more efficient use of what she already has. She should have been stronger. Her ancestors were stronger--her nonhuman ancestors in particular. I helped her fulfill her potential.'
'How?'
'How do you move and coordinate the fingers of your hands? I'm an ooloi bred to work with humans. I can help them do anything their bodies are capable of doing. I made biochemical changes that caused her regular exercises to be much more effective than they would have been otherwise. There is also a slight genetic change. I haven't added or subtracted anything, but I have brought out latent ability. She is as strong and as fast as her nearest animal ancestors were.' Nikanj paused, perhaps noticing the way Joseph was looking at Lilith. 'The changes I've made are not hereditary,' it said.
'You said you changed her genes!' Joseph charged.
'Body cells only. Not reproductive cells.'
'But if you cloned her. .
'I will not clone her.'
There was a long silence. Joseph looked at Nikanj, then stared long at Lilith. She spoke when she thought she had endured his stare long enough.
'If you want to go out and join the others, I'll open the wall,' she said.
'Is that what you think?' he asked.
'That's what I fear,' she whispered.
'Could you have prevented what was done to you?'
'I didn't try to prevent it.' She swallowed. 'They were going to give me this job no matter what I said. I told them they might as well kill me themselves. Even that didn't stop them. So when Nikanj and its mates offered me as much as they could offer, I didn't even have to think about it. I welcomed it.'
After a time, he nodded.
'I'll give you some of what I gave her,' Nikanj said. 'I won't increase your strength, but I will enable you to heal faster, recover from injuries that might otherwise kill you. Do you want me to do this?'
'You're giving me a choice?'
'Yes.'
'The change is permanent?'
'Unless you ask to be changed back.'
'Side effects?'
'Psychological.'
Joseph frowned. 'What do you mean, psycho.. . Oh. So that's why you won't give me the strength.'
'Yes.'
'But you trust. . . Lilith.'
'She has been Awake and living with my families for years. We know her. And, of course, we're always watching.'
After a time, Joseph took Lilith's hands. 'Do you see?' he asked gently. 'Do you understand why they chose you-someone who desperately doesn't want the responsibility, who doesn't want to lead, who is a woman?'
The condescension in his voice first startled, then angered her. 'Do I see, Joe? Oh, yes. I've had plenty of time to see.'
He seemed to realize how he had sounded. 'You have, yes-not that it helps to know.'
Nikanj had shifted its attention from one of them to the other. Now it focused on Joseph. 'Shall I make the change in you?' it asked.
Joseph released Lilith's hands. 'What is it? Surgery? Something to do with blood or bone marrow?'
'You will be made to sleep. When you awake, the change will have been made. There won't be any pain or illness, no surgery in the usual sense of the word.'
'How will you do it?'
'These are my tools.' It extended both sensory arms. 'Through them, I'll study you, then make the necessary adjustments. My body and yours will produce any substances I need.'
Joseph shuddered visibly. 'I. . . I don't think I could let you touch me.'
Lilith looked at him until he turned to face her. 'I was shut up for days with one of them before I could touch him,' she said. 'There were times... I'd rather take a beating than go through anything like that again.'
Joseph moved closer to her, his manner protective. It was easier for him to give comfort than to ask for it. Now he managed to do both at once.
'How long are you going to stay here now?' he demanded of Nikanj.
'Not much longer. I'll come back. You'll probably feel less afraid when you see me again.' It paused. 'Eventually you must touch me. You must show at least that much control before I change you.'
'I don't know. Maybe I don't want you to change me. I don't really understand what it is you do with those. . . those tentacles.'
'Sensory arms, we call them in English. They're more than arms-much more-but the term is convenient.' It
