"There's a wife for every man," Mr. Fallon put in genially, "and a husband for every woman. Works out fine."
"With no surplus," Dr. Kalmar added. "There are no floaters to allow the kind of marital moving day you have on Earth, where so many just up and shift over to new mates. We get ours for life. That's where Ego Alter and Rephysical come in."
"You mean people bring in their mates to have them done over?"
"If they're not satisfied and if the mates agree to be changed."
"I don't mind," said Mr. Fallon virtuously. "I figure Mabel will decide what she wants one of these changes, and then we can settle down and be happy with each other."
"But what about you?" asked Dr. Hoyt, bewildered. "Don't you want her changed?"
"Oh, no. I like her fine just as she is."
"You see now how it works?" Dr. Kalmar asked. "We can't have a variety of mates, but we can have all the variety we want in one mate. It comes to the same thing, as far as I can see, and causes much less confusion, especially since we need stable relationships."
Dr. Hoyt was striving heroically to stay indignant in spite of the sedative. "And do many ask to have their mates changed?"
"I guess we're a sort of record, aren't we?" Mr. Fallon boasted.