More Sleepy Adventures - Part 8
Sara
Bamboozle)
Ampere, of course had abilities very different from those of her young
protégé. Scanning her surroundings using her "natural" abilities,
somewhat augmented by the goggles she habitually wore, the heroine was
able to recognise the concealed entrance to the villains' lair.
Reasoning that a doorway that carefully hidden must lead somewhere
interesting, Ampere quickly disabled the electronic lock and stole
quietly inside.
Once more, she subtly exerted her powers, causing the electronic
sensors to ignore her presence. She moved as rapidly as caution
allowed, knowing that any delay on her part might put her young friend
in further danger.
After walking for some distance, Ampere came to a halt. Something
prickled at her subconscious. She couldn't immediately place what was
bothering her, but knew from bitter experience that she would be
foolish to ignore the sensation. Slowly she examined the narrow
corridor, all of her senses straining to detect some abnormality.
But fruitless seconds passed, and the heroine was none the wiser. Her
powers could sense no electronic devices, beyond the ubiquitous
cameras. Even increasing the magnification of her goggles to maximum
and engaging the image enhancement software didn't show any threats.
But still, she couldn't shrug off this feeling of danger.
Ampere steeled herself, her priority had to be finding Geist and
precious time was being wasted while she stood looking for an
apparently imaginary threat. The heroine took a deep breath, then began
to advance again, this time even more cautiously that before....
The trap didn't spring until Ampere had moved nearly 10 meters along
the corridor. She had no idea, but the floor beneath her was slowly
being warmed by her body heat. Her first idea that something was wrong,
was one her next step, when her leg sank into the floor, almost as far
as her knee.
She managed to keep her self from over balancing, instinctively trying
to keep her hands away from the ground as it seemed to melt under her.
Unfortunately, when she braced her other leg, in order to pull herself
free, that too sunk deeply into the soft floor. In moments, the heroine
found herself at the bottom of a deep indentation, the edges rising
more than a meter above her, and still the floor sagged lower around
her.
Ampere struggled to get out of the deepening hole. But her legs were
securely mired in place. At some point her hands had inadvertently come
into contact with the floor, and they too appeared to be melting into
the strange material. Somehow knowing it was futile, she fired bolts of
electricity, trying to loosen the grip on her limbs. But the heat of
her attacks only served to speed the process.
Soon the upper walls of her prison began to close together and she
continued to sink. For an instant, she was plunged into darkness, as
the opening sealed shut, effectively containing the heroine in a large
bubble. Then, almost as suddenly, pale light glowed through the walls,
illuminating the prison, and drawing a gasp of surprise from Ampere....
She was in another chamber, apparently beneath the corridor. Her
bubble-prison hung suspended from the ceiling, numerous pipes linking
it to containers and tanks. Looking through the transparent walls,
Ampere estimated that there were probably at least 3 more traps like
this one which fed into this room.
The heroine was shocked from her reverie by a faint "hissing"
sound. It appeared to be coming from somewhere above her, but she
couldn't find the source. Not knowing what this new development
meant, but assuming the worst, Ampere began to tug on her trapped
limbs. The strange material clung tenaciously to her, and her exertions
only served to hasten the effects of the gas.
Ampere was panting hard by now, each breath drawing more of the
narcotic into her lungs. She began to feel her fatigue building, but at
first didn't recognise this as anything other than her body's
response to the exercise. It was only when her vision began to dim, and
her head began to swim, that the heroine began to realise that
something was wrong with her. Of course, by then it was far too late.
She tried to control her breathing, but with her limbs still trapped,
there was no way for her to escape the gas. Her eyelids began to
flicker closed, and each time she was able to force them open, it
became a little harder, and they stayed closed a little longer.
Eventually, they didn't open at all. Ampere's breathing slowed,
became more regular and deep, speeding the process. Finally, with a
soft moan of resignation, the proud heroine slumped into darkness, a
deep, dreamless sleep enveloping her. Her last conscious thought
wasn't worry for her own fate, but rather despair as to who would
rescue Geist now? ....