Page 18 of Whoops-A-Mate From Outer Space
I frowned. “You couldn’t fix it?”
He sighed. “Many attempts have been made. Once our genetic engineers exhausted the avenues that they identified, we consulted with other species…”
He paused, stood, and started pacing behind the bench seat, wringing his hands. “In our desperate attempt to save ourselves, we messed up. We overlooked some of the long-term biological impacts of women and failed to account for them. Now, it has been so long that we do not know what we lost.”
He let out a long breath and sat again, hands clasped in front of him. “If we had had more time… If we had been able to properly plan… Those are the questions that plague us. Would we be here if things had been different?”
I reached over and rested one of my hands on top of his. “From everything you’ve told me, your people did what they had to.”
He gave me a weak smile. “And now we are doing it again. Humans are the species with which we are most genetically compatible, since we are mostly human ourselves. It is our hope that, if nothing else, we can reintroduce some of what was lost to us.”
He looked down at where my hand was still on his, and I pulled my hand away. “Sorry…” I coughed. “I must ask, how do you expect to get human genetics back? I was told there are no women here because you’re that concerned about their health.”
He laughed. “Doctor… Gene… did you forget that we are an all-male species? We can mate with human men.”
I blinked, then slapped my forehead. “Oh my God… I’m an idiot.”
His laughter increased. “It is an understandable lapse.” He took a moment before he spoke again. “There are… other considerations.”
“Oh?”
He sighed. “Most of our population has never seen or met a woman. It is more common among those who travel to other planets, but we tend to be an isolated species.”
I considered the statement for a moment, then nodded. “I imagine it would be uncomfortable to be expected to impregnate a gender you’re unfamiliar with.”
He returned the nod. “And that is in addition to the reason we have come is due to virility issues. It would be devastating for our men to take women as mates, then be unable to father children.”
A long pause before he continued. “Then there is the fact that fetal DNA can remain in the birthing parent. If a situation arose where we had to leave and could not take mates, that could have unintended consequences.”
“If…” I started, then the meaning sank in. I sighed. “Human xenophobia.”
“Correct… unfortunately.” He sighed. “And homophobia. There were a handful of countries that refused to work with us—all of which have outlawed same-gender relationships. We were willing to work with them… take the men whom they had imprisoned simply for the… crime… of who they loved. But they felt so strongly that they decided to forsake not only their own citizens, but from what I have been told, the representatives from one country seemed gleeful to refuse just to spite us.”
“I’m sorry.”
He shook his head. “It was expected. We had hoped they would see the benefit, but…”
I let his words hang in the air for several seconds before responding. “They probably have agreements with other countries to share technology.”
He nodded. “That is likely.”
The sound of a cadence as the group of running soldiers got closer.
I tilted my head back and stared at the sky, giving myself a moment to process everything. It was after a minute that I realized I hadn’t heard or seen a plane since my arrival.
“Is this a no-fly zone?” I mused.
Eashai chuckled. “It is. Mostly to keep the public from seeing the base, but also so that we can safely come and go as needed.”
“We?” I asked, looking at him. “As in… your people?”
He nodded. “Correct.”
“What’s it like, interstellar travel?”
He cocked his head to one side. “It is… unique. Before coming here, I preferred vessels that utilized stasis fields for passengers. It is an uncommon side-effect, but I get nauseous in subspace. The ships offering stasis fields are popular for reaching tourist locations because one merely gets into their assigned berth, goes to sleep, and awakens at their destination. However, those are not used to reach Earth, so I have had to…” He paused. “I believe ‘tolerate’ is the best description. I have had to tolerate standard space travel.”
“So people are prone to sea-sickness even in space?”
