The Elderly woman stood at the base of her beloved apple tree picking the rich, red fruit with her gnarled fingers. It was a task she relished in doing even though in recent years the arthritis had made it more difficult. Even so, she looked younger than
her ninety five years and was lucky enough to have escaped many of the illnesses that often plagued her generation. She started to make her way back into the large house. Her granddaughter had spoken to her about downsizing but even though it was
a little too big she couldn't bring herself to part with it. It was where her children had taken their first steps, where they had celebrated birthdays and christmases and even though those days were far behind her the memories were still there, in
that building. As she made her way into the kitchen to put her basket of apples on the counter the words of the announcer on the news channel from the TV reached her ears.
"And in the last few hours the team led by Professor Oswald Greene have pulled up something very special from the long lost wreck of the fated ship RMS Titanic and I'm hopeful in a few minutes we will be able to speak to Professor Greene. It is
believed that the team involved in 'Operation Cobra' were looking for the famed cursed crystal that was reported to be aboard Titanic and presumed lost when it tragically sank"
The woman listened intently, her apples forgotten as she made her way to the sitting room. She sat down and turned up the volume as the announcer continued talking.
"We're now joined by Professor Greene via live satellite link from the North Atlantic Ocean. Professor Greene, thank you for joining us, can you tell us what you and the 'Operation Cobra' team have discovered? Was it what you hoped to find?"
The wide eyed man appeared on the screen and slightly out of sync and out of focus began to talk. "Well Michael, as you may have heard we have been searching for the fabled Cursed Crystal and today we believe we discovered the first class suite belonging
to Leopold White who as you know, after miraculously surviving the worlds most famous shipwreck went on to become President of the United States. Earlier today we pulled up a safe and have been working on opening it for the past few hours. I am afraid
to tell you that we have not yet found the said Cursed Crystal but we have found this" Professor Greene pointed the camera to a piece of paper soaking in water, almost perfectly preserved. The picture on the satellite link suddenly came into focus
and there it was, a drawing of a stunning woman reclining on a chaise-lounge, her dark eyes smouldering and her beautiful dark hair falling around her face, she was completely naked apart from an obscenely large gem hanging by a chain around her neck.
"As you can see" continued the very enthusiastic Professor, "The unknown woman appears to be wearing the Cursed Crystal and whilst we cannot make out the signature of the artist apart from the letter 'E' the date is very significant. This drawing
is believed to have been done on 14th April 1912, merely hours before the ship hit the iceberg, so whilst the Crystal itself is missing, we know that it was indeed on board at the time of the Titanic sinking"
The woman raised her hand to her mouth as her dark eyes looked into the younger dark eyes of the woman on the screen in front of her. Shaking, she reached out and grabbed the telephone next to her chair and dialled.
Professor Oswald Greene finished his interview with CNN news and as he hung up he looked once again at the drawing they had found in fascination. The look of the woman's face seemed to draw him in. He had never seen anyone so beautiful in his life before.
Who was she? She looked almost regal. He realised with a jolt that this drawing was done seventy seven years ago and the woman had more than likely died along with the hundreds of others that day. His assistant came bursting into the cabin. "Oz" the
excited young woman said breathlessly "You have a phone call" Oswald sighed, he just wanted a moment of peace to enjoy his discovery. "Tell them I'm busy Emily, I've just done an interview, I don't want to do another one right now" Emily smiled and
said "Oz, you're really going to want to take this one, its a lady, she says she knows who the woman in the picture is"
Oswald jumped up and all but ran to the end of the corridor into the communications cabin. He picked up the phone. "Hello? Who am I speaking to please?" There was a pause and then a clear, deep, female voice spoke. "Professor Oswald? My name is Gina Swan-Mills"
Oswald replied "Mrs Swan-Mills, thank you for calling. I understand you know the identity of the woman in our drawing" That hypnotising voice responded. "I do Professor Oswald, the girl in that drawing is me"