Minx Ep. 05: Sphere, Age of Arachnids

"Of course, it would be! It always is! However, it gives the hopeless something they need. It gives every thinking creature the hope that they won't be snuffed from existence on a whim, even though every mature being knows that is reality. Humans need to feel that they control their own destiny, especially in an uncaring universe that could fling asteroids at their home world at any moment."

Vanessa examined the floor. It was still slick, but it was clean.

"You don't think Mahar will mind?"

Dragon shrugged again. "Does it matter if he does? He plans to kill you anyway. Tell him to go to Hell! Your final fate will still be the same. What can be worse than what he currently has planned for you?"

A thoughtful look crossed her face. Then, she was clearly struck by sudden suspicions. She picked up the rags and carried them out of them room. He was confident that by the time she returned she'd have some amount of clothing on, and Mahar would wonder what had given her hope. His rival would, of course, realize that Dragon was the source. However, if Mahar forbade Vanessa to continue wearing clothes it would strengthen the bond Dragon was attempting to build, and if Mahar allowed her to continue wearing whatever clothing she made for herself then it would convince Vanessa that Dragon had been correct and that he was reliable, at least to some degree.

Soon, very soon Vanessa would be ready to do his bidding. He needed a test, though, some way to determine if she was ready to commit to him and also act out against Mahar. However, he decided, it had to be something that would not put her at risk of punishment, as he felt no personal need to torment the woman.

VIII

Dragon was in his ship, on the bridge, when Minx strolled in. They chatted about inconsequential things until she suddenly sat upon his lap and put her arms around his shoulders. The action seemed to signify something to her though what he wasn't sure.

"I'm ready. Let's begin building a family," she whispered.

His eyes opened in surprise. Was that dream some deep desire from his subconscious, one that he had been hiding from himself up until this very moment? He had only expressed his desire for her to provide him with offspring, not to become a family. He did not want to live the rest of his life with her, or did he?

Dragon yawned and woke quickly. The sleep had been quite refreshing, even confined as he was. In fact, he was quite surprised he was comfortable. He found a small depression in the centre of the octagon and pressed it. In response, a hole about a hand across dilated open. Dragon used the opening for its obvious purpose then pushed the depression to seal it up again.

Vanessa sauntered into the room, trying to look seductive. She had combed her long, brown hair, and was now wearing a loose poncho made of some silvery material that covered very little of her legs and arms. She pushed a small tray onto the edge of the octagonal platform then stood back as the hyperman watched. She twirled for Dragon. One side of the poncho slid down her shoulder, fully exposing a round breast.

"What do you think?" she asked, narrowing her eyes at him.

"You're feeling better," he observed. She was pretty enough, but he saw no reason to play her game. He needed to be in control, not she.

"I mean: aren't I more beautiful than Minx?" She posed, putting one leg forward and placing her hands on her hips.

"No."

In an instant, her face twisted in fury. "What the hell is wrong with you? I was going to come in here and show you a good time and you treat me like dirt? I'm better than Minx! I'm better than you...you damned...hyperman!"

"Minx is more beautiful than you are, inside and out." After grabbing the tray of foodstuffs, he tilted his head to look her up and down once more, then turned his face a little to look at the monitors upon the one wall. They were all inactive.

Vanessa clenched her fists and took a few quick steps toward Dragon. Then, she suddenly stopped. Her shoulders drooped.

"What's the point?" she asked. "What's the point of clothes, or talking, or who's more beautiful? Mahar's going to kill me. He's going to put some stasis device on me and push me into a dinosaur's mouth to be eaten slowly. And what are you doing about it? You're a man! Aren't you supposed to be rescuing me?"

"From in here?" asked Dragon in apparent helplessness. He took a bite of the spongey food and found it tasteless, but somewhat filling. He suspected the transparent and colourless liquid in the cup was just water. "I do appear to be in a bind, both literally and figuratively."

"That's your plan, isn't it, Dragon?" Vanessa walked up to him, reached carefully through the energy bars and ran a finger along his jaw. "You're seducing me with those hyperman pheromones and your good looks, and I'll free you but instead of taking me away from this damned world you're just going to toss me aside for that bitch!"

"You should get over this obsession with Minx, my dear. You need to act for yourself, not against someone else. Free me or don't free me. Do nothing but wait for Mahar to kill you, and he will eventually kill you. You're a thinking being...so act like it!"

"You're treating me like I'm a child!" she pouted. "You don't know what I've been through!"

"And you have no idea what my life has been like, so let's not play the pity game, Vanessa. As long as you act like a child you'll be treated like a child. For that matter, have you any idea what suffering Minx has gone through before she came here?"

Vanessa stamped her foot. "I hate you! I hate Mahar! I hate this damn hollow world! I hate the monkey-people slaves we had! I hate those pirates! I HATE EVERYTHING!"

"And that's going to save you...how?" queried the hyperman in a quiet voice.

Vanessa screamed incoherently and ran from the room, leaving Dragon to ponder his next step in training the woman. Perhaps she needs to revisit the terrifying future that Mahar has planned for her, he mused. That might make her more pliable...

IX

Vanessa ran down corridor after corridor and then screamed at the walls. Once she calmed, she realized that she was at the top of a ramp. Mahar had ordered her to stay on this level, but what more could he threaten her with after informing her he was going to feed her to a dinosaur? She set one foot on the ramp and paused in case alarms went off.

Nothing happened.

She took another step, then another. Again, nothing happened. A smile crossed her face. Had Mahar simply hoped her fear would keep her prisoner? Was there a ship on this level that she could use to escape?

Vanessa reached the bottom of the ramp and looked about warily. There was no sign of Mahar, or anything that might pose a threat to her, though she could hear distant clicking that suggested the giant scorpions were about. With a shrug of her shoulders, she jogged down the hall. At the first doorway she came to she stopped and listened. Since no sound was heard from within, she walked up to the door and the portal slipped aside to reveal a dimly lit laboratory.

Benches of machines and glassware containing materials of various colours filled much of the room, but what held her attention were the large, nearly-opaque glass cylinders set along the right wall. She approached them slowly. Lights above and behind each of the tubes lit up as she neared, revealing a dozen grotesque bipedal creatures, one in each container. The first was mammalian and female, but the second was reptilian and male, and the third insect-like and of indeterminate gender. She couldn't even begin to classify the pulsing, gelatinous thing in the next tube, though it had four limbs, a trunk, and a head in some parody of the human form. Smaller containers off to her right contained floating large spiders, each transformed in such a way as to suggest its flesh had been melted.

Staggering back, she kept her distance but looked down the remainder of the row of tubes. The visions there became more and more disturbing. What was Mahar doing in here? Returning to the first tube she suddenly noticed the female's chest rising and falling very slowly. She stared at the reptilian form and saw that he, too, was alive. Vanessa could take no more of these horrors and ran from the room.

The portal slid shut behind her once she was in the hall again. She took a deep breath and continued on to the next doorway. She opened the portal and wrinkled her nose at the odour of excrement and rotting food that assailed her. The chamber appeared to be a docking bay, for there was a large rolling door at the far end of the room and a large egg-shaped craft dominated the centre of the room.

"At last!" she exclaimed. She took a few hurried steps toward the ship, then froze.

Something vaguely man-like had shuffled around from the far side of the white ship. Vanessa began to back away, but the naked and hairy thing turned and stared at her. Lips curled back over human-looking teeth. A second creature appeared beside the first. She turned and ran out the open doorway, slamming into the far wall of the corridor. As she scrambled to her feet, the door slid shut. However, a man-like hand slid out and prevented the portal from completely closing. Hairy fingers curled around the edge of the door. She heard the thing grunting as it exerted its strength.

She ran again, crying and stumbling as she went. Soon the ramp was mere metres ahead of her. Then, she tripped and she slid across the smooth floor and up the ramp a short distance on her bare thigh, scraping it painfully, until she slammed into the wall. Vanessa rolled over and tried to catch her breath. The heavy footfalls of her pursuers gave her the strength of will to ignore her pain and stand. She limped up the ramp with her back against the wall, watching for the two beast-men.

She was horrified to see them run to the bottom of the ramp, then elated to see them slide to a halt. They stared at her, then the rising floor of the ramp, muttering and hooting to each other. A whimper escaped her lips, once more focussing their attention on her. That sent a chill down her spine. She ran. And the sound of the two creatures behind renewing their pursuit made her run faster than she'd ever run before.

"Dragon!" she screamed desperately. Then: "Mahar! Help!"

Glancing over her shoulder she could see they were gaining on her. Vanessa turned into the room she'd been looking for, slamming her hip into the door frame. Dragon sat on his platform, staring at her curiously.

"Oh my God! You've got to save me!" she shouted. Then, she ran to him and hid behind his cage.

Peeking out she could see the beast-men follow her into the room. They sniffed the air and stepped cautiously, staring at Dragon the entire time.

"You haven't determined how to free me, have you Vanessa?" asked Dragon. He sounded so unafraid, almost jovial.

"Stop them! Oh, please stop them! I'll do anything!"

The two creatures came forward slowly, peeking through Dragon's cage at their prey.

"Make them go away! Use your powers!"

"I..." began Dragon.

"He has no powers, you silly human girl!" announced Mahar. The beast-men froze and turned to face the newly arrived hyperman.

"Make them go away, Mahar! I'm so sorry! Please!" begged Vanessa.

"Failed experiments, Mahar?" asked Dragon, giving his nemesis an odd look.

"Very humorous," came the reply. "Paul! Miguel! Stay!" Mahar walked over to Dragon and Vanessa. He offered her his hand, then helped her to stand up straight.

"I'm so sorry!" she squeaked, trembling uncontrollably.

"Yes, I'm sure you are. I told you not to leave this level."

"Please don't feed me to the dinosaur!" she begged.

"So...you took two of her friends and activated recessive genes to effectively de-evolve them?" asked Dragon. "For what purpose? A man such as yourself, who despises the lower races, can't possibly see any profit in such experimentation. There is no knowledge or power to be gained here. Why waste the energy? Why waste the time?"

Mahar stared at his opponent in disgust. "An almost human I.Q. in a hyperman is a terrible waste, Dragon. I shall do the universe a great service when I remove your genetic potential from it."

"That's Paul and Miguel?" asked Vanessa, pulling her hand away from Mahar's. "What have you done to them?" She shivered in horror.

Mahar strode over to the two men, who both crouched low at his approach. "I've improved them! Greater strength and agility, and they obey my will. Think of an army of such creatures, dropped on a human world! If I could but code their genetic material to increase the chances of fertilization — make their genes dominant over those of their normal human counterparts — then I would be able to create a massive army in perhaps fifteen to thirty years."

"If. If," commented Dragon with sarcasm. "You are not Morovan. His subtle skills at genetic manipulation were genius even by hyperman standards. You'll not match him even in two or three lifetimes, Mahar." He sent one knowing glance toward Vanessa, then returned his attention to the other hyperman. "A suitably organized society would be able to apprehend and incarcerate your infiltrators before they caused too much harm, leaving your plan in ruins. And, if you went to the trouble to spread chaos through that society before you dropped these two into their midst, then you'd simply find a battle for survival that your minions would not survive. Achieving what you dream of would take decades of constant observation and tinkering. Morovan was not so clumsy or so inept as to attempt what you would."

The other hyperman turned suddenly. "You seem to be very sure about your knowledge of that mysterious historical figure, Dragon. What secrets are locked inside your head, I wonder. I doubt I'll be able to retrieve much from your ship's memory, but perhaps from that other vessel your human lover arrived within...or directly from your brain."

Vanessa gasped.

"How melodramatic, Mahar," laughed Dragon. "What next? Are you going to twirl your moustache and tie Vanessa to a monorail track?"

"Moustache...?" wondered Vanessa aloud.

"I'll acquire what I want, Dragon. Make no mistake about that. Perhaps your female friend has the information that you will not so easily surrender. I can squeeze what I need from her."

"Perhaps," agreed Dragon. "Or, perhaps I would not trust valuable information like that to a mere human. You've seen how easily manipulated Vanessa is. All humans are like that, as you should know. Did you really think I would tell Minx everything?"

Mahar glared at him. The answer was plain upon the hyperman's face.

"You are such a fool, Mahar." Dragon smirked.

"Come Vanessa!" declared Mahar suddenly. He grabbed her arm and dragged her from the room. "Paul! Miguel! Follow!" The two beast-men loped after their master.

Dragon kept the grin on his face after the others left the room, but silently chastised himself for revealing he was concealing information concerning Morovan. Thankfully, his quick thinking had prevented Mahar from rushing out and apprehending Minx, but he had to be far more careful from now on. At least he had been able to plant the idea in Vanessa's head that Mahar was making mistakes that Dragon was taking advantage of. That would give the woman the confidence she needed to act against Mahar, when the time came.

A few minutes later, Mahar re-entered the room alone. He went to the control panel and activated some screens. In the image, Vanessa was screaming as the two beast-men fell upon her. Her poncho was forcefully pulled from her body as the males both attempted to gain sole possession of the poor woman.

"I thought you had other plans for her, Mahar," sighed Dragon, as he looked away from the screens. "This seems needlessly unplanned for one of our people." He was grateful that the sound had not been turned on.

"They're not going to kill her, Dragon," explained Mahar in a tired voice. "Just some initial experiments on Vanessa's emotional depth and the biomechanics of procreation between my creations and a typical human female. A thorough examination afterwards will help determine the viability of mating humans to their more primitive cousins I've created. It will also serve to remind the woman of her place."

Dragon forced himself to turn back to the screen, just as Vanessa was thrown to the ground and one of the beast-men climbed atop her. A hyperman would be expected to watch out of scientific curiosity, and Mahar did turn to see whether the other was watching the experiment. However, as Mahar turned his attention back to the screens once more, Dragon looked away and scowled.

"I can see that you are weak, Dragon. The sight of blood and pain troubles you, even when it is just a human. You can't appreciate the artistry of the situation, the nuances."

"Compassion is not a weakness, Mahar. A pity more of our people can't realize that. If we shared that human emotion we'd work together instead of plotting against each other. The hyperman empire would be a mighty work spread across the whole galaxy! But you, like all our cousins, think it a weakness, and the humans multiply and spread, working together because they care about each other. We are the weaker race, Mahar. We are the race that will be lost to history, our genes obliterated by time and our own arrogance."

"Species, Dragon," corrected Mahar. "We are the stronger species, but you are too defective to comprehend even that simple fact. We were evolved from humans and we are destined to replace them."

X

Minx awoke to find a warm body nestled against her. In the half-awake state she was in, she rolled over and stared in surprise at Arachne resting peacefully beside her. She pushed herself up and noted Alice sleeping a couple of metres from her. There was no noise coming from the other compartment. She went to the controls and realized the craft had arrived and safely docked, all without waking a single one of its occupants.

Arachne had gained an expertise with the controls in a very short period of time. She stared at her friend with new respect. Or, Minx reminded herself, Dragon was a far better instructor than she gave him credit for. She suspected Arachne's own talents were the main factor.

"Aphrodite?" whispered Minx.

"Still here, boss. Where've you been? It's been hours! I've calculated pi to one trillion digits six separate times!"

"I've been sleeping. I think we've arrived at the Paleozoic Zone. Can you give me a heads up on what we might soon be facing?"

"Lovecraftian nightmares? Seriously, Minx! You wake up and you expect me to just answer every question you have without even a 'how are you doing, pal'? Sometimes, you're just as bad as your hyperman."

"I...sorry, Aphrodite. I didn't think there'd be anything new with you, since you're still frozen by some energy-dampening field that Mahar activated. What's changed?"

"Well, nothing, but it would be nice if you asked once in awhile. Several hours for you is like an eternity for me! I had to replay my memories of me and my guy making love over fifty thousand times. Even that gets boring after the first thirty-seven thousand repetitions."

Minx sighed. "I'm doing my best to track Mahar and find out how to disable the energy-dampening field, Aphrodite. We knew it would take time. I'm sorry. I'm only flesh and blood..."

"If I had a cold shoulder you'd be getting it right now, boss."

"Aphrodite! Please give me any information on the creatures that might be out there! If I get killed, you're stuck forever. Or at least until Mahar decides to lobotomize you."

"Point taken," sighed the A.I. "There's very little in the fossil record about detailed creature behaviour from this time period, boss. However, it would have been just as dangerous as any other era, and that goes for plants and animals. I'd trust Arachne's instincts and knowledge since she probably comes from this zone. Expect large arthropods: spiders, scorpions, dragonflies, etc. Reptiles, amphibians and fish were around, and some of those grew larger than a human and were decidedly carnivorous. The only vegetation that might be edible for you would be pine nuts and tubers."