Aliena Read Free

beautiful!”
    “The body was selected to be esthetic,” she said. “To make the interface easier.”
    So they had chosen the prettiest host body they could obtain. That probably made sense, if she was to be a public figure.
    But there was one detail. “Your hair,” he said. “We need to brush it out.”
    She evidently hadn’t thought of it. “This I can do. Has your girlfriend a brush?”
    Brom went and rummaged, finding a brush. Aliena brushed while they talked.
    “Please, tell me about girlfriend, romance, and love.”
    He thought the telling would be painful, but it was more of a relief, after a year suppressed. “Lucy was a petite blonde, just as you are a petite brunette. We seemed made for each other, and she moved in with me two years ago. We thought we would get married—that’s a formal union, the formation of a family—but then things started going wrong, and we seemed less right for each other. I was pondering whether to break up, that is, not to marry. Then she died in a car crash. I think she was distraught and committed suicide. They said she was texting while driving, and lost control, but I think it was suicide. The irony is that I did not realize how much I loved her until I lost her. I was to blame for her death, though I was never charged and no one accused me. I have been mourning her since then.”
    “I do not comprehend all your references,” Aliena said. “But I think I understand that you liked this woman very much and grieved when you lost her.” Her brow furrowed. “I would like to learn love like this, for I see that it is important to you. How can I love?”
    Brom shook his head. “It’s not something you learn to do, exactly. It just happens when you associate closely with someone, if the chemistry is right.”
    “Chemistry?”
    “In this context, it means that you are compatible and mutually attracted. It grows if nothing interferes.”
    She considered. “When we stood close together, and you comforted me, was that love?”
    “Not by itself. But it could be the beginning of a feeling that grows into love as time passes.”
    “Please, comfort me again.”
    “Oh, I do not mean to take advantage!”
    She winced. “Offense given again?”
    “No! Aliena, you never offended me. It’s just that with your sex appeal--” He broke off at her blank look.
    “Appeal sex,” she said. “This is something I have? That I should not?”
    Brom gathered his mental resources and spoke as clearly and accurately as he could manage. “There are different kinds of emotions. Love is when two people genuinely like and need each other. But for a man it can be simpler. A man would like to have sex with any attractive woman regardless of love. That is, to breed her. To mate with her.”
    “To mate. That I know. To reproduce.”
    “Exactly. You are, that is your human body is, a remarkably fetching thing, and when I get close to it I feel like—like mating. That is your sex appeal. So I am careful, because that is not appropriate. We don’t know each other well enough.”
    “How well must we know each other to mate?”
    He spread his hands. “That is something that must come out of the situation. My point is that normally a man wants to mate, while a woman is more careful, because she is the one who gets pregnant and bears the baby. So she prefers a firm commitment first.”
    “What leads to such a commitment?”
    “Well, normally the two form a couple. They do things together. They embrace and kiss. And if--”
    “Kiss?”
    “They put their mouths together and suck a bit,” he said bluntly, thinking that would turn her off.
    “Please, I would like to experience this, so that I can try to understand it.”
    Brom knew he should try to dissuade her, but suddenly the idea of kissing her was overwhelmingly appealing. “If you really want to know, I will show you.”
    “Yes, please.”
    “It starts with the, the comfort position.”
    “Yes! I can do that.” She stood as he did, and