Tino looked into the pale, blind-seeming eyes. ?What if I can accept it??
Wray looked at the two girls, his expression gentling. ?That?s between you and them.? The girls were exchanging words with Nikanj. Another ooloi came up to them, and as the exchange continued, it put one strength arm around each girl.
?That?s Tehkorahs,? Wray said, ?my ooloi mate. That?s Tehkorahs being protective, I think. And Nikanj
being impatient if anyone can believe that.?
Tino watched the two ooloi and the two girls with interest. They did not seem to be arguing. In fact, they had ceased to speak at all?or ceased to speak aloud. Tino suspected they were still communicating somehow. There had always been a rumor that Oankali could read minds. He had never believed it, but clearly something was happening.
?One thing,? Wray said softly. ?Listen.?
Tino faced him questioningly.
?You can do as you please here. As long as you don?t hurt anyone, you can stay or go as you like; you can choose your own friends, your own lovers. No one has the right to demand anything from you that you don?t want to give.? He turned and walked away before Tino could ask what this really meant when it came to the Oankali.
Wray joined his daughters and Tehkorahs and led them out of the house. Tino found himself watching the young women?s hips. He did not realize until they were gone that Nikanj and Lilith had come over to him.
?We?d like you to stay with us,? Lilith said softly. ?At least for the night.?
He looked at her lineless face, her cap of dark hair, her breasts, now concealed beneath a simple gray shirt. He had had only a glimpse of them as she had settled herself to nurse Akin.
She took his hand, and he remembered seizing her hand to examine it. She had large, strong, calloused hands, warm and Human. Almost unconsciously, he turned his back to Nikanj. What did it want? Or rather, how did it go about getting what it wanted? What did the ooloi actually do to Humans? What would it want of him? And did he really want Lilith badly enough to find out?
But why had he left Phoenix if not for this?
But so quickly? Now?
?Sit with us,? Lilith said. ?Let?s talk for a while.? She drew him toward a wall?toward the place they had sat when he spoke to the people. They sat cross-legged?or the two Humans crossed their legs?their bodies forming a tight triangle. Tino watched the other two Oankali in the room as they herded the children away. Akin and the small gray child who now held him clearly wanted to stay. Tino could see that, though neither child was speaking English. The larger of the two Oankali lifted both children easily and managed to interest them in something else. All three vanished with the others through a doorway that seemed to grow shut behind them? the way doorways had closed so long ago aboard the ship. The room was sealed and empty except for Tino, Lilith, and Nikanj.
Tino made himself look at Nikanj. It had folded its legs under it the way the Oankali did. Many of its head tentacles were trained on him, seeming almost to be straining toward him. He suppressed a shudder?not a response of fear or disgust. Those feelings would not have surprised him. He felt
He did not know what he felt about this ooloi.
?It was you, wasn?t it?? he asked suddenly.
?Yes,? Nikanj admitted. ?You?re unusual. I?ve never known a Human to remember before.?
?To remember his conditioning??
Silence.
?To remember his conditioner,? Tino said nodding. ?I don?t think anyone could forget his conditioning. But
I don?t know how I recognized you. I met you so long ago, and
well, I don?t mean to offend you, but I still can?t tell your people apart.?
?You can. You just don?t realize it yet. That?s unusual, too. Some Humans never learn to recognize individuals among us.?
?What did you do to me back then?? he demanded. ?I?ve never
never felt anything like that before or since.?
?I told you then. I checked you for disease and injury, strengthened you against infection, got rid of any problems I found, programmed your body to slow its aging processes after a certain point, and did whatever else I could to improve your chances of surviving your reintroduction to Earth. Those are the things all conditioners did. And we all took prints of you?read all that your bodies could tell us about themselves and created a kind of blueprint. I could make a physical copy of you even if you hadn?t survived.?
?A baby??
?Yes, eventually. But we prefer you to any copy. We need cultural as well as genetic diversity for a good trade.?
?Trade!? Tino said scornfully. ?I don?t know what I?d call what you?re doing to us, but it isn?t trade. Trade is when two people agree to an exchange.?
?Yes.?
?It doesn?t involve coercion.?
?We have something you need. You have something we need.?
?We didn?t need anything before you got here!?
?You were dying.?
