Kaylid Chronicles Bundled Set

by Mel Todd

  "Sorry. I don't have a swimsuit on. As you can see I'm fine. So, you can go away now." Cass said even as she felt her face start to heat.

  The young man gave her a wink and a half smile, then rolled his eyes as the girl started to talk.

  "Oh really. Some people. How could you be skinny dipping in a public place? Don’t you know there might be kids around. What are you? One of those shifter perversions? To think I worried someone might have done something awful to you." Her words came at Cass like slaps.

  She tried to convince herself she didn't care about the words of a spoiled stranger but still, the idea that someone thought of her as a perversion when she didn't understand this either, hurt.

  "We're leaving, Jason." She grabbed the young man, who looked more than a bit embarrassed at her attitude. He flashed Cass a smile as he let the woman drag him away.

  "Ma'am, you do realize this qualifies as public indecency, right?" The ranger drawled with his arms crossed and an unamused look on his face.

  "Well there wasn't any public until people stuck their nose in." Cass didn't mean to say it so loud, but the water reflected her voice and the man snorted.

  "Point, but it doesn't change the fact. If you'll come up and get dressed, I'll write you a ticket. And I've seen naked women before." His tone on top of everything else snapped her patience, even as she felt her face flame, not sure if it was embarrassment or anger.

  Cass glanced down and signed. The crystal clear water displayed everything and even the beach there wasn't anything not on display.

  She walked up out of the water, fighting not to cover herself, and not wince at the sharp sticks and rocks that seemed determined to attack her feet.

  He didn't stare at her, instead watching the water, but keeping her in his periphery. Swimming hadn't been on her list of things to do and she hadn't expected to be wet. It took her a bit to get clothes on and not flinch every time she stepped down until after she got her socks and shoes on. Cass turned to face the ranger whose name badge, now that she was close enough to read it, said Wilson.

  "Thank you, ma'am. Now if you could hand over your id."

  "Really? You're going to write me a ticket for public indecency?" Cass winced as her voice rose and cracked a bit.

  "Yes. ID please?"

  Cass handed it over even as she resisted the urge to beat her head against the tree.

  How is this my life? I just wanted to play as an animal. I come to the middle of nowhere and this happens. Really?

  He wrote out the citation and handed it and her license back to her. "Just be aware there are a lot of people out here that don't like shifters and finding a single female shifter out there would have been easy prey for them." He didn't look at her and just turned and walked away striding through the woods more quietly than she had managed in her animal form.

  Cass stood there, the ticket fluttering in her hand as his words wrapped around her heart and crushed something to tiny pieces.

  12

  No More

  Wolverines are a member of the weasel family, but they look more like small bears than a weasel. They prefer cool climes and can range ten to twenty miles a day looking for food or a mate. They have strong scent glands, though not as offensive as skunks. They have been used as the base of perfumes, though their pelts are more valuable in a commercial setting. ~ Science Article.

  During the drive home she turned on the radio to distract her thoughts. After a minute of music that almost started to calm her down, a breaking news story came on, making the late summer day turn icy.

  "As we heard earlier McKenna Largo and the children have all been recovered and they are okay. Sheriff DeSoto will give a press conference later but until that time, a release has been issued explaining the children were taken to be trained as animal body guards and Officer Largo was horrifically abused and forced to keep the children in line. We'll have more information as it becomes available."

  Cass's hands locked up tight on the steering wheel and she almost didn't turn as the road did, her breath coming in short rapid pants. With shaking hands and a mind that wouldn’t stay still, she pulled over to the shoulder and sat there trying to get control of herself.

  I don't need this in my life. I don't have time. I have a job and my family. That's all I need. This, this was an interesting trip, but it's over now, and best forgotten. I not going to be a pawn to others because of this thing I can do. I don't need it.

  Going into the house, she ate because she had to but she dumped the wolverine journal in the trash. She cleared her saved files on wolverines and focused instead on fungus, trying to see exactly what made her new assignment so interesting. Nothing jumped out at her, but she found a few things to follow up on before she went to bed. She spent Sunday doing chores, but nothing interested her. It all seemed like she lived a life that had no meaning, but she couldn’t figure out what to do about it. Setting her alarm, she fell into bed, ready for normalcy to reassert itself into her life.

  Her eyes opened to the same familiar room, the white gleaming area annoying her this time.

  No, I’m not interested. I just want my life back. I was happy before all this.

  The words sounded like a lie even in her own mind and Cass shied away from her thoughts. She ignored the movements of the body she rode, the displays on the screens in front of her. Instead she tried to wake up, not wanting to have dreams that didn’t exist. Nothing she did would wake her up so finally she refocused on the world around her dream and growled. If she had to be here, the least that could happen is she could control the interactions.

  "Attention. You are being reassigned. The Commander has need of medical personnel. Your science background will provide a decent foundation for the Commander’s needs. Training will commence tomorrow. Finish all duties here before reassignment."

  "Acknowledged." The voice coming from her body startled her. It sounded like her but different, somehow changed in a way. She had no sense of her body, but she could tell from the hands that it wasn’t human, humanoid yes, but humans didn’t have claws and fur.

  NO, I don’t care. I just want to wake up.

  Something about this dream hurt in ways she didn’t want to acknowledge, but she couldn’t wake up. She couldn’t change anything, so she watched her avatar work on machines that she vaguely grasped and would have been excited about it if she could have explored. Since she couldn’t it just seemed like one more taunt.

  Even so she couldn’t miss the figures hanging in canisters that were green and being sent to a big one where the cannisters were inserted and came back out empty. By watching, she could tell the beings were removed to be woken up while she watched the canisters being cleaned and put back. Idly she started to count how many cannisters were in that big room. By her best guess, multiplying what she saw, it would have been over five thousand beings held there.

  I wonder how many of these storage facilities there are.

  "Over three hundred, this one is for the specialty squads."

  Wait what? You can answer questions?

  No response. The being kept moving and doing the same motions.

  Please talk to me. Why are you doing this?

  Again, no response and Cass thought furiously.

  The question was directly about the job that it, me, are doing so maybe I can ask about that? How many squads are you decanting?

  "Decanting is at 43% in preparation for Kaylid gathering. My duties will be to finish the ten squads I have left."

  Why? Why are you doing this?

  No response and Cass wished she was solid, so she had something to beat her head on.

  Okay, let’s try it this way. What do squads do?

  "Squads function according to their designation."

  What is your designation?

  "Decanter first rank, but I am being redirected to med specialist for the Commander’s squad."

  Cass wanted to ask so many questions, but a buzzing distracted her, and she tried to figure out what made tha
t sound.

  What is buzzing?

  But the being didn’t respond, instead entering data as the buzzing got louder and louder. She turned and saw her alarm clock going off as it had been for five minutes according to the numbers on it.

  "What the hell?" She didn’t know if she wanted to scream, cry, or throw things. There was something about that scene, something that mattered, information she had but it made no sense. "This is ridiculous, this is just a dream. I’m not going to spend time on it, or the shifting. I need to get back to my life. Get back to writing articles and doing my job."

  She pushed herself out of bed and headed to the shower, wanting nothing more than to run back to the dreams that seemed so different from the here and now.

  No one said anything at work, she checked all her requests, but everything still sat in a pending status. Cass closed her eyes and pushed everything away. Pulling on her lab coat, goggles, and hair net, she did her job. She spoke to no one, left on time, and went home. A romance occupied her evening and she went to bed. Her sleep contained nothing she remembered, and she repeated the schedule for the next week, avoiding news, conversation, and anything that would make her think.

  The week passed in a blur of boring experiments and research, nothing that gave her any enthusiasm. Saturday morning found her staring at the walls, not wanting to do anything. She’d still lost a bit of weight even not shifting, but it didn’t matter to her.

  "Enough, you have stuff to do. Do it."

  The weekend disappeared in mundane stuff and she spent Sunday doing a deep clean on her apartment and throwing things away, not admitting she ran from what she craved, being something more than what she was. She collapsed into bed exhausted, hands wrinkled and pruney from scrubbing floors and her refrigerator.

  The walls this time were filled with diagrams, and she could sense other people around her, but Cass couldn’t get her head to turn to view them and from the way she was positioned it seemed like she sat at the front of the class.

  "Pull up the information on the top of the table in front of you. You will have your class information provided via this interface. When you are ready for practical tests you will be transitioned to the practice room. Your assignment depends on your abilities at this. Keep in mind all Kaylid are only kept if they are worth the expense to keep." The voice sounded around her and in her head as Cass tried to figure out what exactly that meant.

  What in the world does ‘worth the expense’ mean?

  The vision of the being that flashed red, then the way the canister seemed to be disposed of popped up in her mind and she cringed. She wanted to turn and look and see who else was there, see if they were as tense as this body felt. Giving up she focused on the information being presented. It didn’t look like English, but she could understand it. Against her inclination she found herself fascinated by what she read. It talked about the various nervous, vascular, and spinal systems and what could be done to repair them. But first she had to learn the basic biology behind each of the species.

  Wait species? I’m not sure my brain is this creative.

  Either way she couldn’t not learn this, and the buzz of her alarm made her cry in frustration as there was so much still to learn, ideas and tools she didn’t think Earth had ever had.

  13

  In an Instant

  Dream research has seen a spike over the last few months, with many more people seeking out dream interpretation. Key word spikes for dreams, surreal, real dreams, and alien dreams are huge. While no one has information on how many people are seeking treatment for their dreams, the chatters on various boards has risen. In the Furspace community there are entire groups dedicated to the odd dreams shifters have. ~ TNN News blurb

  Cass lived for her dreams over the next few weeks. The world, while still in turmoil over the shifters, had at least started to go back to normal but mostly she worked and dreamed. Of the two, she preferred the dreaming. The fungi had nothing interesting about it and while edible, it had a sharp taste that would put off most consumers. She wrote up the findings and filed them when she noticed an email. Clicking it, she wondered what now. Cass had to blink as she read it, to make sure it really said what she thought it did.

  "Yes!" Her voice echoed in the office. Late on a Wednesday she figured most everyone else had already left, so she didn’t worry about keeping her voice down.

  "Finally figured out how to get a date, Borden?" Chuck’s dry voice sounded behind her.

  Cass squeaked and whirled in the chair, almost falling over. She grabbed the desk and managed to not flip over backwards as she looked at Chuck looming over the low cube wall.

  "What?" The word came out a bit squeakier than she intended as she tried to get her heart rate back to normal.

  "Your yell of excitement? Or have you already forgotten." His mocking smile made her flush a bit, but she sat up straighter.

  "I just found out that not only did the injunction I filed get accepted, but the journal submissions were accepted. And my patent was approved. That was the home office emailing me to let me know and say they have filed for my bonus." It was standard when your papers or patents were accepted they would give you a bonus. Granted, given what any viable patent could make them the ten-thousand-dollar bonus was nothing but still, a lot of companies didn’t do that. They just put an ‘attaboy’ in your file and nothing else.

  Chuck’s mocking smile morphed into a sneer that radiated contempt. "You just think you are so special don’t you. Your articles, forcing businesses to spend money because you think a fucking plant should be protected. You liberals are all alike, you don’t think how your actions affect anyone else." He pulled himself up straight. "Whatever. People like you always get what’s coming to them. Enjoy your win, eventually everyone will see you for the whiny little loser you are you."

  He gave her one last sneer and strode out.

  Cass looked after him completely confused. If anything, she tended to conservative, even if she registered as independent, and it was a Department of Defense building. Not a business.

  What the hell did I ever do to him? Why is he so focused on putting me down?

  Cass sighed. She was too tired and the spurt of energy the email had given her had disappeared. The only thing that called to her was going home and sleeping, but that meant going home first.

  She shut down and headed out, making it to her car when her sister called.

  "Do you watch the cameras to see when I leave so you call right when I get in the car?" Her voice cheerful. In theory she was supposed to go down there this weekend. It sounded good, the kids helped to smooth her out and make it easier to deal with reality. Heck maybe she needed to rethink her childless status. It would at least give her something to focus on besides work. The idea of raising a child alone however didn’t call to her at all.

  "I hate them, I hate them all." Were the first words out of Helena’s mouth along with an element of panic that Cass had rarely heard from her sister.

  "Helena? What’s wrong? Is anyone hurt?" She sat in her car, waiting, her stomach a tight knot.

  Please nothing can happen to them.

  "Oswald is in the hospital." Helena didn’t wail. Cass didn’t think her sister knew how to lose it to that extent, but the anger and fear laced every syllable.

  "What? What happened?" Her mouth had gone dry as she sat locked in fear. If she lost Helena, Oswald, Troy, Laila, then she’d lose everything.

  "Some idiot rear-ended Oswald at a light. He probably was texting and driving or something. But then got out and started blaming Oswald for stopping suddenly. From what Oswald told me." She took a deep breath then continued her voice a bit calmer. "He said he’d been sitting at the light for almost a minute. It’s at the weird intersection near the house where the cycle takes forever. Well the guy is screaming at him and Oswald keeps trying to calm him down, telling him the damage is minor."

  Cass could believe that. Oswald didn’t do confrontation until he absolutely had to, then it coul
d be like a berserker rage. At six feet, with his blonde hair and blue eyes, he could be a bit intense but most of the time he came across as mild mannered.

  "The guy isn’t listening, almost looking like he was frothing at the mouth and then he changes. Right there in the middle of the road, he changed into a wolf and lunges at Oswald sinking his teeth into Oswald’s leg!" Her voice hit a shriek. "Apparently, someone called the cops when the guy started yelling and Oswald said the clothes tangled the wolf up so he couldn’t keep attacking. But Oswald is in surgery now. It’s minor they said. They’ll let him come home tonight. But that damn shifter could have killed him." Her voice broke then and Cass could see her in her mind, tears tracking down her face and trying to control her breathing. Helena hated crying. They’d both picked that up from her mom.

  "Do you need me to come down, take care of the kids? I can probably be there in three hours."

  A deep sniffly breath, then in a calmer tone. "No. ¿Oswald’s mom is here. They came in yesterday. He was going to take a long weekend." She gave a bitter laugh. "If he’d been working his normal hours he’d not have been there."

  Oswald’s mom, Brun, and Cass did not get along. She couldn’t pin point it but the two of them together were like oil and fire, it never ended well.

  "Are you sure? I can bite my tongue and deal with her."

  "No, but thanks. Mom said she’d be down tomorrow and with both of them in the house you wouldn’t help. Sorry."

  Cass had to laugh at that. They loved their mom, but mom had a bad tendency to make Cass feel like she couldn’t do anything right, that she was never as good as Helena, or as smart, or as pretty. It created stress for everyone, even the kids, cause they started to ask why Aunt Cass should be different. Once a year at Christmas tended to be all she could handle. J`Her mom loved her, but she felt like Cass could be better, be someone else, and at this point in her life Cass just wanted to be herself.

  "Okay. Call if you need. Even just to rant okay?"