ideal; but Molsin was clearly a different world.
‘Privacy is important here, isn’t it?’ he added.
‘I’ll share everything about my life with you,’ said Leeja. ‘Any detail at all you want to ask about, I’ll tell you.’
There was a wondering note in her voice, as if surprised by her own offer. Older than he was, with years of additional experience, still she seemed lost in something new, just as he was.
‘Thank you,’ he said.
It was a unilateral response – implying no obligation on his part to divulge his innermost thoughts, for example about Alisha – but Leeja smiled, accepting his answer.
He kissed her bare shoulder.
‘I … I get lost in you,’ he said. ‘You know?’
‘My world has been simplifying,’ said Leeja, ‘since I met you.’
This was not helping him do what he needed to do.
‘I’m going to have to go back to the med-hall,’ he said. ‘To check on my friend. All right?’
‘Girlfriend?’
‘Girl and friend, who might have become my girlfriend. But it didn’t happen, and now everything has changed.’
Leeja smiled, though she was not the only change he had been thinking of.
‘You’ll come right back to me, then?’
Roger pulled back the cover, leaned over and kissed one cherry nipple, then the other.
‘Of course I will.’
Her stomach was smooth-skinned, so kissable; and so he did. Then his lips were murmuring and kissing and travelling lower. Her inner thighs were ultimately soft; and her core was sensitive and wonderful.
Some time later, entangled and spent, they smiled and kissed each other.
‘You’re really going now?’ said Leeja.
‘Only if you’ll wait for me to return.’
‘Do you have any doubts?’
‘Not about that.’
He dressed, then blew her a kiss as she commanded an opening in the wall. She made it a double affair, with inner and outer doors. He stepped into the airlock-like passage, blew her another kiss, then waited for the inner door to flow back into place and the outer to melt.
Then he was out in a main corridor and the wall was sealing up. Complex patterns whirled inside the quickglass: art-forms he did not know how to read, not yet.
A new world
.
Despite all previous trauma, he was smiling as he queried his tu-ring for directions to the med-hall and Alisha Spalding.
Roger and Dr Keele sat in a small consulting-room. One wall was either a one-way transparent window or a full-function holo displaying a private ward. Beyond, Alisha was sitting up in a green quickglass chair next to her bed, while a male physician talked to her.
‘Your eyes are different.’ Dr Keele placed a fingertip on her own cheekbone. ‘It changes your appearance rather a lot.’
‘I’ll take the lenses out, if you like.’
‘Not at all. I wouldn’t dream of violating your privacy by suggesting it.’
‘Oh.’ Roger glanced out at Alisha. ‘But we’re spying on her, aren’t we?’
Dr Keele smiled and nodded. ‘Very good.’
As if he had passed a test.
‘Because medical ethics change behavioural standards,’ he said. ‘For her own good, sort of thing.’
‘Something like that.’ Her voice was neutral. ‘And I think that’s enough.’
The wall blanked to opacity.
That was a test
.
His emotional reaction to seeing Alisha – that was what Dr Keele had wanted to observe.
And I’ve failed it
.
The faint rose-hip fragrance of Leeja was on his skin.
‘So what’s going on?’ he asked.
‘One moment.’ Dr Keele glanced into the air – a her-eyes-only display lased on to her retinas from the walls – then her lips moved, mouthing: ‘
Go ahead. Protocol confirmed
.’
Anti-sound prevented him hearing, but she had not bothered with optical distortion to prevent lip-reading.
‘You haven’t treated her?’ he asked.
‘The final phase just started. Can I assume that Meta Ed was part of your schooling?’
‘Er …’
‘I mean learning about learning.’
‘Of course.’
He could speak of Fulgidus education – as was
‘Privacy is important here, isn’t it?’ he added.
‘I’ll share everything about my life with you,’ said Leeja. ‘Any detail at all you want to ask about, I’ll tell you.’
There was a wondering note in her voice, as if surprised by her own offer. Older than he was, with years of additional experience, still she seemed lost in something new, just as he was.
‘Thank you,’ he said.
It was a unilateral response – implying no obligation on his part to divulge his innermost thoughts, for example about Alisha – but Leeja smiled, accepting his answer.
He kissed her bare shoulder.
‘I … I get lost in you,’ he said. ‘You know?’
‘My world has been simplifying,’ said Leeja, ‘since I met you.’
This was not helping him do what he needed to do.
‘I’m going to have to go back to the med-hall,’ he said. ‘To check on my friend. All right?’
‘Girlfriend?’
‘Girl and friend, who might have become my girlfriend. But it didn’t happen, and now everything has changed.’
Leeja smiled, though she was not the only change he had been thinking of.
‘You’ll come right back to me, then?’
Roger pulled back the cover, leaned over and kissed one cherry nipple, then the other.
‘Of course I will.’
Her stomach was smooth-skinned, so kissable; and so he did. Then his lips were murmuring and kissing and travelling lower. Her inner thighs were ultimately soft; and her core was sensitive and wonderful.
Some time later, entangled and spent, they smiled and kissed each other.
‘You’re really going now?’ said Leeja.
‘Only if you’ll wait for me to return.’
‘Do you have any doubts?’
‘Not about that.’
He dressed, then blew her a kiss as she commanded an opening in the wall. She made it a double affair, with inner and outer doors. He stepped into the airlock-like passage, blew her another kiss, then waited for the inner door to flow back into place and the outer to melt.
Then he was out in a main corridor and the wall was sealing up. Complex patterns whirled inside the quickglass: art-forms he did not know how to read, not yet.
A new world
.
Despite all previous trauma, he was smiling as he queried his tu-ring for directions to the med-hall and Alisha Spalding.
Roger and Dr Keele sat in a small consulting-room. One wall was either a one-way transparent window or a full-function holo displaying a private ward. Beyond, Alisha was sitting up in a green quickglass chair next to her bed, while a male physician talked to her.
‘Your eyes are different.’ Dr Keele placed a fingertip on her own cheekbone. ‘It changes your appearance rather a lot.’
‘I’ll take the lenses out, if you like.’
‘Not at all. I wouldn’t dream of violating your privacy by suggesting it.’
‘Oh.’ Roger glanced out at Alisha. ‘But we’re spying on her, aren’t we?’
Dr Keele smiled and nodded. ‘Very good.’
As if he had passed a test.
‘Because medical ethics change behavioural standards,’ he said. ‘For her own good, sort of thing.’
‘Something like that.’ Her voice was neutral. ‘And I think that’s enough.’
The wall blanked to opacity.
That was a test
.
His emotional reaction to seeing Alisha – that was what Dr Keele had wanted to observe.
And I’ve failed it
.
The faint rose-hip fragrance of Leeja was on his skin.
‘So what’s going on?’ he asked.
‘One moment.’ Dr Keele glanced into the air – a her-eyes-only display lased on to her retinas from the walls – then her lips moved, mouthing: ‘
Go ahead. Protocol confirmed
.’
Anti-sound prevented him hearing, but she had not bothered with optical distortion to prevent lip-reading.
‘You haven’t treated her?’ he asked.
‘The final phase just started. Can I assume that Meta Ed was part of your schooling?’
‘Er …’
‘I mean learning about learning.’
‘Of course.’
He could speak of Fulgidus education – as was
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