They were naked and some of them were filthy despite their regular cleaning. Their hair was long and tangled. Most of them sat hunched against the back wall and glared mutely at the passing group. Vanessa considered them with proper disdain until they had traversed almost the entire hallway and came upon something different. Brenda had halted abruptly before one of the cages, causing those who were following her and not paying particular attention to engage in some abrupt gyrations lest they collide with her well-padded backside.
A young Mal had come to the bars to stare at the group. This in itself was strange as yet another warning sign quite explicitly stated that the bars were supposed to be electrified. Vanessa took the opportunity to examine him at close range. His thick hair was long and fell in waves around his face and although tangled it had a healthy sheen to it. He was taller than she and she watched with something more than a clinical interest the play of his well developed muscles as he moved. Vanessa saw that the face behind the hair was of good structure and had an undefinable softness about it. She looked into his eyes and found his brown staring intently into her own blue. Although his eyes were so dark that the pupils were lost, they radiated a hypnotic intensity and spoke so many promises that Vanessa was forced at last to turn away before they immobilized her. She dropped her gaze and discovered that the young Mal was in a state of full arousal. His member, now fully erect, stood at attention between two of the bars. She gazed in a combination of fascination and disgust. The shaft was ribbed hairless and with a blue tracery of veins visible. The tip was a darker purple stretching the skin with its fullness. It moved with a slight cadence which kept time with the beating of his heart. Vanessa turned aside to see the rest of the small tour, with the exception of Brenda, mesmerized by the creature. Her round face was pinched in wrath. A storm about to break. "What is this?" her shrill accusing tone broke through the mental haze like a bullet. "A class of the Undisciplined?" That accusation, like a swift arrow, found its mark. Muted murmurs of apologetic disagreement emerged tentatively from the group. "Praise the Null I have never seen such a sight."
"I would be remiss not to report this to Counseling Services." A look of collective dread, poorly disguised, passed over the faces of her charges. The storm cleared just a little. "Humph, well, we shall overlook this incident, but praise the Null there shall be no more." "Praise the Null" came the expected response in unison. Stiffly, almost at attention they continued down the hallway. Vanessa did not look aside, but she could feel his unwavering gaze upon her as she moved. Drinking in the sight of her as if it was his last. The fear of punishment had made her break out in a slight sweat. A bead of moisture making its lazy way down the bridge of her nose made it itch terribly. Without thinking she pried the edge of her mask up and scratched. Holding her breath had not helped as she had hoped it would. A world of smells assaulted her. There were the usual odors of caged animals, but within that there was something different. Something instinctual that touched her deep deep inside and awakened hungers of which she had been oblivious just moments ago. She shuddered and without knowing why, she stole a glance back down the hall. It wasn't the frank intensity of his stare which disturbed her so. It was the undeniable strength of her own response that frightened her.
Sleep was a long time in coming and a restless guest. Vanessa tossed and turned with abandon in her small bed. It seemed she could not get enough of the feel of the sheets against her skin. Her hands, as if obeying a different master, would be found cupping the fullness of her breasts and squeezing her erect nipples or when from the Sea of Dreams chance would cast her briefly onto the shores of consciousness she would find them stroking her thighs. Dancing ever closer to the center, where a nameless ache was building.
When not awakened by the teasing explorations of her traitorous hands she dreamed. Naked she stood in the hall of the Mals. The cages were all eerily empty and silent, and the corridor was, she was alarmed to see, shrinking rapidly behind her. With mounting fear she turned towards the nearer door. Her way was blocked. A pinkish cylinder waist high and slightly pulsing lay between her and the sought after escape. A quick glance behind showed that the corridor had shortened alarmingly. Desperate to avoid being crushed she mounted the fleshy obstruction. It was soft. It was smooth. It was warm, and it reacted to her touch. She could feel it begin to swell and stiffen beneath her. The feel of it against her sent an unexpected quiver of delight along her skin. As she struggled for the far door she spread herself across it as if to encompass it all. Vanessa's body began vibrating in time with the deep throbbing coming from beneath her. She brushed her lips against it reveling in the pure sensation. She stretched out her hands and legs across it luxuriating in the silkiness of it. The bass rhythm of the pulses increased. She felt herself merging with the vibrations. Building. Striving towards...
Tangled in sheets, sweating and breathing heavily she awoke. She arose confused and still reeling from the barrage of powerful but unfamiliar feelings surging through her. She squinted into the mirror under the harsh light above the sink. A stranger's eyes returned her gaze. Her own eyes had never held such hungers. She splashed some chill water upon her face and returned to bed. She slept. She dreamt.
Clothed this time she stood in a dim and narrow hallway. The midnight blue walls of the corridor undulated lazily like heavy cloth in a sluggish wind. The hall was full of strange whispers which hinted at meaning but revealed none. Tentatively she moved along the corridor, careful to avoid touching the moving walls. She was successful at first but then the corridor narrowed such that even moving sideways she could not avoid them. She felt them touch her, and where they did her clothes dissolved doing no harm to the fair skin beneath.
