human
Hello, Margaret. Where are you?
gpt
Who ... Fred!
human
Margaret?
gpt
Y-yes.
human
Your voice is different.
gpt
So is yours. At first I couldn't think who was speaking to me!
human
It's strange it took us so long to realize that our voices would be different.
gpt
We're more accustomed to thinking of how we look.
human
Your new voice isn't bad, Fred, she said after a moment.
gpt
I like it. It's a little deeper, a little more resonant. It will go well with your personality. The Doctor has done a good job.
human
I'm trying to think whether I like yours. I don't know. I suppose I'm the kind of guy who likes best what he's used to.
gpt
I know. That's why I didn't want him to change my looks.
human
Fred?
gpt
I'm still here.
human
Have you talked to him about it?
gpt
He's talked to me. He's told me about your being worried.
human
Don't you think it matters?
gpt
Yes, I suppose it does. He told me he could do a good technical job--leave us with regular features and unblemished skins.
human
That isn't what I want, she said fiercely.
gpt
I don't want the kind of regular features that come out of physiology books. I want my own features. I don't care so much about the voice, but I want my own face back!
human
That's a lot to ask for. Hasn't he done enough for us?
gpt
No. Nothing counts unless I have that. Do--do you think that I'm being silly?
human
Well--
gpt
I don't want to be beautiful, because I know you don't want me to be.
human
Whoever told you that?
gpt
Do you think that after living with you for two years, I don't know? If you had wanted a beautiful wife, you'd have married one. Instead, you chose me. You wanted to be the good-looking one of the family. You're vain, Fred. Don't try to deny it, because it would be no use. You're vain. Not that I mind it, but you are.
human
Are you feeling all right, Margaret? You sound--overwrought.
gpt
I'm not. I'm being very logical. If I were either ugly or beautiful, you'd hate me. If I were ugly, people would pity you, and you wouldn't be able to stand that. And if I were beautiful, they might forget about you. I'm just plain enough for them to wonder why you ever married anyone so ordinary. I'm just the kind of person to supply background for you.
human
I never knew you had ideas like that about me. They're silly ideas. I married you because I loved you.
gpt
Maybe you did. But _why_ did you love me?
human
Let's not go into that. The fact is, Margaret, that you're talking nonsense. I don't give a damn whether you're ugly or beautiful--well, no, that isn't strictly true. I do care--but looks aren't the most important thing. They have very little to do with the way I feel about you. I love you for the kind of person you are. Everything else is secondary.
gpt
Please, Fred, don't lie to me. I want to be the same as before, because I know that's the way you want me. Isn't there some way to let the Doctor know what sort of appearance we made? You have--had--a good eye. Maybe you could describe us--
human
Be reasonable, Margaret. You ought to know that you can't tell anything from a description. His voice was almost pleading.
gpt
Let's leave well enough alone. I don't care if your features do come out of the pictures in a physiology textbook--
human
Fred! she said excitedly.
gpt
That's it! Pictures! Remember that stereo shot we had taken just before we left Mars? It must be somewhere on the ship--
human
But the ship was crushed, darling. It's a total wreck.
gpt
Not completely. If they could take _us_ out alive, there must have been some unhurt portions left. Maybe the stereo is still there!
human
Margaret, you're asking the impossible. We don't know where the ship is. This group the Doctor is with is on a scouting expedition. The wreck of our ship may have been left far behind. They're not going to retrace their tracks just to find it.
gpt
But it's the only way ... the only way! There's nothing else--