She was perfectly aware that Odeen was looking at her as though he had never seen anyone as attractive and that if Tritt had been present, melting would have taken place at once. She even let herself thin out; not much, but perceptibly, in deliberate coquettishness.
Odeen said, "But you might not understand the implications, Dua. It takes a great deal of energy to initiate a new spark of life."
"You've often mentioned energy. What is it? Exactly."
"Why, what we eat."
"Well, then, why don't you say food."
"Because food and energy aren't quite the same thing. Our food comes from the Sun and that's a kind of energy, but there are other kinds of energy that are not food. When we eat, we've got to spread out and absorb the light. It's hardest for Emotionals because they're much more transparent; that is, the light tends to pass through instead of being absorbed-"
It was wonderful to have it explained, Dua thought. What she was told, she really knew; but she didn't know the proper words;, the long science-words that Odeen knew. And it made sharper and more meaningful everything that happened.
Occasionally now, in adult life, when she no longer feared that childish teasing; when she shared in the prestige of being part of the Odeen-triad; she tried to swarm with other Emotionals and to withstand the chatter and the crowding. After all, she did occasionally feel like a more substantial meal than she usually got and it did make for better melting. There was a joy-sometimes she almost caught the pleasure the others got out of it-in slithering and maneuvering for exposure to Sunlight; in the luxurious contraction and condensation to absorb the warmth through greater thickness with greater efficiency.
Yet for Dua a little of that went quite a way and the others never seemed to have enough. There was a kind of gluttonous wiggle about them that Dua could not duplicate and that, at length, she could not endure.
That was why Rationals and Parentals were so rarely on the surface. Their thickness made it possible for them to eat quickly and leave. Emotionals writhed in the Sun for hours, for though they ate more slowly, they actually needed more energy than the others-at least for melting.
The Emotional supplied the energy, Odeen had explained (pulsing so that his signals were barely understood), the Rational the seed, the Parental the incubator.
Once Dua understood that, a certain amusement began to blend with her disapproval when she watched the other Emotionals virtually slurp up the ruddy Sunlight. Since they never asked questions, she was sure they didn't know why they did it and couldn't understand that there was an obscene side to their quivering condensations, or to the way in which they went tittering down below eventually-on their way to a good melt, of course, with lots of energy to spare.
She could also stand Tritt's annoyance when she would come down without that swirling opacity that meant a good gorging. Yet why should they complain? The thinness she retained meant a defter melting. Not as sloppy and glutinous as the other triads managed, perhaps, but it was the ethereality that counted, she felt sure. And the little-left and little-right came eventually, didn't they?
Of course, it was the baby-Emotional, the little-mid, that was the crux. That took more energy than the other two and Dua never had enough.
Even Odeen was beginning to mention it. "You're not getting enough Sunlight, Dua."
"Yes I am," said Dua, hastily.
"Genia's triad," said Odeen, "has just initiated an Emotional."
Dua didn't like Genia. She never had. She was emptyheaded even by Emotional standards. Dua said, loftily, "I suppose she's boasting about it. She has no delicacy. I suppose she's saying, 'I shouldn't mention it, my dear, but you'll never guess what my left-ling and right-ling have gone and went and done-' " She imitated Genia's tremulous signaling with deadly accuracy and Odeen was amused.
But then he said, "Genia may be a dunder, but she has initiated an Emotional, and Tritt is upset about it. We've been at it for much longer than they have-"
Dua turned away. "I get all the Sun I can stand. I do it till I'm too full to move. I don't know what you want of me."
Odeen said, "Don't be angry. I promised Tritt I would talk to you. He thinks you listen to me-"
"Oh, Tritt just thinks it's odd that you explain science to me. He doesn't understand- Do you want a mid-ling like the others?"
"No," said Odeen, seriously. "You're not like the others, and I'm glad of it. And if you're interested in Rational-talk, then let me explain something. The Sun doesn't supply the food it used to in ancient times. The light-energy is less; and it takes longer exposures. The birth rate has been dropping for ages and the world's population is only a fraction of what it once was."
"I can't help it," said Dua, rebelliously.
"The Hard Ones may be able to. Their numbers have been decreasing, too-"
