Author: Sterling
Title: Learning How Boys Are Different From Girls - At Thirty
Summary: The Holy Innocence Church has created separate orders of
profoundly innocent monks and nuns to praise God, isolating them
on nearby tropical islands. New novices are delivered each year
by boat. Then the deliveries stop. It is left to the innocents to
figure out if they should change their ways in an effort to keep
from going extinct.
Keywords: MF group humor preg 1st
NOTICE:  This story contains explicit sex.

First posted 4/10/2014.

I'm always eager for comments, whether good, bad or mixed.
Comments to sterling27@live.com.

I have written many other stories and they can all be found at
/files/Authors/Sterling/
For an index see
/files/Authors/Sterling/A%20%20SUBJECT%20INDE
X.txt

You are welcome to copy this story if you include the entire text
unchanged, including this notice. If you tell me where you have
re-posted it, I can enjoy knowing it is appreciated and perhaps
enjoy the feedback the story gets where you re-post it.

Sterling

And now, our feature presentation. Enjoy!


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Learning How Boys Are Different From Girls - At Thirty

Chapter 1

Our Lady was an island, three miles long and half a mile wide.
Lush vegetation grew everywhere, with a clear spring at the base
of the central hill. Warm breezes blew year round. Nature
provided fruit and fish. With just a bit of work it was easy to
grow rice, sweet potatoes and vegetables. The real work of the
residents was praising God.

There was only one contact with the outside world. Every year on
the vernal equinox, a rowboat appeared from over the horizon. At
the oars was a single woman, dressed in white. With her was a
3-year-old girl. The girl was delivered to the sisters of Our
Lady and consecrated to God. After a brief ceremony, the woman
dressed in white rowed back over the horizon. She never spoke.

The consecrated women and girls of Our Lady were because of this
all one year apart in age. Eventually the older ones died.
Occasionally a disease or an accident claimed the life of one of
the younger ones. But the population of the island usually
consisted of 70 or so females, aged 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 ... with spaces
becoming more the rule than the exception above the age of 60.
There was no medicine -- God would claim them in His own good
time. The older sisters delighted in the play of the little
novices. They were not too strict with them, but prepared them
gradually to assume their solemn duties as full sisters when they
turned 14 years old.

Our Lady was the convent island of the Holy Innocence Church.
Doctrine held that the way to a purer knowledge of Christ was
knowing less of the ways of the secular world. They knew what the
Church thought they ought to know to live the holiest life -- and
no more. The sum of this knowledge was contained in the one Book
of Innocence, mostly concerned with how God should be praised.
They knew there existed a foundational book of Christian
religions known as the Holy Bible, but they were only provided
with a few excerpts of this book -- it had far more knowledge
than was consistent with the holy life.

One excerpt from that book was that the two original people were
Adam and Eve. They had eaten from the tree of knowledge against
the wishes of God and had fallen. To reclaim paradise, the women
of Our Lady were to be told only what God wanted his chosen to
know -- in the best judgment of the Holy Innocence Church.

Eve was a woman, and Adam was a man. A man was another kind of
human being, though they did not know in what way he differed.
Children when created were destined to turn into either women or
men, and the ones who turned into men were known as boys. This
much they knew. In their spare time the novices and sisters
occasionally shared fragmentary memories of the time before they
came to the island. The Book of Innocence revealed that from the
age of 18 months they had lived in a special Church facility.
Some thought they remembered men, but the memories were very
unclear. Some girls thought they had deep voices and never grew
larger than a 10-year-old girl. Others thought they had scratchy
faces and were very fat.

Barely visible on the horizon was another island. They knew it
was called Our Savior and it was much like their island but
populated with men and boys. The Book of Innocence expressly
forbade them from leaving their island.

Our Lady was ruled by the Mother Superior, supported by the
Council of Five Sisters. All the sisters and novices pledged
obedience to the Mother Superior. In any dispute, her word was
final. She designated her own successor and selected replacements
for the members of the Council. However, sometimes age is not
kind to the mind and judgment as any mortal ages, and the Council
had the authority acting unanimously to remove the Mother from
office and substitute another of the sisters -- who could not be
one of the Council.

The Book of Innocence told them that the Mother Superior had a
personal library in her private office in her residence, an
office that no one but she ever entered. These books were a
symbol of forbidden knowledge. Their presence was a temptation,
and one burden of the office of Mother Superior was to resist the
temptation of looking at them.

The original architects had designed the settlement of Our Lady
to last. The buildings were all of imported stone set on deep
foundations. There were storerooms with spare materials -- window
glass, metal implements, rugged shoes, cloth, kitchen ware, and
other small implements to support their simple life. The sisters
prided themselves on how very slowly they drew on those supplies.
The Book of Innocence promised that a larger boat with
replacement supplies would arrive every 40 years. So far it had
come just twice since the founding of the order.

And so the years had passed. The older sisters gradually grew
older, grew frail, and died. But each year a new girl arrived in
the rowboat, and in this way the circle of life continued.

---------------------------------------------------------

But now not all was well. One year the rowboat had not come. The
sisters prayed for order to be restored, trusting in God. But it
had not come the next year either. Now, as February turned to
March, the rowboat had not come for ten years. If it did not come
again, the youngest of them, Kira, would become a full sister and
there would be no novices. The supply boat had been due to make
its third appearance four years earlier, but it had not come
either.

There had been nine previous Mother Superiors, remembered by name
in daily prayer. The current Mother Superior was firm that they
must trust in God. If He intended them to die out, then that was
His will. As others conversed in groups of two or three, some
weren't sure this was the best course. Shouldn't they try to do
something? They had no boats, and the Book of Innocence
specifically decreed that they must not leave the island. But
they knew rowboats existed and were possible. Perhaps they could
fashion one from the materials they had at hand and make a voyage
to Our Savior? They could find out if the boat to Our Savior had
stopped coming too. They could share thoughts and ideas.

Julie, the one and only resident of the island who was 28, was
one of the most vocal of this group. She found herself in heated
discussion, arguing for action, for exploration. The order of
their world had been broken, and surely it was permissible --
perhaps even required -- for them to be flexible themselves? Some
of the other sisters reminded her that she was not being as
humble and obedient as she should be. On two occasions the Mother
Superior had accosted her and assigned her to do penance. The
first time she was put in seclusion for three days. This time she
had been in seclusion for two weeks, and she had no idea when or
if she would be released. She prayed constantly for God's will to
be done, trying to suppress her natural human desire to be free
and rejoin the others. But as the Book of Innocence demanded, she
strove to be slightly better than human. If God's will was for
her to remain in seclusion for the rest of her life, she would
try to accept it gracefully.

She awoke in the dark to the sound of footsteps outside on the
path leading to her seclusion cell -- which was in a stone hut.
She quickly rose and donned her habit. Then she realized it was
not one set of footsteps, but several.

She heard the sound of the door being unlocked, and then a voice.
"May we come in?"

"Of course," said Julie.

The first to enter was Sister Beatrice, followed by the other
four members of the Council!

Surely this must be a very serious matter. Julie knelt and bowed
her head. Hopefully she was not to be punished more harshly.
There had been those screams from Sister Eleanor once after she
had been in seclusion for a day. The rumor was that her offense
had been touching Sister Anna in a way that she shouldn't.

"May the will of God be done," she said softly, with total
conviction.

"You may rise, Sister Julie," said Beatrice.

When she had risen the six of them stood in a circle in the small
hut -- there was but one small chair.

"Could you kindly tell us your thoughts on what Our Lady should
do in light of the lacuna of the boats?"

She bowed her head and said, "I trust the judgment of the Mother
Superior in all things. If I have said intemperate things in the
past, it has been my sin. I have been praying constantly for
greater guidance from Our Father. I dare to hope that I am making
progress."

When she looked up, the others were smiling slightly.

"That is very good, Julie. The Lord would be pleased. Yet --
suppose the Mother Superior asked you honestly for your own
opinion, laying aside anything she has said in the past on the
subject, laying aside what any of the rest of us have said. What
are your thoughts then?"

Julie was perplexed, fearing a trap. "Surely the Mother Superior
would not turn for advice to one such as me, when there are so
many more among you who are holier -- certainly including all of
you of the Council!"

Sister Theresa spoke. "It's not a trap, Julie. I can see why
you'd think that. We can promise you solemnly that no word of
what we say here will ever reach the ears of the Mother
Superior."

"But surely you wouldn't disobey the Mother Superior? You
wouldn't keep a secret from her?"

The others smiled thinly.

"Think, Sister Julie," said Beatrice. "Think about the function
of the Council. Think about our most important role in the order.
Don't say anything, just think."

Julie thought, but she drew a blank.

Sister Rosa said, "Let's just say that when we report to the
Mother Superior, it will not be to the person who before her
elevation was known as Sister Catherine."

Julie's eyes opened wide. "But the Mother Superior... She is not
ill? Could this be God's will?"

The others shifted uneasily and looked away momentarily.

"The lacuna of the boats has changed things," said Beatrice. "It
is with heavy hearts that we are nearly resolved to take this
momentous step. So... what do you think we ought to do?"

"Surely the new Mother Superior will know best? Or seek the
counsel of those she trusts?"

"Ummm," said Beatrice. "Your opinions may influence who we choose
to be the next Mother Superior."

Julie hesitated.

Rosa said, "Sister Julie, there are different ways we can fail in
God's eyes. There is failure of obedience and there is the sin of
pride. Another is timidness, an unwillingness to think with an
open mind and say what you think when asked. This is what we ask
of you now. Do not be timid."

Julie thought. If her opinions could guide who they selected for
Mother Superior, that could be a very good thing. After a brief
silent prayer, she began. "I think we ought to start building a
boat -- it may take several tries -- and learn how to row it. I
think a small delegation of volunteers should go over to Our
Savior and take advantage of the knowledge of the monks to
jointly chart the best course for Our Lady."

Sister Theresa said, "Is it possible that the best course is to
remain here in prayer on Our Lady until we all in due time go to
meet Our Father in heaven?"

Julie was overcome by feeling. "Yes," she said through gritted
teeth. "If that is what the Lord wills, then that is what we
ought to do." Suddenly embarrassed, she blushed and said,
"Forgive me, I... I will try to control myself."

Sister Beatrice smiled in kindly fashion. "What other ideas do
you have?"

"I think the Mother Superior ought to look through her library.
It's a temptation, yes, but that applied to a world which has
vanished. Sometimes when faced with a choice, the only option is
the lesser of two sins. Along with the unholy knowledge, there
might be some ordinary knowledge we don't have, some useful
information..." She continued sharing her ideas for a few more
minutes.

Sister Beatrice raised her hand to stop her, then looked around
at the other four from the Council. There were nods and smiles.
Then she got down on her knees, took Julie's hand and kissed it.
The others in turn all knelt and kissed her hand. Was this some
sort of cruel joke?

"I pledge to you my loyalty and obedience, O Reverend Mother,"
said Beatrice.

"Me?" squeaked Julie. No one under the age of 50 had ever been
Mother Superior. No one under age 38 had ever been on the
Council.

The others took the same pledge.

"It is our best judgment of the will of the Lord," said Beatrice.

"Are you sure? Why?"

Sister Theresa said, "Uncertain times call for new thinking. For
someone whose strong inclination is not to wait for our order to
die out. Yet one who is also very holy."

The others nodded.

Julie reflected that some of the other sisters didn't seem to
take their calling all that seriously. Julie sinned, but she felt
genuine contrition and desperately wanted to be a better person
and serve the Lord better.

"But... But..."

Beatrice continued. "And now, may the Lord give me strength for
what lies ahead. Follow us, Sister Julie."

---------------------------------------------------------

The six of them then proceeded directly to the Mother Superior's
residence, Julie bringing up the rear, her mind spinning.

When at last the sleepy Mother Superior opened the door, she
looked out at the six of them on her porch. Julie stood behind
the others, trying her best to be invisible.

"O Reverend Mother," said Sister Beatrice. "After deep
contemplation, we the members of the Council --"

The Mother Superior drew back, eyebrows raised in astonishment.
"No! No you don't! I am not senile! I have not strayed from the
path!"

"I understand that is your conviction, but --"

"I forbid it! I will have you all put in seclusion! This is
against the Way. It is against the will of our Lord. You are
under the influence of the Devil."

The others looked down. But Beatrice stood her ground.

"I am sorry, Reverend Mother," she said at last. "I have served
you to the best of my ability and obedience for six years. But in
prayerful contemplation, the five of us feel it is God's will to
take this unprecedented step."

"And who is this other person behind you? Is this your choice?
The pretender?"

The others stood aside, and Julie could retain no pretense of
invisibility.

"Her! Who authorized her removal from seclusion? My orders were
very clear."

Beatrice sighed, then turned to Julie and gave her a warm smile.
Then she fell to her knees and once again kissed her hand. The
other four did so as well, and then all looked at the Mother
Superior -- the former Mother Superior. They waited for her to do
the same. But Sister Catherine stood with arms folded against her
chest.

Julie looked at her, fighting back tears.

"What should we do, Reverend Mother?" asked Beatrice. "One of the
sisters refuses to bow before the Mother Superior."

"Um...." said Julie, when she realized she was being addressed.

"Could I make a suggestion, Reverend Mother?" said Sister
Theresa.

"Certainly, sister -- um ... Certainly, my child?"

"Perhaps a brief time in seclusion will help Sister Catherine to
contemplate God's will."

"Yes," said Julie with relief. "Yes, I think that would be wise.
See that it is done."

Sister Beatrice gently took the candle from the hands of the
former Mother Superior and handed it to the new Mother Superior.
As the others left to escort Sister Catherine to the cell Julie
had occupied a few minutes before, Sister Rosa turned and said
with a little smile, "Go on in -- it's your residence now."

Julie watched them go, then crossed the threshold into the Mother
Superior's receiving room. Whenever she had entered this room
before, it had been with fear and trepidation. Rarely were the
younger sisters invited in, and it was never for a friendly chat.
The room had three sofas and the ornate carved chair reserved for
the Mother Superior.

Slowly advancing, she opened the door to the Mother Superior's
private audience room. She had never seen it before. It was a
smaller room with just one small couch, one chair, and a small
table. There was a door beyond. It could lead only one place --
to the private chambers of the Mother Superior. They were now
*her* private chambers.

She stepped through into a small hallway. To her left was a
bedroom, with the biggest bed Julie had ever seen. Two people
could lie down side by side on that bed! To her right was the
office, with a simple wooden desk, a chair -- and a set of
bookshelves full of books.

All the little novices dreamed of becoming Mother Superior some
day. They played at being Mother and Sister, giving each other
orders. Julie laughed and grinned, then did a little dance. She
was immediately embarrassed and prayed for guidance from God.

Returning to the bedroom, Julie looked at the rumpled sheets. No
sister could ever leave her bed like that during the day. But
then the Mother Superior hadn't dreamed that when she went to
answer her door, she would never return.

---------------------------------------------------------

When her breakfast was brought to her seclusion cell the next
morning, Sister Catherine had relinquished her ring and cross
pendant.

Sister Beatrice introduced the new Mother Superior at a general
meeting of the order later that morning in the settlement's
central square. Many were clearly surprised. The sisters filed
by, got down on their knees and kissed Julie's ring. Most were
hard to read. A few were clearly suppressing hostility, but more
seemed delighted, especially among the younger sisters. Kira, the
last remaining novice, had perhaps the brightest smile.

To try to adjust to her new role, Julie had private audiences
with the Council members one by one. Sister Rosa related that
Sister Catherine had also been quite unsure of herself when she
first became Mother Superior, even though she was 64 at the time
and had been the designated successor for three years. That made
Julie feel better.

She hadn't even considered changing anything relating to the
daily life of the community. But Sister Beatrice had told her the
most important thing was for her to establish her authority, and
that must be done with all the old rituals intact. Having had no
time to prepare, Julie sometimes had to accept coaching in just
what she was supposed to say in the various prayer functions she
performed during a day. It took her less time than she would have
thought to adjust to all the deference the others showed her, and
the realization embarrassed her and sent her into earnest prayer.

A critical moment came 23 days after Julie's assumption of her
office: the vernal equinox. They all knew that if the boat came,
Julie's position would be radically undermined. She realized with
deep shame that a large part of her desperately wanted the boat
not to come. She wanted change!

On the appointed day, all of the order prepared to assume their
assigned posts if one of the lookouts spotted the boat. But the
boat did not come.

The next day she felt was the time to initiate her plan for boat
construction. She made discreet inquiries through her Council and
found some sisters who were eager and had some of the relevant
skills, and then ordered them to work. They would take freely
from the store room: lumber, rope, nails, and other items as
needed. One sister thought that the gum of one of the island's
plants could be used a sealant. The small crew would try to turn
all of it into something that floated, and later into something
that could be rowed.

---------------------------------------------------------

What Julie did as soon as she was free from official duties on
her first day was to explore the Mother Superior's desk. While
all the sisters were familiar with the Book of Innocence, here
was a book called the Mother's Book, consisting of instructions
for the eyes of Mother Superiors only. It contained more on the
history of the church and its teachings and the special role that
Our Lady and Our Savior held. It also reiterated in somewhat more
detail than the Book of Innocence how the rest of the library of
100 volumes was a temptation for the Mother Superior. Each book
was wrapped in some thin plastic stuff that Julie had never seen
before, but one could not read the book without breaking it, and
evidently it could never be put back. It would be apparent to any
new Mother Superior whether one of her predecessors had succumbed
to temptation. She counted 100 sealed books. None had -- yet.

In the days leading up to the equinox, Julie spent long hours at
her desk in prayer and contemplation. As a young girl she had
gradually absorbed the teachings of the sisters, gradually
learned her role in life, learned the rules she must obey.
Although God lay behind it all, to a young sister the visible
manifestation of God was the Mother Superior. Their goal was
always to do God's will, but in practice the woman with the ring
and the cross pendant was the one interpreting that will. As a
novice, her fear had not been God's displeasure, but the
displeasure of the Mother Superior. She had also striven to
discern God's will directly, as she was taught, but the messages
were always murky.

It had been one thing to tell the Council that she thought the
new Reverend Mother ought to look at her library, but it was
quite another when she was the person given that responsibility
-- and when the plastic wrappings plainly revealed that for over
100 years her predecessors had all followed their orders. Any of
them could have ripped open a book and blamed it on her
predecessor. None had.

There was one passage in the Mother's Book that she read over and
over. "The Lord God created you, the Mother Superior, as a
creature of free will. You must act as the Lord God guides you.
You and you alone are burdened with the temptation of the books.
Adam and Eve ate from the tree of knowledge in contravention of
the will of God. The prohibition on reading from the books of
knowledge comes from the best judgment of fallible mortals, the
founders of the Holy Innocence Church."

In thinking about the passage, she couldn't recall anywhere in
the Book of Innocence where free will was emphasized, or where
the founders of the Church were portrayed as fallible mortals.
And then it struck her. The church had stopped sending a boat.
That was a sign of its fallibility! Its vision had failed in some
sense. The only thing that was supposed to end the plan of the
church was the Second Coming -- which surely would not have
bypassed their island! God was not telling her in prayer not to
open the books, it was just the doctrine of a church which had
been in shown in practice as well as theory to be fallible.

On the morning after the vernal equinox, Julie said one more
prayer, then with trembling hands tore the thin plastic stuff off
of book #1. There was no thunder, no voice speaking from the
heavens. She picked up book #2 and tore the plastic off of it
too. One by one, she unsheathed every single book. When she was
done there was a pile of crinkly plastic. She compressed it as
best she could and stuck it in a drawer of the desk. All the
drawers had been empty, as befitted a church devoted to
innocence. Now one wasn't.

First Julie read from the books at random but found that very
confusing. Then she began a systematic survey of the books. She
found a dictionary and encyclopedia and discovered which books
were more basic and which more advanced.

Still, she struggled to make sense of what she read. The earth
was not the center of the universe. The moon revolved around the
earth, but nothing else did. The sun was the center of something
called the solar system, but it was part of a galaxy, of which
the universe had billions. Many scientists believed there were
other planets with other kinds of life -- possibly billions of
them. The book noted that these discoveries had weakened belief
in God, and Julie could see why. Instead of one little world
looked over by one God, He had to make billions upon billions of
stars and planets, or else -- heresy! -- maybe each world had its
own God?

All the sisters knew that the boat came from a bigger world. She
realized that until then in her mind's eye the bigger world was
maybe 50 miles long and 10 miles wide. When she saw world maps,
she was astounded at how much land there was, how many cities,
how many people. They were in a place called the South Pacific
Ocean. A Church map showed Our Lady and Our Savior, but there
were no other islands anywhere nearby. Her heart sank as she
realized that a boat trip to anywhere else would be a very long
one. She initially took heart from the fact that the boat that
came to them was a small boat, and it must have gotten there
somehow. Only later did she see pictures of giant ships and how
they sometimes carried smaller boats inside them. That must be
how it had been done.

From her reading of history, she found that things had not always
been as they were. Civilizations rose and fell. Religions came
and went. Religions were incompatible with each other. At most
one was correct. What made the Church think they were the right
one? It was a terribly heretical thought. But the fact that the
boats had stopped coming was not a good sign. If the Church had
followed the example of so many of its predecessors, it may well
have vanished for good and the boats would never come back.

There were pictures of all kinds of people, and she realized that
all of them on Our Lady were from Northern European stock and
known as white people.

There were lots and lots of pictures of men! Among the first few
pictures she saw were some that gave her a funny little tingle in
her stomach. Men were bigger than women when they were grown and
they had deeper voices. They had faces that were scratchy or else
hairy. They were not usually fat. Some pictures showed them naked
above the waist, and it seemed they did not grow breasts. She had
been scanning books for some time before she came across diagrams
of what men looked like naked. What really set men apart, the
most dramatic difference, was what was between their legs. This
hardly ever showed -- men and women kept their crotches covered
up in the wider world too, not just on on the island. But in
those few pictures in the encyclopedia, it was very different.
There was a tube called a penis and a sack with balls in it
called testicles.

Julie often had to take a break from her reading to pray,
contemplate, and just plain think. So much was new to her.
Sometimes she wondered if it was all true, it seemed so
incredible.

After tangential references here and there to something called
pregnancy, she finally found a full description of where babies
came from. They grew inside women's bodies! What a bizarre
thought! One could see pictures of a woman getting fatter and
fatter as the baby grew. Then when the baby was big enough it
came out between her legs! This made her wrinkle her nose. Babies
coming into the world from that dirty place? The other stuff that
came out there was urine, feces, and menstrual blood. She noted
briefly that innocence about some things might really help living
a holy life.

Half the time the baby was a boy and half the time it was girl.
When the baby came out it was really tiny. Women's breasts
produced stuff called milk that the babies drank. But apparently
breasts only produced it right after a woman had a baby, which
made sense.

So that would be one solution to their problem of the order dying
out -- get baby girls to come out of their bodies and wait until
they turned three and could become novices. But of course no
babies came out of the bodies of the sisters on Our Lady. It took
her quite some time to puzzle out what made a baby start growing,
since there were no pictures of it. First, it required a man.
Some fluid called sperm came from the man's body and went into
the woman's to start the process, and the baby looked partly like
the mother and partly like the father.

When she saw the cutaway diagram of a woman's body, she was
fascinated. She had found as a young girl that there was an extra
hole down there with no obvious purpose, but it was sinful to
explore like that, so she'd only done it a couple times. As she
approached puberty, the sisters explained that the opening was
called a vagina and that blood would leak out of it every month.
They explained how to contain the flow using the cloths that the
order stocked for just that purpose. They reinforced the idea
that it was sinful to touch oneself in that entire area except to
keep clean. But now she was the Mother Superior. She made the
rules. So with a vestigial wash of shame she pushed her finger up
into the hole, and, encouraged by the diagram, kept pushing and
pushing. The whole finger went in!

There were references to insertion of the penis into the vagina,
but she didn't get how it would work. Could you thread the little
floppy tube into the vagina like you fed a rope into a hole?
Apparently it wasn't really necessary. She also read about this
thing called artificial insemination. They could collect sperm
from men, then stick it in a woman later and it could start a
baby growing. All you needed was to get the sperm in there
somehow. Feeding a floppy tube of flesh into a vagina seemed both
gross and far more complicated than necessary.

Between her sessions with the books, she thought more broadly
about their predicament. The boats were probably not going to
return. They couldn't build a boat big enough to row to anywhere
except Our Savior -- it would be no small task to manage even
that. As she had planned all along, they could row to Our Savior
to see if their boat had stopped coming too, and compare notes
and share ideas.

But there was a way to make more little girls themselves. Could
they manage it? They didn't have any technology to speak of. But
there was no obvious technology involved in collecting sperm from
men and inserting it into women. As she kept looking, she
realized that humans used to live without technology, and even
back then they had needed to produce more little boys and girls,
and apparently they had succeeded, since they didn't die off. God
had created Adam and Eve in a way that was unclear, but since
then all babies had been created using the same method.

Suddenly it fell into place. Even if the men on Our Savior had no
new knowledge, the key to survival of the order lay over there.
They had the last missing piece: all men produced sperm. They'd
get the men to give them some and they'd stick it in their
vaginas. If one woman did that every year, she'd produce a tiny
baby girl, and then when she was 3, she could take the place of
the girls that didn't arrive any more. But wait... half the time
the babies were boys. But... aha! They could make two babies a
year and send the boys over to Our Savior so they wouldn't run
out of men, and they could keep the girls so they didn't run out
of women. But was that enough? All the women would still grow old
and die so they couldn't have babies any more. The men would die
so they couldn't produce sperm any more. But wait! The girls
would eventually grow up and their uteruses would start working,
so *they* could go over to the island and get some sperm. The
little boys would grow up and make more sperm, and it would go on
and on! She was dizzy for some time as she kept thinking of that
plan from every angle. It was a workable plan for survival!

Our Lady and Our Savior would keep going indefinitely, praising
the Lord as the Church intended. Mother Superior Julie had
violated her sacred trust and read the books. But in them she had
found what they needed. Wasn't that worth it?

---------------------------------------------------------
Chapter 2

One by one, she had confided to her Council members that she had
looked at a book. As she had hoped, there was no great shock --
she'd told them what she planned to do before they selected her.
Then she revealed she'd looked at more than one. In fact she'd
looked at all of them. She gave permission for the Council
members to spread the word, and soon all the sisters knew that
their Mother Superior had looked at the books.

Julie avoided Sister Catherine as much as possible. Even though
Julie now wore the cross and the ring, she could never forget the
palpable sense of authority that came from the older woman's
eyes. And their gaze always fed her doubts as to whether she was
doing the right thing.

Among the books, some had tidbits that would be helpful in
building boats. The encyclopedia had entries for various parts of
boats and kinds of boats. Sister Grace was the most adept
woodworker. After appropriate formalities marking the gravity of
the step, she invited Sister Grace into her private audience room
and produced three books with their short passages related to
boat building. Sister Grace studied them and took notes and
sketches while Sister Julie looked on, never letting the books
out of her presence.

First they created a boxy tub that floated. Then they created an
elongated box, then one with sloping sides and a gradually
sloping front. At last they had a little boat that seemed
seaworthy. They hadn't been able to make oarlocks, so they had to
paddle instead of row. One sister paddled on the left side, the
other on the right. They could paddle it around the island and
could go away from shore for a considerable ways. It leaked, but
by use of a large clam shell they could bail the boat out faster
than the water came in. This was the responsibility for the third
person in the boat. A cooking pot also would have worked, but the
shell was good enough and the pots were precious.

After much prayer and counsel, Julie was ready to order an
expedition. Some of the sisters were strongly opposed, none more
than Sister Catherine, but after they had stated their objections
once they were obedient and said no more.

The question arose of who should go with the expedition.

Julie wanted to go. Others thought this was unwise -- suppose she
were lost at sea? But she wasn't irreplaceable. The same drive
that had made the Council choose her made her want to go, not sit
back and let others report on what they had found.

For her companions Julie chose Sister Frances and Sister Lisa.
They were close to Julie in age, so they had been novices
together and she felt she really knew them. They were also strong
paddlers, and they believed in Julie's plan. But she didn't share
any of her knowledge about how to make babies -- that would be
for another trip, if at all.

So with most of the sisters seeing them off -- Julie made
attendance optional -- the three of them set out shortly after
dawn one morning. Julie took a turn with a paddle now and then so
Frances and Lisa could rest. Otherwise she bailed the boat as
needed but mostly rested. They had been paddling for what seemed
a very long time, and as noon approached the receding shape of
Our Lady was still much larger than the growing shape of Our
Savior. Julie ordered them to turn back.

---------------------------------------------------------

There followed more days of paddling practice, and this time
Julie participated seriously. Some of the older sisters muttered
about the insult to the dignity of the office of Mother
Superiority, but Julie ignored them. Along with building up their
strength the three of them sought more efficient methods so each
paddle stroke would move the boat farther. Grace watched from the
shore and consulted the books in Julie's presence now and then
and they thought it was a little better. In preparation for this
second attempt, Julie made sure that they were traveling with a
full moon, so they could still see their destination after dark.

When they were ready, they set off once more, this time leaving
before dawn. They paddled hard. When Julie took over a paddle
they kept moving at a decent pace. By late afternoon they decided
they were definitely closer to Our Savior than to Our Lady. On
they went, aiming for the moonlit shape of the island. The moon
was on its downward arc when they finally were within easy
paddling distance. There were no obvious signs of habitation, but
then it was the middle of the night. They rested to regain
strength, and then paddled in to the nearest beach. They all
noted how momentous it was to step onto another island. They
bathed in the sea to get the worst of the sweat off, then rested
and waited for the dawn.

Julie had repeatedly wondered how they would be received. She
briefly worried that they would be attacked. Surely if the men
still followed the teachings of the Church this would not happen,
but assuming the boat to Our Savior no longer came, who knew what
changes that might bring to the island? Decent men could descend
into savagery; this she knew from her forbidden books. If the men
were merely hostile, they should at least be able to make an
escape.

Pulling the boat well up onto the beach, the three changed from
their work habits into nicer ceremonial habits and began walking
along the beach to their right. Before long they spied a man at
some distance, and then another. They waved but weren't noticed
at first. When one man did see them, he waved back, and only
after peering carefully did he decide they were unfamiliar. At
that, both men ran away at top speed. The three women kept
walking.

Soon they were met by a dozen men walking towards them, some
holding long sticks, a few balancing rocks in their hands. They
all had beards.

At hailing distance, Julie called out, "Hello! I am the Mother
Superior from Our Lady."

"Hello! I am Brother James. Why are you here?" He spoke with a
funny accent. The men who were carrying weapons considered
briefly and dropped them, one by one.

"Our boat stopped coming ten years ago. Do you have an annual
boat? Does it still come?"

"No," said James, but the others stopped him from saying more.
"We should consult with the abbot."

The men turned around and a couple ran ahead, while the others
uneasily led the way and the women followed just as uneasily ten
paces behind.

As they left the beach and climbed the path to the settlement,
Julie was surprised at how much it resembled their own. It made
sense, though. If the Church had laid out the settlements over a
hundred years before, at the same time, they would have little
reason to choose a different plan for men as opposed to women.

When they were in the central square, twenty men faced them. One
of many with gray hair and beard had a cross on a chain and a
ring, and announced himself as the abbot. He did not look at all
friendly. "You say you are the Mother Superior. Where is your
cross and ring?"

"We thought we might perish on the journey, and felt those
blessed objects should remain safe."

That seemed to satisfy the abbot. "Come inside," he said, and
entered the building that was analogous to the Mother Superior's
residence. Only two of his fellows joined them, so it was three
men and three women who sat in the receiving room.

The abbot bowed his head. "May the Lord God guide us as we meet
today."

"Amen," said Julie and the others.

"So, Mother Superior, do you have a set of rules to follow like I
do?"

"Yes, I do."

"Do those rules allow you to cross to this island?"

"No."

"Do they, like mine, specifically forbid leaving your island?"

"Yes."

"Then, might I ask, why are you here, in direct violation of
instructions from the Church?"

"Our boat stopped coming. The one that has a new little girl each
year. You get a similar visit?"

"We did, until ten years ago."

"Right. We realized that without any new girls arriving, we would
die off. We thought it was worth being flexible and breaking the
one rule to try to save the community."

"And how would visiting us do that?"

"I wasn't sure, but I thought we could exchange ideas." On a
sudden whim, she said, "And hey, I thought maybe our little girls
were being delivered here by mistake."

The other four suppressed smiles, but the abbot remained
stone-faced.

"Or," she continued. "Perhaps the Church ran into difficulties
and had time to give you instructions but hadn't had time to get
the word to us."

He nodded thoughtfully.

"Could we discuss this privately?" Julie asked. "As Abbot to
Mother Superior? With God as our constant companion and guide, of
course."

"That is acceptable," said the abbot.

The two of them withdrew into the private audience room.

---------------------------------------------------------

The abbot sat on his chair and Julie on the couch.

"So," she said. "How have things been going here since the boat
stopped coming? Has there been any impetus for change?"

"Some have spoken of it, but through prayer I have remained
steadfastly opposed."

"So, if nothing else happens, you will age and die off."

"Yes. I believe the Church is testing us. If not the Church, God
Himself."

"Um, do you have a library of books? Books you aren't supposed to
read?"

"Do you?" he asked cagily.

"Yes. The Mother Superior's private collection. But I decided
that this was an emergency so I have read some of mine."

The abbot looked at her with wide eyes. "I feel certain that was
an error. You're awfully young to be a Mother Superior, aren't
you? Or do you on Our Lady no longer honor age, either?"

"I was astonished to be chosen, I assure you. They said it was
because they felt our changed circumstances required new ideas."

"I feel certain you have made a series of errors here."

Julie sighed. "Let me just get some basic information here. You
have no idea why the boat stopped coming?"

The abbot shook his head.

"You have no idea how to get off this island or get more help?"

He shook his head again.

"And you have no idea how to get any more little boys?"

He shook his head once more.

Julie thought. No new options presented themselves. She hadn't
been planning this, but it had been a long, grueling journey. Why
wait?

"Do you have any idea how to *make* more little boys?"

He furrowed his brow and looked at her. Evidently the men's Book
of Innocence and the Abbot's Book said no more about how to make
children than hers had.

She rose and beckoned him to stand. She stood fairly close to him
and offered her hand. After a brief hesitation, he took it, and
she raised her other to sandwich his.

He wasn't a pleasant person. But his voice was deep. He was
taller than her and muscular. She could just ask him simply if he
would give her some sperm, but she wasn't at all sure what he'd
say, and she felt strangely ill at ease. She knew from the books
what he had in his pants. Sperm came out of it. But she felt
strangely emotional about the whole matter.

"There is... I know from the books that there is a way to make
more little boys... It's kind of surprising, and may seem
sinful... But surely children are also blessed."

The abbot was looking uncomfortable.

"It requires that we not be modest." She released his hand, then
quickly lifted her habit over her head so she stood before him in
just her worn bra and ragged underpants. What the heck was she
doing? She was having trouble keeping a prayerful attitude.
Yet... Surely she had to be naked to get his sperm into the right
place?

He stared at her, eyes bugged out. His eyes played up and down
between her breasts and her crotch. She pulled her underpants
down to her knees -- she couldn't stay covered and get the sperm
into her.

"You're... You're an abomination!"

She realized he had no idea what women looked like.

"No, not at all! All women are like this. It's the biggest
difference between us. To make a new boy, you... You need to
remove your pants," she said.

Slowly he did, eyes fixed on her crotch, whispering
"abomination."

Julie was astonished. What the heck was that? It must be his
penis! But it looked nothing like the penises in the book. This
one was stiff and huge and stuck straight out. The books had
spoken about insertion. And... That kind of penis would need no
threading like a rope into a hole. *That* kind of penis could
press itself into a vagina! But it was so big... Yet somehow
insertion was the only means of transfer she could think of right
then.

She sat on the edge of the couch, legs spread wide, and held her
lips open. "And you... Your penis goes..." She was both excited
and terrified, seeing the size of the thing that the books said
was supposed to be inserted into her.

But the abbot seemed to get the idea without being told. His eyes
glued to her vaginal opening, he lowered himself onto her, aiming
his huge, sinful organ at her dirty, sinful place. She felt the
tip touch her opening, then in a flash of motion his hands were
on her thighs, holding her legs apart, and she felt the huge
thing press into her. At first it didn't go, then it did, and
down between her legs there was a sharp pain -- but it never
occurred to her to push him away. Then he pulled it halfway out,
then pushed it in again, as if he couldn't make up his mind
whether to be in or out. But seconds later he gasped and held
still briefly, then his huge penis slid out of her as quickly as
it had gone in.

Julie tried to collect herself. "So, if you did that and released
some fluid, then --"

"Oh, I did," groaned the abbot.

"How did you know to do that?"

"Just happened," he said. Suddenly he seemed to take in his
surroundings.

So did Julie. She was sitting mostly naked on a couch, underpants
around her ankles, her legs wide apart so her sinful part was not
just visible but displayed and emphasized. The abbot's crotch was
exposed, his large penis shrinking.

"What did you do to me?" he asked.

"Nothing! I... It's about making boys..." She pulled up her
undergarment, leapt up and grabbed her habit, putting it on
quickly.

"You must be the devil. Tempting me to carnal sin! Go back to
your island at once and never come back!" By now his trousers
were on, and he looked like an abbot.

Julie was confused. It certainly had felt sinful, powerful --
almost like she was possessed.

The abbot flung the door open and ushered her out.

The two men and two women waiting in the outer room rose and
looked at them expectantly. Julie strode outside and the others
followed.

"See them to their boat!" commanded the abbot to a pair of men
outside.

As they headed down towards the beach, Julie's mind spun. The
plan wouldn't work unless they could get some of the men to give
them sperm. To a knot of young men standing nearby she called,
"Watch out for us! We'll be back! At night! Secretly!"

"Ummm," said one of the men. The abbot's instructions hadn't said
to keep them from talking.

Lisa and Frances looked at her, perplexed, as they hurried down
the beach.

With the men watching, they got back into their boat. Soon they
were a hundred yards offshore, paddling for home.

"Ummm, Julie -- Reverend Mother, permission to speak freely?"
said Frances.

"Of course," said Julie, waving her hand.

"We're exhausted, right? We could really use some more water. I
know they ordered us to leave, but, do we have to? He didn't say
he'd kill us or anything, right?"

Julie realized she was making complete sense. Her own judgment
had been thrown off by the intense experience with the abbot.
"You're right, of course. We should replenish our water and get
some food."

"Why did he want us to leave so fast?"

"I'll explain later."

Under Julie's direction, they paddled parallel to shore away from
the men's settlement until they passed around a narrow spit of
land. On the far side was a cove with a much smaller beach. They
landed.

Julie looked carefully at the foliage bordering the beach and was
delighted to see a face looking out at her. For her plan she
needed contact with men. She suspected the abbot would decree
that the men should have nothing to do with them, and of course
they would obey. It was vital she make some connections before he
made an announcement.

She took three hollow coconut shells that they had drained of
water on the way over and casually walked towards where the head
had been.

"Anyone there?" she said. "We need some more water for the trip
back."

The head reappeared, and then a young man approached. His hair
and beard were black, and he was much more appealing than the
abbot.

"You are -- a woman?"

"Yes," she said, smiling. "From Our Lady."

"What... What are you doing here?"

"I can explain that later. But here's the situation. We're
leaving soon, but we're going to come back again, over and over,
and we need to meet with some of you men. We already met the
abbot, and he maybe doesn't like that idea." That was an
understatement. "So the main message, to spread to any of the men
you think might be interested, is that they should be on the
lookout for us to arrive at night. We want to talk."

"OK," said the young man.

"What's your name?"

"Brother Luke."

"Pleased to meet you. I am the M -- I am Sister Julie. Can I ask
you some questions confidentially -- you promise not to tell
anyone else?"

"Sure." He smiled and looked over his shoulder.

"If... If some of the men disobey his orders and he finds out,
will he punish you very severely?" She didn't want that on her
conscience.

"Mostly the brothers get seclusion. One guy was lashed in public
when I was a novice."

"What did he do?"

"I think he actually spat in the abbot's face."

Julie smiled. Fraternizing secretly with women should rank
considerably below that on the punishment scale.

Her mind kept working over the possibilities. She was very aware
of Luke's maleness. Like the abbot, his very presence was
different from that of any woman. It threw her thinking slightly
off kilter. What the women needed was sperm. They could paddle
back, then make another trip over, but why not seize the day?

"Say, if you can help us replenish our water, we'll leave. But if
we came back after dark... Is there some place we could pull in
secretly? To meet you?"

"If you go that way for a while," he said, pointing to his right,
"there's a cove just before the rock pile. I... I could be
there."

"Great! And if you can find one or two others that would be even
better."

"OK."

"So, can you help us get water right now?" She held out the
hollow coconuts.

"Sure... the spring is some distance from here, but I should
return within an hour."

"Good."

And with that he was off.

---------------------------------------------------------

The three young women rested in the shade at the edge of the
beach, awaiting his return.

They replayed the morning's events. Julie decided she was too
embarrassed to admit what had happened in the abbot's private
sitting room, so she left out that part. After a brief pause, she
said, "What did you two think of the men?"

"Excuse me?"

"You've never seen men before, right? Never even seen a picture.
How did they strike you?"

"They sure look different, with all that hair on their faces. But
in a lots of ways they seemed like people, just like us," said
Sister Frances.

"Did they make you feel funny, somehow? Like beyond being a
curiosity?"

"Ummm, yes," said Sister Lisa. "But I don't quite know how."

"Did they make you feel perhaps a little more excited? Your heart
beating a little faster?"

"Yes, Reverend Mother," said Frances. "I wondered if it was
sinful. It didn't feel entirely consistent with a prayerful
attitude."

Julie smiled to herself and reviewed her plan. Three babies
wouldn't be too much. And she knew that they weren't all
guaranteed to have babies from one dose of sperm -- maybe one of
them wouldn't.

"Can I tell the two of you my secret plan for saving Our Lady?
You really mustn't tell another soul."

"Of course, Reverend Mother," said Frances. Lisa nodded.

"Just call me Julie for now, OK? For this conversation? Just
Julie, like old times?"

"OK, Julie," said Frances. Lisa nodded again.

Julie proceeded to explain how babies actually grew inside
women's bodies, and that they could produce new little girls
themselves, even if the boat never came. the two sisters
listened, incredulous. However, she explained, it did require
men. When it came time for describing the actual sperm transfer,
Julie was now armed with the information she had been lacking a
few hours earlier.

"The penis becomes hard, much like a finger -- a big finger. That
allows it to penetrate a woman's vagina. The man moves it in and
out and after a few seconds the sperm comes out of the tip. When
he removes his penis, the sperm stays behind."

"So... One of the sisters will be chosen to be subjected to
this?"

"Since we haven't received any little girls in so long, I think
we should try to make several babies. I will ask for volunteers
from among those who are suitable."

After a brief pause, Frances said, "So, after we've got the
volunteers, three of them will have to make another trip over
here before long."

"Actually, I'm going to volunteer, and thought I'd see if I can
get some sperm on this trip. Brother Luke told me of a place
where we could meet tonight." She felt a tingling between her
legs.

"Would you like us to volunteer?"

"I think that is entirely up to you. It is a big decision.
Apparently pregnancy can be uncomfortable."

"What makes someone a good candidate?"

"Being between the ages of 18 and 30, a strong paddler, and
committed to not letting Our Lady die out."

Frances and Lisa both smiled. They were obviously both ideal
candidates.

They became aware of someone approaching. It was Luke, bearing
not just the replenished coconuts but some bananas and dried
fish. They thanked him. Julie asked if he thought he could get a
total of three men to meet them that night. He said he thought
so. They reloaded their boat and set off, paddling in the
direction of Our Lady, but very slowly.

"How do we get the men to do it?" said Frances.

"I get the impression they tend to be willing."

"Will he know what to do exactly?"

"No, probably not. You've got to remember that these men have no
idea what a woman looks like between her legs. They've never seen
anyone without a penis down there."

"That is so strange."

"I think it's best if you lie on your back without any
undergarments in the way and spread your legs. The man lies down
on top of you."

Lisa shuddered. "Reverend Mother, it... it sounds sinful."

"I understand your concern. It seems to have that potential. Yet
-- there is no other way to produce children. So if it is sinful,
it is a necessary sin. If you don't want to Lisa, you don't have
to. If your own conscience is not right with it, you mustn't. I
noticed you shuddered."

"I didn't shudder because it sounded terrible," said Lisa,
smiling slightly. "Reverend Mother, perhaps you remember the sin
I have confessed to you more than once -- the sin of my hand
between my legs when not needed for cleaning?"

"Yes, I remember."

"And it's a temptation because it, um, feels good?"

Julie smiled. "The Mother Superior has no idea what you're
talking about. But Julie knows exactly what you're talking
about." She felt a little shiver.

"Do you think it feels good because... because that's where
things happen to make a baby?"

Julie hadn't put that together before, but it made perfect sense.
"Probably, yes."

They lingered on the shore until late afternoon, then began
paddling towards Our Lady very slowly.

---------------------------------------------------------

Luke's heart pounded with excitement. Nothing new ever happened
on Our Savior -- until today! To finally meet a woman! Until
today they had just existed in theory and held no interest.
Another kind of person -- big deal. But these actual women --
very much like them in some ways, but different in others. She
talked funny -- her "o" sounds were weird. Did all women talk
like that? And her shape -- those bulges on her chest. She was
just so... so interesting! And now she wanted him to meet her
again that night.

Of course he should ask his superior brother James before doing
something so far outside of their daily routine, but he would
probably say no. Better to do penance later if he was discovered.
But he probably wouldn't be.

He rushed to make prayers on time, and all through the hour-long
service his mind was even farther from humble contemplation than
usual. She wanted two more brothers, if he could get them. He
wanted to please this sister Julie, though he wasn't sure why.
But also, for something this new and exciting, he wanted to be
able to have friends to talk about it with. Who could he get? Not
somebody devout, or timid, or in with the older brothers, or
looking to advance in the order. Somebody who could keep quiet --
that was the biggest thing.

After prayers he caught up with his friend Jacob. The other young
man said at once, "Did you see the women? When they came right up
into the settlement? Three of them? It was so strange --"

"I missed that, but --"

Jacob kept right on, explaining the exciting morning's
happenings.

"Right, right, but I've got something even better! I was walking
along the shore 'contemplating' and saw this boat with three
women in it -- must have been the same ones! But one of them came
and talked to me! So I helped her get more water and food before
they go back to Our Lady."

"Amazing!"

"But that's not the only thing. They're going to hang around and
want to meet me again tonight."

"Jesus!"

"And here's the thing. They want me to bring another couple men.
Do you want to go?"

"Um, sure!"

"I didn't bring it up with brother James..."

"Of course not!"

"Who else could we get? Michael maybe?" After he said it he
remembered that he liked Michael more than Jacob did.

"No, not him. David! what about David?"

David was lots of fun, it was true. "Yeah, but I don't think
David could keep quiet. No one can know about this, ever. What
about... George?"

"George? I guess... He can be so clueless, though."

"Yeah, but he's a good guy. And if you tell him to keep quiet,
he'll keep quiet."

"Yeah, true, he's good that way. What do you supposed they want
to do?"

"She said they want to talk. Probably to find out about our
lives. I sure want to find out about theirs!"

George agreed to be part of the plan.

They all knew exactly how to arrange it. After evening prayers,
after they were in their cells, after Brother James's bed check,
then they could sneak out. He always checked at the same time, an
hour or so after they were supposed to be asleep, and then he
himself was a heavy sleeper.

---------------------------------------------------------

After the sun's light had vanished, they turned the boat and
paddled back towards the island, retracing their afternoon's
symbolic progress much more quickly. They skirted the island to
the left. Before long they spotted the pile of rocks and pulled
in to shore on the near side of it. It was a secluded cove, with
only ten feet or so of sand between the water's edge and the
start of the thick vegetation.

No one was there. They paddled out and explored beyond the pile
of rocks, but there was no similar formation nearby. It had to be
the right spot, so they pulled the boat up out of the water and
settled down to wait.

Finally they heard rustling among the plants, and then Brother
Luke and two others emerged on the beach.

"Thanks for coming," Julie said.

"Umm, sure," said Luke.

There was a brief but awkward silence.

"I'm Julie. This is Lisa and this is Frances."

"Oh, yeah," said Luke. "This is George, and this is Jacob."

Jacob was a little taller and thin, with thick hair and beard,
dark but the color hard to make out in the moonlight. George had
a bit of extra fat on him, and thinner hair of some lighter
shade.

"So you're women!" said George. "What are those bulges on your
chest?"

"Um, they're called breasts," said Julie.

"What are things like over on Our Lady?"

"Um, it's laid out pretty much like here. We spend most of our
days praying, some chores like growing potatoes and rice, and
catching fish... Same for you, pretty much?"

"Yeah," said Luke.

"But say, is there a place near here that's level and hidden from
view?"

The men looked at each other. Luke said, "Not really. This is a
pretty rocky part of the island."

"But you're pretty sure no one else will see us here?"

"Yeah."

"Well, I guess the beach here will do."

"What do you mean?"

Julie swallowed. What she was asking was so strange... "What I'm
going to ask of the three of you may seem really strange. It
might even seem sinful. Are you terribly afraid of sinning?"

The men looked back and forth and smiled. "Not us. I'm afraid
we've all done plenty of sinning and plenty of penance."

"Good. This is actually... I think it is actually the will of
God, but it's different. Um, you all have penises between your
legs, right?"

George laughed. "What, you don't?"

"Um, actually no, we don't. You've never seen women before,
right? That's maybe the biggest difference. Until I told them
today, Lisa and Frances had no idea that men have penises."

"That makes no sense," said Jacob.

"Well, it's true," said Julie.

"What... What's there instead? Or don't you have to, um,
urinate?" asked George.

All three women gave big smiles. Julie said, "Yes, we do. And
I'll show you what's there..." Suddenly she felt unsure and
ashamed. How to explain... "Um, this is hard, because we sisters
were all taught that part of our body is dirty and sinful, and we
must never touch it except to clean it. And never let another
woman touch it. And keep it covered as much as possible."

"Yeah," said Luke. "They taught us the same about our penises.
But it's one of those rules that's really hard not to break
sometimes. Probably the most common sin we confess."

The other men nodded.

"Why?"

"Well, you know... Or I guess you don't. It feels really good to
touch it, and touch it some more, and more..."

This sounded promising, somehow. Julie took a deep breath. "So
the big favor we'd like to ask is if you could join your penises
with our bodies in a certain way. So I have to show you where..."

She reached under her habit to grab her underpants and pulled
them down and off. Then she paused with her hands on her habit.
It had felt strange to do this with the abbot. In a way it felt
even stranger to do it with five other people watching. But they
needed sperm!

She squatted and hitched her habit up, then sat on the beach and
spread her legs.

"Oh, my God!" said George.

"So, if you remove your pants, Luke, and kneel down here below my
legs... You also have to get your penis hard. Can you do that?"

"No, no problem," said Luke. As he stepped out of his pants and
underpants, it was plain that he had already made it hard.

"Now lie down closer..."

But like the abbot, once he'd got this far he seemed to know what
to do without being told. His penis nudged her, then the tip slid
in. This time it didn't hurt. Luke kept pressing his penis into
her, much farther than the abbot had, and then he began to go
back and forth, making little gasping sounds. It wasn't long
before Julie felt a trace of those same sort of good feelings
down there that she'd gotten using her own hand when she was
being sinful.

During this procedure the other two men were making little
exclamations of disbelief and surprise.

Luke said, "Um, if I keep doing this... then something's going to
happen... Did you know?"

"You mean the sperm coming out? Yes, that's just what I want! I
want you to leave the sperm inside me."

"OK, shit..." he muttered. His thrusts in and out of her vagina
became deeper and faster, then very deep and very fast.

It felt... very sinful but very right.

"Oh, oh, oh, oh, Nnnnnnnnnnnn!" The thrusts slowed, then stopped.
But instead of pulling away, he grinned at her and then let his
body down on hers so they were lying flat and he hugged her, his
penis still lodged within her vagina, though she could feel it
getting softer. That felt strange in a different way.

The other four were silent, then George said, "What are you doing
now?"

That seemed to bring Luke back to reality, and he slid off.

"Did you leave the sperm behind?" she asked.

"Oh yeah," said Luke with a smile.

"Thank you," Julie said. She felt kind of like getting dressed,
but then the plan called for the other sisters to get undressed,
and she wanted them to feel comfortable.

"So.... What now?" asked Jacob.

"Well, I'd like it if someone put some sperm into Lisa and
Frances -- assuming they're still willing?" The two women nodded.

"I'm sure willing!" said George, taking his pants off.

"So, Lisa, do you want me to do that to you?" asked Jacob
eagerly.

"I... Yes, I do," said the sister, who copied what the Mother
Superior had just done -- undergarment off, habit pushed up
around her waste. Jacob copied Luke's actions to a point. The
others couldn't see too clearly what was happening down where
penis met vagina. A second after his penis disappeared into that
area, Lisa started and said, "Ouch!" A second later Jacob said,
"Ohhhhhh!", then pulled away a few seconds later, panting.

Julie was fascinated to see the process from outside. It
certainly looked sinful. Very sinful.

George mounted Frances and the procedure was repeated. Instead of
withdrawing right after insertion, his bottom twitched and
rotated rapidly, while presumably down below, out of sight, his
penis thrust in and out of Frances's vagina. But after 30 seconds
he went silent and froze, then after a couple seconds slid off of
her, gasping as he sat on the beach.

There on the beach were three sisters in a row, sitting like
mermaids with their habits pulled down over their lower parts. By
each one sat a man, naked from the waist down, penis wilted to
some extent.

Julie said, "Did you all release your sperm?"

George laughed. "Oh, yeah. We sure did."

"How did you know Jacob did?"

"You really never knew penises existed until today?"

"No," said Frances. Lisa shook her head.

Luke said, "Well, that's the sin. All men know it. Our penis gets
hard, we rub it like this, and then the sperm comes out the end.
It feels really good, and we're satisfied, and then we stop
rubbing. When a guy relaxes like that, it means the sperm came
out."

Jacob said, "But this is like ten times better! Why?"

Julie said, "Because out in the real world, men and women do this
all the time."

"Why?"

"It's how they make babies." She wasn't sure why she just blurted
it out.

George laughed again. "Make babies? That's ridiculous. I don't
see any babies!"

Julie said, "Did you ever wonder where the boys came from that
showed up every year?"

George shrugged. "Not really, or not for a long time. One of
God's miracles, I guess."

Luke said, "So how does it make a baby?"

"They say that once the sperm is inside us, a baby starts
growing. It takes nine months, we get fatter and fatter, and then
a baby comes out the same place it went in."

"You've got lots of funny stories," said George.

Luke said, "How many of you feel like that was the most unholy
thing you ever did?"

Six hands shot up.

Frances said, "So maybe that's why they set us up on different
islands? Men and women separate? Without even knowing what the
other sex looks like between the legs or how babies are made?"

George said, "Hey, one of you other women want my sperm? I've got
more to give." His penis was very stiff once more.

Julie wasn't sure how she felt. She kind of did and kind of
didn't. But they were there for the sperm. More must be better
than less.

"OK," she said, and lay back.

George mounted her at once, a dumb grin on his face, and pressed
in and out. It didn't hurt, and it started feeling nice almost at
once. Barely audible above the sound of George's grunting was
Luke's voice, "You want to?", followed by an inaudible feminine
reply.

"I guess that leaves us!" said Jacob in a clear voice.

George slid in and out, insistently, over and over again.
Occasionally he'd mutter, "Oh, this is so great," "Man, it feels
amazing", "Wow... wow". He shifted around, sometimes holding
himself up off her and looking down, other times lying right on
her.

She didn't really understand what was going on. She wanted the
sperm, and she didn't get why he didn't just do his job and let
it out. On the other hand, it felt really good down there for
her. The longer it went on, the more sinful she felt -- and the
better the sensations. Then his pace picked up, his thrusts got
faster and deeper, and seconds later he made a big, "Oooohhhhh!",
then pulled out and sat beside her once more. She felt a brief
flush of shame on wishing that he'd kept going.

When Julie sat up, she saw the other couples had finished before
them.

---------------------------------------------------------

Jacob said, "I gotta take a leak," and walked ten feet away,
facing away from them. The women turned to watch. To Julie's
great surprise, he didn't squat down, but a long, thin arc of
fluid went forth from his midsection, rising as high as his head
and landing in the greenery ten feet away.

"What the heck?" muttered Lisa.

"Oh, right... whoa..." said George. "You've never seen a guy pee.
How the heck do you pee, anyway? Without a penis?"

"Well, I gotta go. You wanna watch?"

"Yeah!"

She walked close to where Jacob had been, the three men following
and squatting to look when she squatted.

"Whoa!" said George, laughing, when her stream came out.

Julie began to feel a bit uncomfortable. It was vital that the
women got sperm in their vaginas. But this felt more like sin
without a higher purpose.

"I gotta go too," said George.

"Can I watch it come out of you?" asked Lisa.

Lisa and Frances watched from up close and Julie from a distance
as an arc of fluid leapt right out the end of George's soft penis
and arced if anything a little higher than Jacob's had.

Lisa noticed Julie sitting by herself, tapped Frances on the
shoulder, and the two sisters immediately came back and sat down
by their leader.

The men gradually joined them.

"Well," said Julie. "If you're willing, let's do the last
combination. So we've each got some sperm from all three of you."

"We're willing," said Luke after a pause, "but I'm not sure we're
able."

"Huh?"

"Yeah, you wouldn't know, I guess. After we shoot it out, we
can't get hard for a while. And when we've done it twice, it
takes even longer."

"What kind of muscle works like that?" asked Lisa.

"It's not a muscle," said George. "Here, you want to feel?"

Lisa looked quickly over at Julie, who just sat.

"No, thanks," said Lisa quickly.

Luke said, "So, are you each going to have two babies now? And a
third if we manage to do it again?"

"No," said Julie. "Still just one at a time."

"How do you know all this, anyway?" said George.

"I'm... I'm the Mother Superior... I had the responsibility for
the books... And I chose to read them."

"You! The Mother Superior!"

"She is," said Lisa, and Frances nodded. "God told her to read
them. So we don't all die out."

George said, "Even if this story is true, you say it takes a year
for the baby to be born, and then is it one year old?"

"No, it's zero when it's born."

"OK, so that's one plus three -- it will be four years before you
women can deliver another little novice guy?"

"Yeah," said Julie. "God willing." Suddenly she felt the weight
of their situation on her shoulders. "Would you be willing to
join me in prayer?"

"Our father, which art in heaven..." The other five joined in.

She went through another prayer, and another. Luke suggested one,
and then Lisa, and then George. On his prayer their unison broke
apart as they started reciting two different versions. The
women's version repeated a line, and the men's didn't. At first
both groups were sure the other version must be the mistake. They
puzzled over why the elders would make the men's and women's
prayer differ in just that way. At last Julie smiled and said, "I
think it was a mistake." To the perplexed looks of the others,
she said, "When they were setting up the presses for the books,
they just made a mistake in ours. Repeated the line twice." The
other five looked thoughtful. "They were just human," she said.
"They made mistakes."

The next prayer was a long one, and Julie noticed George's penis
getting hard again. The others noticed too, and soon Luke's and
Jacob's were stiffening rapidly. Finally the prayer ended.

"Ready to give us the third dose?" said Julie.

"You got it," said George.

Each man mounted a woman, and drilled his cock into the only
vagina he hadn't yet explored. Each woman felt a third penis
slide into her.

The three pairs fucked away in relative silence.

"Oh, could you move up a little," whispered Lisa, so that Julie
barely heard. "Just like that... A little harder..."

There was gasping and grunting. Suddenly Lisa said,
"Aaiiiiiiiiiii!"

All three men stopped, and five pairs of eyes looked at Lisa.

"You OK?" asked Luke.

"Yes, oh yes. But keep going!" urged Lisa urgently, and Luke
resumed fucking with a vengeance, while Lisa relaxed into a vague
smile.

As if responding to the same suggestion, the other two men
started pumping away again. Seconds later they heard Luke groan.

Jacob shifted position slightly, and Julie felt better down there
than before. Then he shifted again and the little magical extra
faded. She thought of asking him to go back to what he'd been
doing before, but it felt sinful. He was doing her a favor, and
whatever worked best for him to deliver his gift was what she
wanted -- or ought to want. And within a couple minutes she felt
his tension rising, felt him getting more excited. She even
thought she could feel his penis getting bigger inside her. And
then, just at the moment when she thought he would, he thrust
really hard and relaxed.

Shortly the three pairs were sitting on the beach once more. The
moon was high in the sky.

George yawned.

Julie said, "We should try to get some sleep. We've got a long
paddle ahead of us."

Luke said, "I'll keep watch and let you know in case anyone
comes."

"No one's going to come," said Jacob, as the men rose and
dressed.

"Probably not, but just in case..."

"Bye, sisters," said George.

"Yeah, goodbye," said Jacob.

The women replied and the two men walked off.

"Luke," said Julie. "More women are going to come. Probably at
night. It might be days or weeks. But will you guys be watching?
Can we count on finding some men to give us sperm if we make the
long trip?"

"Yeah," said Luke. "I think we'll have no problem at all."

"If the abbot finds out, he might stop you, though."

"We'll manage it without the abbot ever finding out, I'm sure of
that." Suddenly he grinned, then knelt and kissed her hand.
"Reverend Mother."

"Oh, get up!" said Julie crossly. Why was she so annoyed? Because
what they had been doing very unlike anything a good Mother
Superior would do. In ordinary times.

Luke rose and grinned, then gave her a hug and held it.

Novices hugged sometimes. Sisters sometimes hugged novices, and
there was an occasional hug between sisters at moments of peak
emotion. Did men and women hug? It felt awfully good. It was
pretty close to the way their bodies were lying down and
transferring sperm, but this wasn't as sinful as getting sperm.
Maybe not sinful at all. She hugged him back, but broke away
after several seconds.

"Til next time," he said, and walked off to his lookout post,
wherever that was.

---------------------------------------------------------

Frances and Julie peed. All three dressed. Then they assembled
beside the boat and lay down.

"I wonder if there's a way to keep the sperm up in there," said
Frances. "Some leaked out."

"Yeah, me too," said Lisa. "Maybe you don't need much."

"Permission to speak freely, Reverend Mother," said Frances.

"Granted."

"Holy shit," said Frances.

"Mother of God," said Lisa.

"Yeah, pretty amazing," said Julie.

"I think I must have sinned... a lot," said Lisa.

"Me too... more than ever before," said Frances.

"Me too!" said Julie. "I sinned too. Oh boy, did I sin! Talk
about temptations of the flesh!"

"And those guys! They must have sinned a lot more. I mean, all we
did was lie there, but they kept doing it, on and on and on,"
said Frances. "Unnh, unnh, unnnh..."

Julie said, "Lisa, you didn't just lie there completely. What
happened?"

"Oh, oh yeah," said Lisa. "Something happened. Can I confess,
Reverend Mother. I'm so sorry.."

"No confession now, just tell your old pal Julie what happened."

"It felt really good -- really, really good. Is that just me?"

"No," said Julie, and Frances shook her head with a smile.

"It felt just so great, and then he changed things, but I wanted
it to feel good like it had before, so I asked, and then... Oh,
My God! O, Reverend Mother, forgive me for taking the name of the
Lord in vain."

"To hell with that, just tell me what happened."

"It just broke in waves -- fantastic waves. And then I felt
relaxed and totally, totally happy."

"I see."

"So, was that a sin? I'm terribly sorry."

"No, Lisa, I don't think it was a sin. You were doing your duty
in trying to start a baby. It feels good no matter what. What's
the sin in trying to feel a little bit better?"

"Thank you, Rev ... Thank you, Julie. But if you knew just how
good it felt then, I'm not sure you'd say that."

"I'm kinda sore," said Frances.

"Yeah, me too," said Lisa. "I didn't realize quite how sore until
I had that feeling and it passed."

"Yeah, I'm sore too," said Julie. "And I've got a confession to
make. I actually got sperm from four different men today."

"Huh?"

"In the abbot's office there, I was trying to make him
understand. One thing led to another --"

"You're kidding!"

"No, you've got to remember, I'd never been close to a man before
like that... Anyway, he gave me his sperm too, real quick like
Jacob the first time there, but then he looked like he really
regretted it. He said I was the devil who had tempted him. I had
no idea he'd react that way."

"Well, it sure is a powerful experience."

After a while the pauses in the conversation got longer. Finally
Lisa turned on her side to face the boat, and Frances got up
close behind her until they were touching. It wasn't really
permitted to touch another lying down, but given what they'd been
through... Julie in turn spooned up behind Frances. It was
getting just cool enough that the extra warmth felt good.

At first light they set off for the long paddle home.

It was still a long trip, but they knew what to expect and they
all noted that they felt energized as never before. They paddled
all day and most of the night until they approached their home
island.

Lookouts spotted them from a distance and a cry went up. Dozens
of sisters came down to the shore to greet them -- and no
novices, Julie noted with a pang, because there were no novices.
As they approached shore, Julie reminded her companions that she
was now the Mother Superior again, and the others nodded,
understanding at once what she meant.

Julie said to the welcoming committee that she would speak to the
entire order at an assembly to be held at dawn.

In the assembly she simply reported that they had made a
successful journey and had found the men's community much as they
imagined it, with a structure that paralleled their own. They too
used to receive one boat a year, theirs with a young boy instead
of a girl, of course, and the Our Savior boat had ceased its
appearances the same year the Our Lady boat did. They had no more
idea what happened than the women did, and had no further ideas
as to what to do. But she felt she had had a sign from God about
a way forward for them, and she would reveal it in good time,
when she was more certain.

---------------------------------------------------------
Chapter 3

Julie dove into her library with renewed passion. Now that she
had experienced sex four times, all the references to love and
romance that she had skimmed over made a great deal more sense.
There was far more involved than a business transaction of
transferring sperm from a man's body to a woman's. She as Mother
Superior understood why sex was considered sinful, especially if
approached with the wrong attitude. And as Mother Superior, she
had certainly had the wrong attitude with Brother Luke. But she
as Julie wasn't so sure. Julie wanted to lie down next to Luke
again. She missed him every night. She wanted to feel that penis
thrusting urgently up into her body. She let her hand wander down
there and did what she now knew was called masturbation,
connecting those sensations with the ones she had felt during
sexual intercourse. She read that the good feeling men had when
they released sperm was called an orgasm, and what Lisa had
reported was also an orgasm, something women too could
experience. Telling her inner Mother Superior to take a hike,
Julie experimented with her fingers down below, fiddling
different ways, inserting, thrusting, rubbing gently, and at last
she had that good feeling with release that signified orgasm. The
Mother Superior gasped that it really was very sinful. Julie told
her to get lost.

She now knew that a couple almost always had sex in private,
which might explain why she had felt uncomfortable on the beach
with the other four present. She learned about sexual jealousy,
and felt a bit of it herself as she saw again in her mind Luke
pounding away in the post-orgasmic Lisa.

Her inner Mother Superior was intrigued to learn about the
institution of marriage, and how sex was acceptable within
marriage, but always considered sinful outside of it. But
marriage made no sense when the two sexes lived on separate
islands a strenuous day's paddle apart.

More careful reading revealed that pregnancy only followed
intercourse if done on a particular couple of days in each
monthly cycle. One by one Lisa, Frances and then Julie got their
monthly visits. Despite their multiple doses of sperm, none of
them had gotten pregnant!

This consideration led Julie to her first change in the women's
daily routine. Going forward, all sisters under the age of 40
were to carefully record their monthly periods, and to do their
best to recall recent ones in the past too. Julie confided to
Frances and Lisa what she had learned about menstrual cycles and
fertile periods, and gave Sister Frances the task of recording
and organizing the reports from the other sisters.

Julie also commissioned the construction of a second boat, urging
Grace to put more effort into a faster craft. This further draw
on the community's lumber supply left them with very little, and
Julie winced. But wood wasn't vital to their survival, and visits
to Our Savior were.

It was time to plan the next visit to Our Savior. Lisa and
Frances were due to have fertile periods before hers came next,
but she felt she ought to be on the next expedition as leader,
and therefore it should be during her fertile period. From the
records gathered by Sister Frances, she looked over the list of
girls and women who were expected to ovulate when she did. She
needed strong women for paddling. She needed young women who were
in their fertile years. She needed women who were supportive of
her as a person and of her plan to do something. Ideally she'd
also like those who could keep a secret, but she realized she
couldn't keep her plan secret for long. Certainly if a sister got
pregnant, she would have to explain a swelling belly. She also
needed women who were willing to let a man invade their bodies in
that particular way.

The first candidate sister was 18-year-old Meghan. Julie asked
what sort of sacrifice she would be willing to make for the
continuity of their community. In particular, would she be
willing to have a mild illness for nine months? Hearing her
assent and feeling true enthusiasm behind it, she swore Meghan to
secrecy and explained the facts of life, including the bit about
the men inserting something like a large finger into their
vaginas and releasing fluid. Meghan was surprised, of course, but
didn't change her mind. Next was 34-year-old Sister Lucy. Lucy
was a bit on the old side, but she was strong for purposes of
paddling and a reliable supporter of Julie. She also agreed
without hesitation. At once Meghan and Lucy began paddling
practice to improve their strength and endurance.

---------------------------------------------------------

Julie planned their clandestine arrival for the middle of the
night. As they neared the sheltered beach on the near side of the
pile of rocks, a figure emerged from the trees and waved, then
walked into the water and began swimming out towards them. As he
approached the boat, Julie recognized him as Brother Jacob.

As he tread water near them, he asked if they had come for the
same favor they had asked for before. Julie explained that they
had, but noted that she had two different companions this time.
Jacob explained that a fourth man had joined their group and the
four of them felt another location would be more secure, and told
her how to find it. It involved paddling further around the
island.

As they approached the new spot, Jacob, Luke and a third man were
there to pull the boat into a small canal which led into the
forest. Once the women had disembarked, they pulled it further
under the vegetation until it was quite hidden from prying eyes.

Luke then explained the situation. Shortly after their departure,
the abbot had made it clear that any craft from Our Lady was to
be turned away. If any sisters did land, the men were to notify
him at once and escort them to the seclusion cells. He had
designated Brother Peter as the leader of security, to patrol the
shoreline periodically. This new man with them was none other
than Brother Peter himself, but Luke assured them that he could
be trusted completely. The men had set up watches so that one of
them was always scanning the shoreline late at night for the
arrival of a boat. Now they had arrived, George was serving as a
lookout just in case there was some unexpected intrusion.

Julie stood beside Brother Luke. She wanted to be alone with him
as soon as possible. "Are we ready to proceed to the business at
hand?" There were no objections. "I suggest we pair off and meet
in private as couples. I will go with Brother Luke. Lucy, would
you like to choose?"

But Peter stepped forward and said, "I choose you," moving up
beside Meghan.

Lucy and Meghan looked at Julie. To them she was the Mother
Superior, but between the brothers and sisters it wasn't clear
who was in charge. Julie said, "Is that all right with you,
Meghan?"

"Certainly, Reverend Mother."

"And you, Lucy? Are you content with Brother Jacob?"

"Yes, I would be delighted."

It turned out there were multiple secluded spots, so the three
couples could all mate in private at the same time.

"Let's reconvene here after the first sperm transfer is
complete," said Julie.

---------------------------------------------------------

Luke led Julie through the dark forest some 50 yards before they
came to a small outdoor bower.

"You planned all this out, I see -- with the canal for the boat
and the multiple spots for couples to be alone," she said. "All
so you could do us a favor in case we returned?"

"It was quite a favor. A favor we were all very eager to give."
He sat close beside Julie and lowered his head so their faces
were inches apart.

There was this thing called kissing, lips to lips. She decided to
try it, touching her lips to his. He got the hang of it quickly
and kissed her back. Soon she felt a fire of anticipation.

He looked questioningly at her and she nodded.

Seconds later she lay on her back, exposed for the taking, and
his trousers were off. He eagerly approached her and slid his
penis into her vagina. This time the entry was smooth. In and in
he went until she felt his pubic bone against hers.

"Oh, God," he said, pulling most of the way out. "Ooohhhh!" he
said as he surged into her once more. He withdrew once more and
then pressed in once more hard, fast and very deep and then
remained motionless for a few seconds, holding his breath. Then
he relaxed and gasped for breath, letting himself down on her.

"You delivered it already?" she said, surprised.

"Yeah," he said.

Julie said nothing about sexual pleasure and female orgasm. She
was there to try to get pregnant.

Meanwhile he returned to this kissing he had just learned. They
kissed as his somewhat soft organ lazily slid in and out.

Julie felt warm and wonderful. These are romantic feelings, she
said to herself, trying to remain objective.

"So, what's with Brother Peter? The head of security?"

"He is something of a rival of the abbot. They were both on the
Council when the old abbot died, and Peter was bitterly
disappointed that Brother John was the chosen successor instead
of him. We also knew him to be not the most devout among us, more
prone to sins of the flesh than most, and we thought he'd be a
good choice for our group."

"Makes sense."

Brother Luke lay on Julie, his penis gliding back and forth
slowly. It had grown quite stiff again. Her inner Mother Superior
came to the fore. Here she was lying on her back, letting a man
slide what must be a sinful organ in and out of her dirty place.
The rules were clear about not touching themselves or each other
down there except as needed. They didn't specifically say no men
should touch them there, but then the book said nothing about men
at all. Any reasonable person would know it was prohibited.

"I'd really like to deliver more sperm in you, but..."

"Go ahead, Luke, I'd like that."

"What about sperm for the others? I only have so much."

"That doesn't matter so much, anyway... I just want to feel you
do it again... Please?"

She realized her pretense of the business-like Mother Superior
engaging in a tiny bit of sin to prevent something worse was
wearing thin.

"OK," he said, smiling at her.

So he once more thrust in and out forcefully. Julie felt the good
sensations grow. But she also knew they were not growing anywhere
near enough or in the right directions for an orgasm.

On a whim she whispered in his ear, "Be sinful in me. Be very,
very sinful!" She nibbled his ear.

Luke sighed and began pounding harder and deeper. To Julie it
felt so good, so right. His penis was getting bigger. Her vagina
was wet, hot, expectant. Any second now... three, two, one...

"Ooooooohhhhhh!" he groaned as his penis kept ramming in and out,
then slowed.

He lay on her, recovering his breath. He looked at her tenderly
and kissed some more.

After several minutes Julie faintly heard, "I wonder what's
keeping them."

Luke hadn't heard, so she relayed the message to him. They
dressed and rejoined the group.

---------------------------------------------------------

Jacob was nowhere to be seen, but George was there. Presumably
Jacob had taken his place as lookout.

"So," said Luke. "We had all assumed you would want sperm from
multiple men, like last time. Is that true?" Julie's request for
a second shot evidently made him uncertain.

Julie paused. She did not want to take it from anyone else. Just
Luke. And she didn't want Luke to give it to anyone else either.
Was this fair?

"I... I personally am not going to take sperm from any other men.
I'm... not feeling up for it. And I have further matters to
discuss with Brother Luke. But... An additional sperming does
increasing somewhat the chances of pregnancy. So if either of you
is willing, I would encourage it."

Peter looked at Julie with an expression that plainly said he had
been very much hoping to insert his penis into her and deliver
sperm. But he said nothing.

Peter smiled at Lucy, and she followed him without complaint.

The way George looked at Meghan, Julie knew he would be very
disappointed if she declined him. But instead she smiled and
followed him as he led the way into the forest.

---------------------------------------------------------

That left Julie and Luke standing on the beach.

"So..." he said.

She turned to him and hugged him, and he eagerly returned the
hug.

"How old are you, Luke?" she asked.

"Twenty-two. And you?"

'Twenty-nine." She thought. He was a cut above the others --
above George, Jacob -- certainly above Peter and way above the
abbot. "Will you marry me?"

"What?" he said. "'Marry'?"

"It's complicated," she said. "Will you be on my side? Look out
for me? Give me sperm when I want it? Give me sperm whenever you
want to?"

"Um, yeah," he said. "Yeah!"

"That's kind of what marriage is. Except in the real world
married couples sleep together at night, and when the babies are
born they all live together and eat together as the babies grow
up. We can't do that. But would you if we could?"

"Yeah, I think so," he said.

"You're also supposed to agree not to give sperm to anyone else.
And I'm not supposed to take it from anybody else. But I couldn't
ask that of you. What if some sister needs your sperm?"

"Well, um..." he said.

She suddenly felt very emotional. Her voice got higher and
uneven. "Not a problem. I'm the God-damned Mother Superior. I can
just say that any sister has sex with you on pain of death."

"Are you feeling OK?" he asked.

Oh, what a sweet, sweet human being. "Yeah, I'm feeling fine. But
I'm tired of being in charge, making all the decisions, being
responsible for everything. I feel like being the youngest novice
for once. You know, the one who's just three? Can you treat me
like the youngest novice for a minute?"

"Sure, Julie," he said. And he held her and rocked her as they
stood.

It was wonderful. After a few minutes she straightened up again.
"Thanks," she said, and kissed him.

"Um, Julie," he said. "Were you serious about letting me give you
more sperm?"

"Yes!" she said, and she followed him eagerly down another path
to a different small clearing.

As they undressed, she said, "But this time, I might be touching
myself with my fingers down there near where your penis is going
in and out. Is that OK?"

She could see him wanting to ask why and thinking better of it.
"Certainly," he said.

And as he pounded away, her fingers found what she knew was
called her clitoris and gently rubbed it, just a little.
Sometimes she just absorbed the feeling of his penis pounding
into her, other times she spiced it up with just a little touch
to her clitoris. Then she fluttered her fingers on it, also
attending to the powerful penis banging in and out of her,
attached to a powerful man. She got right on the edge -- she knew
it would happen soon, if things were just right. This man's
dirty, disgusting, sinful organ was pounding in and out of her
dirty, disgusting hole. He was going to shoot some sticky,
disgusting, sinful stuff up into her. They'd done it twice
already, she had plenty of sperm already, but she adored it, she
wanted it, she was sinning so badly, and now she wanted to feel
fantastic in a totally animal way.

"Are you about ready to give it?" she asked urgently.

"Yeah, why?" asked his sweaty face.

"Can you... wait until I say and then go really fast?"

"Um, sure..."

"I want to get like Lisa did," she explained.

He grinned and kissed her nose but fucked her all the harder.

She fluttered, rested, poked lightly, getting herself right on
the edge, so close.

"OK, now!" she whispered, removing her fingers.

Luke sped up, pounded hard, doing his very male thing to her
female, getting ready to give her sperm, to give her a baby...

"Oooohhhhhhhhhhh!" she cried.

"Aaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh!" he moaned.

Their organs twitched together, to slightly different rhythms.
Ecstasy -- and more sperm, pumped from the mysterious depths of
Luke's body into the mysterious depths of hers.

At last they broke apart.

---------------------------------------------------------

Julie's cramps were unwelcome, and she was despondent when she
started bleeding. With all the passion that she and Luke had
brought to their sex -- how could so much earnest reproductive
effort go unrewarded! Lucy got her period too. But Meghan did
not.

That was one pregnancy, hopefully. But they needed more.

Before the next boat to Our Savior, Julie wrote a letter, sealed
it, and said it was to be delivered into the hands of Luke and no
other. What was in it? Nothing important. It was a love letter.
But she wanted so much for him to read it, and wanted him to
reply. He did, very briefly, on a small scrap of paper, noting
that he would try to be prepared with proper paper and envelope
next time.

The boat made the crossing, over and over. If three fertile women
could not be found, they sent two, with a third woman who might
possibly be fertile if her cycle was irregular.

Lisa and 23-year-old Jennie came back from an expedition and both
missed their periods.

Julie was delighted. If they were to even begin replacing the
boys and girls who had not arrived due to the lacuna, six or
seven pregnancies would be just fine. But then she found herself
troubled by doubts as she lay in bed at night. She read
everything on pregnancy that she could find in her library. It
had its hazards. It was a tricky process. In all cultures,
experienced women helped young mothers give birth. They had no
such women. Without any modern medicine or technology, the
chances of one of the sisters dying in childbirth were
significant. If the order on Our Lady were to survive, they would
have to risk a few women dying. But at least once a couple of
them had gone through it, the others would have better
information in deciding whether to take the risk. If she ordered
them to as Mother Superior, they would out of obedience -- but
that didn't feel right, and from her reading she knew most people
in the broader world wouldn't think it was right either.

So with three apparent pregnancies, Julie planned out just two
last expeditions.

The next was timed for her fertile period, which coincided with
Frances's. She asked Julie if she could refuse to take sperm from
Peter, and Julie instantly agreed. It should be her choice
anyway, and with the soundness of their methods validated by a
few pregnancies, the tiny extra chance at fertilization wasn't
important anyway. No other sister would be fertile at that time.
Grace wasn't interested in getting pregnant, and at 44 it would
have been unlikely anyway. But she was eager to make the journey
-- to see how her boat held up on the long trip, and to see the
other island -- to explore!

Luke, George and Peter greeted them. Frances said she only wanted
to take sperm from one man, and she chose George. They explained
that Grace had just come to paddle. Peter made to protest, but
the three women gave him a look to show their determination. So
the two couples went off to their private spots, leaving Grace
and Peter at the boat.

Luke and Julie had just been kissing and talking for a couple
minutes when they heard some heated conversation in the direction
they had come from. They paused to listen, and a few seconds
later, they heard a distinct, "Hey, no!" in Grace's voice. Julie
scrambled up at once and raced back along the path, Luke
following close behind. Grace's protests continued, and when the
beach came into view, they saw Grace on her back, Peter on top of
her, holding her down with one arm and awkwardly trying to yank
his trousers down with the other.

"Stop, this instant!" said Julie as loud as she dared -- they did
need to avoid detection by the larger Our Savior community.

"It's only fair... I just want to give her some sperm."

"No, you can't!" She landed on her knees next to the pair and
tried to pull Peter off. She had little experience with physical
tussling and she realized that Peter was a lot stronger than she
was.

"She's not doing anything else... It just takes a second..."

Luke landed next to Julie. "Uh, come on Peter!" he said.

"Stop him!" urged Julie. She was aware of a naked Frances running
into the clearing.

Luke pulled on Peter's shoulders, but Peter shrugged him off. By
now his trousers were down far enough. Luke landed on Peter's
back, grabbed him around the middle and twisted him off.

Grace struggled to her feet, smoothed down her habit and backed
away.

"Let go of me!" demanded Peter.

"You must never touch a sister without permission," commanded
Julie.

"OK, OK," said Peter, and Luke released him.

"I don't see the big deal," he said. "You're the ones who came
over here begging to get sperm."

"You never get to touch one of us without permission! Can you
just tackle some other brother because you feel like it?"

"Of course not, but... Those are the regular rules. You've broken
all the rules. You know this is damned sinful, all of this."

"Some rules are the same. You don't touch people without
permission. Why don't you go relieve Jacob as lookout, or better
yet just go back to your settlement."

"No," said Peter, crossing his arms.

Frances said, "I tried to come right away, but George was doing
it to me, and he didn't want to stop." Just then George strolled
onto the beach, smiling. "After he gave it to me, I got up and
came quick as I could."

"That's fine, thank you sister." Julie looked around. "Are you
OK, Grace?"

The boat builder nodded but didn't look entirely sure.

"What happened?" asked George. Luke raised his hand quickly and
George said no more.

In the uneasy silence, Julie thought. She had to spend the night
with Luke, she just had to. "I'm waiting for you to leave," she
said, looking at Peter. All three women stared at him. He stared
back. Luke stared too. George just stood there, smiling vaguely.

"Oh, come on George, let's go!" Peter said at last. "Leave these
creepy little sperm catchers alone."

They headed up one of the paths. Just as they disappeared, they
overheard George say, "Sperm catchers... That's pretty funny!"

"So, George gave you what you wanted?" Julie said to Frances.
"You caught his sperm?"

"Yeah," said Frances with a small grin.

"Can you wait here with Grace? Luke and I --"

"Sure, go, go!" said Frances with a smile.

---------------------------------------------------------

Julie lay on her back and Luke lay beside her.

"What a jerk," she mused.

"Yeah," said Luke. "But, I'm not sure I get it. I mean, you come
here to get sperm, right? Isn't more better than less?"

"Sometimes. But I read the books and I think it works this way
out in the world too. Women want sperm, but they're kind of picky
-- only when they feel like it and only with the right guy. The
right guy is very important."

"If you say so. But you like getting it, right? It feels good. I
know you and Lisa both enjoy it a whole lot sometimes."

"Yeah."

"So?"

"Let me ask you this. Why does Peter care? You say he can rub his
penis and the sperm comes out and it feels good. Why is he so set
about delivering it inside a sister?"

"Oh, well... Oh, I can't quite explain it. But it's totally
different. It's like we've GOT to do it. I mean, we don't have
to, of course, but we want it more than anything. I'd fast for
two days just to have a chance to give it to someone -- to you, I
mean."

"Interesting. So maybe we can't explain why we really, really
DON'T want it sometimes."

"OK," said Luke, and mused for a moment. "I guess if boys and
girls grow up with both women and men around they learn these
things better."

"I think you're very right. And, now let's kiss. And can you suck
on my nipples? They say in the books that that's fun too. If you
don't mind..."

"Not... at... all!" said Luke, grinning and feasting his eyes on
her bare chest.

"And I promise you, in just a couple minutes, I'm going to want
it from you. Really bad..."

Luke sucked. Julie thought it felt fantastic. Before long she was
as good as her word, and he eagerly gave it to her.

They lazed around after Julie had caught Luke's second bunch of
sperm.

"Can I tell you something? Just you, without telling the others?"

"Sure."

"I think three of the sisters are pregnant. But I don't want too
many until we actually experience getting the baby out. It can be
dangerous, apparently. So, I'm thinking one more expedition after
this one, and then we won't come back for several months."

"Oh," said Luke. "Oh! That's too bad. I won't get to see you
then..."

Julie was sad Luke was disappointed, but also a little happy that
he would miss her.

They slept and hugged, and from time to time grappled each other
with passion. A protrusion from Luke's body grew hard and stiff,
he plunged it deep into Julie and delivered some more sperm and
then the protrusion grew soft again and withdrew. The sky was
growing light, and Julie woke to the sound of Grace and Frances
talking at the boat. Julie woke Luke and rolled him onto her and
begged for his penis in her vagina for the sixth time. From his
urgency at the moment of sperming, Julie might have thought he
wanted turn his body inside out and shoot his entire self up
inside of her. She was happy.

---------------------------------------------------------

The abbot stewed. It was especially hard that morning to achieve
an attitude of reverence and prayer.

That blasted Mother Superior and her women! He vividly recalled
every detail of his one private meeting with her, how she had
enchanted him, brought out his most earthy and least divine
nature, how she had exposed her freakish body without the penis
and testicles that God meant men to have. Instead, that opening
-- fleshy, moist, set within the surrounding hair. Beckoning him,
like the gates of Hell. And his penis, harder than it had ever
been. His sinful organ in its most sinful condition, drawn to the
infinitely more sinful damp hole, the voice of the Devil urging
him on, rewarding his advance with pleasure, making him push, in
and out and in and out, torturing him with pleasure, drowning him
with it as his body spasmed, spewing his sinful, dirty excretion
up into the disgusting, sinful hole.

But now he had just learned that Julie hadn't disappeared as he
had commanded her to. She had returned, again and again. She had
corrupted some of his best brothers. A series of sisters had
come, and Peter, Jacob, George, and Luke had all been bewitched
to do the same disgusting sinful act with them, over and over. To
conspire against his wishes.

These wild ideas about how new people grew inside of women's
bellies were nonsense. He didn't know how people were created,
but they did not grow in the bellies of women. They were not
started through an act so unspeakably disgusting and sinful. God
would never create such a world. Yet he wondered. If he tore the
plastic from his own library, he could tell for sure... Never!

Peter had confessed the whole thing to him. Apparently what had
triggered his conscience was the realization that the sin had
infected him. He was so craven that he had tried to force himself
into one of the sisters who did not want to sin in that way.

So the abbot had had the other three conspirators escorted into
seclusion, while Peter showed him where the women arrived at
night. Jacob was released every night and accompanied Peter to
the beach, ready to trap the women when they came again. And a
week later they arrived, exactly as Peter had said they would.
Once the women had landed and their boat was hidden in the canal,
some of his men had appeared and gruffly convinced them that they
had no choice but to follow them up to the seclusion cells. Peter
walked free, but the abbot now had three of his order and three
women in the cells.

Disobedient brothers he was used to. But women... their presence
undermined the community's life of prayer. He overheard two of
his younger monks whispering about the women. Had they seen them?
One had talked to them through the walls in the middle of the
night, and they had answered. They wanted help getting out --
well, that was no surprise. The two brothers were excited by all
this. They even fantasized about setting them free so they could
see what women looked like -- one had missed that initial visit
in the central square, the other had been there but hadn't quite
been able to believe his eyes. He desperately wanted another
look.

How could he do God's work of guiding a contemplative order with
this distraction? How could he get rid of the women? There was no
prescribed punishment for an outsider. If they were his own, he
could in theory have them flogged -- in fact, he had decided that
the three younger monks would have to take a few lashes. But
exposing the bare flesh of these women to the eyes of his monks?
Not a good idea. He certainly couldn't have them put to death!
His Church categorically rejected capital punishment.

His only real option was to get them to leave. But first he would
make sure their memories of the visit were very unpleasant ones.
When they delivered his message to the Mother Superior that they
must never come again, she should understand that there were
consequences both unfortunate and certain.

His first idea for a punishment was an enforced fast of four days
before sending them on their way. Peter had humbly pointed out
that the physical exertion to paddle all the way to Our Lady was
considerable, and embarking on the journey after a four-day fast
might endanger their lives. So the abbot had extended the term to
five days, to be followed by two days to eat their fill before he
expelled them.

After the women's boat disappeared over the horizon, he waited
two full days. Then he extracted confessions and expression of
regret from the three conspirators. Sensing lukewarm remorse, he
had ordered them to take seven lashes each before he released
them. They were assigned indefinitely to kitchen and latrine
duty.

Peter appeared genuinely contrite as the abbot explained that his
own equal punishment had been suspended because of his help in
exposing the plot. The abbot appointed another of his men as head
of island security, but retained Peter as a consultant who knew
about the ways of the women.

With the women gone and mostly forgotten, the atmosphere in the
order calmed down and returned to normal -- almost.

But the three miscreants did not fully embrace their calling.
When they knelt to kiss his ring, he sensed no true spirit of
obedience. Others reported seeing them in hushed conversation
with other brothers, a conversation that stopped with an aura of
guilt when anyone approached.

If the annual boat from the Church ever did return, he would feel
compelled to give his opinion that the Mother Superior of Our
Lady had lost her way and that her entire order would need a most
thorough review.

---------------------------------------------------------

Naturally, Our Lady was alarmed when the boat did not return on
schedule. Lucy, Eleanor, and Emma were missing.

They could recall no freak storm that might have swamped the
boat. Conceivably its integrity had suddenly faltered, making it
no longer seaworthy. Julie reassured a worried Grace as the
sisters debated that possibility, reminding her she had never
claimed expertise, and that if it was anyone's fault it was
Julie's. Perhaps one of them had gotten ill and needed time to
recover.

Perhaps they had lost a paddle and then lost the spare as well,
leaving them adrift. With this possibility in mind, Julie had the
other boat prepared at once and a team of strong paddlers headed
off most of the way to Our Savior. They sighted no boat, heard no
cries for help, and saw no wreckage. They returned.

But Julie resisted the obvious possibility of simply paddling
over all the way and asking what had happened. The incident with
Peter on their last visit stuck with her, and she had a hunch
that it bore some relationship to this current situation. In
planning this last trip, as a way of smoothing the waters, Lucy
had agreed in advance to accept sperm from Peter. But could Peter
somehow have put the other three men out of action and then set
out to forcibly give sperm to the three women -- a crime called
rape? It seemed unlikely he could do it himself, though he might
have recruited others from the Our Savior community into a new
group.

To appear in plain view in daylight would blow their cover. To
appear in the usual place at night would risk the other boat
suffering the same fate as the first. If the women had been
captured, Julie had no power to bring about their release.

Julie's instincts told her to wait, though there was palpable
tension in the community as the days passed.

When nine days later the boat was sighted, the lookout screamed.
This was not proper behavior for a sister of the order, but no
one, not even Sister Catherine, thought to chastise her for it.

Julie raced to the shore to meet them, and kept all others at
some distance while she got a quick, whispered report from Lucy.
She swore the three of them to silence. When they had rested and
eaten a large meal, they gathered in Julie's receiving room where
they went over every last detail of what had transpired. They had
been told through whispered contacts with monks that Peter had
discovered the plot, which all the women knew of course meant
that he had betrayed them. Luke, Jacob and George were being held
in seclusion.

Julie thought once more -- reflecting that she was doing a lot
more thinking and decision-making than she had ever dreamed
necessary for one of her order.

The plan had called for no more visits to Our Savior for some
time anyway. Whenever they went over again -- and they must go
over again -- Julie's intuition was that if caught the punishment
would be less the longer they had been away. For the longer term,
she supposed they could appear offshore and encourage some monk
to swim out to the boat, climb in, and deliver his sperm to a
waiting woman. She supposed if they wanted some semblance of
privacy the woman could jump in and they could manage the
transfer with the relevant organs underwater -- she wasn't sure
that would work, but she couldn't see any obvious problem. If
Luke was to be believed, some brothers might swim a good long
ways and risk a stiff punishment on their return for the
opportunity to deliver sperm.

The main thing to do was wait for the bellies of Jennie, Meghan
and Lisa to swell. Frances joined this group too when she missed
her period. George had kept humping Frances as she listened to
her sister Grace being attacked, but he had done his job.

Meanwhile, she thought about how strong Peter was. She thought
about the poor women being locked up without food. She thought
about how Our Savior had the same materials they did to build a
boat. If the abbot died or was removed by his Council, who knew
what a new abbot might do?

This got her thinking about weapons. The books had a great deal
on them. There were boats so large that the men on them looked
like ants. There were airplanes, bombs, rockets, tanks -- all
were way out of their league. Even rifles, muskets and pistols
were beyond them. All of these evidently worked on the idea that
something shot out the end so fast that you couldn't step aside
and it could go right through you. She could understand the ideas
behind swords and spears more easily. It was hard to think what
they had that could be made into a sword -- a plowshare, maybe?
There were bows and arrows -- they would have to look into them.
Slingshot -- that looked promising. Spears might work. A
sharpened end could do damage even if they didn't have any metal
points for it, and maybe they could make some of those. There
were also references to "martial arts" -- ways to fight without
any weapons at all. But it was hard to understand what they were
getting at just from the pictures.

She would have to put a few of the sisters on the problem of
weapons and how to fight. Hopefully they'd never need them.

Jennie started bleeding heavily between her legs and getting
really bad cramps. Stuff came out that was way more than the
heaviest period. Julie's reading told her this was known as a
miscarriage. Jennie would be fine, but she wouldn't have a baby.
She was also very distraught, and Julie read this was to be
expected as well.

---------------------------------------------------------

Word reached Julie that rumors were afoot. Some sisters had heard
a fantastic story of how tiny people were growing inside the
women who had visited Our Savior. Among the conservative sisters,
most felt that this was a pathetic cover story for a disease that
the visitors had contracted there -- or that had been visited
upon them by an angry God for disobeying His commands. Julie was
surprised that the secret had held as long as it had. She needed
to do some explaining.

She sent word to Sister Catherine that she would like to give a
formal explanation of what had happened with the boats, and
suggested she invite up to a half dozen other sisters who she
thought might be appropriate for this audience. Julie then met
with her council and this group. As expected, Sister Catherine
had selected her fellow avidly conservative sisters who had
disagreed with Julie's new plan of action. The group packed
tightly into Julie's receiving room.

"May God be with me in what I say to you today," she began. "When
the Council elevated me to the position of Mother Superior, it
put upon me a heavy burden. As you know, one of my first acts was
to break the commandment of the library. The books had been
wrapped in a special holy plastic, and I removed this plastic and
have looked carefully through the library. May God forgive me. I
did this in order to find a way for this community to survive.

"Now, our order is founded upon the principle that knowledge is
the ultimate source of sin. In reading the books, I have risked
taking sin upon myself. Yet, using their teachings in combination
with deep contemplation and prayer, I devised plans for our
survival. However, I have only shared what was necessary with
those who would help to carry out the plan. I found two kinds of
useful teachings.

"One pertained to the building of boats, and you have all seen
the craft that resulted. My judgment is that this knowledge has
no great spiritual significance. The boats allowed us to make
excursions to Our Savior. As I reported, the lacuna of the boats
had afflicted them as well, and they knew no more than we about
why it had occurred or when it would stop. They had no useful
information about a way to reach the Church or to arrange for our
survival.

"The second set of teachings may allow us to survive. This
information is of spiritual significance. I am going to tell you
today the barest essentials of the plan and how it is going to
work, God willing.

"There are tiny people growing inside the bellies of Meghan,
Lisa, and Francis. There was a tiny person growing inside of
Jennie's belly, but this tiny person died."

Julie noticed several of the sisters scowling .

"This may sound like an incredible story."

"Or like the work of the Devil," muttered Sister Catherine.

"I'd ask you to consider this: Where do you think new people come
from? Where did our three-year-old novices come from?"

"They were a gift from God when they were much smaller, and grew
for three years until they were delivered to us," said one of the
oldest sisters. "The creation of children is one of God's
mysteries, and speculation on the matter is not productive in
achieving a life of holiness." This was straight from the Book of
Innocence.

"Yes, that is true. How God creates people remains a fundamental
mystery, but the teachings have revealed to me a little more than
we knew before about the process. What God provides starts very
small and grows inside the bellies of women. When it is the
correct size, it comes out of the woman's belly and is known as a
baby. This is how we were all created. Three years after
emergence from a woman's belly, each of us was delivered here as
a novice. Can you think of some other explanation that is so
reasonable that, in contrast, the idea of babies growing inside
of women's bellies is ridiculous?"

She looked at each member of her audience, but no sister spoke.

"The one other piece I will add is that each woman had to journey
to Our Savior before a baby could grow in her belly.

"The books have also told me that these tiny people come out at a
predictable time. If the tiny person inside of Meghan does not
die first, he or she will emerge from her belly somewhere between
three and four months from now. Between now and then, Meghan will
grow much fatter than she is. After the baby emerges from her
belly, she will return to her normal size. Things will proceed in
the same fashion with Lisa and Frances, though the babies will
probably emerge from their bellies a little later.

"I judge that to be the information that you all should know.
There is much more detail. Much of it is known to every sister
who made the journey to Our Savior. However, it is my wish that
no one in the order learn more that she wants to know, so that
she may as closely approximate the innocence that is our order's
reason for being. If after prayer and contemplation, a sister
feels that it is right that she learn more, I would share further
information.

"Are there any questions?"

Sister Catherine said, "You referred to the tiny person as 'he or
she'. Do you not know whether it will be a boy or a girl?"

"That is correct. God has already determined which the baby will
be, but it will only be revealed to us once the baby is born."

"How will we know?"

Julie hesitated. "That is among the extra information for sisters
who wish to learn more."

"Are any of the other sisters who journeyed to Our Savior going
to have tiny babies grow in their bellies?"

"No. That could only happen if they return to Our Savior again."

There were no more questions.

Julie felt she had done her best to support the innocence of the
conservative sisters.

In practice, the sperm transfer process was such a memorable
experience that the sisters who had undergone it tended to talk
about it. It was a small community, and overhearing private
conversations was very common. Perhaps Sister Harriet retained
her innocence, because she was quite deaf. It is doubtful that
any of the others did.

---------------------------------------------------------

Julie got a few volunteers to act as midwives. She went through
the encyclopedia page by page looking for anything related to
childbirth. After she'd identified some relevant sections, she
invited her midwives in to her private audience room to read to
them. She also let the midwives look at the few relevant
pictures.

Meghan got to 39 weeks. When she started having real labor
contractions, Julie prayed more fervently than she had in a long
time. She let her very poorly trained midwives handle most of it,
but Julie stopped in from time to time. She left more than once,
crying as soon as she was by herself. Meghan was young, Meghan
was strong, and Meghan was no complainer. But now Meghan was
crying, and yelling, and looking exhausted. The books said labor
could go on for a day or more. Even if Meghan lived, no one would
ever want to have a baby again! She went to find Grace and
insulted the dignity of her office by sobbing in the older
woman's arms for some minutes before regaining her composure.

The midwives figured out when Meghan went from transition into
the pushing phase. When they could actually see a rounded bump
showing in her vagina, they called Julie in for the final
delivery. The bump grew, it bulged, and then with a push
everything happened at once. The big bump was a head, then came
shoulders, body, cord, and lots of slimy fluid. Jennie looked
terrified at what she had caught and apparently couldn't think
what to do with it. It gave a thin, piercing cry. Others reminded
her and she brought the baby to Meghan's chest. A glance between
the baby's legs suggested it was a girl. Meghan was distracted as
another push expelled another large blob that Julie knew was
called the placenta. But then everything changed. The exhausted
Meghan beamed at the puckered, wet, reddish thing. She put it by
her breast and the little thing who was so stunningly helpless
then exercised the one and only skill she needed just then. She
found Meghan's nipple and sucked on it.

Jennie managed to cut the cord. Bit by bit all the blood and
fluid and extraneous stuff was wiped up and carted away, and what
was left was a young woman, Meghan, and a tiny creature who was
unmistakably a human being, a little girl. This was how new
people came into the world. This was how nature replaced the
people who all inevitably died. It was a miracle.

The half-dozen most conservative sisters refused to visit the
baby. It was not within their order's calling to have anything to
do with it. When she was three, they would treat her like a
novice. Until then, she was the responsibility of the youngsters
who had turned the world upside down. But none doubted any longer
that Julie had in fact discovered how to create new people.

The regular world prepares girls slowly for womanhood. Little
girls see babies, big girls see babies, and then when young women
see babies, they're not something totally new. No one had
prepared these women. Several of them developed a strong case of
baby hunger. The ones who had been to Our Savior and knew
firsthand how the process started asked with some urgency when
they could go again. Some who had had no interest before now
wanted to make the trip and receive sperm injections. Julie
confirmed the rumor that for those over the age of 35, it was
unlikely that their bodies could have a baby under any
circumstances, and for those over 45, it was no longer possible.

Lisa delivered a tiny baby boy, which was a mystery all its own.
It was one thing to know that a man had to do some bizarre little
act in a few seconds to make a woman pregnant. It was quite
another to think that what could squirt out between the woman's
legs would be a baby man. Wouldn't it make more sense if women
did some bizarre little act with men and then the new men would
grow inside the grown men? But it didn't seem to work that way.
But despite the strange stuff it had between its legs, the tiny
boy was just as charming and lovable as the tiny girl.

Frances delivered another small boy, but he didn't look right
from the start. He didn't suck at her breast, he cried only
weakly, and to everyone's great sorrow, he died a day after he
was born.

All did their best to console Frances. Julie watched closely to
see if this would dampen the enthusiasm for having babies. But it
didn't -- not at all. Frances herself wanted to try again.

Julie let the mothers gave names to the tiny people who had
emerged from them. The girl was called Jean, and the boy was
called Paul.

---------------------------------------------------------
Chapter 4

This time it was a flotilla that approached Our Savior -- that
is, it was both boats. It contained no fertile women, at least
not by design. Julie reflected that she herself might be getting
fertile. The original boat had been improved to the point where
bailing was not really required -- or not more often than every
hour or so. In that boat were Julie and Grace. The second boat
was slightly larger than the first, and it contained Lucy and
Emma. All three of Julie's companions had felt at first hand the
danger that men could pose, so they had been especially avid
pupils in throwing rocks, hard, and hitting what they aimed at.
Emma in particular was quite remarkable with the spear. These
weapons lay in the bottoms of the boats.

In broad daylight, they approached the dock at which the annual
boat used to land. They were noticed. As they paddled closer to
shore, a haphazard scurrying of men turned into two organized
lines, with the abbot in the center. Julie was relieved to see no
sign of rocks or spears among the men.

The paddling stopped when the boats were 40 yards from the dock.

"I ordered you never to return," said the abbot. "Why have you
disobeyed me?"

Julie had an inclination to question why the abbot thought he
could give her orders, but thought better of it. It was his
island, after all, not hers.

"Could I confer with you privately, on the dock?" she called out.

"What could we possibly have to talk about?"

"Maybe nothing. Maybe something. But only in private."

"Very well," he said with a weary sigh, motioning his men to
retreat. Grace and Julie paddled towards the end of the dock.
Julie stepped out onto the dock, stumbling, but she stayed on her
feet. Grace pushed back a few feet, and Julie walked the ten
yards to where the abbot stood.

"I hope all goes well in your community, Reverend Father," she
said quietly. "Or whatever your title is."

He smiled thinly. "And I hope it goes well in yours as well,
Reverend Mother."

"We need men. Just a few men, but men. Our nighttime visits were
unacceptable to you and you prohibited them. We respect that
choice. The alternative is for a few men to come with us and live
on Our Lady. Permanently."

"Leave the island? Live with you? It is prohibited for a man to
leave the island!"

"Yes, but the Book doesn't cover everything. Things have
changed."

The abbot paused. "And just what makes you think any man would
consent to go with you? No man will leave under duress!"

"I'm not certain, but I can think of a few men who might be
interested."

He met her gaze, saw her significant look, and turned away.
"There are certain men here, it is true, who are better suited to
our calling than others. Some of the latter have been subjected
to a corrupting influence."

"Yes, that is unfortunate."

"How many men would you like to lead into a life of corruption?"

"Our boats can carry three with safety. By happy coincidence,
that is also the number we want."

"Three? Not four?"

"Four would leave your island free of any who have felt the
corrupting influence, it is true. Oh, and then there is you, of
course... But that corruption should be easier to deal with, as
the struggle is entirely within you."

"There is no struggle within me," said the abbot, eying her
coldly.

"Of course not," she said. "You are a holy man and the corruption
was only brief, if the tales I am told be true."

He smiled slightly, and it almost had a trace of warmth.

"Yet for one of the four who was corrupted, the corruption led to
bodily assault. This we do not want on Our Lady."

The abbot nodded.

"What if the three do not wish to come with you?"

"Two would do."

"What if none want to come?"

Julie thought. When baby Paul was 14 or so, he could perhaps make
women pregnant. Jean would be the same age. Of the others, the
youngest, Kira, would be... 29. But what if something happened to
Paul? All their hopes would depend on the survival of one person.

"If none want to come, we will return again and again, as long as
necessary, until we find men -- volunteers, of course."

The abbot sighed, suddenly looking old. "You are certainly
persistent. I will see what can be arranged. Why don't your boats
go to the usual spot, the one where we captured your boat before,
tonight after dark."

"Might it be simpler to just let them leave with us now?"

"Tonight would be better. The men can consider their decision
carefully after prayer. They can say farewells. And, well, I
would rather not have to watch men who have been entrusted to my
care leave the order in front of my eyes."

Julie nodded. "I suppose if ten men all came racing into the
water, eager to get aboard, that would be embarrassing as well."

The abbot's face became steely.

Julie realized her remark had been unwise. She continued quickly,
"It would also be very difficult for us, as the boats wouldn't
hold that many. You have made a generous offer. We will come to
the usual spot, not long after dark."

The abbot turned.

Julie said, "And, most sincerely, Your Reverence, I know the
lacuna of the boats was a heavy challenge to you as well. God
answered your prayers differently than mine, but I deeply respect
your decision. I wish you and Our Savior the very best. I will be
praying for you."

"And I for you," said the abbot. "Farewell."

He stepped off the dock and walked with dignity to join his
retinue. Julie returned to the end of the dock, while Grace tried
to maneuver the boat back into position. But it was clearly going
to be a lengthy and difficult process with one paddle.

So the Mother Superior jumped into the water, causing a ripple of
excitement on shore. She swam to the boat and Grace helped her up
the side and she flopped in.

When she stood, she saw George standing at the very edge of the
sand. It looked like he might dash out and swim to the boats at
any moment. Julie urgently put her hand up and shook her head.
But she also surreptitiously gave him a thumbs up sign.

---------------------------------------------------------

At the appointed hour the two boats approached the familiar cove.
Julie smiled to recall the happy nights she had spent there.

When they were still some distance out, three figures ran into
the water and began swimming towards them, joined shortly by a
fourth.

The first three were, as expected, Luke, Jacob and George. As
they approached, the fourth was closing fast, a strong swimmer.
It was, to no one's great surprise, Peter.

"Great news! The abbot gave me permission to go after all!"

"Sorry," said Julie as he approached the side of the boat.
"You're not invited."

"The abbot said you had to let me come too or else the deal was
off!"

Julie said nothing.

The women in the other boat helped George aboard, and then Jacob.
Luke's hand was on the side of Julie's boat.

"Well, there's always this," he said harshly, and with surprising
force thrust himself out of the water until he was sitting on the
gunwale. He then looked with some surprise at a stick pointing at
his throat and presumably felt a sharp point of wood that rested
against his flesh. On the other end of the long stick was Grace.

Julie's heart skipped a beat. She thought she knew Grace, but...
One sharp thrust with her powerful arms would do the job.
Fortunately Grace's expression was calm, controlled.

Peter moved his hand up, as if considering grasping the spear to
push it to the side, but then coughed, choked, and slid back into
the water.

"She's a killer!" he called out as he tread water. The spear
hadn't broken the skin; the added pressure had just been enough
to convince him she meant business.

"Tell the abbot what a sinful sister I am for not letting you
join us," said Julie as she helped pull Luke into the boat.

The women directed the men out of the way and got in position to
paddle. The boats left Peter slowly swimming back to shore.

Conversation picked up as they got underway. There was news to
share from both communities. Julie interrupted them and ordered
the two boats together again. She stood.

"This is important. If you come to Our Lady, you accept me as
your leader. You pledge obedience to me, is that understood? Just
like you were to the abbot before, you are now to me. If not, now
is the time to swim back to shore."

Julie offered her fist to Grace, who kissed her ring. When she
offered it to Luke, he kissed it as well. Reaching across between
the two boats, Emma and Lucy kissed it. As Jacob kissed it,
George asked, "What do we call you?"

"Reverend Mother," she said.

He hesitated only a second before he kissed her ring as well.

---------------------------------------------------------

The boats broke apart and headed around the island and towards
home.

In Julie's boat, Grace was mostly silent and Julie and Luke did
all the talking.

"The biggest news," she said, "is that we have babies. Two of
them."

"Really?" said Luke. "That's... that's wonderful!"

"Just wait, you'll adore them... And, we want more."

"OK, sounds good!" said Luke.

Julie looked at Luke, and he looked at her. She returned to
paddling, but then looked at him again. She bit her lip.

"Um, Sister Grace," she said. "This is really embarrassing..."

"Oh," said the older woman after a moment. She smiled. "No
problem. I'll just sit way up here in the bow and look out at the
horizon."

Julie saw Grace give the "everything's OK" sign to the other
boat, and heard a titter of gossipy laughter as she thought about
how to get horizontal.

Luke's pants and underpants were off, his penis hard and ready.
The planking on the bottom of the boat would be hard against
Julie's back, and the water that would need bailing was starting
to accumulate.

"Wait, I've got an idea," she said, falling onto her hands and
knees, rear towards Luke. "It works this way too," she said
copying something she'd seen in one of the books with two dogs
mating.

For a moment Luke was confused, but then he saw how it would
work. Julie looked straight ahead at Grace's back and beyond to
the other boat and the horizon beyond. Behind her she felt hands
on her rear end, fingers at her vaginal opening, and then the
hard, hot organ she'd been dreaming about for months. She
adjusted her hips slightly, and the massive thing surged deep and
deeper, and then began the in and out -- fast,deep and strong --
the motion of the male who, whether he knows it or not, is
urgently trying to father a child.

"Should I, um, wait?" he said in a hoarse whisper.

"No!" said Julie. "Give it to me, as soon as you can!"

That was a mere five seconds later, as she felt his penis bump
into the deep end of her vagina. It hurt, and she loved it. He
banged again and again, and she loved the hurt each time. Maybe
that would knock her open somehow so she'd be able to get
pregnant. She could tell from his gasp and groan that he was
doing his bit.

The transfer complete, they separated and kissed tenderly for a
few seconds.

"OK, time to get paddling," she said, and Grace returned to the
right side as Julie positioned herself to the left. Starboard and
port, she remembered from a book.

"I don't know," mused Grace with good humor. "You guys seem to
like that a lot. I wonder if I'll try it some day after all." She
added quickly, "With one of the others, of course, Reverend
Mother!"

---------------------------------------------------------

In deference to the conservative sisters, the rule was that the
men must never come near the main settlement. Instead, Julie set
them up in a small hut on the other side of the island that was
used in support of fishing. It was cramped for the three of them,
but during a rainstorm they could stay dry in there. They quickly
made little sleeping spots in the forest, a short distance down
paths in various directions -- spots that could accommodate one
or two with ease, like those they had fashioned on Our Savior.

Julie assigned a sister to pray with them at the requisite hours.
The men went along with that easily enough. They protested when
told to say the extra misprinted line in the women's version of
the one prayer. But the Mother Superior ordered them to, and they
did. They were also assigned work. A natural fit was fishing from
their side of the island, and gathering from the forest nearby.

The new mothers brought their babies over to meet the men.
Everyone agreed that baby Jean looked a lot like George. Baby
Paul looked a lot like his mother Lisa, but his resemblance to
any of the men wasn't so clear.

When impregnation required a long trip in one of the community's
two boats, it was under Julie's complete control. At least she
had veto power -- if you weren't on the boat, you couldn't get
pregnant. Now all that was required was a mile's hike through the
forest. She announced that no one should visit the men's camp
without her permission. But knowing the power of sex, she had no
illusions about vigorous enforcement. Even Sister Catherine, when
she was Mother Superior, had not made the sisters account for
their every minute. There was some unstructured time, and walking
along the island paths in a prayerful attitude was part of their
mission.

How many babies should they make? Julie did some figuring. Sister
Kira was now 15. The chances of a sister getting pregnant above
the age of 35 were small enough. Sister Ida had died a few years
back, but everyone else in that age range was living. That made
20 of them in the fertile cohort. Maybe a half dozen of them were
conservative and committed to never seeing the men at all, let
alone becoming pregnant. If the other 14 of them all bore a
child, they would still not have made up for the 24 boys and
girls who were absent because the boats had not arrived. Julie
found herself approving all requests to visit the men's side of
the island, and soon lifted the rule requiring permission. If a
sister specifically asked if she could try to become pregnant,
she approved that request too. Sister Frances could give her
advice about the best time for her to request a sperm deposit
from the men.

Despite her luxuriously wide bed at the Mother Superior's
residence, Julie spent most of her nights in a little bower in
the woods with Luke. They talked for hours, and she began to
value his counsel in her many weighty decisions. During the first
days after their arrival on the island, he gave her his sperm at
least twice every night.

"Julie," said Luke as they lazed intertwined after a nearly
simultaneous orgasm.

"Mmmmm?"

"Is it your will that George and Jacob be the only ones who give
sperm to the other women? I will accept that of course."

She looked at him with a small pang in her stomach. She had
explained marriage to Luke earlier, including its promise of
exclusivity. If the three men followed that pattern, of course,
it would create two sisters beside herself of a different status
-- wives and potentially mothers, probably several times over.
That seemed unwise.

"Would you like to?" she asked.

"My body certainly likes the idea," he said. "And I think some of
the women would appreciate it. Two of them have confided that
they would like me specifically to father their children."

Julie knew that once they had observed how much Jean resembled
George, the women looked over the three men carefully and
developed definite preferences.

"I did pick the best one of you for myself," she said.

He smiled.

"How about this... What if you only do it doggy style. You look
at her rear end only, you stick your penis into it and deliver
the sperm, then you leave right away. No kissing or hugging or
playing around."

"OK," he said with a smile. "That will be just fine. Thank you,
Reverend Mother." He kissed her hand.

"And you should make sure not to enjoy it. At least not too much.
Is that right -- you can't deliver sperm without feeling good?"

"Uhhh, that's right. And we can't feel good without delivering
sperm, either. Not in that way. But sometimes it feels better
than others. And I delivered into a few of those other women on
your visits to Our Savior, and it was nowhere as good as it is
with you."

"You're very kind."

Julie held her breath when her period was late, and when she
started feeling other subtle changes in her body, she dared to
hope that she was pregnant. Signs remained good.

A few of the other women also reported missing their periods, and
over time there were several swelling bellies.

Julie began to hear similar stories in confession. A woman had
trouble concentrating on her prayers because she had pleasant and
sinful memories of Jacob delivering his sperm into her. Another
had a strong desire to go get another sperm delivery even though
she knew her period was due very shortly and it could not serve
the noble purpose of starting a baby. Julie absolved these women
of their sins, but she felt uncomfortable. She had the same
desires and she let herself indulge them. Could she somehow
contend that she was married? Sex within marriage was acceptable
and not a sin... It was a stretch. She of course continued to
receive the confessions of the conservative sisters when they
requested it, and if one reported that her hand had strayed
between her legs, Julie looked grave and upheld the woman's own
belief that it was a sin in need of pardon.

---------------------------------------------------------

Luke lay on his back on the warm sand, totally naked. George lay
to his left, Jacob to his right.

Jacob said, "You know, it was nearly two years ago when we met
Julie and the others for the first time on the beach."

Luke said, "Yeah, sounds about right."

"Who'd have thought we'd be here today? I mean, *this* is the
life!"

George said, "Oh, yeah. It sure beats praying all the time, and
jerking off somewhere every couple weeks, or trying hard not to."

Jacob said, "Do you think God's OK with this? It's not at all
what we were taught. Here we are, naked on the beach."

"We still pray a bunch," said Luke. He smiled and added, "And I
trust the Mother Superior to know what is best."

George sat up. "Yeah, well you get to cram your penis into the
Mother Superior on a regular basis."

Luke said, "We're all benefiting from the Mother's wisdom. God
didn't mean for us to die out, and so we've got to make babies,
so the three of us have the chore of pumping sperm into the
sisters."

Jacob said, "But you're still pumping the sperm in when she's
already pregnant."

Luke said, "She says that the act is still blessed even when it's
not for making babies. Once a man accepts he's going to be
dumping sperm up there or a woman accepts she's going to get it
pumped into her, they might as well do it as much as you want."

"Oh, yeah! That's the kind of Mother Superior I like! Not like
the old abbot," said George.

"Not that she puts it quite like that," added Luke.

Jacob said, "Some of the sisters -- I don't know. Every time
Nancy comes over here, she wants it from all three of us, right?"

"You can tell she really likes to get it, that's for sure," said
George. "Hey look, I'm getting hard just thinking about her.
'Unnh, unnh, unnnh, Nancy, aaaahhhhh!'"

"She does that orgasm thing with me sometimes," said Jacob. "I
mean, I like to give them sperm, but I figure there's no hurry.
Shoving in and out feels really good, so why not just keep at it
for half an hour and then give it to them?"

George said, "Not me so much. I like to jam it in deep and shoot.
Of course if I've just done it a couple times recently it can
take a little longer, but I don't hold back. If they're one of
the fat ones I just do 'em from behind, 'doggy style'. Whatever
that means."

Luke said, "Dogs are animals that live out in the wider world.
They've got four legs and no hands. That's how they do it. At
least that's what Julie says."

George said, "Whatever the heck an 'animal' is. And you, that's
the only way you can do it unless it's with the Blessed Mother
herself."

"Yeah," said Luke with a sigh. That was the theory. In practice,
with Emma he'd done more. She'd wanted to see what it looked like
when the sperm came out, so he'd showed her, using his hand.
Later she'd wanted to lick his penis, and that felt good. So when
she was on her back all naked with her legs spread wide, he
didn't tell her to get up on hands and knees. He dove right in,
and it had felt great. His penis was getting hard just thinking
about it.

"You got a favorite vagina? They all feel a little different,
right?" asked George. "Jennie's my favorite."

Luke smiled. Jennie was extra special -- hotter, slicker,
tighter.

Jacob said, "Oh, yeah, she's something, isn't she? I can't last
long with her. It's like her vagina says, 'Give me the sperm,
right now! Or else!'"

Luke laughed. "Yeah, and I sure am happy to oblige."

Jacob said, "Eleanor wanted to just sleep beside me the other
night after I'd done it to her, and I thought that was fine. Kind
of warm and nice. But then Mary showed up looking for me. I woke
Eleanor up and told her to get going because I had someone else
to give sperm to. She got mad. But she did leave."

Luke said, "Yeah, they can get funny that way. And Mary is hard
to resist, that's for sure. You notice how the younger ones are
the ones you really want to give it to?"

George said, "Oh, yeah. But when Beatrice snuck on over -- well,
I was happy to shove it into her too. I think I'd shove it into
anyone. If they've got a vagina, I want to dump sperm into it."

They sat up at the distant sound of footsteps on a path.

"Oh, look, it's Meghan with the baby," said Jacob. All three
rose, put their pants back on and walked back up towards their
cabin.

"Yeah, my daughter, they say. That part's weird. You dump the
sperm out and the baby looks like you, even if it's a girl."

Luke said, "Good morning, Sister Meghan. What can we do for you
today?"

"I brought Jean over to say hello. You want to go to your daddy,
Jean?"

George held the girl in his arms and smiled.

"But, Luke, could I talk with you in private?"

George said, "Oh, yeah, a talk, eh? I hope you have a deep
conversation. You want to 'talk' with me later?"

"No thanks," said Meghan. "Got to give everyone a turn, right?"

As Luke led Meghan back into his sleeping spot, his penis got
hard.

She took off her worn and patched habit and lay down.

"Um, you know I can only do it one way, right?"

"Yeah, I know, but we can relax a little first, right?"

"OK," he said and lay beside her, naked.

She looked at his stiff organ. "Can I, um, play with it?"

"Well, OK." He then watched her reverently caressing his penis
and testicles with light touch while she looked at them from a
foot away.

"OK," she said with a sigh. "I'm ready for you to use it," and
sat up.

"I want to try something," he said. "Lie back down. Spread your
legs."

"I thought you weren't allowed --"

"No, it's not that. But some of the sisters think this feels
good."

He covered her crotch with his hand, then began delicately
brushing, rubbing, prodding. He hoped Meghan would keep coming to
him in her attempts to start her next baby, so he was eager to
make her like it. His fingers found smooth flesh, and he began
gently probing and stroking.

"Oh, oh wow!" said Meghan. He kept rubbing, pressing, fluttering,
and she thrust her hips up at him. "Oh, oh, oh, mmmmm, Yes!" she
said, shuddering. Luke slowed his hand motion. She lay there
looking up at him, panting.

The sound of a not entirely happy baby drifted to them.

"Oh, gosh, and I haven't even got it yet!" she said. "Can you do
it quick?"

"I think so," said Luke. He beheld the rear end presented to him,
opened her soppy pussy with his fingers and deftly place his
penis tip right in her opening. He then grappled her hips and
forced himself in, and after a few thrusts was in to the hilt.

Jean's fussing became unmistakable. Time was of the essence.

Luke shoved in and out at a furious clip, as Meghan whispered
loudly, "Give me a big load of it. Make a little brother for
her!"

Delicious pleasure built and intensified as he rammed in and out.
Jean started crying plaintively. Finally the sperm was on its
way, and he plunged as deep as he could and held perfectly still.
He felt great pleasure as his penis twitched, shooting the first
glob of sperm into her. It twitched again, and another glob shot
out. After four shots the twitching stopped. The load delivered,
he let go of the rear end and let his cock slip out.

"Thanks!" said Meghan distractedly as she rushed to get dressed
and go to her baby.

"No problem," said Luke happily as he lay back down.

What an assignment -- filling vaginas with sperm, over and over
again. He grinned.

---------------------------------------------------------

Years passed. Some things changed.

Before the lacuna of the boats, all of the novices had only one
mother, the Mother Superior. She delegated their care to others
but made all the final decisions. But they quickly discovered
that real, biological mothers had a close attachment to their
children. This started in infancy, when the two were joined by
the bond of nursing, but it continued after the children were
weaned. In theory Julie had the final say over the best time for
a child to start eating fish, but in practice the mother had the
strongest opinions on the subject. From her library, which she
had by now read completely three times, Julie knew that this was
also the way out in the world at large.

Conflict arose with the conservative sisters about children. In
the old days, the total population of little girls below the age
of 10 was 7. Attended to carefully by older sisters, children's
noise was limited. When there were a dozen children under the age
of 4, the situation was quite different. Babies cried at all
hours. Toddlers raged and had tantrums. Julie tried to segregate
the mothers with children into certain buildings and allocate the
ones farthest away to the conservative sisters who were bothered
most, but it wasn't that large of a settlement.

In the old days, one thing that arrived every year along with the
new novice were bundles with new habits for each of the sisters
and fresh underwear. The Book of Innocence said that clean
clothes without blemish were an aid to the holy life. All of the
clothing was of high quality and durable. But without
replenishment for over a dozen years, habits became threadbare,
and mending more and more difficult. Underwear ran short first.
At first Julie got volunteers among the liberal faction to forgo
underwear unless they were having periods, in which case it was
needed to hold the menstrual cloths in place. But as the
underwear continued to deteriorate, she was forced to impose the
same restriction on the conservative sisters. They were
distressed, but had to admit that they had no solutions to offer.

The clothing supplies of the community had naturally included no
diapers. Menstrual cloths were a substitute, but it was hard to
fasten them in place, and babies soiled many very quickly in
succession. The preferred solution was for mothers and babies to
spend as much time as possible outside in certain areas and for
the babies to simply run naked. Excretions were wiped away with
water from a rain barrel. The conservative sisters were upset by
nakedness, but had no solutions to offer. They were especially
upset by little penises, which in their view had no place on Our
Lady.

Armed with what knowledge she could glean from her books, Julie
had set women to experimenting with transforming the local plant
fiber into cloth. They met with some success, though the garments
were crude and in no way resembled the dignified cut of the
Church habits. It got to the point where habits became costumes
that the sisters put on for certain of the more important
prayers.

Lucy died in childbirth, to everyone's sorrow. But it did not
stop women from wanting babies -- or more babies, since by then
several of them had had two.

Some of the sisters with boys asked earnestly if they would be
required to send their boys over to Our Savior. Julie quickly
reassured them on that point. The abbot had left relations
between the two islands frosty. Julie also knew that she could
never ask the women to give up their sons.

An initial large crop of babies seemed appropriate to make up for
the lacuna of the boats. Now, Julie revisited the question of how
many babies was the right number for their island. She remembered
her original vision for their survival, premised on keeping the
same total population. Since they were keeping the boys, they
should produce one baby a year. It was certainly part of the
harmony of the original community that the number of sisters was
more or less constant, and a small community with ample room was
more conducive to quiet meditation and prayer.

But the community was changing. Among the sisters under the age
of 35, most were mothers who never wore habits. The real future
of the community lay with the children, who mostly went around
naked. Their mothers continued to say their prayers, but they
were more rote incantations than part of a truly devout life. If
a baby cried during prayer time, the baby came first and the
prayer came second.

What was the best size for this new community?

Women and babies spent more and more time out of doors. Local
material was harvested to make shelters with open sides and
thatched roofs. Many of the sisters without children also found
these buildings more comfortable, and there was no limit to how
many could be constructed.

They had barely tapped the food supplies available to them. There
was a great deal of land available for cultivation, while fruit
from the forest and fish were plentiful.

The island could support a much larger population. The women
wanted to have babies, and Julie saw no reason to restrict them.

When the oldest children approached the age of three, another
controversy arose with the conservatives. They were looking
forward to reintroducing the customs of the novices and
replenishing the ranks of the sisters with careful religious
training. When Julie had audiences with the mothers, none of them
had that in mind for their daughters, and Julie couldn't see
requiring it of them. Besides, what would the boys do? Would they
invent a novice program for them, or just let them run around in
the sun while their sisters developed into humble servants of
God? Julie pointed out that if she had not undertaken her voyages
to Our Savior, the order would be dying out anyway.

And then after much prayer and meditation, Julie made a momentous
decision. Saying prayers became optional. It rapidly dropped off
among the mothers. She was effectively saying that being a member
of the Church of Innocence was not required.

---------------------------------------------------------

When Paul and Jean had just turned six the vernal equinox came
around once more. The vicinity of the dock was reserved for the
conservative sisters to observe one of the most solemn rituals of
the year. Julie of course continued to participate in all the
major ceremonies in her role as Mother Superior.

There was a sudden stir because a boat approached. But it was not
one of the old Church boats. It was a craft assembled out of
local materials, and contained three people instead of one woman
in white. They were monks from Our Savior. The boat was
redirected to a beach at some distance so the sisters could
continue their vigil waiting for the boat that their church
taught them to wait for, but Julie abandoned them to attend to
the visitors.

The word was that the old abbot had died and a new one taken his
place. He had commissioned the construction of this boat and sent
this delegation of three brothers. One purpose was to seek better
relations and share any information they might have on their
situation regarding the wider world, but the sisters had none to
share. But their most central question was to inquire whether God
had by any chance blessed any of them with young boys. If so,
would the sisters be grateful if the brothers would take them off
their hands so they could be raised properly as monks? This
question had been decided long before, and Julie gave her answer.
The men inquired after the health of brothers Luke, Jacob and
George, and were told they were well but not available for an
audience. They still kept mostly to their side of the island. It
was a brief visit.

The brothers seemed friendly, but Julie was cautious. She
reinstated training with weapons.

The boat from Our Savior reappeared a couple weeks later bearing
the new abbot himself, and discussions of a different sort began.
Many of the younger men on Our Savior were dissatisfied and
rebellious. They remembered the brief appearances of the women as
if they had been visits from a messiah. Before they left, Luke,
George and Jacob had confided to some close friends just how
wonderful it was to deliver sperm into women, and Peter's attempt
to go with them and his subsequent bitter withdrawal also
suggested that this was something momentous. They had been
agitating for some time for building boats and trying to
reestablish a relationship.

Julie revealed the grievances of the older, conservative sisters,
who felt their island was a most unsatisfactory place to carry on
the sort of life they had consecrated themselves to. Thus arose
the idea of a swap. Although living with men was a grave
disruption of their order, it would be less disruptive to a life
of prayer than living with young women who had for all practical
purposes left the order and their pack of wild, undisciplined
children.

Julie reread the portions of her library dealing with different
conceptions of marriage. If the number of men rose to match the
number of women, it became feasible. It was an institution that
lay behind all of the most stable societies. The very first
marriage was between Luke and Julie. There began a series of
cross-island exchanges using the three boats as ferries.
Interested women went over to Our Savior for dating and courting.
A few of the sisters indulged their carnal passions among the
sudden cornucopia of men available to them, and some of the men
who had been ambivalent about marriage became enthusiastic once
they had experienced the act which lay at the heart of it.

No man was to be allowed on Our Lady until his proposal of
marriage had been accepted by one of the women. These men came
over a few at a time, swore obedience to Julie and were
integrated into the evolving society. A a certain point, the
conservative women abandoned Our Lady together, as fast as the
boats could ferry them. Once the separation was mostly complete,
an occasional man and woman from the religious order on Our
Savior married and joined the community on Our Lady. Once it
became apparent that the woman was already pregnant.

Jacob married Lisa. George never did marry. A few sisters
remained on Our Lady but did not marry, including some of the
older ones who liked the idea of living in a community with
children. No one thought George suddenly became celibate, and no
one inquired too closely about who was sleeping with whom. When
unmarried Emma became pregnant, no one cared -- after all, the
entire crop of older children had been conceived out of wedlock.

---------------------------------------------------------

The Church had founded Our Lady and Our Savior on the principle
that knowledge was a bad thing -- that knowledge of something as
basic as the differences between the sexes and how babies were
made was an obstacle to the holy life. Julie had eaten fruit from
the tree of knowledge, and it had transformed a rigid religious
community that was dying out into a vibrant village of married
men, women, and children.

Everyone accepted that there should be an Abbot for the one
island and a Mother Superior for the other to be in charge of
everything because they had never conceived of any other way of
arranging a society.

Julie had designated Frances as her successor as Mother Superior
if anything happened to her. She had gradually shifted the
composition of the Council to include a few mothers -- or other
mothers, since Julie herself had two daughters.

The one thing Julie had reserved to herself alone was the
knowledge that came from reading and rereading a set of books.
She had read about different forms of government. There were
governments whose workings depended on fear, secret spies, and
force, but they made no sense to her. One that amused her was a
hereditary monarchy, according to which her elder daughter would
some day become the new Mother Superior. She could feel the pull
of it, though she never seriously considered it. One plan would
have the Council be the fundamental body, choosing a Mother
Superior from among their number but one they could remove at any
time by a simple majority vote. The Council would select their
own replacements. Then there was democracy, an interesting idea.
Each person got a vote, and whoever got the most votes would be
the new Mother Superior. They could vote for Council members too.
It made a lot of sense.

But Julie didn't trust herself to figure it all out on her own.
So she shifted the composition of the Council slightly and made
their primary responsibility reading the library, indexing it,
and figuring out what it all meant. No longer would she be the
one person who knew what was in the books. When they figured out
what was best in terms of governance, Julie would study it
carefully but thought it likely she would approve it.

The boats still ventured back and forth between the two islands
to exchange news. One day came a message from the abbot. They
were getting to be fewer and could see the day coming when they
could no longer maintain the fields and facilities on Our Savior
on their own. A few couples and older children, chosen because
they were comparatively quiet and reserved, were invited to move
to Our Savior. They helped care for the sisters and brothers in
their declining years. Over time more and more families moved to
Our Savior. Julie convinced the abbot to cede his temporal
authority to her, so a single policy could coordinate activities
on the two islands. He retained his spiritual authority in the
prayers and ceremonies of the Church. On each vernal equinox, a
small band of elderly brothers and sisters waited at the dock on
Our Savior for the boat.

---------------------------------------------------------

Julie and Luke sat on the porch of the Residence enjoying the
sounds of the community around them. Their two grandsons by their
younger daughter played at their feet.

There was a commotion as younger eyes and ears detected it first.
An object appeared in the sky, somewhat like a bird but larger
and making a steady noise. Some measure of education based on the
contents of the books had by then reached most of the adults, so
most knew that it was an airplane. It circled the island, flew
over it, and the flew off to investigate Our Savior before
disappearing back the way it had come.

Everyone waited anxiously to see what else might happen. Five
days later a boat approached the island, a much bigger boat than
they had ever seen. From its side descended a boat closer in size
to the ones the Church used to send, though this one was powered
by a motor. Men in uniform disembarked and there were cautious
greetings and introductions. An hour later Mayor Julie sat in her
receiving room with her five council members and two officers of
the United States Navy. They received the first news of the world
that any of them had ever heard. Otherwise they had only what had
been passed down to them by the older sisters and brothers and
the contents of Julie's century-old books.

There had arisen much trouble in the world, including political
strife and famine. There had been a large earthquake in Seattle,
the city that was the seat of the Holy Innocence Church.
Contributions to the Church plummeted as all efforts went to
addressing the need within their own city. The existence of Our
Lady and Our Savior had been a closely guarded secret. The Church
could no longer afford to send its own expedition that would
preserve that secrecy. They debated informing the authorities of
the stranded communities but decided against it. Hopefully the
Church would rise to its former glory. If it never did, the monks
and nuns would continue to praise God until they died out. Only
within the past year had the existence of the religious colonies
leaked out -- one of the key leaders had revealed the secret in
his senility. The news made its way through the government, an
expedition had been organized to investigate, and there they
were.

The islands were now the property of them -- the natives. The
laws of the world decreed that any who wished to leave the
islands were free to go. Otherwise, they could decide among
themselves what aspects of the modern world they wished to import
-- even which aspects of the modern world they wished to learn
about.

Shortly thereafter Julie and her council agreed to accept a pair
of sociologists who took up residence with them for a year. They
held interviews with all the residents, more with the older
residents and most of all with Julie herself. The case of Our
Lady and Our Savior was of immense interest to their profession,
because they were a pair of sex-segregated communities who had
been kept thoroughly ignorant of a great deal of common human
knowledge. They carefully cataloged the contents of Julie's
library and interviewed her for days on end about how new ideas
had occurred to her, which books she had read at different times
and how the reading had interacted with her thoughts and
decisions.

They listened utterly spellbound as she described the first
fumbling and urgent sexual encounter between Abbot and Mother
Superior and the expeditions that had followed in her quest to
create babies. She had earned immortality in the annals of the
field.

The blockbuster dramatization of their story began with the
midnight visit of the Council to Julie's seclusion cell. For some
reason, two lines lived on in the lore of the world for
centuries.

The first was always delivered with a tone resonant with
authority, and the second with a squeak.
"I pledge to you my loyalty and obedience, O Reverend Mother."
"Me?"

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