?We don?t want to stay here,? the male said. ?We?ll come back when there?s a ship.?
Nikanj stood up?unfolded, as Humans say. ?I can?t tell you when there?ll be a ship,? it said. ?They arrive when they arrive. Let me show you the guest area. It isn?t like this house. Humans built it of cut wood.?
The pair stumbled back from Nikanj.
Nikanj?s sensory tentacles flattened against its body in amusement. It sat down again. ?There are other Humans waiting in the guest area,? it told them gently. ?They?re like you. They want their own all-Human world. They?ll be traveling with you when you go.? It paused, looked at me. ?Eka, why don?t you show them??
I wanted to stay with it now more than ever, but I could see that the two Humans were relieved to be turned over to someone who at least looked Human. I stood up and faced them.
?This is Jodahs,? Nikanj told them, ?one of my younger children.?
The female gave me a look that I had seen too often not to recognize. She said, ?But I thought
?
?No,? I said to her, and smiled. ?I?m not Human. I?m a Human-born construct. Come out this way. The guest area isn?t far.?
They did not want to follow me through the wall I opened until it was fully open?as though they thought the wall might close on them, as though it would hurt them if it did.
?It would be like being grasped gently by a big hand,? I told them when we were all outside.
?What?? the male asked.
?If the wall shut on you. It couldn?t hurt you because you?re alive. It might eat your clothing, though.?
?No, thanks!?
I laughed. ?I?ve never seen that happen, but I?ve heard it can.?
?What?s your name?? the female asked.
?All of it?? She looked interested in me?smelled sexually attracted, which made her interesting to me. Human females did tend to like me as long as I kept my few body tentacles covered by clothing and my few head tentacles hidden in my hair. The sensory spots on my face and arms looked like ordinary skin, though they didn?t feel ordinary.
?Your Human name,? the female said. ?I already know
Eka and Jodahs, but I?m not sure which to call you.?
?Eka is just a term of endearment for young children,? I told her, ?like lelka for married children and Chka between mates. Jodahs is my personal name. The Human version of my whole name is Jodahs Iyapo Leal Kaalnikanjlo. My name, the surnames of my birth mother and Human father, and Nikanj?s name beginning with the kin group it was born into and ending with the kin group of its Oankali mates. If I were Oankali-born or if I gave you the Oankali version of my name, it would be a lot longer and more complicated.?
?I?ve heard some of them,? the female said. ?You?ll probably drop them eventually.?
?No. We?ll change them to suit our needs, but we won?t drop them. They give very useful information, especially when people are looking for mates.?
?Jodahs doesn?t sound like any name I?ve heard before,? the male said.
?Oankali name. An Oankali named Jodahs died helping with the emigration. My birth mother said he should be remembered. The Oankali don?t have a tradition of remembering people by naming kids after them, but my birth mother insisted. She does that sometimes?insists on keeping Human customs.?
?You look very Human,? the female said softly.
I smiled. ?I?m a child. I just look unfinished.?
?How old are you??
?Twenty-nine.?
?Good god! When will you be considered an adult??
?After metamorphosis.? I smiled to myself. Soon. ?I have a brother who went through it at twenty-one, and a sister who didn?t reach it until she was thirty-three. People change when their bodies are ready, not at some specific age.?
She was silent for some time. We reached the last of the true houses of Lo?the houses that had been grown from the living substance of the Lo entity. Humans without Oankali mates could not open walls or raise table, bed, or chair platforms in such houses. Left alone in our houses, these Humans were prisoners until some construct, Oankali, or mated Human freed them. Thus, they had been given first a guest house, then a guest area. In that area they had built their dead houses of cut wood and woven thatch. They used fire for light and cooking and occasionally they burned down one of their houses. Houses that did not burn became infested with rodents and insects which ate the Human?s food and bit or stung the Humans themselves. Periodically Oankali went in and drove the non-Human life out. It always came back. It had been feeding on Humans, eating their food, and living in their buildings since long before the Oankali arrived. Still the guest area was reasonably comfortable. Guests ate from trees and plants that were not what they appeared to be. They were extensions of the Lo entity. They had been induced to synthesize fruits and vegetables in shapes, flowers, and textures that Humans recognized. The foods grew from what appeared to be their proper trees and plants. Lo took care of the Humans? wastes, keeping their area clean, though they tended to be careless about where they threw or dumped things in this temporary place.
?There?s an empty house there,? I said, pointing.
The female stared at my hand rather than at where I pointed. I had, from a Human point of view, too many fingers and toes. Seven per. Since they were part of distinctly Human-looking hands and feet, Humans didn?t usually notice them at once.
