Steve walked up the corridor behind the red-haired woman, flanked on either side by the 2 guards. They each wore a utility belt, but they only contained one thing. It was a strange looking thing that looked like a cross between a gun and a stapler. It didn’t look very threatening, but Steve didn’t want to take his chances. He knew from looking at them that he wouldn’t be able to defend himself against them anyway. They were both well over 6 feet tall and looked like they could break his neck with their bare hands. Perhaps he could outrun them, he thought, but he wasn’t about to try. Aside from the fact that he had nowhere to go now that everything and everyone he knew had been gone for centuries, the scowls on the guards’ faces every time they so much as glanced at him gave him the impression that they were just looking for an excuse to beat him to a bloody pulp. He thought it best to just avoid eye contact altogether. He turned his attention to the portraits hanging on the wall. They were different now, though. Gone were the smug faces of the entitled old men he had grown so accustomed to over the 4 years he had worked with the company. Instead, he saw only women lining the walls. Women of all ages and races, marking a stark contrast with the relative uniformity of their predecessors. No one group seemed to be more represented than the other, giving Steve the impression that maybe things like prejudice and bigotry were a thing of the past. The prospect that he was entering into a newer, more enlightened world that so many had dreamed of yet written off as an impossibility would have been encouraging for Steve if it weren’t for one thing. Where were all the men?

He didn’t have time to think about it as his eyes fell on the final portrait in the hall. It was only for a second as he didn’t dare stop lest he anger the guards any more than he seemingly had already, but that was all he needed. He’s recognize that face anywhere. Ms. Benz. Of course, she had been frozen a few years before him. She still wore a stoic expression with those eyes seeming to stare into his own. However, that enigmatic look that he had grown so accustomed to had been replaced by something else, though he didn’t know what exactly. She still looked as regal as ever – perhaps even more so –and appeared wise beyond her years, but there was something else, something more. She looked almost…triumphant. He didn’t know why that word had occurred to him for he had only caught a glance at her, but that brief moment of looking into her eyes made sure of it. She was looking right at him, her right hand in the frame reaching up to touch a locket on her necklace. He became distracted by thoughts of Ms. Benz, so he was quite surprised when they arrived in a large office and the woman turned to address the guards. ‘Thank you, girls.’ They nodded and without so much as a glance at Steve, turned and took their positions at either side of the office door. She took a seat behind a large desk facing the guards and gestured to the chair opposite. Steve approached cautiously and sat down, dragged back to reality and the uncertainty of his situation. He looked at her desk to find it neatly laid out, very minimal. She had a laptop in front of her with an empty coffee cup to the side. The only other thing present on the desk was a small light blue container with the IntelliGen logo written on the side.

‘So, let me introduce myself. My name is Kyra Myers and I’m the head of medicine at IntelliGen. Going by our records you may remember it as CryoCorp, but we have long since rebranded. Cryogenics is now only one of many aspects of our fine company and far from the most significant. Now first of all, to avoid any confusion, I need to inform you that you are no longer living in the year 2031’.

‘Yeah, I kinda already figu –‘

The woman raised a hand and looked at him sternly, silencing him. She continued. ‘The year is now 2531 and it is my duty – and if I may say, my pleasure – to inform you of how society has developed during your time in the chamber. A lot of this may be hard for you to hear and possibly even harder to comprehend, but I urge you to listen very closely to what I am about to tell you. It will help you to adjust much quicker to modern society.’ She opened her laptop and started typing something. ‘You had these in your time, didn’t you? Laptop computers?’ Steve nodded. ‘See, some things haven’t changed all that much. We don’t have flying cars, nor do we have teleportation or colonies on Mars. I think you’ll find that much of society is quite similar to the one you came from. Our greatest triumphs are in the fields of medicine, genetics and social policy. The advances in these fields are what constitute the greatest differences between your time and now.’ That piqued Steve’s interest. Medicine, genetics and social policy. He wondered how much difference they could make.

‘Now, I can tell what you’re thinking. You’re wondering, where are all the men?’

‘Well, yeah actually. I didn’t see any –‘

She cut him off. ‘Let me ask you something. A little pop quiz, if you will. In the 3 and half thousand years between when records began and the year you entered the chamber, how many of those years were without war?’

Steve hadn’t a clue. He was never a great student. He decided to take a guess. ‘Uhh, one thousand…three hundred?’

‘Wrong. Two hundred and eighty-six. In 3500 years, just over 8% of that entire time was considered peaceful.’

Steve had to admit that that was pretty shocking. He knew that the number would be high but that was just crazy.

‘Now, another question. In the last 500 years, can you guess how many have been without war?’ He shook his head no. ‘448. That’s almost twice as many years of peace in the last 500 years than in the preceding 3500. Only 52 years of war. 48 of those directly after you entered the chamber, then 4 more between the years 2372 and 2376. Since then, we have had 155 years of uninterrupted peace.’

Steve was impressed. ‘Wow, that’s –‘

The woman raised a hand again. ‘And that’s not all. Poverty, too, has become a thing of the past. Every citizen of this of this great world has enough at their disposal to live very comfortably. Virtually no crime, no jealously, no resentment. None of the factors which had previously led people to destroy each other and use one another for their own selfish gains have any place in this world. We want for nothing and as such, we live in harmony.’

That gave Steve pause. He had been a relatively cynical guy. While he dreamed of a world in which everybody got along and embraced their differences instead of using them as excuses to form opposing tribes, he had written this off as an impossibility. He had worried for the future, if he was being honest. The USA and Russia were in the middle of another face off and it only looked to be getting worse. Political upheaval had destabilised many a foreign government and it looked to him like the future seemed doomed to descend into a Hobbesian nightmare of every man for himself. He was very impressed, but still felt a little uneasy. ‘That’s…wow…I mean, that’s amazing. I never would have thought –‘

‘That it were possible? Yes, of course you didn’t. You’re from another era. One which was doomed to failure. There was no way that this dream could have been achieved without a serious re-structuring.’ She laid her arms on the desk and leaned into him with a smile. ‘Would you like to know what happened?’

Steve didn’t like that look, but he nodded anyway.

‘See, as you probably remember, international relations between the US and Russia were at an all-time low. Threats of nuclear war became an almost daily occurrence. Terrorist attacks would pop up in the news every few days, being quickly discussed before being forgotten about again as they moved on to the next one, and the next one, and the next one. Does this sound familiar?’ He nodded. ‘Well, after you entered the chamber in 2031, things only deteriorated further. Preparations were made for the seemingly inevitable war approaching. Bomb shelters, evacuation plans, rationing. People were literally fearing for their lives.’ She leaned closer and closer towards him, enjoying the tension that she was creating, before leaning back into her chair. ‘That all changed though, in November of 2052. That was when the first female was elected president of the United States, Valerie Johnson.’ Steve nodded. He was completely invested in this story. It seemed like only this morning he was back in his own time. Yet here he was, listening to what was once his future relayed to him like ancient history. ‘She changed things. Sure, there had been females on he world stage before her, but in a country as powerful as America, the world finally got see what a woman could do when she held he reigns. She broke he mould. Where once people had used threats of violence to maintain power, she used compassion to disarm tension. Where men constantly flexed their military muscles as shows of strength, she used her words. You might think that weak, but I can assure you that there was no one at that time who was as strong as she was. She wielded her power in a different manner, that was all. She had a strength that didn’t need the approval of others. She wanted what was best, not just for her country, but for the world.’

She paused, letting that sink in. Steve only wanted to hear more. How could one woman have changed so much?

‘Soon after, the US and Russia drafted an agreement to disarm nuclear weaponry the world over. Nobody had thought it possible but they had done it. She had done it. Soon after, women found their place on the global stage. As leaders. Over the next 20 years, women began to replace men as heads of government and the entire globe reaped the benefits. International relations were at an all time high. Countries helped one another for no reason other than a genuine desire for their mutual success. ‘Third-world countries’ as you may have known them, used this reciprocal assistance to gradually pull themselves out of poverty and weren’t saddled with innumerable debt so typical in years gone by. By 2071, the concept of a country’s GDP was completely redundant. Prosperity was now measured on a global scale, which meant that if one country was lagging behind, the world suffered as a result. This filtered down into industry-level, too. Women took over as CEOs, managing directors, almost all leadership positions were now female-dominated. There was just one problem.’

Steve instinctively knew what she was about to tell him but didn’t want to admit it. She opened her mouth but didn’t speak, egging him on to say it himself.

‘Men?’

‘Correct. The male ego is a funny thing. So primitive. Despite all of the advances made in society, they weren’t happy unless they were the ones in control. No matter that the world was about to destroy itself, they wanted their own way. Not a care for the greater good. They just wanted power, like selfish little children. They rose up, demanding to be allowed to steer the world back into chaos. By April 2072, the global utopian society created by womankind was under attack by those greedy little creatures who would retake control and destroy everything.’

Steve really didn’t like how she spat those words. She had such an air of confidence about her but spoke of men with such contempt that it struck deathly fear into him. ‘So…w…what happened?’

She leaned in close again, this time he could almost feel her breath on his face. ‘We fought back. It was a hard fought war, though. I mean sure, women controlled the military but it wasn’t nearly as well-funded or powerful as it had been. Even then, men still made up the majority of foot soldiers. They wouldn’t fight for us. But we rose to the occasion.’

He could feel his stomach starting to churn. ‘How?’

‘Well as I said, in the years since women had taken power, we had made significant advances. Much of the money we saved on fighting wars had instead been invested into scientific research. We were able to develop a secret weapon. One which finally put an end to all the madness.’ She reached over and moved the little blue container into the centre then rested her arms, one hand on top of the other, on her desk, her hands touching the bottom of her breasts as she leaned in again. ‘Women taking power had revealed many truths to us. Chief among which was something that many had already suspected but couldn’t conclusively prove. You see, the reason that men held so much power for so long was down to one reason and one alone. Physical strength. Brute force. That has no place in a progressive society. We should work to elevate, support each other, raise up one another to achieve our highest heights. In order to do that, however, we had to reduce those who would stand in the way.’ She lifted her right hand and placed it on the lid of the container. It was only a small, square box, maybe 4 inches in height and width. It had the type of design where the edges of the lid extended to the base, like a jewellery box. He didn’t know why, but he feared what was inside and could feel his heart beating faster and faster each second. Nothing could have prepared him for what he saw though. She grasped the lid with her fingertips, displaying her neatly manicured red fingernails. His eyes were so transfixed on the sight before him that he didn’t notice the guards approaching him, standing just behind him on either side. The woman lifted the lid and he nearly fainted. It couldn’t be what he thought it was. Surely, his mind must have been playing tricks on him. He leaned closer and examined he figure that stood before him, trembling slightly on the desk and looking up at the grinning face of the red-haired woman. It was a man. Barely 3 inches tall, naked and shivering under the gaze of a woman who could kill him in an instant. She laid her right hand out on the desk, palm up, and the little man nervously made his way on. She lifted him up and raised her left hand as well, touching both middle fingers together at the tips. He made his way across the makeshift bridge she had created for him, coming to rest in he centre of her palm. She slowly turned her hand over to face her palm downwards and he struggled to grab on to the space between her thumb and index finger as it shifted position. He pulled himself up and came to rest just below her knuckles before returning to a standing position, eyes fixed on the woman’s face. She returned her attention to Steve. She gazed intently at him, savouring his reaction. She was really enjoying this. Steve, on the other hand, was not. He was nervous before, but now he was absolutely terrified. He was paralysed with fear, but knew that he had to do something. He had to make a move, he had to get away somehow. He didn’t have the chance, though, as the woman looked just behind him and nodded her head. He felt and enormous arm wrap around his head and neck, dragging him backwards. His chair fell to the ground as he was hauled to a standing position by one of the guards. She stood on his right side, still holding his head firmly while the second grabbed both of his arms and held them behind his back.

‘No! Please! What are you going to do to me? I didn’t do anything, I swear!’

The guard holding his head pulled it to the left, exposing his neck to her. She drew that strange gun-stapler thing and brought it towards him. The red-haired woman lowered her hand to a few inches above the desk and brushed the little man off without even looking at him, leaving him to return to the spot she plucked him from before she replaced the lid on top of him. She got up and approached Steve, swaying her hips as she walked.

‘Oh, but you did. You helped things along, actually. You are part of the reason we have this wonderful new world. You see, the size reduction was only meant to be temporary, just to show the men what we could do to them. Remind them that we would always be in control, no matter what. Once they surrendered, the women’s side would graciously give them back their height and they could return to their lives, this time assured of their place in the world.’ She came right up to Steve, her face inches from his. He was wide-eyed and panting, unable to do anything to escape. ‘Then we remembered you. In that chamber with that poor girl, she raised a finger and pointed it right in his face, making a jabbing motion as she spoke. ‘Using your physical strength and aggression to intimidate her. Making her feel small. That image of you 2 stayed with us for 500 years, a constant reminder of man’s subjugation of woman. We couldn’t have that. You reminded us that we should never have to stand for that again, that the true place of mankind was a the feet of their superiors. The Male Reassignment Act passed 155 years ago, thanks in part to you. So you see, we cut out the parts of the society that would see it ruined and made them into something useful.’ She pulled back from him and walked towards her desk. ‘You might have noticed that I didn’t ask your name.’ Steve thought for a second. That’s right, she hadn’t. ‘That’s because there’s no need. The girl will become an icon. A woman who escaped the age of man and came to join us in our utopian vision. She will be famous. Revered, even. You, on the other hand, will be forgotten. Relegated to the position of plaything as a punishment for your crimes against humanity.’

Steve was almost pissing himself. ‘No! You don’t understand! It was her! She was so cruel! She was the one –‘

‘Blaming the victim now? My God, you men are typical.’ She nodded to the guard who held the strange gun to his neck.

‘No! Please! My name is –‘

With a bang, he felt something shoot into his neck.

He passed out.