Page 1 of What Makes an Alien a Dad?

Chapter 1

Maya

“Pooh Bear,

I know it sucks, but I hope you’ll understand. You’re a smart, strong girl. That’s why I loved you all these years...”

Loved?

Past tense?

My heart stuttered, and it took a moment for it to restart. Even then, it didn’t seem to work all that well; my feet and hands went cold, blood rushing away from them.

What was this letter from Walter, my boyfriend, practically my fiancé, supposed to mean?

I was afraid to continue reading, but my eyes ran down the glowing dark-blue lines of text on the opaque screen of the tablet I’d received for my personal use upon arrival to the planet Neron five months ago.

“The truth is, these ten months have been hard...”

No one expected them to be easy. We’d talked about it a lot before I left Earth. Both Walter and I knew that my long absence might be challenging for our relationship. But it’d been a mutual decision.

I’d shared everything with Walter, including every piece of communication I’d received from Neron back then. My medical tests turned out to be the most promising out of hundreds of others, deeming my uterus the best place on Earth for the development of a Voranian baby.

Walter and I decided together that I should participate in the experimental study as the first human surrogate to implant the embryo of anonymous donors from the country of Voran located on Planet Neron.

For us, it’d be a great opportunity to earn the money Walter needed to open his store. And for Voranians, it offered new opportunities to become parents for the human-Voranian couples on Neron.

Historically, there were far more boys than girls born in Voran. It resulted in a ratio of about one woman to nine or ten men. In addition to their own families, Voranian women often used artificial insemination to help men other than their husbands to start a family as single fathers.

With the creation of the Earth-Neron Liaison Committee several years ago, a marriage agreement was signed. Human women could apply to become wives of Voranian men. Several happy marriages had formed since.

However, humans could not reproduce with Voranians. Our species turned out to be biologically incompatible for procreation.

The goal of the study I’d been selected for was to give human wives of Voranian men the chance to carry the babies of their husbands on their own with the help of a Voranian egg donor. If successful, the results of the studies would benefit everyone.

For the Voranian women, it meant they would have to go through fewer pregnancies. The embryos created with donor eggs and the sperm of a Voranian man married to a human woman would be implanted directly into his wife, allowing her to carry the pregnancy to term.

A win-win situation.

Unfortunately, after months or even years of extensive tests and research, I’d been deemed the only suitable human subject so far.

Voranians had been ecstatic to get their hands on me and my uterus. They couldn’t force me to participate in the study, of course, but they’d made their offer as enticing as possible. I’d gotten an all-expense-paid trip to Voran, including the spaceship travel, accommodation, and whatever else I needed, provided it was approved by the head of the study, Professor Thormus. I’d also received a large payment before I’d even boarded the spaceship, and I had been promised five times as much upon the completion of the study.

This was supposed to be our new start, Walter’s and mine. Nineteen to twenty months spent apart didn’t seem too bad, considering we’d been together since we were sixteen—ten years now. We’d talked about getting married as soon as I got back to Earth, which would be only nine more months, including the five-month-long trip back.

The long-distance relationship hadn’t been easy. We mostly communicated by written messages. Sending occasional videos was also allowed by my contract. We’d managed just fine. The study was more than half-way through already.

But now, this letter from Walter came...

“I feel like my life has been put on hold. I have a girlfriend who isn’t here. Technically, I’m in a relationship, but I have to do everything alone. I feel out of place at both single and couple events. It sucks...”

Well, it sucked for me, too. But we were in it together. Except that I also had to go through our separation while carrying an alien fetus in my belly.

“Anyway, I hope you understand, Pooh Bear. I’m sorry, but I just can’t go on like this...”

What?

What was that supposed to mean?

---