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“You must ascend for the Ceremony of Induction,” Brother Jonash hissed at them. “Go on—get up there!”
Unwillingly, Mia thought, Sev ascended the stairs and what choice did she have but to follow him? Brother Jonash went to take a seat in the “audience” with the remaining twelve Elders where he immediately became indistinguishable from the other robed and hooded figures. She and Sev stood there at center stage with the light shining in their eyes, blinking and wincing and feeling put horribly on the spot. She wondered when the damn Induction Ceremony was going to start, anyway?
There was some rustling and murmuring and then a new voice—deeper and stronger than Brother Jonash—began to speak.
“Brother Severith and Sister Mia, the Council of Elders would like to welcome you to the Dome of the Peaceful People of the Prophet,” the voice said. “Please be aware that this particular Judgment Session will consist of three parts—the Induction Ceremony, a visual review of your recent actions, and then a brief, two-part training. Do you understand?”
“We understand,” Sev growled, though he certainly didn’t sound very happy about it.
“And now, a word from our Prophet. If you would please turn your attention to the screen behind you,” the voice directed.
The light shining on them dimmed and they turned to see that a flat, white screen was mounted on the back wall of the stage. It was blank for a moment and then the face of the Prophet appeared. He looked handsome and urbane with his thick silver hair and impeccably groomed beard. Just as he had in the PPP ad they’d watched on the Outernet, he had a shiny object which he wore around his neck on a chain.
Mia couldn’t see what it was, no matter how hard she stared at it, but the harder she stared, the more shewantedto stare. In fact, she barely heard the words the Prophet—no, Chud Brumpkin, that’s his real name,whispered a voice in her head—was saying. It was something about welcoming them both to their new life and how very pleased he was to have them as new members in the PPP.
One phrase that he saiddidstand out, however.
“As you know, we fund our wonderful organization through the tithes and offerings of members like you,” the Prophet said. “A mere fifty percent tithe of all you have is all we ask, so that you can live here in the Dome with us. Later, of course, you may wish to give more. In fact, many of our members have donated their entire life’s savings to the PPP and we welcome such generosity.”
“What?”Mia heard Sev mutter incredulously beside her but if he said anything else, it was drowned out by the Prophet’s parting words.
“Thank you again and welcome to the Peaceful People of the Prophet,” he said, giving them a blindingly white smile from the screen. “May the Universe bless you.”
The screen went dark and they turned again to see the Elders still sitting in the audience seats.
“Thank you for watching—welcome to the PPP,” the deep-voiced Elder said. “Your Induction Ceremony is now concluded and the two of you are official members of the PPP family.”
“Wait—that was it? That was the whole ceremony?” Sev asked, frowning.
“That was the ceremony,” the Elder confirmed. “And now we can commence with the visual review. If you’d turn your attention back to the screen—”
“I’m not done yet,” Sev growled. “You’re proposing to takefifty percentof everything we own just so we can stay here?”
“Indeed—a fifty percent tithe is customary. In fact, it’s implicitly agreed upon—your act of landing here and undergoing the Induction Ceremony constitutes a legally binding contract to give at least half your worldly wealth to the PPP organization,” the Elder informed them.
Mia suddenly understood why they’d decided to do the Induction Ceremony first. She remembered uneasily that the cover stories Commander Sylvan had concocted for her and Sev made the two of them appear to be extremely wealthy individuals. But would the PPP actually be able to withdraw half the wealth that the two of them were supposed to have? What would happen if they couldn’t?
Their past was purely fictional, after all—she and her partner didn’treallyhave millions of credits to their names. She really hoped it took a while for them to figure that out—at least long enough for her and Sev to expose them.
When she glanced up at Sev, she could see he was thinking the same thing. But now that they had been formally inducted into the PPP, what could they do? It seemed too late to back out.
“If you’d like to talk about increasing your tithe amount, you may discuss it with your Spiritual Advisor, Elder Jonash, after this Judgment Session is completed,” the deep-voiced Elder informed them. “But for now, please turn your attention to the screen behind you again for a video review of your recent actions.”
There was a scowl on Sev’s face, but he turned to look at the screen again and so did Mia.
“Now, we won’t speak of anything that happened last night, except to ask why you allowed your wife to wear part of your sleeping garments,” the Elder said, clearly speaking to Sev.
“Because you didn’t provide her with sleepwear of her own—that’s why,” Sev said, turning to look at the Elders.
“Face the screen please. We can hear you just fine—there’s no need to turn around,” the deep-voiced Elder commanded. “Now then—do you not know that it is customary in the PPP Dome for females to be naked while in the home alone with their husbands?”
“Naked?” Mia blurted. Luckily, Sev said the exact same thing at the same time, his deeper voice covering hers.
“Naked?”he repeated. “Why in the Seven Hells is the wife supposed to run around the house naked?”
This time it was Elder Jonash’s nasal voice that answered.
“It is one of the teachings of the Prophet: a woman must be naked, willing and open in the presence of her man so that he can take her or punish her at any moment he chooses.”
