Brisbourney – October 24, 2500
The sight greeting Larna Fox as she stepped from the Time Portal door was unfamiliar to her. The Portal exit she had just left, seemed to be situated in a dark room. There did not seem to be any entrances, or exits. No windows. Larna walked down the ramp in front of the Portal framework. The Time Portal is a device, which creates a hole in the space and time continuum, forming a sort of tunnel, down which a person can travel. Once a person has gone down a Portal, the only way to get back, is to go through a similar Portal. Larna looked down at the lid of her Time History and Location Analyser, Thala for short. The Thala, which is attached to Larna’s left wrist, is used to access the information stored in Factual Historical Information Implants which have been surgically attached to the inside of Larna’s skull. The information is then communicated to Larna through telepathic signals sent out from one of the FHI Implants. The information stored in the Implants is any single piece of data from history, back to 1980, including personal files, event records, city maps and STC numbers. STC numbers are what allow a person to time travel. They are Space and Time Co-Ordinates, made up from the longitude and latitude of a certain location as well as the year, month, day, hour, minute and second that a person wishes to travel to. Every single possible combination of numbers is stored in Larna’s FHI Implants. The top of the Thala gave Larna the present STC number, an STC number that she wants to go to, the present time and date, as well as the present location. Larna sighed. The date was right. But, the place. The place seemed to be wrong. The location being brought up on the display was Brisbourney.
The planet earth, in 2500, is split up into four main areas. Each has its own name. After the nuclear explosion in the year 2000, the planet returned to an ice age. Cities were turned into ice tombs. Scientists created protection fields, under which they built new cities. Brisbourney was the main living quarters and business centre of TF Sector 4 – Oceanatica. Larna came from New Arizona, the similar centre in TF Sector 1. She had never been to Brisbourney before. In a way she was thankful that she had not, if this was the best apartment that they had in the city. Larna scanned the area, looking for any sign of life, or even a way out. A few moments later part of the wall lifted up. Slowly light appeared at the bottom, working its way up until there was a full rectangle of light. There was a shadow standing in the light. Larna could not see the features of the person. It could have been both a man, and a woman, Larna could not tell. She could tell when a gun was being pointed at her though. Larna lifted her arms up in the air. It turned out to be a female.
“How did you get in here?” she demanded.
Larna looked around quickly. There did not seem to be a transportation platform in this room. Transportation platforms are the means of transport in 2500. Cars, planes, trains, had all been destroyed. The genius scientists designed the Transportation platform. They broke a person’s body down into DNA signals, which were sent through light transmissions to another platform, where they were unscrambled and re-animated back into the person. Transportation was instantaneous. Larna continued to look around, trying to find some sort of explanation. The woman was getting a little frustrated.
“Do you want me to repeat the question?” she said sighing, “I don’t think I could have said it any clearer.”
Larna shook her head.
“That’s all right, I understood you the first time. I was just figuring out how to put it.”
“How to put what?” there was a short pause, “You’re going to tell me that you’re a spy. Save your breath. If Jackson wants the plans for the Portal, he can come for them himself. In the meantime, that framework belongs to me. Now turn your ass around. Put your hand behind your back, wrists crossed.”
Larna turned slowly, complying with the orders she had been given.
The woman looked at the wrist part of handcuffs already fastened to Larna’s right wrist and frowned. She shook her head, bringing herself out of the pause. In an instant Larna’s hands were handcuffed behind her back. This woman was either very scared, or very security conscious. Larna was turned around, then guided out of the room. As soon as they were clear of the doorway, the door automatically closed down behind them. This new room must have been the control centre for the Portal. There were a number of computer terminals, plus a review screen. Larna saw the data on the review screen and cringed. If that woman saw it, she would instantly know that Larna was a time traveller. The woman did not seem to pay attention to that screen, not yet however. She was more interested on the screen that she was working at. Larna instantly saw that she was trying to gain access to the history computer in the SAT Laboratory of TF Sector 1. Larna tried to get a longer look. The woman pushed Larna away from the screen.
“That’s something personal I’m working on. Now, sit down over there by the wall.”
Larna walked to the wall. She turned right around, before sitting down, legs crossed, against the wall. She could now see this woman clearly. She was a tall woman, around six-foot. She was nineteen Erayears old, meaning she was one hundred and thirty five years old in our years. The nuclear explosion slowed ageing down, meaning people aged one year, every eighty-four orbital months. At nine and a half stone she was slightly heavier than Larna. Her build was less developed than Larna’s, due to her early age. But with statistics of 34C-20-33 she was still a fine looking woman. Her eyes were a deep green colour, a colour that Larna had never seen before. Her hair was a burning red colour, and it hung down around her shoulders loosely. This burning red hair was set against pale skin. She had the look of a young Nicole Kidman. When she turned to return to her computer, her doctor’s coat twirled around after her. Although she was wearing a white lab coat, everything else she was wearing was casual. White jeans, white cowboy boots, with two white tassels at the back of each, and white sweatshirt gave her a pure, innocent look. Hanging on the back of her chair was a white leather jacket, with frills on the tops of the arms, and pockets. It looked like a cowboy jacket, and matched the boots well.
Larna had a completely different appearance. She stood at 5’11 and weighed nine stone. She had blues eyes, the same colour as a clear summer sky, and long to medium length auburn coloured hair with a white streak running down the centre. Her model’s statistics of 36B-24-35 gave her a very sexy look. Her figure was added to by the looks of Hudson Leick, making her one of the most stunning women on the planet. On the right side of her neck, a tattoo of the Chinese for Eternal Devotion, in honour of her dead husband, cast a strange mysterious spell about her. Her clothes showed a different character totally to the pure and innocent look of her captor. Larna wore a pair of black fishnet stockings, with a very close tight pattern, making her legs look even sexier than they were without them. On top of them going around her waist was a small, tight, figure hugging black leather skirt, zipped up her right side. At about nine inches in length it was just enough to cover her buttocks. On the top she wore a black leather shirt, which was tucked into the skirt, over the top of a black lace bra. Her jacket was a black leather motorbike jacket with matching black leather motorbike boots on her feet. The boots had got a number of buckles on the side and came right up to about half way up her shinbone. Around her neck she had a gold chain with a cross on the end. The cross hangs down to lie just in-between her breasts. It was her mother’s necklace, and Larna tries to never go anywhere without it. On her right wrist she had the wrist part of a pair of handcuffs that they use in present times. Her father gave it to her when she was young. She used to keep it in a box until she killed her foster father. Now she wore it constantly to keep reminding herself that the police want her. Both women had a strong red lipstick on their lips. Larna’s eyes were surrounded by a dark shade of blue, whereas a light green surrounded the other woman’s eyes, bringing out the deep green of her eyes.
Larna watched the woman relaxing in the chair. She was showing signs of impatience with the computer. Larna’s arms were starting to hurt. She moved, trying to get more comfortable. Immediately the flame haired woman pointed the gun at Larna.
“Don’t make any kind of sudden moves. I WILL fire.”
“I don’t doubt that for a moment.” Larna said staring at the gun. “What are you waiting for? Something important.”
“That’s none of your concern.” was the snapped reply Larna received.
The gun was turned away as the woman went back to looking at the screen. Larna frowned, this was a great conversation they were having.
“Listen, could you at least tell me who you think I am?” Larna ventured.
“I never thought that Jackson would send a woman to steal the plans.”
“Who’s Jackson?”
“That’s good.” the woman said, continuing to stare at the screen, “Name, rank and serial number.” she finished.
“Come on, I don’t give a damn about the Time Portal.”
“Right, then why would you be inside that room.” the woman said turning to face Larna.
Larna was trying to think of an answer when she saw the wrist part of a pair of handcuffs fastened around this woman’s right wrist. It looked exactly the same as hers. Larna turned her eyes away.
“What’s your name?”
“Jackson never told you who you were supposed to be stealing from.” the woman laughed.
Larna shook her head. The woman glanced at the screen. When she saw that it still did not have the information that she wanted, she turned back to Larna.
“I’ll give you my whole life story if you want.” she paused. “My names Lauren Delaney. I was born on November 28, 2365. I qualified from school with a grade 1A GEC. I’ve been trained in most elements of science, especially time mechanics. I’m single. My mother killed herself when my father left her for some woman in New Arizona. I was two Erayears old when it happened. I’ve never forgiven the bastard for it. That was until I discovered that he had been married, and he’d returned to his family. I hear he died. In a transportation accident.”
Larna felt a jolt of familiarity with that last statement. Could what she was thinking be true?
The screen bleeped. Lauren turned to the computer. A smile came on her face. She moved to the keyboard. Her fingers moved like lightning over the keys. Larna saw the control screen of the Portal change. A list of dates, and people, came up on to the screen. Lauren turned back to Larna when she had finished. Before she could speak, Larna asked her a question.
“Get what you were looking for?”
Lauren smiled.
“It has taken a while, but I’ve got everything I need to make sure that my plan works.”
“And what’s your plan?” Larna asked hopefully.
“I’m going to see that my father never even meets that other woman. He won’t be able to leave me then.”
“And how are you going to do that?” Larna asked, knowing full well what Lauren was planning.
“The Time Portal has been designed so that a person can travel back in time. The traveller takes control of a person’s body in history, giving them the perfect cover to look around the time they’ve arrived in.”
“That’s handy I suppose.” Larna said.
“The bitch won’t even know that I’m there.” Lauren fumed as she got to her feet.
Larna had a terrible gut feeling.
“What bitch are you talking about exactly?”
“The grandmother of my fathers wife. With her dead in the past, his wife cannot be born. Therefore he never meets her, and stays with me.”
Larna had to know one more thing.
“What was your father’s name?”
“Peter Fox.” Lauren stated as if it were nothing.
Larna lowered her head. Lauren moved to the control screen now.
She had been there a few seconds when she saw the read out on the bottom. It stated the last activity of the Time Portal. It should have been that she sent something one hour into the future, to check on how it worked. But now, now it stated that an arrival had come through. An arrival from the year 10,074. Lauren turned her head in amazement. Larna got up into a standing position. She showed a blank expression as she started to speak.
“I think that it’s only fair that you now hear my life story, seen as you told me yours. My names Larna Fox. I was born September 29, 2352. I’ve got no qualifications. I’m master of six martial arts, and have knowledge and training in a number of weaponry. My mother and father were killed in a Transportation accident when I was ten Erayears old. Other than that I have only one living relative. I think you know her.”
Lauren looked stunned. Larna smiled.
“That’s right sis, my father was also Peter Fox. And, if you go back through that Portal it means that you’d also be killing me. Therefore I’ve got no choice, but to stop you.”
“Try and stop me you mean.” Lauren snapped.
She darted across the room. She picked the gun up from beside the computer.
“I happen to have the upper hand at the moment, SIS.”
Larna shrugged her shoulders.
“It would appear that way, but I’ve learnt that you can never trust appearances.”
Larna kicked her right leg out, knocking the gun from Lauren’s grasp. Now came the real surprise. Larna pulled her arms around to the front of her. The handcuffs dangling from one wrist. Lauren looked amazed. Larna lifted her eyebrows.
“Old trick my dead husband taught me.”
Lauren backed away. Larna stepped forward.
“I don’t want to have to hurt you. I’ve only just found out that you exist, why would I want to kill my sister?”
“You’ll have no choice if you want to stop me. I’m going through that Portal. You and your mother killed my mother. You took my father away from me. He didn’t want anything to do with either my mother or me. We were treated like dirt by him, just because of you and your mother. If you’re not around, then he can never leave me.”
Lauren grabbed a device from the desk. She ran, leapt over the computer control desk, going towards the door to the Portal. Larna moved around the side of the computer desk. Lauren darted through the opening doorway, and once inside, smashed the door control box. Larna was locked outside. Lauren fastened the device around her right wrist. The device gave a duel read out. Current location in time as well as a STC read out. At the side there was one button. Lauren pushed the button now. The Time Portal sparked into life. Inside the metal supports a bright light started to appear. The light appeared to contain all the colours of the rainbow. Lauren, ignoring Larna’s banging on the door, ran up the ramp. As soon as she touched the multicoloured light inside the metal work she disappeared through time.
Larna stopped banging on the door, she knew that she had to find some other way to stop Lauren. The way that came to mind first was to stop the Portal from activating. She ran back around the control panel. On the control screen she saw that the Portal had already been activated. A moment later the message ‘Traveller through’ appeared. Larna moved to the keyboard. She had to re-programme the Portal so that, when she went through, she would be able to see Lauren, instead of the person she had transported into. Larna switched the Thala on, asking it for guidelines on how to make that possible. The Thala talked her through it stage by stage. Larna re- programmed the Portal so that two things were possible. One, she would be able to see Lauren, not the person she had transported into, which was the most important one. And two, that she could transport as herself. She also set the Portal to make the Portal door appear a moment after Lauren had transported, taking her to the exact same moment in time as her sister. Everything was ready. Larna moved around the control panel. There was now only one more problem. The door. Larna looked around for something to use. She saw the gun. Larna ran across to it. One short blast took care of the door. Larna jumped through the hole in the plastic structure to come face to face with the activated Portal. As she watched the colour of the light in the Portal changed colour. The Thala had told Larna that would be how she would recognise her own Portal. The light in the rectangle was now blue and white, not multicoloured. These colours were all too familiar with Larna by now. Larna ran up the ramp, disappearing through time the moment she touched the light. A second later the light in the Portal vanished, and the room fell quiet. It now appeared that no one had ever been there in the first place.
Lauren Delaney is Larna’s half sister. They have the same father. Lauren cannot stand Larna, because their father loved her more. So, after stealing a time travelling device, Lauren disappears through time intent on killing Larna’s relatives on her mother’s side.