Exeo's Library

Nobody can hear a scream in the vacuum of space, or so they say. If that’s true, there’s no hope for us. The only way we can get out of this loop of hatred is if someone from outside comes to right the wrongs this government created. And if no sound can travel through space, if our screams don’t reach beyond this moon, then no one will know our struggle. Nobody will come to help Exeo.

“Please!” I shout. “Save Exeo!”

But even if someone out there heard me, the sun never shines on Exeo. Would we even be seen?

**********

As I walk, I focus on the sounds my two reptilian clawed feet make, for if I don’t, I’ll pay too much attention to what’s around me. I’ll hear things like the android beside me, who mutters under his breath: “Filthy beast.” Or I’ll see the herbivorous woman scurrying past me, pulling her child by the arm as she whispers: “Hurry, that’s a carnivore!”

I keep my eyes just above the massive burning hellscape that is planet Rhavo, so I won’t see the woman walking ahead of me with massive wind turbines growing from her shoulder blades, or that child, with fluffy ears as big as his head, who scurries in the shadows of the alleyway.

It keeps me from screaming at everyone around me: I didn’t choose to be this.

Nobody chose to be born, nor did they choose what type of person they were born as. The two bovo menagerics crossing the street ahead of me didn’t ask if they wanted an intense increase in their instinct to procreate, and their twelve children with them didn’t ask to have their bovo DNA extracted from them at birth and used to create lab-grown brisket to feed the rest of the planet.

Above me, I hear the screams of a newborn. The pitiful thing’s cries are quickly drowned out by the whir of drills and surgical equipment.

My resolve fails me for a moment; I stop walking. I want to look up at the window, but I know it will only instigate my fury. All around me, my eyes dart, everywhere except up. Red irises see every billboard, every advertisement, every poster showing menagerics and droids getting along. They share meals together, marry one another; they enjoy movies together and raise families together. But I can still see within their eyes the blazing hatred there.

A mechanical voice plays from a speaker: “It’s in you, it’s in me! It’s DNA, Exeo’s greatest informational storage!”

And for just a moment, above the din of all, the infant’s screams reach my ears a second time. That newborn stole my heart, every ounce of it I had left to give.

Eyes up front, Brinni. And I train my gaze just above Rhavo’s blazing head, barely rising above the forest of stony buildings. It’s all I can do to take a steadying breath and keep walking.

Five hours later, I have walked to the opposite side of the moon Exeo and I stand before the hill. Rhavo has sunk its sleepy head below the horizon; the stars hang in the air above, like snowflakes waiting to fall to Exeo. What once was a great mountain, long before I was born, has eroded away to nothing but a pile of loose dirt in the absence of plants. My clawed feet step from the paved road to the loose dirt piled above it; I can feel the grains beneath my scales, beneath my clawed toes.

One… two… three.

I sprint up the hill; I pass claw marks within the dirt that match the new ones being made beneath my feet.

The loose dirt makes this climb dangerous, but the kepit DNA that was forcefully implanted within my body allows me to prance to the top with minimal effort.

I’ve reached the highest naturally occurring point remaining on Exeo. All around me are the towering buildings our government built, the artificial roads we walk, our “proud” megacity. High above me, I see it: a small glowing white slit, like someone cut the night sky with a knife. In the massive sky, it’s the only one of its kind. I stare deeply into that slit, open my mouth, and I scream.

“PLEASE SAVE EXEO!”

Even if a sound can be heard in the vacuum of space, massive Rhavo is so bright and flashy, our saviors would miss Exeo entirely.

“PLEASE!” I shout so loud my throat burns. “SAVE US, SAVE EXEO!”

And they would never think to look for life here; Rhavo circles so close to its sun that the planet is perpetually on fire. Who would look for life in a place like this?

But we exist here because that arsonist sun never shines on Exeo.

“IF YOU CAN HEAR ME… PLEASE, SAVE US!”

A tear runs down from my red irises. I scream and scream until my voice hurts, until I’m out of breath. Hear me… Someone, hear me.

By the time my voice fails me, Rhavo peeks its head above the horizon again; the buildings afar seem like they’ve ignited in neon flames. It’s time to go home.

The trip down is slow going, so slow I have time to witness the androids and gynoids gathering at the hill’s base.

They’re waiting for me.

With only twenty feet remaining between myself and the bottom of the hill, they speak to me.

“What a fitting place for a beast like you.” The gynoid says; she has camera lenses dotting her body like a disease, and looking me in the eye, she snarls: “in the filth.”

My clawed feet still slide slowly down the loose dirt, but I do my best to hold myself in place.

An android beside her laughs. His black eyes change to a neon blue, and script runs across his irises. “Given your long upright reptilian tail, clawed feet, six pointed teeth and red eyes, you were given the DNA of a kepit to archive.” His eyes return to their soulless black void. “The smallest carnivore to ever walk the surface of Exeo.”

“Aha, we were worried for nothing!” The third android, with a microwave growing from his back, cracks his knuckles.

My hand instinctively goes beneath my shirt to the knife strapped to my mid-back; its wrapped handle gives me a feeling of comfort.

“Let’s put this animal in her place.” The lenses on her arms all blink with a small red dot.

I’m only ten feet away from them now. They run into the dirt.

I leap. I land behind them, roll, and I run.

Another gynoid and android join the hunt, pursuing me ruthlessly. I may be faster than them, but I’m a menageric. I have my limits, unlike soulless androids like them.

Five hours until I’m home, I need to lose them before that.

They chase and I run, my breath rattles hollowly in my chest.

I’m not losing them.

“Hey! Cut her off!” She shouts from behind me.

Two androids on the road ahead of me turn; they spot me and make a move to block me, their mouths twisted in mechanical grimaces that might resemble a smile.

Now, I have no choice.

I pull forth the little curved blade and brandish it against the two androids. Their soulless eyes widen and they shout: “Knife! She has a knife!”

“Officer, here! Over here, help us!”

“Move!” I shout at them.

They refuse.

I run at them with my blade; they make a motion to grab me, and I slit their wrists. Howling in pain, the androids draw their grabby fingers away from me.

And afar, the whir of a vehicle hits my ears; here come the police.

One of the androids snatches my tail; it brings me to a jarring halt and throws me to the concrete below. I lay on my back and brandish the sharp talons on my toes, holding the knife to protect my face.

They kick me, they stomp on me. I claw their legs, kick their bellies.

And the officer arrives to break the fight up. He snatches me beneath the arms and drags me to my feet. I fight against his grip; unable to see if he’s a menageric or a droid, I have no choice but to assume the worst.

“Hey, that’s enough!” He shouts.

I try to pull free, but the officer manages to keep a vicelike grip on my wrist that brandishes the knife.

“Look what she did to us!” The androids shout: their skin has been rend in multiple places by my claws and my knife; their blood flows to the stony road below. Behind, the original droids have caught up, they gasp and gawk at the wounds I inflicted on their fellows.

“I saw you two attacking her.” The officer, a droid, stares intently at them.

“It was self-defense! She has a knife!”

I can’t trust this man, he’s a droid. Without pause, I continue pulling against his grip, fighting to be free.

Electricity shoots through my body; I scream, my nerves release and the knife clatters to the ground. The officer leans down and picks it up. “Who’s your dealer, menageric?” He asks.

I don’t answer.

“Someone gave you this blade.” The officer waves it tauntingly at me. “I’ll lighten your prison sentence if you give up the name of your dealer.”

That’s not happening.

I bite the hand holding me, my six fangs piercing the android’s flesh. He shouts and I roundhouse kick with my talons, forcing him away from me.

And again, I’m on the run. The androids chasing me won’t dare pursue after playing victims to an officer.

I just have to avoid the officers now.

Every turn I make is calculated, every route I choose are known menageric regions. It takes only two hours before my fellow menagerics have covered my trail. Another two hours and I’ll be home.

**********

In the window I see her, the woman I’ve chosen to share my miserable life with. She is a gynoid whose long black witch-like hair constantly has static electricity running through, thus her hair flares out like a cape. Her mouth is a jagged slit, her void-like eyes have a red glow deep within them; the lime dress she wears barely covers her thighs and keeps her neck covered but her shoulders exposed. Besides the hollow face she wears, she has no technological archives on her visible body; had I not known her naked body, I may have been a fool and assumed her not a gynoid.

She asks me for a kiss as I enter our home, but I cannot give her what she wants, not after being chased by threatening droids. I can’t even look at her, and I feel nothing towards her.

“My wife, how did your day go?” She asks.

Absolutely nothing.

“We aren’t married.” I tell her again.

From the corner of my eye, I see a neon blue light momentarily emanate from her direction. “We are in a committed relationship with each other, share a home together and share concerns for one another. In all definitions besides involving a ceremony, you are my wife.”

Do I feel nothing because it’s been ingrained into my DNA that I must produce offspring? A procreationally impossible task for two women?

“I lost another knife.” My hand rests on the frame of our bedroom door.

Her hands fall at her sides. “Oh. That’s alright, I’ll make you another. Are you okay, my wife?”

I nod.

Do I feel nothing because she’s a gynoid? Has this rift progressed to such an extent that my feelings have been tainted like so many other menagerics?

“I’ll be going back to work in two nights.” I inform her.

“Of course, my wife.” She sits at her easel and continues a painting she started while I was away.

Without another word, I enter our bedroom and lay down. Maybe… I’m just not compatible with her.

But how can I know that for sure, knowing that my DNA was altered from the first breath I took?

Does she feel anything for me? Or does she fake it, like me, because her rebellious nature prevents her from sharing her home and procreating with an android?

For two nights, I lay low in our home. We watch a movie together; she shows me her newest painting. I help ease some of the static from her hair; she makes me a new knife. I cook dinner for us; she braids my blonde hair.

“Be safe while you work!” She smiles.

I can’t return her smile. “I’ll do my best.”

Tonight feels different; there’s an unusual electricity within the air. For an hour I walk the same streets as before, I pass people as before, I keep my eyes on the horizon line. I listen to my talons click against the stony roads.

But something’s caught my attention: a whimper in the alley. The newborn’s cries two nights afore come falsely to my ears; they pull at the heartstrings I can’t afford to keep. Did someone else abandon their baby for being created differently? My clawed feet carry me mechanically to the darkness there.

In an instant, I’m surrounded. The droids from two nights ago, they found me somehow.

I’m on the opposite side of the globe, a five hour walk away; how did they track me?

“I think we’ll pay you back for these.” The nearest android lifts his pantleg, where the deep cuts from my talons have scabbed over. He snatches my shirt in his fist and pulls me close. I slowly reach around for the knife on my back.

All I find is an empty sheath.

My breath catches in my throat. I look to the window of the home beside me and meet the eyes of another menageric; behind him, I see his gynoid daughter peeking from her seat at the dinner table.

He stares at the ground… and closes the curtains, plunging the alleyway into darkness absolute.

Pain explodes over my face; the droid, he punched me. “Since you’ve given me your filthy rabies, I’ll be making some improvements to this dainty little face of yours.”

I close my eyes tight; I was not prepared for the second punch, which cracks my lip open, or the third punch, which reconfigures my nose.

Don’t scream… don’t give them the satisfaction.

The other droids, they watch, they snicker.

“Go for those filthy reptilian eyes,” A gynoid suggests.

“Good idea!” An android exclaims. “If she can’t see, she won’t be a bother to anyone else.”

I feel pressure as his fingers press into my eyes; tears run down my cheeks.

“Is that my wife with you?” A voice asks, as if speaking through the back of a fan.

The fingers retreat: I allow my eyes to open. Through the darkness I’m horrified to see that creepy smile and blazing red eyes that shine like two miniature versions of Rhavo. She steps into the tiniest filament of light still passing between the curtains.

I shudder.

“Oh good, help us teach this menageric a lesson!” The clueless android waves her over and turns his attention back to me.

One moment she stands beneath the trickle of light and the next, she is pressing that jagged mouth of hers to the android’s ear. “I asked you a question.”

“Ah…” He slowly turns his head while leaning away from her. “You’re a little close there, girl.”

The other androids and gynoids lock eyes with her.

“It seems I don’t need you to answer me after all.” She says; her eyes blaze brighter. “Since I can clearly see that is my wife in your hands.”

“Y… your wife?” He stammers.

Those are the last words the android speaks; a thick cut is made on his neck, his blood splatters across my face.

I never saw her move her blade… but by her side, it drips fresh with blood.