 What most attracts Meredith to Halden?
In repose, Taphetta the Ribboneer resembled a fancy giant bow on a package. Of all his features, only his head had appreciable thickness and it was crowned with a dozen long though narrower ribbons. "It's more than a legend," said Sam Halden, biologist. "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. There's a corresponding span of fertility. 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. However, you needn't be afraid that I'm defrauding you. He seemed to have difficulty in taking his eyes off Meredith, though, since he was a notch or so above her in the mating scale, he shouldn't have been so interested. Disdainfully, Meredith adjusted a skirt that, a few inches shorter, wouldn't have been a skirt at all, revealing, while doing so, just how long and beautiful a woman's legs could be. Firmon leered at Meredith and, when she failed to smile, added plaintively, "I did try to change it, but he still complains." "If he asks for cleaner air, it's because his system needs it," said Halden. "Tell me what you know about it," said Halden. "I'll come along and help," said Meredith, untwining her legs and leaning against him.
 His savageness
 His compassion  His physical appearance  His intellect  His savageness