Sime~Gen Roleplaying on IRC: Snake River Dam Scenario
Episode #75: In the Name of Research, Part II (11/23/00)
see note 1
Elte: But your Tecton code of ethics would endorse arranged matings with partners chosen on the basis of their bloodlines?
Arat: Yes.
Elte thinks the parallels between the most conservative Purist traditions and the most modern Tecton practices are interesting.
Elte: So do you ever make love for the fun of it? You didn't answer that question.
Arat frowns.
Elte wonders if Simes react to sex with the same lack of enthusiasm they feel for food.
Arat: What if I have? It is none of your concern.
Arat would not like to discuss this in detail because to do so truthfully would involve revealing certain facts Elte would probably find... newsworthy.
Elte: Everything that interests me is my concern.
Elte grins.
Arat does not like this answer. He still thinks it is none of Elte's business.
Arat: It is necessary to maintain a certain level of sexual activity to sustain a channel's health.
Arat: I hope it will satisfy you to know that no remedial action has been advised or required in that area.
Elte knows an evasion when he hears one.
Elte: Are you saying you enjoy sex but don't want to talk about it?
Elte: Or that you don't enjoy it but don't want to talk about that?
Arat: I do not wish to reveal the details of my private sexual affairs to one with the ability and desire to make sensational publications to national populations.
Arat inadvertently reveals that there is something about his private sexual affairs which would be of interest to said populations.
Elte: Oh, then you have private sexual affairs?
Arat: Yes. Of course.
Elte wondered if Arat was capable of any behavior not in the Tecton rule-book.
Elte: You have sex for reasons other than procreation and health maintenance?
Arat: Yes.
Arat: [a bit impatiently]
Elte: Well, I wondered. I mean, it's necessary to maintain a certain level of food ingestion to maintain a channel's health, but I don't see you ordering food in.
Elte has observed with curiosity Nick and Sayward's efforts to feed the Controller.
Arat's expression becomes somewhat guarded.
Elte: Are you committed to one partner, or do you prefer variety?
Arat's tentacles flick briefly out of their sheaths in a rare display of uneasiness.
Elte can see by Arat's expression that he is mining a vein with ore in it.
Arat: Only one.
Elte misunderstood Riyyh's statement that Arat didn't like women as meaning that he didn't enjoy sex.
Elte: Then why haven't you two married?
Elte wonders if the lover is someone unsuitable.
Arat: Marriage would be neither possible nor necessary at this time.
Arat: It is not a subject of great importance to us.
Arat neglects to mention that's mainly because there is no legal provision for such a joining.
Elte imagines the romance of a high Tecton official paired with some low-class street slut. Or maybe the wife of some other bigwig.
Elte: You keep this relationship confidential? Its revelation would be embarrassing in some way?
Elte is beginning to warm towards Arat. The channel is showing a human side after all.
Arat: Our relationship is permitted only because we are discreet.
Arat: Its revelation would most likely mean its destruction.
Arat hopes Elte will make the necessary leap of logic and also take the hint.
Elte: ~~intense curiosity~~
Elte: Well, I have no wish to break up a pair of lovebirds.
Elte: But I am wondering, since Simes tend to be somewhat casual about sex... what type of partner would be so unacceptable that your culture would separate you?
Jeniard re-enters the lodge, in a hurry. He had forgotten an extremely important sheaf of papers when he left for his shift a few minutes before. Unfortunately, he'd made it all the way to the emergency ward before he realized.
Jeniard enters the bedroom where Arat and Elte are, and picks up the papers which were lying on a small table.
Jeniard starts to nod apologetically to Arat and leave, but stops short when he finally zlins the ambient.
Elte glances up as Jeniard enters.
Jeniard looks between Elte and Arat, then immediately goes to Arat's side.
Elte realizes that the only people who share Arat's quarters are men -- Nick and Jeniard. He tries to remember if he has ever seen a woman around here.
Arat winces as Jeniard's entrance offers a far larger and more explicit hint than he had ever wanted to give the renowned journalist.
Elte remembers Mr. Birch's complaints about Arat's sissified behavior. He wrote it off as cultural miscommunication at the time.
Jeniard sets the papers aside and firmly removes the brush from Arat's death grip. It is clear that Elte 1) interrupted Arat's grooming and 2) has upset him badly.
Jeniard does not find it so clear why Arat seems to be trying to shoo Jeniard away with his nager.
Elte watches the body language and starts adding 2 + 2 + 2 + 2 + 2.
Jeniard places a hand on Arat's forearm, offering soothing and support, and gives Elte a look like 'see what you've done! You should be ashamed of yourself' or something of the sort.
Elte thinks he has waited long enough for Arat to answer his question.
Arat meets Elte's eyes again too, mainly out of masochism. His expression is not a particularly happy one.
Arat has no idea how photogenic this combination is, and probably wouldn't want to know either.
Elte: What sexual behavior is taboo, in-Territory?
Elte directs this question to Jeniard as well as Arat, since he's available.
Jeniard: Not much.
Jeniard should have known it was something like this. No other line of conversation would cause Arat to not want Jeniard around.
Jeniard of course has no idea how much has already been revealed.
Elte can't be sure Jeniard is the one, however, and wouldn't want to just blurt out Arat's confidences.
Jeniard: What are you guys talking about?
Elte: Cultural differences... about sexuality.
Jeniard: Well, here as there, larity makes a bigger difference than anything to do with sex.
Jeniard: About the only thing that is truly taboo is rape.
Elte: What about homosexuality?
Jeniard: There is no stigma against homosexuality.
Jeniard thinks, so long as one is of the correct mutation of the Sime.
Arat clears his throat.
Elte's own culture frowns on the practice, but with strict laws concerning marriage and the compulsory military service, some games between guys are inevitable.
Arat: However, there are certain classes of society which are presumed to be entirely free of... the homosexual element.
Arat: Channels, in particular.
Elte raises his eyebrows.
Jeniard frowns at the half-finished combing job, and begins to complete it himself.
Arat is completely unconscious of Jeniard tending him and how it might look to Elte, as he's been doing it daily for nearly 20 years.
Elte: That's interesting. I thought the Ancients held all humans were fundamentally bi-sexual. Channels are different?
Elte is discovering channels are different in a lot of ways.
Arat: So it is said.
Elte: You don't agree?
Arat: I have no comment.
Elte has heard that one before.
Elte: Well, if there is no stigma, what does it matter?
Jeniard: It's a matter of safety. [as he picks at a tangle]
Elte: Safety?
Elte had thought Simes were immune to most of the venereal diseases.
Jeniard: It is quite possible for a channel to die instantly by becoming homosexually aroused. Or so we are taught.
Arat: To be perceived as engaging in such activities would be to endorse them.
Elte blinks in astonishment. He hasn't heard this kind of threat since the Purist catechism taught in grade school.
Elte: This isn't another Farris allergy, is it?
Arat: No. It is a function of the selyn flow in a channel's body. It is quite different from that of a renSime or a Gen.
Elte: So that kind of sex means instant death?
Elte wonders that Arat would be so cautious about avoiding smoke and dust, while risking something like this.
Arat: For the sake of simplicity, that is what is taught.
Elte shakes his head in wonderment.
Elte: Uh, are there any documented instances of that happening?
Arat: Yes, there have been several.
Elte thinks it is a good thing the Gen Army isn't composed of channels, or they never would have managed to survive to see Unity.
Arat: The reality of the situation is not as simple, but it would be unethical to contribute to an illusion that there is nothing to fear.
Elte: Well, I can understand why such a dangerous practice would be frowned on.
Elte: Could you provide me with the references?
Jeniard combs carefully, with the skill (and patience) born of years of practice.
Arat: Yes.
Arat could actually provide them by memory, but in this case probably won't.
Elte is fascinated by the idea that the conservative channel is actually risking his life to carry on a love affair.
Arat and Jeniard are actually at little risk. After a thorough initiation and imprintation by a very experienced channel who shall remain nameless but who has not been forgotten, and nearly two decades of experience, they know what they are doing. But to return to the story....
Elte: Then thank you for your indulgence, Controller Arat, Hajene Jeniard.
Elte: Our talk today has certainly proved... enlightening.
Arat: Mr. Andover. I hope you will not be offended if I ask for your word not to print any... speculations as to my personal affairs.
Elte considers whether he has heard anything worth reporting, but concludes that what he has uncovered is so peculiar he's not sure he believes it himself, and he knows it would go over his readers' heads entirely.
Elte: I don't report gossip.
Elte: My column concerns matters of Territorial significance.
Elte will not promise to keep quiet should the information turn out to have such significance.
Arat knows what sort of articles Elte writes, and is not convinced. All it would take was for Elte to find some way to connect Arat's sexual lifestyle to the Dam Project through analogy, and it would become the keystone to a dramatic story.
Arat realizes, however, that he is unlikely to obtain any better reassurance.
Arat adds that to the huge and growing list of things he has to be none too happy about.
Elte picks up on Arat's uneasy expression.
Elte has always been a sucker for romance.
Elte: I've never been one to stand in the way of love.
Notes:
1) This scene is continued from the previous episode. [return]
Go on to Episode #76: The Masked Whittler
Return to the Index of Episodes