Gronth Ch. 04 Matt Recovers

"Who do I need protection from? You? Joya teased, tickling Matt's exposed skin, trying to lighten the mood again.

"No, not me," Matt said, tickling Joya back.

What would it be like to mate with a Terran? What would her children be like? Joya wondered these things as she scraped her fingers across Matt's rock hard abs. Matt's body was so strong and powerful. Finally, Joya conceded to Matt and declared him to be the winner of the tickle war.

Matt held Joya for the first time. Joya had been held naked in the bath before by several of the men that her aunts and cousins had brought over to the parties, but being held by Matt was different. Even with Matt being modest and wearing his sheet and her with her tunic on, Joya felt a special kind of peace descend on her. She felt safe in Matt's big, strong arms.

"You are talking about the Gronth, aren't you?" Joya asked, becoming suddenly quiet.

Joya remembered the fight against the Gronth that had almost taken Matt's life. Matt was still recalling that enemy. He was worried about the Gronth defeating the Terrans and the Elani.

Matt simply nodded his head. Joya got the message loud and clear.

Matt considered Joya, Ando and the Elani as part of his people now. He would do anything in his power to keep them safe. He shuddered at the thought of Joya knowing the fear of being conquered and enslaved. Matt couldn't allow that. He needed to do everything in his power to warn the Elani and his people about the coming threat.

After a few more days of therapy, Matt found out that he would be moving out of the hospital and into Joya and Ando's house. Matt hadn't really thought about what he would do when he was well, but had assumed that he would be returned to his people back on Earth or even his home base on Terra Nova.

The possibility of returning him home was possible for the Elani and their unique ability to create a wormhole to deliver him anywhere almost immediately, but his return from being killed on a five year mission would be hard to explain. Besides, the prospect of spending more time with Joya was a pleasant one, he thought that he might even be falling in love with her.

"Living at your house sounds great. What do your parents think about my moving in?" Matt asked the next day after leaving the clinic.

"It was my mother's idea," Ando told Matt.

"Mother really wants to get to know you better."

"You mean that she wants to study me more closely," Matt countered good naturedly.

"Yes. That too." Joya admitted.

The sky on Ralajan was blue and clear the morning that Matt left the hospital for his new home. There were no cars on the Elani worlds, everything and everyone either translocated or walked. A few puffy clouds hung around the mountains in the distance and Matt could see a few animals grazing on short broad-leaved plants that seemed to be everywhere.

Matt had learned that these animals were baroo and bandori. The baroo were like cattle and the bandori were the equivalent of goats on Earth. They were used to produce milk and cheese, but were not ordinarily eaten except for very special occasions. Bread and plants were the main sources of protein in the Elani diet, even though he had heard many things about the ubiquitous sardu, and hoped to see some on his journey today.

Joya and Ando's father was considered to be a master chef and Matt had sampled many of the popular Elani dishes. He particularly liked Barto's homemade bread, and found that there was much more to Elani food than sardu. Matt stopped to examine the leaves of a vine that the animals were eating. Some of it had tumbled down onto the path that they were following.

"This is sordu." Ando volunteered and took a mouthful of the raw unprocessed plant.

"It's the basis of most of the food the Elani eat. "You ate plenty of it in the hospital,"

Matt gathered a bit of the vegetation and took a bite himself. It tasted very good. The flavor was complex, but had no one particular flavor, except for the vegetable taste of chlorophyll.

"The soup," Matt realized.

"Other dishes too."

"All of the protein you ate was synthesized from sordu beans. The Elani only eat meat sparingly. I haven't eaten meat in over a year. We eat fish much more often," Ando said.

Matt didn't tell Ando that he and Joya had talked about many things during their language lessons, including baroos, bandoris and sardu, he had just never seen any of these things before.

Matt felt the ultra-soft material of his white tunic. Everyone he had spotted outside the Medical Clinic wore a similar tunic. He, Ando and Joya wore fairly short tunics made for them from sardu, but some older people wore longer versions of the same plain white garment.

Matt looked out over the pastoral scene. In the distance, he could see a man gathering sordu to feed his family. Nude children played in the pristine fields around him as he worked. Matt realized that the kids were just having fun and enjoying their environment.

"Nobody told the children that they were naked," Matt said as if he were seeing something for the first time.

Joya looked at the children playing in the sordu and then at Matt.

"They are willy nilly." Joya said.

"And naked. Not modest at all," Ando added for Matt's benefit.

"I think that maybe I've been carrying the idea of modesty too far. What do you think, Ando?"

"It's about time," Ando said under his breath dramatically.

Matt compared this pristine environment to his family home in Texas. Fusion power plants produced all of the energy they consumed, and the production of tritium and deuterium had made some parts of the State slightly radioactive and unfit for habitation. Exhaust heat from the fusion plants had driven the weather cycles for over a century on Earth

These changes to the Earth had forced large populations, including his parents, off their home planet of Earth and onto the Colony Worlds. There was no shortage of Colony Worlds out there. The Terrans on both sides of the conflict had discovered dozens of Earth Analog planets suitable for habitation. Matt considered how these worlds could more easily be made habitable by planting sordu. It seemed to grow anywhere and everywhere.

As the trio approached a particular vine covered dome, a section of the wall slid aside and a middle aged man stepped out to meet them.

"Father!" Joya said enthusiastically as she ran towards her dad. "This is Matt!" she exclaimed excitedly, introducing her special friend.

After kissing his children, the older man introduced himself as Baros and embraced Matt, kissing him on both cheeks, in the Elani tradition, similar to that of the French.

"Would you like some tea Matt? Can I call you Matt?".

"Please. Call me Matt. And yes, I'd like some tea.

Matt much preferred coffee, but he hadn't thought of a way to convince anyone to let him visit a Terran supermarket yet. Joya had told him that part of the implant he'd received had made it possible for him to translocate to anywhere he chose to go. Nobody had taught him how to do that yet though. He had plenty of money in his account, especially after being on a ship for over two years.

"Call me Baros," the older man said in a friendly tone.

"Please come to the back," Baros invited Matt.

"My son Ando will make us some refreshments. How are you feeling? I heard that you had quite an ordeal," Baros said, politely.

Baros led Matt through the spartan main family gathering room and out onto a lush outdoor patio on the rear of the domed house. Matt noticed that the house was relatively small and devoid of much furniture except for a few folded anti-gravity chairs. The frames for some anti-gravity beds must be behind the curtains that hung between what Matt considered to be rooms. Matt supposed that the house needed to be small if it was going to have to translocate somewhere.

Beta was already sitting down outside when Baros, Joya and Matt joined her. It truly was a woman's world. Most of the gender roles Matt had grown up with were backwards. While Beta sat, waiting to meet the Terran, Baros tried to make him comfortable. Joya sat down beside Matt and Ando scampered off to get them all some tea.

"We spend most of our time outside," Baros told Matt as he showed him to a comfortable chair next to a low table.

Joya hugged Matt closer.

"I can't wait for you to meet all of my relatives."

"It's beautiful outside," Matt complimented Baros. "What do you do when the weather is bad? When it rains for example?"

"It only rains at night when we sleep," Beta answered matter-of-factly.

"It's not supposed to rain tonight, is it lover? Baros asked his mate, deferring to her.

"No. Not until tomorrow night. Your mother is having her party tonight." Beta said.

"Of course."

Matt should've known. Everything on Ralajan was perfect, why shouldn't the weather be as well. If the Elani only wanted it to rain at certain times and nights, it only rained then. To Matt, Elani science often seemed like magic. Translocation, for example, was counter to everything Matt knew about travel. Anywhere else in the universe, he would take a car, or a plane, or a spaceship to travel somewhere. An Elani could just form a tiny wormhole and move anywhere they wanted to. Apparently, he could too, once he learned how.

Joya had told him that her grandfather, Timor, traveled to Dorian every morning to help grow a special herb used for tea. Commuting between planets was nothing at all for the Elani people. There was actually no reason for Beta or her family to live on Ralajan, except that she liked the temperature here. She could easily translocate to the University from any planet she wanted, even Earth or Terra Nova. Matt began to consider the possibilities for Joya and himself.

Elan and it's associated planets were inside the Crab Nebula, what the Elani called the Toran-Rona Nebula. Without being able to see stars from inside the nebula the Elani had never invented astronomy or developed classical mechanics. Elani Mathematics and Physics had taken a totally different turn from Terran Math and Science. Those subjects were totally different to everything that Matt had learned on Earth.

Joya's brother, Ando, brought them all a cup of herb tea and joined them. Joya made a point of sitting next to Matt and holding his hand. She wanted her parents to know that regardless of what they might've previously seen in Matt's thoughts, she was still very much attracted to him.

"Firstly, I want to apologize to you personally for viewing the images I got from the Dreamcatcher. They were very helpful in convincing me and others on the High Council that you should be welcomed to our planet." Beta began.

Matt didn't know what to say at that back-handed compliment. Did the Elani consider him less than human? He had no idea that he might never have awakened from his coma if he'd possessed the critical DNA or that Beta hadn't convinced the Council to allow him to live.

"I understand that your access to my memories helped my case. I'm also glad that the access has stopped."

"I only meant to help," Beta apologized.

"I'd like to see those memories myself, so that I can explain my actions if I need to,"

"Of course. Perhaps later," Beta agreed.

Matt had waited to get some answers about the origins of his people, the Terrans. Beta was obviously the person to talk to.

"Nobody has been able to explain to me how I'm related to the Elani and why so many people are interested in everything about me. I guess that since you are the Director of Terran studies, you're the person who should know."

"I am the director. Actually, my mother Lana discovered your planet and did the original research on Terra. I simply continued her research and brought you here to Ralajan after your injury. She was only able to identify Terrans as Elani about twenty years ago."

"That's what I have been led to believe. At one time there were no modern humans on Earth. Then all of a sudden, homo sapiens were all over the place."

"Yes, homo sapiens indeed," Beta agreed.

Matt might not be as ignorant as Beta had been led to believe by her observation of television shows from Earth.

"We have reason to believe that you are a part of the Lost Tribe of the Elani."

"The Lost Tribe?"

"Yes. We believe that your ancestors chose to leave Elani civilization behind and translocate to an entirely different arm of the Galaxy."

"To Earth, Terra," Matt guessed.

"Yes. That's correct."

"Nobody really knows what your ancestors were thinking when they decided to experiment with changes to their own DNA," Beta told Matt.

"Changing human DNA is not something that we mess with on Earth, it's unethical. Besides, when you alter human DNA you alter the DNA of the offspring. The children's DNA is affected and cannot be reversed."

"Like the scientific community on Earth and all of the human planets, we have never condoned working with human DNA. The traditional Elani Biology has been limited to working with only plant and animal DNA," Beta said.

"But a group of Biologists changed human DNA anyway. Didn't they?"

Beta nodded her head, an affectation that she had learned from Joya or possibly Ando.

Matt wanted to know what the Lost Tribe was and how they were different from other humans. How was he different from the original Elani who left for Earth, and how was he different from Joya?

"These Lost Tribe people messed with their DNA before they left Elan? What did the changed DNA do to the human phenome?" Matt asked.

"How did it change them physically?"

"Yes."

"The DNA changes increased the level of the affected people's hormones. One particular hormone made them mentally unfit to live among normal people," Beta said.

"What is this super hormone"? Do I have it?"

"Testosterone. The hormone they had too much of was testosterone," Beta admitted.

Matt laughed. "Hundreds of thousands of years of isolation because of a little testosterone?"

"Not a little testosterone. Five times as much as normal."

"That is a lot more. Can a person even take that much testosterone safely?"Matt asked.

"No. That's why your ancestors died so young. When Terra was discovered and the inhabitants seemed to live a normal lifespan, I hypothesized that your immune systems must've dealt with the rogue DNA."

"So I'm normal?"

"Not exactly. Compared to a normal Elani male, you have at least twice the testosterone they have. You have enough testosterone to increase your body hair growth, give you greater muscle mass, and give you superior physical coordination."

"Those are good things right?"

"Side effects also include mood swings, increases in libido, irritability, and violent behavior as well.

"I guess those were the types of things that made my ancestors almost impossible to live with." Matt said, considering what most humans didn't like about their enemies.

"Very few lived very long under those circumstances. I can't imagine the hardships the Elani who translocated to Earth faced," Beta said.

Matt thought about what Beta had told him. The wars, the crime, the horrors that humans had inflicted upon each other turned Matt's stomach. They could all be traced back to a single experiment with DNA.

"The Elani have never experienced war or violence?"

"No."

"Your people really never left Eden."

Beta looked at Matt strangely. The idea of the loss of the Garden of Eden made sense to Matt now. The biblical place had really existed, just not on Earth. The planet of Elan had been Eden.

"The extreme changes in the violent behavior of the affected meant that they couldn't come back to normal Elani civilization and re-adapt could they?" Matt asked.

"That's correct. Even after most of the affected left for Terra, the people who stayed behind had to accept the conditions of the quarantine."

"Were the ones who stayed allowed to reproduce?"

"Of course not. The effect of the excess testosterone needed to be extinguished,"

"What if one of the affected people got hurt in a fight?"

"There were no fights. The people who stayed were closely monitored. If they became too aggressive, they were sedated until they could resolve their issues peacefully."

"No fights huh?"

Matt immediately thought about what a wild animal must feel like to be trapped in an enclosure. That type of environment would be unbearable for a human, even if they were allowed other freedoms. Matt thought about how he would feel in that situation. Unable to have children if he wanted, tranquilized if he got a little rambunctious, constantly monitored, it was just too much.

"I don't blame the people affected by the rogue DNA for wanting to leave that type of protected environment, testosterone poisoning and all" Matt said to the shock of Beta.

"But the hardships your people faced, the wars, the famines." Beta objected.

"I've faced hardships. I've been in a war," Matt told the Director of Terran Studies.

"And after all of that, you would prefer to remain the way you are?"

"I'd rather die as a free man with all of my testosterone induced faculties than live as a caged animal," Matt concluded.

"Fascinating," Beta replied.

Matt laughed at Beta's response. Maybe if he didn't have the amount of testosterone that he did, he wouldn't feel the way that he did. None of the other males he'd met on Ralajan seemed to feel like a caged animal. Just him.

To Beta, this new perspective would be a very interesting area of study. She had followed up on her mother's discovery of the Terrans, and had proved that they were no longer affected, only slightly influenced by testosterone. There was still much to learn from these testosterone influenced Elani.

No wonder the medical researchers had been so interested in his physique and sexual practices. To most of the Elani, he was a Terran freak. Even Joya had been curious about him. Even though she knew about his origins and his Terran background, she still stuck with him.

Joya gave Matt's hand a squeeze under the table. He really needed the support. She knew about hormones and how they affected behavior. The doctors, especially Lela, had taught her well. She thought that Matt had just the right level of everything.