Chapter 4: Captives
She awoke groggily and found herself lying on soft mud, which was fortunately not damp. Felina opened her eyes and was startled to see only darkness. Waiting awhile for her eyes to adjust to the gloom, she struggled to recall how she had ended up in a place like this. The Lieutenant suddenly remembered that she had been at Pumadime setting the explosives and then the next thing that had happen was that she was running at full speed to duck behind a dead tree. After that, she recalled a force from the explosion that had made her fly backwards into a tree. Then in the blink of an eye, she had hit on something hard that had knocked her out and then she was falling like a rock in the sky. She recollected how frightened she had felt at that time everything went black when she had crashed onto the hard ground. Felina shivered at that thought. She didn't think she would ever wake up again.
Her head throbbed painfully as she struggled to get to her feet. Groping around blindly for some support, her hands touched something that felt like a concrete wall. Felina managed to stand up so that she could stretch her cramped body and she used the wall to prevent herself from losing her balance, as she was still a little dizzy. Felina glanced at her glow-in-the-dark watch, hoping to calculate the approximate time she had been unconscious. To her utter disappointment, she found that her watch had stopped ticking.
"Great!" Felina sighed in misery, "I don't know how long I've been here, I don't know how to get out of here and worst, I don't even know where 'here' is!"
She took off one of her gloves and reached out her hand to examine the wall and to her surprise, she found it damp and sandy. After more exploration, she determined that she was either in some kind of tunnel, which was under the forest or in a really complicated underground sewage system, which led to the sea. Felina prayed that it didn't lead to the sea because at high tide, she'd definitely be one wet kat.
Leaning against the wall, Felina's hands went straight to her transmitter to use it to radio for help but, unfortunately, it couldn't receive anything except for static. Of what little she knew of electronics, she concluded that it had been crushed by her fall. She abandoned the bulky and heavy equipment, and decided that she would have a better chance in finding her own way out rather than tinkering with it in the dark. Her search for a ladder of some sort that could lead her back to the outside turned out to be fruitless. Discouraged, Felina knew that her only choice now was either left or right and both ways seem to lead into endless darkness.
"Eeny, meny, miny, mo! Which way should Felina go?" she whispered softly.
Her hand pointed left at the end of her sentence, so she started to walk in that direction. After walking what seemed like half an hour, she saw a glowing light at the end of the tunnel.
Felina smiled. "Works like a charm every time, I think. Just hope I don't end up in more trouble." Crossing her fingers, she went forward to the source of light.
As she neared it, her sensitive cat ears picked up a strange machine-like humming noise. Instinctively, her hand went straight for her gun.
"Something's not right," she cautioned herself and proceeded slowly. "And I'm gonna find out what it is," she told herself despite her sorrowful looking state.
Cocking the gun as softly as she could, she raised it to her shoulder. With two hands on the handle of the gun and a finger on the trigger, she walked on and crouched down behind a large rock that was near the entrance of what seemed like a large cave.
As her eyes adjusted to the brightness, she saw a huge underground laboratory. The lab itself was the cave and the equipment sat on the muddy ground. She gapped with wonder at all the sophisticated equipment, which was laid out, in front of her eyes. But there was one machine that stood out from the rest. To her untrained eye, it looked like a simple ray gun only it was enlarged ten folds.
Suddenly, she heard approaching footsteps from behind. Swiftly, she turned a full one hundred and eighty degrees to confront her opponent. Felina pointed her gun into the dark ready to shot anything that stirred. To her surprise, a foot lashed out of the darkness and knocked the barrel of her gun before she could even pull the trigger. The force was so hard on her hands that she let go of her only weapon. Stunned for a few seconds, Felina started to reach for her gun ignoring the stinging pain in her hands.
"Freeze!" shrieked a metallic voice. "Don't you even think about moving a muscle. Now raise your pretty little paws where I can see them or I'll blow your pretty little head into pieces!"
Felina cursed furiously as she slowly raised her hands.
He laughed as he placed the barrel of his gun to her head. "Why Lieutenant Felina, I thought you'd have made an interesting challenge, but I guess I thought wrong!" teased the robot kat. "By the way, glad of you to have join us."
The android-kat led the Lieutenant haughtily into a small building, which was constructed at the farthest right-hand corner of the cave. On the way, they passed several smaller creatures. Each had a set of tiny but powerful wings, six insect-like legs, and a huge beak that was shaped like the pincers of a lobster. Felina recognised them to be the D'Airkats, most loyal servants to Darkat. They were the ones who had survived the plague on their home world and the journey through the rift, and they were the ones who have and always will blindly follow their leader, Darkat.
Opening the door to the room, Felina saw a large dark-robed figure interrogating another kat who was chained to the wall. Disturbed by the android's entrance, the figure swirled around and snarled angrily.
Slightly taken back, the downcast android-kat pulled a long face and stiffly bowed low, it's nose almost grazing the ground. "My lord Darkat, I have brought you yet another intruder."
The figure stepped out into the light and suddenly his mood changed as he smiled a satisfied smile. "It seems to me we have a serious pest problem. Not surprising by the fact that we are underground. However," he paused purposely to create a dramatic effect and then continued emphasising each word, "it is causing a great deal of time to extract the truth of their purpose of being here. A minor setback that I believe can be rectified. Herr Doktor, chain her up!"
Oh no! I've wandered straight into Darkat's lair. How could I have been so careless? Felina's spine tingled slightly with dread as she thought of what would happen to her if no one rescued her. However, with all her training and experience with the Enforcers, she managed to cover her fear by glancing menacingly at him. Only then, did she realise who the other kat was.
Ann Gora from Katseye News! What is she doing here? Felina thought as she was hauled towards the same wall Ann was chained on.
"Felina!" cried Ann as she struggled fruitlessly to free herself from the chains and then seemingly whispered to herself, "I knew the Swat Kats weren't involved in it."
Felina cast a look of confusion at Ann, but remained silent for she wanted to talk to Ann once her captors left the building.
"Herr Doktor!" commanded Darkat, "Why don't we show the ladies what we have installed for their city?"
The android laughed gleefully, as he ran off enthusiastically like a child fetching his latest toy.
As the Doctor wheeled the machine outside the large window of the small building so that the captives could see it, Darkat proudly raised his hands towards it and said, "This is what I call the Ultimate Computerised Mega-Laser Blaster! It can disintegrate any material it is programmed to destroy and at the same time, it can also be reflected off any material I program it to. It's a beauty, isn't it?"
"Looks like a piece of junk to me," Ann whispered to Felina.
Felina sniggered quietly, yet she replied sternly. "But it can do more harm than any other piece of junk."
"Very good Lieutenant! And guess what? If your uncle doesn't pay me the ransom I'm going to hold, one of you ladies will be the first to experience the power of this machine. I think I'll get rid of the stubborn one first," Darkat declared openly. "And you"- he pointed to Felina- "are going to have front row seats for answering smartly!"
As Darkat turned to leave the room, he fingered at a vague direction behind him and commanded to the grinning android. "Gag them!"
The android happily waltzed into the room with pieces of dirty clothes. Once he was sure that the two were securely gagged, he strolled out of the building and locked the door behind him.
As Felina glance melancholy outside the window, she saw the android fixing in the last parts of the machine with the help of the D'Airkats. She was beginning to think that no one would ever find her down there. And as she thought about it, it dawned to her suddenly that the rags in her mouth tasted sourly bitter.
She awoke groggily and found herself lying on soft mud, which was fortunately not damp. Felina opened her eyes and was startled to see only darkness. Waiting awhile for her eyes to adjust to the gloom, she struggled to recall how she had ended up in a place like this. The Lieutenant suddenly remembered that she had been at Pumadime setting the explosives and then the next thing that had happen was that she was running at full speed to duck behind a dead tree. After that, she recalled a force from the explosion that had made her fly backwards into a tree. Then in the blink of an eye, she had hit on something hard that had knocked her out and then she was falling like a rock in the sky. She recollected how frightened she had felt at that time everything went black when she had crashed onto the hard ground. Felina shivered at that thought. She didn't think she would ever wake up again.
Her head throbbed painfully as she struggled to get to her feet. Groping around blindly for some support, her hands touched something that felt like a concrete wall. Felina managed to stand up so that she could stretch her cramped body and she used the wall to prevent herself from losing her balance, as she was still a little dizzy. Felina glanced at her glow-in-the-dark watch, hoping to calculate the approximate time she had been unconscious. To her utter disappointment, she found that her watch had stopped ticking.
"Great!" Felina sighed in misery, "I don't know how long I've been here, I don't know how to get out of here and worst, I don't even know where 'here' is!"
She took off one of her gloves and reached out her hand to examine the wall and to her surprise, she found it damp and sandy. After more exploration, she determined that she was either in some kind of tunnel, which was under the forest or in a really complicated underground sewage system, which led to the sea. Felina prayed that it didn't lead to the sea because at high tide, she'd definitely be one wet kat.
Leaning against the wall, Felina's hands went straight to her transmitter to use it to radio for help but, unfortunately, it couldn't receive anything except for static. Of what little she knew of electronics, she concluded that it had been crushed by her fall. She abandoned the bulky and heavy equipment, and decided that she would have a better chance in finding her own way out rather than tinkering with it in the dark. Her search for a ladder of some sort that could lead her back to the outside turned out to be fruitless. Discouraged, Felina knew that her only choice now was either left or right and both ways seem to lead into endless darkness.
"Eeny, meny, miny, mo! Which way should Felina go?" she whispered softly.
Her hand pointed left at the end of her sentence, so she started to walk in that direction. After walking what seemed like half an hour, she saw a glowing light at the end of the tunnel.
Felina smiled. "Works like a charm every time, I think. Just hope I don't end up in more trouble." Crossing her fingers, she went forward to the source of light.
As she neared it, her sensitive cat ears picked up a strange machine-like humming noise. Instinctively, her hand went straight for her gun.
"Something's not right," she cautioned herself and proceeded slowly. "And I'm gonna find out what it is," she told herself despite her sorrowful looking state.
Cocking the gun as softly as she could, she raised it to her shoulder. With two hands on the handle of the gun and a finger on the trigger, she walked on and crouched down behind a large rock that was near the entrance of what seemed like a large cave.
As her eyes adjusted to the brightness, she saw a huge underground laboratory. The lab itself was the cave and the equipment sat on the muddy ground. She gapped with wonder at all the sophisticated equipment, which was laid out, in front of her eyes. But there was one machine that stood out from the rest. To her untrained eye, it looked like a simple ray gun only it was enlarged ten folds.
Suddenly, she heard approaching footsteps from behind. Swiftly, she turned a full one hundred and eighty degrees to confront her opponent. Felina pointed her gun into the dark ready to shot anything that stirred. To her surprise, a foot lashed out of the darkness and knocked the barrel of her gun before she could even pull the trigger. The force was so hard on her hands that she let go of her only weapon. Stunned for a few seconds, Felina started to reach for her gun ignoring the stinging pain in her hands.
"Freeze!" shrieked a metallic voice. "Don't you even think about moving a muscle. Now raise your pretty little paws where I can see them or I'll blow your pretty little head into pieces!"
Felina cursed furiously as she slowly raised her hands.
He laughed as he placed the barrel of his gun to her head. "Why Lieutenant Felina, I thought you'd have made an interesting challenge, but I guess I thought wrong!" teased the robot kat. "By the way, glad of you to have join us."
The android-kat led the Lieutenant haughtily into a small building, which was constructed at the farthest right-hand corner of the cave. On the way, they passed several smaller creatures. Each had a set of tiny but powerful wings, six insect-like legs, and a huge beak that was shaped like the pincers of a lobster. Felina recognised them to be the D'Airkats, most loyal servants to Darkat. They were the ones who had survived the plague on their home world and the journey through the rift, and they were the ones who have and always will blindly follow their leader, Darkat.
Opening the door to the room, Felina saw a large dark-robed figure interrogating another kat who was chained to the wall. Disturbed by the android's entrance, the figure swirled around and snarled angrily.
Slightly taken back, the downcast android-kat pulled a long face and stiffly bowed low, it's nose almost grazing the ground. "My lord Darkat, I have brought you yet another intruder."
The figure stepped out into the light and suddenly his mood changed as he smiled a satisfied smile. "It seems to me we have a serious pest problem. Not surprising by the fact that we are underground. However," he paused purposely to create a dramatic effect and then continued emphasising each word, "it is causing a great deal of time to extract the truth of their purpose of being here. A minor setback that I believe can be rectified. Herr Doktor, chain her up!"
Oh no! I've wandered straight into Darkat's lair. How could I have been so careless? Felina's spine tingled slightly with dread as she thought of what would happen to her if no one rescued her. However, with all her training and experience with the Enforcers, she managed to cover her fear by glancing menacingly at him. Only then, did she realise who the other kat was.
Ann Gora from Katseye News! What is she doing here? Felina thought as she was hauled towards the same wall Ann was chained on.
"Felina!" cried Ann as she struggled fruitlessly to free herself from the chains and then seemingly whispered to herself, "I knew the Swat Kats weren't involved in it."
Felina cast a look of confusion at Ann, but remained silent for she wanted to talk to Ann once her captors left the building.
"Herr Doktor!" commanded Darkat, "Why don't we show the ladies what we have installed for their city?"
The android laughed gleefully, as he ran off enthusiastically like a child fetching his latest toy.
As the Doctor wheeled the machine outside the large window of the small building so that the captives could see it, Darkat proudly raised his hands towards it and said, "This is what I call the Ultimate Computerised Mega-Laser Blaster! It can disintegrate any material it is programmed to destroy and at the same time, it can also be reflected off any material I program it to. It's a beauty, isn't it?"
"Looks like a piece of junk to me," Ann whispered to Felina.
Felina sniggered quietly, yet she replied sternly. "But it can do more harm than any other piece of junk."
"Very good Lieutenant! And guess what? If your uncle doesn't pay me the ransom I'm going to hold, one of you ladies will be the first to experience the power of this machine. I think I'll get rid of the stubborn one first," Darkat declared openly. "And you"- he pointed to Felina- "are going to have front row seats for answering smartly!"
As Darkat turned to leave the room, he fingered at a vague direction behind him and commanded to the grinning android. "Gag them!"
The android happily waltzed into the room with pieces of dirty clothes. Once he was sure that the two were securely gagged, he strolled out of the building and locked the door behind him.
As Felina glance melancholy outside the window, she saw the android fixing in the last parts of the machine with the help of the D'Airkats. She was beginning to think that no one would ever find her down there. And as she thought about it, it dawned to her suddenly that the rags in her mouth tasted sourly bitter.