Couples Counseling
(continued)
By Margaret Karmazin
"That Clegboparian was female!"
"Not entirely," said Alena tranquilly. "He/she was actually
their third sex. Rather rare in number, but certainly good where it
counts. Amazing what they can do with that fifth appendage."
Bern groaned.
"You've become too involved with your project specimens, Bern,"
she said. I believe that you're taking on their ridiculous social and
religious rules; going native, so to speak."
"Those, as you say, 'ridiculous' social rules are put in place
in order to keep societal control. In addition, they serve to educate
the soul and raise it through various levels so that eventually the
body is not needed. You know all this! Of course, you've apparently
lost any vestige of spirituality you ever had. Don't think I didn't
hear some vague talk about a Plagnonian drone and that little vacation
in the Caribbean!"
Alena sighed. She studied her fingers, presently decorated with crystal
tips. "Whatever," she said.
Bern appeared to be passing through various stages of emotion, from
humiliation to submissive despair and on to blatant rage. He turned
to her furiously. "First you don't respect my work, and now this.
For three thousand Earth years, give or take, since we took over this
ongoing project, I have lived under the delusion that you and I had
something special. That not only were we the closest of friends, but
amazingly satisfied physical partners but was I ever wrong! You
are apparently no different from every other mate sent out for the long
haul. And to fall so low as to be tempted by a Clegboparian! I'm not
even certain that they're classified as fully sentient. While you're
at it, why not copulate with an elephant or whale? Why stop at a Clegboparian?"
Bern almost fell off the sofa and had to catch himself.
The Counselor said, "I'm pleased to hear you express your true
feelings, Bern. Now if Alena would do the same..." He looked at
her expectantly.
She turned sideways to face Bern. "I point out that while you are
so quick to accuse me of impropriety, that I am more aware than you
know of your experimenting with the humans! Don't think it has escaped
my notice; I do have workers all over who report right back to me. That
little belly dancer in Tehran. For that matter, that belly dancer in
the pre-Christian era in Greece! You seem to have a penchant for dark
little beauties. Well, except for that auburn-haired Celtic female
when was that now? The Arthurian era? Then the Nubian queen, the Chinese
fortune teller, the Australian Aborigine, the Portuguese wine merchant's
daughter, the Sioux medicine woman, and... did I leave out any? Oh,
the Mayan farmer's wife, how could I forget?"
Alena tossed her thick shag over her shoulder, while emitting a satisfied
grunt, then perked up again. "Oh! I should also mention that boy
you sampled in, let me think now, I believe it was in Crete? So, your
censuring me for a little escapade with a Clegboparian and a well-deserved
break with a Plagnonian really does not compare. Besides, having a brief
encounter with a Clegboparian or Plagnonian, even if a drone, is on
a rather higher level than consorting with one's pets!"
Bern shot up from the couch and glowered down at her. "Pets, you
say? Pets? Humans are anything but my pets! I was merely trying to improve
their genetics by giving the hands-on approach a shot! This has been
a very serious project, this creating of soul containers in a dense,
contained, recycling environment! How exactly do you imagine that our
kind started out? I assure you that it was a similar situation, though
not as contained nor as dense!
"You know all that perfectly well and are just choosing to pretend
otherwise. You would not have been permitted into this program if you
were ignorant of the goal. I really don't find this amusing. And to
think that our superiors and I have trusted you all these centuries
with such serious matters as terraforming and meteorological control,
when that has been your attitude all along!"
Bern sat back down, apparently spent.
Alena also looked about to detonate. "I never wanted to come here!"
she shouted. "It was you who wanted this wretched assignment, this
silly little world in the middle of nowhere, these pathetic low-level
beings to play with! Look at them, multiplying like insects without
a thought to their environment! They evacuate where they eat like the
lowest of animals! And war, look at the war! They continually engage
in it, use it for all sorts of purposes, from revenge to resource-grabbing
to international relations! They imagine it to be a form of diplomacy
for Zorn's sake! This is what you want for soul containers? Why, instead
of raising the vibration of the Universe, they're pulling it down! You
worry about my having a bit of fun with an Clegboparian when you are
polluting the Universe? Really, Bern, you need to get your priorities
straight."
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