Maragana Girl
Copyright 2004 by EC
EC's Erotic Art & Fiction - http://www.ecgraphicarts.com/
EC's deviantART collection - http://caligula20171.deviantart.com/ 

(warnings: judicial corporal punishment, forced public nudity, sex between adults, 
references to drug use, references to violence)

Chapter 19 – Fame and Humility

Kim began her classes as a Danubian university student in the middle of January. 
She reduced her hours at the music store to her summer schedule, working only 
three days per week. She studied Danubian law, history, criminology, and the 
Danubian interpretation of sociology. Kim's self-confidence increased as she 
realized she was smart enough to master the somewhat difficult coursework in a 
foreign language. She was perfectly capable of studying hard and studying well, 
as long as she had a supportive environment and some help. Sergekt helped her 
with the history course, while Dukov and Tatiana helped her with the other 
classes. 

Kim enjoyed the university environment, going three days per week with Sergekt 
on the trolley. She spent most of her non-class time studying in the university 
library with her fiancée and his friends, but she also spent time with Dukov's 
secretary or in study groups from her classes. When she was with her classmates, 
Kim was the only naked person in the group, but that seemed not to matter very 
much. Her notoriety as one of the lead singers from “Socrates Mistresses” helped 
her overcome some of the distrust her classmates might have had against a foreign 
criminal studying Danubian law in their midst. Her classmates expected her to 
pull her own weight in the study groups, but as long as she did, they accepted the 
participation of the “Maragana Girl”.

One of Kim's first major projects was a comparative study of US and Danubian 
criminal law. Kim knew little about the US legal system and had to quickly learn, 
in part by spending hours on the phone with her sister Cindy. Kim had to learn 
enough about the US criminal justice system to be able to understand and explain 
it. As the research for her project unfolded, Kim realized the Danubian legal 
system was much more straightforward than the US legal system, and thus easier 
to understand. 

The simplicity of the Danubian system partly resulted from the lack of 
institutionalized adversity between prosecutors and Spokespersons. A defense 
attorney in the US would not think twice about misrepresenting the facts to obtain 
an acquittal for his client, but in Upper Danubia it would be a serious violation of 
Danubian law for a Spokesperson to misrepresent the facts of a case or attempt to 
conceal evidence. Instead it was the Spokesman's duty to seek out mitigating 
factors that favored the criminal and present them in court. Kim's own case was 
an excellent example. Spokesman Dukov made no effort whatsoever to refute any 
facts or evidence, but instead concentrated on interpreting the information in a 
way that forced the court to give Kim a very light sentence.

Preparing the comparison project was a strange experience for Kim, because she 
had to study the US legal system from the perspective of a foreigner. However, to 
the US, Kim really had become a foreigner, because she no longer identified very 
much with the country of her origin. Kim's world was Danubian, and her 
perspective on life had become Danubian. Anyone who studied with Kim came to 
realize that, in spite of her foreign appearance, she really was not American 
anymore. She was a Danubian criminal, with an outlook that really was 
indistinguishable from that of any other female Danubian criminal.

----------

The push to pass Dukov's reforms in the Danubian Parliament intensified in 
February. As the moratorium against corporal punishments passed, the switchings 
were starting up again and there were increasing incidences of sexual humiliations 
and other abuses. Public support for the reform had peaked, so it was urgent that 
its supporters act to pass the legislation as quickly as possible. Vladim Dukov had 
a secret motivation for passing the reform as well. Kim's friends were due to 
receive a final switching in April, and he wanted to ensure the excesses of the 
previous April's punishment were not repeated.

The officers of National Police Force were bitterly divided over the reform. Most 
of the older members of the police force, as well as some of the more religious 
younger officers, supported the reform. The majority of the younger officers, as 
well as most of the supervisors, did not. At first the proponents of the revisions 
had been afraid to speak out, but by February they were quite vocal and 
contemptuous of the reform's opponents. As a result the police split into two 
hostile camps that quit speaking to each other. During the final push to pass the 
reform Officer Vladik Dukov and his partner were under tremendous pressure 
from the younger officers, the ones who wanted to continue punishing criminals 
by humiliating them. They ended up spending their time with the older officers, 
ostracized by most of their academy classmates.

There were several mass rallies in Rika Chorna Province and finally one rather 
large rally in Danube City itself. Vladim Dukov addressed a crowd of nearly 
13,000 people in the bitter cold of Danube City's Central Plaza, exhorting his 
supporters to defend Upper Danubia's honor and morality by treating criminals 
with respect during their corporal punishments. He repeated his familiar argument 
concerning the need to re-establish harmony in the country's legal system.

The audience then was surprised by an unexpected speaker; the disgraced ex-
officer Malka Chorno. Before she got on the speaker's platform, Malka stripped 
off her criminal's cape. As she stood shivering in the cold, her bare body distinctly 
white against the old Parliament building, the ex-officer reviewed her own career 
and her abusive behavior towards the criminals she had punished. She sought to 
make sense out of her own attitude by self-analyzing her misdirected thirst for 
revenge against the people who had kidnapped and killed her sister. 

“I did things to criminals I should never have been allowed to do, and I 
think…had there been some restrictions in place, I would not have turned into 
what I became. I disgraced my profession, precisely because no one stopped me. I 
cannot change what I did, but I know that a standardized punishment regime will 
prevent other officers from following in my footsteps.”

Malka Chorno's speech had more of an impact than anyone at the time realized. 
The sight of a frightened, shivering, naked ex-cop, repenting and pleading for 
legislation that would have kept her own behavior under control, persuaded 
several important deputies in the Parliament to change their votes in favor of the 
reform. As a result, the entire opposition party delegation voted in favor of 
revising the 1780 Corporal Punishment Code, as did about a third of the deputies 
from the ruling party. The reform passed on the first vote.

Vladim Dukov was the man of the hour. As he stood in front of his cheering 
supporters, he was awestruck at what he had accomplished. He had changed the 
course of Upper Danubia's history and forced the entire country to examine itself. 
Dukov was not an aggressive or proud man, but he had a strong vision for what 
his country should be and what it should not be. Part of that vision now had 
become law.

There would be celebrations among the country's Spokespersons and an apology 
from the assistant police doctor who had scoffed at the idea Dukov could change 
the country's legal system. There would be mandatory re-training for the National 
Police Force and a series of promotions and demotions. Now the others would 
have to treat Officer Vladik Dukov with respect, whether they wanted to or not.

In spite of everything else that would transpire as a result of his success, Dukov's 
most important task was to address the people who would be most affected by his 
reforms, the criminals of Danube City. The night after the reform passed, 
Spokesman Vladim Dukov returned to the Socrates Club for the first time in 
several years, along with his wife and his client Kimberly Lee. He warmly shook 
hands with the old owner of the club and looked around at a place where he had 
spent much of his youth. It had not changed much, to his satisfaction. The club 
was filled to capacity with criminals eager to understand what the reform actually 
would mean for their sentences.

Vladim and Maritza may have been respected public officials, but they also were 
ex-criminals in a club with strict protocol about equality among the people 
attending. Vladim and Maritza undressed and surrendered their clothing before 
entering the main area of the club. 

It was a bit of a shock for Kim and her friends to see Vladim Dukov step in front 
of the club's microphone, as naked as anyone else in the room. At that moment 
Kim realized how deeply her Spokesman's experiences from own his sentence 
were ingrained in his brain. In the Socrates Club Dukov saw himself more as a 
fellow criminal than as a public official.

Dukov began by explaining what the reform would do and what it would not. He 
went down a list of changes, the most important being the prohibition against 
sexual fondling. There were other revisions, including a standardization of the 
severity of the strokes, more authority for Spokespersons to intervene to prevent 
injury, and a new restriction against switching a criminal more than once every 60 
days. Other provisions included not allowing a punishment to take place outside a 
courthouse or police station. For example, criminals never again could be 
punished at a school. They could not be chained and forced to march down a 
street. Nor could they be struck prior to the formal switching, for example they 
could not be kicked or beaten on the shoulders while waiting to be punished. 
There would be no participation in court-ordered punishments by anyone other 
than police officers. The days of medical students and girlfriends toying with 
criminals were over. Finally, there would be a time limit placed on the length of a 
switching. No judicial punishment could last longer than 50 minutes, one minute 
for each stroke.

Dukov explained his goal to keep the Duchy's corporal punishment system intact, 
but remove the excesses. “My desire is that, from this point forward, any criminal 
will know exactly what to expect from his or her sentence. What the judge orders 
will be what you must endure. There will be no unpleasant surprises from the 
police, nor from anyone else. Anything not specified in your initial sentence is 
prohibited.”

Dukov went on to discuss the only realistic alternative to Upper Danubia's judicial 
system, which would be implementing a system of jails similar to what existed in 
the rest of the world. Dukov explained why he thought jails were a bad idea, an 
opinion shared by everyone else in the crowded room.

Upon the conclusion of the Spokesman's presentation, there was a shout of 
“DOC-DOC VLADIM!” With that Vladim Dukov and his wife joined Kim and 
her friends at their table, along with the owner of the club and a couple of other 
older professionals. It was still a bit of a shock seeing Vladim Dukov as an equal 
in the Socrates Club. It was even more of a shock for Kim to see Vladim and 
Maritza dance together later in the evening. They were reliving their time spent as 
criminals, a full generation ago. Their bodies were aged and no longer attractive, 
but Vladim and Maritza Dukov looked perfectly at home on the dance floor of the 
old Socrates Club. They had returned to a world their hearts really never had left.

In time Kim would follow in Vladim Dukov's footsteps and take over his 
responsibilities. She would be a Spokeswoman herself, and hang her collar under 
a picture of herself and her future husband. Kim also knew that 20 years from 
now she and Sergekt, their bodies weathered by age, occasionally would return to 
this club and dance among a new generation of criminals.

----------

The members of "Socrates' Mistresses", along with 12 song writers who 
contributed music on a regular basis and 6 others who contributed sporadically, 
found themselves increasingly wrapped up in their music as March and April 
passed. They had been performing so much at the Socrates Club that they were 
well practiced. Recording sessions were not that big of a challenge, since 
everything the group sang they already had sung in public several times over. 

The group's first CD sold out quickly after it was released. The company 
scrambled to produce additional CD's and speed up the release of "Socrates' 
Mistresses" second CD. The music became popular throughout Europe and parts 
of Asia. For some odd reason the CD became particularly popular in Japan and 
Taiwan. Slowly, very slowly at first, the music began to make headway in the 
United States among people looking for something relaxing to listen to that was 
different.

At first the group's music was classified as "New Age", although that description 
was not really accurate. When a music scene reporter asked Kim about how she 
thought her group's music should be described, Kim simply responded, "The 
music is Danubian, that's how you would place it. It's not New Age, or Folk, or 
'traditional'...it's Danubian."

Eloisa tasked Kim to re-write five new songs in English. The task of translating 
the five new songs proved somewhat harder for Kim than doing the first four 
songs. Kim had provided the ideas for the lyrics of the first songs she sang in 
English, but the themes for the new songs had come from other band members. 
Still, Kim realized that Eloisa had picked songs that had universal appeal and 
would reach out past the cultural and language barriers that separated Danubian 
criminal society from the rest of the world. In the end Kim translated the five 
songs, practiced them late at night in her room, and presented the translations to 
Eloisa. 

Once again Eloisa's sharp ears listened to the sounds coming from Kim's throat 
and assessed how well they sounded with the group's backup singers and 
musicians. In the end she dropped one of the translations and kept the other four, 
thus giving the band more songs with which they could appeal to English-
speaking audiences.

Kim called the group's recording company to tell them the band had an additional 
2 CD's worth of songs they would be able to record. The company responded by 
sending a team of recording studio employees and renting the best recording 
studio Danube City had to offer. The group's members spent the final weeks of 
March and nearly all of April recording one high-quality song after another, 
including the four English translations. Finally, one of the company 
representatives suggested that Kim sing a couple of very old English love songs 
that were hundreds of years old. The old English songs added two more non-
Danubian songs to the music collection. 

At the end of April the company's studio employees left Upper Danubia with 
enough recorded music to fill the two CD's Kim had promised. Later that year, a 
Hollywood producer making a movie about the fall of Gaul to the Romans was 
looking for music with a sad, haunting feel for the movie's score heard Kim's 
version of "That's all I'll ever be" on the radio. Intrigued with the song, he had a 
copy of the CD delivered to his office. As soon as he heard Eloisa's voice, he was 
hooked. He had found precisely the music he wanted for his movie. 

As their music's popularity exploded across Europe, Kim's friends continued to 
live their modest lives in Danube City. The money from their efforts built up in 
their bank accounts, but the only person who was aware of that was Kim. 
Between their studies, their jobs, their personal relationships, and the restrictions 
of their sentences, Kim and her friends lived lives that were barely distinguishable 
from the lives of over 2,000 other criminals serving sentences in Danube City. 
They worked, they studied, and they fulfilled their social responsibilities to their 
families and future in-laws. They gathered at their usual tables at the Socrates 
Club in the evenings they were not recording, and they made love upstairs in the 
intimacy rooms. As criminals, they knelt in front of police officers and public 
officials, they shivered naked at the trolley stops, and they dreamt about July, 
when they finally could return to living normal lives. They were very humble, and 
very ordinary, people.

----------

Ex-officer Malka Chorno shaved her pubic hair on April 5, as she prepared to 
receive her second punishment with her own police belt. She announced to her 
exercise classes that she probably would be unable to lead the sessions until 
Monday of the following week. That night she sat quietly with Tuko at the 
Socrates Club, after repeating her announcement concerning the cancellation of 
her exercise classes to the entire club.

Malka had one last night of aggressive love-making with Tuko, and then cleaned 
up and took a trolley to the Central Police Station. It was quite cold outside, but 
Malka was naked except for her collar and winter boots. Like most other 
criminals she treated the criminal's cape with contempt, wearing it only when she 
expected to stand outside for long periods of time.

Malka Chorno was not scared in the same way that Kim or Eloisa were scared the 
nights before they faced being punished. Instead she was quietly resigned to her 
upcoming suffering. She had violated her responsibilities as a police officer, and 
now she had to pay for it. Malka did not see what was about to happen to her as 
unfair. She had inflicted suffering on plenty of people herself, and now it was her 
turn.

Deep down Malka had felt guilty about the way she had been treating criminals 
prior to her arrest. However, as she struggled with her internal conflicts, she 
became all that much more vicious to the criminals she punished. In a way Malka 
was relieved to no longer have that continuing internal emotional conflict within 
her soul. 

The former police officer also was relieved that her life's punishment was 
happening now instead of taking place in the Afterlife. Danubians had a vague 
idea of heaven and hell, but their Church hierarchy taught them that the Afterlife 
was neither. Instead, Danubian priests taught their congregations that a dead 
person's soul endured the results of both good and bad actions he or she had 
committed while still alive. For a Danubian the Afterlife was a mirror image of a 
person's life. Malka had grown up with that idea embedded in her brain, and thus 
as a cop she had been very scared of what might happen to her spirit after she 
died. Now that she was a criminal herself, she was paying her debt during this life 
instead of later. She could die with her soul at least partially redeemed.

Malka arrived at Spokesman Dukov's office and knelt in the reception area, 
waiting for him to arrive. The secretaries came in and asked Malka if she wanted 
any tea. She shook her head and asked for a small glass of water instead. When 
Vladim Dukov arrived, Malka knelt at his feet and kissed his shoes. Following the 
normal procedure for a routine punishment, Dukov retrieved Malka's police folder 
and prepared several punishment certificates.

One of Malka's ex-coworkers entered Dukov's office to handcuff her and take her 
downstairs to the punishment room. Malka quietly walked downstairs, passing 
several of her former colleagues on the way down. Some of her ex-coworkers 
glanced at her with contempt. Others gave her sad looks, thinking that what had 
happened to her was not fair. 

Malka, her escort, and her Spokesman entered the punishment room. Malka's 
escort locked the door and then un-handcuffed the criminal. The chief of the 
Danube City Police Department, along with most of the section chiefs, were 
present and waiting to punish their former employee. Dukov took a quick look at 
their faces, trying to gauge their mood and attitude about their upcoming task. 
However, the stern, weathered faces of the commanders were inscrutable. 

Because Malka was not a common criminal, some of Vladim Dukov's reforms did 
not apply to her. The police officials in charge of punishing her would not have 
dreamt of touching Malka sexually. However, there was no strict time limit placed 
on her punishment, nor any limit on the number of strokes she would receive. 
Malka's sentence stipulated that she would be beaten to the limit of her endurance.

Malka knelt, took off her police belt, and laid it flat on the floor in front of her. 
She then knelt forward, placing her forehead on the floor. Once Malka was in 
position and her Spokesman standing next to her, the judge spoke.

“Malka Chorno, from this point forward I will refer to you as Criminal # 99348, 
because a criminal is what you chose to become. It grieves me to see you like this, 
because I always thought you were a good officer, that is, until I witnessed your 
shocking behavior in this room last July. As of today, the convictions of four 
charges against you remain in place, two violations of Article 3 of Item 18 of the 
Grand Duke's reform of the Judicial Code of 1780, one violation of Article 4 of 
Item 18 of the Grand Duke's reform of the Judicial Code of 1780, and the 
violation of Article 9 of Item 5 of the Judicial Code of 1524, the crime of 
Insurrection. Do you have anything you wish to say to me before your punishment 
begins?”

“No, your honor. I was convicted according to the laws of our country and I am 
prepared to comply with my sentence.”

“Very well. Spokesman Dukov, you will release custody of Criminal 99348 for 
the duration of this punishment.”

With that the Chief of Police approached Vladim Dukov. The two men saluted 
each other. “Spokesman, are there any restrictions concerning the punishment of 
this criminal that I need to be advised about?”

Dukov answered: “No Chief of Police…no special restrictions.”

“Very well.” The Chief of Police then addressed Malka. “Criminal 99348, you 
will pick up your belt and present it to me.”

Malka complied by picking up her belt and handing it to her former commander. 
He doubled it and tapped her on the shoulder with the leather. Malka now was out 
of Dukov's custody. Malka leaned forward and kissed the Police Chief's shoes.

“I expect you to position yourself properly on the table. Make sure that pillow is 
under you correctly."

Malka picked up the hard tubular pillow and laid it across the table. She then 
climbed up and draped her body over the pillow, leaving her bottom high in the 
air and fully exposed. Malka extended her arms and legs to the corners of the 
table, exposing herself even more. She positioned her wrists and ankles over the 
straps that would immobilize her. The Police Chief buckled the straps himself, 
and then took his position near Malka's upturned bottom. He laid the belt across 
both bottom-cheeks and let it rest in that position for several seconds, mainly to 
increase Malka's anxiety. Finally he lifted the belt, took aim at Malka's bottom, 
swung hard, and delivered a tremendous CRACK! to both sides of her exposed 
backside. Malka gasped from the pain and shock of the blow, but remained quiet. 
A vivid pink strip marked the woman’s otherwise pale skin. Dukov looked on 
sympathetically, but it would be a very long time before he could raise his hand 
and halt the punishment.

The police chief used the same tactic as he used the year before, carefully laying a 
series of vicious swats, one right after the other, on the same place. After the first 
10 strokes Malka had a searing red stripe marking her bottom, which was exactly 
as wide as the belt. The Police Chief paused, and then struck the bright-red stripe 
another five times. By the 15th stroke Malka was shaking from the pain and her 
efforts to not cry. The Chief of Police paused for a couple of minutes, as the 
bright red strip darkened and swelled. Finally Malka's former boss lifted the belt 
again.

CRACK!… CRACK!… CRACK!… CRACK!… CRACK!

The Chief of Police started punishing the rest of Malka's bottom, starting with the 
white skin immediate below the deep red stripe. As before, he punished viciously 
and methodically, expanding the red portion of her bottom by a belt-width.

CRACK!… CRACK!… CRACK!… CRACK!… CRACK!

The police chief worked his way down to the crease that divided Malka's bottom-
cheeks from her thighs. He paid particular attention to the sensitive area at the 
base of Malka's bottom. He struck hard, determined to break Malka's resistance. 
Finally he decided to aim at the sensitive area between her spread legs.

He struck a couple of savage blows that made contact with Malka's exposed 
vagina. She grunted and gritted her teeth, determined not to give in. The police 
chief struck hard at the upper part of her bottom, then returned to the base of her 
bottom-cheeks, again aiming at the sensitive area between her legs. Finally 
Malka's voice cracked and her resistance broke. Her body began shaking with 
sobs, but still she was trying with all her effort to stay as quiet as possible.

After the 50th stroke the Chief of Police stopped. He saluted one of the section 
chiefs and handed Malka's belt to him. The new official took position beside 
Malka, and commenced striking her hard. However, the criminal’s second 
tormentor concentrated on her bottom and made no attempt to further torment her 
vagina.

CRACK!… CRACK!… CRACK!… CRACK!… CRACK!

After 25 methodical strokes from the section chief, Malka began crying out as 
each stroke landed on her bottom. Between the strokes she was sobbing as loudly 
as any other criminal. She had held up quite well, but there was no way she could 
expect to hold up under such a lengthy punishment without her spirit finally being 
broken.

The section chief handed the belt to one of the arraignment committee members 
for yet another 25 strokes. When Dukov raised his hand, Malka's bottom was deep 
red with purplish welts. As before, her bottom would be spared any further injury 
that day, but her legs still awaited punishment. At that point the Chief of Police 
did something rather cruel to his victim. He clapped his hands and ordered tea to 
be served to himself and his subordinates. Malka, lying immobilized and in 
agony, would be forced to wait before the final part of her punishment would be 
administered.

When the Chief of Police asked Dukov if he wanted some tea, he angrily 
declined.

“I want this punishment to finish. I do not think this is appropriate, nor beneficial 
to Criminal # 99348. I think you should exercise a minimum degree of 
sympathy.”

Dukov received an unexpected word of support from the presiding judge.

“I agree with the Spokesman, Chief of Police. You will continue this punishment 
or I will conclude it.”

Somewhat chastened, the police chief angrily set down his cup and stood up. He 
passed the belt to another section chief, who immediately began belaboring the 
disgraced cop's upper thighs.

Once she had received the standard 50 strokes on the backs of her thighs, the 
court guards unbuckled the restraints on Malka's wrists and ankles and roughly 
turned her over. When they restrained her facing upwards, the woman's legs were 
spread and her shaved vagina was rudely exposed to the judge and the other 
witnesses in the room. 

As Dukov contemplated his one-time enemy and current client, he felt a twinge of 
sexual arousal. The sight of Malka's fit muscular body restrained and spread was 
intensely erotic to her Spokesman, as was her teary face and her helplessness. 
Dukov felt guilty about being excited by the view of his prostrate client, but his 
mind quickly jumped to the thought that her exposed pubic area might become a 
target of the belt unless he intervened. The Spokesman raised his hand.

“Your honor, I am requesting that you specifically prohibit that my client be 
struck anywhere other than her thighs. I would like that clarified.”

The judge paused for a second, noting the former police officer's exposed vagina. 
Yes, that part of her body was very vulnerable and it would be for the best to 
grant the Spokesman's request.

“I will make that clarification in your favor, Spokesman. Criminal # 99348 may 
be struck only on her thighs. A blow to any other part of her body will end her 
punishment.”

The section chief wielding the belt glared at the Spokesman. He had been looking 
forward to laying some hard strokes between the woman's spread legs and getting 
some good screams out of her, but now couldn't because of the judge's order. It 
was a small victory for Dukov, but a significant one for his client. The man sighed 
and began marking the criminal's upper thighs with reddish welts.

CRACK!… CRACK!… CRACK!… CRACK!… CRACK!

Malka cried and screamed as the final 50 strokes of her punishment darkened her 
upper thighs. Dukov raised his hand a final time and the court guards unbuckled 
her from the table. She struggled to get off and maintain her balance once her feet 
were on the floor. She presented herself to the judge, who signed her punishment 
certificate. Finally came the concluding humiliation, having to kneel and kiss the 
shoes of each of the police officials who had punished her. Malka struggled to 
move on her knees from official to official, thanking each one for flogging her. 

Suddenly, through the emotional haze of her pain and embarrassment, Malka 
remembered how she had treated Kimberly Lee at the end of the American's 
second punishment. She had forced Criminal # 98945 to repeat over and over her 
“thank you” in an effort to humiliate her. Now life had thrown that humiliation 
right back into Malka's face, as she was forced to kneel and say “thank you” over 
and over to her multiple tormentors.

With that the Chief of Police touched Malka's shoulder with the belt and saluted 
Vladim Dukov. Criminal # 99348 now was safely back in the Spokesman's 
custody. The Spokesman instructed his client to walk to the door ahead of him. 
She complied, although she was unsteady on her feet and had trouble keeping her 
balance. Once out the door Dukov put his arm around Malka and helped her get 
up the stairs.

When they entered Dukov's office Malka's situation finally hit her full-force. She 
knelt at her Spokesman's feet and began sobbing uncontrollably at the humiliation 
of her life. For the first time she truly realized what had happened to her. She had 
been flogged by the people she had worked under, and flogged with a piece of her 
own uniform. 

Criminal # 99348's view of herself underwent a huge change at that moment. She 
knew, no longer suspected but actually knew, that she did not want to return to the 
National Police Force, in spite of Kimberly Lee's gesture of forgiveness. How on 
earth could she go back to being a police officer after having undergone the 
experience of serving a sentence? How could she ever face her superiors in 
uniform again after having been whipped by them? Did she even really want to? 
She now saw herself for what she was, a criminal. That realization devastated her.

Malka heard Dukov's voice from what seemed a great distance.

“Malka, please, you must stand up. You don't need to prostrate yourself before 
me. Your whipping is over, and you can go back to your normal life.”

Dukov put out his hand and his client took it. He helped her get up. Suddenly she 
put her arms around him and began crying into his shoulder. Dukov felt a bit 
uneasy having to hold her and comfort her, but such physical contact between a 
Spokesperson and a criminal was permitted immediately following a punishment. 
Some criminals needed to be comforted by being held. The Spokespersons' Code 
of Conduct had guidelines that permitted such physical comforting, as long as 
there was no sexual contact.

After a long time crying into Dukov's shoulder Malka finally quieted down, but 
she stayed pressed up against him.

“Spokesman Dukov, I don't know what 'normal' is any more. I don't know what 
my 'normal life' is, or what it should be.”

“I suppose your normal life is your responsibility to your gym classes and to your 
boyfriend. Right now those are your priorities.”

“But later…later what?”

“Only you can answer that question, Malka. Your life will become 'normal', but 
what 'normal' actually means is a matter only you can  determine.”