happiest place on Yown Alpha, she supposed.
After studying the people who lived in the idyllic little village, her eyes were drawn once more to the architecture. Far to one side of the Compound, was a building unlike the cozy cottages—it was high-tech, made of gleaming metal and glass and it appeared to be several stories tall. This was the Breeding and Conception Center, as Penny would soon come to know, and she would dread having her “exam” every morning. But for now, she just looked around, trying to take it all in.
The only building bigger than the glass and metal structure was a huge mansion at the far end. It was built on a hill—possibly an artificial one, since the rest of the surrounding land was flat as a pancake, Penny thought.
It was a magnificent structure, as ostentatious as the little white cottages were simple and plain. Statues of huge alien beasts guarded the double front doors and gold leaf adorned its marble columns. The gold winked in the midday sun, sending bright darts of light into Penny’s eyes.
“Wonder who lives there?” Shurla muttered to Penny, who was wondering the same thing. “And have you noticed it’s not as hot in here?” she added.
“Hmm?” Penny shivered again. “I thought I was just cold from being drenched in that awful “shower,” she murmured. “But now that you mention it, it does seem cooler and less humid than it did out in the jungle.”
“Atmosphere dome,” Shurla murmured back. “Whoever owns this place must have gobs of credit to spare. Domes are crazy-expensive to build and maintain. Keeps the insects out too,” she added thoughtfully.
Penny had to agree with her. She’d been too miserable and scared to think much about it, but there had been the constant humming buzz and the occasional flying insect out on the jungle road. Here in the Compound, the noises of the jungle were conspicuously absent and she realized she hadn’t seen a single insect since they’d passed through the stone archway out front.
Looking up, she thought she saw a faint rainbow shimmer in the sky above them. It’s like we’re trapped in a giant soap bubble, she thought grimly. One that keeps the heat and humidity and insects out…and the prisoners in.
But she soon had other things to think about.
Suddenly a loud whistle blew. It seemed to echo from hidden loudspeakers all around them. It certainly got everyone’s attention because all the happy people in their pretty togas stopped what they were doing and looked up expectantly.
“My dear children,” a smooth, male voice spoke, filling the air. “We have some fresh breeders coming into our Compound today—they are new to our way of life. Let us show them the beauty of our Glorious Cause by celebrating the life we make here every day. I declare a Public Mandatory Breeding!”
At once, everyone in the compound stopped whatever they were doing and began to pair up, apparently at random. Penny would have thought that the alien species would have stayed together, but she saw men and women of all the different humanoid races suddenly having sex.
Some of the women got to their hands and knees while the males behind them flipped up their short toga-skirts and entered them. Some pairs settled on the rustic benches scattered around the park with the females straddling the males. A few women in the marketplace simply leaned over the brightly painted wooden counters of their stalls and spread their thighs for the males behind them. And of course, some simply lay down in the lush, perfectly manicured turquoise grass which covered much of the Compound. But however they did it, they were doing it, Penny saw.
The whole Compound had become a complete Fuck-fest.
She forgot that she was naked and wet and shivering and looked around in awe at the massive orgy going on all around them. It was a bizarre sight in the middle of the neat and orderly village where every bit of ground was meticulously landscaped and the houses and buildings were all scrupulously clean.
It was as though all the cast members in Disney World had suddenly decided to have sex with each other, Penny thought—it was that weird. The males grunted and groaned as the women they were plowing moaned and gasped and everyone appeared to be having an excellent time as, all around the Compound, everyone got their freak on.
Well, everyone except the Oompa-Loompa NeverBreeders, that was. They all simply watched with blank expressions on their faces as the