Taylor had a smile on his face at breakfast the following morning. Tessa had been especially passionate the night before, not only letting him come inside of her but sucking him off afterwards for a second slower, even more sexually charged orgasm.
And so when she casually said that Graylor wanted to talk to them after breakfast Taylor, with his little smile, said, "Sure, Honey."
He was in for a surprise when he was brought to the Genetic Council Chamber. Taylor had never seen the lizard-like Graylor before. His green eyes and forked tongue did not inspire confidence. Shelly Rendler was there too, as well as Frog and Hot Dog and Hamburger.
"I've been looking over your gene charts," said Graylor. "You two would make a good match."
"Thank you," said Tessa.
"Are you ready to proceed?" Graylor asked.
"Yes, sir," said Tessa, with a smile.
"Proceed with what?" said Taylor.
"The reproduction, of course," said Graylor. "We can start right now, if you're ready."
"I most certainly am not!" Taylor looked from Tessa to Graylor and back at her again. "Tessa, what is this?"
Tessa chewed on her lower lip. "Honey, Frog came to me yesterday. She told me the human race is dying out and we are the only good prospects left to help it survive. Can't you just-"
"No I cannot!" said Taylor, standing up abruptly. "I'm a human being, not a bull or a cow. I will not be bred so my offspring can serve an alien race!"
"It's not like that at all," said Tessa. "Michael! Don't be so selfish! For once think of others! We're talking about the survival of the entire human race! Please, please do it for me!" She looked so imploringly at him.
Taylor stared Tessa straight in the eye. "I'm... I'm sorry Tessa. You're asking too much." And then he marched out of the Council Chambers.
********
"Taylor."
"Taylor!"
"Taylor, please stop! My body is not as fast as yours!"
Taylor turned to see Frog behind him in the gleaming white corridor. "What do you want?"
"To talk," said Frog.
"You put her up to this," said Taylor.
"Yes."
"You told her to do this."
"I did," said Frog. "Your time is running out."
"Why? Is the Survey Service about to find us?"
"No," said Frog. "The Experiment is going to be terminated if results aren't produced soon!"
"Why?" said Taylor. "Why do you so desperately need results?"
Frog didn't answer.
"What is it about our race that you need so badly? And if you need it, why don't you just take it? You don't need my permission to take my DNA. You already have it on file, don't you? Answer me!"
"Yes, we do," said Frog reluctantly. "But... using subjects in an involuntary way would be deemed to taint the Experiment. We need subjects who are sexually and emotionally compatible. If we coerced two subjects into pairing, it is thought that their descendants might not be attracted to each other and might not mate and multiply as needed. That's why we need your voluntary cooperation."
"How unfortunate for you," said Taylor. He turned away and left.
********
Tessa avoided him that night, even as they slept in the same bed. She did not hug him or even speak to him.
The following morning she was silent at breakfast. After breakfast she attended services for the first time led by Hommed, who led his flock in chants praising Ajuba. And then after that she started talking to the men. A lot of men.
********
"How are you, Captain?" said Sophie. It was later in the afternoon and Taylor was sitting at a small table by the beach in Bermuda.
"That remains to be seen, Sophie." Taylor was watching several tables away as Tessa talked to Gavin Ansom. She was having a very animated conversation, smiling and laughing pleasantly with him.
"What is she doing?"
"Talking."
"Talking?"
"Talking," said Taylor, watching the love of his life laugh again, in the company of another man. "She's been doing that all day. First with Donnie Burch, then two other men whose names I don't know, and now with
him
," he indicated Gavin Ansom.
Sophie started at her. "She's not just talking, is she?"
"No, she's not," said Taylor. "It's a message, to me."
"What kind of message?"
"She's trying to blackmail me into partnering with her. To voluntarily agree to let these aliens mix my genes with hers to create a new human race."
"What? Why would she do that?" Sophie demanded. She looked incredibly incensed by the idea.
"She believes them," said Taylor bitterly. "She believes every word they say about the Temperature Change, the end of the human race, everything. She thinks it's our civic duty to spread her legs and our gene plates and reproduce for them like good little doggies."
"How can she believe them?"
"She's a World Government bureaucrat," said Taylor. "I knew it when I fell in love with her. But this side of her never became an issue between us...."
"Until now."
Taylor watched Tessa touch Gavin's arm and smile at him. "Yes. Until now."
Suddenly Sophie understood. "She's..."
"Yes. It's a not so subtle threat. If I won't partner with her, she'll find someone who will."
Sophie looked horrified. "She's your lover! And she's carrying your child! To do that to you... that's terrible!" She swallowed heavily. "Do you think she's bluffing?"
"You tell me," said Taylor.
Sophie stared at Tessa with a trained Passive Observer's eye. She noticed Tessa's smile, the way her body was curved towards Gavin, the way her legs were spread, the way she subtly rocked back and forth towards him as they talked. "No," said Sophie. "She appears to mean it."
"Yes," said Taylor.
"So what are you going to do about it?" Sophie asked.
"There's nothing I can do, Sophie." And as he looked up at her, Sophie suddenly felt the incredible urge to hug and kiss her Captain, to comfort him in his incredible time of need.
***********
Tessa barely spoke to him that night at dinner and not at all in bed. The next day was even worse, with even more gratuitous flirting so bad that even the men started to ridicule him.
"Hey there... Captain," said Dickie Weymouth, with an irritating grin. "If that is your real name." He had just the right mocking tone. It was true that not everyone believed that Taylor was who he said he was. Taylor had since learned of the imposter who had assumed his identity and nearly murdered everyone on the Station.
"What's going on with Tessa, Captain?" Dickie asked. "It looks like she's looking for another mate."
Tessa was avidly talking to a tall, muscular blonde man who Taylor didn't know. Once again she was all smiles and full of flirty touches.
"Imagine that?" said Craig Cobin. "The woman of the great Space Captain, drawn away to another man."
"I couldn't help but notice her belly, Space Captain," said Dickie. "Does she have something inside there?"