A Holocene Affair

I stood up, untied my sash and let my robe fall to the floor. Jenna gaped as I stood nude before her. She cleared her throat uncomfortably. "Your attention to hair removal and skin care has increased since the last time we... oh."

"That's right. For your information, I haven't taken a proper bath, nor shaved, since I returned from Alaska."

Jenna stared. Technically, my body and all of its various folds and crevices were nothing new to her, nor hers to me, but I was notorious for letting things like shaving and skin care go. She'd often spend the time after sex poking fun at me, giving me nicknames like 'Scruff McGruff' or teasing me about my 'vagitation'.

Today I was absolutely hairless from the neck down. My skin was spotless. I practically glowed. What should have taken hours of depilatory attention, as well as expensive lotions and ointments, I got done in fifteen minutes and an orgasm.

"So they eat..."

"Dead skin cells, skin oils, hair as well as various bodily secretions," I replied, a bit tonelessly. "Human only, not that I've tested it out on anyone else for obvious reasons."

"Bodily secretions.? What kind of... oh."

I slipped my robe back on, my cheeks heating just a teeny bit at the memory. "Imagine how I felt when I first found out."

She grasped one last time at her grievances. "You could have told me, Elena. This is part of being in the scientific community. We would have been there for you."

"Would you? Without having encountered one yourself, which I had no idea you had until about an hour ago. Imagine the scenario; your friend calls and says she's found a tentacled person from the Pleistocene. It feeds off of human women during what amounts to sex, leaving them clean and satiated. What's your reaction?" I crossed my arms.

Jenna, much quieter this time, mumbled, "I guess it would depend on what David... and Miriam-"

I cut her off. "Not just them. The Faculty Board, the Dean, any other busybody with sufficient academic or government clout to get involved. Come on, Jenna, you know the score. Eighty percent of the people in power are either white or male or both. I'm an Asian woman who hasn't even finished her dissertation. Beyond that, you know and I know there's a significant portion of the world that is going to be predisposed to believe Dem is an abomination, especially when the find out how he feeds." I shook my head and continued.

"There isn't time to be a scientist about this. There isn't a moral or ethical code that covers this. There's only the understanding that Dem is a person. A human in essence, if not in form. His life has value. His people have value. We save them first. Then we face the consequences after. Because it's the right thing to do. Not necessarily the moral or ethical one."

In the silence that followed, I came to a realization. When I had told myself I was sacrificing myself to the truth, I hadn't realized that I was actually sacrificing myself to one far greater than just knowledge.

Jenna was silent and I could see the conflict written across her face. Time stretched as her expression turned inward and she grappled with everything I'd told her. It was nearly a full minute of silence before she raised her eyes and met mine.

I could see fear in her eyes. I saw skepticism. I saw a need to learn more. I saw her honesty and integrity. Most of all a saw a burning determination to do the right thing.

Jenna blew out her breath in her moment of decision and said finally, "Okay. I'm in. What do we do now?"

I inhaled to answer her when Dem suddenly leaped onto the tabletop from the floor with all the agility of a cat. I noticed he'd been exploring again, and this time he must have chosen my room. It was his habit to bring things to me to ask what they were and what they did. So I was only moderately surprised when he presented a slightly curved pink phallus. He deftly turned the black knob on the end with another tentacle and it began to buzz softly.

"Elena. What this?" He burbled inquisitively. "It purr shiver."

My eyes met Jenna's once again as we both shared a moment. In Dem's grip was a vibrating dildo that had seen the inside of both Jenna and myself many times. I gingerly took it from Dem, turned it off and set it down between us.

"Elena, what name of this?" he asked again. He could be damned insistent. "What do?"

Left with no choice, I answered as honestly as I could. "It's called a dildo. It's for women."

"What do?"

"It's for Uesoon."

Dem raised up in a gesture that I'd come to learn meant acknowledgment and bounded off the table, presumably in search of something else to ask me about.

Jenna's eyes crinkled in bemusement and finally said, "Well... now I know what Uesoon means."

*******

"So, what now? I came over here to give you what for. I didn't have a plan B."

Planning was something researchers learned early. While science wasn't necessarily an objective-based activity, acquiring all the resources to conduct it was. I'd learned from day one that successful scientists needed a solid plan to do everything from lobby the university for funding to putting together an expedition.

So what was our goal? Dem was safe enough for now. His continued nourishment seemed assured. We were learning to communicate ever more effectively. Yet, his opposite number was even now languishing in the lab next door under lock and key. If it wasn't fed soon, it was entirely likely to die, if it hadn't already. Once gone, while Dem might be safe, his species would effectively be extinct once again.

Jenna had informed me that the CDC had special agents standing guard at the door, which was also taped and sealed to prevent unauthorized access. David and Miriam were still inside as well, caught up in the quarantine.

Jenna wasn't sure if they'd been questioned or not. The agent in charge who'd warned her off had seemed especially paranoid, if somewhat thick. An appointee by the most recent federal administration, he'd apparently been chosen for his political loyalty, rather than any scientific acumen. So it was possible that they were unaware that Jenna had been in and out of the lab for the last ten days continuously. If they did, however, she would be on the lam soon enough.

Getting in communication with David shouldn't be especially difficult. He was obviously still capable of sending e-mail. It was unlikely that his phone would be confiscated either, no matter how overbearing the agent in charge was.

What mattered most was that we were on a time crunch. We had to keep the other-Dem alive at all costs. As far as I knew, that meant getting one of us in there. "Jen, we've got to get in there. The lab has like several different entrances. Are they all sealed?"

"Yeah," she replied. "The only doors on the entire floor not sealed and guarded are the classrooms, bathrooms and yours. I don't think they've twigged that this isn't some kind of storage area."

I pinched the bridge of my nose in thought. "Three cheers for me being too lazy to put my name on the door, then. What about the basement windows?" The floor was technically considered the ground floor because this wing of the university was built into a slight rise in the terrain. Additional buildings were later built to the east, making what used to be the front entrance to the west little more than a service entrance. The architects had taken the simple expedient of installing a main entrance to the floor above, served by a short concrete ramp. However, the lab was on the west side of the building, so it enjoyed only a series of hopper windows.

Jenna tilted her head in memory. "Those are a no-go. The CDC put a tent up in the courtyard and were busy erecting lights and stuff when I went by earlier. Sure, one of us could fit through those hopper windows, but not without being seen. On top of that, there was a news van just pulling in the same time I was. It's probably already too late to get out without getting pigeonholed by twenty reporters."

"Dammit. This won't work if we can't get a woman in that lab before it's too late."

Jenna's brow drew down. "Elena, there's already a woman in that lab. Miriam. Despite how you two get along, she physically qualifies."

I grimaced in dismay. "Jenna, Dr. Schneider is a shriveled prune and she's not even fifty. I don't know what David sees in her, but she's far more interested in keeping him under her thumb than in actual science. She cold and callous and I've never once seen her actually do anything that amounted to science. I wouldn't entrust a cat to her care. There's got to be another option."

Jenna whirled and stopped me short. "Elena, everyone knows you two don't get along. I'll be the first to admit, Miriam can be a total bitch, but that doesn't mean she isn't a scientist. You don't see her doing work because you're always up David's ass every time he's around. Don't make the same mistake you just corrected me for. Miriam is every bit the scientist we are."

"Yeah, but is she human?" I grumped.

"Stop it," Jenna giggled. "You know what I mean." She sobered quickly, however. "This is far beyond just getting Miriam on board though. We need to think bigger. Despite your luck at keeping your closet unopened, the CDC is going to twig to this place eventually."

I subsided and pinched the bridge of my nose yet again. "You have a point, but I can't get ahead of myself. Right next door is the best place to be at the moment for a number of reasons. We may save Dem's fellow ... person- Damnit. I need to know what they call themselves. I've been so overwhelmed with other things, I haven't even thought to ask. Anyway, if we can save it-"

"Or her. Or him," Jenna interjected.

"-we still need to get them together. I know jack squat about their reproductive biology, but if they are able to begin reproducing, then that has to happen. We can't abscond with Dem and still have a chance of saving his species."

"Did you ask him what he wants? For all you know, he doesn't have any desire to repopulate with whoever is next door. Maybe they hate each other."

I was silent a second. "Does he have the moral right to make the choice of the continuation of his species?"

Jenna speared me with her eyes. "Are you Pro-choice or Pro-life, Elena?"

I sighed. "Let's ask him. But first thing's first. We need to get in contact with Miriam." I shuddered. "I hope you're right about her."

*******

Jenna dialed her phone and held it out to me. I took it from her, glancing at the screen. Dr. Miriam Schneider. Dear god, was I really going to do this? Not only would I need to convince her that my advice was worth taking, the advice itself was outre' in the extreme.

The phone rang several more times and I was half-disappointed and half-hopeful that it would go to voicemail. Instead, the other end picked up and I treated to a weary contralto who answered, "Dr. Schneider."

"Mir- Dr. Schneider. It's Elena! I've got info-"

"Elena?" she interrupted. "Why are you calling on Jenna's phone?"

"It's not important. Listen, I've got-"

"Look Ms. Murakuma, I don't have time for games. Let me talk to Jenna."

Brushed aside. I was used to it. What I wasn't used to was not having the option to give up. "It's about what you have in your lab."

That got her attention. "Huh. Finally read your email, did you? Well, whatever you got, it's too late."

"It's dead?" I exclaimed, horrified. Jenna met my eyes and I could see the disbelief in them.

"Eh? No, woman. But we're sealed in here. Even if you figured out how to keep it alive, Jenna can't get in here to supply us." I could hear the latent frustration in Miriam's voice. "David was foolish to send you those emails anyway. Was it you who sent the CDC our way?"

"What?" I exclaimed. "No! I would never!"

"I'm not sure I believe you," Miriam replied coldly.

How had I ended up on the defensive so quickly? I knew she had a low opinion of me, but her ability to turn a simple call into a contest of wills was incredible. What now? She had zero respect for me as a scientist and she outranked me academically anyway. What would it take to get through to her?

What did I say to Jenna? When did she stop and see things differently?

When you stopped talking to her as a scientist and started talking like a fellow human. When this became a matter of people before principles.

I took a deep breath and plunged into it headfirst. "Miriam."

"Dr. Schneider," she corrected instantly, with a sort of latent weariness. "For the hundredth time."

"No. Not this time. Miriam."

"For the love of-"

I rolled right over her. "Not this time. This time we talk as people. Not scientists. This is about our common humanity... and whether you will choose to save a species from extinction. Again."

Silence. Then finally, begrudgingly, "Say your piece, Elena."

"Miriam, the creature is a symbiote. It feeds off of human by-products, most notably dead skin cells, skin oils, hair and some bodily fluids."

A pregnant pause. "It does what?"

"It feeds off of human byproducts and fluids."

"Fluids," she said. He voice was low and even. "What fluids?"

I was glad she couldn't see my flush over the phone. "Skene's gland, Bartholomew's gland and natural vaginal lubricative fluid." Well, alright then.

Another pause and in a slightly plaintive tone, "Is that all?"

I cleared my throat. "It'll try to clean your teeth if you let it." I'd learned that one the hard way several days ago. I'd informed Dem that a toothbrush would cure my morning breath just fine, thank you.

"You're serious? How the hell can you know all this?"

"Miriam, every moment we talk on the phone is a risk. The CDC is all over the place. It's up to you now. We both know that I can't possibly offer you enough assurance as a scientist and we don't like each other as people. A whole species is at stake, though. We can't let our feud be the reason for an extinction."

I could hear Miriam breathing on the other end as she processed this. Somewhere in the background, I could faintly make out David's voice. I couldn't make out what he was saying, but he sounded worried. Finally, she asked, "So what do I do?"

I told her. Remove your clothes and seek privacy. Don't bathe first. Hold it in your hands and give it your trust. Hopefully it will be enough.

Miriam's only response was, "If this is some kind of joke, I will ensure you never work in the sciences again."

"Well, it's a good thing I'm not joking," I said flatly.

She hung up.

It would have to be enough.

*******

After much additional debating, Jenna and I decided that we needed to know more about the CDC and why it had chosen this particular find to get ultra-paranoid about. Scientifically speaking, any biological tissue thawed from permafrost like that would be a viable vector for disease, yet the agency had little interest in any other finds. For Jenna, that was enough to get her mental antenna quivering, so she departed on her self-appointed mission with a promise to call me once she knew more.

For me, I'd come to the realization that it was time to get to the bottom of the mystery that was Dem's past. I'd resisted so far for a variety of reasons. Despite his prodigious learning of the English language, I felt that quizzing him on the past could result in a sort of warp-age of his memories. It was proven that the very act of recalling memories under new circumstances could dramatically alter them, especially as new information caused a person to reevaluate a previous experience. The subconscious mind subtly plugged in the new data and altered the recalled memory to match. So I didn't want to revisit his memories until we could communicate as fluently as possible.

Unfortunately, time was no longer on my side. I needed to know everything he could tell me now if I was to have any chance of saving his species.

"Dem?" I called.

I heard a rustle, but it wasn't from nearby. I followed the sound to the Decrystallizer laboratory. The door was slightly ajar. I'd warned him in the past that the electronics in here were potentially dangerous, so why would he choose here to explore?

The lab was spartan compared to the rest of my rooms. The walls were painted white and glazed with a special anti-dust coating. Other than that, there was only the Decrystallizer assembly and its platform, which took up the majority of the room. The laser panels had hundreds of cables that spilled onto the floor and snaked back to the control panel in bundles. The control was a special computer that occupied a desk tucked in a corner. Except for a large bundle of plastic-bound papers, that desk was clean as well. On the opposite corner was a wet-plumbed workbench, sterile and occupied now by the thawed twenty-thousand year old thawed sack.

It was there that I found him.

He was half in the leather sack which had contained him before his thaw. His head and forward tentacles peeked out and I was struck by how cat-like his behavior sometimes resembled. As I approached, he lifted his head and regarded me. In the darkened lab, with just the light from the kitchen and various electronics, his gaze glittered unsettlingly.

I grabbed my workbench stool and took a seat next to Dem. The inner archaeologist was appalled that not only was he using an intact anthropology relic, but that I had forgotten over all this time to properly store it. I suppressed the feeling and kept my expression neutral.

Dem broke the silence first. I was acutely reminded that no matter how alien his appearance and how pet-like he sometimes acted, he was intelligent as any human. "Elena. Dem hear that you friends find other like me? When you talk phone, you say things. Things make Dem think so."

"Yes." There. Who knew how he would react to the knowledge?

"Elena teach other person to take care of Rin. Dem right to trust Elena."

"Rin is your fellow... person's name?" I asked.

"Yes, Elena," He replied.

I suspected as much. While Dem might have thought that all this time he was a sole survivor, it wouldn't escape him that if another had survived, it would be someone from his group. "Nina" was quite thoroughly dead. Only one other possibility remained. "So it was just you and Rin?"

"And princess," he said. "She carry us."

Endless questions boiled up in my head, but I had to take them in strict order. "Dem, what do you think happened? I mean, that you are here, now."

Dem slide out from the sack and crawled towards me, cat-like and graceful. He held out his arms in supplication. "Elena hold Dem?"

I pulled the top of my robe apart, gathered him in my arms and held him against my chest. He was cool to the touch. I knew my body heat would warm him. His arms hugged me and I hugged him back. It was a strangely intimate moment for a interspecies relationship that had so far hinged on biological interactions. It made sense, suddenly. Dem had frozen to death in the far north. Warmth would mean something more to him now.

In that moment, that seemed to stretch on and on, I almost forgot that I'd asked him a question at all. Then he began to speak. In the hours that followed, despite the language issues, I was mesmerized by a story that I could never have imagined in my wildest dreams.

Dem's people were called the Mok. Since time immemorial, they had lived with humans. The lore of the story-tellers, passed down generation to generation told of how the Mok were a blessing from the gods for a virtuous people.

The tribe that Dem lived within was a large one, containing many scores of people. They were a nomadic tribe that fished and foraged up and down the Siberian coast using the crude tools of the time. However, rather than the tough and bleak existence of subsistence-level hunter-gatherers, Dem painted a picture of a thriving, long-lived and happy people.