drugs that remove this block. More Alchibians could prevent sexually transmitted diseases, even those that earthlings still did not know how to heal - however, when Josh began to ask more in detail, Nick replied that she was not a doctor and did not know all the subtleties. But she said that in fact, although Alchibians look almost indistinguishable from earthlings (except for their androgynous appearance - not particularly feminine and not particularly courageous), when meeting the two races it turned out that they differ in many inconspicuous trifles. For example, Alchibians have a more sensitive sense of smell (Josh had already made sure of this when the Nick-Guy pointed out odors that Josh himself did not feel), more perfect immunity and regeneration - therefore, part of Alchibian medicine designed for themselves didn’t work "On earthlings - and they can consciously speed up their metabolism a little, releasing the latent abilities of the body, but at the cost of fatigue ... and maybe there were some other differences that Nick did not notice or did not remember. After that, the conversation turned to the so-called “theory of experiment” —and among earthlings and among alien races, some scientists assumed that all people on different planets were created by some ancient aliens who, with any one intelligible purpose, made them similar in appearance, but different from each other. Alchibians - changing their gender, Sirians - hermaphrodites (Josh first learned that sex change on Alpha Crow and hermaphroditism on Sirius exist in animals. More precisely, as Nick explained, in fact Sirians were not from Sirius - they moved to their current star system, when their own star should have been extinguished), and so on. It turned out that Nick, who was still interested in xenoarheology at school, can tell quite a lot about the pros and cons of this theory.

Finally, after this “scientific” conversation, they fell asleep close by, in beds made up together. When they woke up, in the morning they were awaited training sessions - each in their own faculty - and then they went together to the management of the dormitories, to withdraw Nick’s application for relocation to a separate room. The administration, of course, complained that at the last moment they decided that when the tenant of the room where Nick was to be moved was ready to move out, and so on ... but Nick’s request was satisfied and the young people remained officially "Spelled out" in their common room. (All this time, Josh tried to grasp if Nick-girl was behaving differently than Nick-boy. There were really differences, but probably not so much because Nick turned into a girl, but because she was him, Josh, a girl, and could cuddle up to him, hug him and kiss him ... not that Josh was against).

When they returned to the hostel, Nick volunteered to cook dinner - both had time to get hungry pretty. (Josh was slightly embarrassed at the thought that Nick had cooked food for both of them before, and now it turned out that Nick cooked him food just like a girl). The girl was just stewing vegetable stew in a skillet when a doorbell squeaked.

- I'll open? Nick asked from the kitchen.

- No, I'll open it myself! - quickly answered Josh and hurried to the door. Finally, the moment of truth should have come, but if Nick had opened the door in the guise of a girl, this would have been too much of a shock for the guest ... In general, Josh decided to open the door himself.

- Hello! - smiled across the threshold when the door opened, Toll, Josh's longtime acquaintance.His full name was “Anatoly”, but he was shortened first to Anatole, and then to Tol - he was big-eyed and white-skinned, like all natives of Titan, but slightly plump, with long hair and a short beard, which he recently began to grow. - Hi, Nick! - shaking hands with Josh, he looked into the kitchen ... and stopped when his eyes clung to the chest of an alchibian, clearly visible under the elastic fabric of his T-shirt.

“Hello, Anatole,” Nick replied, smiling at Tolya and “finishing off” him with her altered timbre of voice. The guy often-often blinked and turned a puzzled look at Josh, as if asking, "What is this all about?"

- Hi, Toll. This is Dominic, you know her ... we just did not tell her that she is an Alchibian, ”Josh simply explained, deciding to follow Nick’s advice and not try to complicate anything. - And she confessed her love to me yesterday ... and, in general, now she is my girlfriend, and we will live together.

- Aaa ... - the expression of bewilderment on Tolya's face slowly gave way to revival. - Well, I congratulate you! It must be celebrated! - He said enthusiastically. - Or do you like, want to arrange a romantic evening for two?

- Everything for you, Russians - just an excuse to drink! - not smiled Josh. - Nick, and really, we will somehow celebrate? - He looked at the girl.

- Oh, I have not thought ... - hesitated, embarrassed, smiled at her, still standing at the stove. - But, probably, we need to come up with something ... Come later, after lunch we will discuss it?

- Nick ... or how to call you? And when you, well, girl, can you pour beer? - hesitating slightly, but still smiling, asked Toll.

“You can,” Nick smiled broadly in response.

- And can you also be called to the broadcast of the grain matches? - Toll smiled more fun. - Today, just the Viking is playing with the Sphinx. I just wanted to remind you about this, but since you have such a thing ...

- Can! - Nick laughed. - I will climb on the table and shout “Go-ol!” - and at these words all three of them rolled with laughter.

- Damn, find yourself, too, is it an alchebian girl? - laughing, asked in a joke Toll. - By the way, I know a guy from the flight academy, where one of the guys there also meets with an Alchibian from the philology department, and it seems like even a long time ago ...

- I think this guy will be against if you meet with him a girl, ”Josh laughed back. “I’ll definitely be against it if you meet mine.” By the way, you will not introduce us to this guy? He asked with interest: Josh really wanted to get to know someone more experienced in terms of relations with aliens.

“Well ...” Tol spread his hands. “I don’t even know him myself: I only know a guy who knows a guy who is dating an Alchibian.” I can try to get to it, but I don’t promise right away ... So, what about the match? - he remembered. - Will you watch it with us or decide to arrange this romantic evening for two?

Josh looked back at Nick - he had already decided that, if Anatole accepted the news about Nick quite calmly, then there should be no problems with other guys. The girl, catching the guy's look, smiled and shrugged:

- Why not go? In the end, we can spend the evening together on any other day.

***

In the evening, Josh and Nick, as they were going, went to Josh's friends. On that day, Viking (Mariner-City) and Sphinx (Cydonia) met in the competition for a Zerobol (a ball game in weightlessness). Although Viking was considered a stronger team, Josh and his friends were going to root for the Sphinx: the Vikings were long-standing rivals of the Spartans — Marsopolis teams, for which the MarPalOn students usually supported. (Nick, who had only recently joined the grain breeder, was going to root for "sphinxes" for another reason: she, holding on the shelf a sculpture of the mythical "Martian sphinx", simply could not help cheering for the team from Kydonia). They gathered at Chen, a native Martian who did not live in a dormitory, but in his apartment, and provided friends with a room and a projector with a large holo-screen, which everyone could watch the match together.(Sometimes friends gathered from Chen to watch not grain-fingered matches, but cinema - Chen, don't be a fool, said that the guys would bring food with them, and sometimes his fridge was not empty after such joint views, but filled up).

Almost as soon as Chen opened the door for the two of them, and Nick greeted the rest of the guys, Josh felt a little awkward in the air: as if some ... Read more →