by Mel Todd
Perc headed towards the kitchen and started making food. The calories he'd burned demanded to be replenished, but some of what he felt had solidified.
I need to do something, something with my forms, something that makes a difference. This is just the beginning.
He walked back into his office, a plate of sandwiches in his hand and glanced at the piece of paper and laughed. With a grin he grabbed the paper and balled up, chucking it towards the trash can. It missed, and he shrugged.
"You can't scare me. There is something out there waiting for me and stopping this is just the first step. Bring it on. I'm not scared of you."
With a fierce grin he ate his food and went back to studying case law.
12
Sideways
We must guard against the twin demons of temptation and popular opinion. We've all heard as children 'if your friend jumped off the bridge, would you?' from parents. But if someone supports something that is wrong, would you? We are all tempted every day to stray from the path of righteousness, to support those who work against us, to go along with our friends and coworkers when difficult subjects come up. But I tell you now, these animals are proof of our weakness made manifest. Those who have given in to the animal inside of them, who turn from the face of God. Those who stay true and eschew the evil, boycott its presence in sports, in government, in first responders. I plead with you, stay true to your faith and shun this temptation to go with the flow and embrace those who have fallen to the beast. ~ Local TV televangelist.
"Where is your Commander?" The voice snaps at him, and he comes to attention without conscious thought, arms straight by his side, and back stiff like a steel rod had been affixed to his spine.
"Unavailable at this time," he replies not looking anywhere except straight ahead.
A figure moves into his field of view and stops looking at him. An impression of age, weariness, and unyielding determination filters past the perception of fur, strength, and alien. In the same bipedal form he just realized he also held. Perc wanted to look, to examine more, but the body stayed at attention.
A sigh of exasperation slipped out of the mouth lined with sharp teeth, and no relation to any animal Perc could think of. At least not from Earth. That idea jolted him and he squashed it down.
"Very well. Your orders are pending your commander's arrival. Your mission is imperative to the survival of your people. Be ready to go as soon as the Commander arrives." A snort of annoyance and the male stalked away. Perc glanced after him and noted no tail, then wondered if he had one in that form. Even in his animal form the tail had seemed really short, less than six inches, so he didn't know.
A sound pulled him away from the random thoughts and he turned to see at least a dozen beings, he didn't think people applied, moving through what looked like some sort of martial art training. Colors, shapes, profiles, that his brain couldn't apply to anything familiar. But as interesting as that was, what had him rooted in place was the view port looking out at an inky blackness filled with stars, and one star brighter that the others lighting up the cold blue planet that hung to one side.
Without conscious thought he took a step forward, needing to get closer to see the whole thing, and almost fell out of bed. The shock of the fall pushed back the dream, if it was a dream, and left him groping for something. Planets, non-people, and mostly a mission, a mission for the survival of his people.
My people? Who the hell are they? Football players? Is this my mind playing with me? Side effect of me shifting yesterday?
Pushing it away, he glanced at the clock and sighed. Twenty minutes until his alarm would have gone off anyhow. Might as well get up.
A shower and a cup of coffee later he sat in front of the computer going through email, getting more and more ruthless as he did. Ninety percent of it qualified as trash, not worth his time, and by this point he didn't even respond just deleted and moved on.
The ringing of his phone caught him off guard and he jerked as he brought the coffee to his mouth, spilling it down the front of him.
"Figures," He muttered looking at the wasted caffeine even as he answered the phone.
"Perc, you won't believe what just happened." Laura's voice bubbled out of the phone and he set aside the towel he had grabbed to try to mop up his mess.
"You might be surprised by what I would believe. But go for it."
She paused for a minute. "I have a feeling there is a story behind that comment but I don't have the time or energy to follow up on it. We just got notified our case will be heard in front of the Eleventh Circuit Court. Do you know a Melanie Sharter?"
Perc, who had headed back to the kitchen to refill his coffee, replied absently. "Eleventh Circuit? Damn that puts us on the short list to the Supreme Court if they have any case at all. Melanie? No—" he started to say then stopped. "Wait, is that Brian Sharter's mom?"
"Who's Brian Sharter?"
"Give me a second." He refilled then headed back to his desk, typing on the computer while Laura made impatient sounds. "Huh, so I know of her. Melanie Sharter is Brian Sharter's mom. Don't think I was ever aware of her first name before. Brian is a shifter and was at the first meeting with me. Said he'd been discussing the whole situation with his mother."
"Ah ha. That explains it then. All I can figure is she pulled some strings, called in favors, something. Because normally we'd have to work up to the federal level, but they can request hearings, not that they often do, but they can. And she did—apparently." Her voice now had something else in it and Perc frowned.
"When are they going to hear the case? Next month, next few months? I know some players are really worried." Normally court cases could be scheduled out by months, even longer if the other side kept stalling.
Laura choked out a laugh. "Tomorrow. Special evidentiary hearing, they want all evidence in front of them tomorrow at ten am."
Perc choked. "Seriously? They are pushing it that hard? What's the push back?"
"From the other side, nothing at the moment, but I'm not sure they have the bandwidth to even begin to push back right now." Laura sounded smug.
"What do you mean, they don't have the bandwidth?" He took a big swallow of coffee and pushed back the odd wish for the Commander.
"I know you probably can't see the forest for the trees," Laura said a touch of amusement in her voice, "which would be why I have assistants and paralegals. While I know mostly athletes are contacting you, fans have been drowning most of the leagues. The game this weekend is almost a complete boycott, and sales for college games have skyrocketed. The press is hounding them and no one is getting any answers. I'm thinking this just blew up in a very big way and people are not happy."
"Huh. Interesting. Most of what I am getting is NFL players absolutely livid that the Players Union is just not saying anything, which both implies a lot and raises more questions. Who has enough reach to get to both the commissioners and the players leagues? At least the NFL and MLB leagues."
"That is a good point," he heard her scribbling something down, "I'll raise the question because the leagues should have been there with the agents throwing fits."
"Oh, the agents were, but there isn't a true superstar player that shifted." He paused and thought about that. "Maybe that is why they went after us. We have good players, ones with good fan bases, but no true Superstars. The ones that get the multi-million-dollar endorsements."
"That is interesting. Yeah, I wonder if one of them had shifted if they would have tried this, or at least this angle. Either way, we have court tomorrow. I hope you have a nice suit pressed." The tease in her voice made him roll his eyes.
"Yes, I have a suit. Some of us don't live in them though. Are we ready for this?" He knew he wasn't but the dreams were still haunting him, so maybe that influenced his lack of enthusiasm.
"Mostly. While I'd never want to go to trial this soon, an evidentiary hearing I'm fine with. The people you put in contact with me have forwarded their contracts and we have more than am
ple evidence they didn't follow the guidelines in their own contracts and this applies across most sports. Olympics doesn't have contracts just qualifications, so they are still waiting to see what we do."
"So, what do you need from me?"
"Well, you can label this as court experience for your resume, but mostly I need you to prove you, and other players like you, aren't slobbering idiots or out-of-control animals that they need to protect."
"You sure about that?"
"Oh, you've never struck me as an idiot or an animal, so yeah, I'm pretty sure. Be there an hour early, I'll brief you then."
They exchanged the social niceties, and he hung up, staring out the window. Perc glanced at the balled-up letter in the trash can and grinned. "This is blowing up in your face. I can feel it, but I don't know everything. Not yet."
Glancing down at his hand he saw he'd been doodling while he talked to Laura. The word 'Commander' written over and over with question marks.
"No, I don't know anything. Not yet." He refocused on what mattered now, but part of him yearned for sleep and whatever these dreams were.
13
Snowballing
Look, I'm not saying they should all be suspended. But doesn't anyone care? Sports are violent. What if one of them gets upset and changes and bites or claws someone? We've all seen athletes lose their temper on the field. A fist or a helmet is bad enough, but claws and teeth? I'm not sure we should let them play until a lot more tests have been run and we've got proof they won't lose it and attack. ~ Caller on Harvey Klein Radio Talk Show
Perc leaned against the wall outside the courtroom and laughed. Laura didn't let her professional poise slip that much but her smirk as they watched the other side file out had a healthy dose of predatory joy.
When he could get his breath again, and honestly keeping a straight face in the courtroom had taken him biting the inside of his mouth until he bled, he turned to her.
"I'm making the rash assumption the events in there were not normal."
Laura's smirk grew wider. "Not even remotely." Her smile fell, and she frowned. "Don't get me wrong, this is great for us. But why would anyone go to court with so little evidence, so little information as to why their clients pulled this? Those guys didn't have a chance, and they knew it walking in. So why? What is there to gain from all this?" She shot him a look and sighed. "As much as I hate to say this I'm starting to lean towards your conspiracy theory ideas. There has to be a bigger plan behind all this. Some gain for someone. But what?"
Perc sighed straightening and shrugged. "No idea, but this, this doesn't make any sense."
"And cost you your career."
He shrugged. "That I'll deal with. I knew the risks. I think this is, was, important. I just don't understand it at all. And I don't like not understanding."
"Neither do I." Laura pulled her briefcase strap and headed out. Perc followed her, still rolling around pieces in his head.
"Laura, what about-" he broke off as Jermaine Orlan came trotting up the stairs.
"Hey, Perc. Glad I caught you. Heard about the hearing. How'd it go?"
Perc had to blink, Orlan had dressed in a nice suit, no tie, but still he looked more professional than Perc had ever seen him dressed.
"The judges crushed them. Basically, said if they didn't come up with some more evidence by next week, they were advising all athletes to sue for breach of contract and for damages. Which for some of us could be in the millions." Perc smiled. It didn't help him as he had allowed his contract to be terminated, but it didn't matter. "But what are you doing here?"
"Oh, well I live in the area and I was asked to broach something with you?"
Perc narrowed his eyes. "You've never used the word broach in your life. Who's been coaching you?"
Jer flashed a grin full of bright white, expensive teeth. "Oh, they gave me a script and everything, Perc. Made me memorize the whole thing. Said I needed to ask you proper like."
"Who is they? And ask me what?"
The man started to speak and sighed. "Dammit, now I don't remember exactly what they wanted me to say. It was long and a bit fancy."
Perc just waited his arms crossed and Jer sighed. "Really it was flowery and sounded important and everything. Oh well. Look, me and the other guys been talking. What you did, how you stood up and didn't let nobody push you around, even walked away from money." he said that in a hushed voice, like no one would ever do something like that. "So, since you ain't playing no more, we wanted to know if you'd run for the Players Union Prez. Everyone says they'd vote for you. You done proved you'd do the right thing, even if it cost you. So, will you?"
His arms fell from where they had crossed his chest and he just stared at Jermaine. "You're telling me the players want to elect me as president of the Players Union?"
"Yep. We think you'll be great. So, will you?"
"I'll think about it. That is all I can promise. But tell them I'll think about it."
"Cool. Well, thanks again. I've got to go meet my accountant; he wants me to do some different things. Not sure I know what he is talking about. But figured I pay him, so I should listen to him." Jer waved at them and headed back down the steps with quick steps.
"You going to take it?" Laura asked as they headed to the parking garage.
He didn't say anything until they reached her car. Slipping into the passenger side of the hybrid car which made him feel like he would break something if he shifted too much, he answered when she started it.
"I don't know. Right now, I don't know what I want. Hell, I'm not even sure I want to finish becoming a lawyer." The words slipped out before he could really think about them.
"Really? You've wanted that for years." Laura looked at him, then focused again on the driving. "What's changed?"
"I don't know." He couldn't tell her about the dreams. They wouldn't make sense and might scare her. "I guess all this is making me re-evaluate what I really want."
"Valid. Law isn't a career if you don't enjoy it." She opened her mouth, but his phone rang, and he looked at it.
"Let me answer this. It's Alicia."
Laura waved him on as she headed back to the office where he'd left his car.
"Hey, Alicia, what's up?"
"Perc, what happened in that courtroom?"
He hit speaker and lay it on his leg. "I put you on speaker. Laura Granger is here. What do you mean what happened? They showed up and weren't ready."
"Well, something happened. They've pulled all the suspensions. Everyone is back if their contracts weren't terminated and they are paying compensation to cover for the time people were suspended."
Perc looked at Laura who looked as confused as him.
"We won?" He asked, not sure. None of this made sense.
Laura made a face. "I guess so. I'll verify when we get home but if they did, yeah, we won. Damn, that's kinda anti-climactic."
He felt like his prey had just escaped and that disturbed him almost more than anything.
"Thanks for calling, Alicia. Let me know if anything else happens."
"Will do. Do you want me to try to get your contract renewed? I can tell you there are a few teams that have asked me about you."
"Send me the info, and I'll consider it." He hung up and looked at Laura. "I say again, there is something else behind all this."
"Yeah. They spent a lot of influence to pull this off and they just dropped it. Just like that. I'll listen, but I have no clues."
They didn't talk much on the return drive and his mind still seethed with discomfort as he sat in his car.
I really want to talk to someone about this and maybe about the dreams.
He hit dial on his phone and let it ring, figuring to leave message if nothing else.
"Hey, Percival. What's up?" JD's voice had humor and more life. The last time he'd talked to the man there had been underlying stress. This time he sounded better.
"Been a week. Hey, your offer of meeting up for drinks still open?"
> "Tell you what. McKenna is having a barbecue. Why don't you come on over? Get to meet her, and you can talk to people who are shifting more than we probably should."
His heart leapt at the idea of getting to meet McKenna. "You sure she won't mind."
"Positive, been trying to get her to meet you anyhow. Bring something to share, meat is good. These are good people."
They talked for another minute and he agreed to show up. The drive home had him going through all the questions he wanted to ask, nerves at meeting her, and puzzling over the weird actions of the teams, and the unexpected request to be the union's president.
His odd mood lasted through laps until he struggled to get out of the pool, exhaustion pulling at him like dead weights. Bed called for him, and he walked naked from the pool to his bed, collapsing into it.
"Finally." The growl behind his ear had him snapping into position so fast he thought his spine might fuse in place. "Your Commander is here, and you should be assigned soon. I expect you to do your best. This Commander is one of the best, and the missions you will be led on will be stories of legends."
"You know this Commander?" The words were not English, but his mouth made the sounds without effort.
The male blinked and for a second it seemed like the world rebooted, everything flickered, but so fast he couldn't track or swear it had happened.
"No, but it does not matter. All Commanders are the best. That is why they were chosen. Only the best are elevated to Commander of the Kaylid." The odd eyes, Perc realized he didn't have round pupils but vertical ones, and a shiver of wrongness ran through him. "You are dismissed. Prove to the Commander you are worthy of keeping. Eliminating any that we have spent time training is annoying to our…" he paused, and Perc got the impression he searched for the appropriate word to use, "our leaders. We don't want to annoy the Elentrin. Remember that. That is one lesson you only get to forget once." An image of dead bodies, no a memory, of those who hadn't passed the trials flashed through his mind. A memory of something he had never seen.