First Among Equals
Betty opened her eyes, though it was only because that's what she had done her whole life when awakening. There was nothing here to really see, and what little she could was unpleasant to look at.
Somehow, despite being in this timeless situation, she knew the days. There had been 247 of them so far; that left quite a number still to come, and the thought drove her to despair. It was magnified as she heard the sound of the machinery powering up. She closed her eyes, as if that could make them go away, but in this place of shadows her ears had become a second set of eyes, and she could tell with precision what was happening. But the truth was, it wasn't the machinery she was trying to avoid seeing. It was them... they were watching her. Betty couldn't stand to look at them, couldn't stomach the bile that rose at the glimpses of them. The fact that they watched her bare body writhing in this ticklish agony day after day told her she'd been right all along. They were monsters, and no matter what anyone thought, the world would be better if they just went back to their own planet for good!
But there was no more room to think now. The power up was complete, and the machinery began its task. And immediately, Betty was screaming with laughter while the aliens watched.
--------------------------------------------------------------
In 2053, aliens conquered planet Earth. It was, all told, the most unusual conquest imaginable. They fired no weapons, made no threats. They were there. They didn't ask anyone to take them to their leader.
Mankind watched them for a while in quiet terror, despite the fact that the only message the conquerors gave was that they would harm no one. Despite all of that, they were still the rulers of Earth, because when they spoke, they were obeyed. The sight of their massive, looming ships hovering over planet Earth was enough for that. Imagination filled in the blanks far more effectively than any show of strength ever could.
Perhaps the oddest part was that they acted like neither despot nor friend. They gave mankind things like a wonderful benefactor, like cures to diseases and new ways of performing surgery, so that people could live healthier and longer. They taught a simple means to remove salt from seawater using less energy than you found warming the ground on a sunny day - with that, even the poorest countries on Earth could make the deserts bloom, and hunger became a thing of the past. They spoke to engineers about better ways to produce materials, complex alloys and advanced ceramics, so that production became cheaper and goods lasted longer. They advised authorities on threats that were hidden from human eyes, like a small nuclear weapon in the hands of a radical group, so that no one was harmed. In return, they said that the weapon was to be confiscated and the people released; force would not be permitted against them any more than they had been allowed to use it in the first place. And in those lights, they did seem like benefactors, but they remained distant figures; they never acted like they were a friend.
They were called the Stewards, and they controlled the destiny of humanity.
--------------------------------------------------------------
"NO!!!" Betty screamed. "PLEASE STOOOHAHAHAHA-P!"
There were bands around her wrists and ankle, each pulling in a different direction, so that Betty was left spread-eagle while floating in the air. She couldn't budge, and that made it simple for the machinery that shared this glass cage with her to do its work, which was to tickle her from the time she awoke until the time she passed into blissful sleep.
It was still only the first hour, so Betty still had the strength to scream. As they feathered all over her feet, she wailed with laughter. They always started there, probably to wear her down more quickly for the real events. She did her best, tried to resist in the name of humanity, to defy the Stewards in some small way. But her toes were firmly held, and little wispy touches slid between them, running along the sides and teasing the bases, then lightly stroking the bottoms. She fought, but it was the fight of someone who knew they'd already lost. She tried to twist out of the grip, but it wasn't happening, any more than the bonds would give under her efforts.
"GET AWAY! HAHAHAHA!" They were scratching along her insteps now, a really bad spot for her. Betty wept with laughter and was sure she was so flush she probably glowed in this low light. That would be something for them to see, she thought with venom, out beyond the walls, watching her. She opened her eyes; one was floating nearby, close enough that she could make out its horrible features. Despite the tickling she turned and cursed at it so vilely that the Steward swam off, though she knew it probably wasn't far, and that there were far more she couldn't see that were still watching with that huge cyclopean eye of theirs. For the thousandth time, as she felt the tickling grow even more intense, she wondered why they watched her so.
--------------------------------------------------------------
The Stewards were not like mankind. They'd evolved on a moon of water, heated by geothermal energy and blocked off from the stars by ice. They bore a passing similarity to a squid, though their bodies were the size of a small child. Their brains had to be small to fit inside those bodies, but yet they clearly thought on levels no human could ever hope to achieve, and they seemed to understand human nature better than most people did.
They always spoke remotely, since humans were air-breathers and the waters for the Steward's ships far too cold for them to visit. They were always polite, always respectful, but again, never familiar. It wasn't like a friend, or even a watchful parent. Some said it was like a gardener, who may do the work with care without growing attached to the plants. Some feared this approach, taking it to a horrifying conclusion of mankind as a domesticated animal, to ultimately be a source of food or labor. However, when the subject was delicately brought to the Stewards attention, the response was nothing less than stunned horror. The Stewards would never harm a single person - such was the nature of their purpose here.
Given the opportunity the comment had presented, the ambassadors of Earth broached the topic again of just what their purpose was then. If it wasn't to harvest, and it wasn't to befriend, then why were they here. Again, the Stewards would not answer; they had been told by the First Among Equals not to say why, but they assured mankind that no harm would ever be intended.
A month later, the first humans were taken.
--------------------------------------------------------------
"...please stop please..." Betty said in a barely audible tone. This was hour three, and her strength had left her some time ago. Still she laughed, but it was weak, sometimes silent. It didn't change anything, however - she was still just as ticklish as before, still pushed far beyond her limits. She was left to just suffer through the horrible tickling ordeal until the day finally ended, but it was so hard. Every day was harder than the last, every stroke worse than the one that preceded it. Right now it was tickling her tummy in addition to her feet, swirling a soft brush-like device around her sensitive bellybutton while some device scratched lightly across her belly. "...no... no more... hehehe don't tickle me please..."
Her prison was glass - well, a substance that looked like glass to Betty, though if it was that or some other kind of material was uncertain, and completely irrelevant. It was small perhaps twice the size of an average closet, and the machinery for it all was self-contained. On all sides was water, and thus room for the Stewards to come and observe her. Why did they come? What did they gain from watching these humans -so different from their own species in practically every way- to be in this ticklish state? It was unlikely they were even capable of experiencing it themselves, but even so they all spoke perfect English; there was no way for them not to see that this was complete torture for her.
Betty's body trembled with laughter as it found a particularly bad spot on her tummy. “...hehehehe stop that..." She screwed her eyes shut and her jaw dropped open. "Oh stop!" She was answered with a sound that made her despair - another set of tools was powering up. The tickling was about to get even worse. "...plee-hehehe-se... she said. "No more... please no more..." And then, despite it all, she managed to find the strength to scream with laughter.
--------------------------------------------------------------
It was, perhaps, the most terrifying time of the species' existence, the day the first humans were taken. The Stewards issued the explanation a day before to explain: every human female between twenty and sixty would at some point need to spend one year on board the Stewards' ships. They would not be harmed or abused, they would not be forced to service anyone or be treated with disrespect, but the nature of the time would not be discussed, and it was not open to debate. One hundred million women vanished the following day. There was no pattern, and there was no regard for individuality. Housewives, mothers, college students, anyone; race, religion, background, wealth were all non-factors. American President Jane Morris was among them, as was the Indian prime minister and the wife of the Cuban Premiere, but other female leaders weren't taken. The popular serial "All Of Us" had to go on hiatus because a third of the female cast including the lead was taken. The CFO's of Time-Warner and Mahatshut, Inc. never had the chance to get their affairs in order. No one did.
There was panic, there was outrage, and for the first time, violence. The Vice President ordered an attack on one of the Steward's ships to try to force the release of the Commander-In-Chief. It accomplished nothing; the ships were completely impenetrable, and cooler heads prevented the use of weapons of mass destruction, especially as the Stewards all the while begged for the hostilities to cease and never fired a single shot or took a single hostile response. They insisted that nothing was wrong, and that those taken would be returned unharmed as stated. Any negotiations on the point failed - no one was allowed to see or speak with those taken, none were returned.
Humanity was left to wait, and to wonder whether it had all been lies.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Betty was stuck in the timeless limbo that the tickling left her in. Each second passed like tree sap on a cold northern day, and was just as all-consuming as that bitter chill would be. She was getting tickled everywhere now, without respite and without hope for a break. Some areas would come to her attention more readily at times. For example, the scratching all throughout her armpits was driving her to strain to lower her arms and escape, but it just seemed to draw any hope of resistance out of her. They scratched and skittered and tickled with ruthless precision so that it felt like there wasn't a single spot in her pits that wasn't getting it at that moment.
Despite the ordeal, Betty somehow knew they were still watching, watching the human laugh and struggle as she had all the days before, even though she knew it was hopeless. She couldn't contain her scorn for them and roared occasionally just to have a way to vent her hatred for them, though under the circumstances it just sounded like insane laughter rather than anything else. What are you looking at?! she thought with fury. What are you looking at?!!!
Somehow, an answer came to her. It wasn't them, she knew that much. The Stewards weren't telepathic, and she could tell the answer had come from within, but it came so suddenly and so certainly that for a moment she forgot all of it, even the intense tickling of her armpits.
They don't know what they're looking at. That's why they're watching.
--------------------------------------------------------------
One year later, to the day, all those taken returned home. They were completely unaffected by the experience, in fact, they could remember nothing. They tried their best to get on with their lives, though it wasn't easy with the many questions. Another one hundred million had been taken the very same day, and those who'd not been directly touched until now sought comfort. The returnees could offer little. Those few who managed to come up with anything all said just one thing.
The stewards were looking for something.
--------------------------------------------------------------
There was a hiss. Even with her screams of laughter, Betty heard it loud and clear, because she knew what would follow. They hadn't used it on her the first couple weeks, but after that they'd been injecting her with some kind of drug. Her senses and her thinking sharpened, so that she was both more ticklish AND more aware of just how much more ticklish she was. It was like each stroke and touch across her body was a distinct voice, and she could make out each thing it was saying to her despite all the other voices speaking at the same time. She felt the slow, even strokes along her behind as a feathery tip traced her curves. She felt the grip of some tool that was kneading her left inner thigh. She felt the tool pinching and rolling her right nipple. She felt claws digging into her ribcage on the left side. She felt the little scratching touch behind her left knee. She felt all those and dozens more, all tickling her at once with the tactile equivalence of a noonday sun. It was absolutely overwhelming, and she laughed so hard she thought she'd pass out.
And yet, she had the answer come again. They watched her the same way they'd watched all the others, billions of human women over the years. But they were here, now, because of one important deviation...
Betty was the first person to remember the day before.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Betty had been eight when her mother had been taken. It had not been a good year for her. She'd developed a strong hatred for the Stewards that loomed above, swooping in and playing with her life - ruining it without the slightest care. She was so angry at them, angry at the way her father had to try to keep the family together without her, angry at the way her older brother would cry sometimes instead of being strong for her. Angry because she knew that one day they'd take her too, and she'd have no say in the matter. She was just a thing to them, just like all people were, and whatever gifts they'd brought they were not friends to her, she knew that much.
Her mother returned, and things weren't easy. She, like everyone else, knew nothing of what had happened. For her, it was as if the past year hadn't happened, while all around her people were trying to come to terms with all of it.
February 26 was the day every year it happened. For the next twelve years, Betty would curse the day on its arrival and glare with hate at the squid overhead.
When she was twenty, she was taken.
--------------------------------------------------------------
"HAHAHAHA! I CAN'T TAKE ANY MORE!" Betty begged. "PLEASE STOP! WA-HAHAHAHA!!!!" It was everywhere, as if every spot on her body was getting tickled at once. It was worse than it'd ever been, driving her mad in quite a literal sense. She could tell, the way she kept hearing those strange thoughts of hers. There was no other explanation, because she could tell they were her own, but they were nothing like her. They were here to watch her get tickled into insanity, that was all. She laughed and fought and writhed but her poor body wasn't going to find any way to reach freedom. They would just keep on tickling her until she just lost her mind. She hated them, HATED! She wished she had the power to destroy them all! She wished she had a way to get out of this thing! She wished she could end this mistreatment of her people forever! Anything! JUST - MAKE - IT - STOP!
And then it did.
What happened was impossible to fully put into words. Someone without experience would fall on the tired cliché of a curtain lifting or some such rot. It was nothing like that. Instead, it was like she'd been totally fall-on-my-face drunk and in an instant became sober, except she realized that she'd been drunk all her life. She was, for the first time, thinking with her full mind, everything, and in an instant she understood.
Science fiction had been wrong. Earth was the exception, not the norm. The norm was the Stewards, aquatic life that took a billion years to achieve what humanity had accomplished in one thousandth of the time. The Earth had many complex ecosystems and with so much space life on this planet had been pushed to a break-neck speed. Evolution was happening so rapidly here that the brain was developing faster than the ability to use it could keep up. Had it not been for that, gerbils could have been sentient, but instead the woefully inefficient way continued so that the brain had become relatively enormous. It was, perhaps, the funniest irony, that for so long humans thought of aliens with swollen brains arriving, when all along the ones with the massive brains had already been here.
Fully-tapped into her mind, Betty finally knew it all. It was more than just intellect, her mind could see beyond the limits of her flesh, across the depths of space and even the reaches of time. It was how she knew what had happened. The Stewards were here for one reason and one reason only, to begin the ascendancy of mankind so that it could use its full potential. With that, the human race would become a force for benevolence across space, protecting the weak and helping the needy, leading as the Stewards had led them. Humanity wouldn't rule space, but they would conquer it by being there and showing the way. They would be the ones looked to, and-
Betty turned her attention to the walls of the cage; she'd released herself from the device with the same command she'd used to end her torment. She saw the Stewards with her mind's eye. Thousands, tens of thousands, they surrounded her on all sides. And they knew... they knew she was what they'd been looking for all this time. The first... the first to reach the pinnacle, and the one who would in turn reach into the minds of the rest of humanity and complete their ascendancy to the same level. She was the First Among Equals the Stewards had spoken of... and they were her loyal servants, proud that they had been given the great honor of aiding her rise and in time serving as humanity's agents. That was why they were the Stewards - they were only holding this place temporarily until the true rulers came. The first had arrived, and their postures were those of reverence... to them, this was a religious experience.
But the work wasn't over; already she knew the momentary effect was wearing off, and she'd be trapped in her sorry state. But it would come again, she knew that as well. It wasn't going to be easy, but once the wall was broken down for good she would find another, and she could raise them up without the need to be driven to it as she had been. It would be simple, and then the two of them would find another each, and so on, doubling in number rapidly. After all, eight billion people, that was just the simple math of the logarithm of that (approximately 9.90309 she calculated) divided by the log of 2, which would be 32.897, or less than thirty-three iterations. That wouldn't take long. "You will help me," she said to the Stewards. "As you already have. And I thank you for your diligence, my servants. Would that I could have told you more of whom I was - human female clearly was too vague and has caused much unneeded scorn. But with all births there will come the pangs of labor, and I know when we have been delivered the pain shall be forgotten."
Betty screwed her eyes shut and tried, but it was all slipping through her mental fingers. "I- I need you-" She sighed. "I'm sorry," she said. "It's gone. "
"It will return," the Steward who'd attended her assured her.
Betty nodded. "Yes, it will. You can let the others go back, direct your efforts towards me. In time, the wall will be down for good."
"Yes, ma'am," the Steward said. "Of course-"
"I know," she said, "I saw, and that I most assuredly will remember." She sighed wearily. "Starting now... it's really going to tickle."
Betty opened her eyes, though it was only because that's what she had done her whole life when awakening. There was nothing here to really see, and what little she could was unpleasant to look at.
Somehow, despite being in this timeless situation, she knew the days. There had been 247 of them so far; that left quite a number still to come, and the thought drove her to despair. It was magnified as she heard the sound of the machinery powering up. She closed her eyes, as if that could make them go away, but in this place of shadows her ears had become a second set of eyes, and she could tell with precision what was happening. But the truth was, it wasn't the machinery she was trying to avoid seeing. It was them... they were watching her. Betty couldn't stand to look at them, couldn't stomach the bile that rose at the glimpses of them. The fact that they watched her bare body writhing in this ticklish agony day after day told her she'd been right all along. They were monsters, and no matter what anyone thought, the world would be better if they just went back to their own planet for good!
But there was no more room to think now. The power up was complete, and the machinery began its task. And immediately, Betty was screaming with laughter while the aliens watched.
--------------------------------------------------------------
In 2053, aliens conquered planet Earth. It was, all told, the most unusual conquest imaginable. They fired no weapons, made no threats. They were there. They didn't ask anyone to take them to their leader.
Mankind watched them for a while in quiet terror, despite the fact that the only message the conquerors gave was that they would harm no one. Despite all of that, they were still the rulers of Earth, because when they spoke, they were obeyed. The sight of their massive, looming ships hovering over planet Earth was enough for that. Imagination filled in the blanks far more effectively than any show of strength ever could.
Perhaps the oddest part was that they acted like neither despot nor friend. They gave mankind things like a wonderful benefactor, like cures to diseases and new ways of performing surgery, so that people could live healthier and longer. They taught a simple means to remove salt from seawater using less energy than you found warming the ground on a sunny day - with that, even the poorest countries on Earth could make the deserts bloom, and hunger became a thing of the past. They spoke to engineers about better ways to produce materials, complex alloys and advanced ceramics, so that production became cheaper and goods lasted longer. They advised authorities on threats that were hidden from human eyes, like a small nuclear weapon in the hands of a radical group, so that no one was harmed. In return, they said that the weapon was to be confiscated and the people released; force would not be permitted against them any more than they had been allowed to use it in the first place. And in those lights, they did seem like benefactors, but they remained distant figures; they never acted like they were a friend.
They were called the Stewards, and they controlled the destiny of humanity.
--------------------------------------------------------------
"NO!!!" Betty screamed. "PLEASE STOOOHAHAHAHA-P!"
There were bands around her wrists and ankle, each pulling in a different direction, so that Betty was left spread-eagle while floating in the air. She couldn't budge, and that made it simple for the machinery that shared this glass cage with her to do its work, which was to tickle her from the time she awoke until the time she passed into blissful sleep.
It was still only the first hour, so Betty still had the strength to scream. As they feathered all over her feet, she wailed with laughter. They always started there, probably to wear her down more quickly for the real events. She did her best, tried to resist in the name of humanity, to defy the Stewards in some small way. But her toes were firmly held, and little wispy touches slid between them, running along the sides and teasing the bases, then lightly stroking the bottoms. She fought, but it was the fight of someone who knew they'd already lost. She tried to twist out of the grip, but it wasn't happening, any more than the bonds would give under her efforts.
"GET AWAY! HAHAHAHA!" They were scratching along her insteps now, a really bad spot for her. Betty wept with laughter and was sure she was so flush she probably glowed in this low light. That would be something for them to see, she thought with venom, out beyond the walls, watching her. She opened her eyes; one was floating nearby, close enough that she could make out its horrible features. Despite the tickling she turned and cursed at it so vilely that the Steward swam off, though she knew it probably wasn't far, and that there were far more she couldn't see that were still watching with that huge cyclopean eye of theirs. For the thousandth time, as she felt the tickling grow even more intense, she wondered why they watched her so.
--------------------------------------------------------------
The Stewards were not like mankind. They'd evolved on a moon of water, heated by geothermal energy and blocked off from the stars by ice. They bore a passing similarity to a squid, though their bodies were the size of a small child. Their brains had to be small to fit inside those bodies, but yet they clearly thought on levels no human could ever hope to achieve, and they seemed to understand human nature better than most people did.
They always spoke remotely, since humans were air-breathers and the waters for the Steward's ships far too cold for them to visit. They were always polite, always respectful, but again, never familiar. It wasn't like a friend, or even a watchful parent. Some said it was like a gardener, who may do the work with care without growing attached to the plants. Some feared this approach, taking it to a horrifying conclusion of mankind as a domesticated animal, to ultimately be a source of food or labor. However, when the subject was delicately brought to the Stewards attention, the response was nothing less than stunned horror. The Stewards would never harm a single person - such was the nature of their purpose here.
Given the opportunity the comment had presented, the ambassadors of Earth broached the topic again of just what their purpose was then. If it wasn't to harvest, and it wasn't to befriend, then why were they here. Again, the Stewards would not answer; they had been told by the First Among Equals not to say why, but they assured mankind that no harm would ever be intended.
A month later, the first humans were taken.
--------------------------------------------------------------
"...please stop please..." Betty said in a barely audible tone. This was hour three, and her strength had left her some time ago. Still she laughed, but it was weak, sometimes silent. It didn't change anything, however - she was still just as ticklish as before, still pushed far beyond her limits. She was left to just suffer through the horrible tickling ordeal until the day finally ended, but it was so hard. Every day was harder than the last, every stroke worse than the one that preceded it. Right now it was tickling her tummy in addition to her feet, swirling a soft brush-like device around her sensitive bellybutton while some device scratched lightly across her belly. "...no... no more... hehehe don't tickle me please..."
Her prison was glass - well, a substance that looked like glass to Betty, though if it was that or some other kind of material was uncertain, and completely irrelevant. It was small perhaps twice the size of an average closet, and the machinery for it all was self-contained. On all sides was water, and thus room for the Stewards to come and observe her. Why did they come? What did they gain from watching these humans -so different from their own species in practically every way- to be in this ticklish state? It was unlikely they were even capable of experiencing it themselves, but even so they all spoke perfect English; there was no way for them not to see that this was complete torture for her.
Betty's body trembled with laughter as it found a particularly bad spot on her tummy. “...hehehehe stop that..." She screwed her eyes shut and her jaw dropped open. "Oh stop!" She was answered with a sound that made her despair - another set of tools was powering up. The tickling was about to get even worse. "...plee-hehehe-se... she said. "No more... please no more..." And then, despite it all, she managed to find the strength to scream with laughter.
--------------------------------------------------------------
It was, perhaps, the most terrifying time of the species' existence, the day the first humans were taken. The Stewards issued the explanation a day before to explain: every human female between twenty and sixty would at some point need to spend one year on board the Stewards' ships. They would not be harmed or abused, they would not be forced to service anyone or be treated with disrespect, but the nature of the time would not be discussed, and it was not open to debate. One hundred million women vanished the following day. There was no pattern, and there was no regard for individuality. Housewives, mothers, college students, anyone; race, religion, background, wealth were all non-factors. American President Jane Morris was among them, as was the Indian prime minister and the wife of the Cuban Premiere, but other female leaders weren't taken. The popular serial "All Of Us" had to go on hiatus because a third of the female cast including the lead was taken. The CFO's of Time-Warner and Mahatshut, Inc. never had the chance to get their affairs in order. No one did.
There was panic, there was outrage, and for the first time, violence. The Vice President ordered an attack on one of the Steward's ships to try to force the release of the Commander-In-Chief. It accomplished nothing; the ships were completely impenetrable, and cooler heads prevented the use of weapons of mass destruction, especially as the Stewards all the while begged for the hostilities to cease and never fired a single shot or took a single hostile response. They insisted that nothing was wrong, and that those taken would be returned unharmed as stated. Any negotiations on the point failed - no one was allowed to see or speak with those taken, none were returned.
Humanity was left to wait, and to wonder whether it had all been lies.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Betty was stuck in the timeless limbo that the tickling left her in. Each second passed like tree sap on a cold northern day, and was just as all-consuming as that bitter chill would be. She was getting tickled everywhere now, without respite and without hope for a break. Some areas would come to her attention more readily at times. For example, the scratching all throughout her armpits was driving her to strain to lower her arms and escape, but it just seemed to draw any hope of resistance out of her. They scratched and skittered and tickled with ruthless precision so that it felt like there wasn't a single spot in her pits that wasn't getting it at that moment.
Despite the ordeal, Betty somehow knew they were still watching, watching the human laugh and struggle as she had all the days before, even though she knew it was hopeless. She couldn't contain her scorn for them and roared occasionally just to have a way to vent her hatred for them, though under the circumstances it just sounded like insane laughter rather than anything else. What are you looking at?! she thought with fury. What are you looking at?!!!
Somehow, an answer came to her. It wasn't them, she knew that much. The Stewards weren't telepathic, and she could tell the answer had come from within, but it came so suddenly and so certainly that for a moment she forgot all of it, even the intense tickling of her armpits.
They don't know what they're looking at. That's why they're watching.
--------------------------------------------------------------
One year later, to the day, all those taken returned home. They were completely unaffected by the experience, in fact, they could remember nothing. They tried their best to get on with their lives, though it wasn't easy with the many questions. Another one hundred million had been taken the very same day, and those who'd not been directly touched until now sought comfort. The returnees could offer little. Those few who managed to come up with anything all said just one thing.
The stewards were looking for something.
--------------------------------------------------------------
There was a hiss. Even with her screams of laughter, Betty heard it loud and clear, because she knew what would follow. They hadn't used it on her the first couple weeks, but after that they'd been injecting her with some kind of drug. Her senses and her thinking sharpened, so that she was both more ticklish AND more aware of just how much more ticklish she was. It was like each stroke and touch across her body was a distinct voice, and she could make out each thing it was saying to her despite all the other voices speaking at the same time. She felt the slow, even strokes along her behind as a feathery tip traced her curves. She felt the grip of some tool that was kneading her left inner thigh. She felt the tool pinching and rolling her right nipple. She felt claws digging into her ribcage on the left side. She felt the little scratching touch behind her left knee. She felt all those and dozens more, all tickling her at once with the tactile equivalence of a noonday sun. It was absolutely overwhelming, and she laughed so hard she thought she'd pass out.
And yet, she had the answer come again. They watched her the same way they'd watched all the others, billions of human women over the years. But they were here, now, because of one important deviation...
Betty was the first person to remember the day before.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Betty had been eight when her mother had been taken. It had not been a good year for her. She'd developed a strong hatred for the Stewards that loomed above, swooping in and playing with her life - ruining it without the slightest care. She was so angry at them, angry at the way her father had to try to keep the family together without her, angry at the way her older brother would cry sometimes instead of being strong for her. Angry because she knew that one day they'd take her too, and she'd have no say in the matter. She was just a thing to them, just like all people were, and whatever gifts they'd brought they were not friends to her, she knew that much.
Her mother returned, and things weren't easy. She, like everyone else, knew nothing of what had happened. For her, it was as if the past year hadn't happened, while all around her people were trying to come to terms with all of it.
February 26 was the day every year it happened. For the next twelve years, Betty would curse the day on its arrival and glare with hate at the squid overhead.
When she was twenty, she was taken.
--------------------------------------------------------------
"HAHAHAHA! I CAN'T TAKE ANY MORE!" Betty begged. "PLEASE STOP! WA-HAHAHAHA!!!!" It was everywhere, as if every spot on her body was getting tickled at once. It was worse than it'd ever been, driving her mad in quite a literal sense. She could tell, the way she kept hearing those strange thoughts of hers. There was no other explanation, because she could tell they were her own, but they were nothing like her. They were here to watch her get tickled into insanity, that was all. She laughed and fought and writhed but her poor body wasn't going to find any way to reach freedom. They would just keep on tickling her until she just lost her mind. She hated them, HATED! She wished she had the power to destroy them all! She wished she had a way to get out of this thing! She wished she could end this mistreatment of her people forever! Anything! JUST - MAKE - IT - STOP!
And then it did.
What happened was impossible to fully put into words. Someone without experience would fall on the tired cliché of a curtain lifting or some such rot. It was nothing like that. Instead, it was like she'd been totally fall-on-my-face drunk and in an instant became sober, except she realized that she'd been drunk all her life. She was, for the first time, thinking with her full mind, everything, and in an instant she understood.
Science fiction had been wrong. Earth was the exception, not the norm. The norm was the Stewards, aquatic life that took a billion years to achieve what humanity had accomplished in one thousandth of the time. The Earth had many complex ecosystems and with so much space life on this planet had been pushed to a break-neck speed. Evolution was happening so rapidly here that the brain was developing faster than the ability to use it could keep up. Had it not been for that, gerbils could have been sentient, but instead the woefully inefficient way continued so that the brain had become relatively enormous. It was, perhaps, the funniest irony, that for so long humans thought of aliens with swollen brains arriving, when all along the ones with the massive brains had already been here.
Fully-tapped into her mind, Betty finally knew it all. It was more than just intellect, her mind could see beyond the limits of her flesh, across the depths of space and even the reaches of time. It was how she knew what had happened. The Stewards were here for one reason and one reason only, to begin the ascendancy of mankind so that it could use its full potential. With that, the human race would become a force for benevolence across space, protecting the weak and helping the needy, leading as the Stewards had led them. Humanity wouldn't rule space, but they would conquer it by being there and showing the way. They would be the ones looked to, and-
Betty turned her attention to the walls of the cage; she'd released herself from the device with the same command she'd used to end her torment. She saw the Stewards with her mind's eye. Thousands, tens of thousands, they surrounded her on all sides. And they knew... they knew she was what they'd been looking for all this time. The first... the first to reach the pinnacle, and the one who would in turn reach into the minds of the rest of humanity and complete their ascendancy to the same level. She was the First Among Equals the Stewards had spoken of... and they were her loyal servants, proud that they had been given the great honor of aiding her rise and in time serving as humanity's agents. That was why they were the Stewards - they were only holding this place temporarily until the true rulers came. The first had arrived, and their postures were those of reverence... to them, this was a religious experience.
But the work wasn't over; already she knew the momentary effect was wearing off, and she'd be trapped in her sorry state. But it would come again, she knew that as well. It wasn't going to be easy, but once the wall was broken down for good she would find another, and she could raise them up without the need to be driven to it as she had been. It would be simple, and then the two of them would find another each, and so on, doubling in number rapidly. After all, eight billion people, that was just the simple math of the logarithm of that (approximately 9.90309 she calculated) divided by the log of 2, which would be 32.897, or less than thirty-three iterations. That wouldn't take long. "You will help me," she said to the Stewards. "As you already have. And I thank you for your diligence, my servants. Would that I could have told you more of whom I was - human female clearly was too vague and has caused much unneeded scorn. But with all births there will come the pangs of labor, and I know when we have been delivered the pain shall be forgotten."
Betty screwed her eyes shut and tried, but it was all slipping through her mental fingers. "I- I need you-" She sighed. "I'm sorry," she said. "It's gone. "
"It will return," the Steward who'd attended her assured her.
Betty nodded. "Yes, it will. You can let the others go back, direct your efforts towards me. In time, the wall will be down for good."
"Yes, ma'am," the Steward said. "Of course-"
"I know," she said, "I saw, and that I most assuredly will remember." She sighed wearily. "Starting now... it's really going to tickle."
.
