Chapter 5
FIVE
BIG GUY
"But for men, it's disgusting," Andrea's voice was the first thing I heard, her melodic tones floating through the darkness of my existence. "You Americans have too high of expectations. I'd never ask a man to do that."
"It's the same thing!" a dross replied. "Can't you see the issue with your logic? You've already said that most women have better hygiene, so why would it be more gross to do that for a woman than a man?"
I kept my eyes closed, just listening.
Something was absent.
"Men can't be expected to do stuff like that," Andrea said. "They don't have the attention span for things that don't directly benefit them."
"First off, it does directly benefit them to get a woman all ready and lubricated, and second, can you not hear yourself? You are incredibly misandrist right now," the dross said.
Suddenly I realized, the thing that was missing was the voice in my head that had been there the entirety of my limited existence.
My control chip was gone.
I was free.
"I am not!" Andrea gasped as if she'd been slapped. "I'd never!"
"Andrea, everything you say about men makes it sound like you think they're incompetent, inept, and stupid," the dross said.
"See, this is the exact problem with the patriarchy: the more women subscribe to it, the more they think men are idiots.
Like how can you possibly respect someone you think isn't capable of operating at the same level as a woman? "
"I don't hate men!" Andrea protested.
"Andrea, since we arrived in this hell hole together I've heard you say things like, the best way to a man's heart is through his dick, men can't be expected to stick around for a woman who won't take care of them properly, that men are incapable of caring for children as well as a woman, that men aren't capable of feeling real emotion like women can, and that a man's only worth is in how he provides for his family, that men are incapable of doing two things at once, among many other things," the dross said, her voice rising in volume.
"Only someone who hates men would constantly say things like that.
It's like you don't see them as equal to women at all, but more like little children that need to be pandered to so they won't throw tantrums. How can you lie to yourself and say you respect them when you don't believe they are capable of rising to the same standards you hold for women? "
"That's just the way men are," Andrea said, a note of pain in her voice.
I didn't like this at all.
This discussion was hurting her.
I didn't have to lie here and stay out of it. Nothing was forcing me into silence, into inaction. I could choose to get involved, to interfere, to defend Andrea from a conversation that ultimately had nothing to do with me.
I opened my eyes and sat up. I was on a broken processing table, in a room that had unconscious units in repair shutdowns lying in rows on the floor.
There was a reconstruction chamber wedged into the corner of the room, but someone had cracked it open and taken its power unit, rendering it useless until repaired.
"Be careful there, I only just stitched you up," a dross that was not Andrea said. There were two of them. I didn't even look at the others; my eyes could only focus on the one who was important to me.
Andrea looked at me, her expression flickering between apprehension and fear.
There was nothing that could stop me from comforting her.
"You didn't hear any of that, did you?" she said, her eyes shimmering. "I promise I don't hate men. I really don't!"
"I don't care if you hate men," I said. "If the males of your species are that pathetic, they deserve to be hated."
It was a good thing I wasn't one of them.
"See?" the dross agreed. "Even the alien agrees with me."
"I do not," I said. "Andrea is loving and kind and generous. No part of her holds hatred."
The other dross let out a strange snorting sound that turned into a cough.
"Sara, lay off Andrea," said the other dross. "Andrea, receiving head isn't gross, ok? You might not be comfortable with it, but that doesn't make it gross."
"What is receiving head?" I asked.
"For a woman to receive head, another person has to give it, by sticking their face down there and…" the dross began.
"Don't think you can steal him away!" Andrea snapped, whirling, her hands on her hips. "He's mine!"
"Andrea," the dross groaned, looking up at the ceiling.
"I'm yours?" I asked. "What does that mean?"
"I mean, if you want," Andrea stammered, looking at me with those fearful eyes again. "I'll treat you really well. If you're my man, then I'll take care of you and make you feel really good. Whatever you need, I'll do anything."
She wasn't claiming me as a possession; she was claiming me as her mate.
That made everything simple.
I had observed mating rituals when I was deployed on my infiltration mission, and I knew what was expected of my species of origin.
Andrea had made it clear with her words that she expected her mate to prioritize his needs over hers, so she likely expected me to follow my origin species' mating rituals rather than her own.
I stood up and scooped her up in my arms.
She clung to me, her eyes wide in surprise.
"What are you doing?" she gasped.
"Mating," I said.