Naturalized

Alwen and her entire department were watching the screen with an intensity often only seen in hungry predators and caffeine junkies. In a petri dish Alwen added the sperm sample to a sample of ovarian fluids. They all watched with bated breath as the female sample released a chemoattractant that turned the indicating fluid pink. They stood their watching, their eyes and their microscopes weren’t powerful enough to directly observe what was happening, which was why they had to rely on indicating fluids to react with the released hormones. But that didn’t stop them from leaning in closer, trying to watch the insemination for themselves.

A change occurred within the female sample and a new wave on blue was released from the female sample. Even though it was what the assembled doctors were hoping to see they all still gasped in astonishment.

“What does this mean?” Foru asked out loud.

“It means things are more complicated than we first thought.” Alwen muttered.

“B-but how? This shouldn’t be possible.” Menda asked in bewilderment and growing horror.

“We’re going to have to re-adjust our perception of what is and isn’t possible given the contrary evidence.” Kana said as he put a hand to Menda’s back.

“Okay, I’ll bite. What the hell did I just watch?” A belligerent voice asked from behind them.

Four of the five doctors spun around in surprise, but Alwen remained facing forward. She more than familiar with Astarte’s habit of sneaking up on people. “We just watched a successful insemination of reproductive fluids from two different species.” She said blandly.

Alwen’s subordinates stepped aside as the captain stepped next to Alwen. Her footsteps made an odd clink as the plates of her armor shifted. “And? We already knew something like that was possible.”

“Yes, but that was with a Female Torweni sample and a male Terran sample. This was the reverse.”

“Really?”

“Yes, and more impressive is that the Terran sample was from a human, not a Mammaloid. In fact it was one of your samples.”

“You got me pregnant?” Astarte asked with a wry smile. A moment later her smile fell “Does that mean that when I was with your brother there was a chance…” she trialed off.

Alwen snorted “Hardly. As you know Terrans don’t experience a shift in their reproductive organs. At most you would have had an incredibly early miscarriage, not even at a recognizable stage of development so you wouldn’t have noticed.”

“I see.” She said slowly, a hand straying to her stomach.

Alwen noticed the gesture but didn’t point it out. “This changes the whole nature of our research. This means that it’s an unknown facet of Torweni physiology at play, rather than an interplay of the Uplifted’s altered genetics.”

“Unless humans were altered in a more subtle way.” Aster pointed out.

Alwen blinked “what?”

“Well think about it, the Union somehow altered the DNA of hundreds of species without us noticing. They could have also altered human DNA at the same time without us seeing a change. We know that human mothers can carry the children of Mammaloids, even when the infant is generally larger than human kids. It’s a well known fact that Mammaloids born from humans are smaller than their Mammaloid born counter parts. At least until their growth spurts”

Alwen felt her stomach sink. “That would mean we’re dealing with an issue on a whole different scale here.”

Aster shook her head “Same problem, we’re just more aware of the scale at play.” She thought for a moment “Out of curiosity, who provided the Torweni sample?”

“Kana” Alwen said as she leaned in to check on something.

Astarte turned, saw that Kana and Menda were standing hip to hip and frowned “Shame, you look like you would have been fun.”

“Please don’t sexually harass my subordinates captain.” Alwen said distractedly.

The captain laughed “Understood Bones, I’m going to continue my rounds.” She shot a look to the Torweni couple “Let me know if your open to a third.” She said mischievously as she walked out.

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Kana watched the bold Terran woman stride away, and earned an elbow to one of his ribs from Menda.

“Don’t mind her” Alwen said as she stepped away and saw the looks on everyone’s face “She’s flirty, but not a threat. She was just teasing you two, her rules about laying with crewmembers are ironclad.”

“Shame” Vira said. “there’s something exciting about a woman that confident.”

Alwen sighed “If you that desperate for relief try Butch.”

“Oh, I’ve met Adela, she’s nice, and it was a fun night. But we don’t really work out on a personal level.”

Foru looked concerned “I’ve noticed that a lot of these pir… people, are very promiscuous.”

“Promiscuous, that’s a good word. Your English is coming along nicely, and yeah your right about that.” Alwen said as she aside the sample for further observation and began to clean her station. “I think it’s a combination of high stress from life or death ordeals, the tight confines of ship life, and the fact that everyone is fit and fairly handsome. Its harmless.”

“I don’t know” Menda began unsurely “I knew some older doctors at our previous hospital, people said they were harmless but there were always rumors.”

“Its different here. The flirtation is a sort of game to them, a mark of their brotherhood or something. I’m sure you noticed how handsy a lot of the marines are with each other despite being heterosexuals. If you don’t like that sort of teasing make sure they know and they’ll stop, and if they don’t the Bosun will knock some sense into them.”

Alwen knew that her words sounded dismissive and problematic, but that really was the way things worked around here. They would tease and taunt, but the moment you put your foot down they backed off. She knew that wasn’t how things generally worked in most places, but the Astaroth, and Hellworlder fleet was different.

Menda still frowned “Is that how you got your boyfriend, teasing and harassment?” she asked in a concerned voice.

Alwen snorted, “nope, literally the opposite. We were both interested, but I was the only one to act on it. He said no at first.”

They exchanged glances with each other, and Alwen knew what they were all thinking. But it wasn’t like that. Things between her and Gato were too complicated and too personal for her to properly explain.

As if summoned by his mentioning, Gato’s massive figure darkened the door way to the Med-bay. Today he dressed in the loose-fitting pants called hakama, and a simple fitted robe that covered his chest. Most Mammaloids didn’t like the clothes that were normal for humans and Torweni since the tighter fits aggravated their fur.

“Is it time?” Alwen asked as she glanced around for a clock.

“I’m a little early, figured I needed to remind you before you got buried in your work.” He said while leaning on the door frame.

Alwen blushed. Both of them were very driven people who threw themselves into any given task. However of the two of them only Gato seemed to remember those important dates like their month-a-versery. Alwen had been so embarrassed by her forgetfulness that she lied and said the Torweni didn’t have those. She had also missed his birthday, though that was mostly on him for not even telling her that it was coming up, it was Alice who informed her that she had missed it and Alwen was embarrassed that she had never asked when it was.

“Right, let me just go freshen up. Foru, your in charge while I’m away.” Alwen said as she finished putting her stuff away. Foru nodded, and the other three glanced at him wondering why she had chosen him instead of them. He had just been the first person Alwen saw.

She walked into her room through the adjoined hall and quickly ran through the shower. She kept her hair in her normal pixie cut, but gave it a quick comb to make sure there were no stray hairs. She threw on one of the few non-japanese style clothes she had bought on Pandemonium, a pink and white blouse with little orchids on the bottom, and a pair of denim jeans that flared out at the bottom in what the Terrans called a ‘bell bottom’. Alwen still wasn’t sure about the jeans, but the clerk had assured her they were all the rage right now.

A few flicks of the makeup brush and she was already to go. When she stepped out Gato was still leaning on the doorframe, he broke into a wide grin “Bell bottom jeans?” he asked amusedly.

“Apparently they’re in fashion, something about time being a flat circle.” Alwen said with a shrug as she strode forward.

~~~*~~~

Vira and the others watched as Alwen skipped out of the Med bay, practically bouncing with excitement. “Hard to imagine her as Bones the Godslayer, still looks like normal Alwen to me.” She muttered in Torweni. Her English had been improving by leaps and bounds, but when she was amongst her fellow Torweni she preferred to speak her native tongue. A habit shared by the others, with the one exception being Alwen. She spoke English no matter what the context was.

“I know” Menda said as she stepped next to Vira. “I’m glad to see she’s happy at least. Even if I don’t approve of the relationship.”

Vira glanced to Menda. Her blue skinned friend had always been protected of Alwen, sheltering her from any jealousy or nasty rumors. But now Alwen had changed in her year away and Menda was feeling a little lost now that Alwen didn’t need sheltering. “Still not convinced Gato will be nice to her?” Vira asked casually.

Menda shook her head. “No, I was wrong there. He apparently took the abstinence pretty well, better than I thought he would.”

“But…” Vira said, pushing her timid friend to continue her train of thought.

“But what kind of future could they have?” Menda said, her voice sounding defeated. “They seem like a nice couple, but I don’t see it really going anywhere. He’s an alien, they wont ever be able to start a family.”

“Well, not unless our research reals in some impressive results, which seems likely at this stage.” Vira pointed out.

“Okay, but he’s not exactly the kind of guy you can bring home. Will the Sotorkan even bless that sort of Union?”

The Sotorkan were the clergy of Sotor, god/goddess of sexuality, civil unions, and fertility. Ashendra may have blessed the Torweni with adaptable reproductive systems, but Sotor was the guardian over the free expression of that. Or at least according to the modern pantheon. Sotor was a southern deity, and a relatively new addition to the Pact of Torwen and their approved pantheon.

Vira gave Menda a stern look. “First off, not every relationship needs to be about finding the one you plan to settle down with. You got lucky with Kana. Sometimes a relationship is about having fun. Second, I don’t think Alwen ever plans on settling down on Torwen.”

“She can’t play space pirate doctor forever.” Menda said stubbornly.

“No, but she can play Terran. Look at her, this is more than learning a language and culture, she’s gone native. She’s as Terran as anyone else on this ship who isn’t us.”

Menda blinked. “I, I just, I always had this dream of the future. Where we all settle down and start our own little clan. You know, same hospital, same neighborhood, our kids would go to the same school.”

“That’s a nice dream, but sometimes people drift apart. Alwen is clearly a part of this ship and its crew, if we want to still have a relationship with Alwen going forward we need to learn to get along with her new family. Foru and I had a fun night with some of the Marines, they’re not bad people, just a little rough around the edges.”

“I don’t think I can go native like Alwen.” Menda said flatly.

“You don’t need to, but maybe you should at least try and understand why the idea of naturalizing into Terran culture is so appealing.”

Vira saw the reluctance in Menda’s eyes and sighed. “Just think about it. For now we have work to do. Todays test expanded the scope of our research and we need to start adding in data points.”

Menda nodded. They were about to return to their research when a Terran human, one of the Snipes, walked in with a screw driver sticking out of his abdomen.

“Sorry Doc, sort of slipped and fell on it, could give me a quick stitch so I can get back to work.” He said while scratching the back of his head.

Vira glanced to Menda, and still speaking in Torweni said “I’ll get him in the bed, you cuff him when he isn’t looking.”