The Courier
Copyright 2008 by EC
EC's Erotic Fiction - /~caligula97030/

(warnings: erotic discipline, sex between adults, medical fetish, public nudity, 
harsh police interrogation)


Chapter 12 – Criminal # 101025

Maria Elena spent the next several hours in Kim's office, recovering from the 
first of 34 judicial switchings that were part of her formal sentence. Victor 
moved a chair close to the recovery table and took a seat to massage her hands 
and the uninjured parts of her body. 

Maria Elena did not move once she was settled on her stomach on the table. 
The pain searing into her was bearable as long as she stayed still, but any 
movement caused her welts to throb and burn. For a long time the pain and 
trauma from the switching filled her thoughts, pushing out anything else that 
might have worried her just a day or two before. But anyhow, it was done. 
The trial was over and her first punishment was over. She would fall asleep 
(or pass out), her welts would turn much darker, and eventually she would 
wake up and begin her life as a convicted criminal.

As happy as she might have been about her success during Criminal # 
101025's trial and sentencing, Spokeswoman Lee-Dolkivna had to move on 
with other responsibilities. For the moment she was done with Maria Elena. 
The criminal had been switched, returned to her custody, and now was safely 
on a recovery table with her lover to comfort her. Meanwhile, she had to deal 
with other cases, including the recent arrest of a French antiquities dealer who 
had been caught smuggling some ancient artifacts out of the country. That 
particular case would be a real challenge, because Kim had never defended a 
suspect who had violated the country's antiquities laws. 

The Spokeswoman glanced at her assistant, Criminal # 98946, who was more 
than eight months pregnant with a stomach that was painfully swollen. She 
had held up well so far, but within a week or two she would have to go on 
maternity leave, leaving her boss with a double-load of work. Not a pleasant 
thing to contemplate, especially with the trial of that antiquities smuggler 
coming up. 

----------

Program Director Cecilia Sanchez briefly went into the Central Cathedral to 
make sure her students' clothing and other personal items were safely stored. 
She smiled slightly as she picked up a bag full of unused signs and banners, 
the props with which the Americans would have created a public scandal had 
Kim not intervened. Cecilia thought it would be better to get rid of the bag of 
protest items, just in case they decided to get stupid again. She passed the bag 
to a Cathedral attendant and asked him to burn it. The director's next concern 
was herself. Because she had gone to trial, she was wearing one of her best 
dresses. She vaguely wondered if she might be called upon to perform Public 
Penance along with the others. If that happened she would have to toss a dress 
worth nearly $ 700 into a fire pit, something she had no desire whatsoever to 
do. Better to take off the dress and put on a prayer robe, just in case. She paid 
the attendant a copper coin to rent a black robe, changed into it, and put her 
dress with the items belonging to her students. If the Church decided to collar 
her for any reason, they would not burn the prayer robe. Cecilia reflected that 
it was a bit hypocritical that the Clergy had no problem burning clothing that 
belonged to other people, but if someone went in wearing a Church-issued 
prayer robe; that was one item that would never go into the fire-pit. 

Once she was properly attired in her rented outfit, the exchange program 
director was ready to go to the Temple of the Ancients and deal with her 
students. She walked several blocks from the Central Plaza to the nearby 
Plaza of the Ancients. She took a deep breath as she approached the Temple, 
still concerned about the possibility that she might be collared along with her 
students. She really could not think of any reason she would have to be 
collared, but she wanted to be ready just in case. She had been collared once 
before, during the summer of the first year she spent in Danubia, along with 
her fiancé and her friend Cynthia Lee. After four months the Church released 
the three Americans from their Penance, but within a year both Jason and 
Cynthia returned to the Temple, burned their clothing for a second time, and 
resumed performing Public Penance. To some extent she could understand 
why Jason would want to return to wearing a collar, but Cynthia's motives 
were a total mystery. Cecilia did not ask, because if a person was performing 
Public Penance it was not considered appropriate for an outsider to ask why. 

Cecilia climbed the stairs and entered the main Temple chamber. She 
expected her students to be on the back balcony, which was the spot where 
people usually began Penance service to the Church. As she exited the rear of 
the building, sure enough, there they were, along with the Priest from the 
Cathedral. The students were kneeling, each one with a Priest or Priestess 
standing behind them praying with hands placed upon their shoulders. Cecilia 
approached the group and fell to her knees. She stayed upright, however. She 
was not wearing a collar and therefore was not expected to place her head on 
the ground.

The director could tell that everyone in Carmen’s group was scared out of 
their wits. Their eyes were wide with confusion and worry over the sinister 
ritual in which they were participating. She noted that their temporary collars 
already had been taken off and that each was holding a more permanent collar 
specifically fitted for his or her neck. Within a few minutes they would be 
asked to accept the collars they were holding, knowing that their existence 
would become different from what they had been used to over the summer. 
Their daily lives would become comparable to the life of Criminal # 101025. 
For them to truly show support for Maria Elena, merely protesting for a single 
morning would not be enough. For at least a month they would be required to 
live like her, to become little more than criminals themselves. 

Carmen, as the leader of the protestors, was the first to hand her collar to the 
Priest standing over her. She swallowed as he placed the device around her 
neck and locked it. As instructed, she knelt forward, placing her head on the 
ground and completely exposing her bottom and vulva. She would have to 
stay in that position until all of her companions were collared. Cecilia 
continued to kneel as she watched; hugely relieved that so far there had been 
no mention of her being collared along with her students.

A few minutes later 14 US citizens, one in a black prayer robe and the others 
completely naked, left the Temple of the Ancients. Each was holding a sheet 
of paper explaining what was expected from a person performing Penance. 
Cecilia led her group directly to the university. Later she would have to send 
someone to the Cathedral to pick up the group's clothing and her own dress.

Cecilia told her group that instead of taking the trolley they would walk to the 
campus, which was nearly two kilometers away. She explained that the 
students needed to get used to being naked in public as quickly as possible and 
that walking fully exposed along a major street was the best way to do that. 
More importantly, she needed time to explain the protocol required of anyone 
performing Penance and make sure the students understood that what they 
were doing was a serious commitment. She reminded the group that regular 
university classes would be starting the following week.

"Before you get into class, you need to make sure you completely understand 
the rules of Public Penance. You gotta kneel whenever you talk to anyone 
who's a public official, which means if you need to talk to any of your 
professors, you gotta be on your knees with your head on the floor before you 
open your mouth. In theory that would mean me as well, but I'm not gonna 
make you kneel in front of me unless you screw up and piss me off."

Cecilia gave the students a chance to think about what she had said and 
continued:

"The Danubians are gonna be watching you, especially now. I want you to 
understand that as long as you follow protocol, you’re doing something that 
they'll consider honorable. You break protocol, and they'll consider you 
dishonored, so make sure you memorize what's on that paper the Temple gave 
you. And another thing. Don't you be talking about what you're doin’ to no 
one. People don't talk about Public Penance. You don't have to justify why 
you're collared, because that's between you and the Church. Public Penance is 
not something you discuss; it's something you just do. If you start talking 
about what you're doing or trying to explain why, you'll be dishonored. Get 
it?"

"Yes, Cecilia."

"Anyhow in your case there's no mystery, 'cause everyone knows you're doing 
it for Maria Elena. And that's another thing. I want each of you to be proud 
of... (well, not exactly proud, because the Danubians make fun of that, being 
proud, I mean) ... but... I guess... just understand that you made a big 
difference in her life. Not just with the perjury, but also the switchings. 
Without you, she probably would've been sentenced to somewhere around 100 
switchings, total. Thanks to you it got cut down to 34. And keep in mind it'll 
probably be less than that, 'cause they won't switch her if she's pregnant and 
they won't switch her if she's done some outstanding act of public service. So, 
you accomplished a lot more here than you could have in the US or anywhere 
else. I mean, in the courtroom they did pay attention to the fact you guys were 
out there kneeling and holding up your signs. Anywhere else, you would've 
gotten blown off."

Cecilia and the others walked quietly as they approached the university. They 
had missed language class and would barely be in time for physical fitness 
training. There were 47 students in the program who had not participated in 
the protest that the director needed to talk to. She gathered the entire group, 
with the 13 naked protesters standing off to one side. 

"OK people. I think you all know that your Colombian classmate went on trial 
today, and that 13 of you went downtown to protest what was gonna happen 
to her. Well, we all found out there's a correct way to protest here, and what 
your classmates are doin’ is the way it's done. After the protest they had to go 
to the Temple and get collared. For those of you who don't have it figured out 
yet, they're performing Public Penance. Now, I really don't give a shit how 
curious you might be about it, because the Danubians don't talk about Public 
Penance. Do NOT ask them anything about what's going on. As for how long 
they'll stay collared, that's between each one of ‘em and the Church. I'm 
warnin’ you again, don't you be askin’ a bunch of questions, 'cause they can't 
answer! So don't ask!"

----------

Maria Elena woke up late in the afternoon. Victor, who had been reading a 
book while she slept, immediately stood up and took her hand. She needed to 
get off the table to get a drink, go to the bathroom, and leave the office. 
Carefully he helped her get down as she winced from the welts that covered 
her backside and shoulders. A few minutes later Merchant Victor Dukov and 
Criminal # 101025 slowly walked down the stairs leading out of the Central 
Police Station. He held her arm as she went down the steps on unsteady feet. 
She noticed that people were watching, but was too tired and in too much pain 
to really care.

They took a trolley to return to the university, and from there slowly walked 
back to Victor's house. Cecilia gave her a glass of blackberry punch, while 
Pedro looked at her with a terrified expression. Cecilia later would have to 
explain to her nephew that Maria Elena had been a naughty grown-up, and 
what happened to her was how naughty grown-ups had to be punished. A few 
minutes later Maria Elena was on Victor's bed, completely exhausted and 
desperate to just lie still.

The next morning the criminal woke up and went to the kitchen. Her body still 
throbbed and ached from her punishment, but Cecilia had told her that she 
needed to resume her normal life within 24 hours of her trial. She would be 
expected to help with breakfast and to return to the university to resume her 
classes. Her cruelly-punished body would be on display while she gardened 
and when she was with the norteamericanos. She would understand that it was 
an important part of her sentence for everyone in her life to see her after she 
had been switched. 

Maria Elena's employers were understanding of her situation and gave her a 
light assignment, sweeping sidewalks. The welts still throbbed, but the gentle 
movement of sweeping and the hot late summer sunshine on her skin began to 
heal her more quickly than she could have expected. She felt humiliated 
anytime she noticed someone looking at her, but for people to see her after a 
switching was part of her Path in Life as a criminal.

Class was more difficult. The norteamericanos gathered around her, some of 
them wanting to express sympathy and some of them just curious to see, up 
close, a person who had received an infamous Danubian judicial switching. 
Cecilia explained that there was a tradition that all punished criminals had to 
perform when surrounded by people who knew them. Maria Elena had to put 
her hands on the language instructor’s desk and bent over slightly, to allow 
her classmates to examine her more thoroughly. The criminal's face flushed 
with humiliation and resentment as she stood still and her wide-eyed 
classmates studied the painful welts that remained from her first judicial 
switching.

Equally unpleasant was having to face Carmen and the 12 other students who 
now wore Church collars on her behalf. The 13 naked exchange students all 
looked uneasy with their situations. The most difficult adjustment was 
attending language class in the nude, especially when they were called upon to 
answer a question. The rule was that a collared university student had to stand 
up, kneel, and place their head on the floor before responding. If the student 
answered correctly, the language instructor granted permission to “recover” 
and sit. If the student answered incorrectly, that person had to remain kneeling, 
with their bottom and genitalia fully exposed to the rest of the class, until 
called upon again. The instructor tried to go easy on the collared students, but 
protocol was protocol and he was not in a position to tell them not to comply 
with what Public Penance required of them.

After class, Criminal # 101025 asked Carmen to gather the collared 
classmates together. She let them know that she was well-aware that it was 
because of their sacrifice that the perjury charge was dropped and she had 
been sentenced to a single switching per year. Now that she already had 
endured the first of those dreadful punishments, she could fully appreciate the 
huge favor they had done for her. To be switched once a year would be bad 
enough, but without them she would have faced the switching table at least 
once every six months. She tried to express her gratitude, but then tears welled 
up in her eyes. Although she had started to cry, she forced herself to give her 
classmates the real reason she was so affected by what they had done for her. 
Carmen translated:

“I… in all my life… there’s only been two people who ever cared about me… 
I mean cared about me to ever actually do anything for me. One of them was 
my mother. The other was my boyfriend… my first boyfriend. I’ll never see 
either of them again. My boyfriend is dead, and I am ashamed to face my 
mother. So I am alone, and there isn’t anyone to care about what happened to 
me. Or that’s what I thought. You all cared about me, and you were going to 
go get yourselves arrested to try to help me… and now you’re all… naked… 
because you cared about me. I… I love you… for what you did for me… I 
mean… I wasn’t worth it… but you did it anyway… and I will always 
remember… and I would give my life for any of you…”

Maria Elena broke down crying. One by one she accepted a hug from each of 
the classmates who were sacrificing for her. 

She knew, at that moment, that in spite of the difficult existence she faced as a 
collared criminal, she had gained so much more by coming to Danubia than 
she ever could have imagined. Exactly two weeks had passed since that 
moment in the airport when she was desperately trying to get that drug dog to 
be quiet and those two cops came running up to her with their pistols drawn. 
Just two weeks, but already she knew that she had been redeemed… redeemed 
so that she could learn to care about other people and have a life worth living.