by P. S. Power
For a long time, he really would have thought that going to war had been that, the bad portion of things. That was wrong. Being old had been far worse. In the first part he’d feared that death was waiting for him around every corner. In the last bit he’d often feared that it wasn’t coming for him at all. Which, as ridiculous as it sounded was correct, now that he thought about it.
“That sounds about right, to me. Is there anywhere I can get some clothing around here, that’s fit to meet people in? That or…” He looked at Sara, then nodded.
She could do other people’s powers, after all.
“Well, you could copy Kerry’s powers and do that for me, right? Change the clothing around?”
Everyone went wide eyed at the suggestion, except for the kid, who smiled at him.
“I can do that. It’s a fun power. She can do a lot of stuff that…” The girl went dead silent then, looking up at the ceiling.
In a way that he understood. They might be listened to, or recorded there, all the time.
That didn't explain why the women were glaring at him, until words popped up in front of his eyes.
~Don’t talk about that, please. We’re hiding how powerful she is from the government. ~
The words were bigger than the last time, by about three times. That probably meant he was being scolded for messing things up. Rather than get pissy about it, Howard just nodded. After all, it was still a good plan. So was hiding almost anything from the government, as if they weren’t an arm of that there. Even he was now. If the rule was they hide some things, he was good with that.
“Anyway, we have some paperwork to fill out on you. I think Cindy is handling that? Processing and things like that. Sara, why don’t you go and…” Turner looked at the kid, clearly not wanting to stress her too much. Or possibly bore her.
He spoke, even if the last time hadn’t worked that well for him.
“I think the plan was to meet everyone in the mess hall? I can stay and do that paperwork? Or you can just make things up, Cindy. After all, that’s what I’m going to do.”
There was a snort from behind the desk, and a wave from the boss there, which was a bit highhanded seeming.
“Go with her then, and get some food. We can handle that part of things. Do you know the plan on the… Vacation? With Brian and Brie?”
“Not all of it. I’m headed back that way, tonight if I can. I need to find a place to live, things like that. Can you get me back there later?” He looked at the woman in front of him, but meant Sara, who kicked him in the leg gently.
“I can do that. You need to go by medical too, for a checkup. Also, so I can get some free candy. I can take you over there?”
That got an eye roll from Cindy, who stood up then and made her head move back and forth.
“Or you can go and eat real food. I’ll take him over there first, if we have time. I’m betting that Tor will be here about six, based on when you made plans for this last night. Maybe a little earlier than that. We have some time. Come on.”
Sara was winked at, and Turner abandoned, even if it was her base and she hadn’t told them to leave. He could play at being soldier, if it was required of him, but given he’d done that before, he decided to avoid that if he could.
As they walked, toward the right, the blonde lady from the office started speaking to him. Her voice smooth and calm.
“We’re monitored here. Get that house away from here. There’s a lot more work coming for you and the others, so we need a secondary base. Use Brie for that as well. I can’t blame her for taking these people on, but it’s also stupid. We’re in for a world of hurt, if we get found out.”
Then she just walked, not talking about it any more. Except for the words that she put in front of his eyes. Those…
Were not good to see.
Chapter seventeen
The medical experience at the IPB was unlike anything Howard had ever actually undergone. For some strange reason he’d figured it would be like a military induction physical. That was, he’d be told to sit for hours, doing nothing of note, then looked at for two minutes in five different locations. Probably in a room with a bunch of young men that were in their underwear.
A veritable sea of boxer shorts.
Instead, he was stripped naked, by the Japanese woman doctor there, and given a lot of intense attention, for nearly four hours. He even had to have a medical device, which looked like a silver box, the size of a pack of playing cards, taped to his back while he went into the mirror world.
That part wasn’t such a large deal, there in the medical office. There was a mirror on the wall, and all he had to to was go inside, then walk around for a while, coming out about ten minutes later. From the starting mirror. The silver flashing was the same as always, even with the strange medical device on him. Not that he’d expected the whole thing to change at all. The thing wasn’t even heavy, weighing in at a few ounces at most. Howard knew, for a fact, that he could carry more than that with him.
The attractive woman, who wasn’t exactly huge, smiled at him. It was flirty and came with her hand suddenly resting on his left upper arm. That wasn’t what doctors did. Not even with the men. At least not the old ones in homes. She didn’t speak for a bit, just looking down at the display on her computer pad device. There was some tapping and then, finally, another pat on the arm. That was bare still, since the woman was very into him not having clothing on. Which also wasn’t strictly needed, he didn't think.
“The readings are about what I would have expected. A little different. You actually became a lot more relaxed inside wherever it is that you went. We can’t tell where that is, yet. Not that we won’t test for that, but I was told this was a medical only study at this point? Something about you being on mission at any time?” She seemed to be digging for information, which naturally had him clamming up tight, his lips staying closed. She was a fed, after all.
At least she worked for them. That he did too now… That left him feeling funnier than being there in the altogether did, to be honest.
“What I can say, at least from this one exposure is that what few signs of aging you had going in, which were very minimal, by the way, are gone now. It’s a guess, but it seems that each time you use your power, you reset to a base state that is remarkably healthy. I don’t know what that will say as for healing large wounds…” She gave him a wicked grin then, which didn’t seem exactly sane. Then she stepped back a bit, her red and white tennis shoes, which had a checked pattern to them, making a squeaking noise on the floor. “I don’t suppose you’d let me injure you so we can test that out?”
It was kind of clear to him that she was teasing him. Also, that she wanted to do it, as a test, at the same time. So he stared at her for a bit, then shrugged.
“Something not so bad I can’t work? In a place that won’t show, if it just sticks around. I don’t know, a cut on my thigh or something like that?” He’d nearly said his arm, but he’d dealt with a lot of injuries in life. A slice to the arm would make it harder to work. The same thing on his leg would probably just be an annoyance.
The woman actually clapped her hands, or at least tried to. The pad thing there stopped that from taking place too well. She had to set that down, before rummaging through a drawer behind her. It had a lock on the front, meaning that would be where all the expensive items were kept. That and apparently packaged scalpels. She tore the paper wrapper off efficiently, and moved on him as if he were going to change his mind.
“A single incision, two inches long, in a vertical line on the outside top of the left thigh. You still have the Medi-Val on, the thing on your back, so we can get good readings. Let’s do this by the mirror, so you can go straight in? I’ll make the line, then give you the word to go in. Ready?”
She didn’t give him a chance to back out, he noticed. Then, it was only a cut. It would have been hard to do to himself, he knew, but wasn’t that big of a thing for someone else to get done.
“Ready.” The
slice was a bit like ice at first. Before it could turn to burning, or the blood flow too far down his leg, she half shouted at him.
“Go!”
They hadn’t picked an amount of time for him to stay in the dark, but his hand was already on the mirror. All he had to do to get inside was want to be there. The world flared all around him, putting him on the other side, the room showing up partially. When he backed up a few steps, he noticed the doctor, who’d claimed to be called Kiko, was solid looking from the front and a scattered void that moved as she did from the back. It was pretty, but made her seem hollow, from the far side. After about half a minute, he went back. The woman descended on him like she was going to take him out with a tackle, but ended up wiping his naked leg with a sponge. There was blood on it, and she held a bandage in her other hand, with gloves on now, even if she hadn’t worn those for the cut itself.
She actually chuckled then.
“I want to look at the readings, but there’s no sign of a wound left. Let me…” She had to get out of the gloves, throwing them and the bloody sponge away, before doing any computer side work. It made sense, but she seemed to begrudge that part, wanting to get at the data. When she got to that part she just shrugged.
“It seems to happen when you come out. The healing? Then, it really isn’t that. You didn’t… It’s hard to tell, just from this, but my best guess is that you didn't heal at all, you just returned to your set point. So, if you had a bullet in you, that might or might not come out. We need to do more that way. But, I was told I only got you until six. So, for now, if you get hurt, find something shiny and try to heal up, first thing? You probably won’t age, which is both good and bad, of course. I mean, you look too young to get into bars. On the other hand, I don’t think that you’ll be getting fat either. We’ll need to check and see if exercise does anything for you. Have you tried that yet?”
As she spoke, his sweats were delivered back to him. She watched him closely as he started to put them on, instead of leaving the room, like most doctors did. It didn’t seem perfectly professional of her.
“I’ve done some running and a bit of climbing. Up onto rooves and all that? The running got easier each time. It kind of hurt, in the calves and feet the first time. The second was… Pretty close to just being comfortable.”
That got her attention.
“Oh? Okay… So you might have some way to adapt to new stresses, not just a set point? We need to study that. It will take a few days to get it all done, since everyone is a bit different. Right now, I think you need to get back to the main office? Director Turner mentioned something like that. As if I was going to keep you when you have work to do?”
She made a point of touching his arm again. It lingered there, with her looking into his eyes. Hers were a deep brown. It was flattering, but Howard had to figure she could do better than him, as far as looks went. Plus, as far as he knew, there was a large age gap. They weren’t going to have much in common. Not unless she robbed houses in her spare time.
As soon as he got his running shoes on, he stood up from the exam table and smiled at her.
“Thank you, Doctor. Kiko… Sorry, but that sounds like a first name. It probably wouldn’t be polite for me to actually go around calling you Doctor Kiko, would it?”
“Burrows. Though, you can call me Kiko. We tend not to be that formal all the time here.” She made that point with more touching.
That got him to grin.
“All right then, Kiko. Call me Richard. I don’t know when I’ll be back through here for the rest of that testing. Should I call and make an appointment for that? Not that I have access to a phone yet. I can steal one, if nothing else. Or borrow one, in a pinch.”
The words got her to seem pleased enough, and then lead him to the front. Several cards were pushed into his hands, that had the correct digits on them. Including one that had her private cell number. That it was sitting on the front desk in a holder probably meant it wasn’t an invitation for him to ask her out on a date.
She cleared her throat gently, to get his attention.
“Don’t wait too long. I get the part where you don’t know your schedule, but you’ll be better off having the particulars on your ability than not, if you have to work. It sounds like you’re jumping right into things… What do you do, exactly?”
That made him recall that she was a fed, again. It was just a bit too probing for him. Especially with all the buttering up she’d been doing, patting and cosseting him like she had been.
“Oh, you know. A bit of this, a little of that. I’m just trying to get my feet under me for the time being. I’ll call you soon?”
If she was going for the secret information about him, she was a pro, since she let him go, instead of trying for more. That would have been too suspicious. Not that there was a lot to know about what he had planned at the moment. It was only the things he’d done the day before that were at issue.
When he got outside, walking in the direction that he’d come from, there was a decently large space craft sitting in the middle of the courtyard area. At least it looked to be a shining white and silver thing, with rounded edges that had more to do with a rectangle than a sphere. There were windows. In all, it reminded him a bit of a bus, if one of those English ones that had two levels.
It seemed like it was sitting there, still and unmoving, but as he walked toward it, a very tall, good looking, black haired man with pale skin got out. His clothing was different, not being a red robe this time, but he was recognizable as Tor, from the day before.
The giant fellow, who was nearly two feet taller than Howard was, waved. It was an affable thing that made him seem young. Distinctly male though, for all it also seemed like he had makeup on his face.
“Richard! I waited to see a friendly face, before coming out. No one rushed me, but I didn’t know if I might need to take off again instantly. There was trouble the last time I came this way. Though, it wasn’t the people here that caused it. Another me showed up and we battled. Things are… Well? I’ll understand if it was too hard to find people to act as subjects for this.” The man seemed to mean it, more or less.
There was no one there, waiting, after all.
Howard wasn’t really dressed for going places, either.
“I can’t promise that it will be as easy every time, but we have the people you need right here. It will be in a few days, when we have to get them from other places that it will be a bit harder. Mainly because people don’t know to come to us for this kind of thing, at this point. We need ads for that, I think. Maybe on the computer? I don’t know how to do that yet. I think Brian Yi can do that. My friend Katie might as well. She knows everything, after all.” He stopped, then shrugged. “That’s her power? Knowing everything.”
The man nodded as if that bit of news simply made sense.
“Ah? Like Lady Cin, your world’s Ambassador to mine? We’re to meet our liaison to you, here. I hope that’s all right? It means going to the Capital in Noram, rather than the school in Vagus. We hadn’t set up where we should hold things. It’s about the same, on my end, but Dumas Thomson figured that the people here might be more comfortable at my palace in the city than in the wilds of a far-off land.”
He smiled up at the man.
“Let’s go and collect people? That sounds fine. Either way, really. I just wish I had the right clothing for it. I’ve been a little… Well, you know, I was dying in an old folks’ home the other day when a flood came, then went into a mirror and ended up young again. I didn’t really get a chance to pack.” Not that he was going to whine about it. Things weren’t the hard part in life. Not for him.
The large man just nodded.
“I understand. If it wouldn’t be embarrassing for you, I have a clothing amulet? It’s just a thing I made, but will allow you to wear whatever you can imagine? Is that… I don’t know the rules that way here. Is a gift like that allowed, or is it insulting?” He seemed to be actually afraid for a moment, that it
might be the second one, it seemed.
Howard thought for a bit, before answering.
“You know… Gifts are generally all right here. There are some rules, but it’s mainly about the expense of the thing, more than anything else. Giving clothes to a person that just admitted being pretty much homeless and destitute isn’t a bad thing. No one would take offense at it. They might say no, if it was a matter of pride for them though. Even the poorest person could do that. If so, it wouldn’t reflect on the person making the offer. That would still be seen as a very proper thing to do.”
Working at his neck, the man pulled off a small white tile, that had a glowing design on the front.
“Ah. That is about the same then. Good. Here, take this, as a gift, with nothing attached to it.” It was presented with a bow, which had the man grinning as Howard did it back, taking the thing from his large hands.
“That was well done. Technically we’re dating now, back home. I’m not really interested in men that way, so please don’t take offense?” The words were playful. Teasing, almost.
Howard smiled back then.
“How much of a joke is that? I’m not interested in men that way either, but if I hand someone a soda, am I going to end up involved with them each time?” It was the kind of thing that had to be known, after all.
Interestingly, the giant man, who was thin seeming, if huge, tilted his head.
“I… Don’t know? Probably not, but when in doubt, come and get me and I’ll figure out what to do. I can do the same in this world, with you?”
“Sounds good. Now, how do I use this?” It was a pretty enough trinket, but how it unfolded into clothing, he could not even begin to imagine.
Tor took him into his craft, which was rich seeming inside, if a little fake.
“Take off what you are wearing, put the amulet on and tap it, wanting it to clothe you. Then we can make changes from there? It is your focused desire that turns it on, but it doesn’t take a lot.”
