Polished

by P. S. Power

  Olga’s face melted, after a long ten minutes of holding the magical amulet. Then, over the course of five more minutes, she healed into being… Incredible. An unblemished three-dimensional version of a face that many people would have called perfect.

  She grinned as the work was done and looked at the camera, clearly not embarrassed at all.

  “It itches.”

  The words didn’t seem to be unhappy in any way, which meant Mark was standing right next to her, asking questions. Probing things that the people at home might have wanted to know about, before doing it for themselves or sending a friend or relative in for the process.

  “How much?”

  That got a laugh from the giant woman. Her body was softening a bit in looks as well, as Timon and the rest of them watched from off camera.

  “A lot. All the way to the bone. I think it is getting less now?”

  Her bustline grew, though not a vast amount. She’d been more or less fine that way before, so what was happening was different than just packing on a lot of size up top. Cindy nudged him a bit, as words popped up in front of his eyes.

  He thought back at her, making no real effort to be loud or extra clear about it. That would look like shouting to Mableton if he tried it. From the sound of it that showed up as making the words she saw larger, instead of things getting painfully loud for her.

  She did something then in response to what Rich had presented to her, which had Tim Baker taking a step or two forward, into the camera shot.

  “Olga is mainly reshaping now. We didn't need to make a lot of changes to her body or face, so a lot of what’s happening is rather minor. The breasts are becoming higher, since too much being added that way wasn’t desired. There were some changes to the face, as we can see now. The hair as well, since she opted for color changing abilities for that. Do you want to try that now? It should be operational.”

  That took a mirror, since she needed feedback to make her hair do anything that way. She started by making herself a blonde though, instead of a light brunette. Then she moved from that to black and with a smile on her face and a look at Timon, she did a rainbow of colors, one after the other and then caused them to all glow on her second pass through them all. It was interesting at the very least.

  It didn't hurt that she was darling to look at, as well. It was a different look than the eerie near perfection that some of the people from Noram had. Less computer-generated seeming, even if the initial picture had been built literally using computers in the first place. Merging hundreds of pictures of women to make an average.

  She didn't look fake and too smooth. Instead she simply seemed incredible.

  If big, still.

  The giantess stood up, after settling her hair color in a nice brown shade. Her eyebrows matched, perfectly, even if she wasn’t looking at those as intently in the mirror as she was the side of her head.

  Timon went on then, as she showed off her new body a bit. She was still very tall, but now she looked more womanly, while still being rather muscular. All the curves were in the right places, at any rate.

  Timon looked at something in front of him, seeming to read for half a moment, then smiled again.

  “The Infection demanded that her basic powers be left intact. Her strength, speed, fantastic agility and the other abilities she possessed had to be there. Her appearance was, however, not part of that equation at all in this case. Sometimes it is, which means we can’t change everything for those who have that kind of affliction. So far, we have been allowed to remove all of the emotional difficulties that way, every single time. Clearly, we can add almost any powers or ability to an uninfected person that they might want. The color changing hair or skin are fairly straightforward, for instance. Some other small things, of course. Different appearances and so forth.”

  No one called the man on the idea that people who weren’t Infected could be given powers with no drawbacks. It was true and the source of that was in a different world, with Richard holding the keys as to who got in or not. At least for the time being. Eventually, if people wanted to try that kind of thing, for wholesome purposes, they might be able to let some in for that. The trick would be in making sure they actually weren’t going to do anything too bad with the powers they were given.

  A spot of theft or maybe cheating at gambling both seemed fair enough to him. Though, in a way, he probably wasn’t the best person to be in charge of such things. His morals had always been a little bit alternative, after all.

  Smiling, he watched as Tim and Olga, rather smoothly, talked about what the Infection was. A thing that no one back home had ever figured out. They did it without fear, Timon even seeming kind of impressed with the whole thing.

  “That’s right. Your Infection isn’t a disease or even a problem at all. It is an entity that exists within you and selects the powers that you will receive. The first modes seem to be a side effect of that process, which is why we can simply remove them. That the being inside of you can operate in many realities at the same time clearly indicates a multi-dimensional aspect to it. We have limited conversations with it, as we negotiate before the work. It has been thought to increase that soon, if that is allowed?”

  It was a question, to the audience and not the others in the room. At least the tall, good looking wizard was making a point of looking directly into the camera he was supposed to be on.

  Charlot spoke then.

  “Cut! Great work you two! We’ll need to get this edited and see about finding where to put it. I’d like to get some transformations shot of some of the more interesting people, if they’re willing for that kind of thing to be shown? I have releases for everyone to sign.”

  They managed to rope Glen into that, who ended up not as a red dragon with painful scales, but as a nice-looking Hispanic man who could transform into a red dragon man, with scales that were bullet, fire and energy proof, which didn’t hurt at all. It wasn’t an instant transformation, taking about a minute, going each way. Doing it also seemed to leave him feeling hungry, which meant they got to show part of the catered meal that was being provided that day, by Denis and Kerry.

  They were using magical food units instead of cooking, so the work was faster and easier than normal for them. Then, almost as if picking a fight, Mark stood back and critiqued each and every individual bite of food he took, as if looking for flaws in it. Kerry seemed to find it funny, even if Charlot was having a camera get all of it down for some reason.

  The celebrity cook woman rolled her eyes anyway. For nearly the first time, Rich noticed her seem confident and not retiring about something related to herself.

  “At this point you’re just talking about personal taste, Mark. That beef with cream sauce is perfect, at least to me. So are the potatoes. We can’t really improve on that, just improve on the meal that you want. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. It’s just that this makes it seem like the product is lacking when it actually isn’t. If you made it, it would be the same for me or anyone else eating it.”

  The man stopped then, and did his own grinning.

  “True! It’s magic, after all. This is really close to the best food I’ve ever eaten, to be honest. I’ve made better. Not often though and not by much. Is everyone going to be fed like this when they come for a trip here?”

  Interestingly, Will Baker stepped forward then, into the shot, right next to Mark. As if it were planned. Which from his twitching eyes, it really was. Planned by Cindy, who was obviously taking control of the world without most people noticing it happening.

  “That’s right, Mr. Steinberg. In fact, the current plan is to have Kerry, Denis and Scott Chambers in to cater the next six months of work being done here personally, so everyone coming will have this quality of food, while relaxing in the wonderful splendor of Tor’s palace. It’s the envy of an entire world. We should go on a tour of it?”

  That had Brian Yi led away, along with Mark and Scott Chambers, who didn’t seem to be complaining about his
work being suddenly in demand. If it had been in the works, no one had bothered to tell Richard about it before that moment. Which was possible if the plan was Will’s. They hadn’t exactly spent a lot of time chatting.

  It wasn’t though. The whole thing would be down to Cin. He knew that, since the woman was looking at him closely for a bit. She didn’t admit to anything, but she didn't need to. He got that it was happening all on his own. Her volunteering a lot more from their Noram contacts than Richard would have.

  The trick there, then, would be for them to come in and do most of the work on it from the IPB side. That was something that Tor seemed to honor personally. People being willing to do their share of things. If they could sweeten the pot a bit, the whole thing would probably be considered a gift on their part, even while abusing their hosts good will.

  So Richard nodded and opened his mouth, in order to put people on the spot a bit, in defense of his Noram crew.

  “Is the plan for Mark and Warren to come and help with the food for some exotic parties then? The rest of us can work in as servants, showing how we do it in our world?”

  Tor looked impressed by the offer, his older seeming face shining a bit. Also looking as if he didn't want to put anyone on the spot, by saying anything, like good idea.

  Mark actually clapped.

  “That’s perfect! We can put together a menu for it and do, say one a month for the next six? Or more, if you want, of course, Tor. I just don’t know how parties happen here, so don’t want to stress things too much. We could do them in different locations as well? I’d love to see what could be managed on Mars, say. Or the Moon. Maybe we could set something up for out in the fleets that are coming in… That would be incredible.”

  Tor, sounding different than he normally did, his voice a bit higher pitched, bowed. Going decently low. Everyone else knew to do it back, including Glen, who was standing to the side of the room, talking to Dareg Canton about something.

  Being the man who owned the palace they were in, Tor spoke then.

  “We, our whole world, would be honored to have you here to cook for us, Master Mark. Master Warren as well, if we can entice him to do so. What should we offer him for that kind of work?”

  Cindy solved that one for them, seeming happier than usual.

  “I’m pretty certain that if you invite his boyfriend, Carl, to join in one of the parties that will be enough. They’ve been plotting a trip over here for a while now, with no real luck.”

  That, it seemed, was doable as far as Tor was concerned. Even without the proffered meals being part of the equation. Except that Mark was very excited about the idea of doing that kind of thing, so kept talking about it. Even if they had other work to see to. Before they could leave, Timon snapped his fingers, then ran out of the room, toward the front of the building. No one gave chase, but about half an hour later he came back in, holding several handhelds in each hand.

  The first one was passed off to Cindy, with a bow.

  “This is a separate cross world device than the other you have. It will only allow certain select people to contact you. King Richard. Prince Alphonse. Princess Karina. Not even Queen Constance has one. Which won’t stop her from getting in touch, she’ll just have to get with one of the others to do that. We’re only giving these to you, here. Not even all of you, so if you others want to get a date with Karina, you’ll need to find one of the people that has one of these first!” That last bit was a joke.

  Probably. Dareg looked up and smiled at the words for some reason, but didn't comment on them.

  Timon went around the room, first to Rich, bowing and passing the device over, then to Denis, Kerry, and when he came back, Brian Yi. That was all though. Everyone else was left out of the loop.

  Looking down, he saw that the names were in English on the device.

  “Did they all use the language program to learn then?”

  It was just a throwaway question, though the words got a wicked chuckle from Tim Baker. He even seemed slightly mean, as he smiled.

  “They did. It is not a popular pastime at the palace these days, in case you are wondering. It works, so they did it anyway. Tam has been using the fact that half the royal family of Noram has already volunteered for it as a way to get others to try it. Almost no one will, now. You mentioned some people from your world being possibly willing?”

  Richard looked around then.

  “Sure. Yi will do it, for certain. Glen! We need to get you hooked up with language lessons. I need to do the other languages from here as well, as soon as possible. We have that bit… Well, after that?” Talking about what they had planned in front of other people from Earth was a poor plan, even if they wouldn’t be spies or sell them out, even if they knew the score there.

  Loose lips sunk ships, after all. It was easier to be careful than to scramble around fixing a mistake, after the fact.

  Glen, looking happy, like a regular man and like he was about thirty, regardless of how old he actually was, jogged over then.

  “Language lessons? So I can work in as a guide for the second program like this? I was told that was going to suck donkey balls. Dean mentioned it. Also, that I should do it, since it’s faster than anything we have for that kind of thing. Well, I was in horrible pain for two decades. I can suffer a bit more to help other people, now. When do we do this? Now?”

  Tim looked around then shook his head.

  “Can you stay here for a few days? Longer, possibly? We both need to get with Erath, so you should learn Fleet and Ysidril. Will was working on that one, since he’s their ambassador. Making a magical device to teach their language. He’s the ambassador from all of us to the alien home world. No other humans really speak that yet. You two are doing that first?”

  That seemed to be a joke, for some reason.

  Richard nodded.

  “Us three? Or, four, if we rope Dareg into it?”

  The words got Timon to actually swallow, then he waved at the tall dark-skinned man, who looked like he was out of a magazine from back home. Right down to his running shoes, which were clearly claiming to be Nike’s. Since it was clear trademark infringement Rich smiled when he noticed them. The company would have a bit of trouble suing him over it, of course.

  Dareg came over, also at a bit of a jog. It wasn’t really dignified, though it was very quick. Effortless, but faster than Richard would have been able to make himself move at all.

  When he got there, Timon grimaced.

  “We’re in the first group for trying to learn Ysidril. Willum has a device ready for that, I was told. We’re learning Fleet as well, as soon as that’s ready. You have time right now for it?” There was a sidelong glance at Richard then.

  As if he might not honestly have the time.

  A thing which he didn’t really know at all.

  Interestingly, Cindy, who was across the room, sitting near some of the other people who had been worked on and Charlot Chamber, called out.

  “We leave in ten hours.”

  Timon jogged away then, coming back with Willum and Brian Yi three minutes later. They headed for the front door again, coming back about fifteen minutes after that. Willum with an obsidian trunk about the size of a man’s head floating directly behind him as he walked in, with purpose.

  “I have ten tiles here, that will teach any who wish to learn it the Ysidril language. It will take about seven hours to master. So, we have you four? Anyone else?” His face was wry and a bit shy seeming then, as if no one was going to volunteer. “It will hurt. Badly enough that many would avoid such. It is pain only though, not damage, if that helps?”

  There was a strained grin on his face about it all.

  Interestingly, Denis walked over.

  “I’ll give it a try? I have some time anyway, right now.”

  That got Kerry to give it a go with Cindy making a face and then nodding.

  “Fuck then… Let’s do this thing? It’s actually kind of job specific for me. I mean, I meet with aliens at
least a few times a month.”

  It was clear that she didn’t really want to do it, which Richard understood on a personal level. They were all led to a side room, though they got to share this time. It was different, since instead of seeing Taman in front of him, repeating things, Richard was suddenly in the body of a Ysidril, the world being focused in a different fashion than he was used to. Except that, for him, it was kind of familiar. Not perfectly so, but the feeling of the mouth was just about right.

  Filled with pointed teeth that forced language to come from deeper in the throat than it did with human beings. That wasn’t really needed, but when the world started to shift and glow around him, rapidly, he was able to keep up with the sounds and concepts that took place in his head fairly well. Not that there wasn’t a lot of pain as well, when he messed up.

  Focusing hard, he managed to hiss, whistle and this time even learn to read and write the language as he went along. The whole thing was intense enough that, when it stopped, about five hours later, he shook for a bit. Not in pain, just the shock of the world changing as much as it had around him.

  Everything felt suddenly… Empty.

  Looking up, he saw that there were three Ysidril in the room, all of them looking around carefully. Erath wasn’t there, but Neesa, the girl Ambassador was, along with Tom, her father and Arc, her mother. That left a father missing, for the time being.

  His shirt front had his name written on it, more easily now, since it wasn’t just a bunch of spider webs to him now. In fact, he understood the basics of how the writing system worked, using phonetic groupings, instead of individual letters as they did in English.

  Willum was standing there still, watching the others struggle and suffer, as Richard stood up. Early, from what he could tell. Walking over he held out the tile and tried to speak Ysidril for the first time. At least to another person. The others were all making noises, hissing and clicking, with the occasional whistle. It was very understandable, actually. A thing that he found impressive.