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Sophia pulled the tent door open. ”My ass is going to freeze into a fleshy ice cube and fall off!”
Indiana looked at her from trying to work on the map. ”Thanks for the update.”
She pulled the tent flap closed and dropped her snowy coat in the corner of the tent. ”Don't give me that. Your lovely wit isn't going to keep me from freezing.” She pushed closer, her teeth chattering. ”Move.”
Indiana put away his journal and lifted the blanket enough for Sophia to fit in. She settled under it, moving her body against Indiana, hungry for his warmth. Indy reached an arm around her to pull her closer.
The first time they had done this Indiana had felt awkward. There had been hesitation, the feeling it might complicate things, lead to everything being different between him and his colleague.
The cold wind invading their tent had quickly convinced him it was not an issue, and the whole experience of trying to share body heat in the desperate attempt to avoid death had been so thoroughly unerotic Indiana wondered if that had permanently affected his view of Sophia. He leaned on her. He did like her... But it was nice, not having some kind of pressure on the relationship.
”Did you take a look at-” Sophia shuddered. ”Hnnn I'm freezing. Human bodies are useless.”
”Hmh.”
”Think about it. Most of our planet is completely inaccessible for us, even with modern technology...”
”Humans can adapt,” Indy pointed out. “With clothes and technology.”
”Yes, but consider... What if our civilization had the ability to mold human form into different forms? Functions? To not be trapped into one shape?”
Indiana shifted uncomfortably under the blanket. ”Is this about Atlantis?”
Sophia looked up at him. ”Among other things. I did tell you before, didn't I? The Atlanteans were believed to have the knowledge on human body far exceeding even modern science.”
”You did tell me.”
”Now think about the Greek myths, Ovid's metamorphoses, gods molding human form as if it was clay-”
”I am familiar with those stories.”
They had always held interest for him as a little boy. It had been exciting to think of the mystical powers making human form malleable-
He had snuck Ovid's metamorphoses into his room from his father's bookshelf as if it was some forbidden text...
But Sophia's interest wasn't the same as his was. She really believed it was possible.
”Then maybe you can acknowledge some of them have some basis in reality? Human bodies can change. Modern science is understanding human development better and better, things that happen in puberty, when children that were so similar start to develop into men and women. Why not then acknowledge changes like that could happen later? That they could be artificially induced? And things far beyond that. We are only starting to realize the magnitude of the effects X-ray radiation can have on the human body-”
”Doesn't that just make you sick? How is that the same as growing boobs when you're growing up?”
He hadn't really understood puberty as a child and had been weirdly afraid things might go wrong and he might end up with breasts. He was glad Sophia and her theories hadn't been around, he might have gotten paranoid being too near technology or seeing an X-ray machine once might accidentally fuck up his puberty and give him the version meant for girls.
”We don't fully understand it. Think about it, any medical treatment can also do harm when used incorrectly. Stabbing someone with a knife and a surgeon cutting into you with a scalpel are not the same.”
”Maybe you're right,” Indiana admitted. ”I don't know much about X-rays, though I did look into the technology. I imagine it could give us new kind of tools for research in archaeology as well. Unfortunately the college refused to fund it.”
”Fools. But think about it... Us humans divide ourselves in all kinds of useless categories. By nationality. By skin color. By what's between children's legs... But if a society could simply shift into different forms by will... Oh I'm not trying to convince you of it actually existing. But it's interesting to think about.”
”Sure.”
”In some myths... The Atlanteans could take on a godly form, beyond anything human... Pure energy. Beings made of stars... Everyone equal.”
”A nice fairy-tale.”
Maybe his tone had been sharp enough to dissuade Sophia from saying more. Or maybe she was just tired. But she fell silent and soon relaxed against Indiana.
Indy watched her fall asleep. It was just the two of them, in their little world, with the snowstorm outside.
She was naive, Indiana thought. He had seen enough of different cultures to believe that even if everyone was a sexless colorless being humans would still find ways to divide each other into groups to discriminate.
But maybe it was a nice fairy tale.
He considered the small tent again and imagined the outside world disappearing. How would they divide themselves into groups? Sophia and him? Neither of them were attracted to one another, so maybe that wouldn't matter...
He closed his eyes. He was half asleep.
Maybe that was why it was nice to imagine that difference disappearing, if her being a woman and him being a man genuinely didn't matter at all...