cause spontaneous abortion of male digger and angel embryos that happen to be in the first few weeks of development when the infection comes. But in a single generation, the prophylactic gland will disappear."
"I don't like it," said Oykib. "The Keeper of Earth set up a mechanism that kept balance here, and we'll be destroying it."
"I don't know, Okya," said Chveya. "It was humans who set up the mechanism, really. It's listed in the Book of Sins. It's one of the things that the Keeper hated. Maybe we've been brought back just to remove it."
"As I said," Shedemei went on. "We have those two choices. But personally I favor intervention. Removing the prophylactic gland seems to me like striking the manacles off a slave. After forty million years, it's about time, don't you think?"
"Just do it," said Elemak, "Don't waste our time with endless discussion about what the Keeper might want or might not want. You have the power to do it, and it's a decent thing to do, so just do it and have done." Elemak got up and left.
It took many hours of discussion after that, but finally Elemak's point of view prevailed. The only reason the discussion took so long was because Protchnu suggested asking the diggers and angels what they thought should be done. But they all realized that neither the diggers nor the angels had the conceptual framework to understand the genetic issues involved. "They won't receive it as science because they have no science," said Volemak as he reached his decision. "They'll convert it to religion and it will cause division and controversy among them and may lead to real hatred of us or civil war within their own communities, I believe in letting people make their own choices, when they're capable of understanding the choice. But you don't let your toddlers decide whether or not they're ready to play in the stream. You simpry keep them away from the water and you don't even try to explain the concept of drowning.
Later you can explain it to them, when they're older." "So the diggers and angels are our children now?" asked Meb, mockingly.
"Better to treat them as our children," said Volemak,
"than to treat them as our ancestors did-as slaves, as playthings. So the decision is made. We explain only as much as they can understand. Oykib will explain to the diggers, and Nafai to the angels. I'd appreciate it if everyone else would keep their mouths shut about it. Shedemei, I'd like you to introduce the bacteria as quickly as possible into both communities."
"It's simple enough," she said. "I'll simply expose everyone here to it right now. It'll cause a bit of a runny nose, maybe a slight fever in a few cases. Just make sure you follow your normal patterns of interaction with diggers and angels, and the disease will spread naturally. Just come up here and swab the insides of your noses with this gel."
"That's disgusting," said one of the younger women.
"Only if you use someone else's swab," said Protchnu.
"What worries me," said Mebbekew, "is what's going to happen to the poor flatworms. Nobody seems to care about them. I think we have too much of a bias in favor of big animals. Don't microscopic creatures have rights?" He grinned, and the others laughed with him.
While the meeting went on, however, Elemak had a meeting of his own. He sought out Fusum, who had recently been made blood king after the death of his father.
"I have a gift for you," Elemak said.
"What could you possibly have that I want?" asked Fusum.
"Oh, we're full of ourselves, aren't we, now that we're king."
Fusum growled a little. "I have a life of my own, Elemak. I'm not a hostage anymore. I have responsibilities."
"You also have power," said Elemak, "and I think you wouldn't mind getting a little more. So here's my gift-more power."
"Really," said Fusum. "I didn't know you had any power to give."
"Knowledge is power, or so I've heard," said Elemak. "But there's a condition. You have to promise to tell your people you got the idea from me."
"What idea?" asked Fusum.
"Promise first."
"I promise," said Fusum.
"But do you really mean it?" asked Elemak,
"If you're going to mock me, you can keep your gift," said Fusum.
"Ah, now that we're the blood king, we're too important to take a little teasing from a friend."
"You've never been a friend, Elemak," said Fusum. "You've been a useful source of knowledge."
"But perhaps now we can be friends," said Elemak.
"Either