05/20/22 Snippet, SCENES FROM THE ZOO.

Not much done tonight, but I had other stuff piling up and at least I got a scene finished.

Having sex with Emily was so complicated, George wondered sometimes why the two of them kept doing it. Aside from the obvious pleasures involved.

Conforming to humans norms was easy enough: Late Middle First Republic culture permitted sexual encounters between two unmarried adults, as long as people were discreet. George would go to a bar where he knew Emily would be, initiate a conversation with her, and then, after a few drinks, they would go to a motel room for sex. As long as they varied the bars and motels, this activity would pass unnoticed.

The true difficulty came in not tripping the observer system. Project 23-175 did not forbid occasional sexual relations between researchers, but it would almost eagerly make Emily and George take on a role as a couple if it knew about their ‘affair.’ Which would mean reassignment in another city in the Observation area, with new names and backstories to memorize.

“But would that be so bad?” mused George, as the two of them lay naked on the motel bed, sharing a cigarette. “I hear they need more couples for the Dizzy City suburbs. The weather’s supposed to be nice, down there.”