by Mel Todd
[The original programming intended to lock all Kaylid into mindless animal form. The solar wave that hit corrupted those orders. While programming has been repaired, the repaired parts are not overwritten by the original.]
She almost sagged in relief, but her stomach still churned.
"Why would they want us locked into a mindless animal form?"
[Programming does not indicate. Those were the original orders.]
"Huh. Okay, Wefor. If you find anything else out, please let us know."
[Of course, commander.]
All too aware of the listener in her body, but not seeing any way around it, McKenna glanced at JD. His face held the same concern she felt.
"So, if the programming was damaged and we are not what was planned. What was?" Her voice didn’t carry far, and she glanced to make sure Charley still played video games.
JD didn’t answer immediately, finishing off his beer with closed eyes. With a sigh he opened his eyes and looked at her as he set the beer down on the table. "Nothing good and you know it. What do you want to do?"
"What do you mean?"
"You are probably the only person with a functioning AI. And Wefor said that there were not very many commanders and we are the only ones that know this involves aliens and other things."
McKenna sat frozen as she processed that.
Oh fuck.
"You’re telling me I need to tell someone. And what do I do? Call the FBI and say ‘by the way I have an intelligent alien computer program in my brain that says all of this was a plot by some aliens’?" She rolled her eyes at him. "They’d lock me up and probably record it and I’d go viral again, this time as they drug me full of antipsychotics."
JD scrubbed his hand across his face and then dug in a pocket for a spinner flicking it as he sat. "I don’t know. But aren’t we responsible to do something?"
"You tell me what to do that won’t get me locked up in a loony bin where even my current fame won’t let me keep Charley."
He grimaced, and the spinner moved faster. "Point. They’d yank him out of here so fast none of us could stop them."
She sighed and sank back. "So, for now I’m going to pretend I don’t know anything. I can’t. If I can see a way to prove it, I will. Besides how do I stop an alien race? Wefor said they are still a long way away. Maybe by the time they get here we’ll be ready to pull off an interstellar battle. But until then I’m keeping my mouth shut, going back to work, and acting like any other cop."
JD snorted. "You mean any other cop that is famous, turns into a cat, and is a new mom?"
McKenna narrowed her eyes at him even as the corners of her mouth turned up. "Yeah, like that."
He chuckled and got up. "Going to say good night then. I’ll see you tomorrow."
"Thanks, JD."
McKenna watched him say goodnight to Charley and head out. She looked up at the sky, the stars, and the idea that somewhere out there existed a race of aliens that wanted to use her, that had created the Kaylid, made their twinkling brightness sinister.
Chapter 15 - Day One
"I’m telling you, this is the precursor to an invasion, an alien invasion. It has all the hallmarks of typical invasion strategies. You seed discord and chaos among your enemy. You created a situation where you have your enemy fighting themselves, plus a small subsection of the population that is ostracized and perfect for slaves. Hell, if you twisted this just right you could even make it so your enemy sells them to you. I tell you, look at history and what we have going on here are the hallmarks of a foothold event, and that is assuming what makes them turn into animals, doesn’t make them loyal to the enemy" - Ranting caller on the Harvey Klein show.
Monday found her dropping him off at the bus stop, and feeling weird as she pulled away, watching her foster son wait for the bus. At ten she had no worries about him waiting alone, plus, being shifter meant he could get away if he needed to. They’d been working on the mental links, and she thought that it might be getting stronger and reaching farther, but not enough to cover her patrol route during the day.
Walking into the station for the last week in uniform felt strange and good. She needed to be back, but also looked forward to the new job.
"Kenna," she heard JD call her and turned to see him walking in with a mug of coffee. "Ready?"
"Yep. Let’s get this show on the road," as she took the travel mug from him.
Once in the car, they slipped back into the easy friendship, partnership they had with each other but the link in their mind enhanced it. She could sense which way he would move and automatically moved to support or counter depending on the need.
"I’m not sure if this is cool or creepy," she commented halfway through the day.
"I’m voting for cool. It just feels right having you there, not as invasive as I was worried it might be. So, I’m fine with it."
She snorted and flipped on her lights. "Speeder and yep, he just ran the stop sign. Really? How hard is it to notice the big red hexagon?"
"Very," JD's voice was dry as he waited for her to get close enough and run the plates.
With sirens and lights on, she pulled up behind the car and it moved over to the side, coming to a stop. A dark gray foreign sedan, four doors with taped up rear lights and primer on the bumper.
"Anything?"
"No issues with the license. Says it is owned by a Jessica Samuels, age thirty-one." He pivoted the screen so she could see the address and driver’s license of the picture of one Jessica Samuels. An African America with hair in braids and a wide smile looked out of the computer.
"Got it." She opened the door to the car, stepping out and walking up to the driver's side window. The window rolled down and a young man, probably barely past eighteen looked out of the window at her, eyes wide and hands so tight on the steering wheel she could see white at his knuckles. His dreadlocked hair only reached his shoulders, and while he wore clean clothes, the odor of marijuana slapped her in the face, sharp and clear. Tilting her head she smelled a sharp sweet scent, almost felt it call to her. Her whole body shuddered as she realized that.
What the fuck?
"Sir, did you notice that not only were you going faster than the posted speed limit but you didn’t even stop at the stop sign back there?" Her voice came out collected and cool even as her knuckles went white around the butt of her gun as she tried to figure out why she knew he had about an ounce of low quality weed in the console.
"Uh, no, officer. I was, uh, was busy jamming to my music, and uh, didn’t see it."
"May I see your license and registration please?"
A minute of fumbling in the car, obviously trying to find it, he handed her his license and the car’s registration. "I’m, uh, sorry?"
She took the provided paper work and walked back to the car, her mind pinging JD.
~Need to talk to you.~
JD’s head tilted, but he drifted back to the car even as he gave it a once over as she got in to run the info.
~Talk or mind?~
The dash cam recorded voice, and this wasn’t anything she ever wanted to risk getting out, at least not right now.
~Mind. I know he has pot. From the strength of the smell about an ounce, cheap ass shit too, dime bag.~
~And you know this how? ~JD didn’t sound disbelieving, he just asked.
~I don’t know.~
[Of course you do. The training you gave the children also trained you. With the ability to change into an animal form your olfactory sense have been improved. You should be able to detect many things if you train yourself to notice them.]
She stiffened as Wefor’s voice floated through her mind, and JD did also. The AI’s voice didn’t have the richness that JD and Charley did. Flatter, tinnier, it always scraped against her, not like nails on a chalkboard but something that just edged against you, though it had almost started to feel comforting.
~I don’t have a valid reason to search him, and frankly for an ounce of pot I just don’t care. ~
Her hands went through the motions of looking him up in the computer even as she worked this through in her mind. The young man came up as Jaroy Samuels, son of Jessica.
~Let’s just give him the ticket and not mention it, but I think I need to explore this. Odd that this pops up and we are being transferred to narcotics.~ She said even as she printed out the ticket.
~Hey, not everyone in your life can become a viral video. Talk to Holich, or new boss? ~ The smirk in his voice had her rolling her eyes.
~New guy I think. No reason to give Anne any more gray hairs.~
JD snorted at that and they both got out of the car.
Approaching the window, she handed the young man his license and registration. "I’m going to give you a citation for speeding and failure to obey traffic signs." She went through the boiler plate of the court date and how to find out the fine. The man almost wilted in relief as she turned and walked away.
~If I didn’t know what he was so guilty for he would have hit every trigger I had. Probably first time he’s ever bought weed. ~ McKenna wanted to laugh. Pot was still illegal though signs were California would soon follow Oregon and Washington and make it legal. But for now, she really didn’t feel like ruining a kids' life for an ounce.
~Probably. Let’s get this day over, Kenna. I was hoping for a quiet week, but I don’t think you’re going to let me have that are you.~ JD mock sighed in her head and she resisted the urge to stick her tongue out at him.
McKenna flipped back to words as they got in the car. "Don’t blame me, I’m just trying to do my job.
"Yeah, but you’re like a Murphy’s Law magnet. Anything that can go wrong will go wrong."
McKenna shot him a look, but at this point she really couldn’t argue. And she really wished she could.
Her senses on high alert she started up their routine again. The day seemed pretty quiet, and they pulled into a standard spot at an intersection with a high rate of accidents. Just having the car sitting there visible made people less likely to push the red light, and it gave them some time to enter data and see if anything needed their attention.
A cacophony of horns grabbed her attention, and she looked up to see a truck, older foreign two door pick up, blow through the red and two other cars barely avoid hitting it. It kept going, weaving in the lane even with no other traffic there.
"Ready?" She asked as she flipped on the lights and siren and put the car in drive.
"Always," he said as he typed in the call. "You get a license?"
"Nope but we’ll have one in a few." With the sirens screaming their annoyance she caught up to the truck, and she saw the driver jerk his head up then slow down and start to pull over. "Hey, something goes right today, but I think we are taking in this driver."
"Yeah, think you’re right."
The truck pulled over, and she came up at a slight angle, making sure the camera would capture everything and to protect them a bit from the street traffic.
She got out a hand on her weapon as she approached. A symbol flashed in her eyes as she looked over the man through the rolled down window. Older, probably a few years than her, but he looked a good decade older. He smelled wrong, bad, in a way that made her want to rub her nose.
"Sir? Are you aware you just ran a red light and almost caused multiple accidents?"
He looked up at her, eyes dilated to the point she had to focus to realize his pupils were so wide that only thin brown rings remained of his iris.
"Sir, I need you to step out of the car."
"Oh. Sure."
He stepped out, and his knees almost buckled as he tried to stand.
"JD," she called out as she steadied him with her left hand, making her tilt her right hip away from him so he couldn’t grab her gun if this was a feint.
He moved around the front, his huge arms grabbing the man effortlessly as he sagged, his eyes looking around wildly.
"Lower him to the ground, I’ll call a bus."
JD did that as she radioed in for an ambulance, the sour bitter smell from the man almost making her gag. Once the order had been acknowledged she turned her attention back to the man who lay on his back, his breathing rapid. Each breath he exhaled carried the same smell of wrongness, but it didn’t smell like booze or drugs. It smelled sweet?
"Do you smell that on him?"
"Yeah that sickly sweet smell? Yeah what is it a new type of drug?" He didn’t have the man restrained but neither of them were taking chances.
"Sir? Are you on something? Taking drugs?" She spoke slowly and clearing, the man had obvious trouble concentrating and trying to talk to fast would just make it worse.
"Nooo," he slurred back and grabbed at his chest.
"Heart attack?" JD asked even as he waved people around them who were slowing to look.
McKenna looked at the man, and a glint of gold caught her eye. She reached down and pulled out a necklace from under his shirt, a medical alert dangling from it.
"Fuck," she muttered and glanced at it. "Diabetic."
She hit the radio. "Suspect is a diabetic, signs of a diabetic incident. Let incoming bus know."
"Copy," The dispatchers voice clear and calm, and McKenna looked down at the man.
"You’re diabetic. I’ve let them know. Help is coming."
The man sagged back a bit and nodded closing his eyes. The ambulance pulled up and a whirl of activity erupted, fifteen minutes later the bus headed out, the man, Aaron Larson, on board. A call for a tow truck had been put in and the truck marked.
Sitting in the car, writing it up, she didn’t look at him. "We can smell diabetes? How does a shifter get diabetes? I thought being a shifter cured things?"
[With time and focus yes, but he should have never been selected. The programming for that bot must have been severely damaged to even select that person as a Kaylid.]
Wefor’s voice rattled her skull, but she didn’t complain, but followed up instead.
"What do you mean with time and focus?"
[To do cellular organ level repair the Kaylid needs to shift often to allow the bots the ability to repair the damage.]
"If he had been shifting more he might be able to cure diabetes? Are you saying a shifter can be cured of most diseases?"
[Cellular level damage even to organs can be repaired, if the cells are restructured often enough to counteract the disease and destroy the virus or bacteria.]
McKenna glanced at JD and shook her head. "Eternal youth and freedom from disease. I’m thinking keeping our mouths shut is the better choice here. Especially if it ever got out that you can give someone this ability."
He nodded slowly, looking out the window his fingers playing with a spinner.
"Yeah. If people find out Commanders can spread this, and that they could be cured." He shook his head. "There’d be madness. People demanding it, but at the same time, should we be hiding that we could do this? Save people, cure them?"
McKenna swallowed hard, the ramifications of the question tearing at her.
"Yeah, I know. But the rest? I mean what happens if they come here?"
[Be aware that not all people will become Kaylid. If the nanobot does not find them a suitable host the bots will not invade the cells. While a commander can force them, forced conversions, or converting a being with serious genetic issues will result in a biomass meltdown.]
Even the words sounded creepy, but she had to know.
"What is that? A biomass meltdown?"
[A moving living lump of flesh that is neither human nor animal. If this happens the intelligence and ability of the nanobots to control or direct the change will be distorted and the being dies, unable to breathe, eat, or excrete. Failure rate for forced conversions is close to seventy-five percent in other species.]
A shudder ran down McKenna’s spine at the thought paired with a seventy-five percent failure rate and she closed her eyes trying to center herself.
"Keeping this to ourselves sounds like a good idea." Her brain choked
catching up on the last part of Wefor’s comment. "Wait, other species?"
[Non-humans. Statistics for human forced conversions are not available.]
"And I’m in so over my head." She shook herself looked at JD whose eyes were about as wide and panicked as hers. "Work, work sounds good."
He nodded, face a bit pale, and they both focused on everything mundane and very terrestrial.
Chapter 16 - Making an Impression
‘I hear voices!’ A man in Chicago swears he and his girlfriend can talk to each other via telepathy. They are both shifters and he swears they were normal, but one night after some ‘rough sex’ left them exhausted, they woke up able to talk to each other mentally. He says they’ve tried it with other people, but still only he and his girlfriend have the ability. ~ Tabloid News
The rest of the shift went like normal, but no matter what, every person they pulled over, McKenna breathed them in, trying to analyze. What her nose told amazed her, creating both a fascination and terror that she didn’t want to explore at all. But now that she paid attention to it she couldn’t not be aware. Cigarettes, booze, drugs, and a few that she suspected meant the person was sick, both from vague memories of time spent in the hospital and because of how they looked. But she knew more than she ever wanted to know about every person she talked to that day.
By the time they headed back to the station her skin crawled, and she wanted to cut off her nose. The sheer number of people who reeked of sex astounded her. Pulling into the station she sagged in the driver's seat.
"All I want to do is take a shower and drown myself in unscented everything. And after today, I don’t know if I’m ever going to be able to have sex again without thinking of that creepy guy we pulled over for distracted driving. I swear, there was at least three different women on him. Why?"
The man in question was missing three teeth, two other teeth were black, he had a scraggly beard she wanted to pluck, and attitude that would have carried him across the continent.
JD held up his hands. "Don’t look at me. You don’t want to know the last time I had sex."
