Barely two hour had passed since Hayley had left the young girl’s body behind. She hadn’t moved much since then. Once she’d gotten out of eyeshot of the DIS agents, she found a place to sit in the wooded area, and cried for awhile. She found she’d been doing a lot of that lately. Usually crying was an emotional release for her, but now all it did was deepen her depression. Her so-called adventurous spirit had been dashed in a single instant, and she was back to hinging on the abyss. Sitting and being alone wasn’t helping, and so she decided to get back on the move. She followed the road for about twenty more minutes until coming to a section where the road branched off along a dirt path. From her vantage, she could see that the path descended into a sunken part of the forest, possibly into a canyon. Deciding that was a good a time as any to go off the beaten path, she turned onto the narrow dirt road. She found walking along soil to be preferably to walking on pavement- the bumps and dips actually made walking more comfortable. After all, her ancient ancestors who walked barefoot didn’t have roads. This was the natural state that human evolution had intended human feet to be walking on. The padding on her soles made walking over twigs and rocks a breeze, something those same ancient ancestors of her probably would have killed to have on their callous-caked soles. She had to be careful walking down the steep incline- the suit unfortunately provided next to no friction against the soil, threatening to cause her feet to slide out from under her with each precarious step she took down. By digging her heels into the soil and grabbing onto nearby branches, she managed to work her way down about half way before her heel struck a patch of loose soil. Losing her balance she fell to her back and slid down the rest of the way down the hill, coming to rest as the ground evened out. The fall had taken the wind out of Hayley, but hadn’t hurt much. Despite there being nobody around to see her tumble, she still felt a wave of embarrassment as she climbed to her feet and dusted herself off.
Damn suit. She thought bitterly. No traction in this thing at all! Convinced that nobody had seen her, not that anyone could really see her, Hayley continued down the dirt path, finding herself in a very dense wooded area that was about as remote as one could get. The forest seemed to be rising all around her, with trees blocking out the sun, rendering dark deep shadows throughout as if she were in a tunnel. She came to a stop at a fork in the road. Casting long glances down both paths, she saw the one to her left seemed to trek deeper into the dark woods while the one to her right appeared to open up about a hundred meters or so. Opting for the right path, she followed it, noticing something in the clearing ahead that didn’t appear to be part of the forest. As she maneuvered into the clearing, she found it occupied by another one of those flat-roofed maintenance bays. It wasn’t the only thing in the clearing however. A number of Exiles took up space in the clearing, most of them sitting in the long grass across the dirt path from the building, as if the path acted as a kind of line of demarcation. A few Exiles paced back and forth in small circles, most simply sat with their heads down, their body language mirroring the misery they undoubtedly felt. None seemed to pay much attention to the new Exile as she entered the clearing. To them she was just a nameless, faceless entity among thousands, totally beneath their notice. A few of them did turn their heads to look at her, but just briefly.
Hayley was forced to move away from path as she noticed a number of Exiles sitting very close along side it. She wanted to avoid triggering the Warden’s proximity warning and submitting herself to unnecessary torment. Unfortunately, it meant getting within range of the maintenance building, which would only cause her further pain. Breathing a heavy sigh, Hayley took the long way around, staying close to the edge of the large circular clearing while avoiding other Exiles. It was like navigating through a minefield. Every time she got too close to another Exile, Warden would let her known by emitting a painful high-pitched squeal directly into her head. The noise worked its way down her spine each time, and she could feel it all through her body. Despite a phantom ringing in her ear once she’d returned to legal distance, there was never any residual pain. Still, the effort was unpleasant and served to further detract any thoughts she may have had about returning to a more populated area.
Her feet and legs having grown sore and tired from walking, Hayley decided to takes some time to rest. Finding a clear spot just within the tree line, she sat down in the grass with her back against a tree, resting her encased head on the trunk and closing her eyes. She had to admit, there was a certain comfort knowing she was around other people, even if they were Exiles and she couldn’t communicate with them. It was just that psychological reassurance that she wasn’t alone. She figured that was perhaps the greatest draw of the arcologies, and why the Exiles tended to congregate near them...just to be around people was better than being completely isolated. Still, Hayley didn’t like being punished. She knew the safest way to avoid punishment was to isolate herself from others.
The young singer wasn’t quite sure how much time had passed when she was suddenly stirred by the computerized voice in her head.
"Maintenance notification. Proceed immediately to nearest Maintenance bay. You have thirty minutes to comply before you are subject to protocol violation."
The prospect of having her body invaded by those tubes made Hayley squirm. However, she was feeling hungry. It’d been hours since she’d had anything in her stomach, and just as long since she’d relieved herself. Strangely, the latter wasn’t affecting her quite so much. She figured it had something to do with the things they’d put inside her body. Climbing to her feet, she started toward the white, sun bleached building nearby. One of the Exiles, noticing her moving toward the maintenance bay, quickly rose to his feet and ran out in front of her, deliberately blocking her path. She stopped just a foot before entering within illegal proximity of him.
The Exile stood with a hand out at her, as if to say ‘halt’ like some kind of bouncer. Further adding to the effect was the fact that the Exile was about 210-pounds of lean muscle. His body was well sculpted, particularly his legs, indicating he did quite a bit of walking and exercise. Given how little else there was to do as an Exile, Hayley must have figured this guy had been in self-confined exile for a number of years. She wondered what his beef was with her? All she wanted, rather needed to do was enter the maintenance bay.
She gave him a deliberate looking shrug. He shook his head in reply then pointed to the building. She noticed something very roughly etched into the side of the building, as if it’d been carved in with a rock. It wasn’t exactly art, but looked like a very poorly rendered letter ‘A’ enclosed within an even poorer drawn circle. Whoever had done it had clearly been in some considerable discomfort. Was it some kind of branding, like a gang marking? Did Exiles actually form gangs? Could they even? If so, how could they know who among them were members and who weren’t? It seemed preposterous. Hayley brushed the Exile off and attempted to circle around him. This time the muscular Exile didn’t bother to stay out of range of her and moved within about eight feet of her.
The piercing noise hit both of them at once, but while the male Exile just stood there vibrating slightly, Hayley was pitched over in agony, clutching the sides of her head in a futile effort to clasp her concealed ears. She quickly retreated, but the large Exile stayed on her, pushing her all the way back to the tree line before stopping. She collapsed into the grass as the sound finally subsided. "What the hell is your problem!?" She screamed through her teeth, knowing full well he couldn’t hear her. "You bastard! Get out of my way!"
The Exile didn’t move and didn’t appear to intend to back down. He’d obviously claimed this territory as his own. Perhaps that marking on the building was his initial. Glancing past his shoulder, she noticed a few Exiles heading toward the building. She waved her arms, trying to draw the brute’s attention toward them. Catching on after a moment, he glanced back, noticed the Exiles entering the Maintenance bay and didn’t appear too concerned. He looked back at Hayley, pointed at her as if to single her out, then pointed at the building and shook his head.
She shrugged and held out her hands, as if to ask ‘why’. He pointed at his wrist as if indicating the time on an invisible wristwatch. She had no idea what to make of that. Did he mean the time of day? Again she shrugged and shook her head. He pointed at her again with a thrusting jab of his finger, then swung his arms down the length of his body as if revealing himself before pointing at his invisible watch again.
After contemplating the bizarre game of charades that he was playing with her, she figured out his meaning. Somehow he knew that she’d only recently been exiled. He was indicating that that particular maintenance bay was for long-timers only, she figured. He then took a few steps away from her, motioned at the dirt path then made a rightward hooking motion with his arm, as if to indicate that there was a turn in the road at some point. Perhaps he was giving her directions. She wasn’t sure. All she was sure of was that she had thirty minutes to get to a maintenance bay before she was penalized.
Climbing to her feet, she cautiously edged onto the dirt path. The brutish Exile stood with his arms crossed, much like a bouncer, and made no move toward her as she started down the path. Heaving a sigh, she turned her back to the clearing and stepped back into the dense wooded area, continuing her way along the path. The path eventually led up and out of the ridge. Fortunately going up hills proved slightly less challenging since Hayley could dig her toes into the soil, although jamming her toes into rough rock hewn soil was not exactly the most enjoyable experience. While the suit did do much to buffer any physical sensation, it couldn’t do much when she stubbed her toe into a rock. She wondered why anyone would have placed a maintenance station in an area so clearly inaccessible and remote? But perhaps that itself was why they’d put it there.
After a good ten minutes of puttering down the path, her feet and toes throbbing from the climb, Hayley got to a fork in the path. Deciding to go for broke and follow the other Exile’s direction, she headed right. Within fifteen minutes she’d emerged from the wooded area near a paved road, and found herself in depressingly familiar surroundings. She was right back where she’d started that day, no more than a few dozen meters from where she’d slept that night. Turning to her right she saw the Maintenance bay she’d attempted to enter.
Hayley breathed a mournful sigh. There was just something about having gone in a complete circle that crushed her, the thought of any progress she’d made having been quashed. Normally if she’d been hiking alone, the sight of familiar surroundings would have been comforting, but not this time. All this area did was remind her of why she was out there. Before she could think too bitterly of the fact, a voice in her head reminded her that there was some purpose to her life, at least for the immediate moment.
"Protocol violation. You are now overdue for maintenance. Further penalties to incur every ten-minute cycle. Proceed to nearest Maintenance bay immediately."
"Fuck!" She raged after a short jostle of pain worked its way up her body, angered that the brutish Exile had caused her a penalty for not letting her use the Maintenance building when she’d been near one. She was more annoyed with the Warden for not having acknowledged the fact that she’d been forcibly prevented from entering a maintenance area on time.
Crestfallen, she sauntered over to the maintenance building. As she got within a few feet of its walls, the Warden spoke again.
"Entering maintenance area," the disembodied electronic voice droned. "You now have six minutes and zero seconds."
Hayley heaved a sigh. They’d even emplaced time limits on how long she had to use the bathroom. While six minutes seemed ample time, she wondered what’d happen had there been a line up? Would she only get six minutes still? And if so, if those six minutes had expired before she had a chance to go, would that be it for the day? She decided not to dwell on it to much as she passed through the upwardly sliding proximity door into a large, non-descript area filled with a number of those narrow alcoves which looked like small public toilet stalls, except without doors. To her surprise, there were a few Exiles already inside. Both of them squatted over the cylinders and had hoses running into their bodies. They both squirmed in obvious discomfort as their bodies were emptied then filled again by the automated system. Hayley watched for a moment as a lean and fit female Exile writhed, her hands tight around the handlebars, her head jerking from side to side. It was a perverse sight, and Hayley felt a wave of shame wash over her as she forced herself to look away. She didn’t want to move to far into the chamber however, with there being two others already in there. She didn’t want that noise in her head again.
Within a few seconds, the female Exile’s maintenance was complete. As the tubes were extracted, she released the handlebars and stood up straight, taking a moment to gather herself before stepping back away from the alcove and turning around. She saw Hayley standing there, and much to the young girl’s surprise, was greeted with a small nod of acknowledgement. The other Exile then walked straight toward her, causing Hayley to back off. The female Exile came within a foot of her however, and no alarms, no warning at all went off. She seemed to give Hayley a small glance before stepping out through the sliding door. Clearly, Exiles could be within proximity of each other so long as they were inside the maintenance areas. With a light sigh and feeling a little more at ease, Hayley found her way into one of the many stalls. There was a moment of hesitation on her part as she placed her feet into the foot holes, really not wanting to experience the indignation of going through the process again. It was too late however, and it wasn’t as though there was anything she could do about it anyway. It was either receive maintenance or receive punishment. And her stomach was growling. Her hands locked onto the handlebars and her body was pulled down into a squat. This time she didn’t look, instead closed her eyes and thought of something pleasant as she felt the material around her crotch sink into her seconds before feeling the tubes forcibly enter her. The sensation drew a yelp from her encased lips. She felt the pressure that had been building up in her colon over the course of the day rapidly drain away, followed by a cold sensation that made her hips gyrate and finally the sensation of her stomach filling. The thought of being fed anally was a grotesque concept. Further, exactly what she was being fed was a mystery. It didn’t feel solid as it traveled up her intestines, at least not entirely so. Whatever it was, it at least felt good being in her stomach.
The hoses finally withdrew and autonomy returned to Hayley’s body. The whole experience left her feeling lightheaded and disoriented, but not terribly uncomfortable. It was almost like the moments following an orgasm. It suddenly occurred to her that’s exactly what had happened. Whether it had happened by design or if perhaps because the sensation was still new to Hayley, she didn’t really care. She just felt suddenly so dirty and ashamed, like she would have felt if she’d been caught masturbating in public. That’s what this felt like, even though there were no others watching. The only other Exile in the room had already gone without her noticing.
"Maintenance period expired. Leave maintenance area immediately."
An intense, rapid stabbing sensation filled Hayley’s body suddenly, as if someone was repeatedly jabbing her with a sharp pointed instrument at different points of her body. Wincing and crying out in pain, she ran out of the maintenance bay as if she were on fire. The second she’d gotten a few meters away, the pain abruptly stopped. Groaning, she let out a sharp, disparaging breath as she leered at the building through her dark, glossy helmet.
"Next scheduled maintenance period in 10.9 hours."
"Fuck you, you stupid fucking machine!" Hayley snarled at the voice in her head. "Get out of my head!! GET OUT OF MY HEAD!" Crying, she fell to her knees while desperately scratching at her helmet, trying to find somewhere she could grab onto, some small seam or something she could maybe dig into and pry the blasted thing off. The helmet was perfectly smooth. It bore no grooves or seams, no bumps, dips or ridges. Her encased hands slid along its surface unable to create any friction whatsoever. Realizing the depths of how futile the struggle was, she collapsed into a sobbing, quivering pile in the grass, holding her hands behind her head and clenching the sides of her head between her arms.
She would give anything just to be out of that cage.