Senator Wu accepted Twing's seed out of courtesy, although she had no intention of conceiving his child. Twing of Sails had thrown this party in his house in her honour, but he wasn't as free with kilojoules as he was with genetic material, and Senator Wu wasn't prepared to funnel the heat donations of her two crèche mates to bring another man's child to the world. She acidified the pores in her tentacle and waved it around, letting the current carry away the dead spores. She smiled at Twing and a wave of blue burst from his centre and radiated towards the thin membranes that rippled on the edge of his disc-shaped body.

He didn't look bad, but he wasn't as comely as Senator Wu. Her body was an almost perfect sphere, and she was well aware of it. Wherever she went, she took care to rotate every few minutes, lest gravity pull on her too long in any one direction and tug her gelatinous figure out of shape.

Although she was tired, Wu was careful not to show it. Her pregnancies were progressing nicely. The eldest foetus, Hoo, was about to be born, and she was getting too big for parties, but the Senate elections were only months away and her visible pregnancy gave her an advantage she could not afford to waste. Aspiring-Senator Brida was angling for a permanent seat and Wu disliked the woman openly. Wu's seat was not in question, but if Brida were appointed, it would be seen as nothing less than a personal rebuke of the People to Senator Wu. Brida was too young to be fertile. Wu's size and roundness reminded everyone that experience was on her side.

She drifted off to a group of men and watched them preen for her, responding graciously to their advances and admiring their rainbow of colours. Most of them were Senators and she regaled them by pumping blood into the small sexy capillaries that could be seen through her transparent gelatin.

"May I dance with you, Senator Wu?"

Wu whirled around. "I'm sorry. You startled me."

The young man went crimson around the centre and purple on the edges. Wu was sorry to have discomfited him; it was indelicate of her, but she had been caught off guard. He turned away.

"Oh no, please stay. It is good to be startled now and again, don't you think? Especially for an old politician like me. Monotony is the seed of detachment from the People …" She let the phrase trail and, sure enough, the man picked it up from there.

"And distance from the People's needs leads to corruption, yes," he said, the perfect school response Wu expected.

At least he didn't seem so mortified any longer. His colour was almost back to normal. "But nobody here could call you an old politician, Senator. Last year's Energy Resolution was everything but conservative. I understand how you got the children's vote. Only a mother can make someone feel so loved and cherished."

Senator Wu squinted at him. Was he flirting? It was his right to do so; nobody would dream of denying a young man's right to secure a place in a crèche, but most of the younger generation didn't dare make advances. Her kudos was too great, her crèche was too stable and the chances were slim of her adding another mate to it and risking confrontation with her existing partners.

The older men never gave up, of course. Even having a child by her or publicly donating energy towards her ongoing pregnancies would give them a huge boost on the political level, but Wu couldn't tell what this young man wanted.

"I was greatly honoured by the children's vote," she said. "I sometimes think they perceive things on a non-verbal level that adults are simply immune to. Getting the kids' votes makes me feel I'm floating in the right current. I feel I'm projecting the right image and that they know I'm telling the truth…" Wu fell silent. She hadn't meant to get so personal with this stranger.

The man smiled and nodded. "You are right. There is a truthfulness about you that can be easily sensed. I am a Teacher. I understand a thing or two about children."

Was he mocking her? Teaching was such an honour that it was almost always awarded only to those who had age and wisdom to accumulate kudos and endorsements.

"A Teacher? Aren't you too young for that?"

"I am Teacher of the Muddy Waters. And I recall a certain Senator who was invested soon after her first marriage."

Wu smiled, relieved. She liked this Teacher.

he was a good dancer. Senator Wu had never been known for her agility, but at least now that she was pregnant, she had a good excuse. She shouldn't have worried. Teacher knew all the tricks, leaning against a wall to propel her weight across the room, using the delicate currents of Twing's house to twirl them both with dignity and grace.

"You've done this before, haven't you?" Senator Wu asked.

"Dance? It's a required course in school, Senator Wu."

She stung him lightly with her tentacle. "Stop that. You know what I mean. You know how to dance with a pregnant woman."

He shrugged modestly and launched into the next round.

After a while, Wu excused herself and for a couple more hours floated around, playing politics in three dimensions and enjoying the taste of the water. Twing was always good at throwing a party and he surely knew how to scent his house. Wu wondered if he'd give her the secret recipe. Maybe if she hinted at bearing his child? No, not even Twing was stupid enough to believe that. She sighed. Improving her homemaking skills would really put her a step above Brida.

Once in a while, she saw Teacher exchanging pleasantries with a lesser Academic or Revolutionaire. He always seemed to know when she was watching, lifting his food up to her in salutation and forcing her to nod her approval of the woman he was floating with. It was always a different lady. Teacher of the Muddy Waters seemed to be doing quite well for himself.

By mid-morning, wu was exhausted and desperate for some sleep. She propelled herself towards the back of the house, hoping to find a silent room in which to rest before returning to the party. Brida hadn't shown up yet and it was unthinkable for Wu to leave before confronting the woman. Twing's house was not modest and she ambled along the corridors until the music and gossip were no more than a faint hum behind her. She lay on a cream futon, buckled herself down against the current and fell asleep.

A sharp rap woke her. Slightly dazed, she checked the time and realised she'd been snoozing for hours.

"Senator?" Teacher of Muddy Waters entered the room. He looked as fresh as he had twelve hours ago when the party started.

Senator Wu sat up and tried to look as dignified as she could with the blues of sleep still clinging to her tentacles.

"It is rumoured that Aspiring-Senator Brida is on her way. I thought I'd wake you."

"I am … very grateful. That was thoughtful of you." Wu remained groggy and surely not looking her best. She rose, tried to get the colour back into her flesh. Brida would be rested and eager for a dialectic war.

"Well, if I'm ever going to make it into your crèche, I should start looking out for you now, shouldn't I?" said Teacher.

Wu laughed and felt a healthy pink fill her capillaries. Teacher of Muddy Waters laughed too, but for a second she wondered if he wasn't being half-serious.

"You are a daring man," she said.

"I haven't even begun daring yet."

Teacher accompanied her towards the hall and they stopped in the corridor, just out of sight of the party going on inside, and listened. Wu had learned this trick early on in her career. Best to know the crowd's mood before making an entrance, and people spoke loudly when they'd gone long without sleep.

"She's not here?" That could only be Aspiring-Senator Brida's voice. "Well, a woman of her age … It is totally understandable. No, don't wake her. Senator Wu is a valuable asset to the Senate. We must take good care of her. She is not as young as she used to be."

Wu tried not to giggle. Brida really needed to learn to be more subtle. Teacher grinned.

"I shouldn't laugh," Wu murmured to him. "She's got a point. I had to sleep and it's just like Brida to focus on age and not on the pregnancy. Oh well, I might as well go in. The harm is done."

"No." Teacher grabbed her by the tentacle. "I believe we can still save face. With your permission?"

Senator Wu started to pull away but then she felt the heat flowing from his arm to hers. She was dumbfounded. Nobody gave away kilojoules this easily! She threw her head back and channelled the energy towards her babies. With this donation Hoo would be born in less than a week.

"Are you really sure that you want to do this?" she whispered.

Teacher pushed her against the wall and pressed his disk to her sphere. Wu felt her skin stretch and dilate, offering the maximum surface to the heat transaction. Her capillaries slinked towards the surface of her skin, warming her blood and channelling it deep into the secret bulges hidden in the centre of her body. He transferred fast. Ten million zettajoules and counting and he didn't look tired or seem to want to stop. Wu started weaning Hoo off and directed most of the energy to the younger foetus. After all, she didn't want to give birth here and now.

He broke off after what seemed like an eternity. A grey tint shimmered on the fringes of his disk, and he shivered. Wu glowed bright orange and anyone within two feet of her would be able to tell that she had received incredible amounts of heat.

"That should do it," whispered Teacher. "Nobody can fault you for leaving a party to get energy for your unborn children. Good family values. Brida is never going to recover from this."

Wu glided towards him. She had never felt so good. Water tasted so much better with energy in one's body. Colours shone brighter, and Teacher looked pale but incredibly attractive.

"Why did you do that?" she asked.

"I told you," he said, leaning against the wall for support, panting.
"I plan to be in your crèche some day. I thought I'd let you know that even though I might not have much kudos, there is something to be said for youth."

"There certainly is. Do you want to go in with me? People should recognise your generosity," she said.

"No. An anonymous donation will increase your kudos."

He was right. Brida would realise that Wu remained sufficiently attractive and accomplished enough to receive heat on her own account, not for her political position.

"You are astute." Senator Wu took his tentacle in hers and squeezed it.

"You don't need to do that," he said. "I know you don't want my spores and I understand …" But Wu massaged his tentacle until she felt his seed float into her pores.

"I don't have to, but I want to. Who knows? Someday I might have energy for another child." Before she left, she took the rhinestone pendant that was draped across her front and handed it to him. "This will get you into a Senate hearing if you ever need to. It will also guarantee that you will be heeded."

Senator Wu pushed open the doors and nodded gracefully as the room fell silent. People crept up to her, revelling in the stray wisps of heat her body emanated. Teacher had been right. Aspiring-Senator Brida would remain Aspiring and nothing more.

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