‘Well, I’m fairly good with secrets,’ Cygnus replied. ‘Kind of have to be.’
‘Good.’ Bianca reached up and carefully eased her wig off. She sighed, pulled the netting cap which protected her real hair off, and ruffled her black hair into place. ‘So much better.’
Cygnus raised an eyebrow. ‘It’s an anti-paparazzi disguise,’ June said before Bianca could say anything. ‘Bianca’s secret identity.’
‘Not quite like yours, I’d imagine,’ Bianca added, ‘but being able to wander around without anyone noticing is kind of important to me.’
‘Your secret is safe with me,’ Cygnus said. She bit her lip and frowned, and looked toward June, then back to Bianca. ‘Would mine be safe with you?’
June’s head snapped up. ‘You’re going to–’
‘I haven’t since the ship and I feel different. I want to know… And if I have to wait until we get home, it could be a while.’
‘If you’re sure…’
‘What June said,’ Bianca said. ‘If you’re sure, I won’t be saying anything to anyone else.’
‘Okay,’ Cygnus said, getting to her feet. ‘I’ll be down in a minute.’ And she headed for the stairs.
‘How many people know who she really is?’ Bianca asked.
‘Me, obviously. I knew her before she got her powers. We shared an apartment. Twilight… Uh, Viviane and Red Huntress. I think that’s about it. You’re joining a fairly exclusive club. And, uh, this may come as a bit of a surprise.’
‘I’m guessing, since there’s all this rigmarole involved, this is a bit more than taking off a wig?’
‘Just a little bit, yeah.’
Cygnus reappeared, naked and carrying a robe which she tossed onto the sofa. ‘I figured if I’m going to do this, you might as well get the full show,’ she said.
‘And you don’t just mean you naked. I mean, that bikini wasn’t covering much.’
Cygnus giggled. ‘No, to both statements. There’s a reason for the nudity. I tend to ruin anything I’m wearing when I change.’
‘And by “ruin,” she means “reduce to scraps,”’ June explained.
‘That. Here goes.’ Cygnus closed her eyes and focussed. It was different. She had to reallocate powers to make the transformation for one thing, but then the actual change was almost instantaneous. One second she was Cygnus, the next she was Penny.
‘That’s a lot faster than it used to be,’ June said. ‘I didn’t think to bring any of your clothes. Or your glasses.’
Penny was looking a little pensive. ‘That robe’s a short one, so it’ll fit, and I don’t need my glasses.’
‘You don’t?’
‘No… This is kind of what I was worried about. I’m not the same. I’m still Cygnus, just Penny-shaped.’ Penny blinked and looked at Bianca. ‘Sorry. Penny Worthington, pleased to meet you.’
‘Uh, same,’ Bianca said. ‘That’s… a really good disguise.’
‘Yes,’ June said, and she was frowning now, ‘but it used to be more than that. She was really a different person when she changed. She was my Penny.’
‘I’m still… not quite the same,’ Penny said. ‘It’s like I’m more of a mix. I don’t feel quite the same as I did, but I don’t feel quite like Cygnus either.’ She reached up to her face and then stopped and frowned. ‘I’m going to have to get some fake glasses. Penny wears glasses, but I also just want them. I fiddle with my glasses, adjust them, push them up my nose when they slip. Doesn’t feel right without them.’
June pursed her lips. ‘I think that’s a good sign. I’ll hold off making a decision about whether this is a bad thing or not until I’ve been around you more.’
Penny nodded. ‘Ditto. But there’s one thing about this that’s good. I picked this shape because it’s what I’m used to, but…’ She closed her eyes and focussed, and the gasp from June told her that what she was attempting to do had worked. Opening her eyes, she looked down and nodded.
‘You’re me!’ June squeaked.
‘I should be able to mimic anyone. If I know what shape they are anyway. I, uh, know your body fairly well.’ She shifted back to Penny and grabbed her robe. It was a little long on Penny’s far shorter frame, but it worked.
‘That’s a little unnerving.’
‘Yeah,’ Bianca said, grinning, ‘but think of the possibilities.’
‘Ha! I may be a model, but I’m not that narcissistic.’
Penny settled onto the sofa beside June. ‘Might be fun for a change.’
‘Don’t think so,’ June said. ‘Well… maybe. Uh, if you’re still Cygnus, more or less, does that mean you still have all your powers?’
‘I shuffled the configuration,’ Penny replied. ‘Dumped most of the strength and the flight, force field defences instead of tough skin, kept the healing, added a few mental defences that Viviane suggested.’
‘And you can just do that?’ Bianca asked. ‘Shuffle your powers around like… like running different programs in a computer.’
‘Not a bad analogy. I’m not a magician, but Hugh says that my powers are more like magic than a conventional Ultra. Within limits, I can do anything I want.’
‘Elaine would give her right arm to study you.’
‘Tell her to talk really nicely to Hugh. He’s got a load of data from his mega-ultimate-super-scanner on me. It might take her arm and the soul of her firstborn to get it though.’
‘Given she’s gay, that might be a long wait.’
‘Huh, yeah.’ Penny turned her head to look at June, who had shuffled around a little and picked up her pad again. ‘You haven’t got huggy yet. Not sure about this?’
‘I’m working. And you are not seeing any of the designs before I’m ready. Put a movie on or something, Bianca. Distract this evil fashion spy for me.’
Bianca picked up a tablet PC from the coffee table. ‘Okay. What are we in the mood for? Action? Romance? Horror? Murder and mystery? Hot, writhing bodies in sweaty clinches?’
‘You mean you’ve got wrestling movies on there?’ Penny asked, smiling sweetly.
‘Yeah… wrestling.’
‘How about some horror? Mad scientists, or zombies, or… something.’
‘Okay. Mad scientists with zombies it is.’
~~~
There were people still working on the lab space the Nine Kings had arranged for Blutadler. Zhu followed the old man through screens of plastic nailed to wooden batons, regarding some of the ‘people’ with a mixture of horror and disgust he was trying hard to keep off his face. Blutadler had some strange servants: things made from corpses with visible chunks of electronics replacing sections of their skulls. Blutadler called them Blood Zombies; Zhu Lei called them abominations.
‘The production facilities should be operational in three days,’ Blutadler said. ‘We will have the product no more than five days after that.’
‘That long?’ Zhu asked.
‘Hopefully not, but when setting up new equipment it is always wise to assume that there will be issues. I will need test subjects for the first batches. Should I procure them myself, or will your organisation handle it?’
‘Please, I’m sure you know better than I what you’re looking for. You said that you had something specific to show me?’
‘I did, yes. Please follow me.’
Blutadler led the way to one end of the basement the lab was based in, and a door which had been reinforced and had extra security added. A keycode let them through and Zhu found himself standing in something out of a B-movie horror film. Clearly a laboratory, aside from computers and a couple of workbenches, it featured a metal bench something like an autopsy table and a couple of robotic frames set on sturdy pedestals. Around the frames were other robotic devices, each with arms tipped with blades and syringes. The frames were clearly designed to hold a human by the arms and legs with their head secured, because there was a man in one of them, gagged, stripped to his boxers, and terrified.
‘This,’ Blutadler said, ‘is wh
ere I conduct my experiments and manufacture my zombies. One of my processes may be of considerable interest in a number of your enterprises. There are applications in security, interrogation, prostitution…’
‘I would not wish to meet the man who would find pleasure in those creatures you have working for you,’ Zhu stated flatly.
Blutadler actually smiled. ‘I have met that man, and you are correct, you would not wish to meet him. However, my Blood Zombies are not what I am going to show you.’ His gaze turned to the man suspended in metal and plastic bindings. ‘I have a new process, you see. The requirements for creating Blood Zombies are stringent, the process expensive. I required something more utilitarian, easier to mass-produce. It turned out that my new process had some additional advantages.’
‘Such as?’
‘The subject remains alive. There is some impairment of motor control and intellect, but nothing extreme. However, they become entirely docile, obey any command given them by their assigned master, and a useful side effect is an extreme tolerance to pain.’
‘They’ll do whatever you tell them to do?’
‘Anything. Sacrifice their lives in your defence if required. Perform whatever perverted sexual acts you may wish. Betray everything they hold dear. Which brings us to Special Agent Suzman of the UID here.’
‘You brought a UID agent here?!’
Blutadler smiled again. ‘I did.’ Moving to a control panel, he tapped at buttons. ‘However, in fifteen minutes, Mister Suzman will either be my loyal, obedient servant, or he’ll be dead.’
Suzman began to struggle in his bonds as he heard motors starting up behind him, but he was fixed very firmly in place. Something cold and metallic touched his neck just below his skull and there was a sudden sharp pain.
‘A successful insertion,’ Blutadler went on. ‘If I get that part wrong, they die immediately. Within the next five minutes, he will fall unconscious. When he wakes up, he will belong to me. Now, Jade Flame, should we discuss the potential for your business?’
~~~
‘Oh… God… please… let me… come.’ Penny hovered on the edge of oblivion and it seemed she had been doing that for a couple of hours, though it was probably not that long, but if June did not let her– Then there was the light show and the feeling of her brain melting and her body exploding.
‘You can come now,’ June whispered in her ear.
‘I… haven’t… already?’
‘Oh no. That was just the pre-shock. The main event is yet to come. Pun intended.’
Penny pulled in a deep breath and relaxed. ‘It’s Sunday tomorrow. We don’t need to get up early.’
June pouted. ‘It used to take you far longer to recover. I liked you being breathless.’
‘My power configuration includes enhanced oxygen uptake. You’re just going to have to try harder.’
‘I love a challenge.’ June’s lips touched Penny’s neck. ‘Hey, do you still hear the voices?’
‘No. I think they were something to do with my Guardian aspect not connecting with my human side. That’s why I never heard them as Cygnus. The voices I heard from the ship were different. Like a distress call.’
‘Oh. So… no more whispers in your head?’
Penny smiled. ‘Only when you whisper in my ear, love. Only then.’
Part Five: Blood, Fire, and Darkness
San Francisco, CA, 12th October, 2014.
‘Neither of you two have regular jobs, right?’ Bianca asked as Cygnus and June came down from their room.
‘I’m unemployed,’ Cygnus said, ‘and June’s work is somewhat irregular. Why?’
‘I was just wondering whether I should make arrangements to attend your funerals when you bang each other to death. There’s coffee.’
‘Hey, we were asleep before three,’ June replied. ‘And we’re young and fit. And we’re still really at the “at it like bunnies” stage.’ She watched Cygnus heading for the kitchen, her eyes on her girlfriend’s swaying behind.
‘I suppose I can’t talk. Damian and I can’t get through a date without ending up horizontal. Oh, except for the one time we were standing up.’
There was giggling which was still going when Cygnus returned to hand June a mug of coffee. ‘What time is it anyway?’ Cygnus asked.
‘A little after eleven,’ Bianca replied. She checked her phone. ‘Almost half past. You should probably eat something.’
‘We’ll survive until lunch.’
‘Well, you know where the kitchen is. I checked up with Hugh. He’s happy to wait until tomorrow for your debriefing.’ She raised an eyebrow at the resulting giggles. ‘What’s funny?’
‘He’s got this big cosmic energy scanner,’ Cygnus replied. ‘You stand in it. It’s a whole room. It’s very sensitive, so he has you strip naked before going in.’
‘And he does this,’ June added, ‘without the slightest hint of being interested in having a naked woman to look at.’
‘So “debriefing” with Hugh takes on a whole new meaning.’
‘He’s rather attached to his wife,’ Bianca said.
‘Oh, Alice keeps him from going entirely insane, I think. And she makes sure his socks match. She’s–’
Cygnus stopped as the house phone buzzed. Bianca gave a grunt of displeasure and hit the intercom button. ‘Yes?’
‘Bianca, dear, it’s Liberty. Are you busy?’
Bianca took her finger off the button. ‘Crap. I know what this is about. I’ll take her outside if she starts.’ She hit the door button before anyone could ask what she was talking about.
A woman appeared from the porch. In her early thirties, Libby Fullerton was not tall, possessed of a moderately full but shapely figure and fairly long legs. She was pale with slightly dark, honey-blonde hair and blue eyes. At eleven thirty in the morning, she was dressed in a red, designer peplum dress and high-heeled pumps, and was in full make-up.
‘Oh! You have guests,’ Libby said. The surprise did not come over as genuine. The fact that Mark trailed in behind her did not help her credibility.
‘Libby Fullerton,’ Bianca said, ‘this is June Summerfield and Cygnus, from New Millennium City.’
‘Oh, well, I’ve seen Cygnus on ACPN, of course.’ Libby’s smile looked strained. ‘Bianca, I need to talk to you about–’
‘We’ll go out on the deck,’ Bianca said. ‘I’m sure Mark will be happy to stay here for a few minutes. Won’t you, Mark?’
‘Yes, Aunt Bianca,’ Mark said in a rather small voice.
‘He’ll be quite safe. Cygnus could crush a tank if she had to.’
Libby hesitated. ‘Uh, yes. Very well.’ Then she turned and headed back toward the door with Bianca following.
‘Hello again, Mark,’ Cygnus said.
Mark made a little strangling noise and then managed, ‘I’m sorry about yesterday,’ in a rush of syllables.
Cygnus nodded. ‘Thank you. Apology accepted. Bianca says you like astronomy.’
‘Yes. When I grow up, I want to be an astrophysicist and study black holes.’
‘Oh? I used to like astronomy quite a lot. I never seem to get the time to look anymore.’
Mark was not, perhaps, astrophysicist material, though he was still developing and there was time for his brain to catch up. He barely came up to the two chests he was trying not to look at and he was thin, and he seemed to have got most of his genes from his father. He had a young, moderately good-looking face, brown eyes, and brown hair which was trying its best to form a cockscomb. Maybe he was not the absolutely brightest of boys, but he could put two and two together.
‘That’s why you’re Cygnus!’ he said, suddenly looking less embarrassed and more enthused. ‘Cygnus is a constellation and you like astronomy.’
‘More than that,’ June said. ‘Do you know what animal Cygnus is supposed to be?’
‘Uh… The Swan. It’s a swan.’ His eyes widened further. ‘And you have a white costume, like a swan. But without the feathers, I guess.’
<
br /> ‘Got it in one. I designed the costume.’
‘Are you an Ultra too?’
‘No, I’m a model. People take photographs of me for magazines and calendars. You’ll need to be a bit older before you can read those magazines, though.’
Cygnus smirked. ‘Just a little. What other constellations do you know?’
When Bianca and Libby returned, neither of them looking exactly pleased, Mark was enthusiastically chatting about his favourite subject: black holes. They were black, except that they were also not black, and they were so heavy that nothing could escape from them, not even light, and if you fell into one you would get stretched into spaghetti. Being a teenage boy, that last point was the source of much excitement since it sounded like a particularly gross way to die.
‘Come, Mark,’ Libby said, her voice tight. ‘We should be going.’
Mark sagged, but he got to his feet and followed his mother out. Bianca followed, apparently making sure they were gone and the door was shut. When Bianca returned, she dropped onto the sofa Mark had vacated with a grunt.
‘Annoying woman,’ Bianca grumbled.
‘Family trouble?’ Cygnus asked.
‘Libby gets a very generous allowance, which she has considerable trouble not spending in its entirety every month. Once a month or so, she turns up here to “renegotiate” the amount she gets. Usually she brings one of the kids on the assumption that it’ll soften me up.’
‘It doesn’t, I take it.’
‘No. Alan married her for her looks, not her common sense. Oh, and you two put her teeth on edge. She can’t stand being the least attractive woman in a room. Ha! And talking to Mark about his astrophysics won’t have helped. She thinks his current career choice is silly because he won’t make much money as an academic. She wants him to take over from me. Currently, I’m expecting Marie to, if she wants to go that way. She’s got a good head.’
‘Well, if he doesn’t really want to…’
‘Exactly.’
‘Plans for today?’ June asked after a second or so.
‘Um… Let’s take a boat over to the city,’ Bianca suggested. ‘We can get lunch, maybe see a few sights. Nothing strenuous for our semi-invalid.’
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