Starfish

Five

"Doctor, I didn't receive your response to my report yesterday," Meem tugged the loose neck of her burnt orange tunic over her shoulder, her green skin sparkling. A collar of yellow glass beads circled her neck halfway to her chin. "I heard you were out of the office all day, were you ill?"

"I was taking some time off. If you would, I have Doctor Ma'atanoa's review in a few minutes. I would like the room to be free of distractions."

"Oh, distractions," Meem almost purred, flickering purple. "I see. Well, I suppose I can step outside for a moment."

Ardus looked up from the tablet with a blank expression. "I believe you are late for the red worms' feeding. They must be fed the diet I prescribed to them as it is prescribed, which means on time. Do you want that venom or not?"

"Of course I do," Meem fingered the yellow collar. "What else could I possibly want?"

"Would you leave already? I do not even allow Athe to stand around during reviews." Ardus grumbled to himself, and Meem showed herself out with a flip of her short green barbels. The door opened to show Doctor Ma'atanoa standing outside, and Ardus suppressed a powerful urge to jump out of his seat. Even Meem stopped when she saw what the human was wearing. Ardus stared at the saffron-yellow tunic and emerald-green trousers, the trousers' band high on Doctor Ma'atanoa's waist and gathered loosely just above her ankles. The tunic, made for a flat-chested Dreen child, strained against those soft, round things that a moment's research (and weakness) the day before informed him were called a number of odd colloquial names, the most proper term being "breasts". The fabric pushed these together and created a crease down the center of her chest that Ardus could not, for some reason, take his eyes off of. The rich yellow against her bronze skin turned Doctor Ma'atanoa into gold.

Meem choked on a giggle, her cheeks and neck sparking pink. "Doctor, those are children's clothes."

"I know, but they're the only ones that fit." Doctor Ma'atanoa pulled some of the gathered material out from her thigh, looking pleased with herself. "They're cute, though."

Ardus realized that he was clenching his teeth. With an effort he pried his jaw open. "Meem, if you mind." Meem could hardly pull herself out of the room. Ardus violently cleared his throat and she hustled off, finally. The door swished closed and Ardus realized, with yet another start that he was alone with Doctor Ma'atanoa. And her breasts. He stared until Doctor Ma'atanoa shuffled and coughed politely. Ardus stirred himself and reached for his tablet, pulling up the questions he had prepared for the literature review. "Right, yes." He avoided looking at her again, ignoring as best he could the soft whisper of her legs under the green cloth. Why. Just, why. Ardus focused on the sound of the ocean through the open window, the constant shushing and hissing of foam and tide. When he felt he had his pulse and breath back under control, he looked up. Doctor Ma'atanoa had pulled her chair into the center of the room and sat there, a tablet in her lap, waiting patiently. "What are you doing?"

"Um... Aren't we doing a review?" She gave him a strange look, one he couldn't quite read. Ardus blinked. "Yes."

"Well, this is what reviews were like in graduate school. I sat for my doctorate like this."

You sat for your doctorate wearing something that distracting? Who is being tested here?  "You had an oral review?"

"Several. And written exams. And lab work, case studies, field work... You read the papers I submitted, didn't you?" She was looking at him in such an odd way. "Doctor, are you-"

"Y-yes," Ardus felt his neck, face and chest warm. He was violently glad that Dreen did not have a blush response like humans, though he wasn't sure why he'd have one in the first place. "I read them, they were one of the reasons you were selected for this program. I am hoping that you can replicate such work on Dreenai."