Gelerie turned Twitty loose. She bent low and looked through the opening of the vehicle at her father. "Do you think Homekind would do that other thing?" She said it so Twitty would not guess right off.
"Nonsense. It would defeat the whole purpose of the mission," Threlkeld said. "They want a human specimen. Taking him home and turning him into one of us would not give them any new thing to study. You'll have to do better than that."
"I meant here. Make him one of our kind and let him stay here."
Threlkeld said, "Only if you can produce some human to take his place."
Gelerie thought a moment. "What is the time limit on this mission?"
"A year, Earth time. Two years at the outside."
"And the period of human gestation?"
"Nine months, ten days and—what gives?"
"I shall marry Twitty, give Homekind a human specimen—my own—in nine months and ten days. You tell Homekind of my plan. Let them hear the recording. Then return and be with me. I shall, one hour very soon, invite Twitty to sojourn with me on the completion of this mission, father. I guarantee you, Homekind be with me, he will not want to see me go the rest of the way alone."
Threlkeld said, "My daughter's mind is full of strange logic, but it makes good sense. But be extremely careful my dear. The human is a deceitful thing. He will kiss your lips while stabbing your back."