Khalzin grimaced. “The Galactic Alliance has a program where they bring willing alien mates to different worlds to procreate.”
“You want me to mate with an off-worlder?” Stron asked. Was that even possible? The Kantenan mating was limited to their own people.
Wasn't it?
“In a matter of speaking.”
“There is no matter-of-speaking,” Fiviel said. “We mate with them, or we don't.” Leave it to Fiviel to break it down.
Even Khalzin seemed to recognize the clarity of his statement.
Dhomhes grinned, looking far too eager to hear the details of this.
Stron wanted to knock that cocky smile off his face.
“It is a program for the science of it. They bring the willing females. We bring the males, and we choose our mates. If we have a connection, we get to mate. If not, they leave.”
Stron didn’t say anything, but his friend was not explaining himself well.
“How many volunteers do you need?” Fiviel asked.
“Three, to start.”
“And you,” Dhomhes said.
Khalzin nodded. “And me.”
“Why are you doing this?” Stron asked. “Is this part of your educational research?” He knew Khalzin had been researching the Kantenan genome for years, but he didn’t realize his education had gone in such a direction.
It went against the Kantenan religious doctrine to mate with off-worlders, after all.
Which only intrigued Stron. What made it so important to make such a drastic change in the way their people had lived for centuries.
Khalzin sighed. “Our genome is stretched to the limit. It will not take long before we are all related to one another. We need to bring fresh genes into our pool before that happens.”
“Our people have been isolated for far too long,” Stron said. “It would be good to be more open to others.”
“So, you think bringing in new species will help refresh our genome?” Dhomhes asked.
“I think it is what we will have to do if we want to continue to exist and thrive.”
“That sounds challenging,” Fiviel said. “How do you know that the females can carry our breed? What about the differences? Won't it make the crossbreeding fail?”
“The Galactic Alliance's scientists believe they can handle that. We just send them our genome details so they can select those who fit.”
“But it is for testing. It will not be a true commitment,” Dhomhes said.
“It is to be a true commitment,” Khalzin said. “We cannot agree to do this, and then throw the females back if we do not like them.”
“You seem to forget that we cannot just make a child with anyone. We have to connect. There are physical reactions that we cannot control,” Stron said. “The connection must be solid.”
“And the odds of you finding this across the stars seems massive,” Fiviel said.
“I cannot promise anything. But all I need to start are volunteers willing to try,” Khalzin said, his voice shifting from uncertainty.
“It will not work,” Dhomhes said.
“Thanks for your confidence,” Khalzin glared at him.
