Talking and Learning

After you calm down a moment you say. "Okay. I'm okay. Um...tell me about this place."

"Well..." She turns to walk, you follow her. She leads you away from the blue path where the group of aliens had gathered, they try to follow as best they can obviously unable to leave the path. You can see another path ahead of you not too far away. Looking around you see that there is no area not in plain sight of one of the pathways or another. "...well...this valley they've built us is practically your whole world now. You'll drink from the stream and the pond and they provide us food in the huts. The food takes some getting used to, it's a blue cube and its almost all you'll ever get to eat." You remember the very unfoodlike wobbly sponge looking thing from the isolation pen.

She continues. "The whole area is open except for the huts and a cave. These only give us privacy from each other though as they've built the huts against the wall so the outside zoo patrons can see inside." She stops to sit on a nearby rock. The location is about as far from any of the paths as one could get. "I usually just sleep outside though. It never gets cold or wet or anything." Then as an aside, "I miss the rain." She says wistfully.

"As you've seen certain of the aliens are allowed to wander through our enclosure, but they cannot leave the paths. We can go anywhere in here except near the exits or within a foot of the aliens. They wear devices that keep us back. Umm...what else?" She taps her finger against her mouth as she thinks. "Oh..." Motioning to her body. "They give us these ponchos to wear. You can keep your old clothes for as long as they last, or wear nothing at all. It's really your choice."

Tapping her finger again. "What else...what else...oh yes, bathrooms! There are none. Whatever they feed us makes it so we don't ever have to go. No 'that time of the month', no pregnancy, we can't even gain or lose much weight. Umm...let's see...work, there isn't much of that around here. We are pretty much free to do what we want. You will rarely see a zookeeper and generally only when things really get out of hand, so we have to police ourselves. Sometimes there are disagreements... Oh yeah, I'm assuming you've figured out how your collar works."

Sitting on the grass beside her you pick a flower and twirl it in your fingers. It looked like a daisy, didn't feel right though. "You are leaving some stuff out, aren't you?" You ask.

"Er...well..."

"You mentioned before that usually the aliens can't touch us. And that this valley was practically my whole world now. The blue cubes were almost all we get to eat. You mentioned rewards if we do what they like. You seem to be talking around something. Let's have it. I need to know what I am dealing with here." You say sternly.

"I didn't want to worry you with things fresh out of the pen..." She looks at you. "Okay, okay. You're right, I'm not telling you the whole truth. The aliens usually can't touch us, but sometimes they can. This place is practically your whole world, but sometimes they take you away for a short time. And as for the rewards...as I told you in the pen, they are really interested in our sexual practices. One might even say obsessed. We really can't figure out why. If we please the spectators sometimes we get things. Different foods, ****, clothes or jewelry, sometimes just an hour of real privacy. I even got to see a movie from Earth once!" She smiles at the memory, it was obviously a happy moment for her. "It was called Star Wars. I couldn't believe what they could do in Hollywood now, it was amazing. They showed me the fourth episode though, but that's okay. I just kinda wish they'd shown me the first one, you know? But that's okay."

Despite it all you can't help but chuckle. It was easy to forget this woman was taken from Earth fifty to sixty years ago. "No. It's best you saw that one. Trust me."

She looks a bit perplexed but gets back to the topic at hand. "I need to warn you though. Some of the women here live for these rewards, you should be prepared."

You sit silently, taking it all in.

"As for the touching and being taken away. Well. Certain of the zoo clients have special...privileges. You can pick them out since their little devices glow purple instead of green. They can give you the best rewards but...they are more...hands on shall we say. You have to entertain them directly. There is even the rare occasion when one of these clients will take us away from here for a time. I've never been chosen for this myself. But...uh...as the male you should expect extra attention."

You shake your head and put your face in your hands. This was beyond belief. Finally you say, "That's a lot to take in."

"I know. It takes time." She smiles at you. "My name is Abigail by the way. She holds out her hand."

You grin back and shake it, introducing yourself in the process.

Standing up you dust yourself off, more from habit than any necessity. You look around. More freakish aliens had entered the area, most trying their best to get a good look at you. You look at the stream and lick your parched lips, you could use a drink. Finally you look the huts dotted around the edge of the enclosure, you should probably meet your other cellmates soon.