Offspring

I arrived at the office bright and early in uniform. First I sent a report off to Lata. I told her I had managed to record two of the sex sessions and been able to retrieve some artefacts which I had given to the forensics lab for analysis. I explained that the second recording was taken with a higher speed and why. I also told her not to proceed with the implant camera, since it was no longer necessary. I attached the recordings to my report, closed down the computer and went to see Arden in his office.

I asked him to introduce me to the coroner. The morgue, it turned out, was in the basement of the Feds building. We went there by lift.

Arden introduced me to Dr. Patel, an old man of Indian extraction. He seemed to be still adhering to the old ways, if the little altar with a statue of the Indian elephant god Ganesh and the burning incense were any indication.

Arden excused himself and went back to his work.

"How may I be of service Major Walters?" he asked when we were alone in his office.

I told him to treat our conversation as classified, not to be discussed with anyone else. He didn't seem pleased with that turn of events.

"What do you think an old pathologist might know that needs to be kept secret? You people cannot do anything in a straightforward fashion, can you? Anyway, secret it is. I won't talk about our conversation. You have my word."

"To come straight to the point, it's about the fact that no one has ever seen an Oktonian male. Someone has suggested that there are possibly no males at all and that Oktonians might reproduce via parthenogenesis. I am here to check if there is some scientific basis to that theory."

Suddenly the old man was interested in what I had to say. He looked at me, as if he was seeing me for the first time.

"That is an interesting question, Major, perhaps not so easily answered."

He pushed a button on his intercom and asked not to be disturbed until further notice.

"Before we discuss the matter in detail there is something I need to tell you," I said, "something you may not be aware of. You might know humans have been known to have sex with Oktonians and have, according to rumour, created offspring."

"Yes, I'm aware of what's been said."

"You may not know, Dr. Patel, what happens during one of those unions. It is quite out of the ordinary."

"You have my attention."

I described to him a typical lesson in sex by an Oktonian. I gave him the hallucination version, there was no point going into more than that. The good doctor listened with fascination. Evidently this was news to him.

"I take it you speak from personal experience."

"Yes, Doctor, I do."

"How real are these hallucinations, are they like a drug experience or are they more solid?"

"They are indistinguishable from reality."

"And you say they are triggered by vaginal secretions?"

"So it would appear, Sir."

"Fascinating."

He went to his computer and punched in some figures. The large screen on the wall came to life and showed what looked like two X-rays of an Oktonian torso, side by side. Dr Patel picked up a pointer from his desk and motioned me over to the screen.

"What we have here are the X-rays of two female Oktonian cadavers. This one here," he pointed to the image on the left, "was killed in an accident. The other is something else. We'll get to that shortly. As you can see the internal organs are different from humans and resemble those of a bird."

He then pointed out all the different organs and explained their function. He showed me the cloaca, the ovaries and the tubules where sperm is stored, in some species up to one hundred days. The eggs, he explained, are then fertilised individually as they leave the ovaries.

"This is the X-ray of a murdered rape victim. If you look closely you can see the stored sperm. In birds the act of insemination happens very quickly. It is more an act of injecting semen rather than what we conceive to be intercourse. Most male birds do not even have a phallus though ostriches and turkeys do. The point here is that there is no need for lubrication as the act does not require it. Consequently there are no glands that secrete lubricant.

"Whatever fluid adhering to an Oktonian vagina you have observed is not generated by the female, it has to be applied. Another interesting point is that not one of the rapists who were caught has made mention of the fluid or the hallucinations accompanying intercourse. You can bet your life they would have done so and claimed they were under the influence of a drug administered by the Oktonians that caused them to behave the way they did. It would have been a strong defence."

I asked if asexual reproduction could occur in the species and he said that all things considered it was a possibility and that there was no scientific reason to rule it out.

Fascinating information indeed. I thanked the good doctor and went on my way.

By that time the morning was gone and I went to lunch.