The nature of her life

"Minya," I said, and then hesitated; I couldn't think of a way to put this delicately, and ultimately decided not to. "On your ship, were you being held as a ****? Were you **** against your will to perform sexual acts for your clients?"

"I do not understand," she said. "Sex is pleasurable, is it not?"

"Not always," I said. "Not when it is **** upon someone."

She shrugged. "It has never been **** on me," she said. "To give pleasure is to receive it. I am always happy to provide."

I shook my head. "That's just not natural," I said, and once again I immediately regretted it. Who was I to say what was natural for her and her species? A Starfleet officer should know better!

"It is what I was made for," Minya said, unperturbed.

Suddenly, I realized something that should have been obvious from the beginning. "You're - Minya, you're a genetically engineered being," I said. "They designed you to be the perfect sexual servant. Sex really IS always pleasurable for you... because that's how they made you."

"Yes," she said, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

I felt a sudden revulsion, not toward Minya, but toward the bastards who had done this to her. They'd created a perfect sex ****: beautiful, subservient, sensuous, and always receptive. And I felt like I was no better than them, because I had used their **** for my own satisfaction. And there she was, completely oblivious to the idea that there was even anything wrong with what they had done! I wasn't sure I could even explain it to her.

"Minya," I said, "Do you have any interests at all, outside of sex and sensual pleasure? Is there anything you do for yourself, when you don't have clients to serve?"

"When I have no one to serve, it is lonely," she said. "I practice my techniques on holographic projections, so I can serve them better. I take care to maintain my physical appeal, through diet, medication, and exercise. I study the erotic arts of various species -"

"That's not what I mean," I said. "I mean... suppose you were on a world where no one was interested in sex, where you couldn't offer pleasure in that way. What would you want to do?"

She looked puzzled... she thought for a long moment. I watched as the vivid sky-blue color began to fade from her skin, the brilliant scarlet of her hair softening to more of a strawberry blonde. "There was... a client I had once," she said. "He paid for a full week of my companionship... an unusual thing, but not unheard of. Of course, we engaged in the sexual pleasures of his species, but there was something else. On the fifth day, he presented me with a dress which he explained was considered formal and elegant among his people, and we went to a large arena where many others sat in attendance. Seven of his people emerged onto a platform with strange devices made of wood and metal; I had never seen anything like them. They held these devices against their bodies, and some took up sticks while others pressed the devices to their mouths."

Suddenly, her skin changed, to a rich and lovely gold, and her hair became a soft auburn. In that moment, she looked more human than I had ever seen her before.

"I am not sure what they did then... but the most beautiful sounds came to my ears, more beautiful than any I had ever heard. It was a new kind of pleasure I had never experienced before. I have never heard anything like it since. I would... if only it were possible, I would hear such sounds again."

I smiled. "Computer," I said. "Pachelbel Canon, in D."

The smooth sound of a cello filled the room, followed by the rich tones of the harpsichord and the swelling of violins. Minya's eyes went wide, more so than would be possible for a human, and her mouth dropped open in astonishment. Her lips trembled, her whole body shook... and shining, pale blue tears began to stream down her cheeks.

I stood in silence. For a moment, I worried that it was too much for her. I was about to turn the music off, but then, she smiled... and I realized that in all the time she had been among us, I had never seen her smile before. She absolutely radiated joy, and when the music came to an end on its own, I was of a mind to start it again.

"Captainlance," she said, her voice trembling, "I... I do not have the words. I feel that I could die at this moment and be content. Thank you, with all of my being, thank you."

"We call it music," I said to her, "and this is only a tiny part of it. There is much more, more than any one person could hear in a lifetime. Among my crew are some who know how to play such music, and could even teach you to do so."

She kissed me. Without any warning, she was embracing me and pressing her lips to mine. I felt the raw desire rise in me for a moment, but pushed it away; I felt that she wasn't trying to make love to me, she was simply expressing her gratitude in the only way she knew how.

I pulled away, and she let me. "Captainlance, I would give anything to learn to make music," she said. "Please, will you teach me?"

"I'm afraid I can barely sing," I said with a smile. "But, I think I can find you a teacher. Now, I think my crew has probably had enough time to satisfy their carnal desires, so I need to go get this ship back under control, and I think you could probably do with a little rest."