The Cay Project was a semi-secret foray into bioengineering by the Earth-based company GalacTech. Inspired by the opportunity to experiment presented by the invention of uterine replicators, two doctors and a largish staff set out to create a new species of free-fall dwelling people, Quaddies. They chose an out-of-the-way location, Rodeo, where they could avoid being observed for the roughly twenty years that it would take to produce skilled workers. As it happened, however: