Page:World Without Men (HT osu.32435053364535).pdf/30

I was never conditioned. Nobody forced a pattern of behavior on me. I just can't believe it."

"But you were born and raised in a State nursery and educated at a State dispersal college, weren't you, Aubry? That's when they conditioned you—when your mind was young and flexible. And they erased the memories you weren't supposed to have by deep hypnotic control."

"But for what purpose?"

There was an interval of silence in the darkness. Both women were pallid ghostly forms, quite motionless. The colored lights of the city reflected in tiny clusters from the surface of the ambrosia bottle and the curved glasses on the table.

Presently Aquilegia said: "I'm sorry, Aubry. I think perhaps I've been talking too much, and I can see I'm confusing you. Let's forget about it for now. Perhaps we'll pick up some other time."

"No," Aubretia insisted. "I want to know what all this is about. What are you trying to prove."

"Nothing at all, darling. Nothing that can make any difference to us."

"It has something to do with the man."

"Forget about the man. He's probably been reduced to smoke and ashes by now."

Something in the tone of her friend's voice arrested Aubretia's attention. She saw the dead naked body of the man in her mind's eye. "You know something, Quilly," she stated. "The man hasn't been destroyed at all; is that it?"

"All right," Aquilegia said wearily. "He hasn't been destroyed. He's in cold storage in a secret underground laboratory outside Lon, along with hundreds of other dead men. But don't ask me how I know or why. It's a long story and I'm tired, and so are you. Let's go to bed, darling."

"All right," Aubretia murmured reluctantly. "But I shan't sleep."