Chapter 132 - 29 Years Later

Elizabeth stirred awake inside her stasis pod, she was never truly unconscious, just trapped in her mindscape as her body was being repaired.

She had been critically injured in the transition to this new universe since she was the one manipulating the charged particulates ejected from the supermassive black hole.

Controlling those supercharged particulates was akin to taking a bath in a radiation shower with only her body as a defense.

Elizabeth had a new understanding of Zeel at the moment she entered this Universe.

She understood that Zeel was not scared of death, rather he was reluctant to meet a fate worse than death.

That was the only reason she could think of that would make sense to her. Though Zeel never explicitly mentioned it, Alice and Elizabeth could tell that he was running from something.

Apparently, it was something he would rather die quickly than face head-on.

Elizabeth probed her body using her elemental energies. She realized that her body had been irradiated to the point of near-death, she could not image Zeel and Alice being in much better condition than herself.

Elizabeth took some time to gather her wits, arms were okay and her fingers were working, toes on the feet as well, she could still feel every part of her body, though her back was a little cramped.

Verifying she was okay, Elizabeth then turned her attention to outside her pod.

From the information dimension, she was able to grasp the time period during cosmic dissonance, though it felt like years ago.

Outside Elizabeth could see several crisscrossing wires connected to her pod, but failing to probe or scan it properly – obviously a result of the technological gap that exists.

But still, she was able to notice that these wires were fiber optics, while optical fiber was invented in the 18th century, it was not to the level she was currently observing.

This type of fiber optics was not invented until the early 20th century.

Not minding much about it, Elizabeth then proceeded to use Zeel's checklist when encountering unknown circumstances.

Always check yourself first and make sure you are okay, then you check your environment for threats or assets, then you check those around you.

She had already completed the first and second step, closing her eyes Elizabeth used her nanites to locate both Zeel and Alice.

"Well, they're alive and I know the direction, but not the location. Their nanites are in a dormant state, maybe they were more injured than me," Elizabeth mused as she felt their connection still active but blocked by some type of energy interference – which was not weird since they just came from a world saturated with energy.

It would not be unheard of for some energy to leak in the nearby areas to cloud their exact location from her senses.

Elizabeth mulled over the situation for a while and then focused her senses as she could hear talking in the distance.

In a nearby Corridor.

"We still can't get near that pod?" Bill Randa asked the Researcher next to him.

"Sir, we have been trying for 29 years with little progress. The defense mechanism of the pod is unlike anything we have seen before, and the technology is centuries ahead of anything we can come up with," The Researcher replied a bit downtrodden.

"Is there anything we could do? Is the being inside human or otherwise?"

"Definitely not human sir, but appears to be humanoid otherwise. Over the years, we have witnessed her body grow from a frail, weak, half-melted state into a stunning teenage woman.

No doubt she was severely injured in some form of battle before coming to our planet," The Researcher replied flicking through several readings taken over the years.

"Yes, that's where I am concerned, what can injure someone that comes from an advanced civilization like hers?" Bill said in exasperation, he needed threat assessments, not history.

"Well ..."

Just as the Researcher was about to answer, alarms blared in the underground Research Facility.

"What is it?!?!" Bill yelled at the nearby Researchers.

"Sir…. The subject just woke up," The Researchers replied in an amazed, yet equally frightening voice.

∞∞∞

After verifying her situation, Elizabeth sucked in a cold breath of air.

"Fuck, I've been down for 29 years?"

She internally panicked at this news, this meant that not only herself but also Zeel and Alice have also been unconscious for that long.

Stasis pods could significantly slow down aging but not completely stop it like cryo-chambers.

After making sure she hadn't aged much, only about three years, which was more a blessing than anything else since she previously looked 16 years old.

Elizabeth waved her hand and the pod broke down little by little until it turned into a couple of silver balls that floated in her hand.

While Alice and herself were not able to completely make a stasis pod out of nearby materials like Zeel, with their nanites, they could also manipulate tech on a smaller scale.

Storing the stasis pod, Elizabeth wobbled to her feet as her Mbeamer covered her in the nano-suit which soon changed into a yellow sundress entirely.

Zeel was not around, so she could use her nanites as she wished.

When Zeel was nearby, Alice and Elizabeth always had to dress in a practical way.

Elizabeth then directed her vision to the nearby camera as she began hacking to gather information.

Codes flickered across her pupils as she analyzed and stored all relevant information.

"Secret Chemical Warfare Testing Facility, Dugway Proving Grounds, Deep beneath the surface of the Earth. Can't access satellites from here.

The base is completely dark. Defense systems in the desert to stop Project EC from escaping,"

Elizabeth rubbed her head "EC? Elizabeth Crawford? How would they know my name? Guess it doesn't matter,"

Elizabeth began walking towards the door as it opened automatically for her. Every corridor or door she passed would open up, giving her free reign.

The nearby cameras short-circuited, the computer deleted any footage of her being there, the base was a ghost that held a next level ghost inside.

Passing through a nearby corridor, she stopped briefly, since this was the first time she met someone in a corridor.

She had assumed that everyone evacuated the moment she woke up from containment. Elizabeth was not arrogant, but from the level of technology witnessed, she felt that this civilization would not prove especially troublesome to her escape.

Bill and his assistant, Brooks, looked amazed at the beautiful silver-eyed teenage girl in front of them.

Elizabeth, seeing their gaping expressions, opted to ignore them, but her eyes caught sight of the file Brook held in his hand.

"Can I see that file?" Elizabeth asked politely after flexing her throat a couple of times to make sure the nanites translation was working.

Alice and Zeel would have taken it first and asked questions later, but she preferred a more normal approach.

Brooks handed the file over while slightly trembling.

Scurrying through the file, she noticed it was a detailed explanation of anomalies on an island close to where she had been found.

"Was I the only one recovered from this area?" Elizabeth asked.

Bill nodded his head like a woodpecker before answering "Yes young miss,"

Elizabeth giggled then looked at him quizzically "I am not a young miss, not anymore,"

How could she be? Sleeping for 29 years would put her around 60 years old about now? Alice and Zeel were about 64 years old.

Turning her attention back to the file, she read a bit more before nodding "When is this expedition?"

She was fully intent on going alone if she must, but joining these guys was also an option, though when she felt the movements outside, this idea was immediately dismissed.

Elizabeth found herself being slightly irritated by the futile resistance being amassed above ground.

She quickly calmed herself down, since Zeel warned that prolonged stay in stasis pods has several side effects like irritation and Microsleep tendencies.

"I am sorry but we can't give you that information," Bill said "And I hope that you can remain in this facility until we figure out how to interact with you,"

Elizabeth's eyes turned sharp as a strange silver-gold glow appeared within.

"You want to stop me? I hope you are prepared for such consequences," She stated.

The entire underground facility began to trembling briefly before stopping.

Elizabeth was also a bit surprised, a fair amount of elemental energies just burst forth from her body.

Elizabeth's face turned a bit ugly, if Zeel and Alice were inactive who would act as the central beacon to send their excess energy through the Multiversal current to Lorien?

This would mean that right now, the three of them were akin to a couple of nuclear bombs with a short fuse.

She could not actively use her power until she could get rid of the excess energy safely at an isolated location.

Brooks began trembling even more fiercely since he could see the energy reading spiking ever since Elizabeth woke up.

Wasting no more time, Elizabeth ran through the base… doors opening as if scared of her. Finally, after a couple of minutes of running, she had made it to the surface exit of the underground base.

There, many tanks, vehicles, and jets filled the desert sands – no doubt they had been notified of her awakening.

"Please calm down, we are sending someone to talk to you. Refrain for further action or we'll be forced to defend ourselves," Preston, the army leader, yelled into the PA system.

Elizabeth noticed the elements near her body began reacting fiercely as she was currently annoyed as hell.

Amplifying her voice, she yelled "Run, I can't hold it back anymore,"

Groans and creaks could be heard as her body neared the limit of what it could contain with her current state of mind.

"Calm down, let us help you!" Preston replied as he gave the army the go-ahead signal to approach.

"Aaaarrrgh!" Elizabeth yelled as her voice became slightly beastly with the silver-gold glow in her eyes becoming that much more intense.

Knowing she had to expel excess energy immediately or explode, Elizabeth manipulated the lightening around her body, which had now also become silver in color.

She then supercharged the lightning a couple of times over, using positively and negatively charged water droplets she created in the air.

Then the wind picked up as she created a tornado-like-vacuum directing herself upwards through a funnel of winds.

*BOOM*

Shattering the sound barrier, she shot off into the air, climbing the heights she never could before – at least not without the antigravity boots.

The moment she reached 20,000 feet, a white flame lingered around her body until it became a burning inferno.

The wind blew, orange flames materialized, rains showered, frost formed, and lightning lingered in the air.

Below Preston and the rest of the army watched as the sky became a multitude of colors, after which everything went silent once more.

*BBBBBBBOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMM*

A sound wave that could be heard for hundreds of miles passed over the soldiers below, many of which suffered minor internal injuries.

Then a multitude of colors disappeared from the sky as the clouds cleared and everything returned to normal.

Elizabeth felt very exhausted and was sure that the Microsleep side effect was about to take hold.

Elizabeth quickly materialized an infiltrator from her storage dimension, as antigravity boots materialized on her feet.

Soon a blur was seen in the distance, Elizabeth had left to the nearest isolated location – The Nevada Desert.