"What then?"
She looked at me resignedly. "Three sexes," she said.
* * * * *
I gave up my luncheon with Gleda; as much as I should have liked to
split a five prot pony steak with her. Instead of the Palace, I went
to the library. The _public_ library. And read about Venerians. What
I found out was interesting--and a little frightening, too. They were
trisexual symbiotes. And they were only remotely humanoid.
There were very few of them on Terra--mainly because they relished
their own planet's formaldehyde atmosphere so much they were extremely
reluctant to leave it. When they did, ... and this really interested
me--they generally became very wealthy as entertainers. They were
accomplished musicians and--of all things--tumblers.
For reasons that were only hinted at in the staid _Encyclopedia
Terrestria_, Venerians never entertained through the mass media such as
the Livies or TV. Their stuff was limited to small, elite gatherings
and it cost plenty.
I thought of Gleda Warick and the party she was planning for later in
the week. She'd asked me to be alert for some good entertainment. Her
friends were getting weary of games like Lizzie Borden and Clobber. Too
many people getting hurt and all. Venerian tumblers and minisingers
would be just the thing. And it would assure solvency on the part of my
clients-to-be. Part of the Legal Eagle's Oath binds us to be concerned
over our customer's finances.
The next morning, promptly at ten hundred, I was treated to the first
sight of my clients. Their names didn't transliterate into anything
remotely pronounceable, so they were going by the names of Vivian, Jean
and Clare Jones.
After the first shock of seeing them wore off, I wrote on my pad:
"Names used by humans of both genders. Significant."
They spoke English, the current _lingua franca_, with only a trace of a
sibilant accent and they smelled of formaldehyde.
I explained their rights under our divorce laws. Did the best I could,
that is, not being quite sure who was married to whom and under what
conditions their marriage functioned--if at all. Finally I said, "Tell
me all about it."
Clare, who seemed to be the spokesman for the group and therefore
assumed, in my mind, a male gender, waved a boneless arm excitedly.
"Had we known we were becoming subject to your Terrestrial laws by
residing here we would never have remained. Our situation is desperate."