"It was hundreds," Mark insisted.
"It was not. It was just two. And what's more, it was between a man and a woman. They lived together with their protobodies and agreed to cooperate together, and they made children and took care of them until they grew up."
"Why that's thirty or forty years," Mark exclaimed. "Even the wars didn't last that long. That's really nonsense. Besides, you can only make children in the Decanting Centers. And it's all done by machines."
"Well, maybe it is a little far fetched. But I think it's cute."
"Humph."
There was a few minutes silence. Then Jennette said softly, "Mark—"
"Yes?"
"Mark, you like me a lot, don't you?"
Mark squirmed uncomfortably, and stared at the artificial moon.
"Don't you?" she insisted. "More than you ever have anybody else?"