They’re saying “ewww” at the baby being pushed back into the vagina (presumably
repeatedly, and probably accompanied by other weirdness), not the
multiplication tables.
These paragraphs:
“Um...” said the Xenopsychologist. “Okay, I’ve got to admit, I can’t even
begin to imagine why—”
Then there was a uniform “Ewww...” from around the room.
“Oh, dear,” said the Xenopsychologist. “Oh, dear, I don’t think they
understood that part at all.”
are not about the multiplication tables. They are about something gross that
you the reader can only guess at, but a clue is given later during the
conversation with Big Fucking Edward:
We do apologize, I say; but who would ever have thought that a species would
evolve to find reproduction a painful experience? For us, childbirth is
the greatest pleasure we know; to be prolonged, not hurried.”
“Oh,” said the Lady Sensory in a tone of sudden enlightenment, “that’s why
the tentacles were pushing the baby back into—”
They’re saying “ewww” at the baby being pushed back into the vagina (presumably repeatedly, and probably accompanied by other weirdness), not the multiplication tables.
These paragraphs:
are not about the multiplication tables. They are about something gross that you the reader can only guess at, but a clue is given later during the conversation with Big Fucking Edward:
Frog dissected!