“Please don’t approach the glass. The creatures may get frightened if they are disrupted from their daily routines.”

The Ogres and Ogre children lined up in the queue leading up to this new entertainment attraction. Several office buildings were recommissioned, but no one was working there. Or, to put it more precisely, the people working here didn’t realise they weren’t working. 

A few years ago, the Ogre tribes had united and decided they’d had enough of humans and their arrogance. Such was the human attitude that any non-humans living amongst them were considered to be possible service options. Because of how they looked, Ogres were treated as if they were largely unintelligent and valuable for only brute force. Some Ogres had still chosen to live amongst the humans, and in some cases, they were appointed to senior corporate positions. In other instances, Ogres would allow their tusks to become polished from lack of use whilst they demanded protection money.

The Ogre chiefs decided to abduct a large number of humans and monitor their behaviour. They had carried out an extensive study and concluded that humans appeared to do most of their work in office buildings; thus, the Human Zoo Office Building Attraction was born.

Edgar and his son Osgar had finally managed to get tickets and were both very excited. Like most Ogres, they preferred not to have too much human contact. There were Ogres that had no problem with it, and inevitably, their tusks would become polished and shiny from lack of use. Humans were inherently arrogant, and rather than learn another form of communication, they just expected everyone to conform to their traditions and cultures. In Ogre society, Tusks were used as a part of the language, they were expertly banged together to create sounds that other Ogres could understand. It was great that the Ogre chiefs had invested in this zoo. It would be a fantastic way to study the human mindset. 

Edgar handed his tickets to the guard in front of the entrance, and he and his son were both let through the gates. There was an entire community, with houses, an office building, and even a “recreation centre.” The Ogre scientists had really gone the whole distance in trying to recreate the human experience as best they could. 

As it was midday, Edgar and Osgar headed straight to the office’s viewing gallery. The whole community was enclosed in a dome of one-way glass. Lanes were built into the glass for viewers to wander around the attraction, with pathways that went into all the buildings. Most of the crowd had the same idea, so Edgar and Osgar were pushed along in the throng of Ogres. The glass lane began a gradual incline, and they steadily rose until they entered the mock office building. They had entered a room full of rows of long lines of tables with vertical separation boards to create small individual booths. There were computer screens in every little pen. It looked mildly ridiculous that the humans thought the separators were giving them privacy. There were humans in every cubicle; some stared intensely at the screens, others were wearing headphones and talking into microphones. A small plaque gave the viewers some information about what they were seeing. It said: 

“Call Centre: Humans are notorious for creating a space for office workers to speak using communication devices. There were many reasons for adopting this structure. At times, human corporations would sell poor-quality products, and customers would be forced to call an office like this to shout at office workers angrily by way of customer appeasement. Other office workers would be forced to carry out tedious investigative work by calling hundreds of people to psychologically bludgeon them into buying substandard products. Humans would often call this Sales.” 

Edgar nudged his son and pointed at a human clearly animatedly shouting through his communication device. The human stood up and was now flaingly his arms. Other humans had perked up and were drawn to the commotion. A digital ticker tape began appearing on the glass, explaining what was happening. Edgar read the moving text:

• The human was answering a complaint call and was not able to remain listening to the abuse on the other line and began answering back in anger
• As is typical of their nature, other humans were drawn to the embarrassing situation and became gleeful observers. (Humans will likely use this as gossip to enhance their social interactions in their leisure time.)
• The senior employee, who has baseless power over the other humans in situations such as these, has summoned the culprit into a private room.

Edgar ushered his son further up the glass walkway to the private room. Amazingly, there was even sound capability owing to the small size of the room. As they walked into the room with several other Ogres, they could hear the senior employee berating his slave:

“… unacceptable behaviour. How dare you speak to customers like that! It’s not your job to have dignity. It’s your job to be abused and humiliated by the customers. There’s no place for dignity in a job like this. You’ve ruined your career. I expect to see you tender your resignation tomorrow.”

“Please, Jim, I couldn’t help it, my son didn’t sleep last night, and I was up all night looking after him….”

“HOW DARE YOU! Don’t bring your family into this. What kind of woke outfit do you think this is!? Your…personal life is none of my concern. I expect you to work better than a robot. It’s people like you who threaten the human race. They might as well replace us with AI! I can’t even speak to you.” 

At this, the overlord, which is what Edgar assumed he was, stormed out of the small room, aggressively opening the door and leaving it to smash back into the door frame. The remaining human crumpled in on himself and began to sob. Every so often, the gulping sobs were interrupted with words such as “making rent” and “wife leaving me.” The Ogres shook their heads almost as if they were in sync. Edgar knelt on one knee to address his son, “You see, Osgard, the humans have a typical hierarchical system, like many other biological systems. The problem with humans is that authority and power are not awarded on merit. There were even times in human history when leaders of nations were appointed based on the most accomplished ability to lie and smile. It is fascinating that they haven’t died out as a species.” Osgard remained quiet but became thoughtful. “Come, Osgard, let’s move on to the next exhibit. 

Edgar had decided they’d had enough excitement from the office building and ushered his son to the recreation centre. The glass walkways again entered the building from above the ground level. They passed a bunch of confectionary stands, which Edgar promised Osgard they would return to. The glass corridor had several passageways that veered around all over the building. There was a sign with the names of the exhibits and arrows pointing in the directions of the viewing areas:

Gym

Cinema

Football Pitch

Edgar steered his son towards the Gym, which was the closest exhibit. The Ogres had their own gyms, of course, but they were multi-layered. In an Ogre gym, the mind was exercised as much as the body and a full-body workout was indeed that. They pushed the door of the gym and entered into the viewing gallery. This time, the viewing gallery was high above the exhibit to provide a clear view of what was happening. Edgar and Osgar spent a few minutes taking in the activity. Edgar was astounded by the contradictions. It appeared that the humans were split into several different categories. The first thing he noticed was that this was definitely a place where the brain was not trained. He admired the humans’ resilience in carrying out the same repetitive tasks over and over.

The digital ticker tape began scrolling on the viewing glass:

“The Human Gym: a place where humans come under the overarching objective of physical exercise. In reality, this theme is then polluted with other intentions. It is a strange reality that humans abuse their bodies through the adoption of mind-numbing sedentary work throughout the day, only to compensate through mind-numbing physical activity after their work is complete.”

“Human males will come to gyms in various states of undress to support body cooling. This is a pretext; in reality, the human males are trying to exhibit their dominance and superiority.”

“Notice that the males and females have been separated in this exhibit. Unfortunately, humans have questionable moral control and often attempt to mate under unsanctioned conditions.”

How strange these humans are, thought Edgar. He could see Osgard struggle with these contradictions, too. It was enjoyable to see Osgard wrestle with this strange culture’s peculiarities. Edgar called to Osgard, and they returned to the glass walkway. 

Now they headed towards the cinema. Ogre Society also had recreational digital viewing facilities. However, Ogre cinema generally consisted of a detailed analysis of significant historical events. It was entertaining and highly educational. The human cinema auditorium was divided into two sections. There was the traditional darkly lit viewing space, where humans would sit in rows of seats and watch the films projected onto a large screen. Edgar and Osgard paused to take in some of the films the human attendees watched in rapt attention. There were humans on the screen that had clearly been selected due to being fantastic specimens of the human race. Their beauty was accentuated using props and what appeared to be paint on the female characters. They were acting out blatantly ridiculous scenarios, but rather than laugh at themselves for this obvious ridiculousness, their expressions were deadly serious, allowing the observing humans to buy into and engage emotionally with this fantasy. Fiction and fantasy were not alien to the Ogres, but they were relegated to the corner of mild amusement. 

In the next room, adjacent to the viewing hall, some of the movie’s actors were being celebrated as if they were war heroes or astute politicians. There was a crowd of humans jostling with each other, audibly screaming upon the slightest sliver of attention. It was insanity. These humans were celebrating to the point of worshipping these worthless other humans who had merely entertained them. There was no logic or reason. 

Edgar again crouched down to his son and spoke softly, “You see, Osgard, this happens when people’s values stray from reality. It is a strange and horrible thing.” Osgard was visibly shaken. “Father, will this happen to the Ogres?”

Edgar had no answer for his son. It was a terrifying prospect.