you silly old woman."
For a moment Rasa looked at her in horror. Then, just as Shedemei was about to explain that she was joking - why didn't anybody ever understand her humor - Rasa grinned at her. "I'd rather be a silly old woman than a silly young one," she said. "Silly old women don't make such spectacular mistakes."
"Oh, I don't know about that," said Shedemei. "Coming on this expedition, for instance ..."
"A mistake?"
"For me it certainly is. My life is genetics, but the closest I'm going to come to it for the rest of my life is if I manage to reproduce my own genes."
"You sound so despairing. Having children isn't all that awful. They aren't all Kokor, and even she may grow up to be human someday."
"Yes, but you loved your husbands," said Shedemei. "Whom will I end up with, Aunt Rasa? Your crippled son? Or Gaballufix's librarian?"
"I think Hushidh plans to marry Issib," said Rasa. Her voice was cold, but Shedemei didn't care.
"Oh, I know how you've got us sorted out. But tell me, Aunt Rasa, if Nafai hadn't happened to drag the librarian along with him when he was stealing the Index... would you have arranged to bring me ?"
Rasa's face was positively stony. She didn't answer for a long time.
"Come now, Aunt Rasa. I'm not a fool, and I'd rather you not try to fool me."
"We needed your skills, Shedya. The Oversoul chose you, not me."
"You're sure it wasn't you, counting up males and females and making sure we came out even?"
"The Oversoul sent you that dream."
"The sad thing is," said Shedemei, "that except for you there's not a one of us that's a proven reproducer. For all you know, you've set up one of these men with a sterile wife. Or perhaps you've put one of us women with a sterile husband."
Rasa's anger was beginning to turn from cold to hot now. "I told you, it wasn't my choice... Luet had a vision, too, and - "
"Are you going to set the example? Are you going to have more children, Aunt Rasa?"
Rasa seemed completely nonplussed. "Me? At my age?"
"You've still got a few good eggs in you. I know you haven't reached menopause, because you're flowing now."
Rasa looked at her in consternation. "Why don't I just lie down under one of your microscopes?"
"You'd never fit. I'd have to slice you razor thin."
"Sometimes I feel as if you already had."
"Rasa, you make us stop several times a day. I know you have better bladder control than that. We all know you're shedding the tears of the moon."
Rasa raised her eyebrows briefly, a sort of facial shrug. "More children indeed."
"I think you must. To set an example for all of us," said Shedemei. "Don't you understand that we're not just taking a trip. We're a colony. The first priority of colonists is reproduction. Anyone who isn't having babies is next to worthless. And no matter how envious Elemak is of your authority, you are the leader of the women here. You must set the pattern for us all. If you are willing to get pregnant during this trip, the others will fall into line, particularly since their husbands will feel the need to demonstrate that they can get a woman just as pregnant as old Wetchik can."
"He's not Wetchik anymore," said Rasa irrelevantly. "He's Volemak."
"He can still perform, can't he?"
"Really, Shedemei, is there anything you won't ask? Would you like us to provide stool samples for you next?"
"Before this journey is over I imagine I'll be looking at samples of almost everything. I'm the closest thing to a physician we have."
Rasa suddenly chuckled. "I can just see Elemak bringing you a semen sample."
Shedemei had to laugh, too, at the very idea of asking him. Such an assault on his dignity as leader of the caravan!
They rode together in silence for a few minutes. Then Rasa spoke. "Will you do it?" she asked.
"Do what?"
"Marry Zdorab?"
"Who?"
"The librarian, Zdorab."
"Marry him," sighed Shedemei. "I never meant to marry anyone."
"Marry him and have his babies."
"Oh, I suppose I will," said Shedemei. "But not if we live under baboon law."
"Baboon law!"
"Like Basilica - with a competition for new mates every year. I'll take this middle-aged man that I've never seen, I'll let him bed me, I'll bear his children, I'll raise them with him - but not if I have to fight to keep him. Not if I have to watch him court Eiadh or Hushidh or Dolya or - or Kokor