Broken People (Serial)

Twenty-Four

"What's a menzataxor?" Dale asked while they walked along the tracks, heading to a car at the end of the train.

"Oh, there are no words to explain it!" Cielo laughed. "It's better if you see it for yourself. The menagerie is over there." She pointed at the yellow car at the end of the train.

"Just one car?" Dale's eyebrows showed his surprise.

"We had to cut back on regular animals." Cielo climbed the steps in front and placed her hand on the door. "Times are tough, and the feeding costs were getting too high. What's left ... well, you'll see..."

The door opened.

Rows of cages spread along the entire car, separated by narrow aisles. Dale didn't recognize any of the animals, but paws of various colors, shapes, and sizes stretched out to greet Cielo, and she answered with playful tugs.

"Where are the dogs and the monkeys?" he asked. Were those toys by any chance?

"They share the car with their trainers." Cielo squeezed easily between the cages, proving she'd practiced this many times. "They don't get along well with these guys. Here it is." She stopped in front of a rectangular cage made of metal bars doubled by transparent plastic walls. "This is Uffi."

The creature she called Uffi resembled a horse with a beautiful flowing mane ... only the horse was missing. Long tresses of pink, light blue, and shiny white hair swirled around, constantly on the move, hiding an elastic, narrow body the length of a man's arm underneath.

"I feel pretty dumb here, but how are electric shocks going to help Rosie?" Dale asked after he read the warning attached to the front of the cage. At the same time, part of him wondered whether they were all insane.

"Ignore that." Cielo waved a hand. "It's for the public so they keep their hands off. This little guy is the source of a strong hallucinogen. The drug is perfect, with low addiction and toxicity rates. Unfortunately, it's also impossible to harvest. The only way to get the drug is by touching Uffi, and if we reveal the source, there's bound to be someone foolish enough to try and steal it. So we can't commercialize it. The whole experiment was a bust, but we can't kill him." She sighed. "The poor thing loves to be petted and cuddled, but ... well, we obviously can't."

"You don't ... use it?" Dale detached the clasps that kept the cage connected to the ones around it.

"Did you see the kind of life we live?" Cielo helped him by catching a furry paw that extended towards him from a cage at the right, and gently pushed it back through the bars. "We can't afford to let our guard down and ... be happy!" Her laughter sounded less serene this time. "But if you care to hear colors and chase smiles for a couple hours, be my guest. I'm sure Rosie won't mind having a playmate. I heard people can even experience the same things."

Smiling, Dale shook his head and picked up the cage. His muscles strained. It was heavy, but not too heavy for him. With Cielo walking ahead and clearing the way, they made it back to the factory in no time.

"Can we enter?" Cielo asked from the doorway.

"Yes, she's locked in," Spinner said. "No need to worry about infection hazard."

He fussed over Rosie, who sat on a half-reclined armchair. Her left arm disappeared from the shoulder, trapped inside a one-by-one meter rectangular, glass box. Two pairs of gloves built into the box provided access on opposite sides. The frosted wall facing her forced Rosie to look the other way, and her eyes zeroed in on the menzataxor. She tilted her head, a pale smile twisting her lips.

Rake placed a low table at her right and elevated it to her level. He signaled Dale to put the cage there. Leaning over his shoulder, Cielo lifted the glass panel from inside the bars.