New Arizona – January 15, 2501
“Stay out of my way Ren!” Commander Tom Aspel yelled as he came sprinting through the light door of the Time Portal.
Tom was an elderly man, in his late forties, but he was still fit enough to run while carrying a woman in his arms. The strength in his arms, not obvious from his slim build. The blue and white light in the grey metalwork frame of the Time Portal, sparked a couple of times, before disappearing in a flash of white light. He had arrived back in the SAT (Space and Time) Laboratory, the main science and research laboratory in the future. Time travel was possible from this room, thanks to the Time Portal—which punched a hole in the fabric of time with a faster than light beam. Just in front of the framework was a ramp. At the foot of the ramp stood the woman that Tom had shouted at. Lauren Delaney, a tall, slim, flared haired beauty, dressed in a white dress and white laboratory coat, stepped aside immediately. She was deeply concerned about the woman that Tom had in his arms. She was not moving at all. Tom went down the ramp, then ran to the door straight away. Lauren ran after him quickly.
“Is she okay?” she was crying as they sprinted down the corridor towards the transportation platform.
Tom did not reply. He was too busy concentrating on running to the platform. He leapt on to it quickly.
“Freedom Space Station. Transport.” Tom shouted urgently, wanting to get to the hospital, orbiting the planet high above them.
Before Lauren could get on to the platform, Tom disappeared in a burst of light. When the light had died down, signalling that the transportation platform—the only mode of transport available in the future—Lauren jumped on to the same pad that Tom had been on.
“Same destination. Transport.” Lauren stated firmly, then disappeared in the same white light as Tom had.
Tom ran down the corridor from the platform in the space station. Freedom had been launched so that any injured people could be sent up to this place, where they could be treated, as well as put on a fitness programme to return their health to one hundred percent. Medical equipment in the future attacked the disease at the DNA level, returning the patients DNA patterns to perfection, so that their health was also returned to perfection. The corridor was plain white, much like the rest of the station. Tom urgently called for the doctor’s when he arrived at the reception desk. Several men came out of the main hospital room. When they saw the unconscious, motionless woman in Tom’s arms, they hurried across, took her from Tom, then disappeared into the main hospital treatment room, without even asking him any questions as to what the problem was with her. Lauren came running up behind Tom a few seconds later. She went to follow after the doctors into the treatment room. Tom grabbed her arm, pulling her to a stop in mid flight.
“Let them do what they’re good at Ren.”
“But I’ve got to see her.” Lauren said, struggling against the hold that Tom had on her.
“You’ll see her when the doctor’s have helped her.”
“But what if she doesn’t recover Tom.” Lauren said, bursting into tears now. She sank her head into Tom’s chest, “I don’t think I could stand losing her, just after we’ve found one another.”
“The doctor’s are the best. They’ve got all the technology here to help her out. You’ll see her again.” Tom said, hugging Lauren closely to him, comforting her as much as she could.
Lauren could not stop the tears from streaming down her face. The pair of them stood right in the middle of the corridor, comforting each other. The whole of the corridor was empty, except for them.
Twelve hours later.
Lauren sat nervously in the chair of the waiting room. She could not stand this waiting around. It had been such a long time since her sister had been taken in to that treatment room. What could the matter be?..Lauren thought time after time in her mind. It should not have taken this long to treat her. Tom was standing at the window, peacefully watching the Earth go passed below them. Lauren could not believe how calm he was. She jumped to her feet.
“I cannot stand this.” she stated, then started pacing around the room. “What is taking them so long, they should have finished within an hour?”
Tom did not flinch from his position at the window. Lauren moved across to him angrily.
“She’s my sister god damn it, I would’ve thought you would’ve shown a little bit of concern for her.”
Tom turned to look down at Lauren. He could see the concern in her expression.
“I know that Larna is your sister, there is no need to remind me of that fact. I do feel something for her, but I feel more for you. You’re going to be my wife within a few days.”
“Tom, I don’t want to have to go to a funeral before my wedding.” Lauren said, cracking up into tears again.
Tom placed his arms around his fiancé again, trying to comfort her as best as he could. Lauren could not stop the tears from flowing again. It had taken her almost an hour to stop the flow last time, but now that she figured the worst outcome to this situation, she could not help herself.
One of the doctors that had Larna off Tom came out of the treatment room, moping his forehead with the sleeve of his coat. He was sweating buckets. Lauren saw him, even before he had got two feet from the treatment room. She sprinted to the door, then darted out as the automatic door ‘whooshed’ open. Lauren stopped dead in her tracks when she saw the look on the man’s face. Tom came to stand right behind her, then placed his hands on her shoulders to comfort her. The doctor sighed, then started to speak.
“I don’t know what has happened to that lady, but we’ve tried everything that we can think of to get that poison from out of her system. Nothing works.” the doctor stated, the frustration coming out in his tone, “The poison seems to have the capacity to adapt itself to any treatment that we can come up with. We’ve run out of options I’m afraid.” he finished.
“You’ve got to try something else.” Lauren screamed hysterically after she had slipped out from Tom’s grip.
“I’m really sorry, but there isn’t anything left to try. She’s just going to have to fight against this on her own.” the doctor replied, even more frustrated than before—he hated to see his patients friends suffering because he could not do anything.
Lauren spun around, right into Tom’s arms. The doctor did not know where to put himself, as Lauren cried bitterly into Tom’s chest. The doors to the treatment room slammed back, nearly off their hinges. The other doctor poked his head out into the corridor.
“Doctor, you’ve got to come and see this.” he yelled, the surprise in his tone quite obvious.
The man in front of Lauren and Tom span around, then ran back to the treatment room. Lauren peered up at Tom with a questioning glance. Tom simply had a smile on his face.
“I knew that nothing would beat Larna Fox.”
The doctor stood at the foot of the plain white bed right in the centre of the plain white room. Larna was lying in the bed, her arms by her sides, out on top of the covers. The cover went right up under her chin. Her legs were together, her body silhouetted under the white sheets. Larna was twenty-one Erayears old. In post-nuclear holocaust Earth, the ageing process has been slowed down, so that human’s now only age one year every eighty-four orbital months, instead of the twelve it is at present. Ages are given in two forms. Erayears was the actual age, where as Chronoyears is the total amount of years that a person had been alive. In Larna’s case this would be one hundred and forty nine Chronoyears old. She stands five feet eleven inches tall, weighs nine stone, had hazel eyes and auburn coloured hair, which had a white streak running down the middle. With measurements of 36B-24-35 she had the body of a top model of the nineteen- nineties. She also had the looks, ones closely resembling the actress Hudson Leick, to match her body. On her right side of her neck she had a tattoo of the Chinese for Eternal Devotion, in memory and honour of her late husband. On her right bicep she had got a tattoo of a Fox. On her left buttock was a tattoo of a black rose wrapped around a dagger, signifying her assassin background. Larna was the master of six Martial Arts. Savate was an old French form of martial arts. It was based on hand and foot fighting and was recognised by its flamboyant kicking techniques. Pencak Silat was the National fighting art of the old Indonesia. Moves were based on the evasion and warding off of attacks. The offensive moves were all geared to getting the opponent off balance. Taijutsu was an unarmed form of combat, the forerunner to the old Judo technique. Ninjitsu, the art of invisibility, was the techniques of the ninja. They involve the use of dirks, darts, daggers, throwing stars, smoke bombs and various poisons. Capoeria was an old Brazilian form of combat in which the foot was considered the strongest weapon and the head the weakest point. This art aims to bring these two into contact by using various kicks, somersaults and handsprings. Her gymnastic training as a younger woman had been moulded into a tool to help with this art. Kenpo, also known as Fist used Linear and circular movements combined into major and minor moves that flow constantly. This was a very flexible form of martial arts. At the moment she was dressed in a white hospital gown. Lauren stood next to the tall doctor. The pair of them stared down at Larna’s motionless body in the bed,
“It was amazing the way that the poison suddenly stopped working. It’s affects reversed dramatically. It was like all the efforts we tried to remove it had worn in out.” the doctor said with a smile on his face, before his expression turned more serious, “The problem is, the poison is still in her system. It may become hostile again at anytime. Within an hour, a year, or even a decade. There is no way to remove it, just as there is no way to predict when it will become hostile again.”
Lauren looked up at the doctor with a look of gratitude on her face—even with this bad news that he had given her, he had saved her sister’s life—she would never be able to repay him for that small mercy.
“I’m just thankful that you did as much as you could doctor. I may not have sounded like that it the corridor yesterday, but I mean what I say.”
“That’s what I’m here for.” the doctor said, before moving out of the room.
Lauren moved down the side of the bed as the automatic door of the room ‘whooshed’ shut. She slipped down on to the seat that had been placed at Larna’s bedside, then gently reached for Larna’s hand. Lauren carefully cupped her hands around Larna’s, before staring at Larna’s sweet and innocent looking face.
Larna woke up to find Lauren’s head slumped down on to the bed right beside her body. Larna looked around, very confused as to how she had come to get on to Freedom. When she moved her body, Lauren moved back in her chair, quite surprised by Larna’s sudden activity. Larna turned her head slowly, then smiled at Lauren, before trying to speak. Her voice came out as a dry croak. Lauren moved to the computer replication machine in the wall of the room. She asked for a cool glass of fresh water. When it had been replicated in the computer machine, Lauren turned back to face the bed. Larna was trying to get up out of the bed. Lauren shook her head.
“Please, stay in bed, you’ve not been well.”
“The day Larna Fox is forced to stay in bed, is the day that she dies.” Larna said in a dry tone of voice as she got to her feet.
Larna did not even manage to take two steps. She crashed down to the floor in a heap, her legs unable to hold her upright. Larna slammed her hand down on to the bed in frustration. Lauren dropped the glass down to the floor, shattering it into a thousand pieces on impact—she was too interested in caring for her sister. Lauren placed her arm around Larna’s waist, helping her back into the bed.
“Would you do what I tell you for a change?” Lauren growled in a fake hostile tone.
“Why are you here?” Larna bit back, glaring at Lauren.
“You’re my sister for heavens sake, where else would I be when you’re life has been in danger. Besides, Professor Steinbeck has told me to keep an eye on you—” Lauren paused to reach behind her back, “—see, I even have a note pad to record the details on.” she finished, waving the slim computer note pad in front of Larna.
Larna slowly, begrudgingly, slipped back under the covers, then sat upright in the bed. Lauren returned to the replication machine to get another glass of water.
Tom came strolling through the opening automatic door with an air of confidence. When he saw Larna sitting up in the bed, he was quite surprised.
“They hadn’t told me that you were awake.” Tom stammered.
“She’s only just come too.” Lauren said as she went back to the bed with the glass of water.
“How are you feeling?” Tom asked, as he moved to stand at the foot of the bed.
“I’ve been better. Is that all you’ve come for?” Larna replied.
“I’ve actually come to say hello to my fiancé. I hope that you’ve not been upsetting her, it’s not good for our daughter.” Tom said, moving to embrace and kiss Lauren passionately.
Larna raised her eyebrows in a—well that is a surprise—expression. Lauren turned to her sister. Tom and Lauren still clung to each other like glue, as if they were frightened to let go of each other in case either one suddenly vanished. Lauren smiled when she saw the look on Larna’s face.
“That’s right. I’m pregnant. Because of that, and because of the fact that we’re deeply in love with each other, we want to consummate our relationship. We’re getting married in five days.” Lauren stated, without being prompted, “If there was one thing that I wanted my future husband to do, it was to get my bridesmaid to the wedding on time.”
“I’m not one for a frilly frock.” Larna said with a smile.
“No one said that you had to be.” Lauren relied, returning the smile of her sister.
“I do have one small question.” Larna stated, “How did I get here? I mean, the last thing that I remember I was setting some explosives on the missile that Saffron Starr was going to launch.”
“I went back through the Portal. You had a fight with Saffron in a cabin, just a few yards away from the missile site. I managed to drag you back through the Portal before the whole place went up. You’re very lucky to have survived, that poison they injected you with was completely destroying your body—molecule by molecule.” Tom explained.
“I don’t understand how you managed to find me?” Larna stated, not even bothering to thank Tom for saving her life.
“The detective, Jack what’s-his-name, wrote a book on his adventures. He stated the ending that a young woman by the name of Larna Fox met. The rest was simple.” Lauren replied. “The main thing for you to do now is to get well. The doctor has arranged a special fitness training session that you can go through to build yourself back up to full strength.”
Larna crawled back into the bed after hours in the fitness room. The hospital gown had been replaced by an all in one white body suit, used for fitness training. It was designed to help the body breathe properly. The work out had tired her out completely, but she was getting the strength back gradually. It had been her third session in the fitness room—the first time she could hardly lift anything. But, this last time she was nearly up to her old standards, before the effects of the poison had ravaged her body. Lauren came into the room a few minutes after Larna had got into the bed.
“I just came to see how you were getting on.” she said, moving towards the bed.
“Great.” Larna said sarcastically—it was far from the truth, she could hardly move she was so tired.
Larna had just flopped down on to the bed on her stomach. Lauren smiled when she saw the state of Larna was in.
“You’ve just got to tell yourself that it will be worth it in the end.” she said as she took hold of the top of the nearest chair.
“If it doesn’t kill me first.” Larna replied, before rolling over on to her back.
The hospital room felt like it was starting to close it on her now. She had been in here for four days, without a break. The blank walls were all that was keeping her company. Lauren sat down in the seat, taking the weight off her feet.
“I’ve been ordered to take as much rest as possible by my doctor. He seemed to think that, because of what happened to you, any stress might cause problems.”
Larna glared at her sister angrily. Lauren could see the angry expression on her face.
“I didn’t mean to bring up bad memories, but I was just curious that’s all. What was the doctor talking about?”
“You’re going to be the first one, apart from the doctors to know about this. I was pregnant once. But, I lost the child.”
“What happened?” Lauren asked with sorrow in her tone.
“You know that I was married, well, it was my husbands boy. When the police came to tell me that my husband had been killed in an alleyway, I had a miscarriage. The doctor put it down to the stress, so you’d better take things easy.” Larna said with hardly any emotion.
“I would’ve thought that you would’ve welcomed me losing my child. Considering who she’s going to turn into.”
“Lauren, how could you think such a thing? Of course I wouldn’t want you to lose the baby. Christ, I know what it’s like. It’s not a very nice experience.” Larna said.
Lauren nodded her head with a sweet smile on her face. Larna was moving to give her a long hard hug, when a bright white light started coming from Lauren’s chest. The light spread out, then there was a sharp burst. Larna had to cover her eyes, the light was so bright. When she looked back towards Lauren, her sister had disappeared. Larna sprang to her feet—screaming out Lauren’s name time and time again. The doctor rushed into the room, thinking that something was wrong with Lauren. He was just about to ask what was going on, when the same light appeared from his chest. Larna jumped over the end of the bed, then ran towards the doctor, trying to stop the light. The burst of light blinded her again. Larna slid to a halt as she covered her eyes. Again when she looked back towards the doctor, he had disappeared.
The Thala then started beeping like crazy in her subconscious. Her time travelling aid the Time, History And Location Analyser, Thala for short, was surgically attached to her left wrist. It accesses the Factual Historical Information (FHI) Implants that had been surgically attached to the inside of her skull. Those Implants gave Larna every single piece of data concerning people, places and events going right back to 1980. Thought processes operated the Thala and the responses were given to Larna in her subconscious thanks to a modified FHI Implant. The only sign that Larna was using her aid, was when it appeared on her wrist. It appeared when Larna activates the operations function. When it was activated the Thala lost the power to keep the invisibility shield in operation, as it is at all other times, so no one can see the technology on her arm. The beeping told her that there was something wrong. Larna activated the operations function immediately. The Thala gave her the warning as soon as it was activated.
*** Warning—Paradox Force Infinity about to hit New Arizona. Freedom will disappear in ten seconds. ***
Effects on the time line act like a stone in a lake—sending ripples out into the future. It gave Larna, who existed out of time thanks to the Paradox Protection Field around her, chance to see changes in the time line, and give her time to react to things before they change for good. Larna knew that she would not survive if she stayed where she was. She immediately asked for an STC (Space Time Co-Ordinate) number for New Arizona. STC numbers are made up from the longitude and latitude co- ordinates of a specific place, as well as the year, month, day, hour, minute and second that the time traveller would want to go to. All possible combinations are stored in one of the FHI Implants. When a number was entered, Larna immediately accessed the transportation function. She disappeared from Freedom a second before the station disappeared.
Larna should have reappeared on the second floor of the police station. Instead, she ended up falling down into a large crater. She rolled down the side, ending up flat on her face in the bottom. Transportation, using the Thala, had returned her original clothing to her. When she transported the Thala broke down her molecule structure, turning it into a number of light particles. At the destination, the Thala reanimated the light particles in such a way that it restored her fitness and clothing to what they had been on her original transportation through time. She was now wearing a pair of black fishnet stockings, with a very close tight pattern, which 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 eight inches long, just covers her buttocks. On the top was a black leather shirt over a black lace bra. This shirt was tucked into the mini-skirt. Her jacket was a black leather motorbike jacket with matching black leather motorbike boots on her feet. The boots have got a number of buckles on the side and come right up to about half way up her shinbone. Around her neck she has 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 is never without it. On her right wrist she has the wrist part of a pair of handcuffs that they use in the present day. 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 wears it constantly to keep reminding herself of what she had done in the past. 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. Her auburn hair, with white streak down the centre, is swept back into a ponytail, leaving only a tiny fringe down her forehead. Larna slowly lifted herself up into a press-up position. Suddenly laser gun fire whizzed over her head. She had transported right into the middle of a battle. Everything had changed. New Arizona had gone. The Invisible Forcefield that protected the complex from the harsh sun, had gone. Larna peered up. On one side large metallic vehicles were rumbling down towards her. Laser beams came out in all directions. People were running around all over the place, trying to get as much cover as they could. Larna returned to the Thala.
‘What has happened?’ she enquired, using her thoughts to ask the question.
*** At some point in the past, the time line has been altered. *** the Thala stated in a computer-synthesised voice in her subconscious.
‘Can the exact date be identified?’
*** Searching. *** the Thala stated, then after a few seconds replied, *** Time distortion originates from the year 843. There is a signature present, which identifies that a time traveller was responsible for the changes. An LSR is Temporally Incorrect. The time traveller went back from the year 25,019. ***
Larna was quite surprised by that—why would someone from that far into the future want to travel back in time to change history?..what would they have to gain? The crater Larna was in suddenly went dark. One of the large machines that she had seen was now blocking out the sun. It was right on top of her. Larna instantly asked the Thala to entered a STC number for the year 25,019. When a beep indicated that it had been entered, she initiated the transportation sequence. She disappeared a split second before a laser beam hit the ground where she had been. The machine then moved on, thinking it had destroyed her. But, Larna was travelling through time to the future. The ripple affect would not have hit that year yet. She would have at least a couple of days to find out who time travelled, why they did so, and then figure out a way to stop them.
There has been a change in the time line some time in the past. Larna travels forward in time to attempt to stop the time traveller from going back. When she returns from the future, and a successful mission, or so she thinks, New Arizona is completely changed.