Humans Are Encountered

One Night Stands

Zork'ak had arrived to the laboratory after the ritual of the humans climbing on the roof and, instead, joined them at second meal. Xe claimed the seat across from Wren with Adam and Steve on either side. Adam was positioned close to Wren and leaned around her to see Carrie and Jessica, too, who sat to the right of Zork'ak.

"Just look," Adam indicated to a table on his right. All but Wren moved their heads in order to see the human that occupied the table Adam had indicated. "It's just sad."

"What is sad?" Zork'ak did not turn xer head. It seemed that the humans were attempting to not be seen doing it.

"Do you see Kace over there? Next table over." Xe looked with xer vision which had a wider span than the humans' and did not require an adjust in head movement. There was another human man sitting alone, stirring his utensil through his meal. "Well, he and Kai hooked up last night, but now Kai isn't talking to him, and everyone knows that she and Reese have been going back and forth so he should've known that it was a one-night stand. He's been talking about it all morning; I'm sick of hearing it."

"Hooking up?" Farther down the table, Reese and Kai were with some of the members of the secondary laboratory next door to these humans'.

Adam nodded. "A one night stand? Having sex but not wanting a relationship with them?"

Zork'ak nodded. Xe had heard of sex, the reproductive ritual. "Is Kai with offspring?"

Steve dropped his fork. "Is that something you can tell?"

"No, it was an inquiry."

"She hopes she isn't. She's on birth control, I think. We were able to make some here." Wren leaned forward to watch Kai.

"If she is not with offspring, then did the ritual not complete? What is birth control?"

"Most people don't have sex to have a child," Adam answered. "Birth control manipulates our hormones to keep us from getting pregnant or getting someone else pregnant."

"What is the purpose in the ritual if not to reproduce?"

Steve's face turned slightly red, and Carrie laughed from the other side of the table. "It can be fun, feels good if you do it right."

Jessica nodded. "Not everyone can, though." She closed one eye briefly.

"This reproductive ritual provides entertainment for you all?" Zork'ak was confused. The Klyls simply exchanged the necessary hormones and genetic makeup to create offspring. Very little activity was involved.

"Oh, yeah." Jessica smiled at Steve as he looked away. "It's not just combining what you need for a baby. There's a process leading up to it which stimulates some of our nerve endings and creates the sensation of pleasure."

"Is pleasure similar to fun?" The Klyls had little information about most human emotions. The galactic board was not privy to such knowledge that could potentially cause

"A little better than fun, so we use birth control because most of do not want a child, at least not yet, but we want to have sex for pleasure. Does that make sense?" Zork'ak nodded, knowing that the human brain created signals that few other species experienced.

"Is it not like that for you?"

"No. There is a joining, and the brief connection allows the genetic and hormonal information to combine. After six sets of rotations, our offspring are matured and nourished enough to live externally from its parent. It is similar to your 'birth' in that sense."

"You're missing out," Carrie said with a mouthful of her meal. "It should at least be a little fun. That's something you need to learn from us." She also did the slow blink with one eye.

"Perhaps the sensory research will look into it." Xe looked away to eat xer meal. The way they discussed this "fun" and "pleasure" made Zork'ak interested in experiencing it.