The Flare

Dopamine

"f**k you!" Jake grabbed his clothes and stomped out of Salona's quarters, slamming the porthole on his way out. Anger boiled under his skin matched only by his confusion.

What the f**k was going on? He'd dealt with manipulative women in the past. They all wanted the same thing. Money, power and position. Not necessarily in that order. Their main goal had always been to snag him into marriage. To be the one woman who could turn Jacob Robertson into a family man. 

But Salona wasn't manipulative; she’d been nothing but honest and plain spoken. Maybe that was the problem.

Yet he hadn’t a clue what her true intentions were. She told him she wanted him, and that was all. Then she pushed him away like a child done with their toy. Deep down he knew she wasn't telling him everything.

Something wasn’t right. This was more than a f**k and door shut. From what Jake knew about females, Salona should be begging him to stay for breakfast right about now, telling him they should slow things down and work on their ‘relationship.’ Instead she was shutting him out.

And he was going to find out why.

Jake entered bay housing the computer core located in the direct center of the station and turned on the medical interface. For once he was grateful they required a medical degree in order to enter the space program. Right now it was going to be really handy.

Jake flipped open the holographic interface and Marilyn's image popped up. When he told Salona he arrived early because of a transport snafu he hadn’t lied, but it also gave him an opportunity to set up the AI interface. He brought Marilyn from home because he was familiar with her. He had anticipated working with a very boring, noninteractive Naronian. Marilyn was his consolation prize.

Operable through the entire station, the interface allowed him to monitor health threats. It scanned his body on a regular basis for updates on how his biology was adapting to space.

“How can I help, honey?” Marilyn cooed; her image projected next to him in life-size. She stood wearing the famous white halter dress worn by her inspiration, Marilyn Monroe. Jake was proud of his AI; even her trademark mole was in the right place.

“Hey there,” Jake smiled back. “I need those scans.”

Marilyn moved her arm and a display popped up in front of her. She did her best Vanna White impression as she presented the scans of Salona’s body. “Here you are, sugar.”

This was his first look at Naronian physiology, and he was surprised at how similar everything looked. Heart, lungs, nervous system. Her enlarged c******s stood out; more nerves attached to it. Jake did not find that surprising considering how intense her orgasms were. Just the memory of it made him smile. Damn he'd enjoyed himself.

Then Jake looked at her brain scans.

"What the hell?" All her dopaminergic production centers were withered. Dopamine was used by the brain to communicate movement and reward and associated with Parkinson’s disease and drug addiction back on Earth. Without dopamine she could easily become comatose. How the hell was she functioning?

"Marilyn, scan Salona Turah again." Maybe this was a mistake. It had to be a mistake. Her system looked like someone with Parkinson's disease.

Marilyn lifted her hand and snapped, a new scan popping up in seconds.

The computer worked instantaneously, the scan of her body appearing in the 3-d display. "Scan complete," Marilyn's sultry voice announced.

"Focus on dopamine production center in brain," he ordered. The image before him was amazing. Dopamine was now flooding her brain. Something had triggered a large burst of the neurotransmitter[HW1] .

What the hell would do that?

“s*x. Of course!”

“Oh, aren’t you sweet…” Marilyn cooed. Jake realized he had said it aloud and laughed.

Jake smiled, not stooping to flirting back with the AI.

How could Salona get out here with this going on? Why the hell would the Naronians bring her to the middle of nowhere if they knew about this? They must not know, he thought. But that didn't make any sense either; if this was a problem before it would have been damn evident. There'd be no possible way not to detect a problem.

The only explanation Jake could think of was an adverse reaction to space travel. Something to do with pressure changes, maybe? Whatever it was they did not know about it on Naron or they wouldn’t have sent her. Would they?

Jake thought about contacting the Naronian government for help but nixed that idea right away. It may embarrass her or put her in a pickle and for all he knew it would get him killed.

Jake knew he needed to be careful before bringing this up to Salona. She may not even be aware of it. Based on her behavior, she probably isn't. And he sure as hell didn’t want to give her any more reason to get angry with him.

Until he figured out a way to deal with this medically he’d have to make sure she didn’t go into dopamine shock. Jake smiled. She needed s*x to provide the vital neurotransmitter to her brain. And he was the only person who could help her with that.

Wow. She may not like him, or the situation. But she needed him.  

"Marilyn, scan Salona Turah's brain every hour for the next 24 hours." That should cover any more of her ‘urges.’

"Scan order confirmed," Marilyn's voice responded. Her voice was sexy and inviting. Jake's design of course.

He laughed at the irony. "At least you seem to like me."

 [HW1]This is where Jeffrey says that the story with the DA thing is confusing…maybe if the orgasm releases a hormone or something else that shrinks a nerve cluster allowing her to live normally.