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    At Home in the Stars
    At Home in the Stars
    At Home in the Stars
    Ebook40 pages31 minutes

    At Home in the Stars

    By S.E. Batt

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    About this ebook

    Everyone loves a trip to the zoo, but not as the exhibit.

    Jenny and Alice find themselves on an alien spaceship, the latest specimens in an intergalactic zoo. Their demands for cars, chocolates, and pedicures proves taxing to the alien race, while the people on Earth learn how comfy a lifetime in a space-bound zoo really is. Can Jenny and Alice escape the madness and get back home? Or will they accept their new lives as living exhibitions for aliens?

    A short story at approximately 7,000 words, originally published in the Quantum Zoo anthology by D.J. Gelner and J.M. Ney-Grimm.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherS.E. Batt
    Release dateAug 18, 2014
    ISBN9781311532169
    At Home in the Stars
    Author

    S.E. Batt

    S.E. Batt loves all things light-hearted and humorous. When he's not writing, he's playing video games, talking to other writers, and generally wishing he was writing. He's a proud member of the Forward Motion online writer's group, and sends all of its members a digital thumbs-up.

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      Book preview

      At Home in the Stars - S.E. Batt

      Copyright

      AT HOME IN THE STARS

      S.E. Batt

      Copyright 2014 by S.E. Batt

      Smashwords Edition

      Table of Contents

      1. Copyright

      2. At Home in the Stars

      3. Thanks

      4. Other Stories by S.E. Batt

      5. Excerpt from Friend Ship

      At Home in the Stars

      I told you already, Alice said. She obviously didn't ball her fists hard enough the last time she said it. We're not animals, and even if we were, there's absolutely no way we could live in the conditions you've put us in. All you've left us with is a large glass box and a sparse, green field of grass that goes on forever. Somehow.

      Yeah, well, Narlok said, rubbing a three-fingered hand through his green tentacle hair. He was the most well-dressed alien Alice had ever seen, which wasn't much, given he was also the first alien. They all say that, really.

      I'm not sure what exactly I should be saying right now. Surely the fact that we're talking to you means we're not animals?

      Depends. What IQ are you again?

      Alice scratched at her head. I never had it checked, really. Jenny, did you ever have an IQ test?

      What? Jenny said, turning around from staring at the endless green field the three of them stood in. I did, yeah.

      What score did you get?

      Jenny shrugged. I dunno. Came in to the testing place late.

      Nevermind. The point, mister alien, is that we're not some animals that you can stick into a zoo. Human beings have average IQs of around a hundred, you know.

      How adorable, Narlok said, adjusting his necktie. You do realise that we, the Harrol race, average around the thousand mark? That's why you're in a zoo, and we are the spectators.

      If you really were that smart, you'd realise just how much trouble you'd be in for keeping me in here.

      And if you're as dumb as you look, Narlok said, Then I have absolutely nothing to worry about.

      You will do when you list us both as 'idiot aliens with puny IQs' in your tour guide.

      Actually, Narlok said, drawing a small screen from his pocket and looking at it, we have you listed on the guide as a 'thin, athletic, black-haired specimen who wears the tribal garments usually worn by more privileged matriarchs of her species.'

      Ooh, Jenny said, her eyes lighting up with excitement. What does it say about me?

      You? 'Brown hair, with minor excessive fat storage and wears shirts advertising movies that went out of fashion ten years ago.'

      Jenny frowned, looking

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