The writer gives life to a story, the reader keeps it alive.
Alexand follows the woman, whose name is Ehri, to the outskirts of the village, to where a pathway leads up a steady incline, the entrance of Bogd Khan Uul National Park.
Mr Ash walks the corridors of Anum Anzeti’s castle and approaches the Time Maintenance Library in search of the illusive General’s Guild Master.
Lord Anum Anzeti waits in his Presentation Room as Mr Ash approaches.
Despite it being two o’clock in the morning, Katherine hammers on Jay’s cabin door, after her encounter with the family who claim she is responsible for saving their daughter. Katherine needs answers. (This issue is dedicated to Rainbow Railroad, a charity set up in Canada to enable people from the LGBTQI community to escape from persecution and relocate to safer countries.)
The Guild Master’s General returns Katherine to the safety of the Kyuunansen ship, after showing her a future world, which resembled heaven. (This issue is dedicated to my dad, Eric Moore, who died 25 years ago today, the day after my 21st Birthday. Alexand and Heyem were (or will be) born on 2nd December, so this day represents both death and life. Love outlasts death.)
Inajda watches helplessly and with quiet fascination as Professor Sumian conducts a procedure to determine whether Alexand’s baby is also immune to the ageing process.
Alexand is nervous to reveal what she learnt about her father’s death to Inajda, especially in front of Anesidor Sumian, but she takes courage in the fact they are both senior members of the resistance.
Professor Sumian analyses the bugs found inside Alexand’s house and metal finger.
Inajda is one of the few people who has been granted access to Anesidor Sumian’s Transient Laboratory. She and Alexand materialise inside the laboratory, hoping to find Anesidor Sumian.
The Guild Master’s General takes Katherine with him to a place she’s visited once before. To a future cloned earth, where the people of the original earth have fled or are taken after they die.
The Guild Master’s General had transported Katherine from the cart, and both of them watch from a distance, phased between matter and energy, so that Xan and Edith, and the unsuspecting Eric cannot see they are witnesses to Eric’s poisoning.
Eric made his way to a café as soon as he arrived in Kolkata and sat on a table with a cup of tea, watching the people walk past.
Georges De Somme is aware that it won’t be long before Filius Anderson realises it is he who is funding the Katherine’s Bullet program. Georges has stopped attending functions and has barricaded himself into his mansion. There is a forcefield around the perimeter which prevents Amanojuko being able to teleport in. He is now trapped, along with his wife Kavita.
Filius Anderson has placed a bug into Colonel Merek’s mechanical index finger and has been monitoring her conversations. He is pleasantly surprised to learn that her prodigal mother, Inajda Rekaya has re appeared, and is in fact an undercover enemy agent.
With the disturbing news that Lord Filius Anderson is interested in the genetics of her late husband’s family, Inajda’s thoughts immediately settled on the safety of her daughters, Heyem and Alexand. She left the Prison of Souls, reached the base of the mountain in Antarctica and transported herself to Saskatoon, to meet Alexand, to speak with and warn her daughter about the Amanojuko threat.
Alexand brought Heyem back to her apartment in Hong Kong, along with a doctored writer, in case Helga Ritter returned. Heyem sits alone, watching herself in her bedside mirror, unable to feel safe in her own home. She has bolted her door and hasn’t been outside since Alex left.
Inajda walks the corridors of Atlantis alongside Grace O’Malley, an ancient Irish warrior Queen, who Inajda knows little about, besides her legend, even though they have been colleagues for decades.
Abouna Panak has used his writer to travel to Alexand’s village in Yunnan and materialises inside her uncle’s house.
Antun was relieved when Alexand walked with him to the barn, and he was able to show her the grave robber, he captured stealing her father’s body.
Antun Rekaya has been quite shaken up by his niece Alexand’s recent high-profile announcement, against an invisible enemy, that she believes responsible for infecting her with that virus. Antun remembers being taken from his own home as a boy, in Russia, and seeing his parents murdered. He has a very bad feeling that history is about to repeat itself, as it is rumoured that the people responsible for annexing Russia are these Amanojuko fundamentalists. Antun has been guarding his children obsessively, to the point of madness.
Alexand turns to the one man she thinks can help her protect her family from the Amanojuko threat. She knocks on the door of Field Marshal Panak’s office, not expecting him to answer, as she has not been given an appointment.
Lord Filius Anderson has intensified the Amanojuko agenda, creating more positions of power for sleeper agents, and rich socialites funding his secret regime, guaranteeing them immortality leading up to his takeover in 4006.
Helga Ritter, disguised as a Swedish tourist called Elsa, and a former one night stand of Heyem’s, waits as the last of Heyem’s students leaves the lecture theatre.
Heyem has been back lecturing for two months and has grown increasingly tired of people recognising her as the identical twin sister of the semi-famous Colonel Merek. Heyem has just about finished a two-hour lecture on women’s empowerment through media, and has been unable to avoid questions being hurled at her about her sister.
Lord Anderson has instructed that in order to compensate for Katherine’s Bullet, and the failure of the virus to eradicate degenerates and rebels, more asylum ships have been commissioned, and set to sea. They are being filled with those previously infected by the virus, homosexuals, the mentally ill, the disabled and military rebels. He materialises on board his maiden ship, to consort with Helga Ritter.
Lord Filius Anderson has personally followed Alexand around, ever since she exposed the Amanojuko live in front of the world. He has camped out in the woods near Alexand’s house, and is currently observing her and her husband as they sit on a flat roof having dinner. He has planted bugs all over their cabin, and is listening into their conversation. He is waiting for the perfect opportunity to make Colonel Merek ‘disappear’, as she has caused great damage to the safety of his vision for a new world order.
Alex has been rather secretive since she returned back from Georges De Somme’s mansion, but Jarad is pleasantly surprised as she has invited him up onto the flat roof of their house. There is a table and a candlelit dinner, (which he believes she has had delivered from a nearby takeaway as she is an appalling cook.)
Georges De Somme was so impressed by Alexand’s commitment to his daughter’s legacy, he felt compelled to meet with her. He walks down his marble staircase and without the aid of his guards, waits for her to knock at his mansion door.
Alexand used her writer to transport herself to the gates of Georges De Somme’s mansion. The last time she was here she attempted to plead with him to help save Katherine’s life, and was beaten up and sent back to Saskatoon by his guards. With mixed emotions, she approaches the gates and talks into the intercom.
Alexand and Jarad returned home, back to Jarad’s house, which is in the middle of the woods. There are no other houses for miles, which was ideal for Alexand, as she sees it as a retreat from her stressful military life. She can be part of two worlds, whist remaining blissfully outside of both. She and Jarad have spent the night making love, as they have done every night, since they returned from Hong Kong. (Please be warned this issue contains some scenes, some readers may find offensive. If so then you may prefer to read issue # 344: Jay and Ali where Katherine gets her cloned cat back.)
From the safety of his castle, behind the walls entombing Russia, Lord Filius Anderson watches another live press report, from the Katherine’s Bullet news story. (This issue is dedicated to the truly brilliant Toni Morrison 1931-2019.)
Alexand, to make a point, has arranged to donate one of her mechanical eyes to a fifteen-year-old girl, who has lost her sight, and has no access to proper after care. As Katherine’s Bullet is still one of the top stories in the news, Alex has arranged for the press to schedule live reports of the operation, keeping the fifteen-year-old girl’s identity secret, out of respect. One very rich man, Georges De Somme, looks on from his study, as a familiar name is mentioned.
Alexand hasn’t the resources left to deal with Jarad’s emotional demands. She is beginning to suspect he is more damaged than she can cope with. He has been needy and possessive and has tried to encroach in her private thoughts. She has to deal with a very demanding role as colonel, and in order to do her duty, she has shut Jarad off, and wishes he wasn’t so insufferably needy.
Jarad spent the morning looking for Alexand, as they had argued the night before and he knew that she had hidden from him. He found her in the military camp, administering the vaccine. It has only been a day since their honeymoon, but desperate to keep her, and frightened of rejection he sits next to her, to help administer the antidote to the infected.
The Guild Master’s General did not return Katherine to the Kyuunansen after her encounter with Alexand. He didn’t reprimand her, or anything remotely like it, but simply walked beside her, towards a little hut in the deserts of Sudan. (3939)
Gianti Dincrind transports herself back to the Floating Asylum Ship, where she presents the sample of Alexand Merek’s blood to Helga Ritter.
Gianti Dincrind has sneaked into the queue for the women’s toilets, and is three people behind Colonel Merek. She has assessed with the aid of her writer, that Colonel Merek is menstruating, and therefore acquiring her blood to test for antibodies, will be easier than first thought.
Alexand returns to the army vehicle she arrived in, sits in the driver’s seat, watching people walk past, from behind the safety of the glass, after her very short honeymoon ended. She and Jarad had argued over why she wouldn’t talk to him about crying on the banks of the river. Jarad stormed off, leaving Alexand to become Colonel Merek again.
Gianti has waited all day and into the evening for any trace of Colonel Merek. The military has packed up their relief mission for the night, and the queues of people have been turned away until the morning. Finally, Colonel Merek appeared from the same doorway her sister emerged from that morning. Gianti followed her towards some army tents attempting to keep a low profile.
Katherine ignored the Guild Master’s General’s warning and could not resist touching Alexand, whilst phased between energy and corporeality.
Heyem has spent two hours working with the military relief team, injecting victims of the Amanojuko’s secret project, with the antidote. She has been assigned to a tent which deals with the more obviously infected patients. It was arranged that patients be split into groups depending on the severity of their symptoms. This group of patients are symptomatic, some almost as sick as Alexand had been, before she was cured. Heyem is having a tough time dealing with all the suffering.
After their new year’s celebrations, and an impromptu marriage, Heyem, Alexand and Jarad ended up sleeping in Heyem’s apartment. Heyem is slumped still sleeping in her chair, with Alex and Jarad unconscious in her bed. Alex is the first to wake up, disorientated and hung over.
It’s New Year’s Eve, and after being deployed in Hong Kong for a week, Alexand and Jarad are celebrating the coming of the New Year, along with Heyem. They are taking a break from their relief mission for an evening, and are out in Hong Kong, enjoying the city. They have been to many bars and clubs, and all three are quite drunk. Alex has been overly affectionate towards Jarad, as the three of them parade around the outside night market.
Gianti Dincrind, a research scientist on board one of the many Floating Asylum ships, observes the behaviour of the captive rebels inside the holding cells. She and her colleagues have just been informed about the failure of ‘Project Ghost Ship,’ on the mainland, and so have been instructed to accelerate their research on board the Floating Asylum ships.
It’s nearly New Year’s Eve, and Jarad has attempted to make Alex feel at home. She has re materialised her piano, which is now positioned in the centre of his living room. Her clothes are in his wardrobe, alongside his and he helps her place her books next to his in his very large bookcase.
After three more weeks on Christmas Island, recovering, Alexand is now fit for duty, and has returned to her army base in Saskatoon, India.
Heyem is furious with Alex, that she hasn’t listened to her warning about sleeping with Jarad. She is more upset about Alex’s rejection of her. She has decided to pack her possessions and intends to ask Inajda to take her off the Island back to Hong Kong.
The news of a cure came a day before Alexand and Heyem’s twenty-fifth birthday. As Heyem is soon to leave the island to go back to her career, and Alex is almost recovered enough to return to the army, Heyem is looking for her twin, outside on the beach, as she wishes to celebrate a day she thought they’d never share.
Alex presses her hands against the exit door, anxious to get outside onto the beach.
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.
Alexand is being haunted by the ghost of Baio-Yujia Sun
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 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.
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.
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 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.
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.
