Aurelie questions the new slaves

Something in the way Captain Stone spoke made Aurelie uneasy. It was his spiteful tone and his degrading choice of words. That was probably authentic, fitting to the period, but still, they were modern persons who came aboard to enjoy themselves recreating the ambiance of the past. The Captain needed such volunteers to have a functional ship, or he would have to rely to a modern engine. The redhead did not say anything, though, but the pout on her face and the winces she had whenever he called them "stock" or "slaves" testified of her thoughts. Certainly, in the old days, slaves must have been seen like goods, or machines… but there had also been a number of humanists who saw them as human beings, even when they admitted slavery was necessary to commerce.

A posteriori she was glad to have chosen the pirate queen outfit. That would give her the moral authority to change a few things, she might impress the notion of treating the "slaves" with more humanity. At the very least that would bring it to everyone's attention and that simple fact might already improve the situation.

More surprises slapped her in the face as she entered the doctor's cabin. It looked more like a **** chamber than an officine and she began to wonder what the "processing" involved. However, the strongest shock came when the two new slaves were ushered through the door.

Aurelie had expected, almost looked forward, to see a pair of muscular men scantily clothed but what she saw were two stark naked young women, filthy and dishevelled, covered in sweat. The only thing that showed they came from the modern society was that they were well nourished, even slightly plump for one of them. Aurelie was voiceless as they passed in front of her but when she saw their backs, marked with criss-crossed whip marks, she could not suppress an exclamation of shock.

Aurelie was not a militant feminist but she had a strong sense of her worth, she was intimately convinced that women and men were equals. The fact that women could be treated like those two was at the opposite of what she believed. That was also the first breach in the authenticity of the reenactment. In past days, the rowers had always been male slaves. Using female ones could only have one meaning: that was to humiliate women, or at the very least, to satisfy men's lowest instincts. She felt anger and indignation boil inside her but she controlled herself. She was here as a journalist, not as a judge. She would endeavour to look at and report everything with a neutral point of view and leave to her readership the task to assess whether that was right or wrong.

Already the two women had been locked in the sturdy pillories. The massive contraptions kept their head and wrists trapped in stocks and **** them to bend at right angle at the waist. One of them tried to get on her knees to ease the back-straining posture but immediately found that the height of her pillory was such that her knees could not reach the floor. That left her in a rather difficult predicament.

The two girls looked at her with puzzled expressions but did not dare to talk to her. Aurelie approached a stool and sat in front of them, so that their faces would all be about the same level.

"A good day to you, miladies. I'm sorry that you apparently have to be in such a straining position but we all have to obey the Captain's orders, don't we? However, he has encouraged me to interview you while you are introduced into your new roles. First, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Aurelie and shall accompany this voyage and report it to my blog and to specialised magazines."

At that point she pulled her camera out of her bag.

"Do you authorize me to take pictures of you? I can anonymize them before publication, if you so desire, " she asked them.

The two girls anxiously glanced at the doctor, and then nodded. Aurelie took a few pictures, trying to find angles that would not show too much of their bare breasts, which were hanging pendulously under their torso. She remarked at that point that they too had been whipped. Those girls had to be real masochists.

"Great! Now, could you please tell me your names and explain me why you have chosen to be slaves in this galley, and what you think of that experience."

Aurelie took a notepad and a pen from her leather bag and got ready to take notes.