The next morning, all of them, captives and captors, set off from the boat in a strange procession. At the head of the column was Smith, cutting a path through the underbrush with a heavy machete. Behind him came Katherine. The doctor had lost all her earlier arrogance and confidence. The young woman shuffled along, fearfully, behind Smith, occasionally giving him directions as they veered towards where she calculated the Lost City lay. Unlike the other woman, Katherine had been left unbound, save a rope tether tied around her neck, the other end held firmly in Smith’s hands, reminding her that she was no longer in charge of this expedition. Though she wasn’t tied up, she was just as much a captive as the other women.

Behind her came Morris, leading Louise and the rest of her ill-fated companions. The six women had been allowed to put their clothes on after their gang-rape, save their panties, in deference to the rough terrain they would be crossing. Louise had grabbed a button-up khaki shirt from her cabin, along with a short, matching skirt. They were then tied up again. Their arms were lashed behind their backs at the wrists and elbows and ropes circled their chests. Their feet were hobbled at the ankles, with just enough slack to let them walk, slowly and awkwardly.

Each of the women were gagged with the worn underwear of another captive, held in with a tight cloth band tied between their lips. Lastly, they were all tethered together at the neck in a long chain, with Louise at the front, her leash held in Morris’ tight grip. The six had been loaded down with the expedition’s camping gear and provisions for several days.

Another one of the thugs, David, walked alongside the coffle, a cane switch in hand, employing it as needed on the bare legs of the helpless women, to keep the line moving through the heat of the day. Louise knew the last man had remained behind, to watch over the boats.

As they marched, Louise knew she should be thinking of escape. She knew, after the thugs had located the Lost City and carelessly looted and ruined the historic find, when they got bored raping and torturing the women they weren’t going to let the captives go free. The best they could hope for would be a bullet in the back of the head and a shallow grave out in the jungle. It could easily be worse for her and the other captives. Here and there, she’d overheard snatches of conversations, talk of a ‘buyer’ back in the city, waiting for Louise and the others; lewd discussions of how much they could fetch for the women.

More than the thought of being murdered, such casual talk of selling her and the other women chilled Louise. She had heard of the black market traffic in female flesh; young women and girls cruelly abducted and sold for the sex trade. The thought that she and her friends might end up among the thousands of unfortunate women to disappear each year into that hell was horrifying. The gang-rape she and the others had endured the night before had been awful enough, that that might be her future, an endless nightmare of bondage and rape, left Louise numb.

Her only chance, Louise knew, was to somehow escape, but for the moment, she could see no way of getting away, not without being quickly chased down and recaptured, or becoming lost in the jungle until exposure or some other danger claimed her. She would have to wait and hope a better chance came. But she knew every hour delayed worsened their chances. The gang rape and a long night of bondage had taken most of Louise’ strength. Every hour spent marching through the heat of the jungle, a heavy load on her back, left her weaker.

By midday as captives and captors alike waited out the hottest part of the day underneath the shady canopy, the young woman couldn’t even think of escape, it took all her strength and effort just to keep moving one foot in front of the other. The other captives, having spent even longer bound and gagged then Louise, were in even worse shape. As the day drew on, the thugs resorted to the lash more and more to keep them moving.

When, finally, Smith called the march to a halt in the evening, Louise and the other captives could only sink to the ground, utterly exhausted.  As the tents and cooking gear were unstrapped from their backs, Morris took a hammer and a bundle of metal stakes from one of the backpacks. Going down the coffle, he drove one of the stakes into the ground for each captive, around which was tied her rope lead, with only a few inches of slack. Their feet were secured to half a dozen more stakes, stretching them out on the ground. The men left them there, while they set up their own tents and got a cooking fire going.

After a while, as the smell of cooking meat and vegetables reached the captives, they stirred somewhat from their daze, hunger temporarily replacing weariness. Their empty bellies groaned in distress, for most of them they hadn’t been fed in almost two days.

“You bitches hungry?” Morris called from the stewpot. He grinned as they moaned back, hungrily. “Well, you’ll have to earn your food.” He and David rose from the camp fire and walked over to the women. Their leering grins, and the way they unzipped their pants left the captives no illusions how they would be doing that. Louise grimaced as her gag was untied. Morris knelt over her, his manhood just above her face. “Start sucking…and if I even feel your teeth, I’ll knock out all of them with a rock!” He threatened.

Louise hesitated, but hunger won out. She raised her head, opening her lips to accept his long shaft into her mouth. In a way, this was almost worse than her rape the evening before. Then, Louise and the other women had merely been passive receptacles for the men’s lust; she had lain, bent over the railing, as they took her, one after another, uncaring of her suffering. Now, she was an active participant, working the cock in her mouth with her lips and tongue.

The young woman tried as hard as she could to please him, to get her ordeal over with as quickly as she could and to hopefully be fed sooner. Her efforts soon gave results. The member inside her grew and stiffened. Morris groaned in pleasure. He reached down and grabbed Louise by her hair, pumping in and out. Louise gagged as the tip of his cock slammed into the back of her throat again and again. Finally, with one last grunt, he came inside her mouth, flooding it with hot, sticky cum. Involuntarily, Louise gulped, swallowing. Beside her, Kelly whimpered as she made David cum as well. He pulled out at the last moment and shot his load over her face.

After that, the three large spoonsful of hot stew and the cup of warm, stagnant water hardly seemed fitting compensation, but it filled Louise’ belly, or it least took some of the edge off the hunger gnawing at her. Just as she finished, her gag was put back on, and he moved on to the next girl.

Perhaps that sated the men somewhat, or perhaps they were also tired from the march; they only raped their captives once or twice and barely flogged them before the men retreated to their tents, leaving the women to the muggy jungle night, exposed.

Louise struggled against her bonds, fighting against exhaustion. She knew this was her best chance to escape, if she could somehow wriggle free from the tight ropes circling her arms and legs. If she could just manage to stay awake…the next thing Louise knew, it was morning and the thugs were waking their captives with shark kicks to their sides. They groaned, stirring, their sleep having done little to restore their strength.

The stakes pinning the captives to the ground were pulled up and the coffle reformed. During the night, Smith had forced Katherine to take another set of readings. He led them onward into the jungle, along this new bearing. The captives faced another long, hard day of marching in the tropical heat, stopping at noon to rest and again when the sun set. While Louise and her fellow captives were once more staked down and forced to “earn” their supper, Katherine took another set of astrological readings in a nearby clearing.

“We’re almost there.” She told Smith. “Another four-five hour’s march.”

“Good.” Smith said, grinning. “Then I guess you’re no longer needed.” He nodded to his men. “Strip her and stake her, we’ll put her with the other slaves later.” He grinned, savoring the shocked expression on Katherine’s face as she realized her fate. “You’ll fetch a good prize…provided they keep you gagged. But first I’m gonna enjoy myself with your haughty ass…”

“No! Please don’t!” Katherine pleaded, struggling impotently as the thugs seized her. They quickly stripped off all of her clothes. The tatters of Katherine’s underwear were stuffed in her mouth, silencing the young woman’s pleas, followed by a tight cleave gag to keep her muffled. The young woman was pushed to the ground and was soon staked out, hands and feet spread-eagled.

Smith knelt over her, unzipping his trousers. “I’ve been looking forward to this for a long time…” He said, before sliding into her. Katherine squealed into her gag in mute horror as he quickly took her. Behind him, the other thugs lined up, ready to take their first turns in what would be a very long and miserable night for her.

Where they lay, bound and gagged, staked to the ground, Louise and the other captives watched, some with grim satisfaction at their former enemy’s downfall, others with the faint joy that, one night at least, they would be spared her torment…

***  

On the third day, the group set out once more, the glum Katherine now added to the end of the coffle, bound and gagged like the other women. All of them trudged along, heads bowed low, their fate now sealed by their captor’s words last night.

An hour into the march, they came to the mouth of a narrow gorge. Smith checked the last set of bearings Katherine had taken before heading confidently down the steep trail into the valley. His men followed, dragging their helpless captives along after them.

As they approached the bottom of the gorge, they started to find evidence of habitation; carvings worked into the rock face, and further along, moss and vine covered stone bricks, ancient, cracked, tumbled, but evidently shaped by human hands hundreds of years ago. These ruins increased steadily as they worked their way deeper into the valley.

That noon, they rested in the shade of a huge stone wall, grown over with thick jungle creepers. With the other women, Louise lay on the dirt, dozing in the heat. Underneath her body, her tightly bound hands, lazily brushed against dirt and rock. Then, they brushed across something else. Louise’ eyes widened as she traced the outline of what she had found. Another piece of evidence that a pre-Columbian civilization had once lived here. She winced, grunting quietly into her gag as she jerked her finger back. It was still sharp too... Quietly as she dared, Louise began to dig through the dirt, slowing working the artifact out. When their captors decided it was time to move on again, the young woman palmed the object, praying the thugs wouldn’t notice anything amiss. Thankfully, they didn’t spot her as she carefully cradled the obsidian arrowhead between her tightly bound hands. Now, she just needed to wait for the right moment to use it…

***  

“Would you look at that!” Smith said with a whistle, looking up. Beside him, his thus also stared. Even the captives were staring, temporarily stirred from their misery and exhaustion by what lay in front of them.

“It’s real!” Louise thought to herself, momentarily forgetting the plight of herself and the other women. “I knew it!”

Looming over the group was the front of a Mayan temple of cyclopean proportions, carved into the wall of the gorge. Given its position and how it was cut from the natural rock, heavily overgrown with vegetation, Louise could see how it would be almost invisible from anywhere except at the bottom of the gorge.

“Well, if I was a betting man, I’d guess if there’s treasure here, it’ll be in there.” Smith said, nodding towards the temple pyramid. He strode up to the ziggurat stairs and began to climb. The others followed after him. At the top, they were confronted by a pair of large, stone doors, seemingly cut into the rock face itself. The doors were carved with ornate glyphs, worn down by time, weather and moss. As near as Louise could tell, the glyphs all circled and pointed to a small indentation set into the center of the doors.

“Why don’t we see if this key of yours works.” Smith taunted playfully at Katherine. From a pocket, he produced the gold medallion. Stepping over to the door, he held the disc up. It proved to fit the indentation, perfectly. To the shock of everyone, the doors began to tremble. From deep beneath their feet, they heard and felt a rumble within the ziggurat. A second later, the doors began to slide open to either side. The medallion slid out of the slot and fell to the ground with a clatter.

“Amazing!” Smith said, picking the medallion up and pocketing it. As he and his men pulled out flashlights and turned them on. Louise was still staring in disbelief at the impossible doors when the thug holding her leash started to walk forward. The rope around her neck went taut, jerking the young woman forward. She shuffled her feet frantically, moving as quickly as the hobble around her ankles allowed, to keep from falling to the ground, all the while desperately holding on to the obsidian arrowhead, to keep from dropping it. Behind her, the other captives were jerked forward as their leads went taut, one after another. Whimpering into their gags, they shuffled after the thugs into the dark passage…

***

The passage seemed to stretch on and on sloping downward at a slight angle. Every dozen yards, it would turn, slowly spiraling into the earth. “How deep does this go?” Louise thought, after what seemed to be the thousandth turn, shuffling through the darkness, guided by the tugs on her leash and the occasional flickering beams of light coming from the men ahead of her. In those brief moments of illumination, she saw the walls were covered, from floor to ceiling at every foot of space, in tightly packed glyphs and carvings. Louise whimpered into her gag, seeing the wealth of knowledge, so much lost lore about the ancient culture of the region, preserved here. The archeologist could have spent years, decades, crouched, translating the writing on the walls. As it was, the young woman was only allowed to briefly glance at the walls for a second before her leash went taut and she was jerked along once more.

After endless walking, the passageway straightened out. For up ahead, Louise could make out a faint light at the end of the dark tunnel. The corridor gradually grew lighter and lighter until the flashlights were no longer necessary. A few yards further on, the narrow passageway widened, opening up into a cavernous space, eliciting gasps from everyone.

The room put Louise in the mind of a European Cathedral. Huge pillars, made of a dark greenish colored stone, supported a high vaulted ceiling. At the far end, a large open platform of gigantic proportions, filled the room. On either side of it stood colossal statues of strange, humanoid figures. They stood six meters tall, with strange, blank visages and four long, thin arms. Above was a large, upside down pyramid of jade-like stone hanging over the platform. Near as Louise could tell, that was the source of the odd light filling the room.

At the outside of the space, the high walls were covered in elaborate carvings, showing the same figures as the statues, receiving tribute from comparatively tiny priests. The men led coffles of young, naked maidens, yoked and tethered together, towards the gods. The figures were rendered with stunning detail, untouched by the ravages of time, in carved panels of solid gold, details and colors picked out with pearls and precious stones of every color.

“This is the temple from the legends!” Louise realized with a start. She had thought the stories of maiden sacrifices were just myths, but standing in the room drove all doubts from her mind. Numbly, Louise wondered how many maidens had walked the long corridors; naked and bound and gagged and terrified, just like Louise and the other women, to this very chamber through the centuries of the distant past, hundreds? Thousands? Her mind boggled.

Their captors had also noticed the wall carvings, though they seemed more concerned with the materials then any historical significance. With a whoop, Morris dropped Louise’ lead and raced to the closest wall, David right behind him. Eagerly, they examined it, trying to decide the best way to remove it from the wall and transport the treasure back to the ship.

“This is my chance!” Louise thought, forcing her attention away from the impossible room and towards escape. The young woman knew she’d never have a better distraction then this. Quickly, she slid the arrowhead between her fingers and started sawing at the ropes binding her wrists, struggling with the awkward angle from the way her hands were tied.

Smith, meanwhile had wondered forward towards the large, raised platform. He eyes the grotesque figures, looming over him with a quizzical look before turning his gaze downward. At the foot of the steps was a golden altar. It was covered in the same gibberish picture-writing as everything else in the temple, but in the center was, unmistakably, another recession, identical to the one on the outer doors.

“Well, it worked once, why not try it?” Smith said, reaching for the medallion. “Let’s see what other goodies this place has…” He inserted the gold disc into the receptacle.

There was a low rumble, which shook the whole temple. Above, the green pyramid began to glow brighter, emitting a high pitched whine. At the other end of the chamber, Louise had finished freeing her hands and was busy sawing at the ropes around her ankles. She looked up, startled by the noise with the other captives. She screamed into her gag in fright as a beam of energy shot down from the pyramid to a circle of the same stone on the platform. As everyone in the chamber watched, the beam began to spread. Between them crackled a triangular-shaped curtain of energy. Everyone, captives and captors, screamed in terror as a hand, three feet across, with eight fingers, reached through the portal. A second later, a giant figure stepped out…

***  

The Chamber seemed oddly empty as Grlyxxes stepped through the portal, emerging on another world. There should have been hundreds of the local inhabitants here; at the alter the high priest. Behind him two dozen acolytes, bowed and chanting hymns in their crude tongue, and beyond them the guards, watching over a long line of young, captive females, waiting to be led forward to the portal…

At first, it noticed only a single figure, a male, dressed in strange, mottled garb, unlike the elaborate costumes of the priests. The man stumbled back, crying out in alarm. His hands went to his waist, to grab a metal device from his belt. Raising it, the man gave another shout of angry defiance. There were several loud cracks, hot gas shot from the device. Grlyxxes’ shield crackled, stopping several lead pellets in midair.

From behind the pillar, two more men came out, dressed in the same garb, with the same odd weapons. Their shots were also deflected. It raised one of its four arms, giving a mental command and three beams shot from the outstretched fingers…

Louise and the other women screamed in terror as the god, or alien or whatever it was, shot three beams of light from his hand. Each struck one of the thugs dead in the chest. The men stiffened, frozen in place by the energy surrounding them. Frantically, Louise cut at her bonds with the arrowhead as the strange being glided forward towards Smith…

Grlyxxes looked down at the three men. They looked up, eyes wide with fear, as they struggled in the paralyzing field holding them immobile. It examined the metal weapons held in their frozen hands. Curious. Grlyxxes didn’t think the natives of this world had had chemical-propellant weapons, let along ones of such refinement, the last time it had been summoned to take tribute from the priests. It linked with the temple’s local systems. To its surprise, the temple’s intelligence informed it that this portal had last been activated a little over 100 standard time units ago, roughly 500 of this planet’s rotations.

That was a trouble, wasn’t it? One went to the trouble of establishing a god cult with one tribe of primitives on a backwards world, induce them to offer you valuable breeding slaves as tribute and after only a few standard time units, long before one had recouped the time and effort, some other tribe of primitives slaughtered them over petty differences and one had to start again from scratch.

Grlyxxes was about to disintegrate the tomb raiders and return to the portal when it noticed, far back at the end of the chamber, a small group of captive females…

Along with the other women, Louise screamed in terror as the god-thing turned its attention away from Smith and his thugs and towards them. The other captives pulled frantically at their bonds, desperate to get away as he crossed the chamber faster than they thought possible, gliding smoothly over the stone floor. Louise gave a cry of relief as, at last, the rope binding her feet together parted with a snap and she was freed. Fear overcoming her, she turned and fled towards the passageway.

Before she’d taken more than half a dozen steps, the creature raised its hand again. Two more beams of light leapt from its outstretched fingers. Louise gave a muffled cry as it struck her directly in the back. A curious crackling sensation rippled over Louise’ skin as the energy spread to cover her entire body. The young woman was jerked to a halt, suddenly immobile. The second beam hit the coffle of women, also freezing them in place, mid-struggle. Louise’ eyes went wide in terror as she was levitated off the ground. The strange energy carried her forward, towards the creature. She was spun around, to face it.

The god-alien raised another hand, palm upward. A strange, silver orb materialized within it before levitating up. The orb flew close to Louise. It opened up, a dozen thin, metal tendrils extended from it, reaching towards the terrified young woman. She whimpered in fright but could do nothing as the tendrils reached towards her. Four larger tentacles stretched towards her arms and legs. At the moment they made contact, the alien suddenly cut off the energy field. As Louise fell, the tentacles caught her, quickly wrapping around her wrists and ankles.

Suddenly able to move again, Louise began to struggle, but found herself helpless in the strong grasp of the metal bands now encircling her body. They moved, forcing her body into a spread eagle position, her body stretched out taut. The other, thinner tendrils now went to work. The last bits of the young woman’s bonds were quickly plucked away. At the same time, they tore at her clothes. In seconds, Louise was completely naked.

From the center of the orb, a large blue lit blinked into life. Like a leering eye, it quickly scanned over her figure, from head to foot. Evidently satisfied, the orb gently lowered Louise to the ground and withdrew its mechanical arms from her limbs. No sooner had she been free though, then Louise was once more immobilized in a containment field.

The orb then floated over to the coffle and examined the other captives. One at a time, each of the frightened women were removed from the line. She was lifted into the air and her clothes and bindings were removed, so her naked body could be scanned. She was then set down and once more immobilized, as the next terrified captive was lifted up to be examined. Nearby, the god-alien watched this process with interest…

Grlyxxes thought through the reports from the probe as it examined the females in turn. These females had obviously been used hard by their captors, quite unlike the pristine, virgin sacrifices before, but nothing that wasn’t easily fixable. Each report came back positive. All would do nicely as breeder-slaves. With another thought command, it summoned and dispatched half a dozen more drones and gave them mental commands to secure the females for transport.

The orbs flew over, each hovering over one of the frozen slaves. Opening up, they deployed more of the thin, metal tendrils, wrapping the females’ limbs, just as the stasis field was released. The captives found themselves no less helpless then before, their arms trapped behind their backs as the metal cables quickly encircled their chests in a tight wrap. Below, their legs were bent over, thigh and calf trapped together by the metal bands. More tendrils weaved together, forming a strong, flexible cable, which were forced between the females’ lips, gagging them and muffling their frantic screams. The orbs hummed, increasing the strength of their anti-gravity fields as they roe up, lifting the terrified slaves off the ground.

The females kicked and squirmed, swaying back and forth from their metal cradles. As they were carried through the air towards the portal, they shook their heads, screaming in terror as they realized where they were being taken. Their struggles had no effect, though, as they were carried, helplessly, up to the portal. Grlyxxes nodded in satisfaction, watching as the females were brought to a halt, just in front of the portal. It turned, refocusing its attention to the three tomb raiders. There was one more thing that needed to be done first. Perhaps it could salvage this operation…

Smith gave a low groan, every muscle straining, but it made no difference against the energy field surrounding him. He sighed, fighting back the fear that held him paralyzed no less than the field around him. Over the course of his long career, Smith and his men had kidnapped dozens, maybe a hundred or more women, for ransom or the slave trade, or simply as a temporary plaything, to be used and discarded. He’d never given much thought to how those unlucky captives must have felt, tied up and helpless, unable to do anything but wait, numb with fear, for their captors to decided what to do with them. Had Smith not been too frightened to make the connection, he might have chuckled at the bitter irony of this.

As best he could out of the corner of his eye, the thug watched as the alien being walked over to examine the women. From behind him, he heard their frightened squeals as they were examined. A moment later, he saw the six being carried in bonds, thought the air past him towards the portal.

“Damn…” Smith thought, ruefully. He’d hoped to get a lot more fun out of them, before he sold all of them into slavery. From behind, Smith felt rather then heard the soft movement of the alien walking back towards the platform. Smith tensed, preparing himself for the worst. He gasped as the energy field around him crackled, lifting the man up into the air. He was turned around, to face the alien, who regarded the helpless thug with its strange, unsettling blank gaze. Smith wanted to look away, but he couldn’t turn his head, or even close his eyes.

Smith was turned again, now facing one of the golden wall panels. The alien raised one arm, waving it towards the panel, as if instructing Smith to examine the carvings. He looked at it. Engraved on the gold backdrop were several scenes, like the many others. The priest-figures led a coffle of bound maidens, naked bodies rendered with sensual detail, towards a representation of the alter. As the medallion was placed on it, the alien-god appeared, leading the coffle through the portal with one arm, while another showered the priests with treasures, represented by a rain of pearls and precious stones that fell into the outstretched hands of the joyous men.

Turning Smith back to face him, the alien raised one of its hands, palm turned up. To Smith’s amazement, a mound of gold suddenly materialized in the empty palm. Small, round ingots of solid gold spilled over, falling to the floor with a heavy thump.

The field around Smith was suddenly released and the men fell to the floor beside the pile of gold. Unable to restrain himself, Smith scrambled forward, reaching for the treasure. As he did, the alien waved its hand again, getting Smith’s attention. It raised the limb up, back towards the panel. This time, its finger indicated a line of orbs, running along the top of the different scenes. Examining them, Smith realized they stylized moons, going through the different phases. It was a lunar calendar. The alien was giving him a date to return. It lowered its hand, pointing to the captives, then pointed at the treasure at Smith’s feet. The message was clear.

Smith grinned, nodding slowly. “Yes, I get it!” He said, happily.

Giving a nod in return, the alien turned and strode over to the portal where the captive women hung, helpless in the air. With a motion of its hand, the alien sent the probes floating through the portal. The helpless women fought and struggled and screamed, but one by one, they were dragged through the portal and vanished…all save for the last drone, holding Louise…

Grlyxxes paused a moment, before sending the last drone through. It examined the struggling human female held in its tendrils. She was the who had managed to free herself and tried to run. It smiled, bringing one hand up under her chin, raising her face up. Louise looked up at her captor, fear evident on her face, but beneath that surface fear, Grlyxxes could see a strong spirit, unbroken despite her captivity. It grinned, as it stepped towards the portal, the drone and the captive Louise following close after. The other females would bring a good price at market. This one might have to, but instead, it thought it would keep this one for itself…  


The alien walked through the portal, disappearing from view. With it gone, the portal suddenly shut off, closing in a second with a crackle of energy, leaving behind no trace it had been there. Smith watched, awestruck.

“Boss!” The two other thugs, now released from their energy cages, rushed over to Smith. They gasped, seeing the small pile of treasure at his feet.

“Boys…” Smith said with a grin. “I think we’re about to become very rich. But first, we’ll need to get some more women…”