You look up at Ceri, in total horror and disbelief. You can't believe that she's just swallowed her own shrunken sister whole. You have an image of Sally trapped inside her giant younger sister's stomach, banging on the wall of her stomach and begging to be let out. You can tell by the look on Ceri's face that she has no intention of releasing her sister, and that it's only a matter of time before her stomach acid starts breaking Sally's body down into protein and other nutrients. It would be a slow, agonising death. You never really liked Sally. But you can't help feeling a lot of sympathy for her. Nobody deserves to die the way she's about to. Just as Ceri's about to say something, Diana, her mom comes running into the court room.
"They're here", she says excitedly. "They say they want to negotiate".
"Show 'em in", your mom says.
Diana nods and walks back outside.
"This should be interesting", your mom says as she looks at the other women in the room. She then walks over to where the judge usually sits, and sits down.
A few minutes later, Diana walks back into the court room, followed by a man in a battledress uniform. The three stars on his collar tell you he's a General. He looks to be in his late forties. He's followed by a man roughly the same age, dressed in a dark grey suit,looking terrified. Behind him is another officer, a Colonel, and two more soldiers, privates. The two privates are carrying their M16's at chest level, ready to bring them to bear in a split second. They stand behind the Colonel, who's standing behind the General and the man in the grey suit. They're all standing in front of the Judges stand, looking up at your mom, who's sat with her feet up on the left side of the desk. Your mom stares back at them. Most of the other women are sitting where the members of the public usually sit during a court case. Some are sat in the juror's box. Helen, Rob's mom, who has apparently become your mom's second in command is sat to your mom's left, where the witnesses give their evidence. There's a couple of minutes silence while both sides stare at each other. The colonel and the two privates have noticed the fish tanks around the court room and have realised what's inside them. All three are looking extremely worried.
"Well?" your mom says, breaking the silence. "Are you gonna talk, or just stand there looking stupid?".
"Erm..err, We..we've been sent by the..the erm..the President", the man in the grey suit says nervously.
Your mom puts on a mock excited expression.
"The President? Oooh...goody!" she says sarcastically to a chorus of muffled giggles.
"He..he..err" the man continues, apparently oblivious to the sarcasm. "He..asks that you..err.."
"Oh for fucks sake", the General says impatiently. "I told 'em you were fuckin' useless", he looks at the man in the suit with contempt. Then he turns his attention to your mom. "The President asks that you lower the..err..shield...and return the people of this town to their normal size immediately" he says sternly.
Your mom gives a short sniff and rubs her nose.
"Or what?" she asks as she looks at her nails, giving the impression of boredom.
"Or we will take this town by force", the general replies.
Your mom throws her head back and laughs loudly.
"Take the town by force?" she says as she stands up and walks down to face the General. "And how're you gonna do that?...hmmm? You've spent the past three days hitting our shield with artillery and missiles. How much damage have you done? Hmm?..none".
"We have other weapons" the General says somewhat lamely.
"They won't work...and you know it", your mom replies. "The fact is..you...can do nothing to stop us. And that worries you...doesn't it?"
"This town belongs to the United States", the General says as he stands up straight. "And you are..."
"We...." your mom cuts in. "Are no longer human. We..are now more than human. And this town belong to us. It's our domain now. Goddessville. And..."
The General draws his pistol with surprising speed. He points it at your mom's torso and starts to fire. Despite what she's done to you, you can't help but panic as you hear a series a bangs and watch your mom stumble backward until her back's against the judges bence. You can see holes appear in her denim shirt, and little speckles of blood flying out of her torso. The General empties the magazine into your mom. When the last casing flies from the ejection port, the pistol's slide flies backwards, showing that's it empty. To your, and the five men's amazement, your mom simply looks down at her shirt. Despite the large blood stains all over the front of her shirt, your mom is apparently unharmed. She looks up at the General, an expression of uncontrolled rage on her face. The General releases the empty magazine from the pistol and desperately tries to put a new magazine into it.
"DON'T JUST STAND THERE", he shouts to the other three soldiers. "OPEN FIRE!". But the other three soldiers don't move. They seem to be rooted to the spot, like statues.
"SON OF A BITCH!" your mom shouts angrily. Then her eyes glow blood red. The General manages to get the magazine into the pistol. But before he can use it, he suddenly gasps...then he disappears. His clothes fall to the fall to floor, minus the General. His gun falls to the floor also, landing with a loud thud as it hits the wooden surface. Your mom grins evilly as the three soldiers, and the man in the suit look down at the empty pile of clothes on the floor. All four look terrified. Your mom smiles evilly as as she walks over to the pile of clothes. The man in the suit, who had been standing next to the General, quickly backs away, bumping into the Colonel as he does so. Your mom kneels down and rummages through the empty uniform. She apparently finds what she's looking for and stands up. She then takes a couple of steps toward the four men, who have all backed up to the court room door. She then opens her right hand and the men look completely shocked as they look down at it. You can't see what it is that's got their attention, but you know that it's the now shrunken General.
"Listen carefully", your mom says softly. "This town..and the surrounding ten miles...belong to me..and my sisters. Everything..and everyONE in this town..belongs to us. Picture a map of this country..and then imagine a big hole where this town used to be. It's very simple. You leave us alone...and we'll leave you alone. If you attack us again..we will take over the entire planet. And everyone...who isn't a beautiful woman..will become either slaves...or food", at that, she looks down at her open palm. She then brings her hand up to her mouth and tosses the shrunken General in. She then tips her head back and swallows. She smiles as she licks her lips and looks at the man in the suit.
"Understand?" your mom asks.
The man in the suit is visibly trembling with fear. He slowly nods his head.
"Good boy", your mom says. "Off you go now and tell your boss what I said. If he wants to keep his job. And he wants everybody else on this planet to remain as they are...I suggest he leaves us alone".
The three soldiers don't need telling twice. They obviously know when they've no chance of winning a fight. They walk out of the door fairly quickly, but slow enough to maintain the illusion of calm.
"One more thing", your mom says as the man in the suit starts to follow the soldiers. He stops and turns to face your mom. "We want prisoners. The really bad ones. Those in maximum security. Murderers, rapists...especially rapists. Those on death row".
The man looks even more alarmed.
"Wh...what do you want them for?" he asks. "S..surely you're not going to release them?"
"Of course not", your mom replies with a grin. "Let's just say that they're going to receive the justice they deserve".
"People will notice they're gone", the man says.
"We can make copies", your mom replies. "Exact duplicates".
"How...how do I know you'll keep your word...about leaving the rest of us alone?" the man asks.
"I didn't give you my word", your mom replies. "You'll just have to trust me. We have what we want..we'll stay here and not bother anybody. As long as we're left alone. And we get our delivery of prisoners. But as a gesture of good faith..we'll deliver all the world's bad guys to you. So the world can know peace. We'll even create a facility to house them. It'll also serve as a small demonstration of our power. Now..off you go".
"He...had a wife", the man says sadly as he looks down at your mom's stomach.
Your mom looks down and places her right hand on her stomach. Then she looks back at the man and grins again.
"Maybe I'll have her for dessert. Then he shouln't have shot me. Should he?" she replies.
"But he didn't deserve....that", the man says.
"Get me my prisoners", your mom says. "I want them here by tomorrow afternoon. Or we'll come and get them".
The man turns and disappears through the door. Your mom waits a couple of minutes, then she turns and looks around the room at the other women.
"Well!" she says cheerfully. "I think that went ok".