Venus and Mars

“Daddy, daddy, look! It’s eating!” the little girl shouted, pointing frantically at the confinement.

“Shhh, honey you’ll scare him.” said the girl’s father. A badge was hanging around his neck, displaying with big, bold letters the word DIRECTOR. “He’s very tired from the transportation.”

“It’s a boy, daddy?” the girl asked, not really caring about her father’s plea for silence. “How do you know?”

“Well…” the Director sighed in defeat “Do you see the mane around his chin and neck? That’s one way to tell them apart from females.”

He walked up to the confinement and crouched down next to his daughter. A thick, tall glass was separating them from the exotic creature. The rest of the walls were metal, with some plantation from the animal's native habitat scattered around to make it a bit more at ease. Pleanty of water and food was left in the corner, though a little trapped door. Overall, the confinement was rather barren but the Director took solace in the fact that it was only temporary.

“What do you think?” he petted the young ones head “Do you like him?”

The girl swinged back and forth, while tapping lightly at the glass that was separating them from the strange creature with her slender finger.

“He’s cool, but not as cute as the other one you brought daddy.” she concluded after a few moments lost in deep thought.

“Is that right?” the Director laughed. ”Remember now, he’s been travelling for a long, long time to get here. Once we bathe him he’ll be just as pretty as Venus.”

He still remembered vividly his first encounter with Venus. He was searching for one of her kind for years and years, but they always eluded him. The few he encountered always escaped in a frenzy. She, however, did not try to flee. She lay there looking at him with her radiant, golden mane covering her ethereal body. He stood there mesmerized, as if worshiping the creature. She was a beauty. A goddess.

She followed him, without much resistance. Curious, kind and gracious. Her male counterpart was none of these things. His mane was dark and dusty, his legs short and muscular. For two individuals of the same species, they were clearly polar opposites.

“You should take a bath too, daddy.” the little rascal grinned innocently. “You were travelling for so long too.”

He tried to think of a witty comeback, to regain his dignity after that brutal betrayal from his own flesh and blood, but the sound of an automatic door put an abrupt end to what could be their latest civil war. A familiar tall and slender figure approached them hurriedly.

“Zara!” the tiny traitor greeted their visitor “Look what daddy brought!”

“Hello, little one.” Zara put her arms around the girl, who mimicked the gesture before running back towards the glass.

“It’s a boy this time!” the child stood proudly as if she had captured the beast herself.

“That is very impressive.” Zara humored her before she turned to the Director. “I cannot believe you managed to find another one, Director.”

The spark in her eyes was a little too bright. She thoroughly examined the animal who by now had finished its meal and was crouched in a corner, hiding behind a bush. The Director stood there, waiting for her curiosity to be satisfied, while she was occasionally muttering “unbelievable” and “exceptional” to herself.

“I so much wish I could have come with you” she finally said with evident envy. She had made it clear at the beginning of this expedition that she didn’t appreciate having to remain at the Conservation Center as chief biologist, while her colleagues were out on the field. ”How did you manage to confine him?”

“One thing is for sure…” the Director hesitated and took a glimpse of his daughter “it wasn’t easy.”

“When do you think we should bring them in contact?” Zara changed the subject quickly. "He seems to be adjusting surprisingly fine, considering the long journey.”

“Indeed. His vitals are good and he seems more relaxed.” the Director brought his finger under his chin and thought about it for a moment. “Hopefully soon, but we are going to have to evaluate him again.”

“Bring him in contact with who, daddy?” the little girl asked not trying to hide her annoyance at the fact that they had excluded her from the conversation for far too long.

“Why, with Venus of course!” the Director replied with an enthusiasm more fitting to his daughter’s age. “They will stay together and hopefully have lots and lots of babies.”

“Babies?” the young one’s eyes widened even more. “Will they have round ears like their mom and dad? And pointy noses?” she pointed to her own ears and nose to showcase the difference.

“Exactly!” her father nodded emphatically.

“Can I keep one?” she added immediately causing awkward glances to be exchange between the adults. They were now officially walking on broken glass.

“Sweetie,” Zara very clearly disapproved but she tried to be gentle, “they are an endangered species. And they usually have one baby per year at best… We need their babies to grow up here and make more babies.”

“And that way, I can spend more time home with you, instead of searching for more of them. However!” the Director quickly intervened seeing that his daughter had started to frown quite dangerously “We would like you to honour us by giving our little guy here his name!” he pointed at the creature who had been staring at them this whole time.

The diversion seemed to be working, since the little girl lit up and ran at the back of the room where she had left her backpack. She lifted it up and pulled out a small laptop.

“Yay! I will research and find the perfect name immediately!” she shouted excitedly. The wild animal was clearly a bit scared of the girl’s reactions.

“He’s not used to visitors yet.” Zara mumbled making sure she was audible only to the Director.

“Perfect, sweetheart. Sit over there and when you find something let us know.” As good as the Director was at taming exotic creatures, he was at a clear disadvantage when it came to his daughter. ”My apologies” he turned to Zara “So did you analyze the data I sent you?”

“I have the summary right here.” she handed him the tablet she was holding “According to the measurements the population has dropped down to 10000 individuals scattered around the area of the Himalayas.”

The Director frowned, looking at the graphs. He was well aware that if they didn’t breed them in captivity they would be extinct soon, but he was hoping they would have a little more time.

“How many individuals are kept in captivity in total?” he asked looking up at Zara.

“Between our couple and the ones in other conservation centers I would say around 200 at the moment.” Her answer didn’t satisfy him much. If they didn’t capture more they would end up inbreeding them in a few generations and that could pose a serious issue.

“This is definitely conserning…” he sighed as if trying to solve an unsolvable puzzle. “You should have seen their environment Zara. I thought it was bad the last time, when we found Venus, but now they’ve completely managed to destroy it. They have abused all their natural resources, they’re basically just starving to death now. They sure are greedy little creatures.”

“It is truly astounding how they ended up in this state, having started in such a prosperous ecosystem.” Zara agreed. “They definitely pose a nice example for what happens when you exploit your supplies. I find their history quite educational.”

Seeing that the little noise-maker had retreated, the animal had stood up in his hind limbs and had carefully approached the glass to examine the Director and his assistant. He slowly extended his front limb towards the mirror, but at that moment the little menace returned causing him to be startled and retreat behind his bush.

“Daddy, I found it!” the girl said with pride. “Mars! His name is Mars! Isn’t it perfect?”

The Director looked at her and petted her head. “It is amazing! It will be a great match with Venus. Don’t you agree Zara?”

“It really is perfect!” Zara smiled. “Good job, little one. I will write down the encryption for their new confinement right now.” She typed something on her tablet and showed it to the girl. “What do you think?”

The young one slowly read “Venus and Mars, Homo Sapiens, Milky Way, Solar System, Earth.” She seemed rather satisfied. “Perfect! They’d better have a lot of babies so daddy doesn’t have to be away of Andromeda for such a long time again.”

“Don’t worry” Zara winked one of her bright yellow eyes playfully at the youngster. “Maybe if we need more, I can go instead of your dad.” They both turned to the Director smirking.

“Fine, fine.” he agreed in defeat once again. “It’s a deal.”

He turned to the human who was still clearly uncomfortable at the sight of his captors. ‘Venus and Mars’ he thought ‘It does have a nice ring to it.’