Dawn

Lilith sees Nikanj before Joseph does, so she takes his hand, wondering if he will not want to be with her after this moment. Lilith tells Joseph that he is not in danger but he recoils in terror once he sees Nikanj. Lilith angrily asks in Oankali why Nikanj is there. It replies in English, “So that [Joseph] could endure his fear now, privately, and be of help to you later” (151).

Upon hearing Nikanj speak English, Joseph comes out of the corner he’s cowering in and is able to ask if Lilith knows the Oankali. Lilith is surprised that Joseph is handling the situation so calmly and sees that he is as adaptable as she had hoped he would be. Nikanj says that they will talk for a while and offers food. Joseph says that he’s not hungry, though the others may be. Nikanj responds that they must wait, so they come to understand that they are dependent on Lilith and helpless without her. Lilith says that making the others feel dependent on her will only make them unable to forgive her. Nikanj tells her, “Become their leader, and there’ll be nothing to forgive” (152). Lilith tells Joseph that Nikanj does not mean leader so much as Judas goat—a goat trained to lead other goats to slaughter.

Nikanj says to Lilith in Oankali that it wants her to survive, and that Joseph is correct—that some of the humans are already plotting against her. Lilith says that she had told it that just such a thing would happen and that she is trying to survive.

Joseph asks Nikanj if the Oankali can clone humans, and when it says they can, he says that the Oankali don’t need them and that they should use those methods to repopulate the Earth. Nikanj replies that they do need humans as partners. Nikanj says that humans must not harm each other or the Oankali, or they will not return to Earth.

Joseph asks if this includes self-defense, looking at Lilith, and Nikanj says that she is exempt. Lilith wants Nikanj to exempt Joseph as well, but it says it cannot. Lilith then asks that Nikanj change Joseph so that he will be stronger and heal quickly. Nikanj explains to Joseph how he altered Lilith genetically and says that it will enable him to heal quickly as well. Joseph asks for more information and asks Lilith about her own experience with being changed, then says that he doesn’t think he could touch the Oankali.

Nikanj gets up as if to leave, then suddenly wraps a sensory arm around Lilith’s neck. She assures Joseph that it is all right. Joseph reaches out, and after only a moment’s hesitation, touches Nikanj’s sensory arm. Nikanj grasps Joseph’s wrist with its tentacles and Joseph passes out. Lilith is angry, but Nikanj replies that it was crucial for it to alter Joseph now since two of the humans are already speaking out against him to the others in the group.

Nikanj holds Joseph on the bed, performing the genetic alterations, and in a while, calls Lilith over to lie down with them. Lilith is tempted, and eventually removes her jacket and lies down with them, coiling Nikanj’s sensory arm around herself. Nikanj is between Lilith and Joseph, linking them as an ooloi links its Oankali mates. Lilith feels the neural connection take hold.

Lilith remains conscious and Joseph is conscious as well, though he is under the neural control of Nikanj, who keeps him calm and unafraid. Lilith tries to take Joseph’s hand, but Nikanj insists that she experience Joseph only through it. Lilith, through Nikanj, feels Joseph’s essence “as a blanket of warmth and security, a compelling, steadying presence” (162).

Lilith and Joseph experience each other with unmatched intensity, full of incandescent sensation that feels like it transcends time; “[a] long time later, they seemed to drift down slowly, gradually, savoring a few more moments wholly together” (162).

Lilith’s first distinct thought is that her throat hurts, perhaps from shouting or screaming, but Nikanj soothes the pain with its exposed sensory hand. Nikanj explains that what Lilith and Joseph had felt was a combination of their experiences. Joseph is sound asleep.

Lilith moves her hand over Nikanj’s chest, which makes its tentacles move. Lilith finds she enjoys this, but Nikanj says that it must go. It tells her to go out to the others to feed them, being sure to seal Joseph up in the room so that she can be the first to speak to him when he wakes.

As Nikanj moves away, Lilith asks if it likes Joseph. Nikanj replies that Ahajas and Dichaan are puzzled at Lilith’s choice of Joseph: “They thought you would choose one of the big dark ones because they’re like you. I said you would choose this one—because he’s like you” (164). Nikanj says that Joseph’s responses in his isolation room were more like Lilith’s than any of the other humans, so it knew that Lilith would be drawn to Joseph. Lilith worries that Joseph will reject her when he realizes that Lilith brought the three of them together. Nikanj says that he is sure that Joseph will be angry, but eager for the next time, though he will try to ensure that there is no next time. Lilith asks how Nikanj knows Joseph so well, and it answers that it had sought out a suitable mate for Lilith, going through the memory records of thousands of human males. Lilith asks if Nikanj had chosen Joseph for her, and it replies that it had offered them to each other, but that they had chosen on their own. Nikanj then leaves the room.