She knew the anatomy of the human body. Her nose scrunched as she imagined the rest. An awkward silence descended upon the room, apart from the muffled snorts from Houston. He had to be the most unprofessional doctor she’d ever met. Or maybe all Earth doctors were like this.

“And what is PMS?” Elara asked.

Atlas chuckled behind her. Romy twisted in her seat, but his half-smirk had her facing forwards in a hurry. Why was her face getting hot? She’d never been embarrassed about her body in her life.

“Period Mood Swings, my star.”

Romy watched in shock as Elara’s eyes welled with tears. Phobos draped an arm around her and rubbed her back in circles.

Thrym kneaded his eyes. “This explains a few things.”

Romy followed his gaze down to his lap and threw herself back into the chair when she realised what she’d done.

“Yep, explains the weird dream,” Phobos muttered.

Elara wailed something unintelligible between sobs, her face blotchy and tear-streaked.

“At least you won’t get periods,” Houston added. “I’ve implanted a device in your arm to prevent pregnancy. It’s illegal to have children without a permit on Earth. But it won’t stop the real good stuff—the snapping, the crankiness, the crying.”

Romy frowned at him. Is that supposed to be good news? She rubbed two fingers over the small lump in her arm Houston inserted yesterday.

“Space friends,” Houston called over Elara’s sobs. “Welcome to puberty at twenty-four years old!”

CHAPTER ELEVEN

“That’s enough,” Atlas commanded.

Elara's wailing quieted to an occasional sniffle.

Houston bowed and nodded at Atlas as he took the doctor’s position.

Houston practically ran from the room. For some reason, Romy couldn’t look him in the eye. But she didn’t want to look at Thrym or the others, either. The puberty talk had weirded her out.

“I’ll bet it’s an involuntary thing,” Phobos mused into the silence. “A male will be attracted to a female, no matter what.”

She glanced up at Atlas and saw he was watching her. He broke off first this time, and answered Phobos, “We all have a certain type we prefer.”

Thrym tensed beside her.

“There are more important things to discuss,” Atlas said sternly.

Romy shook off her last bit of humiliation and refocused her attention on more important matters.

“I have spoken to my superior. Houston has given you the agreed alibi. Your knot is here on research. You are to stick to this for the entirety of your stay or face the consequences. Don’t be fooled by the peaceful atmosphere here. Neighbour turns on neighbour at the drop of a hat.”

No memory. Death. He didn’t need to explain the consequences.

Romy raised her hand. Atlas nodded his permission. “The thing is, we don’t understand why we’ve been lied to. We don’t understand the reasons behind anything you’ve told us.”