The pace picks up

 

Tales of Faralmark


by Julia Phillips


04 – Farfetched

Even Robson turned away at the end, but he heard the gurgling coming through the severed neck as the body’s reflexes tried to draw in another breath. He turned back, and wished he had not. The mouth was trying to draw in air, as if it was the head of a fish. The man spat on the face, then turned, grabbed a cloth and began to clean all of his equipment. He seemed unconcerned at the dying head, still trying to gulp in air. “Good bye, Willem Wallace,” he spat out. It was the last thing Wallace heard. Ever.

What do you do when you look 7 years old, but you're actually a college student in your late teens? For Kathleen's entire life, she had fought against people treating her much younger than her actual age. Feeling obligated to grow up fast to show people she wasn't the age of her size, Kathleen never let her inner child out. Tired of fighting against the world, she explores the adult submissive world. What she finds, however, is an enjoyment of regression. Had she made a mistake? Would life be better if she just let people treat her how she looks, 7 years old?

It only started with me sitting waiting, all ready to go out and Fay looking great as she fastened her ear rings on. An idle comment can have major consequences. I only said 'your dress looks great, those underskirts that make the skirt fill out are back in fashion, they always looked good in those old films.'
Fay smiled at me, 'yes it's new, I bought it last week, glad you like it.'
And then the comment that changed everything 'what does it feel like to wear? I mean the skirt is so full and the underskirts must feel different against your legs.'

CHAPTER 40
Cardiff wasn’t on any of Mossman’s schedules, so I had to take the train. Carol dropped me off at Cannock station early in the morning, which saved me some faff as well as giving her time to speak rather a few words of calm and comfort. I had a rucksack with the basics, plus a sleeping bag wrapped round a single air mattress, as the wedding and sort-of-reception would be at an MC clubhouse, and I had no idea what their sleeping arrangements were.

Chapter 36 - Now For The Rest Of The Story

Heather and Ellen had a happy life but it was far from idyllic.

She started to cry now. I pulled her into an embrace. “Marc and I had decided if the six months were gone, before we ended up in stage five, we’d rather die, but we’re stuck. We can’t even end everything.”

“Are you sure they just couldn’t bring themselves to do it?” I asked.

“They really wanted to! She could move her other hand, but when she tried to bring a knife to her neck, it stopped.”

I felt like I had been deflated, and I knew I’d have to tell John tonight. We had thought the same thing.

This goes between the last chapter segments about the thing in the ice and the shooting of Mr. Gone.

Finally back in the small Detroit apartment she shared with Michelle, Vic acted strangely the first day. However, the next day was the last one before classes restarted, and Vic made sure to catch Michelle at a time when she had nothing important going on.

"Now that all that holiday stuff and the Moldarian treasure recovery are over," said Vic, uncharacteristically both nervous and serious, "I have something important to ask you."

In this chapter, Lola, Olivia, Angela and Erica inadvertently learn of another trans-woman who has suffered at the hands of Abdul Ibn Saud and their paths cross to start an enduring friendship between a high-ranking duchess and four kids from care.

The old man left, and Freeman stood, walking up to his friend. “Is that really necessary?” he asked.

“Fred, you know Willem won’t give up that information easily. You told me once that one of the first uses for nanites was to stop shock in an injured person. Anything we do to get information will have to be extreme. You know this.”

“Yes, I do, but it seems that we are stooping to his level.”

“Do you want me to stop,” Paul asked.

Fredrik looked at him for a long time as he considered. Finally, he shook his head in the negative. He didn’t like it in the least, but It had to be done.

“Wait a minute,” Kari said. “I thought they got their power from body heat.”

“That, I’m afraid, was a misconception.”

“How?” Marc asked.

“Think about it. Brownian motion needs fluid to work. When you take blood out of a person, that blood cools, so the brownian motion slows. This is just enough to where there is not enough power to recharge the batteries in a nanite. In a body, the nanites don’t stop as fast, as it takes time for a body to cool, but we’ve always looked at the nanites in the absence of body heat. We thought they needed the heat to work. In a way, they do, but that’s only because of the viscosity of the blood.”

I was starting to get it. “What if we cooled a body?”

“Even freezing a body would probably not work. As soon as we revived the person, the motion would start again. Just as we started working again, so would they.”

“Well, it was a thought,” I said.