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Jai grunted quietly as he drifted up out of sleep. Even before he

opened his eyes he noticed the raw feeling in this sinuses. He swallowed

and felt a small injury in the back of his nose, but decided it was

probably healed over. He smelled straw and slowly opened his eyes - the

first thing he saw confirmed that yes, there was straw about.

He pulled himself up onto his forearms to look about. His eyes,

having been closed, were used to the dark and he could see about. There

were wooden slats lit by lantern light, although in his sleepy state

they were still blurry. He looked down in front of him. On the straw and

the concrete floor beneath it was a little blood. He dabbed at his chin

and muzzle and realized that it had come from him, from his nose. It

was dry now, though.

He stood up groggily, noticed that he felt very unencumbered - and looked down in shock. I'm naked!

Suddenly self-conscious, he grabbed an armful of straw to cover his

modesty and ran with hunched back and short steps along the wall to his

left.

Jai was just piecing the facts together - This is that barn I saw! The farmer slapped me unconscious - where's Tong? And where are my clothes?

When he felt a weight on his shoulder. He looked at it rather than

losing his grip on the straw and felt a pinch under his chin. Do I have something around my neck? Then he saw that it was a chain on his shoulder.

He reached the end of the chain's length and came to an abrupt stop.

He dropped most of the straw, quickly grabbed another armful and then

thought about his situation. Reluctantly he turned towards the wall so

that nobody would see... anything he didn't want them to, and felt

around his neck. Something hard encircled it, just loose enough for him

to breathe but too tight for him to pull over his head. He began to feel

afraid, and edged his fingertips around it to try and find a lock of

the place it hinged together. He found a lock of some kind and the first

link of the chain holding him. He started to shake and felt his way

down the chain. Where does it lead?

He followed it back to the wall and found the loop sticking out of

the concrete that it was fixed to. The final link didn't seem to come

loose any way and he slowly realized it was probably welded that way.

Still shaking but resigning himself at least to this initial

situation, the raccoon let the chain drop and pulled his tail around to

cover himself. He turned the other way and stepped forward. There had to

be other possibilities, here.

He was in a small-ish cube but he could see that the barn was much

bigger than that. He was walled off with those wooden boards to two

sides, the other two sides being concrete walling. He peered through

what seemed to be the front of his cubicle.

Opposite was another cubicle - and in it was a scruffy grey shape,

dressed in rags. He looked more closely. It was a dog of some kind!

Jai's relief that he wasn't alone here was quickly usurped by a new

sense of dread. If others were about then they were just as helpless as

him. He stretched to look down the central aisle. Next to the dog's

cubicle was another, and another, and... he didn't know how many. But he

could see a fur of some description in the dog's neighbouring one and

he heard shufflings further down. The cube next to Jai had its own

occupant, something dark but he couldn't tell the species.

//Hey!\ he cried out, knocked on the panels between him and his

neighbour and scurried to the front to talk to the dog. //What the

hell's going on? What's happening? Please sir, I'm not supposed to be

here, I just got lost, and-\

The dog's eyes widened and he looked afraid. He leapt to the front of

his own cubicle and gripped the boards holding him back, his long limbs

angular and gawky. "Be quiet! He'll hear you!"

Jai had fallen quiet as the dog had spoken but shook his head in

disbelief. It was like no language he'd ever heard - well, except for

just before he'd been knocked unconscious. I'm somewhere where I don't speak the language? Crap!

"You need to calm down. We'll all get in trouble if you shout," said the mutt in a stage whisper.

Jai started to cry. //I don't know what you're saying.\

He didn't think the mutt understood his words but his expression

showed pity. For a moment he wondered if he should just be calm - the

dog didn't seem comfortable with him shouting. Perhaps he should trust

him. But then he looked around again and panic gripped him once more.

//HELP! SOMEBODY!\ he shouted.

"Please! Please raccoon, for the love of heaven be quiet," spoke the mutt, his brow creased with fear.

//HEEELLLLP!\

The dog's neighbour came to the front of her cube and shared a glance

through the wall with the dog. They shared a shake of the head and

worried look.

//PLEASE! TONG! TONG, ARE YOU OUT THERE? TONG?\

"Hey!" whispered Jai's neighbour, eyes twinkling in a dark face as

she peeked through the wall. "He's right, you must be quiet." She sighed

and looked at the furs on the opposite side of the cube farm. "Do you

think he even understands? What language is it he's speaking?"

Jai tried shouting some more because maybe Tong was asleep. He tried

banging on the wooden walls, climbing up the panels as far as he could

to project his voice further, but nothing changed save for a few extra

fearful faces looking his way.

And then something did change. He heard a new sound. A door

sliding open? He tried pressing his face against the front panels to

look down the aisle, but couldn't see anything. But was the light a

little brighter? Purer, perhaps, like outdoor light instead of these

lanterns?

He heard footsteps rustling through the straw, coming his way.

It was another of those creatures. Impossibly tall, tail-less and

apparently furless on most of its body (or as much of is body as he

could see, anyway) it approached his cubicle with a sense of threat that

made even Jai shut up for a few seconds. It had a belt slung about its

waist with several objects hanging from it. The creature unclipped some

kind of short item, pulled it long - a telescopic baton, Jai understood

now - and reached for the gate of Jai's cell.

//I don't know who you are, but let me go!\ he said, his voice

wavering but determined to get his message across. In a moment of blind

instinct he looked at the space between the gaoler's legs and the edge

of the gateway. Could he escape that way?

Of course not. The chain around his neck would see to that.

It let itself in swiftly - perhaps too swiftly for Jai to push past

and escape even if he hadn't been chained - and advanced on him. Too

late Jai registered what was going t happen and his body instinctively

cowered under the first strike, his brain sparking off ways to protect

himself, all implausible, none able to stand up to reason. It hit

diagonally across his back, the pain rippling out from where it made

contact, making his skin flash with pain and his ribs seem to rattle. He

tucked his limbs closer in and turned slightly to make that one spot

harder to hit again, to protect it from further harm, only for another

strike to catch the meat of his thigh.

That one only stung - hah, 'only' stung! It felt like his

flesh split open, although when the raccoon opened his eyes to check,

that wasn't true. The pain exploded, regathered and rang, evolving over

the couple of seconds it took the creature to raise its arm again for

another blow.

That blow came brutal and hard, but not downwards this time. This one

swept around his front and caught his forearms where they were clasped

against his chest, trying to protect his lungs and heart. He felt a

fine, exquisite little focus of pain in one forearm and wondered if it

meant his bones were broken but didn't have any more time to focus on

that. The moment he pulled his arms away from his chest and sat up to

try and squirm away the creature struck his back again. It pushed Jai

forward so he landed nose-down in the straw, the tip of his nose pushed

suddenly against his muzzle and making him want to cough and sneeze and

check it for damagae all at the same time.

For some reason he wouldn't be able to rationalise even later, it was

the indignity of this blow that upset him the most, the push to make

him faceplant on the ground like a fool. He looked up, his face

contorted with humiliation, and found his eyes meeting the mutt's.

Oh yes, the mutt was watching, dark brown eyes attentive and keen

with... not quite pity. Perhaps this went beyhond that, perhaps the mutt

had experienced this kind of beating too. Pity would have meant the

mutt felt sorry for him. The look the canine gave him instead

suggested... empathy. He knew what it was like because he'd experienced

it too.

That was all the time Jai got to make sense of the mutt's look before

he returned his attention to the next baton strike, coming down fast.

In a fraction of a second Jai rolled over onto his back. Why? In that

fraction of a second it made sense. Perhaps the mutt could protect him

somehow. Perhaps submission would pacify the beast. Perhaps exposing a

new part of his body was better than letting the baton strike the same

place twice and do even more damage.

In the next second Jai understood that his reasoning was ridiculous -

and that there was a special agony in being hit in the belly. As the

baton found its mark across his diaphragm he gave a gutteral scream,

expelled air loud enough for everyfur in this evil place to hear. He

might also have expelled vomit but Jai hadn't eaten enough lately for

that.

He tried curling into foetal position on his side, the ultimate

submission gesture - but that wasn't enough either. The creature struck

his hip and the pain was harder, more solid against his hip bones. It

wasn't as bad as the belly strike but he knew it couldn't be good.

Can bones bruise? he wondered, the question inexplicably interesting in the face of the beating.

His hand rose of its own volition, a wordless gesture of 'Please stop! I surrender!'

That, finally, appeared to work.

No more strikes came for a few seconds and Jai looked up, eyes opening cautiously from where they'd been squeezed shut.

The beast shouted at him in that same alien language. "Next time just shut up! People are trying to work!"

Jai had no idea what the words meant but the message was clear: Be

still, be quiet, don't shout. Panting, he nodded his understanding.

The monster nodded curtly, its gaze hard and severe, and swept the

baton around once more. It struck Jai's outstretched arm, spreading a

feeling of fire across the back of his hand before the creature left,

its boots heavy on the straw.

Jai listened to the footsteps disappear, saw the light darken to

lantern light again, and curled up again. Jai couldn't bear to look at

the mutt but he could feel his eyes on him. He just needed to let the

pain do its thing and maybe fade away a little. Just for a while.

He didn't know how much time passed. Maybe around half an hour, maybe

half a day. Eventually the combination of the pain fading from his

injuries and getting too uncomfortable to stay on the floor made him

sit, then stand up.

The mutt turned his way and took an interest in him again. Jai knew

that he was naked and that the mutt could see his nakedness but he

didn't particularly care any more. He could have done with being warmer,

though.

The mutt came to the front of his pen and held the slats in gentle

paws. "Do you speak English?" he asked slowly and clearly, his voice a

little reedy, although it sounded like it had once been deep.

Jai assumed the mutt had asked him something but he couldn't guess what.

The mutt gave him a moment to think about what he'd said but as Jai

didn't know what to say, he said nothing. In time the mutt tried again.

He reached through the slats and pointed at Jai. "You."

Yoo. Did that mean Jai himself?

Then the dog angled his arm to point at a battered chest at the edge of Jai's pen. "Box."

Bocks. A funny word. Jai looked at it, then went to it and put

his hand on it. Seeing the mutt's nod, he hooked his thumb under the

lid and lifted it to find it full of garments.

He looked at the mutt again, who was holding up his shirt. "Clothes."

What an awkward word. Klow-thes. Jai picked out some of the

rags and found enough to cover himself up: two pairs of pants, one of

which he put on, and an ugly shirt much like the mutt's. He puzzled over

how to put it on and figured that it had to be tied behind his back. He

pulled his arms into the sleeves and reached behind his back to tie it,

wincing as the position made his injuries flare up again. He resisted

the urge to give in, grunted, strained, tied the strings into a double

bow so they wouldn't come undone, and let his hands drop to his sides,

the pain receding in a flood of relief.

He felt uncomfortable wearing pants with no underwear and was

disappointed to find there was nothing to put on his feet: no socks nor

shoes. Whatever happened here, did they do it barefoot? He wondered how

much more miserable his life would be if he had to do everything with

his feet unprotected.

But he couldn't see a way to deal with that right now, and just for

the moment he felt pleased to have got dressed. He looked at the mutt

and said, <>

The mutt smiled and nodded. He looked tired. Then he pointed at himself. "Malvern." Then he pointed at Jai again. "You?"

There was that yoo word again. It seemed to be about the other self. Him. Jai patted his chest and said, <>

Malvern nodded again and then sat down to settle himself against the

wall, but not before stacking up a little straw to make himself more

comfortable.

Jai saw the bright reflections in Malvern's eyes as he wordlessly

encouraged Jai to relax too. The raccoon wondered what he was being

encouraged to relax for and decided to settle too. He was starting to

gather that hard work of some kind was done here. However bad it got,

after all, it could only be worse if he didn't rest.

He felt better huddling into the corner, where he felt there were

fewer directions he could be attacked from and where he could hem

himself in completely using his tail if he wanted. He couldn't quite

bring himself to smile at Malvern but the last thing he did before he

drifted to sleep was to look at the mutt's reassuring, kind outline

against his background of wood and iron.

TO BE CONTINUED...