The Quandary



Contents TOC \h \u \z The Quandary PAGEREF _Toc48377219 \h 4The Raid PAGEREF _Toc48377220 \h 6The Precinct PAGEREF _Toc48377221 \h 8The Plate PAGEREF _Toc48377222 \h 10The Interrogator PAGEREF _Toc48377223 \h 12The Question PAGEREF _Toc48377224 \h 14The Scan PAGEREF _Toc48377225 \h 16The Freak PAGEREF _Toc48377226 \h 18The Prep PAGEREF _Toc48377227 \h 20The Punch out PAGEREF _Toc48377228 \h 23The Nut-cracker PAGEREF _Toc48377229 \h 26Win or endure? PAGEREF _Toc48377230 \h 29rightbottom00Featuring@Nathan Mozango as JaseGuillem Clave as Garth0000Jase has hero-worshipped his Pop’s best buddy since he was a boy. What was there not to admire in Uncle Bob? Like his Pop, an elite SF warrior. Risking his life. Risking capture. And worse if that did happen. As tough as they came and tougher. Uncle Bob’s physique was the holy grail for Jase. His inspiration every time he picked up weights in the gym. The driving force that kept Jase going when every muscle begged him to stop.Jase fantasised. Alone, in the privacy of his room. What it must be like to be an Uncle Bob. How much that toughness could absorb. What lengths Uncle Bob had been put to when under duress. And always that thought …. What would it take ….? Where was the snapping point?Jase had first started envisioning his hero as He-Man. Searching to find his hero’s tantalising breaking point. He-Man .. and then other action heroes of his teenage years had followed. As a young man now, still he was fascinated by that temptation. Stretching Uncle Bob to the limits. Unimportant that finally Uncle Bob would break … yes, always it was Jase who broke him. And of course, he broke, this was Jase’s fantasy, he planned it so. But did that matter? It was the journey, it was the exploration. Probing. Teasing himself in the search for that breaking point. When Jase finally bested his hero. Jase fancies Uncle Bob stuck in an inescapable dilemma. Where his appearance evokes fear. And where fear provokes violence. Transmuting his real-life hero into the fictional time-traveller Garth. Erratically teleported through galaxies. Transported to other times with no control over where he arrived. In the privacy of his room, Jase has fantasised. Jase putting his hero again under duress. Out of time. Out of this world.? ?? ? ? ? ?? ? ? ? ?? ? ?The Quandary0-190500A real quandary. He was up the creek and no paddle. If they were going to use these tools to interrogate him .. and recent experience with these goons taught he had no reason to doubt .. they'd already demonstrated how effective their equipment was .. what had Garth got to tell them? Interrogate him .. and tell them what?When the results came through from that so-called scan …. What was THAT going to tell them about what he was? How were they going to react as to where he came from? They were reacting to him like he was some kind of freak .. he could hardly blame them for that. If they knew the truth about him, how would they take the news? When the scan results just left them confused .. and feeling threatened because they didn’t understand them … what were they going to do about it? Fear led to violence. Already they'd shown distrusted him like hell. And they weren't shy about using force.They had him “prepped”. All ready to go. Let the questioning begin! That Interrogator had left Garth with his thoughts till the results came through. Classic technique … let the nerves do the work. Old as the hills .. Garth in his travels had met in it galaxies everywhere … classic, but that didn't mean it didn't work.Left to consider his position .. all prepped for their interrogation to start. So when they came back asking questions .. what the hell did he tell them? About how he'd got here. About what a man looking the way he did was doing here. These cops were every bit as built as he was. But they were an elite, special. It stood to reason they had to think this "freak" arriving out of nowhere, looking as muscle-menacing as they did .. he had to be something special too, didn’t he? People had gawked at him like he came from another planet. He DID. Another galaxy. Beyond a time warp. So how could he persuade them they had nothing to worry about from him? He’d tried that and look where it had got him. What did he say to convince them? To get himself off this hook? Tell them he was a time traveller? Tell them Time-and-Space had just dumped him here? That he had no control over where he turned up? They were going to believe THAT! Time-travel. Freak. Words that hardly rang reassuring for him.That young guy in charge … he was no fool. He'd never buy a cock-and-bull story like that. He wasn't going to believe any fantasy time-travel story, was he? Not that his goons mattered as much … but the way they looked at him .. "freak" was what they called him. They'd never believe him, he was selling them lies. And they’d treat him accordingly. They'd "squeeze the truth out of him". His story about time-travel would be giving the goons just the excuse they were looking for. For pissing them around. If he insisted on playing hardball, they'd squeeze till the truth popped out of him. These tools they'd got him fixed into .. they were going to come in real handy. He'd had them demonstrated. Not that the young guy leading them needed any excuse. He was driven. Committed. As far as he was concerned, Garth was hiding something. And he was going to prise every secret out of him.But what else could he tell them? He WAS a time-traveller. He HAD just arrived, he had no idea how he’d got here. He hadn't the foggiest where he was. Which galaxy was he in? He hadn't the first idea of his location, he had nothing with which to build a plausible alibi. What did he know that would help construct some kind of story that young man could believe? How the hell did he get himself out of this fix? Without getting tortured out of his skin.? ?? ? ? ? ?? ? ? ? ?? ? ?The Raid4699031051500First thing Garth knew ….. he woke up in bed .. noise outside, men’s voices shouting and yelling, women screaming. It was first light .. a vague light coming in through the shutterless window. Noise outside had woken him. Harsh yelling. Men bawling. Women wailing. Pandemonium. Next to him, the girl came awake with a start. Garth had already got up, in just his undershorts. He had no recollection of going to bed with her.She looked surprised seeing him in her room. Surprise turned to wide-eyed shock. She looked at him. A beautiful girl, black-skinned. He wouldn’t have minded a night with her. But at the sight of him, she could looked like she could have died from the shock.. Before anything could be said, the noise was closer, in the corridor outside. Curious at the harshness, Garth looked at the door. Outside, doors banging, orders yelled. Men shouting back. Garth shot to the entrance. He glanced back at the girl. She screamed. In just his shorts, he stepped outside. In the corridor, police were half-dragging a man along. At the sound of the girl’s scream .. seeing Garth stepping out, a policeman span around. His gun was up in a flash.Black-clothed, a tinted visor hiding the face. At the sight of Garth the policeman hesitated. He paused. Garth couldn’t make out his expression because of the visor. Hadn't he expected another man to be there? Instinctively Garth put out his hands to show he was unarmed. A bolt of pain hit him. Garth went down in a flash. Every bit of strength blasted out of him.He couldn't move. Twisted on his back on the floor. But he heard more bawling. Boots ran in his direction. Garth saw the gun raised. Another zap of body-crippling hurt hit him in the chest. All his wind blasted out of him. He yelled. Searing pain burst all over his torso.He couldn't move. He was kicked over onto his back. His hands were grabbed. In an instant they were cuffed. With grunted effort, a pair of police had hold of him by the biceps and were dragging him downstairs. The stun-effect worked off fairly fast. By the time he'd half-stumbled, been half dragged down the stairs and out into the street, Garth was beginning to get his legs back. There was pandemonium out there. It looked like Garth had got caught up in some kind of dawn raid. There were more half-naked men and women being pushed to their knees. Yelled at, screamed at. Shouting.Then suddenly, at the sight of him, everyone turned, all eyes looked. The yelling stopped. Everyone was looking at him. In a stunned silence. It was eerie. Garth had no idea why. So eerie a slight chill gripped him in the groin.Another black-uniformed cop strode over. No facial expression that Garth could read because of the visor. He stood close up, he grabbed Garth by the hair. The visor stared long and hard into Garth's face. From the movement of the visor, he was being scanned from top to bottom. His ripped upper body perused. Garth was unnerved .. becoming the sudden centre of the whole street's attention. Stunned silence. So thrown Garth didn't react. Normally he'd have questioned this cop. He’d have had the presence of mind to defend himself. But everyone was staring at him."Stick him in the cage. Straight back to HQ. Something fucking weird going on here."? ?? ? ? ? ?? ? ? ? ?? ? ?The Precinct18986525146000He spent the journey in the truck trying to piece things together. There been a raid. He'd landed up in some kind of hotel. He'd had a girl for the night but he didn't remember. Had he just landed when the raid happened? Just his luck!He was travelling in a truck. Stood up in blackness trapped behind bars, his bound hands clamped to some kind of fastening behind his head. He swung and swayed as the truck rushed him through the streets.There seemed to be a dozen narrow stand-up cages in the truck. Before the cops shut the door on him and threw him into darkness, Garth noticed he was the only occupant. Had they got what they came for? Him? This had to be mistaken identity. He didn’t recognise the girl, he’d just landed on this place.These cops were certainly rough. The way they'd been handling the people on the street … very rough, not cops you messed around. And that stun-gun had done the trick, they had been pretty free with that. It had given them quite an advantage. Garth was not a man you knocked on his arse that easily. And then the looks he'd got out on the street. He'd silenced utter pandemonium. He’d appeared, dragged out of the building .. a blanket of sudden silence. All eyes turned on him. What the …? It wasn't that he was dressed only in his shorts. With his physique he was used to turning heads. But there were plenty of other people who had been hauled half-naked out of bed. What was surprising … he was the only light-skinned guy he'd spotted. Everyone he’d spotted had been black. But so what? In some cities, in some quarters, you’d find that any time. On public transport in some quarters he could be the only white-man. But THAT reaction. So extreme. And the girl he'd woken up with .. when she’d looked at him .. it was like she’d seen a ghost. She’d screamed.Out on the street, the sight of him had stopped pandemonium in its tracks. And the officer hadn't hesitated. Taking a good view of him from behind his visor .. he ordered Garth isolated. Singling him out for secure holding. Tied, secured in this cage. Did they think they'd recognised him? Had he been mistaken for someone else?The truck stopped. Two cops threw open the door and flooded the cages with light. Garth grabbed the chance."Look. What the hell is going on?"In response, a cop whipped his stun gun of his belt, he stuck it through the bars. Jammed the gun into Garth’s exposed abs and pulled the trigger. He slammed a sharp dose of pain into him. A punch to the gut like none other. Smacked every bit of wind out of him. Garth yelled and slumped helpless against the bars.He was barely recovering his strength by the time they'd dragged him inside, he was just managing to stumble along between the two cops. They must have radio'd on ahead. Two more cops joined them. "Interrogation Room 7’s ready."The duty officer’s instruction clearly meant something to them, preparations had been made. The four cops marched Garth down dark steps into the basement. Garth chose not to resist. His attempt at getting some idea on what this was about had got him blasted in the gut by a stun-gun. Four from these cops together would put him out. His situation was helpless. He chose to go along with these thugs until someone gave him answers. And the way these cops carried themselves … Garth had been assigned bodyguards whose bodies were packing. He’d not get far against four of them.A long dimly lit corridor, basement level. Garth had been in detention centres before. He'd undergone "interrogation". He knew where he was headed. He just had to hope he found someone he could explain himself to before these cop-thugs got carried away.? ?? ? ? ? ?? ? ? ? ?? ? ?The Plate17780028067000"What the hell's this about?"The exclamation was out before Garth realised it. He steeled himself for another blast. But instead a mean-faced cop just stuck the gun in his abs. Threatening .. he just gave Garth a hard jab in the guts. The message got through. Steel bracelets had been snapped on his wrists. When raised to a metal bar above his head, Garth had felt them snap to it. Magnetised. He’d yanked one arm away. It didn't give.When manacles were being snapped on his bare ankles, he'd called out. And that was when the menace of the stun-gun jabbed into his abs for his efforts. He had to indulge them. But this treatment seemed so completely over the top. Cuffed and immobilised, manacled. After all, what had he done to antagonise them? He'd cooperated every inch of the way.Three of the cops then walked out the door without a word. They were all black, Garth noticed. And built. Four cops were assigned to him .. four powerfully built bully-boys by the way they carried themselves. Was that in recognition that Garth looked like he could take care of himself? In fact, in this cop precinct, coming down into the cells, Garth had only seen black faces. Garth’s first clue as to where he might be in the universe. A deep ebony black, every single one. A blackness that looked as though the colour pigments had been drained out of them. Black like in a black-and-white photo. Is that why he had stood out? And why that street-scene froze when they spotted him? Cops and crowd alike?The remaining cop .. Garth noticed he had insignia on his uniform? Some kind of officer? A superior? Should Garth try his luck with him? Time to explain himself? Before he had a chance to open his mouth, the cop was holding up a hand-held device. "That plate you're standing on …."Garth looked down. A metre-square metal plate."It's controlled by this."Garth yelled. A blast of electricity had shot up his legs. Sharp, strong. Zinging up his legs. He jumped. He pulled on his arms and yanked his feet up in the air. Instinct had his knees clutched up to his chest. He hung there swaying. And glared angrily at the cop."You can put your feet down. It's off again."Garth scowled. Why the hell should he trust these thugs? But he couldn't hang here all day. Tentatively he lowered his feet back down to the ground. The cop hadn't lied. The plate didn't give him a shock.Nervous, he panted. He looked back down. Lowering his feet, Garth had heard the rattle of chain. Down on his feet he saw a length of chain attaching the bracelets on his ankles. And a loose length of chain. As if answering Garth's unasked question, the cop explained."You have to pull your knees up real high."And that was supposed to make sense to him? The cop put him in the picture. "The device is set to random. It switches on the plate sporadically. And the force it packs … that’s intermittent too. Maybe a tingle. Maybe it'll knock you out your feet."He was about to be tortured. For what? Garth had to try. He couldn't remain passive all the time. Especially as they'd started torturing him."Look. Can we clear things up? You've got the wrong guy …."The cop shrugged. The plate under Garth's feet suddenly came to life. A medium strength. But it had Garth hopping from one foot to the other and back again."Save your breath, freak. The Interrogator's on the way. He'll squeeze out the truth."Garth yelled back. Angry."WHAT truth?"He had expected the plate to burst back into life for his outburst. But the cop hadn’t lied. The device WAS set to random. This time it wasn't set Garth to get dancing again."Only one truth, freak. The one you'll soon be squealing."With that he placed the device on a shelf. And left Garth with his thoughts. And the intermittent threat from some kind of electro-torture device designed to loosen up his tongue.? ?? ? ? ? ?? ? ? ? ?? ? ?The Interrogator8890031051500He didn't look old enough. He looked little more than a kid. Garth's notion of an Interrogator was a tough-looking guy with brawn to make an impact. He’d also gone through the hands of a grizzled experienced old hand. He’d excelled at psychological tricks and mind torture. When this Interrogator entered with the same four cops, Garth didn’t want to believe this was the threat he’d been warned about. Truth-be-told, though, he could not have been more pleased. He been tortured out of his skin with these electric blasts shot up his legs. He was sweating. He was tired, near exhausted. He felt like he'd gone hours with these four cop-thugs in a fight cage.He was holding his breath with anticipation, he watched warily as one of the cops reached for the remote control. He hoped he was switching it off. This Interrogator .. well, he looked only just over twenty, hardly high-ranking. But his uniform was snappier, his pants were more tailored. He behaved the senior of the bunch. The knee-length military-style boots were the give-away. The other four thugs clearly deferred to him.Earlier, left alone with the torment of that random weakening from that electro plate .. it had been a nerve-wracking experience. Garth had tried the obvious, he'd tried to shuffle off the plate. The overhead restraints had permitted to let him get tantalisingly close to the edge. But when he couldn't step off, that persuaded him Garth was not dealing with amateurs. They’d measured it precisely. They'd wanted him to try. And see that he’d fail.The hits HAD been random. Some not much more than a tickling in the soles of his feet. They hadn't even had him pulling his legs up off the plate. They’d set his nerves tingling. But not much more. Others, though, had hit with force. Like getting ploughed down by a ten-ton truck. He'd screamed. He'd yanked his feet up. Pain running in streams of sweat off his hair. From just one strike.From a little tingle to a shattering body-breaking blast … and everything in-between. That had his nerves on edge, every second. Wasting valuable energy worrying. And that evil chain dangling off his ankles made him pull his knees right into his chest. And hang there like that.In the gym Garth could back-hang for knee-raising abs-training for hundreds of lifts. But keeping his legs static .. pressed to his chest .. the strains set in. The trembles started. He’d finish up gritting his teeth into the stress. And all the time dreading lowering his legs again. That was the beauty of this invisible torturer. Garth could not know what happened when he lowered his knees. When the chain struck the plate again … was it live? A tingle? Or a full-throated scream?It was an ingenious torture device. It worked on the muscle .. arms tiring, legs shaking. It worked on the nerves .. stood on the plate, waiting, nothing else to think about. Nothing but the dread. Not knowing when the next hit came. Not knowing if the next random hit would have him dancing and jigging from foot to foot. Not knowing if he'd be blasted up in the air, screaming, sweat pouring. Keeping himself suspended, knees clutched to his chest. His nerves on fire and popping as he dared himself to lower his legs again.Time had evaporated. His stay on the electro plate had lasted a nerve-wracking lifetime. Strange to say, Garth had never been so grateful as when this young Interrogator entered the room. Let the hard questioning begin …. Let the torture continue.? ?? ? ? ? ?? ? ? ? ?? ? ?The Question6413526543000Jase knew the question behind Uncle Bob's frown. The usual confusion he met in his fantasies. Who the hell was this kid in his crisp officer's uniform? Placed alongside Jase's own real-life hero .. and entering with four guys who looked like competition-ready bodybuilders .. Jase looked like a kid. He hadn't got the bulk, he was still piling on the world-class adult-male build. But what Jase still lacked in weight, he had other tricks up his sleeve. And it was Jase calling the shots. The four thugs had arrived shirtless .. giving Garth the clear message, it was kicking off. Usual warning-sign to the victim to knuckle-down and expect the worst. From the look of them, Garth was in the hands of some elite group. Ordinary cops didn't look like this. Muscular to the teeth, sharp-edged definition, bulging arms. You had to put in a lot of effort to look like that. And you had to have a reason for building up that physique. Lucky Garth, he had four of the muscle-brutes up against him together. This was what you called getting knuckled down.Four top-class bodybuilders. Plus this Interrogator. He circled Garth like a prowling wild cat. His eyes on him all the time. Eyes going up and down his front. Over his front. Prowling round the back.Garth grabbed the chance."Is someone going to explain? Why am I being treated like this? I've done ….."He didn't get to finish. The Interrogator interrupted."Sargent. Set the plate to manual."Words said to shut Garth up. Jase hadn't taken his eyes off Garth's front. Sizing up the bulging breadth of his chest, the knotted shoulders emphasized by the raised arms. As if he was giving the impression that he felt overdressed in this muscular company, he too began to strip off his top. Pulling down the zip he revealed to his victim a lean torso, hard ripped abs. Revealing younger but equally sharp—etched muscularity. Like he wished to show he belonged in company like this. He might not have grown into a full adult-male's bulk, that upper body was saying. But he'd put in the time and effort. Garth took him in with a trained eye. The kid was etched into every cranny of his upper body. Garth was not in the hands of some officer couch-potato, this exemplary physique was warning him. This “kid” was made of the steely stuff. Dedication. Hard work. Ambition. Matching the earnestness with which he applied himself to his job.To impress Garth with his authority, to demonstrate he commanded his respect, Jase simply held his jacket out, eyes still scanning Garth's muscular strength with professional zeal. Without a hesitation one of the muscle-goons leapt forward and took it from him. The young man was in charge. These muscle hunks were his to command. This kid wouldn’t be doing the heavy lifting. He had their bulk to throw his weight around. That commanding move was made for Garth to see, Jase was clearly in charge. His authority beyond question. And Garth had better show him due respect.Garth got annoyed when he'd approached and was slicking his finger in the furrows of Garth's abs. There was no eye contact, just a physical scan of Garth's physique. Objectifying his prisoner. Annoyed he wriggled away. But the young man’s touch persisted .. tracing a finger up the muscle-ringed chasm in Garth’s chest. "What IS this thing?"THING? At the derision in the Interrogator's voice, Garth felt a rush of temper. Thing? The boy had gone round the back. A hand squeezed at Garth's knotted shoulders. A finger dug into his traps. Two hands slid in the sweat of Garth's delts."Where did IT come from?"That was it. Garth twisted round."Am I getting some answers here? What the fuck is going on?"It was like the young man was shocked by the ferocity of Garth's demand. He stepped back. Like he recoiled from the violence stuck in his face.Garth screamed. The Interrogator hadn’t recoiled. He’d simply stepped back off the plate. Garth bawled his guts up. A long press on the device. Agonising jolts of pain shot up Garth's legs. Trapping his feet on the plate. Pitiless torture detonated in his chest. His whole torso shot rigid. Frozen solid by scorching flames. Then the shudders took over .. shaking the rigidity of his muscle-taut body. Quaking at his knees. Arms shuddering. Head swishing in a wild blur. He kept on bellowing.? ?? ? ? ? ?? ? ? ? ?? ? ?The Scan571517970500Garth was down on all fours groaning it out, Panting like crazy. That guard had gone on forever. He'd kept his finger on the torture button till Garth was reduced to total weakness. He thought he was passing out.They must have released him. When the magnetism on the bracelets pinning his arms above his head was switched off, Garth fell .. landing on his knees, then pitching forward. Instincts kicked in to stop him from landing flat on his face. He just knelt on hand and knees, body rocking, chest heaving in air noisily.Above him, Jase looked down coldly at the muscular breadth of Uncle Bob's back, glistening with the sweat of his pain."Is the lab OK? The medics have got the scan ready?"The sargent nodded.Garth was half-hauled, he half-stumbled along the corridor. His body ran with sweat, he felt his biceps slick in the iron grips of a pair of top-class bodybuilders. He was shattered. Experience said he should be fighting them off. But that sustained session on the electro plate had really taken things out of him. That last lengthy blast had been the last straw. The way he was .. electro'd out of his kin .. one against four …. as good as no chance. But then they knew that, didn't they? That last sustained booster had made sure of it. This Interrogator was no push-over.The goons made sure he did as told, though there was little he could have done to make any impact. He was stood in a circle of light cast from above. Hands ordered by his sides. A “cop-medic” stood opposite, behind some console. He threw Garth a look, again a curious look that said he could not believe what he was seeing. His finger went to press a button. Suddenly Garth seemed to be behind a see-through wall. Something solid had materialised. Not a wall. He was enclosed in a tube. Without thinking he made to push it away. But he could barely move his hands. The tube was only shoulder-wide. But it was solid. He leaned a shoulder against the surface. He pushed. Solid, it didn’t budge. Curious, he shoulder-barged it best he could. Completely solid. Like pushing against a steel wall.He looked out .. to understand. A "medic" at the console. The muscular Interrogator, stripped to the waist for business, was studying him. A look of intense curiosity. Like Garth was some artefact in a museum. Or a new arrival in a zoo. Garth felt nervousness prickle in his crotch. What was this thing containing him? The “scan” that young Interrogator had called it. It was like Garth was looking out through an unbreakable glass tube. Where had it materialised from suddenly? What was it for?It started to vibrate. Garth felt the solid material against his shoulders vibrating. Despite himself, he felt his heart rate pitch. What was happening? Vibrating. Faster, faster. Instinct made another bid to escape. He slammed his shoulder against the invisible wall. It held, it continued vibrating faster. Louder. A hum. The vibrations were being joined with a jarring hum. The light inside the tube increased. Brighter, brighter. Eye-wateringly bright. Soon so bright, those cops outside disappeared. Searing at his eyeballs. Garth had to close his eyes.The noise increased. Hum becoming a high-pitched whistle. It filled the tube, it swamped the tube with a jarring din. Ear-piercing. Louder, shriller. Garth’s hearing was drowning in an ear-shattering din. It was screaming. It was shrieking. Garth had to put his hands up to protect his ears. He couldn't move his arms .. trapped by his sides. Like gleeful at his failure, the screech amplified. An ear-piercing shriek. Loud, louder, shrill. Garth was screaming too. His head was exploding .. bursting with an ear-shattering din. This was hell. This was torture.? ?? ? ? ? ?? ? ? ? ?? ? ?The Freak25209530099000Two guards roughly hauled Jase's victim to his feet as ordered. Jase ordered them to keep a firm grip on him as Uncle Bob wobbled on his feet. Understandably. The scan exerted massive pressure on him. Even a body that strong, even a target as tough-looking as this light-skinned freak could be broken momentarily. As soon as the scan was completed and the force-field was evaporated, Jase’s prisoner had collapsed to the floor with a shocked shout. Jase left him there moaning and recovering while he instructed the medics."In 30 minutes," he insisted. "I want the results back. Asap. Or sooner."They knew better than to object."I want to know all about the freak before interrogating him."Meanwhile Jase's two other men had set about assembling the tools needed. They’d start to prep the vic for questioning. During the scan, they'd do been too preoccupied with the sight of him writhing in pain. Like Jase, they'd never seen a light-skinned man before. Everyone was intrigued. Creatures like this … they did not exist.His writhing under strain was more than a novelty. Jase had instructed his men to look closely and observe. Look and learn, they’d seen nothing like this before. The sight of all that defined freakish muscle struggling with the intensity of the scan ….. this was not a moment for fascination. Jase directed his men to observe, to assess the power they were assigned to break. Detect any weakness, identify points of strength to break down. Human or android? Of their planet or alien? The men might be taking on a task which could mean life and death for their society. Nevertheless, Jase could not stop himself relishing this powerful body under duress. Light-skinned muscle .. writhing, squirming. Ripped abs twisting, packed shoulder spasming, muscled legs rippling like liquid steel. All that muscular might .. overwhelmed by the forces within the scan … it had held Jase mesmerised. The scan shot probes into every cell of the body. Violent vibrations jerked every fibre into painful mini shakes. Muscles popped. Flesh pinged. Not one infinitesimal area of that muscular torso had been spared an invasive probing. Understandably, human flesh revolted against the hostile probing. But the scan overpowered any innate resistance, it swept it aside. And probed deeper. That hurt.In the case of this curious light-skinned freak, Jase had ordered the intensity set to high. He didn't know the nature of this alien creature. How it was built. Was it even human? Was it a clone? Were there mechanisms inbuilt to overcome Jase's attempts to uncover the truth?A body reacted against such a powerful invasion, automatically. But Jase, suspicious of the nature of this creature, had ordered this scan set to crush every effort to fight back. From first sight, Jase saw he was dealing with a vic very strongly built. Jase had calculated the creature would have to be pumped with the maximum load to break any resistance down. All that writhing of defined muscle under the scan …. had that been the creature’s efforts to resist? Hanging on to its truths? Muscle bulging, knotting. Every sign that the shredded physique of the creature sensed it was under attack and was physically fighting back.What WAS Jase dealing with? What WAS this light-skinned freak? No light-skinned body had ever been recorded in the annals of the planet. It could be albino, someone had suggested. But then how had it managed to stay hidden for the length of its life? Look at it. How did it develop a muscle-packed chest like that? You didn’t develop abs of such supreme definition cowering away in an attic.Where had it been? More likely question, Where had it come from? One theory he’d been given, it was the vanguard of an invasion from outer space. A being from another planet intent on conquer. Come spying out the land. Was it even human? Could it be an android? Was all this muscular might actually a machine?? ?? ? ? ? ?? ? ? ? ?? ? ?The Prep6477014541500An alien-android … that was the opinion Jase's colonel had voiced. Jase needed the test results fast, they would reveal all about its physicality, its structure if it was a machine. And the scan’s mind-reading would have the creature betray more of its secrets. The din inside that force field had driven the prisoner out of his head. The state of his pain-drenched torso .. squirming out of control in its overwhelming pains .. had betrayed that the noise could swamp any inbuilt resistance. Good news. It was not invincible, this freak-creature. Under pain its secrets were open to scrutiny, it could be broken by pain. Jase had feared it might possess an in-built mechanism which shut it down if captured. Pre-programmed to protect its secrets. But that intense exposure under the scan had seemed to overcome it .. at least temporarily. For Jase, Uncle Bob's appearance like this was an enigma. If it was a high-class android .. a near-perfect clone .. why did its inventors make it such an eye-wateringly specimen of the perfect male? If it was an alien spy, why so eye-catching? So it stood out in a crowd. Did that make sense? So everyone, female and male, would turn the head and gawp? It was a mystery. Surely a race that could engineer this perfect clone .. they wouldn't send a light skinned freak in, would they? Send this head-turning specimen of male virility and make it light-skinned? To a land that had never seen light-skinned beings before? None of that made sense.Again, watching the creature down on the ground panting back his strength after the scan … again Jase’s thoughts returned to the barriers it might be able to put up to block questioning. If this was some strange android-warrior from another world .. sent to reconnoitre , spy out the land prior to invasion ….. if this creature had been developed by some race with such high intelligence capability … then surely it would have a mechanism inbuilt to preserve its secrets if captured. But fortunately the scan's noise settings .. set to max .. they had seemed to swamp any protective apparatus. Had its inventors not allowed for that? Jase had observed it carefully. Clearly the creature had lost all control of itself. The scan seemed to have forestalled any protective measures. Pain. A good starting point. Maximum pain. With luck, the mind-reading would reveal this creature’s purpose here. Under intense questioning the creature would uncover more. Jase needed answers. And he needed them fast. But machine or male, it was reassuring that Jase’s measures had been working on the creature. The electro plate had shown he was susceptible to pain, it had worked on him just like on some normal human prisoner. His reactions under the scan too had crushed him. Jase was watching the broad, muscle-hard back panting .. wondering to himself how quickly it could recover> At least, Jase had his first breakthrough. Even if it was an android, this light-skinned freak had felt pain. And extreme pain had swamped any programming block to hang onto him secrets. Something to work on, a good starting point. Intense pain disabled his resistance mechanisms. How much was going to be needed to open him to rigorous questioning?Jase ordered his men to get the freak up onto his own two feet. The sargent got all four of them on to him to clamp his hands out of the way, arms magnetised to the bar up above his head. Once any chance of him fighting back was disabled, Jase ordered his men to proceed with prepping him for interrogation. The sargent kept his stun gun pressed to this prisoner's abs while he was being fitted up. The creature didn’t try anything on. He was a fast learner, Jase noted. A useful pointer. Clearly his previous crippling experiences with the stun-guns had already taught him the cost of resisting. No reason, Jase warned himself, to assume this freak wasn't super-intelligent. If he was some alien android-spy, "they" were going to send their best and brightest on a mission, weren’t they?. And, with any luck, he'd worked out that treatment like the electro softening-up and the scan were capable of rendering him too weak. Maybe he was cooperating because the creature's defence mechanisms were warning him … he needed more recovery time? Another point to note. Jase was doing his assessment on the hoof. He noted away .. physically strong, strength of mind outstandingly tough. And bright. Jase just had to make this creature appreciate how high the odds were stacked against it.When the pad was being stuck across the breadth of his muscular back, shoulder-blade to shoulder-blade, Jase saw the freak eyeing him intently. Was he making his calculations about Jase like Jase was about him? He ran with sweat. The scan had broken open every pore in his body, sweat was draining from him still. The professional in Jase had to admire this specimen. Physically remarkable. Broad bulging shoulders emphasised by the raised arms. The shredded abs sunken in. This android-freak was a remarkable clone. But why had “they” sent a spy who so stood out? Light-skinned was unknown.When the pad was being pressed to his lower back, the creature finally found the strength to talk."Can we talk about this? You've got me all wrong."The sargent looked at Jase. His facial expression was asking whether the gun jabbed into his abs should silence the freak's mouth. But Jase knew that would only slow things down. Further weakening could delay questioning until he'd recovered again. And this task might be urgent. If the creature was the forerunner of some alien invasion, Jase had to work on him fast. He didn't underestimate the task. This freak had a powerful muscular physique. Jase was reckoning he was going to be similarly tough to break."I'm no threat," the freak continued.Jase put up a hand. Silencing him."That is for me to decide."The broad pad across his chest was now in place. Nipple to nipple. The sargent held his gun to the freak's side while the abs pad was pressed in place. Covering the defined six pack above the waist."The scan results will tell us what we are dealing with. The mind-reading will betray your thoughts."Jase saw him frown. Not understanding or not believing. Jase had always found it useful to be frank with his victims when it came to the overpowering tools of interrogation at his disposal. When prisoners knew the full armoury of his questioning tools, it tended to grind away at their resolve, gradually weakening resistance. Making them realise it was going to be a hard task to keep on fighting. Informed of what Jase could turn on them, they started questioning whether they were up to this. Jase allowed his eyes to travel down the length of Uncle Bob's shredded physique. Strong, tough, no push-over. The torture pad was now in place on his abs. The wide punishment pad stuck to his chest. Jase looked his hero harshly in the eyes. His resolve to fulfil his task as hard as his gaze. The creature would break if it was the last thing he did. Jase gestured with his remote control at the pads that had been attached to the freak’s front."Let me explain."? ?? ? ? ? ?? ? ? ? ?? ? ?The Punch out22034530289500That caught him by surprise, smirked Jase. Uncle Bob had gasped out loud. His eyes thrown wide-open. His abs had imploded. Like he'd taken an upper cut under his ribcage. As hard as any punch Uncle Bob had ever known. But there been no man behind that punch. And Jase knew why. "No point in flexing ….."Garth glared back. That kid of an Interrogator was holding up the hand-held remote control."Hardening those abs won’t help one bit. Go one, give it a try. I'll count down from three."Jase's voice was taunting. Spoken as one who knew better."Go on. Give it your best shot."Uncertain Garth did as told. He clenched his prized steel-clad abs together. Hearing the mockery as the kid counted down. Garth was half-expecting the young punk to cheat, do it early.He didn’t. No need. The blast to his hardened abs took Garth’s breath away. As crippling a blow there as Garth had ever taken. He hadn't seen it coming. Nothing to see. No guy throwing a knuckle-ringed fist into his gut. The kid just pressed a key.All the punk had to do. Press a key on his control device."That pad on your gut. Energy punching," Jase explained. Clearly the look on the creature's face said this technology was unknown. "No defence. The pad throws the punch.”Jase did a mock press on the remote. Inside he smirked when the vic tensed.“Just hit by the force. Invisible, no warning. It tears through flesh. It blasts through the toughest muscle."Jase saw a flash of panic on his vic's face. But he quickly disguised it. Pointing, Jase used the device to outline the pad stretched across his prisoner's chest, from one nipple to the other. Making no attempt at hiding his move, the Interrogator pressed the device.Garth flew backwards. His wrist bracelets had been magnetised to the bar hanging down from above. The bar stopped him from pitching over onto his backside. Chains rattled violently as his backwards flight was yanked into a sudden halt. In surprise, his legs flew out from under him. He swore. A sideways chop. Garth struggled to get his feet under him. What a blow. Like a silverback gorilla had smashed a forearm chop across his chest. Even if he had seen it coming, it would still have unbalanced him. But there was nothing to see, no warning. Just a button pressed."The pad across your shoulders …."At the words Garth was already tensing." …. it can punch …."Force knocked Garth forwards. A solid knuckled punch into his spine. "Fuck you!"Garth roared. Incensed. Furious at being toyed with. Feeling frustrated as hell. And a sense of panic. A new phenomenon for him, something he'd not come across in his journeys through the galaxies. He didn't know how to defend himself from something like this. Unseen attack, no warning sign. And powerful knocks. Nothing he could fight back against.Jase ignored the curse. He continued with his demonstration. The vic was getting the idea of the forces lined up against him. Their strength. His helplessness. Always good to demonstrate the tools before the questioning began."It can punch. Or it can whip."A searing hot flash tore across the breadth of his vic's back. Muscle spasmed. Flesh scorched. Wide-eyed, Garth yelled out. His head went back. A searing hot burn across his shoulders .. as cutting as the real thing. He saw the eyes of his Interrogator waiting clinically until he'd got his breath back."In fact, ….."Garth crumpled together at the waist. A sharp bite of leather had sliced across his waist. Then he yelled out again. He was shot back upright again. A burning slash of a hard strap had blasted across his chest, a quick follow-through. He fell backwards, his legs collapsed under him.Hard punches. Viciously biting lashes of the whip.“All the pads have that dual purpose. They can punch. They can be a whip.”Jase only continued with his explanation when he reckoned he had his prisoner's attention. "Of course …."It had taken a few minutes for the vic to catch his breath. Even longer for his head to take in the implications of these pads stuck on his now sweating skin." … it's energy that is doing the damage. Not a whip, no lacerating the skin. . No blood-loss. No fist getting sore from over-punching. It can go on for as long as it takes. Jase paused. Making sure he had his prisoner’s attention.“For as long as I decide ….."Jase smiled coldly at Uncle Bob. An eyebrow arched. Unspoken Jase asked,“How much you want to take?”? ?? ? ? ? ?? ? ? ? ?? ? ?The Nut-cracker10033019748500Jase felt unsure of himself, he didn't know what he was dealing with. This persona Uncle Bob had adopted .. was this creature even human? It was a remarkable price of machinery if it was an android. It acted every bit like a powerfully built virile adult-male.But then those creatures out there .. the aliens in outer space, if Jase's colonel was right .. who knew what they could not produce? But there was still that irrational enigma. That crazy mistake to send a light-skinned creature to a land where such freaks were unknown. Who’d ever seen a light-skinned being? So these creatures .. whatever, whoever, wherever .. they were not infallible, they could be beaten. It paid to find out as much as Jase could. And fast. Was an invasion imminent? Extreme measures to uncover the truth had to be employed. Who knew what their powers were? Probably this thing was programmed to resist questioning. Yet Jase had to find out. The invasion could be looming. Requiring the firmest measures."Fit him out with the ballbreaker."The creature resisted when his shorts were pulled down. As any adult-male would, it sensed danger to its identity and tried to struggle so a pair of Jase's men grabbed a thigh each and immobilised his struggling. A third was in there fast, hand in-between the flailing knees.Jase had always thought a man with his shorts down by his knees struck a comic figure. With a girl Jase always made sure to remove them completely. It looked like a guy hadn’t had it in weeks, couldn’t wait as his shorts still clung to his thighs. In too much of a hurry. Made them look like a desperate arsehole. Would Uncle Bob enjoy seeing himself looking … a bit of a prick?"Get the fuck off."The vic swore at Jase. His eyes were ablaze with anger. The cop on his knees had grabbed his ballsack, circled it with finger and thumb and pulled his nuts downwards."You've got no right ….."He hissed out the pain. To control his thrashing, the cop on his knees had crushed the prisoner's balls in the palm of his hand. Strong gym-trained muscle squeezed hard, the strength in his forearm bulged. He knew how to tame the male brute. He kept up the squeeze till he had the collar on. The metal coil now encircling the ballsack.Jase heard his gasp. Panting in relief that the crushing on his nuts had let up, the prisoner’s groan of relief told Jase the job was done. The ball-breaker was primed for demonstration. If it was a clone, this thing certainly made a magnificent replica of the male of the species. It behaved like any other male."And finally …."Jase retrieved the hand-held device. He pointed it at his vic. His hips shot backwards. Eyes flashed wide-open. A look of astonishment flashed across his face before it contorted into a bawl."Fuck! What was that?"A rhetorical question, Jase knew. The vic knew as well as Jase did. The hardest kick in the nuts he'd ever known. Rather than responding to the vic's question, Jase gave the keyboard another press. The prisoner’s less-than-manly bawl of agony bounced off the echoey walls.Jase stared back into the stream of tears coursing down his vic's pained face. He knew the pain in his gonads was still burning him up. But Jase didn't wait for the panting to stop."When the test results come through … we'll start in earnest."The prisoner now knew the full toolkit of what Jase had at his disposal.“That collar around your nuts ….”Jase gestured with his device. Did he detect a sudden stiffening in his muscles? Tense. At the thought of another kick in the balls.“ .. like kicked in the gonads by a horse. And this is all it takes.”Jase waved the remote meaningfully.Jase relished the look of panic in his prisoner’s face. A good indicator. The ball-breaker seemed to be the way to go. That tool had made an impact on its brain. For now he’d let the vic off. A short while to mull things over. Plenty of time to take off from where they were now when the results came through."Think it through. How much your silence is worth?"Uncle Bob eyed him back. Resolute, determined, Jase thought. But he had to be feeling wary."Don't under-estimate my determination. You will talk. I guarantee.Uncle Bob answered back the way Jesse would have expected."Fuck you!"Jase answered back too. If that’s the way you want to play it ….. Jase pressed the key. Uncle Bob got it again in the nuts. He howled.? ?? ? ? ? ?? ? ? ? ?? ? ?Win or endure?7683531051500Find yourself in quite a pickle, eh, Uncle Bob? Jase fantasised. He grinned to himself at the way he'd got his hero tied up in knots. He loved to weave the man he worshipped into an inescapable web …. And push him relentlessly to the limits.Born again as that time-traveller Garth, dumped in a land whose history had only known ebony-skinned people .. what were they going to make of him? Jase was quite proud how his imagination had come up with this tricky dilemma. An inescapable catch.This Garth had turned up from nowhere. No one had seen anyone like him. What were they going to make of that? This competition-ready bodybuilder appears on their street. A light-skinned freak … Nothing like him, anywhere. Ever. What else could the authorities imagine? He was an alien. And why had an alien being suddenly turned up?They had to scent danger. They had to be driven by fear. Fear was a precursor to violence. Driven by that fear, they had to know what this alien being was up to. How would they do that? The manner of questioning spoke for itself. Jase was sure Uncle Bob had told him once, it wasn’t the enduring that counted .. much as it might add cost to the suffering. It was the winning, he’d said. Jase had set this up, though. It was not a case of beating Uncle Bob. That went without saying, Jase would win, Uncle Bob couldn't. He could fight back, he could endure heroically, Uncle Bob as Garth would strive bravely to win against the odds. But win? Out of the question.Jase had ruled that out. Jase had the upper hand. He had the tools, he had the men. And he had the men’s fears arising from the inexplicable appearance of a light-skinned freak in their midst. Garth couldn’t come out of this favourite.Garth’s role was to endure. Heroically. He couldn’t win. Winning was of no concern. Where was the breaking point? THAT was the issue. For Jase, it WAS about the enduring. Enduring thirty lashes across his broad spasming shoulders. Thirty punishing stingers as a starter. Not a drop of blood spilled, not an inch of flesh cut. Yet weakening dismay was lashed out of him with every strike. Uncle Bob was experienced, he'd know he couldn't take too many hits like those into his solar plexus. Fists that broke through the most powerful set of steel-clad abs. Punches that seemed to thwack mercilessly at his backbone. Unrelenting energy-fists carving up his insides. Uncle Bob was no novice. He was certainly no fool. When it came to prevailing against the odds .. taken captive and “interrogated” … he knew the cost. Realism would set in. The truth of his predicament would grind him down. How soon would Uncle Bob gradually slide into a decline of hopelessness? Crumpling in the face of the weaponry Jase had designed for him? Recognising the truth .. he could not win. And the truth would break him.It wasn't a matter of whether Uncle Bob could survive this interrogation. As always, as obsessively as always, Jase was focused on testing out his hero's tough-as-shit resolve. Winning was not an option, not on the agenda, not what Jase was interested in.Enduring. That was Jase’s challenge. How long, how well. Jase was out to test his hero’s doggedness to the extreme. Always Jase craved to see his tough-as-nuts hero struggling under pressure. Eagerly worshipping at his altar .. relishing that shredded physique struggling under extreme duress. Drooling over how much it took to break him. Infatuated by how his hero would keep relentlessly fighting back .. battling not to give in.Jase had set him up. Jase had loaded the dice. Who’s the strong guy now? Get out of that, Uncle Bob. You can’t win. Let’s enjoy you endure.? ?? ? ? ? ?? ? ? ? ?? ? ? ................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download