Punctuated Equilibrium
an excerpt

With a half laugh she looked at him, “I understood what you were asking. I just don’t know.” She shrugged. “You’re right, I should. I should.” With a weak laugh, more at herself than anything, she said, “I guess no one wanted to complain to me about their problems getting pregnant. I never advertised what happened, but . . .well, I should have know better. In a small community like this. People would know.”
“Well, that makes sense,” William said.
“I can ask around. Try to find out casually.”
“Fine, if you think you can. But I think it’s fine. Even if everyone wanted to spare your feelings, if there was a serious deeply entrenched worry out there – that wouldn’t stay hidden. One or both of us would know about it by now. I’d have every woman in the colony in my office if it were a real problem. Let’s just make sure it doesn’t become one. Let’s keep this quite at this stage. Until we know something.”
“Agreed.”
“Good.” William stood to go.
“I have a few good friends that I can trust to stay quiet. Give you a few more numbers for your study if it helps.”
“Yes. That would be good. Good. And I’ll see you at the lab tomorrow afternoon.” He left.