Finding the Professor

Lost in Niobe

🩶🧡🩶

Triple sat in her new cage. Triple really hoped she wouldn't be in the jail cell much longer.

"So slaves? What were you thinking?" She said after watching the cat woman pace far too long.

Triple stared at her captor beyond the glowing laser bars of her jail cell. It had been two hours since she crawled out of the bed, and it was about 30 minutes of staring from the woman.

Triple said nothing. Instead she kept pacing. This hairless woman was driving her crazy. She had seen these hairless types before and they always looked at her weird.

"Hey? I'm talking to you. I'm trying to be kind," a slight anger bubbling under her voice.

Triple smiled. Let her captor be furious. She kept pacing. Not sure how to make the woman erupt in anger.

"My name is the Professor," she said.

What an entitled name.

Triple thought.

"You're in my Niobe. I'm Kepleyan."

Triple was weirded out by the sudden giving of information. Her kind never spilled their guts out like this.

This woman in front of me is insane.

I'll never tell you my peoples secrets.

Triple argued silently with this Professor woman.

"You, I believe, are from Tyo. An Earth-like planet full of jungles and cat-like people," the Professor told her.

What is this idiot on about. Tyo lost its jungles long ago to fires from my people.

She thought.

"Of course that was 500 years ago when your planet still had forests. That's probably why most of your people left."

Fuck.

This woman knew her and her people's secrets.

"I have no idea how to get you to open up. I'm sorry about your brother. We left him in your ship. Only you could be saved. The seas of Europa will probably claim his remains and be fish food."

"Fuck you, bitch!" Triple said. She was furious with this heinous woman. "How dare you talk of Double! He was an honorable warrior!"

"Ah. There's that cat voice of yours. Perhaps you can now tell me your name as well. Now that I know Double's name," the Professor said.

She had been cornered.

"I know your people like to remain silent. I was surprised by that diary you left. You must've knew you were dead," she said. "I'm sorry for stirring up your emotions. Using your brother, Double, in that way was rude of me."

"He was a good man," Triple said.

"Ha. I'd call neither of you good. You wanted slaves. Tyoans don't need slaves."

"They wouldn't have been for us. They were a quick money trip," Triple felt cornered. "Double is the greatest man I know."

"Knew... now... sorry," the woman said. Triple knew she could take this

bitch

on in a fight. Those ridiculous heels would land her a descent face plant.

"Bitch. I could knock you on your ass for that comment," Triple said. Anger was rippling out of her.

"Ya. I probably would deserve that. Can you tell me your name? Mine is the Professor. I'd prefer not being called bitch, but then again that's possibly a kink of mine," she was rambling.

Cease this rambling, woman.

"My name is Triple. I'm from Tyo, as you stated. My brother and I were orphans."

"Oh. Orphans. Your diary didn't mention that," the annoying woman said.

"Make fun of the terrible orphan with awful piloting skills," Triple said bitterly.

"I didn't say that," she said. "Fuck. Maybe I did."

"My diary didn't mention a lot of things."

"True. One can only say so much with words," the Professor said. "Double and Triple. I'm sorry for your loss. If I let you out could I trust you, Triple?"

This woman was far too trusting of a Tyo warrior who could knock her on her ass.

"I'm going to choose to trust you, Triple," the Professor said and opened the door of her cell. "Follow me and don't get lost! I'm not sure if my ship trusts you to wander freely. She might get you lost and it'll take me days to find your corpse. I'll probably smell you long before I can find you."

She? Corpse? Lost? Tyoans don't get lost. This woman again proves her lose grip on reality.

Triple followed the taller woman,

only by five inches

, and some of that height was due to two inch heeled brown boots. The Professor's gait proved a challenge to keep up with for the Tyoan woman.

They finally made it to the center console room after a few failed attempts. This woman thought she knew her ship well.

Idiot.

"That was a difficult journey. I'm sorry you don't trust her, sweetheart, I don't either, but she's probably going to be staying with us for a while," the Professor said and stroked machinery. Triple saw the blatant sexual nature in her touch. She stroked pieces like it was a human body.

In fact, the woman in front of her reeked of sexual desire. Triple's nose rarely led her astray. In a ship full of metal smells the lust easily stood out.

Horny bitch.

"She'll be good, sweetheart. I promise. If she's not then you can decide on a fitting punishment."

This horny bitch is crazier than I thought.

Triple thought. "Who the fuck are you talking to?"

"I'm talking to my ship. She threw a few dead ends while we were trying to get here. I don't think she likes you very much and that speaks volumes," the Professor said and looked around the machinery in front of her.

Definitely a crazy bitch.

"Oh. That guy over there is Walt. Hi, Walt," she said and waved at a man sitting on an upper floor. He was reading a book. "He's catching up on HFHM on my recommendation. I'm not sure how much he's enjoying it. He hasn't said..."

Triple's eyes darted between the two of them. Walt waved at her. How had she not seen him before. Perhaps he posed no threat at all to her and she didn't even register he was there. However, that was unusual.

It's this ship. It's throwing off my senses.

The Professor had pulled out a rag and had started cleaning the console. There were no visible bits of metal that needed polishing, but that wasn't Triple's job, so she wandered through the large open three tiered room.

"Feel free to explore this front area, but don't go back the way you came, Triple. We'll sort out your sleeping quarters soon. We need to get sweetheart on the same page before that happens." The pilot of this insane ship said and watched her as she went up to look at the thousands of books on the upper platform. "And try not to enslave Walt, he's my friend and I will skin you like the big cat you are. My office needs a new rug."

Triple gave a malicious glare in return, but soon relented. There was only so much she could say. She didn't know where the exit to ship was, and even then they could be floating in space. Shivers ran through her body. She didn't know for sure, if she could take the woman in a fight. Her ego told her

fuck yes,

but her gut told her

hell no.

Avoiding the silent man reading she walked around the opposite direction.

The fuck is Becoming Monsters?

Triple thought. "Why does it end unfinished?" She said quietly as she flipped to the end.

Triple put the unfinished book back in where she found it. She was apparently in the NonHuman collection.

If Walt and the Professor were human that would probably make her not human. She hugged furry body and looked over at the Professor.

Of course she was quietly talking to the ship. Her lips were moving, but her words were quiet enough that Triple couldn't hear what the human looking woman was saying. She didn't care. She was in a foreign environment and it made very uncomfortable.

Will I ever get home? What's home without Double?

Then her thoughts dwelled on her brother as she silently watched the captain clean the controls of the ship. Her arms still squeezing her sides. Thoughts of brotherly hugs filled her head.

"She does that. I've known this ship for only a few days and she does that. Has it been days?" Walt said. He had snuck up on her and Triple fought the urge to jump.

Don't get distracted.

"You probably don't know what cats are, but you reminded me strongly of one. However a cat would jump and then run," the man said. He looked to be her age.

"Cats... Your Professor mentioned them before. What are they? Are they those things on that blanket in my jail cell?" she asked. Her eyes not leaving the woman obsessively cleaning the center console. A fear of the woman was developing.

Why does she scare me?

Walt pulled out a device Triple didn't recognize. He tapped a few times and brought something up. The man then nodded silently and brought it in front of her eyes.

"This is my brother Johnny's cat. She got in the closet and was climbing around in the clothes."

Triple silently watched a creature jump onto clothing in a closet. It used its claws to climb. Probably tearing the fabric and ruining several items. Then it lost its grip and thudded to the floor. She assumed the cat landed on its feet. She didn't show any emotion. Her mind compared the creature to her and her brother.

Then she looked down at her claws. They were somewhat similar. She could probably use her claws in a similar fashion to climb fabric and leave holes.

A thought made its way into her head.

"Can I see that again?" She asked Walt.

"Yea. Sure," Walt said and handed her the phone.

She watched. A tear made its way down her cheek.

"Is there something wrong. I thought this video would be funny. If it's not I can put it back," Walt said and held his hand out for the phone.

"Your brother's cat reminds me of my brother. Same black fur. How can some stupid alien's pet remind me of my brother?" Triple said. She shook her head and handed him his phone.

"Fuck. Sorry. I didn't realize. All that's missing is a space suit and some facial hair... Sorry," Walt said and took his phone back.

Triple couldn't help herself. She glared at the man. Hatred written across her features. She could easily rip his face off with her claws. She could eat his organs and tie his stupid Professor up with his entrails while she rode her face for fun.

Then the thought was gone. She shook her head and thought of her brother. His loss was doing a number on her. She hoped, wherever he was, he could still protect her from her rage.

"He should've survived. Not me. I don't deserve it. I'm a hateful woman," she finally said. She still stared at her claws.

"I didn't know him and I don't know you, so I'm gonna not jump to any conclusions."

"I have no idea what kind of man you are, but he was strong, kind, resilient, dedicated, and hard working."

"A few of those words mean the same thing. If he was anything like my brothers, then he was reliable," Walt said. "Yet, both of you still thought enslaving was the best course of action."

Triple only nodded sadly for a reply.

They stood silence for a few minutes. Neither one of them said anything and she stared at the Professor who kept cleaning metal bits with her rag. She continued to ramble to the ship. A few times Triple heard the ship rumble and hum.

🩶🧡🩶

She eventually found a book to read from the perverse library. It was some dungeon harem with incest. She only started reading it because there wasn't anything else to do and the Professor had wandered off.

Something about a missing piece.

So she sat and read in the chair opposite of Walt. He was still reading the same thing he had been when she arrived in the room.

Home for something or another...

Nothing really happened for hours and the Professor hadn't come back. Walt had started to pace after the second hour the woman had been gone.

Meanwhile, Triple didn't care.

So what if she's missing.

Walt, on the other hand, was becoming more anxious by the minute.

"What if something has happened to her?"

Triple said nothing. Content to read the dungeon builder fuck his sister. Her thoughts more than once went to Double. Twice the man than the whelp in the book.

Not Walt. Walt was good in her opinion. He seemed kind and strong like Double. She assumed she was alive because of him, but didn't ask.

"What if she got lost?"

"It's her ship, kid," Triple said. "It's her fault if she got lost."

"We're the same age... I think," Walt said.

Triple said nothing.

Walt did a few more paces not far from where she sat. She didn't mind and getting back to reading the smut was easy. The boy in the story was now saving a town from something or other.

"We have to help her. She has to be lost. She'd come find us," Walt argued.

"Fuck that crazy bitch!" Triple released some pent up rage. "Let her be lost!"

Walt watched her with anger in his eyes. Triple thought she saw his desire to fight. It excited her. She wanted to see this meek man throw fists at her in blind rage.

Walt visibly calmed.

Damn. He's got a cool head. Still sexy... I guess.

"I'm gonna go look for her," Walt said bluntly and turned towards the way the Professor left hours ago. "You can come with me or you can stay here."

"I'm not sure if it would be better than incest," Triple said. The stare she got from Walt was fun, but she placed her book down, making sure to mark her page, and followed.

💚💚💚

Lost. They were lost.

A pool. A giant pool that had a skylight. It felt unreal to Walt. In what world could there be a skylight over a pool in a living spaceship crammed inside a 1950s sports car?

Walt thought it would make an excellent place to hang out on any other given day. However, today they were on a mission to find the Professor.

Triple appeared like she was reluctant to go. She had made a few extra glances at the sunny windows above the pool. It let in a lot of warmth. Walt knew Johnny's cat loved sunbathing on window sills. Perhaps that applied to the gray cat in front of her.

Her pretty orange eyes took in one last glance of, what Walt assumed, an artificial sun.

"Were you tempted to relax in that room, Triple?" Walt asked. They were walking down the halls of the impossibly large Niobe.

"I was wondering if I'd see the sun again. Europa left a nasty taste in my mouth. So cold..." Triple said.

Walt said nothing. Worried for his new shipmate.

Next they found an office. It was tiny compared to the pool room, but still had impossible windows that light shined through. Of course, there was an erotic piece of fiction on the desk.

This time it was titled

Pleasures of Hell: Book One

. Neither one of them made an effort to pick up and look at the book. Instead they glanced at the office, with its bookcases and brightly painted wood desk, and left.

Neither of them made an effort to talk to each other. Walking through the halls was enough at the moment.

Then they came upon an aquarium. With what looked to be fish, but on closer inspection were mechanic. Walt watched the creatures in fascination. He had never been into biology and only creative writing had truly captivated him.

Fish caught his attention in the aquarium. He wondered where each fish had came from, or where the fish each robotic fish was based on came from.

None, except one, looked from Earth. Walt knew enough to know an octopus crawled around the floor of the aqua-scape.

"That's a cheap imitation of a fish from Tyo," Triple said. She pointed at the fish swimming near the surface. "It's a Hydophantle Giller. Those fish on my planet went extinct after the jungles caught fire. They lived on falling foliage. They'd never live in a tropical climate and they'd never be that bright yellow."

Walt listened. The young man glanced from the fish to Triple as she told him about it.

"That is an octopus," Walt said. He then pointed at the eight legged creature at the bottom of the tank. "From what I know of sea life, not much I admit, it looks and behaves accurately enough."

Triple made an effort to listen to Walt as well. She looked at him and then at the tentacled creature. She seemed interested in the life form.

They watched the robotic lifeforms from each of their planets. Walt thought the shared moment felt pleasant. He watched as the Giller ate leaves on the surface and he watched the octopus come in and out of its nest. After a few minutes they continued their journey.

Down hallways they went. Some felt unnecessarily long while others were very short. They encountered a few dead ends and Triple hissed at each one.

Walt and Triple found a window in one hallway. A giant wall-sized window past a railing that kept them from touching the glass. In the window they saw, what they assumed, a star shining brightly in an infinitely large black void. No other stars were visible. Just a vast empty blackness only the giant sun shone. A bright sun that hurt his eyes to look at. He avoided looking at it. They didn't go through the small door that stood halfway in the long glass window.

Perhaps this star shines through several of the windows we saw?

Walt briefly thought before they walked away.

They went through several Niobe console rooms, but none looked like the correct one and one or two of them look unfinished. Walt was excited by the first console room because he felt like they did one giant loop and perhaps the Professor had made it back by now. The space was eerily empty. The console room didn't have its library level and instead was one level with simplified controls.

So they ignored the next few console rooms. None of them looked right and none held the Professor.

Walt and Triple walked into a garage with a few more T-birds. Walt half expected to open the hood of one to see another Niobe. Instead it was a real engine.

They also found a kitchen, a lab, a lecture hall, and a theater.

Why is this ship so large? What's going on?

Walt could have sworn that they were going through halls that changed behind them. The ship was shifting around behind him and it felt unsettling. His eyes darted to Triple. Part of him was screaming that if they got separated she would stay lost.

Walt entered a library looking behind him to make sure Triple was still with him.

The library held a painting of the Professor as she was now. It was in a dominant location and would be very hard to miss. It hung in the center of the room between a twin staircase.

It seemed to have been painted hundreds of years ago. The painting looked old. The Professor in the painting also looked much younger than she was now. He could see her age through her eyes. Her eyes looked at least a hundred years younger.

She wore two layers. Pale colors as if faded and old clothing.

How old is the Professor?

Walt wondered.

They found another library nearby. Walt was pretty sure it was the same room copy and pasted.

In the second library the only difference was second painting. Somehow, this second painting looked even older. In it was a very young Professor. She was in her early teen years. Awkward looking and uncomfortable. Her light blue eyes contained sadness. They begged to be out of their current situation. Behind her was a woman who looked almost exactly like the Professor as she was now.

Again two layers of clothing for both the older woman and young Professor. Pale colors faded from years in the sun working.

The older woman looked pissed. A vile black haired woman with evil purple eyes and candy apple lips. Her purple eyes held deep rage. They reminded Walt of poison berries that would kill, if you even looked at them, or touched them. She looked controlling and abusive with the way she held the young girl's shoulder. She was ready to take her child to experience the worst day of her life. Perhaps it was a bad portrait day, or perhaps it was her attitude all day every day.

"Who is that woman?" Walt asked. His voice was slightly defensive. He was concerned for the young teen Professor.

"Does it matter?" Triple asked brusquely. "That lady is probably long dead."