“No, thank you,” Luna said. She began to wander aimlessly around the room.

“You seem upset,” Perry said. For lack of anything better to do, he went over and sat on the bed.

“I am,” Luna admitted. “I’ve never seen a person act the way Richard did.”

“He’s not our best ambassador,” Perry said.

“Are there many people like him where you are from?” Luna asked.

“Unfortunately, his type is not uncommon,” Perry said. “Usually there’s a history of abuse that gets handed down from generation to generation.”

Luna shook her head. “Where does the stimulus for the abuse come from?”

Perry scratched the top of his head. He’d not meant to get into a sociological discussion nor did he feel capable at the moment. At the same time he felt he had to say something. Luna was looking at him intently. “Well, let’s see,” he said. “I haven’t really thought about this too much, but there’s a lot of discontentment in our society from heightened expectation and a sense of entitlement. Few people are ever really satisfied.”

“I don’t understand,” Luna said.

“Let me give you an example,” Perry said. “If somebody gets a Ford Explorer the next thing they see is an ad for a Lincoln Navigator, which makes the Explorer seem unappealing.”

“I don’t know what those are,” Luna said.

“It’s just stuff,” Perry said. “And we’re conditioned through relentless advertising to feel it’s never the right stuff.”

“I don’t understand that kind of covetousness,” Luna said. “We don’t have anything like that here in Interterra.”

“Well, then it’s hard to explain,” Perry said. “But anyway there’s a lot of discontentment that especially comes to a head in poor families which have even less stuff than everyone else, and within families people tend to take it out on each other.”

“It’s sad,” Luna said. “And frightening.”

“It can be,” Perry agreed. “But we’re kinda conditioned not to think about it since it all drives our economy.”

“It seems strange to have a society that encourages violence,” Luna said. “Violence is shocking for us since we have none in Interterra.”

“None?” Perry asked.

“No, never,” Luna said. “I’ve never seen a person hit another. It makes me feel weak.”

“Then why don’t you sit down?” Perry said. He patted the bed next to him, feeling self-consciously transparent. Nonetheless Luna came to the bed and sat down beside him.

“You don’t feel dizzy, do you?” Perry asked, struggling to make conversation now that she was so close. “I mean, you’re not going to faint or anything?”

“No, I’ll be all right.”

Perry looked into Luna’s pale blue eyes. For a moment he couldn’t speak. When he could he said, “You know, you are very young.”

“Young? What does that have to do with anything?”

“Well…” Perry said, searching for words. He wasn’t sure himself whether he was referring to her reaction to Richard’s behavior or his reaction to her. “When you’re young you haven’t had as much experience as when you are older. Maybe you haven’t had time to see violence.”

“Listen, there’s no violence here,” Luna said. “It’s been selected against. Besides, I’m not as young as you probably imagine. How old do you think I am?”

“I don’t know,” Perry stammered. “About twenty.”

“Now you seem to be upset.”

“I guess I am a little,” Perry admitted. “You could be my daughter.”

Luna smiled. “I can assure you I’m over twenty. Does that make you feel better?”

“Some,” Perry admitted. “Actually, I don’t know why I feel so nervous. Everything is so nice here, but it’s still quite unnerving.”

“I understand,” Luna said. She smiled again and raised her palms toward his.

Self-consciously Perry put his against hers. “What is this with our hands?” he asked.

“It’s just the way we show love and respect. You don’t like it?”

“When it comes to showing love I’m partial to kissing,” Perry said.

“Like Richard was doing this evening?”

“A bit more intimately than Richard’s technique,” Perry said.

“Show me,” Luna said.

Perry took a breath, leaned over, and lightly kissed Luna on the lips. When he pulled back, Luna responded by touching her lips gently with the very tips of her fingers as if amazed by the sensation.

“Do you dislike it?” Perry asked.

Luna shook her head. “No, but my fingers and palms are more sensitive than my lips. But show me more.”

Perry swallowed nervously. “Are you serious?”

“I’m sure,” Luna said. She moved closer to him and looked at him with those dreamy eyes. “I find you very alluring, Mr. President of Benthic Marine.”

Perry wrapped his arms around her and pulled her down onto the white cashmere coverlet. Michael was in seventh heaven. Mura was the woman of his dreams. It couldn’t get better than this. He didn’t even mind Sart’s continued presence. The boy was in the pool, leaving him to enjoy Mura by himself.

Just when Michael was about to pass out from sheer delight, his rapture was interrupted by a knock at his door. He tried to ignore it, but finally staggered to the door, stark naked. He felt even drunker on his feet. “Who the hell is it?” he demanded.

“It’s me, your buddy Richard.”

Michael opened the door. “What’s the problem?”

“No problem,” Richard said. He tried to look around Michael. “I just thought maybe you might need some help, if you know what I mean.”

It took Michael’s drugged brain a few seconds to catch Richard’s drift. He glanced back at Mura on the circular bed, then back to Richard.

“Are you kidding?” Michael asked.

“No,” Richard said. He smiled crookedly.

“Mura,” Michael called out. “Do you mind if Richard comes in and joins us?”

“Only if he promises to behave,” Mura called back.

Michael looked back at Richard with an exaggerated expression of surprise. “You heard the lady,” he said with a sly smile. He opened the door wider and let Richard into the room. As the two men approached the bed Mura held up both hands.

“Come on, you two primitives!” she said. “I’d love to press palms with you both.”

The two divers exchanged a glance of appreciative disbelief before Michael climbed back onto the bed, and Richard struggled out of his satin garments. As Richard settled next to Mura, he said, “You people are pretty free with love.”

“It’s true,” Mura said. “We have lots of love. It’s our wealth.”

A short time later the two drunken divers were swooning with pleasure in Mura’s arms. It wasn’t sex per se, since in their drugged state neither was capable of consummation, but nonetheless they couldn’t have been more content.

Sart had observed Richard’s arrival from the far end of the pool. He was both attracted and repelled by Richard. Mainly, he was curious. After tiring of swimming he got out of the water, dried himself off, then walked over to the blissful threesome. Mura smiled up at him. She had her arms around both divers, who had fallen fast asleep.

Mura motioned for Sart to sit down on the bed. She’d been gently stroking both divers’ backs but was happy to let Sart take over with Richard. That freed her to concentrate on Michael.

Sart initially just stroked Richard’s back as Mura had been doing, but tiring of this, he began to improvise. First he rubbed Richard’s exposed arm and shoulder. Richard’s skin felt intriguingly strange to Sart. It wasn’t as firm as Interterran skin and had many curious, tiny imperfections. Sart transferred his attentions to Richard’s head, where he’d noticed a small, poorly defined, bluish red discoloration within the hairline above his ear. As Sart bent over to examine this flat blemish more closely, touching it gently with the tip of his finger, Richard’s eyes popped open.

Sart smiled at him dreamily and went back to his tender stroking.

“What the hell?” Richard cried. He knocked Sart’s hand to the side. With drunken clumsiness he leaped from the bed.