“Why don’t I bet everything I own?” I muttered in answer, trying to control a temper that was rising much too fast. “And what will you do if I suddenly decide to play cow to every bull you stand me in front of? No novelty means no interest, the best way I can think of to keep their hands off me.”
“You, stand there and play cow?” he asked, coming around to stare down at me with brows raised high. “Are you forgetting I’m the one who’s supposed to make the jokes? If you ever stood there and took it without complaining, I’d rush you to Medical to find out what was wrong with you. Let’s get going, and I’ll give you a tour of this place.”
He took my hand and moved off again, through the crowds of men who were now for the most part staring. A number of them were staring with interest, but at least the same number were staring with disapproving frowns on their faces. I thought I was the only one to notice that, but once we were past them and walking up a very wide corridor with lift doors on either side, Kel-Ten made a soft sound of disgust.
“Those jerks,” he muttered, making no effort to look back. “They’re afraid to face any woman who isn’t crazy about them from first to last, but they still expect to win challenges and make it to the top of the list. They still haven’t figured out that the name of the game is confidence, something you have in everything or don’t have in anything. To your left over there is the rec area for high girls, to the right the exercise areas for Primes. Physical exercise is taken by all Primes together no matter what their grade, and they separate only later on, when it’s time for serious work. Low Primes get to look at high girls, but touching is out until they make high status. Most of the high girls are no better than the low girls, but it’s the principle of the thing.”
Wed stopped at the end of the corridor to look around at the very large open area that stretched both left and right, but open only in the sense that it was made of windows that let anyone standing there look out. Couches and chairs of leather covered the uncarpeted area, making it a nice place to sit and take in the sun on days when there was visible sun in the sky. That particular day was dark and overcast with the promise of rain, which was enough to make the wide expanse feel cold despite the warmth of the interior heating system.
“What’s this high and low you all keep talking about?” I asked, suppressing a shiver as I looked away from the heavy clouds not far above the transparent roof. “And why does the term ‘Prime’ refer only to men in this place? I’ve been a Prime long enough to find the differentiation petty as well as stupid.”
“That’s only because you weren’t a Prime here,” he answered, faintly amused again. “Once you’re here a while you’ll understand that that’s the only way it can possibly work, the only way they can get what they want. The men here are trained hard to use their abilities in a way empaths have never before been trained, and once they get to a certain stage they’re out—and-out dangerous. Considering what they need from the women, how smart would it be to train them to be just as dangerous? A trained Prime can say no and make it stick, which would put an end to the breeding of even more Primes. They need their supply more than they need trained women, so the females around here are just girls.”
He looked around, spotted a couch he seemed to approve of, walked over to it, then pulled me down next to him as he sprawled comfortably.
“High and low status,” he said, getting ready to lecture on the subject as he locked his hands behind his head. “For Primes, high and low comes about by how quickly you learn and how well you do in challenges. As soon as your mind starts opening out you can get involved in challenging for higher level positions, but some men never get to that point. Their minds seem frozen and totally inflexible, unable to get much beyond where they already are. They start out low and never get past that, but since research shows they can sire sons who can get past the block or whatever it is, they aren’t kicked out to panhandle oh street corners. They stay low, and service the girls who are low.
“All girls are low when they first come into this facility, even the ones who were raised in the creches a few miles away. Low for girls means unrated, and rating comes only after their first Prime fetus is brought to term by one of the host mothers. Average output in this place has come to be one Prime offspring for every ten pregnancies, and any girl who does better than that is raised to high status and assigned to high Primes. They also have better living quarters, areas to relax and have fun in, and contests to see which of them can produce the most male Prime offspring. They’re given parties and fussed over for every fifth male Prime baby, and there are charts in their quarters showing where each of them stands in the contest. Every time the reports are due to be updated, they get so excited you can hear them jumping and squealing from three floors away.”
“If you were trying to make me nauseous, you’ve managed it,” I told him from where I sat on the very edge of the couch, not joking in the least. “I now understand why they use conditioning, and how compassionate they are to do it. Are they gentle with the ones who go crazy from living a life like that?”
“None of them go crazy, and you won’t either,” he said, unlocking his hands to lean up and pull me to him. “I doubt if anyone will be expecting you to jump around clapping your hands and squealing, so no one will be disappointed when you don’t. Your spare time will be filled by me and those like me, so you won’t have much opportunity to brood. All in all it should be a lot of fun.”
“Fun!” The one word exploded out of me with such outrage that he began to laugh, something I could feel through the chest I was being held against. I could also feel his hand where it rose beneath the hem of my shirt to rub my bottom, but before I could even start to struggle out of his grip a gentle chiming sounded. The chiming was obviously a signal of sorts, as he immediately let me go, got to his feet, then pulled me up beside him.
“That’s the official signal for the start of the day, and for the first time in a long time I’m eager to start with it,” he said, sending me a grin before moving off to the right of the couch wed been on. “I knew you’d be good for me, but I hadn’t realized just how good. Yes, sweet thing, we are going to have fun.”
Which was the last we had in the way of conversation for a while. He pulled me with him to a large room where I was put into a corner, then was left to watch while he and the other men who entered spent their time on their knees with their eyes closed, alternating between breathing strangely and remaining absolutely unmoving. The goings on held my fascinated attention for a good ten seconds, and after that there was nothing to occupy me but boredom. Over the last couple of days I’d been given enough to think about, but the picture drawn for me of the life of a high female Prime in that place had made me too depressed to want to think.
After breathing and playing tree, the men went to a big gym area and I got to go with them. They were put through quite a lot of exercise that got heavier and more complex as it went along, and after an exquisitely monotonous amount of time they were led toward a set of doors and through them. The doors obviously led outside, an observation reinforced by the presence of white-uniformed male Sees, but although that was one destination I wouldn’t have minded being dragged to, I didn’t get to go along. I’d been left in the keeping of one of the Sees, and he made sure I stayed seated on the floor where Kel-Ten had left me, amused over my annoyance but firm in his decision. Kel-Ten didn’t want me wandering around, so seated was the way I would stay until he came back.