“You want to know [i]everything[/i]?” Serix raised a brow at her. “That’s a tall order.” He moved to sit more comfortably on the bed with his back propped against the wall and his legs stretched out in front of him. He wrapped one arm around Cassie’s shoulders and held her to his side, leaning his head on top of hers. “I suppose I can try for you, though.

“You want to know about my life on the ship, right? Well, it wasn’t very interesting. Lunairan children all have the same daily schedule, which includes just two nutrient-dense meals a day, multiple rotated educational and physical classes, and a small amount of free time in between. There were some kids I got along with, but I never really had time to form close friendships with anyone. Our busy days prevented us from bonding any deeper than knowing each other’s names and general interests. The schedules are designed that way. With our race dwindling so close to extinction, our leaders want us to focus on becoming assets to the society. We are taught at a young age that making friends should be a low priority on our lists because it doesn’t help us better our situation.

“As we get older, we get a little more room to develop personal relations, though, so it’s not like we’re forced to stay distant from each other forever. Our leaders recognize the importance of community and its health benefits. They just know how easily distracted young children are, so they try to limit interaction and help them to stay focused on their work.

“But back to my main topic. Until the age of ten, our instructors record data on how quickly we progress in all areas of our education, and then we’re divided into more specialized training programs. The biggest factors they look at are problem solving, telepathic capacity, physical adeptness, creativity, and information processing. I exceeded in my physical education courses and I absorb new information quickly, so I was put into training to be a foot soldier. That’s why I know hand-to-hand combat and was selected to be a Scout.

“I actually did make one friend during my second-level education. There was another Lunairan trainee, Juviir, who learned just as rapidly as I did, so we developed a sort of rivalry. He always managed to do just a little better than I did, and I hated him for it.” Serix laughed at the memory. “During one sparring match, we actually started a full on brawl. Our instructors had to separate us. They had us sit and listen to one of the educational overseers speak about why we shouldn’t compete with each other and how we should encourage each other to do better for the good of our people.

“Towards the end of the overseer’s speech, we were both getting tired. Juviir’s head drooped like he was falling asleep, but he was actually just cleverly hiding the change in his eyes when he started a telepathic link with me. He said something about how the overseer didn’t understand competition because he was never good enough at anything to have a rival... or something like that. I don’t remember his exact words, but I do remember the look on the overseer’s face when we both started laughing. His expression was priceless, and luckily for us, he decided our sudden friendliness meant that we had ended our rivalry, so he let us go. Juviir and I never really stopped competing, but we were definitely more sporting about it afterwards.

“Our friendship didn’t last very long, though. Juviir’s mate had been decided on by our leaders shortly before we started to bond. He was mated young at just the age of twelve, and had a child with her soon afterwards. He spent all of his spare time raising his first son with his mate —as fathers are expected to do in Lunairan society— so I never saw him much outside of our regular training courses.

“Many of my other peers were also mated by the end of our training,” Serix shrugged. “It’s pretty typical. All Lunairans are mated between the ages of twelve and seventeen, apart from a small number of barren or nearly infertile females. There are more females than males in our population, so not all of them are entered into the pool of eligibility.

“But anyway, most of the other trainees were mated, and that’s another reason why I was chosen to be a Scout. It’s part of the unmated male theory. Supposedly males without mates or children are willing to take more risks, which is an important trait in a Scout who is sent to explore an unfamiliar planet. Our leaders needed us to take risks in order to gather information about the Earth, and a Scout with a female to come home to wasn’t going to do that.” Serix patted Cassie on the cheek. “I guess I wouldn’t make a very good Scout now that I’ve got you to look after, huh?

“So let’s see,” he sighed in thought. “You wanted to know if I was ever fond of a female when I was younger, right? I don’t know how human society works, but for Lunairans, male and female interaction is severely regulated. We are intended to only form relationships with our mates, so all other communication with females is to be strictly businesslike.” Serix paused. “But… there was [i]one[/i] female who caught my eye back on the ship. Her name was Celuria. She was a beautiful young Lunairan I met when I was eleven. She seemed to have been quite taken by me as well. She broke the business protocol multiple times to smile at or joke with me. We got along well enough that there were even rumors that she was to be my mate.” Serix shook his head. “Since I left my people’s society behind, I’ll never know if the whispers were true. But I don’t care.” He tilted Cassie’s face towards his so she could see the sincerity in his eyes. “Next to you, she’s nothing. She never made me feel the way I do when you smile at me, and she could never stop my heart with a kiss the way you can.” He met Cassie’s lips briefly, as if to illustrate his point, and then grinned at her. “Yeah, you’re the only one who can do that.”

Serix nestled his head against Cassie’s again and continued on with his story, “You wanted to know about my family, too? Well, my father was a runner. He was part of a fighter ship crew, and his job was to deliver messages and run errands for his pilot. For a short while, he also scouted the Earth. This was before the Plague. He lived among the humans and reported to our leaders, and occasionally he would come back to visit me and my mother.” He smiled softly at the memory. “He always had the most amazing stories. He’s probably the reason why I’ve always been fascinated by humans and wanted to become a Scout, myself.

“But my mother…” Serix’s smile faded. “During the first wave, my father had been part of a crew that had been assigned to release the plague on the humans. He didn’t want to do it, but he couldn’t disobey the direct orders of our leaders. No one goes against their authority. So he went on the mission, but during the drop, his ship was shot down and no one survived.

“My mother was traumatized by his death,” Serix’s voice caught, and he stopped to rein in his emotions before going on. He always found it difficult to speak about his mother. “She wanted to get revenge on the humans for murdering her mate, but our leaders refused to grant her request. It would have been pointless because they were all going to die from the plague already. The higher powers didn’t want to waste resources on a redundant mission, so they turned her away.

“But my mother wouldn’t take ‘no’ for an answer. She tried to sneak away in the middle of the night. She thought I was asleep, but I heard her leave.” Serix closed his eyes and took a shaky breath. “I should have stopped her, but I did nothing. I just lay in my bed and pretended not to notice her go. But even if I tried, I don’t think she would have listened to me. She was too far gone. She stole a fighter ship and attacked the humans on her own. They blew up her craft before she could even fire a shot, and I was left behind to fend for myself.” He held onto Cassie a bit tighter and managed a weak laugh. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to get so depressing. I’ve been talking for a while, so why don’t you tell me about yourself now?”