Beyond Charybdis (17 page)

In the corners of the chamber, upon small pedestals, were bound women. Each was shaven bald and tied with the use of thick latex straps into a tight ball, huddling them upon a black marble pillar. Slender pipes wound into their mouth and chastity belts, furnishing them with food and waste management, removing the need to ever remove them from their isolated doom. Faced down, their backs were adorned with numerous candles, the waxen stems of black drooling their midnight tears across the forms of the living candelabras, offering the image that the women themselves were melting. The cumulative glow of their candles bathed the corners in a warm amber hue that spread reluctantly upon the mirror-like panels of obsidian coating the rest of the room.

A pair of doors was located in each of the other walls; the mahogany doors without handle or lock. A pull to her reins led her out of the elevator and across the room to one of the doors on the left. The wooden sheet slithered aside at Poseidon's approach, exposing a sizeable rectangular chamber decorated and lit in the same manner as the previous room. In the middle was a magnificent statue of black marble. The rearing form of Pegasus threw out its wings, dominating the room, an awesome and striking sight, the sculptor having captured perfectly the awe and majesty of such a wondrous beast.

Escorted past Poseidon's obsessive goal, a door beyond moved aside and revealed the workshop where he was trying to bring his dream into fabulous reality. The chamber was bedecked in walls of technological equipment, much of which still remained on, exposing itself and its neighbours in the soft coloured glow of its private lights. As well as the array of computers and design equipment required to run through schematics and produce workable models and blueprints, there were tools for heavy-duty mechanical construction. In addition there were also the tiny assortments of apparatus needed for micro circuitry and cybernetics, the elaborate collections neatly placed along various workbenches amidst half-finished parts or pieces undergoing checks and scrutiny. It was beyond state-of-the-art, and was hoarding advances to itself that Mina had been waiting to receive before her assignment to the Charybdis project and her betrayal by Jupiter.

A dark shape lurked in the middle of the room, covered by ample shadow, the light from the other room and the machines that had crafted it doing little to expose their progeny. Flicking a switch, Poseidon revealed his masterpiece.

The uniform was presented on a female mannequin. The artificial woman was bent over, her arms turned into a set of forelegs by constructed sleeves that formed into hooves. The white latex suit that encompassed it covered the dummy entirely, even turning the face into the extending snout of a pony, the stylised image an ivory form with silver glass eyes.

At the body a pair of wings emerged, the articulated appendages spread wide, the skeleton of steel within allowing them to be retracted or spread at the command of the wearer or another agency.

‘This is the Pegasus suit you are going to be tried for, slave,' attested Poseidon with a smile, looking only to his inanimate offspring. ‘Come, let us get you out of that uniform,' he snapped, flinging himself from his mesmerised wide-eyed look across the ivory form of the mythical hybrid.

A yank to her reins turned her from the image and towards another door, whirring gently aside to expose a smaller chamber beyond. The room bore a low bed, the soft mattress without sheets or pillows and of strange dimensions. Lit by several overhead bulbs set in the ceiling the chamber had no other features save a metal hatch in the wall behind the bed, and a treadmill set in the floor to one side. The long and wide corrugated rubber roll extended from the wall for three yards by three yards, with a metal hatch to one side, the locked panel hiding the controls as several riveted rings hung against the wall directly before the broad treadmill.

Two maids were already present, the women clad in lingerie. Both were shaved bald, even their eyebrows removed to give them an eerie appearance. A white satin basque hugged their bodies, taking hold of fine denier albino stockings that plummeted down their shapely legs into court shoes with a silver buckled band about the ankle. Their dagger-shaped fingernails were painted white, and a slender thong of snowy satin embraced their loins.

‘Strip her of this uniform, slaves,' ordered Poseidon.

The women worked quickly and deftly, and in moments Mina was utterly naked, the pony attire that had encased her for so long a forsaken opaque skin on the floor. The maids withdrew to either side of the door, standing like sentinels as Poseidon wandered about her, assessing and scrutinising.

‘I am impressed,' he commented. ‘Normally a prolonged spell as an eel would reduce a girl to a feeble wreck. You must have worked marvels during your decompression to recapture such a physique.'

‘I only seek to please those who own me, master; what use would I be as a weakened wretch?' she replied humbly, having trouble with the words after her long silence, the removal of the bit and her uniform breaking her state of being no more than a mute beast.

‘That was considerate of you, though I more suspect you did it out of fright of the unknown—' he began, cutting of his words as he saw Mina stiffen a little with injured pride at having her courage questioned. ‘My apologies, I phrased that poorly. You had no clue as to who had captured and taken you from the ocean. You were just seeking to be prepared.'

‘Did I do wrong, master?' she replied, watching his boots pass by her again, the man circling her still as they talked.

‘Definitely not, such a feature will serve me admirably. If you want to be able to handle the Pegasus uniform, you will have to show the same sense of diligent dedication. I have a whole stable of psychologically and physically shattered slaves. They will recover in time, but I need someone far hardier than a normal woman, I need a veritable living machine to be my Pegasus, someone who can override her instincts, push herself to the limits of mind and body and then exceed them. Is this you, slave? Or have I made a miscalculation?'

‘No, master, I can do this for you, if you wish it,' she answered.

‘Oh, I most certainly wish it, slave,' he said, placing his hands on her shoulders, his palms running on the smooth flesh, his fingers tracing up and down her upper arms as she stood tensed before him. She could feel his eyes on her back, looking across her rear, her legs, her curves. ‘But you have to be sure, slave. This regime will be even harder than before because of the limits of time. If you are not up to it, you could well be broken by it. If you have any doubt, any second thoughts, even the most minor questioning of your ability, then feel free to decline with no reprisal. I would rather have you refuse than waste my time and disappoint me, and then end up aggrieving your owners by being returned to them a fractured mess.'

Mina turned around and faced the Noble, meeting him directly eye to eye in an act of sudden boldness. With absolute sincerity and no sense of exaggeration or false conviction she addressed her new owner. ‘I
will
succeed, master.'

Poseidon merely looked at her for a moment, their eyes locked, unblinking as he watched to see if her façade of confidence would show weakness or crack. Mina's countenance remained like wrought iron, bringing a blossoming smile to the lips of the Titan.

‘Excellent, you have given me new hope, slave,' he crooned, and moved closer, raising a hand and closing it about the nape of her neck. Drawing her in he met her lips and demanded a kiss. Her hands arose of their own volition and ran across his athletic form, caressing his skin, stroking and pawing as his free hand took up her breasts. Teasing each in turn his dextrous touch brought life to them, making the teats rise and her body shiver with elation.

She ran her lips across his chest, her hands closing to his trousers, blindly picking the fastenings and pulling them down, exposing a rapidly swelling member to her attentions. Settling onto her knees, Mina swallowed his length with reckless abandon, her hunger for gratification boiling within her. Closing her lips to him, her tongue flitted and danced on his tip, making him swell in her mouth, growing to his full size before her head began to dance back and forth, thrusting deep so that she felt him brushing the back of her throat. Her hands found new diversion in the soft caress of his testes and inner thighs, accentuating the sensual feast.

Her mouth felt him growing more significantly as he stiffened with imminent orgasm, whereupon the man pulled free, bringing her up to her feet. His length brushed against her thighs as he ran his hands over her breasts, tracing his fingers in whirls and spirals upon her.

A sudden turn span her about by the shoulders and he pushed her towards the bed. Mina rolled with the direction and flopped onto the soft mattress as the Noble removed his boots, bracers and trousers in full.

Naked, he climbed onto the bed and pushed her onto her back, acting forcefully. He drew her legs apart and grabbed her hands, lacing his fingers into hers and pinning them down beside her head. With sparkling eyes he watched her, guiding himself by feeling alone into her moist sex. With a pelvic jolt he filled her, opening her suddenly and entering deeply, causing Mina to arch her back, her mouth stretching wide with a silent gasp of rapture.

Holding her down, he kept his body above her by his grip, supporting himself on his arms as he thrust into her with slow relish. Mina locked her legs about him, the feeling of skin on skin adding to her delight. It felt wonderful to just be thrown down, held and ravished, no bondage, just control of her physique by another and her own willing submission.

Again the Titan dragged himself free, moving back and flipping her over onto her front. Mina offered some faint struggles of resistance as he took firm hold of wrists once more, and left herself vulnerable to the relish of having him use his strength to defeat the token offering of rebellion. Slamming her hands forward, stretching them high over her head, he placed the wrists over each other and used one hand to press down on both and capture them. The free hand took hold of his penis and guided it back into her, her parted legs shaking as he sheathed himself back into place, riding her, his hips slapping to her pert and welt-marked rear, reviving the bruises in soft murmurs of contused protest.

His hand rolled up her side, his nails presented to the skin to leave rosy scratches, prompting her to vent some soft squeaks at the grazing touch. The hand took hold of her mane of hair, enclosing a tight fist to it and pulling, her roots protesting vehemently as her head was craned back to its limits, lifting her breasts from the mattress, revealing her gasping face. Heady kisses adored her neck, the mixture of tender pecks and the stern haul to her scalp an intoxicating mixture of vivid sensations.

Continuing to ride into her, the hand fled her hair and cupped her chin before her features fell back to the mattress. He let fingers rise and enter her mouth, offering her them to suckle on, and Mina complied with fervour as Poseidon continued to ride her.

With such provocation Mina was jerking beneath him in climax in moments, her squawks of rapture spilling around his intruding fingers as he tightened his hold, keeping her captive as she cried out and broke into paroxysms. And when she felt him swelling with the approach of orgasm once more, she gained a repeat of the peaks of bliss, riding through her tumultuous pleasure before having it accentuated when his length spat warmth into her depths.

The holds upon her sagged slightly, and with a roll he collapsed at her side, the flight of his length folding Mina instantly into a spasming ball where she held to herself, fighting to endure the flares of sensation his departure had filled her with.

‘Bring me a collar and leash,' ordered Poseidon from his sprawled position. Mina looked across to the door to see if it were her being ordered, or as was more likely, the maids. One of them opened the door, letting new sounds of activity emerge from the workshop, and as she was still in the process of leaving, Poseidon amended his words. ‘And one of my robes.'

Together they lay in recuperation while the maid gained what she had been ordered to acquire, returning with a silken gown embroidered with flowing dark patterns of the sea and the trident in burning emerald across the back. The collar was a leather-studded affair, like one would place about the throat of a dangerous hound. The chain leash was already in place and the whole ensemble was handed to Poseidon as he arose with a disgruntled growl of effort. Climbing from the bed he extended his arms so that the maid might slide the gown onto him and then tie the belt into place.

‘Come here, slave,' he commanded, and Mina rose as well, stepping before him, her gaze lowered as he buckled the collar about her neck and ran the chain through his hand until he had hold of the leather hoop at the other end.

‘Come, let us see what's happening, slave,' he purred, walking towards the door, the maids following well behind as Mina was led from the room. She already suspected that this would be her quarters, the bed being of a right height and size to allow a pony-formed female to recline in meagre comfort when she was not being run on the treadmill.

Two older men in white coats were looking over the Pegasus uniform. Wearing gloves, masks, hoods and protective glasses they were obviously being careful to ensure nothing contaminated the mechanism. The wings were currently open and exposed, the white rubber skin peeled back as though being dissected, revealing the delicate interior. Drawn closer she looked across the array, her eyes assessing and identifying the components within from personal knowledge and intense study of the subject.