The man stared at Anjanette’s eyes.  “Ugly things.  This one’s a defect.  Her eyes don’t match and her face is crooked.”

“She’s going to a beast who has spent the better part of four nepits working in a quarry and caves.  As long as her legs spread, I doubt if he’ll notice her eyes.”  A few seconds later, the pilot called back, “Entering Fifth Realm”.

Beast?  I’m being given to some kind of beast?  Oh, god.  Anjanette began to cry, and she searched around the shuttle looking for… looking for something to kill herself with.  I’m still wearing that collar.  Maybe I can be shocked to death?  That idea terrified her.

“Where are we releasing her?”

“Southern hemisphere in quadrant three-twenty. It’s a new section, and she and her beast will be the first to settle there,” the pilot answered.

The guard standing over Anjanette winced.  “Geeze, she’s small.  How long will she be alone before he finds her?”

“A day, maybe two at the most.  They’re pretty good hunters, and after so many years working in the caves they can track at night.  She won’t be trying to go it alone for long, though she’ll be lucky to last a week once he finds her.”

I’ll have at least a day to hide and no one else will be in the area.  I damn sure won’t hesitate to run this time. This new idea sounded way better than killing herself.  It would buy her some time to figure out what to do.

The navigator removed a tube from his pocket and grabbed her arm before she could react.  He pressed it against her skin and Anjanette felt a slight sting.  It pinched a little and she looked at the red mark.  “Let’s get you ready to meet your boyfriend,” he chuckled.

Anjanette let him place leather cuffs on her wrists. She figured she could cut them off when she was released.  “Stay,” he ordered, and joined the pilot to guide him to Jaleer. “I’ll trade out the collar when we land. We need to take off ASAP, though. If she starts screaming, the beast will hear her and we won’t know how far off he is.  I’ve heard they’re huge, and we don’t need him ripping into the shuttle if he thinks we’ve harmed his mate.”

A few seconds later, the navigator returned to her.  He was holding something.  She felt her arms and legs go limp as her collar held her in her sitting position.  The man stretched her legs out and, grabbing one ankle, began sliding a sheer brown material over her leg.  At least it seemed like she was not going to be left naked.

He slid the other pant leg over her foot and began pulling them up.  Her bottom was an inch off the floor and he pulled the material under her hips and up to her waist.  Yanking a band tight, it stayed in position.  The pants ballooned slightly at the thighs and tapered down to her ankles where bands held them securely.

Next, he lowered a matching sheer brown top over her head and fed her arms up through the opening.  It rested just above her breasts and fell below the waistband of her pants.  He tucked it in and tied straps over her shoulders.  Though the material was almost see-through, it still made Anjanette feel better to be clothed… until…

The man pushed her legs apart and his hand reached between her thighs, and Anjanette discovered to her horror that there was no seam joining the pant legs together.  One of his thick fingers stroked through her curls and she gasped.  The collar tickled a warning while color filled her cheeks. Her humiliation worsened when his other hand reached out and lifted a flap from her top out of the waistband of the pants.  The entire front bodice was a separate panel.  His fingers tugged and twisted at a nipple.

Anjanette squirmed and tears filled her eyes, silently pleading with the man.  She had no idea why he was doing this to her, unless it was some kind of sadistic sick joke. All the aliens she had seen so far insulted and demeaned her, and Anjanette was miserable… and afraid.

The guard kept tugging her nipple and stroking her pussy. “Doin’ you a favor,” he said, frowning at her mismatched eyes. “The beast will smell your heat and find you faster.  You’re too small to try to make it alone for too long.  I have no idea what other creatures are on Jaleer.”

They were treating her like an animal.  Without being able to speak, how would the women ever be able to tell them they recognized what was happening, even if they did not understand it?

The pilot called back, “Is she responding?”

“Slowly… but, that’s what her chart says.  I’ll get her good and ready before we drop her off.  We need the beast to find her before some other animal gets hold of her.”

Despite her terror, Anjanette felt her body responding.  All the tests seemed to have tweaked her arousal response.  Without another word, the man stood and walked back to his seat, wiping his hand on a cloth he pulled from his pocket like a mechanic wiping grease off his fingers.  The collar finally released her and Anjanette tucked the bodice flap back into her waistband and hugged herself.  Wherever she was going, beast or not, had to be better that the cruel treatment she experienced so far.

Through the front window of the craft, she could see lighter sky and clouds.  The ship was slowing and Anjanette realized it was close to time for her to be let go.  She still had no idea what she was going to do, but she was relieved to be escaping these men.  The shuttle landed and the navigator walked back to her.  He gripped her arm and led her to the opening hatch.

“The collar,” the pilot called back.

“I got it.”  The navigator continued to hold her wrist while he released the metal collar with his other hand.  The new leather collar seemed to attach with the same quiet hitch as the cuffs.  They appeared a solid band with no latching device. “Out you go.”  He gripped her forearm and swung her out the door.  She landed in some tall grass, rolling a few times. Anjanette watched the shuttle lift, and when she blinked it was gone.

Slowly standing, she looked around.  She was in a large field with tall grass up to her knees. A few hundred yards away she saw a small hut and surrounding the field were dark woods.  It would be easier to hide in them, but the shadows made her nervous and she remembered what the man said about dangerous creatures.

She glanced up and saw the sun was setting.  At least, one of them was.  Another appeared to be rising on the other horizon.  Oh, god.  Where am I?  She inhaled and the place smelled like meadows and woods back home.  The grass was thick and soft under her feet.  Huge boulders were sprinkled throughout the field and some looked large enough to hide behind.  The two suns disoriented her and reminded her she was not home.  She was on some alien planet and would never see her friends again.  The familiar sensation of the shock she felt in the cage began to slacken her muscles and blanket her thoughts.

Anjanette tried to calm herself to think, forcing back the scream tickling her throat.  She remembered what they said about the beast hearing her.  She tested the collar to see if this one would shock her. “Okay, no one is in this area and the beast won’t get here until at least tomorrow.  That means the hut should be empty.”  There was no jolt followed by the pins and needles jabbing into her nerves.  Anjanette was relieved to be rid of the other collar, and walked towards the hut hoping there was something other than green gruel to eat and maybe some kind of weapon she could use.

The hut had no door and was a single room with a pad and blankets on the dirt floor.  Against the other wall, two bags leaned against each other.  They were made out of some kind of leather.  One contained water and the other held some kind of dried meat.  Anjanette sniffed it and decided it was edible.  She tentatively chewed off a piece.  Other than being a little salty, it tasted pretty good.  Far better than the green gruel from her last meal, at any rate.  She gnawed at it and stood by the door trying to figure out what to do.  What she wanted to do was breakdown and cry.  In all the imaginative scenarios she and her friends discussed, nothing compared to this.

Eventually, she sat on the pad to think, slowly slipping down until she fell asleep.  She awoke in a panic.  How long was I sleeping?  Oh, no. She ran to the door.  The sun that was rising was now almost on the other horizon. The beast.  The water would be too heavy to carry, so she drank as much as she could and grabbed a fistful of dried meat.

Gathering her courage, she walked towards the forest. The trees and plants were oddly shaped and of almost every color.  In different circumstances, Anjanette thought she might enjoy the exotic foliage.  Unfortunately, along with the unusual plants she was fairly certain there would be equally strange creatures living in the woods.  No matter what might reside in the forest, she had to find a place to hide before the beast showed up.