Tales of the Parodyverse

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Dancer has posted 3 more parts down the board, and notices that not everybody's yet got round to replying. Just saying.
Mon Oct 03, 2005 at 08:21:00 pm EDT
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Far Away - Part 4 (beware soapy shower scenes and gory operations)
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    Silk sheets. Silky sheets on naked flesh. Silky sheets on naked flesh was good.

    Sarah stirred luxuriously, enjoying the sensuality of the moment. Then her head went through a pre-waking check that raised questions like where was she, whose sheets were these, and who was in the bed next to her. It all seemed worryingly familiar.

    “Con?”

    Who was Con?

    Sarah turned over to examine the person-shaped lump in the bed next to her. “Hello?”

    The lump moved and a tousled woman looked up in confusion, swathed in black silk. “Huh?”

    Katarina, Sarah’s somewhat muddled memory supplied. Katarina Allen. What the hell had they been drinking last night?

    “Sarah?” Katarina managed to come to full wakefulness much faster than her bedmate. “What happened? Where are we?”

    Yes, it was coming back. They’d been hiding out in a ruined alien minaret in an old combat zone. There’d been the shrill hum of Seeker drones above. They’d both huddled down and stayed perfectly still. And then…

    “Well, we wished for a five star hotel and a feather bed,” Sarah pointed out.

    The two women looked around them. They were in a plush suite, on a circular bed. The room was softly lit by wall uplighters. Beyond the sleeping area was an even larger sitting room with luxurious sofas and potted palms.

    There were no windows.

    “What is this?” Kat panicked. “Where are we? Where are our clothes?”

    “All good questions,” Sarah admitted. “Did we get zapped by those little flying saucer thingies?”

    “The Seeker drones? Yes! Oh crap!”

    “If I’d known they were going to zap me to a good quality hospitality suite I’d probably have let them catch me earlier.”

    Katarina blinked around her in alarm. “This doesn’t make any sense! What’s going on? Why are we here?”

    Sarah shrugged. She slipped out of the bed and padded over to the lounge area. Kat wrapped some sheets round her and followed. She didn’t share her companion’s casual attitude to nudity.

    A quick investigation revealed a large bathroom with walk-in tub. Sarah gave a happy little squeak and jumped in.

    “What are you doing?” Katarina demanded. “We don’t know what this place is. It might be a trap!”

    “If it’s a trap then we might as well be clean and fresh to face it,” the brunette pointed out reasonably. “And nothing personal, but you might want to consider a wash after four months of playing the fugitive.”

    Kat had to admit that Sarah had a point. “What if there are video cameras?” she demanded.

    “Then smile,” Sarah suggested. “Look, we’re probably in the fiendish clutches of the sadistic villain. We’ll deal with that when the time comes. In the meantime, enjoy the hospitality. As dungeons go this isn’t really a bad one.”

    “I don’t know. I don’t like this.”

    Sarah sloshed out of the water, spraying droplets out of her hair. “Come on,” she demanded. She grabbed Kat by the hand and dragged her towards a large glass shower. “You can wash my hair. I swear it’s got half the desert in it after that trek yesterday.”

    Katerina shied back from being dragged into the shower. “Sarah, I’m not… into that.”

    “We’re talking hygiene, not hi-jinks. Now come on. Let’s get this place all hot and steamy.” After all, steam fogged security cameras and running water baffled microphones.

    Kat reluctantly let herself be coaxed into the shower. The lure of running water, the temptation to feel truly clean after so long was just too great.

    “Now,” Sarah said, once the room was obscured enough for her satisfaction, “we need to talk about what’s going on.”

    “What is going on?”

    “I dunno. But we need to keep acting like we’re dumb and docile till we find out. We act like we’re enjoying our stay, we seem to accept everything at face value, and we try and spot any surveillance. We look for circuitry, we try to work out where the exit is. If we meet anybody we’re civil and co-operative until we get the chance to clobber them and escape. Unless they turn out to be good guys, in which case it’s probably best not to clobber them.”

    “And how do we know?”

    “These things usually become clear before the final chapter.”

    Katarina had another worry. “What about Miles? Do you think they caught him too?”

    “I don’t know. But we don’t mention him, in case they don’t know about him. If he’s out there and free you just know he’s going to be looking for us, right?”

    To Katarina’s surprise she found that she did know that. When did she actually start to believe that he’d really look after her like he said he would?

    What if he got killed?

    “One other thing,” Sarah pointed out as she soaped herself down then rinsed her long black locks. “Have you noticed your arm?”

    “My arm?” Katarina checked herself in the mirror.

    Sarah pointed to a tiny red mark near Sarah’s shoulder and another on her own. “Feel the skin. There’s something hard under there.”

    “What?” Kat asked, trying not to panic. “Oh please tell me it’s not an alien implant. I could face everything but being in the National Enquirer.”

    “I don’t know what it is, but I don’t like it. If it’s a transmitter then even the shower-sharing won’t help us and our cover is blown. But we’ll assume for now it’s something else.”

    “I don’t understand any of this. I never thought I’d miss my meat locker.”

    “Just go with the flow. We’re not ready to make our move yet.”

    Katarina voiced her worst fear. “Sarah… When the Soldiers gathered together some of the people from Bienville… Well, they picked out the young women…”

    “And this place looks like a bridal suite?” Sarah understood. “We’ll sell our honour dearly if we have to, but I doubt those poor girls were dragged off to anything as ritzy as this by those sleazebags. No, we’re in trouble of an entirely different kind.”

    “Oh. Good.”

    They came out and towelled themselves down. Kat found some silken bathrobes in a closet so they put them on and explored the rest of the suite. Behind another panelled door they found a small dining area, with well-stocked food cupboards containing cold meats and preserves, fresh juice, and new bread.

    “Eat it,” Sarah advised. “If they wanted to drug us they could have done it while we were unconscious.” She hadn’t mentioned the slight bruising on each of their left elbows, sure signs of needle-punctures. Kat was freaked out enough as it was.

    They were just finishing their breakfast when a pleasant chime rang through the room. Then a section of wall dissolved to reveal a double door. A handsome young man in a pale grey business suit walked in and bowed. “Ladies, may I trouble you?”

    Sarah glanced at Kat and wondered why he seemed slightly familiar. “I imagine you can,” she answered. “We have some spare bread and jam if you’re hungry.”

    “Thank you, but I dined earlier. You delightful ladies have slept rather late.” The handsome man smiled at them and moved over to join them at the dining table. “Are you fully recovered from your ordeals in the disaster zone or should I come back later?”

    “We’re as recovered as we’re going to be right now,” Katarina told him. “Now we’re waiting for the explanation.”

    “Explanation?”

    “The explanation of what’s going on,” Kat persisted. “Or have you lost your memory as well?”

    “Ah,” The handsome man seemed amused by this. “No, I’m quite aware, thank you. Yes, I can see that the transition might have caused some mental confusion. Quite natural. Our med-techs will be able to help you with that in the days to come.”

    “Is this the part where you explain the plot?” asked Sarah.

    “If you like. Perhaps you’d like to ask your questions?”

    “Where are we?” Katarina demanded.

    “You’re in Survival Dome Twenty-Seven,” their host told them. “On a planet you’ll never have heard of.”

    “An alien planet,” Sarah accepted. “Of course. And how did we get here?”

    “I’m afraid I must ask you to brace yourselves for a bit of a shock, my dears. You were brought here to this world as your own planet was destroyed by enemy action. Your… Earth, is it? Your Earth was destroyed a little while ago. Our attempts at a rescue were sadly thwarted.”

    Kat’s eyes were wide with panic again. Sarah brushed her heel against her companion’s leg to warn her to stay calm. “How were they thwarted, these rescue attempts?” Sarah asked.

    “We sought to teleport selected human colonies to our Survival Domes. The enemy interfered with out signal, diverting these refugees instead into the disaster zones, where they could be annihilated.”

    “So you’re saying you’re the good guys?” Sarah checked.

    Again, that winning smile. Sarah couldn’t help but smile back. “Of course we are. We did what we could, saved whoever the Scanners could find, but the enemy’s patrols are everywhere. I’m sorry it took so long to find you.”

    “Actually, some of us arrived just yesterday.”

    “I understand there was a time distortion in the carrier beam for people who were at the perimeter of the effect. That’s probably why you’re suffering from a little amnesia.”

    “And the implants in our arms?” Kat demanded angrily. “What about that?”

    “Med-tech,” their host replied reasonably. “We’re treating you to remove the radiation from your systems from your trek through the disaster zone. You can expect to make a full recovery, and as soon as you’re decontaminated you can leave quarantine and join the others we have rescued.”

    “And who are you?” Sarah asked him. It came out a lot less sceptical and a lot more interested than she’d really wanted it to.

    “Call me Stuart,” he told her with a crooked grin. “And can I call you?”

    “You mean what can you call me? I’m Sarah. This is Katarina.”

    “I know what I mean, Sarah. It’s good to meet you. I hope we can talk again.”

    “You know the address.”

    Stuart stood up. “Splendid,” she said. “Well, I hope I’ve set your fears to rest. Your horrible ordeal is over. We mourn for your planet, but there is a bright new future for you here with us. We’ll speak of that another time. For now you need to relax and recover. I look forward to seeing more of you lovely ladies later.”

    Sarah and Kat waited until he’d left and the door became wall once more. Then they exchanged glances. “Handsome, wasn’t he?” Sarah admitted.

    “Do you believe him?” Katarina asked.

    “Of course,” Sarah lied out loud. “Absolutely.”



---




    Stuart waited outside and listened in on the monitor feed, then grinned again in self-satisfied triumph. Then he strode off down the corridor to consult with the med-techs.

    “Well?”

    “We have the results,” Med-Tech One confirmed. “The Minister wants to see you.”

    “The Minister,” Stuart spat. “Well, if the Minister demands it, who am I to keep him waiting?” He stopped and checked his tie, smoothed his blonde hair in place, and paused to watch a video replay of the women bathing. When he felt he’d dallied enough he passed on into the surgery pits to attend on the Minister.

    By the time he got there the Minster was already covered in blood up to his armpits.

    “You asked to see me?” Stuart said.

    “No,” the Minster replied, glaring over his surgical mask at the preening popinjay. “I demanded to see you.” He didn’t spare more than a glance at Stuart. He’d just got to the tricky bit of the operation he was performing and he didn’t want to slip as he removed the cranium.

    Stuart stood well away from the operating table. He didn’t want gore on his suit. “Here I am.”

    “Yes. The med-techs have scanned the new acquisitions.”

    “So I hear. And?”

    “And one of them is metahuman.”

    “The taller one with the raven hair? I thought so. There’s something about her. What is she?”

    “We don’t yet know. Every time we run an analysis on the organic samples we took it comes back different. I have suggested to Med-Tech One that his people work harder, and we discussed… incentives to encourage them.” The Minister completed his cutting and neatly removed the skull-bowl off the subject before him.

    “The power dampener implant is working, I assume?”

    “Oh yes. But for now I think we’ll continue with the gentle approach with that subject. She could prove quite powerful.”

    “And quite useful.” Stuart smiled. “I’m going to enjoy subverting her.”

    “Just do your job. Although I don’t think you’ll have to work too hard to have that one crawling on her knees after you.”

    The Minister dropped the top of his subject’s head into the discard bucket and examined the exposed brain. He didn’t look impressed. “Psychic lance,” he called, holding his hand out for the instrument. A med-tech hastened to provide it.

    “What about the other girl?” Stuart asked. “They seemed very friendly there in the shower.”

    “She’s nothing. We don’t need her. Get her out of there, so the subject has nobody to depend upon but you.”

    “Understood.”

    The Minister jammed the psychic lance into the frontal lobe of his subject. The man strapped on the table screamed, but his spinal cord had already been detached to stop him struggling. The Minister leaned over to the monitor. “Initiate standard aptitude assessment.”

    “Assessing,” confirmed the instrument.

    “Who’s this then?” Stuart asked. “One of them?”

    “Yes. He’s supposed to be brilliant. I was considering syphoning him into the brains trust.” The minister examined the aptitude readouts on his monitor then spat. “But not with those results. If this is the best his world can offer then they are dullards indeed.”

    He reached into the cranial cavity and carved out the whole brain with one neat motion. “Dissect this and catalogue it, but no further action,” he told the med-techs. “Pathetic primitive.”

    “Subject designation?” the computer said.

    The Minister checked the ID tag on the corpse’s wrist. “Al B. Harper,” he replied.

    Stuart watched the casual destruction of the test subject with a morbid fascination.

    “Are you still here?” the Minister demanded. “Get on with your work.”

    “Right,” agreed Stuart. Seducing the Terran brunette wasn’t going to be a hardship. He probably wouldn’t even need the subliminals. He left the surgery pit and headed back to the detainment wing to plan his campaign.

    “Yes, sir?” the Steward said, snapping to attention as he arrived.

    “Subject eight hundred and twelve,” Stuart ordered, “Send her some roses. That’s a Terran flower. Get the replicant patterns from the research banks. I’ll write the note myself.”

    “Very good, sir.”

    “And when the girls go to sleep, remove the other one. We don’t need her any more.”

    “Very good, sir? Termination?”

    Stuart considered this. “No, I don’t think so. She could still be useful for something. Give her to the gladiators, for as long as she lasts.”

    “Very good, sir.”

    “And make sure I get a copy of the video capture.”

    “Very good, sir.”



---




    Sarah woke from a troubled dream where she was late for an audition for something, but afterwards she couldn’t remember what. “Frank!” she called out.

    That got her awake for some reason. She sat bolt upright in the circular bed, and reflected that if she called the name of a different man every time she woke up she’d had a very exciting life. Did Miles know?

    Then she saw that she was alone in the bed. “Kat?”

    Katarina was gone. Sarah searched the entire suite twice until there was no doubt.

    She hadn’t foreseen this.

    She was still fretting a couple of hours later when the door chimed and Stuart let himself in. “Hello,” he said. “I hope you liked the roses?”

    “Where’s Katarina?” Sarah demanded.

    “Your friend? She’s cured. The med-techs certified her clean of radiation sickness last night. She’s gone to join the others we’ve rescued.” Stuart grinned at a little private joke. “I imagine she’s very busy by now meeting lots of new people. Everyone will want to greet her.”

    “She didn’t say goodbye.”

    “Once the med-techs certified her cured she couldn’t be allowed back into the quarantine area. I don’t think you should take it personally.”

    “And how long am I stuck here all alone, Stuart?”

    “Surely not for long, my dear. And I’ll visit you as often as I can. Would you like that?”

    “Of course. You’ll have to forgive me being a bit skittish. This is all very alien to me. No pun intended.”

    “Oh no. Please don’t apologise. I’m delighted to have the chance to get to know you better.” Perhaps just a touch of the subliminals now, to speed things along. “I’m very much looking forward to knowing you, Sarah…”


Continued…?




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