Page 37 of When Eden Falls

There was a section on interstellar travel and the ingenuity of the vessels they used to transport miners to and from the edges of the solar system. Saturn and its moons being the furthest out they’d venture. The book suggested mining on Titan had become an international venture. But what astounded me was the complexityof their spacecrafts. It was as though they over complicated every system, every aspect of space travel. The modern Alluran ingenuity of spacecraft was complex, yet far less convoluted than what I was reading. I began to wonder how they succeeded in leaving Earth and finding a new home.

The door screeched open, pulling my attention away from the faded pages. Dressed in a flowing blue dress, Zamya breezed in with a forced look of nonchalance on her face.

“How’d it go?” I asked, watching her take the seat next to me. I realised her eyes were twinkling, she was ready to burst.

“Havav is a nosy bastard. But…”She glanced at Yuska, who was closing the door, lowering her voice. “It seems I can out question him.” She smirked, a flash of triumph flickering across her face. “After hours of subtle interrogation, I concluded we are dealing with a really young species. I’m talkingreallyyoung. Havav says they are the same as us, but they aren’t. If anything, they are at least one hundred thousand years behind in evolution, and certain physical traits are very different. The Akquarians still possess their raw, natural, primitive instincts which, I presume, humans lost many millennia ago.”

I glanced across the room to the where Cora sat at the table. She was frowning at Zamya with as much confusion as I was.

Zamya chuckled and said, “Havav could tell that I was about to enter my phase ofbleeding, so he called it. And he isn’t wrong.”

“What? How?”

“He could smell me, which is seriously off putting, but I discovered this is why the males and females are segregated.”

My frown deepened, as did Cora’s, who now joined us around the coffee table. Zamya huffed a laugh. “Havav told me that Akquarian females only ovulate three specific times of the year. It’s only during these three periods that the males and females mix. During the rest of the year, a strict segregation is put in place because, occasionally, some males become aggressive in a primal…sexual way. It’s a phase called Tektrasc. Their testosterone levels dangerously peak and if they come into contact with, or even smell, a female who attracts them, they can become dangerous…uncontrollable. The females are at risk, as well as any male who gets in their way. This is why they have chaperons. They’re able to detect any males showing signs of Tektrasc and are capable to subduing them.”

I looked to where Yuska was in the adjacent room, arranging the beds. She was so petite, almost fragile looking. She always wore a blue sash, identifying herself as a chaperon. Could she possibly protect the females from the burly males?

“Other than Yuska,” I said, “the only chaperons I’ve seen are males themselves. Do they not suffer from Tek…whatever it’s called?”

“They’re deemed less likely to.”

“So, what happens to the males who are detected?”

“Anyone showing signs of Tektrasc are isolated until the phase has subsided.”

“How long?”

“As long as it takes.”

I swallowed down a daunting thought. “Would the Akquarian males be affected by us?”

“Oh, yes.” I shot a glance back at Zamya. Her eyes were wide with concern. “Havav could smell me, which means the rest of them can. Which also means they’ll be able to smell us when we ovulate.”

“Which is a lot more often than three times a year,” Cora mused.

“Exactly.” Zamya sighed. “And because of that, Havav is concerned that we could be the cause of sporadic Tektrasc behaviour. Rooke is now concerned too.”

“But we’re a different species,” Cora said. “Why would they find our smell attractive?”

“We smell similar, apparently.”

“Nux. So, what do we do?” I asked, understanding why Yuska cleared the route to the springs the other day.

“If you can both try and work out when you’re next due on. We need to take our temperatures every morning and evening. It will display a pattern of our cycles. As soon as we show signs ofeither, we need to stay in this apartment for a few days. No social dinners, no tours, no spring baths…”

“I thought we weren’t planning on staying that long.”

Zamya shrugged. “Rooke seems to think we may be here a while, especially if the Akquarians are to help with the ship repairs.”

Circling my temples with my fingers, I sighed with irritation. I wanted to get off this planet. I wanted to get back to The Orka and Troy. Even though we felt safe here from the Igknamai, how safe were we?

“So, we’ll be prisoners for two weeks of each month,” Cora groaned. “Great.”

The following day I woke early, jolted awake by that damn recurring dream. But Rooke hadn’t been in Jacob’s coffin this time. He was lying dead on a beach, covered in blood.

Leaving Zamya and Cora sleeping soundly, I ambled into the living room, searching for a glass of water. My head throbbed. The unsettling feeling in my gut had become unbearable.