Page 63 of Orange Lake
Jigen sighed. “Better to tell Brynn about it Coone. It will be chaos. Not including the fact how she got the healing crystal.” His hand moved and I can almost feel or see a see through barrier. “It’s a sound barrier. Better this be kept to ourselves first.”
I glared at them. They talk as if I committed a heinous crime by getting that crystal.
Jigen gravely said, “Hiscats are ancient creatures, said they lived long before our early ancestors arrived on this planet. They hate the males of our species, but they adore and follow our females. Everywhere.”
I shrugged. “What’s so bad about it? I’m pretty sure all female aliens in nearby planets are the same, right?”
They stiffened and I got anxious.
“Brynn,” Coone looked at me with worried eyes. “Hiscats only follow females but only those who can breed with manasties.”
I scoffed. “Hah, have you tried it with other female species?”
Jigen’s eyes glittered and the answer is yes.
“But what does it mean then?”
Coone remained quiet and Jigen said, “It means there will be whispers that a hiscat, or a group of hiscats, is beholden to a female specie. You look like a male. But when a hiscat purred, nobody will believe that you are a male specie. Just whispers of this will cause all scientific groups in this planet to covet you and evaludate if you can breed with us.”
“All because of a hiscat?”
Jigen and Coone nodded. “Such is the power of the tale about hiscats.”
Instinctively, I pressed my hand to my womb. But Zirc said he can’t make any female pregnant.
Jigen noticed. “We studied you. My mates did. You are not with young. And Zirc, even Roqs, are not willing to give you up for a study if you can breed with us. It crossed our mind, the way Zirc is behaving. What is the purposing of being a mate if you can’t breed?”
“Is there a way to prevent pregnancy?” Coone went rigid. His eyes looked as if I betrayed him. “Coone, you have to understand, where I came from, we have option not to get pregnant. If what Jigen is saying is true, then you or any mate, can make me pregnant?”
Have they planned this? After all, it was their purpose to find their mate. Yet, I do not know exactly how they can breed their children with only males and females eggs. Most likely test tube babies. Amazing how their civilization can do this.
“I can’t get pregnant without me knowing the risks,” I argued.
“Brynn is right,” Jigen said. Coone looked ready to argue. “Getting pregnant will make her a target. We don’t even know why the Shura is not affecting her though we have a theory and it’s got something to do with her body’s chemistry. Right now, all I can deduce is she is safe from pregnancy because she probably doesn’t have her heat yet.”
They stared at me. My heat.
“It’s when your eggs ovulate to ready you. Does your kind know about this - “ Jigen asked. I nodded. “Our species and even nekos like Coone get their heat once a year. Based on records, there are females that get their heat every two to three years. Five years is very rare. ”
Once a year? Clearly, I’m not on Earth any more. How to tell them? And I feel embarrassed for some reason discussing this with them.
“Um, every month.” I felt their shock to my very core. Coone looked pale. “But I’m not very regular.”
“What do you mean regular?” Jigen got over his shock.
Ah, how to explain? Jigen is a scientist so he is overflowing with curiosity. Coone still looks pale.
“Regular period. Or as you would say, regular monthly heat?” I can feel my cheeks are pink. Getting warmer. “But for me, it doesn’t happen every month. Maybe four times a year?”
I haven’t been to my ob-gyne in years. I have no desire to have children, yet. My goal was to go on a vacation. Why do I have a feeling that Jigen wants to be my ob-gyne? With the way he’s looking at me up and down, he is interested to know if my kind can mate with theirs. Not that, he wants to matemateme, right?
Coone probably read what I thought. He scowled and said, “No.” He went beside me and placed a hand on my shoulder. As if trying to claim me in front of Jigen. That is so weird coming from Coone who before doesn’t even want to get too close to me. He’s all prickly and cuddy like a cute porcupine.
“We’ll just head over to one of the rooms here,” Coone declared before he dragged me to somewhere nearby. I can still feel Jigen staring at the back of my head but I refused to look back. I don’t want to be a science experiment. I want to go home. And I want to to near Zirc. I hope Roqs is taking good care of him.
***
The room opened sideways. I still feel like I’m inside a futuristic spaceship, with no windows to see what’s outside. It doesn’t feel like it but we are probably thousands of miles deep underground.
