N-Vorl unceremoniously shoots off the door to the hidden chamber using dual shoots from his plasmacaster. P’taal, who is making his way down the corridor, halts his progress. He chitters excitedly upon catching sight of his future elder and Mau-Nis. Not that he had any doubt they would be victorious against the vile ooman doctor and her contingent of incompetent ooman guards.

  Teresa is the last to emerge, Vor’taalnis nestled securely in her arms. P’taal goes to her with a mild expression of curiosity. He has never seen the offspring of an ooman and a yautja. Are they much different than those of a natural yautja?

  P’taal stares down at Vor’taalnis, as Teresa draws back the blanket enough to allow the yautja warrior to see. The childling looks no different than a pure yautja, with the exception of the ooman nose at the center of its face. Long thick hair follicles; round eyes; tiny mandibles; small clawed hands and feet; and leathery skin—rather than the soft skin of an ooman. Nearly everything is yautja. P’taal tilts his head in confusion. He looks from N-Vorl to Teresa.

  “He is…Very yautja,” P’taal says with uncertainty.

  Teresa says nothing. However, the true meaning behind P’taal’s words is clear. But not yautja enough. She covers Vor’taalnis back up and pulls him tighter to her chest. P’taal realizes he has said something offensive, however well-meaning, and opens his mouth to speak. He refrains, watching Teresa’s solemn expression.

  “Can we go now?” Teresa intones in a dry voice. “This part of the station gives me the creeps. Besides, we have a demolition to prepare for.”

  Mau-Nis turns to observe Teresa. The ooman scientist’s demeanor has been more than subdued since Vor’taalnis’ rescue. Something is very wrong.

  N-Vorl starts off down the corridor at a confident pace. P’taal offers Teresa a smile and touches her shoulder lightly. Teresa nods but does not return his smile. She looks down at the slumbering infant in her arms. P’taal turns to follow N-Vorl at a comparable gait. Mau-Nis stays behind. He gently grips Dr. Boyd’s left elbow. When Teresa’s gaze meets Mau-Nis’ her eyes are moist with tears.

  “My son may look like a yautja...But he will never be one,” Teresa utters in a soft voice.

  Mau-Nis does not agree or disagree. He leads the lover of his future elder down the corridor without a single word.

  -

  -

  Administrative Corridor

  Dr. Wessinger’s Office

  Teresa solemnly nurses Vor’taalnis while N-Vorl converses with P’taal and Mau-Nis in the hall. Understandably, N-Vorl’s companions are worried about what will come after the mission. Smuggling Teresa and Vor’taalnis onto the yautja flagship will not be an easy task. In fact, it will be next to impossible.

  Teresa heaves an exhausted sigh and strokes Vor’taalnis’ face with her free hand. She leans forward and kisses his tiny forehead. Vor’taalnis’ brow knits and he opens one eye. A tiny chitter escapes the childling’s lips as he breaks suction and looks up into his mother’s face.

  Teresa’s heart breaks staring into the eyes of her strange child. Neither human, nor yautja; Vor’taalnis truly has no place in the world. And it is all her fault. As if being responsible for the deaths of over three-hundred humans, aboard the California, hadn’t been enough. Now, by bringing this childling into the world, she has condemned him as well.

  “I’m so sorry, Vor’taalnis,” Teresa laments. “I didn’t think. Like with your father…I needed to fill a void. At first, I was scared. But later…I wanted you so much. And now, that I have you…I realize how wrong that was. But, I will always love you, Vor’taalnis. Always. We’ve been through so much together. Mommy will never let anyone separate us again. I will die before I let that happen. I promise.”

  Dr. Boyd kisses Vor’taalnis’ forehead a second time. The doors slide open behind her and Teresa turns, expecting to see N-Vorl. Instead, she makes eye contact with Mau-Nis. The command leader stops only a couple of steps into the doorway, taking in Teresa’s partial nudity. Though he is masked, his eyes drop to the former scientist’s chest mounds.

  Teresa tosses her hair over one shoulder and draws up one side of her blouse—partially obscuring her exposed chest. She is mindful not to jostle Vor’taalnis or appear too easily offended. The childling is still attempting to nurse. It may be a while before she can feed him again. And Mau-Nis is not a threat. Mau-Nis casually removes his mask but remains where he is.

  “We are almost ready to begin the final sequence to destroy the facility,” Mau-Nis says in a voice which fails to betray the true depth of his feeling. “I could use your assistance purging the data from the station’s computers. Like you did…Aboard the California.”

  Mau-Nis’ use of the name for her previous vessel catches Dr. Boyd by surprise. She hadn’t believed the yautja cared to memorize the names of their adversaries. She offers Mau-Nis a weak smile and adjusts Vor’taalnis in the crook of her arm.

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  “Okay. Sure,” Teresa replies. “I’ll be finished in a few minutes.”

  For what seems like an eternity, Dr. Boyd and Mau-Nis stare at each other from across the room. The command leader eventually nods and exits the office. Teresa’s heart races and she swallows hard—hoping to alleviate the emotions hammering at her consciousness.

  -

  -

  N-Vorl enters the office just as Teresa is laying Vor’taalnis down to sleep. He sweeps into the room and heads directly for Dr. Boyd. Gripping her around the waist, he turns her to face him. Teresa’s eyes widen as he kisses her intensely.

  “N-Vorl—,” Teresa begins. “What’s going on? I’m supposed to be helping Mau-Nis purge the station’s data before we depart. I have to go.”

  Teresa moves to free herself from N-Vorl, but he refuses to let her go so easily. Caressing her cheek with a clawed hand, he fixes his green-eyed gaze on her amused face.

  “Mau-Nis can wait a while longer,” N-Vorl says. “There is an important matter for us to discuss. You have spoken to me very little since we returned with our son. I want to know why?”

  “It’s not easy to talk about,” Teresa says, turning her head.

  N-Vorl promptly uses a hand to return Teresa’s face to its former position. He offers Dr. Boyd a slow one-eyed wink. Teresa’s mouth forms a wide smile and she narrows her eyes.

  “Try,” N-Vorl says with absolute sincerity.

  Teresa sighs and toys with the mesh beneath N-Vorl’s right pectoral muscle. She drops her eyes—since he will not allow her to turn her head.

  “It was the way you looked at Vor’taalnis…When you first saw his face,” Teresa says. “And the way that P’taal reacted as well. The very thing which endeared my son to me…Which made me truly accept him as my own…Has separated him from those he should call his kin. Humans will never accept him. We are still quite primitive. Despite all of our technological advances; we haven’t quite figured out how to stomp out bigotry. But, what of your kind, N-Vorl? Could they ever accept one such as Vor’taalnis? Do you remember what I told you, N-Vorl? Aboard the science vessel? All it takes is one gene—.”

  “Yes,” N-Vorl admits. “I remember. It was before we made our pact. Before we performed the ritual. Before we…Made…Love. I remember.”

  “I think we made a mistake,” Teresa exclaims. “How do we fix it? Can we ever be a family? Or…”

  Teresa is unable to finish her statement. N-Vorl cups her face between his hands and lowers his face to barely inches above hers.

  “If there is a way…I will see to it,” N-Vorl says confidently.

  Teresa wraps her arms around N-Vorl’s neck and kisses him fiercely. The future leader enfolds her waist and pretends he will never let her go.

  “I have to go,” Teresa says, gently prying herself from N-Vorl’s grasp.

  “Yes,” N-Vorl agrees.

  Teresa’s stomach drops as N-Vorl lowers his head and rubs her cheek with his own. She averts her eyes as he separates and gazes down at her face. Guilt eats away at Teresa’s consciousness. While she loves N-Vorl very much, her soul now aches for another. Is it possible to love two beings equally? Is it fair? Before the crash-landing of the California, she would have believed such a love nearly impossible. Nevertheless, she has experienced it not once but twice.

  Glancing at N-Vorl, Teresa thinks back to their first kiss. How awkward and almost dangerous it had been. Her eyes calculating the precise location to place her mouth; her hands at the small of N-Vorl’s back; heart racing in her chest. She had expected N-Vorl to push her away. Instead, he had caved to her sensual demands. With extreme vigor. No longer had there been any doubt. They were both madly in lust. Maybe they had been from the start.

  N-Vorl’s volatile nature made it easy for anyone to underestimate his intentions. Teresa had always suspected the reason for his marked attention to duty. It had never been about duty at all. From the first moment he’d viewed her in the showers, N-Vorl was no longer the same. Even if he chose to ignore the impulses flooding his thoughts and his body. Staying close to her, for the sake of duty, became nothing more than a clever cover for what he had truly felt inside.

  But Mau-Nis is a mystery. His sudden attention to her has caught Teresa by surprise. What are we all; but a bundle of nerves, impulses, and various personalities? A xenophobe might look at a yautja and think they are the worst thing to happen to mankind. As was the case with Nurse Lobeski. However, in the farthest reaches of space—during her darkest hours—Teresa had managed to find love. In the arms of a being, she had sworn she hated. To find love in another, such as Mau-Nis, is not such a leap.

  Teresa’s mind screams with indecision. Why now? When everything is finally falling back into place. Why these feelings? How can they be this strong? Could Dr. Wessinger’s dream torture have turned off something within her? Or turned something on? The constant visions of N-Vorl—stabbing her over and over. She has tried hard to push them down and away. Yet, from the moment Mau-Nis parted her blouse; straightened her hair; and comforted her—Teresa has felt a strong urge to make love to him.

  She has no wish to hurt N-Vorl. She wants her son to know and love his father. However, her desire to feel Mau-Nis’ pressure on her body is also great. To feel his hands on her, and to have him enter her. Images such as these have filled her mind since Vor’taalnis’ rescue. Unlike N-Vorl, Mau-Nis does not have the gene for excessive pheromone production. So why is she so attracted to him?

  Dr. Boyd offers N-Vorl a tiny smile and takes a backward step. She bites down on her lower lip. N-Vorl grips Teresa’s hand. He kisses the palm, raising his eyes to meet her gaze.

  “You are still worried,” N-Vorl says. “You do not believe I can save you from the council’s judgment.”

  “I’ll always be worried, N-Vorl,” Teresa replies. “I worry for you and Vor’taalnis…For P’taal and Mau-Nis. What will become of us all…If the council discovers anything which has transpired today? It would have been better…If you had never found me.”

  N-Vorl reaches for Teresa, but she smoothly steps away and shakes her head. N-Vorl's brow creases and his green eyes study Teresa's face and body language. She is beyond agitated. Teresa's stiffened movements are reminiscent of a vildif beast mother sensing the approach of a predator--and having nowhere to run.

  “Not now,” Teresa says. “I can’t. I’m sorry, N-Vorl. Tell your hunters to be ready. I have to go.”

  Teresa rushes from the office without another word. She swipes her small tool bag from Wessinger’s large desk as she passes it. N-Vorl watches her leave with a heavy heart. After a moment, he crosses to where Vor’taalnis lies playing with his toes. Reaching down and scooping up his infant son, N-Vorl stares into eyes the same shade of green as his own. A large yautja smile is etched on N-Vorl's visage as he brings Vor’taalnis close enough to kiss the tiny nose at the center of his son's chunky face.

  Vor’taalnis performs his usual chitter-giggle and toys with the beaded braids on his father’s head. Vor’taalnis’ hair is quite long as well, seeming to grow almost an inch a day. His hair swings slightly as he moves his head from side to side trying to see N-Vorl’s face. N-Vorl continues to smile proudly at his child—the first of his descendants.