Johnny Nine did not answer immediately. He sat motionless, trying to make out the bulkhead that marked the other side of the Ship. But their feeble light could not penetrate so much darkness. It almost seemed as if there were no other bulkhead and no Ship, only darkness, there, that spread out to the ends of the Universe.
Finally he spoke. "It was awful hard to hear them; we're too far away. As near as we could understand, they're having a celebration for us. Hundreds and hundreds of people will be there. All to see us."
"Hundreds ... and ... hundreds. Hundreds and hundreds!" She turned her face to his. "It seems hard to believe, doesn't it? All those people!"
"Maybe even more than that, Marte."
"Johnny?" She ducked her head and pulled her legs in tighter. "Johnny?"
"Yes?"
"We can have babies, can't we?" She asked it in a rush.
"... Yes. We can have babies. As many as we want."
She wrinkled her nose. "... It seems funny, to be able to have all the babies you want. Not one every time somebody dies: but all you want!"
She smiled at some secret communication with herself. "I think we'll have a dozen....