by Amber Stuart
Nik.
I turned, so sharply it hurt my neck.
I looked for him among the faces and bodies littering the grassy field.
Something jerked my gaze towards the handful of morph fighting in that center section of lawn. I paused there just long enough to make out the faces of the two morph in the center.
Nihkil's skin looked even more abnormally pale under the Washington sun, but I knew him, even in the now crazy-looking rain gear from Vilandt. I stared at his face, seeing it streaked with mud and sweat as he ripped his own goggles off his head. He blinked into the face of another, slightly shorter morph, who was unmistakably Razmun.
Razmun had already removed his own goggles and looked ready to punch Nik in the face.
His skin flushed a bright red, almost crimson, as I watched.
"What the hell did you do?" he yelled at Nik in Pharize.
I dragged myself to my feet, still holding my arms out for balance as I started to move towards the two of them, walking around morph who continued to kneel or lay in the grass around where I’d landed. When I got within a dozen feet of the cluster of morph guards staring at Nik, I paused again, gazing off into the trees.
I could hear the overpass of the freeway in the distance, and now I wondered if I should run to get help.
Help, though... seriously?
What kind of help?
Did I wave down a cop car, tell them that I’d just brought a subset of a completely different species to Earth through an inter-dimensional portal? How quick would they haul me downtown for that one?
Did I call Irene? Gantry? What the hell could either of them do, against a bunch of pissed-off, shapeshifting aliens?
By the time I got back, Nik might already be dead.
Again, the urge to just run, get the hell out of there, grew almost overpowering.
Only looking at Nik kept my feet in place, almost against my own will.
I bit my lip to remain silent, maybe even to keep from yelling out his name. I wanted to take him with me. I couldn’t just leave him there, but I couldn’t see how to help him, either. I didn’t want to call attention to myself, not if I might still be of any use to him.
All of these things running through my head simultaneously paralyzed me, even as I stared around, trying to think. When I looked back at the morph squaring off in the middle of the clearing, I couldn't tear my eyes off of Nik’s face.
"I did not do it!" Nik snarled, staring at Razmun.
“You lie! You hijacked the jump!”
“I did, yes,” Nik snapped, unapologetic. His eyes glowed with a pale fire, nearly white under the sunlight. “Of course I did, Razmun. You were a fool to let me enter the wave so close to you. An arrogant fool, as usual. But I did not bring us to this place!”
Razmun barely seemed to hear him, much less believe him.
"Where are we?” Razmun demanded. “We did not map this place! How stupid are you, to bring us to a place with no stable gate! We are trapped here now!"
"I did not navigate!" Nik yelled, raising his voice. "I gave navigation to her!"
There was a silence.
Somehow, it hit me only then that Razmun had no idea where we’d landed, or that Nik had brought us back to my home world.
In that pause after Nik spoke, however, I saw something happen to Razmun's face, as if a profusion of thoughts came together all at once, perhaps more than he could process. The skin of his ears and the back of his neck turned an even brighter red, until they were nearly purple.
For the first time, I was afraid of him.
Like, really afraid of him.
I knew crazy when I saw it. Hell, it was my job to spot crazy, to plan for it, and sometimes to figure out how I might exploit it.
If this guy had been a mark of mine, it would have been time to call for reinforcements.
Even as I thought it, Razmun let out a kind of roar.
The sound changed in mid-exhale... growing in volume even as I saw his skin bulge abruptly from beneath the rain-resistant coat. It ripped through that rain-retardant material like it was a thin plastic bag over a mound of sharp rocks, rather than the heavy synthetic that still weighed down my shoulders.
Muscle, bone and skin protruded from the shredded material... right before it grew over rapidly with black hair. The animal’s coat thickened as I watched, shining a near blue-black in the afternoon sun.
I let out an involuntary gasp when Nik began to grow alongside the other morph.
Taking a reflexive step back, I watched as Nik changed, until, within seconds, he matched Razmun in size and shape... surpassing him briefly in the speed of the change itself.
It was if he'd been holding the shift back for so long that it literally burst out of him.
His skin erupted with a similarly dense, black pelt, so rapidly that the hair appeared almost to be alive as it waved up and out, caught at once in a sharp Seattle breeze.
Nik’s arms and hands found the grass heavily as he fell forward, his joints bending the opposite way just as razor-sharp claws erupted from between his fingers, surrounded rapidly by padded paws and more of that thick, black fur.
I watched in full-blown, gaping shock as Nik’s neck elongated next, growing out of shoulders that sloped the opposite way now, even as they climbed rapidly in height. Nik’s legs lengthened below his torso to meet the size of those enormous feet and a whipping and coiling black tail darted out from behind him, shredding the last of his clothes.
Fangs erupted from his jaws as he snarled at the creature that had been Razmun.
The two giant cats circled one another, hissing, their heads lowered on those long necks, their ears flattened dangerously to their heads.
I found I couldn’t breathe again.
Or maybe, I was breathing too much.
I was out of my league here, and I knew it... but I couldn’t just stand there, either, and watch Nik and Razmun tear one another apart.
I saw some of the other morph guards struggling, fighting to change even as they backed off. I remembered reading somewhere that most morph had a lot of trouble shifting into new forms following a gate-shift. Some could do it, (well, clearly), but it wasn’t a given.
For that reason, humans would usually send gate-shifting morph to do a brief survey to determine the main life forms of a new world before they did the full-on exploration. That way, when they left for the real job, they could transform before they entered the gate.
Even so, mistakes happened.
I’d read about morph who were murdered by the locals before they’re recovered from the shift well enough to blend.
All of that ran through my head in a rush now, even as I found myself grateful for that most of them couldn’t shift... for Nik’s sake, at least.
It didn’t help me know what to do now, though.
I was still staring up at the two, full-grown erensyi, when the one that had been Razmun––which I could only just distinguish from a scar he wore over one eye, presumably because his erensyi form got in at least one fight in the past––leapt on the erensyi that had been Nihkil.
I let out an involuntary yell.
The sheer viciousness of the attacks made me wince and cry out again as they slashed at each other with their claws, each lowering their heads to protect their long necks. Nik and Razmun clinched long enough for Razmun to get in a long slash across Nik's back and a second one down his ribs with those curved talons.
Nik managed to twist free of his hold shortly after, rolling across the slight slope of the golf course before he leapt right back in Razmun's direction, slashing the other morph across the face, not far from where his old scar lived.
Razmun let out an angry and pain-filled howl.
He barely hesitated before he slashed back at Nik, though, getting him across the chest with one swipe before Nik managed to leap out of the way.
That third set of cuts looked deeper, I noticed.
I
also noticed that Nik had a bit more trouble getting free of the knife-like claws that time, despite how fast both of them could move in this form. The ripping sound I’d heard when he did jerk loose was enough to bring bile to my throat.
Both erensyi were still on their feet, even if both were obviously hurt.
Blood darkened and matted their fur in several places, and appeared to be dripping into Razmun’s eyes. I saw some of it on their feet, too... and the lawn, of course.
When Razmun rushed Nik again, Nik leapt nimbly out of the way, making a weaker swipe at Razmun's eyes before he again gave ground.
Once out of Razmun’s range, I saw Nik glance at me, as if warning me back. He didn’t look at me long, but it made me realize he’d known where I was all along.
Before that thought could fully penetrate, Nik began pacing back and forth in front of Razmun, watching the other morph with dark green eyes.
I couldn't help staring at the blood I saw clumping his fur.
I wanted to yell again, to tell them both to stop, but my throat had gone completely dry. I knew it probably wouldn’t do any good anyway.
Really, I could only stand there, feeling like I'd been dropped inside some kind of bad dream... especially given where we were, and the fact that one of my native Earthlings might happen upon this little scene at any second. The thought pretty much blanked my mind, in terms of contemplating possible scenarios, which I knew could include anything from curious gawkers to the United States military.
Even so, I found myself thinking that the morph couldn’t kill me, not anymore. They couldn’t kill Nik either, as much as Razmun might want to.
Nik had seen to that handily, by making himself... and me... their only way home.
Of course, I was a navigator who didn't know how to navigate.
And really, even I knew Nik wasn’t likely to take Razmun and his pals back to Vilandt any time soon... if ever. On the other hand, if we didn’t take them back, and relatively soon, then all of the morph I could see milling around me would likely become permanent residents of Earth... something I couldn’t quite wrap my head around, either.
Then, something else yanked at my attention.
"Hey! Look at this!” a voice shouted behind me.
“Holy crap!” said another. “What the hell are those things?"
“Who are all of these people... ?” muttered a third.
The voices pulled me out of the lost spaces in my own mind. Even as they did, it hit me that scenario one of interacting with the locals may have already begun.
Jerking my eyes to the right of where I stood, I saw a scene so unreal it might have made me laugh under different circumstances.
Four thirty-something guys wearing the dorkiest outfits imaginable stared up at Nik and Razmun like they’d just stumbled across an elaborate street performance involving giant hand puppets.
"What the hell are they?" the first voice repeated, rising excitedly in pitch. "What do you think? They can't be leopards, right? Could they be some kind of genetic mutation? Or is this a virtual reality exhibit?"
"I don't get it," another said cynically. He frowned up at the two, black, cat-like creatures, before his eyes darted around at the rest of us, taking in the sweep of morph without looking particularly impressed. "Where are the cameras? Is this even a movie set?” His frown deepened. “Do any of you know what’s supposed to be in town right now? Is this that T-Rex thing they talked about with robots last year... ?"
"Those things look pretty real to me...” another one muttered.
“Is that one bleeding?” said the first guy.
"It's bullshit, that's what it is," said the blond guy in the middle, the one with the cynical voice and the permanently irritated expression on his face. His mouth curled into a frown. "And they've totally ruined our through-shot."
I felt a high-pitched giggle lodge somewhere in my throat.
Unfortunately, it did little more than choke me, leaving me light-headed.
The four guys stood on the other end of the grass lawn, wearing brightly patterned shorts and polo shirts. They clustered roughly around a white-roofed golf cart, staring up at the two erensyi fighting on the manicured lawn with widely divergent expressions on their faces.
The golf cart still carried a fifth guy, too, who wore a fisherman's hat and a pale blue sweater over khaki shorts. He looked too stunned by the sight of the two erensyi and all of those morph to even voice an opinion.
Gripping the wheel of the cart, he gaped up at the erensyi as if he was still trying to figure out what he'd done wrong to end up here.
"That's not a leopard, Jack," one of the patterned shorts guys said, hands on his hips.
"You're damned right it's not," the blond one said, still sounding angry.
He looked around at the morph scattered over the lawn, all of them wearing rain slickers and most still in their infrared goggles as they fought to breathe. Following the blond guy’s gaze, I realized none of those with the goggles on could likely see, either.
The blond guy seemed to find our very presence there offensive in the extreme.
“...This has to be some kind of stupid performance... or maybe a political statement. Look at these jokers in the gas masks and decontamination suits. These assholes are probably making some commentary on the violence on television or something...”
Cupping his hands around his mouth, the blond one shouted up to the two erensyi.
"Hey...” he yelled. "Jackasses! Move your rehearsal somewhere else, okay? This is a private course, and I will call the cops! You're trespassing!"
The other morph on the lawns turned their heads.
They stared at the disgruntled golfers, slack-jawed.
It occurred to me that Nik and I would be the only ones here who could even understand them. Even as I thought it, the blond guy focused on me, as if he’d scanned all the other faces, looking for comprehension and finding none.
As soon as he caught my gaze, however, his frown deepened.
"Hey!" he said, hands on his hips. "Are you responsible for this?"
I looked up at the two erensyi, who were now watching the five men and the golf cart as well, their tails flicking around their long legs.
Giving a kind of choked laugh, I shook my head.
"No, man," I said. "I can honestly say I'm not in charge of this."
My answer, and probably my laughter, did not impress angry golf-guy.
"Well, who the fuck is?" he snapped.
I was still stammering with a response for that, when sirens erupted from the nearby highway, and from the road that circled the golf course.
I didn't have to think hard to know that they had to be coming for us.
Someone we hadn’t seen must have reported... something.
Either that, or the guy in the golf cart was quicker on the draw with his mobile phone than I’d noticed. Whoever called it in, and whatever they’d said, it sounded like Seattle's finest had taken them seriously. Half of the damned police force seemed to be on its way.
My eyes immediately swiveled to the bloodier of the two erensyi.
"Nik!" I shouted, switching instinctively to Pharize. "Time to go!"
Both erensyi looked at me, their eyes showing incomprehension.
“Now, Nik! RIGHT NOW!” I snapped, pointing at the road, in the direction of the ever-louder sirens. “They’re going to shoot you down like rabid dogs... do you hear me? You’re not normal here... none of this is!”
I saw Nik’s eyes change first.
He glanced in the direction of the sirens, his tail coiling around behind him in what might have been indecision.
I was still staring between the two of them, when their forms abruptly altered... seemingly in the same set of seconds.
Nik and Razmun shrank back down to their human forms, shifting even faster than they'd grown. I watched them lose hair to smooth skin, now crazy pale under the bright sunlight and in comparison to th
e Earth guys standing on my other side. Their necks and legs abruptly shrank down to the much smaller, and much more vulnerable-looking human varieties, even as I saw their feet lose claws to skin and nails.
I could only stare for those few seconds, watching the shrinking and reconfiguring bones and muscles. Their joints reversed direction with a sickening-looking jerk, and within a matter of seconds, two men stood where the erensyi had been, stark naked, bleeding, and swaying on trembling muscles.
"Holy...”
I turned again sharply, once more startled when I remembered the golfers.
The four men all stood there now, looking like they might be going into shock.
The angry guy in the middle had gone completely blank-faced, like some part of him had just shut off.
“What the hell was that?” the dark-haired one excitedly shrieked.
Deciding I really couldn’t do much with these jokers, I looked back at Nik.
As I did, I felt... something.
Whatever it was, it was intense enough to scare me, and to cause me to take a step towards him and Razmun, almost without knowing I’d done it. I was still staring at the two of them, lost somewhere between shock at the transformation I'd just witnessed, and fear about what might be about to happen next... when Nik collapsed on the grass.
He fell like dead weight, without making a sound.
Reminded of what he’d done after I’d taken that shrapnel out of him, I thought he was out cold at first.
Then I saw him laying there, clutching a series of deep, red lines in his chest with a blood-covered hand, his eyes open, a pale blue.
I didn't think that time.
I just ran.
I reached Nik’s side even as the first of the police cars pulled up to the road at the edge of the golf course lawn, about a hundred yards from where Nik lay on the grass.
Throwing myself to the ground beside him, I took his hand, reaching for his face even as his eyes fluttered under my touch. I was aware, somewhere, of a commotion around us. I heard Razmun shouting commands, found myself thinking somewhere in the background that they were all running, that they would leave us here to take the fall.
And they did.
By the time I looked away from Nik's face, the lawn was mostly emptied of morph.
