Callisto 2.0, Susan English [i love reading .TXT] 📗
- Author: Susan English
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[laughter]
Simon stopped the recording, tears in his eyes. Naomi reached out and took his hand.
“There’s more, but you get the idea. Later, when I played it back for them, they couldn’t understand why I was so upset.”
“Wow.”
“Yeah, they didn’t see anything wrong with how they were talking. It’s just ‘guy talk,’
they told me, and they said I needed to relax, maybe even get laid. It made me sick. And don’t imagine for a moment it’s because these guys work on the docks. Even a lot of my male colleagues in graduate school, and these guys are consummate intellectuals, are having the same conversations. The language isn’t so crude, but the sentiment is the same.”
“Years ago, back when we were teenagers, I was talking to my brother,” said Naomi.
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“He told me it’s rubbish to be a boy, because he couldn’t stop thinking about sex. He said he thought about sex al the time, and it was horrible, because he could barely get anything done. Still, he’d never talk to his mates like that.”
I thought about Naomi’s brother and agreed with her. But it was hard to know how any man behaved when surrounded by other males.
“I don’t think so either,” said Simon. “Even though we’ve only met through holochat, I can tell Monty’s a good guy. But it’s true, what your brother said.” He shook his head. “The urge is sometimes overwhelming. Pure biology. At least with other mammals, there are only certain times of the year when the impulse to mate is so powerful males will literally kill each other for the chance to copulate with a female. But with humans, it’s a constant pressure. I don’t think women can ever understand. I know women have a sex drive, but with us, sometimes it feels like life or death. And when a woman,” he held up both hands to create air quotes, “‘ denies’ men sex, some men go crazy. I probably have that too, inside me, and I suspect every man does, but I learned early on how to channel my energy into productive avenues. All I can say is I’m thankful for my prefrontal cortex, which allows me to keep control over my baser instincts.”
Naomi took Simon’s hand in hers.
He looked at her, his eyes soft. “For me, sex is intimacy, a way to connect with my partner. It’s something beautiful we share as humans, and it saddens me that so many other people don’t, or can’t, see it as one of the highest expressions of love. Without love, for me, sex is a physical impossibility. I’m not wired that way. Not that I’m slamming casual sex, I know everyone doesn’t share my point of view. I just want all sex to be consensual and respectful. I don’t think that’s too much to ask.”
I picked up my now-empty beer bottle, contemplating its composition, its smoothness. “What makes you different, Simon? I’m sure there are lots of men who, like you, grew up surrounded by women, who aren’t so enlightened.”
“That’s a tough question. Truth be told, I don’t know. I always felt different, like I didn’t belong, and I guess that helped me see beyond my culture, or biology, or whatever.”
“I suppose if you asked me the same question, I’d be hard-pressed to explain why I’m different, too. My family is pretty conservative, so I know the feeling of not belonging. Maybe being different isn’t such a bad thing.”
“Amen to that.” Simon tipped his beer bottle toward me, then took a drink.
“You hardly ever mention your family, Calli,” Naomi said.
I shrugged. “Like I said, we’re very different.”
“If it weren’t for differences, we wouldn’t have such incredible biodiversity,” she said.
“I adore your brilliant biologist’s mind,” said Simon, leaning over and kissing Naomi on the cheek.
◆◆◆
169
Naomi and I took the shuttle back to the station on Sunday. “So, you and Simon,” I said with a grin as we strapped ourselves into our seats.
“Oh Calli! I’m bonkers about him!”
The engine roared to life. “We’d better put on our helmets,” I said. “I think we’re about to take off.”
“Switch to channel two.” She pointed to a small control panel on my armrest. I looked at her, eyebrows raised. “So we can talk in private.” She gave me a conspiratorial smile.
I punched in the new channel, and we both donned our helmets and secured the valves.
“I didn’t want Sook to hear our conversation,” Naomi said, her voice sounding tinny in my helmet’s headset. Her face grew serious. “What do you think about him?”
“He’s great, Naomi.”
“I was hoping you’d like him.”
“Not that you need my approval, but you’ve got it, one hundred percent!”
I closed my eyes as we lifted off the Moon’s surface, teeth rattling from the vibration.
Once we were airborne, I turned to Naomi. “Intense conversation, though, about men.”
“Yeah. Simon was really distressed. I suppose stuff like that hurts him more than it does me.”
“Could be because, as women, we’re used to it.”
She grimaced. “I hate to say it, but that’s probably true.” Then her face softened.
“He’s a sensitive man.”
“What do you think about his idea of women ruling the world?”
She gave a little laugh. “I’m fairly certain he didn’t mean that. He was just really fuming, and sick of men.”
“For a minute, I thought it was a great idea.” I shrugged a shoulder, my spacesuit rustling.
“I know! Like what we have on Shambhala, right?”
“Uh-huh. And who knows, maybe we would be better off with only women in power, but in the long run, I think we need to work together.” I paused for a beat, staring out the window, then turned to her. “I liked what Simon said last night—that it doesn’t matter, nature or nurture, we all have the capacity be better human beings.”
She nodded. “He’s got such a good heart.”
“Want to know my favorite thing about Simon?”
“What?” She stared at me, wide-eyed.
“He appreciates what an amazing person you are.”
“Oh Calli! I would give you a hug, but we’re all strapped in!”
170
At the next staff meeting, Elena presented her findings based on the Charm data.
She had been working almost nonstop, combing through the information, searching for her “Goldilocks” planets. I had hardly seen her during that time, once or twice at dinner, but even then, she was too distracted to contribute to any conversations. I could relate.
All eyes were on Elena as she tapped her computer tablet, and the screen behind her filled with figures and graphs. “Hang on,” she said, minimizing windows with a tap of her finger. “Here’s the one I want everyone to see.” She looked up at us and smiled self-consciously. “I’ve been searching the Charm data for potentially habitable planets, and so far, after analyzing the locations, compositions, tectonic activities, and magnetic fields of eighty-five planets, I’ve found five very good candidates, two of which, interestingly enough, are in the same star system.” She turned and pointed to the graphs displayed on the screen. “Here I’ve focused on the characteristics of those five.”
Elena talked about each planet in turn, almost as if they were her children, and she a proud parent, pointing out the strengths and attributes of each.
When she finished her presentation, Raven’s hand shot up. “I see from the composition graphs these planets all have a significant amount of oxygen in their atmospheres. What is the likelihood the oxygen is a result of biological processes?”
“That’s a very good question, and the short answer is, I don’t know. It could be a result of the photocatalytic reaction of titanium oxide on the planet’s surface, or some other process I’m not familiar with, but that’s one of the reasons I hope to resend the probe to these five planets, which, as you pointed out, Raven, all have surprisingly oxygen-rich atmospheres, to do an in-depth analysis of each of them.” She gestured toward the screen with her hand. “This first probe trip was really a reconnaissance mission. Now that I’ve identified my candidates, the next step is to study each one more extensively.” She looked at me, then Hadley. “I’m hoping to send Charm back out as soon as possible.”
“I don’t see any problem,” said Hadley. “We’re focused on the construction of Soteria.”
“We’ll talk after the meeting,” Marta said to Elena. “We can input the coordinates and reprogram the sensors.”
Elena nodded. “I also want to send bots into the atmospheres and to the surfaces of the planets to take physical samples. I don’t know how feasible that is.”
Kamana sat up straighter. “I already have a set of bots programmed for precisely that purpose,” she said.
“Do you mean the ship’s bots that you use to monitor the atmosphere of the modules and corridors?” Elena’s eyes were sparkling with excitement.
“Exactly,” said Kamana.
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I leaned over to Zoe, who was sitting next to me. “They use bots to test the air here?”
I whispered.
“Yeah, have you not seen them? They’re part of the protocol put in place after the laughing-gas incident. They’re tiny, a little bigger than the size of a ping-pong ball. I’ll show you next time I see one.”
“We can use our mini-transports to house the bots,” Marta was saying. “Attach them to the outside of the Charm probe, where they can be deployed at each target site.”
“Sounds like we have some exciting projects to work on these next few weeks,” said Diana, standing up. All eyes turned to her. “Thank you, Elena, excellent work.”
Elena smiled as everyone clapped enthusiastically.
“Any announcements or issues to address?” asked Izumi. Everyone was quiet.
“Okay, thanks, everyone, for another outstanding meeting!”
As women began filing out of
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