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the money to build
desalination plants and pipe clean water to where it’s needed?”
    The still scrolling list of extinct species
continued on the left side of the screen. A picture of a wide-eyed and severely
malnourished child appeared on the right.
    “Overpopulation is an overarching cause of the
destruction of wildlife and the delicate
ecosystem of our planet. We cannot protect wildlife and reduce damage to our
environment unless we reduce our numbers. If we fail to do that, the
consequences will be a catastrophe for wildlife, a catastrophe for our
environment, and a catastrophe for us.
     “One way to reduce our numbers is to do
everything we can to see that all women can say no to pregnancy. In far too
many cultures and families around the world, women are required to marry a man
who may not be her choice and bear his children regardless of her wishes. Where
women have gained the right to say no without consequences, the birthrate has
dropped.
    “Justice for women is not simply a women’s
issue, a birth control issue, or a civil rights issue. Justice for women is a
survival issue for wildlife and a survival issue for us.
    “We must make everybody aware that
overpopulation is the greatest threat we face. Many here,in this room,
have very powerful tools to reach people: in major theaters, on TV, and in
small communities gathered around screens in faraway places. You have genius,
you have money, and you have power. From the bottom of my heart, I beg you, please help reduce overpopulation. Please help save us all.”
    Claire bowed her head and slowly walked back to
her seat as her audience came to its feet in a standing ovation.

Chapter
8
     
     
    It was late by the time the reception had ended
and David escorted Claire to the door of her cottage. He put his hands on her
waist and said, “Even if the audience had been blindfolded and in the dark
tonight, they would have known how beautiful you are.”
    “It’s you. You make me feel beautiful,” she
said and kissed him the way she wanted to be kissed. It was not a kiss for the
faint of heart. He hesitated only fleetingly before responding with a passion
that electrified her.
    Afterward, between deep breaths as they held
each other, he said, “I want to make love to you, but I can’t.”
    “I want you to make love to me, why not?” she
said.
    “It wouldn’t be ethical,” he said. “I need to
talk to you first.”
    She grabbed the knot on his tie and pulled his
face down to hers. “You haven’t been concealing an STD, have you?”
    He laughed. “No.”
    She felt of his erection, and he jumped back.
“You can’t do that!”
    “I’m a senior medical student. I just checked to
see if you’re gay.”
    “That’s . . . that’s . . . insubordination!” he
said. Then they both realized how uproariously a court martial would laugh at the
cause of the charge, and they laughed.
    Claire opened her door. “I’ll make us a cup of
coffee and you can talk. But I’m a woman scorned, and I’m not legally
accountable. You’d better make it good, or you might wind up in the ER with a
frying pan in your left ear.”
    Just inside the door, she kicked off her high
heels. David appeared to be taller, more impressive in his dress uniform, even
more . . . . She stopped herself and turned away toward the kitchen.
    He followed her and asked, “Why my left ear?”
    “Because I’m right handed.”
    She started the coffee, and then leaned back
against the kitchen counter with her arms across her chest. “Okay, talk.”
    David sat in a chair by the kitchen table,
leaning forward with his hands between his legs on the edge of the seat. He
looked ready to bolt at any moment.
    “Have you heard of the Fusion Prize?” he asked.
    “Isn’t that an eighty billion dollar prize for
fusion power?”
    “It’s eight billion tax-free dollars a
year for ten years to anybody who can demonstrate low-cost fusion power in
America,” he said. “George Earnest founded Fusion NRG