AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Teebra got a shocked look on her face and Kissie shook her head.
“Now you’ve gone and done it,” she muttered to Mia, under her breath.
“Then why are you and your husband even here if you don’t believe in the teachings of the Prophet?” Teebra demanded, glaring at Mia. “Why are you taking a spot in the Dome where another whotrulybelieves might be instead?”
Uh-oh, it seemed to Mia she had gone too far.
“Um…” She cleared her throat. “My husband wanted to try it,” she said at last, weakly. “He’s, uh, trying to train me in the ways of the PPP but it’s hard for me, since I’m so new.”
“Well…” Teebra only seemed slightly mollified by Mia’s explanation. “Ihopethat you’ll learn soon to revere the Prophet and his teachings as yououghtto,” she lectured primly.
“I’m sure I will,” Mia said humbly. “Um…I’m almost done with my soup—what do we do with the used cups?” she asked, hoping to change the subject.
“Oh, just throw them down the recycling and reforming chute,” Kissie told her. “It’s right beside the Nutrient tubes where we got our lunch.”
“They certainly do seem to want the women around here to eat and drink plenty of Nutrient Crème,” Mia remarked, feeling a stab of unease when she considered that she’d eaten almost an entire Big Gulp-sized cup of the stuff.
“That’s because the Nutrient Crème isn’t like real food—it keeps you from getting fat,” Teebra said helpfully as they all rose from their spot on the grass.
“But…how does it take so many different forms?” Mia asked, mystified. “Last night when I first tried it, it was like some kind of creamy, pale purple liquor. And this morning, it tasted like my favorite grapefruit smoothie. And now…soup.” She motioned with her cup. “How is that possible?”
“I told you they switch it up,” Kissie reminded her.
“But it’s also supposed to mimic the things you like,” Teebra told her. “That’s so you’ll drink more of it.”
“So…they have all the women in the Dome on a liquid diet just so they won’t get fat?” Mia asked.
Actually, though the reasons behind it were sexist as hell, it wasn’t a bad idea, she thought. She loved soups and smoothies and could cheerfully live on them for quite a long time. And if the Nutrient Crème mixture was specially made to help you lose weight…well, she wouldn’t mind getting a little thinner, especially in her hips and ass.
“Yeah, it keeps our weight down,” Kissie said, nodding.
“But it also helps your milk come in if you’re pregnant,” Teebra added. “Or your nectar, if you’re not.”
“Uh, what?” Mia asked, frowning.
“You know—your nectar?” Teebra asked. “It fills your breasts and then you have to get it sucked out by the milking mat while…” She blushed deeply. “While you’re husbandhelpsyou from the other end.”
“Admit it—youlikegetting milked!” Kissie poked her friend and laughed when Teebra blushed even harder until her whole face was purple.
“Well…I like the feeling of Dannok helping me…of submitting to him on my knees,” she admitted shyly. “And it’s nice to know that my nectar is going to feed all the sweet babies.”
Mia was beginning to get a very bad feeling in the pit of her stomach, but she told herself she had to be mistaken. Surely the effects Teebra was talking about only happened to Chakioun females—right?
She started to ask more questions, but just then Sister Ersla started calling for all the women to gather up and hear what their new tasks would be. The chatter all around them stopped and everyone gathered around the lead woman and paid attention. But Mia was listening with only half an ear.
I’m sure the milk thing only happens with Chakiouns, but just in case, I don’t think I’d better drink any more Nutrient Crème—inanyform,she told herself. She was going to be more careful from now on, until they could get out of here, anyway.
Mia just wondered how long that would take.
TWENTY-THREE
SEV
The artificial star was dimming to a soft twilight as Sev made his way back to the park where he’d left Mia earlier that day. He was sore and tired—the manual labor the males were expected to perform in the PPP Dome was no joke. He’d been allowed a shower and a change of clothes, though, so at least he wasn’t all sweaty and grimy, which he disliked intensely.
The members of the PPP were already gathering in the park. On one end of the long field was the outdoor communal kitchen and on the other he saw that a kind of stage had been erected. Probably so everyone could see the Prophet when he gave them all his “wisdom,” Sev thought sourly.
Despite trying to speak to several of the men he was working with, no one had any information about alternate routes out of the Dome and he was beginning to wonder what he and Mia were going to do about getting the fuck out of here. Because they couldn’t stay in a place where he was expected to do things to Mia she didn’t want done.
