Syreen Encounter

Kurt sat back as the Hazen server took their plates. Across the table, Maya watched open mouth as the pseudo-simian native of the planet casually balanced bowls and plates in its hands that its tail grabbed. He knew it was part of the show, the draw for this cross-species restaurant, but his lunch guest had just arrived on-planet and was still getting her first taste of Society.

"Can I get you anything else right now?" the being asked as he used his tail to top off their waters from the carafe at the table. Kurt smiled, he'd seen it before, but Maya stared with big eyes at the monkey-like server before hurriedly shaking her head.

"No thank you," Kurt agreed, "can you check on us in 5 minutes?" It had taken some time, but he felt he'd established himself in his unique career and could afford to go out more and more. Once that was true, he'd figured out a bunch of the things that made life in Society easier and being clear about his wishes and not assuming anything was key. One night, he'd sat at his table for almost an hour before finally working up the courage to ask a passing waiter for something. Sometimes, it almost seemed like this was a different planet with its own customs.

"Certainly..." The being paused for a moment, looking at something on his eye display that only he could see, then raised its eyebrows in a gesture the two species seemed to have in common, "Mister Kurt Sanderson! Whatever you wish, just call if you change your mind and I will return in approximately 5 minutes." Kurt knew whatever the native had heard through his own translator buds wasn't exactly '5 minutes', but he'd grown to depend on their smart translations and knew the waiter had heard a figure in whatever time units to which he was accustomed.

The Hazen waiter left, plates rock steady through some balancing magic, and Maya shook her head in wonder.

"Do you think they drop those very often?" she asked, taking a sip from her water.

Kurt shook his head. "I've been here maybe half a dozen times, haven't seen it happen yet. I think the whole balancing plates thing is part of their schtick." He looked back at her and smiled, it was good to talk to another human. It had been months since he'd managed an almost 30 seconds conversation with an impatient traveler he'd seen in the bazaar, and this meeting was going much better.

"Are you some kind of celebrity or something?" She asked, arching an eyebrow. Kurt frowned, confused.

"Pardon?"

"Well, it seemed like he acted a little funny when he saw your name on his, whatever they call it." She shrugged. "So either you're a celebrity or you like to dine & dash and I'd really like to know which is which in case I need to tighten my laces." She smiled, and he laughed. Damn, it was great to talk to a human again.

"Ha, no, I'm, uh, I've just had a good run at a local business and I guess the Hazen have their own social media scene or something and last week, someone, uh, shared a video of me at work I guess. I've been getting recognized here and there, but it'll pass." He hoped. The tech who had released the holovid of one of his implantation sessions had been fired, but the damage was done. He was grateful it wasn't anyone he'd met before, he was getting to know more and more of the folks at the Lower Feiden Extraplanetary Fertility Clinic and it had felt pretty rough to find out his privacy had been breached like that, but this species didn't see it as as big of a deal so now they knew, but regardless, the technician had violated other rules related to posting the video so, at least he knew that specific person wouldn't do that again with him.

"What do you do? A stunt? Fall down? Oh shit, did you get hit in the balls? That's gotta be cross-species funny." She laughed, poking fun at him, and he shook his head with a smile.

"Close! Ok, well kinda, but also not exactly. So anyways, tell me more about your trip-" he tried to change the subject, but she cocked her head curiously and interrupted.

"'Kinda but not exactly'? You got a copy? Show me." She held out her hand as if for his tablet and he smiled and shook his head again.

"Nope, sorry, in fact it might not even be out there anymore. They've got a pretty short attention span here." As he said this, a different Hazen, this one a customer, did an almost comical double take at him as it passed, then whispered furiously to its date.

Maya watched that as it unfolded, then looked back at him, one eyebrow now trying to climb right off her forehead. He smiled guiltily and spread out his hands. "Ok, maybe not THAT short, uh, but honest, I don't have a copy. Really, it's not a big deal," he lied. He'd just met his first other human in months and wasn't sure he was ready for her to learn that he'd been recorded getting railed by a colony of space squid.

"I see," she replied, and the post-meal conversation moved on but on a couple occasions he caught her watching him speculatively. Maybe he'd luck out, he thought to himself, but at this point, he figured his best bet was to try and wait it out.

After checking on them, the Hazen waiter brought them both the local coffee analogue. The caffeine-like alkaloids in the local drink were a little more intoxicating than just stimulating, but the combined effect was pleasant. Once again, Kurt expressed mental thanks towards whatever civilizations had come up with the technology to transparently protect restaurant patrons of different species from being serve something poisonous or otherwise harmful, he couldn't imagine being able to go out if he had to bring a test kit of some sort with him.

"This is getting out of hand," a familiar voice spoke from beside him and he looked over to see a large red worm-like being arriving next to their table, his body pulling itself up so he could make eye contact, "now there's two of you!"

Buzzed by the drink, Kurt smiled and stood to welcome the being that had been responsible for getting him into his current career, the one that had finally enabled him to get his life on Feiden started for real. He held out his fist and the new arrival did the same and they bumped in the traditional Society fashion. Kurt always smiled at that, definitely not what the science fiction he'd grown up with had expected out in the galaxy.

"Azarac! Hey, how are you?" He waved him to an empty spot and the table automatically expanded to give the long being the room he needed to snug himself into place, his upper body erect.

"I am well, human Kurt Sanderson, thank you. And also congratulations are in order, it seems? I brought another candidate to the clinic a few weeks ago and they gave me a supplementary bonus for finding you. It seems you've made quite an impression, they never do that!" He bobbed his head in his species laughter.

"Yeah, well, it's good work, thank you for getting me into it. I don't think I would have picked that out of an employment brochure." He chuckled too, and then startled at the sound of a polite cough from his meal companion.

"Oh, I'm sorry! Maya, this is Azarac, we met a few months ago. He got me- uh, we did some business together, he... he got me into my job" he temporized, trying to figure out how to avoid getting into talking about his employment.

"I don't know if this will translate, but I think the job got into you, yes?" Azarac turned his head at an angle and Kurt realized the being had made a joke. Not just that, but a pretty good, pretty lewd one. Humor that translated across species was tough, he was impressed.

"You know, Kurt hasn't told me anything about his job yet. What kind of business did you two do? You said something about a 'clinic'?" Maya took a drink from her not-coffee, curious.

"He didn't tell you? He's an Indigo Five rated fertility assistance contractor! Very much in demand, I just happened to recognize his potential but he's done all the hard work after that," the being answered before Kurt could interject.

"A fertility assistance contractor? Interesting! So you help people have kids?" Maya stared, fascinated.

Kurt nodded uneasily. "Yeah, but it's no big deal, I just-"

"Some of the deals are quite big," Azarac interjected helpfully, then frowned. "I apologize, I think my translator did that wrong, what I meant to say was-"

"Well, it's a job," Kurt interrupted, smiling at the alien and trying to will the conversation to move along. "Anyways, yeah, he got me connected with the right people. So what are you doing these days?" he asked, hoping the gregarious being would take the hint. He did not.

"I am always keeping my eyes open," he waggled his eyestalks demonstratively, "for other candidates." Kurt took a sip from his drink, hoping to find inspiration for how to change the subject. Azarac looked at his human companion and his eyes looked her over. "Would you be interested in finding out if the work is suitable for you as well?"

Kurt choked on his drink and began coughing. Maya and Azarac both banged his back with their arms and tentacles respectively and Maya handed him his water glass. After he recovered, he apologized and finally managed to change the course of the conversation. Azarac had either finally picked up on the hint or maybe gotten distracted by his rapid fire attention span and had moved on to telling them about a contract he had just taken on building a new Hazen orbital. His main occupation was apparently in construction and the new station was being built a few hundred kilometers away in a Hazen industrial area and would be lifted when it was done.

"So you don't build things in space?" Maya had asked, "before Contact, we did most of our orbital construction outside the atmosphere because it wasn't practical to lift big things."

"That's not a limitation in Society," Azarac agreed, "and so no, if we can do the hard work down on the surface where we have easy access to things such as breathable air and local restaurants then why work harder than we need?" He bobbed in amusement and then, in a more serious tone, added "It is also much cheaper this way."

"I bet," Maya replied.

Azarac must have checked the time because he began to unravel himself from the table.

"My friends, I would like to stay longer, but I have an appointment. It was pleasing to meet you, Maya, we should all schedule a meal together soon." The two humans made their goodbyes and watched as he worked his way across the floor, smoothly moving with body contractions that propelled him at a respectable walking speed but without any part of him appearing to move except for when it lifted and set back down again. It was almost hypnotic.

"He seems like a great... guy?" Maya ventured. Kurt shrugged, seemed good enough as any but who could tell?

He was about to reply when his tab buzzed. He looked over at her apologetically and took a quick look at the notification. It was the clinic, there was a high value contract request, details to be provided.

"I'm sorry, I've got to go too, it's a work thing," he apologized. At her acknowledgement, he waved his ID at the table to settle the bill and they both stood as it contracted inwards, carrying the empty cups with it until they sat on a much smaller circle in the center waiting for pickup.

"Thanks for lunch, Kurt, let's do it again sometime. I'd love to pick your brain some more." She draped her satchel over her shoulder and the two headed outside. After a quick check, they realized they were both heading in different directions so they made their farewells. "And maybe next time you can tell me more about your work, it sounds fascinating." He agreed but inside, his stomach did cartwheels as he tried to imagine that conversation. That, he decided, was a problem for Future Kurt.

As he turned to leave, he thought for a moment he saw Azarac in the crowd, but after a moment decided it must have been a trick of the light. Maya headed deeper into the bazaar while he turned and headed towards the clinic. A high value contract sounded interesting, he wondered what he was in for.

----

As he approached the Lower Feiden Extraplanetary Fertility Clinic, he stared at the large vehicle parked on one of the bigger pads close by. It looked almost like something out of old Earth science fiction, long rocket shape with a pointy tip resting on legs that appeared to double as fins, but that's where the resemblance ended. The gold vehicle looked almost like it was made out of a bunch of stacked donuts giving it an almost ridged look. If he used his imagination, he thought as he walked in the front door, it almost looked kinda like a-

"Kurt Sanderson!" the Hazen at the front desk called excitedly, coming around to meet him in the lobby. "Thank you for responding so quickly. Please, come with me." Sperholt led him off to the right to a conference room he'd seen but had never been in. From experience, he knew it was located across the clinic from... he craned his neck and sure enough, a dozen or so meters away he could see into the clinic's procedure room where he'd had so many... memorable experiences. It looked unoccupied right now, he noted.

Sitting in the indicated chair, he leaned back with confidence and felt it reconfigure itself for him and give him support he needed just in time to avoid falling over. A big part of Society life, he'd gradually figured out, was just trusting that the systems would do what was needed to accommodate different species. It seemed almost like magic sometimes, but then again, he distantly remembered reading something to that effect once regarding technology that was advanced enough. Humans had a ways to go before things they could say the same for their own systems, he thought.

"Again, thank you. We have a high value contract opportunity that you are ideally suited for." The pseudo simian being sat across the table from him with an intent look on his face. As they spoke, another Hazen entered with some cups and a container of water and left without a word.

"Tell me all about it," Kurt responded, filling both cups and sliding one across the table.

"Today's clients are looking for something a little different from what you've offered before so there are some extra things to go over first." He nodded thanks and took the glass but didn't drink.

"I'm not sure what's left, I've, uh..." Kurt thought back on all the different offspring he'd hosted, the fertilization sessions both clinical and... not. He thought about all the different things he'd been variously filled with, had crammed into him, and more and tried to imagine what could be new. He'd done tentacles. Tentacles!

"This contract would..." He hesitated and Kurt stared. What could get that kind of reaction after all the things he'd seen?

"It would require you to mate with the client," the Hazen said hurriedly and then took a quick drink of water.

Kurt raised an eyebrow. "I don't get it, they do that all the-"

"No," the other being interrupted, "I'm sorry, but I'm afraid I wasn't clear. It would require _you_ to mate with the client."

Kurt cocked his head. The hazen glanced down at where the front of his pants would be if he could see through the table then back at Kurt's face. "_You_."

Suddenly Kurt got it, and his mouth dropped open.

"How is that even... what?"

In all of the contracts he'd done so far, he'd never himself needed to do anything much more than provide his body as, well, as a receptacle. Different species had implanted eggs in him, used his body to host their own fertilization, to incubate offspring during an early phase of their lives, even to collect alien semen for IVF back on their home planets but any sexual pleasure he'd experienced had been incidental. He'd certainly never had to use his own penis for anything other than pleasure during the experiences and while some of his clients had helped him orgasm as the situation merited, he had never-

"Wait," he said suddenly, "how does that even work? It's not like I can fertilize an alien...." He broke off as the Hazen clerk drank again, spilling a little. He'd never seen anything but grace from these creatures, but the one in front of him seemed incredibly uncomfortable. A sudden suspicion came to him. "I... can't fertilize an alien, right?" He looked out the window into the central office area and caught two or three faces looking towards him from their cubicles. As he looked, their heads darted back out of sight.

"That's.... complicated," allowed Sperholt, his composure returning and adopting a clinical tone. "Of course it's incredibly uncommon, humans have more in common from a genetic perspective with every other creature on their planet than they do with any non-human intelligence, of course, but there are a few limited circumstances where this is not always the case."

Kurt stared.

"And what," he asked after a moment, "are those?"

"Ages ago, there was a member of Society that sought to... exert influence beyond what it could do within the structure market forces." Kurt nodded after a moment.

"You mean like... militarily?" He wasn't an expert on Society history, but one thing humanity had noticed quickly was how few if any species seemed to have warships or anything like that. In fact, outside of some museum exhibits, it seemed like almost everyone had maybe law enforcement or rescue craft, but no space navies. Society, it seemed, exerted influence through other means and even the most aggressive couldn't maintain the expenditures of physical aggression against a galactic economy that could freeze it completely out of all markets.

"Yes, almost, but not entirely. They engineered a species that was designed to be able to interbreed with others to possibly adopt traits from them that could offer economic benefits." The monkey-like creature seemed uncomfortable and Kurt quickly understood why.

"You mean, they would... try to use these creatures to make chimera that could give them control of industries within a generation just by, uh..." he hesitated, looking for the right words, "by putting their own into positions of influence?"

The Hazen stared at him with open-mouth shock. "Kurt Sanderson, you have heard of the Syreen? I thought..."

Kurt shook his head. "No, I just filled in the gaps. 'Syreen', you say?"

The Hazen looked down at the table, re-assessing what he thought he knew about the being from the newcomer species who had grown up without the benefits of Society education and industry. He considered this a valuable reminder not to judge someone by their species' position within Society.

"Yes," he finally continued, "they are called the Syreen."

"Ok, why would I want to help some species take over Earth?" That didn't make any sense, Earth was an economic backwater of Society. Just a few years earlier, it had been riding high on a new renaissance in technological innovation but then after finally encountering Society and having all the protective curtains raised, everything had turned upside down and its economy was in shambles. That was why he was out trying to start a life for himself in Society.

The Hazen froze in shock again, but this time laughed. "Oh, I'm sorry, no, that's not... no." He took a deep breath, there was order within the universe again. "No," he continued patiently, "that is not their goal. I mentioned the species in past-tense. Not the Syreen, they were innocent victims of their creators as well, but the other species received complete economic sanctions and I don't believe they are space-faring any longer." He took a sip of his water. "Not for a few hundred years, I think, that's when this all happened. Society has a long memory. The Syreen took their futures into their own hands and have been members of Society in good standing ever since."

"I see. Ok, so these 'Syreen', what do they need me for? If it's been hundreds of years, they must have their own planet and-" At this, the Hazen's tail drooped and the being looked down with great sadness.