“Why do you think? They call us all breeders, don’t they?” Claudette’s voice was harsh. “You’re here to bear babies for the Glorious Cause. Only you’ll never get to see any of them—not as they ought to be, anyway.”
“What? Why not?” Penny demanded. “And if this is some kind of a…a breeding farm, how come none of the women I saw in the town was pregnant?”
“They take the baby out of you after the first trimester, that’s why,” Claudette told her. “That way you can keep bearing more and more babies—at least four a year is what they like. Or more if you’re fertile enough to have twins.”
“Four babies a year?” Penny was aghast. “But you never get to carry any of them to term? Why not?”
“They have to take them out so they can treat the fetuses in the chemical baths until it changes them into what they want,” Claudette said darkly.
“What they want?” Penny looked at her blankly. “What do you mean? What do they change the babies into?”
Claudette gave her a dark look.
“Where do you think the NeverBreeders come from?”
“What?” Penny shook her head. “No,” she said. “No, that can’t be right. I…I don’t believe you!”
“Believe what you want.” Claudette shrugged, as though it didn’t matter what Penny thought. “But ask yourself this—how else could they reproduce? Have you seen between their legs? They’re bare down there—completely smooth.”
Feeling sick, Penny remembered thinking how strange the smooth orange patch of skin between the NeverBreeder guards’ legs were when she’d seen them in the showers the day before.
“You’ve seen them.” Claudette nodded. “I can see it in your eyes—you know I’m telling the truth.”
“But…why?” Penny shook her head. “Why keep a whole Compound full of people who are fertile just to have babies and make them into people who are infertile and incapable of reproducing themselves?”
“For the ‘Glorious Cause,’ of course,” Claudette said sourly. “Someday our Glorious Leader will lead an army of NeverBreeders out into the universe and conquer the whole thing—starting with Hell’s Gate Station, of course—because it is the most sinful place in all creation. Of course, he doesn’t want to conquer it now because it’s his main resource for kidnapping breeders.”
“This is crazy…” Penny felt dizzy with the information being dumped on her. “I just…I can’t believe it,” she whispered. “So I’m stuck here and I’m going to be artificially inseminated for the rest of my life so I can keep having baby after baby that they’ll turn into those little orange monsters?”
“Oh no—not artificially inseminated.” Claudette shook her head. “No, the chemical conversion process won’t work on a baby unless it’s been made the old- fashioned way and incubated in a real womb the first three months. So as soon as your womb is ripe for conception, you’ll be paired with your Forever Mate in a Unification Ceremony.”
“My who in a what?” Penny’s head was spinning.
“Your Forever Mate—whoever the Glorious Leader chooses for you to be with. I’ve been with mine for fifteen cycles—the big idiot,” Claudette said bitterly. “Look.” She pulled down the front of her pale blue toga dress and showed Penny a looping scar just above her left breast. “That’s his mark.”
“He…he marked you? How?” Penny asked.
Claudette only shook her head.
“During the Unification Ceremony, of course. You’ll see. Targ is his name. He’s well and truly hypnotized—never stops talking about what a pleasure it is to ‘serve the Shining Star’ and ‘contribute to the Glorious Cause.’“ She made a face. “And he breeds me every night like clockwork during the Mandatory Breeding Hour. Gods, I hate him!”
“You can’t be serious,” Penny whispered. She felt so dizzy now she had to sit down and put her head in her hands. “This can’t be right. I can’t be stuck here—I’m not even supposed to be here! I’m supposed to be on Yown Beta on an interstellar archeological expedition! Not stuck in a cult compound about to be given away to some man I’ve never met in order to have babies the rest of my life!”
“Keep it down!” Claudette hissed. She gave Penny a swift kick that made her yelp. “Don’t you go having hysterics on me,” she snarled under her breath when Penny looked up with a wounded expression. “I haven’t had anyone to talk to since my friend, Kensey was recycled, but I’ll have you recycled too before I’ll let you get me killed with your damned blubbering!”
“S-sorry.” Penny gulped, trying to get the words out without bursting into tears. “It’s just…this is a lot to take in all at once. And you make it sound so…so hopeless.”
“It is hopeless.” Claudette’s hard gray eyes softened just a little. “But at least you know you’re not alone,” she added. “You’re not the only one immune to the whispers. Just be sure you don’t let any of those orange bastards know it, though, or it’s off to the recycler for you and the next day, you’re on the breakfast plate.”
And with those not at all encouraging words, she picked up the basket of leaf trimmings and left, locking the door to the exercise yard behind her and leaving Penny all alone with her dismal thoughts.
Twenty-Seven
In the next few days, Penny’s body began to change and not, in her opinion, for the better.
First her pussy became sensitive and swollen. She always waxed before she went on a long expedition—it saved time and trouble in personal grooming in her opinion—so she was still smooth enough to see how obvious the problem was.
At first she was worried she might have gotten some kind of alien infection somehow, but she didn’t have any kind of itching or any other signs of disease. It was just that her outer pussy lips were swollen and her clit seemed bigger and much more sensitive when she examined herself surreptitiously in the shower.
This was uncomfortable enough, but at least it could be hidden. However, the other changes in her body most definitely could
