[dogscoff]

Klumart had always known that the gods could be cruel, and he had often suspected they had a sense of humour, but his current situation confirmed both of these. Striped faces pressed greedily against the glass, but he ignored them and went back to his construction, and soon they moved on along their tube. The block of stone looked far too heavy for him, even in this gravity, but he lifted it easily onto one of his three knees, and then up onto his shoulder. It was actually made of some kind of foam, painted up to look like rock. Others were formed and made up to look like real norak bricks, doors, beams, tiles, even windows. It was like some huge playset.

As he understood it, the idea was for him to construct some kind of "authentic" looking home for himself. He wasn't entirely sure why they wanted him to- the KanesS didn't seem interested in the prisoners' surroundings so much as the prisoners themsleves. He also wondered why he even bothered- there was no weather to guard against under this glass sky, and any privacy the lightweight walls afforded him would soon be torn away when they demolished his little house, forcing him to start all over again, for the seventh or eighth time since his arrival. After all, a zoo is no fun if the animals stay hidden away in their nests all the time, is it? A fresh set of faces peered in through the glass, using their tail-tips to wipe away the condensation from their breath. The watched him a while, then went on their way.

Klumart sighed and placed the block upon the low wall that he had built, then looked up to survey his surroundings. The low, rolling hills and yellow moss really did look quite homely and pleasant to the norak eye. There was a lot of it, too, it would probably take him most of the day to cross to the far side of the dome, if he was really inclined to try. There was no point though, he knew the other side to be much the same as this: more hills, more moss, the odd stream or pond, all patched here and there with little plots of vegetables by huts made of pretend bricks, all occupied by dejected norak. Visitors would throw the occasional morsel of food into the enclosure, hoping (almost always wihout success) to provoke a squabble between the people within, but mostly the captives were expected to provide for themselves. Mercifully, the farming implements they had been given (taken, by the looks of things, from one of the captured colonies to the west of the Continuum) were real, and not made of foam. They also made pretty good weapons when the visitors came into the compound to attack some particularly frail or sick-looking inmate, or to drag away parts of somebody's corpse. The zookeepers didn't seem to mind if the odd visitor got killed or maimed in these attacks, but they took great offence if anyone made any attempt to bury the dead or block up the interface points. Old Rummult in the next hut over was living proof of that, and despite the leg he had lost to the zookeeper's gun, with a little help he was still able to fight off every opportunistic visitor that thought he might make an easy meal. Klumart just about produced enough food to sustain his neighbour as well as himself, but infection was setting in on the stump and without any real medicine here it was only a matter of time before the gods took the cripple back into their embrace. Even now, a hungry, striped face appeared at the interface point and eyed Rummult, but Klumart barely noticed. There were those who attacked, and those who just thought about it, and by now any inmate in the compound could tell the difference in an instant. Eventually, the face moved on.

Klumart looked again at the interface point nearest his half-built hut. Unlike the majority of the other few thousand Norak in this dome, his hut was quite near one of the interface points. This waas not by choice but because all the other land that met his requirements him had already been taken. However, the interface point did fascinate him, because he felt sure they were the key to escape from this place. The zoo was a prison without bars. The landscape was criss-crossed by narrow visitor tubes and tunnels for the KanesS, into which there were small openings at regular intervals, giving visitors full access to roam about the safari compound. In theory, a particularly daring and supple Norak might squeeze himself into a tube and attempt escape. Rumour had it the planet held not only exhibits of live Norak, but of captured weapons platforms, mines, satellites, ground assault vehicles and fighters. There were even said to be captured warships in orbit, converted into museums, where KanesS could take guided tours. Yes, all that they needed for escape was at the other end of those tubes, but no Norak would get far beyond the interface point. The atmosphere in the compund was high in methane, as required by Norak physiology. The air in the tubes and visitor domes beyond was high in carbon dioxide, the KanesS' preferred medium for breathing. A norak might last a minute or two in the tube before asphyxiating, but no more.

However, once through the selective force-field that kept the atmospheres seperate, the KanesS seemed able to hold their breath for ages, and even to speak and eat- Rummult had once said the KanesS scavenged underwater on their own worlds, so it made sense that they should have this ability. Klumart resolved to dissect the next visitor he caught and look for any special respiratory mechanism that might support the theory. It would be messy, with only farming tools to work with, but it would keep his mind occupied for a while. He was an inquisituve sort, Klumart, which was the main reason he had selected this particular spot on the very edge of the dome. Most of the norak were clustered in the middle, as far from the edges as possible. However, if he were to stand on his little half wall- Klumart did so now- he could peer through the dome's glass and see into the neighbouring dome. There he could just make out the tiny black shapes of his Xiati neighbours. They looked so funny to him, wobbling around on just two spindly legs each, and the fake building materials they had been given looked so very different and silly in comparison to his own. Klumart chuckled, and didn't even notice the striped faces looking curiously in at him from the nearby tube.