Page 11 of Orange Town
“He wasn’t that talkative.”
“Interesting,” he mused, and made another human gesture of touching his lower jaw. He stared off to my left side. “Well,” he focused on me again. “I’m sure we’ll have a very interesting reunion. And he’ll be very surprised that you can now speak our language. I could not believe he could communicate with you. Then again, that beast is famously known as a manasty with very few words.”
He shuffled more of his weight, facing me. “Yes, I’m his lover.”
I bet my eyes were round as saucers. “Oh! I’m so sorry!”
He cocked an eyebrow again. “Sorry? What for? Are you not allowed multiple lovers?”
Multiple what? What kind of planet is this? Is that why Zirc was okay with Ist? “Well, it’s more normal where I came from to have one lover at a time. Especially when one is married. There are cases when there are multiple partners, but we do not encourage it.” Though I knew there were swingers in my old peaceful neighborhood. An open secret that feeds so much gossip. But I doubt they have the same concept of a swinger on this planet.
“I think I know what you mean.”
He does?
“We have so-called mates. Zirc and I wanted to be mates. We match. We compliment each other in many ways. We are allowed other lovers but once we find our mates, we mate for life. We can be intimate with others, but the High Council will only allow us to have children with our mate.”
“What do you allow?”
“Other species can mate with their female species. But we don’t have any females on this planet.”
I was too shocked to voice out my questions. What does he mean?
“Do you have female species on your planet?”
I nodded my head. Oh my goodness, he can’t tell? Does this mean some males on this planet look like females?
“How lucky for you,” his lips curved a little, giving me a hint of a fang. He looked wistful. “Well, we can’t. Our females died thousands of years ago. But our ancestors were able to harvest eggs from our females before they all died from a virus. There was no vaccine. They said that the planet used to be filled with so many of us! So many cubs littered the streets. And now.” His eyes are seeing past me again.
He sighed and straightened a bit. “I can understand that some worlds out there differ from ours. I must make it my mission to teach you, our technology. At least the basics.”
“What happened to your females?” I can’t help but ask.
He stared at me for a moment before answering. “A virus got into their system. No female can conceive even if they are healthy. The males harvested their eggs before it came too late. We’ve tried to conceive with other species. I’m sure our forefathers were very active in that regard.” He had a small smile on his face. “But there is no known crossbreed with other species of our kind. The only way for us to breed is through manual means. There’s a machine that will enable us to extract our seeds. But only if you are mated can we get the seed to be impregnated. There is something that happens, something fantastical that happens. My parents told me.”
“I’m surprised they kept that many eggs many years ago. How would you know if you are mates?”
I noticed a small sadness in his eyes. And I remembered. He wanted Zirc to be his mate. And probably Zirc too wants to be his mate as well.
“You have too many questions, little one. I can also see it in your eyes.” He shifted in his seat. I thought he was not going to answer. “First, our females can generate many eggs in their reproductive cycle. So there are thousands if not millions of eggs harvested. Only the High Council has access to it. Mates, or those who were successful to have children, have told countless tales of the happiness one can get from having a true mate and a child. There are only thousands on this planet. Only a few tribes survived.” I can see he wanted to add more but stopped. I’m sure there is more to it.
“Now your second question. We can only know through sex.”
“What?”
Now his eyes are twinkling with mirth. “I think you heard me clear the first time. Why do you think we have so many lovers? That is the only way for us to know for sure if we are mated. There is something in the way we have sex that is unique that will trigger the mating.”
I tried to remember the times Zirc and I had sex. It was rough at the start. Then playful at times. But mostly, they were intense.
“I can see you’re imagining Zirc?”
I tried not to blush and stare at his leather tunic.
“I regret to inform you little one that there is no known species in the universe that is compatible with us. Yet. Maybe there is. But Zirc would know. There are some subtle signs,” I looked up when he paused. I waited but he did not continue.
I was about to ask what those signs were when he straightened up on his seat and said. “We are going under a mountain. It will be very dark outside so don’t be frightened. And there will be some rough patches.”
He pressed some buttons and pulled some levers slowly. We tilted to the side and pretty soon, our surrounding area got dark. Even the lights dimmed.
