The Breeding Experiment

***

Thalik chipped more pieces off the stone he held.

"What are you making?" asked Koth.

"A sculpture of Flenai," Thalik replied.

"Who is that for?"

"Myself."

"Can you make one for me too?"

"Sure."

"And me!" added Zugma.

"Fine."

***

Flenai read her husband's message:

My beloved Flenai,

I heard about the birth of little Betai. You must be proud! I wish I could have come to visit for the celebration, but who I mainly want to visit is you. Maybe we can do something special for Lover's Day.

Best wishes, your husband.

Flenai had not met with her husband Chiran since about two Earth years ago. Chiran was a musician--both a singer and a composer. He used a computer to create musical scores to which he often added his own voice as an accompaniment, and also did separate music gigs by commission. He was often inspired by the music of the indigenous cultures Flenai had encountered and sent him recordings of. He often incorporated them into his own works, but with a more cosmopolitan twist. He made sure to always credit the native musicians who inspired him and, if they desired it, even helped them promote their work to the wider, interstellar public by helping them set up websites and patron subscription pages.

The Interstellar Federation had assigned Flenai and Chiran to marry based on an algorithm which factored in their genetic data and answers to a lengthy questionnaire. The primary goal was for them to produce vast numbers of healthy and fertile offspring. This was because despite their indefinite lifespans and relatively short ovulation cycles, the chelinar had been critically endangered due to the utmost comfort they required for laying eggs. Chronic stress would cause the egg to be reabsorbed into the female's body, or laid prematurely if it was too late-term for reabsorption. Even raising a chick would almost inevitably create enough stress to prevent laying more eggs until the chick became fully grown--after about thirty Earth years. To stave off extinction, and to eventually increase the supply of life-extending eggs for public consumption, the Interstellar Federation had established a breeding program and given very generous subsidies to the subjects--more than enough to compensate for the opportunity cost of the participating chelinar not selling their unfertilized eggs instead, as well as for the projected deflation in egg prices due to the increased quantity from their progeny laying eggs in the future. The government provided more than enough subsidies to ensure that the subjects could live very comfortably, which meant that Flenai and Chiran didn't have to do any work that they wouldn't have wanted to do anyway just for personal fulfillment. Their fertilized eggs were then adopted by members of other species to raise as their own so that the chelinar could continue laying eggs. Flenai and Chiran had produced thousands of children this way, tens of thousands of grandchildren, over a hundred thousand great-grandchildren, and so on. They didn't bother to keep track.

Though it felt good to be so rare and precious that the Interstellar Federation was willing to subsidize them for centuries just so that they could produce more beings like themselves, Flenai and Chiran eventually tired of this lifestyle, and of being together so much of the time. Their lives had become stagnant. They wanted to live for themselves, and now that many of their progeny were breeding, there was less pressure for themselves to continue doing so. They got more involved in their separate passions, and also spent more time visiting their offspring. When Flenai observed the relationships between her biological children and their adoptive parents, she was touched by how such strong bonds of love and nurturance could form across different species. This was a large part of what motivated her to study and tutor members of newly sapient species such as humans. And to foster such love between not only species of distant ancestry, but also between species that originated from separate planets, gave her immense fulfillment.

And though both she and Chiran were free to pursue other lovers--and always had been-- they were both so absorbed in breeding together and then later their careers that they hadn't bothered to.

Flenai wrote back to Chiran:

My beloved Chiran,

You are free to come whenever it's convenient for you. In any case, I have a special present in mind to send you for Lover's Day. I just know you'll love it!

Best wishes, Flenai.

***

Zugma was producing more milk than Betai wanted, so Flenai procured a breast pump, plus a small refrigerator to store the excess amount. They chose a spot within the hominid enclosure to tuck it where it would be less noticeable to visitors from the hallways.

"We would also like to borrow some of your milk to study," added Flenai.

"Go ahead," replied Zugma.

Flenai thought about the possibilities. If she and the zipom could find lucrative uses for Zugma's milk, maybe they could have Zugma continue to use the breast pump so that she could continue lactating even after Betai and any future babies were weaned.

There were trillions of people across the Interstellar Federation who were obsessed with trying the latest exotic foods. Neanderthal milk was exactly the sort of thing they would go for, at least if it passed the safety tests, but processing could eliminate any health risks while still retaining much of the original flavor and texture, and any lost aspects could be replicated using additives.

***

"So how did the testing go?" Zugma asked Flenai.

"Excellent. Your milk is very nutritious. And with minimal processing, we can even make it edible for someone like me."

"Do you intend to try it?"

"I don't see why not."

Thalik was jolted into alertness. "What is this perversion?! There are so many things wrong with what you just said. I don't even know where to start!"

Flenai sighed and rolled her eyes. She had an idea of where this was going.

"OK let me try," said Thalik. He took a deep breath. "First of all, I have never heard of any species that drinks the milk of a different species, let alone extraterrestrials drinking the milk of a terrestrial. Secondly, milk is for babies! Not adults. The few times when adults of my clan tried to drink milk, the Earth Goddess punished those perverts by giving them horrible indigestion."

Flenai replied in a cool, patient voice. "What you're describing sounds to me like lactose intolerance--lactose is a sugar in milk, by the way. My guess is that all or nearly all the adults in your clan are lactose intolerant. But if you'd like, we can filter the lactose out, or even modify your genome to make you capable of digesting it."

"Ugh. No thanks," Thalik replied.

"Aren't you at least a little bit curious?"

"It still seems so unnatural. But . . . I suppose I could try a little taste for you, if you insist." He looked away.

***

Thalik was inspired to learn a lot more about health and biology. And after learning about the biology of reproduction, he could never look at eggs the same way again. In the past, he found nothing strange about eating animal eggs, but now that he knew they were the female equivalent of sperm, consuming them seemed very sexual to him.

He wondered if Flenai laid eggs, and if she did, what they tasted like. Were they strange but sweet, like herself?

***

Flenai retired to her living quarters. Her place was small and cozy, with soft furnishings, houseplants, and crafts made by her past students who'd gifted them to her. Some of the designs were indigenous, and some were more cosmopolitan. She also had a small water fountain because she appreciated its aesthetic and the soothing water sounds. It consisted of hollow wooden tubes from which water poured out onto a bed of pebbles.

The time had come. She was due to lay an egg. She seated herself over her padded nest and pushed. The egg was fairly large so it wasn't going to come out quickly. She squeezed, contracting her abdomen and arching her back. As she felt the egg slowly sliding down her sensitive canal, her juices seeped out around the egg, moistening the downy feathers that surrounded her pussy. She brought her fingers to it, rubbing her juices all over her engorged clit and labia. She sighed contentedly. This time, she wanted to prolong the experience. Once the egg had almost reached its exit, Flenai pressed her fingers to it and pushed it back up. She continued masturbating this way for about an hour, her frequent breaks to catch her breath preventing her pussy from getting desensitized. Finally, with a cry, she climaxed as she felt her egg finally stretch through and tumble out with her sticky fluids.

The egg's shell was white with blue and black specks and streaks of varying sizes. Flenai picked it up and rinsed it under the faucet, then dried it with a towel. She retrieved a small box with foam padding inside as cushioning. She gently placed the egg inside, affixed a label to the outside, and carried it out to the mailbox for outbound parcels.

***

Lover's Day wasn't dedicated only to romantic love. It was commonly recognized in the predominant interstellar culture that many types of love were important: intimacy, affection, infatuation, companionship, and compassion. Thus, people gave Lover's Day gifts to anyone they cared about who was important in their lives.

Zugma, Koth, and Thalik had learned about the major holidays celebrated within the Interstellar Federation, and were excited about what to give and what they wanted to get. Thalik made various little sculptures: one of Koth to give to Koth, one of Zugma to give to Zugma, and one of Flenai to give to Flenai. Koth had drawn pictures of Zugma, Thalik, and Flenai to give to each of them, and Zugma had woven new clothes for all of them. By their request, Flenai had given them their presents early (a sewing machine for Zugma, drawing implements for Koth, and a modern stone carving set for Thalik) and taught them how to use them so that they had plenty of time make their own gifts before Lover's Day.

Thalik couldn't stop wondering if Flenai had a lover to celebrate with.

"So do you have any special plans for today?" he asked, as casually as he could.

"Other than exchanging gifts, today will basically be a normal day for me."

"Who else are you exchanging gifts with? You've told me so little about your life."

"Well, people who I love, of course, such as my friends and family."

"Who specifically?"

Flenai mentioned her husband, parents, siblings, and close friends, and the gifts she'd sent to each of them.

"I see," said Thalik, the dejection evident in his voice. He envied Chiran for receiving her egg.

After a pause, he added, "Have you opened any gifts from them yet?"

"Not yet."

"Please tell me what you get."

"OK."

Suddenly a notification sounded from Flenai's phone. It was a message from Chiran.

"Here is your present," it said. "I hope you enjoy it."

The present was an audio file.

"What is it?" Thalik asked, peering toward the screen.

She played the audio, and out came one of the most ethereal voices in the entire galaxy. The song was beautiful, complex, dynamic, and full of longing. Zugma and Koth stopped what they were doing to gather around, entranced.

It mostly just sounds very strange to me, Thalik thought. But I can see how it could be perceived as romantic.

The song ended.

"Was that your husband singing?"

"Yes."

***

Flenai had installed a virtual assistant within the exhibit.

The first thing Thalik did was listen to Chiran's Lover's Day song again. Then he played many of his other songs. First he just listened, concentrating. Then after Flenai left, he tried imitating some of the singing himself. When Koth noticed, he got excited and tried it too. They practiced this for several days, and improved a lot.

One day, they were so engrossed in this practice that they didn't notice Flenai return. She watched them quizzically and waited until they were done before she asked, "Having fun?"

"When did you get here!?" Thalik screamed.

"I've been here a while. I'm impressed by your singing."

"Thanks." Thalik mumbled.

"What inspired you to try it?"

"I just wanted a novel challenge--I'm definitely not practicing for how to woo you the way your husband has. That would be ridiculous!"

Zugma snickered at him.

Flenai was now looking at Thalik with a strange expression on her face.

Thalik felt his face flush and excused himself.

After Flenai left, Zugma approached Thalik. "You seem to be getting more and more obsessed with Flenai. Could you by any chance love her as more than just a mentor?"

"What are you talking about?!" Thalik sputtered.

"Well, if you do, please don't feel that you need to hide it from me. It doesn't bother me, except that this must be a heavy burden on you, especially if you bear it alone."

"Really?! Thank you! You're amazing." Thalik exhaled, feeling that a huge weight had lifted off his shoulders. He then mumbled, "And yes, I was trying to compete with her husband's singing in order to woo her."

Zugma smiled. "Then I wish you the best of luck in wooing her."

***

Flenai had already taught the three hominids how to speak and read Vezjop, the official language of the Interstellar Federation. They'd quickly become fluent, in large part because it was an artificially constructed language that was designed to be very simple and straightforward, for the sake of the vast population across the galaxy that was expected to learn it.

Flenai had then given each of the hominids an internet-enabled tablet PC. Thalik used it to research Flenai. He read her bio and all the other publicly available info he could find about her. He was shocked by how old she was, but in retrospect it made sense considering that she knew so much. He was also stunned about the breeding program she'd participated in for so much of her life and all the progeny she had, and about the nearly miraculous-seeming health benefits of her eggs.

Thalik also learned more about Flenai's husband, which included viewing pictures of him. Chiran was beautiful, just like his voice. And he also seemed to be a very sweet person, based on how he conducted his work.

Thalik then focused on learning about the chelinar, including their biology, culture, and history.

The chelinar varied in their coloration, hairstyles, and pattern of specks. Apparently no two looked alike. And regarding their sexual biology and mating practices, Thalik was pleasantly surprised that they had intercourse in much the same way that humans did, and in a variety of positions. Convergent evolution, he supposed. Their genitals were shaped and sized similarly to humans' too. Thalik had never seen Flenai's because hers were always hidden behind her downy feathers. He wondered what hers in particular looked like.

He was also taken aback when he learned that despite male and female chelinar being about the same size and forming strong pair bonds, the chelinar almost never enforced monogamy and felt no need to limit their romantic love to one partner or hide their extramarital affairs. They seemed to be very laid-back in general. Flenai herself was certainly very cool and collected. Thalik wasn't sure what he felt about their free attitude toward love and sex. On the one hand he was excited that this meant Flenai might be more attainable to him, but he wondered if he could ever feel OK about her having other lovers, even if he could become comfortable with Chiran specifically. He needed some time to process this.

He watched a lot of porn videos featuring various chelinar. Sometimes he watched these with Zugma as foreplay for their own lovemaking. They also watched videos in which the chelinar women laid eggs. Thalik especially liked the ones that provided a close-up view of the egg squeezing its way out as the chelinar woman pushed it further out with each heaving breath. The most common position seemed to be of the egg-layer sitting on her partner's lap while the partner sat cross-legged. They would embrace each other, often with lots of kissing, nuzzling, and caressing until the egg was released into the space between the partner's legs.

After looking into the science behind it, Thalik learned that laying eggs was nearly always an orgasmic experience for the chelinar women, that arousal and affection facilitated the labor contractions, and that the contractions then fed back into those emotions.

***

Thalik and Zugma decided that they would approach Flenai to ask about her eggs. Surely it was reasonable for them to want to extend their lives.

"So we learned about your life-extending eggs," Zugma broached when Flenai met them again.

Thalik continued for her. "Is there anything we can do to earn some of these eggs for ourselves?"

Flenai had expected them to ask this someday.

"I may be able to provide some to you later, but you're still young and healthy so you don't have much need for any yet."

"But I'm very curious now. Can't I just have a little taste?" Thalik pleaded.

She paused to think it over. "I suppose that could be arranged." Another pause. "That reminds me. If you're willing to participate in experiments that could potentially harm your health, we can provide you such an egg to heal you--if this treatment would be the most practical solution."

Thalik's hopes rose, along with some fears. "What kinds of experiments?"

"The zipom want to test your physical endurance, especially when you're sleep-deprived. Don't worry though. We will be monitoring your vital signs the whole time. I won't allow them to do anything that could be fatal or cause permanent damage."

Thalik laughed. "That's all?"

"Yes, but I'll give you some time to think it over anyway."

***

As Flenai made her way home, she thought more about the life-extending eggs--and about death.

Thalik's people had . . . interesting spiritual beliefs about death. Though they did believe in an afterlife of sorts, they believed that they couldn't guarantee a good one, and they didn't believe that there would be no final, permanent death of consciousness--they were agnostic about that. Their beliefs could be considered a type of weak panpsychism--panprotopsychism to be exact, including the belief that sentience is additive--that minds are composed of the smaller, cumulative sentiences of their constituent parts. This has led to some gruesome funerary practices.

Thalik's people believed that upon death, the deceased individual's sentience would become fragmented into a vast number of tiny--and for the time being--unconscious particles. If these particles then became part of other life forms (such as through ingestion), some of them could potentially become part of those creatures' brains (and especially the brains of their growing fetuses) and then share unified consciousness with them. Because of this fragmentation into multiple sentient and non-sentient pieces, what had previously been the mind of a human and given new conscious experiences would experience multiple first-person perspectives that are unaware of each other. (Building off of that, it could be suggested that we are already experiencing the entire sentience of the universe, but the parts of us thinking and speaking through our isolated bodies are unaware of it.)

Flenai was impressed that a band of hunter-gatherers intuited their way to a belief system that even many top philosophers of the Interstellar Federation espoused. It was easy enough to figure out that the mind was in the brain. Thoughts certainly felt as if they took place behind the eyes. This was especially apparent when thinking too hard caused a headache. Plus, severe head injury could completely change a person's nature. But, panpsychism was a whole different story. It was a potential solution to the hard problem of consciousness, and it also fit the smooth continuity between simple life and what is commonly thought of as sentient life. At no point in evolutionary history does it seem obvious that consciousness suddenly emerged. Even if you define it as originating in the first brain, at what point does a ganglion become a brain? And at what point do connected nerves become a ganglion? And is a network of trees with connected, communicating roots a sentient entity? It is also more parsimonious to infer that the rest of the matter in the universe is not fundamentally different from conscious beings (just different by circumstance of their current wiring, or lack thereof).