 What most attracts Meredith to Halden?
In repose, Taphetta the Ribboneer resembled a fancy giant bow on a package. "There are at least a hundred kinds of humans, each supposedly originating in strict seclusion on as many widely scattered planets. Obviously there was no contact throughout the ages before space travel— and yet each planetary race can interbreed with a minimum of ten others ! "That's because you're unique," said Halden. "Outside of your own world, there's nothing like your species, except superficially, and that's true of all other creatures, intelligent or not, with the sole exception of mankind. Actually, the four of us here, though it's accidental, very nearly represent the biological spectrum of human development. Emmer just misses being able to breed with my kind, but there's a fair chance that I'd be fertile with Meredith and a similar though lesser chance that her fertility may extend to Kelburn." And while stars in a given region tend to remain together, there's also a random motion. "And whereas there are humans who are relatively near and not fertile, they can always mate with those they were adjacent to two hundred thousand years ago !" And, of course, if it were a fast-moving star, it might be completely out of the field of our exploration. We have men who could do the job in a makeshift fashion, but the region we're heading for, while mapped, is largely unknown.
 His savageness
 His compassion  His physical appearance  His intellect  His savageness