“They’re very intelligent.” Tanya said. “Quite attractive too don’t you think?”
“I suppose that means it’s settled.” I said slowly, noting also that our data-base contained the digital dna record of the race- there would be no getting out of it. “I don’t find them attractive at all but I’m not planning to spend the rest of my life wrapped in a lizard’s skin- at least not one which hasn’t been cured.”
“If we’re going,” Tanya said, “this is what we’re going as.”
It appeared it was settled.
Chapter 27
“Manuel and Janice have changed their minds.” Bren told me later as I tried to drink myself to death with Alartaw Harcled. My human system was accepting it just about how I had expected. It burned all the way down and I was a couple drinks in and already feeling no pain. Bren added; “That’s poisonous to the human system.”
“I won’t be a human much longer.” I said, actually relieved they wouldn’t be coming as I’d had more time to ponder just how difficult this endeavor was going to be. I was expecting seat of the pants action the whole way through because as of yet I hadn’t figured out a thing but was just bulling forward with it as I did with most of my plans. Plans were best made up along the way, I had always thought, to be best able to deal with contingencies as they arose. Contingencies were always arising in my life and the best plan was simply to bluff your way through to the next good hand- and then you played that hand to the hilt.
“I’m not sure what you’re going to be after all these changes.” Bren said.
“I’ll still be me.” I said as Tanya entered the Officer’s Club where I fully meant to make a spectacle of myself before the night was out. It wouldn’t be the first but it would be the last- at least as a human for a while- and I meant to do it right. If I drank myself to death they could just toss me in the doc for my procedure a little early. Those were my standing orders, in any case, and I meant to see if it was possible. The wonders of modern technology could be corrupted in many delightful ways.
“I wonder if you noticed how your personality changed after your memories were restored.” Bren said as Tanya walked up just in time to hear what he said.
“Well sure.” I said. “I lived longer as an Alartaw than I did as a human.” I emphasized my point by putting down my third in one gulp. “You’re not the same Bren I used to know either. Maybe you’ll even grow up to be a big boy one of these days.” The Harcled was quickly having an effect.
“All I’m saying is that you will want to watch your own actions very closely.” Bren said. “Your alien physiology may play tricks with your thinking you’re not aware of. This is a dangerous game.”
“It’s a very dangerous game,” Tanya said as she picked up the bottle of Harcled and downed a generous portion without bothering with a glass, “but don’t worry you’ll be here safe with the rest of the girls.”
“The two of you are married in case you’ve forgotten.” Bren said when he saw it was two against one. “When are you going to start acting like it?” He added slyly and stopped the whole conversation right there. When Tanya and I both failed to provide immediate replies Bren smiled in total triumph and then simply walked away whistling a merry tune.
“Our little Bren has grown up,” Tanya said as she took another drink and made herself comfortable on the seat two places from mine, “but I think we can wait to address the marriage issue.”
“I’ll drink to that.” I said though my thoughts were conflicting. What I did know was that our ‘marriage issue’ could wait until after being reptiles because I did not want the memory of that staining the rest of my life...
“Oh God!” I said the next morning as I stood before the bed which was in reality an auto-doc. I had not killed myself drinking- though I had tried- and felt it this morning. Six cups of hot-jolt and I was still fighting the nausea but there was no point in getting in the doc for a hangover cure when I’d be getting in it for a complete overhaul momentarily. There were three beds in the small nondescript room and three people preparing to get into them. Melanie was still on-board.
“This isn't really your fight.” I told Melanie. “This is little more than a wild shot in the dark.”
“I can't believe the Kievor's own form of twisted honesty forced them to release us in the first place,” Melanie said, “but I'm not going to spend the rest of my life running. Nor is there any doubt in my mind that the human race is next. I have little love for the human race in general but without them I'd be on my own and there are a few among the species who have their good points.”
“Thanks.” I said.
“I wasn't talking about you.” Melanie said with a look as she began to undress and casually throw her clothing on the floor. “Won't need this anymore.”
“I'll be wanting this back." Tanya said as she stepped out of her designer robe then folded it neatly before putting it on the little table next to her bed. Of course she was wearing nothing underneath and in moments it was just me and two very naked very beautiful women. I was out of my clothes in a shot but this wasn't to be an event of the sexual nature- though that’s not to say I didn’t give them both a good once over- but before things could get out of hand I was on the bed and all such thoughts vanished immediately I laid my head on the pillow and the doc took me under.
Chapter 28
Oh God I thought as consciousness returned and with it instant full cognizance of why I had gone under in the first place. Docs were good like that especially after a hard night out though most times I seemed to prefer just to suffer rather than to drag myself to the doc. In other words I was thinking clearly and I knew the very moment I moved or opened my eyes the illusion that I was still a human would vanish in a puff. A pipe-dream which would go up in smoke the very moment I opened my eyes. For the moment I held them tightly closed and pretended it had all been a nightmare. Of course it was not.
“You’re awake.” Tanya said, though I wasn’t sure how I knew it was Tanya. I am sure no one outside this room would have guessed. The words were lizard tongue- hisses, grunts and clicks predominantly that I understood as clearly as I would the Galacta or Alartaw languages, but the physical sensations that assailed me told me without hesitation that this was Tanya if not quite the same Tanya as previously. I knew it as surely as I would know when my bladder was full. It just was.
“Pheromones.” I said as I snapped my eyes open. I smelled Tanya’s agreement as our eyes locked. Yellow wrong-slitted eyes locked to yellow wrong-slitted eyes. Then Melanie awoke. I smelled it.
“You’re awake.” I said.
“Very much so.” Melanie agreed. “More so than I have ever been.”
“I would agree.” Tanya said. “This is… unbelievable!”
The matter of our nakedness was really no longer a matter though I found myself intensely interested in the forms of the ladies. They were no longer femininely symmetrical in the way of humans or Alartaw yet held an instant allure for me I quelled by willpower alone. The bipedal structure was the same, two legs, arms and other applicable parts, except no breasts. Not even vestigial because although this race gave live-birth to its offspring once they were born they were on their own and the mother’s participation in the process finished.
I didn’t need to betray myself by looking down to see if they were similar there to either humans or Alartaw because the data-base had contained all of that information and more, even describing their mating and sexual activities. Suffice it to say they were basically the same down there. I didn’t want to think about what had happened to my parts- which were no longer visible and I would certainly never look down while they were watching- but suffice it to say it was basically the same but hidden from view when it wasn’t needed.
That didn’t stop the girls from looking down- in my direction of course. Then they looked at one another and snickered in lizard laughter but human or Alartaw jokes wouldn’t work anymore and whatever their thoughts their bodies gave them away. I smelled the
ir physiological interest. I tried to hide my amusement as they noticed my lack of reaction but obviously none among this group were going to be able to keep anything hidden from one another from this point out. At least as long as we were wearing these lizard skins.
“Fsyth.” I said running the name of the race across my alien tongue while I examined the fingertips of my hands. “We’re Fsyth.”
Tanya held out her right hand and extended her claws. There were no cutting edges on these claws. These claws were made to inject and hold the prey while the venom did its work. Each claw was thick at the base and then tapered to wicked points. Tanya forced her venom sacs to release- her pheromones telling me that in a way I clearly understood as an integral function of the Fsyth- understood as clearly as I understood how to regulate my breathing, or blink my eyes as a human- but not in a way I could readily describe. The pheromones gave me a mental picture of the instinctual reactions and thoughts of any being I was close enough to able to smell. Considering the bathing habits of many beings I didn’t think I’d have a problem with that part of it. She squeezed a drop from each finger of the hand she was holding out to slowly test her control of it. The drops dripped to the floor but the trans-metal immediately absorbed them. Then Tanya leaped at me raking a clawed hand at my face. I didn’t react to her movement. I reacted before she moved as I smelled her intent and her wickedly clawed hand passed through nothing but empty air. “That’s what I thought.” Tanya said as we surveyed one another.
“I didn’t have the time.” I said as I marveled at how quickly I had moved. “I think Bren may have had a valid point though.”
“That our new native instincts would conflict with our learned responses.” Melanie said.
“Yeah that.” I said. “I don’t want to duck and roll when I should be pulling my weapon.”
“I’m going to rely on my new instincts.” Tanya said as she smelled their very thoughts. She would be able to smell the thoughts and intentions of any living creature- just about. “I may rely on them exclusively.”
“Going native already.” I said.
“No,” Tanya replied with a toothy smile and penetrating look, the barest movement of her dark green lips revealing the rows of razor teeth beneath, “but I don’t see any reason that certain of the Fsyth’s attributes can’t be added to an Alartaw or human body.”
Chapter 29
“What in the hell is that?” I asked three weeks later as we surveyed what was to be my new ship. A Fsyth ship had been captured, scanned and released- the crew minus their memories the ship minus everything it recorded in the interim- and now duplicated here. If anything it looked like a spiny space-crustacean but what I couldn’t understand was how it worked. “I don’t see any means of propulsion.” I said. There had been no anti-gravity propulsion outside Kievor or Alartaw control the last time I had been a human for any length of time, at least not that I had been aware of. I supposed it was a wide Universe after all and how was one insignificant being to keep track of it all.
“The Fsyth invented the anti-gravity drive twenty-four years ago.” Harknon said. “Despite their technological abilities it does not appear they are a Kievor target.”
“Just mammals.” Tanya said.
“That wouldn’t make sense.” I said. “The Kievor are mammals.”
“That’s an interesting point and something to think about.” Harknon said.
“Think about it while in Hyper Space.” I told Harknon. “That goes for the entire Fleet; do not engage the Kievor in my absence- but you may fire on any Stations which follow you into Hyper Space.” Where the Kievor would not be able to return fire and my Fleet would be safe until I needed them again.
“Yes Sir.” Harknon said, saluting with his hand over his chest, not that he had ever thought the day would come when he would salute a reptile. I perceived his thoughts with some amusement. Reading pheromones was just about as easy as reading minds- if you were psychic. I turned to Tanya;
“Have you got the tools of your trade?” I asked.
“You expected me to bring them?” Tanya asked but I knew she was lying of course. She had been closeted with Bren and other top Alartaw scientists brought in to devise the mechanisms and storage devices they would need to first beat external security to get them to the heart of a Station and then of course the most important part to copy the Kievor database. I had been working hard as well- it wasn’t easy for a Fsyth to get intoxicated and took a good amount of labor and which was a definite drawback in my book. A good body should get intoxicated easily and sober-up instantaneously when the need arose- something to think about once I was returned.
“Of course.” I said. “I planned and implemented this whole thing so I thought you could at least do some small part.” I smelled both Tanya and Melanie’s amusement as they ignored me, having won that point without having had to say a word. I was beginning to see that this pheromone thing could be something of a drawback in certain circumstances, when considering that most everything that came out of my mouth was a bald faced lie and now it would immediately be recognized as such. Now there would be no denying it, in any case.
Then again, on the other hand, I had to wonder at the potential of such ability on the card tables! Tanya interrupted my reverie.
“The field-nullifiers are in the handles of our weapons. We should be able to walk right into a Station without the hidden circuitry being recognized. It’s nanoscopic in size but will have the power it needs by drawing directly from the weapon's atomic battery. It also produces a constant miniature camouflage field around itself while it’s dormant. That and its proximity to the atomic battery which powers Fsyth blasters- and the fudge that will give any scan- should be enough to get it past the first intense scan. The blasters themselves aren’t as powerful as their Kievor counterparts but I would say they are about the next best thing available besides an Alartaw blaster and I think we all know what happens we walk in with anything detectable as being Alartaw- lizard skins or not.” Tanya pulled her weapon and handed it to me that I might look it over. “There are several dozen of these aboard ship- just in case.” Tanya added.
“This will get us past the Kievor’s internal security?” I asked doubtfully, looking at the weapon.
“The field nullifier activates any time you hold the weapon in your hand for more than two minutes.” Melanie said. “It will create a field of electrical clearance around you that will in effect force any scan signals to flow around you without detecting you. That won’t help you with visual confirmation and you know that trans-metal can be manipulated into any device- even cams.”
“That will take over a minute.” Bren added as his only contribution- he had schooled the girls well. Hopefully well enough to keep Brune alive. “I would recommend staying on the move. The minute you stop is the minute you’re detected visually.”
“I get the picture.” I said as I headed for my ship, positive I would do well in a socialist regime where I could just pretend to do my part while taking the credit for all the hard stuff everyone else did- or was that democracy, I forget? In any case, something to think about if anything should ever happen to my present gig- I wasn’t un-fond of being the Emperor of the Alartaw, reduced as they were. I turned as the gangway lowered itself to my pheromone command- the entire ship operated by pheromone command and I was eager to put it and its anti-gravity drive through its paces; “You girls coming?”
Chapter 30
I almost couldn’t believe our nerve as our ship exited jump and there on far scan was the monstrous blip representing the Kievor Trade Station. “There it is.” I said, feeling insignificant against the weight of our task but bluffing my way through as usual. I had done some foolish things in my time but I was sure this had to be at the very top of the list. The only thing crazier possibly would have been to come as a Kievor itself, but there was no known copy of the Kievor's genetics on any file I was aware of. Just another of their closely held secrets and what a terrific blunder on the part of the
two we had replaced to put themselves in Kievor clutches- at least with the knowledge they had possessed. We had no such knowledge to give this time and if we were lost the Alartaw would be free to go out in that last blaze of glory so that they might never be forgotten. The Alartaw in the end were much like humanity in their ability to both be able to do great things as well as fuck things up royally.
“It wouldn't work without the Kievor database we’re here to get in the first place.” Tanya said. “We had our implants removed before our mission aboard the Kievor Trade Station the first time, if you recall.” I was already becoming tired of the pair airing every thought I didn't speak aloud. They were almost as bad as a fake psychic’s constant stream of questions to find one little thing to grasp to, except accurate right down to my exact thoughts and emotions on every little thing and every time. Having and now understanding these unbelievable abilities made me wonder how any reptile could lose in combat to a mammal.
“It’s the mind behind it.” Tanya said, not catching the whole thought but catching his admiration of his new self and deducing somewhat of it.
“I really hate it when you do that.” I said.
“It will be an invaluable tool later on.” Melanie said. “Being able to communicate without speaking- at least to some extent.”
Chronicles of a Space Mercenary 3: Vengeance Page 9