01 Taxilas Children

TAXILA'S CHILDREN
CHAPTER 14
They walked down the path. He tried to collect his wits. It was more than likely that he was
responsible for Hara's pregnancy, although there was some sense in the suggestion that it
might be the seed of one of the others who had misused her. It was the first time that he had
been confronted with the possibility that he might made a woman pregnant. He had always
assumed that his women took precautions. Hara had been different - too innocent. He was in
an appalling situation! He had put her in the family way. He could think of a dozen of his
former contemporaries, who would collapse into howls of in laughter, in the remote chance
that they ever found out.
"You loved her very much, didn't you?
She broke the silence softly.
"She was very special to me."
"I know the reason and the circumstances. Yours is a strange story and if Zayez is right
about you, you come from a hard world. I read in your thoughts that laying with a woman is a
very casual thing with you."
"It seems to me that you poke around too much in my thoughts for your own good! Yes,
I'm happy to admit that I like women. Yes, I've been with quite a few. Yes, we have a casual
approach. Yes, I am a young man with a healthy sexual appetite. Am I to be judged for that?"
She didn't answer at first.
'You must not mind that I can see into your thoughts. I see a lot of things which are
different to what we know. On Lynxe, we have long since creased to measure what one man
does or does not, against any preconceived standards. On our world, there is no judgement,
for none of us are without fault; so how could we judge? We do not set standards. If one man
hurts another intentionally, that is our greatest evil and condemnation."
"Then, you must live in chaos. Every man for himself and the devil take the weakest."
She looked puzzled.
"I have no thought for the word you used: 'devil'. What is that?'
He explained as best he could, theology was not his best subject.
She shook her head when he finished.
"We do not have such a concept. We do not hide the responsibility for our passions and
urges by attributing them to some external force. We strive to master our baser selves, so that
a higher evolvement becomes the master."
It didn't sound as is she had got the point. On reflection, maybe she had a better point.
"And you do not believe in God either?"
He was a glutton for punishment but he wanted to prolong the conversation, no matter
what the subject. He was half way through a laboured explanation, when she stopped him.
"Ah! That is different. Logic tells us that there is a Law-Giver, who has set the stars in their
places and who controls the seasons and the Law of seedtime and harvest. These things are
governed and never vary."
"But what of a God who intervenes in your everyday lives?"
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