things, our kind of life would be impossible. Individuals are
brought together either by accident or design, and with this
proximity must be some certainty of relations...."

"You're losing me," Lea protested. "Either I'm still foggy from
the dope, or you are suddenly unable to speak a word of less than
four syllables. You know--whenever this happens with you, I get
the distinct impression that you are trying to cover up something.
For Occam's sake, be specific! Bring me together two of these
hypothetical individuals and tell me what happens."

Brion took a deep breath. He was in over his head and far from
shore. "Well--take a bachelor like myself. Since I like
cross-country skiing I make my home in this big house our family
has, right at the edge of the Broken Hills. In summer I looked after
a drumtum herd, but after slaughtering my time was my own all
winter. I did a lot of skiing, and used to work for the Twenties.
Sometimes I would go visiting. Then again, people would drop in on
me--houses are few and far between on Anvhar. We don't even have
locks on our doors. You accept and give hospitality without
qualification. Whoever comes. Male ... female ... in groups or just
traveling alone...."

"I get the drift. Life must be dull for a single girl on your
iceberg planet. She must surely have to stay home a lot."

"Only if she wants to. Otherwise she can go wherever she wishes and
be welcomed as another individual. I suppose it is out of fashion
in the rest of the galaxy--and would probably raise a big laugh on
Earth--but a platonic, disinterested friendship between man and
woman is an accepted thing on Anvhar."

"Sounds exceedingly dull. If you are all such cool and distant
friends, how do babies get made?"

Brion felt his ears reddening, not sure if he was being teased or
not. "The same damn way they get made any place else! But it's not
just a reflexive process like a couple of rabbits that happen to
meet under the same bush. It's the woman's choice to indicate if
she is interested in marriage."

"Is marriage the only thing your women are interested in?"

"Marriage or ... anything else. That's up to the girl. We have a
special problem on Anvhar--probably the same thing occurs on every
planet where the human race has made a massive adaptation. Not all
unions are fertile and there is always a large percentage of
miscarriages. A large number of births are conceived by artificial
insemination. Which is all rig