_
			DAMSELS UNDER GLASS: THE SERIES
			Jamie's Story — by Van Chapter 7

LATE EVENING...
A MOUNTAIN CAVE IN THE GONDALOO INTERIOR

---

The cave was a little dark, but not in the least bit dank.  Jamie had informed her guests that it was quite artificial, carved by Eve's construction robots.  Roughly twenty meters wide and fifty deep, it had been decorated for a "Gondaloo Tribal Feast" (as Jamie termed it) with clean sand on the floor, abundant floral bouquets, brightly dyed cushions scattered about, and flickering torches here and there.  A full blown Polynesian luau was in full swing, catered by Eve's robots, being enjoyed by Jamie, Margo, Jodi, and Anne.

This describes the real setting.  A flat, reflective screen covered one wall, and through the magic of Eve's hi-resolution projectors, the cave appeared to be more than twice its actual size, with the ambiance and activities on the virtual side blending flawlessly with the feast on the real side.

Anne had stared in open wonder when the "virtual guests" had first appeared.  Jodi had quietly explained that some were members of the "Inner Circle," some were especially invited for the occasion, most were computer generated, but a few of the celebrities were real (...and half the fun was trying to figure out which was which)!  Her head swimming with fatigue, Anne tried to absorb the spectacle.

To the right, three different Sheena Queen of the Jungles, two from TV and one from the movies, all in costume, and all in their twenties or early thirties.  (Clearly, at least two of them had to be computer generated, Anne reflected.)  To the left, from one of Anne's favorite TV shows, Xena Warrior Princess and her sidekick Gabrielle were enjoying themselves immensely, alternately feasting, making out— (So much for sub text, Anne mused.) —and toying with the third member of their party, an elaborately bound, tightly gagged, and thoroughly furious Callisto.  Next to them, a table of seven different Janes was having quite a hen party, comparing notes on their various Tarzans.  Also in attendance, two Barbarellas; several TV witches from various shows; a large table of female, mostly blonde lifeguards in red swimsuits; one Vampire Slayer and her female friends; and various other female celebrities from TV, movies, and sports, either costumed as "natives" or otherwise dressed appropriately for the luau.

Anne recognized one table that included some very familiar and, she was sure, very real guests: Inner Circle members, all dressed in Aloha print fashions.  Real, virtual, and projected from Seattle, Anne mused.  It's going to take the language a while to sort out VR, she thought, shaking her head.  Elke (Virtual Elke) waved from across the cave (and the Pacific).  Anne turned and watched Margo smile, and Jamie and Jodi wave back.  Anne smiled as well.  (Still tightly bound, it was all she could do to return the greeting.)  Next to Elke: the diminutive Charlie Paretsky, giggling and whispering in Elke's ear; and next to Charlie: an attractive blonde and a striking Latina: Naomi Curtis and Brie Sanchez.

"Naomi and Brie are something of an item these days," Jodi whispered in Anne's ear, then smiled and winked.

"Jodi, please don't gossip," Margo scolded.

"Sorr-ieee!" Jodi giggled, and took a quick gulp from her drink (some sort of rum and fruit juice concoction in a hollowed out pineapple).

Gossip aside, Anne noticed, Naomi and Brie seemed very much to be "an item" for the evening, at least.  Brie's wrists and elbows were bound behind her back with what appeared (from across the cave) to be silk scarves, and she was sharing Naomi's plate (and being hand fed by her blonde companion).  I'm bound, and Jodi's feeding me, Anne reflected.  I wonder if that makes us 'an item?'

Charlie whispered in Elke's ear, again, causing the amazonian blonde to nearly spit a mouthful of her drink across the table.  Elke swallowed, laughed, and shook a warning finger at the grinning little brunette.  Bug better be careful, Anne mused, or she'll wind up a prisoner too... which is probably what she wants.

On the virtual side of the screen, all the guests, fictional, generated, and real, were being served (or appeared to be being served) by a host of gorgeous, smiling Polynesian and Micronesian maidens in native costume, but Anne also noticed a few additional female celebrities carrying trays of food and drink.  Significantly, while the "locals" were acting as hosts, the celebs were all involuntary servants, dressed in soiled, ripped, and tattered variations of Victorian bush costume, and were either shackled and manacled, or bound with rope.

Anne yawned.  It was all getting to be a little too much—too much good food, too many new and interesting sights, and "too much rope," she mumbled under her breath, twisting in her bonds for what felt like the millionth time.  Her elbows, wrists, hands, thumbs, and arms were still as tightly, inescapably bound as when Eve's robots had applied the damned rope in the early predawn, as tightly as they had been bound for all the hours since... and it was starting to get old.   She had to admit she wasn't in any real discomfort, but she resented being the only real (on Gondaloo, anyway) prisoner... besides Margo.  Anne sighed and looked to her right.  Jodi was just putting down her drink   The honey-blonde smiled and offered Anne a glob of roast pork on the end of a bamboo skewer.

"It's a simple question," Anne began, "when are you—m'mmpfh!"

Jodi shoved the succulent morsel into Anne's mouth.  "I know, I know," she giggled.  "'When are you going to untie me'?  Her Highness..." Jodi indicated their grinning, attentive hostess, "...by which I mean the shrimpy redheaded Highness," Jodi clarified, "...not the tall, naked, tied up, other Highness wearin' only the boots an' ropes... an' the bandages wrapped on 'er hands..." Jodi indicated the grinning Margo,  "...she said... Jamie I mean... she said you could be untied after... the dance."

Margo leaned close and whispered to Jamie, "Is she as think as I drunk she is?"

Jamie giggled and whispered back, "I had Eve cut her off two drinks ago.  She's on fruit juice for the rest of the evening."  Jamie lifted Margo's drink and sloshed the contents.  "Speaking of which, would you like Eve to freshen this for you?"

Margo shook her head to the negative, then took a careful sip as Jamie held the pineapple to her lips.

Anne glowered and chewed her mouthful of pork.  Jodi noticed her dinner companion's dour face, and playfully poked Anne in the ribs as she swallowed.

"Stop it," Anne snapped, smiling despite herself.

"I... myself... have a question, Your Highness," Jodi began,."..by which I mean..."

"We know who you mean," Jamie laughed.  "Get on with it."

"What... exactly... are we going to do with the Evil White Huntress?" Jodi asked, pointing at her boss.

Jamie smiled and rubbed her chin, as if considering the question.  "Hmm... that is a dilemma, isn't it?  Pity we don't have a stew pot big enough to cook her in."

"She'd be stringy, anyway," Jodi observed in an offhand manner.  "Not enough fat on her."

"I beg your pardon," Margo demanded in mock outrage.  "We can't all be pleasingly plump, you know."

Jodi gasped.  "I'll have you know my percent body fat is... is...  I can't remember it at the moment, but it's very small," the tipsy aerobics instructor retorted.  "Oh, I know," she continued brightly.  "We could feed her to the sharks!"

"Wait 'til low tide and haul her all the way to the outer reef over all that sharp coral?" Jamie asked skeptically.  "Too much work."

"Uh... I have a suggestion," Anne said shyly.

"Everybody quiet!" Jodi ordered.  "The new girl has a suggestion!"

"Hush," Jamie scolded, then nodded to Anne in encouragement.  "Go on."

"We could cover her with honey," Anne began, "and stake her out across an ant hill... or maybe dig a pit next to the ant hill and bury her up to her neck and cover just her head with honey... or maybe tie her to a framework with her honey-dripping nipples suspended just a fraction of an inch above the ant hill and..."  Anne paused, noticing her companions' astonished stares.  Anne blushed bright red... then gasped.  "We are only playing, right?  You don't really think I'd..."

Margo, Jamie and Jodi laughed, and Anne blushed an even brighter red.  "Of course, we're only playing, Counselor," Margo chuckled, then smiled and continued, "but those were very nice horrible, lingering, agonizing deaths you were suggesting for me.  Thank you."

"Uh... You're welcome," Anne mumbled, still blushing.

"Well, we can decide tomorrow," Jamie said. "Eve, have our guests finished eating?  Can we proceed to the next event?"

"All is in readiness Princess," Eve intoned.

Anne was distracted by a small drama unfolding on the virtual side of the cave.  Among the involuntary serving girls Anne recognized the star of one of the teen prime-time soap/dramas, that one about the college student in New York, she decided.  The unfortunate wench was hobbled, wrists bound in front, bit-gagged with a stick and leather thong, and was being lead about on a hemp leash by a grinning Polynesian girl.  The prisoner was clutching a heavy, moisture beaded clay jug in her joined hands, and as she had leaned forward to replenish one of the lifeguard's drink, she had inadvertently sloshed the cold liquid down another's top.  The lifeguards laughed, and the prisoner was shrieking through her gag as the native maiden scolded and took a switch to the poor wench's rag covered rear.

Anne was so engrossed in this spectacle she missed something that was being said.  She turned back to the table to find Margo and Jamie regarding her with amused smiles and Jodi rummaging in a bowl of fruit.  "I'm sorry," Anne said, "did you say something?"

Jodi grinned and held up a large, juicy plum.  "I was asking if you had any preferences..."  Jodi thrust the plum in Anne's mouth.  The bound lawyer mewed in complaint, juice dripping from her chin as Jodi held the fruit in place and bound it there with a convenient napkin from the table.  "...but as you seemed to be preoccupied... I made the choice for you."

"M'mmffh?" Anne complained.

"Time for the dance," Jamie explained.

Anne continued complaining as Jodi dragged her towards the center of the cave.  A wooden stake rose out of the sand, and as the projected guests clapped and cheered, Jodi pressed Anne's back and bound arms against the smooth wood and began binding her in place with thick, hemp rope.  Numerous tight coils soon lashed the lawyer to the pole at the ankles, shins, knees, thighs, and waist; but then her captor began wrapping the rope around Anne's upper body alone.  Jodi finished with several tight hitches pinning Anne's already inescapably bound arms to her torso and framing the captive's naked, painted breasts.

Jodi tied a final, tightly cinched knot, then put one hand in Anne's short hair and pulled the brunette's face close to her own.  "I left your upper body free from the stake so you could writhe and twist and entertain Jamie's guests," Jodi whispered.  She then held a small object before Anne, a small egg shaped object.  Anne squealed through her gag as Jodi reached between the prisoner's thighs, and deftly tucked the egg under Anne's loin cloth and between her labia.  "This will help you get in the mood once the music starts," Jodi snickered, then kissed Anne's gagged lips.

Anne twisted in her new bonds and blushed as the the laughing crowd of diners savored her plight, pointing and whispering remarks to one another.  Charlie, Anne noticed, seemed to be especially amused.  Anne was the center of attention, the bound, gagged, virtually naked center of attention.  She felt humiliated, ashamed... excited.  Anne slumped in her bonds, then looked up in a daze as a virtual band of musicians joined the computer projected portion of the festivities.

Margo turned and gave Jamie an even stare.

"I know," Jamie said quietly.  "She's near her limit.  Little Annie's had a very busy day.  Eve?" she continued.

"Yes, Princess?" the AI responded.

"We'll keep this reasonably short.  Jodi gets only three dances.  Then Anne gets untied and they both get some sleep, and I don't care if you have to put a tranquilizer dart in the Trickster's rump to do it."

"Yes, Princess," Eve answered.

Margo grinned and she and Jamie turned to watch the show.

The virtual all-female band, sporting skimpy native costumes, various primitive looking instruments at the ready, were mostly unknowns; however, the backup singers were quite well known.  Linda Rhonstadt, Olivia Newton-John, and Carly Simon, all magically (Virtually) in their late twenties, smiled and whispered together near a "microphone" (actually a conch shell on a bamboo pole).  Anne watched as Enya stepped to the front of the band.  (Was it Eve? Anne wondered. It couldn't really be ...?)  Anne squirmed in her bonds.  (Of course it's Eve, Anne scolded herself. God I'm tired, she sighed inwardly, slumping again in her bonds.

"This next song's dedicated to the Lizard Clan!" Enya (Eve) announced.  Jodi and several of the virtual serving girls cheered, then began trilling their tongues in a primitive, warbling chant.  Oh please, Anne moaned.  Eve/Enya joined the back-up singers, then gestured towards the drummer who smiled, poised her hands above a large, kettle-sized drum... and began.

Booom... boom, boom... Booom... boom, boom...

Anne yelped through her gag.  With each pounding beat, the egg nestled between her nether lips was pulsing!   The singers joined the drum with a chant.

"Vooma-chukka, vooma, vooma, vooma-chukka, vooma vooma..."

Anne mewed through her juice-dripping gag, writhing and twisting as the pulsing egg worked its magic.  Through lidded eyes, Anne watched as Jodi began dancing.  Gracefully swaying to the rhythm, wild and exotic in her "Lizard Clan" body paint and the flickering torch light.

Suddenly a spotlight focused on the piano player, who was dressed in a tight, cave-girl shift of tanned leather.  Anne recognized her favorite singer: Vonda Shepard!

"I can't stop this feeling,
Deep inside of me..."

Tell me about it, Anne thought miserably, as the egg buzzed and vibrated.

"Girl, you just don't realize,
What you do to me..."

Suddenly a dozen virtual "natives" of every race joined Jodi in the dance, mimicking and complementing her movements.  All were female, very beautiful, and painted and costumed as members of the "Lizard Clan."  The virtual crowd hooted and cheered, enjoying themselves immensely.

Anne noticed Xena was eyeing her with a look of... lust?  Xena was holding the captive Callisto with the blonde's gagged head in her lap... and Callisto was also eyeing Anne.  Gabrielle was watching Xena, Callisto, and Anne, with poorly concealed jealousy.  God, Anne thought, they're all watching me... and that damned... egg is... is... It won't stop!

"...I, I'm hooked on the feeling,
I'm high on believing,
That you're in love with me..."

Anne lasted about halfway through the song...  then, to the delight of her audience, succumbed to a crashing multiple orgasm.  She then sagged in her hemp bonds, her head drooping, her painted body glistening with sweat, plum juice and saliva dripping from her gag, slowly writhing and twisting in her rope prison as the crowd continued to feast, drink, carouse, and cheer.  Anne lifted her weary head and watched Jodi and the other dancers continue to work themselves into a sweat soaked frenzy.  The prisoner turned her head to the side and watched as Jamie fed a morsel of food to Margo.  ...And Margo was watching Anne, watching her with a feral smile than sent a thrill of lust through the captive's loins able to compete with even the pulsing, quivering egg.

"I said I'm hooked on the feeling..."

The song finally ended.  The crowd's cheers rose to a deafening roar and Jodi, the dancers, and the band smiled and bowed.  Anne was glad the egg had finally stopped pulsing, but the noise was so loud, and she was so tired, and...  The band started playing another song, and the egg was pulsing again, and Jodi and the "Lizard Clan Dancers" were writhing to the music, and the egg was pulsing, and Anne couldn't help but cum again, and the egg kept pulsing, and...

The next thing Anne knew, Jamie was untying her gag and helping her extract the half-chewed, pulpy remains of the plum Jodi had wedged between her teeth.

"Brave little Annie," Jamie cooed, a kindly smile on her freckled face.

Anne watched as Jamie stooped and untied the hemp that was holding her against the pole.  "I'm... I'm kinda tired," Anne said quietly.

"I know," Jamie answered.

Her legs and ankles finally freed, Anne stepped away from the stake.  Jamie gently turned her around, Anne caught a flash of flickering torch light reflected off polished steel, and in a series of quick, deft cuts, felt the ropes binding her arms melt away.  Anne turned as Jamie returned the knife to its sheath at the small of her back.  Jamie smiled, and Anne gave her a close hug.

"Brave little Annie," Jamie repeated.  "Do you forgive me for keeping you tied up all day?"

"Of course," Anne said.  She looked over the redhead's freckled shoulder and saw Jodi over at the table, drinking and having an increasingly animated discussion with the bound, naked, and amused Margo.

"Good," Jamie said with a chuckle.

"What's that about?" Anne asked, indicating the agitated Jodi and serene, captive Margo.

"I told Trickster she has to go to bed, so she'll be ready to help me catch Kitty-Kat in the morning," Jamie explained.  Jamie paused and watched with Anne as Jodi paced and ranted.  Margo had stopped talking some time ago.  "She doesn't want to go."

"No kidding," Anne remarked with a tired laugh.

Jamie and Anne walked towards the table.  Anne noticed that the virtual guests were either now gone... (The Seattle Inner Circle table was now empty.) ...or were stretching, yawning, and reclining in place.    Anne stifled a yawn of her own... and looking at Xena's party, noticed that at some point Callisto's gag had been doubled, a wide blindfold had been added, and the blonde had been put in a very tight hogtie.  She was lying on her side and was being used as a pillow by Xena and Gabrielle.  Callisto squirmed slightly and Xena, without opening her eyes, gave the bound prisoner a sharp slap on the rump.  Callisto's head jerked in frustration... but she stopped squirming.

"...and I resent being told to go to bed like a naughty little girl," Jodi was saying as Jamie and Anne approached.

"A naughty, mutinous little girl," Jamie added.  "Is this what you call being a 'Loyal Gondaloo?'  Have you forgotten your pledge to follow all Royal commands?"

"But I..." Jamie began.

"Don't be too hard on her, Your Highness," Margo purred.  "She gets cranky like this when she's overly tired."

"Look, Evil White Huntress," Jodi said, "when I want your opinion I'll...  I'll..."  Jodi noticed Jamie and Anne exchange a significant look.  "Hey, I never said I wouldn't go to bed..."  Jamie retrieved a coil of thin rope from under the table and tossed it to Anne.  "It's just... I wanted... Hey!"

Margo laughed as Jamie and Anne pounced.  Despite her half hearted struggles, Jodi was soon face down in the sand with Jamie's knee on the small of her back and Anne carefully, meticulously, tightly binding the rebellious Lizard Clan member's crossed wrists behind her back.

"No fair!" Jodi wailed.  Jamie and Anne hauled the captive to her knees and began brushing the sand from her sweaty body, with limited success.  "You said I could—M'mmpfh!"

Jamie held Jodi close from behind, left arm thrown around Jodi's upper body with her slender, freckled left hand tightly clutching Jodi's sweaty, sandy, painted right breast, Jamie's right hand tightly pressed against the honey-blonde's lips.  "Good little girls get a story when they go to bed," Jamie whispered in Jodi's ear, "but bad little girls just get... tucked in."

Anne retrieved a soiled napkin from the table and slowly, folded it into a narrow bandage, her eyes locked with Jodi's.  Then, Anne paused, a mischievous glint in her eyes.  She smiled, turned her back to Margo, Jamie, and Jodie, and fumbled with her loin cloth.  When she turned back around, the egg-shaped vibrator was in her hand, glistening with Anne's own lubrication.  With a feral smile Anne shook out the napkin and refolded it with the egg in the center.

Jamie and Margo exchanged an amused glance.  Clearly, Anne was learning very quickly, and was revealing herself to be a most welcome addition to the Inner Circle.

Jodi squirmed and mewed through Jamie's hand as Anne approached with the napkin shrouded egg.  "Hey, come on—M'MMPFH!" was all the protest she had time to make as hand gag was replaced with cloth gag.  Jodi's eyes gazed into Anne's as the lawyer held the aerobics instructor's head steady while Jamie cinched and tightened the gag and tied a careful knot behind the prisoner's head.  Jodi's nostrils flared above her tightly cleaved mouth.  She tossed her head defiantly, mewed through the egg (which weakly vibrated in response), and twisted her wrists, her fluttering fingers groping for the unreachable knots, satisfying herself that once again she was well gagged and inescapably bound... once again.

"What now?" Anne asked as she and Jamie pulled Jodi to her sandaled feet.  The lawyer took Jodi in charge, one hand on the honey-blonde prisoner's shoulder, as Jamie used her knife to slash Margo's ankle bonds.

Jamie helped their bound, naked employer to her booted feet.  The petite Princess smiled up at the captive Evil White Huntress.  "Like I said, bedtime," she announced.

The cave narrowed to a narrow, torch lit passage, a passage that quickly branched into several side passages.  Jamie led her friends through a series of turns until they came to a large boulder.  She ran her signet ring down a convenient crack in the huge stone and they heard a soft click.  Jamie then pulled on the boulder... and it pivoted to the side like a well balanced door, revealing a small, roughly circular chamber about ten meters across, lit by a single, sputtering torch.

The floor was covered with dry sand and clean hay.  A heavy iron ring was set in the far wall, and from it, several glinting chains trailed into the straw.  Jamie advanced into the chamber and motioned for Anne to join her.  Anne thrust Jodi inside.  The honey-blonde captive sighed through her gag, half in long-suffering resignation, half in amusement.  Margo stood outside the chamber, an indulgent grin on her face.

Anne stooped, traced one of the chains with her hands, and found that it ended in a thick iron collar.  "Wow!" she enthused, "real dungeon hardware!"  She lifted the collar.  The chain clinked and clattered.  "This thing's heavy."

"Of course it's heavy," Jamie said.  "You can't expect a captive damsel to languish properly if her chains aren't heavy."  The redhead then picked up a second collar and motioned to Jodi... who sighed again, then gracefully lowered herself into the straw.  Jamie carefully fit the collar around Jodi's throat and snapped it closed.  She then pulled more iron hardware from beneath the hay.  Wide, heavy shackles closed on Jodi's ankles.  Each shackle had a separate chain, but Jamie brought the Lizard Clan captive's ankles together, there was an audible snap, and the shackles seemed to fuse together.

"Wow!" Anne repeated... then stifled a yawn with her hand.

"Magnetic locks," Jamie explained, "controlled by Eve.  These chains can be used loose or close, as they say.  There are lots of variations."  She then rolled Jodi onto her stomach, and working above the gagged prisoner's wrist ropes, closely chained the Trickster's wrists behind her back with thick, wide manacles.  She then untied the now superfluous rope and tossed it aside.

Anne opened and closed the collar in her hands, several times.  There was some resistance, but only enough to hold the collar closed unless she pulled on it.  She traced the other chains and found shackles and manacles identical to those now locked on Jodi.  She picked up the collar again and opened it.  "How...?" she began, then blushed and let the collar snap closed.

Jamie smiled.  "How does it feel?" Jamie suggested.  Anne nodded, still blushing.  "Only one way to find out."

Anne hesitantly opened the collar, sat down in the straw next to Jodi, and moved to place the collar around her own neck.  She then paused and gave Jamie a questioning look.

"It won't lock," Jamie promised.

Anne closed the collar around her throat.  "It's heavy," she whispered.

"You said that," Jamie grinned.

Anne reached for the shackles and closed them on her ankles.  She lifted her ankles one by one, testing the weight and feel of the restraints.  "Wow!" she said a third time.

Jamie chuckled and exchanged a knowing look with Margo.

Anne then placed her wrists in the manacles, first the left, then the right.  "They're really pretty comfortable," Anne remarked, "and—"  There was an quiet, rapid, series of clicks.  Anne looked startled, then pulled on the manacles.  The chains rattled, but the thick iron bands remained firmly closed around her wrists, ignoring the efforts of her prying fingers.  "Hey!" she protested, pulling on her collar and kicking her feet.  All of the iron remained firmly in place.

"Sublime moment, eh?" Margo remarked.

"Yes," Jamie agreed, then reached down and cupped Anne's chin with her right hand.  "They were set to lock only after they were all in place," she explained.  "Like I said, 'lots of variations'."

Anne looked up at Jamie, "you mean...?  I'm...?"

Jamie leaned down and gave Anne a lingering kiss.  Margo and the gagged Jodi exchanged smiles.  "Goodnight, Anne," Jamie finally said, then walked towards the door.  "Be kind to Jodi, won't you?" Jamie asked, as Anne continued pulling on her chains.  "After all," Jamie continued from the passageway, "closely chained like that, she's much more helpless than you are... isn't she?"

"Do you have to do this?" Anne asked in frustration.

"Interesting question," Jamie answered as the boulder began rumbling close, "but we'll discuss the paradox of free will some other time, okay?"

"Have a heart, plea—?"  Anne's protest was cut short by the boulder's final thud.

"She too gets cranky when she's tired," Jamie remarked, "doesn't she?"

"You are such a stinker," Margo laughed.

"Now that's an interesting remark," Jamie chuckled, "'specially coming from you ... and in your current circumstances."

"Oh," Margo responded, raising one eyebrow in mock concern, "you have something similarly villainous planned for me?"

"Of course not," Jamie said sweetly as they continued down the passage.