Social and economic life in Gaea Station is divided into rigid units, with individuals assigned to units by their superiors and each unit overseeing a specific aspect of the colony’s needs. Though most units, including combat units, are open to both men and women, the reproductive role of women means that they alone risk being sent to Nursery Wing, where they are forced to give birth every two years—a task that Kyr later learns proves fatal for one in three of them. The novel’s epigraph, from Euripides’ ancient Greek tragedy Medea, conveys the violence of childbirth by comparing it to combat: “I would rather stand three times in the battle line than give birth to one child” (1). This declaration doubles as Nursery’s traditional toast, signifying the Nursery women’s awareness that their task involves at least as much physical risk as that of the combat units. This compulsory childbirth represents a grave violation of the women’s bodily autonomy and ties their social value directly to their capacity for reproduction. Kyr’s assignment to Nursery, despite her extraordinary prowess as a warrior, exemplifies this systemic sexism. Though she is known as the best fighter in her age cohort, she is valued not for her ability to fight but for her ability to breed more fighters.

Gaeans are told lies about the number of remaining humans after the destruction of Earth. Women are supposedly needed to repopulate the species: “Without the women of Nursery Wing, humanity had no future” (23). These lies facilitate systematic rape and forced childbirth. One in three women die after being assigned to Nursery, and the pervasive belief that these women are disposable makes it easy for those in power to suppress any dissent among them: “If one of them thought of rebellion—well. Nursery women died sometime, and no one asked questions” (279). Stripping away women’s autonomy in an authoritarian regime includes taking away their right to live. Producing babies is more important than women’s lives.

Gaea Station controls the gender of the babies that are born as well. The station’s fascist ideology means that it sees itself as perpetually at war. Because Jole believes that men make better soldiers, he wants more men than women. They make sure that there are “[t]wo boys for every girl […] No gene-tailoring suite, so they have to be doing it by aborting female fetuses” (330). This program of selective breeding and selective abortion extends Jole’s authoritarian control into every aspect of life on Gaea Station—even into who has the chance to live at all. The racism and sexism inherent to this system ensures that the Gaean populace is not only majority white but also majority male.

The women who do live are taught that they are inferior to men. Gaea Station’s “strict bioessentialism ke[eps] female soldiers out of command posts” (279). They are made to serve men in every wing. When assigned to Nursery, women are told that the most important thing they can do is give birth to more men. Jole tells Kyr, “You might become a great soldier, but you would only be one. We need many more. Gaea is asking you to be the mother of Earth’s children” (44). Her fighting skills and training scores are disregarded in favor of making her sexually available to Jole and other men on the station. They hide their lust for her behind lies about needing to meet population targets.

Tesh uses Gaea’s fictional fascist regime to highlight how authoritarian practices in the real world harm women by defining them solely in terms of an idealized maternal role. On Gaea, the Nursery women are responsible not only for birthing new humans but also for inculcating them in the station’s fascist ideology. This aligns with the practices of real-world fascist regimes, whose propaganda often idealizes the mother as the person responsible for reproducing fascism in the domestic sphere. The ignorance of Gaean men about the realities of Nursery Wing reflects how many men are unaware of how women’s bodily autonomy is taken away in the real world.