DAMSELS UNDER GLASS: THE SERIES
		A ONE CHAPTER MINI-MELODRAMA by Van © 2001

GONDALOO ISLAND
GREAT BARRIER REEF
QUEENSLAND, AUSTRALIA

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Jamie circled the Resort's Main Lagoon once, then banked and brought the tiltwing seaplane in on a standard approach towards Landing Beach.  The aircraft's engine pylons made the smooth transition from level flight to controlled descent, the large props on either wing changing pitch and speed to ease the seaplane towards the calm water.  The gull-wing hull of the fuselage settled smoothly onto the surface, then the wing-tip floats deployed and the strangely shaped craft taxied towards the sand.

Penny was waiting on the beach, a respectful distance from the blowing spray and sand that always heralded the approach of the tiltwing amphibian.  Jamie noted that instead of one of her usual Resort Hostess costumes of either tropical business suit or bikini and sarong, her blonde Brit companion was dressed in tall black riding boots, dark tan jodhpurs, and a white cotton blouse with rolled sleeves.

The tiltwing's wheels deployed and the seaplane rolled out of the rippling turquoise water onto the sand.  Jamie methodically went through the shutdown checklist, removed her headset, and headed towards the main door.  Yawning, the short redhead stooped and removed her open-toed heels, grabbed her jacket from the passenger seat where it had been unceremoniously dropped before departure from Cairns... stretched... and opened the door.  Jacket over one shoulder (along with dangling shoes), clad in short skirt and sleeveless blouse, Jamie squinted in the bright tropical sun and waved at the approaching Penny with her free hand.

"You look like hell," Penny said with a welcoming grin.

"Thanks a lot," Jamie laughed.  "That was the worst conference I have ever had the misfortune of attending.  Half the papers were drivel of the worst sort, and several of my 'learned colleagues' spent the entire three days bickering like preschool brats who missed their naps."  The diminutive redhead stretched again, smiling at her tall, tan friend.  "It's good to be home."

Penny took advantage of Jamie's upraised arms to give the freckled biologist a welcoming hug.  "It's good to have you home," the grinning Brit purred.

Jamie sighed and lowered her arms, returning the hug, savoring the clean smell of of her companion, best friend, and lover... and the smell of Penny's freshly saddle soaped boots.  "What's with the riding costume?  Did Margo decide to open the stables ahead of schedule?"

"No," Penny answered with a chuckle, relaxing her hold on her short friend.  "The stable complex is still three building phases away, after the tree house.  My clothes are part of your welcome home surprise."

"Oh goodie!" Jamie giggled, "a surprise!"  Then she grew suddenly sober.  "Wait a minute, is this a good surprise or..."

"I have a present for you," Penny said, took Jamie's freckled hand and started towards a nearby verandah.  "Let's get a drink."

Reassured (for the moment), Jamie allowed herself to be led towards the Mediterranean style venue.  A bar-bot was waiting under the shade of a vine-covered arbor, as well as a tastefully giftwrapped box.

"Oh goodie!" Jamie exclaimed again, dropping her shoes and jacket.  Penny instructed the bot to mix two gin and tonics while, with girlish glee, Jamie reduced her present's wrappings to trash.  Inside she found a neatly folded but minuscule garment of chamois leather, as well as several items of costume jewelry.  Jamie held up the garment with uncertainty, a string bikini of what appeared to be tan rawhide.  "Uh..." then her glee returned.  "It's a Jungle Jamie costume!" she squealed.

"None other," Penny agreed, smiling at her friend's pleasure.  "Try it on."

Jamie hesitated for only an instant.  The luxurious privacy of Gondaloo had long since eroded the last of her modesty, especially in the presence of Penny or one of her other Inner Circle sisters.  With a giggle she pulled her top over her head, unzipped and stepped out of her skirt, unsnapped and removed her bra, then pulled down and stepped out of her panties.  Standing in a pile of clothing in all her freckled glory, Jamie held up the chamois bikini and smiled.  Penny had watched the striptease without comment (not counting the downing of half her gin and tonic in a single gulp) and now was examining her companion's diminutive, nude body with her full, leering attention; a hungry, feral grin on her tan face.

Still smiling, Jamie slipped on the bikini bottom and began tying the thin leather side-strings.  "A little skimpy," she noted.  Jamie's pubis was barely covered, her rear protected by little more than a wide thong.

"No more than your usual bathing attire," Penny mumbled, "...well maybe a little more 'skimpy' than usual."

The grinning redhead snorted derisively, inspecting the chamois top.  "I'm surprised you didn't make heart shaped cutouts fer me nips," she teased, tucking her breasts into the top's bra cups and tying the strings.  "A perfect fit," she conceded then reached back into the box and slid slave bracelets of hammered gold over her wrists and forearms, then up to either bicep.  Finally, she tied a headband of braided leather across her forehead... then looked back into the now empty box.  "Uh, no footwear?" she asked with a giggle.

"No, you greedy little Monkey," Penny laughed.  "I was going to have Eve fabricate some chamois lace-up 'fuck me' pump-sandals with six inch heels," Penny answered, "but she pointed out their unsuitability for jungle terrain."

"Good call!" Jamie giggled, then spun in a circle and struck a high fashion pose.  "Well?" she demanded.  The bikini had purposely ragged margins and a rough, rustic appearance, but it did indeed fit Jamie's short, athletic body perfectly, the thin string laces dimpling the freckled skin of her hips, upper torso, shoulders, and neck.  As she turned and posed, the panels of the top and bottom flexed and stretched, hugging her curves.  Her modesty was preserved (just ), but the chamois bikini was scandalous .

"I approve," Penny purred.  "It's what all the feral monkey girls are wearing this year."

Jamie stood on tip-toe and gave Penny a peck on the cheek.  "Thank you, darling," she said, then smiled coyly and stooped to retrieve her discarded business suit and undergarments, "unintentionally" giving Penny an unobstructed view of her nearly uncovered dimpled rear (and the bumps and ridges of thin rawhide concealing other parts of her anatomy).  "I like the bikini," Jamie said as she folded her clothes, "but I've always seen Jungle Jamie in a chamois shift with moccasin boots.  Less chance of getting scratched to pieces in the undergrowth."

"I see no reason our characters can't have any number of costumes," Penny said.  "I've always seen 'Lady Penelope' in corset and some ridiculously cumbersome and restrictive Victorian bush ensemble... but if Her Ladyship was feeling adventurous or perhaps villainous, who knows?  She might wear a scandalously male riding costume."

Jamie nodded absently as she worked, folding her skirt and jacket and carefully placing them on a nearby table... then she paused.  'Riding costume?' she thought.  'Villainous?'  Panties in hand, Jamie turned... to find herself staring down the barrel of a broomhandle Mauser automatic pistol.  The weapon looked absolutely authentic, except for the broad fluorescent orange ring around the business end of the barrel.

"Eve completed our toys," Penny explained with a gloating smile, the pistol expertly held in her strong tan hand, never wavering from its startled redheaded target.  Jamie stared wide-eyed as the tall Brit shrugged into a black leather shoulder holster and harness.  "This toy's one of mine," Penny purred, waving the pistol airily, then pointing it back at Jamie.  "It can fire paint pellets, or, like now, it can simply emit a harmless laser beam..."  Penny pulled the trigger and a ball of red light appeared between the "jungle girl's" breasts.  "...to show where imaginary 'stun bullets' would land.  Hands up, Monkey Girl!" she ordered.

"Unfair!" Jamie protested, the smile on her lips and the twinkle in her green eyes belying her outrage.  "Where are my weapons?"

"Oh, your spear,  jungle knife, blowgun, and 'poison' darts are ready as well," Penny admitted.  "How very foolish of you to commence a game without first procuring the means to defend yourself.  All you had to do was ask."

"You rat!" Jamie groused, but raised her hands as ordered, gracefully accepting Lady Penelope's cleverly executed ambush.  "I'm tired," she said.  "Let's not get carried away, okay?"

Penny pulled a length of thin cord from the pocket of her jodhpurs.  "I bet you didn't get one decent workout during the entire conference," she demanded, "did you? That's why you're tired."  She stepped behind Jamie, thrust her pistol into its holster, jerked Jamie's panties out of her hand and thrust them into the waistband of her jodhpurs, then tied the "Queen of the Rainforest's" crossed wrists tightly behind her back.

Jamie twisted her wrists in their inescapable bonds, her fingers fluttering, groping for the unreachable knots.  "What are you going to do with me, you... damn!  You get to call me 'Monkey Girl' and 'Half-naked Savage', but what can I call you?  Urban Sophisticate? Civilized Tart?"

Penny laughed.  "Vine-swinging Ape-Princess, if you call me anything disrespectful, I'll stuff those smelly panties of yours in your monkey mouth.  Of course, I may do that anyway... once we reach our destination."  She paused to buckle the sternum strap of her holster harness, joining the gleaming leather straps together above her breasts, then stretched and swung her arms to check the harness' fit and the ride of the holster.  Satisfied, she grabbed Jamie by one freckled arm and began leading her away, towards the interior of the resort.

Jamie shivered in anticipation.  "I was wondering how long it would take you to plot your revenge for my little pendulum caper."

Penny paused, jerked her prisoner close and whispered in her ear.  "Your 'little pendulum caper' gave me nightmares for a week."

"They seemed more like wet dreams from my side of the bed," Jamie purred.

Penny laughed, grabbed Jamie's panties from her waistband and stuffed them in her prisoner's mouth.  "I guess I'm going to have to keep you quiet after all, Smelly Savage, before you make me angry and I do something we'll both regret... as opposed to something only you'll regret."  Jamie forced a questioning sound past her panties and her captor's hand.

"I assume you'd like me to explain what diabolical fate I have in store for my captive jungle girl?"  She released her hand and Jamie nodded, her red curls bobbing.  (For once a helpful prisoner, Jungle Jamie didn't attempt to expel the stuffing in her mouth.)  Penny smiled evilly, pulled the folded, white silk scarf from around her neck, centered the narrow band between Jamie's teeth, and tied the tapering ends in an overhand knot behind her captive's neck... then paused and locked eyes with her grinning prisoner  "'That would be telling,'" she quoted, recalling the teasing she had endured from Jamie when their roles had been reversed.  She then gave the scarf's ends a savage jerk, and tied a tight bow.  "Two can play at this torture game, Monkey Princess," Penny purred, then kissed the tip of Jamie's freckled, button nose, and led her now bound and gagged captive away.

Jamie looked back over her shoulder.  The gin and tonic Penny had programmed the bar-bot to prepare for her sat untouched on the table next to her folded business suit and discarded bra.  She sighed through her panties and allowed herself to be hustled along.  I'm probably gonna wish I'd drunk that thing, she mused.

Jungle Jamie's journey as Lady Penelope's captive took her across the Main Resort, through one of the tastefully concealed entrances to the service corridors carved into the cliff face, down two stairwells and one ramp, and to a complex of secure storage chambers.  It was an area Jamie knew TESSERACT Entertainment Division used to store their materials, but she seldom visited this part of the island's underground labyrinth in person.  Occasionally the Entertainment teams made use of Gondaloo's tropical locale to record background and ambiance data for their video and VR game projects, and since the island already had the required robotic workshops and manufacturing facilities, it was a simple matter to have Eve fabricate whatever "man-made" elements they might desire, transport it to an appropriate jungle, beach, or reef location, and record the result from every angle.

Most such "location shoots" were dismantled immediately after use, but a few tasteful and useful constructions had become parts of the Island's permanent decor.  The "sacrificial steps" in "King Kong Klearing" had started life as dressing for a VR game, and Jamie knew where a complete "cannibal village" of stone huts could be found on the far side of the Island, as well as a tastefully overgrown and semi-camouflaged "crashed spaceship."

Jamie also knew there were standing sets in the storage area they were approaching.  Since the construction and data recording was all entirely automated and the results easily transmitted, it made no difference to the Seattle-based teams where on the globe the sets were located (information travels well), and on Gondaloo it cost TESSERACT nothing to leave the sets in place until needed again.  Several chambers held dungeons, laboratories, throne rooms, even tombs.  Most had been redressed and modified several times, to meet the Entertainment teams' immediate requirements.  Penny had once remarked that some of these sets might be fun places to "play, " and apparently she was following through on her own suggestion.

They stopped before one of the storerooms.  Penny placed her signet ring against the scanner next to the door and the heavy steel portal slid to the side.  Inside, the walls were flat panels on which hi-res images of dank, dripping, stone blocks were projected.  In the center of the chamber was... something decidedly artistic, but surprisingly (to Jamie), not obviously sinister.  It was a sculpture, two life-sized, female, fantastic figures pushing against opposite sides of a large, conical boulder... or mountain, if the figures were meant to depict giants.  One figure was half-human/half-cat, with a long feline tail.  The other was a human/hawk hybrid, with small wings between her shoulderblades.  Both figures were completely naked, their sculpted muscles and sinews straining as they pushed against the interposed boulder.

Jamie mewed through her gag, not in alarm, but in an attempt to communicate.  "Ku'u'kah!"

Penny ignored her friend's attempt at speech and gave her a firm shove into the chamber, then followed herself at a slow walk.  The door slid closed and locked with a solid clang.  The tall tan Brit smiled as her diminutive Aussie captive pattered around the sculpture, leaning close and craning her neck to examine the details, unconsciously twisting her bound wrists behind her back.

Jamie turned back to face her captor.  "Ku'u'kah!" she repeated.

"I'm sorry, Monkey Girl," Lady Penelope said with a coy smile, "but I can't understand your simian gibbering.

"KUUU-u- KAHHH!!! " Jamie shouted through her gag, stamping one bare freckled foot in frustration, her smiling eyes belying her irritated manner.

Laughing, Penny stepped behind her grinning prisoner, parted Jamie's red curls, and untied the bow securing her gag.  As the scarf came away from her mouth, Jamie used her tongue to expel her panties, but before she could spit them any distance Penny plucked them from between her captive's teeth and tucked them back in the waistband of her jodhpurs.  "I may need those later," the grinning captor whispered in Jamie's ear, then knotted her scarf back around her own neck.

Jamie held her smiling head still as her friend's strong, tan fingers fussed with her hair.  "As I was trying to say," she murmured, "'Kul'Dakar'."

"Yes," Penny agreed, nodding towards the elegant sculpture.  "We do indeed find ourselves in the Lost City of the Ancient Amazon Slavers."  Finished straightening her diminutive prisoner's curls, the tall Brit cupped Jamie's chin and turned the Aussie "jungle girl's" head towards hers... and kissed her lips.  Jamie sighed, inhaled the breath of her captor and lover, and returned the kiss, sliding her tongue into Penny's mouth.  She then reached back with her bound hands and awkwardly slid her fingers up her captor's thighs towards the "jungle adventuress'" crotch.

Penny used her left hand to grab Jamie's joined wrists and pull them to the side.  "Stop that, Monkey Girl," she purred.  "We'll have time enough for those sort of shenanigans after I use the Kul'Dakars' ingenious torture engine to torment you for several hours."  She then slid her tongue back into Jamie's mouth.

Jamie returned the kiss for several long, wet seconds, then rolled her eyes towards the sculpture and hummed a questioning sound through her tall, tan lover's tongue and wet lips.

Penny broke the kiss with a giggle.  "Stop that, Savage," she scolded, "it tickles."

Jamie nodded towards the sculpture.  "'Torture engine?'" she asked.

Penny smiled at the hint of nervousness behind Jamie's tone and hugged her prisoner close from behind, her chin resting against the side of Jamie head, her cheek snuggled against her captive's soft red curls.  "All is not as it seems, Ape Princess," she answered.  "Specifically, that statue is not as innocent as it seems.  After you left for your conference I contacted your friend Ronnie."

"Uh, she's hardly a friend," Jamie said, still staring at the sculpture.  "I've only V-chatted with her a few times.  She seems very nice... but kinda shy."

"Yes, on both counts," Penny agreed.  "Anyway, Ronnie gave me access to her Cultural Summaries and some of the design plans her Team are working on.  The statue before you depicts one of the central myths of the Kul'Dakar, in which the hawk and panther goddesses pushed two volcanos together, creating the plateau upon which the Amazon city was built."  Penny snuggled close, one hand still pulling Jamie's bound wrists to the side, the other roaming the shuddering captive's warm, freckled thighs and brushing against the prisoner's chamois-covered sex.  "In the process, they trapped and entombed a third goddess, the slave goddess, sentencing her to eternal torment in the fiery caverns beneath the city."

Still holding Jamie in a tight embrace, Penny slowly walked to the far side of the sculpture, half carrying her short prisoner.  Jamie gasped and shuddered delicately, pattering on naked tiptoes as her captor's hand cupped her sex and half lifted her as they walked.  The flushed redhead gasped again when she saw a large iron ring set in the stone floor a couple of meters behind the statue, and beside the ring, a neat coil of hemp rope.

"What are you going to do to me, you Beast?" Jungle Jamie demanded angrily.

"Oh, this is only to secure you while I make my preparations, Monkey Girl," Lady Penelope said with an evil laugh.

"Hmm... ya know," Jamie muttered, breaking character, "I've never really seen 'Lady Penelope' as particularly villainous... more a Gwendoline-type."

"Yes, I know what you mean," Penny agreed.  "Floor," she ordered, releasing Jamie.  Jamie helpfully settled onto her nearly naked rump next to the ring, folding her bare, toned, freckled legs gracefully to the side (and pointing her toes in a manner she knew drove her tall, blonde lover wild).  Penny knelt behind her prisoner, looped one end of the hemp rope around Jamie's throat and began tying a snug, carefully compacted (and thus non-slipping) knot, a bowline.  Jamie was relieved to find the rope wasn't hemp after all, but smooth, silky microfiber made to resemble hemp.  "'Lady P' should be a virtuous damsel," Penny continued, "but it's just too useful to have a villainess available for situations such as this."  Penny threaded the other end of the coil through the ring and pulled the bulk of the rope through with a dry slither.  "Down," she ordered, pulling on the rope again, and Jamie settled onto her side, her head a few centimeters from the ring.  "Perhaps Lady Penelope can have multiple personalities," Penny mused, or..."

Jamie turned her head back to look at her friend.  "...an Evil Twin!" they said together.

"It's perfect ," Jamie said, then grunted as Penny pulled the prisoner's legs back into a tight fold, and bound her ankles together with the mircofiber hemp.  Jamie tested her new bonds.  The rope slid through the ring and tugged on her throat when she twisted her ankles and tried to straighten her legs.

"Hmm... what should we name her?" Penny inquired.  "Something Classical?  Lady Eurydice?  Lady Persephone?  Artemis?  Cassandra?  Medea?"

"It's all Greek to me," Jamie giggled, then winced as Penny looped the rope through her wrist bonds and gave it a savage jerk, pulling her into a stringent hog-tie.

"Cheeky Monkey," Penny scolded.  "If you don't like my ideas..."

"How about Winnifred? " Jamie suggested, then gasped again as Penny looped the remaining rope around the "Queen of the Rainforest's" narrow waist, through her chamois-clad crotch, pulled it tight, and tied it off in front under Jamie's navel, where it would be well out of the reach of Jamie's fluttering, probing fingers, no matter how she twisted on her side in her hog-tied plight.

"I hate my middle name," Penny groused, standing, placing hands on hips, and glaring down at her helpless companion.

"But that's why it's perfect," Jamie said, coyly smiling up at her captor with her right cheek on the stone floor (...both right cheeks, actually).  "Lady Penelope would have had a normal childhood, as normal as any uppercrust Pommey female, anyway; but Lady Winnifred, her identical twin, would have been driven insane by her beastly name."

"Cheeky Monkey," Penny repeated, trying not to laugh (with limited success).  "She'll be called 'Freddie' for short, and at age sixteen, because of her rebellious nature, she was sent to a 'Special School for Girls,' the kind with an all female staff and a Headmistresses who believes in 'Discipline'.  Eventually she escaped, and now she wanders the globe getting into criminal mischief at every opportunity and tormenting Fair Damsels whenever the opportunity presents itself."

"Exactly!" Jamie agreed.  "Now... Lady Freddie..." the captive jungle girl demanded, twisting in her bonds and frowning bravely, "what have you done with Lady Penelope, you Evil Witch?"

"Lady Freddie" laughed.  "Eve," she called, "I know you've been following all this.  Would you please improvise something?"

"It would be my pleasure," the disembodied voice of the Island's Eve-6900 avatar intoned.  "Always happy to be of assistance to the Lady Winnifred."  There was a flash, and a piteous damsel was added to the decor of one of the chamber's projected walls: Lady Freddie's twin Penelope (a Virtual Reality clone of the real Penny).  The computer generated version of the tall tan Brit was dressed in Victorian bush costume, the kind appropriate for a proper Lady: high-neck, long-sleeve, linen blouse (in a tasteful beige/ecru), long, khaki-tan skirt, brown riding boots, and (apparently) a corset.  The elegant outfit was much the worse for wear.  The left sleeve of the blouse was hanging in tatters, leaving Lady Penelope's tan arm nearly entirely bare!  The throat, right front, and side of the blouse were also ripped, exposing an alarming amount of glistening female skin and equally ripped frilly camisole.  The skirt was ripped from hem to waistband, exposing (dare I say it?) a substantial glimpse of the distressed damsel's tattered bloomers, and even some bare thigh!   Her jacket (such an outfit wouldn't be proper without a tailored jacket) was missing entirely, as was her pith helmet with veil and band tastefully matching her pale blue gloves, scarf, and hankie.  The gloves, scarf, and hankie in question, however, were not missing.  The gloves and hankie were stuffed in Penelope's mouth and inextricably held there with multiple tight windings of the narrowly folded scarf.

Yes, Her Ladyship was in complete and distressingly revealing dishabille, as well as being cruelly silenced with elements of her own damaged costume.  Her inability to protest her condition was manifest, but why did she not attempt to arrange the loose tatters to preserve her modesty?  She was chained to the wall!  Seated on the cold flags, her ladylike posterior and back were against the hard unforgiving stones, her arms upraised and wrists manacled to stout iron rings by equally stout iron links.  A heavy iron collar was locked around her throat, a heavy iron belt around her wasp-like waist, all joined by more iron links to heavy iron shackles around her booted ankles.  More links joined the shackles to a third ring set in the floor.

Helpless, hot, bothered, embarrassed by her shameful condition, angry with her villainous sibling (the author of her predicament), Lady Penelope pulled futilely on her rattling chains and mewed through her quite effective gag... then finally sighed and hung her head to the side in defiant surrender.  A single tear slid down her flushed right cheek, paused, then fell to darken the stone floor.

"Brava, Eve!" Jamie whispered, then looked up at Penny.  Her friend was staring at her Virtual self... mesmerized.  Jamie grinned.  "You've never looked better," she remarked to her staring captor.

Penny started from her trance.  "Huh?  Oh... If you say so.  Well done, Eve."

"Thank you, ladies," Eve responded.

Penny put her hands back on her hips and smiled evilly at her Virtual twin.  "So, dear sister, are you enjoying yourself?  As you can see, your savage little jungle friend won't be coming to your rescue as you had hoped."

"Lady Penelope" rattled her chains and glared at her "sister," then favored Jungle Jamie with a sad, commiserating sigh, turned her gagged head back to the side, and ignored her evil twin with a disdainful sniff.

"Lady Freddie" laughed and turned back to her hog-tied captive jungle girl.  "How about you, Ape Princess?  Comfortable, I hope?  I'd hate to gain a reputation as a poor hostess."

"You'll regret this, Lady Freddie," Jungle Jamie growled, pulling on her inescapable bonds.  "Set us free, before it's too late."

"It's already too late, for you!" Lady Freddie said with a gloating smile, then gracefully stepped to the statue of the Kul'Dakar goddesses, removed a very strange and exotic looking medallion from around her neck, inserted it into a slot in the side of the boulder between the wrestling deities, and gave it a twist.  There was a loud metallic snap, a shuddering vibration, and a hair-line vertical fissure opened in the face of the boulder.  Tendrils of rapidly dissipating steam and an eerie red glow escaped the crack.  Lady Freddie gave the medallion key a second twist... a low, groaning vibration shook the very stones of the floor... and the statue began to slowly pull apart into two halves.

Jamie shuddered in her bonds as the halves of the statue separated.  Chiseled into the interior faces of the cleaved boulder she could see two concave shapes which together, when the statue was closed, would constitute a cavity of roughly human shape and size.  There were also several dozen round holes in either face, from which protruded several dozen glowing metal spikes!  More steam escaped from the holes, around the shafts of the spikes, and as the gap between the halves of the statue widened, the spikes slowly withdrew into the interior of each half.

Jamie twisted her bound wrists and stared at the lethal looking device.  It's an iron maiden, with red hot spikes! she realized.  Jamie swallowed, her throat suddenly dry, then started at the sound of Lady Freddie's amused voice.

"You should see your face," Penny said with a chuckle.  "You don't really think I'd put you in a genuine closing cabinet with glowing red spikes, do you?"

"It looks pretty real from here," Jamie answered with a nervous laugh.

Penny stepped towards the sculpture/torture engine.  The halves had stopped about two meters apart, a few centimeters of the spikes protruding from their steaming, eerily glowing holes.  "It's all Special Effects, courtesy of Entertainment Division," Penny explained.  "The steam is quite real, but the spikes only look like they're red hot.  They're translucent plastic with internal lighting, spring loaded..."  She gingerly reached towards one of the spikes with her right hand, touched the tip of the spike with her palm, then giggled and jerked her hand away, fluttering it delicately.  "...and loaded with TIKLER contacts, all carefully tuned for tickle-torture, of course."

Jamie swallowed again.  "You bastard!"

"Now, now, Ape Girl," Lady Freddie scolded.  "You'll offend my dear sister's delicate ears."  She stepped back to Jamie, knelt, and released the captive from her hog-tie (but not from her wrist bonds).  She pulled Jamie to her bare feet, then standing close behind, her left hand holding the short prisoner's wrist bonds, her right arm over Jamie's shoulder, her right hand cupping the captive redhead's left breast, Lady Freddie slowly pushed her reluctant captive towards the waiting device.

"That's it?" Jamie inquired with a nervous giggle.  "You're just going to lock me in that thing and I get tickled to death?"

"Don't be melodramatic," Penny scolded, then laughed and gave her captive's breast a gentle squeeze.  "Cancel that.  Let's both be very melodramatic.  'Tickled to death?'  That's entirely up to you, Savage," Lady Freddie purred, her lips less than an inch from Jungle Jamie's right ear. 

As they got closer, Jamie could see two large holes in the stone floor, centered in the space between the two spiked cavities.

"Your feet go in there," Lady Freddie explained, indicating the holes.

"You expect me to just saunter over and step in?" Jungle Jamie asked.

"If you don't cooperate," Lady Freddie purred, pausing to take a deep wet lick of her shivering prisoner's delicate ear, "I'll put you back in your hog-tie, get my bullwhip, and entertain dear sister until you comply."

Lady Penelope rattled her chains, locked eyes with Jamie and shook her head bravely.

The Queen of the Rainforest smiled at her (Virtual) friend, eyed the steam shrouded glowing spikes and the waiting cavities in the floor, and sighed.  "I suppose I wouldn't be much of a hero if I allowed you to do that," she whispered.

"You'd have to turn in your membership card in the League of Heroic Maidens," Lady Freddie agreed.

Jungle Jamie sighed again, then allowed herself to be led forward.  She somewhat awkwardly stepped down into the holes, first with her left foot, then with her right.  The holes were deep, sinking her into the floor nearly to the level of her knees.  Jamie felt something shift under her feet, then gasped as hard, wide, and cold plates clamped around her ankles, calves, and shins.  She could wiggle her toes, but it was as if she were suddenly wearing knee-high, inflexible boots of thick steel.  Jamie knew she wasn't going anywhere .  Her heart was hammering, her bosom heaving as she breathed the hot, humid air between the looming walls of spikes.  Jamie noticed she was beginning to sweat, like the proverbial horse.  God! she thought, eyeing the tips of the glowing spikes, this is gonna be... torture!

"You look all hot and bothered, Monkey Girl," Lady Freddie cooed.  "Here, let me relieve you of the cause of at least some small part of your difficulty."  Lady Freddie then plucked a stiletto from her right boot, leaned down, and delicately sliced through the leather thongs tying Jamie's new costume to her body, first at the bikini top on the right... snick ...then on the left... snick, then the bikini bottom... snick ... snick.  She returned the knife to her boot, then reached down and tossed the ruined remnants of the bikini away, leaving Jungle Jamie naked, but for the wide gold slave bracelets on her upper arms and the headband around her glistening brow.  "I suppose I could have just untied the strings," Lady Freddie whispered in Jamie's ear, "but slicing through the thongs is much more satisfying, don't you agree?"

"You monster! " Jungle Jamie groused, twisting her bound wrists, a sentiment apparently shared by Lady Penelope, who forced an angry growl through her gag, rattled her chains (and stared at Jungle Jamie's toned freckled glistening body with shy appreciation).

Lady Freddie laughed.  "Don't go anywhere, you two," she gloated, and walked towards the chamber door.  "I'll be right back."

Jamie watched Lady Freddie's disappearing back, trying (and failing) to think of a brave and clever retort.  Seconds passed as she eyed the spikes, watched the sweat roll down her nude body, and twisted in her bonds.  She noted that Lady Penelope was still staring at her... then the virtuous (Virtual) maiden blushed and turned her head to the side when she found herself caught.  "I'll know fer sure after we think up some back story fer all this," Jamie announced, "but I'm fairly certain this is all yer fault!"

Lady Penelope's blush deepened and she rattled her chains.

Lady Freddie returned, toting a folded camp chair and pulling a large hamper on tiny rattling squealing wheels.  The tall blonde villainess opened the chair and arranged it about three meters in front of her naked, redheaded victim (with her chained and gagged sibling an easy head turn to the left).  She then opened the hamper and removed a champagne bucket and stand.  A magnum of bubbly and two crystal flutes were in the bucket, packed in shaved ice (although where Lady Freddie found ice in the Lost City of Kul'Dakar was anyone's guess).

As Lady Freddie opened the champagne and poured herself a flute, Jamie licked her wet, salty lips, suddenly aware of her growing thirst.  Smiling sweetly, Jamie's statuesque tormentor slowly... gracefully... sauntered forward, then slowly lowered the crystal flute towards Jamie's lips... and pulled it back.

"Say please, " Lady Freddie teased.

"Please take a flying leap into the nearest lava pit, then you can—"

Jamie's tirade was interrupted by Lady Freddie placing the cold rim of the flute against the captive's flushed lips and slowly tipping it forward, allowing the short, naked prisoner to drink the cool, sweet, tart, bubbling wine.  Jamie emptied the flute, with only a few precious drops escaping to roll down her freckled chin.

"Thanks," Jungle Jamie said as her captor stepped back to the bucket and refilled the tall stemmed glass.

"You're welcome, Savage," Lady Freddie cooed.  "It never hurts to be polite, I suppose."  She then walked back and placed the full effervescing flute on the stone floor, just out of reach of her naked glistening captive (out of reach even if Jamie's wrists weren't tied behind her back).  She filled the second flute, settled into her chair with a theatrical sigh, and crossed her long, booted legs atop the closed hamper.  She then raised her glass in salute, first to Jamie, and then her sister, and took a delicate sip.  Lady Penelope rattled her chains and mewed through her gag.  "None for you," Lady Freddie told her Virtual sibling, then turned back to Jamie.  "She gets all giggly when she imbibes," Lady Freddie explained.

"I see," Jamie muttered, eyeing the full glass of cold thirst quenching bubbly on the floor before her and licking her lips, then turning to either side and examining the glowing spikes, twisting her wrists in their bonds and sighing.

"Yes, I suppose we better get on with things," Lady Freddie mumbled, taking another sip of champagne.

"Uh, don't rush on my account," Jamie blurted nervously.

"The 'Statue of the Mountain' torture engine doesn't simply close, you see," Lady Freddie explained, ignoring Jamie's outburst.  "There are strongly weighted counterbalancing chain falls and a water clock, somewhere under your feet, all of which vary the speed and force of the closure.  If you look to either side, you'll see palm prints chiseled into the stone."  Jamie looked to left and right and confirmed that there were indeed the outlines of open palms in either spiked cavity, at a convenient height for her to reach out with her hands and push against the halves of the statue (if her wrists weren't bound behind her back, of course).  "Once I free your wrists and start the engine... you'll find you can indeed stop the statue from closing."  Lady Freddie took another sip.  "Sometimes it will be easy... and sometimes very difficult, requiring all your strength... but eventually, you'll grow tired... and..."  Lady Freddie favored her victim with an evil, gloating smile, and emptied her flute.

"You monster! " Jamie hissed.

Still smiling, Lady Freddie left her chair and stepped behind her victim.  Jamie heard a hollow ping... the statue gave a deep, vibrating shudder... and the halves began to slowly close, the glowing spikes emerging from their holes as the distance between the advancing walls grew less and less.

"Uh..." Jamie twisted and tugged on her wrist bonds in earnest.  "Forgetting something?"  The "red-hot" spikes were getting very close!

"Oh, silly me!" Lady Freddie exclaimed, reaching for her boot knife..  "Now hold still, Ape Girl, or I might cut you my mistake."  There was a dry snick and Jamie's hands were free. 

The naked prisoner quickly placed her hands against the halves of the statue into the palm prints and pushed.  The statue gave a delicate quiver and the halves began to separate.  Jamie found she could in fact hold the halves apart... with difficulty.

Meanwhile, Lady Freddie had replenished her champagne and was gracefully reclined in her comfortable chair.  "And our naked, sweating, freckled little female Samson begins her wrestling match with the goddesses of Kul'Dakar," she teased.

Jamie felt a vibration shudder through the rock and the pressure on her outstretched arms increased.  Soon she was pushing in both directions with all her strength, her corded muscles clearly visible under her wet, freckled skin as she labored, her biceps dimpled and straining under her gold slave bracelets, the veins of her forehead standing out under her braided headband.  "Monster!" she gasped.

Lady Freddie sighed and took a sip of champagne.  "I suppose it is difficult to be original when one is undergoing torture, but I believe that's at least the third time you've called me 'monster'.  Do try and think of something different, won't you?"  Lady Freddie took another sip.  "Dreadfully hot in here," she observed.

Jamie said nothing, the battle against the approaching walls and "deadly" spikes taking all her concentration.

Lady Freddie stood, unbuckled her shoulder holster, shrugged out of the harness, and draped it over her chair.  She then began unbuttoning her blouse.  "Dreadfully hot," she repeated, shrugging out of her blouse and tossing it aside.  She was wearing nothing underneath.  Lady Penelope tugged on her chains and mewed through her gag, protesting her immodest twin's indecent display.  Ignoring her sibling, Lady Freddie pulled back on her shoulder holster harness and tightened the sternum strap buckle, causing all the harness' straps to dimple the flesh of her toned, tan, athletic torso.

Jamie sighed, blinking sweat from her eyes, staring at her lover despite her continuing struggle to prevent herself from being branded, skewered, and crushed in the pretend world, and savagely tickled in the real world.  Penny looked amazing in her boots, skintight jodhpurs, leather holster/harness, white (slightly damp) silk scarf around her throat... her tan shoulders, delicate ribs, narrow waist, flat tummy, and pert, pouting breasts glistening with sweat. 'Dreadfully hot', Jamie agreed, silently.

Unaware or coyly ignoring her leering audience, the topless villainess reopened the hamper and produced a fan of woven rattan, a pair of tan kidskin gloves, and... (Jungle Jamie swallowed nervously.) ...a riding crop.  Lady Freddie settled back into her chair, crossed her booted feet atop the closed hamper, lay the crop across her lap, pulled on her gloves, and began delicately fanning herself.  "Now, Savage," Lady Penelope purred, pausing to sip her cool, refreshing champagne, "what else shall we talk about?  Oh, I know, the Legendary Graveyard of the Elephants: millions of tons of prime ivory rotting in the jungle, just waiting for an enterprising person, such as myself, to haul it all back to civilization and become filthy rich.  Where is it?"

Jamie was still losing the battle, the advancing spikes almost touching her freckled, glistening skin... then the force of the advance slackened, and she was able to push the spiked walls several centimeters apart.  "Wh... what... are you... talking about?" she panted.  "I know nothing about any bloody Graveyard of the Elephants... Legendary... or otherwise."

"Well, you better make up some very entertaining lies, and quickly," Lady Freddie gloated, "don't you think?"

Jamie tried to think of a clever comeback, then abandoned the effort when the force of the closing halves of the statue again began to increase.  Attempting to reposition her right arm to gain additional leverage, Jamie's forearm brushed against the tip of one of the glowing spikes.  The struggling, sweating redhead's eyes opened wide and involuntary giggles erupted from her flushed lips.  She lost ground against the advancing spikes, but redoubled her efforts and pushed the walls back again... then the force of closure increased even more!  " Nooo! " Jamie moaned as once again the spikes advanced, despite her best efforts.

"Oh yes!" Lady Freddie cooed, her lips curled in a gloating, sadistic smile.

Jamie grimaced and continued her hopeless struggle.  How long can I keep this up? she wondered, straining against the rumbling stones as the cruel, glowing TIKLER spikes grew ever closer!

---

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Oh the HORROR!
Be BRAVE Jungle Jamie!
Will Lady Freddie REALLY continue to torture her nubile captive???
Will she REALLY make Lady Penelope watch???
Can this truly be...

In a word... yes! ...but Stay Tuned for the NEXT thrilling episode of... COMING (SO TO SPEAK) SOON!