Crono's Story by Traum

Chapter 33 Yush

"Are you almost ready, Mr. Trinity?" The young nurse asked me in a voice that bordered on genuine concern. I lacked the strength to do anything but nod, but even if I'd had the power to speak, the oxygen mask covering my mouth probably would've prevented my words from coming out coherently. A nod was sufficient enough for the young woman though, and she began to give me a tutorial on the workings of the regeneration chamber. "Now, when I push this green button," she pointed towards a large green button on the outside of the tank, just inside my field of vision, "the tank you're in will begin to fill with a gelatinous mixture of healing components and a ton of your own DNA." I nodded again, wishing her to just get started already. I'd regained some of my strength, but the entire process of having my ki energy drained from me was a less than pleasant one. Even an hour after having the tube that had been bleeding me of my ki removed, I was still far weaker than I'd ever been before in my life. "It may feel a little weird at first," the dirty blonde haired nurse continued on, "but..." I continued to listen to her babble on and on, although I was only half paying attention to her words. I'd been in a rejuvenation tank more than once in my life, and the experience was nothing particularly special or new to me. Still, the pretty young woman carried on, as if she was fascinated by the technology, and was presenting it more to herself than to me. I'd nearly had a fit when I was told by Karnai that a female nurse would be attending my time in the chamber, and therefore, see me completely naked. Though the female had blushed when she was aiding me in getting undressed for the dip in the tank, she dealt with it in a very businesslike manner, and was not intimidated in the least by me.

It was so very different from anything I had ever experienced before. On my home planet of Vannattasan, women were not even considered to be in the same league as the men. They were generally considered pieces of bric-a-brac that had no bearing in a man's life. They did the work around the house, and they pleasured the males, two simple yet demanding tasks. The women within the Caprian army were, to a high degree, the exact same. There were the rare few that were strong enough to make it as grunts within the front lines of the army, and even a singular officer who had a power level near a million; but besides that, their main role was to boost moral within the lower (and even upper) ranks. Here, on Earth, it was completely different. From what I had been able to discern, there was no distinct hierarchy of the sexes, almost as if they were even. Universal law stated that the strongest would hold the most power, yet here there was absolutely no distinction between male and female; they were even in the grand scheme of things.

"So, you're ready, right sir?" The short woman asked one final time. I nodded again, and then she smiled and pushed the green button. The pumps within and around the small, semi-transparent dome began to roar to life, and from two pipes to my right and left hand sides, a green, oil-like liquid began to pour out. It spread out over the floor, and it was warm upon my bare feet. As more and more of the stuff was forced into the compartment, the level of it began to rise steadily. The lightly tanned nurse smiled once more at me and then left me to my own thoughts.

The equality between the sexes was just the beginning of the differences between Earth and the other planets I had seen, all of which were under Caprian dictatorship. The cities on Earth were large, beautiful masterpieces of splendour. There was an almost perfect balance between the natural, green beauty of the plants and outside, and the man-made structures of the humans design. Most of the cities on Vannattasan consisted of a maze of tightly jammed together slums and ghettos. The people living in them were poor and usually didn't have enough money to scrounge up food for their families. Almost all of the people's money went to the government. In fact, the entire economy of the Caprian empire was geared towards the military; almost no thought was given to social aids or benefits. On Earth it was the complete opposite. Except for the Z Warriors, the planet didn't seem to have a single weapon of war. Instead there were buildings like the one I was currently in, and centres where people could buy healthy and plentiful food, and stores where children could be bought toys by their parents, and schools where children were taught skills other than how to survive each day.