Tonya looked up from Melanie’s shoulder. “You did it before? Why didn’t you say something?”
“I was kind of on the verge of passing out. But I’m better now.” Melanie flashed a smile she hoped would hide the pain. “Now we can work on it together, OK?”
“OK,” Tonya said with a sniffle. She helped Melanie up and then showed her to where she’d disassembled the miniature version of the weapon. “There’s so much here I haven’t seen before. I don’t know what most of this stuff even does.”
“That’s because most of it came from aliens. Roboto reverse engineered it and then Stanford miniaturized it. We have to do the same as they did.”
“You said you did it before. Does any of this look familiar?”
Melanie studied the pieces. It was hard to tell because these parts were so much smaller than the ones inside Dr. Roboto’s monster. Those parts had in some cases been a couple stories tall. She had felt like a mouse crawling through the walls back then. Sometimes she still had nightmares about it, about being buried alive in there. “I’m not sure.”
“Oh, this is hopeless,” Tonya said. She set her head down on the table to cry. “I’m gonna get sent to a foster home. They’ll put me in second grade and everyone else will think I’m a freak.”
“Goddamn it, shut up!” Melanie shouted. “Feeling sorry for yourself isn’t going to help anyone. Now look, you can do this. You built a whole suit of combat armor out of parts from Home Depot. You can make this stupid weapon work again. Understand?”
“I’m too little—”
“I’m little too. You see that stopping me?”
“No.” Tonya sniffled again. “I’m sorry, boss. I just…I just don’t feel like me anymore. It’s like someone reached into my brain and starting ripping stuff out.”
“You need to focus. We both do. So let’s get to work.”
“Right.”
***
Melanie wasn’t sure how long they were locked up in the machine shop. Diane and Robin came in every now and then to bring them some food and water. The rest of the time she was alone with Tonya. Despite her best efforts, Tonya still threw tantrums if things didn’t go her way. Melanie was too tired and sore to do much about them most of the time; she tried to ride out the storm.
They finally snapped the last piece into place and sighed. “So, is that it?” Tonya asked.
“Looks like it.”
“What do we do now?”
“We have to test it.”
“On what? It’s not like we can use a rat. Maybe we should have them bring Garlak in; she’s dumber than a rat.”
“Try it on me.”
“You? I can’t. If something goes wrong—”
“I don’t think I can last much longer like this. Even if it makes me littler, at least I won’t be so broken up inside.” She hopped off her stool and then staggered back a few steps. She closed her eyes so she wouldn’t have to watch. “Go ahead.”
“Well, here goes nothing.”
There was a screech like a car trying to stop with no pads on its brakes. Melanie hoped the weapon didn’t explode or else they’d be in big trouble. They’d have to find the impostor Robin to get back the original alien weapon.
Even with her eyes shut, she saw the flash of light. Nothing happened at first. Then she felt that familiar sensation, as if her body were on fire. She dropped to all fours and screamed. She knew it was working this time as she heard the seams of her dress pop open.
“Oh my God, it works!” Tonya shouted. She knelt beside Melanie. “Are you all right?”
“I’ve…been…better.”
Tonya grunted as she strained with her little body to help Melanie sit up. They managed to get her propped against a leg of the table. “Hold on,” Tonya said.
“I’m not going anywhere,” Melanie whispered. She was far too tired to move. With some effort she looked down at herself. She was relieved to see a womanly set of breasts. That was something positive, but how old was she now?
In lieu of a mirror, Tonya brought her a piece of sheet metal. In it Melanie saw a face close to the one she’d worn the day before. Her cheeks were a little pudgier than before, the rest of her likewise flush with baby fat. She was probably seventeen or eighteen now instead of twenty-one. That would be close enough, she supposed.
“It worked. It really worked.” She brought little Tonya in for a hug. “You did it.”
“I helped, but you’re the one who did it.”
“Well, whatever. The point is we don’t have to grow up again.”
“You think you can manage to hit the button on the remote?”
“Sure,” Melanie said. She still needed Tonya’s help to get to her feet. Tonya handed her a piece of pipe to use as a cane so she could shuffle over to the other side of the table.
Tonya skipped over to the center of the room. “All right, let’s do it!”
Melanie pushed the button on the remote they’d rigged up. The weapon made the grinding sound, but nothing came out of it. Melanie tried again with the same result. “What’s wrong?” Tonya asked.
“I think it’s out of power.”
“What? That’s not fair! I wanna be a big girl too!” Tonya whined. She stamped her foot and then launched into another tantrum. This time Melanie lurched over to seize her by the shoulders.
“That’s enough of that. I’m sure it’s not out of power forever. We need to hook it up to something with more oomph.”
“You mean like the generator?” Tonya pointed behind her at the emergency generator the amusement park had used.
“Like the generator.” Melanie tousled the little girl’s hair. “Go to it, sweetheart. I’m counting on you.”
“I’m counting on me,” Tonya said and then scampered off to get to work.
***
They came down one at a time to use the weapon. Robin went first. Melanie stayed at her side as she grew back into a teenager again. Robin looked about as scrawny as she had when they first met. Her red hair was a lot longer than it had been; Melanie was sure a trip to the barber would soon be required. She pressed Robin against her to walk her over to where a pile of clothes waited: a pair of petite jeans and a red Funland T-shirt.
Robin grinned sleepily at her. “Tonight we can actually do something in bed, huh?”
“I’m looking forward to it.” They kissed in a way they hadn’t been able to in so long. That was until Tonya cleared her throat.
“Get a room, you two.”
“We will,” Robin said.
“Send in the next victim.”
They brought down as many girls as they could find around the Funland, at least those who had been women before the disaster. Despite Diane’s pleas to see what it would do to someone who had been a man at the time of the disaster, Melanie and Tonya refused. There was no telling what it might do.
“All I can tell you is it won’t give you a penis,” Tonya said.
“How can you be so sure about that?”
“Because in every instance the subject’s turned out female so far. Whoever built that thing didn’t have much respect for the Y chromosome.”
“They probably didn’t have such a thing in their society,” Melanie said.
In the end Diane had stormed off to pout somewhere while they continued to bring girls down. They saved Garlak for last. Paul had to lead her with a chain like a dog and even then she continued to struggle.
Melanie bent down to look the cavegirl in the eyes. “This machine will make you big again, all right? You need to stand here very still so it can work.”
“You lie! You want to kill me!”
“Of course I don’t. You see what it did to me and Tonya, don’t you? We were little kids and now we’re grown-ups again.”
“More or less,” Tonya said. Her own transformation had left her at about sixteen. She was a little gawkier in build and the zits on her face had tripled.
“Me no trust you.”
“Garlak, I’m sorry this ha
ppened to you. I never wanted that. You’ve become a friend to me, like Tonya and Diane and Paul. We’ve been through so much together. I wouldn’t hurt you now.”
The cavegirl snorted and then pawed at the ground like a bull. But finally she relented. “Me stand still. If you lie, me kill you.”
“I’m sure you will.”
Melanie stood back so Tonya could trigger the machine. She turned away to avoid being blinded by it. She knew when it had begun to work when Garlak started to scream. “Kill you!” Garlak shouted. Melanie turned to see her on all fours, stretching out with one hand to grab Melanie. That hand got closer as her arm swelled.
When it was over, Garlak was a little smaller than she had been the day before, but not nearly as small as she had been minutes earlier. The cavewoman got to her feet. While she grunted and snuffled as she examined herself, Melanie fetched the pile of jewelry that had been taken from Garlak. She held this out as a peace offering. “Here are your shiny things.”
Garlak snatched these away warily. She draped the necklaces over her head. This at least covered some of her nakedness. They had searched the whole amusement park, but couldn’t find anything to cover her lower regions except a thong that fit very snugly.
“Doesn’t leave much to the imagination,” Tonya whispered into Melanie’s ear.
“We’ll have to do some shopping later. For now—”
Diane burst into the room. “You lot better get out here. The shit’s really hitting the fan now.”
Melanie hurried outside, dreading what fresh hell would be unleashed now. Robin grabbed her hand and then pointed up at the sky. There was a second moon now. This one was larger than the original and black except for a sliver of red light in the center.
“What that?” Garlak asked.
“A Death Star?” Tonya guessed.
“Whatever it is, it’s going to be trouble,” Melanie said.
Part 3
Chapter 26
Allison wasn’t sure how much time had gone by as she worked on the ion weapon. She wished there were simply a switch to flip, but it was far more complicated than that. Nor could she turn a few parts backwards to achieve the reverse effect. She had to take the whole thing apart and then reverse-engineer it, only in a way contrary to how it was before.
Despite how focused she was on the project, an internal timer warned her Sally had been gone much too long. It should only have taken her a couple of minutes to reach the platform. The measurements should only take a few more minutes. Then the return trip. All in all, it should take less than a half hour, but it had to have been a lot longer than that.
She was relieved when her communicator beeped. That relief lasted the half-second for Midnight Spectre’s voice to come on. “Hello, Allison. I think I have something you want.”
“Where’s Sally? What did you do to her?”
“She’s here…more or less.”
“What are you—?”
“Hi, Ally,” a soft voice said. “It’s me. Sort of.”
“Sally?”
“She used that serum on me. The one that made you a kid.” Sally paused to sniffle. “It did the same to me.”
“You son of a bitch!” Allison shouted. “I’ll kill you!”
“That wouldn’t be wise,” Midnight Spectre said. “If you still want little Sally, she’ll be on the roof of the Hilton in Santa Fe. At least for the next two minutes. After that she’ll be down on street level.”
“You can’t kill her,” Allison said. “As soon as you do, I’ll kill you.”
“I’m not scared of children—even if they have superspeed.”
“All right. I’ll be there. Just don’t hurt Sally.”
“I knew you’d see it my way.”
Over her years as Velocity Man, then Velocity Gal, and now Velocity Kid, she’d timed herself to know how fast it would take her to get from one point on the globe to another. Two minutes should be more than enough time, so long as she didn’t run into any trouble. Except she was sure Midnight Spectre would have trouble planned for her. She had a good idea of how to avoid most of it, but she would need to run faster than she ever had before. And she would need one item from off the worktable.
With that, Allison set out. She picked up speed over the Atlantic, her feet never touching the surface of the water. In the Sahara she felt herself beginning to lighten around the edges, which meant she was dangerously close to the speed of light. Einstein and others theorized that at the speed of light, any matter would be converted to energy. Allison didn’t want to put this hypothesis to the test, but she couldn’t slow down, not if she wanted to reach Sally in time.
By the time she reached the Pacific, she could no longer feel most of her body. Allison didn’t have any idea what would happen to her now when she decelerated. Would only the matter that was left of her emerge? Would the rest of her mysteriously return? Would she simply vanish?
She screamed as she pushed herself faster. Focal City was only a blur to her. The whole of Arizona hardly registered. She had to focus just to make out Santa Fe. Her body was completely gone, leaving her lighter than air. With this realization, she took flight, zipping through the air like lightning, onto the roof of the hotel.
Allison noted Midnight Spectre on the roof with a legion of Omega’s machines patrolling the area. It was of course a trap. Allison was certain many more of the machines had been waiting between Redoubt City and Santa Fe, which had necessitated her going the long way around the Earth.
Sally was in the middle of it all. She looked a lot different now, more like Allison’s little sister than her aunt. Allison wished she had time to apologize for what was about to happen or at least to say goodbye, but there was no way she could. She had to seize this moment, while Midnight Spectre and Omega’s forces hadn’t detected her.
What she needed to do would require pinpoint accuracy. The ion coil she had taken from the lab had merged with her as she’d hit light speed. Her whole body was an ion charge now; all she needed was some matter to interact with to duplicate what had happened to her and Sally. That matter was conveniently on the roof of the hotel.
The moment Allison came into contact with Midnight Spectre’s body, there was a flash of light. Then Allison was gone.
***
They hadn’t bothered to chain Starla up inside the rocket. The interior of the rocket was so cramped they probably figured there would be no point to restraining her. There was no window, but they had helpfully included a monitor at her eye level so she could watch herself approach the system’s red sun.
There had been more speeches from the Elders and Commander Sulfam before she was consigned to the rocket. They had pretty much repeated what they’d said at the trial. Perhaps learning from their mistakes, they hadn’t given her a chance to respond. Not that it would have made a difference at that point.
To a mighty cheer, Starla had been shoved into the rocket. “Soon you will have your just reward,” Sulfam said before he shut the lid on her, again not leaving her a chance to reply.
At the top of the monitor ran a countdown for how long until she would reach the point where the star would melt her and the rocket. She supposed there was a bitter irony involved in her being fed to a sun when three years ago she had lured her impostor too close to Earth’s sun. Now she would know how it felt to burn.
Sweat began to drip into her eyes as the rocket warmed. Too bad she didn’t have room to wipe her brow. That was part of the fun for them, she was sure. Well, if they wanted to watch her squirm and plead for mercy they would be sorely disappointed. She would go down as the picture of stoicism.
This was hard to maintain as the metal of the rocket began to burn through her jumpsuit. It was warmer than an oven inside the rocket now and she was cooking like a Thanksgiving turkey. Her throat was parched while her body was coated with moisture it couldn’t afford to lose. She closed her eyes and said that old prayer she’d said before she’d gone to bed back home on Earth.
Starla was in
the process of asking God to bless the staff of the Atomic City Star when she felt the rocket shake. She didn’t put much thought into that until the rocket began to cool. She was too exhausted to open her eyes as she felt a hand run through her sweaty hair. “I don’t feel good, Ma,” she whispered.
“I am not your mother,” Kila said.
Starla forced herself to open her eyes. The alien floated centimeters above her, as close as a lover. “What?”
“It’s all right. I’ve come to save you.”
“How?”
“I escaped from the prison with my friend’s help. We have evidence of your innocence. Not only your innocence, but for all Kor-Gans—including your father.”
“That’s good news. So we’re going back to your Elders now?”
“No. They would not listen to us. They are responsible for this conspiracy.”
“What conspiracy?”
“There is a terrible creature, one who devours all the life of a world in order to sustain itself. It is responsible for the genocide you were accused of.”
“I don’t understand,” Starla said, her heat-addled brain having trouble fitting Kila’s words together. The alien put a hand to her forehead and suddenly Starla’s body shivered with cold. Her throat moistened as if she’d drunk a quart of water. “Thank you.”
“What you must understand is this creature is very powerful. So powerful even the Elders fear it. Since they did not believe they could defeat it, they chose to negotiate with it. They would allow it to devour worlds they chose, ones deemed of little consequence.”
Starla’s eyes widened as a horrible thought struck her. “Like Earth?”
“Yes. Earth is its next target. That is why you were brought here. The Elders might not be able to defeat it, but perhaps you can.”
“I don’t think I could defeat a kitten much less a world-killing alien.”
“That is why we must get you back to Earth, so your cells can recharge. And it will let the rest of my comrades see this threat for themselves. Once they’ve seen it, then they will understand your innocence.”
Girl Power Omnibus (Gender Swap Superhero Fiction) Page 68