Dan
Dan let out a frustrated growl as he went through the thousands of emails he received. He had to read the letters written in primitive human language so he wouldn't miss any important announcement.
Most letters were from advertising companies inviting him to work for brands. One of them was a beverage company who wanted him to promote their sugary soda. A soda. The absurdity that made him roll his eyes. Grosh Physiology didn't even process human beverages properly, let alone enjoy them. He tossed the mail in the garbage when he realized there was nothing important in them.
Advertisers were getting bolder, almost forcing him into working with them. Human money held no value to him, so they lured him with free human labor. It was mind-boggling how humans treated their own kind as objects. The fact that this species called itself intelligent was laughable.
He requested the authority to filter advertiser letters, yet every other day, he had to scramble through them to find newsletters on crucial updates. The thought of humans trying to use him, a Grosh, no less, to sell their products was laughable. Did they think his endorsement would somehow make their brand credible? Dense, he thought. He had no idea what kind of superiority complex they were dealing with.
Not that he hadn't given their culture a fair shake. His natural curiosity led him to try their so-called "delicacies." Human food was tolerable at best, though he couldn't fathom why they consumed some of the things they did. Then there was his other experiment: sleeping with a human woman. That experience had been... better than the food, at least.
Dan sighed in frustration. Humans were exhausting, and their antics were absurd.
He missed home. And he had been missing home a bit too much lately. It had been five earth years since he had last visited Grosh, the last time he had visited Grosh...it was to convince his father to send someone else as an ambassador on Earth.
Dan hated being away from home. But his father wasn't very keen on sending someone else. He wanted Dan away from Grosh. And it didn't take genius to guess why. His absence made them spread their politician agenda better. Atleast here human and Grosh were similar, the hunger of power.
He missed his soft Natural bed back at him. But most of all, he missed the sex. Sex with his own kind. Sex with human females left him unsatisfied, to say the least.
But lately, he was finding it hard to get excited even for that. Grosh males were naturally very sexual. They could have sex multiple times a day. The lack of excitement was rare on Grosh male. Dan was scared that if he stayed in the human world for a few more years, he might become impotent. He shuddered at the thought.
Dan typed out a quick message on his communication device and sent it to Paula, one of the board members at NEAE. Paula was bold...sometimes too bold and Dan tolerated more than admired this trait. She had a tendency to push boundaries, which occasionally worked in her favor and often didn't.
She was brash, unpredictable, and a little too eager to impress. It reminded him of the confidence back on Grosh, though theirs is genuine and rooted in their culture.
Back home, intimacy was fluid, unburdened by the rigid labels humans seemed so obsessed with. Grosh culture had never seen gender as a limitation. Relationships were built on biological compatibility. Your mate could be anyone, male, female, or anything in between.
Dan didn't have a mate yet, but he had shared his bed with partners of all genders, and each encounter was a symphony of exploration and shared vulnerability. The Grosh didn't attach guilt or shame to desire, nor did they trivialize it.
The bell to Dan's apartment chimed indicating there was someone at the door. He took slow and deliberate steps as he crossed the room.
The humans had given him the top apartment at the Alien Residency Tower. The apartment was a reflection of Grosh minimalism meeting human indulgence. Although it was nothing like his sleeping place on his home planet.
The room itself was sparsely decorated but elegant...sleek, metallic furniture interspersed with warm wooden accents, a subtle nod to human design.
One wall was dominated by a holographic interface, glowing faintly with notifications and schedules. The opposite wall held a massive bookshelf, a surprising addition for a species as advanced as the Grosh, these books were child's play for him, like a scholar reading nursery books, but he loved the fiction section, specially the one that dealth with human emotions and pain. Dan had taken to collecting fiction from all human cultures and languages, finding it oddly fascinating.
The doorbell chimed again. Dan reached the entrance and pressed his hand to the biometric lock, the door slid open to reveal Paula standing there. She was wearing jeans and a fitted white blouse, her confident stance unmistakable even in the casual outfit.
"Paula," he greeted, leaning slightly against the frame.
"It is unlike you to call me for a hookup."
"I haven't been myself lately," he said, taking her by her waist, pulling her into the room, and closing the door behind her.
"What do you mean?" she asked, tilting her head to the side. Her hungry eyes roamed his body.
"I mean, your human tendencies are rubbing off on me," he said, his voice tinged with frustration. "And in the process, my real self is slipping further away."
"That's not good," she chuckled, her unusually long nails raking his chest. "I like your Grosh side. It is what makes you unique."
"You haven't even met my Grosh side," he turned her around with a sudden whoosh. She gasped but covered it with an obnoxious giggle.
"Why don't you show me then?"
"Your fledgling human body couldn't possibly take it." He pulled her pants down, bending her over. "Spread your legs."
"I like it when you become this commanding. Makes me feel like a real woman. No one has ever talked to me this way." She moaned as he opened her legs wide.
Her easy compliance and overly pleasing tone were a huge turn-off, but human norms were much different from Grosh's. He couldn't possibly ask her to give him a challenge. Paula was a good distraction. She was not afraid of making the first move.
Humans were a little bit similar to Grosh when it came to their sexual appetite. Being one of the most sexual creatures on their planet, they were still not as sexual as Grosh people. Human would find it horrifying how many times Grosh had sex during their mating spree. A phenomenon where the partner went into heat, the couple went on a mating spree which lasted for hours. And as far as procreation was concerned breeding was a very complicated process in his home planet. Their breeding was nowhere near as fast as humans. Most matings didn't end up in pregnancies, but the rare pregnancies made sure that the young were well taken care of.
Dan zipped up his pants when he finished inside her. She couldn't give him diseases, as he was immune to Earth viruses, and she wouldn't contract anything from him because he wasn't carrying anything...he got tested every month, a routine the NEAE medical team strictly enforced. And as far as pregnancy was concerned, that was out of the realm of possibility.
"I like it that I don't have to use protection with you." Paula pointed out, licking her lips as she righted her clothes. Contraception wasn't a thing on his home planet. He appreciated the human take on preventive measures, atleast they weren't as self destruction in this aspect as they were in others.
"What are we going to do now?" Paula asked, leaning towards him.
Dan mentally went through his schedule, when he realised a dull ache was starting to form behind his temple.
It wasn't the first time he was feeling sick. The Earth's gravity always seemed to creep up on him at the worst times, leaving him irritable and slightly disoriented. He would need to talk to Ira about prescribing stronger medication, human painkillers barely made a dent in his symptoms.
The thought of his overdue monthly checkup surfaced, and his mood soured further. He had intended to get it over with today, but instead of Ira's familiar, no-nonsense presence, he was greeted by some timid intern who looked as if they'd crumble under a harsh glance. It grated on his nerves. Ira knew better than anyone that he valued precision and competence, especially regarding his health. The idea of entrusting his well-being to someone so blatantly inexperienced bordered on insulting.
Dan clenched his jaw. He didn't care to learn the intern's name or why Ira thought delegating his care to him was acceptable. Whoever he was, he lacked the skill necessary to deal with a Grosh, let alone him. It was clear from the way he fumbled through his duties, and Dan had no patience for amateurs. Ira should have known better. She wasn't usually this lenient before. Even though she was the only human who dared challenge him, her forthrightness was starting to irritate him a little bit.
He sighed, thinking of the early days when Ira became his assigned physician. From the moment he first moved to the New Earth Alien Embassy (NEAE), she had been his only doctor, navigating his physiology with a balance of professionalism and unshakable confidence. She wasn't intimidated by his sharp demeanor or his Grosh heritage, a rarity among humans. The same couldn't be said for the interns that NEAE hired every year.
Dan looked at the time. "I have work in the communication room?" He said turning to Paula.
"Calling home again?"
"You should go now. The director grows weary without you," Dan said. Without waiting for her response, he turned away, tapping deftly on his communication console. He sent instructions to coordinators to prepare the communication room for an interstellar call.
Grosh had built the communication room deep within the NEAE tower, a heavily secured chamber bristling with Grosh technology that humans couldn't hope to replicate. While Earth had managed to make significant strides in communication technology, their primitive satellites and fiber-optic cables were toys compared to the Grosh systems.
The devices in the communication room were marvels of Grosh engineering, equipped with quantum entanglement relays and subspace signal modulators. These allowed messages to traverse millions of light-years almost instantaneously, defying the usual constraints of space and time. To humans, it seemed like magic, but for the Grosh, it was simply advanced science.
The technology was housed within a sleek black console that shimmered with faint iridescence, pulsating gently as if alive. The Grosh referred to it as a Resonance Nexus, and it wasn't just a tool for communication...it was an extension of their intellect and design philosophy, a seamless integration of function and art.
Dan often used the Nexus to connect with the Grosh homeworld, where the head office oversaw operations across various galaxies. These calls weren't simple exchanges of pleasantries...they were carefully encrypted transmissions carrying vital information. Each call required layers of biometric authentication to ensure no human or other intelligence could interference.
Dan walked to the communication room. The door only opened for him. If a nuclear war destroyed the whole NEAE, the room would still remain with it's technology intact like a black box.
Dan went to the center console and keyed in commands to open the communication. The console began to hum softly, a low, resonant tone that seemed to vibrate in his chest. The air in the room shimmered faintly as the Nexus synchronized with its counterpart light-years away. Dan didn't particularly enjoy these conversations, but they were necessary.Turning back to the console, he straightened his posture and prepared himself. Talking to the head office was never pleasant, but at least it was efficient, something he could appreciate.
He had to report everything going on on Earth back home. His cryptic messages were beyond human ability to read. He couldn't possibly tell them what he was writing to his people. Humans were egoistic creatures, too arrogant for their own good. If they came to know Grosh was looking over them like parents over naughty kids they wouldn't be as friendly to him. But hiding the messages was easy. Grosh's written language was impossible for humans to decipher.
Dan walked out from the room once he was done sending the message and came out only to collide face to face with Paula.
He was pretty sure she was stalking him since there was no other explanation why he would see her when she left his room only a few hours ago.
"What are you doing here?" Dan asked with a fake smile that he had learned from humans.
"You left me starving for more." She said with a wink.
Dan couldn't help but smirk inwardly. He knew exactly why she was here. The administration was trying to use her to keep tabs on him, no doubt. Their attempts were so obvious, it almost made him laugh. The humans' schemes were almost childishly transparent to him. They had no idea how little he cared for their petty games.
Dan had no idea why a woman with such high authority wouldn't know better. She shouldn't have slept with him in the first place to appease the administration. Not that he cared. She had a huge fan following outside NEAE, bringing the only female board member on NEAE. She had power and beauty that women on Earth could only dream of. She could get any human male she wanted but if she wanted to use her beauty for something else then it was her choice.
"Are you free this evening? We could watch a movie together." She said, flirting.
"I would have loved to, but my monthly checkup is due. I need to be with Ira. I am so sorry."
"Oh. No problem, maybe next time." She went on her tiptoes, kissing him on the cheek.
Dan scurried away, not wanting to be around her any longer.
***
Read the explicit version of the full book on my Patreon for $4.99
Link - https://www.patreon.com/RHRose