“I am going to have to look into that mythos.”
She snickered.“I know.Any additions on your end?”
He paused and then added, “I am going to open positions for researchers who want to participate in a world coming to life.Any species that meets our environmental needs can join, but our own people will take priority.”
“Wait.Our people?”
“Yes.We are going on a tour of this system, and if you develop the capability for heavy worlds, we will go and visit them as well.”
“Oh.So, when are we travelling?”
“Once we bond, we will take about a week to get you acclimated, and we will begin planning from there.The Pericoffs are not thriving, and after five hundred years, they should be.We will visit them first.”
“Why?”
“So that I can notify them they will be moved to an aerie on the other side of the world where they can thrive and may get their sex drives back.”
“What?”
“The Pericoffs are fading.They have decreased their population by seventy-five percent living in their city.There are no others on their world.”
“Send in specialists.Well, go in, warn them that the specialists are coming, and then find out whether they want to wipe their species off the face of the universe or if they want to fight.If they want to fight to survive, there are ways to do it.Some of them don’t even involve contact.”
He stared.“What?”
“Sign the thing, we will cuddle, and I will explain what I have learned about eggs, surrogates, incubators, and genetic specialists.Their low sex drive could be down to a mineral they aren’t able to find in their environment.”
Birun smiled slowly.“I think you are the best thing to land on my world and settle in my base.”
“Think that when I am fighting for my life in the darkness.”
“I will be there.The darkness won’t get you.”
He signed, scanned, and marked the tablet, and she did the same.
Just like that, she was a consort.
Birun locked the tablet, and the bot drove away with it.He stood and carried her to the bed.“Would you like to remove the dress, or should I cut it free of you?”
Trin froze.“Uh.”
“Cut it is.”He carefully pulled the fabric loose and sliced it away from her with his claws.“The unit is making a replacement.”
The pile of fabric was soon next to her slipper-clad feet.“Well, that was interesting.”
He pulled the bedding back.“In you get.”
“Wait.I need to take off the jewellery.”
“Earrings only.I want you to keep the necklace and bracelets on.”
“Why?”
“Because they are designed not to interfere with your movements and be comfortable.”He grinned and moved the fabric to the arms of a bot before he removed his skirt.Trin’s eyes bugged, and she wished that there were happy face stickers big enough to deal withthat.
