by M. D. Cooper
“Including you, ma’am,” Valerie added.
“I thought I said no ‘ma’am’ing so early.”
Valerie shrugged. “It’s after 8AM, and you’ve had a coffee. Doesn’t seem that early anymore.”
Tanis laughed. “I suppose not. But at least wait ‘til after breakfast.”
* * * * *
Tanis and Sera placed their breakfast order with the suite’s NSAI, and not long after, servants wheeled in a buffet featuring the selections they’d made.
The pair ate and discussed the prelates they would meet that day, along with the senators, ministers, governors, admirals, generals, assorted dignitaries, bureaucrats, and foreign diplomats. There would be over ten thousand people at the celebration, and they would need to know each one of them in case they met over the course of the twelve-hour event.
They were only halfway through the list of top-tier VIPs when Petra returned with the costumer.
The Hand agent alerted them to her impending arrival, and Tanis cleared the holos from the air as they stood to greet this person who would likely wrap them in something terribly uncomfortable for the next half a day.
At least that’s how Tanis felt about it. Sera seemed delighted by the idea of an elaborate costume party.
The costumer was a man who was all about his business. In addition to his two natural arms, he had six robotic ones that sprouted from his back, and a mass of tentacles on his head that was either a very useful hat, or what passed for his hair.
He wore a long coat, an apron covered with pockets—every one of which was stuffed with tools—and five of his robotic arms carried large cases. The sixth pulled a cart with even more cases resting upon it.
Petra gestured to the man. “Tanis, Sera, this is Danny. He’s the empress’s personal costumer. Diana herself secured his services on your behalf.”
“Yes, yes, greetings, of course,” Danny said. “We haven’t much time; only eight hours before you must be on your way to the red carpet! What to do with you two…”
“There’s a red carpet?” Tanis asked. “I think we could probably skip that.”
“What?” Danny’s eyes widened. “No, no. That will not do. It won’t do at all. Personages of your importance must be announced on the red carpet. I will not costume you if you are not presented properly, and no one else will, either—especially on such short notice!”
“So what did you have in mind?” Sera asked.
Danny pressed a finger to his forehead as he squinted at the two women.
“And what about her?” Sera added, gesturing to Petra.
Danny glanced at Petra. “Her? The empress has already selected her costume—part of their arrangement, I’m told. But you two…I know! I could merge you together into a large butterfly. Who wants to be the head?”
Tanis barked a laugh. “Not an iceworld’s chance against a supernova.”
“Dunno,” Sera said with a grin. “You’d make a good butterfly ass.”
“We need something we can move in, fight in if needs be,” Tanis said.
“You’re expecting combat?” Danny asked, his bushy eyebrows furrowing.
“We’re always expecting combat,” Tanis replied. “With our luck, the palace will get attacked by the flying monkeys from the Disknee World while we here.”
“Hmm…warriors…do any of your limbs detach?” Danny wanted to know.
“My left arm is prosthetic,” Tanis replied.
“What about your feet?” Danny asked. “If not, could we remove them? I’m a very competent surgeon.”
Angela laughed in Tanis’s mind.
“No, my feet stay.”
“I’d like to see your ideas, but I don’t really need too much of your assistance; I can make my own costumes.” Sera demonstrated, changing color from her usual dark red to green, then blue, and back again, while heels grew from her feet, and horns from her head.
“Now that is something special!” Danny exclaimed, and several of his hands clapped together. “I shall mold you like putty!”
Sera groaned. “Not what I was going for.”
“Janice!” Danny called out, craning his head to call back into the hall. “Hurry along, Janice. We have a lot of work ahead of us.”
A moment later, a harried-looking woman who otherwise looked entirely normal—almost alarmingly so—entered the room hauling a large case behind her. She didn’t speak, but began unpacking it as one of the guards walked over and watched her actions closely.
“Now, then. You mentioned Disknee and its flying monkeys. How do you feel about being…villains!”
“Tanis laughed. I don’t know that ‘evil’ is the first impression we want to make.”
“Very well, Janice, get the fab ready. I have an idea!”
* * * * *
Danny spent some time suggesting different costumes—most of which Tanis shot down, though Sera seemed to have a growing set she wanted to explore further.
At one point, after Danny had sorted out which of them was the admiral and which was the president, he tried to convince Tanis to let him craft her into a starship so that Sera could ride her.
Sera had a laughing fit and pushed hard for Tanis to capitulate.
In the end, he settled on turning Tanis into a mechanized warrior, since he said it fit her military background. He groused that it was too cliché, but Janice added some accents that made him happy.
“It’s based on a character from an ancient game called Meteoroid,” Janice explained. “The main character was a woman named Shannon. I’ll start by crafting the infinity suit she wore under her armor; that way, if you want to pull the armor off, you’ll still be in costume.”
Tanis nodded as Janice bent over the fab unit that she had unpacked from her large case. After a few minutes, she reached in and pulled out a shimmering light blue suit with dark blue patterns on it.
Tanis had been tempted to tell Janice that the flow armor she was wearing—currently transparent and skin-textured—could approximate the infinity suit’s appearance, but she didn’t want Danny to think he could mold her like he was currently doing to Sera, so she kept her mouth shut and stepped into the suit as Janice stretched the neck opening wide.
Once the suit was on, Tanis looked it over and admitted that it was a nice design and that it accented her body well. Not that she typically worried about such things, but they were trying to impress these people.
Janice then began to fabricate her armor pieces, which were bulky but in an appealing sort of way. They were shaded bronze and gold and gleamed brightly.
“This next part is a bit tight,” Janice warned as she held up the waist piece. “Suck in.”
Tanis complied, and was glad that she could soften and move her ribs; otherwise the constriction would have been excruciating.
“I don’t think I can bend at all in this,” she said.
“Please,” Danny replied. “We are making you into art, not a dancer.”
The chest piece was bulky and formed a ridge across her breasts; a definite difference from how the infinity suit underneath highlighted them.
From there, Janice did Tanis’s arms.
“I don’t think I need you to remove your left arm, since we can just place the cannon over it,” Janice said as she held up a massive cylinder. She activated it, and it fired a beam of light that looked like an electron beam, though it splashed in a harmless shower of light against the wall.
“Awesome, right?” Janice asked. “It uses some cool air-i
onizing tech to pull off the effect.”
Tanis replied.
Janice fitted the cannon over Tanis’s left arm in such a fashion that her forearm was completely encased. The thing stretched a meter in front and half a meter behind her elbow; to say that it was ungainly was an understatement.
Once Janice had fitted Tanis’s right arm with a rather standard looking rerebrace and vambrace, she crafted two massive pauldrons that she placed on Tanis’s shoulders.
“There you have it; once we get the helmet set, you’ll be prefect. I want to make some tweaks to the design on file, so give me just a moment.”
While Janice was busy, Tanis walked over to where Danny was working on Sera. He had settled on a battle angel for Sera, something that Sera really seemed taken with.
Her skin, excepting her face, was a bright red, and a pair of wings was attached to her back. They were currently folded up, but Tanis estimated that they would be nearly four meters tip-to-tip when they were unfurled. The feathers were a mix of white and red, and slowly shifted in color, creating a mesmerizing effect.
Danny rummaged through one of the cases and produced two cup-like objects that he fit over Sera’s breasts, increasing their size noticeably.
“I don’t really need that,” Sera said. “My stock set is pretty good.”
“The size is a side effect,” Danny replied. “Now grow your fancy skin over these, if you will,” he said, and clapped his hands as Sera did so. “Oh you’re such a delight. You must tell me where you got this skin. If I could work with all my customers in this fashion, it would be wonderful.”
“I’m sorry,” Sera said. “That’s classified.”
“Very well, but I’m not through with you yet. When you see how amazing you look, you may never want to turn back into a regular person.”
“That happens a lot,” Petra added from where she watched the transformations. “People often wear Danny’s costumes for months.”
Tanis noticed that Petra looked more than a little concerned, and she wondered what was on the ambassador’s mind.
“Some of them forever, or at least until I re-costume them,” Danny added with a broad smile before turning back to Sera. “Now, my blood angel, try to lift into the air. We’ll see how the balance works with the wings.”
Sera activated the a-grav units that were in her breast cups and lifted a meter into the air. “Oh, Tanis, this is so amazing. You should try it sometime!”
Tanis laughed and shook her head. “Get it out of your system now. After this party, you have to go back to being a regular—well, regular for you—person.”
“I think I resent that remark, Tanis-bot,” Sera laughed as she sailed above them.
“It’s armor, not a bot. Besides, with the red, you look more like a demon…or a dragon,” Tanis teased.
“Oh, a demon-dragon! Now that would be fun,” Danny said. “No one has been one of those for some time. Can you turn your skin into scales?”
“Not sure,” Sera said. “I’ve never tried scales before.”
“I thought we decided against villains?” Tanis said.
“Demon-dragon was your idea,” Sera replied as she drifted back to the ground. She frowned for a moment and then her skin changed to red scales.
“Oh, yes,” Danny clapped. “Now we’re getting somewhere.”
“I’m ready,” Janice said, and Tanis turned to see the woman holding a large helmet with what could only be described as a golden mane running down the back.
She lifted it over Tanis’s head and set it carefully into place.
“There you are!” Janice said. “You’re now Shannon of Meteoroid!”
“Is the helmet not supposed to turn?” Tanis asked. Not that it mattered; with the massive pauldrons on her shoulders, she couldn’t see in those directions anyway.
“It’s not,” Janice confirmed. “You just turn your head inside. There are holodisplays you can activate that will allow you to see as though the helmet isn’t there. That’s the bit I was adding.”
“That’s really neat,” Tanis replied, trying to be complimentary.
With her costume done, Tanis turned back to Sera. Her skin was still fashioned into scales, covering her from hooved feet to head. Her face did not bear scales, though it was also red. Two thick horns curled out from her forehead, and her canine teeth had been elongated into fangs.
A dozen rings pierced each ear with chains hanging off them, some dangling down over her shoulders.
Her wings were now made of thick leather rather than feathers, and they rustled as she moved. She spun for Tanis to get the full view, and flicked her long tail behind her.
Tanis laughed at Sera and shook her head. “You missed your calling as some sort of…I don’t really know. Maybe there’s a theme-world that needs one of you.”
“You’re just jealous that I can fly,” Sera accused as she unfurled her wings.
“OK, I’ll admit that it looks good, and it suits you, but you can’t keep it on after the party.”
Sera grinned, showing more pointy fangs in her mouth. “Fine, but I’m going to keep it for later. When we finally retire, I’m going to make it permanent.”
“You’ll scare the horses,” Tanis replied with a wink.
“Now, Miss Petra,” Danny said. “It’s time for your costume.”
“Right, you said that Diana had picked it out? I’m hoping for some sort of warrior princess.” Petra said nervously.
“What? That was an option?” Tanis exclaimed.
Sera rapped on Tanis’s massive shoulder. “There’s no way I’m letting you back out of being Tanis-bot. Joe and your girls are going to love all the video I’m gathering.”
Angela suggested.
Danny had turned away from them and was rummaging through his case. “The empress said that we could pick whatever we wanted, so long as you can’t talk.”
“So long as what?” Petra asked, her voice rising an octave.
“I’m guessing you didn’t kiss and make up,” Sera said.
Petra flushed. “We didn’t end it on such a bad note that I have no hope for the future. She said that we can certainly continue on a professional level….”
“Seems that the empress is a bit vindictive,” Tanis said.
“That’s a fair assessment,” Petra said with a sigh. “So what’s it going to be, Danny? A mummy?”
“She also said it has to be debasing,” Janice said with apology written on her face. “But, Danny, don’t make it too mean, OK?”
“This sort of last minute stuff will be the death of me,” Danny said. “I can’t do just anything, it has to be unique!”
“Starting to appreciate being Tanis-bot a lot more,” Tanis murmured quietly as she turned and walked toward the windows where Valerie stood with an amused expression on her face.
“It doesn’t look so bad…but your shoulders, they’re taller than your head,” Valerie said with a poorly hidden smile.
“You just be happy you’re not going,” Tanis replied. “I’d make you be my cannon. Think you could fold up in here?” Tanis waved her oversized cannon arm at Valerie.
“I’m not going?” Valerie asked.
“No, there are no personal guards, attendants, anything allowed at the Celebration of the Seven Suns.”
Valerie flushed. “I can’t believe I didn’t check that.”
Tanis patted Valerie on the shoulder. “You can take my place, if you’d like. I bet no one would notice.”<
br />
“I almost feel like I should…except I don’t think I can pull off the shoulders.” Valerie finished the statement with a snicker, then flushed red and covered her mouth.
Their discussion was cut short by a wail of dismay as Petra saw what she’d be wearing.
THE SEVEN SUNS
STELLAR DATE: 08.12.8948 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: Imperial Palace Complex
REGION: Alexandria, Bosporus System, Scipio Empire
The Celebration of the Seven Suns was held at the top of one of the palace’s lower spires—one that only rose four kilometers off the ground. It was, however, topped with a large disc that was nearly a kilometer across. The central section was a wide, open floor, and the perimeter was ringed with smaller rooms for more intimate conversations, performances, food, and whatever else the partygoers felt like doing for twelve hours.
After walking down the red carpet, Tanis, Sera, and Petra had a lift car to themselves—mainly because the wings took up so much room.
Danny’s initial plan had been to turn Petra into some sort of ancient court jester with a round, mouthless head—but Petra had pleaded with him not to. She had even gone so far as to get down on her knees.
In the end, Janice had suggested a costume like Sera’s, but with a mouth full of fangs and a forked tongue so that Petra was unable to speak.
Danny had acquiesced but insisted that they make her a different color, and eventually—much to Petra’s dismay—they picked white with the words “Fallen Angel” emblazoned in pink across her chest.
“You must understand, Petra my dear,” Danny had said as he applied her new forked tongue, making sure that it was too long to pull back into her mouth. “Diana was very emphatic that you not enjoy your costume. I have to ensure she is pleased, or things will not go so well for me.”
When they were done, Danny and Janice had agreed that Petra still looked too proud. Janice had said something about the arms being the problem; if only Petra had no arms.
Petra had made a series of very loud and inarticulate hissing noises at that statement, but in the end, Danny had folded her arms behind her back and then reattached her wings in such a way that it was impossible to see that she had any upper limbs at all.