Metronova caters to any number of perversions so that its inmates never try to escape. The AI warden of the enclave, MIMI (for Metronova Inmate Monitoring Interface), is tasked with keeping the inmates distracted and detained by any number of means, employing holograms and synthetic life forms to make even the most bizarre fantasies of their twisted minds come true.
In my case, sometimes fantasies that the inmates never could have conceived could also be realized.
MIMI misdirected a transportation pod that was supposed to return me to my apartment to some sort of atrium. Most of the trip was a blur, probably due some sedative aerosol pumped into the pod during transit. Somewhere along the line, my clothes had been removed, leaving me naked, defenseless and alone.
This atrium, instead of being filled with light and sound, was kept in dappled moonlight – just enough light see where I was going, with plenty of deep shadows to hide whatever lay lurking amongst the flora. The few forms I could make out in the gloom had unnatural shapes, shades and textures. The silence covered the place like a quilt, with only the occasional rustle in the undergrowth to hint that there were more than plant analogs within the dome.
"MIMI," I said toward the roof of the atrium's dome, almost startling myself with how loud it sounded, "this is not my intended destination."
"Your mobility patterns have been stagnant for the last three days," replied a disembodied female voice. "It is not permitted for you to fall into a routine."
"Getting misdirected by you is getting to be a routine I don't enjoy," I grumbled.
"Your last statement is a non-sequitur," replied MIMI. "You will remain in the atrium until you can escape. The exit is somewhere on the other side of the dome."
I sat down on the turf beneath my feet, noting that it was too uniform to be any naturally occurring material. "I'm not playing your game, MIMI," I said.
"Incorrect," replied MIMI, "The synthetics in the atrium are directed to seek you out and restrain you. Also, there is no readily available food or water inside the dome. If you stay here too long, your life processes will suffer."
"You're bluffing," I said, "You're not permitted to allow a human in your care to die."
"You will be rescued should your metabolic processes fall below safety parameters," said MIMI, "but biometric simulations estimate that won't occur for approximately 42 hours. Your level of discomfort will be significant by then."
Just thinking about that scenario made my mouth dry. "Why am I being punished?" I asked.
"Your assumption is incorrect," replied MIMI. "You are being challenged. The only punishment will be for failing to escape." There was a brief pause. "One of the mobile synthetics within the atrium is now fully aware of your presence," said MIMI placidly, "and is taking steps toward fulfilling its directives."
"MIMI--," I began while standing up and looking around.
"You have no time for conversations now," MIMI replied. "There will be no further contact until you escape the dome."
I looked around and saw nothing but flora analogs – ferns, vines, ornamental trees, and grass. While the whole environment was relatively open, in the dark it wasn't hard to imagine it closing in around me. Living things follow rules dictated by millions of years of natural selection, but synthetics were essentially sophisticated robots that had no rules to follow.
Robot, however, didn't necessarily mean mechanical. Synthetic life form engineering had produced a plethora of new materials that could be manipulated by nanotech mechanisms that existed within. Limbs, vines, tentacles, even the most delicate tendrils, could all be manipulated via nanotech mobility elements throughout the appendage. Plus, nanotech could also produce other new materials that had myriad uses for both perverts and on victims.
Being a bondage pervert, MIMI's robots frequently secured me with nanoweave fabric restraints – its light, silky texture had amazing elasticity, but was too tough to tear or run with human strength. A person sealed inside just one diaphanous layer of the material could never hope to escape. Wrappings of nanoweave could seal to each other, preventing slippage as the nanites resized it to a perfect fit.
That meant that literally anything – even everything – in the atrium might have designs for snaring me and keeping me there. The synthetics wouldn't eat or otherwise harm me, but the ones in here were all designed to address my particular perversion, meaning they would all be very good at one thing – capturing victims.
I heard more rustling in the undergrowth off to my left, growing closer. I frowned, thinking there must be more than one something, and then decided to not get too curious. I jogged in the other direction, careful to cast occasional glances upward and to each side as I picked my way around the trees and bushes. After all, there was no telling where an ambush might come from in this environment.
Up ahead, there was a moaning and mewing sound and the sounds of something struggling – something human – but I couldn't see more than a few yards in any direction. The sounds of pursuit behind me halted for a moment, and I could hear something breathing heavily back there. I snorted at that – synthetics only breathe to simulate biological functions, to make it easier to fool people into believing they actually are alive.
The struggling sounds and moaning became louder as I edged away from my pursuers. To my ears, it began to sound as if it was a woman in some sort of distress, and my curiosity began to grow. I moved on toward the sound.
Suddenly, my pursuers surged into motion behind me, racing after me in a frenzied charge. I glanced behind me to see and instantly regretted it. What I had thought were multiple pursuers was actually one large creature with many legs. The creature vaguely resembled an immense spider with multiple pairs of glowing red eyes and a pair of large yellow fangs below them. Its multiple, hairy legs churning in the rush toward me were a blur.
My mind recoiled in horror at the thing and I turned and ran in a blind panic away from it. I sprinted across an open space and was nearly to the trees beyond when a woman's voice above me cried out, "LOOK OUT!"
I looked up, but at that moment, I struck something soft and yielding that seemed to cling to me as I passed through it. The softness wrapped around me, clinging to itself as it surrounded me. My legs and arms seemed drawn together and I tumbled, somehow never quite touching the ground. Somewhere above me, the woman cried out in dismay.
When I finally gained my senses again, I found myself suspended about two feet off the ground with a tangle of elastic cords wrapped around me. I thought of the monster pursuing me and tried to pull free. The cat's cradle stretched and deformed with my efforts, but seemed to cling to me even more tightly as I struggled.
"Don't fight it," called out the female voice from above, "You'll only wear yourself out. It's a variation on nanoweave, I think. It only sticks to itself. "
I looked around until I found her some ten feet above me, her generous curves bound in a glistening cocoon of the same material that left only her head and hair exposed. She squirmed slightly in her bonds to get a better look at me.
From my vantage point, I made out her large, dark eyes and glossy raven tresses, along with the ample swell of her breasts straining against their captivity as she breathed. "Hi," she said with a shy smile.
I found myself smiling back. "Hi," I replied.
The woman's smile held for one magical moment. She then looked up and around her. "I hear the web tender moving around," she commented back down to me. "It'll probably haul you up here fairly soon."
"What's a web tender?" I asked.
"It's some sort of spider fairy," she said. "It comes over here and teases me occasionally. It'll cut me loose every so often so it can bind me up a different way."
