Andersonville 23: A Twinkle In Her Father's Eyes free porn video

Flashback - 11 months earlier (Author's notes - the intro takes place 'right after' Andersonville 6) There were fifteen men and women crowded into the small conference area. As Colonel Myers surveyed the room, he noticed most of them, the programmers anyway, were about half his age. Barry shook his head; he was getting old. His goal was to make general before he retired, and the Andersonville project had seemed like the best way to increase his chances. The problem was, he had failed on his last mission, and now had to explain his failure to the rest of the group. What bothered the colonel the most was that it had come about as a result of others making mistakes, and not faults in his decision making. Still, he was the one in charge, and someone had to be blamed for what happened. "Hi Barry," a lovely, middle-age female greeted him. It was Colonel Gorden, the leader in charge of 'E' group. Barry didn't see her very often. Her group worked the bunker on the weekends. "Hi Elizabeth," he replied. "How have you been?" "Not bad," she smiled. "I heard you had some trouble a few weeks ago." "Yeah, you could say that," Barry frowned. "I'll be discussing the matter this morning with the group. Hopefully others will learn from my mistake." "Don't be too hard on yourself," Elizabeth replied. "From what I read, you did all the right things. It was just a series of bad luck and miscommunication." "Maybe, but Dennis sure took a chunk of flesh out of my ass over it." Their conversation was cut short by the voice of Dennis Butz telling everyone to take a seat. The meeting began with the director giving his usual pep talk, and discussing some of the goals that they were trying to achieve in Andersonville. No one really knew for certain if they where the real goals or just some smoke screen meant to hide the town's true intent. Barry had heard about many strange things that took place in Andersonville, things that weren't natural. Judge Herns, while pleasant to talk to, wasn't your typical judge. Colonel Myers was equally sure she wasn't even human. After an hour Dennis stopped talking and turned the podium over to Barry Myers. The colonel stepped up and explained the circumstances that led to Jerry Kohl and Rodney Allen (read Andersonville 6 - Friendship lines) ending up in their town. Then he hit at the heart of the matter. "Despite our best efforts, Mr. Allen was able to discovered the secret of Andersonville. Fortunately he wanted to stay, and we were able to send his friend off without any memory of his visit. However, this could've had a very tragic ending, as Mr. Kohl had a family back in Indiana." Colonel Myers stopped talking for a moment to take a drink of water. Here was where things got tricky. He had to step on the toes of a few people while still being diplomatic about it. The last thing he wanted to do was make it sound like he was trying to blame someone else for what had happened. Still, there was some truth to what he had to say, and it needed to be pointed out. "Our biggest problem was with the temps. We couldn't let them operate in the open for fear the two men would spot their eyes. If there's a flaw in our operation, it's with our temps. We need to get the problem corrected soon - as in now." Almost immediately Charlie Mann, the supervisor in charge of the place- holders/temps, stood up to defend his people. "What you're asking for can't be done. There is a serious problem with the placeholder's programming design. While on the surface it may sound easy to fix, the reality is it's not. The solution is beyond our current capabilities." "Then bring someone in who can fix the problem," another colonel suggested. "Surely there's someone out there qualified to remedy the situation." "Maybe in the private sector," Mr. Mann threw out, "but do we really want to bring someone in from the outside? Look, I'm confident our people can fix the problem in a year or so." "We need to get the problem fixed now," Colonel Myers reiterated. "I almost had to make a decision about a man's life that I didn't want to make. Besides, it affects how the regular residents act around them. For lack of a better term, the temps 'spook' the living daylights out of most of our new arrivals." "We can't fix the problem by putting in a few lines of code, Colonel Myers," the programmer explained. "We've tried, and it doesn't work. This is a bigger problem than we first thought." "Excuse me, Mr. Mann," Dennis Butz interrupted. "Do you know of someone who could fix the problem?" The programmer tugged on his white lab coat as he thought about it. "There are a couple of people I know of. One of them works out of his house. His name is Chris Barnes, and in my opinion he would be perfect for this job. I worked with him a few times on some other problems. However, I must warn you Mr. Butz, he's not someone I would trust on this project. Dennis sat there for moment rubbing his chin. He would have to check with Judge Herns first, but there were ways around this breech in security. "Let me work on that problem," he told everyone. "If bringing him in will fix this problem, I think it's worth the risk. Colonel Myers, thank you for your time." The colonel nodded and sat down. "Colonel Lunnfelt, I believe you're next," Dennis said, picking up the next report. And so the meeting continued. Fade out... *** Voice of Judge Jasper: We are the Roman gods, who fell to the world long ago when your people were still learning how to crawl. We have guided you through the years, rewarded you for good deeds, and punished you when needed. With our leadership, we helped you defeat the Titans in a terrible but glorious war. Once your path was set, we went to sleep, waiting for the day you would reach for the stars and take us home. But the Titans interfered, and turned you away from your destiny. When we awoke, we found much work to do; so we established a base and called it Peace River. The Titans, with our help, established their own base later on. It's a town where we can work together, a last ditch effort to avoid another war that may destroy the human race forever. Some would like to see the town and your people destroyed, others would like to see it work - to have peace at last. There is much hatred between our people, and the road ahead won't be easy but the rewards if we do are great. The name of this last chance for peace is Andersonville. *** Andersonville 23 - A twinkle in her father's eye Story idea by Mark Sinden Written by Kelly Davidson Edited by Geoff, Nelson T. Special thanks to Aardkal for his advice with the MCI This story dedicated to my lovely and understanding wife, who puts up with my unusual hobby. For I am truly blessed to have someone like her beside me to lean on. Fade in - Present day... Chris Barnes leaned back in his seat and took a sip of his coke. His desk was cluttered with papers he had printed off that were meant to entertain him. The chair creaked loudly as he shifted his 320-pound frame forward to grab something from the printer. "All right," he said out loud. The article he had just printed off said a body could become slimmer by just thinking of exercising. Of course what the obese man really needed was to watch his diet and buy a treadmill, neither of which he was willing to do. The programmer leaned over and pulled another coke from his nearby refrigerator. He adjusted his thick glasses, and did some more searching on easy ways to lose weight. It wasn't as if the young man didn't have the time to exercise. Chris worked from home, maintaining a system for a rather large Internet provider. Except for the rare days when everything went to hell, there was very little for him to do. He was required to go into the office every two weeks to make a report; not that anyone really cared what he had to say. As long as the system operated smoothly his boss was happy. The rest of the people wanted very little do with him, especially Tammy, the pretty, young secretary. She wouldn't give him the time of day. "Stuck up, bitch!" Chris whispered as he thought of her. Okay, he wasn't Tom Cruise, but he was financially successful and owned his own house; what more did she want? Chris knew what she wanted. Tammy wanted someone who was a hunk - they all did. In Chris' opinion, all women were stuck up bitches. Bored of out his mind, the computer geek pushed himself away from the PC and reached for his laptop. "Might as well clear out some old files," he told himself. It had been almost a year since he had done any housecleaning to his laptop, and it most likely needed it. It was an older unit, and memory on it was severally limited, especially with the programs he ran. Chris sighed. It wasn't a fun job, but at least it would be a distraction from what he was doing - which was screwing around. There was only so much cruising on the Internet he could take in one day. Chris stared searching the hard drive when he spotted a folder called, "top- secret", which immediately caught his attention. The young man ran the folder through the virus checker to make sure it was safe. When everything came back okay, Chris opened it up. There were about sixteen different files in the folder, including one that said, 'Read me first'. The computer programmer clicked on the file, and found a letter addressed to him. Hello Buddy, You're not going to believe this, but this is you writing to yourself. From what they told me, you won't remember anything about this time, but I swear it all happened. The man in charge, his name is Dennis Butz, said I would be made to forget my time here in Andersonville. This town is both fascinating and frightening. Okay, I'm getting ahead of myself so let me start at the beginning. About a week ago I was approached by Mr. Butz to work on a secret project being run by the government. In exchange for my services, I/you were to be paid $10,000. Not bad for five days worth of work! I asked what I would be doing, and he told me there was a bug in their system that their programmers couldn't fix. Naturally I jumped at the chance to do the job. The money was nice, but I was more interested in finding out what this project was all about. He gave me a day to get my affairs in order, then flew me out to a town in Montana called Andersonville. Don't bother looking at the map, buddy, it's not there; but it does exist. There are almost 35,000 people living there. Well, that's not right either, as I soon found out. That's why I was brought there. A middle-age man in a suit, who turned out to be a colonel in the US army, met me at the airport. He drove me to the courthouse where we got inside an elevator that took us down into a bunker. I swear it must've been at least four stories deep. I wish you could remember what the bunker looked like. In one word - amazing. They had the latest computer equipment down there, some not even on the market yet. One of those items was an imaging array. Okay, I need to explain that. These people have found a way to create computer- imaged people, something like the hologram people on Star Trek. These computer- generated people are incredible! They carry on intelligent conversations with each other, eat meals like a real person, and even go to the bathroom. I wished I had one of those devices - I/we would never be lonely again. Anyway, there was a problem, which is why I/you were called in. Their eyes flashed every time they performed a task, such as talking to each other or making dinner. The military leaders were hoping I could fix the problem, but unfortunately it was a bigger bug than I could handle. I found that out the first day, but I didn't let on. I wanted to find out everything I could about those 'place-holders' (that's what they call them). I got to be friends with one of the men in the bunker. His first name was Mac, he never told me his last. I guess you could say he was my chaperone, because he was right by my side the entire time. At night they put me up in a room at a nearby military base, and that was the only time I was left alone. I asked Mac why I couldn't stay in Andersonville, seeing that they had motels there. He simply told me it wasn't allowed. Getting back to the story, I wasn't allowed to take my laptop with me to the base. So at night I wrote down everything I could on paper, and during the day I typed it into the laptop when they weren't watching me. In my notes I included a way to break into their system. It won't be easy, but I know you can do it. I was able to install a back door into their system without them knowing it - you'll find the information you need in a file marked 'BackD'. Just be sure when you do visit, you bounce the link around the globe. In the other files you'll find information that should be useful. I've also included a map on where Andersonville is based on my GPS navigator. Just don't go there unless you absolutely have to. You see I/we left quite an impression on them. Oh, one thing I haven't mentioned. You may be wondering why they created this town? Well, to be honest, I don't know, and I don't think Mac knew either. I did notice that most of the people living in Andersonville seemed to be those computer generated images, but some weren't. There was this one dark haired secretary who was very real, but sadly she wouldn't give me the time of day. Maybe when you search their system, you'll find the answer. I'm sure it'll be interesting. Well, I better go now. I have to leave soon, and I know they'll be searching my laptop files. I made sure this folder wouldn't appear on the laptop for at least a month. The guy who checks my computer each day is a moron, so I'm confident you/me will be reading this message sometime soon. Good luck, buddy. Signed - yourself! Chris sat there for a moment trying to make sense of the note. He checked the date on the file; it was the same week he had been working on a sonar program for the Navy. He even remembered visiting the sub to see the setup. The image was so clear in his mind that Chris didn't see how this letter could be anything but a fake. Still, there was some doubt in the back of his head that he couldn't shake. "Well, there's no harm in trying," he said to himself. Chris started reading the instructions on how to get through the back door. If this letter were a joke, he would find out soon enough. The computer geek started linking into different systems around the world, knowing that if he was discovered it would be almost impossible to track him down. The process took almost an hour. When the last link was made, Chris typed in the address he had been given. A prompt came up asking for a username and password. Chris typed them in, and suddenly things started to happen. A series of encrypted folders appeared on his screen. "Damn!" he muttered. Most of the folders were just numbered, but one folder caught his eye. It said 'Place-holders/6-9'. Chris opened it and found thousands of numeric codes listed in two different columns of 11 numbers each. The programmer picked one series of code and got to work. *** It had taken all afternoon for Chris to figure out what needed to be done, and that was only by sheer luck. The young man had stumbled across a screen asking for the coded numbers on the left to be joined with a coded numbers on the right. It was a slow and painful process of trying to find the right combination. Finally, after hundreds of tries, Chris got a match, and a new screen appeared with options. The young man looked at each option carefully. One of them said surveillance and Chris clicked on it with his mouse. Suddenly an image of a woman appeared on his monitor screen. She was in her late twenties and was wearing a short, black skirt with a white blouse. The woman appeared to be talking to his computer, but there was no sound. She turned and disappeared from view. The image then turned to a TV showing a cartoon. "Wait, turn back," Chris yelled. He noticed a series of arrows, and a prompt to enter in a command. The young man clicked on one of the arrows, and the image turned back to the woman who was hanging up her coat. He clicked on another arrow, and the image moved farther to the side. Chris found if he held the arrow down with his mouse, the picture turned, and when he released the arrow it stopped. The woman again was saying something that he couldn't hear, and headed down the hallway. 'What have I tapped into?' Chris wondered. He typed in 'follow female' and clicked enter. It came back with 'invalid command'. "Crap," Chris yelled. He thought about it for a moment and typed in help. A box with all the commands appeared off to the side. "Walk, of course," he muttered to himself. He typed walk, clicked enter, and it came back with a question asking him where to go. "How do you tell it where to walk to?" he asked out loud. Chris pointed the mouse at the doorway in the hallway and clicked. Suddenly the picture on his monitor started moving toward it. "Cool," Chris shouted out in excitement. This was like the ultimate computer game. Carefully he maneuvered the image toward the room where the young woman had entered. He was rewarded by the sight of her walking around the bed in a white half-slip and bra. She smiled, and said something that Chris couldn't hear, then proceeded to undress even more by taking off her slip and pantyhose. The young man immediately got a hard on as he watched the attractive woman walking around the room in just her white bra and pink, lacy panties. She pulled some clothes out of a drawer and got dressed in a T-shirt and sweat pants. Then the woman said something else to him and left the room. Chris turned to follow her out when he caught sight of something in the mirror. He quickly turned back and stared at the image. It was a young girl, maybe 8 years old, and she was wearing a flower top with black pants. Her hair was honey blonde, and Chris noticed it was long and tied up in a ponytail. He looked closer and saw that her fingernails were painted light pink, and she was wearing a Mickey Mouse watch. "WAY COOL!" Chris yelled out cheerfully as he experimented some more. On the left side of the screen was a row of boxes with different body parts. When Chris clicked on the left hand, he found he could control its moments with the arrows. Another box marked 'INF' brought up information on the placeholder. Chris read the information and found out this persons name was Susie Carver. When he clicked on the "NORM" button, the young girl returned back to the living room to continue watching cartoons. The young man rubbed his hands together in glee at all the fun he could have. All he had to do was break the codes, and he could see anything he wanted to see. Chris got out of the surveillance mode and started working on some more codes. *** A week later the young man sat in front of the computer munching on a candy bar and staring intensely at his oversize screen. He was watching Susie's older sister get dressed. She was talking, but Chris hadn't figured out how to get the voice module to work. Unfortunately, that wasn't the only problem he had. The programmer had been lucky the first time, for he found it was much harder to match the codes on his next try. He knew there had to be a program out there that would link the two up for him, but he was locked out of most of the folders. He did have some success, picking up two more placeholders. Both turned out to be young males, and he found them rather uninteresting to watch. One was into playing video games, and the other liked reading books most of the time. Chris assumed that the file marked 'Placeholders/6-9', meant it contained the codes to the computer generated images in the 6 to 9 year old range. The teenage girl pushed her sister out and closed the door. No longer able to get his thrills, Chris placed Susie back into normal mode. Next he switched over to one of the boys, a 9 year old. He was eating cereal. Nothing interesting there. A check of the other boy, a seven-year-old, showed he was watching TV. Chris got disgusted and signed out of the temp. If only he could find a 17-year-old girl, then he could have some fun. He started searching the files again. *** "There it is, again - see it?" Mac pointed to the screen. "Look at those numbers change. It's that same blip I've been seeing all week. If I didn't know better, I would say someone was in the system playing with the temps." "Could they?" Jeff Summers asked. "Not likely," Mac shook his head. "I've checked all the accounts and they're clean. It must be a glitch, but I can't figure out where it's coming from." "Maybe you should tell Barry," Edward suggested. "Tell him what?" Mac stated. "That I think there's something wrong with the computer, but I don't know what. He'll tell me to do the same thing I've been trying to do all week, find it." "What about the other shifts, have they noticed it?" Jeff asked. "Yea, usually in the early evenings. I tell you guys, I can't figure it out." "Well you better or else Barry is going to have your hide," Edward told him. Mac grunted in agreement. *** "Good morning, Judge," Barry said cordially. He even managed a slight smile. "Good morning, Colonel Myers," she replied in an equally pleasant tone. "I'm running a little bit late today. Here are the people I need you to have lined up." The colonel took the list and looked it over. There were two males and three females, one of them an 8-year-old girl named Susie Carver. "I know I've asked you this before, but how does this work?" Judge Herns smiled gently. "I told you Colonel Myers, this is on a need to know only basis. Your job is to run the temps, mine is to make sure they become real citizens." "Yes, I know...from the people we bring in here," the colonel replied a little uncomfortably. Barry was a loyal soldier, but that didn't mean he followed his orders blindly. He still had a responsibility to the constitution and the people. "From volunteers," June corrected him. "Everyone who comes here signs a contract saying that they agree to this experiment." "I don't question that," he replied. "I would just like to know what's going on here. For example, why is Jeff Summers the only one who gets to live in Andersonville? I know others would if they were given the chance." "Oh?" Judge Herns replied a little surprised. "I didn't know that." "It's true, and he's as tight-lipped about what goes on in Andersonville as you are." "I'm sorry, Colonel Myers," the judge said honestly. "Like you, I have my orders to follow. Perhaps you should take your concerns up with Mr. Butz." "They're not concerns," Barry shook his head. If Dennis Butz thought they were, he would be transferred out of here so fast it would make his head spin. The last person to question what was going on was escorted out the door less then a half- hour later. Barry heard he had been transferred to a remote post in Alaska. "I'm just curious as to what Andersonville is all about, that's all," he mentioned. "As are we all," Judge Herns smiled. "I'll need these temps ready by 10am today. Thank you, Colonel Myers." "Have a nice day, Your Honor." Barry watched the woman get into the elevator and the doors closed. There was something very odd about her that the colonel couldn't put his finger on. How he would love to question Jeff Summers about Andersonville, but the colonel wasn't willing to throw his career out the window. He turned and went back into the main part of the bunker. *** "How's it going, Edward," Colonel Myers asked his young sergeant. "It's going good, Barry," Edward answered. "The temps you requested are locked and in position." "Good," the colonel replied with a nod. "Say, would you like to get a drink afterwards?" *** "Ready, Linda?" Judge Herns smiled at me. "Yes, Your Honor," I replied, and gathered up my things. Once my purse was locked inside my desk, I followed her out the door into the courtroom. Officer Candy announced us immediately, and I took a seat in front of my computer while Judge Herns sat down at her bench. Quickly I went to work organizing the files in the way our new residents would be brought in. Even though they had agreed to what happened next, I still felt uneasy about it. After all, they really wouldn't find out what they had agreed to until Judge Herns was done. One by one we went through each case. When Judge Herns was done, the new transformed person would be taken out and the next person would be brought in. I watched as the last case walked in. His name was Curt Warner, a 30ish year old man with reddish hair and tattoo's on both arms. I didn't have to look at my handout; I could tell he had been in and out of jail most of his life. He snarled at the judge, but underneath his brave front you could see he was a little uncertain about what was going to happen next. I checked to make sure the camera was pointed at him while Officer Candy made things official. With that out of the way, Judge Herns tore into him, and she wasn't very pleasant concerning his past actions. I sometimes wondered if she did this to gauge their reaction to authority. Perhaps that was how she decided who remembered their past life and who didn't. If she suspected someone would cause them trouble, she made them forget their past. I watched with some interest to see who he would become. A small girl, maybe 8- years old, stepped out of the back. She had long, blonde hair with ribbons tied up in it. It made me wonder why all the females in Andersonville, at least the temps, had long hair. Well, not all of them did, but the vast majority seemed to have many girlish features and traits. They even tended to dress feminine most of the time, wearing short skirts, high heels, and lots of makeup. Was it planned this way to help the men who were transformed into women adjust to their situation easier? I couldn't say for sure. I noticed the judge stopped talking, and was now giving the man a stern stare. The criminal lowered his head in shame. The words Judge Herns had spoken had had a profound effect on him. She sighed, and got ready for the next phase. *** Chris logged into Susie's account to see what was going on. He was surprise to see her standing in the back of what looked to be a courtroom. There was a female judge who seemed to be giving some guy in an orange jumpsuit royal hell. Even odder, the options fields on the side were locked out. All he could do was observe. Then he saw the judge raise her hands in the air, and they began to glow. *** Judge Herns was going through her routine, whispering something under her breath that I couldn't make out. I watched as a blue ball of energy rose out of her palms and hovered there for a moment. Then it moved forward and struck the man in the chest. Part of the energy went through him and hit the temp, then everything went wrong. The temp flickered brightly, almost blinding me. That was followed by a loud 'pop', as it exploded into a flash of colors. *** In the bunker warning alarms started going off. Because there were now two paths open, one being Mr. Warner and the other being the illegal port configured by Chris, Judge Herns' magic chose the path with the least resistance. In this case that was the latter. As the energy burst through the computer where Susie's information was stored, it had a devastating effect. Circuits and memory chips, the heart of any computer, were fried from the sudden electrical surge. This massive outburst caused sparks and fires to shoot out of the main frame, setting off the fire alarms. As the computer hard drive crashed, its backup normally would've come on line instantly. However, the sudden electrical surge popped the breaker between the two computers, and the backup failed to do its job. Above them disaster struck. In an instant almost 17,000 people ceased to exist. Cars being driven by temps were suddenly driver-less, and plowed out of control into other cars, buildings, and unfortunately, people. Children who were being held by their mothers dropped to the floor and were injured. One temp was lighting a candle when the computer died, and the match fell on some newspapers starting a fire. All across Andersonville everything was thrown into pandemonium, as almost half of the town's population vanished into thin air. The transformation ball left the bunker and followed the line of connections back to Chris' home. Along the way it passed through several intermediate computers and telephone relay stations, blowing their circuits to hell like it had done with those in the bunker. Immediately, almost a third of the Internet went down across the United States and Canada. Despite that fact, the energy stream continued toward its final destination. Chris was sitting there mesmerized by the rapidly changing blue pattern on his monitor unaware of the danger he was in. Suddenly the transformation ball blasted out of the screen and struck him in the chest. The computer geek fainted in shock and terror. Back in the bunker Colonel Myers and his men were facing a different problem. Main computer number 3 was smoking badly, and part of the plastic cover was burning. "Fire control," Colonel Myers yelled out in reaction. One of the temps flipped a switch, and 10 firefighters suddenly appeared. They grabbed the fire equipment close by and dove into action. "What happened?" he asked Edward, who was busy looking at his screen for answers. "I'm not sure, sir...some kind of energy spike," he replied in a shaken voice. "Will it happen again?" "I don't know sir, I'm trying to locate the source now. It appears to have been generated inside our computer, and headed for an outside source." "What do you mean an outside source?" Colonel Myers demanded to know. "I mean just that, sir," Edwards explained. "Somebody was logged in at the time, whatever that thing was, tore through our system. I would hate to be on the receiving end when it gets there." "Find out where it's gone," the colonel ordered. "I'm going to call upstairs to..." "SIR!" Mac shouted. "Look at screen number one." Barry did and gasped. Screen number one was a video feed of the town from a nearby hill. The colonel could see over a dozen plumes of smoke rising all around Andersonville. "What the fuck just happened?" he whispered. "COLONEL MYERS," Jeff yelled. "All the temps in group A are off-line." "Off-line!" he repeated in horror. "What about the backup computer?" "It failed, sir. That electrical burst must have stopped it from going online." "Oh my God," Colonel Myers whispered as he turned back to the screen again. He knew his career was over, Dennis Butz would see to that. Someone had to be blamed for all this. Colonel Myers shook the thought out of his head. If he were going down, at least he would go down fighting to save his town. "What's the status on the backup computer, Jeff?" he demanded to know. "It appears to be alright, sir. I recommend we do a complete systems check before bringing it on-line." "Negative," Barry snapped. "I want you to bring it on-line now." "Sir, if it fails like the other, it could take weeks to have everything up and operational again!" "I said now," he ordered. "Every second we wait our town dies a little more. Bring the temps back on-line in the courthouse lobby, and have them go back to where they were before this thing hit us. When was the last position backup done?" "Ten minutes prior," Jeff answered. "Good," Colonel Myers nodded at the first good news he had heard. It meant most of the temps would go back to the where they were before this disaster had struck. "Start with the emergency personal, and have them report to their station - they'll be needed. Then do the temps who have 'real' children. I don't want any children left alone for very long. " Jeff confirmed the order, and Colonel Myers picked up the phone to dial out. He found it was dead. He rushed over to the red phone and tried that, but couldn't get anyone to answer in the Andersonville Police station. He put that phone down and picked up the blue one that went to the farmhouse. This time someone did pick up. "Bird dog, this is big...this is Colonel Myers. We had some kind of disaster of unknown origin strike our town. I want you to lock down the road. No one, I repeat, no one gets past you unless it's from the base. This is an Alpha 1A priority lockdown! I am declaring an MCI (Mass Casualty Incident) at this time. I want you to call the officer on duty and have him send all available EMS and firefighters to Andersonville. It looks like we have a lot of people injured up there. Firefighters should report to the fire station, and EMTs to the hospital for further orders. I will be the incident commander. We're also going to need patrol units to help restore order here - and have the special tracker units put on alert. I suspect some of our residents may try to leave in all the confusion. Do you copy?" The colonel heard the other person repeat the order and hung up the phone. He observed the fire crew looking over the smoldering remains of their million- dollar computer, now a worthless piece of burnt circuits and melted plastic. There was still smoke coming out of it, and the smell of burnt plastic was heavy in the air. "Mac," he said. "Yes sir," the sergeant replied. "I know you're busy, but I need you to go topside and make sure Judge Herns is okay. If she is, tell her I have the military coming in to render aid. And make sure you tell her to keep everyone out of the main entranceway while we restore the temps. If the elevator doesn't work, use the steps." "Yes, Colonel Myers." *** It was strange. The temp popped like a light bulb burning out and disappeared, leaving the man who was suppose to become the young girl total unaffected. I looked over at the judge for guidance, but she seemed just as mystified as I was. All of the sudden the world outside seemed to explode. I could hear cars crashing, and people screaming. In the distance there was a loud 'thud' from something exploding. "What's going on?" Dr. Green asked in a frightened tone. I rushed over to the window, and saw cars crashed all over the place. Below me was a little boy crying out for his mother, and in the distance I spotted thick, black smoke rising into the sky. Judge Herns stood next to me, and was astonished by the sight. "Oh my god," I whispered. Officer Candy joined us, forgetting about the prisoner who was still standing there freely in front of the judge's bench. He suddenly realized that no one was watching him, and quickly started backing toward the side door. "I need to get out there," Officer Candy told the judge. "Will you be okay? Judge Herns nodded and looked back at the catastrophe that had befallen the town. "Officer Candy, what happened to the prisoner?" I asked. The cop turned and noticed he was gone. "Shit!" he cursed loudly and ran out the side door. "How could this have happened," Dr. Green questioned. Before anyone could answer, Mac came running into the room. "Judge Herns," he panted, and doubled over to catch his breath. "I'm sorry, but I had to take the steps. The elevator was controlled by the computer that crashed." "You mean there are steps to the bunker?" I asked. Mac ignored my question and spoke directly to the judge. "Colonel Myers wanted you to know that he has put out an alert. The military will be arriving shortly to help with the fires and restore order." "Very good," Judge Herns replied. "You mentioned something about a computer, young man." "Yes judge. There was some kind of electrical surge in our computer that caused it to crash, and the backup didn't come up. We're restoring the temps now." Suddenly there was a loud, painful scream in the hallway. All of us ran to the lobby door and looked out at a sickening sight. There was Office Candy lying on the floor, blood oozing freely out of the left side of his body. Around him temps were appearing out of thin air, and it didn't take a genus to figure out what had happened. He had been standing in the place where a temp had materialized, and it had effectively ripped him open from head to toe. "Dead," I asked, strangely saddened to see the cop who I had hated the most lying there. "Yes," Judge Herns replied staunchly, as she placed her arm around me. "I'm afraid he's not the only one either." *** The military had arrived 20 minutes after the call was placed, and immediately started helping with the fires. A car had driven into a gas pump and exploded, sending a fireball almost 100 feet into the air. Several of the houses close by caught fire, and at least one person, a small child, had been burned alive. There were more reports coming in about other injuries, most of them minor, but some life threatening. Judge Herns had gone to the hospital to help out, leaving me alone with nothing to do except listen to the battle going on outside on the police radio. To add to our troubles, our fugitive was still missing. Normally this would've caused all the towns resources to be focused on him, but he had taken a back seat to everything else. I wasn't even sure if anyone was really looking for him. My thoughts were interrupted when Judge Herns walked into my office with Judge Jasper by her side. "Judge Jasper," I said standing. "Miss Anderson," he replied, but without any harshness in his tone. "He was helping me at the hospital," Judge Herns explained. "How bad?" I asked. My question was filled with dread. "Not as bad as we thought," Jupiter answered for her. "Five people dead, including your Officer Candy. Over a 100 injured with broken bones or burns, some badly. Fortunately, Judge Herns and I were able to stabilize them so they'll live." "When I got to the hospital and saw how bad it was, I called Judge Jasper," June explained, although somehow I knew she didn't mean she had used the phone. "He came with some help." "You mean, other's are here too?" "Mars, Mercury, Deimos, Diane, Venus, and Apollo," Jupiter rattled off using their real names. "They're out doing various chores. Things have pretty much settled down." "June, what about Mr. Warner. Has anyone found him yet?" "No, and if we don't find him soon he'll die," she frowned. "Die, but why?" "Because his cells are breaking down as we speak," she answered in an irritated tone. "My dear," Jupiter interrupted. "Let me answer that question. You see Linda, the energy you saw strike Mr. Warner in the chest was meant to break down the cell structure throughout his body. This allows the new DNA structure from the temp to rebuild them. However, that never happened and as such, Mr. Warner's body was left in limbo. If we don't find him in the next hour, his cells will have broken down to the point where he'll die." "Why not track him?" I asked. "We can't," June explained. "Mr. Warner is not on the computer because he was never transformed." "Can't you do anything?" "Fortunately, yes," Judge Jasper smiled slightly. "I'm having Diane searching for him. I'm confident we'll find him soon." "If we don't..." Judge Herns trailed off. "It's okay, my dear." Jupiter put his hands on her shoulders to comfort her. "I have faith in my daughter. Come, let's go into your office and discuss this some more." They closed the door after they went in, leaving me alone once more. *** Colonel Myers stood there staring at the video-feeds from above. The fires were under control thank god. From what he had been told, the damage wasn't as bad as it could've been. Still, he couldn't get the image of Officer Candy out of his head. The police officer had run into the lobby just as the first batch of temps started materializing. One of them had actually materialized inside part of him, killing the cop almost instantly - almost. It was cruel way to die, and Barry knew he was responsible. He hadn't waited for Mac to give him the word that the area was secured. Instead, he had decided enough time had passed, and had started the process. His impatience had cost a man his life. Since Officer Candy's death, Colonel Myers had done everything right. While the Andersonville police, fire, and rescue services had real vehicles, computer generated ones were made up for the soldiers coming in. Colonel Myers simply ordered a set of fire trucks to be placed near the fires and it was done. Over 300 soldiers were in town now, putting out fires, clearing up all the accidents, and restoring order. Colonel Myers and his men were coordinating everything from the bunker. It was a mess, and the colonel still had no idea what had gone wrong. That made the guilt inside him even harder to deal with, not knowing what he had done wrong or right. Colonel Jacobs and his men had arrived shortly after the disaster to help out, but Barry was still in charge - for now that is. He knew that would change as soon as Dennis Butz showed up. He turned to Jeff Summers and asked, "What's the status, Jeff? "We've checked almost 6,000 temps sir. Some of them were offline, killed in the event, but we shouldn't have any trouble bringing them back on-line in a day or so. All of those with real children have been accounted for. Anyone that was injured was taken to the hospital. It could've been worse, sir. You were right not to wait on re-activating them." "Thanks, Jeff," the colonel replied with no satisfaction. His sergeant had failed to mention that a man had been killed because of his decision. He walked over to his other sergeant, Edward, who was busy plotting something on a map. "Anything, Edward?" "Whatever that thing was, it ended up in California, sir," he answered calmly. "I should have a address for you in five minutes." "How did you find the final location?" Barry asked. "I just followed the burnt trail," he replied. "Whoever he or she is, they had a back door into our system without us knowing it. I found the account and closed it for good." Barry nodded slowly. "Let me know when you have that address." He patted his sergeant on the shoulder and left him to finish. "How are you holding up, Barry?" Colonel Jacobs asked, as he handed his counter- part a cup of coffee. "How should I be?" Barry responded, taking the cup from his friend. "I'm responsible for the deaths of five people." "Bad luck," Colonel Jacobs reasoned. "This could've happened to anyone - you're not to blame." "Tell that to Dennis Butz," Colonel Myers replied. "Speak of the devil." Dennis walked into the main room and stared at the destroyed computer. Then he looked at the two men and motioned for them to join him in their office. Both colonels went inside and Dennis closed the door. The director went around the desk and sat down before speaking. "What happened?" he asked in a business-like tone. "I don't know, Mr. Butz," Colonel Myers started off. "There was some kind of energy surged to the system, but we don't know where it originated from." "I have an idea," he told them, but didn't elaborate. It was obvious he wasn't about to share the information with them. "Why didn't the backup computer come up? I thought they were tied in together in case the main computer failed." "The energy burst was too much - it popped the circuit breaker. I ordered my men to turn it on as soon as we found out it was off-line." "How long was that?" Dennis asked in a flat tone. "Less then two minutes," Colonel Myers replied. There was a knock on the door. It turned out to be Edward. "Here's the address, sir." The sergeant handed him a piece of paper and left. "What's that?" Dennis inquired? Colonel Myers sighed - his boss didn't know yet. "There was someone in the system when this happened," he confessed. "We didn't know it at the time. Whatever it was that crashed our system, it followed the trail all the way to this person's location." Suddenly Dennis leaned forward in anger. "You mean to tell me someone was hacking into our system and you didn't know about it?" "Yes sir," Colonel Myers replied. "He telneted in and used a secret account." "I don't give a FUCK if he had an advance satellite link up, this system is 'SUPPOSED' to be secure at all times!" Dennis yelled. "Are you telling me that with all the security we have set up, someone was STILL able to break in without you knowing about it?" "Yes sir," Barry replied. "Sir," Colonel Jacobs pointed out. "To be fair to Colonel Myers, it looks like this activity was happening during my shift as well." "So I have TWO incompetent fools working for me, is that what you're saying Colonel?" Dennis waited for a reply, but didn't get one. "Who is this person who hacked into our system?" Colonel Myers opened the piece of paper and read the name. His eyes went wide when he saw who it was. "Chris Barnes," Barry said then muttered, "that fat son of a bitch." The colonel had been the one who had picked the annoying programmer up at the Andersonville airport. He had never liked or trusted the newcomer, and had ordered his laptop to be searched thoroughly before he left. Somehow, something had been missed. Dennis pulled out his phone and took the piece of paper from the colonel's hand. He dialed a number and waited for the other person to answer. "Mike, I need you to drop whatever you're doing and fly to Oakland." He passed on the address, with some other instructions, and hung up. Barry waited; he knew what was going to happen next. Dennis stared at him with almost no emotion; just cold, dark eyes that were prepared for a job that had to be done. "Colonel Myers, you're relieved of your command. Colonel Jacobs, you're in charge now. I want you to continue rescue operations and work on getting every temp back on-line." "Yes sir," Barry replied. "Yes sir," Colonel Jacobs answered. "Colonel Jacobs, I wish to discuss something else with you. Colonel Myers, I suggest you take this time to say goodbye to your men." Barry didn't bother responding to the director. What more could Dennis do to him? His boss could be a real 'prick' when he wanted to be. Colonel Myers walked out onto the main floor and was greeted by his three sergeants. The looks on their faces told him that they already knew. "Colonel," Mac said. "I think I speak for Jeff, Edward, and the temps, when I say it's been a pleasure serving under you. If we can do anything to help your case, well sir, I just want you to know that we're behind you 100%" "Thanks men," Barry smiled, and shook each soldiers hand. "I guess I better go say my good-byes to the temps now." *** Chris stirred and woke with a hangover. He was confused at first, then realized he was lying on the floor. The entire room smelled of burnt plastic and charred wood. Was there a fire? "Oh shit." He put his hand to his forehead to try and stop the throbbing. "What the hell happened?" He tried standing, but found himself too weak to do so at the moment. Everything was blurred, and Chris tried to focus on the one thing that seemed familiar, his computer. "HOLY SHIT!" he yelled, still too groggy to realize that his voice sounded different. He could see a large, smoking hole in the middle of what had once been a top-of-the-line monitor. Lying next to it was the remains of his computer and server, melted into a puddle of plastic gob. "My Computer!" he cried. Without thinking, Chris stood and faced what remained of his top of the line system. Still disoriented, it didn't hit him that he was looking at the computer eye level, instead of standing over it like he should've been. The computer geek tried to stand up, and then discovered he already was. "HOLY SHIT!" he screamed in shock and horror. His pants and shirt were gone, replaced with a short, blue dress with puppy dogs on it. In fact, his entire body had changed. It was now smaller, slimmer, and feminine. Chris ran over to a mirror and gasped at the reflection. He was now the splitting image of the girl from his computer. Scared out of his wits, Chris lifted the skirt and saw he was wearing a pair of white, cotton panties with pink hearts imprinted on them. He gathered up his nerve, then pulled them down and looked at the mirror. The young man, now a little girl, almost fainted. His legs turned to rubber, and he had to grab hold of chair to stop from falling. "No, this can't be REAL!" he shouted in an unbalanced state. Suddenly the computer techie found himself losing control. He started picking up objects and throwing them across the room. "NO...NO...NO!" he screamed, before falling down on the floor crying hysterically. "No...NO, this can't be HAPPENING to me. "I'm a MAN...A MAAAAAAANNNNN!" It took almost a half-hour before Chris got his senses back. He wiped the tears from his eyes and thought about what was going on. "Shit, they'll be coming for me," he said out-loud. "I have to do something. I have to get out of here!" Then Chris realized there was no place to run. He was a little girl now, and little girls didn't go very far without their parents close by. If he tried going anywhere, he would stick out like a sore thumb. Besides, how could he go anywhere? He was too small to reach the pedals on his car, and even if he could, someone would spot him right away and call the cops. Leaving here wasn't the answer. What he needed was to figure out a way to get changed back into who he once was. Maybe if he told someone? Chris quickly scratched that idea off the list. The town of Andersonville was a secret from the rest of the world. He could try going to a reporter or the police, but in his current state they would never believe him. They would think he was a little girl telling a fib. Then an even worse thought crossed Chris's mind. What happened when the authorities couldn't find his parents? They would accuse him, Chris Barnes, of abducting this little girl from her family. With his male self now gone, the police would be even more convinced that this was the case. Even if he did get himself turned back into his old body later on, he would be a hunted man. Of course that was only the half of it. If he tried telling people he was really Chris Barnes, they would think he had been brainwashed, and attempt to help him. He would be stuck in a world of doctors and foster parents, all trying to make him accept that he really was a little girl. And if he did go along with their game, that meant playing with dolls and doing other girl things. The thought sent a shiver up his spine. Chris thought about it some more, then came up with an idea. He would blackmail them into turning him back. Quickly he ran to his bedroom where his old computer and server were. *** "We found him," Officer Deimos said as he poked his head into Judge Herns' chambers. Judge Jasper and I followed him into the courtroom where the man was standing, with the help of Officer Merrick. His face was a deathly white, and you could tell he didn't have much time left. "Lock the door," Judge Herns ordered Deimos. "I don't want anyone else coming in while this is going on. Sit him down, Officer Merrick." Both officers did as they were told, while Judge Jasper stood near the chamber door watching the activity. When everything was secure, Judge Herns spoke again. "I'm sorry you're hurting Mr. Warner, but you shouldn't have run off like that. How do you feel?" "I feel horrible, Your...Your Honor." She nodded. "I'll fix that. Keep still please." She picked up her phone and called Colonel Jacobs to tell him she was ready. The military officer wasn't happy to be doing another transformation, considering that he didn't know what had caused the main computer to explode in the first place, but Dennis Butz had ordered him to. A few seconds after she got done talking, a temp appeared in the corner. "Stand still," she told the dying man. She raised her hands and started whispering something under her breath. A blue ball of energy rose out of her hands, and raced toward the man. This time everything went according to plan. A minute later 8-year-old Susie Carver was asking for her mother, who arrived at about the same time. I could almost hear a sigh of relieve from Judge Herns as they left. "That'll be the last one we do for while," she said out loud. "At least until we figure out what happened today." Jupiter stood there silently, as if he was thinking hard about something. The stern expression on his face frighten me a little, for I knew whatever he had in mine I wasn't going to like it. To my relief, Dennis Butz walked into the courtroom. "I think I know what happened," he told them. *** Mike Stoner walked up to the front door of the one-story house located in a crowded neighborhood. He had two men with him, special agents who worked for Dennis Butz. One of them nodded to Mike, and he knocked on the door. There was no answer at first, so he knocked again. This time a little girl answered the door. "Umm, hello," Mike said. He wasn't aware that Mr. Barnes had a daughter. "Is you daddy home?" "This way," she told them. Mike and the two men followed her inside, and immediately spotted the destroyed PC sitting on the desk. The little girl plopped herself down on the couch and picked up a cigarette she had been smoking. Mike looked at the other two men in confusion. "Where's Mr. Barnes," he asked. "I'm Chris Barnes," she replied in a calm tone. "Mr. Butz and I have much to talk about. I want you to take me to him now." *** "This would never have happened in Peace River," Judge Jasper explained. "I think it's time we realized Andersonville is a failure and close it down for good." "Don't hand me that bullshit," Dennis growled. "We both know Peace River has it's own set of problems. Do I have to remind you that one to two people per month die trying to leave your town? Besides, 55% of the temps that went down are back on- line again. We'll get the rest up in the next 24 hours. "How do you expect to recover from this?" Jupiter stated sternly. "Everyone has been touched by this event. There's no way you can get back into a normal routine again, not as long as the people remain here." "What are you suggesting?" Judge Herns asked. "It's simply, my dear. Turn the people of Andersonville over to me, and I'll incorporate them into my town. That way you can start out all over again fresh." "That wasn't part of the agreement these people signed with me," Dennis stated. "I won't turn any citizen of Andersonville over to you unless they agree to it. Even if I did, you can't use everyone here. What happens to those who don't meet your needs." Jupiter looked at the Titan God with some disdain. "That will be my problem. If you like, you can keep those people." "No deal," Dennis said. "I'll never turn them over to you. I've worked too hard on this project to give it up now. We both know what's at stake here" Jupiter glared at Dennis. "We don't need you to secure a peace, Rhea. For too long your race has interfered with our progress, and the humans. You've worked hard to keep them back." "You mean protect them from you," Dennis held his ground, a little surprised by Jupiter's choice of words. It had been centuries since the king of the Roman Gods had called him by his Titan name. "We both know what you had planned for them before we got involved. Human history may show us a hindrance to their culture, but we both know the truth, Jupiter. If it wasn't for us, their world would be very different today!" "That's enough you two," Judge Herns snapped. "This bickering isn't going to get us anywhere. Jupiter, we'll consider your offer, but don't expect a phone call from us. I'm in agreement with Mr. Butz here. The people of Andersonville can and will survive this tragedy. Thank you for coming, dear." "As you wish," Jupiter said with a tight smile. "My offer is still on the table if you want to take me up on it. I'll gather my people and go." He kissed his ex-wife on the cheek, and shot one more look of distaste at Dennis before leaving. The Titan God swore under his breath, wishing he had a legion of soldiers to teach this pompous ass a lesson. Judge Herns took a seat behind her desk and looked at the director carefully. "He's right you know. Trying to return everything to normal isn't going to be easy. People will be frightened now, and distrustful of the temps." "We'll work it out," Dennis said. "How?" she asked. "I DON'T KNOW, ALRIGHT?" Dennis shouted. "I don't have all the FUCKING ANSWERS HERE, JUNO!" He turned away and bit his lip until it bled. Judge Herns didn't say a word, she knew this would pass. Finally Dennis got back his composer and said, "I'm sorry, Juno. I didn't mean to blow up on you like that. You of all people have been very supportive of me, and I appreciate that." "I saw it coming," she replied. "That's why I got rid of the old goat so fast. You can't change what has happened, Dennis. You can only make sure it doesn't happen again. Five people are dead, but since Andersonville has been in existence, over thirty people have died trying to escape from Peace River. That can't go on. It seems that the smarter the human race becomes, the less happy they are with the setup of our town. Despite what we offer them, so many of our new citizens reject the idea that they can never leave Peace River." "Freedom," Dennis stated. "Or what they perceive as freedom." His phone rang, and the director answered it. "This is Dennis Butz." Judge Herns watched the director carefully, as he listened to what the man on the other end had to say. "You're kidding!" he replied in surprise. "Yes, bring him here, I'll arrange everything. Thanks Mike." Dennis turned off his phone and put it away. "What is it?" Judge Herns asked. "It's Chris Barnes. He's a little girl now." *** I stood there looking through the glass at the body covered in a sheet. Somehow I couldn't get up the nerve to go inside and look at him again. It wasn't as if we had been friends or anything. "Hello Linda," Sergeant Williams greeted me in a solemn tone. His mustache drooped as he stared at his fellow officer lying there. "Dave...I'm sorry." "It's okay," he replied sadly. "Would you like to go inside? The nurse told me they...they cleaned him up. I'll go with you." I nodded, and he gently pushed me in. We stood next to the body, and Sergeant Williams pulled back the sheet. Officer Candy was lying there wearing a frown on his face like he wore most of the time I had seen him. I covered my mouth so I wouldn't cry. Why did I feel this way? I hated the man! So why did I feel sad about his death? "I know you and Officer Candy had your problems, Linda...so did I. But he was a good cop deep down. At least he died in the line of duty, if that's any comfort to his family." Dave took one more look then put the sheet back down. "Come on, let's get out of here." "Good...goodbye, Officer Candy," I said, fighting back the tears. Dave put his arm around my back and escorted me out. Suddenly I felt the waterworks coming and didn't know why. Perhaps it was because of all the stress of seeing things destroyed, and knowing innocent people had been hurt and killed. I turned my head into Dave's side and started crying like a baby. The cop hugged me lovingly, as if he understood. *** Mike Stoner brought the young girl directly into Judge Herns' chambers and left. She seemed to have no regrets about what had happened, but then I thought how could she? She hadn't lived through the destruction that had followed. "You're in big trouble, my friend," Judge Herns started off. "Five of my people are dead thanks to you. What do you have to say for yourself?" The little girl seemed visibly shaken by her words. "I don't know what you mean?" "She means, Mr. Barnes," Dennis answered for Judge Herns, "that by breaking into our system, you caused the death of five of our citizens, including a cop. You had no right to do this." The girl rolled her eyes at the suggestion. "If you had better security this wouldn't have happened. Now change me back?" "Change you BACK?" Judge Herns stated in surprise. "You'll be lucky if I let you stay here as you are. My ex-husband is looking for people like you in his town. It would give me great pleasure to ship you off to him. No, I'm not going to change anything, Mr. Barnes. You wanted see life through Susie's Carver's eyes, and now I'm going to let you -forever!" "I figured this would happen," Chris replied, unshaken by the judge's threat. "That's why I created some insurance." "What insurance?" Dennis asked defensively. "If you don't change me back into who I was by 9 o'clock tomorrow night, the world is going to find out about your little town," she answered smugly. "What did you do," Dennis snarled. "I created a mail bomb," Chris told him. "If I don't enter in the code to stop it, it'll send an email message to over a thousand different sites telling everyone about this place. In an hour your secret little town won't be so secret anymore, Mr. Butz. I've even included a map on how to get here." "That should be easy to stop," he countered. "Yes, if I hadn't made sure my program was protected. It only allows you so many times to log in, and if you fail, it automatically sends out the message." "I warn you, Mr. Barnes, I can make your life here most uncomfortable," Dennis threatened. "No, I don't think so," she replied calmly. "Even if you don't give into my demands, people will read about what you did to me, and demand that I be returned back to my old self. So you see, Mr. Butz, one way or the other you will change me back." "That's all you want?" Judge Herns asked in a testy voice. "We change you back into who you once were, and you'll turn off this bomb of yours and go away." "No, not quite," the little girl smiled. "First of all, I'm not a fool, Judge. I know that the moment I turn off my bomb, you could change me back into this form again. So I designed the bomb so it can't be turned off - ever. As added insurance, it changes the password each time I log in. I'm the only one who can figure out what the new password is, and this is the only way to prevent the bomb from going off. Of course, such hard work on my part will require a large salary...a very large salary." Judge Herns face turned beet red. She slammed her fist on the desk in raw anger and stood so Chris Barnes would have to look up at her. "Now let me tell you something 'little girl'. I'm not about to reward someone for 'hacking' into our system and causing the death of FIVE INNOCENT PEOPLE! Forget about Mr. Butz, it's me you have to be concerned with!" "Judge," Dennis held up his hand. "We should discuss this matter in private. Right now I think we need to find 'Miss' Barnes here a place to stay." Suddenly Judge Herns picked up on what the director was saying, and smiled evilly. "Yes, you're quite right, Dennis. 'Little' Chris must be tired from her trip." "My weekly salary just went up by 15% for that crack," she shot back. "So did my revenge factor," Judge Herns spatted out. Without notice a white ball shot out of her hands and stuck Chris in the chest. The little girl took a few steps back in surprise." "What the hell?" she shouted. Suddenly she began to shrink. "What's going on? What's happening to me? I'm get...getting small..." Suddenly the room was filled with the wail of a crying baby. Judge Herns walked around to where the baby was lying, and picked her up. "There, there, little one," she cooed. "The judge is going to ma