The Houseboy's Escape
The last of the explosions threw Sarah to the ground. She got up, cursing the long white dress her father had bought her, then suddenly afraid that she might never see him again. She paused amidst the wreckage of the town to get her bearings, simultaneously on the lookout for any of the roving mobs of...men? monsters? ...she didn't know, all she knew was that she had to find Cheng and get herself and him back to the ship before those already aboard decided they couldn't wait any longer without being overrun. After turning several corners she nearly ran into one of the mobs, but she dove under a wooden staircase as they passed. These were the doctor's experiments, presumably former animals, transformed somehow by Moreau into human servants, now after their master's violent public death, they were reverting to their former shapes. This unleashing of animal instincts and frustration brought about by the sudden changes instigated a madness which only increased with time and mob psychology. All of the humans left on the island, all guests of the doctor, had immediately fled to the single waiting ship, all except Sarah, for somehow she knew, Cheng was still inside the mansion somewhere.
Her relationship with the Chinese houseboy had begun with her arrival on the island, accompanying her father and his various associates on their visit at the request of the doctor, in order to observe what he called his "utopia" The vision had chilled Sarah's heart at the time, the very thought so against what she felt was right and true it made her sick, but she didn't dare confess any of this to her father, being ever the scientist, was never prone to excursions into philanthropy.
Cheng had stood by to take their coats and luggage when they entered the large hallway of the doctor's mansion. She thought him to be around 17 or 18, although everyone knew it was impossible to tell the age of Orientals, short, just about her height, perhaps a bit stocky, but from the broad chest muscles showing underneath the crisp white shirt he wore not at all fat, he had his jet black hair cut short enough to make it bristle straight up, skin on the yellow side of cinnamon, a smooth golden brown hue which silently enthused the young man's healthy glow, and intense black eyes, so dark they appeared two dots. Immediately she felt a curiosity growing inside her. The doctor treated him with complete indifference, as if it was an embarrassment to have the servant closest to him a human and presumably not part of his grand scheme. At the time she wondered if he felt any danger from his creations, for he seemed at odds with his own enthusiasm.
The days had passed slowly, as she was not allowed to wander the island freely, she spent her time inside the small town or in the mansion. One day, as she soaked in the bathtub, the door opened and Cheng the houseboy walked in and froze, obviously not expecting her to be there.
"Ah....oh, I.....ah..." he stammered, his slanted eyes wide and his wide mouth hanging open in embarrassment. She had been alarmed at first, then amused, then her curiosity reemerged.
"Don't go." she called, even though he made no signs of leaving, still standing, staring. "Haven't you ever seen a woman's body before?" He shook his head slowly, and she stood up in the tub, letting the bubbles drip down. "Well, I for one have never seen a Chinaman's body, what's it like?" That was true, at least. She wondered, Chinamen didn't seem to grow any body hair, did they even have pubic hair? She had also heard that they didn't circumcize their penises, something she had never seen before.
He looked at her in confusion. "I don't understand, what is it you want?" She saw she would have to make things simpler, but something in his eyes said he knew basically what this was all about, something perhaps subconscious, but something nonetheless.
"Listen, you have me at a disadvantage here, I'm naked and you're, well..." she looked at his houseboy's uniform meaningly. He nodded, and began to unbutton his shirt, slipping it off, revealing a smooth, meaty chest, black thatches protruding from under two thick brown arms. Then he unbuttoned his dark pants and slid them down his muscular legs, taking along his white undershorts with them. His penis, it's head swelling further and further out of its foreskin, was a darker brown than the rest of his body, framed with a small yet thick patch of straight black hair.
"Come here." she called, and he padded over to her. They embraced naturally, her pearl-white skin and blonde curls intertwining, contrasting, complementing his golden brown and ebon-black...
From then on they had been together constantly, talking, mostly about England, where she was from. He didn't seem to know anything about the world, but was very curious, and she was glad to answer all his questions. Often they talked long into the tropic night, the mosquitoes buzzing at the nets over the windows.
"I would like to go to England. It sounds wonderful" he told her one night.
"I will take you there. You can live with me, that is, if..." doubt filled his features.
"Somehow I think your countrymen would not accept one of my kind as their son-in-law." Bitterness. She tried to think of an answer, but couldn't. Deep down, she knew he was right.
"We'll find a way. There's always a way."
All of this ran through her mind as she raced to the mansion, now dodging the occasional wild animal, many still dragging shirts and pants around with them. She burst through the front door and down the hall to his room, threw open the door and saw him.
The masterless houseboy squatted on the floor next to his simple bedstand, obviously concentrating on something. At her entry, he looked up and a look of joy spread across his brown features. But, as he stood up, she could see there was something wrong. He had grown taller, now several inches taller than she, and the contours of his body had changed, his chest pushed at his shirt front, the buttons straining. His neck had lengthened, the black hair now stretching down towards his back, his bare brown feet had also become impossibly long, his pant legs hitched at his ankles, which were now moving, it seemed towards his knees. Small tears appeared at his pant seams as his thighs began to swell.
He saw her look and nodded. Even his face seemed different, his nose, once flat and wide, had become longer, his nostrils large and further apart, his ears now slightly above his eye-level, had assumed rounded points..."I should have told you, but I never thought it would come to this, I always thought..."he gulped, his voice breaking,"I thought I would always be....there's no time!" The sound of tearing cloth reached her ears, as his shirt began to rip in back. In her hand she felt his fingers begin to shrink and become hard, and looking down she saw them darken, mere lumps on his hand. Black hairs began to sprout on his wrists and barrelling chest. "One...more....time?" his growing eyes begged, and she nodded. His pants separated and fell to the floor as his hips grew further apart, and she grabbed his swelling penis as the black hair spread up his growing belly, the foreskin thickening into a horse's furry sheath, his testicles now the size of grapefruit.
Slowly she inserted him into herself, feeling his penis grow larger and more equine inside her. His feet shuffled on the wooden floor, making a sound which was approached the clomping of hooves as his feet hardened. Her hands felt his expanding rear, black hairs sprouting under her fingers. The end of his spine bulged out, pushing at the brown skin, which stretched into a incipient tail, which began to hang further and further down, until it brushed her leg. His face, covered with darkening black fuzz, pressed out, his nose and mouth melding into a lengthening snout, and his clumpy finger tried to grab her shoulders, but soon all she felt was the rubbing of hooves pawing at her back. Then he came inside her, she felt the flood and heard the mix of a cry and a neighing behind her, but when she turned, all she saw was a black pony, hooves stamping impatiently on the remains of a houseboy's uniform.
Suddenly she remembered the ship. "Come on" she called, climbing on Cheng's back. The pony nodded, and took off for the shore at full gallop. He knew, as did she, that he was going to England, to live with his love.
They almost didn't make it. The ship had just cast off, and would have been out of reach had Sarah been on foot. But she wasn't, and with a mightly leap Cheng jumped the gap between ship and dock, landing heavily on the wooden deck to surprised cheers from the crew. Her father came rushing up, and in an uncharacteristic display of joy, actually hugged her. "Where did you get the horse? I didn't know you could ride!" she shook her head and looked at him solemnly.
"That," she said."is Cheng, the houseboy." Her father gasped, looking at the black pony standing not far away. "He saved my life."
"Then we must certainly find a place in our stables back home for him." her father answered.
Back in England it was discovered that Sarah was pregnant, very pregnant, with twins at least the midwife said. When the time came for her to give birth, many anxious faces crowded around, eager for any clue to the identity of the father, for Sarah herself was not forthcoming on the subject.
"It's coming out, the first one, anyway," the midwife called. The baby's head appeared, and shoulders, and those present shook their heads knowingly. It was a Chinese baby, and they waited to see if it were a boy or girl, but to them it seemed that the damage was already done. Slowly the midwife tugged the child's body out, chest, stomach...then a patch of black hair appeared below the umbilical cord....pubic hair? So early? but it seemed that the child's entire lower body was covered with the stuff! Then the legs came out, but instead of little pink toes, they ended in tiny hooves! A thud reached their ears as a woman fainted. But there was more. More torso, and a second pair of legs, an sheathed penis, and a tail! Sarah had given birth to a Chinese centaur. Sarah herself seemed to know already, and merely smiled at the sight of the baby/foal when they hoisted it up for her to see. A boy, of sorts, they said.
"Welcome to England, little Cheng." was all she said, and from the stables they heard a joyful neighing.