Messing Up Magic

by Winnie Winkle

  “That recording device may have me and Zayn on it while transformed. What’s most important is retrieving the recorder, Topper. It’s more important than the aliens but I’d like to get a lid on the entire problem.”

  “Understood.”

  Laughing, Topper pointed out the window. Theo rubbed his eyes, shook his head, and rubbed his eyes again at the sight of two grey-skinned dudes in skin-tight neon yoga pants bumping booties across the scorching sand, hot-pink tank tops flapping in the dry wind.

  “What the…? Never mind. I don’t need to know.” Theo gunned the truck, getting in front of them and slamming on the brakes. “Help please, Topper.”

  The alien’s feet lost contact as they rose in the air, and sand lifted around them, forming an opaque orb that grew clear, turning to glass.

  “Air holes, Ma’am, if you please.”

  “Delighted, Lawman.”

  Topper floated the orb to the back of the pickup, and Theo secured it with tie-down straps, giving it a couple extra slams against the sides of the truck bed. “Call that stupid tax.”

  “How did you escape?” Moku asked Topper. “How did you make this container materialize? How do you suspend gravity?” Moku was excited. This is a major discovery!

  “Answer none of that,” Theo interrupted, slamming the truck’s tailgate. This is turning into a crappy day.

  8

  “This is the best day of my entire life,” Zayn told Haseya, as the three antelopes lay around her fire. “And, I’ve easily had a million of them.” His eyes covered her with love and lust. Why can’t that antelope take a nap?

  Haseya inclined her head to him, rising to check her patient’s wounds. “These are much better. You could return to your herd today if you wish. They are still tracking northwest, towards water.”

  “I am ready. I appreciate your healing and for being like me in form.” The antelope turned to Zayn. “Thank you, Protector. I will not forget you.”

  Something appreciating a Djinn? Someone loving a Djinn? My life is a complete 180 from three days ago.

  “I am glad I was there,” Zayn replied, surprised to realize he meant it.

  Haseya rose, motioning to the antelope. Zayn stood, melting into smoke. “You can follow me?” Haseya murmured.

  “Djinns have no boundaries. We are between all the lines, my love.”

  With a smokey smile, Haseya lifted the antelope and twirled, and Zayn followed.

  When they materialized, hell broke loose.

  “Run!”

  Haseya pushed the antelope away, frantically stepping into her twirl. Zayn watched in horror as her smoke sucked into the Alien’s containment chamber. In a flash, he exploded himself into fine particulates over the plain to avoid meeting the same fate. Haseya had no opportunity for escape. Her transformation, as fast as she was, left her smoke too concentrated, and the device caught her easily.

  She couldn’t see them. Haseya is the steward of the Earth, not of the planets beyond. She landed right in the middle. My love never had a chance.

  Zayn’s rage, even spread out in microparticles across miles of desert, was magnificent. The dust storm raced towards the Alien’s ship as they fled to their ramp in panic. Sand drilled into every nook and crevice, filling, ruining, and burying the craft six feet deep. Zayn’s raging vibration turned it to glass, a shining dome of detention.

  He shifted to an eagle and landed on the ship. Pacing, talons clicking, he turn possibilities over in his mind. I need to think, make a plan, save her from these bastards. They aren’t human, a few of my tricks won’t work. The eagle hopped along the dome, talons slipping on the curving glass. I can’t go in as smoke, it won’t work, too concentrated, they’ll bag me too. I can hold this ship here, but can’t protect her while stuck outside.

  It hit Zayn like a load of bricks. I need help. I need a friend. Me, the terrorizing Djinn. I need people. Human people. What. The. Hell.

  “Report!” Slodoon barked.

  “Protocol A is in place, High Scientist,” Potol replied. “We have not located your original landing party. We believe someone discovered them. Their ship is here but sealed shut. We’ve not encountered this technology before, but figured out how to unseal it.”

  “Cloak and search for my missing scientists. Anything further to report?”

  “Yes, High Scientist. We believe we have captured a Smoke and Solid specimen. This may explain the absence of the original landing party.”

  “Protocol B enacted. A second ship will arrive to extract the original party. You are to bring the collected entity to my lab immediately. Understood?” Potol smiled at the excitement in Slodoon’s voice. How I wish that I, Potol, found this breakthrough. Moku made the initial discovery; the honor was his.

  “There is a slight problem, High Scientist. Sand disabled our craft. A dust storm buried us, and filled our drives. We cannot operate or lift off.”

  An angry sputtering flowed from the cockpit’s comm system.

  “I will consult with the council and contact you in one earth hour. Be ready, Potol.”

  Potol sighed in silence. “I am standing by, High Scientist.” I can’t be anywhere else.

  “Montu!” Potol snapped. “What is our status?

  “Our craft cannot fly. The sand fouls many of our systems, including our drives and hatches. A scan indicates that a hard crust of sand that was liquified and hardened covers the entire exterior.”

  “Is that a normal phenomenon for this planet, Montu?”

  “No, Potol, it is not. This planet has electrical lightning that can change the sand to this substance, but this covering on our ship appears manufactured, not natural.”

  “There was more than one entity! They want to prevent us from taking the specimen! Continue scanning, Montu. We need to get this ship operational. Find the weakness.”

  “There is one other issue, Potol. Our life support cannot pull air from outside or generate it from within.”

  “That is our priority repair. Direct primary life support to the specimen. Our mission is clear. But, if we can save ourselves, that would be optimal.”

  Theo sat in his truck, blinking. As the Sheriff in Magic, unusual spectacles landed in front of him from time to time, but the sight of a glass-covered spaceship topped with a pissed-off Djinn was a new one. Zayn appears normal, at least, so there’s that. Theo swung out of the pickup and shielded his eyes, looking up at him.

  “Howdy, Zayn. Mind telling me what happened here?”

  The Djinn, whose current shape was the head and wings of a dragon, the body of a bear, huge bull balls, and what looked like an alligator tail, slid down the slope of the ship, landing with a howling roar that raised the back hairs on Theo’s neck. Rumbling forward on two legs, swiping the air with long, lethal claws, the Djinn threw his snout up, shooting fire into the sky.

  “Very pretty,” Theo said, outwardly unflappable, adjusting his weight to unclench his sphincter. “The big balls are a nice touch. You’d scare the crap out of any human within ten miles of you.”

  Zayn slumped, shifting into a dispirited dust devil that revolved anemically around Theo’s truck.

  OK, this is straight up not normal. Djinns are lots of things, but dejected is not one.

  “Zayn, what’s going on?”

  The dust devil slowed and stopped, shifting to human form. Theo passed the sweatpants automatically.

  “I met a woman. I met the woman. She agreed to have me.”

  Mentally snorting over the concept of this Djinn being patient enough to woo, Theo nodded, poker-faced.

  “Her name is Haseya. She’s not a Djinn, but she can shift and cross the interdimensional plane. The aliens from this new ship took her, Theo. I’m sure this is why they’re here. This ship,” Zayn jerked a thumb back over his shoulder, “is not going anywhere, but if I slip in, they’ll bag me. They can catch concentrated smoke. I must save Haseya! It’s killing me.”

  Theo shot a quick look at Zayn but detected no trickery on his face. T
his Djinn, as improbable as it seemed, was in full-on rescue mode for love. I’m looking forward to meeting her. Any woman who can knock this mighty genie down to lovesick puppy status, in three days, belongs here in Magic.

  “This dovetails with my information. The first ship’s aliens are at Topper’s place. She’s got them in a big glass cue ball, and everything they ask is about how she suspends natural law. This ability must be the signature they scanned for, and it’s why this second ship appeared. You’ve boxed this ship, Zayn, for now. My gut says, since they sent a second, they will send a third. Looks like finding something in Magic is important to them. Whatever they want from us, I don’t think it will become a ‘let’s be friends’ moment.”

  “I will kill them all. I excel at vengeance.”

  “They’ll send more, Zayn. When they do, Haseya won’t be the only one in danger. Every person in Magic is a potential target. We need a plan.”

  9

  Haseya swirled in the container. After exploring it, she found weak points she could use, but once escaped, she’d still be in the ship, with her captors and unknown options.

  “I won’t kill them,” she said aloud, weighing her choices. “Crossing to the dark side for self-preservation is a step I’m not willing to take.”

  A faulty seal was her exit point, and Haseya slipped out just enough, planning to take a quick look and withdraw back into the container, but something was wrong. Her container, placed behind a glass panel, overlooked the main area of the ship. Lights flashed and sirens rang. Both Aliens were lying on the ground, in obvious distress. Haseya flowed out of the container and felt for any tiny weakness in the glass observation panel or surrounding walls.

  “Here!” In a flash, she escaped into the cockpit, bending to examine the first alien. “He’s dying. What is happening to them?”

  Wasting no more time, she lifted both bodies, stepped into her twirl and vanished.

  Back at her fire, she examined the one alien, learning his anatomy, feeling in his mind.

  “He’s not dying, they were running out of air,” she observed as he stirred. “Oh, Zayn, my love,” she laughed softly, “what did you do?” The other alien moved too, so Haseya transformed, mimicking the Alien body, and sat by her fire in silence.

  “Potol, wake up! Are you hurt?” Montu glanced around, puzzled by the hut and silent Haseya, whose eyes remained on them.

  Potol stirred, pushing himself up and looking around. “Montu, where are we? How did we get here? Who are you?” he addressed Haseya. “What happened to us?”

  “Oxygen deprivation," Haseya answered.

  “How did we get here? What are our coordinates?”

  “I brought you. You were dying. I am a healer.”

  “Take us back to our ship!” Potol ordered.

  “Oh, I don’t think so,” Haseya’s amused dark eyes looked at the two aliens. “If I return you, you will die in an airless ship. As a healer, I cannot cause your death. You will stay while I determine the best course of action.”

  “That’s unacceptable,” sputtered Potol, rising. “Come Montu, we will find our ship ourselves.”

  Flinging open the hut’s door, he stepped out and screamed, falling. Montu lunged, pulling him from the void back into the hut.

  “There’s nothing out there!” Potol’s arrogance was fading fast.

  Haseya glanced at him, then at their spaces by the fire, silent until they sat down opposite her.

  “Being contained isn’t fun, is it? Treating others like a specimen, I believe those were your words, does not respect the gift of living. You violated the Earth with your actions. I saved you, but you are still arrogant, unwilling to learn anything beyond that to which you have not sworn allegiance.”

  Potol opened and closed his mouth.

  “What are you?” Montu asked. “We thought you were an aberration, a half-life with a useful skill.”

  Haseya, in her alien form, looked at him, her eyes seeing the lies he’d eaten, the partial truths that made his exploration, kidnappings, and killings of his ‘specimens’ feel justified, and felt her anger rise. Without comment, she shot a hand of smoke out and touched Montu on his forehead, sending all the pain of the creatures he’d encountered back into him. Montu jerked away, screaming.

  Before Potol could react, Haseya touched his forehead, watching him fall beside Montu, their shrieks filling the hut. They have no tear ducts. Interesting. They’ve bred themselves clean of emotion.

  “You cannot shed tears, but you can experience the death-wails you left behind, the horror you inflicted can now fill your blood, and you will learn. Oh, my little grey friends, how you shall learn.”

  “The location of the entity sounds promising, Slodoon. Your efficiency in retrieving it far less so.”

  “I will bring you the specimen, fulfilling the terms of our agreement,” Slodoon replied to the Morduck on his main screen, covering his deep fright with arrogance. “We are the greatest conclave for scientific discovery in the Coalition. You will have your entity.”

  Slodoon disconnected and paced, anger radiating with every step. I now have two teams of scientists missing, two ships on the surface that aren’t responding to communication, and a promising specimen. I need information!

  It was three earth hours since he’d been able to raise Potol on the comm channel and three earth days since he’d reached Moku. He wasn’t supposed to send his people to Earth in the first place. The Coalition list of forbidden planets was clear. Sighing, Slodoon eased into his console. The credits offered, to find life forms able to change from solid to vapor and back, were substantial.

  I’ll be rich beyond my wildest dreams, as long as these Morduck honor our agreement and not kill me. I regret the fate of these specimens, forced to become a new type of soldier or utilized as a weapon to seize power from the Coalition. Once they do, they’ll open the mining, well, the marauding, might as well be blunt, of unsophisticated worlds. But, with the Morduck’s promise of full, unfettered support for my scientists, we will be a beacon of discovery, advancing knowledge in the entire universe.

  “Well, mostly the quarters of war. But, I’ll be rich, famous, and remembered. It’s a good trade.” Slodoon said to the empty room. But first, he needed that specimen.

  “Krotig! My office, now.” Krotig, his direct report, was the only one aware of the entire scope of Slodoon’s secret mission.

  “High Scientist?”

  “Krotig, I need options for a specimen retrieval from that non-Coalition planet. They appear to be resisting. We have two ships stranded, two teams missing, and the specimen is the highest priority. I’ve sent details to your workstation.”

  “By when, High Scientist?”

  “As close to now as possible, Krotig.”

  10

  Once Zayn glassed over the Alien spaceship, the jig was up in Magic, and Theo’s town hall meeting had a near one-hundred percent turnout.

  “Except for Frost and Lacey, two people I could sure use,” Theo muttered.

  Topper shot him a side-eye and shook her head. “Theo, this town will not stand by. They are ready to help. Once we’ve contained this, Frost will be back and can do the Coalition stuff. It’s not like we need them on this end right now.”

  Theo looked at Topper. Her spirit and feistiness fill the room and change the air.

  Topper caught his glance and shot him an impish grin. I could put your smile back on your face, Lawman. Just watch me.

  Theo stepped forward, clearing his throat. “Folks, we have a situation. Three days ago, an alien spacecraft touched down outside town and stunned Zayn, who was investigating.” Well, sort of.

  “They injured Zayn in the life form he’d taken. A healer named Haseya rescued him. When Haseya returned Zayn to Magic, the aliens captured her and tried to capture Zayn. He glassed their ship over, to prevent the kidnapping.”

  Theo looked around. The people in Magic tolerated more than liked Zayn, and Haseya was a complete stranger. Will they want to help
?

  “Based on what I’ve seen and been able to get out of these aliens so far,” Theo gestured to the floating ball containing the aliens in yoga pants that Topper brought with her to the meeting, “I believe they are looking for shifters, with the mission to take any they find back to their laboratories.”

  Many in the crowd muttered, staring at the encapsulated aliens.

  “Folks, they sent a second ship after losing communication with the first, so we need to prepare for them to send more.” Heads nodded. “If they do, based on what our fashionable friends here say,” Theo gestured to the floating ball, “Any entity that suspends natural law is at risk.”

  Everyone exchanged looks. This was the whole purpose of Magic. It was their place to be whatever they were, unmolested. The sound of the muttering grew louder, and the aliens shrank towards the back of their ball, which obliged by rolling, landing them on their backs like a couple of tie-dyed beetles. Several of the Magic residents laughed; the crowd was with him. No longer a hassle towards a non-resident and one that was often an ass, this was a threat to all.

  “Well done,” Topper murmured.

  “I’m uncertain what we face, but we need to be ready. If they send another ship, and we delay that landing party, they will send more. They’ll reach their tipping point and send as many as necessary to get what they want. It will get messy.”

  “We can hide or move the whole town, but that will endanger Frost, Lacey, and their babies when they return. Another option is leaving town and hiding elsewhere.”

  “No!” Zayn’s deep voice cut through the crowd and he walked forward. “Magic is a place for people and creatures who ran, hid, then ran again. We know that history, Theo, as do you. Here, in Magic, is the greatest concentration of power on the entire planet. We should stand. I, for one, am done running.”