Holy Fire - Bruce Sterling [30]
“Really. How odd.”
“People of our advanced years come to terms with a loss of libido. Our elderly patients often think they can repress sexual urges through a simple act of will. That’s a canard. If human beings could control sexuality, the human race would have ceased to exist during the Pleistocene.” He paused reflectively. “You’re postmenopausal, of course. There’s not much we can do about egg-cell lines. We wouldn’t want to do egg-cell restoration anyway, because the ethicists don’t approve. So you won’t become fertile again.”
Mia smiled. “Well, Doctor, I’ve been a young woman before. I’ve been married, I had a child. When I was young, people died from sexual diseases. Even contraception was troublesome. I’ve always been rather careful about that aspect of my life.”
“Ah, but back then you had years to get accustomed to puberty. You didn’t have a subjectively sudden dusting and cleaning of your entire limbic and hormonal systems. We’re redoing your brain, and most of the brain doesn’t think or reason. The human brain is a gland, it’s not a computer.”
Dr. Rosenfeld drummed his shining fingertips against the desktop. “People don’t live because life is a rational decision. People don’t get out of bed in the morning because of cost-benefit analysis. People don’t get into bed together because they’ve decided on that course of action through logical deduction. Sexuality is an aspect of being, and you cannot stop your being through any mental act of will. You’re going to be a ninety-four-year-old woman who can look, act, and feel like a twenty-year-old girl. Of course there will be complications.”
“Can’t I just take libido suppressants?”
“That’s an option. Libido suppressants are very popular nowadays, but I wouldn’t advise that you use them. Hormones have a strong function in physical development. Young people have a lot of hormones because young people really need those hormones, and you also need your hormones for the sake of proper development in your new brain tissue. My advice to you as your physician is that you are better off putting up with the troubles. Think of them as growing pains.”
Mia smiled. “Are you advising me to take lovers?”
“Mia …” He patiently steepled his fingers. “Even if you can find lovers, and that’s no small matter under your circumstances, taking lovers doesn’t seem to help. It’s not a simple matter. Our patients are elderly people, they’ve been through marriage, they’ve had children. They don’t want to start flirting or courting. They don’t want to commit to life partners, or start new families. They’ve already been through that aspect of human experience, they learned by it and they put it behind them. It’s not that they’re incapable of loving other people, but they’ve reached a state of deep maturity, of posthuman self-actualization. They just don’t have it in themselves to maintain a committed and passionate sexual relationship. And yet after the treatment, the drives are very strong. Our patients tend to find it distressing. It’s demeaning, and very difficult to integrate.”
“I can see that this is a matter you take very seriously, Doctor.”
“I do take it seriously. NTDCD is a very important technical development. I don’t say that merely because I myself have been working on it. The experiences of the first NTDCD patients are of crucial interest to society and polity. Please have a look at this.” Dr. Rosenfeld opened his notebook and showed her the screen.
An animation ran. A nude young man appeared. He was festooned from head to foot in what seemed to be junk jewelry. A plastic coronet. Earrings. False eyelashes. A little glued-on breastplate. Armlets. Bracelets. Ten identical finger rings. A dozen adhesive patches on his torso, groin, and thighs. Knee buckles, anklets, and shiny little toe rings. His hair was very short. He was strolling