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.As if she were some peculiar alien creature.A few minutes later, the Dorn carried her from the main hallway to a wide, metal corridor.The walls, ceiling, and floor were covered in the same corrugated steel material.The Dorn’s boots made their footsteps echo oddly, as they walked.She turned her head to glare at the one of her right.Her arms were beginning to ache from being used as handles.“Where are we? Why am here? Take me home right now and I won’t kick your—”The whoosh of a door sliding open cut her off.She looked forward in time to see three beings scrambling toward her.Her first impression was orange, human-sized spider monkeys.The thought dropped away when they spoke in perfect, if not exactly friendly, English.“Come with us, human.”She frowned.“No, thank you.”The Dorn let out strange hissing sounds that she assumed were their version of laughter, before they shoved her toward the three spider monkeys.She stumbled into them and they immediately pushed her further into the room.Vaguely aware of one of the orange monkeys watching her, she raised her head and moved toward the dim light on the other side of the room.After only a few steps, she stumbled over something.The something let out a soft chirp.Abby squinted into the shadows by her feet and her eyes widened.The floor was covered by sleeping beings.The one she had nearly stepped on stretched languidly and yawned, showing small, pointed teeth.“Um, sorry about that,” Abby mumbled.Its eyelids rose to reveal luminous violet eyes.“J’ymiw veks tol?”Abby blinked at the feminine voice.“I’m sorry, I don’t understand.”The being’s thin lips curved slightly and she rose to stand.The top of her head came level with Abby’s chin.She looked her over, as if trying to figure out Abby’s species.Her brows puckered.“Um, I’m from Earth.” The blank look did not change.“It’s the Sun neighborhood.”The light in the room suddenly flared and the space became painfully bright.Abby winced.The orange spider monkeys had increased in number.Eight of them stomped around the room, shoving at anyone not already on their feet.She followed them with her eyes, taking in the variety of beings in the room.All were petite and fine-featured, but the similarity ended there.There were several like the one near her, with large eyes, a light dusting of blue fur, and sharp teeth.She counted three of the gold-scaled beings with long white hair, six of the thin, leather-skinned beings with the feathered crest, and half a dozen spotted beings with a crest of bone running the length of their spine.She did not realize she was staring, until the orange spider monkey shoved something into her arms and she jerked back.It simply huffed at her and moved away.She watched it give the same thing to the female next to her and looked down at the bundle in her arms.Slowly, she unwrapped the cloth.No.She narrowed her eyes at what looked like two rags stitched into a rough bikini top and a short skirt.She had a perfectly serviceable robe.There was no reason for her to change.Just as she thought it, the three orange monkeys attacked her.She kicked and punched, but they managed to strip her.She considered going after them naked, but thought better of it.Fine.She would put on the sad excuse for clothes.Then, she would beat them senseless.It was not until she had the rags on that she looked around and paused.It suddenly clicked.They were all female and dressed the same as her.The spider monkeys yelled something and began pushing the group toward a small door opposite the one she had come in.Something told her she was not going to like what was on the other side.She tried to fight the crowd without hurting the other females, but there was no way to move in the crush of bodies.She was forced along with the tide and out through the doorway.The short hallway beyond dumped into a massive arena, seating circling the small fenced area where she was standing with the other females.This was definitely not good.She slowly looked around.The seats were empty, something for which she was thankful.Her gaze moved from the bleachers to the area inside the fence.The only structure on the dirt floor was a small podium.Her eyes narrowed.Something about the set up nagged at her.The orange beings began to move through the crowd, making small adjustments to the bikinis and rubbing a shiny substance onto the females’ skin.When one of them started to approach her, she shook her head.“Don’t even think about it, buddy.”It continued toward her.“I will break off whatever part of you touches me,” she growled, as it stepped within reach.It started to grab her when one of the other spider monkeys barked something.Its beady eyes looked her over and it yelled over its shoulder.All three of them made an odd warbling sound.It took her a second to realize they were laughing at her [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]