She has never hurt me, and she has never done anything that would make me thing she would.She has never hurt me, and she has never done anything that would make me thing she would." "But Alanailen?" She shrugged. "Sadomasochism is no surprise, Ken. What brings this subject up, anyway?" I shrugged. "She came to me and asked me to build a Castle for them." "And what did you say?" P'nyssa peered at me curiously. "I told her no." "No?" She asked suprised. It had to be the first time I'd turned down a request by an organized community for a Castle. "Why?" "I told her I was not going to build a Castle, to put my stamp of approval, to that kind of sickness." P'nyssa sighed. "Ken, your friend Jahn works almost incessantly to bring to people the news that it's okay to love whoever they want to. Does it matter how they do it, too?" "That's not love!" She sighed. "No, for you and me it isn't." She turned and tapped a few buttons on her terminal, then said "Dave, I think you know what I'm looking for." There was another pause, and then she said, "Look." I read a few scanlines of Terran romantic behavoir patterns. "Okay, so telling someone how you love them is different the universe over. That doesn't excuse hurting people." "But it's... I don't understand it either, but then I don't understand why exchanging chemical poisons is a symbol of love on Terra, either." "Huh?" I said, then saw the connection. "Oh, chocolate. You're not allergic to chocolate." "No, but all the felines are." I nodded. "True enough." She looked at me and said, "What was her argument?" I laid it out for her. After a few minutes she nodded. "She's right, you know. They would be safer with a dedicated AI and a medical facility nearby." She smiled. "And with on-facility housing you'd know where all the perverts were." I laughed. "I used to think being gay was a perversion." "Backspin," she swore. "You just thought being gay wasn't for you." "Still isn't," I said. "No," she admitted. "But you have slept with a male, and you liked it." I nodded, and sighed. "You think I should do it." "I think you should." "I'll think about it." I have to admit something. It's great to be out here. Two months ago this was a huge, virgin valley, just waiting for our hands to come out here and sculpt it to our collective whim. |