Page 3 of What Makes an Alien a Dad?

Kear

On the way from the lab to his office, Kear made a detour to grab a lunch tray from the small café in the gardens on the roof of the hospital building.

Of course, he could have sent a drone to pick it up instead of walking three floors up only to go four floors down right after, but excitement buzzed through him, spurring him to move. The bounce in his step was so pronounced, he was practically dancing on his hooves.

On his way to the café, he went over the latest charts on his tablet. It looked good. Everything looked so fucking good, it was scary. Concerns could spring up unexpectedly with any pregnancy. But when it was the one-of-a-kind pregnancy in the entire Universe, everything was a risk.

The last five months had been the most intense in his life, which was significant, considering his life before hadn’t always been easy, either. Yet this study proved more challenging than anything he’d done before.

Thankfully, the hard work seemed to be paying off. The subject’s hormone levels were great. Her health seemed fine. The fetus’s measurements were on the lower end of the scale but still within normal range. All organs looked perfect.

For the first time ever, a Voranian fetus was thriving in a human womb. It was a huge achievement. He couldn’t wait to present his findings at the assembly this weekend. He could already imagine the envious looks on the faces of Hezer and Egus.

The three of them graduated from the academy together. Kear had been in the top of his class, but he’d taken a break right after to serve as a field doctor during the last two years of the war with the fescods, the semi-intelligent blob-like creatures that had taken over the nearby planet Tragul before invading the Voranian planet Neron. It had been the most brutal war in this part of the galaxy.

He’d learned a lot during his years on the battlefield and gained skills he would not have been able to gain anywhere else—like working without modern medical equipment, treating wounds with medicine sourced from local plants and animals, or thinking fast and taking risks that saved lives. It’d been a valuable experience, but it had set him back academically.

When he resumed his studies and his research work after the war, he had to catch up. Many of his colleagues had advanced far beyond him.

He got lucky, incredibly lucky, to stumble upon the breakthrough before anyone else. Since he was the one who’d found the subject with the best compatibility score, he had been appointed as the Head of Research during the most important study in the reproductive field yet.

Kear was only thirty-four—a ridiculously young age in the science world. Everything he’d achieved since his lucky break was through hard work, learning, and determination. Yet he found himself constantly having to defend his accomplishments in front of his much older and more experienced colleagues.

Well, at the assembly this weekend, he’d prove that the respect and honor he’d received from the nation was well earned on his part. The human subject of his study—

A strangled sob coming from the bushes beside the stone path made him pause. Tearing his attention away from his tablet screen, he lifted his head.

Another sob came—a squeaky, pitiful sound, followed by a sniffle. It appeared someone was crying. Only he couldn’t see anyone around. Not that he knew what to do with a crying person, even if he saw them. The best he could think of would be getting a drone for assistance.

He lifted his tablet again, intending to call a hospital drone, when movement caught his eye. A foot in a white hospital shoe shifted on the ground, quickly disappearing under the nearest bush.

Voranians had hooves and wore no shoes. To his knowledge, there was currently only one pair of feet in this entire hospital. And it belonged to his study subject.

If she was the one crying, it was a problem, and it concerned him directly.

He lowered his tablet, staring at the dirt under the bush where the foot had just been. Another sob came from behind the flowers. This one was barely audible as she must’ve noticed him and covered her mouth with her hands, not wanting him to hear her crying.

Fuck, he didn’t want to hear it either. If there was one thing that made him feel uncomfortably helpless, it was a crying woman. He had no idea what to do and wished he could just pretend he heard nothing, get his food, and eat it in peace in his office, like he’d intended.

But the human was crying. Which meant she was in distress. Which in turn meant her mental wellbeing was in jeopardy. Her physical wellbeing might also be at risk, and so were his perfect charts he was about to present at the biggest assembly in his field.

He couldn’t let a drone handle this.

“Um...” He cleared his throat, speaking to the bush. “Madam...”

What was her name again? In all the research documents, she was referred to only by the subject number. Of course, he’d personally signed her immigration papers. He’d seen her full name listed there. But what was it? As great as his memory was at retaining large strings of research data, any irrelevant information didn’t stay there for long.

“Madam.” He decided to omit the name for now. “May I inquire what has caused your distress?”

The bush remained quiet; even the sobbing had ceased. Well, there was not much left to do. Crouching down, he set aside his tablet and parted the flower-covered branches.

She sat on the ground, hugging her knees as closely as her protruding belly allowed. The white cap she had worn during the physical exam that morning was gone. Her thick black hair was spread over her shoulders, with a few long tresses hanging over her face. Her dark eyes glistened as she glared at him through her thick, glossy strands.

“I’m fine.”

She obviously lied. She looked the opposite of fine. The skin around her eyes was puffy. Her cheeks were flushed, making her appear feverish. Tears streaked her face.

Unease crawled up Kear’s spine, urging him to flee. He felt way out of his element here. He’d much rather face a raging fescod. At least then, he’d know what to do. But he couldn’t leave her like this. Her pulse must be racing. Her blood pressure was likely elevated. Neither would look good on his daily report charts.

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