Case Study: Interspecies Mating, page 7
They were beautiful and elegant, and they seemed to move in unison. Their heads tilting at the same time, their tails twitching together, staring at him like, well, a test subject under a magnifying lens.
Fway continued, looking at data on his tablet that Rizor couldn’t see. “Subject two, a human female, has triggered your mating instincts. Based on that, you have been isolated from her in order to begin this study. And also to inform you what to expect in mating with a human. You have to be careful with cross species mating, you know.”
“I’m aware.” Rizor’s tapping ceased. He did, in fact, want to have this conversation. “What do I need to know about mating a human?”
Fway lifted his eyes from his tablet, smirking at him as Kwee smiled, her stiff lips forming a tight grin, looking at her mate like the question reminded her how much she loved him.
“For you, most relevantly, humans aren’t necessarily aggressive during their mating,” Fway said, his lyrical voice almost musical even when he just spoke normally. “They can be. But that kind of thing requires communication and consent. If she agrees to let you hunt her, it will be fine. So, just allow her to take the lead. She’ll let you know what’s okay and when.”
“What instincts does she have?” Would he need to dance for her like Fway would have for Kwee? His species had the mating hunt, but others had their own requirements, and even if they weren’t his, he wanted to cater to her.
Though if he had to do a mating dance, it was going to be so awkward. He couldn’t even remember the last time he tried to dance. If she required an elaborate, elegant display like a farasie, he was going to have a very difficult time.
But then Kwee said, “Humans don’t have hard mating rituals.”
“Of course, they do,” he said, not even hesitating. Every species had mating rituals. Something that, biologically, they had to do in order to arouse their mate, breed their mate, seal the mating bond, etc. For his species, it was the mating hunt that was required to seal the bond.
But Kwee shook her head, snickering excitedly. It was a human way of indicating something in the negative – one of many nonverbal cues he had imprinted in his head.
“They have nothing,” she insisted, like it was incredible and fascinating. “They don’t even have to meet to bond together for life. There’s no dance, no proof of devotion, no hunt, nothing that needs to be done in order to bond or breed. It’s all individually dependent!”
That definitely sounded fake. Were they playing some kind of joke on him?
But as he looked between the two, their expressions held only amusement at his incredulity. They gave him a moment to wrap his mind around their words. Because that was impossible. Every species had mating rituals or breeding requirements. Something. You couldn’t just not have anything. The very idea was ridiculous.
But their story didn’t change, and they were both scientists. Experts on mating. Even if humans were a new species, they weren’t completely unknown. These two would have studied everything they could. They were on record as well, the combot hovering between them. They wouldn’t be making jokes right now.
“So, I don’t need to do anything?” He asked, looking between them.
“Not precisely,” Fway chuckled. “Humans like to spend time together to mate. They call it dating.”
“Time together doing what?”
“Whatever you like. Whatever makes you happy and bonds you closer.”
“I mean, it sounds like you’re lying, but okay.”
They chuckled at him.
“Don’t think too hard about it,” Kwee chirped, clapping her hands together. Her long, elegant fingers didn’t have the same rough skin as her mate. “All you need to know is that they bond through repeated, pleasant exposure and that nothing is to be done to her body without her express, stated permission.”
He nodded slowly. Intending the motion in the human way. He wasn’t sure how easy it was going to be to resist hunting his mate. If she were a ratchi, the moment they scented each other the first time, it would have been immediate. He heard of pairs that knew each other before their hormones changed to their adult scents not being set off like that, but for those meeting for the first time as adults, it was immediate and violent.
But that wasn’t what his human needed from him. More than the need to hunt his mate, his very first instinct was to keep her safe.
Ratchi females were slightly taller than males, though not as broad. They were stronger on average, and they guarded their nests viciously. Males were meant to protect their den, to hunt for their mate, and to fight off predators. Of course, that was back in the day when his people built mud dens for their nests and had to defend them against swamp predators.
But the instinct remained the same. However, his female could not be hunted without harming her, so he would not. No matter how much his body yearned for it.
“Let’s focus on you,” Fway said, focusing Rizor back on the pair. “What are you feeling right now?”
“Aggression.”
“Pretty typical for a ratchi male at the onset of the bond. Breeding aggression? Mating aggression? Possessive aggression?”
“All of it.” Rizor rolled his shoulders, like his scales sat uncomfortably on his bones. “Last night, when I went to my room, I started building a nest on my bed. I ordered those thick border pillows my people use to make an indention in the center for us to lay in. I’ve never needed that before, but the bed felt so unsafe and unstable. I barely slept. I tried to roll the blankets to fix it, but it didn’t work. I need the border pillows.”
“The males of your species are the ones who build the nests and the den, correct?”
“Yeah. We carry our mates there after the hunt. And I know I’m not going to hunt her, but I couldn’t help but feel uncomfortable in my own space. I looked at incubators for eggs as well, but I didn’t buy any. Can I even breed her? Will she lay eggs?”
Kwee chuckled. “That’s one of the things we’re going to find out. The simulations that Zeffir is running will tell us if humans can breed with other species and just how that might happen. Though, if you impregnate her, we’d love to get a scan of it.”
Fway looked at him curiously, head cocked. “Can you breed without the mate hunt?”
“I can. Females of my species become aggressive when they’re ovulating, triggering a hunt if they’re mated, but my seed is viable at all times.”
“More so now,” Kwee giggled. “You become more virile after the mating bond is triggered.”
Yeah, and he felt the heaviness in his sac. The bulbs in his body were throbbing from unfulfilled need and the new, higher rate of production. He had woken this morning with raging erections, painful from being exposed to the air for too long, unable to retract since his bulbs had emerged and were stuck outside of his slit.
He had jerked both his cocks in his shower, thinking of his female. The first orgasm now as a mated male hurt as his sac contracted. That, he knew, would ease up as he got used to producing more seed for her, but for now the new aches and pains were driving him mad.
Like going through puberty all over again.
“Do you feel like what you’re going through now is in line with what was communicated to you to expect when your mating bond triggered?” Fway asked, getting back to his questions.
He thought back to the awkward conversation he had with his mother. Not because they were talking about sex. He didn’t care about that. What made it awkward was that he had been having it with her and not his father. It happened shortly after he died and was that much more painful for it.
“Pretty much exactly what I was taught to expect,” he finally said, pushing back the memories and the new accompanying guilt that reminded him he had let Sazz go.
It wasn’t too late. He still had all the proof. He could still ruin him.
If he wanted.
But he wasn’t doing it, so the guilt remained.
“Anything unusual? Strange? No matter how small.”
“No. It’s all pretty standard.”
“Perfect,” Kwee clapped again. She bent over and reached for a small box that she had put by her chair when they came in here. It was square and flat and plain. She set it on the table and pushed it towards him with a smile. “You’ll need this.”
“What is it?” He asked, even as he was pulling the lid up.
There, nestled on a soft bed, was a metal circle. It wasn’t smooth or perfect, the various lengths of metal composing the body twisting and twirling and curling around each other. At the front, there was an oval thing that shifted between pale turquoise and bright, shining purple. It wasn’t a gemstone, it didn’t sparkle correctly for that, and it was weirdly smooth and felt like glass.
“What is this?” Rizor said, lifting the delicate thing.
“It’s called an FK-band,” Kwee sang proudly. “I designed it myself. Isn’t it pretty?”
Rizor chuckled. “I don’t know how your mate would feel about you giving other males jewelry, but I’m a mated male myself, female. I’m flattered though.”
“No,” Fway snapped, making her laugh. “That’s not a jewel, it’s a scanner. You wear it across your forehead, and it scans your brain and blood to keep track of hormones and electrical activity. We want you to wear it. Preferably as often as possible, but certainly any time you’re with your mate.”
“She’s getting a matching one,” Kwee chirped. “We made a bunch, and I made sure that the ‘gems’ matched so that any mated pairs would go together. Isn’t it cute?”
“Adorable, my little wildflower,” Fway said, giving her a tender glance. “You’re so creative. And ingenious. She designed the technology herself, you know?”
“Oh, stop, my strong soarer,” she giggled girlishly. “The idea was yours.”
“Yes, but you did the execution, my primary feather. That’s much more impressive.”
She chittered her happiness at his attention.
They were so sweet, they were rotting his teeth. Rizor closed the lid on the box, perhaps a little louder than necessary.
“Are we done then?” He asked, interrupting their cute little whistles and chirps at each other.
“Oh, yes.” Kwee beamed at him. “I’ll send a message to your mate that we want to have a talk with her. We’ll be bringing her here, so stay in your room until then. After that, you can go set up your office while we have her.”
Right, because he still had a job to do. Being part of the experiment was a side effect of having agreed to be head of security. And he had done woefully little for that role since landing.
“We’ll message you before we release her,” Fway said. “If she agrees to our request, you have to continue hiding from her so we can set up a controlled environment for your first meeting. Preferably right then and there. If not, you can meet her in your own time.”
“I understand.”
“Thank you again,” Kwee beamed at him. “We know this is an exciting, nerve-wracking time for you. We appreciate you working with us.”
“You don’t have to placate me, female. I already agreed.”
“I meant it genuinely, Rizor. I know how excited I got when Fway danced for me the first time. I can only imagine how you’re feeling now. Thank you for sharing this with us. It will be for the good of everyone and we’re going to do our best to make this as non-invasive for you as possible.”
He grunted in understanding as he got to his feet. “Will you be telling my female about me? About what it’s like to mate a ratchi?”
The couple shared a look before Fway said, “We’re going to approach the conversation delicately. We don’t want to scare her off you.”
“Delicately?”
“We’re not going to mention the hunting or the scratching or the biting. At least, not immediately. No need to put her on edge before she even meets you. The only thing we need from you is to not give into your instincts to hunt.”
“I won’t,” he assured them, the certainty of that promise hardening in his chest with the same determination that he had used hunting his father’s enemy for over two decades.
Even if it killed him, even if he messed up his body from ignoring his own instincts, he would never hurt his mate.
Chapter 4
Shoshana
Day one of the experiments started bright and early.
Shoshana donned one of her dresses – one with a high, square neck and three-quarter sleeves that was sleek on her body all the way to her knees in a beautiful, emerald green. She pulled her braids back into a ponytail and put on her make up before going out enjoying breakfast with the others. She greeted people and reminded them of the time. As it got later, she began checking to make sure that everyone was out of their rooms and on their way to the research wing.
One person overslept, but aside from that, there weren’t any issues. All these people had volunteered to be here and were excited to be involved, after all.
She was so busy, she didn’t get a chance to go to her office and check her tablet for messages until almost everyone had already gone or was on their way.
There were a couple messages from people for some basic things. One girl had started her period and the pads she had been provided with weren’t thick enough. One guy had a question about timing, but then followed it up with another email saying he found what he was looking for on his own and thanked her anyway.
And there was a message from someone named Fway who identified himself as a member of Vigo’s team. He was requesting a private meeting with her at 9:15, right after her midday break began since everyone was going to be in the research wing.
She sent confirmation that she’d be there before seeing the last of the stragglers out. She, again, knocked on the security room door and got no response. She was starting to get mad now. She knew that there was a security team wandering around, but the head of security was supposed to be present, with her, if people needed them.
Keeping her frustration to herself, she crossed the sunlit dome towards the research side of the wing, her heels clicking against the cobblestones as she enjoyed the silence of the artificial meadow. She imagined it wouldn’t be that way very often.
The research wing of the base was much more strictly controlled than the human wing. The door would not open until she buzzed for permission to enter. And every door beyond that was similarly locked with a little red button indicating so to the side. This place was where all the most advanced technology was and so was the most stringently guarded.
She couldn’t help but look around as she followed the hall around to the only door with the green light – indicating where she was meant to go. She highly doubted that she was going to be getting anything out of this place. It had all the security of a prison, requiring her to be buzzed through doors from a distant control booth with cameras hung discreetly in the corners.
But she had a whole year to figure something out.
The room she eventually stepped into was horribly similar to the one ‘John’ had put her in for her kidnapping. A bit less grimy, and there was a boring waterscape on the wall, but the plain chairs around the table in a small, windowless room were uncomfortably similar.
The occupants, however, couldn’t have been more different.
Birdman. Big, blue birdman. And pretty, purple birdlady. The two had been canoodling in the corner, the male’s hair sticking straight up, when the door slid open.
No. Not hair. He had a crest of bright blue and yellow feathers that was fully raised as the longer, rainbow colored feathers on his tail fanned out. She didn’t know much about birdmen, but she knew enough about horny men to notice when they were peacocking. Quite literally.
They didn’t jump apart when the door opened, but they did separate. The lady didn’t even look her way, instead staring up at her birdman with stars in her black eyes. Shoshana didn’t need to know much about birdladies to recognize one absolutely in love.
“Ah, Shoshana,” the male greeted her, his voice musical, as his crest began to lower. “Thank you for coming to meet us on such short notice.”
“No problem.” The door slid shut, making her slightly claustrophobic. She smiled through it. “It’s a pleasure to meet both of you, er…”
“Ah! Forgive me. I’m Fway. This is my mate Kwee. We’re researchers working under Vigo. We’re both experts in mating. We specialize in the phenomena of cross species mating.” As he spoke, he gestured for her to take a seat across from them at the table.
“Perfect choices for this study,” Shoshana said, doing just that. Trying very hard not to stare at the bird people. That would be rude. No matter how interesting their bodies and faces were.
They didn’t have beaks like she would expect, but their lips were definitely stiffer on their faces than her own. Their noses didn’t have creases like hers did, instead smoothly joining with the rest of their face from a slight peak. Instead of eyelashes, they both had long, thin feathers coming off of their eyes, sweeping backwards around towards their temple, ending in a little bristle at the end.
They were beautiful, in an alien way. Which, she supposed, was kind of obvious.
“Indeed,” Kwee agreed, finally looking at her. “Cross species mating isn’t unheard of, but it is rare. It’s the rarest form of mating bonds. Mating evolved as a way of assuring strong offspring that are cared for properly. Judging by that parameter, cross species mates and same gender mates seem like they shouldn’t exist. And yet they do! Isn’t that fascinating?”
“It really is,” Shoshana agreed politely. It was interesting, but not really relevant. “What did you want to talk to me about?”
Kwee smiled. It was an interesting sort of expression since her lips weren’t really as malleable as Shoshana’s, but the warmth in her shiny black eyes was genuine.
“So, you know why we’re all here on the Lunar Base,” she started slowly. “And we all came together with the full knowledge that it was possible, even if it was unlikely, that some among you humans might trigger someone’s mating instincts. This was all in the datawork you signed.”
