Trapped in a Room

Where am I?

That was the first though in Birdy's mind as she woke up. Slowly standing to her feet, she tried to remember how she got here. She couldn't; that worried her. Noticing a dull throbbing near the back of her head, she though that maybe that had something to do with it. With nothing else to do, she took a look at her surroundings.

There wasn't much to see.

It was a completely white room, with no windows and no doors. There was nothing at all in the room-- wait. What was that on the far wall? Frowning, she walked over for a closer look.

It appeared to be a communications device of some sort. Noting the flashing light, she hesitantly picked up the voicepiece.

"Hello?"

There was silence, and then a disembodied voice - smooth, yet with a note of malice - came from the other end.

"Hello, miss Wyndham."

The cat bristled.

"Sloth," she growled, her grip tightening on the receiver. "I should have known you were behind this. Only you would do something as cliché as trapping someone in a room with seemingly no way out."

Surprisingly, Sloth just chuckled. That did not bode well.

"Oh, miss Wyndham, how naïve you are..."

"Explain," she said dryly.

"I've been reading about a scientist from your planet," he started. "One B.F. Skinner. Famous for trapping the creature you call a 'cat' in boxes, as I recall. Once inside the box, they were forced to wander around until they found a way out."

"...Uh, that's not exactly what--" Birdy started to interject, but Sloth continued.

"I decided to reconduct such an experiment, and since you were the only cat available, you were chosen."

"Lucky me," she muttered, though Sloth did not deign himself to acknowledge that comment.

"There was one other element to the experiment," Sloth said, somewhat reluctantly. "A reward. Once the cat was outside the box, it was rewarded." (Sloth did not sound like he enjoyed that idea at all.) "So to keep in the tradition of the experiment, I decided to do the same."

"...Okay, and?" Birdy was growing impatient.

"I believe you know a certain traitorous Grundo? Two-faced, and two-coloured as well?"

Birdy's hackles raised.

"What did you do with him?" she growled. She could faintly hear the plastic of the intercom begin to creak under her grasp. "If you've hurt him..."

"Miss Wyndham, you wound me," Sloth said, feigning sounding hurt. "Do you really think I would want to damage such an expensive hostage?"

Birdy took a moment to calm herself and spoke again.

"What do you want?"

"It's very simple, miss Wyndham. All you need to do to free him and secure his safety is escape. I did think you would have realized that by now..."

Birdy ignored the jab at her intelligence.

"So if I escape, we both go free?"

"That is the general idea, yes."

"Fine. I'm going to get out, and when I do, Parlax had better be unharmed, or I swear you will be in for a world of hurt."

She hung up, not waiting for a response for Sloth. It was time to find a way out.

~*~

Sloth smirked as he hung up. He was going to win, and he knew it.

"Ready my ship," he ordered the brown Grundo near him.

"...Sir?"

"Are you deaf?" Sloth growled. "Ready my ship!"

"But... shouldn't you wait and see if she escapes?"

"She's not going to."

"She's not?"

"No." Sloth crossed his arms. "Because the room is inescapable."

"But-- That's cheating!" he blurted before he could stop himself.

"I know," Sloth said, a hint of pride to his voice. "I didn't get to the position I was today by honesty, you know."

If the Grundo was going to say something more, it was forgotten. For at that moment, the wall in front of them exploded.

Sloth stared at the wall in shock, and when the smoke cleared, there was Birdy, blaster in hand, standing on the rubble that had been a wall five minutes ago.

"Oh, look at that," she said. "I got out."

Sloth gawked for a few seconds more before turning on the Grundo.

"Why didn't you check to see if she had any weapons?!" he roared.

"I'm sorry," the Grundo said, "but I'm just a dim-witted Grundo. How am I supposed to know whether or not to check a prisoner for weapons unless specifically ordered to?"

Sloth's right eye twitched. He couldn't tell if the Grundo was being serious or sarcastic, and he hated it when that happened.

"I believe we had an agreement?" the cat purred, now aiming the blaster in his direction.

Sloth paused, wondering whether or not it was worth risking the wrath of this cat to try and escape with the traitor she so highly valued.

Wisely deciding to give her what she wanted (this time, anyway), he pushed a button on a machine on the table before him.

"Release the prisoner," he growled. A pause, then, "Yes, that prisoner!" (Another pause.) "Yes, I'm sure! Do not make me ask again..."

Slamming down the receiver, he turned to Birdy. "Leave." He pointed at the door.

"With pleasure," she said, striding across the room and out the open door.

She continued on down the hallway and entered a room that resembled the waiting room of a doctor's office. In a chair sat a two-toned Grundo, who jumped slightly at her entrance.

"Oh, it's you," he sighed, relieved. He hesitated, then added, "Do I even want to know what this is about?"

"I'll explain later," she said. "But now, we need to leave."

The Grundo, Parlax, frowned. "He's letting us leave? Just like that?"

"If he knows what's good for him, he will."

Parlax sighed and shook his head. "Only you..."

Birdy grinned. "Well, I've gotta protect my favourite Grundo somehow." She reached over to try and give the Grundo a noogie, only to have her hand shoved away and a glare directed at her.

"C'mon, Parlax," Birdy said, smiling affectionately. "Let's go home."


The End.