Akin turned his face to Tate again. ?They left me with you for so long so that you could teach me whether what they had done with you was right. They couldn?t judge. They were so
disturbed by your genetic structure that they couldn?t do, couldn?t even consider doing what I will do.?
?Mars?? she said. ?Mars??
?I can give it to you. Others will help me. But
you and Gabe have to help me convince resisters.?
She looked up at Gabe. ?Mars,? she whispered, and managed to shake her head.
?I?ve studied it,? Akin told them. ?With protection, you could live there now, but you would have to live underground or inside some structure. There?s too much ultraviolet light, an atmosphere of carbon dioxide, and no liquid water. And it?s cold. It will always be colder than it is here, but we can make it warmer than it is now.?
?How?? Gabe asked.
?With modified plants and, later, modified animals. The Oankali have used them all before to make lifeless planets livable.?
?Oankali plants?? Gabe demanded. ?Not Earth plants??
Akin sighed. ?If something the Oankali have modified belongs to them, then you and all your people belong to them now.?
Silence.
?The modified plants and animals work much faster than anything that could be found on Earth naturally. We need them to prepare the way for you relatively quickly. The Oankali won?t allow your fertility to be restored here on Earth. You?re older now than most Humans used to get. You can still live a long time, but I want you to leave as soon as possible so that you can still raise children there the way my mother has here and teach them what they are.?
Tate?s eyes had closed again. She put one hand over them, and Akin restrained an impulse to move it away. Was she crying?
?We?ve lost almost everything already,? Gabe said. ?Now we lose our world and everything on it.?
?Not everything. You?ll be able to take whatever you want. And plant life from Earth will be added as the new environment becomes able to support it.? He hesitated. ?The plants that grow here
Not many of them will grow there outdoors. But a lot of the mountain plants will eventually grow there.?
Gabe shook his head. ?All that in our lifetimes??
?If you keep yourselves safe, you?ll live about twice as long as you already have. You?ll live to see plants from Earth growing unprotected on Mars.?
Tate took her hand away from her face and looked at him. ?Akin, I probably won?t live another month,? she said. ?Before now, I didn?t want to. But now
Can you get help for me??
?No!? Gabe protested. ?You don?t need help. You?ll be okay!?
?I?ll be dead!? She managed to glare at him. ?Do you believe Akin?? she asked.
He looked from her to Akin, stared at Akin as he answered. ?I don?t know.?
?What, you think he?s lying??
?I don?t know. He?s just a kid. Kids lie.?
?Yes. And men lie. But don?t you think you can lie to me after all these years. If there?s something to live for, I want to live! Are you saying I should die??
?No. Of course not.?
?Then let me get the only help available. Yori had given up on me.?
Gabe looked as though he still wanted to protest, but he only looked at her. After a time, he spoke to Akin. ?Get someone to help her,? he said. Akin could recall hearing him curse in that same tone of voice. Only Humans could do that: say, ?Get someone to help her,? with their mouths, and ?Damn her to hell!? with their voices and bodies.
?I can help her,? Akin said.
And both Humans were suddenly looking at him with a suspicion he didn?t understand at all.
?I asked for training,? he said. ?Why are you looking at me that way??
?If you aren?t ooloi,? Gabe said, ?how can you heal anyone??
?I told you, I asked to be taught. My teacher was ooloi. I can?t do everything it could do, but I can help your flesh and your bones heal. I can encourage your organs to repair themselves, even if they wouldn?t normally.?
?I?ve never heard that males could do that,? Gabe said.
?An ooloi could do it better. You would enjoy what it did. The safest thing for me to do is make you sleep.?
?That?s what you?d do if you were an ooloi child, isn?t it?? Tate asked.
?Yes. But it?s what I?ll always do, even as an adult. Ooloi change and become physically able to do more.?
?I don?t want more done,? Tate said. ?I want to be healed?healed of everything. And that?s all.?
?I can?t do anything else.?
