Well, besides his big rock of citricite.
“Are you a scientist like your father?” she asked.
“I am a scientist of sorts,” he said. “But I am not like my father.”
She smiled and touched her face. Then pulled her hand back.
“You do that a lot.”
“What?”
“Touch your face.”
She fluffed her hair back down over her face so that he wouldn’t see the scarring. “Sorry, a nervous habit.”
"Do I make you nervous?"
"A little. I never thought I would be selected for this. There are so many of us. I didn't think there was a reason for you or any Kantenan to select someone as ordinary as I am."
"Why do you feel you're ordinary? You seem quite lovely to me. And I certainly am drawn to you."
"I just... I am. There's nothing significant about me."
"There will be, mated to me."
She trembled when he said that, for the idea was very intense. "You can be the important, popular one. I will just remain behind."
"No one is ordinary," he said. He reached across the table, his hand just a few centimeters from hers, but she pulled back.
He shifted in his chair. “I am curious. You said you were from Trinity Alpha Prime, yet you have the Nevillian ridges on your nose. Did you flee Neville?”
“Not me, personally, but my father left there before I was born. My mother was from Trinity Alpha Prime."
"And you grew up there?"
She nodded. "Not one, but not the other either. Already, I am a couple of genomes mashed together. I’ll probably be the best test subject, really,” she said. However, the thought had never dawned on her until she just now said it. “If we can produce a child, then mingling with others in the galaxy will be simple for your people.”
“Very true,” he replied. “Makes me want to try.”
She blinked, her cheeks getting warm. “Uh…”
“Well,” he said, sitting up straighter, and while he didn’t blush, his horns almost got brighter for a moment, like more bright green. “I meant, of course. In the most clinical sense. You know that I meant—”
“I think so,” she said. “From a clinical perspective, of course.”
“Right. Of course.”
She chuckled.
And so did he.
For a moment, she thought that maybe this had a chance of working out.
He did have a nice laugh.
#
Unlike his residence, this place had no view of the outside. It felt like they were locked in a bubble.
