Adam’s Atoms

On any inhabited world nature has various mechanisms built in to optimize the survival of the inhabitants of that world. Since the people of Kumára live very long lives, nature has made sure that it is hard for them to get pregnant, so they do not multiply uncontrollably but still can enjoy trying.

There are two main prevention mechanisms, one is sort of physical (or anatomical), the other is in brain chemistry. When combined, it is assured that most Kumáran couples end up with just about two or three children.

The physical prevention is a result of how it is done. Kumárans are androgynous, but only have the male appearance (and tool) outwardly. When Kumárans try to get pregnant, they can either choose which one of the two (in a couple) will try to be the father, or they can both try at the same time. They have a better chance of success if only one tries to become a father and the other a mother than if they both try at the same time. However, if they both try and succeed, the result is extremely precious and desirable, as well as a prestigious accomplishment. It also is something completely impossible here on Earth: Both partners getting pregnant at the same time, both having a child, and both becoming a mother to one of the two children and a father to the other. Even if they don’t both succeed, but only one gets pregnant, that, too is interesting because they do not have a way of predicting which one gets pregnant, so it is always a pleasant surprise and neither partner can blame the other for having to do the harder work.

How does it happen without an outward female entry place? Think of a human nurse getting a medication into a human’s blood stream. The nurse needs to penetrate the skin and perhaps some muscle with a needle and get inside a vein. Similarly, a Kumáran has to use his “male tool” to get through his partner’s skin and definitely muscle into a female tube inside the partner and deposit the sperm in there. His tool is perfectly adjusted for the work, but the male Kumáran (or rather the male within the Kumáran) has to position it precisely and that turns out extremely difficult. Why?

Well, think of that nurse giving you an intravenous injection again, but this time let the nurse be drunk. Not just having had a couple of drinks, but totally drunk, so drunk as not to be able to walk, think, etc. Further, the nurse has always been drunk when trying to give anyone a shot, back in the nursing school and with every single patient since graduation. To top it off, the patient is also drunk.

Do Kumárans drink when mating? Not at all. They start off completely sober. But shortly before the male tool starts penetrating the partner’s skin, a highly intoxicating chemical starts forming in both of their brains. This chemical offers them absolute pleasure but at the same time causes them a complete loss of control. So while the male is supposed to work on positioning the “needle” (which is part of his anatomy, not some steel needle), he cannot think at all. And the partner (the female, for all practical purposes) cannot even help him and say move in or move out a bit because she is just as drunk as he.

Now, when they both try at the same time, each of them is trying to get his “needle” inside the other (the feminine tube is conveniently located behind the male tool, so they can impregnate each other at the same time, also the skin can feel the other’s pubic hair and inform the brain not to push any further, so as not hurt each other). They both get intoxicated. But more so than before, because each of them is getting the chemical released in their brain as a result of trying to impregnate the other and as a result of the attempt at being impregnated. This increases the pleasure (so, I guess, it is no surprising that is what most couples try) but also the intoxication. Thus, it takes one of many tries to become pregnant.

But there is more. This is not something a Kumáran couple can try every night. The thing is, after the chemical floods their brains when only one is trying to impregnate the other, it takes seventeen days for it to be burned out by their metabolism. If they both try, it takes twenty-three days. The time starts counting after the male pulls out. Until then more of the intoxicating chemical is being produced. So, if he kept in forever, they’d never sober up, I suppose, but, somehow, they always manage to separate.

As mentioned already, one of the reasons nature has developed the process of intoxication is to prevent overpopulation of Kumára. But there is another: The penetration of the male tool into the female tube is, strictly speaking, painful to both of them. But thanks to their intoxication, they are not only completely unaware of the pain, they experience utter ecstasy.

After trying—and most likely not succeeding, they remain drunk, ecstatic, and out of control for 17-23 days. During this time they are so drunk that they cannot walk straight (well, not the full time, it gradually wears off). They do not eat. They do not wash. They do not tidy up.

At this time they have an uncontrollable desire to smoke. Not tobacco, no such thing exists there. They use various herbs for smoking, same as we have already seen during their teen transformation.. They know this in advance, so they always make sure to have plenty of smokes available, and huge ash trays. None of these herbs are addictive, but the desire to smoke persists for quite a while after, so they usually continue having a smoke several times a day for up to two years. Of course, most mate more often than once in two years, so many Kumárans pretty much remain smokers for life.

But there is more! While they have no control over themselves, they also lose control over the rate of growth of their hair, so during those 17-23 days it switches to its default rate, which is fast. By the time they sober up, both have a full beard (remember, it could have taken them several days before they separated and the 17-23 day countdown started), long hair in their scalp area and in their arm pits.

Once they are sober, they regain full control of their hair growth rate. Typically, they immediately stop the growth of their facial hair and let it fall out, and set the rate of the rest of the hair to slow. They trim their arm pit hair to the typical teaser length. But they usually keep their scalp hair long for a while as a reminder of the beautiful time they had together. It takes some time to find out if they can expect a child—they do not cut their hair until they know. If they find out that one of them is pregnant (or both, occasionally), then they usually keep their hair long and the mother, in particular, sets her hair growth rate to fast, so it grows even longer (the scalp hair, not the facial or arm pit hair). This is their way of announcing to their friends that they are expecting a baby and which one of them is the mother (as in humans, that becomes obvious in a couple of months, but until then they can tell by seeing whose hair keeps growing fast).

During the period of intoxication they do not wash, though they sweat more than usual. The smell of the sweat keeps turning them on and actually is one of the nice things about the experience (mind you, the entire experience is nice, remember the chemical makes them feel pleasure for all this time). Furthermore, their hair gets rather oily. As it is growing fast and is red, it becomes very shiny and visible which also keeps turning them on for all this time.

Naturally, after the chemical wears off (17-23 days), they have work to do: clean up the mess in their place, empty the ashtrays and freshen the air, wash themselves up, trim their arm pit hair, get rid of the facial hair that falls out, and, of course eat.

Now you understand why they cannot mate too often. If they work, for example, they have to arrange for enough time off. And even when they do it, they only succeed in the impregnation part very, very rarely. Thus, nature itself protects the Kumárans from overpopulation.

Adult Kumárans are quite sensual. They have many other ways of expressing their sensuality. They do not have to either go it all the way or live in abstinence. They enjoy petting and touching and many other subtle pleasures.