The writer gives life to a story, the reader keeps it alive.
Katherine, Ajeeta Kothari and Jay Varma work together to identify the virus responsible for infecting members of the resistance, and to analyse both Alexand, Katherine and Juba Apfvarzian’s blood, to isolate their immunity, to find a cure.
Alexand was given more surgery to reverse the temporary procedures tying her to her bed, and has spent a week recovering. She is now supposed to walk with the aid of a nurse, but is still connected to the gene therapy drip, repairing her damaged internal organs. She is taking a walk, without her nurse, down one of the many long corridors in the army base, but Abouna Panak intercepts her to give her some unexpected news.
Helga Ritter has continued her bio-weapons project in the safety of a floating asylum ship, far away from any of the resistance. She has begun to rebuild her life’s work, acquiring test subjects, deemed potentially dangerous to the Amanojuko vision of a New World Order. (This issue is dedicated to Stan Lee, who will live forever in his characters and the universe he has created.)
Katherine has had five blissful uninterrupted weeks on her own, working in her laboratory. She has even made a makeshift bed on the chair, so as not to be disturbed by anyone, anywhere on the Kyuunansen, as she struggles tirelessly with her research into the Amanojuko’s virus.
Heyem told Jarad all about Alex seeing the Ghost of Baio-Yujia, and so Jarad made his way straight to her hospital bed to be with her, using this as a good excuse to visit.
Alexand is being haunted by the ghost of Baio-Yujia Sun
Abouna waited impatiently for Alexand to explain why she didn’t want to invest her inheritance in his war. Alexand, although shocked by the revelation, and by the amount she has inherited, is happy to tell him exactly what she plans to do with the money from Katherine’s trust fund.
Alexand is alone in her hospital room, attempting to come to terms with her survival.
It has been over a month since future Alexand returned Katherine to the Kyuunansen, and disappeared seconds later, without saying goodbye. Katherine is missing her version of Alex, and sits with the machine she used to send recordings to her parents. This time the recording is for Alex.
Alexand is wired up to many observation machines, and so remains in her bed. She takes the mirror, and reluctantly holds it up to her face. (Congratulations to the LGBT community in India for the Supreme Court ruling to decriminalise same sex relationships.)
Doctor Azizi managed to empty the hospital ward of Alexand’s family, so that he could brief her on what has happened to her whilst she was unconscious.
A month has passed and Alexand was sedated to aid in her recovery from heart surgery. The sedatives are wearing off, and she begins to hear voices. (This issue is dedicated to my son, Sam, who is 18 today. Happy Birthday, Sammy, one of the few people who are as real to me as my characters.)
Abouna Panak has seen the future and the past, yet he is still quietly upset at seeing Lieutenant Colonel Merek’s condition. He stands at the back of the room as her family stand at her bedside, waiting to hear her prognosis from Doctor Azizi.
Inajda contacted Field Marshall Panak, and he arranged for Alexand to be taken to Christmas Island to be assessed. Alex lays unconscious in the sick bay, with Heyem, Inajda and Jarad waiting anxiously outside for news.
Katherine, equipped with dark glasses and a determined stride, makes her way towards her brand new laboratory.
Katherine has grown impatient and as the fifth day of her recovery approaches, post-surgery, she is curious to peek out of her bandages, to find out if she can see properly, and more importantly, gain access to her laboratory. (This story is dedicated to my mum, as it is her birthday very soon. My mum, Barbara, is one of the kindest, wisest, warmest, happiness-inducing and funniest people I have ever known, and as some readers know, Alexand Merek is very loosely based on her, although Mum would probably disagree. Happy Birthday Mum, I love you so much xxx)
Katherine is recovering from her operation, in her apartment. She has been ordered not to remove the bandages on her eyes for seven days, to allow the nerves to heal. The technology, which is being used to repair her sight, is beyond anything allowed outside the ship, and Katherine is impatient and curious to learn more, when she recovers. However her thoughts drift towards Alexand, and the cure promised by Katherine’s future self. She lies in her bed, imagining Alexand next to her. This story celebrates the Eight year Anniversary of Unbound Boxes on wordpress. Eight years ago I very nervously let go of Issue # 1: Alexand Merek, not knowing how she would be received. Thank you to everyone who has supported her and my other characters over these eight short years.
It is time for Katherine to undergo the operation to restore her eyesight. She has insisted on being conscious, as her curiosity about the advanced science outweighs any fear.
Alex hasn’t been able to speak or move for the past few weeks. She is rapidly declining, and her doctor has predicted she only has a few weeks left. Inajda and Heyem sit at her bedside, unable to do anything. Heyem sits opposite, after Inajda retrieved her from Hong Kong, warning her that Alex was close to death.
Katherine has spent the past few weeks under Ajeeta Kothari’s strict rehabilitation programme, and her recovery has accelerated. She has been waiting to undergo an operation to restore her eyesight. There is a day to go, and she is getting impatient. (This issue is dedicated to Margot Kidder, one of my childhood heroes. You always were and will ever be the best, the funniest, gutsiest, most unpredictably brilliant and warmest, Lois Lane.)
Filius Anderson and Helga Ritter are conducting a social experiment into Juba Apfvarzian’s reaction to being observed.
Juba Apfvarzian moves around Mogadishu, to escape from some very suspicious people, who seem to be observing him from a distance. He has spent a few good months at peace, without feeling followed, has even met a girl, called Lucy, and they are living together. He performs street magic to make money. They’re happy, and everything is going well with his life, until he gets that feeling of being watched again.
Alexand’s condition is rapidly deteriorating. The nature of her illness is cyclical, and degenerative, and her doctor has given her the maximum dose of Katherine’s inhibitor, to try to stabilise her.
Katherine returned to her apartment to attempt to digest all the events of the past few hours on board the Kyuunansen. She is alone, with her cat, getting acquainted with him, contemplating her future on the ship, and the prospect of a drug, which reverses the ageing process.
An hour later, Jay and Katherine sit in a very empty bar, attempting to make sense of the shrinking world outside the ship.
Jay was one of the first asylum seekers to be rescued and brought to the Kyuunansen. He is relieved to see a familiar face on board the ship, and although it’s been a few days since he met Katherine De Somme again, he is eager to re connect, as it’s quite lonely being one of the only passengers on a very large ship, travelling the ocean, with no prospect of seeing land again.
Lord Anderson takes Lady Ritter to see how far his Floating Asylum project has advanced (whilst she was absent, conducting Project Ghost Ship.)
The Amanojuko are growing a fleet of asylum ships, floating laboratories, designed to conduct experiments on humans, in safety. Lord Anderson materialises on board one of these vessels, accompanied by his prodigy, Helga Ritter. She already has a laboratory on board, but he plans to reward her for rescuing him, by giving her a floating asylum of her very own.
Ajeeta Kothari escorts Katherine towards her shared laboratory, where research is being conducted into cloning, which has been illegalised on the mainland, by Amanojuko infiltrators within the governments around the world. Although Katherine remains suspicious of Kothari, Samira Ganesh has assessed she poses no threat to Kothari, and has left them to walk alone together towards the cloning lab.
After defecting to the resistance, and being given asylum on board the Kyuunansen, by President Asenath Bomani, Ajeeta Kothari was invited to work as part of a team of scientists developing cloning technology. Cloning had been illegalised in the shrinking world outside this ship. Ajeeta Kothari has been instructed to wait for her first patient, who arrived this afternoon.
Samira Ganesh leads Katherine from the High Council Chamber, past the laboratory wing, but doesn’t show her inside.
Future Katherine takes Inajda to Nan Ha, to be with a very ill Alexand. Katherine watches from the trees, as Inajda makes her way down into the village, towards her brother’s house. Inajda turns around just in time to see Katherine dematerialise back to her future world.
After his release from Alexand Merek’s writer, Lord Anderson returned to the Amanojuko capital city, The Highest Ranks of Separation, to re-evaluate his agenda. He walks the art gallery, studying great works of art, which have been procured from the wealthy elites desperate to buy immortality. (Featured paintings are by John Martin: The Great Day of His Wrath 1851-53 and The Last Judgement 1853)
After a month of overseeing Katherine’s rehabilitation, Inajda has been left behind, wondering where future Anesidor has taken her friend. She has been accompanied by the mysterious future version of Katherine, who seems to have an agenda for her as well.
Katherine is lead into a great chamber, with a gigantic circular table at the back. There are robed officials around the table, and they are flanked by thousands of warriors in similar battle dress to Samira Ganesh.
The ethereal Samira Ganesh escorts Katherine down a grand marble corridor. The ship seems quite empty, but there are a few straggling people, occasionally signalling their welcome to a new face on board. (This issue is dedicated to all those rebels who fight injustice in society, particularly the women who won the vote 100 years ago. Without them, and those who followed, I would not be in a position to see a future world inhabited by such strong and uninhibited women.)
Katherine has spent the past few minutes exploring her new apartment, but there is a knock at the door.
Alexand managed to persuade Doctor Azizi to disconnect her from the wires, and remove the sedative drugs. He has hooked her up to a mobile drip, which feeds Katherine’s inhibitor into her bloodstream at regular intervals. Her Uncle Antun helps her into the living room.
Professor Sumian takes Katherine through electromagnetic energy waves, using her writer. They land on a ship, which is called the Kyuunansen. A rescue boat, housing two thousand rebels, and a race of warriors, called the Kyo-Ashita.
Alexand wakes up, but can’t move, her body is heavy and she’s alone. (Happy New Year)
The very practical Inajda, who has been helping her get stronger, has speeded up Katherine’s rehabilitation. The day has arrived, for Katherine to be taken to the sanctuary, by future Anesidor Sumian, safely away from the reach of the Amanojuko.
Jarad returned to Nan Ha and spent the next few days sitting beside Alex, as she lay unconscious, trying to think of ways to tell her about Lord Anderson’s escape. (Thank you to everyone who has read these stories this year. I now measure time through releasing them, so this year has disappeared very quickly. Happy Christmas and best wishes for 2018)
Jarad ran away from Helga Ritter, towards the last room in the hotel, and stepped inside the wardrobe, in an attempt to hide from the approaching Amanojuko. She has been pacing up and down the room, attempting to figure out where he is.
Jarad finally made it to the grounds of the hotel, in which Alexand hid Lord Anderson. He wades through the hot springs, towards the hotel entrance, but has a creepy feeling someone is following him, as he climbs out of the water and walks up the steps.
Helga Ritter materialises inside the bedroom, and walks towards a sleeping Alexand Merek.
Helga Ritter travelled to the capital of Yunnan, Kunming, to the Provincial Records Office, where she hopes to find where Alexand Merek was born.
Alexand attempted to follow Jarad, despite being blind, but ended up collapsing by the doorway. She lay there, staring at the darkness, unable to move, calling out for someone to help her. Her cousin Toreth came, and carried Alex back into her bed, then called for Doctor Azizi. He sedated her and she has spent the night sleeping. She has woken again and insisted the doctor help her get out of bed. Doctor Azizi has spent the past few minutes scolding her for ignoring his advice.
Helga Ritter materialises in the East of Yunnan, where most of the habitable villages are. She has a great task ahead of her, but her writer will aid in locating the elusive Lieutenant Colonel Merek, and more importantly save Lord Anderson from whatever diabolical fate has currently been forced upon him.
Jarad couldn’t stand waiting and watching Alexand get sicker. He has spent the past few hours on the train from Yunnan to the Guangxi Mountains. He is now walking towards, Longsheng, where the writer full of potential cures for Alex’s illness has been hidden. All he has to do is release the containers without releasing Lord Anderson. He has brought his toy writer along too, so that he can transfer them to it.
Helga Ritter has been listening to Heyem’s thoughts for the past couple of hours.
Alex wasn’t well enough to get out of bed, but she had been visited by most of her family once the news of her being awake spread. It’s night time now, and the last of the visitors left half an hour ago. Alex is exhausted, but quietly happy, knowing her family accept her. Jarad has been by her side for the past half an hour, reading to her.
Helga Ritter, disguised as a Swedish tourist, called Elsa, waits for a very drunken Heyem Merek to fall asleep. She is beginning to suspect that Heyem has no idea where Lord Anderson is, but as Heyem begins to snore, softly; Helga digs her way into her uncensored thoughts.
Despite having remembered all the events previously erased by Future Anesidor Sumian, (the death of Farokh, and the fact Inajda came to Katherine to retrieve an inhibitor to slow Alexand’s illness) Inajda has been convinced that staying with Katherine is the best option. They are waiting for future Katherine to show up, with a future version of Alexand, and the promised cure for their Alexand’s illness.
Helga Ritter sits in a lesbian bar drinking wine with Heyem Merek, in an attempt to extract information from her, regarding the whereabouts of Lord Anderson.
Heyem has been very depressed since she got back home to Hong Kong. She has received no news about Alex, and is deeply worried about her sister. She has not heard from Inajda, and Alex hasn’t returned to her military base. Heyem has continued with her life, but has grown more despondent. She has taken to drinking, to attempt to suppress her emotions. After her lecture is over, she heads out into the city, to a bar, to get drunk and perhaps pick up a woman.
Helga Ritter has spent the past two weeks searching the world for any trace of Lord Anderson. She has visited many places, starting in India, reading the minds of humans, who are close to Alexand Merek. Family and friends and army colleagues, even Field Marshal Abouna Panak had no though in his head about the whereabouts of Lord Anderson. Helga isn’t giving up. She has learnt that Heyem Merek is back teaching at Hong Kong University, and so dressed in cognito, Helga creeps into one of Heyem’s lectures, and sits quietly at the back of the room.
Antun Rekaya has turned his youngest son’s bedroom into a hospital room for Alexand. Alex hasn’t woken, since she arrived, because Doctor Azizi has sedated her in an attempt to stabilise her. Jarad hasn’t left her bedside for two weeks.
Inajda wakes up, after being ambushed by a future version of Katherine De Somme. (Read Afterlife Part 3) Her version of Katherine is not in the shack, and as Inajda hunts around, she begins to remember things, previously wiped from her memory, like the death of Farokh, and Alex’s decline.
Jarad had helped Alexand to walk away from Lord Anderson’s tomb, and heavily disguised, the two of them caught the train home, towards the village they grew up in. After leaving the train, Alex is finding it harder to walk, but she is too stubborn to let Jarad carry her. The village is a mile away, and Jarad is getting nervous.
Helga Ritter has orchestrated the rescue of Amanojuko lords and ladies, from the ruins of the city. She has rounded up guards from all over the Russian peninsula, to aid her. But the most important Amanojuko is missing.
As darkness falls outside the hotel, Alex lays in bed, unable to sleep.
Helga Ritter, second in charge after Lord Anderson, watches from a distance, as the Amanojuko factory crumbles. A trail of survivors emerges, but they are mostly socialites. A few Amanojuko have not been buried, including the ringmaster and the pianist. She walks towards them, has to override Lord Anderson’s plans, as she senses he is gone. (Thank you to everyone who has contributed to this journey over the past seven years. The writer gives life to a story, but the reader keeps it alive.)
Alexand and Jarad head towards the last room in the hotel, where Alex promises a solution to the problem of hiding Lord Anderson. (Thank you to everyone who has joined Alex on her journey these past seven years. To celebrate issue 300 and seven years on wordpress, Part 1 is released today and part 2 of the anniversary special will be released on Sunday 25th June, exactly seven years to the day of the first release back in 2010.)
Jarad follows Alexand towards the creepy hotel, in which she is planning to hide the captured body and soul of Lord Filius Anderson.
Jarad follows Alexand towards the ruins of an old hotel, as she attempts to hide the writer with Lord Anderson trapped inside.
Alex takes Jarad to a hideout deep in the Guangxi Mountains, in China, where she plans to hide the writer, containing Lord Filius Anderson.
Anesidor Sumian has been shown the future, by the mysterious Asenath Bomani.
Heyem finds herself standing outside Hong Kong University, still dressed in her Amanojuko clothing. The writer she held in her hand has stopped working, and as she tries to fix it, it disintegrates. (For those of you with delicate minds, please forgive Heyem for what she is about to say. If you are easily offended by swearing please be warned Heyem is rather angry, and you may prefer to read another story, on one of her happier days. Maybe this one?)
Lord Filius Anderson has discovered Alexand’s infiltration attempt.
Lord Filius Anderson can read minds. He has been reticent to interfere with Alexand Merek’s quest. He is going to have some fun at her expense, before he exposes her and her little group of soldiers and prevents them from leaving the city.
Alexand and her group are being shown around the catacomb, which houses Project Ghost Ship. Alex is finding it increasingly difficult to remain objective.
Ichitumbu Jalhavi was one of the first Amanojuko. He walks the grounds of the Lowest Ranks of Separation looking for something beautiful to paint.
As they walk the corridor, the guard begins talking about the Amanojuko proposals for the new world order, making Heyem shiver with the horror of it. (Thank you to Siddiqui Fayesal for interviewing me. You can see the first part of the Interview with a writer, on his website, “Ho Hum… Well we’re going to die anyway!“)
Alex has a writer full of potential cures, and needs to get her group out of the facility, unnoticed by the guard. This means remaining with the socialites for a few hours longer, to avoid suspicion. (A note from the author: Fight fascism. Never give up on hope and love and a future where everyone is treated with respect, dignity and equality.)
Alexand waits in hiding, for the Amanojuko scientists to leave the laboratory.
Alex follows the Amanojuko scientists into their laboratory, hoping she will discover the cure inside.
Alexand is making her way to the laboratory wing, inside the Amanojuko factory, in the hope the cure can be found there. She has an invisibility shield around her, enabling her to avoid detection, however she has reached a section of corridor, which is out of bounds to the socialites, and as the corridor gets darker, there are cries, and scratching noises from the rooms the other side.
Present day Anesidor Sumian has cut off all communication with Inajda, since she discovered tracking devices on Katherine and Alexand. She has severed links with the Indian resistance, whilst she re evaluates safety precautions. She doesn’t mind being alone. She has spent time researching the best combinations of location, to travel to, in order to avoid being captured by the Amanojuko tracking devices. Unfortunately this means that no one in the resistance can find her either, save one.
Since Katherine’s death, Alexand has bigger plans for the fate of this factory. She has memorised the layout, and knows where all the corridors lead. She chooses her moment to fade out of focus, using her writer to disappear, so that she hovers between matter and electro magnetic energy.
Inside the Amanojuko factory, the entertainment has stopped, and the guests are being shown through the doors, leading down to the lower chambers. Heyem is doing her very best to remain in character.
