Chapter 7
	
	He didn't say anything for a little while, instead staring at the wall behind her as they lay in bed together.  Then finally:
	"No.  No Frama.  I've lived on this world for three years now, long enough to see every single deergirl wearing a mask.  I know for a fact the government has laws about requiring one in public."
	Deergirl was human slang for nemesian women.  Nemesian women could see the resemblance their species had to the Earth animal, but still protested they were as close to deer as humans were to gorillas.  Still, it was never intended as a slur, so it wasn't treated that way.
	"Of course.  Which came about due to some crass women exploiting a loophole in the law.  Doesn't change the fact that male response pheromone has very little effect on any woman who has mated with any male at least once."
	"...what?"
	"It's the way we are developed.  A nemesian woman gets rather agitated from the pheromones nemesian men release when they are in proximity to a nemesian woman in heat.  The first time, and every time until her first mating.  After that, it's a mild warm sensation and a minor increase in heartrate.  Nothing more."
	He looked down into her eyes.  His mouth opened, then closed.  He frowned.
	"Frama, you've shown me your porn collection."
	"And you have fantasies of your own." she said, removing her mask.
	He kept his eyes on her, noticing her lack of reaction to the male response pheromones human men pumped out all the time.  Then he looked mildly angry.
	"So, all this has been a lie huh?"
	Frama knew it, he was going to leave her.  Why did she have to forget her mask?
	"My...overwhelming reaction to getting 'pheromone bombed'?  That was acting.  Enjoying the time you've spent with me, that was no act."
	His face softened at that.  Oh no, he must have thought...
	"I never once faked a single orgasm with you."
	His shocked expression told her she had guessed wrong.
	"I didn't ask about...Frama, you were saying something about how the government was going to kill me if they found out I knew about..." he trailed off, prompting her to complete the sentence.
	"About how both my species and our government are constantly lying to your species and government?"
	He blinked rapidly.  She had never had him angry at her before, she had no idea what his reactions were signifying, or what he wanted.  She felt the right words would put things back to where they were before, and the wrong words would make him leave.  But she had to tell him.
	"Do WHAT?"
	"It's all one big lie, to convince your species and your government that we are easily controlled."
	"No, Frama, seriously, WHAT?"
	She wondered if he was capable of understanding.  He wasn't nemesian.  She was going to try, she had to regain his trust.  She didn't want him to look at her with those disappointed eyes again.  She sighed.
	"It's complicated.  It all started about two hundred years before we even met humans."
	He gave her his well practiced "Are you for real?" look.  She was quite familiar with that look.
	"I mean it.  You need to understand some things about my species, otherwise I'll never be able to explain it in a way you could understand."
	He stared at her for a few seconds, then slowly exhaled.
	"Ok, I'm listening."
	She placed her forehead against his chest, carefully to avoid another "stabbing" accident.
	"The current relationship between the men and women of my species is a relatively recent development.  One that came about due to a major incident about six hundred years ago, a full two hundred years before we even met your species.  Before then, relations between men and women were somewhat volatile, but we managed to survive and thrive without issue.  When a man was born, he would live with and be protected by his family, until he decided to leave.  Then he usually came under the protection of whatever mate he had picked.  Much like today, nemesian men were heavily protected when in public, and never went anywhere without armed escorts.  There were common incidents of kidnapping, which is why the protective detail was there.  Remember last month when you saw that group of little girls carrying firearms while walking down the street?"
	He nodded.  It was always amusing the first time a human saw a group of little girls carrying pistols and sawn-off shotguns, attempting to look menacing.  Even more amusing when they noticed no one reacting.
	"That's because they were escorting their brother someplace.  Kidnapping of men isn't really a thing anymore, but the tradition remains.  Anyways, it wasn't perfect system, but it did work more or less.  Then one day a politician had an idea.  Why have the males scattered around and 'kept out of circulation' by their families?  Wouldn't there be a lot more breeding and higher birth rates if we just stuck them in breeding farms and had them breed all day?"
	He looked at her, visibly disturbed.
	"That's sick."
	"I never said it was a good thing."
	He looked more disturbed.
	"You mean people actually went along with it?"
	"The reality of it was far worse than everyone was lead to believe."
	"What could there have been good to believe?!  All men get stuck in prisons and forced to breed..."
	"Not forced.  Encouraged."
	"...encouraged how?"
	"Men who didn't cooperate with breeding were denied sweets and entertainment."
	He looked at her again, she didn't recognize the look.
	"At least, that's what everyone was told.  The reality of it was men who didn't comply with breeding demands were denied food until they were cooperative."
	"Jesus christ Frama!"
	"The only people who knew were the politician, her supporters in the government, and the guards assigned there.  All were bribed and given preferential access to the farms for their silence.  Most people didn't know.  They kept the males drugged, it wasn't apparent at first that something bad was happening."
	"Again, locking up all men in prisons..."
	"You aren't nemesian, you don't understand."
	"Frama, that's not alright no matter what your species is."
	"So says the species that can throw a clod of dirt and hit a valid breeding partner on their homeworld."
	"Oh, so if you want it that makes it alright?"
	"I'm just trying to explain why we thought it was an acceptable idea, I'm not saying it was a good thing."
	He thought about it for a moment.
	"Fine, continue."
	"Well, things continued like that for a while, and it seemed like it actually was a good plan.  Birth rates were up, most women had more sexual encounters with men than they used to, it really seemed like everything would work out.  Then someone noticed there was something horribly wrong with the man they were attempting to mate with.  No matter what she did, all he did was cry.  She could not comfort him.  He didn't want her to leave until they had bred either.  She didn't know, but he had been uncooperative enough that he hadn't been given food in three days.  His lack of responsiveness due to the drugs and non-stop crying were enough of a hint that she cried foul to the press."
	"The politician who had setup the breeding farms had taken full control of them shortly after they opened.  She used them as a political weapon, granting access to her supporters and those loyal to her, and denying access to opponents and those she wished to punish.  So after a short investigation into the farms by the press, and everything came to light, there were no shortage of those wanting retribution.  In the end, she was publicly skinned alive for her actions.  But by then, the damage had already been done."
	"Many men had been traumatized by the farms, therapists were in very high demand for a while.  Then suddenly, one day, every man across the entire empire, on every world we had, declined food.  At first it was just a meal, so there wasn't too much worry.  At least, until they talked to one another and found all men had the same issue.  After skipping the second meal, most became convinced the men were sick and just not aware of it.  But the doctors confirmed that men weren't sick.  They just were not willing to eat.  When pressed about it, they all gave the name of one male, and said they wouldn't eat until the government had made a deal with him."
	He was just staring at her in silence at this point.
	"You see, the breeding farms didn't just traumatize an entire generation of men, it also brought them into contact with one another unlike ever before.  Before the farms, men were so closely guarded by their families, they weren't likely to encounter other men with any regularity.  With the farms, they were all suddenly in close contact with one another.  And they all had a common enemy.  And they were all miserable with their situation, rightfully so."
	"The government wasn't sure what was going on, but they had demands across the entire empire to meet with and make a deal with the named male.  People were freaking out as their men were forcibly starving themselves.  Nemesian men are already fragile as it is, no one was expecting them to last long without food.  So the government quickly located this man, and made a request for a meeting.  He said he would agree to meet, as long as five other men were with him at the meeting.  And so the heads of government at the time went into the meeting to see if they could resolve whatever problem was causing the suicidal actions of the men."
	"The meeting began with the named man informing them that the men had come to the conclusion that they needed their own separate government, and he had been chosen to lead.  He gave them a list of demands that needed to be agreed to for the hunger strike to end.  It was a very extensive list, demands for designated men-only sections of cities, security for those sections provided at the government's expense, and that any matter concerning men be under the authority of the male's government and not the empire's government.  Of course, this would mean that men would have full control over breeding.  A detail the government balked at."
	"The heads of government voiced their objections, and attempted to negotiate.  The newly appointed head of the men's government and the five men with him all put a hand in their pockets, pulled out something, and put it in their mouths and swallowed."
	"Poison?"
	She nodded.  "A very potent one.  The government representatives realized a bit too late, and were told by the dying men the name of the man next in line to lead them.  They sought him out, and asked for a meeting.  Again, he requested five other men to join him.  Understanding why he was asking for that, they denied the request and asked that he meet with them anyways.  They lost communication with him.  They sent police to see what had happened.  They found him dead his bathroom with a note containing a name, marked as '3rd in line'.  Again, death by poison.  By this point it had been about 24 hours since any male had eaten, and our society was having a collective panic attack.  The government was getting a flood of frantic complaints from people demanding the government do something about the hunger strike."
	"They quickly setup a meeting with the next man in line, and agreed to his request for five other men at the meeting without hesitation."
	"Five other men?  Did he ask for specific ones?"
	"No, who they were specifically wasn't important, it was a matter of making it cost more if they failed to reach agreement.  One man dying is bad, six men dying is a disaster.  With every male starving themselves and seven already dead from suicide, the situation was already very bad.  Putting six more lives on the chopping block was their message to the government, 'Take us seriously.'  So they did.  The moment they were handed the list of demands at that second meeting, they all signed it and had the signed document broadcast throughout the empire.  You might have heard of it, the Suicide Pact?"
	He just nodded.  She wished she knew what he was thinking.
	"That wasn't the official name, but it became a common term for the agreement.  It's called that due to the unspoken threat of the agreement.  That if the agreement is ever broken, the men would start killing themselves again.  The breeding farms weren't just a bad idea, they irrevocably destroyed what trust our males had in us, and society.  The way the men viewed it, if it had happened before, it could happen again...unless they were able to set the rules.  No one really holds that opinion against them either, we were all too ashamed that we allowed ourselves to be a part of that mess."
	"We had broken trust with them so badly, they were perfectly willing to commit suicide en mass and drive us to extinction.  They still are.  Even though it wouldn't be considered a breach of the agreement, no head of government has ever tried to re-negotiate the agreement since it went into effect.  The government does everything in it's power to avoid appearing so much as hesitant to fulfill any of the obligations of the agreement.  Suggestions from the men's government are treated as law by our government.  We are trying to send them the message that we won't make that mistake again, but it's been over six hundred years and they still can't trust us.  We know why, and we don't blame them."
	"That agreement is why you don't see men in public very often.  It's why you don't see them at the university.  They keep to themselves in the men-only sections of the city and have whatever they wish delivered.  These days when a man is born, he stays with his family until he hits puberty.  Then he is taken to a men-only area to live.  There he is raised and taught by other men.  They show the young man the security videos taken from the breeding farms, they ensure he understands exactly what sort of nightmare happened in the past.  They make sure he knows why the Suicide Pact exists, and understands all the details of the agreement."
	"And that's how it's been ever since then.  We got stupid and listened to a particularly greedy politician, and attempted to take what we wanted by force.  That act has permanently damaged our society, and we still haven't recovered.  Before this happened, you usually had a mate for life, if you could get one and keep him.  Since then, very few women have been able to impress a man enough that he is willing to enter into a relationship with her.  Most just do their agreed on breeding and then move on to the next."
	He had been staring at her with a blank look on his face for some time now.
	"Agreed on breeding?"
	"Everything is done through waiting lists now.  Your name is put on the list of every man in your local area once you hit the age where you can bear a litter.  Then your name slowly works up the list as others get their encounter, are forced to pass on their chance, or die.  It's also possible to have your name removed at the request of the man, but that's not common.  The 'agreed on' part is part of the agreement.  In exchange for all their demands being met, the men put in the agreement that they would each attempt to breed with a woman once a week.  They all have the power of individual veto, in that they can breed less often if they wish.  But they are encouraged by their fellow men to try and do so regularly.  Even though they are perfectly willing to drive our species off of a cliff if need be, they do understand the regular production of offspring is required for society to continue to grow and thrive."
	She wasn't sure if he was happy with her explanation or not, she couldn't read his facial expression.  Then he covered his face with his hands.
	"I don't want you to take this the wrong way Frama, but your species is FUCKED UP!"
	The statement started off calm, but he was sounded accusing and angry at the end of it.  This was it, he was going to leave her.  It happened occasionally.  You took a look at an alien and it was too alien to handle.  He looked angry too.
	"I'm sorry."
	"No Frama, I didn't mean...never mind."  He sounded upset, she wished she could just know what he was thinking about her.  He looked at the clock on the small table near her bed.
	"Look, it's late and I'm tired.  Let's continue this tomorrow, alright?"
	She nodded.  He got out of bed and started taking off his clothes.  If he was leaving her, he wasn't leaving her yet.  At least she had that.  He finished stripping and got back into bed with her, pulling the blanket sitting bunched up around the foot of the bed up with him.  To her surprise, he pulled her closer to him.  Had he already forgiven her?  He looked her in the eyes, and spoke in a low and quiet voice.
	"I expect you to explain what all this had to do with the original question tomorrow, you do know that, right?"
	"I know.  I promise, I'll explain everything."
	He looked into her eyes for a little while, and it wasn't in the pleasing way he usually did it.  She felt like he was looking for something.
	"I'm going to trust you.  Please don't make me regret that Frama."
	She didn't say anything, since she wasn't sure how to respond.  He seemed satisfied with that, and lay there until he fell asleep.  How could she possibly make sure he didn't regret something?!  She didn't even know if he was going to be satisfied with the truth, or if he would even believe it.  She felt deep down that he wasn't going to believe it, even with what proof she had, and he was going to leave her.  She lay there looking at his sleeping face screaming internally at herself for forgetting her breathing mask.
	Frama didn't get much sleep that night.