14 Venus

Dimatri seemed to think on it. 'I do not know about iron content but we have fatty food available. May I ask what this cycle you speak of is?'

'It is my breeding cycle. Thanks to my implants my cycles are less frequent. However if my math is right, hard to be certain here on the ship, then the bleeding part of my cycle will start soon.'

'Bleeding? Why would you bleed?'

'Males do not tend to want the details into such things,' I told him.

'We are in charge of your care. Anything that will affect that while you are on this ship or the capital station we care about and need to know.'

'How long until we reach the station?' I asked.

'Two more cycles.'

'Then it will not matter. Depending on how long negotiations take, I will be back on Earth before it becomes a problem.'

'Tell me anyway. It could be a problem. Not to mention you said bleeding. Blood is a sign of pain.'

I sighed. To think that this male had made a connection that most human males couldn't be bothered with outside of how it inconvenienced them. 'Without the implants to lower my fertility temporarily I, like all females, live with a breeding cycle. Typically our cycles are referred to as a moon cycle because like Earth's moon our breeding cycle follows a twenty eight sun cycle time frame. The implants are able to suppress my breeding cycle and the desires that come with it. At least to some degree.

The normal cycle repeats every twenty eight sun cycles. We spend five to seven of those bleeding in pain. Females have a uterus, which is one of the main organs responsible for reproduction. During the beginning of the cycle the organ grows a thicker lining to support pregnancy. If we do not become pregnant we shed that lining. It is a painful process in which our body begins crushing itself to skin off the lining.

The process releases a number of hormones that make females experience muscle pain, tiredness, loss of appetite, headaches, and touch tenderness. All of that makes males call us moody. Among other things. Our body temperature increases making us uncomfortable. We metabolize food faster so we have the need to eat more. Which when we have a lack of appetite is a bad situation. So leading up to the bleeding period we start eating more to store up food for when we can not eat as much as we need to.'

His ears were pinned back and his eyebrows were tight. 'And without the implants you go through this process every twenty eight sun cycles?'

'Yes. Among other things. The bleeding part of our cycles are among the most inconvenient but it is not the only one.' His ears stayed pinned back but he went back to preparing food.

'Is there any way to help relieve it?'

'There are ways. Most of which are easy enough to do but we are almost never allowed. Letting us sleep is a big one. Most of the time we can sleep through the discomfort. Having something warm to place on our lower backs helps with muscle pain. Having juice on hand is a good way to get nutrients and calories without having to eat. It is no where near what we need but it helps with the lack of food. The other ways are for... mates to decide if they want to help or not. They are rather private.'

He brought a tray over loaded with food. 'Will you tell me more about your breeding cycle? It is very different from Leoc'ain.'

I began to eat and thought about it. There shouldn't be a problem with it. 'There are four stages to our breeding cycle. Bleeding is the first. It is the first indication that we are becoming full grown. Although it takes sun revolutions before we are actually grown after that. The bleeding period normal takes five to seven sun rotations and we stay indoors as much as possible during it. Earth animals can track by the smell of blood.'

My words hit me hard, 'Wait! They will not attack my on the station right? If I start bleeding there? You all look like Earth creatures so far. Most of you like Earth predators.' Fear hit me hard. I forced myself to keep eating but I was ready to run.

'No one will harm you, Princess. Will they smell the blood? Most of us will. We will not cause you harm. If anything we will all try to help you. There will not be a single male unwilling to help you in any way. Males of every race treasure females. Knowing one is in pain and we can do nothing about it? All of us will be seeing to your every need to help you as much as possible.'

'So they will not hunt me through the halls?'

'No Princess. Not unless you want us to.' I looked into his eyes. Trying to see if he was lying to me. He didn't seem to be lying so I relaxed as much as I could.

'Every stage of the female breeding cycles are designed to make us seek out a mate. During our bleeding we look for males who will care for us. The second stage can start while we are in the bleeding phase. Most males will not mate a female while she bleeds which is one of the reasons we females get pregnant less than we could.'

'You can mate during the bleeding phase of your cycles? Does that not hurt?'

'That is what I was referring to with it being private between mates. First, if a male is doing it right mating should never hurt after the first time. Even then only briefly. While we are bleeding we want to mate. In fact females typically want to mate more while we are bleeding than in other parts of our cycles. Mating during bleeding releases hormones that not only help with the pain but the act itself help speed up the process.

Anyway the second stage often begins towards the end of our bleeding stage. The time it takes for the second stage to end varies. My implants extended the process by about a whole moon cycle-'

'Twenty eight sun cycles,' Dimatri said. Clearly he was trying to keep the numbers right.

'Yes. On average the second stage should only take sixteen sun cycles. During this stage is when we want to begin mating if we want a child. Because the second stage varies and can in fact finish a few times during that sixteen day process having a willing mate on hand at the time is important.'

'It can finish more than once in the sixteen sun cycles?' He seemed very confused by the idea and I giggled.

'Indeed. The second phase is when females start to mature our eggs. Our bodies pick an egg from one of two locations in our body to egg. The older we get the more likely we will mature multiple eggs. There is a chance that a younger female like myself will mature more than one egg at a time. If more than one egg matures than one may be released earlier than the other. Essentially making the second stage finish two or more times in the average span of sixteen days. Sun cycles.'

'So you nest because you lay eggs.' He seemed confident in his understanding.

'No!' He jolted at my yell. 'I'm sorry but no we do not lay eggs. I should clarify. Human females have eggs while they are fertilized by mating.'

'Like all creatures,' he said. Clearly trying to keep up.

'However the egg is a very temporary state. Humans have live young. We grow our young in our bodies for around ten moon cycles. About two hundred and eighty sun cycles.'

'Ten moon cycles! Your children must be huge. No wonder it is dangerous for females.'

'The baby itself is normally between seven and ten pounds. I am only a hundred and thirty pounds so my children may be a smaller. Although normally we put on about twenty to thirty more pounds during a pregnancy.'

'If you gain twenty... pounds that would be about one sixth of your current size?' he asked.

'Yes.'

'Does that not make it harder to move?'

'It can. By the end of a pregnancy most females can not touch their toes or even see them. Our center of mass has changed. By the end we have to develop a kind of slow wide walk and most physical activity becomes much harder.'

'So you have fully formed cubs not eggs?'

'Yes. Now where was I?'

'You were telling me you mate during the second stage if you want to have children.'

'Ah yes. Thank you. Our mature eggs are only viable for about fourty eight hours or two sun cycles. That is the only chance we get for the moon cycle. Within a sun cycle of the egg maturing we reach the third stage. Ovulation. It referrs to the two sun cycles in which the egg is viable. Meaning able to become fertilized and grow into a child.'

'If the egg is only viable for two sun cycles why not mate during those two days? I know you said there may be multiple eggs that are released so why not just mate every time?'

'It can be very hard to tell exactly when that is. We do not get much warning. It takes time for the male's...' I wasn't sure what to call it. 'It takes time for male genetic material to reach the egg. Also male genetic material can survive for days in the female body while it waits for an egg to combine with.'

'How long?' he asked.

'What?'

'How long can male genetic material survive in the female body?'

'I can not speak on other races or I guess the event of races mating with another race. Human male genetic material can live in the female reproductive tract for up to ten sun cycles. Provided, of course, that conditions are right.'