Chapter 3

The gentle 'bong' of the morning alarm woke Rose and she sat up, swinging her legs off the bed and standing up. She had spent the night with John in her head, and felt comforted, refreshed, and ready to face another day of humiliation. She looked over at Martha..., Marla, and could see that the trauma of the previous night had taken its toll, she was fast asleep. She picked up her cup, and banged it on her cage to wake Marla up.

"Wha?" Marla said, and was immediately awake, as a jolt of static went through her neck. "Aargh."

A number of metal orbs, with cables dangling from them, floated into the room and positioned themselves outside each cage, with a round doorway opening in each cage. Rose looked over to Martha, damn..., Marla. {"Follow my lead,"} she mouthed, and Marla nodded.

"Attach the leash to your collar now," the friendly female voice commanded.

Rose stepped out of her cage and reached for the end of the cable dangling from her orb, found the clip on the end and attached it to the metal ring on her collar, which locked in to place for the day. She looked over to Marla, waggled her eyebrows, and gave her a friendly smile. Marla found the clip, and attached it to her collar, which she only just realised had got a ring at the front.

"Walk to heel," the orbs said in various languages, and proceeded to lead everyone out of the kennels. Rose reached her hand back, and Marla grabbed it like her life depended on it, as they went through a circular hole into what appeared to be a showering facility. Rose was led with a group to the left, whilst Marla was gently tugged straight on with a mixed group, and Jack went to the right with another group.

They were standing on floor grating, and warm soapy water was sprayed from the ceiling. Rose worked it into her hair and over her body; this was the only real luxury they had here. She cast a glance over at Jack, who was also enjoying the shower. He caught her looking at him and gave her a cheeky grin and wink, with a nod down at his nether regions.

Marla was lathering her body, whilst looking to Rose for reassurance. Rose gave her a friendly smile, as the leash gently tugged her forward to the rinse area, where clean, warm water washed away the soap. The final area had warm jets of air blasting up from the floor grating, the sensation of which, actually made Marla smile. When she looked at Rose, her hair was flying around her head like a blonde halo.

After the shower, they were guided down another featureless corridor to a large, communal dining hall. Marla did a quick calculation, counting a row and a column of benches, and multiplying together; to work out that there must be over a hundred individuals here. She was startled, when Rose and Jack came and held each of her hands and led her to a bench where they could sit together.

She felt the orb tugging gently on her collar, and noticed that Rose and Jack were holding theirs like helium balloons, so she grabbed the cable and got her own back on the orb by tugging it sharply and letting it trail behind her.

{"Free movement in a communal area,"} Rose mouthed as she swung her leg over the bench. {"We are encouraged to interact with other species; it makes us more attractive to potential owners if we integrate well."}

Marla sat down rather demurely, with her legs firmly together and swung them both over the bench, not wishing to flash her 'lady bits' to all and sundry. Having her tits out for all to see was bad enough. Rose on the other hand had gotten used to being naked; when she and John visited their beach tree house on their deserted planet they called Paradise.

Jack just did the bloke thing, and as Rose had done, swung one leg over, then the other, giving Marla an eyeful of his manly parts, and a wicked smile. Marla's skin went a darker shade again as she blushed, and realised that close up, he was hung like the proverbial donkey, and gorgeous with it. Jack was used to being naked because he was..., well, just Jack. Rose leaned across her and gave Jack a playful slap on the arm. Jack lifted his hands in a 'what have I done now?' gesture.

On the table in front of them were bowls containing dough-like balls of food of various sizes and colours, and a handless cup of water. Jack and Rose had picked up a pale green ball and were biting into them. Marla did the same, and she was surprised that it tasted really nice.

{"What happens next then?"} Marla mouthed to Rose.

{"You'll be taken to a display area where potential owners will come and have a look at you."}

{"God, that is SO demeaning."}

{"Tell us about it. When you have been chosen, you will be taken to a training room and taught basic commands in your owner's language. Be prepared for a few collar shocks today as you learn the ropes."}

{"This is so barbaric, isn't there anyone we can complain to, tell them what's going on?"} She mouthed as she picked up a small orange ball from the bowl. Rose gently guided her hand back to the bowl and waved her other hand in front of her mouth, indicating that the orange ball was too hot and spicy.

{"It's a fully automated facility; the inmates are the only living things here as far as we can tell. The prospective owners seem to be shuttled in by representatives of this place; they choose their 'pet'..."} Rose air quoted 'pet'. {"... and then are shuttled out again."}

{"Well, when we leave here with our new 'owner'..."} Marla air quoted 'owner'. {"... Can't we tell them what's going on?"}

Rose tapped her diamante collar. {"Smart technology, these collars not only monitor your speech, but your behaviour as well. There's one alien here who must be from a warrior race, he is continually being choked to unconsciousness for not cooperating."}

Marla looked suitably disturbed as she picked up another food ball and went to bite it, but didn't, her mouth was open and her eyes were wide and fixed on a couple of Catkind aliens across the dining hall.

She turned to Rose, and pointed at them. {"Are those cats…, shagging?"}

Rose looked where she was pointing, and saw a female humanoid cat lying face down across the table, resting on her elbows, and munching on a food ball, with her partner standing behind her, going 'at it' like a..., well..., a randy tom cat. Rose gave them a cheery wave and the couple waved back, if somewhat distractedly.

{"Yeah, they are a nice couple. It's a shame they are in separate cages, communal areas are the only place they can express their love for each other."}

{"But that's…, that's…, disgusting!"}

{"We know; that's why we are here. People like that deserve to be together, not separated out for some commercial venture. Once Jack and me have been collected by our owners, we can find out who sold us, who kidnapped us, and then bust them."}

That wasn't the kind of disgusting Marla meant, but if Rose and Jack were going to blow the lid on this place, then that was fine by her. There was a gentle 'bonging' noise, which made Rose and Jack finish their water, and grab a couple more of the food balls. Marla presumed that breakfast was over.

"Stand," her orb commanded, and she, along with everyone else stood up.

"Walk to heel." Rose, Jack, and Marla were led off in different directions. Rose could see that Marla was looking very apprehensive, and gave her a cheery wave.

{"See you later,"} she mouthed, as she was led out of the dining hall.

The training for Rose and Jack had been fairly straightforward for them, who, thanks to the TARDIS, were able to understand and speak any language. The first day had been a bit 'shocking', as they learnt what acceptable and unacceptable behaviour was. The second and third days had been learning to walk to heel, sit, lie, wait, beg, shake hands, fetch objects, and use cleaning equipment to command.

Rose was led to a training room that was a mock up of an alien bed-sit, where she learned to integrate into her owners family life, 'In their dreams!' she thought.

"Tidy the reading material that is on the table," her orb told her.

'A please wouldn't hurt' she thought, as she fixed a smile on her face and gathered up the magazines and put them into the rack on the end of the table.

"Good girl, you have earned a reward." She knew that if she held her hands under the orb in a begging gesture, she would get a jelly bean sweet, which were quite nice really, but she declined the offer.

"Wash up the items in the sink." And so her day of training began…, with a smile of course.

Marla had one of the most humiliating experiences of her life, when she had to stand in a line with a dozen other unfortunate abductees, while potential owners looked them over. The aliens were humanoid, with skin of pale green scales, and yellowish faces, with two green antennae that arose from just above their foreheads.

Their hair appeared to be made from some kind of tendrils, which made them look as though they had dreadlocks; they were looking at her appreciatively, which caused her to cover her breasts and pubic area with her hands.

"Stand still with your hands by your side," her orb said, giving her a gentle static shock to make her comply. The alien family were saying something, but she couldn't understand the language. The man said something to the orb.

"Open your mouth and show your teeth." Marla reluctantly did what she was told, and the man gently held her chin and moved her head from side to side as he looked in her mouth. He nodded in satisfaction, as the woman held her hands and examined them, turning them over to inspect her palms. She then did something Marla wasn't expecting, and gently examined and squeezed her breasts.

Her reaction was instinctive and automatic; she batted the alien hands away, and attempted to say 'don't touch what you can't afford sister'. "Do...uuurghhh," she managed to say, before the collar immediately gave her a sustained static charge which paralysed her vocal chords, and caused her knees to buckle.

The alien family looked genuinely alarmed and upset by what was happening to her, and their dreadlocks stood on end, stretching a flap of skin between them like a fan, which made them look frightening and intimidating, as they started jabbering at the orb, frantically waving their arms. "Ketch, ketch," they were shouting, which Marla presumed meant 'stop'.

The shock stopped, and she gasped for breath. The alien woman stepped forwards and gently held her shoulders, lifting her back to her feet. "Coom arlarney," she said with tears in her eyes. "Coom shay, shay, arlarney." Again, Marla had a guess at the language, and presumed she was saying 'sorry'.

"The customers apologise for any misunderstanding that may have led to you being punished, however, speech and unacceptable behaviour will not be tolerated," her orb told her.

Marla nodded and smiled at the woman, squeezing her hand to say thank you. Their alarm response was subsiding, and their dreadlocks slowly fell back to their normal position. The woman looked to the man, who nodded, then at the children, who also nodded excitedly, before turning back to look at her. She smiled and stroked Marla's cheek, talking to her in a bubbling language, the children cheering and jumping up and down, clapping their hands.

"You have been chosen, you are permitted to show your appreciation," her orb announced, as the children came and hugged her around the waist, and the woman stroked her hair and the side of her face. She felt awkward, but her professional training kicked in, and she gently reassured the children by stroking their dreadlocks.

Multimedia Laboratory.

Torchwood One.

Christine 'Chrissie' Anderson, the Torchwood Technical Support Lead Specialist, was reviewing the satellite data that had been sent from Torchwood New York. John was sitting by her side, lending a second pair of very intelligent and experienced eyes to the review.

"This is the infra red from the satellite of the Cottonwood area," she said, indicating heat sources with a cursor. "Three heat sources, two at thirty seven Celsius, and one at a hundred, probably a camping stove."

"Okay, the sister, Trish…, that is so weird," he said distractedly.

"What is?"

"Oh, the two sisters, I knew them in the other universe, only they were named Martha and Tish."

"Wow! That IS spooky."

"Yeah, anyway, Trish said that they lay there for an hour or two, watching the skies, so let's run forward."

They watched the two dots of their heads, sticking out of the sleeping bags, and then one heat source became elongated as Trish got out of her sleeping bag and moved across the campsite.

"Okay, normal speed," John said. "That's Tish going to the toilet."

"Trish," Chrissie corrected.

"Yeah, sorry; when she comes back, Marth…, Marla should go next."

They watched the Trish heat source return to the tent and the Marla source go to the toilet. When she left the toilet, she went halfway to the tent and then stopped for a few seconds, before heading away from the campsite. Approximately forty metres from the campsite her heat source vanished.

"What?" Chrissie said. "Where'd she go?"

John was silent; he was studying the data and the colour scale on the graphic display. "Thermal resolution is one degree Celsius per pixel; can we increase thermal resolution?"

"Okay, half a degree per pixel," Chrissie said, and John continued to scrutinise the image.

"Keep going."

"Point four…, point three…, point two…," she counted down.

John leaned back from the screen and tilted his head to one side. "Is that my imagination, or is there a circular area that is slightly warmer than the background?"

Chrissie leaned back with him and tilted her head to match. "Oh yeah, I can see it now you've mentioned it. Blimey John, you've got good eyes."

He grinned at her and waggled his eyebrows. "All the better to see you with. Right, let's play it forward and see if it disappears."

The image played forward, until the circular area suddenly wasn't there. Chrissie played the frame backward then forward. "Now you see it…, now you don't."

"Okay, let's have the time stamp on that, it's time I did a bit of cheating," he said with a smile, and 'THAT' look in his eyes.