Eight days into the trip, they were over halfway to Galgazor. They had inspected 100 systems. Of those, seven had one planet with an atmosphere containing oxygen. One of them had a spacefaring civilization, but it did not have starships.

Nick wanted to stay a while and say hi, but Geh!aoa said no. "If we get more starships, we can come back later," the Captain declared. "I would like to make more friends, but helping my people comes first."

* *

Nick and Sana lay on Sana's bed, curled up together. It felt like progress—Sana often kicked him out as soon as the sex was done. "You feel like a furnace," he commented, not for the first time.

"And you feel pleasantly cool, except during sex. Are you sated, Nick?"

"Maybe," he said, stalling for time. "Are you?"

"Yes. I would not say no to more sex, but I am content."

"I enjoy lying down with you like this."

"I noticed."

Nick lay his head back, trying to figure out how he felt. Sana was an interesting person, but she was also an alien, and human emotions did not always map over correctly. Or maybe that was just cultural.

"Do you need any more 'samples' from me?"

"No. I have finished my study."

"Oh."

"I do not need samples, but I still want them sometimes. I enjoy collecting them." Sana grinned at him, her white teeth flashing in the semi-darkness.

"Oh. Good." Nick smiled. "What did you find out? From the samples?"

"It is interesting," Sana said, perking up visibly. "Humans and Goldaskians are not quite...able to have children together."

"No?"

"No. Well, some. We can have...children, but they would be beep. Our children could not have children," she clarified.

"They would be sterile," Nick added the word.

"Yes." Sana started to explain something, and was confronted with a barrage of beeps. She tugged one horn a bit in frustration. "It is annoying. I want to go to Earth just to get your English dictionary. If I knew how good to have it would be, I have gotten one when we were at Earth."

"Me too. Sorry I don't have the vocabulary to help you explain. I'm not a very smart human."

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"You have said this."

"I wish I were smarter. It would be a big help."

Sana rolled a bit closer and propped her head up on one elbow. "Do you want to be smarter?"

"Yeah, I just said so."

Sana paused, then said slowly, "I can do this for you...if you want it."

Nick blinked and stared at her. "Wait. Did you just say that you can make me smarter?"

"Yes."

"That...sounds too good to be true. What's the catch?"

"Does 'what's the catch' mean 'give a summary'?"

"No, it means, what is the bad news.The down side. The problem."

"Oh." Sana frowned. "You will be different."

"Different how?"

"Different... ways to do it, different changes."

"What are the ways to do it?"

Sana took a deep breath and sat up. "I can change your brain chemistry, I can do surgery on your brain, or I can give you tools. One or more of these."

"Brain chemistry...you mean like my depression? So I won't have to take pills any more?"

"Yes. That is one change, and an easy one."

"What would the surgery do?"

Sana said a sentence that did not translate at all, then sighed. "I can connect more parts of your brain together. I can add more brain material. I can connect a small computer to your brain. One or more of these."

"I don't want a computer in my brain. I've read too many stories about electronics breaking."

"It is not electronics, but I understand, I think. Many Goldaskians agree with you."

"What was the third option again?"

"I can give you tools. Like a computer in your brain, but outside, so you can take it off."

"You mean, is that going to have a jack or something?" Petra beeped. "A hole in my neck for wires?"

Sana burst out laughing. "No," she managed. "You will not have...a hole...in your neck!" She was shaking the bed, hissing with laughter. Nick gave her a minute to recover. One of the more fun details of alien contact was the way they often cracked each other up with either bad translations or weird ideas.

Once she had regained her composure, Nick said, "All right, so what are the down sides to each option?"

Sana then tried to give Nick a lesson on brain mods, and he quickly got lost in the details. There was just too much. She gave him several definitions of "intelligence" just for starters. While he tried to get those straight, she went into detail on what each method would change, what the side effects might be, and so on.

They went back and forth for a while, until Sana tugged on both horns for a minute with a groan. "Nick, I cannot explain, your brain does not understand your brain!" She sighed. He scowled, angry with himself. I'm too stupid even to understand how to get smarter when it's being offered? Is that what I'm hearing?

"Nick." He kept rubbing his forehead. "Nick, I have a suggestion."

"What?" he asked, trying hard not to sound snappish.

"Let me make you smarter for a short time. Then you can think about it and decide what you want."

"How?"

"I will make a medicine."

"Like, an intelligence potion or something?" Once he explained 'potion', Sana nodded.

"Yes. Exactly."

"Um...sure!" Nick gave a little laugh. "If it's temporary, let's go for it!"

"Does that mean you want to do it?"

"Yes."

"All right. Give me a day to check. I want to be very careful with your brain, Nick. I like it. I want I do have more humans to study, but I will be...very careful."

"Sounds good. Wow. That's...another thing my world will want lots of. In fact, I'd say my planet needs a lot of it."

"There is good and bad in it, Nick, but both will be temporary."

"I understand. Hell, humans drink alcohol all the time and it makes them dumber. I'll be happy to try a drink that makes me smarter, even for a little while."

"That is a yes?"

"Yes!"

Sana's eyes dilated. "Nick, I am no longer sated." She pounced on him, and Nick quickly discovered that he was not sated, either.

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