“Well? Why are they not up on the tables, Guard Spoone?” one of them demanded of the guards. “Hurry—we have work to do!”
Quickly, the guards un-cuffed each of the prisoner’s hands and prodded them up onto the tables.
Penny shivered helplessly as her damp skin made contact with the cold, bare metal. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d been so frightened—what were the alien doctors going to do to her? To all of them? Was this going to be some kind of horrible sci-fi horror vivisection scene where the aliens dissected them alive? Were they—
“All right, breeder, let us check the health of your mammaries,” the orange-skinned NeverBreeder doctor said in her ear.
“What?” Penny somehow managed to get out.
Instead of repeating his statement, the NeverBreeder doctor ran a long slender wand with a glowing tip over her breasts. The tip turned pink and he nodded, as though pleased.
“Very good, your mammary glands are in optimum health.”
Well, it was good to know she didn’t have breast cancer and this was certainly easier than a mammogram, Penny thought, relaxing some. Maybe the whole exam would just consist of the weird little NeverBreeder doctor running the lighted wand over her body without ever touching her with it. Maybe—
“Now spread your legs,” the alien doctor commanded. “I must test the health of your womb.”
“What?” Penny crossed her legs tight. “I don’t think so!”
“Guard Spoone,” the doctor’s voice was impassive—even bored. “Come here at once and shock this breeder until she spreads her legs for me.”
“Wait—what? Wait a minute!” Penny cried but before she could say anything else, the same guard who had shocked Shurla earlier jabbed the end of his pain prod against her side.
“Ahhhh!” A scream of agony ripped from Penny’s throat and she nearly jumped off the table. It was like being hit with a taser—every muscle in her body contracted at once as the current of electricity ran through her.
“Now will you spread your legs?” the alien doctor demanded. “Or must I have the guard shock you again?”
“No! No—please!” Penny babbled. Tears streaming from her eyes, she forced herself to spread her legs.
It’s just an exam, she told herself, and tried to choke back the sobs as the lighted wand probed inside her. Just an exam and it’ll be over soon…over soon…over soon…
A few moments and an eternity later, the NeverBreeder doctor withdrew the wand and studied the lighted tip, which was glowing the same warm pink it had been when he ran it over Penny’s breasts.
“Very good.” He nodded. “Your womb is healthy and ready for breeding. You are not currently at the correct stage of your cycle, but the Mother’s Milk will take care of that.”
“What…what are you talking about? What’s Mother’s Milk?” Penny whispered through her tears.
But the alien doctor didn’t answer. He simply made a few marks on the lighted clipboard thing he was carrying and moved on to the next prisoner—a woman with pale purple skin and what looked like gills at the sides of her throat.
The NeverBreeder doctor did the same exam he had on Penny—though he did, at least, change the tip of the wand, she saw. Her fellow prisoner’s breasts checked out fine and the wand glowed a pale, reassuring pink. But when the wand was inserted into her vagina, it came out glowing a dark purple.
“What’s this?” The NeverBreeder doctor seemed very upset. “Who brought this female into the Compound?” he demanded.
One of the guards came forward.
“I did, Dr. Loone. Is there a problem?”
“Of course there is a problem, Guard Spoone—look at this.” The alien doctor pointed to the dark purple tip of the wand. “This female is infertile! How could you bring her all this way to the Compound and waste our Glorious Leader’s valuable resources in this way?”
“My instruments in the field indicated that she was fertile,” the guard named Spoone protested. “I cannot be blamed if the instrument is at fault.”
“Most certainly you can be blamed for I am blaming you,” Dr. Loone raged. “Get rid of her at once! She cannot breed, so she must be recycled.”
Recycled? That didn’t sound good to Penny at all—or, apparently, to the woman they were talking about.
“Please!” she begged as two more guards came to drag her off the table. “Please, just take me home! I want to go back to the station—please!”
But the guards were already dragging her off the metal exam table and towards the exit door.
“If you can’t use her, you should take her home!” Penny heard herself shouting. She knew it was dangerous to speak out but she couldn’t help herself—she couldn’t stand to see the woman being dragged away to who-knew-what horrible fate like that!
“Silence, breeder!” One of the guards shook his pain prod at her menacingly. “And who said we can’t use her? There is a use for everyone here in the Compound,” he added ominously, as Penny shrank away from the crackling end of the prod.
She wished she was brave enough to protest, but what could she do? She was naked and unarmed and frightened to death with a pain prod right in her face. Feeling helpless, Penny subsided, not daring to protest again. The door closed, muffling the woman’s screams and then there was only silence.
It was quiet after that. Once everyone was examined, the seven remaining prisoners were herded off the exam tables and out of the room. They went down a long corridor and into another shower room.
Penny was braced for another stinging spray of astringent purple cleanser, but thankfully this shower was only warm water. She gratefully rinsed the purple stuff from earlier off her skin and out of her hair. This time they were given towels to dry off with and thick, warm robes to wrap up in afterwards. It was certainly an improvement, but they were still being held against their will, Penny thought
