Total pages in book: 182
Estimated words: 171288 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 856(@200wpm)___ 685(@250wpm)___ 571(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 171288 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 856(@200wpm)___ 685(@250wpm)___ 571(@300wpm)
V watched in frustration as the “Glorious Leader” pulled out the Master Control.
“If you’ll just excuse me for a moment, I need to make an announcement,” he said to the workers. “You see, there’s a brand-new batch of female breeders coming in this moment and so, of course, we have to let them see what our little community here in the Compound is all about.”
V had an uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach as the GL brought the Master Control to his lips. Pressing a button on the side of the control, he began to speak into it and his voice was amplified and sent out to all quarters of the Compound via the speaker system.
“Attention everyone,” he announced. “We have a new batch of breeders coming in today. Let’s welcome them properly—I declare a Public Breeding in the Marketplace!”
Sixty-Nine
“But I always get a loaf with extra tinga seeds!” the woman in front of Penny was protesting angrily. “Do you even know who I am? I’m second in command at the Garment Factory. You’ll be in trouble if you don’t get me my loaf!”
Penny bit back a sharp retort. Even in an egalitarian commune where everyone was supposedly equal, there were still people like this woman—people who demanded special treatment because they thought they were more important than everyone else.
She hated people like her present customer, but it was too late in the day to deal with a fight or a complaint. After what she had seen in the Breeding and Conception Center, Penny didn’t have the emotional reserves for either.
She decided to grab a fresh baked loaf, hot from the ovens, and pretend it was exactly what the “VIP” woman was demanding. That ought to satisfy her—at least Penny hoped it would. She’d had a long, long day and she just wanted to go home and melt into V’rex’s arms. A warm hug from the big Hybrid would make everything better, she was sure.
“Fine,” she said, smiling politely at the woman. “I’ll just go check if we have any loaves with extra tinga seeds in them.”
“See that you do!” the woman huffed. “And hurry up about it! I don’t want to be late getting home.”
“Right away, Ma’am,” Penny assured her.
She turned to go into the bakery and happened to catch a glimpse of the butcher shop next door as she went. What she saw made her heart skip a beat.
Skrug was standing there glaring at her with hatred in his yellow, slitted eyes. There was so much malice emanating from the big blue alien that Penny could almost feel it on her skin—like the poisoned rays of some malevolent sun shining down on her alone.
Feeling uneasy by this open show of animosity, she slipped into the bakery, very glad to be getting out of the huge blue alien’s line of sight. She’d caught Skrug staring at her in the past, but only in passing. This was the first time she’d seen exactly how much he hated her and wished her harm.
She went to the back of the bakery where the ovens were, grabbed a hot loaf, fresh from the racks, and wrapped it in a piece of crackly brown paper. She was just turning to take it back to the storefront when an announcement came over the loudspeaker system.
“Attention everyone,” came the voice of the Glorious Leader. “We have a new batch of breeders coming in today. Let’s welcome them properly—I declare a Public Breeding in the Marketplace!”
Penny froze where she was, feeling like her stomach had just dropped through the floor. Oh God, the thing she’d feared and dreaded had finally come to pass! She gripped the hot bread to her chest, not caring that she was squashing it, and looked around herself wildly.
Everywhere, there was a flurry of commotion.
“All right, girls, all right,” Head Baker Goone was shouting as people ran here and there, trying to finish baking projects and cover their dough. “You know the drill—get all the loaves out of the oven so they don’t burn during the breeding, cover the dough with damp cloths, and then everyone outside. Let’s go, let’s go, come on!”
There was some grumbling among the bakery workers, but none of them was actually protesting, Penny saw. In fact, they all seemed being resigned to the Public Breeding, like being raped by strangers who came to their workplace for that exact purpose, was no big deal.
Well, it’s a big deal to me! she thought, feeling sick. But she knew if she was caught resisting or running, she would be automatically recycled. What was she going to do?
“Come on,” someone said and nudged her. “Let’s go—you heard Head Baker Goone.”
It was May’bell, the woman who had trained Penny on her first day. She pushed past her now with a frown on her face, filing out of the bakery along with everyone else.