Links

This is a list of links to previously posted work that fits into the Futures and pasts category.

Titan Vampires
http://underhilljournal.blogspirit.com/archive/2010/05/17/titan-vampires.html

Scatha and Hazel etc
http://underhilljournal.blogspirit.com/archive/2010/07/02/scatha.html
http://underhilljournal.blogspirit.com/archive/2006/03/04/foundling.html


Rebel Empress 1 - 4
http://underhilljournal.blogspirit.com/archive/2007/05/13/a-sci-fi-serial.html
http://underhilljournal.blogspirit.com/archive/2007/05/29/episode-2.html
http://underhilljournal.blogspirit.com/archive/2007/06/30/rebel-empress-part-3.html
http://underhilljournal.blogspirit.com/archive/2008/07/07/rebel-empress-part-iv.html

Interval

Interval

She woke, her eyelids fluttering open and her eyes letting soft light through into her groggy mind. She knew he was there, looking down at her where she lay. She could feel his presence.

"You're awake," she heard him say. Something in his voice stirred her and she tried to sit up, "No don't move," he said quickly, resting his hand on her shoulder.

That moment of fleeting contact drew a gasp of surprise from her, as she felt a wild surge of emotion leap from him to her. Her heart suddenly beat wildly as her mind whirled to his feelings of longing, need and desire, each distinct and dizzyingly potent. Equally though she could feel his concern and fear for her, and the confusion that all these feelings caused inside him. Then, as he pulled his hand away from her, the roar died back to a murmur and she managed to calm herself.

She opened her eyes fully and looked up into his face. She opened her mouth to speak, but he shook his head slightly, indicating with his eyes to the CCTV camera that was pointed down over her bed. It would be incredibly risky to speak what was on her mind in that moment.

"The nurse will be here in a minute to give you a shot. After that you should be up on your feet before the end of the day, but right now it's risky to move," Chen told her, keeping his voice neutral as he spoke.

Right on cue, the door opened and painfully bright light poured in from the corridor beyond. Sakura gasped and shielded her eyes.

"Shut the door again quickly please," she heard Chen say, his voice seeming drastically raised in volume.

"Sorry Commander, I'll try and make this quick for her," she heard the nurse reply in a voice that boomed in Sakura's ears. She turned her face to the pillow and tried to bury it away from the light and sound. The sudden movement caused an agonising jolt of pain through her skull.

"Careful Sakura, careful," Chen said softly, making Sakura realise the cause of her confusion. Her senses had become massively heightened through the implant process and were yet to learn how to adjust.

She felt the needle pierce her skin and her nerves screamed in protest at the invasion, but she was prepared for this now and she breathed with it in the way she had been taught since childhood. Even so she was thankful that it was brief.

"What was that?" she asked once the nurse had left the room.

"It's a shot of nano-bots that they have to give you once you're conscious again. They help with sensory adjustment and they speed up the healing process," he explained.

"Does this mean I'm out of danger now?"

He didn't answer her for a second, and in the silence that fell between them, she could feel his inner turmoil again. She looked inquiringly into his eyes, and could see the storm raging in them. She felt her own surge of emotion then, a bitter-sweet swell inside that almost brought tears to her eyes. Without thinking, she reached out to touch his cheek. This time he gasped, his hand flying up to cover hers, all the composure he had been struggling to keep gone. That touch, his touch, completed the connection and once again she was exposed to the full rawness of the feelings inside him, while being aware that he could feel all that was in her own heart.

She was struggling for breath, sinking, drowning with her eyes locked to his. The intensity in his eyes took on new meaning now that she could taste the emotion behind them, emotion that was like a force of nature, contained only barely inside him. In the midst of it she tried desperately to find calm, to find something to cling to to stop her from going under completely, and as if in answer to her desperation, she suddenly felt the full force of his love for her. It took her completely by surprise. It was a purer, clearer emotion than any of the rest of them and it cut straight through all the noise, dispersing it. She smiled at him, feeling calm return, and felt her own love for him fill her. It was only in that moment she realised how her own feelings matched his.

She felt his deep reluctance as he lifted her hand from his cheek, but she knew, just as he did, that all this would have to wait until they were safely away from the prying eyes of the Corporation camera's. Carefully, he laid her hand on top of her blanket and took a long breath. Finally, he answered her question.

"These next couple of weeks are all dangerous," he almost had his voice under control as he spoke,

"Not only are you having to work through acclimatising to all the changes the implants have made, the chance of rejection is still very high. More than 50% of candidates that survive the operation don't make it through the first couple of weeks. Once you've done that, then you're out of danger,"

"So what happens now? What do we do while we wait this out?"

"Most mentors keep their students restricted to their rooms and work them through it under observation, but I've got a better idea," he told her, and there was something in his eyes that told her that she would like his idea.

"What is it?"

"We'll take my Hawk up into the mountains. The fresh air and the peace will be good for you,"

She did like his idea, but she was immediately concerned that it might seem suspicious. He must have been able to sense this because he quickly tried to placate her fears.

"I'm going to take you to the place where my own mentor took me. It's a much better way to adjust than being cooped up in the Academy trying not to hear what some 2nd Elite is murmuring in their sleep," he told her with a brief smile.

They left pretty much as soon as she was back on her feet. It was a few hours before sunset and Chen flew at a leisurely pace over the lush greenery of Enceladus to give Sakura time to soak up the view. Even so, the paradise moon was small and it didn't take long for them to reach the mountain range, named the Olympiads by the Corporation Cartography Department. It was a range of five peaks, most of which couldn't really be called mountains, that surrounded the largest lake on Enceladus, Aphrodite's Mirror. The lake got it's name from the fact that it was perfectly smooth and clear, reflecting everything around it like a piece of polished glass. Dotted around it's shores, at the foot of the mountains, were the villas of some of the most senior executives within the Corporation. Chen explained that because of their presence, tourists didn't come to the Olympiads, leaving the mountains unpopulated and mostly untouched.

Chen landed his Hawk high on the side of the Tallest mountain, Zeus, and carefully helped Sakura climb out, then they stood together in silence for a moment, breathing in the pure clean air and letting their souls feast on the rare, wild beauty surrounding them.

The mountainside was clad in tall Pine trees, mixed with a smattering of Beech, Ash and Oak. Where Chen had put down there was a clearing on top of a cliff, down which poured a slender waterfall, dropping over a hundred feet into the forest below. The lake was spread out far beneath where they were standing, reflecting the clear azure of the Enceladun sky and it's handful of wispy white clouds perfectly. The sussurus of the wind caressing the treetops and the distant rumble of the waterfall were the only sounds that hung in the air, apart from the occasional phrase of birdsong and the soft sound of their own breath. After the noise of the academy and the whine of the Hawk's engines it was soothing to Sakura's ears.

"My mother told me that there were places like this in China, before human greed ruined Earth," Chen said quietly, breaking the silence. Sakura turned her head to look at him, her hair stirring in the breeze and blowing across her eyes.

"Isn't it strange how they can turn a lifeless world like this into a paradise, but they can't seem to fix the world that human life began on?"

Her question startled him. For some reason, he had never thought of it before, but as soon as she mentioned it it seemed perfectly obvious. He hazarded a guess.

"The War perhaps?"

"Perhaps," she replied with a heavy sigh, unhappy about being reminded of the darker realities of her life. The merest mention of the War brought her reason for being here back to her, and that reminded her that at some point, she would have to go back to it. Chen reached out and brushed the stray hair from her eyes. He was regretting mentioning it, because he could feel how much it had dampened her mood. They were alone together now, he wanted it to be perfect.

"I'm sorry, Sakura," he told her, "Let's just forget about all the politics and war in the System for the next two weeks. Let's just enjoy this place and each other's company, and let reality go for a while," he finished with a bright smile that lit up his dark eyes in a way she hadn't ever seen before. Looking at him she couldn't help but smile back, while her heart leaped in a way that was almost like falling in love with him all over again.

"Ok," she said, reaching up to put her arms around his neck, "But answer me one question,"

He wrapped his arms around her waist and drew her close, revelling in the contact and the intense emotion she was radiating.

"Of course, anything for you," he answered her.

"Where are we going to sleep?"

Chen laughed, then whirled Sakura off of her feet and into his arms.

"Let me show you where we are going to sleep, "

Sakura woke late, alone in the makeshift bed Chen had made for her in the back of the cave. It took a great deal of effort to drag herself up, every muscle in her body was aching and her head felt groggy. Chen had warned her this would happen, but that didn't make it any less uncomfortable. After what seemed like an age she managed to get herself up and tie a light Kimono around her waist, then she made her way, slowly, to the entrance of the cave to look for Chen. She knew he wasn't far away, because she could still feel his presence.

She stepped out into the clearing, pushing the wisteria and ivy curtain aside, and stopped dead in her tracks. Chen was there, in the clearing, stripped to the waist, with a sword in his left hand. Just as she had been about to walk out of the cave entrance he had leaped high in the air, back-flipped and landed in a full split. He was back on his feet again before she could draw breath to speak to him, spinning with his sword then flipping forwards and landing right in front of her on one knee, his sword sheathed.

"I didn't think Elite were trained in swordplay," she said as she brushed his dampened hair away from his eyes. He smiled at her brightly, and she could feel his happiness.

"This is what my father taught me. Sword forms to strengthen the mind and body,"

"Wushu?" she asked, reaching for the hilt of the sword on his hip.

"It's been in my family since long before Titan was settled. Grandfather claims it goes back to the days of the Manchu Empire," he explained as she began to draw his sword slowly from it's sheath.

"More than a thousand years?" he nodded.

She brought the blade up in front of her eyes so she could inspect it. Compared to her Kitana it was a light blade, straight and flexible, and somewhat shorter too. It was completely unadorned, with a simple hilt wrapped in black leather above a plain, steel crosspiece. Yet, in spite of it's plain looks, she could feel it's strength as a weapon. It was fast and could be used in a whip-like manner as well as for cutting and slashing. As a single handed weapon it could be spun quickly, hefted from hand to hand to unbalance an opponent, and leave the other hand free to take up a second weapon. The principles of the use of such a weapon were very different to those she had been taught by her father and in the Samurai school in Tokyo, but she had taken the time to study the theory. After another moments contemplation, she handed it back to him.

"Show me more, Chen,"

He grinned at her and moved to oblige, setting himself into the first stance of a different sword form, then moving into it with such speed and agility it was mesmerising. Sakura tried to keep her mind on the technicalities of the form, but found it impossible. She was transfixed by his beauty, it was as simple as that.

It was the way his hair flowed as he moved, falling in front of his dark eyes when he paused. It was the soft sheen of sweat that made his golden skin gleam in the light of the SimSun. It was the ripple of his muscles as he moved from stance to stance and flicked and spun his blade . It was the power and depth in his voice as he forcefully expelled the air from his lungs. It was the grace, aggression and speed with which he executed each technique. It was his breathtaking agility.

He finished kneeling again, sword point driven hard into the ground, fist clenched around it, eyes glinting at her through the curtain of his black hair. She stood frozen, staring at him, the beating of her heart thundering in her ears. Her head was spinning, and darkness was rolling at the corners of her vision. The last thing she was aware of before she crumpled to the ground was his sudden panic.

She knew he was there, watching over her, before she even opened her eyes. The first thing she had become aware of was his anxiety as conciousness began to reassert itself over her.

"Chen," she managed to say his name. The weakness of her own voice surprised her.

"Sakura," she heard him reply, his voice echoing the desperation she felt in him. She opened her eyes and looked up at him. There were tears in his. She wanted to reach up and brush them away, but she couldn't muster the strength to do it. With a pang of fear, she wondered if she was dying. She had never been afraid of dying before.

"I should take you back, get the medical team to check you over," he said in a rush. A second stab of fear gripped her. If she had to die, she wanted to be in his arms. If they went back, that could never happen.

"No!" she managed, although she needn't have said it. He could see into her heart.

"I can't let you die! For the first time in my life I feel like I have a real reason to live, I can't have that taken away from me!"

She knew she had to muster the strength to speak, even though she didn't feel it. She had to explain to him.

"Chen," she began, finding the effort of that one simple word exhausting, "Until now I only had vengeance as a reason to live," she managed somehow, finding strength from inner conviction, "But if you take me back and I was going to die, I would have to die alone. Don't let that happen to me," her voice broke then, her strength gone completely.

"Sakura!" she heard him cry and she felt his terror. It was agony to her to feel his pain. She forced herself to smile, and let the love she felt for him flow from her. How else could she make him understand?

"Hold me, Chen," she managed somehow, her voice no more than the faintest whisper.

"Sakura," he breathed, wrapping his arms tightly around her, pulling her to him.

She had no idea how many hours had passed when she woke again, but Chen was asleep beside her, his arms still around her. Reflexively, she ran her mind over her body, checking and testing for weakness, finding it lingering here and there, but to her surprise most of it had dissipated as she had slept. Her body didn't ache in the same way it had, and she could feel a return of her normal strength to her limbs.

Her relief was quickly followed by a surge of embarrassment and shame at the fear she had felt.

Betrayed

They stood together, hooded and clad in black each with a hand to the hilt of a sword. Two tall, straight backed warriors, standing outside the throne room doors, preparing to throw them wide open and charge into the throne room beyond. One laid a hand upon the door, but the other reached out and touched them on the shoulder. They stopped to look at each other, and the second figure threw back it's hood.

Her raven hair tumbled loose in darkly shimmering waves while her ivory skin shone in the gloom of the hallway. She turned her sea green eyes towards the hidden face of her accomplice.

“No more hiding in the shadows now,” she said softly.

“As My Lady commands,” he replied in an accented whisper. His command of her language was great, but he might never lose the flavour of his native tongue from his speech. He threw back his hood and she had to bite her lip once again as she was reminded of what they stood to lose. So they stood there and took one, possibly final, look into each others eyes.

She looked into his eyes and remembered summer skies and laughter on the steeply sloping mountainsides where they had first met. They had known then that their time would be short, and that war was set to send their lives spinning far apart again, for they walked very different paths in the world beyond their mountain idyll.

But she had fallen in love with him in spite of herself, in spite of every warning written across her soul that it could not, should not be, in spite of the grave danger it could certainly plunge them both into.

And why? It wasn't simply the way his dark eyes consumed her, the way his golden skin seemed to have trapped the light of the sun in it, the way his soft black hair seemed to make his beautiful face human, rather than divine. There was the deep respect she had come to feel for his abilities, his intelligence and his masterful skill with the blade, the way he could make her laugh and the simple joy that she found she could be completely herself in his company. No more hiding in the shadows....

There were other reasons too, unfathomable reasons that no words could easily describe. These were more to do with the way it felt to fight with him at her back, or to ride with him at her side. She felt much more complete with him there.

He reached out for her sword hand and brought it to his lips, keeping his eyes on hers.

“Are you ready now, My Lady?” he asked her. He knew she wasn't afraid, she didn't seem to understand fear, but he knew there was still turbulence underneath that mask of calm. He alone knew that she was a woman of passion, so he knew she needed this moment in which to prepare for the coming battle.

She saw the spark in his eyes and felt it's echo in her heart. She was calm, clear minded, stilled, and brimming with blood full of fire. She nodded and he turned and threw back the doors.

The many faces of the court snapped round, hands flying to the hilts of swords. She could smell paranoia and suspicion thick in the air. She took a deep breath in of it, examining it's poison so that she could know it and defend herself against it. There were many renowned swordsmen in that room.

“Master, I must speak with you,” she called out, not entering the court but waiting outside the door. Courtesy demanded it.

“Sakuro! You have ridden ahead of the messengers! Did the battle go ill?” Her master, the Shogun demanded, rising from his throne opposite the doors. He was pale and shaken to see her before him, as if he had not expected to see her ever again. He had not yet seen the sack by her feet, the one that was damp still, and oozed a little blood onto the floor .

“Master, I bring you word of the battle,” she said, then stooped down to pick up the sack and added, “ and a gift from the battlefield,”

He noticed it then, because she raised it high so that all in sight of the doorway could see it. There was fear leaping from his eyes as he looked at it. Then she stormed towards him, her lover following her, giving dark looks to the courtiers. They leapt back out of her way, parting like waves between her and the Shogun. The Shogun met the look of fury in her eyes and staggered back a few paces, stumbling clumsily over his throne. He didn't even register the loose waves of her hair, which should have been bound tightly into the Samurai topknot, and the way it so blatantly revealed her femininity, although there were those among the court that did, and who pointed and looked aghast.

“Master look! “ one of the Shoguns advisers yelled out, “She has dishonoured us all by masquerading as a man for all this time. It cannot be tolerated!” Angry sounds of agreement rippled around the court.

“It is incredible that you have bested the ninja, you were not meant to survive!” the Shogun exclaimed, all his thought on the highly dangerous woman before him. He knew better than they did about her.

“I know, Shogun. This man, “ and she ripped the head out of the sack then, almost spitting with wrath as she spoke, “told me how you meant for me to die, just before he died,”

There was a gasp from the court then, for the head she held high was none less than the head of Master Shinkai, the Master Ninja of the most infamous school in Japan, the Shadows of Fuji. It was commonly believed he was unkillable, but here was proof that it had been done. The Shogun stared in outright horror at the head.

“I knew it was an affront to my honour when you gave me this assignment, Master, but now in my hands I have proof of your treachery,” She reached into the mouth of Master Shinkai's severed head and pulled out the Shoguns coin with her name written on the back. The ritual first payment given to a Ninja for an assassination. She threw the coin and the head to the ground and put her hand to the hilt of her sword. It pulsed in response to her anger. She raised her voice again.

“Master, I have hundreds of men travelling this way, returning, from Mount Fuji. They will arrive at the city gates within hours. Along the coast I have boatloads of Chinese mercenaries and Pirates who are but waiting for my summons. It would be wisdom for you to surrender to me now, rather than risk a war,” although it was very clear from the hard tone of her voice what she preferred.

The Shogun stared at her with wild eyes. He pointed agitatedly at her a few times, then found his voice.

“Kill her! ”

Only the true warriors stepped forward to obey the Shoguns command, the battle hardened Samurai. Everyone else shrank back. Woman or not, her reputation preceded her, and of course, she was fighting with her Chinese warrior beside her, and his reputation preceded him almost as easily.

“Which of you is willing to gamble your life on the chance that you can best me?” she asked them now, as they ranged out before her. Every face was familiar, many she had trained with, many she had fought beside and all knew full well what kind of warrior she was. Perhaps they were fooling themselves that they could beat her now that they knew she was a woman, as if that somehow weakened her. None of them replied to her, except by drawing their swords.

Seven blades, sparking with electricity and pulsing with a gentle hum. Seven blades so sharp that they could cut through rock and metal like butter, let alone flesh and bone. Seven blades, poised in the air before her, waiting to drink of her blood.

She drew her own with a soft hiss, and behind her she heard the voice of her lovers sword as he drew it. Her sword was before her, and she became one with it and it's immense power. No other weapon made across the whole Solar System could best the Samurai Blade, and no Samurai could best her. In that moment, she was the most powerful being revolving around the Sun, and those before her were about to pay with their lives for standing in the way of her wrath.

She stood her ground, her lover beside her and as one the Samurai charged at them. Their blades hissed and spat as their Electro fields ionised the air, and the men roared, focusing their ki in the ancient way.

He would remember for ever how she had appeared during that fight. Dragon fire had burned in her eyes as she waited for the Samurai to close with her, her body held in perfect stillness, like a wave in the very moment before it is about to crash. Sparks flew, reflected in her glossy black hair as dancing lights. She let her ki-ai out as she clashed blades with the first Samurai to meet her, and he rebounded, thrown back with force enough to knock him straight off his feet. Already though she was sweeping back round with her blade, slicing a second Samurai and landing a kick on a third. Blood sprayed in an arc and splashed her pale cheek with scarlet.

Then he was drawn into the fight himself, and for a few moments he lost her in the melee. Then there she was again, slicing open the back of a Samurai who was attacking him, the rage of a she-tiger radiating from her, forcing the remaining Samurai to back away.

As they stood back to back, while the Samurai circled like sharks around them, he could feel her warmth, and drew strength from it. He glanced at her, marking the stray strands of hair that were stuck to her face by the blood of their foes, feeling as much as seeing her calm and the unblinking focus in her eyes.

“What are you waiting for?” the Shogun yelled, growing impatient. Obediently the Samurai closed again, only to find that the lovers fought together like a whirlwind of blades, making it impossible for the Samurai to get close enough to mark them. Suddenly they cartwheeled in opposite directions, whirling past the Samurai and slicing the nearest ones. The lovers finished the ones they felled as they turned back to the surviviors.

From seven, only three now remained. She knelt, watching them over the bladed curve of her sword, while they watched the steady crimson trickle that fell from it. Then suddenly she leaped towards them, and with two quick cuts of her sword, only one Samurai remained. He fell a second later with her lovers sword in his back.

Then she was up and moving swiftly towards the Shogun. He screamed for his guards, but she leapt at him, grabbed him by his top knot, dragged him to the ground and put her sword blade to his throat. There were shrieks in the court, tearing apart the frightened silence that had held while they fought the Samurai.

“Stay back,” she snarled at the guards who were approaching nervously.

“I will pardon you!” the shogun gasped, desperate for his life.

“No,” she told him coldly, “You are no longer worthy to be called Master,”