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After being sold, our protagonist finds himself in another unfamiliar room and his friend no where to be found

Posted to DA on 6/27/08

Posted to Fa on 5/28/09

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"Home"

Even before I awoke I could sense that my surroundings had changed. For starters the bed on which I was sleeping was much more comfortable then the spartan mattress at the vets office. There were also very comfortable silk sheets that worked well with the temperature of the room. As for the size of the mattress, I reached out in every direction and found no end with in my grasp. I also felt something soft around my neck, which I could not identify. With no more observations possible with closed eyes, I awoke to realize the enormity of my new dwelling.

The room was about the length and width of a large high school classroom, however the height of the ceiling was mind blowing. By my rough estimates the ceiling must have been at least 21 feet tall, and the bed on which I had slept was equally enormous. While only slightly wider then a king size bed, the length was much larger to the point that both my head and feet were roughly two feet from the edge. To see the rest of the room I tried to get off but found at the edge of the mattress, a force field like the nonexistent wall in my last dwelling. Of course even if this wasn't the case the side of the bed had a ten foot drop off to the floor and on top of that the object I had felt around my neck turned out to be a collar that was attached to the bedstead by a thick red cable. Oh well, at least it wasn't uncomfortable with its soft fur inner lining and lose fit which I could easily fit four fingers in and have room to spare. While limited in my movement I could still make observations on the room.

There were two doors, one of which was open and apparently led to a rather well furnished bathroom, and the other, which was closed. Both doors went from the floor to roughly a few inches bellow the ceiling. The bedstead had very tall uprights, which were covered with thousands of mother of pearl medallions, which covered the uprights like scales. They dangled loosely enough to gently sway in the morning breeze, which made a very pleasant sound. They were also backlit in a warm incandescent glow reminiscent of a scene from a thriller movie called "The Cell". From the tops of the uprights there hung thin bed curtains, which were barely visible except for their calm shimmering motion, which was in sync with the rest of the decorations.

The rest of the room was decorated, as one would expect a bedroom to be. There was a large dresser with a vanity mirror in which I could easily see my reflection. The entrance door was to the left of that, and to the right was a very comfortable looking armchair, which was looked to be taller than I was. The walls were painted in a medium burgundy that was complemented with gold leaf scrollwork around the middle of the walls and intricate moldings at the junctures between the floor and ceiling. Rolling the covers forwards I found, much to my chagrin, that I was wearing only one article of clothing besides the collar that connected me to the bed frame; a diaper. Considering my circumstances I kind of makes sense; I'm chained to a bed frame between several impenetrable force fields with no way to even reach what I can only assume to be the bathroom. I just hope this isn't a 24/7 deal. Looking up at the high vaulted ceiling I was reminded of my status as the pet of the customer who had shown considerable interest in Sodar and myself. I'm filled with a combination of apprehension and interest as I wonder what will happen next.

While occupied with this though, the closed door opened, and I was greeted with "I see you're awake, and well rested." Just from the tone I knew it was him. Though he had spoken to the "vets" in a language, with which I had made no attempt to translate, his tone in English was basically identical. With his emergence from behind the door, the fear I had felt when he was peering into my soul, returned in full force. He slowly approached, but I could not retreat. He sported a gentle smile, yet I could not react in any way. All I could do was sit there, shaking with fear, and looking rather pathetic facing someone nearly three times my height. He stopped at the edge of the bed and spoke in a warm and gentle tone that did little to calm my unease.

I cannot blame you for being frightened. Upon our first meeting you were feeling very similarly. You have now twice awoke in a bed you though not to be yours and in a dwelling that was unfamiliar. If I were in similar circumstances I would feel the same way. In any case maybe I can put you at ease.

In a brief moment of fearless clarity, I managed a weak answer. "You're going to have to try really hard." I said shaking with fear both from my lack of knowledge about my new master his his height relative to mine.

He obviously found my response humorous, answering "So you can talk, that's good, I was worried for a few seconds there." Continuing he said "I know you're quite the skeptic, but perhaps some good food will do the trick." He must have heard my stomach growling. "I'll be going to the kitchen to prepare a nice meal just for you. If you can work up to courage, maybe you can follow these." He tossed a small wrapped Hershey bar, which passed through the force field with no effort at all and quickly, found it's way into my hand. He encouraged me to eat it, which I did with some reluctance. It was white chocolate, which tasted very delicious. "Think of them as a trail of bread crumbs, leading to breakfast. Any ways if you can't work up the courage to follow me, I'll be back to deliver it to you after roughly ten minutes." With this he left leaving the door open. However he returned only a few seconds later with a slightly dumbfounded look on his face to say, "How silly of me; I forgot to lower the field and release your collar. As I'm sure you're aware that you won't be able to get very far without my doing this." After pressing several buttons on a device strapped to his wrist, the cable detached from my collar and retracted into the bed frame. The field also visibly lowered. On the way out he, briefly stopped at the door and said "By the way If you get lost, I will most likely find you, however if that is not the case just find one of my servants and they will point you in the right direction."

With that he left and I was alone in my thoughts again. I was divided in what action I should take. Half of me wanted to stay in the room still foolishly entertaining the Idea that this was just a strange dream from which I would awaken. The other half of me saw an opportunity to see at least a portion of my new dwelling, a thought which was quite interesting. Having debated for several minutes I finally decided to take the offer. I discovered that on the left side of the bed there was a stepping-stone of sorts that had escaped my observation earlier. I used them to cautiously get down to the floor, from which, the room looked even bigger. I exited the room following the pieces of candy, which were in a trail with each piece about 12 feet apart. The hall ways outside made the room I had awoken in look small. They had vaulted ceilings that must have been at least 40 feet tall, and had a log cabin styling to them. Having followed 7 pieces and eaten 3 of them on the way, I found the kitchen and a smell, which I'll always remember; a deep dish Chicago pizza. My owner noticed my presence and complimented my courage. He mentioned that had I stayed in the room He would have gathered the chocolate trail and saved it for later, but that was a moot point. He removed his handy work from what looked like an oven and placed it on what to me was a large dinner plate but to him was a small saucer. He placed it on a table that was well above my head. After some struggle I managed to climb on to one of the chairs. Unable to sit-down and still reach the tabletop I opted to stand. Eagerly I dug in to the delicious meal and, surprisingly, actually felt more relaxed. I made casual observations of my owner, which I don't think he noticed. Like the room, he was much taller then me and yet his appearance beyond that fact was not too menacing. His ears, while pointy had a soft look to them and the rest of his face did not give me reason to worry with out his piercing gaze. Most of his fur looked to be about three inches thick with two thicker patches on his chest just below the neck and on his back, also near the neck. Unlike the other who had focused on Sodar, His fur was a pure white, that while plain, had a simple beauty which I could not take my eyes of with out significant effort. Beneath his fur were strong, well developed muscles that even without our difference in height, would be larger and more well developed than mine, even with the improvements that had occurred in the time span from my capture to awakening in the vets. He wore a robe that was a dark blue with stylized red floral patterns that were painstakingly embroidered around the waist and neck. Besides this, he wore nothing such as shoes, which considering that he appeared to walk without using the soles of his feet, made sense.

In this state I felt more open and asked questions of my new owner. I found out that his name was Entei and that his species was known for founding the inter galactic organization, known as the Arc Empire, that had brought peace and prosperity to it's 12 member races. Kind of like the Roman Empire, only on a galactic scale and with out the gladiatorial fights and slavery. He confirmed my theories as to why I was at my last dwelling. Entei had purchased me as a pet for his companionship, a fact that if I had faced some time ago would have been met with shock and revulsion on my part. Now, however, I felt a strange acceptance of my situation. He hadn't done anything cruel to me so far so I had no reason to distrust him. He also described how the collar around my neck was more then just a comfortable fashion statement. It had monitors for all my vitals, such as, heart rate, blood pressure, breathing rate, EKG, and EEG. It also has a transmitter that relays my location to the device on his wrist. No wonder he said he would probably find me in the event I had got lost. Along with this it also generated a micro-climate of 70 degrees and 30 percent relative humidity around me. Finally the collar could dispense a variety of drugs directly into my skin via transdermal infusion. He demonstrated this by delivering a chemical, which was a synthetic form of dopamine. Needless to say this felt very good, and he said that if I behaved myself there would be more where that came from. When I asked where I was, he told me that I was on an artificially constructed moon orbiting a star I knew as Aldebaran, tens of light-years away from earth. I had come to the conclusion that the Arc Empire was exponentially more technologically more advanced then my civilization. Entei confirmed this using a scale developed by a Tehran astronomer, called the Kardashev Scale. He explained that human civilization was some where around 0.7, while the Centuri were a 1.3, and the Arc Empire was a high Class 3. He also mentioned that a civilizations level of development determines their relationship with the Arc Empire. A civilization like mine or the Centuri are left alone to develop unhindered, save intervention to prevent extinction from natural causes so long as such action would be invisible. The only direct contact they received was the small number with little attachment to their home world, who were stealthily captured and sold as pets to owners who would show unhindered altruism to their wards. Once the civilization reached class 2 they were offered diplomatic relationships, a universally accepted offer. The reason was that the Arc's were very generous in sharing technology that would improve the quality of life for members of the Empire. He mentioned that of the 12 races of the Arc Empire, 7 were once kept as pets before they had been offered diplomatic relations and then membership. Two of the remaining five were discovered when they were above class 2 and the final three were the founding members. I then asked how my master knew so much about my skepticism as well as his knowledge of english. He explained that this comes from two sources. First was the fact that most, who where taken like me, had a natural skepticism, that made the adoption process more interesting then that of Terrans who were raised in captivity. The other reason was that Arc's were telepathic and his close scrutiny in the pet shop felt unnerving because he was literally reading my mind. He apologized for causing such unease. As for his knowledge of english, this comes in part from his telepathy, in part from the fact the the collar I was wearing contained a universal translator, and mostly from his own studies of Terrans. He told me that his considerable interest in my species and his abundance of free time lead him to become a self taught expert on all things Terran. This of course had several fringe benefits, such as, being able to cary on a conversation with me without need for a translator, and with his knowledge of Terran anatomy, he could handle most health problems that might arise in house. My final question dealt with the Arc who I had seen with my master and what happened to Sodar. Entei told me that the other was his brother who had purchased Sodar for the same reason he had purchased me. I already knew of my Masters considerable interest in Terrans, and from him I learned that his brother was more interested in Centurans. Not wanting to separate us, each purchased the species that interested them so that if we wanted to keep in touch it would be easy. I was starting to like my new Master more and more with each passing second. Having finished my meal, my Master said that he wanted to give me a tour of the interstellar neighborhood. This offer I was quick to accept.