Total pages in book: 115
Estimated words: 108211 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 541(@200wpm)___ 433(@250wpm)___ 361(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 108211 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 541(@200wpm)___ 433(@250wpm)___ 361(@300wpm)
“Well, it’s extremely kind of you to offer us a place to stay and tickets on the shuttle,” Andi said earnestly. “And I can’t thank you enough for saving our lives!”
“Think nothing of it, my dear! Anyone who’s an enemy of that odious Goodie Tight-azz is a friend of mine,” Goodie Bo-long said firmly. “All I ask is that you perhaps give your Manimal a bit of training—he nearly got the both of you killed, trying to stand his ground against a whole pack like that,” she added, frowning.
“I know he did. He’s so protective and he’s not used to being a Manimal,” Andi said apologetically. “I’m, er, still hoping to get him back to his right mind—if we can just get back to the Kindred Mother Ship,” she added.
“Ah yes—the Kindred Mother Ship. And where is that again?” Goodie Bo-long raised one dark pink eyebrow.
“Oh—it’s all the way across the galaxy,” Andi told her. “I mean, I certainly hope we can contact them from the Moon colony.”
“I’m sure you can. All the way across the galaxy, you say? That’s quite far enough, I think,” Goodie Bo-long said, nodding thoughtfully to herself.
“Yes—millions of…of light years.” Andi could hear the homesickness in her own voice. “By now the Kindred will be missing us—we were only supposed to do a day trip to Zo’rath Two, you know—to study the local vegetation.”
“That’s right, because you said you have a degree in…” Goodie Bo-long raised her eyebrows.
“Oh—in Medicinal Botany,” Andi supplied. She took another sip of her drink, which was somehow half gone now. “The Kindred are always looking for new plants and organisms they can use. They have healing technology second to none—that’s why I’m so hopeful they can find a way to get Cade here, back to his right mind.”
“I see.” Goodie Bo-long nodded. “But if you did find a cure for Manimalism, you wouldn’t feel the need to bring it back here to Zo’rath Three—would you?”
Andi frowned at this question—which she could tell was very important.
“Well…” she said slowly. “From what I’ve heard, the women on Zo’rath Three are actually better off since The Incident occurred. From what Flow-da, my friend, said you were actually oppressed by the men in your lives before they all turned into Manimals.”
“That we most certainly were!” Goodie Bo-long declared, making a grand gesture and nearly spilling her drink on the black and white carpet. “Why, women weren’t allowed to do anything. We couldn’t hold jobs—not even if we were eminently qualified for them. We weren’t allowed to attend any higher education—though some of us, like myself, had tutors,” she added. “My dear Mother saw to that—my father died and left her quite wealthy and she always said she wouldn’t have an ignoramus for a daughter.”
“She sounds like a very…” Andi hiccupped. “Oh, ‘scuse me! A very progressive woman,” she finally got out. Was she slurring her words? Maybe she ought to go easy on the purple drink. But it tasted so nice and it was so calming after nearly being killed by the Manimal pack. While she considered if she ought to stop drinking it, she took another large sip and Goodie Bo-long continued talking.
“Mother was quite progressive,” she said, nodding. “So by the time I was of marriageable age, I held an unofficial degree in both Microbiology and Advanced Mathematics. I thought it would be best to marry a man who also held degrees—I thought someone like that would recognize my worth,” she added.
“And did he? I mean, your hush…your hush…your husband,” Andi got out at last. “Did he recognize your worth?”
“Oh, absolutely not, my dear!” Goodie Bo-long sighed. “He wouldn’t let me even help with his research—which I so longed to do, since he was studying quite a fascinating pathogen—a mind altering, parasitic spoor, you know,” she added.
It seemed to Andi that this information was important somehow, but she wasn’t quite sure how. So she only nodded and sipped more of her drink.
“So…he was mean to you?” she asked.
“Not mean so much as cold and indifferent.” Goodie Bo-long sighed. “He left me alone while he tinkered away in his laboratory for hours and hours—and then he had the nerve to get upset when I took a lover! Well, what was I supposed to do?” she went on argumentatively, as though Andi had berated her. “I’m a very sexual woman and I have needs. Needs that my husband refused to meet.”
“He shounds…sounds awful!” Andi said firmly, taking another drink. How was it that her glass was almost empty?
“He was, my dear—most men on this planet were,” Goodie Bo-long said. “They all needed to be taken down a peg or two, you know? Which is why when The Incident happened, it was actually a blessing. We women were finally free! Free to live our lives and explore our sexual fantasies to the fullest without anyone to tell us ‘no.’” She sighed pensively. “Who could have guessed that some women would take that freedom and twist it, like the New Order has?”