I watched Kol as he thought of an answer to my question.
“Twent
y-two years ago,” he eventually answered. “Ealra years, not Earth years.”
I gasped with surprise. “That is an awfully long time.”
“Yes, but they will be home soon enough,” he said, and he looked happy with that statement. “They have been returning home from their mission for nearly two years, and they will reach Ealra within the next two years. They’re on the final leg of their journey.”
I whistled. “I hope they found whatever it was they were looking for.”
That was a hell of a long time to be out in space.
“They didn’t,” Kol answered. “I did.”
At my raised brow, he said, “Their mission was to find compatible females.”
“Like humans?” I asked.
At Kol’s nod, I frowned. “Earth is only a few days away from Ealra, so with your warp speed, why have they been gone so long if Earth is so close by?”
Kol laughed. “Trust me, the rage my brothers and their crew feel at travelling for so long and going so far when we just had to search your galaxy is mind consuming for them.”
I frowned. “I bet they’re lonely.”
“They have each other for company.”
I flushed. “That’s not what I meant.”
At Kol’s grin, I blushed harder.
“They have sexborgs aboard their vessel. Do not worry.”
I felt my mouth drop open. “Aliens have sexbots, too?”
I thought it was just creepy humans who had those.
Kol laughed at my horrified expression. “It is required to have sexborgs aboard a vessel at all times. Maji males have very high sex drives, and if they did not share sex with a sexborg… I don’t even want to think about the fighting that would ensue between the males. We can get very… edgy if we go for long periods of time without sex. Short haul journeys like this are terrible, but any longer and a wing would be created to house the sexborgs.”
That was the most male thing I had ever heard in my entire life.
“Are your sexbots Maji-like?” I quizzed. “I’ve seen some broken sexbots on Earth, and they looked so lifelike at first, I thought they were dead bodies.”
“Our sexborgs look and feel just like a real Maji female. They offer pleasant company, too. They were designed to trick a male’s senses into feeling as though a real female is in his presence; it helps calm a space traveller, or a male in general, when a female is close.”
I raised my brow. “Your species sounds obsessed with females.”
“Very much so.” Kol nodded, not in the least bit ashamed. “Females are everything, and we males know that. They make everything better.”
I was doubtful.
“Does every male feel that way?”
“Yes,” Kol replied.
“Even the gay ones?” I quizzed.
At Kol’s puzzled expression, I said, “Males who are sexually attracted to other males.”
He choked on air. “I’ve never heard of such a thing.”
I didn’t know if he was disgusted or genuinely shocked.
“Meaning it doesn’t exist in your species, or you’re just too pigheaded to believe it does?”
“It doesn’t exist,” Kol said firmly. “Maji are definitely not like humans, Nova. We are driven by instinct, the need to mate and breed drives us. Males can’t produce offspring together, and our bodies are only in tune with females, so no sexual arousal could occur between males.”
“Oh,” I said, wincing. “Sorry, I thought you were being homophobic.”
“Being what?”
“Never mind,” I said with a wave of my hand. “Being gay on Earth is punishable by death. My species is backwards in more ways than one.”
“Where would a male even put his cock in another male?” Kol then asked, looking more confused than I had ever seen him. “They both have cocks so where—”
“I regret ever bringing this up,” I said, speaking over him.
“Where do your human males put—”
“Kol,” I cut him off, my face burning. “Forget it.”
He shook his head. “I’m curious.”
I covered my face and blurted, “The asshole.”
Kol sounded like he would pass out. “That is a waste canal!”
“Seriously,” I pleaded. “Change the fucking subject!”
Kol suddenly erupted with laughter.
“I can’t wait to tell Mikoh of this.” He chuckled.
I shook my head. “Let’s get back to talking about your brothers. Why didn’t they check my galaxy on their mission since it is close by?”
If six trillion miles is considered close.
“When they set off on their mission, nothing was known about your species,” Kol explained as he leaned against a column in the room and folded his arms across his broad chest. “We Maji don’t interact with many species unless on a mission. At a docking station on Vada, Vaneer’s home world, long away from here, my brothers searched different species, and an image of what a human looked like was incorrect. The creature they saw had no head, just a body and many arms and legs. It was not compatible with Maji, so my brothers blacklisted your galaxy as Earth is the only habitable planet then they continued their search which led them further into the cosmos.”
“Okay,” I began. “That’s understandable, but how is it that you came across humans? And how did you get Sera to join you?”
I had wondered about the augmented woman since my encounter with her, and I couldn’t figure out why she was with the Maji. I didn’t understand the benefit for her. She wasn’t defenceless on Earth. If anything, as augmented, she’d be pretty powerful. She was lethal, smart, and didn’t have to do the things I had to do to survive.
“My father led a mission to an unnamed planet ten years ago. It was home to another species, but it held some humans that had been taken from Earth’s trading posts over the years. My father went to the planet to trade for some samples of a new fuel the local scientists had created. It was dangerous, but fuel is vital to our space travel, and we’re always looking for reserves in case our current source dries up, so it was a mission that my father made a priority. My father met Sera, and he quickly realised that humans were very similar to Maji. He asked her what species she was, and they spoke a little. Sera was a slave to a docking master, so my father bought her for a small fee and offered her safety on Ealra. He wanted to help her and give her a chance at life, but he also wanted to have our healers examine her to see if we were compatible.”
I processed that, and though Kol had answered a big question for me, it only left me wanting to know more.
“It has been ten years since your father’s trade deal,” I said, blinking. “Why did it take ten years for you to come to Earth to make an offer to Earth’s government for us women?”
“We have tried,” Kol stressed, his lip curling in annoyance. “We tried and failed six times within the first two years of our discovery of your species, but your leaders wanted an exchange that we would not agree to.”
I felt a little sick at the thought of what my people would want from the Maji.
“What did they want?” I asked, wrapping my arms around myself.
“They wanted to come to Ealra with us, but we refused. Maji are not the only species to inhabit Ealra, and we did not trust your leaders not to ruin our planet, considering they greatly aided in destroying yours.”
The sorry image of the Earth I saw from the viewing pane of the bridge flashed in my mind.
“It was the right decision,” I said with a firm nod. “Our human leaders are filled with greed, and they wouldn’t have settled for living in harmony. Eventually, they’d have tried to take over Ealra as the dominant species, and Maji would have been slaughtered in the process.”
Kol nodded solemnly. “That was our fear, so we declined their offer, and in return, they declined us any chance of having human females.”
“Vindictive bastards,” I scowled.
“It was why my brothers remained on their mission to fi
nd compatible females because we did not know if we could ever come to an agreement with your Earth government.”
“I understand.”
Kol licked his lips. “My father decided that we would bide our time, and come to your leaders when we knew our offer was one they couldn’t refuse. My father ordered my brothers home two years ago because he knew the Earth government would yield to our wishes eventually.”
I eyed him curiously. “Because the Earth is dying?”
Kol shamelessly nodded. “It is no secret that Earth is soon to be no more, so we used that to our advantage. We waited and waited, and when we went back to Earth days ago and made the offer for your females once more, your leaders jumped to accept our deal when we mentioned the unnamed planet was liveable for humans. They accepted our deal in exchange for credits and its coordinates.”
I criss-crossed my legs and rested my elbows on my knees, completely invested in Kol’s tales.
“I shouldn’t be astonished that they opted to save their own hides but to turn tail and run without even informing the rest of us that our race had a chance on a new world is hard for me to believe. It just seems so… evil.”
Kol said nothing; he only watched me.
“I really shouldn’t be surprised, though, right?” I said aloud. “The evillest acts I’ve seen and heard of were committed by humans… maybe it wouldn’t have been such a tragedy for my species to become extinct. When you think about it, it’s really a kindness.”
I jumped at Kol’s growl.
“Do not talk about dying,” he snarled. “I cannot think of you not being in my life.”
That surprised me more than my leaders’ abandonment.
“A few days ago, you didn’t even know I existed, Kol,” I said softly.
“I am not human,” he repeated for what seemed to be the hundredth time. “Maji form bonds very quickly to those we care for because it is my nature. I can’t imagine you being dead. I won’t imagine it because it won’t happen for another thousand years or more. Thanas willing, I’ll go before you, so I don’t have to endure the pain of a mate loss.”
I felt my mouth drop open.