by Ella Maven
“We provide entertainment.” They looked at each other and laughed in unison.
“Entertainment?”
They gestured to a male servant, who stood along the wall next to a large flat black screen. “Turn it on, Sercho,” the Glazistries said.
Sercho tapped the screen, which glowed a bright blue. In the center, white markings flashed in a language I couldn’t read. He began to tap frantically as the words on the screen scrolled. “I-I’m sorry. Please hold.”
“What’s wrong?” The Glazistries asked in a sharp bark that caused the servant to jump and fumble with the screen.
“I think the signal is slow. It could be the recent storm.”
“Make it work!” They shrieked.
“I’m trying!” The servant quaked in his shoes.
“You’re ruining our reveal. We had this all planned. We had meetings about it!”
“I’m sorry, I don’t—”
I exhaled with a sigh. “Did you try turning it off and back on again?”
The servant froze and looked at me over his shoulder. “What?”
“Did you try. Turning it off. And turning. It. Back. On. Again,” I said slowly.
His lip trembled and he nodded sharply. “Right. That. I can do that.”
He tapped a button on the side, and the screen winked out. After shooting the Glazistries a weak grin, he turned it back on.
The screen came to life, and immediately showed an image of the cavern we’d first arrived in. In the distance I could make out the wall of barred alcoves where they’d taken Jennie. Then the image began to zoom in. I took a step closer to the screen as the servant stepped aside.
I could now make out who occupied some of the barred alcoves, and I could barely believe my eyes. In one was a small furry animal with reddish brown fur, bushy tail, and curved horns. It hissed through the bars before the imaged panned over.
I stared as it revealed more and more alcoves.
A small, clawed creature who sat hunched over. A bird with radiant wings who perched on a small faux tree. A family of hooved rodents.
And then, laying still with a fur pulled up to her chin, was Jennie. I rushed to the screen and touched it, but of course I couldn’t feel her, only the cool, smooth surface. She slept with her lips parted slightly. The fur covering her rose and fell with her breaths.
“What?” I whirled around. “What is this? Why do you have all of them locked behind bars?”
The Glazistries drained their wine. “Because citizens of this galaxy pay a lot of czens to travel here and observe the variety of creatures we have accumulated on this planet. They are entertainment.” They stood up and walked closely to me. I jerked away as they attempted to touch my face. Their laugh filled the space. “And you, firebrand Drix, are going to be our biggest draw yet.”
Jennie
A loud rattle woke me out of a fitful sleep. I jerked up to find a guard standing outside my door. He slid a covered tray through a small hatch in the bottom of the door before locking it and walking away.
I crept off the bed toward the tray, my stomach gnawing at itself. They said I’d only get two meals a day, so I had to eat, but I was almost afraid to look at the offering. I peered outside of the bars but could only hear murmurs of other prisoners eating as well as the occasional squawk or squeak.
The floor of the cavern was empty except for a few soldiers standing in an assembly line to hand out trays. Eyeing the tray, I picked it up gingerly, surprised at how heavy it was. Once I retreated back to my bed along the far wall, I sat cross-legged with the tray on my lap.
“Please taste good,” I whispered to myself before lifting the lid.
I gaped at the contents. First of all, the tray was brimming. I had expected what amounted to an elementary-school cafeteria serving, but this was… this was a lot. Maybe more than I could eat. Of course, I had no idea what anything was, but the smell was promising.
Vivid leaves in blues, purples, and greens sat in a bunch, drizzled with something that smelled sweet and fruity. A slice of what looked like meat, or a meat substitute, lay on a bed of a fluffy purple mash. Accompanying the meal was a sponge-y brown ball that looked like a dinner roll and a thick smoothie-like drink. Wrapped in a clear paper was a small pink square. When I opened it and sniffed it, a sweet, honey-like scent filled my nostrils.
“Wow,” I whispered. Then my stomach dipped. Those blue twins had thought I looked too skinny.
Were they … fattening me up to eat me? Oh God. I stared hopelessly at the tray, but even the thought of them eating my arm didn’t stop my stomach from rumbling. I was hungry and starving myself served no purpose. Fenix wouldn’t want that. He’d agreed to go with them willingly in exchange for my safety. As long as he was alive, then I would stay alive too, right?
Ignoring all my fears for now, I dug into the food. The flavors were unique, but nonetheless delicious. I especially loved the meat and purple mash. By the time I was full, the tray was nearly empty except for half of the roll and a little of the smoothie. My stomach protruded a bit, and I patted the tight skin. I hadn’t been this full since I arrived in this galaxy.
I replaced the tray in front of the hatch, used my toilet, and washed up with the small basin of water. Laying on the bed again, I closed my eyes and listened to the sounds of the other prisoners. There were no cries of distress. Were they all fed as well as me? What were we doing here? I couldn’t imagine they were feeding us well out of the goodness of their hearts. We had to serve some sort of purpose. I just… didn’t know what it was.
I dozed off a little, my body sated on the meal, until a distinct scratching sound reached my ears. I opened my eyes and stared groggily at the ceiling before swiping the drool off the corner of my mouth. The sound grew louder, and I peered around me to try to find the source.
Suddenly a creature appeared outside my cell. Short, maybe four feet, with gray hair pulled back into a messy knot on top of their head. Their paws were tipped with long digger claws like a mole.
They scuttled forward, hunched over, wearing a long shirt that brushed their ankles.
“Hello?” I called out in a raspy whisper, my voice aching from disuse.
The creature let out a squeak of surprise. I caught a glimpse of big round eyes before they scrambled back the way they came out of sight.
I ran to the front of my cell and tried again. “Hello?” I managed again, this time with a little more tone to my voice. Smashing my face against the bars, I tried to get a glimpse of the creature. I cleared my throat. “Who’s there?”
My words were followed by silence. Eerie, careful, silence. But when I closed my eyes and listened hard enough, I could just make out the sound of rapid breathing.
“I won’t hurt you,” I whispered. “Please come back.”
Finally, after a few long moments, came the patter of small footsteps. Peering around the edge of the cell bars was a round face with massive gray eyes that took up half of their face. Silver threads were woven throughout the gray hair, and two little holes fluttered above a closed mouth. The creature held their clasped paws over their round belly.
“I’m Jennie,” I whispered.
“Heera,” the creature murmured in a high voice. “I’m a female hilbob.”
“I’m a female human,” I smiled at her, and she stretched her mouth into something that looked like a smile.
“I live two cells over,” she said and then hesitated as she rubbed her paws together, claws clicking.
“How did you get out?”
She held up her digger paws. “A tunnel.”
I blinked. “You what?”
“I leave my cell to steal a boralix bud when my old one dies. I … don’t like the dark.” Suddenly her face lit up. “Do you want one?”
“Um, I—”
“Let me get you one.”
She scuttled off out of sight before I could say another word. When I saw her again, she was in the cavern below, plucking two small orbs off the wall before s
hoving them into her shirt. On short legs, she raced back to the staircase. In moments, she returned to my cell. After squeezing the flexible flower bud through the bars of my cage, she instructed me to fluff it up like a pillow.
I did, and the glowing ball filled my small cell with a warm light.
“It’s so pretty. Thank you.” I reached through the bars to shake her paw, but she stared at my palm before nuzzling it with the top of her head. Giggling, I patted her soft, downy hair. “But if you can get out of your cell… why don’t you escape?” My throat ached, and I hoped it held out a little while longer so I could get some more information out of Heera. She was the first friendly face other than Fenix that I’d seen in ages.
“There’s nowhere to go. The surface of this planet is uninhabitable. And the glazers would find me no matter what level I dug to.”
“Level?”
“At least in the cell they feed me well, and the price for that isn’t so bad.” She shrugged her shoulders. “Could be worse.”
“Price?” I rasped. “What… what price?”
Heera blinked at me. “Don’t you—? Oh. I forgot, you just arrived. Well, —”
An alarm blared, sending my heart racing as the orb began to glow with a reddish tinge. “What—?”
“I have to go,” Heera said hurriedly. “They can’t catch me outside my cell.”
“But what—”
“Don’t worry,” she yelled as she hurried away. “Just do what they tell you to do.”
Who? I tried to scream after her, but my voice gave out completely. I wanted to scream, but there was no sound leaving my throat. The alarms continued, and I expected the cells to erupt with chaos, but over the blaring, all I could hear were some slight grumbles. Why was no one panicking?
Suddenly a disembodied voice said in a bored tone. “Please stand in the glowing circle of your cell and wait for ascension.”
Ascension? I whirled around to find a circle glowing on the tiles of my cell. Heera had said I was to do what I was told to do. With trembling legs, I walked toward the circle. The orbs all around the cavern began to flash, and with a deep breath, I placed my feet inside the circle.
“Ascension starting.”
I fisted my hands at my sides as the orbs glowed brightly before winking out completely. A clear film rose from the floor, surrounding me, seconds before the small circle of floor at my feet shot me upward with a belly-dipping force.
Fourteen
Jennie
I braced my hands on the side of the clear film, which remained firm beneath my palms. I tried to scream, but no sound came out, and all around me was the rush of air as I continued upward, feeling like Augustus Gloop sucked up from the chocolate river in Willy Wonka’s factory.
I passed underground levels at dizzying speeds, catching glimpses of families huddled together in drab clothing, then another level with a rug-covered hallway. Each level increased in decadence, until the floor under my feet began to slow its ascent.
We passed another large cavern, this one lined with sculptures made of shining jewels and decorated walls. Everything was bright and shiny. I pressed my nose to the clear film and met the gaze of a familiar set of twins—the joined hand and massive necklace gave them away. They smiled at me, and I shivered, glad when the platform continued up to take me out of their sight.
On the next level, the platform came to a smooth halt. The clear film around me dropped away. The ring in the floor glowed before fading away. And the robotic voice came. “You are now free to move about your enclosure.”
My enclosure?
After catching my breath, I gazed around. I was in some sort of clear box, about twelve-by-twelve feet. And inside the box with me was… furniture. Earth-like things, but clearly designed by someone who was not from Earth. A table and two chairs were completely off in proportion, as the chair seat was at the same height as the table surface. A comically large vase was placed in the center, stuffed with faux flowers that were unlike any Earth flower I’d ever seen.
A large fur covered a bed that was way too high for me to climb on. I tugged on the cover of the fur, and it tumbled down to the ground. Picking it up, I wrapped it around my shoulders and surveyed the rest of the room.
A blob of fur was in the corner, sitting on a plush pillow, and I gingerly stepped toward it, wondering if it was alive. Only when I crouched down did I realize it was not a living thing, but instead was a matted figure of fur with a collar resting on top. Was this supposed to be… my pet? It was cobbled together with the semblance of two legs and a head. Did they even know what a dog or cat looked like? Two crude eyes were carved into the round head-shape.
I backed away from the inanimate object as my skin began to crawl. Outside my box, I could see dozens of other boxes with singular creatures inside, all of us forming a giant circle. In the far distance, I spotted Heera watching me with her big eyes. Her box was piled high with dirt, and she’d already tunneled below to press her face up against the clear wall, reminding me of an ant farm.
Another bird-like creature was in a box with jungle-like massive leaves and branches, which it currently was perched on cleaning itself. Each box was different, the contents seeming to fit the habitat of said creature.
Large, floor-to-cavern ceiling doors opened on one end of the room and aliens—some blue, like the twins, but others in all shapes and sizes—entered. Some were alone, others seemed to be grouped in families, but they all wore jewelry and ornate clothes. As they stopped at each glass box to point and wave at the creature inside, I realized with a sick churn of my stomach what was happening.
“This is…” I murmured to myself, “an exhibit.” I choked sob left my throat. “We are the zoo.”
I huddled on the ground and tossed the fur over my head to hide. Suddenly a voice echoed in my box. “You must remain visible at all times. Correct this immediately.”
“Fuck off,” I muttered.
“Correct this immediately,” the voice said again.
I ignored it and shivered. Rubbing my hands together, I frowned as I realized the temperature in my box had dropped in temperature. Fast. Lifting the fur slightly, I exhaled, and my breath came out in a puff of white. I tossed the fur off my head. “What the—?”
“Correction made. Climate returning to normal.”
I mouth dropped open as the box warmed quickly. “Oh my God, they’ll punish me if I can’t be seen.”
Feeling helpless, I could only watch from my huddled position on the floor as a family of blue aliens stopped in front of me—the mother’s hair was piled on her head in a riot of curls and jeweled barrettes. The little girl standing in front of them tilted her head as she studied me. I resisted giving them all the finger. The last thing I needed was to be turned into a glacier.
“I heard they got a human,” the male said in a deep voice. “Apparently the trade didn’t go as planned because she’s a disappointment.”
They didn’t have to rub it in. I rolled my eyes and climbed up on one of the stupid chairs. Plucking at the fake flowers, I ignored the aliens outside my box.
“But the rumor is the Glazistries got something even better from the Rogastix.”
This got the male’s attention. And mine. “Is that right? Who did you hear that from?”
The female patted her head of curls. “Uberna told me while she did my hair. You know she’s a gossip. She heard from her sister who is dating one of the cousins of a Glazistries guard that a big foreigner in chains was delivered. That’s all I know.”
The little girl tapped on the glass. “Doesn’t it do anything?”
I turned with a glare and stuck my tongue out.
The little girl giggled and unfurled her black, forked tongue. “I think it likes me. See? We’re playing a game.”
“What’s wrong with its tongue?” the mother said. “Is she dying?”
I hated it here. I had checked every single box, and Fenix was nowhere to be found. Where was he? He had to be alive, but I was su
re he was in great pain. My heart ached, and I wanted to cry.
I sat picking at the fake flowers until they were a scattered mess on the table. I ignored everyone else that came to gawk at me in my box. There were gray aliens with cat-like paws, and horned things that sneered at me with yellow eyes.
The contents of my box, so Earth-like but so not creeped me the hell out. I actually longed for the privacy of my cell where I could sleep in peace. I’d tried to lay down a few times and got another warning. I was dozing sitting up, feeling like I’d cheated the system, when increased chatter made me open my eyes.
The crowd began to gather toward the doors, and through the throng of bodies, I caught a glimpse of two familiar faces—the Glazistries, as they were called. I’d done enough eavesdropping to pick up some things.
Walking in front of the twins was a child. I couldn’t assume age, but he wore a pair of wide-leg shiny pants and a vest. His long white hair shone like lacquer and he wore a crown on his small head. He looked like a little prince. Was he their child?
The Glazistries, flanked by guards, waved to the crowd with their unjoined hands, chins held high with a regal air. Bored as hell, I waltzed around my box, doing the princess wave with my cupped hand and pretending like I was ordering around my people.
“Mildred, you comb Fluffy,” I murmured to myself. “And you, Gary, make my bed. I need some beauty rest before the ball tonight.”
The Glazistries started talking, and I didn’t really care what they had to say, but I did want to know if they said anything about Fenix.
“Thank you all for choosing to visit Viprix 2 for your entertainment. We hope you were able to see everything you wanted to see. If not, there will be some time at the end to do some more viewing. Right now, we wanted to announce a special acquisition we recently made, in celebration of Brokas’s tenth year.”
The prince in front smiled creepily.
I didn’t dislike children, but I definitely disliked this one.
The twins snapped the fingers of their joined hand, and the floor in the center of our circle dropped away. Rising up slowly was a clear box, and I gasped when the top of a black-horned head appeared with familiar orange hair.