Lazarus

"That's grea-" I start to say as I turn towards Elina but the words die on my tongue. Elina is pale and I can see the sweat that has broken out on her brow. She looks ready to throw up. I quickly put my hands around her head and turned her eyes to me. "Elina. Listen to my voice. You have to take a deep breath. Breathe in, breathe out. Slow deep breaths."

She listens to my voice and follows my instructions. I put my forehead against hers to make sure all her attention is on me. "I see that this news upsets you a great deal, but you don't have to worry. Everything is under control." I don't want to promise her that I'll not touch her or not to attempt getting her underneath me, because those are not promises that I can hold now that I have this information.

"Under control?!" Her voice is pitched and still close to hysterical as she breaks free from my hold. She jumps down from the bed to start pacing but I grab hold of her arms and turn her to me again. "Under control? I'm sure you think everything is fine and under control! But I don't-"

"Please calm down, Elina." The stern tone in my voice and my eyes make her fall silent and look up at me. I see the fear and uncertainty in her tearfilled eyes. "Remember that we are going to the VR-room after this." I try to distract her thoughts from her fertility and it works, at least a little. She takes a deep breath and slumps towards me and I catch her and place her on my lap.

My arms go around her, holding her close to me while I rub her back. Her arms go around my waist to hold on tight, making sure that I have no chance to remove her. While all this is happening Skillys and Nim have turned towards the counter to discuss the samples in low voices, which I'm thankful for. When her breathing has calmed down I speak again.

"You are nervous about getting pregnant and even more about the mating." She silently nods her head in agreement. "I promise you that I will always take care of you, whatever the outcome of the mating. I'm sure that we will both enjoy this experiment. I'll make sure that you enjoy yourself when I'm with you." My voice has a slight teasing tone in hope to lighten her mood. The time we have spent together, especially with my friends, shows that she has humor. She gives a snort to that.

"Yeah, I'm sure you'll enjoy it. It seems like it's the only thing on your mind." She also tries to joke but her voice is wavering and she sniffles from time to time. She's actually crying.

"Of course! How could I not enjoy it with such a beautiful mate?" I give her head a kiss and my hand makes its way down to her ass and gives it a squeeze, and she giggles. She giggles at something I said and did. It feels like my whole chest is going to burst from happiness. Every little progress with Elina is amazing and with everything I fall more and more in love with her. "Let's not think about this right now. If Skillys and Nim are done for today we can leave for the VR-room."

She leans out from me to look up into my eyes and give me a smile and a nod. "Yeah. I'd like that." I dry the evidence of her tears from her cheeks.

"Skillys. Are you done for today?" I focus on the Farnders over by the counter.

"Ehm. Us could be done now. But me would like to speak with Captain Lazarus, please. Perhaps us can go to mee's office?" He gives an apprehensive look in my direction. I'm sure he figures that I don't want to leave Elina right now. "Elina can speak some more with Nim." Skillys says in an attempt to convince me. I guess I should speak to him. It could be something important that I must know but that can be a little too much for Elina at the moment.

"Yes, of course." I say and stand up to place Elina on the bed. "I will be right back. Don't go without me." I lean in to her and gently brush my lips against hers. Her cheeks blush in that gorgeous pink color and she gives me a small nod. At that I leave the room to follow Skillys.

When we are in his office and the door is closed he starts. "It is a little troubling that Elina goes faint so often. Especially since she didn't do that while us were researching her."

"Perhaps it's all the stress still affecting her?" I offer. I am also concerned about the fainting episodes that she has. Since I met her she has fainted once and now she has had another episode where she nearly fainted. "At all the other times she is fine. She worked up quite a lot of sweat earlier when she played VR with Kurn and me and she hasn't complained about any pain, nausea or dizziness. She eats fine and her mood doesn't swing too bad." The last thing I say with a small chuckle. She has had a few mood swings, but considering her situation I'll overlook it for now.

"That is good to hear. She can have more mood swings now that her hormone levels are higher during her ovulation, as humans call it. That is normal for some human beings but not all are affected. What me was most interested in is how thees relationship is progressing? It seemed that Elina had a different opinion than Captain Lazarus." Skillys is careful about how he phrases his question to make sure he doesn't offend me.

I give a chuckle at the question and my thoughts about it. "Well. We certainly have different views on our relationship. She is insecure and feels that everything is going at a too high pace. She hasn't known me for that long and is afraid of the thought of mating for life. She has asked me to return her to her home planet several times." I sigh and drag my hand through my hair.

"At the same time she feels a pull towards me. I have gotten pretty far with her, but every time she remembers that she should slow down and even that she shouldn't want this at all. It seems that Elina reacts to my pheromones in a positive way. Now I just have to convince her that we don't have to take it slow." I take a pause to think a little and a smile comes up on my lips. "It seems like the humans are more similar to us than we could ever have hoped."

"That is great news. Me has to take notes about this. This is important information for the next mate we pick out." Skillys is ecstatic about the fact that Elina seems to react to my pheromones and so am I.

"All the preparation and the long selection time has worked in our favor. It could be in our favor to let a few more start their selection of a mate. By the time the selection is made Elina will hopefully be pregnant. Or else we will know if this mating doesn't work as we had hoped."

"Yes, yes. The Captain is right. Us will get right to it." Skillys is writing furiously on his tablet to note everything I have told him so far. "That will be all for now Captain Lazarus. Me would be happy if thee and Elina comes by the day after tomorrow. Me will send a message with the time to thee. Me would also appreciate if Captain can send me report every day about how Elina is feeling and how the relationship progress. If thee is successful in mating with Elina me would appreciate if thee report that. Good day Captain Lazarus." Skillys don't even look up at me as he says all this, but I don't point out that he's acting rude because I want to get back to Elina as fast as possible.

Elina

As Lazarus and Skillys leave the room Nim turns to me. "Me was thinking that us could speak some. Me want to know how thee is feeling, Elina."

"Everything is completely messed up." I groan out as I throw myself down on the bed with my arm thrown over my eyes. "I have no idea what I should feel or why I'm feeling some things." At that I take a pause to think about my feelings about everything that has happened and my feelings towards Lazarus.

"What is it that thee has been feeling?" I hear that Nim comes up to me and seats herself in the chair. Her voice is curious but at the same time careful to not scare me off.

I remove my arm from my eyes and turn my head to look at Nim. Her face is passive but her eyes have a sympathetic look in them. "Well. It's hard to explain." I pause to think about how to phrase myself and Nim keeps quiet to give me room. "I am angry about all of this. About being abducted by aliens for the sake of being a breeding machine. But then it's like. When Lazarus is close to me, when he touches me..." At this I again fall silent but now Nim cuts in.

"Thee feel attracted to the Captain?" Her voice is void of emotions but I see a curious spark in her eyes.

"Yes! I forget that I should be angry. And then I get frustrated with myself because I forget to be angry. And then I wonder what I am angry about. It's so confusing." I give a large sigh. Nim gives me a light smile.

"If thee wants me can explain a little about the mating of Galdrians?"

"Lazarus has explained about the biting and hormones or whatever."

"Did the Captain explain about the pheromones?" Nim cautiously asks.

"That they stole my panties and sweaty clothes for him to smell." I make a disgusted face at this. "Yes he told me about that."

"But not about the pheromones that the male exudes?" At this I quickly sit up to look at Nim again. "Me is guessing that the Captain did not do that." I shake my head. "The female exudes a pheromone that tells the male if the female will be a good match. When the male has chosen a female, the male starts to produce a pheromone that is designed to attract the female. The female will find it hard to resist the males advances and a mating will happen within 1-10 days. That thee feel this as well is very good news." Nime gives me a radiant smile.

"For you perhaps. But I'm not so sure that it is good news for me." I cross my arms over my chest and give Nim a pout. She only giggles at me.

"At least it will be easier for thee to accept the mating and to see if humans actually can breed with galdrians. It also tells us that galdriands and humans are even more alike than us had anticipated." She puts her thin hand on my knee and pats me.

"I don't even know if I should accept the mating. I still want to go home." The door to the room slides open and a smiling Lazarus is looking at me. I get up to leave when Nim motions for me to come closer to her and then she whispers.

"Me don't think the Captain will want to lose thee. Especially if thee responds positively to the pheromones. Galdrians are very possessive and rarely let a female go without a fight. And those fights are mostly to the death." At this I gasp and put my hand over my mouth in horror. My eyes fly over to Lazarus who looks confused about my sudden change of emotions. "And remember that thee is fertile at the moment so it would be good to try now." She winks at me and then turns to leave.

I feel the blush wash over me at her last words. How can she seem so emotionally detached and even innocent at times and then blurt out something like that.

When she's out of the room Lazarus speaks. "What did she say? You looked horrified by what she said." His eyebrows are knitted together in confusion and worry.

"Ehm. Nothing special. Just girl stuff." I answer him quickly with something I hope is a reassuring smile. He gives me an unconvinced glance before he shrugs.

"Come on. Let's go to the VR-room. We'll probably be the first one's there but then you can take a look at what game you would like to play." He smiles at me and holds out his hand for me to take. I take it and we leave for the VR-room.

The room is as large as a gymnasium. It must take up at least three stories of the ship. The room is completely empty with white walls and ceiling and dark gray floor. Directly to the left of the entrance is a panel that Lazarus starts to click on. I wonder why the room has to be so spacious.

"There is one game where we have to infiltrate a spaceship and find important documents. There is one where we have to hold our ground against an invasion of aliens, the aliens are not a known species. There is an explorer game where we have to find the hidden treasure without being eaten by dangerous creatures or getting caught in traps." He pauses and looks at me. "Those are the ones that really show off the full potential of the room."

"The one where we have to infiltrate a ship sounds fun. Are there enemies that we have to kill?"

"Yes. The one I like the most is the invasion, but it is quite hard. Especially since it is your first time. The best to start with is the adventure because it's not as stressful. But from what I saw earlier you are used to playing digital games." Lazarus presses a series of buttons and the floor starts to rise in different spots. There are ramps and ladders that go up onto the elevations. So that's why the ceiling has to be so high!

Lazarus opens a door on the closest one and there are goggles, weapons and a full body suit which we have to wear. While he helps me put it on, the others come in. The suit is amazing as it shrinks to fit my much smaller size. The others also gear up and we get ready to start the game.

Lazarus comes close to me. "Just follow our lead. If you find it uncomfortable just shout and we can pause or end the game. And remember that it is only a game."

"Ok." Is all I answer back to him. I'm a little nervous about this, seeing that we obviously have to get up and down on those elevations while wearing goggles that show us a virtual reality.

"Everybody ready?" Kurn gives a shout. "Remember to keep your voice down and make as little noise as possible."

"Aye" There is a chorus of voices that answer. They have obviously done this before.

The goggles light up and now I see a narrow hallway in a spaceship. I can see the others in front of me and Lazarus beside me. They are all clad in a white uniform and have a helmet that renders them faceless. Everyone has a band of different colors on their arms. I look down at me and see that I have the same outfit.

Kurn is at the front and waves us forward, he has a blue band on his arm. Lazarus has a red and I have a green. Sulu is purple, Makkan yellow and Reli is pink. This really feels like a real spaceship.

We creep up to a ramp up to an elevation. There is a corridor that crosses our path and Kurn stops and everyone moves to stand close to the walls of either side of our corridor. The feeling is surreal as I can feel the wall that I'm pressed up against.

Kurn and Sulu are standing at the farthest end of the corridor, listening to something. I try to listen as well and soon I hear footsteps coming from behind. I turn and see an enemy, Lazarus has also noticed the enemy and we both shoot it at the same time. The adrenaline is high and my senses are sharp. Lazarus does a thumbs up to me and I give him one back.

The game continues and we encounter more enemies and end up in some pretty tight spots. At some point the whole platform we were on started shaking and we had to grab on to the walls. Lazarus whispered to me that the game needed to lower us to ground level and simulated a meteor storm to hide the fact that our platform slowly went down.

Eventually we reach our goal and retrieve the important documents. The goggles turn off and everyone is back in reality. The game took close to two hours to play and once again I'm sweaty.

"That was the best game ever!" I exclaim as soon as the game is over and everyone chuckles at me.