Chapter 25
Alanna
The furthest tip of Cape Agulhas at sunset was, perhaps, Alanna’s favorite place so far.
Knowing the Antarctic was just beyond her vision, seeing the sunset light the sea aflame, made it feel like she was standing on the very edge of the world.
Three days in South Africa and she wished that she could stay longer. It was wonderful here.
She really wasn’t sure how much of that was because she liked the country and how much of it was the fun she was having with Survii.
When they were working, he kept her from completely losing track of time.
It was usually so easy for her to zone out and completely miss parts of conversations going on around her, even when they were important.
Survii always seemed to know exactly when to reach out and ground her back in reality or when he needed to call a break in their talks to let her take a moment.
And he never made a big thing about it, or blamed her, even in a joking way.
He would just say he needed a break, or he would reach out and touch her, forcing her back into the present.
Trade talks were progressing well. They were going to have a big meeting tomorrow, on their last day in South Africa.
To this point, most of their talks had been with only a few people at any one time – speaking to world leaders individually or in small groups.
The secretary general stated that the individual UN members were going to vote to determine whether they would join or not.
To get those votes, they were doing a lot of talking and negotiating with all of them.
The big meeting was going to be fully virtual, but it would be the first big talk between all of them since they had introduced the aliens. By this point, they already had a good idea of the hard lines Earth was drawing in the sand, and most of them were easy to agree with.
The hardest sell was the experimentation.
Mostly because human experimentation had very negative connotations – especially when paired with alien researchers.
The humans wanted it perfectly clear that there would be absolutely no killing, maiming, or otherwise harming, even without permanent injury, of any human subjects.
They were also forbidding surgeries, not wanting anyone cut open even if they agreed to it and were put to sleep so they didn't feel it.
Both of those conditions were easy to give into. It was the fact that Earth wanted human scientists involved that was holding them up.
Even after the protectorate agreement was signed, Earth wouldn’t be allowed access to advanced technologies.
They would be using highly advanced scientific equipment to investigate the reproductive capability of humans.
The Coalition was interested in seeing just how many species humans could breed with.
To do that without physically pairing humans with every single species, they needed to run very technical simulations.
That kind of thing required some highly advanced machinery and human scientists could not use it.
Moreover, any humans studied would have to be carefully handled so that their exposure to such machinery was minimal and they had no chance to learn from it before they were returned to Earth. That alone was going to be a delicate balancing act.
Getting Earth to agree to having absolutely no oversight, however, was a challenge. And their argument – they needed to make sure the subjects were treated fairly – was a good one.
They hadn’t even gotten to the mating agreements yet.
Though, funny enough, Alanna thought that one would be the easiest sell.
Through online forums and message boards specifically dedicated to the aliens and what the common people learned of the negotiations, she could tell that the interest was high.
Women were seeing the big, strong, caring alien males and wanting to know if they had brothers.
Men were asking if the female domini were sexy.
Someone in the media had taken a picture of Alanna and Survii in the surf in Greece, kissing as the waves splashed around their feet, and it had gone viral.
A lot of people called it sweet, a lot called it sexy, some said they were couple goals, while others bemoaned their lack of a hot alien male in their life. All of which were great reactions.
It was the other reactions that had Alanna worried.
Because there were some that were calling her an animal fucker because he wasn’t human. There were some calling it wrong and unnatural to mix human and alien DNA. They circulated pictures of Viktor and called him a gross abomination – a three eyed demon while the girls were all demon fuckers.
Their words were hateful and obscene and worrying.
Tuvo already knew, of course. He had been talking about such people with their security team since they began popping up. He assured them that they were okay.
She knew that keyboard warriors were only as strong as their wifi connection, but seeing that kind of hateful stuff directed at her just because she kissed someone she liked was both frustratingly unfair and helplessly infuriating.
A warm weight at her back ripped Alanna from the dark thoughts. Not unpleasantly.
She turned just as Survii was wrapping his arms around her. Pulling her in close. Acting as a shield to the heavy thoughts swirling in her brain.
The sun was almost fully set. She had missed it because she had been brooding.
“Lovely,” Survii said, stroking her arm and hip with his thumbs. “The way the setting sun casts that orange glow on your face and brings your eyes to life takes my breath away.”
She laughed. “You missed your calling as a poet.”
“I didn't miss it. I was waiting for you to inspire it in me.”
She turned, putting her arms around his neck. “You ready for tomorrow?”
“I’m ready for the day after.”
She cocked her head curiously. “Why the day after?”
“Because that’s when we move onto… Idie?”
“India,” she corrected with a laugh.
“Right. Of course. India. I’ve been looking up their country in preparation and they have an abundance of beautiful, colorful traditional clothing I’m eager to add to my collection.”
“Definitely can’t miss that,” she agreed, swaying with him to the beat of the crashing waves and harmony of calling birds.
“We’ll get you traditional clothes as well, and you can start your own collection. That way, we can always be matching no matter what we wear or where we go.”
Excitement bubbled up like fancy champagne in Alanna’s chest. Matching couples clothes?
She absolutely loved the idea! None of her exes would ever even match shirts with her.
It was always lame or cringy or not their style.
And she knew it was one of the corniest things a couple could do, but she still wanted to do it!
And here was a guy not only willing, it had been his suggestion!
Something must have crossed her face because Survii suddenly smirked.
“Did I make you fall in love with me, vi Vitralai?”
She sighed, contented, as she rested her head down against his chest. “Close. Very, very close.”