Life at the end of the 21st century certainly had ... well ... changed over the last hundred years. And not for the better. Except for those in power. The Few.

Nearly 150 years ago, shortly after the end of what the Ancients called World War II, the leading scientist of his day, a man named Albert Einstein, had been asked what kind of weapons would be used in World War III. He replied, "I don't know. But I know what weapons will be used in World War IV. Rocks." He had long ago predicted that another World War would destroy modern civilization. He had been wrong. It hadn't destroyed it. Well, not completely. But it had changed everything.

The War of 2078 had lasted 20 minutes, It left all scientific and technological advancements in the hands of the Few, who used them ruthlessly to control the very small part of the world that remained habitable, in which they built their Fortress. Those who objected to the rule of the Few were forced to flee into the wilderness, where the air remained foul from the War's massive destruction.

But the Objectors had a degree of safety in the wild for a few fortuitous reasons. First, living in the wild enabled them to develop the more powerful lungs needed to live in the Haze, while the Few, living in the air-regulated Fortress, remained physically weaker, unable to invade the Haze to destroy the Objectors. Second, to try to match the physical strength of the Objectors, the Few had built twenty robotic soldiers, resembling a cross between a male Stormtrooper and an armadillo, with heavy outer plates protecting their huge and powerful bodies. But the Armoreds could operate only for a 24-hour period before needing to return to the Fortress for "rejuvenation" from the damage caused their system by the Haze. Twenty-four hours was simply not long enough for the Armoreds to locate and destroy the Objectors. And third, while the War had not destroyed the satellites circling the world, so that the Few retained their ability to scan the entire earth, it was a difficult, expensive and slow process for even the most advanced equipment to penetrate the Haze to reveal what was below it. So the Few found themselves in an impossible situation: they could not randomly scan the wilderness to try to find out where the Objectors were, but they could not send the Armoreds out into the wilderness without first knowing that.

So the Few grew frustrated. Though they controlled the "civilized" world, they could not defeat the Objectors, and they feared that one day the Objectors might find a way to attack and remove them from the Fortress. It therefore became the Few's priority to find a way to capture members of the Objectors and force them to reveal the Objectors' location. With that information, the Few could use their satellites to scan that exact spot to confirm the accuracy of the information, then send the Armoreds directly to the spot, where they could destroy the Objectors within the limited time available to them.

The Objectors too, though, were growing frustrated. Forced to live in the Haze, they knew that, to survive long into the future, they needed to capture the Few's Fortress. But to have any chance of that, they needed to learn where in the Fortress the Few maintained their technological equipment.

When the Objectors decided that they could wait no longer, they determined to send several spies into the Fortress. During surveillance of the outer walls of the Fortress, the Objectors' scouts had discovered that a small outside window on the ground floor had been broken and removed until a replacement could be installed. The Objectors therefore sent four female spies to enter the Fortress through the open space -- females because they were smaller and could more easily slip through it.

It was all a trap. The ceiling of the room just inside the window had been fitted with a motion sensor that set off a wisp of odorless spray when it was set off. Undetectable to the eye, but traceable by the Fortress's cameras. And so, within 10 minutes of their entry through the window, before they even could begin their search for the technology equipment, all four female Objectors had been captured by the Armoreds.

Chapter 2 --The Present

The First Lord called the Few's military leaders to a small theater, and addressed them from its stage. "For the last several days, I have heard debates among you as to what would be the most effective way to interrogate a Lesser female? You all seem to agree that she should be chained and naked. But some of you think the old ways of whips and hot irons would work best, while most of you favor the use of electricity, although those who argue for electricity disagree how it should be applied to the breasts. Some of you say the entire breast should be shocked. Others say only the base of the breast. And others say only its nipple." The Few did not call them Objectors, which they felt connoted too much power and respect. To the Few, the others were simply "Lessers."

The First Lord paused. "Well, we have recently captured four female Lessers." A great excitement filled the room. These were the first Lesser captives, and all knew how potentially important their capture might be to ending their stalemate with them. "Since we have four captives and there are four theories, I thought that we might use a different theory on each of them."

"Each of the four," the First Lord continued, "is presently occupying a separate room in the torture chambers. Each will be questioned about the location of the Lessers. And, when we are finished, we can judge the results."

The First Lord moved to the side of the stage. Video technology was now so advanced that, although none of the subjects was actually in the theater, the video transmitted from each of the rooms in the torture chamber was so realistic that it made it appear that each of the captives, and the Armored in charge of her interrogation, was actually occupying a quarter of the stage in the theater itself.

A light flickered, and a woman appeared on the far left of the stage. Perhaps 25 years old. Long black hair. Asian, although such designations were no longer used as anything more than a general description of appearance, not in any ethnic or racial context. Asian was wearing a formless orange prison smock that would have hung down to the middle of her calf but for the fact that her wrists had been chained together over her head, and her ankles chained slightly apart to hooks in the floor, pulling the smock's hem up to her knee. An Armored stood in front of her, his right hand to his ear, apparently waiting for instructions from the First Lord."

Another light flickered, and a second woman now appeared on the left center of the stage. About the same age as the first. Also with long black hair. Perhaps Latina, but difficult to say for sure with all of the blending that had occurred during the days when people had decided that race and ethnicity did not make people different, but just gave each something extra. Before the War. An Armored stood in front of her, waiting, his hand also to his ear. Latina too wore an orange smock, and her wrists had been chained over her head. Not together, though. Shoulder-width apart. Her ankles were chained to the floor in the same way that Asian's had been.

The third and fourth lights flickered simultaneously. The third revealed a white woman with long blond hair on the right center of the stage, dressed and chained as the second, a lone Armored standing by her. Blond too appeared to be in her mid-20s. Several of the Few wondered how many good looking Lesser women there were in their 20s. With the small surviving populations, there never seemed to be enough living in the Fortress. The smocks did nothing to display these women's bodies, so the Few wondered what lay under them. Rumors abounded in the Fortress that Lesser females were much better endowed the Few's women. But they knew that their curiosity would soon be satisfied, as they placed bets as to which of their bodies would prove the nicest.

On the far right of the stage was another white woman, this one with long brown hair, dressed and chained like the second and third. Unlike the others, though, Brown had a defiant look, as she glowered at the Armored standing in front of her.

"Step One," the First Lord directed the Armoreds, and each slowly walked behind his captive, reached up to her shoulders, waited a few seconds, and then, in five second intervals to allow the viewers to move their gaze from left to right, each Armored tore the smock of the woman in his room down and completely off. The Few sucked in their breaths in appreciation. These were four very fine bodies that wore nothing under the smocks. All with firm, well-shaped breasts that proved the rumors correct. With small hard nipples. And completely shaved between their legs. None of the Few was prepared to argue that anyone of these bodies was not as good as any others. Their side bets were off.

The Few watched the reactions of the four as their nakedness added to the fear already created by their chained helplessness. Each knew only that she was naked to the Armored standing before her in the room of the chamber in which she was actually restrained. None yet knew that her nakedness was also visible to the Few's military leaders watching from the theater. Asian was standing still, waiting. Latina had started to tremble, a fact not lost on the Few. "She will be the weakest," several already predicted without yet even knowing which technique lay in store for her. Blond looked strong. And Brown continued to look defiant. "That last one. She'll be the toughest," one of the Few shouted.

"Step Two," the First Lord now commanded.

The Fews' attention was immediately drawn to Blond, as a second Armored entertained her chamber, and, after the first unchained her wrists, the two of them dragged her out of the chamber so that they no longer were visible on the stage.

At the same time, the Armored in Asian's room had moved off stage for a second, and then returned pulling a brazier of hot irons. Those Few who had advocated the whips and hot iron technique were pleased when Asian screamed at the sight of what lay in store for her.

Meanwhile, the Armored in Latina's room walked in front of her, and, when he moved away a minute later, the Few could see that he had wrapped the ends of bare copper wires around her nipples, and then secured them with strips of red tape. He had also secured two wires that ended, it appeared, inside the woman's vagina, where he had taped a red X directly between her legs. He carried the wires to a small table in the corner of the room, where he secured their other ends to a small generator sitting on it. Latina was already beginning to sweat as she looked down to the attachments to her body and then over to the generator, her eyes wide. The advocates of this technique were pleased that this woman, seemingly terrified before the interrogation had even started, would be the one on whom their method would be used.

At the far right, the Armored had moved off stage and returned carrying what could only be described as a dark blue metal bikini, but with the panty's waistband and middle strap open. More like a chastity belt perhaps than a bikini bottom. He moved behind Brown and wrapped its bra around her chest. Countless wires ran out of its sides. He then circled the waistband around her, snapped it closed, and moved in front of her to snap the middle strap up and closed. As he did so, the Few could see that a small plug extending from the inside of its center. She grimaced as it pushed its way into her.

Now the two Armoreds who had dragged off Blond returned with her. She was no longer naked. Well, not completely naked. She wore what looked like a light blue latex harness around her upper body, but with the bra cups removed and her breasts pulled through so that the straps surrounding the base of her breasts were tight. She also wore matching panties to which, no doubt, had been added a plug not unlike the one that had been added to Brown's bikini. A strap running from the front of Blonde's waistband up past her belly button to her chest harness pulled both pieces even tighter. The Few could see, as she was dragged toward the chains, that she was blindfolded. [see Blond Pic] The second Armored, who had been needed to help prepare Blonde's more complicated attire, left the room after helping re-chain her as before. The First Lord spoke into a microphone in front of him. "Remove the blindfold," he directed the Armored with Blond. "We want them all to see clearly their predicament."

The preliminary preparations were now over. "We can either torture them all at the same time. Or one at a time," the First Lord was not really offering a choice. "I think that we will all enjoy it more, and they less, if we worked on them one at a time, so we can give each our full attention. I assume that there are no objections." Of course there were none. Not just because he was the First Lord who was not to be challenged. But also because this meant that the total length of the interrogation would now be much longer.

Chapter 3

"Chamber 1. Step three."

The Armored in the room with Asian moved to the wall and picked up a studded cat o' nine tails about three feet long, turned without warning, raised it and brought it down from her right shoulder across her chest to her left hip. She screamed, partly from the suddenness, but mostly from the pain, as the studs dug in and tore her flesh as the Armored pulled it down and across. Then, pausing only long enough to raise the whip again, the Armored slashed it a few inches lower so that this second time it found its mark first on Asian's right breast and then tore down to her left thigh.

She continued to scream, her eyes wide, as she watched him raise the whip a third time. He paused for a moment to add to her fear, enjoying the trembling of her body, before lashing a third time, again a few inches lower, so that the whip tore across her stomach and legs.

Asian's body was quickly glazed in sweat. Her chest heaved, trying to gain some breath, while three ugly, nearly parallel red lines began to form across her body where the whip had struck. She began to shake her head furiously side to side. Even after her screams died, her body continued to tremble uncontrollably. The Few in the room doubted that she had any idea when she began on her mission of the extreme pain that she would face upon capture. Before her interrogator had even asked his first question.

Now the Armored returned the whip to the wall and picked up the handle of one of the hot irons in the brazier. If the Few, mesmerized by the whip lashing, had forgotten for a moment of this added torture that awaited her, Asian herself had not, as her eyes had darted in its direction several times during her whipping.

The armored raised the iron, shaped in the form of an L, to within inches of her face so she could feel its intense heat. Although she had regained her breath, her chest continued to heave, now in utter terror of what lay in store for her. He moved the iron down from her face to her chest to between her legs, still not touching her skin, but holding it close enough to singe her flesh every few inches. Asian renewed her screams, knowing that this pain was nothing compared to the pain if -- no, she knew the right word was certainly "when" --he plunged it against her body. [see Asian pic]

Finally, the First Lord spoke to her over the chamber's remote loud speaker system, startling her into awareness that others were also watching. "You are lucky for the moment, my dear. Some of us may decide that we wish to enjoy your treasures, so we will not mar them yet." But just as Asian's body relaxed a bit at these words, the Armored jammed the hot iron into her upper left thigh, where he held it for several seconds, his eyes close to hers, staring into them. She looked back at him, blinking hard, her mouth remaining open as her screams ended. Finally, her head fell to her chest, as the defense of unconsciousness saved her from more immediate pain. When the question was put to her, this Asian would not last long at all, the Few who had watched the scene predicted.

"Chamber 2. Step three." The First Lord instructed the Armored in Latina's chamber.

The Armored approached the chained Latina, who immediately begged him not to hurt her. Yes, she was indeed the weakest, the Few thought. The Armored did not respond, but reached a pair of pliers that he pushed into her mouth and grabbed her tongue with them. Latina's pleas now became incomprehensible.

The Armored slowed pulled her tongue out of her mouth, then let go of the pliers so that her tongue was held out and down by its weight. He put a white cord over it and one under it, then pulled the cords tight around to the back of her head and tied them, leaving her tongue protruding from her mouth. "We can't have you swallow your tongue during our questioning, now, can we?"

Latina pulled at her bonds, but they held firm. She watched as the Armored moved to a small table on which she could see a small generator, then moved her eyes down to confirm what she already knew -- the other ends of the wires attached to the generator were underneath the three taped red Xs that covered the most sensitive parts of her body. She then looked back at the Armored, and resumed her incoherent pleading, her head shaking back and forth.

The Armored flicked a switch on the generator, and Latina's body thrust forward as far as her bonds allowed, stretching her arms and legs completely taut. Her incoherent pleas turned into incoherent screams, her body twisting and convulsing in a vain effort to stop the surge of electricity through her body. [see Latina pic] Just as it seemed she would pull her shoulders out of their sockets, the Armored flipped the switch again, and Latina's body fell back to its original position, drenched in sweat, her eyes bulging.

But she was allowed no more than a moment before the Armored again flicked the generator switch and her body resumed its previous position, shaking in even more desperation to stop the pain. Finally, Latina's pelvis began to thrust back and forth, and each of the Few observers no doubt envisioned himself as her imaginary lover.

The Armored allowed the electricity to flow through her body until he saw that she had passed out. When he turned it off, Latina hung limply in her bonds.

Chapter 4 -- Flashback to previous day

"How many volunteers do we need?" Leading Objector asked the three other members of the Council. "It must be more than one," he proceeded to answer his own question without waiting for their response, "but it should be the fewest number that we need because of the danger and the sacrifice. Also, they must be female because the window opening through which they will enter is small."

"Given the size of the Fortress, we cannot send just two or three because that small a number could not search quickly enough all the places that we would need to check to find where their technological equipment is located," the Second in Command offered. "And the longer they are in the Fortress, the greater the danger of capture. I say we need to send four. But no more than four."

"We are almost certainly sending them all to their deaths. And to very painful deaths at that. The most likely result of this attempt, we all know, is that their mission will fail and all will be captured. So I say that four is too many," complained a third member.

"No," Leading Objector interrupted, "I agree that we need to send four. Let's vote." Leading Objector and Second in Command raised their hands. This vote was a foregone conclusion. Third watched the fourth member slowly raise his hand. Finally, Third joined them. "It is settled. The number will be four." Leading Objector knew that this was the right number. But the next decision would be even more difficult. "Who do we ask to volunteer for such a mission?"

Fourth stated the obvious. "We must send our strongest, unfortunately, because of the mission's importance. And we probably all know who those are."

There was a long silence. Leading Objector finally began to state the names that they all knew were the ones. "Nina." The other three nodded. "And Tia." Three nods. "Pilar." Three pairs of eyes stared at him.

"Yes. But you are avoiding the most obvious choice. If you don't want to send Kathryn, we understand. We can choose another." The Second said what the Third and Fourth were also thinking.

Leading Objector stared into space. His daughter, Kathryn, would certainly be the natural first choice for this mission. She was the strongest and the bravest. And he knew that she must be the fourth women asked to volunteer. He also knew that she would not say no.

"Call the four of them in." [End Flashback]

Chapter 5 -- The Present

"Chamber 3. Step three."

The Armored in the room with Blond held a small metal pack in his right palm. He moved his thumb to its center and pushed. Blonde's entire body tensed and her stomach muscles started to twitch, but she made no sound. The Armored pushed the device again, and now the Blonde's chest arched upward and back repeatedly, her breasts bouncing, and the Few could see that she was biting her lip hard, trying not to scream, until blood oozed from the corner of her mouth. But with the Armored's third push on the device the Blond gave up the fight, as she turned her knees inward and back, trying to close her legs without success. The Armored watched, as did all of the Few in the room, as Blonde's body and breasts continued to shake. Finally, a long scream escaped her throat, as her body continued its involuntary motions. The Armored waited several more seconds before pushing the device one more time. The Blonde's screams stopped, though her body continued to twitch, then fell forward until restrained by the chains holding it. The Armored approached, and pulled her head up to show the Few that she had joined Asian and Latina in unconsciousness, before throwing it back so that she was staring at the ceiling. Or would have been had she been conscious.

"Chamber 4. Step three."

The excitement among the Few grew. Brown, in chamber 4, was the defiant one whose entire breasts had been encased in a metal bra. They would soon see if she was as strong as she wanted them to believe.

The Few were puzzled when the Armored walked to the wall, flipped a switch and then left the room, leaving Brown alone, chained, facing them. She looked over her shoulder to try to see where the Armored had gone, then glanced around the room, looking confusing. "Show yourself, you heathen," she screamed. But just a second later the Few could see bursts of electricity leap across the right cup of the metal bra, whose blue color began to turn red. Brown looked down. She pulled at her chains, tried to twist her body, raise her right side, find a way to force her breast out of the bra, but there was nothing that she could do. And then, as the color of the right cup returned to blue, electric bursts encased the left bra cup, and it began to turn red. Brown quickly realized that she was being tortured bit by bit. The electricity first jolted her breast, then heated the bra until its metal burned the flesh in it. And she could find no one in the room to whom she could even express her defiance. [see Brown pic]

The Few could see Brown began to gasp in pain, as she shut and opened her eyes hard, hoping, it seemed, to try to wake up from a nightmare. A few moments later, as the color of the left cup returned to blue, a burst of electricity crossed between Brown's legs as her panties began to glow red. She finally started to scream, looking down and then straight out, then down again. In between her screams, she swore at no one she could see. "Fuck you, whoever you are," she shouted, looking directly forward, but not certain that anyone could hear.

As she saw the blue color return to the panties, she closed her eyes, certain of what was coming next, trying to prepare herself. And she was right. The bursts of electricity now crossed the entire bikini, as both its bra and panty became a bright red. The Few were now treated to the agony of her screams, her defiance gone at least for the moment. Finally, though, in a display of her strength, she forced herself to stop her screams, gritted her teeth hard, and tried to minimize the shaking of her body. When the metal returned to its blue color after what must have seemed an eternity to her, she remained staring straight ahead, her body still shaking, wondering if .. or when ... the bursts of electricity would resume and again heat the metal. She wondered for how long she could stand the pain. She dared not wonder what the electricity and heat had done to her breasts and to her womanhood that wore this hideous contraption.

"Two. One. Three. Four. That is my bet," the First Lord offered. "From weakest to strongest. Who disagrees?" No one responded, because he was the First Lord and none dared challenge him unless he was certain he could offer an improvement. And none could. The First Lord's prediction seemed a good one.

Chapter 6

"Chamber 1. Step four."

The Armored nodded and moved back to the brazier with the hot irons. He picked up the L-shaped iron again. It glowed red. He moved back to the hanging Tia, and raised her slumped head from her chest. Her eyes slowly opened. As she remembered her plight, and again saw the hot iron, her eyes widened.

"Welcome back, my dear," the voice was the First Lord's over a speaker in the room. "It is time for your questioning to begin. If you do not answer my question truthfully and completely, well, our friend here will do things to you that you will not find pleasant. The L on the branding iron, by the way, will then further mark you as a Lesser." The First Lord waited while the Armored stepped back to make sure that Tia could see the iron in his hand.

A large map suddenly appeared in the corner of the room to Tia's left, visible to those in the theater as well, with a large red X marking the location of the Fortress. "Now, in what direction should I move the X to show where the Lessers' camp is located?"

Tia breathed hard. "I will tell you where we are," she began. "We are ... everywhere !! All around you. Everywhere !!" The First Lord could see that she was breathing hard. Defiant. But scared. Very well, he thought. You have made your choice for the moment.

"Not the right answer." Hearing the First Lord's words, the Armored jammed the iron into the underside of Tia's left breast, held it for several seconds, and pulled it back, revealing the hideous L-shaped burn. Tia's screams had begun even before the iron had touched her flesh, and they grew louder with the pain, both physical and psychological, knowing that her beautiful body was now forever deformed. How long forever would be for her, though, she could not say.

"We can do this until your whole body has faced this and other irons. Would you rather not end your torture now?" The First Lord's voice was calm and matter-of-fact. "Now, once again, in which direction should I move the red X to locate your Lesser's camp? You have 15 seconds to answer."

Tia's eyes darted around the room, still seeking to find the source of the voice. "Ten seconds." Her body began to tremble. She couldn't tell him. But how could she not. "Five." Her stomach muscles began to twitch. She looked at the Armored, who was waiting for his signal.

"Time is up." The Armored raised his iron, this time thrusting it into the upper part of her left breast, just above her nipple, again holding it against her flesh for several seconds before pulling it away. This burn was more visible to Tia than the first, but she was focused on the pain, again screaming as before. "You are a monster. This is barbaric."

"Exactly, my dear. Barbaric is a good word." The Armored moved back to the brazier, put down the L-shaped iron and picked up one in the shape of a star, twice as large as the first. "If you fail to answer a third time, I will allow him to mark you three times. The star doesn't stand for anything. We just use it because it's larger." The First Lord's voice was still amazingly even. "And I think that we are up to the third time, now, aren't way? At least from looking at your left breast, I am sure we are up to the third time. So, once again, where is the Lessers' camp? This time you have only 10 seconds to answer."

"Nooooooo," Tia screamed, which was exactly the reaction the First Lord wanted. Less time. More damage. More pressure on her to talk. "Five seconds."

"Please, no. I ... I don't know how to tell you. I don't have a good sense of direction."

"There are plenty of features on the map," the First Lord responded. "Rivers and mountains and roads. Move the red X in the right direction, even if not to the exact place. That will be a start."

Tia appeared to be considering what to do. The First Lord gave her some additional time, but then grew tired of her delays. "I'm afraid that it all the time you get for now."

The Armored immediately moved toward Tia, holding the larger star-shaped iron, glowing red. He jabbed it first against the underside of her right breast, then immediately raised it and jammed its center against her right nipple. Tia's screams filled the room. As the Armored removed the iron, no portion of her right nipple remained unburned.

Now the Armored put down the star-shaped iron and picked up one that just gradually tapered into a point, and moved behind Tia. She turned her head to try to see what he intended and began to panic. Why hadn't she talked? What was the point of resisting so much? Certainly she was going to talk sooner or later. Why not sooner?

She had barely finished her thought when she felt the iron push up between her buttocks and against and into her anus. The instinctual tightening of her muscles held the iron in place even as the Armored released his hold on it and walked back in front of her. Tia instantly lost control of her bladder, raised her head and screamed at the top of her lungs. Tia's head dropped to her chest, and her body swung limply against its chains, urine and blood dripping below her. The stench of burnt flesh filled the room as the iron remain embedded behind her. The Few could not share in the smell, but they could sense it.

Chapter 7 -- Flashback to previous day

"We have an important and dangerous mission," Leading Objector told the four women who had been called into the Council room and now stood in a straight line before its members. "I'm sure that you must have an idea of what it is."

Kathryn, his daughter, was always the most outspoken, perhaps because she felt comfortable talking to the person she considered as father more than as Leading Objector. But also perhaps because she had been raised by him to be a confident woman. "Someone has to gain entry into the Fortress."

"Yes," Leading Objector confirmed.

"And you want to know which of use will volunteer," Tia offered.

"Yes and no," Leading Objector responded. "We want all of you to volunteer. We want to send all four of you in."

"To increase our chances of finding the center of their operations." They had talked for weeks about needing to do this, so Nina was not telling any of them anything that anyone didn't already know.

"It will increase our chances, but it will also increase the chances that one or more of us will be captured, since we will need to split up once we gain entry." Pilar too stated the obvious, but it was important that the increased danger be discussed.

"I must be honest with you," Leading Objector told them. "The chances of any of you obtaining the information that we need and escaping is not great. We could very well lose all four of you."

"Why not send both men and women?" Tia's question was reasonable.

"We have located a small opening in the Fortress. A broken window. We need our operatives to be small enough to get through it." The Third explained. "Tia and Pilar are certainly small enough." Tia, a small Asian, was no more than 5'4" and 115 pounds. The Latina Pilar was only slightly larger.

"So you think that I'm a large woman," Kathryn complained. Well, it was true that she and the blond Nina were larger where men preferred, so the Third didn't think of them as small, but, actually, they too would have no trouble getting through the window.

"You and Nina will have less difficulty than any of the men," Leading Objector explained to his daughter. "That's why we asked you here. But given the danger of the mission, we are not going to order you to accept the assignment. You will have to volunteer. And, if you do, we will explain it in more detail to you. You are warned that you may find it even more dangerous than we have so far explained. So please step forward if you accept. If you do not step forward, no one will think the less of you, since I cannot truthfully say that I would step forward if I were asked."

The four women looked at each other, clasped hands, and, together, took a step forward. Tears welled in Leading Objector's eyes to see these four brave women. And to know that he was likely sending them, and among them his daughter, to their deaths. [End flashback]

Chapter 8 -- The Present

"Chamber 2. Step four."

"This is the weak one," the Fews' murmur filtered throughout the room. "She'll break."

The Armored approached Pilar, lifted her head to make sure that she was again conscious. "It's time for your questions, dear," the First Lord began. Like Tia, Pilar looked around the room to try to find the voice. "The last time the electricity was set at low. If you fail to talk, it will be set this time at high. The question is a simple one: Where is the Lessers' camp?" The same map now appeared in the corner of the room. "Tell me where to move the red X."

Pilar looked confusingly at the Armored, who realized that she could not talk with the cords holding out her tongue. The First Lord instructed her. "Just nod when you are ready to talk. But, if you nod, you had better talk or you will be very, very sorry. I will give you 30 seconds to decide."

Pilar knew that, even if she ultimately was forced by the pain to talk, she owed it to her comrades to try to hold out. She did not wait the full 30 seconds, but shook her head "no." The Few were surprised. They had not expected any resistance from this one. "Very well," the First Lord responded.

The Armored moved to the generator on the table, looked for a second at the chained Pilar, and then flipped the switch up until it clicked, then up a second time until there was another click.

Pilar's body immediately leaped out, stretching her arms and legs taut. Puffs of smoke quickly escaped from under the two red Xs crossing her breasts and from the one between her legs. And immediately Pilar wondered why she was trying to seem brave. After 20 seconds, she began to nod her head frantically up and down. Yes, yes, she would talk if given the chance.

The First Lord saw that she had broken, but allowed the current to surge through her for 10 more seconds before signaling the Armored to shut it off. Pilar's body immediately sunk as far as her chained wrists allowed, her knees bent, smoke now pouring from under the taped red Xs.

The Armored moved toward her and removed the cords around her tongue. Then he pulled the tape off of her breasts, and unwrapped the bare wires from around her nipples. The watching Few grimaced as they searched to find anything still resembling a human nipple, but soon realized that both of Pilar's nipples had been completely burned off by the electric current. As the Armored removed the red tape between her legs, they saw that the entire area was a blistered deep red. The Armored pulled out the two wires from inside her, and she, like her co-conspirator before her, lost control of her bladder. The Armored pulled Pilar by her hair and turned her head to force her to stare at the map.

"Now, first tell me your name," the First Lord asked.

"Pilar. My name is ... Pilar."

"Very good. Now, Pilar, tell me where to move the X to show the location of the Lessers," the First Lord ordered.

"West. Four miles. Just south of the dry lake."

The red X on the map moved to the area that Pilar had indicated, then zoomed in for more precision. "More detail," the First Lord ordered.

Pilar looked at the map. "Near the intersection of the two roads leading to the mountains. That's as exact as I can give you."

The red X on the map again moved and enlarged to show the spot that Pilar had indicated. "Yes. That is where," she confirmed.

The First Lord smiled and turned off the microphone to the room.

"That's one. Now we will need a second, at least, to confirm the location, since we must be sure before we try to look through the Haze."

Chapter 9

"Chamber 3. Step four."

Some members of the audience were surprised that the First Lord did not go back to Chamber 1. The Asian had seemed just about ready to break. Blond and Brown, they thought, were the two toughest. But perhaps he was really trying to keep the experiment controlled, rather than just seeking the information, knowing that the information would come soon in any event.

But they soon discovered that the First Lord was not really interested in the experiment. After raising Nina's head to learn that she remained unconscious, and then dropping it to fall back, the Armored pushed a button by his hip. A thick metal cylinder at least eight inches long leaped out from between his legs. An Armored penis. He moved behind the unknowing Nina, and slowly began to force it into her dry vagina. At first Nina's remained back and only her mouth slowly began to open. Then, as the Armored pushed in deeper, she suddenly raised her head upright and her eyes opened wide. With the next thrust, she screamed.

"He can last forever, dear, and, if I so direct, he can slowly widen himself," the First Lord's voice came over the loudspeaker in the chamber. "So, if you do not talk, you are in for a real treat." Nina's eyes darted around the room, blinking wildly. It was unclear to those watching whether she understood what the First Lord was telling her.

"He fills you nicely and completely, does he not?" Nina's eyes continued to search the room, trying to find where the First Lord's voice was coming from. But now it was clear from her heaving chest and sweating body that her terror at her situation had been joined at least in part by a physical pleasure. The Few wondered if she would allow herself to orgasm, or perhaps orgasm involuntarily, before the Armored's equipment tore her wide open.

The First Lord now could see that Nina -- although he still knew her only as Blonde -- was starting to lick her lips with her tongue. Apparently, she had decided that if she was going to die at the hands -- or rather on the metal cylinder penis -- of the Armored, she was going to try to enjoy whatever aspect of her demise that she could. The First Lord signaled the Armored to stop, and, with a second push on the button on his hip, his equipment withdrew into his body, leaving Nina gasping.

"I will ask you once for the location of the Lessers," the First Lord spoke. "If you do not answer truthfully and completely, I will allow him to sodomize you and I do not think that you will find that at all pleasurable. I will give you a minute to decide, but, to help persuade you, I will let him start while you think about your decision."

Nina heard the dreaded metallic click and felt the Armored push the cylinder against her anus. With the first push inside her, she knew that she would tell what she knew.

"By the dry lake," she screamed. "South. By the dry lake. Now get him out of me. Get him out !!"

"That is a good start, my dear ... what is your name?"

"Nina. Nina."

The red X on the map moved to the location that Nina had designated.

"And now more precisely ... Nina," the First Lord asked, as the map zoomed in to just south of the dry lake.

"By the two roads. Yes, there," Nina watched the X move. "There. Now get him out of me !!"

Nina's X now matched Pilar's, much to the First Lord's satisfaction.

"Get him out of me !!" Nina again shouted frantically.

"Oh, I don't think so," the First Lord responded. "Doesn't he deserve a reward for his part in getting you to tell us what we wanted to know? And don't you deserve a punishment for being the cowardly traitor that you are?"

By now the Armored was deeply inside Nina's anus, and he wrapped his arms around her stomach to keep him pushed in as far as he could.

"But you promised !! You promised that if I told you ...!!"

"I promised what, dear Nina?" The First Lord's voice was soft and even. "No. I told you what would happen if you didn't tell me. I never told you what would happen if you did. And, for spies like yourself, there is no difference between the two."

The Armored now raised his hands to squeeze Nina's breasts. She was still screaming when the First Lord flipped the switch to darken the chamber and mute the sound.

Chapter 10

"Chamber 4. Step four."

The light came up again on Kathryn, who remained staring straight ahead.

"Do you care to see if any part of your breasts remain attached to your body?" The First Lord's voice seemed to startle her. "Or whether they will just stick to the bra when it is removed? Such a shame that this is the fate of such a beautiful body."

"I told you to go fuck yourself. Or are you senile and don't remember."

"I'm afraid that your defiance is wasted, love. You see, two of your group have already given us the information that we need. And the other will break very soon. So we don't need your information ... and we don't need you. You can confirm what the others' have told us and die quickly. Or you can enjoy a few more words of what you think of as bravery ... but I think of as foolishness ... and die slowly and painfully. Now which shall it be?"

"You're even more senile than I thought. You can't remember 20 seconds ago, can you? And don't think for a second that I believe that any of us have talked. None of us will ever tell you anything !!"

"Foolish, ignorant and deluded. And not even embarrassed to be so. A once beautiful but stupid woman who will soon be anything but beautiful ... but will still be stupid." The First Lord signaled the Armored, who, as before, moved off screen. A few seconds later, both of the bra cups and the metal panties began to glow red. And a video of Pilar began to play on the wall. "That's as exact as I can give you.... "Yes. That is where." Kathryn -- or Brown, as the Few still knew her -- glanced to the screen and back several times to make sure of what she was seeing. And then the image of Pilar faded and was replaced by the image of Nina. "Yes, there ... there." So these two had talked, just as she had been told, Kathryn knew. And so Tia was probably going to talk soon, as well, just as she had also been told.

As the her metal bikini began to glow hot, and burn even more her already raw and tender flesh, Kathryn knew that her information was not needed, and that she had nothing with which she could bargain. She had no choice, then, but die as bravely as she could. Regardless of how long they tortured her.

She determined that she would not scream for as long as she could hold out. But it was not long, as the heat of the metal grew beyond endurance. And as she screamed, she could see the Armored approaching her. He flicked a small tab on the outer side of each of the metal bra cups and small holes opened in each, one on each side of her encased breasts, As she watched the Armored walk back to a table by the wall, she knew what additional tortures were in store for her.

As the metal continued to glow, and she continued to scream, Kathryn's eyes focused -- at least to the extent that they still could focus -- on the two thin sharpened skewers that the Armored took from the table and thrust into his belt.

"My defiant one," the First Lord spoke, "you are going to die painfully if you do not join your comrades in providing us the information that we seek. It is up to you. But this is your last chance."

What was the point? Kathryn thought. They already know. While she could not see exactly where Pilar and Nina had indicated on the map, Kathryn could see that the map had zoomed in on the right area, and she had no reason to believe that the two women had not provided accurate information.

"Show me the map," she finally screamed. The Few were startled. This was the one they were sure would not break. But even she had. Electricity and hot metal has a way of loosing even the most resistant tongue. Those Few who had thought this method the most effective felt vindicated.

The map appeared on the wall of her chamber. This time, though, it had four red Xs marked in different places on it, marked with the number 1 through 4. "Just tell me the number," the First Lord ordered.

Kathryn continued to scream, the current surging through her metal bikini, which continued to glow red, the Armored standing nearby holding the two skewers. She tried to stop her screams long enough to answer, her stomach muscles quivering. "Three," she finally managed. "Three." The correct answer, the Few knew. The same exact spot given by Pilar and Nina.

"What a shame," the First Lord feigned sadness, "but that is not correct."

Kathryn was stunned. She had betrayed her cause and was not believed !! But her attention quickly turned from her disbelief at the First Lord's words, to the figure of the Armored pulling one of the thin skewers from his belt.

"You ... whoever you are ..." Kathryn's screams had made the sound of even her voice raspy and painful to listen to, as her eyes scanned the room, all parts of her metal bikini still glowing red, "you know that I told you the truth ..." She listened for a response, but there was none. Only the Armored slowly approaching her, drawing one of the skewers out of his belt.

Her eyes stared at him as lined its sharpened end with the small hole on the far side of the left bra cup, then looked into her eyes. Kathryn had now stopped screaming, her body apparently oblivious, or adjusted, to the tremendous pain surging through it. "Do it, you non-human piece of metallic shit. Just do it and get it over with before ..." Her words were cut short as the Armored did exactly as she dared, and thrust the skewer through the hole into her left breast, through it and out into the hole in the bra cup on the other side. Kathryn did not believe anything could add to the pain that she had been experiencing, but she knew that she had been wrong, as the searing heat now did not just surround the outside of her breast, but surged right into and through it. Her throat gurgled, too hoarse to scream.

She continue to gurgle, her body shaking, as the Armored pulled the second skewer out of his belt and immediately performed the same operation on her right breast. He then quickly attached the ends of the skewers to four metal chains that dropped from the ceiling. When he unchained Kathryn's wrists from above her head, and cuffed them behind her back, Kathryn suddenly found herself standing on her toes, her back arched, her breasts held high by the hanging skewers running through them, still enclosed in the glowing metal bra. The Armored released her chained ankles, knowing that her efforts to keep her balance would cause her even more agony. Only then did Kathryn's bikini slowly turn back to its blue color.

Chapter 11 -- Flashback to previous day

"There is always a small chance that your mission will succeed, that you will locate the area of the Fortress, obtain the information and return safely. But it is a very small chance. You understand that?" Four women all nodded immediately.

"So we have a back-up plan should you be captured," Leading Objector continued, not telling them, though they all understood, that this was the real plan, since this likely was what would happen. "If you are captured ..." The woman appreciated that he at least used the word "if" even if "when" would have been more appropriate, "you are certainly going to be tortured for information about our whereabouts." Now the woman closed their eyes, and their nods came more slowly. "You must resist for at least a while, so as to avoid suspicion that the information that you are going to give them is information that we want you to give them. But we do want you to tell them, so, when you reach a point in your interrogation ..." His use of the word "when" this time was not lost on the women. "... where it would be reasonable for them to believe that you have reached your limit of pain and they have broken you, then tell them our location."

"And where should we tell them our location is? Certainly you do not mean for us to tell them our true location?" Kathryn seemed incredulous.

Leading Objector wanted to make sure his instructions were clear to his daughter and the other three. "You tell them our true location. Here. Just south of the dry lake. Near the intersection of the roads."

"Why would you want us to do that," Nina was direct. "We are not afraid to lie to them. We are going to be tortured either way. Give us another location and we will all stick to it, I'm sure." Usually no one questioned the reasons given by a superior officer. But, under the circumstances, Nina felt an answer was appropriate.

Leading Objector looked at her for a few seconds, then at each of the others. "First, they would know from its appearance when they examine it from their satellites whether the place to which you direct them has been the site of our camp. We cannot hide that. We would not fool them by moving now to another place. Second, the only way to make certain that you all answer consistently any more detailed questions that they may ask you is to tell them the truth. If you give them lies, they will see through that, too, no matter how well you think you are prepared. The truth is easier to remember than a lie. Especially when four of you would be asked to remember every detail of the same lie."

"I hope you are getting to a third reason," Pilar dared complain, "because these first two are not very convincing."

"And ... third ...," Leading Objector agreed that these brave women were entitled to know everything, "as long as you tell them our true location, they will be in for a surprise when they arrive, and we believe that the end result will allow us to destroy the Armored take over the Fortress. Let me just say that it will be the pits for them. We think that we have observed their activities outside the Fortress enough to give our plan a good chance."

All four knew to what he was now referring. Kathryn looked at her father and smiled slowly. "But if our main work is to tell them the truth about our location," Kathryn again asked what all four women were thinking, "why send four of us, and not fewer?"

"We went through that before," Leading Objector responded earnestly. "They would not believe that we would send fewer if our mission really was to locate their technological equipment. We must not do anything to raise their suspicions that that is not our true mission."

And there it was. Out in the open. Their main mission was not to locate the Few's technological equipment. Their main mission was to invade the Fortress and be captured and tortured for information that they would supply, but only after sufficient torture to make their betrayals believable. This is was the mission for which they had volunteered. [End flashback]

Chapter 12 -- The Present

The stage in the theatre once again lit up all four chamber rooms. All four of the women's heads now slumped against their chests, unconscious, if not close to dead, from their ordeals. Three had already provided the information demanded from them. The Few could see that Asian remained chained, her hanging body marked by ugly burns in the shapes of Ls and stars, with the tapered iron still protruding from her backside. A mixture of blood and urine continued to drip from between the legs of the nippleless Pilar. The Armored remained behind Nina, his hands now gripping her breasts, his cylinder no doubt still deeply inside her. And Kathryn still hung by the skewers in her breasts, her toes barely touching the floor.

"So, some surprises and some not surprises, I would say," the First Lord began to sum up the events of the last few hours. "Asian here is the one who lasted the longest, the only one who has not talked, though I suspect that she will talk soon. And our dear Brown here, she put on a good show for a while. Until totally collapsing in an instant. So who can draw any conclusions from all of this?"

"They all have their breaking points. No one can hold out for long, no matter which torture is used," one of the Few offered. "But where that breaking point is, and what will trigger it, are difficult to predict. As it is difficult to predict who will hold out the longest. Not that it really matters, since they all will talk sooner rather than later. All of the methods work. So their torture can be at least partly for our pleasure." He seemed pleased with his assessment.

"Did the three who have so far confessed tell us the truth?" The First Lord next asked.

"It would seem so," another of the Few responded. "They all indicated the exact same place without knowing what any of the others had said or not said.

"Well, Brown here did know that two of her comrades had talked," the First Lord corrected.

"But not where they had indicated," the speaker defended his argument.

"Maybe they all agreed ahead of time to give that spot if they were captured," the First Leader observed. "But I guess we will soon find that out if they told the truth, won't we? I have directed the Technician to search through the Haze at the location identified by the three women. We will have the results in a few hours. In the meantime, why don't we break this final Lesser." The other three chambers vanished from the stage.

The Armored walked behind Tia and pulled out the now cooled tapered iron from behind her, flesh clinging to it. Her body jolted, then swung slightly back and forth. Her head remained slumped against her chest. The Armored moved back to the brazier and this time he held the entire foot-long iron -- and not just its tip -- over the burning coals until it glowed red down to its hilt. Stepping back to the unconscious woman, he touched its full length across her stomach, and began to roll it up to her breast and down to below her navel. Tia immediately raised her head, looked down and began to shriek, shaking her head back and forth as the entire front of her body turned the deep red color of the heated iron and immediately began to blister.

While Tia screamed in horror, the Armored slowly walked behind her and began to roll the iron along her back in the same manner.

"Is there something that you wish to tell us, my Asian beauty? Or former beauty, I should say," the First Lord asked. Tia's shrieks continued.

The Armored walked again in front of Tia, and now rolled the iron from the underside of her breasts up to her shoulder and then back down again, covering both breasts at the same time. Tia's left nipple soon was nearly as charred as her right nipple had been earlier. No one watching could think that anything could sounded more crazed than the noise now spewing from her throat.

"We can do this to your entire body, and then move inside you. Perhaps down your throat to stop those insane sounds," the First Lord showed no mercy. This was the only one of the four who hadn't yet talked. "Or you can tell us what we want to know." The Armored moved the tip of the long tapered iron directly below Tia's spread legs. "Or we could start there," the First Lord offered. "As you can see, we're way past trying to keep you beautiful for own pleasures. These pleasures are so much more .. well ... pleasurable."

Tia desperately gathered all the strength that remained to her. Her eyes looked down her body, at her horribly burned and disfigured breasts and stomach. She could still feel where the same iron had jammed into, and been left for so long, in her anus. She looked straight ahead, into the Armored's eyes. "You're going to do it whether I talk or not." And she spit in his face.

The First Lord laughed, and signaled the Armored that she was his to do with as he pleased. The Armored pulled the iron away from Tia, and walked back to the brazier. He picked up another, and, as he did so, Tia's eyes widened as she saw that this iron was at least 18 inches long.

Now the Armored moved back to stand directly in front of Tia, the longer iron poised between her legs. Tia pulled violently against her bonds until her wrists and ankles were nearly as raw as the rests of her body. The Armored put his face close to hers and stared into her eyes, grabbing her upper arm with his free hand. Then he slowly pushed the iron up into her, feeling her muscles tense, watching her mouth open, first a bit, then wide. He pushed the first few inches in slowly, then held it in place, still watching Tia's bulging eyes.

Finally, the Armored tired of the play. He released his hand from Tia's upper hand, and gripped the iron's hilt with both hands. Standing directly in front of her, he pushed it slowly up into her until only its hilt remained outside her. Blood immediately poured from her open mouth as the tip of the iron punctured her cervix. Her screams grew louder for a few seconds, but then began to fade. Her head remained upright a few seconds longer, and then fell to her chest. As before, when he had left the iron in her anus, the Armored now left this new longer iron protruding from between her legs, only its hilt visible. He raised his hand to check her neck for a pulse. He turned to the front of the stage and shook his head. He raised Tia's head to stare forward, her eyes still bulging, as the lights of the chamber darkened. One of the four had beaten him, the First Lord knew. But it didn't really matter.

Before leaving the theatre to wait for the Technician's results, the First Lord flipped on the lights to the other three chambers. Pilar, Nina and Kathryn remained in their chains, alive ... barely. The one Armored had finally removed his cylinder from Nina. The blood on Pilar's breasts seemed at first glance like large nippleless aureole. Kathryn body had swung so that now only the backs of her toes touched the floor. Their faces, slumped to their chests, still appeared contorted in pain that not even their unconsciousness could eliminate. The First Lord wondered what nightmares they might be having. Whatever they were, they couldn't be as horrible as the real life nightmares they had experienced for the last several hours.

Chapter 13 -- Three hours later

"Here are the aerial photos through the Haze."

"I wasn't sure what to expect," the First Lord conceded to the Technician. "Summon and program the Armoreds. Send them all."

So this was it. The three women had told the truth. Soon the long-awaited destruction of the Lessers would be complete. After that, the Few would not be constrained to the Fortress, although they would have to strengthen themselves physically before they dared venture outside.

None of the three captives who remained alive were any longer in condition to bring any real physical pleasure to them, so the only question was whether to torture them further just for the enjoyment of the Few or just dispose of them. Well, those actually were three separate questions, the First Lord realized, since the answer need not be the same for each of them. But he needn't decide right away. These women were not going anywhere soon. Or ever. He had more important questions that he needed answered. Much more important questions.

"How long will it take the Armoreds to arrive at the location?" The First Lord realized that he really had no idea.

"Two hours. We will set them at maximum speed."

"And how long will it take them to destroy the Lessers?"

"Nearly instantly," the Technician boasted. "Before reaching the site, they will move wide around it, use their GPS and electronic capabilities to calculate a perimeter that will encircle the entire Lesser location and then create an electronic ring that runs from one to the next. This electric circle will shrink as they march inward, destroying everything in its path until, by the time that the Armoreds have united at its center, none will be left alive. As each of the Lessers falls within its path, the electric ring will simply stop their hearts, leaving them lifeless on the ground. When the work is finished, they will send back a signal and we can see the results when we again search through the Haze."

The First Lord walked slowly back to his office to prepare for the new world that was soon to come.

The next two to three hours would seem the longest of his life. Of course, excepting only the past two hours, they would also seem the longest in the lives of the chained Pilar, Nina and Kathryn. At least to the extent they maintained any awareness of their situation.

Chapter 14

"It will probably be sometime today. We can't know when. Our scouts should be able to give us 30 minutes warning," Leading Objector had gathered the Lessers for their last minute instructions. "Half of you, and you know which half, will remain right here in the center of our camp. The Armoreds will be facing in your direction, so you will be in the most danger. But you are decoys."

The Objectors had gone over their leader's instructions so often, that they knew everything by heart, but there was no harm in going over them yet again. They needed a way to take their minds off of what was surely going to be the most important day in their lives. For better or for worse. But, one way or the other, things would never be the same for any of them.

"The other half, and you know your positions, are to hide in the two gullies at the far sides of the roads. After the Armoreds arrive, you will wait for them to move toward the camp, and then follow behind them. When the reach the key point, you will have to be patient. It will still take a few minutes before you can take action. Do not move in on them too soon."

A very simple plan. Based on an unusual, potentially very valuable geographical feature of the area around their camp. But it was their only chance. And, for that chance, they knew that they had most likely sacrificed four of their strongest women warriors. They must not waste it. The price had been steep.

Their wait was shorter than they anticipated, as two scouts ran quickly into the camp to announce the approach of the Armoreds. The Objectors all ran to their positions.

The Armoreds arrived in a long line, then spread out to form a very large circle, about a mile in diameter, around the camp. As they slowly began to march toward the camp, shrinking the diameter of their circle, they could see that much of the camp was surrounded by thick shrubbery, apparently planted to provide protection from possible attack. But, at a dozen or more points, there were openings through which the Lessers could move in and out of their camp. These all remained opened. The Lessers did not yet know, it seemed, that their female infiltrators had been so swiftly captured and successfully interrogated, that the Haze had been permeated by the Few's technology and that the Armoreds had been sent at full speed. The Lessers did not seem prepared for the Armoreds' onslaught.

When the diameter had shrunk to half a mile, the Armoreds reached the thick brush and moved to the openings, which were each wide enough for two of them to pass through at the same time. The Armoreds adjusted their spaces, so that each was opposite an opening, with two opposite several of the openings. After they passed through, they would even out the spacing between them and turn on their electric ring, which had so far been unnecessary as they had yet to encounter any of the Lessers.

Coordinating their advance, the Armoreds moved into the openings simultaneously. But they had traversed only the first several of the shrubbery opening's twenty yard length when they realized that, with each step, their feet were sinking deeper into a thick heavy substance that was quickly up past their knees. Even with their great strength, they were no match for what they realized was tar, and soon they became mired in it and began to sink.

When the tar reached their waists, the half of the Objectors who had hidden themselves in the gullies outside the Armoreds' initial circle raced up behind them. Taking great care to wait until they were certain that the Armoreds could no longer turn, and approaching them directly in line with the center of their backs, so that the Armoreds could not swing their arms to reach them, the Objectors searched the metal for the opening to their electronic controls, which they knew, from their scouts' observations of the Armoreds at the times over the past years when they had ventured outside the Fortress, were located in their upper backs and could be accessed by use of a simple screwdriver. Believing their Armoreds too strong for attack by the Lessers, and none in the Fortress prone to want them disabled, the Few had chosen ease of their repair over added protection against improper tampering with their controls.

Soon all 20 of the Armored were electronically dead. Now the rest of the Objectors moved in from both sides, equipped with rigging devices designed to pull the Armoreds out of their tar prisons. With 12 they succeeded, but they lost the remaining eight to the depths of the tar.

Leading Objector came to observe the scene. It had been the pits for the Armoreds, just as he had told his brave volunteers. The tar pits that the Objectors had used these last ten years to provide them with at least some sense of security. To entice the Armoreds, they had simply removed the bridges that normally ran over the tar pits, camouflaged the openings with debris tied to the shrubbery to prevent it from sinking into the tar, and prayed that the Armoreds would take the ease of moving through the openings instead of creating their own paths through the thick shrubs. And they had.

The Objectors now had only a brief time to re-program the Armoreds' electronic brains. Fortunately, before their departure from the Fortress, many Objectors had trained in computer programming. While rusty after so many idle years, they were able to re-program three of the Armoreds to recognize the Objectors as their controllers ... and the Few in the Fortress as their enemies. The other nine Armoreds they simply stood upright to form their circle just inside the shrubbery, as one of the re-programmed Armoreds signaled the Fortress that their mission was successfully accomplished, which the Technician could confirm through the Haze.

An hour later, scattered throughout their camp and lying on their backs or stomachs, the Objectors feigned death until finally they heard one of the Armoreds respond to a message from the Fortress that their victory was confirmed and that the Armoreds should return with the bodies of those who appeared to be the Objectors' leaders ... as well as the bodies of a few of the more attractive women whom they might wish to examine. For scientific purposes only, of course.

Chapter 15

The Few were jubilant at the news of their victory over the Lessers and rushed into the Fortress' large central courtyard to celebrate. After an hour, the First Lord appeared on the balcony of his office overlooking the courtyard.

"We have today won a great victory," he shouted proudly. "The Lessers have been defeated." Film from the satellite taken through the Haze beamed against the wall of the building below him, panning the Lessers dead on the ground, surrounded by the Armoreds, inside the camp.

"And we must give thanks to many," the First Lord continued. "First and foremost, our military leaders." Several of those who had been in the theater for the torture and questioning of the four women joined the First Lord on the balcony, to sustained cheers. Several of them pointed to the First Lord, and the cheers grew louder.

"And to our Technician and his staff, who created the Armoreds." The Technician now joined the others on the balcony. The cheers continued.

"And," the First Lord now pointed down below, "to those weak Lesser women whom we captured trying to enter our Fortress, who fell for our trap, and whom we forced to reveal the location of the Lesser camp."

All eyes turned in the direction to which the First Lord had pointed. Four military men -- given the assignment because all of the Armoreds were not yet back from their mission -- dragged Pilar and Nina, totally naked and a barely conscious, their wrists cuffed behind them, toward a raised platform at the side of the courtyard, then up its stairs, one standing on each side of each woman. The breast torture that each had suffered was clearly visible to all in the courtyard. Pilar's missing nipples. The red welts running along the entire undersides of Nina's breasts. The hideous blistering between their legs. But compared to what Tia and Kathryn had suffered, Pilar and Nina had been treated mildly. The crowd's cheers quickly turned to jeers, as they demanded further torture of these traitors.

"No, my fellow victors," the First Lord's words quieted the crowd, "In the spirit of compassion, we will not prolong the doom of these pitiful creations." Both would have fallen if not held up by their elbows by the men around them. "As it is, they will suffer far worse for an eternity in the place to which we are sending them than they have, of necessity, suffered here."

The men moved the women under the two nooses that hung from the gallows on the platform. Without asking their preference, they slid two hoods over their faces an secured them at their necks. The crowd could now see the fear in their bodies, their knees shaking. Both were already beginning to strangle as they were unable to hold themselves upright after the men around them moved away.

"This one here on the left," the First Lord indicated Pilar, "was the weakest and broke first. In return for that service, we will make her exit painless. The platform below Pilar's feet snapped open and her body fell, continuing to fall until it was entirely underneath the platform floor. When the rope tightened, it quickly ended her descent, and the crowd could hear the loud snap in her neck and see its angle to her body shift unnaturally. They could not see her face under the hood and wondered why the First Lord had been so merciful to such a traitor. As Pilar's body began to sway, her nearly empty bladder released, as did her not quite so empty bowels. Merciful to a degree, perhaps, but a humiliating public end to a once beautiful woman.

"This other one," the First Lord waited until Pilar's body had finished swinging and come to rest, "tried harder to resist, but confirmed the first's information. As punishment for her efforts, feeble as they were, we gave her to one of the Armoreds." This brought a loud cheer from the crowd. Nina, still shaking on the platform, had no trouble hearing the First Lord's words, and the crowd's reaction, through the hood. "She deserves not so painless as death as the first." Now Nina's body was visibly shaking, her stomach muscles twitching, her already hardened nipples extending in fear.

Nina's executioner moved to the other end of the rope and waited for the First Lord's signal. Her body continued to shake as the First Lord allowed the tension, and her fear, to grow. Finally, he nodded, and the executioner gave a hard long pull on the rope, sending Nina's body upward, her toes two feet above the platform floor. With her air cut off by the noose, she began to gurgle, and her legs bent and kicked and, to the delight of the crowd, opened wide, as she tried desperately to find a position that might give her just a bit of relief. But, though she continued her frantic movements, the crowd screaming all the while, her efforts were hopeless. After a minute the movement in her legs lessened until, after another few seconds, it stopped. Nina's body hung limply by the noose, as her bowels, too, released, dropping their contents on the platform floor below her.

"We will leave them here until the Armoreds return, so that we can share their demise and our success with them."

The First Lord and the others on the balcony returned to their offices. The crowd, though, remained, awaiting the return of the heroic Armoreds.

Chapter 16

Within the hour word of the arrival of three of the Armoreds, pulling two carts filled with the bodies of half a dozen dead Objectors, reached the crowd in the Fortress, which was soon joined by the First Lord, Technician and other military leaders at its center. No one in the Fortress wanted to miss this victorious homecoming.

Leaving the carts just outside the Fortress walls, the three Armoreds entered to receive the plaudits that awaited them. They first walked to the center of the courtyard to greet the high officials, then moved in different directions to its outer edges, giving everyone a chance to get a clear view of them, even to touch them.

But once they had reached the outer edges of the courtyard, the Armoreds held out their hands to the side, and suddenly a ring of electricity girded the crowd. Quickly the Armoreds began to march inward, shrinking the circle and instantly killing all in their path. Just as they had been trained.

The Technician was the first to realize that something was wrong. "There is a glitch. Or a mis-wiring." But no one could here him above the panicked cries of the crowd. The Technician manages to grab a few of the military and order them to try to get behind the Armoreds and turn off their power. But there was no hope any longer. All of the Few were inside the circle. None could escape it to get behind the Armoreds. As the Armoreds marched toward the center of the courtyard, those in their path literally dropped dead.

Once the onslaught had begun, the Objectors in the cart rose to watch the scene from outside the circle's perimeter. Leading Objector immediately saw the hanging bodies of the two women. And the horrible disfigurement of their bodies. He was certain that the smaller one was either Pilar or Tia, but could not be certain because of the hood over her face. The larger one, he was sure, was Nina because it was not Kathryn. Two of his brave volunteers had paid the ultimate price for their heroism. And had paid it at a painful price. He wondered if he would be able to discover the fate of the other two. The fate of Kathryn.

Leading Objector immediately raced to just outside the now very small circle of electricity inside of which remained only the First Lord, Technician and a handful of the Few's military leaders. He ordered the Armoreds to stop their movement, but the electric circle remained active.

"The other two, where are they?" Leading Objector demanded. "Tell me and you die quickly like the others. Fail to tell me and you will die more painfully then any of them."

All that the doomed First Lord had left to bring him pleasure in this world, he know, was to torment the Objectors. And the only way in which he could torment them was to tell them about the other two. "Well, I can assure you that one of them is dead. Oh, a most horrible death. Would you like details? She was one who would not tell us what we wanted to know. Her body, or what's left of it, is still in the torture chamber." Leading Objector was sure that he must be referring to Kathryn.

"And this brave one who would not talk. Did you learn her name at least?"

"No. We never did. Brave but foolish. And forced to bear so much pain."

"Describe her."

"I guess I had better. Because, when you find her, you won't be able to tell. She was rather small."

"Tia or Pilar, whichever one was not hanging on the gallows," Leading Objector realized. "And what about the fourth one?" he now demanded. His Kathryn.

"I'm not so sure," the First Lord was gloating. "She's probably dead by now. But, if she's not, she certainly is wishing she were. You will find her, too, in the torture chambers. That way." He pointed and laughed.

Leading Objector and several of his followers raced in the direction to which the First Lord had indicated. But before leaving the courtyard, he turned. "Resume," he shouted, and did not wait to watch the Armoreds finish closing their circle. The Few were no longer that. In fact, they simply were not.

Chapter 17

The torture chambers were eerily quiet. As the group pushed open the first several doors they passed, they found the room inside empty. Until the fifth. There, chained with her arms overhead as she had been since her capture, they found Tia as the Few had left her. Burned and bruised and bloodied. And horribly violated by the long metal iron. One of the Objectors turned away and vomited. Two others moved quickly to the hanging figure to unchain her wrists and move her body gently to the floor. They would give her a hero's burial after the rest of the Objector's arrived in the Fortress. They now knew the fate of three of their valiant women.

As they continued down the hall of the chamber, Leading Objector knew that it was just a matter of time before one of the rooms would hold the body of his beloved daughter, confirm the ultimate fate that he knew had befallen her and provide the awful details. But he stormed ahead of the others, dreading to learn but needing to know. To be the first to know. And he found her in the very next room.

Kathryn lay on the floor on her stomach in a pool of blood, her wrists still cuffed behind her back. Leading Objector approached slowly, the others waiting in the doorway to give him a few moments alone with her. He saw that she was wearing what appeared to be a blue metal panty. He touched its side. It was still hot and he pulled his hand away in horror. Then he moved his hand to her upper arm and slowly rolled her over onto her back. And immediately closed his eyes hard, although the vision of that second would be embedded in his mind forever. Kathryn was naked from the waist up. No part of her breasts remained, just torn open wounds where they once had been. Leading Objector raised his eyes before again opening them, and saw the bra hanging above, what was left of her once beautiful breasts clinging to its still hot metal, held in place by the thin skewers.

The others now quickly entered the room, two escorted Leading Objector out while another removed his cape and covered her body. The fate of all four had been much as the Objectors' Council knew it would be. But talking about that terrible fate and witnessing it were two very different things.

EPILOGUE

He had become Leading Objector because of his wisdom and leadership. Now he was now no longer an Objector. He was First Lord of the Fortress. But the fate that his daughter and the others had suffered to allow him and his followers finally, after 15 years, to leave the Haze, and to re-enter and gain control of the Fortress, its technology and clean air, would not leave him. The price had been so high that he owed it to her, he came to believe, to make certain that he held on to the power that he now had.

So the new First Lord quickly became a paranoid ruler, seeing threats to him from everywhere. He knew that he and his followers had been able to re-program the Armoreds and turn them against their former masters. To avoid a similar fate, he had the three remaining Armoreds destroyed as well as the technology room. The torture chambers soon became filled with those unfortunate enough to have done something that his delusional mind perceived as disloyalty.

Fearing his wrath, many who had, at least so far, avoided this fate, once more fled into the Haze, leaving the First Lord as ruler only of the few remaining.

And once again the world awaited a battle between the Few and the Objectors. A battle that would be fought with Rocks.