There are routines on a Union Fleet Starship such as the Orville. The Orville bridge crew meeting in the mess hall during the mid-day break was one of them.
"So how did your date go?" Lieutenant John Lamarr, ship's navigator, asked Lieutenant Alara Kitan the standard question.
"Oh, you know, we chat, things are looking up, then..." the security chief stopped narrating, then blew air out of the side of her mouth, as if deflating.
"Oh, I'm guessing he found out how strong you are," John conjectured.
"Yeah, something like that. What is it about men...?" Alara started to ask, albeit rhetorically.
"Why do you date humans?" Lieutenant Gordon Molloy, the ship's helmsman, asked her, an interruption which jolted her somewhat.
She recovered, then joked, "there's not a lot of options available, in case you hadn't noticed." She looked at Gordon and saw a serious face, concerned maybe. It rattled her, as he's usually more of a jokester, the one serious time she remembered was his bracing her before she rescued their command officers from the Calivon.
"No, seriously, what are you looking for?" he asked. He didn't wait for a response as he continued on. "Do you go out of your way to show them how strong you are?"
Alara, shocked, cried out, "Gordon, that's, that's..." Out of line, she wanted to say. But she wondered if he had a point.
Gordon shrugged and responded, "okay, so don't answer, forget I asked. But it's something you may want to think about."
"What are you talking about, Gordon?" John asked him.
"I keep hearing about how these men she's dating feel intimidated by her strength." He looked at Alara and told her, "we know how strong you are and we aren't intimidated. I mean we've seen you do stuff and we're not sitting five tables away or anything. So, what's going on, are you doing scary stuff like crush things with an angry face or something?"
"Gordon, maybe you should lighten up on her," John admonished him, even as he chuckled at Gordon's envisioned scenario.
Alara felt somewhat distressed and looked at Gordon with somewhat sad eyes. She wondered if she was testing them, her dates, going out of her way to let them know what they could be involved with. She controlled her responses all day long, rarely was she doing something like lifting or moving heavy objects unless she was ordered to by Captain Ed Mercer, the CO of the Orville, or in response to an emergency situation.
"I don't know..." she whispered, barely audibly, a look of concern on her face.
"Sorry," Gordon apologized when he saw her facial expression. "Forget I said anything."
Since she left her home planet, she figured that it's most likely that she'll marry a human, a possibly another species of similar strength to a typical human, rather than a Xelayan. She felt more and more out of step with other Xelayans, especially the ones on her home planet, and the odds of finding a Xelayan that she would find compatible off planet looked steep. She realized she probably was testing prospective suitors for long term compatibility, possibly even marriage.
But in thinking about getting married, Alara would worry that marrying a human, or a human strength level humanoid, would mean she could never bring her husband to Xelayah for family gatherings. She mentioned it once on the Orville a while back and John Lamarr, to Alara's surprise, commented on it.
"He could wear a gravity suit," John remarked.
"Yeah, like you would wear one just to visit your wife's family," Alara joked.
"If I married a Xelayan, and she wanted me to, I would," John answered seriously. "That's what love is, right?"
"That's a nice sentiment John, but a gravity suit is only good for a few hours, and you can't eat or drink with it, so a family dinner is out," Alara replied.
"There's a straw for liquids. I'd suck on the straw while the family ate Xelayan lasagna or whatever," he joked.
Someone else brought up another topic entirely and everybody's attention went there, so the discussion was dropped. But it stuck with Alara. 'Will I find someone who loves me enough to put with that?' she wondered as she lamented, 'I guess I'm doomed to be single.'
A formula was developed to allow sentient beings to withstand multiple gravities for an extended period of time without ill effects.
The formula proved 100% effective in trials for human beings. A dose would last ten days, and another dose taken nine days later would add another ten days, but most humans choose to limit their time to an overnight stay, at most a couple of days, in a super high gravity environment, such as Xelayah.
It is being tested on other species, some of whom are showing good results, but so far, only humans seem to get the full benefit, for lack of a better word. It's not an experience for the faint of heart.
This is the first time her husband will be able to visit her family on her planet to celebrate the holiday together. Her husband is willing to do this for her, because, hey, he loves her and wants to make her happy, but for himself he knows he'll come off looking slow and lethargic.
They land on Xelayah in a shuttle that slowly changes its internal gravity setting from 1gE (1 Earth sea level gravity) to Xelayan sea level, mainly for the humans that have taken the serum. The air pressure is also correspondingly increased to accommodate serum dosed humans. Alara holds her husband as he trembles while his body adjusts to the change. The fact that he's not a lump of crushed bone and gore is a medical miracle as far as she's concerned and tears of joy form in her eyes that she can have him with her when they're with her family without him in a gravity suit, shut off physically from her. Yes, he will have to be handled with care, and yes, he will be physically weak compared to a Xelayan, but he can be held, she can touch him and feel him. She knows he feels embarrassed by having to use special lightweight utensils, drink from a straw because he would barely be able to lift the cup, and the food looks like aerated foam because most native Xelayan food would be too dense to chew and swallow. She loves that he endures what he considers indignities to indulge her wish that her entire family be together. She loves him. Drenala smiles when she sees him, and even Ildis is cordial, recognizing the sacrifice the man is willing to make for his daughter.
He is fully adjusted, he can walk, he can stand, he can talk, he can joke, he can hug. Ildis is impressed with the man's intelligence, Drenala with his thoughtfulness and charm. Alara K. Lamarr beams with pride, her heart bursting with love and joy as she watches her husband, John, impress her family.