An Island Of Compassion In A Sea Of Slavery: Part One
"Son, I have to say, I'm not entirely comfortable with this."
"What?"
"You having a Wildlian in the house. Especially a Lupine."
"Look, Mom, I've told you before; she's totally harmless."
"So you say, but what if it turns feral? I've seen news stories about..."
"Mom, I promise, she isn't feral."
"Well... I guess you would know. It's been lovely seeing you, son, but I must dash; your father will burn the house down if he tries to cook."
"It's been good to see you too, Mom... Drive safe."
I watched the car pull out of my driveway. I love my Mom, but sometimes... Sigh. I guess there's no use complaining. As soon as Mom's car drove out of sight, I spun around, and sprinted through my house. I have to say that it is rather large, but I covered the distance in record time to the kitchen. I skidded to a halt in front of a bunch of blankets strewn on the floor that supported a grey-furred figure. Acting quickly but surely, I undid the chain around its neck. As soon as I did so, the figure jumped into my arms. I had been expecting that, and caught Sally expertly. I held her close to my chest, and let her nuzzle my face as I carried her into the family room. She purred as I deposited her on the couch and sat next to her. She stretched luxuriously, and put her head in my lap, exposing her underbelly; the ultimate act of trust. I scritched behind her ears for a second, and closed my eyes in contentment.
I put my face next to Sally's ear, and whispered "I love you, Sally." She opened her great big green eyes, and whispered back. "I love you too, Master."
Our story begins more than a year ago. I was walking to my parking garage from my lab job at Wildtech Inc. I hate my job. I hate it with a passion. Oh, the work's not awful, and I'm pretty good at, but every day when I walk home, I feel like slime. The knowledge that I, Robert Daniels, played an instrumental role in creating Wildlians, sits like a big lump of coal in my stomach. As I walked, I glanced up at the storefront, and my heart dropped. I was just walking by the pet store. I sighed to myself, and stopped. With the air of a condemned man, I turned, and stepped inside.
I do this to myself about once a month; a kind of penance, self-flagellation for my sins. I walked, head bowed, through the cleaning supplies aisle, the place that almost took the rancid cake in this place. Now, cleaning supplies in this case does not refer to supplies to clean up Wildlians, or clean up after them, but for them; Apparently, domestic service was what Wildtech had had in mind all along.
In all honesty, I should have seen it coming. I have an IQ of 135, and I was as blind as a bat. Just going about my merry way, splicing genes into a custom-born slave that would one day lick the boots of some lazy human. I didn't know... If I had, I would not only have quit, but firebombed the lab and gone to the government. But by the time I saw the light, everyone was addicted to them. Wildlians cleaned our houses, cooked our food, swept our streets, and farmed our crops. We had a ready-made slave population that had no legal rights; what's not to love?
I gulped as I approached the belly of the beast, the epicenter of abominations; the adoption pens. I stopped before the clear plastic double doors, and just stared in.
If you tried to do this to any human, they'd haul your ass into international court so fast, you'd get whiplash. Inside the concrete-walled room were several cages, about five feet high and five feet wide. Wildlians of all types crouched within, unable to even stand up in their confines. I saw Felines, Canines, Mussines, Vulpines, a couple of Leonines, and to my surprise, even a female Lupine. I stared at the Lupine. The poor thing was sitting with folded legs, staring out morosely into nothing. She wore nothing, not even a torso garment, so she was bare to the world. Every once in a while, a fly would buzz around her ears, which would flick, once. She didn't move an inch other than that.
A voice spoke in my ear. "You like it?"
I turned to see an older gentleman in a Maintenance uniform with a broom. I said nothing. The man turned to the cages, and smiled sadly. "Shame she's not going to be here much longer."
I raised an eyebrow. "The Lupine?"
"Yeah. No-one will buy her. They're all terrified. Wildtech says their eventually going to breed the feral out of them, but I don't believe it. She's going to be put down in a few days. We've got the new Vulpine model comin' in; everyone likes those."
I gulped. I felt like I stood on the edge of a precipice. I had sworn never to buy a Wildlian, but this Lupine was going to be executed otherwise. In what I hoped was a conversational tone, I said "So what if I wanted to buy her?"
The man looked at me in surprise. "You do? Well, then... Hold on a sec, let me get a sales rep."
He walked off, leaving me to stare at the Lupine. For a second, her sad green eyes made contact with mine. They were forest green, and held a depth of misery I could not even fathom. After a few moments, she looked away, as a man in a suit stepped up, and shook my hand.
"Hello, sir! I understand you want to purchase that Lupine?"
I nodded. I didn't trust myself to speak. He held up a piece of paper on a clipboard with a pen attached to it. "Wonderful! Now, if you'd sign this waiver, that'll be $1,299.99, please. We can also set you up with the complete package for only 699.99. That includes domestic set, food for a year, and an advanced tracking system."
I waved my hand. "No... No, just the Lupine, please."
He dotted an I, and said "Excellent. Your account has been debited, so that's taken care of. Now, a few more questions; what did you come here in?"
I was momentarily taken aback. "Um... I was walking to my car. It's a 2030 Honda Jest."
He frowned. "Hmm... Alright. If you go get your car, and drive it back, we can load it in for you. How far away do you live, and are you planning on doing anything else after this?"
I shook my head. "Only 15 minutes. No, I'm not doing anything else.
The rep clapped. "Excellent!" He took a small device out of his pocket, and tapped a few keys. In the Lupine's cage, a small device unfolded from the wall. She didn't even look as it shoot a tranquilizer dart into her neck. She toppled over, asleep in an instant, free of her torment for at least a little while. He put the device back, and said "That should do it for about 30 minutes. Have you ever owned a Wildlian before, sir?"
I started to walk away. "I'll manage."
Less than five minutes later, I pulled up to the loading dock of the store. A burly man with a push-cart wheeled the comatose Lupine out to the car. I got out, and signed for her. He handed me a small device that looked like a remote car unlocker, and said "Here. If she gets out of hand, this'll stop her heart. Green starts it back up in five seconds, and red'll put her down for good."
I grasped the device like it could feel pain, and gently picked the Lupine up. Her soft breath stirred the fur on her chest lightly, and I set her with infinite care in the backseat. I placed a few jackets I had back there, so if I stopped suddenly, she wouldn't go flying.
I drove back to my house slowly, taking about 20 minutes. Being a gene splicer pays pretty well; my house borders on a manor, and the driveway alone will wind you. I sat in the car, for a few minutes, with my head against the wheel before I took action. Racing inside, I got out about ten blankets, and placed them on the floor. I didn't know how she'd react, so I made sure to leave her plenty of space. I went back out to get her. As I picked her up, she stirred sleepily, and I increased my pace. I set her down on the blankets, and sat facing her in my easy chair. She came around slowly, blinking and shading her eyes. She looked around for a moment before she noticed me. She quickly flipped over from her back to her stomach, and gazed at me.
I said nothing, waiting for her to make the first move. After maybe two minutes, she spoke. It sounded rusty, like she hadn't spoken in months. "Are... Are you my new owner?"
I nodded. She whimpered, and slowly belly-crawled towards me, and started licking my shoes. "Hey, hey, hey..." I said, reaching down to stop her. She cringed and whined at the sight of my outstretched hand. That did it; that sound of abject terror and misery just broke my heart. I got out of my chair, and sat down beside her, lightly stroking her head. After a while, she opened her eyes, and looked questioningly at me. I softly said "Look, now... I don't know what's been done to you in the past, or what you expect is going to happen to you, but let me tell you; you will never be punished again if I have anything to say about it."
She said nothing, and set her head down on the ground. I continued to stroke it. I said "Do you have a name?"
She shook her head.
I frowned. "Is there something you'd like to be called?"
She shook her head again.
"Well, how about this... Do you like the name Sally? You look like a Sally... Does that sound good to you?"
She didn't move for a moment. Then she raised her head a little, and put it in my lap, and nodded. She stared up at me with those big green eyes, no longer clouded with sorrow, but gleaming with curiosity. It just melted my heart. I scratched her gently behind the ears, said "Okay, Sally... This went on for a few moments, before I heard something. It was low, and quiet, and pervasive. I looked around for a while, before I had a thought. I looked down at Sally, who had closed her eyes again, and leaned in towards her. I was right; she was purring.
When her eyes fluttered open again 30 minutes later, I shifted her head and stood up. Leaning down, I said "Hey, Sally... Do you want something to eat?"
Her eyes snapped open, and she nodded rapidly. I smiled "Alright, follow me." I stood up straight again, and turned towards the kitchen, and started walking. I looked behind me, after a second. Sally was following me an all fours. Wildlians can go comfortably on either four or two legs, but usually only went on four when they had to run someplace. I wondered if Sally thought she would need to run from me. In the kitchen, I defrosted a steak, and seasoned it lightly. I pondered for a moment if she might want a sauce, but decided against it. I got out a knife and fork, and set the steaming plate down on the table. Sally had been following me this whole time, brushing against my legs and wagging her tail, but when she saw the plate get set on the table, she tucked her tail between her legs, and whined. I stared concernedly down at her. "What's wrong, Sally?"
She didn't speak for a second, and when she did, I couldn't hear what she said. I squatted down next to her, and said "Sorry, what?"
She repeated herself. "I'm... I'm not allowed on furniture."
I felt a rush of anger boil through me at whoever had done this to her. Standing back up, I said "Nonsense!" and gently picked her up around her midriff. She couldn't have weighed more than 95 pounds. She squeaked in surprise and fear, but didn't claw or bite at me. I sat her down in the chair, and scooted it a little towards the table. She whined, and licked my hand. I stood back, and sat down at one of the other chairs. She sniffed at the steak a few times, and looked up at me for confirmation. I nodded. She put her nose down to the plate, and picked the whole steak up in her jaws, swallowing it whole. She chewed for a minute before finally swallowing. She blinked, and barked, once, softly.
I smiled; it was so adorable. "Are you thirsty, Sally?" She jumped, before remembering that it was her name. She nodded, looking at me with those liquid eyes. I got up, and got her some bottled water. I twisted off the cap, and set it down in front of her. She studied it for a while, before leaning towards it and trying to use her tongue to get the water out. I laughed, and said "No, no... Let me show you." She cringed again, but I just picked up the water bottle, and her right front paw, and curled her fingers around it using my own. Then, I raised the bottle to her mouth, and said "Now, just tip it back at your own pace."
She did it, slowly, and seemed surprised when she got some water. In fact, she almost spit it out, but kept drinking. She drained the whole bottle before cautiously setting it down, flexing her fingers experimentally. I got up, and said "Is there anything else you want?" She shook her head, and yawned, widely. "You're tired, aren't you," I said. She nodded. "Alright, come on." I led her back to the family room. It was starting to get dark. I gathered up the blankets, and turned around. She was still standing on all fours. I stooped down a little, and raised her up on two. Her balance wasn't the best, but she could stand, all right. I handed the blankets to her, and said "Here, you can spread these out on the couch, and..." I stopped. She had walked to the corner of the room, and dropped the blankets. Going back to all fours, she nosed the blankets into a kind of makeshift pallet, and gingerly stepped into them. She turned around a few times, and settled down. She looked up at me from her position, and thumped her tail a few times. I sat down next to her, and gently kneaded her head. She purred again, and I said "Alright, if that's how you want it... I'll be upstairs if you need anything. Take a right, second door on the left. I'll leave it cracked."
I left the room, and got ready for bed. Normally, I sleep in just boxers, but I made an exception and got into my pajamas. I rolled into bed, and turned off the light. I lay awake for about thirty minutes, looking at the patterns of moonlight and shadow on my walls. Suddenly, I saw the crack at my door enlarge, and heard something pad into the room. I looked down at the edge of the bed, and saw a pair of silvery ears slowly rise, followed by Sally's head. She gazed at me with those green eyes, and I rolled over, freeing up half the bed. Timidly, she hopped up, scrabbling for a second at the covers. She slowly trotted towards me, and then lay down, snuggling up against my torso. I stroked her head a little, and heard her purr again. She turned her head to look at me, and for the first time, I saw her smile. "Thank you... Master."
I fell asleep in less than a minute.