by Saxon Andrew
“No, I just thought this was a beautiful woman.”
Tal took her by the arm and led her to the bathroom and made her look at the mirror. Sha was stunned. “I didn’t think change.”
Tal stared at her in the mirror, “You’ve not had the benefit of the weaker solution used by the guild. They had to focus for several minutes before they could change their form. You must learn to control this, or you could look at someone and mimic them without intending to do it. That would cause us great problems.”
Sha looked at him in the mirror and then asked, “How do I get this under control?”
“You’re going to have to train your mind to only change when you think change. Go back to the book, focus on every image, and think ‘change’.” Sha nodded and went back to the sofa. Tal watched her and saw her begin changing to match every image she focused on. Soon, she was changing at a faster and faster speed. He made her go through the book for more than three-hours and then called a stop. She looked up at him and he said, “I want you to focus on every image but don’t think change, do it?” Sha nodded, and her image didn’t change as she went through the book. She finished the book and Tal instructed, “Now, go back to the first page, and think change on every other page.” Sha stared at the first page and then looked at the second. She immediately changed, “VERY GOOD! He encouraged, “Keep at it.”
Sha was ten-pages into the book when they heard a knock on the door. He stood up and went to the door. Several soldiers were there with a cart, “Sir, we’ve brought your evening dinner.
“Give us a few moments.” He went back to the sofa and saw Sha was panicked, “I CAN’T GET BACK TO MYSELF!! I’VE LOST MYSELF!!”
Tal sat down beside her, grabbed her chin, and forced her to look at him, “Calm down, Sha! You don’t need an image to do this.” Her eyes were wide open, and Tal spoke with soothing voice, “Sha, you’ve seen your image thousands of times during your life. You know inside what you look like, and you need to focus on that. When was the last time you saw yourself?”
Sha’s terror eased as she tried to answer his question. “I saw myself in the wall mirror in our cabin on the cruise ship.”
“Close your eyes and focus on that memory. Focus on your face, the shape of your body, your hands, arms, legs; get the image clearly in your mind.” Sha was silent, and Tal continued, “When you have that image fixed in your mind, think ‘change’.” A minute later, Sha appeared in her normal form. “What took you so long?” Tal asked with a smile.
Sha shrugged, “I had to make sure my feet were the right size.”
Tal laughed and went to the door, “Bring it in and thank you for your patience.” The Sargent smiled and brought the carts into the room.
After they left, Sha looked at Tal, “I think I’ve got it.”
“What?”
“I see that focusing on an image to change into requires a different kind of focus; I can feel the difference.”
Tal’s expression changed, “Show me.”
Suddenly, Sha began changing into different forms without looking at the book. She changed almost too fast to follow and Tal was stunned at what he was seeing. Then Sha’s normal form appeared, and she stopped changing.” She saw his expression and smiled, “Shocked ya, didn’t I?”
Tal stood up, stepped away from the sofa, stopped, and turned around to face her, “Sha, what you just demonstrated isn’t possible. That kind of control doesn’t exist.”
“Yes, it does, and you can do it, too.”
Tal stared at her and sat back down on the sofa, “Go on.”
“Think about an image you want to mimic but don’t think ‘change’,” Tal closed his eyes and focused on Sig’s image. “Do you have it?” Tal nodded. “Tal feel that image. It’s not a thought, it’s a picture. Thoughts change, images don’t. It’s a different part of your brain that controls images. Can you feel the difference?” Tal thought about Sig and the image disappeared. He focused on Sig’s image and it appeared. He smiled and thought, ‘Change!’” He opened his eyes and saw he was now Sig. “If you’re thinking about what you’ve focused on, you won’t change,” Sha said in a quiet voice, “Now focus on the Chancellor. Get his image in mind and do it again.” Tal closed his eyes and felt his body change. He jumped up and ran to the bathroom and looked in the mirror. Sha was behind him and said, “This talent is much more than you thought.” Tal was looking at the Chancellor.
He turned to Sha and said calmly, “We’re no longer just humans manipulating their form, we’ve become shapeshifters.” He looked into her eyes, “Have you figured out how to become invisible?” Sha instantly disappeared. Tal nodded, “If you can visualize it, you can be it.”
Sha reappeared and nodded, “I’m surprised you haven’t seen this before.”
“It was always there, but…I think your talent of seeing the truth allowed you to see if first.”
Sha giggled, “Now, aren’t you glad you brought me along?”
Tal rolled his eyes and disappeared. Sha disappeared with him and saw a hazy form of him standing in front of her, “I want you to see that we can see each other when we’re invisible.”
Sha stared at him and said, “You learn something new every day.”
“Amen to that!” Tal replied. Tal reappeared, “Let’s eat before it gets cold.” He followed Sha into the kitchen.
Chapter Seventeen
They sat at the table for most of the dinner with no conversation, while Sha was thinking about the new techniques she had just discovered and all she experienced earlier that day. Finally, Sha couldn’t stand the silence any longer, “What’s bothering you?” she asked.
“I think I’ve figured out why you want to be with me.”
“Oh!” Pray tell, what is it?”
“You want me to teach you all the skills and talents I possess.”
Sha’s expression went neutral and her ever present smile disappeared. She took a bite of asparagus and made eye contact with him as she chewed and then swallowed, “Why do you say that?”
“When you contacted me on the cruise ship, you said what your mother told you about what we did on Earth intrigued you. You wanted to meet me and have a conversation; you had some questions, you told me. I know now that you wouldn’t allow me to answer them over the communicator because you wanted to confirm in person that I was being honest.”
Sha nodded, “Go on.”
“You told me you know everything your mother knows including her assassin’s training.”
“I do.”
“You aren’t satisfied to just know everything she knows; you want to be better than she is. To do that, you need my talents and skills.”
“Mom already has those, Tal. You gave them to her.”
“But you know I didn’t give her all of them.” Sha shrugged and looked away. “So, once you’ve milked me of ‘everything I know’, you can end this charade and go your merry way.”
“You certainly have all your facts in order.”
“So, it’s true?!”
“Not even close but I can see why you believe it. You don’t have a very high opinion of yourself, do you?”
Tal’s expression turned angry, “Sha, I know who I am! Unlike all the colonists that were born beautiful, I wasn’t. I’ve seen people turn their heads to avoid looking at me. There is no way you’d want to be anywhere near me unless you had an ulterior motive.”
“Now I see you don’t have a high opinion of me, either,” Sha replied. She took another bite.
Tal sat back, “Show me where I’m wrong.”
Sha finished chewing and asked, “If Mom was sent to Earth alone on the mission, could she have pulled it off?”
“I doubt it.”
“If you went alone, could you have pulled it off?”
“I really don’t know.”
“Well, let’s look at it. You demonstrated on the trip here that if you don’t want to be found, you won’t be. So, you could have made it to Earth. Your invisibility talent wo
uld allow you to slip any security forces tracking you and get you close to the Orlando Complex; you could have gotten into the base easily enough. Your making an Earth ID would have gotten you in the lab. You could have used any number of excuses to get in, I’m reasonably certain you could have come up with something. Getting out after killing the good Doctor wouldn’t have been easy, but I’m reasonably sure you could have even pulled that off. My mother was ranked Number One, but she didn’t hold a candle to you. You took her and used what she brought to the table to get it done.”
“What’s your point?” he asked impatiently.
“Tal, do you not see that anyone that could do all the things you did is incredibly interesting? Coupled with the fact that you demonstrated incredible intelligence at figuring out the alien’s existence and determining that your place was on Earth assisting them; well, I was impressed.”
“Sha…look at me! Your mother rejected me because of my appearance…”
“No, she didn’t.”
“Yes…she did!”
“She didn’t but you’ll have to straighten that out with her. You think your appearance eliminates you from anyone wanting to be around you.”
“I know it does.”
“Well, you can certainly change it at will. However, you’ve mentioned how you match up to the men in the colonies, how do you match up with the men on Earth?”
“What?”
“It’s a simple question? How do you match up with the men here?” Tal lowered his eyes and thought about all the men he encountered while on Earth. As he thought about it, Sha started talking, “You know that parents in the colonies can manipulate their children’s genes to get a beautiful baby. Have you ever noticed that the basic shape of most men’s faces in the colonies is pretty much identical? After a while, they look rather common and tiresome. They manipulate their color to make them appear different; it really doesn’t work. Do you think all the men here are ugly?”
Tal answered, “Nooo…I guess not.”
“How would they compare to the men in the colonies?” Tal stared at Sha in silence, “You know they’d come up lacking. Your parents didn’t manipulate your genetics and you were born looking normal. Most colonists are aberrations and not normal. You are very far from ugly and quite frankly, you more than hold your own around here. So, saying your appearance is a detraction is not being honest, even though you think you are. Just like my mother was messed up by my father, your self-image took a massive hit due to the appearance of the men around you in the colonies.”
• • •
Tal continued to look at Sha with a blank stare. “That’s why you felt so guilty about Natalie.” Tal’s eyes narrowed to slits, he sat straight up, and he began to open his mouth, but Sha quickly asked, “Be honest! If you thought you looked good, would it have bothered you?” Tal closed his mouth. His anger dissipated, as he leaned back in his chair. “You just think that if Natalie saw your real appearance, she would have never given you the time of day. So, you felt you deceived her and felt bad because of it. I’m willing to bet that once she got to know you, you could have looked like a troll and she’d still want to be with you. You need to really take a good look at yourself in the mirror and see yourself for who you are. You’re not a movie star, but your appearance is very pleasing.”
Tal glanced away as she continued, “Your problem is that when you’re in your normal form, you’re always frowning and scowling. No one wants to approach anyone looking like that. If you change your form to what you think is a more handsome one, then you feel guilty of deceiving anyone interested in you and refuse to get close. That’s why you wanted Mom to wait until the mission was over to decide if she would pair up with you. If you’d simply smile a little, you’d see that females would want to be around you. Try it.”
“You can’t be suggesting you’re attracted to me.”
Sha’s smile was back, “I’m not suggesting anything. You announced you had everything figured out and I feel compelled to tell you where you’re wrong. You’ve listened to all I’ve said. Give me something that disputes it.” Tal thought about it as Sha took another bite, “I’ll wait for your response. Tal couldn’t come back with anything.
“I’ll clean up,” he said quietly.
Sha shook her head, “Sorry. Generals don’t clean up for Colonels.”
Tal went to the living room and thought about all she had said. She was right about most of it. He went to his bag and removed a pouch. He put the contents on the coffee table and looked up as Sha came out of the kitchen, “Are you armed?” Sha stared at him and nodded. “What do you have?”
“The same thing Mom uses, a projectile tube hidden in her arm.”
“How many shots?”
“Four.” Sha sat down beside him on the sofa.
“Are you good with it?” Sha nodded. Tal nodded toward the table, “These are some of the weapons I carry. I call them darts and they’re fired by using small tubes. This dart will instantly immobilize anyone it hits and will disintegrate their body within thirty-minutes.”
“Mom told me about that dart. You used it to take out the assassins sent to kill you.”
“I did. The dart next to it will cause a heart attack twelve-hours after it hits a person.”
“It’s an assassination tool,” she observed
Tal nodded, “It won’t be felt when it hits and will allow the shooter to escape.” He lifted another tube, “This tube is my main-defense.”
“What is it?”
“It contains a hundred and fifty tiny darts. If you blow into the tube, the darts will come out simultaneously in a fan shaped cloud. It will drop anyone they hit.”
“Will it kill them?”
“No, however, I do have a dart that will.”
Sha looked at him, “Where do you carry them.”
“I have a tube in the joints of every finger next to my palms.”
“They look too long to fit, Tal.”
“They’re compressed when in my hand and when I pull them out, they extend. The first-two-darts are inside the tube and are sealed against accidental release. When you blow on the tube, it extends and releases the dart. They will have to be reloaded to be used more than once.”
Where do you carry the darts?”
“I don’t carry those. If I suspect I’ll need more than one, I’ll bring it with me.”
“What about the larger tube?”
“I carry ten-magazines.”
“Where?”
Tal pressed the index and ring finger of his left hand on the back of his right hand. A small box rose out of his hand and a tiny tube rose out of it. He picked up a magnifying glass and allowed Sha to examine it. She stared at the tiny cylinder and Tal took the longer tube and swept the end over the back of his right hand and the cylinder was gone. Sha looked at him, “You’re telling me there’s more than a hundred-darts in that tiny cylinder?”
“A hundred and fifty to be exact. They are minute in size but extremely effective in knocking down an entire room of adversaries.”
“How are they not seen in a scan?”
“They’re made from a material that mimics my DNA. What you’re going to do for the next several days is learn how to use these at high-speed. First you have to learn how to be accurate.” Tal handed her a tube and a box of darts. These darts are harmless but hit me with one, they hurt.” Tal went to the island separating the kitchen from the living room and set up a carving board between two-books. He placed a paper towel over the board and used a felt-tip to draw a small circle on it. He turned back to her, “You can use a chair and start close. But I want you able to hit that circle from across the room before I give you these to use.”
Sha nodded and inserted the first dart. Tal headed toward his bed room and heard it hit the carving board. He’d find out later how she was doing; having an audience never helped. “Tal.” He stopped just outside his door and turned around. “These weapons have a limited range.”
Tal nodded, “
Soldiers use long-range weapons, Sha. Assassins kill from close-range. If you want something with more distance, I’ll get you a gun from the armory.”
“Let me work on these first.” Tal nodded and went into his room.
Tal pulled out his scanner and connected to a communication frequency used between Earth and the Colonies. He tapped in to a connection on Americas and went into the guild computer. He scrolled down the communications and stopped. The Guild Master was communicating with an officer in the Military.
“Guild Master, we found your assassin’s communicator in a dumpster. We did not find a body.”
“It looks like Number One has finally been eliminated by another assassin.”
“Like I said, we haven’t found a body.”
“You probably won’t. That’s what normally happens when an assassin disappears. Let me know if anything turns up.”
“I will.”
Tal activated his communicator, “Ka, do you have a moment?”
“I do.”
“The military found your communicator in a dumpster. The Guild Master has written you off as being killed by another assassin. You’re in the clear.”
“Thanks for telling me, Tal. How is Sha doing?”
“I’m giving her invisibility and she’s working on it.”
“Thank you for that.”
Tal waited, and Ka was silent. “Take care, Ka.” He ended the contact and continued to look through the guild’s computer. He stopped at a conversation where the Guild Master asked, “Have we heard anything from our contacts on Earth?”
“No, Guild Master. One of them expects to be moved into their main defense facility shortly.”
“Keep me informed.”
Tal’s eyes narrowed, and he looked at the date of the conversation. He almost interrupted Sha, but he decided it could wait until morning. He went to his bed and fell on it. He fell asleep with the sounds of darts hitting the cutting board.
• • •
Ka looked at the computer she was given to examine and saw Earth was far behind the colonies in computer science. It wasn’t that their computers weren’t any good, they were just slow and memory storage was rudimentary compared to those used in the colonies. Dr. Christophal Meier looked over her shoulder and asked, “What do you think?”