When they came out, the guards dried off with towels they produced from a chest in the cart. The prisoners, however, were given nothing to dry or cover themselves with. Nor were they allowed to get dressed again. Their clothes were confiscated and they were forced onto the cart again, naked and shivering.
“This is ridiculous!” Shurla muttered to Penny but there was real fear in her eyes as she spoke. “Where do you think they’re taking us?”
“I d-don’t kn-know,” Penny wasn’t sure if her teeth were chattering from the chill of being soaked to the bone or from fright—she only knew she was in trouble here, and she couldn’t think of a single way to get out of it.
Twenty-One
The cart hummed smoothly along, past the shower buildings and through another hundred yards of jungle before coming to a big stone arch which seemed to mark the entrance of the Compound. There was another, smaller statue standing beside the entryway and again Penny thought the man depicted looked somehow familiar.
Then they went through the archway and entered the Compound.
The first thing Penny thought was that it looked like an idyllic little village—almost too idyllic, in fact. It was too neat, too clean, too manicured. To her eyes it looked artificially cheerful, like Main Street in Disney World.
A vast swath of jungle had been cleared to make way for rows of snug white cottages trimmed in deep blue. There were pristine white paths leading to each door and not a speck of trash or litter to be seen anywhere.
Past the cottages, there was a kind of marketplace, with buyers and sellers manning rustic wooden stalls, all perfectly painted and trimmed with bright, crisp banners declaring things like, Bread Sold Here and, Fresh Produce Every Day.
Again Penny got the feeling of artificial perfection. The marketplace looked like it was just for show, even though people were actually buying and selling there. It reminded her of those frontier museums you went to sometimes where the General Store looked just like it had back in the old days, but when you went inside, all the items they used to sell were behind a big wall of Plexiglas.
Further on, past the marketplace, was a public park filled with lush trees, some bearing large pink flowers and others with clusters of pear-shaped fruit in blue, purple, and green. The trees and grass were trimmed to obsessive perfection without a single leaf or blade of grass out of place and the crushed white gravel pathways curved perfectly through the neatly landscaped area.
There was even a kind of arena which seemed to be an outdoor public meeting place, Penny saw, though it was deserted at the moment. It looked like someplace you might go to see Shakespeare in the Park or Theater in the Round, with tiered bleacher-like seats all carved from dark gray stone.
Despite the obsessive perfection of the place, there were lots of people in the Compound—humanoids of all different races all apparently living and working in harmony together. The crowd here was every bit as diverse as the marketplace in Hell’s Gate Station—except for the fact that everyone was dressed the same.
They all had on short, toga-like garments which ended at mid-thigh and made them look like extras in an old gladiator movie, Penny thought. The men wore dark crimson red and the women wore a soft, periwinkle blue and all of them wore sandals which laced around their ankles. It was like a little Roman villa but with aliens. Weird.
But even weirder than their clothes, were the people themselves—or rather, their expressions. Every single face that Penny studied was smiling and content. Nobody was frowning or looking angry or upset about anything at all. And when they saw the new captives in the cart, many of them waved.
“Welcome!” one man called. “Welcome to the Compound!”
The woman beside him took up the call and soon all of them were waving and smiling at the dripping, shivering women in the hover cart.
Of course they couldn’t wave back, because their hands were still cuffed behind their backs, so Penny and Shurla and the rest of the captives just stared. Again, Penny was reminded of someplace artificially friendly, like Disney World where all the cast members had to wave and smile and act like they were ecstatic to be there.
The happiest place on Earth, she thought to herself as the cart floated smoothly along. Or in this case, the happiest place on Yown Alpha, she supposed.
After studying the people who lived in the idyllic little village, her eyes were drawn once more to the architecture. Far to one side of the Compound, was a building unlike the cozy cottages—it was high-tech, made of gleaming metal and glass and it appeared to be several stories tall. This was the Breeding and Conception Center, as Penny would soon come to know, and she would dread having her “exam” every morning. But for now, she just looked around, trying to take it all in.
The only building bigger than the glass and metal structure was a huge mansion at the far end. It was built on a hill—possibly an artificial one, since the rest of the surrounding land was flat as a pancake, Penny thought.
It was a magnificent structure, as ostentatious as the little white cottages were simple and plain. Statues of huge alien beasts guarded the double front doors and gold leaf adorned its marble columns. The gold winked in the midday sun, sending bright darts of light into Penny’s eyes.
“Wonder who lives there?” Shurla muttered to Penny, who was wondering the same thing. “And have you noticed it’s not as hot in here?” she added.
“Hmm?” Penny shivered again. “I thought I was just cold from being drenched in that awful “shower,” she murmured. “But now that you mention it, it does seem cooler and less humid than it did out in the jungle.”
“Atmosphere dome,” Shurla murmured back. “Whoever owns this place must have gobs of credit to spare. Domes are crazy-expensive to build and maintain. Keeps the insects out too,” she added thoughtfully.
Penny had to agree with her. She’d been too miserable and scared to think much about it, but there had been the constant humming buzz and the occasional flying insect out on the jungle road. Here in the Compound, the noises of the jungle were conspicuously absent and she realized she hadn’t seen a single insect since they’d passed through the stone archway out front.
Looking up, she thought she saw a faint rainbow shimmer in the sky above them. It’s like we’re trapped in a giant soap bubble, she thought grimly. One that keeps the heat and humidity and insects out…and the prisoners in.
But she soon had other things to think about.
Suddenly a loud whistle blew. It seemed to echo from hidden loudspeakers all around them. It certainly got everyone’s attention because all the happy people in their pretty togas stopped what they were doing and looked up expectantly.
“My dear children,” a smooth, male voice spoke, filling the air. “We have some fresh breeders coming into our Compound today—they are new to our way of life. Let us show them the beauty of our Glorious Cause by celebrating the life we make here every day. I declare a Public Mandatory Breeding!”
At once, everyone in the compound stopped whatever they were doing and began to pair up, apparently at random. Penny would have thought that the alien species would have stayed together, but she saw men and women of all the different humanoid races suddenly having sex.
Some of the women got to their hands and knees while the males behind them flipped up their short toga-skirts and entered them. Some pairs settled on the rustic benches scattered around the park with the females straddling the males. A few women in the marketplace simply leaned over the brightly painted wooden counters of their stalls and spread their thighs for the males behind them. And of course, some simply lay down in the lush, perfectly manicured turquoise grass which covered much of the Compound. But however they did it, they were doing it, Penny saw.
The whole Compound had become a complete Fuck-fest.
She forgot that she was naked and wet and shivering and looked around in awe at the massive orgy going on all around them. It was a bizarre sight in the middle of the neat and orderly village where every bit of ground was meticu
lously landscaped and the houses and buildings were all scrupulously clean.
It was as though all the cast members in Disney World had suddenly decided to have sex with each other, Penny thought—it was that weird. The males grunted and groaned as the women they were plowing moaned and gasped and everyone appeared to be having an excellent time as, all around the Compound, everyone got their freak on.
Well, everyone except the Oompa-Loompa NeverBreeders, that was. They all simply watched with blank expressions on their faces as the humanoids around them grunted and groaned and screwed each other’s brains out.
“Oh my God,” Shurla whispered to Penny, her eyes wide. “I can’t believe this! Are they actually all fucking on command?”
“I guess so,” Penny whispered back. The question was, whose command?
They got the answer shortly when the cart passed through the idyllic village—filled with couples who were sexing it up—and came to the sterile glass and metal hospital-like building to one side of the Compound.
“Out of the cart,” one of the Oompa-Loompa guards commanded and they were all forced to scramble naked out of the back of the cart and stand in a trembling line in front of the entrance. Penny hated that her hands were still cuffed behind her and she couldn’t cover herself in any way.
The glass door at the front of the building—which reminded her very much of a hospital—slid smoothly open and out walked…
“Colonel Sanders!” Penny gasped, staring at the man who was holding out his arms to them like a father welcoming his long-lost children home. “Oh my God—it’s Colonel Sanders!”
Twenty-Two
“Who?” Shurla hissed at her.
Penny shook her head.
“Never mind. He just—he looks exactly like a guy who sells fried chicken on my home planet.”
“He sells fried what?” Shurla asked, frowning.
Penny shook her head again.
“It doesn’t matter—it’s just weird, that’s all.”
And it certainly was. The man standing in front of them was dressed all in white and had thick white hair and a luxuriant white goatee and mustache as well. He even had the black rimmed glasses she associated with the iconic fried chicken magnate. In fact, the only thing that was missing was a black string tie around his neck, which Sanders had always worn—other than that, he was the spitting image of the Colonel.
Penny blinked and wondered if there had been some kind of hallucinogenic drug in the purple antiseptic liquid of the showers. Was she seeing things? Going crazy? Of all the strange and bizarre things she’d seen since waking up in the hover cart in the middle of the jungle, this was somehow the weirdest and the wrongest of all.
“Welcome, my children!” the man who looked like Colonel Sanders said, spreading his arms as he addressed the naked captives. “Welcome to the Compound and to your new life, serving our Glorious Cause.”
“Who are you?” Shurla shouted, lifting her chin as she glared at the Colonel. “And what do you want with us? I already had a life I liked just fine back on Hell’s Gate Station and I want to go back!”
There were murmurs of agreement, although none of the other women were brave enough to shout their feelings out, like Shurla had done.
“Your old life is over now, my daughter.” The Colonel Sanders look-alike smiled at her benevolently. “You may be unhappy now but I promise you, soon your unhappiness will fade. In fact…” He raised his voice, addressing them all. “Just give us one night—spend a single evening with us here in the Compound—and I guarantee if you aren’t happy tomorrow morning, you can go home.”
This sounded like a lie to Penny, but she wasn’t about to say so. Something told her bad things happened to people who spoke truth to power here at the Compound. In fact, she was already worried about Shurla, who was still glaring defiantly at the man in white.
“As for your other question—who am I? Well, I am the Glorious Leader here,” the man who looked like Colonel Sanders continued. “I am also called the Shining Star, because I lead so many out of darkness. And I like to think of myself as a father to you all,” he added, smiling benevolently. “All my children who live in the Compound—both the breeders,” he nodded at the women, “And the NeverBreeders alike.” And here, he nodded at the Oompa-Loompa guards.
“We’re not your children and we want to go home!” Shurla insisted.
“As I said, just give us one night,” the “Glorious Leader” said, smiling at her. Clearly her defiance didn’t faze him a bit.
Because he’s used to it, Penny thought. He says the same thing to everyone he captures and brings in here. He hears the same complaints over and over again and dismisses them over and over again. There’s no getting out of here, no matter what he says—he’s lying through his nice white teeth.
“Now, then,” the Glorious Leader continued. “First things first. You’ve been purified, which is good. But now you must have your exams at the Breeding and Conception Center—which is this state-of-the art modern medical facility you see behind me here.” He nodded at the tall metal and glass building behind him. “After that, you’ll spend your first few nights in the dormitory wing until you’re ready for your Unification Ceremony. Now, I know you don’t know what any of that means right now,” he went on, holding up his hands, as though to stop their questions. “But you will learn. And then, I promise, you’ll be as happy living here as all the other breeders you saw on the way in.”
Penny wanted to ask why he kept calling them “breeders,” but she sensed she wouldn’t like the answer to that question. She saw the angry jut of Shurla’s jaw and knew her friend had questions to ask too. But the Glorious Leader was taking a bow and excusing himself. Before anyone could say anything else, he was leaving them, heading towards the huge mansion on the hill at the far end of the Compound.
“Well, I guess now we know who lives in the big house,” Shurla muttered. “That asshole who calls himself the ‘Glorious Leader.’ Gods, he’s so full of shit! He—ahhhhh!”
She stumbled and fell to her knees as one of the NeverBreeder guards shoved the end of a pain prod into the small of her back.
“Do not speak ill of the Shining Star!” he barked at Shurla. Such blasphemy is not permitted!”
Penny wanted to help her friend up, but her hands were still cuffed behind her back. Still, she did the best she could to protect Shurla by putting herself between the other woman and the pain prod.
“Leave her alone!” she snapped, glaring at the guard. “You nasty little Oompa-Loompa, you!”
“I do not know this name, but I assume it is insulting,” the NeverBreeder remarked, glaring at her. “You will move along into the Breeding and Conception Center or suffer the same fate as your friend.”
Shurla had gotten to her feet by that time. She shook her head at Penny and took a shaky step.
“Come on, there’s nothing we can do right now,” she muttered. “We’ll figure a way out of this later.”
Penny hoped she was right. With a last glance over her shoulder at the NeverBreeder guard, she allowed herself to be herded into the big glass and metal building, never dreaming what lay in store for her inside.
Twenty-Three
The group of women was herded into a long room with many metal exam tables, all lined up in a row. At first Penny wondered if this was supposed to be the dormitory the “Glorious Leader” had spoken of. But then several more Oompa-Loompa NeverBreeders came into the room. These had on silver lab jackets to go with their silver jumpsuits and they seemed to be doctors or scientists of some kind.
“Well? Why are they not up on the tables, Guard Spoone?” one of them demanded of the guards. “Hurry—we have work to do!”
Quickly, the guards un-cuffed each of the prisoner’s hands and prodded them up onto the tables.
Penny shivered helplessly as her damp skin made contact with the cold, bare metal. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d been so frightened—what were the alien doctors going to do to he
r? To all of them? Was this going to be some kind of horrible sci-fi horror vivisection scene where the aliens dissected them alive? Were they—
“All right, breeder, let us check the health of your mammaries,” the orange-skinned NeverBreeder doctor said in her ear.
“What?” Penny somehow managed to get out.
Instead of repeating his statement, the NeverBreeder doctor ran a long slender wand with a glowing tip over her breasts. The tip turned pink and he nodded, as though pleased.
“Very good, your mammary glands are in optimum health.”
Well, it was good to know she didn’t have breast cancer and this was certainly easier than a mammogram, Penny thought, relaxing some. Maybe the whole exam would just consist of the weird little NeverBreeder doctor running the lighted wand over her body without ever touching her with it. Maybe—
“Now spread your legs,” the alien doctor commanded. “I must test the health of your womb.”
“What?” Penny crossed her legs tight. “I don’t think so!”
“Guard Spoone,” the doctor’s voice was impassive—even bored. “Come here at once and shock this breeder until she spreads her legs for me.”
“Wait—what? Wait a minute!” Penny cried but before she could say anything else, the same guard who had shocked Shurla earlier jabbed the end of his pain prod against her side.
“Ahhhh!” A scream of agony ripped from Penny’s throat and she nearly jumped off the table. It was like being hit with a taser—every muscle in her body contracted at once as the current of electricity ran through her.
“Now will you spread your legs?” the alien doctor demanded. “Or must I have the guard shock you again?”
“No! No—please!” Penny babbled. Tears streaming from her eyes, she forced herself to spread her legs.
It’s just an exam, she told herself, and tried to choke back the sobs as the lighted wand probed inside her. Just an exam and it’ll be over soon…over soon…over soon…
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