The Time: Eight years ago.
Hearing a knock on the door, Mr. Brown went to answer it, expecting to find his young daughter there returning from her holiday of a lifetime, fresh of life and bursting to tell him and his wife about her time in China.
He opened it, only to find a smartly dressed man with a uniformed policeman there. "Mr. Brown? Mr. James Brown?" the man asked.
"Yes," he looked from one to the other, "what is it? Has something happened to Emma? What..."
"James, is it Emma? Come on, let her in..." Mrs. Brown's voice trailed off as she turned the corner of the hall to see three men standing stiffly at the open door.
"May we come in? I'm Smithers from the Foreign Office, this is PC Johnson, from your local police station. I'm sorry, but I do have some bad news," the smartly dressed man said.
The two men were led into the lounge where Mr. Brown poured himself and his wife a stiff Scotch. They then sat down, facing the two officials, holding hands as they waited for the man to tell them what had happened to their beloved daughter.
"I'm dreadfully sorry, Mrs. Brown, Mr. Brown, but the Chinese Embassy here in London have today informed us that Emma was killed last week whilst out walking on a nature study field trip. Apparently there was a rockfall, and her body was swept away. It is unlikely that we will ever be able to recover it. I am so dreadfully sorry," he said as the elderly couple dissolved into tears in each other's arms.
"Is there anyone we can call to come and be with you?" the policeman asked.
The couple were lost in their grief, and although the two men stayed as long as they could, nothing they could do would ever help. They did, however, arrange for Emma's brother, Dan, to return home from University to be with his parents. Over the next year, the Foreign Office did try to recover Emma's body, but the rockfall was too large.
The Time: A year later.
On the first anniversary of Emma's death, the family held a wake for her spirit. They and her friends remembered what a bright and beautiful child Emma had been. Her parents remembered her childhood and her achievements. Her fiancee remembered the feel of her waist length blonde hair, so soft and silky as he ran his hands through it. The feel of her body under his as they made gentle, passionate love in his University campus room.
Her brother remembered the satin feel of her lingerie as he packed it away for sending to a charity shop, only to keep it at his house as he could not bear to part with it. Some lonely nights, when he was feeling especially depressed, he would open up the bags and get some of the frilliest underwear out. Making sure the curtains were closed, he would dress himself in it, just to help him remember her.
Time passed, but the family never forgot their beautiful Emma. Her father carried on as normal, trying to put the loss behind him, but never succeeding. Her mother went to pieces; it is not considered natural for the parent to outlive the child, and her mind went off by itself much of the time. Who knows where it ended up, certainly not her, for she was soon committed to a hospital to be looked after so she did not cause herself harm.
Her friends and her fiancee carried on with their lives, and found new friends, as they do. For everyone, time passed fast, slow, as time always does.
The Time: Now.
The guard screamed at her, "Get up, move or I beat you again!" *
The emancipated bald woman eased her aching body up from the trail, after she'd been beaten down by the guard's rifle butt yet again.
In the years she had been at this Godforsaken hole in deepest China, she had been beaten almost every day. Her hair had been the first casualty of her imprisonment, partly because it gave the guards something to grab as they swung her around and against walls or trees, partly because of the lice that otherwise would have infested it.
She had been beaten, raped and forced to work in the base ever since she had taken a wrong turn whilst out on a nature field trip eight years ago. If only she had not spotted the convoy of missiles driving into the hidden valley, then as she tried to get a better view, slipped and rolled down the hill right up to the feet of the person who became her captor. The base Commandant, who decided that rather than have her killed out of hand, quite liked the idea of the round-eye as a servant.
After a while, the attraction of a westerner as servant and bed warmer palled, and he gave her to the base guards to do with as they pleased. The guards treated their own women no better than they treated Emma.
Emma spent much of her time washing and cleaning the base corridors, polishing the missiles even, under the watchful eyes of at least three guards. She couldn't damage the missiles, all she was allowed to wear was what was left of her exercise bra and panties. After eight years, there was not much left of them. Over these she was allowed only an old Hessian potato sack in which she was allowed to make three holes. The knife was removed from her as soon as the latest sack had the holes cut in it.
Necessity made learning sufficient Chinese to understand what the guards screamed at her an urgent requirement. Luckily, the Commandant spoke a little English, and so was unwittingly able to help Emma learn quickly.
Walking past the base kitchen, Emma could smell the delicious aroma of freshly baked bread wafting out of the rear window. She paused to take a deep breath of the savory smell, which is when the guard clubbed her for stopping.
"You bastard, I wish that somehow, you and all the other animals here would get what you all deserve! I just wish to God I could see that before I die!" Emma spat out, with the blood from her internal injuries. She managed to spit the bloody saliva far enough to reach the guard's uniform.
He looked down at his crisp uniform, now stained by the round-eye's blood, and raised his rifle above his head, tensing to drive the butt into Emma's skull, ending her life.
Well, that was his intention, but when the very air in front of the couple lit up as if a searchlight had been turned on, he changed his mind and stood and stared at what could only be described as a door opening. A door made of light, suspended in midair.
The two watched in awe as a very tall man (?) stepped though the doorway and stood in front of them. As he did so, the door faded away, and they could see that he must have been about seven foot tall and dressed in white robes, a bit like those you see in old movies set in Rome, around the time of Caesar or Ben Hur.
The guard unfroze from his surprise first, and raised his rifle to his shoulder to shoot the intruder. The rifle vanished as the tall man waved his arm. The guard stood for a moment, looking at his empty arms, then raised his alarm whistle to his lips and blew, but nothing happened, no sound, no more movement from the guard, just the panting from Emma could be heard.
Emma looked up, and up, at the very tall man in front of her, scared beyond belief, yet, somehow, she knew that she was safe, that this man would not hurt her, that no one here would ever hurt her again.
He offered Emma his hand, and smiled gently, his eyes almost glowing with power, it seemed.
She took it gingerly, as if to make sure he was real. He was. He helped her to her feet, where to stood shaking with fear and cold as she looked at him, then at the guard, whistle against his lips, cheeks puffed out as if he had been frozen in the act of blowing his whistle.
"What happened, why is, erm...who are you?" she whispered.
The guard just looked on, able to hear and understand the words although he spoke no English, but unable to move a muscle.
"I am Janus," the tall stranger rumbled in a voice like thunder. "I am a God, and you called me with a valid summons by a portal of power. You would know it as the back of a bakery, by the way. I am here to put things right, with you, and with the abomination that is happening here, but first, let me see if I cannot help you recover your dignity and health."
Emma watched in awe at this nut who thought he was a God, for Heaven's sake, wave his hand at her, then could hardly believe her own eyes as a soft golden glow enveloped her body and she felt her broken bones and old injuries healing themselves. Her skin once again became silky smooth and lost it's skeletal, pallid appearance as her flesh once again glowed with vitality and health. She felt, more than saw, her blonde hair grow once more until it regained its original waist length, silky and clean! Her clothes changed as the tattered remnants of her underwear became the latest fashion wonder bra, cupping her once again 38D breasts. The matching panties replaced the scraps that had given her such little modesty these last eight years. She now wore frilly purple lacy panties and bra,
and the potato sack became a lacy black chemise over which appeared a very fetching satin blouse and short black mini skirt, hugging curves that she had not seen for many years.
The rags on her feet became a pair of barely black tights and a perfectly fitted pair of black knee high boots with sedate two-inch heels. As the glow faded, Emma felt herself and realized that this big guy was no loony, he was the real thing, what he said he was, an actual God!
She turned to thank him, but Janus simply raised his hand to stop her. "We are not finished yet, Emma, now for the guards!" he said. As he turned to the guard, still standing frozen, his faced seemed to change, to {flicker} and became much more cruel. Now the cruel Janus was dominant. The same face looked on the guard as had looked on Emma, but the guard was afraid, very afraid, and he should be.
"As for you and your kind, things are going to change, and change completely! You all mistreat and abuse your women, and if they complain, you beat them to within an inch of their lives. Well, no more! As I will it, you will (pause) CHANGE!"
As Janus spoke these last few words, a golden glow settled over the entire base, whilst a matching silver glow settled over the guards' quarters, where their women were housed. Screams could be heard from all over the base as the male guards found themselves shrinking and changing. They all lost up to six inches in height and their bodies slimmed down slightly, for they were already quite slight in build.
The crewcuts sprouted hair which cascaded down to at least their shoulders. The loudest screams were heard from the showers area as the guards there could see their penises and scrotums dwindling and disappearing up inside their crotches, as vaginas formed in their place. Not to mention their chests, which now sported dainty bosoms more fitting their position in life, as wives and lovers of the base guards.
The women, on the other hand, found themselves growing at least six inches in height, while they grew penises and testicles and lost their breasts. Their bodies bulked out a little, and their hair shortened to that of a regulation army haircut.
Emma watched all of this happening to the guard in front of her, and smiled for she knew that the new males would take great delight in getting their revenge on the old males, now their women. Revenge for many years of abuse that they had suffered.
"HEAR ME!" Janus's voice thundered over the entire base. "LEAVE THIS AREA NOW! YOU HAVE FIVE MINUTES BEFORE I DESTROY THIS ABOMINATION!"
He turned to the terrified ex-guard in front of him and {flicker} said quietly, "Run!"
She did!
"Now, Emma," said the kinder face of Janus, "shall we go find a vantage point so you can watch as I destroy this place, then return you to your family?"
"Oh, yes please, erm...Sir," she replied.
"Janus is fine." With that, Emma found herself high up the mountain overlooking the base that had been her home, or hell, for so many years.
Janus watched as the ex-guards were pushed along in front of the ex-wives and {flicker} allowed himself a small smile of satisfaction.
"All clear, let this place be wiped from the face of the Earth, let no mortal ever gain access to these weapons of biological destruction again!" he intoned and, with a gesture that seemed to encompass the entire valley, he brought his hands together as if making a circle.
As his fingers touched, a great wall of earth sprang up from the land and soared to the skies, hanging suspended for a moment, then it crashed down on top of the now empty base, crushing every missile and silo, all the buildings and tunnels to smithereens. Then there was a rumbling as part of the mountain itself slid down on top of the remnants of the base. Finally, Janus was satisfied. No mortal would be able to access those missiles or germs again.
He turned to Emma, and wrapping his arm around her shoulder, said, "Ready to go home, child?"
Tears in her eyes, Emma could only nod.
Moments later they stood outside Emma's parents' house. She turned to the God beside her. She had to ask him one major question. "Why did you wait for so many years before helping me? Why did I have to suffer so much at the hands of those sadistic bastards?" She was nearly in tears again, with rage this time.
"Child, I can only help when I am summoned. Today, you summoned me by a portal of power. I do not, I cannot come otherwise. Well, not as a rule, but that's another story (The J-Files: A Christmas Tale)."
"Oh," Emma said in a very small voice, not overly comforted with the explanation, but who can argue with a God?
"Now, go, knock on the door, greet your father," Janus prompted.
With a glance up at the visage of the God beside her, Emma moved to the door and knocked. When she turned around, there was no sign of Janus, just the final spot of light marking the closure of the doorway of light as he exited our dimension.
The door in front of Emma opened, and a man old before his time looked out. "Yes, young lady, what do you want?" his voice trailed off as Mr. Brown stopped and took a closer look at the young beauty standing before him, just before she threw herself at him, wrapping him in her arms.
"Daddy!" He could just make the word out through her tears and his shock as he realized that a miracle had occurred. Somehow, his beloved daughter had come home. How, he didn't know, if only his wife could have been here to see their Emma, alive and home at last.
Just then, the phone in the hallway started to ring.
Although they didn't answer it then, it would ring again a little later. It would be the hospital, calling to say that Mrs. Brown had come out of her manic depression and was, unbelievable as it may sound, sane and ready for release.
'A second miracle,' was all that Mr. Brown could think.
=====================
"Well, brother, quite an enjoyable episode, wouldn't you say?" Janus asked himself.
{flicker} "Indeed, a lost child returned to her parents. And both the parents returned to the child."
{flicker} "Yes, and the guards are now getting a taste of what they dealt out to their women all these years. Also, the destruction of their germ warfare missiles. When will these mortals learn, only God has the power, and the right, to cleanse the world and start again."
{flicker} "Indeed."
==================
The end.
* Where the language used is Chinese, I have taken the liberty to translate to English so as to make easier reading, please excuse the poor lip-sync (;-)
