whole business was like Lilith?s rounded black cloud of hair. Every strand seemed to go its own different way, bending, twisting, spiraling, angling. Yet together they formed a symmetrical, recognizable shape, and all were attached to the same head.
Oankali and construct opinion also took on a recognizable shape from apparent chaos. The head that they were attached to was the generally accepted belief that Aaor and I were potentially dangerous and should either go to the ship or stay where we were. The lowland towns were apologetic, but they still felt unsure and afraid of us. We represented the premature adulthood of a new species. We represented true independence?reproductive independence?for that species, and this frightened both Oankali and constructs. We were, as one signaler remarked, frighteningly competent ooloi. We must be watched and understood before any more of us were made? and before we could be permitted to settle in a lowland town.
Continued exile, then. The mountains. We would not go to Chkahichdahk. The people knew that. We let them know it again, Aaor and I together.
?There will be two more of you,? someone signaled from far away. I separated out the signal in my memory and realized that it had come from far to the east and south on the other side of the continent. There, an ooloi in a Mandarin-speaking Jah village was reporting its shameful error, its children going wrong. Both were in metamorphosis now. Both would be ooloi.
?Bring them here as soon as they can travel,? I signaled. ?They?ll need mates quickly. It would be best if they had chosen mates already.?
?This is first metamorphosis,? the signaler protested.
?And they are construct! Bring them here or they?ll die. Put them on a shuttle as soon as you can. For now, let them know that there are mates for them here.?
After a time, the signaler agreed.
This produced confusion among the people. One mistake simply focused attention on the ooloi responsible. Two mistakes unconnected, but happening so close together in time after a century of perfection, might indicate something other than ooloi incompetence.
There was much communication about this, but no conclusion. Finally Aaor interrupted.
?This will probably happen again,? it said. ?An ooloi subadult who doesn?t want to go to the ship should be sent here. The Humans who want to stay here should be left here and let alone. They want mates and I think there are Oankali and constructs who are willing to come here to mate with them.?
?I believe we will be staying,? Kahguyaht signaled. ?We?ve found resisters who might mate with us.? It paused. ?I don?t believe they would even consider us if they hadn?t spent these last months living near Jodahs and Aaor.?
?Your ooan children,? someone signaled.
Kahguyaht signaled very slowly. ?Where is the flaw in what I?ve said??
No response. I doubted that anyone really believed Kahguyaht was expressing misplaced family pride. It was simply telling the truth.
?Aaor and I want Oankali mates,? I signaled. ?We want to start children. I think once we?ve done that and once you?ve examined our children, you?ll know that we?re not dangerous.?
?You are dangerous,? several people signaled. ?There?s no safe way to begin a new species.?
?Then help us. Send us mates and young construct ooloi. Watch us all you like, but don?t hinder us.?
?Have you planted a town?? someone on Chkahichdahk asked.
I signaled negative. ?We didn?t know we would be staying here
permanently.?
?Plant a town,? several people signaled. ?How can you think of having children with no town to hold them??
I hesitated, focused on Kahguyaht. It spoke aloud within the shuttle. ?Plant a town, Lelka. In less than a hundred years, my mates and I will be dead. You should plant the town that you and your mates and children will leave this world in.?
?If I plant a town,? I signaled the people, ?will Aaor and I be permitted Oankali mates? Will Oankali and construct mates come to the Humans here??
There was a long period of discussion. Some people were mote concerned about us than others. Some, clearly, would have nothing to do with us until we had been stable for several more years, and clearly done no harm. They were in the minority. The majority decided that as long as we stayed where we were, anyone who wanted to join us could do so.
?Plant a town,? they told us. ?Prepare a place. People will come.?
A few of them signaled such eagerness that I knew they would be with us as soon as they could get a shuttle. Humans who wanted mates were rare enough and desirable enough to make people dare to face any danger they thought Aaor and I might present. And Aaor and I were interesting enough in our newness to seduce Oankali who needed ooloi mates. People seeking mates were more vulnerable to seduction than they would be at any other time in their lives. They would come.
16
Sometime later, when the visiting families and the mountain Humans had begun to get together and curiously examine one another, I prepared to plant the new town.
I sorted through the vast genetic memory that Nikanj had given me. There was a single cell within that great store?a cell that could be ?awakened? from its stasis within yashi and stimulated to divide and grow into a kind of seed. This seed could become a town or a shuttle or a great ship like Chkahichdahk. In fact, my seed would begin as a town and eventually leave Earth as a great ship. It would never be a shuttle, though it would be parent to shuttles.
Over the next few days, I found the cell, awakened it, nourished it, and encouraged it to divide. When it had divided several times, I stopped it, separated one cell from the mass, and returned that cell to stasis. This was work that only an adult ooloi could do, and I found that I enjoyed it immensely.
