Whoops-A-Mate From Outer Space (The Breedable Boys #2)

Chapter 1

P apers spread across my wooden desk: graphs, figures, results, and anything else that could help me with my analysis. My computer displayed an article manuscript that I’d been asked to peer review—though light from the window behind me reflected off the screen and made some parts hard to read.

I scanned the research, then shifted to compare the data with similar studies. I noted my thoughts and moved to the next part of the article.

Peer reviews were both a blessing and a curse. It was a great way to see some of the newest research, but it was also time spent evaluating somebody else’s work instead of my own.

I removed my reading glasses and pinched the bridge of my nose. Words and figures had started swimming in my eyes.

Coffee… coffee would help. So would a bit of a walk.

I stood, stretched, maneuvered around a stack of books on the floor—I needed to find a place for them on the built-in wooden bookshelves before the next semester started—and headed out of my cluttered office.

The hall was blissfully quiet. The mornings between semesters were the calmest on campus, making them the perfect time to get things done.

I decided to take the scenic route to the department office to give my legs a bit of a stretch. My footsteps echoed off the cream-colored linoleum and earth-toned walls as I strode past closed classrooms and open labs where a handful of graduate students worked on their research projects.

I rounded a corner and was glad for my slender frame as I eased past a large piece of equipment being delivered. Past that was a glass-covered bulletin board where students could have flyers posted.

I paused in front of it to see if there were any upcoming events that interested me, but was only met by my reflection—blue eyes staring back at me from under my short but messy brown hair.

“Damn,” I muttered to myself as I resumed walking to the department office. “I was hoping at least some student band would be playing somewhere.”

Finally, I made it to the department office and lounge area. The scent of heaven wafted through the space: coffee brewed by the department secretary, Eleanor. It was rich with a hint of cinnamon, prepared by somebody who’d mastered their craft before the existence of pod coffee machines.

We had a pod machine, but nobody used it. Who wanted an inferior product?

I walked over, grabbed my mug from the cabinet, and poured myself a cup. I added a bit of cream and sugar, then leaned against the gray Formica counter as I took a sip.

I sighed as the fog in my brain started to clear, took another sip, and started back.

“Oh, there you are,” Eleanor stated as she walked in. “There are a couple of men looking for you. I left them near your office.”

I raised one of my eyebrows. “Just a couple of men? That’s all you’ve got?”

She frowned and shook her head. “I asked, but they insisted that they would only talk to you.”

“Probably parents mad about a failing student. I haven’t had one yet from this past semester.”

She made a face. “Maybe, but I didn’t get that vibe. Also, they were in uniform.”

“Uniform? Like cops?”

She shook her head. “Military, I think. Not camo though.”

I sighed. “Guess I’ll go find out what they want.”

“Good luck.”

“Thanks,” I muttered as I secured my grip on my mug.

I briefly considered taking the scenic route back, but decided that I’d rather get the visit over with.

Turning a corner, I spotted the two men. Military was likely the correct assumption. Their stances were crisp, not casual, and their uniforms equally impeccable.

“Gentlemen,” I stated, acknowledging their presence as I opened the door for them.

“Doctor Eugene Wallace?” asked the older of the two, a man I’d guess to be in his mid-fifties with graying hair.

“That’s me.”

They shared a glance, then nodded at each other. The younger of the two I put at roughly a few years of my age, with brown hair.

“Take a seat,” I invited, since the open door hadn’t been enough to usher them into my office.

Another nod, then the younger man spoke. “Lock the door behind us, please.”

They stepped in and took seats while I locked the door behind us all.

I rounded my desk and sat. “What brings the…” I paused and studied the insignia on the older man’s uniform, “... Army… to me today?”

He cleared his throat. “I’m Brigadier General James Block.” He paused and motioned. “This is Lieutenant Colonel Floyd Smith.”

I nodded at each of them.

“Colonel?” Block prodded.

Smith nodded. “Right.” His eyes trained on me. “Doctor Wallace, may I assume you remember protocols regarding classified information?”

I blinked. “Of course. I hope you’re not insinuating that I divulged classified info.”

Colonel Smith shook his head. “Nothing of the sort, but I do need to inform you that today’s meeting is classified.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Understood.”

“Your security clearance is still valid, correct?”

I nodded. “Valid, but not active. It’s been about eighteen months since the project that needed it concluded.”

“Not ideal,” General Block stated, “but close enough given the circumstances. I just have a few things to confirm before we continue.”

“Shoot.”

“Both your parents are deceased, and you have no immediate family?” Colonel Smith asked.

“That’s right?” I replied with a frown.

“Have you developed any significant attachments since your clearance was last reviewed? Dating, marriage?”

“Still single,” I sighed.

“Thank you.”

I glanced between them. “What does my family and dating life have to do with why you’re here?”

“Doctor,” he started, “the US government would like to recruit you to a position of indeterminate duration.”

“You need me to study something?” I asked. “I take it you’ll be supplying me with data and a stipend to hire graduate students?”

“Not exactly,” General Block replied. “This is a hands-on position. You’d be required to relocate to a secure location for the extent of your time with us.”

“What about my classes?”

He shook his head. “Impossible.”

I leaned back in my chair. “I’m afraid I’ll have to refuse. I have other obligations that I can’t just abandon for some vague reason.”

“We thought you might say something like that,” Colonel Smith replied. He turned and reached into a briefcase, then handed over several MRI printouts.

I accepted the results warily. “Do you really expect some scans to change my mind?”

“I have the feeling you’ll find them quite compelling,” General Block responded.

I glanced at the top scan. It showed a profile view of an abdomen. I started naming the organs in my head, then something caught my eye.

I shifted and leaned in to study the scan more closely.

At first glance, the subject was biologically male—his penis clear in the scan—but there was something unexpected branching off from his anal canal.

“What is that?” I mumbled, completely absorbed. “It can’t be what it looks like.”

“It is,” General Block responded.

I jumped, having already forgotten that they were there. I shook my head. “Not possible. I haven’t studied intersex conditions as much as some, but I don’t think anybody’s seen a presentation like this.”

“Keep going,” he urged.

I glanced up and met his gaze. He was serious.

I set the first scan aside, and the world went sideways as I got a good look at the second one.

“He’s fertile?” I cried, unable to tear my gaze from a fetus developing in a womb that shouldn’t be there.

Then something caught my eye, I picked back up the first scan and studied the differences between them. “Wait… there are two of them?”

“There are more than two,” General Block replied. “There are billions.”

I shook my head. “Impossible. I could see one… maybe two… Life is weird, and these poor people will be studied for the rest of their lives. But there’s no way we’d miss it if a significant portion of the population was like this.”

“Their entire population is like this.”

I shook my head again. “We’d have seen it before now.”

I set the scans down and met the general’s eye.

“Look. I can buy a birth defect or even a genetic abnormality leading to one or two isolated cases. We tend to think of evolution in terms of tiny changes building over millennia, but major changes do occur from time to time. However, it takes time to propagate those changes in a society. There’s no way we’d have missed this at any sort of scale. ”

“Would approximately twenty-five hundred years be enough?” General Block asked with a smirk.

I snorted. “Did you find Atlantis or something? There’s no way you’d have a population isolated enough for the numbers you’re claiming. All the known uncontacted people in the world combined aren’t enough.”

He leaned in, and a slow smile spread across his face. “Not Atlantis, Doctor. And this isn’t natural evolution. These people genetically engineered themselves to give men the ability to become pregnant and carry to term.”

I set the scans down with a sigh. “I don’t know who decided to play a joke on you, General, but it’s not funny. We couldn’t make these modifications today, let alone around the time the last pyramids were being built in Egypt.”

“No joke, Doctor,” Colonel Smith stated. “I was present for these scans. And this is only the beginning.”

I studied him for several seconds, trying to find any hint of deception. Finally, I sighed.

“I’m not saying I believe this,” I started. “But—assuming this is true—what do you want from me?”

General Block grunted. “We need your expertise. I’m authorized to tell you that it’s a matter of when, not if, these people start reproducing with the population at large. We need to know what to expect as their genetics spread.”

I frowned. “There are better people than me for that. My specialty is reproductive changes over time due to environmental factors. You want somebody who studies genetic migration.”

They exchanged a glance.

“There are… other… concerns,” Colonel Smith stated.

“Oh?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.