When Cass met Sally

<snip>
Once she was alone, Cass held whatever it was that she had been given up to the
light; there was nothing there, but at the same time, there was something - she
could feel it!
All she had to do was figure out what the hell it was
</snip>
All things considered, it didn't take her too long.
The object was about twenty centimetres long, tapering towards one end, and with
one button, just right for the thumb, mounted above what felt like a screwdriver
style hand grip. When Cass thumbed this, a melodic, warbling buzz was audible,
but little else in the way of observable phenomena was evident; no brightly
glowing blue lights, no wormholes, and nothing exploding. Just the noise.
Frowning at the mimed nothingness held in her hand, Cass was briefly tempted to
just toss it away, but common sense prevailed when she grudgingly acknowledged
to herself that she would only have to spend an embarrassing half hour combing
her cell looking for the thing again if she did
Gingerly at first, and then with increasing confidence once she found that it
didn't actually hurt, Cass waved the device over her prison jumpsuit, blowing
tracking transponders out one after another; each popping with a small
electrical discharge and a whiff of smoke
"Hmm, how about that?" she murmured, idly waved the thing around her control
collar and thumbing the button.
The devices' warbling hum filled the air again and the collar clicked open and
slid to the floor with a clatter
"Gets better and better" Cass muttered, aiming a swift kick at the collar,
sending it spinning across the floor and ricocheting off a wall, before she
flicked the device on again
"How about ...this?" she waved the device vaguely at the cell door.
Nothing happened at first, then to her moderate surprise, and immediate
suspicion, the doors' locking bolts thudded back into their housings, and the
door slowly swung open a few centimetres, panicking Cass into shooting backwards
onto the cells bed, trying to look nonchalant on the off-chance that any guards
were about to come storming in.
A couple of tense moments crawled past before Cass finally plucked up courage
enough to steal across the cell and pull the heavy door open a fraction more to
peek through from behind the gap into the tunnel outside
Curiously, everything seemed quiet, so crouching down, she worried the door open
enough to poke her head out into the corridor for a quick look around
Nothing.
There was nothing outside; no guards, no force fields, no heavily armed HK death
'bots, no steel bars, and thankfully no Cassandra. Save for the occasional drip
of condensing moisture, the long corridor that the cell was located towards the
end of, was eerily silent
Cass pulled her head back out of view, and crouched back behind the door
This was all a bit suspicious
Cassandra was undoubtedly behind this, she realised. If the woman was anything
at all like her, nothing would have been left to chance, and this, whatever
'this' was, was likely a part of a meticulously plotted stratagem of some sort
As far as she could determine, there were two choices open to her here, either:
remain and await whatever fate rewarded compliant diffidence, or seize this
opportunity, and make something of it.
Cass chewed her bottom lip, weighing things up. She knew she was being
manipulated, but to simply remain here, when by her own initiative she might
make something of whatever Cassandra had planned for her was illogical; there
wasn't really an option: she had to do it.
Sighing Cass pocketed the Mime tool, and pulled the door open to slip gingerly
out into the tunnel, hugging the wall as she made her way down towards the dimly
lit intersection in the distance.
Once there, she found the juncture was as quiet as the tunnel she had just
walked down, and for wont of a better direction to head it, she took a left,
heading away from the lift cluster to move deeper into the subterranean
catacombs, and walking ever more easily when at each turn she saw nothing in the
way of Mimes, or prison security apparatus
The heat was the single most noticeable thing about the tunnels, which were hot
enough to force Cass to shrug her way out of the top half of her jumpsuit and
tie the arms around her waist in an effort to try and stay a little cooler,
thankful that she wasn't with any of the multitude of more lecherous
crewmembers, although to be honest the prison issue bra was probably only going
to set Pancakes world alight.
Other than the almost unbearable heat, the tunnels, while seemingly old, were
unremarkable enough; little more than large maintenance tunnels for the most
part, punctuated by the occasional large, empty cavern, serving some unknown,
long forgotten purpose
After she had wandered for perhaps about forty five sweaty minutes, Cass had
methodically tracked her way around the tunnels in the immediate vicinity of her
cell, and had seen little that could be classed as interesting, and even less
that offered any possibility of being put to use to help with her current
situation, when a sibilant hiss from behind her made her start, hairs prickling
on her neck, and immediately making her wish that she was still escorted by a
heavily armed robot and a few Mime heavies.
Standing stock still, she raised her hands before slowly turning to face a group
of perhaps nine or ten of the Lizardmen, who were brandishing an array of
improvised weapons: From a wickedly sharp fractal machete to a more utilitarian
frying pan taped onto to a length of pipe
The Lizardmen collectively hissed, waving their weapons menacingly
"Aw, sme..." she managed before her world exploded in pain, and she stumbled
forward, clutching the back of her head, vision swimming hazily as her
consciousness slipped away
"up!"
...
"Damn it! Wake the smeg up!"
'Whurg?'
"Hey, you!"
'Huh...?'
"For smeg's sake woman, wake up!"
Someone kicked Cass' upper arm, jolting her fully into consciousness; she
flicked her eyes open, unfamiliar surroundings swimming into focus
"Ohhhhhh..." she coughed, feeling a wave of nausea wash over her, and rolled
over, trying to move her hands to hold her painfully throbbing head, only to
find they were bound behind her back and secured in place to a belt of some
sort
"Oh, thank smeg for that! You've got to help me - us!"
"Urgh" Cass worked her jaw, looking around the small chamber, festooned with
danger and warning signs of one sort and another, that she appeared to be
imprisoned in "What? Where am I?"
"I think it's an old vent system access chamber"
Cass blinked. That didn't help. She turned to look towards the owner of the
voice: a slim dishevelled looking blonde woman in her twenties with a dirty
face, who was dressed in prison overalls, and sat, chained to the wall, secured
in place by metal bands around her neck and waist, her wrists clamped in irons
and secured to the wall just above her head
"Where are we?" Cass licked her lips, fighting back the urge to vomit "What are
we doing here?"
"It's the smegging Lizardmen" the woman gabbled "They're the reason nobody ever
comes back from the expeditions"
"Oh, right. You didn't answer either of my questions, you know..." Cass grunted,
struggling up on the painful metal grille on the floor into a sitting position,
and out of the woman's kicking range, ruefully rolling her bruised shoulder
"We need to get out of here fast. They're going to sacrifice us to their god.
Dyzan, I think it said it was called"
"Uhm, ok, you're worrying me, but you're still not making things any clearer..."
The woman stopped and blew out a breath
"Ok, ok, I'm sorry; it's just that we haven't much time. I'm Sally" she paused
to scowl "the escape committees currently designated victim"
"I was forced down here by Le Souteneur and the rest of the committee to scout
the area out, with the idea of reporting back once I'd found an escape route or
anything interesting" she continued "but I was ambushed by those Lizardmen;
turns out that they worship the prison complexes geothermal power management
system, and that it's been telling them to make sacrifices of any Humans who
venture down here. I've spoken to the thing, and believe me when I say that it's
smegging insane"
"Whoa" Cass breathed in surprise
"Yeah: Whoa" Sally chuckled humourlessly "At least now we know why it's so hot
down here and the solitary cells are unguarded"
"Smegging hell" Cass muttered, frowning at the implications
"Oh yeah; here's the kicker though: The next sacrifice is going ahead in about
twenty minutes, and there's no prizes for guessing who the guests of honour are.
We're going to die in here when the geothermal system builds enough steam to
blow back the vent system, so for smegs sake please tell me that you can get us
out of here!"
"Now I'm really not happy. Maybe... this..." Cass strained, trying hard to work
her bound hands around her back to the hip pocket that she had dropped the Mime
tool into, but failing miserably
"Aw, come on" she spat, twisting violently, trying to reach her pocket once
more, yet still failing - her hands prevented from moving more than a few
centimetres by the thick belt her bonds were anchored to
"You've actually got something there to help?" Sally asked keenly
"Yeah" Cass grunted, twisting unsuccessfully again "I dunno what it is; seems to
be a key of some sort. Helped me get out of solitary"
"Smegging brilliant!" Sally grinned in panicky relief "Want a hand getting it
out?"
"Sure" Cass said slowly. She didn't exactly trust Sally, but given that her life
expectancy was apparently numbered in minutes, she figured she didn't have much
in the way of a choice given the current circumstances
"Ok, c'mere..."
Cass struggled up onto her feet, and stumbled unsteadily over towards Sally
"How do you want to do this?" she asked, standing over where the other woman was
sat
"I guess you'll want me to try and get to it with my ...hands?"
"I know, I know. It's just going to be ...awkward" Cass sighed "It's in this
pocket"
She moved to stand astride Sally, trying to manoeuvre her hip pocket within
reach of where the other woman's hands had been secured to the wall
"Mmm. Can't quite reach" Sally groaned, fingers scrabbling at Cass' overalls "I
can feel it, but can't get at it. Can you get in any closer?"
"As long as you don't mind me trying to..." Cass grunted, bracing herself
against the wall and moving her hips in as close as she could
"Nearly got it!" Sally gasped, her voice muffled by Cass' proximity as she
worked her fingers into Cass' pocket
"Pleased to smegging hear it. This is getting somewhat intimate..."
"Probably not a good time to mention that I'm gay, huh?"
Cass stiffened, suddenly and very acutely aware of where Sally's face was
"Joke. Joke. Sheesh, some people have no sense of humour. Don't move though; not
only am I enjoying every moment of this, I've nearly got my hands on your
thingy"
Cass rolled her eyes, trying hard not to press herself up against Sally any more
than absolutely necessary
"You've a great body, by the way. Do you work out?"
"I thought you were joking!?" Cass snarled
"Got it!"
"Thank smeg for that" Cass gasped, pulling away, and turning to present her
bound hands "Just press the button and wait for the buzzing noise"
"Snork..."
It didn't take long before they were both free and Cass began working on the
chamber door, acutely aware of the distant rumbling slowly building beneath
their feet
"Any idea where we go from here on?" she asked for wont of conversation to take
her mind off the idea that the Mime tool might not work this time
"Nope. None." Sally replied flexing her back and, trying to rub some circulation
back into her arms "I was ambushed and brought here unconscious the same as you
were; the critters seem to have figured out how to handle us"
The doors locking bolts finally thudded back into their housings after what
seemed like an age
"Yes! It worked!" Cass cheered, her smile of triumph instantly fading as the
door hissed open, revealing a large, ancient looking control room filled with
massed ranks of Lizardmen kowtowing in obeisance in front of them
Several of the big Lizardmen at the front looked up at the sound of the door
opening and hissed warnings to their compatriots, baring rows of vicious looking
teeth
"Smeg's sake... Why's nothing ever easy?" Cass moaned backing away from the
door, and wondering if the Mime tool had a reverse setting that closed doors;
another setting to stop you being killed by superheated steam might be nice as
well...
"Easy!" Sally hissed above a wet crunching sound
Incredulously Cass turned with a sarcastic comment, only to gasp in shock as a
large insectile leg smacked down next to her, followed by what seemed like
dozens of others as the Hymenoptera/Sally whipped through the door,
disembowelling the five lead Lizardmen with frightening speed and filling the
air with blood and inhuman screams
More of the Lizardmen fell to Sally in the following seconds before they
panicked and fell back to leave Sally standing amidst their dead and shrieking
dying as Cass, feeling ever so slightly nauseous, walked out of the vent access
chamber and glanced around, noting several banks of dusty and ancient looking
control panels
"Fleshbags! Die will you!" a rich, sonorous voice boomed from a set of speakers
mounted in the ceiling above them "Not destroy all mine!"
"Yeah, yeah" Cass muttered glancing around the room and, having spotted the
master control panel, immediately began making her way over towards it
"Creations will drink you!"
"Ha! Sounds nasty" Cass sneered, walking over towards the master controls "What,
are you? One of the old S-36's? Flaky as smeg the lot of you. Granted, you've
not done badly for a self-emergent intelligence, but frankly I'm not in the mood
for your crap"
"Told you it was mad" Sally hissed, weaving her way through the bodies littering
the ground and permanently silencing those that still lived
"You touch one thing. I destroy all fleshbags. All! All!" the machine boomed in
an apparent moment of clarity
"Strangely enough, that's just what I was planning on doing" Cass murmured,
pushing buttons seemingly at random and squinting up at the schematic diagrams
that flickered to life on dusty monitors "Perfect..."
Waving the Mime screwdriver, or whatever the thing was, over the control panel,
Cass popped the protective cover over a large red button open
"Don't take this personally" she began "I've no argument with you, but you got
in my way"
"NO! Fool y*" the voice ended abruptly as Cass slapped the emergency shutdown
button, killing the machine
"Hey! We need to get out of here!" she shouted over to Sally who was nervously
eyeing the crowds of Lizardmen massing in the darkened tunnels beyond the
control room
"No shit!?" Sally hissed "These are about to rush us"
"Back into the chamber!" Cass began moving towards the vent access door
A woman's voice echoed throughout the entire prison complex
"Fifteen minutes to caldera detonation"
Even through her chitinous exoskeleton Sally looked visibly shocked
"Are you smegging mad!? What have you done!?" she hissed
"I'll explain later the lights are about to..."
Force fields failed and everything momentarily went black over the entire prison
complex before emergency lighting flickered to life, casting the complex in a
hellish red light
The Lizardmen shrieked and charged
<tbc/>
<ooc>
The prison complex is largely without power, and if you haven't made it out
already, you've fifteen minutes to get out before the geothermal power plant
goes volcanic
Happy new year! :)
</ooc>