O’Casey saw it long before I did, but with the support the Company has gained in the Court of Proprietors, they can do almost as they please. And even as the Lascars empower the Company, they become dependent on it as well. It controls most jobs and industry, and by its actions it’s provoked the Dominion, which besides its overwhelming numbers has a navy with numerical supremacy over and near technological parity with our own.” Jenks snorted bitterly. “Start with a population that’s dependent upon you for its livelihood, add an external threat to control those who oppose you, and you can do virtually anything you want. What that might be, I can only speculate.”
“And I take it that the Governor-Emperor and his daughter are opposed to this?”
“Of course!”
“Wow,” was all Palmer could manage.
“Yeah,” grumbled Gray. “What a mess.” He looked at Jenks. “Now I see why you’re not an ‘abolitionist,’ but what the hell?”
“Well… but with all those extra women, they ought to be cheap, right?” Campeti asked.
Matt gave Walker ’s gunnery officer another withering look, but then his eyes widened and he rubbed his chin. “Yeah. What about that? I never have gotten your monetary system straight. God knows ours is fouled up. What do they cost?”
It was Selass’s turn to glare, but Matt held a hand up to her.
Jenks seemed confused. “Well, ah, our monetary system has largely returned to a foundation based on precious metals. We get ours from our colonies in the Americas, as does the Dominion. Of course, the Company gets a percentage of whatever they carry in their bottoms, but there at least, the Navy has some advantage since most is transported aboard Naval vessels. There is some piracy, after all.”
“So you use what, a ‘pound’ system?”
“That’s quite a simplification, but pounds, certainly. Twenty shillings to a pound sterling, at my last inquiry- some time ago-twenty-six shillings for a guinea…”
“In other words, just as confusing as, well, it still is. No paper money?”
“No. Except for lines of credit redeemable at Imperial banks. There is often a discount…”
“But gold’s gold, and a pound of gold’s worth what?”
“Forty-four and a half guineas.”
“And a guinea’s worth twenty-six shillings-so a pound of gold would be… ah, eleven hundred and fifty-seven shillings, or…”
“Almost forty-eight pounds,” Palmer supplied.
“Right.” Matt looked at Jenks. “So what do they cost? How much is this ‘obligation’ worth?”
“Well… that varies. The value of the obligation depends on how much time a woman has been in service. Of course, their maintenance is added to the total, as are any extraordinary costs such as further transportation…”
“You mean feeding, clothing, doctoring, and then transporting them, possibly against their will to say, Respite, actually adds to their obligation?”
“Naturally. Any unobligated citizen would have to pay for those things…”
“But they’d have a choice, Jenks,” Matt pointed out. “And to then charge them for transportation to another place where they can be further enslaved for someone else’s gain…!”
“I thought we’d moved past the ‘slavery’ dispute!” Jenks said.
“No, we haven’t, because that’s still exactly what it is! What’s to stop an owner of an ‘obligation’ from just shifting a worker-a woman!-around as long as he likes, island to island and workplace to workplace, constantly adding to her ‘debt’ for her entire life?”
Jenks blinked. “I… I honestly never thought about it like that.” He seemed sincere and… horrified. He straightened. “I’m a Naval officer, and until recently, I avoided politics as best I could.”
Bradford grunted. “It sounds as though the vast majority of your people have as well. Most are probably as ignorant as you, if the majority of these-possible-abuses take place on your frontiers.” He raised an eyebrow at the others. “Do remember that we’re still dealing in conjecture here. We have no evidence that this ‘perpetual obligation system’ actually occurs, just a speculation that it might.”
Matt almost laughed. He was still digesting some of Bradford’s new theories regarding how they might have wound up ‘here’ in the first place. “Lack of evidence has never stopped you from ‘speculating’ away on every conceivable topic, Courtney!”
Bradford grinned and stroked a nostril with his forefinger. “Indeed. But let us leave off persecuting the poor commodore for now. The system he described does seem to have begun innocently enough. Through our own brief contact with these Company thugs-virtual Nazis, if I may make so bold-we do have ample evidence of their treachery and deceit. I do not find it at all difficult to believe that the ultimate result of this particular institution has been perverted, warped, and molded to fit whatever diabolical agenda the Company ultimately serves.”
“Hear, hear!” exclaimed Lieutenant Grimsley, Jenks’s exec. He’d remained silent, slowly sinking into his chair throughout the discussion. If Jenks “avoided” politics, he’d always tried to pretend they didn’t exist. At least before Billingsley abducted the princess and the others. Emboldened by his voice, and the generally agreeable response to his words, Grimsley turned to Matt.
“Pardon me, Captain Reddy, but may I ask why you are suddenly so interested in the cost of these obligations?”
“Sure,” Matt replied. “Gold isn’t really money among our friends. Not yet, anyway. That said, we took on a… little… when we refueled at Mindanao-‘Paga-Daan.’ I’d like some idea how many Respitan women this ship can purchase out of bondage… and set free.” He looked at Jenks. “You might want to think about that too. One way or another, we’re going to kill this goddamn ‘Honorable New Britain Company,’ so the ‘trade’ is basically over, if I have anything to say about it. Consider this: all these women who’ve been under the Company and, yes, Imperial thumb for all these generations probably don’t have much loyalty to either one. You say some still even adhere to this sick mix of Catholicism and… whatever else it is. Those I ‘buy’ will have the options of staying where they are, becoming free citizens of the Alliance, or maybe even joining the United States Navy, God help me. At least in noncombat roles. I’ll bet most choose between the latter two.”
CHAPTER 15
