"That seems to sum it up fairly well," he agreed. There were countless other details he was leaving out, of course, but she understood the broad strokes of what was happening. The earth had less than a year left to exist, unless the two of them were able to do something about it. It was a huge burden to put on her, but he had been bearing that burden since they arrived here. It felt almost pleasant to share it with another.<br/><br/>"I'm not talking about history or anything like that. Your history and achievements have already been cataloged, thanks to your internet. No matter what happens, they will live on." His people would have considered that a comfort, but based on what he had seen of humans so far, he wasn't sure Allison would. "What will interest the council is things that make you different from us. I've learned about a few of those things, but I haven't experienced them, so my insight on them is of limited value to the council."<br/><br/>He paused for just a moment, as talking about this seemed more awkward than anything else he had revealed to her so far. "From what I've seen, the biggest difference between us is mating. Where I come from, things like reproduction are handled by a genetics council. They decide what our culture will need from the next generation, and create pairings based on those needs. Your people choose a mate and often stay with that individual. And you have sex for physical pleasure, which is almost something of a taboo to us." There was a note of envy in his voice at that. Valinor had always wondered if a more free society would work, but there was no evidence to support such a belief. While earth wasn't perfect, it illustrated a theory had had never really allowed himself to fully develop. He had never really felt oppressed or anything, but there had been times he had felt restricted. Now he couldn't help but wonder what it would be like to live as the people here did.