by Renard, Loki
INTERSTELLAR HUMAN PETTING ZOO
I stop and Reaper catches up with me. It’s not that he isn’t faster than me. He definitely is. But he can’t move through the crowd as nimbly, disguised as he is in some kind of fluff ridden ten foot high animal suit with six eyes and a lizard tail.
Thinking he has caught me, he grabs me by the arm and almost swings me off my feet entirely.
“Look! Humans! People!” I point at the sign before he can start yelling at me.
“They won’t be humans,” he says with a sigh. “There are species that look like humans, but have had parts of their bodies amputated.”
I wrinkle my nose in disgust. “Why?”
“Because humans are special.”
“That must mean I’m very special,” I smile up at him, shying away as his palm sweeps through the air to contact my ass. I move too late and get the brunt of it regardless, a swift flash of pain which makes me yowl.
“Listen to me, One,” he lectures. “You’re not to leave my side. If you do, I will take you back to the ship, whip your bottom, and you are not going to leave it for a year.”
I know he means what he says. This is the first time he’s trusted me. This is a very important turning point in our relationship. If I stay with him, I earn his trust. I show him that he can rely on me. I earn more freedom.
Or… humans.
“Can we look at the human display, please?”
“Maybe later,” he says. “They're not humans, and we need to resupply as quickly as possible. I have several merchants to visit. So stay with me and pay attention.”
I reluctantly follow him away from the human petting zoo, and for the next hour or thousand, I follow him around from market stall to market stall, becoming increasingly bored with every tedious conversation that seems to go the same way every time.
I can’t stop thinking about that sign. What if he’s wrong? What if there are humans in there? Aliens do strange things, it’s possible that some of them took some humans many years ago. Maybe there are other planets where humans live, other Earths. Maybe everything isn’t lost. But Reaper won’t even let me go and look. He expects me to stand here with no thoughts in my head, doing precisely as he says, because he’s a big muscular mean control obsessed monster who, as far as I’m concerned right now, never lets me do anything I want.
It would be so easy to slip away. He’s engrossed in a boring conversation about delta pipes, whatever they are, and it has been going on for an eternity. Zinc plated or hydrogen bonded, that seems to be the big discussion, but I couldn’t care if it was dipped in poison. Every moment I stand next to him obediently is a moment I burn with curiosity. It literally physically hurts to want to know something so badly and have to stop myself from looking.
Finally, the pain of curiosity wins over the threat of discipline. I take a half step away from Reaper, then a full one, then several more. The crowd swallows me quickly and within seconds I am gone. I hope it takes him at least a couple of minutes to notice I am gone, because I know he will know where I went. I’m risking a lot for this - a year’s worth of freedom, but some things are worth risk.
I have to at least look at what’s going on in there. I want to see what aliens think is human-like, or maybe even see another actual human. Reaper let me hold a few coins of the local currency, and as I reach the door of the tented arena, I open my hand. The beast at the entrance sweeps them all into a bucket and nods for me to walk inside. I’m fairly certain I was just robbed, but I don’t care. Currency has no meaning to me.
It’s dark inside, but there are flashing yellow red and blue lights illuminating corners of the space at different times. There are other aliens in here too, rushing back and forth from hidden exhibit to hidden exhibit.
PLEASE DO NOT FEED THE SPECIMENS
A big sign reads flashes in front of my eyes.
SPECIMEN FEED CAN BE PURCHASED, 1,000 CREDITS PER BAG
Says another.
SPECIMENS MAY BITE
Yet another sign flashes.
SPECIMEN FEEDING GLOVES CAN BE PURCHASED 10,0000 CREDITS PER PAIR.
DON’T FORGET TO HAVE YOUR PHOTO TAKEN WITH THE RARE ANTICULAN TIGLUEAR.
I’m not sure if there are any actual living creatures in here besides the paying customers. I can smell strange beasts on all sides, but again, those are probably just the ones who for whatever reason find themselves outside the cages and not in them.
Life isn’t fair.
The realization hits me like a thunderbolt. I used to think life was sort of empty and quite hard, but fairness, or not, didn’t come into it. But right now, I see it so clearly. Some animals are captives. Some are free. The difference is random as far as I can tell. Someone like me is in here, kept for the profit of others.
I have a sudden urge to set everything free, to run around in the dark and unleash the caged beasts and let whatever mayhem might happen, happen. The only reason I don’t do that is because I can’t see anything yet.
Wait… there it is. A sign that says HUMANS: FROM EARTH
I rush closer to it, pushing my way through some other aliens to look. They make disgruntled noises, but they don’t stop me as I lean as close as I can get, trying to catch a peek of some people. There are bars that keep viewers well back from the cage, but there are some shadowy figures in there.
A chill runs down my spine, the excitement of seeing what is equivalent to family at this great distance. I was told there were no more left. I was told I was the only one. The hairs which had been prickling on the back of my neck and all along my arms are now fully erect. There are people here. Real people. But I can’t… quite… see…
INSERT 1,000 CREDITS FOR BETTER VISION
I push some more of Reaper’s money into the hole and a bright light illuminates the enclosure. Finally, I can see the people ins…
Oh no.
Reaper was right. They’re not human. They have big almond shaped pure black eyes, and the way their bodies are constructed just isn’t quite right. The torsos are too long. The legs are too short and bowed. They’re dressed in human clothing, sort of, but I think they would be more convincing if they were wearing Scythkin skin suits. It’s a scam. I’ve been lied to, and I immediately feel foolish for ever having believed it was possible at all. Of course I’m the last one. Earth is gone. When I die, humanity will end completely.
Disappointed on a fundamental level, I prepare to return to Reaper and be punished for my disobedience. I’m going to be confined to the ship for literally ever. I’m not going to be able to sit down for weeks. He is going to be so mad. I can feel my stomach churning in anticipation of having to face him again, knowing I disobeyed him for all the wrong reasons.
Just as I am leaving, I see something through a little aperture in the tent. It looks like a back passage where the staff might go through. Something about tight dark spaces has always called me, and my current state of mind activates that instinct to seek out somewhere small and dark and hide.
I creep down the tented passage, the sounds of the zoo becoming more muffled with every step I take. It’s cooler here, cold really. I wonder what they have back here.
A sniff in the darkness makes me realize I’m not alone. I freeze still and press back against the wall, waiting for my eyes to adjust. It takes me a second to realize what I am seeing.
It’s a girl. A human. Not an alien with bits cut off. A real person, like me. She is curled up in a corner, covered in chains.
She looks up.
Our eyes meet.
I run.
I escape the zoo, dash through the exit. I have to find…
“There you are!” Reaper swings me off my feet and slaps my ass hard enough to feel it even through the fur of the costume. “I am taking you right back to the ship, stripping you down and you are going to learn…”
“There’s a human girl in there!”
“They're not…”
“Reaper!” I shout. “Just fucking listen!”
&n
bsp; He stares at me. I learned to swear recently. Tarkan taught me some of the old Earth curses. I like them. Reaper doesn’t. But it gets his attention.
“There’s an actual girl in the back. Like me.”
“You’re sure?”
“Very.”
“You found her,” Tarkan says, jogging up alongside us. He gives me a growly look too, which absolutely is not fair.
“There’s a human in there,” I tell him. “A girl. Like me. Just like me.”
Reaper sighs. “She’s convinced of it.”
“There really is! I’m not lying. I’m not stupid. I know what I saw!”
“Maybe I should check it out,” Tarkan suggests. “Just in case she’s not wrong.”
“She has to be wrong,” Reaper says. “There are no other humans. And if there are, they're not caged in the back of a zoo that has fake humans on display. You can look if you like. I’m going to deal with this one.”
“Tarkan! You have to look!” I scream after him as Reaper carries me off to meet my fate. “He’s going to rescue her, isn’t he?” I ask Reaper.
“Worry about rescuing your own bottom,” Reaper growls down at me. I can tell his heart is no longer in it though. He’s thinking what I’m thinking. I’m supposed to be the only one. But what if there are more? What if there are many more. What if…
The questions run through both our minds while Reaper carries me back to the ship, swatting my ass the whole way. I don’t mind the slaps, they make me tingle in all the right places and all the right ways.
“I don’t care if there are a thousand girls in there, you listen to me. You're mine,” he lectures, his voice gruff and stern. He is always the commander, my Reaper.
“I’m sorry,” I tell him. “I just wanted to find more. I wanted there to be more.”
“I know,” he says. “But in all the universe, all possible realities, there’s only one of you to me. You. My One.”
His words make me feel guilty and loved all at the same time. I wrap my arms around his neck and squeeze him close. “You're my one too.”
“Better be,” he growls. “Now, I’m going to deal with your bottom.”
I let out a little giggle and hide my face in his neck. I already know I’m not really in trouble. He understands me in a way nobody else ever could and I can feel he’s already forgiven me. What’s coming might hurt a little, but it’s going to make me feel better than before too. Reaper is my everything. He is my love, my life, my entire world.
“I don’t mind being grounded forever if it means I stay with you.”
“Mhm,” he grunts, pulling me closer “You’re still in trouble.”
“I know.”
COMING SOON
Tarkan is going to get his very own grand romance! Interstellar Human Petting Zoo is coming December 6 2019.
Click here to order!
The sign on my cage says I am exhibit #42,
a real human female.
I don’t know where I came from.
I don’t remember anything besides waking up in chains.
Thousands of alien creatures stare at me every day. Touch me. Treat me like an animal.
I can’t live like this.
When Death comes for me, I don’t fight him.
But he doesn’t kill me.
He breaks my chains.
Destroys my captors.
And I fall in love.
More! Surely, there must be more…
There is!
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