ecessary modesty, Mandi replied in
German, "Yes, I have."
Nodding, Cade said, "Kinda thought you could do that."
"Why?"
"You wouldn't have been sent here unprepared."
Giving Cade a sidelong glance, Mandi asked, "What makes you think I was sent
here?"
"You aren't a product of normal anthropogenesis and nobody on Earth could
create you in a test tube. You were manufactured somewhere else." He glanced at
her and added in French, "And whoever did it did a damned fine job."
Mandi grinned and returned in French, "Thank you again," with no regional
accent. It was schoolbook French; the precise, formal kind you learn only in
classrooms from people who've never walked the streets of France.
"You had a good teacher," said Cade. "Human or machine?"
As they entered the Orchid Ballroom, Mandi said, "My language teacher was a
computer about the size of this hotel."
"I'll bet most of it was empty space; mostly just places for people to hook
up to it or whatever."
Choosing a pair of chairs in the third row, Mandi said, "You'd win that
bet."
A woman tapped on a water glass to start the panel introductions. Reps from
two small presses and three self-published authors gave their names and credits,
then the moderator -- a woman who'd written two PG-13 novels and self-published
them -- opened the floor to questions.
The first question came from a woman in row two, who asked, "Why is it that
women in science fiction are always portrayed only as victims, goddesses, or
demons?"
One of the small-press reps, a guy named Donovan, said, "They aren't,
actually. Most women in sf are used as support characters, just as they are in
movies and music videos. It's a trend that should be rectified."
"Rectified how?" asked a woman in the seventh row. "Even most female authors
tend to use male lead characters."
Donovan shrugged and said, "If you're really an author, you'll write your
characters your way."
"But if I buck the trend, will I ever be published?"
"Ninety-nine percent of all manuscripts aren't published when they don't
buck trends, so all you can do is try, like everybody else."
The rest of the session was about the same. Nobody asked any questions that
couldn't be answered in about the same manner, and one of the small-press guys
gently ranted about how expenses and tight budgets made publishers extremely
selective about what sorts of manuscripts were