Jim opened his eyes and cracked a yawn as he stretched
his arms above his head. He rolled out of his nest of
paper strips, and walked over to the water bottle
hanging on the side of his cage. Kneeling down, Jim
drank water by sucking it throught the tube that
curved down from the bottle. When his thirst was
slaked, Jim stood and went over to his food trough.
The familiar pellets were waiting for him, and Jim ate
his fill. When he was done, he did a few chin ups on
the swing in his cage, and ran a few miles on the
wheel. 
 
He stopped when he heard the Masters enter the room.
Stepping off the wheel Jim walked over to the locked
door of his cage and watched as the Masters entered.
They wore their usual white coats, and went about
their daily activities. Jim looked over at the cages
of the other animals. There were twelve other humans,
sixteen monkeys, two chimpanzees, and several rats.
The Masters recorded on the daily charts the usual
information. When they had done their initial
recordings, the Masters each removed an animal from
its cage. They took blood samples to be analyzed, and
some of the animals recieved their daily injection. 
 
Jim tried to get away when his door was opened and a
hand reached in to snag him, but was easily caught by
the Master's large hand. Jim squirmed in the grasp
usessly, but was unable to stop them taking blood with
a small syringe injected into his leg. After the blood
was taken, Jim recieved his daily injection into his
stomach. The shot was painful, and Jim usually cried
out in pain. The Master did not hear of course since
human voices were too low for their hearing range. The
only thing they ever heard was an occassional squeak
when the human's voice got high enough to register.
Usually due to a particular high scream. 
 
When they were done, Jim was placed back in his cage
and the Master took the test tube to analyze Jim's
blood. 
 
Inside his cage Jim rubbed his stomach to ease some of
the soreness. He watched as some of the other humans
also recieved injections. Jim didn't know what where
in the syringes, and to him it didn't really matter. 
 
Jim had been born in a cage, and had lived his entire
life in one. His mother had been sold at a pet store
while she had been pregnant with him. The Master who
had bought her had been upset that she had given
birth. So when Jim was old enough, around three, the
Master took him back to the pet store. 
 
He lived at the pet store for another year before he
was sold to a Master. The Master kept him for fifteen
more years before he was resold to his current
Masters. Jim didn't like his current Masters, mostly
because he didn't like the injections, but also the
fact that the cages weren't cleaned regularly, nor was
he bathed regularly. 
 
Jim had also been tatooed, something which he had not
liked one bit, and now wore a collar that he couldn't
remove and that chafed his neck, and made it
uncomfortable to sleep. 
 
Jim, however, knew no other life but that one inside
the cage, and didn't understand the concept of freedom
or of escaping. He lived daily, eating, drinking,
recieving injections, running in his wheel, and
sleeping. He did not look forward for the next day,
nor did he try and remember days past since all were
pretty much the same. 
 
However, Jim was about to learn a new way of life. 
 
Blair tied his pack to the back of the saddle, then
turned to look at his friend. 
 
"Blair this dangerous, and foolish." Simon said as he
finished buckling the saddle around his rat's belly. 
 
Blair patted his rat on the neck. The animal, raised
by humans from birth, practically purred at Blair's
touch....if rats could purr. 
 
"I'm not leaving without Maya, Simon. I will get her
back." Blair stated firmly. 
 
Simon just rolled his eyes, and mounted up into the
saddle. Blair followed suit. 
 
"Those stupid Giants will never see us coming." Blair
said then spurred his rat down the long tunnel. Simon
followed. 
 
They eventually reached the only way into the lab of
the building that Blair and Simon's tribe inhabited.
The building was a Pharmaceutical company, and had
several labs. But Blair knew which one Maya had been
taken too. The lab whose only entrance for humans was 
behind one of the electrical outlets in the wall. 
 
They halted their rats far enough away from the wires,
and dimounted. Blair removed his pack from the saddle
and placed it over his shoulders. Together, Simon and
Blair manuevered their way through the wires to the
outlet. Simon was able to move the outlet enough for
them both to climb through into the lab. 
 
It was late at night, and the lab was unoccupied by
any of the giants. Blair immediately took out his spy
glass and used it to find the shelf with the caged
humans. He found them, but couldn't spot Maya among
them. But he knew he wasn't seeing all the humans, so
decided that it was worth the climb to see if Maya was
among them. 
 
Quickly, Blair and Simon crossed the floor. What was
only a few feet for giants, was several meters for
humans. 
 
When they reached the base of the shelf that held the
human cages, Blair removed a grappling hook and rope
from his pack. He handed it to Simon, who swung around
and up. The grappling hook caught the first time, and
the two of them scrambled up the rope easily. After
all, they had done it before. 
 
Simon and Blair's tribe had lived beneath the lab and
in its wall for years. Adventurers like Blair and
Simon ventured out and stole items from the giants for
human scientists to use to create things that helped
their tribe. They also stole food for the tribe to
survive, and protected the tribe from wild rats,
spiders, and sometimes even snakes. Blair and Simon
where hailed by the tribe as heroes since they had
taken care of the rattlesnake that had invaded their
tribe's home. Four adventurers had died to rid the
tribe of the rattler. 
 
Eventually, they reached the shelf that the grappling
hook had caught, and hauled themselves up. Several
wire cages lined the shelf, and Blair could see the
sleeping humans inside. Blair shivered, glad that he
himself had not been cage born. *What an awful fate*
Blair thought as they went down the shelf looking for
Maya. 
 
Jim had heard the clink of the grappling hook snagging
the wood of the shelf, and curiousity forced him out
of his nest to investigate. He was surprised when the
two strange looking humans had climbed up onto the
shelf. 
 
Jack, his old cage mate from his previous owner had
told him about free humans. Jack had been one before
he had been caught. It was Jack who had taught him to
speak. Most cage born humans could not speak. Jim was
an exception thanks to Jack's teachings. 
 
Jim watched the two humans walk down the shelf toward
Jim's cage which was the last one on the shelf. They
noticed immediately that Jim was watching them. 
 
The shorter one with long chestnut curls shook his
head, and made a shooing motion with his hand. "Go
back to sleep." The man said. 
 
"No." Jim answered. 
 
The two humans looked at him in shock. They obviously
hadn't expected Jim to understand. 
 
"When did you get captured?" Blair asked the human. 
 
The man looked at him with confusion. "Captured?"
 
"You're cage born?" Blair used the more delicate word.
Normally freeborns call ed cageborns, 'pets'. It was
considered a grave insult. 
 
The man nodded. 
 
"What are you doing?" Jim asked curious. 
 
"We are looking for our friend. Her name is Maya." 
 
"I know where she is. They took her apart. See." Jim
pointed toward one of the opposite shelves. Blair
turned to look, but could not see anything at that
distance. 
 
Simon got out the spyglass, and looked. 
 
"What do you mean, apart?" Blair asked. 
 
"Apart." Jim shrugged not understanding. 
 
"Oh my...oh no. He means....dissected." Simon said
sadly horror filling his voice. 
 
"You're not saying she's...she's...oh no!" Blair began
to cry and Simon wrapped his friend in a comforting
embrace. 
 
Jim watched them in confusion. 
 
"Bastards. Those stinking bastards." Blair whispered
angrily into Simon's chest. "Why, oh man, why?" 
 
"They always take apart the females." Jim said. 
 
"Shut up!" Blair said angrily, "Just shut up, stupid
pet!" 
 
Jim stepped back at the heat in the man's voice, but
said nothing. 
 
"Blair, its not his fault. He's as much a victim as
Maya." 
 
"Fuck that. Maya wasn't cageborn, she wasn't a pet!!
Those bastards have enough pets to torture, why did
they have to take her."
 
Simon held Blair while Blair cried, still grieving for
his lover. 
 
While Simon held Blair, he looked over at the
cageborn. "Where did you learn to speak?" He asked. 
 
"Jack. He taught me." Jim said. 
 
"Who is Jack." 
 
"My Master before I came here brought Jack. He said he
was not cageborn. He taught me how to speak. Then
Master took him away."
 
"Why did your Master take him away."
 
Jim shrugged, "Jack said he didn't like our cage. He
climbed up." Jim pointed to the roof of the wire cage.
"He stuck his head through the top, then let go.
Master came and took Jack away."
 
Simon stared at the human in horror. The man had no
idea that his cage-mate had killed himself. He was too
ignorant to understand such things. No one had ever
taught him the concept of death, and birth. All the
human knew was the four walls of his cage, and the
will of his Masters. 
 
Suddenly, Jim bent over in pain, hissing and crying as
painful spasms surged through him. 
 
"What wrong?" Blair asked. He had stopped crying, but
had not stopped grieving. He had heard the
conversation between Simon and the human and had been
just as shocked as Simon at the human's ignorance. 
 
Jim, on his knees, looked up. Tears streaked down his
face, "It hurts. Hurts after. Always hurts." 
 
"After what?"
 
"Shots." Jim answered and cried as another spasm
rocked him. 
 
"Injections. Whatever they give him must cause these
side effects. Poor thing." Simon said. 
 
Eventually, the spasms stopped and Jim lay on the cage
floor curled up in a fetal position. 
 
"Let's go, Blair. There's nothing more we can do. I'm
so sorry about Maya." Simon said. 
 
Blair looked at the cageborn for a few more seconds,
then nodded at Simon. 
 
"You leave?" Jim asked. "Like Jack?" 
 
"No, not like Jack." Simon said. 
 
"Then you come back?" 
 
"No." Simon answered. 
 
Jim only nodded, and crawled back to his nest to
sleep. He felt sad that he would not see them again,
but did not udnerstand why he felt sad. 
 
Together, Simon and Blair descended down the rope.
Simon released the grappling hook, and replaced it in
Blair's pack. 
 
On the ride back to their respective homes, Blair
could not get the cageborn out of his mind. He felt as
if he had missed something, but couldn't figure out
what it was. Strangely enough, Blair felt as if he
should go back, and thought to himself that it was
foolish, and very dangerous. But he couldn't shake the
feeling, and that night, blue eyes haunted his dreams.