Arrows of Time - Kim Falconer [61]
‘For over a year.’
Jarrod frowned. ‘Why?’
The Caller threw up her hands, her face going red. ‘If I knew that, I wouldn’t have troubled you!’ She shouted the words, suddenly unconcerned with discretion. He kept his eyes level with hers, but didn’t respond. She’d become preoccupied with smoothing her long scarves and he gave her a moment to compose herself. ‘That’s what you’re here for,’ she said in a natural tone. ‘To tell us why.’
He nodded and blinked his eyes, instantly computing the myriad possibilities. ‘I have some questions,’ he said.
‘Let’s hear them.’
‘Have your people been exposed to any toxins?’
‘That’s been checked. We have a self-sustaining agrarian culture, Jarrod. Everything is recycled and any toxic waste decomposed until it becomes inert.’
‘Have there been unusual meteorological events?’
‘What do you mean?’
‘Weather changes, sunspots, meteor showers?’
She shook her head, her large amber earrings swinging wildly. ‘No more than usual.’
‘Have there been disease outbreaks in food animals?’
She screwed up her face. ‘What do you mean “food animals”?’
‘Animals reared for ingestion.’
‘Ingestion? Of course not. Repulsive!’ The thought threw her against the pillows. ‘Who would eat their friends and workmates?’
‘Customs do vary, Caller. In some worlds…’
‘It’s despicable. Barbaric.’
He took a deep breath and let it out. ‘Have there been any disease outbreaks in grain or fruit crops, then? In anything you do eat.’
‘Not that we’ve identified.’
‘Has there been an epidemic? An illness with high fevers? Infections?’
She banged her fist on the table. ‘Do you think I would miss the obvious? All these questions have been considered long ago.’
‘I need to be thorough, Caller. Please bear with me.’
She nodded. ‘Continue.’
‘What about morale? Are the people stressed? Worried? Is there an asteroid about to impact, the seas rising, population explosion, climate change?’
‘Nothing like that.’
Jarrod tilted his head, raising one eyebrow. ‘Are your people having sex?’
She frowned for a moment, the question not seeming to register. She was about to comment when a tap sounded at the door. ‘Enter,’ she said. Her face shifted like a spring breeze and she smiled at the girl entering the room.
She was dressed in a patchwork skirt and an embroidered top, her long, hair twisted high on top of her head. She carried a serving tray in both hands. The scent of mint, apple blossom and cinnamon wafted about her, and something else that reminded Jarrod of roast pumpkin pie. His mouth watered as she set the tray down between them.
‘Thank you, Lila,’ the Caller said, dismissing her when she asked if anything else was required. The girl didn’t move but eyed Jarrod with a lush smile. ‘Go, Lila. That’s all.’ The Caller snapped her fingers and the girl backed out of the room, her eyes still resting on Jarrod. ‘What were you saying?’ She glanced at the door as she served him. She poured his tea and offered bread, warm to the touch. There were dips in little porcelain pots—orange marmalade, red chutney and a deep purple jam.
‘I was asking if your people were interested in sex.’
After taking a few sips of tea, the Caller raised her eyebrows. ‘What do you think?’ She nodded towards the place where Lila had stood.
‘It would appear so,’ he said. ‘It’s just one possibility.’ He thought for a moment. ‘Are there any belief systems in place that forbid it?’
The Caller tapped her chin with a gnarly finger. ‘Sex has never been taboo on Tensar, regardless of shifting religions, cults and factions, though I’ve heard of it in other cultures.’ She wrinkled her nose. ‘What kind of god would place a hex on intimacy?’
You’d be surprised. ‘Only one against nature,’ he said aloud.
‘Well, that’s not happening here.’
‘You’re certain?’
‘Completely.’
Jarrod shook his head as she offered him more bread. He shut his eyes and calculated the probable causes of this situation from a database of infinite possibilities, cross-referenced with an immeasurable number of realities. In less than a femtosecond—a fraction equal to the difference