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electric shocks and tests.”
    “According to those tests, it is in good health. It’s ready for reproduction.”
    “I told you to pay attention to her socialization. You neglected her so much…I don’t think she’ll ever be able to interact normally.”
    “I told you to do what you thought was necessary. You are still free to try to cure the psychic wounds I supposedly inflicted on her. You brought enough supplies to buy you that.”
    “I had to kill a man in order to get these supplies. Next time, I doubt I’ll be lucky enough to find such a poorly-defended cache.”
    “You brought enough for a few months. That is more than enough time.”
    “Or barely enough. If we have to start over.”
    “You want me to hatch another female?” maman said.
    “We need to make the decision now. I think that Eve is too traumatized. She’s not going to be able to function. We need to start over. You won’t do any tests on the next one. I’ll take care of her. I’ll teach her all the things you held Eve back from: technology, art, literature, history, everything…Eve is such a fast learner…she really could have — ”
    “She disgusted you,” maman said. “You didn’t want anything to do with ‘that damned roach.’ Until it first spoke, you called this a crazy scheme.”
    “And how much earlier could she have spoken, if someone had been talking to her?”
    “Why should their language be English? Why not something better? Something more suited to them?”
    “You  knew  the kinds of things her mind was capable of. And you were still willing to drive her crazy, and stunt her forever. In fact, that’s pretty much what you did.”
    “Did our art and literature and history help us? No. If its descendents create a better world than ours, they will do so  because  of their inhumanity.”
    “That’s all moot now. There are too many survivors. That changes everything. This won’t be a post-human world. It’ll be a human one. The next Eve needs to be as human as possible.”
    “No,” maman said.
    “I risked my life to keep this boat running! Risked it four times now. You’ve contributed damn all. I could have lived twice as long if I’d gone off on my own, without you.”
    “I’ll hatch another. But we won’t be ’starting over.’”
    “Then the two of them will go to war eventually. Even you must see that there can only be one of them.”
    “I won’t destroy it. It is perfectly healthy. Billions of dollars and lifetimes of work were spent in creating it. But I will start decanting another progenitor tomorrow. This discussion is over.”
    The two of them entered. I waited until Frederick had gone off into his cabin and maman had settled down into bed. Then I crept up to her ear and softly whispered. “So I’ll have a sister, then?”
    Maman’s hand twitched and I skittered away. I heard a soft exhalation of air, and waited for the words that would come next, but she never said anything.
    I stayed in the mattress for hours, stewing in excitement and confusion. I hadn’t known that Frederick disliked me so much. I was sorry that he’d had to yell at maman because of I hadn’t given him the right answers. I knew that maybe Frederick wanted to be mean to me, but I was so happy that maman had stood up for me and said such good things about me. I knew that she loved me, just like the elephant’s maman had.
    But, shortly before dawn, I felt the whistle. It was not the normal time for meeting with Frederick and I was especially lethargic. I lay in the mattress. The whistle cut through me again and again, but I didn’t want to move. Finally, I started to leave my burrow. The whistling was coming from Frederick’s cabin, where I’d never visited. I was on the edge of the mattress now, and was about to drop to the floor.
    Something picked me up by the wings. “Wait,” said maman.
    She got up out of bed and dropped me onto the mattress. She walked into Frederick’s cabin, and I heard the sound of three