“It’s good to hear your voice, old friend.”
“Likewise.” He smiled. “We need to get together sometime. It’s been too long.”
“And yet, somehow I doubt that’s why you called.”
“It’s not. Do you know anything about an investigation into a woman named May Trace?”
“Hold on.” Clicking came over the line as his friend looked something up on his computer. “Accused of being a shifter?”
“That would be it.”
“And you want the investigation terminated.”
“The investigation was already terminated. We tested her on the Orleans and cleared her. She saved everyone on board the ship.”
“I’ll see what I can do.”
“Thank you.”
“You’ll owe me for this.”
Avery laughed. “Add it to my tab.”
Mila’s stomach growled. It felt hollowed out after a long shift, and an interminable length in the interrogation room. “For no fucking reason!” she yelled at no one, slamming a fist at the wall.
She couldn’t sit still, alternating between sitting, lounging, standing, pacing, then sitting again every few minutes. Dropping her face onto her palm, she said to the empty room, “At this point, I’m too bored to be afraid. Couldn’t they just bring me some fucking food? I’m half tempted to chew on the table at this point.”
When did I last eat?
She looked to the door, almost daring it to open.
Tristan stayed glued to Avery’s side. He wanted to tell him to fix it, but from the moment they landed, he was no longer Avery’s captain and Avery was no longer his Head of Security.
“Name’s Kyle. What about you?”
“Tristan.” Did Kyle already know that? He couldn’t remember. “How long will it take?”
Kyle shook his head. “As long as it has to. When you’re calling in favors, it’s best not to be picky.”
Tristan nodded, but the non-answer didn’t help his composure. He wanted to march over there and demand they release her. At this point, he wasn’t even sure he would have cited the right reasons.
“Have some faith. We’ve done all we can. The military doesn’t always move quickly and they aren’t always just, but we’ve got logic on our side.”
“If you say so.”
If only he could make himself believe.
After what felt like three or four days, the man returned. “You can go.”
“Thank God!” Mila said, jumping out of her seat. She raced out and Tristan stood there waiting for her. “Tristan!” She raced into his arms.
“Oomph. Careful, woman.”
“Oh, shut up. You know you love it.”
“That I do.”
“Everything squared away, then?”
“Yeah. MPs got the testing we did aboard the Orleans. Trusted it was valid. Lieutenant Braddock is probably not going to be fit for active duty for quite some time, though.”
“Why’s that?”
“He keeps insisting he saw your hands, that they were claws. Since you’re not a shifter, that’s impossible. The mucky mucks will probably request a psych eval.”
Mila frowned, relieved to be free, but she felt bad about Braddock. She didn’t like him, but wasn’t sure he deserved that.
“Come on,” he said, grabbing her hand. “Let’s get out of here.”
She nodded, and let him lead her out of the blocky, institutional building. Once outside, they walked sidewalks lined with bright green grass as short as a Marine’s haircut.
“After you, my lady,” Tristan said with a flourish as they arrived at a big black truck at the curb.
Mila chuckled and grabbed the door, turning back to look at him. “It suits you.”
“Why thank you, my lady,” he said with a grin as he rounded the hood and sat in the driver’s seat.
Mila buckled in, running her hand over the material, focusing on the texture against her fingertips as Tristan pressed a button to start the car. She looked out the window, at the dash, at her fingers, anywhere but at Tristan as her future opened before her.
Ten years on the run. She’d never thought about her future, only about surviving. She’d had no friends, no prospects, sometimes even no food. I can’t go back to that.
“You’re awfully quiet over there.” Tristan pushed up the steering wheel and turned to her. “What’s on your mind?”
She shook her head. “I don’t know what to do.”
“Mila? Look at me.”
She turned to him, biting her lip.
“Stay with me.”
“What?”
He smiled. “I said, ‘Stay with me.’ ”
“I heard you. I can’t stay with you.”
He leaned closer. “Why not?”
She sputtered, her mouth flapping like a fish. “I just can’t.”
He shrugged, as if it meant nothing to him, but his eyes spoke differently. “Well, you can’t return to the barracks. May’s roommate is bound to notice a difference.”
Mila blanched. She hadn’t even thought of where she would live, about May having a roommate.
“That’s why you should move in with me. Total privacy.”
She glared. “Somehow I doubt it.”
“I swear. Scout’s honor.” He threw up a two-fingered salute.
“Were you really a scout?”
“No, but it still counts, right?”
Mila scoffed, shaking her head. “Not really.”
Then he got serious. “I won’t push you into something you’re not ready for, Mila. My place has two bedrooms.”
“Okay.”
“I can’t do this,” Mila said from the passenger seat, idly fingering the medal in her lap, feeling like a fraud. Cringing, she remembered the awards ceremony where they praised “May Trace” for her valor and for going above and beyond the call of duty. She wanted to bury it in a drawer and forget it even existed. She wanted to run to the house and hide.
“You can’t avoid this, Mila.”
She glared at him. “Bite me.” Pointing a finger at him, she said, “And you better stop calling me Mila. Other people might not notice or care, but May’s parents aren’t among them.”
“Sorry.” His smile came too damn fast for her to believe his sincerity. He opened the driver’s side door and rounded the car, dragging her out. “You’re just going to have to suck it up.”
She glared at the back of his head, but he just dragged her ever onward. In no time, they stood at the door of May’s childhood home and a cold sweat broke out on her forehead. “I don’t want to do this.”
Guilt ate at her. She shouldn’t have done this. She shouldn’t have taken May’s identity. Why couldn’t she have protected May? Saved her? Why hadn’t May just told her what was going on? Why couldn’t the ground just suck her up?
Bang, bang, bang.
She glared again at Tristan. Traitor.
Footsteps sounded beyond the door and a moment later, it burst open. “May! Get over here.” May’s mother wrapped her in a big hug and Mila smiled.
Okay, just a little while longer…
Epilogue
Shortly after landing…
He stepped off the ship, taking in his first breath of un-recirculated air in months. It felt good, even if the jostling as he exited the ship and his frustrations over the series of events made him want to strangle someone.
Again.
He hefted his pack a little higher on his shoulder and crossed the space with strong, efficient strides. The crowd dispersed in another direction and soon he turned a corner. Even with the ship’s massive size, he could no longer see it. He scowled and kept going, walking up to a black sedan.
As he climbed into the backseat, dropping his bag on the seat beside him, the driver turned to him. “How’d it go?”
“It didn’t.” He looked out the window as they turned a corner, the people exiting the ship coming back into view. Leaning closer to the glass, he smirked. Was that…. “May Trac
e,” he mouthed as three MPs frog marched her from the ship, a just outcome for someone who seemed to take a personal interest in derailing his plans.
“Don’t you worry, boss. That was only half the negotiations, right?”
“Right. This was just a minor setback.”
May Trace wouldn’t be there next time.
He would be ready.
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Mila has dreamed of becoming a space pilot all her life. Today, she takes her sub-space qualifications, the last step toward her dream.
Then, as her friend drags her from bar to bar to “celebrate,” something goes heinously wrong. It’s cold, she’s falling over drunk, and these men won’t take no for an answer. At least, not until she changes and scares them away. She’s terrified and alone, lost in a body she doesn’t understand, unable to find herself again. But even when she shifts back, she’s still trapped, lost. Shape shifters have no future, especially not in the military.
So she runs.
Only, the streets hold their own dangers. Someone is following her, and even a sound beating doesn’t deter him. What does he want? And how does he keep finding her?
As paranoia and trust issues mix with the grief of lost dreams and separated loved ones, Mila must find her way, find herself, before it’s too late.
Supplementary Information
Computer Systems
While more modern hard drives and monitors do not feel significant impacts from magnetic fields, the age of the ship developed for this book and the variability in the magnetic field generated for the MAG GRAV system can result in EMP-like effects, although on a much smaller scale. Over prolonged periods of time, this can cause damage to systems from additive effects. For this reason, the NSS moved to a centralized computer system with remote access points.
MAG GRAV
Zero gravity-related bone deterioration is caused by the body not having sufficient force applied to it. The system uses electromagnetic floor plates. Ferromagnetic thread is woven in cloth throughout the ship and ferromagnetic metals are used in the manufacture of all harder surfaces. The specific strength of the magnetic force is important, as it is directly correlated to the level of bone deterioration and as such, it is important that the properties of the garments utilized are comparable regardless of size of the wearer.
QuiKit
This is a technology that currently exists (though I came up with the name). It is used in 3rd world countries to provide inexpensive testing to locals. These kits are usually antibodies bound to a paper-like substrate that will change color based on presence of molecules that will bind to the antibodies.
Shape-shifting (Physiology)
Amoeba and other amorphous organisms are capable of changing shape to escape threats and reach food sources. While it would be theoretically possible for shape-shifters to exist (though none do in higher organisms), they would need to have evolved along a separate evolutionary path.
Shape-shifters have loosely structured tissues with easy to replicate designs. Further, not all tissue types are capable of shape-shifting. Some examples include: brain and spinal column, heart, primary arteries and veins, and most of the tissue in the digestive system and lungs. These systems serve as control points to power and feed the systems and tissues as they change.
Much of the shape-shifting capability arises at the tissue level. Shape-shifters have a simplified musculoskeletal system. The hard structure of bones in shape-shifters is caused by structures in the cells themselves rather than the tissues. The cells are connected together with chemical compounds easily dissolved with an enzymatic reaction triggered by shifting. The chemical reforms once the enzymatic activity ceases. The same holds true for muscles, tendons and ligaments.
Unlike many cells in higher organisms, shape-shifter cells have cilia designed to move them against each other mid-shift. This allows cells to reform into different-shaped tissues (e.g. shorter and wider bones, longer muscle groups).
Shape-shifting (Reproduction)
An important element in this series is the idea that shape-shifters can be born from human parents and go unknown. Shape-shifters are a separate species and are not inherently human or mutants. Female shape-shifters have unique characteristics in that they are capable of reproducing with any species. This is handled by specialized pathways active in oocytes and early stage fetuses. Female shape-shifters produce specialized recombinases during oocyte genesis (meiosis). When the cell is fertilized, it recognizes shifter-related genes, matching them with genes in the male chromosomes (if available). If unavailable, polymerases work with the recombinase to duplicate the shifter genes into the male chromosomes, which is effective since shifter genomes do not have sex-specific epigenetic markings. During the first few weeks of growth, the fetus will use target-specific silencing methods to turn off male-contributed genes that do not work in single copy and would otherwise cause termination of the fetus.
Sub-space travel
The sub-space travel system documented in this book is an adaptation of the Einstein-Rosen Bridge. There are a great many theories as to how an Einstein-Rosen Bridge might work. Some theories postulate that it connects two points in space-time (i.e. two points in the same universe). Others postulate that it could form a bridge between neighboring universes. This concept, regardless of how it is hypothesized, is very interesting as it is the only feasible means of interstellar travel currently postulated.
I took a great deal of liberty in coming up with this method of travel, though there are other more likely scenarios such as a bridge connecting two points in space, or even a significant time difference on each side of the bridge.
The most important part of this technology is the capability of forming these bridges, which I didn’t provide any details into. At present, humanity has not discovered any of these bridges, and as such, we would not be able to learn enough about them to create one. I imagine, though, once we’re discovered one and studied one, learning to create and control them will be right around the corner.
TAT system
This system is a logical extension of the Tachyonic Antitelephone thought experiment postulated by Albert Einstein in 1907. Tachyons are theoretical particles that can only move faster than the speed of light. In fact, the slower they get, the more energy is required (the inverse of normal matter). For this reason, particles that work similarly would be ideal for communication between interstellar distances. Because of the risk of breaking causality, the energy applied to the tachyons is very important in relation to the distance traveled. However, if those calculations are applied adequately, it would be theoretically possible to generate instantaneous communication across any distance. Please note: Tachyons are theoretical and have largely been deemed physically impossible (i.e. have had no scientific verification), however the beauty of science is the unknown, and we will likely never know all there is to know about the universe.
About the Author
Danielle Forrest is a Paranormal SciFi author and Medical Laboratory Scientist based out of Indianapolis, IN.
She has dedicated her life so far to two things:
Science & Books
So it really shouldn't be a surprise if science finds its way into even the most fantastical examples of her writing.
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