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Made to order from her very own why-choose catalogue.Intriguing. Horrifying. Checks out.“And they’re all…alive?”

“In a sense. They are only segments, undifferentiated from the whole.”

“But when they differentiate, they’re still you. They’re all the same.”

“Genetically identical. Our zooids exist in synchrony but act independently. These are specialists.”

She doesn’t have to ask what specialty. “This is where Cassiel came from. Made for one purpose.” She picks up her pace. “You used him. He was justbait.”

Bait, who had defied his collective’s will to send her home.

“No!” The voice seems shaken, for once. “For a much higher purpose. Some might say themostessential.”

“You mean fucking.”

“Mating,” the voice rumbles, and despite herself, her stomach flips.

“And here I thought aliens would be enlightened.” She rolls her eyes, walking faster, deeper into that rogue’s gallery of masculine fantasies. “Apparently male single-mindedness is universal. Why him?”

Her unseen companion takes a moment to answer, as if nonplussed. “What?”

“Out of all these,” she sweeps an arm wide, encompassing a thousand variations on a theme of cock, “he was the chosen one. I want to know why.”

“We didn’t choose him,” the voice says, after another long pause. “He was the oneyouchose.”

“Oh, fuckoff.When did I get to choose?”She peers into each translucent pod as she passes. Not at their…attributes, now, but at their faces. “I was asleep. And then I was afraid. And he made me feel…not afraid at all. But that was a trick. He didn’t even deny it.”

“Biochemical compatibility. Not a trick. You knew him in your body.” Then, dropping lower, “Didn’t you?”

“Stop it,” she grates out. “Trick or no trick,youdon’t get to play me. Whoever andwhateveryou are. Tell me where he is.”

“Why?” It’s the second time he’s questioned her, instead of the other way around, and she can’t deny how good it feels to throw him off-balance.

She’s tired of asking. “Cassiel must be here somewhere. I want to see him.”

“That’s not possible.”

“You keep saying that.” Her fists clench at her sides. “If you’ve hurt him, punished him because he wouldn’t impregnate me or fulfill whatever weird hellish plan you had for us, I’lldestroyyou.”

A heavy silence falls.

“Oh, now you’ve got nothing to say? Come on, you coward! You could at least show me your true face. You owe me that, at least. Look me in the eye when you tell me what you’ve done to my?—”

She snaps her mouth shut around the word, but it seems to hang there anyway in the quiet corridor, at home among the rest of the attractive horrors.

My mate.

“I don’t understand.” It’s a murmur, one she has to strain her ears to hear. “You didn’t want that. Didn’t want to stay.”

“Yeah, well. Humans arecomplicated.” She casts a glance around at the gallery of rogues and monsters. For a moment, it’s like she’s trapped in a hall of mirrors, every reflection a facet of…her.Her own lust, in all the shapes it’s taken. “There’s so many of you, but we can hold a whole host of conflicting desires in one individual psyche. I can want ten impossible things before breakfast. Maybe that’sourspecialty.”

The voice doesn’t respond.

“Hello?” She strides forward again. The entire vessel can’t be devoted to the production of sex objects. “Are you even listening? I can want to go home, and also want the stars. I can miss the earth, and also miss the guy who made me come until I’m pretty sure I actually passed out, but more importantly, waskindto me. Hecared.I can love you for letting me have him, and be willing to wreck you for taking him away.”

She catches a sobbing breath and finds herself at the end of the assembly line, staring at what could be a door. Or a wall to break herself on.“That’swhat humans are like. That’s whatI’mlike. Is that why you won’t let me stay?”

Raising her hand, she places it flat against the smooth, cool shell in front of her. Exhaustion overtakes her, suddenly, and she leans her forehead against it.