Chapter 4

Its confusion over her status finally cleared up the computer ignored her increasingly desperate pleas as it guided her past long rows of cattle pens until it found an empty quarantine stall allocated for the new livestock and led it inside.

Cindy was dragged into a concrete pen and released once the electrified gate had closed behind her, all around her she could hear the sound of the farm processing the herd and the lowing of the cattle as they were guided through their daily routine.

The walls of the pen went up about six foot and with the exception of a concrete trough in one corner it was completely bare, the track overhead was hung with assorted mechanical equipment but it was all well out of reach.

She immediately tried to climb over the wall of the stall but her fingers almost immediately found the electrified wire that ran along the top sending her crashing back into the pen.

‘Come on there’s got to be a way out of this’ Cindy muttered to herself looking around in desperation. One of the long mechanical arms dangling above the pen was only just out of reach if she jumped for it if only she had something she could stand on she could pull herself up on it and scramble up to the observation gantry above and get out of this nightmare.

Suddenly she had an idea, taking off her ruined silk negligee she twisted it up and tied a knot in the fabric turning her last shred of clothing into a crude rope which she started trying to hook on the dangling mechanical arm, on the fifth try the knot caught in the crook of the metal arm and Cindy tugged hard on it checking that it would hold her weight.

‘So long Bertha I’m going to have daddy turn you into scrap when he gets home.’ Cindy muttered jumping as high as she could and starting to desperately scramble up the silk.

Unfortunately Bertha’s sensors registered the sudden weight on the arm and after registering that stock was attempting to leave its pen labelled her as a problem animal. The mechanical arms that had hung limply around her as she began her climb sprang into life and after a few moments frantic struggle Cindy lost her grip and fell back into the pen followed by the reaching arms.

One arm strapped a thick woven steel collar around her neck and pulled it tight the mechanism adjusting the fit to her neck automatically but the width of the restraint meant for the longer neck of a cow forced her head up as it dug painfully against her jaw and collarbones. Long cables were attached to the collar and clipped to pulleys built into the floor and ceiling which whirred into life locking her head at a set height as a thick nylon sling was passed under her stomach and pulled gently tight forming a cradle that raised her onto her tiptoes. More needle tipped arms diagnostic arms whirred down piercing her already sore backside and injecting her with a tranquiliser meant for a much larger animal.

As Cindy moaned in pain and drifted into a drugged daze Bertha brought up her blood tests and checked them for anomalies, the system was programmed to look for symptoms of disease and parasitic infection and suggest treatment it was never programmed to look for anomalies it couldn’t understand so it registered Cindy as a normal healthy cow although it did note her blood chemistry indicated some deficiency in the animals diet. Bertha’s system ran a more thorough test attempting to identify reasons why the stock would be acting strangely registering her as extremely malnourished and underweight with unusually high heartbeat and low blood pressure and concocting a complicated chemical mix of drugs and supplements to correct her problems and begin her rehabilitation into productive livestock.

When Cindy came to she found herself still suspended by the collar and cradle her nose inches from the trough which was divided into two sections for food and water, the room seemed to swim around her and she found it difficult to focus or think clearly the drugs coursing through her system making her woozy.

‘B.. Bertha please let me go’ she sobbed’ frantically trying to pull herself free but the sling just moved with her dunking her head into the water as the cable holding her collar gave her a few inches movement letting her body seesaw.

‘LIVESTOCK CINDY HAS BEEN QUARANTINED UNTIL SHE MEETS MINIMUM QUALITY STANDARDS’ Bertha droned quietly as Cindy continued to beg and plead between sobs.

A long hose dropped into the stall and filled the feeding trough with a sticky mix of greyish brown animal feed making Cindy Gag on the unpleasant smell, utterly revolted she hung there ignoring the food and drifting in and out of consciousness until the feeding trough was emptied by a spray of water as the computer registered her refusal to eat.

Another pair of mechanical arms lowered, one aimed a thick rubbery tube at her mouth while the other brushed against her back giving her a mild shock making her gasp and open her mouth for the feeding tube to slip neatly inside, as Cindy wriggled and squeaked the thick rubbery hose pushed into her throat and down towards her stomach the tube built for a much wider throat making her gag around it as she struggled to breathe.

After a few panicked minutes her body relaxed the gag reflex giving in against the immovable intruder and she hung there helpless and moaning in protest as the feeding tube began to forcibly fill her stomach.

It’s too much oh gods I feel like I’m going to burst the hapless girl though to herself as her stomach visibly began to bloat from the amount of food the machine was filling her with but thankfully just as she felt she couldn’t possibly hold anymore it stopped leaving her feeling immensely bloated and another set of needles came down pumping her full of sweet oblivion.