by Viola Grace
She snorted. “Yes, I can feel your envy. I would rather be able to go through the world like you do, invisible if you don’t know what you are looking for.”
“Invisibility is not all it is cracked up to be. Technically, I am called Walking Shadow, by the way. You will hear it when you are on Morganti. I am stationed at the Citadel there.”
“Is that why I am heading there?” She closed her eyes and tried to find one species that looked like Walking Shadow. Nothing.
“You are heading there because they have the best analytical equipment for a talent like yours.”
“And I need to be analyzed?”
“If they can see what your body does, you can understand it and feel when you can do more and when you are at the edge. You can actually know your own limits instead of pushing to the edge and snapping back.”
She could tell he spoke from personal experience, and so, she spent the rest of the trip rummaging through her own mind and filing the information in an arrangement where she could retrieve it again. It was an entertaining way to spend her time as they jolted through another jump and headed for Morganti.
Amly matched the world with the image in her mind and smiled at the recognition that hit her immediately. There was no doubt. That was Morganti.
Walking Shadow steered the ship down toward a base, and he chatted on the com to confirm landing clearance.
Amly called up a roster of folk at the Citadel and at the Guard Base and met with limited success. She could see the faces and the code names, but personal information was beyond her access level.
Without access to someone with clearance, she wasn’t going to be able to open the files, but she could bide her time. It wasn’t only the mystery trainer that thought that information was power. Amly had saved lives using her penchant for spying, and she wasn’t going to stop now.
Chapter Three
Walking Shadow brought her to the medical office. “Dr. Effin, this is the new Citadel recruit. Amly Hyde, this is Dr. Effin Nywyn.”
The doctor smiled at her and she stepped forward. “Hello, Ms. Hyde.”
“Amly, please. You are…Wyoran?”
He nodded and reached out to shake her hand. She let her body take in the information of how to change into him, and she released his fingers a moment later.
“Well, Amly, I would like to take a baseline reading of your system. Is that all right?”
“Certainly. Where do you want me to be?”
He got her to stand in the scanner, and he ran scan after scan to learn how her body worked. When the scans ceased, he asked, “May I put these monitor pods on you?”
She looked at the tiny stickers with minute designs on them. “If you have to.”
“It will help us to learn what your body does during your shifts. Once we know what it does, we can suggest a training regimen to bring your talent to its peak under your control.”
“Acceptable. You can proceed.”
She opened her shirt and waited for him to ready the pods. When he turned, she was ready. He tried not to touch her, but his fingers were forced into contact with her skin.
“And I need to get to your thighs. Would you consider putting on a medical gown for the attachment?”
He seemed a little hesitant.
Amly nodded. “Sure.”
She changed out of her work clothing and into a gown that wrapped around her. She returned to the exam area, and Dr. Effin had her covered in tiny monitors in under five minutes. He confirmed that they were all signalling and asked her to shift.
“Right here?”
“Please.” He was staring at his monitor panel.
“Do you have a preferred form?”
“Whatever is comfortable for you.”
She smiled and shifted until she had taken on Effin’s shape. “How is this?”
He was staring at the readouts, and she merely waited while wearing his features. It wasn’t a complete shift. She hadn’t copied either his penis or his memories, but it made Walking Shadow snicker.
When the doctor looked up, he jolted with surprise. “Your detail is amazing.”
“The copying is done on instinct. This is not a complete shift.”
He checked his monitors. “Oh.”
She laughed and he flinched at the sound of his own voice.
“Amly, that is very disturbing. Can you shift into someone else?”
She took on her cousin’s appearance again. The feeling of shrinking made her shiver. Amly tightened the wrap again.
“That is amazing. There is molecular manipulation going on in your body and you do it so quickly. Do your clothes change with you?”
She snorted. “Of course not.”
He nodded. “We can do something about that. Are you tired or are you willing to go to Fixer for outfitting?”
“Outfitting?”
“We have some armour-gauge Masuo, and I believe that it will be able to do what you want it to.”
Walking Shadow piped up, “I can take her.”
Amly watched Effin smile as he turned away to set his tablet down. “Well, she is expecting you, so don’t keep her waiting. Amly, you won’t need to put your clothing on, it is just a few doors down and Fixer has never sent anyone away without having them fully clothed.”
Amly smiled sweetly. “I am glad that makes one of you.”
He blinked and snorted.
Amly shifted back into her own form again and inclined her head toward Walking Shadow. “Shall we? I am catching a bit of a breeze.”
Walking Shadow offered her his arm and she took it, wiggling her fingers at the doctor as she passed.
The floor was cool on her feet as she padded along with her companion. She twitched her lips. “So, does he strip women often and send them out into the world?”
“You are the first that I have heard of.”
“Lucky me.”
He grinned at her and winked as they walked through a doorway with the heavy door sliding aside in invitation.
A woman with dark rainbow hair was crouched, facing two girls who had their heads down but were obviously her daughters.
Amly heard her say, “Now, you can’t put your brother in a box without an opening. Yes, he can get out of it, but he also could pass out before he could focus himself.”
The girls nodded and sniffled. The one with the matte-black skin said, “We didn’t think he wouldn’t be able to get out. We were just playing.”
The woman hugged her children. “I know. We are just lucky that Nanny got him to me in time. In the future, remember that he is just a baby. He doesn’t have your skills yet, darlings.”
The nanny in question was a hulk of a man holding a small child with a short shock of the same bright hair.
The girls were snivelling and sobbing against their mother.
Amly held Walking Shadow back when he would have stepped forward.
“Now, tell your brother you are sorry and make sure he knows you won’t do it again.” Fixer whispered it but her voice carried.
The two little girls ran over to their nanny, and their brother held his arms out to them. Apparently, all was forgiven.
The nanny nodded his head. “I will take them and get them some fruit while they recover from their adventure.”
Fixer smiled. “Thank you, and thanks for moving so quickly.”
He inclined his head. “It is what I do. Should I bring him to Effin?”
“No. I ran the scans here. He is fine, just a little snotty.”
“That I can take care of.” He inclined his head and led a parade of two girls with their young brother walking between them.
As soon as they left the workshop, Fixer sighed and leaned against her bench. “My parents had it easy. I didn’t start doing weird stuff until I was a teenager.”
“I am guessing that it was being surrounded by active power that triggered their own.”
Fixer winked at her. “Tha
t or my constant use of my talent during pregnancy. They came out active. I blame their father.”
Walking Shadow snickered. “That is what you always say, Fixer, and yet the moment he is visible, you run into his arms.”
Fixer looked smug. “He runs to mine. I just have to magnetize him.”
Walking Shadow laughed and stepped toward her. “Good to see you in good spirits, cousin.”
Fixer walked up to him and gave him a hug. “Keezik. You are looking well. Is this Amly?”
Amly stepped forward. “It is. You don’t look like you are related.”
Fixer smiled. “He is my cousin on my mother’s side. Our mothers are sisters. I get my colouring from my father.”
“I see. I get my colouring from the people I touch or copy by sight.”
Fixer extended her hand. “Do what you can.”
Amly touched the woman’s hand and felt her hair ripple down her back in the dark rainbow wave. “What do you think?”
Fixer smiled and gave her a solid once over. “I think you need Udell Masuo for this. My body lacks presence in a medical gown.”
“What is Masuo? I have heard it mentioned a few times.”
Walking Shadow piped up, “It is a living organism that lives in symbiosis with the being it is wrapped around. It lives off your skin and ambient energy but gives you a completely alterable clothing option in exchange. It can become any clothing you can imagine, and with your talent, the adaptability for size is necessary.”
Fixer laughed and went to a drawer that glowed with soft light when she opened it. “It seems he has been paying attention in class.”
Amly watched the folded fabric that Fixer brought out. “Class?”
“I lecture on Masuo and other natural biological symbiotes that do well with talents. They are exceptionally useful for those who have a physically manifested talent, like you do.” Fixer offered the fabric to her. “Put it on and it will do the rest. Don’t worry, it can be retracted into a band on your leg or arm when you want to shower, but it will eat soil from your skin.”
Amly hesitated for a moment but took the fabric. It shook out into a baggy bodysuit.
“It is already turning into what you expected.”
“Um, where can I put this on?”
Fixer pointed to a screen in one corner.
Amly gathered the fabric up and went behind the screen, slipping the suit on and accepting it transforming into a formfitting uniform similar to the one Walking Shadow had put on in the ship.
She resumed her normal shape and walked out into the workshop with her bodysuit fitted tightly under the medical robe.
Fixer blinked. “Blue?”
Amly shrugged. “It is easier on the eyes than dark rainbow.”
“She has you there, Mala.” Walking Shadow chortled.
Fixer made a face at him and said, “If you would take off the medical robe?”
Amly removed the fabric and watched as the Guardsman studied her.
“Can you adjust the colour?”
Amly concentrated and the Masuo obliged by turning a rich dark blue.
“Excellent. Well, it is armour grade and you can take a few blasts to the chest without the suit being damaged, but for detailed manipulation, I would like to see you back here this week.”
“Why?”
“Because I have the equipment to run you through your paces and we can practice you getting a look at armour and copying it.”
“Can’t I do that at the Citadel?”
“You could, but you would gain an audience. Here, you can do it with privacy and we can get to the fine details.”
Amly grinned, “And you can put off whatever else you had on your have to list.”
Fixer shrugged. “I get my enjoyment where I can.”
“That is a good way of looking at things.”
“When your husband is prettier than you could ever hope to be, you get used to changing your perceptions, and it changes the way you look at things for you.”
Amly smiled and looked toward Walking Shadow. “What next?”
“Next, we check you into the Citadel and you get something to eat and some rest. Tomorrow, you will meet Equilar, and she will tell you whether or not she will take you on as an apprentice.”
Fixer blinked. “You are trying to get in with Equilar?”
Amly wrinkled her nose. “Apparently, I am cut out for espionage, and she is the one I need to talk to.”
“I will wish you luck then. Keezik, get her over to the Citadel, she is weaving where she stands.”
He snapped off a salute and put his arm around Amly, herding her out of the building and to a stand with a series of small fliers hooked to it.
“One of Fixer’s designs. They work pretty well and have a magnetic repulsion as emergency landing gear. They are very safe.”
“Why is it that you sound like you are convincing yourself as well as me?”
He chuckled and made sure she was settled before he unhooked the charger and throttled the vehicle into action.
They were up and away in seconds, and Amly looked around, wondering if this world was any better than the one she had left.
She smiled to herself. The clothing was certainly better, so that was one thing right there.
Chapter Four
She was greeted by the administrator, Turnari, and had to stop herself from staring at his horns. It was a first for her.
The food that she was directed toward was in the lavender-purple colour coding and it went down easily.
Administrator Turnari kept staring at her, and finally, she mimicked his own appearance back at him, her Masuo trying to imitate his robes.
She kept eating, and moving her head felt strange with the oppressive weight on her. They were well balanced but still not comfortable.
His shock wore off and he blinked. “Please, that is very disturbing.”
She resumed her normal features. “Well, you were asking for it.”
Walking Shadow snickered again.
Tired, she glared at him. “I am glad I can be a source of amusement. Now, where the hell am I staying?”
She cleared her trays away and returned to glare at the two men who were looking at her in surprise.
“What? I am tired, I have shifted into seven different people in the last three hours and I am tired.”
“Seven?”
“Even shifting back into my own form takes effort, Walking Shadow. I need sleep now.”
Turnari nodded. “Right. I have set aside room three-twelve for you. Up the stairs for three floors and to your left. The lock is set for the scanned information that Dr. Effin sent over.”
“Thank you and good night.” She nodded her head and walked in a straight line for the staircase.
She dragged herself up the stairs, and when she reached the third floor, she looked at the numbers until she found her room. She focused on keeping herself awake until she got inside the room, and then, she staggered to the bed and flopped on her back. Darkness swelled up and pulled her under.
* * * *
Turnari jolted and pressed a finger to his suit. “Yes?”
“It is Effin; is Amly with you?”
“No, she has gone to her quarters.”
Keezik stared at the administrator and spoke to the doctor on the other end of the com, “What is wrong?”
“Her systems started to fluctuate wildly; it seemed that her inner organs were rearranging themselves and then finally settled.”
He was on his feet in an instant. “Is she all right?”
“She has settled and her body seems to be asleep.” Effin’s voice contained relief. “That scared the hell out of me. Alarms were going off everywhere.”
A woman cried out and ran to the food trays. “Oh no.”
Turnari walked up to her and asked, “What is it?”
“There is a new staffer working the kitchens, and he is colour blind. This foo
d is supposed to be for Azon mixes only. Thank goodness most of it seems to be here.”
Keezik looked at it and recognized it from Amly’s plate. “Rearranged her internal organs you said?”
Effin spoke through Turnari’s suit. “Indeed. They are now more in line with Azon species standards.”
“You can record that she has unconscious adaptation skills.”
Effin paused. “All right. I bid you good evening.”
The com clicked and went quiet.
The kitchen staff member was waiting to see what Turnari did.
“Take him off displays and make sure that the colours are backed up with words on the racks so that he can at least read the differences.”
The woman nodded and retreated to the kitchens with the offending tray.
Keezik looked at Turnari, “Well that answers that question.”
“What question?”
“How many changes are too many? The answer is eight or the one she didn’t know was happening.”
Turnari blinked. “Are you sure you want to be paired up with her? She seems a little moodier than most of the women you have chosen since you arrived.”
“I think she is entitled. Her body is under tremendous strain and her mind changes as well. She must be exhausted all the time because she has never been allowed to practice. We will build up her stamina and she will get the instruction that she needs if Equilar agrees.”
Turnari grimaced. “She will agree; she just doesn’t know it yet. Amly’s talent will make her a master spy and she will need all the preparation she can get.”
Keezik grinned, “As long as she gets the sleep she needs, I don’t think she will have a problem with the learning.”
“I hope not. We are counting on her to be willing to help her own people.”
“She will be. She has been working toward that end this entire time. She needs this as much as we do.”
“Are you ready for your part in this?”
Keezik nodded with a grin, “It is a part I was born to play.”
Turnari scowled. “How is it that you make it look so easy?”