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			DAMSELS UNDER GLASS: THE SERIES
			Jamie's Story — by Van Chapter 4

LATE DAWN... AT THE EDGE OF THE RAINFOREST

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Jamie raised her binoculars and peered through the leaves of her treetop blind into the large clearing below.  Small, colorful birds flitted and foraged among the vines covering the arc of "primitive" carved stone wall that was really the back facade of the main resort.  Jamie took a deep breath.  She loved the earthy smell of the forest in the morning after a night rain.  The day looked to be clear, with only the occasional oceanic squall likely to dampen the festivities, and then only for a few minutes at a time.  She lowered her view to the still waters of the moat-like pond facing the wall and watched the insects buzz through the low mist.  She examined the lowered drawbridge which provided access to the tunnel leading back into the resort proper... and made a mental note to have Eve move some of the epiphytes growing among the logs and hemp lashings that camouflaged the bridge's steel core.  A couple of the species looked a little sickly, not happy in their current microclimate.  Jamie shifted her gaze, and a rather Victorian scene came into view.  A small but luxurious hunting camp had been erected in the center of the clearing, halfway between the main resort and the trail head that led into the Island interior.  Margo was seated at a folding table enjoying the last of a robot-catered breakfast under a tasteful canvas awning, like an elegant Memsahib or a B'wana-Lady on safari.

Jamie adjusted the focus and examined her boss' attire.  Knee-length boots in brown leather, with high (but still more or less "sensible") heels graced her long legs, as did a pair of jodhpurs in a moss-green, stretch fabric.  It wasn't spandex, Jamie decided, but one of those new virtually indestructible microfibers that look more like cotton... or flax maybe.  An olive stripe down the outside of each leg lent a stylish, military air, as did the matching bush jacket draped over the back of the chair.  Margo's microfiber top was sleeveless, in a subtle leaf pattern of greens, browns, and grays.  A harness and pack were draped over a nearby gun rack; as were a wide-brimmed, green, jungle hat (with a band that matched Margo's top); a bandolier full of unusually large shells; and a very impressive shotgun-like firearm with an oversize bore.

Movement on the drawbridge drew Jamie's eyes towards the resort.  Kat was approaching, leading a pair of Eve's medium, all-terrain service-bots.  Looking decidedly insectoid as they walked on their six, articulated legs, the bots each carried an identical large wicker hamper (roughly a cubic meter Jamie estimated) firmly clamped to their beetle-like backs.

Kat... Kat was impressive.  Long dark hair in a ponytail of French braids, she was wearing another of her signature catsuits; but this was one of the few times Jamie could remember seeing the bodyguard in anything other than black.  Like the skin-tight number she had worn the previous day, this catsuit was lightweight and tropical with spandex panels sewn among the leather; but this time the leather was dyed brown, black, olive, taupe, moss, sage, and several other earth tones, and the different sections varied from richly textured matte finishes to rough suede.  The spandex panels were in similar hues, but in a variety of animal... correction, feline... fur patterns, mainly tiger stripes and leopard spots.  Also, Kat had indulged in a little face painting.  Brown, green, and black stripes and spots adorned her cheeks, forehead, chin, and neck; regular enough to carry the feline theme, but still excellent camouflage.  Although the quite literal cat suit was much too extravagant for street wear, Jamie could see that one step into the forest... and Kat would be as invisible as a real tigress.

Jamie smiled, deciding Kat looked like either a costumed crime fighter or a super-criminal ("Tiger Woman—The Kitty-Kidnapper" she mused) or maybe like she was ready to star in the first ever jungle-leather-bitch production of Cats.  (Not having a death wish, Jamie reminded herself to keep these opinions very private.)

As the bizarre parade neared the camp, Margo stood and exchanged greeting with her bodyguard.  Next, in unison, the robots reared on their hind legs and leaned forward, as if bowing to the TESSERACT CEO.  Simultaneously, the latches on the hampers popped open and their contents unceremoniously tumbled onto the grass at Margo's feet.

The contents in question, of course, were Jodi and Anne, who blinked and squinted, their eyes slowly adjusting to the bright, tropical morning.  Their costumes, what there were of them, were also impressive.  Beaded cords around their hips supported very narrow, fringed, loincloths, little more than wide bandages in front and ribbon-like thongs behind.  Jamie knew the "cords" were actually thin, braided wire cables, comfortably padded in hemp-like fiber sheathes; and the beads were not only decorative, but helped conceal locking clasps.  The loincloths' fabric was more of the indestructible microfiber, but coarse and irregular, like hand-woven, hand-dyed batiks.  Braided leather sandals (with more of the beads and locking clasps) graced their feet.  This was their only clothing; but their bodies were virtually covered in bodypaint, some of it in wide patches, stripes, and animalistic shapes, some in fine, tattoo-like detail.  The colors varied from light to dark, but all were carefully chosen to mimic vegetable dyes and natural clays.  Necklaces with more beads (some close around their throats, some dangling to their bare, painted breasts) completed the "jungle girl" ensembles.

Jamie adjusted the focus of her binoculars and noted that while Jodi and Anne's costumes were similar, painted patterns and costume details had been used to give each of them different and quite definite themes.

Anne's paint favored the cooler tones of the natural palette, but with broad dark brown and white horizontal bands around her arms and legs, and a white hourglass shape painted from above her breasts to her hips and loins (with small brown circles around her nipples and navel).  Large, dramatic, brown circles were painted around her eyes.  A bar of white covered most of her nose, but an inverted triangular block in black framed her nostrils.  Tufts of fur dangled among her beads and trimmed the fringe of her loincloth, and a long, brown and white ringed tail of fur dangled at the rear (no doubt tickling the backs of her knees as it swayed, Jamie mused).  The body paint had been applied using short, darting strokes to suggest more fur, and as a final touch (a semi-comical touch Jamie noted) a narrow leather thong banded Anne's forehead, was tied behind her head, and supported a cute little pair of furry ears which peeked out of her short hair.

Jodi's paint was in warm colors, mainly shades of yellow, orange, and green, and had been applied in such a way as to suggest reptile scales (the illusion reinforced by the repeated use of tiny bars and flecks of iridescent paint).  Like Anne, Jodi also had numerous stripes, but Jodi's ran vertically, down her arms, legs, and sides.  Her hair had been slicked back with subtly dyed oils (continuing the striping theme), and tied in back in a tight bun.  Reptile hide trimmed her loincloth, and a short, striped, scaly tail brushed (and probably also tickled) the backs of her knees.  A large, primitively stylized lizard was painted on her torso, its head between her collarbones, forelegs positioned as if supporting her breasts, hind legs splayed and "clutching" her hips, and long, spiral tail curling around her navel.

The overall effect was as if a pair of primitive, tropical, ceremonially painted, native maidens had been freshly plucked from the rainforest, one with a mammalian totem (a lemur or possibly a New World Monkey, Jamie guessed), the other a lizard totem—freshy plucked against their wills, for Anne and Jodi were also tightly bound and gagged.

A single, long rope had been draped behind each of their necks, drawn under their armpits, crossed below their shoulder blades, and used to tightly bind their elbows together.  It had then been stretched down to their wrists, hands, and thumbs and used to bind them tightly together.  Finally, it had been crossed and braided back up their arms, looped under itself at their necks, and tied off in a pair of intricately braided, very complex knots.  Long, thin strips of the same fabric of each of their loincloths had been used to give them tight, multilayered cleave-gags.

Dazed and confused, the bound "jungle girls" surveyed each other, their captors, and their surroundings.  Margo motioned for them to rise, and they rather awkwardly climbed to their feet.

"Eve, audio please," Jamie whispered.  (Sound piped through her post earrings, Jamie was now able to follow all of the drama unfolding below.)

"Good morning, ladies," Margo addressed her captive employees and friends.  "You are cordially invited to participate in a little game... a Most Dangerous Game."  Anne rolled her eyes and sighed through her gag.  Jodi continued to look confused.  "I can see one of you has read the classic short story in question."  She then cupped Jodi's chin and smiled into her wide eyes.  "Not even the movie?" she asked.  Jodi shook her tightly gagged head to the negative.  "Eve, remind me to draw up a reading list for Jodi when we get back to Seattle.  I think her knowledge of the Humanities could use a little broadening."

"Yes Margo," Eve answered.

Margo released Jodi's chin and continued.  "The 'most dangerous game,' in the sense of prey, is man... or in this case, woman.  The 'most dangerous game,' in the sense of recreation, would therefore be hunting woman.  A beautiful symmetry there, don't you agree?"  Anne pointedly ignored the rhetorical question.  Poor Jodi (bless her heart) was still confused.  Margo sighed.  "I'm the hunter," she explained, "and you're the prey."

The confusion cleared and Jodi nodded her comprehension... then her eyes widened and she mewed through her gag in alarm as she began to understand.

Margo and Kat laughed.  Anne smiled with her eyes, or was she grimacing in anxiety?  "Don't trouble your pretty little head, Trickster," Margo continued.  "This will... of course... be an entirely non-lethal hunt; however, since I'm handicapping myself by not using any of the traditional hunter's weapons, it's only fair that the prey be handicapped as well."  Anne politely hurrumphed through her gag and gracefully motioned with one sandaled foot towards the very lethal looking gun propped among Margo's other equipment.  "Glad you pointed that out," Margo said, retrieving the firearm in question.  She loaded one of the oversize shells, thumbed off the safety, and nodded to Kat.  The bodyguard glanced around, then picked up one of the folding chairs at the table, and tossed it into the clearing.  Margo took aim and fired.

There was a surprisingly quiet report, more a loud cough than a blast, and something flew from the barrel towards the chair.  By the time the smoke had cleared and the sound had finished echoing from the forest canopy and resort wall, it could be seen that the chair was now thoroughly and completely entangled in multiple layers of a thin, tight net of black cords.  "I said non-lethal, and I meant it," Margo purred, returning the weapon to its rack.  "Of course, any prey I use it on could probably, eventually, disentangle herself from the folds of the net... but not before I would have time to, shall we say, embellish her situation?"

Jodi flexed her arms against their bonds.  "Don't even think about being able to help each other get out of those ropes," Margo said, as if reading her thoughts of escape.  "The one and only knot binding each of you is one of the most complex and inescapable ever dreamed up by Eve's mathematical mind.  The estimated untying time, by a set of unencumbered human fingers, is approximately three hours."  This time both Anne and Jodi sighed.

Margo smiled.  "Here are the rules: I give you a one hour head start." She indicated the antique hourglass on the camp table with a fluid gesture.  "You have the entire Island in which to hide... excepting the resort, of course.  Kat will be guarding this clearing to ensure you don't make it back across the drawbridge.  I strongly suggest you don't try."  Anne and Jodi turned and looked at "Tiger Woman," who favored them with a decidedly feral smile.  Two gagged heads quickly snapped back towards Margo.  "Now," Margo continued, "all you have to do is evade capture, or I should say recapture, until sunset.  As soon as you see the first stars in the sky, simply make your way back to this clearing and one of Eve's robots will set you free; however, if I find you before sunset...  I will bind you to a tree or a rock, or anything else I find convenient and interesting, and you'll spend the night in the jungle... getting to know the wildlife."

Both prisoners took involuntary steps backwards... and found Kat standing close behind them.  "Don't look so worried , ladies," Margo continued.  "Eve has many eyes and ears in the forest, and part of their job is to capture every dangerous reptile they can find.  One of the locals on a neighboring island has a thriving reptile business, and our additions to her inventory are most welcome.  Eve hasn't found a large crocodile on the island in... days..." (The captives' eyes widened slightly)  "...or any seriously poisonous snakes."  Jodi whined through her gag, and Margo stepped forward and playfully tweaked her nose.  "I'm teasing you, Trickster," Margo chuckled.  "Eve will watch over you, and you'll both be perfectly safe... from the Island fauna; however," Margo continued, returning the net-gun to its rack, "tomorrow morning at this time, Kat will enter the forest... and she gets to keep whatever she finds... and play with it... for 48 hours."

Anne and Jodi whined in distress, pleading with their eyes.  Margo smiled and turned to the table and its prominently waiting hourglass.  "And now, without further ado, the hunt for the wily Ring-Tailed Lawyer..." (Anne gave her boss a pained look) "...and the Striped Prankster Gekko..." (poor Jodi was confused again) "...can commence."

Kat cleared her throat and nodded towards the trail head, an amused smirk on her feline face.

A figure was nonchalantly strolling into the clearing, a familiar but unusually costumed, redheaded figure.

Jamie's attire was stylistically similar to Anne and Jodi's, but much more resplendent.  (Jamie hadn't had herself ceremonially painted to favor her animal totem (whatever it might be) but had decided to appear in casual, every-day (but primitively wealthy and ostentatious), girl-about-jungle costume.)  Her waist cord was adorned with beads of gold, copper, and precious stones, and the batik pattern of her loincloth (in shades of olive and rust which complemented her complexion) was very complex, and sported a richly embroidered trim.  A narrow, scarf-like swath of matching fabric covered her breasts in a barely adequate bandeau.  Her body paint (predominantly in lighter shades of the same rust and olive used in the batik) was much more restrained (and more tattoo-like) than that of the captives, but her eyes peered through a dramatic, mask-like band of olive paint, a band framed by thin lines of iridescent blue-green.  Her hair was pulled back in a ponytail, except for two thin braids decorated with gold beads and green feathers which dangled on either side of her face.  Sandals protected her feet, and a wicked, curved knife with a bone handle and decorated sheath was slung across her left shoulder on a thin leather thong, and a neat coil of thin, green rope was slung across her right.  A light wooden spear with a fire hardened point was clutched in her right hand like a staff.  Her left bicep bulged slightly around a coiled slave bracelet of hammered gold, more gold beads and stones adorned her throat, and a gold wire rested on her brow like a primitive, minimalist crown.

Margo looked Jamie up and down, nodding in approval.  "My, my," she said, "what have we here?  A jungle princess out for a stroll?"

"Hunting for sport is a privilege of royalty," Jamie answered.  "I thought I'd join the hunt.  At the very least you could use a native guide, and if anyone knows the Island, it's me."

"Oh, I see," Margo said, "but why should I settle for hunting only mere common native maidens..." (Jodi hurrumphed indignantly through her gag, and was ignored) "...when I can hunt a princess?"

Jamie's confidence seemed to falter as Kat stepped behind her, casually cutting off any possible escape.  "You sure you don't need a guide?" she asked in a small voice.

"No, I don't think so," Margo answered with a wide grin.

"I suppose for the honor of the Gondaloo tribe I should resist," Jamie mused aloud.

"And make poor Kat chase you all around the clearing?" Margo asked with mock concern for her grinning bodyguard.  "Why don't we just stipulate that you fought bravely, upheld the honor of the mighty Gondaloos, but was overpowered, nonetheless.  Fewer bruises that way."

"You're probably right, Evil White Huntress," Jamie sighed.

"'Evil White Huntress' is always right," Margo laughed, and nodded to Kat.

Jamie felt her knife being pulled from its sheath.  She turned her head and found Kat examining the exotic blade with genuine admiration.  With a casual flick, the thong on the "royal" left shoulder was severed and thong and sheath fell into the grass.  Kat tucked the knife into her belt and smiled.  Jamie's head whipped back to the front when Margo reached out and grabbed the spear from the redhead's grasp.  "Nicely balanced," Margo commented, as she thrust it into the ground behind her back and well out of Jamie's reach.  Kat lifted the coil of rope off Jamie's right shoulder and as Margo stood in front with her hands on Jamie's upper arms, stepped behind her and began binding the "princess'" elbows, wrists, hands, and thumbs in a manner identical to the other "native maidens."

Except for distant birdcalls and the drone of insects, the clearing was quiet as Margo and Jamie locked eyes (both with grins on their faces, Anne noted) and Kat busied herself with the rope.  Margo's eyes darted to the side to watch a large, iridescent blue butterfly glide near and land on a red flower.  "I've always liked that one," she remarked.

Jamie followed Margo's gaze with a turn of the head.  "Papilio ulysses, commonly the Ulysses or Mountain Blue," Jamie explained, then turned her head back to the front.  Tall brunette and petite redhead, employer and employee, captor and captive, friend and friend, again locked eyes.  "They're so common on the mainland they're almost a Queensland cliché," Jamie continued in a quiet voice, "but I like 'em.  I've had Eve plant their larval food plant, Euodia ..." (Jamie winced as Kat finished binding the redhead's elbows and gave the rope a jerking tug) "...elleryana, around the resort and all the other disturbed parts of the Island to encourage them."

Jodi slowly turned her head towards the drawbridge and took a tentative step back.  "Don't even think about it," Margo said quietly, her amused eyes never leaving Jamie's.  Jodi quickly stepped forward again, like a toddler caught in the act of being naughty.  Anne rolled her eyes and shook her head in disgust.

Kat continued the binding process.  Now that Jamie's upper arms had been bound, Margo released her hold, reached behind, and untied Jamie's bandeau.  As it was unwound, Jamie's breasts were revealed to be as carefully and elaborately painted as the rest of her person.  "So," Margo mused, "if you intended to be my guide, then why did you bother with..." (She grasped one of Jamie's nipples.)  "...all this pretty decoration?"

"I knew—aah!" (Jamie gasped as her thumbs were cinched), "I knew there was a possibility things might turn out other than I expected, so—"

"You knew with an absolute certainty that if you presented yourself in this costume in this clearing at this time that I'd add you to the menu," Margo whispered, "didn't you?"  She gave Jamie's nipple a gentle squeeze.  "Well, didn't you?"

"Ow!" Jamie gasped.  "Okay, I knew.  Take it easy, will ya?"

Margo and Kat chuckled and Margo released Jamie's nipple.  With a flourish Kat finished tying a complex knot at the nape of Jamie's neck, then leaned forward and whispered in the "royal" ear.  "I'm good, Freckle Fox, but even I can't match Eve's knot tying, so..."

Kat's gloved hand came into view and Jamie could see a small vial labeled Super Glue®.  Jamie turned back to Margo.  "That isn't fair," she pouted.

"I make the rules, Freckle Fox," Margo laughed, and tied a generous figure-eight knot in the middle of Jamie's former brassiere.  Jamie gasped again as her hair was twisted and held by strong, gloved hands.  "Kat, no need to get rough," Margo admonished, then thrust the knot between Jamie's teeth and pulled the ends of the bandeau to either side and took a turn behind the "royal" neck.  Jamie's eyes widened as Margo pulled the gag tight and cinched a double knot until the "jungle princess'" cheeks bulged.  "Besides," Margo continued to her bodyguard (although her eyes never left Jamie's), "you can get as rough as you want... once she's yours."

Kat leaned forward again and whispered in Jamie's ear.  "I thought I wasn't going to be allowed to touch you this trip, Freckle Fox," she purred, "but now I get to spend the entire day thinking up delicious new ways to entertain you."  Jamie felt Kat's gloved hands checking her boss' work, tightening her gag.  "If I'd known, I would have packed accordingly... bringing my special toy chest... but I'm sure Eve's robots will be able to fabricate whatever I need between now and tomorrow... when you become my prey."  Jamie and Margo's eyes had locked again, and Kat knew her employer had heard her every word.  Kat continued in a conversational voice.  "Rope and several creative contortions will be good enough for those two," she said, gesturing towards Anne and Jodi, " but you, Freckle Fox... you call for something far more... inventive."

Jamie shuddered (as did Anne and Jodi).  This was going to be one for the record books, Jamie mused, no matter how it turned out.  Kat gave Jamie a shove and she stumbled and found herself next to her now fellow captives.  Jodi gave her an amused look.  Anne looked at her as if she were insane.  Jamie waited until both Margo and Kat had turned their heads... and gave them each a quick wink.  Jodi's expression became even more amused... but this time it was Anne's turn to be confused.

Margo turned her back on the bound trio, stepped to the table, and casually lifted and turned the hourglass.  The three "jungle captives" watched as sand began trickling downward.  "Eve, I think I'll have some more coffee," Margo announced, then turned to Kat.  "Would you care for anything?  Coffee?  Tea?  A bowl of cream?  Some raw meat?"

"Very funny, Margo" Kat sniffed (but with an appreciative half-smile nonetheless).  "Coffee with cream would be nice, Eve."

"On its way!" Eve responded.

The three captives looked at one another... and at the trickling sand.  Jamie turned and jogged towards the trail head, moving gracefully, as if only slightly inconvenienced by her bound and gagged condition.  Jodi and Anne exchanged another pained look, sighed, and hurried after her.

About a hundred fifty meters from the resort entrance clearing, the trail widened and branched in three different directions.  Jamie skidded to a halt and turned to face her fellow captives, who were hot on her heels.  Jodi and Anne watched quizzically as Jamie slowly, carefully stepped off the trail, being careful to disturb the ferns, foliage, and ground cover as little as possible.  Anne tried to follow, but Jamie, with rope encumbered gestures and gagged grunts, indicated she should remain on the trail, then stepped from her fellow prey's direct view.

Anne and Jodi eyed the surrounding rainforest nervously.  Various birds could be heard calling in the distance, and the occasional surprisingly large insect buzzed past, as if on important business.  The forest was amazing: green, growing, and alive ... and (to two city girls) slightly sinister.  The bound and gagged duo watched as the fronds and leaves fluttered and shook where Jamie had disappeared.  Anne mewed a questioning sound and Jodi shrugged.  What was Jamie up to?

Jamie stepped close to the stump of a fallen forest giant.  She groped on the rough bark with her bound thumbs until she found a smooth, recessed knot, and pressed inwards.  With an dry sound a hook-shaped steel blade snapped from a crevice in the stump about six inches to her right.  Jamie carefully (she knew the blade was sharp) maneuvered a loop of her bonds through the hook.  The rope parted like the proverbial butter.  A few more careful cuts and a little athletic writhing and she was free.  Jamie pressed the knot again and the blade disappeared.  She then carefully coiled her severed bonds, concealed them under the leaf litter, and retraced her steps, untying her gag as she went.

Jodi and Anne gasped in amazement.  "That's right, mates" Jamie said with a self-satisfied smirk, retying her bandeau (which now sported a stylish knot between her freckled breasts, thanks to the "Evil White Huntress").  "Margo's not the only one who gets to make the rules after all.  Now," she continued, "if we're going to make this a really interesting hunt, we need to turn the tables on the hunter, right?"  Anne and Jodi nodded enthusiastically, smiling around their gags.  "That means we'll have to set a trap..." Jamie grinned mischievously at her companions, her still helplessly bound and gagged companions, "and a trap needs bait... doesn't it?"  Anne and Jodi's smiles faded.  They glanced at one another, and in a theatrical, long-suffering manner, and in perfect unison, sighed yet again.