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’rex shook his head.
“I usually try not to judge, but your culture sounds fucking strange as shit, little girl.”
“Well, it’s not any weirder than this awful cult stuff!” Penny exclaimed. “At least on my world you’re not kidnapped and forced to get married to a stranger and ‘breed’ for the rest of your life.” She shivered. “And all just to make babies they’re going to take out of your body and mutate into those horrible little NeverBreeders right after the first trimester!”
V’rex made a face.
“I wondered where those fuckers came from. So that’s the GL’s plan? To use breeders to make more of them?”
Penny nodded. “That’s what I was told. They remove the fetus after the first trimester and put it into some kind of chemical bath that turns it into those little orange monsters.” She shivered. “All so the Glorious Leader can build some kind of NeverBreeder army to someday take over the Universe and spread his sick breeding religion!”
“Where did you hear all that?” V’rex demanded. He frowned. “Though I guess it would make sense, considering all the ‘breeding’ that goes on around here—though you don’t see any pregnant females.”
“They are pregnant though—they just aren’t showing yet,” Penny told him earnestly. “There was a woman in the Breeding and Conception center who wasn’t susceptible to the hypno-whispers—she told me.”
“So she was hiding it too, huh?” V’rex raised an eyebrow at her. “But better than you, I’m guessing.”
“I’m usually very good at hiding it,” Penny said defensively. “I was just…surprised to get you as my, uh, Forever Mate at the ceremony. After I’d been warned about you and after—you know—that scene in the Lucky Lounge. That’s all.”
“Sweetheart, don’t take this the wrong way but you are piss-poor at hiding your emotions—they show all over your face,” V’rex said dryly. “Even if I wasn’t half Kru’ell One, I’d know exactly what you were feeling just by looking at you.”
“That’s not true!” Penny exclaimed, stung.
“Hell yes, it is! I could read you like a fucking book from the first minute I saw you back at the Lucky Lounge.” He frowned. “That was right before those little orange bastards grabbed me.”
“Me too!” Penny exclaimed. “I ran in the back to get away from you and they caught me and Shurla—the woman with the three, uh breasts…” She made a motion at her own chest. “In the bathroom.”
V’rex frowned.
“So they took us at the same time? I wondered about that. Do you know how they got us here and where we are? I’m figuring somewhere on Yown Alpha but I don’t know the details.”
“They flew us here and then took us through the jungle in some kind of hover-cart,” Penny said. “I don’t know how long the road is, but it’s clear of the poisonous plants and it leads straight from the landing spot to the Compound, I think.”
V’rex nodded thoughtfully.
“Good—that’s good to know. They shot me up with a fuck-load of knock-out drugs and I didn’t wake up until I was inside the Compound.”
“I’m going to get out of here.” Penny didn’t know if it was wise to admit her plan to the big Hybrid, but she found the words spilling out anyway. “I’m not staying the rest of my life in this horrible place! I’m going to escape and get back to the Hell’s Gate Station as soon as I can. And then I’m going to make a call and the Mother Ship will send someone to take me home.”
He gave her a look that was half admiring, half-skeptical.
“Oh yeah? And how are you gonna do that? Gotta plan, sweetheart?”
“I’ll slip away down to the main gate and wait until they bring in a new batch of, uh, breeders. Then I’ll slip out while the gate is open, run down the path until I get to their docking site,” Penny said rapidly. She had thought about the steps of her plan so often she could actually see herself running down the path, past the tall fronds of the Deadly Jungle, to a waiting ship. “I’ll stow away on one of the outgoing ships and they’ll take me right back up to Hell’s Gate Station without even knowing it!” she finished triumphantly.
“That’s a great plan if you can make yourself invisible,” V’rex said dryly. “You think you can get through the gate, down the road to their launch site, and into one of their ships with nobody seeing you?”
“I can do it—I’m small. Well, I’m short, anyway,” Penny amended, glaring at him. “I can do it!” she repeated.
“Not without help,” V’rex said firmly. “You need someone who can keep you safe in the Deadly Jungle if you have to dive off the road and you get poisoned. And someone who can pilot a shuttle if you do manage to get to the docking site. ”