Chapter Four
“You want to leave? Well... Sir, that’s up to you, of course, but your fees will not be refunded.”
“I don’t want them refunded. I still intend to use your program.”
Marcus had an unpleasant feeling stirring in his middle. Farhet looked like the sort of Leonid who valued his credits more than his friends, and he looked smug, as if he intended to get a great bargain—at someone else’s expense.
“I have made a donation to Bastet Mercy and the Queen Ward in order to use a ‘sperm surrogate.’ He’s young, healthy, and they’ll be running labs on him today.
He’ll pass. He’ll be on a long-range shuttle tonight, use a hyperjump to the ship’s coordinates, and arrive while the human Queen is still in her fertile phase. ”
“The ‘human Queen’ has a name! She has to approve this stand-in. She has to meet him. Get comfortable with him! She may reject this offer entirely.”
“She has no right! She’s part of the program!”
“She has every right! You’re changing the program’s guidelines, and if I didn’t know that the Queen Ward could always use money and that the hospital is always striving to add more staff and various improvements, and if I didn’t believe that this program was vital to the restoration of the Felid population, I would kick your pompous tail into the airlock!
” Marcus roared. He was gratified to see Farhet flinch.
“If they ever pull such a stunt again, I will pull the program and partner with another hospital, most likely in an entirely different system—the Lynxian System! I’ll be sure to tell them so.
It’s probably too late to get Miss Cordovair and your stand-in to chat if he’s already headed for a long-range shuttle.
The damned inter-system time difference...
Well, you, sir, are no longer welcome on this vessel.
If your stand-in isn’t accepted, he’ll be thrown off, the same as you.
Pack your things. I’m going to go see Sasha and hope that she’s in a forgiving mood. ”
“DO I HAVE TO WAIT UNTIL the next guy gets here? How many cycles will that be? Do I lose my contract? What about the payments?” Sasha was pacing around her quarters, hands balled into fists.
She felt... Like a freak. By human standards, she was considered pretty, maybe even beautiful.
Her looks certainly attracted all the wrong kinds of attention.
Marcus, who had opened with, “Farhet has decided not to continue with this endeavor,” jumped in front of her, paws out, a placating expression on his face.
“No, no. You are not at fault, and your payments are guaranteed. You could wait until the next cycle and have a new Felid partner. There’s a long waiting list. You are in great demand, if you’ll pardon the expression. ”
Sasha rolled her eyes. “Well, my ability to pop out a baby is.”
Marcus looked at her over the rims of his glasses.
“For a dying civilization that watched millions of mothers, sisters, and daughters die—that is a treasured ability. And not everyone has it, even those with the physical parts. You have both the kindness of spirit and the physical health to attempt this, and worlds upon worlds are grateful. I don’t want to hear you disparage yourself or this work again, Miss Cordovair. It is precious to me, and my kind.”
She nodded, throat suddenly tight. “I’m sorry. It’s really... It’s really beautiful to be in a world where women and children are valued. We’ve lost that on Sapien-Three. Women and kids are more likely to be targets than treasures.”
“Then I selfishly hope for a mass exodus to the Felix Orbus Galaxy,” Marcus chuckled. “Perhaps if enough human Queens leave the Sapien-Sytem, men will value them more highly, as they should.”
“Maybe. So what do I do? Wait?”
“That’s entirely your choice. You may wait, or you may accept Farhet’s assistant, Gideon, who is on his way here.”
“Wait, Farhet is sending someone else to sleep with me because I’m too repulsive for his tastes?”
“Mhm.” Marcus didn’t even try to phrase it more kindly.
“I cannot speak for all Felids, just as I cannot speak for all humans. I’m sure some of them would find us too furry, too odd-looking, too strange in general.
I don’t fault him for having a preference—I fault him for signing up for a program and knowing exactly who his potential surrogate was—and still acting like a spoiled brat who needs a good kick in the tail. ”
Sasha muffled a laugh behind her hand. “Oh, good. That’s how I felt about him, too. I mean, I tried. I tried to like him. I have nothing against the... the physical differences between humans and Felids. But his assistant, this Gideon guy, what if he feels the same?”
“Then feel free to ask Talos to fling him into the shuttle bay, and we’ll send him packing.”
“He was hired by Farhet? He just hired someone to ‘assist’ him in making a cub? Like some random guy off the street?” Sasha shuddered.
“No, no. A trusted family retainer. His personal assistant and secretary.”
Sahsa’s mouth fell open. “I thought my last boss was demanding! But wait, this child won’t be his at all.”
“Well, he’s citing some old human custom, claiming sperm donation was used on Earth and on the other planets in the earlier centuries of the Sapien System.
He’s claiming that if we’re adopting human customs with human females, it would be discriminatory not to accept a male surrogate—a sperm donor. ”
Sasha felt her dislike of Farhet intensify.
“If you’re going to be a parent, shouldn’t you be willing to put in some work?
Face some fears? I mean, I know I’m not every Felid’s personal ideal of attractiveness, but shouldn’t he have been willing to try to get to know me, get used to the way I look, and not just run away and hand the chore of making a baby off to someone else? ”
Marcus growled low in his chest, and Sasha blinked.
That sound shouldn’t have made her sit up and take notice, but it did—and she hadn’t even had the booster yet. There was no reason to find that noise attractive, to notice how it made her body thrum in response, a call and chorus of sound and blood.
“I agree with you. I’m tightening our rules and requirements, Miss Cordovair. You are free to pass on this potential client. I will support you, unequivocally.”
“Why doesn’t he just adopt a cub? With all the Queens who passed away, and from my understanding, lots of males did, too, in the early days, aren’t there a lot of orphans?”
“There are. My wife and I are actively in the process of adoption. Within a few cycles, we’ll be a family of five or six. We’re looking at sibling groups.” Marcus beamed.
Sasha beamed back, her heart moved. “For every Farhet, I hope there are ten Marcus and Abis,” she whispered.
“I believe there are. Please don’t judge all of us based on him.”
“I won’t. About this assistant?” Sasha hesitated.
“Would this assistant and I have...” She stopped.
She wanted to ask if they would have any rights to see the baby, or even to stop the process if they decided they didn’t want Farhet to have their cub.
That would be adoption, surely, and people had the right to refuse to place a child for adoption, right?
But what if Gideon was no better, just less squeamish?
What kind of life would I give a cub? No life at all, that’s for sure, not on Sapien-Three.
Farhet’s family is so wealthy and powerful. Well-connected. This baby would probably hate us forever if we took it away from a world of opportunities, a world where he or she wouldn’t live every day knowing the definition of struggle or survive.
“Yes? Would you and Gideon have what?”
“Would we have time to meet and talk for a few days before I decide?”
“Absolutely. Remember, you are in demand. Knights and Kings are plentiful. Queens like you are scarce. I think that most Felids would be utterly appreciative of your time and sacrifice. Let’s give the young Leonid a chance—and just so you know, I’m not done fighting Farhet’s manipulatory tactics.”
Sasha smiled. “Thank you. I don’t mean to be difficult.”
Marcus snorted. “He was difficult. You are a pleasure. Rupex and I were raised on Leonid-One, too. We’re not all snobs. I bet this Gideon will be just a delight. Probably very cultured and urbane to work for someone like Farhet.”
Sasha bit her tongue. Cultured and urbane?
If urbane meant growing up in a city, she had that down pat. If it meant going to the orchestra or live theater... Nope. Not unless you counted the tox users having their nightly brawls and histrionic quarrels in front of her apartment “theater.”
“Is this going to delay the start of my protocol?”
Marcus shrugged. “Not drastically. We have a few days of wiggle room, and if you need more time to decide, it can be delayed until the next cycle. Gideon would be welcome to stay the entire length of the program, or he could shuttle back and forth. I think he ought to stay if you want to build a friendly relationship with him. If it’s uh—more clinical, then it could be over shortly, and he could be on his way.
He could come back in the next cycle if this one was unsuccessful.
May I be frank, and perhaps a little bit more personal than is customary? ”
Sasha swallowed. “Okay?”
“I hope you two hit it off and become great friends, Sasha. The boosters have a very powerful effect, and it would be nice for you to have someone here to take care of you, to get the proper treatment a Queen in her heat deserves.”
Sasha nodded, feeling as though the “heat” had begun right then.
She’d read all about it, seen media about the procedure and the impacts it had, talked to Layla and Abi...
At the time, it hadn’t seemed very important.
She’d experienced the occasional feeling of attraction, even “horniness,” and every lover she’d ever had had been enough to spoil those urges.
“I’ll be fine, with or without someone.”