Mama Williams:
I looked around at the devastation the battle had wrought. There were a number of dead on both sides though the only death I could focus on right now was Sharonda's. The pain in my shoulder was nothing compared to the pain in my heart at Sharonda's death. I knew I was being silly. She wouldn't be dead for long. It still hurt to see her like that though. I just thank the Lord that we have these crystals. I would bring her back right now but we had decided to clean the dead up before bringing them back. Lisa and I had made the
argument that no one should have to come back in the clothes they died in. Not only was it gross to have shit and piss in your underwear but to bring someone back we had to regress them at least a year. In that case the clothes would be ill fitting anyway.
A couple of people that I did not know approached me. With a start I realized that they were military. I raised me rifle but did not fire since they did not have any weapons that I could see. "What are you doing?" I demanded.
"We want to help" one of them, a woman, said.
"Some help you've been" I said snorting.
"We've gone A.W.O.L." the other one, a man, said. "We've been against taking you into protective custody but we were doing our job."
"Why did you fire the first shot then?" I asked them.
"We know someone on our side fired the first shot" the woman said. "Jack and I were stunned when we saw one of your people go down and tear gas launched into your compound. It was at that moment when we decided that we were on the wrong side."
"You'll forgive me if I don't believe you" I said. I wanted to believe them but their story was a little too convenient. Then again they were here without weapons. Perhaps they're telling me the truth.
"Let us help you" Jack said. "Samantha and I are now considered traitors. We didn't fire a shot. You have my word on that."
For some reason I did believe them on that. Maybe they could be of some help in the short term. What help they would be long term would have to be decided in council. "If you want to help you can start by carrying the dead and wounded to the infirmary" I said.
"Do you have a triage area?" Jack asked.
"No we don't" I answered.
"You're just going to take everybody to the infirmary?" Samantha asked. "Forgive me but that makes no sense. You should leave the dead where they are for now and tend to the wounded."
"It may make more sense if you know that we can bring back someone from the dead" I said. The shocked look on their faces was priceless. "You no doubt know that we can change age with our crystals."
"Of course we know that" Jack said. "You can even change someone else's age. Though I fail to see how you can bring someone back from the dead."
"That's easy" I said. "We just regress the dead person one year at least."
"So since they were alive at that age they'd be alive again" Samantha said.
"That's right" I said.
"I'd like to see that" Samantha said.
"That can be arranged" I said.
"See this is why people fear you" Jack said. "Who gave you the right to play god?"
"We don't play god" I said. "All people want to live. We just have the power to grant life."
"You could kill someone by progressing them" Jack said.
"That's true" I said. "Though most of us won't do that."
"So you admit that there are some that would do it" Jack said.
"You have bad people in every group" I said. "Would you have us judge the whole military based on the actions of a few?"
"Well... no" Jack said.
"Though it seems that people are doing that with us" I said.
"We've already told you that we decided that we were on the wrong side" Jack said. "What more do you want from us?"
"Right now nothing" I said. "Now are you going to help or not?"
They said that they would and I led them to the infirmary where they could get stretchers. While there I ran into Dr. Davis and she insisted that she take a look at my shoulder.
"Well the bullet went through so we don't have to dig it out" Dr. Davis said. "I'll just stitch you up then you can bring someone back."
"Why can't she regress one year?" Samantha asked. She had decided to stay with me while Jack helped carry people. "The wound wouldn't be there then."
"We decided that if war should break out that we would bring back the dead first" I said.
"Why is that?" Samantha asked.
"It's because the crystals need twenty-four hours to recharge between transformations" I said.
"I see" Samantha said.
"If you two are finished I'd like to get this wound cleaned and stitched up" Dr. Davis said.
Dr. Davis cleaned my wound and stitched it up. She then told me that I would have to keep my arm in a sling to let my shoulder heal. After she gave me a sling she turned to a laptop. I knew that she was looking up who needed someone to bring them back. We had foreseen that it could become chaos with people arguing over who would bring back who. We had come up with a system that would randomly assign someone to bring someone back. I was hoping that I'd get assigned to Sharonda.
"Ok Mama" Dr. Davis said. "Looks like you're assigned to bring back Lisa Ketcher."
"Lisa is dead?" I asked in shocked disbelief. She had been one of the five guarding the bunker. The battle couldn't have gotten that far.
"Yes she is" Dr. Davis said.
"How many others in the bunker?" I asked still in stunned disbelief.
"Two of the other guards and one of the children" Dr. Davis said.
"How did someone get that far?" I asked.
"Must have been special forces" Samantha said. "Some of those guys are scary with their skills."
"Has Lisa been cleaned up yet" I asked.
"She's in the process right now" Dr. Davis said. "By the time you get her clothes she should be cleaned up and ready to be brought back. Now it say's here that she's eighteen today and that she wanted to be regressed to thirteen."
"I suppose I better get her clothes then" I said. "You can come with me Samantha. That way you can see what someone brought back."
"Alright" Samantha said.
We left the infirmary and proceeded to Lisa's residence in the compound. When we arrived I entered my code on the keypad. I knew that there would be no one inside since Lisa and Luke were the only ones that lived here. Lisa was dead and if Luke was still alive he would be bringing someone back or helping out somewhere.
I led Samantha into the bedroom and to a closet on one side. Like every residence the closet took up the whole wall. Lisa had insisted that everyone separate their clothes by age so it would be easier for those that were assigned to bring them back to find the right size of clothes. Lisa had clothes for seven, thirteen, eighteen, twenty-two, and thirty-four in her closet.
"Are all these her clothes?" Samantha asked in awe.
"Yes they are" I answered.
"She likes to be a little girl?" Samantha asked seeing Lisa's seven year old clothes.
"At times she does" I answered. "Some Bonded have fun with their power, changing their age when they feel like a change. There's a few here that change their age everyday. Though now that we're in a war we may have to curtail that."
"Because it takes twenty-four hours before the crystal can be used again" Samantha said. "And if they have changed their age then they can't bring anybody back for twenty-four hours."
"Exactly" I said. I was impressed that Samantha was able to grasp the logistics of our power so easily.
Most of Lisa's clothes were typical girt clothes. Especially the seven and thirteen year old clothes. I picked out a nice pink shirt with 'PRINCESS' on the front, a pleated denim skirt, a pair of pink panties also with 'PRINCESS' on the front, a pink front closure bra, and a pair of pink sandals. I closed the closet and we left.
When we got back to the infirmary I saw that Lisa and Sharonda were laying on tables right beside each other. It really hit me then that Lisa had been killed and the pain in my heart doubled. I looked at Samantha and could tell that she was having trouble. I don't think she had seen a dead body before. "Are you alright?" I asked her my voice breaking.
"I don't know" Samantha said in a shaky voice. "They look like they may be sleeping. I would almost think that if it wasn't for the bullet holes. It even looks like sections of their skulls were taken out."
"That would be so they could get the bullets out of their heads" I said. "We had one person come here with a steel plate in her head. She had had it since she was twelve. She had asked that we make her eight and when we did the plate disappeared. When we aged her back the plate didn't come back. Her skull was whole. We figure that the same thing would happen to bullets so we decided to take them out in
case some of them want them as souvenirs."
"That's kind of morbid" Samantha said.
"Maybe but some people do like to keep souvenirs" I said. I walked to Lisa's table. She did look peaceful. "Put her clothes on the table at her feet."
Samantha did as I said then asked "So how does this work?"
"You'll see" I answered. "First though I need my crystal."
"Why didn't we stop and get it then?" Samantha asked.
"We didn't need to" I answered. "Watch" I said before she could ask. I held my hand open palm up and said "Crystal in hand."
If you have ever seen Stargate SG-1 then you might be familiar with the Asgard beaming technology. Well when a Bonded says "Crystal in hand" the crystal teleports to the Bonded. The way it does this is exactly like the Asgard beaming effect. Whenever I see this I have to wonder if it was the grays that sent these crystals. I still believe that the Lord sent the crystals but I concede that he may have used aliens as his delivery boys.
"Wow" Samantha said.
I just nodded and put the crystal in Lisa's hand and closed her fingers around it and said "Female, thirteen."
The transformation began immediately. Lisa's wounds closed and she lost a few inches in height. Her breasts shrank from a c cup to an a cup. That was the extent of her transformation.
"She's breathing" Samantha said in awe.
"Yes she is" I said the pain in my heart lessening.
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Lisa:
I was regaining consciousness and I knew someone had brought me back. I started breathing again. It wasn't like a big gasp but rather just a natural breathing pattern.
I heard someone say "She's breathing" as if she was in awe.
I then heard Mama say "Yes she is."
I opened my eyes slowly and saw Mama with her left arm in a sling. What I saw next made my heart pound. I saw a woman in military garb. I sat up quickly and asked "Where am I?"
"Take it easy" Mama said. "You're in the infirmary. I just brought you back."
"Then who's this?" I asked.
"This is Samantha" Mama said. "She has decided to help us as has her friend Jack."
"But she's one of those that attacked us" I said.
"She has told me that she and Jack never fired a shot" Mama said. "I believe them."
"Ok, I'll give them the benefit of a doubt" I said. I looked around and saw Sharonda on the table next to mine. "Oh no, Sharonda was killed too" I said.
"Yes she was" Mama said. "A single shot to the head from a sniper I believe."
I groaned and laid back down on the table with my hand on my forehead. "At least we won this battle" I said. "I heard the announcement before I lost consciousness."
"I'm amazed that she's alive" Samantha said. She was obviously referring to me. "She had a hole in her head."
"It is amazing isn't it" I chuckled. Indeed it was. To die and be brought back was a strange experience. Even though Dianne had described a wonderful vision of the afterlife I didn't experience it. To me I was dead one second and losing consciousness and the next I was alive again. I have no recollection of what happened in between.
"You should get dressed" Mama said. "We need to discuss what we're going to do now and you can't do that naked."
I sat back up and slid off of the table. I picked up my clothes that Mama had brought me. After I was dressed I asked "Do you know who I'm assigned to?"
"No I don't" Mama said. "We should go see one of the doctors to see."
"There's no need for you to find me" Dr. Davis said. "I've treated all the female wounded so I thought I'd come here. You'll be happy to know that assignments are done. You can use your crystal on yourself."
"That's nice of you to say Dr. Davis but I think I'll save it for a bit" I said. "There may be a need later on."
"Whatever you want" Dr. Davis said. "Just remember that your next regression should you die is seven years. After that it will go in one year increments and you don't want to have wasted your money again."
"I know that" I said. "Let's go Mama. Come with us Samantha so you can argue your case."
We left and headed for the meeting chamber. On the way Samantha asked "What did she mean by you wasting your money again?"
"I had electrolysis done once before to get rid of unwanted hair" I said. "That was one time when i was eighteen. Little did I know that the hair would come back when I regressed younger than eighteen. I had and when I aged to twenty-two I discovered that the hair I didn't want was back. My regression had totally undone the electrolysis."
"But you don't have hair on you now" Samantha said. "How could that be?"
"Well I found a way to keep the hair from coming back" I said. "I went in to get electrolysis again and I asked Mama to accompany me. I was thirty-four when I went in. Before they did the procedure on me though I regressed to six years old. They didn't know what to do as they never had a patient that young before. I was still an adult technically and I was able to assure them that I would not hold them
responsible for any harm that befell me from the procedure."
"But electrolysis works by sending a small electric pulse through the hair to the root" Samantha said. "How could you have that done when you didn't have any hair?"
"It takes a stronger charge to do it but it can be done" I said. "That's why they were so hesitant about performing it on me at six years. I could have ended up with burns to my skin."
"I see about that" Samantha said. "But why do you not have that hair?"
"As long as I don't regress to younger than seven the roots remain dead" I said.
"Oh now I get it" Samantha said. "If you regress younger than when you had the procedure it would be like you never had it."
"Yes but I wouldn't have the money I spent back" I said.
"Well I'd want my money back if I had electrolysis and it didn't work" Samantha said.
"It wouldn't be fair" I said. "They performed a service and I paid them. It wouldn't be their fault if the hair came back because I regressed too young."
"Why did you take... Mama was it?... with you?" Samantha asked. "Wait don't tell me. I think I know. You took her along so she could change you back into a thirty-four year old woman."
"That's exactly it" I said. "I didn't have any six year old clothes and I didn't want to take the chance that regressing to six would reverse the electrolysis. Having six year old clothes around would just be temptation."
"You needed to be older again to wear the clothes you came in with" Samantha said. "Of course that was also a good way to see if it worked."
"That's right" I said giggling. I was starting to like this woman.
"What are you going to do with the bodies of your foes?" Samantha asked out of the blue.
"We have to decide on that" Mama said.
"Why is that?" Samantha asked.
"Well we have argued about it before" I said. "We would like to bring them back but there have been some good arguments against that."
"Such as?" Samantha asked.
I thought that it was safe enough to tell her so I asked "Do you know how many of us there are?"
"Well I know that there are millions of Bonded worldwide" Samantha replied. "Of course you're a minority."
"That's right" I said. "We are outnumbered. If we bring them back we would either have to let them go or hold them against their will. Both of those options present difficulties. If we keep them against their will then we reinforce the perception that we're the bad guys. If we let them go then we have more foes to worry about."
"If only we could be sure who would join us if we brought them back" Mama said.
"Jack and I might be able to help you there" Samantha said. "We know a few that expressed concerns about this. And some have relatives that are Bonded."
"We just may take you up on that" Mama said.
"I have to ask you this Lisa" Samantha said. "Could you regress me to twelve years old?"
"You just want to be regressed?" I asked.
"Well I might want to change gender too" Samantha said. "You can do that too can't you?"
"We can change age and gender" I said. "For someone else as well as ourselves. In fact before I found my crystal I was a thirty-four year old guy."
"And I was a forty year old TG" Mama said. "Now I'm a true female. The first time I used my crystal was to transform Sharonda. She was a TG sex worker and she came to my apartment severely beaten. She almost died she was beaten so bad."
"Then I want to be regressed to twelve and be made a boy" Samantha said.
"If that's what you truly want I will accommodate you" I said.
We reached the meeting chamber by the time our conversation was done.