Page 13 of Fallen from the Stars

“Kane?”

“I am relaying the information I have on file to your retinal feed,” the computer replied.

Blue light shone in each of Theo’s eyes, covering both her pupils and her pale green irises. Vasil furrowed his brow. What was happening?

“This can’t be right,” she said after a few moments. “The IDC classified this planet as uninhabitable and declared it a dead system.”

“To be fair,” Kane offered, “your rank allowed us access only to the most basic files.Need-to-knowand all that rubbish.”

“But there arehumanshere.”

“According to this creature,” Kane said.

Theo looked at Vasil and frowned. “How would he know of us otherwise?”

“Perhaps his species is the reason this planet was deemed unsafe for habitation? Maybe theyatethe human settlers who came here after assimilating our language.”

“I thought computers are supposed to be things of logic and reason,” Vasil said. “We do not eat humans. They are our friends, our mates, and—”

Theo’s eyes, rounded in shock, dropped to stare at his pelvis. “Whoa! Hold up. Did you saymates? You…you havesexwithhumans?”

Vasil’s shaft stirred behind his slit. “Ido not,” he said, raising his hands placatingly as her expression shifted to something akin to insult. Had he spoken incorrectly or used the wrong tone? “Not that Iwouldnot, as the human form is attractive, but—”

Theo held up her hand. “Let me stop you there. You’ve already made this weird enough.” She rubbed her eyes with her forefinger and thumb.

“I am curious about this creature’s anatomy,” Kane said. “Where is his—”

“Kane!” she snapped, lowering her hand. “That’s enough.”

“He has characteristics that closely resemble cephalopods from Old Earth. I’m simply speculating as to whether one of his tentacles — the proper term isarms, but I suppose that would get confusing in his case — is his reproductive organ or—”

Theo’s cheeks reddened. “Kane.”

Vasil glanced down at his tentacles, two of which still oozed blood from open wounds. Why would one of them be his reproductive organ? That would be as strange as a human male having a cock for a finger.

“What?” Kane asked. “It’s biology, Theodora.Science. A male octopus tears off the arm that bears his reproductive organ and offers it to the female, thus—”

“No more talking!”

Mouth agape, Vasil stared at Theo. “Tears off the— Is it a joke, Theo, or is he being truthful?”

“I can assure you of my absolute sincerity in this matter, if nothing else,” Kane said.

Vasil’s stomach sank, and he shuddered. Kane’s words created an image too painful to contemplate. He thrust it aside as quickly as he could.

Theo pressed her lips together and stared down at the jungle floor for several seconds. Vasil noted she seemed very careful to keep her gaze away from his tentacles.

Finally, she cleared her throat. “Um…thanks, by the way. For what you did,” she said, motioning toward the snatcher’s scattered remains.

“Yes. I mean…it was…” Vasil released an exasperated breath through his nostrils. He’d observed so many conversations; why was it so difficult for him to partake in them, to figure out whatto say? “As I said before, I do not wish you harm. I also do not wish toseeyou harmed. But I did not think you would hesitate in shooting me if you deemed me a threat.”

Theo smirked. “Yeah, probably not.” She straightened and waved him ahead. “Guide away. Maybe you can show me what I can eat around here, and what wants to eat me.”

Vasil nodded.Doingsomething would be preferable to struggling through a conversation. He turned, swept aside a few bits of the snatcher that had littered the jungle floor, and started forward. His eyes scanned for signs of the food the humans normally foraged — and for the dangers he’d been taught about. Theo’s soft footsteps followed behind him.

“It is not, by the way,” he said over his shoulder after a short while.

“What’s not?” Theo asked.

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