He nodded.He nodded. There was a streak of shame across his face; his ears lay back, and his nose darkened. I reached out to touch his face. "Would you, if you could, mate with males of other species?" He nodded again. "Jhan, there's a word for what you are. 'Entalie.'" He smiled a wan and unsuccessful smile. "Wants for the same sex?" he asked. I nodded. "I guess that does describe me. Can it be fixed?" "I'm not sure anything's broken." "Father... I am. I'm miserable. Everyone around me is asking when I'm going to start siring children, and I don't want to." "Do you want children?" "Not right now. But that's not the point. I should be able to mate with femUncia, I just can't. I don't feel interest at all." "But the males, they excite you." He nodded again, that blush washing across his face again. "Halloran," I said, addressing the local AI, "give me a breakdown of Uncia by sex and estimated orientation." "Without violating the privacy code, there are 8,323 Uncia, of which 497 are too young to do any estimates about. Of the remaining, I estimate that of 3960 females, 281 show completely entalie behavoir, and of the 3866 males, 390 show entalie behavoir." "There are 389 Uncia like you, Jhan." "Where?" he asked. "Father, there can't be anybody like me." "Ah, but there can. The problem is that they're hiding. Because they, like you, think that they're the only ones." "Father," he said, then stopped. That "Father" was getting on my nerves. Oh, well, I'll live. "I need to know..." "I..." I stopped, getting lost in my confusion. "Jhan, I wish I knew how to help you, but I can't find these people without their consent, and if they're hiding, they aren't consenting to be found. At least, thank space, you came to me. |