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			DAMSELS UNDER GLASS: THE SERIES
			_ Anne's Story — by Van Chapter 9 _

The late lunch was served on a terrace which appeared as if by magic when one entire wall of Margo's office silently slid open, providing a vista onto the enclosed garden of evergreens and vines Anne thought of as "the terrarium".  The robot-catered meal was large, exotic, and delicious.  Conversation was light and interesting, touching a variety of topics... but the Inner Circle was not among them.  Anne had enjoyed herself, and was mildly amazed by how easily she had slipped back into the "normal" world (...the world in which Anne routinely enjoyed gourmet, robot-catered meals with multibillionaires).

The clothes helped... a lot.  In the dressing room she had shared with Elke, Anne had found waiting a very stylish wool suit in a shade of dark charcoal she especially liked.  True, the skirt was a little too Ally McBeal short for Anne's taste, but everything fit perfectly.

Underneath, Anne was wearing bra, bikini panties, and full slip, all in white silk.  Slightly more frilly than Anne would have chosen for herself, but not even remotely what you'd call kinky or fetishy.  Taupe hose, garters, and medium heel black pumps completed the outfit.

Anne admired herself in one of the ubiquitous mirrored walls.  I wonder who might be watching from the other side, Anne wondered, with a naughty grin, remembering the countless one-way mirrors she had encountered in the last few hours.  Maybe one of Margo's captive celebrities?

Meanwhile, Elke finished dressing, a chestnut wool suit that perfectly complemented her tan complexion and blonde hair, they ran brushes through their hair, and joined Margo for the meal.

Before she knew it, Anne was full of delicious food and wine, had received a parting handshake and hug from Margo, and was being escorted by Elke into an elevator, down to a huge private garage, and into the back of a town car.  Elke climbed in beside her.  The windows were tinted like a limousine, and there was an opaque screen between the passengers and the driver, but from the outside it was just one more of the too numerous luxury cars clogging the Seattle area's roads and freeways.  Anne and Elke fastened their lap belts, and the car pulled out of the garage, roared through a seemingly endless tunnel, and out onto the main circuit road of the TESSERACT campus.

"Did I do something wrong?" Anne asked quietly, gazing out the window.

Elke turned towards Anne with a puzzled smile.  "What makes you think that?"

"You... she's sending me home," Anne said, then turned to Elke.  "You did mean my home didn't you?"

"Oh noooo, Annie," Elke answered in a light, teasing tone.  "I'm taking you to my home.  I have a fully stocked dungeon and a barracks full of damsels."

"Very funny," Anne retorted, then looked sideways at her friend.

Elke returned her gaze for several seconds, then laughed.  "We're going to your home, Annie, and no, you've done nothing wrong.  Margo and I decided to slow things down a little is all.  We're giving you a week's free vacation... and some homework."

"Homework?"

"All will become clear," Elke said, "and there's something you should know.  All members of Margo's Inner Circle rate senior executive protection, so this morning a new server panel was added to the system in your townhouse.  I hope you don't mind."

Anne blinked in confusion.  "Uh, no... that's fine," she mumbled.

"You're scheduled for a full system upgrade, but there's no rush.  Your current setup is more than adequate for Eve to start integrated monitoring."

"Monitoring?" Anne whispered.

"Exterior only, Annie," Elke reassured her.  "You will be able to communicate with Eve via v-mail or v-chat, but you'll have to wait for the upgrade for full interaction."

Full interaction? Anne thought.  "Okay.  You mentioned homework?"

"Just some reading," Elke said with a friendly pat on Anne's knee, "those bylaws we joked about, and some other things.  Margo's really interested in your legal opinion on the bylaws, by the way."

"Uh, sure," Anne answered.

"I also have a couple of presents for you—speaking of which."  Elke reached into her breast pocket, produced a small envelope, and shook a small ring out into her hand.  She then took Anne's right hand and pushed the ring onto Anne's ring finger.  "With this ring, I thee tag," Elke quipped.

Anne regarded her new "present".  It was an understated, very feminine signet, with a small, unusual stone.  It shimmered like an opal, but was blue.

"It matches your eyes," Elke said, smiling as a delicate blush touched Anne's cheeks.  "I told you you'd get a signet ring of your own one of these days," Elke continued, indicating the similar ring on her own finger, "I just failed to mention that today was the day."

Anne bit her lower lip, then batted her eyes at Elke coyly.  "Does an instruction manual come with my new Inner Circle Secret Decoder Ring?"

Elke's eyes widened for an instant, then she smiled.  "A treasure," she mumbled.

"Excuse me?" Anne asked.

"Nothing," Elke said, clearing her throat.  "As a matter of fact, the 'instruction manual' is part of your reading.  Your other presents are in the trunk."

Anne stared at the back of the closed door of her townhouse, then glanced at the small security display beside the door.  In it, she could see Elke bouncing down the front steps and back to the waiting town car.  Anne watched the car pull away, then armed her security system and walked back into her living room.

Her "other presents" were waiting on her sofa, inside a small suitcase.  Anne tried to open the case, but the latches remained firmly locked.  Oh great, Anne thought, Elke forgot to give me the...  Anne noticed there was no keyhole or combination pad on the suitcase, but there was a small, square, access panel.  Anne smiled, tapped her new ring to the panel, and the latches popped open.

Inside were several coils of thin white rope, a half dozen rolls of white cloth tape, three rolled elastic bandages with velcro closure tabs, and several bound leather volumes, among them, Secrets of Escapology, Useful Knots, and (simply) The Bylaws.  'Presents,' Anne mused.

There was also a flat wooden box, roughly eight inches square and four inches thick.  Anne picked it up.  It weighed maybe three or four pounds.  Anne could see a seam around the edge like a lid, and followed it to find an access panel, similar to the one on the suitcase.  Anne tapped her ring, and the lid popped open.  Inside was a folded piece of paper... and four chrome steel cuffs set in velvet foam, similar to the custom manacles and shackles Elke had used on her earlier.  Possibly even the same ones? Anne wondered.  She picked up a manacle and found there was an added enhancement.  The cuff sported a dangling, one-inch steel ring on a nearly flush, ball and socket swivel.  Anne pulled the cuff open, and the inside lid of the box blinked.  Anne blinked as well, in surprise. The lid's a touch screen, she realized.  The display was fairly simple.

Hmm, Anne thought, that's pretty self-explanatory.  She touched "HELP", read the brief message that scrolled across the screen, and her intuition was confirmed.  Open one or more cuffs, choose "MANUAL", if you wanted to control things yourself, set the "HOURS" and "MINUTES".  Then, once the cuffs were closed, they would remain locked for the time chosen... and then would pop open!  Hmm, Anne thought.

Anne then unfolded the piece of paper, and smiled.  It was a message from Elke.

Anne thought for a moment, then picked up her new copy of Secrets of Escapology and flipped it open to the table of contents.  Chapter three was entitled Self-restraint: A Learning Tool for the Novice Escapist.  Anne felt a tiny frisson of pleasure between her legs.  She bit her lower lip and smiled as she flipped the pages.  The night was young.  Hasn't actually begun, she mused, gazing out her window at distant clouds, underlit by the last red-orange rays of the sun.  Anne was still rather full from her unusually late and large lunch, and another, new appetite was asserting itself.  She paused, drinking in one of the book's many illustrations.  Some ideas are just too wicked to ignore.

Preparations took most of an hour.  Lugging the case and all its contents up to her bedroom, she removed all her clothing except panties and bra, and dropped the four cuffs and several coils of rope onto her queen size bed.

Anne tied a shackle cuff near each of the lower corners of the bed, lashing a veritable web of rope around the mattress and the footboard of the bed's Mission-style wooden frame.  She then climbed onto the bed, placed her ankles near the widely separated cuffs, lifted her arms, and gauged the distance of her crossed wrists to her headboard.  She dropped the still closed manacle cuffs onto the mattress above her head and rolled to the side.  Keeping the cuffs in position on the bed as she worked, Anne lashed their rings together, then tied the joined cuffs to the center of the slotted headboard.

Anne then retrieved her wand-style vibrator from the master bath, scrounged a long extension cord and one of the two pound hand weights she used for aerobics, and headed back to the bed.  She plugged the cord and vibrator into the wall, then dropped the vibrator on the bed with the cord trailing off the center of the footboard.  Anne estimated the distance from vibrator to floor, looped the cord around the hand weight and secured it in place with what her new Useful Knots book called a "clove hitch."  Anne released the weight and the vibrator slid down the mattress as the weight dropped to the floor.  Perfect , Anne mused, with a self-satisfied grin, then tied a loop of rope around the base of the bulbous head of the vibrator and tossed the free end to the center of the bed.  Anne took a step back and surveyed her handiwork... and felt a delicious thrill... then turned to her chest of drawers and mirror.

Anne took a last glance at the page of Secrets of Escapology lying open on the top of the chest before her.  Chapter seven (Effective Gags) included several pages of illustrations, but Anne had finally made a choice.  She picked up a pair of her panties, folded it in thirds, and starting at the waistband, rolled it into a loose cylinder.

Anne looked at the silky, rolled cloth in her hand, then her reflection in the mirror.  Poor Annie, she mused, using Elke's teasing nickname for her, a nickname Anne had always hated... until today.  She doesn't suspect a thing.  Has no idea what's going to happen to her, poor innocent thing .  A thrill of wicked anticipation coursed up her spine.

Anne licked her lips, opened her mouth, and pushed the rolled wad into her mouth.  She then took one of her oldest, least favorite scarves, folded it point to point, then again and again until she had what amounted to a narrow, silky bandage.  She centered the scarf between her teeth and over the silky wad in her mouth, then looped the ends together behind her neck and pulled .  The wad was crammed into the back of her mouth, her lips held apart by the scarf.  Anne tried working her jaw and tongue, then pulled the scarf even tighter, until the corners of her mouth were pulled far back.  She inspected herself in the mirror, slowly turning her face left and right.  Her cheeks bulged above the silk band, her mouth gaping in an involuntary, grimace of a smile.  Anne gave the scarf one final tug, then looped the ends again, completing a flat, carefully compacted square knot.  She then neatly tucked the free ends of the scarf under itself, so nothing dangled, and picked up a second pair of panties.

The panties were rolled like the first, then Anne pushed them into her mouth, more than filling the small cavity left between her gaping teeth and lips.  She then picked up one of her new "presents," one of the three rolled elastic bandages with velcro tabs.  Anne ripped open the tab, shook out the bandage until she found the far end, pressed it over her now doubly stuffed mouth, and began wrapping the bandage around her head.  The elastic bands pressed tighter and tighter with each turn.  Soon her lower face was completely, stringently covered, from just below her nose to the tip of her chin.  She tried flexing her jaw again, with very little result. Wow! she thought, as she secured the velcro tab.

One more step.  Anne picked up one of the wide rolls of cloth tape from the suitcase, stripped several inches free from the roll, and took three turns over the bandage, covering it, velcro tab and all.  Anne put the roll down on the top of the chest and inspected her finished gag in the mirror.  She idly took her hairbrush and ran it through her short locks.  Only a little of her hair at the nape of her neck was trapped under the gag.  She dropped the brush, took a deep breath through her nose... and screamed.

Anne shuddered.  The gag was "effective", as the book had promised.  She wouldn't want to wear it for very long, but it would be okay... for a while.  She turned back to the bed, leaned down and snapped all four of the cuffs open.  She then tapped the screen on the box lid, setting the lock time at two hours.  The display on the screen glowed redly, "2:00:00", waiting for Anne to close the cuffs.

Anne removed her bra and panties, tossed them towards the hamper in the bathroom, and started to climb on the bed... then paused.  Better safe than sorry, she thought.  She pattered down to her kitchen—feeling very brazen and wicked, nude and gagged—found a sharp paring knife, and raced back to the bedroom.  Anne placed the knife on the bed near the cuffs with the blade facing out and the handle towards the cuffs.  She then climbed on the bed and sat with her legs splayed and back to the headboard, then took a deep breath through her flaring nostrils, leaned down, and snapped the shackle cuffs around her ankles.  She then found the end of the rope tied to the weighted vibrator, looped it around her waist... and pulled.  The vibrator slithered across the sheet, towards Anne's sex.  Anne played out a little slack, and the vibrator pulled away, towards the footboard.  She could feel the weight of the small dumbell she had tied to the vibrator's cord.  She pulled in the slack again, and continued until the head of the vibrator was a mere inch from her labia.  She looped the rest of the rope around her waist and tied it off with a simple knot.   Anne lay back and lifted her hips off the bed... and the saddle of the vibrator's head just touched her wet sex.  Anne sat up again, leaned down, and turned the vibrator on, to "hi".  She could feel the thing buzzing through the mattress and sheet.  Anne paused... and changed the setting to "lo".  Less is more, Anne mused, and slower .  She lay back, lifted her hands over her head, and paused again.  Glancing to the right, she confirmed that the knife was still there, and still within reach.  She pulled a fold of the bed sheet over the knife to hide it, but was careful not to change its position.  Anne closed the cuff on her right wrist, then reached for the knife.  Her groping fingers could just brush the handle under the sheet.  Anne could tell she would be able to pull it free of the sheet, and into her grasp... with effort.  She took another deep breath... and closed the cuff on her left wrist.

The box' display flashed, and read "1:59:59"... "1:59:58"... "1:59:57"...  Anne pulled on her bonds, confirming that the cuffs were locked , that she was helpless .  She pulled on each ankle in turn, then her wrists, then all together... and shuddered when the weakly vibrating wand brushed against her sex.  She glanced at the box.  "1:59:37"... "1:59:36"... "1:59:35"...

Anne relaxed in her bonds, and closed her eyes.  I was asleep, she mused, and something happened, something bad... but I couldn't tell what.  Anne opened her eyes, and stared up at the ceiling... then pulled on her wrists, weakly at first, then stronger.  I'm tied up! she "realized". Oh God, I'm helpless!  ...and naked!  Anne screamed through her gag.  Help!  Somebody help me!  She pulled on her bonds, and the humming vibrator brushed against her sex.  Anne bucked and struggled.  She glanced at the box.  "1:57:17"... God, it's a time bomb!  Elke has chloroformed me and...  No... Jodi has chloroformed me and tied me up and left me to this horrible fate!  She blames me for what Margo did to her and wants revenge!   Anne felt her arousal building, the long delayed orgasm she'd been craving for most of day coming closer, and closer... Only Elke can save me!  Jodi is insane!  Jodi is a monster!  Jodi is sadistic and cruel!  Jodi is...

Anne froze in her bonds, suddenly very much not aroused.  Jodi was standing in the bedroom door!

Jodi was wearing a tan wool suit, a stylish jacket over a white silk blouse and a blatantly Ally McBeal short skirt... and a very, very, very smug grin.

Anne pulled on her self-imposed bonds in frustration... and irritation.  How dare she invade my home... my privacy, she fumed.

"My, my, my," Jodi gloated, sauntering into the bedroom.  She inspected Anne's ankle bonds.  "Very good," she said, approving of Anne's handiwork... but shook her head when she came to Anne's wrists.  Jodi leaned close and began untying the rope linking Anne's wrists to the headboard.  "The knots should always be well out of reach," she explained, then stretched the free end of the half loosened rope two feet to the left, gave the rope a firm tug.  Anne craned her neck as Jodi grabbed Anne's cuffed wrists and gave them a heave towards the headboard.  " Up-sy daisy," Jodi said.  Anne squealed through her gag as she slid three or four inches up the bed, removing most of the slack from her previously self-imposed bonds.  Jodi pulled the rope taut and tied it off to the headboard.  "There," she said with a smirk, "hopelessly out of reach."  Next, she reached down towards the rope linking the vibrator to Anne's waist, untied it, turned the vibrator off, and set it aside.  "Let's not get ahead of ourselves, shall we?" Jodi asked pleasantly.

Anne growled through her gag, glaring at Jodi.  Jodi's eyes darted to the side, towards the area on the bed where Anne had hidden the knife.  "What have we here?"  Anne's eyes darted to the side and she sighed.  The tip of the knife handle had slipped out from under the fold of sheet.  Jodi picked up the knife and carried it to the chest of drawers.  Anne glanced at the box.  "1:52:09".  Jodi grinned and turned the box so Anne could no longer see the display, then tapped her ring to the screen.  Jodi, of course, had a signet ring of her own.  She then concentrated on the screen, tapping it several times, and finally smiled and snapped the lid closed.  "I paused your program," she explained.  "Now I have the key to your future."

Jodi walked over and sat beside Anne on the bed.  She ran her hands over Anne's flat, firm stomach.  Anne glared and pulled on her bonds.  "The gag looks good," Jodi remarked, then slid her hands to Anne's ribs, and savagely tickled the helpless lawyer.  Anne jerked in her bonds and keened through her gag, snorting and giggling.  Jodi stopped the tickle assault and favored her miserable victim with a friendly smile.  "...and the gag is good."

God how I'm love to slap the self-satisfied smirk from her face, Anne fumed.

Anne continued glaring as the honey blonde rested her left hand on Anne's stomach, reached into her jacket pocket with her right, and produced a phone card.  She unfolded the card's speaker-wand, tapped the card, and held it to her right ear.  Jodi and Anne locked eyes as Jodi waited for the card to connect.  Anne's nostrils flared above her gag as Jodi's left hand traced a slow circle around her captive's navel.

"Hello, Evie dahling?" Jodi purred.  "Elke seems to be away from her desk.  Could you patch me through, pleeeez?  ...  Thanks Evie!"  Jodi began twirling a frond of Anne's pubic hair around her index finger.  "Hi Sis!  I'm at Annie's pad... Yes... Remember the part in Her Majesty's script where I get myself invited in, apologize again, then offer to let her use me to practice her knots?  Well, guess who was already playing with her new toys when I got here?  ... Yeeees!"  Anne turned her face away and blushed as Jodi ran her hand up to Anne's left breast and fingered the erect nipple.  "I had to get Eve to let me in, and... What?  ...  Well I had to!  Evie detected the cuff timer signal, so we knew she was... incapacitated."  Jodi gave Anne's nipple a gentle tug.  "Okay...  Why am I calling? Why am I calling?  I just get tortured for eight hours for overstepping my authority and you have the balls to ask me why I'm calling?  ...  Apology accepted," Jodi laughed, then slid her left hand to Anne's right armpit and began to lightly tickle her prisoner.  "Goochie goochie goo!" she purred, as Anne giggled through her gag, tugged on her bonds and tried to twist to the side, away from Jodi's dancing fingers.  "What?  Nooo , not goochie goochie you , goochie goochie Anne  ...  What?  ...  O-kay..."  Jodi stopped her tickling and put her left hand over the speaker wand.  "Elke can be such a spoilsport," Jodi confided to the glaring, squirming Anne.  She then dropped her left hand to the front of her jacket and began to loosen her buttons.  "Okay...  Okay... Then what?...  Wait!  That's bogus... She's a newbie.  I know it's a violation, but how 'bout a little prosecutorial discretion here?  ...  Pleeeez?  Pretty pleeeez?  ... Okay!  ... Thanks Sis!  My regards to Her Majesty.  Ciao."

Jodi folded the speaker wand and pocketed the phone card, then stood and removed her jacket.  "Tying yourself up without a Member or Eve as a safety is strictly a no-no, Annie," Jodi purred, "but I talked Elke into winking... this time."  Jodi smiled down at the self-captured lawyer.  "That's why I let myself in," she explained.  "It's dangerous, Annie," Jodi said seriously, "don't do it, okay?"

Anne looked up at the honey blonde... and nodded.  I think she's serious, Anne thought, feeling her anger drain away.  As serious as 'The Trickster' gets anyway.

Jodi smiled shyly, then looked down at the floor.  "I really am sorry about the bit in the pool office... with the sports tape?  The part Margo got so ticked about?"  She looked back at Anne.  "Am I really forgiven?  Just between us."  Anne smiled above her gag, despite herself, and nodded.  "Okay!" Jodi said.  "The breaking-and-entering, as well?"  Anne nodded.  "Allrightiethen!" Jodi said, back to her flippant, chipper self.

Jodi removed her blouse, skirt, and shoes, leaving hose, slip, and whatever else she had on underneath.  She smiled at Anne, stooped and removed the dumbell from the vibrator's cord, tossed the weight into a corner, stood, and climbed onto the bed.  Anne squirmed in her bonds as Jodi settled down near the footboard and intertwined her stocking clad legs with Anne's splayed, bound, naked legs.  "Now, about the self-bondage," Jodi purred, "no need for that when I'm perfectly willing to keep you prisoner myself, now is there?"

One of the straps of Jodi's slip had fallen off her shoulder, revealing a thin, frilly bra strap beneath.  Sexy, Anne thought.

"Elke says that if you agree, I can have the rest of the week off too," Jodi said.  "Sort of... show you the ropes?"  Anne smiled behind her gag.  "Margo wants us to make a trip to Gondaloo with her in 'bout ten days... but we'll have time to play 'til then."

Gondaloo! Anne thought.  That place is real?

"As for tonight," Jodi continued, picking up the vibrator and giving Anne a significant look.  "Tomorrow, or the next, you can practice your ropework on me, but for now...  How many times have you managed to cum since all this started?  Well?"  Anne blushed and turned her face away.  "Not even once?" Jodi teased.  Anne, still blushing, her nostrils flaring above her gag, locked eyes with Jodi.  The honey blonde's lips curled in a mocking, impish grin.  Jodi flicked the vibrator on, her eyes never leaving Anne's.  "Let's see what we can do about that."