The fight with the door guard had left my brother with strained tendons in his wrist and a torn ligament in the elbow of his right arm. The arm was st...apped to his chest, and the doctor had informed him and my mother that surgery would be required to repair the elbow. Mike did not take the news well, and his angry curses would fill the house for the next week as he waited for his turn in the operating room of the local hospital.My father appeared oblivious to the injuries his eldest son had. Soon after the meal the Sub-Decurion, with Signifer Brooks following, entered for the briefing. "There will eventually be over half a million people in Copernicus Station so we have to be very clear in letting you know what you can and what you can't do. This will come across as abrupt and rude. My apologies for that but it is necessary."We are now enforcing the dress code. Sponsors will be in uniform. All concubines will wear their collars. Assigned concubines, both male and female, will wear. If I lose any more, they’re all over me like a tent: I’m appealing to the male stereotype!”“What?” Ann squawked. “What’s that mean?”“It means the editors and staff were long ago carried away by what Christina Hoff Somers calls ‘gender feminism’ as distinct from ‘equity feminism.’ The latter is equal rights, equal pay for the same work, and so forth. The former has become largely male bashing and lesbianism.”“If you don’t like it, why do you stay?” Ann asked reasonably.“Because it beats. Tell me about you."So Mandy told David how she'd studied law and risen up the firm tosenior partner. How she'd married Danny but the spark had long sincedied. When she'd finished, she said, "And now you. Tell me how thekid in the corner of the class who did nothing but play on his computerend up with all of this."David told her about the games, how the success of the first couple hadenabled him to take on staff and grow the company, how they wereexperts in artificial intelligence driven.