by J. J. Green
“Do you know what happened after you went missing, Erielle? I never told you. You were out of it most of the time, and I didn’t want to upset you. But it took less than a day of your absence before everything you’d built up for so many years started to fall apart. All those people you’d led and cared for and nurtured? They didn’t give a krat about you. We were the ones who wanted to go out and find you. It was Jas and Ozment who scoured the streets hoping to stumble across you. All the rest of your misborn underworlder friends didn’t give a krat. All they cared about was where their next run was coming from. So I’m not going to apologize because my parents are rich. They have what they deserve, and so do you underworlders.”
She stormed across the room, barely taking in Erielle’s look of shock. She flung open the door and nearly walked directly into Jas, who was outside. With a snort of frustration, she side-stepped the Martian and stalked away.
Jas caught up to her in a few strides. “Er...things not going well so between you and Erielle?”
“Hmpf. I’ve had it with her, Jas. I don’t know what I ever saw in her. I don’t think I ever met anyone so pigheaded, arrogant, or holier-than-thou. I mean, who does she think she is, criticizing the only place where she’s safe and can recover? You’d think she’d be just a little grateful—just the tiniest bit thankful that we had this place to escape to. But no. It isn’t humble enough for her. Erielle’s too good for my parents’ home, where they’ve welcomed her as a guest. She needs a hovel to languish and die in just so she can feel comfortable. So her fine feelings of equality aren’t offended.”
Jas sighed and put an arm around her. “I don’t get what you mean,” she said with a small smile. “Stop beating around the bush and tell me how you really feel.”
Sayen gave a snort of laughter. A little of her anger dissipated. “Thanks, Jas. I needed that. I guess I’m overreacting a little. Erielle said some ugly things about my parents and my home, but she’s still not fully recovered, and she’s in a lot of pain. I shouldn’t forget that.”
“Yeah,” Jas said, “with Erielle’s beliefs, it would be hard for her to wrap her head around a place like this. I had a little trouble myself when I first saw it, and I don’t ever think about things like money or who has what. It’s a little hard to take in.”
“Maybe I’ll go and see her again later,” said Sayen. “When I’ve had a chance to cool down. I might apologize for some of the things I said. I don’t want to be her enemy. I like her and I want to be her friend. But, you know, Jas, I don’t think we’ll ever be more than that again. We’re just too incompatible.” She looked up at her friend and smiled wistfully. “Sorry, my love life isn’t your concern. What are you doing here? Did you want to see me about something?”
“I don’t mind hearing about your problems, Sayen, but I’m probably not a good person to talk to. I’m not great at that kind of thing myself. Anyway, I came to tell you what we decided. You and I are going to capture one of the Shadows. Carl and Makey are going to figure out a way to take down the suppressor that’s preventing the deep space comms. But we need to do our job before the guys can do theirs. We’ll use the scanner to make sure we really have a Shadow. Then your parents will contact the Transgalactic Council and show them the evidence.”
“And then what happens?”
Jas sighed. “I have no idea. But we’ll do our part. We’ll have tried at least. After that, it’ll be up to more important people than us to figure out how to defeat the Shadows.”
“The people more important than us haven’t done such a great job so far.”
“You’re not wrong, but there’s still hope. It sounds like your parents are respected and have a lot of important connections. The Council will listen to them. They’ll have to help Earth if they want to stop the Shadows from spreading across the galaxy. I just hope there are enough people left to defeat the invasion here.”
“Me too. So what are we doing? How are we going to capture a Shadow?”
“Now that we have your mom and dad’s workshop at our disposal, I don’t think it’s going to be too difficult. What we want to do is find a Shadow when it’s on its own, stun it, and bring it in here. We want to avoid a gunfight with the others if we can. We don’t want to take more risks than we have to. We’ve been burned enough.”
“I’m all for that. My skin recovers quickly from a laser burn, but it sure as hell hurts when it happens. So how are we going to know when a Shadow is on its own?”
“Your dad says he has something that will help.”
Chapter Five
The fennec fox looked like it was asleep, except for the fact that it wasn’t breathing. Makey reached out and stroked its fur, which was about the finest, softest thing he’d ever felt. The animal was cold to the touch. This wasn’t surprising because it wasn’t real, though he was having a hard time believing it.
“It’s so lifelike,” he said to Mr. Lee, who was adjusting controls on an interface screen.
“Hmmm,” replied the man, his head down as he concentrated on what he was doing. “That’s the idea. If it’s spotted, it should pass for the real thing, at a cursory glance anyway.”
Makey, Sayen, and Jas were in the basement laboratory with Sayen’s father, gathered around the animal he’d built as a surveillance device.
“Wouldn’t it be better to use a mosquito or something a similar size?” asked Sayen. “The fox is small, but it wouldn’t be that hard to spot and destroy if someone suspected what it was.”
“It isn’t that easy to spot in this landscape. It’s very well camouflaged. Fennec foxes are notoriously difficult for predators other than man to catch. They’re virtually invisible against a desert background, and they’re fast and nimble. It was the first animal that sprung to mind when I first thought of creating something to spy on the Shadows around us. I’ve used it successfully three times now. That was how I first located the suppressor within that building they’re constructing.”
“But wouldn’t a mosquito be more maneuverable?” Sayen persisted. “I mean, at the first sign of trouble, it could fly away.”
“You’re right, sweetheart, but a mosquito’s too small. Let me tell you how this thing works, and then you’ll understand. A mosquito is fine and dandy for standard surveillance. In fact, I have a number of them just over there that I designed and made myself. But even with the latest in storage capacity, it isn’t large enough. Now an animal like this is about the right size. Only a small part of this fox is given over to its locomotion, sensory, and transmitting equipment—of course, there’s no need to include the other parts of the natural animal, such as its digestive system—the rest of it is given over to housing the operator’s consciousness.”
“What?” exclaimed Jas. “The person operating it...you mean it holds their mind? They embody this thing?”
“That’s right. A direct mind connection with a surveillance device is far more effective than operating one at a distance. Anyone can do it, providing I link them up to its system. The capacity remaining aside from the space required for the other necessary components is roughly the size of a human brain. It would be an abomination to put a real brain in there, of course, but the material we use mimics the complexity of neurons and other cells that make up the human brain. Not perfectly. We haven’t managed to achieve that yet. But perfection isn’t necessary. It isn’t like anyone’s going to live in there.”
Makey could hardly believe his ears. Since arriving on Earth, he’d been turned speechless more than once at the amazing things he’d encountered—things that he’d never even imagined while growing up on Dawn. But if he understood Mr. Lee correctly, this latest object was almost beyond belief. The man seemed to be saying that someone could transfer their mind to the animal and operate it from the inside, as if that person were the animal itself.
“What happens to the person’s body while their mind is in the animal?” he asked.
“Nothing at all. All human functions necessary to life continue as before�
�heartbeat, lung function, metabolism, none of these requires the mind to work. Sadly, we used to see that in previous generations when people would suffer brain death but their bodies would continue to live on as if nothing had happened. Thankfully, no one has to suffer that indignity any longer.”
“I meant what happens in the operator’s mind? Can you be in the animal and aware of your body at the same time?” Makey asked.
“No, that would be too disorienting I think. I’ve set up the system so that isn’t possible. Once you’re in the fox, you’re only aware of everything from its perspective. You see through its eyes, listen through its considerable ears, and feel through its fur and mouth. Of course, whatever the fox sees and hears, etcetera, is also displayed on this screen and recorded.”
“And how do you get out of it again?” asked Makey.
Mr. Lee smiled. “I believe we have a budding scientist in our midst. When we have more time, I will explain to you exactly how to operate the device and how it works, though you’d probably have to study several degree-level courses to understand. It was Sayen’s mother who programmed the consciousness transference. I have to admit I don’t understand it too well myself. Suffice to say, the operator learns a mental sequence that triggers the return to their body. With luck, that should only happen when the device has returned. I wouldn’t like to lose it in the field. It would take me days to make another.”
Makey had a horrible feeling that, from what Mr. Lee was saying, he wasn’t going to be the one operating the fox. His heart sank. He didn’t think he’d ever wanted anything so much in his whole life, except maybe that his sister and mam could return from the dead.
Mr. Lee read his expression. “When this is all over, Makey, not only will I explain how to operate this fox, I will allow you to do so.”
“Sneck,” Makey exclaimed. “Thanks.”
“But for now,” Jas said, “I believe that Carl will want to talk to you about destroying that suppressor.”
“Awww,” Makey whined, “but that isn’t until after Jas and Sayen have caught a Shadow. That isn’t for ages. I’d rather stay here and watch someone transfer their mind to that fox.”
“Makey,” said Jas in that voice that meant she didn’t want to have to say anything else.
“Oh, okay. I’m going.” He left them and went up in the elevator. He found Carl outside the front of the house, where he was inspecting the truck.
Though it was a tough vehicle, it had taken plenty of damage when Ozment had driven it through the perimeter fence and warehouse wall at the spaceport. The grill was buckled, and the top of the cab was crumpled. Black streaks ran down the sides from the heli attack.
“She’s a beauty, eh?” Carl asked. “Don’t you think?”
“Er,” was all Makey could think to reply.
It didn’t matter. The Australian was lost in his admiration of the vehicle. “Never had a chance to really look at her till now. I can remember trucks like this from when I was a kid. Big, ten-wheeled monsters with tires bigger than me. I used to dream of driving one across the Nullabor. Nothing around me but the desert and the sea. Nothing above but the sky. For hundreds and hundreds of kilometers. That’d be an experience. Not, mind you,” he said, waggling a finger at Makey, “that it would beat flying. Nothing beats that. Still, it’d be great, wouldn’t it?”
“I suppose so. Um, Jas sent me up here to talk to you about destroying the suppressor.”
Carl’s eyes and mind were still on the truck. He had his hands on his hips, and he was nodding thoughtfully at some scenario playing in his head. After a moment of silence, Makey’s words seemed to register. “Did you say something, mate? Oh, yeah, destroying the suppressor. Yeah. That’s our job. Right.” He pulled open the driver’s side door. “Hop in.”
“Huh?” said Makey. “That’s your side.”
“Oh no. You’ll be driving. I’ve got to get up on top.”
“What?” Makey exclaimed. “You mean you’re going to sit where Ozment died?”
“Someone has to. The Shadows have got two helis. The minute we start this thing up, they’ll be onto us. We won’t have long before they figure out what we’re going to do and try to take us out. Before they figure out what we’re doing, maybe. If we’ve got no defense, we’ll be sitting ducks.”
“Then I’ll do it. I’ll go up there,” said Makey. “I’m an ace shot. Jas said so.”
“No. No way. You’re too young. Jas won’t hear of it, and I agree with her.”
Makey clenched his jaw. He wished they would all stop treating him like a kid. “I’m not too young. I’m not allowed to do anything. It’s like you all don’t want me to grow up.”
“It isn’t that. Kid, we don’t let you do stuff because we want you to grow up. We want you to have the chance.”
Makey sighed. The man only wanted to look out for him. “Okay. Are you going to teach me how to drive?”
“That’s right. Come on.” They climbed up into the cab, and Carl began showing him the different controls and telling him what they did.
“You know,” Carl said, “I used to imagine teaching my kid to drive one day. Keep the old skills going, you know. I never thought I’d be teaching a seventeen-year-old colony pup. Still, you’ll do. Now, usually it’d be hard to find a place for you to practice driving a vehicle this size, but we’re lucky. We’ve got acres of parkland to drive around in. We’ll take her round the back of the house.”
“Do you think Sayen’s parents are going to mind us ruining their lawn?”
“Right now,” Carl said as a heli rose up from beyond the half-finished building at the end of the driveway, “I think that’s the least of their worries.”
Chapter Six
Jas was inside the fennec fox. Wrong. She was the fox. The figures of Sayen and Mr. Lee were impossibly high above her, almost unrecognizable from her new perspective. To her left, she could see her own legs, as her body, which she’d temporarily left, sprawled unconscious in a reclining chair.
“How do you feel, Jas?” asked Mr. Lee, peering down at her. His voice was almost painful in her super-sensitive ears. “As I explained, you aren’t able to speak, so nod if you’re okay.”
Jas tried to nod, and the fox’s head obeyed her thoughts. The world moved up and down in response. She staggered, feeling extremely disoriented. If she’d had a stomach, she would have been sick.
“It’ll take you a few minutes to accustom yourself to the experience,” Mr. Lee said. “Take your time. Walk around a little.”
“I still think I should be the one doing this,” said Sayen.
“And I still think that we need your enhanced powers right here in case of an attack,” replied her father.
Jas took a tentative step on her right front paw. Which leg came next? One of her back legs, probably, but which one? She tried to move her right rear leg and wobbled dangerously. That wasn’t right. She quickly brought her left front leg forward to compensate. But then her right rear leg was in the wrong place. She returned all four legs to their starting points. This needed some figuring out.
Meanwhile, her mind was becoming aware of a rich range of sensations. The most noticeable were the signals coming from her nose. She smelled odors she could never have believed possible before. And so many of them. She smelled the sour, metallic aroma of the dust on the floor. The scents of Sayen and her father were heavy in the air. They smelled different from each other, but there were similarities that told Jas the two were related.
Her hearing was also turned up to a much higher capacity. She could hear the three humans in the room breathing and the sounds of their intestines moving, squeezing food and gas along. Somewhere, a fly was trapped in a web, and a spider was picking its way toward its victim.
Vibrations from the floor through her paws told her that Ozment’s truck had started up outside. She could even detect the movement of air currents against the highly sensitive hairs inside her ears.
She tried to move her legs again. After putting
her right front paw forward, she followed the movement with her left rear paw, then repeated the action with the legs on the opposite sides. That worked much better.
“Well done, Jas,” Sayen said. “You’re getting it.”
Soon, she was running around the laboratory. Embodying a surveillance device in the shape of a small animal was fun, she decided. She wished she had more time to explore this new experience, but they couldn’t waste a moment in capturing a Shadow. She nudged Mr. Lee’s leg with her nose.
“You’re ready?” he asked. “Good. Follow me.”
He took her up in the elevator to the first floor and out into the conservatory full of orchids Jas’d seen on her first visit. Mrs. Lee was there. She was with the maid, Florence. The android’s chest was open, and Sayen’s mother had both hands inside. She looked over her shoulder as her husband and daughter and a small, pale brown fox appeared.
“Jas, you seem to be doing fine,” the woman said. “Good luck. Don’t forget the sequence for returning to your own body when you get back. Or if things get too hairy out there, activate the sequence and just leave the fox behind. We can always make another one. We can’t make another Jas.”
Jas wished she could thank her.
Mr. Lee opened the doors that led outside to the huge green lawn. Dusk was falling. “I’m going to show you a tiny place in the force field where you can slip through,” he said. “It’s too small for any human, even that creepy little Shadow girl. But you can fit it. You must come back the same way, and preferably unseen, though I can seal the spot if Shadows follow you and try to break through.”
Jas, Mr. Lee, and Sayen walked across the lawn toward the woods that bordered the furthest reaches of the Lees’ estate. The Shadow-controlled helis had stopped attacking for the moment. Jas wondered if they had only been testing the strength of the force field and were preparing themselves for a serious assault. She estimated they had a day or maybe two at most to carry out their plans. The Shadows were moving fast. It would be only a short time before they gathered the firepower to breach the Lees’ defenses. Either that or they would have replaced enough of the population with Shadows to do away with the need for subterfuge.
