Caroline 04 Spider-Woman

The Spider-Woman was Caroline's most ambitious design. Initially she had wanted the Spider-Woman to be totally mobile and radio-controlled but she soon found that was impossible. The power demands for all the features were too large. Caroline compromised by having a power and control cable running from the ceiling into the Spider-Woman's shoulders. In the darkened room that would be the Lair, that cable wouldn't be too obtrusive.

Much of the complexity was built into the Lair. The floor, ceiling and walls were fitted with sensors that could determine the position and movement of the victims passing through. They could even ascertain the sex of the victim with nearly 90% accuracy. Angela's input was essential. The programming for the Spider-Woman was far more complex than anything Caroline had considered so far.

Once most of the Spider-Woman and her Lair had been built I took a week's holiday to help Caroline and Angela test and develop the fine tuning of the Spider-Woman's operation. This time I made sure I wore a safety ring with a working battery.

The first trials were to test that the Spider-Woman could trap me in every part of the Lair no matter how fast or slow I tried to cross from the entrance to the exit. The Spider-Woman's reaction time was impressive. Even if I tried to run through, she caught me before I was more than a quarter of the way across. Her scuttling motion was very spider-like, despite her humanoid legs apparently wearing high heels. Her arms whipped around me like striking snakes. Once I was in her embrace I had no escape. She hugged me to her breasts, no matter which way I was facing. After a few hours of tests, the software was modified so she always turned me to face her and my head was pushed into her cleavage. Once there, I might be breathing air, or Caroline's variable mixture of air, perfume and soporific gas.

The wrapping into a silk cocoon caused some problems. As originally set, if I was held too low my head could be entangled in the silk netting which made breathing difficult but never impossible. After a couple of trials, Caroline stopped the Spider-Woman's action if I was wrongly positioned. Angela was working hard on new code to modify the victim's positioning.

If I was correctly held, the Spider-Woman turned me round and round in her arms as silk netting extruded from the sides of her apparently female human body. Once she had finished I was a helpless bundle, tightly swathed from just below my neck to beyond my feet.

At first the Spider-Woman just put me down gently on the part of the floor which was treated to hold my netting as if glued there. Two of her arms pressed firmly until I was flat and stuck tight. I could move my head. That was it. I could still press the safety ring. Caroline insisted that I operated it at all stages through the Spider-Woman's attack from her first advance to my final position glued to the floor. She and Angela monitored the Spider-Woman closely. The safety ring worked every time. The Spider-Woman would reverse the process until I was free and then let me walk out of her lair.

The next series of tests were on the Spider's Web. The Spider-Woman attached my mummified body in a vertical position to the web attached to all the four walls. As she left me I was held nearly as firmly as I had been stuck to the floor, but I could wriggle and swing my body as the web gave slightly. Caroline made the Spider-Woman repeat the action of sticking me to the web over and over again, including times when dummy mummified bodies were blocking parts of the web. The final test left just one place for me to be stuck. In that scenario, the Spider-Woman would have had forty or so victims already stuck in her web – unlikely. She put me carefully in the last remaining space. The various parts of the web held the equivalent weight of forty humans without any signs of strain.

Caroline stopped the tests for us to break for lunch. She left instructions with Angela to work out how to avoid wrapping my head in the silk netting.

I was grateful for the pause in testing. Although I was the Spider-Woman's victim and didn't have to do much except to accept being caught, wrapped and deposited, vainly struggling against the tightness of my frequently renewed cocoon was making my muscles ache. Caroline was tired too. Our pub lunch lasted a couple of hours and might have lasted longer except that Angela rang Caroline's mobile to report a solution to the head-wrapping I had suffered. We walked back to Jerry's club slowly. We were still tired and this was only the first day of trials for the Spider Woman.

Angela had changed the software so that the sensors in the Spider-Woman's breasts checked that the victim's head was in the right position before the net-wrapping started. I had to test that by deliberately moving into the wrong position. Angela was right. The Spider-Woman corrected my position every time.

It hadn't been Caroline's intention that the silk netting would wrap the victim's head. She had devised a replacement feature that I had to test. As the wrapping started, the Spider-Woman would pull a silk bag over the victim's head and close it with Velcro. The bag wouldn't impede the victim's breathing but would be opaque, blindfolding them and making intelligible speech difficult.

So my head was bagged, again and again. Each bag was scented with Caroline's perfume, just for me. Once in use, the Spider-Woman would use a generic perfume, or the perfume could be varied. Sometimes the bag was too loose, sometimes uncomfortably tight. Caroline and Angela, working together, made delicate adjustments to the sensors, the servos and the software, to get the silk bag tight enough to contain my head yet neither too loose nor too tight.

I found the silk bag both arousing and disturbing. In one sense my helplessness was enhanced by loss of sight, unable to see what the Spider-Woman was going to do with me, where she was going to dispose of me, her immobilised and entangled prey. But I was also concerned that I was at the mercy of a machine, even if that machine was Caroline's invention designed to give me sexual excitement. The Spider-Woman could choose any one of several ways of containing me. As an ineffective, blindfolded and silk-swathed participant I had no influence in her programmed decision.

I could endure being stuck to the floor or the web with reasonable composure. When the Spider-Woman kept me hugged between her breasts as she scuttled around, my powerlessness was extreme. The final test in which she stuffed my cocoon inside her body nearly made me scream. The faint light that had percolated through the bag over my head was extinguished as I was engulfed in a dark, satin-lined space that clamped around me. I couldn't predict the Spider-Woman's movements. Every step was a surprise. I was whirled around as the Spider-Woman chased and captured another victim, Jerry this time, and had only my senses of movement and hearing faint noises to remind me that I was still alive and conscious.

I wasn't conscious for long. Caroline had arranged that the victim enclosed in the Spider-Woman's body would get a higher amount of the soporific gas, enough to make them go to sleep within a few minutes of their confinement. I resisted pressing the safety ring for as long as possible. I left it too late. I was the Spider-Woman's unconscious prey before I could make the tiny movement required to release me.

The tests continued for the next couple of days at a slower rate. I became used to being caught by the Spider-Woman, less concerned that there might be a system failure that might put me at risk, and more confident that Caroline and Angela knew what they were doing. I relaxed and enjoyed the Spider-Woman's embraces. Caroline's thanks every night was a great reward for my endurance during the day.

Friday evening was to be the launch of the Spider's Lair. Jerry had a private Stag Party booked and they had been delighted with the idea that they would be the first to test Caroline's latest sex toy, Spider-Woman.

The group would be twenty young men. The reduced staff would be the two senior and only full –time barmaids and Jerry. Caroline, Angela and I would be available, on call, if there were any problems with the Spider-Woman. We didn't expect any. With my help, Caroline and Angela had tested everything, over and over again. Nothing had gone wrong once the Spider-Woman had been made fully operational.

But...

There could always be a but. The three of us went to a pub near Jerry's club to wait, and to celebrate the successful launch of Caroline's most ambitious invention. We had been drinking for a couple of hours when Caroline's mobile phone rang.

"Caroline?" The voice was female and seemed very nervous.

"Yes."

"This is Jane, you know, one of the barmaids at Jerry's club."

"Yes Jane. I know who you are. Is there a problem? Jerry was supposed to ring me if there was."

"I don't know whether there is a problem, Caroline, but..."

"But?" Caroline prompted.

"I'm the only one here. The rest of them have disappeared, even Jerry and Teresa, the other barmaid. They all went to the toilet, one by one, and none of them have come back."

"We're on our way. Be there in a couple of minutes. You'll let us in?"

"Yes. I'll be waiting at the club's main door."

"Jane!" Caroline was insistent. "Don't, whatever you do, go to the toilet! Wait for us."

"OK. I won't."

She didn't. She let us in to the club. She looked very worried.

"What happened?" Caroline asked.

"I don't really know," Jane replied. "I expected it to be a quiet evening. A group of twenty is only a fraction of the club's capacity. I thought a Stag Party might be rowdy. They weren't. They tried your devices and drank a lot of beer. I think most of them are beer fanatics. They liked our range of local beers which is why I wasn't surprised when so many of them went to the toilet so often. Teresa wasn't over worked serving them so I collected used glasses and had gone out the back to load the glass washer."

"How many were near the bar when you went out back?" Caroline asked.

"Not many. Three or four and Jerry. I couldn't hear when they left because of the sound system's music. When I came back into the bar, it might have been five minutes later, there was no one. I thought that odd but the club is large. They could have gone anywhere. When I hadn't seen anyone for a quarter of an hour I checked the last twenty minutes on the bar monitor. Two of the Stag Party went in the direction of the toilet, Jerry went to his office for a few seconds and when he came back there was only Teresa at the bar. They talked for what? Ten seconds, and then they too went towards the toilets. After that there was no one until I came back in. Are they all in the Lair?"

"I think so, Jane," Caroline replied. "Don't worry. We'll fix it. I don't know why they've all been trapped, if that's what's happened, but we should be able to release them from the console in Jerry's office."

"Can you sort things out quickly? I really need the loo."

"There's a staff toilet, isn't there?"

"Yes. Of course."

"OK, Jane. You go there with Angela. I'll be in Jerry's office when you come back."

Jane and Angela went behind the bar.

"Jerry's office?" I asked.

"That's where the Spider-Woman's controls are, and the monitors that show inside the Lair, and the CCTV for the whole club. I don't want to do anything until I know what's been going on. The Spider-Woman might have malfunctioned. I doubt that. We tested her for every possible scenario even if it meant capturing you hundreds of times."

In the office there was a wall of video screens. Most of them showed a deserted club. A newer set showed the inside of the Lair. The Spider-Woman was poised facing the exit door from the toilets. Behind her were half a dozen silk-wrapped bundles stuck to the floor, unmoving. I knew how they felt. Once flattened, it was impossible to move an inch.

Another screen showed more mummified people attached to the web on each of the four walls.

"How many are there?" Caroline asked as we both started counting at once. We agreed that there were twenty-one cocooned people. Jane and Angela came in as we finished counting.

"Look, Jane," Caroline said. "They're all in there, trapped by the Spider-Woman, and she's waiting for the next one. That could have been you, if you hadn't been sensible and thought to ring me. Did anyone take a safety ring?"

"I don't think so. The Stag Party were being macho about them. The groom wouldn't take one and persuaded the others to take their chances."

"What about Jerry or Teresa?"

"Jerry always forgets to put his on his finger. I think he carries it in a pocket."

"Where he couldn't reach it. Stupid Jerry. Can you tell if Teresa took one?"

"I can look. They're in a box under the bar. There was an exact two dozen at the start of the evening, all with working batteries. Back in a tick."

Jane went out.

"Jerry must have set the Spider-Woman to trap everybody," Angela stated. "Why? He must have realised he'd run out of customers."

"Can you check the programming and when it was changed?" Caroline asked.

"Of course."

Angela sat down at a keyboard. Her fingers moved faster than I could follow. Lines of incomprehensible text scrolled down the screen. Suddenly they stopped. Angela pointed and then looked at her watch.

"There! Up to eleven pm the Spider-Woman had been set to catch one in ten, randomly. By that time eight people had passed through the Lair and none had been caught. The ninth would have been, but the programme was reset first. That setting was 'All'. Just before he and Teresa entered the Lair Jerry had tried to reset it to 'None', but didn't press the 'confirm change' button so that command wasn't made operational. The Spider-Woman was still working on 'capture all' and she did."

Jane came back.

"All two dozen safety rings are there, untouched. They haven't even been moved."

"OK. Thank you Jane. Can you bring one?" Caroline asked.

I knew who that ring would be for – me, Caroline's test dummy.

"Angela, can you operate the override universal release?"

I knew the answer to that too. Angela had been trying for a couple of minutes and the Spider-Woman hadn't moved.

"I don't understand it," Angela was irritated. "The Spider-Woman isn't responding at all. She's stuck."

"Did we ever try the setting 'All'?" I asked.

"No." Angela and Caroline said together.

"I didn't think anyone would use it," Angela objected.

"Neither did I," Caroline added. "I should have done. Murphy's Law has struck again. If it can go wrong, it will."

Jane returned with a safety ring.

"Over to you, Nick," Caroline said ruefully. "If you go in and press the safety ring, the Spider Woman should react. Once she's changed from her current command set we should get control back. At least I hope we can. Some of the Stag Party have been cocooned for hours..."

"...and asleep," Angela added. "Jerry set the soporific gas at its highest safe level. The whole Lair is full of it."

"Can you flush it with fresh air?" I asked.

"No. The controls aren't working," Angela replied. "None of the controls for the Spider-Woman nor her Lair are responding. We can monitor inside but we can't change anything. You're not quite our last hope, but our best chance to put things right."

"Those who are about to die, salute you," I said mockingly. "But where's Jerry? Inside the Spider-Woman?"

"No. The monitors suggest that her body is empty." Caroline replied.

"But he must be somewhere. He's not hiding in the toilet, is he?"

"No," Jane replied this time. "The monitors show that all the toilets are empty, Gents and Ladies."

"There!" Angela pointed. "We forgot to look in the inner Lair. There are twenty-one cocoons stuck to the floor and walls, but there's one more in the Spider-Woman's inner sanctum, slung like a hammock."

I looked. The inner Lair was very dark. I could just see the slung cocoon.

"Whoever that is, they'll be very fast asleep," Caroline said. "The air circulation in there is one area I meant to improve and didn't. They'll have had more soporific than anyone."

"I hope it's stupid Jeremy," I snorted. "He deserves it for mucking the Spider-Woman about."

Jane nearly giggled. She knew that Jerry hated being called Jeremy.

I hugged Caroline, went back into the bar and into the Gents toilet. I used the urinal. Who knows how long I might be cocooned by the Spider Woman. I switched on my mobile phone and rang Caroline.

"I'm going in now. I'll try to talk on the phone while I can."

I took a deep breath before I walked through the door of the Lair. The Spider-Woman loomed large above me. I walked straight towards her, holding my breath against the soporific gas.

She pounced. My phone went flying as she grabbed me, twisted me around and dragged my head between her breasts. My deep breath was useless. Her hug had forced the air out of my lungs and my next breath was from inside her cleavage, perfumed and drugged with gas. I fumbled my finger to press the safety ring. I missed on the first attempt but succeeded just as I was losing consciousness.

The Spider-Woman turned me around in her arms and walked slowly towards the exit door. I was struggling to stay conscious in the gas-laden air as she stood me up. I staggered a few steps and fell against and through the exit door. My head landed outside. I gasped untainted air as I heard the alarm sounding clearly.

Caroline was running towards me. She dragged me across the floor. The door slammed shut behind me.

"I think you've done it!" she shouted over the alarm. "Come on! Back to Jerry's office."

She supported me, half-carrying, as I stumbled drunkenly.

Back at the office Angela was pounding the keys with a happier expression on her face.

"We've got control again! I've set the Spider-Woman to 'none'. It should be safe to enter, except for the gas. I've turned the gas off."

"Can you flush the Lair with fresh air?" Caroline asked.

"Probably. But we'll have to do it slowly. If we send all that gas out through the extractors we might have people collapsing in the street outside. I'll set it for a total air-change over the next quarter of an hour and then every two minutes."

"Can we release those inside, Angela?"

"Yes. But those who have been in longest will take half an hour, an hour... I don't really know how long it will take. How about getting Teresa out first? She was last in except Jerry, but Jerry's had a larger dose of gas."

"Do it," Caroline ordered, "And set the exit door so that we can come in and out. Nick? Can you and Jane go to that door and retrieve Teresa? She might need something to rest her head on while she comes to. Any cushions, pillows?"

"We'll get some from the rumpus room on the way," Jane answered. "Come on, Nick."

I followed Jane. We collected a heap of cushions from the rumpus room. I thought it was more like a padded cell, lined and floored with scarlet quilted satin. I grabbed the handle on the exit door from the Lair and opened it. Immediately inside was an unconscious Teresa. I picked her up and took her to Jane who had a cushion ready for Teresa's head. Even as I put her down, Teresa was beginning to stir.

"Nick?" I heard Caroline's voice over the sound system. "Angela's releasing the first five of the Stag Party. Please drag them out."

I waved an acknowledgement, assuming that Caroline could see me on the monitors. This time, as I entered, the Spider-Woman was depositing a third unwrapped body and backing away to get another. By the time I had pulled the second body out, the Spider-Woman had left the fourth and was unwrapping the fifth.

Teresa was talking to Jane. She seemed OK but slightly groggy. I went in to drag out the next three unconscious men.