An armed party of four men enters the cabin to search for others they believe were traveling with Tomás and Jesusa. The humans hide in the cave while Aaor and Jodahs sting all but one of the men unconscious. Aaor and Jodahs wait for their scent to calm the man, a village elder named Francisco. Jodahs tells him that an Oankali shuttle will arrive soon, and the ooloi will treat the villagers’ genetic conditions. Humans can join the Mars colony, mate with the Oankali, or remain sterilized on Earth. Aaor begins to remove one of the unconscious men’s tumors. Francisco looks on in fascination and envy but pretends to be disgusted. He is a sterile man with no genetic conditions. He has been a resister for a century, teaching his people that the ooloi are devils, instructing humans to reproduce and reject the Oankali’s ability to remove their genetic conditions. Francisco agrees to have Jodahs examine him and lies on the bed with eagerness.

After they are treated, Francisco and his men agree become allies and help Jodahs rescue Tomás and Jesusa. Santos, who has no sense of smell, is less accepting of the Oankali than the others.