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up to my ear, kept my other arm wrapped tightly around her, and let myself drift off.
    Chapter 10
    I woke early.
    The captain was still snoring softly, so I slid out of the bag as slowly and as stealthily as I could, letting my superior curl the fabric around herself and bury her face deeper into my jumper. The sun wasn’t yet up, but I could see well enough. Being both naked and cold, now seemed as good a time as any to go see if my uniform had dried. But first, business. I spied a low mound of split rock not too far off, and headed directly for it.
    The Professor caught me halfway back.
    I felt a bit awkward over my nudity, then decided it was silly to be modest in front of the alien. Though I also thought this is how the Queen Mother must have felt when she was forced to disengage from her disc.
    “Good morning,” the Professor said.
    “Hello,” I replied.
    “The female still sleeps?”
    “For the moment.”
    “Did you mate with her?”
    I sputtered a quietly exclamatory denial. Then asked, “Whatever gave you that idea?”
    “On Purgatory you once told me that when male and female humans wish to copulate, they will share the same bed.”
    “On Purgatory, sure, and then only if the male and the female know each other well enough and have agreed to have that kind of relationship.”
    “It is not an automatic biological function?”
    “No,” I said firmly. “Is it for you mantes?”
    The Professor considered, a forelimb gently running along the edge of his disc.
    “In some ways, yes. The egg-laying females—like the Queen Mother—when they enter what you would call estrus, they exude a pheromone that is both sexually rapturous and psychologically debilitating for males. Any male within reach of the pheromone becomes somewhat mindless in his pursuit of intercourse. The only way to avoid it is to avoid being where the pheromone can get to you.”
    “But once you get a whiff—”
    “Then the male is in for a delightfully stupid time of physical pleasure, followed by a lengthy period of slumber.”
    “Well,” I said, smiling, “at least  one  thing is shared between human males and mantis males.”
    “Still,” said the Professor, “with Adanaho, if she is available to you and there is the possibility of sex, are you not…tempted?”
    “Of course I’m tempted,” I snapped. Then apologized for being harsh. “It’s been at least a dozen or more years since I had a woman in my arms like that. But when a human male gets excited, he’s still in full command of his faculties. He can still choose. Or at least he’s expected to behave as if he has a choice. Personally, I think it’s one of the few things that actually makes us different from mere animals. We can deny our lusts, even during moments of opportunity.”
    “So you chose to abstain.”
    “Yes.”
    “Is she not attractive?”
    “Yes, she’s attractive.”
    “Forgive me Harry, I am still struggling to understand.”
    “Look,” I said, my hands on my hips as I walked slowly over to the rocks where my uniform and boots were spread out, “attraction is only part of it. There’s other factors too. Like, she’s too young. Much younger than I am. I’d feel like I was taking advantage of her. Plus, she’s my superior officer in the Fleet. It’s against the rules for a superior and a subordinate to engage in sexual congress.”
    “Why?”
    “Bad for discipline in the chain-of-command, among other things.”
    “And that’s all?”
    “No,” I said, testing the fabric between my fingers. It felt dry enough. I started to put my undergarments on. “The male and the female should really love each other first, before they have sex. When sex happens before love, or without love, it gets…complicated.”
    “Also immoral,” said the Professor.
    “If the man and the woman subscribe to certain ‘flavors’ of religious or moral tradition, yes. That too. Though most religious proscriptions surrounding intercourse simply involve