Brisbourney, TF Sector 4 – September 10, 2380
Larna knew that it was not over. The moment she stepped out of the blue and white light of the Time Portal door to find herself standing in an unfamiliar surrounding, Larna was positive that Lauren was not finished yet. The question now was, where was she – and why was she here. The top of the Thala would give her both answers. The Thala, or Time, History And Location Analyser, was Larna’s main aid in her time travelling adventures. It was the only way that information stored in the FHI (Factual Historical Information) Implants, surgically attached to the inside of her skull, could be accessed. The FHI Implants contained all information of any place, event, time or person and this information was then communicated to Larna via telepathic communications, from one of the FHI Implants, for Larna to digest. The top of the Thala served as a watch and a location analyser. The whole machine was protected by a protection field, which covered the machine from general eye view. Only when the operations function was activated, would the Thala become visible. When Larna saw that she was in Brisbourney, the Living Quarters part of TF Sector 4 in the post nuclear explosion planet, she knew that Lauren must have come here for some reason. The reason was, to stop Larna’s father from returning to New Arizona, and force him to stay with her own mother here in Brisbourney. What Larna figured was the best plan of action was – not to find Lauren, because that would be impossible to do – A, because she could be in the body of anyone in Brisbourney and – B, the large electricity surge required to keep her invisible to everyone else made it impossible for the Thala’s LSR location facility useless – but to try and located her father. Now, she could go about this in two ways. One, she could try the LSR locating facility, or she could use the history of the era and find him that way. The first option was easier, so that was what she would try first. She switched the Thala on with a quick thought, and using her thoughts, asked it to locate her father. The Thala flashed a searching message a couple of times, before giving a ‘Failure to Locate’ message through Larna’s subconscious. Larna hoped that did not mean he was dead. She knew deep down, that Lauren would not kill him. She wanted him to stay, not to die. Larna went to the second option.
‘Could you give me the history of Peter Fox in Brisbourney at this moment in history?’
After a couple of ‘Searching’ messages flashed through her mind, the Thala had found the relevant information in the FHI Implants.
*** Peter Fox visited a hospital sometime in the afternoon of September 10, 2380. A friend of his had been involved in some kind of accident, and he was saying goodbye to him before leaving for New Arizona this evening. On his way from the hospital Lauren kidnaped him at some stage. He did not reach the transcontinental transportation platform. He was never seen in Brisbourney or New Arizona again. ***
‘What would happen if I went to the hospital?’
*** You are arrested and sent to Bostary. Peter gets away. No details on Lauren. *** The Thala gave in response to Larna’s scenario input.
Larna switched the machine off, not wanting to ask any further questions. She had got the answers that she had wanted. If the only way to save her father was to get arrested, then that is what she would have to do.
Lauren Delaney was born in Brisbourney. Fifteen Chronoyears ago. She was two Erayears old in 2380. Erayears are the equivalent to seven present years due to the nuclear explosion slowing down the ageing process. The elder Lauren Delaney, the flame haired, six foot, nineteen Erayear old was standing looking into a mirror that was reflecting a completely different appearance to the one she recognised as her own. Her own appearance was of fair skin with the looks of Nicole Kidman, the actress. Green eyes should have been staring back at her, but now they were blue. Lauren was now used to looking at the wrong mirror image. She had specifically designed her Time Portal so that it transported her into someone existing in the past, to save on any identity dramas. This way, she would be able to pass herself off as this other person, without having to come up with any kind of elaborate story. She had transported herself into a nurse now, mainly because she knew that her target was going to be in this hospital sometime in this date. Lauren adjusted the paper hat of the nurse’s uniform. It was a plain, white uniform. Nothing special. A bit like the woman she had taken control of. Her figure, not as impressive as her own 34C-20-33, was still quite negotiable. Perhaps nurses were not supposed to have big breasts, or fantastic figures. They might give patients a heart attack or something. Lauren fiddled with the dress, moving the belt around her waist slightly, to get it into a better position. At last she figured that she was ready – ready to face whatever was going to be thrown at her outside the door of this changing room. After a deep breath she left the room.
Larna walked through the streets. She, unlike Lauren, was in her usual appearance. A twenty-one Erayear old, five foot eleven in height, nine stone in weight, woman. Medium to long auburn hair with a white streak running right down the centre – the white streak being a side effect of the FHI Implants operation. Hazel eyes. A figure of 36B-24-35 matched by looks closely resembling the actress Hudson Leick. She is extremely attractive. The tattoo of the Chinese for Eternal Devotion on the right side of her neck adds that touch more mystery to her personality. Her clothes are a significant display of her rebellious nature. A pair of black fishnet stockings, with a very close tight pattern, made 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 mini-skirt which, at about nine inches long, just covers her buttocks. On the top she wore a black leather shirt over a black lace bra. The shirt was tucked into the skirt. Her jacket was a black leather motorbike jacket and she had 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 was never without it. Her face had just the right amount of make-up. Her eyes were surrounded by a dark eyeshade and her lips were a bright red with a black surround. She strode along the sidewalk confidently and being sure of herself. She felt fantastic and was ready to face anything. She stepped through the double glass doors, which opened automatically in front of her the moment she had got close to them. Hospitals were now only used by patients who were waiting for the injection of first aid medicine – the new type of medicine, which could make anyone one hundred per cent healthy. Larna knew that her father was around this place somewhere, but his exact location was being hidden by Lauren’s presence in the same building.
Lauren knew exactly where Peter Fox would be. She walked into the waiting room. A man smiled at her instantly. He turned to his friend sitting next to him.
“What did I tell you Pete? She’s really something don’t you think.”
Peter looked at the nurse, who did not seem to be as gorgeous, or stunning, as he had expected when his friend had described her. From his over- exaggerated details of her looks, Peter could tell that there was love in the air. Peter shrugged his shoulders in response.
“I suppose it depends on your tastes I guess.”
Lauren came to stand in front of them.
“Mr James, the doctor will be seeing you in a few moments.” she said, her gaze diverting from Mr James to Peter in mid-sentence.
James saw her staring at Peter. Peter always was the one, who could attract the women.
“I’m sorry, I’m being rude. Nurse Nancy Streete, let me introduce you to Peter Fox – an old friend of mine.”
“It’s very nice to meet you Mr Fox. Now, if you’ll excuse me – I’ve got other patients to see.”
Peter got to his feet. Lauren paused at the door of the waiting room, wanting to hear what he was going to say. James looked up at Peter’s solemn expression.
“What’s the matter with you? I’m the one in hospital.”
“I’ve got to go. I’ve got a transcontinental transportation booking at six.”
“You’re going home?” James asked.
Peter nodded his head in reply. James also nodded his head.
“It’s about time you came to your senses and returned to that lovely wife and child of yours.”
Peter nodded his head again. Outside Lauren was fuming.
‘What about his child in Brisbourney?’ she thought jealously.
Peter said his goodbyes and came to the door of the waiting room. He jumped in surprise when he found Lauren standing right outside the door. Lauren smiled, acting embarrassed by their near clash. She put her eyes down to the floor, not wanting to look at her father’s eyes, lest she gave something away in her stares.
“Are you leaving?” she asked, well aware of the answer all ready.
“I’m afraid I have to. My family are waiting for me in New Arizona.”
“What about your child here in Brisbourney?” Lauren asked, her eyes still down to the floor.
Peter’s expression was of complete surprise, shell-shocked unawareness.
“How do you know about that?”
“I recognised your name on a birth certificate that I had completed.” Lauren said, trying desperately to cover up the mess that she was making of this.
This was the first time that she had seen her father for real. She had never known him, yet here he was standing right in front of her.
“Don’t you think you should consider her. I mean, she’s only two Erayears old.”
Peter shook his head. He could not believe where this nurse was coming from. It was none of her business. Not saying another word, he walked off up the corridor. Lauren ran after him.
“Where are you going?” she screamed out.
Peter turned.
“Who do you think you are?” he snapped viciously, “My life is no concern of some jumped up little nurse with a Saint complex.”
“I’m no Saint.” Lauren bit back in response.
She pulled out a knife from behind her. It was an old surgical knife that used to be used to cut people open. She held it next to Peter’s throat.
“You’re coming with me, whether you like it or not.”
Peter froze. Lauren froze. Everything seemed to have frozen. Even time itself. It was like a slow motion movie picture.
Larna turned the corner into the same corridor. Lauren pushed the blade of the knife more into Peter’s throat as soon as she saw her half sister at the end of the corridor. Larna was stunned into motionless. She had never really seen her father when he was younger. Now, here she was, standing looking at him with a knife at his throat. That was the last thing she had expected from Lauren, but now she would have to react to it. It was Lauren however that broke the ice.
“Don’t move, or I swear on my mothers grave I’ll slit his throat.”
Larna, who could see Lauren for who she really was, the only person who did not see the nurse, could not believe that her half sister was planning to do this.
“I thought that you wanted him to stay with you, not for him to be dead.”
Peter stared between the pair of them, wondering what the pair of them was talking about. Lauren did not move the knife one-inch.
“If he is not going to stay with me, then you sure aren’t going to get him staying with you.”
“He doesn’t stay with me for long, remember. It’s hard for me to ever forget that.”
“Perhaps if he stays in Brisbourney with my mother and me he will not be killed.”
“Does he want to stay with you?” Larna asked both of them more than just Lauren.
Peter shook his head. At the same time, Lauren nodded hers. Larna had to smile at the obvious disagreement between what each of them wanted to happen. Lauren walked Peter down the corridor towards Larna.
“Stay out of my way, you don’t want anything to happen to him do you?”
Larna shrugged her shoulders. Peter was going to die anyway. She was sure that he was not going to stay here with Lauren, so Larna could not see Lauren’s argument for not trying anything.
“Listen, if he dies anyway, then he might as well die here before either one of us gets the opportunity to be with him.” Larna said making her way down the corridor.
The pair got closer and closer, before finally coming together about half way down it. Lauren pushed Peter away from her, right into Larna. Larna swung him around, getting Peter away from the swinging knife. Larna grabbed Lauren’s wrist, twisting her arm up and around behind Lauren’s back. Lauren screamed out in pain, dropping the knife on to the floor because she could not hold on to it under this much pain. Larna looked for Peter. He had run off as soon as he had got the chance, leaving Larna to tackle Lauren on her own. Larna did not mind about that, at least he was safe. But it was pretty obvious that she did not get her killer instincts from that side of the family. Lauren tried to pull her arm free, but Larna had too strong a grip. Larna placed her arm around Lauren’s throat.
“You’re not going to get away from me as easily this time like you have before.”
“Hold it!” two male voices screamed from the far end of the corridor.
Larna and Lauren both turned to look down the corridor, both taken quite by surprise.
The two police officers, wearing standard uniforms of the Brisbourney Police Force, pale blue shirts with darker blue trousers, were both pointing their laser guns at the pair of them. Lauren was sure that they were after Larna, not her. The officers gave another warning, both speaking at the same time.
“Let the nurse go lady. You’re under arrest.”
Larna slowly let Lauren go. Lauren ran away a couple of steps, before turning to stare at Larna. Larna stood quite still where she was. One officer covered the other as he came down the corridor towards Larna. He grabbed Larna’s shoulder, slamming her into the wall of the corridor with a vicious push.
“You’re making a mistake. I’m not the one you should be arresting.” Larna tried to explain.
The officer slammed Larna against the wall a couple more times, knocking the wind out of her lungs. She stopped struggling. The officer grabbed her arms, pinned them behind her back before snapping electronic handcuffs around her wrists. Her arms were kept pinned behind her back by them. The officer hooked his arm through Larna’s and dragged her down the corridor. Lauren could not help but smile.
“Maybe I’ll see you around sometime Larna.”
Larna glared over her shoulder, before being dragged down towards the transportation platform of the hospital.
The officers stepped on to the platform, dragging Larna on with them. A few seconds later, after the SC number had been entered, all three were transported to the holding cells. Post-nuclear Earth had just the one prison complex for the whole of the planet. Bostary in TF Sector 1. Each sector did have a holding area, which was a complex of prison cells with invisible forcefields blocking the doors. Larna was frog marched from the platform across to one of the cells. She was pushed inside, without even the handcuffs being taken off her wrists. She turned in the middle of the cell. The forcefield came down with a buzzing sound. Larna tried her arms.
“Aren’t you forgetting something?” she cried to the officers.
They both shook their heads as one answered.
“They stay on until the commissioner has come to pay you a visit. I believe the next transportation to Bostary is in six hours time. He’s sure to be along shortly. In the meantime, make yourself at home.”
They both turned, laughing heartily as they returned to the platform. Larna watched them both disappear in the blink of an eye. She was now alone in this building. Alone to try and come up with some sort of escape plan.
Lauren dashed out the front doors of the hospital. Peter was no where to be seen. She looked in every direction. The street appeared to be empty. Lauren chose a direction and ran off down that way, wanting to catch Peter up before he went home.
In a conference hall, a few blocks away from the hospital building, a group of four people, two males, two females, were sitting behind a table. One man was standing at the side of the table. Another was sitting front of the desk, looking up and down the row of people sitting behind it. One of the men in the middle turned to the man standing at the end of the desk.
“You can start whenever you like Mr Maxwell.”
The man at the end of the table, a tall, thin man with medium brown hair, turned to the desk.
“Thank you Mr Chairperson.” he paused to turn to the man sitting in front of the table, “We are here today, in this tribunal, to hear the testimony given by a Miss Patricia Foster, in affect accusing Mr J B Stiles, her History Teacher at the Brisbourney Education Institute, of assaulting her on May 31, 2380.”
“It’s a lie. I tell you, she’s making the whole thing up.” Stiles screamed out in defence.
“Please Mr Stiles, you will get your chance to speak later. Carry on Mr Maxwell.”
“Thank you Mr Chairperson. Patricia’s testimony will be given in the form of a video statement as well as her statement from the police computer. There is also a hologramafic reconstruction.”
Maxwell turned to face the large screen on the wall at the side of the table. The people behind the table turned their chair’s ninety degrees to the left. The lights in the hall went down. The video screen came on. Patricia was sitting down on a chair. She was a very attractive looking girl. Long, blonde, flowing hair went down to her shoulders. She was wearing a plain white dress, that covered most of her fine young figure.
“My names Patricia Foster. I’m sixteen Erayears old. I’m a Grade One C student at the Brisbourney Education Institute. I have to report a very serious incident involving Mr Stiles and myself on May 31, 2380. I had Maths, English, Computer Development, History and finally First Aid. The day had been going fine until History.”
The video screen paused. In front of the screen a hologramafic sequence started playing.
“Miss Foster. Stand up!” Stiles boomed.
Patricia stood up. She was wearing the uniform for the Institute. It was a yellow uniform. Very short in length. Very tight. It exaggerated the curves of her young teenage body.
“This is the worst piece of work I have ever seen from you.” Stiles said, slapping a small hand held computer down on the desk.
Patricia looked down at the screen. It was marked with a large ‘F’. She could not believe it. She had never been given a mark like that before. She sat back down, stunned by this mark. Stiles walked back to the front of the room.
“I think you and I should discuss you attitude. It is obvious to me that your last teacher let you get away with submitting this kind of rubbish. But I won’t. Come back at the end of the day please.”
The hologramafic image disappeared.
Patricia’s image returned to the video screen.
“I returned at the end of the day, wanting to get this sorted out as quickly as possible. The whole school was empty by now. Stiles was alone in his room. I went in and closed the door behind me. Stiles told me to go to my seat. I did. Stiles was sitting at his desk at the front of the room, working on marking assignments. I sat there, quite uncomfortable to be alone. I did not fear Mr Stiles at this time; it was just that to be alone in the whole school was something I had never had to do before. Stiles finished what he was doing and came down the room. He stood in front of me. Hands on his hips. At first I didn’t catch what he said. He repeated it.”
The video screen changed image to display a filmed reconstruction.
Stiles was standing in front of Patricia, leaning back against the desk in front of her.
“You want to improve your mark?” Stiles asked.
Patricia nodded her head. Stiles smiled, knowing that he had her under his control.
“Then you’ve got to let me get inside your knickers.”
Patricia looked shocked.
“What?” she exclaimed, unsure about what she had heard.
“You heard me bitch. I want to fuck you.” Stiles said, stroking his hand across Patricia’s face.
The video screen switched off, bringing the main lights up at the same time.
Maxwell moved to his desk. He lifted a computer note pad.
“I’d now like to read to you the police statement that Patricia made when she reported the incident.”
“Go ahead Mr Maxwell.” the Chairperson, said.
“I went to run away. To get out of the room. To get away from this pervert. He locked the door before I got to it. The blinds went down over the windows. I was grabbed and slapped across the face. I started to fade in and out of consciousness during the first attacks. I felt my underwear being pulled down my legs. He raped me after sodemising me first.” Maxwell paused, so that he could put the computer note pad down on to his desk, “Mr Chairperson,” he continued, “Stiles took Patricia back to his apartment. Keeping her there all night. Abusing her for most of the night after piling her full of sexual stimulating drugs. She said that her body was like a very sensitive sex sensor. A phone call to her parents, covered his actions for the night.”
“The girl is insane. I never even touched her. True I gave her a bad mark in History, but this other stuff about taking her home is bullshit.”
“Mr Stiles, I will not tell you again. Would you please remain quiet until it is your turn to speak.”
“NO!” Stiles shouted, jumping to his feet, “I’m not staying to hear this crap.”
Stiles stormed away, pacing down the conference hall to the door. The tribunal was stunned by this outburst. Stiles crashed through the exit, walked out into the daylight and smacked right into Lauren.
They both crashed to the ground. Lauren looked at Stiles, glaring a fierce look at him.
“What’s the hurry?” she asked, picking herself up slowly.
“I’ve got to go and silence that bitch, before she goes to the cops.” Stiles barked back as he looked into the conference hall.
“Excuse me?” Lauren asked, looking into the hall.
“I’ve got to stop her.” Stiles rambled on.
“Stop who?” Lauren asked, still unsure as to what this guy was talking about.
“I’ve been accused of rape. If she goes to the cops, they’ll find out about the other attacks that I’ve done, and I’ll end up in Bostary, branded a sex offender. Do you know what they do to sex offenders in there?” Stiles finished, turning to stare down at Lauren. “Please, let me passed.”
“Hold on a moment.” Lauren said, seeing the determination burning behind this mans eyes.
She had seen that sort of determination behind her own stare sometimes. She reached behind her, into the back of her belt. Before Stiles could stop her, she had slapped a wristband on his wrist. Lauren pushed him through the rainbow coloured Portal Door that had appeared in front of them, not giving him a chance to argue. Stiles disappeared, a split second before Lauren.
Larna got to her feet, getting up from the plastic bench in the holding cell. She had been left all alone for sometime. Now, a man was walking inside the cell. His hands were fiddling with his belt.
“When I was told you were gorgeous, I was not expecting this.”
Larna backed away. She watched as the guard started to undo his shirt. Larna pulled at the handcuffs, knowing exactly what was coming next. What she did not expect was the Time Portal door to appear in front of her. To the man it was invisible. He just saw Larna. Without waiting for a second invitation, she jumped into the blue and white light rectangle, leaving the man to look around the cell in a bemused expression.
Lauren Delaney is back, and after tricking a teacher being accused of rape, has another fight with her sister through time.