The next morning, Lex woke up late and dumbfounded by what had occurred last night. Her carefully braided hair was now a mess and her clothes were torn to pieces. There were a number of glasses on the table that had hallucinogenic effects. She noticed there were light green stains on her skin, and she felt sore all over. She felt like she had a bad hang over only in an alien body. The Prince and Makawee were already dressed and groomed. Makawee bowed before the Prince and then left the room.
The Prince then turned to Lex. "That was a pleasant interruption," he said to her.
"Nizhoni set me up," Lex accused.
"I should thank her. Perhaps this evening," the Prince said thoughtfully.
"That was one of the strangest things to happen to me," Lex commented.
The Prince sat down on the bed. "It is my understanding that humans practice this as well."
"Yes, that's true but I haven't met them," Lex said.
"It is not too common here either, but the opportunity was too good to dismiss. Most of the wives want to spend their night alone with me," the Prince said.
Lex started to remember everything that had occurred last night. It started with Makawee stripping her and then a fight between the two while the Prince watched. Then she was subdued by Makawee, and then pleasured by both of them at the same time. Lex felt like some kind of moral code had been broken by what had happened last night.
"How does this whole system work?" Lex asked.
"Every night I mate with a different wife, and then rotate back to the first," he said simply.
"So, can I give my night away to another wife?" Lex asked.
"To acquire favor from them?" the Prince asked. "No, you are simply skipped."
"You have sex every night?" Lex asked in disbelief.
"In the morning as well unless I happen to be on a hunt," the Prince said.
"Have you ever had a night with all your wives at once?" Lex asked curiously.
The Prince stared at her. "A few times."
"Are you normal?" Lex asked incredulous.
"I must admit I am more conservative than my brothers. It is not uncommon for them to have dozens of wives to service each of them for an entire night. I am quite unusual with only seven wives," he said.
"On Earth we would call that a sex addiction," Lex said.
"Addiction implies I cannot control myself or that I will suffer severe withdrawals if I do not have female companionship. I think it is more likely you will become one before me," the Prince said.
The Prince reached for her hand to lift her out of the bed. "Can you walk?" he asked her.
"I do not know," Lex said uncertain.
The Prince helped her to her feet and kept her steady. Kachina then entered the room, and wasn't surprised by Lex's nakedness or disheveled hair. "Make her presentable for our trip," the Prince ordered her.
"As you wish," she said.
"What trip?" Lex asked.
"It is what humans call a…honeymoon," the Prince said. He was forced to say "honeymoon" in guttural English since there was no Yautja translation for it.
Lex started up a conversation as Kachina did her hair. Interestingly, Kachina had decided to work on her hair before getting her dressed. "Can I ask you a personal question?" Lex asked.
"You may," Kachina permitted.
"Do you consider the Prince to be evil?" she asked.
"In what way?" Kachina asked not offended by the question.
"I think he enjoys manipulating other people," Lex said.
"It is what Princes do," she said dismissively.
"If there are more females on this planet than males then why don't they take over?" Lex asked.
"Aside from the males having all of the weaponry?" Kachine asked.
"Yes, aside that," Lex said. "On Earth I have known human tribes where females have refused to give males sex in exchange for peace in a war, and it has worked."
"Don't the human males simply find replacement females?" Kachina asked.
"No, there are an equal number of male and female humans," Lex said.
"Do these human females not have a sex drive?" Kachina asked.
"It's less than the males. Is that not true with Yautja?" Lex asked.
"The males may desire it more, but they also mate more often. The sex drive of a female can be intense if a male is not around. He has sex everyday but we may have access to him once every several days and it can be frustrating. That is why in return for having you as a new addition we have access to you," she said.
Lex paused as that sank in. "So, females will never rebel against the males because you want sex as much as they do?"
"In addition to our desire to have children," she added. "You're different from any female I have encountered. You could abstain from sex for months and you have no interest in having children. I cannot even imagine it," Kachina said.
Lex thought about that as Kachina continued braiding her hair. "I have heard stories that some human females are childless their whole lives and have sex only a few times each solar orbit. I cannot relate to that."
"When I was human I was the same way," Lex admitted.
"We are not humans. When you grow to love the Prince and become attracted to his body you will kill for him; you will do anything for him," Kachina said.
"How can I get him to do what I want?" Lex asked.
"You could try to gain favor with Makawee or even Nizhoni. The Prince favors them above all of us and sometimes listens to them. Your leverage ended with the marriage, and you impressively forced concessions from him while you still had that leverage. He told me about those human sailors you saved from him," she said.
"So, I have leverage over him only when it is just the two of us," Lex considered.
"In time he will be the one with leverage over you. You will betray your own former species for a baby. After all, he decides if you are going to have one," Kachina said finishing her braids.
Lex felt fear go through her. Would she become that submissive? Would she lose her identity to this new biology? Kachina brought her an orange dress with a symbol on her collar indicating the number seven.
San Diego, California
At the San Diego Naval Base all of the officers and enlisted sailors from the USS Stingray were interviewed on what had happened. Criminal charges were possible for some of the officers, but they used the legal strategy that they were simply following the Captain's orders. With the submarine gone and no satellite imaging evidence was difficult to come by. US, Chile, and Argentina ships were at the sight of the nuclear blast attempting to uncover additional clues. Occasionally a small ship or personal would go missing from the blast site.
"Let's go over this again. You claim that aliens blocked your communications and then captured your submarine. They then used your submarine to fire its ICBM into the ocean floor. And they did this to because they didn't want to make it obvious they were involved in the blast," the investigator asked.
"That's correct Sir. They were fighting an infection of some kind in the ocean and that's why they took our submarine's ICBM. They wanted to kill the infection at the source," the Lt. Commander said.
"If they wanted to hide what they were doing then why are you still here?"
"You would have to ask them. Maybe they didn't think you would believe me."
"Well, frankly, I don't believe you and I think...," the investigator continued.
Behind the glass Colonel Stevens and Miss Yutani watched. She was being asked to be a consultant in the unusual case. "I have seen enough," she said to the Colonel.
"What do you suggest we do?" Colonel Stevens asked.
"The aliens that did this have a cloaking device. That explains why no satellite can detect them. We need to find a way to get through that cloak. Once we do that we will be able to get to the bottom of this."
Yautja Prime
Lex boarded the craft for her "honeymoon" voyage. As a human she had expected her honeymoon to be in Hawaii or in Paris. Instead her alien husband was taking her to some moon with the intention of killing something. A number of warriors volunteered to go along, so Lex knew it wouldn't be exclusively about the two of them. The other wives were staying behind, so her leverage would be a little higher than before. Still, the Prince seemed to exhibit enough discipline to laugh off her advances.
Lex's servants brought female armor, weaponry, and masks aboard the ship where they would be sorted in her private armory. The Prince supervised his servants, and then looked Lex over. "In our culture a post marital voyage involves either hunting or procreating," he said.
"Hunting then," Lex decided.
"Very well. You will need to take off that dress. It would not be suitable for hunting," he said.
"Do it yourself," Lex replied.
The Prince extended his blades on his right arm. "Shall I do it now?" he asked.
"I am yours," Lex dared him.
The dock was filled with servants and warriors as well as those working on the dock itself. "Nudity is not as big an issue as it is in human culture. None of these people would be offended. It would be an amusement," the Prince said placing his blade at her dress.
"Then what are you waiting for?" Lex challenged.
The two stared at each other intently as other Yautjas walked around them. The Prince suddenly withdrew his blade and turned away from her chuckling with a human imitation. He motioned some orders to his subordinates and then walked inside the ship.
Lex enjoyed her little victory against her alien psychopath husband and boarded the ship.
Inside, she found her room and found her weapons and armor. Deciding to be a little devious, she put on her arm blades underneath her dress. The Prince then entered her room uninvited. "I am surprise you have not changed your dress," he said.
"We are not in public now," she said.
"Indeed," the Prince said and with expert precision sliced her dress down the middle. He then advanced on her towards her bed. Lex extended her blades and sliced into his side. The Prince tensed up from the pain and then quickly took control of her arms. Realizing both were bladed he opened the wrist bands releasing the blades onto the floor. Lex kneed him in the side where it hurt and then pushed him against the wall. The two snarled at each other with their mandibles. The Prince pushed her back and then reversed their positions so that she was up against the wall.
He then pushed her up against the wall with his arms and placed himself between her legs. Lex slammed her hands on his head, and dropped down. She then kicked the Prince back forcing him towards the bed. With another kick she sent him onto the bed itself. She then got on top of him and the two fought for control. It was here that Lex was ready to surrender to the Prince. She was in between hate and love as she wrestled with the Prince. She had surprised and injured him and that was enough for her. The Prince took control of her and then took her completely.