A gentle breeze tussled the leaves of dozens of plants in the small garden she crouched next to. The small plot was the first real world test bed for several fertilizers she had been experimenting with. Previously, all growing tests had been done within the lab greenhouse in secure conditions. The possibility of the fertilizers being released into the wild without proper testing would be hazardous, to put it in terms that wouldn't immediately incite crippling fear. Possibly poisoning the surrounding farmland would also not be welcomed by the farmers; not to mention the loss in funding the institute would face. So far, however, the results had been far better than expected and there had been absolutely no adverse reactions among any of the plants. After a year of work everything was coming along splendidly.

While things were moving along nicely on the research, development and application front they were not going so well on the Human relations side. The other scientists she worked with seemed to see her as a threat rather than a messiah. What she brought should be seen as a great move in the right direction, adding firepower to the agricultural aspirations of emerging countries. The ability to produce greater quantities with less acreage, decreasing the need to ravage forests and jungles. Reduce the strain on the land, environment and even the people.

Unfortunately, people are far too short sighted when they feel their well being is being directly threatened, by someone not even Human at that. Reza grasped the concept of why they were so subtly hostile, but couldn't comprehend why they were so adamant in their disdain. Here she was, a more advanced species, bringing abilities and technology far beyond their own and applying them to solve problems the other scientists had been trying for decades to fix, all as if it were child’s play. In their eyes it might appear to be so, however, it was no easy task adapting tech from one biosphere to a very different one. They believed she threatened to put them out of the job. The scapegoat is always the one it is easiest to lay the blame on and who would be easier than someone that isn't even Human.

They never did directly attack her but conversations usually devolved into one-sided arguments in which they might concede she was correct but, always ended up pinned as the dangerous radical. Her experiments could destroy the fragile balance of the ecosystem this or could turn the plants into vessels of a terrible poison that. It wasn't like she was applying untested methods. Hundreds of years of production and they wanted to pass it off as untested theory. Reza sighed and stood, looking at her plants as if she was watching her own peacefully sleeping offspring. She gently rubbed one leaf that danced from a tall stalk between a thumb and finger, pulling away and inhaling the earthy odor left on her scales. A small smile crept across her face and she turned, walked across the small square and entered the wing of the building that housed her workspace.

The chance to live and work on a truly alien world was an opportunity she did not have to think twice about before accepting. Her lack of attachment or children and highly sought after skills and physical fitness made her an obvious candidate. There were no more than 30,000 of her people currently on Earth. The armada of starships they arrived on orbiting Earth lazily, awaiting their eventual return. Thus far Reza did not regret her decision and enjoyed Earth. She did not have a vast range of experience with a large control group of Humans but she firmly believed that not all of them could be so obstinate. There were a couple of Humans she was close with in terms of friendship but none offered the kind of companionship she often missed. It was rare that her isolation from her people bore heavily on her spirits. Today was one of those days.

Reza strode down the relatively empty halls. Some people greeted her casually whom she responded in kind but, as usual, several pretended she wasn't even there. Despite the buildings age on the outside, inside was relatively modern and renovated. The décor was modern mixed with the construction of a forgotten time period. It had a charm that archeologists would appreciate. The dark, solid wood door to her office opened easily, with an annoying squeak. Despite asking multiple times if it could be fixed no action had yet to be taken. Perhaps tomorrow she would put in a legitimate work order to start a paper trail of their blatantly obvious disregard.

She walked around her desk and fell into the chair. Her elbow landed on the armrest, head limp in hand. Something needed to happen in her life to break up the monotony. The progress in her work did her mind well, but her spirit was in desperate need of uplifting. Being talked down to almost everyday by her peers was also wearing her patience thin. It wouldn't be very professional of her to snap and punch one of those bigots in the face, not to mention an unfair fight. Staring down at all the height disadvantaged on a daily basis made her feel a little better. They never did appreciate the way she looked down upon them, with intense disinterest for their opinions.

She lifted her head and rubbed a hand back and forth across her snout absentmindedly. There was a report she needed to write before her work day ended. She just didn't really feel like it. It was an hour before it needed to be submitted to her 'superior.' A Dr. Richard Skinner. When she overheard one of her co-workers call him Dick she made a point of asking why they called him a slang word for penis. She was informed that it was common for Richard to be shortened to Dick. They had told her it was a time honored tradition.

When she first called him Dick, he exploded. She had been completely caught off guard by his vehemence. At that point she realized he hated it and that everybody called him Dick because he was one. It still amused her to no end to call him Dick. He gets especially flustered because she always says it with a toothy grin. That was three months ago, recently he threatened to email Human Relations and file a formal complaint against her for sexual harassment.

Laughing in his face might not have been the appropriate response in hindsight, after she learned that 'Human Relations' was not another sexual innuendo. She had been thinking something completely different. Humans seemed to refer to is as 'having your mind in the gutter.' What would they do anyways, tell her to quit harming his delicate sensibilities? They wouldn't fire her. She ran their only viable project that anybody would fund.

Humans are a very strange species.

Speaking of her boss, his round, puffy face appeared in her doorway. She stopped rubbing her snout and turned her chair to face him. Comically small glasses perched on his fat nose. He leaned around the door frame like he was trying to hide the rest of himself from her sight. He probably thought he was being condescending by not appearing to offer his full attention but the accidental courtesy of hiding his corpulence pleased her. His mouth began to move and despite her best efforts she couldn't ignore his nasal, high pitched squeal. One time a co-worker made oinking noises after he had left the room. Reza found the comparison humorous after she had looked up what a pig was.

"I assumed you forgot about the report you were supposed to submit today, so consider this your one reminder." His voice was annoying and scrapped across her ear drums. She wanted to slip her fingers between the rolls on his neck, just below his double chin, and squeeze until the permanent red hue on his face changed to blue. "I'm working on it as we speak." He made a strange snuffling noise.

"It didn't look like you were doing anything but wasting precious time." His face compressed into some sort of fleshy, disapproving scowl.

"It's being worked on up here." She tapped the side of her head lightly. "It'll be put to print in forty-five minutes. Not a moment sooner."

"I don't see why you insist on procrastinating." He was breathing heavier, hiding his body behind the wall seemed to be wearing him out. "All you do is sit around stroking the plants and watching them like it will make them grow faster."

"Look, Dick, it will be done and I will bring it to your office in forty-five minutes as well as email it to you. I have never been late on this before, despite your claims to the contrary. All the read receipts are sitting on my computer." She almost laughed when his stare became so intense she thought his eyes might disappear under the encroaching flesh. If she punched him his face might swallow her fist and come back for seconds. Her amused smile only infuriated him further.

"I don't make idle threats, Reza, continue this insubordination and things will become increasingly difficult for you." He spat her name like he was trying to get a foul taste out. She could only think about how pathetic of a man he was, species notwithstanding. "Mm, well the sooner you leave the sooner I can complete my report, sir." Her attention turned to the monitor that dominated her desk. His lips were pressed into a pencil-thin line of displeasure. He looked like he was ready to throw the tantrum to end all tantrums. Her blunt claws began to click quickly against the plastic keyboard. Each staccato click an explosion in the thick silence. Despite the obvious urge in his face he said nothing more and disappeared.

Relief flooded her body and she slouched in her chair. The tedious task of typing her report demanded her attention. She dutifully stabbed at the keys with speed, surprising considering her ill-suited hands, entering the experiment's advances and compounding her notes into easily digestible, bite-sized bullet points. Dick wasn't going to be the only one reading the report so she put in a solid effort. In the end all of this was also for the benefit of her people. The hope was that by helping the Humans their own techniques or technologies that had never been considered, due to two completely different evolutionary paths, may prove usable.

So far there was not much they had to offer in her field. Apparently, agriculture was not significantly different between diverse celestial bodies. Instead she considered it charitable to help Humans, a technologically inferior species. Akin to helping the underprivileged and expecting nothing in return. Despite the lack of intellectual fulfillment there were plenty of interesting new sights, sounds, tastes and smells to experience. As long as nothing ended up killing her she would consider the trip worthwhile. Thankfully it was easy enough to avoid anaphylactic shock.

One time had been more than enough.

The printer behind her whirred as it ran through it's self-diagnostic routine. A few moments later it spit out a single sheet of paper and quieted. Reza picked up the paper and signed it. The pen moved with finality, in wide arcs and small scribbles. There were times when she considered signing in her native language, just to mess with Dick's head, but with the sorry state of some signatures she'd seen he probably wouldn't even notice. She checked the time and still had three minutes until her self imposed deadline. A very slow walk to Dick's office would be sufficient to kill the extra time.

She barged into his office, without knocking, and his head snapped up with preternatural speed. Fast enough that she could have sworn he'd given himself whiplash. His mouth opened and his eyes almost disappeared beneath rolls of skin. Before he could utter a breath she closed the gap to his desk and delicately placed the printed report squarely before him. "Not early and not late. Here is the report, exactly when I said I would have it to you." She could see the gears grinding behind his eyes. Trying to think of a way to position her squarely in the wrong.

"Having the courtesy to knock would be appreciated." It was the closest she was going to get to something nice from him and she took it, for the most part.

"I'll try to be more aware of your Human customs in the future, Richard. I'll see you bright and early tomorrow!" Trying to be amicable with him was physically painful.

With that over with, she spun and strode out of his office, tail flowing elegantly behind her. She didn't bother to close the door. The walk back to her office included passing other co-workers that she met with a pleasant smile and friendly greetings. They all responded in kind, being none of the disagreeable types she tried to avoid seeing. She stopped by her spartan office long enough to shut down the computer and lock the door before heading home. Home being the dormitory right next door to the building she worked in. It was a short walk and the end of the work day meant it was time for her ritual afternoon run.

Reza walked out the main door of the Institutes nearby dormitory. The air was cooling from the day's earlier warmth as the planet's solitary sun drifted inevitably towards the horizon. She received a few fleeting glances from passersby as the automatic doors slid silently closed after her passage. As time passed fewer Humans seemed to pay her any mind, nearly a year had passed since she'd come planet side. The looks had gone from several minute long wide eyed affairs to second long glances filled with limited interest. Lack of attention was better than negative attention at least.

She stopped at one of the benches that dotted the sidewalk that ran along the outskirts of the large parking lot and began her stretching routine: Arms, neck, back, tail, legs and feet. Top to bottom. It was the end of the school slash workday, increasing the number of people milling about. Traveling from one obligation to another, casting their range of disinterested glances. However, there were some looks she met that were different than even the more curious ones. These usually lingered for longer than socially acceptable while she contorted her body. Humans valued subtlety in 'polite society' more than her own species and were less socially confrontational under normal circumstances. They didn't seem to have much xenophobia among the more highly educated, liberal and open minded; superiority complexes seemed to be more common and she rolled her eyes at the thought. Their gazes were filled with more than innocent curiosity about the areas of her they observed. They always looked quickly away when their eyes were met with some degree of embarrassment. It didn't offend her like Human females seemed to get in similar situations.

Shifting holds, she began stretching the muscles in her thighs, counting in her native language. The downside of the part of the country she inhabited was the lack of fellow Naerians to socialize with. It was important to maintain what was being neglected so she often talked to herself aloud. As people passed, Reza thought about one of the things she found fascinating about Humanity, the vast range of styles. There were people dressed in elaborate suits, clothing that was practically rags and absurdly colored outfits. Hair that stuck straight up, curled in a myriad of patterns or even none at all. There was a majority that wore what was considered normal, but the range from extremely conservative to outlandishly eccentric was vast. Everything always in a kaleidoscope of color that bordered on the obscene.

The large reptilian alien adjusted her plain white t-shirt and adapted exercise shorts. On her native planet, Sihv, it was unnecessary to exercise in fair weather with upper body coverings. There was nothing to cover as a female Naerian. She had a distinct lack of mammary glands, which performed a function she found almost as bizarre as giving birth to live young. Human males also had a strange affinity for them. When it came to clothing a few Human manufacturers placed bids when the Earth governments put out orders to make clothing, in small quantities, suited to the visiting aliens. A sign of good will supposedly. Government funding resulted in a distinct lack of variety but she had brought along clothing from home to throw into the rotation. The shorts were a simple black with red stripped accents, made of a stretchy material, the feel of which had taken some getting used to. They were cut in the back to curve and extend a few inches down from the base of the tail. A strap looped over the top and utilized a simple snap closure. Essentially they were the same as anything designed on Sihv, crafted with the loving ignorance of somebody that has no idea what they're doing.

Reza set off at an easy jog, closer to a run by Human standards. Standing at six feet eight inches contributed to her species' naturally long gait, she wasn't considered tall among her people. Her father was seven foot five. The route she took carried her across the Institute's grounds to a short stint down the highway that turned off onto a dirt road that skirted the boundaries of two farms. It was a good distance and none of the roads were too rough; important when you ran bare foot. Naerian's had digitigrade feet, similar to a dog or car, meaning they did everything on their toes. Large claws, generally less than two inches long, helped with balance and digging into the terrain. This attributed to their distinctive gait.

The scenery was pleasantly bizarre this time of year. The native trees' leaves were shifting color to odd hues with the changing season and falling off, covering the ground in a crunchy carpet. It was also near the time that many farms began their harvest, before the winter's cold began to settle.

After thirty minutes she was among the towering cornstalks that managed to dwarf her frame. She didn't know who owned the farms that passed by on either side beyond their last names: Farmer and Little. Farmer's last name would be ironic, if she had never been told that Humans often used to take their profession as their surname. It made her wonder, with a smirk, what profession Little would have been suited to. She enjoyed running out in the open amid nature in full swing over the sterile, indoor environments of gyms. The winter months and the biting cold would be tolerated until they forced her indoors. A distant drone, shifting in volume and pitch sporadically, was the only sound that broke up the birdsong and whisper of wind in the corn.

The road began to twist and turn as she continued further down the property line. It wasn't often that she carried on for this distance. The stress relief provided by the extended exertion was welcome after the long day. Still, she was perplexed by the way the road twisted so oddly. It was unlike the traditional straight lines, angles and squares large scale farming preferred. Whether she was still even straddling the border between the two farms was up in the air. After the first few twists it was just a maze of corn. Sweeping ruts and long mounds ran along the edge of the turns on the narrowing road, adding to the puzzle.

She had allowed her analytical curiosity to blind her to the rest of the environment and realized she had followed a road she had never traveled; figuring she must have taken a wrong turn somewhere. Whether there had even been another turn to take was a question she couldn't answer. The twisting road had thoroughly confused her sense of direction. The earlier drone had coalesced into the sound of an internal combustion engine. A small dust cloud dissipated into the sky above the cornstalks in the near distance as the sound escalated with urgency. She hoped they wouldn't be upset that she was trespassing if they, whoever they was, came her way.

Reza's species hadn't used internal combustion engines for hundreds of years beyond small applications where the standard power sources were impractical. Her limited experience with modern Human vehicles did not encompass their use in racing. The crescendo of a high revving engine, and the probable high rate of speed it denoted, was lost on her. The only thing that occurred to her, as the volume reached a fever pitch, was that she was standing in one of the ruts and that, just maybe, running along it around the curve was not currently the best piece of ground to stand upon. She also had no idea that when the white car came into view, sideways, that she was at the apex of the turn.

Darren had been enjoying his drive. Deftly controlling each slide and purposefully inducing traction loss with precision that straddled the line between feasible and impossible. He was nearing the end of his run, executing a smooth pendulum turn. Lift off the gas, slight turn of the wheel opposite the bend, wait, turn into the turn and a quick, solid tap of the brake to shift the weight of the car, dig in the front tires, and unload the back to spin the vehicle around. With the slide initiated he applied firm throttle and straightened the wheel to carry the slide through the turn; slight counter-steer to prevent excessive over steer and rotation.

Unfortunately for him, as soon as he could see through the turn and around the maturing corn, his perfect run was about to hit a major speed bump.

Reza.

Darren panicked, squeezing the steering wheel in a white knuckled grip, cutting throttle and his foot moving for the brake. His mind screamed at him that what he was about to do would be a grave mistake. The red-illuminated needle of the speedometer sat a tick over forty miles-per-hour. More than enough speed to horribly end a previously lovely evening drive. With quickly regained clarity, thanks to his thousands of hours behind the wheel, he refrained from touching the brake. If he locked up the brakes he would still slide, barley bleeding off any speed in the appreciably miniscule time he had before impact. It would also only serve to pull the car tighter into the turn with the tires digging into the deep ruts; even if he counter-steered he would still hit her. However, if he floored it the sudden heavy acceleration would pitch the car, upset the suspension and carry the slide farther to the outside of the turn. The move would avoid her but he would be carried off the road and into the corn. There was simply not enough space or time to prevent all outcomes. Killing some corn was a much less severe consequence than hitting this person. 'Maim somebody with a car' wasn't on his bucket list. It wasn't even his corn he would be destroying anyways.

Roughly a second had elapsed between Darren seeing Reza and acting. The car lurched forward viciously as he crushed the pedal to the floor, pressing him back into the seat. Gravel sprayed the underside of the car with a sound like golf ball sized hail hitting a steel roof. His previously controlled slide took on new life as the car drifted radically sideways like it was on ice. Wide-eyed as thousands of pounds of seemingly uncontrolled metal careened towards her with a thunderous roar, she jumped out of the car's previous path and off the road using the momentum from her next large stride.

The car crashed into the silent cornstalks on the far side with an ease not unlike pine trees in the path of an avalanche. By the time she turned around the car was stopping, four deep scars cut into the soft earth leading up to it. Stalks broken at grotesque angles, hanging limply or completely flattened. Darren's car stood like a light at the end of a partially collapsed tunnel.

Reza's shock and adrenaline surge were fading quickly, replaced by guilt and worry. She felt terrible for what was completely her fault. In the briefs before going planet side they had said to avoid causing discontent with Humans because many were quick to judgment and blame. The alliance between Humans and Naerians was very young. Being blamed as the one that incited a war or bad blood was not how she wanted her name to be entered into the history texts. She knew that she was making the situation out to be more than it was, but the fact remained; being the instigator of pain, physical or emotional was not an idea she took pleasure in. Half-way to the car the door swung open, bouncing back under the force and almost hitting the Human in the head as he stumbled out. Reza was relieved that he didn't appear physically harmed. In fact, he looked to be healthy, fit and well built, moving with hardly concealed trepidation. He was just as unsure of what she was going to do as she was of him.

"Oh shit, are you okay-"

Darren jerked straight up when his gaze went from the shattered stalks on the ground to Reza, breathing heavily and standing a few feet in front of him. He was so caught off guard he went from an adrenaline fueled hyper-awareness to dumbstruck in an instant. The Naerian was larger than him and he was no small man. Uncovered scales were sandstone, glistening as if wet, with darker splotches emerging in random pattern from under her clothing. She was svelte and sleek, body language hinting at restrained strength lying just below the scales. Darren had never seen a Naerian up close, her size was imposing but held an inexplicable alien beauty. His mouth moved in attempted speech but no sound was forthcoming. Slowly he removed his sunglasses, hooked them in his shirt collar and licked his lips, anything to get his mind working again.

Then she smiled at him, two rows of small off-white pointed teeth showing, clearly a predator. The corners of his lips curling up. It was hard to tell on her short, blunt snout. He hoped it was a smile.

"I'm sorry about the corn." It was all she had to say and it all came boiling to the surface.

"Fuck the corn!" Reza warily stepped back at the outburst. "Are you okay, you aren't hurt are you? What were you doing in the middle of the road? I could have run you the fuck over!" Darren turned around, unable to meet her ruby-eyed gaze and surveyed his car. "Shit. Fuck me."

Another wave of guilt struck Reza and she closed the gap to Darren. In the back of her mind she thought it was odd that the male suddenly said he wanted to mate. Perhaps it was a phrase with many meanings, as English tended to be fraught with. "I'm sorry about your vehicle and corn. I'll pay for the damages I caused. It is my fault for trespassing."

Darren turned, was mildly surprised to be staring at her chest and tilted his head. He quirked an eyebrow, adrenal surge replaced with mild suspicion. "What were you doing out here?" He wasn't positive but she seemed embarrassed, catching the faintest color shift around her neck, odd.

"I was simply on my evening run and enjoying the scenery." Reza smiled sheepishly, feeling uncomfortable under Darren's hazel scrutiny. He relented after a couple of moments and crossed his arms.

"Fair enough, but why didn't you move earlier?" She stared over his head at the white car sitting amongst the green cornstalks, ears of corn sitting on the hood and roof like absurd ornaments.

"Well, I honestly had no idea that a car was coming. I wasn't sure what was going to come around the corner but, I certainly wasn't expecting what did. I've never heard such noise before." She shifted her weight, feeling like a youngling that was about to be scolded for making a mistake. An odd ping of relief resonated in her as his expression shifted to that of surprise. He appeared to believe her.

It was at this point that Darren realized something was very, very wrong with the alien. In all the videos and pictures that he had seen on the news the aliens had always had two pairs of arms. One where arms should normally be and another, slightly smaller, pair just beneath. He never thought that a species as advanced as them would still have the deformed or disabled, especially to such a degree. Not entirely sure how to put it nicely he decided to be blunt.

"How did you lose two of your arms?"

Reza blinked, taken off guard by the random question. She wondered who lived under the bigger rock between the two of them. Nobody had ever asked her such a question and she figured everybody knew the difference.

"I haven't lost anything. I assume you never heard about Naerians like myself? I shouldn't really be too surprised, we don't get mentioned often by the others." Darren looked at her blankly. "We're known as True-Born and are very different from our four-armed kin. We are the same species but over four hundred years ago genetic engineering became rampant. The Editors, as the meddling scientists were known, essentially created what they saw as a higher, truer form for our species. The name Gene-Born was adopted as they were all born through the use of sweeping genetic change. " Darren nodded for her to continue. She wasn't forthcoming, continuing with a sigh. "It is a much longer story and it is cooling off considerably out here. I can tell you more another time. Preferably somewhere warmer."

Darren shivered as his body suddenly became cognizant of its own senses. He gestured to the car. "Please, let me give you a ride back to, uh, wherever it is you live. It wouldn't be right to have you run back." Reza shook her head politely but Darren motioned again. "I insist."

Reza surrendered and waited patiently at the road while Darren got the car free. Engine growling, sending earth and corn flying into the standing stalks with wild abandon. She wondered if he was actually having trouble getting the car out or if he was doing it for entertainment. It seemed rather absurd to want to cause more damage, although he did say it wasn't his. He finally got the car to the dirt road, bouncing over the ruts and mangled stalks with a disinterested rumble.

She knocked the ears of corn from the hood as she walked around to the passenger side. Darren found himself perplexed by the overtly male side of his brain. A completely alien being, whom he had just met in a traumatic fashion, and whom he'd had zero previous experience with, was bending over the hood of his car; cleaning ears of corn that had scattered across it and his male half was quite pleased. She had no cleavage to see through the neck of her shirt when she was practically prone on the cold metal, chest on the hood scoop, only smooth sandy hued scales.

His eyes locked onto the curve of her butt when she reached for one particular ear, sitting precariously on the passenger side windshield wiper, like a laser guided missile. Sensuous curves in the right places that all beauties have, but a thick tail rose and fell behind her, something that shouldn't exist in his perception of female beauty. The caveman said, 'why not, she's sentient and it has been far too long,' with a nonchalant shrug, but the modern man, as if there was something fundamentally wrong with his mind, quipped 'are you feeling quite alright, Self?'

The passenger door opened and awoke him from his internal struggle. She said nothing for a moment before bending into the door. At least now he had her face to distract him from her the built muscles of her legs. Women would kill to have calves and thighs half as defined as hers.

"I don't think I'm going to fit."

"Oh, right, silly me." Darren reached under the seat, lifted a lever, and slid it as far back as it would go. He looked at her expectantly, like a dog awaiting praise for doing something good. She sighed in amusement and pointed at the deep bolstering of the race built bucket seat. It hadn't occurred to him that a perfect fit for his hips might be an impossibility for such a large female of any bipedal species.

"I mean I don't think I'll be able to squeeze into the seat. My hips are a bit, ah, wider than yours." Darren looked at the seat and back, catching a glimpse of her slowly swaying tail. Realization dawned and he scratched the side of his head absently.

"Well you could kind of sit in it at an angle. Might not be the most comfortable but you can't live that far." She gave a very Human shrug and climbed in, sinking one hip into the seat with the other half in and half out. It was a tight fit and she was practically sitting on her tail and slouching so that her head barley scrapped the naked metal roof. Darren couldn't help but smile as she struggled to achieve some iota of comfort. Reza caught his smirk at her expense and retaliated.

"I am relieved that the trauma of almost killing me has passed enough to allow you to enjoy yourself." Darren's smile evaporated like a glass of water in the Mojave desert. She anticipated his reply and silenced him with a wave of her hand. "That was a joke."

Darren chuckled halfheartedly, reminded that things could have ended much worse only fifteen minutes ago. Reza waited for the vehicle to start moving and looked over at the male when it had yet to. He was watching her as if waiting for something she should have already known to do. She had no idea what it could possibly be. With a quirked brow she asked.

"Your harness." He replied like it was blindingly obvious.

"My what?"

"The blue straps on the sides of the seat." She looked around and pulled out the two shoulder belts. "Now what?" Darren pressed a button on the round buckle at his waist and the belts popped free, snapped away under the force of attached elastic cords. He reached over, loosened all the straps to the maximum length, put the two shoulder belts over their respective places and went to reach between her legs and stopped.

Many times in the past he'd had to help strap passengers in that he'd gone on autopilot and forgot, again, that she was far from Human. He was stumped on how to get the belt around the tail, between her legs and to the buckle. Her tail was making a mockery of his years of experience. A completely different design would have to be employed that would allow for the tail. Perhaps a dual belt that could go around either side. When faced with a problem he easily became side tracked on solving it.

"Never mind, I just won't crash."

"Does that mean you won't be going as fast as earlier?" Reza asked politely, her scaled lips curling into what looked like a smirk. Was she teasing him, Darren wondered. "No, I'll stick to driving in straight lines like a good boy."

"Very well. Do you know where the Bronson Agricultural Research Institute is?" Reze inquired as they pulled away from the car shaped warpath cut into the corn field. Darren glanced over at her curiously. "Yeah, why?"

"I live in the dormitory there."

"Huh, I wouldn't have taken you as coming all the way to Earth to be a student." She laughed lightly. Darren started to take notice of certain things about her. The light sibilance underlying her laugh and the elevated pitch of her voice. The way some sounds weren't pronounced quite right resulting in an amusing drawl. Subtleties building her exoticism. She was the first of her kind he had ever met and, aside from the bizarre circumstance of their introduction, she seemed nice. At the very least it gave them something to talk about, if he ran into her again.

"I'm not a student in the usual sense, I am a researcher, but of course with that I am always learning."

"Part of the exchange program?" She nodded.

"Yes, I am working on methods of incorporating our agricultural technologies with your own. Mainly, I work on testing and applying chemical methods to promote growth and increase production that do not harm the native flora or produce any unwanted mutations." Darren nodded and tilted his head towards her.

"Having any luck?" He asked with a side long look. Reza detected playfulness in his demeanor. She was liking this Human more with each passing minute.

"Some but, it could be so much more and much easier." Darren's eyebrows rose slightly. "Oh?"

"Well, your people seem to look remarkably unfavorably upon genetic modification as a method of creating crops that are resistant to disease and destructive insects. Many seem to think that such altered crops present a danger to health when, if properly executed, they do not. It's not like we would be using the archaic genetic manipulation techniques employed by your people, no offense, but nobody knows genetic alteration like mine." Darren had been glancing over at regular intervals, unsure how her kind valued eye contact. He decided that, after he dropped her off, he would have to crawl out from under his rock for a while and do some catching up on current events.

"People are worried enough about modified foods, do you not think that they would be even less receptive to foods genetically modified by a relatively unknown alien species? For all we know you could be sowing the seeds of destruction to subvert our civilization and take us all as slaves. All your kin could be doing the same in their crucial positions in the Exchange program." Reza glared at him like he'd just insulted her mother. Darren laughed easily.

"I spent five seconds coming up with that, think of the people that devote lifetimes to crafting and justifying their conspiracy theories." Reza shook his head and laughed.

"That my be true, but I'm not here to overthrow Earth. Besides, the only slaves I would take would be pleasure slaves." She said it without equivocation and Darren looked at her oddly. "That was a joke?"

"Of course." She said languidly, punctuated with a sly, toothy grin. He didn't believe her and that fact didn't seem to bother his caveman subconscious. There was something seriously wrong with his brain, Darren decided.

"Anyways, some people say that food grown completely natural and without pesticides or man made chemicals is the healthiest and only way, of growing. I'm sure you're aware of the 'organic' classifications on food sold in stores. There is a lot of money to made selling 'organics.' They may or may not be right, but some of the chemicals used have documented side effects and are hard on the environment, especially in their production, but without which food production would not meet demand. What we need are alternatives that are good for the crops, the environment to produce and use and benign to the consumer."

"Of course and that is one of the things I've been working on. The adaptation of the technology hasn't been as cumbersome as I originally feared. I've found that the cellular structure of Earth flora is not that different from some we have found on the planets we have colonized. I have been seeing very promising results." She looked out over the passing farmland, stretching into the distance and sighed. "But in the end the work might all be for naught and just a massive waste of time. I'm not sure how likely it will be that what I've created will be distributed. In the end it would just be easier, economically smarter and safer to bioengineer the crops."

"I'm not really against messing with the genetics of plants. There have been reports that changing one gene may affect others in the plant, creating unforeseen side effects. I don't think our current technology can avoid such a thing happening. While labels are not required on genetically modified foods, enough consumers are afraid of them that they refuse to buy the products if they ever catch wind that they're modified. The paranoia is common enough to make it economically suicidal for small farm operations, not to mention the increased expense of the seeds to offset production and research costs."

Reza was pleasantly surprised by how much this Human seemed to understand the situations the agriculture industry was facing. It was a breath of fresh air to talk to somebody that was knowledgeable and not a supercilious ass. Perhaps she just spent far too much time around the same type of people. "That's just the thing. Our ability to modify genes is light years ahead of your own. This kind of problem is something that a student would solve as their senior thesis. Our species could, easily, modify the crops to do all these things and not produce unwanted side effects. Take for example the split in our species. That happened hundreds of years ago. No new diseases arose, no new cancers, nothing. If we genetically changed our species, what makes anybody think a stupid plant would be difficult?" Reza was practically seething.

Darren could easily tell she was very passionate about her work. She retreated into herself after the outburst. "I'm sorry, it's just, frustrating to see such opposition." Darren shrugged.

"Maybe we're just afraid of what your people are capable of. People are not fond of sudden, sweeping change. You have to slowly acclimatize people to it. It took thousands of years for one color of Human to consider another not below them." Reza nodded slowly, understanding, but still hoping.

"Anyways, you must work at one of the two farms I was running between or have a hobby of researching agricultural issues." Darren chuckled and glanced at her slyly.

"Yeah, you could say that." He said equivocally. Reza peered at him but he offered nothing more and maintained a mysterious grin. She looked ahead and realized they were almost to the turn off. He asked which driveway and she pointed out the next one. A large wooden sign emblazoned with the name of the institute, routed in elegant characters into the wood. Golden paint filled the lettering while the rest was dark green.

The driveway continued through a short tunnel of hedges before opening into a large parking lot, that sat before an even more massive old style brick building. It had the likeness of an old British estate rooted firmly in the incorrect century. It may not have been modern but it was ornate and had an old world charm, accompanied by the timelessness of an antique. "You can pull up to the front along the curb," she offered, Darren leaning over the steering wheel to look at the buildings. He knew the place was here but had never had any reason to come. He obliged and pulled up as directed.

Few people were out in the chill air of dusk; the sun's last feeble attempt to light the land. Reza popped the door open and was half out when she stopped and twisted to face him, sitting on the edge of the seat bolster. The posture made him think of a predator that had changed its mind and decided it was going to eat him.

"Aren't you going to at least give me your name?" She asked politely. He couldn't say no to a lady, being the proper gentleman his father had raised him to be.

"Darren."

"Reza," she replied with a pleased smile, offering her hand as she had been taught to do during Human introductions. Darren looked at her hand and hesitated, rather unsure of how to shake her larger, four-fingered hand. Apparently she was used to this and was waiting patiently. He tentatively took hold and returned the firm grip she offered. There was an unexpected strength to her and the coolness of her scales against his skin was shockingly familiar. It felt like he was shaking hands with the python he once held at a cousin's house.

If it had hands.

They shook once and the look she gave was arresting. Their hands separated and by the time he collected himself to say anything she was already out.

"Hey!" Darren yelped brusquely. Reza turned and looked back in the door.

"Yes, Darren?" The way she almost sang his name so demurely was, oddly pleasing to his ears.

"Uhm, you run down that road often?"

"Almost every day, why?" Darren's smile was wolfish.

"I'll be sure to keep an eye out for you." Reza's laugh was tremulous.

"Now when I hear your car I'll be sure to get out of the way." Darren chuckled and revved the engine with a manic grin. The engine seethed in annoyance. "Have a good night, Darren." She laughed, closed the door softly and walked off.

Darren was beside himself, a stupid grin on his face. He rubbed his face as the moment passed, replaced with enough emotional confusion to feel like a pubescent teenager. The feelings pulled him in a multitude of directions: desperation, loneliness, arousal, happiness, fulfillment, desire. It felt like ages since his last meaningful friendship, or more, with a female, hell, with anybody. Part of him reeled at her inhumanity. Despite the obvious fact, if he applied Human mannerisms, she seemed to be enjoying his company during the ride; so much that she was even flirting with him.

He sighed and shook his head, putting the car in gear and easing away from the curb. Too many thoughts to get straight at the moment. There was at least one thing that he was certain of after the eventful day; a nice cigar, maybe a churchill length, and a glass of scotch on the rocks, probably two, was in his immediate future.

Reza watched as Darren's car whined softly away out of the parking lot, taillights disappearing like dying stars into the night. She wasn't sure if she had handled the entire situation appropriately by Human standards. Was it normally the proper response to be jovial towards somebody that almost ran you over, while you were trespassing? Even if she had broken some Human social norms she had enjoyed the outcome. She was a little surprised with herself that she had been so flirtatious. No previous Human she'd encountered had been so, interesting. She had seen a spark behind his eyes and it stirred feelings hidden deep inside.

The only downside was that her after work runs had just become much longer.

"Who was that Miss Palli?" Reza turned with a start at the envious female voice. One of the students she worked with regularly was the culprit and her heartbeat slowed. The girl was easily a foot and a half shorter and made Reza feel more like a giant among midgets than normal.

"Nobody really, Ellie, just somebody I blundered into on my run." The girl made a noise like she didn't believe that was all there was to the story. Ellie was the Human female Reza spent the most time with and, despite her youth, was very intelligent. If a little immature. On several occasions Ellie referred to Reza as a 'girlfriend.' Some Human figure of speech. She had even gone so far as to invite Reza to parties. The desire to crash parties was not there.

"He sure was cute. You sure you just met him?" Reza crossed her arms defensively, feeling like she was being interrogated.

"Spying on me?" Ellie gasped at the odious charge. "Of course not! I just want to ensure that my favorite foreign instructor isn't getting herself into any trouble," she offered diplomatically. Reza sighed and started towards the dormitory. "You can never trust those macho types." Ellie added as an aside. Reza was not unfamiliar with the term 'feminist.'

"Macho type? What makes you say that?" Reza was curious how she came to that conclusion just by looking at Darren. Maybe she was a lesbian. It wasn't easy to contain her amusement at that thought.

"Uh, did you pay no attention to the car he was driving? That thing was obviously heavily modified. Lots of money in that. Compensating for something by flaunting his wealth, I say." Ellie was smug about her conclusion. Reza shook her head. She wasn't going to incite an argument, just sidestep around it.

"I'm over forty of your years old. I think I can handle myself and any other dangers in this high crime area." The comment oozed with sarcasm. "I'll be fine, Ellie."

"Not all places are as nice as they are out here. Do you pay any attention to the news? Some of your people have been the targets of religious zealots. It's not like you being here is any sort of secret, they could find you if they wanted to." Reza looked at her like it was the least of her concerns. It really was.

"Did you notice when the reports mentioned that the attackers fared far worse than the victim? Who is 'they?'"

"Anybody that wishes harm or ill will upon the Exchange program." Ellie raised her hands in surrender. "I'm just saying that I would be miserable if I heard of any harm coming to my favorite living dinosaur." Reza rolled her eyes but a grin crept across her face.

"You just want a good grade." Ellie froze in her tracks, feigning horror.

"I can't believe you would say that!" Reza laughed and shooed the smaller female away. "If you don't go home I might just decide to commit genocide on the Human race." Ellie acted like she was about to run away in fear.

"Good night, Ellie. You can get offended some more tomorrow." The little female smiled and turned away with a wave.

"This is why you are my favorite. Good night, Miss Palli."

Reza slid her keycard into the electronic door lock. A single light above the protruding slot flicked from red to green and the deadbolt clicked open. She pulled the card, worked the handle and pushed her way into the room. The lights snapped to life at the flick of a switch adjacent the door, bathing the modest room in an incandescent glow. Reza's room was only slightly larger than the students' and she didn't have to share it. There was just enough extra space for a sink, counter top, gas stove and small living room. The apartment was on the top floor. A large window dominated the main living room wall, offering a view of the Institute grounds and the twinkling lights of distant farms.

The large alien looked out over the Earth. There were few enough lights that the stars could easily be seen. She wondered if one of the distant homes was Darren's. The fact that the thought came without any pretense elicited a sigh. She just couldn't seem to go long without thinking about him. The Human was probably enjoying a nice dinner, relaxing and surrounded by friends or family. He had a gravity she was inexplicably drawn towards, like a planet's moon, unable to resist its parent, even if it wanted to. A person like him was no doubt often with company. Her reflection in the glass caught her eye and she stared.

She could ignore the jealousy, but could not forget how empty her home felt. The biannual rush of emotions that made her feel more strongly for companionship, protection and yearn for a brood certainly was not helping. The weather and season was completely wrong and sent her ancient instincts into a downward spiral of confusion. She considered the possibility that it could be part of the reason her urges were more insistent about being fulfilled than normal.

She drew the blinds halfway and left the window. A sort of energy bar sat on the counter and she snatched it up. A claw easily cut through the wrapper and the revealed contents looked like dried mud. It tasted much better than it looked. Her stomach thanked her, despite having been ignored for so long.

The bathroom light flickered to life, struggling against chemical processes that tried to keep it down. A wall mounted sink perched next to a Human toilet and a tub slash shower combination filled the adjacent space. Reza glared at the toilet maliciously. She loathed using the damn thing, completely unsuited to her size and shape. The normal sitting position was not an option, she had to sit on it nearly sideways. Extremely inconvenient in the cramped quarters. If she could replace it with a proper device she would throw the thing out of the window. Watching it shatter explosively against the concrete would make up for all the inconvenience she endured.

Reza stripped off her shirt and running shorts, leaving them in an unkempt pile on the linoleum floor. Grudgingly she used the toilet before bringing the shower to life with the twist of a rudimentary knob. Steam billowed from the hot spray and settled against the ceiling in translucent clouds. The plastic curtain slid easily open and closed as she stepped into the deep tub.

Hot water cascaded down her body, taking with it all the tension of the day down the drain with a gurgle. She was content to stand under the torrent for several minutes before beginning her cleansing routine. A certain bar of soap had become her favorite recently. She had picked it up from a local farmer's market. It was the handmade sort that had leaves or bits of plants inside the bar. This one held whole mint leaves and other spices in suspension; strongly perfumed with a therapeutic, sweet scent. The soap had the pleasant side effect of making her scales lustrous; a sought after trait among her species. It wasn't long before the entire bathroom smelled like a windowsill herb garden.

The water shut off with a choked hiss, dripping defiantly from the shower head. Water ran in rivulets down her scales, so smooth they defeated surface tension with ease. She toweled off in the shower to avoid wetting the floor. The shower was followed by the brushing of teeth. She left the bathroom with her discarded clothes in hand rather than on body.

The bedroom was where she spent the least amount of her time throughout the day. It wasn't that it wan an unpleasant place to be but, other than sleeping, there was little reason to dwell. Human television was dull, morbid and uninteresting so there was no television. There were times when she didn't want to get out of bed, of course. The bed wasn't really a bed by Human standards. It was more equatable to a nest or a huge ottoman. Personal preferences ranged wildly in shape, size, angle of the curve, fabric and cushion thickness. The choices were as varied as Human beds and could be equally as boring or ornate. She had been very pleased to learn that one of the few things that had been brought with them from home had been nests. They were all mostly the same and rather plain in design, but it was far superior to sleeping in something constructed by Humans or their flat nests.

Traditionally they were set into the floor or a corner in the room but the building had not been originally built with that in mind. The quick fix had been to construct a compact platform for the nest to sit into with three steps. There was nothing fundamentally wrong with it, however, it looked awkward in the room; like having a short jacuzzi in the middle of your living room. Reza stepped up and dropped into the nest lightly. She lifted and curled up under the single blanket in the center where it was the deepest. The familiar fabric slid over her bare scales with a whisper.

One pillow found itself under her head while another was held against her chest. The pillow served to satisfy the pesky instinct to protect her clutch. Despite not having any eggs, if she didn't curl around the pillow she felt like something important was missing. It would pass after a time, as it always did.

She swore that the older she got the instinct grew in strength with each passing cycle. Those she talked to told her it was perfectly normal. Her body trying to get her to continue its lineage. It was difficult not to do, especially when the rest of her emotions were teetering on the precipice of control, but her thoughts drifted to a part of her that went missing a decade ago. He was gone and there was no changing that. She was beyond been stricken with grief at the thought of him, but her soul still ached for his presence. Not matter what you told it, no matter how logical the evidence, the soul never listened. The thing she regretted more than anything was deciding to wait to start a family with him.

It was hard not to think of it as selfish, just wanting to have had his offspring, to look into their faces and see a part of his spirit still burning. She knew it wasn't. Their love for one another had been wholly mutual. They had been a Bound pair for five years when he had been killed. It had been the fault of no one. A freak accident.

He was working in the interstellar ship yards on, ironically, the very ship she came to Earth on. His field was the absurdly complex inertial suppression engines that allowed the ships to accelerate at greater G-forces than they, or the crew, were normally capable of handling unsupported. The area around the engine was extremely volatile to be in when the equipment was running. While he was working, only a few meters from the engine, which was running at minimal output, as required for the work, a normally inconsequently small metal flake drifted into an exposed electrical panel, shorting the engine controls. In dry dock the ships are under no artificial gravity.

All she received of his remains was a small urn and his horn bands, which had miraculously survived the crushing forces his flesh could not. The rings had been her gift to him at their Binding ceremony. She was told by the pair's closest friend, who worked with him, that it took a week to properly sanitize the engine room. That was all of the grim details that she had been able to stomach.

Her snout tucked into the pillow she clung to and suspired wearily. Today was the first day that somebody good had happened into her life since her mate passed. She wasn't sure why she was so easily drawn to Darren, he felt so familiar, so safe. He had been concerned and kind when she was clearly at fault. Their conversation had been engaging and easy. It could have been a fluke but she sensed no insincerity in his demeanor. At least one thing was certain in her mind; she was going to seek him out.

Preferably without being run over.