Hadrian's Rage by Patricia-Marie Budd Read Free Book Online Page A

over.
    â€œDean, I’m so sorry.”
    â€œIt’s okay, Cantara. I’m the one who’s sorry.” Trying now to ease her hurt, he says, “It’s not a good idea for us anyway. You are much too young—”
    Angered, Cantara counters, “That’s absurd!”
    â€œI’m forty-four, forty-five next month, while you’re only—”
    â€œI’m twenty-two years old. That makes me a consenting adult. I can sleep with a ninety year old if I want.”
    Dean can’t help but laugh. “Yeah, I suppose you could. I just,” he says, wiping the sweat off his brow, “I can’t. I’ve tried. I want to be with you, but every time we try, I feel residual shocks, and then the nausea sets in.” Breathing more slowly now, he adds, “I’m sorry, Cantara; it’s just not going to happen. Not now. Maybe not for a long, long while. Re-ed has taken its toll on me.” Turning now to face Cantara, hoping to discourage her, Dean concludes, “Don’t wait for me. Find someone you can be with, someone who can make you happy.”
    Ignoring his advice, Cantara changes the subject. “Show me what you’ve come up with.” Dean readily acquiesces; it is easier to be around Cantara when their focus is business. Reaching into his back pocket, he pulls out the print out of the logo he has created.
    Cantara unfolds his work and immediately expresses pleasure. “I love it!”
    â€œReally?” Dean remains unsure.
    â€œAbsolutely. It’s perfect. It’s just what you said you wanted. Humanity’s sun!”
    The two smile. The tension between them has subsided. For now.

    *****
    9 GSA: Gay Straight Alliance

Salve!
    An Interview with Greatness
HNN—Melissa Eagleton Reporting
    “Viewers, it is both an honor and a pleasure to introduce to you today’s guest, Hadrian’s Founding Mother, Destiny Stuttgart. Mother, thank you so much for joining us today.”
    “Call me Destiny.”
    “Oh, I don’t think I can. Forgive me, Mother, but it doesn’t feel right referring to you on such an informal level. You have done so much to help make our country great.”
    “And that’s why I agreed to come here today. I want to keep our country great and not let it fall deeper into the hands of hatred.”
    “Why do you say that?”
    “You know why. You reported about the many abuses committed against our heterosexual brothers and sisters—not just through reeducation but in the series of hate crimes polluting our culture of love and peace.”
    “Oh, I know, those violent hateful crimes. Mother, how can we stop them?”
    “By educating our citizens. Letting them know heterosexuals are not evil people—Why are you pulling at your ear?—And now you’re wincing. Explain yourself, dear.”
    “But—there is the Heterosexual Agenda that we must be aware of. You must agree, being a founding member and having helped write the four cornerstones. The first cornerstone is very explicit about Hadrian’s chosen sexual identity.”
    “Yes, I am fully aware of that wording, but I argued ardently against it. Which is why I am fighting so hard for its revision, back to its original wording when I first drafted the constitution for Hadrian.”
    “But why?”
    “It saddens me that you have to ask that, dear. Look at me when I talkto you. Sexual identity is not a choice. No one chooses to be gay. No one chooses to be bisexual. No one chooses to be straight. No one chooses to be intersex. And no one chooses to suffer from gender dysphoria.”
    “Yes, but our scientists have done wonders with the human genome, eradicating the heterosexual gene—”
    “And what right do we have to do that?”
    “To avoid procreation.”
    “We don’t want to avoid procreation. All we want to do is reduce human population in the most peaceful, loving, and humane manner possible.”
    “I think we’ve done that here in Hadrian; don’t you?”
    “Do you call the