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Kai stirred uncomfortably on the grated metal floor. The slave barracks was heated by units along the ceiling, but this was not enough to keep the bone-chilling air from the harsh world outside from keeping the interior of the metal building slightly chilly. The jackal had not been given any shoes or boots and his toes curled up to try to conserve some bit of warmth. He found very little comfort in this cold, hard place. Indeed, he was now snuggled up against the hyena slave who had raped him the night before, the most warm and comforting presence in this desolate world of ice and steel. He thought of the predicament he was in and he knew that chances were he would never make it out of slavery alive, for he had been captured by Ghar Korodin, the infamous slaver agency of the Moroghu Empire.

Ghar Korodin slave ships scoured the galaxy, operating by stealth in civilized regions of space and brute force in less than civilized areas. Their goal was to harvest the gharjins - as the Moroghu termed all other species, deeming them inferior - for slave labor. The Moroghu had many uses for slaves, indeed their economy was heavily based on slaves, who provided for manufacturing, service, entertainment, and even scientific research functions. The Moroghu reptilians found many of these occupations to be beneath them, as they thought of being a warrior as the most noble position in life to which one can aspire. Those who were not found worthy of serving on the front lines were often relegated to jobs being foremen for the masses of slaves. Some grizzled old war veterans, however, found retirement in training gladiators for service in the Empire's arenas. It may at first seem odd that a society would be so heavily based on slavery in a time of such high technology and automation, but it must be remembered that the Moroghu saw gharjins as little more than living machines who, if worked efficiently and correctly, could be made to perform complicated tasks.

Kai's teeth chattered as he pressed himself up closer to his assailant of the previous evening, the hyena slave known by his number as "101." He struggled to extract as much softness and warmth as he could from the other fur. He wept, thinking of his home and his business and all that he had lost. He had come this far to save his business, but in the end it cost him his life, for what awaited most slaves in the Empire could scarcely be termed life, but rather a sort of lingering suffering and death as every ounce of energy was squeezed out of a slave in scientifically calculated measures of efficiency, finally leaving him a lifeless hulk to be discarded into a slave food recycling machine.

Kai's thoughts were suddenly interrupted as he heard a loud tapping on the bars of the sunken cage. His ears twitched as he turned his head to see the cause of the commotion. What he saw, looming at him through the bars of the cage, was another reptilian. It did not look like a Moroghu, indeed it was a bit shorter with a more slight build and a face that resembled a tuatara's more than the velociraptor-like visage of the Moroghu. This creature held some sort of black truncheon or billy club.

"Wake up, boys!" shouted the smaller reptile. "We've got to get you slaves fed and ready to work in the pits today!"

The hyena twitched a bit and yawned, groaning as he woke up to what would undoubtedly be another day of pain and suffering. Kai slowly released his grip on the hyena as he sat up as well as he could and look up the sloped ramp that led down to their sunken cage from the floor level of the slave barracks. The door to the cage opened and the two slaves made their way up the ramp and into the main area of the slave barracks, cautiously eying the commanding figure. Kai was forced to crawl on his paws and knees by the restraining gear that the female Moroghu guard had locked on him the previous day and neglected to remove.

The reptilian was much shorter than the Moroghu, and indeed shorter than the two slaves. Kai's eyes were drawn to the creature's neck, where he noticed he was also wearing a slave collar, marked with a number. Apparently the Moroghu had no problem enslaving other species of scalies. This one, however, wore a blue version of the orange slave uniform being worn by the jackal and hyena. The word "Beta" was printed across the right chest however, instead of "Slave," as it appeared in the orange slave uniforms. That, plus the commanding tone of the reptile and the fact that he was allowed to wield a club showed that their captors had placed additional value or authority upon this one. The Moroghu often chose some of their slaves to be "betas." These slaves were picked from among the others by observing to see which of them had the most aggressive tendencies (towards other slaves) while at the same time were more cooperative with their Masters. The Moroghu let it be known that betahood was available to any slave that met such qualifications and became noticeable. In this way, the Moroghu could more easily manage their slaves by dividing them against themselves and giving them an easier target to resent besides the Moroghu themselves.

"On your knees, slave!," shouted the beta to the hyena, looking down the helpless Kai with a sadistic snicker.

Kai, having been cowed a bit by his experiences the previous night, both with the inquisitor and his cagemate, knelt down willingly, looking up at the reptilian with his knees on the cold, hard floor. The hyena, number 101, however, growled at the beta and remained standing.

"Hey! I'm about fed up with you! Who do you think you are getting around screamin' at us like this? You weren't like this before they put you in the blue uniform. You even said you weren't gonna be like the rest of them!"

The beta's club came down roughly on one on the slave's left shoulder. "I said... on your knees, boy!"

With a cry of pain, 101 relented, his knees shaking as they dropped down to the floor with a loud clank, followed by a tormented yelp as his kneecaps made contact with the hard metal.

"That's more like it!," sneered the beta down at 101. Casting a glance over to Kai, the reptilian lifted one of his scaly three-toed feet and planted it down into Kai's face. "Lick it dog! You know you like it!"

Kai gave out a soft pathetic whimper. He was new and had not quite surrendered to his place. He closed his eyes and turned his face to the side, trying to avoid the foot in his face. It smelled strange and the scales grabbed at his facefur and nose unpleasantly.

The reptile pushed down harder, his scaly talons wrapping around Kai's head as he pushed it all the way to the grated floor, Kai's bound paws curling into tense fists as he shuddered under the weight of the beta's foot.

"Well boy you gonna lick it? I can stand here a long time," sneered the beta. "Come on... show your beta how tasty you think his claws are." The beta's lips curled back into a deep snarl as it added more weight on the jackal-slave's head.

With a yip and muffled whimper of surrender, Kai's tongue lapped out over the reptilian's clawed toes, wrapping around them as he cleaned all of the grime from them, then taking each toe in his muzzle he began to suckle on it, slurping. His eyes turned up to his tormenter as he serviced his feet. The reptile was glaring down at him with his handclaws curled and firmly placed on his hips, holding onto his club.

"I knew you had it in you," said the domineering beta, a pleased smile on his face as he sighed gently, his chest giving a heave as the air hissed from his lungs. "Isn't it tasty, boy? It'll be a bit of an appetizer before your breakfast. Indeed, my feet probably taste better than the food they feed you fuzzy pups around here."

101 looked down at Kai with a strange expression on his face. It was a curious look that betrayed partly pity, concern, and gratitude that it was not him in such an unenviable position to be burdened with this loathsome and degrading task.

The beta grabbed 101's muzzle in his fierce, scaled claws and pulled his head upwards to look in in the eye, his toes twitching in Kai's muzzle as the jackal continued to serve him. "Aww... jealous boy? I know you're hungry too.

101 shook his head furiously in refusal, but the reptile slid his club up under the hyena-slave's muzzle and rubbed it around there softly. "Come closer, boy. It's been a long time since we shared an intimate moment. I wouldn't want to ruin that pretty face of yours, now would I?"

The hyena lowered his head a little and signed, pressing himself close and pushing his muzzle into the reptile's smelly crotch, nuzzling it softly and letting his tongue adventurously protrude forward to explore it.

The reptile growled lowly in his pleasure as he reached down to undo his pants, perversely enjoying the power that his position gave him over the other slaves as his claws unzipped the crotch of his blue uniform slowly for the hyena. They had done this often in the past, though in a much more agreeable setting and with the willingness of the hyena. 101 and the beta had been lovers in the past, but now with the blue uniform, the reptile had turned from his old ways, sensing an opportunity to manipulate his Moroghu masters, as he thought, to give him always a somewhat better lot than he currently had.

The hyena's tongue began to get to work on the reptile's cloaca - a single hole between the beta's legs. Unlike mammalian genitalia, reptiles have theirs on the inside - at least, that's how it starts out. 101 started at the top of it and worked his way down it, skillfully wriggling his tongue over the rim of it to coax him to excitement.

The beta suddenly grabbed hold of 101's head and thrust his crotch into the boy's face. Something was happening as the flesh around the cloaca quivered and began to pull back as a long and fleshy appendage began to protrude from the hole.

The hyena ran his tongue over the length of the shaft, looking up at the beta nervously as he began to pleasure the sensitive organ. His paws wandered to the beta's upper legs and took hold of them to help support himself as he panted heavily through his nose.

"You know," said the slave. "I'm starting to think our Moroghu masters are right about furry ones like you two. I always saw how easily you caved in, and how I can enjoy it myself.

Both of the furs blushed now, bright red showing even through the fur on their cheeks as Kai continued to suck the reptile's toes, tickling at them pleasantly with his tongue. 101 gagged a little bit as the beta made a surprised move and shoved his cock down into the hyena's throat, his eyes going wide for a moment as he continued to do his best to pleasure the beta with his tongue, though a light growl vibrated his throat.

The beta groaned happily in pleasure, turning his head up to the ceiling a bit as he thrust into the hyena's maw. Whether or not the hyena meant to please the reptile or was showing his annoyance is questionable, but the effect was to vibrate the beta's cock ever so gently.

"Ooohyes!... mmm... I'm going to have to show all the other furry boys that trick now, pup. I'll enjoy having that done to me more often.

The hyena's eyes narrowed in annoyance but he continued with his task, slurping and bobbing his head up and down on the beta's shaft. Humiliating as this was it was certainly preferable to being bludgeoned with that club.

The beta grabbed shoved 101's head down harshly onto his tool and then thrust in, once more lodging his cock deep in the slave's throat.

"Again, boy!" shouted the reptile as he pressed his meat as far down the poor hyena's throat as he could manage, looking down at him with a foul and sadistic grin painted on his face that showed off his rows of tiny little teeth. "Do it again! Nice and sloooow."

The hyena gagged and gurgled a bit, murmuring something muffled through his stuffed muzzle and closing his eyes a little bit. The outline of the reptile's cock was visible in his throat. He summoned up a forced growl as best he could and vibrated the cock of the beta long enough to satisfy him.

Finally, the beta pulled from the hyena's muzzle, allowing him to catch his breath, but the rest was short-lived as the reptilian soon grabbed the slave's head with both of his claws and began to fuck his muzzle furiously. At last, he came, throwing his head to he ceiling as his claws tightened around the hyena-slave's head. He fired several thick ropes of his strange-tasting cum into 101's muzzle and throat before pulling it out and giving it a slap against the hyena's face, wiping what was left of his seed off into the slave's facefur.

"Oooh! ... now that's the good boy I remember," said the beta as he gave the hyena a smack with his tool before finally stuffing it back into his pants and zipping it up. Looking down to the busy jackal-slave on the floor, he slowly pulled his scaly foot from Kai's muzzle and then rubbed it over the top.

"You really do a good job sucking my toes, pup! Next time we'll see how well you can suck something else," said the reptile, once again with an evil grin.

As the reptile pulled his clawed feet out of Kai's muzzle, the jackal let out a very low whimper before the beta slithered that scaly foot over his head in a gentle petting motion.

"Now... its time to get breakfast. Come!," The beta snapped his claws and pulled the club from his belt again, using it to motion them over to the food dispenser. "Sorry, bitches," continued the reptile, but it seems they haven't bothered to deliver us those tables they've been promising us, so it looks as if you'll have to slurp your food off of the floor.

The reptile noted the time on the dispenser and saw that it was due to serve breakfast. With a few presses of a button, the conveyer belt in the machine began to run. The beta put two trays on the belt, and the machine shot a blob of sticky gray goop onto each tray with a sickening plop. Rather than serving the slaves, the beta took the trays and dumped their contents onto the floor in front of each slave. It took a bit of effort though, as the pale-gray substance made every effort to adhere to the surface of the tray. "Eat up, boys!" shouted the beta.

They certainly must feed this one better food than this, thought Kai. After all, the scaly one seemed far too enthusiastic about breakfast for this to be his own. Kai cautiously moved his muzzle forward. His nose twitched as he sniffed at the gooey substance and his lips curled up a bit. This was disgusting, though on the other hand he had not had anything to eat in a long time, and certainly not since this whole ordeal had begun with his capture. He stuck his tongue out and touched it to the "food." It tasted foul - like some kind of soup or porridge but with odd metallic taste but he was thankful to get anything right now and wasn't sure when the next opportunity would come. He began to lap up his breakfast, though slowly and cautiously.

101 eagerly dove in, slurping up all he could. The hyena's eagerness was a likely indication that this was probably some of the better food the the Moroghu served at lovely Camp 1728.

"Aww what's the matter?," sneered the beta as he tapped his club into the open palm of his other hand. "Our food not good enough for you? Well that's just too bad cause you'll be eating it every day, you bitch!"

The reptile took his foot - the one that, by now, Kai was intimately familiar with, and planted it firmly on the back of Kai's head, pressing the jackal's muzzle down into the gray slop on the floor. "Lick it all up and slurp it all down, slaveboy!"

Kai whimpered softly as his arms and legs struggled in their uncomfortable restraints, trying to stretch out to the side though they couldn't. He began to lap up the goo as well as he could, hoping this would all be over soon or at least someone would release his arms and legs from the chains that bound him together, forcing him in an all fours position on the floor.

"What's going on here, 322!?" came a deep-voiced shout from the front of the slave barracks. Kai's eyes were able to turn just enough to see the black boots of a guard in full Moroghu uniform, although the voice was definitely not that of one of the reptilians.

"Oh, sir!" said the beta. "I was just getting these slaves served their breakfast before their work details."

"Bullshit!," yelled the guard. "You should have had them fed half an hour ago! What have you been up to?"

"Ahh... testing out a new protein supplement the science folks gave me," said the beta nervously, with a bit of a questioning tone at the end of it.

"I think not, beta!," said the guard. "Those science types are very protective of their work and certainly wouldn't give you scum access to their projects. At least, I would hope they were smart enough not to. Either way, You know we guards don't take lightly to being lied to by slaves."

With that, a giant clawed hand went to the guard's belt and pressed a button. The beta's collar made an odd hum and the reptile dropped his club, his claws instantly flying to grip at his collar as he stumbled and fell to his knees, grasping it. His head began to hunch forward as he gasped for air, making faint choking noises as he did. The rubber lining the inside of the beta slave's collar had inflated, constricting around the reptilian's throat.

After what seemed like an eternity, the guard's finger finally moved away from the punishment button. "Don't forget that we are your gods! You're dismissed now, 352. And don't let me catch you horsing around on the job again."

"Y... yes... s... sir," gasped 352 painfully as he grabbed for his club and attached it to his belt. He made his way to the door to the slave barracks and exited quickly, not wanting to be in the same room with the guard.

Kai turned his head up to look at the new arrival. He was astonished to see that the guard was not a Moroghu or reptilian at all, but rather a wolf. He was not a typically-sized wolf either, but very tall and bulky. Obviously, he had been born naturally large, but huge muscles bulged from his arms just below the sleeve of his black uniform. The tone of the muscles was visible even through his gray fur and it was evident that this lupine spent a great deal of effort into caring for his body and keeping it in top shape. This view was not granted him for long though, for soon enough, Kai's field of vision was darkened by the sole of a heavy boot coming over his head. He tried to move but it was too late and the guard's boot came directly down on his head, shoving it back into his gooey breakfast once more. The guard did not acknowledge his presence and even ignored him, yet there was no way that move could have been a mistake.

Continuing to ignore the jackal beneath his boot, the guard pointed at 101 quickly and ordered rather bluntly "Open up, boy! I need to piss like a racehorce."

As 101 looked up at the guard from his knees, his eyes betrayed his fear at the large and bulky canine. He immediately opened his mouth without argument. A bit of piss was certainly better than being choked with his collar, or worse, being beaten to a pulp and sent over to the medics for them to experiment on.

The guard unzipped his pants pulled his plump sheath from their depths, his fingers slowly pulling it back to reveal his flaccid lupine dick. With as casual an attitude as going to the urinal, the wolf guard took aim at the slave's open maw, the monster wolf relaxed his bladder, letting a stream of hot yellow piss gush into the hyena's mouth. The wolf sighed softly in relief as he filled the slave's muzzle.

"This'll help keep you warm on those cold work details, slave!," shouted the guard as his stream poured into the unfortunate hyena's muzzle, splattering across his whiskers and facefur as well. As the guard's bladder emptied and his stream died down, he moved a bit closer so that the last few drips landed in the hyena's facefur before finally shaking the last few drops off onto 101's tongue, then slowly putting his tool securely back into his pants and zipping them up. He stopped for a moment and took a deep breath, then looking down before lifting his boot up from the jackal's head and moving it over to the side. "Oh! Didn't notice you down there, slave!," said the guard sarcastically, doing his best to hide a snicker under his breath. Noting the chains binding the arms and legs of the jackal, the guard pressed another button on his control belt, releasing the chains on the shackles remotely. "You must be some of the fresh meat off the latest ship. Stand up and let's have a look at you!"

Kai was out of sorts. He couldn't clearly hear what the guard had said. His mind was numbed by the stress of his prolonged bondage and the latest rounds of abuse he had suffered at the feet of 322 and now of this lupine guard. Involuntarily, he spread his arms and legs out now as far as he could across the floor in an undignified sprawl to try and relieve the stress he had endured for the past night and morning in this position.

A moment later, Kai's inattention to the guard's order was rewarded with a swift kick from the guard's boot into his side.

"I said... get up! You sack of lazy bones! I want to look you over."

With a pained yelp, Kai began scrambling after the kick, finally making it up on his feet for the first time in almost a day. He took a nervous breath and tried to stare straight forward, hopefully to appear non-threatening. It was now that he got a more full view of the slave barracks. The long building was made almost entirely of cold depressing metal, with rows of sunken cages on either side, the entrance at one end and the food dispenser at the other.

The wolf guard easily stood two feet over the shivering jackal and was dressed in the black uniform of the Moroghu Imperium. His badge indicated that he was assigned to Ghar Korodin. The shoulder-guards and black cap of the uniform framed his grizzled gray face and green eyes. Despite their doctrine that the Moroghu were the superior race of the galaxy, the Moroghu had lately allowed other species into their military to fill in needed caps in their military and personnel structure. Such gharjins that joined the Moroghu ranks had to prove themselves worthy by completing a grueling one-year training course that many did not survive and accept their position relative to the Moroghu species. Despite this, many joined up. Mostly they were what the other races of the galaxy might call the criminal element. This meant that they could be sometimes difficult to hold to discipline. Still others were veteran soldiers or pilots, looking to spill more blood when other wards had ceased or to fight in one of the most reputed war machines ever devised. He reached down with his great paw and took hold of the bottom of Kai's muzzle, turning it up to look him in the face.

The wolf guard reached down with his great paw and took hold of the bottom of Kai's muzzle, turning it up to look him in the face."Well now little one," said the wolf. "You're a scrawny little one. It seems the slavers are sending us whatever they can these days. Not worth much..." The wolf took hold of one of the slave's arms and pulled it up with a bit of distaste before releasing it.

It was true. Kai had not done much in the way of hard labor in his life. He never played sports as a pup, and after college he had had a series of cushy desk jobs leading up to his work as an executive for the Union Crown corporation. He didn't hate the muscles or the stamina to do the sort of work that would likely be required of him soon. As his eyes slowly drifted down to the hyena on the floor, he noticed the muscles this one had wielded against him the night before, and could only hope that he would develop ones to match it soon, or else he was likely to find himself more victimized than 101 had been today. Though Kai still felt violated by the hyena, seeing all that he had gone through made him think how such an environment could make anyone aggressive in whatever outlets were left to express through.

Soon, other guards entered the slave barracks and brought the other slaves out from their sunken cages. Some of them looked frightened or driven out of their wits. Still others moved quietly in abject submission or stared straight forward, their eyes staring forever into the distance as their bodies worked but their minds struggled to remain detached from the hell that was their lives.

The guards and some attending blue-uniformed betas began to line up the assembled slaves and attach leg cuffs to them before running a chain from each set of cuffs to the other, and from each collar to the other, forming a chain gang. Kai was at the front of the line.

The door before the chain gang opened, bright light illuminating Kai's face. The world outside of the slave barracks was bright and blinding white to those who had been locked in the cloister of the barracks all night. Kai held up a paw in front of his face to try to shield himself not only from the light, but from the noticeable blast of cold air that flooded the barracks as soon as the doors were opened. He began to shiver with the cold, hesitant to move forward. Suddenly, he remembered the tales of those who had been near death and how they had always described a bright white light. He pondered for a moment that now he looked into those very jaws of death, translated from the ethereal into physical life before him.

This musing was interrupted suddenly as the crack of a whip brought Kai's mind back to his present reality. The jackal jumped and gave out a loud yelp as the thick leather of the whip struck his back, and began to reluctantly move forward at the yell of a guard, hoping to avoid the pain of another lash.

Still holding his paw out in front of him, Kai struggled out the door of the slave barracks, not being able to move as quickly or as well as he wanted, dragging the largely dead weight of the other slaves behind him - some of whom were moving along more or less willingly or more quickly or slowly than others. As Kai made his way from the slave barracks out into the chilled and snowswept concrete square, he found it filled with other black-uniformed Ghar Korodin guards - some of them Moroghu, others powerful-looking individuals of other species, all armed with plasma rifles. As Kai moved forward they pressed and shoved him towards his destination, directing the rest of the chain gang with him over towards the west side of the yard.

At the west side of the courtyard, a great pit had been dug in the earth. At first sight it was a bit welcoming to Kai as the warmth it put of was a great relief to the freezing jackal, not at all accustomed to such a cold place. A red reflection off the snow could be seen as its light glowed from the inside of the pit. When Kai reached the edge of the pit, he tried to peer down in. He could see vague shapes and hits of movement at the bottom, though the harsh sounds of slaves moaning in pain, screaming guards, the cracking of whips, hammering of picks and the ceaseless grinding of machinery all floated up to greet the jackal's ears, letting him know what was waiting for him in the depths of the pit.

When the slow-moving snake of chains and slaves finally reached the pit, a gruff Moroghu guard with red scales took a mining pick from a pile and shoved it into Kai's paws. "125, your pick!," shouted the guard. "And you'd better know how to make use of it too.

And so, Kai made his way down the grated metal walkway that wound its way down the side of the pit towards the its floor, the other slaves following him, necks and feet chained and mining picks in hand. There was only one flimsy handrail on the right side of the walkway, and the chasm of the pit beyond. The Moroghu usually didn't put such safety items on their walkways and balconies in any case, reasoning that those who fell were stupid or weak and deserved it, but in this case, slaves were assumed to be weak anyhow, but were still needed alive in the service of the Empire. In any case, the single metal rail offered only minimal protection from the depths of oblivion, as it would be easy for someone fo fall through the huge gap below the rail. Kai grasped it nervously, holding on for his life, only to find the soot and filth covering the railing clung to his paws and to his orange uniform tenaciously.

"What's the holdup down there!?," shouted the large lupine guard who had retrieved Kai and 101 from the slave barracks earlier. It would seem that that guard had been given the duty of pit-master. Impatiently, the guard pressed the button on his control belt once more, causing Kai's collar to squeeze around his neck.

Kai collapsed to to his knees on the grated walkway, holding his paws to his neck in futility as he was punished for his slow progress. He could see the bottom of the pit far through the grating beneath him now. His body quivered as his eyes began to bulge from his head as his lungs ached, longing for air as his vision became blurred and cloudy.

The lupine guard kept his finger pressed down on the button as he grinned at the sight of the slave. Clearly he was enjoying himself. He had done this often and knew just how far he could abuse the punishment tool before a slave life gave out and surrendered to the choke collar. Indeed, he had taken these things just so far on occasion when it had suited him at times when a slave was either too useless to be missed or had been declared deficient. Finally, as Kai's cheeks began to turn blue beneath his fur, the guard released his finger from the choke button, allowing Kai his breath once more.

The jackal greedily sucked the air into his burning lungs as he crept forward, finally rising up as the chain of slaves began to move once more down the ramp, finally reaching the bottom. In the middle of the rectangular pit was an upright cylindrical heating unit, rotating slowly. The horizontal slats across the cylinder showed a deep red energy inside of them. When the slats rotated by Kai he could feel the heat coming off of them. It was really the only saving grace of the otherwise hellish pit. There were piles of rocks and a rock wall that looked as if it had been worked on by slaves who had chipped them from the walls of the pit using their mining picks. Also, in the middle of the pit near the heater was a large drill with four arms that slaves could be locked to by wrist cuffs to push.

Kai stepped off of the walkway onto the floor of the pit, only to find his feet sinking in a a mushy soup of muck rather than standing on a solid surface. The pit's heater had melted the snow, ice, and frozen groundwater and turned the bottom of the pit into a sloppy mud-soup, with some parts of the pit hosting large puddles of filthy water. Some guards that were already in the pit grabbed at Kai's arm and shoved him over towards the rock wall, and then guided the other slaves over to their stations as they stepped off the walkway, finally followed by the gray lupine guard.

The wolf guard's heavy boots sank into the mud as he stepped into the pit and trudged over towards the line of slaves, putting his plasma rifle back into its holster on his back and then grabbing for a whip from his belt, uncurling it slowly as he glared over the slaves with his piercing green eyes.

"Listen up, meat!" shouted the guard at the line of slaves, each of them shackled to each other by their leg-irons and collars. "You're here because the Empire rightfully rules the universe, and because the Empire decided that your best use to be put to is being a pit slave! This means you're not much good for anything else."

Some of the slaves fearfully glanced to each other, nervously. Some stood higher while others hunched over a bit with fearful looks on their faces. Some of them were obviously took weak for this work and had trouble even holding their mining picks up as they shivered in the cold. It became apparent that this was not merely a training session or a mining work detail, but that it would also be a culling.

The lupine guard paused for a moment and reached down to a series twelve long, vertical holders on his belt. He pressed on one, causing the top to flip open, then producing a long cigar from it, he placed this in his maw and then reached for a lighter. Bringing the lighter to the tip of the cigar, he began to puff as he lit it. He started to pace a bit in front of the slaves, glaring down at them as he continued to harangue the slaves, easily towering over every one of them.

"Some of you are probably not cut out for this sort of work," he said, stopping at a particular slave, a very thin otter. The otter was barely little more than half the height of the wolf and extremely thin with no muscle structure. The otter only weakly held his mining pick and took deep, nervous breaths. The guard looked down into the otter's face and then grabbed beneath his muzzle, pulling his face up before blowing a thick cloud of smoke into it, causing the poor otter to cough.

"For those of you who aren't suited," continued the wolf guard, "We'll try to make all this as quick as possible." As he said this, the other guards in the pit, themselves of the raptorian Moroghu species, grinned knowingly and let their claws wander in anticipation to their plasma pistol sidearms.

With another puff of his Cigar, the guard continued his rant. "The Commandant has ordered that the goal of this work gang is the mining and refinement of twelve tons of ore by the evening. If this goal is not met, then you will be shackled in your slave cages for two full days. And, the laziest of you who produces the least, and is still alive by the end of the day, has to lick my boots clean..." The guard pulled one of his black boots out from the muck of the bottom of the pit and let the slaves see it. It was filthy by now and two thick clumps of mud dribbled off of it as he displayed it to them. "So get to work! And don't you dare let me catch you slacking off!"

With a single crack of the guard's whip, the slaves began to work with their pics, chipping as much off of the wall as they could. As they did so, the muscled wolf paced back and forth behind them, cracking his whip onto the backs of the slaves as he continued to enjoy his cigar. "Faster, you worthless meat-hunks!," he shouted as he continued to urge them on.

Kai did his best to do the required work. His muscles ached as he hefted the heavy metal head of the mining pick. He was not accustomed to such work but he was intelligent. He quickly looked around to see how the others who appeared more capable were doing it and tried to imitate their movement. He also tried to remain silent as he could, despite his pain and torment, so as to not attract the attention of the cruel guard. Perhaps the only nice part about this was that the intense labor warmed him up enough to keep him from freezing in the cold air of this harsh world.

The otter who had earlier been the subject of the guard's attentions, struggled with his pick, yelping as he tried to heft the tool to chip the rock from the pit wall, yelping and grunting pitifully with each attempt, his arm burning. The otter fumbled his swing at one of the rocks, slipping on the mucky ground and falling down, his elbow striking one of the protruding jagged rocks as he let out a long moan of pain and flopped over in the mud.

The wolf guard chomped the tip of his cigar as he grinned sickly, showing his fangs as he drew a clawed finger lightly over the fur of his neck. Soon, his guard assistants came forward and grabbed the otter by both arms as his legs and collar were unshackled from the chain. They then dragged him through the mud out towards the heating unit in the center of the pit.

Kai whimpered very lightly and gritted his teeth, but kept up with the pick, not daring to slow his pace down. His arm and lungs began to ache from his labor as he kept chipping away at the rock face. Sparks flew with every strike and little bits of rock struck his face, threatening to get in his eye, but he kept going. He saw the shadows of what was going on behind him cast on the rock wall by the red glow of the heater. He closet his eyes for a moment as he heard the blast of the plasma pistol, then opened his eyes and continued to work. He tried not to think about what had just happened, but he could not put it out of his mind, and it only made him work harder. He hated being in this place, but if there was anything he wanted less it was to be dead. He kept chipping away at the rock, a growing pain in his chest pushing himself on, further and further beyond his capabilities. An hour or so later, it was impossible to tell the time, his body began to give out. He began to feel exhaustion and his vision began to blur as his head became light and the heat of the pain in his chest and arms intensified. Finally he could no longer hold his pick and he dropped it, falling to the ground, face-down in the mud. He rolled over and looked up out of the top of the pit, his vision blurring back and forth but he could see the stars through his blurred vision and thought one of them must be home - in his sight yet so far away, and now it was almost over. In a loud voice he began to cry out pathetically, his voice punctuated by sobs and tears rolling down his face and cheeks. "Please have mercy. I don't want to die!!, please..."

Blackness...

Kai opened his eyes to total darkness, he stood up on what seemed to be a firm surface now, though he could see nothing. It was warm, at least warm by comparison to the last thing he remembered experiencing. He ran his paws down his body and felt his fur. He was naked, but he seemed to be without mud or ache in his body or any of the other signs of the ordeals he had recently endured. He smiled and sighed deeply in relief at this. "It must have a dream...," Kai thought to himself very happily. He was probably in his home somewhere. Passed out on the floor in the bathroom with the lights out or something. He felt about him and walked in any direction, feeling for a wall or a light switch or a surface of some kind, but found nothing. He then tried shouting.

"Hello?," shouted Kai. The sound had no echo. It did not sound as if he were constrained in a room, nor as if the sound were bouncing off of some surface in the distance. "Hello!!" shouted Kai again loudly, receiving no response but silence. He rubbed his paws up and down his sides, shaking a bit when suddenly a grim thought came to the forefront of his mind. Perhaps he was dead! He clasped his face in his paws. He could feel his body in all its detail but there was no light to see himself or anything by. It was pitch black. He took a step forward and felt out, yipping and whimpering desperately hoping for it not to be true.

Light...

Kai's arms raised to his face to cover his eyes from the blinding light. A portal into the darkness had opened, from illuminating his face and piercing deep into his eyes. Before him was a square of bright white light. He was compelled to step forward towards it. He walked slowly towards the portal. As he came closer he peered into it, trying to see beyond it but as he peered into it he could only see the featureless brightness, forcing him to shield his eyes. Finally he reached the portal as he walked forward. It towered over him by at least twice his height and was very wide. As he stretched his paw into the light, he felt a pleasing warmth come over it, tingling him lightly. He stepped into the light fully, walking through. He did not feel as if he had passed through a door or any kind of fluid. The only sensation he felt was warmth and one of profound security as he passed through.

Once on the other side he blinked. He found himself in what appeared to be a giant cave, lit by some sort of soft ethereal light. He turned around to see the portal he had come through, but it was nonexistent now. He saw that he was on a tall stone walkway or bridge raised high above the floor of the cave. He went to the edge and looked down, finding a long drop of nearly a hundred feet to a lake or river at the bottom of the cave. In front of him, down the length of the walkway was a dark tunnel - what appeared to be the only way out of here. He began walking towards it, only to find that the bridge had collapsed shortly before the entrance to the tunnel in the wall of the cave. Below him was a sickening drop to the waters, jagged rocks thrusting upward ominously from their depths. Looking around more, Kai found a plaque on a nearby post that read:

"Oh traveler head these words if thou wish to leave this chamber. For the path on which thou stand shall be cut down within the hour. To cross the gap and leave the chamber, thou must answer the following questions:"

The inscription then asked a serious of questions in great detail. Some of them were personal questions about Kai's life and his feelings and identity. Others were more technical questions on the length of the walkway and his perceived size of the cave, and yet some others were mathematical in nature requiring additional calculates. The jackal was required to recite them out loud as ht put his claw on the question asked.

Kai stood motionless in the small alcove in the wall in the special projects lab. He wore a special hood that covered his entire head that appeared to be made of some sort of latex or rubber. His body, similarly sealed up, was secured in place by straps with wires and connectors running from points on his body to special machines. His chest heaved in its tight suit as he breathed deeply as light flashed across the wires connecting his headpiece to the wall.

The Moroghu technician pressed a few buttons on his control pad to bring up the necessary information. He smiled to himself and then turned to the Draco behind him. "The new unit hs calibrating nicely your lordship. I'm glad I saved him from that brute in the pits. He has a nice brain and will make an excellent research tool. You see, we present him with the problems we need solved in the simulation and -"

"Yes, yes." said the Draco, "You don't need to educate me on these things. Dracos are well trained in all the sciences, both pure and applied, but I'm sure you know this."

"Yes, of course Sir. Forgive me, my lord," said the technician.

"Sure," said the Draco, pulling a long golden medallion from his pocket. "I want you to have him analyze this. It was brought to us by the captain of the last slave ship he came on. There's something odd about it and I want its properties examined."

"Yes sir! I will get on it as soon as the calibration is completed my lord."

With that, the technician turned back to his control console and placed the artifact, once called the Crux of Terra, which Kai had been contracted to transport before his kidnapping, off to the side on the table. He would begin analyzing it later. Looking up at Kai one last time, sealed away in his own world, forced to solve problems to help his masters research and conduct scientific experiments, the Moroghu technician observed. "It seems you're more brain than brawn, pup. Now you truly fill a slave's purpose, 125. To serve your owners in the best way you can..."