A book I read quite a long time ago, probably 15 years back, has just been popping up in my head and I can't place it.
I suspect it might have even been a later book in a series (and it came from the library).
The set-up is that I think the action is on an artificial habitat in space. The centaurs (or possibly winged horses) breed by mating, then laying eggs. The eggs cannot develop until one particular human woman has put the egg in her mouth and an enzyme in her saliva activates the egg. It is her responsibility to judge the genetic value of the proposed offspring, and to keep the population under control, so at the "egg ceremony" she turns down most eggs. The centaurs can mate with themselves, and I seem to remember an egg needs three parents, and there was a bit about "a beautiful white creature" which was all three parents for her/his egg - and was turned down.
There are more humans in the story, and I have the impression that they were transported to the world/habitat before the story began or in a previous book. There is more to the story than just the egg scene, but it is that which stuck in my mind. At some point before the book I read, the centaur birth control lady was altered so that she could carry out that role. By the book I read she is weary of it (and may not have been too pleased at being dumped with the task in the first place).
Any ideas?
I suspect it might have even been a later book in a series (and it came from the library).
The set-up is that I think the action is on an artificial habitat in space. The centaurs (or possibly winged horses) breed by mating, then laying eggs. The eggs cannot develop until one particular human woman has put the egg in her mouth and an enzyme in her saliva activates the egg. It is her responsibility to judge the genetic value of the proposed offspring, and to keep the population under control, so at the "egg ceremony" she turns down most eggs. The centaurs can mate with themselves, and I seem to remember an egg needs three parents, and there was a bit about "a beautiful white creature" which was all three parents for her/his egg - and was turned down.
There are more humans in the story, and I have the impression that they were transported to the world/habitat before the story began or in a previous book. There is more to the story than just the egg scene, but it is that which stuck in my mind. At some point before the book I read, the centaur birth control lady was altered so that she could carry out that role. By the book I read she is weary of it (and may not have been too pleased at being dumped with the task in the first place).
Any ideas?
