"It's one of the reasons I treasured you two coming out to the Castle as you did."It's one of the reasons I treasured you two coming out to the Castle as you did. I hope you don't object to my abusing you two like this, stuffing you full of information, making you conduits for my propaganda." Nickolai shook his head. "I'll just tell the truth." "Good lad!" Shardik said over his radio. "Come on, these suits aren't great past a couple of hours." They walked back to the elevator. As the elevator descended, Shardik said, "You know, even with that out there, I don't feel at all hesitant when I've got a good idea, a new species or whatever that I think should work. I think it's important that, no matter what your working material, be it wood, stone, electrons, or flesh, you should always strive to create the best there is, and accept the failures. It's hard, sometimes, though... I'm still a product of Terra, sometimes, Nickolai, and sometimes, when I'm lying in P'nyssa's or Aaden's arms, I remember that what they're made of is exactly what I'm made of, and what those failures buried out there are made of. And I have to reconcile my attraction to the flesh I lie with with the idea that that's the same flesh I work with." The elevator repressurized and they removed the suits, hanging them on the hooks where they had found them. "It's only seven, and I've already mananged to depress myself pretty effectively." Shardik sighed as he led them back to the SDisk, and Monastery Island. "I don't think so," Nickolai said as they wandered out into the sunlight. "What do you mean?" "I mean, before the genetic tests of the twenty-first century were implemented, how many damaged or deformed children were born on Earth? Aren't those really examples of evolution's failed experiments?" "I guess," Shardik smiled. |