The writer gives life to a story, the reader keeps it alive.
After being ordered by her present sister, Guild Master Merek, to ‘baby sit’ a past version of Heyem, future Alexand accompanies Heyem to Hong Kong, alongside their grandmother, General Edith MehXian (See Issue # 565: Guardian Angels Part 4)
Five hours have passed, and the last of the asylum victims have been taken to the Cloning hospital on Civil earth, to be assessed and given citizen status on the new world. Future Alexand watches with Katherine as Floating Asylum ship One is dematerialised to a quarantine area on Martial earth, where the Guild Masters, and her twin sister, Heyem will no doubt perform a full autopsy on it and on the experiments in Helga Ritter’s laboratory. (Happy New Year!)
Heyem is still in a state of shock, after the attack, and has discovered that she not only has two unlikely saviours, but another one of her girlfriends is an Amanojuko spy.
The lecture theatre has emptied of everyone save Xan and Edith, as their granddaughter, Heyem, unaware that they are her grandparents, and not part of this time, struts towards them to lecture them about talking in her class.
Generals Xan Medani and Edith MehXian have been ordered by President Asenath Bomani to keep watch over Xan’s progeny, as the Amanojuko agents are taking particular interest in their twin granddaughters, Alexand and Heyem. Xan and Edith sit in the second row of Heyem’s lecture theatre posing as students. Xan has used a gender switch to disguise himself, as he believes Heyem could recognise him as a man. Edith being much younger than she was when she had died, remains in her own body.
After Sister Ancille confirmed that Alexand’s grandparents were the suspects in her father’s murder, Alexand retreated from the city, frightened that her father’s legacy did indeed suggest that she and Heyem were in danger from the Amanojuko, because of what could potentially be in their blood. (Special thanks to David Gittlin. You can read David’s blog here.)
Alexand has managed to get more information from Sister Ancille about her father’s potential murderers.
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.
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.
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.
Gianti Dincrind has travelled to Hong Kong University, to locate and monitor Colonel Merek, so that she can take a blood sample back to the Floating asylum ship for Helga Ritter to analyse.
Heyem wakes up, hearing Alexand calling for her from the bathroom. (Thank you to everyone who has supported these stories over the years. As a gift to you, Unbound Boxes Limping Gods has been upgraded and is now an advert free home, with limitless space for my fictional family to grow! Happy reading everyone. The writer gives life to a story, the reader keeps it alive…)
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.
Heyem has been back on her university campus for the past three weeks. She has arrived between terms, and arranged to begin teaching in the New Year. The army have set up camp inside the grounds, and have recruited members of the faculty to help administer Katherine’s Bullet. The trails of potential infected stretch out onto the streets outside the university, and she decided to take a five-minute break for herself, to recover.
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.
Helga Ritter has been listening to Heyem’s thoughts for the past couple of hours.
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.
Heyem Merek has made a successful life for herself as a doctor of Herstory in Hong Kong University, but being an identical twin has its drawbacks. Sometimes she can sense if something has happened to her twin sister Alex, even though Heyem has tried her best to distance herself from her troublesome twin. Heyem has woken up after a strange dream, that she was tumbling down a cliff. CLICK HERE for next chronological story.
Maria Thamian is a drama lecturer in the University of Hong Kong and has been courting her fellow lecturer, Heyem Merek for a few weeks. She has gatecrashed one of Heyem’s lectures for the pure enjoyment of watching her girlfriend teach. (CLICK HERE for next chronological story)
Heyem Merek has run away from her former life. Her childhood, spent in poverty and her teenaged years in military correction. She is well educated and proud of her achievements. If only her identical twin sister, Alexand would allow her to forget about her past, completely. Things would be a lot less complicated and painful. (Artwork on the wall in drawing 2: by Frida Kahlo, “My Nurse and I.” 1937) This story also features Samuel, Ancille and Anastasia Merevija. CLICK HERE for next chronological story.
