by KS Augustin
"You have escaped their clutches once before. If they catch you, they might not just want you for ransom anymore."
"What are you saying? They would ... rape me? Kill me?"
"Human females are popular on Bliss,” he answered. “They might sell you to a local, collector, instead of ransoming you to the Republic."
She flashed him defiant eyes. “And why should I believe you?"
"You have reason to believe and not believe,” he replied. “I deceived you by not telling you I can change shape. But I also kept you safe. And I did not kill your friends."
Hoara didn't know what to think. In a human, or a dozen or so other species, she was capable of reading the non-verbals and knowing whether someone was obviously lying or not. But Shapeshifters were now more a symbol than a living, breathing species she had any contact with. She had never even seen one live in her entire life, and only sketches and fuzzy images in class. How could she tell whether Toh's stillness meant he was lying, or telling the truth?
Lies. It was safer for her to believe every word out of his mouth was a lie. Yet....
He could have taken her by force, but he hadn't. Could have ignored her, but he hadn't. Could have given her up to a bunch of thugs. But he hadn't.
"Let's say I believe people are looking for us,” she finally conceded, not willing to retreat a single millimetre. “What's your plan?"
"First, we have to leave. Circle round Justice, heading inland at the start then veering towards the coastline, there are caves there we can shelter in. I don't think B'nen and his men will expect us to travel away from the port, not when we're already so close to it. It may buy us some time. After that, maybe we can outwait our pursuers. Or I can come back and hire or steal a smaller boat."
"I know what's wrong with the beacon,” she told him baldly. “I can fix it and wait for rescue."
"Yes you can."
And, damn him, his expression didn't change. Hoara gritted her teeth in frustration.
"Okay, we do it your way for now,” she said.
He nodded, his face still impassive. “Then follow me."
* * * *
Carrying their backpacks, they headed out of town in the late afternoon, away from the sea, knowing that B'nen's men would begin their search from the docks and fan outwards. Toh set a cracking pace and, two hours later, Hoara was glad that she didn't have to battle the heat of the noon sun as well as the physical exertion of walking. They cut through some low hills soon after clearing Justice's outskirts and, in the growing dusk, Toh led her back to the coast. She heard the crash of waves and saw dark shapes encroaching on the beach as the first stars appeared in the sky overhead.
"The cave system,” Toh explained quietly as they approached the massive dark shapes. “The three moons of Bliss affect the tides and, with all of them in the same quadrant of the sky, tonight's tides should be very high."
"Won't we drown if we stay inside them?” she asked.
He angled her a quick not-quite grin and his white teeth flashed once in the fading daylight. “That's what I'm hoping they think. The caves extend far inland and the tides only block the entrances."
"You're saying there's a pocket of air we can shelter in."
"Something like that."
"So your kind breathes air?"
It might have been his split-second stillness, or maybe her intuition, that told her she hurt him with that comment. Then it was gone and he was descending to the water-worn rocks just above a stretch of pale sand.
"Yes, we breathe air."
She sighed and followed him.
Strapping herself into a scout ship and launching herself into the black vacuum of space was one thing. But walking into a cave that smelt of marine engulfment and dripped water from its low roof was something else. It was the visceral fear of drowning that slowed her steps and increased her worry about whether this was such a good idea.
Something splashed and she felt resistance against her feet as she took a step.
"The cave's flooding,” she said and couldn't disguise the note of panic in her voice.
"The tide comes in fast when the moons are in alignment,” he remarked. “We had better pick up the pace."
They left even the fading traces of daylight behind them and Toh switched on a small torch that he fished out of his backpack.
Black water glittered against her shoes and Hoara quickened her steps then, thankfully, they began heading upwards and the ground became progressively drier. At one point, they crouched and shimmied through a narrow crevice before it opened out into a large roundish chamber. Hoara was surprised to see soft yellow beach sand on the floor and flat rocks that could be used as seats. In the middle of the chamber, there were even traces of an extinct fire—some blackened sticks surrounded by a circle of small stones.
"Somebody's been here before,” she warned him.
"Yes. I have."
"You...?"
"Please, sit down. The walk was long and arduous."
Hoara didn't need a second invitation. She sank onto one of the rock seats with a sigh, shrugging off her backpack and laying it beside her. She was so tired, she didn't have enough energy to muster an emotion. Even if Toh told her he was intending to sacrifice her on the floor of the cave, she doubted she could have raised a flicker of surprise.
He, on the other hand, was still energetic, prowling around the cave with purpose, and picking some wood from a hidden stone niche. He set down his own backpack and, before too long, had a small fire going. He delved into the backpack again, and dug out a crude loaf of bread and two tins.
"We eat,” he said, looking at her. “Then we talk."
Chapter Five
The meal was over. Tinned meat and vegetables with roughly-torn bread in front of a fire. Strangely, Hoara had not felt this relaxed for years, until she realised exactly who—no, what—was sitting in front of her.
She finished first and, not wanting to appear openly fidgety, retrieved the distress beacon and started working on it again. She felt Toh's eyes on her, watching her with a steady regard, and tried to ignore him.
"Why do humans eat so quickly?” he asked suddenly.
She lifted her head. “Sorry?"
"Humans. I've noticed they always eat so quickly. They don't savour their food."
"I-,” she hesitated. “I've never thought about it."
He nodded and continued eating, slow methodical chews followed by a deep swallow.
"Humans call us Shapeshifters,” he finally started in a conversational tone, after he finished the last of his bread, “but, among my own people, we call ourselves Transitionals. We are only a small population; less than a million in total. We believe we are in transition from the corporeal world to the spiritual world and that our ability to change shape allows us to appreciate the different forms created by the Divine. We also believe we gain insight into the Divine with such transformations and successive insights will enable us to transition to an entirely spiritual form."
"Funny way to show it,” she muttered as she secured another wiring connection, “killing humans."
She hated saying such words but they were only the truth, she thought mutinously. There was nothing stopping the Shapeshifters joining the Republic at any time over the past four centuries, except for their stubborness and irrational hatred towards humans.
"Can I tell you a story?” he asked.
Hoara shrugged, too ashamed and angry to meet his eyes. Angry with herself, with the situation, with the tender feelings she still harboured for a lifetime enemy, despite her best attempts to erase them.
"We have never been a species that hoarded material wealth. To us, the ability to change into varied and wondrous shapes and beings are the ultimate indicator of status."
There. That was the last connection done. Hoara put the casing back on the beacon and, with a deliberate flick of her finger, switched it on. A blue light pulsed behind the translucent grey shade. Toh's expression didn't change.
"We had only begun exploring immediate neighbouring systems when the Republic found us,” he continued, “and we were surprised by the strength of their reaction towards us. With no provocation, it seemed, they were determined to cast us as potential villains. It wasn't a very favourable start to a relationship."
"How did you expect us to react?” Hoara countered. “You used your abilities to cheat and lie. You infiltrated our organisations and sold our secrets to the highest bidder."
"You haven't been listening,” he reproved. “I told you that material wealth means nothing to my people. But the challenge to change into beings we had never seen before.... It was an opportunity few could resist."
"Your people were convicted of crime upon crime against the Republic."
"Yes. But surely we needed help from some humans? Information, access keys ... merely taking human form without any expert knowledge or help from humans wouldn't be enough."
His eyes locked on hers unwaveringly. “In all the cases where Transitionals were convicted of treason or murder, were any humans convicted with us?"
Hoara frowned, searching her memory. “I don't think-Wait! I still have the secondary core with me.” With a triumphant flourish, she pulled the backup scoutship's memory from her backpack, connected it to her data padd and booted it, searching the database for historical crimes of the Shapeshifters. “Ah, yes, here it is. Believe me,” she told him with determination, “if any human was in collusion with Shapeshifters, they would have stood trial as well."
She skimmed the available text quickly then, with a frown, more slowly before finally raising puzzled eyes to him. “I don't understand.” Only the crackle of dry wood broke the quiet. “No humans were ever indicted."
Toh remained silent.
That meant....
Could it be that everything she had been taught was a lie? Because Toh was right. Although they could mimic the form of humans, shapeshifters had neither the security codes nor enough protocol knowledge to penetrate the high-security installations they were accused of infiltrating. But that led to the unpalatable conclusion that her government had essentially lied to her and every other Republic citizen for decades.
Hoara didn't want to believe Toh's words but, unfortunately, they made too much sense.
"We are not blameless,” he remarked into the silence. “I have no doubts that some of us helped the less honest of your people in their endeavours, perhaps as an adventure, perhaps not. Despite our own culpability, however, it soon dawned on us that, as a species, we were being used as scapegoats for a variety of crimes we were not guilty of."
"Most of you never protested your innocence.” Hoara's voice was insistent as she tried to find a solution that fitted all the facts. “If you had only-."
"A streak of martyrdom runs through my people. In retrospect, it made us easy victims."
Hoara shook her head. “I don't know.” She had been told time and time again that Shapeshifters were vicious monsters with no culture, no compassion, no empathy for other living beings. Yet wasn't it strange that only they were convicted of crimes against the Republic? Or that, for such a small population, they managed to be at every nexus of discontent throughout the Republic-dominated galaxy?
And what about Toh's own behaviour? As a Shapeshifter, he should have been harsh and merciless—that was what she'd been taught. But, instead, he had been generous and caring. If he was as evil as she'd been taught, would he be capable of keeping up such a masquerade indefinitely?
She looked into his warm brown eyes, the eyes of a regular human male. No, there was no way she could tell whether he was telling her the truth, although a grain of doubt was certainly planted in her mind.
"How long can you sustain a shape?” she asked abruptly.
"The more we take a form, the more comfortable it becomes."
"What about this shape? Where did you get it from?"
Did he look discomfited? “The clothes belonged to the man who owned my-the habitat by Regulation. He hired me as help but fell ill and died a few years after I began working for him. There isn't much medical help on Bliss and the doctors that do get sent here are usually sadistic butchers."
"So you took his form?"
"Not quite. I, watch people. Humans in particular. After the owner died, I took over his holding and experimented with features that appear to calm people rather than agitate them. Not too attractive, not too ugly. It's not difficult to not be handsome.” He lifted eyebrows at the clumsiness of his words but Hoara nodded, understanding his meaning. “But humans have a very fine tolerance for ugliness. It took years to achieve this balance.” He drew a circle around his face with one finger.
"And what about this cave? How did you find it?"
"When I was sent to Bliss, I first landed at Justice. The inhabitants here like my kind as little as the Republic, but I'm strong and can be useful in certain situations. On this planet, practicality usually wins out over prejudice. Usually. But sometimes, despite my usefulness, it was necessary to find a refuge and that's how I stumbled across these caves."
She had an image of him, huddled in front of the fire, gazing at the flames, thinking of ... what?
"What crime did you commit to get sent here?"
"None,” he told her. “I'm a Shapeshifter. Isn't that enough?"
"How many of you are still free?"
He shook his head. “I'm sorry. I cannot tell you that. What remains of my people deserve to live in peace."
"What do you really look like?” she half-whispered, her brow furrowed.
He looked at her for one long moment, then rose to his feet and began taking off his clothes. By the time he sat down again, Hoara could already see changes. Slowly, the tawny colour of his skin faded to white, his limbs began elongating, and his hair receded into his scalp. Thirty minutes later, the transformation was complete.
He was a tall being, more than half again as tall as Hoara and now the height of the cabinetry and furniture in his habitat made sense. With his long, thin limbs and white hairless skin, he was like a blank canvas upon which the galaxy could paint its diversity. He gazed at her with large dark eyes, liquid and soulful, and Hoara wondered how anyone could think of harming such beings. But his voice was still Toh's ... or at least the human's that she thought of as Toh.
"This is my resting form,” he said.
It wasn't so bad, she thought to herself. A bit ethereal-looking but still graceful and elegant. That he could be condemned to a life of imprisonment based solely on his origins....
And that also explained the feelings she experienced when he was inside her, the incredible lengthening and thickening that drove her wild.
"When we, made love,” her words tripped over each other, “you ... changed yourself, didn't you?"
Those dark eyes blinked. “I thought it would give you pleasure to expand or elongate certain parts of my body. I used to listen when other human males talked. Did my actions offend you?"
Hoara couldn't help the smile that curved her lips. Luckily, the chocolate brown of her skin hid her blush although she felt her cheeks burn. “It was, er, very nice,” she replied. That sounded so lame, so inadequate. “Ah, very very nice."
But even if she believed him, believed that all-Transitionals, her mind experimented with the new name, were not the murderous monstrosities she had been led to believe, that still didn't change the facts. He was a Shapeshifter. He was condemned to Bliss for the rest of his life.
"I don't know what to do,” she finally said. “I-."
"Calling Republic Space Fleet distress beacon.” The tinny voice interrupted their reverie and both Toh and Hoara turned and stared at the small mechanism, transfixed.
Oh no, she had forgotten all about it! She couldn't switch it off. They would have already pinned a fix on her location. And was she really willing to destroy the only means of leaving the planet?
"Repeat. Calling Republic Space Fleet distress beacon."
Hoara wiped her suddenly sweaty hands o
n the roughspun trousers before pressing the transmit button. “Ah, sub-Commander Hoara Felin here. Please identify yourself."
"Sub-Commander Felin, this is Captain Jaynex of the Cruiser Zephyr. We picked up your distress signal. Can you confirm that you are from the Scout ship Odyssey?” Even across who-knew how many light-years, Hoara detected a thread of tension in the captain's voice.
"Yes, Captain Jaynex, I'm from the Odyssey."
"Thank the Creator! Sub-Commander, there's been a net of detectors across this sector for the past few days, ever since we lost contact with you and your crew. I can be at your position soon. Can you rendezvous? I repeat, can you rendezvous?"
She knew what he was saying. She was on the infamous planet of Bliss, home to every treacherous miscreant in the Republic. Was she still free, or was she being held hostage somewhere?
"I can rendezvous, Captain."
"In that case, we'll be there in six standard hours. Hold tight. Jaynex out."
The silence that filled the cave was louder than the transmission it replaced.
"They found you,” Toh finally said. “In six standard hours, the tides will have receded. They can pick you up on the beach."
"Yes.” But Hoara didn't want to talk about the rescue or the cruiser that was closing in on her position.
"Why?” she asked urgently. “Before I go, I need to know why."
"Why what?"
Her eyes were bright and liquid. “Why did you rescue me? Why did you give up your home, your future, for me? The Republic has treated you with such contempt and brutality. The Space Fleet condemned you to this world. I would have understood if you had turned your back on me and handed me over to B'nen. But,” her voice hushed, “you didn't. Why?"
"Isn't it obvious?” He cocked his head. “Even unconscious, you called to me. And no Transitional ignores a call to his very soul."
Hoara wiped emergent tears from her eyes with an impatient hand. “If I could take you away from here ... if I could take you with me-."
