Candidate (Selected Book 4) (61 page)

I didn't walk away. But I turned my head from her, staring at the wall for a while. "One of each?"

"Your body would accept changes. It is too hard on you to change you back and forth, and do you really think yours would be first?"

Finally I nodded and said quietly, "
Our
Kitsune children."

"My DNA."

I looked at her. "Your mother said you could possibly use a portion of my DNA."

"How important is that to you?"

"It's not," I said. "But do you want to know what is important?
Our children
. That's important. I don't care whose DNA is used. I don't care if they're adopted. I don't care what they look like. But they would be
our children
."

She paused then nodded. "Our children. Our household. Our project."

I smiled. "I'm sorry I got upset."

"I don't blame you. I would have, too." She took my hands again. "I want to start all this sooner rather than later. I can wait, but I want
our
household well established long before
our
project heats up. I am ready now, but if it is not to be you, I can be patient. Maybe someone else in this room is interesting, or maybe I won't find someone for five or ten years. I would rather it not be that long, but if it is, then it is."

"All right," I said. "And what kind of human mate do you want?"

"What I see of you so far is a good description."

"You do not want someone younger? Some of these women are quite lovely."

"And young. We are of similar ages. That is better. The age of your body is irrelevant. It's not like I'm going to let you grow old."

"Your mother suggested she could roll back my apparent age. Would you want to do that?"

"Are you asking me to do it?"

"I am asking what you want. I am quite comfortable at 34."

"You are not entirely comfortable. You worry you are old."

"All right, true. Human women prefer to stop at 29. But human men wished we stopped at 22."

"If you want to roll back, I would let you."

"Let?"

"On issues involving our technology, that is the word we will be using."

"All right. No, if you're happy with this age, I'm happy with this age."

"What if I weren't?"

I sighed. "You just said you were."

"Kitsune like to discuss hypothetical situations."

I laughed. "If you wanted me younger, and we otherwise were to be happy, I'd let you, but not too young."

"What is too young?"

"18 for sure. I think mid-20s is as young as I'd want to look."

"This is important? Why?"

"When I interact with other humans, they will see my apparent age, not my real age, and treat me accordingly."

"So it is not that you dislike a 21-year-old body."

"Oh, no. I definitely can appreciate a 21-year-old body." I looked around the room. "She's 21."

The Kitsune turned to look. "Nice butt."

"Good legs, too."

"Hair is a little dull."

"Nothing a little color wouldn't fix. Unfortunately..."

"Yes?"

"High, nasal voice."

"We're being quite mean."

"I know. Especially because I just lied. She has a very nice voice. And she's very sweet. But she's 21."

"I'm not sure the Hobble is ready to let her go."

"I could take the Hobble."

She laughed. "I bet you could. And while you were doing that, I could acquire the human."

"I bet she doesn't know a thing about moving asteroids, either."

"I can teach her."

"She's a fresh college graduate."

"So young."

"She was accepted to Stanford University for her doctorate. You've stolen her from that."

"She'll have other opportunities. What was she going to study?"

"High energy physics. She's such a ditz."

The Kitsune squeaked and squeaked.

I leaned closer. "You probably wouldn't have to teach her the math. Are you sure you don't want her instead?"

"She's 21. And she doesn't know how to feed my workers."

"Maybe her only hobby is cooking."

"Yeah, right. Her only hobby is soccer."

"Now you're cheating," I said. "You looked her up."

"After you told me she was a physicist."

"Ah, so you
are
interested."

"Remember when I said some Kitsune prefer complicated relationships? Maybe I want two human mates."

I laughed.

"You know nothing about my species. I might want three humans."

"A half an octal," I said. "Why not go for a full octal?"

"How could I possibly find seven females who would all get along? I don't have the ability of an Octal queen to enforce it. Three would be hard enough."

"But you would want us all to focus our attention on you, our Kitsune queen?"

"Maybe I like to watch."

"Maybe you are so full of shit," I said.

"What if I weren't?"

"I hate this."

"What?"

"I can't read your expressions."

"My own mother can't read my expressions. You're certainly not going to."

"I think if that's what you want, I can begin introducing you to women who would like the same. Of course, I think you'd lose the battle of wills, but you'd be very, very happy."

She laughed. "Not interested? That one's got great legs, and her hair is pretty." She gestured with her nose.

"I don't share. If you're serious, then it was nice meeting you."

"And yet you know about Octals."

"And I am sitting here, not staring vapidly at Dark Skies."

"Oh, she has a name!"

"She's a friend."

"Well, to be clear, I'm not very good at sharing, either. I do like to tease though."

"I'm figuring that out. How are you at being teased back?"

"I can take it."

I smiled. "How many children?"

"Good question. I'm not sure."

"So this would be a discussion."

"We'd start the discussion around two in the first decade and one per decade after that."

"Um. I'm 34. You can have a few until I'm 40, but after that, the chance of birth defects increases, and I don't like to gamble that way."

"Oh, Andromeda. Do you forget the conversation from five minutes ago?" I stared for a moment. "You'll be able to safely carry children for a very, very,
very
long time."

"Oh," I said in a small voice.

"So, as I said. Two in the first decade and then one per decade after that. The needs of our project would adjust that schedule, but it won't move so quickly that we can't start with two. There would be gaps after that, but it's too early to predict."

"So, when you say a long time, you mean several decades?"

"No, Andromeda. I mean twenty to thirty children."

"We won't remember their names!"

She squeaked. "I'm not teasing this time."

"And you aren't offering to carry any of them?"

"Oh, I might eventually, but you shouldn't count on it."

"You just want a baby factory."

She squeaked. "Yes. I want a baby factory that only pops out a baby once a decade. I have no idea what I'm going to do with her the rest of the time. Are you really telling me no?"

"No," I said. "I'm just a little shocked."

"Is this a deal breaker?"

"Wow, we're getting ahead of ourselves. What if I hate being pregnant?"

"Then we'll get a third."

"We will not! I was teasing."

"Maybe I was, too."

"You weren't."

"Neither were you."

"Fine, maybe I wasn't."

"One a decade. If you don't want to carry them, we'll get a third. We don't call it that, but Mother told me you understood the concept. Deal breaker?"

I sighed. "No. Can you dance? That might be a deal breaker."

"I can learn."

"I think it's time for your first lesson."

* * * *

We danced, and we talked. And we talked, and we danced. And we never stopped touching the entire time.

I took care of my duties to the other women, but they were all having a good time. They tended to let one person monopolize them, but that wasn't too hard to break up. But then I stopped worrying about it and let them talk to whomever they wished.

As it was getting late, one of the women approached Kitsune and me. "Could we talk to you?" asked the alien, a female Luxan named Abby Boomerang Nebula. With her was the young physicist, Ferny Cook.

"Of course," I said with a gesture. The Luxan held the chair for Ferny then took her own, pulling it closer so they could continue to touch.

"Fernanda informs me if I wish her to become my mate, I must woo her."

"She has choice," I said.

"Abby told me she needs the challenges," Ferny said.

"That is true."

"I don't have to go into the arena, do I? I agreed to do this willingly. I don't want to risk a man taking me."

I turned to Abby. "Do Luxan require you to first win her from other challengers?"

"No. I only must win her, or she must win me. Either way will satisfy my biology, but she is not able to win me in a fashion that will trigger my mating response."

"I'd have to beat you up?"

"No, but you would have to win a physical challenge in a fairly physically dominant fashion. You aren't able to do so. My mating response would trigger at that, or it can trigger if I win. Which is what will happen."

"Only if I agree," said Ferny. She looked back at me. "Right?"

"Well, if you accept her as your challenger, Ferny, you're sort of stuck, unless you beat her. If you're not willing to be stuck, then you need to either tell her no, or give her the chance to convince you. You get two weeks to decide."

"Only two weeks."

"And she may grow offended if she feels you are leading her on." Then I turned back to the Luxan. "Humans do not do it this way. Two weeks isn't remotely long enough. Do you understand that? She is not expressing reluctance for your suit. She is expressing dismay at being forced into such a short timeline, especially when she is so young and hasn't fully experienced the possibilities."

"I understand your words, Andromeda Hayes."

"If I date her," said Ferny, "I'm not stuck. But if I accept a challenge, I am."

"Once you accept the first challenge," I said. "Yes. I don't like this rule, but it's better than what they were doing before. And I think the aliens who need the challenges need it this way for their biology. I do not think they can do this casually like a human can."

"We become a little territorial," said Abby.

"What she means to say, Ferny, is that once you accept the challenge, she'll kill anyone else who touches you."

"I can't hug anyone else?"

"Well, maybe not that type of hug." I turned to the Luxan.

"I'd allow hugs of the other humans, but you will not hug any other of the extraterrestrials. I cannot allow it."

"You cannot allow it," Ferny repeated.

"Ferny," I said, "She can't help it. Think of her as a protective dog who won't let you pet other dogs. You can talk to people all you want, but no petting other dogs."

"I am not a dog, human!"

"No, I know you're not, Abby, but I'm trying to phrase this in terms she can understand. Do you have any idea how shocking this experience is to us? A week ago she was beginning to work on a doctorate in physics, and then she was yanked here in what feels to us an awful lot like an interstellar sex slave trade."

"It is not a slave trade."

"Would you like to see the cells we live in when we're not being paraded before all of you, barely wearing any clothing at all? Would you like to see how we're led -- in chains, I will point out -- to the arena? Oh, you've probably seen that before. We aren't given a choice. No one asked if we wanted to be here. So yes, it is a slave trade."

I stared her down, and she dropped her gaze first. "I do not want a slave," she said quietly. "I need a mate." She turned to Ferny. "I would like if it were you."

"Ferny, what do you think? She's not at all what you ever envisioned for a partner."

"She's kind of butch."

I laughed. "You like understatements, don't you?"

"I like butch," she said. "I like her," she said. "But I've met people I've liked before who have turned into royal bitches. If she's a royal bitch, she can squish me like a bug."