But she I Bolbay trailed off.
Tell me about your man-mate, said Adikor. II dont think Ive ever met him, have I?
Bolbay shook her head slowly. No. Hes been gone for a long time; we separated long ago.
And thats why you dont have children of your own? asked Adikor, gently.
Youre so smug, replied Bolbay. You think its that simple? I couldnt keep a mate, and so I never reproduced? Is that what you think?
I dont think anything, said Adikor.
I would have been a good mother, said Bolbay, perhaps as much to herself as to Adikor. Ask Jasmel. Ask Megameg. Since Klast died, Ive looked after them wonderfully. Isnt that so, Jasmel? Isnt that so?
Jasmel nodded. But youre a 145, just like Ponter and Klast. Just like Adikor. You might still be able to have a child of your own. The dates for Two becoming One will be shifted again next year; you could
Adikors eyebrow rolled up. It would be your last chance, wouldnt it? Youll be 520 months oldforty yearsnext year, just like me. You might have a child then, as part of generation 149, but certainly not ten years later, when generation 150 will be born.
There was a sneer in Bolbays voice. Did you need your fancy quantum computer to figure that out?
And Ponter, said Adikor, nodding slowly, Ponter was without a woman-mate. You and he had loved the same woman, after all, and you were already tabant for his two children, so you thought
You and my father? said Jasmel. She didnt sound shocked by the notion, merely surprised.
And why not? said Bolbay, defiantly. Id known him almost as long as you had, Adikor, and he and I had always gotten along.
But now hes gone, too, said Adikor. That was my first thought, you know: that you were simply inconsolable over the loss of him, and so were snapping teeth at me. But you must see, Daklar, that youre wrong to be doing that. I loved Ponter, and certainly wouldnt have interfered with his choice of a new woman-mate, so
That has nothing to do with it, said Bolbay, shaking her head. Nothing.
Then why do you hate me so?
I dont hate you because of what happened to Ponter, she said.
But you do hate me.
Bolbay was silent. Jasmel was looking at the floor.
Why? said Adikor. Ive never done anything to you.
But you hit Ponter, snapped Bolbay.
Ages ago. And he forgave me.
And so you got to stay whole, she said. You got to have a child of your own. You got away with it.
With what?
With your crime! With trying to kill Ponter!
I wasnt trying to kill him.
You were violent, a monster. You should have been sterilized. But my Pelbon
Who is Pelbon? said Adikor.
Bolbay fell silent again.
Her man-mate, said Jasmel, softly.
What happened to Pelbon? asked Adikor.
You dont know what its like, said Bolbay, looking away. You have no idea. You wake up one morning to find two enforcers waiting for you, and they take your man-mate away, and
And what? said Adikor.
And they castrate him, said Bolbay.
Why? asked Adikor. What did he do?
He didnt do anything, said Bolbay. He didnt do a single thing.
Then why started Adikor. But then it hit him. Oh. One of his relatives
Bolbay nodded but didnt meet Adikors eyes. His brother had assaulted someone, and so his brother was ordered sterilized along with
Along with everyone who shared fifty percent of his genetic material, finished Adikor.
He didnt do anything, my Pelbon, said Bolbay. He didnt do anything to anyone, and he was punished, I was punished. But you! You almost killed a man, and you got away with it! They should have castrated you, not my poor Pelbon!
Daklar, said Adikor. Im sorry. Im so sorry
Get out, said Bolbay firmly. Just leave me alone.
I
Get out!
Chapter 38
Ponter finished his hamburger, then looked at Louise, Reuben, and Mary in turn. I do not wish to complain, he said, but I am getting tired of thisthis cow, do you call it? Is there a chance we might ask the people outside to bring us something else for tonight?
Like what? asked Reuben.
Oh, anything, said Ponter. Maybe some mammoth steaks.
What? said Reuben.
Mammoth? said Mary, stunned.
Is Hak incorrectly rendering what I am saying? asked Ponter. Mammoth. You knowa hairy elephant of northern climes.
Yes, yes, yes, said Mary. We know what a mammoth is, but
But what? asked Ponter, eyebrow lifted.
But, well, I mean mammoths are extinct, said Mary.
Extinct? repeated Ponter, surprised. Come to think of it, I have not seen any here, but, well, I assumed they did not like coming close to this massive city.
No, no, theyre extinct, said Louise. All over the world. Theyve been extinct for thousands of years.
Why? asked Ponter. Was it illness?
Everyone fell silent. Mary slowly exhaled the air in her lungs, trying to decide how to present this. No, thats not why, she said, at last. Umm, you see, weour kind, our ancestorswe hunted mammoths to extinction.
Ponters eyes went wide. You did what?
Mary felt nauseous; she hated having her version of humanity come up so short. We killed them for food, and, well, we kept on killing them until there were none left.
Oh, said Ponter, softly. He looked out the window, at the large backyard to Reubens house. I am fond of mammoths, he said. Not just their meatwhich is deliciousbut as animals, as part of the landscape. There is a small herd of them that lives near my home. I enjoy seeing them.
We have their skeletons, said Mary, and their tusks, and every once in a while a frozen one is found in Siberia, but
All of them, said Ponter, shaking his head back and forth slowly, sadly. You killed all of them
Mary felt like protesting, Not me personally, but that would be disingenuous; the blood of the mammoths was indeed on her house. Still, she needed to make some defense, feeble though it was: It happened a long time ago.
Ponter looked queasy. I am almost afraid to ask, said Ponter, but there are other large animals I am used to seeing in this part of the world on my version of Earth. Again, I had assumed they were just avoiding this city of yours, but
Reuben shook his shaven head. No, thats not it.
Mary closed her eyes briefly. Im sorry, Ponter. We wiped out just about all the megafaunahere, and in Europe and in Australiashe felt a knot in her stomach as the litany grewand in New Zealand, and in South America. The only continent that has many really big animals left is Africa, and most of those are endangered.
Bleep.
On the verge of extinction, said Louise.
Ponters tone was one of betrayal. But you said this had all happened long ago.
Mary looked down at her empty plate. We stopped killing mammoths long ago, because, well, we ran out of mammoths to kill. And we stopped killing Irish elk, and the big cats that used to populate North America, and woolly rhinoceroses, and all the others, because there were none left to kill.
To kill every member of a species said Ponter. He shook his massive head slowly back and forth.
Weve learned better, Mary said. We now have programs to protect endangered species, and weve had some real successes. The whooping crane was once almost gone; so was the bald eagle. And the buffalo. Theyve all come back.