"I pulled first, didn't I?"
"Yeah. But you ain't seen but two yet."
"I want that blonde one. Let Gary see the others."
And he led Sally away.
He didn't feel her muscles or look at her teeth or measure her pelvic span.
After Sally came Nora. Nora giggled and waved, making a shape under the shapeless clothes. Wasn't that just like Nora? Okay. So she was cute.
Second man took Nora. He didn't wait for the others.
Third man took Regina. Regina looked scared, but you could see those big cow eyes a mile off. Regina obviously needed somebody to protect her.
The other girls came out. Annie counted and her heart hit bottom. Someone was going to be left over.
Four women, three men. They all felt embarrassed. It was the kind of thing the colonists would talk about for years. Who was last. Who was second to last. Spiteful people would remember, and in a tight little community, spite took root and throve on the least misinterpreted expression or—But then, this wouldn't be a tight little community, Annie remembered. The lichen farms were spread out over the whole temperate belt of the world. Because the lichens were grown only on hills, where the sand would not cover them. And because they did a more efficient job of oxygenating the atmosphere when they were spread over a wide area.