III

Planes were off limits if the traveler was headed across the mainland, so after a short boat trip to mainland, Watson boarded the train headed to China with his transfer papers held tightly in his fist. Picking a compartment to sit in and ordering a caffeine drink, Helmholtz settled in for the five-hour trip. Travel had become extremely fast ever since the magnetic train tracks had been invented. The tracks used like-poled magnets to allow the train to hover over the tracks, cutting down on friction. Another oddity of this trip that enabled it to be so short was that this was a direct line with only one stop; the trip wouldn't take very long at all.

After leaving his compartment, Watson had to stop himself from taking the number of a young woman four times. Intercourse, like the soma, was something that Helmholtz thought he could think clearer without, but just like the case with the soma, his conditioning made it hard. His conditioning wasn't the only thing that hindered his ability to keep his pledge; Helmholtz was quite a handsome man, tall, witty, and an Elevator Squash champion. After turning down the fourth girl, Helmholtz decided to head back to his seat, but when he got there, his privet compartment was not so privet anymore, he was accompanied by Fanny Crowne, a woman that he had known from when he lived in England.

"Hi there hot stuff," says Fanny with a smile. Helmholtz made like he was going to say, "how'd you get in here?" but Fanny answered that for him. "I hope you don't mind, the conductor is an old friend of mine; we've had quite a healthy relationship for years, Ralph and I."

"Really?" asked Watson raising his brow. He knew that "healthy relationship" meant having numerous partners and never sticking with the same one for more than a week. Helmholtz himself was a poster child for this way of life only two months ago, but he had been practicing celibacy even before his move to the Falkland Islands. For the same reasons he was no trying to wean himself from soma, Watson had decided to at least test this brave new way of life.

"So…" says Fanny, breaking the awkward silence. "So where is it you're headed?"

"China"

"Ouuu!" Fanny squeals, "I've always wanted to go there! I myself am going to Afghanistan. Ever since that whole 'savage debacle' I've wanted to visit an uncivilized culture…"

Helmholtz could only smile a crooked little smile while Fanny continued, his friend John had been that savage that showed up and created quite a little disturbance in their little community. His backwards views on life that included monogamy and emotions, history and liberty. John saw the world in a totally different light from the rest of the world, and it was for that reason that Helmholtz was practicing to be more like John. The savage was the first person he had met that didn't say and act and think the exact same way Helmholtz did, and even though Helmholtz' conditioned conscience told him that it was all non-sense, his mind knew that if there was a person that could justifiably stand by such backwards views, maybe they weren't so backwards to begin with.

" … And then Henry never showed up at the platform, so I decided to come on my own and meet up with someone." Fanny's clear voice brought Helmholtz back into the conversation with a jolt. "So how about it?" asked Fanny angelically.

"How about what?" Asked Helmholtz. He had heard her the first time and knew what she was getting at, but he had been practicing this "turning girls down" routine for two months now, and it was now easy to consciously handle.

"How about you come with me to Afghanistan and then I accompany you to China. The paperwork won't take more than an hour to change."

There was a long pause. Sometimes they got the idea if he was just silent for a while.

"So… " Fanny said, "How about it?"

(My Ford this woman is persistent) "Actually Fanny, I'm not on vacation."

"Oh?" asked Fanny, perking up a bit in her seat. "Business trip then?"

"No, I've been transferred."

"Again!" says Fanny, aghast. For someone to be transferred once was extremely queer, but twice … it was unthinkable!

"Yes again. I have been given an assignment in Japan. Now if you will excuse me," said Helmholtz, "I need to get some sleep."

Helmholtz knew that the trip was way to short for sleeping of any kind, and he knew Fanny knew this. Even though this was an obvious blow off, and that was almost unthinkable in this world, Helmholtz was still an alpha and Fanny, being female, was a beta. Fanny would make no protest, the whispers that were repeated over and over in her ear always told her that the alphas were smarter and worked harder. It said that they deserved their stature is society, where as beta did less work and weren't as intelligent, so they came later. They came later when it came to soma rations; they came later when it came to deciding on where to go on a date or vacation, they even came later in the alphabet. That's the way it was.

"Well alright then," said Fanny cheerily, "It's almost time for my stop anyway." And with that she was gone. Out the door, down the hall and turning left, went up on the second deck. As she reached the top of the stairs, she said to herself, "Beta is better…" she paused as she finished her pre-programmed thinking, "… but an alpha better know best."