“...They would have picked you up already, Daks,” he said again, giving me a serious look. “Nik and Irene, too, and probably me, any of the cops who were there, the golfers...anyone you used to know, probably some of your clients and marks you burned. They would have grabbed anyone they could get their hands on who even might be connected, at least for an interview. Then they’d probably throw you and Nik here...and probably Irene for aiding and abetting...into some underground facility until they got some answers.”
No one said anything for a few beats more.
Then Gantry shrugged.
“So yeah,” he said. “I guess that’s the good news. Whatever stories are circulating, I doubt the Feds are directly involved, at least not yet...although I’m sure they will be, if your morph pals get out of control, or if someone gets a video of one of them changing...or the wrong person even sees what your pal, Nik here, just showed me in Irene’s kitchen...”
That last sounded like a warning not to do anything like that again.
I swallowed, giving Nik a slightly I-told-you-so look.
Through the lock, I felt a denser feeling of indifference.
Clearly, Nik didn’t agree with me.
I didn’t want to find out why––well, not here, in front of Gantry, Jake and Irene. I did want to know, but it would have to wait.
“...Which begs the additional question, of course,” Gantry added. “Who did put out that bounty for you, Dakota?”
When I glanced at Nik that time, his lips curled into a faint frown.
He didn’t look particularly upset at Gantry’s words. Rather, from the look on his face, that question had already occurred to him. He seemed more to be thinking.
A few seconds later, Nik turned towards Gantry.
“Dakota said you might be able to use me,” he said. “That you might have work?”
Gantry’s eyes bulged a little wider at that.
Then he glanced at me, letting out what sounded like an involuntary laugh. “She did, did she?”
“Yes,” Nik said, still not quite getting the sarcasm thing, or, knowing him, choosing to ignore it as irrelevant. “If you are going to take that contract, I thought I could do that,” he added. “Work with you.” Seeming to notice Gantry’s hesitation, Nik added, “...It would be to your advantage. I would be your employee. I would do as you say. I could perhaps learn the shape of one of them, once you have identified the source. I could infiltrate their team. Further, I would not require pay,” he added. “If you would teach me the work...and about the human authorities here, culture and local weaponry. I would feel adequately compensated by that. In the future, we might need to renegotiate.”
I glanced at Nik.
I knew him well enough to read between the lines there.
Anyway, for him, he’d practically been overt about his agenda that time.
Realizing I was probably frowning at him, without really meaning to be, I looked at Gantry next. It hit me again that the two of them were probably dangerous together.
Both were a little too good at reading faces.
And at getting what they wanted.
Either way, it occurred to me there was no way Gantry would go for that, given everything. Before I could get very far on that train of thought, though, Gantry surprised the hell out of me, nodding towards Nik.
“Yeah,” he said, his eyes measuring Nik’s openly, too. “Yeah, all right. That’s not a bad idea.” Pausing, he added in a sharper voice, “But no doing that...trick of yours...in front of my people. Not in front of anyone, in fact. In fact, ask me––and me, alone––before you even think about doing anything that might show you off as some kind of...you know...”
Gantry gestured vaguely towards Nik’s body.
“...Not from here person,” he ended lamely.
I glanced back at Nik, half-expecting him to balk at that, meaning, at having some other human telling him what he could or could not do with his lock. Especially now, since he didn’t have to listen to humans anymore, not even me, not unless he wanted to.
But Nik surprised me, too.
“Agreed,” he said. Hesitating, he held out a hand. “It is customary to touch hands on this, yes? To formalize that agreement?”
Gantry smiled, giving me a look I couldn’t quite interpret.
He took Nik’s hand good-naturedly enough. Shaking it, he nodded.
“That’s right,” he said. “But we’re going to have to brush up on your cultural skills, my alien friend, or people will figure out there’s something up with you after less than one conversation. Especially since you’ve got no accent to speak of. You sound just like Dakota here, which I suppose makes sense, under the circumstances.” Gantry squinted a bit at Nik’s face, as if trying to decide something else. “And you look kind of weird, Nik. No offense.”
I knew what Gantry meant, in relation to the last part.
I was about to tell him, too, when Irene beat me to it.
“An excess of symmetry,” she said, nodding towards Nik’s face.
“An excess of symmetry...?” Gantry muttered, but he was looking at Nihkil’s face, too, when suddenly, a light bulb seemed to go off. “Oh,” he said. “Yeah. An excess of symmetry. Got it.”
The thing was, Nik’s face was almost too perfect.
I was used to it now.
Even so, I remembered how I reacted to Nik’s looks that first night I met him. I thought he was good-looking, sure...but even in the dark, there was something strange about his features. He’d continued to look slightly odd to me for awhile...basically until I’d been around him long enough to see his features as more-or-less normal.
Now, I found myself looking at him with new eyes again.
As usual, Irene’s observation was accurate, if oddly phrased.
Nik did suffer from an excess of symmetry. Something about everything lining up just right, on both sides of his face and body, was a little too precise for the usual human form. Real human beings weren’t all that well-made, I guess, because like Irene pointed out, Nik’s “excess of symmetry” made him both handsome and borderline weird-looking.
I’d gotten used to how Nik looked, so I barely noticed it anymore, like I said.
But now, looking between Nik and Gantry...and then Nik and Irene...and then Nik and Jake...I found myself squinting at Nik, too, like I had when I first met him.
Nik’s eyes turned a darker shade of brown, with all of us staring at him.
“Can you control that, too?” Gantry said, seeming to notice Nik’s changing irises that time.
Nik’s brow wrinkled in faint puzzlement. “Of course.”
“I mean, can you stop doing it,” Gantry clarified. “People will notice here.”
Nik nodded, some of his confusion clearing.
“Yes,” he said. “It is just slightly tiring to stop that, since it is natural for us, for the color to change. But it is less tiring than maintaining an entire appearance...meaning a non-base form for a particular species.” Seeming to see the bare edges of Gantry’s frown forming that time, Nik sighed a little. “And yes,” he added. “I can make myself look more like you...less symmetrical, as Irene said...but I would probably have to find a human form to emulate to be able to do it convincingly over long periods of time.”
Pausing, as if thinking, Nik added,
“I will also get more hungry, sooner. And more tired.”
Gantry nodded, then looked at me. He looked back at Nik when I held up my hands, telling him without words to work it out with Nik himself.
“All right,” Gantry said, sighing. “You look weird but not that weird. I think the face is okay as it is...although we’ll gauge your appearance as we go. You might have to make changes in the field, here and there. And the eye thing, definitely, you can’t do where anyone might see it. At home, I don’t see any issue with whatever is most comfortable...unless there comes a point where we suspect surveillance taps. I’ll have my guys check Irene’s out, but like I said, you would have gotten a visit by now
, if anyone official knew anything.” He gave Nik a harder look. “The eye color thing, though. Don’t do that in front of any of my people. Or anywhere where someone who isn’t us could see it. Okay?”
“I understand.”
Nik’s expression didn’t change as he said it, but I wondered what he thought of that, too.
Before I could wonder for long, Gantry turned to me.
“I have a job for you, too, chica,” he said. “Came down the pike this morning. If you want it.”
I jumped in surprise.
Still, I couldn’t help smiling.
“Sure,” I said. “What is it?”
Gantry reached into the front pocket of his shirt. He fished out a card, handing it to me without looking at it. Before I could take it, he flicked it briefly out of my reach.
“Given all this alien crap, I think you should avoid field work, chica.”
“This is field work?”
“Not exactly. Could be. I’m just saying––”
“What’s the job, Gantry?” I said, impatient.
“Your usual thing.” He let me take the card when I reached for it that time. “I told her you’d discuss fees. I mean it about field work, Dakota...”
“I know you do,” I murmured, not bothering to answer.
Truthfully, the idea of working a job had me practically giddy. I’d been a lot more ready to rejoin my old life than I’d fully admitted to myself.
When I glanced up at Nik, I saw him staring at me. Seeing the expression there, I realized I already knew what he was thinking, either through that thread that stretched between us, or because I was getting to know him better even apart from that...at least in certain areas.
The truth is, I made a point of not accessing our lock connection unless I had a good reason. I didn’t think about the whys of that too deeply, but I knew at least part of it was, that connection between us had a tendency to turn me on.
It turned Nik on, too, I could tell.
His reactions could be pretty full-on, in fact, when it came to the lock-link between us. And yeah, I got nervous at the idea of opening that door all the way, especially when we were around other people.
I knew there was more to it, though.
There was the privacy thing, for one. Some mixture of not wanting to invade anyone’s privacy warred with a more general discomfort that I could do it at all. I sometimes got full-fledged thoughts through that thread Nik and I shared...at least, when I tried and Nik let me...but more often, when I opened the connection more passively, I got sparks of mood, like an enhancement of Nik’s facial expressions. Which might have been good, other things being equal, since Nik’s expressions could be really difficult to read...almost as difficult as Gantry’s.
Usually what I got off him fell somewhere in those cracks between feelings.
I picked up subtle profusions of different aspects of thought and reaction, almost like an intuition, or pieces of a dream. Some of those were really obvious and direct, too, but only the ones strong enough that they wiped out everything else I could feel on him.
Even back in Nik’s home dimension, we didn’t rely on that lock-connection to communicate...not for the most part, and especially not for more immediate things. A few times we had no choice but to communicate that way, of course...like when Razmun had us, and our normal comm links were being overheard. Mainly, we used the communication links we could access via our implants to talk privately.
Meaning the implants that all humans and morph received in that place.
Remembering the links for the first time since we’d landed back on Earth, I clamped a hand over the back of my neck. I forgot the tantalizing new job Gantry dangled in front of me just long enough to stare at Nik.
Yes, Nik sent through the link. It is still there. And it is still operational. He paused. And yes, he added. I am going with you on this job, whatever it is.
I let out a low snort, letting him know in no uncertain terms exactly what I thought of that idea. What makes you think you get a vote? I sent back. Anyway, it’s probably just research, remember?
I met your last client, remember?
I shrugged, keeping my expression as blank as his.
He was worse than usual, I muttered from my mind.
Nik only frowned when I smiled involuntarily at his eye-roll. I still hadn’t gotten used to seeing Earth expressions on him.
I am coming anyway, Nik said next. I don’t have to ask, Dakota. I don’t even have to be there as a human. You would never know.
“So you say,” I muttered darkly, speaking aloud before I knew I meant to.
Glancing at Gantry that time, I saw that his eyebrows had hiked up all the way to his hairline. He looked between me and Nik with obvious alarm, and I already saw the question forming on his lips. It occurred to me he’d seen our exchanged looks over that minute or so of talking through the communication link.
“No, he’s not telepathic,” I said, sighing. “Not really.”
“Not...really?” Gantry said.
I massaged the back of my neck. “I got implanted, in that other place.”
“Implanted?” Irene sounded intrigued. Kneeling, she leaned towards me, pushing aside the hair on the back of my neck. I just sat there, head bent, while I let her peer at the area I’d been massaging with my fingers.
“Can we x-ray it?” Irene said. “See if it’s sending signals to Nik’s home world?”
“Sure,” I shrugged. “Knock yourself out. Anyway,” I added to Gantry. “There’s a communication link inside. That’s all.”
“And that’s the more or less part?” Gantry said, sounding skeptical.
I shrugged again.
Looking up, I could see Gantry wasn’t going to let it go.
“Well,” I said, a little more cagily. “There’s also the lock. Me being Nik’s lock-holder means I can hear things he’s thinking sometimes...or maybe just feel things he’s thinking? I don’t know how it works exactly. Sometimes it’s louder than others.”
Gantry’s eyebrows, if anything, hiked up even higher.
“Explain to me how that’s not telepathy,” he said, frowning at Nik. “While you’re at it, explain to me how that’s not completely creepy and wrong, Dakota, that you now commune with aliens with your mind...”
Forcing a very unconvincing smile as he tried to turn the last thing into a joke, Gantry let his smile falter as something else seemed to occur to him.
“I’m almost afraid to ask, but does the lock thing mean he can hear the rest of us, too?” Gantry said.
“No,” Nik said, answering for me.
He took another bite of the apple fritter. He didn’t wince at all that time, so it seemed he’d grown accustomed to the fat-dipped sugar bomb already. He chewed for a moment, then added,
“You needn’t worry. I can only hear her. She is my lock-holder.”
“Do I want to know what that is?” Gantry muttered, glancing again at me.
I started to explain, but Gantry held up a hand.
“No,” he said, shaking his head. “...I really don’t. Not right now.” He motioned between us. “Just speak out loud from now on, okay? Don’t do that...whatever that was. Not in public. Or even when we’re not in public...not around me.”
Nik nodded, as if he understood the request.
I nodded, too, only on me it came with a frown and a wrinkled brow.
Fighting back and forth on whether I needed to pull Gantry aside and talk to him alone after all of this, I looked down at the business card he’d handed me earlier, maybe to buy myself thinking time. The card itself was one of those fancy ones, with a bold script over a light gray paper that both looked and felt expensive. It looked as if each card had been individually hand-pulped and flattened from organically-grown trees.
The only lettering I saw spelled out the name of a company, and on the back, the address of a website.
Culare’s Modeling School, it read.
I looked up at Gantry, and that time, my
eyebrow shot up.
“Is this the place that hockey player’s wife owns?” I said.
Gantry nodded, once.
“Tomorrow at eleven,” he said. “Don’t be late for this one, Tonto. She called me personally, and asked for you by name. Not the hockey player’s wife. The woman who runs it.”
I glanced at Nik, seeing his eyes on me, and sighed.
“Okay,” I said. “Look. You can come along if I need to pull some kind of maneuver in the field, Nik...all right? Anything undercover, or dangerous, or whatever, you’re back-up guy. Fine. But I interview on my own.” Motioning at Gantry, I added, “You boys can play tomorrow. Find out who’s trying to set me up...or sell me...or whatever. I’ll catch up with you when I’m finished talking to the client.”
Nik and Gantry looked at me, then stared at one another.
Both of their eyes now appeared to be the same light blue color, and both wore expressions that could, at best, be termed cautious. Before I could make any kind of joke about testosterone poisoning, Jake spoke up, reminding me he was there.
“Why don’t I come with you, little sis?” Jake smirked.
I stared at him. “Why on earth would you want to do that?” Then, glancing down at the card, I let out a sigh. “Oh. Right. Of course.”
Jake dismissed my words with an older-brotherly wave.
“This is one job where you might actually need me, little sister,” he said, doing his best to give me his sincere face. “If I don’t dress you properly, you probably won’t even make it inside the door...much less have anyone take you seriously. P.I. or no, they will flay you alive, if you walk in there like that, girlfriend...”
He motioned towards my ensemble.
I couldn’t help but be annoyed by his words. I knew he was probably right, but yeah, annoying. It also occurred to me, in the more strategic areas of my brain that is, that having Jake there might work as a fantastic diversion.
“Sure,” I said, causing Jake, Gantry and Irene to all turn, staring at me. “You can come. Just don’t be late,” I warned. “...Or I swear to God, I’m leaving without you, Jake. And putting your shit on Irene’s porch in garbage bags.”
Jake beamed at me, though, obviously tickled at the thought of all that flesh and money, both the boy and girl variety.
Crash Morph: Gate Shifter Book Two Page 5