The Erotic Mind-Control Story Archive

Chapter 1

Justin heaved a deep sigh after he stepped through the doorway into his apartment before attaching the chain to the door, locking it. He strode into his bedroom, looked at himself in the full-length mirror and chuckled. He really didn’t mind that the zoo’s management made him wear a mock safari outfit as his “uniform,” but he still thought he looked kind of funny in it all the same.

Stripping out of his uniform, he took his usual hot shower: not only did the spray of water help to wash away the grime and dirt that tended to cover his skin after a long day tending to the animals and answering visitors’ questions, but it also soothed his aching muscles.

Once the shower was over, he changed into his bathrobe and went into his kitchen to have a sandwich and a beer. His food preparations were interrupted by the sound of some rapid knocking on his door.

At first, he ignored the knocking, since he didn’t really feel like receiving any visitors at this time.

The knocking persisted, followed by the sound of a man’s voice calling, “Justin Cartwright! I’m sorry for the late intrusion, but we really need to talk to you about something of utmost urgency!”

Justin stepped closer to the door and, without removing the chain, opened the door slightly to see two people—a man and a woman—dressed in dark suits waiting for him. “Who are you?”

They both flashed wallets with badges at him. The man spoke. “I’m Agent Adam Greenberg, and this is my colleague, Lydia Warren, CIA. May we come in? This is a matter of national security.”

“I, um. I think you’ve got the wrong guy.”

“We’re looking for Dr. Justin Cartwright, whose primary responsibility is to tend to the primate house at the Darkview Zoo, and that, in veterinary circles, you, sir, are considered the foremost expert in your field. Doesn’t that sound like you?”

Justin’s thoughts briefly turned to the email he had received earlier in the day from the Berlin zoo about how to assist an orangutan that appeared to be suffering from depression. He answered the question quickly and, based upon the “thank you” email from a few hours later, accurately. Such emails from around the world were common, almost too common. And now the CIA wanted to talk to him.

He let out a sigh and softly spoke. “Come in.” He closed the door enough to release the chain from the door and escorted the two agents into his living room. “I hope you don’t mind the mess. I wasn’t exactly expecting any visitors tonight.”

Agent Lydia Warren smiled. “It’s fine. We know this is a bit of an intrusion and we don’t want to take up too much of your time. It’s just that, with some recent intelligence we’ve gathered, you’re the best man to help us understand what we’ve observed. Everyone we asked, said we should come to you.”

“I’m honored. What can I do for you?”

“If you don’t mind, we’d like to level-set one minor formality before we really begin,” said Agent Adam Greenberg. “We’re about to reveal something that is classified for national security reasons. If you speak one word of this information to anyone—including the fact that we visited you tonight—that is considered a federal felony punishable by at least forty years in prison. No one may know anything that we reveal to you. Do you understand?”

“Um. I … I guess.”

“Good,” said Agent Greenberg. “Now. About three months before the death of Kim Jong-il, North Korean soldiers marched unhindered into a region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo near Basankusu, and tranquilized approximately three dozen members of a society of the species pan paniscus.”

“Bonobos…” said Justin, recognizing the name of the species.

“Correct,” said Adam.

“But bonobos are considered an endangered species. The regime of the Congo…”

“Is easily bribed,” said Lydia, finishing Justin’s sentence.

“I don’t get it,” said Justin. “Bonobos are probably one of the most peace-loving animals out there. What in the world would a country as belligerent as North Korea want with bonobos?”

“An excellent question,” said Agent Greenberg, smiling. “That’s exactly what we’d like to know. Clearly they wanted to conduct some kind of experiment on them, but we weren’t sure what. Our intelligence indicates that the bonobo experiments have been categorized as a success by the North Korean scientists working on the project. Once we translated the message and secured the necessary permissions to do so, we sought you out.”

Justin heaved a deep sigh and gestured towards the couch. “Please. Why don’t you two sit down? Can I get you something to drink?”

Both agents shook their heads.

“I guess we should start with the obvious: may I ask what the two of you already know about bonobos?” said Justin.

Agent Greenberg shuffled in his seat before he offered up, “A while back, I downloaded a story on an erotic ebook called Nanogynecology. In it, they talked briefly about how humans, dolphins, and bonobos are the only animals that have sex for pleasure, although it’s kind of a misnomer to say ‘for pleasure.’”

“Good! Did they talk about how bonobos have some sexual practices that bear striking similarities to our own, including some that could be considered pornographic?”

“Um…”

“And did they talk about how bonobo societies basically have sex pretty much all the time? It’s used as both a celebration of some accomplishment, no matter how relatively trivial, as well as a reconciliation when disagreements take place?”

“No. I don’t think the story got into that…”

“Yup. Bonobos will literally look for any reason to get it on. I’ve heard a lot of peace-loving hippies try to argue that if we were more like the bonobos, there’d be no war. Which brings me back to my original question: why would the North Koreans, of all people, want anything to do with bonobos?”

Agent Warren cleared her throat. “We have two theories: the first is that they’ve developed some kind of a drug that would make the bonobos aggressive so that they could launch an attack on their enemies, or, the more likely theory, is they’ve figured out how to take the sexual proclivities of the bonobo and infect humans with it.”

“So let’s discuss both theories and take it from there, if you don’t mind, Dr. Cartwright,” said Agent Greenberg.

“Fair enough. Let’s start with the first one, the one you said wasn’t as likely as the other.”

“Right. That they’ve trained bonobos to help with their war effort, so to speak.”

“You’re right. It’s not likely at all. Maybe even impossible,” said Justin, immediately.

“Why do you say that?”

“A couple of reasons. First off, bonobos are pretty small. They’re lovers and not fighters and their size kind of makes them, shall we say, not good fighters? If you’re going to try and get some animals to help fight your battles, you’re going to want something bigger, stronger, and more naturally aggressive. Like baboons or orangutans. And bonobos are endangered, so I’d think that if you wanted to kidnap and experiment on some animal—even a primate—you’d prefer to use an animal with a large population. That’d give you a wider field to recruit so to speak.”

“That makes sense,” said the female agent.

“Now, somehow distilling that aspect of their personality into a human. I don’t really see how that would be possible in the first place.”

“Please, Dr. Cartwright. Let’s not focus on what is or isn’t possible. Assuming that our theory is possible, do you think it’d work?” the male said.

“Well, that’s the thing. Do you know how long a bonobo lovemaking session typically lasts?” Justin didn’t wait for either agent to speak before answering his own question. “A minute. Two, tops. Even if they could somehow distill the bonobo libido and infect humans with it, it wouldn’t be long enough to cause any real damage.”

“Maybe not, but a minute or two is long enough to kill someone, isn’t it?”

“Ummmm… Maybe. Then you’ve got the whole logistics of it all. It really doesn’t seem plausible to me.”

“Sir,” interrupted Agent Greenberg. “Please forget what’s plausible. This isn’t about plausible but instead whether it could be strategic in nature.”

“Sorry. It’s just that… I don’t know. There’s so many animals out there that, if you wanted to use some aspect of their overall being as a weapon, the bonobo just doesn’t seem to be the prime choice. Again, wouldn’t you want something aggressive to take down your enemy? There’s got to be another reason.”

“And what would that be?”

“I don’t have a clue, and I don’t think I would unless you were to somehow get me into North Korea.”

The two agents looked at each other and smiled. “We’ll see what we can do. We’ll be in touch,” said Agent Warren. “In the meantime, as we discussed before, you may not mention this conversation or even the fact that we were here, to anyone. Do you understand?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Very good. Thank you for your time.”

Justin stood up to escort the two agents out the door.

Chapter 2

Kim Jong-un stared out the large picture window on the west side of his vacation palace in the city of Kaesong, admiring the deep red sky as the sun slowly set behind the Ahobiryong Mountains.

He was so lost in thought, that he didn’t hear his deputy, Ri Song-mu, until after Song had stormed into the room. “Supreme Leader! Supreme Leader! I have excellent news!”

The North Korean dictator turned to his deputy and raised his right eyebrow. “I’m listening.”

Ri Song-mu paused to catch his breath and held his hand up to indicate that he would speak in a moment. Kim Jong-un crossed his arms in front of his chest as he waited.

“Your father, in all of his wonder and glory, authorized an interesting research project not knowing if it would work. I come to report that our research has proved more successful than even our most optimistic expectations.”

“Tell me more.”

“If I may, your excellency, I’d like to show you a film recorded not one hour ago, that illustrates exactly what our research has demonstrated.”

The two men walked towards the large widescreen television mounted on the wall in the room. Ri Song-mu slid a DVD into a slot. Within a moment, the screen lit up, showing a young woman sitting at a table, looking somewhat impatient.

“This woman is a volunteer for our research. She is married and has three children, whose ages range from 3 to 9. She has been advised that she will be permitted to return to her family as soon as all of the release paperwork has been completed.”

On the television, a second woman walked into the room, and sat down at a table close to the first woman.

“This is another volunteer. Also married, albeit with two children, ages 2 and 5. Like the first woman, she believes she is about to be released. The first woman is an actual research test subject, while the second was a control for our research.”

“How many people were in each group?”

“Fifty in each. All women, all volunteers, and it was completely random who would be in the control group and who would be in the research group. All of the volunteers are between the ages of 18 and 35. Most of them are married. All of the volunteers have been kept completely separate until this point. As far as we can tell, these women have never met, even casually, prior to this point in time.”

“So what should we be watching for?”

“You’ll see it in a minute. At two minutes and thirty four seconds into this film clip, one of our researchers triggered a tiny nanobot that had been given to the actual test subject. That’s when you’ll see the results of our research.” Both men turned their heads to watch the video.

The first woman on the screen nodded her head, saying, “I really don’t know what kind of research this was. I’m just honored to have been included, you know?”

“My feelings exactly! If I can help our glorious leader in any way, however small, I’ll have stories of pride to tell my children and grandchildren.”

“Have you felt anything from the injection? I haven’t really felt anything.”

“Me neither. What do you suppose this study was supposed to do?”

“No cl—“ The first woman’s eyes widened, unable to finish her thoughts. She started to breathe heavily, wiping her brow as she quickly and clumsily took off all of her clothes.

“What’s wr—“ Before the first woman was out of her blouse, the second woman was overcome, acting very much the same way, panting and stripping naked as quickly as her hands would allow.

Kim Jong-un stood in amazed silence, his jaw hanging open. He redirected his gaze to Ri Song-mu, who smiled broadly. “As you can guess, sir, the nanobot in the bloodstream of the first test subject has been activated.”

“Um, that’s … what I thought.”

The dictator turned to look at the television again. By this time, the two women were both completely naked, with the second woman crouched forward, sucking on the measurably stiff nipples of the first.

The first woman began to grope at the body of the second, making a point of lowering her hand down to the sex of her new lover. The second woman arched her back and gasped in pleasure, grinding her hips into the first woman’s hand in increasing passion and lust.

“Your greatness, all these two women can think about right now, is their physical need,” said Ri Song-mu.

“Interesting. And how long will that last?”

“Until the nanobots injected into the first woman are deactivated. They are both nothing more than sex machines at this point.”

“Well, Song,” said Kim Jong-un, “This is certainly interesting, but I don’t see how turning two women into lesbians will support our glorious cause.”

The advisor began to chuckle.

“What? What do you find so funny.”

“Just … Watch the video.”

The Supreme Leader turned to watch the television again. By now, the two women were lying on the floor, in a “69” position, eating each other out and groping at whatever flesh they could reach in the process.

The change in the lighting on the screen demonstrated that a door had been opened off-screen.

“What’s that?” asked Kim Jong-un.

“You’ll see.”

In a few seconds, a woman dressed in a North Korean army uniform appeared in the background of the room where the two women were writhing and moaning in the shared pleasure of the other’s body. The Supreme Leader squinted his eyes to make out the rank of the woman.

“She’s a …”

“Colonel, sir. Her responsibility was to separate the two women and send them home.”

“Was?”

“Just watch, your excellency.”

The officer strode confidently towards the two women, speaking loudly and succinctly. “That’s enough!” Her words were barely audible over the moans and groans of the two newly-minted lovers on the floor.

The officer took two steps closer and spoke again. “I said, that—“ She stopped, her eyes bulging as she immediately stopped to take off all of her clothes.

Kim Jong-un stared at this scene with incredulity. “What’s this woman’s name? She should be court-martialed for dereliction of duty!”

“Please, sir. As I stated before, our results have exceeded even our most optimistic of expectations. I ask that you show mercy to this woman.”

“But look! Is she really taking part of this hedonistic display of lust?”

The colonel’s naked body was by now grinding up against the two women. The woman who was more convenient to doing so, reached forward and began to rub the new woman’s pussy with the same enthusiasm she had shown to her earlier partner.

“Take a look at her eyes, sir. See how empty, vacant, and unknowing they are?”

“Yeah…”

“The moment she stepped close enough to the first woman, she didn’t have a chance, and she won’t until such time as we deactivate the nanobots. If you would like, I can show you another video involving another woman who received the nanobots, and a man who was in close proximity to her. To summarize that video, the man’s reaction was by and large the same as these two women’s reactions. The only thing we still need to figure out, is the exact distance from the activated subject for bystanders to be affected. Our best estimates, at this stage, is approximately three meters. Within that radius, they shall be able to think of nothing else, other than to, as you put it, take part in this hedonistic display of lust.”

Kim Jong-un smiled and rubbed his hands together. “Yes. Now I can see its application to help support our glorious cause. So tell me, Ri Song-mu. How did we create these nanobots in the first place?”

“Have you ever heard of a species of monkey called the bonobo?”

Chapter 3

Agent Connie Lee heaved a deep breath as she crouched behind a tree near the concrete building where, her bosses believed, the information she had been looking for could be found. She heaved a deep breath and reminded herself of the protocol she should follow.

Get in, get as many pictures as possible, both of the security and the experiments going on inside, and get out, by any means necessary. She would use her usual ruse in case she was seen: her fluent Mandarin would have made her a believable tourist who happened to have lost her way. This compound, approximately ten kilometers away from the city of Sinuiju, (and, by extension, roughly the same distance from the Chinese city of Dandong) added to the credibility of this ruse. And, of course, fight if absolutely necessary.

She had been observing the patterns of the sentries for two hours and now felt reasonably confident that she could do this. She took another deep breath and radioed back to her commanders. “Agent Lee here. Located the compound where the stolen bonobos are believed to be held. Security is strong but compared with other intel sites, not as heavy as it could be.”

The crackling voice came through her radio. “Please confirm your exact location.”

Connie glanced down at her GPS. “40.112 degrees north, 124.522 degrees east. I will be going radio silent in a moment. If you don’t hear from me within sixty minutes, you’ll know something went wrong. Hopefully, I won’t need that much time.”

“Excellent. Good luck!”

“Thank you, sir!”

She powered down her GPS and her communicator and buried them under a small pile of rocks nearby. “Here goes nothing,” she said softly to herself as she crept towards the building. She retrieved a pair of headphones from her pockets and pushed them into her ears, pretending that the iPod to which they were attached, was actually playing music. Instead, the iPod had been modified to take pictures continually as she moved. The gadget also transmitted pictures back to a computer at headquarters, so a review of the pictures would also notify the reviewer if something were to go wrong. Unfortunately, with no guarantee of real-time transmission or review of the pictures, her handlers would still need to rely on her stated ETA to know whether the mission had gone awry.

She moved slowly past the guards who were patrolling near the main entrance to the building and found her way inside the maze-like structure. Connie got a feeling of claustrophobia inside the long corridors. The recognition of the fact that there was no place to hide compounded the claustrophobia of the corridor. She silently gulped as she realized how easily she could be spotted from either end of the corridor. She knew that she would need to rely almost exclusively on shadows and the belief that any guards would be too lazy to look too closely.

She rounded three corners without difficulty and saw a door with a glass window in it. She gazed into the window and saw several bonobos, apparently permitted to move about freely in the room. The room seemed to be made up in the style of the wildlife preserve from which they were taken and the animals seemed comfortable and at-ease in their surroundings. There was an ample supply of food and water for the creatures, although she couldn’t help but notice that there was some kind of a metallic tag attached to each animal’s head. One bonobo was rubbing the metallic tag but none of the others paid any attention to it.

Two bonobos were rummaging for food in one corner and, when one found the food and held it up for the other, the two immediately adopted a missionary sex position with the one who had found the food being rewarded with what appeared, to Connie, to be oral sex on a par with the way humans might act. She made a mental note to report this back to the base when she returned.

Connie placed her hand on the doorknob and found that it was locked. This wasn’t much of a surprise but she realized she had seen enough through the window that she didn’t need to try to get in. She took more pictures and decided to leave the compound and retrieve her GPS and radio.

She was nearly out of the building when she heard the crack of a gun being cocked and a man’s voice yelling, “Stop! Who are you and what are you doing here?”

She slowly raised her hands, keeping the iPod in her right hand, and turned around. As she turned, she pushed the button that erased the photos she had taken off of the device, making it appear like a regular music player. She hoped that all of the pictures had been successfully transmitted to Langley.

“I’m sorry. I was … trying to find a bathroom.”

“Who are you?”

“Lee. Lee Connie. I went jogging and, when I saw this building, decided to try and find a bathroom before returning home.”

“Where’s home for you?”

“Dandong.”

“Um, Miss Lee? You know you’re not in China right now, don’t you?”

Connie feigned shock at this news. “I’m … I’m sorry. I … I didn’t know.”

The guard grabbed her iPod. “I’m going to have to confiscate this. I can’t just let you go. Follow me.”

Connie gulped as she followed the guard to a small room with nothing more than a chair and a table in it. “Stay here.” He pushed her into the chair, strapped her arms to the armrests, and locked her in.

Chapter 4

Ri Song-mu finished explaining the sexual activities and inclinations of bonobos to Kim Jong-un and redirected the Supreme Leader’s attention back to the video. “In about a minute, we will show you what happens when we deactivate the nanobots in the first subject’s system.”

“Give me a preview of what I can expect.”

“Suffice it to say that it fits in quite well with the decadence of American life.” Ri Song-mu started to laugh. Kim Jong-un laughed along with his adviser.

Their laughter was interrupted by a loud scream that sounded almost like a howl, coming from the television. The test subject who had received the injection of the nanobots, who by now was crouching on “all fours” while she was eating out the other woman, was being fingered from behind by the army officer who had attempted to stop the two women. The army officer was using her own free hand to finger herself.

Within a matter of moments, all three women were grunting and screaming out their own pleasure, their yowls melding together in a cacophony of lust. The army officer began practically collapsed on the other two women, as the three of them experienced virtually simultaneous orgasms.

“I take it the nanobots are being deactivated?” asked Kim Jong-un.

“Going out with a blaze of glory,” smiled Ri Song-mu.

The wordless vocalizations coming through the television continued for so long, that Kim Jong-un started to yawn and checked his watch. “How much longer before they settle down?”

“Not much l—“ Ri Song-mu was interrupted by the sound of his phone ringing. “Do you mind if I see who it is? This could only be something of import.”

“Sure.”

Song glanced down at his phone and recognized the number as coming from one of the research facilities where the bonobos were kept. “It’s got something to do with this research. If I may…”

“By all means,” said the Supreme Leader. “I look forward to hearing more about this project.”

“Thank you, your excellency,” Ri Song-mu bowed deep and stepped away from the television before lifting the phone to his ear. “Ri Song-mu here.”

“Commander Ri, this is Corporal Choe Kuk-il of the Sinuiju Experimental Facility.”

“Yes, Choe Kuk-il. How may I help you?”

“I just apprehended a woman who claimed to be a Chinese jogger looking for a restroom. I fear she may have seen the monkeys we’ve been using in our experiments.”

“What did she have on her person?”

“Just an iPod.”

“An iPod? The music player?”

“Yes.”

“Were there any photoraphs in it?”

“None that I could find.”

“Interesting. You said you think she may have seen the monkeys, correct?”

“Yes. She appeared to be on her way out of the facility when I caught her. It raises questions about how she could have gotten so far in without being seen unless she had been watching our movements.”

“I see. Do you mind if I speak to our Supreme Leader? I’m here with him right now.”

Choe Kuk-il paused, not realizing where his commander actually was. “Of course. I’ll hold.”

Ri Song-mu pressed the ‘mute’ button on his phone and stepped closer to Kim Jong-un. “It looks like they’ve captured a suspected spy.”

“Male or female?”

“Female.”

Kim Jong-un smiled broadly. “Give her the nanobots and let her go.”

“Let her go?”

“You heard me. Let her go. If possible, get something to help us track her exact location, but even if not, give her the nanobots.”

“Actually, the nanobots have a built-in tracking system.”

“Excellent. Do what you need to do to get her under our control and let her go.”

“Yes, sir.”

Ri Song-mu stepped away from the young dictator, unmuted his phone, and lifted it to his ear. “I have a directive directly from the Supreme Leader himself…”

Chapter 5

The following morning, Justin had nearly reached the zoo when his cell phone rang. He squinted and didn’t actively recognize the phone number, but he answered it anyway. “This is Justin.”

“Justin! Agent Adam Greenberg! My partner and I met you last night.”

“Yes, um, Agent Greenberg. Is there something I can help you with?”

“One of our agents trying to surveil the location where the stolen bonobos are being held, has transmitted photos back to us and we’d like to get your take on the pictures.”

“Um… All right. Can you bring me the pictures? I’m nearly at work.”

“We’d rather you came to us. Showing these images outside of our office could be considered a breach of national security.”

“Um. Sure, I guess. How soon do you need me to come by?”

“As soon as possible. Did you say you’re nearly at work?”

“Yes.”

“Then I need you to phone your superiors and tell them you’re not feeling well, and that you have a doctor’s appointment.”

“Should I tell them I’ll be late for work, or…”

“Tell them that that decision will be made after you talk to the doctor’s.”

“Fair enough. Where can I meet you?”

“Agent Warren is on her way to your apartment. Can you meet her there?”

“Of course. I should be back there in about twenty minutes.”

“I’ll let her know.”

Chapter 6

Agent Lydia Warren was waiting for Justin when he arrived back at his apartment. She told him to get in her car, and she drove him to an underground garage and into a building he had barely noticed prior to that moment.

They walked into a maze-like corridor that finally reached the hidden office building where Agent Greenberg was waiting. He stood up, smiled, and shook Justin’s hand as they entered the building. “Thank you for being so flexible. Please. Come on in.”

He led his colleague and the primate expert into a conference room with a television mounted on the wall. “These pictures were taken inside a compound in North Korea, near the border with China,” The secret agent said as he picked up a remote control. The pictures that Connie had taken through the glass of the door to the bonobo lab appeared on the television screen.

“Do you have any better shots than these?” asked Justin, hoping he didn’t offend the two agents.

“Unfortunately not. Our agent couldn’t risk capture by trying to enter this room. Her instructions were not to attempt to open any locked doors and don’t enter into any room if there was even the slightest risk of getting caught. I’m not in a position to state whether the reason for all pictures being taken from the other side of a door is because it was locked, or if it was because there was too great a risk of capture. Noting that there are no human beings inside this room in these images, it’s probably because the door is locked.”

Agent Warren smiled. “So please, Justin, tell us what you see.”

“It’s kind of hard to tell,” said Justin, softly, “but it looks like they’re trying to make the kidnapped bonobos as comfortable as possible. The decor of this room is clearly designed to evoke the memories of the reserves they were taken from. That kind of … isn’t quite what I would expect of the North Koreans.”

“So would you say that these are good living conditions?”

“Well, I wouldn’t go that far. I mean, the room seems kind of small for that many of them. It…” Justin paused to chuckle at the image of the two bonobos having sex. “It’s certainly not slowing the bonobos down, though. How many bonobos did you say were taken from Basankusu?”

“Three dozen.”

“Where’s the rest of them?”

“What?”

“Just looking at these pictures, it’s hard to tell how many are in this room, but it doesn’t look like there’s more than ten or fifteen here. Where’s the rest?”

“We don’t know,” sighed Agent Greenberg. “Maybe they’re in another room of this building. Maybe they’re in a different building. Maybe they’re just not visible from this window. For now, though, let’s not worry about that. Instead, what can you tell me what you think about these pictures themselves?”

“All right. I just hope that the other bonobos aren’t dead.” Justin paused for a moment and said, “It’s kind of hard to tell with the still photos you’re showing me, but they do at least appear to have taken to their surroundings.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Look at these two,” remarked Justin. “The one seems to be giving the other oral stimulation. Could we go back a few slides?”

The pictures on the television went back moderately quickly until Justin said “That’s good!”

“What do you see there?” asked Agent Greenberg.

“That looks like the same two bonobos. It looks like one found food, she’s holding it up for the others nearby to see. So the oral stimulation was clearly a reward for gathering food. That happens in the wild, too.”

“So are you trying to imply that these bonobos are being well-cared for?” asked Agent Warren.

“Well, they’re allowed to be themselves, at least from what we can observe from these pictures. I have no way of knowing whether or not this is how they’re always allowed to be, or if it’s just a break of sorts from some horrible experiment. Regardless, they’d still be better off in the wild than in some laboratory, no matter how well it’s been decorated to look like their actual habitat. Except… What’s that?”

“What’s what?”

Justin stood up and pointed directly at one corner of the picture on the screen. “D’you see this yellowish glow? What do you suppose that is?”

“We have no idea,” responded Agent Greenberg.

“Well, can I talk to the person who took the pictures? I’d like to know more about what…”

The two agents looked at each other, as if trying to decide whether they ought to reveal something to him. Justin stopped talking as he picked up on what wasn’t being said.

“What?”

Agent Greenberg nodded to Agent Warren, who took a deep breath and said, “We’re waiting for information, but the agent who took these pictures was supposed to check in with us an hour ago and we haven’t heard anything. We fear she might have been captured.”