She wasn’t sure, but Penny thought all this eagerness to go get joined and bred might have something to do with a change in the hypno-whispers. She still couldn’t understand more than one word in ten, but at night when her pillow whispered to her, her dreams had changed—becoming stranger than ever.
She still dreamed of the Glorious Leader as Colonel Sanders, but this time Sanders was doing a sensuous bump and grind, telling Penny how hot and sexy it was to get bred for the Glorious Cause. But when he unzipped his immaculate white trousers and reached inside, he pulled out not a penis, but an extra-crispy chicken drumstick.
“Take a bite,” he told Penny, thrusting his hips to shove the drumstick in her face. “Just a nibble. Come on—you know you want to…”
At that point, Penny usually woke up, drenched in sweat and filled with a strange mixture of hungriness and horniness. It was a terribly odd combination which was disturbing on so many levels she could hardly name them all.
Clearly, though, the other women were getting the full impact of the hypno-whispers and they were excited to begin their new lives in the Compound. When all of them were lined up in a row, Mother Toone clapped her hands in excitement.
“Oh my dears, you all look so lovely! I’m so excited for you!”
“Thank you, Mother Toone!” they all chorused dutifully and Shurla added, “Can we go get bred now?”
The NeverBreeder attendant laughed indulgently.
“My, I don’t think I’ve ever seen such an eager bunch! Yes, it’s finally time for the ceremony, my sweeties. Come on—let’s go.”
And she led them out of the dormitory and through the long, convoluted hallways to the exit of the Breeding and Conception Center at last.
This is my chance—my only chance! Penny thought grimly, as they walked through the door and out into the open. The sun was shining warmly through the glittering vault of the atmosphere dome and a warm, spicy breeze was rustling the tops of the well-manicured trees which lined the walkway to the Breeding and Conception Center.
Penny took a deep breath. It was the first time in days she’d been outside other than the daily trip to the exercise yard, which hardly counted.
She looked around herself surreptitiously. There were guards surrounding their group of brides-to-be, but surely they would fan out some when everyone started walking. Penny was determined that the minute she saw a time when no one was looking, she would slip away and head down to the gate of the Compound to hide.
And I’ll stay there, she told herself. Until they open the damn thing up and I can slip away! I’ll—
“Now, before we go to the Amphitheater and meet your Forever Mates for the Unification Ceremony, we must make a few little adjustments,” Mother Toone said, smiling at them brightly. “Guard Spoone? Can you help me?”
One of the NeverBreeder guards came forward. He holstered the pain-prod he’d been holding and pulled a fistful of something that looked like a bunch of colorful silk handkerchiefs out of his pocket.
“Who’s first?” he asked gruffly, glaring first at the assembled women and then at Mother Toone.
“I think Shurla is our most eager bride,” Mother Toone decided, smiling her Jack-o-Lantern smile. “Come forward, my dear,” she added, motioning to the triple-breasted woman.
Shurla came forward eagerly, flipping her bright pink hair with an excited little toss of her head as she stood in front of Mother Toone and Guard Spoone.
“Now, in order to show your obedience to your mate and your blind trust in the will of the Shining Star, you must be bound and blindfolded on the way to the ceremony,” Mother Toone explained, as Guard Spoone tied a bright red handkerchief around Shurla’s eyes and a bright blue one around her wrists. “Plus, it adds to the excitement—don’t you think?”
“I’m so, so, so excited!” Shurla gushed and giggled as she allowed herself to be bound and tied with no resistance at all. “But when do we get to see our Forever Mates, Mother Toone? When?”
“At the point in the ceremony when our Glorious Leader has given you formally to your Forever Mate, he will remove your blindfold and you will see him for the first time.” Mother Toone smiled indulgently. “All right now—who’s next?”
Penny felt her heart sink as she watched the other women go up and hold out their wrists eagerly to be bound. How could she possibly escape if she was blindfolded and had her hands tied? Her plan to run the minute no one was looking was impossible if she couldn’t see where she was going.
What was she going to do now?
I’ll tell you what you’re going to do now, whispered a cynical little voice in her head that sounded a lot like Claudette. You’re going to get married and bred and there’s not a damn thing you can do about it.
Penny tried to push the little voice away, but she was terribly afraid it was right.
Twenty-Nine
V didn’t like the fucking grass skirt thing they were making him wear but the pain square stuck to the side of his neck ensured that he didn’t complain. He and the rest of the males who were supposed to meet their “Forever Mates,” were waiting at the bottom of the Amphitheater for the Unification Ceremony to begin.
The Compound’s public meeting place was like a giant bowl someone had carved out of the ground. Rows of tiered, gray stone benches rose up all around them like round bleachers. They were already beginning to fill with the longtime residents of the Compound—both the breeders and NeverBreeders.
Down where V and the six other males were standing, there were several NeverBreeder guards with pain prods to make sure everyone stayed in order. Not a surprising precaution, V thought, since every last one of them was horny out of his fucking mind—V himself included.
It
