Bride Of The Atom - Part Three
By The Captain
The Dramatic Conclusion To The Story


<><><> Chapter Five - Test Of The Atom! <><><>

SEP 24, 2005 - 7:30 AM

The group had rejected a wide range of plans. The problem was simple, they had
to destroy a combat robot which had been designed by a technology far in
advance of Earth's to be very difficult to be harmed. And it appeared that
time was running out. With Yxlax's help they had managed to destroy several of
the robot basses that were near Los Vegas, but they were unable to repeat
their success in acutely taking over one.

Brad, now fully healed from his last adventure, lay on top of a large flat
rock, his sniper rifle hidden by the tarp which covered him. Two hundred yards
away the thin traffic on the I-15 barely stirred the morning haze. "Target
spotted, get ready" came Nancy's voice in his ear. Her warning was unneeded as
he had already spotted the Barbie-pink van rushing towards him. A week ago
ZARDOZ had managed to spot a new type of fembot, one which was able to easily
destroy the robots he had sent to scout the newly discovered fembot factory in
Irvine. Brad settled into firing position. His job was simple, stop the van
and not get killed.

Hours of practice and training had turned Brad into a passable shot, though he
would never trouble a true professional. Lee had setup a mock-up of this area
near the base complete with moving target. The first day or so of training
were terrible. Even then, Brad's actual shot hit the pink van farther back
than he wanted, but his AP round cleanly passed through the engine block.
Moments later the engine tore itself apart, stopping the van. The driver
leaped out and spun around, looking for the source of the attack. Brad got the
impression that the woman looked more like a volley-ball player than a
school-girl just before he saw her reach down and pick up a rock.

He had barely rolled in back of his rock slab when the stone thrown by the
tall blond slammed into it showering the area with sub-sonic rock fragments.
He heard the woman running towards him at an impossible pace. Suddenly, with a
loud sparking sound, the EMP trap that had been built between the highway and
Brad's firing position went off. With great caution Brad slowly peered around
the boulder. The tall fembot had be caught in a web made of thick cables which
were highly charged. Even though the fembot was clearly feeling the effects of
the EMP field, she was still breaking free of the inch thick cables. Brad was
surprised to see that the new robot even included fake muscles, very large and
strong looking fake muscles.

"ZARDOZ, can you break past her command loop," asked Brad over the radio link.

"THE EMP FIELD IS CAUSING HER SUB-SYSTEMS TO RANDOMLY RESET. I WILL HAVE TOTAL
CONTROL IN A FEW SECONDS. THERE. CAPTURE COMPLETE, PLEASE PROVIDE TRANSPORT."

SEP 26, 2005 - 5:45 PM

Lee stood at the front of the table and pointed at the six-foot fembot, "This
is the new model, it is ten times as strong, ten times as tough. Unlike the
school-girl version, this one does not have a self destruct mechanism due to
the enlarged power supply. The command processor is surrounded with armor and
electrical protection. One interesting change is that the robot is covered
with a thick simulated skin that can fool most casual inspections. These are
not only more dangerous, they can be very difficult to detect. While we were
unable to recover all of the memory core, some was damaged by the EMP field, I
found traces of over twenty different voices. This is the all-new
international killer-robot Barbie."

On command the female robot began to cycle through a series of poses,
including a few seen in body-building contests. Clearly some world-class
athlete had been used as a model, as the female robot displayed the muscle
mass of a top-ranked swimmer or gymnast.

"It's funny that this improved model should come out just after the warbot
woke up," said Brad, "If there's some connection, that that means that the
warbot didn't want anyone to have Dr. Bensons anti-radiation drug. But that
doesn't make any sense because the warbot's been on ice long before Dr. Benson
was ever born."

Lee turned to gray-faced Yxlax, "Do you know what the primary weapon used by
the warbot is?"

"I've heard that it's some form of projected ionizing radiation beam of
incredible power. It can destroy electronics and organic material instantly.
The closest you humans have produced is your nuclear bombs." Yxlax answered.

"This must be the connection," remarked Nancy, "My husband's formula would
allow you to survive heavy radiation, making you immune to this thing. But
there's one small problem, the drug makes you sleep."

Brad looked at Nancy, "We don't even know if the drug is still in your body.
If only we had a complete copy of his formula. I wonder if he continued
working on it after he sealed you into the test chamber." He thought for a
moment, "Nancy, do you remember the instructions we found to go to a church?
We need to check that out!" Turning to Lee he said, "We're going to need
bigger guns!"

Lee smiled as the fembot dropped into a very impressive double-biceps pose.

SEP 27, 2005 - 3:00 AM

"Welcome to Indian Springs," muttered Brad as he looked over the dozen or so
unlit buildings before him, "I can't picture any of these being a church, the
only two I see that are big enough are that liquor store and that boarded-up
movie theater. Nancy, what was the name of the church?"

"Temple of Light," Nancy answered, "This is hopeless, the church was probably
torn down years ago!"

Princess Neela, who had insisted to be included on this mission, asked "What
is a movie theater my mate?"

"Well, I'm sure this technology is like cave-paintings to you. Movies are
stories projected on a screen by a optical projector. Most theaters have rows
of seats where people can watch the show. That theater looks like it was
closed down twenty years ago, they don't build them like that any more. The
fancy decorations with the statues and stuff went out of style a long time
ago."

"When I was growing up going to a movie was a big deal! Some folks even
dressed up like they were going to a real theater or church. I know things
have changed a lot, we used to have a news-reel and a cartoon before very
movie," remarked Nancy.

Brad stopped walking and slowly turned back town the movie theater, "Church?
Really? Wait a second! Nancy, take a good look at those statues. What's
standing next to the lion?"

"It looks like a gorilla wearing one of those caps they wear during
graduation. Why?"

Brad smiled, "ZARDOZ, can you find any connection between Dr. Benson and the
Jungle Palace?"

"ONE MOMENT. I FIND NO CONNECTION BETWEEN THIS THEATER AND DR. BENSON.
HOWEVER, AN OLGA BENSON WAS LISTED AS AN EARLY INVESTOR IN THIS BUSINESS."

Nancy turned to Neela, "Olga was my husband's second wife. It gets
complicated."

"We need that diploma! Dr. Benson has used a gorilla clue before. ZARDOZ, do
you detect any unusual energy sources near us?" asked Brad.

"A POINT-SOURCE OF INFRA-RED DETECTED ON DESIGNATED CONTAINER TUBE, POSSIBLE
PROJECTED ENERGY BEAM IS CONSISTENT WITH SIMPLE SECURITY SYSTEM."

Brad pulled his night-vision scope from his pack and began to scan the area,
"Well now, this is interesting. There a box on that streetlight pumping out an
infra-red beam! And - yes, these is a second lens on the box that looks like a
small telescope. I bet you that it's aimed right at the diploma tube."

"There's an alarm on the diploma?" asked Nancy, "What good would that do?
Anyone who grabs it would be long gone before you could drive out here, even
if they were coming from Los Vegas."

"My mate, could our enemy have left guardians?" asked Neela, who leaned
against Brad's back and playfully flexed her pectoral muscles.

"ZARDOZ, do a sweep of this area again. This time we're looking for either
weapon systems of robots in some kind of stand-by mode." commanded Brad, "My
guess is the what we're looking for may be inside something, even underground,
to avoid detection. Look near power lines, they would need power."

"Brad, how long are we going to stand around in the middle of the street? If
there's something here it's been hidden for years," remarked Nancy, "Let's
just grab the tube and run like hell!"

"SCAN COMPLETE. CONSTRUCTION OF PILLARS IN FRONT OF THEATER IS UNUSUAL"

Neela walked up to one of the pillars and punched it with her right hand. The
force of the impact caused several large chunks of plaster to fly away,
revealing what looked like an odd metal pipe. Brad walked up and declared,
"That is a female wrist! And either she's standing on a platform or she's
eight feet tall!"

Just then all four pillars exploded in a shower of plaster and wood as four
seven-foot-tall female robots stepped down onto the sidewalk and turned to
face our heroes. The first robot caught Princess Neela in a powerful
back-swing which tossed her across the street into a parked cargo van. Brad
unloaded a full clip of explosive rounds into the robot and managed to knock
it down onto the sidewalk where it lay sparking. The second robot slammed
Nancy into the front of the theater where it pinned her by her throat. Nancy
wrestled with the robot and was slowly forcing it off of her. The third robot
leaped to Brad, knocking his half-refilled weapon down the block. Brad found
himself being slowly crushed by the robot's over-sized hands.

Brad's vision began to blur and dim. The sounds of combat turned into a roar.
Something dark moved across his line of sight. Suddenly there were two bright
flashes of light. Brad felt rather than heard the two explosions. A moment
later he fell to the sidewalk and discovered he could breath again. Looking up
he saw a tall man in a long dark coat pump two shotgun blasts into the head of
the second robot. For some reason the forth robot just stood there without
moving.

The tall man turned to Brad and said, "I'm Jack, Jack Texas. It looked like
you could use some help, and that what I do." Jack managed to make his twin
shotguns vanish inside of his coat and pulled out a radio, "Bennie, why ain't
that thing moving?" Across the street Brad saw the side door to the cargo-van
Neela had crashed into slowly open. A short middle-aged man wearing thick
glasses ran over to the motion-less robot.

"I think this one wasn't getting a full charge. It must have used all of it's
power doing that surprise entrance." Bennie looked up at the robot's face,
"Hey Jack, can I keep this one? It's a perfect replica of that robot from
Metropolis, you know, the one they called Futura!"

"I don't think you have room in your van and she's not riding with me!"
answered Jack.

As the two newcomers talked Brad rushed across the street to Neela. He pulled
her rock-hard body off the ground and noticed that even a full-powered blow
from the large robot hadn't left a mark on her. "Neela, are you OK?" Her eyes
opened and she smiled, "I have you, my mate. Come, show me what has become of
our enemy!" With that the alien princess stood up and nearly carried Brad back
across the street to the demolished pillars.

Jack Texas turned to Brad and said, "You travel with some interesting women,
they're both a lot tougher than they look and they're much classier than I'm
used to. We've been following you for a couple weeks. I thought you were some
kind of strange criminal gang. Bennie was able to rig up a detector for the
radios you use, but we couldn't beat the encryption. When those giant robots
popped up, I had to pick a side."

"TACTICAL ALERT! I HAVE DETECTED A REACTION FORCE OF SIGNIFICANT SIZE! I
ADVISE THAT YOU DEPART WITHOUT DELAY!"

Bennie walked up to Brad, "That sounded like an AI! That's so cool!" Jack
growled "English Bennie!, Remember?" Bennie smiled at Brad and answered, "It's
an artificial intelligence, a machine."

Brad sighed and turned to Nancy, who stood there holding a two-foot metal
tube, "We gotta bug out! Company, as they say, is coming!"

SEP 27 - 2005 - 4:13 PM

Brad fought hard not to smile. Jack Texas had tried every trick in the book to
keep everyone from seeing that he was totally entranced by Nancy Benson. He
watched her every move and listened to every word. One thing that Jack didn't
seem to notice was that Nancy was performing the same ritual with Jack Texas
as the target.

Bennie leaned over and spoke softly into Brad's ear, "Jack grew up different
from you and me. His parents got killed in some kind of car accident leaving
five-year-old Jack to be rescued by wolves. Later this old semi-retired
prospector found him and raised him. Gave him a solid, if not a little odd,
education. When he was eighteen a bunch of mercenaries showed up and killed
the old man. Jack spent the next three years tracking them down. Along the way
he rescued me and I've been with him since then."

"That's a pretty strange story if you ask me," remarked Brad.

Bennie laughed, "That's funny coming from a guy who's girlfriend is a
thousand-year-old alien princess."

Brad just smiled as Bennie turned to Yxlax and asked, "Just what makes this
combat robot so tough?"

"Some of this was secret stuff, but I had heard that it used some kind of
reactive liquid armor layered with regular armor. One inch of that liquid was
equal to ten feet or more of your best metal. It can take on dozens of your
best tanks wipe them out. No weapons we can come up with could break through
and if it's main weapon doesn't get you then it's strong enough to throw tanks
at you." Yxlax answered.

Bennie thought for a moment, "So this fluid, it's reactive? Must be some kind
of molecular suspension with amazing phase transferee time. I wonder if we
could make it all phase change at the same time?"

Yxlax waived his beer in the air, "You lost me bub, I haven't the froggest
idea what you just said!"

"Phase change? Like water into ice? That might work! If only we had a sample
of this stuff to play with. Thanks for the idea guys! I've got to talk to Lee
about doing another field trip," Brad said as he got up.

OCT 3, 2005 - 8:30 AM

Princess Neela had loaded the bar with as much as it could hold, which was
somewhere around six hundred pounds. She was determined to fight as the side
of her mate but for some reason couldn't grasp the idea of using ranged
weapons. This left as her only option going toe-to-toe with killer robots in
hand-to-hand combat. This, she thought, required great physical strength. Her
blood-lust bonding with Brad had left her partially transformed as a
hunter-killer, making her much stronger than the average female of her race.
While she was already stronger than any human female, she wanted more.

Slowly she forced the bar up in what Brad had described as a bench press. The
thick muscles of her chest and arms grew larger, harder and more defined. Not
unlike the teeth of a shark, the muscles of her race were arranged in dozens
of over-lapping layers. Normally only a few layers at a time would be used,
but Neela's weight-training forced most to be engaged at the same time. The
constant rippling of her straining muscles threatened to rip her once-loose
tee-shirt off of her.

"205!" she whispered to herself as she completed another repetition, "I must
ask for more weights!"

Neela slowly realized that the barbell was becoming lighter. She glanced at
her arms and saw that they had expanded in size such that her shirt was
beginning to split. Suddenly Neela recognized the reason for her sudden
increase in strength.

"Greetings my mate! What news do you bring me?" Neela asked.

Brad looked down as Neela's muscles exploded her shirt off of her. He compared
the massive size of the weight she was lifting to that of her large alien
breasts. "Lee is sending me with Jack Texas to China to see if we can find
anything at the crash site. For obvious reasons you have to stay here."

"Are you taking any of the women?" asked the princess as she slowly lowered
the barbell.

"No, we don't know if the ship is being watched. The last thing we need is
something triggering an alarm. However, Bennie will be coming along and he and
Lee worked out some interesting ammo for Jack."

Neela stood up, her muscles thick and lush from her morning workout, "It's
time for my shower, my mate. As flexible as my race is, I still need your
assistance in reaching - certain - spots."

Brad could only smile as a wall of female muscle filled his view.

OCT 17, 2005 - 3:15 PM

Brad smiled. When he had first talked to Yxlax about his idea he feared that
the gray alien would not be able to help. The Yxlax smiled and came back to
Brad's room was a small red and black device, "This is my backup data pod.
It's small, just 128 YB, but I think I have what you want. There's nearly 30
YB of technical and repair manuals in here!"

"What's in the rest of the space?" asked Brad.

Yxlax looked down and muttered, "It's ----."

"It's what?"

"It's PORN! OK? Can't a guy have a hobby?"

Brad was barely able to control his laughter as they searched for the
information he sought. "Some things never change," he thought to himself.

OCT 31, 2005 - 9:45 PM

"Bennie, why is this thing ticking?" asked Jack Texas. "Because it's a clock,
Jack. We're limiting the amount of electronics on this trip, remember?"
answered Bennie. Brad smiled at the now familiar banter between the strange
man from Texas and his small Jewish friend. Each was very good at what they
did, something that bothered Brad, who felt that he wasn't holding up his
load. Now, without a super-strong female to back him up, he would have to
prove that he had what it takes to save the world.

"Right," he muttered to himself, "Like that's going to happen!"

Brad could barely make out the piles of dirt several hundred feet in front of
them that marked the entrance to the long hidden alien space ship. Slowly they
moved from shadow to shadow, Brad feeling his heavy load of ammo and weapons
every inch of the way. Bennie tossed a small plastic bad toward the entrance.
As the bag hit a small cloud of white powder filled the air. Brad knew the
others were doing as he was, looking at the cloud of powder through purely
optical binoculars. Brad relaxed a little when the powder, which was reactive
to both infra-red and ultra-violet, remained dark.

Jack Texas was the first to enter the tunnel, moving silently in the dark was
just something he did. Brad followed, though at a slower pace. Bennie played
read guard, as he was a worse shot than Brad. After several cautious moment
the trio entered to space craft, which looked a little more damaged than Brad
remembered.

"Looks like our friend busted up the place a little on it's way out," Brad
whispered.

Bennie pointed at a large hole in the wall, "Looks like he needed a little
boost! I think those are some kind of power conduits, and they look like they
were sliced open. See those marks?"

"Maybe he just needed a jump start," remarked Jack.

Brad nodded, "We better keep moving, Lee says we need to find where this
combat robot was being stored. My guess is that we'll find some kind of
automatic maintenance device that kept the robot ready for action."

OCT 31, 2005 - 10:33 PM

The crate was easy to spot, it must have been the largest container in the
cargo hold, but now it's scattered remains were a trail of debris that led out
of the compartment. The floor of the container remained, including several
equipment boxes and tanks. While Jack and Brad took up defensive positions,
Bennie searched the container for traces of the reactive armor fluid.

"I think I found something guys! This cylinder has a small amount of liquid in
it. Too bad I can't read alien. For all I know it's just some leftover beer."
whispered Bennie.

"Just grab what you can Bennie, I don't like this place! It smells funny,"
remarked Jack.

Brad moved to the remains of the container and spotted a small disk that had
been pushed under a box, "I wonder what this is?" he muttered to himself as he
slipped his prize into a jacket pocket.

OCT 31, 2005 - 11:12 PM

"This isn't right!" muttered Jack Texas as he pointed to the glowing dust.

"There's something out there flooding the area with infra-red, we're trapped!"
whispered Bennie.

Brad suddenly smiled, "Come on guys, I think I know another way out!"

OCT 31, 2005 - 11:47 PM

Brad strapped himself into the alien chair, trying to ignore the strange and
uncomfortable shape. The control panel in front of him reminded Brad of that
moment in Star-Trek II when Khan wildly searched for the proper button to
press. The labels were much more complex than he had expected. Suddenly he
understood, each control was labeled in several alien languages. "Just like a
printer manual," he muttered to himself. Now, if he could just remember some
of the Na'Morel that Neela had been trying to teach him.

A small trickle of dust fell from the ceiling, "Better hurry up, company's
coming!" remarked Jack.

Brad could feel vibrations and assumed that whoever was waiting had come in
after them.

"Well, this is either going to work, or turn me into a vegetable!" whispered
Brad as he entered the command he thought would activate the direct neural
command link. As blinding white light filled his mind Brad assumed his death
was near. Moments later has was surprised to find himself connected to the
life-boat's simple but somehow comfortable-feeling computer.

Jack Texas spun around as the hatch cycled closed, "Bennie, what's going on?"

Before Bennie could answer several large explosive charges forced the
protective cover off of the life-boat, clearing the twenty or so feet of soil
away from their flight-patch. With a sudden lurch the small ship threw itself
into the night sky and towards the relative safety of Los Vegas. Jack and
Bennie could only hang on and wonder what strain Brad was feeling as they
watched the blood slowly drain from his face.

<><><> Chapter Six - Fire Of The Atom! <><><>

NOV 3, 2005 - 2:15 PM

Brad found his vision slowly clearing. Once again he found himself in the fake
medical facility hidden under the Luxor hotel. Painfully he turned his head
until he could see the face of Princess Neela. "How long have I been out?" he
croaked.

"Several days my mate. It is a wonder that your human mind, not trained for
direct mind link, was able to operate the life-boat at all. Your landing was
not quite as controlled, but ZARDOZ says he will be able to make what repairs
are needed. In fact they should be finished today." answered Neela.

"That's good, then you can fly up to one of the Empire outposts and take
command!" remarked Brad as he slowly forced himself to sit up in his hospital
bed. The movements seemed to be clearing his mind.

Neela frowned, "We have one problem. When you activated the life-boat it
configured itself to operate with your mind. So now only you can pilot the
ship. I fear I will lose you if you try to fly the ship a second time!"

Brad moved his feet towards the floor, feeling more like himself as the
minutes passed. "I remember something about that. The computer was confused,
but it accepted me as an authorized user. I guess it took my memories of
hundred of science-fiction novels as real memories of a space traveler. It
asked me for my permission to do something to me. Since that combat robot was
coming to kill us, I said yes."

"My mate! What have you done!" gasped Neela.

Brad reached up and felt a still-sore spot on the back of his head. Most of
his friends still didn't know that he could control ZARDOZ just by thinking,
so this new addition felt more comfortable than he expected. "The life-boat
was designed to be operated by anyone familiar with space travel, even a
passenger. If that person was injured an interface module could be implanted.
It just assumed that I was injured."

As Brad stood up Neela walked up to him and gently wrapped her powerful arms
around him, "You've been working out!" he whispered into her ear. She pulled
him tight against her hard-muscled body and answered, "I would be pleased to
show you just how much I have improved, my mate."

"WARNING! AN ORBITAL WEAPONS PLATFORM HAS BEEN DETECTED! VECTOR TRANSLATION
INDICATES ENEMY ACTION IMMINENT!"

Brad looked deep into Neela's eyes, "When this is over, I want a vacation!"

NOV 3, 2005 - 5:25 PM

The clock was ticking and Brad felt the pressure increase. There had been a
very heated debate but the choice had been taken from him. ZARDOZ calculated
that the alien weapons platform would be in position to destroy Lee's secret
base in less than three hours. There was no more time, Brad had to launch the
repaired alien life-boat pod into orbit. Princess Neela sat at his side
holding ZAROZ in her lap.

Brad closed his eyes and concentrated. He felt the power build up as the
life-boat activated the primary engines. When he opened his eyes he could see
stars. "OK, we are locked on for the Na'Morel moon base! This isn't as bad as
last time! Should be a piece of cake!"

NOV 3, 2005 - 8:15 PM

Two hours later and Brad could feel his brain move from side-to-side whenever
he turned his head. The strain from controlling the alien spacecraft was
mounting with each passing moment. There was no time to be subtle, Brad went
towards what Neela identified as a shuttle landing bay and hoped for the best.

"I AM DETECTING A CRAFT HEADING IN THIS DIRECTION, IT APPEARS TO BE SEVERAL
LARGE CHEMICAL MISSILES BOUND TOGETHER INTO A SINGLE UNIT. THERE IS A SINGLE
HIGH ENERGY SIGNAL CONSISTENT WITH MOBILE COMBAT UNITS. THE CRAFT WILL IMPACT
THE LUNAR SURFACE CLOSE TO THE BASE ENTRANCE."

"Great, our mechanical fried from China has learned to improvise! We running
out of time!" Brad nearly screamed as he forced the life-boat to fly into the
shuttle landing bay. Automatic doors secured the bay which quickly filled with
air. Neela handed Brad ZARDOZ, picked them both up and sprinted towards the
landing bay exit. Brad held the glowing ORB close to him. Thankfully Neela did
not mention the long trail of paint and metal that Brad had left during the
landing.

NOV 3, 2005 - 8:34 PM

It took Neela nearly twenty minutes to navigate the maze of work rooms and
passages that ran between the landing bay and the base entrance. As they
neared the last chamber Brad made Neela put him down. he placed ZARDOZ, dark
and silent for now, on the floor and turned to Neela, "If the robot is waiting
for us and you just walk in there he'll spot you and attack. Wait here!"

Between the landing pads and the entrance to the lunar base lay a large
assembly area. Brad took a quick peek and spotted two possible problem. One
was a crack in the floor that looked large enough to fall into while the other
was a giant, multi-armed killing machine. "Neela, I have an idea. You'll just
have to trust me! Now stay back here until I call for you." Brad took several
deep breaths, and then calmly walked around the corner and into full view of
the hunter-killer.

"Greetings! I'm with the local technical support staff! How are you doing this
fine day? It's been a while since I've seen one of your model come through
here. No matter! We pride ourselves in the quality of our repairs! Now then,
you're a Mark 30, right? I seem to remember there was a product advisory out
for you, something about long-term storage and loss of memory and
communications. Here's a quick test, try to connect with the local data
matrix. That will tell us if you have a system failure!"

The Mark-30 slowly focused on the strange human that was coming close to him.
It WAS unable to access the local data matrix, so perhaps these was some truth
to what the human was saying. It rose up so that it could make a closer visual
inspection. The human was showing signs of repressed emotions. This was
reinforced when the human fell into the large gap in the floor and then
climbed back out with great difficulty. The robot's tactical processor
calculated the likely outcome.

Brad continued to move towards the robot, "All you have to do is open your
primary system access hatch and I can start a soft-reboot. After that we
update your configuration files, verify the file system and you're good to go!
So, when do I start?"

Suddenly one of the thick metal tentacles shot out and impaled Brad through
his chest. The tentacle swung up and then out, throwing Brad's body hard
against the back wall. Princess Neela watched in horror as his lifeless body
crumpled to the ground, the force of the impact creating a spray of blood
which covering her in a fine red mist. Time seemed to slow to a crawl as she
screamed, "Noooo!" Neela fell to her knees, her world destroyed a second time.
The anger built up within her, her pulse raced, her fists grew tight. Brad had
died trying to protect her. and now the curse of her family would be revealed.
Slowly she walked to the entrance of the chamber. with each step her body
continued to transform into a shape not seem by thousands of years.

The hunter-killer was confused, the creature which approached was not listed
in any data base. It's gestures showed that it was hostile, but it was unarmed
and therefore not a threat. In a flash Neela leaped towards the robot and
smashed down on the nearest tentacle with both fists. The powerful blow
crushed support members and bent armor section. The hunter-killer lashed out
with several other tentacles. Neela gracefully ducked under the first two but
was hit by the third. She found herself flying through the air and smashed
into the far wall. Chunks of concrete rained down from where she hit the wall.

In a moment Neela was back up and sprinting towards the killer robot. several
tentacles flashed towards her and knocked her onto the hard pavement. The
Mark-30 was surprised at the level of physical strength it was detecting. It
was not possible for anything organic to produce such pressure. But it could
tell that many servos were in danger of failing and several support sections
were actually bending under the tons of force the creature was generating.
Neela screamed, fighting to break free, her alien muscles exploding in size
and strength as he killing frenzy grew. The mark-30 aimed it's primary beam
weapon at her and it began to charge. Neela screamed in rage, her powerful
body slowly destroying the tentacles that held her. Suddenly, the beam weapon
prepared to fire, Neela prepared to die, and - click - the robot stopped
moving and sank to the ground.

Neela freed herself from the now inert tentacles and moved towards the robot's
spherical body. As she grew closer she could her - somebody - yelling to her,
"Hello! anybody out there? A little help please!" With her body barely under
her control, Neela grabbed the multi-ton robot and shoved it aside, revealing
the large crack in the pavement it had rested on. In the shadows she could see
movement, and then a hand appeared to grab the edge of the two-foot-wide
crack. Neela was stunned as Brad slowly pulled himself from the gap in the
pavement. "Well, that was a lot harder than I though it would be! What were
you guys doing up here? OK, just one little thing to clean up!"

Brad climbed up on the robots main body and pushed on several hidden controls.
Without warning a large cylindrical section rose up out of the robot. Using
both hands, Brad grabbed a large crystal-like component and pulled it off of
the robot. After letting it smash into the floor he turned and smiled at
Neela, "OK, Princess, we won't be dealing with this guy any more! Wow! I love
the new look, but then I'm really into the whole space-amazon thing. But you
already knew that."

For several moments Neela was speechless, "Brad! My love! But - you - died!
How did you?" She walked toward him, her killing frenzy quickly turning into
another kind of lust. Her muscles started to return to normal, but Neela knew
some of the extra muscle mass would stay with her because her body had felt
his lust for her. She turned to look at his dead body, only to watch it fade
as ZARDOZ floated into sight. "Of course! The robot killed a simulation of
you! Very clever my mate. But how did you defeat the robot, I detected no
weapons fire!"

Brad slipped down off of the robot and embraced his amazon princess. "When we
couldn't find any technical data I had our little gray friend get me the
service manual," he whispered, "No one seemed to worry about protecting the
reset button. However, the only way to get to it was to be directly under the
robot and shove something small into a small hole." Bran pulled a long
screwdriver from his pocket, "Don't leave Earth without it! Now, my powerfully
interesting muscle goddess, would you mind saving the world?"

"WARNING: WEAPONS PLATFORM IS FIRING AT SURFACE TARGET!"

"Oh no! We're too late!" Neela shouted as she ran towards the control panel
for the lunar base main entrance. As she grew near the controls detected her
and activated. For several minutes nothing happened. In desperation Neela
lunged at the door, screamed, and tried to pull it open using pure brute
strength. Brad could only watch as the woman he loved slowly tore several
retaining bolts, each over a foot thick, out of the reinforced door frame.
Smoothly, for the first time in over a thousand years, the massive door slid
open, revealing the long abandoned alien base. Neela turned, her muscles
pumped to an unreal size and hardness, and noticed Brads intense lust. "Later
my love, I promise!" she whispered.

It took the two several minutes to reach the command center where Neela was
able to interface directly with the base computer. Several moments later she
turned and smiled at Brad. "It is over, my mate. All of the other alien
weapons systems in orbit or on the moon have been destroyed. I've been unable
to scan Lee's secret base, there is still too much interference. But I'm
afraid we were too late. I'm sorry. I have, as they say, some good and, for
me, bad news. The base has recognized my right to command and we now have
total access to a large amount of imperial resources including a small scout
ship! And then, there's this." On a large view screen flashed the image of a
woman dressed in formal robes. Brad could not understand the alien words, but
her tone seemed sad. Suddenly Brad realized that the woman looked like an
older version of Neela.

When the message was complete, Brad turned to face Neela, "That was your
mother, wasn't it? She's sad because she had lost you?"

"Yes, it was my mother," Neela whispered, "But she was sad because an all-out
civil war had broken out. That was the reason why nobody ever came to rescue
me, and the reason why this base hasn't detected an imperial signal for over a
thousand years. The fires of war have burned down the trees of civilization. I
am more alone that I ever thought possible."

Brad reached out and pulled the alien princess to him. She did not resist as
he held her tight, "Neela, you may be the last princess of a lost empire, but
from the very start, when I first saw you, you were queen of my heart. As long
as I breath, you will never be alone!"

For several moments she was silent, but Brad could feel a dampness growing on
his shoulder as she fought the sadness that tortured her. "Thank you Brad,
sometimes I forget there is more than one way to be strong. My mother had sent
me on this trip to force me to grow up a little. I guess it worked. Why don't
we take a shuttle down to Earth and see if any of your friends survived. But,
this time I will drive!"

NOV 4, 2005 - 1:07 AM

The area of devastation was nearly half a mile in diameter. Thankful for his
thick boots, Brad slowly made his way towards the base. Neela had skillfully
landed the base shuttle within sight of the entrance. From altitude they had
seen only the perfectly round burn area, but close up Brad spotted the melted
remains of his truck and an antenna tower. Two wide holes showed where the
missile silos had been. The two support buildings had been totally vaporized,
leaving on the concrete floors. He walked across the larger concrete pad,
trying to remember details such as where tables and chairs had been.

Brad looked down and started laughing. Neela, fearing that he displaying his
pain, walked over to him and held him tight in her strong arms, "While I did
not know then as long as you did, I too miss our friends!" Neela said as she
tried to comfort Brad.

"No, that's not it." he said, "Look at where I'm standing. Notice anything out
of place?" Neela stared at the solid concrete floor. "Lee was ultra paranoid
and I can see him doing this! Look where I'm standing. Do you see anything
missing?"

Neela shook her head, "My love, the floor is the floor."

"Well yes, except that this floor should have a hole for a secret elevator!"

"This is a decoy!" Neela shouted, "They live!"

"Yeah, Lee said something about making the base disappear, but I guessed he
meant getting it deleted off the maps. He must have worried about paper copies
of the maps and built this duplicate. I guess the real base was modified so it
looks different from the air."

Neela spun around to find that Lee and Lana had walked up behind them. "See, I
told you he would figure it out!" Lee said to Lana, "And from the size and
design of that landing craft I'll assume that all the old empire assets are
back on line. But what happened to that big robot?"

"My mate has taught me to never underestimate a technician," Neela replied as
she reached out to Brad.

Brad looked around, "Did you do this before or after we got ZARDOZ?"

Lee laughed, "Some of it before, but ZARDOZ really helped finish things off.
These silos are in the same condition as the real ones were when I found them.
I started out with the floors and two circular caps that I hoped would look
like silos on infra-red. That would have taken forever if I didn't have Lana's
help. As you know, she's a lot stronger than she looks!"

"I'm surprised that I didn't hear you guys drive up," remarked Brad.

Lana smiled and pointed at the melted vehicle.

"Your SUV?" laughed Brad, "To complete the picture, you parked your SUV here?"

"Yeah, we saw you land the ship and hoped it wasn't the robot coming down for
a visit. So we walked over. The real base is about a mile that way!" said Lee
as he pointed to the north.

"Come! We have more than enough room in the shuttle, and I am a much better
pilot than my mate is!"

NOV 12, 2005 - 8:30 PM

Bennie walked around the large stone cell. Outside the barred windows he could
hear the cold wind and faint random screams. Several simple torches cast a
bright flickering light against the stone-block walls. Thick chains and
strange torture devices hung from the ceiling. Suddenly, she was there. Her
long while dress did little to hide her ample female form, or her large
powerful muscles. She leaned forward towards him, her long black hair
cascading across her large firm breasts.

"My master commands that you are to be rewarded and that I shall be your
reward! Few mortals have been so honored, but I will obey your every wish!"
the female vampire stepped closer to Bennie and whispered, "Your every wish!"
Bennie reached out and felt the cool hardness of her arms. She smiled and
slowly moved into a double biceps pose. He watched as her inhumanely strong
muscles as they seemed in inflate before his eyes. From deep within her he
heard a sexual grown.

She followed him to the wall where he clamped several chains to her wrists.
Each chain looked as if it could raise a draw bridge by itself. Bennie
squeezed her large perfect breasts as she gently pulled on the chains. Her
muscles rippled under her pale skin, growing harder as her nipples grew
harder. Slowly, with an expertise born from thousands of hours of research,
Bennie brought the female vampire to the edge of orgasm. She opened her mouth
wide and hissed, "Do it mortal! Bring that pleasure to me and I will deny you
nothing! Come to me and I will be your vampire lover!" The chains began to
vibrate from the strain, flakes of rust rose as a vapor.

Bennie took off his shirt and pressed against the vampire, feeling her inhuman
hardness as she began to slowly break the massive chains. He lifted her pale
white dress and thrust himself into her, feeling her power pulsing through her
body. Bennie saw that her arms were still smaller than his, but her demonic
strength could not be stopped, even by chains that he could barely lift off of
the floor. The vampire matched his pace, though her efforts included an
impossible feat of strength. As they reached mutual climax the female vampire
threw her head back and screamed, her muscles exploding on size as she ripped
down the thick heavy chains. Bennie stepped away as she lowered her arms. She
lowered her head and locked her blazing dark eyes on his and asked, "So, do
you come here often?"

NOV 12,2005 - 8:30 PM

Jack Texas, man of action, didn't know what to do next. On the table in front
of him lay the mysterious Nancy Benson, a woman from another time. Under her
command he had strapped her arms and legs to the bondage table. The
long-sleeved pale-green dress she wore hid the ripples of her atom-powered
muscles. She smiled up at him, they were in one of the "special" rooms that
lay hidden under the Luxor hotel. Nancy knew it was totally soundproof. Nancy
pulled against the thick nylon straps and felt them stretch. "This isn't going
to do! ZARDOZ, let's have some real bondage! Give me something I have to
really strain to bust!"

In a flash massive metal bands slid out of the table and enclosed her hands
and feet. "More ZARDOZ! Those might stop a wimpy school-girl, but Jack here
wants to see what a WOMAN can do!" Large blocks of hardened steel appeared to
replace the bands. "This is more like it. But how about a plot. I've got it!
It's a twist on the movies we used to watch when I was a kid. In this story I
have to escape and rescue the handsom Jack Texas! But who does Jack need
recuing from?" Nancy smiled at Jack and softly whisped her command to ZARDOZ.

As Jack waited he thought to hemself that Nancy had a hot body, but was a
little strange in the head. He never heard of the movies she was talking
about. Suddenly he heard a door slam closed. A door that hadn't been there
before. As her turned around he saw the bondage room transform into some kind
of old-fashoned office. The door that had closed had a frosted-glass panel
with a sign that read "Princepal Jack Texas". In front of him stood a teenage
girl wearing a vintage school uniform. She smiled at him and slowly walked
forward, "We're all alone Principal Texas. Just you and me. And whatever Lola
wants, Lola gets!"

Jack glanced back at the bondage table only to discover it had been
transformed into a large desk. Nancy was straining to break free, her muscles
slowly growing as she began to build up her strength. Lola laughed and pulled
down on a rope Jack hadn't seen before, several more massive metal blocks fell
down on Nancy, "Oops! Looks like Vice-Principla Benson won't be riding to your
rescue!"

"And speaking of riding," Lola licked her lips, "Come here cowboy!" As she
lunged towards Jack her managed to push her aside. But the brief contact were
her slim body warned him that while the teenage girl's muscles were small,
they were as hard as steel. He grabbed a heavy wooden chain and smashed down
with all his strength. Lola easily snaped the chair apart, sending chunks of
wood flying across the office. Jack found a metal coat rack but she pulled it
from him and easily bent it with her bare hands.

"You're strong," remorked Jack, "But I bet a little girl like you couldn't
crush that filing cabinet!"

"Little girl!" shouted Lola, her dup-cup breasts thrust out at him, barely
controlled by her fuzzy pink sweater, "I'll show you who's little!" Lola
steped up to the fire-proof filing cabinet and wraped her arms around it. With
a savage growl she pulled hard against the metal, slowly deforming it as it
were cardboard. Lola arched her back, lifting the massive cabinet off the
ground. Jack could see her smooth thighs swell under her pleated white skirt.
In moments Jack could see her arms growing in size.

Unable to help himself, Jack walked over to the straining girl and ran his
r\hands over her bulding muscles. "Oh yes! Feel Lola's big muscles! This is
why I always get what I want! That's because noybody can stop me! The police
arrested me once because I hurt this guy. Ha! The police! They learned not to
get in my way! I tore that jail cell apart with my bare hands and put half of
them in the hospital. But I don't think - grunt - you'l be calling me - grunt
- a little girl any more!" Suddenly Lola's arms nearly doubled in size as she
crushed the filing cabinet. Piles of paper work exploded into the air and she
tossed the remains across the office.

"It's your turn!" shouted Lola as the muscular co-ed marched toward Jack. He
spun around and planted a perfect kick directly to her chin. "Need another
lesson? OK, I'll give you five minutes to know me down!" Jack launched a
blinding flurry of martial arts punches and kicks. Lola only smiled as she
ignored him and watched the clock. As the five minutes was about to end they
were both surprised by the sound a cracking metal. Jack turned around to find
Nancy, on her feet, and glaring at them.

Nancy steped forward, pushed Jack aside, and punched Lola in the stomach. The
impact sounded like a small explosion and actually pushed Lola back several
feet. Lola licked her lips and said, "You should have stayed on the desk, old
woman!"

In an instant both women leaped at each other and fell to the full in a
two-way bear hug. Each strained to crush the other, powerful muscles continued
to increase in size and hardness. Nancy screamed in pain as the young co-ed
leaned back, her massive arms ripping her pink sweater to shreads. Jack could
only watch as Nancy's arms also exploded in size, ripping apart the thin
cotton sleeves. For several minutes the only sound were muscular grunts and
clothing tearing apart as the women grew in power.

Suddenly Jack heard the shap cracking sound of bones breaking. And yet neither
female showed any sign of pain. Finally both women screamed and fell apart,
their arms still twitching from the effort. Nancy opened her eyes and smiled
at Jack, "I hope you enjoyed the show, I asked ZARDOZ to make her almost
unbeatable, to force me to go all out. She wouldn't give up, even after I
broke three of her ribs! The only problem is that I'm too dead tired to have
fun with you!" nancy whispered more instructions to ZARDOZ.

Suddenly Lola stood up, her clothing repaired and her muscles normal size,
"Wow! Your Jack Texas! The other girls will never believe me! I'm your biggest
fan! I've seen all of your movies at least ten times! This is so unreal! I
read that you like your women big? Is that true? I hope so! I started working
out right away, see?"

Jack Texas looked watched Nancy wave to him as she left the demolished school
office. The animated co-ed flexed her ample biceps for him to feel. This Lola
was big, for a girl, and as he found out later, tireless.

NOV 18, 2005 - 10:22 AM

Lana waited in Lee's SUV while he ran into the Tron-Shop. While she was
totally in love with him, she found most of his tinkering boring. Except for
the weapons. Those she liked. From past experience she knew that she had at
least thirty minutes before her returned. Across the street was a Terrible's,
and Lana was in the mood for a Bear Claw. It took only a few minutes for her
to complete her purchase and start back. As she started to leave the
convenience store a bulky man wearing a watch cap bumped into her.

"Hey! Skinny bitch! Watch where you are going!" he shouted at her.

Lana remained silent and started to walk around him when he suddenly slapped
the bag of Bear Claws out of her hand. A second man, equally as large, stepped
in from behind her and crushed the bag with his boot, "Hey! Look out! You
should watch where you're going. Or are you blind as well as dumb?"

Without warning Lana reached out and grabbed the first man by the neck with
one hand. His friend watched in horror as she slowly lifted him off the
ground. While the first man struggled wildly like a caught fish, the second
man lunged forward, trying to knock Lana to the ground. Her blindingly fast
fist struck him on the chin before he could make one step, dropping him to the
ground. Effortlessly she grabbed the second man and threw him into a waiting
dumpster. Lana looked directly into the first man's terrified eyes, pointed
down at the bag of crushed Bear Claws and then into the store. Lana
half-dropped half-tossed the first man towards the door. Moments later he
returned with a larger bag of Bear Claws than had been destroyed.

Twenty minutes later Lee emerged from Tron-Shop with a bag the size of a small
child. She couldn't help but notice that he was as excited as a small child.
He couldn't help but notice that her muscles were slightly pumped. Suddenly
they stopped and noticed each other. Electronic parts and Bear Claws were
tossed into the back seat as Lee drove to their favorite motel.

NOV 21, 2005 - 2:10 PM

Wendy looked up as she heard the tentative knock on her open office door. She
smiled as she saw it was the guy from Nerd Patrol. For some reason she found
the white shirt and thin black tie very sexy. "You called about a hard drive
problem?" he stammered. Wendy noticed that he was staring at her small
muscular arms. She made a show of brushing back her curly blond hair, making
her biceps explode into view. She could feel his sudden surge of lust from
clear across the room.

"Oh yes! I'm glad you're here! I feel so helpless when it comes to computers.
Let me pull this out so you can get to the back of the computer," Wendy said
as she stood up and, with one hand, pulled the massive desk away from the
wall. She could hear the Nerd Patrol technician suddenly gasp as hidden muscle
exploded into view, nearly tearing off her sleeveless blouse. Wendy forced
herself to flex even harder, making two button fly off of her blouse and into
the hallway. "Oops! I forget how big my muscles can get!"

"Wow! I've never seen a woman as strong as you! Those muscles look fantastic!"

Wendy smiled, remembering an encounter with another guy several weeks earlier.
"Good choice of words!" she said as she ripped off the remains of her blouse
and bra. "Don't worry about getting your kit, from here I can tell you've got
the tool I need!"

NOV 24, 2005 - 6:00 PM

The air was cool and filled with the smell of the ocean spray, the sun was
bright but playful from the slowly moving clouds. Sounds of laughter and music
signaled a contentment that few in the crowd had ever felt before. Kevin felt
himself melt under the sensual pressure of supple female fingers. It was odd
how everyone had paired up at the end, Lee and Lana, Yxlax and Patrica, Jack
and Nancy. Even Jack's partner Benny found a willing companion in Karla the
amazon librarian. But Brad considered himself to be the ultimate winner.

Princess Leela, late of the Na'Morel Empire squirted more Bingee Bob's Suntan
Screen on her hands and returned to Brad's back. Her powerful muscles still
retained much of the size and strength they had bulked up to when she had
fought the hunter-killer robot. The sight of her daughter's body would not
have made her mother very happy. But the sight of her daughter's smile would
have.

"ALERT! ALERT! AUTOMATED SURVEY PROBE DETECTED! IMPERIAL RECOGNITION CODES
RECEIVED!"

All on the beach stopped to look at the glowing ball as it hovered above the
sand.

From the back of the cabana, Brad could hear Jack Texas yell, "Benny! Why is
that thing floating?"

<><><> The End? <><><>