Ashsib and the Cat Beast

Chapter Three

Ashsib opened his eyes, having to squint at the glare of overhead lights. He was restrained to an angled table, facing a blank wall.

He flexed against tethers and realized, "Oh, I've had this nightmare before."

"Still not dreaming." Namere's droll voice responded.

Looking around more fully, Ashsib found the P.O. Captain in the same situation as him. In the light, he had the full look of her. The long coat was gone, but her button up shirt was showing a lot less skin than the last time. She even looked less curvy. Her shaggy blond hair hung about her face but was shorn close at the base of her long neck. The main feature of her face was her nose, it jutted out from the fringe of her hair and came to a thin point. It showed signs of being broken several times, yet still ran straight. Namere met gazes with him, her dark blue eyes looked tired and worn. Her mouth, too, looked pensive. Honed by service, her limbs were well muscled and it was obvious, though no skin showed from the neck down. She'd look elegant if she wasn't so overworked.

"It's got to be some sort of drugs." She added, looking away, "I don't feel any after effects, but I can't think of any other way. It's like like a long blink you don't remember taking. Gas, maybe. I can't really check for a needle mark strapped down like this."

"Buh?" Ashsib felt lost, they had been in the cell, "We were in the cell..."

"We were." Namere agreed.

A door to the right opened and a man stepped into the room. He gave them a startled look before speaking.

"Hello." He smiled, "Bosiris sent me some new patients, how wonderful!"

"Bosiris? Is that the mastermind here?" Namere didn't seem shaken at all. Her voice was firm and sure, throwing words at the man with authority. Ashsib was a little jealous. She was unflappable. "Can we speak with them?"

"No need." The man in the lab coat kept his smile. Ashsib began to think the guy was high on something, especially considering what he said next. "Everyone goes to Bosiris in the end. It is the way things work. You'll have your purpose here first, but you'll go to Bosiris whether you want to or not."

"I don't want to die." Ashsib whimpered.

"It's better to visit the master dead, your pain will already be over." Neither option was a choice. "I'll just go into the work room and prepare for your initiation into Bosiris' ranks. We're furthering science here and while your stay will be short, it will also be very meaningful." He promised as he walked out of sight across the backs of their tables, "So don't fret." He began humming jauntily, the squeak of a door opening and closing muffling the tune.

"What is going on? Am I going crazy?" Ashsib sobbed hysterically. The urge to run, but being unable to, making his heart beat wildly. "I don't understand. I'm going to die? Why? For science? What science?"

"Calm yourself, Ashsib." Namere said quietly, "I'm not planning on submitting to death yet, are you?"

"No!" Ashsib cried.

"Then be still a few moments and I'll have you free." She assured him with another steady look.

"How? We're shackled to tables!" He thrashed.

Namere twisted up her face and made a sound like she was clearing phlegm from the back of her throat. Ashsib watched as her cheeks puffed with air and a small, shiny object shot from her mouth to her hand. A lock pick glittered in her grasp, which she angled to open the shackle on her wrist. Once one hand was free, the second wrist and leg cuffs were undone in mere moments.

"Y-you- what?" Ashsib gaped as the woman hopped down from the table and went the direction the humming was still coming from, out of sight.

"Ah, good, this door opens outward. We can block it with our tables, it ought to buy us time." Namere was unrushed as she came back into view to release him.

"Did you just throw up that lock pick?" Ashsib asked.

"Technically, I suppose I did, yes." She answered, making quick work of springing open Ashsib's restraints. She returned to her table and began to move it across the room as if it weighed nothing, "I thought it would come in handy, so I swallowed it in the cell."

Ashsib gave his table an experimental shove, it didn't budge. Namere pulled it out from under him and wedged it against the other in front of the back door.

"Been in this situation before?" He asked.

"You don't get to be an S.F. Captain without being prepared." She said, "Let's hope we can return to the cell block before we're discovered."

"Back to the cells? No way!" Ashsib disagreed, "Let's try and escape."

"I'm not leaving any of my own men locked up if I can help it." She looked down that long nose at him, "Plus, my job is to stop the kidnapping all together. I've got to find out what's going on here. Meeting Bosiris seems like a start."

"If you escape, you can return with more men." Ashsib reasoned. "They can't get off the island without you knowing while you call for back up, either."

"Go ahead, Ashsib, run away. No one will blame you. But I'm staying." She patted him on the shoulder, her eyes determined, before opening the other door and looking out. It was no wonder how she earned her position. She was ready for anything, and willing to follow orders to fault.

Ashsib followed the woman closely out into the corridor, "I'll just stick with you, thanks. I won't make it alone."

"Well, you aren't cowardly to the point of irrationality, are you?" She put in over her shoulder.

"Of course not!" Ashsib had his own prides, "Being afraid all the time, I can stay clear headed no matter the threat."

"You're confident about strange things, Ashsib." Namere said, motioning him one direction down the featureless corridor beyond.