Polished

by P. S. Power

  With a tap at his neck, he turned that off, and moved to the bathroom again, to shower and shave. That part was interesting, as it turned out. His body reset every time he went into the mirror world. As in his cell structure became young and wounds all healed.

  If he tried to grow a beard though, or got lazy with it, the thing would stay no matter how many times he went through. That meant he’d have to get his hair cut regularly as well, if he wanted to keep a professional air about himself. For the time being it looked fine enough, when he checked it in the mirror. No hair hung out of his ears or nose, either.

  Past a certain age, for some insane reason, that part had been hard to stop. He’d literally trimmed his nose hair every day for almost three decades, only to have the things hanging out by evening. It was physically impossible, but still had happened to him.

  Rather than reflect on the joys of being old, he called out.

  “Tabby? Would you like some tuna before we go?” She was pampered, but also the worlds smartest cat. If he tried to feed her things like canned cat food, she was going to tell him all about how it tasted, later. Giving her tuna wasn’t too bad. He’d always like it, himself.

  The little cat ran to find him, meeting him in the kitchen. There wasn’t much by the way of food there, strictly speaking. He was hungry, so had a can of tuna himself, as well as half of the one that Tabby ate. Nothing else, just dry fish. Packed in water, since she preferred that to the kind that came in oil.

  They ate off of the same kind of plate, the only difference being that he used a fork for his. When they were both done, a few minutes later, he picked up the dish from the floor and washed both of them, along with his silver. Then settled the things to dry in the dish rack. The place hadn’t come with a dishwasher, being rather low rent that way.

  Having eaten what he had meant brushing his teeth again, before going to meet people. It felt like he was taking forever, but the truth was that using his new teleportation gimmick really saved on the travel time. Holding Tabby in his left arm again he was able to walk out into the IPB headquarters bathroom by about one. The door was open and he’d checked to make certain no one was in the place before entering that way. Sure, it meant that one out of every seven times or so, he saw someone sitting on the toilet, but that kind of thing had never really thrilled him in a sexual way, so wasn’t worth mentioning in his book. There was some value in peeking through windows. It just wasn’t in seeing naked ladies, for him.

  As he set Tabby down, he heard yelling. It was mainly women doing that, which was probably a situation he wanted to avoid, if he could. Not that it was going to be happening. The sound was coming from the conference room, which was nearly right across from the bathroom. He tried to sneak out, not being seen, but Tabby, rather unhelpfully, jogged her little kitty behind directly over to Marcia Turner, her other human friend.

  Who was in the thick of things, in the conference room. In a position that should have had her back facing the open door, except that she’d slipped to the side, moving her chair over, nearly to the wall and then turning it halfway around. That meant, as soon as a traitorous Tabitha jumped up into her lap for her afternoon petting session, the woman looked up to see him.

  Then, clearly being in the same him betraying mode of operation that his cat was, the woman waved him in.

  “Drake! In here. Shut the door.” She sounded almost pensive about it all, instead of mean or even personally upset. Her face was a bit dark, as far as emotion went, which didn't match the tone perfectly. Then, women could do things like that.

  Glancing around the room he noticed that there were several people there. All of them gals. Karen Young was at the far end of the table, seeming ready to fight someone with her fists, which wasn’t like her at all. A bit away was Mableton, who was faking a sympathetic expression and across from her was Charlotte the PR person, next to both Bridget and Rachel. All of them had the same last name, being family.

  Chambers. They were, clearly, a power block in the IPB.

  The PR lady seemed ready to rip someone a new back orifice. She was young looking and pretty now having had some work done in Noram for that. She didn't have a first mode any longer either. Which didn’t stop her from turning a rather beet red color from anger.

  “We need the goodwill of those people, Marcia!” The words were reasonable sounding to Richard, even if the tone was abusive. As if Turner was responsible for what had happened.

  Before anyone could speak again, even though Karen let out a frustrated sound, Cindy Mableton waved to him. For him to sit, actually, next to her.

  “Richard. We need a man’s thoughts on this. We’re all hitting this from a different direction. You’re up on the thing yesterday, with Senator Day? Elise Day.”

  That name seemed a bit less manly than he’d been thinking, even with June having said her half a dozen times when speaking of the Congress person. That was probably down to his previous lack of sleep. Then, no one had ever claimed that gals couldn’t be giant creeps as well as the fellas could.

  Adapting to the idea, he nodded.

  “Tabby and June filled me in last night. The question doesn’t seem to be who’s in the wrong here. Not really. Clearly, everyone is doing the right thing except for Senator Day. I mean, Karen isn’t wrong here at all. She’s trying to protect the rest of us, plus a lot of other people. At the same time, Wilson pretty much had to go to bat for one of his people. If he’d done less than that, then…” Richard nearly said that he wouldn’t be a man. Given the make up of sexes in the room that one probably wouldn’t be understood very well. “If he’d done anything else, then he wouldn’t be doing his job as a team leader. We can’t let people get away with sexual harassment crap on that level. It’s one thing to look the other way if people are asking for dates, or even a quickie in the other room. It’s different if they’re extorting our people. A Senator doing this is basically saying put out or we’ll kill millions of people. If the woman had just brought flowers and asked for a date, then what Wilson did would be over the top. That isn’t what happened. This was blackmail.”

  Which they still might have to give in to, in order to keep people alive. Most of that kind of thing, extortion, was petty in nature. A guy having to pay out, to protect his career from the fact that he was gay or cheated on his wife. This Senator, Day had used something a lot more powerful than that. A thing that no good person was going to be able to beat, easily.

  Certainly not Karen Young, who was a wonderful person, no doubt. Also, a well-known push over. That meant her boss had gone to bat for her out of the gate, even if it was a hard call to make.

  Cindy nodded at him, and locked eyes, excluding everyone else in the room. She had light blonde hair and rather delicate seeming blue eyes. Her body was still a little lean, though it was clear the woman had been doing her best to gain a bit of weight. It wasn’t happening quickly or easily though. It probably couldn’t, given the set of powers she had.

  She just burned too much energy just keeping everything going. Enough that even eating several large meals a day barely worked to put anything back on her. She looked good though, for her attempts at it.

  The woman smirked a bit, but spoke as if she wasn’t reading his thoughts the whole time.

  “I agree. That part was the real issue there. The extortion that was implied. Though, I don’t think it was really meant that way. Senator Day was just looking for a bit on the side, not to make it seem like she wouldn’t back us up if she didn't get it. She actually seems good for that, at the moment. Backing us up, even after being bitched out like she was. We should give her a call and see if we can smooth things over. Maybe throw someone else at her? I know that you aren’t that into her, Karen.”

  That got a tightened face from the red-head, and a sigh.

  “That’s true. It was easier when I had my first mode. People wanted me and I felt so bad for them that it was easy to just do what they wanted. Now…” She seemed to feel guilty about not wanting everyone a
ll the time.

  Richard shrugged. Tabby was still on Director Turner’s lap, since they were, clearly, friends.

  “Who do we have that’s good with her then? We can go and see about getting them changed into something that the Senator will like and try to make a trade out. As long as the lady wasn’t really being that heavy handed. Like I said, we can look the other way, if it’s just normal stuff. Asking a person out and all that. Even getting her hooked up with someone nice isn’t a bad thing, given that.” Also, not one that he should have been suggesting.

  Still, everyone in the room seemed to calm down a lot, once they had that choice bit of information. That Day hadn’t been a super creep in what she was saying. Just an average creep that was kind of barking up the wrong tree.

  Cindy shrugged.

  “Well, we actually seem to have a few that might work. Georgia, of course. It looks like Olga might be willing as well. Kerry would do it, too, just to be nice. Things aren’t going well with Tobin right now, so…” She glanced at the rest of the room and finally shrugged. “It’s her fault, really. She keeps pushing him away and he’s not stupid. The problem is that he’s famous and actually gets offers from people nearly constantly. She decided that they should break up, before he can leave her, which means that he’s already kind of seeing half a dozen other women. It isn’t beyond repair, only…”

  Interestingly, it was Bridget Chambers who answered then, her high-pitched voice a little bit lower now than it had been before. Instead of looking twelve, she was managing a nice nineteen or twenty, if on a tiny frame. That had been work done by one of the mages in Noram for practice about a month and a bit back. She also wasn’t as twitchy as she used to be. Rachel, sitting directly next to her, was about the same size, meaning about five feet tall. They looked similar, except that Bridget was nearly unmoving, compared to her grandmother. Other than that, they could have been sisters.

  If one of them was on drugs, that was. Bridget seemed a bit troubled, and her voice a bit sad.

  “The question then is, should we get involved? Both of them are adults and good looking enough that we don’t have to worry about them being alone forever. We… It really isn’t our job to micro-manage every relationship around here. Not as long as no one feels so pussy hurt that they can’t work with their ex. If that starts to happen, then we need to take steps. Until then…” She pulled her shoulders up a bit, making her tan military seeming top move enough to show that her bustline was just a bit bigger than it used to be. Not huge or ridiculous, but real enough to be noticed, even under the shapeless things they were required to wear when on duty at the base.

  Mainly. Richard was in a black suit, with a white shirt and tie. That was down to style and the fact that he had an appointment in a different reality later in the day.

  Turner nodded, slowly, as she locked eyes with Mableton.

  “That’s the plan I always use. So, let’s leave Kerry out, for the time being? That leaves Georgia and… You said Olga?”

  Cindy let her head come up then.

  “Yep. She’s seen and even talked to Senator Day. The Senator wasn’t that into her, but was intrigued by her size. I’ve been meaning to get her first mode taken out anyway. Rich, can you get all of that done? We have a full slate today. Then we need someone to cold call the Senator and pimp out our girl, once you get back. You’re good with that, right? Breaking a law or two, here or there?”

  He snorted. He’d lived a very long life of crime, but hadn’t done that kind of thing at all. Besides, it was pretty clear that the person they needed to call about things like that was someone else. Though, as it turned out, Wilson was probably going to have to call up and apologize for bitching the woman out the day before. Crossed wires happened. If he did it right, it might even work.

  The trick would be doing it in a way that made it clear he understood he was wrong, due to someone else using Infected powers, without making it seem like those abilities had been used on her, the Senator, directly. Even if that was the actual case. It was illegal to do things like that, to anyone. Even if you had a power that made it impossible not to. The IPB stance seemed to be the one he would have used, which was to lie and say that it hadn’t happened, after the fact.

  “We need Karen to call and set Olga up, clearly. Just let her know that you’re seeing someone else and all that. Then mention that Olga got hooked up in another reality and is looking to meet people. As long as she really is, of course. Having a friend with a protective boss set someone up almost makes sense, after all. If I called her up, it would seem like we were doing something illegal.” Which it wouldn’t be, if they made the right moves.

  Turner nodded then and no one started to scream at him or each other any longer. Why they had been before, he didn’t really get. Still, that was probably due to them being dames, which was a different species of person altogether. That was a thing that everyone used to know, back in his day. Men and women weren’t the same. Now it seemed like they were supposed to pretend they were. It didn't make a lot of sense to Richard.

  Which was due to him being old, no doubt. Things had changed in the world and it had been far too hard for him to keep up with for a long time. Now he had to make the effort, since he was, like it or not, back in the world.

  There was a nod from across the table then, from Mableton.

  She was one of his crew too, so made sure to look out for him.

  “You need people on camera? We should get some video of someone having work done on them, for advertising purposes.” It was clear who she meant, but Charlot smiled then. It wasn’t brittle or hard, now that she’d calmed down a bit.

  “Olga would be wonderful for that. I’ll set up a team for the cam work and sound. Do we need anyone in particular for that?”

  Richard had to think for a moment, since everyone was looking at him. He couldn’t tell if the PR lady was in the loop on things or not, as far as Gillian Strouse was concerned. Probably not, truth be told. The fewer people who knew about their plans, the more likely they all were to survive. Still, she was the one asking, trying to make things work, so he nodded.

  “I’d like to get that Brie girl in on this. On camera and sound. She’s good at that kind of thing, given her powers. We can also use… Chambers here. Bridget. You’ll have to bring the generator in. You know, the lifting and toting portion of the whole thing. Camera and sound as well, though. Then… We need a famous face to walk us through things for this. Um…” He looked at Charlot then and shrugged. “Who do you have for that?”

  To his mind, the correct answer would be Denis or Kerry, since they were on his team already. The woman, who looked to be in her late twenties now, even if she was at least twice that, smiled. It was warm and heartfelt. Attractive, as well. Enough that he had to make himself ignore that part of things inside of himself.

  “We could see about getting Mark and Scott in for that? Karen as well, if you feel up to it?”

  Everyone seemed fine enough with that collection of people going. Even when he pulled the rest of his main crew in for different reasons. Denis and Kerry to work with the food, since they might need to cater the thing, for instance. It wasn’t a thing that they’d ever done before, but everyone supported him on the idea, as if it weren’t a bad one at all.

  They were even going to have Proxy as back-up on camera and making sure the generator stayed working. That made sense, because he could come back for more fuel if it was needed, all on his own.

  Then, as if it made any real sense, they all got up and moved to collect the people and things needed for the day.

  His job was getting the team two second in command, Olga, around for the mission. It wasn’t exactly something she could be legally ordered to do, after all.

  Chapter ten

  Getting Olga in on a mission wasn’t hard at all. Richard just told her what had gone on with Karen and Dave Wilson the day before, and then asked her to take over, seducing the Senator to influence her into liking them again. She just
nodded at him, almost instantly.

  “Ya. I shall do that, comrade. My looks, they are not so good…” She seemed embarrassed by the whole idea even as she was instantly in on the whole thing.

  That was her first mode, of course. Acute feelings of being out of place or less than those around her. Knowing that, having worked it out on their first or second meeting, even if it hadn’t been spoken about openly, Richard took a deep breath.

  “I have that one hooked up already. We’ll take you in for a video that Charlot Chambers is putting together. To show how easy and safe these changes are? We should leave you the same, size wise… maybe change your hair color or something easily seen like that.”

  The woman was a bit brutish looking, having a heavy brow-line that made her seem a bit like a Neanderthal. More than just a little bit, if he were going to be honest about it. The look wasn’t a good one in particular. No one would say that though, since it was rude to make fun of how people looked. It wasn’t as if the woman didn't know that, however. She owned a mirror, at a guess.

  She grinned at him.

  “I could, perhaps, have my face made pretty for the camera? That would be… Dramatic?” It was clear that the woman, who was a native Russian speaker, was asking about the word.

  She’d used it correctly, so Rich nodded at her.

  “That could work, if you want to do it that way. We could have scales done instead? Glowing hair, like Peg has going on now? That’s pretty dramatic as well. We’ll go with your plan, though. You should get a picture of what you want to look like, to take with you.”

  He didn't know if that was going to be a real option, but if the person doing the work could match that kind of thing it would be pretty good to know about, he had to guess. Especially if they didn't steal someone else’s look directly. A lot of people would love to just look how they used to, if possible.