Page 113 of The Explorer
Victor touched his nose and looked away. We all waited for a long moment, before he met her gaze again. “We’ll need to clear it with the parliament, but yes, I hope that we can soon accept your proposal.”
CHAPTER 29
Details
Aubri
After a long and exhausting day of debating in the tepee we enjoyed a traditional feast served by people dressed in colorful clothing.
Later, when we walked the three miles back to the beach houses that night, I held hands with Indiana and talked with Celeste who was walking by my side.
“That massacre, that Victor mentioned, I’ve heard about it before, I think. What happened?”
“Oh, you mean the three-hour massacre?” Celeste said. “Well, it’s something we all learn about in school. It was the biggest mass murder since the war, but it happened way back in the twenty-second century. There have been movies and books about the tragic story of Amélie. She was a woman in her thirties who had sex with a man named Pierre. The story goes that he became obsessed with her and couldn’t handle that she moved on to have new lovers. One day, he came to talk to her and apparently seeing her with another man made him lose his mind in jealousy. In a rampage that lasted three hours, Pierre first killed Amélie and the man he found her with. After that, he went around the district with an axe and killed everyone he could find, shouting that they had all slept with Amélie. People tried to fight back and take the axe from him, but he was a strong construction worker, and the nature of the survival bunkers is like a maze of connections. Eventually, they managed to isolate him and detain him. Once Pierre settled down, he was horrified at what he had done. We saw recordings of his testimony where he talked about feeling insane with jealousy and having no control. He was crying and saying how much he regretted not getting help when he realized that he had fallen in love.”
“Wow, poor guy,” I breathed.
“Poorguy?” Celeste gave me a puzzled look. “What about the people he killed?”
“No, I mean it’s such a sad love story. It’s tragic that it came to all those people dying.”
“Exactement.” Celeste nodded. “That’s why something like that can never happen again. Falling in love is dangerous.”
“Just because one person loses his mind doesn’t mean everyone else will. I think love is magical.” Indiana lifted our joined hands and kissed the back of my hand.
“Hmm… You’ve been together for months now. How are you not tired of having sex with the same partner? Don’t you long for variety?”
We laughed and it made Celeste laugh with us.
“Will you at least invite others into your relationship?” She chuckled.
“Are you fishing for an invitation?” I asked.
She gave a mischievous grin. “I would be up for it if you two are.”
“We’re not,” Indiana said fast. “I’m not sharing my woman with anyone.”
Squeezing his hand, I smiled and felt completely at peace with my decision to marry my best friend.
When we reached the beach, we saw Thor standing in front of Victor and Isaac, who sat on the porch in front of one of the small beach huts that served as our houses this week.
“I’m telling you that we have integrated over a million women from the Motherlands and not all of them have been faithful. It’s not as if our men have gone on killing sprees because things didn’t turn out the way they hoped.”
“Do you have people in jail for violent crimes fueled by jealousy? Yes or no?” Victor asked.
“Probably, but for every man who misbehaves, we have millions who don’t. We wouldn’t send anyone to Old Europe without preparing them for your weird view on free sex. That should be fucking obvious.”
“We are not the weird ones! You are!” Isaac claimed.
To break up the argument between Thor, Victor, and Isaac, I made a suggestion. “How about we start out small?”
When they shifted their focus to me, I continued, “We could train twenty men and see how they do in France.”
Victor sat with his feet on the steps to the porch. With his yellow shirt and blue vest, he reminded me of a colorful version of an old-fashioned banker. “Tell me how you would explain our culture to others when you’ve clearly not adapted to it yourself.” His gaze fell to Indiana’s and my fingers, which were still intertwined.
“That’s a good point.” I pretended to be thinking and then I said, “Tell you what, I’m willing to select and train the best Explorers you’ve ever seen, but I’ll need an expert on your culture to train them with me. If you convince your prime minister to send Banni with me and Indiana when we go back in December, then he can explain everything about your culture.”
Victor placed his elbows on the porch behind him and leaned back.
