Walking up to my dorm, I saw Astrid made good on her promise to me. Sure enough, my car was packed in a space nearest to the entrance. Upon further inspection, I saw an envelope tucked under one of the wiper blades. Taking it out, I tore it open and read it. 

Hello Dean! I hope you’re doing better. Once again, my apologies for the actions of my employee. Rest assured the proper authorities have been notified and she will be dealt with. Severely. If you want to know more or have questions, feel free to call me!  

“Well, that’s good. Maybe I should call her back. I’ve got a bad feeling about this.” Taking out my phone, I found the text Astrid had sent me the night before and dialed her up. Once she picked up, my ear was blasted with music. I pulled my phone away until it quieted down, albeit a bit muffled still. 

“Dean! I’m happy you called. I think I just missed you if you called so soon. How can I help you? I must say...I’m pleased you decided to call so quickly.” Her voice was eager, but I was not in the mood to entertain that right now, so I went straight to the point. 

“Astrid, are they gonna...hurt that woman?” I tentatively asked, fearing the worst. 

“Yes? The crime for assaulting a man is death.” She said flatly.  

“Er, what about things like self-defense?”  

“Hmm, I suppose that does happen occasionally, but it depends on the circumstances. Why do you ask?” I thought back to how Freyja beat down two students a few days ago, maybe that’s why she got off relatively easy from Hilda and wasn’t punished further. 

“No reason. Look, I appreciate what you did for me but, Astrid, please don’t let them kill her. I know what she did and tried to do was fucked up, but her being sentenced to death bothers me.”  

Astrid stammered a bit before responding. 

“A-Are you absolutely sure? She didn’t blackmail you or anything did she?” 

“Not at all, it just seems a bit extreme to me. Send her to prison for all I care, but I’m drawing the line at death, okay?” I laughed, probably to her confusion. 

“Humans are weird. Okay, I’ll let my contact know about this, you know...you’re a merciful fellow. You’d make for a good...yeah.” I knew what she was going to say, remembering the look of her eyes.  

“Gee, thanks. Anyway, I got some things to do. Thanks again Astrid, I'll hit you up later to hang or something.”  

“A-Absolutely, I’d love it!” I feel like most guys would be ecstatic to hear another woman be that stoked about wanting to be with them. I mean I did, I just felt back since they were clearly starved for more...romantic attention. I see now why some of their men might take advantage of that. 

Astrid and I said our goodbyes and I meandered back to my dorm to make some ramen before I settled in to do some homework. 

“No rest for the wicked, no sleep for the dead. Even when life shits on you, things still gotta get done.” I chuckled as I turned on my TV. 

*** 

The next morning, I awoke to my alarm clock blaring classic rock at eight in the morning, sharp. Grumbling at myself for choosing such an early time to wake up, I slunk out of my bed and made my way to the bathroom to get cleaned up. I say that, but a good twenty minutes was spent semi-laying on the shower floor, soaking up the heat from the water and steam until I was awake enough to do more. 

After that and some cereal, naturally, I set about planning my day. 

“Right! First things first, homework. Let’s start with the Biology assignment, then my English essay and to top it off, some math.” I said this as I pulled all of the relevant materials out of my desk and booted up my laptop. “Break for lunch at around noon...gives me two-ish hours. Let’s do it.” 

I was hopeful when I started working on my assignments, but without going to class and having to review everything on my end, made it far more difficult than I had first thought. Biology went alright, it had to do with different types of cells, their names, and what they do. Not the hardest stuff I know, but I felt my cheeks flush with embarrassment at not knowing more of the basic things in my textbook.  

“Once a C and barely a B student, always a C and barely a B student,” I said under my breath. In the pursuit of my fruitless effort to complete studying and my assignments in a reasonable amount of time. I failed to notice that lunchtime had come and gone, and right on cue my stomach started to rumble. “Heh, want some food little guy?” I patted my belly before putting my stuff away, grabbed my jacket, and went on my way to the campus cafe. 

Pizza for lunch sounded good. 

Looking around, there were a few students here and there milling about, going to and fro from classes I guessed. I was glad none of them recognized me or shot me a dirty look, probably too preoccupied with their problems. Well, that and it was a colder day than usual to the point I could see my breath. I wouldn’t want to stay out here longer than I would need to either. Pulling up the hood to my jacket over my head, I continued on.  

Should've driven my tan ass the two minutes to the cafe parking lot. 

When I was almost at my destination, I picked up the pace as my stomach gurgled at me in annoyance. Anyhow, as the cafe came into the distance, I saw something I hadn’t expected. 

A male Bevusian in military gear. He stood stone still a dozen yards or so away from the cafe, monitoring the students as they passed by with a glance, all four arms resting behind his back. Height-wise, he was much shorter than a Bevu woman, hell I bet I was taller than him. He still had that trademark yellow skin and white hair, however. Covering his body was a black body glove that clung to his skin. Atop it, were white metallic plates with gold trim, reminiscent of a knight, except for the armor didn’t connect at his joints. 

Curious, I walked over to him despite the protests of my hungering stomach. When I approached him, he glanced at me yet held my gaze. I put on an awkward smile to put him at ease, but he continued to frown even as I said hello. 

“I’ve uh, never met a male Bevusian before, I see they’re amping up security on campus. Probably my fault for that ha-ha.” I laughed, he stared at me quizzically for a moment before responding. 

“You are Mr. Reyez?”  

“The one and only bastard. A pleasure to meet you.” Without any prompting, he bowed his head low, startling me back a step. 

“You have my thanks for defending one of my people. I know you humans are unhappy with our occupation of your home, but you have my gratitude nonetheless.”  

Dang, you get into one scrap, and everyone either hates your guts or thinks you’re a hero. 

“Uh, raise your head, we’re good man. My uncle used to say, ‘Love thy neighbor’...wait, do you guys know about Jesus...or a space Jesus?”  

“Who?” I dropped that conversation, another time maybe. 

“Ah, my bad, I’m Dean, you are?” He stood at attention once I asked. 

“Erik-Loh, I am a Sergeant if we are using human terms. I am tasked with securing the campus and responding to anti-Bevusian activities should they be deemed dangerous.” I whistled at that. 

“They really got you working Erik, the whole campus by yourself?” He shook his head and chuckled, he explained that he was supported by the campus police, but they weren’t too keen on responding to him often enough. As well as the fact that his armor greatly boosted his physical capabilities, aside from hidden weapons on his person. “Don’t let it get to you my man; people can be assholes. I’d ignore them. Shit, I’m not happy about humanity being in the stone age compared to you guys, but eh, what’s done is done.” Erik cast me a sideways glance. 

“You do not enjoy our presence, yet helped one of my people, why is that?” 

Remember Dean, people will find ways to hate others no matter what, find the good that you can, otherwise, you’ll rot from the inside out.  

Those were the last words Uncle Andres told me before he passed. 

“Because they stepped up to me, and bullies can go eat a dick.” I laughed while Erik chuckled awkwardly. “Enough about that, why don’t you explain to me why male and female Bevusians are so...” 

“Dissimilar? Right, it is a peculiar thing. Allow me to put it in simple terms for you. Since the earliest stages of evolution on our planet, our females have been strong, intelligent, fast, and by far the most dominant entity on our home planet. It is hypothesized that due to the low birthrate of males, our female counterparts evolved to be...apex predators capable of protecting their mates from all harm. Why it occurred this way and not the other way around, our scientists are unsure.” Xenobiology wasn’t my cup of tea but logically it made sense. 

“That I get, but why are your men basically second-class citizens?” Erik gasped in shock just as Freyja did when I commented about her father. 

“We are not that. It is simply the case that our biological natures drive our social and cultural interactions. Our women have positions of power due to their extreme strength and intelligence, and men like us have more power when it comes to relationships. It is the natural order of things; you humans are the odd ones.”  

"Well alright, so what about everything else? Like, what does your society even look like in that case?" Erik held up four fingers.

"There are four different classes of Bevusian, castes. All of whom possess equal rights." I doubted that but let him go on. "You have the commoners who make up the bulk of our empire, then the warriors. Anyone can become a warrior, but men typically do not go into that profession. Next are the merchants who are akin to...aristocrats? I believe that is the human term for it." 

"Basically merchants hold political power?" I interjected.

"Precisely. Finally, we have the three royal houses. The House of Trade, The House of War, and the House of Diplomacy. All three work together to create our laws and determine which actions to take as an empire. Each has their own King and Queen's with dozens of princesses in tow." He paused to laugh. "Those poor kings must be run so ragged by all of those women. In any case, The House of Diplomacy is an odd one." He mused, suddenly serious. I asked him why that was. Their king only took on a single Queen and had only one daughter who has been kept secret.

"Yeah, that's uh, pretty weird if you ask me." I then asked Erik if his people questioned them about it. He stated bluntly that it wasn't their place to question that decision. Seeing that he was uncomfortable talking more on it, despite him bringing it up, I let it go and opted to change the subject.

“I see, maybe. But hey, I heard that you guys get this weird blue eye thing, what's that about?” I asked, hoping he wouldn’t probe me on how I knew about it. Thankfully, he was happy to continue talking, his expression brightening. He seemed rather excited to have a decent conversation since his arrival. 

“Correct! Relationships are still formed without the aid of pheromones, but the ones that do are considered optimal.” With that now confirmed for me, I asked him the one question that had been eating away at me all day. 

“Are those ‘Optimal’ relationships purely...sexually driven? Like a weird form of Stockholm syndrome where you think you like or love the other person?” He considered this for a moment, and after explaining what Stockholm syndrome was, he answered confidently. 

“Mr. Reyez, these relationships can be rejected by either party, yet it rarely happens. Our people believe in predestination, and we consider those foolish if they do not go through with it.” 

“Why is that?” Erik leaned over and whispered with a smirk on his face. 

“Because it means you’ve found one of the few people in this ever-expanding universe who will love you more than you could ever know. Those pheromones don’t just make you ‘excited’, it is confirmation that on a genetic level, you will no doubt come to enjoy their presence legitimately. It will take time of course, but personally, I long for the day I am swept off my feet by a lover of my own. Why do you think I’ve rejected all my suitors so far?” I wonder if all male Bevu’s were hopeless romantics? Plus, it’s starting to make a lot of sense as to why their females are desperate for companionship. If others like Erik were holding out for ‘the one’ no wonder they would go a little crazy.  

No wonder one attacked me. It’s no excuse, not at all. But I can at least understand more now. 

“Thank you, Erik, that was a very fun and enlightening conversation. I’ve got to get some lunch now; I’ll see you around man.” We shook hands and when I turned back to look at him before heading into the cafe, he was still smiling.