Minx Ep. 05: Sphere, Age of Arachnids

"Thank you, Aphrodite."

"There is something you could do for me," suggested the A.I.

"What?"

"Cuddle up with Alice. I want to do a full record of you engaged in some girl on girl action. It'll add some variety to my memories during your next sleep cycle."

"Not happening."

"Who're you talking to, Captain?" asked Rod, poking his head into the control compartment.

"My ship. Wake everyone. We've arrived, Rod." Minx nudged Alice with her foot and the pirate woman was almost instantly alert.

Arachne stirred and then stood up on her eight legs. She made her way to the control panel and shifted some switches and pushed some buttons. A semi-transparent holographic display appeared above the panel and the arachnid clicked several times.

Minx examined the display. It looked to be a map of the transport system with an overlay of the surface. She spotted the tower, hopefully in the Paleozoic Zone, and pointed to it. "We want to go here, Arachne."

Her friend batted away her hand, then clicked several times. Minx narrowed her eyes and stared at the map as Arachne pointed out a blip some distance away from the tower. Then Arachne struck the panel with one of her claws and the display disappeared. She clicked in frustration.

"It's not your fault, Arachne," soothed Minx. "Mahar probably has some sort of override that prevents us from going straight to him. I think," Minx chuckled, "I think he wants us to trudge across this zone and watch the dangers we'll face. Entertainment for his sick little soul."

They abandoned the useless control panel and sat down to have breakfast. Soon, everyone was alert and had completed their meal. Arachne led the group out of the vehicle, through tunnel after tunnel, until they at least reached a vertical tube leading to the surface. Minx led the way up the ladder and then carefully opened the hatch at the top.

She had expected a swampy, mist-filled terrain. What she saw was a typical, temperate Terran landscape spread out below the slope she was on, except there were no trees. Plants appeared squat, even the ones that would tower over a human. Fern-like fronds and vines were everywhere. Large insects, some as big as hawks or eagles, buzzed through the sky. In the distance, large four and six-legged figures moved about. Far to her left, there was a dazzle that was reminiscent of a large body of water. The air was uncomfortably hot and felt rather humid.

"What's wrong, Captain?" asked Alice.

"Just checking..." replied Minx.

She opened the hatch completely and climbed out into the light. Arachne scuttled out behind her and looked about eagerly. They waited until everyone had vacated the tube, then Minx closed the hatch.

"We stay close together and keep alert," commanded Minx. The other humans stared about fearfully.

"There's no dinosaurs though, right?" asked Alice.

"Probably not," answered Minx. "However, millions of years have passed since the dinosaurs were taken aboard. They've had plenty of time to make their way from zone to zone, if there had ever been an opportunity to do so. I'm more worried about the creatures native to this zone. Arachne's people are from here, and they're not slouches. That means they had some fierce competition. The plants and animals that would have been put here would have been native to Terra hundreds of millions of years ago. They would have evolved to survive on Terra, and then they might have kept evolving here for the last couple of hundred million years as the Sphere floated through space. We have no idea what is dangerous and what isn't. Keep your eyes open and be careful!"

Arachne pointed with a claw. Minx looked north and south and tried to estimate the direction, then she simply peered toward whatever her friend had gestured at. There was a spire, or tower, just dimly visible in the haze.

"Let's visit your people first, Arachne. We're likely to find allies there, aren't we?" asked Minx.

Arachne thumped two claws onto the ground in an emphatic 'no'.

"Okay," replied Minx, a little surprised by how adamant her friend's reaction was. "Let's head for the tower then. You lead."

The arachnid scuttled off, heading down the slope but at an angle instead of trying to reach the lowland as fast as possible. Minx shrugged and followed the trail. She heard the others scrambling after her over stones and tangled vines. If any of them wanted to flee she wouldn't stop them, but she didn't give much for their chances of survival if they did.

Vincent left the trail and Minx turned to see where he was going.

"There are berries!" he pointed out.

A tangle of thorny vines and bushes offered some protection for several berry bushes. Minx licked her lips. Berries would be good, and she was sure Arachne would know if they were toxic. She turned to see Arachne waving her front arms emphatically.

"Vincent! Stop!" commanded Minx.

The man froze in place, looking about himself in fear. Minx strode toward him, her brow furrowed.

"If you want to get yourself killed then just keep wandering off every time you see something interesting!"

Vincent seemed to shrink and backed away from her. Suddenly he stumbled and fell backwards onto some vines with a painful gasp. Minx hurried to him and grabbed his arms to pull him back to his feet, getting pricked by thorns as she did so. As she led him back to the trail she began to feel dizzy.

Alice hurried over and helped Minx to a seated position. "Captain? Captain? What's wrong?" Concern was spread across the woman's face as Minx felt the world begin to tip onto its side.

Arachne pushed Alice aside and pushed some berries into Minx's mouth.

"Awachee?" asked Minx, spilling some of the berries.

Alice was back in front of her. "Eat the berries, Captain. Hurry!"

Minx obeyed the command. The berries were very tart but edible. The juice flowed from her mouth and down her chin. Soon, Minx's head began to clear.

"Give some to Vincent," she commanded. "Thank you, Arachne. You, too, Alice."

The group waited until both Minx and Vincent were ready to move on. Vincent was still weak but improving so Minx had one of the pirates help him. As dangerous as that foolishness had been it served as a good reminder to the group of exactly how dangerous this place could be. There were so many unknown dangers here, Minx thought, she was once again glad for her friendship with the arachnid.

As she walked, she thought on Arachne's earlier reaction to the idea of finding her people. The arachnid had seemed angry at the very thought of it. But, wondered Minx, why was that? If her people had been wiped out by Mahar then she should have reacted with sadness. So, it was likely her people were still about. Yet, wouldn't her people want her back? Wouldn't they want to help Arachne overthrow Mahar? Or, had her people embraced Mahar as a new leader and helped send Arachne into exile? If that was the case then, Minx realized, this zone was going to be extremely dangerous for both her and Arachne.

XI

Mahar watched Vanessa's ordeal intently until long after the woman had passed out and the beast-men had lost interest in her. Dragon had watched the monitors only then, wondering if Mahar was going to remove her from any further abuse, however his captor showed absolutely no concern for the poor woman and shut off the monitors once Paul and Miguel left her bloody and bruised body. Then, Mahar sneered at Dragon.

"Do you see the art?" demanded Mahar.

"I see a perversion of logic and art," answered Dragon with venom. "You take joy in her needless suffering and claim it art, when the truth is simply that you wanted to be the one to rape her and were afraid to get your hands dirty by, in your mind, consorting with a lower species."

The other shook his head in disgust. "You just do not have the intellect to see the truth of it. All pain and suffering is art, and I will work a masterpiece across the entire galaxy once I am ready. The treasures within this world are almost unbelievable, Dragon! The tepid arachnids that ruled this world when I first arrived lacked any zest for living. They were content to simply exist and watch, circling around the galaxy until they once again returned to Terra to observe its changes. With the equipment they have in storage here they could conquer the galaxy!"

Dragon narrowed his eyes as he watched his enemy. He didn't think Mahar was lying, and saw no reason for his captor to do so at this time. Yet, he doubted the arachnids could conquer the galaxy based on the evidence of their technology that he'd observed. "Harming others is not art. You cause pain because you enjoy it. You derive a forbidden thrill from inflicting torment upon other sentient beings. It is probably a futile attempt to reinforce the idea of your superiority when, in fact, you realize that you are inferior to those you torment."

"You lie!" shouted Mahar, momentarily out of control. He took a couple of quick steps toward his helpless prisoner then stopped. "You simply do not understand that art is about life, and life is about suffering. It is only natural that greater minds should combine art and suffering to make the greatest masterpieces. Think on the exertions, the pain, as the artist struggles to perfect a work of art. That effort, that torture is almost palpable in the great pieces..."

"Your mind is broken, Mahar. Why don't you go and pull that poor girl from that room? Those two might return for her..."

"Her efforts at survival are necessary parts of her final days of life, Dragon. Can you not see that?"

"What I see is you like hurting others and pretend yourself an artist. Art is communication. While pain and art may sometimes be connected, one does not depend upon the other."

"If you are going to be obstinate..." said Mahar menacingly. He reached into a pocket and pulled out a small, palm-sized, device. A gentle touch and Dragon was writhing in agony as if his nerves were suddenly on fire. "That is simply setting five, my friend. It would be enough to drive a human mad. I'll only leave it on for one hour, then it will shut off automatically."

Mahar put the control back in his pocket and approached his prisoner. "Think of it as an inducement to behave yourself in the future. So far, you have behaved like a human!" Then, Mahar stormed out of the chamber.

Dragon tried to will himself into unconsciousness but found he no longer had the ability to do that. His fingers and toes flexed painfully, stretched, and then flexed again as he fought for breath. The pain was very intense, and left him barely aware of what was going on around him. With all of his mental discipline, he flexed his muscles and stretched, hoping for some release from the agony. It was of no use; the torment prevented him from doing anything except writhe.

He collapsed in exhaustion, his muscles aching, and then his nerves were on fire again. He writhed and twisted. It seemed a very long time before the horrible sensations ended and his body went numb. He could barely feel the sweat upon his skin, though he knew he must be bathed in it. His mouth was bone dry, and he believed he might have bit his tongue a couple of times while under the influence of Mahar's tortures.

His eyes opened. The monitors were dark. Dragon was thankful for that, having no wish to see further attacks upon Vanessa by those two beast-men. He was alone, and the only sound was his laboured breathing.

After that Dragon rested for a while, then awoke and resumed thinking of escape plans. Vanessa was instrumental in each one. If the beast-men had broken her mentally and physically there was no hope for Dragon until Minx arrived, and possibly no hope for Minx in that event. He was so deep in thought that he was surprised by the sight of an exhausted and delirious Vanessa dragging herself around the door frame and then collapsing on the floor.

"Vanessa?" he called out softly.

She started to sob and shake. He let her, understanding it was the start of a healing process. Even after the crying ended, and her form went still, he left her in peace. As coldly logical as it was, patience was best for both of them now. It was essential that he win her over to his side so she could free him; it was vital for her own safety and for his and Minx's. It was only hours later as she stirred again to sleepily pull what was left of her silver poncho about her that he again spoke to her.

"Vanessa?"

"Mmm?" she mumbled without lifting her head off the floor.

"You need to stand up."

She slowly rose to her feet, using the wall for support. Her eyes were open but they constantly narrowed and widened, as if she was seeing nothing around her.

"Do you want to scream at me?"

"No!" She was appalled at the thought.

"Mahar deserves to pay for what he's done to you."

"Paul and Miguel did this..." She started crying again, this time silently. Tears rolled down her cheeks.

"Vanessa!" She was shocked by the volume of his shout. "Mahar is responsible! Never forget that! Not you, not Paul, and not Miguel!"

"What about you? Didn't you bring me to Mahar?" It was not asked in anger.

"Don't think like that. Mahar set the whole thing up. He's responsible. Do you understand?" He eyed her, understanding that he had to tread very carefully or she would reject everyone and everything, and embrace death.

"If I hadn't come with you...if I hadn't gone exploring...he wouldn't have punished me..." she muttered.

"No guilt! Human curiosity demanded you explore when the opportunity arose, Vanessa. Mahar knew that so he set a trap for you. You fell into it and he used it as an excuse to have you attacked by those beast-men. Mahar was solely responsible. He knew exactly what was going to happen. If he had not wanted it to happen he would have prevented you from leaving this level."

"I wish I could believe that," she said quietly.

"One day you will. When I have Mahar at my mercy, I'll turn to you and ask what I should do to him and you'll think up something suitable and creative. Until then, remember that it's all his fault."

She lifted the remnants of the poncho she still had across one shoulder and over one hip. "And this? You said I should wear clothes...to defy him."

"And...you did. Whether or not you wore clothes, he had to hurt you and do it in a way that gave him a thrill."

"A thrill?" she asked with a shrill voice.

"He watched everything that happened to you on those monitors there."

"And I suppose you did, too! Is that what hypermen do for entertainment?"

There was fire in her voice. Dragon was pleased to hear it, but did not let it show.

"I couldn't watch. I just don't seem to have it in me. My people think me weak because of that fact. They considered such horrors entertaining."

"And...when you gave me to that pirate? You knew what would happen!" she accused, suddenly angry and seeming like her normal self.

"Yes, I did. And when you helped drug Minx? You knew what would happen?" he responded in a perfectly calm voice.

"That was different," she said, her voice trembling.

"Were Paul and Miguel there, Vanessa? Would they have forced Minx to the ground and ripped her clothes off before..."

"STOP!" She was crying again.

"None of us is innocent in this, Vanessa. However, what I did to you I did as an act of revenge for what you tried to do to Minx. You have to learn to accept that. Just as you have to learn to accept what you did to Minx out of pettiness and callousness, traits that humans and hypermen share. You must accept what you have done and atone for it."

"And how are you going to atone for what you did to me, Dragon?"

"I don't owe you anything, Vanessa. I gave you to Rod, to be his to dominate and use. You were used sexually. I guess at first you thought of fighting him, yet later you accepted your fate and began to both enjoy yourself and begin to manipulate him. Isn't that true? Did you ever once tell him no?"

She shook her head.

"You came to my ship's cabin looking to offer me sex in exchange for what?" he asked. "Was it to be the leader's mate? To seek power through sex? Or was it simply to revenge yourself on Minx after she had done nothing to deserve your fury?"

Vanessa turned away from him and did not answer.

"So, it was both. You used sex to dominate the men in your group before Minx showed up, although you weren't finding it as pleasurable as you originally did. Then, you tried to get Minx to join your little game, but she refused. That was where you first began to hate her. The two of you were going to rule the men, sharing and exchanging them while plotting behind their backs? Sex was going to be your tool to power. Then, Minx scarred you as you tried to arrange her rape. And that was far worse than her simply refusing to work with you, as then you feared you had lost your sexual hold over Paul and the others. Does that sound correct?"

"Go on," she said quietly, though she was still looking away.

"I gave you to Rod after refusing your sexual advance. That got you angry at me. However, you knew Rod was third in command. Will you admit that you believed you had a pretty good thing going with him; that you were in a good situation and the only thing you were really afraid of was that I might kill you and Rod could do nothing about it?"

"Yes. Damn you. I thought I had Rod wrapped around my finger," she admitted. "At first I was terrified that he might kill me, but he just liked it a little rough. I pretended to resist but we both knew it was just a game. Later, I even convinced him that he was so skilled at sex that I'd begun to fall in love with him." She laughed. "Men are so stupid!"

"I knew you were after power, Vanessa. My threats were the punishment for what you'd done to Minx. Giving you to Rod was done to keep you out of my hair and to give you a chance to establish a comfortable position for yourself. Although...he seemed to lose interest in you after a short while. What happened?"

She turned to face him again. "I was still pissed off about Minx. I kept going on about what we should do to her if we ever saw her again. It made Rod nervous to hear me talk that way. I knew it wasn't something I should have said to him, but...I was still angry!"

"And your anger got the better of you, and eventually he cast you off. You had a fairly comfortable situation and then threw it away because your baseless hatred of Minx kept interfering with your plans to dominate Rod."

"And that's when Mahar found me and I made a deal with him," finished Vanessa.

"Time to break that arrangement, wouldn't you say?" asked Dragon.

"Yes."

"Do you believe, now, that I didn't intend to kill you?"

"Yes. And...Minx didn't really do anything that balanced what I tried to do to her." She hugged herself and then wiped tears from her cheeks. "I don't think I'll ever get over that..."

"Don't dwell on it!" commanded Dragon. "It happened. Try your best to put it in the past. It wasn't your fault. And," he added with an evil grin, "I'll help you get revenge."

"So. So, I set you free," she said, nodding her head and walking toward him.

"Not quite yet, Vanessa."

"Not yet? What if he sends Paul and Miguel after me again?" she demanded trembling. "What if he feeds me to that dinosaur?"

"Mahar has started torturing both of us, Vanessa."

"You, too?"

"After he arranged for those two creatures to attack you, he came here and watched everything on those screens. Once it was done, he activated a device that caused me incredible pain for about an hour. He's started his torments on both of us. Soon, he'll want to start it on Minx and the others. I'd prefer he concentrate on us so Minx has time to get here and help stop him once and for all."

"You can't be serious!" she pleaded.

"Yes, I am, Vanessa. This is going to be extremely difficult for both of us. However, we simply cannot bust out and try to attack him right now. We need information and preparations...and timing."