"So that would be... 16 to 20? Humans usually have their sexualities start showing up earlier than that."

"Well, I'm not positive we age at the same rate, that's separate from the length of an astronomical year. I certainly haven't seen any humans who looked three to me obviously hooking up with each other."

"Human sexualities take time to grow to that point."

"So they, what, just don't act on it till they're sixteen?"

"Or do so with more secrecy than when they are older - also by 'hooking up' do you mean talking about having sex or actually having sex?"

"Actually having it. I guess maybe the straight ones have to be careful if the state of birth control is bad."

"People don't usually obviously have sex with each other where other people can see, regardless of their age."

"- oh, I don't mean obviously as in I could see the entire proceedings, I mean I'm not observing them behave in ways that seem to clearly signify that they're about to go have sex. I have seen people who look four or five and older doing that."

"Oh, yes. If people were younger than sixteen and having sex they would be less likely to talk about it in public than if they were older - condoms exists but people are sometimes inconsistent about using them, especially when they are younger."

"Are they a hundred years old like the canned food or is someone manufacturing them?"

"People make them - from pig intestines, I think."

"...needs must."

"Are they manufacturable some other way you prefer?"

"Amentans make them out of various synthetic substances but I don't know how to replicate them." She tucks her hair behind her ear but drops her hand halfway through the gesture. "Copper IUDs might work for humans, it doesn't rely on any specific hormone that wouldn't match, copper's just generally antimicrobial."

"Where does the copper go?"

"Inside the uterus, just barely. I'd need to look at an anatomy textbook or something to guess if the internal structures are similar enough."

"People have those - is installation dangerous?"

"... not in a sterile environment with a trained doctor."

"We have doctors, and... environments that are sterile by our standards but possibly not yours?"

"Maybe they even are! I think humans - either care a lot less than Amentans about being clean, or have largely given up on it because of no longer being able to manufacture plastic and bleach and are repressing the impulse. But maybe the doctors manage real sterility."

"They wash things down with high proof alcohol and the better ones use heat to sterilize their tools between uses."

"That probably works, if not redundantly enough to cover for a mistake at any step."

"Hm, would you be up to talking to one of the more experienced doctors and also Kenton's polymath engineer about whether IUDs could be safely manufactured and tested?"

"Yes -" She stops herself from reaching for her hair again. "- with the caution that I don't have one, the copper kind are on Amenta mostly for people who have delicate hormonal systems and will go into permaspring if they get an implant like the one I have."

"I'm not sure how many people will want one but it probably won't be zero, the condoms we have aren't all that comfortable."