Minx Ep. 05: Sphere, Age of Arachnids

There was a flash of light, a sizzling sound and a prolonged hiss. Minx blinked her eyes but everything was foggy.

"Minx!" called out Alice in fright. "Minx!"

"It's okay," called back the bounty hunter. "I think."

The air was hot and steamy on Minx's bare skin. She held up her hand close to her face and she could just make out her fingers. "I think Mahar used some type of powerful laser on the creature and it vaporized the lake water..."

"So..." Alice said through the fog, "what do we do now?"

Minx thought for a few seconds. "The creature's dead...whatever it was. Let's follow the bluff until we find a place that we can climb." She now knew the two could travel faster, but it was only because their foe wanted them alive long enough to torture them at his base.

XXXI

"Yesterday," announced Mahar proudly, "I saved your pet Minx!"

Vanessa jumped at hearing the hyperman's voice. She'd been snoozing with her back against a wall and hadn't heard the man enter the room. Dragon opened his eyes and cast a disdainful look at his nemesis.

"Are you not pleased?" asked Mahar. "You do still have feelings for this human woman, do you not?"

Dragon yawned. "And how do I know you're not lying?"

Vanessa smiled then, remembering Mahar's temper, made her face emotionless.

"I have no reason to lie," explained their captor.

Dragon laughed. "You have every reason to lie! Knowing my feelings about Minx it's only natural that a lesser mind like yours would believe that I would cloud with worry over her fate. I know her, and I know her capabilities. She's survived incredible dangers in this world and others...and she'll outlive you."

Mahar breathed rapidly, but controlled his anger. "I...I have other things to do. All this wonderful technology in this world will not discover itself! Goodbye for now my defeated foe." He turned to Vanessa. "When the other women arrive...you all get turned over to my experiments. Think on that!"

Then, he whirled about, fast enough that his cloak lifted away from his back revealing the small mechanism upon his back that allowed him to fly. He strode away. His boots could be heard for several seconds as he receded down the hall, followed by a retinue of scorpions. Dragon considered the fact that Mahar was fully armed and equipped even within the safety of his own base telling. The presence of a personal guard should have been unnecessary.

"I wonder how long he's been keeping that personal guard with him. Time to get back to work, Vanessa," said Dragon. "Today, we have something very important to do."

She pushed herself to her feet then stretched. "You don't want breakfast first?"

"I want you to activate the monitors while Mahar is irrationally angry and frightened, and follow my instructions..."

Vanessa did as she was told and, very soon, images of the inside of the Sphere appeared upon each screen. Some moved as the miniature robotic cameras searched the Paleozoic zone, while others were stationary.

"Those ones! The two on the top right," noted Dragon aloud as he scrutinized the screens, "the one in the middle, and the fifth and eighth on the bottom!"

"They're not moving...but what are we looking at?" asked Vanessa.

The images were of a very primitive forest, one without true trees but what passed for them in the Paleozoic Era, and each image was from a stationary object. The microbots were not moving.

"Mahar sent them to search for Arachne and her people. You do remember that they disappeared into a forest? Well, each of them appears to be caught..." His brow furrowed. "None of the others were sent into the forest. And, I don't see Minx or Alice."

"What do you want me to do?" she asked.

"We're going to try and move those immobile projectors, Vanessa."

He gave her further instructions and she twisted dials and pressed buttons exactly as he commanded. Suddenly, in one of the images, a flash of white appeared at the side as the view tilted.

"Arachne!" gasped Dragon in appreciation.

"What?"

"Arachne didn't just go into hiding...she set a trap for Mahar's mini-robots. They've been caught in webs as they searched for her. We'll leave them alone, then." He nodded in appreciation of the arachnid's intelligence. She'd watched Minx destroy some of the microbots and had understood what the technology was. "Now...here's what I want you to do..."

XXXII

Minx and Alice had been following a lava river for several hours, one that led fairly close to the tower which was now only ten or twenty kilometres distant. The hot river offered protection from both dangerous creatures and carnivorous plants, and a means of cooking any meat they managed to procure. Alice had been kicking the odd stone into the red-orange, gooey flow when she stopped and called for Minx.

The two watched in surprise as a spark flew straight down into the molten rock, opening a small hole in the flow that disappeared quickly. They stared at each other, then looked up but saw nothing unusual.

Minx shrugged. "Maybe some weird type of moth?"

An image of Vanessa appeared over the lava river, wavering in the heat.

"I'm so glad we found you!" she exclaimed. "We've been sending Mahar's spybots into the lava and we're just down to the last few!"

"Why?" demanded Alice.

"Dragon's idea," answered Minx.

"That's right! Dragon figured out how to destroy all of Mahar's spybots so he now has no idea of where you are. Also..." Vanessa stepped back for a second and then reappeared, "...I thought I heard him coming! Dragon said that Mahar doesn't know how to make more with the equipment he has. We know you're close, but Mahar doesn't know when you'll arrive. And your spider friend has disabled some of the spybots, too!"

"Tell Dragon..." Minx paused as she wondered if she could really trust Vanessa.

The holographic woman saddened. "I'm not working for Mahar! I'm helping Dragon now!" The woman suddenly jumped in fright.

"What is it?" demanded Minx.

"Just one of those stupid scorpions! They wander around this tower all the time. I wasn't expecting it to come in here." Her head turned as if she was watching something. "It's okay. It's just collecting some tools from a cubby."

"I don't trust her, Minx," whispered Alice, after grabbing hold of the bounty hunter's arm.

"I'll trust you for now, Vanessa. I don't have a choice. How long before Mahar starts searching for me again?"

"I don't know!" Vanessa looked about fearfully. "I have to go!" she whispered, and then she vanished.

"Can we really trust her?" asked Alice. "Didn't she try to kill you?"

Minx shrugged. "She has a haunted look on her face, Alice, sort of like the one you have. I think some bad things have happened to her and she needs us. We'll keep going to the tower...but we'll also look for a good ambush spot on the way. Mahar will be coming out to search for us, either in his ship or flying through the air on his own, and I mean to have an ambush set up for him."

"And...what was that about Arachne?"

A grim smile crossed Minx's face. "Arachne didn't abandon us. She was gathering an army." Minx looked Alice in the eye. "She's taking back what rightfully belongs to her, but hopes Mahar's attention will be focussed entirely on me. We're the distraction, the bait. When Mahar does strike at us she and her people will be ready for him."

Six more sparks lit up and dove straight into the molten rock, and then no more were seen though the women waited ten minutes. Minx wiped the sweat from her brow.

"We'd best be heading for the tower, Alice. Things are going to become very dangerous shortly."

"I understand. We're going to face that hyperman," stated Alice, though she closed her eyes when she said it.

"That we are, and I'd like to make sure we find some good terrain to limit his flying before he finds us. A cave would be ideal, though a sparse forest would do."

XXXIII

Vanessa had just finished relaying Minx's message to Dragon when Mahar burst into the room. She went silent and stared at him fearfully, knowing that this time she had likely gone too far. Her mouth dropped open and she could actually feel herself quivering in fear.

"What the hell have you done?" demanded Mahar, striding into the room and going straight to the control panel.

Vanessa opened her mouth to defend her actions but no words would come out.

"We've," inserted Dragon, "balanced the coming fight. You can't see her, nor do you know where she is. She's coming for you, Mahar. And, she's going to kill you."

The other hyperman's fingers played across the controls. "You've destroyed all of them! All of them!"

"Not all of them," corrected Dragon. "There are various microbots scattered across the inside of this world that were too low on energy to heed our commands, or were trapped and could not break themselves free. I managed to delay recharging of your spies long enough to render you virtually blind across the inside of this world. You really didn't think me capable of over-riding your commands and instructing Vanessa on how to sabotage your work? It as child's play to decipher the arachnid pictograms, especially having a queen to work with. You really should have conducted yourself with more thoughtfulness."

Mahar whirled to face the two, snarling. "How did you get past my security codes...?"

Dragon sighed. "I told you. I've deciphered the arachnid pictograms. Your own systems derive power and share connections with a wide variety of that race's technology. I didn't have to decode your security measures; I simply bypassed them. Vanessa was merely my tool." He turned to face the woman. "Years of living alone, fearful of encountering another hyperperson, have made his mind weak and faulty. He'll be no trouble at all for Minx once she arrives."

Vanessa looked from one man to the other. Mahar seemed helpless and lost despite his physical freedom, and his opponent was confident and at ease though he was a prisoner to the cage he sat cross-legged in.

"That woman will be no problem whatsoever!" growled Mahar. He pulled a small laser pistol from his pocket, aimed it at Dragon's shoulder and fired. A yellow beam flashed into existence and then swiftly disappeared. Dragon groaned in pain but remained in his sitting position as if some supernatural figure.

"What did you do to him?" Vanessa asked.

"Put a hole in the fool's shoulder!" laughed Mahar. "That will teach him some civility!"

"You're a monster!" she shouted, clenching her fists until her knuckles were white. "I hate you! You're cowardly and hurtful...and sadistic!"

Mahar pointed the weapon at her. Practicality won over anger and she went silent.

"Still have an instinct for survival?" he asked. "That won't do you good for much longer. I must punish both you and Dragon for what you've done. Art is the key!"

Vanessa paled as she realized what he intended for her. She wanted to run but her legs were frozen in place.

Mahar strode over to Dragon. "I am going out to kill Minx. My vessel has quite an assortment of weaponry, and I'm just not sure which to use." He shrugged. "I guess it doesn't matter as the manner of her death isn't the art I mentioned. The effect of her death upon your psychological fitness will be my second piece of art today! And to make sure you don't interfere...!"

He pushed a small rod into the chair and twisted it. Dragon tensed every muscle in his body and howled in anguish. Then, he gasped a great breath of air and screamed. Vanessa looked away and clamped her eyes shut, wishing she could forget that inhuman wail of agony.

"As for you, Vanessa," said Mahar, grabbing her arm in a painful grip, "you have a dinner reservation!"

"No!" she shouted.

However, he was so strong that she was pulled out of the room as if she were a child. Her nails tore at his fingers, trying to release his grip. Mahar simply stopped, turned and gave her an open-handed slap on the side of her head which knocked her senseless for a few minutes. When she once again regained her senses, she found that she'd been stripped of her silver poncho and the hyperman was shoving a small metal pill into her mouth.

"Swallow it!" he commanded.

Still somewhat dazed, she swallowed. Then, she looked about fearfully and realized she was in Mahar's menagerie. The tyrannosaurus waited just a few metres away, though it was still frozen in time. Mahar released her and she fell to the floor. As she scrambled away on all fours, he pulled a control device out of a pocket and activated it. Vanessa went rigid.

"The beauty of this technology," he explained, "is that your body systems are in semi-stasis, all except for you brain. You experience physical effects in a delayed state of existence but your mind continues to exist in normal time. You can hear my voice, right now, because I want to heighten your dread at what is about to happen to you."

He gestured at the dinosaur and the other frozen creatures in the chamber. "Each of these beasts is undergoing the same treatment you are. They can think in normal time, but their bodies are in semi-stasis. I am going to place you in the tyrannosaur's mouth and allow him to devour you. The actions of chewing and rending will take from three to four days in my time." He appeared to consider something as she stared at him. "Actually, the beast might simply swallow a morsel like you down without much chewing. In that event, you'll end up in his stomach in perhaps one day and full digestion should take anywhere from one to two months...though you'll be long dead by then," he added with a smile.

He manipulated the control device and then placed it back in his pocket. Then, he lifted her immobile body and flew her up to the tyrannosaur's mouth. Vanessa watched in horror as she was turned about and her legs were slipped in between jagged rows of teeth in the open maw. Mahar manoeuvred her in until only her head and one arm lay outside the teeth. From her frozen vantage, she could spy the fangs hanging from the upper jaw, waiting to drop down and decapitate her.

Her eyes were locked on those hooked teeth. She could not turn her head or close her eyes, no matter how hard she tried. Every second that passed by with her trapped and helpless in that creature's mouth was horrendous, yet she felt oddly comforted in the fact that her torment would eventually end. There was nothing more Mahar could do to her...nor nothing worse. She was going to die. She knew it and, though she was terrified at the prospect, she was also beginning to surrender herself to it.

Mahar did not tarry to observe her tortures. Out of the corner of her eye she watched him walk from the room and, though she tried desperately to scream for him to return, no sound came from her mouth. Oddly, she wondered how he could record her death, having lost all of his microbot spies.

XXXIV

Dragon collapsed as the pain suddenly abated. He slowly relaxed his aching muscles in a series of quick breaths, confident that he understood why his torture had ended at least for the time being. With shaking muscles, he raised himself back to a sitting position, ran his fingers through his hair in what he hoped appeared to be a nonchalant manner, then turned his eyes on his tormentor. Suggestively, Vanessa was not present.

"Tell me what you did!" shouted Mahar.

"Well, my first mistake was in talking to you as an equal..." Dragon took some deep gulps of air. "I should have been speaking to you as if you were a child."

Mahar raised his laser pistol and fired at his prisoner. A stabbing pain in Dragon's leg made him grimace noiselessly. He forced himself to remain immobile. It was critical that Mahar remained in doubt of his own ability to predict the actions of others.

"Tell me what you did!"

"You'll have to be more specific. Perhaps a few more nouns and verbs might ease our communication problems." He narrowed his eyes. "You know, you still have an opportunity to survive all of this. All you have to do is free me and surrender. I promise that I will not kill you, nor will I torture you if that's what you most fear. I will promise upon my sister's life if that will make you trust my words."

"My Ship!" Mahar screamed, spittle flying from his mouth. "What did you do to my ship?"

"Oh, that." Dragon took his time to stand up in his cell. The delay was intended to further drive Mahar to irrational thought. He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "I suggested to Vanessa that disabling your vessel would work to our advantage. However, as to exactly what was done I do not know. I gave her a number of options. The final act was hers. You'll have to ask her." Dragon snapped his fingers as if suddenly recalling something. "Oh, wait. You've shoved her into a dinosaur's mouth to be slowly devoured while in stasis. You'd better hurry, then. What did you use, by the way? A mark 4 stasis pill with full sensor array? Messy business that, extracting it from the dropping."

Mahar's knuckles went wide as he tightened his grip on his laser pistol. He holstered the weapon, turned on his heel and strode from the room. Two scorpions entered after he left, taking up guard positions by the doorway. They clicked their pincers in Dragon's direction and hissed to each other briefly.

Dragon rubbed his eyes wearily then looked about the chamber and immediately spotted the control stick still stuck in the octagon's base. It was immediately below one of the energy bars. He was confident he could reach it. It would be painful, but he could reach it. However, manipulation of the controls would require his hand or arm pass through the energy bars. He realized he needed patience and an ally to free him now.

Weighing his words to the other hyperman and the effects they'd had upon the man he calculated that Mahar would free Vanessa and quickly forget about her in his efforts to launch an attack upon Minx. The damage done to Mahar's ship would not be fixed by simply replacing a stolen component, not if Vanessa had followed Dragon's instructions exactly. Vanessa would be questioned, ignored, and then free to make her way to the only safe place in Mahar's base: beside Dragon. He was confident that Minx would make short work of their enemy; Mahar was now completely irrational.

XXXV

The dinosaur's fangs seemed to draw inexorably closer to her throat and shoulder and she felt the firmness of the beast's lower jaw and teeth against her bare skin. She knew it would take a long time for the teeth to break her skin yet her fear made it seem imminent. Her body shifted slightly upon its moist bed and Vanessa realized with added horror that she was beginning to slip deeper into the open mouth.

Then, suddenly, she could move. She pushed against the roof of the mouth, tears flowing from her eyes. Mahar's hands grabbed her under her shoulders and pulled her from her the maw, then deposited her gently on the floor. Vanessa grabbed her discarded poncho and quickly put it back on, hoping to conceal the mess she'd made on her legs and nether regions in her terror.

"What did you do to my ship?" demanded Mahar, looming over her with the laser pistol in his hand and pointed at her face.

"Take me back to Dragon!" she countered in desperation.

"You are in no position to..."

"Take me back to Dragon and I'll tell you everything!" she screamed.

Mahar grabbed her left upper arm and violently wrenched it. She screamed in pain as the arm came loose from the socket. Her dragged her after him as he walked out of the room. The pain in her shoulder was excruciating but Vanessa kept her silence, only releasing the occasional whimper.

Soon enough they came to Dragon's prison. Vanessa swore as Mahar pushed her to the floor, past his two scorpion guards.

"You've been careless with your toys, Mahar," Dragon observed caustically. "So much for your artistic plans. One would have thought you were capable of at least some degree of foresight." He tsked.