Kennon shook his head. “She never said a word.”
“Then how—”
“I’m not stupid,” Kennon said. “That story you’ve spread about artificial fertilization has more holes in it than a sieve. That technique has been investigated a thousand times. And it has never worked past the first generation. If you had been using it, the Lani would long ago have been extinct. Haploids don’t reproduce, and the only way the diploid number of chromosomes can be kept is to replace those lost by maturation division of the ovum. You might be able to keep the diploid number by using immature ova, but the fertilization technique would be far more complex than the simple uterine injections you use at Hillside Station.”
Douglas looked at him blankly.
“Besides,” Kennon added, “I have a microscope. I checked your so-called fertilizing solution. I found spermatozoa, and spermatozoa only come from males. What’s more, the males have to be the same species as the females or fertilization will not take place. So there must be male Lani. Nothing else fits. You’ve been using artificial insemination on the main-island Lani. And from the way this place is guarded, it’s obvious that here is your stud farm.”
Douglas shrugged and spread his hands in a gesture of resignation. “I suppose,” he said, “that’s the way Old Doc found out too. We never told him, but he knew before he ever came out here.”
“The only thing that puzzles me,” Kennon went on, “is how you managed to eliminate the Y-chromosome carriers within the sperm.”
“Eh?”
“The male sex-determinant. Half the sperm carry it, but so far as I know, there’s never been a male born on the main island.”
“Oh—that. It’s something that’s done in the labs here. Probably one of the technicians could tell you. It’s called electro—electro freezing or something like that.”