The People Zoo #2 (Patreon)

Part 1 

There were a lot more aliens around the next time that the protagonist regained consciousness.

Their cage was also a lot bigger. Instead of a tank, it looked on first bleary glance how a nice flat might look, if all of its walls were made of glass. All the walls, too, contained little glass walkways that the aliens peered at them through.

The floor beneath them was not glass, but some comfortable material as soft as bedding. They could see a bed too. There was oxygen. There was sufficient warmth in the air. They could also see what looked like a working, if basic, bathroom. So, clearly, at least, whatever sort of human zoo this was they were trying to at least vaguely mimic and match the natural enclosures and needs of its inhabitants. That was something, right? It wasn’t like a freak show carnival sort of zoo where all the animals were malnourished and mistreated.

But it was already obvious that they would be watched.  It wasn’t just more of the humanoid aliens in the walls – when they looked up, there was an absolutely huge creature staring back at them with a single eye the size of god. It made the human feel like they were in some kind of doll’s house by comparison.

Aside from the glass-type walls everywhere, there were also what looked like very small cameras or recording devices high up out of their reach. Never a moment when the exhibit could hide, was there? Not even with the furniture and little spaces that suggested privacy might be an option. That would be no fun for paying customers, would it?

God. It was happening. It was really happening. They hadn’t woken up back on their ship to learn that it had all been a strange and terrible dream.

Part of them wanted to curl back in a small ball and deny. Close their eyes. The other part…

Well, they couldn’t just stay quietly in some human zoo somewhere in a galaxy far far away, however much it could have been worse on first impression. They had people to get back to on earth. Never mind that they weren’t some exhibit to be conserved, no matter what the aliens on the other ship had said.

Someone coughed.

The protagonist whirled around.

The other human – the woman – held her hands up in a gesture of surrender. They looked to be about the same age. They eyed each other warily for a beat. The protagonist’s mouth was dry, their heart slamming. They were going to scream. Or laugh. Or maybe cry.

“Hello,” the other human said. “This is all a bit of a shit show, isn’t it?”

***

Her name was Emily. She’d been at the zoo for a little over a year. There was no way to escape. There had been no other humans in that time.

“They treat you well,” she said, “so long as you behave. You ever go to like the killer whale or dolphin shows back on earth? It’s a bit like that.”

“What, you only get food if you do tricks? We could go on hunger strike.”

“And give them a reason to experiment on why you’re sad and how to make you not sad, AKA behaving in the chirpy way they want? Hell no. The cuddles are bad enough.”

The protagonist had stared at them with a rising sort of horror.

“Humans need physical contact or we get lonely, right? Took me about three months to figure out that was what they were trying to do though.” Emily had shrugged, though her face had gone a little white, and she was quick to change the subject. “I think they quite like us, for what little that’s worth. Not that I know what they’re saying. But…they don’t fully get how humans work either, I don’t think.”

The protagonist thought back to the two alien scientists, or maybe bounty hunters, whatever they were, who’d been talking on the transport ship. They definitely hadn’t seemed like they fully understood humans. A bit. But not enough, not anywhere near enough.

“Maybe I can find a way to communicate with them, they were looking at new communication forms back on earth and…”

Emily had laughed, without humour, and shook her head. “Yeah. Good luck with that. When was the last time you saw any human on earth treat an intelligent animal like it had the same rights as them?”

The protagonist had wanted to point out that they weren’t animals though, only to feel the protest die in their throat at the excited murmur of the aliens around them. Thrilled, they were, that the two humans were getting on. Maybe they would mate? Then they could breed a troop (was a troop the right word? What was the right word for a group of humans? There was some debate).

“The little ones would be so cute! And much easier to domesticate too, right? Or maybe there were hybrid possibilities…”

It was enough to make the whole curling up into a small ball option very tempting again.

There would be tests, apparently, in the weeks to come. Some had, apparently, been done already to ensure their general health and needs before they were allowed to wake up.

This was, apparently, the protagonist’s life now.

Like hell were they just going to accept that.