"Okay, well, I've been doing research with Dr. D'amondra on the Venasian Bond, specifically how it affects non-Venasians, and more specifically, how it slows the progress of certain medical conditions. Is that what the Ambassador wanted me to call you about?"
"All right." Lucas Ryan was a dapper young man, but still wasn't quite used to speaking directly with high rank. He continued, running on a little, "Keep in mind we're still in the early stages of research; we've never been able to look into Venasian physiology before. I don't know whether you know how the Venasian Bond works, but in a nutshell, it's water-based. Which kind of makes sense since they're an aquatic species. As far as I've been able to tell so far, the Bond has something to do with a combination of water and magnetic fields in their bodies, and their telepathic abilities. But I'm not sure yet how that's possible, especially over such long distances.> "I believe that it will be helpful. Please continue."
"Anyway, a Venasian Bond is pretty straight-forward. A VHB - sorry, that's short fo Venasian-Human Bond- well, it's kind of tricky. Of course, we've never had to study it before. As far as I can tell, the VHB is incomplete: it has the water and magnetic component, but is missing the telepathic component. It's like trying to dock with 3 mooring clamps instead of 4 - one is free. So, some information can be passed in either direction - the Bond-ed might be able to 'feel' what the Bond-er is feeling, or vice-versa... but it would be a remote feeling. That wouldn't happen with a normal Bond; you would be directly affected. Of course, there are degrees. Maybe you do get directly affected, but it's only when the emotion is especially strong."
Lucas paused to catch his breath, and to see if they had any questions.
-S
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