Timeline: Year 14 or 15

Chapter Two

After breakfast the AI directed Zeinab and Adeena to their respective lecture rooms. When Zeinab arrived at sponsor training, there were more than a dozen women in black coveralls waiting in the room, among them the two other women sponsors she'd seen back on Earth. She sat down and waited. A few more women arrived, followed by a man in a blue uniform. A man. Suddenly she realised that he was the first man she'd seen since the bus driver. Why was that? Surely there were more men in the Confederacy. Where were they?

"As-Salaamu 'alaykun," the man in blue started. "I am Corporal al-Mansur and I will be your guide for the next few days. This base holds up to half a million people, very few of them Muslim and very few of whom speak Arabic. For that reason we have temporarily placed you new arrivals from the Arab League in a separate area where most of the people you will meet can speak at least some Arabic. Here we can give you the special training you need to help you adjust to your new lives in the Confederacy. This lets us make the necessary changes to your lives gradually, not all at once. Some changes have already started and we will introduce others shortly. By the time we finish, you will be much better fitted to join the general population of the base for the rest of your training.

"The Confederacy is not the Land of Islam, so you will need to make many adjustments. Very soon nowhere on Earth will be the Land of Islam, but instead either the Land of the Sa'arm or the Land of War. For the foreseeable future, neither Earth nor the Confederacy will be the Land of Islam.

"Most of you will need to learn a new language. The most common languages in our colonies are English and Chinese, with Spanish coming third. None of the Confederacy colonies speak Arabic, I'm afraid. You will need to decide what language to learn. Tell the AI so you can start training. With so many people to train, we use a lot of recorded lessons, and you will need to understand them." Zeinab knew some English and no Chinese at all, so that was an easy decision for her. She confirmed it immediately with the AI.

"As well as picking a language, you sponsors will need to decide on a service: Marines, Navy, Fleet Auxiliary or Civil Service. There are presentations describing the roles of all four services, which your AI can show in your apartments. Although you are all wearing black, this has nothing to do with the black Navy uniform. We chose it to match the colour of your usual outdoor clothing. You are all free to pick any service you wish."

One of the women raised her hand, "Why did you dress the concubines in those short grey shifts and not in respectable clothes?"

"For two reasons. First, all Confederacy dress codes distinguish concubines from sponsors, so they wear different clothes. Second, concubines have a lot of adjusting to do before they can fit into the Confederacy, more than for sponsors like yourselves. We need to move faster with their changes as they have more to learn in the same time." He paused, looking around the whole audience, "If any of you have questions during my talk, please use your interfaces to ask the AI. If you need a more comprehensive answer, then you can talk to me at the end."

Zeinab hastily redirected her own question to the AI, «Is the lack of men here due to our being separated off from the main part of the base?»

«Correct. The presence of men would have made things much more stressful for female concubines required to wear shifts. There will be the usual number of men when we integrate this group into the main base population.»

The corporal had paused to allow the silent questions to finish. Once the AI notified him, he restarted. "The Arab League has not always got on well with the Confederacy, so they put out a lot of propaganda about us. Like all good propaganda it was based on the truth, but took it to extremes. For example, concubines are slaves and have to provide sex. However, concubines belong to their sponsor, so they do not have to sleep with everyone. Just their owner and whoever their owner directs. A wife has sex with her husband. The only change for a concubine is that her master may offer her to someone else. That is different, but not as bad as the propaganda said. She will not be freely available to everyone. You here are all sponsors, so you can keep your concubines within your own families. Provided you select a male concubine or two, there is no need to look outside your own family at all. You will have a lot of control over your concubines, so you will be able to make their lives more like it was on Earth, if that is your wish."

That was as Zeinab had anticipated. The propaganda put out by the Arab media was obviously propaganda, but it wasn't pure fiction either. It was an overdone and slanted version of the reality of life in the Confederacy. As the corporal had pointed out, she could shield Adeena and her other concubines from the worst impact of the changes to come.

"Later today you will be getting a general introduction to picking your concubines," the corporal told them. "That will be a translation of one of our standard lectures, so it won't mention the separate group of Muslim concubines. If you want to pick any Arab women, then you should do so in the next few days, while you are all still isolated. After we merge your group into the main base, there will be a lot more sponsors looking for concubines, and most of the available concubines won't be Muslims.

"There are other things that the standard lectures don't mention, such as halal food and Ramadan. You can get Halal food from replicators. I think you will be very pleasantly surprised at what is available. The Confederacy is carrying some extremely well-connected people to Escardis, so the Arab League has supplied us with a wide range of good quality food for them on their journey. We have copied those replicator templates, and they will travel out with you to your new homes as well." That explained the excellent soup at lunch, Zeinab realised. Yesterday's evening meal had also been nice. It seemed that the good food would continue. Something to look forward to.

The corporal continued, "Your AI can enforce the dietary rules, and that is already set as the default in all your apartments. You may overrule that default if you wish. Out in the wider base, non-Halal food and alcohol are on the menus, but you can instruct the AIs not to allow your concubines to select those items. The AIs will flag all halal options for you; choices that are not flagged are likely not halal. At best they are doubtful, mushbooh.

"You will not be on Earth for Ramadan. Many of the faithful use an AI to calculate the elapsed time between sunrise and sunset at Mecca each day and fast for that period, starting at their local sunrise. Other variants are possible, but that is the most common."

At the end of his talk, the corporal asked for questions. One woman stood up and pointed at Zeinab, "Why is she wearing a niqab? I wasn't allowed to!"

"What did the AI tell you when you asked it?"

"It said that she had permission and that I didn't need to know why."

The corporal paused, "That's exactly what the AI tells me as well. I don't need to know either." He turned, "Zeinab, would you like to add anything?"

Zeinab thought for a second. She didn't want to tell everything, her teeth still embarrassed her, but she felt she owed the other woman something. "It is for medical reasons, and is only temporary," she explained. That 'temporary' pleased her. She'd checked her teeth in the mirror when she got up this morning. They still ached, but they were definitely looking better. In another day or two they would look normal.

When they met in the canteen for lunch, Adeena didn't look happy. "I'll have to change back into that indecently short grey thing soon. Before we join with the main base they'll change the rules on what concubines have to wear."

"But you belong to me now. Maybe I can tell them to let you wear something better?"

The AI interrupted through her internal link, «That will not be possible. Dress codes for concubines will be strictly enforced in the moonbase and while in transit to a colony.»

Zeinab could see Adeena's face fall. "Were you able to hear that?" she asked, puzzled.

Adeena tapped her collar. "The AI talks to me through this. I don't have the internal thing you've got."

"Did it tell you that we're going to learn English? None of their colonies speak Arabic."

"Yes, it told me. The unselected women have to start learning both English and Chinese until somebody owns them. And they'll have to be naked!"

"Naked!" That shocked Zeinab. Maybe the stories about naked concubines had some truth behind them? "Not even one of those short grey things?"

"Yes, completely naked," Adeena confirmed. "It's horribly shameful. They want to be able to tell owned slaves from unowned, and that's how they do it. You own me, so I can wear a smock."

After lunch, Corporal al-Mansur showed Zeinab and the other new sponsors a video on how to select concubines. The AI provided an Arabic translation, but it was obvious that this wasn't an Arab production. Some of the things they showed were so indecent! Far too much nudity, and as for what happened during the so-called 'test drives' .... It was as bad as what she'd seen on TV last night. She could understand the stories that life in the Confederacy was one long sex-orgy. Once again, there was some truth hidden under the propaganda. There was some useful advice among the filth, but she could have done with a shorter, cleaned-up version. The video certainly reinforced the point that her life was going to change.

The corporal let them go early so they could get started on language training and look at the presentations about the four services. Zeinab started with an English lesson in one of the sleep-learning pods in her apartment before watching the presentations. The AI left in the English narration, adding Arabic subtitles. That helped. She could already tell that the sleep-learning session had increased her English vocabulary.

It was very quickly obvious that there wouldn't be much of a future for her in the Fleet Auxiliary. A lot of their work was evacuating people from Earth to the colonies. As the Sa'arm tightened their grip, that would fall off greatly. That was not good for her promotion prospects. She wondered what Corporal al-Mansur would do. He was Fleet Auxiliary since he wore their blue uniform.

She liked the look of the Civil Service, working to help concubines. Then she discovered that a Civil Service job might involve running a brothel! So, that was out as well.

That left either the Navy or the Marines. Having met Barika, she knew that women could be Marines, but she wasn't sure she wanted to be that big. The Navy might be the better choice for her, at least they were normal size. She decided to think some more about it and pick later. She had until morning; that should give her long enough.

The next thing to do was choosing her concubines. The corporal's advice to pick from within the Arab group before they were dispersed sounded good. She already had Adeena, who'd suggested Bushra as a second concubine. That left a third woman and a man to find, assuming that Bushra worked out.

The AI approved, "Bushra al-Tuluni will be a good match for yourself and Adeena. She will likely fill the Head Concubine role in your family as she is more comfortable in a leadership role than Adeena would be. She was her former husband's principal wife on Earth."

"You have done her full test then?"

"Yes. Her scores show a superior capacity for leadership, including experience in her former family and good motherhood scores in both potential and experience." The AI displayed a wall full of numbers as it explained Bushra's results. So much detail! No wonder a full test took over two hours.

Putting Bushra in charge would be sensible. Adeena had been happy to accept a subordinate place to Tahira on Earth. She'd said that she liked Bushra, so having the younger woman take the role of Head Concubine shouldn't be a problem. "Can you ask Bushra to come for an interview with myself and Adeena once she has finished her training this afternoon?"

After a short delay the AI came back with, "Bushra agrees to an interview. She wishes to know if you expect her daughter Leila to attend as well, or if she should make childcare arrangements."

"Leila is ten, isn't she?" Zeinab remembered that Adeena had mentioned Bushra's daughter.

"Correct."

"Let her come as well then."

"Confirmed. Will you be selecting your last two concubines now?"

"No, I'll wait until I know if Bushra will be suitable. Please prepare a list of potential candidates, assuming that I pick Bushra. One woman and one man."

"Do you wish me to search female candidates only from within the Arab group or to make a wider search over all available unselected female concubines in this base?"

"Within the group please." Zeinab picked up on the way the AI had phrased its answer, "Are there any men in our group?"

"There are three men in the separate Muslim group, all sponsors, and hence not available for selection as concubines."

"There aren't any men in our sponsor class."

"The men are in a separate class for the moment," the AI informed her. "We will transfer them to the main base at the same time as yourselves."

"So I'll have to pick a male concubine from the pool in the main base?"

"Correct."

"Are any of them Muslim?" she asked.

"A small number of them are, but none of those currently available would be suitable as your concubine. Muslim men generally expect women to defer to them. While they would be appropriate as a lead concubine for a male sponsor, they would not be a good match for a female sponsor such as yourself. They would probably attempt to take control away from you, which would have serious consequences for them."

"If the Muslim men are not suitable, then whom would you suggest?"

"There are unassertive young men with low aggression and a non-religious background and who would not object to being subordinate to a woman. While not Muslim, they would follow dietary rules and similar if ordered to do so."

"I'll need to think about that." She could see the AI's point that a Muslim man might not be happy with a woman in charge. An infidel Westerner? She definitely needed to think about it.

Adeena, Bushra and Leila arrived together. Adeena introduced everyone and fussed around getting a fruit juice for Leila and coffee for the adults. Already she was falling naturally into a subordinate role. Leila was on her best behaviour, obviously having been spoken to by her mother, but even so it was clear to Zeinab that she was another Rasha – young and enthusiastic about everything. Like Rasha, she would be an asset to any family she joined.

At Zeinab's signal, Adeena took Leila away, leaving Bushra and Zeinab alone to talk. Initially, Bushra looked nervous. "All the films they showed us said that sponsors would want to test us by having sex. I'm not like that ...."

"Neither am I," Zeinab reassured her. "I'll be getting a male concubine for that sort of thing." She could see the older woman relax in relief. They talked for a time, mostly about their lives on Earth. Bushra was a little younger than Adeena, twenty-six to Adeena's twenty-nine, slightly taller and a little prettier. She had been her husband's principal wife, but unfortunately, she had been unable to conceive again after Leila. By putting her forward for the Confederacy, her husband had been able to gain favour in the eyes of a local Sheikh who wanted to send one of his sons to Escardis. Bushra herself didn't mind too much. She could see that a divorce was coming anyway, and the Confederacy had cured her!

"I did the first test in a small room with a chair and a screen," she explained. Zeinab nodded, that part was the same for her. "Then the voice said that I needed a medical check as well. They took me to a different room with one of those big tubes, like in Medical. They did a quick diagnosis and decided that I could be cured. They accepted me and fixed things when I arrived here. I can have children again!" She smiled broadly at the thought.

"You're divorced then?"

"Yes, Ahmad divorced me before I left. I think he was looking forward to a new wife who could bear him more children."

Zeinab liked this woman. She was obviously a realist, someone who could make the best of her situation no matter how it changed. That would be important once they all reached their new home. Meeting Leila confirmed that her mother had done a good job raising her. Everything she had seen supported the advice she'd had from both Adeena and the AI.

"So, Bushra, do you want to be my concubine? Naturally, I'll take Leila as well."

Bushra smiled, "Yes please."

"Confirmed," the AI noted. "Unattached concubine Bushra al-Tuluni is now the registered concubine of sponsor Zeinab Filali. Leila al-Tuluni is now the registered dependent of sponsor Zeinab Filali." Both women jumped, they had forgotten its presence during their conversation. It was so easy to forget that the AIs were looking and listening all the time.

"Can I change ..." Bushra indicated her grey shift.

"Of course. AI, another grey concubine coverall for Bushra please."

"It will be available from the kitchen replicator."

A smiling Bushra, dressed in her new clothes, took Leila back to their old apartment to collect their things – mostly a few toys and clothes for Leila. The girl herself was bouncing around like Rasha at her most energetic. She had learned enough to know that being in Zeinab's family would be a good thing for her and her mother.

Once they had left, Zeinab asked the AI, "Where will Leila sleep tonight?"

"She can either share with her mother or use one of the spare concubine bedrooms. If you intend to select two further concubines today, I can make alternative arrangements."

She still hadn't decided what to do about a man, but she could look for her third female. What sort of woman did she want? If Bushra was her chief concubine, then she needed another subordinate. Adeena was twenty-nine, and Bushra twenty-six, so it might be nice to have someone closer to her own age. The AI had advised picking a young man, so if she followed its suggestion, he would have someone close to his age as well. The video on picking concubines had emphasised that the AIs were generally a good source of ideas. Maybe she should follow its advice?

The AI instantly found nearly two hundred young women matching Zeinab's criteria. There were far too many matches, so she just looked through the top half-dozen. Adeena looked as well, but didn't have much to say. None of the six had been in the concubine apartment with her so she couldn't add anything to the CAP scores the AI was showing.

When Bushra returned, she left Leila unpacking in one of the small bedrooms and came to look at the six possibles. She pointed out that the second woman on the list had a young baby, while the number one didn't have any of her children with her.

Khuzama was pretty, a widow of seventeen, just a year younger than Zeinab. Her son Ishaq, named after his father, was being looked after by one of the other women in her concubine apartment. At five months old he wouldn't be able to contribute anything useful to the interview. Like Bushra, Khuzama wasn't looking forward to possibly having sex with her mistress and she showed the same relief when Zeinab declined. Zeinab wondered what they showed concubines during their training. Was it even worse than the sponsor's videos?

Khuzama was shy, quiet and would obviously fit in well. She had good motherhood potential, and some experience with her young son. She'd barely been married at all. Her family had been planning to marry her to Ishaq, from a neighbouring family. The wedding was hastily brought forward after he got his call-up papers, and she had two nights with her new husband before he had to go. Later, they managed a few short leaves together before he was killed in the fighting, leaving his pregnant young wife behind. She'd never really found a place in her husband's family, so she was willing to risk the Confederacy for the sake of her baby and to help one of her brothers-in-law get to Escardis.

She eagerly accepted Zeinab's offer of sponsorship and went to collect her son. The AI did something magical in the fourth concubine bedroom, and a cot for baby Ishaq appeared. The furniture here could do some very strange things if you asked it to.

As soon as Khuzama brought him in, young Ishaq had two new mothers. Leila wasn't sure if she was his mother or his big sister, but she knew she wanted to be something. Ishaq just smiled, gurgled and chewed on his toes. Watching the others, Zeinab realised that she'd picked three good mothers, so they were going to be all over the one baby they had between them.

They had better luck with the TV that evening since Bushra knew how to pick only the safe channels. Ishaq was sleeping, but Leila was still up. She was too excited to get to sleep, so Bushra allowed her to stay up later than usual. To one side of the television screen, the AI showed a view of Ishaq in his cot. It made a useful baby-monitor. The Confederacy was obviously well set up to look after young children.

Zeinab slept with Adeena again that night. She didn't want to give Bushra the wrong impression and Khuzama was with Ishaq. Her bed was too big and lonely for one, so she was with Adeena again. She thought that Adeena probably needed someone with her, she'd taken divorce from Dhakir very hard.

Lying there, she realised that this was only her second night here in the moon. So much had happened so quickly! And there were still things to do. First she had to pick a service. She was happy with the size she was, and the Navy didn't actually come into direct contact with the Sa'arm. Shooting at them from a long way away seemed a better choice than getting too close. So, the Navy it would be. Her other problem was picking a man. She needed to get a better idea of what the available men were like. Were infidel men really as bad as the rumours painted them? Once she had talked to a few, she would be able to tell for herself how accurate the stories were. Good, that was decided then. Satisfied with her day, she drifted off to sleep.

In her bathroom the next morning, Zeinab looked at her teeth. They were normal! Even the ache in her jaw had died away to almost nothing. She smiled at herself in the mirror. Smiling. She would have to practice smiling. Up to now she didn't smile unless she was wearing her niqab. Something else on her list of things she would have to get used to doing differently.

"Make me a hijab please, AI. I don't need a niqab any more."

"Have you selected a service? I can produce a hijab together with the appropriate uniform."

She briefly considered; no, she hadn't changed her mind overnight. "I want to join the Navy."

"Your uniform and hijab will appear in the bedroom replicator."

The black Navy uniform was similar to the coverall she'd been wearing since medical. The style was different, and it had rank badges on it, but it was basically the same. She'd have preferred a looser cut – it showed a bit too much of her shape – but at least it covered her decently: neck to wrist to ankles.

The AI squashed her good mood over breakfast with a general announcement, "The Dress Code for concubines is now normalized to match the regular Dress Code for the base. All assigned concubines must wear the standard grey concubine shift when outside their sponsor's apartments. Unselected concubines must be unclothed at all times." That meant three unhappy women. They'd been glad to get out of those indecently short grey shifts, and now they were going to have to put them on again for some of the time. At least they wouldn't have to suffer enforced nakedness like the unselected women.

Oh. Zeinab suddenly realised that if unselected concubines were naked, it would apply to the unselected men as well. That would make it much more difficult for her when she looked for a man for her family; him being naked might be very distracting. Even just seeing naked men on video was bad enough.

After a subdued breakfast, her three concubines reluctantly went to change. Zeinab practised smiling to try and cheer them up. It didn't seem to help very much, but at least she'd tried.

Leila was following her mother, though the girl was properly dressed. "Bushra," Zeinab asked, "what happens to Leila during the day? Do I need to make arrangements for her?"

"No, they have some child-minders arranged. There are lots of things in our lessons that children her age shouldn't see."

There were a lot of things in the sponsors' lessons that children shouldn't see as well, Zeinab thought. That probably explained why there weren't any children in her lectures either. Whatever else you thought about it, the Confederacy was well organised for children.

In that morning's lectures she could see that almost all the other women had chosen a service. Most were in green or black, with a few in blue or grey. A few of those in black might not have chosen yet, but Zeinab could only see one in plain black without the Navy badges.

"Today is your last day as a separate group," Corporal al-Mansur told them. "Tomorrow morning you will join the main population of the base. Please make sure that you and your concubines are packed, breakfasted and ready to move by 08:30. You will be moving to a new apartment somewhere in the base.

"Moving into the main base will bring some new problems for you. For example, here we have arranged your timetable around the hours of daily prayer. That will not be the case in future. You will have to pray in your own time.

"Tomorrow's move also accounts for the change in the concubine dress code. The concubines have one day to get used to it before they have to integrate with the main pool. Any of you who still wish to select concubines from within the Arab group have the rest of today to do it. Tomorrow there will be a lot more sponsors wanting to offer them places."

Next up that morning was another translated lecture, this one about reshaping your concubines. The things they could do! This was one case where the rumours back on Earth didn't do justice to the full reality of what was possible. Fixing her teeth was obviously just a minor job. Again there was a lot of nudity in the film, but that was probably inevitable, given the subject. Even so, seeing naked men still shocked Zeinab.

There were a lot of very unhappy women at lunch. All the unselected concubines were naked, and looking very miserable about it. With so few sponsors in the group, most of those eating weren't wearing anything. Screams from near the entrance disturbed Zeinab part way through her meal. A man in a blue uniform walked in, strolled around the room without stopping and went out again, trailed by screams all the way. That was obviously deliberate. Tomorrow everyone would be mixed in with the rest of the base, where there would be more than one man. Just a small taste of what was coming.

Thinking of men reminded Zeinab that she still needed a male concubine, and of her idea to find out what the men in the rest of the base were like. She used her AI link to talk to the corporal, who gave her permission. She quickly finished her delicious meal – no lentils and plenty of smiling – and let the AI guide her. It took her to a transporter room. If the base was large enough to hold half a million people, then using transporters to get around made sense.

The AI directed her from the transporter to a lounge area for unselected concubines. She thought she was ready for it, but she wasn't – not by a long way. She stopped at the entrance in a panic. Naked men! There were naked women as well, but naked men! They were mostly sitting around chatting, reading or looking bored, but naked men! One of them noticed her standing there. He got up out of his chair and moved towards her, smiling. He wasn't moving quickly or aggressively, but she panicked anyway and hurriedly stepped back into the corridor, her heart pounding. Shaken, she leaned against the wall to get her breath back. Naked men! «AI, is there somewhere I can recover in private?»

It directed her to an empty room nearby. Sitting in one of the chairs she asked aloud, "What is this place?"

"It is an interview suite, currently free. Do you wish me to reserve it for half an hour or for a full hour?"

"Fifteen minutes will be enough." She knew that if she delayed too long she would never be able to restart her exploration.

Zeinab sat thinking while her heartbeat slowed. She obviously wasn't ready for this, but she needed to do it. She had to pick a man, and she needed to get a feel for what the infidel men here were like. All the men she had ever met were Muslims. Maybe if she wasn't alone? She quickly arranged to have Bushra meet her at a different concubine lounge. Bushra had been married for years, and seemed the most confident of her concubines. She should be able to cope with naked men.

The second lounge wasn't quite the same shock, but she was still glad of Bushra's hand to hold onto. She could do this. She had to do this.

"Look at their faces, not lower down," Bushra whispered.

That was not as easy as it sounded. All her life, Zeinab had lowered her eyes when looking at a man. That was fine back on Earth, where the men were all decently dressed. Here it was dangerous. She compromised by looking at their necks or their chests.

Some of the men ignored the two women. Others came forward to offer themselves as concubines, including one Muslim man. So there were other Muslims in the Confederacy. Zeinab smiled, she wanted the practice, and politely refused them all. She wasn't actually looking for a concubine now, just getting a feel for what the men here in the moon were like. Being naked wasn't their fault. It quickly became clear that the stories of infidel men being slavering sex-maniacs intent on defiling Muslim women were just stories. None of them showed any sign of attacking either her or Bushra. All of them were polite, with some verging on the over-polite. That was understandable, given how rare female sponsors were and the lack of opportunities for men to be picked as concubines. She wondered what would happen if they weren't picked by anyone. Would they stay here indefinitely? She asked the AI.

«Unselected male concubines are returned to Earth after a reasonable interval. Unless otherwise indicated they are free to attempt selection again.»

Shortly afterwards she got an example of what, "unless otherwise indicated," meant. A pale, balding overweight man marched angrily up to the two of them and started shouting in English. It was difficult to follow what he was saying because almost every other word was "fucking". She did pick up "fucking Ay-rab", "fucking raghead" and "fucking lesbo Muslim bitch". Even without understanding all of what he was saying, she got his meaning clearly enough. His repeated references to "fucks news" did puzzle her. The "fucks" there didn't seem like meaningless expletives. Was that one of those English phrases like "red herring" where the real meaning was nothing to do with what the words said? Bushra had stepped partly behind Zeinab at first. She relaxed a bit once she realised that the worst he would do was shout.

They didn't have to suffer the angry man for long. A man's voice came through Zeinab's internal link, «Do you want me to sting him?»

«Who are you?» Zeinab asked, surprised.

«I'm the stinger operator. Do you want him zapped?»

«Will it kill him?»

«No. He'll wake up with a helluva headache though.»

«OK ...» Zeinab was going to say more but there was a flash and a buzzing sound from the ceiling. The angry man slumped to the floor, unconscious. Bushra jumped back in surprise as the man fell. She hadn't heard the silent conversation, so for her it was completely unexpected.

«What do I do now?» Zeinab asked.

An AI replied, not the stinger operator. «There is no need to do anything, Recruit Zeinab Filali. A team has been despatched to return unselected concubine Beck to his quarters. His behaviour has shown that he is unsuitable as a concubine and his CAP card has been annotated accordingly. He will be returned to Earth and refused all further opportunities for extraction.»

The two of them were a bit shaken by the angry man, so they sat down for a moment to recover. The other concubines had moved away from the incident, so there was an area of empty space around them. Nobody wanted to get hit by a stinger. As they sat, a crewman and two concubines arrived with a gurney to remove the unconscious man.

Zeinab thought that the shouter had believed the worst rumours he'd heard about Muslims. A lot of people were spreading stories about things they didn't know much about. She'd heard tales about the Confederacy and Westerners. He'd obviously heard things about Arabs and Muslims. So many of the stories were wrong or exaggerated on both sides. The two of them were sitting quietly in a crowd of infidels, including men, and nobody was bothering them. There had only been the one idiot, and she could think of a few idiots back home as bad as him. Everywhere had its share of idiots. One of the things she was learning here was to get rid of her earlier stereotypes of the Confederacy and its people. She hadn't finished the job yet, though she had come part of the way. The angry man had obviously made much less progress. Perhaps that was why the Confederacy was permanently rejecting him?

There had been plenty of fighting in the past on Earth, but now that the aliens had landed, it was stupid to carry on with the old battles. The Confederacy was here to fight the Sa'arm. It didn't need the distraction of old disputes from history.

She was about to restart their tour when the AI called her back for afternoon training. She could hear Bushra's collar giving her the same message. She let the AI guide them to the nearest transporter room. It was so easy to get lost here. All the corridors looked the same, and there were a lot of corridors to get lost in.

The first lecture in the afternoon covered life in the colonies. There would be work for concubines to do, besides looking after babies. There was also advice to stagger the pregnancies among the women in her family. With 250,000 people on a Cube Ship, the maternity facilities at the colony would be overwhelmed nine months later if all the women got pregnant on the trip. That wasn't too difficult for Zeinab's family. Adeena was already pregnant and Bushra was eager for another child. Khuzama had little Ishaq, so she could wait until after they were settled into their new home. That left herself. She was as nervous as a new bride, but she would do what she had to. She still needed to select a man, and that wasn't quite such a terrifying prospect now that she'd seen what they were like. Idiots like the shouter were easy enough to avoid, and the others who'd talked to her had all been polite.

Their final lecture was just a summary of what they'd already been told, picking up the high points. Corporal Al-Mansur finished by reminding them that they would be moving the next morning and wished them well in their new lives, insha'Allah.

That evening Zeinab had a long talk with Bushra. The concubines had also been given the message that they would join the main group tomorrow. Bushra was going to have to help the others, including her daughter, with the transition. It wouldn't be easy for any of them. They also talked over how they were going to handle picking a man. The AI would be able to suggest candidates, but Zeinab wanted Bushra with her for the interviews. She didn't feel confident enough to do it on her own, and Bushra would provide a useful second opinion. Apart from anything else, she had a lot more experience of men. Bushra did make the point that a Westerner would be more used to the way the Confederacy did things. He could help them with advice about their new lives.

Zeinab still didn't want to sleep alone in that huge bed, so she kept Bushra with her overnight. Tomorrow she would pick a man. In some ways that would be the most difficult thing she'd done here.