Purple Monster

I have been fighting a few things this year to find mental room and child free time to write.

Firstly there has been my own medical issues – the immobility from my pregnancy is getting worse and pain levels are frankly through the roof. I have had to miss write ins I could have made because I’ve had to be seen suddenly for more bloods and things to be taken. My husband had a lump removed from his head which has turned out to be nothing serious but the wound did get infected!

My mother had another breast cancer scare which involved biopsies and the like and as she was staying with us when this sparked off things got unpleasant. The lump has come back clear but as she has already had breast cancer twice we just can’t take any chances!

Editing whilst writing has turned out to be alot harder than I had anticipated as I keep getting story threads and even characters confused! My little girl got Nano-jellousy which I have had to find ways around!

A rabbit eat through what turned out to be the only power cable to my laptop and a new one is £40 which is out of my budget! Fortunatly hubby did a safe but ugly temp. fix on it and a friend has said we can have his old one and the laptop to go with it! This is a releif as the space bar stopped working just to add insult to injury!

Then off course there is actually the issue of getting a car! This is great as it means I can actually get to the write ins if my husband is about to drive me but at the same time – after 9 odd months without a car we have been going out too much – I had a prize giving to go to for my poetry which made more tired than I was expecting and the school has had multiple events I have had to attend which though enjoyable have all had the same effect off wiping me out!

I’ve had one day of hands going into spasm so writing was a complete no no but it calmed down relatively quickly!

I am calling these things set backs but I still managed to finish well before the end and everyone is actually all right!

I reached the 50 K mark somewhere whilst the month was in it’s teens :/ And I didn’t notice!

I am really hopeful that I will be able to make my own personal word goal and that maybe sometime soon the first Punk novel will actually be finished! Of course the size of the series as a whole is increasing! And I now see I really need to re-write/draft it all before editing starts as I have been learning alot of Tudor History and deciding things like the Punks physical attributes as I have been going. There are cases of peoples eyes changing colour and not due to special powers or contact lenses!

I am a bit sad I didn’t notice the goal sneaking up and going :/ and I have since been struggling – I know lots of stuff has been happening but at the same time I’m also not doing say a job at the moment so it feels like I should have achieved alot more :/

I am hoping that I can get my motivation back and that I can do a FiNoMo (Finish Novel Month) in the run up too Christmas but as I want to make sure my other novel is as polished as possible for submission before the 31st I’m not sure that is going to happen – plus Christmas is always hectic!

This time he had taken a step forward. The Punk felt herself coiling for a jump, she could escape if the guy tried to catch her for biopsy but could she do it without turning over all the medi-tech around Snake? Her eyes where darting everywhere looking for a way out, ‘I didn’t have a chance to look at them first of all but I have now, you are amazing, bueatiful, you are a feet of engineering!’ The Punk stared at the Doctor.

‘Engineering?’ she said startled, she had assumed he’d noticed her absence of implants.

‘Yes my dear you are not human as such,’ he said quirking his eyebrows, well that much she had known. ‘I took bloods and tissue samples too, now I don’t want to cut you up but I do want to study you.’ She went to leap, they would say that and then she would end up on the autopsy table being declaired an alien. He caught her in a vice like grip.

‘Cyber netics! My dear, is a speciality of mine and I don’t just preach… now I suggest you sit down and I will make you a proposition, if you run lover boy there will be joining your friendy in the Great Beyond reguardless of what the Corp want.’ His teeth flashed too white – why hadn’t she seen what was right in front of her face. He was too perfect. And the orange tan was covering the synth skin that covered his head. It must be new improved stuff from what Lennon had. She sat down her mind whiring, she could out manuvour humans but a human that was part robot? That was something new.

‘I’m interested in your implant,’ he said smiling generously.

‘Implant?’ she said puzzeled but the trickle of suspiscion was there again in mind.

‘Now I conceed that you may not know about your special abilities but you must realise you have an implant – other wise you wouldn’t have lied about your physiological responses.’ He said, glaring slightly.

‘I don’t know where I come from or about implants in me I just know I’m… different.’ she said. What the hell was she going to do?

‘Ah yes I thought there might be something like that – now I am going to study you, by force or not’ he grabbed her arm and called out, the nurse who had been so nice too her, smiled apologetically as he handed the mad cyborge a syringe of cloudy fluid. He injected it into her arm. It was ice fire spreading out from the injection site – she swore.

‘Language young lady! Now you are full of a small fortune of nanobots and they are my nanobots. I can track you and monitor you’re vitals and a whole lot more. If you run I’ll know of it!’ The Punk ground her teeth in frustration, she didn’t know of a way to get rid of nano tech like this, she was screwed if she needed to leave the island. ‘I see you know what this means, and now nurse, give the boy the restorative.’ The nurse flushed under her glare, his bueatiful face no longer looked angelic to her. He injected Snake who begain stiring. ‘There you go – your boyfriend back now you can not bolt with him. I expect you here for check ups once a week. He will have to stay in for a bit more rehabilitation, oh and he is also full of my nanobots, just incase.’ He smiled malicously, ‘if you two run even if you hide him I can find him. Now I have work to do excuess me.’ He turned his back on her. She sat there stunned.

‘I’m sorry,’ the nurse said a bit too jovially, ‘but he does own the patent on my heart you see?’ she did and she didn’t. She still glared. ‘I’ll… I’ll get you both some food.’ he said the smile faltering.

Snakes eyes fluttered open, ‘PUNK!’ he cried in anguish.

‘Hush, hush I’m here Snake,’ she murmured comfatingly. She stroked his forehead, it was slicked with cold sweat, his eyes looked around him wildly.

‘I feel wrong, breathing is wrong!’ he creid and started to breath erratically.

‘Calm down, you have a new lung and a diamond rib or three that is all.’

He laughed a touch hysterical, ‘thats all thats all!’ he said but seemed to calm down. His grey eyes looked into hers the pupil size told her he wasn’t with the world properlly yet, ‘I love you, I love you, I didn’t say and…’ he begain muttering incomprehensibly.

The Punk closed her eyes, a tear escaped and run down her cheek landing on his. ‘I love you’ he said again, flayling for her hand. She held it, but could not utter the words back to him reguardless of the fact they were true. It was what had just trapped her and possibly signed his death warrent reguardless of who the assasins where actually after.

The Nurse bought their meals, squeezed her shoulder reassuringly and then left when she glared at him some more. Snakes bed re-adjusted itself to accomodate a sitting position and she helped him eat. He was becoming more coherent, she smiled sadly at him, his blue hair was a mess, thin and greasy and all matted. She brushed it out for him. ‘I need a shower,’ he said apologetically.

‘I don’t think you can until the medi-gel comes off unless the stuff is better than the prototype I used’ she said and then realised she may have just made an error, she had lost track of time and didn’t know how long the stuff had actually been about. Fortunatly Snake didn’t seem to notice and just nodded in resignation.

‘I can’t seem very attractive right now.’ he said with an exagerated sad face, but the joking was to cover the fact that he feared she would regect him, a blush told her he was remembering what he’d said on waking up. She kissed his forehead and sat with him till he slept.

‘You boyfriend is doing well though, the Corp have a rather high credit rating for him, he will be fine it just might take some time and off course they will own him even more.’ the receptionist said in what was an obviously a “there now it’s not all that bad” voice. The Punk wanted to smash the stupid bimbettes face in, but sagged further the girl was actually trying to help her – un like the Dr.

Her insinct told her to cut the barstard down with some of his own medi-tech but that was one way to expose herslef and get her either dead, cuaght or having to hide some where far away and then there was Snake himself. Weather she liked it or not he needed the murdering git. The anger and frustration where capping the tears Bodge hadn’t been exactly close to her, but he was part her band, her pose damit!

‘Can I see Snake?’ she asked in a dead voice.

‘Yes of course, he’s in treatment room three’ the receptionist said with a sympathetic smile that the Punk ignored. She headed into the labrynth of sterile rooms, somewhere in here Bodge would be laid out his body going cold, she wondered if anything had been in a state for harvesting? Even with Stem Cell tech some people prefered organs from dead people. The Punk had seen the origin of transplants and found it so strange but it was almost a religon with some people. She reached the treatment room, it didn’t have a door as such, it had a curtain made of plastic wipe clean strips, there was however the grooves that told her the room could be hermetically sealed and fast is need be. Parania over plague was high. To be fair if something nasty did turn up it could wipe out a resort or Farm island before medi-help could be found. But the sickening thing was that as far as the Punk could see the only examples of these had been ill-disguised attacks either plan piracy or politcal. Yeah some things never changed, she thought.

Snake lay on a bed with the pale blue waffle blanket tucked round him, there was bruising around his eyes and medi gel on his head wound but apart from that he appeared to be sleeping peacefully. His chest was rising and falling in a natural way, the asymetry was gone. She wrapped her long fingers around his, hers where a nice flesh colour his where a waxy yellow and slightly blotchy, they felt so cold. There where also longer and thinner than her fingers with bigger knuckles but they seemed smaller and fragile.

He should have awoken from the op surely?

How the hell was she going to explain to Snake that Bodge was dead? The two of them had been kicking around together for a lot longer than she had been on the scene. The guilt churned over her meso soup once more. It was possible that the attack was targetting Snake but then they had tracked her down so many times before – generally just when she started to think that she had lost them for good. Of course having Snake as the target wouldn’t make that much difference to their survival she supposed. Snake was a survivior, he had to be. She thought of all those people she’d known who hadn’t been and shook with supressed tears.

She wasn’t sure how long she sat there in the stark harsh glow of the blue LEDs. They still hadn’t gotten around to using organic LED’s even though she had worked out a way of manufacture a century ago. The orbitals had quashed the need, but they didn’t leave heavey metal waste like those lighting the hospital room. The lighting hightened the bruising around Snakes eyes, he was sleeping piecefully in a death mask.

The Dr came in, she automatically squeezed Snakes hand, hard enough to have had him whimpering normally and struggling to get away. He murmured in the strange sleep. ‘Ah, I see you have been told about you friend.’ he said in a very Dr like way. She glared at him, imagining kicking him in the head. ‘His brain scan was sub-optimal’ he said shrugging with a greasy grin, he knew he’d won, there was no recourse for her. There rarely was with people like him.

‘What about Snake?’ she asked taught through her barely supressed anger.

‘He is doing fine, he has had quiet abit of work done on his systems so he is in shock, his systems have shut down into a protective coma. This is the main issue we have with modern medicine – how to get people to wake up again. His brain scan is fine.’ The Punk’ eyes darted back to Snake.

‘Sleeping bueaty,’ she whispered.

The dr laughed harshly. ‘I would say beuaty and the best. Though bueaty needs some taming I’d say.’ She looked at the tanned man, his skin had an orange cast too it that spoke of the fake. White clipped teeth, he hadn’t taken a step forward, she was suprised for some reason she had expected him to have closed the gap between them. She mentally shook herself. Not ever guy was after either killing her or getting into her pants!

‘I know you want believe this but I have actually taken and I uphold the hypocratic oath. Your friends mental processes where fried. Maybe in a decade or so we will the ability to copy the brain in completeness but not now. I am sorry.’ His eyes were intent on her, they where too green. She felt lost, something was occuring to her, about how she was linking to the computers but… she refused to catch hold of the thread – it would lead to the memories of the fire, the first fire, she wasn’t sure she really wanted that.

‘I took a brain scan of you, a whole body scan infact,’ he said quietly, her attention snapped back, his eyes where intent. ‘I think you are something more than you have let on. You don’t have the implants you said you had, there is just one. Only one implant.’ he said.

Back at the Center Rookies glittering eyes took her in, she smiled sweetly, after all what did she care Gazz had explained she would pick up bonuses for the crap and she had to put in the time anyway as a level one or so. As far as she could tell the first three levels of security where mantinance.

Rookie looked even more peeved. She went to Gazzes office to fill out the reports and sign off her first shift. ‘Don’t wind him up Punk’ he said. She shrugged, ‘He’s already narked that your legal name is actually Punk!’ he said trying not to shake with laughter – it made filling out the forms harder.

‘He’s not going to let up and you know it.’ she said.

He shrugged and looked at her seriously, he was a wirey knot of muscle – the sort she used to see fighting in the gladiator arena, his skin was bad where he focused on protein for making muscle. ‘We need him and his friends – if they leave then the island is screwed, do you understand?’ she nodded. She stared at the scene playing out on the view makers, she should go, why the hell was she hanging around now? Snakes remembered touch rose in her along with the realisation she was already in love with the gangly youth and even if they hadn’t shagged she would have been trapped by his eyes with or with out that bit.

However she was going to check out exactly where the other cruise and farm islands where, she could hope on the sky bike if nesascary – she did have reserves. The guilt again – there was enough there to pay for Bodge too but she would not be able to hang around here and it could lead to several of her caches being uncovered. She would go and see how they where and if there was no hope she would set things in place – maybe she could re-route things and make it look like Bodge had a benevolant and rich great aunt or something like that? It worked for the long lived vampires of 20th century fiction – which ment it probably wouldn’t for her.

She was avoiding Lennon as well – after all there was no possible way she could find a robot with vestages of the person benieth attractive right? Especially when they where so old looking to begin with? But that wasn’t the mental image of him she had was it? She shuddered and tried to recall the look of the synth skin. But she had had partners who had grown old, she hadn’t loved them any less, it had become less easy to continue relationships as the world turned. People stared now if a young girl where to be seen kissing an elderly man – well less so recently but that had alot to do with plastic sugery and the resort islands. She sighed remembering briefly how she had been allowed to attend the philosophy circle on Crete, how she had been labled prostitute but how it had had a different meaning there. How she was just a foriegn Lady and so did not have to sit at home being pure, having kids and weaving. The men young and old had fallen over themselves to offer her lodgings and food so she could stay and talk.

Lennon nestled in her head – his clear eyes glinting with mischief as he chased her over white sand on their honey moon. The betrayal was a red sore toothed gash over the memories. She went to the Under Water Room to sit and drink meso soup before going the hospital, tears where pushing at her, anger and hurt flared in her cut. He had grandchildren, probably great grand kids at least. That was something she had been unable to give him, the whole that had begun to open around them both. How long would it have all lasted if Fire Storm hadn’t have happened?

Sighing she swallowed the last of the soup, the fish where calming her, he had had a way of ending it without hurting her, it was more than a lot of them had done. It still cut like a knife as did her relief that he was alive, that he had had life, a full rich life and he hadn’t told on her! He had not sold her out when it would have paid off his medical packages and left him free. But maybe she thought out of sight was really out of mind, maybe him seeing her again would open that temptation? She shuddered.

She had been sold out before by those who loved her. And that was the bit that had cut – they had genuingly cared about her but what they were offered made her expendable. She crumplied the plastic cup and saw the scandalised look on the mermaid shimmery waitress. ‘Sorry’ she muttered handing the cup back. She wondered vaguely if they would fine her for the waste and if that would kill the extra finance from pooper scooping. She left feeling calm but numb.

The hospital wing had that same awful dead sterile feel about it she loathed. She was out of uniform and back in just the still suit and her acid pink jacket, the receptionists told her something was wrong.

‘Miss.. erm… Punk?’ she said nervously. The Punk nodded her stomach boiling the meso soup to acid.

‘Snake?’ she asked feeling the floor tilt benieth her.

‘Erm.. no but your friend Bodge?’

‘How bad is he?’ she asked hoarsly.

‘The Dr turned off life support this morning. I… I tried to get hold of you but there was no reply.’

She closed her eyes, it was like being kicked in her chest, ‘I was doing a shift to earn money to pay – the Dr knew that.’ The receptionist nodded and then looked down at her screen realising her indescression.

‘His brain scan came back sub-optimal’ she said in a quiet voice. The Punk nodded, her shoulders slumped, she had waited to long, and sub-optimal did not mean brain dead or even noticably retarded.

The sun was furious on the top level and even the large rain forest style trees did little to diminish the heat that pounded down on her. The gravel paths cutting through the trees made it impossible to forget that this was indeed a man made construct but then she wondered if anyone else would actually notice – most of them had been born after the last wildernesses had sucumed. People said there were still wild places but they were dangerous gone wild not untouched and as nature intended – there was a difference and it was huge!

But the trees offered her a strange sense of dajavu and she relished the patter of memories for once. from before she’d come back to Europe, before America existed. When she had fought religon to save children and ended up almost loosing her head in ruthless blood rituals. It was somehow connected to who she was was but even all that time ago the land had changed from what she was searching for. She pondered for the first time in centuries the Onyx Ocelot she had hidden and then sent her prirates to recover, she should have kept a better eye on the museums she realised. She had left it in their care but once central governments had crumpled and the Corps had taken over the museums had evaporated. Several of her much coverted treasures had been lost in this way.

She really should hunt down the little square cat though – it was one of the objects, objects that spoke to her, straight into that strange bit of her brain, the bit her pink pod allowed to her to connect straight to the computer with. She smiled grimely as memories surfaced over that particular talent. They reacted to her pen as well, she knew now it was a laser, it was light which ment the objects had some sort of optics in them, glass fibers and things – it was one of the things she’d wanted to explore more in the labs but had had very little time or resources to do so. If she had known this in the past and she wasn’t sure she hadn’t then it might have saved her a lot of pain. It would have also stopped her from being cannonised as a saint but she reasoned she could have done without that anyway.

She trudged all the paths, it reminded her of Kew Gardens before it had been moved up onto the Orbitals, it needed to be shifted as London was mostly a flood plan and nature would not be bested. She shuddered thinking of all those places that had survived with her only to be drowned in envevitablity. Still it had taken longer than they had initially predicted and the moving of important land marks sort of happened naturally.

They had painted the old monuments with prevervative gloop and allowed the waves too swallow them. It was hoped that one day they could get them back – for now though they had become a tourist holiday resort of sorts with divers exploring the houses of parliment and the like.

She was thirsty and tired and had a grand total of six turds – she’d decided to do a little pick whilst she was about it as she knew that was part of what she was supposed to do. She had a large sack of crud already. She realised she didn’t have a clue where to dispose of the stuff. Sighing she reached for her coms device. She got Gazz ‘Where the hell are you?’ he said hotly.

‘Picking up the dog shit like Francess said I was supposed too.’ she said sweetly not at all suprised that she hadn’t been signed in properlly, she wasn’t worried there was vids covering most official parts of the resort.

‘I’ll… Don’t swear on the radio you’ll get a liscenses revoked!’ he said inturrupting what was obviously going to be his own fluent stream. ‘You might as well carry on, sorry but it is actually part of what we do.’ She felt it was a good job he couldn’t see her face at that point. She was however starting to think of nasty things to do to Francies a.k.a the Rookie and his red headed friend. They no doubt had more instore for her, that sort always did.

She found out where to take the stuff and was actaully quiet pleased as it turned out she would get a bonus for the feaces and a bit more for various other bits she found. Besides she had a mask and gloves what she care that she was scooping up shit?

Another two hours and she was bored stiff, she wondered if she could get away with listening to music whilst doing this sort of job, when a pricking of her scalp told her something was watching her, it was an old and primative feeling, it had saved her life more than once. Cafefully she ignored the instinct to turn around but moved to a supposed possible turd that just happened to shift her possition, she saw a swish of black skirt but that was all. The Goth-ette was still about then it seemed. Frowning. She hit the button on her comms unit. ‘Gazz I think I just saw the Goth-ette up here on the top layer forest park’ she said.

‘Recieved Punk will be up and with you soon.’

He got there faster than she would have credited, and they went to the security booth – she didn’t yet have clearance for these things. They scanned the images taken – there was no sign of anyone like the goth-ette but the footage was again damaged. ‘I think your eyes may well be more accurate here.’ He said sounding worried.

‘Anyway, it’s almost the end of your shift.’ he said. ‘Lets go back, once we’ve done the paper work you’ll be off. I don’t suppose you’ve taken your breaks?’ she shook her head. He smiled, ‘that’s an extra 2 hrs pay then – the UN insist!’ She nodded grimly – it still wouldn’t be enough to cover herself let alone leave any spare for medi-allowance.

She headed out to lunch – she was on her own – there simply was not enough of security left to do anything else. Someone had to be out on petrol annd some out on petrol, some following up cases and incidents that had been reported, someone at lost property and it was divided into three shifts anyway so they could actually all sleep. She sat in Devs it was the cheapest place around but she’d eaten there way too much in the last week and the smell of frying was starting to bother her.

It was starting to look iffy over her food budget, left the cafe and it’s micro-ecosystems of life al ah table cloths and went to the convience shop to see if they had anything that was cheaper and could tide her over for a few meals. She found some sea weed crackers and salted dried mushrooms, she bought the family snack pack and wondered about reserecting meditation technics she’d learnt – maybe then she could get away with not eating?

If there was no food her body would shut down but that wasn’t the case here – here there was lots of food and she could smell it and taste it in the air. She would fight for food if she could sense it around whilst hungry she wondered how her body would react if she tried starving it in a land of plenty? Of course she had been a slave and there had been food then but she had also ended up on the gallows for stealing food. She got back to the center finding herself wondering if she should ask Gazz how things where going with his little boy but it would just turn over his emotions and he had an effective lid on them. His wife had faded away, he only ha enough money to pay for one of them to be saved and it was all from a stupid pointlessness anyway. He was working on the islands to pay for his little boy, the Punk shuddered.

Kids, kids hurt or killed, she couldn’t have them herself but that burn was still there – something drove to children, drove her to want to well mother them she supposed. It was like she was super maternal but that didn’t work too well when you couldn’t have them and you outlived the ones you adopted. Kids they got under her skin, she risked her neck and got herself involved in blood vendetters over them.

Rookie was sitting behind the front desk with a pale red head next to him the woman sneered to match his. ‘Gazz wants you straight out on petrol so I’ve got a special treat for ya! Pooper Scooper!’ he laughed throwing her some gloves and a shovel. She looked at them non plussed. ‘Some of the holiday makers just have to bring prescous fido with them and guess who gets to clean it up!’

‘Erm… mantianance?’ she said raising her eyebrow at him, she wasn’t stupid.

‘Nah guess again.’ his grin was confident and disconcerting. She shrugged and picked the equpiment up, she wasn’t actually sure exactly what the line between mantencance and Security was on the islands and without Gazz there there was no way to check without esculating the situation. The red head smiled coyly at her, her lips where glossed gold fleck – very against regulation. The Punk found herself making a mental note to bring in her vid lenses – they looked just like contacts and flimsies at that so no one would notice but it would video everything and she had practiced her mind over matter miso-electric pulses to control the things so that she could zoom in and the like just by thought.

‘I’ll clean it up but I will also be checking the duties list when I get back you realise.’ he shrugged and threw a heavy manual at her head – why on earth they still printed the things and didn’t use say smart paper she didn’t know but she also didn’t care – he’d thrown it at her head and it was only her fast reflexes that had stopped it hurting her a lot, as it was blood trickled down from her bare shaved sides. The magenta hair was in a confining braid.

‘Dick!’ she muttered, seething. The injury would heel itself relatively quick but it could have been much worse. She stood up slowely glaring at him.

‘Well be my guest’ he said nonchantly gesturing to the book. She scooped it up as well, not taking her eyes off of the man.

‘And pray where am I actually supposed to go pooper scooping?’ she asked.

‘The rec grounds of course – the gardens and play areas.’

She nodded and left in a foul mood. why was it every generation had dicks in it? And that bitch next to him? Maybe they all needed removing from the gene pool. The thought brought her up short. There had been thoughts like that before the Nazi’s before eugenics, it was a memory that caught at her. Something to do with them she couldn’t catch it. Something about her and how she fitted into the world, she hated time to think, and cleaning up dog shit wasn’t exactly brain engaging. She sighed and decided to look at it as a nice walk in the gardens and parks – of course they where on like every level od the cruise island. She’d start at the top and work her way down, she decided. She dropped the book and snacks off at her room which was on route and headed onwards. The pine cone that was the structure of the resort island was sixty three levels above sea level on calm days. The design was a good one, it had also been designed as a UN thing to deal with refugees and to deal with the loss of agricultural land.

This one had never been used as such and was a poorer design for it, it wasn’t exactly what she would call safe to be honest but then she always left large saftey margins when she had the choice.

The dream was green, shimmering lights in a canopy of leaves, chatting ringing in her ears, alien and grotesque, lights pulsed in her eyes and stone sored into the sky. The saftey she knew was gone, so small was she, so alone. She cried out words that ment Mum and others that ment Dad though she knew they had never given birth to her. Slime oozed through the bracken. The smell of woodsmoke held her rigid. Protien singed the air, no cooking from those fires. She cried again, helpless. The air was rent by a trilling.

The Punk sat up feeling confined by her clothing. The still suit chaffed reguardless of design. Her new alarm clock was at least working, she frowned wondering about where the old one had actually vanished too. After shower she put the decontaminated suit back on – it didn’t help with the chaffing. She was going to have to stop sleeping in the thing. She frowned at the thought.

Training was due to start in fifteen minutes she wondered if they put breakfast on for you but some how doubted it. She forced the uniform on over the top of the still suit it was still basically a perfect fit. She was glad she hadn’t been given the dress uniform but then Lennon knew exactly how she would have reacted to that. As she left the room, thoughts of Lennon and of Snake filled her head.

Could she really blame Lennon? She still loved him too, this was the first time this had happened, the first time she had found a dead lover back from the grave and decades on. It was strange, she smiled a twisted smile of course it had happened the other way round a few times. When she had seen she was hurting her love so and there was someone else that they could be with she had faked her own death or si,ply disappeared and cried her heart out in the woods, in a cave, on a boat. The issue was when the man she had left in he’s thrities found her in his 60’s. A few times she had been taken for a nice or daughter, once taken back as a third wife and once pronounced a witch.

She stared out of the windows of the cruise island. They were just the ones she remembered. She had stayed with a few men who had grown old on her. She smiled sadly at the reactions some people had had to the thought she was fucking sugar daddies, if she loved them when they were young she loved them when they were old. Besides sex didn’t matter not the way people often thought it did. Hotness – now hotness and initial fuckability that was something else, though there where sixty year olds she would and had climbed into the beds off.

A few times sex had been her survivial, nothing got in the way of that, well most of the time. Of course hanging around here on the Cruise Island when she should be high tailing was not the smart option. Men! They always got her into trouble one way or another. She realised she’d been day dreaming too long – there was no time to grab anything to eat and she had to run the rest of the way to the training center.

Rookie was standing at the door looking at his time piece and tutty and shaking his head ‘late on your first day!’ he said with glee, ‘that will have to go in the report.’ he said malicously. Gazz rolled his eyes.

‘Your watch is set fast now leave the girl alone Francise!’ Rookies smile fadded and he glared at her. Training was pretty boring she sat in front of a terminal and filled in forms and answered multi choice questions and watched a few videos which were insipid, slow and full of the dimmest security gaurds she had ever seen. She supposed they were catering for the lowest dinominator.

Gazz made her a mug of tea, the plastic mugs never did seem right to her – she liked the heat conduction of porcaline personally – she used to use it to keep her hands warm. The rooms air con was set to have the room slightly below what was comftable – it was thought to help you think if you were cold. Punk wasn’t so sure and fought the desire to let her teeth rattle.

He then took her to a range come gym to show her how to use the weapons they where allowed. ‘You’ll be entering as a level one – everyone does but I think with your coordination and stuff you should move up quickly, if thats what you want’ he added in a rush. She nodded. As a level one she got a comms unit and armour. ‘I’ll be training you up for the higher levels anyway – we are really really short and it’s almost pirate season.’ he said nervously combing his fingers through his short metalic grey hair. Pirate season was not good. Especially if the plateform had lost most of it’s security staff anyway.

‘How many of us are there for Pirate Season?’ she asked nervously. He smiled wanely.

‘At the moment? About 14, 16 if we include you and Lennon but Lennon is technically an invalid and you need to pass several levels before you would count.’

She swollowed and stared at him, ‘please telll me you are joking’ he shook his head – she knew he hadn’t been but she had to ask.

‘You’re gonna start off with the crap stuff like walking around the kiddies play areas picking up litter and stuff.’ She nodded again, ‘you have to do so many hours before we can boost you up.’ he said, she nodded. ‘I like to do a training session at least twice a week if your up for that?’ she nodded. He sighed and squeezed her shoulder – she couldn’t feel the gesture through the uniform. ‘I know why your doing this and I know you’ll need the money quick so I will give you max shifts and stuff.’ She looked at him gratefully. ‘This is still going to be quiet a pay cut though.’ she nodded thinking she must be becoming dim she couldn’t say anything her throat had restricted on her.

It is becoming more and more evident as I write the Punk that there is no way my orginal story arc (for this specific book – not the whole series) is not going to work. It would simply result in far too big a book :/ So I am now trying to work out how to construct it. The problem is mainly that I am writing a large and epic story and this story I already know will span novels and more novels but I still need each novel to stand on it’s own and this is what’s causing me the head ache at the moment.

I’m thinking something along the lines of having this novel climax with something along the lines of the Torc Cannon chase and the Punk Finding herself as Princess Elizabeth. From my re-reads of last years material I know I want to go and add some more stuff in as well :/ This also means the whole series thingy is growing again and after I had pruned it last year :/ Sigh.

The Beginning – The Punk starts her training

The Middle – The Rookie begins proper bullying tactics

The End – Bodge dies