Prime Identity

by Robert Schmitt

  “Whoa.” I put a hand against the wall to steady myself.

  “What happened?” he demanded. “You used your powers, didn’t you?”

  “I think so?” I looked over to the camera. “I think I sensed the spacetime around me. But how could you tell?”

  “Whenever I accessed my powers, my eyes would glow purple. Your eyes just glowed.”

  “What?” I ran a hand through my hair, then blinked and stopped as my fingers trailed through much more hair than I was used to. I tried to snap my hand away from the foreign sensation, but my fingers got tangled in my hair before I could pull them free, and I winced as my vertigo was replaced by pain. “They did?”

  “Why do you think I always wore that mask? The purple visor?”

  “Because purple’s your favorite color?” I grinned.

  “Well, that too. But it’s not too uncommon for primes to have secondary tells like that, especially when their powers are energy-based.”

  “Aren’t you a force manipulator?”

  “You are a force manipulator, yes.”

  “What’s that got to do with energy, then?” I cocked my head to the side.

  “Er... I guess it doesn’t.” I didn’t even try to hide the grin on my face at hearing the frustration evident in his voice. “That’s beside the point. Your eyes glow when you access your powers. Try to tap into your grav-sense again. Once you do, try to bend the spacetime around you.”

  I closed my eyes again and tried to open myself back up to the sense that I had only just discovered. It took another minute of concentration, but I was finally able to sense everything around me vibrating again. I tried not to think about the fact my eyes were glowing under my eyelids. Of course they would glow purple when I used my powers. I should have guessed that. Apart from the fact that, evidently, I saw gravity and mass in purple, hers had glowed purple when she bent gravity, hadn’t they? I tentatively focused on the object nearest to me and tried to force its humming and faint violet aura to be the only thing I sensed. After a few more minutes of effort, everything else fell away. I opened my eyes and focused my gaze on the dumbbell in front of me. I reached out and gathered all the lines from the object to pull them to me. For all my effort, the lines shivered for a moment under my influence, and the dumbbell wobbled a hair’s breadth toward me.

  “You did it!” Jake’s voice sounded from behind me, cracking from enthusiasm. Before I could think to react, he scooped me into a powerful hug that almost squeezed the air out of my lungs.

  “Easy!” I wheezed as I tried to unpin my arms from my sides. “Geez, Jake, you have to remember I’m a lot smaller now!”

  “Sorry,” he said, though he was still beaming. “It’s just, that’s a lot more progress than I was expecting.”

  “I don’t know why you’re so excited,” I grumbled. “I felt like I was going to give myself a hernia, and it barely even moved.”

  “But it did move. That’s huge. Don’t be so hard on yourself.”

  “You could move entire buildings without breaking a sweat.” I tried not to sound resentful, but knew I was failing at it.

  “My powers manifested when I was three.” He grinned, his mood indomitable. “I've literally had three and a half decades to hone them. The fact you’ve even been able to tap into my powers at all, when you’ve been in my body for less than twenty-four hours, is really impressive.”

  “I’ll take your word for it,” I said. “Anyway, what’s next?”

  We returned home a little over an hour later. For my part, I was more ragged than I ever remembered being before. I had thought my old high school weightlifting workouts for track had been tough, but they didn’t hold a candle to the routine Jake put me through. To my surprise, though, I found I could keep up with everything he gave me to do. In hindsight, it made sense. My body was used to those insane workouts. That didn’t mean, though, I was mentally prepared for them.

  “Man alive.” Jake gave out a heavy sigh as he sank into the couch. He rested an ice pack on his knee a second later. “I didn’t realize you were so out of shape.”

  “I’m not out of shape.” I threw him a dirty look as I shifted positions in the recliner to elevate my other leg. “I just didn’t keep up the regiment of a Navy SEAL into my late thirties.”

  “Fair point,” he said through gritted teeth as he readjusted his leg.

  “Hey dad,” Sam said. She came into the room and flopped down onto the couch next to him. “I’m starving. What’s for dinner?”

  “Umm,” he stammered, a frantic look in his eye.

  “Sam,” I said. “Your father’s had a hard day. You’re almost fifteen. You’re more than capable of making something yourself. Why don’t you make dinner tonight?”

  “What’s there to make?”

  Coming from either of my other two children, I would have thought she was mouthing off, but Sam had an unusual sincerity about her.

  “Well, let’s go see.” I winced and forced myself out of my seat with a huff.

  I didn’t get the chance to slip away to the training hub the next day, but I knew I would be able to on Monday once the children were back in school. I was nervous about going there alone, but I knew Jake was just as worried about going to work. I tried to fill him in as best I could about the assignments he would need to finish, as well as what to expect from his new daily routine, but I could still tell he was nervous. For a while, I thought it was funny that someone who had daily put their life on the line was terrified of something as mundane as navigating office politics, but then again, you couldn’t choose your phobias. As I had my own reservations about training for life-threatening work, I really didn’t have the right to make fun of anyone for their phobias.

  My stomach churned as I dropped Alan off at middle school that first Monday. Nicole and Sam both went to high school, and Nicole was old enough to drive them to school in her car, so Alan was the only one we had to play taxi for, usually. I had my gym bag tucked away in the trunk, as I planned to go into the hub directly from dropping him off.

  The store had a few customers milling around when I entered, but the same cleric greeted me warmly as I looked around the store. After making my way through the access panel in the utility closet, I took in a deep breath and followed the hallway to the elevator. I stopped short as the elevator came into view. There was someone already waiting there.

  “Morning.” The man turned slightly to look at me. “Oh, Amber! Good to see you!”

  “Hey, Greg.” I recognized him from one of the pictures Jake had shown me. He was an arbiter who went by the name Stormfront. Luckily, he was one of the few arbiters Jake had photos of.

  “I heard about Doctor Quantum,” he said as the elevator chimed and the doors opened to let us enter. “I know you don’t like it when things end like that. How are you holding up?”

  “I’ve been better.” I tried to avoid his eyes. Since he stood well over a foot taller than me, it wasn’t hard. The elevator lurched to life.

  “There was nothing you could have done.” He put his hand on my shoulder, and it was all I could do to force my breathing to stay even. “After we confirmed he had demolished the Marriott, we had to bring him in.”

  “Yeah.” I glanced at the indicator and willed the elevator to move faster, even as I shifted to try and get him to drop his hand.

  “Well, if you need to talk about it, I’m here.”

  “Thanks.” I mustered a smile as I met his gaze before looking away again, then took an overt step to the side and shrugged his hand off my shoulder.

  “I mean it.” He grabbed me by the arm and pulled me around to face him. “Any time you need, I’m here.”

  “Okay?” I took another step back to try and get him off me. “That’s good to know.”

  “I’m just trying to be helpful.” He frowned. He was still holding onto me. My heartbeat sped up as he stepped even closer. Behind him, the elevator door opened.

  “Okay,” I repeated, pushing past him.

&n
bsp; “Hey!” He grabbed me by the shoulder to pull me around so I would face him again.

  “Greg?” A feminine voice sounded from behind me.

  “Kiara?” He let go of me as he looked at something past me.

  I turned around to see a black woman standing in the hallway in front of the elevator, her arms crossed over her chest as she leaned against the far wall. She was staring at Greg, her eyebrows raised.

  “Amber.” She smiled at noticing my gaze. “I got your message and came right away. Would you excuse us, Greg?”

  Without waiting for a response, she swooped forward and steered me out of the elevator. I followed meekly behind her as she led the way along a long corridor. I lost count of the doors as they passed on either side of us, but was too afraid of being overheard to break the silence between us.

  “Here.” She smiled and opened a door, motioning for me to enter. As I passed her, I took in the room and was surprised to see it looked like a small college lecture hall. There was even a short podium at the front of the room.

  “Interesting meeting place.” I sat in the seat she pointed at across from her.

  “No mics in these rooms.” She shrugged. “What was that with Greg?”

  “I thought we were just talking about Doctor Quantum, and all of a sudden he got really handsy. I swear, I didn’t-”

  “Amber, you’ve been in the arbiter business longer than I have.” She leaned over and patted me on the leg. “Trust me, I know most of the men we work with are entitled pigs. I’m just surprised you let yourself end up on an elevator alone with one of them. Especially him.”

  “Right.” I nodded and willed myself to remember that bit of knowledge for future reference.

  “Anyway.” She shrugged. “What was so urgent?”

  I paused for a moment to study the woman in front of me. Kiara, who went by the name Cherub as an arbiter, had been the only one Jake had contacted about what had happened to us, meaning she was someone he thought we could trust. As I stared at her hair, which she had styled into jagged blue bangs hanging down her forehead, I came to a decision. If he trusted her, that was enough for me.

  “To start off with, I’m not really Amber.”

  Kiara quietly listened as I recounted everything that had happened to us since the fight with Doctor Quantum. When I finished, she whistled softly.

  “Damn,” she said. “So, you want me to check with my techies to see if they have anything that can help you two?”

  “Yes,” I said. “Jake... I mean, Amber already explained to me that she doubted we’d be able to find any tech that would be able to swap us back, but we still wanted to ask you.”

  “Makes sense.” She bobbed her head as she stared at a corner of the room, lost in thought. “I’m sure they’ll have a few things they’ll want to try on the two of you, but I’m with Amber on this one. Most likely, you’re going to be stuck the way you are now.”

  “Right.” I tried to hide the bitterness in my voice.

  “Hey.” She reached forward to hold my hand, then squeezed it gently. “It’s going to be okay. I know we technically haven’t ever met before, but from the way Amber would talk about you, I don’t think you two have anything to worry about.”

  “Thank you.” I smiled, my face burning from either the compliment or the contact with her.

  “We’ll figure out some way through this.” She stood up and stretched lightly. “I’m guessing, though, that you and Amber are hoping to keep all this quiet, in case we can’t reverse it?”

  “Yes,” I said. “I’m training to be Gravita, in case we can’t swap back. I’m going to have to apply for certification to be an arbiter, but if it comes out that I’m a different person...”

  “It could ruin Gravita’s image,” she finished my thought. “Half the reason the arbiter system works is because rogues run in fear when they hear us coming.”

  “Exactly,” I said. “Thank you for understanding.”

  “Of course.” She stepped forward and swept me up into a hug that lifted me an inch off the ground. I was too surprised at the gesture to protest. I felt an odd sensation, or lack of one, at her embrace. I fought the urge to squirm as she turned to leave.

  “I’m never going to get used to this,” I muttered.

  “Oh.” She twisted back around and blinked at me as though she were seeing me for the first time. “I didn’t even think... I hope that wasn’t awkward.”

  “It wasn’t.” I frowned. “But... it should have been, right?”

  “Maybe not.” She smiled mischievously. “Different body, different rules. Sounds like you might even be playing for a different team now.” She winked and popped the door behind her open.

  Without letting me answer, she disappeared down the hall. I gave her a second’s head start, then left the room too. I mulled over our conversation as I navigated the maze of corridors ahead of me, my mind returning again and again to the last part of our talk. I knew, as soon as I saw her, that Kiara was beautiful. Only days before, I would have felt guilty even admitting that to myself. But now, I could see that objectively. My assessment of her beauty was sterile—clinical. There was no attraction to cloud my judgement, only cold calculation, bereft of emotion. I had felt that before she had hugged me, but if there had been any outstanding doubt in my mind whether things were different for me now, the hug had demolished it.

  With a heavy sigh, I looked up to find I had arrived at my destination. Ahead of me, the corridor opened into a small atrium filled with cubicles. Private offices lined either wall. A few of the people manning the desks glanced up as I passed, but it was clear they were all either too busy or too used to arbiters passing by to pay me much notice. I came to a stop outside one of the offices, reading the plaque affixed to the door to confirm I had found the right one.

  The administrative office was, for the most part, closed on Saturdays, meaning this was the first real opportunity for me to debrief admin on what Doctor Quantum had done to Jake and me. Jake was convinced they would let me reapply for certification and become an arbiter in his place, but I wasn’t so certain. As I stood outside the office trying to screw up my courage to go inside, it was hard to imagine this meeting would go well.

  “Here goes nothing.” I rolled my shoulders and pushed the door open before stepping inside.

  4

  THE ADMINISTRATORS were more open and understanding than I had expected. It was only some time after leaving the hub that day that I realized that perhaps they already had an established protocol in place for cases where body swaps occurred. Just as Jake had predicted, they offered to allow me the chance to test for certification to be an arbiter. They even supplied me with a form as they shepherded me out of the office that would allow me to legally keep the Gravita name once I was certified, assuming Jake gave his approval.

  I spent the next few hours following the exercise regime Jake had laid out for me on Saturday. It was daunting, but still easier than my last attempt, if only slightly.

  I also spent some time trying to tap into my powers again. I didn’t know if it was because I was exhausted from the workout, but every time I tried to reach out and see into the spacetime around me, my concentration broke almost immediately after tapping into my new grav-sense. It was infuriating, but Jake had warned me not to expect to see the same results I had gotten before.

  Jake and I alternated days to pick up Alan from school, and that day was my turn, so I left the hub with enough time to stop by his school and bring him home. As I pulled up to Alan’s preferred pickup spot half a block away from the front of the school, I spotted him standing under the shade of a nearby oak, his eyes fixed on the ground.

  “Alan!” I called, the window rolled down so he could hear me.

  He nodded to me after slipping into the passenger’s seat and snapping the door shut behind him. As he twisted to clip his seatbelt on, I noticed he sported a black eye.

  “What happened?” I stepped on the brake, jolting us to a stop after only havi
ng rolled forward a few feet. Before he could protest, I grabbed his chin and pulled his head around to better look at the right side of his face and his black eye.

  “I’m fine, mom!” He pushed my hand away and turned away from my gaze.

  “How did you get that?” I persisted, dropping the car into park. “Why didn’t the school call me?”

  “They didn’t call because it just happened,” he said. “A few minutes after I left school.”

  “What happened?”

  “It’s not a big deal.”

  “Alan,” I warned. “Tell me what happened.”

  “This kid punched me, okay?” He threw up his hands.

  “You got into a fight?”

  “No, I didn’t. The guy who punched me picks on everyone. He was picking on some kids during lunch today, and I told him to stop. I guess he didn’t like that, because as soon as class ended today, he tracked me down and punched me.”

  “Did you punch him back?”

  “What?” He blinked back at me.

  I sighed. “You didn’t start that fight with this kid, did you?”

  “Of course I didn’t.”

  “Then, when he punched you, did you punch him back?”

  He stared at me, the shock still evident on his face. Finally, after a long pause, he shook his head. “Why would I do that?”

  “Because he deserved to be punched.”

  “What?”

  I took in a deep breath as I put the car into drive and pulled away from the curb. “Look. I’m not saying you should go around school picking fights. But it sounds to me like you were trying to do the right thing by stopping that bully. When he went after you, you had every right to defend yourself.”

  “You’re saying I should have punched him back?” He sounded incredulous. “Not go tell a teacher, or something like that?”