Page 7 of What Makes an Alien a Dad?

Yesterday, the nurse brought me a box of four cupcakes from that bakery. I immediately gobbled up one, and it was divine, like the taste of home with heavenly sweetness.

All I really wanted right now was to go back to my apartment, eat the rest of the cupcakes, and cry to my heart’s content.

But Professor Thormus took some time from his busy schedule to have lunch with me. The least I could do was to spare a few minutes from my day of doing nothing and have lunch with him.

I racked my brain for a topic to keep the conversation afloat. It was hard, since I knew absolutely nothing about him, even though I saw him almost daily and had a ton of his probes inside my body on a regular basis.

“What made you choose a career in the reproductive field, Professor?” And now I sounded like I was interviewing him for a local newspaper.

Fortunately, his face lit up at the question. Clearly, that was the subject he was very comfortable with.

“Medical field was identified as predominant on my aptitude test, along with general science,” he said.

From the movies, I knew Voranian babies went through aptitude tests from the day they were born. They spent their childhood in the academy matched with their born abilities, following an individual development plan tailored specifically for them.

“It wasn’t surprising,” the professor continued, “since my father was a renowned surgeon. He’s retired now, but he’d worked most of his life in this very hospital.”

“I didn’t know that. Is that why you opened your clinic here, too?”

“Yes.” He nodded, swaying his long horns. “I never even considered any other location. As for my choice of reproductive field...” He twisted the utensil between his long fingers, looking contemplative. “I made this choice during my two years as the field doctor on Tragul.”

“You’ve been to war?”

From watching Voranian television, I’d learned all about the twenty-year-long war waged between Ravils, a nation on the planet Tragul, and the fescods, the blob-shaped creatures governed by a central mind.

At some point, fescods invaded Neron, too, forcing Voran to fight on their own territory. Earth had sent a unit of specialized armored soldiers as well, helping the two planets to finally defeat the fescods and end the long, bloody war.

Never in a million years would I have imagined this neat, distant, always so well put-together professor fighting in the mud and grime of the battlefields.

“I spent only two years at war before it ended. But I hope my service contributed to our ultimate victory,” he said.

“Of course it did.” I nodded enthusiastically. “I saw a very good documentary on it. Although the end of the war was brought on by one action, every bit before that counted in stopping those things from causing more damage and devastation.”

He tilted his head, giving me a curious look. He clearly didn’t expect me to be familiar with the Voranian history. But what else did I have to do other than watch shows and movies? I couldn’t even read unless the book was narrated to me, since translator implants only worked with sound, not visual language.

“It was during those two years on Tragul,” he said, “that I decided to fully commit to the reproductive area of my work.”

“Why?”

He rubbed his jaw under his short beard.

“I saw more deaths in the field hospital than I’d ever seen in my entire life prior. We did our best. But many lives were lost despite our efforts. Before I even returned to Neron, I knew I wanted to help bring new life into this world.”

His reasoning sounded profound.

“I didn’t expect that,” I blurted out.

He arched an eyebrow. “You didn’t?”

“No. I’m sorry, I...”

“What did you think was my reason for doing what I do?”

“Oh, I don’t know. Money maybe? Accolades? Fame?”

He just didn’t strike me as an emotional type, not by any stretch of imagination. I’d assumed a pragmatic person like him would be motivated mostly by practical things.

“Money is good to have,” he agreed. “The importance of this work is high for our country, therefore this study is very well funded. Accolades are great both for my ego and reputation.” He smiled. “But fame... Fame I could certainly do without. People are starting to recognize me in public, and it’s becoming rather bothersome.”

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