Scene 1. Relief

Lilly springs in the front door into the center of the living room, holding her chest in pain. Roc bolts upright from the couch at Lilly’s surprise entrance. Roc looks at Lilly and does a double take, “Lilly, when did you change your clothes?”

Lilly is in the center of the living room, stripping from her borrowed pantsuit as fast as possible. The fabric is too tough to tear off.

Lilly falls to her knees and groans with tongue extended, “Where are the boys?”

“The girls gave them their bottles and put them to bed a few hours ago.”

“Wake them and see if they are hungry.”

“They are always hungry.”

The girls awaken at the commotion, “Daddy what is happening?”

“Go get your brothers...”

After some initial, painful nursing of the boys, Lilly, with help from Isabella, finally calms down with her pain subsiding, “I can’t let this happen again.” “Next time I leave the house, I am packing ‘The pump’!”

Roc is looking on at Lilly in wonderment, “Lilly what happened?” “How did it go?” “Did the new professor agree to be your new ‘Advisor’?”

“It didn’t go very well." "I experienced a wardrobe 'malfunction'. “I shot my potential ‘Advisor’ in the forehead with one of my blouse buttons.” “I have had many embarrassing moments in my life, but this one is certainly in my top five.” “I tried to run away but his daughter ran me down and caught me.” “The Advisor's daughter then dressed me in these clothes." "I went back an apologized to her ‘Advisor’ father.” “I ended up staying over longer than I planned." "As you can see, I was in pain at the end.” “In spite of my button assault, I think he will take me on as my thesis ‘Advisor’.” “He won’t let me pay him with money.” “He only asked if I would help him with some maintenance and chores at his house.” “I agreed, as I like doing home repair chores.” “I hope that my arrangement is okay with you.” “Longer projects may require me to stay overnight sometimes.” “They already have a guest room set up for a ‘helper’ that I can use.” “He has a really nice big house.”

Roc smiles, "So you will be paying him with 'services' rendered?" “Well, okay." "Just as long as it isn’t for ‘all winter’, like it was at the observatory.”

Lilly continues, “I left my papers and my briefcase at the advisor’s house. I plan to go over tomorrow and pick everything up.” “And maybe meet with The Advisor, if he is available, and save a trip.” "He is still reading my thesis and will tell then if he is willing to help.” “Oh, his daughter said that she will pick me up and take me back next time, so I don’t have to take a cab.”

Roc devils Lilly, “You are not going to leave me for him now, are you?”

Lilly does not react,“Only for the nights.” “Because he’s ‘safe’!” Lilly pats her belly with a, “POP!”

Roc looks at the coat and the clothes Lilly was wearing, “These clothes are very nice?” “Are these from the advisor’s daughter?”

Lilly looks at the clothes, “These clothes were left at his house by his former caretaker.” “It’s a long story, I’ll tell you more about it in the morning.”

Everyone retires and Lilly is exhausted, “I really could use some rest after all that stress!” “Lets go to bed,” “I want one of your full-body massages Roc!” “But no ‘extras’ please!”

“Please let me at least finish college before I have any more kids!”

Scene 2. Entourage

Lilly awakens back at Apollo’s home. Lilly has a new roommate, sometimes, when Sally is not sleeping with Apollo. Lilly looks down at the sleeping, snoring, Sally, thinking, projecting, “I like you Sally.” “You are friendly, neat and quiet, much more so than I.” “And you are only the third entity I have been able to fully communicate with in this world, after Al and Ticktock.” “I apologize in advance for my jealousy over your relationship with Apollo that I can never have.” “I truly wish you both well,” “He needs you.” “I need you.” “I do wish you were more experienced and smarter, so I could find out what is really happening in this world." "I can still use you to question Apollo, if you are willing.” “You are so much better than Ticktock who is much too literal, although Ticktock does come in handy sometimes, for technical things and if you are not around.” “Apollo has, so far, avoided answering all of the obvious questions I have about this world, and about myself.”

Lilly walks into the bathroom that she now shares with Sally and looks around, Sally does keep the place clean. She must think we are going to send her back if she doesn’t do a good job cooking and cleaning for us. The goat-washer is now a sheep-washer also. I really don’t mind, as Sally is careful to keep her fleece from clogging the drains and she cleans up after me too.

After her morning constitutional, Lilly walks down to the kitchen. Ticktock and Apollo are already there. Apollo is fixing himself a breakfast plate, “Where is Sally?”

Lilly stares at Ticktock to communicate with Apollo, “Lilly says that Sally is still sleeping.” “Because you kept Sally up too late last night.” “And you weren’t very quiet last night either.”

Ticktock’s mechanical squawking voice awakens Sally, who is now standing at the kitchen door, bleating, “Iiii wassss gooooing tooo fiiiix yoooou aaaaaaall breakfaaaasthh!”

Sally is wearing a maid’s uniform that is at least two sizes too small. Sally is partially covered in the front by a pink apron, also too small.

Lilly scowls at Sally, “Sally! Where did you get those clothes!”

Sally smiles, “Apollo gave these clothes to meeeeeee, arrrren’t theeeey cuuuute?” Sally turns all around to model the clothes along with a fair amount of her exposed fleecy body, tail wiggling, for Lilly, Ticktock and Apollo.

Lilly is still frowning, “You’re going to pop out of that little outfit!”, Sally ignores Lilly’s critique.

Apollo pulls out a chair, “It’s okay Sally, come over to the table and sit with us.”

“That is if you can sit down without splitting out of that outfit!” Lilly chuckles, “BaHaHahh!”.

Apollo continues, “Ticktock, get Sally and Lilly plates and you come and sit down with us too.” “I want to talk to you all about a little history and our tour today." "Yes, Ticktock, and you too.”

Lilly walks to the table and sits down on her haunches, her head looking over the table. Ticktock sets a breakfast plate on the table for Sally and a tray under Lilly’s head, “Baaaaaaah!” They both bleat, "Thanks for the meal!"

And for the first time this odd family of four is setting down at the breakfast table together.

Apollo begins, “If you don’t know, I will tell you that all of us are artificial constructs, created by others.” “Even the humans, such as myself, were created by others, and we humans created you, the automatons and the beast-folk.” “Yes, even you Lilly, although you still have the most natural form as a ‘domestic’ goat, you too were modified by human breeding from an extinct wild goat species.” “Not counting, of course, your special mental abilities, Lilly. That is a subject for another time.”

“We established the City of the Automatons primarily as a convenience to us humans.” “We let automatons produce more automatons for us without us humans having to do any work.” “That situation is working out very well for us, producing automatons for commercial use and for the war effort.”

Lilly looks down and scowls again, “It is working out well for you, so far...”

Ticktock states, “Lilly says, ‘It is working out well for you, so far...’”

Scene 3. Under-People

Apollo continues, “Some of The beast-folk have established their own colonies, away from humans.” “These folks are mostly the ones that have rejected humans and human society for various reasons and want to live apart, on their own abilities.” “Some of these folks were orphaned, while others were abandoned. Some have injuries or illness, making them unsuitable for service. Some just ran away from their masters, sometimes fleeing from terrible abuse.”

“When we created the beast-folk we thought that they would be haled as saviors, saving humans from abandonment, loneliness and housework drudgery.” “The automatons never achieved popularity for personal tasks as they are considered unfeeling, abrupt, even scary." "Automatons are still being used for dangerous tasks or when no human worker is available." "The beast-folk workers came to be preferred, over both automaton and human workers."

"However, many humans, and the law, still regarded the beast-folk all as ‘property’ of humans." "The beast-folk were not allowed to own any property themselves or seek relief from the law, as they were not regarded as ‘people’." "The beast-folk were merely regarded only as special kinds of animals, without animal rights.

"The beast-folk were often subjected to unspeakable cruelty, without even the basic cruelty protections afforded ordinary domestic animals.” “Some beast-folk were being raised commercially, as livestock, for meat and milk, and for fur coats.”

“The military tried to use the beast-folk as foot solders, but found that the beast-folk lacked the desire to kill without reason, which is a ‘must’ for a solder.” “A good solder must carry out all orders without question.” “However the military was still interested in the beast-folk for logistics, construction or medical service work, that did not usually require any ‘killing’.” “The military was also interested in the very sensitive sense of smell that some of the beast-folk species have. These species are used for searches and investigations.” “Although animals are also still used, beast-folk have better communication skills and are easier to train and command,” “Some species, such as the Minotaur's, can mount a very strong defense, as long as you don’t order them to ‘kill’.” “The beast-folk are still conscripted for dangerous missions, where human lives may be at risk.”

The first organizations to step up to help the beast-folk in distress were the animal-rescue organizations.” “From their work with animals, they could quickly recognize beast-folk abuse cases.” “The animal-rescue organizations were the first groups to establish ‘shelters’ for the beast-folk abuse victims.” “Soon these shelters were taking in other beast-folk cases, such as runaways.” “This created problems for the shelters when the ‘owners’ were refused the return of their ‘property’ by the shelter operators.” “The original beast-folk owners then sued the shelter operators for ‘theft of property’ demanding excessive compensation and punitive damages.”

Journalists eventually took up investigations of the treatment of the beast-folk and publicized horrendous abuse stories and photographs of some of the very worst cases.” “This exposure changed the opinion of the public that was initially opposed to extending rights to yet another underprivileged group.” “Eventually, the government was forced, by popular opinion, to extend legal ‘animal cruelty’ provisions to the beast-folk.”

“Later, there were ‘Freedom’ movements, in both the human and beast-folk communities, to ‘emancipate’ the beast-folk from involuntary slavery services.”

Scene 4. Rights

“Sensitive humans took up the cause of beast-folk rights, eventually getting beast-folk recognized as 'animals', protected by existing animal cruelty laws.” “Eventually, the human population generally acknowledged that these creatures were sentient, sensitive souls, even if their looks and thought processes were different than human looks and thoughts.”

“As time went on, some of these beast-folk were orphaned by the death of their companions, abandoned by the boredom of their owners, were found to be unsuitable for their original assigned tasks.” "Some beast-folk became unsuitable for their original assigned tasks, usually from injuries, and too old to retrain for another task.” “Only the young beast-folk were ever in demand, the older ones were just left to die from neglect.”

“In spite of all of their limitations, the beast-folk formed self-sustaining communities, for protection and for education.” “The beast-folk even founded schools, with courses taught by beast-folk instructors, and dedicated to the betterment of the beast-folk community.” “These communities initially had no fixed locations as the beast-folk were not allowed to own property.” “Some beast-folk, those that were better trained, got hired into paying jobs, as tutors, accounting assistants and even paralegals, in the human community.” “These successful beast-folk supported their beast-folk communities.”

“The original beast-men creators (including myself!) suggested forming independent beast-folk colonies, preferably as a partnership with them.” “We were curious to see how these beast-folk colonies would do on their own, as a test." "The beast-folk would need to establish agriculture, industry and a government for themselves.” “The beast-folk would also have to develop land and ownership rights and a rule of law, complete with judges, courts, lawyers and police.” “The beast-folk would need to establish fair punishment of offenders and facilities for incarceration.”

“These colonies would also provide an ideal environment for development and health research on the beast-folk,” “The creators were willing to donate the land, set up schools, and provide other infrastructure, for the reasonable comfort of the beast-folk, in return for their cooperation on this 'research'.”

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

“Today we are going to visit The Farm so that Lilly can visit her family and provide her ‘services’.” “I don’t think you have seen The Farm yet, have you Sally, or you either, Ticktock.” “After we visit The Farm we are going to visit The Beast Town.” “It is quite nice actually, the beast-folk keep their town very clean. The only crime there is what is brought in by the 'humans'.” “Originally, no 'humans' were allowed in, except for the 'researchers'.” “But then the beast-folk recognized the monetary value brought in by tourists and so they changed their rules.”

Apollo smiles, “Sally," "'Beast Town' is where you will go when you run away from me!”

Sally smiles, her cute, eyes-closed, smile, “I’ll neeeeeever run awaaaaaay from you!" "Apollo, my loooove!” Sally bleats, wagging her tail.

Lilly scowls at them both, “Will you still say that after the ‘honeymoon’ is over?”

Lilly quickly glances a scowl at Ticktock, “And don’t you say my thoughts out loud!”

Apollo calls a bus to take his expanded family for a tour of The Farm. Of course, Lilly is the first to trot off the bus and to her ‘milking station’. The farm hands are ready for her. Lilly coos to her favorite 'hands', "baaaah..." The farm hands present Lilly with her daughters for a happy reunion. Then the 'hands' provide Lilly with the rest of her relief. Lilly is visibly pleased by her production volume and relaxed by the procedure, which does not take very long now.

The kids are fascinated by Sally. The kids jump and buck to her bleating and everyone laughs and smiles. The kids also see Ticktock who remains outside the fence. The kids stare at Ticktock, then scold Ticktock with bleats and run away, over to Sally. Lilly walks up beside Sally, who is playing with the kids, “You want ‘em you can have ‘em!”

Sally then hoists up one of her large breasts, so Apollo can see, “But Iii dooon’t haaaave aaaaaaaaanything fooor theeeemhh.” Sally bleats, wiggling her tail.

Lilly grins, “Yet!”

Scene 5. Eddie

The entourage returns to the bus and they proceed out of The White City and off to The Beast Town. They travel several kilometers distance, into the undeveloped countryside, until they come to a collection of low buildings, rough wooden one and two-story structures. Lilly is not impressed, “This isn’t a city! It’s barely a town!”

The bus stops at the edge of the town, next to a large barn and Apollo announces, “Motor vehicles aren’t allowed into The Beast Town.” “We’ll be taking a cart from here on!”

The entourage exits the bus and they all walk over to the barn. Out of the barn a tall and muscular Palomino horse-man in a large hat and sun-breaker jacket pulls up an open cart. The cart has two rows of low bench seats and an open area in back. The horse-man waves, “Hi, I’m Eddie!” Eddie looks over the group, he stares at Ticktock.

Eddie points his feathered hoof at Ticktock, “I’m sorry but your ‘auto’ has to stay outside the town limits.”

Apollo is determined, “Eddie, our ‘auto’ has a special exemption to enter the town from the mayor." "This 'auto' is a translation automaton and medical assistant, required for my research work here.” “Eddie," "I am Apollo," I am a ‘researcher’ here.” Apollo is prepared, he pulls a paper from his shirt and shows it to Eddie. Lilly notices that the Eddie’s jacked has a small metal star, "He’s the town's cop too?"

Ticktock speaks, “Lilly wants to know, Eddie," "Are you in law enforcement?”

Lilly is wide-eyed, I keep forgetting that Ticktock can read my mind, especially for a question.

Eddie stands up proud, holding his right feathered fetlock and hoof to his chest, “That’s right Lilly, I was deputized last week!”

Eddie looks puzzled, “Which one of you is ‘Lilly’?”

Apollo stands back, “I am sorry Eddie, let me introduce you to everyone here.” Apollo walks around the group, "Eddie, this is 'Sally'."

“Glaaad tooo meeeet yooou Eeeddieee!” Sally bleats, smiling her cute smile and wiggling her tail at the handsome horse-man.

“This automaton assisting us today is ‘Ticktock’”. “Hello Eddie," "I respond to the name, ‘Ticktock’,” the mechanical voice states.

“And this goat is 'Lilly',” Apollo points to the goat. Lilly looks up and smiles at Eddie, with a lips-wide in a toothy grin. Eddie is startled seeing the smiling goat, wiggling her tail.

Then Ticktock's mechanical voice scares everyone by suddenly saying, “Lilly says that she is glad to meet you, Eddie.”

Eddie's eyes widen at the response, he quickly nods to Lilly, “Likewise Lilly.” “I see what you mean, Apollo, and I apologize for stating the rule.” “We don’t get too many researchers out this way anymore.” “The researchers have done everything to us that they can think of, I guess.” “You all please be careful entering the cart. It is a little rickety.” “Lilly, I have steps for you so that you can enter and ride in the back of the cart where you can lie down.” “I presume that this will be more comfortable than sitting on a bench for the cart ride.” “It can be a little bumpy.” “I’ll take you all to the hotel, the only one in town.” It’s nice though.” “My wife runs the hotel and its bar.”

Sally looks down thinking, “Darn, he’s married.”

Lilly sends Sally her thoughts on the issue, “Don’t be a light-weight Sally! That ‘married’ stuff has never stopped me!” “Never even slowed me down!”

Lilly is suddenly alarmed about Ticktock, ratting out her thoughts. She turns around to Ticktock.

Ticktock, in his monotone voice and thought, “I know, Lilly,” “Only if you tell me to say.”

Then Ticktock speaks out loud, "I will remain at the town entrance gate for your return, if that is acceptable." Apollo nods his approval to Ticktock, “We’ll get this straightened out.”

Eddie then picks up the cart shafts dons the leather halter. Eddie then pulls the cart to the hotel building in the center of the group of wooden buildings.

Eddie helps Lilly, Sally and Apollo out of his cart, “I’ll get your bags and bring them up, as you can see we are not very busy today.”

The Lilly and Sally stand waiting on the small boardwalk in the front of the hotel. Apollo holds out a small device to Eddie, “Would you mind taking a picture of all of us, standing in front of the hotel, Eddie?” Eddie lifts his feathered right fore-leg and looks at his large hoofed fore-toe. “Not to worry!” Apollo pulls out a small wire device, inserts the camera into it and puts the device over Eddies large fore-toe, “There Eddie,” “You just hold the camera still and I will push the button with the 'remote'.” Everyone lines up on the front wooden walkway in front of the hotel entrance. Apollo commands, “I want to see smiles on all of you in this picture!” “Yes," "You too Lilly!”

I guess I shouldn’t stick out my tongue.

“Click!”

Scene 6. Marion

Apollo, Lilly and Sally file in to the combined bar and hotel main-desk check-in counter. A tall, ivory colored and statuesque horse-woman is behind the bar, as they walk in. The horse-woman is a tall, show-quality figure with broad shoulders, shapely hind-legs and butt, a narrow loin, an impressive chest. Her four fetlocks all display long, brown, furry, 'feathers'. She stands back from the bar to reveal her full form, she is wearing a green halter top and a short skirt to fully display her assets. She is smiling a welcome smile to her new guests, “Welcome, partners, to the Beast Gulch Hotel!” She then opens a large registration book and places it on the bar, facing them, “Will you all please sign in to my guest book?”

Apollo grasps the pen from the book, “I’ll sign-in for everyone.” “We have reservations." "This visit should be prepaid by my laboratory.”

The horse-woman slowly brushes her long tail along the floor, “Yes, you all do!” “You have two rooms, numbers one and two, our best rooms, with two beds in each.” “Your meals here are covered too.” “You’ll have to pay for your own drinks at the bar though.”

Apollo laughs, “That’s okay, this group can get pretty rowdy.”

The horse-woman laughs a braying laugh, “I can see that you are all ‘party animals.’”

Lilly looks up at the towering horse-woman and around the bar, “I feel like I am in a movie.”

Sally speaks for Lilly, bleating, “Lilly saaaays thaaaat sheeee feeeeel liiiike sheeee is iiiin aaa moooviehh.”

The horse-woman brays, “Yes, they sometimes film movies out here.” “We have a shoot-out show most every day, at noon, on the main street.” “My name is 'Marion' by the way.” “Glad to have you all.”

Lilly looks up at Marion, curious about her showmanship, "Are you an actress?"

Sally bleats the question out loud for Lilly. Marion smiles and looks up, wistfully, "One upon a time, in the human world, I was on the stage and in films," "And I loved all the attention!" "But I became too popular for the human actors." "The humans claimed that I was 'upstaging' them." "The poor short little things!" "So I was fired." "I worked in human circuses, as a circus freak, for a while, but that was to depressing for me." "So I ran away from the humans and came out here." "I still perform." “Come by the bar tonight,” “Some of the boys play instruments and I put on a dance show. It starts about 7:30.” “Come on down!” Marion brays her laugh, smiles broadly and gestures towards the sky, once again displaying her impressive figure for all to see, swishing her long tail.

Apollo stares, mesmerized by Marion's impressive display.

As Marion walks Apollo, Sally and Lilly up the stairs to their rooms, she points her hoof, “Extra bedding is in the closet at the end of the stars.” "The communal bathroom is over there." “Breakfast is 'family' style, served at 7:00 am.” “We have a little show then too.”

Sally is looking down, stamping her hooves on the wooden floor as she walks, steaming with jealousy toward the beautiful movie star, Marion.

Lilly looks down, pouting, and thinking, "Great," "Another exhibitionist for Apollo!"

In the hotel guest bedroom, Lilly is suddenly worried about her 'other self' and looks up Sally. Lilly lightly pats the floor with her right fore-hoof, “You might have to help me tonight, and maybe tomorrow too.” Sally nods. Lilly turns away to have a private thought, Sally is a good caretaker, she did learn that.

I think ‘I’ will be okay here tonight.