Teacher's Pet

Suddenly I was surrounded by an odd plastic forest of grayish-brown trees. The trees looked like large leafless shrubs with white oval bumps spaced along their branches.

A robotic hand pinched one of the white oval bumps and peeled it off the tree, and the owner of the blue hand, a blue robot, ate the white oval. I noticed a broad background of rusty orange. I heard a strange sound coming from the robots -- there were several now -- a cross between a chirp and a screech.

They were watching me. I was picked up and brought to a bowl of water. I started talking. "Hey, where am I? Who are you? What are you? Why am I here?"

I remembered I was driving home from a party in Albany. I felt like I was in a large room that could have been anywhere. Possibly not Schenectady. Possibly not New York. Possibly not Earth.

A robot approached me and chirped. Then patted my head. Then she left. Don't know why that robot felt like a "she."

Three of the robotic creatures stood close to one another and chattered and clicked. A fourth came close to me and kicked me. My senses grew stronger, more clear. The creatures who seemed to be my captors were blue-green, shaped like humans but thin, as though they were starving. I noticed a mechanical hum that sounded like it came from all directions. A generalized feeling of fear held me. I felt like my body was coated with a film of clear varnish. I asked myself if I was dreaming. My brain and the male creature who had kicked me said, "No." I felt pressure in my bowels and lost control. Pulled down my pants and shit on the floor.

Then I woke up here. But it wasn't a dream. It was real. I am certain. At the end, the she robot picked me up and held me outward like a bag of garbage. Then she put me down. I looked up at her. She said, "We don't want you."

Then I woke up here. What happened? Have I been hypnotized? Was this a party trick? -end-