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Tav put her bony hand on the small of my back.
    “Don’t hope too much, Khe. The procedure doesn’t always work.”
    The skin on my throat tingled. My spots glowed bright blue with excitement. Tav’s warning had come much too late.
    ***
    The orindle, Pradat, explained what to expect so many times, always in the same cold, unemotional way, that I’d begun to find it funny and had to stop myself from mouthing the words along with her. In the white room I shared with three other doumanas, I whispered the words to myself like a prayer.
    Resonance begins in four days. The success or failure of the procedure will be immediately apparent. You will either respond to Resonance, or you will not. If you do not, the procedure is not repeatable. You will return immediately to your community. If you do respond, due to your years of deprivation, you may experience Resonance more intensely than other doumanas. If you wish, medication to lessen the symptoms is available. An individual transportation vehicle will be provided by Morvat Research Center so that you may travel to your mating site .
    I tried not to pick at the healing wound where skull and spine joined, and watched the post-surgery drugs and food solutions designed to fatten me up drip through tubes inserted into my belly.
    Resonance began in four days.
    Three days.
    Two days.
    Tomorrow.
    ***
    I awoke screaming. The pristine, white room, absent of any stimulant that might jar a recovering patient, shook with color. Swirls of emerald, vermillion, amber, cerulean, and brilliant orange merged and flowed out in the air above my cot. The colors vibrated in concert with a high-pitched wail that came from everywhere and nowhere. My head throbbed. My back arched in pain. A helphand rushed in, plunged a needle into my neck, and all went black.
    When I woke again, the colors still floated above me but the wailing had gone, replaced by a low and pleasant hum. A round-faced helphand with dark-red skin and wearing a yellow hip wrap sat next to the bed. She lifted my hand and held it between both of her own.
    “How’re you feeling?” she asked.
    I wasn’t sure the helphand really cared about the answer. She didn’t look at me when she spoke. She kept her eyes on the machines monitoring my wellbeing.
    “Confused,” I answered truthfully. “Scared.”
    “Congratulations,” she said, and finally looked at me. “The procedure’s a success. It’s Resonance you feel.”
    I’d seen Resonance reaction. First day resonance made doumanas silly and full of themselves. Thedra had described exquisite pleasure. No one at Lunge commune ever screamed.
    “No,” I said. “It’s something else. Something horrible.”
    “Sometimes it is frightening at first,” the helphand said. “Your body, so long denied a natural sense, overreacts to the onslaught. But believe me, it is nothing but Resonance. The symptoms will lessen as you adjust.”
    I closed my eyes. The colors disappeared but still reflected inside me somehow, deep in my nerves, bones, and muscles. The hum continued. I began to like the sound, to love it.
    My voice quivered. “What happens next?”
    “You’ll be overtaken with the urge to return to your nesting site.” She sighed. “Are you seeing colors yet?”
    “Yes,” I answered, but kept my eyes shut.
    “One stronger than the others?”
    “I don’t know.”
    She pressed my hand gently. “You’ll have to look. Open your eyes and tell me what you see.”
    I didn’t want to open my eyes, didn’t want the crush of colors. The helphand squeezed my hand, tightening her grip until it hurt. I knew she wouldn’t stop until my hand was broken if I didn’t open my eyes, so I did.
    The colors no longer flowed over and into one another, but ran in orderly lines the width of an arm, except for the emerald that was maybe four times as broad and still shimmered where the others had gone dull.
    “Green,” I said.
    The helphand nodded. She turned her eyes back to the machines