“How long have you been at this, Terry?” Pru asked.
“I started Neo-Tantra four or five years ago, Pru. It caught on quickly, and last year I had revenues of fifty million credits or so. I know that, if I want to continue growing, I need better management than I can provide. Management isn´t my strong point. I need marketing, too.
“Well, at least you´ve got my attention, and you´ve got me here. But I´m not entirely sure this isn´t a fool´s errand.” Pru´s skeptical tone contradicted her own growing awareness of Terry´s sincerity. He was seriously committed to what he was doing, even though Pru still wasn´t sure what that was.
“It´s not, I assure you,” Terry said. “But I want to ask you about some other things; we can talk about the product later. Were did you get your languages?”
“My family were sort of itinerant teachers. Both of them taught languages – Dad taught French and German, Mom taught Arabic and Chinese.”
“Your mother must have a remarkable background.”
“Well, not really. She´s ethnic Chinese, but she was born and raised in Egypt.
“Anyway, they lived in Europe and the Middle East and China at different times in their careers, and of course, I went with them. They retired in Morocco, and when I came here to Ann Arbor, I studied languages and philosophy. Well, that didn´t look like it would support me as I want to live, so I added some marketing stuff: an MBA. That´s about it.”
Terry nodded. “Well, I´m delighted that you´ve lived in all those different cultures. It´s not enough to have the language; you need to know where it lives, the air it breathes. Do you still travel? Are you OC very often?”
“Oh, yes. I´ve been OC quite a bit and not just at home. You see, I spent most college summers with the folks, and I get to wherever they are whenever I have spare time. I was in Beijing again just last fall. But now, they´re in Morocco – outside the Tangiers-Ceuta Controlled Area. It´s a village that´s not Controlled, and they prefer that. For that area, so do I; I spent quite a bit of time there as a teenager. It overlooks the Straits of Gibraltar, you know. Great view.”
Now Pru took the initiative. “Tell me about this Neo-Tantra. Not the theology; not now. Tell me about the business. That´s what I´m interested in.”
“Good,” Terry said. “But, I do want to give you some background that´s relevant, I think.
“Since the eradication of sexually transmitted disease and the universal acceptance of fertility implants, the old ideas of sexuality have changed fundamentally. That´s well known and not really an issue, but it provides the basis for what we do. Sex is no longer taboo for most people in most places. And Neo-Tantra isn´t a religion.”
Pru thought of the couple on the train. “Well,” she added, “modern attitudes toward sex also have to do with changes in attitude of the major religions. The Christian churches´ shift away from sex as inherently sinful has made a big difference. Even Islam has changed its views on sex and women. As a result, other factors have become more important. Privacy, for example, remains an important factor, and selection is a big issue.”
“Right. In many cultures, people don´t wear much in the way of clothing in the CAs and don´t mind body contact with friends, even in public, but actual intercourse – most forms of intimacy – generally occurs in private. And, while the com gives us all the selection options we need…”
“And more,” Pru added.
“And more,” Terry acknowledged, then went on, “but, most of us want to make our choices of partner in pretty traditional ways. The customs and the technology for all that are pretty well defined.”
Pru picked up the thread. “We don´t touch strangers. We touch friends and lovers, even sexually and sometimes even in public. We find privacy shelters when we want to make love away from home. We can´t have children unless both partners have their implants neutralized. There´s a relationship contract for just about any combination. So, where´s your market niche?”
“Intercourse itself,” Terry said. He looked out the window at the passing river view, gathering a thought. Pru pre-empted him.
“ ‘The Multi-Orgasmic Couple´? ‘How to be a… You Name It´. Hasn´t that all been done to death?”
“Oh, yes. Done to death and badly. We´re not ‘How To´ or cookbook sex. Neo-Tantra is a… Well, it´ll sound pretentious to you at this stage, but Neo-Tantra is a new way of life. I won´t tell you it will free you from the Wheel of Life, but I can tell you it will change your life.”
“Big order. You know I´m skeptical,” Pru spoke directly. “I´ve heard that kind of thing too often to believe it out of hand.”
“Well, at least you didn´t call it bullshit right away. And, it´s not. The objective of Neo-Tantra training is to make sex – not just intercourse, but all aspects of personal and sexual relations – a transforming and releasing part of any relationship.”
“Not just with your lover?”
“Not just with a lover but with any individual with whom you feel a genuine attraction. A close friend, your life partner, business associates, anyone. Even parents. It feeds directly back to the ancient concepts of transcendence through the male-female relationship.”
“Doesn´t the other party have to be trained in Neo-Tantra for this to work? Isn´t there an initiation fee, some kind of secret, Gnostic awareness?”
“Not really,” Terry said, leaning toward her. “That´s the key, for me. If you follow the concepts of Neo-Tantra, you can relate to others in a new way that will expand and extend the limits of your whole life. We´ve found that learning to experience sex as a transcendent state broadens your understanding of everyone you relate to.”
“That´s one you´re going to have to prove to me.” Pru said.
She looked out the window at the passing scene, the tree-lined river with its stretches of brush and flowers and wildness. The concentration of population in the Controlled Areas had the result of releasing the countryside to grow and overgrow the civilization that had gone before. In these OC areas old, abandoned houses moldered beside the river. Old gardens ran rampant into the countryside and competed with the native growth. Here and there, carefully tended orchards stretched over the hillsides. In many areas, various forms of agriculture were the rule, as were various industries that didn´t fit in the CA environment.
Here, Pru looked out on greenness that delighted the eye with its wildness, often primitive, yet filled and altered with the sophisticated growth of former times. The river, of course, flowed in its primeval way – undisturbed by pollutants past and to come, obeying the laws of physics on its stately, inexorable way to the sea.
Pru was wondering, at this point, what she had got herself into. Terry seemed a sincere man and appeared business-like and serious about his work. But, Pru wondered. Typically, she spoke her mind.
“Terry, I´ve seen so much sexual hype masquerading as merchandise – and maybe vice versa – that I´m a little disappointed in this. I´m a creature of this world; so are you. I understand the sexual rules like everyone else. Like most people, I enjoy sex and take real pleasure in it with people I like. You´re telling me you have a product to sell. It´s sex. What´s more, I don´t see the demand for what you have to sell. Everyone has it already, everyone likes it and just about everyone has come to terms with their definition of it. In this society, sex is not an issue. What the hell do you need me for?”