In this society, humans live a thousand years and biologically mate through an unexplained chemical reaction.
When Petr Markenson's uncle figures out exactly how to mate two people, he finds himself deep inside the process...and on live television waiting to meet his mate.
If you haven't read the rest of Reality, you can find the posts here.Chapter 1b
Smiling back, she turned and led him through a long hallway. Her bare feet and his slippers made a soft tap, tap, tap noise on the inlaid wood floors. At the end of the hallway, she pushed a button and entered a small lift. He followed and to his surprise, when the doors closed they went down rather than up. “Down?” he asked quietly. She smiled, but did not respond.
There were no dials or numbers so he could not tell how far down they went before finally the lift stopped and the doors opened into a large, ornate room. As soon as they stepped out onto the plush green and gold carpeting, she turned to him. “Please take a seat and make yourself at home. I will tell Mr. Bry’on that you are here.”
Nodding, Petr wandered over to a set of sofas over to the right while looking around. Decorated in tans and dark browns, the room looked like a lavish man’s club. The walls were filled with bookshelves and there were four distinct seating areas. Sitting on a dark brown leather sofa, Petr leaned back, wondering what it would be like to live in such opulence on a constant basis.
His family was not poor, but their wealth did not stretch to anything like this. The room made his nice little house look run down.
“What would you like to drink?” Asha’s voice surprised him and he turned to her.
“Scotch would be fine.”
Nodding, she walked over to one of the bookcases and a part of it swung around to reveal a small bar. Chuckling to himself, he thought he might be able to get used to this kind of opulence… if he could add some excitement to it. She turned and walked back to him, a glass of beautiful amber liquid in her hand. “Would you like anything else?”
“No thank you. Is my uncle busy?”
She smiled. “Ah, so you are his nephew. He will be with you shortly. His current meeting is going longer than expected.”
“Thanks,” he said, lifting his drink in salute and with a soft laugh, she turned and walked away, leaving through a different door.
A chirp at his hip had him putting his drink down and pulling out his com. Glancing at it, he noted two missed messages plus a new one, all about possible new contracts, all of them sounding boring. Sighing, he placed his com back on his belt, and leaned back, savoring the rich flavor of the scotch. “He definitely has the best stuff.”
“Petr! Sorry to keep you waiting.” Victr walked across the room as if he owned it, which Petr reminded himself, he did. Unlike other companies who had reached the level of Bry’on Manufacturing, Victr was the sole owner and had no intention of changing that fact.
“That’s all right. I was enjoying my drink and the atmosphere.”
Chuckling, Victr stood across from him. “If you don’t mind, I thought we would eat in my private quarters. They are the only truly private areas of this place. Everywhere else is monitored twenty-four seven.”
“Sounds good to me.” Petr stood up and followed his uncle out of the room and down a dark hallway away from where he had originally come in. They passed several offices and a couple kitchen areas before coming to a large steel door. Victr placed his hand up to a scanner and five seconds later the door slid open soundlessly. As soon as they were through, it slid silently back into place.
As soon as the door shut lights came on, revealing a large round room, comfortably furnished with items Petr knew were highly expensive, even if they did not shout it. “Welcome to my home,” Victr said quietly, walking across the large tan carpet toward a small dining table that was already set up.
“Thank you. I wasn’t even sure where you lived.” Petr followed him and took a seat across from his uncle at the table. Almost immediately, a man in a similar uniform to the guards walked in with a bottle of wine. He poured each of them a glass and left without a word.
“Vint cannot hear or speak. He is a good servant to have in my private quarters,” Victr said dryly, watching his young nephew.
Chuckling, Petr took a sip of wine. It was the best stuff he had ever tasted. “Well, you do know how to treat a guest,” he grinned, sitting the glass down.
Nodding, Victr snapped his fingers. Vint walked back in and placed a plate of salad in front of them both and left.
“If he is deaf, how did he hear your fingers?”
Chuckling, Victr picked up a fork. “He has a monitor and watches for any movement I make. He is very familiar with my tells.”
Shrugging, Petr looked down at the meal. He rarely ate real food, preferring to eat the food tablets that were on the market, but he had to admit the salad looked good. Plus, if it were anything like the scotch, he was in for a real treat.
The salad was indeed very good. When the last piece passed his lips, he barely contained himself from licking the plate clean. Almost immediately Vint removed their plates and replaced them with bowls of soup.
Victr did not speak as they ate and Petr was so enthralled by the food that he barely thought about it. Until the soup was gone and the main meal was placed in front of him. “Thank you for coming today, Petr. It is much easier to talk like this than over a com-line.”
Nodding, Petr watched his uncle as he cut up the pieces on the plate. They were items Petr had never seen before and he was not sure how to eat them. “Have you never had steak before?” Victr asked surprised.
“No,” Petr chuckled, cutting the steak the way Victr had. “Mama was all about food tablets and we rarely got real food. Except for on our birthdays or at a mating ceremony. But those were usually sweets.”
Snorting, Victr shook his head as he took a bite of the steak and followed it closely with a drink of wine. “Diria and I have different views on a lot of things. Including the whole mating conundrum.”
Swallowing his food, Petr took a drink of the wine. “Mama is like most people her age, I suppose. Plus, she just wants her children to be happy.” He knew Victr had different feelings about mating, but he did not like him putting his mother down in any way.
“No, no, you misunderstand me,” Victr quickly said, shaking his head. “I used to think Diria had the right idea. Mate early before the individual becomes hardened to it.” He sighed and leaned back in his chair, waving Vint away when he came in to remove his plate. “See, science tells us that the mating chemical dies down at the century mark. I have been doing my own studies for the last century and I have come to a different conclusion.”
Nodding for him to continue, Petr kept eating. The steak was the most amazing thing he had ever eaten and he would not stop until it was all gone.
“It seemed to me that as we live so long for our mating chemical to die off so quickly was a bit incongruous with our physical bodies. So, I started working on a different premise – that we ourselves minimize the mating hormone. I don’t know if science convinced people that at the age of one hundred their chemical died and so they push it down at that point, or if people who did not get mated pushed it down and so by the century mark that particular hormone was practically non-existent in their body caused science to make its leap.”
Looking up, Petr placed his fork down. “But if the hormone is non-existent, doesn’t that prove their point?”
Grinning, Victr shook his head, taking another drink of wine. “I said practically non-existent. It is still there, Petr, subdued under mental constraint.” He paused. “You do know that our hormones are directed by our brain, yes?” Petr nodded. “I have been able to prove that all it takes is a thought planted deeply within the sub-conscious for anyone over the age of a hundred to start manufacturing that hormone in large quantities almost immediately.”
It took a couple seconds for that to sink in. “A thought?”
“Yes. Call it subliminal mating if you will. People decide they are too old to mate so their body stops creating as much of the mating hormone. So, when they hit the century mark, there is practically none of it in their system. Scientists pat themselves on the back and say ‘see? It proves our point.’” He snorted. “It proves nothing. I have worked with over fifty people well over the age of one hundred. None of them found their mate previously and doubted they ever would.” His lips drew into a self-satisfied smirk. “Forty-eight of them are happily mated now.”
Petr assumed his expression must mirror his surprised horror as Victr burst out laughing. “Believe me, nephew. This is real. The moment that thought is placed into their subconscious, the hormone starts being pumped out at a very high level, probably higher than right after puberty. The drive to find one’s mate becomes paramount. All forty-eight individuals made severe life-changes to meet their mate and all of them are happier for it.”
Finishing his steak, Petr wiped his mouth and took a long drink of the wine, trying to place his thoughts in order. “That is very radical thinking, uncle.”
Nodding, Victr watched his nephew. “It is very hush-hush. People will not be willing to accept that it is their own fault they never found a mate. But,” he leaned forward slightly and a twinkle came into his eye. “I am going to prove it to them.”
Unsettled, though he wasn’t sure why, Petr nodded. “Prove it to them? Are you going to go to every unmated individual over the age and do whatever you do and then say ‘I told you so’?”
Chuckling, Victr shook his head and snapped his fingers again. Vint appeared and removed their plates, replacing them with a small bowl of dessert. Petr wasn’t sure what it was, but it looked and smelled good. Ripe red berries over some sort of bread.
“Strawberry shortcake, my chef’s specialty.”
Taking a bite, Petr moaned aloud. “That is the best thing I have ever tasted.”
“You should take up real food, Petr. It is far more satisfying than food tablets. And as for how I am going to convince the unsuspecting public of my findings…,” he leaned back and smiled. “I am going to produce a program and mate up thirty couples.”
Staring at his uncle in surprise, Petr took another bite of the delicious dessert while he thought. “But how can you be sure you will set up thirty couples. How can you be sure they will meet their mate?” A part of him was worried that somehow his uncle had gained the ability to mate two people together who were not meant for one another.
“BM’s mating bonds are the most popular on the market. Why?”
The change of topic confused Petr, but he answered anyway. “Because they shift in color and show the mates for who they belong to.”
“Good and do you know how that is accomplished? How the two bands react to two different people and yet come out the same design?”
“To be honest, no. That is a big secret. Everyone wonders how you do it.”
“It is simple science, my boy, and to be honest, it has given me more information than I ever could have imagined.”
Vint appeared and removed their empty bowls and Victr stood up. “Come. Let’s finish this in the living room.” He picked up the bottle of wine and his glass and headed toward the sitting area. Petr followed, glass in hand.
They walked into the larger part of the room and sat on short plump off-white sofas across from each other. “So, I guess I just assumed the bands were programmed to create a color and design when they were fastened on the body.”
Chuckling, Victr nodded and poured each of them another glass of wine. “Most people assume the same, that they are just some magic trick. Though the reason they buy from us is because while others advertise to do the same, there have been more than one couple who has ended up with the same design. That has never happened with a Bry’on Band. And it never will.”
Petr sipped at his wine and nodded for his uncle to continue.
“You see, I have been studying that mating chemical my entire life. It was part of my doctorate thesis in college. I was born just about the time when mating had become common place. Before then – in my grandparents’ time, chemical mating was new… strange… and very few understood it though they accepted it. I found quite by accident that there was an alloy that reacted with the mating chemical. It did not damage, but when that chemical hit the alloy, it created a beautiful design within hours and that design never faltered from there on.
“It fascinated me. For four decades I tested it with different people’s mating chemicals.” He chuckled. “It wasn’t until I gave a pair of bands made from that alloy to some friends of mine who had recently mated that I saw the opportunity. Both bands, one thin, one thick turned the exact same shade of green and made the exact same floral design. Almost instantly, I was being asked for more as other mated couples saw what my friends had. That was how Bry’on Manufacturing started.”
He took a sip of wine as his nephew tried to make sense of it all. Petr could not help but wonder at how exciting it all sounded, to happen upon such a find and felt a little jealousy at the freedom his uncle had to pursue it.
“I never tried to figure out why mated couples designs were always the same until I was doing the studies to prove that the mating chemical, the hormone scientists call SKZ-1, did exist after the century mark.” He leaned in. “It was during that time as the couples mated off that I started looking at their actual chemical. Petr,” his voice lifted in excitement as he placed his wine glass on the coffee table, “the genetic make-up of SKZ-1 is the same from mate to mate.”
Petr cocked his head in confusion. “I don’t understand.”
“Between you and me, there would be very little similarity between our SKZ-1. But, between you and your mate, wherever he or she may be… the SKZ-1 would be identical! That is why when one mate touches another there is such a frenzy. The chemical reacts, finding its mate! Don’t you see, Petr? I have found what makes the hormone work. I know how mating works!”
Stunned, Petr stared at his uncle. Nobody knew how the mating process worked. Nobody. Until now. Gulping the last of his wine, he placed his glass down on the coffee table. “But nobody knows that.” His voice was scratchy, as though he had a hard time forcing it past his throat.
“But I do. Do you recognize the kind of knowledge that gives me, Petr?”
Tensing, he nodded. This kind of knowledge could control everything. He had always considered his uncle a good man but with this knowledge, he could change the world.
“I can help those who haven’t found a mate find theirs! Think about it. Even I could find my mate if I wanted to.” The amusement in his face and eyes made Petr relax a little. “Not that I want to, mind you. But if I did…”
“Wait!” The pieces were finally fitting together in Petr’s head. “Are you saying that you will create a program with thirty individuals over the century mark and use the information you have learned to find their mate? How will you get access to that chemical from everyone?” Unless his uncle planned to force everyone to get themselves tested, Petr didn’t see how it would work.
Pleased, Victr nodded. “I knew you would figure it out. We have all seen the stupid dating programs that go on from time to time. They never work because people keep hoping to meet their mate but they are shooting blind. This time, they will be meeting their mate, they just don’t know it.” He grinned. “I won’t be able to guarantee the end results as there is the possibility that not all single un-mated individuals will submit to a sample, but I bet you I can come close. Even one mating on such a show would be stupendous. I plan for thirty such matings.
“Of course, I will make it a cross-section of individuals, some over a century, some under, all over their sixth decade, some over their seventh century if I can do it. Imagine, Petr,” he grinned. “Once this comes out, Bry’on Manufacturing can do anything.”
Snorting, Petr nodded. “Planning on going into the mating business, uncle?”
He shrugged. “I’ve been involved in it my entire life. Why not? Mated individuals live longer, happier lives. They are more productive and let’s face it, society approves of them more.” He paused. “Now, for the actual reasons I invited you today.”
Surprised as his uncle’s voice changed from friendly to business, Petr sat up straight and waited.
“The first has to do with your job. Do you really enjoy what you do?”
Shrugging, Petr shook his head. “I have to admit I am getting bored with hunting. Nobody gets away from me. I can find any prey within forty-eight hours without having to put any thought into it. I need new excitement.”
Smiling, Victr nodded. “Ever consider coming to work for me?”
“Uh no, actually. Working behind a desk doesn’t thrill me either.”
Victr burst out laughing. “Ah, my boy, you would not be working behind a desk all the time. You are the only other individual besides myself who understands how those mating bands work. I would want you involved in research, finding the correct individuals for my studies…” he leaned forward again. “I want you in the thick of things, Petr. I think you will find the newness of each day exciting.”
Knowing he would need to mull it over, Petr nodded slowly. “I will think on it, Uncle. Now you mentioned reasons? Was there more than one?”
Chuckling, Victr poured out the last of the wine. “Yes, there was one more.” He leaned back and put his feet up on the coffee table. “Would you be interested in being a part of the program? Would you like to find your mate?”
...continued next week
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