Germancey, Europa – January 18, 2501
The loud rumbling sound echoed around the dark cavern, amplifying the sound ten times over. It was the first sound to have hit this underground cave for just under seventeen centuries. No light had broken through the darkness for the whole of that time. No human being had stepped foot inside. Until now. Daylight went right into the cave, lighting the whole place up like someone had dropped a torch right into the middle of it. Stretched shadows spread out in the light. The men were only six feet tall and of medium build, but their shadows made them appear to be twice as large. They wore the protective life support suits, which were essential parts of survival outside the Protection Forcefields that surrounded all of the living complexes in this future world. Since the nuclear explosions in the year 2000, to go outside the protection fields was like committing suicide. The earth has been returned to an ice age—with extreme low temperatures outside the city limits. Only four places are safe for human to live, without the life support suits. These two men were experienced wearing them though. They were explorers of the barren ice world. They loved blasting their way into places that had been hidden for centuries. The best place them had ever found was the remains of the old city of Paris. It was buried underground, covered by layers of thick ice. The lights on the tops of their helmets scanned around the cave, reaching out into every corner of the cave, reaching the darkness that the daylight could not penetrate. One of them stopped moving his light when he saw the skeletal remains just inside the cave, lit up by the sunlight. The arm of the remains was reaching towards the rubble they had just cut through, as if whoever that person was, was trying to claw their way out of the cave. The two men stared down at the remains, then looked at each other through the visors of the helmets. Both of the men had large smiles on their faces. Even though this cave had little value to them, they knew exactly who they could sell the skeleton too. The pair of them quickly set out freezing the skeletal remains with a stasis gas, which would protect the skeleton during the transportation from the cave. When the protection field had been established around the bones, the two men got ready to transport. With a flash of bright white light, they disappeared from the cave.
They appeared on a transportation platform. All around them were gleaming clean white walls. The platform was set back in a little alcove. Right in front of them was two large metal doors. Beside the platform was the control panel, which controlled both the doors and the platform. The skeleton was lying on the platform at the men’s feet. One of the men pulled his helmet off. There was no need for the life support suits in this place. The man stepped off the platform, then moved to the control panel. He pushed the inter-communication button so that he could speak to the person on the other side of the metal doors. This place was a secret laboratory of a scientist. Not many people knew that this place even existed, because it was hidden from all sensors. The scientist used to be employed in the SAT (Space and Time) Laboratory in Americano, but when he was fired for unethical research, he disappeared. He was carrying on his work in this place. An old man’s face appeared on the monitor in the middle of the computer panel.
“This had better be important. I’m a very busy man.” the old man growled, with a well-
weathered voice.
“We’ve found something that might be of interest to you. We’ve come to bargain with you.”
The metal doors made a loud screeching sound. Large hissing sounds followed. The doors then slid open a few feet. The old man, who had been on the screen, appeared through the clearing smoke that came from the sides of the doors. He stood around five feet five inches tall, with a slim build. His grey hair was growing thin on the top. His white moustache made him appear to be the Father Christmas type. He was wearing a long white lab coat, with a white moulded plastic body suit underneath. The body suit, being the standard clothing for the future city population. The old man moved to the platform. His eyes lit up when he saw the fresh skeletal remains lying on the platform beside the second man. The first man moved to the scientist’s side.
“Is that not the perfect specimen?”
“Where did you find it?” the old man asked, “It looks well preserved, but we stopped burying our dead over five centuries ago.”
“It was buried deep in an underground cave. It may be that when the nuclear holocaust occurred, the entrance to the cave fell in, trapping this person inside.”
“I’ll take it.” the scientist said quickly.
“It’s not going to come cheap.”
“I’m not bothered. I will not be denied. That is just what I’ve been looking for.”
The two men settled on a price quite quickly, because the scientist just paid whatever the explorer asked for. The explorers moved the skeleton off the platform, then disappeared, going back to their hunting grounds. The old man looked down at the bones at his feet. It was the most preserved skeleton that he had ever seen. He had been searching for this kind of perfection for years, ever since he had left the SAT Laboratory. Now that his dream was almost going to happen, he could hardly stop shaking. He hit the control panel, calling his two assistants from the other room. They came immediately. They were young men, with one having black hair and the other having light brown. Both men were in their twenties, just finished their schooling. This was their first job. They looked inexperienced, and appeared to be the university student type. The old man gave them the order to carry the skeleton into the lab, before rushing off to prepare the experiment that he was going to conduct. The assistants stared down at the skeleton with horror written all over their faces. They had never seen anything like this, let alone have to touch one. When they had come to work for this guy, they just thought that it would be a free ride, without them ever having to face this moment. But now they were proved completely wrong. They slowly bent down and lifted the frozen remains up. Both cringed when they touched the bones. Rotting flesh still clung to the bones. The men felt like throwing up. The smell was enough to kill a horse. They carefully carried the remains through the gap between the metal doors, which led into the main laboratory. The scientist was already busy typing away on the computer keyboard on the control panel next to a large machine. The machine was designed like a large air bubble. It was similar to the depressurising tanks that deep-sea divers use when they get the ‘bends’. The young men carried the remains to a table that was positioned in front of the door to the machine. The table had straps on it, which the assistants carefully strapped around the arms, and legs of the skeleton to keep it pinned down to the bed. When the old man saw that they had finished, he entered a code and opened the door to the machine. When it was open, the assistants pushed the bed through into the bubble. Now the skeleton was positioned right in the middle of the machine. The scientist closed the door by entering the same code. The two assistants backed away. The one with the light brown hair turned to the scientist.
“Professor Marsh, what exactly is this experiment that you’re going to do on that thing?” the young man asked, glancing nervously at the bubble, as if he could see inside to the skeleton.
“You’ll see.” Marsh replied, as he entered another code.
The whole lab was suddenly filled with a bright light, similar to the light sent out by a transportation platform when someone was transporting. Both of the assistants turned their heads away from the bubble, trying to shield their eyes from this blinding light. Marsh stared at the door hopefully—willing his experiment to work so that he would be christened as the new master scientist. As quickly as the light had appeared, it disappeared. Marsh entered the code to open the door of the bubble, then quickly shuffled around the control panel, so that he could be there to see what the assistants pulled out of the machine. The assistant’s mouth’s dropped wide open when they saw the naked woman strapped down to the table. She was so big, so strong and powerful looking, and completely naked from head to foot. Marsh looked at the woman in a different way. He looked at her with a glint of satisfaction in his eyes, instead of the dumbfounded look of his assistants. The two young men wheeled the bed into the middle of the laboratory, then left it stationary there. The woman on the bed was unconscious. Her long blonde hair with black stripes running all through it, was sprayed all over the bed in a disorganised mess. Marsh clapped his hands together, his dream was now a reality.
Marsh lifted his hand held medical computer and started to scan the woman’s body, checking for any imperfections or serious health problems. His two assistants were still too shocked to even say a word. Marsh kept shaking his head and whispering to himself. The two young men just stared at each other in disbelief. Marsh finished his medical examines after a few minutes. He then turned to his two assistants.
“This is totally unbelievable. She is in perfect health. The scan shows her to be about twenty-
four Erayears old. She’s six feet four and weighs ten stone. Her muscular tone and build is quite unlike anything I’ve seen from a woman before. Several of her bones have been broken, several years before she died. Apart from that, this woman is in perfect health.”
“But a minute ago, she was a skeleton!” the black haired assistant exclaimed.
“Yes I know, isn’t this wonderful.” Marsh stated with glee.
“What did you do to her?” the other assistant asked
“My machine scanned her skeleton for her DNA pattern, then like a transportation platform, but with a few minor adjustments to compensate for the lack of a breakdown pattern, it reanimated her DNA to regenerate the person from the skeletal remains.”
“But Professor, are you sure we should have done this, without finding out exactly who she was first. I mean, why was she trapped down in that underground cave, unless it was to stop her from being free on the surface.”
“It may have been a simple twist of fate that she got trapped when the nuclear holocaust hit the planet. I know, let’s run a MRP on her, just to get our facts straight.”
The two assistants both nodded their heads in agreement. That was the sanest thing that Marsh had suggested for quite some time. The pair of them went to the control panel. While one brought both the MRP (Mine Reading Procedure) machine down from the ceiling, the other started to enter the programme to run the procedure into the computer. The machine was just like a motorcycle helmet. It slipped down over her head, then probed the mind to find out her deepest thoughts—much like an electronic hypnotist. When the helmet was in position, they started the programme. All three then sat and watched the screen.
Her body jerked several times. Her fists clenched hard into fists. A piercing scream came out from below the helmet. A gut-wrenching yell—a loud scream of the word ‘fox’, echoed out from underneath the MRP machine. The three men watched the screen with interest. They saw images, flashes of this woman’s life. All three were astonished when they heard the year 25,019 being mentioned. They saw a fight. An explosion. They were then back in medieval times. Another fight. Then darkness. The same woman had been fought against both times. An auburn haired woman. That woman had trapped her inside the cave. The woman on the table screamed out again—the same word. The images on the screen stopped. The three men looked to the table as the machine started to lift off her head. The woman was fully conscious now. She was straining against the straps that held her down to the table. She twisted her head from side to side in a frantic bid to yank herself free from her restraints. The bed rocked from side to side under her efforts. Marsh moved around the side of the control panel. There was one piece of information he had to find out before he sedated his experiment. The woman glared at him with fire burning behind her eyes.
“Who are you? What are you doing to me?” she growled in a deep-throated voice, which displayed her anger and hatred for the situation she found herself in.
“My names Professor Marsh. I will explain everything to you in time, but first I need to know your name.”
“I am Phoenix!” the blonde haired woman growled, “I am the sister of the Queen of New Amazonia. I demand that you release me at once.”
Marsh stabbed Phoenix in the sole of her right foot with the end of a needle. Seconds later the struggles stopped. Marsh stared at his two assistants.
“I want you to replicate a body suit for our guest. Have it ready for after I’ve conducted the remaining tests on her.”
The two assistants nodded their heads, then left the room, leaving Marsh to conduct his tests.
Phoenix opened her eyes slowly. She was surrounding by white walls. At first, she thought that this was heaven, but then she felt the straps around her wrists and ankles, holding her into the chair that she had been sat in. Her body was dressed in a moulded plastic suit that hugged the curves of her body like a second skin. All around the dentist-like chair, were machines. Most of them had flashing lights giving out information that Phoenix could not understand. She did not even understand what those things were beside her. Wires were attached to her body. Phoenix tried desperately to get up from the chair, but she was held firmly in place. Even with her great strength, she could not move the straps holding her down. The doors in front of her opened. The same old man that she had seen standing over her when she had first woken up, came right up to. Phoenix spat out at him.
“What is the meaning of holding me captive like this? Where am I?”
Marsh closed the door behind him. Phoenix glimpsed the machines outside. This world, whereever it was, so beyond anything she had ever seen before. All this technology looked alien to her. The old man moved to one of the machines. He seemed to be pleased with the readouts. Phoenix struggled in the chair again.
“Listen, what are you doing to me? What are these things?”
Marsh finally moved around to stand in front of Phoenix—perhaps he was ready to give her some answers now.
“Do you know what year this is?” Marsh asked.
Phoenix thought that this question was quite peculiar, but given the rest of the strange things around her, perhaps it should not have been such a large surprise.
“Well I’m positive that it isn’t the middle ages.” Phoenix replied, now the calculating mind starting to work.
“The year is 2501. You, my dear, have been given a second chance to live. We found your remains in the cave, as my experiment reanimated you. You could say that you’ve been reborn.”
Phoenix tested the straps again. Could this old man have given her the chance that she had wanted. Everything seemed real. Suddenly a sharp pain started burning through her chest. As she watched her hand started to age years in seconds. When Phoenix saw the horrified expression on Marsh’s face, Phoenix was glad that she was not the only one who was slightly worried by this turn of events. Marsh instantly grabbed his handheld medical computer. He started another full scan. He could not believe the read outs he was getting. After a few minutes he rushed off through the doors, leaving Phoenix to age in the chair.
Marsh returned with another machine. By this time Phoenix had blacked out. Marsh placed the machine on the arm of the chair, then started it working. The deanimating process was slowed down, then finally stopped and reversed. After several minutes Phoenix was restored to her youthful looks. Marsh removed the machine from the chair, before conducting another medical scan. Everything had returned to normal perimeters. Phoenix came too a few moments later. Marsh was breathing quite heavily. Phoenix looked down at her hand slowly, fearing the worst. She was quite relieved to find her hand back to normal.
“What have you done to me?” she yelled, turned her anger on to Marsh.
“That was a side effect that I did not estimate.”
“Friend, you had better start talking to me, otherwise you might not like what I could do to you. I may look like a woman with no brain to you, but I promise you that I have got one.” Phoenix boomed, finding it quite insulting that Marsh would be talking about her as if she was not involved with the goings on.
“Fine. If you really want to know what happened. I’ll tell you. I conducted an experiment on you. This experiment scanned for your DNA patterns, then reanimated them, to bring you back to life. Unfortunately, the process has the side-effect that after twenty four hours your blood seems to lose all it’s oxygen property, as if it has been working over time to keep the reanimation permanent.”
“Which means that I’ve got to get a fresh supply of blood every day.” Phoenix concluded.
“It would appear that way yes.”
“Fine, I can live with that. All I have to do is keep a fresh supply of blood close by.”
“What are you talking about?” Marsh asked, now quite surprised by the sudden change in his experiment.
“I’ve got things to do. A person to kill. And, I’ve got a feeling that I wouldn’t have been reborn here, in this time, if it did not mean that I was close to that prey. It’s true what I told her. I cannot be killed. I am immortal.”
“You were killed! I brought you back from the dead.” Marsh exclaimed, quite horrified now by what this woman was suggesting.
“That was just a sleeping period. That was not death. Now, that I’m back, I can finish that woman off once and for all.”
“I sorry, but you won’t be leaving this laboratory. If anyone found out what I’ve done, they’ll surely throw me into Bostary. This is highly unethical, bringing back the dead.”
Phoenix glared at Marsh with a look of determination that told him that she was completely serious about leaving. Marsh went to the doors, shaking his head as he walked.
“I’m sorry Ms Phoenix, but you’ll never be able to leave the confines of this laboratory.”
“That’s what you think.” Phoenix yelled at the top of her voice.
Marsh turned around sharply. He had not even had the chance to open the doors. His face went as white as a sheet as Phoenix snapped the straps holding her hostage as if they were simple small twigs of wood being stepped on. His mouth dropped wide open as Phoenix rose majestically to her feet. She should not have been able to break those straps—Marsh kept thinking to himself as Phoenix walked towards him. He was dreaming this. That was it. This was a nightmare, paying him back for what he had done to this woman. The experiment was bad enough, but then to be followed by all those tests, the removal of skin samples, the removal of blood, the physical exams, they were all feeding this nightmare vision. Phoenix stepped right up to Marsh, then smiled.
“There was one other effect of your experiment. When you replaced the blood in my body, it somehow gave me extra strength than before. I feel like nothing can stop me.” Phoenix said in her deep-throated growl of a voice, then started to laugh.
Marsh still did not move. Phoenix simple wrapped her arms around his neck, then twisted his head to one side. He let out a pain filled scream as his neck snapped. The scream stopped abruptly. When the doors open, Phoenix lifted Marsh high above her head, then threw his body at the two men who were rushing towards her to stop her. Those men had heard their boss’ scream. They both crashed to the ground on their backs, Marsh’s limp body pinning them down. Phoenix quickly ran to the tranquilliser gun that one of the assistants had dropped when he was hit. Before either of them could react, Phoenix pumped them full of tranquilliser. Overdosing them on it in fact. Phoenix then dropped the gun down beside the men, before walking across to a computer terminal. She sat down on the stool beside the machine, before starting to check over the alien technology in front of her. She had never seen anything like this. But, for some reason, she found that she was able to access the main central computer for this area. This was quite surprising. She was using this machine as if she had been brought up with them. When the men had conducted the MRP programme on her, they had implanted new information in her subconscious, which would enable her to live a proper life in this new environment.
The first thing Phoenix did was access the main computer of the laboratory. She wanted to find out exactly what had been done to her. When the experiment had been. She read down the outline, then down the new report, which stated the blood type that she had to find to keep her reanimated. This last file also told her that, if she used the blood of a man, it would last a little longer than a woman’s would. It would also enhance the reanimation process. The thought of that made Phoenix smile with satisfaction. Phoenix was, at heart, an Amazonian Warrior from the future. Amazonian women were part of Greek Mythology. They hated men, deciding to life without any men in their lives, except for brief unions. That hatred of men had been carried forward, through the centuries, to the far distance future, where the Amazonian Warriors from the future world, still treated men with contempt. Phoenix glanced towards the bodies of the three men in the centre of the room. Men could be so weak sometimes—she thought as she left that information file, then the laboratory database, so that she could try and find the woman called Larna Fox. Phoenix found the information instantly. She made a note of what the information was, before leaving the file. The next move was to draw Larna out so that she would come to her, and not the other way around. By the time she figured out what had hit her, she would be the one requiring the reanimation process. Phoenix left the terminal switched on. She rose to her feet then stalked around the laboratory. There had to be weapons, or something that could make weapons, around her somewhere. Phoenix firstly found a long black raincoat hanging on a coat stand. Phoenix slipped it on over the black moulded plastic body suit. Next she found the medical handheld computer that the old man had been using. Phoenix lifted it up, looked over it, before stuffing it down into one of the deep pockets on the side of the coat. Phoenix then searched through the pockets of the three men, removing all cards, money and other items that Phoenix thought might be of some use to her. After searching all the cupboards that she could find, Phoenix was still without any form of weapon. She knew, that if she were going to kill Fox, she would need a weapon. Even now that her strength had been enhanced and the fact that every time she replaced the old blood in her body her body would reanimate, healing any wounds that she had received the previous day, she could not face Fox without having the knowledge that she could reach for a weapon and blast her brains out. Phoenix looked towards the only doors that she had not gone through. That must be the way out. Phoenix left the main laboratory, through the doorway once blocked by large metal doors, then moved straight to the transportation platform. Again she knew exactly what was required to work this new technology she was standing on, as if she had been brought up with these things. Phoenix entered a SC (Space Co-ordinate) number into the control panel, then stepped back on to the platform. She disappeared in a flash of white light.
Phoenix returns from the dead, to continue in her quest to kill Larna Fox. Her body has been regenerated, with the side effect that she has to get a new supply of blood every twenty four hours. She leaves a trial of bodies behind her in her quest to kill the Fox once and for all.