Syreen Encounter

"It is most fortunate that we are speaking first. I take it you are not familiar with the Syreen Catastrophe?" He pulled out his tab and began tapping at it, searching for something.

"No, I guess I've been pretty busy," Kurt answered. "Plus, there's not a lot-what the hell is that?"

The alien had extended his tab to Kurt and he stared down at a video of a deep red, volcanic looking planet. He could make out huge vapor plumes and regular eruptions across the surface.

"That," Sperholt answered grimly, "was Syra. Two months ago."

"Oh." Kurt stared at the video, trying to imagine anyone surviving whatever it was that had happened. "Did..."

"There is nobody left alive, it was a complete tectonic reversal of some sort, nobody understands what happened." The Hazen clerk took a breath, then continued. "But what we do know is that the survivors are mostly their women because that's who most commonly spent time off-world, and we also, we as in the clinic, know that they've been visiting different Society worlds looking to use this interbreeding capability to establish new capabilities and, well, for the first time in decades they're doing a big push forward and the group here today is interested in making use of your services." He sat back, his tail twitching in a way that betrayed his nervousness, and waited.

Kurt tried to wrap his head around what he was being asked.

"I.. they want me to be a father?"

At this, the Sperholt shook his head and Kurt thought that was for his benefit specifically because he'd never seen a Hazen do that. "No, that's not exactly correct. The process is... it is fairly physical and very, I think you would say, 'hands on'." He fidgeted with his glass. "You would, ah, mate with the Syreen woman and, well, a Syreen male would... ah... they produce special hormones and, um..."

Kurt marveled; he'd never seen another species stumbling over their words. He had assumed either the translator buds minimized that or maybe everyone else here was just better at speaking than him, but the pseudo simian in front of him seemed hugely flustered.

Kurt reached out and touched Sperholt's hand. "Friend, it's ok. We can figure out the details later. I just need to know whether or not I'd be the father because frankly, I'm not sure I'm comfortable with having children."

The Hazen calmed, smiled gratefully. "No, your genetic contribution would be minimal. They were engineered so that mostly cosmetic and some chemical traits would be taken or copied, but neurologically and otherwise, it would still be a Syreen. Just one that has picked up some new ability once it's grown. The offspring could even be adjusted to look like any other Syreen, but perhaps with other genetic diversity advantages. They need to populate a new planet from a small gene pool, they need to do it this way."

Kurt puzzled at this, then suddenly figured it out. "Does this have anything to do with the Indigo Five classification? I mean, having offspring that might..." He struggled with this, was he being asked to create people who would be compelled into the kind of work he did when they had grown up? What the-

"The Indigo classification is useful, but it's the added genetic diversity. With humans having so many apparent similarities, this client thinks you may be able to help them increase the effective size of their gene pool. Also, the clinic would not participate in creating servitors or offspring that were locked into a specific career path as a result of our services." As he spoke, his tail rose higher and higher and Kurt quickly realized he was quite offended at the implication.

"Ok, ok, then finally, I guess since this is an unusual service, uh..." He tried to figure out how to phrase this next part without sounding too mercenary.

Sperholt took his tab back for a moment, then returned it. "I also wanted to let you know what the compensation was before you decided anything. I understand it's a large request and our quote to the client was based around you being paid properly for your service and genetic contribution. I hope we did well to represent your interests."

Kurt stared down at the figure on the tab.

He looked again. The number hadn't changed.

Finally, he looked back up at the Hazen.

"Let's meet the client."

---

A few moments later, the Syreen clients entered and Kurt almost did a double-take of his own. At first glance, he thought a small group of humans had entered but it wasn't until he looked more closely that he realized there were definitely differences. For one, the eyes didn't look quite right. They seemed to flash a little with reflected light in a way that reminded him of something, but he couldn't put his finger on it.

The other thing was that they were blue.

Not a deep blue, not like a berry, but there was an unmistakable blue tinge to their skin. Three of them were unmistakably women by human standards and one had more angular features and a flatter chest that left him certain it was a male, again if human traits were any indication.

"Greetings, Kurt Sanderson, I am Diani. Have you decided?" She stood before him and he realized she was a little under two meters tall, taller than him. Up close, she looked even more human. He inhaled and realized there was a very slight cinnamon smell he hadn't noticed before. He wondered if it was the Syreen. He stared into her eyes, drawn towards them for reasons he couldn't quite describe.

The Syreen woman looked uncomfortable and looked over to Sperholt. "I'm not doing this on purpose. We can't do this if the chaperone isn't here. I'm sorry, but this-"

"Hello! Excuse me, sorry, coming through." A new voice piped up as someone pushed into the room from behind the group of Syreen. "Please let me through, terribly sorry about being late. Someone parked on the closest pad and I had to set down much further away than I planned." The being that made its way forward bowed to Kurt and the Syreen client and apologized some more before introducing itself. As he did, Kurt's head began to clear and he blinked as he realized he'd been in a daze.

The new creature was a tall biped with large eyes on either side of his head. From his biology, Kurt thought that meant it had evolved from a non-predator species, but that was about the limit of what he could remember.

"My name is Elzar and I'm the bonded psionic. Ms. Diani, my condolences to you for your loss." He bowed again to the Syreen woman who nodded her head at him. He turned to Kurt. "Kurt Sanderson of Earth, greetings. The clinic has hired me to provide you with psionic protection during the initial business phase and then the followup meeting."

Kurt turned his head sideways, confused. "I'm sorry, I've never heard of a 'bonded psionic'. What do you do?"

The creature nodded its head. "No apology required, it is not a common employment." He made a noise the translator interpreted on his vision as '[Chuckling]'. "In that regards, it is something you and I have in common." He paused. "Uncommon employment?"

Kurt nodded uneasily. Before he could press further, the newcomer spoke again. "Ah yes, the Syreen are rated as Class Three psionics. They asked that my services be employed to provide you with protection from accidental or other interference during decisions. Did you notice any changes when I entered the room?"

Kurt nodded with sudden understanding. "Ok, so you... block, uh, psychic influence?"

The being shrugged in its way. "We prefer psionic to differentiate from- you know, it doesn't matter. Short answer, yes."

Kurt stared at the Syreen woman. "Wait, does that mean she was trying to-" The woman stared at him in shock and he stopped.

"There is an involuntary effect they cannot, ah, turn off. It's mild and after you spend some time with them, most species can resist it with ease. As I said, Syreen are actually the ones who insisted the clinic bring me in. They have a very good reputation as responsible psionics. I believe they brought me here to avoid any appearance of impropriety."

Kurt looked apologetically at the tall woman. "I'm sorry, this is new to-"

She waved his apology off. "It is nothing. I hope this helps to demonstrate how seriously we take this contract. I understand it is much to ask." She finally sat down and the rest of her retinue followed suit.

Kurt returned to his seat as well. "I think I've got the general idea. Sperholt," he indicated the quiet Hazen clerk, "brought me up to speed about what you'd like. Just to verify, while I'd be contributing, ah, 'genetic material', the offspring wouldn't be my children?"

She shook her head but his translator buds overlaid '[Nodding]' on his vision. Boy, that could be confusing sometimes. "Correct, it would be my child, but you would, as you say, 'contribute'," she smiled a little carnivorously at this, he thought, "some genetic material. A more accurate term might be that you would be a kind of... uncle? It's difficult to find a species-common term to describe the relationship." She paused, shrugged. "So, are the terms acceptable?"

Kurt thought for a moment. He was pretty sure he knew his answer but he felt like he was forgetting something. "Uh, if my, um, if I'll be providing the material, is it extracted here in the clinic or-" He petered off, unsure how to continue.

"No, that would be... incompatible with our physiology." She grinned even larger now than before. "We will do it, as we say in our culture, 'the old fashioned way'. I hope that translated correctly?"

Kurt swallowed. "I believe it did."

---

Before they finished with contracts a few minutes later, Elzar pulled him aside and took a moment to brief him on what to expect about something Kurt hadn't considered.

"Once you're out of my presence, it's normal for the psionic effect of the Syreen to begin to muddle some of your thinking, but it should be temporary unless they consciously choose otherwise." He pulled out a small business-card sized device and handed it to him. "If you need any extra help before your mind adapts and can filter their unconscious psionic radiation, this can temporarily disrupt it. It's uncomfortable to nearby psionics," he added quickly as Kurt was reaching to try it out by pushing the button, "so use it sparingly if you have to at all. Based on your scans, you should probably be ok within a few hours." He paused, then added one more thing. "Also, I'm not sure whether or not you've picked this up, but the Syreen are extremely ethical about their psionics. They resent that they were engineered for aggression and take extreme care to avoid victimizing others, whether by accident or not." He blinked both of his large eyes one after the other. "And they consider consent to be absolutely vital. I thought you should know this, especially considering the situation into which you're entering."

Kurt took the card/device and thanked him. The being left and sure enough, Kurt felt that pressure behind his eyeballs begin to grow. With the psionics' last words in mind and before he lost his focus totally, he turned to the Syreen woman.

"Let's do this."

---

The large fin-landed and ridged ship across the way from the clinic turned out to belong to the Syreen delegation, to Kurt's surprise. He admired how the light reflected off the gold skin and rounded tip and had a silly thought for a moment that something about the vehicle's shape itself seemed almost seemed sexually charged, right down to the shiny red pointed tip at its top. He laughed it off internally, who would make decorative decisions like that when building a vehicle?

Despite apparently being an interstellar craft, the ship was being used as a point to point shuttle and a few minutes after liftoff, they touched down at a lakeside pad next to a large house with a large decorative garden and trees.

"It is a rental," the Diani said curtly as he marveled at the plants on the walk up to the house. "While we continue work on what will be our new home world, we're loathe to settle anywhere permanently." She waved her hand at the front door and it irised open. "Most of our remaining population was off-planet during the Catastrophe, except for a precious few who managed to escape to orbit after the tremendous land quakes began." She paused, introspective. He couldn't imagine the scale of the loss or wrap his head around the size of her loss. After a moment, she looked back up at him, resolve obvious in her expression and led him the rest of the way into the large house.

As he'd been briefed back at the clinic, their first stop was to be in the room they'd designated for first aid and medical checkups so they could extract a sample for analysis, but before they got there, one of the Syreen men stopped him.

"If I may suggest," Etian murmured, "you may want to use waste extraction first before we get started. There is also a showering system," he looked Kurt up and down, appraisingly, then continued, "not that you seem to need it, but if your species is anything like mine, hot water can be relaxing."

Kurt assented and was soon inspecting the alien toilet. Back in Breidak, all of the facilities were user friendly to visiting species and did their best to be self-explanatory. The thing in front of him here was... less so, but he thought about the kind of preparation he usually needed before procedures and decided to do his best to figure it out.

A few minutes later, he emerged from the small room with wide eyes. The experience had been... startling. He hadn't expected much of what had happened, especially not what someone might charitably call an 'aggressive bidet', but even that undersold it. Regardless, he found himself patting his seat a little as if to verify it was still attached when he met up with Etian who had just returned from some task and carried some folded up clothing.

"Here, I'll show you the washing room. You may change into these robes afterwards, I think you'll find it preferable." He led the human to the nearby room, half of which was clearly the shower. Unlike the simpler unit in his apartment back in town, this one had nozzles facing inwards from multiple angles behind a transparent wall with a subtle drain in the center.

"Here, let me help you with that," Etian offered and before he could object, the bluish Syreen man was pulling Kurt's shirt up over his head. He tried to take over, but the other being quite efficiently assisted and in seconds, he found himself being herded into the elaborate shower.

He tried not to feel self conscious considering the alien man behind him on the other side of the transparent wall so he made a show of examining the controls for the system. He felt the air move and heard a rustling behind him and turned to find that instead of excusing himself, the blue alien had just stepped out of his own clothes and entered the large shower space with him.

"Please, allow me to demonstrate," he said and brushed past Kurt to the controls and began manipulating them. A moment later, hot water began to spray inwards from all angles. Kurt flinched at first, expecting cold, but apparently that was a Solved Problem here too. He tried to avoid looking at the alien man next to him who was starting to scrub himself, having just demonstrated how to dispense some kind of washing foam into his hand, but his eye strayed downwards and he found himself looking at an unmistakably alien/not-alien penis. It hung flaccid as the Syreen man washed but Kurt could still see that it was slightly longer than his own but pointier. It also seemed to have a quarter-dollar sized bump on it partway but he wasn't sure. After a moment, he realized he was staring and looked up suddenly to see Etian looking back and smiling. He held a hand of the washing foam and held it out, seemingly as an offer, but when Kurt reached for it, the blue alien instead ran the foam-filled hand along Kurt's reaching arm and then continued, vigorously soaping and washing his body.

Kurt knew he should feel more shocked but instead, he felt a low buzz of pleasure at the combination of hot water and the lithe hands running themselves all over him. He closed his eyes at the sensation and felt himself turned and then soapy foam being spread across his chest from behind. Both hands were working and he could tell the almost two meter tall alien was behind him as his chest bumped the human's back. He wondered how much of his calm acceptance was from the leaky psionics about which he'd been warned and how much was him, but regardless, I held onto the knowledge that he'd chosen to be there and breathed calmly.

Then, he felt something brush against his ass cheeks. Instead of flinching, he arched his back slightly, pushing his hips back a little and getting a firmer feel of the pelvic area of the alien behind him. He heard a low chuckle in his ear and the hands moved downwards rubbing across his stomach and then brushing past his own rising penis before coming back to 'scrub' the area a little more vigorously. The buzz in his head grew a little and he languidly opened his eyes-

...to see Diani standing on just the other side of the transparent wall, watching the two of them with a speculative look on her face. Kurt startled, but quickly felt the mental calm drop over him again.

"You are always so helpful, Etian." The Syreen commander smiled sardonically, then shook her head and began to leave, pausing briefly in the doorway. "Don't play with him too much, we have work to do and I would like him to have the energy for it." The door irised shut behind her and Kurt more felt than heard a disappointed sigh in his ear then the water shut off.

"She is right, but... well, we have an active day ahead of us and we should get you dressed." The shower did that thing they do in Feiden washrooms and somehow caused the water on his skin and in his hair to suddenly bead up and fall heavily off their bodies, leaving them warm and dry. Etian led his human charge out and helped him dress in the provided robes then the two headed out towards the examination room.

Kurt walked in a light haze and could feel his half-erect penis bouncing back and forth. He felt a little drunk, almost, where he could still understand and control his actions but his inhibitions felt like they'd largely left his body. That plus the low level arousal was a fascinating feeling. He absently wondered how long the effect would last before his mind built up those promised walls and hoped it wouldn't be too quickly.

Shortly afterwards, they were in the room that had been set up as a clinic and it was unmistakably so. Without even being told, he climbed up onto the examination chair. Another Syreen woman there shook her head in approval. "You really are a professional, aren't you?"

"It's not my first rodeo," Kurt replied a little glibly, still influenced by the psionics that had gotten even stronger with more people close by.

"Your first... Ah, I see," she replied after a moment and Kurt recognized the characteristic response to an idiom being translated across cultures. He usually worked hard to avoid these moments, but right now he was feeling just a little loopy.

"Sorry," he muttered, but she laughed.

"It's fine, more common than you might think." She waved at him expectantly and he found himself reaching up and opening the robe, exposing basically everything but his arms. A stray thought occurred to him that this was probably why hospital gowns opened in back. Thankfully, the Syreen seemed to favor a slightly warmer environment so at least he wasn't cold.

Nonetheless, he felt the chair reconfiguring a little under him and moments later, the Syreen medic was at his side running some kind of medical instrument down his body. She made approving noises as she scanned. "We of course had a chance to examine your genome, but this is our first chance to compare the expressed traits against the sample. This is... you appear to be a good match. If the final tests bear out, I think we'll be able to proceed."