Note: You can change font size, font face, and turn on dark mode by clicking the "A" icon tab in the Story Info Box.
You can temporarily switch back to a Classic Literotica® experience during our ongoing public Beta testing. Please consider leaving feedback on issues you experience or suggest improvements.
Click here
"You took your time, Vanessa," observed Mahar without taking his eyes off the dinosaur. "Don't mind my ally there. You'll find a few of them performing the tasks I've assigned them. As yet, they have no reason to harm you."
Vanessa lost some of her fear but her skin crawled at the thought of encountering more of the scorpions roaming loose in the building. "Dragon was trying to turn me against you." She forced a laugh. "He tried to convince me that he never wanted to hurt me. The bastard!"
"A simple ruse." Mahar shot a quick glance her way, then bent over a small clear control pad set upon a plastic pedestal in front of the dinosaur. He pressed a few buttons, faster than her eyes could follow.
"What are you doing?" There was no response. "If I may ask?"
Mahar sighed. "Dragon would devise the most terrifying and horrific tortures he could for you, then subject you to them as soon as you were, once again, within his power. His art is as ham-handed as his sense of morals is depraved. Whippings and beatings. I know him well. He is a weakling among my people."
Vanessa opened her mouth, remembering that she'd been in Dragon's power, aboard his ship, and yet he hadn't actually harmed her. He'd even saved her life, just as he'd reminded her a short while earlier. Why, she wondered, hadn't Dragon killed or tortured her? At first she'd thought it was her sex appeal that had softened him, yet the fact that he'd handed her over to Rod's perversions seemed to deny that. In every story she'd ever heard, hypermen were sadistic and murderous, and yet Dragon hadn't truly behaved anything like he was supposed to.
Mahar waved at the therapod. "These creatures are all alive, Vanessa. I have to care for them to ensure they stay alive. It's all too complex for your simple brain. However, one of the things they still require is sustenance."
"Sustenance?" she asked.
"Food," Mahar explained needlessly. "Take this animal, for example. A relative of the tyrannosaur, yet larger and, I believe, a skilled hunter. I've named it tyrannosaur mahar, in honour of its discoverer. The beast prefers living, squirming prey. I've seen definite indications of the beginnings of intelligence within its skull, and where intelligence is there is cruelty, as well. It wants to feel its living prey struggle to escape its mouth. It wants to know the terror its prey experiences as it's devoured. It desires that its prey breathe its last as it slowly slides down its gullet. At least, in theory."
"Okay," said Vanessa slowly, inching away from the display of the dinosaur.
"I'm going to put you in a semi-stasis field and feed you to it, Vanessa. Your very existence will be slowed down to precisely the same time frame as this creature's. Then, every nuance of every emotion that runs through your brain will be recorded as the dinosaur's teeth puncture your flesh and as you finally slip down its throat to expire in its stomach. The recordings will be exquisite." He smiled proudly. "It will be quite a piece of art."
"Oh, my God." Vanessa felt her knees begin to tremble. She wanted to run away as fast as she could, but she was rooted to where she stood.
"Of course, you did agree to this," he reminded her. "There is no escape for you, and if you try to avoid this artistry I've planned for you then I'll be forced to punish you. There are things in this universe that are far worse than death by dinosaur."
"You haven't killed Dragon and Minx yet!" she pleaded. Her eyes could not leave the dinosaur for fear it suddenly lunge out and gobble her up. The thing seemed so vital, waiting for its next meal.
"I'm amending our deal, Vanessa." He turned to face her. "You are being confined to this level. There are sufficient food dispensers and cleaning facilities that you will remain healthy and well-fed until I'm ready to begin the piece. As payment for your ongoing existence, you will keep this level spotless. You will interact with Dragon, also. If you can seduce him I will extend your life for as long as I find his debasement amusing. Also, you will watch beside Dragon and I as his human lover struggles against the dangerous flora and fauna of the Terran Paleozoic in her futile attempt to reunite with the hyperman who has ensorcelled her. When I feel I can get no more useful readings of anxiety and anticipation from you, and no more entertainment, I will feed you to our friend here."
"Oh, God," she murmured, shocked that he was so open about what he intended to do to her.
"You should feel privileged that such a great artist as I took an interest in you as a model in one of my artistic endeavours, Vanessa," Mahar said with a trace of disappointment. "Your death will be recorded and broadcast to hundreds or perhaps thousands of connoisseurs across this galaxy. Your last seconds, extended to days and weeks of suffering and anguish, will become legendary. Few humans are offered the chance for such immortality."
IV
"...but you don't have to worry, honey. He was just using her for sex until you came back into his life," finished Aphrodite through Minx's communicator.
"Uh-huh..." Minx stopped as she recognized Arachne's tense posture. Having hunted together for weeks in a land populated with numerous dangerous creatures from Terra's Cenozoic Era, Minx and her arachnid friend worked well as a team. "Aphrodite? Thank you for the update. If Dragon has taken up with some...pirate, then I hope he finds exactly what he wants."
"He wants to roll over in bed and find you there, Minx. Don't be stupid!"
She rolled her eyes. The subcutaneous transmitter was working perfectly again — possibly thanks to Vanessa's spiteful kick to her head while she lay helpless on the ground — and Minx had mixed feelings about it. The A.I. was her best friend, and very helpful, but her view on people was unique.
"I think we've found the survivors, Aphrodite."
"The pirates will likely be in control, especially Alice," stated the A.I.
"Wonderful!" said Minx through a clenched jaw.
"Play nice!"
She nodded to Arachne, and the door in front of the spider suddenly slid aside. There were shouts of surprise, then the group in the room visibly relaxed when they saw only Minx and her arachnid friend. There were five humans in the columned chamber, one woman and four men. The woman and three of the men were strangers to her, and they all wore modern clothing though it was torn and worn. The last man was Victor, one of Vanessa and Paul's group. Minx could see the desperate look in their eyes that silently shouted at the world how alone and vulnerable each of them felt.
"I'm Minx," she introduced herself with no hesitation.
"Of course, you are," snarled the red-headed woman who stepped ahead of the others. She looked Minx up and down and sneered. She was quite lovely, with large breasts, and Minx guessed that she was now facing Dragon's lover, Alice.
"Wow!" said a few of the men simultaneously.
"Minx! Pheromones!" cautioned Aphrodite.
The pirate woman whirled on the nearest man who'd spoken. "Really, Rod? Just because she's torn her clothes into some skimpy bikini you start drooling?" She put a hand on the grip of her sword.
"Who's in charge here?" asked Minx.
"I am!" declared the pirate woman, facing Minx again. "I'm Alice, First Mate under Captain Dragon of the King Midas! And you..." she drew her sword and pointed the tip of it at Minx, "are my captive! Dragon will do anything we say to make sure you stay safe," Minx noted the woman's hand play with the top button on her blouse as she mentioned Dragon, "and we can barter you to Mahar if he shows up first."
Minx laughed loudly. The men and Alice looked shocked. Arachne crept into the room and began examining images upon the walls, apparently unconcerned about the confrontation between the humans.
"You're jealous! Of me!" Minx exclaimed with another laugh. "Sister, you can keep that hyperman!"
Alice furrowed her brow. "But...he's been searching for you..."
"I know. Dragon's a little obsessed. He thinks I'm to be the mother of his future army of hypermen and hyperwomen. You can have him." Aphrodite remained strangely silent as Minx spoke, or so it seemed to her. "I just owe him, and I intend to free him from Mahar. After that, he's all yours."
Alice glanced at Rod, who had gone very serious. Then, she focussed her attention entirely on the bounty hunter, raising her sword once again so that the point was aimed at Minx's chest. "You're still my prisoner."
"No," replied Minx coolly. "I'm in charge. You'll do what I tell you to do."
"Ha!"
The others backed away from the two, sensing what was coming. Arachne paused in her research to stare at Minx.
"Stay out of this, Arachne. She'll be no trouble." Then, Minx dashed forward.
Alice thrust out with her sword, a cruel smile upon her lips. Minx sidestepped the blade, grabbed Alice's wrist and twisted her arm around until the pirate dropped her weapon. Minx gave the arm a bit of an extra twist and Alice went down on her knees and gritted her teeth, but she did not cry out.
"I can break it right off, Alice. Are you going to behave yourself?"
Alice lifted her head and turned to the other pirates. She could see the calculated looks on the faces of those who had been ready to follow her orders a few seconds earlier. Minx felt her opponent tense up.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you, dear," she cautioned, twisting the arm a little more. "You!" she demanded, pointing at Rod. "Give me your sword!"
The pirate looked around at the others, then advanced slowly and offered his sword to Minx, pommel first. The bounty hunter took the sword in one hand then gently placed the blade on the back of Alice's neck. The helpless pirate closed her eyes and let out an almost imperceptible gasp.
"Minx, what's going on?" asked Aphrodite.
"How many of you want to see me kill Alice, here?" Mix called out. "I can do it easily enough. Is that how you establish leadership? I've heard about pirates. I'm a bounty hunter. I'm sure the lot of you have outstanding bounties in different systems."
The room was silent. Even Arachne watched the scene.
Minx twisted Alice's arm a little further, finally making the woman groan in pain. "What about you, Alice? Would you like to die? How many people have you murdered? Is there a bounty on you, or any of the rest of these pirates? As I told you, I'm a bounty hunter by profession so I'll still get paid if I bring in corpses." She twisted the woman's arm a little further, causing Alice to cry out involuntarily. Then, she eased up the pressure. "Are you going to behave yourself?"
"Yes!" shouted Alice, defeated, her head hanging down.
Minx released her immediately. "Pick up your sword, Alice. You'll be my lieutenant. Rod, you're the other lieutenant. By the way, I'm keeping your sword. You'll have to find a new weapon and you're not taking Alice's."
The bounty hunter surveyed her new team. They were obviously capable with weapons, but none of them would come anywhere close to being a match for a hyperman, or her for that matter. Numbers might help balance her chances, however she would have preferred a dozen or two dozen well-trained mercenaries against Mahar.
"Rest up, troops," commanded Minx. "In eight hours...we board a transport for the third zone in this hollow world!"
She cast a curious look at Arachne. If the spider was going to wander off and explore the rest of the tower then, she thought, this seemed an opportune time. Yet, the arachnid simply gazed at Minx as she sat down and put her back against a wall and then the creature turned to regard the five other humans. Then, she settled down beside Minx.
Smart girl, thought Minx. We can't trust any of these people.
V
"Aphrodite?" called out Dragon.
There was no reply. He had fully expected that Mahar would have detected the communication link between the vessel and him, and likely Minx as well, and then blocked it. He only hoped that meant that Mahar had not destroyed Aphrodite. He thought that unlikely, too. Why destroy an intelligence, artificial or not, when you could drain it of every iota of information? Mahar must be wondering which of Dragon's secrets were hidden aboard Minx's vessel.
"Vanessa?" he called out, having heard her bare feet upon the floor a short time earlier.
The woman appeared in the open doorway. She was still naked, and there was a haunted look upon her face. So, he surmised, Mahar had shown her exactly what he planned to do with her. She would no longer be looking at Mahar as a saviour, or even as an ally. The man was far too confident. He briefly wondered if he could use the presence of the scorpions against her but then decided to wait until he could observe an interaction first.
"You don't look well, Vanessa. Why don't you have a seat over by the console and try to calm yourself?" Compassion was the key now, he knew, but he had to ensure he didn't push it too far and make it seem unbelievable.
The woman shuffled across the floor. She was halfway to the console when she dropped to all fours and threw up. Dragon waited patiently for her to collect herself again. He ignored the tears and sobs.
"I've...I've got to clean this up before he sees it..." she mumbled. "He wanted me to keep this floor clean."
"Mahar won't be back for a while, Vanessa. And, he will understand that you're not capable of cleaning up that mess right away. It won't be sympathy; it will be pragmatism. Sit down and rest. Collect yourself mentally."
She wiped her mouth with the back of her arm, then stood and glared at him. "How the Hell can you know he won't get angry with me for not cleaning that mess right away?"
Dragon smiled. "He's a hyperman, as am I. He's actually a relative. We tend to think alike. We have little patience or tolerance for human stupidity, however we also understand the limitations of humans. Though I think he lacks any understanding of your people's strengths."
He watched as Vanessa shook her head in disgust, walked around the pool of vomit then dropped into the chair at the console. She idly pushed some buttons.
"He said you'd do the same thing to me if you had the upper hand, Dragon." She shuddered at a memory.
"The same thing...oh. You mean he revealed his plans for you. I wasn't lying to you earlier; I've achieved my revenge upon you and have no interest in harming you. Do you believe him?"
"You just admitted you think alike. And you were going to use me as live bait to catch something in the ocean."
"We think alike, but we are not exactly the same." Dragon sighed for effect, making it a tired and frustrated sound. "I already reminded you that I saved your life, Vanessa. I could easily have left you to be gobbled up by that giant squid. I risked my life to save yours. Would Mahar do that?"
"No," she admitted. "The bastard would watch and laugh."
"I never truly intended to drag you behind my boat as a lure, Vanessa. I was simply terrifying you. It worked. You have to admit that you had it coming." He watched her face carefully, hoping to inspire just the right emotional response from her.
"I never had that coming! First your bitch invades our town and convinces the slaves to revolt, then you come and start killing people and passing us off to vicious, raping pirates! You're as bad as Mahar is! Damn you all...!" Vanessa put her face in her hands and began to sob.
Dragon waited for her to compose herself. It took more than fifteen minutes, but he sat quietly and patiently, staring at Vanessa the whole time. With the woman's scar healed, and the other manipulations that Mahar had performed upon her body, he had to admit she was much more physically attractive than she had been before. It was a pity, he thought, that she was so ugly inside.
"Feeling better?" he asked quietly.
She nodded. "A little. Although, I'm terrified at what he's planning to do."
"Do you want to talk about it?"
"No!"
"It's your choice," he said soothingly. "I wanted to discuss something else anyway, Vanessa. This seems to be a good time."
"He told me I should talk to you, you know," she said eying him suspiciously. "What did you want to talk about?"
"I thought he might say something like that. He's very confident that I can't escape."
"Can you?" she asked with sudden hope.
"No. Not without help."
She glared at him. It struck him that she was once again hoping someone else would do her dirty work for her. That seemed to be the key character trait with the woman. He knew it would be difficult to seduce her into sabotaging Mahar's equipment, yet he had to try if he was to protect Minx.
"So...everyone's treated you badly, have they?" asked the hyperman. She stared at him, full of suspicion. "Well, I just wanted to remind you that you enslaved a race of thinking beings who were very likely relatives of your ancestors. You also drugged Minx, with the intention that she would be gang raped by the men in your group. You threw her into a pit to battle unarmed against a prehistoric predator. And, you have the audacity to blame her for what's happened to you!"
"That's not fair..." she responded, in a small voice.
"Life isn't fair, Vanessa. However, I'm sure there are those who would believe that Mahar's plans are fit punishment for your crimes. Since you haven't shown any hint of remorse you can safely assume that I'm one of those people."
"You monster!" she shouted.
Vanessa jumped to her feet and ran across the room at him as if to strike him. When she was within centimetres of the energy bars she froze then screamed incoherently at him. He waited, patiently, as she screamed again and again, taking deeper breaths each time and becoming louder and louder. What her outburst did do was to vent her anger at a convenient target, a victim whom she would later have to talk to. She would have to make an effort to convince Dragon that she still wished to be on friendly terms after abusing him.
"Vanessa!"
She froze at the sound of Mahar's voice, as she loomed over Dragon and trembled uncontrollably. Her eyes went wide and she stared in shock at the imprisoned hyperman, his face impassive and unaccusing.
"Try to use," commanded Mahar from the doorway, "what limited intellect you have and show some restraint. Dragon has simply goaded you. It comforts him to know he still has some degree of power over someone, even when so completely confined. Clean up that mess on the floor."
Vanessa closed her eyes and forced her hands to open.
"Feel better?" asked Dragon, quietly. He knew Mahar heard his question, but also knew it would fit into Mahar's erroneous assessment of what had actually been happening in the room.
Vanessa's eyes shot open and she took a few steps back from the prisoner, almost afraid of him. He smiled at her, full of confidence. She looked back over her shoulder and was surprised to see Mahar was nowhere in sight.
"He left," explained Dragon. "That was insufficient entertainment to keep his attention for long. While he perceives me as a warped mirror of himself it makes him uncomfortable to watch as a mere human holds power over me. He would prefer to personally dole out punishment against me. As for you humans, he craves...more grotesque displays."
Vanessa hugged herself. "I know," she said quietly.
"Feel Better?" he asked again, with a slight tilt to his head.
She licked her lips. "Yeah." Her eyes narrowed. "Your sex pheromones?"
Dragon chuckled. "No. You required an emotional shift, Vanessa. You're not a bad person, you've just grown barbaric over the years you've spent here in this hollow world. Some of the emotions that have been building within you have now been expelled. Do you still loathe Minx?"
"I..." Several emotions played across her face. "I don't think so. I mean, she could have been nicer to me...but...I think I could have been nicer..."
