Aliena Too by Piers Anthony Page A

regardless which male wins the race, and which female.”
    â€œAnd if you won, you could be chosen by the winning female.”
    â€œI am assuming that partners do not breed unless both are interested. I could be chosen, but I could also choose.”
    â€œTrue. But breeding is compelling; a starfish, given the opportunity, does not decline. There will be a breeding between the male winner and either the female winner or me. If you win, that will be your choice.”
    She had not said she would decline. “That is a choice I would like to have.”
    Her colors resumed their muted shifting. “You have assessed it rationally.”
    But neither had she said she would accept.
    They slept. He realized that her kindness in this respect was not completely altruistic; she needed company for her own sleeping, and he was what was available. She must have slept with Gloaming before he transferred to his human host: Quincy’s body. She might have done it with one of the students, but that would have been awkward because they were even in number, and her intercession would have left one unattached. No, they could sleep in groups. Still, he liked to think that she preferred his company.
    The next day there was another event. “Today the humans are visiting: my child Maple and your wife Lida. We will want to interact with them. The machines will translate; there will be no problem communicating.”
    â€œI met Maple,” Quincy said.
    â€œYes. I was sorry to leave her, as I was to leave Brom. I learned love, and I love them both.”
    â€œThat must have been hard for you,” he said sympathetically.
    â€œNo harder than for you to leave Lida. You are the one other starfish who understands.”
    And there was another reason she associated with him: he was in a similar emotional situation.
    She took him to a vertical transparent wall that showed an air-filled hallway beyond. Aliena moved to that wall, and Quincy took his position somewhat apart from her. Two human forms appeared, walking: an adult female and a juvenile female. The young one skipped ahead. He recognized her as the child who had accompanied the Smythes at the outset of his adventure, but now he saw her from the starfish perspective. She was an awkward mass of flesh supported by internal bones, precariously balanced on her hind arms, with her long head fur flouncing as she moved. She ran to face Aliena. “Mother!” she cried.
    â€œMaple!” Aliena replied.
    The woman walked beyond them, coming to stand before Quincy. She looked even worse than the child, her flesh projecting here and there, pushing out the cloth of her clothing and jiggling, and her loose hair obscuring part of her head. It was Lida.
    After a moment he managed to reorient and see her as human, rather than alien. But he did wonder how Aliena had managed to stomach her occupation of a human host. It must have been a horrendous trial, at least at first.
    â€œHello, Lida,” he said. “You look lovely as ever.” That was technically true, just not the full story.
    â€œI—I’m uncertain I can say the same of you.”
    He laughed, appreciating the anomaly: they each looked like monsters to the other. “I have Gloaming’s original body. I assure you it’s a good one.”
    â€œYou know his name?” she asked, surprised.
    â€œAliena told me.” He told her of the reference.
    â€œOh, Quincy! I’m supposed to love the alien male in your body. But I still love you !”
    â€œAnd I still love you, Li.” And he did, but not in precisely the same manner as before. His starfish host simply was not aroused by the same things his human host had responded to. Lida was no longer the sexy creature he had known as a human male, though she had not changed. “But we both have to move on.”
    She hesitated, then said, “I’ve been giving him sex. But I haven’t climaxed myself.”
    Which meant