by Robin Roseau
“How bad was it?”
“The most horrible experience of my life.”
She said nothing, but her tentacles tightened around me.
* * * *
There were seven of us that sat down for dinner. I sat to Jasmine’s right, with Andie across from me, and we both wore a tentacle. Audra, Posey, Skye, and Violet were the others.
We made easy conversation for a while, and it was a lovely meal. I waited for Jasmine to bring up my conversation, but she waited until dinner was over and cleared before we moved to the living room. “Is anyone surprised that Taisha is receiving attention?”
There were snorts and laughs, and then Skye asked, “Is that why we’re here tonight?”
“Yes,” Jasmine said.
“You’re uncomfortable with the attention?” Skye asked me.
“No,” I replied. “I want to know if it’s real.”
There were more snuffles and laughs. It was Andie who said, “What’s your real question?”
“That is a real question.”
“What is the count, Violet?” Andie asked.
“Hmm.” She began counting on her fingers. It was odd. She used a tentacle to count fingers, and when she reached five, she raised a tentacle.
“Very funny,” I said at eight.
She started over. “Kitsune. Niecor. Another Niecor. A mated Tutor pair, but they want a third.”
“What’s that.”
“Sex slave,” Andie said.
“It’s not a sex slave,” Jasmine said.
“Close enough,” Andie said.
“Maybe I’d like being a sex slave.”
“You can do better,” Andie said.
“They only count as one,” Violet continued. “The Martian pair asked about her, too. I counted them as one, although that’s probably being generous. They want a hunt, but that’s not the same thing as intending to keep her. Three males, but I discounted them. Two female Luxans. And several Hobbles have shown interest, but I didn’t count them.” She looked at her fingers. “I got lost.” But then she lifted another finger and smiled. “Ko-mo-do,” she said slowly. “Mermaid.”
“Really?”
“Really,” she replied. “That’s just the ones who have said something to me.” She turned to Jasmine. “I’d have already collected her if she weren’t working for us, although it would be cruel to keep her in the cells if the Kitsune is in the lead. You know how slow they are. And the Komodo would have a different plan.”
“How about her coworker?”
“Four have talked to me,” Skye said. Then she laughed. “Two of them asked if Amanda’s marriage is secure.”
“It is,” I said.
“Of course, it is,” she replied. “She has Finley wrapped around her finger.”
“Do you guys know why she made him help you with Muriel’s avatar?”
“Of course, we do,” Jasmine said.
“Did you know that when you invited them here?”
“Oh, please,” Jasmine said. “But tell me anyone can see her in her bed and walk away without helping. You’re willing to risk your life for her.”
“And we can talk about that after you’ve experienced both avatars for yourself,” I replied.
“That’s fair,” Jasmine replied. “Taisha, you already knew you were receiving attention. That’s not what this conversation is really about.”
“Is this real?”
“Ah. Yes, but I’m fairly sure Aventurine would have been quite clear with you. Kitsune are a lot like humans, which is a lot more cautious than some of the other species we cater to.”
“She said my opinion matters.”
“Of course, it matters.”
“You’ve been kidnapping women for years,” I said. “It didn’t matter for them.”
“Is that what you want us to do with you?”
“No, I’m only pointing out I’m pretty sure the amount my opinion matters can vary.”
“That’s fair,” she agreed. “What are you really asking?”
“I don’t know.”
They snuffled or laughed as befit the species. Then Audra asked, “How about we start with an easy question. Is there anyone you want to discourage?”
“The males.”
“How about couples?”
“A male and female? No. Two females I could talk about.”
“All right,” Audra said. “That narrows things a little. How about species? They are all pretty different.”
“Fur or no fur, and size,” I said.
“Those are the most obvious differences.”
Jasmine spoke, and it wasn’t English. It turned into a conversation. I didn’t have the energy to yell at them about it, but they seemed to come to a conclusion. I waited, then smiled sweetly. “Are you going to tell me what that was?”
“How much of this is about a trip to the space station?”
“Do you think I’m that shallow?”
“I actually don’t think that’s all that shallow. Answer me.”
“They’re intertwined, but I wouldn’t lead anyone on just to see the heavens. That would be pretty shitty.”
“Would we be having this conversation if the only people interested in you worked at the testing center in Toledo?”
“Is there something particularly unpleasant about that specific location?”
“It’s not a tourist destination.”
“Ah,” I said. “I bet if Carolina were based on Earth, it would be here, or somewhere else she can freely swim.”
“This isn’t about a particular person,” Jasmine said.
“You’re trying to separate out the space station as an influence.”
“Yes.”
I thought about it. “Yes, we’d be having this conversation.”
“Taisha,” Audra said. “The space station is cool. It is really, really cool, and if Posey had to move out there, I wouldn’t complain. But I don’t think there’s a person living there who wouldn’t rather be living on Earth.”
“You have someone else you want me to consider,” I declared.
Jasmine paused. “No, actually,” she said.
“But she’s scheming,” Audra said. “And this time, the rest of us agree with her. That’s rare.”
“I’m owed honesty.”
“And you’ve received it.”
“Tell her,” Audra said. “She’s just going to wonder, and she deserves openness.”
Jasmine set a tentacle to her lips and began tapping. It was odd, and it made me smile, watching her. Then Andie said, “Tell her.”
Jasmine made a gesture with another tentacle. “Answer me honestly,” she said. “No space station.”
“This isn’t about the space station,” I said. “Yeah, that would be incredibly cool, but I’m not here begging for an awesome vacation.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“You didn’t really ask a question.”
“I think you know what I’m asking. Why are you dancing around it?”
“What part of ‘this isn’t about the space station’ wasn’t an answer?”
“So, if I introduced you to one of my employees?”
“The one at the Toledo testing center?”
“What if I let her move somewhere…”
“Closer to an ocean,” I prompted.
“All right. Sure. Somewhere closer to an ocean.”
“Jasmine, I’ll meet anyone you want to introduce me to. But it comes down to us, not where she lives or what she does for a living. How does she treat me? How do we react physically? Are we comfortable talking to each other? If I can’t keep my old job, will I have new opportunities?”
“Tell her,” Andie said again.
“Could you live here?” Jasmine asked.
“Like, here, here. Across the hall, here?”
“Across the hall is Muriel’s, but yes, basically.”
“Why do you live here instead of…”
“At Beginnings?”
&n
bsp; “Sure. Yes.”
“It’s good to be closer,” she said. “We end up working odd hours. We don’t necessarily put the mating candidates to bed at five and ignore them until morning.”
“Okay, but we’re underground, right?”
“Ah. I didn’t build this facility. I would have made different choices, but at the time, we were trying to obscure what we were doing from spying eyes.”
“Because this is nice, but no windows.”
“That’s a common complaint. Andie, give Audra authorization to decorate.”
“One second,” Andie said. She paused. “Audra, try it.”
“One second.” It was longer than that. Then she turned her head. “Hmm. I don’t know what wall I just changed.”
“Downstairs,” Andie replied.
“Oh. Hmm.” And suddenly, the far wall turned into an outdoor scene. “There we go,” Andie said.
I stared. “How did you do that?”
“The wall is, in effect, a giant computer screen,” Audra explained. “We can do different things. Changing it…” And it changed to a view of the cove at Beginnings. “This is live,” she said. “A camera above the resort.” She paused. “It’s not the same. It’s a computer screen. If you make it of the sun, you won’t get a tan.”
“That’s pretty awesome,” I said.
“How about this?” The image faded and brightened, and my jaw dropped. “That’s a camera on Dione.”
“That’s Saturn,” I replied. “That’s a photo?”
“No. Live feed, but not much happens,” Audra replied. “Do you know what it means to be tidally locked?”
“Like our moon. What is that narrow line?”
“The rings,” she explained. “Edge on. I’m going to do one more.” The scene changed again, and this time, I knew we weren’t looking at anything on Earth.
“Where is that?” I whispered.
“It’s a computer simulation,” she said. “Patterned after the Catseye home world.”
I turned to Jasmine. “It’s beautiful.”
“Earth is beautiful,” Jasmine said. She gestured. “I put that up when I’m feeling nostalgic, but it’s a mistake.”
“It makes you homesick?”
“This is my home now, but yeah, it can add to it. Audra, change it, please.”
“Of course.” She replaced it with the view from Beginnings.
“Jasmine, what are you asking me? Are you offering me a job?”
“I’m exploring options.”
“Just tell her,” Andie said. “She’s half confused.”
Jasmine offered her tentacle wave at Andie, then said, “Our current group of guests are amongst the few people who, while doing interesting work, aren’t doing critical work.”
“Okay. And?”
“And I might like to get a few to work here for a decade or two.”
“And you want to, as someone said it, wave my legs as a part of the inducement?”
“I hadn’t really worked it all out, and I wouldn’t have put it that way, but yes.”
“All right,” I said. “Why didn’t you just say that?”
“Because if Jasmine has the choice of scheming or doing something openly, she prefers to scheme.”
“That isn’t fair, Skye,” Andie said defensively.
“It’s a little fair,” Audra said, jumping to her sister’s side, metaphorically speaking.
“Audra is right, and Skye, to a lesser degree,” Jasmine said.
“I asked for us to talk about all this for two reasons,” I said. “First, and most basic, I wanted to understand whether I was making things up in my head about what was going on, or potentially going on.”
“I don’t think you’re making things up,” Violet said.
“But secondly, and the bigger reason, I don’t think I know what I want. Can we talk it out?”
“Of course,” Jasmine replied.
“I came here for a job,” I said. “I recognized personal opportunity, but it was vague and deeply hypothetical. While I certainly thought about meeting some of you, I didn’t really think about it. I wondered what I’d find. Was it wall-to-wall space aliens, like the bar scene from the first Star Wars movie? Would I, I don’t know… Need to wear a respirator at work? I didn’t have a clue what to expect.”
“I hadn’t thought of that,” Jasmine said. “Go on.”
“I’m young. I went to college early, I got my undergrad early, and I defended my doctoral thesis last year. Do you know how lucky I am to work at Hunt Robotics?” I didn’t pause more than to take a breath. “I didn’t do all that to get an MRS degree.”
“A what degree?” Posey asked.
“Missus,” Skye answered. “An interesting word, actually. It used to be that women went to college in order to meet their future husbands.”
“You’re kidding.”
“No. It’s referred to as getting an MRS degree. It’s a wry joke. She becomes Mrs. So-and-so.”
“Ah. Now I understand,” Posey said.
“Considering any of this makes me wonder what I’m doing,” I said. “I bet if someone with my education arrived on the space station, someone up there could put me to work in my field. I could have it all: a hot alien wife, and an entirely amazing job. Are you offering me a job working for Bay?”
“You know, Jasmine, this may be the first time we’ve had a mating candidate whose professional choices are entirely suited for the station,” Violet said. “And you want to keep her here.”
“I don’t know what I want,” I said. “In my mind, it’s all muddled together. I don’t know how much of my own incentive is the space station. And maybe I’m wrong. Maybe I can’t be anything up there, because the tech is just so far beyond my understanding.”
“Oh, no,” Violet said. “The station administrator would snap you up.”
“You’re not helping,” Jasmine said, but it was in English, so I wasn’t sure how serious she was.
“I don’t know how to unravel all of this,” I said. “And…” I shook my head, unsure where I wanted to go.
“All right,” Jasmine said. “We should have had Bluebell here for this. She’s better at unraveling.”
“Catseye don’t think quite the same way we do about some of this,” Audra said. “The economic aspects are never an issue.”
“No one has to have a job to live,” Violet explained. “There’s always more opportunity for fulfillment, and it’s only a matter of choosing a direction, or letting someone else pull you in a direction. And we have long lives and the option of reinventing ourselves every few decades.”
“My career is important to me,” I said.
“Intellectually, they get that,” Audra said. “But I bet Jasmine wasn’t thinking about it that way. We could use you here. There’s always more work available. But you could also do anything you wanted. You could explore a new degree.”
“I just finished the last one.”
“Or start your own company.”
“I don’t remotely have the qualifications to do that.”
“You’d have help,” she said.
I shook my head. “That might be interesting, but I’m still learning.”
“What if you could keep your current job?” Jasmine asked.
“I have two answers to that,” I said. “First, I’m not saying ‘no’ to anything. I’m asking help sorting it out. And second, my job is in California. If you’re asking if I could work remotely, the answer is ‘probably not’.”
“Bay could make another avatar,” Jasmine pointed out. I stared at her, considering the implications. “I’m not sure I can offer that,” she said. “They use too much of our technology, and I don’t know if I want to leave Finley with that much temptation.”
“There’s not a chance in the world it would get ignored. Felicia has already commented on some of the structural things Bay does.”
“We’re not worried about that. That’s simple engineering.” She paused. “I don’t know ho
w much Bay can do while minimizing our tech.”
“It won’t do me any good without the sensor suite,” I said. “Are you really going to put that sensor suite into a building on the opposite side of the planet, surrounded by twenty people just itching to take it apart?”
“No,” she said. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have offered that. You see? You’re not the only one who has to talk things through sometimes.”
I offered a smile. “Do you understand, Jasmine?”
“I like to keep options open. I don’t want to assume we couldn’t somehow make this work. I do want to say this: do not consider financial aspects. They become irrelevant.”
“I have loans like you wouldn’t believe.”
“You’ll be able to pay them off,” Jasmine said. “I’m not going to bribe you financially, but you won’t be hurt financially, either. You do not need to consider the financial aspects. I promise.”
“You’re telling me my new wife would support me.”
“No. I’m saying you can come to decisions based on what you think would be fulfilling.”
“Fulfilling means standing on my own two feet,” I said. I sighed. “That kind of statement is part of the reason I didn’t want Muriel here for the conversation.”
“I suspect it’s not the only reason,” Jasmine said. “I understand. We all do.” She lifted a tentacle towards me.
“Give her a minute,” Audra whispered to me. I nodded understanding.
Jasmine sat still, eventually looking away, staring into space. Then she spoke slowly, in what I presumed was Catseye. Violet responded. It sounded tentative.
Audra leaned over. “She’s not being rude. She’s working something out.”
Jasmine and Violet carried on a conversation. They were both speaking slowly. I leaned back to Audra. “Are they speaking that way so you understand?”
“Well, it helps, but no. They’re both thinking through the implications.”
Then Skye spoke, also in Catseye, but I head Audra’s name.
“Don’t worry about that,” Audra whispered to me.
So I waited. Finally, Jasmine turned back to me. “My apologies.”
“Was that in Catseye so I wouldn’t understand?”
“Partly. I had an idea. It might be a very poor idea. I’m not sure I should tell you.”
“Too afraid I’ll laugh?”
“No. I’m too afraid it’s too juicy an idea, and you’ll share it with Finley, and he’ll get all excited about something that won’t happen.”