She frowned.
"I did not choose the other one..."
"I never wanted to come here! What right do your people have to do these things to us?"
Saddened, he nodded. "No right," he agreed. "No man has the right to subjugate a woman... or anyone, for that matter."
"But they do it! Right here!"
"True. Those that do, are creatures of little morals, and even less intelligence..."
"If you truly feel that way, how can you live with things the way they are? Do you realize the things that are going on?"
Loni had no answer for his ignorance. He of all men should have picked up on this.
"Until now, I did not know," he meekly excused. "Also...it has been engrained in all of us, from an early age, to accept the rule of those who lead us. We know no other way..."
"That's no excuse!" she fired back. "So...now that you do know what is going on, what will you do about it?"
Loni thought a moment.
"I know what I will not do," he declared finally. "I will not be guilty of inflicting my own belief system upon others...if I can influence society for the better, I will do my best to do so."
"Oh...in other words, you'll do nothing, and things will stay the same, until something happens to affect you personally."
Somehow, her words brought him shame. To have her so disapprove of him cut deeply. He dropped his eyes; closed his mind to her, feeling hurt.
"You aren't any different from the people on the land; always at war with those they find different; either eliminate them, or purge the world of their unacceptable view point. And...if they seem inferior, why just keep them out of sight, treat them like animals...don't give them any rights!"
Loni frowned.
She is really angry. Need to turn her thoughts to something more pleasant.
"You and I...maybe, we can be the example...to affect change?"
Gemma sighed. "I'm sorry...you've suffered, too."
****
He took her by the hand, and as they meandered back to his sleep room, Loni detoured past the nurseries, birthing accommodation, and delivery rooms. They were still in the rafters above, where they could see, but not be noticed; hear and watch.
The nursery was a squalling mass of infants in tub-like cradles, men, and some sort of robot, tending them.
"Where are the women? Their mothers?"
"Mother and child are separated shortly after birth. They fear the women will get attached."
"And, why wouldn't they want that?"
Loni attempted to side track her; he knew where she would go with the information.
"My mother and I used to play up here." He motioned to the girders above them, the catwalks running everywhere. "We hid each time they came to separate the babies from their mothers...until I got too big..."
"I saw...what happened," she softly sympathized.
Loni rushed on, to avoid remembering.
"The women are placed in another holding room, fed well...they pump their breasts, so the newborn have milk..."
"Why don't they just let them nurse? Do they even get to hold them?"
Loni shook his head sadly. "Not unless...they can hide with their baby, as my mother did."
"Why!" exploded Gem.
"They want them bred again as soon as possible."
"Pigs!" declared Gemma with disgust. "They are not cattle."
Loni had never thought of it like that. He had always enjoyed the sight of the tiny infants, longed to hold one in his arms. They seemed so helpless at that stage. Now that he looked at it closer...they did belong with the woman who birthed them.
****
Loni realized Gem was fighting back tears. To avoid letting them fall, her eyes went to the roof above them. She swallowed back moisture, and fired a question.
"How come the pressure of the ocean doesn't crush us?"
He looked at her puzzled, unable to hide his confusion.
Whatever is she talking about?
Then he saw the memory in her mind; the entry into their society.
Loni laughed.
"We are not under water. We are only beneath the surface. You must have gone through a jump portal."
"You mean...that door of light?"
He nodded. "I have never seen one, but, yes, that is what it would look like."
"I didn't know we had progressed that far. I thought that was just a theory they were working on. Scientists have actually made a teleportation device?"
Loni shrugged. "How should I know? I am a mere worker drone..."
"Are you a robot? You said, drone."
"I am real; flesh and blood...they are forever taking my blood for..."
He grew silent, as he realized, what they were using his gift for.
But Gem was on another track again, with more questions.
"You have two races in this dome. Can you tell me how that came about?"
Loni shrugged again. "All I know, is my mother told me, she was the only descendant left of the original females of her kind. She said, the world then, was a different place, then it is now..."
"Was she an alien?"
"She was humanoid, same as you, or I. But..." He considered for a moment. "Back then, the men of our peoples feared what their women could do. It seems they had powers...mind powers. To prevent the spreading; what the males considered to be a defect, the women were..."
"...kill what they don't understand!" broke in Gemma with a growl. "Typical!"
Loni sighed. "You really must learn to control your judgmental out bursts. It will get you into trouble..."
"What more can they take from me, eh? They can't blind me, or...deafen me, as they've done you. They can take my life, but right now...it doesn't mean much the way it is."
"Ah, Gem...so bitter. Yet, beneath, when you have worked it all through, you will be a caring woman, again."
She shook her head in disagreement, and he read her private thought:
He has such
