Page 49 of Whoops-A-Mate From Outer Space
I nodded.
“Could you ask General Block for some assurances as to how long your post here would be?”
I sighed. “I could, but that doesn’t solve the long-term problem. Even if he told me I had a guaranteed position for a few years, what happens when I return to academia? I’d still have that black mark on my work history. And we haven’t even gotten to my graduate students. They wanted to study under me for a reason. They’d have to find new professors whose work aligns with theirs, or potentially face the setback of having to start new research under somebody else.”
He frowned. “It is quite complicated.”
I slumped. “Yeah.”
“There are no other options? Could you not teach your classes from here? Like you communicate with your students now?”
I shook my head. “I don’t know if either the Army or the university would allow it. It was hard enough getting them to allow me to speak to my grad students. I’m not aware of any other professor doing remote classes. I thought about trying to work out something where the Army could send me back for one or two days a week for extended-length classes. But with the schedules already set, I don’t think that’s feasible either.”
“Perhaps if I…” he started.
I shook my head. “I can’t get you involved. Besides that, I really don’t know what you could do. It’s not as if they’d let you talk to the university, and even if they did, I’m not sure the administration would appreciate being leaned on like that.”
“Leaned on?”
“Pressured.” I chuckled. “Just you being here has the possibility of derailing every educational institution on the planet. All you’d need to do is flash some technology and drop scientific results from studies you’d conducted a thousand years ago. Nothing is scarier to a college than potentially seeing funding cut off because everything they teach and research is suddenly outdated.”
“Oh…”
I hung my head. “No matter what I decide, there are no good options.”
∞∞∞
Eashai was distant in the days following our talk. We still did the normal things, but his smile was forced, and there was sadness in his eyes.
The worst part was that I didn’t know how to fix it. It was my fault, I was leaving, and we had no real way of knowing if or when we’d be able to contact each other.
I wanted to tell him that we’d be able to stay friends, but it was a promise I didn’t know that I could keep. Instead, I had to make the most of the time we had.
There were about ten days remaining before I had to announce my decision to return to the university when Floyd strode into the computer side of the lab, a smile on his face and a manila envelope clutched in one hand.
“Good news, gentlemen,” he announced as we all turned to face him. “We’ve confirmed with the other labs, and our preliminary testing is complete. We’ve been given the go-ahead to move on to developing the test parameters and procedures that we’ll use as we bring in volunteers.”
Excited chatter filled the lab, forcing Floyd to clap twice to get everyone’s attention again.
“Representatives from the other labs will be brought in tomorrow for the planning meetings. When developing your recommendations about what samples to collect and add to continued monitoring, keep in mind that genetics isn’t the only thing being studied. Given what we know of the Lalyllte mating practices, we expect psychological and possibly physiological changes. Those tests will take priority for the foreseeable future. Your ongoing tasks will be to study and document the samples from our volunteers, and as the children are born, to track what traits tend to be dominant from either the human or Lalyllte parent.”
Heads nodded around the room.
“Hold discussions this afternoon to come up with sensible testing parameters. Eashai, Doctor Wallace, and Major Klein will be your representatives in the planning meetings, so make sure to discuss priorities and concerns with them.”
A round of “yes, sir” sounded around me.
Floyd nodded. “Good job, gentlemen. While it was one of many, this was a significant step. What you’ve done here will be classified information for years, likely decades, but eventually future generations will be able to look at your research and understand that we were aware of the magnitude of the decision and were proactive in documenting everything.”
More nods.
“With that, I’ll leave you to your discussions.”
Another chorus of “yes, sir.”
Floyd turned and strode out, leaving several seconds of silence in his wake.
It was Major Klein who broke the silence. “Ok, everybody. You heard him. The soldiers who volunteer to take Lalyllte mates will already be subjected to barrages of tests, and, while I don’t know about the other testing requirements, I won’t put forth any suggestion that treats our men, their mates, or their children as pincushions. That means we develop our procedures to take as few blood draws as possible and rely on less invasive methods whenever we can. Am I clear?”
