could be lessened.”
“I’ve been informed that you’ve been asking about this,” King Damious tells me. “And the scientists assure me that this dose level is necessary for full genetic integration.”
“Yes. I learned the same thing.”
“Do you find it uncomfortable?” asks Admiral Raylon Bishto.
“Frankly, yes I do.”
“In what way?” asks Frazzon Rimburn, who is a great industrialist and builder from the southern provinces.
“I find it almost impossible to think clearly in her presence. I am overcome with an irresistible need to copulate.”
My frank language seems to shock the assembled councilmembers. They mutter and speak excitedly to their neighbors across the table.
“Gentlemen, please,” King Damious says, trying to bring the meeting back to order. “These are details we must know. No matter how shocking it may be to some of you.”
“Copulation is indeed the purpose of the matches, is it not?” asks Malico.
“It is indeed,” says King Damious.
“And have you?” Malico asks, turning to me. “Have you copulated?”
I drum my fingers on the table and resist the overpowering urge to roll my eyes. “We have not, in fact, copulated as of yet.”
“Have you had any other intimate relations?” the king asks me.
I stare at my friend, speechless at the intrusion on my privacy. I do not want to tell them any of this. The idea of it is like a hot poker through my gut, adding to the indiscretion I have already committed against my sweet Doris. How can I possibly tell him more? How can I betray her more than I already have? Their eyes are all on me. I have been commanded by my king to tell the truth.
“We have done things that I was taught in courtship training. And she has taught me new things that I’d never heard of before.”
“What things?” the king demands.
My face reddens. I don’t want to tell them, but their eyes are all on me, burning into my skin.
“She has… she has… put her mouth on my phallus.”
There is a collective gasp from the assembled men.
“And this was her idea?” King Damious asks.
“It was.”
“Very interesting,” says Malico, scratching his chin.
“Very interesting indeed!” King Damious bellows. “I think I would like this done to me. Malico, I demand you find my match immediately.”
“My lord, I’m afraid this is not how the genetic matches work.”
“Nonsense. I want an Earth woman’s mouth on my phallus. Why should Captain Noru get this pleasure and not the king?”
“Sire…” Admiral Bishto says.
King Damious deflates, sitting back in his chair. “I know, I know.” He waves a hand. “We must have perfect genetic matching, or the resulting offspring will not undo the genetic regression of our species. I will not be the king who presided over a dying Mars. Even if we must watch Earth’s demise for the second time in our history. How are we on the time travel paradox? Have we found a way around the noninterference imperative?”
Glad that the conversation has turned away from my intimate life with Doris, I breathe a sigh of relief and turn my attention to talk of time travel and paradoxes. We quickly come to the conclusion that the noninterference imperative is still in effect, and we should not take any additional action on behalf of Earth.
We are all eager to intervene in the demise of the planet of our origin. But the possibility that our own lives and society on Mars could be lost if we do so is not a risk any of us is willing to take.
“There is a point when the event horizon will have passed,” Malico says, “but that moment has not yet arrived. Until then, we must advance our weaponry. The Mantis fleet still far outnumbers our own.”
“Understood,” says King Damious.
The meeting takes us deep into the night. And I know that it is too late to return for Doris. Although my heart burns for her, I fly home to an empty house and climb into a cold and lonely bed.
As I lie awake, staring at the ceiling, the conversation with the council reels in my mind. The embarrassment at revealing so much about my intimate relations with Doris digs in my guts and burns in my brain. I miss her more than words can express, but the deep shame of what I have done compounds with the guilt that already lives inside me.
I know I must tell her. First about my indiscretion in watching the videos and now my imprudence in telling the council about what she has taught me. I know, deep down, that this