Surviving Paradise

Faith and Philosophy

^^Hephaestus; his hammer, Άθραυστο^^

(((An all Artemis chapter!!WOOHOO!! Άθραυστο-Unbreakable)))

--- Artemis's POV ---

"I suppose it is tempting, if the only tool you have is a hammer, to treat everything as if it were a nail."
— Abraham Maslow, The Psychology of Science(1966).

I hummed, and nodded. "Interesting..."

"Artemis. How go your... studies?" The queen sat next to me on the bench, hugging me softly.

She so rarely showed affection physically that I was shocked at first, but I returned it as best I knew how, and answered. "Well... I like some of the philosophies, my queen. They are well thought-out, and clearly the men and women who wrote them were blessed by Athena. I learn much, just by reading their epiphanies. And you, my queen? What wisdom do you need?"

She smiled. "Ahh. True. Wisdom is what I seek. How long has it been, do you think, since we raided for men? To beget children?" She asked.

"Ever since we swore off the process, about 500 years or so?" I answered.

"And yet... in that time, we've denied the women the pleasures of being mothers, and of raising children. Perhaps... perhaps we should raid again?" She sighed.

"Or... we could buy a sperm bank?" I asked slowly.

She raised her eyebrows. "I know not of what you speak. Explain."

"The world of man has changed... but women have not. The term Lesbian, do you know it?" I asked.

"Ahh, yes. The women of the island Lesbos. Sappho and her women companions. Wonderful women." She nodded.

"Yes. It is now a wider term, simply referring to women who have abandoned men's sexual comfort, in return for only other women." I informed her.

"Ahhh... like some of the women we shelter from men's wrath. Swearing off men forever from their pain." She nodded.

"Some of them, yes... most Others it is simply a personal choice, an internal sexual attraction only to other women. And still others are simply born with absolutely no interest in sex with men. There are also men born with only attraction to other men, but that is not important. The point is, they are still women, and still wish children. So how to do it? They've found a way that a man does not have to be present." I smirked.

"Oh?" She tapped her cheek thoughtfully.

"Yes. So, the Sperm Bank. Able bodied men of good physical and genetic health go into a building, and a doctor extracts from them their seed, and pays them for their sacrifice." I tapped my fingers together, thinking through what I'd read.

"Interesting... so the men are rewarded, and their seed, which they are not using, does not go to waste."

"Correct. Then, a woman goes in, and wishes to become pregnant, so they take some of her Eggs, and fertilize them with the sperm in a small dish, and then replace it inside the woman's womb, in a process known as 'Artificial Insemination'. The woman then gets pregnant, gives birth, and raises the child as we do, without the sperm-donor, the biological Father of the child." I smiled.

"Aha! Very interesting system, yes." She grinned.

"So... I propose we fund a sperm bank, and have dear sister Althea learn how to do this... 'Artificial Insemination', and then that's how we may have children, without basically raping random sailors." I smirked.