 Why is it so important for Jig and Shannon to find Gertrude a mate?
The Blue Behemoth By LEIGH BRACKETT Shannon's Imperial Circus was a jinxed space-carny leased for a mysterious tour of the inner worlds. With Shannon's Imperial Circus, the Greatest Show in Space, plastered so thick with attachments...." I've wet-nursed Shannon's Imperial Circus around the Triangle for eleven years, and I know. It has always been my desire to lighten the burden of life for those less fortunate...." It was Gow, our zoo-man—a big, ugly son-of-a-gun from a Terran colony on Mercury. He said, "Boss, Gertrude's actin' up again." The only other one on the Triangle belongs to Savitt Brothers, and she's much smaller than Gertrude."
 Her crying and loneliness without one is affecting the entire crew, and they can't afford to have her out of commission.
 They want to preserve her species, and they're close to extinction. Her species is too valuable to let die out.  They need another "cansin" for their show.  She feels alone in her cage and in the circus, and they feel badly for her.  Her crying and loneliness without one is affecting the entire crew, and they can't afford to have her out of commission.