The cage I was kept in was too small to stand in. I sat naked in the empty cage with my knees huddled to my chest. Strange noises came from the creatures around me. None of them could talk, none of them seemed sentient. They were all primitive alien animals and I was being treated like I was no better.
After about an hour two guards came for me. They were taking no chances now. As soon as my cage door opened they barreled in and held me down.
"No, please!" I yelled, but my efforts were futile.
The nearby creatures let out a cacophony of excited noises in response to the struggle. The guards bound my wrists and ankles in heavy metal restraints and then carried me from my cage. One held my arms, the other my legs. I struggled and thrashed, but it was too late. I knew that fighting was useless, but even so, I tried to wriggle free from their grasp. The aliens leading me down the corridor paid no attention to my cries for help or my struggles, they remained completely indifferent to my situation.
I was taken back to the small lab where Keldon was waiting alone. He still wore the bandage on his neck and it was accompanied by a frosty glare on his face.
"Place Subject 004 on the examination table," Keldon told the guards and they obeyed.
I didn't even argue with the name he called me, it was no longer that important.
"Please, Keldon," I begged as my back met the cold metal of the table. "I'm sorry I attacked you. I won't do it again. Please don't keep me in a cage."
Keldon didn't even look at me. He picked up a small metal disk and placed it over my mouth.
"Mpff!" I moaned as the disk expanded and clamped over my mouth, smothering any sound. I stared at Keldon, silently pleading with him to give me another chance, but he never so much as looked my way.
He repeated the same examination he'd done before and when he was finished he let out a defeated sigh. "You are no longer suitable to be my research subject," he said.
My eyes widened. Did this mean that he was going to let me go? Or was I simply going to be disposed of? My fate was likely going to be the same as subjects 1-3. I could feel my pulse thrumming aggressively as I waited for him to elaborate.
"You have been contaminated by the zyglaroth and are pregnant with its child."
A part of me withered up and died. That beast had impregnated me. I was going to give birth to--what? Another zyglaroth? A human-zyglaroth hybrid? Maybe death would be better than that. I couldn't imagine such a monstrous creature tearing its way out of my vagina.
"You will be given to Research Team B, the animal researchers. You belong to them now. Return her to her cage."
Tears of fear and despair fell from my eyes as I was carried out of the lab. My escorts did not care. They tossed me into my cage, removed the restraints from my mouth and limbs, and then locked me up again.
I screamed for somebody to help me, to give me another chance, to do anything but leave me like this. I screamed until my voice was hoarse and I could scream no longer. Nobody came and the only answer I got was from the beasts that surrounded me. I curled up in a ball and cried until I fell asleep on the hard metal floor.
At some point, I was woken up by an alien in a green outfit. It wasn't Zolto, but a different one. I blinked my eyes open and saw him pushing a thin mat through the bars of my cage.
"What is this?" I asked.
"A bed," he replied without looking at me.