Chapter 14

 

 

Professor Umbange did not have Patricia removed from the cell the day after he talked to her, or even the day after that. It was in fact, nearly two months before she saw him again. By then the time was approaching when she would deliver her child, and her belly was very bloated indeed.

"Let's go now," said the lab technician gruffly, as he unlocked the door to her cell. "Don't give me any trouble." He smirked- as if Patricia with her midriff bulge were in any way capable of resistance. This time she sat silently still as he attached the leash to her collar, but as he opened the door and led her out the young white girl whimpered. She had entered the cage feeling fear and humiliation, but had come to know security in it. She had resigned herself to giving birth on the soft straw, just as she had seen a chimpanzee mother do a couple of weeks before in an adjacent cage. The idea of leaving the safe little cell among the other primates frightened her now.

Once again two heavily built black men collected her at the front desk. There were other people in the corridor, just as there had been when she was delivered to the facility, but Patricia no longer felt self-conscious about her nudity, or even about the protruding of her belly. It was odd how living with the apes, even in her own enclosure, had caused her to identify with them more than the clothed black people with whom she was forbidden to communicate. Visits by the human staff had been for only brief periods; when she had been fed or watered, or when the cage had been cleaned. Even then she saw little of the workers, and they ignored her. The apes however, chimpanzees on one side of her cage and gorillas on the other, were always there, and had interacted with her. The pregnant chimp especially had seemed interested in her naked, swollen abdomen. Had she sensed the white human female was an expectant mother like herself?

In any case, Patricia had built a rapport with her. The two had groomed each other through the bars, and often slept back to back. Patricia enjoyed the warmth, though the enclosure was never cold. She had seen the sad goodbye in the chimp's eyes when they had led her out of the cell. Now she cried once more with loss as she exited the building and they loaded her into the van. She realized it was the same feeling she had known when she had been sundered from Ben.

She thought about her husband. What would he think of his cultured, refined wife if he could see her now, naked and sprawled out on the filthy floor of a van. Two months caged like an animal had taken their toll. Her long blond hair fell limp and unwashed down her back and over her face. Her head was bowed and her shoulders sagged, and blue eyes, beautiful but dulled now peered from behind the dirty, flaxen locks. The chain hanging from her neck rattled, reminding her that she was confined like some wild thing.

The van jolted a bit, making her full breasts and swollen belly bounce. Patricia brought her hands over her abdomen in ages old maternal contemplation. She felt so alone, so abandoned. Being so heavy with child in so uncertain a situation, the absence of her husband, of male protection brought an overwhelming sense of vulnerability. She longed to talk to the professor, to beg him for a warm safe place to bear her child- for return to the comforts of the cage and the bland but adequate food.

This vehicle had windows, but there was little to see as they glided along the highway. Evidently they were in an area dominated by lush rainforest. They did not go far, driving for about twenty minutes before coming to a turnoff leading to a massive parking area. A metal arch spanned the access road, reading:

Welcome to Congo National Park

Zoological Gardens

 

Primate Paddocks

 

Patricia saw the place to which she was headed as the road circled around to enter the facility. From here she could see huge partitioned enclosures- arboreal paddocks bounded by high walls, forming a crescent as they radiated out from a central facility. Each enclosure appeared to be separated from the surrounding jungle by another high wall, which curved away for at least a mile. It appeared that each individual paddock enclosed many acres. A hub-like viewing building dominated the foreground, which included a large public installation for tourists. There was also an elevated tramway, from which black African guests could tour in comfort and safety above the paddocks. Patricia could see restaurants, souvenir shops, and what looked like an interpretive museum. They were entering a state-of-the-art zoo: one that could accommodate many thousands of tourists.

The van though, proceeded into a tunnel under the public area. After negotiating the narrow access it came to a stop in what looked like an open-air veterinary clinic.

The young white woman was helped from the van, then walked to an infirmary, where a doctor examined her. After she had been fed and watered, she was led into another cage, where she once again met the professor.

Knowing what was expected of her this time, Patricia sat on the floor at his feet without a word, staring dumbly at the straw on the floor until the two black aids left.

"The veterinary says he thinks you will carry for another week or two before you drop your whelp," said the professor brightly. "You will have time to get used to your new home by then."

The professor looked down. He could see the animation and questions in her round blue eyes, though she did not dare to speak without his permission. "You may speak," he said, smoothing her greasy hair.

"I... Please, I just... I want what's best for my baby," she said softly.

"This is best," said the professor. "You and your progeny will find a place here, so long as you submit to our rules."

"But... why... why are you doing this to us?" she asked. "Why am I being treated like an animal?"

"Because you are an animal," said Umbange. "Every white is. The Prophet has spoken of the cauc through his decrees, and through his New Koran. Your kind is to be brought low so as never to threaten the Adamic man again. Brought to the level of your cousin the ape!"

Patricia was confused, but feared him too much to argue. She lowered her head in unconscious submission as the professor continued.

"These rules you will always obey," he said. "You will commit them to memory. They must become part of your thoughts and govern your behavior."

"When you have been placed in with the other caucs, you will remember always that you are a dumb animal, meaning that you will not attempt to speak to the black guests who will be viewing you. You will never talk or make any intelligent gesture that might be observed by the guests, either directed at them or at other caucs. This is one of our most steadfast rules. If you disobey it, I promise your baby will be taken from you and given to a gorilla mother. You will never see it again!"

"You will be regularly fed, and also find plenty to eat in the trees. You'll discover that they are easy to climb. This might seem difficult at first, particularly in your condition, but you will learn."

"You are not to construct any form of structure or shelter, though small beds of leaves such as those made by chimpanzees or gorillas are acceptable. The other caucs will show you."

"You are not to attempt to devise any type of clothing, tools, or weapons. Any form of writing or inscribed symbolism is absolutely forbidden, and the punishment is severe. This zoological display is intended to educate African schoolchildren and the general public. We want them to see the cauc carefree and wild, in their natural state of idle ignorance. As much as possible, you are to appear indistinguishable from the other apes."

Patricia felt her baby kick as a tear rolled down her face. What kind of life was her child going to have, living like an animal in an exhibit?

"Remember," continued the professor, "since it is our goal to display the wild nature of the cauc, you will perform all the normal functions of living, in view of the guests. Eating, defecation, urination, copulation, sleeping, breastfeeding and the birth of your offspring will be observed by all students and guests present in the compound. When seen by the public you are not to show any sign of intelligence or culture, or make any attempt to communicate with the other caucs, except with grunts or calls. The enclosure is quite large and there are areas in it where you cannot be observed from the building or the tram. These areas are off limits to you when the park is open during most of the daylight hours. You are here to be displayed and you will make sure you are visible whenever there are guests to see you. After hours you may talk among the other caucs or explore areas toward the rear of the paddock. But keep in mind that staff can see and hear you everywhere. You are never to speak to any of the white juveniles of life in the outside world. When your little whelp is born you must not tell it of your past or of any other place than this forest enclosure."

"When your baby comes, you are required to give birth to it up front in the open clearing, in full view of the guests. You must deliver it alone, without the help of any of the other she caucs, just like a primate in the wild. Even when you are in labor, if you cry out it must not be intelligible."

"After your pica is born you may rest your body for thirty days. Then to show the efficacious procreative capacity of the cauc you are to begin engaging in coitus with the males in the clearing, in view of the guests at least twice a day, every day. You may perform in any position you and your mate may chose, but you must vary your mate from one day to the next, and during the day, so that you do not appear with the same male twice in a row, or on consecutive days."

"You are a very lucky she-cauc," said the professor. "But remember to obey all the rules. If you do you will find life here pleasant and secure with your precious little creature."

The professor patted her on the head and got up to leave. At the door he turned back to Patricia, who still sat, naked on the floor. She looked up at him with her moist blue eyes and guileless face, and he was almost sorry she would not be available for his bed.

"Get up, and come here," he said.

Patricia obeyed. She stood before him with her head bowed and he ran his black hand over her pale, round belly, reaching down to push his fingers gently between her swollen, red labia.

"We've been advertising your impending parturition, at the park" he said with a smile. Patricia could see the veiled joy with which he anticipated such a violation of her privacy and dignity. "We're going to have the viewing decks packed with students and their parents who want to witness the results of your dirty little cauc-play."

"Make sure this is pointed toward the guests," he gloated, snapping his finger against her vulva. "I want everyone to see it all when a new cauc gushes out, wriggling from your belly." Then he whispered into her ear his private satisfaction, betraying the secret revenge of an older black man- the humiliation of the hated white devil. "Once your kind came to this continent to dominate and exploit. now it is we who own you! Your child, English woman, conceived in your cold, native land. Begotten in a bed from the body of your husband. So gingerly carried... and so cherished- the future of your race," he sneered. "Soon to be birthed onto the ground, spewed into the dirt like any other beast. Drop it heavy, you white cauc sow! On African ground. And wallow in the mud of your birth water, while the progeny of your race squalls helpless in the mire! This is the destiny of your kind! Slavery or the life of an animal. Blessed be the Prophet!"

"Yes," Patricia murmured in miserable submission. She was so afraid when his strong black hand lingered at the door to her womb- so afraid for her helpless child, lest with a whim he should reach in like the breaker had threatened, and... and... "Ahhhuuhhhh," she felt his long middle finger stroking her clit. Her bare toes curled on the cold concrete and her knees almost buckled, causing her milk filled breasts to bounce. Patricia and her fetus felt the raw female need to capitulate utterly, to obey the sinuous dark hand that had the power to rend and destroy a new and defenseless life.

"Yes what?" he asked, his hand fondling, softly delving, but his face and voice thick with menace. "What do you say to me... pregnant she-cauc?"

Patricia gasped, and answered with the most servile whisper, "Yes... Master!"