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			DAMSELS UNDER GLASS: THE SERIES
			Anne's Story —by Van EPILOGUE

TESSERACT WORLD HEADQUARTERS
SEATTLE

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Jodi Weber's voice echoed hollowly through the workout room.  It was a voice-only connection, so the vid-window on the display remained dark.  "She's a newbie.  I know it's a violation, but how 'bout a little prosecutorial discretion here?"

"Rules are rules," Elke answered.  "Self-bondage without an adequate safety is not a trivial matter."

"Pleeeez?  Pretty pleeeez?"

Elke grinned.  "Okay, I'll let it pass.  Keep with the program, and make sure Anne gets her turn with the ropes before too long, understand?"

"Okay," Jodi answered.  "Thanks Sis!  My regards to Her Majesty.  Ciao."

"G'bye, Shrimp," Elke answered and tapped the screen.  The virtual phone link briefly displayed summary information, then the screen blanked and the wall returned to its normal, mirrored appearance.

Elke stretched, adjusted her thong and sports bra, and walked back to the universal resistance machine.  Margo, nude and glistening with sweat, was just finishing a set of leg lifts.

"So?" Margo, asked, slightly out of breath.  "All is well... with our... new Member?"

"Right as rain," Elke answered absently, concentrating on the screen next to the machine embracing her employer and friend.  Margo's universal resistance machine was comprised of a series of robotic levers and pistons in a complex articulated frame.  It was capable of assuming a nearly infinite number of positions, and could automatically change from station to station "taking" its subject with it, courtesy of carefully designed and positioned padded clamps, straps, and saddles.  "That's enough for now," Elke announced.  "Your readouts are very good, although your weight is up a kilo.  Nothing we can't sweat out of you, of course."

"Elke," Eve's voice echoed, "may I interrupt Margo's workout for a moment please?"

"Let me guess," Elke sighed.  "Some zaibatsu is making a run on one of Margo's holdings and an army of ninja lawyers is assaulting the Campus as we speak?"

"Actually," Eve said, "I have a message for you."

"Okay, Eve," Elke said with a grin, "what can I do for you."

"Ms. Sanchez asked that if she was otherwise occupied at this hour, I should ask you to please rescue Ms. Paretsky," Eve explained.

"Which means, of course, that Brie is 'otherwise occupied,'" Elke said with a wry smile.  "Naomi's prisoner, no doubt?"

"Yes," Eve, confirmed.  "She did manage to talk Ms. Curtis into removing her corset and heels, but at a price."

"Spare us the details," Elke laughed, "for now.  I know Naomi will want to tell the story herself.  Now, show me why the Bug needs my attention."  The glossy surface of one wall of the workout room swirled and changed from mirror to computer display.  Elke's eyes widened at the image before her.  She turned to Margo, and was not surprised to find a decidedly feral smile on her friend's glistening face.  Elke walked to the display and tapped for more information, then quickly scanned the windows of scrolling text and diagrams that appeared.  "I assumed Brie's plans for Charlie were more or less spontaneous, but this looks somewhat... premeditated."

"I'm afraid I'm partially responsible," Eve said.  "When Ms. Sanchez specified the chamber she wished to use, I required the addition to Ms. Paretsky's costume, for safety purposes."

"I see," Elke said, "and you just happened to have 'the addition' on hand?"

"Ms. Mayfair has used the chamber for similar purposes," Eve explained.  "She designed and supervised the manufacture of the addition in question."

"A useful location for entertaining Members and clients who don't mind getting dirty," Margo purred, "and especially those who do."

"Of course," Elke snorted.  "A Harem Keeper's work is never done" she mused with a sigh.  "Well Eve, let's go rescue a damsel."

"Yes, Elke," Eve answered.  "I'm sure Ms. Paretsky will be very happy to see you."

Elke tapped a square on the display, and Margo flinched as, with a rapid series of clicks, the straps and clamps holding her in position tightened fractionally and a series of metal guards snapped over all of the manual release controls.  "I know you think of me as the little angel on your right shoulder," Elke told her employer, "and Kat as the little devil on your left, but I understand the role of the Dark Side better than you suspect."

"Elke," Margo, said with a nervous smile, "what are you prattling ab'—mmmpfh! "

Elke's hand was tightly clamped over Margo's mouth, sealing her lips and pinning her head back into the machine's headrest.  Margo's eyes darted and she mewed through her trainer's hand as Elke positioned a padded strap across Margo's forehead and replaced the hand-gag with the machine's ball-gag strap, both of which assured Margo's head would remain pinned.

"Letting me handle Anne's initiation my way has left you with a slight case of frustrated badness," Elke remarked, "hasn't it, Margo?"  Margo twisted in her bonds and glared up at her mutinous employee, but Elke could see the sparkle in her friend's eyes.  "Eve, Margo will complete her workout with twenty minutes of machine mediated, cool down stretches, followed by an indefinite period of meditation."

"Yes, Elke," Eve responded.

"And Eve, has Kat finished with her workout yet?"

"Ms. Mayfair is in the final phase of weapons practice.  She will follow that with cool down and a sauna."

Elke smiled and locked eyes with Margo.  "Excellent.  Please deliver Kat's 'special toy chest' to this location, and after her sauna, please advise Kat where she can find it... and you may transfer control of this machine to Ms. Mayfair's Inner Circle code."

"Yes, Elke," Eve answered.

Elke gazed down at Margo.  "You'll soon have all the badness you can handle," Elke purred.

Elke made her way through the deepest regions of the Biosphere.  She opened a thick steel door, and entered a huge chamber with a vaulted ceiling supported by buttressing columns of reinforced concrete.  This is what an ant must feel like walking across a parking structure, Elke mused.  Elke started down a concrete causeway leading off to one side of the colossal chamber.  All around her, as far as she could see, was a vast expanse of fist-sized, water rounded stones.  Elke knew the visible stones were only the top layer of a field many, many yards thick.  The air around her was humid, and very hot.  This was one of several thermal mass chambers underlying the Headquarters complex.  The Campus' passive solar system dumped heat into the rocks and drew it back as needed.  Elke wiped her brow as she walked.  Her hand came away dripping wet.

After a minute of rapid walking, Elke came to a huge, looming, concrete structure in the shape of a giant funnel.  The mouth of the funnel was set into the high ceiling, and it narrowed into a room-sized cylinder at the level of the causeway and stones.  A door was set into the side of the cylinder, and beside it stood a small cabinet.  Elke opened the cabinet and found several boxes of paper dust filter-masks.

Elke knew the structure was part of the Biosphere's complicated air scrubbing system.  Far overhead, giant air ducts converged on charged plates and spraying curtains of water.  Most of the water was caught and recycled, but some of it dripped into a collection sump, carrying with it dust and microscopic detritus from all over the campus.  The door before her led to that sump.

Elke put a filter over her nose and mouth, and opened the door to the sump chamber.  She stepped inside, into a recessed entry alcove, and closed the door behind her.  The sump chamber was about thirty yards across.  Dim, reddish light filtered through a metal grill about ten yards overhead.  A light sprinkling shower of dirty water dripped from the grill.  The main floor of the sump was about a foot below the level of the entry alcove.  The air in the chamber was hot and humid, but it was not the oppressive sauna of the surrounding thermal storage chamber.  A low frequency, throbbing, whistling growl filled the room, echoing down from the grill above.  Elke's eyes adjusted to the hellish lighting... and confirmed that she was not alone.

Charlie was lying on the wet, filthy floor of the chamber.  Perhaps ten feet from the door, she was lying in the thick, accumulated dirt, slime, and muck that carpeted the sump.  She was bound hand and foot with wide, tight bands of black cord at her ankles, above and below her knees, around and between her upper thighs, around her waist and pinning her lower arms, around her elbows (which nearly touched), above and below her breasts and upper arms, and through her crotch.  There were also dozens of individual cord loops tied in an elaborate lattice over Charlie's entire body, hitched and linked every few inches from her shoulders to her big toes.  Charlie's hands and fingers were completely wrapped in a tight shroud of black plastic tape.

Charlie's head was also completely covered by a black latex hood.  The hood had large, bulbous, multifaceted goggles over her eyes, a cylindrical filter canister protruding over her nose and mouth, and a wide, stiff collar-strap encircling her throat and neck, held closed by a locking velcro tab.  The hood was in essence a full gasmask, but it looked tight and uncomfortable.  Its shape was... insectoid.

Poor Bug, Elke mused.  Now you really look like a bug... a very dirty bug.  Elke knew a constant weak vacuum pulled the water accumulating in the sump through ceramic filter tiles in the floor, but the six inches of accumulated detritus remained wet and slimy.  Elke could see trails and furrows in the thick, dark carpet of muck all around Charlie, evidence of her slow, continuous, writhing struggles.  Further evidence was provided by the dirty, greasy, filthy condition of the unfortunate prisoner's pale body.  Occasional drops of greasy water from the grate overhead splashed and dribbled down Charlie's prone form.  Poor Bug.

Elke squelched through the muck to Charlie, leaned down, and gently put her hand on the filthy prisoner's shoulder.  Charlie froze, then relaxed, visibly.  Elke picked up her friend's diminutive, bound body, and slogged back to the entry alcove.  She set Charlie down on the concrete floor and opened a panel in the alcove wall.  Inside was a hose with an attached nozzle, coiled on a wheel.  Elke pulled several feet of hose free, pointed the nozzle at Charlie, and pulled the attached trigger.  Charlie flinched and writhed on the alcove floor as a stream of cold water sluiced over her helpless body, carrying most of the greasy grime caked on her body back to the main chamber.  Elke played the stream up and down the tightly bound pixie, then turned the hose on herself, rinsing off her shoes, hands, and arms.  She stowed the hose and closed the panel.  Then sat down next to her dripping prisoner on the wet, slimy floor, pulled off her paper filter-mask, and tossed it aside.

Elke pulled Charlie's wet, still very dirty upper body onto her lap, and set to work removing the Bug's bug-like hood.  One ring tap and a loosened neck strap later, she was peeling the hood off Charlie's head, from back to front.  Underneath, she found a padded ring-gag strapped in Charlie's mouth.  Wedged through the ring of the gag was the thick, perforated, plug-like end of the filter-mask.  Two smaller plugs were thrust in Charlie's nostrils.  Elke carefully extracted all three plugs, then loosened the ring gag and let it hang around Charlie's neck.  She flipped the hood inside out and inspected its interior.  It glistened, wet with Charlie's sweat.  Elke could see that the hood's goggles were comprised of prismatic lenses.  The slightest motion caused irregular, iridescent flashes to ripple across the inside surface of the goggles.  Elke surmised that from inside the hood, especially after a few hours , the effect would be decidedly... disorienting.

Charlie's pale face was flushed and dripping, her short hair in wet rings, plastered to her head.  Elke brushed the damp curls from Charlie's forehead as the diminutive captive licked her lips and worked her jaw.  Elke produced an insulated bottle of sports drink from her waist pack, popped the cap, and held it for Charlie to drink.  Charlie guzzled happily, ignoring the fifty percent that dribbled down her chin and splashed her throat and breasts.

"Orange-mango, my favorite," Charlie croaked, then flashed a dimpled smile at her towering savior.  "Thanks Elke.  That hit the spot."

"You're welcome, Shrimplet," Elke answered, and returned the bottle to Charlie's lips.

Charlie drank until the bottle was empty, then licked her lips and looked up at Elke.  "What day is it?" she asked quietly.

"It's today, Bug," Elke answered with a chuckle.  "You've only been in here a little more than four hours."

"Four hours," Charlie whispered.  "It seemed... longer."

Elke surveyed her bound friend.  The hose had washed most of the dirt and slime of the chamber away, but Charlie's body was still decidedly grungy.  "Charlie," Elke said, slowly shaking her head, "you're a mess."

Charlie looked down at her wet, slimy body, sighed, and looked up at Elke.  "I feel... so... funky," she said gravely.

Elke smiled.  "I'll get you clean, Bug... but I'm afraid it's gonna take some detergent, and I'll have to scrub you pink.  Then I better rub in a bottle of lotion to keep that pale little bod of yours nice and silky smooth."  Charlie smiled her dimpled smile up at Elke and snuggled her bound body in the amazon's lap.  "But I will have to see about possibly rescuing Brie, some time soon," Elke added.

Charlie bit her lower lip coyly.  "Elke, I hate to be selfish, but I do feel really funky.  Could you clean me up first... please?"

Elke smiled.  "Yes, Charlotte," she answered quietly.

Charlie turned her head to the side, but her laughing eyes remained locked with Elke's.  "And, can I... sleep in your bed tonight?" she whispered.

"Yes, Charlotte," Elke whispered.

"And will you please untie me?" Charlie purred.

"No, Charlotte," Elke said with a smile, shaking her head.

Charlie sighed theatrically and grinned.  "Well, two outta three ain't bad."

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Chapter 9

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