 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. I've wet-nursed Shannon's Imperial Circus around the Triangle for eleven years, and I know. The only other one on the Triangle belongs to Savitt Brothers, and she's much smaller than Gertrude." It grates on a man's pride to have to sneak in and out of his own property through the sewage lock. The freaks and the green girl from Tethys who could roll herself like a hoop, and Zurt the muscle man from Jupiter, and all the other assorted geeks and kinkers and joeys that make up the usual corny carnie were doing nip-ups in the passageways and drooling over the thought of steer and toppings.
 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.