DAMSELS UNDER GLASS: THE SERIES
			Naomi's Story — by Doush  Chapter 2

  TESSERACT HEADQUARTERS CAMPUS

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Upon returning from the ladies room, Naomi was a little surprised to find Brie’s office empty.  She paused momentarily in the doorway, half expecting her friend to leap out at her with a loud exclamation.  But there was no one about.   

Sighing quietly, Naomi walked back into the office and resumed her seat in one of the comfortable guest chairs.   

Lunch had been very relaxing.  They had each opted for a light Caesar salad and complemented it with a second glass of the excellent wine.  The conversation had remained light, with no more talk of work until it had been time to settle the bill.  Brie had not only insisted on paying, but on Naomi following her back to Tesseract so she could follow up on the employment possibility as soon as possible.  Naomi had been reluctant, but as Brie had quickly pointed out, why bother going back to work? Why not just give herself the day off? After all, what could they really say when she was about to quit?   

Brie had finally sweetened the deal by saying she’d see to a final couple of things before giving herself the rest of the day off as well.  Then the two of them could hit a couple of mid-week clubs and celebrate together.  

So Naomi had agreed.  And much to her surprise, the trip had already proven worthwhile.  Brie had wasted no time getting the head of Corporate Publicity on the phone and confirming that a position was indeed about to open within that Division.  Naomi had then taken the phone and slipped into “quick sell” mode.  The woman at the other end of the line (a “Ms. Davidson”) had seemed genuinely impressed by her credentials and had organised an interview for early next week.   

Naomi’s elation at that news was fast abating, however, as she was now being forced to wait longer and longer for her friend.   

“C’mon Brie,” she mumbled, “what are you doing?” 

Brie’s computer emitted a single beep.   

Now THAT was unusual.  Brie had repeatedly told Naomi that TESSERACT was very strict with its rules on security.  Only employees from TESSERACT, for example, were permitted access to the company’s computers.  

Naomi stood and walked around Brie’s desk to get a better look at the computer. 
Another rule was that staff were supposed to carry their Access Cards with them everywhere they went.   

Brie’s was still sitting in its activation port.  

Naomi knew she shouldn’t pry.  She knew that her friend had simply ducked out of the office for a minute, trusting in her not to touch anything.  But she also knew that access to the internal workings of Tesseract was at her fingertips.  And TESSERACT was so secretive...  

Her journalistic instincts won out.   

Naomi quickly down sat in Brie’s chair and grabbed the mouse.  A desktop menu instantly popped up.  Naomi’s eyes scanned through it, stopping at one about three quarters of the way down: BIOSPHERE PROJECTS.  

The biosphere.  The most secretive aspect of the entire TESSERACT corporation.  If she could find out went on within the supposedly “environmental” areas of the dome, she’d be the envy of every journalist in Seattle.  She’d already written the most informative piece on the biosphere currently available —thanks to her contact with Brie — but that just wasn’t enough.  Or, more precisely, it wouldn’t be enough if Brie wasn’t her best friend.  Could she really betray her like this?  

One look, she rationalised.  Looking can’t hurt.  And no-one will be the wiser.  

She clicked on the PROJECTS button.   

A window appeared - this one with a number of less obvious icons that were almost all underlined with a red RESTRICTED symbol.  Knowing that it was pointless to even try and access those files, Naomi instead found her eye drawn toward an icon labelled SPHERUS: SANCHEZ.   

She clicked on it.  

A message appeared in a separate window as the hard drive was accessed for the file.  Naomi read it quickly.   

“Brie, Here’s the preliminary on SP-73118 (SPHERUS). Budget and prototype test asked will follow next week (after I get back from Geneva.) Francine.” 

Naomi shut down the message window as the file she had accessed finally appeared on the monitor.   

An involuntary gasp escaped her lips.   

Essentially, she was looking at a 3-D rotating image of high resolution.  It depicted a spherical contraption made almost entirely of what looked to be short steel bars.  The bars formed a hexagonal type pattern, and in turn, it was the hexagons that made up the “surface area” of the sphere.  This pattern was only interrupted by what looked to be a small porthole - one that presumably allowed access to the centre of the sphere, since the image came complete with a sprite “passenger”. What made Naomi gasp, however, was that the passenger was bound into place with leather straps attached to more steel bars protruding inwards from the exoskeleton of the sphere.  The protruding bars at head, chest and upper thigh level ran across the entire diameter of the sphere and provided a base against which the passenger was pressed.  The other four bars, which only extended about a third of that distance, held the bound passenger in a spread X-formation.  In fact, the passenger (who, on closer inspection, actually looked more like a “prisoner”) seemed utterly helpless, as there did not appear to be any controls within his very limited reach.   

But the most ingenious part of the contraption was that it looked as if it rotated like a gyroscope.  As Naomi watched the sphere rotated and turned on the spot, seemingly haphazardly, and in the process providing quite a ride for the passenger.  The little sprite was constantly being pushed and pulled in all different directions, with only his bonds saving him from bouncing round the exoskeleton of the sphere like a pinball.  

In all, to Naomi, the “Spherus” looked a great deal like the gee-force training units she had seen in documentaries on how astronauts prepared for the rigours of space flight.  Only this one had something slightly more sinister to it.  Which may have been what Naomi found so intriguing about it .... 

A thousand questions swirled through her mind.  Was this contraption located within the biosphere?  Was it a plan for something that Tesseract was producing within it’s glass walls? Or more bizarrely perhaps, was it a personal file of Brie’s? But if that was the case, what was it doing within the Biosphere menu?  

The sound of a door swinging closed in the outside corridor interrupted Naomi’s thoughts.  Startled, she quickly closed the Spherus window and leapt out of Brie’s chair.  She darted around the large desk just as her friend came into the office, thoroughly engrossed in some kind of technical report she held before her nose.   

Aware of just how comical it would look to anyone watching, Naomi casually sat down on the edge of the desk as Brie looked up and smiled apologetically.  “Sorry.  I got held up a little.  Hope you can forgive me?” 

“Uhh .... sure.” Naomi hoped her face didn’t look too red.  

“Good.  ‘Cause I thought you’d be pissed at me.” 

“No, not at all.” Naomi smiled as convincingly as possible.  “Can we get going now?” 

“Sure, I was just about to ask if you still wanted to go.” Brie crossed the office, dumped the report on her desk and grabbed her keys and purse.  Then, seemingly as an after thought, she blindly reached across the monitor and snapped it and the hard drive off.   

Naomi had to turn away to hide her sigh of relief.  When she looked back Brie was holding her access card in her hand.  “I swear,” she said thoughtfully, “one day I’m going to lose this completely and Margo will have my head.”  

Naomi tried to laugh along with her friend, but it came out sounding very strained.  

Still giggling quietly, Brie led the way out of the office and Naomi was only too glad to follow.   

She never even suspected that the “fire sprinkler” in the ceiling was actually a hidden camera that had recorded her every move. 

“What do you think?” asked Elke as the two women made their way toward the lifts.  “Should we detain her now?” 

Margo frowned for a moment.  “No, we’ll let them go.” 

“But what if we can’t find her again?”  

“That’s no problem, because I know who she is.” 

“Who?” 

“Eve,” called Margo, “summon Kat, and tell Miss Weber here who our secure files were just breached by.”  

“Yes Margo,” answered Eve’s disembodied  voice.  “Miss Weber, the appearance of the woman in question matches the file I have on Naomi Curtis— senior investigative reporter for INS.”  

Elke sucked in a sharp breath.  “Then why are we letting her go?” 

“Because it’s not like she’s about to tell anyone at a club what she’s seen.  In fact, I’d be surprised if she even told anyone at INS.  She’s had a sniff of a story, but she needs more.  She needs evidence.” 

“I think you’re taking an awful risk,” persisted Elke.   

“I have a feeling,” added another voice from the entrance to Margo’s control room, “that the risk won’t exist for very long..” 

The two women turned to see the leather-clad figure of Margo’s personal bodyguard, Katherine Mayfair.  In short, she was stunning.  Dark brown hair framed an exotically featured face with olive skin and pale green eyes; while her athletically trim, yet muscular body seemed built for physical exertion.  Her skin tight leather pants, vest and boots only added to her overall menacing air.  In fact, most people who met the bodyguard thought her nick-name of Kat was horribly appropriate....  

“Kat’s right,” continued Margo.  “I think we’re going to have to have a quiet word with this reporter.  But we have to pick our moment.  The last thing we want is anyone tracking her back here.  So we’ll wait for her to get home, and then Naomi Curtis will just....disappear.” 

Elke digested this information for a moment or two.  “Alright, but can I ask one thing?” She hurried on, not giving Margo a chance to answer.  “Please don’t send Kat to do the job.”  

Margo frowned, as Kat shot back: “And why the hell not?” 

“Because you have a tendency to be... a little over-zealous.  That’s why.” 

Kat’s eyes narrowed a fraction and she took half a booted step toward Elke.   

“Kat,” warned Margo.  The bodyguard stopped in mid stride.   

“I’m sorry you feel that way Elke, but Kat’s the best qualified for the job.  I wouldn’t trust it to anyone else.” 

“Well at least let me go along to keep things in line.” 

“Can you handle this yourself Kat?”  

“With the proper equipment— and that includes a packing contour— it should be no problem.” As she spoke, Kat’s unflinching gaze never left Elke’s face.   

“Then it’s settled,” finished Margo.  “The fewer people involved the better.  But the other question that remains is what to do with Miss Sanchez.  She’s either a very careless employee who needs to be disciplined or...” 

“Or?” prompted Elke.    

“She has an agenda all of her own.”  

“Well if that’s the case,” said Kat with a savage smile, “allow me to be the first to offer my ‘overly-zealous’ services.” 

Both Margo and Elke had no doubt that Kat was being deadly serious.

Naomi, wearing only a short cream coloured satin slip, awoke to a gloved hand stuffing a large wad of cloth into her mouth.  Still half dazed, she ineffectively tried to slap the hand away, but by the time the time she was coherent enough to note the grinning woman above her, her mouth was full of the cloth and she was being flipped onto her stomach.  Naomi fought as best she could, but the woman attacking her had all the advantages— surprise, the superior position and a seemingly inexhaustible supply of strength.  Within sixty seconds, Naomi’s hands were bound behind her with some kind of leather strap and the woman was busy tying a thick cloth in between her teeth, securely gagging her.    

“Now sit still and be quiet,” hissed the woman.  “It’ll be a hell of a lot easier on us both.”  

Naomi grunted indignantly, but was powerless to do much more than kick her legs out blindly as her elbows were lashed together with another strap.  That job completed, the woman quickly went to work on Naomi’s ankles and lower thighs.    

“Alright, now comes the hard part.  We’re moving into your living room.  Just be calm and nothing bad will happen to you.  Nod if you understand.” 

Reluctantly, Naomi did so.    

“Good.” The woman leant forward, and with one arm supporting Naomi’s rump, she lifted the bound and gagged woman into her arms.   

Once in her living room, Naomi was gently placed on the floor beside a large, metal box that sported some kind of oxygen tank on either side of it.  A set of small wheels raised it slightly off the ground.  A horrible possibility entered Naomi’s mind...

The woman, evidently reading her thoughts, flashed her a large grin.  “That’s right.  That box is you method of transport this evening.  I hope you approve.”   

Naomi protested into her gag as loudly as she could, but the woman paid her muffled wails no attention.  Instead, she drew a small knife from a pouch on her belt and proceeded to cut Naomi’s slip away.  Barely slowing, she then took a number of larger straps out of the box and proceeded to secure the naked Naomi into a compact ball.  One strap was tightened around the back of her neck and upper legs, forcing her head down toward her knees; while a second was looped around her entire body - from ankles to her exposed upper back.  A final strap connected her bound wrists to her strapped ankles in a tight hogtie.    

Naomi was lifted again by the leather clad woman and placed within the box on some type of plastic drop sheet.  At least, that was what Naomi assumed it was before the woman began pulling it up over her and she saw the zipper running along its length.    

“Ummmph! Uuummmmmmmph!” 

“Shhhh,” said the woman, putting a gloved finger to her lips.  “This is what we call a packing contour.  Basically, I’m going to seal you up inside this bag and then the box is going to fill with a gel that solidifies at room temperature.  Gel stored in these tanks on the side of the box.  Don’t worry though, you’ll be able to breathe through this.” The woman produced a gas mask attached to a small oxygen tank and quickly snapped the mask’s elastic band into place over Naomi’s head.   

“There! Now let’s get you sealed up and out of here quickly, since there are a few people eagerly awaiting your arrival.” 

Completely powerless to fight back, Naomi could only watch in enforced silence as the bag was pulled over her head, the zipper was tugged shut and the lid to the box was replaced, plunging her into darkness.   

She felt the box being pushed along for a short distance (presumably to whatever transport awaited her) before being lifted and set down on a hard surface.    

To her credit, Naomi didn’t actually begin to panic until she felt the gel flooding the box around her.  But within minutes even that luxury was denied her as, true to the mysterious woman’s words, the gel set into a solid substance around her bound form.

“Margo, Kat’s van has just entered the grounds.” 

“Thank you Eve.  Instruct Kat to bring Miss Curtis to join us in Loading Bay Three.”    

“Certainly.” 

Margo turned to the securely bound and gagged woman beside her.  “Shall we go Brie? We wouldn’t want to keep Naomi waiting as she’s more than likely stressed enough as it is.”  

Brie’s only reply was to lower her eyes and nod demurely.   

“Excellent.” Margo gestured expansively.  “After you.” 

Hobbling in her leg irons, Brie moved over to the only bare wall in Margo’s office.  Abruptly the wall broke in two and swung inwards, revealing a flawlessly white corridor.  The gagged beauty glanced over her shoulder at Margo— who nodded meaningfully—and then led the way into the biosphere.