"Why?" I asked him one day. "Their primary function is handled better by the Massago-Lust. If they have any secondary functions, I've forgotten them."
"You never knew any of their functions, except through books," Horse answered. "Second-hand living."
I stared at him. If traveling among the stars wasn't living, then what the hell was? I asked him that pointblank.
"It's nothing I could explain to you," he said. "You're space-happy."
"Why are you here, Horse?" I asked him quietly.
"Because I thought there'd be adventure, out here. Strange lands and strange people."
"Jupiter isn't a strange land. It's simply a land of ice and lava, a grotesque, fascinating, frightening...."
"No people," Horse interrupted. "And how about Mars?"
"Mars is a disappointment, sure. I was talking about Jupiter, and you say 'no people.' Earth is full of people. Too full. That's why we have the Massago-Lust."
"And the women rationed to the scientists. Who do they think they are?"