Stacey groaned and covered her head.
"So, what do you want to do?" Telea teased, gently pushing Stacey's shoulder.
"I absolutely have to watch them?" Stacey asked in a muffled voice.
"You do. I don't know how, but the Sex Education and Family Planning Bureau will know if you don't," Telea shrugged with a wry grin.
"I think it's better if I watched them with you than him," Stacey said from under her blanket.
"Alright," Telea gave her a crooked smile and then inserted the chips into the television.
She stuck her head out of the room to inform a nurse and the Huo guards not to let anyone in while Stacey was watching the sex education materials. Then Telea kicked off her shoes.
"Move over and give me some space. I'll sit in the bed so you can hug me if you get squeamish and scared."
Stacey moved over to give Telea some space. Once Telea had made herself comfortable, she pressed the television remote to play the video content.
An orchestral soundtrack played a serene tune, while beautiful scenes of nature played. Various creatures of the land, sky and sea were shown in their natural habitats. Seas of grass and flowers swayed in the wind. Butterflies and bees fluttered beneath an open blue sky, while clouds scudded overhead.
A baritone voice narrated the life cycles of various animals. Some that Stacey was familiar with and some she was not. From the life cycle of chickens to horses, from frilled lizards to the strange, muddy looking elephant-like proboscidean.
Thankfully, it was all in English. Someone had been thoughtful enough to realise that Stacey still struggled with the Tadpole language.
So far, these education videos weren't too bad. It was like watching animal documentaries.
Mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians were all covered in quick succession. Various fish and sea creatures, insects and plant life came next. Stacey actually learned a fair amount about the common flora and fauna of Gaius through the video. She learned that there were man eating plants here, as well as some semi-sentient plant ecosystems.
"And what do all these creatures have in common?" the baritone narrator questioned. "The drive to procreate and reproduce."
The music skipped a beat and then a rock tune belted out a fast, syncopated rhythm. The screen was filled with the various creatures mating, one after another in time to the music. It seemed that some kinds of plants also mated with each other in a vigorous way with the insertion of male parts into female parts.
After the serious, informative style and formal tones, the sudden switch to cheesiness was both shocking and embarrassing.
Stacey slapped her hands over her eyes, while Telea laughed at her reaction.
The recording ended with the music.
Uncovering her eyes, Stacey hoped she would be given some reprieve, but the next clip had already started playing. It was another documentary that detailed the history of humankind on Gaius and the atrocities they had suffered while slaves of the gods and Ancients. It depicted short clips of the beastmen and women being carried captive, forced to bear mixed offspring without care for their health or wellbeing. Rough statistics were given as to the numbers of births and survival rates of humans compared to the other dominant races living on Gaius.
This clip was relatively short but incredibly intense and the accompanying soundtrack gave Stacey goosebumps.
"It is the duty and responsibility of every human to reproduce as soon and as much as possible in order to prevent humankind from being overrun and being forced into slavery again," the female narrator intoned. "Marry and have children for the safety and furtherment of all mankind. May we never have to bow to another race or species again."
Telea dabbed at the sweat on Stacey's face and neck after that clip. She paused the video before the next one could start.
"Stacey, have a drink," she nudged, handing Stacey a cup of water.
Stacey frowned, feeling like something had been wrong with the clip she had just watched. When she blinked, she could see strange lights behind her eyelids. She felt strange. Why had she been so drawn in to that last clip about the war? It felt like she had been immersed and bombarded with multiple messages, voices and images.
Could it be subliminal suggestions? Hypnosis?
Ugh. Her head hurt.
After a toilet break, Stacey still had a headache and felt nauseous, but Telea recommended she finish watching all the recordings in one go. That way she wouldn't need to come back to it.
"People have different reactions to these clips," Telea sighed. "I came down with a fever and was nauseous for days. Some of my classmates had no reaction at all, while some of them had to go to hospital."
"Why do people have such strong reactions?" Stacey asked. "Is there something in these clips? Something that affects our minds besides trying to brainwash us?"
Telea clapped a hand over Stacey's mouth, staring warily at the door as if expecting somebody to storm in at any moment. She shook her head at Stacey and Stacey swallowed.
"Let's just finish watching the resources you were given, shall we?" Telea suggested in a light voice.
Stacey swallowed a mouthful of water and nodded. Telea let the clips play again.
The next clip was about the differences in male and female anatomy and the science of reproduction. It also covered a girl's menstrual cycle and the effects of aging on hormones and the sexual health of both men and women.
The clip after that was about childbirth, and then the basics of running a household as a couple and getting along in marriage. After all the informative stuff was over, the rest of the clips were essentially pornographic films depicting and pausing to explain the pros and cons of various kinds of foreplay and sexual positions. There were various interviews on what people at different stages of life felt or thought about their sex life and what they had been doing to spice things up or to maintain their relationship.
The last video was an hour long movie about a couple who met during a battle with the beastmen and got married after the boy saved the girl's life. It depicted the awkwardness of young people doing it for the first time and how they sorted out their conflicts. It wasn't a bad movie, and Stacey found herself immersed in it, rooting for improved relationships between the couple.
When it was over, she felt as if she was being woken up, but she couldn't fully wake up at the same time. Her head ached, the lights behind her eyelids flashed and she still felt extremely nauseous. She was sure there was something wrong with these sex ed videos that were attacking her mind, but from how Telea had behaved, this was something nobody was allowed to talk about for fear of getting in trouble.
Vaguely, she felt Telea tuck her in and bid her goodbye.