ONE MONTH LATER
"Icannot believe I'm doing this," Janae said as she glanced around the spaceship’s common area. Windows showed the starfield outside the ship, the sign they had dropped out of the Faster Than Light tunnels that starships used for long-distance travel. She couldn’t help staring in wonder at the glittering sparkles in the black as they flew into the system.
She watched for something, anything really, that was more than just a star. Maybe an asteroid belt or flying by a planet with rings or something different than what she’d grown up seeing.
Around the windows clustered chairs and tables for conversation and gatherings.
Some were confident and excited. Others were nervous.
Janae was one of the latter.
After all, they were about to land on Kantenan and possibly meet their mates. All in the name of science.
Not love.
That was an emotion.
This wasscience.
Though to listen to many of the participants, they were here to find a love match rather than any desire to further scientific studies of inter-species breeding.
It didn’t seem like there were a lot of females a part of the study, Janae thought. Maybe if the Galactic Alliance Science Society billed this a little differently, then they’d have a lot more participants.
Janae had picked a bench near one of the walls, her back to it so that she could watch everyone.
It amazed her that any woman had joined this crazy program.
In the name of science and further study of humanoid breeding, the Galactic Alliance had developed this exchange program. The Galactic Alliance controlled a large portion of the galaxy, and there were alliances with many humanoid species. Still, the Galactic Alliance was a governing organization that cooperated between the systems rather than an oppressive empire that ruled over the galaxy.
There were enough of those with their own little sectors of the galaxy.
All the Galactic Alliance did was get them all to tolerate each other.
The Alliance spread all over the galaxy, controlling probably three-quarters of the known, inhabited systems. There were other governments--the Terran Empire, the Neville systems, just to name a few. Both governments were members, but it was the most basic definition. The Terrans ran that quadrant. The Nevillians maintained their quadrant as well. Neighbors via location, and friends because they had to be.
Okay, maybe she was oversimplifying it, but basically, that was enough. From her point of view, anyway, that’s what she saw.
But Janae had a different way of looking at things.
Even different from her companions here on this ship.
Sure, they all were here to meet whatever species they were off to engage with, but even that, Janae had yet another level of separation.
They all came from someplace.
She didn’t. Not anymore, anyway.
She should have felt a kind of camaraderie with the others, but she didn't. She felt just as separated as she did any other time. This was just another place to go, feeling isolated from the rest. The impulse to do this had been quick, and it seemed like a good idea at the time. She didn't have a reason for doing it other than she thought it was an opportunity she might not get again.
But was she really doing this? Was it about what she needed or something else?
Some alien need?
She wasn’t sure, but she liked to think it was because she was curious about other humanoids. She was born to a Terran mother and a Nevillian father, which meant she mostly looked Terran, but her nose carried the Neville ridges up onto her brow. Plus, her scarred skin over her brow from a skin condition, she was an odd one to look at.
She fluffed her hair down into her face again, so the bangs covered as much of her forehead as possible. She hated people seeing the scarring.
A couple of the girls nearby giggled, and she wondered if they realized how loud they were being. And whether it was nerves or actual joyous laughter.
