Sindy Hunter
Super-Earth
- Joined
- Jul 13, 2023
- Location
- UK
Catherine Philips gave a forlorn sigh. She had just finished a phone call from her husband, Ryan. Ryan was an electrical engineer working on a system installation at a new construction project on the other side of the country. The call was their usual daily catch-up, but Ryan had told his wife that he would be away from home for longer than he thought, due to a problem with supplies at the site.
Ryan had already been away for a week and Catherine, or Cathy as she preferred to be called, had been looking forward to him returning home that weekend, but now it seemed he would be away for another week. Cathy took a breath, steadying herself, before climbing out of her car and walking into her workplace. She was a junior manager in the Sales department of Aspis Security Systems, a position she had been promoted to after just three years at the company. Initially, Cathy was employed as a data analyst, but her ambition, friendly nature and impressive work ethic, saw her quickly advance to team leader. Twelve months later she became the manager of three of the teams in the department.
Cathy had enjoyed her management role and now had her sights set on becoming the department manager, but that didn’t seem to be a role that would be available any time soon. Joan Baker held that position, she had done so for the last fifteen years. At fifty-six she was twice Cathy’s age and was looking to spend the next four years as manager before retiring. Cathy held no animosity towards Joan, and the department was a pleasurable place to work, however, Cathy wished there would be an opportunity to advance her career sooner than four years.
Aspis developed security systems for domestic, commercial and government use. It had been successful but recently had expanded into the military sector. The research and development section was a completely self-contained building. Access to it had always been highly restricted, but after taking on military contracts it increased further, with the workforce being kept separate from the rest of the Aspis employees. Only Aspis Directors were able to freely enter the facility. It felt so remote from the rest of the company that the building was nicknamed “The Island”.
Cathy sat at her desk and switched on her computer. As she waited for it to start her phone buzzed. She saw she had an email from one of her girlfriends, Karen Austin. Karen and Cathy had been at university together. Karen now lived in another city but regularly met up with Cathy and some other friends. The last time they met was about a month ago. It had been quite a wild night. After meeting for dinner the group of friends went on to a club and partied until early morning with lots of drink being consumed. Cathy was quite out of it by the end of the night and her memory of events was very sketchy. She kind of remembered Karen, another woman and herself getting a taxi home.
Karen’s email simply read “Oh what a naughty girl!” and below was a link to a file named “Caught in the Act”. Cathy gave a puzzled look and tapped on the link and a second later a video started playing on the screen of her phone. The shaky image showed the inside of a club and a group of women gathered around a table. The picture was so unsteady it was difficult to make out who the people were but it was easy to see one woman with her face lowered to the table top.
The camera steadied and closed in on the woman and the image became clearer. Cathy gasped as she saw herself snorting a line of white powder through a rolled-up banknote. Cathy watched in disbelief as she witnessed herself on video throwing her head back and groaning in delight from inhaling the suspicious powder.
Before Cathy could recover from that shock, the scene on the video changed. It now showed a dark dirty alley with two people up against a wall. One was a man the other a woman. Cathy wanted to look away but forced herself to watch. The man was passionately kissing the woman, obstructing the view of the woman’s identity. Finally, the man stepped back and Cathy saw the woman in the video was her once more. She watched in stunned silence as the man said something and Cathy’s image grinned and nodded. What happened next almost caused Cathy to vomit as she watched herself on screen bend over, supporting herself against the wall as the man pulled up her dress and entered her, then began violently fucking her.
Cathy turned the phone off, glad it had been muted. She sat in a daze, having no recollection of those acts in the video happening. With trembling hands, she emailed Karen back. “Where did you get this video? This is not me!”. A moment after pressing the send button Cathy’s phone buzzed. The email app had a new message, “Unable to deliver to the address provided”. Cathy shook her head in disbelief, unable to comprehend what was happening. She decided to call Karen but as the phone connected she received the message “This number is no longer in use”.
Before Cathy could think any more of what to do about the video Joan Baker approached her desk. “Morning Cathy. Are you ready for this morning’s progress meeting? We are about to start.”. Cathy managed to snap herself out of her shocked state, “Erm… Y… Yes, Joan… I’m right behind you”. For the next hour, Cathy had to sit in the meeting, unable to concentrate on what was being said, her thoughts focused on the incriminating video. If anyone at Aspis saw the footage she would be instantly dismissed and if Ryan saw it her marriage would be over. It was a life-destroying situation Cathy was in and had no idea how to get out of it.
After the meeting, Cathy went back to her desk. She turned her phone back on and saw a new email message. It was from an address she didn’t recognise and the one-word subject read “Redemption”. She hesitated to open the message, frightened of what new horror it might contain. Finally, she tapped the phone’s screen and the message appeared. “Call the number below at 13:00 exactly. Fail to do so and the video goes to everyone you know”. Cathy shook with fear from not knowing who was doing this to her or why they would want to. She looked around the office to see if anyone was watching, playing a very sick joke on her, but everyone was busy. She spent the next three hours trying to work out what was going on. At 12:59 Cathy was sitting in her car. At 13:00 she called the number on the mystery email. The call connected and there was the hiss of electronic silence. “Hello?... It’s Cathy… Cathy Philips… You asked me to call this number”.
Ryan had already been away for a week and Catherine, or Cathy as she preferred to be called, had been looking forward to him returning home that weekend, but now it seemed he would be away for another week. Cathy took a breath, steadying herself, before climbing out of her car and walking into her workplace. She was a junior manager in the Sales department of Aspis Security Systems, a position she had been promoted to after just three years at the company. Initially, Cathy was employed as a data analyst, but her ambition, friendly nature and impressive work ethic, saw her quickly advance to team leader. Twelve months later she became the manager of three of the teams in the department.
Cathy had enjoyed her management role and now had her sights set on becoming the department manager, but that didn’t seem to be a role that would be available any time soon. Joan Baker held that position, she had done so for the last fifteen years. At fifty-six she was twice Cathy’s age and was looking to spend the next four years as manager before retiring. Cathy held no animosity towards Joan, and the department was a pleasurable place to work, however, Cathy wished there would be an opportunity to advance her career sooner than four years.
Aspis developed security systems for domestic, commercial and government use. It had been successful but recently had expanded into the military sector. The research and development section was a completely self-contained building. Access to it had always been highly restricted, but after taking on military contracts it increased further, with the workforce being kept separate from the rest of the Aspis employees. Only Aspis Directors were able to freely enter the facility. It felt so remote from the rest of the company that the building was nicknamed “The Island”.
Cathy sat at her desk and switched on her computer. As she waited for it to start her phone buzzed. She saw she had an email from one of her girlfriends, Karen Austin. Karen and Cathy had been at university together. Karen now lived in another city but regularly met up with Cathy and some other friends. The last time they met was about a month ago. It had been quite a wild night. After meeting for dinner the group of friends went on to a club and partied until early morning with lots of drink being consumed. Cathy was quite out of it by the end of the night and her memory of events was very sketchy. She kind of remembered Karen, another woman and herself getting a taxi home.
Karen’s email simply read “Oh what a naughty girl!” and below was a link to a file named “Caught in the Act”. Cathy gave a puzzled look and tapped on the link and a second later a video started playing on the screen of her phone. The shaky image showed the inside of a club and a group of women gathered around a table. The picture was so unsteady it was difficult to make out who the people were but it was easy to see one woman with her face lowered to the table top.
The camera steadied and closed in on the woman and the image became clearer. Cathy gasped as she saw herself snorting a line of white powder through a rolled-up banknote. Cathy watched in disbelief as she witnessed herself on video throwing her head back and groaning in delight from inhaling the suspicious powder.
Before Cathy could recover from that shock, the scene on the video changed. It now showed a dark dirty alley with two people up against a wall. One was a man the other a woman. Cathy wanted to look away but forced herself to watch. The man was passionately kissing the woman, obstructing the view of the woman’s identity. Finally, the man stepped back and Cathy saw the woman in the video was her once more. She watched in stunned silence as the man said something and Cathy’s image grinned and nodded. What happened next almost caused Cathy to vomit as she watched herself on screen bend over, supporting herself against the wall as the man pulled up her dress and entered her, then began violently fucking her.
Cathy turned the phone off, glad it had been muted. She sat in a daze, having no recollection of those acts in the video happening. With trembling hands, she emailed Karen back. “Where did you get this video? This is not me!”. A moment after pressing the send button Cathy’s phone buzzed. The email app had a new message, “Unable to deliver to the address provided”. Cathy shook her head in disbelief, unable to comprehend what was happening. She decided to call Karen but as the phone connected she received the message “This number is no longer in use”.
Before Cathy could think any more of what to do about the video Joan Baker approached her desk. “Morning Cathy. Are you ready for this morning’s progress meeting? We are about to start.”. Cathy managed to snap herself out of her shocked state, “Erm… Y… Yes, Joan… I’m right behind you”. For the next hour, Cathy had to sit in the meeting, unable to concentrate on what was being said, her thoughts focused on the incriminating video. If anyone at Aspis saw the footage she would be instantly dismissed and if Ryan saw it her marriage would be over. It was a life-destroying situation Cathy was in and had no idea how to get out of it.
After the meeting, Cathy went back to her desk. She turned her phone back on and saw a new email message. It was from an address she didn’t recognise and the one-word subject read “Redemption”. She hesitated to open the message, frightened of what new horror it might contain. Finally, she tapped the phone’s screen and the message appeared. “Call the number below at 13:00 exactly. Fail to do so and the video goes to everyone you know”. Cathy shook with fear from not knowing who was doing this to her or why they would want to. She looked around the office to see if anyone was watching, playing a very sick joke on her, but everyone was busy. She spent the next three hours trying to work out what was going on. At 12:59 Cathy was sitting in her car. At 13:00 she called the number on the mystery email. The call connected and there was the hiss of electronic silence. “Hello?... It’s Cathy… Cathy Philips… You asked me to call this number”.