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away any reassurance she might have taken from Martin’s smile. “After the first part of the interview you will remove your clothes, so that we can inspect you as our questioning proceeds. I imagine you will find this the most unpleasant part of the entire process, but again you will not avoid it, even if we must restrain you. It will be much better if you make up your mind to obey us. Do you understand?”
    Gretchen thought her whole body must have turned red. Inspect you. What did it mean? She knew the thing she had said to Mr. Lourcy, about the having sex, but she didn’t even really know what that meant—it was just the thing that men seemed to do on top of women, at night. Jerry, the man who had protected Gretchen and her mother, and brought them to the enclosure, did it to her mother, and her mother seemed to like it, but something in what the girls whispered about made her think that sex had something shameful to it—and why else would people only do it at night in their houses, and you had to pretend you were asleep if you happened to hear it?
    “This inspection is intended to determine two things, Gretchen. It is an important part of our law that authorizes the Taking that we acknowledge both of them.” Mr. Gramling looked at Ms. Feld and Ms. Renton at that point, Gretchen saw, without understanding why.
    “The first purpose,” Mr. Gramling continued, “is to ensure that you’ll be able to deliver a baby safely. Although our scanners do a pretty good job of measuring these things, it’s still necessary to evaluate girls for Taking the old-fashioned way. So we’ll bring out that examination table over there, have you get up on it and spread your legs in the stirrups nice and wide, and we’ll take a look.”
    He pointed to the corner of the room, where a sort of high bench stood that Gretchen hadn’t noticed before. Out of one end of it rose two short metal poles with fixtures at their ends that made Gretchen think they must be what Mr. Gramling meant by stirrups.
    He continued, “But before we do that, we’re going to determine the other information we need to know about you. We’re going to ask you those questions I mentioned before, and then you’ll take off your clothes and come around to each of us so that we can inspect you for ourselves, and see what kind of girl you are when it comes to sexual matters. Some of us will touch you in a way you may never have been touched before, and you may find it very embarrassing, but I need you to remember that you don’t have any choice, and that you’ll be punished again if you refuse to obey us. Do you understand?”
    Did Gretchen truly understand? Her face felt as hot as the sun. She supposed at least that she understood why she should just comply with the sky-people’s instructions and get that part over with. “Yes, Mr. Gramling,” she whispered.
    “Good. Then things get simpler. After the exam on the table, you’ll go through the door behind me into the entertainment room. There will be refreshments in there, and you may have as much as you want, and talk to any of the other girls you like for as long as you like. You’re first today, so you’ll have a little while to wait before other girls start to join you, and it’s going to take a few hours for us to get through all the candidates, but you’ll find some entertainment options like vids and books in there along with the food, so just relax until I come get all of you after we’re done with the auction. You’ll all come back in here, I’ll tell you who bought you, and then you’ll have a few minutes with him or her to hear a little bit about what is going to be expected of you—just so you’re not kept in suspense, understand?”
    “Yes, Mr. Gramling,” Gretchen said. It did seem to make sense, although Gretchen had a very hard time imagining what it would all look like. She had arrived at the Hall of Taking along with fifteen or sixteen other girls of her age or a little older,