The Masses

Act XV

Man 9: (enters the room holding a rolled up piece of paper. Spots the captain and walks towards him, with a forced restraint, trying not to look longingly at all the fucking going on around him) Captain, I've returned with news of the scouts.

Captain: Yes?

Man 9: So far they've approximated about four hundred thousand of these things, but have discovered no traces of their souls.

Captain: Alright. I never suspected we'd come across any souls, anyway...And a map?

Man 9: Right here, captain (hands him the piece of paper)

Captain: Good. Good. And how are you feeling today?

Man 9: Curious,

Man 9 and the Captain: As are we all.

The captain raises his eyebrows.

Man 9: I mean, I'm feeling curious about handling these things. Or perhaps impatient is a-

Captain: Fucking.

Man 9: (pauses) What?

Captain: That's what we're calling this handling process. Fucking.

Man 9: Alright. I'm curious about fucking one of them.

Captain: Very well, you may join them (The captain points to Man 3, lying on his back on the floor, with M 1.9 atop of him as he thrusts from beneath. Man 6 is standing over Man 3 rubbing his cock into her throat) on a probationary period.

Man 9: The second opening, captain?

Captain: Aye. The butt, we're calling it. I don't think that has been done yet. We've found that any two entries makes them more responsive than one. I'm curious to see how she reacts to all three.

Man 9: She?

Captain: Yes, yes. We call them 'she' and 'her' instead of 'he' and 'him'.

Man 9: Oh... What in place of 'his'?

Captain: We don't know. We've just been using 'her' again.

Man 9: I suppose that is useful. (Considers for a moment)

Captain: Well? What are you waiting for? Get to it.

Man 9: Oh, yes captain. (He mounts up behind M1.9 and pushes fully it into her ass. Her eyes drift open.)

Man 6: Captain!

The captain and a few others, including Man 1, rush over to Man 6.

Captain: Yes? What is- (Surprise) That's... unexpected. Is she aware of us?

Man 1: (Holds a 5-pronged curved needle in front of her eyes, as though taking measurements) Hmm.. Not likely, or at least not entirely. She is probably only aware of a new sense of vision, and possibly capable of determining that there are things she is sensing with her vision, but, no... I doubt she can distinguish between us and, for example, the wall.

Captain: Well, it's a start, anyway.

Man 6: A start? Are we going to teach them to read or something?

Captain: Oh.. maybe.. I don't know. They resemble us... The first thing they asked me when I entered the e-garden was about death (the men hearing and overhearing this freeze in place), Of course, they were just talking about being pulled from the e-garden, not actual mortality. Anyway, I promised them eternal bliss (The men who froze gradually return to what they were doing) and thought if we never discover mortality, then maybe at least given enough time they would make good companions, or perhaps prove to one day consciously make their own valuable contributions to that research.