Chapter 23 Variations on a Theme XIV Dionysus

Go through the woods north of Boondock and turn right again to see Lazarus Long's residence.But the first time I saw it, I paid little attention to it; I was amused by Minerva Long's words.I am her father?I? The ancestor said: "Shut your mouth, child, think it over before you speak. Honey, you scared him." "Oh my God!" "Come on, stop acting like a terrified little animal or I'll pinch your nose and pour you down two ounces of eighty proof liquor masquerading as juice. You've done nothing wrong. Jace Ting, are you interested in pretending to be liquor?"

"Very interested," I said eagerly. "I remember when I was young, there was a time when I was only interested in baijiu and one other thing." "If the other thing isn't a woman, we'll find a comfortable convent and let you drink your fill. But I know that thing must be a woman—I know you better than you think. Let's drink That's enough. These two young ones won't participate, but they are likely to be alcoholics in the future." "Simply slander—" "—sadly, it may be true—" "—but we only drank once—" "—no more drinking!"

"Don't overpromise, boys; orgies may sneak up on you. Better to know your drinking than to get caught up in ignorance. Get older and put on some weight, and you'll be able to handle that— —Otherwise Ishtar got your genes mixed up. But she was right. Well, here's another thing about you, Justin. Yes, you're one of Minerva's fathers ... This is a very high honor, because these twenty-three pairs of chromosomes were extracted from the tissues of thousands of extremely good people, who used daunting mathematics to deal with variables, plus Ishtar’s knowledge of genetics, and some of my dispensable suggestions—after that, this little cutie got the exact same genetic combination as she imagined.”

My brain fish began to consider the genetics involved in this process.Yes, all the aspects involved are too complicated, much more complicated than the genetic problems of one man and one woman under normal circumstances.Lazarus continued: "Minerva could have been a man, two meters tall, a hundred kilos, strong as a giant, with genitals as big as a stud mule. But she decided to be what she is now: slender, utterly feminine, shy—I Not sure if she chose that last point. Was it your choice, dear?" "No, Lazarus; no one knows which gene controls this trait. I think Possibly inherited from Hamad Yad. "

"I think you inherited it from that computer I used to know - and took it all away, because Athena wasn't shy at all. Let's not talk about that. Some parents who donated chromosomes to Minerva have already Dead, some alive, but unaware that we borrowed bits and pieces of their tissue cells stored in static clones, or biobanks. Like you. There are also people who know they are donor parents, like me, and There's the Hamadiyad you just heard her talk about. You'll meet others, some of them right here in Tertius. It's not a secret here. But she and any of them None of them are very closely related. Twenty-one-thirds? That's an acceptable risk, and a genetics consultant can figure it out without turning on a computer. Also, neither of Minerva's parents has a family genetic disease. .You can safely breed with her; so can I."

"But you rejected me!" I was taken aback by the angry look on Minerva's face when she reprimanded Lazarus.Her eyes were shining, and she wasn't shy at the moment. "Wait, wait, dear. You were just a year out of the glass, not yet fully grown, though Ishtar made you menstruate while you were still in the glass. And Come after me sometime; I'll surprise you." "Surprise me, or surprise me?" "It's all the same. Justin, I just wanted to clarify your relationship with Minerva. Although your relationship is very close and makes Minerva feel very close, the two of you have very little genes in common. You can hardly Said to be her 'cousin'."

"I feel close to her, too," I told Patriarch. "I'm happy,' and deeply honored. But I don't yet know why I was chosen." "If you want to know which gene pair they stole from you, and why, you'd better ask Ishtar, and let her ask Athena; I doubt Minerva remembers." "But I happen to remember; I have retained that part of my memory. Justin, I would like to retain some of my mathematical ability. I can choose between you and Professor Libby Owen - I choose you; because you are my friend." (Wow! I have the utmost respect for Jack Hardy Owens; I'm just an applied mathematician and he's a brilliant theorist.) "Whatever the reason, dear cousin, I'm very glad you chose me as one of your endowments Father."

"Landing." The airship came to a stop with a bang, and one of the red-haired replicas, Rebis Lazuli, announced to everyone. (The ship appeared to be a Corson Farmslade-type anti-gravity airship, which I was surprised to see in such a new colony.) Lazarus replied, "Thank you, Captain." The two little girls jumped out of the boat; Patriarch and I helped Minerva out of the airship.She didn't really need such help, but she accepted it with grace and dignity.This is another detail of immigrant life that astounds me, the relative lack of such ancient manners in New Rome. (Again, I found that the Boondoks were more formal than the Secundus, but at the same time they were more casual and relaxed in terms of etiquette. The frontier life I imagined before was full of too many legends : Tough, bearded men wrestle with dangerous animals, mules pulling covered mule carts to a distant horizon.)

"Captain!" Lazuli ordered, "Fatty - go to sleep!" The anti-gravity airship wobbled away; two little girls joined us, one took my free hand, the other With Lazarus' free hand, Minerva walked between us.Had it not been for Minerva's presence, all my attention would have been on these two freckled little rascals.I'm not one of those people who can't help liking children; some children are simply unbearable, especially the precocious ones.But I find the precocious precociousness of both of them attractive rather than obnoxious... and the features of the ancestors: the not-so-handsome but strong physique, the big nose, all clearly marked It was copied, but with a bit of naughty girlishness.If it was just me, I'd be giggling with joy looking at these two kids.

I said "wait a minute" and took Laurie's hand so that everyone stopped.I took another look at the house, "Lazarus, who is the architect?" "I don't know," he said, "he's been dead for more than four thousand years. The building is based on the mansion of the political head of Pompeii, about the same time that the city was destroyed. I'm in a museum in a place called Denver Saw an architectural model of it and took pictures; I love it. The pictures are long gone, but when I described the building to Athena, she found images of the ruins of the building in the history section of the memory bank. According to It, plus my description, she designed the current version. There are some minor modifications but without changing its cozy character. Athena built it with her outreach and radio communication links. It is very suitable for the climate here Conditions; the climate here is similar to Pompeii. I like buildings with courtyards surrounded by houses. It’s safer, even though it’s already very safe here.”

"By the way, where is Athena? I mean the main computer itself." "Here. She was on the Dora when she built this house; now she's moved here. She built her own home in the basement before we built our house on top of it." Minerva puts it succinctly: "The computer likes to feel safe and wants to be close to those close to her. Lazarus, please forgive me dear, you made a small timing error: that was more than three years ago thing." "Oh, yes. Minerva, when you've lived as long as I have—you'll live so long you'll find you're always making mistakes about time. Flesh and blood people make mistakes like that all the time .You've brought yourself down so many levels and become human, so you have to be prepared to accept the inherent flaws of the flesh. Correction, Justin - it should be 'Minerva who built this house ', not 'Athena'." "Athena built it—so to speak," Minerva added. "I left Athena the engineering, architectural details, and other information, and it's all there now. I've kept only the most recent ones. Simple, memories of building this house—I want to remember that." I said, "Whoever built it, it's beautiful." Suddenly, I felt a little sad.Intellectually, I can accept the astonishing fact that this young woman was a computer in a past life and even accept the fact that I worked with this computer many years ago, many light years away from here.But this discussion suddenly brought me back to the sensual world: I was holding the warm arm of this sweet girl, but the harsh truth is that not long ago, she was a computer, and she built this new house-- When she was a computer.This shocked me.Few things shock me because I am a historian and I am so old that my sense of novelty has waned even before my first rejuvenation treatment. We entered the house, and my sadness was swept away by a warm greeting.I exchanged kisses with the owners of the house - two beautiful young women, one of whom I recognized after hearing their names, she was Ella's daughter, Hamadiyad, who looked like her father.The other statuesque blonde was Ishtar, whom I had become familiar with from conversations I had just had.There was also a young man, as pretty as the two women, who looked familiar to me, but I just couldn't remember who he was.Even the two little rascals insisted on kissing me because they didn't welcome me that way earlier. In Boondock, the greeting kiss was not the same as New Rome, it was more than a courtesy touch; even the kisses of the two little ones gave me a real sense of their gender.A kiss between two mature women is simpler and more direct.But the young man introduced as "Grahhead" took me by surprise.He hugged me first, kissed me on the cheek, and then kissed my mouth, which was comparable to my kiss.It surprised me, but I did my best to return him a kiss of the same quality. After the kiss, instead of letting me go, he patted me on the back and said, "Justin, it makes me so happy to see you again! Oh, that's great!" I looked back at his face.I must have looked confused because he blinked and said sadly, "Ishi, I showed off too soon! Hama baby get me a towel, I'm going to cry. He forgot me...  " I said, "Obertia Jones, what are you doing here? "What? I'm crying because I've been humiliated in front of my family." I can't remember how long it's been since I last saw him.Probably more than a century, I have been away from Howard University for that long.He was then a brilliant young specialist in the classics, with a child's mischievous humor.I finally remembered and dug him out of my memory.I had a "seven hour" happy hour with him and two other specialists, both women, and happy to be with us, but I can't remember what they looked like, and they were both Who is it; I just remember him as a naughty, happy, boisterous companion. "Euberdia," I said firmly, "why do you call yourself 'Grahide'? Are you avoiding the police again? Lazarus, to see such a pedant in your house—quickly put your daughter Lock it up." "Oh, that name!" he said. "Stop it, Justin. They don't know it. I changed it when I reformed. You won't betray me, will you? Promise me, dear!" He suddenly laughed, and said in a cheerful tone, "Go to the lobby, and I'll fill you with rum. Razu, who's on duty today?" "Laurie. It's an even-numbered day, so I'll do it. Nothing else?" "Spiced up a bit. I want to add a little more of the old friend stuff." "Okay, 'hugs' uncle. Who are the Borgias?" "A family from a time of great upheaval on Earth, sweethearts. The Howards of their time. They were gentle and courteous in their hospitality. I am descended from them, and their secrets have come to me by word of mouth." "Razu," Lazarus said, "before you make a drink for Justin, ask Athena to give you a brief introduction about the Borgia family." "Got it; here he is again—" "—Let's tickle him—" "— blowing in his ears—" "—until he cries and says 'stop it'—" "—and he needs to promise—" "—he's a piece of cake. Come on, Razu." I found Boondock a comfortable place, it wasn't the kind of place where people would be dumbfounded, more comfortable than I expected, but not as imposing.Ella and Lazarus only recruited 7,000 people as the first immigrants (over 90,000 applicants), so it is unlikely that Tertius now has much more than 10,000 residents, and probably fewer than 10,000 a little. Boondock seems to have only a few hundred people, concentrated in a few small public or semi-public buildings, and most of the immigrants are scattered in the countryside.So far, the residence of Lazarus Dragon has left the deepest impression on me among the buildings I have seen - not including the large oblate conical spaceship of the ancestor, and the one parked in the empty field. That bigger giant space transport ship.My little motorboat is also parked there. (The empty field is a flat field, several kilometers wide; it can't even be called an airport. There isn't a single house there. I landed safely, so there should be an autopilot there, but I didn't see it.) The original design of the ancestral house did not take my presence into consideration.Its lines and plan were simple; the long-dead Roman official had picked a brilliant designer.It is like a walled garden and the house itself is the wall around the garden.The house had two floors, each of which, it seemed to me, could be divided into twelve or sixteen large rooms, as well as the usual assisted living areas.That would make a total of twenty-four houses, or more.And there are only eight people in the family?Taking up so much space so conspicuously and extravagantly might satisfy one's self-esteem in New Rome, but in a new colony it seems out of place and out of line with what I've learned from my long study of the lives of our ancestors. the result of. The answer is simple - half of the house is occupied by the rejuvenation clinic, treatment clinic and infirmary; these places can be reached directly from the entrance hall without going through the private areas inside the house.The number of rooms for private use by the family is indeterminate; most interior walls inside the house can be moved.If the colony needed a larger medical facility, or if the ancestral home grew and needed more space, the Howard clinic and other medical equipment could be moved to a nearby house. (I was lucky that when I arrived there were no clients undergoing rejuvenation treatments and the infirmary was empty—otherwise most of the adults in the house would be busy.) People are confused.I thought there were eight people there—three men, Patriarch, Ella, and Grahead; three women, Ishtar, Hamadiyad, and Minerva; and two little ones, Laurelee Lee. and Rebes Lazuli.Little did I know then that there were two little toddler girls and a little boy.Besides, I'm not the only one being urged to move in and stay as long as I want.Outsiders don't know whether these people lived here as guests or became members of the ancestor's family. In this family, the relationship between family members is also blurred.Immigrants come out together as a family; a single immigrant is a contradiction in itself.But all the diaspora of Tertius are Howardians, and we Howardians have practiced all forms of marriage, the only one not being monogamy for life. There are no laws about marriage in Tertius; the Patriarch thinks there is no need for it.The few legal provisions here are written into the immigration contract, drafted by Ella and Lazarus together.It includes some of the usual conventions associated with building a home.The leader of the emigration is the final arbiter, and the leader always holds this power until the day he resigns from office.There is not a single sentence concerning marriage and family relations.Expatriates are required to register their births; the Howards have always had this policy.Here it is Computer Athena who takes care of the archival duties on her behalf.But when I reviewed the records, I found that the child's parents were identified with genetic taxonomic codes, not marriage and putative ancestry.Family geneticists have long urged the use of such a recording system, but it would make the job of genealogists more difficult, especially in systems that do not register marital status at all, as is often the case. I found a couple who had eleven children, six by the man and five by the woman, but none by both.I only found out after seeing their encoding - no match at all.I met them later. They were a very happy family with a prosperous farm. No one cared whether their group of children were born by two people together. The family situation of the ancestor is more complicated.The genetic ancestry of each child was of course recorded - but who was married to whom? Their bathroom, as has been said, was "extravagant"; it consisted of a lounge and a washroom, and was planned for family leisure and entertainment.It occupies the side of the ground floor facing the lobby, with the inner garden behind.In nice weather it can be pushed back on its wall to open out onto the garden - as it is now, it's warm. It's equipped with everything any luxury-seeker could ask for: a fountain in the middle of the bathroom, to match the garden fountain, and a ring of comfy tables around it to soak weary feet and enjoy a drink ; there is a steam room in one corner; in another corner there is a giant shower room, in which several circles of nozzles are installed for many people to bathe at the same time, no need to wait; a long bathing pool, not knee deep One end is marked blue, and the end to the chin is marked red; there is a bathtub on both sides of the bathing pool, which is very spacious for one person, and it is comfortable for two or three people to use together; there is a sofa, where you can sit a nap, to cool off, to sweat, or to talk intimately, to caress each other; a large dressing table, with a pair of mirrors, with which, with the help of Athena, one can see both the front and the back at the same time; The corner is equipped with a soft cushion like a bed, which is big enough for more than a dozen people to rest together, and pillows of various sizes, hard and soft, are luxuriously placed on it; there is also a counter for snacks and drinks, leading directly to their kitchen.If there's anything I didn't mention, it's my oversight, not the designer's.Needless to say, other more common facilities and supplies are also available. I thought the lights in the room were set randomly, but later I found out that Athena was constantly adjusting the lights so that the lights would not hurt people's eyes.She can also adjust the intensity of the lights in that large room to match the activity in progress—high light for makeup, low light for the rest area, etc.—and also to suit the personalities of different people; Hair is always in the spotlight, no matter where they hop.They were indeed bouncing around all the time. There is soft music in the bathroom and garden, and music can be heard everywhere if desired.The tunes are chosen by Athena, unless someone asks otherwise.It looks as if she has stored all her work.While she could be backing up the two little girls, she could be involved in three other completely different conversations happening elsewhere in the bathroom.A self-aware computer of her size - big enough to manage Secundus - certainly has the ability, and does often need to be involved in conversations in multiple places at once, but I've never encountered it here before This situation.Mainframe computers are usually not members of a family. Little else in the house is automated.Athena still has a lot of capacity to spare, so it's just a matter of personal preference.The hostesses cook for themselves, and Athena helps, she just has to watch out for mush or timing.Twice, Athena reminded Hamadiyad to leave the bathroom and check the kitchen.Once she was so anxious that she left naked and dripping without even grabbing a towel. Showering with Razu and Laurie was really "extremely frustrating, but also fun", with occasional squeals, laughs, and endless babbling, all by themselves Before talking, I will be interrupted many times (I feel that there is a telepathy between them, and sometimes I suspect that they can read people's mental activities, which makes me a little uncomfortable).Their straightforwardness is lovely, with the innocence of a child. First, they slathered me with a scented body wash, then demanded that I do the same to them.I flinched a little, and they immediately threatened to make my jaw tremble, and shouted "hug uncle" (that is, my old friend Oberdia, now called Grahead) washed better than me, and everyone Know how lazy he is.Don't I like them so I don't want to shower them with hugs?If they marry me, will I be able to live in peace with them in their spaceship; although they are still virgins (not because of lack of opportunities), don't worry at all, mother Hamadiyad and mother Ishtar They are being given elementary and advanced sex education, if I want to marry them now, would the moms be the one to speed up the process, hama mom? --tell him! Hamadiyad, who is a meter away from us, is applying Ella's bath lotion, assuring us that she will.I think these two little ones are kidding me, and their mother—one of them—is just playing along with their jokes.But since then, I've wondered if I missed a great opportunity.Lazarus could hear our conversation; he didn't tell them to stop making fun of me, he just advised me not to engage them in marriages longer than ten years because their emotional focus was limited - which made them very nervous. Annoyed he also suggested to them that if they want to get married that night they better cut their toenails which made them even angrier so they stopped bathing me and attacked him from both sides. Finally, with a struggling little girl in one hand, Lazarus asked if I would watch them, or let him throw them both at the deeper end of the bathing pool. I said I would babysit them, and we showered: we jumped into the bath together.I stood in the pool with my back to the garden and the water was up to my shoulders.The two of them couldn't reach the bottom yet, so I supported them with my arms, one on the left and the other on the right.Just then, a pair of hands covered my eyes. The twins screamed, "Aunt Tammy!" and jumped out of the water.I looked back. Tamara Sperling - I thought she was in Secundus, going to Retirement Village.Tamara is flawless, superb, and one of a kind.In my opinion (as do many others), she is the greatest artist in her profession.I'm sure I'm not the only man who has been abstinent long after she left New Rome. After she came in, she found that everyone in the family was in the bathroom, so she took off her clothes in the garden and ran in in a hurry, not even taking off her high-heeled sandals.She saw me and covered my eyes with those cute little hands. Heck, she's my dinner party companion!And (according to a conversation I overheard this afternoon) she would love to be my guest lady if I wanted to.If you want!Fifty years ago, every time she allowed me to see her, I would have offered her any marriage contract she could accept.She kept telling me repeatedly, patiently, and tenderly that she didn't want to have any more children, or get married for any other reason, and I just had to shut up. But here she is, having undergone a rejuvenation treatment (which doesn't really matter), looking radiant, youthful and healthy.She is now an immigrant.I really want to know who convinced her to be my guest lady.I'm jealous of that man, wondering what superhuman qualities he possesses?But I don't care what those qualities are, as long as Tamara wants me to sleep in the same bed, even if it's just for one night, even if it's just for the sake of the past, I will accept God's gift and don't worry about it. Someone said something to move her.Her wealth is inexhaustible.Tamara!The name sounds like a bell. She kissed two wet little girls, then got down on her knees and kissed me. Then, rubbing her lips against mine, she said softly, "Honey. I rushed over as soon as I heard you were here. Mi laroona d'vashti meedth du?" "Yes! Plus any other nights you're free." "Don't speak English so fast, doreeth mi; I'm learning, very slowly. My daughter wants her rejuvenation assistant to speak a language most clients don't understand. Our family now speaks English a lot, almost as much as Ge as much as Lacta." "Are you a rejuvenator now? And a daughter here?" "Ishtar datter mi—don't you know, petsan mi-mi? No, I'm just a nurse now. But I'm still studying, and Ishtar said I could be a medical assistant in a few years. Not bad— -yes?" "Not bad, I suppose. But what a loss to art!" "Blandjor," she said cheerfully, running her hands through my wet hair, "despite my rejuvenation treatments—did you notice?—there is no way to live by this art here. Willing Too many people sleeping with other people, the cuter ones, the younger ones, the prettier ones." The twins stayed with us the whole time, listening to us and finally getting quiet for a while.Tamara stretched out her arms and wrapped them both in her arms, "This is the example. They are my granddaughters. Desire to grow taller so they can lie under someone else." She kissed them both, "And they have curly red hair. I don't." I was about to say that age and red curly hair don't matter when I realized that complimenting Tamara in such a way might make my jaw shudder.But I didn't need to talk; the two began to spout again: "Aunt Tammy, we have no desire to—" "—just the will—" "—and besides he's never going to marry us—" "—he just made fun of us with this—" "—and you can't be our grandmother—" "—because that would make you our dude's grandmother—" "—it's illogical, impossible, and absurd—" "—so you can only be our 'Aunt Tammy.'" They use the reasoning logic of the double ellipsis syllogism—if it can be called logic at all.But I agree with them because I can't face the idea that Tamara is Papa's grandmother.I changed the subject: "Dear Tamara, do you want me to take off your sandals and join us in the pool? How about the three of us go out and get dry?" No need for her to answer: "We have to hurry up and get ready—" "—because Mama Hamadiyad's done with her face and started with her breasts—" "—so if we don't hurry up, we're going to dinner naked—" "—If you want to go to the party, you must not be like this—" "—you two better hurry too—" "—Otherwise that old man's going to be mad. Go away!" I climb out of the bath and let Tamara wipe me.In fact, there is no need, there is an air dryer, which is very convenient.But as long as Tamara is willing to do anything for me, I'm happy to take it.It took some time; as we "wasted" time touching each other and talking. (Is there a better way to kill time than this?) After drying off, I was thinking about using the dressing chair (I don't use cosmetics very often, I only use some hair removal products), when a little girl ran to bring me a coat, a blue one tunic.She said out of breath, "Lazarus said to let you try this, or what would you like? But if you don't want to wear clothes, you can wear nothing because it's hot tonight and You are a member of the family, Minerva's father, one of the fathers." I think I can tell the two of them apart by the shape of the freckles on their faces. "Thank you, Laurie; I'll wear them." I've always felt that a diaper was all that was needed to eat in a warm home.The same goes for outdoor private parties on warm evenings.However, as the guest of honor at the dinner party, although also a "family member", I cannot attend a formal celebration without being naked. "Feel free, but I'm Captain Lazuli. But that's okay, she's me. Go!" She disappeared quickly. I put on that dress.We went to the garden and found Tamara's clothes there.Her dress matches mine very well.The same blue, and both in the style of the heyday of ancient Greece.Her dress looked like two grams of blue mist.The small bodice is fastened at the right shoulder and drawn diagonally to the left waist.Her skirt is longer than mine.But it's fitting; in Greece's heyday men did wear kilts shorter than women's, while in Secundus the reverse was much more common. (I don't know yet what's going on with Tertius.) We're a good match, and I'm happy. Is this a coincidence?Around the ancestors, "coincidences" are usually arranged in advance. We had dinner in the garden, each pair of diners had a sofa, and the sofas were arranged in a hexagon with the fountain as the sixth side.Athena turned the fountain into a musical fountain, and there were dancing lights inside to match the tunes she played.All the women except Tamara helped serve the food; later Laurie and Razu served the wine—it was impossible to get them on the sofa anyway.When the feast began, Ella was with Minerva, Lazarus was with Ishtar, Grahid was with Hamadiyad, and the twins were together.But women move around like chess pieces. They sit on the sofa with someone else, eat something, hug the person next to them, and then move to another sofa.But Tamara wasn't going anywhere.Her firm but soft round buttocks remained motionless against my lap throughout the banquet.She'd better not run around; I'm not shy, but I don't want to show my instincts to everyone - I have a strong feeling for the warm body urging me. Lazarus was with Ishtar at the start of the dinner, and the next time I looked at him it was Minerva leaning on him - and the next time it was one of the twins, I'm not sure which two.Just like this one by one kept changing. I won't describe what was served at the dinner in detail, other than to say that I didn't expect to find these in a new colony.I have paid top dollar for inferior food at the most famous restaurants in New Rome. 除了拉撒路和他的两个妹妹，其他人都穿着鲜艳的、古希腊人的服装。但拉撒路穿得却像两千五百年前的苏格兰酋长：苏格兰短裙、无边帽、毛皮袋、匕首、宝剑，等等。他把剑放在很方便就能拿到的地方，好像随时准备用它。我可以很肯定地说，按照那些早已消亡的氏族的规定，他没有权利打扮得像一个酋长。他是否有权穿着穿苏格兰服装也是个疑问。有一次他说他是“一半苏格兰威士忌，”，但在另一个场合下，他又告诉艾拉·维萨罗，他是在这种款式在他的老家流行时才第一次穿苏格兰短裙的（在新疆域升空前不久），然后发现他喜欢这样的服装，自那以后，只要习俗允许他就会穿它。 那天晚上，他竭尽全力地装扮得像一个苏格兰酋长，还戴上了一副浓密的络腮胡，以和他华丽的服饰相配。 他的两个双胞胎妹妹也和他穿得一模一样。我现在仍然在想，所有这些是为了显示对我的尊重，为了给我留下深刻的印象，述是为了让我感到好玩？可能三者都有吧。 我本可以幸福、安静地度过这三个小时，给塔玛拉喂吃的，让她给我喂吃的，沉浸在抚摸她带给我的祥和的精神世界里。但这个密闭的幸福小圈子被打破了，老祖希望我们能够分享晚宴伴侣，轮着讲话、倾听别人的讲话，就像在新罗马举办的有礼节约束的沙龙聚会一样。我们这样做了，分享着和谐、安祥的气氛——那两个双胞胎会给对话配上让人意想不到的装饰音，但她们通常会努力抑制住自己强烈的表现欲，装得像个“大人”一样。老祖先拿艾拉开刀，挑起话头，“艾拉，如果上帝从那个过道进母来，你会说什么？” “我会告诉他把脚擦干净。伊师塔不允许脏着脚的上帝出现在这所房子里。” “但上帝的脚都是泥土做的，因为他们都是泥塑的。” “你昨天可不是这么说的。” “今天不是昨天，艾拉。我见过一千个上帝，每个都是泥脚。首先——”拉撒路用手指数着——“他们都为教士谋福利；第二，为国王谋福利；第三，还是为教士谋福利。然后我遇到了第一千零一个。”老祖停顿了一下。 艾拉看着我说：“像这样的时刻，我应该说，'快告诉我！'或者其他类似言不由衷的话，再随声附和他下面的话，'是的，是的，拉撒路——'这样才是有礼貌的行为；其他人就至少会有二十分钟的时间来大口喝酒、大口吃肉。 “可我偏要逗逗他。他要说他是怎样只用一把玩具手枪和超强舍道德力量就消灭了乔克拉的上帝们。这个故事在他的记忆里已经有了四个相互矛盾的版本，为什么我们还要听第五个？” “那不是一把玩具枪；是装满了弹药的马克十九雷明顿火枪，在当时是威力极大的武器——我把他们大卸八块以后，散发出来的恶臭比在发薪日之后那天早晨荷尔蒙宫的味道还要难闻。而且我超强的力量永远不是道德力量；而是先下手为强。艾拉挡住了我，不让我说这个故事的要点：那些泥胎是真正的上帝，因为教士和国王都没有从中捞到任何好处；他们也被欺骗了。这些狗奴才也是上帝的财产，只是为了上帝的利益而存在。一个人可以是一条狗的上帝，那帮奴才在那些上帝面前就跟狗一样。他们把可怜的斯雷顿·福特逼疯了，差点杀死他，那时候我第一次产生这种怀疑。第二次是大约八、九百年以后，那一次，安迪·利比和我证实了我的怀疑。'怎么证实的？'你们会问——” “我们没有问。” “谢谢你，艾拉。因为过了那么长时间，乔克拉什么都没有改变。他们说的话、习俗、建筑物……你能想到的一切点没变。 这样的情形只会出现在被驯养的动物身上。野生动物，比如人，会随着环境的变化而变化；他会调整。我经常想，我应该回去，看看那些狗一样的人在自己的主人死了以后，是不是会恢复野性。或者他们只是躺下来等死？但我不是非去不可；安迪和我当时很幸运，能够带着我们的生殖器官离开那个行星——他们处罚他人的方式就是割掉生殖器。 " “明白我的话了吧，贾斯廷·在第三个版本里，他们的主人被焚毁以后，乔克拉的所有人差不多立刻陷入了昏迷状态。还有，在那个版本里，利比根本没有出现。” “艾拉爸爸，你没有理解我们的老兄——” “——他没有说谎——” “——他是一个有创造性的艺术家——” “——讲话时使用了比喻的手法——” “——他解放了那些人——” “——而他们本来深受压迫。” 艾拉·维萨罗说：“贾斯廷，我对付一个拉撒路·龙就觉得很困难了。三个他？我投降。到这里来，劳瑞，我要咬咬你的耳朵。密涅娃，我亲爱的，别管他们的事，洗洗你那双可爱的小手，看看贾斯廷是不是还需要些葡萄酒。贾斯廷，你是唯一一个可以给我们讲讲新闻的人。证券交易所有什么新闻吗？” “不断地跌。如果你在塞昆德斯还有股票，最好让我给你的经纪人捎个口信，告诉他卖出。拉撒路，我注意到你把'人'也划到野生动物里了——” “是的。你可以杀了他，但你不能驯服他。历史上最惨烈的大屠杀就是因为试图驯服而引起的。” “我没有想和你争论这个，老祖。我是一个准确记录历史的史学家；我看重事实。关于'先锋号'飞行的新闻有没有传到这里来？我说的是原来的那个'先锋号'——在大散居前的那个。” 拉撒路突然坐直了身子，几乎把伊师塔掀到沙发下面去。他一把抓住她，“对不起，亲爱的。贾斯廷——继续说。” “我没想谈论'先锋号'本身——” “我想听有关她的事。我没有听到反对意见，那就这么定了。讲吧，孩子！” 沙龙宴会的礼节被抛到九霄云外，我开始讲了起来，首先回顾了一些古老的历史。新疆域不是第一艘星际飞船，尽管这个事实几乎都被大家忘记了。她有一个姐姐，就是先锋号。在拉撒路·龙征用新疆域那个意义重大的日子之前几年，先锋号飞离太阳系。她向阿尔法·森特瑞飞去，但一直没能到达那里——因为在唯一一个她可能到达的行星上没有发现她的踪迹，那是绕着阿尔法·森特瑞A公转的一颗类似地球的行星，阿尔法·森特瑞A是那个区域唯一一个G型恒星。 一次偶然的机会，人们在一个开放轨道上发现了先锋号。基于她肩负的任务，人们对于她可能出现的地方做过各种合理的推测，但都距离发现她的地方非常遥远。发现她的时间是大约一百年前。在飞船本身就是最快的通讯工具的情况下，记录历史的工作极其困难；这件事就充分证明了这一点——传回塞昆德斯并记录在案之前，这一消息辗转经过了五个移民行星。这是在拉撒路离开新罗马之后几年、我作为代理族长女士名义上的特使来到布恩多克之前几年发生的事情。消息迟到了一个世纪倒也不是什么大问题，因为这样的消息只会让古板的专家们感兴趣。对于绝大多数人来说，这只是对过去一些次要历史的无关痛痒的澄清。 先锋号上的一切都死去了，飞船本身则进入了沉睡状态，她的转换器自动关闭了，她里面的空气几乎都泄漏完了，记录也被毁了，字迹模糊，不完整，让人十分恼火。先锋号只对古文物研究者和类似的人有意义，但对我这种不“正常”的人来说，她仍是极其可贵的。 这次发现最令人感兴趣的是，当计算机复原先锋号的飞行路线后，人们发现她在七百年前曾经近距离地经过一个类太阳恒星。人们对那个恒星系统作了勘察，发现了一个像地球一样的行星；那里居住着现代智人。这些人不是在大散居时逃离的那些人。而是从先锋号上下来的人。 “那个行星被命名为'皮特克恩岛'，我忘记了它的星表号数。拉撒路，据推测，那个行星上的几千人是在先锋号被发现之前七百年乘飞船的小艇到达那里的人的后代。他们回到了原始的食物采集阶段。假如我们先发现的是行星，而不是飞船，可能会形成一个有关现代智人并非源自地球的故事。 “语言分析合成装置还原了他们的语言，它是'先锋号'的工作语言，英语。词汇量减少了，还出现了一些新词；语法也退化了——但的确是同一种语言。” “他们的故事，贾斯廷，我要听他们的故事！”格拉海德·欧贝蒂亚喊着。 我不得不承认我手头没有资料，但我保证以后给他一份完整的材料，用最快的飞船运过来。“老祖，令人感兴趣的是这些野人非常野蛮、凶猛。在和他们打交道的过程中，被杀死的科学家要比被杀的野人多——” “野人万岁！孩子，这些野人是在他们自己的行星上过自己的日子。一个人侵者应该预见到他会受到什么样的待遇。提高警惕是他自己的事情。” “我想你说的对。没等搞明白应该怎样和这些假土著打交道，三个科学家已经被吃掉了。这三个是远程控制的生化机器人。但我想说的不是他们有多凶猛，而是他们很聪明。不知你相不相信，通过各种测试手段，我们发现这些野生的人，野人，要比普通人优秀。优秀得多。在随机分布曲线上，他们处于'异常有天赋'和'天才加'之间。” “你觉得我会惊讶？为什么？” “嗯——他们是野人。而且很可能是近亲繁殖。” “你在引诱我，贾斯廷；你其实完全知道这是怎么回事。估计是艾拉让你来挑逗我的。好吧，我上钩了。'野人'说的是一种文化状态，而不是聪明的程度。如果生存条件极为恶劣的话，近亲繁殖也不会破坏基因库；你提到他们是吃人的，所以他们可能会吃掉弱小的同类。根据飞船的状况，可以合理地推测他们的祖先降落时没带什么东西，甚至一无所有——可能是赤手空拳，对当地的情况一无所知。在这样的情况下，只有能力最强、最聪明的人才能活下来。贾斯廷，第一艘飞船上的那些人的平均智力远远髙于乘坐'新疆域'逃亡的霍华德人；他们是因为聪明才被挑中的——而最初挑选出来的霍华德人只是凭他们的寿命，而不是智力。你说的那些野人是天才的后代……他们经历了只有安拉知道的苦难，这些苦难淘汰了愚蠢的人，只留下最杰出的人繁衍后代。这会留下什么样的人？” 我承认我是给他设了一个陷阱，想看看他会怎样回答。老祖点点头，“我知道你不傻，孩子；我让雅典娜给了我一份你祖先的记录。但我经常会吃惊地看到一些中等聪明、中等有见识的人——咱们这个幸福小圈子里的人都高于这个层次，所以你们不需要假装谦虚——这些人可以说算是相对优秀，却经常在古老的遗传学问题面前一筹莫展。与环境因素相比，遗传因素肯定具有压倒性的重要性，要不是这样，你就可以教马学会微积分了。 “在我年轻的时候，自我标榜为'知识精英'的人中流传着一个信念，那就是他们能教马学会微积分……如果他们尽早实施教学，花足够多的钱，提供特殊的辅导，而且极为耐心、总是非常小心不伤害马的自尊心的话。他们是如此真诚，可马却不知好歹，无论怎么做，它们仍旧顽固地继续是马。当然，'知识精英'也仍旧是对的，但有一个前提：把'尽早实施教学'定义为一百万年或是更多年以前。” “这些野人会成功；他们不可能不成功。看问题的反面会更有趣。贾斯廷，你有没有认识到是我们霍华德人毁灭了地球？” "some." “啊，啊，孩子，你不应该这样回答问题，这样会中断我们的谈话……然后让我们无事可做，只能喝醉酒，搂着姑娘享受了。” “太棒了！”欧贝蒂安·格拉海德喊道，“让我们开始吧！”他说话时密涅娃和他在一起；他一把抓过她，把她扳过来面对着他，“小东西，你达有什么话说？” "some." “'有的'什么？” “就是'有的'。这就是我最后的话。” “格拉海德，”伊师塔说，“如果你想强奸密涅娃的话，把她拖到喷泉后面去。我想听听贾斯廷的话是什么意思。” “她不反抗，我怎么强奸她？”格拉海德抱怨道。 “你总能解决这个问题的，只是请你别作声。贾斯廷，我觉得很震惊。我一直以为我们总是很慷慨地给地球提供新技术，除此之外，我们也没有什么别的可以给他们。最后一次移民飞船只装回了半船人，不是吗？” “我来回答吧，”拉撒路大声说，“贾斯廷可能会美化这件事。不是所有的霍华德人。是两个人。安迪·利比提供了武器；我则做出了致命的一击。是太空旅行毁灭了地球。” 伊师塔看上去有些迷惑不解。“祖父，我不明白。” “我没规矩的时候她就那样叫我，”老祖向我坦白，“这是她惩罚我的方式。亲爱的伊师，你很年轻，也很可爱，但你学习的一直是生物学，而不是历史。无论怎样，地球总归是要毁灭的；太空旅行只是加速了这个过程。到2012年的时候，那里已经不适于居住了——所以我在其他地方度过了那以后的一百年，尽管太阳系的另一个居住地并不吸引人。我没有亲眼看到欧洲被毁灭，也没有看到在我的家乡实施了臭名昭著的独裁专政。我在情况听上去还可以忍受的时候回到了地球，却发现情况其实已经很糟糕——正是那时候，霍华德人准备逃亡了。 “但是，即使装备了今天的飞船、甚至是未来的飞船的情况下，太空旅行也无法缓解一个已经太过拥挤的行星面临的压力——因为愚蠢的人们不愿意离开建筑在火山坡上的家园，即使山顶已经冒烟，而且开始发出震耳欲聋的轰鸣。太空旅行能做的就是带走最优秀的人：那些睿智的、能够在大灾难到来以前预见到它会发生、并且有足够的勇气付出代价——舍弃家园、财产、朋友、亲戚、所有一切——而离开的人。这只是百分之一的一小部分。但是已经足够了。” “还有个随机分布曲线的问题。”我对伊师塔说，“如果每次移民都主要来自于分布在人类能力正态曲线右端的那些人——拉撒路就是这么想的，统计数据也支持他的论断——那么移民行动就成了一个筛选过程。这样一来，新行星上的人，其智力随机分布曲线的平均值就要远远高于原来的那个行星……而老的那个行星的平均智力水平会悄然下降。” “但有一件事情却不会那么悄然！”拉撒路反对道，“统计学无法统计人的思想。我想起了一件事：一个国家只是因为赶走了几个智者而打输了一场关键战役。绝大多数人不会思考，剩下的那部分中绝大多数人不愿意思考，真正思考的那些人中又有一部分通常不能很好地思考。只有极少极少部分人能够做到经常思考、准确思考、具有创造性地思考、不自欺欺人。从长远来看，这些人是唯一值得重视的一类人——而他们正是那些在物质条件允许的情况下选择移民的人。 “正如贾斯廷所说，这很难在统计学上显现出来。但从定性的角度来看，差别就在这里。砍掉头的鸡并不会立刻死亡；它会比以前跳得更欢。但只是一会儿。然后它就会死去。 “这就是太空旅行对地球产生的作用：把它的头砍掉了。两千年来，最优秀的人都移民走了。留下来的人比以前跳得更欢实。但这种蹦蹦跳跳毫无意义，反而会死得更快。非常快，我想。我并不为此感到内疚；我觉得聪明人在条件允许的时候逃离地球是无可厚非的——而且在二十世纪的时候，关于地球灭亡的论点已经表述得很清楚，也有很多人支持。那时我还是个孩子，太空旅行几乎还没有起步，至于星际旅行更是没人敢想。又过了两个世纪，才有人启动了这个事。第一批霍华德移民不算在内；那时的移民不是自愿的，他们也不是最优秀的人。 “后来移民到塞昆德斯的霍华德人更重要一些；这批移民队伍中去掉了一些笨家伙，把他们甩在了后面。更为重要的是那些不属于霍华德家族的移民。我经常想象，如果过去没有那条针对中国人的移民限制，那会发生什么。那些终于想出办法移民外星的少数中国人总是最后的胜利者，我估计中国人的平均智商要高于地球上其他地方的人。 “不管在过去还是现在，眼睛是不是斜的和皮肤的颜色并不重要。早期霍华德家族里有一个人叫罗伯特·C·M·李，住在弗吉尼亚州的里奇蒙——有没有人知道他为什么叫这个名字？” “我知道。”我回答道。 “你当然知道了，贾斯廷，所以别吭声——也包括你，雅典娜。还有其他人知道吗？” 没有人回答；拉撒路继续说道：“他出生时的名字叫李重木；出生于新加坡，他的父母是中国广东人。在'新疆域'上，他是仅次于安迪·利比的数学家。” “天哪！”哈玛德娅德说，“我就是他的后代——但我不知道他还是个大数学家。” “你知道他是中国人吗？” “拉撒路，我不清楚'中国人'指的是什么；我没怎么学过地理知识。中国是一个地区吗？就像'犹太人'一样？” “不完全一样，亲爱的。知不知道这个已经不再重要了。正如没几个人知道、也没有人在意我的合伙人、著名的扎科·巴斯作身上带有四分之一的尼格罗血统一样。你知道尼格罗这个词是什么意思吗，哈玛宝贝？不是指宗教。” “意思是'黑人'，所以我猜他的祖父母、外祖父母中有一个人来自非洲。” “这就是典型的单凭数据胡乱猜测。扎科的祖父母或外祖父母中有两个人是白人和黑人的混血儿，都来自我的家乡洛杉矶。我的族系和他的族系很早以前就混在一起了，所以你们或许也可以说自己带有非洲血统。从统计上讲，这和你们声称自己是查理大帝的后代没什么区别。我偏题太远了，是时候挑一个新话题、另选一个回答问题的人了。太空旅行毁了地球——这是一个观点。从长远的角度看，这个问题的另一面要令人轻松一些、也更重要，那就是它提高了种群的质量。也许也保护了种群数量，反正'提高'是肯定的。，如今，不仅人的数量要比在地球上时多得多；而且从各个衡量标准来看，现在的人类也是一种更优异、更睿智、更高效的动物。关与这个问题就不再继续了；其他人再挑一个话题吧。拉祖，别再胳肢我，去弄格拉海德吧；密涅娃需要休息一下。” “拉撒路，”伊师塔说，“还有一个问题。你说的关于霍华德家族的事让我产生了疑问。看起来你非常重视智力。难道你不认为长寿也很重要吗？” 我吃惊地发现，听到这个问题以后，这个最年长的人皱了皱眉头，很长时间没有回答。他肯定至少在一千年以前就已经在心里得到了这个问题的答案。我想自己权衡一下这个两难选择，却发现很难在二者之间找到平衡。 “伊师塔，对于这个问题，唯一正确的口头回答是'是'和'不是'。但如果这样，我就找不到语言来描述一件几个世纪以来在我心里非常清楚的一件事。但事实就是：很久以前，一个短寿人向我证明了我们其实活得一样长。”他看了看密涅娃；她的表情显得很严肃，“因为我们都活在现在。她——他——并不是在维护的谬论，在利比出现以前，这个谬论在很长时间里歪曲了数学理论；嗯，他——说的是一个可以被证明的客观事实。那就是，每一个人都在'现在'享受着自己的生命，与其他人怎样用'年'这个单位来衡量生命的长短无关。 “还有一个事实。如果一个人不能享受现在的生活，那么生命就太长了。你们都记得吧，在我无法享受生命的时候，我希望能够结束它。是你的技术——还有你的欺骗，亲爱的，不用感到羞愧——改变了那种情况，现在我又在品味生活了。也许我没有告诉过你们，在第一次进行回春治疗的时候，我的心中充满疑虑，我担心治疗会使我的身体变得年轻，但不会使我的精神再变得年轻。不用费劲向我解释'精神'是一个没有意义的虚词；我知道它是无法定义的……但它对于我来说是有意义的。 “我还想再讲一个事实。尽管长寿可能是一个负担，但在绝大多数情况下它是可喜的事情。它给你足够的时间去学习，足够的时间去思考，足够的时间让你不用匆忙，足够的时间去爱。 “沉重的话题讲得太多了。格拉海德，挑一个轻松些的，贾斯廷，你来准备安置钓钩诱人上当吧；我已经讲得太多了。伊师塔，我亲爱的，把你那修长曼妙的身体挪到这里来，伸展开，让我敬你一杯白兰地；我想让你完全放松，为下面我想和你一起做的事做好准备。” 她吻了吻艾拉，然后欣然来到拉撒路身边，她温柔但是清楚地对我们的老祖说：“亲爱的，不需要白兰地，我乐意做你心中想的任何事。” “真肉麻，伊师塔妈妈。我想向你展示大安娜教我的一些东西，很多年来我从来没敢冒险露过这一手。你可能不会活到明天早晨。害怕了？” 她懒洋洋地、愉快地笑着，“哦，简直吓坏了。” 格拉海德用手捂住莱比思·拉祖丽的嘴；她咬了他。“别这样。拉祖，大家都看看——可能是件新鲜事。”

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