Chapter 3 Gretel

Chapter 3 Gretel

'''She did have a sister. Her name was Elke and she did remember Elke from when she was still very young.'''

'''Elke,so her family told her had simply vanished one day. '''

'''This was not unusual, Lowmen, especially pretty women were raped and abused by the Lords and then murdered and disposed in the endless oceans. No one openly talked about it of course, but when she started to develop and begun to fill her simple dresses in an appealing way. Her  mother had warned her to keep it hidden as best as she could and she knew about the whispered stories when the women scrubbed hides or stomped them into vats of revolting liquids.'''

'''It was then she also learned that her looks and boobs could be used as means to get things from men. '''

This is how she caught the eye of Isegrim and seduced the foolish brute.

Now she had learned that her sister hid among leather bales  aboard a freight skimmer and escaped in Halstaad Fjord .

'''Elke managed to reach the spaceport and Union Social services provided her with a Non Cit travel permit and a spacebus ticket to Holstein. '''

'''Holstein, so Elke told her was the destination of many Lowmen who managed to leave Nilfeheim. '''

There they could go to Union School and none of them ever looked back.

'''Elke had staid on Holstein and was hired by a dairy farm. '''

After the long GalNet call, Gretel too left Nilfeheim aboard a spacebus.

'''Everything was scary at first. She saw beings that weren’t human. Things that moved and talked. Appearing to her like living nightmares but, no one seemed to even notice. Humans acted as if these monsters were people.'''

But it did not take her long, that no one was afraid and there weren’t  any clan lords anywhere.

The flight to Holstein was short and her sister greeted her with a long hug right after she had landed.

Her sister was a full citizen, even served 22 month as a Union court clerk.

'''Elke used to be hide scrubber just like her,but now was a shift manager at a large industrial farm. Responsible for 20,000 dairy cows and 200 workers.robots and earned 6300 credits every Union month. She owned her own home at the outskirts of Neu Itzehoe, a picturesque town of 300,000 surrounded by rolling hills and meadows full of green grass and light forests.'''

From Elke's veranda there was a wonderful vista across the town and a small space port in the far distance.

Elke was dating a local Manure management engineer and had serious plans to marry and get kids.

'''To Gretel, Elke looked more alien than the non humanoid beings she had seen on the bus. Her sister  did not wear braids but had a modern haircut, with bangs and shoulder long hair. Instead of linen dress, apron and bare feet. She wore a pantsuit, coveralls and short dresses. Wore cute looking shoes  and had her own flyer.'''

'''All this happened now almost a year ago. '''

Gretel too had changed since then, she had gained weight from all the good and seemingly unlimited food and after she was introduced to Virtu Reality she was addicted to it.

'''Elke tried to get her into Union School and a young adult class, but Gretel did not like school. She didn't really like anyone telling her to do things.'''

'''It was a Wednesday and almost exactly a year since she had arrived and she had herself hooked into Dream Maker and enjoyed the carefree, life of a simulated princess. Just as she wanted to join her Avatar friends at a party. The virtual world flickered out of existence and she found herself on the Dream maker couch and her sister standing by the GalNet terminal. Elke's finger still resting on the shut down sensor. "Gretel, we need to talk."'''

'''Gretel blinked. '''

"Could that not wait till later? I was invited to a Bubble tree party."

"No it can't wait. Because I know the horrors and conditions back at Nilfeheim, I let you do whatever you like, but I can't have you stay in Virtu for the rest of your life. I see you didn't go to school again. How do you plan to become a Union Citizen and get work?"

'''Gretel sat up and glared at her sister. "I don't want to learn useless things about other planets and I never want to work again. She couped her breasts. I can get anything I want with these.”'''

"This is not Nilfeheim, Gretel. The Union will provide you with any opportunity and with endless chances to become whatever you want to be, but the Assembly decided long ago that every individual has to work for it. Free loading is simply unfair to all the others that do work."

'''Gretel clenched her fist. "All I want is revenge and kill Volund, kill that blonde Ragnarsson bitch and make every Olafson pay for what they have done to father and the others and for every Hemstaad who had to work like a slave. '''

'''I want to be Isegrims's wife and become a Lady of the Clan and make them all do whatever I say. That is what I want, not learn useless things and become the Lowman slave for another clan chief, you call employer."'''

'''Elke slowly nodded. "I understand that better than you think, little sister, I too had dreams of revenge, but here I am free. I am a woman and equal to men. '''

'''All this I have earned on my own. I need not to ask anyone for anything. This freedom and my new life is more important to me than to brood over revenge. Revenge that would  take me back to that cold world of ours with little chance of success." Elke sighed. "You chose whatever destiny and path you want. I gave you a chance to do the same as I did. Now I am going to sell this house. I have signed a marriage contract with Heinz, my fiancee and we move together. I want kids now and a family of my own.'''

You may change your mind and get on the track of becoming a citizen and a way to support yourself and I will help you with that, or by Sunday you need to find your own way and do whatever you like."

"I will return to Nilfeheim, but not before showing you how grateful I am for what you have done. 

'''Let me show you what the Union Post office delivered this morning. You see I did not reject all schooling and learned quite a lot from GalNet shows." '''

'''Gretel revealed a thin spray bottle and released a faint cloud of liquid mist right into her sisters face. "It's quite illegal so I was told and the Shaill call it Will Bender. It was very expensive and I had to use much of your Credit savings, but it is the next best thing to those fabled Psionics and just as effective."'''

'''Gretel laughed as she stared in the suddenly blank expression of her sisters face. "This stuff will make me the queen of Nilfeheim."'''