Root CGD: Earth Day 531 in captivity, 9:03 PM
CinT Ark Loc: Exhibit Housing
"No… I don’t think you guys realize just how dangerous our hosts are,” I said softly.

“Liam’s figured out a way to create a small explosive device,” he began saying.

“An untested device made of food scraps, right? That’s what you said...”

“Yes, but theoretically it should work,” Garrett complained.

“And they want me to fly a ship out of here, right? Fine, I’ll do that; you can tell them I’ll do it, alright... Believe me, I want out of here as much as anyone. But if they want me to fight my way to a ship, I’m not going to do that. That alien we encountered grabbed Jessie by the neck from a meter and a half away from the doorway, lifted him up, and shook him—breaking his neck like it was nothing. If that took all of three seconds to do, I would be surprised,” I complained, choking up and stopped speaking for a moment to regain my composure. “Look, all I’m saying is that’s not a battle we’re going to win with a theoretical device. Come on, you have to know that!”

I guess I shouldn’t be all that surprised the brain trust began to revive plans for escaping this place since they had someone who might be able to pilot a ship out of here. I just didn’t think they fully understood the danger our hosts posed to us. Garrett had laid out loose, generalized ideas they’d been mulling over, but in my mind they were incomplete and only served to get someone killed. Plus, they were going to rely on getting one of the men pulled out of here to get the escape rolling—then that volunteer would battle back into the exhibit housing to get us out! Seriously, that’s the best they could come up with?!

“When people are taken out of here, they aren’t awake; they’ve been drugged somehow. Be that with the food we’re eating or, as Zenia thinks, the water we’re bathing in. How do you get past that issue?” I challenged.

“Stimulants encased in a shell that will dissolve over a period of time,” he stated solemnly.

"Really? Someone is going to cook up something to revive whoever is taken out of here? To what end? That you wake up and are killed? Or you try to fumble with some explosive device that may or may not kill you in the process? Do you think they’ll pull whomever out of here if they detect that device on them? What if they figure it out and a couple of them come in here to eliminate any threats or all of us?"

I’d asked those questions in rapid succession, not giving him a chance to reply until I ran out of questions.

“I understand, and there are details we need to work out still, but we can’t stay in here forever. I’ve been here over four, probably closer to five CGD years, and I want my damn life back,” he stated, annoyed.

“I get it. I understand, but our hosts aren’t stupid; they’re going to be a lot more careful than they have been. Have you considered they could be treating us a whole lot worse? My vote is to wait for some chance, some missed aspect of them keeping us penned in here, then plan something that’s got a better chance of us getting out of here.”

Root CGD: Earth Day 532 in captivity, 6:22 AM
CinT Ark Loc: Exhibit Housing
We’d gone to bed miffed at one another. The foot massage to fooling around idea was off the table by the time we’d actually crawled into bed. Was I disappointed about that? Sure, and it took every ounce of self-control I had to not break down in front of him because I was disappointed and feeling like this first little disagreement we’d had would put a wedge between us somehow. It hadn’t helped my sense of doom on the horizon realizing we’d both slept back to back for most of the night.

I woke to use the bathroom no less worried about...

“You alright?”

“Yeah, just need to go to the bathroom,” I said, stopping at the door to our room to answer him.

The sky above us was beginning to lighten up, and I could see he was staring at me from the bed. I was wearing one of his t-shirts, and I tried my best to smile, but when he didn’t offer anything more, I went to do what I’d set out to do—go pee. Three minutes of additional worry in the bathroom, and I returned to our room with a glimmer of hope from what greeted me. He’d moved to my side of the bed and had the sheet held up for me to slide in next to him on his side.

I smiled shyly and joined him, and we were spooning comfortably after I’d lain down next to him. We also had an audience judging by the sporadic round of clicking noises above us as we lay there.

“I’m sorry about last night,” he said after assuming I was comfortable.

“Me too,” I replied, trying my best to not sound annoyed that there were more ‘clickety-click’ noises coming from somewhere above us.

“Just ignore them.”

Mind read much?!

I couldn’t help but smile to myself and reply, “I’m trying, but it’s not easy.”

“I want you to know I really do understand how you feel about us thinking we can make a break for it without a solid enough plan. I’d never discount your thoughts on any of that after what happened to you and Jessie,” he said, kissing my neck briefly while hugging me gently. “I’ve been in here too long, and it, well, it kind of grinds on me. I wasn’t focused on your feelings last night; I promise to do better.”

“I understand, really I do, and I hope you believe me when I say that. It’s, well… I just don’t want to lose anyone, especially not you,” I whispered.

Saying that out loud felt oddly comforting, though I was a little surprised I’d shared that with him feeling as vulnerable about our coupling as I did. He needed to know, I reasoned, though I suspect he already did. We held each other in silence for a moment, and I saw it in my mind before it happened, my face being turned towards my shoulder, lips meeting mine, a dark brown mustache that tickled my lips, and an urgent kiss... Nothing more of that man’s face was shown to me in that flash of a memory before Garrett was gently turning my face towards my shoulder, his red mustache tickling my lips as he kissed me.

It took no effort to put that memory aside and live in the moment, the real waking moment, where I was nestled in Garrett’s arms and our tongues were dancing happily in my mouth.

The kiss was short, and I absently rubbed one of his feet with one of mine, but that ended when he gently rolled me onto my back after scooting over a little. Now looking down on me, he had a serious look on his face, and I braced for being told something I wasn’t going to like or want to hear.

“I’m not going anywhere, okay... Neither are you. I’ll handle Liam and the other guys, but there will likely be a need to assure them that if they can clear a safe path out of here for us, you’d still be willing to fly us out of here.”

“I am…”

I felt better about how he’d tried to balance everyone’s expectations, but it didn’t squash my fears that any attempt at getting out of here would end badly. We had no proven weapons to bear, so whatever we ended up doing would need to be thought out and not be some rash storming of our alien hosts, who put both Jessie and I down in less than ten to twelve seconds at the most. There would be a need to level the playing field or we’d be screwed, and this time our hosts might not save any of the collaterally damaged humans like they had me.

Garrett leaned in to kiss me, and I got my arms around him to pull him close. That effort interrupted our kissing and got me a momentary look of questioning from him. He quickly figured out I wanted the same thing he did, and he moved his body on top of mine with no further coaxing necessary. There was care, an absence of rushing, and as he moved, I slowly spread my legs to accept his position on top of me before we were kissing again.

Both times we’d had sex in the holding pen, I’d been on top of him, and what was happening now felt very different. Certainly my prospective was different, but his weight on me was comforting and commanding, and I was so ready to feel him inside of me if my heart didn’t give out from beating so damn fast.

He wasn’t in any hurry though, not like I’d been the first time I gave myself to him. I had rolled my hips quickly over his manhood once he was naked in the holding pen because it felt unbelievable, intoxicating, and just plain WOW! The second time I’d done that he’d entered me quite easily and my world lit up like nothing I’d ever experienced before.

Right now, every move he made was slow, calculated, and driving my desire for him to be inside of me to the point of being crucial for me to maintain my own sanity. COME ON! I tried to wiggle my hips beneath him slightly to line him up, but it did nothing but frustrate me having his manhood so close and not being able to get it inside of me.

When he broke our kiss to nuzzle my neck, I huffed a soft moan before pleading softly, "Please...”

"No…” was his whispered reply.

I raked my nails gently over his ass, which became his back as his body slid down mine. His lips surrounding each of my firm nipples for a moment as he kept moving his body further down mine...

“Garrrrtt...” I whimpered, but he was already kissing my stomach by the time I said that and sliding his arms beneath my legs. Was he going to…

“Waaitt...” I croaked pitifully and stiffened when his tongue slipped between the lips of my…

Root CGD: Earth Day 532 in captivity, 10:55 AM
CinT Ark Loc: Exhibit Housing
I was having trouble concentrating during the ‘boys club’ meeting I was invited to after getting ready for the day. My mind was still in bed with Garrett, yet my physical body was a dozen or so meters from our bed. I couldn’t begin to count the number of times he’d brought me to a plateau of immense, pure, and the absolute rawest pleasure I’d ever experienced in my life while his face was buried between my legs sucking, licking, and fingering my vagina. I truly felt there was some form of enhanced connection between my mind and my body right now that moved me to depths of pleasure that were new and intoxicating.

When I’d finally caught my breath after we’d finished making love, I actually cried.

Of course that freaked Garrett out, and it was difficult for me to explain to him that everything was alright and that I was just happy, content. Happy? How did I go from being myself to being happy and feeling completely fulfilled with this man? I am myself though, right, just a little different in the physical sense? There had to be something I was missing...

“Your thoughts, Cam?” Liam asked.

I’d been listening half-heartedly and thankfully had heard most of Liam’s spiel last night from Garrett. Liam had just finished explaining the plan, and my mind hadn’t been changed as to it being one I had no confidence in. And, I didn’t much like him shortening my name for some reason, but I could let that slide for now.

“I don’t think we should be planning this without everyone being involved,” I stated calmly, though inside I was afraid I’d just pissed Liam and maybe Beck off by the looks on both their faces.

Turpin looked like he didn’t care that I’d suggested everyone should be in on this session. I couldn’t see Garrett because he was at my side. I probably just overstepped my place in this ‘leadership’ group. Oh well!

“Noted, and the rest of the women will be brought into the planning when it’s appropriate,” Liam said in reply.

I didn’t really know him, so I couldn’t tell if his reply had a hint of annoyance in it or not. Was he worried the women would side with me on the idea of making another escape attempt with these obvious dangers, risks?

“We’re just being hypothetical here; what’s the harm in having three additional insights?” I pressed.

Root CGD: Earth Day 532 in captivity, 11:11 AM
CinT Ark Loc: Exhibit Housing
Everyone was gathered now in Liam and Zenia’s living room, and he’d just gone over the moving pieces of the plan—Zenia creating a stimulant that would wake the person after it dissolved from a hardened shell made of crystallized plant-based sugars, the small explosive device he’d created, and the idea one of the men would get that rolling by getting themselves pulled out of here.

“Is there more to this plan?” Cekoo asked.

Syn asked about the stimulant and whether it was enough to wake someone before Liam got a chance to answer Cekoo’s question.

“Syn, we know that stimulant from the blue fruit doesn’t have any effect on you since you hog the supply of it,” Liam said with a friendly laugh.

“I can’t help it; I need the boost, but lately I’m wondering if the season is off or maybe I’ve built up a tolerance,” she replied.

“Hello, plan?” Cekoo repeated.

“Getting there,” Liam chided, and he went over a few more details, but there wasn’t anything more to the plan than what he’d shared with me earlier.

“Cam, do you think someone could deploy the device quick enough?” Cekoo asked me.

‘Cam’ again, but I didn’t mind her saying it. Why? Did it matter? Augh… Focus!

“There would be a lot of variables to consider. How deeply out of it the person is. What steps are necessary for deploying the device and whether it works seamlessly? What’s the blast range? How does that person press the attack and how to deal with their response,” I answered quickly, but felt like I could have talked longer to expand on how bad of an idea this was.

“Who’s going to go?” Syn asked.

“Beck or me,” Liam answered.

By the look on Zenia’s face, that was news to her. I don’t think Cekoo liked that her man was being considered either.

“What other options do we have?” Garrett began. “Where are the weak points to this cage we’re in?”

“The stores port, but that’s locked down,” Syn answered.

“A few weeks back I noticed a glitch in the projected sky, just where it starts to round itself from the walls into the dome over us. Could we try to go up somehow?” Cekoo asked.

“We’re being watched round the clock, not sure we want to head right into a crowd of these aliens,” I replied.

“Yeah, guess that wouldn’t a good idea,” Cekoo conceded and followed up with a question, “Was this your idea, Cam, to bring us all together to discuss this?”

She knew it likely was; there were eight of us in the Exhibit Housing, and I know they all looked at me differently or as if I were a troublemaker set on bucking the system or still having some of that ‘man’ focus to who I was since I was once more of a man.

“No, not really,” I said with as much confidence as I could muster. “The guys laid out the plan for me and asked about flying us out of here. I said I was in, but asked about what everyone else thought, and here we are.”

That got me skeptical looks, but no further pressing. A few other ideas were kicked around after that exchange, all by the women.

“Could we make enough of these devices to repel an attack?” Zenia asked.

“Don’t see why not,” Liam replied.

“What about blowing a whole through where Garrett and Cam entered the Exhibit House from the holding pens?” Cekoo asked.

“I searched around my pen the first time I was brought here and couldn’t find any exit. I think it surprised both of us that there was an entrance from them to the exhibit. The wall between the pens where Garrett and I were held had the ability to be one way transparent, but to the touch felt metallic when not see through—even though it could be completely removed to allow access to the other pen or Exhibit Housing area,” I noted.

“Has anyone noticed along the walls of the exhibit any dead spots in the way the wall feels? I don’t walk the perimeter, so I wouldn’t know,” Beck asked.

“No…,” was the reply from both Syn and Zenia.

Ideas and thoughts on the matter of our collective cage and escaping wound down with nothing worth talking over being offered up.

“We should do this more, gather to plan, and share things we observe that might spark some idea or thought someone else has about getting out of here,” Cekoo said.

To this point Garrett had said next to nothing but replied, “We should... Everyone has a stake in getting out of here. With Cekoo and Zen being pregnant, they’re likely to be the next pulled out of here for whatever it is our hosts are doing with you women to check on your pregnancies. Could be an opportunity to try out the stimulant, fake being out of it to observe where they take you, or what makes up this facility?”

The look on Zenia’s face wasn’t lost on any of us; she’d not shared that information with anyone except maybe Liam and me about her suspicion of being pregnant. It was clear she wasn’t ready for it to be public knowledge yet and less than a day old ‘feeling’ that she 'might’ be pregnant at that. Augh! I’d told Garrett that last night before the foot massage went bad and hadn’t mentioned to him to keep that quiet.

When Zenia looked my way, I mouthed, 'Sorry.' She just rolled her eyes and gave me a smirk. I hoped that meant she wasn’t pissed.

Root CGD: Earth Day 532 in captivity, 6:31 PM
CinT Ark Loc: Exhibit Housing
I had apologized to Zenia for the slip-up during the impromptu lunch the group had after the escape plan meeting. Thankfully she’d told me not to worry about it, but it still bothered me that I’d betrayed her confidence like that. We’d just finished our first lap around the exhibit perimeter, not really talking about anything specific, when Syn spied us and joined our walkabout.

“You’re looking like you can get around pretty well now,” she said, falling in besides me. “I run the perimeter daily, so if you want to join me sometime, feel free. I’ll take it easy on you.”

I’d seen her out here earlier with Turpin jogging round and round the exhibit. There was a distinct two-meter wide path that had been worn into the artificial grass we were walking on from use over the years. I wasn’t quite up to running, but maybe at some point I’d consider it. My larger breasts now would likely be something I wouldn’t like much while running if they were all bouncy. I could barely ignore their movement while walking, let alone breathing, or anything Garrett and I were up to intimately.

“Thanks for the offer. It is getting easier to walk. Though I about fell over in the shower this morning. My balance is still a little wonky,” I offered.

“Cekoo and I meant to tell you during lunch we appreciate you standing up for us and getting us included in the decisions being made around here. Not that there’s a lot of it going on, but these guys needed a reality check. They each talk to us outside of their club, so I’m not sure why they were reluctant to include us to begin with. Whatever…”

“I didn’t do much, Syn, but I’m glad it worked out. The more insight, the better our plans will be, and the chance we avoid someone getting hurt is minimized.”

“Garrett seemed pretty mellow about the women being involved in there today; he need any extra convincing?” she asked playfully.

“No, he… I don’t know, he gets I’m a bit strong-willed? Maybe?” I replied, unsure of that answer or what she meant by ‘convincing’.

"Well, he looks a lot better of late, happier,” Syn offered softly.

That comment garnered a look from Zenia in my direction, along with a raised brow that said, ‘Told you so.’

“He’s been good dealing with us being a couple... I’m lucky for sure,” was my slightly embarrassed reply.

“Can I ask how you’re dealing with being, well, basically all woman now?”

I looked at Zenia for help, but she looked to be interested in letting me come up with my own answer.

“There’s certainly a lot I’m dealing with, but between the last time I was in here and the three days since I woke up like this to be reinserted here—it’s been a bigger adjustment. What’s weird is I feel like I’m losing sight of who I was, like I’ve lost parts of me and this new version fits me and I feel comfortable most of the time. I keep looking around for what I lost though when the mood strikes. I don’t know if any of that makes any sense.”

“I can’t imagine what you’re going through,” Syn said and added, “It'd be interesting to try it out though, for fun.”

Both women chuckled for a moment, and Zenia chimed in with, “Nah, not me.”

“That’s a big part of how I’m coping with this, understanding I’m just trying it out. Some of it, yeah...,” my voice faded because I wasn’t sure what I wanted to say.

Was I really coping? I’d had sex with Garrett three times now! Each more amazing than the last and certainly better in this form than when I experienced sex as a male. Was that really ‘coping’ at its best? Was my heart set on reversing all of this?

“I think she likes it,” Syn said, looking to Zenia around me.

“I think we heard her this morning is what you’re getting at Syn,” Zenia replied, giving her a look that included a wicked smile.

I stopped walking, and it took two steps for them to do the same before giving me looks and questioning if something was wrong.

“You didn’t!” I complained, flushed, and supremely embarrassed.

“The clicking was a bit noisy, if I’m being honest. Plus, Turpin was on our porch talking with Liam, so that narrows the field of those who might have been up and enjoying the start of the day. Cekoo’s preg's, and given that baby bump she isn’t likely doing much with Beck,” Syn giggled.

I couldn’t look at them and began walking again, both of them joining in beside me.

“It’s alright, we get it, Cam,” Zenia said softly, rubbing my back with her hand to comfort my embarrassment.

“Yeah, really, no one cares. I tend to bury my face in a pillow when my man is giving it to me like that, and I want to keep the noise down,” Syn said all conspiratorial.

“How’s it different for you now, the sex?” Zenia asked.

How is it different?! You’re kidding, right? I don’t even want to think about... About how it... Wait, why can’t I remember what it actually felt like when I was my previous self?

Root CGD: Earth Day 532 in captivity, 10:04 PM
CinT Ark Loc: Exhibit Housing
“Where’d you go?”

“What do you mean?” I asked softly.

“Ah, a question with a question... I seem to remember someone complaining to me about that once,” Garrett said, hugging me a little tighter after getting back into bed.

He’d gotten up to get a towel for me to keep his cum that would eventually dribble out of me from creating wet spots on my side of the bed.

“Ha, ha,” I complained, wiping between my legs gently because everything down there was still on high alert and still highly sensitive. I was a little self-conscious about having to do this cleanup routine, but it was necessary and just one of those things that made the aftermath of sex a little nicer.

“So?”

He was right; I had spent time during our session together focused on something besides enjoying everything that was happening between us. Our hosts certainly seemed to enjoy it, judging by the ‘clickety-click-click-fucking-clicky’ noises they were making! Augh! Will I ever get used to that?

I was embarrassed he had picked up that my focus had drifted. I couldn’t remember if I’d ever been with a woman who’d lost focus enough for me to pick up on that while we were having sex. Nope… Can’t recall that every happening. How had he known I’d gone off on my own?

In my new form tonight, I had taken a few moments to try and understand if I felt anything now like I did during sex when I had different genitalia. I couldn’t get past thinking there wasn’t as much too climaxing—cumming—back then, but now it was beyond description and then some.

None of that should come as a surprise, though, right? Women got the better experience from sex than men did—that wasn’t a secret. Why had Syn and Zenia’s inquiry mattered? It didn't! I’m who I’ve always been, just different, right? I’m going to feel, think, and experience everything differently; why fight it? Seriously, why fight it if I like it and like the guy taking me to new heights and letting me experience them?

Tonight we’d gone from spooning to sex while spooning, and I might have been a little distracted for a few moments, but I thought for sure I’d made up for that by losing control of my body's movements too many times to count. And I had absolutely lost my mind a few times moaning into my pillow, once even begging him not to stop for a second, before grinding myself into him after he’d cum until I swear my eyesight went blurry!

“I was just thinking about... I don’t know exactly, but something about sex now is very different,” I replied and felt like I had mumbled my answer.

"Different? Of course it’s different, right?”

“Yeah, I mean, sure... It’s, you know, different,” I whined.

“Like better?”

I slowly turned my head to focus on his eyes, wondering if he was fishing for a compliment. His face told me he was being serious. I thought about how he’d whispered my name right before his release, telling me he was cumming, feeling his body stiffen and his cock pulsating those few times deep within me.

“Yes, it's… Okay, it’s better, but don’t let that go to your head, mister!”

He moved his face to within millimeters of mine while taking my hand and guiding it to his manhood before saying, “This head?”

“Really?” I replied, rolling my eyes just before he kissed me.

I know I shuddered or quivered as the kiss progressed, or maybe it was realizing I had his warm cock in my hand and he wanted him inside of me again. I rolled onto him and got seated on top of him confidently. I was feeling pretty WOW! and much, much more at the moment... I looked down at my lover, bent to kiss him as he slowly slid his cock into...

Root CGD: Earth Day 539 in captivity, 11:32 AM
CinT Ark Loc: Exhibit Housing
The week had slipped by, and Garrett and I had established a fairly comfortable and pleasant routine with my second insertion to the exhibit. Our mornings typically began with sex, and in the evening we were doing that again, often twice. I justified those activities as being a part of the hosts mandate and expectations, so one or the other of us wouldn’t get hauled out of here! Liking what we were engaged in certainly did hurt matters and made those expectations easier to deal with – though in truth I didn’t really need to justify anything.

Besides doing what was expected of us caged specimens, what else was there to do really?! Talk? Walk the perimeter? Play cards? Cook, clean, do the laundry, and sleep?

Yeah, we did all those things too. I even gave playing cards a try, and no matter how hard I tried to concentrate or think strategy, I sucked at cards. Most nights I sat and watched Garrett play while talking with the other women when they weren’t conned into playing themselves. Liam and Beck were ruthless, and that kept the women from wanting to play unless begged. On the rare occasion, Garrett or Turpin would win, us girls would whoop it up for them.

It was stupid; we knew that, but we all got good laughs out of it, and it helped to pass the time.

We, Garrett and I, hadn’t actually talked a little about our dreams, ideas, individual likes, and whatever else happened to pop into our heads when we were sitting around chatting. We did a lot of sitting silently in each other's presence, not needing to say anything, taking comfort in the other just being there. That was one of the weirder twists to our budding relationship in the exhibit, I thought. It was like we’d become this old married couple, knowing each other well enough to anticipate a question, or that the other wanted something, or we’d finish each other’s sentences occasionally.

That’s odd, right? Okay, it was fun, but scary at times for me to feel that kind of connection and so early into being back in the exhibit.

When it came to sex, I appreciated that Garrett wasn’t like I’d been in his position, to insist on going on and on and on because longer meant more 'better'. I remembered thinking women wanted it that way and it was the only way to please a woman—to go longer or on and on. I was certainly a fool, and if I got all this reversed, this experience would absolutely make me a better lover in the future.

Reversal… I know I was spending less time thinking and talking about that with anyone. My first round in the exhibit housing, every other sentence I spoke was proclaiming I would 'reverse’ all of this because it seemed like the right thing proclaim. Now back for a second time, I’m not exactly sure why it wasn’t forefront on my mind, and that made me question my resolve. Was it my embracing being a woman or being with Garrett or both that had softened my leanings?

When we were in the throes of making love, Garrett’s focus was on making sure I got everything I needed. He wasn’t afraid to pull the trigger quickly if he hit some mark for himself or when I was giving him what he needed in the moment. Generally, if either of us wanted to ‘do it again,’ it seemed to happen organically, often due to some concentrated desire motivating one of us and that being contagious to the other and them happily wanting to oblige.

Him saying my name softly or urgently while we were... Yeah, that could make me agree to anything asked of me! He often used that to get a second run at us being entwined—pretty sure he knew I was a sucker for that and melted a little when he did. Saying my name just before he was climaxing never failed to amp up my own damn pleasures of feeling his release inside of me.

All in all, I liked being coupled with him, but I also worried about losing what we had. We all wanted to get out of here; the downside to that was it would probably bring on the end of us sooner than later.

He’d go back to Theraline, a planet I’d never been to, and pick up his life. He’d never mentioned if there was someone there waiting for him, so that gave me hope—yet that hope was in conflict with what I would do with my life after this place. Did I go back to my life too? Would he want me to stay with him? Would I want to stay with him? Did he have interest in joining me in freighting supplies to the various worlds out in deep space?

Probably something we’d discuss at some point.

Sex was a frequent topic of conversation with Syn, Zenia, and even Cekoo if she felt up to walking with us. I was asked and finally admitted I liked having sex with Garrett, though I’m sure they already knew or suspected as much. I talked a little more openly about how sex was different for me now, and they seemed to get it. Yet on the subject of those phantom memories I experienced, none of them could recall having any of that early on.

My little flashbacks weren’t happening as frequently now but did still happen. I know none of those had ever happened, but sometimes it did sort of click – just with Garrett and not some faceless man. I had thought about admitting it to Garrett one night as we lay there coming down from our collective sexual highs, but we’d gone at it again, and I had forgotten to mention it. What good would any of that do anyway? Would he be jealous? I wonder...

We were all getting pumped with stuff to keep us interested in sex, along with stuff to keep us fertile and whatever hormones we were ingesting to do whatever to us. I found it best for my sanity if I didn’t overthinking my current state of being and just lived in the moment. I was also enjoying those moments, which was tough to reconcile with the fact I was a zoo specimen and not really free to be my...

“There!”

My attention snapped to the task at hand! We, Syn and I, were studying the area. Cekoo had seen the generated landscape connecting to the sky dome of the exhibit gitching.

“Okay, I saw that... Did the rest of the projected landscape fade at all? Sure looked like it,” I stated.

“Maybe, but the ripple, the distortion between the two definitely wobbled for whatever reason. We should get Garrett out here to see what he thinks—wasn't he a satellite technician or something like that?” Syn asked.

“He was; maybe he’s got an idea of what might be playing with the signal. I’ll go get him.”

Five minutes later, we were a group of six watching an area of the sky where it blended in with the projected landscape on the walls because others were curious as to what we were doing. Thirty minutes bled into an hour, and by this point it was just Garrett and me standing there waiting for it to glitch again.

“Do you think it could be a power surge of some type? An instability we could pinpoint or exploit?”

He shrugged, “Likely, though I didn’t see it and I’m just guessing here. I’ll keep an eye out for it though, since this seems to be the spot where Cekoo first noticed it.”

“This is the only place she noticed it. It’s the furthest point from the stores port, and when I was in there with Jessie, there were all forms of machinery humming softly—could be a connection,” I stated.

“Question would be why there’d be instability and the connection to the fake environment our hosts are projecting for us. Be helpful to know what their power systems are based on—solar, water, steam, any number of crystalline chemical reactors, or whatever? Hard to say what’s going on; really need to see it happen, I guess.”

"Augh… I’m hungry. Wanna get lunch going?”

He was looking at me intently, and there was no mistaking the lust in his eyes.

"Really? Can we eat first?” I asked, giggling and embarrassed, that I might also be interested in an afternoon romp in our bed.

“In between?”

Such a kid! I took his hand, and we went to the house to feed our combined hungers.

Root CGD: Earth Day 542 in captivity, 4:18 AM
CinT Ark Loc: Exhibit Housing
We’d stayed out late because the card game ran long. Garrett had actually won the first two rounds but lost the next three because he’d drunk too much of the fermented green and yellow fruit juice Turpin had brewed. Drunk and barely manageable during the short walk home, I got him into bed, and he pawed at me for a few seconds before lying still. Sex was on his mind, but in his current state of drunkenness, it was easy to distract him, and thankfully, when I returned from brushing my teeth, he'd passed out.

That was three hours ago, and while it took nothing for me to fade away to sleep, I was up now with a stomach ache and a headache that radiated enough pain I swear I could make the perimeter walls and dome imagery above us glitch! I’d gotten up quietly, made it to the bathroom, and even tried to make myself throw up but couldn't. I couldn’t get comfortable no matter what I did, got dressed and made my way over to Zenia’s.

"Cam… Everything alright,” she whispered as she opened her door after I’d tapped lightly on it.

“Think I’m sick.”

She joined me on the porch, shutting the door quietly behind her, and then got me sitting. Next came a quick press of the back of her hand against my forehead, followed by her gently probing my neck area with her fingers.

“You throw up?" she asked.

“I tried, just dry heaves... I didn’t drink that crap Turpin made. My gut hurts... I'm like, do I have a kidney stone? Garrett said his sides hurt and he could barely move. I feel a little like...,” I stopped talking because I could tell she was looking at me funny even in the dim light the artificial night sky provided.

“Lay back,” she coaxed.

I did as requested, and she gently felt around my abdomen. I winced a few times as she poked and pressed. I was hoping there wouldn’t be any vaginal exploration done like the last time I’d been lying like this with her examining me.

When finished, she helped me sit up and said, “Good news, you’re not pregnant. Bad news: you get to be punished for that. Welcome to womanhood, sweetheart. I think you’ve started your period, Cam; that’s all this is, and you’re just cramping...

“Look, go home, and take as long a hot shower as you can, then dress loosely and be sure to wear your panties. They’ve got some absorption properties built in for containing a light to moderate flow. If you want to be safe, roll up a bunch of that paper they supply for the bathroom and lay that in the gusset area. If the pain gets too intense, I’d suggest drinking that stuff Turpin brews. It’ll dull what ail’s ya.”

Period? Ah, no no no... I hadn’t really thought much about that since she first brought it up, however, many days ago. Shit! What had she said about those phases?! I grimaced as a ‘cramp'-like pain radiated through my midriff mildly. I did remember something she’d said about Garrett’s ‘deposit’ being able to live within me for five days. When was it I would need to worry about being fertile? Augh…

::: --- :::

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Rachel M. Moore