Are you well? I asked the tentacled female, even though I was certain I knew the answer. Do you need a specific atmospheric mix?
“No.” Her voice emerged strained and almost too quiet to hear, even with the help of the translator. “I breathe Standard Galactic Mix. But I think there’s something else wrong with me.”
Blue, I called out, I am moving this female into the chamber. Please scan her.
She needed my help moving, and in the end, she could not stand without aid, so I held her upright with the chamber door open as Blue completed the scans.
You may sit here now, I offered afterward.
“Thank you.” She ran her tentacles over my carapace as she had earlier, her light, not-quite-touch sensitizing my stelae and sending a shiver through my body.
A message flashed onto the tablet I held, and I transferred it through to my translator so no one else could hear it.
This female is dying, Blue told me.
No. She cannot. What can we do? My mandibular palps gnashed in frustration.
Nothing. She suffered internal damage.
From the explosion?
No. Blue’s tone turned gentle. From something the empress’s people did to her.
“You don’t have to try to hide anything from me,” the female said. “I know I can’t be saved.”
I sank down to my lower four appendages. I am so sorry.
“You are so beautiful,” she whispered, gazing up at me as she sank lower on the bench. “I wish I had time with you.”
Sorrow wafted from me, and she smiled gently. “I don’t want to die alone.”
You won’t. I reached out and rested my upper appendages on her, one curling around her hand and the other stroking her tentacles delicately.
Then she closed her eyes.
I was still sitting there moments later, holding her cooling body, when Lise stepped into the medical bay.
She took in the situation with a single glance, then moved over to touch the female’s body. “What happened, Blue?”
Internal damage from the Bufo Alvarius.
Lise let out a low curse, then wrapped her arms around me, willing to offer comfort where it was most needed. She did not shy away from the feel of me, which was more than most mammals could manage.
I leaned against the human woman, my sorrow surrounding us with its notes of misery and anger.
“Oh, Evik. I am so, so sorry.” She slid down to the floor, still holding me, as I leaned into her, wishing for once that I could release my sadness from my eyes in a flood of fluid remorse as so many mammals did.
I did not even know her name.
“You did everything you could.”
We were too late from the first moment.
Lise rose to her knees, grasping my head in her minuscule hands and turning it from side to side to make sure she could be seen in all my fields of vision at once. “You are not to blame.” When I did not respond, she asked, “Was there something special about her? To you, I mean?”
Only that she knew Chilchek physiology. Knew how to touch me. It suggested she might make a good sexual partner. I gave a small sound of defeat, only barely managing to repress my scent reflection of it. It has been a long time since I met a female like that.
“Come. Let’s move her body into medical storage. I’ll see if Blue can learn the death traditions of her people so she can be handled with respect.”
I could have moved the body myself, but it seemed Lise wished to be part of the disposal, so I allowed her to help, sadness weighing down my body with every motion.
When the female’s body had been stored, Lise sat on the bench and motioned for me to join her. “What do your people do with your dead?”
We feed our bodies to the larval young. We provide nourishment to the next generation, helping them grow strong and healthy. What do you do?
She waved a hand. “Oh, it varies. Some bury bodies in the dirt. Others burn them.”
What do you want done with your remains should you die?
“I don’t care. Once I’m gone, this is just a carcass. But if I had to choose? Shoot me out into space. Let me fly through the universe forever.”
That seemed reasonable. Though if everyone had Lise’s philosophy, the skies might soon grow crowded with corpses.
I realized that Lise had begun stroking my carapace absently with one hand. It wasn’t the gentle touch of the dead female, but it was nice, nonetheless. Comforting. And soon, my body began to react to it. Despite my best attempts at control, pheromones began to scent the air.
Not all of them were mine, I realized.
“Hey, Evik?” Lise asked after a moment.
Yes?
“You said she knew how to touch you. Will you tell me what she did?”
With one appendage, I lifted her hand so it glided just above my carapace, brushing the stelae.
Lise continued moving her hand. “Like this?”
I hissed my appreciation. Yes.
Carefully, she leaned forward and gently flicked her tongue out, licking my mandibular palps, one after the other.
My entire body came alive for the first time in ages. Inside its pouch, my flagellum stirred to life. I wanted more than anything to make Lise feel the same way. I had seen enough mammal pornography to know their mammary glands were often sensitive, so I flicked across the tips of Lise’s, over her clothes, with my second appendages, even as I used my upper appendages to hold her face to mine, silently begging her to continue her delicate licking.
Lise moaned, and I instantly let go of her. Did I hurt you?
“Not at all. I liked it.” Her breath brushed against me as she spoke. “However, I need to check in with the bridge.” She paused, pulling back to tilt her head from side to side, once again making sure I saw her completely. “I would like to continue this later, if you agree?”
I do agree. Very much so.
She smiled and leaned in to lick me again.
As Lise’s lips
