A Whateley Academy Tale
Jade 6-a – Dreams and Awakening
By Babs Yerunkle
33: In the dragon’s lair
Whateley Academy, Twain Cottage basement November 15, Wednesday evening, 4:15 PM
They’d been summoned to meet Thuban in his place of power.
Jade had no idea what Thuban was up to, but she wasn’t about to ignore the
request. He might have information from the secret surveillance on Don Sebastiano.
The Alphas had given them far too much grief already. She couldn’t ignore a
possible warning.
Or maybe it was a job offer. Thuban was rich. For a
moment, Jade entertained fantasies of getting some high-paying errand job. She
wouldn’t turn her nose up at that. It would be nice to earn enough to buy
Christmas presents. But the way her luck ran, she’d probably have to find some
cheap but “creative” solution to the Christmas present problem.
What had worried her was the strict instruction that both
she and Jinn were to come, and that they should make sure to keep the meeting
secret. That brought to mind countless bad murder mysteries.
She’d left a note of explanation under her covers. She
hoped that if Thuban tried to pull something wicked and kidnap her, her friends
would find the note. Meanwhile, she’d taken what other precautions she could.
She had her gun back, and it was clipped at the small of her back, covered by her
school uniform’s blazer. She had her kitty compact, barrettes, and other
gear. Jann-sensei was charged into her clothes and gizmos. That meant that
Jann could talk to her, or drop everything and take off in the compact, or
whatever they needed. She had maximum freedom of movement. And with a subtle
finger gesture, Jade could signal her spirit-sensei to initiate telepathic
contact. Jann would poke a spiritual “finger” into Jade’s head, and they could
link minds. That gave her twice as much thinking power, the warning that came
from being able to see in every direction, and even an escape in case she was
gassed or knocked unconscious – Jann could grab her clothes and fly her away.
It also helped to have Jinn, dressed as Shroud, floating
beside her. Shroud was ready for a fight, with her bear-trap face, Harry’s
latest combat arm modules, and the sledge hammers and spikes ready to spin up.
Despite all these preparations, she still didn’t feel very
safe. Jade tried to control her anxiety as they finished the trek through the
creepy cavern, lit by lights from deep under the cave pools. In the center of
the cavern was a grand silk pavilion tent. The blue silk was patterned with
Chinese ideograms and astrological signs.
She wondered whether to knock or call out as they approached
the front, but the door smoothly pulled itself aside. Inside, seated in the
geometrical center of the tent, was the half-man, half-reptile, Thuban. He was
perched on top of a mass of gold and silver coins, stacked and welded into the
shape of a crude throne.
“Excellent response time,” he began. “I appreciate that.”
Jade hung back, letting her “sister” move forward to take
the brunt of the conversation.
“We’re here,” Shroud said. She’d left off the spooky
effect, and spoke with Jinn’s normal seventeen-year-old voice. “What do you
want?”
“Indulge me for a moment,” Thuban requested. He was dressed
like a Mandarin, in deep red robes with gold embroidery. He even wore a
matching skullcap. With his sleeves pressed together, he looked almost human.
He still had slitted eyes, pebbled skin, and a horse-shaped face, but his body
seemed human. When he raised a hand to gesture, it was disconcerting to see
the scaled and taloned hand that was concealed inside the sleeve.
At his gesture, two chairs slid forward from the far corners
of the tent.
Shroud shook her head, declining. “Thank you, but I have no
need for a chair.” She folded her legs into a full lotus, and sat levitating
in mid-air, her night-black cloak hanging down to just brush the ground.
Jade had no such excuse. She would have preferred to stand
– sitting made her more vulnerable. It was harder to move or react from a
seated position, and reaching for her gun would be slower. She compromised by
perching nervously on the edge of the seat, smoothing her skirt so that it
wouldn’t bunch up and get in the way if she had to go for her gun.
Thuban began abruptly. “Montana has been doing much better
since the conclusion of the Tansy Walcutt affair.”
Jade shuddered at the memory. Montana was a blond
sasquatch, nearly twice her height and four times her weight. Her most vivid
images of Monty were from the fight with Toni, when Monty took a cheap shot at
Toni’s back after the match ended. It hadn’t helped that just as she herself
had finally won free of Tansy’s possession (or should it have been
vice-versa?), Thuban had used an underling to possess Tansy’s body, forcing the
girl to fulfill all the sexual promises she’d once made to Monty. Jade had
barely escaped sharing that fate.
Jade had spoken to Monty once or twice since then, but he
remained a giant hairy brute that she associated with backstabbing and sexual
assault.
“He has yet to redeem his honor over the match against your
friend, but I have faith that he will, in time, atone for that. The important
part is that the black despair that had claimed him has vanished. The Tansy …
incident … seems to have permanently broken the hold that her mistreatment left
on him. Although he’s far from recovered, he now shows the capacity to
recover. Every day he seems to be doing a bit better. He’s truly a changed
man.”
“I’m so thrilled,” Shroud said, flatly.
“I find it hard to believe you would sympathize with Tansy
Walcutt, after the many ways she has done you wrong.”
“Hardly,” Shroud said. “She was already pimping herself out
to Sebastiano, and I’ll bet she spread herself for anyone else who could help her,
long before your thing with Monty. As for me – she wanted to drink my soul.
She wanted to kill me, and steal my powers.”
Jade was a bit shocked to hear herself speaking like that,
but they had decided that sometimes her older self needed to use language that
was a bit more appropriate for an angry teenager.
“Indeed,” the dragon-man agreed, sagely. “I believe that
Miss Walcutt could do with further lessons in respect. However it seems that
the world has decided her to offer her an appropriate payback. Perhaps no
action will be needed on my part.
“But let’s focus upon Montana. As I watched his growth and
recovery, I realized that he held a lesson for all of Faction Three—”
“I beg your pardon?” Shroud interrupted. “Faction Three?”
“Yes, a name of my own devising. I assume you know of the
movie The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. So much of Whateley focuses upon
the epic battle between good and evil. It’s the same in the wider world – look
at that new game Good and Evil Online. People see a face-off, two sides
squaring off against one another in epic battle. Lost in the drama is the
plight of many victims: the weak, the different, and in fact, everyone who
doesn’t fall directly into one of the two main camps.
“The ‘different’ ones are people like Montana. People who,
through no fault of their own, have been reduced to the status of mere things,
or worse. People whose minds and spirit are ignored, because they are seen as
brutes, beasts, and monsters. People who, perhaps, don’t fall into a simple slot
like ‘good’ or ‘evil.’ Poor confused Monty is certainly a poster child for
that. Society will never accept him as being noble or heroic, and, without
Miss Walcutt’s potent influence, he wouldn’t have been half so nasty. Monty is
hardly alone; there are more like him than you suspect. They won’t be allowed
to be good. They might gain marginal acceptance as villains, or particularly
the lackeys of villains. Most end up as victims. These are the people whom I
have begun calling Faction Three.”
Jade tried to reconcile this with the “middle path”
described by Robert Shih. That middle path (as she saw it) was to do what was
right and work for good, but to be ready to bend the rules of legality when
necessary. “Faction Three” seemed to be an entirely different idea.
“So, which side will Faction Three ultimately follow?”
Shroud asked. “The good guys? You aren’t another faction of goons, are you?
I don’t want to hear that!”
Thuban shook his head sadly. “It amazes me that otherwise
intelligent people are unable to understand that the world might possibly hold
more flavors than chocolate and vanilla.”
While Jade puzzled over that, he continued, speaking more
plainly. “Faction Three will not be part of either side. We are an
independent faction, primarily out for our own interests. The criminal
elements would callously use us and throw us away. Conversely, your ‘good’
side legalizes most discrimination. It institutionalizes rule by attractive
leaders that appeal to the common masses. As soon as someone pretty or popular
got upset, the ‘good’ people happily condone an old-fashioned lynching. That
always seems to comfort the masses. Meanwhile, the authorities and other
forces for ‘good’ will discretely look the other way.”
“It… it isn’t really that bad, is it?”
Even to Jade, the comeback sounded weak. She’d done enough
research on the Day of Remembrance to know that the dragon-man was right. It
was a risk that every transgendered person had to live with. Once a TG was
exposed, it was impossible to predict how friends and companions would react.
Some were puzzled, or accepting, or supportive. Others lashed out with a
hatred that bordered on the psychotic. And society had no interest in either
protecting the innocent TG or punishing the guilty straight. Society wanted
the problem to go away. If murder made the problem “go away,” that seemed acceptable
to many people.
She wondered, How much worse is it for people that look
like monsters?
Thuban’s voice was cold. “It is as bad as you can possibly
imagine. If there was anyone out there with even an inkling of our situation,
I would think it would be a student from Poe! You should be a natural ally.”
Her apprehension increased. Was he hinting that he knew
about Poe? Did he know about her?
He waved a hand in dismissal. “You look so surprised. ‘How
could he possibly know the big secret of Poe? Is it my fault?’ Please.
I’ve known about Poe since my first quarter here. Far from exposing your deviant
little cottage, I’ve done everything in my power to preserve and guard the
secret. There’s no reason why Faction Three shouldn’t be inclusive. But we’re
getting off the topic. Or perhaps not, since we’ve wandered into the topic of
sexuality.”
Thuban leaned forward, now speaking with a burning
intensity. His emotions flickered with repressed feelings as well, including
longing and lust. “High school is a crucial period for psychological
development. You finish adolescence, you learn social interaction. Your place
in society is established. It determines who and what you are for the rest of
your life. Will you be a leader or a lackey? Will you become a kind, helpful hero
… or an abusive, manipulative tyrant? Will you become a strapping example of
manhood, and all that implies?” He turned to stare directly at her. “Or
perhaps you would prefer to become a delicate flower, the soft and gentle epitome
of all the feminine virtues?”
Jade’s teeth began to chatter so hard that she almost missed
his next statement.
“That was Montana’s problem. At this delicate stage in his
development, Tansy Walcutt stepped in and destroyed his self-image. She
utterly shattered it when she publicly humiliated him. And that was my realization.
The rest of Faction Three is in the same position! We aren’t all challenged
with a Tansy Walcutt, but the entire group suffers from a lack of
opportunities, a lack of confidence, and ultimately, the fear of rejection.
All of us face public humiliation, just by going to class. The situation is
even worse here at Whateley, where so many of the students are physically
perfect, Olympian ideals. Can you imagine how hard it is to approach a girl,
to risk making small talk with her, when you look like a giant hairy ape, or a
human turtle, or something worse?
“This past month, I’ve paid for construction down in the
underground. I’ve had a theater put in – the Faction Three Theater. It’s a
lounge and media center all in one. We meet every Tuesday and Thursday after
dinner, and I’ve invited all of us, well, all of the appropriate
members, from Whitmore, Hawthorne, and Twain. But it hasn’t been enough. I
can’t get them to break out of their shells, to risk talking to other people. All
of them have been hurt too badly, too often.”
Shroud drifted up and down slightly in mid-air. “What do
you want of me? You want me to invite Poe?”
Thin, reptilian lips drew back from Thuban’s pointed teeth.
“Not exactly.”
He withdrew a hand from his sleeve. In his hand was a small
white stuffed toy. He tossed it to Jade.
“A small gift for you. I had some difficulty constructing
it: bulletproof, fireproof, and resistant to corrosives and acids. It’s doubly
hard to do it in plush. That’s got a Zylor-Titanium weave, with Nomex flocking
for heat resistance. It should stand up to the type of abuse you seem to run
into. It’s yours, provided that you bring it to life, here and now. Make it
run around the room.”
Jade had instinctively caught the throw. The toy felt
similar to her stuffed toy lion. But this lion was white. With round ears
that had a black band at the top. Not merely a white lion, it was the Kimba of
Osamu Tezuka. The Kimba, the Jungle Emperor. The one created in
Japan, nearly half a century earlier. The icon that her team had taken for
their mascot and name. She couldn’t help petting the toy. It was soft and
plush and perfect.
Having held it, she didn’t want to give it back. And he
wasn’t asking for much, was he?
She looked at Shroud plaintively. “Please?”
Her “sister” sighed. “Oh, for Pete’s sake. Alright. Give
me a second.”
As Shroud drifted toward her, her body seemed to undergo
convolutions. A moment later, Shroud’s costume, skin, and cloak imploded
inward, folding inside-out to vanish into a thick-walled metal safe contained
in her torso. As the last shred of fabric flew into the door, the safe clicked
shut, and settled to the ground beside Jade.
Jinn flooded back into her mind, and she felt the resentment
and irritation at breaking security for the sake of gaining this stupid toy.
But then, as she continued petting it, she considered both lines of thought.
It’s worth it, she decided.
A moment later, the toy in her hand stirred and came to
life. Kimba stood up on her palm and roared a squeaky roar. Then he jumped
nimbly to the ground, raced around the inside perimeter of the tent, and
approached Thuban.
“Is this what you had in mind, oh mighty dragon?” the toy
demanded.
Thuban’s eyes were wide, and through her link with Jann,
Jade could see his emotions crest in need and vindication.
“Amazing!” He practically whispered it. “Just a toy, and
yet, so lifelike.”
As Kimba trotted back to Jade, Thuban continued to speak.
“Now I begin to believe that my plan might actually work.”
“What plan?”
The toy lion jumped up onto the metal locker. Jade touched
toy and locker, recharging Shroud. A moment later, the locker opened,
exploding in a reverse transformation. The toy vanished, safely locked away.
Clothes, hair, and chalk-white skin exploded outward, then condensed into
Shroud once more.
Thuban smiled, but his eyes were tight with anxiety. “Like
the vaunted Dr. Frankenstein, I intend to make a bride. Or rather, a
girlfriend. Not real, not genuine competition for any of the girls in Faction
Three. And at the same time, someone safe, whose very purpose is not to reject
the clumsy and inexperienced, and especially, the unattractive. Everybody’s
sweetheart, if you will. She will be an ice-breaker. Relationship training
wheels. A striking and distinctive female, obviously appropriate to Faction
Three, but presented as a ‘construct’ and a cunning fake from the very start.”
“You want me,” Shroud said, figuring it out. “I don’t know
how to break it to you, but I’m hardly the life of the party. You want Toni.
Or maybe Nikki.”
“I need someone who won’t make the other girls in Faction
Three feel like ugly freaks. Someone who is as grotesque as they are, and yet,
could be seen as attractive, even desirable, given the proper perspective.
Don’t you understand? Faction Three is a refuge from you beauty queens and
film stars. It is a place where we can allow ourselves to be what we are, out
of the spotlight.” He shook his large head. “Besides, I didn’t go to all this
work to create a Team Kimba auxiliary branch.”
“There’s Sara,” Jade suggested. “She’s not exactly normal.
And Tennyo…”
“As I may have hinted, I intend to assume leadership of Faction
Three. Albeit, from behind the scenes. Placing your demon princess in a
pivotal role would hardly be wise. Nor do I wish to enter any direct conflicts
with Kellith. As for your roommate – anyone who wasn’t deeply intimidated by
her would be quite the fool. But perhaps you are unaware of some of her
secrets.”
Jade glared at him. How dare he taunt her with her friend’s
secrets! He was probably just lying, anyway. How could he possibly know more
about them than she did?
“They’re good people!” she insisted, loyally. “I don’t care
what fake secrets you pretend to know.”
He gave a cold smile.
“You’d be surprised at what I know. Secrets that you’ve
probably never even admitted to each other.”
The smile widened with the appreciation of a trap that has
been sprung.
“For example, have your friends ever heard the name ‘Jared
Reilley’ ?”
34: Heart’s desire November 15, Wednesday evening, 4:43 PM
At the mention of her real name, it felt like the blood in
her veins turned to ice water. Jade found herself simultaneously icy cold and
sweating. Under Jann-sensei’s urgent prodding, she tried to control her face
and body language, but she knew she’d given away her shock.
Thuban began to speak again, in his dry, whispery voice. “The
last time we met face-to-face, you rather surprised me. I like to know who I’m
dealing with. I took the liberty of learning everything I could about you. Everything.
My methods and sources are … extensive. You’ll be pleased to know that the
records on the Whateley end were quite secure. I had to finally trace things
backward from the Kansas end. I took the liberty of ensuring that those
records were permanently lost.”
“So,” Shroud’s voice was as cold as the grave, “you think
you can blackmail my sister into doing your work?”
“No. I engage in blackmail for punishment, not motivation.
Besides, with the gift I offer, you will do my work quite willingly.” He gave
a laugh that was surprisingly warm. “And don’t think to lead me astray,
either. Your ‘sister’? Please. That whole tale about being the re-animated
spirit of her dead sister, or even the backup tale about you being a Ghulah are
just that – tales. Cover stories that weren’t invented until you’d already
been here a month. We all know that you are simply a splinter-self, flaked off
from the whole. A temporary psyche that somehow telekinetically charges your
body image template.”
Jade and Shroud were both silent, as they digested this.
Was there anything about them that he didn’t know? And how could they get out
of this without destroying everything they’d achieved at Whateley?
Jade realized that she had little to lose at this point.
“If you’re so smart,” she asked, in a subdued voice, “why am I stuck like
this?”
Thuban’s lip curled slightly in triumph, as he relaxed back
into his hard throne. “I collect information. That doesn’t mean I know
everything. Often, there are no final answers. The best you can do is to
search for a workable solution. Sometimes I am able to suggest possibilities.
For a price. After all, that is my specialty.”
“What are you talking about?” Shroud demanded. “What
price?”
“All in good time. Perhaps you’d like to see the reward,
first?”
The robed lizard-man gestured at the area ahead of him, and
a holographic image snapped to life. It showed two girls climbing into a
strange device, while a trio of teenagers in lab coats bustled around them.
“You’re already familiar with Eleanor Ruskin, better known
as Jello,” the reptilian man stated. “Here she is, getting into the
BIT-Shifter.”
The holographic image showed a figure who looked more like a
half-melted wax mannequin, stepping up into a platform. On the other side of
the platform, another girl was stepping up. The second girl was a stunning
blonde that Jade recognized from the fight in Boston.
“The ‘donor’ is a girl named Heartbreaker. One of Ruskin’s
few friends. Watch closely.”
With both girls strapped in, another girl, a technician,
connected a maze of electrodes and wires all over their nearly naked bodies.
The technician stepped away, then the platform began to spin, faster and
faster. Finally, there was a strobe-like effect, and a blue corona became
visible over most of the wires. In the strobe’s flash, Jade saw first Jello,
then the beautiful girl, then Jello again, as the machine spun round and
round. A blue corona began to surround the spinning stage.
“Now the process truly begins.”
The strobed images had seemed to be first one, then the
other. Now they blurred, so that the image presented was both girls, somehow melting
together.
“The ‘slicer’ is measuring the fields that corresponds to
Heartbreaker’s Body Image Template,” Thuban explained. “It is forcing those
same signals into Jello; actually superimposing them over Jello’s own template.
Watch.”
The blurred half-and-half image began to change. While the
half-seen image of Heartbreaker remained unchanged, there was also a
superimposed image of another shape. This other shape expanded, contracted,
altered, and then seemed to slowly vanish. Soon, the only visible image was
that of Heartbreaker. Now the operator pulled a switch and the blue fire faded;
the spinning stage slowed. Inside, there were two copies of Heartbreaker. The
technicians removed the probes and electrodes (some, it seemed from rather
personal places). One of the Heartbreakers stumbled forward, as if exhausted.
The other seemed enchanted by her own body.
“As you can see, Heartbreaker’s BIT was copied and
successfully superimposed over Jello’s BIT. Jello lost none of her mind or
memories, but the tests we ran confirm that her body was a near-exact duplicate
for Heartbreaker’s body. The inventors were able to filter out several
values. Jello’s blood type wasn’t changed. Nor were her fingerprints. As I
mentioned, her mind and memories were unchanged. And – in theory, at least –
her ova retained her original genetic code. We weren’t able to test.”
Thuban leaned back on his throne, hiding his clawed hands
within his sleeves once more. “I commissioned and funded the development of
the BIT-slicer. I hoped that it might be a tool to assist members of Faction
Three.” He sighed. “It may not be as promising as I had hoped. It only works
on exemplars and shapeshifters. Furthermore, Ruskin – Jello – was unable to retain
her shape. It looked like a perfect success, but twenty minutes later, Ruskin
began to melt. Her BIT – whether her own or this newly imposed copy – is
perpetually in flux. We might imagine giving her a booster dose every twenty
minutes, but that’s impractical until we can create a BIT recorder. For now, her
BIT is too fluid for this to be useful.”
“She had the same problem with self-hypnosis,” Jade mused.
“Too suggestible. New ideas quickly replace any post-hypnotic suggestions.”
“I will continue development, of course, but I had cause to
wonder: What would it do to someone whose BIT seemed to be stuck?”
Jade gulped, as a shiver ran down her spine.
“What if there was someone who wanted, more than anything,
to be a real girl? Could she, perhaps, find a ‘donor’ to supply a body
template that could be imposed over her own stuck, male form?”
Jade couldn’t help herself. “Whatever the price – I
accept!”
35: Costs
November 15, Wednesday evening, 5:10 PM
“I accept!”
At that exact moment, she felt the telepathic contact of
Jann, and heard Jinn’s voice ring out: “I do not accept!”
Jann and Jinn seemed to have been thinking along the same
lines (not unexpectedly), for Jann’s thinking matched Jinn’s verbal conditions.
“First, I want proof that this isn’t some new attempt to
mess with Team Kimba!”
Thuban rested his head against a taloned hand, gently
massaging one temple. “I could care less about your precious ‘Team Kimba.’
None of those perfect beauty queens hold the least interest for me. And it’s
not because of their ‘alternate sexuality’ – either the gay students or the
gender-changers. Don’t think that all the students in either of those
categories live in Poe. Only the pretty ones.”
He closed his eyes and said quietly, “To those of us in Faction
Three, the ‘dilemma’ of being turned into an attractive and popular member of
the opposite sex seems like a dream come true. What you call a problem, we
call wallowing in vanity and self-indulgence.”
“But proof of my good intentions? That would be a
challenge. I’m not going to require you to do anything onerous. You won’t be
serving in a combat role. If I need fighters, your acquaintance Montana is the
least of my resources. Lackeys and servants can also be obtained in
abundance. I won’t even require you to directly obey me. You are merely to
serve a role. Provided that you do that to the best of your ability, I will
consider our bargain well met.”
“Then explain,” Shroud insisted. “What’s the nature of your
‘price’?”
Thuban’s slitted eyes glittered coldly. “Interesting. The
body disagrees with the spirit. How common in life, yet sublime to see played
out in this fashion. Naturally the passions,” he nodded to Jade “drive
forward, while it seems the intellect” now he nodded to Jinn “pauses to
consider. But can the spirit also hold emotions and passion? That is
essential for my plan.”
Jade thought of a laughing cabbit toy. She had an image of
Jinn shaking with terror, as they left the far end of the sewer line, and she remembered
the whiplash of emotions during the Tansy affair. Jann, temporarily taking
Jinn’s place, had been as emotional as she was.
“She can be plenty emotional,” Jade insisted. “Shroud is
supposed to be cold and spooky, but Jinn isn’t always like that! She may not
have hormones and stuff, but she still feels plenty!” It still sometimes felt
odd to speak of herself in the third person like that, but she was getting used
to it.
“Good. If there is one absolute requirement I have on this
project, it is sincerity.” He rose from his throne while gesturing negligently
to Shroud. “Fold yourself up or do whatever it is you do. I have a new body
for you to inhabit.”
With two strides, the Mandarin-robed lizard-man strode to
the rear of his pavilion. He jerked aside the curtain to display a body lying
on a stone slab of a table. A body that wasn’t so much corpse-like, but
instead seemed to be a statue carved from semi-precious stone.
The figure was medium height, perhaps five-foot-six. She
was very definitely female, with the black leather halter and miniskirt
emphasizing rather than concealing her figure. Her skin was the deep blue of
some precious stone, but veined throughout with purest gold. The gold was
repeated at her nails, lips, and hair. Not a blonde-gold, but a metallic
gold. As Jade moved closer, she realized that the immobile figure didn’t have
fingernails, she had talons. The entire tip of each finger was a sparkling
gold spike. And she had horns! Blue stone protuberances lengthened the plane
of her face, giving her what seemed to be a widow’s peak.
“This is Lazuli. Step inside,” Thuban urged, gesturing to
the body on the slab. “Try her on, see how she fits. Bring her to life the
way you brought the toy to life.”
Shroud floated over the body, passing her hand over it, and
examining the form. “If this is some kind of trick…”
“Spare me your empty threats. Besides, I need a willing
volunteer.”
Once again, Shroud collapsed down into the simple armored
box that was her locker. Jade felt the memories settle into place, and then
stepped forward to touch the statue on the slab. As always, there was no flash
or visible effect. But a moment later, the statue took a shuddering breath.
*****
Jinn settled into her new body, examining it and feeling it,
inside and out.
Oh, that’s a bit of a surprise.
She found herself breathing, or at least, mimicking the
motions that a breathing person would make. Likewise, she blinked, even though
she didn’t actually see out of the glassy spheres that looked like eyes. There
was an electronic device in her throat. It wasn’t exactly Bunny’s design, but
she quickly recognized the intention. The craftsman had even thoughtfully
labeled the controls: speech, rumble, growl, purr. Fortunately, she
didn’t need light to read the raised markings.
She pressed the speech button and vibrated the film
in the “microphone” end. “How do I sound?”
“Lower,” Jade said, beside her. “Sort of husky, or maybe
throaty.”
Jinn didn’t really need that evaluation; she could hear
herself just fine. She wondered how to maneuver the thick tail. Switching
quickly to object mode, she moved the tail, then switched back to girl mode to
coordinate the rest of her body. In this fashion, she flicked the tail to the
side to help her pivot around and then stand.
“You’ve got a tail!” Jade observed, a bit late.
“Obviously,” Jinn agreed, in her throaty voice. She
wondered how she should play her new persona. “If I didn’t know better, I
would think that scale-boy there modeled me after himself. Well, parts
of me.” She stood on the ground balancing awkwardly on her ill-formed feet.
“Stand on your toes,” Thuban instructed. “You should walk
like a cat. Your weight should never come down onto your heels. You’ll need
your tail for balance.”
Jinn noticed that his tone was level, but his skin
positively glowed with a rich banquet of emotions. There was joy and triumph,
some greed, and a healthy dose of … lust? She stood on her toes and tried to
look like she was moving her tail appropriately. It was difficult, since she
had to keep flipping over into object mode.
“And what’s with the black leather cape? It’s a little
heavy for cape material, isn’t it? Even if she could be a Cape Squad type,
which she isn’t.”
Jinn faced her more naďve younger self. “It isn’t a cape,
sister. These are my wings.” With that, she unhooked her wing ‘thumbs’ from
where they clasped, at the hollow of her neck. With one tremendous flap, she
unfurled her large wings. Fortunately, the wingspan was just inside her telekinetic
reach. She flapped again, pulling herself aloft. Of course, it wasn’t
actually the wing lift that raised her, it was all telekinesis. But she could
provide the illusion of flying. She flapped out of the pavilion, flapping
through a quick spin around the cavern. It had been poorly lit when she’d
looked at it in her body, but none of that mattered to her in this form, with
her unique method of sight. When she returned, she saw that she and Thuban had
moved out of the tent to watch her. She landed gracefully, moving close to
Thuban.
“Like what you see?” she taunted. She pressed the purr
button at the end.
His face gave an even stronger flash of lust and need, but
nothing in his expression revealed that.
“We’ll start with you just playing a part,” he said,
calmly. “We will admit up front that Lazuli isn’t real. You’re a fake, an
illusion, although the exact nature of that illusion won’t be revealed. You
are to give the men confidence, and give the women no genuine competition.”
“A bit conflicted, aren’t we? Besides, if you want me not
to scare off the other girls, why’d you burden me with the oversized chest?”
She tugged at her leather halter, as if peering down the front of her own top.
“This whole body’s just some huge stroke fantasy, isn’t it?”
For once, Thuban seemed to be fumbling with his words. “Not
at all! Your measurements are appropriate for an exemplar three. There are
plenty of girls with more impressive figures.”
“Uh huh. Stroke fantasy. I guess it’s up to me to figure
out how to make it up to the other girls.”
“You’ll want to practice before the meeting next Tuesday.
” He handed a DVD to Jade. “Lazuli is based on a TV series. Study the disk
to learn how you should move, and the mannerisms to duplicate.”
“What about the BIT-slicer machine?” Jade demanded.
“Find a donor for the template you’ll copy,” Thuban
advised. “We may be able to manage a session as early as next Monday.”
since 7/09/06