Tags:
Fiction,
adventure,
Romance,
Fantasy,
Paranormal,
Adult,
Action,
SciFi,
supernatural,
Genetic engineering,
Short-Story,
Alien,
alien invasion,
Erotic,
Alien Contact,
space travel
same.
“This—pornography that they have,” Lenth said slowly. “It’s difficult to decipher how much of it is for the purposes of education and how much of it is entertainment.”
“They are in some ways like children,” Bronn said, taking another sip of his beer. “This isn’t bad; when the waitress arrives, you should order it.” Bronn set the heavy glass mug down and continued his thought. “It’s as though their mating is not simply for the purposes of either bonding or reproduction, but a recreational activity in its own right.” Among the Khateen, mating only served two functions; part of the challenge that faced the researchers sent to the planet known as Earth was that mating seemed to be a much more complicated issue.
“We know much more now than we did when this mission started,” Lenth pointed out. “It seems strange though that something that can result in conception could be used purely as a form of entertainment. I understand that many human women don’t desire this outcome.”
“The planet is fairly well-populated,” Bronn pointed out. “And we both know that the orgasm response in humans can be addictive.”
“But an entire planet of addicts? It should be choked with humans—they should have already destroyed themselves.”
“They have ways of preventing conception, as Hikar discovered.” Hikar, another one of their colleagues, had recruited his human female subject the week before; he had reported to the group about the existence of various methods that humans used to avoid reproduction.
“All I know,” Lenth said, shaking his head in frustration, “is that if we don’t find a subject to experiment on, we’ll be in trouble.”
Their conversation was interrupted by the arrival of a human woman; she was short, even by human standards, with brilliant purple-colored hair cut short around a sharp-featured face. Dressed in a pair of shorts that revealed the indelible ink markings Lenth knew were called tattoos—designs that looked similar to human artwork in a floral motif—and a tight, black shirt, she looked to Lenth’s gaze like the human mythological creature called a pixie.
“Can I get you something?” she said, and Lenth felt a shiver cascade through his nervous system at the pleasing, soft sound of her voice. The woman’s large, dark eyes took him in.
“I’ll have what my friend is having,” Lenth told her, gesturing to the beer. The woman smiled, nodding quickly.
“Coming right up!” she scribbled something on the pad of paper and moved away from the table, and Lenth watched her move towards the bar.
“What do you think?” Bronn asked. Lenth smiled slowly.
“I think we should approach her,” Lenth replied. “She’s an excellent candidate.”
Bronn watched the woman that he and Lenth had identified as a potential recruit for their now-combined study, tracking her around the room as she went about her work. “Why do you think she’s an excellent candidate?” Bronn asked his colleague, turning his attention back onto Lenth.
“She’s obviously fertile,” Lenth said, his glance moving to watch her as well. “I find her interesting.”
“Interesting?” Bronn asked doubtfully. He had had no success in finding a recruit to study; as yet he had never found a human woman to be specifically interesting. He had found them intriguing as study participants—but his opinion about human intelligence was fairly dim.
“Did you hear her voice?” Lenth asked him.
Bronn raised his shoulders in an approximation of a shrug. “She has a very nice voice; how does that make her interesting?”
“She has that—tattooing,” Lenth pointed out, still speaking in their native language.
“Many human women have that,” Bronn pointed out. When the human woman approached the table once more, Bronn looked at her artwork in more detail. The shorts the woman was wearing made it easy to view the whorls and swirls of ink forming flowers on her upper