Woman's World

In the 21stcentury a pandemic disproportionately affected men, targeting a gene on the Y chromosome. Some men were symptomless, but their fertility halved. In particular, they mainly had daughters.

Chaos ensued. Wars, starvation, and the collapse of industrial society.

Two hundred years later, population had plummeted, and for all practical purposes was female. The air was cleaner and the climate had stabilized. Wildlife occupied once great cities. Great whales roamed seas full of fish. It was not difficult to organize society so that people were fed and healthy. The few men had only one task.

CHAPTER 1

But on a group of Pacific Islands, a mutation occurred. It was mainly boys who survived. About 11 to 12 for every girl. Therefore on average each woman had to have at least 12 children to maintain the population. And as many men as possible wanted to have their chance in the genetic lottery.

A few women had 20 children. More died in childbirth after only a few. If there were complications or infections there was little the midwives could do. Caesareans were sometimes carried out, but only as that last resort, as the death rate for the mother was high. Deformed or sickly boys were quietly smothered. The average was less than that needed to replace females. The population slowly dwindled until only two islands were occupied, a large one for men and smaller one for women. They were referred to as His Island and Her Island, eventually just His and Her. So far as they knew, they were the whole of the human race.

His island was a bit like a prison community. There were no women, but there was sex, including rape. Seeing two friends wanking each other was quite an ordinary sight, but sucking off and fucking tended to be private. It was mostly consensual, but not always; either a demonstration of dominance, or a man needing a favour and having nothing but himself to offer. Most men had just their hand or didn't bother to think about it most of the time. Women were just not seen, and it was impolite to talk about them.

There was no money but there were possessions, so theft and damage could still occur, and without the calming effect of women as wives, mothers and daughters, it was an aggressive society. A council of elders provided limited order with a police force consisting of men with sticks. Most crimes met summary justice at the hands and sticks of the police. Only rarely were they taken to the council of elders. There was no prison. Why keep a man from working? Men would beg to be beaten rather than appear before the council, as their punishment was the removal of one testicle. Men usually survived the procedure since the castration of livestock was routine, and for most purposes the men were unchanged, once they had healed up. Second serious offences were rare, but not unknown, so there were occasional eunuchs.

The power of the council lay mainly in the fact that they chose men to go to the women's island to try to make a baby. The police officers were paid in food and regular visits to the women's island, to fuck older women. Without money there were still opportunities for bribery. A rare but favourite fish, for example; a fine goat or cockerel; clothes or household items. Occasionally fishermen would bring up items from earlier times to give to a councillor.

While things between adult men were often aggressive, boys were treated with the greatest care. Hundreds of empty huts showed how the population was slowly but surely declining. A boy might get a slap from his father, but anything more risked an appearance before the council.

Her island was a bit like a nunnery. One in which the nuns were fucked a lot, with no choice in the matter. It was a calmer, more intellectual society. Girls were educated and (unlike boys) learned to read and write, on paper they made themselves. They also learned medical skills, particularly with regard to pregnancy, childbirth and after, with what were effectively handwritten books that needed to be copied regularly, as they did not last in the tropical climate. Depending on talents and interests, some became skilled surgeons, others midwives, while some prepared material for pain relief, disinfection, and herbal remedies. The wisest older women were given the title of doctor. While they did not have medical diagnostic equipment, they had stainless steel vessels and tools from before the pandemic, and knew how to sterilise with boiling water. They also grew plants and kept chickens and goats, and gathered birds' eggs, shellfish and some fish from the shore. There were pigs on the men's island, but they were dangerous animals so had been eliminated on Her island. Instead, part carcases were brought over. The men had dogs for both meat and companionship, but traditionally dogmeat was just for men. The dogs kept down the rats on His island, while cats did the same on Her island.

Older women with spears kept a constant lookout, but no man had tried to invade within living memory. There were stories of gangs of men coming there in the past, with girls being killed - the greatest fear of all.

On Her island there was only one safe passage through the reef and one good beach. Beside the landing place was the fucking hut. Women past the menopause would be fucked here, by men delivering food or goods, in this way paying for the service. The women were reluctant volunteers for this necessary social duty, which was not given for every delivery, just occasionally for regulars or for something special.

Women from the age of eighteen until the menopause were fucked for twelve days every period cycle until they became pregnant. The council nominated four men to do this for each woman, taking it in turns, one per day, in another hut called the marriage hut (though no-one knew what the word marriage meant.) Each man brought food for himself and the woman at sunset, then had the hours of darkness to fuck her as many times as he could. In the morning, he paddled the special canoe back to His island, to be used by the next man at sunset. It was distinctive and only used for this purpose.

Young men, and those of good physical type were preferred, who should also be those of good behaviour. However, the system could be manipulated by men of greater influence. The unluckiest got her pregnant in the first cycle, and had to wait to learn of the outcome. Lucky ones would have up to six cycles before being replaced by another group. The islanders knew it was the sperm which determined the sex of a baby, so a group who produced a girl could expect some more chances. A stillbirth or the death of the woman put them to the back of the queue.

CHAPTER 2

"I'm sorry, it's a boy."

The words Sh'ua was dreading. Another boy.

"Can I hold him, please?" she begged. The midwife was kind.

"Well, I shouldn't, but go on," she said, and handed the little bundle over.

"I'm just going to the latrine," she said, and left them alone.

When the midwife returned the baby was fastened onto a nipple and Sh'ua was crying softly.

"Just a few more minutes," she begged.

The midwife opened the door and looked out.

"All right, just a bit more."

When they heard a sound outside, the midwife quickly took the baby, who started to cry.

Sh'ua's heart broke, as it had done many times before, as the doctor came in to check them both.

This was her twelfth boy. There had been three miscarriages and a precious girl stillborn.

The boy was taken away, to make sure no bond was formed. He would be fed on a goat's milk mixture, like every other boy. Sh'ua's milk would come, but no-one would drink it, and eventually it would dry up, and she would be fucked again. And again and again, until there was another pregnancy, or the lack of periods meant she was finished as a mother. At her age it was likely that it would be very soon.

Once the boy was weaned, he would be transferred to His island, for his father to bring up. Once he was walking and talking well enough (so they knew he was not handicapped) the father would be given another chance to get a woman pregnant. Once more when the boy reached puberty and ejaculated. Unless he had influence or made deliveries, that was all he got.

The midwife understood her pain. She was past the menopause, and now released from the obligation to submit herself to men she did not know and bear as many children as possible. She had been lucky. Her fifth child was a girl and she had had two years of heaven, suckling her daughter until she was forced to have sex with several men until she got pregnant again. But she endured the agony when her daughter was eighteen and pronounced fit to breed, and both of them cried together for so many nights.

CHAPTER 3

Temu was fishing with his father, also called Temu. The older Temu may or may not have been his biological father since he was one of four who had fucked Temu's mother until she got pregnant. But the councillors had looked at the baby and looked at the men, and declared Temu that was the father and Temu was the name.

The older Temu had no other children and little chance of another. He was what they called a single man, having appeared before council.

He was, however, an excellent fisherman and navigator, and was highly respected for the contribution he made to the food supply. There were men who were prepared to let him fuck them. However he was mostly sucked off by his son, a duty since the boy became eighteen.

Young Temu did not like sucking off his father. Once he was twenty-one, he would no longer be obliged. He would suck off men only if he wanted. The councillors explained it as tradition, something a boy had to learn in order to pay respect to senior men, starting with his father. Many boys didn't like it, but when they had sons seemed to regard it as necessary. Socially, many found it a tolerable alternative to being raped by a dominant man.

Maybe he would let his cousin Adta fuck him if he could fuck Adta in turn. But first, before that, he was going to get a real fuck. With a woman. One more weekly fishing trip and then he would be twenty-one and get every man's dream. Of course this was dependent on his father reporting to council that he had done his cocksucking duty.

The council had long ago decided that every man should get the chance to be a father at least once, so it was arranged as soon as possible after his twenty-first birthday. Taking his turn with three other men for up to six cycles. (Providing he had not committed a serious crime and had nothing physically or mentally wrong with him which might affect a baby.) There were so few women, the council could not guarantee more.

There were two canoes for the fishing trip, the other one with a young and an old Adta. It had been two days of hard paddling, following the best currents and via an uninhabited island. But once their nets were full and loaded, it would be less than half a day under sail to get back home under the prevailing wind, and most of the catch would still be alive or fresh, to be eaten or smoked. It was the furthest, but the best fishing ground, while the wind direction held.

The two canoes were just spreading the net between them when Temu noticed something.

"A sail!" he cried.

"You're seeing things!" his father said, looking around with less sharp eyes.

"A sail!" called the young Adta, and pointed.

To the open ocean, opposite to the way they had come. Where there were no islands, no people. It was impossible.

As it got closer, they could see it was not one of their community's boats, but was being sailed expertly towards them. It had twin hulls instead of an outrigger like their canoes.

"I see women!" called out young Adta.

"You wish," said his father, with a smile and a friendly cuff.

Then he dropped the net in surprise, and the two canoes hurried to retrieve it. The senior men quickly decided to haul it in with whatever fish it had, which was not many.

The two groups called out to each other, but could not understand, so the canoes unfurled their sails and set out for the uninhabited island, with the strangers following.

On the island, seven people got out, a man and six women. The man approached them, so was obviously in charge. The two older men felt very important at this wonderful encounter, and began greet him, talking over each other. Six women! A gift from the gods!

The two younger men went and looked at the women in nervous wonder. The women smiled to see two fine young men. One of them started drawing in the sand. She drew some huts and some people, pointed at herself then the direction they had come from. She pointed at them and then into the island and looked enquiringly.

Temu shook his head and pointed over the sea towards home. The women looked disappointed, but talked in their strange language. Having come to some decision, four put down some cloths and lay on them with their legs and arms open wide. Temu could see they were the youngest, though he had only ever seen a glimpse of a woman when he accompanied his father to deliver to Her island. They were more muscled than he had been told, obviously used to paddling like any man.

Neither of the two older men had had any success in communicating with the stranger, though talking over each other might not have helped. Temu's father gave up, and left it to Adte's.

"Come on, son!" he said, marching towards this inviting sight.

So Temu got his first real fuck. He didn't know it, but the women were all virgins. It was a little clumsy, but both he and she were pleased to have managed it at last. The older men, of course, just got on with it, without any consideration for their partners. The woman he fucked was called Semele, and they managed to communicate their names. Semele kissed and hugged him, which was wonderful. Was it better than a fuck? Probably not, but there was something new and good about it. Young Adte's woman tried to tell him her name and ask his, but he didn't take any notice, just being so pleased with himself.

If it had been up to the senior men, maybe they would have stayed on the island to fuck again later, but the women made it clear they wanted to go to the home island, so they set off.

When they arrived, the beach was all but deserted, as the fishing boats were only expected later in the day. There were a few naked boys playing in the shallows, and the women were excited to see them, and chattered happily to each other. The boys ran off and the women expertly pulled their boat ashore and fixed it safely, while their male companion watched.

Two boys came down pulling a bearded old man, whose mouth opened in astonishment, before hurrying as fast as he could back to the huts on top of the rise.

The whole group started walking up to the huts, the older Adte talking loudly to the stranger man, still trying to communicate. Shyly, Semele took Temu's hand, and he felt an unusual joy. Some men started appearing around the huts, and a few started walking towards them. They shouted out and started running.

Then there was a crowd, all talking. Temu was flung to one side and Semele was thrown onto the ground with a man on top of her. The two fathers tried ineffectually to stop the crowd, who were now fighting to get to the women. Before long, small groups had formed. Three or four would hold off others while waiting their turn to rape.

Temu didn't know the word rape, but he knew it was wrong, and the women could be injured, so he ran off to fetch the police, who were two miles away.

When he arrived Fumeni was there. He was a huge man; a violent criminal, who had twice paid the ultimate price and became a eunuch. Now he was a policeman, able to vent his resentment on others. The loss of his balls had softened him physically, but he was still big and strong with a big stick, so any man with balls had good reason to fear him.

He laughed at Temu as the news was gasped out, and gave him a slap which knocked him sideways. Eventually he was persuaded and with two other policemen, walked slowly down towards the beach with Temu urging him to hurry. When he saw what was happening, he let out a roar, which made many heads turn, then rushed forward. The nimbler men ran off; others felt his stick. A couple of the groups stood their ground for a moment, but not for long as his fellow police joined in with their sticks. Temu's father was trying to sneak off, but Temu ran up to him, which Fumeni saw. Seeing Fumeni beckoning, he trudged reluctantly to him.

"What sort of an idiot are you?" Fumeni roared at him.

"Why didn't you take them to Her?"

"Well, I..."

Fumeni didn't want an answer.

"Reckon you can manage the women's boat? Of course you can. We'll take them there now. They'll need medical attention. Temu, you'd better come with us."

The two Adtes crept slowly up with the male stranger. The older one spoke hesitantly.

"Excuse me, sir. This man was with them. I think he's in charge, but doesn't speak our language."

Fumeni told the other policemen to take him to the chief of police.

The chief eventually discovered that, as well as not speaking any language he could understand, the man was obviously a simpleton. All he could do was mime eating, drinking and fucking. He cried when the chief slapped him in desperation.

They would later find that he had joined the explorers as the man they could most easily spare. If they found no other people and they couldn't get back for any reason, he could start a small colony with the hope that they could link up again someday.

CHAPTER 3

Temu and Fumeni paddled along with two of the injured women, while his father steered. The women were taken to what passed for a hospital, a group of huts including the maternity one. They were bathed and their injuries treated.

While the women were talking, Sh'ua heard them and recognised some familiar sounds, so started singing a lullaby. Several of the women turned towards the sound, and one followed it into her hut. They sang together, and the woman pointed and mimed the actions to show what the words meant, which brought back vague memories for Sh'ua. The word for mother was the same in both languages, and the word for baby was similar.

Sh'ua's mother had died giving birth to her, and a woman who had recently birthed a boy was able to suckle her. It was from her stepmother's mother that the lullaby had come, that in turn from a distant island. The new women's boat had come hundreds of miles before they discovered new people. In a little while they established crude communication, and the doctor went to get paper, quill and ink.

The leader of the women drew a diagram which the doctor understood immediately. It showed an island with a lot of men (cocks) and few women (breasts), another the opposite way round and a series of suns showing how many days it had taken them, with some intermediate islands, where he correctly guessed they could get food and water.

The doctor said that Sh'ua should be given her baby boy back, and should stay in the hospital, to act as a liaison with the new women. They found another woman who recognised the lullaby, and began to share words. Fortunately both groups used the same alphabet, with similar sounds. Together they created the beginnings of a dictionary and a common language.

The leader of the group was Meleke, a tough 56-year-old who had explored all their known islands, which she called Kuki. She was joined by a 35-year-old who had one daughter but felt she had a son inside her, and four virgins in their twenties, who might never have been fucked if they had stayed, and had decided to risk death for the faint chance. They were not prepared for what had happened on their arrival and less so for the response of the Council of Elders.

Supposedly old and wise, they were more like mafia heads. Men who had risen in society, at least in the early days, by well-applied violence by themselves or their fathers, and then strategic alliances with other bullies, acquiring henchmen to do the actual intimidation as they got older, and doing deals over lands, fishing and buildings. There was no money, but some things were more valuable than others, and those who succeeded lived well. Good weatherproof homes, the best meat, fish, fruit and vegetables. And of course, the greatest treasure of all for old men: access to women of childbearing age. Even if some did not actually fuck them, a night in the marriage house was a status symbol. Some preferred sex with men, but nevertheless spent the night as a show.