At the word ‘meat,’ Azdrei’in turned toward Artemis with newfound interest, his crystalline eyes flicking down to the box that she pushed in his direction. He hadn’t eaten anything since the night before, when he’d gone hunting outside the building in which she’d been living. He didn’t usually need to eat more than one meal a day, since, like most predatory species, the heavy food provided him enough energy to get by for many hours at a time. He hunted during his period of wakefulness overnight, went back to sleep, and then spent the daylight hours doing something more productive than merely filling his stomach. However, he’d already gotten hooked on the taste of real meat after the first time he’d eaten it, so the box was tempting even though he wasn’t very hungry yet.

“Thank you,” he said appreciatively, climbing down from his bed to retrieve it and settling back down with the container placed carefully on the end of the mat. He planned to enjoy the contents after his first period of sleep, when he had more of an appetite.

For the rest of the night, he alternated as usual between scrolling on the human’s tablet and dozing on his bed. He slept for a few hours and then woke in the middle of the night, when he ate some of the meat Artemis had given to him. The meal was savory and excellent, and it gave him just enough energy to keep working on his mastery of English until he grew too tired to keep his eyes open and fell asleep again. The second time, he stayed asleep until around mid-morning too, only stirring when he heard the faint sounds of other Lunvalgans strolling through the corridor beyond their room.

He stretched his limbs and yawned broadly, rolling over on his mat at the sound of Artemis’s voice. “Good morning,” he murmured back to her, rubbing his eyes with the heel of his palm. Between his studying, he’d gotten plenty of rest and was feeling good. He sat upright and got up from the bed, ambling over to where she was sitting on the floor and taking a seat across from her. Overnight, he’d made leaps and bounds of improvement in his understanding of her language, so he decided to take a moment to test out what he’d learned.

“How did you sleep?” he asked, crossing his legs and leaning back lazily on one hand. His words were still accented, but he’d gotten better at pronouncing her native tongue, so the accent was less prominent than before. “I ate some of the food you gave me last night. Thanks again for the meat, by the way. It’s much better than the food my people created here… Our meals serve their purpose, but they’re tasteless compared to the real thing.” He smiled amusedly. “I’m sure I must be the most spoiled Lunvalgan here to be sharing a room with a human who smuggled meat in with her when she boarded the ship.”

Artemis had listened to him many times, thinking that going back to the spaceship would have been hard on him as well. She had decided to take some meat, at least for a few days, so he would have at least something good to eat. She knew how good fresh food could taste and after their talk, she realized it had been a good thing. "You're welcome Drei." she had told the man before she had gotten into the bed and fell asleep. Her dream was different, usually she was terrified and so she often had nightmares of going crazy in isolation. She also often dreamt about being one of those humans that became ferral. It was insane.

But now the dream was that she worked on a spaceship, where many different kinds of beings worked together and where she would have met Azdrei'in without all the drama. This time it was a dream where she was helping his kind willingly, the vessel being one for science and progress. He was there to guard the room, there always had to be some dangerous race right? The dream then shifted, where she was able to talk to him without issues and by the end of that dream, she was kissing him. One thing led to another and she quickly awoke with a gasp. At least the man had seemed to be sleeping, her beathing still harsh before she went to get herself something to eat. This time she kep the food cold as he didn't wake to long after that.

The dream kept playing in her mind, why was it that of all people? That she had to fell for the alien that didn't kill her? To her is was so much more, but she also was very aware that someting like that wasn't going to happen. From the moment his job was done, she probably was going to see him again.

When he asked her how she had slept, she actually smiled at him. "I slept more peaceful that I did in a long while." She said as she was being honest. At earth, there never was a moment of peace, at any given moment her alarm could wake her. Something could happen and she never could find the rest. Only to notice that once again his voice had changed, he was going in leaps and bounds when it came to her language. "I prefer fresh food as well Drei, so I figured that you would like it anyway. And I think you're the only one that thinks that." she said as she decided that she was going to be honest for once.

"Lunvalgans are far smarter and advanced than humans. Look at how you speak the language. I must look like a dolphin or something compared to you." she said as she then looked down at her plate. Looking at him made her replay the dream and she didn't want to embarras herself by acting like an idiot around him. "I mean, your race is more superiour than a human. We are just violent creatures and I'm one of the few exceptions." she told him as she then finished her meal. She wasn't really hungry, but she didn't know when she would have time to eat again. "So when are they coming to get us?" she asked as she then looked at him again. Pushing back the thoughts of that dream, hoping that she didn't even smell like lust. "So I could put on some clothes, something warmer." she said as the spaceship was quite a bit colder than the warmth of her own home.

When Artemis answered his question, Azdrei’in was pleased to find out that he understood her just as well as he could speak her tongue now. The communication barrier that had made it difficult for them to speak to each other at first was quickly evaporating. Once he’d started practicing English, it hadn’t been difficult for him to pick it up. After two nights of dedicated studying, he was to the point where he comprehended the grammar and most of the phonetics. All that was left was to memorize words and phrases that were common to the humans who spoke it, and then he would be just as proficient as any of them.

“Really? That is surprising to me, since you’re in a new place surrounded by members of a species you don’t belong to,” he remarked amusedly. “You’re either very brave or very trusting.” If their positions had been reversed, he knew he wouldn’t have slept soundly among an entire colony of humans. There was just something unnerving about the thought of being the only member of his kind in a room, especially if he knew very little about the other race that was in there with him. His instinct was to protect himself, but Artemis had demonstrated multiple times now that she didn’t care much about that. She hadn’t tried to fight him off when he’d threatened to bury his claws into her throat two days ago either.

Her following comment gave him pause though. It was true that humans didn’t seem to be as technologically advanced as his people were, but he wasn’t sure what that meant about his impression of her. Quietly, he studied her face while she ate, drawing his legs up slowly toward his chest and crossing his arms over his knees. He’d been so caught up in his assignment that he hadn’t given it much thought at all. She was interesting to him, certainly. Having lived his entire life on the mothership, he’d never encountered another being that was intelligent enough to communicate with him, so he was intrigued by the conversations they’d had so far.

However, he didn’t see her as just a novelty for his own entertainment. If anything, he probably could have done a better job of reminding himself that she was just a human. Too many times now, he’d caught himself looking at her the same way he would look at a female Lunvalgan whom he found attractive. They were similar enough that she sometimes felt more like an exotic member of his own kind to him than an entirely different species. He liked the brightness of her hair and eyes and the softness of her pale skin. Even her smile made his hearts beat a little quicker, and he had to continually chide himself for forgetting that she wasn’t a Lunvalgan. It would have been strange and unnatural to take on a human as a partner over a female of his own race. And that was what he kept telling himself whenever he caught himself wondering if their species would be compatible in a more sultry setting.

“I don’t know what a dolphin is,” he said first, taking a moment to think through a response before he articulated it. “You may not be as advanced as we are, but you still have something to offer that we can’t find anywhere else… My people are dying, Artemis. We need a solution to the infertility issue that followed us from Ashad’te, and everyone here knows it. If they scowl at you, it is only because they don’t know your value yet. They just look at you and see a violent human, not someone who has knowledge that can help us. Give them time. They may change.”

He wanted to think that his people would come to realize that not all humans were the savages that they had been made out to be. It was impossible to tell though. Elitism ran through the ranks of the Lunvalgans since they saw themselves as the new apex species of the Earth. To many of them, humans were just animals that needed to be put in their place. Not all of them shared his odd fascination with their kind, so he wasn’t sure if they would be convinced that humans were valuable even if Artemis helped them. Only time would tell.

At her question, Azdrei’in drummed his clawed fingers against his forearm in thought, trying to ignore the familiar uptick in his pulse when she mentioned getting dressed. “Soon, I think,” he answered. “I was only told that our doctors will see you in the morning. Someone could come here to retrieve us at any time, so if you want to put on warm clothes, you should do it now.” He paused for a second and then turned around to face away from her, crossing his legs on the floor. “Go ahead,” he said, glancing at her once over his shoulder before he turned and faced the wall. “I won’t look.”

"I know it sounds a bit crazy, to trust someone that I barely even know. A species that is more advanced than what I ever will be. But I think it is just because I want to believe this is what I'm supposed to do with my life. To make it that humans don't die out, but that they stop being as violent as a race. To become better together and to have it that Earth can heal. I'm usually not trusting at all, but this gives me a purpose. One that isn't just trying to survive on a planet where everything wants to kill you." Artemis said as she tried to make sense of it all. A small smile on her face as she realized she actaully was talking about things again. She wasn't alone and that alone made her happier than what she ever could have expected.

"I'm happier now than I ever was. I wanted to be a scientist and ended up struggeling to survive, struggeling with being alone and then you came. Now I have hope to be a scientist again, to live a life with a job and with conversation." she said as she then looked at him with a bright smile. "I can learn things about other planets... I can help and I can just do other things apart from surviving. That is what is really nice." She continued as she let out a sigh. "You are my friend Drei, nothing will change that. I'm glad you are so quick in learning my language, It's been amazing and now I feel like I don't have to struggle to say something anymore." she said as she then looked at him again.

"A dolphin is what we call an intelligent animal. A species that is aware of itself and that can sort of ask for things. Like we had a gorilla named Coco, who could do sign language." she said as she then moved to her tablet and then pushed him the video of the Gorilla telling his owner that she was sad that a friend of them died. "To humans gorilla's can be violent to. But they still only see them as less, because they aren't as advanced as a human... I don't believe that every life has meaning. I might not be as advanced as your race but I will try to help your kind as much as possible. I only know the basics, but I'm sure there has to be some expert out there that can figure out how it all works exactly. I have so much info on it, and if we can somehow fix our information database called the internet. I'm sure we can find a lot more." she said as she then looked at him with a smile.

"I don't mind that they see me as a savage, humans are savage animals after all. Violence is in our nature and I try my hardest not to fall into that trap. I will do my best to help your kind, I just hope it will be enough." she said as she didn't want to lie to him. She wanted to figure things out and she wanted to make sure that she could help them. "I'll do my very best." she said as she then smiled at him.

"I'll get dressed then. Since they can come in at any second." Artemis said as she then smiled when he told her he wouldn't look. Pulling out a red tshirt, some jeans and a leather jacket, she was sure not to forget her underwear as she then moved behind the wall that would keep her from being noticed. Dressing into the clothes as she was now trying a bit more to look pretty, deciding to braid her hair and walking back out.

"Thank you again Drei, but I was wondering.. Can we go look at space? I've been on this ship and I want to look at it." she said as she knew it was a silly thing to ask. She was there for a mission and she wanted to look at stars and planets. "I always wanted to travel space as a kid. Wishing those stories were true. That I would get a job on a science ship, to solve the mysteries of the world... and now.. I'm going to be a scientis on a spaceship." she said as she couldn't help but smile at those thoughts. "I just hope I'm smart enough." she said as she then looked at him again. "How do I look? Or doesn't your species dress up?" she asked as she then moved into her bag and pulled out some red lipstick. Moving to grab a little mirror so she could do some simple red lips and eyeliner and maskara, it had been ages since she had done her makeup and she finally felt like there was a reason.

The thought of purpose was one that resonated strongly with Azdrei’in. He still didn’t know if he would have been as trusting as she was if their positions had been reversed, but he did understand why she would be so determined to find a new meaning for her life. Most of her species had been wiped out by the virus that his people had released, and it seemed like she hadn’t encountered many others like herself who were somehow immune to its effects. She had spent many of her days just passing the time with no real aim or goal. He didn’t know what it would have been like to go through something similar, and he was uncertain what it would have done to him mentally if he had.

Lunvalgans were hyper-social beings who centered their purpose around the good of their communities. Their social hierarchy was rigidly defined and hive-like, with the Eilix at the top and every other member of the colony trickling down into different jobs that were needed for their survival. Their individual purposes were handed to them when they were assigned to their lifelong roles. His purpose as a warrior was to both defend his people and to provide for them once they descended on the Earth. And later, whenever the Om’phaers determined his compatibility with a female of his race, he would share the secondary purpose that all Lunvalgans did: procreating to escape extinction. He’d never found himself without a purpose because he was part of a cohesive society, and it was beyond his scope of experience to comprehend what it was like for Artemis to lack such an essential part of her being.

“Even among my people, I’ve always been a fast learner,” he mused, a gratified smile pulling at his lip. “I might have been a… an engineer if I hadn’t tested so well during my physical exam. Because we were going to begin colonizing your planet soon, my leaders decided we needed more warriors than engineers though, so that was where I was placed.” He shrugged noncommittally. Either way, he would have enjoyed his placement. Learning new things was exciting to him, and he had plenty of opportunities to do so as an engineer or a warrior. As the latter, he’d been able to visit the Earth before most of his people, to see it and feel it and explore the terrain as it was before the Lunvalgans came down and made it their own. He’d even had the luck of finding a living, miraculously uninfected human who was teaching him more about her kind than he’d ever hoped to learn. It was a satisfying job.

When Artemis showed him different animals on her screen, Azdrei’in decided definitively that he didn’t see her as a dolphin. If she looked different, then it would have been an accurate comparison, but she was too similar to his own species for that. He glanced between the video of the gorilla and her face, seeing a slightly closer resemblance but still unconvinced. Gorillas and humans bore some obvious likeness to one another, but humans and Lunvalgans were so similar, it was uncanny. The biggest differences between them were their diets, mental capabilities, and the color of their hair, skin and eyes.

“I don’t believe you,” he said, studying her amusedly. “Even if most of your people are violent, I don’t sense that trait in you at all. When I tracked you down, you had a chance to kill me but didn’t take it. Even I think you would have been in the right if you had finished me off. I was there to kill you. It would have been natural for you to protect yourself, but you didn’t. You put my health before your own. That is the furthest thing from violence.” It was also what had intrigued him about her, during the first few moments after he’d woken up in her hideout. She hadn’t behaved like he’d been told humans were supposed to.

Turning around to face the wall, he waited for Artemis to change clothes, honoring his word not to look over his shoulder even though it was tempting to find out how similar she was to a Lunvalgan female underneath the outfits she wore. When she was done, he stood up and turned back around, only to pause as his eyes swept almost involuntarily over the new clothes she’d put on. The bold red of her shirt was eye-catching, and he couldn’t help but notice the way her pants clung to her hips. Distracted by the sight, he nearly missed what she said to him as she walked back out and had to wrack his brain to belatedly translate the words before he cleared his throat. “Space?” he echoed, buying himself a little time as he peeled his gaze away from her to walk back to his bed and sit down. “I’m sure we can if the doctors don’t need you all the time. We have breaks for rest and meals built into our days here. If you are given the same freedoms as the rest of my people, we can take my spaceship for another drive later.”

Currently, that was a big ‘if,’ since he had no idea what the Om’phaers were going to do with her, but he knew he would have liked to get off the mothership again for a little while. He liked watching her light up at the sight of the endless expanse of black and stars that surrounded them. To him, the cosmos had become mundane, but her enthusiasm revitalized some of his interest in it.

Reclining on his bed, Azdrei’in watched quietly as Artemis applied a pigmented substance to her face. He’d never seen anything like it, but when she asked him how she looked, he gathered that she wore it to enhance her appearance. “I am dressed,” he replied, unsure what she meant by ‘dress up.’ Pausing, he considered the first half of her question. While his own people didn’t paint their faces, he could see the appeal of it. The red tint on her lips was pretty, and the black lining she’d applied to her eyes made the green color of her irises look even brighter. “I like it,” he said after a moment, deciding it was a positive change. Even more than he admitted, he thought she looked beautiful. However, she still wasn’t a Lunvalgan, so he kept that to himself.

Not long after, the door to their room slid open, and he glanced at the open passageway, where another warrior was standing with his white eyes fixed on Artemis and one hand resting on his gun at his waistband. “The Om’phaers wish to see the Earthling now,” he said in a gruff tone. “I will take it to them.”

“I will accompany you,” Azdrei’in stood up from his bed. “She does not speak our language, so the Om’phaers will need me to translate their conversation.”

The other warrior nodded, “Very well then. Both of you, come with me.” He waved a hand in a beckoning gesture and stepped back out into the hallway.

Azdrei’in turned to Artemis, switching to English, “Our doctors are ready for you now.”

“Can you learn to be an engineer and a warrior? I’m certain that within a few years, that maybe they don’t need as many warriors. It would be a shame to dismiss such a gift.” Artemis told Asdrei’in as she just wanted to be honest with him. “Or be both? Engineer and warrior.” she continued as she knew a few people that were doctors and that did some demanding hobbies. No, she knew the ones that were both, that all had changed with the virus.

“I just couldn’t kill you, I knew I was taking a risk to keep you alive. But.. You fascinated me, you look so much like a human male. Just a lot stronger and…” Artemis started saying, realizing that she almost said that he was more handsome. How could she even think that a creature like him could look at her like that? It made no sense at all. “Way more tall and broad in the shoulders. I always dreamed about space and aliens being real. Of intelligent creatures in the stars.” She said her eyes did betray the fact that it was wondrous to her. As if she was talking about the most beautiful thing she had ever seen.

“I couldn’t kill my one chance to talk to the other species that got so smart they made spaceships.” She said as she then looked at him with a smile. By then she had been dressed and she hoped that he would at least like it. She knew one thing, that humans and creatures on earth loved to make themselves look better than they actually looked. To enhance the features that they had, in order to find a mate. Yet to humans it had just been to enhance your own beauty, it even had a whole system made to get money from it.
“I still can’t believe they would grant me that freedom. And I would prefer to eat my own food… I don’t like the idea of meat sludge.” She said as she mentioned that he had explained what he had been eating before.
Only to giggle as he told her that he was indeed dressed. “Yes you are, but dressing up... Is … How do I explain this.” She said as she then looked at him. “Look the lipstick on my lips is to make them redder, to make my eyes greener. It’s to make you look more beautiful.. enhance the good things about your own body.” She said as she then moved her hands over the sides of her dress and then held her hands at the waist.

“This is fitted to my waist, human males… often find curves in a body more beautiful, this shows these curves.” She said as she then moved to pull up the dress a little. “Move it up, show a little leg… and you go from… More normal attire to… sexy.. to attract the opposite sex.. or just to feel more beautiful.” She said as she then smiled as he had liked it. A smile that actually reached her eyes as she then moved to put on some heels. “Heels… I love heels... They make me taller..” she said as she then made the dress fall down again.

“Dressing, to humans it isn’t just for.. warmth and such... It is to show what type of person you are. How you feel inside, what you like to wear.” She said as she then moved to her tablet and quickly went through a few styles that she had loved at fashion shows. Only to step back as the door opened once more. Only to see his hand at the gun, her eyes slowly moving up and down the warrior his body as he seemed even stronger than Drei. Her eyes moving to his face as she figured what the women of his kind probably would find attractive. The huge protruding thing on the forehead and the strong shoulders. His voice was deep, another sign that he was supposed to be more handsome. But quite frankly that warrior scared her, he was staring at her like a predator to his prey.

So she acted as what she would do when she encountered a mountain lion, to stare him in the eye and to slowly back away. She knew that if she had helped him, that she wouldn’t have survived. It was one hell of an assumption, but she felt as if it was the truth. He made the hairs on the back of her neck rise as she then felt as if he wanted her to take her away. Only to breathe again as Azdrei’in spoke. Only to smile as he spoke about taking her to his doctors.

Only moving when she was close to the man that she trusted. “I don’t think he trusts me... He’s scary.” She said as she hoped that he didn’t understand her. He heartrate only calming when she was back around the one that she trusted. Her eyes moving around the ship whenever they were moving. This time she made sure not to look at the others as she then watched another door open.

Instantly she could see the table and equipment that seemed to belong in a medical room. Only to move to a microscope. She couldn’t help but touch it, tears forming in her eyes as it had been so long since she had seen one. “A microscope. I never thought I would see that again.” She told Azdrei’in as she then snapped her head to the woman that stood before her.

“Artemis.” She said as she pointed at herself, wanting to show that she was willing to communicate and try even without Azdrei’in. “Tell them it is a pleasure to try and help them. That I am willing to work with them if there is any way that I can help. I’m just so glad to see things I recognize. Test tubes… Swabs…” she said as she didn’t understand why she was so emotional. “I’m just glad I can mean something.” She said as she then decided to pull out her tablet. Making sure to move slowly and to hold it out. It held the picture of human DNA, their chromosomes, and then a video of the IVF. She knew they were scientists and the base of reproduction was always chromosomes. If they had the same amount and a DNA structure that was alike, that meant that in the worst-case scenario that they could mix species. Only to let them see it before she pulled out a picture of a human womb, and how long it took for a baby to grow. Hoping that it was crucial information that could help them.

If they were wanting to take tests, like swabs and blood, she would easily give it to them. She wanted to know if there even was any hope. Because it could still be of no use at all. They could do a lot without any reward. She just hoped that all of it was good news.

“Once we are assigned jobs, we keep those jobs for our lifetimes,” Azdrei’in answered Artemis’s question. “It’s why we’re marked… The mark shows the permanence of our roles.” Sweeping his braided hair over one shoulder, he revealed the tattoo on his neck that designated him as a warrior. Even if he appealed to the Om’phids for a career change, it wouldn’t get him anywhere. Their society was far too strictly structured. He’d been chosen to be a fighter and hunter for his people, and that was what he would do until death or old age claimed him. It was the way things were, and none of the Lunvalgans questioned it. At least, they never questioned it out loud because those who did often disappeared shortly after.

It was something of a mystery among his people, and yet it was hardly a mystery at all. The Eilix ruled with a heavy hand, and anyone who questioned their authority was punished for it. Even if he wanted to do more than one job, he had to keep the wish to himself or risk becoming one of those who vanished either for good or for a while before they returned fully loyal to their leaders again. Neither option sounded appealing to him, so he followed his orders and accepted the reality that he’d been assigned the role of warrior in spite of his aptitude for learning rapidly.

When Artemis told him that she didn’t want to eat the ‘meat sludge’ that his people consumed for their meals, he laughed amusedly. “No one does. I don’t know if you can even digest it anyway. The formula was created for my species, which is why I told you to bring your own food from your planet.” He didn’t want to go back to eating the substitute either, now that he’d had his first taste of blood and flesh. The food on the mothership had always been bland, but he suspected it would be especially so compared to the rich flavors he’d experienced on the Earth. He was grateful that Artemis had considered him when she’d packed for their short trip into orbit. At least for a few days, he could keep eating the meat she’d brought from her home.

Artemis’s explanation about dressing up made him wonder who she was trying to impress. If she did it to attract the opposite sex, then it was only logical that she wanted male attention, wasn’t it? The thought stirred mixed emotions inside of him. On one hand, he wanted to believe that she’d prettied herself up because of him. It was a pathetically hopeful fantasy, and it was one that he knew probably wasn’t the case. He didn’t know how humans courted each other, but he didn’t think she’d been trying to get that kind of attention from him so far. He doubted she was trying to now either. On the other hand, though, the idea that she was just looking to attract any of the other male Lunvalgans on the ship fanned an unexpected jealous streak inside of him. If anyone was going to have her, he wanted to be the one she chose.

His pale eyes tracked the way she ran her hands over her own waist and then lifted the bottom of her skirt to show her calf. Humans weren’t the only race that appreciated curves on their females. Whether she meant to or not, her short demonstration of why she had dressed up made it harder for him to remind himself that she wasn’t a Lunvalgan, and he forced himself to look away when the other warrior showed up to retrieve them.

Getting up from his bed, he walked with Artemis to the door, keeping close to her since his presence seemed to ease some of her resurging fear. “You’re foreign to us. He doesn’t know what to think of you,” he told her while they made their way down the corridor. “He can’t hurt you though. Touching the gun is an act that he’s using to try to deter you from acting violently. Don’t worry about him.”

“You really are fluent in its language,” the other warrior said suddenly, glancing at Azdrei’in bemusedly over his shoulder. “How did you learn it so quickly?”

“She has a device with quite a bit of valuable information stored within it,” Azdrei’in answered. “I studied everything I could find in the database to communicate with her.”

“I see,” the other warrior mused, his eyes drifting from his comrade’s face down to his chest. A knowing smile crossed his lips, and he fell back a little to walk by Azdrei’in’s side. “Bloodstains? Have you been hunting?”

“Perhaps,” Azdrei’in grinned back at him and then chuckled when the other male gave him a friendly shove with one arm. Those who became warriors were often rowdier than the other Lunvalgans on the ship, but he enjoyed the antics.

“Do not just stop there,” the bigger warrior groused good-naturedly. “What was it like? Is the prey on this new planet good to eat?”

“I have only sampled a small portion, but so far, the prey has not disappointed,” Azdrei’in obliged him.

For the rest of the short walk, he described in better detail what it was like to hunt on Earth, telling the other male about the different kinds of animals, how it was trickier to stalk prey because nothing else on the planet seemed to be bioluminescent, and what it felt like to dine on something that wasn’t “meat sludge,” as Artemis had so aptly put it, that had been made in a lab.

Eventually, they passed through another doorway and arrived in the wing of the ship that had been designated for the Lunvalgan physicians and medical scientists. Their warrior escort moved to stand off to the side, leaning back against a white wall to passively keep watch. Azdrei’in stood beside Artemis, and a group of three Om’phaers looked up from the work they had been doing to study the human with interest. Scientifically minded, there was less hostility in their eyes—although they were still slightly cautious—and more fascination with the being among them who looked shockingly like one of their own people.

One of the physicians approached: a tall, lithe female dressed in white. Her long hair was twisted into a floral bun on the right side of her head, and her face was slender without a crest that denoted her gender. Azdrei’in nodded a greeting to her and then turned to Artemis as she spoke her name and then asked him to translate a message for her. He relayed it as precisely as he could, glad that he’d focused on medical terminology when he’d studied her language again last night.

The female Lunvalgan seemed intrigued, especially when Artemis went on to show her the information about humans and their fertility on her device. “This is remarkable,” she said with interest, taking the tablet from the Earthling to look through the pictures and videos herself. Even from a glance, she could see that there were a surprising number of similarities between their two species, and the discovery warranted immediate investigation. Artificial fertilization was something they had begun experimenting with, but had yet to see any success. Perhaps there was something to be learned from the creatures they had nearly eradicated. Looking over the human, she declared, “I would like to take some samples straightaway. Blood, saliva, tissue… You, come. Bring her this way.”

With a gesture to Azdrei’in, she strode over to the exam table near the back of the room and drew a curtain around it for privacy. On the table, she placed a folded gown. “Tell her to put this on, so I am able to conduct a thorough exam.”

He repeated the instructions in English to Artemis. “I’ll stay if you want me to,” he added. “I assume she means a physical exam though, so if you’d rather have your privacy, I will step out.”

Artemis watched as he moved his braid aside, looking at the tattoo as she couldn’t help but realize that they were a lot like ants when it came to a system. She always had loves ants and she often had looked into how well-oiled of a machine they were. “Humans have tattoos to show who they are as well. But there are more things than just work. Just like the pretty clothes I like to wear for myself.” She said as she then realized that his kind probably was ruled with an iron hand. She wondered if that would change once they had a planet and had new children.

“Humans are omnivores, so I think I would be able to digest it.” She simply stated as she looked at him with a smirk. “But you probably need more protein and less of carbohydrates.” She said as she then wondered if he even would get what she was saying. Only to chuckle as she had been pulling up her skirt, she had noticed that his females had curves as well, so she figured he understood the meaning.

Yet she quickly pulled the dress down as the other had appeared, her heart beating more rapidly as she followed them around. Only to look at Azdrei’in when he talked to her about the gun. “It works the other way around, humans are violent. Show them a fraction that it is an option and they will most likely use it.” She said as she then walked with him into the room.

Trying to get what the others were saying, but the language went rather fast for her liking. Holding on to the tablet as she hoped they would see that she wanted to help them out. Trying her hardest to keep up as they were quite a bit faster than her.
She said nothing as they were walking, watching as the one male shoved Drei, only to have a small smile grace her lips. So they did want to show off their strength, somehow she could see a lot of the same emotions and ways that human had when they were around each other. Just letting the man speak as she wanted to find out more about the language, but that would prove to be harder than before.
Only to have her eyes sparkle at the sight of the lab, only to see the scientist look at her as if she was indeed an interesting new species that they had seen. How she had reacted on seeing a chimp using sign language. A smile on her face as she then turned to the one that had been moving towards her.
It was a female and she couldn’t help but look at her curiously, trying to determine what made them beautiful and trying not to think of how Drei would feel about her.

Why was she feeling this attraction towards a male that wasn’t even her own species? He could never look at her like that, she knew that that was wishful thinking. She was just a way to help his species, nothing more and nothing less. She then went to work, trying her hardest to remain professional as the woman took the device. She still needed to find a way to get them to understand the internet. So they would find even more information, to be able to send messages to the earthlings that were surviving. But that was for later.

When he had told her what they wanted to do, and what samples they wanted to take, she simply moved towards the bed that was once again a lot larger than she was. Watching the woman leave as she then smiled at him. “Please stay. You can just turn around when I change… but I need someone to explain what they are going to do.” She stated before she moved to take off her clothes. Folding them over the chair before taking the gown and moving to lay herself down on the bed.

When they would take the samples, she would make it easy on them. “I only have 4 liters of blood, you need to tell them they can only take half a liter. And I wonder… is our DNA alike? Our Chromosomes?” she asked as she took another deep breath. Why did she even think they would answer her. “Sorry, I always loved science… It’s nice not to think about surviving for once. I just have so many questions.” She said as she then felt her cheeks heat up. Her eyes moving over him as she then looked him over.

“What if this works? And I happen to be able to carry a child….How will that happen?” she asked as she knew it was an awkward question. She knew it probably meant she had to sleep with some male of their species and she didn’t exactly want to do that. Yet she wondered if she was able to choose, if she were to sleep with a male, she’d rather do it with one she trusted. Would his species even enjoy it?

“It must be nice to see your friends again.” She then changed the subject as she had seen the look on his face when he was talking to the hunter. They seemed to have a friendship, just as humans had made friends. She just wondered if her presence even was helping, what if all their hope was for nothing?

Azdrei’in nodded when Artemis insisted that she wanted him to stay while the Om’phaer examined her. He repeated her request to the physician, who agreed that there was no problem for him to be in the room, and then turned around to wait while she changed out of her clothes. It was the more sensible decision for him to stay close by, since she couldn’t communicate with anyone else among his kind, but he still felt a bit like he was sitting in on an exam for a female of his own species. It was awkward, and he shifted his weight slightly as he faced the curtain that partitioned off the exam table from the rest of the space. She had changed nearby him a few times now, but he didn’t know if he would ever get used to it.

Only when he heard her climb up onto the exam table did he turn around again to watch as the Om’phaer prepared the equipment she needed to take samples from Artemis. “Your units of measurement are different than ours,” he told her when she tried to tell him how much blood the physician could draw. “I will just tell her to take half the amount she would from one of our people.” And he did in the next moment, to which the other Lunvalgan chuckled in response.

“There is nothing to fear,” she assured him. “I only need enough to fill this.” She held up a small, empty vial about half the length of her index finger and then attached it deftly to the needle that she would use to draw the fluid. “She may dislike the feeling when I take the blood sample though. Our instruments are designed to pierce Lunvalgan skin. Hers is much softer and thinner… Will she fight back if she is in pain?”

“I do not believe so,” Azdrei’in answered with a frown. “She is not violent… Artemis,” switching to English, he turned to the human, deciding to forewarn her before the physician introduced the oversized needle. “Because you’re smaller than us, it may hurt when she takes your blood.” With a tilt of his head, he indicated the medical instrument in the Om’phaer’s hand. Even though he doubted she would attack the other Lunvalgan out of nowhere if she was in pain, he still felt like she deserved to be able to brace herself before the needle was plunged into her skin.

When she asked about genetic makeup, he repeated the question to the physician, who made a contemplative noise before she shook her head. “There is no way to tell before I run the tests, but it seems unlikely. Phenotype is far different than genotype. Just because her species has a similar appearance does not guarantee that her DNA will be similar too. I would prefer not to get our hopes up this early on.”

Azdrei’in echoed the answer to Artemis and then glanced at her again when she asked what would happen if it turned out they were similar enough to interbreed. At that, he pressed his tongue against his teeth, unsure quite what to say. He knew the answer already. If she could carry a Lunvalgan child, it was almost certain that his leaders would want a male to mate with her. However, the thought of her being handed over to someone else bothered him. He also didn’t know how she would feel if she found out that she would be expected to reproduce with a member of his kind. He and the other Lunvalgans were used to being governed closely by the Eilix, but if she wasn’t prepared to accept their authority, she could hate their decision or put up a fight.

“It will happen the same way the rest of our women attempt to carry children… with a male partner,” he told her after clearing his throat. That was as specific as he felt comfortable being, so he left it to her to infer the rest. Instead of elaborating, he fell quiet and watched the Om’phaer clean Artemis’s arm with a sanitizing swab where she had found a visible vein from which to draw blood.

“I haven’t come across any friends yet,” he mused in response to her comment, relieved for a change in topic that allowed him to forget about the bitter fact that she might be paired with a male that wasn’t him. “The man who walked here with us was a…” he paused briefly as he searched for the right word, “Coworker. He was a coworker. We have trained together, but I don’t know much more about him than his name. My friends are warriors too, but I haven’t seen them since we arrived on the spaceship.”