"Are you certain that she went this way? Down there…"
Saturn Girl directed the hovering glow globe a few meters down the dank, deserted tunnel and peered into the gloom beyond. The old maintenance tunnel seemed to stretch on for miles, or at least as far as she could see in the limited lighting. It was cold and filthy, and not someplace that she really wanted to go. Hopefully, as the current leader of the Legion of Super-Heroines, she would not have to. She glanced back over her shoulder and glared at the young woman that she had directed her question, scowling as she waited for a response.
Nura Nal shifted position, recrossing her legs with a sigh as she rolled her eyes-
"Of course I'm certain, Imra. Just who do you think you're talking to?"
"Don't get snippy with me Dream Girl," Imra Ardeen huffed, crossing her arms. "I want to be certain. I doubt any of us really want to go down there, though I would think that you might volunteer since you and Starboy were the ones that let the imposter get away."
Dream Girl sniffed, extending a shapely leg and frowning at a spot of dirt on her otherwise spotless high-heeled shoes. "It was Thom that fouled things up, Imra. If he'd been more on the ball-"
"It's easy to blame the boys, Nura, but he is yours after all. You should have expected him to foul up." Tinya Wazzo stepped up to the tunnel's mouth and joined Imra as she peered down into the darkness. As a native of Bgztl, the Phantom Dimension, she was used to ominous and queer environments, but there was something about the long dark tunnel into the unknown that gave her the shivers.
"Just bad luck I say," Salu Digby looked down the tunnel as well, feeling the cool constant breeze that brushed past her bare legs and caused goosebumps to rise. It was spooky to say the least. "If the imposter has any of Luornu's skills then Thom didn't have a chance. She fooled me, that's for sure."
"Nothing to brag about, Vi dear," Nura smirked, running a hand through Thom Kallor's close-cropped hair almost lovingly. "Sweet Thom will apologize for his inadequacies and what he did to me tonight, over and over. Isn't that right, lover?"
Starboy whimpered but said nothing, straining to keep his arms rigid as Dream Girl shifted her weight and recrossed her legs again. She ran a smooth hand along his cheek, giving him a pat as he inwardly groaned on his hands and knees in the dirt, trying his very best to support her slowly reducing mass. She had not quite returned to normal from his accidental attack and was recovering, while sitting on his back.
"As enjoyable as that would be for any of us to see, Nura, we have to get back to the task at hand." Saturn Girl stepped away from the mouth of the tunnel, Shrinking Violet just a step behind her, and confronted the circle of her teammates. She looked at each; Phantom Girl looking uncertain but curious, Light Lass obviously scared of the darkness beyond, Dream Girl more worried about her appearance than the task at hand. Super Girl stood at the junction a few meters away alongside Lightning Lad and Ultra Boy, both males' eyes downcast and cowed in the presence of their betters. Only Luornu Durgo, the Duo Damsel stood defiantly, impatient and ready to charge down the tunnel and into the unknown- and with good reason. It was Luornu's form that the imposter had taken, and in consequence made fools of them all. Luornu wanted vengeance pure and simple, but Imra thought that perhaps there was something deeper, something more.
"We have no idea what the imposter was up to," Imra continued, calling her slave to her side. Lightning Lad shambled forward and stood beside her, head bowed, waiting for Saturn Girl's next command, the collar about his neck sparkling in the dim light. "She could have been trying to infiltrate our ranks for any number of reasons, from bringing our organization down to even possibly getting closer to President Oranx. It's not outside the realm of possibility that this was the first stage of an assassination attempt."
"Wouldn't you have detected that in your probes, Imra?" Ayla Ranzz asked as she glanced at her docile brother with a smirk.
"The imposter had formidable psychic resistance, I won't lie. Like the real Luornu, her mental shields were equal to three strong women rather than one. Just like a Carggite-"
"She was no Carggite!" Duo Damsel snapped, stepping up to the tunnel. The real Luornu Durgo had been in a foul mood since the woman with her face had appeared, and Imra suspected that it was due mainly to the recent loss of her third at the mechanical hands of Computo a few months ago. That wound was still raw apparently.
"I would have known if she was a true native of Cargg, and certainly I would have known if she was who she claimed to be. She was not my 'sister' in any sense of the word." Luornu fumed, turning back to her comrades as though daring any of them to dispute her. Wisely, all kept silent.
"Regardless, she needs to be stopped. Caught," Imra turned to stare at Luornu, "not killed. We need some volunteers to follow her down the tunnel." Imra turned her attention to Dream Girl who was watching with amusement as Starboy polished her white pumps with the corner of his cape. Nura glanced up, feeling the attention on her suddenly-
"Well, don't look at me. I'm still bloated thanks to Thom, and if this girl's so skilled I can't imagine I'd be much help anyway."
"I'll go." Duo Damsel almost grunted in annoyance as she stepped closer to the tunnel's opening. Saturn Girl could feel the rage building in her friend.
"I wouldn't deny you, Luornu, but you can't go alone-"
"I'll go with her." Salu Digby stepped forward and placed her hand on her friend's shoulder. "Don't worry, Luornu. We'll find her."
"I'll go too." Phantom Girl said, stepping up beside the other three. "The communicators won't work, and whatever's in those pipes prevents both you and Kara from probing too deep. I have the best chance of getting out if there's trouble."
Saturn Girl nodded. She had already scanned the tunnels as best she could but her mental probes did not penetrate the old, labyrinth far. Too, Super Girl's X-Ray Vision seemed to be blocked, and only Ultra Boy's Penetra Vision seemed to give them any insight into the abandoned and forgotten tunnel system, but he had found no sign of the bogus Triplicate Girl-
"Lead I think," Super Girl said from the junction of corridors, "or maybe Inertron since Jo didn't see much more than me. Has to be thick, whatever it is to have survived the last war and all these years."
"Good enough," Imra said, offering the girls another glow globe keyed to their commands, "and Luornu…"
"I know," Duo Damsel said, but all could hear the icy chill in her voice, "captured, not dead. Don't worry. The Twa will be alive. She can't suffer if she's dead."
"Well, this should be fun." Tinya quipped as she stepped in line behind Duo Damsel and Shrinking Violet, the three young women making their way cautiously down the old abandoned maintenance tunnel. They had consulted the old schematics and surmised that the tunnels were part of the old pre-war sewer system, maybe leading into the old Metropolis subway as well. Once upon a time the citizenry rode electric trains that ran through the ground in a latticework of tunnels that had been more or less forgotten after the last world war had decimated much of the city. Brainiac 5 and RJ Brande had apparently utilized those old tunnels and incorporated them into the foundation of the Legion Clubhouse. Typical males that they had not told anyone.
Imra watched as the three women made their way down the tunnel, the light of the floating glow globe eventually fading, swallowed by the darkness as the trio rounded a long, curving corner. With a sigh and a wish of success she turned to those that remained-
"All right. I suggest the rest of us scour the Legion Plaza. There could be numerous points where the imposter might come out and I want them all found and covered."
"She won't be coming out." Nura Nal smiled, finally standing, much to the pleasure of Thom Kallor. Imra smirked as the boy sagged, suddenly free of Dream Girl's increased mass on his back.
"What do you mean, Nura? Have you seen something?"
Nura Nal sneered in arrogance. "I always see, dear, but the imposter's future is cloudy, shrouded in divergence and hard to track. She will find allies, I have no doubt, but whether they can help her is unclear. Two men, ugly and handsome to the extreme contrast. The ugly one is thick but sincere and will follow her to the end. The handsome one is uncertain. He has deeper goals, some dark secret. He will be her downfall if that future holds true, but he will be a problem as well in his own right.
"But they are both men after all. Nothing to worry over, I'm sure."
Saturn Girl nodded, then turned her attention back down the tunnel. She had already lost mental contact with her friends, and that sent a cold shiver down her spine-
"I hope you're right, Nura. I hope you're right…"
Part Two: "Double Dare!"
Luornu Durgo grunted, gritting her teeth as she strained to pull herself along, through the thinning pipe that she had started to crawl through how long ago now? It was filthy and dark, the decay of Maker knew how many years of refuse crusted along the bottom arch of the metal piping. There was an odd smell as well; of cleansing chemicals mixed with mold and offal. It was taking all of her triple-strength will not to gag with every breath she took.
The pipe had started out as a huge tunnel that she had been able to walk through almost upright. She had been in a rush however, not knowing just how far behind her pursuers might be, or actually who of the potentials could have been after her. Little by little, following the odd and obscure twists and turns that the piping presented she found herself quickly hunched over at first, then on her hands and knees and finally crawling along on her belly, pushing her flight belts before her. Her hands and knees were skinned and bloody, her uniform ripped and her cape torn away in shreds as she had tried to cover her wounds. She was filthy from her ordeal, but did not care. She had to get away.
She could still see the light- proverbial or not- at the end of the tunnel, a little closer but still out of reach. She kept struggling on, her nails breaking from the effort as she forced her body just a bit further with every exhale of breath. She hoped that she had lost the others. If she got caught here and now she was done. Phantom Girl could simply materialize in her path and kick her into unconsciousness. Violet could easily traverse the pipes, growing just enough to stop her escape. A blast of Kara's Heat Vision would burn her to a crisp, and Imra could simply will her to sleep, leaving her to rot in the pipe with no one the wiser.
Luornu grunted again, whimpering as she drug her body a bit further past a juncture in the metallic fixings, then shoving her bundled flight belts further ahead of her again. She had tried to use the anti-grav energies of the flight belts to pull her through the tiny tunnel, but as the piping narrowed she found that they just did not have the strength to force her along. She hoped, prayed that she could get through the slim pipe because if she found it impassable she would be done. If she tried to back up what was left of her uniform would bunch up and block her escape, and with her arms stretched out full in front of her there would be no way out. She would die here in the darkness, alone and cold, dirty, and no one would even care.
Finally though Luornu's battered fingers gripped the outer edge of the pipe. She barely saw that she was at the end, the circular light in the dark tube still looking small and far away. She pushed her bundle through the opening then grabbed hold of the pipe's rim and called on all of her inner trebled strength, exhaling all the breath from her body as she heaved herself forward with all of her might. She felt something dig into her hips, cutting her skin and tearing at the cloth of her uniform, but she did not care. She ignored the sharp pain and forced her seemingly fat body through the tiny opening.
Luornu Durgo fell from the pipe, twisting in mid air as her hand tried to retain a grip on the rim. Her muscles screamed at the new effort however and she finally fell with a splat into the shallow crusty puddle that had formed beneath the mouth. Luornu groaned, finally gagging and heaving dryly as she struggled out of the age-old muck. She did not even want to think just what she was wading through and called on her last reserves as she gathered her bundle and staggered finally up an old set of stone steps and collapsed onto dry ground again.
The Triplicate Girl took long, ragged breaths, trying her best to contain the churning in her stomach and to ignore the swirling in her head, trying to regain her strength. Slowly, finally she looked up to see exactly where she was. It was a huge chamber cast all in stone and looking ancient. The walls were covered in slime- mildew she thought perhaps, or mold, and just a few meters away was a pool of stagnant water covered in algae. Water fell from a lighted grating far overhead- the original source of light that had drawn her on she imagined. It was a light spray, and she imagined that it was coming from the surface, though how far above she did not know. She had lost all sense of direction and track of time as she had crawled through the piping, but the steady stream of water probably meant that it was after Eleventh Hour, the designated time for precipitation by the Earth Gov's Weather Control. Too, she was probably closer to the surface than she had imagined.
With great effort she stood, gathering her two stolen flight belts and fastening one about her waist again. With a sigh she willed herself into the air and slowly drifted up into the rain, maneuvering towards the grating.
She had been right, and the light rain still fell as she pressed up a rusty mesh of wire and cocked her head in order to peer out into daylight. Squinting into the glare she could see what appeared to be Legion Plaza, that wide expanse of land donated by Metropolis to surround the Clubhouse and in turn house gardens and walkways as well as flags and statues and monuments to lost heroes. She could see the statue dedicated to the Unknown Legionnaire, as well as the one erected to Lightning Lad when he had been dead for a time. There was a smaller one next to that honoring Proty, the little Protean that had given its life to restore Garth's and to spare Imra.
Despite the rain, Luornu could see that the Plaza was fairly packed, busy with tourists seeing the sights as well as business-minded citizens hurrying between appointments or sitting under the provided shelters and enjoying an early lunch-cycle break. Luornu bit down on her lip as her stomach rumbled in protest. She had not eaten yet, nor even had her morning Caf and despite the queasiness she felt she was also starving.
All thoughts of food left her however as she spied a squad of Science Police charging across the Plaza. They were decked out in their riot armor, all brandishing rifle weapons as their red-haired commander barked out orders and they spread out in an obvious paired-up search pattern. Was all of that for her, the armor and the energy rifles? Triplicate Girl was impressed that they had deemed her so dangerous.
With a sigh of disappointment the young woman slowly drifted back down into the chamber, landing softly on a relatively clean and dry patch of cement. There were two solid looking metal doors that she had not checked yet, as well as another tunnel that appeared to lead deeper into the darkness. She knew that she had to keep moving- especially so close to the surface. Saturn Girl or Supergirl either one could probably spot her now, let alone Ultra Boy or Mon-El if they were told to. If they really tried…
Luornu sat on a jutting block of broken stone and crossed her legs to remove her boots. She massaged her sore feet, as she gathered her wits, trying to decide what to do next, where to go as well as piece together what had happened to her world. That the Legion girls now commanded the Legion was a given. The few boys she saw appeared to be totally enthralled by the girls- probably due to the strange collars they all had worn. But why? Why had this all come about?
She remembered the adventure chronicled in their logs as 'The Revolt of the Girl Legionnaires' that had taken place not so long ago*. The Legion had visited a world known as Femnaz, a planet inhabited only by women at the time- the men had all been exiled to their moon. While there, the queen- Azura- had used something called the Glow Jewel to alter the girl Legionnaire's way of thinking, turning them all- Supergirl included via a post hypnotic suggestion in Superboy- into like-minded Femizons in their own right. The girls had plotted and planned, and in the end easily defeated their masculine comrades, easily duped fools that they were- what?
* Adventure Comics #326 (Nov 1964)
Luornu shook her head, trying to clear her thoughts again. She felt angered suddenly, thinking of Femnaz and what they had done. They had almost killed the boys that day, and they had loved it. True, Azura had manipulated them, thinking she was doing the girls a favor, but Luornu shuddered to think just how close they had come to succeeding. If not for the outright cruelty of the individual death traps, the lust they had all had to see the boys suffer slow and humiliating, painful deaths. Luornu herself had coupled with Shrinking Violet to doom three of the boys, shrinking Cosmic Boy, Brainiac 5 and Invisible Kid down to tiny size and trapping them inside a small wooden matchbox. Luornu still remembered their cries of terror as she closed the box, laughing at their diminutive, helpless forms then callously tossing the box into the pocket of her cape so they might die of starvation. It was horrible…
But it had been all right in the end. Mon-El and Ultra Boy had saved Femnaz as their moon had threatened to crumble and destroy their world. The two heroes had returned the exiled males to Femnaz and Azura had had a change of heart, reverting all the girls back to their normal selves in time to save the doomed boys. At least that was what Luornu recalled. Now she was not so sure-
Most of the empty chairs that she had seen before in the Meeting Room belonged to those boy Legionnaires that they had tried to kill. Mon, Garth and Jo had all three been on a mission in space at the time, all except Starboy. He was the oddity. Luornu knew that Tinya had tricked Thom into making himself super-heavy to escape the exploding effects of the Gowampi Trigocerus Lympodiary, whose ripe pollen-like spoors were deadly. Dim-witted Thom- what?- had obeyed and buried himself in his own grave, only to be rescued later by Tinya. He seemed the only boy remaining connected with that adventure, and Luornu wondered why. Because of Dream Girl?
And just why was she there for that matter? Nura Nal was a member of the Legion of Substitute Heroes, not a full-fledged member of the real Legion. What in Nas was that about?
"Hey!"
Luornu turned, jumping to her feet at the sound of the voice. She peered across the dim chamber, seeing the shadowy figure that had just emerged from one of the doors on the far side of the stagnant pool. It was a boy she could tell, the silhouette, the deep voice, but she could not tell just who it was. Ultra Boy maybe, as he wore no cape, maybe Gim. Whoever, she had to get away-
"Wait!"
The boy called out again as Triplicate Girl turned to run. She glanced over her shoulder and saw him leap over the pool with little effort. He landed hard though, heavily, his feet seeming to clang as he touched down. She caught a glimpse of metal as he passed through the light filtering down from above.
"Please, don't… Oh Sprock!"
He had recognized her, but oddly it sounded more like fear in his voice than victory. She saw him hesitate as she started out, running away, then saw too as he charged forward suddenly determined. He was fast, and he ran right up behind her, grabbing at her tattered cape and drawing her up short-
"I don't want to hurt you Duo Damsel, but if you don't surrender now I will. I'll-"
Luornu whipped about, tugging on the remnants of her cape to throw him off balance. He was heavy, but still he had to bow to the laws of physics. Her sudden movement had thrown him off balance and as he eased forward she grabbed his cold, hard arm and thrust him off to the side. He smashed to the ground with a clangor of metal bouncing on stone. Luornu ignored the strange noises- some side effect of his power maybe, or perhaps the odd echo effects of the chamber. Whatever, Luornu reared back and let loose with a snap kick that would have taken the boy's head off had he been normal. Triplicate Girl screamed as her foot slammed into cold, heavy metal and she staggered back, hopping to ease the sudden pain. She had not expected that.
The boy leaped up sensing her injury. Arms outstretched he came at her, hoping to engulf her in his grasp. Luornu sidestepped and too late realized that the attack had been a feint. She felt the boy's hard, metal arm snake about her throat, his other arm looping about her waist and hoisting her off of her feet. She kicked wildly, slamming her elbows into her attacker's midsection to no avail. He was wearing some type of armor, and even her trebled strength was useless against it. He flexed his muscles and she saw gray spots dancing suddenly before her eyes-
"I'm sorry," he said, his voice hollow and echoing, cold and far away. Luornu kicked and struggled, writhing in the boy's grip, but he had leverage on his side and there seemed nothing that she could do to get free. She was gasping for breath as he flexed again, his cold, hard muscles biting into her neck, cutting off her air.
It wasn't fair…
"I'm sorry…"
She was so close…
Shvaughn Erin watched as her Science Police Special Security Squad dispersed and spread out over Legion Plaza. She had gotten word straight from Chief Malus that the LSH had informed her of an imposter in their ranks. They were on the lookout for Duo Damsel, Luornu Durgo of Cargg specifically. Shvaughn had little hope of finding that girl but still she sent her squad through the proper paces.
They had been called out in Alpha Alert -full riot gear with weapons set to maximum. Shvaughn had contacted Central Command for verification but they had not been forthcoming with information. The Legion of Super-Heroines had been infiltrated apparently and they needed the SP out on the plaza and in the surrounding areas for crowd control at least and a bit of search and seizure at the most.
Luornu Durgo… Duo Damsel… Officer Erin smirked to think that one of the weakest members of the Legion had gone rogue and apparently outwitted some of their best. She was just one woman after all, a girl really from Cargg that could split into two. Still she had outwitted Saturn Girl and Supergirl as well, not to mention their drones, the likes of Mon-El and Ultra Boy- not that they were any type of help. They were only as good as their keepers, and Shvaughn had little respect for any of the so-called Legion of Super-Heroines. They were a stuck-up and snooty lot, and truth be told she would be more than happy if Duo Damsel made them all look like idiots.
Of course, that was not at all within the current way of thinking. Men were chattel, except of course for President Oranx, and far better placed in subservient roles with all of the actual thinking delegated to their superiors. The women…
Odd that it had all happened so fast…
Odder still that President Oranx was a male himself, and an older man at that. Hardly in keeping with the new regime. But of course it was not the place of Officer Erin to question the order of things. There were far better, far superior beings than herself delegated to do the actual thinking…
Hers was not to reason why-
"Hey! Get those kids out of here!" Shvaughn shouted, running forward. Her work was never done it seemed…
"Are you sure?"
Salu Digby glanced up at her friend and almost shivered- almost. There in the queer shadows, backcast by the glare of the old incandescent maintenance lights Duo Damsel looked ready to spit fire, her eyes crackling with a barely contained rage. Not that Shrinking Violet blamed her best friend. She stood, wondering how she might feel if someone were passing themselves off as her. It was a chilling thought.
"The heat scanner says she did. Her trail breaks off and goes into the smaller tube right here." Salu glanced down the thin tunnel and shrugged. The glow globe they had sent down the pipe hovered at the first obvious juncture awaiting its next command. Even from several meters away the three young women could see that the filthy tube shrank dramatically at that point.
"I don't see how," Phantom Girl said with a smile, "no way she could squeeze her big buns through that-" Tinya Wazzo glanced up and smiled apologetically at duo Damsel. "Sorry, Luornu. I wasn't suggesting that you were fat, but-"
"Maybe it was a rat. Remember the size of that first one we saw?" Salu stared about the larger tunnel that they were standing in. It was a wide and arching chamber made of stone that kept stretching into the darkness as far as they could see. There was a thin, slimy trail of almost stagnant water running down through the depressed center of the corridor that was crusted over with a greenish mold that stank to heaven and was swarming with tiny mite-like insects. Luckily the field produced by their Flight Rings also warded the disgusting creatures away. Who knew what filthy diseases they carried?
"It was no rat," Duo Damsel cursed, peering down the tight tube to call the glow globe back, "it was her. I'd go down there just because I knew none of you would think I could do it." Luornu Durgo glared at Phantom Girl until the pale-skinned woman averted her eyes; embarrassed over the fat joke she had made.
"Maybe she's a Durlan," Tinya said hoping to redeem herself, "or an Imskian, or-"
"I don't care what she is," Luornu snapped. "I'm going into the tunnel. If she did it, then so can I."
"Cool up, Luornu," Salu said putting a hand on her friend's shoulder to stop her. Duo Damsel turned, her eyes still filled with rage and hate, causing Violet to swallow before she continued-
"Maybe the imposter did go down there- she probably did- but if she was a Durlan, or an Imskian or something worse, then it may be a trap as well. Whichever, you crawling through that pipe is going to take forever. I think better if Tinya or I go down and check it out first. Wherever it leads, there's probably a better, quicker way for you to get there."
"Salu's right, Luornu," Tinya spoke up again and joined the other two at Luornu's side. "I can easily walk down that pipe, slipping right through the walls in my phantom form-"
"And I can shrink down to tiny size and fly through no matter how tight it gets, even faster than Tinya. I can zip down and back in seconds and see where that leads," Violet smirked, holding out her hands to accept the floating ball of light, the glow globe settling into her waiting palms.
"Hell, she might even be stuck down there somewhere, end of story."
Tinya and Salu both chuckled at the vision that thought summoned up and after a moment Luornu even joined in. It was a ridiculous thought.
"All right Salu," Luornu decided. She had not been elected leader of their little impromptu Espionage Squad, but no one was going to debate her quest for vengeance. "Shrink down with the globe and then zip down the pipe and back, quick as you can. Check it out, but don't play heroine, hunh? I want that bogus Twa for myself."
Salu nodded with a knowing grin and with barely a thought quickly dwindled down in size and stature to a mere two centimeters. The action caused the special chemicals in the ring she wore to spray her clothes and the glow globe as well, taking them with her to miniscularity. All Imskians could shrink themselves to microscopic size- though the smaller they got the greater the strain. It was a natural evolutionary ability on her home world that unfortunately did not transfer to objects, most importantly clothes. Still, the special chemicals found only on Imsk could be combined to form a liquid that could shrink almost anything: clothes, objects, and even people. Salu giggled at the memory of the last time she had done that. It had been Luornu that had actually done the shrinking, but Violet had provided the means. She bit her lip, remembering the thrill she had got peering into that tiny wooden matchbox, hearing the high-pitched squeals of terror coming from her old teammates as the two girls taunted them one final time-
Violet shuddered, finally releasing the shrunken ball of light into the air again and sending it on down the now gigantic pipe. She floated into the air herself in turn, willing her Legion Flight Ring to activity and swiftly circled up and around the forever-long legs of the now towering Duo Damsel. It was a thrilling risk to be shrunken to the size of a flea, and incredibly erotic in a way. As she zipped about her friend's gigantic form she licked her lips, almost overwhelmed by the sight and the overpowering fragrance of Luornu's being. There was a lot of fun to be had by a tiny woman and her gigantic friend-
Salu shook her head, trying to think clean thoughts as she finally hovered before her friend's huge billboard-like face. She could see Luornu's eyes sparkling with delight as she squinted, peering at the tiny Shrinking Violet. Like a building she saw Tinya move behind Luornu, squinting as well, a little smirk playing at her pale lips. Violet raised her communicator and spoke, knowing that her friends would barely be able to hear her miniscule voice at her current size. She heard her voice amplified on the others' receivers, a queer, booming sound laced with static even at such close quarters. Tinya had been right in that the communicators would not work well down in the tunnels. Brainiac 5 had been working on some form of telepathic earpiece before he had... died. Pity he had not finished that experiment, and so many others besides. He was about the only one of the boys that was occasionally missed, if only for his vaunted intelligence.
"Once I'm in the pipe, the communicator will probably fritz. Give me ten microns- minutes," Salu corrected herself, slipping into her native Imskian as she always did when shrunk. "If I'm not back by then, come a running."
Both women nodded and Violet stared in awe to see Luornu lick her huge, luscious lips. "Be careful, Vi…" she whispered and Violet shivered, washed in her friend's cool, misty breath. Salu sighed and zipped towards the pipe and the receding light of the glow globe. The tunnel was getting warm. Time to go…
Shrinking Violet slowly felt her focus and determination returning as she whisked down the long pipe. It was hard to concentrate sometimes, being around such beauty as her teammates- even the boys. Harder still when she was shrunken. The inhabitants of Imsk were a… fertile race, to put it mildly, and had a passion for propagation. It was that natural lust that had initially doomed the planet and its peoples to overcrowding centuries past. The world was dying from a massive civilization that reproduced on a ridiculous scale, all the while raping the world of its resources in the grip of a choking industrial age. On the brink of starvation, extinction the people of Imsk had learned to shrink in order to survive. There were several theories as to the how and why, but for the most part no one really cared. They had been saved from the brink. Most of the planet had learned their lesson as well, and struggled for years to save their world, restoring it to its one time beauty and richness. Still, it was hard to restrain the old drives, even for Violet who had not been home in so long.
Violet focused on the task at hand as she swiftly caught up to the floating glow globe and ordered it along just above and behind to light the pipe but not to blind her. Too she switched off her communicator, the static almost deafening as it crackled and bounced about the ancient metal walls. It was chilly in the tube and stank of age-old refuse. She did not even want to know what it might have been used for, and had to admire the courage of Luornu's double to have come through the ever-tightening enclosure, which must have been near pitch dark as well for her.
As they had suspected the pipe got smaller and smaller as she went. It was no problem for her of course as she zipped along at a couple centimeters. She was still far too small to even start to be concerned with the otherwise cramped space. Too, she could see signs of the bogus Luornu's passing. There was a definite trail where she had been forced to flatten and drag herself along. Violet could see remnants of cloth snagged on the fittings along the way as well, purple and orange. Occasionally there was a smear of blood as well. It had definitely been a struggle for the big-hipped cow, and of course the signs told that she was no Durlan or Imskian either. Something else perhaps, but base human for certain.
Salu slowed her flight as she neared the expanding glow of the opening that signaled the tunnel's end. She called back the glow globe and checked the digital micronometer on her wrist as she floated slowly forward. It had taken barely two microns to fly the length of the pipe that was just under one hundred meters. Not a long distance, but it would still take Duo Damsel some time to find a way around whatever was between here and the chamber where she had started out. Salu hoped that Tinya was searching the tunnels for a clear path and not just standing around and looking ethereal.
Shrinking Violet edged closer to the opening of the pipe. She could see a fresh break, as though some sort of covering had been forced off as well as a lot of blood-soaked cloth snagged along the rim- the tightest place of the pipe. The phony was determined to escape Salu would give her that much credit. As determined as the real Luornu at least.
Violet hesitated, hearing hushed voices coming from beyond and inched even closer, wrinkling her nose in disgust as she pressed against the filthy wall. She took a deep breath and peered cautiously into the chamber beyond, not knowing what to expect. It was far more than she would have bargained for.
Shrinking Violet took a long look about the chamber, memorizing its location and exits, then quickly turned and sped away. A smile grew on her face as she raced back down the pipe as quickly as the Flight Ring would carry her, the glow of the globe dwindling in her wake, unable to keep pace.
It was fantastic! The others would be thrilled with what she had seen, not only the bogus Luornu, but so much more. So much more…
Jackpot!
To be continued…
Story © Curt Fernlund 2004
HTML © Tim Hartin 2004