​​Brilliant young zoologist, Dr. Zhen Xiai, is tasked with saving an endangered alien species. Only two of the strange, eerily intelligent creatures remain. Xiai becomes obsessed with unlocking the secret to their preservation. Soon, academic ambition makes him careless, leading to the reveal of one secret in particular — how the creatures reproduce. But the cost of this knowledge is steep. And Xiai must pay it with his own unwilling body. The Star Children is an open-ended sci-fi standalone, containing alien rape and oviposition (egg laying). Words: 13,937