Page 111 of The Genius
Pulling back a little to look into my eyes, Marco raised an eyebrow. “I don’t fucking think so. I’m already bursting to have you.”
“You’re not being rational. It’s only two days.”
“I don’t care. You knew what you were getting into. If you wanted a nonsexual man you should have chosen a Motlander.”
“Marco, you’re being ridiculous. Stop acting like a caveman high on testosterone who feels threatened by all those single men. You already impregnated me, so you can relax now.”
“Oh, so I’m a caveman now?”
“No, but you’re behaving like one.”
He took a step back, his jaw tightening. “Then you’d better run back to the civilized people. I hear them calling.”
He was right; I recognized Raven’s voice calling out for us to gather.
When we walked back to the school, Marco looked straight ahead avoiding my attempts to soften him up with small talk about how hungry I was. He was angry at me for my comment about him being a caveman, and my refusal to let him make our relationship public.
I didn’t understand why he was in such a rush when I needed time to get used to the idea without adding other people’s opinion to the mix.
Being that it was a beautiful summer day, we grabbed plates with food from the dining table when it was time to eat and sat on benches and chairs outside. Some people were standing, some were sitting, but everyone was catching up with old friends and there was a lot of laughter.
Marco took the last seat at one of the picnic tables where Hunter, Boulder, Finn, Archer, and Nero were already sitting. It was a tight squeeze with their broad shoulders.
“Are you starting some kind of brotherhood?” Raven called out to them. “How come you are not mixing with women?”
“Because you talk too much.” Boulder winked at Raven, his adoptive daughter.
“Nonsense.” With a big grin, she waved a dismissive hand at him before turning to me. “Come sit with me, Shelly. I heard you’re designing sex-bots and I’m curious to learn more about it.
At least ten people turned around giving me a strange look, but Raven couldn’t be bothered and just pulled two chairs together and signaled for me to sit down.
“What is it you do exactly?” she asked and put her drink down on the ground while balancing her plate.
“You just said it. I design sex-bots.”
Raven’s black hair reflected the sun with her curls popping out in all directions. As a child she had always looked a lot like Kya, who had brown skin too, but now that Raven was an adult, her features were more pronounced with high cheekbones, full lips, and eyes full of life and fire.
“You’ve gotta give me more than that, Shelly. I’m sensing a juicy story here.”
“I don’t know what to tell you.” I crossed my legs and smiled. “It’s a fun project because it challenges my skills as an engineer and at the same time I’m using psychology to make the robots more realistic.”
“Are the robots male or female?”
“At the moment I only work with female robots. I have a dream about making a natural-looking robot for the Nmen.”
“Interesting.” Raven nodded her head and chewed on a stick of celery.
“When you look at the specifications for the sex-bots here in the Northlands they are based on old-fashioned evolutionary psychology. For instance, the robots have long legs and high-heeled shoes on. The reason for that is that men recognize that a female with long legs is no longer a child and therefore able to bear children.”
“But she’s a robot, she can’t bear any children.”
“No, of course not. But that doesn’t change that men are attracted to an imitation of a childbearing female. The high heels elevate her behind and make it puff out by twenty-five percent and that’s a big hit with men too.”
“Why?”
I sighed. “It’s the same with breasts. Curves are sexy to men because it’s a visual sign of health and that a woman has enough fat to go through a pregnancy. Of course everything has to be perky and firm to signal youth as well.”
“But none of those things should matter, since it’s a sex toy.”
