his question ...

- Are you absolutely sure that you want to take your girlfriend to Earth? - asked the consulate officer, a graying black man, a question that Ray had heard not for the first time.

“I am sure,” the young man answered firmly. “I won't leave her here.”

- Have you thought over your decision well? On Earth she will be alone, on an unfamiliar planet, among a race unfamiliar to her, far from her homeland and her loved ones. If you quarrel with her or decide to part, you can’t just send her back to Porrim, throw it away like a bored thing - (with these words, Ray took a deeply offended look). - You will have to take full responsibility for your girlfriend and for your child, help her adapt to earthly conditions, help her in everything - are you sure you want to take on such responsibility?

To tell the truth, if Ray had the opportunity, he would not take on this responsibility, but since she fell on him, he was not going to refuse. After all, it was not only about him, but also about Nura, his gentle, defenseless, beloved Nure. Of course, Ray did not voice these thoughts to the official - he only answered firmly:

- Yes. I made a decision and am not going to retreat from it.

“Well, well,” the official said, apparently still hesitant. “Then we will let you know when you can go to Earth.” Your, um, the probable bride will receive the status of a political refugee, and she will be granted the appropriate rights and benefits ...

“Tell me please,” Ray interrupted the official, not waiting for him to send him out of the door: the question that Ray was going to ask had been worrying the young man for a long time. - And why the government of the Earth Federation, or Alchiba, or anyone, is not trying to do anything with ... human rights in Porrime? After all, gene therapy could easily equalize the number of births of boys and girls!

The official glanced at the young man in surprise, but, hesitating for a couple of seconds, he began, slowly, with an arrangement, to answer:

- You see ... Gene therapy in this case would not help, because the matter is not how many boys and how many girls are born to the Perrimanians, but in the restrictions on the right to give birth, established by the Parrimanian matriarchy. If the number of births of girls and boys were equal - suddenly, immediately, instantly! “The Parisians would have to rebuild their entire social order, and moreover do it in a couple of decades. I understand that you are young and tend to choose simple, as you think, solutions, but the Federation Government does not intend to force to some porrimanians, because not to go with them to the conflict. However, you unfairly accuse us of not doing anything: thanks to the marriage of Perrimanians with aliens, the ratio of men and women gradually changes, and over the course of several generations, the society of Parrymanians will inevitably have to undergo forced changes, adjusting to the new conditions. We are trying to make efforts to ensure that the process of transition to a new social structure takes place without a social explosion ...

Ray was silent, trying to digest the official’s words. Something inside of him was still protesting against the policy voiced by the consular officer, but with his mind the young man understood that, for his part, the words of the official were reasonably weighed and logical.

- And if without a social explosion is not enough, then for this on the "Virginia" and placed so many military? - he asked.

“Not only for this,” the official said, somewhat evasive, as it seemed to Ray,.

Ray paused for a few more seconds before answering:

- Thank you ... but for now this ...a change in social order has not yet taken place — with or without a social explosion — I'd rather take my girlfriend away from this star system. I can go?

- All the best! - the official did not detain the young man.

Ray left the office - and Nura, who was waiting for him, immediately rushed to him.

- It's all right, huh? She asked him in a slightly agitated voice.

“It's all right, don't worry,” Ray smiled encouragingly at her. “You are supposed to be a political refugee status and some benefits ... you will need to find out, by the way, which ones ... So he asked me once again if I’m sure I’m sure I want to take you away from here," I answered him sure yes sure I also asked him what the government of the Earth is doing there in order to somehow poison the situation here - he told me that after a couple of generations, when the Parrimanian men would become noticeably larger, everything would gradually change. So, maybe, somewhere in fifty years, when we are already old, we will come back here and see how everything has changed here - the young man laughed, Nura was surprised at first, but then she smiled too. “Everything will be fine,” Ray promised, and hugged the girl, hugging her to him.

Gently squeezing his future wife in her arms (and that he and Nura would get married when they arrived on Earth, Ray knew already firmly) and the future mother of her child, Ray knew that their life together would not be without difficulties - he had already just who once warned. But he believed that they would overcome all difficulties. After all, in his hands was the fate of his beloved and their common child, and he could not leave Nuru?