She knew, because Tequila repeated it often, that when Tequila got 
pregnant with Nell, she had been using something called the Freedom 
Machine—a mite that lived in your womb and caught eggs and ate them. 
Victorians didn't believe in them, but you could buy them from Chinese and 
Hindustanis, who, of course, had no scruples. You never knew when they'd all 
gotten too worn-out to work anymore, which is how Tequila had ended up with 
Nell. One of the women said you could buy a special kind of Freedom Machine 
that would go in there and eat a fetus. Nell didn't know what a fetus was, but 
all of the women apparently did, and thought that the idea was the kind of 
thing that only the Chinese or Hindustanis would ever think up. Tequila said
she knew all about that sort of Freedom Machine but didn't want to use one, 
because she was afraid it might be gross.