《Forward in Time》


 Chapter 1 - Richard - Tell me sir, have you ever won the lottery?

    ¡°Are you sure you don¡¯t want me to walk home with you?¡±


    To Richard, the words sounded clear and natural. Had he been sober or just a little less stoned, he might have heard the words with a bit more clarity:


    ¡°Harrr uuuu ssshhhssss nnnt hmmmmm uuuuu?¡±


    Alethia smiled at his attempt at intelligible speech and said,


    ¡°Thanks Rich, but I am good tonight. Besides, you don¡¯t want to be late in case Henry decides to stop in.¡±


    She patted him on the back and bade Richard good night as he stumbled out of Rob¡¯s house. If not for his job, Richard would have stayed in order to mingle and maybe even flirt some more with Alethia. That was not happening tonight unless Richard wanted to get fired. Looking for a new job was too much of a hassle though.


    Those thoughts threatened to sour his high.


    But Richard was a happy drunk. Mix weed and he felt great that night. His shift at Phaser Tag tonight would be more than a little sloppy, but that was why Tony and the other assistant managers existed. His altered mental state also muted his frustration at ending up in the number three slot tonight, again. Rob was the number four, as it always was.


    Numbers one and two were held by Rob¡¯s wife Karen and Alethia. Rob¡¯s wife always held onto first place on game nights. She was brilliant and occasionally a little intimidating. Naturally, the combination of alcohol and marijuana failed to improve his gaming performance.


    Fortunately for Richard, he did not have to drive that night.


    Two blocks from Rob¡¯s house the chill in the air grew worse. Richard¡¯s breath came out in giant gaseous puffs as he panted from the walk. He looked down at his paunch and sighed,


    ¡°If I drank a little less, all of this walking would keep me in pretty good shape.¡±


    A single clap caught Richard¡¯s attention and he turned behind him. Standing almost two feet from Richard stood a man wearing a pin stripe suit and bowler hat. The ends of his mustache twirled up like he had waxed them. Richard tried that with his own sad attempt at facial hair and ended up cutting the whole mass off. This man¡¯s soup catcher hung like a badge of status under his pointed nose. Angular, too much so in fact. That was what Richard thought of the man¡¯s face as the man said,


    ¡°Ah, a preoccupation with weight and fitness. I must be in the right place. Tell me sir, have you ever won the lottery?¡±


    Richard shook his head to clear it. The British affectation to the man¡¯s speech made his words hard to follow, even if Richard had been stone cold sober.


    ¡°What? Lottery? Look man, if you¡¯re selling something, I¡¯m good.¡±


    ¡°Selling something? Perish the thought!¡±


    The man said nothing further and stared unmoving at Richard instead. Richard¡¯s amiable patience was hardly bottomless, but he was also interested now.


    ¡°So what¡¯s up?¡±


    The man smiled and extended his hand to Richard,


    ¡°You¡¯ve won the lottery and I am here to tell you so. Help you collect your winnings and all that.¡±


    Richard started to shake the other man¡¯s hand, but Richard hesitated,


    ¡°Is this some kind of trick or something?¡±


    The man¡¯s smile grew even larger. Through his grin he said,


    ¡°Perish the thought!¡±


    A week later, just a day later and Richard would have questioned the man¡¯s non answer. Had he been one iota less drunk or high he might have wondered why the man insisted on shaking his hand. None of these thoughts occurred to Richard then. Instead he just thought how nice it would be to quit his job and still afford his gaming habits.


    Richard reached out to grip the man¡¯s hand and touched his skin. It felt warm compared to the cold winter air around them. The handshake went on far too long without the man moving in any significant fashion. His smile did not waver, his hand did not move, and as far as Richard could tell nothing else moved either.


    Then he noticed that behind the man the leaves blown by the wind hung unmoving. Like a diorama or piece of wargaming terrain fixed with hot glue or putty; the brown and yellow bits of scrap paper floated without moving.


    Richard tried to speak. He wanted to ask, ¡°What was going on here,¡± but his mouth did not obey him. He tried to pull his hand away from the man and that worked. Far better than Richard would have expected. The man released his grip, smile growing to the point of cutting his face in half.


    The instant Richard lost contact with the man¡¯s hand his world melted beginning with the man himself. His face elongated to resemble a conehead. Then the effect continued until all Richard could perceive of the man was a long flesh colored length of spaghetti. He had the wherewithal to note how spaghetti was already kind of flesh colored as the rest of the world stretched into impossible strings.


    Richard¡¯s body broke out in blazing hot sweat. He felt like he was being burned from the inside, then the outside and then every atom in his body felt like it was itself burning. He tried to scream, but his muscles would not respond through the flaming terror. Unconsciousness took Richard¡¯s awareness and granted him a semblance of peace.


    The last thing Richard saw was the man with the bowler hat¡¯s normally proportioned face, still smiling. He said,


    ¡°Congratulations traveler!¡±


    Pain. Beyond fire, beyond the mere blistering or charring of his flesh, but true foundational nerve pain. Richard could not find a word for it. Because, among other things, his mind felt the pain. As the rest of him did.


    A snap of fingers, a cold rush of liquid soothing pulsed through Richard¡¯s being and the pain vanished like relatives during a personal catastrophe. Richard tried to flee those sour thoughts, but as usual when something bad happened, he remembered the year his parents died. His fourth sophomore year in college.


    Real analysis and Algebraic structures turned out to be harder than Richard anticipated. He should have known better than to take the senior level courses this year, even if he was technically on his fifth year of school. Only a few days remained during which he could drop these courses.


    He was sitting in his room contemplating that move when his cellphone rang. Rachel¡¯s name and smiling face turned up on the screen. She stole his phone one day after he unlocked it ¡ª at her request ¡ª and entered her own picture on her contact. Richard considered not answering. Rachel was a hell of a lot smarter than he was and she might bust his chops again for his lack luster college performance so far. But at the same time, he wanted to talk to anyone right then aside from his stoned roommate.


    The bearded hippie angered Richard for a dozen reasons these days. Not the least of which was that the guy smoked weed like he followed Phish and yet had a 3.8 GPA. In math. The same major as Richard who did not smoke weed, smell like patchouli, or have a GPA over 3.


    He answered his phone to the sound of his sister crying. Not weeping, bawling her eyes out. She managed to cough out her news after several choking hysterical failures,


    ¡°Mom and dad are dead.¡±


    Richard¡¯s memory was not great. Some people boasted of being able to see their memories like a movie in their head. Richard could do that with his imagination but never with his recollection.


    He remembered calling the airline and booking the tickets. He remembered the annoyed tone of the agent on the phone. He later wondered why he even bothered calling instead of going online. But at the time his brain was only limping along having lost its legs to a phone based mortar. After his tickets had been secured, time flashed forward in a blur. He stepped off of the airplane to find his sister waiting for him.


    That image of his sister, her hair disheveled wearing a wrinkled dress she had probably been wearing for days, not even wearing makeup was another artifact stuck in his memory from that time. Even though she was his junior by six years, Rachel made all of the arrangements for his parents¡¯ funeral. The accident ¡ª collision was the modern term he kept forgetting ¡ª was ruled the result of mechanical failure by the other vehicle. In any other circumstance, his natural curiosity would have demanded more information, but that felt like some kind of violation.


    Days after he arrived home, Richard finally called his school and withdrew. At the time he was relieved. His GPA and prospects for the future could not suffer another year of Ds or Cs. Richard intended to return to school, but in the back of his mind knew it would never happen.


    A week after the funeral, Richard moved back home. The only difference was that now he slept in his parent¡¯s room. And he paid the property taxes now instead of his mom and dad.


    Bright light assaulted Richard¡¯s eyes like crowd suppressants or multi-arch lasers. He tried to scream, but something filled his mouth. A hand pushed him back to the bed. He tried to resist, but the pressure was firm and unyielding. A dark shape blocked the light and Richard¡¯s eyes focused on the oval. A silver-haired woman wearing a face mask like a doctor or nurse might wear said,


    ¡°Sir. Please relax. The combination of toxins in your bloodstream reacted in an unanticipated fashion with the schedule. You woke prematurely while we adjust the therapy. Please calm down sir.¡±


    Richard was choking and yet not choking at the same time. His mouth, head, chest, arms and legs all felt numb. He could still feel his belly and hips, but the rest of him felt like the parts fell asleep. A new voice, this one male interposed itself on Richard¡¯s consciousness.


    Richard. Be calm.


    The words held the force of a command. Richard stopped convulsing against the woman¡¯s hand and the restraints that secured his arms and legs.


    We do not intend to harm you, but you could still hurt yourself. Do not try to hurt yourself, Richard.


    Once again, the last sentence carried the force of a command. Richard could suddenly see much more of his surroundings. He lay on a metal table in a polished steel room. An IV bag hung next to his table with a large blue syringe sticking out from it. Both objects had tiny print on them, but Richard could not understand the language.


    Two people stood in the room, a woman wearing a mask and wielding various instruments and a man with his arms folded on his chest watching the proceedings. They both wore silver colored unitards that made them look like oompa loompas.


    Richard tried to laugh through the tube in his throat and only resulted in further choking. He lost consciousness for the second time.


    The third time Richard woke, he felt much better. He woke softly, like someone who cared for him had whispered into his ear. He opened his eyes to find himself in a modest bedroom. The walls were painted moss green with bright white trim. The carpet was piled and soft as down when Richard dropped his feet onto it. Two paintings hung in the room, one was the four-part psychedelic painting from the seventies that became so popular for political campaigns. A single object sat in each section of the painting, a bottle of Channel perfume. The name of the artist came to Richard when he wondered: Andy Warhol.


    The second painting was a of a pastoral lake scene. Two children and an older woman gathered fruit or clippings from a sparse tree on the shore of a silver lake on a grey foggy morning. Tears welled in Richard¡¯s eyes as he looked on. This time, the painter and the painting sprang to mind: Souvenir de Mortefontaine by Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot.


    Richard had never studied art. He had no idea where that piece of knowledge had come from. Nervous, yet strangely calm, Richard turned to the door. A stout white door with four long panels and two small panels at the top led out of the room.Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.


    He approached the door but could not find a handle that would let him open it. Before Richard could touch the door, it slid open like a Japanese shoji. Richard stepped back, still feeling a sense of calm. A gorgeous silver haired woman stood in the doorway. She wore a cream dress that contrasted perfectly with her dark skin. Her eyes were slanted; she had epicanthic folds. Once again, a word popped into Richard¡¯s mind that he could not otherwise account for. Behind her a steel hallway stretched in either direction from his room. Before he could look out of the door, the woman walked in and said,


    ¡°Hello Richard Kain. My name is Astella Houri. Please call me Houri.¡±


    She bowed and the door slid shut behind her. Richard said,


    ¡°What is going on here?¡±


    He knew intellectually that he should be upset by what was happening, but he remained calm. He could not even force himself to become upset.


    ¡°I am very sorry for how you have been treated so far. Please let me explain. Would you like to take a seat?¡±


    There were no chairs in his room. Did she mean the bed?


    Richard thought that as he turned and looked behind him. A small wooden desk had appeared at the wall as well as two stout black wooden chairs. The woman sat down, so Richard followed suit. The appearance of this furniture was not natural or normal. But Richard was incapable of being bothered by it right then.


    Houri said,


    ¡°Thank you. Please let me explain. You were subjected to an illegal temporal anomaly that forced you out of the time stream. You met a man with a pin stripe suit, correct?¡±


    ¡°Yes, and a bowler hat and mustache.¡±


    The woman¡¯s posture straightened at those words.


    ¡°Describe him further for me.¡±


    Richard gave as much detail as he could, somehow including even the man¡¯s scent, a detail he could not have recalled before. He smelled like ozone combined with old man aftershave.


    Houri nodded after Richard finished and said,


    ¡°Thank you. That matches the description of a notorious criminal leader. You are alive because he used your temporal crossing as a decoy. When our people found you, we brought you here.¡±


    ¡°Where is this place? When is this?¡±


    The woman smiled,


    ¡°We are in a sanctuary. The time is approximately seventeen thousand years after the first man-made nuclear explosion on Earth.¡±


    Richard swallowed. He was calm, but he could still appreciate the gravity of the woman¡¯s words. He said,


    ¡°Why? What did you do to me?¡±


    The woman nodded and said,


    ¡°We saved your life. Without modification, you would have died minutes after your temporal transition. I believe that was part of the intention of your attacker as well. We are committed to saving people like yourself.¡±


    ¡°Okay, you saved my life. Why do I get the impression there¡¯s more to it than that?¡±


    ¡°Because in addition to physical modifications and improvements, the therapy we administered also provides emotional and intellectual enhancements. Over the next four days, you will become stronger, smarter and healthier than you have ever been. More so than anyone else on Earth in your time.¡±


    ¡°Thank you?¡±


    The woman grinned,


    ¡°You are welcome. Most people in your position would be much more unsettled, as I am sure you have concluded.¡±


    ¡°Yes, I noticed that my responses are out of whack.¡±


    ¡°That is because Henry ordered you to remain calm. In addition to some the enhancements, you should anticipate development of some kind of Talent. Perhaps even more than one, though that is fantastically unlikely.¡±


    ¡°When will it wear off? Wait, talent like what?¡±


    Houri smiled and said,


    ¡°I am an projective illusionist. In part, I teach and help train new recruits. Watch.¡±


    Houri held her hand up, palm facing one of the pale green walls. An image appeared there of a tall clean shaven man wearing hospital scrubs. His light brown hair was neatly trimmed to stay out of his eyes. He had the kind of killer physique Richard daydreamed about, but was unwilling to put the effort in to acquire.


    ¡°Who is that?¡±


    As soon as he asked, he knew the answer. That was more than an illusion, it was a kind of mirror.


    ¡°It is you, Richard Kain.¡±


    ¡°Damn. I look pretty buff, huh?¡±


    ¡°By your standards, I suppose so, yes.¡±


    ¡°So what is next?¡±


    Houri said,


    ¡°We have four more days of minor therapy to administer, some additional training so get you used to your body, and we¡¯ll begin orientation after that. Since you¡¯re awake, I thought you might appreciate access to some reading material. It¡¯s all from your century though.¡±


    ¡°Sounds like I am grounded to my room, is that right?¡±


    Houri nodded,


    ¡°We would prefer not to hold you here, but your safety is paramount. This is both a training facility and a mobile base. Due to the latter fact, you could be in grave danger wandering the halls.¡±


    ¡°Okay. When do I get my talent?¡±


    Hour smiled again like she was laughing at Richard. He wondered if that was how she expressed her laughter.


    ¡°You already have it. The question before you is what does your talent do and how do you activate it. I will give you a hint: at first, the talent arises out of need. It initially responds like a reflex, once it has, you can start trying to control it. Good evening Mr Kain. I will be around tomorrow to speak.¡±


    Houri touched the door and it slid open,


    ¡°Oh, I almost forgot. Do you have any dietary restrictions we should know about? Any requests that might make your stay more comfortable?¡±


    ¡°Nope, I¡¯ll eat anything that is actually edible. I dig seafood I guess. How do I access the books?¡±


    ¡°Tap the surface of the desk. A menu should appear with an assistant. I believe you will find the interface quite intuitive.¡±


    ¡°Thank you.¡±


    ¡°You are welcome, Mr Kain. Until later.¡±


    Houri bowed and the door slid shut behind her.


    Richard walked over to the desk and tapped on the surface. After a minute spent exploring the UI, he had mastered this simple computer. He found several headings under ¡°twenty-first century literature¡±. The ones that intrigued him the most were the years that followed his own. There he found a collection of comic books and novels that had not yet been released in his time. The library contained the complete works of George RR Martin as well as a decade¡¯s worth of Stars Wars films.


    Richard was in heaven. The next two days passed in a blur of binge watching shows that had not yet been released and eating sushi he could not quite identify the origin of. If Richard had died during that two day stretch, he would have been okay with it. The room provided for all of Richard¡¯s needs, producing a bath, shower, sink, and toilet on demand. This was the ultimate shut-in hovel.


    The third day of his vacation-esque confinement, Richard was reading the fourth major Unstoppable Wasps series when the room tipped and lurched under him. The comic book dissipated as the rest of the room turned into mist. Richard fell butt first onto a cold steel floor in a large steel room. Everything about the room had turned out to be fabricated.


    The door was a large steel plate with two handholds near the side. Richard gripped them and pulled on the door. It resisted only a moment before something in the mechanism snapped and the door slid free on its railing.


    Smoke and acrid ash filled the hallways and drifted into his room. Richard could run either right or left.


    Like a seasoned adventurer, he chose left.


    Richard had never run so fast in his entire thirty-odd years of life. His feet tore down the hallways like he had treads on his soles. He wondered if this was his super power as he turned a corner. Broken bodies littered the floor, all of them silver clad dark skinned people with large round cauterized holes in them. Richard did not expect to find as much blood as he did. He thought that the cauterizations would have meant no blood loss. Reconsidering the matter with his massive new brain, simple physics denied the claim to bloodlessness. Too much pressure and force would have been generated for there to be no blood. Maybe the laser or whatever killed these people vaporized part of their flesh. But it clearly did not vaporize all of it.


    Hence, blood.


    He stepped over them and continued running the only direction in which this hall led.


    Reflecting on the dead, he felt surprisingly calm. Those were the first corpses Richard had ever seen. He should have been ill. He wanted to feel ill. But somehow his brain did not respond correctly. Running and meta-thinking should have been mutually exclusive. Richard could easily do both as he simultaneously noted the explosions¡¯ proximities and skillfully avoided them. He might have been a lower tier wargamer, but he was a first rung FPS operator. His own preferred term. Plus this was just like Phaser Tag, only he had no gun. And his body worked better than it ever had in his whole life.


    Richard identified the pseudo-hypnotic command, jammed into his brain by the unidentified stranger. As he thought about that man, several things happened. He ran past the first door he had seen so far that was partly opened and a visual impression of the man who had hypnotized him appeared in the left corner of his vision, like a heads up display.


    Along with the figure of the man and the opened room, Richard heard two more explosives detonate way too close to his position. He wondered where he was and small flashing map appeared in the right corner of his sigh. While all of this happened, two enormous words flashed in front of him: ¡°Initialize []¡± and ¡°Abort []¡±.


    Without knowing how to interact with the words, Richard just concentrated on initializing. The matching word flashed green and Richard¡¯s sight went black. A high pitched whine sounded in his ears and his balance shifted wildly as he grabbed onto the slightly askew door handle. When he touched the metal it felt like he stuck his hand in a box of razor blades and then wrapped his fingers around him.


    In short, every neuron in his body temporarily went berserk. In a far distant corner of his mind, Richard¡¯s consciousness rode a wave of calm before the reset he had just afflicted on himself. He tried to focus, to concentrate on something, but all he wanted right then was for the mixture of pain, pleasure, and mind rocking seizures to end.


    The process started with a reset and ended perfunctorily. The tiny sliver of his consciousness suddenly repossessed his no longer convulsing body. He had voided his bowels and bladder. His mouth tasted acrid, like he might have thrown up in it. His vision returned with a clarity Richard was unaccustomed to.


    Two warnings flashed: ¡°Do not initialize while standing!¡± and ¡°Disable neural reset prior to initialize during emergencies!¡±


    Richard mumbled,


    ¡°Wow, that would have been really helpful information before I did that.¡±


    He stood and found himself in a commissary or quartermaster¡¯s shop. He knew that because a floating label helpfully identified the room he stood in. Richard wandered where he could get fresh clothes, supplies, and maybe a weapon.


    His HUD produced floating overlays directing him to all three articles. Several other warnings and messages flashed in the periphery, but so many of them made it easy to ignore. Except for one that continually interposed itself in the forefront of his sight: ¡°WARNING PROTOCOL EPSILON ENGAGED!¡±


    Richard ignored that message while he picked out what he was looking for. Explosions continued to rock the building and Richard¡¯s artificial calm started to erode. Staying in this room until nothing bad was happening seemed like a great idea. But first, he cleaned himself with a rag and threw a silver unitard on, the only piece of clothing present.


    The outfit shrank to his size. It felt wonderful, automatically adjusting to his preferred climate. It even exuded a pleasant odor that subtly varied while Richard considered it. He scooped up a small pouch that stuck to the silver uniform and a small stick-like object the HUD identified as a weapon. It resembled a wand more than a lightsaber, but Richard gripped it two handed and swung the stick around the room. Nothing happened. He shrugged and put the stick in his pouch along with food and medicine the HUD outlined.


    Richard¡¯s HUD high-lit one more object, or set of objects: a small pouch containing two more blue syringes along with a larger green syringe. He placed those in his pouch and sealed it like a really well made zip-lock baggie.


    The pouch looked flush against his uniform and would be very difficult to spot without already knowing it was there.


    ¡°Now it is time to get out of here.¡±


    His HUD showed a blue path on the floor that continued to the right out of this room. Not back to where his room was. He thought to himself. I want to go back to my room. The blue path flashed once and then faded.


    ¡°Crap. Okay, out of here works fine then.¡±


    The blue path returned and Richard stepped fully out of the hallway. Large swaths of metal had been slagged on either side of the hallway. All of Richard¡¯s instincts along with his reason tried to corral him back into the supply room. But the path pointed the way and enough suggestion of calm remained that his fear in the face of the situation had still not taken control of him.


    Despite the calm, he knew that he was no longer running ahead of whatever exploded the hallways and murdered the defenders.


    He was running behind it.


    Richard¡¯s main hope lie in avoiding the marauder at all costs. He was utterly unequipped to handle a strange fight. As he thought about hiding, he uniform extended a hood over his head and face. He could see through it suddenly, and could see that the unitard also sealed over his hands so that he could see through them. The HUD helpfully provided lines for his body when it entered his field of view. Otherwise, he was invisible.


    If he moved his hands really quickly, the jitter produced by his movement revealed his limbs. But otherwise he was a ghost. A Predator ghost.


    Richard slowed his progression. Now that he was convincingly hidden, Richard¡¯s inner fears had quieted down. He needed to follow the path to his exit and everything would be fine. This was like playing D&D or an online RPG. Right now, Richard was a solo rogue and he needed to use his powers to escape the dungeon.


    Now that he could reorient his thinking, Richard felt much more at ease. Instead of laser blasted hallways, these were scarred by dragon fire and fell magics. Danger lurked ahead, of course, but he had trained his whole life for this. Richard ¡ª no, Rick the Rogue ¡ª would escape capture and return to his loyal party.


    After a few minutes of slowly crawling through the recent destruction, flashes and shouting up ahead alerted Richard to the presence of his enemies. He could not see where the bright flashes of light originated from or who fired them, so he assumed that they were also invisible. The blue path turned just up ahead, so Richard let himself hurry in order to make his escape.


    The blue path ended at a blank wall.


    Richard said, ¡°AI Friend?¡± as the HUD outlined the large rectangle of the door and a smaller rectangle in the upper right. He touched it with his hand and the door shrank back into the wall and slid open.


    Richard walked into the room and his invisibility faded. Another message appeared in his HUD that he subsequently ignored as well. Inside of this room was a small hallway that ended at a second door. The panel to open this door was obvious and located at about waist height. He opened the second door as well. This was where the blue path ended.


    The room contained a large round platform raised on stilts in the center of the room. Next to the door a man stood over a console and looked behind him when Richard appeared. Richard recognized the man as the one who hypnotized him. Richard put his hands over his ears as the man shouted,


    ¡°What? You can¡¯t be here!¡±


    The man¡¯s face contorted between fear and rage as he looked behind Richard,


    ¡°No! The door¡¯s open!¡±


    The man made a short gesture with his hand and a flash passed by Richard leaving a light trail in its wake. The man at the console looked down at his chest,


    ¡°No. You have to destroy the time¡­ No!¡±


    He coughed up blood and fell over.


    Richard screamed this time and lunged for the console, hoping to find a way to close the door behind him. He knew he did not want to look behind him to see what fresh horror had killed most of the time traveling strangers who helped him.


    In accord with his panicked thoughts, the door behind him slid shut. As the metal pieces clicked together, something heavy rammed into the door. The impact produced an explosion-like sound that shook Richard¡¯s knees. The door withstood the assault, but only seconds later had started glowing red, as if something were trying to melt its way through.


    Richard shouted at the console,


    ¡°Take me home!¡±


    His HUD displayed the sequence he needed to enter in order to return to his time and place. Richard felt relief that the machine seemed to respond correctly. Almost as an afterthought, he said,


    ¡°Okay, how do I setup a self destruct?¡±


    The protocol displayed itself before Richard and he realized that he would have to be here in order to complete the sequence. Once done, he could not then use the time machine to go home.


    His choice was an obvious one.


    Richard punched in the acknowledgement sequence and watched the time machine whir into life. A blue field that resembled a sheet of lighting spun into existence. He ran up the platform and left the collapsing base and the time traveling defenders behind. He felt a tiny pang of guilt at denying the dead man his last request. But Richard needed to go home, somewhere safe.

 Chapter 2 - Alethia - Allie! Wake up! You have to see this!

    ¡°Goodnight Rob!¡±


    Alethia waved and held her plastic smile in place as best she could. Under her breath she added, ¡°You stupid jerk.¡± She said the words just softly enough that only her friend Karen could hear them.


    Alethia knew she did not need to say that, but those words served a dual purpose. They insulted Karen¡¯s borderline abusive husband and let Karen know how Alethia felt. But only revealed a shadow of the feeling; a sprinkle so light that Alethia could continued to deny the uncomfortable truth behind those words: Alethia was attracted to Karen. Desperately so.


    ¡°I am sorry he was behaving poorly tonight. I forgot to wake him up in time for frisbee golf.¡±


    Alethia bit her lip. Times like this only heaped confusion over her, like the feeling of watching a perfectly sorted series of index cards fall to the ground. Or when you are twelve and your mother rearranges your closet, or worse, discards things she thinks you no longer need.


    Alethia wanted to tell Karen the truth. There was nothing borderline about her husband¡¯s abuse. He was a manipulative liar who obstructed or ruined anything in Karen¡¯s life that did not involve him directly. But, in the interest of truth, that move would force Alethia to tell Karen her own truth. That Alethia was falling in love with her friend and had been for months. Maybe even years.


    As a compromise, Alethia hugged Karen and said,


    ¡°It is not your fault he is mean to you.¡±


    Karen sighed and said,


    ¡°I told you. The therapist and the psychologist all say we need to keep adjusting his medication. That¡¯s not fair Allie.¡±


    Alethia smiled and nodded.


    Karen grinned back and said,


    ¡°That means you don¡¯t really agree. You are an open book, Alethia Thompson.¡±


    ¡°Okay, you¡¯re right. I just want Rob to treat you right. That¡¯s all.¡±


    ¡°You don¡¯t see the good stuff Allie. It¡¯s weird to talk about the good stuff. Who needs advice about that? So don¡¯t base your opinion of him just on things like this.¡±


    That only worsened Alethia¡¯s confusion. Karen the kind, the honest, the compassionate. She should have been treated like a queen. That was how Alethia would heave treated her.


    If only she could tell Karen the truth.


    Instead she changed the subject,


    ¡°That fire team thing you pulled during our match was pretty neat. Have you been planning that long?¡±


    Karen blushed. Yet another beautiful part of her was her modesty. She was one of the top wargamers in the city and she still turned red if you mentioned it. Even in private.


    Karen shook her dark brown wavy hair and said,


    ¡°No. I stole that from an online friend.¡±


    ¡°I think it¡¯s so cool you study strategy like this.¡±


    ¡°There is no other way to stay competitive. You could do it too, if you cared enough.¡±


    Alethia did not really agree with that. She would never be as good as Karen even if she were more invested in the game. But she only played wargames for the chance to spend time with Karen and Richard in a tolerable setting. That and for a chance to pursue her art. Since Rob would always be present with those two, role playing games were out. As was going to the local comic book shop, Swords, Bags and Boards.


    That thought led to the next, she had to wake up tomorrow morning early to teach a freshman Bio section.


    ¡°Crap Karen. I need to leave! I am so sorry. It¡¯s too late for me to stay and chat anymore!¡±


    ¡°Right, you¡¯re teaching Bio 401 tomorrow, right? I feel sorry for you.¡±


    ¡°The only real drag is the contingent of ID kids in the back.¡±


    ¡°ID?¡±


    Alethia groaned,


    ¡°Intelligent Design. They are not fans of evolution.¡±


    ¡°Ugh. I am extra sorry.¡±


    ¡°Tell me about it, I bet you never get grad students or upper divisions with a political axe to grind, right?¡±


    ¡°Nope. If you are taking Cellular Microbiology or Genetic Sciences, you tend to have already settled the question of evolution in your mind. How¡¯s the dissertation coming along?¡±


    ¡°Ugh. Double ugh. I already got a lecture last week about lab priorities from Doc Sayers.¡±


    ¡°What happened?¡±


    ¡°I booked them way ahead of time, but I am running parallel inks for two straight weeks. Sayers was irritated that I am just going to be idle watching samples cure and cook. He¡¯s right. My lab plan just overlooked that part.¡±


    Karen patted Alethia on the shoulder,


    ¡°It¡¯s the advisor¡¯s job to give you corrections. You might find that seeding him with something to be unhappy about proves useful. Anyway, I won¡¯t keep you. Thanks again for staying while the smoke clears.¡±


    Alethia hugged Karen,


    ¡°I love staying here with you. There is no need to thank me.¡±


    Alethia drove home on her own. Unlike Richard or Robert, Alethia did not indulge her vices if she was responsible for her own travel. That was why they had to game at Rob¡¯s house. It was in walking distance for Richard and Rob did not have to drive anywhere afterwards.


    Karen did not drive.


    Alethia would have been fine picking Richard up and driving him around. Even when he was drunk and stoned, he was more than tolerable. Though not as funny as he thought. If not for the drunk part, Alethia really would not have minded at all.


    Her blue Toyota turned out of the cul du sac where Karen lived and Alethia swerved and screeched her tires to a stop as something blue and electric exploded in front of her car. She ran up on the sidewalk and managed to stop before she hit one of the brick flower pot / mailbox combos that were so popular in this neighborhood.


    Alethia debated leaving the car. She was safer inside than she was out, but she was too concerned that she might have hit someone. She opened the door to see a figure lying in the street covered in silver. She ran to the figure and he groaned.


    Alethia shouted,


    ¡°Oh my god, you¡¯re alive! Thank god! Don¡¯t try to move!¡±


    The man shivered and rose on his two feet. He wore a kind of onesie that was silver throughout.Alethia thought, Maybe this is an alien? as the man faced her and shivered terribly a moment.


    He said, ¡°Oh good. It¡¯s you,¡± and fell over.


    Alethia felt for the man¡¯s pulse. His heart was beating so fast that the medical training Alethia lacked insisted she call an ambulance for the stranger. She thought he was a stranger. But as she heaved him into her car, she saw something oddly familiar in his face. His voice had been distinct too. Native Texan with a hint of the midwest. Alethia could not quite put her finger on who the man reminded her of. Exhaustion and stress from knowing that she might be making colossal mistake kept her alert and far too keyed up for the drive home. A miracle or guardian angel ensured her safe arrival at home. Alethia could not carry the man herself, so she retrieved the landlord¡¯s wheelbarrow.


    He said she could use anything in the shed, so there.


    The man¡¯s arms flailed out of the wheelbarrow as she pushed it into her house. Alethia would have counseled anyone watching to call the police based on what they saw. She had to hope that no one was watching or if they were, they did not have her Baptist raised conscience.


    The man still breathed slowly while his heart thundered along like a herd of horses. Alethia was now worried that his pulse might indicate a bigger problem than could be treated by resting in a stranger¡¯s home. The web confirmed her fears. She had her cellphone on, dialing 9-1-1 when the man opened his eyes and said,


    ¡°Allie? What are you doing here? It¡¯s dangerous here.¡±


    She dropped her phone without hitting the call button. That voice belonged to Richard.


    ¡°Jesus Richard, what is going on?¡±


    He grinned and croaked,


    ¡°You mean who and don¡¯t call me that. Jesus Richard¡¯s my cousin.¡±


    He giggled and coughed some.


    ¡°Oh god. Did I hit you with my car?¡±


    Richard laughed some more,


    ¡°If you did, I would hate to see the other guy.¡±


    Now his whole body took up shivering again. It grew so bad that Alethia could hear his teeth chattering. She took several blankets out of her small bedroom closet and covered Richard with them. It had been cold outside tonight, so maybe he fell and had been lying in the street? That did not explain the electric flash nor the weird unitard he wore. Of course that might be a cosplay thing and Alethia simply did not notice him wearing it earlier.


    Blankets covering him, Richard started to settle down. He still shivered, but now it was occasional and less severe. As soon as the shivering lessened, Richard passed out on her couch. Oddly, he did not smell of pot or alcohol.


    Alethia felt anxious enough that she used her own small vaporizer. She did not smoke. That could hurt you. Vaporization might only be a tiny fraction better, but it was still better. If not for the legality and cost, she might have made her own baked goods. The drug did its job and Alethia found herself able to sleep through the night.


    When she woke for work that morning, Alethia felt exhausted. She brewed coffee automatically in her magenta underwear before she realized Richard stayed over again. A yelp tried to escape from her mouth, but she managed to corral it before it went and woke him. Back in her room, she threw shorts on and checked herself in the mirror. Today would be a foundation and eyeshadow day.


    More and more of those lately.


    Alethia¡¯s mind wanted her to know how foggy and unhappy it felt without coffee. She needed to feed it before it became nasty. The alarm from the coffeemaker went off because she forgot to set it to quiet.


    Crap crap crap She chanted in her head as she ran back into the living room to turn the sound off. Richard had not stirred, unusual for him. He was a heck of a light sleeper, even on a bender like this. She checked him again and debated calling EMS.


    ¡°This is stupid.¡±


    Alethia bent down and shook Richard. She started with a nice, gentle rocking and worked up to using some force. His eyes fluttered open and he smiled.


    ¡°Allie. Good to see you.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I guess you really tied one over. You look weird, Richard.¡±


    ¡°Uh huh. Goodnight.¡±


    He was snoring and out again, but at least he was alive and not comatose.


    She decided he would keep until after her teaching sections this morning, but set up the usual webcam incase he hurt himself or something.


    Every other part of her life was running behind that morning. She paired everything down to the essentials. Her morning jog got shelved along with morning reading. Coffee and toast were already in hand. Papers though, those were critical. Thankfully, Alethia spent the evening before going to Karen¡¯s house checking papers. But she left assigning and entering the actual grades until the morning. She was running late last night too.


    Five minutes to spare and she finished the last of her daily assignments. Alethia was dressed ¡ª the shorts and t-shirt were exchanged for jeans and a light sweater ¡ª and at the bus stop in time to make her classes and maybe even chat with Laura, one of her fellow TAs before class.


    She walked through the doors to the biology department¡¯s building with almost fifteen minutes to spare. Laura was nowhere to be seen, but the hallways roared with the press of students. Most left there classes to go somewhere else. But a growing number began to push against those leaving.


    ¡°Alethia?¡±


    The woman¡¯s voice turned out to be Laura,


    ¡°Hey girl! Are you looking forward to sections tonight?¡±


    ¡°I am, did you mean to skip out on the TA meeting today?¡±


    Alethia panicked,


    ¡°Oh crap! Crap crap crap! I guess they missed me?¡±


    Laura readjusted her grip on the stack of notes in her hands. Alethia liked Laura for that reason. She was old school in how she kept her notes. Otherwise, Laura was a svelte cheerleader type that Alethia would never have spent time with during high school.


    ¡°I don¡¯t think they did. Everyone in the department seemed kinda distracted today. You still might want to check in and let anyone who might have been paying attention know what was up.¡±


    ¡°Thanks Laura, good luck with your classes!¡±


    She flashed Alethia a bright white smile. Alethia could not help but suspect that the other woman had an ulterior motive for speaking with Alethia. But she could not decide what it was.


    Classes flew by.


    The day¡¯s assignments were handed out via email along with grades for individual assignments. That was nice because that meant that Alethia could focus on teaching instead of paperwork or other distractions.Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.


    With the classes she taught over, Alethia checked her webcam to see that Richard was still asleep on her couch. She sighed. He was like having a weird older brother, something that Alethia could only imagine as an only child. Richard¡¯s fate safely assured, she started to head off for her own classes. But an email alert from a student arrived informing her that she made a mistake grading. She checked it and found out he was right. Alethia cursed herself. These all went to her TA supervisor and she was not happy with the dearth of attention Alethia had been giving her TA duties.


    She closed up her computer and left her hand on the lid. This would be the fourth or fifth set of mistakes in grading. This was one of those stupid areas where no one really suffered ¡ª Alethia just corrected the errors and moved on normally ¡ª but the administration had decided to ¡®hold teaching assistants to a higher standard¡¯ which was a fun new way of reminding all of them they were disposable and could be replaced in an eye blink by new crop of even more desperate graduate students. The fact that she still needed these teaching hours for her degree did not seem to be a factor. Hopefully Doctor Sayers could do something for her. He was well-liked and convincing.


    At least her next classes were all graduate sections. For these, Alethia took pen and paper notes. The click-clack of computer keyboards in the room was still distracting, but Alethia had slowly grown accustomed to the sound.


    With the reminder that she had a TA meeting today, Alethia recalled that she also had kingdom activities today. Rachel would be at weapons¡¯ practice which would give Alethia enough exercise to make up for skipping her jog this morning.


    Professor Schmidt¡¯s work in mono-cellular genetics could not compete with arms practice, so Alethia also knew she needed to go today, even if her schedule ended up hectic, again.


    Her advisor was not in his office, so Alethia bashed out a quick email letting him know why she missed the meeting today ¡ª sick friend ¡ª which was fine because it happened to be true. Her email also informed Alethia that she had successfully covered for Richard with his day job. She sighed. He would not be paid for missing work today, Alethia¡¯s grant was fine as long as she was not arrested for a felony, caught committing fraud, or suffered academic probation. But if she was fired as a TA, she would be out in the streets, grant or no grant. She would have to find a new job if she wanted to stay in grad school in that case.


    None of those things were particularly likely. But she was still skating on thin ice.


    Back home, Richard slept like he was ill. He did not have a fever, but his pulse was down. In the light of day, he looked very different under the blanket. She knew it was her friend, but he might have been beaten up or something. A flash light did not do much to penetrate into the folds of blanket when he buried his head.


    This was too like Richard for Alethia. If he needed sleep, she would leave him alone for now. She could always lecture him later. She started to invite him to weapon¡¯s practice, but if he felt like this he did not need to be out in the weak Texas winter trying to swing a sword.


    Alethia changed into sweatpants, an old UW shirt, and some minor padding for her chest and joints. These pads she used for Taekwondo growing up, so she had not needed to buy new ones for the SCA. Today was low pressure for Alethia. Almost everyone attended practice with their regular attire. The weapon master for their kingdom required protective equipment during practice, because he was responsible Alethia thought to herself. Unlike the weapon master for our barony.


    The idiot, Timaeus, would probably be present today. That was the only potential low point that lay before Alethia and made her reconsider attending practice every time she remembered. When she got off the bus, she only had two blocks to walk, practice was downtown near campus.


    Tony saw her before anyone else did, so her ran up to greet her. He tried to hug her, which was another potential point of badness. Alethia put her hands up and said,


    ¡°I am sorry Tony, I am not ready for hugging yet.¡±


    He pulled up short and nodded. His long feathery locks fell into his eyes as he bowed in front of Alethia. That had been the first feature she noticed before they started dating. She had also appreciated his lean, whipcord tight body. But her present confusion had ended their relationship.


    ¡°I am sorry Alethia. That was presumptuous of me. Forgive me?¡±


    He held out his hand while grinning at her through his hair. Alethai sighed; he knew how attractive she had once found that pose. The fact that it did nothing for her now was just a further indication of her troubles.


    ¡°Of course you¡¯re forgiven you big dork. Is Tiny Dumb here?¡±


    ¡°You mean Timmeeey? Yeah, sorry Lethia. He¡¯s gunning for you. Or swording. Whatever the right verb is. Swinging for you?¡±


    Alethia grinned and said,


    ¡°Ugh, English majors. I guess I will warm up and try to deal with Tiny Dumb again.¡±


    Alethia threw her duffle next to the red and green duffle that belonged to Rachel. Out on the green, Rachel and five other combatants had squeezed themselves into heavy armor and were duking it out with loud clanging attacks. Alethia preferred light weapons to heavy. They felt more like the weapons she was familiar with from martial arts.


    ¡°I see you decided to join us, Mara.¡±


    That would be Timaeus.


    ¡°Howdy Tiny. What do you want?¡±


    ¡°Perhaps your short memory and thin wit have deprived you of your sense? My name is Timaeus. Not Tiny.¡±


    He wore a purple and black doublet that he definitely made himself. The quality was incredible considering it was handmade by a total jerk. Alethia had wished he kept to himself among the tailors instead of interfering with her weapon practice.


    Alethia built up steam for an insult when a blonde woman wearing shorts and a light t-shirt despite the cold stepped in front of Tiny. Her hair was shaved around the back and sides, but it was left longer on the top so it hung just out of her eyes. She winked at Alethia when she said,


    ¡°What ho villain. Your words give offense where none is needed. You have offended me and I insist that honor be satisfied.¡±


    Tiny looked at the woman and broke character,


    ¡°Wait, who are you?¡±


    Five minutes after the heavy weapons melee broke up, Tiny and the newcomer squared off on the lawn. The woman held a long duct taped rod in hand and a small stick on her side. Tiny held a sword and short blade in both hands. He was a southpaw so that threw most of his opponents off.


    ¡°Zoe is gonna win.¡±


    Alethia did not jump or shriek, but she started at the words whispered into her ear. She turned to see her best friend Rachel standing holding two warm styrofoam cups. She was grinning.


    ¡°I should stab you for trying to startle me. If I could hold a sword straight today. Did you see me during practice?¡±


    ¡°I saw the twitch and the mess that is your sword form. I brought armistice coffee. If you want the sweet caffeine, you have to agree to a preliminary cease fire.¡±


    Alethia laughed and scooted over so Rachel could share the bench with her. Alethia said,


    ¡°Did you say her name was Zoe?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, she¡¯s one of my friends from Boston. She is also the weapon master for the whole kingdom. Or she was until she moved away.¡±


    ¡°Oh. So this is about to be funny?¡±


    ¡°That is exactly right.¡±


    Alethia redirected her attention in time to see the start of the bout. Zoe did not blink or move at the signal to start, so Tiny took his turn. Zoe¡¯s liquid response shifted her stance one step into her opponent¡¯s guard and brought the tip of her sword into Tiny¡¯s lower ribs. The judge called the good hit right away.


    People watching sighed and quieted when that happened. Those who had been too distracted now watched to see if what their friends said was true.


    It was.


    Zoe was as tall as Tiny, both of them four inches taller than Alethia, so her reach did not suffer much compared to his. But her grace and speed exceeded Tiny¡¯s by an unfair margin. Only two more encounters and she was declared the victor.


    He kneeled before Alethia and apologized,


    ¡°My lady, I regret my hasty words, please see your way to forgiving my brashness.¡±


    Alethia nodded silently while she watched Zoe pull her face protection off. Honor satisfied, Tiny walked over to sulk with his groupies. Alethia walked over to Zoe,


    ¡°Hey, I am Alethia. You¡¯re Zoe, right?¡±


    ¡°Nice to meet you. I hope I didn¡¯t make any trouble for you there.¡±


    She had a thick east coast accent. Alethia wondered what Zoe thought of the Texas accents that surrounded her. They chatted for longer than Alethia had intended and she had to run home for food and to check back up on Richard. She excused herself from the conversation and ran to catch her bus before she missed it.


    Back at home, she microwaved some food and checked up on Richard again. If he was still in bed tomorrow morning, she would make him go to the doctor. Or maybe start paying rent.


    Alethia fell asleep in her room, logged into her homework grading account.


    ¡°Allie! Wake up! You have to see this!¡±


    The voice reminded her of her dad, but it was too high pitched. He was still one of the few people who called her by that nickname.


    She opened her eyes and shouted, a strange looking man was standing over her bed trying to wake her up. She surprised him with her explosion of violence. Alethia kicked out at the man several times, using her own strikes to push her farther away from that side of her bed and away from the man.


    He took all of her kicks and quietly spoke. Adrenaline made Alethia¡¯s ears ring, she said,


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°Allie, it¡¯s Richard. I think you dragged me in here last night. In a wheel barrow?¡±


    Alethia now saw the silver unitard and Richard¡¯s shaggy light brown hair. The cut made him look boyish, younger than his years. But that was how his hair had looked the previous day. Now the slight asymmetry in his eyes and nose was gone. His nose had shrunk so that it was more in proportion to the rest of his face. The rest of his lines had sharpened, like the difference between a rough sketch and a first line drawing.


    ¡°Richard? What? Why do you look like that? How?¡±


    He had obviously lost weight too. At least fifty pounds in a few hours.


    Richard had his hands up, palms facing Alethia. He backed away from her and said,


    ¡°I did not mean to scare you. How do I look different?¡±


    Alethia shrugged. How was she supposed to tell her friend that he went from looking a little above average to resembling a pouty male supermodel overnight. How good his jaw and chin looked added to Alethia¡¯s existing confusion about her orientation. If she turned out to be honestly attracted to men, that would put a lot of uncomfortable possibilities to rest. And make certain future conversations very awkward.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know. Like you had a facelift? Or maybe you had what doctors want people to believe a facelift does? What¡¯s going on?¡±


    ¡°You will never believe what happened¡­¡±


    Richard described a series of insane sounding adventures. Alethia stopped him,


    ¡°Do you mean this is a story or game you played or something?¡±


    ¡°No Allie. This really happened!¡±


    ¡°Um, like it felt so real?¡±


    Even asking the question, she was not sure where her skepticism came from. Richard stood there looking at her from behind a face he did not quite possess two days ago.


    Why was she having trouble with a time traveler wearing a bowler hat?


    Richard was wearing one of the outfits he claimed the time travelers used.


    ¡°This sounds insane Richard. Do you have some kind of proof or something?¡±


    ¡°Oh yeah. Watch the Richard¡­¡±


    He seemed to concentrate a moment and nothing happened. He opened his eyes and looked at his hands,


    ¡°Damnit. Something is wrong with the stealth field thing. Really the whole computer seems to be jacked up.¡±


    ¡°Okay then super brain, show me something else?¡±


    Richard pointed to his head and shook it,


    ¡°Duh, you are so right.¡±


    This time he did not quite disappear, but he moved so fast that Alethia had trouble keeping up. He did not quite move at a blur, but with the insane speed only professional athletes are capable of. He stood next to the couch he slept in, the one where Alethia sat, and lifted both her and the couch into the air. The wooden frame of the old couch creaked ominously and Richard said,


    ¡°Uh oh.¡±


    As he put it back down.


    Alethis stared at him in shock.


    He was not making this up. It was real.


    ¡°How did you do that?¡±


    ¡°I am trying to tell you. Let me finish.¡±


    Alethia listened raptly to the rest of Richard¡¯s story.


    ¡°So you just left? Wow Richard, that is messed up.¡±


    ¡°Hey, I never asked for any of this. But hey. Speaking of which¡­ Do you want to be superheroes with me?¡±


    ¡°What do you mean?¡±


    Richard tapped the side of his unitard and a little pocket opened. He reached his hand in and drew out what looked like a vacuum-sealed package. It contained three small syringes. Two were filled with a blue liquid and one contained a green one. One package was already missing.


    ¡°Allie. This makes you smarter, stronger, and faster. On top of all of that, it gives you a super power. I think mine is super speed. Maybe. We all might just be this fast. When I think about it hard enough I know that I am about as fast as Usain Bolt. Because somehow I know his land speed and I can calculate my own perfectly.¡±


    Richard stood and held the package out to Alethia. She had to admit that she was tempted by what he offered her. She started to accept, but a light came over Richard¡¯s eyes and he pulled it back slightly.


    ¡°We should bring this to Karen and Rob. What do you think?¡±


    Ten minutes later, Alethia was driving to Karen¡¯s house. Richard looked excited like he was high, but he was totally lucid. He was texting on his phone, probably to confirm that the Taylor¡¯s were home. Of course they were. Rob was out of work and Karen¡¯s last class ended at seven. She would be grading papers about now while her husband brooded in his man-cave. On bad days he only emerged to torment her verbally and then retreat. Alethia thanked God they did not have children, though she prayed that Karen would find someone more suitable one day. She wanted them, Karen told Alethia that. One more secret she shared with Karen but not with Rob.


    Alethia did not think that they should share a superhero serum with Robert Taylor.


    Of all the people Alethia knew, he was the only one banned from Swords, Bags, and Boards. He had to have Karen buy his books for him every month, the ones he refused to buy online. She was still more than welcome to the store. Which gave the jerk one more reason to resent Karen. Alethia reminded herself that there was nothing she could do. Unless she was a superhero, of course. And maybe the serum or whatever would fix what was wrong with Rob. Not that Alethia considered that a great outcome either.


    But here she was on Karen¡¯s front porch with Richard, waiting for one of them to come to the door. Karen answered, of course.


    ¡°Hey you two! We don¡¯t have gaming tonight, do we?¡±


    Richard walked in without an invitation, clearly he was not a vampire, Alethia cocked her head at Karen and whispered,


    ¡°Sorry about this.¡±


    Karen beckoned her in to the house and locked the door behind them.


    ¡°Richard was texting like mad. Is something wrong? He was also being very vague.¡±


    ¡°You will have to see, Karen. It is a little hard to believe otherwise.¡±


    Karen squinted her eyes at Alethis and flicked her gaze toward Richard,


    ¡°Are you too finally together?¡±


    Alethia put her hands up,


    ¡°Oh no. Nothing like that. He stayed on my couch last night and today. I thought something was wrong. It was.¡±


    Richard shouted for Rob to come downstairs with them. If not for his perpetual scowl, Robert Taylor would have been dashing, even beautiful. But hunched over with a grimace on his face that warned the world to keep its distance, the proportions became grotesqueries. Mixed with the knowledge of how he treated Karen, Rob became a twisted corrupt king. Infirm from his own foul choices and odious habits.


    Karen said that the depression made him like this. Once he was kind and gentle. Alethia did not see it, but she could almost imagine it. Without the grimace and the hunched posture, without his selfish, narcissistic behavior, he might have looked okay.


    Alethia still did not quite know how to object to giving him super powers, especially now that he was here. Besides, what if Richard was right and this was the cure Rob and Karen had been looking for? Karen more so than Rob. Alethia shut her mouth and swallowed her objections.


    Richard recounted his impossible tale. Rob grew more and more sullen as Richard went on. When he reached the scene where the furniture turned out to be a projection or somehow dynamically fabricated, Rob stood up and shouted,


    ¡°I¡¯ve had enough of this! That¡¯s just the danger room! You¡¯re just telling us some game story when I have a raid I should be running? They already called in a sub for me, man. You know how much I love raid night!¡±


    He turned and stomped up the stairs. Richard moved so fast that a few papers flew off of the nearby furniture. He picked Rob up easily under the arms and said,


    ¡°Buddy, this is for you. I would never mess with you like this.¡±


    Rob¡¯s jaw hung open while Richard smiled and looked up at him. Then they both wooshed over back to Rob¡¯s seat. Karen¡¯s eyes bugged out of her head. She watched Richard and Rob carefully, studying Richard intensely.


    Richard sat back down and continued to tell his story. This time without interruption. He already had the syringes in his hands before he finished the telling.


    ¡°So the reason I am here right now is to offer my three best friends, I guess my three only friends, the opportunity of the millennium. What do you think? There are only two blue syringes and we know what those do. Someone has to play double guinea pig and take the green one. The computer told me they were all intended for my team, so I think they should be safe.¡±


    Karen raised her hand and coughed, Richard nodded to her.


    ¡°Safe? Are you kidding me? How long were you unconscious, Richard? Two, three days? Do you know what the full protocol is for this serum? Does it have to be diluted in saline?¡±


    He interrupted,


    ¡°I know that one, I saw them empty mine into the saline bag.¡±


    Karen was not finished,


    ¡°Are there support medications? Contraindications? Does the program have a strict dosing schedule? What else does the computer say?¡±


    Richard cleared his throat.


    ¡°That¡¯s the thing. Right now, the computer doesn¡¯t say anything except error. About a dozen different errors no matter what I try. Not sure what is up with that.¡±


    Karen said,


    ¡°So you are offering us the chance to take a drug you are not entirely sure how to administer whose side effects you do not know. But which promises to make time travel possible for all of us as well as give us super powers?¡±


    Richard¡¯s smile grew and he said,


    ¡°That is about it, yeah.¡±


    Karen shook her head,


    ¡°Count me out then.¡±


    Rob looked sideways at his wife and said,


    ¡°Count me in and I want the green pill, thank you.¡±


    Alethia swore she saw Richard shake his head, but he did not need to speak.


    Karen said,


    ¡°Hold on Robert. I admit I would prefer you not do this, but if you are, please be conservative with your choices.¡±


    Richard nodded,


    ¡°Karen¡¯s right, dude. What if there is some special catch or something with this? I would play it safe too.¡±


    Alethia breathed a sigh of relief when Rob backed down in front of his wife and his best friend. On a bad night, that would have turned into a fight.


    Richard said,


    ¡°Okay, we have one blue syringe for Rob and two remaining.¡±


    Karen said,


    ¡°I think you will keep them both¡­¡±


    She stopped as Alethia reached her hand forward and said,


    ¡°Allie, no way?¡±


    Alethia shrugged,


    ¡°I am too curious not to. You saw what he did, right?¡±


    Karen took a breath like she was about to release a torrent of objections, but she held her breath and released a lone sigh instead.


    ¡°You two are both adults. I suppose I need to babysit. Let me get the saline.¡±


    Alethia blinked her eyes,


    ¡°Wait, you have saline here?¡±


    Richard laughed,


    ¡°There was more than one reason I insisted we come here.¡±


    Alethia was starting to get cold feet by the time the saline bags were hooked up.


    ¡°Richard, this did not hurt?¡±


    ¡°The time travel thing did. But I was out for this. It was like a quiet, relaxing nap. With comic books.¡±


    Karen set the IVs in Rob and Alethia. She swabbed the sites with alcohol before hand and seemed to know what she was doing. Alethia was too nervous to ask why Karen and Rob had saline on hand when Richard prepared the two blue syringes.


    ¡°Okay you guys, here they come.¡±


    The blue liquid dispersed into the sterile water like a cloud of octopus ink on the Discovery channel. Alethia tried to count the strands to calm herself as the pain rose through her body and lit her nerves on fire.


    She screamed herself hoarse long before Richard and Karen returned.

 Chapter 3 - Richard - That鈥檚 not how you detox, man

    ¡°Richard! What the hell do we do?¡±


    Karen was screaming at him while Alethia and Robert convulsed on the living room floor.


    He could hear their hearts beating really quickly now. Alethia¡¯s skin writhed as bones shifted in her body.


    Karen shouted again, staring at a similar transformation occurring in Rob.


    ¡°Jesus! They need something for the pain! Where do we go?¡±


    Richard¡¯s brain latched onto that and cycled through choices. He lacked the calm forced on him by the future man, so the thoughts took a little longer than they did back then. Later on? Whatever Richard thought as he picked a course of action.


    ¡°I am driving, come with me. Do you have a white lab coat?¡±


    Karen ran back downstairs with a white coat in hand. As he insisted, it was not monogramed or signed in any way. Karen was tall and Richard could tell her coat would fit him. He would not make his best friend¡¯s wife directly engage in grand theft. No, she would be an accessory as the getaway driver.


    This is not exactly what I had in mind when I wanted to be superheroes. Richard thought this as he put the white lab coat on over his sweat pants standing next to the car in the short term hospital parking ¡ª a street a block away in downtown Austin. He did not want to risk raised parking in the garage.


    This was Brackenridge. A teaching hospital and a terrible maze of a place on the best day. It would also have decent security so Richard knew he was taking a double risk. At least here other factors played in his favor. At one of the other well funded hospitals like one of the many Catholic places around town, security would be as good or maybe even better than Brack.


    He walked in passed a kindly older women as well as security guards who watched the front desk. Richard could not tell which of the four was the oldest and wondered why the guards were not younger, better able to run after a rapscallion like himself.


    Richard focused, this was for Alethia and Robert, it was not like he intended to sell the drugs once he had them. Karen prepped him with a list of drugs to find, starting with morphine and its derivatives and ending with stuff to help the two sleep. He could recall the list with perfect clarity, including the eraser marks where Karen had misspelled a few drugs and had to look them up to be sure. His memory had never been like this before.


    Richard could get used to this.


    He checked the board at the front near the elevators. His dad¡¯s cowboy hat hid his face from overhead cameras while he studied the list of doctor¡¯s names and picked a floor near the pharmacy.


    Richard¡¯s luck held out. Two interns, who examined him and decided he was one of their fellow ilk, chatted amiably in the carriage. They did not include Richard, but he listened intently to their conversation while he was in the car. He picked up the name of their supervisor. That would also serve him later. He barely paid attention to their faces, hoping that by averting his eyes they would have trouble remembering him and describing him later.


    A casual stroll down the hallway carried Richard toward the pharmacy. This was just a pass, a look see before the main event. Richard had never been in more trouble than a traffic ticket and was only sent to the principal¡¯s office once in high school. Detention had been out of the question with his parents. But he had played a rogue in some very demanding D&D games. Putting those skills into practice turned out to be way easier after he turned into a superhero.


    Access to the pharmacy was strictly controlled by a series of people who manned the front. Doctors and nurses appeared to have free run of the place. But the staffer in charge, a man with a big black Mario mustache, eyeballed Richard the whole way down the hall. He turned the corner forcing himself to keep his pace regular and even.


    ¡°Are you lost, doctor¡­?¡±


    The hanging question turned Richard around in the small cubby in which he hid. A dark room lay beyond the doorway and a man wearing a white lab coat held the door open just enough to poke his head through. This man was balding on the top, but had one of those desperate old man pony tails that relied on the grey mass of hair at the back of his head for their thin strands.


    ¡°I. Um.¡±


    A familiar, almost musty odor reached Richard¡¯s nose. His brain identified it as sex and he choked down a laugh.


    He said,


    ¡°I am good, thank you doctor.¡±


    Now Richard could see the doctor¡¯s white undershirt under his lab coat. He could hear the doctor¡¯s liaison breathing heavily near the door. Richard wondered if she was a doctor or a nurse. He also wondered if they played doctor as a kind of meta thing. Then he forcefully shut his brain up and listened to the clip clop sound of someone approaching down the hallway.


    Richard smiled, shook the doctor¡¯s hand with a wink and said,


    ¡°Smith, good to meet you doctor. Goodbye.¡±


    He closed the door on the doctor¡¯s face, right after he moved and Richard steeled himself to face whatever was coming. He had no idea how he was going to bluff his way through any significant challenge. Why wouldn¡¯t his super brain help now? Richard would be fine if he could convincingly disguise himself as someone who belonged here, but how was that supposed to happen?


    Panic threatened to overtake him as a nurse wearing dark blue scrubs walked by the doorway without a second glance. Richard realized right as the intimidating pharmacy tech followed the nurse.


    ¡°Hey, oh. Sorry Doctor Price. I should have guessed you would be here today. How are you?¡±


    Richard felt panicked himself now. This pharmacy technician, supervisor, whatever, spoke like they were familiar. He croaked out,


    ¡°I¡¯m not Price.¡±


    Richard wished his mouth and brain were cooperating right now. He needed their help. But his luck still held out.


    ¡°Oh right,¡± the technician winked at him, ¡°you¡¯re not Price and I am not here. You have a good day, Doctor.¡±


    The tech walked back around the corner to his post. Richard started to cover his face in relief and discovered someone else¡¯s hands and no hat on his head.


    ¡°What the heck?¡±


    He looked around him, there were no surfaces reflective enough for him to look in. But this was important. Richard shot across the hall and his brain decided that now was a good time to help. He found a bathroom just a few turns away and he ran for it. Inside, his theory was confirmed, Richard looked like the philandering doctor from a minute ago. Even his clothing looked the same.


    His friends needed him, so he really did not have any time to dawdle staring at himself in the mirror. Richard left the restroom and walked back to the pharmacy. The overly familiar tech had a name tag on, Dwight, so Richard greeted him,


    ¡°Hey Dwight. I do have a few things to grab.¡±


    ¡°Oh yeah, lay em on me, Doc.¡±


    Richard read off just the underlined items from Karen¡¯s list.


    ¡°Whoa doc, you having a party?¡±


    Richard started to back pedal, but the tech winked at him again and disappeared into the pharmacy to search for the drugs he requested. Nerves made Richard edgy. Someone approached down the hallway and he was too nervous to look that he did not see the real Doctor Price walking toward the pharmacy, a top heavy fellow doctor in tow.


    ¡°What in the flaming heck?¡±


    Doctor Price stole Richard¡¯s thunder, leaving him without any good ideas for saving the situation.


    ¡°We¡¯re long lost twins! Bye!¡±


    Right on time, the technician appeared with an illegal arm load of syringes and small pill bottles. Richard did not wait to see what the technician had to say, he was already running down the hallway, trying to come up with a different disguise. In fact, trying to figure out how he triggered his powers in the first place.Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.


    Several turns through the hospital¡¯s labyrinthine hallways and Richard was back at the elevators.


    ¡°Doctor Price, code purple. Doctor Price, code purple.¡±


    ¡°Crap crap crap!¡±


    Richard did not know for sure what that code meant, but he knew it was no medical emergency. The only people who occurred to Richard right then was the elderly security guard at the front desk. Richard concentrated on being him and opened his eyes with his own natural face staring back at him, hat and all. That would not work, he closed his eyes again and the only other person he could think of was the woman who¡¯s perfume he could still smell lingering around Doctor Price.


    This time Richard¡¯s body changed while his eyes were closed and he opened them to discover the same blonde doctor looking back at him. His chest was just as heavy and pendulous as the woman¡¯s had been, so Richard had some minor difficulties with walking. But he managed enough to get out of the hospital on her high heels. He limped back to the meeting place with Karen and changed back into this normal form before he could see her.


    He knocked on the window and Karen let him back in. Her face was beaded with sweat. She looked nervous and uncomfortable.


    ¡°Did you get it? I am not happy with leaving them both back at the house alone the way they are.¡¯


    ¡°I did not get it. Security is more effective than I would have thought. We have to go with plan B.¡±


    ¡°What is plan B?¡±


    ¡°Illegal drug dealer?¡±


    ¡°Why wasn¡¯t that plan A? Stealing from a hospital seems less dangerous than trying to work with a dealer.¡±


    Richard shook his head,


    ¡°This isn¡¯t just some random dealer. This is a serious bad dude. He carries at least one of the things we¡¯re looking for, maybe more. He works with me because he knows my pot dealer. I usually only get X or LSD from him. He¡¯s gonna ask questions if I suddenly change my order. Or if a stranger shows up with me.¡±


    ¡°Wait, so you have to meet him alone?¡±


    ¡°Like I said, this guy freaks me out. He¡¯s not some minor street dealer, Ray is the real deal. Which means he¡¯s strapped and willing to kill for his money. People like that do not like new faces and definitely do not want one of those new faces hanging out in the car two blocks away. That is what a sting looks like to these people.¡±


    ¡°Jesus Richard.¡±


    ¡°Also, we have to have money. I will call him and see what he is willing to do. Give me a moment.¡±


    Richard pulled out his phone while Karen drove.


    ¡°Did anyone see you in the hospital?¡±


    ¡°Sorta, but not my face. We should be fine in that regard.¡±


    Richard answered her absentmindedly because he was concentrating on what he intended to tell his dealer.


    The phone rang twice before he picked up,


    ¡°Ricky man, how¡¯s things. You need a little candy from me?¡±


    ¡°I do Ray. I want to pick up something a little special. Think I can stop by right now?¡±


    ¡°Yeah man, the game¡¯s on, but these bitches are playing like shit. Stop by whenever, man.¡±


    Richard hung up the phone and spoke to Karen,


    ¡°We¡¯ll drop you off at your house and I will drive to Ray¡¯s on my own. I¡¯ll call you if anything goes right or wrong. Okay?¡±


    Karen looked like she wanted to scream at Richard and smack him. He did not quite think she would be in the wrong if she did that. But thankfully, she nodded instead.


    The rest of the short trip was silent as Karen pulled into her driveway.


    She stopped the car and said,


    ¡°How much?¡±


    ¡°How much what? Oh. Probably two grand. Maybe way less.¡±


    Karen did not react to the outrageous sum. She just nodded and walked into the house. The keys were still in the ignition so Richard stepped out of the car and climbed into the driver seat. Karen emerged a few minutes later, purse in hand. She leaned into the car and slipped Richard a white envelope fat with cash. Richard was surprised by how much two thousand dollars in twenties was when you held it.


    Karen still looked like she was furious with Richard. But she only said,


    ¡°Be quick, Richard. They are still screaming in there.¡±


    Richard nodded and pulled the car out of the driveway.


    He knew the way to Ray¡¯s house by memory, just like he knew the way to his weed dealer¡¯s house and work. Ray lived in one of the ¡°transitional¡± neighborhoods in Austin. This was on the northeast side in a place that used to be part of the segregated area of Austin. Not the most illustrious history for the town. Now the area was becoming gentrified as more young families moved in. Richard could not say if that meant improvement or shifting decline.


    Just a few blocks from Ray¡¯s house, the quality of the homes and lawns deteriorated, like a blight that affected dead wood, paint and greenery had been stopped at the border of a zip code.


    He had never noticed it before, but two of the houses around Ray¡¯s house held lookouts. Blinds shivered behind windows as people peering through them probably called or texted Ray. This would also be why the dealer always met Richard on his lawn. Sure enough, he was walking out before Richard had even finished getting out of the car.


    He hugged Richard and said,


    ¡°Hello my friend. Come inside, please. Come inside so we can talk freely. You are well, I trust, yes?¡±


    Richard responded to the questions with non-answers. This was small talk anyway, Ray¡¯s interest was in the type and quantity of Richard¡¯s order, not in the quality of his day. Inside, a massive flat screen television showed a game which a trio of young men watched with avid interest.


    Ray walked into his kitchen so Richard followed him.


    ¡°Now how can I help you my friend. You said something special over the phone. What do you need?¡¯


    Richard decided to just hand over the list.


    ¡°I need any one of these,¡± he indicated the top section of the page, ¡°and any one of these.¡± The second section contained soporifics. In a way those would be just as useful as the pain meds, but Ray was less likely to have anything like that.


    Ray tapped the page with a finger while he looked at his fridge,


    ¡°I got H and I got Fent on hand right now. From the looks of this, you should go with the Fent. Just be sure it doesn¡¯t kill you. Hey Richard, I gotta ask. Are you doing surgery or something?¡±


    Richard laughed, hoping the gesture did not sound fake,


    ¡°No, I got a friend going through the DTs. The sleeping stuff is what we want to give him first, but we¡¯re prepared to hit him with pain meds if he started freaking out.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s not how you detox, man.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t tell me about it. Tell my idiot friend.¡±


    ¡°None of these are cheap. I have something that should knock your friend right out.¡±


    Ray opened his fridge and presented Richard with two syringes. One was fentanyl and the other was a drug Richard did not recognize.


    ¡°That¡¯s a grand. Can your friend swing that?¡±


    ¡°He can, and I need you to double it. Can you swing that?¡±


    Ray laughed at Richard and said,


    ¡°You bet your ass I can. He grabbed two more syringes from his fridge and handed both to Richard.¡±


    He did not let go of them and said,


    ¡°Hey Ricky. We do good business, right man? If the name of the person who sold you these very illegal drugs gets back to the wrong person, we would have a problem, right? Even if your friend dies from it. Do you understand me?¡±


    This was why Richard did not want to visit Ray. He dealt in a bunch of things Richard preferred to avoid and because of that he was more hardcore than the pot dealers Richard was used to working with. He nodded, mouth dry and said,


    ¡°Of course man. If something goes wrong, I don¡¯t even know you.¡±


    Ray laughed and clapped Richard on the back. He shoved the plastic-wrapped needled into Richard¡¯s hands and said,


    ¡°That is the right damn answer. You got my cash?¡±


    Richard handed the dealer the two thousand dollars, happy that the money he had brought had been enough for what he wanted.


    ¡°Awesome, pleasure doing business with you, Ricky. You have a great day man.¡±


    Richard was being dismissed. That was another odd thing that weed dealers never did. They were practically immune to inviting people to leave their homes. Ray did not want his customers lingering so he sent them away as soon as the transaction was complete.


    The drive home was the most nerve wracking part of the day so far. Richard convinced himself that he was about to fall into a DEA sting every time a car passed by or he heard something out of the ordinary. But he survived the ride home without a federal indictment.


    Better than some senators.


    Richard ran into the house, Karen had left the front door open. He locked it before running upstairs. Karen shouted,


    ¡°Richard? Is that you?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I have fentanyl and something I never heard of for sleeping. I am coming up!¡±


    Karen had improvised restraints for Robert and Alethia Both wore sheets wrapped around their back and front like togas. Four come along hitches bound them to a twin mattress each. Karen¡¯s hair looked totally disheveled and she had changed into new clothes.


    He handed her the syringes Ray sold him. She checked the labels and sighed.


    ¡°Good. Assuming the Fentanyl doesn¡¯t kill them, we should be able to get them to sleep. Stay here and help me with your super hearing.¡±


    Richard did not particularly want to watch this part. In fact, he would have preferred to be anywhere else. Especially some other place that did not involve needles. Karen left the room and returned with four small medicine vials. She injected part of all four syringes into the vials, forcing Richard to help hold them for her.


    That done, she injected what looked to Richard to be an incredibly tiny amount of Fentanyl into her patients. After only a few minutes, they both calmed down in turns. Alethia looked lucid for the first time since she received the first serum injection. She still had that IV in her arm.


    She did not manage to speak to Richard, but just flutter her eyes for a minute and then she passed out. Robert did not try to exert himself at all, he just went unconscious.


    Karen cleaned up the mess in her craft room and set an alarm. She put the unused syringes into her fridge in the kitchen and fell onto her living room couch.


    ¡°I should kick your fucking ass, Kain. You dumb goddamned idiot.¡±


    Richard froze mid motion as he started to sit. Karen¡¯s anger was palpable from here. Every part of her, nostrils, thin slitted eyelids, clenched fists and jaws, even the splay of her flip flop clad toes shouted fury at Richard. He just hung his head. That was his only play here anyway. Another apology would just set Karen off.


    She sighed and said,


    ¡°I should kick all three of your asses. And my own for not bringing this damned objection up the first time.¡± She clapped her hand, ¡°You are going to call Alethia¡¯s advisor and boss. Make sure they know she is on her deathbed or she would have called herself.¡±


    Richard nodded, taking mental notes that he did not seem to need anymore. Karen continued,


    ¡°You need to call in for yourself too. That¡¯ll be five days in a row, can you handle that?¡±


    ¡°Joey owes me big time for August. I will call that marker in. He¡¯ll cover for me.¡±


    ¡°I guess it¡¯s a good thing Robert doesn¡¯t have any obligations right now.¡±


    Karen started crying,


    ¡°I can¡¯t take the next four days off, Richard. I can¡¯t. There is a conference coming to town and I have to deliver a paper. A paper I am not even finished with yet. This was not a good time for me.¡±


    Crap. Richard kicked himself. This would have been a good time to consider Karen¡¯s feelings and life. But once again, he barged in on her plans and disrupted everything. Richard would have preferred avoiding that, if he could.


    The next two days were essentially repeats of the previous one. Feeding Alethia and Robert was impossible. When they were conscious, they writhed in pain. Karen provided some sucrose for them as well as saline to keep them hydrated. Richard bought rubber sheets for the beds since both of them were incontinent. Cleaning the sheets the first two times had reinforced for Richard why he never planned to have children.

 Chapter 4 - Alethia - Your cat鈥檚 name is Manky?

    Light invaded Alethia¡¯s consciousness. She did not feel pain for the first time since she could remember. Her eyes and head felt foggy. That made sense, when she tried to open her eyes and look around, the world seemed to be covered in a haze. After blinking several times, she still was not able to clear her sight completely.


    She started to get up, but Karen was beside her in a flash.


    ¡°Careful Allie. You¡¯ve been out for a few days. And you¡¯re still hooked into an IV.¡±


    Alethia¡¯s mind came alive at those words,


    ¡°A few days?! What happened? Are my classes canceled?¡±


    Karen pushed her back to the mattress on the floor and shook her head.


    ¡°Richard and I took care of everything. Do you remember accepting his idiot deal?¡±


    ¡°Right.¡±


    ¡°How do you feel, hon?¡±


    Except for the vague fuzziness, Alethia felt pretty good. The longer she was conscious, the more clear her world became. The birds chirping outside the window ¡ª or were they inside the house ¡ª were a little loud.


    ¡°I am okay. Can we close the window or something? The birds are deafening.¡±


    ¡°Allie, the windows are not opened. What are you talking about?¡±


    Alethia raised her head and found that she was in Karen¡¯s art studio which doubled as the couples¡¯ guest bedroom. None of the windows were open and Alethia could not see any birds at or near the window.


    Her head was even more clear now. She started to get up. Karen made to stop her, but Alethia said,


    ¡°Karen, let me try to move around a little. I want to see if I can stand. Just help make sure I don¡¯t fall?¡±


    Karen stood with Alethia, hands extended and ready to catch her friend in case she took a tumble in the middle of the floor. Alethia¡¯s balance was spot on, but her legs were wobbly. She hobbled to the window and looked outside.


    She could hear the birdsong even better here. And sure enough she could hear the exterior birds as well through the window as she could if it was open. She spotted a small blue jay outside the window. It seemed out of place here in the Texas winter. Alethia could see the individual hooks on the bird¡¯s feathers. When she focused, she could even see a few tiny ants crawling about the branch. The bluejay had disrupted the ants¡¯ trails and pecked a few off of the branch for a meal.


    Karen¡¯s heart was racing. Alethia looked back to see her face. The older woman looked tired and frustrated. Alethia understood that feeling immediately.


    ¡°Shoot Karen, this was crazy of us, huh?¡±


    Karen sighed,


    ¡°I guess you¡¯re smart enough to see that now, huh?¡±


    Alethia marveled at the words. She really was that smart now. Or at least her mind was clear. She could remember her freshman Bio course from almost eight years ago. She could remember the shape of Tony¡¯s face when she broke up with him. She could remember the unique scent of perfume Karen wore the night of Alethia¡¯s breakup with Tony. Rachel was out of town hiking, so Alethia could not talk to her best friend on the phone. So she ended up on the Taylor¡¯s porch, crying her eyes out.


    Rob had emerged from his cave only to confirm that the events did not matter to him. But Karen held Alethia the whole weekend. All without Alethia ever once admitting how she felt about Karen. That feeling surged within Alethia¡¯s chest now. Her chest hurt when she looked at Karen. She tried to decide how she would reveal her feelings to her friend, but Alethia was convinced that Karen would never believe her. Instead she asked a question,


    ¡°How is Rob?¡±


    Karen sighed,


    ¡°He is still out. You woke up first, but he is breathing steady and I think the worst has passed. By a long shot.¡±


    ¡°How many days have gone by?¡±


    ¡°Four. I made Richard call Doctor Price and the TA super for the week. You should be in the clear. I even chatted with Patrick and he said to only come back when you¡¯re well. How do you feel?¡±


    Alethia performed another self check. She felt pretty good now. Maybe even really good. The fog had cleared out of her head and her vision had cleared up as well. Her senses felt highly tuned, like she was picking up more information visual and audible, than normal. She had a funny feeling about trying to zoom around the kitchen the way that Richard had the other day.


    ¡°I feel good now. The longer I¡¯ve been awake, the better I feel. Oh my God, how do I look?¡±


    Alethia ran to the bathroom to check herself out in the mirror. She looked good. The effect on her was about the same as the effect on Richard. Someone gave her the makeover of her life. Several of the acne scars on her face that Alethia had long given up trying to hide were totally gone now. She lifted her shirt and her belly did not jiggle in response to the motion. Instead, when she tensed her muscles, they rippled against the skin and displayed a little washboard.


    A gasp escaped her lips. She would never have considered herself vain. But standing there in front of the mirror making her muscles writhe in an unknown rhythm made her decide she was damn hot. Foxy even.


    Alethia ran out of the bathroom and almost into Karen,


    ¡°Whoa girl, did you like what you saw?¡±


    Karen¡¯s smile was a little crooked when she asked the question. Alethia left her shirt hiked up under her bra.


    ¡°Tell me this is not impressive. You can touch them if you want. You know you want to.¡±


    Alethia did not say, ¡°I know I want you to,¡± but she prayed for Karen to take her up on the offer. Alethia might have jumped her friend then and there. But Karen chuckled and said,


    ¡°So this was worth it?¡±


    ¡°So far, yeah. Are you kidding? I wonder if I can do the splits now?¡±


    She stretched her legs out across the room in the Taylor¡¯s guest bedroom. Sure enough, she could touch her crotch to the floor along with her calves and thighs. It did not even hurt.


    Karen just watched Alethia run through a number of low impact poses from martial arts and yoga. The fact that she was willing to stand and watch while Alethia showed off made Alethia feel special. She had Karen all to herself right then and that fact made Alethia want to kiss Karen right here and right now.


    Wild, leaping steps brought Alethia next to Karen. Like a drunken sorority girl, Alethia draped her arms around Karen¡¯s neck and hugged her. Karen smiled and they remained like that for almost a minute while Alethia fought through nervous terror to invoke the courage needed to kiss her friend on the lips. The last few yards of battle behind her, Alethia was ready to announce her feelings when a shout from the back room proclaimed Rob awake. Karen disengaged from Alethia and ran back to check on her husband.


    Robert¡¯s transformation was nothing short of miraculous. The man from a week ago with his sullen looks and downcast expression was gone. In his place stood a tall, confident man who had dropped almost sixty pounds of extra weight. His hair looked shiny and smooth instead of greasy and slick. His eyes flashed with humor and energy. Even his skin looked better. He was still pale, but the ever-growing mass of scars on his arms had disappeared. He looked pale white like some kind of model. The afternoon light made him resemble a statue carved in marble.


    Alethia and Robert took separate showers. Richard and Karen checked on them several times, Richard for Rob and Karen for Alethia. Once they were done, the group decided to go out for dinner. Alethia usually dreaded such ventures with Rob, but even he acted enthusiastic over the outing.


    Richard drove them all to a local bakery and interior Mexican food stop that used to be their go-to for eating out. Since Rob¡¯s depression started, they had to curtail those excursions. But today, gregariousness exuded from Rob like he had only today woken from a coma.


    Since she had been diagnosed with celiac, Alethia had not really wanted to return to the bakery. The smell of food she was not allowed to eat usually dampened her mood, at best. But today she could not stop sniffing. At everything. Odors wafted off of the door that gave her pause. Every single hand that touched the door left an impression. The melange of that impression had been hard for Alethia to stop smelling.


    Once in the store, the redolence became overwhelming. Her eyes watered, not from the intensity of the smell, but from the sheer pleasure of smelling it. Here was a place where they made their food in house and who spent more time than necessary making sure it was quality. They sat back at the table and Alethia found herself sniffing the booths before they sat.


    Richard laughed and said,


    ¡°Whatcha got, McGruff?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know. But it smells really interesting. Ugh, for all I know it¡¯s just someone¡¯s butt.¡±


    Alethia calmed down and seated herself at table with her friends.


    Robert talked about his dreams. How he had been trapped inside of a clear crystal ball while everyone else watched him and spoke to each other. Because he was behind a crystal wall, he could not see out or interact with anyone else. It had been scary, but when he woke, he felt an odd sense of serenity.


    He asked the others if they had felt that way. Richard and Alethia both said no. Alethia went into more detail,


    ¡°I am still having trouble focusing, you know. It¡¯s like all of these new sensations keep striking me. Especially scent. All three of you smell really good and really interesting to me. I feel like I am experiencing too much for me to put it into reasonable words, you know? Like I don¡¯t have the scent vocabulary to describe everything I can smell.¡±


    Richard said,


    ¡°I guess the guy telling me to calm down cheated me out of that experience. I don¡¯t know. Should I be mad?¡±


    Alethia could still remember this aching hours of bright white pain. Apparently so could Rob because they spoke in unison when they said,


    ¡°No, you should not.¡±


    Alethia and Rob both laughed at the other. Unlike any other time, this laughter was good natured. Karen and Richard both tensed when Alethia and Rob laughed at each other. While she could definitely remember why their friends were concerned, she also wanted to chide them not to assume crash positions this early.


    Karen smiled once their food arrived and the other three dug into their meals,


    ¡°My mom would have said there can¡¯t be nothing wrong with you if you¡¯re eating like that!¡±


    Rob grinned over his chalupa at his wife¡¯s comment. After dinner was over, they walked into the bakery to look at food. The smells here were thick enough for a normal nose. What Alethia had never realized before was how authentic and legitimate this bakery was.


    She could not smell any preservatives in the food. Even the jam and cream cheeses were somehow fresh and locally sourced. That was a trick there. Alethia decided to damn the consequences and see if she could digest gluten now.


    Two strawberry bread and two pan au chocolat made their way onto her tray. As she was checking out, Richard stopped her and said,


    ¡°Is that okay for you? I thought you were gluten intolerant?¡±


    ¡°Not like those people who just don¡¯t want to eat gluten, yeah. I have celiac.¡±


    ¡°Okay, I get that. Why the wheat based starches then ma¡¯am?¡±


    Alethia shrugged,


    ¡°If people are finding the cure to their everything, I don¡¯t want to be skipped over. If I can eat bread now, watch out flour. I am coming to pluck you. Wait wait wait, you¡¯ll be grounded. Yeah, that was better.¡±


    Richard was laughing at her,


    ¡°You are ridiculous.¡±


    He lifted one of his own strawberry tarts and said,


    ¡°Well, toast and jam to you. May your gut accept all that you send it.¡±


    ¡°Amen to that, brother.¡±


    They checked out and Alethia was already munching on her pan au chocolate. Flaky butter crust around a thin bed of Mexican chocolate; Alethia could not be happier with clothes on.


    Back at Rob¡¯s house, Alethia had eaten all four of her pastries and dreaded the potential futures before her. But an hour later, she still felt okay. Maybe this experiment would have a happy outcome. Meanwhile the boys got into an argument about who was the fastest. To settle things all three superheroes assembled out back in Rob¡¯s yard.


    Karen kept the place bare but spotless. Or at least well trimmed. Alethia was not sure a grass bed yard really could be spotless, but there could not be that many yards in the world that were as well maintained as the Taylor¡¯s. Across this yard, Karen set three pieces of tape on a board. This would be the previously agreed upon halfway point. The objective was to return with your piece of tape, and not anyone else¡¯s, first.


    Karen announced the start and all three shot away with addible grunts. Alethia could not see Richard or Rob in front of her and did not even bother wondering if it meant that she was in first place. She snatched the piece of tape with ¡°Allie¡± written on it with permanent marker and shot back to where Karen stood. Passing both boys on the way, Alethia flashed them a peace sign as she did.


    The tape was in Karen¡¯s hand before either of the two men had reached the quarter point halfway back across the yard.


    ¡°Holy crap Allie!¡±


    Richard ran past them barely panting. Rob followed close behind.


    He was laughing as he ran past,


    ¡°Okay that was the fastest I have ever moved in my life. This cannot end here.¡±


    They went insane.


    Alethia felt bad because the three of them exposed Karen to one more full night of their shenanigans and made her babysit. At least this time she also got to participate, kind of. They played Jenga, Connectfour, poker, chess, monopoly, and every other board game they could conjure up. After the first round of Jenga that moved so quickly Karen could not watch all of the moves, they implemented a speed game only rule. So that all of the board games were done super fast.


    Alethia turned out to be quicker than Richard or Rob, but Rob seemed to have a slight mental edge. He surprised all three of the others multiple times with a random memory or smart piece of reasoning. Richard seemed pretty middle of the road, but he bragged that he already figured out his super power, but refused to tell anyone else.


    The last game they spent the night playing was the guessing game,


    ¡°Is it flight?¡±


    ¡°Nope.¡±


    ¡°Energy projection?¡±


    ¡°No, but that would be cool, right? Green lantern style!¡±


    ¡°What about energy emission, Blue Marvel style?¡±


    That was Alethia¡¯s contribution. Both boys sat up and said,


    ¡°We know we¡¯ve said this before, but the fact that you can just pull that stuff out of your ass like that is really impressive.¡±


    Karen smiled, patting Alethia on the shoulder.


    ¡°Did you hear that, Allie? They both like you. I don¡¯t know. The cute tall one is taken, you might be careful there.¡±


    They all laughed, Karen and Rob looked at each other with secretive glances. Alethia got the hint.


    ¡°Hey Richard, we need to take off, right? I have classes and you have work for real tomorrow, don¡¯t you?¡±


    Richard sighed and reluctantly lifted himself off of the couch. He grinned at Rob and his eyes moistened as he did.


    ¡°Take care you two. Tomorrow night is a game night, right? I¡¯ll bring the beers.¡±


    Everyone made a sound of shock at the uncharacteristic display of generosity from Richard. Outside, Alethia offered to drive him home.


    ¡°Thanks Allie, I would appreciate it.¡±


    They climbed into the car and Alethia started the engine but did not put the car in gear or pull out. She said,


    ¡°Hey Richard, the last four days was messed up, wasn¡¯t it?¡±


    Richard sighed,


    ¡°Yeah, but it¡¯s really my fault. If I was as smart as I hope the serum made me, I would have thought the whole thing through more clearly. How is it that Karen still seems smarter than us?¡±


    ¡°Maybe this treatment or whatever only amplifies what you already have?¡±


    ¡°I hope that is not true. I want Rob to get better. I want this feeling of being alive and invincible to never fade.¡±


    Alethia shrugged. She had never been especially attached to easy. Easy tended to mean bad consequences. Hard usually meant everything was working as intended.


    That morning Alethia woke before her alarm. She had gone to sleep intending to do some light stretching and practice her katas. Waking before her alarm had been perfect. Rather than just stretch, she went on a twenty minute run. Two, almost three miles later, she turned around and came home. That was far enough for a twenty minute run.


    When she got back to her apartment, she felt like she had been on a short hike. Katas went by unusually quickly that morning too. For one thing, she remembered every single step and position, in order. For another, her form was sublime. In her entire life Alethia had not possessed that degree of control.


    Morning exercise made her feel great and filled her with confidence for the rest of her day. She caught the bus to campus and taught her morning classes. Those held an even weirder surprise for Alethia. She could tell which students understood the material and which did not. She varied her explanations to see if she could help those who struggled. And she seemed to. Only two of her students benefited from the extra examples, but Alethia beamed from her success. One of the women in her first class, Claire Byton, approached her desk after class. The student held her book up to her chest and said,


    ¡°Ms Thompson, did you do something to your hair?¡±


    Alethia blushed ¡ª she lost the poker game last night consistently ¡ª and said,


    ¡°Thank you, but no. I am experimenting with some new foundation.¡±If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    Claire turned her homework in and said,


    ¡°Well, I wanted to tell you that I really like it. It suits you.¡±


    Alethia blushed harder. Claire was young, a freshman in college. But she was also gorgeous. She had long bright red hair and a sweet freckled face that made her look simultaneously cherubic and lascivious. She wore a pale blue worn t-shirt that said Reading Rainbow with the requisite rainbow under it just like the show. Claire grinned at Alethia as she left the room, maintaining eye contact for longer than was appropriate.


    Alethia had lunch with Laura and several other Bio TAs who also shared most of her graduate sections with her. Laura¡¯s reaction to Alethia¡¯s ¡°makeover¡± was far more extreme.


    ¡°Holy shit girl, did you lose weight?¡±


    Alethia tucked her hair behind her ear,


    ¡°Yeah, I was sick Laura.¡±


    ¡°Did you also get a face lift or something?¡±


    Alethia felt the burning return,


    ¡°No. I just changed my foundation.¡±


    ¡°Well damn girl, you need to share that shit with the rest of us.¡±


    ¡°I forgot the name, but I will look it up for you.¡±


    The lie burned in Alethia¡¯s throat. She hated cutting the truth thin as it was, but outright lying to her friends? Why be friends with people if you were going to lie to them? What was the point? That made Alethia worse than a hypocrite. She did not know the word for it, but it was definitely bad.


    That afternoon Alethia had far better sections than she had in months. Not feeling constantly exhausted seemed to be helping her a great deal. But the simple fact was her mind was clear in a way it had never been. Alethia did not feel enough false modesty to claim that she was dumb before Richard¡¯s serum. She was a graduate student in Biology at a major university. But there was no cure for self confidence like four years in graduate school. If your professors were not smarter than you ¡ª hint: they were ¡ª at least one student was. She¡¯d graduated Summa from UW and that still hadn¡¯t mattered before.


    Suddenly she was the smartest person in a class of geniuses.


    By the end of sections, Alethia had to tone down her mouth and interest in answering. She was starting to turn heads and the super genius part of her mind decided that trying to explain this would be harder than lying to her friends.


    Sections ended and Alethia took the bus back to her car. Today was a larger SCA gathering and Alethia had scribe duties to perform. She had a large illumination to finish for an upcoming banquet and the supplies were all in her trunk.


    Her car pulled into the lot at the Zilker park to find a large gathering already in swing. Some musicians had abandoned practice and were piping up and down the way next to the picnic tables. On one particular table, six other heads were turned over their work painting away. A spot next to Jenna, one of Alethia¡¯s fellow scribes, was open so Alethia sat next to her.


    ¡°Hey Alethia, long time no see!¡±


    Alethia laughed,


    ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s been like almost a week.¡±


    ¡°I heard you were sick, everything okay?¡±


    Jenna¡¯s voice sounded off. Alethia had a hard time putting her finger on what about Jenna¡¯s voice bothered her, but she knew a tiny fragment of bizarre had found its way there.


    ¡°Yeah, I am totally good now, thanks Jenna!¡±


    The scribe leaned in and said,


    ¡°Did you hear about Zoe and Timaeus?¡±


    Alethia laughed,


    ¡°I was there, it was hilarious.¡±


    Jenna¡¯s scrunched up her nose and said,


    ¡°That¡¯s not what I would call it.¡±


    Her expression was all wrong for a harmless duel during weapon¡¯s practice. Alethia needed to clarify,


    ¡°Then what are you talking about? The last thing I saw was Zoe whooping him during dueling practice.¡±


    Jenna lowered her voice. Several other scribes down the table were listening in, Alethia could tell by the pause in their breathing.


    ¡°Word is Zoe assembled a posse and beat the everloving tar out of Timaeus.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re kidding! That does not sound like¡­ well, I guess I don¡¯t know Zoe at all. I am surprised by that still. What does Rachel think?¡±


    Alethia looked around, Rachel was not here today and she usually made all of the practice events unless school interfered. Alethia needed more information.


    ¡°For that matter, where is Rachel?¡±


    Jenna¡¯s eyes twinkled and she said,


    ¡°Zoe was arrested by the police, I think Rachel is with her. Like with her with her.¡±


    ¡°Wait, Rachel¡¯s not gay.¡±


    She spoke a little too loud now, the whole scribe table was watching her now.


    ¡°Yeah, but Zoe definitely is. Some people thought you two were an item, but I shut that BS right down. We are know you¡¯re not one of those people.¡±


    Alethia withheld her sigh. She wanted to stand up and berate the woman. Jenna Reese attended Great Halls Baptist with Alethia. That is where they met originally. Jenna was too much of a mean girl and wanna be missionary for Alethia¡¯s tastes. Plus, the whole ¡°wanting to have sex with women¡± thing made Alethia doubt her commitment to her faith.


    She still believed in God, of course, but she was less sure about staying with the Southern Baptist Convention. People like Jenna ¡ª too polite to say ¡®dyke¡¯ or ¡®faggot¡¯ but rude enough to say ¡®those people¡¯ ¡ª soured Alethia on her current parish. The fact that the leaders of her church openly condemned homosexuality was an even bigger problem. Add to that the final fact: Alethia was just not sure how she felt yet. She did not grow up feeling attracted to women. Aside from Karen and now Zoe, Alethia had only ever been attracted to men.


    Jenna seemed to consider the conversation over, which Alethia herself considered ideal. Starting a fight over gay rights in Texas, in public, was not a great life choice. Even if this was Austin and most residents would defend her, this was still Texas. A good number of SCA members maintained long term same-sex relationships, but a clear divide existed between those members and people like Jenna. Both groups probably wished the other would just stop coming to events. The fact that the dislike was mutual made Alethia laugh, or would have if people were not suffering from it. If she were not suffering for it.


    A hour into drawing, Alethia took a break to rest her hand and eat some barbecue. That was one of the undeniable benefits of Texas: everyone could grill food here, therefore only the best chefs were allowed to serve the public. Otherwise, someone would get ornery and decide they were grilling next time. The large vegetarian contingent also ensured that a good deal of seared fruits and vegetables found their way onto plates.


    When she walked back to her station at the table, Jenna and another scribe were looking over her work. Jenna said,


    ¡°Golly, Alethia. You finished this way faster than I would have thought.¡±


    She was not finished. That was weird.


    Alethia looked down at her work. The brush lines offended her and in places the paint had dried unevenly. A few of the colors on the gryffins did not match each other. How could they say that? She checked their faces again and concluded that both women were being utterly sincere with their praise.


    ¡°Thank you both! I am gonna put some touchups on this and probably head home.¡±


    Alethia sat back down and fiddled with her work. The tiny imperfections in her work fell into proportion as she considered the page. This was fantastic, her best work ever. Those other women had been jealous and forcing modesty onto Alethia. Once she had corrected those minute mistakes, the whole project looked beautiful.


    The illumination occupied Alethia¡¯s mind for the rest of her ride home. When she got there, she had three emails and two texts from Rachel asking her to call. Darnit. Alethia had left her phone off during sections and forgot to turn it back on. She chose Rachel¡¯s contact and she picked up after one ring,


    ¡°Oh thank God, Alethia. Are you okay? I heard you were sick!¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m fine. I heard Zoe was arrested, what happened?¡±


    ¡°I want to talk about that some more when you get here. Can you come over?¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡±


    ¡°I need an emotional support helper. You¡¯ll see.¡±


    Alethia changed her clothes, this sounded like a sweatpants and t-shirt job. She did put on a UW sweater so she would stay warm outside. Back in her car, Alethia wondered what would make Rachel call like that.


    When she drove up to Richard and Rachel¡¯s house, she remembered that the elder Kain should have been home. She rang the doorbell and Rachel answered it a few minutes later. Her dark hair was disheveled and she looked like she had not slept well the past few days.


    ¡°Come on in, Allie. Let¡¯s go upstairs.¡±


    ¡°Is your brother home?¡±


    ¡°No, Rob ¡ª ugh ¡ª stopped by earlier and picked him up after work. Who knows what they are doing, besides causing trouble for someone who does not want it.¡±


    Alethia gave that question no more thought than, ¡®Karen would probably be happier alone in the house without Rob than with him there.¡¯


    In Rachel¡¯s room they found Zoe. She had been wearing makeup at some point, but most of it was on the pillow she held to her chest. The room smelled like tears, a scent Alethia had never picked out of the air before. Zoe looked up and croaked out a weak,


    ¡°Hi.¡±


    ¡°Hey Zoe, how are you doing?¡±


    The question was supposed to be innocent. But Zoe burst into tears when she heard it. Alethia¡¯s instincts lead her to the floor where Zoe sat weeping and hugged her. That only made the crying worse.


    ¡°I¡­ I got arrested!¡±


    ¡°I heard, do you want to tell me what happened?¡±


    Zoe sniffled and wiped her eyes. But she started crying again before she could answer. After a minute or so, Zoe said,


    ¡°Two days ago, something like that, I was going home from classes. I don¡¯t even remember what I was planning to do that day. I think just read or watch anime.¡±


    Alethia bit her lip and refrained from saying, ¡°oh yeah, what do you like?¡± and just kept hugging Zoe instead.


    ¡°Three guys with masks jumped me. Too bad for them, they all sucked at fighting and I don¡¯t.¡±


    Alethia looked at Zoe again. She had a light bruise on her cheek and a few other bruises on her upper arms. She still kept quiet while Zoe continued,


    ¡°I fought them, and I guess I made it too hard for them to do anything. So they ran off.¡±


    About an hour later, the cops picked me up. They said that someone named Jerome claims I assaulted him.


    ¡°Jerome is Timaeus¡¯s street name.¡±


    Zoe nodded,


    ¡°I figured that out. I tried to explain to the cops that three men had tried to assault me, but they did not believe me. Rachel had to bail me out of jail. It was so humiliating, Alethia.¡±


    ¡°I am really sorry. Is there anything I can do?¡±


    Alethia meant the question. She did not have a lot of money, but if Zoe needed more help, Alethia might be able to provide it.


    ¡°Yeah, do you two mind staying over tonight? I mean do you mind if I stay here tonight? Someone keeps driving by my apartment and honking their horn at night.¡±


    Rachel said,


    ¡°Jesus Zoe, you didn¡¯t tell me that.¡±


    Zoe kind of nodded, but her posture was growing more and more dejected as her narrative progressed. Now that it was over, her head all but rested in her lap.


    Alethia said,


    ¡°A sleepover sounds boss. We can talk about hot women and drink hot cocoa toddies and make fun of the people on So You Think You Can Dance!¡±


    Rachel said,


    ¡°I¡¯ll bring the whiskey and the insults we can hurl at Vanessa Hudgens!¡±


    Zoe laughed at that,


    ¡°I never really liked her, so I am down. What are cocoa toddies?¡±


    Alethia and Rachel shared a look. Rachel said,


    ¡°Madame, you have asked a critical question of a pair of fine southern ladies. A cocoa toddy is cocoa, hot water and whiskey. Anything but the whiskey is optional.¡±


    Zoe laughed and said,


    ¡°Texas is definitely the weirdest place I have ever lived.¡±


    Alethia said,


    ¡°How long have you been here?¡±


    ¡°About two months now, give or take.¡±


    ¡°Well, then it¡¯s about time for you to experience this. Come on. Wipe your eyes ¡®git up off that floor¡¯. We¡¯re going drankin¡¯!¡±


    They piled into Rachel¡¯s car and then decided that Alethia should drive her own car and they all headed to Zoe¡¯s house. Since Rachel knew the way already, Zoe went with Alethia.


    Zoe gave directions and offered some more information,


    ¡°My ex is being a total bitch right now too. That¡¯s the real, honest reason I am so upset. This assault thing will blow over.¡±


    ¡°Why do you say that?¡±


    ¡°Because your friend Jerome is just a little boy hiding from his mommy. If I insist on taking this to court, I bet you anything the charges get dropped.¡±


    ¡°Okay, I want to know more about that too, but I meant what is your ex doing?¡±


    Zoe looked miserable for a moment and said,


    ¡°Sorry¡­ I misunderstood. Just feeling stupid, I guess. My ex is threatening to keep our cat. She¡¯s really mine ¡ª the cat, not the ex ¡ª but Cindy is just a bitch sometimes. She doesn¡¯t care that the cat will be happier with me than with her. She just cares that I will be sad without Manky.¡±


    ¡°Your cat¡¯s name is Manky? Isn¡¯t that a British insult or something?¡±


    Zoe laughed,


    ¡°I¡¯ve never heard that before. Yeah, her name is Manky and she is my little sweetheart.¡±


    Zoe started crying again. Through sobs Alethia could not make out any words in what Zoe said. She calmed a bit and said,


    ¡°Manky likes it when I carry her around the apartment. She rides on my shoulders or on really special days, on my head.¡±


    ¡°When we get to your place, I expect to see pictures.¡±


    Zoe smiled at that and nodded her head. She blew her nose with tissues from Alethia¡¯s glove compartment.


    Zoe¡¯s apartment sat near 38<sup>th</sup> and Guadalupe not too far from campus. Fortunately for the three of them, there was enough parking for both cars. Zoe got out to run upstairs and brought parking permits back for her guests.


    ¡°They are insane here. Put this on your dash.¡±


    Cars in order, Rachel and Alethia followed Zoe back upstairs. Richard would have called Zoe¡¯s apartment ¡°excessive¡±. She had swords, knives, bows, even a few small spears hanging from almost every available wall.


    ¡°I guess you¡¯re into cooking?¡±


    Alethia did not think it was that funny, but Zoe laughed so hard she came to tears. Once she calmed she showed Alethia her kitchen. The fridge contained only beer and bottled water while the freezer held a stack of frozen dinners. Zoe said,


    ¡°I don¡¯t cook. Ever.¡±


    Alethia was scandalized for only a moment while her southern bred mind clucked at Zoe in her mother¡¯s voice. She could hear her mom speaking now, ¡°why darling, every proper Southern woman should know how to cook. The more the better!¡±


    Rachel set the bag of alcohol and sugar on the counter where they could reach it from the living room.


    ¡°Bad news guys,¡± Zoe said, ¡°I only have Internet, no TV.¡±


    Rachel shrugged,


    ¡°We¡¯ll make do.¡±


    Alethia smiled,


    ¡°Same here. I avoid TV, but watch way too much Internet for me to be smug about my television habits.¡±


    Zoe grinned,


    ¡°I only canceled the service at first to save money. Now I am glad I don¡¯t have it. Cause I never really needed it in the first place.¡±


    ¡°Well, I still think it¡¯s awesome. Even if that makes us both hipsters. So you were going to show me pictures of Manky?¡±


    Zoe jumped up and grabbed her computer. The first picture showed Zoe wearing a cute long sleeved button up plaid shirt with a huge fluffy white cat hanging on her shoulder.


    ¡°She¡¯s huge!¡±


    ¡°Aw, what do you think about the cat?¡±


    Alethia grinned,


    ¡°You are svelte, I meant the cat. She¡¯s cute too. I guess both of them are.¡± [Weird, but maybe this is just Zoe¡¯s character?


    Caleb Loos 12/8/17, 10:02 PM]


    Zoe preened over compliments to her cat. A few pictures showed another woman in them, Zoe swiped by those pictures fast, but not before Alethia caught a glimpse of Zoe¡¯s ex. Her head was shaved ¡ª a look that Alethia used to dislike in women, but she was warming up to in recent months ¡ª but she smoked cigarettes. Several of the pictures showed her holding or puffing from one.


    ¡°Do you smoke? Cigarettes I mean?¡±


    Zoe laughed and said,


    ¡°Yes and no¡­¡±


    She eyed Rachel and Alethia, lingering over Alethia and said,


    ¡°I smoke pot, but only for my anxiety. And glaucoma. And when my feet are sore.¡±


    Alethia laughed at that,


    ¡°So often you would say?¡±


    Zoe nodded,


    ¡°Do either of you want some?¡±


    Rachel said yes without pause. The whole Kaine family smoked weed. Alethia did not know if the Kaine parents smoked before their deaths. But the kids both did.


    Alethia preferred to smoke alone or with people she was really comfortable with. Something about Zoe ¡ª probably her wicked good looks and emotional vulnerability ¡ª made Alethia decide she felt sufficiently comfortable around Zoe.


    She pulled out a bong and passed it around the three of them for a few minutes. They kept the computer open and Zoe showed off a few more videos of Manky. Alethia wondered what kinds of video records the East Coast kingdoms kept about their events.


    She said,


    ¡°Do you have any videos of you fighting?¡±


    Zoe¡¯s eyes lit up,


    ¡°Do I? Oh my god, check this out!¡±


    She fiddled with the cursor and keyboard a moment while she pulled up the video she wanted and moved it to the correct timestamp. Zoe said,


    ¡°This is the royal tourney from last year. This is pretty cool right here.¡±


    Two warriors wearing light armor, one of them obviously Zoe, squared off and circled each other. This time when they moved, Alethia could easily see the movements. Her newfound perceptions revealed something Alethia had already intuited about Zoe: she was a world class fencer.


    ¡°How did you not win? How do you not win heavy weapons too? Why aren¡¯t you royalty?¡±


    Zoe grinned, her eyes lidding themselves like she might fall asleep any second,


    ¡°How you do know I¡¯m not?¡±


    Alethia started and said,


    ¡°Are you?¡±


    Zoe waved the idea away,


    ¡°No. I actively avoid ruling anything. I was a weapon master before I left. That was the most responsibility I wanted.¡±


    Rachel¡¯s eyes slid to Alethia and she said,


    ¡°What should we do about your cat?¡±


    Zoe looked miserable for a moment and then collected herself back up,


    ¡°I think I am going to serve my ex with papers. But first I need a lawyer.¡±


    They chatted about acquiring legal help and who knew the best cheap lawyer in town. Then they say back on the couch to watch television. Since this was Zoe¡¯s feel better party, she got to choose the shows.


    MTV¡¯s Faking It started up on the screen and Alethia groaned inwardly. This was not a very well reviewed show and it was a relatively modern one depicting lesbians. Alethia did not want to watch another lesbian die tragically in the third act tonight, or for her friend to decide she was straight all along. That might be a bit too close to home for Alethia right then.


    An hour into the show and Alethia decided that reviewers were stupid. Even though most of the characters were bad people who treated each other badly, she really liked the plot between the two mains. Yes, one was straight and only playing at being gay, but that only made Alethia feel closer to both of them. Here were people just as confused about themselves as she was. That they were all highschoolers and not graduate students only made Alethia feel a little uncomfortable.


    Several hours later, they were all asleep in the living room, or at least Rachel and Zoe were. Alethia found that she could not sleep. She stood up and used the rest room. This was the only room in Zoe¡¯s apartment that did not have weapons on it. It smelled like clovers and honey. Zoe had good taste in air fresheners.


    She went back to her spot on the floor where Zoe had piled bedding and pillows and curled up. Sleep continued to elude Alethia. She lay there silently waiting for sleep or the sun to arrive, whichever won the race.


    Neither did before Alethia heard someone stir. She was pretty sure it was Zoe rising from her couch. Alethia listened to her walk to the bathroom and then back again. Rather than return to the couch, Alethia could feel Zoe¡¯s breath and scent near her face. Both sensations lingered only a moment before retreating. Zoe whispered,


    ¡°Rachel, are you awake?¡±


    After a few seconds, Rachel snorted and Alethia felt her stir across the room,


    ¡°Waazzzit? What?¡±


    ¡°Shhh, don¡¯t wake Alethia.¡±


    Bah, why not? Alethia thought in response.


    ¡°Why? What¡¯s going on Zoe?¡±


    ¡°Shh, I want to ask you some stuff.¡±


    Several more instances of shifting mixed with sounds of linens being lifted and tossed on the floor reached Alethia¡¯s straining ears. Rachel¡¯s voice came from the couch,


    ¡°What is going on, Zoe?¡±


    ¡°Your friend Alethia is really hot. Like really hot. Maybe hotter than the first time I saw her.¡±


    Alethia¡¯s face felt like lava had fallen on it. She wondered how Rachel and Zoe could continue their conversation while Alethia¡¯s face gave off so much red light.


    Rachel laughed,


    ¡°No shit, dude. If I played for your team, I would have buried my face in that a long time ago.¡±


    ¡°You are my crudest girlfriend, you know that?¡±


    Rachel sounded proud,


    ¡°I just call it like I see it. In a different universe, we¡¯re all wrapped up in each others¡¯ smokin¡¯ hot bodies tonight. Hell, I am straight and the thought turns me on a little. Anyway, I think you wanted to ask me something?¡±


    Zoe said,


    ¡°Yeah. Is she single? And do you know what team she plays for? I am getting a heavy ¡®gay and into you vibe¡¯.¡±


    Rachel said,


    ¡°You have to ask her. Anything she¡¯s said to me, she¡¯s said in confidence.¡±


    Good ol¡¯ Rachel. Alethia felt warm to be blessed with such a good fried.


    ¡°But you think I should ask?¡±


    Alethia could imagine Rachel¡¯s ¡®nod and shrug¡¯. It was her way of saying, ¡®heck, I do not know, but it might be worth your time.¡¯


    Zoe spoke up again,


    ¡°So I am getting a firm maybe? Are you sure you can¡¯t give me any hints?¡±


    Rachel sighed and said,


    ¡°I think you could ask her, but I also think now is a bad time. Give her like two or three weeks. Maybe four.¡±


    ¡°Ugh, I hate waiting. For anything.¡±


    ¡°I know. I¡¯ve seen you try to cook. It was frightening.¡±


    ¡°So you think there is a chance? Sorry to keep asking this, but she¡¯s in the SCA and she seems down. That¡¯s like finding a silver card in your first pack.¡±


    ¡°Is that a Pokemon thing?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, sorry.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s okay. I knew you were a big dork when I decided to be your friend.¡±


    Alethia smiled at the thought that Rachel had her back and fell asleep.


    When she woke the next morning, she was still in Zoe¡¯s apartment. Rachel sat on the couch with a cup of coffee on the table in front of her and her phone in the other. She saw Alethia stir and said,


    ¡°Good morning Allie! Did you forget something last night?¡±


    Alethia ran through her list of to-do¡¯s for the day. No, she had everything squared away for once and felt pretty good about it.


    ¡°No. I am good.¡±


    ¡°Really? I only ask cause Richard texted me last night trying to find out where you were. You should turn your phone back on.¡±


    ¡°Oh shoot! Game night! Darnit!¡±


    Alethia pulled her phone out of her small black leather purse. Sure enough, it had seventeen messages from Richard, Karen and Rob waiting for her attention. Today was another SCA practice, so she might see Richard there tonight. She would apologize then.


    She texted all three back, Rob¡¯s text was a bit of a surprise, and Richard replied first.


    ¡°I talked to Rache. Don¡¯t let this Zoe girl chop you into haggis before I see you again.¡±


    Alethia did not reply right away because Zoe walked into the living room and smiled when she saw Alethia.


    ¡°You¡¯re awake. I considered making breakfast for all of you, but Rachel suggested that it might be faster just to throw the raw ingredients into the trash. So she is making breakfast.¡±


    Rachel blinked and jumped up from the couch, phone still in hand. Zoe sat down on the couch and patted the seat next to her.


    ¡°Come up off the floor, Alethia. Want to watch random Youtube videos until Rachel is done feeding us?¡±


    ¡°Sure, that sounds like a good time.¡±


    Alethia crawled up the couch and turned in place. Lesbian flirting was like any other kind she had dabbled in, but it took her a few minutes to realize what was going on. Zoe held the tablet. The angle forced Alethia¡¯s head almost into Zoe¡¯s neck. Once Alethia turned her head and almost bumped her nose into Zoe¡¯s jaw, she finally got with the program.


    Nearness to Zoe sent shivers up Alethia¡¯s spine. The cute animals on Youtube did little to distract from the soft warmth of Zoe¡¯s shirt and neck. But the thought of Karen and how much Alethia had pined for her made Alethia finally stand and use the restroom. She felt like a total chicken sitting on the toilet with her head in her hands.


    One thing that Richard¡¯s super hero serum did not do for her: ease this emotional torment. Alethia repeated the deal she made with herself,


    ¡°The feelings I am having might just be a test. But if they are, I want to understand them.¡±


    Alethia prayed for understanding. Again. Aside from prayers for the good of her family and friends, this was the only prayer Alethia offered these days. No feeling of completeness or righteousness with the Lord pervaded her body. She felt like God was not listening to her, even though she knew that was nonsense.


    She finally left the bathroom to find Rachel and Zoe back on the couch watching videos together. Rachel had her head on Zoe¡¯s shoulder, practically stroking her breast with her hair and shoulder. Watching their interaction, Alethia knew that she was being judgmental and dumb. It hurt to watch Rachel, who had no confusing amorous feelings for other women, lay down on another woman who did. Rachel did all of this without the shame Alethia would have felt.


    A blazing bright memory of her own youth fired through Alethia¡¯s head. All she needed to provoke the film-like recollection was to wonder where that attitude had come from. She remembered youth group after Wednesday church. When she was that age, she did not understand why her family attended Wednesday services. But she loved the church. All of her friends were here as well as all of the adults she trusted.


    One of those friends was a boy her age named Nicholas, never Nick. He was thin and long-limbed. The sort of boy who¡¯s body telegraphed the man he would be one day. He had shaggy dirty brown hair and one of the thickest Texas accents she had ever heard in her life. Youth group was before church on Wednesdays, right after school.


    Group ended early. Alethia started to think that she could not remember why. That had always been the truth during previous reviews of this memory. But suddenly she could hear the youth pastor, Gregory, excuse himself for the rest of the afternoon with a coda that he would have one of the other adults step in and check on them. That chaperonage never materialized.


    Instead, Alethia and the rest of the kids organized a Bible reading of their own. Alethia distinctly remembered suggesting the idea to the rest of the kids. They pulled their KJV bibles off of the shelves and flipped to something random, Alethia lobbied for Ruth, but the rest of the kids insisted on Genesis.


    Nicholas sat against a wall with the rest of them. That represented their biggest conscious rebellion so far: not using their chairs to read the Bible. But Alethia and Nicholas took the challenge to their elders a step farther when Alethia leaned into Nicholas like he was a chair and they both read from the same Bible.


    When one of the older men came into the youth room, he exploded into anger. He made the whole group return the Bibles and pulled Alethia and Nicholas out of the room for separate lectures and down-dressings.


    She was repeatedly told how her behavior was tempting and unwholesome. For the better part of ten minutes, Alethia had thought she was in trouble over unsupervised readings of the Bible. Only at the end of the lecture did she realize that she was in trouble for being ¡°too close¡± to Nicholas.


    Alethia felt ashamed and humiliated at her behavior. She cursed herself for her impiety during most of the following sermon. Matters only grew worse that Sunday when Pastor David called out ¡°inappropriate behavior among the youth group¡± during his sermon on morality.


    She shook her head to clear the bad memories out as the oven timer rang. Rachel stood to put food into the oven. Alethia decided that she would try to relax until the event today. Her plan was to go with Rachel and Zoe, but she needed to stop by her own place for her clothes.

 Chapter 5 - Richard - Blood belongs on the inside

    Richard sat in Karen¡¯s living room across from Rob. For the first time in years the married couple seemed happy with each other. Richard was so pleased about the changes in Rob that even if he gave up the superhero plans, Richard would still be happy about this outcome.


    He felt no resentment at being politely asked to leave before they would both need sleep. Richard even winked at Rob. He might not have been attracted to Karen, she was Rob¡¯s wife, but she was still a beautiful woman and he could still congratulate his best friend.


    Richard walked home again that night. This time he watched for bowler hat clad ruffians and silver uniform wearing agents alike. None of those appeared. He let go of his vigilance piece by piece until his thoughts were consumed by the beautiful woman he found himself attracted to. Alethia.


    He whispered her name to himself, trusting that no one else would be able to hear his voice.


    ¡°Alethia.¡±


    She went along with the super powers plan right from the start. Richard suspected that she would also be along for the hero-ing part of his plan. That would make this whole situation and everything that happened to him so far a-okay.


    Tomorrow was an SCA banquet with some light fighting and maybe some archery contests. Richard was still considering entering one of those in complete disguise. That would be better than the animated Robin Hood even, because he would not need to use stilts or a big floppy hat to pull it off. He just needed super powers.


    Richard reached his own house. As expected, Rachel was not home either. He had texted her when the calls to Alethia did not elicit a response. She had gone over to another friend¡¯s house and all three fell asleep before remembering that tonight was game night. They had ended up skipping war-gaming, even though Richard wanted to try his new brain against Karen enough that he had challenged her anyway. She refused, which was a pretty reasonable response.


    Tomorrow was also his first day back to work since he ¡°got sick¡±. A morning shift was exactly what Doctor ¡°Return to Normal¡± had ordered. That would be a nice break and a chance to work out some frustration on kids running the labyrinth in the morning.


    Richard woke two hours after he fell asleep. Still almost five hours before he had to be awake, he cursed his fate, but found himself unable to return to sleep. After tossing and turning for half an hour, Richard got out of bed and wandered the house for a while. He checked out his assortment of wargaming armies and found that the same unpainted army sat waiting for his attention on his desk that was there last year.


    He studied the miniatures for several minutes. In his mind¡¯s eye, he could animate them and review each with a slightly different color scheme. Soon, Richard sat at his desk and took up paints to make his figurines table worthy.


    Two hours later, Richard emerged like he was taking a breath of air after holding it for a long, long time. But his entire army had a base coat and he was starting to apply a new coat for detail. His test mini looked fantastic. He might showcase this army the next game night at the Taylor home.


    When he could delay no longer, Richard donned his Phaser Tag shirt and black pants. The drive to work was faster than he remembered. He was the first person in the building. As an assistant manager, he held more responsibility than he was comfortable with. But at the same time, he was basically free here. His nominal supervisor was the store manager: Joseph.


    Joseph did not care about anything except never, ever having to face the regional manager with something his team did wrong. To that end, Joseph towed the company line, but only enough to keep his people ignored by the higher ups. Richard believe that all good managers worked that way.


    Saturday mornings would be rough, but that was the cost of skipping work for the better part of a week. The first few customers arrived, several of them were regulars. They probably considered themselves weekend warriors. But Richard knew they were all forty-somethings fighting their mid-life crises by engaging in the most juvenile ¡°sport¡± they could find. He knew this because all of them seemed to resent the kids who normally frequented the place. Like their presence was a reflection of the mens¡¯ refusal to grow up.


    Richard chuckled at those thoughts while he dragged out the armor ¡ª aka light sensors ¡ª and guns the players would need to run the course. This was early enough that Richard could join the group if anyone else in the store showed up. Five minutes before he scheduled the first run, one of the new people, Tammy, arrived. She was young, maybe in her early twenties or late teens. Richard thought she was pretty enough, but she was too young for him and he had his heart set on Alethia.


    ¡°Tammy, you¡¯ve held down the cash register and floor alone before, right?¡±


    Tammy had just set her bag down when Richard fired the question at her. She blinked in confusion and said,


    ¡°Yeah, I guess so? Why?¡±


    Richard grinned and said,


    ¡°Because I want to take in a game before the rush starts in earnest. You okay until Terry or Zachary arrive?¡±


    ¡°I think so, sir.¡±


    Richard winked and said,


    ¡°Please don¡¯t call me sir. Richard or even hey you works fine.¡±


    His words appeared to make her uncomfortable. Dang. Richard was not flirting with or coming onto her, he just hated being called sir. And he wanted to make Tammy more comfortable here.


    He was already pulling his armor on. The gun he kept behind the counter was still in place. He examined it before plugging in and registering his rig with the store computer system. He was going to be red team today since they were a little on the thin side. Most of the hardcores ended up on the blue team anyway.


    While waiting in the red staging area, Richard helped pump the group up,


    ¡°Are we ready to go kick the teeth of some scummy blue guys in?¡±


    The assorted adults and early rising kids shouted ¡°Yes¡± in response. Richard loved this part of his job, he felt like a dungeon master or awesome party host. Basically he was the cool kid here who knew all of the people and had all of the best toys, and he just wanted to share them with everyone.


    The buzzer sounded and the door to the staging area shot open with a pneumatic hiss.


    Richard had been at the front of the door, pushing with the rest of his team. An eye blink after the door opened, he was no longer with them. He was stalking to where he knew the Blue team guys would be setting up ambushes or overlook spots.


    Richard massacred them. To a man.


    By the end of the twenty minute match, Richard¡¯s avatar, KainKat had ascended the top position and almost set a record. His score fell short by a handful of points, which made him glad he chose restraint.


    Tammy was drowning under the press of heavy nerds asking her questions and generally harassing her. Richard recalled his own days of idiotic social awkwardness and still felt disgust at their behavior. Tammy handled herself really well despite it all, but she met his gaze with her own and the look in her eyes screamed for help.


    ¡°Soldiers of Phaserton! Assemble!¡±


    This was the other part of his job he enjoyed. Now that more people were here, he spent time distracting them from the female members of the staff by getting them pumped up to wage invisible ray wars against the warriors of the ¡°wrong¡± color. Richard and Kenneth took sides opposite each other for this activity. The day flew by as they sent rotating teams into the maze to rack up points for their team. None of the players the rest of his shift even hit the top thirty all time scores.


    The one dark spot in the day so far was when Richard had to sidle up next to one of the older weekend warriors who would not leave Tammy alone.


    Joseph and management had no official policy on harassment, but Richard did not plan to put up with any. The first time he saw the older man standing over the counter, practically oozing into Tammy¡¯s personal space, he watched from across the room. If the man moved wrong or tried to touch Tammy, Richard planned to feed the man the offending appendage. But he kept his creepy behavior to just tolerable levels. Or maybe he crossed the line, but was so nonchalant about it that even Tammy shook her head when she caught Richard watching. Some part of her gaze alerted Richard that Tammy might be suffering from a different issue entirely. But he did not catch any further indication of a problem from her the rest of the day.


    Two hours later, the same old man sat in the cafe eating cheap hot dogs and staring right at Tammy. The man¡¯s bald head held thin locks that covered his ears like a beaded curtain. He wore a white stained button up shirt and slacks that should not have required the suspenders the man wore. Tammy avoided his gaze her whole shift at the registers. Richard took a break from his own labors to watch Mr Creepy.


    When he finally got up to leave, the old man patted Tammy on the hand and paid his bill. Richard could not hear what he said over the cacophony of the arcade and announcers. But he had already decided to walk Tammy to her car when her shift was up, right after his own.


    Several hours later, Richard¡¯s shift was about to end and he could not find Tammy anywhere. He asked Kenneth,


    ¡°Hey, have you seen the new girl, Tammy?¡±


    Kenneth said,


    ¡°Oh yeah man. She¡¯s got a smoking hot ass. Damn, I would hit that in a second.¡±


    Richard shook his head,


    ¡°No you ass, I am worried that one of our creepy patrons was stalking her earlier and I wanted to make sure she reached her car okay.¡±


    Richard had already discussed this with Joseph, but the employee parking lot was out back. The main lot was never full so employees should have been allowed to park there so more people could see them if they were attacked. Joseph blew off his request, one of few the downsides to having a minimal effort boss.


    Richard sprinted out of the building with a quick word to Kenneth,


    ¡°Watch things, I will be back in a sec.¡±


    Something about Tammy¡¯s demeanor bothered Richard all day. She had seemed worried about something and Richard could not shake the feeling he should be involved. He hit the employee section of the back where they kept their lockers. No one else was in the room, so Richard tried changing his face. His power seemed to fail him, he could not change into ¡°a random guy¡±. He successfully turned into Doctor Price the other day, so he tried him again. That worked.


    Without trying to refine his outfit, Richard stepped outside and looked around. Tammy¡¯s car was still in the lot, which made Richard really nervous. He started searching in earnest now and found a collection of discarded boxes in front of an unused service door. At the base of the boxes, Richard spotted a hand.


    He quietly bent down and saw that this hand belonged to an arm that wore a dirty old button up shirt. He moved the boxes out of the way and recognized Mr Creepy. Richard checked his pulse, the man still lived.


    From the door behind the boxes, Richard could hear some odd noises. He tried to move more of the boxes out of the way and found they were bound up by something. Further investigation showed a thin piece of wire connecting the mass of boxes. They were held up near the top of the mystery door.


    Without knocking, Richard pulled the door open with a metallic grating sound. He realized too late that he had shattered the lock on the door with his tug. Inside he saw three people, two men and one woman: Tammy.


    The two young men held pistols in their hands and had them pointed at Richard. Tiny bells rang in the room that were themselves connected to the wire of the door. In a flash, Richard saw that they had rigged a way to conceal their activities while also warning them if their camouflage failed.


    The guns gave Richard pause for less than a heartbeat. Too bad for those hooligans, but the threat they represented narrowed Richard¡¯s focus to that of a laser. All three people had disguised themselves, the two men wore ski masks and Tammy wore nylons on her head. Those disguises did not help them, Richard could have picked all three out of a lineup with his nose alone. He spotted the necessary details before his heart hit the second beat after opening the door.


    Time slowed down to the point where Richard¡¯s assailants appeared to freeze from his perspective. That was fine for his purposes. He knew that he could not move fast enough to beat their trigger fingers. But he could also see that the one furthest from the hanging wire held that same wire in hand. For the boxes to hang the way they did, some of them needed to be reinforced. Probably with the little round roofing discs used in construction. That is what Richard would have used anyway.


    Motion. That was all the three probably saw as Richard threw his entire body not at the gunmen, but at the door and the handing mass of boxes suspended on it. A gun¡¯s report told him that one of them fired, but the shot missed Richard entirely. His weight jerked the wire out of the man¡¯s hands and made him sway into his friend. That collision was the opening Richard wanted. He darted toward them and Tammy screamed.


    Another shot rang out and this time Richard paused. Something had smacked right into his chest, hard. It did not hurt at first. It did not really feel like anything for a few seconds, like his body now moved in slower motion than the three had when Richard was watching them. He took his hand away from his chest ¡ª when did that get there ¡ª and it came away dark and bloody. Richard swore as the three people ran from the utility room. At least they did not shoot him again.


    The internal CPU in his head he had finally managed to suppress went insane as he listened to squealing tires. Red warnings flashed across Richard¡¯s vision, but he was having trouble focusing his eyes on them. As he fell unconscious, he was pretty sure what the messages said:If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    ¡°Blood belongs on the inside.¡±


    He woke on a gurney. Like a scene from a hospital drama, he was being wheeled into a stark white hallway while serious-sounding people shouted at each other.


    ¡°White male, forty to fifty, GSW chest. Vitals are stable.¡±


    ¡°Prep an OR. Did you say his vitals are stable?¡±


    They continued to run while a man in a white coat looked over Richard. He shined a bright light in his eyes and felt his pulse.


    ¡°Jesus, you are lucky buddy.¡±


    Richard could not speak through the pain in his chest. He was more surprised that he was shot than anything else.


    The doctor examining him seemed to recognize Richard and said,


    ¡°Holy God. Scott? Scott Price?¡±


    Richard wanted to say, ¡°No¡± and maybe also, ¡°please just let me go¡± but his word failed to work.


    He was still alert and conscious when they rolled him into an operating room.


    Two of the people who pushed his cart left after they locked the gurney in place. Richard could hear three people in the room. One spoke to another, issuing medical requests that Richard tuned out. The pain in his chest had faded to a dull ache. That surprised him more than any other part of his circumstances. I am still in Doctor Price¡¯s form. Huh. That thought made Richard believe he might have a chance to escape this place before they performed surgery on him and discovered his real identity.


    Maybe that would be okay.


    A ridiculous thought. He had no idea what was in his blood, but the FBI or NSA would probably be very interested in someone who could shapechange into other people.


    In the midst of these thoughts, Richard heard the two doctors turn and ¡®scrub in¡¯. Their backs were turned while the nurse prepared something on the table. It smelled like metal with some sort of astringent liquid.


    He looked around now and saw that he was on a flat table with the shirt he wore the other day as Doctor Price still on. How did I make clothing and could I make armor or something? Richard held that thought as he rolled onto his side and slowly stood. The leads and other probes stayed in for now. They would emit alarms when he pulled them off, which could wait until the last minute.


    Richard focused on the nurse preparing syringes and tools on a small cloth. She did not see him yet, none of them did with their intense focus on their various tasks. He hoped he had the woman¡¯s form sufficiently in mind because he was about to try to escape.


    One last pause to consider the nurse, and Richard ripped the monitors off of him along with the IV in his arm. To their credit, all three looked back as Richard hightailed it out of the operating theatre. None of them could match his speed, so he was out the door before they turned. The hallway looked clear so Richard focused on the nurse. This time, he felt his body change, presumably because the differences were so extreme. In a second he looked like the nurse who had been treating him. Not just looked like, he was the nurse. His body actually changed when he assumed a new form.


    The pain in his chest was gone now too. Richard looked down at his chest, pulling his shirt forward and trying to look past his new breasts.


    Yup, not only am I not injured, but I have boobs.


    Richard¡¯s face burned and he stumbled a moment as his concentration wavered. Walking around as woman proved to be a little harder than he expected. Thank goodness she wore flats, Richard would have face planted otherwise.


    Something rattled around in the front of his shirt for a moment. Like a button came loose from his clothes. It felt into his pants and down his pants leg. Richard glanced back to see a tiny piece of metal on the floor. At the same time, the door to the OR flew open as the nurse and doctors ran outside to find their patient.


    Richard turned his face away, but the nurse was already running toward him,


    ¡°Excuse me! Miss! Excuse me!¡±


    Oh crap.


    Richard had no plan for this, so he walked even faster away from the woman, she shouted again,


    ¡°Miss, stop, please! Miss!¡±


    Screw this.


    Richard turned his full speed on and ran from all three as fast as he could. He cleared the hallway in seconds, probably setting a human land speed record, if not for Alethia. When he rounded the corner he changed back into Doctor Price. His clothes were whole as well as his chest.


    I have a freakin¡¯ healing factor.


    He was definitely going to tell the gang about this.


    Richard had no phone or wallet, a problem he knew would come back to haunt him. He wondered how that worked exactly. Maybe he did not change his ID or maybe the wallet and phone were too complex for him to create. Whatever the reason, the EMTs, hospital, or worse, the police, had his cellphone and wallet now.


    He did have a way to contact his friends when he thought about it. The curtesy phone or one of the pay phones was out. That would be traced back to whoever he called and create a potential problem for them. Maybe Richard was being paranoid. He knew it was possible. But at the same time, careless was not working out for him.


    Richard found what he was looking for down a second hallway. Someone left themselves logged into one of the computer stations he passed. With a look around him, he sat down and hurriedly bashed out an email to Rob and Karen. Since no one appeared, he also sent them an SOS message. That would go direct to their phone. Richard logged out of his various accounts and was out of the chair in less than two minutes. Right before the owner of the logged in system returned.


    In a bathroom, Richard tried turning into one of the doctors from the OR he had been in. That worked too. This guy was older with a paunch to him like Richard used to have. He had a thick mat of disheveled white hair and he looked like he was prepared for surgery. Richard did not know how to change his clothes without taking them off.


    He tried it and laid the apron and gloves on the counter along with the head cover. They sat there like normal clothes.


    Maybe he could become a clothing counterfeiter if the hero thing failed.


    When he walked about 3 meters away, the clothes dissolved into smoke.


    ¡°Huh. That¡¯s interesting. And shuts down that career path.¡±


    Richard chuckled as he walked out of the restroom looking less conspicuous. Once he was out of the hallways where he did not belong, he stepped back into a restroom and changed back into himself. He tried to put his big cowboy hat on, but that did not work this time.


    He intended to figure out how this worked, maybe not right now though.


    Cameras dotted the ceilings and corners like little pockmarks. Blech. Richard avoided them as much as he could, but acknowledged that he was probably caught by several of the irises.


    Outside, Karen and Rob waited for him. Once inside the car, Karen turned to him,


    ¡°What in the hell was it this time, Richard?¡±


    ¡°I swear I didn¡¯t do anything wrong this time!¡±


    He told them what happened, omitting his shape changing. For some reason, Richard felt compelled to withhold that detail, even from Rob and Alethia.


    ¡°God Richard, they are going to come looking for you.¡±


    ¡°Oh yeah. Don¡¯t I know it.¡±


    Rob said,


    ¡°From the way it sounds, the cops should not think you were involved with Tammy and her two friends. That¡¯s good.¡±


    Well¡­ It would be. Richard thought in response to his friend. The problem, of course, was that the EMTs would not know Richard was on the gurney. Except that his ID and phone were on the ¡°victim¡± who has disappeared.


    ¡°Except that I am not currently bleeding nor do I have a bullet wound in me.¡±


    ¡°Do you think we all have healing factors?¡±


    Richard shrugged. He had started healing before he transformed. He did not know how fast Alethia or Rob would heal.


    ¡°Maybe. I don¡¯t really want to test it. Do you guys?¡±


    Rob shook his head.


    ¡°Not particularly. Especially if it varies like the speed thing.¡±


    ¡°Have you figured out your super power yet?¡±


    Karen spoke up,


    ¡°Robert is very, very strong.¡±


    Rob smiled and rubbed his hand down the back of his head. He looked a little embarrassed while Karen looked impressed.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know if that is my super power though.¡±


    Richard said,


    ¡°It would be cool to find a way to test it, right?¡±


    Karen interrupted them,


    ¡°You boys are supposed to be super geniuses now. Maybe stick to working out the problem of Richard¡¯s impending incarceration?¡±


    Rob nodded and grinned. Karen¡¯s tone was milder than it would have been a few days ago. She sounded more amused than frustrated with them.


    Rob said,


    ¡°I think we can go with some version of ¡®I hit my head¡¯. The police are going to have a heck of a hard time building a case here. Especially with a missing victim. You said Mr Creepy was fine when you checked on him?¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡±


    ¡°I wonder who called the cops in the first place. They should have witnesses and stuff. We should should call Kimmie.¡±


    Karen narrowed her eyes,


    ¡°You are feeling good enough to see your sister right now?¡±


    Rob shrugged,


    ¡°It¡¯s weird, right? I can remember all of the mean stuff she¡¯s said over the years, but I just don¡¯t really care that much. It¡¯s like I have distance from what she¡¯s done. What all of them do constantly.¡±


    Karen patted Rob on the shoulder. Richard tried not to pay too much attention, but something in Rob¡¯s voice sounded wrong to him. Not like he could hear truth or anything. More like he could hear pain in Rob¡¯s voice that he tried to hide and failed. Or a place where pain was supposed to be but wasn¡¯t.


    The former thought worried Richard where the latter terrified him.


    They pulled into the Taylor driveway and no cops were there to greet them.


    ¡°Do you need to call work or anything?¡±


    Karen handed Richard her phone.


    ¡°Yeah, I should call Joseph and let him know more or less what happened.¡±


    He dialed the number for his boss,


    ¡°Hello, who is this?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s Richard, Richard Kain.¡±


    ¡°Holy Shit, Richard, what the hell happened?¡±


    Richard told him the story Karen and Rob had concocted. He had been hit on the head and crawled under a car to hide after the masked people and Tammy stole his wallet. He heard a gun shot and passed out. When he woke, he wandered into a store and asked a stranger to text his friends for him. Richard and Karen picked him up.


    He hung up the phone, hoping that what he said would match whatever Kenneth or whichever employee who stumbled on the scene reported. The bump on the noggin was important because it established that he was unreliable.


    Next he called his credit card company and his bank. He didn¡¯t want to do it, but it would buttress his story to replace his credit cards and order a new ID and phone. So he performed those tasks, pleased that his newfound memory supplied the answer to every identity challenge and password for every account he needed to accomplish these goals.


    Rob called his older sister, Kimmie. She was a lawyer in Houston. He was not friends with anyone in his family, but Rob told Richard that he still kept in touch with them. As sad as Richard¡¯s parents dying was, at least he had been able to rely on and trust them when they were alive. Rachel lived in their old house with him and he considered her a friend.


    Kimmie insisted on speaking to Richard,


    ¡°Hello Richard. Despite what my idiot brother thinks, I am not going to dispense legal advice to one of his friends over the phone. I do have some non-official advice for you: get a real fucking lawyer and don¡¯t waste my time again.¡±


    She hung up before Richard could. He sighed into the phone and said,


    ¡°I suppose her advice is still good. Who should we call?¡±


    As if summoned by their discussion, the doorbell rang. Rob went to check while Richard waited near the stairs. He checked the peephole and shook his head,


    ¡°Richard, go upstairs and only come down if Karen comes to get you, okay?¡±


    Richard quietly walked upstairs and stayed out of sight. Rob walked outside. As he closed the door behind him, he said,


    ¡°Good afternoon detective, how can I help you today?¡±


    Richard held his breath and listened to their discussion. The detective was a woman, based on her voice,


    ¡°Mr Robert Taylor?¡±


    ¡°Yes ma¡¯am. May I ask your name?¡±


    ¡°I am Detective Riveria. Do you know the whereabouts of one Richard James Kaine? I believe he is a friend of yours.¡±


    ¡°Why do you ask, detective, has he done something wrong?¡±


    ¡°We just want to speak to him and please answer the question Mr Taylor.¡±


    ¡°Which question, detective? Is he a friend or do I know where he is?¡±


    Richard held in a laugh at the detective¡¯s expense. Robert was a slamming good role-player and he was currently playing ¡°dumb villager Schmidt.¡± The absolute worst character anyone wanted to run into during a D&D investigation. Schmidt was bored and dumb. He would never give you information but would try to keep you talking for as long as possible. Most players could recognize Schmidt after two questions, unless Rob was playing him.


    He spoke like an Eliza bot.


    ¡°Do you know where Richard Kain is, Mr Taylor?¡±


    ¡°Why do you think I would know where he is?¡±


    Richard could hear the detective¡¯s sigh through the door and up the stairs.


    ¡°Sir, are you trying to conceal the whereabouts of Mr Kaine?¡±


    ¡°Why do you think that, detective?¡±


    Another voice said, this one male,


    ¡°Because you haven¡¯t answered a single one of her questions, Mr Taylor.¡±


    This man¡¯s voice was gravely, like he smoked too many cigarettes. His tone held enough contempt and impatience to account for him and his partner.


    ¡°Well, none of you has asked me a question I know the answer to or that I care to answer.¡±


    ¡°Excuse me?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t really like repeating myself.¡±


    Jesus Rob. Richard wondered what his game was. It sounded like he was deliberately trying to piss these cops off now.


    The man¡¯s voice dropped as he said,


    ¡°Listen joker. If you know where Richard Kain is, you need to tell us unless you want to be an accessory.¡±


    In a loud voice, Rob said,


    ¡°An accessory to what exactly officer? Look. I have an engagement I need to prepare for this afternoon. Unless you are investigating a crime or you have a warrant, I do not care to give you any more of my time.¡±


    The woman muttered,


    ¡°You haven¡¯t given us anything anyway.¡±


    The door opened and Rob stepped back inside.


    ¡°You folks have a nice day now! Bye bye!¡±


    He closed the door slowly. Richard heard the female detective whisper,


    ¡°Easy Steve. Stand down.¡±


    Rob waited until the cops drove off to go back downstairs.


    ¡°Jesus Rob, what were you doing?¡±


    Karen nodded along with Richard¡¯s question. They both looked at him with the same bewildered expression.


    ¡°I was trying to get the guy to hit me at the end there.¡±


    Karen spoke for both of them this time,


    ¡°Seriously? Why?¡±


    Rob grinned and said,


    ¡°I wanted to make this problem go away and I wanted to see if I had a healing factor too.¡±


    Richard was pretty sure they all did. He did not really want his friend testing it out.


    Still, he laughed his ass off.


    Once he was calm, Richard said,


    ¡°Man, you could have gotten shot. Be careful.¡±


    Rob nodded and said,


    ¡°Do yall still want to go to the banquet tonight?¡±


    They argued about it for about ten minutes before Richard decided he did not want to hide. If the cops showed up at the banquet, maybe he could just talk to them. Or he would go in disguise¡­ no that would be impossible with Rob and Karen as his ride.


    Most of his garb was at his house anyway. So they had to take him by his house on the way. He was not far from the Taylor¡¯s house, so none of them noticed the car following them the short way.


    When he got out of the car, two people approached him. A woman with short red hair, cut close to her scalp in a pixie cut and a man wearing aviator sunglasses with buzzed dark brown hair. They were both tall and well built and both clad in cheap blue suits. Her¡¯s ended in a skirt and hose where his ended in trousers legs. The colors of their outfits did not match. Her suit was just a bit darker than his.


    ¡°Mr Kain? Richard Kain?¡±


    ¡°Who is asking?¡±


    They both pulled out badges and identification cards. Richard checked them both. Their names were Caroline Riveria and Henry Thorsgud, both detectives.


    ¡°How can I help you two detectives?¡±


    ¡°Where were you this afternoon after work?¡±


    ¡°Hiding under a car after someone hit me over the head.¡±


    The man said,


    ¡°Excuse me?¡±


    Richard nodded,


    ¡°Right, it was not ¡®someone¡¯ I think it was one of the men with Tammy. One of the employees at Phaser Tag where I work. They hit me over the head and stole my wallet and cellphone.¡±


    ¡°I can see you cancelled your credit cards.¡¯


    ¡°Yeah. Karen and Rob are my friends. Have you met them?¡±


    The woman, Detective Riveria, leaned toward Richard. He was doing his best ¡®slightly drunk¡¯ impression.


    ¡°Have you had yourself checked out at a hospital, Mr Kain?¡±


    ¡°No, do you think I should?¡±


    ¡°People who are hit in the head can have serious complications even hours after the event. Have you been to the hospital today Mr Kain?¡±


    Oh shoot. She definitely saw him on camera today.


    ¡°Maybe, I can¡¯t really be sure, officer.¡±


    The man, Henry, said,


    ¡°You mean detective, son.¡±


    Richard suspected he was a Hank. He looked like a Hank. The kind of Hank who threatened to give the debate kids swirlies in high school. Richard thought becoming a detective would have been too hard for Hank here.


    ¡°What do you mean, you can¡¯t really be sure?¡±


    ¡°The whole day is really foggy to me. I am really sorry I can¡¯t be more help.¡±


    ¡°You remember Tammy and two men though? What about a third?¡±


    Richard nodded,


    ¡°Right. I went out to check up on Tammy in case Mr Creepy tried to hurt her.¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    Richard explained Mr Creepy¡¯s interactions with Tammy inside during her shift. He left out the part about finding Mr Creepy on the ground under the boxes. Richard left the whole part about the boxes out. When he walked outside, he was knocked on the head right away. He saw the people who did it because they were in front of him and they hit him more or less on the top of the head.


    Richard did not think either detective fully bought his story. Thank goodness for Rob,


    ¡°Detectives, we¡¯re going to be late. Can we head out?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, am I in trouble officers?¡±


    Richard kept the grin off of his face when Hank ground his teeth. Detective Riveria said,


    ¡°Not right now, Mr Kain. We may have some more questions for you later. Are you planning on going out of town in the next few days?¡±


    ¡°No ma¡¯am.¡±


    ¡°If that changes or you remember anything else, please give me a call.¡±


    She handed him her card, when she did, Richard got a strong whiff of her perfume. It smelled expensive, high quality. Though Richard could not say what gave him that impression.


    The two walked back to their car, a Toyota with black cloth seats and dark tinted windows.


    Richard ran inside. The main reason he wanted to be sure to attend tonight was that Alethia would be there. No threat of incarceration would keep him from seeing her tonight if he could help it.

 Chapter 6 - Alethia - Do you still like what you see

    Alethia finished grading papers before lunchtime. The three of them ate and chatted about their home towns. Alethia grew up in Big Spring, but moved to Seattle for school. That had been as far away from home as she could get at the time. Zoe grew up in a suburb of Boston and ended up going to school at Emerson. She had undergraduate degrees in computer science and history. Alethia smiled. Rachel attracted people like herself: brilliant and interesting.


    Zoe looked ravishing in her light armor garb. Her light blue jerkin was made from embroidered silk, which Alethia would have thought too delicate for armor. But beneath the silk, she had layered padding she hand stitched. A ring of pockets resembled corset boning, but Zoe demonstrated how she had sewn cur boiled leather strips between the seams.


    ¡°I¡¯ll wear a regulation jacket over this for bouts so the Safety clerks don¡¯t freak out, but eventually I will have the Weapon master here certify this coat for armor. It¡¯s better than the jackets alone, in my opinion. And those count as armor.¡±


    Alethia wanted to examine Zoe¡¯s leg armor too, but that was too much temptation for one day. Zoe had to know how much Alethia appreciated her outfit, so Alethia studiously avoided inspecting Zoe¡¯s legs and butt.


    They drove to Alethia¡¯s house and then to Rachel/Richard¡¯s house for the rest of the garb. Alethia¡¯s own armor would be a regulation jacket and waist coat. But she felt like wearing her most risqu¨¦ outfit this evening. It was a crimson jerkin with gold embroidery over a pair of black tights. Karen would be at the banquet tonight and maybe Alethia could entice her with a bit of jealousy.


    The afternoon¡¯s event was at a local convention center. Some weekends the bright white tiles and matching lights in the barren space filled to capacity with gun buyers and sellers. But for the purposes of tonight and tomorrow night, this was a feast weekend for Bryn Gwlad.


    Large plaid sheets, faux animal hides, real animal hides, and even a bamboo curtain concealed the ubiquitous modernity. Alethia breathed a sigh. Here she felt like she could take a break from the frenetic pace of her normal life. Zoe spun and grabbed Rachel¡¯s hand. She held out the other hand for Alethia who hesitated only a instant before she accepted.


    Zoe blazed a trail through the hanging cloth and folding tables. Alethia loved the feeling of being swept along, Rachel laughed with her as they cantered forward. Here and there people greeted them, but being dragged along precluded any response.


    Zoe stopped before the dueling boards.


    ¡°Oooh. It¡¯s a random draw single elimination tournament. One moment while I check it. Did you two reserve spots?¡±


    ¡°I did.¡±


    Alethia held her hand up. Richard would have insisted on this if Alethia had not planned on whupping Tiny Tim this tournament.


    Rachel shook her head.


    ¡°I am going to watch and maybe spar today. You two are high enough energy for me.¡±


    Zoe flashed a look at Alethia that she must have thought Alethia missed. But that glance was a hungry one. In a flash of insight, Alethia knew that Zoe looked forward to facing her in a match. That look held not a single ounce of competitiveness. Alethia¡¯s skin flushed with the thought.


    She picked up her cloth swatch. That was how her slot in the tournament would be marked. The little blue and green plaid was fraying on every edge. Alethia¡¯s vision narrowed to the individual fibers of the weave. In a strange flash she could look at all of them simultaneously. At the same moment, she knew she could carefully unravel every single fiber if she wanted. That might take even her some time to complete.


    ¡°Did you hear me?¡±


    Alethia shook her head,


    ¡°Sorry, I got distracted by my cloth patch.¡±


    Zoe grew serious,


    ¡°Do you think it took it?¡±


    ¡°Huh? Took what?¡±


    Zoe grabbed the piece of cloth and held it on Alethia¡¯s chin,


    ¡°There, all better.¡±


    Rachel groaned and Alethia giggled. Alethia said,


    ¡°Soul patch?¡±


    Zoe¡¯s eyes twinkled and she answered Alethia¡¯s question with the barest nod.


    Alethia¡¯s breath caught in her throat and the image of Karen flashed into her mind. She closed her eyes, knowing that her face was turning red.


    Alethia said,


    ¡°Before the cloth ate my soul, you were saying something?¡±


    She opened her eyes back up and Zoe looked normal. Still ravishing.


    ¡°You mentioned you have some scribe or something stuff to do, right Alethia? I want to check out some stuff before we start anyway and Rachel wants to look for her brother.¡±


    Alethia nodded,


    ¡°Gotcha. Let¡¯s meet at the feast hall five minutes before the hour, okay?¡±


    That gave her twenty minutes to check up on new scribe commissions and look for Karen Taylor. She and Rachel ran into Timaeus before either.


    ¡°I did not think you would enter a tournament, Alethia.¡±


    ¡°Huh.¡±


    Timaeus stared at her like he expected her to answer a question he did not ask. Alethia was right. He said,


    ¡°What, are you not going to answer me?¡±


    Rachel said,


    ¡°You didn¡¯t ask anything.¡±


    ¡°Why did you enter this tournament, Alethia? I don¡¯t think you¡¯re really ready for this level of competition.¡±


    Rachel rolled her eyes in the corner of Alethia¡¯s vision. Another odd thing happened to Alethia. She could suddenly see right through Timaeus. He was attracted to her. To both her and Rachel, really. But somehow he had fixated on Alethia. Suddenly all of his flailing, awkward attempts to engage her over the months came into stark relief. Her mind groaned while retching. The pattern was clear as print now. He had been ¡®negging¡¯ her in an attempt to make himself look more attractive. What a jerk.


    But now a path to manipulate him opened up to her. Alethia looked down, trying to be as demure as she could manage on demand.


    ¡°I was hoping I might see how far I can get with what you¡¯ve shown me already.¡±


    She twirled her hair around her finger. Not too thick. It might look fake.


    Timaeus stammered, thrown off by the sudden shift in their dynamic. Alethia silently cackled in glee.


    ¡°I. Um. Thank you. Uh. Excuse me.¡±


    Rachel leaned forward,


    ¡°Holy cats, did you just Jedi Mind trick him?¡±


    Alethia giggled,


    ¡°I had an inspiration.¡±


    ¡°Well, color me impressed. What are you going to do for an encore though?¡±


    She pointed to Richard who stood a few yards away staring at her. Alethia noticed jealousy and hurt for the first time in his eyes. Despite the advancements to her cognition she could not quite figure out what he had to be jealous or hurt over.


    He walked over with Karen and Rob in tow. Alethia¡¯s mind might not have spent as much time pondering the Richard situation in part because it leapt onto the image of Karen and Rob. He had his arm around her shoulder and she leaned into him holding his chest with her hand.


    Alethia wanted to be happy for his transformation so much. Rob stood tall and happy for the first time since she had known him. That magical transformation should have been cause for celebration. But Alethia¡¯s own green eye¡¯d monster intervened and choked her with envy. That was the other reason she discounted the dark look that crossed Rob¡¯s eyes when they met Alethia¡¯s. Only a shadow, a hint of something faint as gossamer moved behind Rob¡¯s black framed glasses.


    ¡°Was Timaeus giving you more trouble?¡±


    Richard asked as Rachel hugged him. His sister stiffened a moment during his question, evoking yet another question from Alethia.


    ¡°No, I scared him off by changing tactics. At least I scared him off for now.¡±


    Rachel answered,


    ¡°She used the Force on him. It was awesome.¡±


    Rachel failed to notice, but the tension between the four of them rose like someone ionized the air with a switch. All three stared at Rachel, even Karen was in on it, and all three wondered the same thing. Was that her super power and did she use it on a civilian?


    Alethia shook her head, hoping all three knew that her answer was ¡®no;¡¯ to both questions.


    Without Rachel noticing, the others seemed to understand Alethia¡¯s answer. Karen and the other two looked like something occupied their thoughts too.


    When Rachel ran off to find Zoe, Richard shared his news in a whisper,


    ¡°I was shot today.¡±


    ¡°What? How? Are you okay?¡±


    He smiled, happier at the question than Alethia would have expected.


    ¡°I am fine. I think we all have healing factors too.¡±


    Karen¡¯s eyes widened, but she nodded along with Rob. They believed Richard too, which confirmed this new information in Alethia¡¯s eyes.


    Richard continued,


    ¡°It makes sense. The time guys made it sound like the serum could heal people. It healed me of whatever traveling did to me. That was the point.¡±


    Alethia nodded. This deal kept getting better and better. That troubled her somehow. Like some consideration right beyond her conscious mind should have concerned her. The troubled feeling faded while Richard told the rest of his tale.


    When he finished, Alethia said,


    ¡°You need to tell Rachel too, you know. She will be pissed if she discovers the official story from someone else.¡±


    Richard nodded, but Alethia suspected the thought had not occurred to him until she mentioned it. Even post-serum he could be self-centered.


    Rob whispered,


    ¡°I hear you¡¯re competing in the weapons tournament tonight.¡±


    Alethia nodded,


    ¡°Yeah, why?¡±


    Rob lowered his voice even further, glancing around to see if anyone might be listening,


    ¡°Be careful. A lot of people are watching tonight.¡±


    ¡°I know, Rob. I intend to do well, but I don¡¯t intend to win.¡±


    She hoped that honor would go to Zoe. That just depended on what happened with the draw.


    Rob nodded. He looked suitably uncomfortable about mentioning it. But something still seemed off to Alethia.


    Alethia pouted after the brackets were announced. She had one match before she faced Zoe. The third round was the closest either of them could get to competing against Tiny Dumb. Alethia stretched and meditated before her match. Recalling the purgation of Saint Eustace, Alethia prayed that she would comport herself as would befit any Christian Knight from any era. Her church leaders might be scandalized by prayer to a Catholic Saint, but Alethia suspected that would be the least of her crimes if the the leaders of her church discovered how very far she had fallen. In a way, Eustace was even more appropriate because of the various forms of adversity Alethia faced right now.


    She stood feeling better in her mind, if not in her heart.


    Her first match proved to be far beneath her skill, even holding back as she was. Before she had taken the serum, Alethia would still have beaten this man. He was almost a boy, really. And his name was Claditch. Alethia liked that name and told him as much after their bout. He was gracious and even asked her to show him some moves sometime. She fixed his face in her memory. Graceful losers were less common than hay pennies.


    The next few bouts went as expected. Zoe demonstrated her fast reflexes and precise control. Alethia felt a whole new dimension open as she noticed Zoe holding back. Once she had seen it, the beats were obvious to Alethia. Zoe watched not just for openings in her opponent¡¯s defense, but for obvious openings only a lesser fighter would exploit. Or know how to exploit. She looked like she relied on luck and speed to the casual observer. Alethia looked around the crowd to see who else might have noticed the same thing. She caught the signs of recognition on the faces of Richard and Rob. Karen did not seem to recognize it herself, but she was less interested in the fighting than the boys.


    Timaeus did not appear to pick up Zoe¡¯s ruse. Good. Alethia wanted Zoe to give Timaeus a proper licking after Alethia threw her fight to the woman.


    Zoe won after what appeared to most people to be a close match. Alethia knew that Zoe was never in any danger of losing, but wanted to put off fools like Tiny Tim.


    Their own match was the first fight of the second round.


    Alethia squared off with Zoe, who had changed hands for the fight. She grinned and whispered at Alethia,


    ¡°Try to go easy on me.¡±


    She winked when the fight started and sprang forward, looking for an easy point from the inexperienced Alethia. A week ago, she would have been taken in by the move. Zoe wanted to force her back, but Alethia could see from the way her muscles bunched and gathered under her jacket that she feinted a high strike at Alethia, but intended a low point-only attack.


    Zoe was ruthless and in a way, Alethia was flattered. Like being given a test the teacher knows you might pass. Alethia intended to make herself a difficult target for the other woman so she performed a feint of her own. She backpedaled exactly like the novice she appeared to be. But her balance was laser perfect now. She kept just enough weight off of her leading foot that when Zoe¡¯s attack shifted mid-strike, Alethia pulled it back shy of being struck by a shocking distance.


    Their fight did not slack from that first attack. Alethia¡¯s senses and physical abilities would have let her dance circles around Zoe, even though her technique was better. That would not have satisfied Alethia¡¯s plans. So she made herself appear to be nothing more than a lucky, reckless novice who barely avoided Zoe¡¯s semiprofessional strikes.


    Until the end of the fight, tied point for point, Zoe advanced on Alethia, who surrendered ground, intending to take the first blow from Zoe by being just a little too slow. She still wanted to sell it, so Alethia reversed course before she could be cornered. She telegraphed the course change so Zoe saw it coming from a mile away.


    The other woman shifted her weight and stance to deflect Alethia¡¯s blow, but something happened. Zoe¡¯s eyes widened as her feet tumbled out from under her. By accident, Alethia¡¯s sword struck Zoe as she went down, securing the final point and victory. Zoe looked astonished for a second and then clapped for Alethia with a goodnatured smile on her face. Alethia extended an arm to help her stand, but she appeared to be limping.


    ¡°I think I twisted something, can you lift me?¡±


    Alethia¡¯s heart fluttered. This would be a perfect way to invoke Karen¡¯s jealousy. And Alethia admitted that she wanted to be this close to Zoe anyway. Zoe put her arm over Alethia¡¯s shoulder and hobbled out of circle together. A sideways glance brought Alethia eye to eye with Tiny Tim. He looked earnestly frightened. Based on that last match, either of them would have beaten him. Now he faced the prospect of defeat at Alethia¡¯s hands.


    In a way, Zoe spraining her ankle went as well as Alethia might have hoped. She felt guilty as soon as that thought rose in her mind. She did not want to be pleased over anyone¡¯s suffering.


    Rachel and the rest of their group walked up to check on Zoe and congratulate Alethia. Alethia insisted on ministering to Zoe¡¯s leg. After all, she was responsible for it. Her ankle was swollen when they pulled her boots off.


    ¡°You know, in the field you would leave those on.¡±


    Richard spoke over Alethia¡¯s shoulder. He stood a little too close for comfort, Alethia¡¯s or Zoe¡¯s.


    ¡°Step away Kaine, they don¡¯t need a backseat nurse.¡±


    Karen¡¯s voice sounded harsh to Alethia¡¯s ears. She wiped the grin from her face before she looked back at Karen with gratitude on her face. Karen¡¯s lips were pressed together in a smile. Not a happy one.


    Alethia resumed removing Zoe¡¯s boot, letting her touch linger on the other woman¡¯s leg. By the time someone handed her gauze, Zoe and her own face were blazing red from unspoken embarrassment as well as titillation. Behind her, Karen excused herself to use the restroom. She dragged Rachel along with her. Alethia chided herself for the satisfaction she felt at Karen¡¯s departure.


    Everything really was going according to plan.


    The fourth round, the semi-finals, pitted Alethia against one of the older fighters in Austin¡¯s barony. She made short work of him using her speed to her advantage while still holding back. Zoe watched her, but now Alethia detected a hint of dissatisfaction in Zoe¡¯s face. When Alethia approached after she won, Zoe replaced the look of deep thought with one of congratulation.


    ¡°You did that still holding back, why?¡±


    ¡°Because.¡±


    Zoe nodded. She hugged Alethia, but already Alethia could feel a weird distance between them. Zoe kept glancing at Karen, who had snuggled closer to Rob. But her gaze fell on Alethia whenever she thought Alethia was not watching. This was not exactly what Alethia had been planning.


    Her last fight against Timaeus, Tiny Dumb, was crowded and loud. Several boisterous bets had been placed on the fight. Few of them favored Alethia, even though she had displayed her prowess and skill all night for their benefit.


    A part of Alethia¡¯s frustrations snapped when Timaeus gave her a curt nod in place of the customary salute. She gritted her teeth and went to work on him. In a surge, all of the lessons and techniques that she had studied and observed during her short time learning weapons with the SCA came to the fore.


    Rather than rely on the cheap trick of speed, Alethia displayed a skill and precision she had never been capable of before. She knew it was a trick. Each strike or riposte was a shadow of some other move by another more capable fighter. But Alethia made them her own and perfected them in her mind before she released them on the unsuspecting Timaeus.


    If she had bothered to finish him off quickly or had recalled the caution Rob had reminded her of, everything really would have been perfect. But Alethia vented in that tiny dueling space. Timaeus had mistreated her repeatedly and publicly. Karen was mad at her now and clinging harder to her stupid jerk husband Rob. Richard still followed Alethia like a puppy, and this thing with Zoe. Something had changed while binding her ankle, but Alethia had no idea what it was.


    Without his knowledge, Tiny Tim¡¯s body became painted with targets only Alethia could see. In her mind, she killed stupid Rob with one strike and convinced Richard to leave her alone with another. The final point she scored on Tiny was for both Karen and Zoe.


    She finished hardly winded while Tiny looked completely dejected. Applause did not erupt from the crowd at first, her performance stunned them. Even the laymen knew they observed a duel worthy of an aspiring master tonight. And then that realization crashed over them like a tsunami and with it their cheering roar shook the concrete and fiberglass building.


    Alethia was feted as befit a champion that night. She had observed the spectacle of champions before on nights like this and found the display sybaritic. But she blushed and clapped as the fit members of the crowd who bet against her ferried food and drink back and forth from her small throne. She wore a white stripe of royalty, only for the night, complicated procedures dictated nobility status in the kingdom of Texas. Alethia was only the champion for tonight.


    The biggest problem was that her honors prevented her friends from spending any private time with her. She did not see Zoe for the rest of the banquet, which Alethia found particularly distressing. Karen enveloped Rob even more desperately to Alethia¡¯s eyes. That made looking at either of them difficult. The only person of the evening who was easy to hang out with was Richard. He did not care about her status as champion and because there was no romantic tension between them, she could relax around him.


    Once dinner ended, Alethia followed Rachel to Zoe. She sat outside smoking a joint and passing it with the young man Alethia defeated in her first match, Claditch was his period name.


    Alethia said,


    ¡°Hey you two.¡±


    Zoe snorted,


    ¡°Busted.¡±


    Claditch nodded to her and said, ¡°thanks¡± as he stood and walked back into the convention hall. Zoe looked up red eyed at Rachel and Alethia. When Alethia held her gaze, she looked away.


    Rachel said,


    ¡°Are you okay? You disappeared?¡±


    ¡°I am fine. Great even. I¡¯m glad you¡¯re here, Rache. Here to hear. Mmm. Ears of corn.¡±You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.


    Her behavior was a little too inebriated for marijuana and Alethia caught a glimpse of a small silver flask in Zoe¡¯s hand.


    Alethia said,


    ¡°Hey Zoe.¡±


    The other woman¡¯s head twitched, but she kept her eyes on Rachel. Rachel said,


    ¡°What¡¯s going on, yall?¡±


    Rachel looked from Zoe to Alethia, concern on her face. Zoe¡¯s words slurred when she spoke,


    ¡°Ask her. But she¡¯ll lie, so there¡¯s no point.¡±


    Zoe pointed to Alethia. At that, Rachel and Alethia both said, ¡°What?¡±¡± in unison.


    Zoe hiccuped and giggled,


    ¡°She¡¯s gooder. Better than me. I don¡¯t care about that. But I care that she lied. What. Where. Where did you really study? Wasn¡¯t here.¡±


    She pointed at Alethia shakily; Zoe reeked of alcohol.


    Rachel said,


    ¡°What are you talking about?¡±


    Zoe slammed her hand on the ground,


    ¡°And! And I thought she liked me. But no, she¡¯s just using us. Me. Using me for us.¡±


    Rachel¡¯s face betrayed understanding and Zoe shouted,


    ¡°You knew too! I thought¡¯s much! Damnit! The first hot, lesbian I meet is using me to fuck a housewife. A straight housewife. How is that fucking fair?¡±


    Alethia really wanted Zoe to shut up and lower her voice right then, she started to speak, but Zoe shouted again,


    ¡°Go ahead, deny it! I saw you staring daggers at her husband! And then the way she ran off when you started foot fucking me¡­ She did not like that. Maybe I should go talk to them¡­¡±


    Zoe started to stand up, Alethia moved to help her,


    ¡°Don¡¯t you fucking touch me!¡±


    She waved Alethia away. Once she backed off, Zoe calmed down. Rachel approached and held out her hands,


    ¡°Why don¡¯t we go home instead of doing that?¡±


    Zoe looked Rachel up and down,


    ¡°You¡¯re my friend. And I bet you did something stupid like promise not to say, right?¡±


    Rachel¡¯s look answered Zoe¡¯s question,


    ¡°Then you¡¯re forgiven,¡± Zoe spun to face Alethia and almost fell over if not for Rachel¡¯s grip, ¡°but you! You¡¯re in the dog house. No, worse¡­ the bitch house! I don¡¯t want to talk to you no more.¡±


    Oh shoot


    Alethia¡¯s powerful new brain had no words to offer her to make this any better. All she could hope for was this was just drink talking and not Zoe¡¯s real feelings. Maybe tomorrow¡¯s sobriety would bring some kind of reconciliation. Her powerful new brain told her that was a desperate lie before the thought finished leaving its impression on that brain.


    Alethia bade farewell to Rachel for the night and agreed to get a ride home with the Taylors.


    Back inside the convention center, the magic was gone. Alethia no longer felt like traveler from her time who stepped back into the past. She felt like a pretender, a tourist. Indeed, she told Rachel she was going home with the Taylors, but when she approached Rob and Karen, the woman¡¯s initial wince at her appearance was all Alethia needed to cap off a terrible night.


    ¡°I am going to take the bus home you guys. I don¡¯t feel so good all of the sudden.¡±


    Richard tried to stop her, but Rob and Karen just nodded their heads. Karen still would not look at Alethia. The two seemed angry with her for another reason entirely.


    ¡°Do you want me to come with you?


    Richard¡¯s offer was sweet, but unnecessary.


    ¡°I am good, thank you Richard. I will see yall Monday?¡±


    Rob shook his head and said,


    ¡°Actually, the three of us want to have a meeting tomorrow evening. At our house. We can provide snacks?¡±


    Alethia did not need the querying look from Rob and Richard to understand that they were not planning on having a wargaming or SCA-related meeting. They wanted to talk about super hero stuff. Alethia almost refused. She grew tired of the drama already. Being a super hero had only made her day way less fun so far.


    Three different busses would carry Alethia home. Had she gone home a little earlier, she might have been able to catch just two or even one of them. But most of the lines did not run this late unless they also went downtown.


    The first ride was the longest, but only two other people sat on the bus with her and none of them commented on her period garb. Alethia hated this method of going home more than any other. After events and on the weekends, the buses filled with drunks and weirdoes. Alethia knew she was one of the latter, but neither would balk at making a snide remark about her clothing.


    She waited at a stop for the second bus. No one else waited with her, but three men crossed the street toward the bus stop, look in her direction and chatting. One of them lightly slapped his friend across the chest and pointed at Alethia. Her blood boiled when she read, ¡°bet she has a sweet ass¡­¡± in his lips.


    Alethia clenched her fists. She did not want this kind of encounter to be the capstone of her evening. A part of her thought back to Saint Eustace and his harrowing. Maybe she had not quite anticipated the adversity she would have to rise meet today?


    That thought brought the three men ¡ª correction: boys ¡ª close enough that Alethia became uncomfortable. One of them had blonde tips dyed on his short cropped hair. The second had a flimsy goatee and wore a sleeveless t-shirt under his open jacket. He had to be cold, even in the Texas winter. The third boy wore a black ski cap and kept staring at Alethia¡¯s chest.


    Aside from the third boy, none of them looked directly at her. They crawled over the bus stop though. One squatted two feet away from Alethia on the bench. He hopped up and down on his toes, shaking the whole bench. The second boy shouted obscenities at passing cars while the third continued to stare at her.


    The noise finally irritated Alethia beyond tolerance.


    ¡°Could you please stop hopping on the bench? And would you please stop yelling at traffic?¡±


    She considered ignoring the third boy, but anger and impatience took control over her mouth,


    ¡°And would you please find something to stare at other than me or my breasts? Thank all of you.¡±


    She thanked them because for a moment while she spoke, all of them stopped their odious behavior.


    Then the first boy, the one with frosted tips, held his right hand on the cover support and swung himself close to Alethia, ending grabbing her hair.


    ¡°You are really pretty.¡±


    Alethia swatted at his hand and said,


    ¡°Do not touch me.¡±


    All three made ¡°oooh,¡± noises as they rose from the bench and followed her.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t touch you, I touched your hair.¡±


    The third boy, the one who kept staring at her said,


    ¡°Jacob said you¡¯re pretty. You should thank him.¡±


    The second boy said,


    ¡°Yeah, why be rude lady?¡±


    Alethia¡¯s fear grew in her chest. She knew three personal acquaintances who had been assaulted sexually. None of them ended up being strangers, but Alethia was now on high alert. She looked around, but the city was practically empty at this time of night.


    ¡°Can you say anything else?¡±


    The second boy swept her hair across her shoulders. Alethia had just about enough, she swatted at his hand, and connected with it, leaving little scratch marks across the back of his palm. He cradled his hand against his chest and said,


    ¡°Ow. She scratched me.¡±


    The first boy, now in her face, stepped even closer and said,


    ¡°You should apologize to me and my friends lady.¡±


    A change came over Alethia for a moment. She abhorred violence unless it was simulated or consensual. Otherwise, how could she study martial arts? But now she might be forced to hurt these three boys and she wanted to avoid that if she could. At the same time, her veins ran ice cold and her mind embraced the plan already forming there.


    She stood her ground in the face of the terrible breath from the ringleader of the group. Her voice was low and filled with fury as she spoke,


    ¡°All three of you should leave me alone unless you want to be hurt.¡±


    When the frosted tips grabbed her right hand, Alethia exploded.


    The first move involved tensing her hand and swinging it forward to break his hold. His hand was too tight, so Alethia planted her left foot between his legs and swung her upper body in a semi-circle. She heard the audible snap of his thumb breaking as she felt the snap in her arm. He started to howl, but she spun again and delivered an elbow strike to the solar plexus.


    The boy behind her made the mistake of raising his fist to her. She kicked him in the groin with a simple snap kick. His fist continued down while he started howling to match his friend. Alethia broke his arm before he managed to lower it.


    The third boy shook while staring at Alethia. She shrugged her heavy coat off, revealing her garb beneath. She took a step toward the froze boy and shouted,


    ¡°Do you still like what you see you little shit!?!?¡±


    He jumped up at her words and ran before she finished shouting. Part of Alethia thrummed and could feel the cold wash of adrenaline pumping through her body. She wanted to go after him and beat him to a pulp too now. But a strange sound burbled behind her. Goon number one had started choking and coughing. He had blood flecked around his mouth. Adrenaline fled her body with that sight.


    Her phone was in Alethia¡¯s hand without her conscious mind ordering it. She had dialed 911 just as automatically.


    ¡°What is your emergency?¡±


    ¡°Three men just tried to attack me. I drove one off, but I might have seriously injured one of them. He¡¯s coughing up blood. Oh god help me.¡±


    The operator¡¯s voice led Alethia through providing her location and giving status on her victims.


    Victims. Tears filled Alethia¡¯s eyes now. Even as a child learning martial arts, she had never hurt anyone on purpose. Her father called her one of God¡¯s gentlest angels. She took martial arts at his prompting and was involved for two years before she decided she could participate in sparing matches.


    The ambulance arrived and picked up both of the boys. One of the three police cars to arrive followed the ambulance away from the bus stop.


    A female officer approached Alethia. Her hair was invisible under her hat and uniform, but the uniform was unflattering enough to demonstrate that the officer was very fit.


    ¡°I am officer Park, ma¡¯am. You are?¡±


    ¡°Alethia Thompson.¡±


    ¡°Can you tell me what happened?¡±


    Alethia replayed the conversation and events for the officer. She was glad she put her coat back on and looked like the frumpy graduate student she was. That diverted any questions the police might have asked about her wardrobe. The woman asked several questions, ¡°Did she know the attackers?¡±, ¡°Had she seen them before?¡±, and ¡°Did she set out to hurt them?¡± The answers to these questions were all no.


    They made her go back to the police station with them. The female officer kept asking Alethia if she was inebriated or high in any way. They could probably smell the pot from Zoe. Or maybe from one of the other dozen people who where less discreet about their habits.


    The police took her the wrong direction, further away from her apartment. The station downtown looked much like most police stations on television did. This was the closest Alethia had ever been to actual trouble. She struggled to embrace it as a novel experience.


    She failed.


    People watching was less interesting than she expected. Most of the people brought in on Saturday night were in more or less the same state. The people who seemed not to care about their confinement looked Alethia right in the eyes with a kind of daring pride. Everyone else hung their heads or held their face in a grim mask while they moved about the station. The grim ones spoke with their eyes, ¡°I am here for an honest reason, not as part of this rabble.¡±


    Alethia had no way of knowing which was which or who¡¯s silent claims were sincere. So she just stopped watching people and waited for the third police officer to speak with her. This time she spoke to a male detective. He seemed distracted and more or less uninterested in her story,


    ¡°Alethia Thompson right, you sent two of your attackers to the hospital. Did you know that?¡±


    Alethia had no answer for that. The question seemed rhetorical so she just shook her head.


    ¡°I am sorry, did you say you did know you sent two of your alleged assailants to the hospital?¡±


    Alethia suppressed a sigh and said,


    ¡°I called an ambulance for them. How could I not know?¡±


    That was the wrong thing to say to Detective Preston. He pressed his lips together,


    ¡°This report here says these boys were harassing you. Is that right?¡±


    Alethia tried to recover. She said,


    ¡°Yes sir.¡±


    ¡°What exactly were they saying? Doing?¡±


    Alethia knew that her answers had already been recorded by the officers on the scene. But she described their words verbatim for the officer. And described what they did to her.


    ¡°So you attacked them for touching you?¡±


    He gave Alethia a reason to purse her lips and clench her fists,


    ¡°No sir. These men physically assaulted me. I asked them to leave me alone and to stop touching me twice. I did not strike them or respond with violence until they grabbed my arm. At that point, they were clearly attacking me.¡±


    ¡°Let me get this straight. Two guys touched your hair and then grabbed your wrist. In response you broke one¡¯s thumb, radius, and sternum. You only broke the other one¡¯s arm, why?¡±


    ¡°Officer,¡±


    He interrupted,


    ¡°Detective.¡±


    ¡°Sorry, Detective. Have you ever been in a physical fight?¡±


    ¡°This interview is about you, not me.¡±


    Alethia kept speaking,


    ¡°If you had, then I believe you would know that when adrenaline is surging and you are fighting for your own safety, you do not have a good deal of restraint. I attacked both of them until they no longer posed a direct threat.¡±


    ¡°And the third, why didn¡¯t you maim or attack him?¡±


    ¡°He ran and did not try to attack me.¡±


    ¡°So you had enough control that you let him run?¡±


    Alethia was starting to feel angry now.


    ¡°Are you saying I should have chased him down and beat him up? For what? Not trying to touch me? That was not going to happen.¡±


    Detective Preston started to ask Alethia another question, but this time she cut him off,


    ¡°Am I being detained, Detective Preston? Or am I free to go?¡±


    Detective Preston widened his eyes like he had not expected this from Alethia. She was making friends right and left tonight. His face darkened and Detective Preston said,


    ¡°Young lady, two men are in the hospital because of you. I think we have more than enough to hold you.¡±


    ¡°You mean arrest, right? Are you arresting me, Detective Preston?¡±


    ¡°Will you answer the rest of my questions?¡±


    ¡°Will you answer mine? Am. I. Free. To go?¡±


    The Detective took a long suffering sigh and lowered his gaze to Alethia¡¯s,


    ¡°Ms Alethia Thompson, you are under arrest for assault¡­¡±


    Alethia felt herself grow numb at the words. She had never even been sent to the principal¡¯s office, much less been arrested. She had no parking tickets. At least tomorrow was Sunday.


    Detect Preston handcuffed her while Alethia started crying. Through choking tears she said,


    ¡°Are you really arresting me because three men tried to assault me and I defended myself?¡±


    Detect Preston said,


    ¡°I am arresting you for assault, nothing more.¡±


    ¡°I want to speak to my lawyer.¡±


    Detective Preston slumped behind her and said,


    ¡°Fine. It is Saturday night. I suspect something will have changed by Monday.¡±


    ¡°Wait, Monday? I have work, I have responsibilities!¡±


    Alethia was dragged off by two uniformed officers who threw her in a large holding cell with almost twenty other women. The cell had no more room for her, so Alethia stood and ignored the other prisoners with her.


    Only about ten minutes later did Alethia realize she had not been given an opportunity to call anyone.


    She shouted for one of the guards while several other prisoners told her to shut up. The guard who arrived was a heavyset woman with dark red hair pulled back in a loose braid,


    ¡°What the hell do you want?¡±


    ¡°Can I call my lawyer?¡±


    The guard raised her eyebrow at that request,


    ¡°You have a lawyer who will answer three AM phone calls?¡±


    Alethia was already shaking her head when the guard said,


    ¡°You can make calls tomorrow morning with the rest of your friends in there. Keep the noise down until then princess.¡±


    The rest of her cell mates laughed at Alethia¡¯s naivety.


    She felt sick to her stomach for the better part of the night. With the crowding and the noise, she could not sleep. Nevermind the smell. The smell of drunken unwashed women was enough to make Alethia question her own confused sexuality. Though she had to admit a drunk tank full of men would have been far, far worse.


    One of the women in the tank, a slim dark skinned woman wove her way through the crush and stood next to Alethia.


    ¡°What happened Gwen?¡±


    ¡°Gwen? Like Stacey?¡±


    The woman cocked her head,


    ¡°No, like Paltrow. Damn girl. Is it meth?¡±


    ¡°Is what meth? Huh?¡±


    ¡°Why you¡¯re here. Did you get busted with meth?¡±


    ¡°No, I defended myself from three men who tried to assault me.¡±


    One of the other women in the room overheard her and perked up,


    ¡°What did you say?¡±


    Alethia repeated herself and the new comer said,


    ¡°What did you do, cut off their dicks?¡±


    Alethia blushed and said,


    ¡°No¡­ I am pretty sure that I broke one of their arms. The other one, I hurt more than I intended.¡±


    The squat woman stayed on her bench, as if protecting her tiny piece of real estate in the drunk tank.


    ¡°How bad?¡±


    Alethia said,


    ¡°I broke his sternum, thumb, and arm.¡±


    ¡°Sternum, what¡¯s that?¡±


    The large woman on the bench looked up at Alethia while the other slim woman grinned and nodded at Alethia. In response Alethia pointed to her own sternum and said,


    ¡°This. I broke this and I might have accidentally punctured his lung.¡¯


    Both women¡¯s eyes grew wide and the large one on the bench nodded,


    ¡°Damn girl, you show those bitches!¡±


    The slim girl smiled and said,


    ¡°That is pretty awesome right there! I guess I see why they threw your ass in here with us though.¡±


    Alethia said,


    ¡°What did you do?¡±


    Both women¡¯s faces changed. The slim girl who stood flared her nostrils while the heavier one sat and chewed her lips. The slim girl answered first,


    ¡°Name¡¯s Nakisha, Nakisha Spence. That¡¯s my ma, Adelia Porter.¡±


    The older woman nodded at the introduction, Nakisha kept speaking,


    ¡°My dumbass uncle was using our house as an occasional drop stop. So when the cops came to pick him up, they threw the rest of our asses in here.¡±


    ¡°What? That¡¯s insane. Was your uncle dealing recently?¡±


    Adelia started laughing before Nakisha shook her head. Adelia said,


    ¡°Damn white girl. You¡¯re squeaky clean, aintcha? Don¡¯t know the first thing about this shit. The police rounded us up so we can rat out Reggie¡¯s supplier. When none of us do that, they¡¯ll take my house.¡±


    ¡°What. That¡¯s not insane. That¡¯s evil!¡±


    Nakisha shook her head,


    ¡°You¡¯re right, but it¡¯s legal. Shit, they already took the house.¡±


    ¡°You have nowhere else to live?¡±


    ¡°Naw, we got family. We aint about to get kicked out on the curb.¡±


    Alethia was on the verge of offering help, but realized that she needed help herself. She was not really in a position to offer these people a place to stay.


    ¡°What happens now?¡±


    Ma Porter flicked her chin at Nakisha and said,


    ¡°She¡¯s been through this before, not me.¡±


    Alethia looked at Nakisha who said,


    ¡°Since it¡¯s Saturday, they will make us wait until Monday. You got anyone who can make bail for you white girl?¡±


    Alethia grinned at her and said,


    ¡°My name is Alethia, and yeah. I am going to call some friends tomorrow. They should be able to pick me up.¡±


    Nakisha shook her head,


    ¡°I wasn¡¯t asking that. I was asking about bail. They can drive they cars down here, but without cash, you stay here with us.¡±


    Crap. Rob and Karen were stable financially, but only about average, which meant they lived more or less paycheck to paycheck. Richard was worse. If not for his modest inheritance and Rachel splitting the bills, he would have been kicked out of his house years ago. She was going to have to call her father. This would be about perfect.


    She had not spoken to the man in four months. Not since she had broached the possibility of being gay with him. Of her entire family, he was the most open-minded and most likely to accept Alethia no matter what. The sting of his rejection still felt fresh to Alethia.


    Nakisha and her mother made polite, casual conversation while Alethia tried to find anyone else in her life who might be able to pay her bail. She did not want to call her father. After their last conversation, this would only confirm his beliefs about her ¡°lifestyle.¡± The most singularly frustrating part of the whole conversation was that she had called her dad to tell him she was breaking up with Tony. His family belonged to the worst possible church according to her family, the Catholic Church.


    Her relationship with Tony caused ripples through her family, especially when her deep south cousins learned that Tony¡¯s last name was Acevedo. Her mother has been apoplectic. That episode had made Alethia sever ties with her whole racist, bigoted family. Except for her dad. He was not happy about Tony¡¯s religion, but he did not care about the other stuff. Alethia would always be his little girl, or so he said. The tune changed when Alethia mentioned that she might be bisexual or even gay.


    There was a chance her dad would not help too. That might be best, she considered. In a way, he might only make things worse by ¡°trying to help.¡±


    Alethia spoke to Nakisha and her mother through the night. She learned that Nakisha was going to Austin Community College this semester in computer science. She told them that she was a graduate student in Biology. That elicited the usual barrage of questions from laymen. Alethia loved answering those questions. She talked about UW and taking her GRE. How proud she had been when UT accepted her into a graduate program.


    At some point in the night, Alethia fell asleep leaning against the wall. She woke before anything untoward happened, but she was panicked for the first few seconds of consciousness. When she realized where she was and what happened, she became even more unsettled.


    Now, calling her dad and asking for help did not seem that onerous. Anything would have been better than remaining in her cell.


    At 6 AM an officer finally arrived and removed one prisoner at a time to use the phone. They still had to pay for the calls, Alethia started to panic even worse now, but Nakisha gave her a pair of quarters with some advice,


    ¡°Put change some place where you can hang onto it even if you¡¯re searched. You meet enough cops on the wrong side, you learn. Good luck Alethia!¡±


    They exchanged phone numbers before Alethia wandered off.


    The slender female cop who lead her to the phone wiped it down with a damp cloth before handing her the receiver. Her tone was flat and disinterested,


    ¡°Number?¡±


    Alethia did not register the word as a question right away. When she finally understood, she stammered out her dad¡¯s number. The police officer dialed and her dad picked up after the second ring. He was retired, but already awake.


    ¡°Hello Nathan Thompson speaking.¡±


    ¡°Daddy?¡±


    Silence greeted her on the line. Alethia did not realize she held her breath at first. But she did after ten seconds passed by. With an even quieter voice, she said,


    ¡°Daddy?¡±


    Her dad¡¯s voice sounded stern,


    ¡°Is that you, Alethia?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    She waited for him to hang up. That was her honest expectation, given the pauses and the odd tone in his voice. But he surprised her when he tone rose and he said,


    ¡°It¡¯s good to hear from you. Why is it so fuzzy?¡±


    Alethia sighed, this was the part of the conversation she did not want to have.


    ¡°I need help daddy. Some men attacked me and I defended myself, but now I am arrested and I need a lawyer.¡±


    That did not sound right to Alethia, she had practiced her speech to her dad, but the butterflies in her stomach mangled her words as they both escaped her mouth.


    ¡°Are you in jail? Do not speak to anyone. I will call some people.¡±


    Alethia started crying right away,


    ¡°Thank you, daddy. Thank you.¡±


    ¡°It will be okay, Alethia.¡±


    Through choking sobs, Alethia tried to tell her father what happened, he cut her off.


    ¡°I will see about flying down to Austin in a day or two. Maybe on Tuesday. Until then, is there a way to reach you?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t think so? I am just in a holding cell until Monday I think.¡±


    ¡°Okay, I am going to call my lawyer up here and I will see what they say. If I can, I will have them send someone to you today.¡±


    ¡°Thank you!¡±


    ¡°Everything will be fine, Alethia¡­¡± his voice deepened and he said, ¡°aside from that, Ms Lincoln, how was the play?¡±


    Alethia choked on a laugh. That was one of her dad¡¯s favorite dumb jokes.


    ¡°Sorry I didn¡¯t call sooner. I¡­ was worried and stuff.¡±


    Her dad sounded like he had sat down in his favorite chair. He sighed himself and said,


    ¡°I am not personally okay with how we ended that discussion. For for my part, I am sorry Alethia.¡±


    She held her breath again, waiting for him to say something else. Something to undercut the apology or remind her that she was a sinner rejecting God¡¯s love with her choices. But the recriminations never came.


    The police officer ushered Alethia away from the phone and back to her cell. Nakisha looked up at her and said,


    ¡°Did you get ahold of someone?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, my dad. He¡¯s gonna try to send a lawyer today.¡±


    Ms Porter whistled,


    ¡°Damn girl, yo daddy has money then?¡±


    Alethia shook her head,


    ¡°Not really. But he¡¯s good at networking. He probably knows someone or his lawyer does.¡±


    Nakisha laughed and said,


    ¡°Damn, Alethia. If your daddy has his own lawyer, then he has money. Maybe not as much as some people, but you don¡¯t just ¡®have a lawyer¡¯ unless you have money or the need. Your daddy slang or something?¡±


    Ms Porter laughed at the question,


    ¡°There is no damn way her daddy slangs Ds.¡±


    ¡°Oh, drugs? No. He sells fishing and hunting equipment.¡±


    They chatted until a woman walked into the cell room, escorted by a guard. She held a yellow pad of paper in her hands and wore a light brown skirt suit. She was older than Alethia, but only barely. She said,


    ¡°I am looking for Alethia Thompson?¡±


    The guard pointed at her and Alethia raised her hand.


    ¡°Good. I am Gretchen Pitt. With your permission, I will be representing you going forward. Is that acceptable?¡±


    ¡°Did my father call you?¡±


    ¡°No, he did not. Your father¡¯s legal counsel, Noah Reagan called my office, who assigned this case to me. Here¡¯s my card.¡±


    She pulled something off of her legal pad and approached the cell. The guards stepped between her and Alethia. The lawyer rolled her eyes and said,


    ¡°Officers, can I speak to my client privately, please?¡±


    The guard escorting Gretchen left the room and returned shortly. He nodded and yelled for the rest of the inmates to back away from the door and had Alethia step out alone. The same guard followed her and Gretchen to a room with a large window and door. A camera with a blinking red light under it watched events in the room.


    Gretchen smelled nice and not just in contrast to the horrid scents of the cage she had been in.


    ¡°I have some questions for you, Ms Thompon, and some forms to sign.¡±


    ¡°Okay.¡±


    Most of the questions just covered ground Alethia had already covered with the detectives. Her lawyer said,


    ¡°They did not arrest you until you asked to leave? And the detective told you that you were only being charged with assault, right?¡±


    ¡°Is that not right?¡±


    ¡°The man who¡¯s sternum you broke is not doing well in the hospital. There is a chance that they will try for aggravated assault, though that would be far harder for the DA to prove. I am going to arrange to have you released today, but you will have to stay in Austin for several weeks. At least through the initial hearings. I am going to try to have your case dismissed on ground of self-defense. But until then you cannot leave Travis or Williamson counties.¡±


    ¡°Oh my god, what about my job?¡±


    ¡°What do you mean, you¡¯re a TA, right? Did you miss any days of work because of this?¡±


    ¡°No, but could they fire me for this?¡±


    ¡°Technically, yes, depending on the contents of your employment contract.¡±


    Alethia felt panic try to rise her in stomach. Gretchen smiled and said,


    ¡°It is not likely in the case of a mere arrest. Especially considering the circumstances. If you¡¯re worried about it, my office will prepare a brief for UT as well as a packet for the press.¡±


    ¡°What do you mean, the press?¡±


    Gretchen gave Alethia the first condescending smile yet,


    ¡°Alethia, this is Texas. The only thing that would have garnered more sympathy for you was if you shot the men who attacked you. But let me be clear: The DA would have to be insane to let this go to trial. You¡¯re what, 5¡¯4¡± tall? The shortest of the three men who attacked you was, six foot three and two hundred and fifty pounds. The only thing people will have trouble with is how you managed to subdue two men who collectively outweighed you four to one.¡±


    Alethia said,


    ¡°Then why arrest me?¡±


    ¡°My guess is that you annoyed the arresting officer. That is why it is always best to immediately ask for a lawyer no matter what. I have some more questions for you about your lifestyle and habits.¡±


    ¡°Wait, why?¡±


    Gretchen¡¯s smiled only faded a notch,


    ¡°I like to be gentle in cases like this, but you were not actually a victim here. You were a potential victim so I am going to be a little harsh. If you ask me why we¡¯re doing every little thing, this meeting will take eight hours when it should take two at the most. To answer your question: we need personal details in case the DA tries to take this to trial, or in case the men who attacked you try to sue. If either of those things happens, my office needs to be able to broadcast what a pure and wholesome young lady you are. Do you do any volunteer work?¡±


    Alethia spent the next forty exhausting minutes answering uncomfortably specific details about her life. Once the questions drifted to her sex life, she became even more uneasy.


    ¡°Do you have a boyfriend?¡±


    ¡°No¡­


    ¡°Girlfriend?¡±


    ¡°Not yet¡­¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re gay then?¡±


    Gretchen looked up from her pad like she was waiting to check a box. Alethia answered,


    ¡°I don¡¯t really know?¡±


    Gretchen cocked her head to the side,


    ¡°Are you attracted to men or women?¡±


    ¡°Both, I guess?¡±


    ¡°Then you are bisexual?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know if that is the right label for it.¡±


    Gretchen smiled and put the pad down.


    ¡°Why don¡¯t you explain it to me so I understand it.¡±


    Aside from Karen, who was one of the first people Alethia told her feelings to other than Rachel, Alethia had not tried to explain her feelings to anyone. Even her dad bailed out of the conversation when Alethia mentioned that she might be attracted to women.


    ¡°How do I explain this? I am Baptist. Born and raised. Since I was a little girl, I grew up on the promise ofa big wedding and then a spate of grandchildren crawling around my two or three generation home. My father is a Texas to Washington transplant. So is my mom.¡±


    Alethia pulled her hair back with her hand and tried to pull a phantom tie over her pony tail.


    ¡°After college, I broke with tradition and went back for more college rather than get my M-r-s degree. Here in Austin, I met a boy. He was really nice and sweet, but I don¡¯t think I am attracted to him the way I should be. You have to understand, this is hard for me.¡±


    Gretchen smiled and said,


    ¡°You are doing fine. If anything does go wrong, I think we will just let you explain yourself to the media. They will adore you. Keep going.¡±


    ¡°Anyway. I thought my feelings about men were abominations sent by the devil to tempt me. So it makes sense that I thought exactly the same thing about my feelings toward women, right? Now that I think about it, I have always thought that girls and boys my age were attractive. And the person I am most interested in right now is a woman. That really brought everything into focus for me.¡±


    Gretchen nodded,


    ¡°Good. That is a good explanation. And if the DA decided to press charges or the men sue you, we may use that. Let¡¯s move on.¡±


    The lawyer raised her pad and pen and continued to note Alethia¡¯s answers to the rest of the questions.

 Chapter 7 - Richard - An emotionally dysfunctional wreck with super powers

    Richard sat on Karen¡¯s couch listening to Alethia recount her story. He wished that she would have come to him for help. While it was true he did not have a lot of money, he had resources and might have been able to swing bail and a local lawyer for her. He said as much,


    ¡°I¡¯m glad your dad helped you, Allie. But if you ever need something like that and don¡¯t want to reach out to your dad, you can call on me.¡±


    Rob smiled and said,


    ¡°Or any of us, really. You know that we would be more than happy to help you, Alethia. You are a dear friend.¡±


    It sounded strange coming from Rob. Almost like he was trying too hard to sound sincere. But Richard decided that he was just not used to humane behavior from Rob.


    Karen stood and said,


    ¡°Okay, let¡¯s get the super hero meeting underway. Richard, you¡¯re the reason we called his meeting, what did you want to talk about?¡±


    ¡°I think we have two good places to start as super heroes now. We could go after Tammy from my job or after the douches who attacked Alethia. What do you think?¡±


    Alethia said,


    ¡°I would put the whole assault thing behind me. Even if they sue me, I kinda don¡¯t care.¡±


    Rob said,


    ¡°I would normally agree, but we need to be worried about a trail that leads from you to us, Alethia.¡±


    Richard and Karen nodded their heads. Richard did not want to agree so directly, but this mattered. He and Rob had already talked about it. If one of them got in trouble, they needed to bring the matter to the rest.


    Alethia said,


    ¡°I understand that. Maybe we can just keep tabs on them or something? What would we do otherwise? It¡¯s not like we can shut them up.¡±


    Richard said,


    ¡°Of course not. But we should still be prepared. What if we have to flee town? What if those guys have allies we did not know about or something?¡±


    Alethia nodded. That gesture put Richard¡¯s mind at ease. At least he was not upsetting Alethia more than necessary.


    Rob said,


    ¡°We have some other business too. About leadership, rules, and such.¡±


    Alethia groaned,


    ¡°Are we really going to elect a leader for our club?¡±


    Rob nodded, so did Richard. Alethia said,


    ¡°Then I nominate Karen. She¡¯s the most level-headed out of all of us.¡±


    Rob sucked on his teeth while nodding crookedly,


    ¡°Not anymore though. Once the cognitive improvements gel, we¡¯ll leave her in our dust.¡±


    Karen¡¯s face was impassive at that comment. Before the super hero treatments, she would have mocked a claim like that openly.


    ¡°So who should lead? You, Rob?¡±


    Richard heard the scorn in her voice. So did Rob. He said,


    ¡°Alethia, I know you don¡¯t trust me. But I am better now. I promise. Isn¡¯t that right, Karen?¡±


    She nodded enthusiastically in response to Rob¡¯s question. Karen said,


    ¡°He really is better. I would be willing to support Rob as the leader. But I also think we should do things by consensus.¡±


    Richard¡¯s voice sounded skeptical,


    ¡°Isn¡¯t that the thing the Mormons use that keeps them from changing or evolving?¡±


    Karen said,


    ¡°You mean the Quakers. And not exactly. Consensus just means that one person can object and force further discussion. In your positions, I would not be comfortable with a traditional ¡°leader¡± ¡ª someone who you gave permission to issue orders ¡ª telling me how to behave.¡±


    Alethia nodded along with Karen¡¯s words. Richard knew the dynamic of the room. If Alethia could be brought on board, Karen would do it. And once that happened, they would be on their way to becoming heroes. Richard could taste the promise of adrenaline and excitement.


    ¡°So, who wants Rob as our leader? All for?¡±


    He raised his hand and so did Alethia and Karen. Rob said,


    ¡°I am abstaining. Just in case I was the only person who voted for me.¡±


    Richard punched Rob¡¯s shoulder with the tiniest amount of force and his best friend smiled back at him.


    ¡°Okay. It is unanimous. Rob Taylor is the boss of us!¡±


    Rob looked around and nodded,


    ¡°Okay, let¡¯s talk rules and bylaws. As leader, I am not sure I should be making up rules. I would prefer to have people vote or whatever.¡±


    Karen said,


    ¡°Then let¡¯s make consensus our official decision making process.¡±


    They spent another fifteen minutes on minutiae and Robert¡¯s Rules of Order, over which Alethia giggled several times.This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.


    Discussion turned back to their first official acts as heroes.


    Rob said,


    ¡°Frankly, the two of you, Alethia and Richard, have already started acting heroic. At this point, we just need to clean up, right?¡±


    Richard nodded, Alethia said,


    ¡°Not in my case. In my case we should just be observing.¡±


    Rob nodded and said,


    ¡°Alright. We need to check out Alethia¡¯s attackers. That we be a strict look and wait op¡­¡±


    Richard said,


    ¡°Did you just say op?¡±


    Rob blushed and Karen said,


    ¡°Don¡¯t laugh. He¡¯s been doing research on this stuff. I am impressed.¡±


    Richard nodded, grinning at Rob. His friend smiled and nodded at Karen. Richard watched the exchange and found something off. Rob seemed pleased by what she said as if he anticipated it and wanted her to say that. Which was ridiculous, of course. Rob did not have a conniving bone in his body.


    Richard said,


    ¡°Then by all means, run that op!¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t want you two on that one. I want you two on Richard¡¯s girl.¡±


    Rob pointed to both Alethia and Richard with those words. Richard said,


    ¡°Whoa man, she¡¯s not my girl. Tammy is just some high schooler who works at PT.¡±


    ¡°Regardless, I am putting you and Alethia on that mission. I will check out Alethia¡¯s attackers myself.¡±


    ¡°So what do we do?¡±


    Alethia asked that last question. The answer took them well into Monday morning to hash out and finalize. When they were done, they had the beginnings of a plan. Alethia walked to Richard¡¯s house with him, planning to get a ride from Richard or Rachel. But Rachel¡¯s door was closed when Alethia walked by it. Richard thought he smelled someone else in the room with his sister. That was a huge bucket of ¡®not my business¡¯ so Richard ignored it. But Alethia lingered at the door, with a thoughtful look on her face.


    ¡°Allie, are you okay?¡±


    She was crying when she turned to him,


    ¡°Not really. Can we get coffee and chat?¡±


    ¡°Sure, I¡¯ll drive!¡±


    Richard sealed his enthusiasm in a small jar in his mind. Alethia did not need to know how badly he pined after her. Besides, as much as he might hope she intended to confess her eternal love for him over coffee, Richard had a feeling his hopes would be dashed.


    During the drive to Jim¡¯s diner, Alethia said,


    ¡°The serum really seemed to have helped Rob. I am not so sure it¡¯s helped me that much.¡±


    ¡°Really? Didn¡¯t you just win a major tournament?¡±


    Alethia sighed and stared out the window of Richard¡¯s sedan.


    ¡°Sure, but a lot went bad from that.¡±


    ¡°What do you mean?¡±


    Alethia would not share whatever else was bothering her until they sat down in the restaurant. She picked a booth far in the back, away from the rest of the early morning patrons.


    Richard ordered coffee for himself as well as cheese sticks. Alethia only ordered coffee.


    ¡°So what did you need to talk to me about?¡±


    Alethia nodded and grabbed her coffee mug as if she suddenly felt a chill.


    ¡°You remember when I broke up with Tony last year?¡±


    ¡°If by last year, you mean like six months ago. No wait. Four.¡±


    Alethia blushed,


    ¡°Yeah. I guess you do remember.¡±


    ¡°How could I forget? That seemed to wreck you.¡±


    And gave Richard the opportunity he had been waiting for since he met Alethia that day in Swords and Boards.


    ¡°I never told you why it wrecked me though.¡±


    Richard nodded,


    ¡°You said he wasn¡¯t mean to you and wasn¡¯t hurting you. So I assumed it was just a bad breakup.¡±


    ¡°Well, it was. But not for the reason you might have thought.¡±


    ¡°Okay, what is it?¡±


    Alethia took a deep breath,


    ¡°You¡¯re one of only four, no five if you count my lawyer, who knows this. But I think I might be gay¡­¡±


    Richard¡¯s mind reeled from the news, but Alethia gave him no chance to right himself,


    ¡°I actually know I am bisexual. For sure. I am not really sure I am attracted to men at all, Richard.¡±


    Alethia sat across from Richard all but weeping into her cheap coffee. Richard was disappointed, but he already saw a path for him and Alethia. Right now the most important thing was to say this,


    ¡°Thank you for telling me. I really appreciate it, and I know how much it means to you. You know that you are my friend no matter what, right?¡±


    Alethia¡¯s tears flowed even more freely now,


    ¡°It¡¯s stupid, right? I got this whole insane idea that you might have a crush on me and my telling you might piss you off or something. Stupid, right?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s not stupid, Allie. Those kinds of things are normal fears, as I understand it.¡±


    ¡°God, thank you for being supportive.¡±


    ¡°So are you like attracted to Rachel or something? What was up there?¡±


    Alethia told Richard about Karen and Zoe. About the crush she had been nurturing for years and about the new openly gay woman who seemed to want Alethia for real. Richard could feel jealousy in his heart trying to squeeze his reason to death, but he stifled those emotions and committed to listening to Alethia.


    ¡°So what do you think, Richard?¡±


    Richard took a deep breath and considered his answer.


    ¡°Well, I hate to dash your hopes, but this thing with Karen seems impossible to me.¡± He did not say it, but Alethia filled in with his own thoughts,


    ¡°Especially now, right?¡±


    ¡°Sorry about that, Allie.¡±


    She coughed,


    ¡°What kind of terrible person would I have to be to wish that Karen¡¯s husband would go on being a total shit to her? I would have to be pretty selfish to want to all for me.¡±


    ¡°I guess you¡¯re right.¡±


    Richard did not really agree right then. He would have happily smashed this Zoe chick in the face and stepped over Karen to put himself before Alethia. A plan started to form in his mind,


    ¡°Maybe the real problem is that things are not right with either woman because you have not yet met the right one for you?¡±


    Alethia¡¯s laugh sounded like a choking bunny,


    ¡°You mean an emotionally dysfunctional wreck with super powers?¡±


    ¡°Alethia Thompson, you are one of the least emotionally dysfunctional people I know. Maybe the most emotionally functional person I know. Out of all of them.¡±


    ¡°Thanks, I don¡¯t really feel like it.¡±


    ¡°Look, you are going through something that most people never have to deal with. If you were an emotional blank right now, then I would be concerned about you.¡±


    They sat and chatted about nothing at all for another half and hour. Richard let Alethia guide the conversation, with only vague direction from him when it faltered or she grew too upset. Then he drove her home and returned to his house alone.


    That night he spent hours trying to assume various female forms. He started with the nightly news, but he could not manage either the women or the men. He even tried porn and still could not manage to take someone else¡¯s shape. He could still assume Doctor Price¡¯s form, as well as the nurse from the other day. He tried Tammy and discovered he could turn into her as well.


    When he tried the two men with her, he discovered that he could do it and that he could see their faces based off of his own. But any other form seemed to be closed to him. In order for his plan to work, Richard needed to figure out how to improvise a new shape, like the Animorphs. But despite his efforts, the only people he could turn into seemed to be people he met face to face.


    Then Richard was stung by temptation. He considered the idea only for a moment and managed to successfully turn into Alethia herself.


    Standing before his bathroom mirror, he was the point for point image of Alethia, down to the clothes she wore tonight. That was odd. Richard tried to imagine himself as Alethia, but wearing the clothing she wore to the banquet Saturday night. That worked without much effort.


    ¡°Huh, this has promise.¡±


    He yelped because his voice sounded like Alethia too. He paused and grabbed his breasts in the mirror. Her breasts? Richard could feel his own hands touching his chest and for a lone, blissful moment, he enjoyed the sensation.


    ¡°You know¡­¡±


    Richard cut himself off. This was like finding the cheat codes to a relationship video novel. Sure, you could cheat, but what was the point? Richard wanted Alethia to show herself to him, not to steal a glance at her body through some sort of cheat. The temptation was almost over powering, but Richard decided there were places he probably should not go. At least not if he wanted Alethia¡¯s respect as well as his own.


    If his power had been mind control, Richard would have refused to control Alethia. What would the point be in that?


    So he changed back into the attractive nurse from the other night. She tried to chase him down and had technically seen him naked, so what was the harm? Plus, this was basically upgraded porn¡­

 Chapter 8 - Alethia - Not as boring as prison or death

    ¡°Are you sure this is where she lives?¡±


    Alethia nodded and said,


    ¡°For the forty-third time, yes. This is where one Tammy Brachen lives¡±


    The sound of Richard opening a second bag of chips grated on Alethia¡¯s ears, but hunger gnawed at her while they sat in the car watching Tammy¡¯s house. They were watching for ¡°suspicious people¡± which was another way of saying they were looking for anything. Anything at all.


    ¡°Sorry, I guess I should not have foisted the job of looking this up on you.¡±


    ¡°You mean so I could not justifiably be cross at you for your choice?¡±


    ¡°Um, no? I meant I should have done this myself since this is my lead we¡¯re following.¡±


    Alethia nodded and said,


    ¡°That works. Have you seen anything out of the ordinary today?¡±


    Six thirty PM on a Tuesday was not the ideal day or time for a stakeout. But here they were, waiting most of the day to see if anyone Richard recognized entered or let the house.


    ¡°Do you think we should go in?¡±


    ¡°You mean like approach the house ourselves? Heck no Richard. That sounds like a really bad idea.¡±


    ¡°But, ugh. Waiting is really boring Allie.¡±


    ¡°Not as boring as prison or death, right? Let¡¯s wait for now.¡±


    Richard looked like he wanted to step out of the car and pace. Thankfully, the house ahead of them finally changed and Richard managed to look relieved and hyper simultaneously. Alethia was not looking forward to possibly fighting someone or possibly getting into a lot of trouble.


    ¡°Come on Allie, follow them.¡±


    ¡°Not now. Rob has been reading up on strategy and tactics or whatever, but I have been reading up on shadowing and evasive driving. We wait until they are at least a block away.¡±


    Tammy and one of the men from Phaser Tag opened the garage to the house and rolled a baby blue old chevy hard top sedan onto the drive. Richard pointed both of them out for Alethia.


    The car pulled out of the drive and drove away. She started her car and pulled out of the driveway in front of the abandoned house they had selected. Alethia kept a few cars and at least a block between Tammy¡¯s classic car and her own dilapidated Toyota.


    Tammy and her passenger did not stick to the better parts of Austin. When they turned on Riverside to the east of I-35, Richard said,


    ¡°Awesome! They might be taking us to their scrap dealer or something!¡±


    Alethia shook her head,


    ¡°Remember, we¡¯re supposed to be watching, not trying to get into more trouble.¡±


    They did not stop when the old car stopped in front of an apartment complex.


    ¡°Allie, we¡¯re moving away from them! What if what we want is in that apartment building over there? How can we prove what they did without the evidence?¡±


    ¡°Richard, we have to pass them, they would have figured out what we were doing otherwise. Sorry. We can get out up here and walk back to them.¡±


    She pulled into the next apartment complex, this one lacked a security fence and gate, just like the one Tammy turned into. Richard flew out of the car, but not fast enough to escape Alethia, who was the reigning speed queen of their group. They stayed low and observed the apartment from the bushes. They could not find Tammy where they thought she should have been, so they waited for another hour. Halfway through the second, Richard said,


    ¡°Okay. Times up anyway. We need to get back home and brief Rob and Karen, see what they learned today.¡±


    Alethia said,


    ¡°Good, I have some plans tonight.¡±


    One of those plans was to try to speak to Zoe, who had finally returned her multiple, desperate calls. The plan was to drive over to Zoe¡¯s place once Rachel was there and texted her an ¡°all clear!¡± Zoe was not sure she wanted to see Alethia still, which hurt her chest. But even if Alethia was not sure about how she felt toward Zoe, she knew she wanted her as a friend. Even if they might never be lovers. In truth, Alethia did not really want Zoe for a lover right then. That would have interfered with her designs on Karen.


    Alethia refused to consider that Karen was happy and never going to leave Rob now.


    She had a plan of her own.


    Alethia waited in her room for her text when her phone rang. It was her dad, so she picked up.


    ¡°Alethia, is that you?¡±


    She did not laugh at her dad for the question. That was how he spoke even when he called other people. It was weird and also totally endearing.


    ¡°The one and only. Hi daddy!¡±


    His voice sounded chipper, happier than he had been when she called him from jail.


    ¡°Is Gretchen helping you? How are things?¡±


    He was happier, but his voice was not entirely calm. He paused between his questions like he was not sure he wanted to ask the second one.


    ¡°Gretchen has been great! She got me released on Sunday and she called me again on Monday to let me know that the DA was not likely to press charges, but she would know for sure on Friday.¡±


    ¡°How are the men who attacked you?¡±


    ¡°The police are still looking for the third one as a witness. Both of the ones who actually attacked me are awake and very likely to recover completely.¡±


    ¡°That is good. Great even!¡±


    That time he definitely sounded awkward. He wanted to ask another question or say something, but it made him too nervous to come out and say it.


    ¡°What¡¯s up dad? I get the sense that you did not call just to ask about jail. That would have been fine too though.¡±


    He chuckled on the line and said,


    ¡°No hon. I have been struggling to find a way to be supportive¡­ of your choices.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s okay to say it dad. I¡¯m confused.¡±


    He laughed again,


    ¡°So gay or lesbian is not right? Is bisexual right?¡±


    Alethia smiled. That was her dad¡¯s determined effort voice. When she told him she wanted to become a Biochemist, he spent two weeks researching the field just so her could ask her meaningful questions about it. She imagined her 51-year old father hunched over his portable computer reading the Advocate.


    She said,


    ¡°Confused is the best right now.¡±


    ¡°So you¡¯re not sure then?¡±


    For that tiny tone choice Alethia loved and appreciated her father. Rather than sounding relieved or happy about her confusion, he sounded like he should have: concerned.


    ¡°Yeah, this is the pits.¡±


    ¡°I guess I have trouble imagining it. But I suppose it is far worse than not knowing what jig or lure to use, huh?¡±


    Alethia laughed with her dad this time.


    ¡°That is a bit of an understatement.¡±


    Her father was quiet for a while. He finally spoke,


    ¡°I am very sorry about how I responded last year honey. That was wrong of me. I disappointed you and I did not support you when you needed it most. I will do my best from now on. Can you forgive me?¡±


    Alethia was crying before he finished speaking and said,


    ¡°Yes, of course daddy.¡±


    ¡°We should probably not share this with your mother or the rest of the family for now. Especially Mimaw.¡±


    ¡®Mimaw¡¯ was Alethia¡¯s maternal grandmother. She was the spiritual center of the family and the only one crass enough to ask her why she was dating a ¡®spic.¡¯ That conversation did not go as well as the one she was having with her dad right then. In fact, Alethia yelled at her grandmother for her racism and had not spoken to her since. She would probably be thrilled to learn that Alethia broke up with ¡®that one.¡¯ But then how would she feel about Zoe or Karen?


    Ha. That might be worth seeing.


    ¡°No thanks. I will wait for that until I can spring the news in the best way possible.¡±


    Her dad laughed again and said,


    ¡°Just make sure that I am not there when you do. I don¡¯t mind having your mom yell at me, I do not want to listen to Judy shout for three hours.¡±


    ¡°Thanks dad.¡±


    ¡°So is there someone you¡¯re interested in?¡±


    Alethia looked at her phone like her dad grew horns,


    ¡°Kinda, yeah. I guess. Two people, really.¡±


    ¡°People or women?¡±


    ¡°Women.¡±


    ¡°Do they know each other?¡±


    Alethia sighed and her dad seemed to hear it. He said,


    ¡°That answered that. What are you going to do there?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t really know. I like them both. They are¡­¡± She wanted to say beautiful and wise. Zoe and Karen smelled good and they both seemed to like her, even if Zoe liked her too much and Karen did not like her enough. Alethia was tired of not being able to share this with anyone. Richard was too close to Karen and Rob and Alethia could not vent to Rachel anymore Zoe was her friend.


    So she poured her heart out to her dad. She left out the part about super powers and her new mission as a superhero. He would justifiably freak out over that. Delicate subjects avoided, he said,


    ¡°Did you know that I dated quite a bit before I met your mother?¡±


    ¡°Really? I thought you were high school sweethearts.¡±


    Alethia could hear her dad smiling on the phone,


    ¡°That was technically true. We started dating right before graduation. But I dated several different women before I noticed your mother. In fact, I had been juggling two different women at the end of my senior year when I broke it off with both of them to start seeing your mother. Maybe if you cannot figure out who you want, it¡¯s because you have not met the right person yet?¡±


    Alethia understood the point of her dad¡¯s story, Richard just told her the same thing. But she asked,


    ¡°How did you manage to date two women at the same time?¡±


    ¡°Very carefully. It was not fair to either woman and I regret it now. But I just kept them from meeting. I don¡¯t¡­ one was named Susan. Susan Cole and Megan Rien were their names. I liked them both, Susie was sweet and athletic. We often went to basketball games together. Megan loved to read so we would go on dates to the library or the bookstore. Until I met your mother, I did not know that there were other people out there who shared my own split interests.¡±


    Alethia appreciated the story, but did not see how it applied to her. Karen was older than Zoe, who was much closer to Alethia¡¯s age. They would have more experiences in common, but Karen was also involved in academia. In fact, so was Zoe. The whole mess made Alethia¡¯s head spin.


    Then her phone buzzed at her, it was Rachel texting her with the all clear.


    ¡°Speak of the devil. I need to go apologize to Zoe right now.¡±


    ¡°She¡¯s the one who got mad at you for playing her against Karen, right?¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡±


    ¡°I think I like her, Zoe that is. I hope you have a good night honey. Just be honest and be yourself. If she is worth it, she will appreciate the tremendous gift you¡¯re giving her. Oh, and be sure to apologize properly.¡±


    ¡°Huh?¡±


    ¡°Admit you were wrong, acknowledge that it was your fault and how you hurt her and then promise to be better.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s all it takes, huh?¡±


    ¡°Well, the whole thing should be sincere.¡±


    ¡°Thanks dad, have a good night!¡±


    ¡°I love you sweetie. Be safe.¡±


    Alethia drove to Zoe¡¯s house alone. For most of the short trip ¡ª unless you were far north or south, everything in Austin was nearby ¡ª Alethia felt fine, maybe a little nervous. But as she pulled into the parking lot at Zoe¡¯s building, Alethia started to panic. The parts of her life that really threatened her, stalking thieves with guns, did not worry her nearly as much as walking up the stairs and contemplating a honest apology.


    How can anything I say be honest anymore?


    The lie that sat in a big fat ugly pile in her life turned out to be two lies. One, that she was your average graduate student working her way to her doctorate and not a bisexual or lesbian in any way. Two, that she had super powers bestowed on her by a mystery serum. Superpowers she could not quite identify and that she definitely could not show to people in her life.


    Alethia arrived before Zoe¡¯s door. Her hand mechanically sought out the doorbell, but she pulled up short before she pressed the button.


    Do I really want to do this?


    Alethia knew the answer before she finished asking herself. She wanted Zoe¡¯s trust and esteem. Alethia had few enough friends that she could not spare a new potential friend out of shame or embarrassment.


    She rang the bell and the door flew open. Alethia yelped in surprise at Zoe standing facing her. Since Alethia had seen her last, Zoe had dyed her hair pale blue on the long parts up top and dark green on the parts near her scalp.


    ¡°Hey. I was wondering if you might chicken out. You didn¡¯t wait there as long as I thought you would.¡±


    Alethia stammered a response, but Zoe nodded and said,


    ¡°I was about to go grab my laundry from downstairs. You can wait here with Rachel.¡±


    Alethia recognized a dismissal when she heard it. Zoe¡¯s tone brooked no discussion from Alethia, in fact it sounded like she was still in the bitch house.


    Rachel waved at Alethia from the couch, The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.


    ¡°Hey Allie. How are ya doing?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not in jail anymore, so yay for that.¡±


    ¡°Jail, what?¡±


    ¡°Right, you and I have not spoken since Saturday. Let me tell you what happened.¡±


    Alethia was still telling her story when Zoe returned laden with clean clothes and other bits of laundry.


    ¡°Wait, did you say you had to get a lawyer?¡±


    Zoe¡¯s question provided the opening Alethia wanted, even if it was a little generous to call that a segue,


    ¡°Yes. Don¡¯t worry about that. Zoe. I am really sorry I did not tell you how I felt about Karen. It was never my intent to hurt you¡­¡±


    Alethia knew that was not right, she said,


    ¡°I am sorry. I mean. I should have known this would hurt you and it was selfish and callous of me not to consider your feelings. I can say I won¡¯t do that to you again, but I don¡¯t know how I feel¡­¡±


    Alethia¡¯s words ran out on her.


    Zoe watched Alethia speak with her arms folded. When Alethia trailed off, Zoe said,


    ¡°I get it. You¡¯re just discovering you might play for my team. That¡¯s no biggie. If you join the softer side, you will find a lot of ladies like yourself among us. What made me particularly angry was the lying. You haven¡¯t said anything about your fencing training yet.¡±


    Alethia looked at Zoe, her face was red and she met Alethia¡¯s gaze head on, like she was challenging the other woman to lie some more.


    Jesus, help me be honest with my friends.


    She took a deep breath and Alethia said,


    ¡°The only formal training I have ever received in fencing is through the SCA. I promise I did not leave out my past Olympic career as a fencer. Rachel, you know the truth, tell her?¡±


    Rachel met Alethia¡¯s appeal with a nod,


    ¡°I did.¡±


    Zoe¡¯s crossed arms seemed a little less tense now.


    ¡°I have a hard time with that. You beating me is no big deal, but the way you beat Tiny¡­ I looked you up, only I couldn¡¯t find any public records or training that you¡¯ve done.¡±


    Alethia felt warm,


    ¡°You Googled me? That¡¯s¡­¡±


    She was about to say, ¡®sweet,¡¯ but the look in Zoe¡¯s eyes stopped her. Zoe said,


    ¡°Creepy? Thanks.¡±


    Her voice was flat and the tension returned to her arms. Alethia said,


    ¡°I was going to say sweet. I don¡¯t think anyone has ever Googled me before. Well, maybe my students I guess. And maybe UT before they accepted me. I don¡¯t really know?¡±


    Zoe¡¯s frown rippled, like she was trying not to smile at Alethia¡¯s antics. Zoe said,


    ¡°So you¡¯re not a secret ninja or something?¡±


    ¡°Well, yes. I am a ninja, but I am not some fencing ringer who has been waiting a whole two weeks to tell you about my mad skills. If I had them I would have told you when we met so you would be impressed.¡±


    Alethia bit her lip and looked elsewhere. At least that was true, if mortifying.


    Zoe smiled despite her frustration with Alethia and said,


    ¡°You are too cute. So you wanted to impress me, huh? Whatever you were doing was working until I thought you lied to me and then used me to make the woman you¡¯re really interested in jealous.¡±


    ¡°If it helps, I feel like a total shit for the last thing. Even before you realized it.¡±


    Alethia hung her head. She knew that what she did was wrong when she was doing it, but she wanted Karen more than she cared about the consequences.


    Zoe said,


    ¡°Are you still attracted to her?¡±


    Alethia nodded,


    ¡°Yes. But her relationship with Rob is improving. I think my ship has sailed. Probably.¡±


    ¡°So you¡¯re giving up?¡±


    Alethia nodded.


    ¡°I am not going to stop being friends with Karen, but I am not going to come between her and her husband, especially if their relationship gets better. The only reason I was there in the first place was because of how much of a shit he is.¡±


    Today felt like a day for swearing. Zoe was not offended and Rachel had a bigger potty mouth than Alethia did. Zoe said,


    ¡°Okay, you should appreciate that I left Boston in part to escape exactly this drama.¡±


    Alethia sat on the couch, following Zoe taking a seat in a chair on the other side of Rachel¡¯s black coffee table.


    ¡°Sounds like there is a story there?¡±


    Zoe nodded to Alethia and said,


    ¡°A couple years ago, right before I graduated I met a wonderful woman. She was five years older than me, already a successful engineer working with children and coding. I had always wanted to do that. So we hitched up our U-Hauls and moved in together. The first few years were pretty okay. We both had tempers and we both hated cleaning, but our relationship worked.¡±


    Zoe paused, Rachel patted her on the shoulder. Zoe nodded and continued,


    ¡°I worked with a group in Boston who helped give young girls a leg up in STEM using coding as a sort of gateway drug. She worked at a firm who supplied one of the major software suites we used. Or at least I thought she did.


    Two years into our relationship, things started going wrong. Charlie ¡ª that¡¯s her name ¡ª always worked odd hours, sometimes even staying at her job overnight. Around this time, those out of home periods grew longer and more frequent.


    We merged our finances because that is what you do when you¡¯re two young lesbians who live together and don¡¯t know any better. Money started leaking out of our accounts. Dollars at a time. At first I was quiet about it, Charlie made most of the money between us, so who was I to tell her how she should spend it? More and more money disappeared to the point that we ¡ª by this point mostly me ¡ª started having trouble paying bills on time.


    That is when I started tracking our finances seriously. In a year, she had moved just shy of twenty grand out of our shared account. I was a co-signer on our lease, we had credit cards together, a bunch of our lives were entangled. The more I pulled on those tangles, the more I learned that what she told me and what the reality was differed. Charlie had a personal account I could not touch, but I had no version of the same.


    I am not proud of this, but I started following her after the second time our rent cheque bounced¡­¡±


    Zoe paused and wiped tears from her eyes.


    ¡°That night she walked into a small brownstone in the middle of a swank neighborhood on the north side of Boston. I started to walk away. I knew she was cheating on me. That is what I thought anyway. When I stormed up to the house, that is where I finally met her husband and her two children. One of them was only four. She had missed half of his life spending it with me.


    That night was not the best night I have ever experienced. I probably frightened her children. I definitely frightened Charlie¡¯s stupid husband; the same husband who knew where his wife was for two years and thought there was nothing wrong in keeping the little details of Charlie¡¯s ¡°real life¡± from me.


    Neighbors called the police on us, which was also awesome. Fortunately, no one was arrested and they left after warning us to ¡®keep it down.¡¯


    That night I abandoned my lease and moved out of the apartment I shared with Charlie. Friends helped me find a new place for a few months so I could do a little work to repair my credit. That is when Rachel helped me find a new gig here in Austin.


    And you pretty much know the rest. I guess you just needed to know the reason why lying and sneaking about do not sit well with me.¡±


    Alethia did understand. Her own confused circumstances must have given Zoe even more cause for concern. She said,


    ¡°I am so sorry, Zoe.¡±


    Zoe nodded and said,


    ¡°What you did is really not that bad in comparison. But I thought you should understand why I might have overreacted a bit.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t really think you overreacted that much. Or at all really. You¡¯re talking to me way earlier than I would have in your shoes.¡±


    Zoe nodded and said,


    ¡°That¡¯s because I like you, silly girl.¡±


    Alethia blushed with those words and looked at the ground,


    ¡°Thanks. I like you too¡­¡±


    ¡°But you have someone who you¡¯re pursuing already. I get that. You know, if you were free, I would still be interested in dating.¡±


    Rachel coughed and stood up to make coffee for the three of them. Zoe smiled while she watched Rachel stand.


    Alethia said,


    ¡°I am not sure I want that right now. I really want a friend. Especially someone like you who knows who they are and is not too afraid to follow her heart. Can we try that first, see what happens from there?¡±


    Zoe looked at Alethia and laughed. Alethia blinked for a moment and considered whether she should feel offended, Zoe said,


    ¡°Sorry, this is just too weird, right? We started with you begging my forgiveness and now you ¡®just want to be friends.¡¯ It¡¯s cute and absurd and so, so gay.¡±


    ¡°So is that a yes?¡±


    Zoe smiled and said,


    ¡°Of course. We should be friends before we¡¯re anything else, otherwise how would we even know if we got along. That is one mistake I made with Charlie that I don¡¯t intend to repeat.¡±


    ¡°Oh thank God. Is it okay to hug now?¡±


    Zoe stood and embraced Alethia. She really did smell fantastic, like lilac and blueberries. Maybe an expensive artisanal cocktail. The temptation to taste her skin was stronger than Alethia expected, especially after all of the drama.


    The three spent the next several hours watching animated shows and laughing together on Zoe¡¯s couch. Zoe and Rachel smoked pot, but Alethia declined for the evening. She needed to drive and did not want to be too loopy for that. Plus a clear head was necessary to help her sort out all of the feelings she had about both Zoe and Karen.


    By the next morning, Alethia still tormented herself over the Zoe-Karen debacle. The truth was pretty simple, really. Alethia had no business holding out hope for Karen or putting Zoe off for that reason. Before classes started, she decided to call her dad again.


    ¡°Hello Alethia. Is that you?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s me daddy.¡±


    ¡°Is everything okay?¡±


    ¡°Yes, no. I guess so? I had a question for you. Do you think I could talk to you real quick?¡±


    Something in her dad¡¯s voice encouraged her more than her words,


    ¡°Of course, sweetie. What¡¯s bothering you.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s about girls. Can you still talk?¡±


    ¡°Of course I can. What is up?¡±


    Alethia filled him in on last night and went into further details about Karen and Rob. She explained the changes in Rob by saying that he was on new medication. Her dad listened and she swore she could hear tears in his voice when he said,


    ¡°I am sorry you¡¯re having trouble, but I am really happy you reached out to me. I miss this, Alethia.¡±


    ¡°Me too, dad. Lots. What do you think though?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t think your situation is anything like my own from last night. It sounds like you already know what you want. You are not going to be able to date Karen. Even if she leaves Rob, you should give her time. A lot of time. But she is not going to leave him and he is not done mistreating her. You have to accept that now.¡±


    ¡°What? Why do you say that?¡±


    ¡°You said he¡¯s never sorry for what he did. Did Rob ever apologize to you or Richard about his behavior?¡±


    ¡°No, I guess not.¡±


    ¡°Then he is not going to apologize to Karen either. That means he thinks his behavior is still justified. He might also have some psychological issues, but he also thinks that mistreating the people who love him is acceptable. That is not the kind of behavior that medication can regularly treat.¡±


    ¡°How do you know all of that?¡±


    ¡°You don¡¯t remember grandpa Thompson, but Rob sounds like him. I have so little contact with his side of the family because of how he treated me and your grandma. Not once did he ever express remorse. Even a little.¡±


    ¡°Jesus dad. I never knew that.¡±


    ¡°Language, honey.¡±


    Alethia rolled her eyes, at least she knew this was definitely her father.


    ¡°Sorry dad. But I think the exclamation stands. How come you never told me?¡±


    ¡°That is not the kind of story one shares with their child. Unless she is unfortunate enough to go through it herself or has a friend who is. Besides, there is no use speaking ill of the dead. And now you know what your mother has always been the firebrand in our family. Enforcing any kind of discipline felt akin to the abuse my father heaped on me and my mother.¡±


    Suddenly, every time Alethia cried harder to get out of a punishment stood in stark relief against her father¡¯s story. Granted, she did not know at the time, but that made her feel like an emotionally manipulative beast. Maybe all children fell into that category, but Alethia felt twenty plus years of shame creep up on her face.


    Her dad continued,


    ¡°Anyway, I know a thing or two about abusers and one of the touchstones is their lack of empathy or remorse. My father usually blamed your mother or me for his violence against us. Even grandma started internalizing it. She always, ¡®needed to get dinner right this week,¡¯ to avoid angering father or else he would turn violent. He even tried to play us against each other by beating me for the perceived failings of my mother and her for my misbehavior.¡±


    Tears rolled down Alethia¡¯s cheeks. She had never even suspected something like this. Now that she knew, she understood why neither her dad nor grandma Thompson ever spoke about grandpa. The rare occasions where they did, they also quickly changed the subject.


    Alethia said,


    ¡°That is all terrible, he sounds like a monster, daddy.¡±


    She swore she could hear him incline his head, poking his chest with his chin. That was her father¡¯s silent acquiescence in a single motion.


    ¡°If not for your mother¡¯s insistence, I would never have had you girls. I am very happy that I did now, but I was terrified I would just become a foul echo of my own father.¡±


    He paused, Alethia imagined him shaking himself and he said,


    ¡°None of that is the point. My point is that Rob is almost certainly not done abusing his wife. If he confines his mistreatment to emotional abuse, I guess that is marginally better than physical abuse. But by a margin thin enough to split sin. And I would be very surprised if Rob¡¯s conduct has already crossed over to the physical, but Karen won¡¯t tell you because she knows that would trigger a bunch of events she wants to avoid.¡±


    ¡°What do you mean?¡±


    ¡°If Karen told you Rob was hitting her, wouldn¡¯t you insist she leave him? You might even call the police yourself or confront him with Richard or others there, right?¡±


    Alethia nodded and said,


    ¡°Yeah, I would definitely insist she leave him. I would help for sure. But you¡¯re right.¡±


    ¡°And Karen knows that. If she told you about the extreme behavior, you would intervene. And she might not want that. Abuse is pernicious, Alethia. When it comes from people who are supposed to love you, those signals can get crossed. More or less. It¡¯s not that you have to hurt people in order to feel love, though I suppose that happens too. No, it means that the abuse confirms the person¡¯s love for you. I never told you about the early problems your mom and I had. I accused her of being emotionally distant because she did things like treat me respectfully and refused to manipulate me.¡±


    ¡°I didn¡¯t know that either.¡±


    ¡°Again, who would tell their non-adult children something like that?¡±


    ¡°What do you think I should do about Karen then?¡±


    ¡°Well, if she thinks you are interested in her or might be, you should let her know the truth. Then you should be sure she knows that your apartment is a safe place for her. Offer to help her in any way you can and try not to remind her about the abuse too much. If you notice odd bruises or some clear indicator like that, you might confront her.¡±


    Alethia chewed on her lip. That was a lot to think about.


    And when Alethia looked at her phone, she was about two minutes late for her bus.


    ¡°Thank you for the advice daddy, I have to run to class. Is it okay if I call you tonight?¡±


    He chuckled,


    ¡°Sweetie, you are welcome to call me anytime you would like. Every day if you want.¡±


    ¡°Thanks daddy, bye!¡±


    Alethia ran from her apartment as fast as her enhanced legs would carry her. And only at the final stretch did she realize that she was not supposed to be inhumanly swift. She slowed herself down and managed to catch the bus without being late for the rest of her classes that day.


    Sections were even easier than last week. Alethia had a hard time telling, but she suspected that her brain was still improving. The improvements were hard to notice, but her understanding of the material and her ability to retain it was improving. Her cognition had grown to the point where she was reasonably certain her conclusion was correct. As she started to analyze that idea, her mind lead her down every logical path and experience that supported the conclusion in the first place. She even found that she subconsciously addressed several critiques of the idea that she was becoming smarter. The largest piece evidence to the contrary was her complete inability to resolve her feelings for Karen.


    By the end of the day, Alethia had finally convinced herself that she was going to date Zoe officially and stop pining for Karen. The first thing to do was call Zoe and tell her the news. She was as happy as Alethia hoped she would be.


    The next thing she did was drive to Karen¡¯s house. As much as she wanted to just walk away, Alethia needed to see Karen one last night as the object of her affection before she could let go. It was later than she expected by the time she arrived and on a rare coincidence, the Taylors had no plans.


    Karen and Rob left the blinds open. Alethia could see into the windows as she approached the front door. Even though she could see, she heard sounds of shouting from within the house before she reached the door to knock. Before either of them could see her through the little window on their doorframe or through the peephole, Alethia sprinted around the side of the house.


    What the heck am I doing?


    Alethia asked herself the question, but continued to move around the north side of the Taylor home like a burglar. She could hear the faint sounds of shouting continue. The voice was definitely Rob¡¯s voice. When she reached the back of the house, she could hear the shouting much more clearly. She could also see through the back window into Rob and Karen¡¯s living room.


    There Rob loomed over Karen, who sat on the couch staring forward blankly. Rob¡¯s face bulged and reddened as he shouted at his wife. She did not register any of his words, like he was shouting at a sink or a wall. Alethia watched just long enough to decide that she was going to do something about this, she just did not know what yet.


    Inspiration moved her feet back to the front door where the rang the Taylor¡¯s doorbell. The shouting ended immediately and after a few seconds, Karen answered the door.


    ¡°Alethia, is everything okay?¡±


    ¡°Sure, Karen! Everything is fine. What was that shouting just now?¡±


    ¡°Oh, Rob and I were watching a show on the tablet, why?¡±


    ¡°Did I interrupt?¡±


    ¡°Oh no, we were just finishing up. That¡¯s not why you stopped by?¡±


    ¡°Sorry, I was just curious about the noise. I stopped by cause I was close. Do you want to grab a coffee or something?¡±


    With that Rob approached, he said,


    ¡°We¡¯re watching a show.¡±


    ¡°Karen said it just finished. Come on Karen, I could use some company really badly right now.¡±


    Karen looked back at Rob. His eyebrow twitched ever so subtly. But Alethia now had context in which to plant that particular gesture.


    Rob gave a small nod and Karen turned to Alethia and said,


    ¡°Okay, sure. Let¡¯s grab a coffee.¡±


    Karen stepped back into the house to grab her bag. Rob stood at the door smiling and looking utterly incongruous. He looked handsome and¡­ shiny? Alethia was not attracted to him at all, but she could appreciate his physical assets. Thick blond hair and good skin combined with a stout kind of musculature that made Alethia think of a rescaled dwarf every time she saw Rob after he was treated with the serum. But his physical appearance contrasted with his behavior. Part of Alethia wanted to kick him right in his stupid balls. It would have felt good, but she knew that it also would make things harder for Karen. The best she could do right now was try to protect her.


    And that meant getting Karen out of the house this evening.


    The car ride was silent until Karen said,


    ¡°Do you mind if we drive for a bit? I wanted to go to a place down south. They are supposed to have really good coffee.¡±


    ¡°Sure. No problem.¡±


    Alethia tried to form her words into a semblance of order in her head. She wanted to ask Karen for the truth, what had really been happening with Rob. But Alethia sensed that more was going on between them than Karen had told her so far.


    Karen interrupted her reasoning,


    ¡°What did you want to talk to me about?¡±


    ¡°My dad called. Well, I guess I called him when I was arrested. It wasn¡¯t bad, but I wanted to talk to you about it.¡±


    Karen smiled and said,


    ¡°It wasn¡¯t bad huh? Did he finally apologize?¡±


    Ugh, what an opening.


    Alethia mentally bit her lip and said,


    ¡°Not until the shop.¡±


    ¡°Okay then. How are your classes going? Has the serum given you the same upgrades it gave Rob?¡±


    ¡°Pretty much yes. This has been exciting. I went from a fair student to the top of every section.¡±


    ¡°I am surprised all of you did not decide to keep that part of your powers under wraps.¡±


    Alethia shrugged at that,


    ¡°I just tell people I started ¡®taking things seriously,¡¯ and they don¡¯t press for more. I think it¡¯s different when we do something physically impossible.¡±


    ¡°That makes sense to me. The myth of the eidetic memory is alive and well in the modern day. Even though it is impossible.¡±


    ¡°And that is not the only upgrade. You remember how hard the chemistry was for me. Memorization was never the problem there. Now I can sort of see the molecules in my head and they just sort of translate to reality? As if my scientific intuition got better?¡±


    ¡°Has everything improved?¡±


    Alethia shook her head,


    ¡°No, not exactly. I feel more erudite, I guess. But it¡¯s not like my anxieties are gone or I am always on time now. I don¡¯t really get lost anymore. But I can¡¯t exactly say where I am. Does that make sense? I would say on the whole the improvements are haphazard. Or directed in a way I haven¡¯t thought about yet.¡±


    Then her mind opened up and Alethia saw it before her like a second visual apparatus opened. Her spatial reasoning, mathematical intelligence, memory, hand-eye coordination, dimensional awareness, and general intelligence were all beyond human normals. The mind of a perfect soldier. Or sniper.


    She did not mention that to Karen. The thought made Alethia realize for the first time since she took the serum that they knew so very little about the ¡°time police¡± Rob stole the serum vials from. Were they a military organization? Alethia knew intuitively that her improvements were tailored for her. She could see echoes of her own improvements in Richard, but he was different. She wondered what he was doing right then as she pulled into the parking lot of the coffee ship Karen requested.


    Only now did Alethia realize she had driven all the way to Riverside. This was part of the eastern road that was becoming gentrified. Flashy new apartments rose above the coffee shop that was itself situated in the bottom floor of the complex. Several other mall-apartment combos had popped up in the city. She inhaled the aroma of home roasted beans as it flooded out of the shop. It smelled like heaven. This would be fine.


    They drank their coffee out near the street in the open air part of the caf¨¦. Alethia told Karen about her conversation with her father and how he finally apologized for several months ago.

 Chapter 9 - Richard - I am supposed to be smarter than this now

    Richard walked away from the Taylor¡¯s home after reporting in with Alethia. She intended to spend the night with his sister Rachel and a friend of hers. Richard told them all he planned to spend the night in, maybe painting an army.


    That had been partly true. He hoped he would be able to tackle that project tonight. But only if his first mission went smoothly as hoped. As soon as he was out of sight of the Taylor¡¯s house and Alethia had driven away, Richard poured on his speed. He flew home, like a bird skimming over water. He held his hands out like a weird anime heroine as he transformed himself into the nurse he had practiced with the night before.


    At his own house, he jumped into his own car and drove back to the apartment where Alethia and he had left Tammy. Her car was still parked in the lot; he did not miss them. Richard stayed in the random nurse¡¯s shape until it occurred to him that she might take the heat from his activities. So he changed into goon number two, the one who had not gone with Tammy earlier that night.


    He walked over to their car and literally sniffed around. Eventually going to all fours, he was able to sniff out a surprising number of details. Tammy was using meth, so was her friend. They were sexually involved, but Tammy was also involved with someone else. They brought a large amount of cash with them to this place, though Richard could not say how much. He was pretty sure goon number one had a pistol on him. One of them had shot Richard previously.


    Richard heard something out of place and froze. He listened more carefully and thought he heard Tammy¡¯s voice in the distance, unblocked from anything. He crawled across the parking lot, staying as low as possible and sticking to the sides of cars where he could.


    Tammy was not coming downstairs. She stood on a balcony overlooking the parking lot. She smoked from an e-cigarette and handed it to a different man, Richard had not seen before. He was fat, as fat as Richard was pre-serum, and he had snorted in laughter at something Tammy said. Richard could see the balcony they stood on now and could therefore reason out which apartment they were in.


    He could call the police now. That would probably result in Tammy¡¯s arrest. But he wanted to confirm that she had the stolen goods on her. Of course, it might already be too late. Richard had not smelled any copper or metal in the car other than the pistol. But he guessed that those scents might have faded or blended into the atmosphere. He was certain she was not storing the goods in the car.


    So Richard waited, laying down in the dirty parking lot while he strained to hear Tammy¡¯s conversation. That proved to be harder than he expected. Richard had spent little of his youth sneaking around stealing from people. This was not his area of expertise.


    Later, that was the excuse he would use.


    Tammy seemed to be ensconced in place upstairs on the balcony. Even the cold winter air ¡ª such as it was in Austin ¡ª did not send her back inside. Richard crept through the parking lot and back into his car. No one followed him as far as he could see, so he started the car up so he could enter the parking lot and watch from his car.


    He pulled into the lot where he could barely see the balcony from his window. A spot presented itself when he was in the lot earlier. It proved to be ideal for his purposes. Richard turned his car off and turned the lights off too. He left the doors locked while he watched he balcony from his current position.


    Tammy¡¯s companion opened the door and stepped back inside. He returned with drinks for himself and Tammy shortly thereafter. One flaw in Richard¡¯s location was that from here he could not see the front door to the apartment. A second person would have been really helpful here. After a few minutes, Richard rolled the window down.


    Later, he would say that saved his life.


    As the window rolled down, he thought he heard someone moving around in the bushes near the front of his car. His attention had been focused on Tammy and the balcony. Anyone could have been up there. Richard started his car and put it in reverse.


    Richard pulled toward the exit to the lot as a car drove up ahead of him. They blocked the drive and Richard¡¯s senses fell into overdrive automatically. His subconscious detected the threat and responded before he was fully cognizant of the danger.


    He ducked and rolled out of the car as a sharp report sounded and the windows shattered in his car behind him. Around Richard, the world blurred. To his disappointment, he was not as fast as the Flash or Superman. But he was faster than the fastest living human. He knew because the speed limit on the road was 35 and he started passing cars as his awareness came tumbling forward, still catching up.


    Holy shit! They shot at me!


    Richard¡¯s car was back at the apartment. That in itself was problem. He still looked like goon number two and ran faster than any person should have been able to. For a fleeting moment, Richard hoped he had lost his pursuers. But squealing tires and honking horns behind him told him otherwise.


    To his right a new apartment building rose. The security doors would block him enough that he might be hurt going through them. He just needed to run by the building to turn off the street and escape. But the cars behind him did not heed the speed limit.


    Bullets sounded behind Richard. None of them hit him, but soon after the guns fired, people started shouting. I need to deal with these guys myself now. With that thought, he recognized the screaming behind him, it was Alethia.


    She paused while describing her father¡¯s phone call. A man wearing a sports jacket ran down the sidewalk faster than humanly possible. Her mind filled in the math automatically. He ran right about forty three miles per hour. Impossible.


    Behind the man two cars wove through traffic, guns hanging out of both of them commenced firing. Alethia spotted them too late to react before the first shells hit the street. She pulled Karen down behind the fence, flipping their stout wood table over as she did. Her movement had been too slow, twin spots of blood blossomed on Karen¡¯s chest, very close to the center. Alethia¡¯s biologist mind filled in the anatomy. Depending on ballistics, at best the bullets only struck her lungs. At worst, Karen was already dead.


    Alethia screamed instinctively as she checked Karen¡¯s pulse.


    Then she screamed from two places. One, staring over the table at the sound of squealing wheels. The other voice coming from above Karen¡¯s irregular pulse. Blood sprayed from her mouth from one viewpoint and from the other, the gunmen braced themselves as their drivers stopped the cars in the middle of the street. The man they chased had stopped himself, Karen wondered who he was that he had powers too. At the same time, she considered Karen¡¯s injuries and contemplated how she could best treat or deal with them.


    The opposing thoughts boomed in Alethia¡¯s mind and she reeled in both positions. Something snapped and her perceptions fully separated. She stood in one place, looking at the events on the street and in the other, she knelt near Karen. Though their thoughts ran in parallel, she felt like both had a wall between them, as if the other¡¯s mind was muffled. Both chose her future course and both burst into motion.


    Alethia lifted Karen like an injured child. The nearest hospital was Brackenridge, ¡°Brack¡± At fifty and ignoring the roads, she could reach it in minutes, faster than any ambulance. Not only was she faster than Richard or Rob, that night she discovered that she could leap. Like superman originally could, she leaped tall buildings in a single bound. Well, at least one story homes. The others, she ran alongside like some sort of parkournista.


    What do they call themselves?


    Both minds echoed the other with that thought.


    Back with the gunmen, Alethia-sub-one charged the first car like a bull. She knew her average bone density, somehow, and knew exactly where to strike to knock the gun man out in a single blow. The option of killing him presented itself and for a dreadful moment, Alethia considered it. Subduing him was just as easy, so she chose that route. She could feel sickened about that thought later, so she stuck in it a cubby in her mind.


    She crashed against the man and threw him into the car door before he could swing his gun around at her. Two of his bones broke as he crumpled. Alethia snatched the gun and twisted it into a circle as she crouched down.


    The gunmen shouted something behind their cars, another crash and a second gun fired twice. Alethia peaked over the car and a graceful, elegant blond woman wearing a kimono hit the other gun man seven times in quick succession. Like Alethia, the other woman chose to subdue her foe rather than kill him.


    The balance of the car she used for cover shifted and Alethia ducked down as several more bullets bounced off of the car near where she stood. She used her speed to try to circle around the car, but she could see that both cars¡¯ drivers were trying to escape and that even more people were at risk if she continued to engage.


    Alethia chose the direction where the fewest people were and ran in a serpentine pattern toward the corner of the apartment behind her. The other woman followed her to the corner, the cars and shooters did not. She focused on the fleeing cars and thought,


    What do they call themselves?


    The woman beside her said,


    ¡°Oh, thank you. I am Sandy!¡±


    Alethia smiled and held out her hand, curious to ask the new woman questions as her original body landed on the ground near the hospital. Without the further need for this second body, she faded into mist, her last vision was of the blond, fair skinned Sandy turning her head, eyes widening in concern.


    Richard shouted,


    ¡°Alethia? What is wrong?¡±


    But this second version of her faded in front of him. The adrenaline of combat faded and Richard stared at himself in a reflection off of a nearby window. He looked the way he intended, shoulder length blond hair with thin, almost elven features. He even wore the kimono he had visualized. What had been different about this transformation than all of the others? He had never managed to turn into someone he had not personally encountered, but this woman was the product of his imagination.


    He would have to worry about that later. His car was still back at the bad guy¡¯s apartment and the police would be here soon. Probably very soon.


    Richard changed again, this time into the nurse who treated him and ran normal speed down to the apartment. Just to check.


    Sure enough, the gangsters or whatever they were, had already driven his car away. Richard recalled all of the bills and prescription packets he left in his back seat.


    Crap crap crap.


    The bad guys would know his home right away and they had already shot Karen. He didn¡¯t know if she was fine, but no one had texted him yet. He also had no car now.


    He turned and ran back the way he came, considering what Alethia would have done and how he would explain what happened to her. He suspected that he would have to take responsibility for this.


    Right on schedule, Alethia called him,


    ¡°Allie, what¡¯s up?¡±


    ¡°Richard? Karen¡¯s been shot. I¡¯m at Brack. Were you downtown today?¡±


    Shit shit shit.


    ¡°Oh mygod! I¡¯ve been trying to figure out what happened.¡±


    A lie was forming in his head. Richard felt pathetic and sick with himself as he elaborated,


    ¡°I was spying on Tammy and they made me. Two, maybe three cars pulled up trying to pin me in. So I ditched my car and ran. I didn¡¯t realize how close to me they were. I passed an apartment building and turned. I never looked behind me.¡±


    He breathed carefully, knowing that someone like him might be able to hear a lie when spoken. Richard was not sure.


    ¡°Damn it, Richard. You idiot. You need to get down here to Brack. I have a bad feeling about this. Call Rachel and have her pick up the green thing. You know what I mean.¡±


    ¡°Okay, did you call Rob?¡±


    ¡°No, not yet. Should we?¡±


    Richard was nodding,


    ¡°Yeah, he needs to know his wife was shot.¡±


    Alethia sighed on the phone,


    ¡°Yeah, you¡¯re right. I will get on that.¡±


    ¡°Okay, I will get to the hospital as fast as I can.¡±


    Alethia hung up without saying anything else. He called Rachel and asked her to bring the package from his trunk to him at Brackenridge.


    He reached the ER and was already in his natural shape. Alethia raised her head from the waiting room. She did not look happy with him.


    ¡°Did you call Rob?¡±


    Alethia said,


    ¡°You are a damn fool, Richard Kain.¡±


    He nodded to her. He could not dispute that at the moment. Alethia went on,


    ¡°You should have called me if you were planning on another stakeout.¡±


    ¡°Would you have come with me?¡±


    ¡°No, I would have talked you out of it.¡±


    Richard could only nod at that. She was right, as usual.


    ¡°So what happened?¡±


    Richard knew, of course. But he wondered if Alethia would tell him.


    ¡°I think I met someone else like us. A woman. I think she is a shapeshifter.¡±


    Bile rose in Richard¡¯s throat. He knew what he was doing was wrong, might even hurt Alethia. But a part of him did not care and right then that part made the decisions.


    ¡°What? How?¡±


    Richard welcomed his own damnation. The truth was, he would give anything for Alethia to love him. To care for him. Truth was a simple price for the chance.


    Alethia shook her head,


    ¡°If you don¡¯t know, then I don¡¯t know either.¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s happening with Karen?¡±


    ¡°She has two bullet wounds in her chest. I have to explain to the police what happened. They aren¡¯t here yet.¡±


    ¡°Shoot, maybe I should leave then, huh?¡±


    ¡°That might be best. I am going to try telling the truth to them, except for the super powers part.¡±


    Richard nodded and stood to go.


    ¡°I am sorry about this, Alethia.¡±


    ¡°If something happens, we can try to give her the serum. Bye Richard.¡±


    That sounded so final to Richard, but then again he deserved it. Not just for the reasons Alethia knew about. Richard walked out of the ER, changed into a different doctor¡¯s shape and walked back in a few minutes later. His sister would be here soon and Richard wanted to keep tabs on Karen. Even if something bad happened, they had that option.Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.


    The cops took Alethia¡¯s statement and left. Richard changed faces a few times in the bathroom so that no one ever suspected that he was the same person. He knew he had to be close to a person before he could take their shape. He was starting to suspect he needed to smell them.


    Rob arrived and spoke to Alethia next. He was upset and Richard wanted to talk to him. But who knew how Rob might feel right then?


    Richard swallowed the threat of nausea and walked outside. Around a corner of the hospital he returned Richard¡¯s call.


    ¡°Hey man.¡±


    ¡°Richard. Karen¡¯s been shot because of you.¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡±


    Rob was silent on the phone. Richard said,


    ¡°I am so sorry man.¡±


    ¡°She could die and that is the best you got?¡±


    ¡°I didn¡¯t know this would happen. If I¡¯d known she was¡­ never mind.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s right. If you had kept us in the loop, she would be fine, wouldn¡¯t she?¡±


    Richard did not want to admit the truth of what Rob said. But he could not deny it either. Rob said,


    ¡°That is what I thought. Shit! Damnit!¡±


    He did not hang up. Instead he lowered his voice.


    ¡°I need to go, I can¡¯t keep talking to you right now.¡±


    Then he hung up.


    Richard looked down at his phone wondering how he had gotten here and what he could do to possibly fix this. Now that Rob was here, he could probably go back to the waiting room himself. In a way, not being there would raise more questions than being there.


    He resolved to walk back as he ran into his sister.


    ¡°Why did you need this, Richard? What is it?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s just a joke for when Karen wakes up. It needs to be a surprise so don¡¯t mention it.¡±


    Richard stuffed the packet into his backpack. This way they had a contingency plan.


    Rachel and Richard walked up to Rob and Alethia.


    Richard braced himself for Rob¡¯s fury. But his best friend hugged him and called him an idiot instead of taking a punch at him.


    While they hugged, Rob whispered,


    ¡°I know you didn¡¯t do it on purpose, you dumb lug. I wish you had called me.¡±


    Richard whispered back


    ¡°I am sorry man. I should not have gone off on my own.¡±


    Rob seemed really upset about Karen. The nurse had stopped by. Karen was still in critical condition, but the initial assessment was promising. She was undergoing emergency surgery, they already had one of the bullets removed and part of the damage to her pericardial sack repaired. The other bullet hit her lung and they were having trouble removing it. Rob had to sign a bunch of heartless forms while the nurse assured him that the surgeons were doing everything they could to help her.


    Hours passed, the four said only a handful of words during the wait. The surgeon did eventually come out to talk to them,


    ¡°Mrs Taylor has been moved to the CICU for now. Her condition had been upgrade to critical, but stable. The next few hours we are monitoring her for infections and complications related to the surgery¡­¡±


    Richard felt numb. At least she was improving. Rob would be allowed to look in on her from a distance, but the rest of them had to stay here.


    He returned looking grim,


    ¡°She¡¯s on a ventilator. They say they want it out soon, but she does not look good.¡±


    Richard put his arm around his friend, Rachel and even Alethia joined him. Rob cried quietly under the canopy of his friends. Richard and the other two joined him just as quietly.


    Eventually they broke apart and resumed waiting in their seats.


    Richard¡¯s patience eventually started to run out. He could find out more by sneaking into the CICU than he could waiting here. Almost eight hours had already passed. Everyone waiting had shut down their normal responsibilities so they could continue to wait.


    Richard put on a departing physician¡¯s face after leaving his friends and sneaking behind the secure area in the guise of a random nurse. He had waited until he spotted a doctor saying his farewells before Richard picked him.


    Back inside the hospital, he checked out Karen¡¯s chart as a small crisis erupted around him. He replaced the chart at the nurse¡¯s station and followed the commotion to see Karen¡¯s room filled with people. She just lay there while the people in the room struck terror into Richard¡¯s heart. They moved quickly and efficiently, but the concern on their faces spoke volumes to Richard. Karen was about to die.


    But after a few minutes, the doctors and nurses relaxed. That reassured Richard, but he wanted to know more.


    ¡°What happened with the patient in 203?¡±


    The nurse stepping out said,


    ¡°She has a serious infection. She may die from septicemia in a few hours.¡±


    Richard translated her medical speak automatically in his mind, nodded, and walked away.


    He made himself busy watching that nurse go into and out of Karen¡¯s room. Eventually she excused herself and took a break. Richard hid in a bathroom and changed into her form after he removed the green serum from his pack.


    He hid it in the folds of the nurse¡¯s uniform and stepped into Karen¡¯s room alone. With the glass to his back, he injected the contents of the green syringe into her IV bag. He hid the syringe and left the room before the serum started to take effect.


    He was back in the bathroom and changed and nothing had happened yet. As the doctor who had already gone home, he checked on Karen. As far as he could tell, nothing else was wrong with her. Richard debated his course for a moment and decided that he did not know how to get her out of the room without being caught right then. Sure, he was taking an enormous risk on behalf of Karen, but he felt it was worth it.


    Anything he could do to make up for his earlier mistake.


    Richard returned to his friends. Alethia noticed his absence. When Rob stood to go the bathroom, she said,


    ¡°Where did you go?¡±


    Richard cringed without showing it on his face. I am supposed to be smarter than this now. He had no exit strategy or escape plan. He could see the next several questions from Alethia, all of them reasonable and fully expected, once he thought to turn his mind this direction.


    Richard touched his nose and smiled at Alethia, he tried to prepare a lie when a scream broke through his consciousness. Alethia winced along with him.


    She said,


    ¡°Did you hear that?¡±


    A second scream blew across Richards mind like a wildfire. It consumed the air, ripping his breath and words away. In its wake it left only searing pain. Alethia gurgled as she fell out of her chair. Red flashing warnings filled Richard¡¯s vision again. In the forefront was a single question:


    ¡°New processing system online: accept binding: y/n¡±


    Wracking pain paralyzed Richard, but he could still think, even though he did not want to. He accepted the offer to bind and his vision flashed blue. Three quarters of the warning messages vanished as Richard¡¯s mind shut down in shock. With his last effort, he whispered to Alethia,


    ¡°Accept the binding.¡±


    Karen opened her eyes to see a steady stream of numbers and letters racing across her field of view. Like an AR interface, the words were transparent and let her see the lights and machines towering over her beyond the data.


    The streams ran out and she was left with a prompt:


    ¡°EMERGENCY SYSTEMS ONLINE: ENGAGE COMMAND DATA MODULE? Y/N¡±


    The last thing Karen remembered was Alethia crouched over her. Something had smashed into Karen¡¯s chest and taken her breath away. Breathing grew difficult and she passed out. She had been shot.


    Oh, they gave me the serum then. She thought to herself. A new prompt appeared:


    ¡°Command Level Enhancements Active, confirmed. Engage Command Data Module?¡±


    This one was not in bold and lacked the urgency of the prompt above it. Karen ignored it and it faded from her view.


    I was shot and I am in a hospital. But I am alive.


    Karen¡¯s throat was obstructed by something. She should have been concerned, panicked even. But her consciousness was disassociated from her body. Sensation was strictly limited to awareness. Karen knew her legs were there. A breeze licked her toes under the sheets. In any other circumstance, that feeling would have driven her crazy until her feet were properly covered. She could feel the wires and leads on her chest and arms leading to the machines beeping in the distance. They assured her that her body was alive and mostly intact.


    She redirected her attention back to the large bold request before her. Karen figured she had to agree to unlock the command data module, whatever that was, before she would learn anything more. So she chose yes.


    The prompt blinked once and Karen was reconnected to her body, which turned out to be mid-healing and enhancement. The only thing that kept her mind whole when the pain flooded into it was that morphine and something else still remained in her system and took the barest edge off of the pain. For minutes that felt like hours, Karen¡¯s brain struggled under the weight of an ocean of pain.


    Blinking warnings and buzzers sounded in her ears, sounds she somehow knew were only audible to her. Outside of the pain desert that was her tortured brain, she could hear the machines and monitors steadily blinking away.


    She was retching due to the tube in her throat while her paralyzed limbs begged to scratch at the unholy burns covering her. Three prompts appeared in the middle of her vision, one of them larger than the others. They blurred too much for her to read them. On the brink of unconsciousness and vomiting into her intubation tube, which would probably kill her, she chose the central blinking prompt.


    The pain and physical sensations once again retreated and Karen read what she had chosen,


    ¡°Begin internal sensation management.¡±


    Huh.


    She could read additional prompts at the bottom right of her vision. Three different colored circles, one red, one white and one black grew and resolved into Rob, Alethia, and Richard respectively. She selected Rob¡¯s condition and discovered a cascade of prompts. During the module activation, the pain had spread to her team. Team members could share sensations and thoughts. Normally this was metered by her own system, but during the initial sync, the ¡®volume¡¯ gets turned to max. Karen¡¯s own body had stricken her friends.


    The whole interface explained itself helpfully to her as she thought about each choice. She turned the pain sharing systems off temporarily and saw that all three, Rob, Alethia, and Richard, had fallen unconscious. Their own internal systems had engaged to protect them.


    She next learned that her own serum course contained a full ¡°initialization protocol¡±. Her mind and body acted as a central data router for her team. With this system she could coordinate their movements, taken control of primitive data access points and allow her team the full use of their internal computational enhancements.


    A cascade of improvements followed. Her team¡¯s cognitive enhancements would stabilize faster. One of the control mechanisms she possessed allowed her to tweak the neurotransmitter protocols available to her team. She could manipulate their brains and bodies directly. Karen left that particular control alone for now. With the computers online again, the healing protocols had fully activated. Karen¡¯s wounds and severe infection were already recovering at an impossible rate.


    Computer models helpfully informed her that she had been within an hour of brain death due to the massive infection she had contracted by being shot. Without the serum treatments, she would have died. Using the healing systems, she manipulated her own biochemical makeup, enough that the pain receded fully from her consciousness.


    Her mind was clear and sharp. She had a series of obstacles before her. A stray thought wondered how long she would have the breathing tube in and she knew without knowing how that she would have it for no more than 24 hours, unless something went very wrong with her lungs or the physicians decided to induce a coma. For some injuries, the standard for intubation demanded even less time with the tube inserted.


    First goal: escape this room. She considered all of the factors there. Insurance paid most of the visit, so she should be able to sign herself out with a credit card. That would be at least two more hours, assuming they removed the breathing tube at the first opportunity.


    Second goal: do not draw attention to herself. Or her friends, she amended. The police would want to interview her. They would definitely interview Alethia, they probably had done so already. Karen¡¯s mind sped through a virtual representation of the hospital she lay in. Signing out was the best option bar none. Even that would draw attention to her.


    She wondered if she could communicate with her team ¡ª scratch that, her friends ¡ª when the hospital lights blinked and went dark. The emergency power system kicked in as Karen wondered what had just happened and how this might affect her plans. Nurses and doctors rushed in to initiate all new protocols. Karen opened her eyes and scared the nurse nearest her, who alerted a doctor. The two removed her breathing tube while a third person leaned over to her and said,


    ¡°Blink twice if you understand me.¡±


    Karen blinked twice.


    ¡°Good, this might pinch.¡±


    Karen could not laugh, but if a large bore tube were not shoved down her throat she might have. Removing that thing would do a heck of a lot more than pinch, if her nerves had been allowed to feel discomfort right then.


    With the tube out of her throat, Karen tried to speak while the medical staff busied themselves over her injuries. She wondered what they would find when they looked. Time, which had been flowing precisely until now, began to stretch and deform. Her mind had trouble sorting out the source of the distortion as she experienced hopping forward in bursts. The computer console in her vision informed her that she was losing consciousness, as part of the effect of the systems ongoing efforts to enhance her body, a process that would not be done for approximately seventy two hours.


    She revised her plans. Right now her best hope was rescue. Preferably by her friends, but Wonder Woman or Xena was not out of the question today. That last delirious thought brought a chuckle to her throat as Karen passed out.


    Richard lay on the floor, information flooding back into his mind. All of the alerts he suppressed came alive. This time, they slowly turned green as the intense pain faded from his body. His tracking and computer assist had returned. Richard wondered where Karen was and received an AR path in his mind that showed him the shortest route.


    He lay on the hospital floor for a few minutes, hearing people around him panicking and seeking help. These people were really annoying, but then again, he could not respond to their repeated questions, so what they were doing was pretty natural. He was lifted up and brought to the Emergency room along with Alethia and eventually Rob. His computer informed him of where they both were.


    Can you two hear me?


    No response. Richard waited for several minutes without receiving any reply. It had been a long shot anyway. Harried nurses came to check on him and started to draw blood, something Richard had been afraid of since he retuned from the future. As she prepared the table, his control of his own body was restored. People had come to rescue them quickly, only maybe ten minutes passed between his collapse and arriving in the ER. Of course, they had fallen over in a hospital. He wondered if they had initiated a contagion response when he opened his eyes and saw that his nurse had several masks on.


    ¡°Can you hear me sir?¡±


    The words were so similar to what he had said in his mind that he had to chuckle.


    ¡°Yeah. I can hear you just fine.¡±


    His voice felt raspy, like he was dehydrated or hoarse from yelling.


    He could hear Rob and Alethia in the other rooms responding to their own nurses.


    Good. Now to get out of here.


    That thought was followed by the lights fading in the hospital momentarily, replaced by the emergency lights while the backup generator spun on. Thirty seconds later, a small boom rocked the hospital. The emergency lights stayed on, but the generator did not start up.


    That was the generator


    The nurse treating Richard shouted,


    ¡°I will be right back!¡± and turned to check in with her station.


    ¡°That¡¯s probably true, but I won¡¯t be here when you do.¡±


    Richard stood and checked for Karen¡¯s position again. She was up in the CICU still; the path showed him where to walk.


    ¡°Allie, Rob? Can you walk?¡±


    They pulled their curtains back in unison. Rob said,


    ¡°Let¡¯s go get my wife!¡±


    All three ran out of the ER, the shouts of the nursing staff lost behind them. They moved quickly, but not quite at superhuman speeds. Those they turned on when they reached the stairs.


    Richard had a vague sense of deja vu about this whole situation when he heard another small explosion. Alethia pulled open the door to the CICU floor and Rob took up a position a few feet in front of the door. Richard wondered at the move, he would have thought crouching at the doorjamb made more sense. But maybe Rob knew something he did not.


    Rob lead the way down the hallway. Smoke and dust filled the air here and Richard was starting to feel nervous. His sense of deja vu grew more intense as the dust cleared and three liquid silver creatures turned to look back at Richard and his friends. Their bodies looked like fat sausages supported by spindly fractal legs. They branched hundreds of times as Richard watched and he realized that was how the creatures moved. The heads that turned to examine them were continuous mercurial pools. They looked like a single insect antenna turning toward them, revealing the impression of eyes, nose and mouth alone once side of the antenna.


    In a flash, the liquid silver appendages materialized an elongated rifle-looking addition. Richard shouted as a second Alethia sprang from her body toward the first liquid silver creature. Rob moved swiftly, not even looking in the other two¡¯s direction. Twin blue explosions of light burst from in front of Rob, his body obscured whatever happened. Liquid silver metal clung to the second Alethia, who continued to rip and tear at the creature. It fell twitching along with Alethia¡¯s clone who vanished in midair. Rob turned after the first silver being fell, the other two dead before him, gaping holes where the front sections of the creatures were missing.


    Rob turned without comment and saw that Richard and Alethia still stood. He beckoned them forward and they moved faster toward where they were treating Karen. The three pushed their speed to its maximum breaking through the clouds of dust and smoke. Richard jumped through to see Alethia and Rob neck and neck, straining themselves to reach Karen¡¯s room. A single liquid silver creature stood in the room with her. Its straight branching appendages touched Karen¡¯s body, forming a cage over or around her.


    Alethia seemed to hit a wall, she crumpled as if smashed in the head and Rob roared as he jumped into the room with Karen. Bright light shone in the room that blinded Richard for a moment. He blinked the flash away and saw that the room was empty save for the bodies of hospital staff on the floor around the bare gurney.


    Richard could hear blaring alarms all around him. Alethia did not move, so he checked her first. Her pulse was steady, but she had a large red mark on her forehead and nose. Like she smashed her face into something. Richard lifted her in his arms and checked Karen¡¯s room a second time. Not even a trace of Karen or Rob remained. He spotted movement on the edge of his vision and saw that the people in the room were still breathing. Huh. That was probably relevant.


    Richard turned and fled the hallway, pausing to retrieve a sample of the silver creature using the now empty syringe. He found a wheelchair and laid Alethia in it. His computer vision had returned to dormancy, but his mind felt clear. So much clearer than before today. He could easily escape the hospital in the chaos, wheeling Alethia out would make him blend in more.


    Richard effortlessly assumed an amalgam shape. Just like he had done when Alethia spotted him during the fight with the gangsters. That felt almost like it was a week ago, not this morning. Amalgam number two was combination of several doctors Richard had smelled earlier. Scent was definitely the key to adopting a form. Stress had been the key to unlocking both the initial ability and his subsequent advancement.


    Those thoughts lead him out of the hospital, pushing Alethia before him. He resumed his face as he turned a corner and saw that Rachel was at her car waiting,


    ¡°Richard! I¡¯ve been trying to text you! Is Allie okay?¡±


    Rachel ran to check to make sure he was okay then she turned to Alethia.


    ¡°She looks like she hit her head. Does she need to see a doctor, Richard?¡±


    Rachel felt the back of Alethia¡¯s head, Richard did not know what to feel for or he would have tried that himself.


    ¡°She seems fine I guess. What happened in there?¡±


    Richard lifted Alethia into the front seat of Rachel¡¯s car and buckled her in.


    ¡°Let¡¯s get out of here if we can, I will tell you on the way. Let me put this up.¡±


    Richard pushed the cart back up to the hospital doors. People flooded out of the building still, so he left the chair at the corner of the building and ran back to his sister. He jumped in the back seat and said,


    ¡°Do you know any good ways out of here?¡±


    Rachel shook her head,


    ¡°I think this parking lot might be cursed.¡±


    They encountered a line of cars waiting to leave the tower. Richard could feel the alien monsters waiting for them. Why did they wait to attack until now? It had to do with Karen¡¯s serum, but what? He believed that her coming online is what dropped the other three to their knees. So perhaps she held the computer system Richard used to find her? That made sense as he considered the possibility. The computer had disappeared again once she was gone.


    The next question was: what hit Alethia in the face? Not that Richard wanted her gone. He preferred Alethia safely here with him, just like Rob and Karen. But something had clearly smacked her in the face by way of existing and being relatively immovable. What could that have been?


    Rachel eventually escaped the crush of traffic and drove back to their house. Alethia started to wake as they arrived, but Richard insisted on carrying her into his house.

 Chapter 10 - Alethia - Maybe fined for inciting a riot.

    ¡°Karen! No!¡±


    Alethia shot up from the bed she laid in, throwing covers over her knees and legs. Her face ached, but only vaguely. She looked around and found herself in the Kains¡¯ guest bedroom. Rachel, Richard, and Alethia had spent a pleasant cold February weekend decorating it two years after their parents passed away. Alethia cherished that memory because this was one of the first places she had seen both Kain children genuinely smile since their parents died. Until then the smiles had been tinged with guilt, like proximity to their parents¡¯ deaths forbade glee.


    ¡°Glad to see you¡¯re awake, Allie.¡±


    The voice spooked Alethia for a moment, but her eyes had already adjusted to the light and she saw Zoe sitting in the room looking over her.


    ¡°Zoe? What are you doing here?¡±


    ¡°We were supposed to go out or something, but I heard you were injured. You slept for almost two days. Richard was starting to get really nervous, even though he could not admit it. What¡¯s going on with you, Allie?¡±


    Alethia wanted to tell Zoe the truth so much. The excuse she gave herself for not letting the truth free right then: that she was too overwhelmed to face Zoe.


    ¡°I wish I knew. It¡¯s like a run of extended bad luck!¡±


    Zoe¡¯s head turned down. Alethia blew that chance and could see that fact written as clear as emoji on Zoe¡¯s face. She hoped Zoe would give her one more chance, even if Alethia did not deserve it.


    ¡°I am sorry to be the one to tell you this, but I think you might be in trouble with your school now too. Something about insufficient evidence for medical leave or something.¡±


    ¡°Oh shoot! Oh no.¡±


    ¡°I know this is a lot, but a lawyer named Gretchen called too. She needs you to call her as soon as you are conscious. Your phone has been blowing up.¡±


    Alethia felt sick to her stomach. First Karen, now school, the police, and worst of all, Zoe¡¯s eyes held a recriminatory focus that made Alethia fear that she had already exhausted her final chance. Her mind was muddled under the pressure as she tried to decide what her biggest priority was right then. Zoe stood up and said,


    ¡°Anyway, I am gonna head home for now. Call me if you need anything.¡±


    That was too much for Alethia.


    She was off the bed and at the door in the blink of an eye. Zoe shouted, but covered her mouth when she saw what had blurred into her vision. Alethia had her head down in her best expression of contrition,


    ¡°Please wait. Let me explain, okay? You asked for the truth and I think you deserve it, okay?¡±


    Zoe nodded, eyes wide over her hand. She slowly removed it and said,


    ¡°Okay, but you have to go sit back there on the bed, okay?¡±


    She was shaken, but she did a good job hiding it.


    Alethia blinked and was sitting back on the bed, legs crossed, hands in her lap. Zoe turned her head and did a double take.


    ¡°Okay. That¡¯s unexpected. Are you an alien or something?¡±


    ¡°Come on Zoe, just sit down for a second and I will explain. It¡¯s nothing nefarious, I promise.¡±


    ¡°Uh huh.¡±


    Zoe watched Alethia as she sat back down on the cute cerulean cushioned chair Rachel picked out for this room.


    Alethia took a deep breath and said,


    ¡°A few days ago, maybe a week and a half or so, my life kinda changed.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s when I met you.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, right about then. A friend of mine offered me a serum¡­¡±


    Zoe finished telling her story, the whole story. That was the first time she told anyone outside of the original group the full truth. Zoe nodded and said,


    ¡°What is the square root of 6793?¡±


    Alethia spat the answer out without thinking about it,


    ¡°Eight two point four one nine¡­ huh. Neat. Wait how do you know? Ha ha.¡±


    Zoe had her phone out and was clearly checking Alethia¡¯s answer. She said,


    ¡°You can do bigger numbers, can¡¯t you? So what¡¯s the catch?¡±


    Alethia sighed,


    ¡°Bad luck so far. That¡¯s it really.¡±


    ¡°Well, except for Karen, your friends are idiots. Rob sounds like a jerk. You said he¡¯s been giving you the creeps since he get the serum, right?¡±


    Alethia nodded. She had held nothing back from Zoe and the opportunity to retell her story had already given her some additional thoughts.


    ¡°These silver things were not the time travelers, were they?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t think so. Richard never saw what attacked them in the first place, right?¡±


    ¡°It might have been these things.¡±


    ¡°Maybe they are the aliens. Like time hopping silver monsters that the cops are protecting us from.¡±


    Alethia¡¯s intuition whispered to her: that¡¯s not right. She had a bad feeling about the time traveling police force. The pain of the therapy, the way that their recruits had no choice in the matter. Karen¡¯s abduction came after Richard injected her with the red serum. That had to be connected.


    ¡°I am not so sure Zoe. How can we tell who the real bad guys are? We thought that Rob was cured, right? But from what I saw at his house¡­ that was the old Rob and then some. With Karen sitting there compliant, I think something hinky was happening. I just don¡¯t know what.¡±


    ¡°And now they are both missing. What do you plan to do? What about the force that hit you in the face?¡±


    Alethia whispered this part, she thought she would be able to hear Richard if he were listening at the door. But their individual enhancements were so irregular. He might have way better senses than she did.


    ¡°I think that was Rob¡¯s power. I swear I saw something like a plate of blue glass when I went down. It smacked me in the face. What if it was a force field or something?¡±


    ¡°Like all of you are hiding your powers from each other, right? Then there is this second group of supers, the one you encountered when Karen was shot.¡±


    ¡°Right. We don¡¯t know where they fall in all of this. I only saw the one, the woman. But I assume there are others. I guess you do too.¡±


    Alethia¡¯s suppositions about Richard were confirmed when she heard him moving around downstairs. She could hear Rachel there too. They had a quiet conversation Alethia could not make out. Rachel was not happy about what Richard said, but she snatched her keys and slammed the door as she left. Zoe heard the sound,


    ¡°Was that Rachel?¡±


    ¡°Sounds like it. She does not sound pleased. Richard must have¡­¡±


    Alethia¡¯s words were cut off by screams from outside. She was at the window in seconds, blinds pulled aside. Zoe made a soft exclamation of surprise at Alethia¡¯s speed. As her brain made sense of the scene below, Alethia had already shattered the window and was soaring out to the trimmed grass below. Rachel lay on the grass near two quicksilver figures. She twitched and Alethia landed, her legs straining but her enhancements kept anything from breaking. The liquid silver creatures moved faster than a normal human, but they were no match for the speed Alethia possessed.


    Their Mandelbrot limbs missed their mark entirely. Rather than charge the monsters, Alethia scooped Rachel up and moved her next to the stone sidewalk. During the trip, Alethia confirmed that Rachel lived.


    She would only hurt these creatures.


    Richard lacked her restraint. He jumped to stand over Rachel. Alethia rolled out of the way as Richard harried the silver creatures. Alethia turned to engage and she saw that Richard was over matched. He refused to cede the ground over his sister, stupidly drawing the monster attacks to her in the first place. She raced to help him as the second silver creature shocked him from behind. But it braced itself and intercepted Alethia as she tried to reach Richard. He blinked away in a flash of light like Karen and Rob. Rachel was missing too


    Why did they wait to retrieve the two of us? Why did it take Rachel?


    Alethia wondered this while the remaining huge silver creature turned and faced her. This all happened in the middle of the street, out in front of the Kain home. In the age of cell phones how would they keep this secret?


    Alethia dodged the silver monster¡¯s advances. It struck like a praying mantis. An aspect of its attacks worried Alethia. She dueled it and spun waiting for her opening while it continued to take blitzing strikes at her. A voice from the door drew a shred of her attention, Zoe shouted her name as Alethia backpedaled the latest lightning attack.


    Out of the corner of her eyes, Zoe raced toward her in slow motion Alethia wanted to turn and wave her away and would have if her dodging steps had not carried her into a series of electric probe needles. Zoe¡¯s hand clasped Alethia¡¯s as her world went blank.


    Alethia blinked her eyes, the light did not grow as she blinked, but her world returned to focus. A short ceilinged room that glowed faintly held her. Several small grey, blue and white crystals served as a bed. They felt oddly soft, even fluffy. Alethia stroked them and felt a calming sensation emanate from the crystal as well as general warmth.


    The push at her emotions forced her off of her feet and into the center of the room. The wall opposite the bed she woke on bore crystals in an arch pattern, as if they had formed a doorway. Alethia pressed on the portal and the door retreated, like crystals dissolving in liquid. She stepped over the threshold and the crystals returned, growing back into place.


    A railing ran perpendicular to her door, creating a meter-wide walkway. Over the railing a long drop that seemed to continue forever gave her vertigo as she watched it. Alethia spun and two children ran behind her giggling and throwing a silver mass between them. Her head spun as she overlooked the incredible signs of life before her.


    Alethia clung to the rail and tried to place herself. She had been abducted by the silver monsters.


    What were they? As if in response to her unasked question, three of the silver creatures floated to her level, facing her from the massive open space beyond the balcony.


    Four more silver creatures skittered up with a man wearing a pair of jeans and a polo shirt.


    Alethia fell into a defensive stance and the man said,


    ¡°Please, please. There is no need to escalate this situation. For anyone.¡±


    His rolling voice reminded Alethia of her father. In fact the outfit did too. Her suspicions were already raised,


    ¡°Why do you remind me of my dad?¡±


    The man sighed and mumbled,


    ¡°I told you this would not work.¡± He addressed Alethia and said, ¡°let me end this silly effect, okay?¡±


    Alethia nodded at him. He touched his chest and the image of him as a golfing executive changed to a man with a wide mustache and a liquid silver set of clothing. He spoke a muddling language that Alethia heard, but understood without being able to explain the mechanism.


    ¡°Sorry about that, but my superiors can be stubborn and old fashioned. Aha, old fashioned.¡±


    He winked at Alethia and tipped and imaginary hat to her. When she did not relax or laugh with him, he cleared his throat and said,


    ¡°Harumph. Yes. Well. I am Thelleus Marnvin, the nominal director of the modest settlement you find yourself in. These are my assistants and body guards.¡±


    He waved to the silver beings standing around him. A section of the silver armor retracted and six different faces nodded to Alethia.


    She inclined her head to the silver creature in the middle of the fliers,


    ¡°What is that? It didn¡¯t say hello.¡±


    He cleared his throat.


    ¡°Ah, yes. That is a who, not a what. And she is your friend, I believe.¡±


    A panel cleared on the silver creature showing Zoe¡¯s face. Her eyes were closed so she did not nod back to Alethia.


    Once again, Alethia¡¯s instincts took over. She planted her feet and jumped at the mustached man, intending to take him hostage and force them to free Zoe. Before she could move, the ground had trapped her feet with crystal and she found herself rooted in place. She snarled at the man,


    ¡°If you hurt her I will find you, do you understand? Where is Karen, where is Richard? Where are my friends?¡±


    The man looked offended.


    ¡°Madame, we are not hurting your friend Zoe. We are keeping her alive and healthy despite the temporal transition.¡±


    ¡°Because you snatched her!¡±


    ¡°Yes, regrettable consequence of our attempts to secure yourself.¡±


    ¡°What about the rest of my friends?¡±


    The man sighed.


    ¡°The enemy intercepted our temporal arcs. Only you escaped their notice. I think they believed your own transit was a distraction. Your friends are in the hands of very bad people. The same whose nanites now course through your bloodstream killing you.¡±


    ¡°Wait what? Why should I believe anything you have to say.¡±


    The man looked at Alethia with pity on his face. He said,


    ¡°I believe that you now possess the intelligence to understand if we showed you the medical data.¡± His eyes flicked to one of the silver creatures next to him. No, not creatures. These were people, people who rode in some sort of powerful armor.


    The creature retracted and the person¡¯s form grew to be distinct. She had cherry red hair like she dyed it. The woman scowled at the mustached man, Thelleus, and said,


    ¡°My name is Linda. I will assist you.¡±


    ¡°I want to know what¡¯s going on, are you holding me here?¡±


    The crystals had receded from her legs. Thelleus said,


    ¡°I am afraid we are. For now. You have free access to our arcology until your friend¡¯s condition has improved. To answer your next question, that will take about three weeks, four if she proves stronger than most. To answer the question after that, I promise we will not hurt her. She is not being hurt now. Just like our enemies, your so-called benefactors, we are obligated to treat those we pull through the timeline. As you will learn, our own therapies have no chance of rendering the subjects insane, do not induce sterility, and do not reduce their lifespans to years.¡±


    Alethia had far more questions now. Lifespan? Sterility? What?


    The woman with red hair took Alethia¡¯s hand and Thelleus said,


    ¡°Go with Linda. She will prove my claims to you. She has food as well.¡±


    Linda grabbed her arm in a firm grip. She did not quite dig her fingers into Alethia¡¯s muscles, but her grip hovered on the edge of doing so. Alethia imagined the woman¡¯s nails and finger pads leaving tiny little bruises in her arm by the time she arrived where they were going. Several crystal doors opened for the two of them. Linda guided her through crowds, some of who sat before a lecturer or screen formed by large flat crystals. No matter where they turned, all eyes turned to observe Alethia. She had noticed something odd about the eyes of the people in the rooms. In every case their whites were silver rather than flat white. Alethia¡¯s eyes caught those details easily, despite Linda¡¯s pace. Neither Linda nor Thalleus had silver eyes.


    ¡°Why are their eyes silver?¡±


    Linda sounded annoyed,


    ¡°Because they are citizens. They live among the swarm, they do not die by it.¡±


    ¡°What does that mean?¡±


    Linda sighed,


    ¡°Those are the people my kind die for. Usually killed by your kind. Mostly.¡±


    Linda¡¯s glare silenced further questions from Alethia. She considered sitting down or digging her heels in, but she suspected that would play directly into Linda¡¯s hand. The angry woman would probably delight in dragging Alethia along the hallways for the gawkers to see.


    They finally stopped at the end of a short hallway, several turns off of the main concourse. Alethia could backtrack to where she had awoken, but saw no reason to right now. Linda pressed a door open and the room within held a steaming bowl of food. Alethia was hungry and the food smelled like fish curry. She approached it on her own after Linda released her arm. The door sealed shut behind Linda while Alethia sat down at the bowl. She could not see a spoon but she was so hungry she just tipped the crystalline bowl into her mouth. The curry was sweet with a mild spiciness to it. Alethia would have preferred something with a bit more spice and maybe a hint of coconut. But she could hardly complain.


    Linda folded her arms and watched Alethia devour the food. Satisfied, Alethia set the bowl down and said,


    ¡°So now what?¡±


    ¡°Now you learn.¡±


    The first lessons consisted of review of the native language. Her eidetic memories turned out to work exactly as advertised. Eight hours later, Alethia was reading and speaking Quook-shal like a native. Linda¡¯s teaching method left much to be desired. She volunteered nothing, but always answered Alethia¡¯s questions.


    Sixteen hours later, Alethia had worked her way about through the nineteenth century¡¯s understanding of human biology. Her math background was weak enough that she spent the first several hours catching up to the present time, which was the only question Linda would not answer for Alethia.


    ¡°Other than the present time, will you answer any of my questions?¡±


    Linda gritted her teeth audibly.


    ¡°No.¡±


    Alethia could hear the omission in Linda¡¯s voice. The words were true, but there was probably only a tiny remaining bit of information Linda would not share. Alethia thought about it a moment and said,


    ¡°Is the remaining thing something obvious like your people¡¯s military strategy or something?¡±


    Linda spoke through her clenched teeth,


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°Are there any other questions you won¡¯t answer honestly?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    Linda sounded like she was holding onto a cliff edge by her finger nails. Alethia wanted to know what made this so difficult, but she considered that maybe she did not want to hear Linda¡¯s answer to that question. Instead she said,


    ¡°Let me guess, the last thing you won¡¯t talk about is something like the time that has passed between my home time and your present, right?¡±


    Linda sounded defeated. Her head dropped a fraction of a millimeter,


    ¡°Correct.¡±


    ¡°Is there anything else?¡±


    She sighed and said,


    ¡°No.¡±


    Alethia grinned and knuckled down to learning. By the twentieth hour, she needed more sleep. Crystals rose at her unconscious demand and she was asleep before she could think to ask after Zoe again. Her initial investigations were directed there. She wanted to know exactly what was wrong with Zoe and how they were messing with her.


    Another twenty four hours later, plus another two-hour nap, Alethia felt relieved. Based on what she studied in that time, Zoe should be fine. She was no dupe, at least she did not think so. She knew how easily information could be curated to provide a given answer. She knew how easy it would be to have Linda answer every question bold and earnest and lie only about the important ones.Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    But Alethia felt like she had asked the right questions now. Time sickness was a scourge. She agreed with the Keepers ¡ª that is what they called themselves ¡ª that the timeline should not be messed with. Despite her prodigious new intellect, time theory boggled. The whole notion of cause and effect failed in the face of temporal travel. That axiom lay at the heart of the Keepers¡¯ objection to its use.


    History was still forbidden Alethia, so she did not know the origin of the Keepers or the Enforcers, their enemy and the group who created the serum that Richard gave to his three friends, Alethia included. But she had the impression they were once the same group. Moreover, she detected a clear transition in the beliefs of the Keepers.


    During their early history, some major event rocked their organization from the top down. Centuries ¡ª or who knew, maybe weeks ¡ª of peaceful isolationism broke down. What emerged was a group of ¡°Time Keepers¡± committed to dual goals: the preservation of their own people and to stopping the depraved actions of the Enforcers.


    The contemporary groups defined themselves in opposition to each other. Alethia did not feel particularly comfortable with either of them. That marked her transition into studying the effects of the serum running through her bloodstream.


    Mere hours later, Alethia felt chilled to the bone. The nanite structures in her blood did indeed heal her of a wide range of disease. Time Sickness was just one of those. Chills ran down her spine as she read its description, like reading about Tuskeegee or the early Manhattan Project accidents. Time Sickness combined the degenerative effects of aggressive tumors with the total system failures of Ebola. Worse, parts of the patient¡¯s flesh might necrotize, heal, then finally slough off. They might live through that part of the experience. Most pain medicines had limited effects against Time Sickness, so even a reduced lifespan of accelerated cell death was better. But only slightly so.


    On top of all of that, the treatment options from the Keepers included one that might let her return to her normal life. When she brought that up to Linda she said,


    ¡°That is available to you and we would happily administer it. You understand that not only would you lose the enhancements the enemy gave you, but you would not be allowed to accompany your friend Zoe to retrieve your other friends.¡±


    ¡°What do you mean? Did Zoe accept a commission with you?¡±


    Linda nodded, her smirk was clear as the sun was hidden in his strange subterranean lair.


    ¡°She did.¡±


    ¡°Damn you. Why do you¡­ Nevermind.¡±


    She did not want to give Linda the opening to share her feelings about Alethia. The woman was rude enough without that.


    Two more hours passed. Alethia spent the last hour annoying Linda,


    ¡°Who wins the Magic the Gathering tournament in Austin¡¯s Sword and Board store in 2091?¡±


    ¡°I am not allowed to tell you that.¡±


    ¡°How many separate dentists did Dennis Hoffman have before he died?¡±


    Sigh, ¡°I do not know.¡±


    Linda had to respond,


    ¡°What is the most embarrassing thing you have ever told another person?¡±


    Linda sighed and the door opened,


    Mustache ¡ª Thelleus ¡ª stood there.


    ¡°You are excused Ms Din¨¦¡±


    ¡°Oh thank the Lord!¡±


    She retreated with incredible haste, Alethia wished she had asked that last question earlier,


    ¡°What¡¯s up Thelly?¡±


    Thelleus¡¯s mustache twitched,


    ¡°I trust you have verified our claims?¡±


    He sounded exactly as officious in Quook-shal as he did translated.


    ¡°I guess so. It¡¯s hard to know what or who to trust. Linda said Zoe chose your side?¡±


    ¡°We explained the circumstances to her. She chose augmentation. As you may as well, Ms Thompson.¡±


    ¡°Are you my escort while I decide?¡±


    He nodded,


    ¡°I am still the director, but I have subordinates who could use the experience. Why don¡¯t I show you some interesting artifacts, Ms Thompson?¡±


    ¡°Sure, I am game. Why is it that no matter how hard I try, I can¡¯t learn anything about where or when we are?¡±


    Thelleus had already turned away,


    ¡°Why Ms Thompson, you expect us to trust you so soon? I am shocked. Almost as shocked as you are mistaken. Which is still only a trifle. We will not discuss when we are with you. But we would happily reveal where we are. Here, this is only a suit. Something our children would use for safety. Put it on.¡±


    He offered her a silver mass of liquid. Alethia went to retrieve it and found that it was not actually liquid. It was a large sack made of opaque silver material. It felt rubbery, like it responded to being squeezed between her fingers.


    Silver flowed over Thelleus¡¯s body.


    ¡°Do try getting dressed Ms Thompson. I thought you had studied our science. This is a spacesuit.¡±


    ¡°Oh.¡±


    When he said that, she made the connection between the odd-looking sheath she had only seen images of before and the mass in front of her. She found that she could step on an area near the opening and pull the whole mass over her head like a tent or clown pants. Alethia giggled at that image as the suit sealed itself to the edges and closed in on her.


    For a moment, she felt a panic as the silver cloth covered her face. In seconds, it faded and she felt like she wore nothing at all. She continued to breathe without problems. Thelleus tapped her suit and said in a microphone voice,


    ¡°Check suit integrity.¡±


    Alethia wondered how to answer his question when the words popped into her vision followed by a colon: ¡°S-squared protection at 100 percent.¡±


    She repeated that to Thelleus. He said,


    ¡°That means your seals and shields are at full. If that number drops below 75 percent, you have to disengage. But I doubt you will have to worry about that for now.¡±


    He touched a series of crystals and a door down the hallway grew shut. Wind roared in Alethia¡¯s ears after the door closed and her suit informed her that she had entered a near-vacuum.


    ¡°Safety protocols prevent disengaging suit while in near-vacuum¡±


    A soft mechanical voice whispered to Alethia while additional checks rolled by her vision. Ten seconds later her feet stuck to the crystal platform beneath her and a the words, ¡°Maglock steps: active¡± appeared.


    ¡°Okay, I am opening the doors.¡±


    Alethia turned around, her feet clicking to the crystals as magnets disengaged and reengaged on her soles. A crystal wall rose along the whole side of the hallway. There was no room on this part of the building, only space. The crystals moved slowly and at first all Alethia could see were tiny dots of light representing stars or even distant galaxies. Then the lower corona of a red sun appeared followed by a tiny blue star. They were close enough that Alethia could see the two stars in their fiery glory clearly. The suit must had polarized to keep from blinding her. She could also see a trail of meteorites and dust leading between the two stars. At least that was what she thought the trail was until her suit provided a scale. Two hundred earths could fit into the smallest ¡°asteroid¡± she saw at the edge of the trail. Millions of suns would fit into the smaller blue star. The number her suit fed her provide the red sun scale was a meaningless power of 10.


    ¡°Oh God, it is beautiful! How?¡±


    ¡°Nascent supernova. You cannot see it here, but we are near a galactic core that would be both meaningless and absurdly dangerous to name. The forces here are intense and while the cosmological theorem seems to hold so far, your studies should at least hint at how valuable this place is for our purposes.¡±


    ¡°Time dilation, that¡¯s a super massive black hole over there?¡±


    ¡°Between the two stars, yes. Time moves very slowly here. Some of our greatest successes have been developed here or at a space arcology like this one. Your ion systems are active, yes?¡±


    Once again, the question answered itself for Alethia. Her suit¡¯s systems reported that it had more than enough fuel and that the solar pressure in this locale was muted by the arcology¡¯s systems nearby. She reported as much to Thelleus and he said,


    ¡°Then kick away with me. Time your jump and disengage your mag locks. Try it.¡±


    Alethia watched him tumble away from the crystal surface. She felt dubious, but at the same time she was utterly entranced by the experience. When would she ever have this chance again? She kicked away with a brief prayer about fools and their folly.


    The massive station pushed away from her and her jump carried her spiraling out, away from Thelleus and the station. She could see it for what it was now, the suit¡¯s scale still in place. It was almost seven times larger than the pyramids and hovered in space glowing silver. That effect meant it captured energy from the surrounding areas, Alethia knew that from studying the days prior.


    Tiny reflective windows shined from the surface of the arcology.


    ¡°What are those little lights?¡±


    Thelleus¡¯s voice still sounded radio-transmission crackle-y to Alethia,


    ¡°They are people. Citizens protected by the Keepers.¡±


    ¡°Do they fight?¡±


    Thelleus sighed,


    ¡°Only to defend themselves. Tell me, Ms Thompson. Were you this battle-focused before you took the Enforcer¡¯s serum?¡±


    ¡°Maybe.¡±


    Thelleus scoffed over the radio channel.


    Alethia said,


    ¡°Hey, I am part of a medieval recreation society and I practice bow and sword. So it¡¯s not like I was a pacifist or something.¡±


    ¡°But my question stands, were you this battle oriented prior to the serum?¡±


    ¡°I admit it, I feel more violent now than I did a few weeks ago. But honestly, the effect feels very subtle to me.¡±


    ¡°You would have asked me about troop disbursements here?¡±


    Alethia paused now. She was not sure what she really wanted to know about this giant colony station. Aside from the usuals, what was the story with it in general? Is this the only one? How did they manage to situate this ship so close to an SMBH without crumbling to dust or exploding from the forces. For that matter how did she hover in space so close to something like this?


    But none of those seemed like the kind of question Thelleus was looking for. Much of what she would have wondered has already been answered by her studies. In truth, space was peaceful and she would not have minded floating out here by herself for a few days.


    As long as she could return.


    She did not say that to Thelleus. Instead she said,


    ¡°You brought me out here for a reason, what is it?¡±


    ¡°I want you to understand that we are trying to save people, not destroy them. The Enforcer¡¯s manipulation endangers everyone. Even the people here, where our temporal shielding is the strongest.¡±


    ¡°What exactly are the Enforcers doing that is so upsetting for you guys?¡±


    ¡°Less upsetting and more genocidal. Their manipulation of the timestream has killed untold billions.¡±


    ¡°I am not even sure how to parse that logically. Do you mean they manipulated events so that people were not born or something?¡±


    ¡°We do not consider that a crime in and of itself. That is an ontic question we do not try to resolve. Therefore the act of manipulating the timeline itself is our real objection in cases of temporal annulment. No, the genocide involves using the time stream to do things like disrupt life support systems. Or breech hulls. Until we started placing our colony vessels near black hole event horizons, we lost hundreds of vessels, billions of people, to attacks by the Enforcers. Only four of them could wipe out an entire colony.¡±


    ¡°And these suits are a recent innovation?¡±


    ¡°Did you not look into the provenance of the suit?¡±


    Alethia had been curious at first, but origins like that tended to be obscured in the records the Keepers shared.


    ¡°No, why?¡±


    Thalleus laughed,


    ¡°Aliens showed us our suit technology as well as the defensive field that protects our ship from the gravity of the black holes nearby. They also taught us how to make stasis field exclusions. That is what our strike teams used agains the Enforcer¡¯s base that initiated the entire course of events in which we find ourselves.¡±


    ¡°Explain to me again why you do not just hijack a time machine and fix the problems the Enforcers caused.¡±


    Thalleus did not sound like he wanted to offer this explanation to Alethia.


    He said,


    ¡°We find additional violations of the timeline to be too dangerous. We do not use the Enforcer¡¯s time machines.¡±


    ¡°Why don¡¯t they just reset the time themselves? Like move back before your team sealed off their base?¡±


    ¡°The exclusion field prevents that. The Tachyon emission is non-linear. Attempts to breech the timestream from within a large radius result in trapping the traveler in the exclusion field. When the field falls, the traveler into the field suffers a series of negative effects.¡±


    ¡°Like what?¡±


    As soon as she asked it, she wished that she had not. Alethia did not need new nightmares.


    ¡°Usually the effects are mild. The subject moves in space, but not in time. Usually they intersect with a body or gravity plane that destroys them. Sometimes they end up in space and occasionally they end up fine. Neither the Enforcers nor the Keepers try to move forces through a live exclusion field.¡±


    ¡°What exactly do you want me and Zoe to do now?¡±


    Alethia rotated in space, her feet spinning around her head while she spoke to a man from the future. The brilliant blues and greens streaming into and out of the space between the stars in the distance looked like no other colors on earth. Alethia wondered if the colors were true and if she would see the same thing with her naked eye, assuming the radiation did not blind her or if the suit she wore polarized to give the gas and dust colors of their own.


    Thalleus had paused, but probably not to let Alethia enjoy the scenery. He finally said,


    ¡°We want you to retrieve your friends. Especially your friend Karen.¡±


    ¡°Why her exactly?¡±


    ¡°She is a squad commander. That means her mind contains the full program for re-creating the Enforcer serum in its basic state. We might be able to cure their soldiers without having to subsequently conscript them.¡±


    ¡°Are all of your soldiers recovered Enforcer soldiers?¡±


    ¡°Of course not. We have only successfully recovered around five former enforcers.¡±


    ¡°What? I was under the impression this process was safe.¡±


    ¡°You mean the process of receiving the nano-armor? That is entirely safe unless you are already infected with the Enforcer nanites like yourself. In your case, the conversion process might work, we give you about a twenty percent success chance. Unless your enhancement is healing. Then the chance is zero.¡±


    ¡°What do you mean?¡±


    ¡°Your ¡®power¡¯ whatever it is. You are not an instant healer, are you?¡±


    ¡°Oh, no. I have a different one.¡±


    ¡°Would you tell us? We have not see all of the varieties of additional powers and new ones would help our scientists.¡±


    ¡°I can double myself.¡±


    ¡°You can what?¡±


    Thalleus was already floating toward Alethia. She said,


    ¡°I can create a double of myself. I can even think with her, but I feel like my brain is being stretched when I do.¡±


    ¡°We should return to the arcology right away. I want to have our scientists examine you. Is that acceptable?¡±


    ¡°I guess so? Do I have a choice?¡±


    ¡°I told you when you arrived that you were as free here as we can accommodate. Once our mission has been successful, you will be freed to return to your own time should you desire. We would even leave you with your Enforcer augments if you preferred. Though I seriously suggest you reconsider that course.¡±


    ¡°Is the examination invasive?¡±


    ¡°What do you mean? Oh¡­ No, gods above we would not do something like that to you.¡±


    Alethia snickered,


    ¡°What did you just learn about my time?¡±


    ¡°I checked vivisection. I forget how barbaric your time was. We have no need to cut or dissect you to perform our tests. In fact, I find the process generally relaxing. You only sleep two hours a day, right?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I have trouble if I try to sleep longer than that.¡±


    ¡°Another benefit of the Enforcer nano-regimen. Do you want to try the examination now?¡±


    ¡°You are very excited by this, why?¡±


    ¡°This is not personal exactly, but a colleague mentioned the existence of your power set to me offhandedly. That power set would prove extremely useful for the purposes of engineering a safe conversion process for other Enforcer agents.¡±


    ¡°Okay, let¡¯s get this over with. How do I fly back to the base?¡±


    Thalleus said,


    ¡°It works the same way that most of our systems work, just try thinking about floating to the black space on the surface down there. I will highlight it for you. Highlight launch bay, computer.¡±


    Alethia¡¯s vision narrowed to a small black rectangle on the underside of the arcology. She thought about floating there and a series of velocity and acceleration equations popped up before her vision. The computer showed her what it was doing and she could see a transparent ramp leading her to the launch bay. Her computer system flagged Thalleus as a nearby object, but his course did not appear to conflict with her own.


    She landed on the ground and her mag lock feet engaged right away. Thalleus was only a few seconds behind her. He closed the airlock and re-pressurized the room in only a few minutes. Once the pressure was close to Earth normal, his suit retreated from his face and he spoke out loud,


    ¡°You can safely un-suit now. You are welcome to keep that suit. In fact for safety purposes you should have it on you at all times.¡±


    ¡°Is that a real danger?¡±


    ¡°Well, this is a space station near a super massive black hole. The suit won¡¯t do much about that part, but it will protect you from vacuum and a surprisingly wide range of radiation. Here, let me give you a path to the science wing.¡±


    Alethia¡¯s suit opened and to her eyes a small white path appeared in the crystals on the floor. She said,


    ¡°You were serious about the whole being checked up thing, huh?¡±


    Thalleus said,


    ¡°My colleague would be perturbed to discover I delayed you more than necessary. Please do not tarry overlong. If you need me, any part of the ship should be able to connect you to me. Be safe Ms Thompson.¡±


    Thalleus nodded to her and walked swiftly in the opposite direction. Alethia reminded herself that he was supposed to be the administrator for the whole station. She was flattered that he spent the afternoon floating in space with her, but she also bet he had more important things to do than babysit her.


    Alethia followed the white path to a green tinted section of the arcology. The doors opened and her nose detected new scents she had not encountered before. A woman wearing a green suit stopped her and said,


    ¡°Excuse me, this is the experimental wing of the station. Unless you have permission from the senior researcher or higher, you cannot be here.¡±


    Alethia bowed and said,


    ¡°I am sorry, administrator Thalleus sent me here, I am infected with the Enforcer nanites.¡±


    The green mask peeled away from the woman¡¯s face. She had freckles and green dyed hair without roots. Maybe it was naturally green.


    She smiled and said,


    ¡°Then you¡¯re Alethia Thompson, the body maker?¡±


    ¡°Yes?¡±


    The woman clapped,


    ¡°That is fantastic! I have a whole testing division ready for you! My name is Natalie Goshen.¡±


    She held out her hand, Alethia shook it.


    ¡°I studied late twentieth century for my history credit. Was my greeting correct?¡±


    ¡°You mean the handshake?¡±


    ¡°Yes, and the acknowledgement of name exchange. Names are very important during your century, yes?¡±


    Alethia nodded,


    ¡°I guess so.¡±


    Natalie smiled and bobbed her head,


    ¡°That is great! Thank you! Would you mind if I practiced my English and oral technique on you later?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry what?¡±


    ¡°I would like to practice my twentieth century English on you. I am also an amateur cunilinquist. Since you are new here and sexual exchange is trivial to people from your time, do you mind if I practice on your body?¡±


    ¡°Um, I. You have that part, about sexual exchange, totally wrong. I do not consider sexual exchange to be trivial.¡±


    Natalie cocked her head to the side,


    ¡°Whatever do you mean?¡±


    ¡°I mean that people in my time are not as sexually liberated as you seem to think.¡±


    ¡°You mean you are part of a anti-expression subculture? That is GREAT! Would you let me interview you while we conduct the biological tests?¡±


    ¡°I¡­ um. Just interview?¡±


    ¡°Of course. You said that do not consider exchange trivial. I assume that means you have some taboos regarding the act. We had thought that the majority of human society abandoned those taboos after the end of the twentieth century. Evidence of an atavist culture so late would rock the foundations of historical study of your era.¡±


    ¡°Sure, I¡¯ve never been interviewed before. Or full body examined.¡±


    ¡°Really? We understood that these tests were available to you during your time as well, fascinating! Please step this way and disrobe.¡±


    Alethia removed her space suit, but balked at removing her clothing. No one else on the station had appeared in the nude.


    ¡°I should take off all of my clothing?¡±


    ¡°Does your society have a taboo about nudity as well? I did not mean to be insensitive!¡±


    Alethia laughed at that response and she said,


    ¡°I guess we have a lot of taboos that might seem weird. I guess it does not matter if a bunch of you are going to see me nude anyway.¡±


    Alethia started to strip, but found herself incapable with Natalie¡¯s penetrating gaze watching her like she was a bacteriological specimen she waited to start growing.


    ¡°Could you maybe look away while I do this?¡±


    ¡°Of course, I am sorry!¡±


    Natalie turned around and a small drawer opened in the crystal wall of the small room. Alethia was bare naked now and started expecting this whole thing to devolve into a Dadaist dream. Soon her favorite elementary school teacher from second grade, Mrs Soriente, would appear and start fondling Alethia¡¯s breasts. If that happened, Alethia decided that violence might be warranted.


    Instead, Natalie bowed to Alethia without letting her eyes linger over Alethia¡¯s body. The crystal door closed and a voice addressed Alethia. This was a man¡¯s voice.


    ¡°Ms Thompson, this process could take upwards of eight hours to complete. Would you care for some entertainment, food, or beverages?¡±


    Alethia ordered up some more scientific reading from the station¡¯s database. She wanted to learn as much as she could about the nano-systems that currently infected her body and the other systems that the Keeper¡¯s offered.


    Other than that, the process of being examined was boring until the first eight hours passed. After that the same male voice addressed Alethia,


    ¡°Can you activate your augmentation freely or do you still require stress to activate the system?¡±


    ¡°I can bring me out at will, more or less. Give me a second.¡±


    Alethia concentrated again, letting herself feel stretched between two points, like her eyes, ears and mouth were just a few feet away. With that thought, a second form peeled out of her first. In a blink, she was looking at the room she stood in with two sets of eyes. She could hear the dull non-echo of her own heartbeat in the room. The voice returned,


    ¡°Thank you Ms Thompson, how long can you sustain the duplicate?¡±


    She did not really know the answer to that question,


    ¡°I don¡¯t know. I have never tried. Is there a limit normally?¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s see how long you can maintain the duplicate. Can she sleep while you are awake?¡±


    Alethia shrugged. She focused on the mind of the second version of herself. She laid down on a crystalline bed that extended from the wall. Alethia laid down and closed her eyes. Her double was asleep in seconds and Alethia felt oddly relaxed. Like she had just shut down a low-level anxiety generator.


    She could see her own nude body sleeping a few feet from her and it looked wicked strange. The voice returned,


    ¡°Thank you Ms Thompson. Would you leave the double out until we tell you or you cannot sustain it any longer?¡±


    ¡°Sure. Can I have some soup?¡±


    A few seconds later a box popped open from the side of the wall revealing more of the curry soup she had her first day here. This soup turned out to be good. She wondered where they grew the fish, but considering where they were, she decided not to investigate that or spend a bunch of time trying to find out. She just ate her soup and appreciated the incredible mixture of harmonious flavors.


    Once her food was done, the bowl dissolved into the wall and Alethia resumed her reading. After a while, she no longer had to concentrate while her double slept. Part of her mind automatically tracked the position and status of the double and made sure she was okay.


    Several more hours later, Alethia passed out herself, taking note of the time before she did.


    Two hours later, she woke laying on one of the crystalline beds. For a moment she tried to figure out which version of herself she was. Then her position and the details from the day returned and she realized that this was the double¡¯s body she looked out of. Her normal body¡¯s eyes flew open in shared panic and Alethia experienced vertigo while her mind scrabbled to determine which version of her was the correct one to be looking out of right now.


    In a strange doubled voice she said,


    ¡°Is the test still on or can I go?¡±


    ¡°You may leave whenever you would like, Ms Thompson. If you are willing, we do have some additional tests to perform.¡±


    Alethia reeled, she needed to put away Alethia sub one now before her mind broke.


    ¡°I would like to relax for a while without having my powers or augmentations or whatever on display. I would not mind returning.¡±


    ¡°That is fine, Ms Thompson, thank you for your time. Once the research team has reviewed the results of the tests, we will make them available to you. Felicitations!¡±


    Alethia did not recognize the last female voice that bad her farewell, so she assumed the shift had changed. She intended to return to the experimentation room. For no other reason than she wanted to continue to practice with her double, even if the chance existed that the Keepers could free her from the serum¡¯s effects.


    That possibility rattled around in her mind, delved up by the promise of freedom from the Time Travel problem and the rest of the complications facing her life in the last three weeks. At the same time, Alethia heard the siren¡¯s song of purpose whispered to her from between the lines of Thalleus¡¯s offer. She knew why he took her on the space walk yesterday. It had been wonderful and was a taste of what Alethia would be refusing if she declined to help them.


    Then there was Zoe.


    She had apparently already accepted the Keeper¡¯s offer of augmentation. If that was true, wasn¡¯t Alethia practically obligated anyway? On top of all of that, helping them would be her only shot at saving Karen. Maybe the only shot Karen had.


    Alethia heard a knock on her door,


    ¡°Enter!¡±


    Thalleus walked in as the door receded.


    ¡°I wanted to address what happened to your friends, if I might.¡±


    ¡°I was wondering why they weren¡¯t here if you abducted them.¡±


    ¡°Indeed. That we do not use their Time Machines does notmean we lack the means to move through the streams. The main difference is that the Enforcers can easily track our movement and have been known to intercept. During our extraction of your friends, our teams were intercepted and eliminated. We believe that your companions were the target of the attacks, so we also believe they are alive. Our temporal investigations confirm this.¡±


    ¡°I suppose you want to know if I will join you.¡±


    ¡°In a sense, I suppose. Before we discuss that, I have a different question.¡±


    ¡°Ask away.¡±


    ¡°Did you finish your interview with Natalie Goshen? If not, I suggest it before you consider leaving.¡±


    ¡°Thalleus, you seem kind of fatalistic to me, what¡¯s up?¡±


    ¡°The chance you will survive the conversion therapy has been revised. It is less than ten percent, and several researchers believe it is actually zero. There is no consensus at this time. I hoped you would speak to Natalie before you made your decision.¡±


    Alethia did not say it, but what Thalleus told her was enough. A near-zero chance of survival was easy to parse. Alethia would accept the cleansing or whatever they wanted to call purging her of the ¡®Enforcer nanites¡¯ and return to her own time, presumably without either Zoe or Karen. That part hit her in the gut like a kick.


    She said,


    ¡°Sure, I would be happy to tell Natalie more about my time. When?¡±


    ¡°She is actually right here with me now. She has some informational packets for you. Do you think you could speak to her now?¡±


    Natalie wore a pink and orange sundress with her hair in three separate ¡®tails¡¯. The dress had a hole in the chest cut to make a window for Natalie¡¯s breasts, nipples and all.


    They were nice as breasts went, but Alethia did not need to stare at them right then. Despite that, the window inexorably drew her eye.


    Natalie grinned and passed her palm over her d¨¦colletage, which was weird considering that her boobs were bare. Thalleus fled before Natalie had stepped all of the way into the room. She said


    ¡°Do you like my outfit, I chose this as representative of your time.¡±


    Alethia blushed and said,


    ¡°You would be mobbed if you wore that in public in my time. Maybe fined for inciting a riot.¡±


    ¡°I am not sure what all of those colloquialisms mean, but am I to take it that my clothing is not fully appropriate?¡±


    Alethia nodded,


    ¡°In my time, you would not display your secondary sexual character¡­¡±


    Natalie interrupted her,


    ¡°Do you mind if we switch to English? I wanted to try some phrases on you.¡±


    ¡°Sure, go ahead.¡±


    Natalie leaned into Alethia and whispered,


    ¡°My real name is agent Coleman. I work for Administrator Thalleus directly. Factions of the Keepers do not want to see you successfully transition to our organization. I cannot go into details, but this dossier does. Be sure to read its contents and memorize them, and use the incinerate function of the disposal units to destroy the documents when you are done. I used the excuse of this English session to mask this conversation. The computer will report a lascivious misunderstanding, but we are running out of time. Now I am going to kiss you, feel free to react appropriately.¡±


    Alethia did not have a chance to process everything Natalie said to her before she leaned even closed to Alethia, inhaled a tiny breath and wrapped her lips over Alethia¡¯s. She tasted like strawberries and creme and her lips felt soft. Soft like she somehow moisturized them in addition to her skin. Alethia wanted to know what Natalie used for lip balm only a second after the contact began. Alethia moaned as Natalie gave the kiss her full effort. The tip of the woman¡¯s tongue explored the edges of Alethia¡¯s mouth, tapping at her teeth and carefully tracing the lines of her mouth.


    React appropriately¡­ Alethia¡¯s thoughts were overwhelmed by the exchange. A tiny part of her remarked, this is my first real kiss, as her brain threatened to fade to unconsciousness again. She drew away from Natalie and took a deep breath,


    ¡°That is not your first time doing that, is it?¡±


    ¡°I understand your time has reservations about same sex attraction, but your file indicates that you yourself prefer females. Is your file mistaken?¡±


    Alethia blinked at the woman,


    ¡°Sorry, I meant to say that you are very good.¡±


    Alethia spoke English to the woman, she was so disconcerted. Natalie said,


    ¡°Thank you! Does that mean you will reconsider my offer of oral pleasure?¡±

 Chapter 11 - Scream it out if you like

    Waking up in strange places after losing consciousness had already lost what little attraction it held for Richard. His internal computer informed him that he had slept for 37 hours and that his injuries were minor. He wondered why he slept for so long if that was the case, but the computer system did not answer his question.


    A new woman wearing the silver unitard of the Time Travelers greeted Richard,


    ¡°Hello Mr Kain. I trust you slept well?¡±


    Richard looked around him for a moment, he was back in the bleak steel rooms and hallways that were the trademark of the time police. The woman who leaned over him had large, pendulous breasts that Richard could not help staring at. Her neckline plunged between her breasts and made the effect even more distracting.


    He said,


    ¡°I am great, thanks. Where are my friends?¡±


    She did not speak while Richard continued to contemplate the contours of her body. He looked up at the woman¡¯s face. Her hair was bright red and curly. She glanced at her breasts and back at Richard. That glance swayed with meaning, though Richard hoped it also offered a future encounter.


    She said,


    ¡°Your friends Robert and Karen are fine. Your sister is receiving temporal therapy now.¡±


    Memories clogged Richard¡¯s head suddenly. He was up from his bed; the woman stepped back to avoid colliding with him,


    ¡°Did you send those silver things after us, what happened?¡±


    The red haired woman shook her head,


    ¡°Oh no. Those were sent by one of our enemies. Our agents intercepted their Temporal Transition. We slew your abductors and rescued your friends.¡±


    ¡°What about Alethia? Is Karen okay?¡±


    The red haired woman looked down at the floor and said,


    ¡°Our strike teams did not anticipate a second enemy strike team. Our foes have already captured your friends Zoe and Alethia. I am afraid they are as good as dead.¡±


    ¡°What do you mean?¡±


    The woman shook her head,


    ¡°I am not the best person to explain this to you. I am just here to assist with your waking and offer my services in any other way you might require.¡±


    ¡°Wait, any way?¡±


    Richard¡¯s eyes slid down the woman¡¯s white nurse¡¯s gown ¡ª an obvious affectation for his benefit ¡ª and back up her luscious body.


    ¡°Anything really?¡±


    He sounded a bit too enthusiastic perhaps, but he had been going through a dry spell waiting on Alethia. From a different perspective, Richard might have been bothered by his cavalier attitude toward Alethia¡¯s fate. But right now, a gorgeous red head nodded as he confirmed the third time that she was interested in sex specifically,


    ¡°Wait, let me be clear,¡± Richard sat up on the bed and faced the woman, ¡°are you suggesting we,¡± he pointed to her and then to himself, ¡°should have sex? That you want to?¡±


    The woman nodded again and unbuttoned the middle button on her blouse.


    Richard babbled,


    ¡°I don¡¯t even know your name.¡±


    She unbuttoned the last fastening on her blouse and let the white shirt fall off of her shoulders. Her skin was pale and lightly dusted with freckles. Her breasts were large, larger than any Richard had ever seen live. Her breath made her whole chest heave,


    ¡°Call me Zella. Scream it out if you like.¡±


    She crawled to Richard as he started to say something stupid. Thankfully, she moved her lips over his and then pressed her whole body into Richard¡¯s. His responded like the reasonably healthy 31 year old he was.


    Twenty minutes later ¡ª neither Richard nor Zella were exhausted by their first efforts ¡ª Richard sat on the bed pulling his silver unitard back over himself.


    Zella winked and said,


    ¡°This is justification enough for retrieving people from your time.¡±


    Richard turned his head and said,


    ¡°How¡¯s that?¡±


    Zella shrugged,


    ¡°Men and women from my time lack your enthusiasm and stamina.¡±


    He swore she smacked her lips as she walked out. For his part, Richard enjoyed himself. But now his legitimate concerns returned. He was responsible for Karen, Rob, Rachel, Alethia, and now Zoe being trapped with him. Zella had been flippant in dismissing Alethia and Zoe. But he was not satisfied with leaving them with the Time Police¡¯s enemies.


    His large steel door was closed and locked when he tried open it this time.


    ¡°I guess the doors work when the facility is not under attack.¡±


    Unlike his last visit, the time cops did not give him any reading material or anything to do other than stare at the blank steel walls. He tried to access media or at least information on his friends through the computer in his head.


    That earned him a sliver of data: Karen and Rob were both stable and somewhat nearby. He could not determine where Rachel was. She had at least four days left of the therapy before he would get to see her, but Rob and Karen should have been awake already.


    Two hours went by and Richard was no closer to locating his friends. At the end of those two hours, the door to his cell re-opened and this time a muscular man with a buzz cut and arms as thick as Richard¡¯s thighs entered the cell. He held a small computer tablet in his hands and he said,


    ¡°Richard Kain?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, what¡¯s up? If you¡¯re here for the same reason Zella was, you should know I am strict vagitarian.¡±


    The man looked at Richard and blinked. He tapped something on the tablet and laughed with an abrupt hissing sound that resembled snakes being whacked by a broom more than a human noise. He said,


    ¡°Then neither of us would enjoy such a liaison. I am here to take you to the physical testing fields.¡±


    ¡°What do you mean, testing fields?¡±


    ¡°By now, your augments should be fully operational. That means you should possess a ¡®super power¡¯. As you are a stealth-type assault operative, your powers should be suited for infiltration and evasion. Combat is a second priority for your role. But you also need to choose a specialty. Please, come with me.¡±


    The door stayed open as the man walked out of the room. Richard was still frozen in place when the man turned and said,


    ¡°Are you coming? We are expected.¡±


    Richard sped up and the door slid shut behind him. The man held out his hand waiting for Richard to accept it. When he shook the man¡¯s hand, the man said,


    ¡°Excellent. I am Ingram Lorenz. Please call me Ingram. I will be acting as your training supervisor for the next few days while we bring you up to speed.¡±


    ¡°Training? What kind of training?¡±


    Ingram smiled and said,


    ¡°This is not unpleasant, I assure you. The greatest discomfort most of my trainees report is trying to decide their secondary speciality.¡±


    ¡°What are my options?¡±


    ¡°Well, let¡¯s see. You have medical ¡ª a very unpopular option, combat ¡ª the most popular option, technician ¡ª an option, and several more. Is there something that excites you?¡±


    Richard¡¯s knee-jerk response was combat, but he kept that answer to himself. The truth was that he knew the least about medicine, but was also least interested in that field. After that, his ignorance and interest converged perfectly at ¡®technician¡¯.


    He said,


    ¡°All of those options sound great! Do I have to decide now?¡±


    ¡°No, but if you don¡¯t decide in the next day, the officers will decide for you.¡±


    ¡°So what else is in store?¡±


    Ingram held up his tablet and pointed a metal door before them. He said,


    ¡°We¡¯re here. Go ahead and walk in, I will be right behind you.¡±


    Richard opened the door and walked into a red leather and dark oak room with three¡­ the only word that fit was gentlemen, standing in the middle. They had receding hairlines and pale white facial hair. One of them, a portly fellow in the center turned to Richard and said,


    ¡°Ah, Dick. Just the chap we¡¯ve been waiting to see. Positively excellent. Excellent!¡±


    ¡°I uh, thank you.¡±


    Richard¡¯s unitard had changed shape and color. Now his legs were covered by red tights. In a few places the fabric was sheer and stretched beyond specifications. Two, no three places bore stitch work that attested to the repairs which had been performed on the cloth. His coat was a light brown coat with fraying felt buttons and something heavy situated in the breast pocket. His vest and shirt were much cleaner than the rest of his clothing, but the standard was still very low. At least those two articles did not appear to be frayed and did not bear the evidence of a decade¡¯s worth of repairs.


    A thinner man with a long curled mustache approached Richard and whispered in his ears,


    ¡°These damn Zulus are mucking up the Queen¡¯s peace and the company¡¯s chance at trade in wool and cattle for the horn. Your job is to sneak into the Dutch camp and find out what the dirty lot is about.¡±


    He turned to the other thin man. The third man wore no beard or mustache, but his sideburns covered his ears and neck and looked like it was making a play for his whole head. Curly mustache man said,


    ¡°Eh Wilson! You vetted and gave a good report of ol¡¯ Dick here. Can you be sure he¡¯s our man?¡±


    Ignoring Richard set him off. He felt like he watched himself become both angry and then belligerent. His voice was low and even when he spoke,


    ¡°If you do want my help, you¡¯ll address me as if I stood here. Not as if I were a ghost who¡¯s existence you rightly challenged.¡±


    Wilson and the other man turned to look at Richard, seeing him for the first time. Wilson, Mr Sideburns, nodded and said,


    ¡°Indeed. Terrible manners of us all, please excuse us Richard.¡± He looked at the man with the mustache and said,


    ¡°Phileaus, please give us some room.¡± The other man stepped back and Wilson approached Richard.


    ¡°Now man, you know your mission. Do you require further details?¡±


    Richard said,


    ¡°Only if you would like me to be successful.¡±


    This was like roleplaying, only he did not know his character yet. He had to rely on the other players to figure out who he was. That was unique, but Richard could handle almost any roleplaying responsibility or difficulty. He looked behind him and did not see Ingram following him like he said he would. With that thought fresh in his mind, the door to the room opened, spooking the three men standing in the center looking over Richard.


    The man who opened the door looked as stout as Ingram had, but his face was all wrong to be Ingram. Then Richard saw his eyes clearly. Any question of the man¡¯s identity fled. This was undoubtably Richard¡¯s escort and backup. He lifted his hand in a flourish and said,


    ¡°My colleague speaks the truth. You ask a miracle of our talents and would pile obstacles before us in the form of information control. Perish the thought! What exactly do you need us to collect?¡±


    The three men outlined their desires. Richard¡¯s primary mission was the retrieval of the Dutch log books and navigational notes hidden somewhere in the command room. Their secondary objectives required some light assassination. Richard felt like he should have been more concerned about that bit, but he embraced the news they wanted him to kill someone like this really was a roleplaying or video game.


    Surely these people were actors, other operatives, or simulations. That was what Richard assumed. These characters were part of a holodeck-style illusion and thus part of the testing inflicted by Ingram and the rest of the command structure for the time cops.


    Richard wondered how far he would go in this mission before he had to start murdering people willy nilly. Based on his video game experience, he gave his targets a little over three hours of life left before them. He listened to the instructions provided by Wilson with only half an ear. His brain and computer systems would have no problem recalling that information later.


    To Richard¡¯s surprise, they only waited an hour before a small row boat picked him and Ingram up. During that hour they waited on the quay, Ingram only spoke to Richard to answer directly and then as perfunctorily as he could manage. Any mention of time travel or testing met a stone faced expression that held more than a little irritation behind the eyes. Richard abandoned that track quickly, so as to avoid angering Ingram.


    The two boat men were silent and Richard had grown tired of this simulation. He did not say a word to the two men, though he considered suggesting they bathe more regularly. That offer died on his lips as their boat slowed, approaching a shore.


    Richard and Ingram slipped off the boat without a sound. The two men hopped out and stood in the waste-high water. They pulled reeds and other grasses down from the shore, covering their boat¡¯s wooden edges with the plant matter.


    They still worked at the camouflage as Richard crested a short rise. From the grass-decked crown he could see a large port city. He guessed the time put them somewhere in the seventeenth or eighteen centuries, though he was not a serious enough student of history to be sure. Besides that, how closely could the time cops simulate the era without going there? Richard felt sure that if he knew more about this period of history, he would have been able to find a dozen different anachronisms. Or maybe a dozen different schmucks like himself crawling through the grass trying to prove themselves to a shadowy time government. That seemed plausible.


    He led the two of them to an alley near the end of the port city. Here the least desirables in an already filthy city congregated. The women and children here dwarfed the men, many of the kids were dark skinned and wan. Like pictures of foreign children charities used to tug at American heartstrings.


    Nice. Dark touch shadow time government.


    Richard walked through the small mob ignoring their presence. He instinctively knew that he had to pass through them like this. Paying too much mind to the urchins, handicapped and prostitutes would have triggered a feeding frenzy. As it was, he had to pull two different sets of hands out of his coat before he cleared the group.


    Ingram did not have the same trouble, going so far as to deliver a harsh elbow to the head to one of the women who did not step aside quickly enough. That confirmed for Richard that this was not a real time travel session, but an elaborate simulation. He wondered if it were possible to fail one of these because he was starting to grow bored with ¡®playing by the rules.¡¯ He was a super hero. Super heroes did not have to avoid beggars on the street or sneak into the bad guys¡¯ lair unless those bad guys also turned out to be super powerful.


    But the gamer in Richard insisted that he at least give the scenario an honest shot before he turned it into a murder free-for-all. He looked back at Ingram whose eyes flicked to a doorway down a nearby street. Richard remembered that was their contact within the Dutch settlement. It would be this guy who told Richard and Ingram where their targets were and would help them arrange sneaking into the governor¡¯s mansion.


    He turned down the street and knocked on the doorway. He stood there for five minutes while he listened to people shift and move things behind the door. A short man wearing a navy blue mumu ¡ª Richard did not know another word for it; smock? His face was gnarled and worn from age and sun exposure. He had a harelip as a well so his speech required some attention,


    ¡°What do you want?¡±


    Richard looked back at Ingram who nodded. Richard said,


    ¡°We¡¯re here about Lord Adelsmith¡¯s donkey. I understand you had some medicine for him?¡±


    The man¡¯s eyes bulged and he took to staring at Richard with the halting movements of a bird of prey. He even stood on his tip toes and sniffed Richard with an exaggerated motion.


    Ingram glanced back at them, but otherwise kept his eyes on the street. Finally, their contact nodded and said,


    ¡°Let¡¯s see about that medicine why don¡¯t we?¡±


    He ushered the two men into the small shack dwelling. College students would have turned this place down, even rent free. Two fresh rat corpses hung over the lintel and the floors were covered in dirt and droppings. A skinny stuffed cat stared at Richard from atop a broken wardrobe without any drawers. He moved to touch the stuffed cat¡¯s fur and it hissed at him and jumped from its perch.


    The old man cackled at Richard¡¯s response and beckoned the two of them over to the shack¡¯s corner. Only a short dresser occupied the corner and the man nodded to Richard as he struggled to move the dresser. Richard sprang into action to help the man and managed to get the dresser moved out of the corner. Right at the base of where the dresser sat, Richard could see a seam in the floorboards.


    The old man, who still had not introduced himself, pulled the trapdoor open and waved for Richard and Ingram to lead the way down the stairs. The two moved, but Ingram watched the old man carefully, daring him to betray them in some fashion. Richard could not see the bottom of the stairs from the top, but resolved to walk down them anyway.


    As the light faded behind them, the old man lit a torch. That cast flickering shadows over the narrow hand-cut tunnels. Richard was surprised these were here in the first place, his geology was all but nonexistent, but he still wondered how one built a dry basement this close to a coastline.


    At the bottom of the stairs sat a large wooden door bound with flat steel strips. Richard started to knock on the door, but the old man pushed past him and threw the door open himself and walked in. Beyond the door, several men dressed in similar garb to Richard and Ingram waited. Richard did not require his vast roleplaying and cinema-going experience to identify these men as Bad Dudes.


    Any group of men where none of the eyeballs, hands, feet and ears sum to an even number is highly likely to contain Bad Dudes. Maybe Richard could reframe that as a thesis. Whatever, these men led rough lives as evidenced by the deprivations of their flesh.


    Ingram barely noted the men, even though they stared at him with daggers in their eyes and in their hands. Richard tensed for a moment, but Ingram smiled and sat next to him at the table. Still ignoring the other men, he said,If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    ¡°Are we safe to speak here¡­?¡±


    ¡°Oh, name¡¯s Carlisle. And yeah, you can speak here. Ain¡¯t that right, boys?¡±


    Richard had a bad feeling because all of them snarled and laughed in response. Ingram nodded as if that was the answer he expected. An out of place sound tripped up Richard¡¯s hearing. He froze and tried to filter out the sounds of the men in the room with him. He did and heard the sound again. It was the soft click sound of a metal sliding against metal. It was coming from further into the room.


    Richard looked around him as Carlisle spoke to them about the Dutch. This time, Richard heard the noise near the doors they had entered. Ingram seemed oblivious to the sliding sounds, so Richard kept them to himself.


    Then he heard the unmistakable sound of a metal hammer being drawn back against a spring. He shouted, ¡°Down!¡± and threw himself at Ingram.


    He scrambled over each other to upend tables and hide behind them. Richard raised his head next to his own table and saw that Carlisle had already knocked the table over and was pointing his own pistol at Richard and Ingram.


    Okay, it¡¯s murder time.


    Richard ripped the shipping protections off of his speed and strength and flew into motion. Two of the thugs in the room did not see him coming. His computer offered guidance on disabling the men he attacked, but that was not really part of Richard¡¯s plan. All of his attacks killed. The first to stop breathing was their contact Carlisle, who tried to stab Richard. The next several men fell as they shifted to engaging with Richard and Ingram.


    Too bad for these bits of ones and zeros!


    Richard¡¯s inner voice exalted at his newfound power. Hopefully, his leadership would appreciate this when they reviewed the tapes of his work.


    Ingram defended himself against the last two ruffians before Richard calmed down enough to check his environment properly. All of the escorts, save the two attacking Ingram, were dead or dying. Richard wasted no time dispatching both men, this time he thought that he severed their spines.


    Once the last one fell, Richard started laughing.


    ¡°Oh man, this was awesome! Let¡¯s do this sim again tomorrow! Ing. How do we get out of here?¡±


    Ingram¡¯s face was pinched with anger. He walked up to Richard and said,


    ¡°We do no such thing. This was a live exercise and we have to abort it now. Why did you kill the last two?¡±


    ¡°Wait, live exercise, what the heck do you mean?¡±


    ¡°What does that phrase usually mean to you?¡±


    ¡°I mean is this not a simulation? Are these real people?¡±


    The words crashed against Ingram¡¯s expression and Richard could read the answer in Ingram¡¯s face. Richard shouted,


    ¡°Are you fucking kidding me? I thought this was a simulation!¡±


    Ingram ignored him and shouted a foreign-sounded series of words into his own shoulder. Above them at the top of the stairs, Richard could hear banging. From the opposite side of the small tavern-looking room, Richard could see the entrance the gunman shot through. He ran when he saw Richard and Ingram make quick work of his friends.


    ¡°Follow the gunman, but don¡¯t kill him! Or do, I guess it doesn¡¯t matter now!¡±


    Richard hauled ass. He did not need to be warned twice. Ingram ran right on Richard¡¯s heels. Richard shouted,


    ¡°Are we really back in time?¡±


    ¡°Yes, but this is a flawed alternate timeline when the British and Dutch interests in southern Africa turned into a series of political intrigues and triggered World War I just under three centuries early. Why did you have to kill them all?¡±


    ¡°I told you I did not know they were real, you might have mentioned that!¡±


    Of course, how real could alternate timeline people actually be? Metaphysics aside, Richard decided he did not want to hurt anymore of them for no other reason than they seemed to be averse to it. Instead he ran until a flashing light surrounded him and he found himself back in a large cylindrical room with a platform in the center. This looked just like the time machine he used to escape the time cops the first time. Now, Richard knew how to use the dialing device and knew the exact sequence he needed to return to his real home.


    But that was not going to happen until Richard found Rob, Karen, his sister, and Alethia. Ingram looked furious at Richard as he spoke,


    ¡°You need to return to your room and we will arrange a debrief later.¡±


    He shook his head at Richard and left the room as a blue path presented itself to Richard¡¯s vision and showed him the path back to his room.


    There he found the same bare metal room with a hard metal bed in the center. Richard pouted that the test had been unfair and arbitrary. Richard did not know the stakes, so how could make a good decision without all of the facts? The failure made him want to slink out of his room and back to the time machine. There he could escape to whatever time he felt like, basically without repercussions. Richard turned those options over in his head. No matter how he considered his choices, he needed to stay here to rescue his friends. Hopefully, this would let him find Alethia too.


    Richard laid back on the hard metal bed under him.


    This is unfair.


    The words sounded petty and childish to him, even in his own mind. He wondered how he managed to sound petulant in his own head when he decided that he needed a more comfortable bed to whine in. The computer in his head presented certain frustrations. Richard could invoke any of the multiple warnings he had previously dismissed as well as a host of others. But he could not figure out how to perform a simple search in the system.


    He could not find a Terminal session to use or a manual and started to grow frustrated with the system, so he laid back and imagined himself somewhere better. ¡®Anywhere but here¡¯ was better with at least one partner, but Richard could easily close his eyes and see himself on a white sand beach. His chiseled body attracted as much attention from passersby as the skimpy bathing suits the women in Richard¡¯s imagination wore.


    Those women huddled around him, tossing accolades and compliments Richard¡¯s way. He smiled as the sun cast its warmth down on him. He wiggled his toes and felt the fine grains of sand stick between them. Richard opened his eyes and the image did not fade right away. He could see it projected against the harsh steel of the room like the computers needed more information before they could solidify the fruits of Richard¡¯s imagination.


    He laughed in triumph and changed his focus. If Richard could be anywhere feeling sorry for himself right then, he wanted to be in his childhood bedroom. Wolverine posters decorated the walls as well as a tall poster of Alicia Silverstone. Richard carried a crush for her well after her career ended. He could see his old black and white Mac sitting on his dark wooden desk near the corner of the room. His bed had Transformer sheets, not from the terrible live action films, but from the original animated series.


    Optimus Prime had watched over his sleep for a decade before the irrational fear a woman might see his sheets and deem him a child had finally forced him to shelve the covers and replace them with something in a nondescript monotone.


    The image came to life in Richard¡¯s head, helped along by his neural enhancements as well as his need for comfort. Something in the back of his mind served as a warning for Richard. He did not have as much time as he seemed to believe. He needed to find his sister, Rob, and Karen before something happened to them so they could help him track down Alethia. She was his real goal, of course.


    He opened his eyes and found that he lay on the bed situated in the middle of his childhood bedroom. The Transformers sheets under him felt like flannel, just like he remembered. Excited by the return of his youth, Richard shot out of the bed to see if the comics and toys from his childhood also appeared. Sure enough, he had his old Transformers and He-Man figurines and his precious Skull Mountain set.


    Richard lost two hours removing all of the die cast metal figures, including his vintage Go-bots toys, and arranging them by size and relative power. Which bad guys were more or less powerful than the corresponding good guy created an essential dilemma for youthful Richard Kain and provided hours of play.


    When the door opened, Ingram was there. A flash of light dispelled Richard¡¯s childhood possessions and brought him kicking back to his present. He was tired of moving forward in time and wanted some way to pause or reset. Besides, Ingram looked pissed.


    ¡°Follow me, Mr Kain, now.¡±


    Ingram turned without waiting for Richard to stand and walked off. Richard scrambled to keep up with the other time cop. When he left the room, the hallway looked different to Richard, but he could not say how. He stared at the corner of the hallway leading to the right, away from the direction Ingram walked. That corner was definitely shorter the last time Richard looked. With everything clad by featureless, dull steel, Richard could not say how he recognized any part of the structure. But the longer his gaze rested on the corner, the more certain he became that the corner had moved.


    He shelved that information because Ingram stopped before a door and motioned for Richard to enter.


    Richard hung his head so he did not have to look Ingram in the eyes and entered the room. This room was all white with a massive marble tank holding exotic sea life opposite the doorway. Between the fish tank and the door sat a white desk with a woman wearing a blue suit sitting behind it.


    ¡°Hello Mr Kain, I am Amanda Blank. Please have a seat.¡±


    With her words, a chair materialized for Richard. He blinked at the woman and sat down in the chair. She folded her fingers in front of her face as she leaned forward and stared at Richard. Her pale blue eyes felt like they were trying to look through him rather than at him.


    Amanda remained silent, watching Richard for some reaction, he did not know what.


    Tired of waiting, he said,


    ¡°I guess I am here because of the training exercise.¡±


    Amanda shrugged,


    ¡°Let¡¯s assume that is the case. What do you have to say about that Richard?¡±


    ¡°Look, I thought it was a simulation, not actual time travel. If I had known that I would not have gone berserk and messed everything up.¡±


    ¡°Why?¡±


    ¡°I am sorry? Why what?¡±


    Amanda lowered her hands and said,


    ¡°Let¡¯s start at the beginning. Why did you believe this was a simulation?¡±


    ¡°I did not imagine that you would just throw me into a dangerous or sensitive situation without a briefing and without knowing it was real.¡±


    ¡°Okay, then why did you ¡®go berserk and mess everything up¡¯?¡±


    ¡°Honestly?¡±


    ¡°Yes, that would be refreshing.¡±


    Richard did not know what to make of that remark. Everything he had told Amanda so far was the complete truth.


    ¡°The people we were contacting started to annoy me. And I thought they were ones and zeroes, therefore expendable. I would never hurt real people!¡±


    ¡°Really?¡±


    ¡°Well, I would prefer not to hurt them. Or did you mean I really thought they were ones and zeroes or did I really kill them because they were annoying me?¡±


    Amanda nodded and said,


    ¡°How are you interested in helping us, Richard?¡±


    ¡°Any way I can, really. You guys have helped me a lot. I mean, I want to save my friend Alethia from whatever happened to her and I want to see Karen and Rob again.¡±


    Amanda said,


    ¡°Once they have completed their assessments and training programs.¡±


    ¡°How come I have not had to go through additional training?¡±


    ¡°Because your nano-upgrades have already matured. You will remain a low-functioning asset until your death.¡±


    ¡°Wait, what?¡±


    ¡°Your friends Robert and Karen have not had their implants mature or fix yet. That same process was interrupted when you fled our facility.¡±


    ¡°But they were never here in the first place!¡±


    ¡°Exactly. The process never started and therefore did not have a chance to end prematurely.¡±


    ¡°Does that mean I am like, broken or whatever?¡±


    ¡°No, your implants will simply not perform as efficiently as they could. And you might encounter some minor side effects.¡±


    ¡°Like what?¡±


    ¡°Difficulties concentrating, recollection problems, some minor health-related symptoms.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t the nanites fix that?¡±


    ¡°Think of this as the minor symptoms of rejection. Your body has not fully accepted your implants and the window to trick it into accepting them has shut.¡±


    Richard had a weird feeling that Amanda withheld something from him, something about the nanites. But he had no idea how to find that information out exactly.


    ¡°Huh. That sucks¡­ Whelp, was there anything else? Can I see my friends now?¡±


    ¡°As I said, they are busy.¡±


    ¡°Alrighty, then do you need anything else from me?¡±


    Amanda studied Richard¡¯s face for a few seconds, like she translated the lines of his face into a difficult language. She shook her head and said,


    ¡°You are dismissed, Mr Kain. I am ordering Ingram to keep watch over you while you are recuperating. He will also let you know when your friends are available.¡±


    ¡°Thank you, Ma¡¯am.¡±


    Richard stood and left the office before Amanda could say anything else to him. Ingram stood waiting and led him back to his cell. When the door locked behind him, that confirmed the label Richard gave to his room. He was not a guest here.


    He closed his eyes and conjured his childhood room. This place was perfect. His Nintendo sat under the cheap old TV his parents let him keep in his room. Richard plugged Legend of Zelda in and proceeded to engage in some therapeutic nostalgia.


    A day later, Ingram interrupted Richard¡¯s ¡®all cake and pie breakfast¡¯ with a harsh knock on his door. Richard opened the door, surprised that Ingram did not just barge in. Ingram stood there with a small stack of clothing in hand.


    ¡°We have remedial temporal studies now. Put these on.¡±


    Ingram followed Richard back into his room. Richard said,


    ¡°You want me to change, right? I need some privacy.¡±


    Ingram nodded and turned his back to Richard.


    Richard rolled his eyes and stripped out of the silver unitard and into the brown jerkin and breeches Ingram had brought him.


    ¡°Are we heading to a Renaissance festival?¡±


    Ingram frowned and said,


    ¡°No, this is remedial temporal studies. I believe this will be valuable to you.¡±


    ¡°Remedial, huh? Is this the class for idiots who can¡¯t figure out what is up?¡±


    Ingram nodded his head with such subtlety that Richard recognized it as a micro expression as Ingram shook his head.


    ¡°We use this course to teach our children the dangers of time travel. So they learn respect for what the Time Enforcers do.¡±


    ¡°You know, that¡¯s the first time someone told me the name of our club? That¡¯s weird because usually people have the name before they even know what their club is going to be doing.¡±


    Ingram could tell the question was not in earnest, so he stared at Richard and said,


    ¡°We have a schedule, do you need anything before we leave?¡±


    Richard shook his head and followed Ingram¡¯s brisk pace through the hallways. He finished in the time machine room. This time they stood on the discs while the system translated them somewhere else. Richard had no sensation of motion or that he even went anywhere.


    Richard started to ask a question because he stood in pitch blackness that made his hand invisible in the lack of light. Ingram coughed and put his hand over Richard¡¯s mouth. A few seconds passed and Richard¡¯s eyes adjusted to the light. The two of them stood in a dark room with well fitted floorboards over head. The tiny shafts of light that poked through the ceiling were the results of people stepping on the boards and creating gaps in the workmanship.


    Richard nodded at Ingram and he other man removed his hand from Richard¡¯s mouth. He beckoned for Richard to follow, so he did. Ingram crawled though tight spaces filled with carved and painted figurines. The floor changed from broken stones to cobbles of the same type, only these were regularly replaced and repaired. The air smelled stagnant, almost like a swamp, but the humidity was too low for that.


    They arrived in a small white stone chamber with more of the dark gray cobblestones in the floor. A single door led from this room. The hallway they followed here seemed more like a poorly constructed secret tunnel than a real hallway.


    Ingram turned away from Richard and returned to face him with an eyeball missing. Ingram said,


    ¡°Gods above, you are fucking dense. We don¡¯t have long to chat, so shut up and listen. You and your friends are in serious trouble. Within the next two days, your friends Rob and Karen will either die or complete the treatment course to become Enforcers. You do not want that and neither would they if their free will weren¡¯t in question.¡±


    ¡°What are you talking about?¡±


    ¡°I said shut up. I am taking a huge risk here. Your friend Alethia is fine, so is her friend Zoe. Rob, Karen, Rachel, and you are in danger. Even if the nanite therapy is successful, the treatment strips decades from your lives. Each of you will not live more than five years after receiving the therapy. You are lucky that your implants matured without being here. That is why you can lie to your supervisors and why you still have some free will. Because of that, I want to offer you assistance. Accept my help and I will ensure you can free your friends before the conditioning is finished. I will help you escape if possible.¡±


    ¡°Why would you help me?¡±


    ¡°Because I am a spy for the Enforcer¡¯s enemies and I have seen your personality inventory. You have no respect for authority and utter loyalty to your friends. You are not only likely to accept my offer, but you are very unlikely to share it with anyone who could eliminate me. Besides, I am offering you a sincere chance to save your sister and your friends. I think you will eventually take it.¡±


    ¡°Shit, are you serious? Is this some kind of trick?¡±


    ¡°Shhhh!¡±


    Ingram held up his hand and peered into the darkness behind him. Richard waited ten seconds before he said,


    ¡°Look, you need to¡­¡±


    ¡°I said shut up, someone is coming!¡±


    Richard bit his lip and looked into the shadows of the hallway. A woman with short brown hair, a purple toga and clinking brass bracelets on her arm appeared. She checked both of them with a passing glance and nodded to herself.


    ¡°You are both still here, good. Let¡¯s observe.¡¯


    They stepped out of the hidden room and locked the door behind them. Richard wondered what culture would be fine with both toga¡¯s and the outfit he wore along with Ingram.


    None of the similarly dressed citizens passing by them seemed to take notice. Richard wanted to stare after them, for no other reason than garb ideas for the SCA, but he was too distracted by the random message from Ingram. It sounded like a trap, something he was supposed to fall for so Ingram could boot him out of their club. That made perfect sense to Richard from a certain perspective. At the same time, a voice in his mind told him that Ingram¡¯s words made sense and that Ingram represented the only chance Richard and his friends had.


    His words also condemned Richard. Had he really shortened his friends¡¯ lives by decades and subjected them to mind control by a nefarious time traveling organization? If what Ingram suggested was true, then Richard had only a day to act.


    He worried these thoughts like a cat with a mouse under paw. The virtues of ancient Greece, Rome, or Persia ¡ª wherever and whenever he was ¡ª held none of Richard¡¯s attention. The new woman never introduced herself but took control upon her appearance. Richard and Ingram followed her through the past for hours before she returned to the nook and a flash of light returned them to the steel tunnels of the Enforcers¡¯ hideout. Richard wished he knew whether to call them the good guys or the bad guys.


    They led him back to his room and the woman told him to write up a report of his experiences, a report that would be reviewed by his supervisors later.


    Richard sat down at his old wooden desk to write the report. His pen was unresponsive. Despite his distractions, Richard remembered the entirety of his journey. But he was not sure where to start and besides, he could not stop himself from running Ingram¡¯s words over and over again in his own head.


    He decided to see how thoroughly he was being observed, he wrote on his page in block letters,


    ¡°I HAVE A MESSAGE FOR AMANDA BLANK ABOUT A POSSIBLE TRAITOR!¡±


    Richard took deep breath as he finished the last word. He had a plan already, hopefully it would work.


    Minutes later a new woman appeared at his door. She was short and square shaped. Likely, she could tear Richard in half, but he was distracted with the thought that she was the first unattractive person Richard had seen in this time.


    The woman had nothing to say to Richard, ignoring his attempts to make casual conversation. She led him back to Amanda Blank¡¯s office and opened the door for him. Amanda sat at the same desk she sat in before.


    Once the door was closed, Amanda said,


    ¡°You have some information for me about a traitor?¡±


    ¡°I do!¡±


    Richard wove a lie just for Amanda¡¯s benefit. The nameless woman who led Ingram and Richard through the past tried to offer Richard a ¡®way out.¡¯ Which was crazy because Richard had no interest in escaping this place, or so he told Amanda Blank. Once his story was done, Amanda dismissed him and the same short woman escorted him back to his cell.


    Richard sweated out the next two hours. He was not sure how much time Karen and Rob had remaining, but he hoped that something good would happen soon. Reality rose to the occasion with a brief knock on Richard¡¯s door. Before he could rise and open it, Ingram fell through. He was covered with blood and coughing as he waved for Richard to close his doors.


    ¡°You didn¡¯t talk to anyone about me, did you?¡±


    Ingram¡¯s voice was a wet croak. Richard could see two small holes in his torso. Richard shook his head and said,


    ¡°What is going on?¡±


    This was starting to become his motto.


    ¡°I escaped a death squad, that is what is going on. They do not know where I am right now because of this.¡±


    Ingram held up a round metal sphere about the size of a football.


    ¡°You need this, but not right now¡­¡±


    Ingram shook his head and said,


    ¡°Sorry, you need it now. Now for real. Relax for a second and let me bind your nano computer to a true map of the facility.¡±


    Ingram touched Richard with the metal sphere and for a brief moment, his computer system went apeshit with warnings. Then they faded away and Richard could suddenly control his own internal systems perfectly. He accessed the personnel records of himself and his friends. In those fleeting seconds, Richard read their entire files.


    ¡°Holy shit!¡±


    ¡°What did you find?¡±


    ¡°Rob had to have his ¡®madness¡¯ corrected, what? Karen is a supervisor and is currently rejecting the supervisors program so they had to ¡®increase the intensity.¡¯ What does all of this mean? Why have you passed terminal senescence?¡±


    Ingram paused as Richard asked his questions. Each was answered with a stunning degree of completeness.


    Rob developed psychopathic narcissism and had to be ¡®treated.¡¯ He was presently suspended in the air by cords and was being shocked repeatedly by some sort of automated system. Karen¡¯s eyes had been fixed open like Alex from A Clockwork Orange. The Enforcers were injecting her with something while forcing her to watch coruscating images. Rachel was the only person who was not being mistreated in some way. She was simply unconscious. As soon as he thought about it, the computer in his head showed Richard the shortest path to his friends.


    As a finale, the computer showed him the effects of terminal senescence. Several figures with arched backs and opened mouths appeared before his eyes. They bled from their mouths and noses and most of them looked like they writhed in excruciating agony.


    Ingram watched Richard while he sucked in air passed his bloody, torn lips. He said,


    ¡°It showed you, yes? You and your friends need to escape this place. Anyone who remains will become a willing soldier for the Enforcers. If you can, find the Keepers. They are the natural enemies of the Enforcers. Ingram dropped the ball into Richard¡¯s hands and whispered,


    ¡°Or use the time machine in room 2351. It is far from where you were taken and the last confirmed location of Keeper activity. I programmed the sphere for you. If you can find the time machine there, you should be able to escape without the Enforcers knowing where or when you went.¡±


    Ingram coughed and stood up.


    ¡°They will come to check for me soon. I can still use my enhancement and I would like to blow out rather than fizzle.¡±


    With those words, flames licked over Ingram¡¯s eyes and skin. Fires broke out in Richard¡¯s steel room and Ingram shouted,


    ¡°Run, Richard Kain, run!¡±


    Richard ran out of the room and activated the location finding algorithm in his head. A soft blue light showed him the path to his friends. Richard shifted to the form of the stocky woman from the other day when he heard boots approaching from the distant halls. He ¡ª or she, whatever ¡ª made room for the four soldiers to pass. Richard tried not to look any of them in the eye on the off chance they might recognize him.


    Rob¡¯s room was the first in Richard¡¯s list. Once he was out of sight of the other soldiers in the facility, he ran to find Rob. No one tried to stop him before he got there. No one guarded the door to Rob¡¯s torture chamber either. Richard touched the metal sphere to the doorway and it opened. Rob hung within the room in the same position and scene the computer had shown him.


    Well, that means the thing is not a trick.


    He sort of wished the whole thing was an elaborate hoax. But the smells wafting out of Rob¡¯s room shook Richard to his core. They had not even bothered to set the computer to clean the mess Rob made of himself. This was barbaric at best and reminded Richard of mental healthcare in the US from the fifties.


    Richard tapped the sphere against the wall and the various armatures and wires suspending Rob from the ceiling retracted and lowered him to the ground without injuring him.


    ¡°Rob! Rob man, can you hear me?¡±


    Rob¡¯s hand shot out to grab Richard by the throat. Even with his own lightning reflexes, Richard could not compete with Rob. Rob ground his teeth and squeezed Richard¡¯s throat,


    ¡°Who the hell are you and what is happening to me?¡±


    Richard gargled and realized that Rob only saw a frumpy woman when he looked at Richard. Without further delay, Richard shifted back into himself,


    ¡°It¡¯s me, Richard! It¡¯s jailbreak time, Rob! We¡¯re gonna grab Rachel and Karen and get the hell out of here.¡±


    Rob reacted to Karen¡¯s name,


    ¡°KAREN! THEY HAVE HER!¡±


    He shot up, and then staggered to hold his head,


    ¡°Agh, it hurts. Where is she, Richard?¡±


    Richard¡¯s systems had chosen Karen to be last, but when he wondered where she was, a pink line appeared separate from the original blue line that now led to Rachel. Rob shouted again,


    ¡°Where is she?!?!?!¡±


    He slammed his shoulder and arm into the steel of the doorway and looked outside. He screamed a blood curdling roar and charged from the door with a leap. Someone else¡¯s screams pulled Richard out of the room. Four small balls of light floated around Rob. Two of them, the pink and blue balls seemed to block or absorb impacts. The yellow ball flew into one of Rob¡¯s assailants, they stopped moving as the ball touched them. Rob used their pause to snap the man¡¯s neck. When the green ball touched a victim, they recoiled from Rob and Richard and ran gibbering down the hall, as fast as they could run from both Richard and Rob.


    Richard did not move from the doorway he stood at. He watched Rob finish the last of the four-person strike team without taking even a single injury.


    That must be his superpower.


    Richard wondered exactly what the yellow and green spheres did, but he did not have time to wonder as Rob returned to the doorway.


    ¡°Tell me how to get to her, Richard!¡±


    Richard debated his next course for less than a second. He touched Rob with the metal sphere Ingram had given him and Rob¡¯s eyes opened wide.


    ¡°Oh, thank you my friend!¡±


    He charged away, following his own version of the path to Karen.


    ¡°Well shit.¡±


    That statement provided a satisfactory summary of Richard¡¯s feelings. He peeled off after Rob, hoping to intercept his friend before he killed anyone else.

 Chapter 12 - Alethia - If only we could be so lucky

    Twenty percent. One in five. On face that number did not sound so bad. It was better than the chance of winning the first roll in standard craps. But she knew that spread was not a good one. Four of the five people who accepted the conversion therapy offered by the Keepers died. Possibly more than twice that if Thalleus¡¯s ten percent figure represented the truth better than the first estimate he provided.


    Alethia flew through the computer system¡¯s databank of previous experiments related to conversion. She double-checked the original estimates Thalleus gave her on Zoe¡¯s condition. More women died from hysterectomies in the twentieth century than from the base therapy Zoe was receiving. The more Alethia reviewed the stats, if you excluded the fifty-year-plus development time, the Keeper¡¯s therapeutic process had better survivability than any medical procedure she could find.


    The plan Thalleus offered Alethia required a slow application of their therapy so as to avoid the rejection problems that the Enforcer nanites produced. Alethia drowned in new scientific information. It started to make her feel like she could not breathe.


    Alethia directed the second body she held out unconsciously to stand. Upon waking, her perception split again. She could see herself across her crystal walled room. The Enforcer nanites did a good job of making her beautiful. Alethia knew women from high school who would have still hated their bodies, even in a brand new one. But she felt none of those emotions. Even the original Alethia, un-showered, wearing clothes from a week ago, looked beautiful to Alethia.


    A knock on the door broke her concentration and rather than potentially alarm a stranger, she allowed her double to fade away. When she told Natalie and Thalleus that she could hold her doubles indefinitely, she spoke the truth.


    ¡°Come in.¡±


    Alethia¡¯a crystal table held an assortment of papers she used to take notes. When the door opened, that was the first place Natalie¡¯s gaze fell.


    ¡°Hello Alethia,¡± she nodded to the pages on the table, ¡°is that paper? Reid, our materials expert said he had trouble finding a recipe for that the crystals could understand. Does it work?¡±


    Alethia blushed. When she asked for paper to take notes, she did not expect to generate such a fuss. Three different senior scientists had visited her room every day for three days with samples of paper they had produced. The last day resulted in something workable that Alethia could use to take notes.


    ¡°This works fine, great even! I wish I had known how much of a stir I was going to cause before I requested it.¡±


    Natalie blinked and said,


    ¡°Because of the time you wasted or the materials?¡±


    ¡°I feel bad taking them from more important work.¡±


    ¡°Did you notice how there were three of them, ¡®helping you¡¯?¡±


    She made the quotes in the air, Natalie did that often since Alethia had told her about the gesture.


    ¡°I did think that was weird.¡±


    ¡°That was because every scientist in the arcology and even some hobbyists wanted to visit you and try offering your their version of paper. We had to hold several contests to stop people¡¯s complaints about being excluded from the process. Let me assure you that no one thought this was a waste of time.¡±


    ¡°Thanks! Why is paper¡­ oh right.¡±


    Natalie smiled and said,


    ¡°We do actually grow some plant material on base. The crystals allow ideal light frequencies and intensities to pass. But we have not made paper in a mil¡­ long time. Even the historians were interested.¡±


    ¡°And going back to the source would not be ideal, would it?¡±


    Natalie said,


    ¡°If we were willing to do that, we would be the same as the Enforcers. I admit, having a sample to practice on would be very nice.¡±


    ¡°Right, you could test just a bit of the page and see how inks stained the surface, how dense it should be, all of that. You could use that sample to test inks too, right? Oh my god, this was so obvious!¡±


    Alethia ran back to the desk and the sheath of papers on it. She pulled several pages aside and found the notes she was looking for. Natalie followed her in silence, but held her eyes on Alethia, she clearly wanted to know what provoked this reaction. Alethia found what she sought. She held it up and checked it while speaking,


    ¡°The conversion process, part of the problem is that is impossible to predict how violent the reaction is. Like making beer, you have to adjust the amounts on the fly without knowing the details and without any feedback. What if you had live feedback?¡±


    Natalie turned her head and her eyes widened,


    ¡°Of course! We could use your duplicate to tweak the conversion therapy to avoid killing you, I thought that was the original plan?¡±


    ¡°Yes, but I can give you direct feedback. Using the senses of the Enforcer nanites, right?¡±


    ¡°Oh, you don¡¯t just mean leaving your double in the tank and seeing what happens. You mean administering the process directly with live feedback.¡±


    Natalie¡¯s face looked dejected as she spoke,


    ¡°All extant nano-systems cause a good deal of pain during administration. That is why both the Enforcers and the Keepers leave subjects unconscious. Of course, we do it because to do otherwise would be cruel. They do it because if they do not, their subjects go mad in much larger numbers.¡±


    ¡°So you¡¯re saying I won¡¯t want to remain conscious while this is happening?¡±


    Natalie shrugged,


    ¡°I doubt it, but if you think you can do it, we should still configure one of the labs for the experiment. When do you want to try it?¡±


    ¡°What, wait? Aren¡¯t there safety protocols and further discussion we should have?¡±


    ¡°Certainly, but you weren¡¯t planning on doing this now, were you? Besides, the computer has already produced a safety process based on the loose discussion we just had.¡±


    Natalie tapped on the wall and a screen appeared. On screen, Alethia could see a long list of precautions she would have to make before the administration would green light her experiment. At the same time as the list tried to daunt her, Natalie smiled and said,


    ¡°That looks very doable. I will set events into motion.¡±


    ¡°That will take like¡­¡±


    The image showing her a room turned out to be a live camera shot of the proposed laboratory. Crystals rearranged themselves into multiple panels as she watched. The process was slower than she would have thought, but Natalie said,


    ¡°They will be done prepping the room in about half an hour. Does that work?¡±


    Alethia nodded. This was something she needed to do sooner rather than later.


    The second time Alethia felt herself die, she sat on a flat table out of sight of her second body. Dying felt painful, like a whole body electric shock passing through her starting with her feet. The second death had a wall of morphine or whatever passed for it in the future¡¯s OR.


    The second time she died, Alethia learned a good deal more about the process she had been subjected to. The nanites in her blood, dyed blue to the screen she used to observe her body, aggressively attacked the silver fluid the Keepers injected her with. Death followed only a few minutes later as her blue saturated cells committed chemical suicide. As if her body could not distinguish between them and cancerous tissues.


    She made sure to record her observations and report them back to the Natalie. Machines watched her body, providing more feedback than she was capable of otherwise.


    All of this was a significant improvement on her first death. For that, Alethia had not received any analgesia or sedatives. On top of that, Alethia had been seated upright and the initial injection contained three hundred times more individual nanobodies than the second injection.


    Alethia¡¯s heart stopped in her second body less than thirty seconds after the injection. That part had felt like someone shoved angry bees into her veins. At first, her arm just felt thick, almost pregnant. Then the fluid began to ¡°sting¡± her. Fires erupted under her arms. Alethia had checked the monitors on her second body to be sure that the fires burned only in a sensory manner.


    That had been a mistake because she immediately vomited over herself and Natalie. The pain was so intense that Alethia¡¯s main body seized and she had to be sedated and taken to an emergency treatment room. While there, they watched her for lingering side effects and performed some non-invasive tests to confirm that her main body did not experience some kind of sympathetic injury. Aside from elevated blood pressure and heart rate, Alethia was fine. By the time she woke in the emergency facility, her second body was already dead.


    After her second body flatlined, Alethia watched Natalie from her bed. The green-haired scientist watched Alethia¡¯s second body fade away while she made notes into a tablet.


    ¡°Did that work all right?¡±


    Natalie practically jumped when Alethia spoke. Surprise must have registered on Alethia¡¯s face, because Natalie explained herself,


    ¡°Sorry. I was very engaged in the experiment. I was not expecting you to say anything.¡±


    Alethia smiled, Natalie had laid a hand on Alethia¡¯s shoulder. The doctor was overly familiar, but Alethia had the sense that their entire society was touchy-feely like this.


    ¡°I just wanted to make sure that you were not surprised I still lived.¡±


    Natalie bobbled her head back and forth,


    ¡°Not so much that, but I assumed you would have passed out again. You are surprisingly resilient, Ms Thompson.¡±


    Alethia laughed,


    ¡°You need to work on your come-ons, doctor. At least you did not call me ¡®sturdy¡¯.¡±


    Natalie blinked and said,


    ¡°I don¡¯t get that, but okay! Do you want to see the results of the tests?¡±


    ¡°Yes, and use small words.¡±


    Natalie explained the outcome, this test sounded more promising than the first one. But Alethia knew that their best projections required her repeated death. That fact lingered in the back of her mind. So far, she had not been able to answer any major existential questions. Though she did notice the total absence of religious paraphernalia anywhere in the arcology. None of the residents ever spoke the Lord¡¯s name or offered oaths to God. Alethia wondered what that meant for the future of her faith.


    Natalie finished and asked Alethia if she wanted to be done for the day.


    ¡°No, I think we should keep going. I have at least four more deaths in me.¡±


    This was like a roleplaying game, well a really boring one without adventure. Alethia died three more times that evening, twenty times after that over the next week. Natalie expressed more concern for Alethia¡¯s welfare than Alethia did, which explained why she was the head of medicine and research for the arcology, at least in part.


    By the end of the week, they still had no survivor cases for Alethia to study. The chances did not look so good for her. Then the second week kicked in, by the end of that week, Alethia started to worry. She shared her concerns with Natalie,


    ¡°We have what, over one hundred confirmed tests and no survivals in the whole time? How long until the window closes for me to spend four weeks in a tank?¡±


    Natalie sighed,


    ¡°You have another month, at least. By that time, your friend Zoe should be free of her tank. Consider that over half of our tests should not count toward the survival odds. We were not trying to keep your double alive for the first half of the tests.¡±


    ¡°Yes, but now that we are trying, I don¡¯t get morphine or any pain relief.¡±


    That was the clincher. Alethia would have been fine continuing the tests if she had ever survived one or if she could have continued to be numb through the process. But every night now she dreamed of a silver blob slowly eating her, starting at the bottom.


    Sympathy shone from Natalie¡¯s eyes.


    ¡°I wish I could distract you with something entertaining, but you have thoroughly rebuffed my advances. To continue would bring you discomfort.¡±


    Alethia rolled her eyes,


    ¡°That is because you always seem to want sex. Maybe instead of sleeping together we could watch a movie or television show?¡±


    ¡°I know what those are, but I am not sure I have ever tried it.¡±


    She paused for a moment and said,


    ¡°Oh, two dimensional entertainment. Narrative style. That sounds fascinating. What should we do? I mean watch. What should we watch?¡±


    This question presented Alethia with a fantastic dilemma: if a time traveler asked to see a sample of Earth television from her time, what would she show them?


    Alethia giggled and said,


    ¡°How much time do we have?¡±


    ¡°A month, there is no reason not to watch entertainment while we wait, is there?¡±


    Alethia laughed this time and said,


    ¡°That still won¡¯t be enough time. So we should get started right now.¡±


    Seventeen hours into Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Natalie asked through tears streaked cheeks,


    ¡°Ms Calendar comes back, right? What does the gang do to Angel now?¡±


    Alethia patted Natalie¡¯s hand while clone number 317 died in screaming agony. That particular death was as hard to handle as the first time Alethia watched Season two of Buffy.


    ¡°We should keep watching. Don¡¯t look it up, you¡¯ll enjoy it more.¡±


    Natalie squealed at the end of the second season when Buffy sent the love of her life to Hell.


    ¡°How does this show continue? How can Xander ever look Buffy or Willow in the eyes again?¡±


    Alethia shrugged this time and said,


    ¡°To the first question, let¡¯s keep watching. As to the second question, who knows? Maybe the comics answer that, but I never finished those. Richard did.¡±


    Thinking about her friend made Alethia homesick. Natalie assured her that she would be able to return to Earth after a variable amount of local time, but after only two or three days passed in twentieth century Earth time.


    They watched the rest of Buffy. Alethia knew that she found a friend in Natalie when the woman declared the series the best story she had ever encountered.


    ¡°You say that, but now we¡¯re gonna watch Doctor Who. Are you ready for that?¡±


    ¡°Does the first season suffer from the same problems that Buffy did?¡±


    Alethia nodded,


    ¡°This is a bit ¡®worse¡¯ in a sense. We¡¯re gonna start with the original series and then move onto the unquestionably epic series nine and continuing.¡±


    They spent the next two weeks watching television shows until they exhausted series Alethia could personally vouch for. If Richard had been here, or Rachel for that matter, they could have occupied the entire month just with television. Alethia had to move onto film next and had no idea where to start with that, so she made the computer pick a random title from a list she prepared.


    The choice ended up as an ironic one too, Back to the Future.


    Alethia prepared Natalie for this one,


    ¡°I took a film class in school. This is a good starting movie because it is so good. Basically every note in this film has a payoff¡­¡±


    Alethia tried to explain exactly what that meant, but found herself stymied and flustered.


    ¡°Let¡¯s just try it.¡±


    Natalie issued the command to the computer for Alethia. Right on time, her second body experienced a wave of agony and Alethia needed a moment to let it pass before she could concentrate.


    They watched their way through six more films before Alethia¡¯s first clone survived the procedure. Natalie paused Die Hard minutes before the ¡°Yippee Ka Yay¡± scene and said,


    ¡°The preliminaries have finished. How do you feel?¡±


    Alethia blinked, reaching out to her primary body instinctively and finding nothing wrong, she had to redirect her attention to her secondary body to answer Natalie¡¯s actual question.


    ¡°Oh my God. I am just sleeping peacefully now. I didn¡¯t even notice when the pain stopped.¡±


    She had to review her memory of the last hour or so. Her second body had experienced only minor discomfort during the last session. This was the longest she had survived so far and was the first high water mark for the procedure. Most of the fatalities for the procedure perished during this time.


    Alethia and Natalie conferred about these results. The older, green haired woman still possessed far more relevant information than Alethia did, but she was starting to catch up with Natalie, at least in the domain of this conversion process. They had accidentally turned Alethia into a cutting edge expert in this topic over the last few weeks.


    They decided to proceed with this experiment. The next high water mark would arrive in two days. Natalie decided to continue the same therapeutic regimen throughout the cycle.


    Two days and a dozen films later, Alethia¡¯s double passed away painlessly in the night. Alethia woke without the double¡¯s body sitting on the edge of her awareness.


    ¡°Crap!¡±


    Natalie shot up from the short cot in Alethia¡¯s room,


    ¡°What? What¡¯s happening?¡±


    They had been sharing a room for the duration of the experiment. Despite the tension of constant deaths, perhaps because of that pressure, Alethia felt a magnetic draw to Natalie that seemed to grow the longer they spent time together. That still meant Natalie slept in a different bed from Alethia.


    ¡°My double just died. We should review the data.¡±


    That afternoon, their television viewing held a sour note. The nanite infected systems coursing through Alethia¡¯s blood did not stand rejection well. Even with the silver Keeper nanites attempting to supplant the blue cell¡¯s control, the Enforcer nanites committed cellular suicide again.


    Natalie stared at the screen and tugged on a long strand of hair,


    ¡°That should not be happening. With other subjects, the resident nanites allow the invaders to take over their previous roles. It is like your second body needs an infusion of the original nano systems to keep from suiciding.¡±


    ¡°And there is no way to do that, right?¡±


    ¡°We cannot manufacture the Enforcer nanites. They are highly dependent on the process and we have never cracked it. The same is true for the Enforcers and our own nanites. In fact both groups designed these therapies to be impossible to reverse engineer.¡±


    Natalie tapped the terminal and sighed,


    ¡°If only we had twelve billion years to wait for the testing to be concluded.¡±


    Alethia shared Natalie¡¯s frustration, but she had her double out and sitting in the testing creche within the hour.


    The third week of their testing went far slower than any of the preceding weeks. Alethia¡¯s secondary body survived every first hour milestone, but died during every second day milestone. The fourth week was the real struggle. By the end of the month, Zoe would be awake and Alethia would have only four more weeks of testing available to her.


    It sounded crazy to her when she said the words out loud, but she did not want to die of extreme old age in five years. Nor of a medical accident in as many weeks, but the latter thought lacked the urgency and force of the former. Intellectually, Alethia knew that her chances of survival over five years would be excellent with the assistance of the Keepers and their forces. That thought did not matter; the more she failed, the more desperate she felt.


    Several times, she thought her secondary body was on the edge of living through the two day limit. And several times she had to face the excruciating death offered by her experiment. On week four, just a few days before Zoe was supposed to wake up, Alethia felt herself almost live.


    With the assistance of the Keeper¡¯s instruments, Alethia could visualize what happened within her body. Both nano swarms attempted to integrate with each other and failed. That final time, she could see the merger, how like protein folding the process was only vastly more complex. Within the dance between the two infections in her blood, Alethia thought she saw both nanites change right before they ¡®died¡¯ and signaled a corresponding death in the rest of the artificial cells.


    That failure sent Alethia along a new track. The cells infecting her body were not that different from each other and, by necessity, not that different from her own cells. Of course, that was a simplification. In truth, her ¡°blue¡± cells were jam-packed with data and lines of code. As an idle thought experiment, she determined that just one ¡°blue¡± blood cell ¡ª what she called her own red blood cells post-Enforcer nanite infection ¡ª carried sufficient ¡®wires¡¯ to cover the surface of the Earth eighty-nine times.


    She needed to find a way to merge those trillion lines into a cohesive whole. One that would not then be murdered by her own cells or the remaining foreign nanites. Alethia¡¯s cognition suffered while her doubles sat in their creches slowly dying. As a result she poured herself into her efforts. Natalie helped, or rather she directed the research by supplying materials and conferring with Alethia every few hours.


    Before she gained superpowers, Alethia would have considered a month or more spent researching in a futuristic laboratory like this a dream come true. Any part of the station allowed access to current research.


    She laid in bed watching her double die for the one hundred and thirteenth time. The pain from the second milestone had finally begun to sink into the back of Alethia¡¯s mind. Even in the future, effective pain management that left the mind limber and clear was non-existent. She watched a real-time view of the various foreign bodies competing and dying her in clone¡¯s body. In their desperate attempts to survive, they were killing her twin.


    Alethia closed her eyes and waited for the body to fade and inspiration struck her. When she told Natalie that she needed an infusion of nanites, Alethia had no idea how to make them. Once her double faded away again, Alethia produced a new one to test her hypothesis. She laid down on the bed next to herself and stared at herself for a second as she touched and reabsorbed her own body.


    The experience twisted her perceptions for an instant, but Alethia was used to splitting her mind now so sealing off errant thoughts and misaligned perceptions was as easy as dissection. The process even resembled the same as Alethia cut off maddened lines of thought and hallucinations while her double reprocessed. Time dragged on, but when the last of herself disappeared, she felt energized and certain. As her own body reintegrated she could feel the tissues merge and cells reorient themselves.


    A flash of insight spurred Alethia to the testing chamber. Before she dropped a double off at the creche she considered telling Natalie what she intended. Alethia had to wait until the second day¡¯s processing changes normally caused death to try what she wanted. The risks to her person were significant. Natalie would probably tell Alethia to wait and continue to observe the crash as the tried to refine the process. It was possible that a third or even fourth reprocessing sequence would emerge and she would die anyway. Alethia knew the risks, with her mind focused as it was, she could view the branching possibilities. Where the future fuzzed ¡ª the calculations to determine cellular mutation were too vast for even future computers; her mind refined the possibilities along axes Alethia would never have considered.


    She left the creche with a double behind, resolved to contact Natalie.


    ¡°You could die, Alethia. I thought you shared your people¡¯s high regard for their own existence. Has something happened?¡±


    Alethia paused, she felt close to Natalie after all of these weeks, but she missed Zoe and Karen. Even Richard. If she wanted to see them again and keep seeing them, this was her only avenue.


    ¡°No, but I am determined to succeed. Based on our observations, this is the best course to take.¡±


    ¡°I wish you could produce a second clone.¡±


    ¡°Me too, but wishing gets us nowhere. I only get one shot at this, so I agree with waiting until the last minute. That also gives me a chance to see Zoe after she wakes up. Believe me, I have thought about this.¡±


    Natalie studied Alethia. The only regret Alethia would have if her plan failed, aside from her own death of course, would be missing the chance to say goodbye to her dad. But this way she could ask Zoe to give a message to Karen and Richard if something happened.


    Natalie was still silent, so Alethia said,


    ¡°Besides all of that, we might find the secret sauce between now and then. That will change the whole equation!¡±


    Natalie nodded and said,


    ¡°Thalleus was serious when he said people aboard our arcology are free. The only thing I would stop you from doing is hurting someone else. I will continue to assist.¡±


    Alethia nodded. That was the least she could have hoped for, but not the worst outcome where Natalie withdrew her support.


    ¡°Alright, let¡¯s get back to killing copies of me!¡±


    The morning Zoe woke, Natalie had entered Alethia¡¯s chambers with her customary knock. The green haired woman giggled as her fingers skimmed across the large blank surface of Alethia¡¯s room they used as a whiteboard. Several official looking forms scrolled by, all bore Alethia¡¯s full name as well as a relative temporal date.


    ¡°What is that and why are you giggling like a girl?¡±


    Natalie grinned and stepped aside as several forms revealed their contents. Alethia read each one in a blink.


    ¡°Wait, what is this, are you teasing me?¡±


    Natalie sobered like her jocularity had been an act,


    ¡°Absolutely not. Our computer logs your laboratory time and I reconfigured it not to count your double¡¯s time as that would have raised questions.¡±


    ¡°I have an MD Phd., in Nanomedicine and Human Biology? How? I didn¡¯t write a dissertation.¡±


    Natalie returned to smiling,


    ¡°That is technically true. You did not write one dissertation, you wrote two. If you want to split hairs, you wrote three, but two in Nanomedicine and one in H. Bio. Remember the papers I asked you to write, about your observations and tests regarding the serum treatments? Then about how the cellular integration worked?¡±


    ¡°You asked me to absorb my clone and wait twenty-four hours. It felt like a waste.¡±


    ¡°So you do remember?¡±


    Natalie¡¯s eyes glimmered as she smirked,


    ¡°Yeah, I split the first paper into two and wrote all three in a night.¡±


    ¡°Each one was over one hundred and twenty thousand words long. Altogether you wrote four hundred and fifty thousand words. Our dissertation committee had to call in consultants to review some of your work. You should be proud.¡±


    ¡°Well, thank you then!¡±


    Natalie said,


    ¡°Now that we know how to make paper, would you like a copy?¡±


    Alethia nodded, speechless now that what Natalie said had finally sunk in. She had her doctorate. Legitimately. She trembled as she thought about it. She could return to her own time with what she knew and could build a career releasing just enough of what she had learned to advance Earth science a thousand or more years. That would be insane, but the point stood. Even if she had to receive a life-threatening future nano infection before she could do it.


    Natalie said,


    ¡°It will take a day or two. Let¡¯s wake your friend. By the way, this clears the last few obstacles you might encounter working with the researchers here. Both degrees give you unlimited access to the facilities. You could observe and even direct your friend¡¯s rousing.¡±


    A tear escaped Alethia¡¯s crowded eyeballs,Stolen story; please report.


    ¡°Thank you. Thank you so much Natalie. This means a lot to me.¡±


    ¡°You are welcome, Doctor Thompson. A few people might stop by to congratulate you today. Feel free to send them away or set the station system to Do Not Disturb.¡±


    Zoe¡¯s waking was uneventful, if Alethia ignored the wonder of seeing the mercurial liquid recede from the tank to reveal a bare Zoe. Alethia forced scientific and medical detachment on her mind as she assisted Natalie with lifting Zoe out of her creche and administering a mild stimulant. Zoe opened her eyes and blinked at Alethia as she covered the other woman with a warm blanket made of soft white fabric. Alethia reminded herself to look that fabric up later and studiously ignored the skin at the leading edge of the blanket.


    Zoe said,


    ¡°Hello gorgeous. I am glad to see you.¡±


    Her voice sounded so happy and wonderful to Alethia that she stood speechless and open-mouthed for long enough for Zoe to nod her head and smirk. Then she darted forward in a flash and planted a kiss right next to Alethia¡¯s mouth. Alethia blinked at that motion and smiled back at Zoe. This time, Zoe kissed her on the lips, full and earnest.


    Alethia grabbed Zoe¡¯s back and pressed herself into the woman as they embraced. Zoe tasted like honey and spices to Alethia. Even better than the strawberry of Natalie¡¯s lips. Why am I thinking about her now? She chided herself and nibbled at Zoe¡¯s lip as they parted.


    Alethia said,


    ¡°I am glad to see you too. How do you feel?¡±


    Zoe looked at Alethia¡¯s mouth and said,


    ¡°Better and better. Better than when I went sleep, that is for certain. Could I have some clothes?¡±


    Alethia handed Zoe the simple robe Natalie had set out for Zoe. Alethia turned as Zoe put the robe on.


    Zoe said,


    ¡°You¡¯ve seen this all before, right?¡±


    Alethia coughed,


    ¡°Well, yes. I guess so. Yes.¡±


    She coughed again.


    Zoe laughed,


    ¡°Even if you had not, you don¡¯t need to turn around. If you feel better, you could always make it even by stripping.¡±


    Alethia had already turned around so Zoe did not get to see her face turn cherry red at the suggestion. Natalie laughed into the back of her hand at the far side of the room. Zoe turned her head at Alethia¡¯s shift in attention. Natalie looked up, her laughter gone again and approached Zoe.


    ¡°I am Natalie Goshen, chief scientist aboard this arcology.¡±


    Zoe looked at Natalie¡¯s hand and said,


    ¡°Nice to meet you. I think I am supposed to head out for some training or something now?¡±


    Natalie sighed and said,


    ¡°Yes, that is true. You do not know how to move the silver beast yet. You must learn before you hurt yourself or others.¡±


    Zoe ignored Alethia and Natalie now. Alethia had known this would happen, the Keeper upgrades did not fill the bearer¡¯s heads with computers and mind altering neurotransmitters, but they did implant a single overriding suggestion: seek training upon waking. The instinct kicked in as soon as Zoe¡¯s attention diverted from Alethia.


    Natalie and Alethia followed Zoe through the complex. The few people who crossed their paths bowed their head and clasped their hands in front of them. Zoe walked with a relaxed step, neither fast nor slow. Her robes marked her as a pre-trainee. Alethia understood that the seeking process was required. It held sacred import for the Keeper and the walk through the arcology helped solidify and set the mental pathways needed for training.


    Two figures wearing silver hooded robes waited in a pair on either side of a doorway, like silent golems watching their master¡¯s lair. Zoe bowed to both of them and the door opened. Natalie and Alethia were not welcome through this doorway. Natalie had never elected to partake of the soldier modifications, which were required in Alethia¡¯s case where Zoe had chosen them.


    Alethia was destined to pass through that doorway herself, assuming she survived the conversion process.


    Natalie and Alethia spoke about the solder modifications as they walked back to the research are to drop off a clone and start the experiment again. They still hoped that the second milestone would pass with a living clone and they could move onto the final phase.


    ¡°Why do Enforcer conversions have to take the soldier modification course? Why can¡¯t we use the civilian nanites?¡±


    ¡°I forget how much history is redacted from your education. In this case I think I am fine to tell you the provenance of the various nano systems.


    Much was lost when the Enforcers first turned on the Keepers. Our religious convictions, long since set aside but for a few ceremonies and mysteries, forbade violence from anyone not initiated into battle by the priesthood. Therefore our defensive force was small and its growth was subject to the whims of religious authorities.


    We were decimated in the literal sense. The figures some historians insist on put our original populations in the low billions. Only five small colony vessels, each rated to hold a mere hundred million bodies in stasis, escaped into deep space.


    Temporal assault left us stumbling along. Only a small cadre of families possessed the knowledge necessary to repair or even drive our vessels. Computer networks had enormous holes in their databanks. We refer to this as our dark age.¡±


    Alethia hung on every word. This was the most anyone had ever allowed her to learn about the Keeper¡¯s origins.


    ¡°The Keepers survived the diaspora by the grace of a turncoat from the Enforcers. You have experienced their pattern of kidnapping and forced conscription. Someone like yourself, captured and made to serve them found us during a raid and managed to kill his sergeant as well as the rest of his squad. Then he allowed our scientists to study him.


    For almost three years, he advanced our understanding of temporal manipulation and nanotechnology thousands of years. Our own science had been directed at the celestial, by necessity. By that time, we had converted our ships over to a primitive version of the crystal structures that surround us now. Sorry, I digress.


    William helped our society develop our own version of the nano systems we now use on our soldiers. This helped William avoid the life shortening effects of his own serum. It had other combat-enhancement properties as well. Those who received the treatment who did not possess the Enforcer nanites still received a broad assortment of improvements as well as antigeria.


    He helped us protect our ships from further attacks, we owe him a great deal. We did not manage to successfully produce the civilian nano modifications until long after William¡¯s death, Thalleus told you about the Outer Guests? The ¡°Aliens¡± who helped us?


    They expanded on the original protocol, which lacked many of the advantages aside from life extension and general efficiency gains in things like cognition and physical performance. These are still well below what the soldier modifications provide.¡±


    Alethia knew the last part, Natalie seemed uncomfortable with her exposition. She left many of he details out of her story, which did not necessarily make it false. Lies held more weight in details than the truth ever did.


    She wondered if this arcology had once been one of the five colony ships. Based on its size, this vessel could probably hold at least a billion people, probably far more than that. And that estimate was based on comfortable housing, not stasis. In that case, people would be stacked like cordwood. She did not know what the stasis technology was like when the original diaspora occurred, but her figures suggested this ship was around a thousand times bigger than the original ships had been.


    Maybe they grew them?


    Alethia had irrepressible energy for the next forty-eight hours. She wasn¡¯t even bothered when her double died at the end, because Zoe would return a few hours later.


    When she did, she wore the silver robes that marked her as a soldier. She looked exactly like she had before, maybe with a bit more muscle mass.


    Her smile split her face when Alethia ran up to her,


    ¡°Hey Allie! It is so good to see you!¡±


    They hugged and Alethia said,


    ¡°It¡¯s good to see you too! How was training and everything?¡±


    Zoe nodded.


    ¡°Weird. I can¡¯t say much. But I don¡¯t remember everything that happened between starting training and deciding to accept the military modifications. I remember you were there, right?¡±


    Alethia blushed, they met in Zoe¡¯s assigned room. It was the same size as Alethia¡¯s room, but slightly colder.


    ¡°I was there, yup.¡±


    ¡°Why do you say that weird.¡±


    ¡°You really don¡¯t remember?¡±


    Zoe blinked and pressed her lips together along with her eyelids. She shock her head,


    ¡°Nope. I remember seeing you. And then I was in training being trained. Like a train. Train train.¡±


    Alethia laughed at that,


    ¡°Did you get stuck on a track?¡±


    Zoe grinned and said,


    ¡°So I had to keep steaming ahead.¡±


    ¡°We went off the rails here. I was trying to see what you remembered?¡±


    ¡°Besides trains.¡±


    Zoe nodded, still grinning.


    Alethia said,


    ¡°So you really don¡¯t remember kissing me. Me kissing you back?¡±


    Zoe¡¯s hand went to her mouth and she turned red. Alethia knew the answer before Zoe spoke.


    ¡°I did that? Oh my gosh, I am so sorry!¡±


    Alethia nodded back and forth.


    ¡°I was not so much reminding you because I was bothered. More like I wanted to see if kissing you would be okay. Would it?¡±


    Zoe blinked again and nodded,


    ¡°Yes it would, Ms Thompson.¡±


    Alethia kissed her with a brief peck on the lips and said,


    ¡°You mean Doctor Thompson. That doesn¡¯t matter. I can explain later.¡±


    Zoe was almost laughing when Alethia kissed her more sincerely this time. She had definitely been kissed before, even recently by people she was happy to kiss. But she was finally kissing instead of being the one kissed.


    The mirth melted out of Zoe as she stepped into Alethia¡¯s embrace and they explored each other¡¯s mouths with tender affection and seasoned longing.


    Two days later, Alethia¡¯s double failed to die. It complicated things more than Alethia expected. They had a choice to make. On the one hand they could repeat the process again and make sure that it was reproducible. Or they could let the process continue, hoping for a successful conclusion.


    Alethia opted or the former. She wanted to maximize her chances and this would give her one more opportunity to study the correct phase one to two transition while also allowing them to see her clone die once, if there was a phase three.


    They would still have just over two days to spare. Even Zoe agreed that it was as good a course as any other.


    The second time she survived day two, Zoe and Natalie were both with her. She had been worried all forty-eight hours that something would go wrong. The next three weeks flew by with some heavy tension. The day before her clone should have woken up, everything went wrong.


    The pain warned her that something was wrong before the machines monitoring her clone detected a problem. Alethia had time to ask for Natalie¡¯s help when she passed out in shock from the pain.


    She later reviewed a recording of the failed process. Her double had literally melted in the creche. All that was left was a mass of green and silver fluid that failed to disappear when Alethia woke and stopped concentrating on it. They had finally changed the body enough that she did not have control over it. With some trepidation, Alethia called forth a new clone.


    It worked and she breathed a sigh of relief.


    When she passed out, they lost forty nine hours. That set them behind their time table. They only had one more chance to complete the process now and Alethia would have to go into it basically blind. She spent almost every waking moment during the last three weeks reading and watching her last clone expire. Her memory held only emptiness when she reviewed it and the machines, despite the intense resolution of the advanced technology barely helped. Every cell in her body had reached near total maturation and integration. Everything should have been fine, but two days before the process ended, all of them spontaneously¡­ the only word that fit was exploded. They filled with self-produced antigen and viral loads and burst from within. The green hue was from a sulfur reaction in the blood.


    The night before she was set to try her reabsorption trick, Zoe visited her alone.


    ¡°Hey, do you mind chatting for a while, I wanted to ask you something. Something that¡¯s been bugging me.¡±


    ¡°Sure, what¡¯s up Zoe?¡±


    ¡°Why do you have to go on this OP? I mean I am going because I am already ready. And I guess I am not asking the right question. I mean why are you insisting on accepting the conversion before you go? Couldn¡¯t you rescue Karen and the rest without the Keeper transition?¡±


    Alethia shook her head,


    ¡°No, something could go wrong. Based on what I already know, I think the Enforcers can control their agents somehow. Maybe not without an officer or whatever. But I am not taking any chances. I would rather be dead than someone¡¯s slave, Zoe.¡±


    ¡°People say that all the time, right? But even if you¡¯re a slave, you are still alive. You still have a chance to do something, turn things around or whatever. Death just ends all of that.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t believe that death is really an end. It is an entrance to eternal life with the Father.¡±


    Zoe smiled,


    ¡°I love that. It¡¯s cuter because you absolutely mean it and you are not arrogant about it. I love that.¡±


    Alethia decided that was a compliment,


    ¡°Thank you.¡±


    ¡°But you¡¯re still going through with this tomorrow, aren¡¯t you?¡±


    ¡°I am. I have no choice Zoe.¡±


    Natalie insisted that she start at least an hour before the models theorized. Her logic was sound, but Alethia was resistant. She was afraid that if she tried the integration before whatever went wrong did, she would be too early and dead no matter what.


    She laid down in the creche next to her body, the silver fluid was temporarily lowered for this part. Alethia could breathe the liquid, but it still felt disconcerting to breath fluids. She lay shoulder to shoulder with her clone, focusing on sensing her tissues and their relative health. Despite what Natalie had suggested, Alethia waited, listening to her body for a change. It arrived twenty-nine minutes later which made Alethia grateful that she had listened to Natalie.


    She started the integration when her clone¡¯s tissues started exhibiting an anomaly. For a moment, her perceptions went crazy again as her clone woke and they shared senses. The press of the liquid was the first thing Alethia cut away. Urgency tried to force her to act in haste, but she resisted the pressure. This would require proper timing or she might die anyway.


    Before her cells started to die, she forced the transition. Energy surged through her bodies and her mental efforts to segregate her various ideas and thought shattered. Pieces of thought floated down like leaves from a tree.


    Alethia¡¯s father smiled as she showed him her grades at UW. Summa Cum Laudewas something to be proud of, even if her mother muttered a slight directed toward ¡®state school¡¯s¡¯ in response.


    Her mother arguing with her father in front of her about Alethia¡¯s involvement in he SCA and with Role Playing games. Her mother insisted that they were the ¡°tools of Satan¡± while her father held the skills she gained in high regard.


    She remembered the first time Tony kissed her. Alone in his car after watching Spiderman on the big screen. He awkwardly fumbled for her chest and she had to tell him that she was not ready to move that far that fast. The truth of that situation flashed at her: even then, I wasn¡¯t really attracted to him.


    Her fight with Tiny Tim scanned by her vision now. Here she felt even worse because it of how badly she had treated Karen, Zoe and even stupid Tim.


    Alethia snapped back into her body and felt the whole cells forming her original body start to fall under the toxic assault from the modified cells. Her nanites could not adapt fast enough for her to live and for a moment, Alethia felt like surrendering to her end. With the right mental control, it would be painless.


    But her conversation with Zoe goaded her on. She did not want to die and more importantly, she wanted to explore every new thing she had found here. Her doctorate was just the representation of the first step. Like an emblem.


    With that her resolve hardened and she turned her mind away from integration to replication. She could double her cells before they died. Over and over again she repeated the process, observing that the cells and tissues she replicated changed as she did so. Alethia lost all sense of time and for a moment hung in a perpetual state of rebuilding her body as it consumed itself.


    There she felt a mark upon her heart, like a seal or a brand. She felt a place of perfect balance and could see that all of the splits and tensions of her life lead to this one moment. And all she needed to do was hang on until the next.


    Silver light burst into her vision with that realization. She attained equilibrium between the disparate cells in her body and with a thought, pushed that tension over the brink. With a leap forward like that of a evolutionary mutation, in fact that exactly, her cells changed to absorb the previous, modified tissue and something new emerged, a stable combination of the twain.


    Her muscles seized as the biological processes crashed through her body, changing her and saving her.


    She opened her eyes as fluid drained out of her creche. The digital alerts that troubled her were gone now, erased from the system in her head. But their absence left a void begging to be filled with data. White vistas of possibility occurred to Alethia as she probed the nascent, pristine digital encoding system resident in every cell in her body like a spare set of DNA or like ten thousand blank Internets waiting for data to fill them.


    Zoe looked into the creche and said,


    ¡°Hello there beautiful, I am happy to see you alive.¡±


    Alethia looked at her and felt her heart swell. She stood up from the creche on her own and embraced Zoe.


    ¡°I am so happy to see you. You are lovely too.¡±


    Zoe gave her a brief peck on the lips and said,


    ¡°I am sorry to rush you, but I think you need training, right?¡±


    As soon as Zoe mentioned it, Alethia felt the urge fall on her like the need to use the restroom. The floor of the station glowed in a way she knew only soldiers could see. She followed the glow, waiting only for Zoe to pull the rainbow robe over her head. That part was import too for some reason.


    As soon as it covered her, Alethia made for the room. The place where she would be trained. She needed to get there now. Shadows passed by her, a part of her sensed a vague threat as she walked by them. But their eyes were averted and she could plainly see their hands. Nothing needed to be done to these people.


    Two people, one man and one woman marked her destination. She felt a relief akin to the first sip of tea in the morning when she saw them. It was enough to whet her appetite for a proper gulp, something to coat her stomach in its emptiness.


    They made no motion as she passed between them.


    Beyond the door was a short hallway. Alethia was alone now and the urge to proceed moved her beyond thought. She passed through a second door and came face to face with a mirror. In it she saw a powerful enemy, herself. Despite the knowledge that she was herself born of seeing her own duplicates obey her whims, she struck.


    Alethia flung her hand forward, but the mirror was too far away to strike like this. No matter, something long and serpentine writhed out of her hands and struck the mirror, shattering the image and breaking the unnatural urges in her mind like throwing a switch. Behind the mirror, Zoe and three other silver robed men and women clapped for Alethia.


    She could feel something hot in her blood, like she had a fever that did not touch her head.


    Zoe said,


    ¡°I welcome you to the Argent, sister Alethia.¡±


    The first day of training involved learning to control the heat in her veins. The source of the heat proved to be a collection of her own cells that filled her skin and blood. With concentration and practice, she could control the cells like they were clay.


    There were other lessons that day too of course. While Alethia tried to draw forth the sinuousmercury in her body, information was streamed high speed into her mind. The breadth of the training projected into her this way astonished Alethia. Like the Matrix, she could suddenly use a several dozen new weapons she only knew the name of but lacked any historical context. With her eyes closed, she could disassemble the Axial Proton Cannon and describe its effective range ¡ª limited by gravitational interference ¡ª but she could not tell you when it was produced or when she might expect to encounter one. She sincerely hoped she never did.


    Other pieces of training seemed more useful. Alethia already possessed some basic craft and survival skills. She was proud of her ability to camp rugged; a pack, shovel, some food and a tent would keep her fine. This took her skills to a whole new level. Now she knew how to produce shelter not in different biomes, that was too restrictive for her training. She learned how to survive a diverse array of timezones and in their biomes, including ones Alethia only heard of in sci-fi: radiation zones, alien habitats 1-19, and many more.


    Space was the most interesting. The Dreadnought Personal Battle Suit, the silver fractal treaded suits that abducted her friends, was the showcase achievement of the Keeper engineers. Creating it required mastering the silver liquid in her blood, an ongoing process she continued to pursue even while her mind filled.


    Using the Dreadnought, Soldiers could survive for weeks even in deep space. Using the suit would recycle her air and water, the carbon and hydrogen exchange processes were already clear to Alethia from her previous studies.


    Interesting, she thought, they train us for the possibility our suit is destroyed.


    The Keepers interleaved contingencies like that. Despite the rapid run up to readiness ¡ª any modern military would kill for a civilian to Special Forces/Mobile Infantry training time of only thirty-one days ¡ª the Keepers valued their Soldiers.


    All of this made Alethia suspect that her mandate might extend beyond the Earth and her twentieth century home than Thalleus and Natalie suggested when she arrived.


    The second day, Alethia slept for two hours after which Zoe woke her,


    ¡°Hey, turns out I have some teaching talent. They want me to show you the Argent Way.¡±


    ¡°What? Is that like philosophy or something?¡±


    ¡°Not even sort of. It¡¯s combat martial arts, pure and simple. You will like it I think.¡±


    ¡°Why didn¡¯t they inject that into my brain like the rest of these weird martial arts?¡±


    ¡°Right? If you think about it, they did. This is like the culmination of the last twenty-two or so hours. Like the rest of this, the Argent Way has echoes of religious significance for them. Come on, we¡¯re burning time, I really do think you will enjoy this.¡±


    Zoe was right, Alethia loved it. The moves were simple, yet sinuous. They combined movements from all of the hundreds of schools inserted into Alethia¡¯s head over the last day.


    She was curious about something,


    ¡°Why don¡¯t we use the Dreadnoughts? The manual thinks that is the personal combat suit par excellence.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll use it later once you get the hang of things. You won¡¯t use it much, if at all.¡±


    ¡°Why?¡±


    Zoe shrugged,


    ¡°Have your Enforcers enhancements faded?¡±


    Alethia thought about that,


    ¡°No, not even a little.¡¯


    ¡°Right. You¡¯re faster and stronger than the rest of us because of your combined enhancements. Once you know what you¡¯re doing and I start having trouble sparring with you, then I will activate the Dreadnought. I will show you how to use it too, if you need. But I doubt you¡¯ll want it.¡±


    ¡°Can I try to create my double?¡±


    Zoe shrugged,


    ¡°Beats me, I¡¯m no scientist. Though I have been thinking about that. It would be really helpful in battle. We should keep training for now. The time we have is important.¡±


    After only two hours of training in the custom martial art of the Keepers, Zoe activated her Dreadnought. Her movements sped up and Alethia had to focus while she spoke to Zoe using her own voice while Zoe spoke with Dreadnought¡¯s fractal language,


    ¡°This is harder than I thought it would be.¡±


    Alethia sucked air in and her skin burned. The snakes in her veins wanted to escape to meet the glinting needles and blades that Zoe turned on Alethia.


    ¡°It is hard in particular because I can tell you are resisting the Silver Serpent. Let it out and it will help you on its own. You know how to do this. You don¡¯t want to resist it.¡±


    Alethia knew that Zoe was right, but when the violence became so real, she struggled with unleashing herself. Even in her own time trying to stop the gunmen who shot Karen, she had never intended to harm any of them. The arts she was practicing now crossed the line of what she studied for a decade. This was a military combat technique: killing reduced to pure efficiency.


    Zoe did not relent. She pressed Alethia, but still she avoided releasing the Serpent and used her own enhancements to counter Zoe. The process worked though Alethia had to tune out the searing pressure in order to focus on defending and counter attacking against Zoe.


    They spoke little for the last few hours of Alethia¡¯s training. More and more her resistance to violence and her discomfort with the ideal of a Soldier willing to kill for their alliances warred against each other. Self defense was one thing, attacking the Enforcers because they captured her friends was different. Even with her impressive intelligence she could not resolve the conflict with a simple aphorism or argument.


    In all likelihood people would die by her hand within a few hours and when they did Alethia would carry with her the knowledge that she sought them in their homes. Even if she knew her cause was righteous ¡ª a rescue of her allies from mind control and abuse ¡ª that did not absolve her of her guilt.


    As the end of Alethia¡¯s training neared, Zoe pressed her even harder, as if to squeeze as much use out of their remaining time as possible.


    Alethia had no idea where that urgency came from until they finished. She found thinking about anything but her lessons hard until the forty eight hours had expired.


    A second trainer emerged to inform them they were done mid fight. Both stopped like their switches had been flipped. They moved with inhuman precision and skill now and such an abrupt halt was nothing for them.


    Natalie met the two in the hallway outside of the training area.


    ¡°We are ready to deploy, training went well?¡±


    Alethia nodded. Zoe stayed mounted in her Dreadnought. Alethia gave it little thought because of the tension behind Natalie¡¯s eyes.


    ¡°Something seems wrong.¡±


    ¡°We need to walk while we talk. Let¡¯s go to the disembarkation hangar.¡±


    Alethia knew its location from her training. She also knew the key defensive positions as well as the places that could be safely detonated using the arcology¡¯s, named Prime, explosive sequence.


    Neither Alethia nor Zoe spoke. This felt like the lead up to one of the big wars the SCA held. Natalie spoke,


    ¡°After everything, the administrator was able to give us five minutes of time. At our current rate, we threaten to surpass that delicate threshold. The Sphereship will send you to the Terminal as soon as we reach the disembarkation hangar.¡±


    Natalie repeated herself at the end. She felt the same pressure that had been affecting Zoe.


    ¡°Why is everyone so worried about this?¡±


    Natalie said,


    ¡°We have not heard from Terminal in two days. Exactly the amount of time we needed to bring your training to conclusion. Right before Terminal went dark, they indicated that the Interdiction had lifted on our assault point. We expected our soldiers to return. Instead something else happened.¡±


    Zoe said,


    ¡°So in addition to rescuing our friends we are part of the assault on Terminal.¡±


    Natalie and Zoe used the word casually, Terminal. Alethia¡¯s training informed her that this was the only time travel station the Keepers possessed.


    Terminal allowed the various arcologies to maintain contact with each other. It was also outside of the black hole¡¯s temporal protections. To reach it, she needed to use one of the Sphereships, vessels so old that the secret to their construction was lost during the Keeper Dark Ages.


    Two more Soldiers in Dreadnoughts joined them on the way. Natalie ended her discussion with Zoe and Alethia. As she did, Alethia had the feeling that some message or signal passed between the other two women. She had no idea what that could possibly be.


    They reached the door to the hangar and a man shouted from down the hallway, causing all five people to spin and react defensively. None attacked, of course. Training ensured their professionalism even in untested cases like Alethia and Zoe.


    The man who waved at them from down the hallway wore a dirty artist¡¯s smock with a fanny pack on the front. He had bright red short curly hair. His hands distracted Alethia, they were covered in fresh paint just like his smock.


    ¡°I am coming with you! Wait!¡±


    The two veteran Soldiers shifted. Alethia caught the imprecation they shared using Zoe as a shield. She wondered why they did not want him with them.


    He was panting when he finished running up.


    ¡°Oh, good. You didn¡¯t leave yet. That would have been unfortunate.¡±


    No one else said anything. An odd hole in Alethia¡¯s training left the question of chain of command open for the Keepers. The others waited on the newcomer like he was someone important.


    Alethia could not hold her tongue through the tension and absurdity of this guy¡¯s appearance.


    ¡°Who are you?¡±


    He raised his eyebrow with a minuscule twitch.


    ¡°Oh no one important. I am coming with you or your best friend Rachel will die as well as your friend Karen. That would be unfortunate.¡±


    ¡°If you come with us, they¡¯ll live?¡±


    He walked through their group, talking to Alethia over his shoulder.


    ¡°If you come with me, your friends might live. And that will be fortunate.¡±


    His gaze lingered behind him as he wondered through the doorway and into the hangar.


    Alethia mouthed, ¡°who is this guy?¡± to Zoe.


    One of the Dreadnought-ed other soldiers answered,


    ¡°He is the Chief of Soldiers. An Ex-Enforcer like you. His enhancement is a little¡­¡±


    The other solder interrupted,


    ¡°Fucking annoying. Protects him just fine, the rest of us not so much.¡±


    ¡°What do you mean?¡±


    Without turning around the chief said,


    ¡°You will see, assuming you survive long enough. Come on, we need to hurry.¡±


    He was running along with the rest by the time they reached the black ramp that led into the giant black sphere dominating the hangar. Alethia¡¯s awe made her miss a step, stumble and recover in her mad rush to reach the ramp. The black sphere towered in the hangar, as they approached it and the small figures moving around the distant side of the hangar came into focus, she realized the sphere was hundreds of meters in diameter. It¡¯s presence here lowered Alethia¡¯s estimate of the population of the arcology by a few percentage points.


    The ramp was massive and its size made Alethia wonder if these were the seed vessels the Keepers used to flee during their diaspora. Nothing she had learned filled in that gap, which inflamed her curiosity.


    The chief had already reached the command deck of the sphere by the time trailed in last. The ramp started rising before her foot hit the end.


    Panels overhead glowed with soft red light. The chief turned and said,


    ¡°Zoe, Alethia. My name is Edwin. Just call me Ed. This is your first translation, right? We should all put on our Dreadnoughts. That is an order by the way.¡±


    As he spoke, mercury puddles covered him and obscured his face. Alethia concentrated on her own suit. It flowed out of her skin and covered her with relief. Pressure she had shut out of her awareness finally subsided.


    ¡°Albright, lift off.¡±


    Ed¡¯s words gave the only notice that the ship had started moving Alethia felt nothing through her Dreadnought. The visual systems in her personal tank let her see the interior of the Sphereship in greater detail. The readouts all showed the Keeper script Alethia had learned at the beginning of her stay with them.


    She read all of them in a glance when Ed¡¯s voice interrupted her musings.


    ¡°Prepare for translation. Lock all Dreadnoughts.¡±


    All five of the Dreadnoughts¡¯ fractal armatures grabbed various surfaces in the command deck, as well as each other.


    Edwin did not count down. Alethia eventually learned to appreciate that.


    ¡°Go!¡±


    No other warning prepared her for what happened next, but then nothing could have. Every cell in her body changed shape, warped against the backdrop of the universal medium as it warped itself. She tried to scream but the Dreadnought held her still. The pain shone bright enough in that instant to dwarf the sensation of melting into green and silver goo.


    Alethia woke to hear shouting as though down a long hallway. When she did not respond, the shouting reached her ear in an eye blink,


    ¡°Wake the shit up, we¡¯re in it already! Can you hear me?¡±


    Ed¡¯s voice roused Alethia from her disorientation and awakened her senses. His silver armor held her own in a vice grip.


    Alethia mumbled,


    ¡°Yes, I can hear you.¡±


    Before she finished, Ed shouted over her,


    ¡°Good, we¡¯re bailing before something happens to the Sphereship! Out out!¡±


    Air roared out of the command deck as a large porthole opened in the side of the ship. Alethia¡¯s mind, still trying to recover its balance from the translation noted how she had not seen anything that might shift or become dislodged in any part of the Sphereship.


    Her own Dreadnought disengaged its anchor points with a leap, heading for the opening and clearing it without a bump. The suit had a tracking and telemetry system that showed her the gravity plane several hundred feet below her. It also informed her that she was descending at speed in hard vacuum. Overhead, Ed¡¯s suit displayed a blip showing Alethia that he had let go right after her, making sure he was the last soldier out of the ship. The ship itself changed direction from Alethia¡¯s perspective and flew back along a new trajectory.


    Below her, the suit¡¯s systems displayed a broken series of dense stone and metal pillars. Soldiers, both Keepers and Enforcers fought amidst the ruins. Maps of the area presented themselves and Alethia angled her own descent to take her to the time portal in the ruins. Zoe and the other two soldiers fought in that area. Ed¡¯s intended descent carried him to the same position.


    Her Dreadnought handled entry into the low atmosphere of Terminal. This place was an enigma among enigmas. The Keepers controlled access to it, at least until recently, but they had no idea how to replicate it or even repair the broken pillars of the surrounding architecture. Even the air and its low atmosphere were mysteries.


    A full platoon of Enforcers countered the Keeper push. Alethia could see that her forces were doomed even before she arrived. Any hope of victory fled as fast as her calculations sped through her mind. Right up until Ed landed in the middle of the heaviest concentration of enemies. He landed with a massive impact. That, combined with the fact that he beat Alethia, suggested he had accelerated to strike his foes like a missile.


    Alethia could not believe he would risk himself with such a cavalier attitude, but when the debris cleared from this landing, she saw that he stood unharmed, Dreadnought armor no longer covering him. He held a small billy club, a piece of wood or metal about a foot and a half long with a slight bulge on the end. At least half of the Enforcers rose and fired at him with a melange of weapons and powers.


    Fire and plasma streamed toward Ed as well as laser fire, but weapon-based and generated, as well as several melee attacks. Once again, Alethia was sure he was dead. But the laser attacks missed Ed by a hair, striking one of the Keeper defenses behind him. All three fire bursts curved impossibly toward Aelthia. Her own Dreadnought engaged a defensive maneuver and dodged the strikes.


    Every melee attacker fell without touching Ed. Several of them hit each other and those who did not, hit themselves. Two people died, having cut each other nearly in half with glowing energy swords.


    Ed was speaking out loud to the people attacking him, but Alethia could not make out the words over the cacophony of the attacks. Her suit dampened the sound, while also managing to convey the difference between that and the rest of the noises in the area.


    She landed and rolled to cover. Alethia had aimed for Zoe¡¯s position, but evasive action had led her off course. Her armor receded from her with a thought, filling her with hot pressure once more. The air left the reek of both gunpowder and ozone in Alethia¡¯s nostrils.


    Alethia huddled behind a pillar who¡¯s top surface had been shorn off with some sort of laser or energy weapon. She could see tiny bubbles that marred the surface of some of the pillars. The edges of this one had them too. Her training offered several possibilities for weapons that might have inflicted that damage on the pillars.


    She wished she could summon forth a double in this situation, something that would be expendable for her. No sooner had Alethia hoped for it than her mirror image sprang out of her body and sprinted toward Ed¡¯s former position. He laid into the Enforcers around him, heedless of the danger to his person. Maybe there was no danger to him.


    Alethia tore her own attention away as Zoe¡¯s Dreadnought joined her run. She would have to be careful here.


    Zoe¡¯s appendages gave quick, clipped messages,


    ¡°Look at the portal.¡±


    Alethia looked up and saw that a small team of Enforcers had gathered around the pillar. Between the three men sat a small black metal device with runes Alethia could not read written in large font on the side. At least the font seemed large, like a warning or trademark.


    ¡°We need to run up there. Now.¡±


    They rushed to the portal, lasers and other diverted attacks coming close to both of them. Several shots clipped through the edge of Zoe¡¯s Dreadnought. None of the hits were direct and such glancing blows did nothing to the armor. Alethia had trouble preventing her double from throwing herself between Zoe and the attacks, but the activity near the portal demanded her attention.


    The men watched Zoe and Alethia run and one motioned to the other two with his head. They nodded and blazed toward the two with speed that made Alethia concerned. A stray laser took one of their attackers in the chest, killing him instantly. The other reached Zoe with a thunderous impact. For some reason he did not consider Alethia much of a threat.


    She did not have to try to kill him when she hit him with her double. Her speed was a little diminished, something Alethia had not noticed the first time she split.


    The man¡¯s head and neck hardened as she made contact with his jaw Her blow did not even stagger him. He turned and hit Alethia¡¯s clone with a perfunctory backhand that she failed to avoid by only a finger length. Two of her ribs broke from the blow and Alethia bit her lip to keep from doubling over.


    Back behind cover, Alethia clutched her ribs, unable to filter the pain out without leaving Zoe with adefenseless double. She kicked forward at the man as soon as she could recover. He stepped out of the way and swung at her again. This time Alethia moved out of the way only for the man to step back into her space and reverse his strike. He grabbed Alethia¡¯s collar and shoulder and crushed it with his hand. It suddenly became dense and hard as metal and Alethia¡¯s double coughed up blood, spitting it into her attacker¡¯s face.


    Sheer luck guided her aim, which ended in his eyes. He staggered for the first time and Zoe hit him with all of her fractal needles. He sprouted hundreds of little spikes, like a macabre Christmas tree, he stood there suspended by Zoe¡¯s attack. Then the spike retracted in a blink and the man fell over.


    The final man hunched over the device next to the portal, fingers flying against the surface like he was typing out his manifesto in his last moments.


    If only we could be so lucky.


    Alethia suspected that he was entering the ignition sequence for his bomb. That is how this would work in any game. She thought that as her clone and Zoe raced to him. Her clone arrived first, even with her pierced lung and shattered right shoulder. Back at her bunker, Alethia¡¯s main body had vomited nearby when her clone¡¯s lung was pierced by her own bone.


    Alethia reached the man as he laughed and turned around.


    ¡°Do it traitor. Nothing can harm me more than the upcoming thirty-seven seconds!¡±


    Alethia ran around his opened arms as Zoe shocked him with her appendages. Alethia examined the device the Enforcer left behind as he toppled over. It was large and the fact that it was made of a metal exotic enough that she could not identify it was not good.


    She hefted the bomb as symbols flashed by on the top. He said thirty-seven seconds before they knocked him out, but why would he tell them the real timer?


    ¡°Zoe! I am a clone! You have to throw me as far and hard as you can! Now!¡±


    Zoe¡¯s suit halted for a breath, before Alethia could open her mouth to goad Zoe on further, she lifted the clone up. As a gamble, Alethia tried to activate the clone¡¯s Dreadnought suit. It worked. Zoe hurled her into the air as a high arc, Alethia activated her suit¡¯s jets and kept the bomb tight to her chest. She sailed out of the atmosphere and further still. Her suit would not tell her where they were, but that made sense anyway. She aimed for one of the large asteroids near to Terminal¡¯s surface. Though she aimed for the back, her suit¡¯s propulsion system chose that moment to fail.


    Alethia¡¯s double exploded an instant after her bundle. The fighters on the ground felt the concussive shock from the explosion and Alethia watched as pieces of asteroid sprayed away from Terminal in a fountain of dust and water. Somewhere up there, pieces of her floated in space too.


    Alethia should have anticipated what happened next, and later she would say that the shock of exploding distracted her more than expected. Only seconds after her double blew up, the same pieces of rock Alethia had been admiring began rain down on Terminal.


    ¡®Rain¡¯ was the wrong word. Devastate fit better. All over the field pillars exploded as if struck by heavy artillery. Alethia spun around her shelter to look for Zoe. Amidst the descending boulders and showers of dust that rose like a morning fog, Alethia saw Zoe standing near the portal with another figure opposite her. Alethia could not tell though the clouds who it was or what they were doing, but after a rather large blast, Zoe disappeared while the figure remained. Alethia sped toward where Zoe had been with fear, almost sheer terror, guiding her footsteps.


    She windmilled her arms to keep from falling over when she reached the top of the stairs leading to the portal. Alethia did not even consider dodging falling debris. Finding out what happened to Zoe stood above every other factor in her mind.


    The only person standing near the portal was Ed. He grabbed her when he saw her and said,


    ¡°Good! You¡¯re here! Zoe¡¯s already through! We will come pick you up once we secure this region. Nice work keeping the whole plateau from being destroyed by the way!¡±


    Alethia had a chance to say, ¡°thanks¡­¡± before Ed pushed her through the portal. Her last view before entering was of him whipping himself around to face the nearest threat.

 Chapter 13 - Time to close the loop

    Rob left shattered and smashed bodies in his wake. Richard could not quite make out what Rob had done to the people in the hallways, not after the first two bodies. But after the sixth and seventh, he noticed that they were all missing hefty, important parts of their anatomy. The tissues, even the bones, were excised by something that could only be a giant ice cream scoop.


    The thought soured Richard¡¯s stomach as he chased his friend. Richard already felt at a loss as to how he would help Rob. He had no experience like this one, but he was hoping this was not something Rob would be stuck with for the rest of his life.


    A loud, repetitive sound warned Richard before he turned the corner. The noise had been building in volume while its beat remained irregular, but mostly the same. When he finally turned the corner, he saw Rob smashing at a doorway with his fists. The right was encircled by a red globe, the other a blue one. Rob looked up and screamed,


    ¡°Richard, you have to help me! Karen is behind this door!¡±


    Richard walked up, raising his hands in the air to demonstrate how harmless and unarmed he was.


    ¡°Hey buddy. Why don¡¯t you calm down a second and let me see what¡¯s up there?¡±


    Rob¡¯s face underwent a shift through emotional states. One second he smiled at Richard, glad the other man was present. The next he screwed his face into a mask of agony. Rob finally settled on rage, his face turning red as his eyes bulged.


    ¡°Richard James Kain, you get your ass over here and help me!¡±


    Richard felt the roar of Rob¡¯s voice in his chest. This gave new meaning to the saw about shaking your fillings. Richard picked up his pace, but still walked to Rob. The other man swore under his breath, shaking his head while he did. He started to raise his hands to his head. But he stared at them like they were covered with scorpions and shook himself, happy to have avoided some problem or trouble.


    When he looked back at Richard, he had tears in his eyes,


    ¡°I need her Richard! I need her! AND YOU ARE NOT FUCKING HELPING!¡±


    Rob¡¯s roar was the only warning he gave this friend before he leapt at Richard, both arms extended to swing at Richard. Richard¡¯s mind went clear. For the first time since he gained his super powers, he had a goal without any quirks or shortcomings. No part of his mind was motivated by self-interest. Right then he wanted his friend back more than anything else and that desire gave birth to a force of will Richard did not know he possessed.


    If force of will had been enough for him to grow stronger and faster than Rob, maybe even better trained, Richard might have been able to do something other than defend himself in the fight. All he did was backpedal, all the way down the hallway to where he had turned and seen Rob.


    Richard fell over one of the dismembered bodies Rob had created. Rob¡¯s fury seemed to have taken him over. Richard pleaded with his friend as Rob brought his globe-circled fists down on Richard¡¯s head. His eyes were closed when the loud ringing explosion stole his hearing away temporarily.


    Richard opened his eyes to see Rob and one of the silver-clad figures standing over his prone body. Both Rob and the silver figure staggered around Richard. It looked like the explosion had disoriented Rob and hurt the silver figure. It recovered first and drove its needle-spines at Rob, his back was turned and his hands were clapped over his ears.


    Rather than watch his friend die to an unknown enemy, Richard kicked out at the silver figure¡¯s fractal legs. It teetered as it struck at Rob and missed by a large margin. The figure seemed to regard Richard for the first time as it skittered away from him.


    Rob howled again and launched himself for the silver creature. He had no spheres on his hands, but Richard caught the glint of crimson from Rob¡¯s chest. For a moment, Richard thought Rob might have been hurt. But Richard could see the fight progress, the silver figured tried to stun Rob using the silver appendages. They disappeared like they were being disintegrated by the red light.


    The silver creature hopped back and Richard stood up.


    ¡°You¡¯re dealing with both of us now.¡±


    The silver beast paused now and shimmered in the ambient light of these tunnels. The silver parted from the front of the sausage-like base of the creature. It was Rachel¡¯s friend, Zoe.


    Richard said,


    ¡°Zoe? Where is Alethia?¡±


    Zoe said,


    ¡°Hey Rich, hey Rob.¡±


    That greeting was punctuated by Rob hitting Zoe with a blue clad fist. Richard shouted at Rob who ignored him. Richard almost turned away from what would inevitably come of Zoe¡¯s body from Rob¡¯s assault. But he refused and that let him see that Rob just hit Zoe with the blue sphere. Not that it was much better than killing her outright. Richard heard the unmistakable sounds of bones breaking with the first hit. Rob reared back with his blue fist and red fists raised. Richard said,


    ¡°Hey man, this is not right. Don¡¯t hurt her. You remember Zoe, right? That¡¯s Rachel and Alethia¡¯s friend Zoe.¡±


    Rob stared at Zoe like he was trying to place her in his memory, until Richard mentioned Alethia. At that point, Rob brought both hands down, and this time Richard did shut his eyes, he did not want to see anyone die today at all if he could help it.


    An enormous crash sounded, like a large slab of meat hitting a steel wall. That was definitely not the sound Richard expected to hear. He peeked and Alethia stood in front of the still stunned Zoe, her hands raised. Her arms seemed to glint in the light of the tunnels. She nodded to Richard and said,


    ¡°Go get Karen. I will take care of Rob.¡±


    Richard shook his head,


    ¡°Don¡¯t kill him. He¡¯s sick, Allie.¡±


    Rob stood up from the opposite side of the room.


    ¡°You don¡¯t need to sweat that, Richard. I got this bitch.¡±


    Rob must be hearing a different conversation in his head, because that was not what Richard offered. Alethia blew a kiss to Rob, which only incited him further.


    The thin, beautiful woman stood there like a Valkyrie set to take a charge. Rob raised his red-clad fist and swung it at Alethia. Richard blinked and missed her movement. Once instant she was just within Rob¡¯s range, the next, he missed by the width of a splinter. After that initial exchange, Rob went berserk. Richard had little trouble watching the fight, but the speed impressed even his own enhanced body.


    Rob panted with exhaustion and circled Alethia. She dominated the fight with her cool, efficient movements and almost relaxed style. Richard had noticed her dis-ease while fighting Tim at the feast a few weeks before. Alethia had been slumped in on herself, even after she won the bout. But here, she carried herself like a ballerina. Her erect posture and swift actions mesmerized Richard and slowly seemed to calm Rob.


    He rested on his knees and blew his breath out in big gasps. Alethia watched him like the untrustworthy maniac he had become. Richard thought he detected a chance for Rob now that he ran down. His eyes no longer rolled around his head. He looked at the ground and nodded to himself, like he was making a decision. When he raised his head, his eyes were filled to the lids with remorse. Alethia seemed to relax as Rob held his hands out to both of them, palms up to expose his helplessness. Both Alethia and Richard knew the truth in that display but Richard saw a piece of strain fade from between Alethia¡¯s shoulder blades, like she had been trying to hold a tic-tac there until then.


    Tears rushed out of Rob¡¯s eyes to express his penitence. He said,


    ¡°Richard, Alethia. I am so sorry. Please.¡±


    Alethia looked at Richard who nodded. Alethia let out her held breath and said,


    ¡°Glad to have you both back. It¡¯s good to see you two!¡±


    Alethia hugged Richard first. Then she hugged Rob, something she never did back home. Richard watched his friend closely; as close, he imagined, as Alethia did. Rob¡¯s eye twitched, but he looked otherwise normal to Richard. The eye twitch made Richard a little nervous, but the two broke apart without incident and Richard released a breath.


    Richard and Alethia walked to Karen¡¯s door ahead of Rob who offered to watch their backs.


    Alethia put her hand on the door and said,


    ¡°You said this was it, right?¡±


    Richard nodded and said,


    ¡°Try this, it should open the door.¡±


    He placed the scepter-like sphere against the door and it opened with a loud mechanical protest. Rob¡¯s scream, followed by Alethia¡¯s extended the whine of the door opening that Richard was taken completely by surprise.


    Alethia¡¯s scream died as she did. Richard watched her with tunnel vision. Everything to the periphery faded away to black. All he could see was Alethia¡¯s perfect blonde hair and cream-colored skin flecked with tiny red drops as part of the back of her head disappeared. Momentum carried her around to look at Richard and he swore he could see Alethia trying to speak or scream as she died.


    Deep inside of Richard, he saw every event in a line like he could stand outside of time on his own. First he watched himself break out of the Time cop¡¯s tunnels and return to his own time. Then he saw himself convince the Taylors and Alethia to take his serum. Everything bad that happened since then happened because Richard took the serum. The weight of it tore open Richard¡¯s heart. In that shining moment of pain and fury, he turned to his best friend. Now splattered with Alethia¡¯s blood and brain matter.


    Rob grinned.


    Any other response from the man might have held Richard back. But the bloody smile of his best friend pushed the man beyond his limits. With an eye blink, he was half a foot taller than Rob and rippling with corded muscles, and most importantly of all, the rage of seeing his crush destroyed by his best friend. As he swung the massive ham hocks that comprised his fists at Rob, the other man¡¯s eyes widened and he said something as Richard struck him, essentially unaware.


    The first blow stunned Rob. If Richard had stopped there, he might have been fine. His friend would have recovered and everything could go back to the way it used to be. But most of the blood on Rob¡¯s unconscious face belonged to the innocent woman Richard loved, or at least thought he loved. By the time a hand rested on his shoulders, Rob¡¯s face was no longer recognizable as such.


    His own fists were torn and bloody when Richard looked back to see Karen¡¯s face staring down her arm at him where she touched him gently on the shoulder. Her face did not belong in the scene, not with the ruined mask of her husband¡¯s face lying in the same pool of blood that Alethia had lain in.


    Karen¡¯s quiet, accepting serenity indicted Richard more than any words she might have said. As if Richard had not just murdered her husband with his bare fists, Karen looked down at him with a sad smile on her face. He read the look in a flash, she pitied him because she knew how painful what he just did would have to be for Richard. What made it all worse was that Richard knew she would forgive him, that might have even been her first words to him. In that burning moment, he searched for recrimination or disappointment in her eyes. But they were utterly absent. Had Karen cast a single hair of blame at Richard, he might have remained behind to receive his well deserved castigation.


    Instead, he bolted. Just like the day he fled the Time cops¡¯ headquarters the first time. His flight reminded Richard of that day while he begged the universe to undo all of it, an idea occurred to him:


    The time cops possessed a Time Machine, duh.


    Alethia¡¯s clone died with a scream on her lips. Someone must have ambushed them and that meant Karen, Richard and even lame Rob were in trouble. The same someone must have silently stopped Rob from moving. Alethia kicked the debris hiding her primary body out from above her and sent out her double to run alongside her.


    Her speeding legs carried Alethia to Karen¡¯s room before she left the area. Rob was down too, his face an exploded mix of blood and bones. He had been beaten to a pulp.


    Karen watched Alethia run up as if she was expecting her. Karen had her arms folded over her chest, a look of irritation and even outrage on her face.


    ¡°Rob killed you just now. Richard and Rob thought he did anyway. So Richard kill him. He killed his best friend for you, Allie. Now Rob is dead and Richard¡¯s running. Why didn¡¯t you tell us Allie?¡±


    Alethia¡¯s voice would not sound on her behalf, like a bird whose mate died, she had no sounds to offer the living.


    Karen shook her head and said,


    ¡°Don¡¯t talk to me. Go find Richard before he does something else stupid. Karen raised her hand and then lowered it.¡±


    ¡°I cannot give you the directions directly. Did you do something to your communications protocols? I can only tell you¡¯re there.¡±


    Every beat of this scene was wrong. Karen, even keeled and rational Karen, should have been more upset than this. She should have been railing against Alethia, crying and shouting at her. Instead she stood like a robot, issuing instructions like Alethia was a fellow malfunctioning system.


    At least she did not appear to be in immediate danger, so Alethia sniffed the room and picked up Richard¡¯s trail. Karen watched her sniff the air and said,Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.


    ¡°You could also follow your friend Zoe. You might try that too.¡±


    Alethia almost asked about Zoe, but the longer she talked to eery Karen, the more uncomfortable Alethia became. For the first time in years, she did not feel uncontrollably attracted to Karen. Alethia ignored that thought as she ran off, hoping Karen would be okay. Richard seemed like he was in the more immediate danger.


    Richard became a scourge. His stick and ball opened every door in this facility he wanted, meaning that he broke into a new part of the facility that tickled the back of Richard¡¯s mind. Explosions erupted around him, shaking the building¡¯s foundations. Richard could see artificial decorations fade as the facility computer systems entered battle mode. He ran into more and more interdiction forces, managing to evade all of them. As he ran, the violence behind him grew in volume and intensity.


    Someone followed him, Richard assumed it was Karen.


    That thought coincided with a realization. These tunnels were so familiar because they were arrayed exactly like the base where Richard had been treated the first time he was here.


    What were the chances?


    Zero it turned out. He listened carefully to the percussion of the explosions. These were the same volume and tempo Richard heard his first day running through these tunnels. Soon, he could pick out his route and was able to follow that back to where he thought the time machine was. Despite the pursuit, Richard was pretty sure he knew he could reach the time machine before the people following him.


    He pushed himself to the point that his vision narrowed and his internal computer warned him about all sorts of meaningless biological functions. He had the impression that he could run his body dead with his enhancements if he wanted to.


    By the time he was deep into this part of the facility, he was being threatened by other time cops. To forestall that problem, Richard assumed the face of the only official person he could recall, the man who¡¯s order had left him feeling calm for days.


    He found the door he sought, ignoring the activity of the other time cops and assorted civilians in the facility. The door opened to Richard¡¯s scepter and he closed it behind him, leaving the emergency protocols in place. Luckily for Richard that the time cops had not recognized him running around their halls wearing another dude¡¯s face.


    He dialed up his own time and space, just an minute before he was scheduled to arrive. The plan was a simple one: show up and convince himself not to share the serum with his friends. When that failed, if it failed, Richard would just beat himself up and smash the serum vials to dust. That would fix everything.


    The fact that events had not taken place that way did not bother Richard right then. Not until the door opened and someone stepped through. He raised his head in time to see himself. Shock stole his reason as the sequence of events caught up with Richard. He put his hand up and said,


    ¡°No! The door¡¯s open!¡±


    A blazing beam streaked over past-Richard¡¯s shoulder into the center of present Richard¡¯s chest.


    ¡°No. You have to destroy the time¡­ No!¡±


    His internal computer lit up with warnings. The gist of the meaning: that Richard would not survive this process.


    Above him, past Richard completed the temporal sequence. Richard¡¯s dying thoughts wondered at how easy the sequence had been to enter, and how fast the process had been. It never occurred to him to wonder why the system was already primed to send him back to where it did. The last thing he saw as he died, was a silver figure leaning over him holding one of the time cop weapons. A woman¡¯s voice shouted,


    ¡°Richard? Richard? No shit no! No!¡±


    Alethia followed the scent trails through a new section of the facility. It resembled the rest of the tunnels, except that the response here seemed almost lackadaisical compared to the first part of the tunnels. Like this section had been cordoned off from the rest until recently. Alethia turned a corner into the hallway where Zoe stood weeping over a body.


    She spun, holding up one of the Enforcer rifles and revealed Richard¡¯s dead body lying at her feet. Zoe dropped her weapon before Alethia reached Richard. He was not breathing, but he was still warm. His heart had only just tried to stop beating. A large, cauterized hole in his chest occluded his bronchial tube. He was suffocating, had probably already started.


    Alethia strained her powerful mind to the limits and could not find a way to save her friend. The Time Machine beside them was dangerous in the extreme and beside that, Alethia had no idea how to operate it. For all she knew, it led to the center of a star.


    Alethia wept over Richard¡¯s body as he twitched out his life. She screamed and accepted the comfort Zoe offered, even if she was the proximal cause of this particular bit of pain. Her screams tore from her lips, raking her throat over coals in an attempt to beg God to bring her friends back to her.


    He did not respond to her directly, but Karen stepped into the chamber then. She looked down at Ricard and spoke with an ominous tone,


    ¡°The instigator falls by his own hand. Fitting. We need to flee this place before the Enforcer systems come back online and they can record our presence here. Why is there an unbound control rod next to Richard¡¯s corpse? Oh well, that will be useful.¡±


    Her voice was monotone and heedless of Alethia¡¯s pain as Karen reached down and lifted the sphere on a stick Richard had been using before he died.


    Zoe shouted,


    ¡°Jesus, have a heart Karen!¡±


    Karen blinked at Zoe¡¯s outburst and turned her head to the side.


    ¡°I did not kill Richard, you did. And Richard killed my husband with his bare hands. A fact you would know if you had remained behind a moment instead of chasing Richard.¡±


    Alethia sobbed in the background of their chat, Zoe stammered, searching for a retort when Karen said,


    ¡°They will be here soon. Where do we go? Or should I say when?¡±


    Alethia said,


    ¡°What about Rachel?¡±


    Laser fire added impact to Alethia¡¯s question. All three ducked down behind the low metal railings surrounding the time control panel.


    Karen said,


    ¡°She is still confined in the facility. Two squads of shooters and melee sit between us as well as an unknown number of Keeper assault teams. I can open her door if you think you can get a clone down there. We can try to wait until you arrive.¡±


    Zoe said,


    ¡°And if they can¡¯t wait?¡±


    Karen shrugged,


    ¡°They will be captured by the Enforcers and subject to modification. Not Alethia, of course. She will be executed.¡±


    Zoe shook her head,


    ¡°Then here¡¯s a plan:¡±


    Zoe outlined a time destination for Rachel and Alethia to aim for. In that time, they should be able to find Keeper agents who could direct a recovery team to pick up Rachel. Alethia would just let her clone dissipate then. Karen unlocked Rachel¡¯s cell and provided Alethia with directions.


    Alethia split from herself and ran down the hallway into oncoming fire. Silver metal poured forth and protected her from the laser barrage. She had to move as fast as she could to avoid attacks by the enforcer assault teams, but Alethia found her clone more than capable of dodging the attacks, but not quite able to counter. That was fine, Alethia had a mission that did not involve attacking these people, though she would also have to find a way through them.


    One of the stragglers behind her turned and followed Alethia¡¯s clone down the hallway. Several tendrils of shadow and smoke writhed from his back. They stretched forward, trying to reach Alethia and do¡­ something. She did not care what they were trying to accomplish, she just knew that she did not want them to succeed.


    Alethia¡¯s clone swung by a pile of torn and broken Enforcers, so she grabbed one of their laser ¡ª technically plasma ¡ª rifles and rolled out of range of the dark tentacle man. The strands of smoke left little burn marks like acid or fire on the steel surface where they missed Alethia. She did not even pause to consider her target, she fired the rifle at the man three times to cover for messing with the rifle¡¯s magazine.


    The man¡¯s tentacles deflected the plasma charges, which Alethia anticipated, so she hurled the rifle at him, the side where she shorted the magazine facing her. Alethia did not wait to see what happened, she turned and ran as fast as she could and rounded the next corner right before a concussive blast knocked her thirty meters down the hallway, inflicting multiple internal injuries on her clone and slowing her down significantly.


    Still, she hopped up and sprinted off, limping on her a fractured tibia. Steel flowed out of her body and encased the wounded leg in a cast. Alethia could feel the silver metal doing something similar to her insides. She directed her attention back to her original and addressed Karen while she was bent over the console, programming in their destination.


    ¡°I think I might have screwed up the path back here, did I?¡±


    Karen stared in the distance for a second,


    ¡°Yes, you did. You will have to seek an alternate transfer system. I am going to upload¡­ never mind, your computer system is offline. You need to input the time sequence like this¡­¡±


    Karen explained the process to Alethia while Zoe held off a large contingent of Enforcer warriors. Alethia could see that her silver veil had already started to thin and react more sluggishly. That made sense, the plasma fire and explosions chipped away at the veil. That would make Zoe progressively less effective.


    The three were fortunate so far in that none of the Enforcer Brutes had been directed to their position yet. Alethia knew that was a matter of time and that she needed to rush her clone to Rachel in order to have any hope of escape.


    Her original body said,


    ¡°If the way back is blocked off, shouldn¡¯t we just leave?¡±


    Karen nodded,


    ¡°Of course. I have to finish the sequence and this is not fast. By design I believe. Zoe, will you close the security doors?¡±


    ¡°Easier said you guys!¡±


    Zoe shouted from about two meters from the doorway, which was filled with Enforcer warriors trying to secure the door.


    Karen flicked her head toward Zoe, eyes on Alethia,


    ¡°Help her.¡±


    Alethia nodded and threw herself toward the guns and fighters trying to take their bulkhead.


    Alethia¡¯s clone had left most of the resistance behind. Her silver leg still gave her away, so she had been forced to knock several Enforcer civilians out before they could raise the alarm further and report her position.


    She found Rachel¡¯s door open. Alethia waited until the hallway was clear and stepped into the room, leaving the door cracked as she did. Dizzy nostalgia swept over Alethia at the sight of the room. Draped from the top of all four posters on the bed, pink taffeta diffused the light and gave the whole room a pink cast. That would not have mattered much because the whole rest of the room was pink, as pink as the room could reasonably get.


    Rachel still slept in the bed, reminding Alethia of Sleeping Beauty or Cinderella. Rachel even lay on her back.


    ¡°You¡¯re no princess, but then again. I am no prince.¡±


    It felt right, even though the room was empty save of the two of them. She lifted Rachel into her arms and kicked the door open. The metal door vibrated with a loud clang sound as it hit something on the other side. Alethia rounded the door to see a civilian holding his nose and looking at Alethia. The whole scene was ridiculous enough that Alethia paused while the civilian stared at her.


    Alethia waited too long before acting because the man made some motion with his hand and new alarms blared out.


    Back at the time machine, Karen looked up from programming the system to say,


    ¡°Security is aware your clone has escaped their cordon. You have approximately thirty seconds to reach the secondary time nexus doorway before it is automatically closed. We would need this,¡± she held up the metallic sphere, ¡°to get through in that case.¡±


    Alethia¡¯s clone shifted Rachel over to her shoulder and wiggled a bit to get her balance correct as she hurried. The last turn before the secondary time machine arrived and as Alethia cleared it, she saw a four-man Enforcer team starting to setup near it.


    She consciously withdrew the silver cast from her leg, bringing back the pain of the break like reinserting a needle into the same puncture wound. Alethia shifted Rachel to her arms like a child and worked herself into tears. She did not find that especially hard right then considering how bad her afternoon already was. One image of Richard¡¯s splayed corpse got her eyes evacuating tears like a bilge pump.


    Alethia¡¯s clone then turned the corner, hyperventilating and running, ¡®just like a girl¡¯, swaying back and forth like her hips were on a swivel. Her ruse worked, the four men stood at alert when she appeared, but all four relaxed when they saw who she was and what she was carrying.


    ¡°Oh God, please help me!¡±


    Alethia was crying as she reached the men.


    ¡°They are right behind me, please, they are coming!¡±


    Three of them diverted their attention to the hallway behind Alethia and readied their weapons for an attack. The fourth man, wearing a jaunty red hat, was probably the commander of the team. He kept his eyes on Alethia when he said,


    ¡°Who are you and where are you going? Why isn¡¯t your data system active? Why isn¡¯t hers?¡±


    He thrust his chin at Rachel with the question. Alethia babbled,


    ¡°A data bomb went off, I don¡¯t know what happened. I can¡¯t access my data system and I need to reach the infirmary!¡±


    She looked down at Rachel in her arms and the commander¡¯s skepticism faded to a soft hum. He looked back at the door they guarded to dismiss Alethia¡¯s concerns. That opportunity presented itself right in line with Alethia¡¯s plan.


    She kipped up the wall, clutching Rachel closer to her chest. Alethia¡¯s clone relaxed and the silver veil poured out of her body in a massive wave.


    It slammed the commander into the steel walls behind him and scattered the other three troops. Two small red spheres darted out at Alethia who ducked around Rachel¡¯s body and rolled along a ramp formed of her silver veil. Where the red spheres touched the silver liquid, it disintegrated leaving only pale ash behind.


    Alethia noted that from the corner of her eye as she continued toward the door. The silver liquid propped the door open for her and she slid through ahead of the red spheres. She managed to close the door, but not before one of the spheres sped between the gap.


    She darted away from it, but it froze for a moment and did not follow. Alethia sighed in relief before the sphere started bouncing around the room. Where it made contact with the steel walls of the chamber, or the time machine¡¯s instruments, nothing happened. When it reached anything else, the sphere erased it like a digital editing tool.


    Alethia huddled low to the ground, using her veil to shroud Rachel¡¯s body from the attacks. She finally crawled to the control panel and started entering the destination sequence for 1910.


    Alethia¡¯s original body helped Zoe drive the last of their attackers back to the door. Alethia slammed it shut with a heave and the two panted in unison for a second. Alethia said,


    ¡°Why don¡¯t we send the clone and Rachel to the same time as us?¡±


    Zoe said,


    ¡°For two reasons: I cannot in good conscience send an Enforcer commander to a rendezvous point for the resistance.¡± She pointed to Karen, ¡°And the more portals we target for that particular time, the more likely we are to be tracked.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t see why they can¡¯t do that anyway.¡±


    Karen answered,


    ¡°Because, at least in our case, I am obscuring our landing point by inputting a mountain of misleading landing zones. They will need years to parse all of them. Even then, they will have to send teams to check out each false lead.¡±


    The tiny hint of pride in Karen¡¯s voice gave Alethia hope that her friend was still present somehow and the Enforcer modifications had not broken her.


    ¡°Doesn¡¯t that mean they can track Rachel and my clone?¡¯


    Zoe rolled her eyes,


    ¡°Yes, they can. Nothing we can do about that now. Head for a Keeper rendezvous and get the heck out of that time.¡±


    Alethia nodded,


    ¡°Alright, are we ready yet?¡±


    Karen shook her head,


    ¡°I still need a few. You need to start entering the code for Rachel now. When they bring the cutting tools, those doors will fall in less than a minute.¡±


    Alethia¡¯s clone entered the destination sequence the moment Zoe told her they were not going to the same place. Based on her pace, she needed another few minutes to complete the sequence too. Nothing new happened in those few minutes until after Karen accessed the time systems and initiated transit.


    Alethia, Zoe, and Karen all three stepped onto the transfer pad. Alethia had Richard¡¯s body in hand. Zoe held a plasma rifle and Karen held the strange scepter that protected her from detection. They landed in the Taylor¡¯s back yard in the middle of the night. All of the lights in the house were off. The night air held a chill, but nowhere near as brisk a chill as it should have been.


    ¡°What day is it?¡±


    Alethia¡¯s clone entered the time transition sequence while dodging a red disintegration sphere that was random in its movements. Rachel was only an arm¡¯s length away so she continued to cover Rachel with her silver veil.


    She had almost completed the sequence when the red sphere made a mad right turn and sheered her left hand off at the wrist. Alethia screamed in pain as her whole hand disappeared. Through gritted teeth, she completed the program and grabbed Zoe¡¯s body with her right hand and hit the ignition button on the time machine.


    Her world flashed while her veil wrapped itself around Rachel and provided a makeshift tourniquet for Alethia¡¯s stump. The world disappeared in the second of two bright white bursts. When her vision returned, Alethia sat in a large, open field with Rachel resting in her lap. Exhaustion took hold of Alethia and she passed out after dragging Rachel to the base of an oak tree.


    ¡°They are safe, I guess. But I don¡¯t know when or where they are yet.¡±


    Alethia reported on the condition of her clone and Rachel to Karen and Zoe. They sat at the Taylor¡¯s house only two days after Richard, Rob, Karen and Rachel were abducted. Alethia¡¯s emails and phone were full from attempts to contact her. Many of them were from UT or from her TA advisors. More than half were from her dad or from her lawyer, Gretchen.


    She limped over to Karen¡¯s couch after shutting her computer and turning her phone off. Zoe sat in the big, overstuffed cushions crying.


    Red eyes and desperation stared at Alethia.


    ¡°I am so sorry Allie. I didn¡¯t know that was Richard, I swear.¡±


    Alethia shook her head. Richard¡¯s corpse was presently in the Taylor¡¯s deep freeze. The first non-neutral expression on Karen¡¯s face had appeared while throwing out all of Rob¡¯s dreamsicles to make room for their dead friend.


    She said,


    ¡°I didn¡¯t know either, Zoe. I can¡¯t help thinking that if we had just stayed in communication with each other instead of hiding things, none of this would have happened.¡±


    Karen stepped into living room and,


    ¡°You are right. We are all responsible for this. Which means we are also responsible for fixing it. What do we do first?¡±