by Naomi Foyle
‘Does it mean no making jokes about Gaia parts?’ Silvie ventured.
‘Bad luck, Baz,’ Tedis crowed. As well as top run-scorer and chief detumescencer, Tedis was the self-declared king of armpit farts and as the class laughed, he raised his elbow and trumpeted victory now. Basil mimed shooting an arrow back at him and Tedis lowered his arm, grinning.
‘Tedis, can I ask you to take this class seriously, please?’ It wasn’t like the teacher to speak sharply; everyone stopped giggling.
‘Sorry, Mr Ripenson,’ Tedis said, surprisingly meekly. Astra knew he liked the teacher. He’d been talking about getting his own chest scarified when he was eighteen – not the same design, of course, but a Gaia hymn in Braille. Girls would want to touch it, he said.
‘Thank you.’ Mr Ripenson raised his voice. ‘Listen up, everyone. Bodies can be very funny. Especially Tedis’.’ People laughed and relaxed: Tedis was clearly forgiven. ‘Bodies make noises or smells or disgusting liquids at the wrong time,’ he went on, to more giggles. ‘They wobble or bounce when people run. It’s okay to laugh then. No one minds a little affectionate teasing. But when people Gaia-play, they are often extra sensitive to criticism. So teasing someone in a way that belittles their body – that tries to make the person feel small, or different from others – is never allowed.’
Beside Astra, Sultana’s fingers were racing over her keyboard, taking notes word for word. Astra’s page was still blank. It was just difficult to even imagine trying to make someone feeling bad about their body. It went without saying that the human body was Gaia’s creation, and as with all Her creations, diversity was the key to survival. Fat bodies were soft and nurturing and well insulated. Thin bodies were agile and energetic and didn’t need to consume many resources. Muscular bodies were strong and impressive and useful for all sorts of practical tasks. Young bodies were sleek like seals; old bodies were wrinkled and delicate, like the piece of antique silk Nimma kept at Craft House, even though worms had died to make it. Gaia parts too came in all sizes and shapes, but that was a cause for fascination, not belittlement. Leaf’s growing breasts and miniature Gaia pepper had been the subject of much playground interest lately, and heesh had responded with all manner of information about the important historical role of the boy-girl and girl-boy as a kind of cross between a fortune teller and Wheel Meet Supreme Court Judge. Leaf had even volunteered to settle petty disputes arising between boys and girls, though Astra privately thought heesh was just as likely to play favourites as anyone.
No, as Klor always said, the Sec Gens were all happy as clams in their skins. Still, a rule was a rule. You had to learn it and obey it, even if – like some of Klor’s sayings – it made no sense. No belittling people’s bodies, she typed, at last. Beside her Tedis wrote, No Gaia shrimp jokes, but when Silvie checked his Tablette screen and whispered ‘Tedis!’ he deleted it.
‘But,’ Mr Ripenson went on, ‘though this rule is obvious, nevertheless, it is possible to break it without meaning to. Listen carefully, everyone. When you start Gaia play, you might discover that you prefer some types of bodies – or kinds of play – to others. That’s part of the magic of Gaia Power: it draws certain people together. But this also means that you will sometimes want to decline an offer to play. In order not to insult the other person, it is very important to decline invitations in a kind manner. If you are cruel or thoughtless, the other person could feel deeply wounded and it might even become difficult for them to worship Gaia in the future. Gaia would suffer then, as well as the person you rejected.’
This was serious, she could tell from his tone. Astra typed, Decline all invites politely. But what did that mean? From other people’s faces, she could see she wasn’t the only person with questions.
‘How exactly would the person suffer?’ Sultana asked, with her characteristic desire for precision. Astra sometimes discussed the intricacies of Gaia hymns with her, but it wasn’t like talking with Lil. Sultana’s thoughts were occasionally beautiful, but they were never wild or daring.
‘Excellent question, Sultana. For one thing, they might become afraid to approach others. They might even start to find it hard to peak.’
Afraid to invite play. Difficulty peaking. Astra typed slowly as, opposite, Baz put up his hand. ‘But we’re Sec Gens. So we won’t ever feel wounded like that, right?’
‘That’s correct, Baz: Sec Gens are emotionally robust and resilient, so you’re unlikely to sustain any damage from isolated insults, but remember that the older students in Woodland Siesta or people you meet later in life won’t be so lucky. So you have to get into the habit of following this rule with everyone.’
Astra stared at her Tablette. Her pimple was throbbing like a warning light. She had been far too confident, she realised. These rules didn’t matter to Sec Gens but they contained all sorts of secret traps for her. What if she kept Gaia-playing with Lil – or didn’t want to any more – and she insulted Lil by mistake – or, more likely, Lil insulted her? Would she end up not being able to peak? It was a terrifying thought. Her eyes stung with tears.
Frigging Gaia. She couldn’t cry during Gaia-play lessons. Panicked, she reached into her hydropac, took out a hanky and blew her nose.
‘Are you okay?’ Sultana whispered.
‘Just hayfever.’
Sultana patted her on the arm. It was a good lie; she’d used it before. Crisis past, Astra stuffed the hanky back into her pac. Her pimple was pulsing like a miniature heartbeat, but she resisted the temptation to finger it. Sultana was probably feeling extra sorry for her dual affliction.
Leaf put up hir hand. ‘What if someone says you insulted them, but you didn’t?’
‘You needn’t worry about false accusations, Leaf. The cameras will show what happened.’
‘But what if you say the wrong thing by mistake and someone’s feelings get hurt? Is that still your fault?’
Sometimes Leaf’s probing manner got on Astra’s nerves, but today she was grateful to the girl-boy. Maybe if she was lucky, the Sec Gens would ask all her questions for her.
‘Look, everyone,’ Mr Ripenson raised his voice again, ‘don’t be scared. I know this rule sounds a bit alarming, but there is an Imprint to deal with it. If you don’t want to play with someone, all you have to say is, “I’m sorry, you’re really beautiful, but I don’t feel like Gaia-playing with you today.” If you say that to a person on three separate occasions, then they have to stop approaching you. If they keep on trying, it’s a violation of Rule 2. Okay? We’ll set the Imprint in another lesson, but we need to move on now. So, Rules 2 and 3. These are pretty self-explanatory, aren’t they?’
Astra wrote out the invitation-declining Imprint in full while beside her, Tedis typed, No pestering, no spying.
The teacher was swaying slightly as he went over the next two rules, Astra noticed, as if he were gently rotating on his sacral node. That had happened to her once while she was meditating, a comforting motion that seemed to connect her to Gaia’s own axis. Could he be meditating and teaching at the same time? If anyone could, it was him. Back at Or, he meditated every morning before breakfast in the fruit orchard. Watching him now made her feel calmer. Law is a cultural Code, she remembered Peat telling her once; just like biological Code, it forms who we are. Maybe if she memorised the Imprint and obeyed the rules exactly, she might even start to fit in.
‘Rule 4. No vaginal, anal or oral penetration until the age of fifteen. Why do you think this rule exists?’
‘So the school garden always has enough cucumbers for lunch?’ Tedis stage-whispered. Laughter erupted on their side of the circle. ‘Sorry, Mr Ripenson.’ He slapped his palm over his mouth. ‘I forgot.’
This time he didn’t reprimand Tedis for being cheeky. ‘Nice try, Tedis,’ he smiled. ‘But no. If fifteen-year-olds want to use cucumbers, they have to bring their own. Anyone else?’
Sometimes Astra wanted to impress the teacher and answer a question, but she was always afraid that if she got it wrong and was
overcome by embarrassment or envy of a smarter student he would notice her struggling with negative emotions. This question, being hard, risked such exposure. Boy-girl penetration, Astra knew, was one cause of pregnancy. But as soon as a girl got her Gaia-blood the school clinic gave her a hormone implant, so that couldn’t be the reason for the rule. You could also get diseases from Gaia plough penetration, but there were vaccinations and treatments for all of them, and as long as you got tested regularly, they weren’t a big deal. And she had no idea at all why fingers would be forbidden. She kept quiet and waited for a Sec Gen to venture a response.
‘So that boys’ – Silvie poked Tedis in the thigh – ‘have to learn how to play with the clitoris.’
‘Yes, Silvie, encouraging the development of foreplay skills is one reason for the rule. But there’s another very important reason for the ban on penetration.’
At last Acorn put up his hand. A thoughtful boy, he could often make interesting links between concepts. ‘Penetration promotes Gaia-bonding?’ he hazarded.
‘Very good, Acorn; exactly. Studies have demonstrated that the practice of penetration is closely linked to Gaia-bonding, and premature bonding is not advised for teenagers. Why is that, do you think?’
At last: a topic Astra knew something about. The main problem with Torrent and Stream’s Gaia bond – as far as she understood Nimma’s complaints about it – was that their treatment of Congruence had split the Or-teens into two factions. Torrent was now the eldest child in Or, Astra had overheard Nimma saying to Klor, and he ought to be setting an example for the others, not dividing them into camps with his petty exclusivity.
‘Pah. Some people are naturally monogamous,’ Klor had snorted. ‘Look at us, woman! Forty years together and still at it like Gaia’s own gibbons.’
‘Thirty-nine years,’ Nimma had corrected him primly. ‘And we met in our twenties, while I was still seeing that biochemist from North Atourne – a situation that continued for two years, as I recall.’
Klor had conceded defeat. But it was true, Astra had observed, that two cliques had hived off from the main mass of older Or-teens. Congruence was never seen without Holaa and Ariel, her guard of honour, while Brook and Drake appeared to admire Torrent for inspiring such rampant adoration in Stream; the foursome were often together, the twins practising their gymnastics to entertain the canoodling couple. Mr Ripenson, Nimma had said, had offered to give all the older Or-teens group counselling, but the Parents’ Committee, by a narrow margin, had voted against this course of action. It was clearly a topic the teacher cared a lot about, and to answer the question correctly would surely impress him.
She put up her hand. ‘Because it makes people selfish,’ she said. ‘We should all be playing together, not in couples or little groups.’
‘Great answer, Astra.’ He beamed at her and Sultana made a note of her words and she glowed inside. She might not be Sec Gen, but sometimes, when the teacher or the others praised her, she almost felt as if she was. ‘That’s one reason, yes,’ he addressed the group again. ‘This should be a time when you forge social networks that will support you throughout your lifespan. But there’s another reason too. Anyone?’
Oh. The glow dimmed. She’d only got it half-right. Careful not to let her disappointment show, she kept her own smile plastered to her face. Around her, the other children were silent.
‘Play should be fun, shouldn’t it? Something we do for its own sake, not for any long-term goals. Your first experiences of Gaia play should not be pressured by the need to make long-term promises to anyone else.’
‘But bonding is good, right?’ Yoki sounded confused. ‘It makes you feel secure, that’s what my Birth-Code mother says.’
A prickly feeling stole over Astra. Why was Yoki able to express vulnerability without arousing suspicions? Why, she wondered miserably for the millionth time, was life so easy for the Sec Gens and so difficult for her?
‘Absolutely, Yoki: bonding is healthy and normal. But it’s also a serious commitment. Bonded couples make promises to each other. They also make sacrifices. At the heart of bonding is a complex relationship between two different people’s sets of evolving needs. Children, even older teens, simply don’t have enough self-knowledge to make such calculations accurately. For one thing, you will change so rapidly in the next few years that it’s impossible for you to know what you’ll want to be doing or who you’ll want to be with a year or two from now. So until you are twenty and ready to start making plans for work and study and travel, you are not encouraged to make long-term Gaia commitments. Think of it this way: holding back from penetration is good practise for holding back emotionally from deeper involvement with a Gaia play pal.’
‘But you could Gaia-bond without penetrative play, couldn’t you?’ Sultana piped up, a tinny note of anxiety in her voice. ‘By kissing and peaking? Or just by holding hands?’
Mr Ripenson adopted a reassuring tone. ‘Yes, theoretically you could – but let’s be clear about two things. First, you’re Sec Gens: you get your emotional security from being a member of a group and you probably won’t feel the need to seek an early exclusive commitment. Second, while Gaia-bonding is discouraged, it is not against the rules. If you do end up bonding, you won’t be in trouble, but your teachers and Shelter parents will keep an eye on you both to make sure that your work and other friendships don’t suffer. Okay?’
Sultana and Yoki might be soothed now, but Astra was on the verge of bursting open. Yet again the rules had revealed her calamitous deficiencies: Sec Gens wouldn’t bond prematurely, but she might – a one-sided bond that would leave her clingy and bad-tempered like Stream, or terribly hurt, like Congruence. And what if the studies also showed that Gaia-bonding promoted penetration? She might break Rule 4 and be forced into counselling, into an IMBOD Special School. The thought made her break out in sweat, made her want to shut down her Tablette screen and walk away from Gaia-play class forever.
But she had to stay put, her face burning, watching Sultana underline We are Sec Gens in her notes. ‘Now,’ the teacher rolled on, ‘Rules 5 and 6. These are very serious offences which can be punished by prison. Why is that? What’s wrong with forcing someone to Gaia-play with you?’
‘It’s what the oil junkies did to the planet,’ Yoki declared. ‘Just taking what you want, what makes you feel good, without caring about Gaia or Her creatures.’
There he was again, showing anger, to the approval of Acorn and the others around him. She should mimic her brother, she knew, and channel her own anger and fears into a heated defence of Gaia. But she was so choked up she couldn’t risk speaking at all.
‘Exactly,’ Mr Ripenson said, the gravity in his voice according Yoki full marks. ‘Fortunately, forced Gaia play is rare in Is-Land. It does happen, very occasionally, when men, mostly – though sometimes women or two-sex people – feel angry or upset or are simply being very selfish. Upon investigation, it is often discovered that these people themselves were victims of forced Gaia play in their childhoods. That is why counselling is needed whenever any violation of the rules occur.’
‘But Sec Gens don’t get angry or upset,’ Silvie commented. ‘And we’re never selfish. So we’ll be okay, right?’
‘Over time the Security Serum will reduce or even eliminate the danger of this crime, but there are still occasions when in the natural course of Gaia play you need to be aware of the rule. You could already be Gaia-playing, and really enjoying yourself, when suddenly, for whatever reason, the other person wants to stop. Sometimes, for example, if a girl is having her Gaia-blood, her stomach might start to hurt. In those cases, regardless of how nice you’re feeling, you have to stop.’
That’s just a normal play rule, she wanted to shout. You always stop a game if people get hurt or upset. But what if she couldn’t, she thought, panic scrabbling through her again. When she was peaking, it was impossible to stop. What if not being Sec Gen meant she would force someone to peak with her and break Rule 5 too? Astra couldn’
t bear it any longer. She reached for her hydropac – but Sultana had got to hers first and offered her a hanky. She took it, and pressed it against her wet eyes.
‘What if you feel really close to peaking, though?’ Tedis asked. ‘Like you can’t stop.’
It was as though he’d read her mind. Some adults said Sec Gens might be able to do that, one day. Balling Sultana’s hanky in her fist, she stared down at Tedis’ sculptured thigh. Please, Gaia, let me not be different from everyone else, she prayed. Let me not be selfish, please!
‘Good question. If you feel that close to peaking, it’s allowed to keep playing with yourself. But you should ask if the other person minds. Often, they won’t, but if they do you should leave them and finish playing somewhere else.’
The answer satisfied Tedis. It was reasonable: fair and do-able, like all Mr Ripenson’s suggestions so far. Astra drew a deep breath. She would learn them all, all the required behaviours and emergency responses, and she would follow them precisely, every time. She would be okay. She would ask Tedis or Silvie or Sultana if she had any doubts. With a grateful little smile, she gave the hanky back to Sultana.
‘Okay, let’s move on. Rule 6. No Gaia-playing with older or younger people. Now this rule Sec Gens do need to pay attention to. Sec Gen kids like to make adults happy, and you might therefore find yourself in a situation where you don’t know if you should obey an older person. You won’t be allowed to leave the main shelter with anyone who is too old or too young for you, so you don’t need to worry about this rule during Woodland Siesta. In your community, though, there might be an older child or adult who wants to play with you. You already know that if someone tries to touch your Gaia parts, you should tell your Shelter parents. As you get older, though, you might be tempted not to tell. You might actually want to play with the person. But even if you like them very much, you mustn’t do so. Why is that?’