We're not ashamed of it."
20 North shook his head. "Why do you work here?" he asked.
21 One of the women looked at him and laughed. "Why, for the money,
dear boy, of course, or for favors for our husbands, or simply because
we're bored. Our husbands are gone sometimes for months, and we have
nothing to do. This way we keep busy, have a good time, and, make some
money!"
22 "What if you get caught?" North asked.
23 "We won't," the woman assured him. "The colony runs this operation.
See, they pay, in one way or another, for these little things growing
inside us. So they'll make sure there's never a raid on THIS house!"
24 North got up and walked to the edge of the balcony. "You SELL your
babies?" he questioned. "You barter in your own flesh and blood?"
25 "Of course!" answered another woman. "Dear boy, we have very little
we can sell. We sell what pleasure we can give a man, in one way or
another.
And we sell the product of that pleasure. There's a good many people
out there that want more than one child every twenty years, as The Law
allows. So the husband comes here, hires one of us, and makes a baby.
The colony finds some way to make it legal and they adopt it. We get
paid, they get more children, and the colony's population legally
expands. Everybody's happy all around.
26 North began to laugh. "You take it so casually," he remarked, "just
another way of doing business. What part does my ship's Doctor play in
all this?"
27 "We need medical attention," one of the women explained. "The ships'
Doctors provide that in exchange for services. A fair deal. Now,
Commander, have you made up your mind which one of us you want yet?"
28 "If you don't mind," answered North, "I'd