Following on from Part 14:
'Why are there so many
shops?' Edrig asked, as they wandered through the city centre later in the day.
Adrig welcomed the
opportunity to discuss his professional specialities.
'This is an odd
society, with its whole social and economic structure dependent on
ever-increasing consumption rather than minimizing consumption. The
only way the whole unstable inverted pyramid can be sustained is if more and
more things are consumed by more and more people. They call it
economic growth, and it also requires population growth to keep it going.'
'And can they not see
where that is going to end up on a small and finite planet? Can they
not see how unsustainable that is?'
'They are beginning to,
but they all think in such very short term ways, with their own lives
being so short, and their politicians rarely look beyond winning the
next election, so they are so obviously heading for disaster even
if they avoid the nuclear conflagration, but they have no political
or social structure that can prevent the disaster.'
'Something similar
happened in another sample I examined,' offered Edrig. 'I forget which
one. They had not reached the nuclear phase but their consumption and
breeding grew exponentially and of course led to famine and war,
endlessly. It was a miserable place. It still is.'
'Whereas here, in this
country, many people are still managing to be happy and reasonably
content. It is a different story in other countries of 717 of course,
but they don't care enough to address that. One thing that our Lady
Lords are at least good at is keeping everything on a sustainable
path. You have to give them credit for that.'
'But look at those
lovely ladies heading into that shop? Can we go into that shop?'
'Well, I think that is
a womens' clothing store Edrig, but I suppose we could be looking for
things for our ladies.'
And so they entered the
womens' clothing store, and gazed at the many young women who were milling
around. Edrig even gazed rather longingly at the mannequins wearing skimpy
clothing, and quietly said, 'Oh my goodness.'
'Can I help you
gentlemen?' a woman asked, in a rather unfriendly tone.
'Just looking at
ladies,' Adrig responded, 'I mean just looking at ladies' clothes,
eh... for our ladies,' managing an even deeper toner than he had
managed before.
'Anything in particular?'
'No. Not really, but
can I ask you something? Are there clubs with pole dancing ladies
near here?'
The shop assistant looked somewhat disgusted, but neither Adrig or Edrig
could think of any reason why she should do so.
'I'm sorry gentlemen,
but if you are not looking for something specific and don't know what
you wish to buy I would really prefer you to leave.'
'OK,' said Adrig, meekly, 'but
the clubs, are there any?'
'Leave the store please.'
'And do the ladies ever
dance naked?'
'Leave! Now!'
And so they left,
puzzled why simple questions should have drawn such a response.
'The young ladies are
so beautiful,' said Edrig as they wandered further along the street,
'but their beauty lasts for such a short time. Why does everyone die so quickly
here? As far as I understand they have the same basic chemical
processes as us. DNA, RNA, proteins and all that. Why are their lives
so short?'
'Well,' offered Adrig,
'I am no expert on that but I think it is largely down to two things, fragile chromosomes and poor tolerance of oxygen. Their
chromosomes are fragile at the ends. Telomeres, I think they call
them. I read an article about it in my briefing notes before I
undertook this analysis. And they have a very poor molecular system
for coping with the reactive chemicals that are created from oxygen.
Radicals, I think they call them. Free radicals.'
'And other than that
they are very similar to us?'
'Well, in terms of
their basic biochemistry, yes. Their brains have much less capacity,
but here's the interesting thing, in terms of socially intellectual thought
they can sometimes demonstrate capabilities that are superior to us, especially
some of the women.'
'That's interesting.'
'It is,' agreed Adrig,
'and the women are very interesting in other ways too, and look at
this my friend. I think we may have found exactly what we need.'
They were standing
beside a wide doorway with colourful advertising posters on either
side that proclaimed, The best erotic dancers in town, and
below those entrancing words there were images of pole dancing
ladies.
'Wearing hardly anything!'
gasped Edrig.
'This, my boy, is the
place for us tonight,' declared Adrig.
They spent a long time
gazing at the images before moving away and wandering farther along
the street, slowly.
'Look at her,' Adrig
whispered as a young woman flounced past. 'Can you imagine her doing
a pole dance?'
'And what about these
two?' offered Edrig as more young women approached. Then he continued
with, 'This place could be heaven. Absolute heaven.'
'It could come close,'
Adrig agreed, 'if the men were not allowed to mess it up so much.'
'Can you imagine Adrig,
if the women here were as dominant as our women, and were demanding
sex from us with great regularity, while keeping everything running
along just fine?'
'Ah... Now that would
be the best of both worlds my boy. The best of both worlds... But
still, at least we have tonight. Let's find somewhere to rest, and a
coffee. They probably do not too bad coffee here, judging from how busy the coffee shops are.'
Which led them to a
nearby coffee outlet to request two large lattes, which the
rather bemused server just managed to comprehend in Adrig's
helium-like squawk.
'Would you like a
Blueberry Muffin with that?'
'Ah, yes please, two
each.'
'Two? Very good.You
sure not three?'
'Well fine,' Adrig
responded to the server's joke, 'we are hungry so three each. A
feast!'
'Enjoy,' commanded the
server, as the order was completed and handed over on a tray.
Ooooh. Three muffins. Each. They tell me that McM does do good coffee. I will be interested to hear whether A and E agree. And I just noticed that A and E's inititals (Accident and Emergency) are appropriate to their adventure.
ReplyDeleteHa ha. I had not thought of that.
ReplyDelete