Page 93

They all burst into giggles.

“Humans are so short.” Hespia used her hands to mime the height difference. “We’d have to be on top all the time.”

“How do they satisfy their mates without serpetri?” asked Risane. “They only have two hands so…”

“Sweet Jesus, is sex all you think about?” spluttered Kara. “What about soulful conversations and poetry and… and... you know, romance?”

“I think that answers my question about theirzarnads,” shrieked Lyrith in hysterics.

“Hey, can I ask a question about your males?” Kara said when the laughter had died down a little. “Is it true that when they want to get you pregnant, they make you come for a really long time?”

Vysh spat out the drink she’d just taken.

“How did you know that?”

“So it’s true?”

They all nodded conspiratorially.

“Our scientists say it’s one of the reasons male Vraxians developed such aggressively protective instincts towards theirkalehsha,” Hespia said. “While the female is conceiving, she is totally helpless because she’s, you know, orgasming forages.”

“My cousin had a hatchling last cycle,” said Vysh. “She said getting pregnant was the most amazing experience of her life.”

“It made me look at my mother in a whole new light,” confided Lyrith. “She was pregnant seven times.”

“Wow.” A slow blush warmed Kara’s cheeks as she dwelled on that. “So going through that, um, thatexperiencepretty much guarantees you get pregnant?”

“Yes, but you’re only carrying for three months. Then the cocoon is expelled from the female’s body and the male incubates it for another month.”

“A cocoon? Not an egg?”

“No, silly, we don’t come out of a shell,” Risane giggled. “Hatchlings have a protective covering while they finish growing but it falls off when they don’t need it anymore. They don’t have to break their way out or anything.”

“And the whole thing from conception to birth takes four months? That’s incredible.”

“Why? How long do humans take?”

“Nine months usually. And we don’t have a cocoon. We just come out like this, only smaller.”

“After nine months? But hatchlings arehugeat nine months.” Everyone stared at Kara’s groin in horrified fascination. “How big is yourferesh?”

“No bigger than yours, thank you very much. It just sort of… stretches.”

“Itstretches?” They all squealed. “Does it go back to its normal size afterwards?”

“Look, I have no fucking idea. I’ve never done it before. I assume it shrinks again, because I’m told it’s just as uncomfortable the second time round. But honestly I don’t know. I’ll ask my mother next time I see her.”

“You’re going to ask the President of Earth if herfereshis stretched?” Vysh doubled over in mirth. “Can I be there?”

“Jesus. This conversation has gotten way out of hand. Give me another drink.”

The party continued into the small hours. When Kara finally stumbled to her bedroom, she found Vahn waiting patiently for her.

“I’m shorry… sorry… if I’d known you were here I’d have come shooner… I mean sooner.”

“Are you all right,kalehsha?”

“I’m just intocshicated... intostishated… shit-faced.”