Hunting Mink

by Niall Teasdale

  Cygnus pushed the barrier aside, concerned. Alice and Doctor Ultimate were rushing over to her and she figured she should meet them halfway. She managed all of two steps before she collapsed onto the concrete floor and blacked out.

  11th October.

  Cygnus opened her eyes and found herself looking at unfamiliar sheets on an unfamiliar bed. She considered, briefly, being confused, but the way she was feeling, confusion seemed like a wasted mental state. On the other hand, finding out where she was seemed like a good idea. She pushed herself up onto one elbow and looked around.

  ‘Back with us then?’ June asked. She was looking tired and a little worried, though there was relief in there too.

  ‘How long was I out?’

  ‘More or less twenty-four hours, according to when Bianca said you went down.’

  ‘Oh. Where are we?’

  ‘Bianca’s place. They brought you here because it seemed like you were just sleeping, even if they couldn’t get you to wake up. And Bianca had me flown out here because–’

  ‘I figured you’d want a friendly face around when you came out of it,’ Bianca said, walking through the door in a pair of shorts and a camisole top. ‘I thought I heard voices. How are you feeling?’

  Cygnus grinned. ‘Now that the slight confusion is resolved… absolutely fantastic!’

  ‘That’s… somehow not what I expected.’

  ‘I… It’s difficult to explain. I… I understand now.’

  ‘Understand what?’ June asked.

  ‘Me.’ Cygnus looked between them and then laughed. ‘No, I haven’t gone nuts. The ship did something to me, adjusted me. I think I wasn’t quite integrated properly. Maybe because it’s never happened to a human before.’

  ‘Uh…’ Bianca frowned. ‘We were watching when you got into the cockpit. We saw you sit down, and then some sort of holographic display appeared.’

  ‘Yeah. Couldn’t understand it. And I think it was talking to me, in my head. Couldn’t understand that either.’

  ‘Then you stiffened and we heard you scream. You rolled off the chair and came out through the hull breach a few seconds later. And… Well, I’m not quite sure what happened after that. It was… Just the sight of you was… I just lost it. My knees went. I can’t remember much for about twenty seconds. When I came out of it, Elaine was holding me up and Hugh and Alice were seeing to you. Carver isn’t pleased. He went down; so did a lot of his people. Some of them were behaving very strangely. Some of them are still a bit weird.’

  ‘It’s the Guardian aura. I’m a Guardian. It all makes sense now.’

  ‘Maybe to you,’ June said. ‘Maybe I need a lot more coffee before it makes sense to me.’

  ‘Breakfast then?’ Bianca suggested.

  Cygnus grinned. ‘I could eat.’

  ~~~

  At least Cygnus had something to wear besides her costume: June had brought a case of clothes with her since Bianca figured that Cygnus was going to be around for a while, consulting. Not really sure what the weather was going to do, Cygnus had picked out a UoU T-shirt she had bought at the gift shop in the Antarctic and a pair of denim shorts.

  ‘You know this shirt doesn’t really fit, right?’ Cygnus said as she joined June in the lounge. Bianca was organising things in the small kitchen at the back.

  June just grinned at her shrink-wrapped girlfriend. ‘I think it fits perfectly.’

  ‘You would.’

  Bianca emerged from the back carrying a tray of mugs and some preserves. ‘Okay, I figured the coffee was high on the list. There’s more when you’ve gulped down this lot. And I’ve got toast coming, but you can have cereal or… cereal. I haven’t restocked the fridge recently.’

  ‘Toast is fine,’ Cygnus replied.

  ‘Yeah,’ June said. ‘Not quite up to anything major until my brain is functional.’

  ‘Were you up all night?’

  ‘Uh… Might have nodded off a couple of times in the chair.’

  ‘You should take a nap.’

  ‘Uh-huh,’ June agreed. ‘Later. When there’s been an exposition.’

  ‘Well,’ Bianca said, ‘I called Elaine. If you start before she gets here, you’ll just have to start again.’

  Cygnus grinned. ‘Right, hold the exposition for coffee and Elaine. You still seeing Damian?’

  ‘Whenever I can. We got all of last weekend. Not that we did a lot. Just…’

  ‘Spent time together,’ June supplied. ‘That’s sounding serious.’

  ‘Oh, serious is the last thing it is, thank God. We’re having fun together. Neither of us has much of a lifestyle that lends itself to serious relationship land.’ Bianca giggled. ‘We went out to the movies, sat at the back, and necked through most of the film. I mean, how corny is that?’

  ‘Corny, yes. Kind of romantic too.’ June turned to Cygnus. ‘Remind me to take you to a cinema sometime soon.’

  Cygnus rolled her eyes. ‘I will not be held responsible for the consequences. What about the Everglades thing? We’re due to go down there for another photoshoot in November. Is Ever going to be a happy elemental?’

  ‘I think she’s going to rename some pools after us or something,’ Bianca replied. ‘Maybe a couple of alligators. It went perfectly. Elaine was happy with the data she got, and the swamp’s clean. It’s still a bit dead in that area, but Ever was happy that she could have it back in natural condition pretty quickly. I’ll get the toast.’

  They were still munching on toast and jam, and chatting, when the buzzer went on the phone. Bianca reached over and hit the release without asking who it was: she could see the silver form of Ultramech taking up position in front of the window, on guard.

  Elaine appeared, almost bouncing. ‘Great! You’re awake and there’s coffee and your hair’s whiter than it was. Uh, that last bit is an observation, not an “it’s great.” Not that it isn’t great… um…’

  Bianca laughed. ‘Get some coffee. It’ll calm your nerves.’

  Frowning, Cygnus pulled some of her hair around to look at, cross-eyed. ‘Oh.’ She looked at June. ‘You didn’t think to mention this?’

  June shrugged. ‘I figured you knew and we’d get an explanation. Guess not.’

  ‘Well, maybe. Probably an image thing. That reminds me. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to design me a new costume.’

  ‘What’s wrong with the old one?’

  ‘Nothing. I just think I should have something more… When I’ve explained what I know, maybe you’ll have some ideas. Plus, my hair’s changed so why not a new costume. You can go as wild as you like.’

  June raised an eyebrow. ‘Oh really? This from the girl who thought I dressed her as a stripper when I designed the first outfit?’

  ‘Uh-huh. Try not to violate any actual laws.’

  ‘Hmm, a challenge. We’ll have to wait until we get back for me to make it. There’s materials, and I don’t have my gear.’

  ‘Not a problem,’ Bianca said. ‘FTI produces just about anything you could want and I can get you set up in a workshop. We produce all sorts of prototype suits, so I think we can manage a costume for Cygnus.’

  ‘Totally,’ Elaine said, returning with a mug of coffee. ‘I can put you on to a few of the newer materials we’re manufacturing. Some of them need special tools to cut and sew, but you can pick those up pretty easily.’ She settled onto a sofa. ‘Now, spill it, Cygnus.’

  ‘Okay,’ Cygnus said, and then paused to sip coffee. ‘Uh…’

  ‘The ship? Do you know where it comes from?’

  ‘Well, I know it belonged to a Guardian. Um, a long time ago, in a galaxy… Actually, it was this one, so that doesn’t work, but thousands of years ago, some race of very clever aliens came up with a way of combining their minds with another species and… Well, I think they kind of brainwashed the result into thinking of themselves as protectors of the galaxy.’

  ‘That sounds kind of noble,’ Bianca said.

  ‘Kind of, yes. The methods were
maybe questionable, but the result worked. They ended up with super-powered police officers to enforce their laws, and fight their wars when they had them. The Guardians got more powerful as they got more experienced and the aliens added to their numbers over time since they seemed to be pretty useful.’

  ‘But they can die, right?’ June asked. ‘I mean, you’re not invulnerable.’

  ‘They can die. They won’t die of old age and they’re resistant to disease, but if you do enough damage, you can kill them. But, when they die, the essence of that Guardian is freed and it goes looking for a compatible host body to turn into another Guardian. So, when the pilot of that ship died–’

  ‘His essence found you.’

  Cygnus nodded. ‘I thought I saw a meteorite coming at me, that I was hit by a rock from space. What I actually saw was the Guardian… spirit coming at me. But something went a little wrong. It didn’t link into me properly until the computer on that ship poked it and now… I can understand the language the alien spoke and the computer speaks. I can remember things about worlds all over the galaxy. I know what a Guardian is and how they’re supposed to behave, and I understand how my powers work.’

  There were a few seconds of silence while everyone took that in. Then Elaine said, ‘So how did the pilot die? The crash?’

  ‘Ultimately. There are two cosmic energy reactors on that ship to supply the power for some really powerful warp engines. The mid-section one failed, collapsing the warp field in an uncontrolled manner and releasing a huge burst of gamma radiation. The pilot survived that, but he was sick, injured. The ship was out of control. He managed to steer it to hit somewhere remote, hoped he’d survive the crash… Didn’t.’

  ‘You seem pretty sure about all that.’

  ‘I remember it. I can access the memories of every Guardian who has ever shared my Guardian essence. All the way back.’

  ‘You can remember thousands of years of memories now?’ June asked, eyes wide.

  ‘No. It’s more like… If I want to know something one of the previous incarnations knew, I can dig through my memory and find it. I don’t just know stuff from ten thousand years ago. I need to know what I’m looking for and want to look for it.’

  Elaine’s eyes narrowed. ‘So… you can tell us what’s in the ship and maybe even how it operates?’

  ‘Uh… Well, probably. From my memory of the accident, not everything’s going to be working. There were all sorts of failures happening. And I don’t get real skills. The best I’ll get is a rough idea of what to do with something. I can operate things by rote.’

  ‘You’ll have a clue,’ Elaine replied, shrugging, ‘which is more than anyone else is going to have. Sounds like your “consultancy” gig just got a lot more legitimate.’

  ‘Starting Monday,’ June said firmly. ‘I know you say you’re feeling great and everything’s wonderful, but I think you should take a couple of days to just relax and make sure there’s nothing wrong before you go near that ship again.’

  ‘I agree,’ Bianca said. ‘That ship isn’t going anywhere and we need to make sure there are no ill effects before we move on.’

  ‘Okay,’ Elaine said. ‘I can contain my excitement. Mostly. That signal the ship was generating shut off when you got into the chair, so everything should be fine, and safe, until Monday.’

  ‘Okay,’ Cygnus said. ‘There is nothing wrong, but I can get behind a couple of days of quiet.’ She grinned. ‘Isn’t there a hot tub in this place?’

  ~~~

  Cygnus was not in the hot tub. June, Bianca, and Elaine were soaking, but Cygnus was perched on the edge of the tub, posed in the best classic pin-up position she could come up with. Ultramech was drawing her.

  ‘I didn’t know you drew, Ultramech,’ June said. The weather wasn’t the warmest, but the sky was clear, she had wine, and she was in hot, bubbling water.

  ‘I have been practising for some time, Miss Summerfield,’ Ultramech replied. ‘I would not describe my attempts as especially professional, but if I continue to practise, I am sure I will improve.’

  ‘I wouldn’t say he’s a great artist,’ Elaine said, ‘but he’s getting better. The last one he drew of me was recognisable.’

  ‘That’s encouraging,’ Cygnus said, trying not to move her lips.

  ‘I have almost completed this composition,’ Ultramech said. ‘Then we will see how I have done.’

  ‘Good. Thankfully, I don’t really feel pain. How do models do this?’

  ‘Long, arduous training,’ June replied. She sipped her wine. ‘Long, long, long–’

  ‘Yeah, it sure looks arduous.’

  ‘And I have finished,’ Ultramech announced. He turned the pad he was working on around and held it up. Cygnus got to relax while everyone else repositioned themselves to see the picture.

  ‘Hey!’ Elaine squeaked. ‘That’s not fair. That actually does look like Cygnus. In a bikini, obviously.’

  ‘It’s really good,’ June said.

  ‘And in my defence,’ Ultramech said, ‘the last drawing I did of Elaine was supposed to be a caricature.’ He turned his head slightly to the left. ‘I am detecting a small humanoid figure in the undergrowth one hundred and three yards behind the house. He is holding… a pair of binoculars.’

  Bianca sagged. ‘The telescope mustn’t have a good enough view.’

  ‘Your nephew?’ June asked.

  ‘Mark. Yeah. He got the telescope when the binoculars, and I quote, didn’t give a good enough image of Venus.’

  ‘His mother actually bought that?’

  ‘Oh yeah. She hasn’t even noticed his telescope hardly ever seems to point up. I suppose I should–’

  ‘I’ll take care of it,’ Cygnus said. She bounced up and started for the front of the house.

  Bianca frowned. ‘What’s she going to do?’

  ‘At a guess,’ June said, ‘she’s going to give him a better view.’

  ~~~

  Mark Fullerton was thirteen years old, which meant he was not a kid any more. His mother did not get it. Then again, Mark was not entirely sure that he got it either, but of this he was sure: girls were fascinating.

  Not his sister, obviously. Marie was gross. Big sisters were like that: gross. Mark had heard mention of ‘cooties’ and suspected they were something big sisters were full of.

  Aunt Bianca did not have cooties. Mark was absolutely certain that his aunt was cootie-free, but she did have something which Mark was very interested in, which was a little confusing given that Marie had them too and Marie was gross. Mark had, through a process of deduction which he thought might be on a par with his hero, Night Shift, the greatest detective in the world, concluded that his confusion might have been resolved if his mother would just let him talk to girls his age. Or any age. Aunt Bianca had suggested once that Mark’s mother coddled him; Mark had yet to figure out what ‘coddled’ meant, but he was fairly sure that Aunt Bianca was right.

  Today, Aunt Bianca had guests. Mark had seen Ultramech arrive carrying Doctor Ellis who was nice enough. However, Mark had spotted two other women at the pool house through his telescope and he had seen suggestions that they were headed for Aunt Bianca’s hot tub. Unfortunately, you could not see the actual tub from the big house, so he had decided to practise his spy skills and, sure enough, they were there, in the tub. Except that one of them had spent fifteen minutes leaning against the tub while Ultramech did something with a pad and pencil.

  The woman leaning against the tub was… amazing. Long, white hair, and long legs. Plus, those things that Mark found fascinating about Aunt Bianca… Well, this woman had much bigger ones! He was kind of disappointed when she walked off toward the pool house door, but he figured she would be back, and he could watch Aunt Bianca, and Doctor Ellis, and whoever the brunette woman was and–

  ‘See anything interesting?’

  Mark froze. The voice had come from right behind him and it was a woman’s voice. Mark lowered his binoculars and turned around, very slowly. Hi
s vision almost filled with a pair of large breasts clad in a small, white bikini bra. Certainly, his entire vision field seemed to narrow, darkening at the edges, to focus on her chest. Mark made a sound, somewhere between ‘yes’ and a croak.

  ‘My eyes are up here, young man.’

  Mark forced his eyes upward. It seemed to take all the strength he had to manage it, but he found himself looking into a pair of blue eyes. The woman the eyes belonged to was beautiful and Mark was mortally afraid he was just about to make a really major fool of himself.

  ‘It’s not polite to spy on people, Mark,’ she said.

  ‘No!’ Mark squeaked.

  ‘I’m Cygnus. I’m going to be staying here for a few days. I hope we won’t have a repeat of this. Otherwise I don’t think we’ll be friends.’

  ‘Okay!’ Mark squeaked.

  ‘Maybe you should go back to the house.’

  ‘Yes!’

  Cygnus tried very hard to keep the smirk off her face. ‘Now?’

  Mark bolted up the hill like a rabbit being chased by wolves and Cygnus let the smirk out. She lifted into the air and glided across to the deck, lowering herself into the hot tub beside June with a sigh.

  ‘I think,’ she said, ‘that we will not have a repeat of that for the rest of the week.’

  ‘You know you probably scared him out of a year’s growth,’ Bianca said.

  ‘He’ll recover.’

  ‘I wasn’t complaining.’

  ~~~

  ‘You can keep a secret, right?’ Bianca asked Cygnus.

  It was late evening, night really, Elaine and Ultramech had gone back to the city a couple of hours earlier, the blinds had been drawn, and the big TV screen was down in viewing position though it was not on yet. June was sitting on the sofa with a drawing pad, sketching costume designs and refusing to let anyone see any of them. Bianca wanted to relax and there was one thing in the way of that.