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Story: Cat's Peril - P3

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Literature Text

Copyright (C) 2010 by Kevin L. O'Brien

The robots dragged the girls deeper into the factory, following the lighted path around the defunct machines. Finally they reached a central location within the building, where an elevator shaft was located. The armed robot touched a switch and part of the wall slid open, revealing the inside of a cab. The robots that held them entered, pulling them inside, while the armed robot stayed behind. The door closed and the cab descended. Eile looked for a control panel of some kind, but she couldn't see anything, and she had no idea how deep they were going.

After a handful of seconds, however, the cab came to a stop and the door opened onto a short corridor. Another armed robot stood as if waiting for them, and it immediately turned and headed up the passage. Two regular office doors stood on either side opposite one another, and the hallway terminated at what looked like the door to a restaurant walk-in freezer. The robots forced them to follow the new one, and it went to the far door, opening it and walking inside. They were pushed after it, followed by the their escorts, and the armed one closed the door behind them all.

The room looked like a laboratory of some kind. It was oval-shaped, and divided in half by an armored wall with a vault-like door and an observation window of thick glass. Work benches with equipment, glassware, and various other kinds of scientific objects and supplies sat along the walls on either side of this half of the room, while a control station sat under the window. A man stood in front of it with his back to the door, looking into the isolation chamber beyond. He was nearly as tall as Medb, but with a rail-thin, lanky body; he looked like Alan Alda from behind. He wore a white lab coat that hung past his knees, and his hands were covered with rubber gloves. His head was topped with an unruly mop of short, frizzy, silver-white hair.

The robots brought the girls into the center of the room, but then released then and stepped back. The man did not turn around, and seemed busy conducting some kind of experiment. Eile stepped to one side so that she could see into the chamber, and spotted a cat inside a Plexiglas cage sitting on top of a table. It had electrodes attached to shaved areas of its body, and Eile jolted as she realized it was writhing and screaming as if in agony. To the man's left was a panel that showed the feline's lifesigns, and even she could figure out that they looked distressed.

"Talk!" the man ordered. Eile was surprised at how highly pitched his voice was, something like a countertenor. He turned a dial and the cat's cries and convulsions became worse.

"Comply!" he commanded. There was almost a desperate quality to his voice. "Come on, you can do it!" He turned the dial again. Eile felt sick to her stomach watching the cat suffer. She looked at Sunny. She had gone pale as she stood, trembling slightly, with her mouth open and her eyes bugged out.

"Give me something; anything! Talk to me, and I'll stop!" And he turned the dial again. The cat just gasped now as it collapsed, it's whole body quaking uncontrollably.

Even as Eile considered intervening, the cat gave out one last ear-splitting shriek, jerked its limbs, and then lay still. It readings flat-lined, and Eile understood it was dead. The man leaned forward, bracing himself against the station, as he hung and shook his head.

"Shit," he murmured, "what a waste." Then he straightened up and spoke in a louder voice, "Remove the carcass." A robot appeared from one side, going up to the cage and opening it.

Sunny glanced off towards where it had come from, and visibly started. "Oh, my word!"

Alarmed, Eile came around the other side of her, and saw that the wall on that side of the chamber was covered with cages, most of which contained cats.

The man seemed to realize then that he had visitors. He turned around, and Eile was shocked to see that 'he' was in fact a woman. She was elderly, probably in her mid-fifties. Her hair stuck out all over the place, as if she had just stuck her finger in a light socket. Her lab coat was double-breasted, something Eile had seen only in comics or horror movies, and perched on top of her head were a pair of rubber goggles, but unusually she also wore a lacey, white cravat around her neck that hung down her chest. Her narrow oval face, with its sharp, angular features and dark cream complexion, had a kindly, grandmotherly appearance, but her caramel eyes behind the big, round glasses had a wild look that disturbed Eile.

"Well, what do we have here?" she said. One of the robots that escorted them stepped forward and handed her their purses. "Unexpected guests? What a pleasant surprise. Please, sit down." She indicated the stools that sat next to one set of benches.

Sunny looked at Eile, who shrugged, and they complied. They didn't have much choice, and Eile figured defiance would do no good.

"My name is Dr. Elizabeth Rebecca Mabuse," she continued. "And who would you fine young ladies be?"

"Um," Sunny said in a hesitant manner, "well, I'm Sunny, and this is my partner, Eile."

Eile grimaced; she had visions of throttling Sunny once they got out of there. But if this Mabuse found her introduction unusual or disturbing, she didn't betray it. "Your full names, please."

Sunny glanced at Eile again, a look of trepidation on her face. "I don't think so," Eile replied.

Mabuse did not look at all angry. In fact, she just shrugged her shoulders. "No matter," she said, and she opened the purses, taking out their wallets. Eile cursed her shortsightedness. Their ID's would have everything.

"Hmm. Eile Marelys Chica. 'Other Girl'; interesting name." Eile blinked in surprise; what was that about, she wondered?

Mabuse looked at Sunny's ID, but then her eyes snapped open wider as her head jerked back slightly. "Sonne Aourgen Hiver?" She glanced up at them. "Are you the daughter of Maela Hiver and Oda Gabriella Jaeger?"

Eile felt her stomach clench as she broke out in a sweat. If she was one of their enemies, she and Sunny were in serious trouble.

"Er, . . . ah, no!" Sunny stammered. Eile felt surprised. Sunny had never lied before, at least she never heard her do it. She sometimes wondered if she was capable of it.

Mabuse raised an eyebrow. "You're not a good liar, my dear, but no matter, a DNA test would tell us for sure."

Sunny shot her a panicked look. Eile figured it was too late in any event. "Alright! Yes, she's their daughter. They're in danger, and we're supposed ta keep a low profile."

"I wouldn't call breaking and entering a low profile."

Eile's temper flared. "Hey! We didn't break anything! The friggin' door was open."

Mabuse frowned, but apparently from confusion rather than anger. "Which door?"

"The one by the loading dock," Sunny replied, "that leads into the office."

Mabuse sighed. "The lock on that door never did work right." She stuffed their IDs back into their purses as she added, "Well, no matter. You needn't worry, I bear your parents no ill-will. In fact, you could say we're old acquaintances." She walked over to a bench and put the purses on its top before sitting on a stool.

"Now then, to what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?"

Sunny glanced at Eile, who shrugged. "Go ahead, tell her."

"Okay, um, we found a stray cat this morning, buried in the snow outside our house. We took her to a vet and she found a microchip implanted under her skin. When she scanned it, it gave her this address. So we came here to let her owner know we have her and she's safe."

"Is it a medium-sized cat, slender build, with large triangular ears, blue eyes, and short, yellow-beige fur with reddish brown points and highlights, and white legs?"

"Yes, exactly! Is she yours?"

"Yes, and I'm anxious to get her back. Is she still at the vet?"

"Probably. She said she wanted to keep her for a couple of days."

"Good. That cat is part of a very important research project, and it's vital that you return her immediately."

"What sort of project?" Eile asked, suspicious.

Mabuse fixed her with a pointed stare. "That's none of your concern."

"You're not gonna torture her, are you?!" Sunny squealed.

Mabuse screwed up her face into a look of disgust. "I'm not a sadist. I don't inflict unnecessary pain."

"That cat we saw when we came in looked like she was in agony," Eile countered.

"I said 'unnecessary' pain."

"She's had a hard time," Sunny explained. "She was caught in last night's storm and nearly froze to death. She's still too weak to be part of your study."

Mabuse nodded. "All the better."

Eile felt her temper flare. "Now look here, we're not gonna give her to ya just so you can put her through one of those experiments we saw!"

"Yeah! You'll just hafta continue without her!"

Mabuse's face set into a stony mask. "You really don't have a choice here."

"What's that suppose ta mean?"

"It means, either you deliver the cat to me today, or I'll use the two you in one of my other projects instead. I have several on-going, and some require human subjects."

Eile felt her gut turn to ice. "You wouldn't dare!"

"On the contrary," the mad scientist countered, "I have no empathy for you whatsoever. I see you no differently than I would any other test subject; you're just a different type."

"We've got a friend," Sunny said, "named Mayv. If anything happened to us, she wouldn't rest until she found and barbecued you."

"Medb hErenn?"

Eile's heart sank. "Yeah."

"She and I are old friends. She's been hunting me for years. I see no reason to believe this time she would catch me."

"Aw, cripes." Eile looked at Sunny, who gave her a sad look of defeat. "Okay," she said to Mabuse, "we'll get you yer cat."

"No, not together. Only one of you needs to go, the other will remain here as a hostage. You, Eile, will stay; you, Sunny, have two hours to return with the cat. If you fail, if you take too long, or if you try to get help, especially Medb's, I will use Eile in one of my other projects, a particularly nasty one. Do I make myself clear?"

"But we hafta stay together!" Sunny squeaked, genuinely frightened.

"Then consider that an incentive."

"Look," Eile tried, "we give you our word, we won't try any funny stuff."

But Mabuse shook her head. "Those are my terms; take it or leave it."

Eile sighed. She looked at Sunny and said, "Then you'd better hurry."

Sunny gave her a shocked expression, as if she couldn't believe her ears. "No, I'm not leaving you here!"

"Sunny, listen to me, I'll be all right, as long as yer back on time with the cat. Don't worry about me, just go get it done."

"How do we know we can trust her?" Sunny asked, giving the mad scientist a distrustful glance.

"'Cause she's holdin' all the cards. She'd have nothin' ta gain by breakin' her word."

When Sunny looked uncertain, Eile took her hand. For once, she didn't care that someone was watching. "Sunny, please, I'm dependin' on you. Don't let me down."

Sunny looked up into her eyes, and Eile saw hidden strength behind her own. Her original thought had been just to get Sunny out of there and somewhere safe, but now she realized the scatterbrained ditz might be able to pull it off after all.

Sunny smiled and crinkled her eyes. "Don't worry, partner, I told you I'd take care of you, and I will. You can count on me." And she leaned forward and smooched her on the cheek.

Embarrassed, Eile hissed, "Not in front of the mad scientist!"

Sunny giggled, but she sobered as she stood up. "I'll need my purse."

Mabuse handed her the bag and snapped her fingers. One of the robots strode forward.

"This unit will show you out. Remember, you have two hours, starting now."

Sunny narrowed her eyes at her as the armed robot opened the door. "You just keep your word, or Mayv won't hafta barbecue you." She then followed the robot out, after which the armed robot closed the door again.

Mabuse glanced at Eile. "Your friend seems quite remarkable, and very loyal."

Eile didn't reply, but as frightened as she was, she couldn't help feeling proud as well.
Here is part 3 of The Adventure of the Cats' Peril.

Copyright (C) 2010 by Kevin L. O'Brien
© 2010 - 2024 TeamGirl-Differel
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