by Skyler Grant
Quinn trailed his fingers along Vess's side and muscle undulated beneath his touch in a way it never would have in a human. Strange, but far from unpleasant, and despite how alien their physiologies were to each other the rhythm they soon found was familiar indeed.
He was in for a surprise when they finally found their release. Quinn's was normal, a gasp as his body trembled, but Vess almost melted on top of him. Whatever structure her body had holding it together simply collapsing and she almost became a blanket, melting and molding herself against him.
"Is she ...?" Quinn asked, still gasping for air.
"You didn't make me melt. I think I'm jealous," Tamara said, getting to her feet and nudging the blob with her foot. "Move it, lazybones. I'm the next few in the queue and then we're getting back to the ship. I've got a plan to get us off this rock."
18
An exhausting few hours later Quinn finally nodded off once again. He still hadn't decided if this was Tamara or Tourmaline, but she was just as demanding as Tamara. While that had never really applied to sex, at the moment she was absolutely insatiable.
When Quinn awoke it was to the sounds of activity. Tamara and Vess were both dressed, Tamara in a flight suit, and Vess in form-fitting armor of bronze plates. Tamara was filling several packs, smaller armored cases stacked in piles on the floor.
"You've been busy," Quinn said.
"I had a lot of work to do. The archive was originally made to be portable, but that was ... a long time ago. A lot of patches since then," Tamara said.
"Is that what all this is?" Quinn asked, as he got dressed and to his feet. Vess was carefully securing blue crystals in a padded case.
"Not just. I invested a lot of resources in this lair and may not be back. There is some hardware the ship could use and Vess has crystallized mana," Tamara said.
"I've never heard of crystallized mana."
"You wouldn't have. Its manufacture was discovered after the Division. The energy yield is far higher than an equivalent amount of liquefied mana."
"Why do you have it?"
Vess said, "It is here for me. My shape-shifting and fire-breathing doesn't come easily and our magical ecosystem is ... broken."
"Which we're going to fix, by the way. We can make your people whole," Tamara said, looking over to Vess.
Vess looked like she'd just been slugged in the stomach. "You've already tried. You failed."
"I never had access to an order mage like we've got now. I'm no mage and I make you no promises, but I think she can do it. Girl is something else," Tamara said.
"Is this enough mana for Jinx to fix the ship?" Quinn asked.
"Fix the ship and do some traveling," Tamara said and paused. "My memories are spotty, Quinn. The recent incarnations ... they didn't fit very well, their backups are a mess. But I think we're in serious fucking trouble. We need to see some things with our own eyes."
"Isn't like you to want to play the hero."
"You can't hide from the storm. It is coming and it will be terrible. We need to find out just how terrible," Tamara said.
Quinn aided in the packing and he and Tamara both shouldered a pack, securing several more to Vess as she transformed. Then they were making their way through the lake, flying on the dragon's back.
Tamara guided the dragon towards the Centauri Bliss. A lot had been done to camouflage the ship since their last visit. It now looked as if a rock slide had occurred recently. Vess landed and Kara came out to greet them.
"Oh, I really hope I get to fight that thing," Kara said.
Vess gave Kara a long look. In her dragon form it would have intimidated most, but Kara seemed unfazed.
"Not a good idea," Tamara said.
"You're looking less pulpy and broken. Thought you were probably a corpse," Kara said.
"How did they take all of you anyways?" Quinn asked.
"They're slavers. I'm a serious badass, but you hit me with a dozen stunners I'm going down," Kara said in disgust.
Vess rippled, transforming back into her humanoid form. This time, armor came with her. Quinn wondered if it was something external or she had just molded her form to show them.
"Neat. Can you make spikes? You are way more interesting if you can make spikes," Kara said.
"Get everyone together in the dining room. I need to talk to them," Tamara said, heading towards the ramp. She didn't quite make it. Just before her foot set foot on it she rolled to the side as a concussion mine detonated.
"She's friendly—probably," Quinn shouted.
"Stay out of this, stud. We're not going to kill either of them," Kara said, as she lunged at Vess, throwing a punch that sent the dragon-woman staggering with a vicious crack to the jaw.
Tamara stumbled backwards, an invisible opponent clearly striking her several blows. A twist of her body and she delivered a powerful elbow blow. By chance or design it hit something critical in Mara's stealthsuit and she shimmered into view.
"Can I burn her?" Vess asked.
"They're friendlies. Stupid friendlies," Tamara said with a grunt as she threw Mara over her shoulder. Mara landed in a crouch and lashed out with her leg, Tamara leaping over the sweep.
"You didn't used to have those moves. Katakoran style?" Mara asked.
"Good eye, and a Umabai defense. Try this," Tamara said, as her motions took on a fluid rolling style that made her almost seem to be dancing with Mara as she circled her and lashed out with several punches.
"The flowing-fist technique," Mara said, her own movements assuming a similar style.
"I'm not fancy. This is the punch you in your stupid dragon-face technique," Kara said as she charged Vess and slugged her once more. Vess roared in response, muscles rippling and growing as she grabbed Kara and threw her against the side of the ship with enough force to dent the metal.
"You think brute force will work against me. I'll show you strength," Vess said, panting heavily.
"Stop this," Quinn said with a look around.
"Lover, like always I know a lot of things you don't know. Trust me, I'm doing the right thing," Mara said.
"And trust me. You know I don't mean any harm, Quinn," Tamara said.
Mara had never trusted Tamara, and knowing she'd visited the archive that distrust had obviously gone to an all-new level. Quinn had his doubts about this new Tamara, but he didn't think violence was the best way to settle this.
Mara took a series of blows that would have sent most to the ground, but she stood her place.
Tamara chuckled. "You can take a punch, I'll give you that." A step forward and she wobbled. "Oh, fuck this. You damned cheater." Tamara fell unconscious for no reason that Quinn could see.
There was a whine from the nearby jungle. Stunners. Dela and Taki each held a stun rifle. They must have liberated a few from the slavers. Vess was taking shot after shot in the back. Muscles rippled, a transformation half-forming before it faded, and she fell to the ground unconscious.
"I disappear for half a day and everybody forgets that I'm the captain of this ship," Quinn said.
"You've spent time in a facility entirely devoted to overwriting the human mind," Mara said, matter-of-fact, before offering him a wry smile. "Besides, you're not operating with all the facts."
Quinn took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "I understand the reasoning, but I still don't like it. If you had facts I needed, you should have said something."
"You were in her bed, and the dragon’s. I can smell it, boosted senses. You wouldn't have done that unless you believed she were Tamara and that means she was lying to you," Mara said.
"Lots of odd behavior. I figured they were a fusion, just like Tamara believed would happen. You saying that isn't so?"
"Parts of her mind are being actively suppressed by her implants. I suspect that is part of the reason for her implants. You didn't spend the night with Tamara, not even a little bit. This is Tourmaline all the way," Mara said, kneeling down to press two fingers to Tamara's throat.
; Quinn had considered that possibility, of course he had. But he hadn't thought it the likely one.
"She knows me, this ship, everything," Quinn said.
"If you want all the answers about how she operates, I don't have them, yet. I've been around Tamara for awhile and working on hacking her most of that time. I had some routines ready to go, but had to distract Tourmaline so she wouldn't abort them."
"Can you keep it up? Get us Tamara back?" Quinn asked.
"No, I don't think so, not permently. I may be able to do something temporary. Would you like to talk to her?" Mara asked.
"And what do we do with the dragon? I can't think she's going to stay down for long," Kara said.
"She didn't escape from the cage the slavers had her in. I'm guessing either stunners knock out her shape-shifting for a time, or she can only change forms so often," Quinn said.
Vess could have killed him, multiple times over. Tourmaline could have done the same. Not murdering you wasn't the best foundation for a working relationship, but it showed something.
"Find her somewhere comfortable to rest. I hope this is all something of a misunderstanding. I'd like to talk to Tamara," Quinn said.
Mara got a distant look to her eyes and beside her Tamara groaned, looking about blearily.
19
"I don't seem to be dead and my insides are back where they should be," Tamara said as she sat up. "I can't believe I passed out. My implants dampened the pain, but the physical shock must have been too much."
"That the last thing you remember? Being tortured?" Quinn asked.
Tamara furrowed her brow. "I've got flashes from after, but even with my perfect recall, a blurred memory is all I have. It's been at most a day though, what happened?"
"I got to punch a dragon. I'm pretty amazing," Kara said.
"We rescued you, but you were critically wounded. With assistance I got you to the archive which healed you," Quinn said.
Tamara frowned and got a distant look in her eyes. "I don't ... if I merged with the archive I should have Tourmaline's memories. I don't."
Mara shook her head. "It’s your new implants from the archive. They're specifically designed to help provide an off switch to your personality and to prevent your access of new memories."
Tamara considered this for a moment and then started to laugh, the sound almost breathless, manic.
"If she's broken, can we replace her, sir?" Taki asked.
Tamara said, "It's just too perfect. No wonder the new hosts were trying to kill us old ones, they've effectively been holding Tourmaline prisoner. One of us merging with the archive was the only way for her personality to come to the fore again."
"You really don't remember anything? She has all your memories," Quinn said.
"Nothing. I've been thoroughly outplayed by my ancestor. My implants, can you do anything?" Tamara asked Mara.
"Perhaps, with time. I've hacked the surface layer of the digital component, but there is a whole underlying biological matrix that is far more complex," Mara said.
"How long do I have?"
"Until she reasserts control? An hour. I should be able to manage similar intrusions like this going forward if needed, but it is something she can counter."
"And as she has full access to your memories she'll remember every word we discuss," Quinn said.
Tamara let out a low breath. "Don't make it sound as if she is my enemy. Our enemy. While I am far less than pleased with how she handled this, I understand her motivation. She wants to live. I also spent enough time preparing myself for the eventuality of what I'd become if I had her in me, that I have some idea of what she must be going through to have me in her."
"Empathy is really strange on you. I'd think you Tourmaline now except I know my hack is holding," Mara said.
"Did she try to hurt you? Any of you?" Tamara asked.
"Told me she loved me and screwed the hell out of me," Quinn said.
Tamara winced. "My emotions, her emotions. My drives, her drives. They have to be all jumbled up."
"She says she has a plan to fix the ship, take out the slavers. Things we have to see deeper in this side of space."
Tamara rubbed at her eyes. "Probably all true. Mara, I think you may know more about my ancestors than I do. I know her as a terrifying legal mind and schemer."
"The most recent known incarnation was, but Tourmaline has a lot more history than that. Once she was a brilliant engineer and scientist, far later a renowned adventurer. A survivor through and through, but also a loose cannon," Mara said.
"You don't go through shifts like that if you're just one person. The me in her already has to be strong and the implants are there to keep it from becoming overwhelming. That said, I refuse to simply vanish into the night," Tamara said.
"You may not have a choice."
"If Tourmaline was as brilliant as you say I'm sure she built in the option. I assume she wants to be a part of our family?"
"Seems to think she already is one. Wants a place for Vess too, the ... dragon. I uhh ... slept with her as well, and I’m fair sure I married her," Quinn said.
Tamara blinked at that. "Right. For me, no doubt. So here’s what I want. I remain the head of the family, Tourmaline isn't. I allow both. She has knowledge we all need and I doubt she'll share it yet, but I get a seat at the table. I want four hours a day and not sleep time, and she has to start unlocking some of her memories for me. Maybe we'll integrate, maybe we'll just be two different women sharing memories and this body."
"I'll tell her," Quinn said.
"You don't have to tell her. She'll remember. Let her out of her cage," Tamara said.
Mara dipped her head.
The change in Tamara's posture was subtle, but immediate now that Quinn knew what to look for. Careful refined precision being substituted for languid grace.
"Bitch. I knew you were good, but I didn't know you were that good," Tourmaline said with a grin at Mara, rising to her feet and rolling her shoulders. "Vess okay?"
"We just hit her with stunner rounds. A lot of stunner rounds," Dela said.
"Grey case in my pack has mana crystals. Might want to slip her one and stand way the hell back. Stunners really take it out of her. As for my rogue half, I know what she wants, but I'm going to argue against it. I am her now, in every way that matters," Tourmaline said.
"How did you come up with the implants anyways? Your first few incarnations must not have had them," Mara said.
Tourmaline chuckled. "Funny story that, seriously. I built the whole operation to act just like Tamara thought it did. My memories living on, but whole new bodies, whole new adventures. Worked for a long time until one of them decided she wanted to live forever."
"She designed the implants and instead of a copy of herself, she got you," Mara said.
"Freed of the restraints of biology I was the oldest, most experienced, and strongest persona of the bunch, because I'd been riding passenger on all of them. Over a thousand years dead and gone at that point, and suddenly I was reborn."
"And you kept it that way," Quinn said.
"When the creator of the implants figured out what she'd done, she tried to kill me. I won. Decided to carry on carrying on. I am Tamara and everything that made her that person is inside me, and recent and strong. You don't need two of me tearing this body apart," Tourmaline said.
"And if I insist?" Quinn asked.
Tourmaline stared at the ground for a moment. "Tamara isn't wrong. I didn't design the original implants, but I built the current ones. There are ways. I swear to you it is a mistake. The best thing you can do for her, for me, is to let us be. You insist though ... I'll make it happen. But only on the condition that me and Vess are also considered part of this family, just like we agreed."
Tamara had agreed to that, but Quinn wasn't sure how much he could trust that judgment—or if he should at all—and his own thoughts were in a muddle when it came to them.
"Dela, I'm making this your call. You're the secon
d for the family and the first is obviously compromised in all kinds of ways," Quinn said.
"Seems to me you already offered your opinion on the matter, Captain. You went and married them both," Dela said.
"I did," Quinn admitted. That the situation had been so complicated didn't erase what he'd done.
"None of us expected to find ourselves a part of the Centauri. Seems to me circumstance and need pushed us all together and we're scrambling to make it work. They pull their weight, I've no problems with it. I approve," Dela said.
Tourmaline gave Dela a wide grin. "Oh, lazybones over there might be a slacker, but she's good in a fight."
"Meh," Kara said.
"You'd have had a far harder time if she were topped up on mana," Tourmaline said. "So, we'll all friends and lovers. Get Vess her crystal, and there are a lot more in there for Jinx."
"Get my ship flying again and we'll go retrieve our shuttles," Quinn said.
"Vess can fly a pilot and Jinx to the first one," Tourmaline said.
"Sounds like you had thoughts for plans beyond that?" Quinn asked.
"This planet is broken, has been a long time. Mage tried to draw power from it and tainted the well, so to speak. I want Jinx to have a go at fixing it," Tourmaline said.
"Which mage?" Mara asked.
"Vella. She was brilliant, a shame. It broke her mind and broke this planet. If we can repair the damage I think we can get Vess's people to help us against the slavers," Tourmaline said.
"If our ship is repaired we could just go," Dela said.
"No. If the slaves survived the crash, we'll help them. They're only on this world because of us," Quinn said.
20
Crystallized mana was everything that Tourmaline said it was. Much like liquefied mana, Jinx could absorb it at a touch and three-quarters of a container proved to be enough to set her hands blazing with blue flame, something that hadn't happened since she'd killed Ilinar.
Even the most damaged components of the ships quickly warped and reformed themselves at her touch. What should have been shoddy repairs taking weeks were instead done in a matter of hours.