by M. D. Cooper
Sera almost laughed—she had been wearing a short jacket and nothing else. If only he knew. Then again, she considered, he had probably seen a lot in his years. Perhaps he did know.
The captain closed the connection and Sera heard Helen chuckle softly.
Sera held a hand up and turned it over slowly. Her glossy black skin was a thing of beauty, but it would be nice to change its color.
The play of light across her fingers began to lull her mind back to sleep when the realization struck her that the dinner was in three hours. Cheeky was going to kill her! She quickly connected to Sabrina’s shipnet and messaged her crew.
Sabrina said.
Thompson and Cargo were already arguing about who was going to get to stay behind and determined that a combat sim would be the decision maker. Sera was surprised that she didn’t hear Nance arguing with them about whose turn it was. Usually she hated these sorts of things.
Instead, the bio asked,
Sera was stunned. Even Cheeky stopped her food-related discussion with Sabrina.
Sera groaned inwardly and was about to tell Cheeky to deal with it, when she heard what sounded like a mental sob come from Nance. She had never heard anything but stoicism from her bio and was out of bed and in the corridor in moments. Cheeky emerged from her cabin at the same time and they met at the door to Nance’s cabin.
Cheeky gave Sera a long look, neither sure what to say.
There was no response, but after a long moment the door opened and the two women stepped inside. Neither had ever entered the bio’s cabin and they were both taken aback by what they saw.
The walls were colored a soft pink and lined with shelves that held row upon row of dolls. They ranged from replicas of holo stars to ancient china dolls. It was both cute and a little bit eerie at the same time with dozens upon dozens of eyes following their every move.
Nance was sitting on her bed in a long shift, tears streaming down her face. Sera looked at Cheeky. A bet or two would be settled over this. Nance, as it turned out, did not sleep in her hazsuit. They quickly sat down on either side of their crewmate, wrapping their arms around her.
“What’s wrong, Nance?” Cheeky asked softly.
“There’s not enough time to get ready,” Nance replied around a sniffle.
“You want to go to the dinner?” Sera asked.
“I always want to go,” Nance said. “I just can’t because of that damn suit.” She pointed to the hazsuit that was draped over a chair.
“I don’t understand,” Cheeky frowned. “You could have just taken the suit off and come to any of the dinners and parties we’ve been to over the last few years.”
Nance shook her head. “No, I couldn’t have. To be around strangers and all their germs and filth without protection? I would have had no appetite…I probably would have gotten sick and thrown up on someone.”
The fact that Nance was irrationally terrified of germs was no surprise to Sera and she mouthed see, not a fetish, to Cheeky, over Nance’s head.
“What changed?” Sera asked. “How come you aren’t worried about germs on the Intrepid?”
“It was that med-tech, Terry. She said she used to be—still is actually—terrified of germs and sickness and infection. She tried everything to stop it, but she couldn’t stop thinking about all the bacteria and microbes that live in and around us. She had the perfect solution though.”
Nance looked up as she spoke, a glimmer of hope in her eyes.
“Not something mental I hope,” Sera said. “Those quick fix mental alterations always have unpleasant side-effects.”
“No, nothing like that, I’m still terrified of germs, but she has nano and systems that monitor it all and show her exactly what is living in and on her body as well as the ability to remove anything she doesn’t want there. She recognized me as someone with similar issues and shared her nano with me and helped me upgrade my AI with the monitoring systems.” Nance gave a happy smile. “I don’t have to be afraid anymore.”
“That’s great, Nance!” Cheeky hugged her. “So, what’s the problem?”
“I don’t have anything to wear! All I have is that damn suit!”
Sera laughed and Cheeky giggled.
“Anywhere else that may be a problem, but you have Cheeky here. I’ve got everything you need,” the pilot said.
“And probably more than you want,” Sera added.
Cheeky stood and pulled Nance up after her. The two women left and Sera following them out into the corridor; Cheeky cast a grin back at Sera as she guided Nance into her cabin. Cheeky always loved a project.
Cargo passed through the corridor and into his cabin, grumbling that Thompson must have cheated to win so fast, and that he didn’t even know where his nice shoes were.
Sera had to admit that the prospect piqued her interest. She reached the airlock in less than a minute where she found a ubiquitous silver cylinder.
Sera did as instructed and felt the distinct tingle of a large volume of nanobots passing into her body.
Her arm began to feel full as the canister emptied. From the weight difference, she guessed that almost two kilograms worth of nano were flooding her. A prompt appeared from the bots, requesting access to her core brain to nano interface—apparently to upgrade it.
Despite slight misgivings, she accepted, curiosity winning out over trepidation.
Her interface programming was updated and Sera immediately felt greater clarity regarding to the state of her body. She had always thought that her implants gave her very fine-tuned control over physical state, but now she realized that it had always been a blurry image at best. She could now introspect and adjust every muscle, every gland, even her individual cells down to their DNA.
Sera felt her skin be
gin to tingle and then itch. It wasn’t like the searing pain when she first tripped Rebecca’s DNA-based trap, but she held her breath, afraid it would get there. The feeling worked its way from her toes up her body. It didn’t stop at her neck—where her glossy black skin ended—but crept up her face and over her head.
She peered at herself in the airlock’s glass window. Her entire head was now also covered in the glossy black skin. She could even feel it on the inside of her cheeks.
A second later a new interface appeared in her mental HUD. She explored its options, realizing that she now had full control over both the color, sheen and texture of her skin.
“This is incredible…” she whispered to herself. “Cheeky is going to be so jealous!”
She changed her flesh from black, to a pewter grey, to a light pink, and then realized it didn’t all have to be the same color. She experimented with dozens of combinations before changing her skin back to something near her original coloring, though still more reflective.
Sera’s thoughts bunched up as she wondered what Bob meant by ‘divined’.
His wording was curious, but Sera pushed it from her mind. She had dallied long enough and still had to find the right outfit.
THE CALM BEFORE
STELLAR DATE: 10.28.8927 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: ISS Intrepid, Orbiting Fierra
REGION: Bollam’s World System, Bollam’s World Federation
Two and a half hours later, Sera was standing in the galley preparing a cup of coffee when Flaherty and Cargo came in. Cargo wore his formal grey suit, which he often used for more important trade meetings, and Flaherty wore the high-collared, black suit she remembered him sporting several times before their exile.
“I didn’t know you still had that,” she said softly.
Flaherty shrugged. “I figured it would come in handy someday.”
As he spoke, his eyes settled on her and he joined Cargo in an appreciative stare before shaking his head and moving to the counter and busying himself with a drink.
She had changed the color of her skin to something approximating a natural tone, but from her jawline down it gleamed and sparkled. Above it was as close in texture and shine to real skin as she could manage.
The gown she wore was a deep red, ankle-length, armless sheath with a plunging neckline. An embossed white polymer vine—complete with flowers—ran up her right side, around her waist and ending under her breasts. Long, red gloves, which reached her armpits, finished the look.
Her hair was pulled up into a knot on the back of her head, from which it cascaded down her back in long curls. Several wisps framed her face, which bore light, yet well-accentuated makeup.
“Do you like the dress, guys?” she asked while moving forward to sit down at the table. Her left leg completely exposed with each step.
“Looks great,” Cargo grunted and joined Flaherty at the counter.
“Why does the boss have to be so sexy?” he asked Flaherty quietly.
“You’re lucky,” Flaherty grunted. “I’m practically her uncle.”
A minute later, Thompson walked in to grab a drink and stopped dead in his tracks.
“Holy cow, Captain. That’s quite the dress. Plan on seducing the Intrepid’s captain or something?”
Sera laughed. “That would be quite the twist, wouldn’t it?”
“Be a good laugh,” Cargo chuckled. “I wonder what Tanis would think?”
A wave of guilt and frustration washed over Sera at the thought of Tanis, but she pushed it from her mind.
Thompson sat down at the table and grinned at the other two men in their suits. “You guys ready to go be bored?”
Cargo gave Thompson a rather undignified hand gesture and Flaherty simply grunted as he sat and took a drink from his mug. Sera caught Thompson stealing a glance at her breasts as they gleamed in the light, before his attention was grabbed by cough from the entrance. They all looked up to see Cheeky enter the wardroom, followed by Nance.
Thompson rose to his feet, his eyes wide as he took in Nance. Without a word, he ran from the room.
She hadn’t taken her eyes off the two women, and neither had Cargo, nor even Flaherty, though he was hiding much of his face behind his coffee cup. Sera had been expecting Cheeky to wear something that would require a shawl to cover, but her pilot had surprised her yet again.
Cheeky wore a long, silk dress in a shade of light gold that played off her hair. Sleeveless and cut deeply, it displayed her ample cleavage. It was tight across her body and down to her knees, where it fell loosely in a shimmering cascade. She spun slowly after entering the room and the whole dress seemed to slide and dance on her skin.
Her hair was swept up in an elaborate configuration that caused small tendrils to spill down on the sides of her face, the rest seemingly suspended above her head in a gravity defying display.
Nance was equally stunning in a light blue silk dress, also sleeveless, with a tight bodice and swaths of silk draped artfully across her stomach. From there, it fell nearly straight, its satin folds reflecting the light as she moved side to side, causing the fabric to sway and caress her hips. Her hair was down—its soft, even curls flowing down her back—with light blue hair clips holding it back from her face. She wore several bracelets and a pair of high heels fastened by thin straps.
“Wow,” Cargo finally said aloud.
“Wow is right!” Sera exclaimed. “Suddenly I feel like I may be underdressed. You girls going to a dance I didn’t know about?”
“A girl doesn’t get much of a chance to dress up in this line of work,” Cheeky said as she spun again. “Besides, after what Nance picked out I couldn’t be outdone.” She beckoned for Sera to stand up. “You don’t quite match though; you’re all glossy while we’re all shimmery.”
“You’ll have to shine as best you can next to my radiance,” Sera grinned. “I rather like this look.”
Nance pointed to the slit running up to Sera’s hip. “You’ve been around Cheeky for too long. That’s not exactly formal.”
Sera laughed. “You’d be surprised how many worlds would consider this too much clothing for formal.” Even so, she ran her finger down the seam, lowering the slit to mid-thigh. “Better? Any lower and I’ll only be able to take four inch steps”
Nance nodded.
They waited several more minutes for Thompson to return wearing his deep blue naval uniform from his days in the Scipio military, and his hair was actually brushed nicely and pulled behind his ears. He was blushing furiously as he entered the wardroom, with everyone’s eyes on him.
“I…uh…” he stammered as he stopped in front of Nance. “I was wondering if you’d let me escort yo
u.”
Nance flushed as well. “Me?”
“Yeah. If I’d known you were going, I would have lost to Cargo. I’d really like to take you.”
The smile that spread across Nance’s face transformed her from the slightly nervous looking woman she had been a minute ago to a radiant beauty. “I’d love for you to escort me.”
“We should go,” Flaherty rose and extended his arm for Sera. She slipped hers into his, and a happy memory of the first time she had done that came back to her.
“Oh, what is this?” Cheeky said as Thompson and Nance filed out past her into the lift. “Since when am I the only one without a date?”
Cargo looked like he really didn’t want to be left out, and Sera shrugged. Why not, if Sabrina wasn’t safe here, where could she be?
“Cargo,” she called from the corridor. “Sabrina says she’ll be fine. Come on with us.”
He almost ran out of the wardroom and joined them in the lift. When it disgorged them onto the ship’s main deck, he took Cheeky’s arm and the group exited the airlock onto the Intrepid’s deck.
Their escort turned out to be Tanis, who stood waiting beside a groundcar in a crisp blue uniform. Her left breast was nearly covered with service ribbons and medals while no small number of foreign service medals adorned her right.
“Wow, that’s one chest full of metal!” Cheeky said with a grin as they approached. “The ship’s been a bit too quiet without you around.”
She embraced Tanis, and then it was the general’s turn to stare in wonder.
“Nance?” she asked. “I didn’t recognize you at first. You look amazing!”