"I think she likes you," he said. "That surprises me. I would have expected her to resent you."
Behind him, the wall began to open.
Lilith froze, then sighed and deliberately stared at the floor. When she looked up again, seeming to look at Joseph, she could see Nikanj coming through the opening.
6
She moved over beside Joseph who, leaning against the bed platform, had noticed nothing. She took his hand, held it for a moment between her own, wondering if she were about to lose him. Would he stay with her after tonight? Would he speak to her tomorrow beyond absolute necessity? Would he join her enemies, confirming to them things they only suspected now? What the hell did Nikanj want anyway? Why couldn't it stay out as it had said it would. There: She had finally caught it in a lie. She would not forgive it if that lie destroyed Joseph's feelings for her.
"What is it?" Joseph was saying as Nikanj strode across the room in utter silence and sealed the doorway.
"For God knows what reason, the Oankali have decided to give you a preview," she said softly, bitterly. "You aren't in any physical danger. You won't be hurt." Let Nikanj make a lie of that and she would force it to put her back into suspended animation.
Joseph looked around sharply, froze when he saw Nikanj. After a moment of what Lilith suspected was absolute terror, he jerked himself to his feet and stumbled back against the wall, cornering himself between the wall and the bed platform.
"What is it!" Lilith demanded in Oankali. She stood to face Nikanj. "Why are you here?"
Nikanj spoke in English. "So that he could endure his fear now, privately, and be of help to you later."
A moment after hearing the quiet, androgenous, human sounding voice speak in English, Joseph came out of his corner. He moved to Lilith's side, stood staring at Nikanj. He was trembling visibly. He said something in Chinese- the first time Lilith had heard him speak the language--then somehow, stilled his trembling. He looked at her.
"You know this one?"
"Kaalnikanjl oo Jdahyatediinkahguyaht aj Dinso," she said, staring at Nikanj's sensory arms, remembering how much more human it had looked without them. "Nikanj," she said when she saw Joseph frowning.
"I didn't believe," he said softly. "I couldn't, even though you said it."
She did not know what to say. He was handling the situation better than she had. Of course he had been warned and he was not being kept isolated from other humans. Still, he was doing well. He was as adaptable as she had suspected.
Moving slowly, Nikanj reached the bed and boosted itself up with one hand, folding its legs under it as it settled. Its head tentacles focused sharply on Joseph. "There's no hurry," it said. "We'll talk for a while. If you're hungry, I'll get you something."
"I'm not hungry," Joseph said. "Others may be, though."
"They must wait. They should spend a little time waiting for Lilith, understanding that they're helpless without her."
"They're just as helpless with me," Lilith said softly. "You've made them dependent on me. They may not be able to forgive me for that."
"Become their leader, and there'll be nothing to forgive." Joseph looked at her as though Nikanj had finally said something to distract him from the strangeness of its body. "Joe," she said, "it doesn't mean leader. It means Judas goat."
"You can make their lives easier," Nikanj said. "You can help them accept what is to happen to them. But whether you lead them or not, you can't prevent it. It would happen even if you died. If you lead them, more of them will survive. If you don't, you may not survive yourself." She stared at it, remembered lying next to it when it was weak and helpless, remembered breaking bits of food into small pieces and slowly, carefully feeding it those pieces.
After a time its head and body tentacles drew themselves into knotted lumps and it hugged itself with its sensory arms. It spoke to her in Oankali: "I want you to live! Your mate is right! Some of these people are already plotting against you!"
"I told you they would plot against me," she said in English. "I told you they would probably kill me."
"You didn't tell me you would help them!"
She leaned against her table platform, head down. "I'm trying to live," she whispered. "You know I am."
"You could clone us," Joseph said. "Is that right?"
"Yes."
"You could take reproductive cells from us and grow human embryos in artificial wombs?"
"Yes."
"You can even re-create us from some kind of gene map or print."
"We can do that too. We have already done these things. We must do them to understand a new species better. We must compare them to normal human conception and birth. We must compare the children we have made to those we took from Earth. We're very careful to avoid damaging new partner-species."
"Is that what you call it?" Joseph muttered in bitter revulsion."
Nikanj spoke very softly. "We revere life. We had to be certain we had found ways for you to live with the partnership, not simply to die of it."
"You don't need us!" Joseph said. "You've created your own human beings. Poor bastards. Make them your partners."
"We. . . do need you." Nikanj spoke so softly that Joseph leaned forward to hear. "A partner must be biologically interesting, attractive to us, and you are fascinating. You are horror and beauty in rare combination. In a very real way, you've captured us, and we can't escape. But you're more than only the composition and the workings of your bodies. You are your personalities, your cultures. We're interested in those too. That's why we saved as many of you as we could."
Joseph shuddered. "We've seen how you saved us-your prison cells and your suspended animation plants, and now this."
"Those are the simplest things we do. And they leave you relatively untouched. You are what you were on Earth- minus any disease or injury. With a little training, you can go back to Earth and sustain yourselves comfortably."
"Those of us who survive this room and the training room."
"Those of you who survive."
"You could have done this another way!"
"We've tried other ways. This way is best. There is incentive not to do harm. No one who has killed or severely injured another will set foot on Earth again."
"They'll be kept here?"
"For the rest of their lives."
"Even. . ." Joseph glanced at Lilith, then faced Nikanj again. "Even if the killing is in self-defense?"
"She is exempt," Nikanj said.
"What?"
"She knows. We've given her abilities that at least one of you must have. They make her different, and therefore they make her a target. It would be self-defeating for us to forbid her to defend herself."
"Nikanj," Lilith said, and when she saw that she had its attention she spoke in Oankali. "Exempt him."
Flat refusal. That was that, and she knew it. But she could not help trying. "He's a target because of me," she said. "He could be killed because of me."
Nikanj spoke in Oankali. "And I want him to live because of you. But I didn't make the decision to keep humans who kill away from Earth-and I didn't exempt you. It was a consensus. I can't exempt him."
"Then... strengthen him the way you did me."
"He would be more likely to kill then."
"And less likely to die. I mean give him more resistance to injury. Help him heal faster if he is injured. Give him a chance!"
"What are you talking about?" Joseph said to her angrily. "Speak English!"
She opened her mouth, but Nikanj spoke first. "She's speaking for you. She wants you protected."
He looked at Lilith for confirmation. She nodded. "I'm afraid for you. I wanted you exempted too. It says it can't do that. So I've asked it to. . ." She stopped, looked from Nikanj to Joseph. "I've asked it to strengthen you, give you at least a chance."
He frowned at her. "Lilith, I'm not large, but I'm stronger than you think. I can take care of myself."
"I didn't speak in English because I didn't want to hear you say that. Of course you can't take care of yourself. No one person could against what might happen out there. I only wanted to give you more of a chance than you have now."