“Maybe this spacer’s a lie too. Her ancestors came in it—a pair of humans named Alfred and Melissa Weygand. They were Christian missionaries from a planet called Heaven out in Ophiuchus Sector. Went out to convert aliens and landed here when their fuel ran out.” Kennon paused. “That was about four millennia ago. Their descendants, naturally, reverted to barbarism in a few generations, but there’s enough evidence in the ship to prove that the Lani were their children.”
“But the tails—the differences—the failure of the test,” Douglas said.
“Mutation,” Kennon replied. “Those old spindizzy converters weren’t too choosy about how they scattered radiation. And they had come a long way.” He paused, looking down at Douglas, feeling a twinge of pity for the man. His world was crumbling. “And there was no other human blood available to filter out their peculiarities. It might have been done during the first couple of generations, but constant inbreeding fixed the genetic pattern.”
“How did you discover this?” Douglas asked.
“Accident,” Kennon said briefly.
“You’ll never be able to prove they’re human!” Douglas said.
“The ship’s log will do that.”
“Not without a humanity test—they can’t pass that.”
“Sorry to disappoint you. Your grandfather used the wrong sort of sperm. Now if there had been a Betan in the crew—”
“You mean she’s pregnant!”