Dawn

A hole opens in the wall of the room, letting in some of the first color that Lilith has seen in a while. It’s Jdahya’s ship, and as Jdahya explains, the ship is alive, with the walls of Lilith’s isolation room being made of the ship’s flesh. Lilith is surprised to find that she is afraid of leaving the room at first. At last, she gathers the courage to step through the hole in the room. She looks back and sees that her room had been just a small part inside of a massive fruit tree.

Lilith asks about going back to Earth, but Jdahya says she wouldn’t survive there for long. Lilith’s genes have been modified to get rid of the potential for cancer. Jdahya tells Lilith that she has work to do, and she will learn about it by living with Jdahya and his family for a while. She will learn how to Awaken other groups of humans who will need to learn survival skills. Lilith and the humans won’t be able to use the most advanced technology from Earth, but they’ll be able to use simple tools for food and shelter. The humans are not fully immune to diseases but have strengthened immune systems.

Lilith notes that humans used to treat animals a similar way to keep them healthy—when the ultimate goal was to eat them. Lilith can’t read Jdahya’s reaction but she thinks he might be laughing. He tries to reassure her, and she says that at least she’s willing to learn whatever he wants to teach. She doesn’t feel well versed in wilderness knowledge, but Jdahya explains that that might be for the best, now that new species and mutations have changed what plants are like on Earth.

Lilith asks more about the ship, which Jdahya says is both plant and animal, with a capacity for intelligence that is currently dormant. Jdahya’s ancestors grew his current ship, and he is helping to grow another one. Eventually, like an asexual organism, the ship inhabitants will split into three groups, with Jdahya and his family going down to Earth. He will never see the other inhabitants on his ship again, although perhaps his descendants will recognize their descendants, since some memories are passed on genetically in his species.

Jdahya explains to Lilith that the “trees” on the ship are not actually trees but structures that provide resources and support the ship’s shape. Naked gray Oankali walk among the “trees,” paying Lilith no attention. Lilith asks why Jdahya doesn’t go back to his home world. He says that’s not an option and that he and the others left so long ago that it might no longer exist. Their world was like a womb, but eventually it came time for them to be born.

Jdahya says that the Ooloi noticed that humans have two genetic characteristics that are useful on their own but deadly together: they are both intelligent and hierarchical. Jdahya says that ignoring the deadliness of this combination would be like ignoring the cancer in Lilith’s body. Lilith asks what Jdahya and the Oankali hope to gain from humans. Jdahya explains that what he’s interested in is genetic material—and that the Oankali are willing to give humans some of their own genes, hence why they call themselves traders.

Jdahya makes clear that what he and the Oankali are planning is closer to genetic engineering than sexual reproduction. He reveals that another meaning of “Oankali” is “organelle,” and Ooloi can see and manipulate DNA with precision. They are using Jdahya’s cancer cells to experiment on themselves, seeing if it is possible to learn how to reshape themselves to make their forms look more familiar to new races.

Jdahya admits that the ultimate goal is similar to cross-breeding, where human children will become more like Oankali and vice versa. Lilith doesn’t like the image of young humans with Medusa-like snake hair, but Jdahya says the Oankali are committed to carrying out the “trade.” Lilith wishes Jdahya hadn’t found her, but he says it’s too late to undo the past now. Jdahya makes Lilith an offer, saying he’ll only do it once: if Lilith wishes, he can sting her, and she’ll die quickly and painlessly. He does not want to do it, but is offering it for Lilith’s sake. Lilith strongly considers this but ultimately turns down the offer.