[zimbra1]

I knew 9B would be worth the wait, thank you sir.

[nam]

Keep up the excellent work Fonk! Now if only someone could illustrate the story….

[Fonk]

Goodness, has it been that long since I last added a chapter to this? 😮

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Questions flew around Florida's mind like moths gathering around a flame. Her jaw opened and closed as more arrived, barging to the front of the queue like petulant children. The Goddess's image smiled benevolently at her other self before breaking the silence. "You must have many questions," she said encouragingly. Florida nodded, wide-eyed. "Ask one," the Goddess whispered. So Florida did, snatching at the first one flying around her brain.

"Are you really me?" the hypermuscular historian asked. "It would be most accurate to say that I am a you," the Goddess replied. Florida frowned. "I don't understand, Goddess," she said sheepishly. "Are you a clone?" The Goddess smiled more fully. "No, I am not," the divine woman responded. "Perhaps it will be more… illuminating if I took you to my ship," she suggested. "Would that be acceptable to you?"

Florida didn't respond immediately: her mind was still trying to process everything. Her life had been turned upside-down twice in quick succession… more than anything else, the amazing Amazon needed time to catch her breath. "I have no idea if she's on the level," she thought, "and I was wrong about Nefla. But I've gone with the flow so far… yeah. Let's take it to the end." The massively muscled megababe smiled to herself. "Besides, I could probably fight my way out of any trouble she could cook up!"

She nodded to the Goddess, whose face lit up with joy. "Teleportation will begin shortly," she said, and vanished. Instantly Florida was enveloped in a strange artificial mist. She peered closely at the bizarre fog: it looked like TV screen snow hovering in the air all around her. If Florida had been able to observe herself from the outside, she would have seen the mist fold around her body like wrapping paper, and then quickly compress to a single dot about two inches across, which would have hung in the air for a second before disappearing. As it was, when the luscious leviathan blinked again, the mist had lifted and she was somewhere else.

Florida's jaw went slack with wonder. She was standing in a huge cylindrical chamber with a central pedestal. The ceiling, some forty feet away, was made up of light grey tiles of a material Florida did not recognise, as was the floor. The pillar in the middle of the room was also grey and it was rotating slowly. The walls were covered in hundreds of flat screens, all displaying Florida Cranes doing wildly different things.

As her eyes flicked from screen to screen, Florida spotted herself leading the tribe into battle against an army of what looked like centaurs; another Florida was conducting a birth celebration, headdress flickering in the candlelight; one was getting married, even, but by far the majority were either undergoing one of the three tests or receiving their reward. The bulging behemoth tilted her head as she saw muscles pump up to immense sizes, or breasts enlarge, or huge rocks rise painfully into the sky.

A subtle change in the air made Florida turn quickly to face the rotating pillar. She looked, for the first time, at the top of the column. It held a simple black swivel chair, on which sat the Goddess. The ginormous goliath genuflected as best she could, lowering her head in deference. "There is no need for that, Florida," the Goddess chided gently when she stepped off the chair with easy grace. The musclewoman blushed as she stood up straight again. The Goddess was exactly like her image had been: a six foot woman clothed in a white dress, blushing with beauty, toned but displaying no obvious muscle mass.

"May I ask a question, O Goddess?" Florida inquired politely. The smaller woman took her massive counterpart's hand in hers. "Of course," she replied softly. "That is why I brought you here." Florida nodded and smiled, a little uncomfortably. "What is this place?" she asked, gesturing around at the banks of monitors that surrounded the pair. The Goddess watched Florida's inhumanly huge muscles flex and contract through the motion as if hypnotised by them. "You are truly strong," she said, ignoring the question for the moment. "I am proud that you thought of the perfect plan to defeat Nefla. Naturally, I would have protected you whatever happened. You would never have come to harm."

"Then why set the test in the first place?" asked Florida. She was incapable of keeping a note of anger from her voice and regretted it instantly. The Goddess' expression became severe for a moment before she answered. "In addition to the three trials, each Florida may be called upon to face other trials before becoming Queen of the Amazons. That was yours." The superwoman's head slumped in shame. "I apologise," she said. "Think no more of it," the Goddess said, the good humour back in her voice.

"You are in what I like to call the Floridarium. It's where I keep watch on the most interesting incarnations of Florida Crane. In the broader scheme of things, we are on my spaceship, in orbit around what you think of as the planet Mars." The awe-inspiring academic took this in. "How can there be more than one of us?" she wondered aloud. The Goddess smiled, the broadest smile Florida had yet seen her give.

"Each and every decision that we make affects the world," the divine woman began. "Have you ever wondered what would happen if you had decided to do something differently?" Her counterpart nodded slowly. "Well, somewhere, you did make the decision differently. The consequences of that different decision are then played out in a new dimension." The thought sank in. "There must be infinite numbers of dimensions!" Florida gasped after a moment. The Goddess nodded. "Just from decisions that you took alone," she confirmed.

"How are you able to watch so many of them?" The Goddess' eyes shifted focus slightly, as if they were looking into the past. "I discovered that I could switch dimensions by – well, the science will be beyond you. I believe it took me months to work through the mathematics involved, and my IQ is in excess of two thousand," she continued. Florida's eyes widened in awe. She also noted the strange use of the word "believe", but didn't query it. "I also built this vessel. I used it to travel to many other dimensions. Whilst visiting the ones in which the ship's computer predicted the Florida Crane would locate the Temple of the Amazons, I planted a microscopic camera to find her and broadcast images here to me of her life. The camera also acts as a tracer, so I can get back to that Florida if I need to. The ship can also travel through time."

She paused. Florida used the moment to ask a question. "So am I on one of these screens?" she said thoughtfully. "Naturally," the Goddess replied simply. She turned and pointed to a monitor a couple of feet below the ceiling and to their left. Florida stared at the spot but it was simply too far away: all she could make out was a smudge of vibrant colour as the images melted into one. A thought then struck her and she couldn't help herself. "Are you on one of them?" she blurted out. For the first time since they had met, the divine woman frowned. She looked intently into her titanic double's eyes. "I sincerely have no idea," she said. There was a thought-filled pause whilst Florida worked things out.

"You don't remember your life?" she asked eventually. The Goddess shook her head. "Once I realised what I was destined to become, I erased my memory of everything up to the point I started construction on the ship." The stunning superbabe had a hunch, but wanted clarification. "Why did you do that?" she asked. "I wanted to avoid a paradox," was the simple reply. "This way, I will have no idea of how I helped my past self, and will be able to do the job properly." Florida nodded slowly: she had been right. From the tiny smattering of science fiction she had seen on TV she knew that nothing good came of paradoxes. Another thought struck the mammoth musclewoman.

"You'll be here forever, won't you?" The Goddess bit her lip and nodded. "I have no chance at all of covering infinity, Florida," she agreed. "So, yes, I will be here until I die." Suddenly Florida was overcome with pity for the Goddess. She lead a lonely existence, fighting what she knew would ultimately prove a fruitless battle to care for the Amazonian tribe through the ages in billions upon billions of dimensions. Florida moved to hug her counterpart. The superpowered strongwoman swept the Goddess off her feet and gently pressed the smaller woman to her bloated bosom.

"There aren't many people who can say they've literally hugged themselves," Florida said to herself, and grinned. She realised with a start that she could have crushed the Goddess if she wanted, right then and there. "The power I hold in my hands," she thought grimly. She released her ultra-intelligent double gently. When the Goddess was facing her again, Florida was astonished to note that she was crying. A single, horrible tear slid down her left cheek, but there was a beautiful, crinkled smile on her lips. She mouthed the words "Thank you" to the tremendous titaness. Florida nodded, returning the sad smile.

"With respect, that wasn't quite what I meant, Goddess," she said humbly. "I meant that you have to find your past self. Otherwise your creation cannot take place, and you won't be around to put your past self on the path to becoming your current self." The Goddess took a deep breath. "Paradoxes are tricky beasts, Florida," she opined. "I have taken steps to ensure that I live as long as possible. The only other comforting thought I have is my own existence: I myself am proof that I succeed in finding my past self at some point."

Again Florida nodded. "I even followed that," she laughed to herself. "So," she said aloud, "why do you not think of it as the planet Mars?" The Goddess grinned. "I was wondering if you were going to make a comment on that. It's an interesting story, actually. At the beginning of the twenty-second century in my dimension, a group of Italian astronomers found – " But that was as far as the story ever went, because at that moment an alarm sounded.

Panic began to rear its unwelcome head in Florida's mind. "What's going on?" she cried over the noise of the siren. The Goddess looked around calmly at the mass of screens before fixing her gaze onto one on roughly the middle of the far wall. "One of the Floridas I am observing is in grave danger," she informed her double as she strode to her chair. "Climb on," she gestured to the stunned strongwoman. Florida mounted the pillar gingerly, standing behind the Goddess' seat. The smaller woman pushed a button and the structure began to rise, rotating slowly as it did so.

With a grim expression marring her beautiful features, the Goddess sat calmly. When the column stopped rising, she fixed one of the monitors with a steely glare. Florida couldn't tell which one she was looking at, it was so far away. "What's going on?" she whispered in the Goddess' ear. The superintelligent scientist passed her counterpart a telescope. "Look for the red light," she said simply. Florida cast her a brief glance; there was real anger in her voice. Florida put the instrument to her eye and looked around. When she found what she was looking for, it only took a few seconds for her to work out what was happening. Her eyes widened in shock.

The picture showed a version of Florida Crane who was trapped in some kind of energy field. As the pair watched, her muscles were being drained away at a fantastic rate. "Florida," the Goddess whispered, her anger tightly controlled, "I wonder if you could do me a favour…"

—To Be Continued—

[Fonk]

OK, a bit of introduction is needed here. I decided a couple of months ago that I wanted the two Floridas to cross paths… it just took me ages to figure out how to do it! For the purposes of this chapter, "Florida A" refers to the Florida from the "A" storyline; similarly, "Florida B" refers to the Florida from the "B" storyline. As you might expect! 😉 Hope you like it, gang!

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Florida A was glad that she could no longer feel panic; she would almost certainly have been unable to think straight otherwise. The trapped titaness estimated that she had three-quarters of her strength left. Her breasts were beginning to weigh on her weakening chest, so she lay on the floor, careful as ever not to touch the surrounding energy field. The gentle goliath began to think of escape plans again. Her previous best had a 71% chance of success, but that had been when she was at full strength. After three minutes' deliberation, Florida A concluded that the new best plan had an 11% chance of success.

Knowing that optimism is always better than pessimism, Florida A had to make sure that despondency did not get the better of her. She concentrated on trying to contact Nefla telepathically, warning her second-in-command not to try and rescue her directly. Helverton was so sure that any rescue attempt would end in the girls' deaths that she felt something had been prepared. As to what exactly it was… there were so many possibilities that even Florida A's superb intuition couldn't work it out.

In fact, the more the gargantuan genius thought about it, the more she realised that the best thing to do was wait. The shrinking Amazon assessed her strength levels again – she was at around 35% of her original power. Florida A rolled gingerly onto her back and took stock of her physical appearance. Most of the fabulous muscles were gone: the luscious leviathan's measurements had returned to within ordinary human levels. With unshaken optimism in her heart, she rolled back onto her stomach and closed her eyes.

—

Florida B was listening to the Goddess' last-minute instructions. The pair were standing in the teleportation chamber, the hypermuscular historian looking down at her kindly double, who was explaining how to use the clunky hover boots, communicator and stun rifle she sported. Florida B wasn't taking in much of the talk, despite the Goddess' urgent tone – she felt queasy and was concentrating on not vomiting. The journey across dimensions was not one she wished to repeat any time soon. It was like being ripped apart, atom by atom, and put back together in an instant.

"Have you understood?" the Goddess finished. "I can repeat anything you wish." Florida B nodded her head, her giant mane of hair billowing around the room. "Good," the Goddess said. "All that remains is for me to send you into the chamber. The most important thing to remember is that you must not touch the floor under any circumstances. There is enough electricity flowing through it to kill you instantly." Florida B nodded again, having decided that opening her mouth for verbal communication was a bad idea. She clicked the heels of the boots together, just like the Goddess had shown her, and the boots activated.

The Goddess examined her footwear critically as Florida B rose a foot into the air. "They seem to be working well," she murmured. "I have never had to make a pair for someone of your… dimensions before, Florida, and I was concerned that they would be unable to support your weight." The bulked-up babe couldn't resist: "I'm just big-boned." The Goddess smiled at her and, for a fraction of a second, Floria B felt her power. The Goddess broke the spell when she moved to pick up the remote teleporter controls. "I will send you in one minute's time. Good luck, Florida." She nodded.

—

Florida A's eyes flicked open.

Something new was happening.

The cannon had switched itself off, which she concluded meant she now had the minimum amount of strength necessary to live. Groggily she examined herself: her ten foot body was shorn of the incredible muscle that it had sported earlier. However, that was not what had awoken her. Quickly but carefully the weakened woman looked around. Her prison was still very much intact. She sniffed at the air – something reeked, and, when she concentrated, Florida A could hear a sizzling noise. As she looked around the room to try and locate it, she saw an almost exact copy of herself floating in the air a few metres away.

The prone prisoner gasped. There was a flash of dark blue energy and then blissful unconsciousness took her away.

—

"Dammit!" Florida B cursed herself furiously. "That – that was the definition of 'bungling', you stupid witch." The jolt of being teleported had pushed the massive musclewoman's stomach over the edge. She had vomited. Gravity had made its inevitable contribution, so the pile of bile was frying neatly underneath her on the electrified floor, giving off a powerful, acrid stench. The smell had woken her counterpart. Panicked, Florida B had stunned her, which was not part of the plan. The rifle was intended for self-defence purposes only.

An insistent bleeping rang through the air. Florida B flipped open her communicator and the Goddess' comforting face appeared. "You have a job to do, Florida, do not dwell unnecessarily. This world's Florida is not harmed. She will sleep for about ten minutes." Florida B nodded, closed the device down and tried to regain her composure. Ignoring the thrashing, raging swells in her gut, the ravishing rescuer moved awkwardly over to the cannon dominating the room, using the running motion that the Goddess had taught her. She got a good grip on its ladder, switched the boots off and began to climb to the controls.

In a flash the bountiful beauty had reached the array of buttons and levers. She glanced over them and found what she was looking for. She pulled the lever marked "DRAIN" down to its minimum negative value, and followed that up by pushing the "ON" switch. Immediately the cannon hummed into life and projected a thick scarlet beam over the energy field that surrounded the other Florida. Florida B grinned hugely.

—

Florida A was floating. She had her original body back: five foot of bespectacled, skinny archaeologist in a white T-shirt and khaki shorts. The worried faces of her fellow Amazonians surrounded her, but she remained unconcerned. They began to cry out: "Queen Florida! What is wrong?" "What has happened?" "How can we help?" "Yes! Let us help you in your hour of need!" Florida A smiled politely. "I am not in need of help, my friends," she responded, looking at as many of them as she could. "I am quite safe. The Goddess has provided." Relief broke out on their faces.

As she looked proudly at them all, their images began to swirl around her, blurring into a mess of colour, before disappearing. Colonel Helverton's cold features came into view. "You will never escape, you know," he crowed. "We will keep you here until the curse of the Amazonians is eradicated from our planet." Florida A merely smiled serenely. This seemed to enrage Helverton. "Where are your precious muscles now? Hmmm?" he taunted. "I gave them to you for safe keeping," Florida A replied. Helverton's image frowned. "I think I will take them back now, thank you."

The defiant woman's body started to pulse. Muscles began to blossom, and accordingly tears began to appear in her clothes. They exposed parts of her rippling six-pack abs, expanding delts, enlarging traps and swelling breasts. Her expansion became too much: the T-shirt tore into pieces and fell away, joined by the shorts, revealing Florida's naked body. She looked like a young female bodybuilder and flexed her biceps at Helverton, whose jaw had dropped in awe. Florida A tilted her head to the left and pouted.

"Like what you see?" she purred, lost in the sexual throes of her change. "How is this possible?" he roared in angry confusion. "That," panted Florida A, "would be telling." She looked down at her still swelling form, enjoying the rush of all her muscles growing at once. Without clothes to restrict it, her body was expanding that much faster. Past six feet, through to seven, approaching eight. Biceps beyond forty, fifty, now sixty inches. Breasts bigger than melons, volleyballs, now basketballs. Thighs more than sixty, seventy, now eighty inches.

"What a rush!" Florida A whispered, feeling her entire body on the crest of orgasm. There was no reason to hold herself back, so the bloating babe let it happen. A small part of Florida A's brain knew it was a dream, or a fantasy, or something – but it was still the most intense experience of her life. Colours flashed before her eyes as if her retinas were plugged into rainbows. Her entire body quivered and shook as another wave washed over her still-growing form. Florida A roared as the joy turned into pleasurable pain.

The image of Helverton was purple with embarrassment. Her body bloated further: a single ab was bigger than the man's hands. One of her titanic thighs was wider than his whole body. Her pulsating pecs pushed her outrageous boobs out a metre and more in front of her. Helverton was unable to take his eyes off her erect nipples as they blossomed from her expanding areolae, like a flower waking. The Amazonian academic grew beyond her previous maximum, Helverton's face boiling with rage as it did so. When she stopped expanding, Florida A was ten foot six, bulging with more muscles than a battalion of bodybuilders and burning with more sexiness than a platoon of porn stars.

"How is this possible?!" he screamed. "The Goddess has provided," she repeated, exploring her mammoth body lustily. He dismissed her reply. "Impossible. No woman can be this strong." Florida A faced to her captor. "This is the strength I had all along," she whispered, striding towards Helverton. "No!" he cried. "What are you doing? Stop!" The sumptuous superbabe stopped with her gigantic globes hovering over the man's head. "I have this strength and I will not hurt you," she mused, looking through her cavernous cleavage at the cowering colonel. "Yet you have none and wish to rid this world of me. We will soon be doing things my way… I hope you like it."

—

"Yes!" Florida B cried. Her counterpart's body was growing. "I did it!" The communicator beeped. "Excellent, Florida," the Goddess congratulated. "Now you must open the doors and turn the power off for the floors so that the Amazonians of this world can properly rescue their mistress." Florida B nodded. She clicked the boots into life, let go of the ladder and air-jogged over to the doors. She carefully applied enough pressure to the door to open it quietly, not wishing to alert the guards.

Floating on through, Florida B searched for the switch, finding it on the opposite wall. She leaned down to push it – the hum that had been going on the background wound down and stopped. A couple of seconds later the communicator beeped again. "You are exceptional, Florida," the Goddess stated. "Your last task is to make sure this world's Florida regains her strength and then set her free." "It will be my pleasure," she replied, smiling widely.

As the floor was safe, Florida B disengaged the boots and surprisingly landed with barely a sound. She padded back into the chamber and watched as her double writhed on the floor, body inflating to beyond superhuman standards. Abs etched onto the torso, calves pushed off the floor, biceps and triceps billowed. She tore her eyes away from the sight to look for a final switch. The energy field could, apparently, be turned off by flicking a lever on the wall to its left. Florida B closed her eyes contentedly. Life was good.

—

Florida A's eyes flicked open. Unlike last time, she was wide awake, with all her considerable mental capacity running at full tilt. She stood up carefully, expecting the energy prison to still be around her… but it had gone. Frowning a little, she drew herself up to her full height. She was taller – not by much, just six inches, but taller nonetheless. Frowning more, the wondrous woman threw a double biceps pose. Eighty mountainous inches of raw strength towered from her arm, the muscle so thick it threatened to spill over the side, like a waiter carrying a soccer ball on a small plate.

Before Florida A could examine herself more, the alarm sounded. The even-more-awesome Amazon rolled her eyes. "Not again!" she groaned.

— To Be Continued —

I think the storylines will now split apart again, and that there'll be only one more chapter of each before I wrap things up. This monster has taken up so much of my time already! 😳

[gblock01]

I have to say, the cross-over of the storylines was completely unexpected and very well done. I like the chapter itself, but the parallel universe idea was genius. Very impressive.

[Max]

Amusing chapter Fonk. Certainly you have managed very well the idea of parallel worlds. Very good job.

Btw, it's good to see at Florida A back to her best form  😀

Max

[Fonk]

This is the last of the "A" storyline! Thanks to gblock01 for one of the ideas that surfaces in this chapter, and many thanks to those who've read and supported this story. I love you all!

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Heavily armoured and heavily armed soldiers methodically surrounded the awe-inspiring archaeologist. She waited patiently until they had all got into position, each man staring at her through a rifle sight, none daring to move. The last man locked the door to the chamber. She sensed the fear in the room; in fact, it would be more accurate to say that their fear flooded the room.

"Where is Helverton?" she asked quietly. No-one dared answer. Florida tilted her head to one side, focusing calmly on the solider nearest to her. "Where is Helverton?" she asked again, more forcefully. There was still no response; the liberated leviathan gave a half-smile. "You really do not want to make me ask again," she warned.

"This is a suicide mission!" one of the men blurted out. Florida shut her eyes. "Explain yourself," she commanded. "In the event that you couldn't be contained, Dr. Crane," he began, "the chamber was fitted with lethal gas canisters. These are set to detonate – " he produced what looked like a small joystick and pushed the red button on top of it " – "in one minute." The gigantic genius nodded. "There is nothing personal in what I am about to do, you understand."

A number of the soliders had microscopic cameras built into their uniforms. The nation's top scientists were later given the recordings to study. They had to watch them frame by frame to see the humungous historian as anything other than a blur. It was as if she were starring in her own private choreographed ballet of violence; each punch, kick, swipe or slam following fluidly from the last until all her opponents were down. Viewed in real-time, it was as if a whirling dervish had descended, taking out the finest security unit on the base in under thirty seconds.

No-one managed to hit the wondrous woman.

The colossal Queen stood in amongst the evidence of her handiwork. The soldiers were unconscious; no-one had died or would do so. Florida had pulled her punches sufficiently. There was not a hair out of place, nor was she out of breath. The only way you could tell that she had exerted herself at all was a single bead of sweat negotiating the sensual slope of her gargantuan left breast. Florida paused to watch it make its way over the rim of her boob and out of her personal line of sight. She could feel it trace its course across her skin before sliding out onto her thick, erect nipple. Involuntarily, the glowing giantess shivered, sending the bead onto the floor with the tiniest noise.

Florida shut her eyes, willing the adrenaline away. Her awesome mind regained clarity, thoughts rising and falling like supernovas. She decided to dedicate a few seconds to the most interesting problem facing her. "Who was the woman that rescued me?" There were too many possibilities to decide on just one. They all involved outlandish science-fiction style concepts that, a week ago, the ravishing researcher would have dismissed out of hand. Now, though, things were very different. She decided that a definitive conclusion was out of reach and, with the release of the gas being only twenty seconds away, perhaps there were other priorities.

The Amazonian academic sent a short telepathic signal to Nefla, saying that she had escaped and needed to be transported home. This done, Florida began to think about how to turn the situation to her advantage. Her gaze fixed on the banks of computers. "Bingo," she whispered. Her brilliant mind was, at the basic level, the same as any other: without knowledge for it to use, it was worthless. Having explored her own knowledge to its limits, she needed more to store and ponder.

An idea came to her, making her smile brilliantly. One of the machines had been left on, so Florida carefully accessed the Internet and searched for a site on electronics. She found several likely suspects. Within ten seconds Florida had the information she needed. With a new glint in her eye, she turned to the cannon that had robbed her of her might.

Ripping the weapon from its moorings, she flipped hatches all over it and began to investigate. Her eyes glittered like uncut diamonds as she examined its internal workings. "I can do it," she breathed, and began to rip out reconnect wiring. Just then there was a change in the air, one so subtle that only Florida's enhanced senses would have picked up on it.

A second later a loud crack heralded the arrival of Nefla. She had brought seven acolytes with her, all large and powerful women with muscles standing in proud relief under tanned skin. "Mistress!" she cried. Florida turned, her arm deep inside the cannon. She greeted her attendant. "Nefla, old friend, it is good to hear your voice once more." Nefla bowed obediently while her troops took in their outlandish surroundings, all agog. A subtle hissing noise told Florida that the gas was being released into the atmosphere. "Hold your breath, ladies!" she called cheerfully. They obeyed.

Florida turned to Nefla, giving her broadest and most beautiful smile. "I know that you can only transport eight people at maximum, Nefla," she began, "but could we also take this with us?" Nefla held her hands out, so Florida gently placed the gun into them. Her faithful attendant turned it over and over. She nodded reluctantly, after much deliberation. Florida nodded in return, feeling the gas begin to make her woozy.

"Then we shall return to our land post haste," she ordered, taking the weapon from the priestess. "There is still much work for us to do before this world is ready for our way of life." The nine formed the transportation circle, around which the vortex duly descended. Wind whipped Florida's thick hair around at the two women either side of her. There was the usual flash of light.

Florida was surprised at how good it felt to have the stone floors of the temple under her feet again. She only allowed the feeling into her mind for a few seconds. The eight women around her were gasping to get air back into their deprived lungs. The entire tribe had assembled in the temple's main chamber in groups of back-up troops; the ravishing royal nodded her approval to Nefla for her level of planning. The traditional Amazonian cheer rang out in ripples as each group realised that their Queen had returned safely.

"Friends!" she cried, calling the surrounding horde into silence. "I have seen into the hearts of men these past days; we have much work to do if we are to take our ways of life to them. However, I have brought with me a weapon that may change the nature of our task for the better. I must test it. Trust and believe in me when I say that the woman who chooses to help me is in complete safety. Now, who amongst you most desires to aid her Queen?"

Predictably every arm shot into the air. Florida smiled. "I seek the weakest amongst us, with the hope that I can make her strong," she continued, knowing the identity of her chosen in advance. After a moment, she found the poor girl sitting on the floor in a dank corner of the chamber. Her name was Hanwara, and she had lost the use of her legs in a hunting accident many years before. "I choose you, Hanwara," Florida said softly. The girl bowed her head to the floor in apology.

"I am not worthy, Mistress," she gabbled. "Please, choose someone else." "You are more worthy than anyone can say, Hanwara," Florida whispered. The girl smiled tearfully before gathering her crutches to stand. "Then I would be glad to help you in any way I can, Mistress," she said. "Brace yourself," Florida warned. The girl drew her crutches in tightly and shut her eyes as Florida aimed the weapon at her and pressed a switch.

The cannon shot its sine-curve wave of energy at Hanwara, who stiffened in surprise, but didn't move. Perhaps fear kept her in place, or maybe it was simply the beam. Hanwara's frame was being enveloped by a strange green glow: Florida scanned her volunteer's body and grinned when she realised that the reworked arm was having the effect she wanted. Nefla was next to spot it. She pointed at Hanwara and gasped: "She's growing!"

And so she was. Hanwara's withered, wasted muscles were filling out into the natural splendour that she was meant to have, the size and power that all those around her had. She shut her eyes in ecstasy. Her spine straightened out, forcing the young woman to stand tall. Her legs were expanding rapidly, filling with the sort of powerful, lean muscle that the best natural bodybuilders have. Her abs bubbled to the surface as her hips flared out, allowing her glutes to swell up gloriously.

Hanwara's arms were becoming a sight to behold, bulging with inch upon inch of brawny strength. Her meagre breasts began to blossom into beautiful, smooth globes the size of soccer balls, pushed outward by the growth of her meaty pecs. Her shoulders broadened, traps and delts expanding powerfully. Her neck thickened in perfect time, just as her back muscles rippled into proud relief. It was as if someone had fitted a bicycle pump to her body and was not afraid to use it.

With a beatific smile on her face, the growing girl let go of her crutches, not even watching as they clattered on the temple stone, shattering the awed silence. Hanwara's newly large legs easily supported her weight. Florida smiled delightedly. "Hanwara, my child, I am going to halt the energy flow," she whispered. The woman nodded, almost disappointedly. The gigantic genius flipped a switch on top of the cannon and, as promised, the beam dissipated.

The delighted Hanwara dropped to her knees. "O Great Queen, I thank you with all of my heart!" she cried, arms raised. Florida placed a gentle hand on Hanwara's head. "Your humility does you credit, Hanwara," she replied. "Stand amongst us as you should always have done." Hanwara got to her feet, tears falling down her face. The colossal Queen smiled deeply at her before addressing the crowd.

"Tomorrow," she said, pausing for effect, "it begins."

— THE END —

— (for the moment) —

[Max]

That was interesting. Do you really expect that making at the amazons even stronger will help men accept them?  😮 Well, that will be something to see. I hope Florida isn't planning a take over by force.

Interesting ending for part A my friend. Certainly it will be interesting if someday Florida A meet at her other versions of her.

Max

[Fonk]

And here's the last episode in the "B" storyline. It's weird – I've got to the stage where I prefer this one, but it would never have happened if it weren't for rodman's suggestion a while back. 😳 Anyway, thanks to everyone who's read and enjoyed the stories, and especially those who contributed ideas!

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Dr. Florida Crane stood on the flickering teleportation panel, still wearing the hover boots and carrying the rifle. Her face was a mixture of delight and relief. The Goddess smiled politely, the controls in her hands. "I did it!" Florida shouted excitedly. "Yes, Florida," the Goddess said simply. "The Florida of that universe was rescued shortly afterwards and has returned safely to her tribe." She paused. "Much like you should."

The joy slipped from the gentle giant's face. "I – " she started. "Yes, my child?" the Goddess said, kindly. "I was hoping that I would be able to stay here with you. Be your… foot solider, I suppose," Florida replied. The Goddess smiled sadly. "That is entirely out of the question. It would cause untold damage to your dimension to permanently remove you from your timeline. Besides which… I do not want you here."

The last line was like a stinging slap in the face. The Goddess left the chamber to head for the bridge. Florida was left standing, slack-jawed. "Why?" she managed to shout. The Goddess' voice came back as a comparative whisper. "Follow me," it ordered. The bulging behemoth removed the boots and dropped the rifle before chasing after the deity.

When Florida had caught up to the smaller woman, she began. "I am not unkind, Florida," the Goddess stated. "I will share my reasoning with you." Here she paused. Uncertain of what to do next, the magnificent musclewoman merely said, "Go on." "When we first met, I offered to take you to my ship. Here, indeed, you are. Now, is it not true that, when considering the offer, you had the following thought: 'I could probably fight my way out of any trouble she could cook up'?"

Stunned, Florida realised that she had. "Yes, I believe I did," she admitted. The Goddess halted before turning to face her colossal counterpart. "There is no 'I believe' about it," she hissed, "I know you had those thoughts. You showed me grave disrespect. Furthermore, as I will soon show you, you underestimated my power." Florida bowed her head. "I most humbly apologise to you for that slight," she said.

"Good," the Goddess replied. She resumed her journey to the bridge with Florida following two paces behind. "Mere moments ago, we were discussing rescuing the Dr. Florida Crane of this dimension. I explained, in all the detail needed, how to operate the pulse rifle and hover boots I furnished you. You were not paying me attention, and then lied about it. You were, in fact, ill. And you did not mention this. Add that to the fact that you questioned my judgment when you faced Nefla." The next line was delivered at a whisper that the stunning superwoman only just caught. "How can we work together if you do not trust me?"

The ravishing royal forced her mind to order. "I trust you implicitly, Goddess," she said. "Your actions suggest otherwise, Dr. Crane," the divinity replied. "For the past thirteen seconds, your main thought has been, 'How can she read my thoughts?'" Florida nodded; she realised it was futile to do anything else. The pair passed into the bridge, where the Goddess moved gracefully to the controls. "Prepare for dimension jump," she announced, after tapping on the control panel faster than Florida could see.

For the second time the awesome archaeologist experienced the unique sensation of swapping one dimension for another: it was over in the merest fraction of a second, but again her stomach was knocked off-kilter. "How are you feeling?" the Goddess asked politely. Florida answered quickly and accurately: "Nauseous." The Goddess smiled and nodded. "Was that so difficult? The first time I hopped dimensions I fell unconscious. I didn't, of course, have your superbody. That is the key."

Florida lifted both her inhumanly thick, meaty arms into a double biceps flex. Two impossibly huge vein-covered muscles exploded from her upper arms, just large enough to touch the ceiling. "This superbody, you mean?" The Goddess rolled her eyes. "Stop showing off, Florida," she cautioned. The delectable doctor lowered her arms like a child who had been told off for doing its favourite trick.

"I cannot read your mind per se," the Goddess said. "What I can do is read your body language so proficiently that I appear to be able to do so. You were an especially easy case, as you are, to all intents and purposes, me. For instance, I can tell that you do believe me and are astonished." It was true. "That means that no-one can lie to you," Florida said, thinking out loud. The Goddess nodded, her lush lips forming a smile. "Now you are beginning to understand," she said. "My mental capacity has endowed me with any number of incredible gifts. Now let me share with you the levels of my strength. I challenge you to an arm-wrestling contest."

Florida was stunned. She considered the Goddess – carefully, knowing that her thoughts could be detected. Her divine double was six foot tall and clad in a white sleeveless dress. She was not obviously strong. "I accept," the wondrous woman said warily. The Goddess nodded happily. "As I knew you would: your curiosity got the better of you. Follow me."

Moments later the two women were seated at a specially built table. It was made up of materials Florida had never seen before, which were arranged on the top in concentric circles, like a target. Sensing her counterpart's thoughts, the Goddess explained. "The surface of the table is set with the most precious materials from the dimensions I have visited. My one indulgence." The Goddess smiled apologetically. So that the pair could sit facing each other, her chair had had to be raised in comparison to Florida's.

The Goddess laid her right elbow on the table in the traditional arm-wrestling pose, hand outstretched. "Ready?" Florida was apprehensive but nonetheless clasped the Goddess' hand. "Yes." "Computer!" the Goddess ordered. "Count us in." A monotone voice came over the ship's intercom. "Three. Two. One. Go." The next thing she knew, Florida found her monolithic, musclebound arm lying on the table under the Goddess' palm. She gasped.

"Try to move it," the Goddess ordered. The beaten babe struggled but it was futile. The Goddess had strength far beyond the normal human understanding, she decided. "Quite true," the deity said, a curious smile on her lips. "I discovered a way to make my muscles respond to any challenge that they could be set without ever appearing to grow. It was extremely useful when I came to build the ship."

"You are infinitely powerful?" Florida gaped, now truly in awe of this genius incarnation of herself. "Yes," the Goddess admitted. "But I would be useless in a fight. A punch is not, directly, a challenge to my muscles, so I would deliver a blow with the natural strength you see. I have to set myself against something, like a weight, or your impressive arm. Something that will give." Florida nodded thoughtfully. "I am deeply sorry that I showed you disrespect, O Goddess," she said quietly. "I truly wish to stay here as your disciple, your acolyte, your servant, however you wish to use me."

The Goddess was shaking her head. "Dr. Florida Crane will never be the servant of anyone, not even me. Each of my – our – incarnations must have the chance to develop naturally, in their own environment. I cannot take the chance that, if I pluck you from your dimension, I will cease to exist because, at some stage in the future, you will become me." The path then became clear to Florida.

"So I have to prove to you that there is no chance that I will ever become you in order to stay here," she said. The Goddess shook her head. "The damage to your timeline alone will – " Florida interrupted her. "With the greatest respect, Goddess, you can repair it. You could make Nefla Queen of the Amazons, as she wanted. It would be one less dimension to keep track of." She voiced her next thought aloud, before the Goddess could interrupt. "How did you know to search for Dr. Florida Cranes throughout existence? You said you'd erased your memories of everything up until you started work on the ship." The answer astonished her.

"Wiping a memory is not as precise a process as you might think. For example, after I erased mine, I still knew how to walk, talk – several languages, as it happens – recognise objects, and so on. Your memories of yourself are stored in a different way, in a different place. Something as instinctive as my quest was stored in the same place that protected my language skills." Whilst Florida listened to the Goddess, she tried to think of a way to convince the deity that she should stay. "If I can find a difference between us," she said to herself, "a moment where she made the opposite choice to me, or perhaps something else, I can convince her that I will never be her and she will let me stay!"

"A capital idea," the Goddess agreed. The tremendous titaness was momentarily startled. "That is exactly what I would think, in your position," the Goddess continued. "Of course," Florida retorted. "You are me, after all." The Goddess smiled and nodded. "It may be so," she whispered.

"Your identity is instinctive," Florida said, again giving voice to her thoughts as they came. "Who were your parents?" "Jemima Trent and Jonathan Crane," the Goddess replied. "As were mine," the pensive powerhouse nodded. "Of course." She paused, wondering even if the crucial, single event was still part of the Goddess' oddly fractured memory. "What is your full name?" "Dr. Florida Stephanie Crane," the divinity stated. "Me too," Florida sighed. "Where did you go to school?" The Goddess shook her head. "That information is long gone," she admitted. Florida racked her brains. Then it hit her like a runaway train.

"I've got it!" she exclaimed. "You said initially that I thought of the fourth planet from the Earth's Sun as being called Mars. What do you call it?" The Goddess had read the thought before Florida expressed it, so she was already nodding in agreement. "In my dimension, it is called Titan. Congratulations, Florida, you will never become me. That means you can safely stay."

Dr. Florida Crane – the bigger one – lit up her beauteous face with a smile so dazzling men would have killed just to photograph it. "I won't let you down, O Goddess," she said. "I should hope not!" the Goddess replied. "After all, if you want a job doing, you should do it yourself." They smiled at each other.

— THE END —

— (for the moment) —

[Max]

Another great finale my friend. It was funny and unexpected. Certainly, a nice paralel line. Btw, I think Neftla got her wish as she will be the queen of the amazons since Florida B will remain with the goddess. They fought for nothing  😆

Max

[Author]

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