I see her face pale, “He wants to create human slaves from my eggs?”

“Pets, maybe,” I say as if it makes it better.

“I can’t do that,” she says. “I can’t know that I have children out there that I allowed that to happen to them. Ask him for anything else.”

“He knows we are desperate. I would never contact him otherwise,” I tell her. I look at the screen where the doctor is waiting for my answer. I feel like my wife is making the wrong decision. Many males have children in the world they never know or think about. Why should it be so different for her? We are so close to getting what we want. I look up at her, “I want to do it. It is worth it.”

“No.”

“I am your husband, and I will have the last word. You said you wanted a child, and I will give you one.”

“Not at this cost,” she replies.

Then I say what I am thinking. I raise my voice because I want to have children with her. “The traders that brought you over could have stolen your eggs. You do not even know.”

“But they would have been stolen. This is different. I am knowingly giving them up. Let’s find another way.”

I take her hands in mine and put my head on the top of her head, “I promise you that we will find those children and buy them out of being pets if they are indeed pets.”

“How?” she asks.

“We have some skills that go beyond even Imperial technology. If I swear to you, I will get every child back before they reach their first galactic birthday if you agree to this now. Will you?”

My wife is still kneeling before me. She looks up. “They will be retrieved before their first birthday if they are made to be pets?”

“I swear it to you.”

I punch the Imperial doctor back on.

“I thought you had forgotten about me, Commander,” he says.

“I had to discuss this with my wife.”

“Oh, so your wife is a bit Imperial then making you refer to her for major choices. I am glad to hear it.”

“We see ourselves as a partnership,” I say. I know his comment was not meant as an insult because females run everything in the Empire.

“Sure, sure. Now I was thinking I give you a litter of children, and you give me three of your wife’s eggs.”

“We don’t need a litter,” I say. “We only want one child, and for that, we will give you one egg.”

“It’s a lot of effort to do this procedure, and it will take a few days, and we might have to rendezvous again. I want three eggs, and I’m not compromising on that. And if I were you, I would go with the litter. Human male babies tend to die easily.” I don’t want to know how many times he has done this.