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Sam sat on a moving stone platform. It was rectangular with two benches, one bench on either end. He was sitting next to Ellie, the yellow reptilian child, and sitting across from him, Ellie’s mother, who he didn’t know the name of, was staring at Sam.
“What’s your name, human?” Ellie’s mother asked through hisses.
“Sam, sundak,” Sam said.
There was a clicking sound as Ellie pressed on a stone device strapped to her wrist, and the reptilian held a piece of popcorn chicken out towards Sam. “Good job, Sam!”
Sam blinked, and Ellie’s mother smiled, gesturing for Sam to take the treat. He put the piece of popcorn chicken in his mouth and chewed. A grin appeared on Ellie’s scaly face, and she took out a black stone in the shape of a cylinder, pointing one of its faces at him. There was a snapping sound, and Ellie looked at the other end of the cylinder before showing it to her mother. “Look!” she said and giggled. “He’s so derpy!”
Sam was never a self-conscious eater, but after hearing Ellie’s comments, he couldn’t help but chew a bit slower, trying to make his chewing as inconspicuous as possible.
The small reptilian put the cylindrical device down and looked at Sam. “Is this your first time riding a levistone, Sam?”
Sam nodded. He turned his head to the side, wondering why in the world he was in this position. Wendy had sold him to a stranger when the original plan was to sell him to Tamara. Had he actually been tricked and trafficked by Wendy? Perhaps thirty-thousand whatever unit reptilians used for money was an astronomical amount, and he gladly helped her count it as she sold him. For all he knew, the whole plan to steal the GMC could’ve been a ploy to funnel S-ranked individuals to Et Serpentium.
A furry paw pressed against Sam’s cheek, and he met Raindu’s gaze when he looked down. Beyond that, he saw Ellie staring up at him, the yellow reptilian’s green eyes widening upon seeing the ferret. “What’s that?” the reptilian asked, pointing at Raindu.
Raindu crawled out of Sam’s shirt and stood on his shoulder, puffing its furry chest out. After a moment of silence, Raindu glared at Sam before swiping at his ear, asking with its thoughts why he didn’t introduce it to the reptilian. Sam furrowed his brow before clearing his throat. “This is Raindu,” he said. “He’s….”
Ellie stared up at Sam with unblinking eyes, waiting for his answer.
“He’s my pet, sundak,” Sam said.
Ellie blinked before a grin broke out on her face. She turned to look at her mother. “Sam has a pet too!” She pulled out a piece of popcorn chicken and offered it to Raindu. “That means he’s my petpet!” The ferret chomped down on the treat, and Ellie laughed. “Does he have a name?”
Raindu chattered, and Sam translated. “His name is Raindu, sundak. He’s a ferret,” Sam said. “May I ask you a question?”
“Of course,” Ellie said and nodded. “You can ask me whatever you want.”
Sam glanced at Ellie’s mother. The reptilian’s vibe seemed a bit hesitant, but the reptilian didn’t refute its daughter’s words. Sam scratched his head. “Is it alright for a pet to own a pet?”
“Yes,” Ellie said. “But you have to take care of it.” She pointed a clawed finger at Sam’s nose. “You’ll be punished if Raindu does anything wrong.” The small reptilian grinned at Sam. “Do you have anything else you want to ask? We’re going to be best friends, so there’s no need to be shy.”
Sam glanced at Ellie’s mother once more, and the reptilian nodded at him. Sam looked at Ellie. He had many questions he wanted to ask, but he wasn’t sure where to even start. If he asked about the location of the GMC, he’d be an idiot, but it wouldn’t hurt to ask about Wendy’s past, right? “The woman that sold me, people said she’s the daughter of the great seer. What exactly is a great seer?”
“The great seer is, um…, someone important!” Ellie said before looking at her mother. The large reptilian gave its daughter a wry smile before nodding, causing Ellie to beam.
Sam looked at Ellie’s mother, but it didn’t seem like the reptilian was going to answer his question in detail. Clearly, Ellie was just a child. She might’ve heard about the great seer, but why would she know more in depth about the topic? It’d be like asking a human child what exactly was a board of directors.
“What else?” Ellie asked, her eyes shining as she looked at Sam.
“I’ve never been a pet before, sundak,” Sam said after thinking for a bit. “What are the rules?”
“You have to be good and listen to everything I say,” Ellie said. She tilted her head. “And you can’t hurt people. If you hurt someone, I’ll get in trouble, and mean adults will take you away.”
Sam once again turned towards Ellie’s mother. The reptilian stared at him with unblinking green eyes. “You’re what humans call an awakener, right?”
Sam swallowed before nodding his head.
Ellie’s mother smiled, and a shiver ran down Sam’s spine. “Do you think you can escape from your fate as a pet?”
Sam remained silent. Raindu could murder reptilians with a touch. Any restraining devices like explosive collars, shock collars, or even brain-controlling devices could easily be disabled by the ferret. Knowing that, Sam had the confidence to escape from Et Serpentium, but he wasn’t stupid enough to admit that to the reptilian in front of him.
“Humans have always been our pets,” Ellie’s mother said, not caring about Sam’s lack of response, “even long before the Earth ascended. Rather than struggling to escape, why not cooperate for a while? You may find things are better here than you think, and if you have confidence in yourself, you can always escape later, no?”
Sam maintained a neutral expression. “I wasn’t planning on escaping,” he said, lying through his teeth as he took Wendy’s advice. “I’m an awakener, but my talent isn’t that great.”
“What is your talent?” Ellie asked, looking up into Sam’s eyes. “Can you shoot laser beams from your eyes?”
An awkward smile appeared on Sam’s lips, and he scratched his head. “I’m, uh, not quite sure, sundak,” he said, speaking slowly as the gears in his brain turned to come up with a feasible yet useless talent. “I was born talentless, and I signed up to receive an experimental talent.” His eyes lit up as he recalled the time he was shoved off a surdock’s back above the spectral jungle. “It has something to do with falling slowly. I can’t fly, but if I flap my arms, I can sort of … not die … when I hit the ground.”
“Oh,” Ellie said. She glanced over the edge of the bench, and Sam had the impression the small reptilian wanted to push him off the levistone to test his talent. She must’ve deemed to distance to be too short to verify Sam’s claims because she turned her attention onto Raindu before looking at her mother. “Mommy, what do ferrets taste like?”
Raindu stiffened, question marks appearing over its head as it blinked at the small reptilian.
“Like rabbit,” Ellie’s mother said.
“Oh,” Ellie said, looking up at Raindu. In response, the ferret crawled back inside of Sam’s shirt, disappearing from view. She turned her head to the side, and her eyes lit up. “We’re here, Sam!”
Where exactly here was, Sam didn’t know, but judging by the amused vibe Ellie’s mother was giving off, he had a feeling he wouldn’t like it. He looked at the building the levistone stopped in front of, but as usual, he couldn’t understand the words on the sign. Instead, he took a guess. “Is this your home, sundak?”
“No, silly,” Ellie said. “This is the vet.” She nodded at Sam. “We have to make sure you’re not sick.”
Chills ran down Sam’s spine as he recalled Wendy’s words. Members of the HKC were staunch supporters of neutering and spaying their humans as a form of population control. Sam swallowed. “That’s all we’re doing at the vet, right?” he asked. “Making sure I’m healthy?”
“There’s no need to be scared,” Ellie said, offering Sam her hand. “We’ll be with you the whole time.”
Even if an army of reptilians were with him and on his side, he’d still be terrified of being neutered. He might not have known all the details of the process, but he for sure knew he didn’t want any of the process to happen to him. Five hundred million credits was a lot, sure, but was it enough to reverse the process? Was the process even reversible?
Ellie grabbed Sam’s hand and tugged, guiding him off the levistone. Ellie’s mother stepped off the vehicle as well, following behind Sam, watching him in case he decided to make a break for it. In the distance, a grayling deliverer trudged along the road, carrying the pet supplies Wendy had purchased in the store.
Sam swallowed once more as he stepped into the building, and Raindu poked its furry head out of his shirt collar to examine the surroundings. If there were any shiny objects lying around, Sam didn’t doubt the ferret would nab them, but there wasn’t much to be seen. The group entered a waiting room with stone chairs and a reptilian sitting behind a stone counter. “Hello,” the white reptilian said. “What can we do for you today?”
“Hi,” Ellie’s mother said, stepping forward. “We purchased a human recently, and we’d like to get him examined, chipped, and vaccinated.”
“Of course,” the white reptilian said, leaning over to look at Sam. “It looks like it’s already an adult; shall we have it fixed today too?”
Cold sweat filled Sam’s palms, causing Ellie to release her grip and wipe her damp hand on Sam’s pants.
“No,” Ellie’s mother said. “We’re planning on turning it into a show human.”
“Ah,” the white reptilian said. “I understand.”
Sam didn’t understand what being a show human had to do with keeping his family jewels, but he would gladly become one if that’s what it took to keep his dignity.
“He’s going to be the best show human,” Ellie said, looking up at the white reptilian. “My mommy says I can train him.”
“I’m sure he will,” the white reptilian said, not looking away from the stone tablet it was holding. After a second, the reptilian passed the tablet to Ellie’s mother. “Fill this out for me, would you?” The reptilian glanced at Sam. “Would you like us to groom your human? Free of charge.”
“No!” Ellie said, shaking her head. “I like how derpy he looks.”
“Well, okay,” the reptilian said after taking a look at Ellie’s mother.
Ellie pouted; everyone always looked at her mother to double-check her responses. She crossed her arms over her chest and glared at Sam, someone who also looked to her mother instead of her. “Sit!”
Sam blinked. Then, he recalled what he had to do as a pet: listen to and follow instructions. Sam crossed his legs and sat down on the spot, causing Ellie to blink twice at him. She pointed at the stone chair behind Sam. “On the chair, silly,” she said. “Why would you sit on the floor? It’s dirty.”
“Oh…,” Sam said as he turned around. He got up and sat on the chair, flinching as his butt made contact with it. The chair was cold despite his pants insulating him, almost as if he were sitting on a chunk of ice. Weren’t reptilians supposed to be afraid of the cold? Wendy certainly hated it—then again, she could’ve been playing a weird mind game with him like she had claimed.
A stone door beside the counter opened. A green reptilian appeared with a stone tablet in its hands. “Ellie and Sam?”
“Coming!” Ellie said and grabbed Sam’s hand. He wondered why he had to sit when he was going to stand less than ten seconds later, but he didn’t say anything out loud. Ellie looked up at Sam and pulled him towards the doorway. “Don’t be scared, okay?”
The more reassurances the small reptilian gave Sam, the heavier the pit in his stomach became. He might not be neutered, but who knew what the examination would be like? What if it was a vivisection? Ellie’s mother had mentioned chipped and vaccinated as well, and Sam had a feeling those processes weren’t painless. What part of him was being chipped? How were the vaccines going to enter his body? In the city, they were delivered through syringes, but everything the reptilians owned were made of stone….
“Over here,” the green reptilian leading the way said. It stopped in front of a room illuminated by a pale, blue light. “Please put your pet into the jiggler.”
The what now? Sam stared at the so-called jiggler, an object that looked very much like a stone coffin. There was even a lid propped up against the side. Ellie tugged on his hand, leading him towards the contraption. She looked up at Sam, and upon seeing his expression, a thoughtful look appeared on the reptilian’s face. After a second, Ellie took out a piece of popcorn chicken and offered it up to Sam. He reached for it, but the reptilian jerked it away at the last second and placed the treat inside the jiggler. She pointed at the treat and looked up at Sam with glistening, green eyes.
Sam’s expression darkened. Was he someone who’d be so easily moved? One piece of popcorn chicken placed inside the jiggler wasn’t going to persuade him.
“Go inside, Sam,” Ellie said, still pointing at the jiggler. “You can have the treat.”
Sam exhaled before listening to Ellie’s words. If he didn’t listen, it wasn’t like things would be better. Perhaps they’d physically force him inside, and if Raindu decided at that moment to help him by disappearing a few reptilians, he’d be forced to flee Et Serpentium. Then again, now that he was an awakener with an S-ranked talent, he could always hop companies; after all, what was the point in showing loyalty to a company that trafficked him to reptilians? Monarch might’ve been at the forefront of biotechnology, but Freedom was ahead in technology, and Red Sun was ahead in agriculture; either of those companies would pay just as well as Monarch.
“Good job, Sam!” Ellie said. “Take the treat.”
Sam sighed as he grabbed the treat and lay down. He put it in his mouth and chewed as the green reptilian lifted and set the jiggler’s cover into place. Then, the green reptilian activated the stone coffin; true to its name, the jiggler jiggled Sam, vibrating him like grains of sand atop a loud speaker. To Sam’s surprise, it didn’t hurt, and the vibrations actually felt nice. It was as if his soul was being massaged. A groan escaped from Sam’s mouth, and a foul smell filled the jiggler like a silent fart in an elevator, causing Sam to gag.
The cover came off, and the green reptilian looked down at Sam before smiling at Ellie, who was peering over the top of the stone coffin. “It looks like we got everything nasty out of him,” the green reptilian said. “He’s perfectly healthy now.”
Sam sat up and glanced down at himself. The clothes he had obtained from Monarch was covered in a layer of filth, and he stank. What exactly had been jiggled out of him?
“He stinks,” Ellie said. The slits on her face above her mouth shut, closed by flaps of skin she voluntarily controlled.
“He was very dirty,” the green reptilian said. “Most humans stink like this the first time they’re jiggled. Make sure you give him a bath later. Humans have delicate skin, so remember, it’s best to clean them once a week at most.”
Ellie nodded while Sam’s brow furrowed. The reptilian’s human-hygiene advice didn’t seem right, but he wasn’t going to question its authority; a stone object that looked much like a knife was hanging from the wall, and Sam had only noticed it now.
“Now, we’ll chip him,” the green reptilian said. It went to the side of the room and pressed on the wall, causing a drawer to extend out of it. The reptilian withdrew a small stone chip the size of Sam’s eye before taking the knife off the wall.
Sam’s eyes bulged, and he didn’t have time to react as the green reptilian pounced towards him. It wrapped its legs around Sam’s torso, pinning his arms to his side, and with precise movements, the knife cut into his shoulder, and the stone chip was placed inside the wound. Sam yelped and struggled as the reptilian licked its thumb and smeared its spit on Sam’s shoulder, sealing the injury as if had been superglued shut. The reptilian released Sam and walked back to the wall as if nothing had happened before hanging the knife up once more.
“And now, we’ll vaccinate him,” the green reptilian said as it opened up another drawer.
Sam clutched his shoulder and glared at the green reptilian. Ellie patted Sam’s arm. “It’s okay, Sam,” the small reptilian said. “It’s over now. It was quick, right? Here.” She offered him another piece of popcorn chicken. Sam wondered if anything addictive had been added to the treat because he couldn’t resist taking it despite how displeased he was feeling.
The green reptilian turned around with a stone cylinder in its grasp. Sam stared at the reptilian as it unscrewed the top of the cylinder and retrieved a piece of bacon. “Here,” the reptilian said, offering the piece of meat to Sam. Before he could inspect it, Ellie snatched the bacon strip and held it up.
“Here! Eat up, Sam!”
Sam hesitated before grabbing the bacon, acting like it’d shock him upon making contact with his skin. This piece of bacon was the vaccine? He brought it up to his mouth and took a bite of it. It tasted exactly like bacon.
Without warning, a sharp pain stabbed Sam’s thigh, and he yelped while jumping to the side. At some point, another green reptilian had sneaked into the room with a crystalline syringe—which was now embedded in Sam’s thigh—and vaccinated him while he was distracted by the bacon.
“Alright,” the first green reptilian said and smiled at Ellie. The reptilian’s tail swept around to the side and wrapped the handle of the crystalline syringe stuck in Sam’s leg before pulling it out without giving him time to react. “All done. Your pet is good to go. Make sure he comes back in a month for a follow-up. Sometimes, humans have bad reactions that don’t show until later on.”
“Okay!” Ellie said and grabbed Sam’s hand. “Did you hear that, Sam? We’re all done now. That wasn’t so bad, was it?”
Sam wasn’t quite sure how to respond. His clothes were covered in gunk; his shoulder flared with blinding pain whenever he moved his arm, and there was a still-bleeding hole in his leg. But at least he had bacon and popcorn chicken, so that was something, right?