A Princess of The Linear Jungle

then the Princess of Vayavirunga kneeled gracefully at Merritt’s feet.

10.
    NEW PRINCESS

    “I’M GOING MAD! MAD, I TELL YOU! AS LOOPY AS THAT RED witch herself!”
    Cady Rachis’s latest temper tantrum caused Merritt’s perpetually incipient headache to spike. Wouldn’t the woman ever shut up?
    Three weeks of forced habitation in the boring and tranquil village of the hybrids had not completely agreed with any of the surviving members of the Scoria-Vinnagar Vayavirunga Expedition, but perhaps least of all with Cady Rachis. True, after the deadly rigors and confusion of their capture and transportation here, the security of knowing their status as privileged prisoners, as well as ready access to shelter, clean water, and decent food (admittedly, a monotonous vegetarian diet), had allowed Cady to relax and improve her appearance somewhat. Hair combed, face un-begrimed, tattered clothes washed and creatively rejiggered into a revealing playsuit fit for the tropical clime, the statuesque lounge singer easily assumed the role of next-most beautiful woman in all the Jungle Blocks.
    But where was the large society of admirers she needed to affirm her erotic allure?
    Ransome Pivot, of course, remained faithful and worshipful, but he was only one callow youth, however broad-shouldered, and no amount of adoration from such would suffice.
    Durian Vinnagar and Dan Peart remained asexually immune to her charms, each fixated on other concerns.
    Arturo Scoria exhibited a disgusting fidelity to Merritt, Cady’s one human rival. In fact, since her nomination as Princess-in-waiting, he seemed somewhat in awe of her, solicitous of her every comfort.
    Even the ratmen—no longer quite so vile-seeming and reprehensible as initially deemed, and certainly modeling many desirable masculine traits, all on shameless display in frequent semi-public intercourse with their buxom avian mates—ignored Cady, refusing to accord her any of the lavish kowtowing they bestowed on the Princess of Vayavirunga.
    And that red witch herself stood as the biggest roadblock to Cady’s rightful domination of this new social order she had been forced to inhabit, however temporarily. The self-annointed Princess of Vayavirunga ruled with a capricious yet iron hand, and her preternatural beauty and charisma represented an unassailable pinnacle from which nothing Cady did could dethrone her. At those infrequent intervals when the Princess manifested among the humans in her elusive fashion, she sucked all the erotic air out of the room and concentrated it in her naked form.
    “We have to get out of here soon!” Cady exclaimed now, to whomever would listen. “Why aren’t you all doing something! Anything!”
    The six travelers sat inside the large hut they had been assigned. Its shaded interior boasted few furnishings: really nothing more than six sleeping pallets of moss and palm fronds and a few withy baskets holding fruit.
    Already, thought Merritt, trying to tune out Cady’s repetitive diatribe, it seemed they had inhabited this rude hut forever. What would their captivity feel like if it extended into months, or even years? Dan Peart was the only one to harken to Cady’s plaint, since it jibed with his own concerns. He began to go over his futile scheme once again.
    “The key to getting out of here is the River. You might argue the Tracks’re just as likely an escape route, but no Train’s gonna stop for anyone trying to flag it down in the middle of the Jungle Blocks. Nope, it’s got to be the River. We climb out of this salad bowl at night, quiet-like. Then we find the nearest Cross Street and make our way out to the Slips. We hail a boat by day, or even swim out to one—”
    Scoria interrupted this fantasy. “Do you recall, Dan, how incredibly difficult it was for us to beat our way from the Slip to Broadway, even with machetes? How could we penetrate such a tangle without a single tool? Do you imagine you could separate a ratman from his lance? No, the hybrids would be upon us before we even got to Broadway. I’ve said it a hundred times before: our only hope in seeing civilization again resides in Merritt, and her relationship to the Princess.”
    Merritt squirmed uneasily as all eyes focused on her. She didn’t know what to say. Her situation and status were highly problematical and confusing, not mention embarrassing and scary.
    Since that moment when the Princess had kneeled before Merritt, the ruler of Vayavirunga had continued