Louise laughed and went back to eating her salad.
Mary took another bite of her hamburger, circles of onion crunching beneath her teeth. Wait a minute, she said, once shed swallowed. That means your females dont have hidden ovulation.
Well, it is hidden from view, Ponter said.
Yes, but well, you know, I used to team-teach a course with the Womens Studies department: The Biology of Sexual Power Relationships. Wed assumed that hidden ovulation was the key to females gaining constant protection and provisioning by males. You know: if you cant tell when your female is fertile, you better be attentive all the time, lest you be cuckolded.
Hak bleeped.
Cuckolded, repeated Mary. Thats when a man is investing his energies providing for children that arent biologically his. But with hidden ovulation
Ponters laugh split the air; his massive chest and deep mouth gave him a deep, thunderous guffaw.
Mary and Louise looked at him, astonished. Whats so funny? said Reuben, depositing another Coke in front of Ponter.
Ponter held up a hand; he was trying to stop laughing, but wasnt succeeding yet. Tears had appeared at the corners of his sunken eyes, and his normally pale skin was looking quite red.
Mary, still seated at the table, put her hands on her hipsbut immediately became self-conscious of her body language; hands on hips increased ones apparent size, in order to intimidate. But Ponter was so much stouter and better muscled than any womanor just about any manthat it was a ridiculous thing to be doing. Still, she demanded, Well?
I am sorry, said Ponter, regaining his control. He used his long thumb to wipe the tears from his eyes. It is just that sometimes your people do have ridiculous ideas. He smiled. When you talk about hidden ovulation, you mean that human females do not have genital swelling when they are in heat, right?
Mary nodded. Chimps and bonobos do; so do gorillas and most other primates.
But humans did not stop having such swelling in order to hide ovulation, said Ponter. Genital swelling disappeared when it was no longer an effective signal. It disappeared when the climate got colder and humans started wearing clothing. That sort of visual display, based on engorging tissues with fluid, is energetically expensive; there was no value in maintaining it once we were covering our bodies with animal hides. But, at least for my people, ovulation was still obvious due to smell.
You can smell ovulation, as well as menstruation? asked Reuben.
The chemicals associated with them, yes.
Pheromones, supplied Reuben.
Mary nodded slowly. And so, she said, as much to Ponter as to herself, males could go off for weeks at a time without worrying about their females being impregnated by somebody else.
That is right, said Ponter. But there is more to it than that.
Yes? said Mary.
We say now that the reason our male ancestorsI think you have the same metaphorheaded for the hills was because of the, ah, unpleasantness of females during Last Five.
Last Five? said Louise.
The last five days of the month; the time leading up to the beginning of their periods.
Oh, said Reuben. PMS. Premenstrual syndrome.
Yes, said Ponter. But, of course, that is not the real reason. He shrugged a little. My daughter Jasmel is studying pre-generation-one history; she explained it to me. What really happened was that men used to fight constantly over access to women. But, as Mare has noted, the only time access to women is evolutionarily important is during the part of each month when they might become pregnant. Since all womens cycles were synchronized, men got along much better for most of the month if they retreated from females, only to return as a group when it was reproductively important that they do so. It was not female unpleasantness that led to the split; it was male violence.
Mary nodded. It had been years since shed co-taught that course on Sexual Power Relationships, but it seemed downright typicaclass="underline" men causing the problem and blaming women for it. Mary doubted shed ever meet a female from Ponters world, but, at that moment, she felt real affinity with her Neanderthal sisters.
Chapter 37
Healthy day, Daklar, said Jasmel, coming through the door to the house. Although Jasmel Ket and Daklar Bolbay still shared a home, they had not spoken much since the dooslarm basadlarm.
Healthy day, repeated Bolbay, without warmth. If you Her nostrils dilated. Youre not alone.
Adikor came through the door as well. Healthy day, he said.
Bolbay looked at Jasmel. More treachery, child?
Its not treachery, Jasmel said. Its concernfor you, and for my father.
What do you want of me? said Bolbay, looking through narrowed eyes at Adikor.
The truth, he said. Just the truth.
About what?
About you. About why you are pursuing me.
Im not the one under investigation, said Bolbay.
No, agreed Adikor. Not yet. But that may change.
What are you talking about?
I am prepared to have you served with documents of my own, said Adikor.
On what basis?
On the basis that you are unlawfully interfering with my life.
Thats ridiculous.
Is it? Adikor shrugged. Well let an adjudicator decide that.
Its a transparent attempt to stall the process that will lead to your sterilization, said Bolbay. Anyone can see that.
If it isif it is that transparent, that flimsythen an adjudicator will dismiss the matter but not before I have had a chance to question you.
Question me? About what?
About your motive. About why you are doing this to me.
Bolbay looked at Jasmel. This was your idea, wasnt it?
It was also, said Jasmel, my idea that we come here first, before Adikor proceeded with the accusation. This is a family matter: you, Daklar, were my mothers woman-mate, and Adikor here is my fathers man-mate. You have been through a lot, Daklarwe all havewith the loss of my mother.
This has nothing to do with Klast! snapped Bolbay. Nothing. She looked at Adikor. Its about him.
Why? said Adikor. Why is it about me?
Bolbay shook her head again. We dont have anything to talk about.
Yes, we do, said Adikor. And you will answer my questions here, or you will answer them in front of an adjudicator. But you will answer them.
Youre bluffing, said Bolbay.
Adikor raised his left arm, with his wrist facing toward her. Is your name Daklar Bolbay, and do you reside here in Saldak Center?
I wont accept documents from you.
Youre just delaying the inevitable, said Adikor. I will get a judicial serverwho can upload to your implant whether you pull out the control bud or not. A pause. I say again, Are you Daklar Bolbay, and do you reside here in Saldak Center?
You would really do this? said Bolbay. You would really drag me before an adjudicator?
As you have dragged me, said Adikor.
Please, said Jasmel. Just tell him. Its better this waybetter for you.
Adikor crossed his arms in front of his chest. Well?
Ive nothing to say, Bolbay replied.
Jasmel let out a great, long sigh. Ask her, she said softly when it was done, about her man-mate.
You dont know anything about that, snapped Bolbay.
Dont I? said Jasmel. How did you learn that Adikor was the one who had hit my father?
Bolbay said nothing.
Obviously, Klast told you, said Jasmel.
Klast was my woman-mate, said Bolbay, defiantly. She didnt keep secrets from me.
And she was my mother, said Jasmel. Neither did she keep them from me.