MaddAddam (MaddAddam 3)

"Lord fuck a dog. Can't you just make up some piece of crap?"

"They cross-examine like lawyers," says Toby. "At the very least I need the basics. The raw material." Does she want to know about Zeb for the sake of the Crakers, or for herself? Both. But mostly for herself.

"I'm an open book," says Zeb.

"Don't be evasive."

Zeb sighs. "I hate going back to all that. I had to live it, I don't like reliving it. Who cares?"

"I do," says Toby. And so do you, she thinks. You still do care. "I'm listening."

"Persistent, aren't you?"

"I've got all night. So, you were born ..."

"Yeah, admitted." Another sigh. "Okay. First you need to understand: we got the wrong mothers."

"Wrong, how?" she says to the face she can barely see. A plane of cheekbone, a shadow, a glint of eye.

The Story of the Birth of Zeb

I have put on the red hat of Snowman. I have eaten the fish. I have listened to the shiny thing. Now I will tell the story of the birth of Zeb.

You don't have to sing.

Zeb did not come from Crake, not like Snowman. And he wasn't made by Oryx, not like rabbits. He was born, the same way you are born. He grew in a bone cave, just like you, and came out through a bone tunnel, just like you.

Because underneath our clothing skins, we are the same as you. Almost the same.

No, we do not turn blue. Though we might smell blue sometimes. But our bone cave is the same.

I don't think we need to discuss blue penises right now.

I know they are bigger. Thank you for pointing that out.

Yes, we do have breasts. The women do.

Yes, two.

Yes, on the front.

No, I will not show them to you right now.

Because this story is not about breasts. This story is about Zeb.

A very long time ago, in the days of the chaos - before Crake cleared it all away - Zeb lived in the bone cave of his mother. And Oryx took care of him there, as she takes care of all those who live in the bone caves. And then he travelled into this world through the bone tunnel. And then he was a baby, and then he grew.

And he had an older brother whose name was Adam. But Adam's mother was not the same mother as the mother of Zeb.

Because when Adam was very young, Adam's mother ran away from Adam's father.

Running away means she went very quickly to a different place. Though she may not have done any running as such. Perhaps she walked, or drove in a ... So Adam never saw her any more.

Yes, I'm sure it was sad for him.

Because she wanted to mate with more than one male, not only with Zeb's father. Or that is what Zeb's father told him.

Yes, it was a good thing to want, and she would have been happy if she could be living with you. She could mate with four males at once, like you. She would be very happy then!