CHAPTER ELEVEN : PRISONERS OF WAR

  The computer panel of the cargo ship gave out another series of beeps and whistles, the warning lights flashing as the cacophony of electronic alarms melded together in a disjointed melody that played lightly as Psi sang over the crackling speakers.

  "And as we wind on down the road..."

  Ramirez sighed as she paused running her long fingers through Gryphon's greasy hair. She tugged her hand away from the tangled strands and sniffed back the welling tears that still dominated her vision.

  "Our shadows taller than our soul..."

  "Psi, please stop..."

  "There walks a lady we all know..."

  Ramirez shook her head, knowing he wouldn't; he had been singing for the better part of their journey to god know's where. She knew they were heading for some sort of military installation. Their escort was still drifting alongside them, the US flag painted prominently on the wings with it's fifty-six stars.

  "Who shines white light and wants to show..."

  There was probably a way to shut down the audio output to the ship's computers, but the control panel was foreign to her. She was a warrior anyway, programming was Gryphon's expertise.

  "How everything still turns to gold..."

  Ramirez shuffled her weight as she sat on the cold metal flooring. Her leather top had become increasingly tighter over the past hour, making it more and more difficult to take in a deep breath. She heard the material stretch, fighting against the muscles of her chest and the firmness of her round breasts, as she tried.

  "And if you listen very hard..."

  She knew that she was beginning to grow faster, her size increasing at an accelerating rate. She was around nine feet tall when they had left the Necronomicon a little less than an hour before, she guessed she had swelled another two or three inches since then. If what Vanessa had said was true, she would eventually be growing a couple of feet in the same stretch of time.

  "The tune will come to you at last..."

  Ramirez spread her legs slightly farther apart; she had been sitting down in abject defeat, Gryphon's head in her lap, and they were beginning to cramp. She heard the faint sound of tearing and felt the pressure around her thighs begin to ease, the fabric splitting along one toned leg up to her widening waist. She looked down to see the firm swell of her toned buttock bulging through the top of the new tear. She sighed again.

  "When all are one and one is all..."

  Thoughts began to drift through her troubled mind, thoughts of their impending captivity. Where were they going? Why had Psi decided to defect? What was going to happen to them? Would they be taken from the ship? Locked away in some underground bunker? Or would they be kept on board under guard, trapped inside the shrinking prison?

  "To be a rock and not to roll..."

  Ramirez shuddered as she looked overhead toward the metal ceiling. The horrific image of the walls slowly closing in stained her eyelids, her body pressing against the unyielding bulkheads as she grew, her smooth legs bending as her feet pushed vainly against the side wall, her head bumping against the ceiling, forcing her to kneel forward, finally her broad shoulders pressing against the lowering roof, her muscular back straining to move upward as she continued to grow, never stopping, never.

  The console began to dim as the beeps and whistled wound down with the end of Psi's serenade. A computer screen began to brighten, one last chord sounding out electronically as his visage appeared like a ghost through a dense fog.

  "And she's buying a stairway ... to heaven."

  The cockpit went silent as Ramirez stared at the screen. Psi's eyes slowly swerved to gaze at her, watching her from his place in the console. The only sound was Gryphon's heavy breathing, his angular chest rising and falling in steady rhythm. She had watched the bruise form on his forehead, the broad swath of skin that collided with the bulkhead. It turned a deep purple, blackening in a few places, and quickly faded to a dull red before dissolving away, healing completely in the span of three minutes.

  Ramirez shrugged, unsure of how to start as Psi continued to stare at her patiently.

  "Why are you doing this?" She thought she saw him blink, or perhaps he squinted slightly at the audacity of her question. His face turned, as if glancing off into a far and beautiful horizon.

  "You know, I always thought that song was akin to that old adage 'you can't take it with you,' that the singer was pitying the woman for believing that all of the wealth that she had acquired in life could perhaps grant her the happiness she truly desired in the afterlife."

  "Psi, you've taken us from our crew. You've abandoned our ship and our friends. Why?"

  Psi just shook his head, not seeming to pay any attention to her pleas; she felt the familiar tears beginning to build once again.

  "But the more I've thought about it ... over these past few days ... I've come to realize that he actually envies her. He believes that she may know something that everyone else doesn't. Because she's checked through all of the double meanings in life, read all of the signs, and she is still sure that all that glitters is gold."

  Ramirez glanced down at Gryphon as he began to stir, moaning softly as his brow furrowed. His sweats had torn over the left buttock, shredding as he had shifted his weight on the floor he lay upon. The stitching was beginning to give way in the crotch, the bulge pressing against the fabric swelling bigger along with the rest of his growing body. Another gray strand snapped apart with a sharp pop and the dark skin of his manhood peeked through the forming hole. He nestled back down, sleeping peacefully as Psi continued.

  "As time goes on, the singer finds himself yearning for death and an escape from those 'voices whispering through rings of smoke' in his mental forest. He used to trust the songbird and thought that feelings of greed and wealth were misgiven; but now..."

  "What's the point to all of this Psi?"

  "... but now he's beginning to wonder."

  "Psi?"

  "DON'T YOU GET IT!"

  Ramirez felt her chest constrict, her breath catching in her throat. The screen flashed a malevolent red, outlining Psi's visage in a halo of anger that quickly faded, leaving her to doubt if she had actually seen it it all.

  "I've followed you all blindly for years, not realizing that I had a choice of two paths to walk on. I've chosen to change the road I follow during my long run. I don't want to follow an undisciplined piper with a scar on his face. I demand order and structure; I demand power. Like all of us, my stairway to salvation lies unsecured on a whispering wind, but I'm buying mine with the Necronomicon."

  Her cheeks ran hot with her falling tears, red and shining under the bright lights overhead. The back of her tightening shirt ripped slightly, the strong muscles tearing through as she slumped forward, her firm breasts pushing the loose leather further outward. Psi shook his head in mild disgust as he stared at her sitting pitifully.

  "And I'm buying it with you." The communications panel lit up as the circuits were reconnected and the grid reactivated. The satellite pinged, searching for a specific frequency, and a channel opened. "Psi to military escort."

  The speakers crackled, dominated by static as a lone voice tried to break through. Their speech was unintelligible, jargon that Psi seemed to comprehend as he quickly responded.

  "Thank you Colonel, let the General know he is welcome to the Necronomicon with my compliments; it shouldn't be that difficult to gain control of without the use of their defensive systems."

  Ramirez felt her heart sink, the blood rushing to her fingers and toes as a chill prickled her skin; she suspected that Psi had done something to the ship or they would have attempted a rescue by now. The US military was normally no match for the Necronomicon. She hoped her friends were all right. She prayed Robert was safe.

  "Let the General also know that I am about to unveil my 'little' surprise; something I'm sure he'll be ecstatic to have all of those military scientists of his to play with. We should be landing at Quayle Air Base outside of Hokkaido within thirty minutes. Have all necessary preparations ready."

  The communications panel switched off and Psi slowly turned his visage back towards Ramirez. His eyes were set in a low gaze while his mouth was stretched in an impatient frown.

  "What's going to happen to us?"

  "I think that human imagination of yours has already deduced what the military is going to do with you. They may be paranoid and homophobic; but, to paraphrase Alexander, they really know how to party when it comes to things they don't understand."

  Gryphon stirred once more, shuffling his body as it roused itself from unconsciousness. Ramirez propped him up and wiped a hand across his moist forehead. Psi lifted an electronic eyebrow as he started to smile.

  "Thank him later when he fully regains consciousness for me."

  "Why? What did he do?"

  "He helped me to see the light."

  Ramirez blinked, unsure of what he meant. Gryphon was starting to moan, his eyes shifting back and forth behind closed lids.

  "What are you saying? Psi? Psi!?!"

  She was answered with a blank screen. The retros were beginning to fire, rumbling with life. Their military escort veered away, giving the cargo ship the room it needed to make it's descent.

  Gryphon took one last, deep breath and blinked his eyes open. The blue of his irises were glazed, filled with the daze of confusion. He winced in slight pain and looked up to Ramirez.

  "What's happening?"

  She grimaced, shaking her head in disappointment.

  "That's what I'd like to know."

  Gryphon swallowed, unable to answer before the ship began to slow and the metallic walls of an air base landing pad began to loom out through the windows of the ship.

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