most drawn to.
?What will happen to me?? I asked after a long silence.
?You?re healthy,? it said. ?Your development is exactly right. I can?t find any flaw in you.?
And that meant there was no flaw. It was a good ooloi. Other ooloi came to it when they had problems beyond their perception or comprehension.
?What will happen?? I repeated.
?You?ll stay with us.?
No qualification. It would not allow me to be sent away. Yet it had agreed with other Oankali a century before that any accidental construct ooloi must be sent to the ship. There it could be watched, and any damage it did could be spotted and corrected quickly. On the ship, its every move could be monitored. On Earth, it might do great harm before anyone noticed.
But Nikanj would not allow me to be sent away. It had said so.
3
Quickly Nikanj called all my parents together. I would sleep soon. Metamorphosis is mostly deep sleep while the body changes and matures. Nikanj wanted to tell the others while I was still awake.
My Human mother came in, looked at Nikanj and me, then walked over to me and took my hands. No one had said anything aloud, but she knew something was wrong. She certainly knew that I was in metamorphosis. She had seen that often enough.
She looked closely at me, holding her face near mine, since her eyes were her only organs of sight. Then she looked at Nikanj. ?What?s wrong with him? This isn?t just metamorphosis.?
Through her hands, I had begun to study her flesh in a way I never had before. I knew her flesh better than I knew anyone?s, but there was something about it now?a flavor, a texture I had never noticed.
She took her hands from me abruptly and stepped away. ?Oh, good go
.?
Still, no one had spoken to her. Yet she knew.
?What is it?? my Human father asked.
My mother looked at Nikanj. When it did not speak, she said, ?Jodahs
Jodahs is becoming ooloi.?
My Human father frowned. ?But that?s impos?? He stopped, followed my mother?s gaze to Nikanj. ?It?s impossible, isn?t it??
?No,? Nikanj said softly.
He went to Nikanj, stood stiffly over it. He looked more frightened than angry. ?How could you let this happen?? he demanded. ?Exile, for godsake! Exile for your own child!?
?No, Chka,? Nikanj whispered.
?Exile! It?s your law, you ooloi!?
?No.? It focused a cone of head tentacles on its Oankali mates. ?The child is perfect. My carelessness has allowed it to become ooloi, but I haven?t been careless in any other way.? It hesitated. ?Come. Know for certain. Know for the people.?
My Oankali mother and father joined with it in a tangle of head and body tentacles. It did not touch them with its sensory arms, did not even uncoil the arms until Dichaan took one arm and Ahajas took the other. In unison, then, all three focused cones of head tentacles on my two Human parents. The Humans glared at them. After a time, Lilith went to the Oankali, but did not touch them. She turned and held one arm out to Tino. He did not move.
?Your law!? he repeated to Nikanj.
But it was Lilith who answered. ?Not law. Consensus. They agreed to send accidental ooloi to the ship. Nika believes it can change the agreement.?
?Now? In the middle of everything??
?Yes.?
?What if it can?t??
Lilith swallowed. I could see her throat move. ?Then maybe we?ll have to leave Lo for a while?live apart in the forest.?
He went to her, looked at her the way he does sometimes when he wants to touch her, maybe to hold her the way Humans hold each other in the guest area. But Humans who accept Oankali mates give up that kind of touching. They don?t give up wanting to do it, but once they mate Oankali, they find each other?s touch repellent.
Tino shifted his attention to Nikanj. ?Why don?t you talk to me? Why do you leave her to tell me what?s going on??
Nikanj extended a sensory arm toward him.
?No! Goddamnit, talk to me! Speak aloud!?
?
all right,? Nikanj whispered, its body bent in an attitude of deep shame.
