“That’s because men had all the power.”
“But you just said somebody would send Tyler a message. Up here, if a man abuses a woman, even threatens to, then the abused woman’s friends take revenge. When was the last time anyone did anything about that?”
“I get it, Erno. That must seem unfair.”
“Men don’t abuse women here.”
“Maybe that’s why.”
“It doesn’t make it right.”
“You’re right, Erno. It doesn’t. I’m on your side.”
Erno sat down on the ledge of the pool surrounding the fountains. The fountains were the pride of the colony: in a conspicuous show of water consumption the pools surrounded the central spire and wandered beneath the park’s trees. Genetically altered carp swam in their green depths, and the air was more humid here than anywhere else under the dome.
Alicia sat next to him. “Remind me why we broke up,” Erno said.
“Things got complicated.” She had said the same thing the night she told him they shouldn’t sleep together anymore. He still didn’t know what that meant, and he suspected she said it only to keep from saying something that might wound him deeply. Much as he wanted to insist that he would prefer her honesty, he wasn’t sure he could stand it.
“I’m going crazy at home,” he told Alicia. “Mother treats me like a child. Lena is starting to act like she’s better than me. I do real work at Biotech, but that doesn’t matter.”
“You’ll be in university soon. You’re a premium gene hacker.”
“Who says?” Erno asked.
“People.”
“Yeah, right. And if I am, I still live at home. I’m going to end up just like Nick,” he said, “the pet male in a household full of females.”
“Maybe something will come of this. Things can change.”
“If only,” Erno said morosely. But he was surprised and gratified to have Alicia’s encouragement. Maybe she cared for him after all. “There’s one thing, Alicia… I could move in with you.”
Alicia raised an eyebrow. He pressed on. “Like you say, I’ll be studying at the university next session…”
She put her hand on his leg. “There’s not much space, with Sharon and me. We couldn’t give you your own room.”
“I’m not afraid of sharing a bed. I can alternate between you.”
“You’re so manly, Erno!” she teased.
“I aim to please,” he said, and struck a pose. Inside he cringed. It was a stupid thing to say, so much a boy trying to talk big.
Alicia did a generous thing-she laughed. There was affection and understanding in it. It made him feel they were part of some club together. Erno hadn’t realized how afraid he was that she would mock him. Neither said anything for a moment. A finch landed on the branch above them, turned its head sideways and inspected them. “You know, you could be just like Tyler Durden, Erno.”
Erno started-what did she mean by that? He looked her in the face. Alicia’s eyes were calm and green, flecked with gold. He hadn’t looked into her eyes since they had been lovers.
She kissed him. Then she touched his lips with her finger. “Don’t say anything. I’ll talk to Sharon.”
He put his arm around her. She melted into him.
In the distance the sounds of the debate were broken by a burst of laughter. “Let’s go back,” she said.
“All right,” he said reluctantly.
They walked back to the amphitheater and found seats in the top row, beside two women in their twenties who joked with each other.
“This guy is no Derek Silviasson,” one of them said.
“If he could fuck like Derek, now that would be comedy,” said her blond partner.
Debrasdaughter was calling for order.
“We cannot compel any cousin to indulge in sex against his will. If he chooses to be celibate, and encourages his followers to be celibate, we can’t prevent that without undermining the very freedoms we came here to establish.”
Nick Farahsson, his face red and his voice contorted, shouted out, “You just said the key word-followers! We don’t need followers here. Followers have ceded their autonomy to a hierarchy. Followers are the tool of phallocracy. Followers started the riot.” Erno saw his mother, sitting next to Nick, try to calm him.
Another man spoke. “What a joke! We’re all a bunch of followers! Cousins follow customs as slavishly as any Earth patriarch.”
“What I don’t understand,” someone called out directly to Tyler, “is, if you hate it here so much, why don’t you just leave? Don’t let the airlock door clip your ass on the way out.”
“This is my home, too,” Tyler said.
He stood and turned to Debrasdaughter. “If you don’t mind, I would like to speak.”
“We’d be pleased to hear what you have to say,” Debrasdaughter said. The trace of a smile on her pale face made her look girlish despite her gray hair. “Speaking for myself, I’ve been waiting.”
Tyler ran his hand over his shaved scalp, came to the front of the platform. He looked up at his fellow citizens, and smiled. “I think you’ve outlined all the positions pretty clearly so far. I note that Tashi Yokiosson didn’t say anything, but maybe he’ll get back to us later. It’s been a revealing discussion, and now I’d just like to ask you to help me out with a demonstration. Will you do this little thing for me?
“I’d like you all to put your hand over your eyes. Like this-” He covered his own eyes with his palm, peeked out. Most of the assembly did as he asked. “All of you got your eyes covered? Good!
“Because, sweethearts, this is the closest I am going to get to invisibility.”
Tyler threw his arms wide, and laughed.
“Make me invisible? You can’t see me now! You don’t recognize a man whose word is steel, whose reality is not dependent on rules. Men have fought and bled and died for you. Men put their lives on the line for every microscopic step forward our pitiful race has made. Nothing’s more visible than the sacrifices men have made for the good of their wives and daughters. Yes, women died too-but they were real women, women not threatened by the existence of masculinity.
“You see that tower?” Tyler pointed to the thousand-meter spire looming over their heads. “I can climb that tower! I can fuck every real woman in this amphitheater. I eat a lot of food, drink a lot of alcohol, and take a lot of drugs. I’m bigger than you are. I sweat more. I howl like a dog. I make noise. You think anyone can make more noise than me?
“One way or another, Mama, I’m going to keep you awake all night! And you think you’re the girl that can stop me?
“My Uncle Dick told me when I was a boy, son, don’t take it out unless you intend to use it! Well, it’s out and it’s in use! Rim ram goddamn, sonafabitch fuck! It is to laugh. This whole discussion’s been a waste of oxygen. I’m real, I’m here, get used to it.
“Invisible? Just try not to see me.”
Then Tyler crouched and leapt, three meters into the air, tucked, did a roll. Coming down, he landed on his hands and did a handspring. The second his feet touched the platform, he shot off the side and ran, taking long, loping strides out of the park and through the cornfields.
A confused murmur rippled through the assembly, broken by a few angry calls. Many puzzled glances. Some people stood.
Debrasdaughter called for order. “I’ll ask the assembly to calm down,” she said.
Gradually, quiet came.
“I’m sure we are all stimulated by that very original statement. I don’t think we are going to get any farther today, and I note that it is coming on time for the swing shifters to leave, so unless there are serious objections I would like to call this meeting to a close.
“The laws call for a second open meeting a week from today, followed by a polling period of three days, at the end of which the will of the colony will be made public and enacted. Do I hear any further discussion?”
There was none.
