lately.”
His face hardened.
“Well, I think we can both tell that’s not true. Not that I’d ever have anything to do with the flesh trade.” He scowled, as though the idea was repugnant to him. “I think it’s clear who’s really responsible for the abductions around here.” He made a sweeping gesture with one hand, indicating the Compound they were both presently stuck in. “The Glorious fucking Leader.”
“Colonel Sanders and his crazy cult of NeverBreeder Oompa-Loompas,” Penny said grimly.
“What the fuck are Oompa-Loompas?” V’rex asked, frowning.
Penny tried to think how to explain.
“It’s from an Earth vid about a man who owns a giant chocolate factory and he employs these workers who are short and have orange skin. They sing and dance all the time and there are five children taking a tour of the factory but they keep getting into trouble. Like, one falls into the chocolate waterfall and gets sucked up a pipe to be turned into fudge. And another turns into a giant blueberry after she chews the wrong gum and has to be juiced. And every time it happens, the Oompa-Loompas sing songs about how naughty the children are and how they’re getting what they deserve. And then they… Uh, never mind,” she finished abruptly, seeing the quizzical look on his sharp features.
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