The Awakening of Kim

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"Inject her with five milligram's of hydrotestachloride. Quickly, there's no time to waste."

"Yes Madame."

"Keep monitoring her brain waves, scan for any sign of neurological activity."

"Yes Madame."

"Check all the critical nodal points."

The laboratory leapt into a frenzy of activity. Two white suited and helmeted figures jumped into action, administering injections, checking monitors, taking readings. The tentacles of an alien creature flailed around the room adjusting metal probes.

Dr Sally Nemesis stood calmly and authoratively surveying the work of her team, orchestrating proceedings and issuing instructions with assured precision.

In the middle of all of this frenzied activity was a girl. Naked, laid out on an examination table of gleaming metal, wires trailing from the needle sharp titanium probes inserted deep into every part of her body. She laid there, silent, unmoving, a beautiful vision of soft white flesh and golden hair, a picture of human softness in a harsh clinical laboratory world.

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Out of the whirlwind of activity there was suddenly stillness, expectancy, a tingle of excitement. The suited figures stopped work and stood perfectly still. They looked across at each other and exchanged astonished glances. The thrill of edgy discovery mingled with excited anticipation, even fear, enveloped the laboratory.

"Shit!"

It was Dr Victor Servant who finally broke the silence. It wasn't the most perceptive scientific analysis of his career, but it expressed everything they were feeling.

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Victor had always wanted to work with Dr Sally Nemesis and now, finally, he had got the chance. He had followed her career with interest. She first came to his attention many years ago when, as a brilliant student at the Institute of Cyberbotics on Alpha Scrofula, she produced her seminal work on the neurology of sexual behaviour in humans. Her career had blossomed and now, at a remarkably young age for such an important position within the scientific community, she headed the Inter Galactic Council on Neurology. She was at the cutting edge of research into human and alien brain patterns and behavioural science.

Her reputation was formidable. She was renowned across the galaxy for her dazzling innovative scientific brain. In addition, she was known for her awesome ability to create teams of the most brilliant minds over a range of specialities and driving them all to work towards her goals. She had assembled computer experts to help her develop the Nano class of computers to run the sophisticated cognitive software she had created. She had achieved spectacular success working with coma patients and recovery of people from death or near death experiences. It was her skills that had brought back to life the frozen crew of the Alpha Centurin space shuttle after it had crashed into the ice caps of Nebulae 2. This remarkable feat earned her fame and popular recognition across the galaxy, and the nick-name Goddess Nemesis.

And here was Victor working alongside her on one of the most formidable challenges she had ever taken on. Victor, in his role as a forensic archaeologist, had been fortunate to have been selected to lead the team excavating the site for the new Beeston Hill tele-porter transmitter in Euro-zone Omega when they made this incredible discovery. They had found a girl who had been preserved in molten rock for perhaps as long as two thousand years.

It was a fantastic discovery. Well preserved bodies had been found elsewhere but this one was a remarkably perfect specimen. Victor expected that a detailed examination of the girl's body would greatly enhance galactic knowledge of life on earth in the early 21st century. But Dr Sally Nemesis had more daring and exciting plans. She had put forward the astonishing proposal that they attempt to bring the girl back to life.

Victor remembered the call he had clearly. Dr Sally Nemesis, whose work he had so admired over many years, appeared on his video link to ask for more information about the discovery and more details about the conditions the girl had been found in. She had immediately tele-ported herself to Victor's laboratory and then dropped the bombshell on him.

"I'd like to try and bring her to life," she had told him. "I know it sounds ridiculous and It's a long shot, but I believe I have the understanding of the neurology of the human brain and the technology to attempt it. It might be years before I see such a well preserved specimen again. I can't guarantee success but, if you invite me I'd like to try."

Victor was so excited. There was no chance of him turning away this opportunity. It was a dream come true, to work with one of the most brilliant minds of the 41st century in a daring attempt to achieve the impossible. Dr Nemesis's achievements had already caused a stir, scientifically and ethically, forcing the intergalactic community to re-evaluate the very nature of life and death.

There was another reason for wanting to work with Dr Nemesis that Victor was a bit coy about. Not only was she one of the most brilliant minds, she was also one of the most stunningly attractive women in the galaxy. Victor almost felt it was unfair for one person to have such an abundance of riches, to be so brilliant and yet so beautiful with it.

In person, Dr Nemesis had lived up to her reputation. She was every bit as stunning in the flesh as Victor had been led to believe, more so in fact. Her striking jet black hair, her piercing blue eyes, her beautiful features enhanced with carefully applied make-up and her ample breasts and shapely body all made Victor's heart race when he was near her. Also, her presence demanded complete respect. Her clarity of vision, scientific knowledge and uncanny ability to bend everybody to her will with her commanding voice made her a formidable figure in the laboratory. Victor embraced her presence and had no reservations about her taking control of the project. All he desired was to obey her instructions and he noticed how everybody around her acted in the same way.

Dr Nemesis had brought some members of her own team to help. There was Dr Douglas Deviant, who had assisted her on several earlier missions and who, Victor got the impression, had always tried to inveigle himself onto her projects. Victor could acknowledge Douglas's experience and skill as a scientist but was suspicious of him and his motives. Although Victor recognised what a stunning and beautiful presence Dr Nemesis was in the laboratory, he tried his best not to let it distract him from the work at hand. But Victor got the impression that Dr Deviant spent as much of his time ogling Dr Nemesis as knuckling down to serious research.

Even when they were dressed in their decontamination suits, under which they were all naked so that no contaminated clothes were brought into a sterile area, he could sense Dr Deviant craning his head to try and look into the large perspex visor in her helmet to see if he could catch a glimpse of her cleavage. He could sense him watching every movement of hers, hoping to see the white protective clothing hugging her shapely body or a glimpse of her nipple pressing against the tight material. Victor felt he was there for more than the benefits of scientific research.

The other member of Dr Nemesis's team was Parparomedexicon, or Parp as he was known, who was from one of the moons of the planet Parsee Two. Parp had also worked with Dr Nemesis before. Victor respected its skill; it because Parp was an asexual creature with no male or female characteristics. It was like a giant purple jellyfish, only about three feet tall with short legs, which it shuffled along on. Victor could see the value of Parp's attributes to Dr Nemesis. It was clever and diligent. Parp also had ten tentacles that extended from its blob like body, each with a suction cup at the end. It could manipulate as many as ten of Dr Nemesis's titanium probes at the same time with ease and the sensitivity and dexterity of the cups at the end of its tentacles far exceeded the human hand. He doubted that, unlike all her human companions, Parp harboured any secret sexual longing for Dr Nemesis, which Victor thought must make a refreshing change for her.

Victor felt proud to be working alongside Dr Sally Nemesis on such a ground breaking project.

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"Is she alive Madame?"

Madame was Dr Nemesis's preferred form of address in the lab.

"Not really Victor. What we have established is a neurological response from her brain. It's a breakthrough – a remarkable one, but we're still a long way from saying she's a fully sentient being I'm afraid. What's her name?"

"We call her Kim," replied Victor. "We can't know it's her real name for sure but we found her with a pendant with that on so we can only assume that's her name. We always call her by the name Kim in the lab."

"Kim, that's nice, I like that name. So, tell me again how you found her."

"It's a freak of nature, or fate, or something like that. It was a mixture of different things that meant she was preserved in tact. We think she was a victim of the meteor storm in the north of England in 2010. There was the effect on her of the magnetic storm that came before the meteor shower. We think that must have led to the freezing of all her bodily functions. Then she was completely covered by the molten rock that we found her trapped in. If she'd been at the epicentre of the storm she'd never have survived the heat."

"How interesting. It's amazing how the fates work to create such opportunities. Strange though it might sound from a scientist, I still believe in such things."

Victor continued, "There was another peculiar factor that helped. She appeared to have been tightly wrapped in a plastic coating, a sticky adhesive stuff, which in the early 21st century used to be known as cling-film. That also helped to protect her. That's probably why she's undamaged and so perfectly preserved."

"That's fascinating," Dr Nemesis interjected. "So, what else did you find at the site."

"Well, that's another strange thing Madame. There were some very odd objects; remains of metal cuffs, hoods, straps and whips and some large equipment. There was a rack, a body cage and a kind of torture chair. It's almost as if she was a prisoner in a dungeon. What's unusual is that our research shows there was a church on the site but what we've found doesn't match any kind of ritual for the religions we know of from that era."

"How curious, yet it seems she was an object of some strange ritual." Dr Nemesis laughed, "I wonder what strange rituals were forced on her. And here she is being subjected to more. I wonder if we should just leave her in peace."

"It's too late now," Victor replied. "We've got a response. We can't stop now or we could leave her in this limbo forever; it would be cruel to leave her in that state."

"Yes, of course you're right Victor. She's lovely, isn't she," said Dr Nemesis.

"Yes, she's beautiful", replied Victor.

Dr Nemesis, Victor and Douglas stood over her admiring her soft nakedness.

"Look at her; she looks so beautiful and serene. All those years preserved in a magnetic field and encased in molten rock and she is still perfect, just lovely."

"Yes, she's so sexy," said Douglas.

Victor flashed a look across at Douglas. He could see her ogling the girl with lust in his eyes. How could he do that? The poor helpless thing with her mind and body shut down like a hologram portrait, beautiful but untouchable.

Professor Nemesis leant over her and gently stroked her hair with her gloved hands. She stared into her eyes through the visor in her helmet.

"Yes, she's beautiful. I wonder who she is, what stories she can tell about her life," Dr Nemesis wondered. "Oh well, we come back tomorrow and start work again. Parp will monitor her tonight."

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It was as if Kim had gently awoken from a long dreamless sleep. Her first sight was the decontamination suit with its white helmet and two piercing blue eyes staring back at her and bright red lips with the hint of a smile on them. It might have been a frightening and alarming experience if it had not been for the compassion for her in that look. She felt she had seen those eyes before, long ago in some distant memory that she couldn't recall. But she couldn't connect it with anything, her mind was empty. She felt how a hedgehog must feel coming out of hibernation responding to the first warmth of a new spring.

Her body was frozen, still locked in whatever nightmare she had fallen into. Try as she might she could not move a single muscle in her locked down body. Her senses were there; she could see, hear and smell but she could make no physical movement. Her eyes were forced open and she was conscious of the dispensers at either side of her eyes continuously letting out a film of liquid to keep her eyes moist as she did not even have the muscle control to blink.

She tried to make sense of her surroundings. She was in a giant plastic bubble erected within a laboratory. At one side of her there was a bank of dials, monitors and flashing lights. Prominently displayed on the front of all this equipment were the words 'Techno Corporation of Srofula Major' and underneath, 'Nano Mk XXV'. She could hear the gentle intermittent, but regular, beep sounding out of the equipment. Was it this machine that had brought her back to life?

She was conscious of a metal cap on her head with wires, which she could sense penetrated into her skull and deep into her brain, running from it into the computer. She was laid out naked on a shiny metal examination table; her arms by her sides and her legs stretched out wide, her wrists, ankles and mid-riff locked in by metal clamps. What purpose they served she did not understand as she was going nowhere. There was breathing apparatus over her mouth and she could taste the plastic tube and the rubber smell of the respirator.

She had no recollection of who she was or where she had come from; senses but no movement or memory.

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The monitors and dials of the computer flashed reassuringly. Kim was still in a stable condition. The plethora of wires trailed from the girl's prostrate body to the Nano Mk XXV computer monitoring every movement and any sign of neural activity in her brain.

"What do we do now?" asked Douglas.

Professor Nemesis explained, "The Nano class of computers was developed with an operating system to run one of the most sophisticated softwares ever created. We have established a neurological response in the subject but now we have to go deep into her subconscious to find a trigger that will get a further reaction."

"How does Nano Mk 25 do that?"

"Nano Mk 25 is a sentient computer. It stores a record of every human experience and emotion. It relays all of this data into the subject's mind to find a definitive experience in the subconscious capable of getting a response. It's a powerful software. If you plugged yourself in it would drive you insane. No human mind could take in so much data, such an overload of experiences."

"How will it work for Kim then?" asked Victor.

"It's dangerous for us but in a mind that's closed down it can help Kim find a key experience she can relate to and kick start her brain into normal neural activity. I've seen it work on many occasions, seen people out of comas, bring people around who are medically dead. But, this will be it's hardest test. Just imagine, before us is a two thousand old girl we are trying to breath life into. We've got a neurological response, what we have to do now is build on it."

"Can you work out what experience will do that?" It was Douglas again.

"Oh yes, to be honest it's usually something sexual." She smiled, "My research has shown how strong sexual feelings and emotions are, they often provide the trigger for this kind of thing. Not always though, football often works, especially for a male subject." Dr Nemesis laughed.

Dr Nemesis and Parp adjusted the dials on the computer that would relay the subliminal messages through the wires into Kim's brain.

"Poor Kim. She'll be bombarded with electronic messages. We can only sit back and be patient and hope that we get some kind of reaction in her subconscious mind."

"What should we do?" asked Victor.

"We just need to take it in turns to monitor the readings and look out for any evidence of increased neural activity," replied Dr Nemesis. "I didn't say it was always going to be exciting work," she chuckled.

Douglas didn't seem to mind. He looked as though he would be quite happy to sit and ogle the naked Kim locked onto the titanium table all day and get away with doing it under the pretence of looking out for signs of muscle movement.

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It was mid-morning on the third day after they had set the cognition software running and Victor was on 'Kim watch' as they had come to call it.

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Victor jumped up in shock. He checked the readings on Nano Mk XXV. He hadn't imagined it; clear signs of neural activity had been detected.

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Kim had overheard the conversation between the team of scientists led by the dominant woman calling herself Dr Nemesis, but it still meant nothing to her. Her memory could not recall or make sense of anything they had said. She had no recollection of how she ended up in the unusual circumstances in which she had seemingly been found.

When Nano Mk XXV started to relay the currents to her brain it was the most bizarre experience. It was like being in a speeded up feely-vision movie. Shots of images whizzed through her. But not just images; there was a full range of emotions to accompany the pictures as well as sounds and smells. It started with images of childhood, a baby being held to her mother's breast, the simple pleasures of playing at the seaside, the playground taunts of schoolchildren, the naive passion of teenage love all flashed past her. Nano would run for perhaps a couple of hours at a time and would then be switched off for an hour to give Kim time to rest and recover from the overpowering input of information and sensations.

Later the content appearing in front of her became overtly sexual. It was like watching a porno movie on speed, a bombardment of images of copulating bodies in every conceivable position and setting. There were grunts and groans, the physical exertion of coupled bodies, the smell of male sweat. But, none of this elicited any response with Kim's personal experience. It just seemed like lots of random meaningless pictures of people fucking.

Then suddenly there was one image that for some reason caught her imagination. At first it was just a flash but out of all the millions of images that passed through her head this the one carried with it a real presence for her.