“Were you not assigned to it? Our placement is determined when we are originated, and programming is installed, even before origination.”
“Originated? Don’t you have mothers?”
He shook his head. “We have maturation chambers. When we can exist outside the chambers, that is considered our origin date.”
“Where do you get the fertilized eggs.”
“Before we came here, we were on our homeworld of Orlicia.”
“Orlicia. I don’t know that system.”
“It is on the edge of the Galactic Alliance territories, near the Tolan Nebula.”
Her eyes widened. “Tolan Nebula? That is the area where ships go in and never return?”
He nodded. “I am here, so I have never been there, personally.” His attempt at a joke felt harsh as he said it.
She smiled.
Evidently, she liked it. Somewhat, anyway.
“When we left Orlicia and the Builders, the embryos that had been developed were taken. I am one of those taken embryos. All of us are, now. There are none left that were not from the embryos.”
“How many are left?”
“None.”
“None? What happens to you now? How will your people continue?”
“That is the question,” he replied. A question that had plagued the Rhimodians for the last two generations. No solution had been found. And if the war continued, it would not matter, for they would all be gone.
“Is there anything I can do?” she asked.
“Have sex with me.”
“Excuse me?” Her entire body reared back, her eyes wide and her expression shifted to absolute disgust.
“Engage in intercourse with me.”
“That is what I thought you said. And I am absolutely affronted that you would say such a thing to me! How dare you!” She stood and stormed away, to the nearby windows, with her back to him.
He was unsure how this had gone wrong.
She glared at him over her shoulder.
Which made no sense—why did her anger and fury incite the Cravings in him? There must be a flaw in his programming. Master System would need to run updates and scans when the eclipse was passed.
However, he must correct this situation as best he could for the time being. He still needed to protect the Ambassador and keep her safe until the negotiations.
He stood to follow her. “Did you or did you not ask how you could be of assistance?”
“For research purposes! Perhaps trading medical tech! Not, not something so intimate shared between those in love!” Her cheeks turned bright pink at the words.
He blinked. “I was not proposing love or anything so emotional. It was for research. We are attempting to find genomes that are compatible with ours. Most humanoids are not.”
“So, you’re just having sex with anyone that crosses your path?”
“Is that wrong?”
