Page:World Without Men (HT osu.32435053364535).pdf/21

"I understand now," said Aubretia. "In order to produce a male child you must have a gamete with twenty-three chromosomes combining with a female ovum of twenty-four. Otherwise the product is always female."

The Mistress smiled triumphantly. "Exactly. That was the card nature had up her sleeve. The fundamental permanence of the female and the transcience of the male." She stroked her cropped black hair with a long, slender finger. "With the elimination of the male sex the possibility of producing male offspring became nil. Parthenogenesis can only produce females."

"When did parthenogenesis really start?" Aubretia asked.

"That's difficult to say. There were isolated cases throughout the ages. Seven thousand years ago there was a well-authenticated case of a parthenogenetic individual called Christ; but towards the end of the twentieth century it increased immeasurably, and at the same time men died off."

Aubretia considered for a moment, reviewing all that she had learned. "The adaptation you mentioned," she said. "Where does that fit in?"

The Mistress smiled for the first time, a confident knowledgeable smile. "A sex may disappear according to the dictates of nature, but the endocrine structure of the female body remains the same."

"Endocrine?"

"The ductless glands—the hormones. They are the basis of emotional feeling. The emotions have not changed, but they have been modified."

Aubretia pursed her lips thoughtfully. "Emotions I know about, but how have they been modified?"

The Mistress paused for a moment, choosing her words carefully. "Whom do you love?" she enquired.

"An albino woman named Aquilegia," Aubretia said, with a certain degree of self-consciousness.