Chapter 8: A Return to the Negotiation Table

“I like it,” Ifra commented to Kane as the history documentary closed down. He would close up his hand as the projection faded.

“Yeah, I need to thank Javier for that one,” Kane replied. “I admit I had a chance to learn something too.”

Ifra took her claws and tapped the table. “Perhaps we should do this more often.”

“What do you mean?”

She looked down at the table. There was a faint smile on her face. “It ... it is ... so many negotiations end up as a failure. At times, I feel like I fail my own people. People die, and then I blame myself for those actions. Could I have done anything differently? I look at what has happened and what is going on, and I realize that I might have been working with the wrong people.”

“I don’t think it’s your fault if everyone flat-out hates each other. It is very hard to reverse that.”

“This is...” she paused as she made a series of clicks in her voice. “This has been one of the more successful peace talks that I have ever made.”

“Even with my Captain threatening to nuke the both of us?”

Ifra began to make a series of rapid clicks followed by a quick breathing response. Kane could tell that she was laughing. “I should be happy that your captain made a threat. I have been threatened so many times by the other clan members that I am used to it. What your captain did, I might as well hug him. If anything, I like him for a human.”

“Heh ... I guess I’m not well-liked...”

He was reminded of what he had said just now as Ifra took her clawed hand and held his even tighter.

“I ... really ... like you,” she barely replied.

“What?” he asked. “I didn’t hear that.”

She decided not to repeat it. Kane thought he heard her say something, but it wasn’t enough to fully register in his mind. Instead, he looked at her hand that was grasping his. He had been treating this as a professional meeting. If she wanted to hold his hand, then let her. A part of his mind, however, was starting to really wonder about what was happening. The images that he saw, the discussion about Eutera and its colonists, and even the sex picture he saw with Kelren and the Itrean woman were on his mind. Here was another woman of that same type that was next to him.

He had a fleeting moment of her beauty. She wasn’t human at all, but she started to look pretty regardless. The Itrean had a distinct look of innocence to her, and her personality felt like a match to his. Even if she was an alien, it just felt natural. However, A part of him still felt afraid to say anything about it. This was a peace talk between two alien races. The human race was depending on him. Propositioning the ambassador might disrupt or even destroy the peace talks. To him, it was dangerous waters that he was treading on, and he would have to keep his emotions in check.

“So ... you were talking to me about history...” Kane asked her, trying to break the silence. “What else do you know of your history?”

“There is much history, Kane. Would it be easier for you to tell me what it is that you are looking for?”

“I mean ... what is your oldest history?”

“Nnnnn ... that depends. Our history is believed to come into existence 200,000 years ago, but others believe that it is over millions of years ago.”

“How do you know that it goes that far?” He asked her.

“I ... don’t know if it is true or not,” she said. “There is a claim that we have an artifact of the origin of our species millions of years ago. In your language, we call it ‘The Itrean Pamphlet,’ and it has an etching of our original homeworld ... or at least the ones claim it to be.”

“Is that where the name Itrean comes from?”

“Yes ... the pamphlet has one word on the etching. It says ‘Itrea’ on it. Others disprove of the idea. They claim that our history goes as far back as 100,000 to 200,000 years ago. The problem is that much of our history has gotten lost over the ages. For example, we still call ourselves ‘Itreans,’ but we have used a new word, ‘Atrea,’ as the replacement.”

“It’s the same word?”

“Yes, ... nnnn ... yes,” she said, showing some confusion. “Here ... let me show you what it looks like.”

She took her tilon and began to punch in a series of commands. She loaded up a display screen so they could both look at it. Within seconds, the screen displayed what looked like a picture of ancient parchment. It was what looked like a brown piece of paper of some sort. Perhaps it was made of leather or something else. You could tell the vast age of it. Parts of the so-called parchment were falling apart and preserved to ensure it would last as long as possible. Wrinkles covered up much of the surface, but you could tell what looked like primitive ink that was drawn on the material. There was a vast continent drawn on top. An even larger continent was drawn on the bottom portion, but it was thinner than the fatter one on top. To the right of the top fat continent was a smaller island or mainland. The top portion of the parchment had a ripped piece that was completely missing. It looked like another continent or island above the large continent, but the torn piece made it impossible to decipher any more of it. Beside the continents were what looked like a form of squiggly lines. Kane figured that it must have been their language that said “Itrea” on it.

“Interesting,” he commented.

“Yes. It is the oldest surviving piece of artifact that we have. Some question its ... nnnn ... the word ... valid?”

“Validity?”

“Yes ... they question the validity of it.”

“What do you believe?” he asked her.

“Nnnn ... I think it is good. I like to think it is the place of our birth. Our history tends to get lost beyond a certain point. A few think that they just appeared randomly and started colonizing the galaxy, but a lot of us know that isn’t true.”

“So, you believe that this is the home of the Itrean race?”

“A place where all Itreans came from ... yes. It is more complex, though. To us, Itrea is a myth. It was the home where all came into existence.”

“I wonder what happened to Itrea and why you’ve forgotten it ... that is, if the myth was true, to begin with.”

“Nnnn ... we had to have a place where we all came from. We call it the ‘Itrean Prophecy’ if it was translated into your language. It is a belief that we would return to the sacred home of our creation. Itrea is out there, and it needs to be found. It is the only way we can save our people from wiping each other out forever.”

“Do the other clans believe it as well?” he asked.

“Yes ... to certain points. It is again more myth now than ever, but you will have shamans and priests that promise us that the sacred land will be found.”

“Hmmm ... this picture is saved on my augmented arm, right?”

“Yes, along with much of our history.”

Kane nodded. “So you, women, ended up controlling this large portion of space. How big is it anyway?”

“It is over 8,000 light-years long.”

“Wow ... that’s a lot.”

“Nnnnn...” she seemed to think. “We wouldn’t agree. Our clans are split up. It is not the same size anymore. There are trillions of us, but there should be more than that. This is not because of Zilik’s Disease but because of the wars.”

“How big is clan T’rintar?”

“It is about 2,600 light-years long. The Shal’rein have 2,800, and the Aksren have 3,000.”

“You must have had a long history of exploration...” Kane commented. All the things that you discovered.”

“When we were not in conflict with each other ... yes, we did check out new locations. We have even conducted a galaxy jump.”

“A galaxy jump?”

“Yes,” she replied. “It is where we take a ship and jump to another galaxy.”

Kane’s eyes widened. “I can’t believe that.”

“It is possible. One jump is all you need. We jumped to the nearest galaxy with a ship.”

“That would be Andromeda. You managed to jump that far...” he shook his head. “That is a two million light-year jump.”

“Yes.”

“How did you not end up getting the ship sent to the wrong place? A jump like that could get it lost.”

“Nnnn ... that is because it is true. We only did it once. We jumped the ship, and when it arrived back, it landed 37 light-years from the return point. The ship had used up its probes to make several jumps back. It had to wait over a year before its transmission was received, and we brought it back home. After that ... we never did it again.”

“Ahh ... well, that makes sense. Our astronomers and scientists would love to have all the data that you collected in your exploration.”

“Then you will have it.”

Kane nodded again and sighed. “I just wish we had some ways that we could repay you. We have nothing but to gain from this, but there is so little we can offer you in return.”

“It is ... problematic,” she replied. “I can have it where your people offer resources to us as a trade, but I don’t know much of what you can trade to us.”

“What about gems or rare metals?”

“We could always use that. Rare metals go to making warships, items, and materials.”

“Batrice might be able to help with that. The Trappist system that belongs to us is a mining business venture. They send ships to mine from not only the Trappist system but other worlds with rare minerals.”

“It ... might work,” she said as he could see her thinking.

“I will see if we can get a list of their production roster and have it sent to you. Unfortunately, there is little else that I can really think of.”

“What about your people?”

“Ummm ... what do you mean our people?”

“We would like to have your people. They would ... work with us.”

“Hmmm...” he thought. “I just don’t picture many of us doing that. There would be technical expertise and skillsets that would become an issue. Our people would be with you, but how would they work with your equipment? How would they live lives among you? How were the Euterans treated, for example? Did you try to offer them jobs or just keep them imprisoned?”

“We held them against their will, but they had good homes that we gave them. We ensured that they had the food and supplies to live. They were treated well. Kelren was a good example of this. You saw the picture. You can tell that he was healthy.”

“Heh...” Kane laughed. “Yeah ... he certainly looked healthy, alright. If he’s a father, then he’s doing good.”

She tightened her grip on his hand. He could feel the blood circulation being cut off.

“Oww ... your grip,” he winced.

She lessened her grip. “I am sorry.”

“Those hands and claws of yours got some good grip. You are much stronger than expected.”

“I am sorry. I just ... just...”

“Ifra ... there is something that I need to tell you.”

Her reptilian eyes seemed to widen. Even her tail twitched a little bit as if he had said the right words to her.

“What is it?” she asked.

“It is customary in our worlds that holding hands is a step towards ... romantic interests. There are a few that believe otherwise and use it as a business partnership. I ... figure that I let you know that ... especially since you are holding my hand.”

Ifra looked at the hand that she was holding. She then tilted her head a little bit as her eyes focused on him. She did the same rapid blinks as she had done in the past before she finally smiled at him.

“Do you want me not to hold your hand?” she asked.

“I ... umm ... well...” he paused as he seemed to cough a little bit.

Ifra released his hand, stood up, and walked away from the table. She walked around the table and used her claws to pull her tilon close to her. Her other hand went to her chin as if she were thinking.

“I was thinking...,” she said.

“What are you thinking about?”

“Kane, I would like to make another offer that can help your situation.”

“What would that be?”

“My knowledge of your people is in due thanks to the people of Eutera,” she explained. “I know everything. I know your language because I spent a lot of time with them. Without them, I wouldn’t be able to talk so well.”

“I admit your language skills are amazing.”

“It is not a difficult language, but the Adjunct knows less English than I do. In time, our people can learn your language without many problems.”

“Why would they want to learn our language?”

She seemed to stall a bit. It was like she didn’t want to answer the question.

“Because...,” she tried to answer. “Kane, there are others in my clan that are interested in being with the humans. You might not be our kind, but ... you are not female. There is something that your kind can offer us besides rare metals and resources. You can offer yourselves to us...”

She said it in such an odd way that Kane showed confusion in his face. He gave her a bizarre look. “What do you mean?” he asked.

“I know that there are males and females in your species that are currently single. They do not have a mate. The experiment with Kelren and the others shows that making a child between a human and Itrean is possible. Ven’re is fortunate. She has a baby now and is happy with Kelren. They want to live with each other for as long as they possibly live. There would be humans among your society. We want to reach out to them and offer them life as future mates to our people.”

Kane wasn’t too surprised with what she just said. “I suppose it was going to get into that conversation. The video with Kelren shows that it’s possible. How do you propose this idea is carried out?”

“I ... don’t know. I just know that my government is offering resources to Ven’re and Kelren to support them. A male Itrean was born and immune to Zilik’s disease. The child is precious and the future of saving our people. Our government is interested in more of your kind. It was why it was hard for them to give up the Euterans. We are afraid of your demise, and we want to do what we can to keep them.”

“But, you are releasing them...”

“Because it is an act of good faith. I am asking for your help in trying to convince your people to ... become the mates to my kind ... at least for the Itreans that want to be with one that isn’t their kind. I am trying to see how this can be done. To us, having more children from Kelren and Ven’re is the key to stopping Zilik’s Disease. We have no idea if Zilik or others can ever come up with a cure. We must consider other ideas. Please ... in the name of my people, I must ask that you help find a solution to this. To us, more of your kind is more valuable than metals or resources. That is the most valuable thing you can offer us.”

Kane could see the emotion in her eyes. She even seemed flustered with how her inflections were, and her tail even twitched a little bit.

“Umm...” Kane thought. “I imagine that among the billions of us, there would be individuals that would be interested in ... intermingling with your kind. It would have to be a choice and not forced on them. Actually, you can be honest and let them know what’s going on. I do have an idea, and I don’t know if your kind uses it or not. Do you have a UWAN?”

“UWAN ... the internet of your species?”

“Yes. Do you have something similar?”

“We do.”

“Hmmm ... this may sound crazy, but it would work,” he said as he crossed his arms. “We use the UWAN for many things. It gives us entertainment, shows, news, communication, etc. Among one of the things is the use of dating websites.”

“Dating websites ... I have not heard of this.”

“You women don’t date?”

She tilted her head a little bit as her eyes darted around a little bit. “I am trying to explain it in your words.”

“Let me try to help out a little bit. Do you have times when you get together, learn about each other, and have the chance of it leading to a romantic interest in each other?”

“Ah...,” she clicked in her voice. “Yes. I remember the talks with the Euterans. Yes, the idea of ... dating is different with us, at least in most cultures. Sometimes, it is arranged or greatly encouraged between two individuals to become mates. Not all of us do that, but we just ... become mates with who we encounter.”

“Wow, no time to learn about each other?”

“There is a little bit of learning, but it isn’t necessary. We find a mate, pair up, and stay together for the rest of our lives. It is what we call ‘gilm’ or ‘silent love.’ It is not uncommon for us to pair up, mate, and stay together for the rest of our lives because we simply want to.”

“What if they are already mated with someone else?” he asked.

“Then, it would not happen.”

“Do you have marriages?”

“No. At least with most cultures, they do not.”

“But what about an abusive mate?” he asked. “What if the man or woman physically hurts you?”

“If the mate proves hostile towards its partner, then it would naturally end.”

“Hmmm ... it sounds like you just get together and stay together. I guess what I am trying to figure out is how love in your society works to make that happen.”

Ifra reacted in an unusual way in front of him. She looked around a little bit as if she ignored him, but she was marking the room out. Kane watched her closely. Her feathers even lowered down completely. Her body even slinked over a little bit.

“Ifra?” he asked her.

“Yes ... Kane.”

“Are you alright?”

She paused a little bit before answering. “I ... am, alright.”

Kane thought back on his words. Did he ask an impolite question?

“Nnnn...” She breathed in a staggered matter. “Do ... you wish to see how love works in my culture?”

“I...,” he stopped as he thought about it. “Ambassador, I mean no offense if I said anything wrong.”

“No ... no insult is made,” she said in a flustered manner. “I...” she took her claws and rubbed the feathers back up. It fell back down as she was ... Kane could see it now.

“You ... liked me from the beginning, didn’t you?” he asked her.

“I ... nnnn...”

Kane could see it now. Alien or not, she was nervous or anxious.

“Heh...” he chuckled. “I guess it makes sense with the hand-holding. I figured that was some alien custom of business partnership.”

“No ... it was a form of partnership. You were not wrong with that. You just ... spotted more of what it was.”

“That you ... like me?”

She seemed to really lower her voice. “Are you offended?”

“No ... it’s just that we normally spend time with each other for a long time before we carry on with the next step. We typically get married and try to stay together for as long as we can.”

“Why do you get married?” she asked.

“We just do. It is customary to go through the process of marriage as a step of romance. Of course, we have a variety of other customs. Some people don’t get married but still have sexual intercourse together. It really depends.”

“So ... you mate with another even if you do not marry?”

“It depends on person to person ... oh, you are asking me personally? I ... well ... umm...”

Ifra’s feathers lifted up a little bit. Her eyes were wide open as she was watching closely. She was busy waiting for his response.

“Umm ... I ... are you asking me if I have a girlfriend?”

“Do you have a mate, Kane?” she asked.

“I ... don’t. I was in a relationship with another over a year ago. It didn’t go any further than that. If ... anything, she hated the fact that I worked in the Aniruddha administration. It was a strain on what we had together. Eventually, she moved on. I ... haven’t dated or anything of that sort.”

“I am happy,” she said.

“That I lost a girlfriend or that I’m not married?”

“Both ... Kane, I don’t want to cause a diplomatic incident. You are very different than the other Itreans. I am used to dealing with hostile individuals. You are the first diplomat that hasn’t pushed me away or attacked me. You are a male of your species. Our experiments show that it is possible. I ... have lost so much in my past. I was so happy to have a mate, but ... I don’t enjoy that life of loneliness ... I want to have a mate. I want to...”

She stopped talking. Kane could see tears roll down her reptilian eyes. It was enough that he stood up from his seat. Her tears began to run down her sides and rolled away from her snout.

“I ... am ... sorry,” she said. “It ... just means a lot to see this happening. We didn’t expect a human vessel to be out here. This meeting means so much to us. My species has suffered so much, and yet your people have suffered greatly. The Aksren and Shal’rein hurt you. All I can think of is myself. I look at you, and then I think of Ven’re. I want to be her ... I want to have peace. I want ... I want things to be normal.”

Kane could see that she was in emotional pain. He walked around the table and approached her. She was using her claws to wipe the tears away from her face. He took his hands and hugged her. Her smaller frame allowed her head to be pressed to his chest. She was breathing hard and trying to compose herself.

“Forgive us, Kane,” she said. “We attacked Eutera and kidnapped people against their will. We killed 29 of your people. We weren’t trying to do it, but it still happened. You have a reason to be angry with us.”

“We will find a way to settle all of this, alright?”

She used her hands and wrapped around him. Her claws dug into his uniform hard. He could feel the dull claws poke him hard.

“You are so soft...,” she said. “Your scales ... I am sorry ... skin is smoother than ours. You are so warm, too. I just want to be here.”

“Well ... I’m not in the habit of being with women that show romantic interests toward me in a day’s time.”

“Why not? Do the women of your kind not enjoy being close to you?”

“Heh...,” he chuckled. “Actually ... no. I am not much of a ladies’ man...”

“That is their loss. It means that I can be your mate. We can become mated, and we can try to stay together. I have to be selfish. I can’t think of negotiations. I saw you yesterday and knew that you were meant to be my mate. That is ... if you will have me.”

“What about the negotiations?”

“The current peace negotiations can wait. Besides ... I can think of some good trade policies that would involve our bodies.”

Kane pulled her body away from his. She had stopped crying and was looking at him. He was shaking his head at her.

“I think that was the lamest form of a joke I heard,” he told her. “I guess it’s funny to hear it from an alien.”

“Kane ... everything that you said. If you had the choice, do you want to become a father?”

He sighed as he simply just hugged her close. “I don’t know. Yes ... I want to become a father, but man, you are asking all these questions, and I just met you.”

“Perhaps you understand how our culture works. I asked my past mate those same questions.”

“Is it really that simple? How long were you with him before you became mates?”

“One day.”

“Eh ... Wow ... I guess you managed to construct an entire society based on that system.”

“It is a simple process,” she explained. “I have no mate. He has no mate. I ask him if he wants a mate, and he asks me if I want to be his mate. We both say yes to that question. We then ask if you want to have children. One side agrees or disagrees until a decision is made on the number of offspring. You agree to mate for life, and then you mate. It is very easy to do. My former mate agreed, and I was with him till his end.”

“How long were you together?”

“We were together for three years.”

“Did you not lose love for him during those years?”

“Lose love? That is an odd term. We don’t lose love for our mates. Is that what happened to your ... past mate?”

“Well ... pretty much.”

She shook her head. “That is horrible. You, humans, don’t stay with the ones that you love. It is careless...”

“It ... is complicated. Some of us really do find the ones that we want to stay with. We struggle to mate for life. It ... isn’t easy for us, though. You can blame our past histories and influences for causing that sort of thing.”

“If you had a choice between being with a mate that wanted to be with you for life or for a single moment, what would you choose?”

“For life. That’s obvious. I want to be with a woman for the rest of my life.”

Her grip on him softened. She pressed her snout to his chest. “Then you wish for a mate, then? You wish to be with that person for the rest of your life?”

“Yes, on both questions.”

“Ah ... I understand now,” she said as she pulled her head back. Her feathers went up as she looked up at him. “There are humans that want to have mates for life, but there are humans that prevent that from happening. This causes the humans that want a permanent mate to slow down and ensure that the ones that they find will follow that desire as well. I ... understand. This is why you date. I feel so sorry for you, humans.”

“Well ... it’s a matter of life. As I said, don’t judge all of us based on my experiences. I am sure that you encountered that with the Euteran colony.”

“A little bit. Many of the humans were single. A few were married and had children with them. I ... didn’t ask a lot when it came to personal relationships ... until the event with Kelren and Ven’re.”

“Until you found out that we can provide children for you, that is...”

“Yes.”

Kane nodded.

“Is it not the desire for humans to procreate?” She asked.

“Oh, we enjoy our procreation very much.”

“What about children?”

“Well ... I want to be a father if that is what you’re asking. Cebravis, my home planet, practices some strict rules on having children. We have a limit of children per couple. A woman is not allowed to have more than two children during her lifetime.”

“Why have those rules?” She asked.

“It is the belief that having more than two children by all women will lead to overpopulation problems. Earth had issues with overpopulation. We didn’t practice a form of self-control, and the resources became scarce. The environment was damaged. You saw the video. I don’t have to explain it too much.”

“Yes. At least you are lucky to have children together. Half of our children are dead. The males die from the disease in the womb, and only girls are born. This causes low birth rates and less desire to have children.”

“I am curious. You are reptilian in nature. I notice...,” he paused as if he was embarrassed to ask.

Her eyes were doing the same thing again as she was scanning him carefully. Her reptilian eyes widened again. “Why do you pause?”

“I am nervous to ask.”

“Do not be nervous. You fear that I will be hurt?”

“No ... oh well, I guess I will ask. I notice that you are reptilian. The species we had on Earth would lay eggs, and ... well ... you have breasts.”

“Yes. What is that you are asking?” She asked him.

“So ... do you lay eggs and actually produce breast milk?”

“We give birth to live young. We produce breast milk for our offspring. You do not need to be embarrassed in asking such questions.”

“That is interesting then. It means that not all reptiles lay eggs then.”

“No ... that isn’t true,” she said as she pulled away from him. She walked around the table. “My people used to lay eggs over 50,000 years ago. We also didn’t have breasts.”

“Really? How do you know that?”

“Records, but we also consist of a population of trillions. There are many cultures and religious beliefs. Among one of the religious clans is that of the ‘Fom’il.’ This clan believed that future genetic tam ... ta ... tanp...”

“I think the word is tampering?” he corrected.

“Yes. They believed in trying to stay closer to past individuals. This religious group believes in no further genetic tampering that introduces breasts and eliminates egg-laying. Only less than 1% of the population consists of the Fom’il, but they still commit to the practice of creating a nest and laying their egg on it. Sadly, even the Fom’il was not spared from the disease, and their males are gone.”

“I wonder why your race switched over to that?”

“I think it had something about increased survivability. Even the Fom’il complained that laying an egg poses a greater risk for the unborn offspring. I know with me that I feel better having a baby grow inside me than putting it on the cold ground to have it stepped on. It keeps me in one spot, and I can’t move around. Instead ... I carry the baby with me. It feels ... great. Being able to breastfeed my baby allows me to bond with my child. The Fom’il have to regurgitate their meals into their baby’s mouths. Personally, I prefer having breasts. The trillions all seem to agree with me.”

“What about the Shal’rein?” Kane asked. “They are supposed to be shark-like. Do they lay eggs as well?”

“There is a ‘Shin’Fom’il’ religious group of the Shal’rein that also does the same thing. There are Shal’rein that have no breasts and lay eggs. Even with our constant wars, there were times of peace. Ideas were often shared and integrated into each of the clans.”

“Hmmm ... interesting.”