The Last Traveler #2 - Birth

It’s boiling, for god’s sake!” Diana screamed.

“You will be ok, just breathe,” Etta tried to keep her calm. There was no need for Diana to get upset, but only the closed circle of people present knew that.

She couldn’t keep still; she writhed and fought all the way. Her panic was real. She struggled to get air into her lungs and began to choke. Her eyeballs felt like they were going to pop out at any moment. She had trusted them. She had trusted Etta. Etta said it would be fine.

The room was white and sterile. She thought it was a container of some sort. It was round and white emanated from behind the walls in a way she imagined heaven to look. But she soon found out it was pure hell. In the middle there was a square pool filled with a blue plasma that glittered. It was beautiful and she stepped forward to take a closer look. Only then did she notice the x on the floor.

“Stand on it lovey,” Etta’s voice guiding her on. Diana took a step forward, wondering what would happen when she stood on it. Never, in a million years, did she imagine that her life would never be the same again. ‘X marks the spot,’ she thought to herself as she took the last two steps onto the cross.

Immediately the body suit dropped from the ceiling, clamping on to her. Her entire body gossamered. The alarm bells started to ring. Not only in her head, but all around her. “Etta, I’m scared, get me out.” She said. She felt like she was suffocating. She held her breath.

“You will be ok, just breathe,” said Etta. Diana kept holding her breath. She was scared to open her mouth, the body suit covered her whole body and it felt strange. It pressed into her face. She didn’t know how there could be any air to breathe. The feeling of panic was real. She was writhing around in the suit, but to no avail, it held her fast. She opened her mouth and choked on the air that came into her lungs, almost as if her brain didn’t believe that it was possible. She felt like her eye balls were popping out of her head.

“It’s ok lovey, hang in there, it will only take a few minutes. Etta’s voice disappearing as the room suddenly started to quickly change shape. Platforms appeared under the feet of the people in the room and carried them out to safety behind the white walls that became dark and sinister.  She was alone now. The red light above her turned green and she heard the computer generated voice from somewhere up high, “Plasma Fusion initiated.  Sequence begins in 30 seconds and counting.” Diana fought against her body suit but it was of no use. She was being lifted up and over the blue cosmic plasma pool. It glittered; she couldn’t take her eyes off its beauty. What a strange sensation, being scared and mesmerized at the same time.

She had no idea what was going to happen.  She also realised this might also be her destruction. Why would they hurt her? Why was Etta so sweet and lovely just to let her die? Her thoughts raced around her head and she realised she had stopped breathing. She suddenly gasped and started choking. She took big gulps of air. It felt as if she was struggling to breathe. “Calm down Diana,” came the soothing voice of her mother. Was she dreaming. She tried to look around her but she couldn’t. The body suit held her tight.  The body suit tilted forward and she screamed. She was now over the pool of plasma.

She was slowly being let down and she could still hear the sterile and emotionless voice tick off the seconds to initiation. Her body touched the plasma and. It was as if all the air had been sucked out of her, as if she was being freezer dried. The pain was incredible. A pinching and pulling pain that started at her feet. Every nerve ending being broken and rebuild. The plasma swirling up and into the gossamer like a mold. She screamed and then she started to feel it. Like being cracked open she started to feel the energy building up inside her. She caught a glimpse of the machine that now came out of the ceiling. A long barrel of adamantium that was pointing straight at her head. This was it she thought, they are going to shoot me.

She could feel her body continuing to radiate and the feeling was pulsing in her veins. The fusion plasma was still swirling around her. She was getting dizzy. She was choking. She couldn’t breathe. The panic was real. Death felt near. She wanted it to come. Surely that would be better than what she was experiencing. She opened her mouth to cough and try and grab some air and then it happened. The fusion plasma beam came out of her mouth. A hundred thousand microns of energy. Her head jerked up and the beam came out of her eyes and mouth. The adamantium barrel was there to channel this incredible force away. Legend has it that she gave Oberon enough energy that night for a hundred thousand years.

The gossamer was now all light, white and then blue, then green. Turning its colours around the room and making a helix around Diana. The light still streamed from her forehead and mouth. The gossamer had all but disappeared dissolving into her flesh and becoming a part of her.

Abruptly the light stopped and she slumped forwards. Robot arms caught her and gently laid her on the bed that had come out of the floor next to the pool. The room returned to white light and then a soft yellow.  The bed moved slowly through the opening in the wall to a room beyond. 

“It’s done,” Tesla said, “we have the Last Traveler.”

“Well done, Etta, for this outstanding result,” Gordog said. “The Confederacy will be pleased.”

“Hey lovey, how are your feeling.” Said Etta stroking her head softly.

“Where am I?” she said. Pushing on her hands to bring herself upright but she was gently pushed back by hands she couldn’t see.

“You are okay,” Etta said. “You did really well. I am so proud of you,”

Diana stared straight out in front of her, struggling to focus on the soft lamp that stood in the corner. Was that her mother’s lamp? She started to point, but she had no energy. Etta gently laid her hand back down on the bed. “The answers will come.” The room was cozy and much warmer in colour of the light than the birth chamber had been. The walls were a rich apple green. She couldn’t take her eyes off the lamp. Her body felt strange. It was pulsing. A sensation she had never had before. It was as if the ocean had taken residence in her body, pulsing with waves that crashed and then receded. It was something she let happen. She tried to think of something else, but she couldn’t. The sensation would not let her.

She breathed in deeply and the bedside light glowed brighter. As she exhaled the light dimmed. She did it again and the same thing happened. She must be imagining things. She tried to concentrate on the light. The room seemed to be pulsing now too. She took a deep breathe in and the room expanded and then contracted on her exhale. She felt so tired. She closed her eyes and fell into a deep long sleep.