I trust she is being honest with me, but if she says I look improved it’s hardly an indication of what I feel inside. My throat is tight, my stomach is twisted, and I cannot seem to focus. My instincts know that this change is all down to her—the shape of her, the sound of her, and the dancing light in her eyes when she laughs at me. Something’s very, very, very wrong.

***

An hour later the team has returned without Jen, and we sit down to discuss our project in depth with Ella. Pakka is exasperated, annoyed that Jen has ordered we spend today making sure Ella is fully briefed on everything she will need to know to support us. We are, all six of us, seated around the central lab bench.

“She received a written briefing ahead of our arrival,” he whispers to me. “What else is there to know?”

Kiva is explaining the basics to Ella.

“The egg production in our female population has decreased over time. We are hoping that if we better understand our evolutionary predecessors, we can improve the reproductive health of our species. After a study of the Alliance database we have determined that the closest match to our samples of the ancestral species is the human biology.” He’s taken out his tap-pad and placed it on the table, showing images to help the female. The current image shows a side-by-side comparison of the Archaic Kar’Kali and a human. “We will conduct a full analysis of human mating practices and reproductive biology with the goal of targeting which evolutionary divergences may have resulted in reduced egg production.”

I am thankful that eager Kiva has the energy for this. He seems excited at the prospect of interviewing Ella, as if she is our first test subject instead of our ‘Handler’.

“I guess that makes sense,” Ella says.

Kiva swaps his tap-pad to a recording session. “Now, tell me, how is the mating call physically exhibited by the human species? Obviously, I would be interested to know this for both the male and female calls.”

One eyebrow raises up closer to her hairline. A curious manner of expression. “Are you talking about erections?”

Kiva hesitates. “The engorgement of the ‘penis’ as humans call it is one example, yes.”

“Mating calls,” she repeats. “I read about this in the file but I admit I was a little confused. Is this just how you refer to being horny?”

“Horny,” he repeats, pondering the word. I decide it wouldn’t be prudent to mention that she called me ‘horny’ earlier. “Yes, does your species have horns which stand at attention and become sensitive during heat, which would be comparable to say, the Malvara species?”

“No, humans don’t have horns,” she says. Then she softens her tone and shows us her palms. “Here’s an idea— you guys can tell me all about your mating call just like you were talking to a little kid that knows nothing. Start to finish. And then I’ll let you know how humans compare.”

Kiva’s face cheeks flush as blue as his hair. I can see he does not wish to speak of Deviants in the presence of a female.

“I will explain,” I offer. “But I think it is best we start from the beginning. From Archaic Kar’Kal.”

“I’m taking a walk,” Vala mutters, pushing back his seat and heading for the door. “This will take you far too long for my patience.”

“Once there was a time of great unrest on Kar’Kal,” I begin. “We were separated by the Great Houses then, who warred for control of the planet. Though we come here to study, we have learned the basic fact that humans do not mate in life-long breeding pairs, but rather might have multiple partners between maturity and death. This was not the way in Archaic Kar’Kal. The rulers of these great families would have but one breeding mate, to whom he would make himself a slave.”

“Sounds kinda romantic,” Ella comments.

“This was not good for the society,” I continue. “If a leader’s breeding mate was captured in warfare, all hope of diplomacy would be destroyed. The sons and daughters of that House would tear apart their enemies in the name of their sires without thought for consequence. Then the cycle would begin anew once they had their vengeance on their rivals.”

“On Earth, we would say ‘An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind,’” she says. This metaphor strikes me as very appropriate. I am encouraged, as it makes clear she understands the troubling nature of Deviant breeding that I mean to explain.

“Yes, precisely. And amid all this destruction, the Azza forces were becoming strong. They were united where we were divided. Strong where we were weak. They struck our planet and reduced us to slaves within a single passing.”

“But now you fight for the Alliance as a sovereign planet. So how did you get rid of the Azza?”

“The ruling families of the Great Houses had been murdered by the Azza, and we were then one people suffering, rather than many peoples fighting. And from this suffering a new Kar’Kali was born. A stronger people with one objective— peace only. Even then, before forking was even an option, our technology was more advanced and the rebellion was able to communicate and organize without the Azza’s knowledge.”

“Not to mention,” Mori reminds me, “The Kali’Ka. It rejected the Azza.”

“Kali’Ka?” Ella repeats the sacred word and it sounds charming from her lips.

“The translator cannot understand. I would translate as the Core Spirit. Just like Kar’Kali, which means ‘people of the core’. The Kali’Ka controlled the mating call for thousands and thousands of passings. When the Azza were finally expelled from Kar’Kal, the people vowed never to allow the weakness of division to spread again. Our ancestors created the first suppressor chips to control the mating call by monitoring the population-wide hormone fluctuations and reading the Kali’Ka’s pairings without the knowledge of the breeding pairs. When a breeding pair arises, the male and female’s eggs and seed are collected and the optimal offspring is produced at the lab.”

My hope that Ella will understand what I am telling her seems to have gone misplaced. Her mouth has fallen agape, and her blue eyes shine with concern.

“You mean there’s no relationships, no families at all?” She sounds incredibly sad. I should have expected this.

“Did you even read our provided file?” Mori snaps.

“I guess I thought… Well, I don’t know what I thought. Anyway you haven’t actually explained the mating call situation,” she says with a breathy sigh.

“Yes, there are those that reject our ways and have their chips removed in order to partake in the pleasures of flesh rather than do their duty to the planet. These are Deviants, as I mentioned earlier, and their continued existence is how we are able to confirm the natural sexual behaviors of our biology.”

“It is disturbing, Ella-vi. I hope you will not think less of us to speak of it,” Kiva says. He is naive and does not realize that Ella herself may in fact be capable of such barbaric practices. That is why we are here, after all. Kiva must think, like a youngling, that one can spot a Deviant by their behavior from a mile away. I have learned this is not the case. Deviants can hide in plain sight, controlling their dark desires, if only for the time being.

As I watch the corners of Ella’s mouth quirk up in amusement at Kiva’s words, I wonder about it myself. Could she act like a wild animal, hormone-drunk and bucking her hips for the rut? A tingle in my chest forces me to push these strange wonderings aside as quickly as they have arisen.

“Don’t worry. I’m a big girl. Hit me with the dirty details,” she says with a kind pat to Kiva’s hand.

“When a Kar’Kali male is without a suppressor chip, the Kali’Ka dances within him until it finds a mate that has caused his blood to jump. Every Kar’Kali male reaches sexual maturity at sixteen years of passing or so, but the Kali’Ka waits and waits until he has seen the most appropriate female. It could be on their first meeting, or on their fiftieth meeting, but when it happens the Kali’Ka spikes within them both immediately. The resulting change in hormone levels is what we refer to as the mating call. The blood becomes thick and red, and the seed becomes potent. The male exhibits physically through the erect penis, as we discussed, but this is not unique to a breeding mate. He will also exhibit the slight change in skin tone due to the blood, the secretion of an aphrodisiac from the tongue, and an overall sharpening of the senses.”