Hilargi realized, then, that the Last Man did not enjoy his position of relative power. She had been wondering her whole life whether he did or not, because, although she had never met a man, she had heard from older women in her tribe that men desired sex far more often than women. Hilargi assumed that he must think he was the luckiest man in the world since he could have as much of it as he wanted. Seeing him now, she knew that this was not the truth. He looked embarrassed, even downtrodden about.

I suppose he doesn’t truly enjoy a position of power. He isn’t having sex because he wants to, but rather because he has to. Hilargi thought to herself. Maybe it's lost its glmaor?

Hilargi was encouraged by this, and was saddened by the fact that she was. It made her like him more, when she knew that liking him more would just make her more miserable in the long run. She knew he would never take a genuine interest in a mutant, moreover, she was all too aware that the other women in the tribe would never let her take an interest in him.

Aloud, Hilargi said, “Oh, I don’t think you should blame yourself. Humans had already divided themselves into tribes long before you came along. They’re just far more vicious than they ever were, now.”

“Yes, but before I came along, they were at a somewhat peaceful truce. Nobody really attacked without provocation—just the tribes that were mostly female and who didn’t have enough males." Nikodemus sighed. "If we could just figure out why it is that we can’t seem to make male children… You’re smart, have you been looking into the issue?” Nikodemus asked her hopefully.

Hilargi smiled apologetically. “I know about as much about it as anybody else does about it. I wasn’t really captured to research that problem… I was captured to research advanced weaponry, robotics, and architecture.”

Nikodemus shook his head with a smile. “Strange how we humans tend to ignore the big problems and focus on the small ones, huh?”

Hilargi nodded at that. “For sure.”