The large ugly boxlike vehicle hovered noisily across the
desert floor at a speed that large ugly boxlike things,
generally speaking, do not manage to achieve. If one were
to examine this particular vehicle, they would come to
realize that this was a government large ugly boxlike thing.
Inside the gunmetal gray vehicle, two women were failing to
have a conversation. One of them, sitting at a rather worn
looking computer panel, was about five foot eleven inches of
rather annoyed looking government employee. She looked
about twenty-five, although in truth her actual age fell
somewhere in the vicinity of one hundred twenty five, and
had an almost Asian appearance. She seemed to be doing
everything in her power to make it look as if she wasn’t
doing everything in her power to ignore her younger
companion. She was actually doing a fairly good job at it,
a fact that may have registered with said companion, if the
younger woman wasn’t busy effortlessly ignoring her.
The younger woman, busily reading a safety pamphlet for the
seventh time, was about five foot five, with reddish blond
hair, and an even more annoyed look on her face. She looked
about twenty-three and was, in reality, exactly that. Every
now and then she would reach up and twirl her hair around
her finger, a habit that was quickly beginning to wear thinwith her elder.
Just as the older woman looked up to say something an alarm
in the front of the cabin began going off with a steady
staccato whining sound. Both women looked in the direction
of the cockpit and finally the alarm squawked to silence.
“What’s that mean?” Asked the younger.
“We’re within fifteen minutes of the ‘port.” Answered theolder.
Another short silence followed. So far, however, this had
been the longest conversation the two had had.
“Ok. I give. What are we doing way out here? Someone
running an illegal sand smuggling operation?”
The older, Landra, looked shocked for a moment. “No one
even told you why you’re here?”
“No, I was literally taken straight from the graduation
reception, bundled into a shuttle, sent to Central Station,
issued a weapon, a comm, and a snake bite kit, and dropped
into this.. This… Thing.“Mobile Armored High Risk Transport Vehicle. No one
mentioned anything?”“Nope, not a thing. Is that M.A.H.R.T.V. For short?”
“No, it’s a piece of shit for short. It’s so out-dated that
we’d be better off with a camel. I don’t believe this!”
Landra closed her eyes and shook her head.
With a sigh she motioned for Dianne to come over by the
console. Dianne got up, tossed aside the under-detailed
emergency exit diagram and joined Landra by the screen. On
it an image of a molecule was rotating and information that
no one without at least five degrees in advanced
hyperchemistry could possibly understand.
“You ever hear of Maxim Glue?” Asked Landra as soon as
Dianne had settled into the chair next to hers.
“Didn’t they have a hit with that song called ‘Baby I loveyour groove thang’?”
The glare Landra issued Dianne was lost, as Dianne wasn’t
looking at her, but at the seemingly endless complexity of
the molecule on the screen.“Be serious. Maxim Glue was originally a military
experiment to find an adhesive that could be used to repair
any equipment in the field with a strong, dependable, bond.
The original version was, at the time the strongest adhesive
known to man. It was invented in the nineteen seventies by
government researchers. Unfortunately, it had a tendency to
break down too quickly and at the most awkward times.
“Then, during the early part of the twenty first century, a
corporation, experimenting with the concept of
indestructible fibers, stumbled upon a liquid that turned
out to be the ultimate adhesive.”
Dianne looked at her nails and started to say; “Great!You think I could-“
Landra interrupted her before she could finish the smart-ass
question. “Without fully knowing what they had created they
marketed it as ‘Maxim Glue’, the strongest glue ever. It
was quickly discovered that not only was it strong, it was
absolutely permanent. No solvent could remove it and it
never wore off. It was quickly pulled off the market after
several people ended up getting stuck to things… or otherpeople... For ever.”
“That’s impossible. No glue could be absolutely permanent.
Skin cells flake off, it would come loose after a fewdays.” Dianne blurted out.
Landra gave her a half-glare and continued. “That’s the
difference with Maxim Glue, it works on a subatomic level,
plus it regenerates, it’s almost alive.”
“Alive?” Dianne asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Not quite, it’s not organic or anything and it doesn’t
breathe, but it never comes off.”
“So how do they get it out of the tube?” She askedsarcastically.
“Static lining, nothing to stick to. Now shut up and
listen. The company eventually went bankrupt after some
vengeful employee glued the CEO to… Well never mind.
Somehow the recipe got out. It seems every few years some
jackass manages to make or find a batch and has nothing
better to do than play pranks on innocent young women.Rather permanent pranks.”
“Like what?”Instead of answering Landra punched a few buttons and
brought a new image up on the screen. It was a security
video of a shuttle station. A tall slender woman wearing a
very short skirt and tank top was walking in from the right
carrying a heavy looking tote bag. She glanced at her watch
and sat down on a metal bench, looking relieved to be rid of
the weight of the bag. She extracted a book and began
reading. There was a part of the video that was obviously
sped up for a few seconds that slowed again when a dark man,
wearing an obviously fake beard, sunglasses, and a thigh
length coat entered. He glanced at the woman and continued
walking until he was directly behind her, where he stopped
and knelt to apparently tie his shoe. From the angle, all
that could be seen was he taking something out of his
pocket. He paused there, for about six seconds, replaced
the item in his pocket and continued on his way.
“Her life has just been ruined for ever.” Landra commented.
Dianne was about to say something when the video sped up
again. When it slowed the woman glanced at her watch again,
at the exact same time a voice announced, “All passengers
for Trade Plaza Station, please proceed to embarkation lobby
17b.” The woman put her book back in the tote, zipped it up
and utterly failed to stand up. A puzzled look crossed over
her face as she tried once again to stand, only to be pulled
back down to the bench. This time she set her bag down,
braced her hands on the seat back, and pushed again. Even
from the angle of the camera, thousands of thick yellow
strands could be seen between her body and the bench. A
little nervously now she planted her hands on the seat andpushed again.
“Hold on, I think there’s audio enhance on this one.”
Landra clicked a few more buttons and suddenly the girlcould be heard.
“Unnnggghhh!” She grunted as she tried to pry herself offthe bench.
A little fear was beginning to show on her face as she
twisted and tugged, trying to free herself from the bench,
which mysteriously held her. But no matter how she tried,
her body remained firmly planted where it was. A little
whimper could be heard as she threw her weight forward, butremained stuck.
It was at this point that a man walked up and asked if she
was Ok. She looked a little sheepish and said “I’m stuck!”
The Man offered her his hands and she took them, he pulled
with all his strength as she tried desperately to stand, but
neither of them could separate her from the metal.
The man said “Don’t take this the wrong way, but why don’t
you just take off your skirt?”
“It’s soaked through to my skin! I can’t take it off!
Please help me! I’ve got a shuttle to catch!” She said
with panic obviously creeping into her voice.
The man walked to the back of the bench and grabbed her
under her arms, with her pushing down on the seat with her
hands, together they started trying to free her of her
sticky prison. The girl squirmed and twisted her body, but
remained fused to the spot. This went on for about a
minute, tears were running down her face and she was on theverge of hysteria.
“Unnngggghhh! Aahhhhggghhhh!” They both grunted, suddenlythe sound went off.
Landra turned to Dianne as the woman struggled silently on
the screen, “Needless to say, she never caught that Shuttle,
or ever managed to get free of the bench. The guy with the
Glue was caught, but never said where he got it. Anyquestions?”
Dianne sat uncharacteristically silent and pale for a
moment, shuddered, and finally asked: “So what does thishave to do with us?”
“We’re going to confiscate a batch.”
“What?!” She said with horrified surprise. “Why Us?!?”
“Because we’re agents, it’s our job.”“Shouldn’t they send in a chem team?”
“We have full chem suits and facilities in the transport.”
“But.. But…” Diane was at a loss for words. She realized
there was no reason she shouldn’t be here. She had taken
chem training; she was horribly, horribly, qualified.
Landra gave her a half smile. “Relax, apparently all that
really happened was a couple of canisters got beamed here a
few years ago and have been sitting here ever since. We
just have to pick them up. No problem, this is a milk run.
A good starter mission for you.”
“So why did we have to land so far away? Why couldn’t we
have just landed there?”
“Because it’s a matter transport distribution station. It
sends and receives things from all over the place via matter
stream. If we had gotten too close we would risk getting
hit by one. Have you ever crashed at the speed of light?”
“No, but I was at this party once and they were serving
these drinks that-“ Dianne was suddenly interrupted by
another alarm from the cockpit, followed by a sickening
feeling of sudden deceleration and finally a jarring thud as
the craft lowered itself ungracefully to the ground.
“We’re here.” Landra gave a sigh. Then gave Dianne astrange look.“What?”
“Is that armor?” She asked indicating her tee shirt.
“What? No, of course not! Why would I need armor? You’renot wearing any.”
“Yes I am.” She said as she unbuttoned her jacket to reveal
a government label. It’s an indestructible material that is
designed to look exactly like a normal suit. The jacket,
the skirt, even the stockings, shoes and underwear is all
made of the same stuff. You mean you weren’t issued armor?”
“No, as I said, I was bundled into a shuttle right after
graduation from the academy.”
“Phillip Fucking Downing! What the hell are they trying to
do?!? Get you killed?” Landra paced back and forth for a
moment shaking her head when finally she stopped and thought
a moment. “All right, Ok. There’s a spare set from my old
partner in the back. It’s a bit small but you should just
manage to squeeze into it. Go put it on.”
As she got up Dianne paused. “I thought you said we hadnothing to worry about.”
“I did not say that. I said it wouldn’t be a problem. Go
put it on.” Sensing Dianne’s further hesitation she added:
“There are snakes. ‘Nuff said?”
Fifteen minutes later the hatch of the transport opened and
the two women stepped out onto the sun-parched soil. Dianne
kept fidgeting with her rather tight fitting clothing. She
had barley been able to zip the skirt up and as for the
blouse, it was a little more constrictive that she would
have preferred. Having to change in a tiny room with two
bulky chem suits hanging on the wall hadn’t helped either;
it was like having to change in a telephone booth while two
other people used the phone. Thank god the material was
indestructible, because if she had to do any exaggerated
activity it otherwise would have ripped. She made one final
check of her weapon in her pocket-holster and followed
Landra across the dirt road towards the small dwelling.
“I thought these places were automated.” She said as she
observed a robot lifter emerge from one of the enormous
underground warehouses and haul off towards the mainreceiving building.
“They are, but there’s always at least one person on hand in
case something goes wrong. They’re usually pretty…eccentric.”
“You mean he’s nuts.”At that point a door slid open on the side of the small
building and a lone figure stood in the shadow of the
doorway. “I like to think of myself as socially unique.”It said.
“Oh!…” Said Dianne, and instantly felt embarrassed.
“Don’t worry, if people’s opinions mattered to me I’d still
be living out there.” Said the man as he stepped from the
shadows. He had an older face, not wrinkled, but textured.
It was a friendly face, someone that you might expect to
find playing Santa Claus in a movie.
Introductions were quickly made and they all proceeded
inside. Once situated in the cozy living room where an
offer of drinks was politely refused. A few minutes of
mindless chatter later and Landra finally managed to get tobusiness.
“Canisters you say? Hmm.. I have no idea, the machines take
care of most of the day to day. How long ago did you say it
was?” Asked Tate (he insisted they call him that even
though his name was Richard).“About two years ago. These would be high security
canisters, with a computer lock and level 5 containment.”
“That means nothing to me I’m afraid, but if they were
miss-shipped here two years ago, they’d be in shed 12.
You’re welcome to search around if you’d like.”
“Thank you, I think I’ll just do that Mr. Tate. Dianne, why
don’t you stay here and in case Mr. Tate rememberssomething.”
Dianne looked up at Landra with a look of dread on her
face. But still managed to say “Ok, good luck” in a
somewhat pleasant tone of voice.
After Landra had left, Tate once again offered Dianne adrink.
“No thank you, we can’t drink on duty.”
“Oh no of course not, the drink I was referring to was
simply water. It’s rather dry out there and seeing as how
your friend left you here to converse with a somewhat senile
and boring old man, I thought at least you’d like somethingto wet your whistle.”
Dianne simply smiled and accepted the glass offered to her.
“Say, have I ever told you the theory behind matter
teleportation? Of course not, you’ve only just arrived.
Well, It all starts with…”
After about 3 hours of searching, Landra still hadn’t found
the canisters. When Tate had suggested she search, he had
failed to mention that this “shed” was about five square
miles of junk crammed mess. Nothing was organized in any
recognizable fashion. She was about ready to give up when
she spotted them, sitting under a large shuttle that was
being suspended on dangerously flimsy looking supports. She
was nervous about walking around under it but reasoned that
the supports must be sound enough to risk such an expensive
and heavy looking item.At first Landra couldn’t figure out why it was up on
supports at all, until she noticed the antennae arrays on
the underside. It was obviously never intended to land.
After she double-checked that the ship was indeed secure,
she took out her comm and called Dianne. There was no
response, which worried her to a point, but she just figured
the rookie had just forgotten to turn it on.
Landra approached the canisters and crouched down beside the
closest. In the back of her mind she thought about how
these things always reminded her of old fifty-five gallon
drums with calculators stuck to the sides. She was suddenly
shocked when she realized that these were, in fact,
fifty-five gallon drums with calculators stuck to the
sides. They were simply made up to look like high security
canisters with foam rubber and red paint.
Standing up she took a moment to ask herself why someone
would go to the trouble when the answer became horribly
apparent. Landra turned to go, and almost fell right on her
face. Her feet wouldn’t move! It was as if they had fused
themselves to the floor. With a little more twisting and
tugging she finally decided to simply take them off and try
to pry them off by hand.Sliding her stocking clad feet out of the pumps she bent
over and gripped her right shoe, but no matter how much
tugging and pulling she did, she couldn’t budge it. A
chemical odor wafted up and immediately she realized why her
shoes were stuck. Someone coated the floor with glue! It
didn’t smell like Maxim glue, but it was obviously strong
enough to withstand anything she did to try to free them.
It suddenly dawned on Landra that this was a trap, a stupid
trap that she had literally walked into like a rookie.
What’s more, she was still standing in glue, her stocking
clad feet were still stuck to the floor. Over seventy years
with the agency and she had stumbled into… What was the
point of this trap anyway? If someone were sneaking up on
her she would have heard them by now, but all was silent.
The silence was suddenly broken by the sound of metal
scraping against concrete somewhere to the left of her.
Instinctively she spun (as far as her stuck feet would
allow) and drew her weapon only to see and antenna slowly
being crushed between the floor and the ship over her head.
“Oh SHIT!” She cursed.
Someone had released the pneumatic supports and the ship was
slowly lowering itself to the ground… Right on top of her!
Landra knew she had to get away, but was unsure how far the
glue reached; It wouldn’t do any good to take off her
stockings and jump, only to get her bare feet stuck too.
But if she didn’t, she would defiantly die.
Landra decided to risk it. Peeling her nylons down her legs
she quickly holstered her weapon and made a desperate leap.
She landed hard but in control and was relieved to note that
she wasn’t sticking to the floor anymore. She was, however,
far from safe, the ship was still lowering itself down,
making a terrible screeching sound as it destroyed the
various protrudances on it’s Underside. There was barley
enough room to walk crouching now as Landra struck out at an
awkward run. She threw herself forward the last ten feet
and rolled out from under the dying ship. It finally
settled itself atop it’s own decimated antennas, the fake
canisters, and her stuck shoes.
Landra allowed herself a moment of relief and took a deepbreath.
“Dianne!” She remembered. She had left her up there with
that psycho! She took off running barefoot across the
warehouse; to what she was certain would be a disaster.
On the surface again, Landra ran towards the dwelling,
hoping she wasn’t too late. Just before she got there the
door gently slid open and Dianne came stumbling out,
squinting bleary eyed in the sun.“Are you All right?” Shouted Landra.
“Huh? Oh, yeah.. Must have dozed off.. Why wouldn’t I be?”
Landra quickly summed up her near death experience to an
increasingly paling Dianne.“You didn’t suspect anything when you started to get
sleepy?” Asked Landra.
“No, he was going on about teleportation theory. I pretty
much slept through all those classes at the academy too.”She said.
“The water was probably drugged to get you out of the way so
our friend Tate could deal with me. Go radio this in, I’llkeep watch.”
Without argument Dianne stepped into the vehicle while
Landra stood outside waiting. Suddenly She heard a shriek
from inside the craft. Landra drew her weapon and bolted
inside to find Dianne sitting with on a chair with apanicked look on her face.
“What’s wrong?” Landra asked, scanning the interior of thevehicle for danger.
“I… I…” Dianne was near tears now, “This uniform was so
tight and kept tugging at me, so I thought I’d at least take
off the jacket while I used the radio. But it won’t come
off. I tried to take the shoes off, but they’re stuck! I
can’t take anything off! What’s happening?!” Dianne
clutched at the shoe again, but it wouldn’t budge.
Landra knelt down beside her and looked closely at the
offending piece of footwear. She took it in her hand and
pulled, but it didn’t move. She then did something that
puzzled Dianne, even in her terrified state. She lowered
her nose to Dianne’s foot and smelled it. Landra’s eyes
widened and she stood up again with a grim look on her face.“I’m sorry kid.”
“What? What’s wrong? Why can’t I get out of these shoes?”
she asked in a tone of voice that wasn’t far from tears.
“Maxim Glue. He coated your shoes with Maxim glue while you
slept. Probably the rest of your armor too, the sickfucker.”
“No..” Dianne said in a tiny voice. “NO!” She screamed
and stood up. She began tugging and pulling at various part
of her suit, trying desperately to pull them off, with nosuccess.
“It’s no use, that stuff is-“
“NO! Oh fuck! Help me! I’m stuck! Get this thing off of
me! Fuck, help me!” She screamed, tears flowing freely.
She reached down to the buttons of her coat, only to find
they wouldn’t unbutton. She tried to lift the coat off of
her, it wouldn’t move. She reached down and tried to pull
her skirt down, only to find it was fused to her legs and
waist. She tried to pull her stockings off, but they too
were permanently attached to her. She squirmed and
strained, but the outfit was there to stay.
Dianne collapsed in the chair and began sobbing. “What am I
going to do? I’m stuck forever. Forever..” She rolled the
word around a couple of more times, trying to grasp the
meaning. This suit would be part of her body for… Forever.
She would be buried in it. She would be married in it. She
would kill Tate in it at any rate.
“Look,” Said Landra, unaccustomed to being sympathetic, “If
you want to lay down for a while, I’ll go get Tate. I meanif you-“
“No.” Interrupted Dianne. “You’ll need help. I don’t want
you to end up like me or worse.” She had a calm quality to
her voice that Landra wasn’t sure she liked. Still, under
the circumstances, she supposed it would be wiser if she hadback up.
“Can I trust you? I mean not kill him.”“Would you stop me?”
Landra didn’t have an answer.
Instead she said, “The main computer’s in shed one. That
would be the most likely place for him to go.”
Ten minutes later both women were standing outside the
control room door, large crates and pieces of equipment
loomed in the semi darkness of the shed. So far there hadbeen no sign of him.
“I’m going to go check the computer, you watch the door.”
Landra said. When Dianne gave her a look she added, “I
don’t want him sneaking up on us while we’re in there.”
Dianne reluctantly agreed and stood by the door.
The Control room was a rather large room with a single
terminal on the far end. The floors, ceiling and walls all
looked to be made of green circuit boards, a design Landra
found instantly obnoxious as the solder points poked at her
bare feet, making them itch. Every now and then she would
step on two points that had current running through them and
receive a little shock on her soles.
Since there was no chair she stood at the console and typed
in the activation command. A soft voice flooded the room,
“Please state your name and clearance code.”
“Agent Landra, government over ride code: Additional,0001-00420”
There was a short pause. “Invalid code. Warning,
unauthorized access of this terminal will result in level
nine security implementation. Please state your name andclearance code.”
That should have worked, thought Landra, and what the hell
was level nine security? Never the less, she repeated her
code, this time more slowly.“Invalid code. Don’t say you weren’t warned.”
“Computer, what is-“ Suddenly the door slid shut and the
lights dimmed. “What the hell?!?” Shackles sprang out from
the floor and snapped shut around her ankles, Landra
screamed in outrage but it did no good. As soon as her feet
were secure, several smaller shackles wrapped themselves
around each individual toe.
Landra tried to pull her feet free but it was far too late.
The room had her in a vice like grip. She tried to twist
her feet free, regardless, but soon found that impossible.
She was about to try to pull the shackles open by hand when
she felt some kind of liquid being forced between her feet
and the floor, even between her toes. She didn’t need three
guesses to figure out what it was.“Shit!”
Then, just as suddenly as they sprang up, the ankle shackles
released her and sank back into the floor. Her toes,
however, remained prisoners. Landra found she could lift
her feet, but the section of the floor that was directly
around it came along, held on by the toe shackles and the
adhesive. She looked at her feet; it appeared she was
wearing a pair of green flip-flops that didn’t flip or flop,
just sort of clung to her feet. She reached down and tried
to slide the left one off her foot.
“Unnnggghh! Dammit! Uh! Come off you fucking little..
Urrgghh! Get… Off… My… foo-Oww!” Landra let go of the
“shoe” abruptly when she received an unexpected electric
shock. “What the hell was that?!”“That,” Said the soft voice, “Was a warning.”
“Tate?”“Correct. I feel it only fair to warn you that those new
shoes of yours are capable of dispensing enough voltage to
flash fry an elephant, if you try to come anywhere near methat is.”
“You son of a bitch!” She screamed. “I’ll see you shot forthis!”
“Hmm.. Such language. Well, I wouldn’t try it myself if I
were you. Those things are programmed to zap you if you
come within three clicks of me. They’ll turn you into toast
if you so much as touch me, assuming you aren’t already
passed out from the current. Oh and I almost forgot the
best part, their quite, quite permanent.”
Landra was trembling with rage. She drew her weapon and
fired it at the console several times. Flashing bolts of
deadly energy issued forth and made short work of the nowblackened computer.
“Feel better?”“I’ll feel better on the day you’re dead.”
“Well, that won’t be for quite some time. But anyhow, I’ve
really got to get going. As you probably guessed I’m
nowhere near the ‘post. I’ve got to meet some associates to
negotiate the selling of a certain, sticky substance.”
“You mean terrorists.” Said Landra, not bothering to
disguise the loathing in her voice.
“I prefer to think of them as highly motivated, ultra
extremist pro-active demonstrators for their cause. Have a
nice life. Both of you.” And with a click the room was
silent again save for the occasional popping sound of thenow charred console.
Landra, ignoring her years of practical experience with
Maxim Glue, continued trying to pull her feet free from the
shoes, knowing full well that she was stuck in them
forever. She tried to get her fingernails between the skin
and the sole, but the two seemed inseparable. She needed
some kind of lever, she thought, and spotted a relatively
intact strip of metal sticking out of the otherwise ravaged
console. Landra crawled over to it and pulled it free.
Forcing it as far between her foot and the device as she
could, she pulled the metal toward herself with all her
strength, and screamed in pain when it felt like her skin
was being ripped off. After she had recomposed herself
Landra leaned over to inspect the damage. Fortunately it
appeared to not even have broken the skin, it just hurt likehell.
“Landra?” Came Dianne’s voice from across the room.
Apparently some time while she had been struggling with her
new prisons the door had opened.
Landra quickly stood up, wiped the tears from her eyes and
simply said, “Lets Go.” In a quiet, defeated voice.
“What happened? Where’s Tate? What the hell do you have onyour feet?”
Landra simply walked past her, lost in her own thoughts.Epilogue-
A large ugly boxlike thing glided across the desert floor.
The two occupants sat in silence. Much that was unsaid had
already passed between them, now there was simply a tense
silence. More than one tear went intentionally unnoticed bythe other.
Not a word passed between the two the entire trip. When
they finally arrived, each went their own way, knowing full
well their fates would ultimately be the same. As the
abandoned boxlike thing was loaded into a transport ship
amid the chaos of what appeared to be a full-scale invasion,
a single file was open on the small console. It described a
place, an extremely secret place. This place was simplycalled “The Center”.
Both women would eventually go there, but for all the help
it offered, it would never be enough.
