Time, and other inconsequential things

Chapter One

CHAPTER ONE

=-=-=-=-

Hayley Stewart was a nerd, a product of her parent's faulty design choices. More interested in the mysteries of the Transdimensional Hyper Drive Physics, that seemed to have been used by most of the ancient species that had gone before humanity, than she was in anything made or designed in the last centuries. She had flowing light blonde hair, with deep blue eyes, her body slim and athletic. Wearing the drab uniform skirt, white blouse and monogrammed blazer of the Parson's World Junior Academy.

On a Freshman school field trip to the Sector Capital of Hyperion, they were brushing by all the tidbits of Core World culture. A fancy sit down dinner at a Terran style restaurant, a play on the famous Ring theater stage, an open-air concert in First Landing Park, now on their last day they were touring the New Smithsonian branch museum.

"Alright now. We only have this one day here to explore, so there is only time for two of the Halls. Decide among yourselves." Proctor Anders stood with Proctor Vernon as they addressed the restless students.

Some ten minutes later the Proctors gathered the class President and Vice President. After a couple minutes of discussion Proctor Vernon stood and spoke loudly.

"It seems a choice has been made. The popular choices are the 'Hall of Military History' and the 'Hall of Modern Culture', thank you to our class presidents."

Hayley was disgusted by the choices. Neither of those two had any interest to her at all. As the rest of the class headed off together, Hayley slipped away on her own to explore the 'Hall of the Forerunners'.

Case after case held items from one ancient culture after another. Rounding a corner, she saw the most fabulous sight.

Floating on a cushion of carefully focused magnetic fields, was the front section of an Anori Cruiser. The charcoal grey wedge had tremendous scoring where something had burned and slashed at it. Glimpsing the internal systems as one of the holes rotated around, giving her a view inside.

So intently focused on it, she didn't notice the creep until she found herself being lifted off the ground by an arm held tight around her chest, the hand grabbing a breast. His other hand covered her mouth. Dragging her through an Employee Only door.

"Hey, Boss Karl? This what you wanted?"

Hayley was kicking her feet ineffectually. Her one free arm was far too weak to free herself. Karl, dressed in a designer suit came up, holding a typical ID scanner, the beam played over her.

"Hello, Hayley Stewart of Parson's World. Star student, not a single infraction, my, oh my, you are just perfect. Hold her steady now."

Popping open a cryo vault Hayley saw the heavy skeleton of an ursine Vreen. This one was different from what she had seen reconstructed in the displays outside. Every bone was wound round by silver threads, the cavities in head and chest filled with a web work.

The worst part, as the threads warmed to room temperature, they started twisting and shifting, seeking something.

"This host was found drifting in interstellar space, the spike alive but inactive. A close exam would detect its presence in one of us, and we are watched quite closely. But who will look closely at Miss goodie two-shoes here. I do have to apologize, legend says that this next part hurts..." He laughed as her struggles increased. Pulling on two heavy gloves he played a light beam over the threads, constantly shifting color and pattern.

"They would reform on their own eventually, but we can't wait that long." At length, he found the combo and the threads pulled into a full meter long, two-centimeter-wide silvery-grey rod. "Ah, there we go."

"Sorry about this all, my dear, just your bad day. This will wipe the last hours from your memory. See you in a few days when we take the Soul Spike back." He pressed an injector squib to her jugular and with a sudden *POP* a flash of cold filled her, slowly spreading.

Carefully lifting the rod, he gestured and one of the thugs locked his hand in Hayley's hair. His other hand holding open her jaw.

"Not quite how you envisioned your day going, is it Hayley?" He taunted her struggling form, "Any entrance will work... This is just so much more uncomfortable. Now you see it..." With that, he pressed the rod into her mouth. Filling her throat, she began choking. But somehow it seemed to fit as he pressed it in. Worse, he kept slowly pressing it in and in, a wicked smile on his face. After a minute the rod had vanished entirely. "Viola! Now you don't." holding up his gloved hands like some stage magician.

Hayley felt the rod start to split and spread inside her, as it reached her spine a scream of impossible agony filled the space, a second and third scream followed as the threads spread along her nerves. Barely aware, Hayley felt the rod reach inside her skull, and she mercifully passed out.

< Such odd rituals these 'Humans' have. >

< So long without a body, I can barely wait. >

< Young, healthy, fertile, we'll have many strong kits >

< Fertility aside, have you seen this brain? Woefully untrained and underused. So much potential wasted >

< Mind? I am amazed this body can walk across a room. Crude agility and dexterity, NO surplus strength. Why on a battlefield she would pose as much threat to herself as to the enemy. >

< Shh... she's awaking... >

"Hayley Amanda Stewart! You wake up this instant!"

Hayley groggily opened her eyes, she had no idea where she was. The last thing she could remember was picking up her empty breakfast tray this morning... and then... nothing...

Now her body seemed in revolt. Her throat hurt, every muscle and bone ached.

"P, p, pp, proccc... toorrrr Anders... I f, feel sso sick." Her body shivering and hot to the touch.

Without a concern, they dropped Hayley into an auto-doc and only as the alarms rang warning of a systemic invasion by an unidentified and unidentifiable organism, only then was concern expressed, and a planet wide quarantine imposed.

=-=-=-=-

The quarantine was quickly rescinded, and traffic resumed

The FTL transport was a day late when it arrived on Parson's without Hayley Stewart, who was being rushed to a secret O'Neill cylinder research base.

=-=-=-=-

"Boss? You might want to read this." The thug said holding up a blood-soaked letter.

Boss Karl looked up from his bloody handiwork. It was truly hard to identify just how many bodies lay scattered about the Stewart household. Grandmother, both parents, the three younger children, even the two Cy-Dogs capable of simple speech lay victims to Boss Karl's rage.

"Dear Mr. and Mrs. Stewart. We regret to inform you that your daughter succumbed to an unknown illness. Her body was deemed hazardous and has been destroyed." Karl read. He looked up with rage filled eyes. "Dammit! How am I going to tell the Baron of this...?"

Walking out the door, he called over his shoulder,

"Burn it all."

.61-1��1�~"�