The Pets Keepers Ch3
#3 of The Pets Keepers (Abandoned)
This was a spinoff of my beloved pet series which I could only complete three parts of before I lost interest. They roughly corespond to the first three chapters of The Beloved Pet.
Posted to DA on 7/8/08
"Purchase"
I have reached that point in my life; the awkward transition from the home one was born and raised in, to the home one builds for oneself. As such, my newly made home has little about it, except myself and my servants, who I pay quite generously. With this in mind, and the fact that I'm still too young to have kids and look respectable, I decide to do what most in my situation do, adopt a pet. Being that like my father and grandfathers I'm quite well off, I think I'll adopt a rare wild pet, preferably a terran. I have spent most of my abundant free time studying terrans, and as such know their anatomy, society, and de-facto language. Another plus is that terrans, like most rare pets with the exception of the akai are quite capable of looking after their own hygiene. Common pets, on the other hand, often come from civilizations that are somewhere between the bronze age and the mid industrial age, and as such, either lack the resources to clean themselves on a daily basis or have developed primitive superstitions against such practices. As for captive bred pets, they are good with regards to cleanliness, even if the rest of their species is not, however since they did not go through the process of socialization on their home planet, they know less of their own species then I do. On top of this, since it is not required of them, they are not particularly bright.
With this I begin make preparations for my departure, only to receive a call from my younger brother, who has expressed similar interests in adoption as I have. After discussing our ideas for a while we decide to make one trip out of two. Since the artificial planet I live on is residential, shopping opportunities leave much to be desired, making the capital city on Ergotha the best option. On the way I pick up my brother, who lives only few light-years from my residence near Aldebaran, and we arrive at Ergotha. We decide to first look in an exotic pet store that our family has trusted for several generations. Our father and grandfathers have used this place in the past, and hopefully we will continue this tradition. Entering the shop we are greeted by the stores Silgri owner. The Silgri are known for their friendly nature, which makes them well suited for service and medical jobs, though some have expressed that they can be too friendly at times. After exchanging several pleasantries, and remarking how much we look like our father, he leads us to the hall where all the pets are. I counted roughly 80 cages, and not all of them were full. As rare pet dealers go, this place is large, since most have less then 50 with a little over half occupied. As I browse the selection I notice the usual assortment of terrans, centaurans, banares, and one or two akai. I ignore the akai, banare, and centaurans, focusing on the terrans, while my brother looks at the centaurans. While a few of the terrans I look at are a sleep, most are quite awake as if they had expected my arrival. Their reactions to my presence are quite varied. The newer ones are terrified at my presence to the point of paralysis. This is not surprising since they probably have only recently warmed up to the vets who look after them. The ones who have been here for a while react in one of two ways. Most just sit there in a meditative like state while a small number most humorously show off for me. However of all the terrans I have seen, the last one I pass in cage number 21 interests me the most. I can tell by his reactions that he hasn't been here very long, most likely less then a month. As with the others, I use my telepathic abilities to gage his personality, which like the rest here shows considerable misanthropy towards the rest of his species. However, I doubt that any of these guys would take a liking to genocide. While doing this I find myself lost in his good looks. In particular I like his hair, short and all business, yet looking to be quite soft as well. I awake from this daydream to find that I have spent a little too much time in his mind. Like the others who are new, the process has been terrifying for him and had I stayed any longer he probably would have literally been scared to death. With this done I notice that my brother is to my left showing considerable interest in the centauran in cage number 23. The shop owner notices our interest and informs us that the two we have been looking at have been speaking with each other on a regular basis, and that he has allowed them to speak face to face on many an occasion. With we were both struck with the same idea; He could purchase 23 and I could purchase 21 so as not to separate them. Of course we both had two others that interested us so we decided that we wanted to observe our selections outside their cages. My brother gave the owner his selections, 23, 14, and 7, all centaurans. With this I gave my selections, 21, 6, 47, and 68, all terrans with the exception of 68, a banare, who I included for the sake of variety.
The owner called in six of his vets and gave them our selections. He mentioned that he would take 21 mostly because he had grown somewhat fond of him. One by one they were removed in various states of distress. Six was apparently quite new and thought he saw an opportunity to escape, which his handler quickly put a stop to. The others were no doubt nervous but out of bewilderment, gave their handlers little trouble. Following behind the owner I heard him advising 21 that if he played his cards right he would find a good master. I couldn't resist commenting on how it was unlikely that his temporary pet would understand anything we said to him. Having walked a short distance we arrived at the observation room. While our selections were chained to several obelisks to prevent escape, my brother and I went behind a two-way mirror and looked carefully at them. Sure enough 21 and 23 quickly started talking to each other. Since I knew the language they spoke I could easily understand what they were saying. The terran was asking the centauran, who had obviously been her much longer, what was going on. I could tell that in the 3 weeks they had known each other they had quickly become good friends. My brother and I mulled over the selections a little and decided that the other terrans and centaurans were not of interest and had the vets remove them leaving the two friends and 68, once again for varieties sake. After more time had passed we had him returned so we could focus on the two choices. With this we decided that my brother would purchase the centauran and I would purchase the terran.
While returning the two to their respective cages the storeowner complimented the terran on finding a good master. Once the two were returned, their cages were flooded with a sedative gas. The two were then removed with the centauran out cold and the terran only barely conscious. Placing the two on an exam table the terran gave me one last look before surrendering to the powerful sedative. Though his face was emotionless his eyes told me every thing I needed to know about his emotional state. His eyes had the look of boundless terror. He was afraid of the unknown situation he was in as well as the unknown place to which I would take him. Of course once he gets to know me better he will realize such fears were unfounded. The two were given a thorough physical which had they been awake, would have required that the entire staff to restrain just one of them. During this both were implanted with an identification chip in their right clavicles, something that is required of all pets exotic, common, of captive bread. We also had both given a small tattoo on the inside of their left thighs, the design of which was our family's coat of arms. The final matter before they were handed over to us was their collars. Both of us submitted samples of our fur to be replicated in the liner of our new pets collars. It was a common practice of masters to have collars lined with fur that was copied from theirs for two reasons. First for their pets comfort, though since centaurans have fur that is like ours, this is secondary, and second so that in some small part a pets master would always be with them. Both passed their physical with flying colors and were given over to the two of us.
The owner gave us a brief speech on the laws regarding pets, which we both knew quite well. Put simply, while pets were the property of their owner, any mistreatment was strictly forbidden. Causing pain was forbidden unless such was unavoidable in the course of medical treatment, or for the sake of discipline so long as such actions were e not arbitrary and capricious. Of course with near unanimity most owners would not need such laws and my brother and I were of similar opinion. Personally I think that the use of physical pain for discipline shows a lack of imagination. In any case if my pet acted up I would get creative in punishing him to the point that physically he wouldn't even be aware of it. Hopefully my size relative to him and the positive reinforcement that I would give to him would give him no reason to act up.
Having paid for both we left and on the way out I asked how long the sedative would last. The owner said 12 to 14 hours, plenty of time to get home. I dropped of my brother and his pet on way and then went to my residence. With my new pet still sound a sleep I took him the room I had prepared for him. I removed the spartan article clothing that the vets had given him and placed him in a diaper. While he would have to wear this while in public till I got him somthing else to wear, around my house I would let him wear what he used at the shop. I would also buy him a nice summer robe that matches mine once he has awakened. With this I attach his collar to a cable tied to the bed he's on and tuck him in. Raising a force field around him I instruct his collar to alert my wristwatch when he awakens. With this I leave him to return when he awakens.