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)
She didn’t know what V’rex would say about having another person along on their escape but she couldn’t just leave Claudette here. The poor woman had been through so much trauma—she deserved a chance to get away.
But Claudette only sighed and shook her head.
“Always so hopeful. I wish I could share that hope with you, Penny, but I’m afraid you’ll just end up getting yourself recycled. Still, I wish the best for you. Here.”
She pulled something out of one of the pockets on the sides of her toga and pressed them into Penny’s hand. Penny looked down and saw two little squares of white, puffy material in her palm.
“Gauze?” she asked, looking up at Claudette.
“Super absorbent bandaging—we use it in the Breeding and Conception Center during surgical procedures,” Claudette corrected her. “You’re lucky I happened to have some with me. You can stick those squares to your nipples and they should be absorbent enough to soak up whatever nectar you leak today. But they’re only good for one use,” she added as Penny slipped the square white patches down the front of her toga and positioned them over her nipples—where they stuck to the sticky nectar. “So be sure you get your breasts drained tonight by your new husband.”
“Um…okay.” Penny nodded reluctantly. She still didn’t see how she could ask V’rex to suck the nectar out of her breasts. Just the idea made her cringe inside with mortification.
Claudette seemed to sense her hesitation.
“Do it!” she commanded, glaring fiercely at Penny. “Look—I don’t have any other friends here,” she added awkwardly. “I…I don’t want to lose you. So please, Penny—take care of yourself.”
Touched, Penny smiled at the other woman.
“I will,” she promised, though she still wasn’t sure how to broach the subject with V’rex.
“And have him breed you, too. It’s the only way to stay safe around here,” Claudette lectured. “You have to get pregnant regularly to avoid recycling.”
That was even less likely to happen, Penny thought, her cheeks getting hot with embarrassment. V’rex had promised not to rape her and she was glad he had.
“Here—I got you these.” Claudette reached in her other pocket and pulled out a handful of something Penny recognized.
“Oh—flavor sticks!” she exclaimed, taking them gladly from her friend. “Thank you, Claudette!”
“I know how much you like them.” The other woman shrugged stiffly. “And you can’t really get them outside the Breeding Center so…” She trailed off, shrugging again.
Impulsively, Penny leaned over and gave her a hug.
“Thank you,” she whispered into Claudette’s ear as the other woman hugged her back awkwardly. “You’re a wonderful friend. Thank you for warning me—I promise I’ll do a better job pretending to be hypnotized.”
“Well, you can start right now by being super excited to bake and sell bread,” Claudette lectured as they broke apart. “Remember you’re happy to get your job assignment and you can’t wait to start.”
“Right!” Penny pasted a bright smile on her face and nodded. “Okay, let’s go.”
“Let’s go,” Claudette echoed and they headed for the Marketplace.
Forty-Five
The Marketplace wasn’t very busy this time of day, Penny thought as they entered it. It consisted of about ten or twelve neat little storefronts lined up across from each other along the perfectly paved main road.
There was a garment stall where the red and blue togas were sold—well, not really sold, as Claudette explained. Every week each breeder couple was issued coupons which were good for spending at the Marketplace. Some were for clothes or household implements, but most were for food and other necessities.
Besides the garment stall, there was a store that sold pots and pans—all made at a factory here in the Compound, and further on, a store that sold dishes and bowls and cups. Apparently there was a pottery studio in the Compound too, so everything was hand-thrown and baked in a kiln. Penny wondered why she couldn’t have been assigned there—she had always wanted to take a pottery class and had just never gotten around to it.
On the other side of the neat main street were the food stalls and stores. There was one for the fruits and vegetables, which were all grown right here in the Compound, another for milk, butter, eggs, and cheese—all made in the dairy and collected from the hatching pens where domesticated tongus and chuckas were kept.
There was also a butcher stall, which made Penny shudder. Huge slabs of suspect-looking meat were stored in refrigerated cases right out front. Fat, shiny d’zeez flies buzzed over the offal to one side of the chopping block where a butcher was working on what looked an awful lot like a human thigh to Penny.
Then she saw who the butcher was—it was Skrug, Shurla’s new husband. He looked up at Penny and grinned his snaggle-toothed grin as he chopped the thigh in half with one blow of the giant cleaver he held in one clawed hand.