Shine (The Infected: Mirror Man Book 1)

by P. S. Power

  Howard stood up, and held his hands out, which she took.

  “Perfect, Kerry. Just right, as well. Lovely, without being so different no one will ever recognize you. Really, it’s stunning. Both of you are.” He glanced at the other woman, who he didn't know at all.

  Instead of growling at him, or hitting, over the flirting, she preened a bit.

  “That’s good to know. I hate to admit it, but I wasn’t looking forward to my husband leaving me in the next five years because my looks had faded that much.”

  Denis shook his head.

  “You do look hot, Charlotte. About twenty-four or so, as well. Don’t undersell Scott though. He’s a good man.”

  The woman smiled anyway.

  “We need mirrors.”

  That didn't happen, not until Tor came in, with the rest of the people, all at once. Then he made a wall reflect them all. Howard grinned, looking like himself still. Den was in the same boat, but several of the others were a bit different. Not all of them, interestingly enough.

  Still, one of them, who was about five-four or so, seemed to be a cute, but not fantastic looking, Chinese woman. There was a taller one as well, who seemed white, except for the eyes and the nose, which looked part Asian as well. They could both go out into public without anyone thinking twice about it.

  Except that men were going to be hitting on them, Howard didn’t doubt. Kerry had been made better looking than either of them, but they were all nice that way.

  Those two started to cry, when they saw themselves. There were smiles at the same time, and the smaller one ran around hugging people. Even Howard got one. The lady was strong, it turned out. His ribs nearly broke over her happiness.

  “Thank you. Thank you all!” Each mage was kind of attacked, though with a bit less force, it looked like. Even the little alien, who seemed pleased enough to get a hug from the woman. The larger exotic lady walked over to Denis.

  “My face feels strange.” Reaching up, she touched her little nose, looking in the mirror. “Beep.”

  Den did his own hugging then. He glanced at her breasts, which were a lot bigger now. The hip structure was better as well. Not outside of what you’d see on a street in real life, but a bit less like the woman was a man with a braid.

  A lot less.

  “It’s a good look.” That came from Cindy, who stood up. “Great work all the way around. Now, we should get back, since if we let them make a big production out of it, that will make it seem a lot less like a school practice session. Thanks Tor. Erath. The rest of you, as well. Now, we should get back?”

  Her words were a little bit forceful seeming, though that wasn’t directed at anyone in particular. On the way out, she touched Tor on the arm, to get his attention. The man was right next to Howard, so he heard what she was saying. It was in English and not printed in the other man’s head, so she probably didn’t care if he was getting it.

  “Baron Crobes and six assassins, making a hit on Baroness Levee. Tonight, in about four hours…”

  The man went wide eyed, then nodded at her.

  “I see… Let me…”

  What he did was make a phone call, on what seemed to be a picture phone that he held in his right hand. There was some hurried speaking, and then a space ship being put up, quickly.

  “Forgive me… We need to hurry. Thank you, Ambassador Mableton. All of you. You are all welcome to come and visit any time. Your service here today is an amazing thing…” He seemed ready to go on, even if it was kind of clear they needed to hurry.

  Howard called out then.

  “Emergency. We need to load and unload fast. Get in, now.” He ran toward the door of the thing, which opened before he got there, somehow. Then, all of them, practically threw themselves on board. They went upward incredibly fast, then dropped at nearly the same speed, directly over the base the IPB used. In a different reality. The movement felt like nothing to him. Except that each world was slightly different, somehow.

  He couldn’t explain it, but ran off as soon as they were down. Cindy held a hand out at the door.

  “Shields. We’ll need them for the next groups.”

  It took a second to realize that had to have been the second thing that had been handed to him. He took it off, but kept the clothing amulet. After all, it had been presented as a gift. Tor didn't act upset about any of it, just calling out.

  “In a week my time. Eight days, so I arrive at the same time tomorrow?” Not waiting for an answer, just looking to make certain they were all clear, the man made the craft rise into the air. He was gone at much faster than the speed of sound. With no sonic boom at all.

  Cindy clapped her hands a few times.

  “Sorry about that, everyone. Assassination attempt coming over there. A minor person in their government, but it makes us look useful to have around if we can call things like that out for them. Now… What’s the plan?”

  Several of them seemed to want to go get food, which was a great idea for Howard as well. He hadn’t eaten all day.

  Still, he had new information, possibly, and needed to share that with certain people. How he was supposed to get that done, he didn't know. He also needed to make sure his cat got fed. Tabby was a smart girl, but in a strange place. Possibly locked inside, as well. That would limit her hunting options.

  Cindy, still in her nice white dress, moved over to him. They didn't match at all, but looked like they belonged together, compared to the others there.

  “We should get some food, then get with Sara, so you can get back to Brie’s house. That… you got what I was trying to tell you earlier.” It wasn’t a question at all.

  He had. Then he hadn’t thought about it, since a new job had come up. Now that data came back to him. It wasn’t great news.

  “About Noah? They killed him? I didn’t get… Our guys did that?”

  “No. They wouldn’t. Not unless they couldn’t handle him. Which wasn’t a problem. It was an implant. I wouldn’t have gotten it either. Not most of the time. They used a machine to do the work. It just randomly sets up their victims like that, without the humans knowing about it. Just to protect them from telepaths. I’ve seen this kind of thing before. It’s really effective, in a lot of ways. Anyway, yeah, they messed up, killing Noah. You were told something about that? By Tor?”

  “I was. Honestly… If we can trust it, it seems that we might have a bit of help doing this? From the Infection? I don’t know if that’s real or not.”

  She let her head bob a bit then.

  “It is. At least they believe it over there and are doing what they claim they are when they talk to it. My guess is that the answer is yes. Which is nicely creepy, don’t you think? A being invading our bodies like that? I have nothing else on that yet. Anyway, let’s eat. You need to get back to your cat. Then… Well, Trivia has the information that you got. You should be able to do a better job from now on in that kind of job as well. That… What Sara told you about your powers? About how you aren’t half cat? It’s right. Brie was… I’d say she was being a bitch, but honestly, she’s just kind of playful that way. Having some issues with her powers, as well. You should check into that. Or not. It isn’t really my business, you know? Come on.”

  The mess hall wasn’t hard to find and the food was better than decent. Hunger always made things taste and smell better, but it really seemed to be good there, compared to Shady Lane. Then, he could taste again, which had to help a lot. As soon as the meal was done, a thing eaten in a large room with a lot of other people, most of whom were in uniform, Sara got him back to Kate’s.

  She smiled at him, her young face seeming to mean it.

  “I can come and get you most of the time. I don’t sleep now, since I have to keep my phone with me. It let’s me talk to the Queen of the Moon.”

  He nodded.

  “That just sounds insane, you know that, right?”

  The girl giggled then, seeming more like she was thirteen than eight.

  “I know. It’s rea
l though. I…” She looked around the front room of the small mansion that Kate kept for herself. Which was bigger than anything Howard had ever bothered with, even when he’d had the funding for it. “I can help you. With those bad people? No one thinks I can, because I’m young, but… I can take you places and things like that? I can help. They… They’re hurting little kids.” She looked down then. Seeming sad.

  “All right. I’ll have to get that cleared first. Practice up on your reading. We’ll want you able to copy Cindy’s powers in the next few months, so get on that. I’ll get in touch with the people at the base if I need pick up or being shifted around for the mission. Figure on that being almost daily, for a bit.”

  He was trying to seem like he was including her for real. Which, even if she was too young to be involved in a war, was the smart move. They were supposed to not speak about her power level, to hide it. She knew it was a thing though and holding her back too much was just asking for her to go rogue on them. Only a fool would do that.

  On the other hand, giving people responsibility often set them on the right course.

  She perked up a bit then.

  “Really? I can help?”

  “Yes. It’s serious though, so be ready for real work. You aren’t wrong though. Those people are… Pretty close to as evil as anyone I’ve ever heard of and trust me, I’ve encountered some doozies in my time.”

  The young girl vanished then, leaving Howard alone. Except for Tabby, who ran over to him, about a minute later.

  “Meow.”

  The others were there, in the basement. He nodded, to let her know he understood.

  “Thanks. Have you eaten anything?”

  The answer to that was that she had. It was just tuna, in oil, which she liked a bit better than the salmon from the day before. Both were good though, in her book. All of that came at him in an instant. They were kind of connected that way, it seemed. It was strange, but not bad, really.

  Being very careful then, he moved into the basement, walking through the shine of the doorknob, since the area was locked up tightly, to keep people out. Most people. He actually could think of three ways in, but wanted to practice his new trick.

  When he came through, he used the outside of the workroom doorknob again. It was almost not a thing that could be done, it felt like. It was barely a blur in space. It let him knock though, which had Katie there, instantly. Meaning she’d been right behind the thing, waiting for him.

  “There you are. Without a first mode, as well. Good. We need you locked on to this. Brian and I have a plan… We’re going to release all of the data that we have so far, in a hundred different ways, in three days. That’s our time window. Three days, to steal everything we can from these people, and to find out as much as possible, before the war with them starts.”

  She didn’t even ask if he was in on it with them.

  Then, it was kind of clear that she already knew the answer.

  So did he.

  “Let’s do it. Who do we destroy first?”

  Katie, brushing her dark and slightly wavy hair aside, let him into the room. Brian was at the main work table, with a Tupperware container in front of him. It was closed, but seemed to have part of a human face inside it. A dried thing, which had probably never been old.

  The man stared at him, his eyes dark.

  “You love politicians, don’t you?”

  Howard shook his head then.

  “I can’t say I do. Not at all.”

  Brian Yi nodded then.

  “Good, because a whole lot of them are about to go down. They deserve it. More than anyone in history ever has.”

  Then, working together, they started to make a plan to do just that.

  It was a dark thing. With multiple layers. Then, if they couldn’t do it all by being the good guys, they had other options. Ones that no one wanted to carry out.

  Except that, all of them there really kind of did.

  Smiling, Howard pretended not to want the monsters dead. The others did the same. How long that was going to last, he couldn’t really tell.

  After the story…

  There will be two more books in this series. Probably coming in the next year. Less if enough people ask for it. After all, I don’t need a life. Right?

  Of course not!

  So, go and join the forum at pspowerbooks.com. Here is the link for that:

  http://pspowerbooks.com/forum/

  Also, since your still reading this, how about writing a review for the book? Others will want to know what you think, and it helps float the works to the top of the heap, which is important for any author. So, please help, because I don’t want my cats to starve. (Won’t somebody think of the kitties?)

  Thanks. I hope to see you at the forum soon!

  P.S. Power