“Hewas one hundred and ninety-five when he met my mother. She was twenty-six. Theywouldn’t have been able to meet normally, but my father had a certain projectwhere he was ported to… the planet where my mother lived. My father said shewas stunning, which I think was the primary reason he wanted to get to know herbetter… although he was not supposed to.
“Hesaid they were immediately attracted to each other, like magnets bearingopposite charges. They kept looking at each other from a distance, because theydid not move in the same circles. I never asked him, really… I wonder if he hada Vision then, if it was clear for him that they would be together.”
“Howold are you?”
“Excuseme?” I was surprised by this interruption of my story, which I was now willingto share.
“It’sjust that you said your father was one hundred and ninety-five when he met yourmom. That’s very old, in Human terms.”
“Ah,that, yes… well, um… I am three hundred and ninety-two standard years old.” Ilooked at him, half expecting to see a hint of repulsion behind his eyes. But Isaw nothing else than calm and inviting depths of ebony.
“Maturewoman. I like that.” His lips spread in a crooked smile.
Ismiled in return and continued, “Anyway, they fell in love. A Senthien and a…”
Istopped. My heart was racing, my palms sweating and my breathing uneven.
“Anda…”
Itook a deep breath.
Ihad to laugh at myself, realizing the absurdity of the situation: I was afraid,almost paranoid to tell him the truth, but I couldn’t have picked a betterlistener. I looked at him and said, “A Senthien and a…”
“Human,”he finished. He smiled gently and reached to take my hand again. “And so youcould fight the most common virus on Earth.”
“Howdid—how did you know?”
“Youmight have had an easy time hiding it from your other fellow Descendants whonever saw a Human up close, but here most of us can recognize a Human, evenwhen she’s undercover.”
“Underwhat?”
Helet out a hearty laugh and said, “It means in disguise.”
“Ah.”
“Don’tworry, it’s an old term. So… do you think that the mistake of this teleportingcomputer—”
“TheMind.”
“Yes,the Mind—happened because you are half Human?“
Ilowered my gaze and said nothing.
“Imean, all the other Jumpers were Humans,” J continued. “It’s a pattern.”
“Iknow.” I nodded and then looked at him. “Yes, I think the error happens only toHumans. I don’t know why, but I am here because I’m half Human…and Stevanion is dead because he ported with me.”
Ilowered my gaze again. It was my fault that Stevanion died. I knew this. And nowit was obvious to others. It was obvious to J.
Jtilted his head and lifted my chin with the tips of his fingers.
“Thatwas not your fault, Dora. You know this, don’t you?”
Ididn’t respond.
Hesighed. Then, changing the subject, he said, “Tell me more about your parents.How did you happen?”
“Theydidn’t exactly go into detail,” I said. “I do know it was the old-fashionedway.”
“Theold-fashioned way?” He arched his eyebrows.
“AtUni, most progeny creation is done extracorporeally.”
“Youmean tube babies?”
“Tube?”
“Like,in a laboratory?”
“Yes,that’s correct. But of course, my parents couldn’t have something like that gothrough official venues, and frankly, I think they liked the old-fashioned way,for some reason.”
“Surprisingindeed.” His crooked smile was back, and he studied me. “You’ve never tried the‘old-fashioned way’?” he asked.
“Notfor the purposes of making offspring, no,” I said calmly.
“Notfor the purposes of making offspring…” he repeated bluntly. “Okay, I amconfused now. You haven’t had sex to have kids, but you did have sex not tohave kids, and… you have kids but without sex? Did I miss anything?”
“Whatis ‘sex’?”
“Theold-fashioned way.”
“Oh,okay. The first two are correct. The last one is not.”
“Sorry,I’m not following you. What’s not correct?”
“Yourlast point. I do not have an offspring. I did not contribute to the Office ofProgeny.”
Hewas looking at me, slowly shaking his head. “Office of Progeny?”
“Okay,let me try to explain.” I poised myself as if I was about to start a lecture onVisionaire studies. “In Uni, there is no urgent need for progeny because manyDescendant species live several hundred, sometimes thousands of years. However,there is a need for some inflow of new individuals, and those are made at theOffice of Progeny. Women donate eggs cells and men sperm cells, and the rest isdone by technicians.”
“Voyeurs.”He grinned.
“Voyeurs?”
“Nevermind. So what about parenting and upbringing?”
“Thereare professionals who take that responsibility.”
“Sochildren never meet their parents?”
“Theynever meet their biological parents, no. I was… I consider myself lucky to havespent a part of my youth with my parents.”
Hesmiled, looked down at our laced hands, and stroked the back of my hand withhis thumbs. Then he looked up and said, “And what about the second point?”
“Whichsecond point?”
“Whereyou have sex but no babies?”
“Ah,that. Well, for most species, the time right after rejuvenation is the timethey have several physical encounters.”
“Several?”he repeated. “With the same person?”
“No,usually not,” I said, not knowing his reason for this question.
“Oh.”His face fell.
“Yousee, the virus that enables rejuvenation also causes a rise of hormone levels,and the post-rejuvenation interaction is simply the way of releasing the tension.”
“Youmake it sound as if it’s completely devoid of joy.”
“Joy?Well, it does release the tension, so that’s pleasant—but, you see, the IPinhibition in Uni citizens is so strong that even while the encounters aretaking place, people have this mental barrier which makes them feel extremely uncomfortablewhen they touch each other.”
“Butyou’re half Human. Didn’t you enjoy it?”
Ilooked at the ground, pondering the question. “I think I probably enjoyed itmore than my partners, despite the flexile IP skin protectors. But I always hada feeling that there was more, as if I was just at the beginning of something,and then it would be over.” I looked up at him to explain. “Most encounters don’tlast more than eleven seconds.”
“What?!” He almost jumped from his seat in the sand.
Ilooked at him, bewildered. “Why is that so shocking to you?”
“Dora,Dora, Dora, Dora.” He was shaking his head. “They really didn’t feed your Humanside there at Uni, did they?”
“Iam still a little bit
