“So then it is this pill that causes the male to lose all control and act like that?” Pakka asks.

“No,” I say with a sigh. “I’m not a scientist, obviously, and I’m sure there’s hormones and stuff behind it all, but human desires just aren’t that simple. It’s not a switch that you turn on and off. It’s complicated. But when humans see someone they like, and they get to know them, or maybe they don’t get to know them and they just get to be alone together… Well, if there’s mutual attraction between them then they get aroused and it just goes from there. There’s no magic mating call that tells you this person is the one and then from that moment you change and go crazy. People do go a little crazy in relationships, but it takes time to feel that way. We don’t have a Kali’Ka here to tell us who to fall for.”

“Wow,” says Kiva. “That sounds complicated indeed.”

“It sounds nonsensical,” comments Mori.

“Let’s take a break,” Pakka suggests. “We need to begin un-boxing these deliveries and see if we’ve got everything here.”

They all nod slowly, no doubt processing the scattered load of information I’ve given them. Pakka begins ordering them around, and I am left sitting beside Kila, who taps away on his slim computer screen that they call a ‘tap-pad’. He is adjusting what looks like a timetable with dates all along the top of the chart. When he hesitates to think for a moment, he catches me watching him.

“I… I… should apologize for suggesting you are feeble minded,” he says.

“Suggesting? I think you just said it,” I tease him.

He frowns and puts the screen to the side. “Don’t mind me,” he says. “I have been in an odd mood today.”

“A mood? I thought Kar’Kali don’t get moods.” I point at the back of my own head, referencing the chip he has in his own.

“A common misunderstanding of our culture is that we do not have emotions. That is not the case,” he tells me. I wait for a beat, thinking that he must have something more to say about that. But he doesn’t.

“Why did they call me Ella-vi?” I ask him.

“It’s what humans might call polite. Vi in the Archaic language means sister. Since that word is no longer in usage, it simply refers to a respected female.”

“But you don’t want to call me sister?” I probe further. Maybe he thought I wouldn’t notice. Is he quietly insulting me? It’s so hard to read him. He calls me stupid, but then apologizes sincerely. He stares at me like I’m naked, accuses me of shooting sex hormones his way, and then acts like the very thought of mating disturbs him. Now he’s telling me he doesn’t want to use his own culture’s polite honorifics with me?

His eyes trail over me. I feel pinned by his gaze. “No, I do not,” is all he says.

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Chapter 5

Kila

Pakka, I’d like to discuss a theory with you,” I say once we are back at the living quarters. It is just the two of us. Mori and Vala have gone to pick up meals from the cafeteria, and Kiva is wandering the complex floors making contact with all of our cohabitors and no doubt questioning them on various topics.

“Yes?” He hardly looks at me. All his attention is focused on crafting a new schedule based on Jen’s refusal to allow weekend access to the laboratory.

“Do you think that humans might have mating calls that they are not fully aware of? Perhaps pheromone secretions that their own scientific methods have not detected?”

“It is certainly plausible,” he says, pausing to look up from his tap-pad and consider it. “Their medical knowledge prior to Alliance intervention was flawed and incomplete. But what evidence has brought this theory to mind?”

“I was not feeling like myself today. I worry that I am having a reaction to environmental changes or some other stressor,” I confess.

Pakka turns to stare at me now. He has a painfully direct gaze and I know nothing will escape his notice in my facial expressions. “Some other stressor?”

There’s no getting around it. I’ll have to lay everything out for him.

“Ella,” I manage to blurt her name. “The human female who is to be our Handler. She has caused a strange response in me.”

“I have noted your temper the past few days has not been even, but I assumed the strenuous travel was the source of your irritability… But, a female? Hmmm, you must tell me exactly what your response was.” He sets his tap-pad down to listen.

“I… I… Pakka, you must promise to keep this between us for now,” I say, nervously.

He nods. “Certainly.”

“When I first looked upon her, I could not stop myself from looking. Her appearance appeals to me greatly, and I found myself paying close attention to her expressions and manner of speaking. When we spoke of Deviant mating today, I found myself wondering about whether she partakes in such practices — even imagining it.” I press my sweating palms against the front of my trousers.

It is as I expected. Pakka is horrified, but the first step to solving this problem will be discussing the darker implications of my body’s reactions.

“So, despite our current data and Ella’s own statement today, you believe she may be emitting pheromones?”

“We are biologically similar, are we not? It is possible. The only other explanation would be some sort of malfunction to our suppressor chips. And if this were the case, surely you would feel the effects of the malfunction as well.”

“Not necessarily,” he says. “The Kali’Ka is the force that drives our hormones without the suppressor. It picks and chooses how the hormone fluctuates.”

I tap the table between us and remain silent. This female, who I know nothing about, occupies my mind like an obsession. The intensity frightens me. Like other spikes of anger I’ve experienced over the passings, it is uncomfortable in its abruptness and its power over me. Neither of the potential explanations for the phenomenon are particularly comforting to me.

“Do not worry yourself just yet,” he tells me. “This is what we will do. You will do your best to avoid interaction with Ella. We will need a few days to prepare all our equipment. There are some pieces that will need to be assembled this week. Once they are ready, I should be able to run scans on both yourself and Ella. We will know whether your hormone levels are still suppressed, and we shall ask Ella to be our first test subject for baseline human female hormone levels. She will think nothing of it, I am sure.”

I nod along as I listen. It is a practical plan. This is why I have trusted Pakka with the shameful truth, after all. His clear head and his intelligence are the reason we are here.

“Very well,” I agree. “This is what we will do.”

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Chapter 6

Ella

Kila is avoiding me.

It doesn’t take long before its painfully obvious that the sight of me either disgusts or angers him. On Monday, I was confused by his mixed signals, but I didn’t think it was anything more than first day jitters. I don’t expect much when it comes to meeting new alien species for the first time by this point. I have come to find it pretty amusing how low an opinion they often have of human intelligence and culture. I figured that whatever weird reactions he had to me would blow over once he’d spent some time in the office.

But by Thursday, it is clear enough—he hates me. He hasn’t looked at me, spoken to me, or even acknowledged my existence. He’s been pulling this cold shoulder routine since the second he walked through the door on Tuesday morning.

My best guess is that he’s disgusted by me. Ever since our first conversation and surprise group porn-viewing session, the flood gates have opened when it comes to the crew asking me questions about human ‘mating calls’. It doesn’t matter how many times I tell them that we don’t have ‘mating calls’; they just go on calling it that. And now I’m expected to represent every human female on the face of the Earth.