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Post by steve on Nov 28, 2012 19:07:46 GMT -6
PART #0106
Each moment was excruciating, having to walk with this red energy ring around my neck, not knowing if my experiment had worked. I walked past the cells, glancing briefly at the other captors in their cells. Some milled about in their cells. Other captors looked as though they were asleep. Some looked back at me. Some ran smack into their transparent blue walls with the full intent to, somehow, break through and seemingly attack me for reasons known only to them. The harder that they collided with the transparent blue wall, the louder the "Poonk!" sound was, reminding me of an overly large fly defying the laws of reality and smacking into a pane glass window at full force.
The wavy energy field came next. The all-in-one energy field - Part cafeteria, part bathroom, part shower, part weight room.
Next came the lasers that swept over you from every angle. Part doctor's office, perhaps? Who knows? I didn't.
What I wouldn't receive was a shave and a haircut. Or communication. Or clothes. Entertainment. Respect. Dignity... Well, just about anything that made humans civil.
Eventually, I was walked back to my cell. I had long ago stopped covering up my genitals - None of the other "designer humans" or humanoids or whatever they were seemed to care. I didn't seem to care anymore, either.
All I cared about was whether my experiment worked. If it worked... Well, that would be huge for escaping. Very huge.
As I got closer to my cell, my eyes widened and I couldn't hold back an ever-widening smile. I even let out a brief laugh, in spite of myself.
Sure enough, there it was - My bed, still stuck on it's side, length-wise, with the blue transparent energy wall seemingly have gone around it.
The first part of my planned escape seemed feasible - Now it was time to test the second part.
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Post by steve on Nov 29, 2012 19:36:06 GMT -6
PART #0107
Pulling the oval bed out of the transparent blue energy wall seemed effortless. It was a weird feeling to pull a solid object from another solid object as though you were pulling a solid object out of a liquid. It was like pulling a bar of soap out of a block of ice but the ice acting as though it were water. Once pulled out, though, the wall treated the bed the same as my own body - As though it were a solid wall, no less solid like the wall in an ordinary home.
The oval bed, having been "in" the transparent blue energy wall, appeared no worse for wear. The wall didn't indent or otherwise damage the bed; Any damage or wear on the bed had been as a result of my own prior use.
Now came the hard part - Creating a hole through the bed in the middle of the bed, essentially making a "hoop."
Remember those crazy long claws that I had when I initially woke up from the gel chamber? Yeah, I didn't have those but I had been incarcerated long enough to have fingernails again. Not "chick-length" fingernails, to be certain, but fingernails long enough to be useful... Useful to, say, claw away at a certain object... Which I did.
When you've got the time and the motivation, you can accomplish anything. To say that I was a captive audience was an understatement; The only form of entertainment was to watch humanoids get dragged past my cell in the same red energy neck ring that also collared me. No offense but I was through with that part of my life.
Tearing at the bed to create a hole in the center was proving more difficult then I thought. I had to be careful not to rip into the side of the bed; The bed, I surmised, had to remain one solid object... Like a doughnut - A hole in the middle but unbroken all around that.
I kept one eye on the humanoids being dragged past my cell and another on the task at hand. If I was fast, perhaps I could even rip a large enough hole in the bed to make my escape during the next collaring but that was doubtful. I would rather take the time to do a good job then go quickly and make a costly mistake. After all, who knew if I would ever get another bed? Maybe this bed was all that they gave you and if you maligned it... Tough luck. Enjoy sleeping on the floor.
I began to wonder what was beyond the cells. Hopefully, soon, I would find out.
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Post by kaijafon on Nov 29, 2012 20:23:00 GMT -6
what a clever idea! I did not realize just how he stuck the bed in the doorway until now. thanks!
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Post by hardtrailz on Nov 30, 2012 9:57:37 GMT -6
Great Story!
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Post by steve on Nov 30, 2012 19:25:35 GMT -6
PART #0108
Each tear in the bed was measured and slow. I had to be careful. The hole in the middle of the bed had to be large enough for myself to slip through comfortably without endangering the bed's outer rim. The blue transparent energy wall offered no resistance towards the bed being pushed out of or pulled from it. Therefore, the hole had to be large enough to slip through without any significant resistance. Who knows what would happen if the bed slipped out from the wall while I was passing through it? Maybe nothing would happen but I wasn't going to take that chance.
What was I going to do with the shredded portions of the bed? I had no idea. Maybe whomever was running this place would stop me from totally destroying the bed. Maybe they wouldn't. I had been in this 'prison' for what felt like weeks now and hadn't seen a single authority figure the entire time. No holographic heads to look at. No voices to speak with or listen to.
I began to wonder what I would do if I really did escape from my cell. Where would I escape to? My world was gone. Annihilated. In it's place were a bunch of aliens trying to piecemeal human society back together again from the bits of antiquated junk that survived whatever they had accidentally done to the planet.
Any place, though, was better then this place. Even back in the forest fighting those things... Those "ferals"... Would be better then this place. At least, in the forest, I would be free. Free to die, free to starve, free to experience dehydration and malnutrition... Sure, all of that. I would, though, be free.
I wasn't quick enough. I saw the latest humanoid being dragged past in front of my cell and knew that my turn was next to be collared by the red energy neck band. The bed had a hole in it - Just large enough to put an arm through and only an arm.
In defeat, though, there was opportunity. The hole was still, at the end of the day, a hole - Placing the bed back "into" the transparent blue energy wall would be an interesting experiment to see if the hole remained just that - A hole to pass through or if the blue energy wall would find a way to block that as well. After all, what point was there in destroying a "bed" if the plan didn't work?
I dragged the bed towards the wall, getting ready to be collared.
If I had been nervous before my last walk, I was even more so now for this one.
Now, I would learn if my escape would be possible at all.
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Post by steve on Dec 1, 2012 9:10:56 GMT -6
PART #0109
Let me tell you something - I can understand now why prisoners in solitary confinement go insane. Look, I can't speak for prison guards or prison officials and why they do the things that they do. However, I can tell you that being locked up with absolutely nothing to do, no one to talk to, no outlet at all gives you every reason to go batty. If what I experienced was what they also call "Cabin Fever," then count me out for ever taking a vacation in a secluded anywhere ever again because I don't want that.
Solitary confinement is counter-productive, that's all. All of your energies are focused on one objective - Escape. Escape is the only thought running through your mind. It's like when you're starving and all you can think about is food and how to get food and, once you get food, how you can get more food. Well, in this case, it's when you have no freedoms and all you can think about is freedom and how to get freedom and, once you get freedom, how you can remain as free as possible.
The red energy neck ring dragged me through the usual route. I had walked the route so many times that I could probably sleepwalk the route without skipping a beat. I didn't even bother looking at the other inmates at this point. What was there to see? Humanoids of various shapes, colors, sizes... I had looked at them all before, I already knew what they looked like.
I made the trip through the wavy field and then was scanned by the lasers. I didn't say a word. I made a passing attempt to look around - Were there any passages that I weren't being taken through? Anything beyond the wavy field and the scanning lasers? The red energy neck ring didn't afford me much opportunity to look around.
When I got back to my cell, I was stunned - The bed was still there, right where I had left it, right in the transparent blue wall.
The wall surrounded the bed and the bed surrounded a hole... A hole with no wall. The plan worked. It really worked. After the ring released me and disappeared, I hurried back towards the bed. Cautiously, I slowly placed my arm through the hole in the bed while it was still being divided by the wall.
I was reaching outside the transparent blue wall for the first time. I couldn't help but laugh and laugh loud.
Quickly, I pulled the bed back out of the wall. I was grinning ear from ear as I began ripping more pieces from the bed to make the hole in the bed larger.
The next time I was going to be collared was going to be the last time.
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Post by steve on Dec 2, 2012 12:40:03 GMT -6
PART #0110
How do you sleep on the night before your escape? Perhaps that's a loaded question. I knew that I was not going to "escape" in the classic sense of that word. There was nothing to escape "to" - For all I knew, I was on a space station somewhere or on some alien world where the atmosphere would kill me instantly the moment I stepped out onto the landscape... If there was even an atmosphere at all.
How do you sleep on the night when your bed has been made into a glorified oval hoop? On all of the stuff that you ripped out of your 'bed' during the days prior. Trust me, sleeping on this shredded foam plastic-y stuff while in the buff does not make for a pleasant sleeping experience. At all.
I woke up to discover that I had plenty of time to spare before I would be collared. I kept the bed with me the entire time, anyway, staying near but not right up against the transparent blue energy wall.
What if I had ripped too much out of the bed? What if, just like a solid object, the wall "crushed" the now somewhat fragile 'hoop bed' when I placed where the wall would re-materialize? What if...? Those questions drove me nuts as each humanoid was paraded past my cell in the usual order. By now, I had memorized the order to the point of exhaustion. "Green guy" went regularly three times per "day" (my 'day,' being the time between I was collared); "Goliath" roughly five times for every three of my days. "Long Arms" went five times in a row, then waited for three days, initially skewing the order and making the whole sequence appear more random then it really was.
Finally, it was my turn. I stood up with shaky legs, hoop bed gripped with shaky hands. The red energy neck band encompassed my neck just below a jaw I tried hard to keep from chattering.
I placed the hoop bed where the wall would re-materialize and then set off for my usual walk. Through the wavy transparent field. Through the laser beams.
And there it was when I returned - The hoop bed, inside the transparent blue wall, effectively creating a hole large enough to crawl through without so much as breaking a sweat. A man fifty pounds heavier then myself could probably crawl through with little difficulty, never mind myself.
I waited for the red energy neck band to walk me to the center of my cell. I waited for the transparent blue energy wall to reappear. I waited for that cursed band to disappear from around my neck.
And then I waited no more.
Slipping through the hoop slowly but effortlessly, I stood up in the large, wide hallway outside of my cell and outside of that blue energy wall without a red energy band around my neck.
It was time to explore.
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Post by nancy1340 on Dec 2, 2012 18:42:13 GMT -6
Now we get some action. Right?
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Post by steve on Dec 3, 2012 19:31:44 GMT -6
PART #0111
The place was big. Far bigger then I had imagined.
Remember that warehouse area, the 'archives' as it was called? Well, this place felt just as grotesquely huge and infinitely more confusing. There were rows and columns of cells everywhere, crisscrossing each other like a city's street grid. There were no signs to point you anywhere. What cell had I escaped from? It didn't have a designation of any kind, at least one that I could see.
Each section of cells, groups of sections of rows and columns, had it's own wavy field and lasers. As I had noticed before, the paths worn down by foot traffic (and, in some cases, mysterious stains that could stay mysterious to me all they wanted) gave you an idea of which area had which facilities to walk through.
I was surprised that so few "inmates" actually stared back or even reacted to seeing someone like myself roam freely amongst the hallways. One curious observation that I made during my initial explorations was that inmates were not grouped by outward appearance - You had just as much a chance being placed in a cell next to a large, barely humanoid figure as you would next to a more normal-sized very humanoid figure. Once would have thought that inmates would have been organized by size, gender or age... Color or intellect... That, though, did not appear to be the case.
The ability to freely observe meant spying another curious observation - The work of the red energy neck bands. I had realized early on that the bands were entirely automated - Had they not been so, I dare say that I would have been caught only moments after my escape. Instead, the bands seemed to appear and disappear if by programmed design only.
I never tempted fate too severely, though - I never walked in the same row or column where an inmate was being walked. Nor was I tempted to walk into the occasional empty cell, transparent blue energy wall nowhere to be seen. The last thing I needed was to walk into one such cell only for the wall to re-appear, trapping me inside.
With such an expansive layout of the prison, I thought it best to mark my progress as to not get lost. That, though, meant taking a very large risk that I understandably didn't want to make.
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Post by steve on Dec 4, 2012 20:05:35 GMT -6
PART #0112
The idea was to escape and... I don't know. I wasn't very experienced at escaping. I guess that was why inmates were always quickly recaptured, because while they were very detailed in how to escape, they weren't very effective in staying escaped.
Wherever I had been kept, the place was huge. Larger then the "archives" where they had stored all of those somewhat ruined buildings. Rows and columns of cell blocks as far as the eye could see and beyond. Exploring a few rows or a few columns away from my cell was easy but exploring any further using a combination of columns or rows and one could easily become confused in this maze of virtually identical hallways.
I needed a mapping system of some kind. Any kind.
The only system that I could think of was one of the oldest. It involved bread crumbs and I didn't have bread crumbs.
OK, let me stop you right there - No, I am not using my own snot again. It was gross the first time and it's just as gross now. Besides, it's hard to see snot unless it is large and I needed something that I could see from a distance.
I did have the torn remnants of the bed, though. A lot of it.
The problem was that those remnants were back in my cell... The one I had just escaped from. The one I had no intention of being re-captured in.
Getting lost in this maze of seemingly endless rows and columns of prison cells was not the better alternative towards escaping the entire facility. I took a chance. I went back to my former cell to retrieve the torn remnants of my bed.
It felt odd watching, from outside my cell, humanoids being dragged by the red neck energy band. I kept thinking that, somehow, such a band would "spot" me and I would again be quickly recaptured. Yet the bands performed their work systematically without ever slowing down, dragging their captors along.
As long as one of the captors from my cell block was the one being dragged, I could enter my former cell in confidence to grab the chunks of torn bed debris. Throwing them through the hoop before crawling out myself, I made a few trips into my cell and amassed a considerable pile of such debris before I left the area for good.
I considered grabbing the hoop when I was done with my cell. Should I throw it into the cell, at least temporarily obscuring my escape? Should I leave it there, sitting "in" the blue transparent energy wall as an option to crawl back in? I decided to simply leave the hoop there, figuring that I may need to retreat to my cell and hoping that I would never witness what reason would ever compel me to do so.
With my "bread crumbs" in tow, I set about exploring as much of the facility as I possibly could. I hoped that I would not have to explore much before finding a promising "exit" - Whatever that may possibly be...
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Post by hardtrailz on Dec 5, 2012 12:38:32 GMT -6
Well Done!
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Post by patience on Dec 5, 2012 19:16:11 GMT -6
Hmmm. How do we get him outa there?
I hope he finds the "Control Room" where those holographic heads come from. Somebody needs to throw a monkey wrnech in the works around there.
Just as well screw their workin's if he can, since the characters in charge are afflicted with congenital stupidity and are making a mess of things. Can't FIX stupid, but they can probably be "trained" to leave him the heck alone. They have this superiority complex, too, that is really offensive,so somebody needs to give 'em an atittude adjustment. Like, with a crowbar, or something.
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Post by steve on Dec 5, 2012 19:35:31 GMT -6
PART #0113
The place was huge but it didn't go on forever.
I decided to walk in one direction for as long as I could. For some strange reason, I felt alone in such a large facility when I normally should have felt fear. The place was so automated that a single lone speck, such as myself, when it didn't interfere with the ebb and flow of the various routines, was practically invisible. The result was simple - Complete and total anonymity despite a myriad of inmates being dragged to and fro by those red energy neck bands.
A closer examination of the facility led me to realize that cells were grouped together in sections. Each section had it's own "wavy field" and lasers to walk through. A cell block had four sides of eight cells each and each section had twenty four cell blocks with the middle "cell" being where the wavy field and lasers were.
The entire facility, I estimated, was sixteen sections to a side. Finding one definitive wall to the facility raised my spirits, giving hope that, on one such wall would be a door or something definitive that would allow me to escape.
Following the wall eventually led to a corner that felt like forever to walk towards. The drabness of the entire facility was eerie - Walls were completely blank of markings, intentional or otherwise.
Looking into the cells that I walked past became an afterthought. What was once a novel visual to see humanoids with weird attributes of one variety or another merely blurred into a needless distraction. Some humanoids didn't look at you while others did. Some ran up to their transparent blue energy wall and others didn't. Some made an attempt to knock down their energy wall while others didn't.
I was so zoned out by the needless distraction of humanoids reacting to my presence that I didn't even bother to hear one knocking rather hard against their energy wall. It wasn't until I heard an actual word uttered towards me that my stride broke and I turned back to see who or what uttered it.
"Oola?" I stuttered with a mix of horror and amazement, "What are you doing here?"
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Post by kaijafon on Dec 5, 2012 20:06:48 GMT -6
oh no! Oola too! thanks!!
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Post by patience on Dec 5, 2012 21:59:28 GMT -6
Gotta get that girl outa there! I'm betting she knows a lot about the place.
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Post by steve on Dec 6, 2012 19:26:53 GMT -6
PART #0114
I couldn't believe it.
There she was, in a cell like virtually every other cell in this entire place. Admittedly, her "bed" was a little different - The blue transparent energy wall that separated us obscured the color of the bed but my guess was that it was a really dark color, more rectangular in nature and much larger then my own bed.
"What are you doing out there?!" Oola exclaimed, pressing right up against the wall, "Where is your collar?"
"Coll...?" I began to ask, sputtering with confusion until I could think clearly, "What... What are you doing in there?! Are you hurt? Did they hurt you?"
"They said I was contaminated," Oola said, "You contaminated me with your falsehoods and... And... Because I was near you..."
Confusion began turning to anger. It must have started to show on my face as Oola continued to speak.
"Who said you were contaminated?" I asked a bit forcefully, "Was it the Zekopors? Did they say that you were contaminated?"
"They..." Oola began to speak, and the tone of her voice caused me to look up at her. She looked sad. For the first time, I had seen her sad. Sadness in paradise. Sadness in this far-flung, futuristic utopia.
"They..." Oola continued, poorly masking her sorrow, "They said that you were illegally made, an illegal human... Maybe even an illegal alien."
"An illegal alien?" I spat back, barely able to hold back a simmering rage, "That's what they called me? An illegal alien?"
"I..." Oola tried to continue, now beginning to slightly weep, "I tried to convince them to give you another chance. You know, to prove that you were really who you said you were."
I began looking around the area for no other reason than to avoid looking at Oola. I was getting too upset, too angry... Everything was starting to make me feel angry for a reason that I couldn't quite fathom.
"And what did they say?" I asked, trying to extinguish the anger out of my voice, "What did they say when you asked them to give me another chance?"
"They said..." Oola tried to say but now I could clearly hear her emotions overcome her, her face already contorting with sorrow, "They said that I did not know what I was talking about, that... That... That I had been corrupted and this was what happens when they..."
She was sobbing now. Outright sobbing. I couldn't help but look as she crumpled to the ground, down to a sitting position but curling up as much as she could, trying to face away from me.
"I am just a reject," She confessed between sobs, "A genetic reject. I can not be taught anything. Not taught to speak well. Not taught history. Not bred well."
"Is that what they said?" I asked, not realizing tears were beginning to roll down my cheeks as well, "Did they say those things to you?"
She sobbed for a moment before sputtering, "They... They had wanted to prove that humans could be bred to be smart... To think on their own... That... That we could be... Just like them."
"We are smart," I uttered, nodding my head, "But we're not like them. And I'm going to get you out of there, OK?"
"How?" She asked, looking around from her seated position at me.
"I'll be right back," I answered, beginning to walk away.
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wags
New Member
Posts: 3
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Post by wags on Dec 6, 2012 23:31:14 GMT -6
Interesting Story - so she is a genetic reject because she can't speak "properly"?
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Post by kaijafon on Dec 7, 2012 17:13:54 GMT -6
yet she speaks "human" better than they do! great story!
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Post by steve on Dec 7, 2012 19:35:12 GMT -6
PART #0115
It didn't matter that the floor was cold. It didn't matter that I was barefoot.
It didn't matter that I was naked, that I had grown a full beard or felt three weeks overdue for a haircut.
It didn't matter that I had fingernails far longer then would normally be trimmed.
I ran down each row and column of cells, breath heaving, eyes watering, tongue dry and throat parched, legs hot and stinging in fatigue pain.
The bits and pieces of torn bedding now played their part as landmarks in a sea of interchangeable intersections, each virtually identical then the last save for the unique occupants of each cell.
Attempting to control my rage over the situation was virtually impossible. I was so angry that I was beyond screaming and feeling the urge to growl. The anger propelled my legs far faster then perhaps I would normally run. the anger compelled me to run past inmates on their daily march outside of their cells, red energy neck bands dragging along surprised and startled inmates as a rushed past them without a single thought as to the possible consequences.
For the life of me, I couldn't explain why I was so enraged. I suppose several reasons could be sufficient - I had no control over my incarceration. No, that couldn't be it. I was right in my assessment that I was a human and they, the Zekopors, were wrong. Close, but... Something was still missing.
As though I had just suddenly smacked into a transparent wall, I stopped cold, short of my desired destination.
It was about Oola. That was the reason.
They had punished her because of me. Because of what they thought of her and what they thought of me. Because she had stuck up for me in front of them, they had punished her.
I began running again, faster even then I had previously. I had to get back to my cell and get my "bed hoop." If it had worked with my cell for escaping, then I was fairly certain the same could be done for her.
And what would we do after that? I had a few thoughts on that... But first, I had to help Oola escape.
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Post by steve on Dec 8, 2012 10:04:42 GMT -6
PART #0116
There it was - My former cell, the "hoop bed" still stuck in the transparent blue energy wall.
I waited until an inmate was being "walked" around on their routine before I approached my cell close enough to look inside. I saw nothing unusual inside my cell except for how I had left it.
A decision had to be made - Get more bed shreddings now and then take the hoop bed out of the wall or just take the hoop bed. Once taken, I wouldn't be able to put the hoop bed back into the wall unless the wall disappeared.
The decision was quick - To heck with the shreddings. We'd find a way to mark out where we were and where we needed to go. The facility was large but it wasn't endless. If anything, I could identify areas by the unique humanoids in the cells or a series of humanoids in a particular block.
I grabbed the hoop bed and carefully pulled it out from the wall. There were no incidents in pulling the bed out from the wall - I was careful only because I did not want my hand or a wrist to be "caught" in the wall or some other freak occurrence that would otherwise scuttle my newfound freedom as well as Oola's potential freedom.
I took no more then fifteen steps running with the hoop bed when I made a startling revelation - The hoop bed was flimsy. Flimsy enough to bend. Flimsy enough to crack. Therefore, flimsy enough to break and, if it broke, I could only envision that the hoop bed wouldn't work in creating a hole in the energy wall.
I was forced to take my time. I walked. Each step was fraught with nervousness and I had to keep fighting myself in order to not speed up. The structural integrity of the hoop bed was tantamount - It came first. Everything else - The cold floor, my desire to have Oola escape, proving that I was an actual human would come later.
What was once suspenseful turned into cautious amusement as I walked past various humanoids being dragged about by their red energy neck bands. A four-armed humanoid (I'm guessing male because it didn't look very feminine to me). A six-legged... Something with enough of a human face to make me uncomfortable. Some humanoid with a bluish complexion who had three very long fingers on each hand.
Finally, I was getting closer to Oola's cell. I began to think about the next phase - Waiting for her own blue energy wall to come down so I could place the hoop bed into it. Instructing Oola on how best to crawl through the hoop bed.
When I arrived at Oola's cell, though, I found her to be missing. The energy wall to her cell was down.
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Post by steve on Dec 9, 2012 13:57:53 GMT -6
PART #0117
Looking back, it was pretty silly to panic over Oola being missing.
Think about it - Where did she reasonably go? Of course, she had been taken by the red energy neck band to be walked on her routine. Everyone here who had been incarcerated had that walk.
I ran down to her section's wavy field to find that she was being walked from that area to the lasers area. There was no point in getting her attention; My efforts were best spent getting the hoop bed set up so that Oola could escape as soon as she was returned.
Quickly, I dragged the hoop bed towards Oola's cell and placed it as best as I could where the wall would reappear. I used where the other transparent blue energy walls were on the other cells as a guide, adjusting the hoop bed ever so slightly as a result.
It felt far longer but, moments later, I saw Oola awkwardly walking towards the cell from a distance. She was bent slightly forward, to the point where, if that energy band suddenly disappeared, Oola would likely have stumbled forward towards the ground.
"What are you doing?" Oola asked as she approached, trying to look at me and keep her balance by moving with the energy band at the same time.
"Don't worry," I said, "This worked for me. It'll work for you."
"What will work?" She asked the red energy neck band began pulling her into her cell.
I tensed up, holding the hoop bed gingerly in place as Oola was led to the center of her cell before the blue energy wall appeared to close off her cell. Almost immediately afterwards, the red energy band from around Oola's neck disappeared. She stumbled ever so briefly, regaining her own balance from the imposed one she had moments earlier.
The hoop bed still worked, creating a hole in the blue transparent energy wall much like it did with my own cell. I smiled at Oola while she looked, jaws agape and eyes slightly widened, at the results.
"How did you do that?" She exclaimed with genuine wonder.
"I'll tell you after you crawl through," I replied.
She looked back up at me, a look of hesitation on her face, as she looked back down at the hoop bed.
"Is it safe?" She asked nervously.
"It worked for me," I admitted, "Come on. This place is too automated to notice us but who knows how long that'll last."
Oola walked up to the hoop bed and, for the first time, I began to suspect a problem in my plan.
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Post by steve on Dec 10, 2012 19:23:19 GMT -6
PART #0118
Once Oola walked up to the "hoop bed" that I had stuck into the transparent blue energy wall so that she could escape her cell, I began to see a possible problem with my plan.
OK. There's no delicate way to write this so I'll just write it: Oola is a rather buxom female. Not only is she a buxom female but she is a large buxom female. Not "large" as in "obese" but simply large as in "expanded." Like imagine putting a $20 dollar bill in a copier and pushing one of those buttons that magnifies the copy by 25% or so.
Look - I'm not going to give you a sex ed class... When I made the "hoop bed," I made it with myself in mind. I'm a guy. Guys have certain parts that gals don't and gals have certain parts that guys don't. Let's just say that Oola's frame and some of her "parts" (Four, to be particular) were going to make this escape far tighter then I had originally anticipated.
If you need a clearer picture... Ask your parents. Or your preacher.
"I do not think I am going to fit," Oola said with some concern, kneeling down and cautiously putting her arm through the hoop bed. As soon as she extended her arm though the hoop bed, seeing her arm reach out from beyond the transparent blue energy wall, she immediately pulled it back in. While she was down there, putting her arm through, I could see that it was going to be a tight fit.
"You'll be fine," I said with a false air of confidence, "It's like crawling through a hole. Have you ever crawled through a hole before?"
"No," she blurted nervously. Uh-huh.
"Are you claustrophobic?" I tried to ask diplomatically.
"What does that mean?" She asked, standing back up.
"It means that you're afraid of tight spaces," I explained.
Oola looked at me nervously for a moment, eying the hoop bed hole with caution.
"Look," I reasoned, "Let's just try to see if you'll fit."
"What if I can not fit?" She asked, the nervousness clearly audible in her voice, "Will the wall cut me in half?"
You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make them...
"OK," I said calmly, "Let me think for a minute. Why don't you sit down or lie down on your bed..."
That was it. It was like a light bulb going off.
I knew how to get Oola through the hoop bed easily.
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Post by steve on Dec 11, 2012 19:44:59 GMT -6
PART #0119
"What is 'limbo'?" Oola asked.
"Never mind," I blurted out quickly, "Just... Get on your back and crawl out using your shoulders to inch... To move yourself through incrementally."
Solutions always seem obvious once you discover them and you wonder why you didn't think of them sooner. Such was the case here; Let gravity take care of Oola's "endowments" by compressing her frame into something that could feasibly fit through the "hoop bed" and out of her cell.
Reluctantly, Oola laid down on the ground in front of the hoop bed.
"OK," I said, "Give me your arms and I'll help pull you through the first part. Stiffen your body and use your heels to help you crawl along."
Have I written yet that Oola is one solidly built lady? Even though she has an incredibly fit frame, it certainly isn't light. I'm no weakling but I was certainly straining the first few inches as her hands and then her forearms were slowly pulled through the hole in the hoop bed.
"You're doing good," I stated in a diplomatic but strained voice, as I began to see the top of her head begin to emerge through the hoop bed. I could hear her breathing rapidly, undoubtedly trying to keep herself calm as she witnessed firsthand an escape that she considered to be impossible.
"OK, I'm putting you down," I stated definitively and with more exhaustion then I cared to admit, "So I can grab the hoop bed and keep it stable while you wiggle yourself through the rest of the way."
Oola wasted no time in wiggling the rest of the way out, practically kicking and scrambling the last few inches until she was completely clear of the transparent blue energy wall. Still holding the hoop bed in place within the energy wall, I turned to see Oola bolt upwards into a standing position and scramble towards the opposite wall of the hallway where we were standing.
"I made it!" She exclaimed amazingly, looking down at herself with incredulous disbelief, adding while pointing at the hoop bed, "You... You did that!"
I couldn't help but smile. It was like witnessing the expression on a child's face when they realize that they just received their most cherished toy on their birthday.
"We did it," I softly and politely corrected, "Together."
The hoop bed didn't need to be held any longer and I let go of it. So long as no one pushed on it, the hoop bed would stay there from now until eternity in the exact same position.
"So," I asked, "Do you know your way around this place?"
"I do not understand," Oola confessed, "Where can we go where we would not be found by them?"
"I want to be found," I confessed, "But first, I want to grab a few things before they find me."
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Post by patience on Dec 11, 2012 21:32:36 GMT -6
I can't wait to read what he has in mind for the knucklehead, self-appointed "overlords".
Great story!
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Post by steve on Dec 12, 2012 19:13:37 GMT -6
PART #0120
"Do you know your way around this place?" I asked as we began to walk alongside the wall.
"I know of it," Oola replied with a bit of sadness, "This is the Quarantine, the place where they put... Those that did not perform well."
"Did not perform well," I replied, "What does that mean? Like in that play that the Zekopors put me in?"
"It means many things," Oola replied as we continued to walk, "Genetic experiments that did not perform to their specifications, curiosities that they were able to decipher..."
"Why keep them?" I asked, "Why keep these beings if they didn't do so well in what they were designed to do?"
"The Zekopors," Oola stated, "Have a law that forbids them from killing a human... Any human."
"Any human?" I asked, stopping for a moment, "For any reason?"
"Yes," Oola replied, "They will not even kill a feral human and they do not even breed those."
"The feral humans," I asked, more out of curiosity then out of need, "Why do they exist? What purpose do they serve to the Zekopors if they are not designed?"
"The Zekopors thought, when they first encountered the planet, that all they had to do to repopulate the planet was to allow existing humans to breed," Oola explained, "But they did not realize that humans have no native intelligence - They must be taught through external means."
"You mean," I asked, "The Zekopors thought that humans just 'were' and if they left us alone, we would breed our way out of the problem?"
"The Zekopors knew nothing of humans before they arrived to assess the damage and rebuild the planet," Oola continued to say, "Certain other alien species have attributes that, apparently, native humans did not have."
"So what's with the play?" I asked, "Why all of those rehearsals?"
"They are teaching humans how to be humans," Oola plainly stated, "So that, one day, those humans may attempt to teach other humans how to be... Just as human."
"Right," I merely replied, not wanting that conversation to go any farther.
"You claim to be a real human," Oola stated, stopping to turn towards me for a moment, "So, tell me something."
"OK," I replied, "What do you want to know?"
"How hard is it to be a human? A real human?" Oola asked with a nervous curiosity.
"Oola," I answered, "You are more human than the Zekopors realize. In fact, you're more human then a lot of humans I know."
Oola just looked at me for a moment, wanting to say something and even slightly moving her jaw as though poised to speak but ultimately didn't. It was time for me to politely move the conversation along.
"Oola," I politely reminded her, "We have to get out of here. Do you know a way out?"
"Oh, uh," Oola stammered, "I may know. Follow me."
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