Ice touched the screen to have the next volunteer sent in, but thought about the color of Alana’s lips for the first thirty seconds of the interview and completely missed the questions and answers.
Chapter Ten
Alana watched another Crimean walk out of the office with a confused frown because she’d asked if he’d ever felt love. How was it possible that a whole species didn’t seem to understand what love really was? The closest thing any of them had ever felt was a sense of pride at doing a good job or the feeling they had when eating a food they particularly liked. Two more since Nova had mentioned the special coral pudding.
Ice stood behind her to the right. She noticed he often nodded at certain answers as if he agreed, particularly when the Crimeans were explaining how they didn’t have time or the wish to find a partner or have a family because they were content with their lives.
She made some notes, then Ice said, “Echo Dreamwights. Literature professor at Imperial University.”
The woman was the most striking one she’d seen all morning with an elegance about her, almost an aura of regality. Her answers were the same as the rest.
“Would you like to become a mother someday?” Alana finally asked.
“No. Infants and small children irritate me,” Echo said, but without a hint of unpleasantness. She could have been talking about the weather.
“Have you ever been in love, or thought you might be?”
“I’ve read about love, of course. It’s thoroughly described in many ancient texts. But I’ve never really comprehended its true meaning.”
“Love’s different for everybody, I suppose.” Alana rubbed the back of her neck and turned her head to get rid of a pinch she felt there. “I think it’s the feeling when you long to be with someone as much as possible. You get a rush when you get to be near them, and you miss them when they’re gone. And coral pudding isn’t a person. It doesn’t count.”
“Oh, it is delicious, though.”
Alana turned to Ice, who nodded. “It’s good. You should try it at lunchtime.”
She stared at the smooth surface of the desktop, and had the urge to rest her forehead there.
“Okay, how about caring about another person so much you’d do almost anything for them, including putting their needs above your own?”
“I would do whatever Emperor Chaos asked me to,” Echo said. “His needs are clearly more important than mine, as Crimea would go on without me much the same. The loss of the emperor would be a blow to the people, however.”
“I think that’s more loyalty than love. Isn’t there any other Crimean whose needs you’d put before yours? Say you had one small loaf of bread with no hope of more food in the foreseeable future. Not counting the emperor or anyone high in the government, is there anyone whom you’d give that bread to while you went hungry?”
Echo thought for a moment, her eyebrows moving up and down. Finally, she said, “Not at the present time. But if I deemed their survival more important to Crimea than mine, I’d give them the bread. However, hunger isn’t an issue here, so the point is moot.”
The next interviewee was Sand Trueblood, a junior officer at the Ministry of Treasury. He seemed younger than the men Alana had met so far. Surely she could get somewhere with a very young male Crimean.
“Have you ever loved anyone?” Alana asked, pen poised over the notebook.
“I don’t think so, no.”
“What about sex, Sand? Do you have what you consider normal sexual urges?”
“During puberty I sought out sexual pleasure, and often provided it myself. I was preoccupied for a while.”
This was good! This was progress. A Crimean who didn’t see sex as unnecessary.
“When was the last time you had sex?”
“Puberty. I eliminated the urges with a chemical implant.”
Alana chewed the inside of her cheek. “You didn’t enjoy it?”
“The brief pleasure it afforded wasn’t worth it for the work and distraction involved. I found I derived as much pleasure from successfully balancing difficult accounts or compiling department budgets. Or—”
“Yeah,” Alana said, raising her hand. “I understand. But what about love? Bonding with another person and completing that bond with physical intimacy? Sharing pleasure?”
Sand stared at her blankly, then blinked. “I do find pleasure in completing a task successfully. Is that love?”