Davi scrambled by me and headed for a vent ahead that looked down on the floor. I followed, stopping beside him and peering down. Blood was splattered across the walls and tile below, staining the level crimson. A Cheetah lay in a pool of blood against the wall farthest from me. One leg looked broken and there was a gaping hole in its torso where a bullet had blasted through.
The Cheetah’s body seemed to shimmer, like water was being poured over it. It shifted, and the snap and pop of relocating bone echoed off the walls. It grew, losing its sleek pelt. Legs extended. Paws became feet. Muzzle receded into lips. And twelve seconds later a naked man with the darkest skin I’d ever seen lay were the Cheetah had.
He was whole, the skin of his chest perfect and unblemished. Our injuries are healed when we shift. If we do it quickly enough, we can even survive mortal wounds. I wished that was what had happened here. But he was dead. Shifted back to human form as his spirit fled.
I looked at my companion and found tears running across his dark face, dampening his fur. He glanced at me and ran an arm across his face.
“Did you know him?” I signed. He nodded.
“His name was Darius,” he signed slowly. “We were on the same mission, and we were captured together.”
“I need answers Davi. You said they sacrificed themselves so we could escape. Why?” Davi sighed, the sound rolling out from the bottom of his belly.
“Because you are our hope.”
“What does that mean?”
“The Shifter gene is a random genetic mutation.” Davi sat down in the shaft. I did the same. “It doesn’t follow a pattern and it can happen to any human child. We’ve studied it for years, but we can’t find the reason that it happens. It just does.”
“What does that have to do with me?”
Davi smiled just a little.
“You are the exception. All Shifters are predators of some kind. You are the only squirrel any of us have ever seen. Not only that, but the Japanese side of your family has claimed to be squirrel Shifters as far back as anyone can trace. An unbroken line, passing the genes on to each new generation.”
“My grandmother told me stories of our history, but I thought they were just that. Stories. Are you saying they’re true?”
Davi shrugged.
“The histories would say so. It’s why we and all the other governments have been looking for you for so long. If your family really is an unbroken line, your DNA could tell us how to make the rest of us like you. You could make it so that all of us could have Shifter children.” Davi’s eyes changed as he did. There was a twinkle there now. Hope.
Something bothered me, though. “What do you mean, every government is looking for me? No one, except Artemis it seems, knows who and what I am.”
“They know, alright. They’ve looked for you for over a decade. With what your DNA could do, you are the weapon they fear most. It’s why we sent Adrian to keep you safe. Without him, they would have found you years ago.” I couldn’t believe what he was saying. My DNA, a weapon? It couldn’t be. I shook my head, my tail twitching. Davi smiled. “It’s a lot to take in, I know. I promise I’ll explain better once we get you to Artemis. And we don’t even know if your DNA really does hold the key. But that’s not the only thing you can do for us.”
“I’m no soldier, Davi. What else could I offer?”
“Information.” I blinked. “You’re the best infiltrator in the business. The best I’ve ever seen. We need those skills. We are losing because there are too few of us and the other side holds all the cards. You could get us the information we need. You could get us into their systems and their labs. You could give us their plans and put us a step ahead of them. You could help us survive this war.”
“That’s why you brought me here, isn’t it? To see what they’re doing to Shifters. To guilt me into joining the cause.” I stared at him and he eventually nodded.
“When my unit was captured, we knew that you were the only one that could infiltrate this facility. Adrian has already collected the data from the servers you gave him access to. You were supposed to be told everything before you were sent in, but I guess it was believed that it was better for you to see what was happening first.”
I couldn’t believe it. Half of my life, I’d been watched by Davi and his people. Adrian, my closest friend, had been lying to me all this time. I hadn’t done anything to deserve this. I didn’t want to fight a war. Davi reached over and patted my head, making me flinch.
“It’s unfair. I know. But it’s the only chance we have,” he signed, stepping back. “You can decide what to do once we’re free.”
Then he was moving again. I glanced down at the Shifter below us one last time and followed.
* * *
Davi moved like he was possessed after that. Even with his injuries, I could barely keep up with the break neck pace he set. He only stopped long enough for me to give him directions, and each time he hurled himself forward almost before I could make the signs. I stayed silent as we charged through the ducts, thinking. Trying to wrap my head around everything Davi told me. Trying to decide what I should do.
He was bleeding heavily now. The scent of infected blood coming from him cloying. He was pushing himself to the limit. I just hoped he didn’t push himself into the grave.
After an eternity of metal shafts, we reached the last ascent that would take us to the ground floor. It was darker here, the lights out on the floor below us. Davi was failing. He’d lost a lot of blood. We needed to hurry.
I scurried up the duct as Davi made the climb. At the top I turned to watch him. I could barely see him in the gloom, and he moved slowly. Too slow.
His arms and legs shook uncontrollably when he finally made it to the top. He threw an arm out over the lip, trying to drag himself up. His eyes met mine and I saw the fire in them fade. I dashed forward to help him, but I was too late.
His arm buckled and he dropped. I grabbed for him, forgetting my size. I managed to wrap my tiny fingers around one of his, but I had neither the mass nor the strength to hold him. He fell. I fell with him.
He crashed into the duct below, rattling the length of it, and roared in pain. I landed on top of him and squeaked. He was still and I lay for a moment, feeling his sides move with his ragged breathing. The scent of monkey, blood, and infection filled my nose. Davi groaned, the deep sound echoing.
The vent we were on collapsed.
We fell again, hard and fast. I slammed into something solid and heard glass break. I gasped, the breath leaving me. I lay there, fighting to make my lungs work. At least Davi hadn’t landed on top of me. That would not have ended well. I could hear him panting off to my right. It was labored and weak. Not good.
At last I was able to draw in a breath and the caustic scent of chemicals and bleach burned my throat. We were in the lab of the first basement of the facility. It was nothing more than a front. A pretty set piece, meant to hide the atrocities being committed below.
My eyes started to adjust to the gloom. We were on a long counter littered with beakers and vials and all other manner of tools meant for work with chemicals. Davi lay on his back on a pile of broken glass instruments. A pool of blood was rapidly forming beneath him.
No, no, no.
I rushed to him, my own pain forgotten. His breathing was getting weaker. God, he was dying. I needed to do something.
There was no way I could get us both back up into the vent. I would have to carry him, so I needed to shift. The elevator was offline, but we were only a floor down from the main, so there would be stair access. If the soldiers were still occupied with the commotion below, we might be able to make it.
I heard the click of the door opening.
I scurried out of sight behind Davi as the lights flipped on, nearly blinding me. I caught a hint of leather, sweat, and gun oil. Soldier. Damn.
“What the hell?” she said, her voice low, gruff. I risked a glance. She was in full riot gear like the others, the assault rifle in her
hands trained on Davi. She moved towards us with that deadly grace only the most skilled have. Like a tiger stalking its prey.
I tucked myself under Davi as her footsteps neared. Davi moved, and for a moment I thought he was waking. I peered around him and saw it was the soldier nudging him with her gun. I couldn’t see her face behind her mask, but I knew she would kill him without hesitation if he stirred. I risked another glance towards the door and saw it was still open. There was a chance.
There was no way I could deal with the soldier as a squirrel, not when she was in full gear. I couldn’t shift here without getting shot in the process either. But if I could get past her, I could find somewhere to shift and come back for Davi. I could worry about dealing with the soldier when the time came.
Or I could escape by myself.
I went still. I could. I should, really. I didn’t owe Davi anything. Artemis deceived me into taking this mission. They threw me into something I wanted no part of. I didn’t want to fight a war. I should just walk away.
So why didn’t it feel right?
I heard the static of a radio and the soldier said, “Subject found. Simian. Heavily injured. What should I do with it?”
The radio crackled again and a tinny voice said something I couldn’t hear. The soldier sighed and said, “Copy that. I’ll wait for the coats to pick him up.” She turned towards the door and I saw my chance.
As a squirrel I was quick, but I wasn’t confident she couldn’t shoot me before I made it to the door. I needed to distract her. I shot out from behind Davi and launched myself at the soldier with all I had, aiming at her helmet. If I could push it forward, it would shift her mask and buy me the time I needed.
Time slowed in mid-air as I waited for her to turn before I reached her. She didn’t and I connected exactly the way I planned. Except her helmet didn’t budge.
I slammed into the back of her head, making her lurch forward. Dazed, I fell to the floor and landed hard. A sharp pain radiated from my right hip. I ignored it and tried to get my feet under me, but the soldier’s hand clamped around me before I could. She lifted me, crushing me in her grip. I couldn’t breathe, so I did the only thing I was able. I bit down on her finger as hard as I could.
Her glove was thick, but my sharp incisors sank through it. I expected her to yelp in pain and let me go. Instead, she spat a curse and hurled me away. The lab whipped by and I smashed against the wall. Something cracked.
I hit the floor and white-hot pain lanced down my spine, setting it on fire. I tried to move. I couldn’t. I was broken.
I needed to shift to heal. My cells screamed for it, but there wasn’t time. Through a wave of agony, I watched the soldier approach. I was drowning in pain. Then there was a gun in my face.
I closed my eyes and waited to die.
A howling roar resounded through the room. My eyes snapped open and I saw Davi smash into the soldier, sending her sprawling. He was alive! He’d also given me a chance. So, I took it.
I dove into myself, following the paths my grandmother taught me on the island of Honshu so long ago. Deeper and deeper I went, trying to slide out of my skin like always. Pain struck like lightning and I screamed as it tore me apart, cutting down to the very fiber of my being. Something was wrong. It wasn’t working. I wasn’t changing.
I was dying.
“Obaa-san,” I sobbed into the blackness of my mind. “Help me.”
And by some miracle, my grandmother replied, “I’m here, child.”
“I’m dying, Obaa-san.” I hadn’t spoken Japanese in almost twenty years, but the words rolled off my tongue.
“Don’t force it. You are gravely injured and if you do, your body will tear itself apart. Breathe, Risu. Let the change happen as it will.”
Pain was everywhere and everything, black and unforgiving. I accepted it and let go. I took a shuddering breath and bone snapped and moved. I took another. I was stronger. My skin rippled and stretched. I let it happen, allowing my DNA to change and myself to be human again.
And I was. Shivering and naked on the white tile, the pain was still there, rampaging through every tendon and joint. I lay there panting, waiting for the agony to recede and afraid it wouldn’t. I cracked open my eyes and saw my grandmother, dressed in the light pink kimono with the Sakura Blossom pattern I loved as a child.
“You did well, Risu-chan,” she said, smiling down at me, her almond eyes crinkling.
“Obaa-san,” I croaked, reaching for her. She stepped back, shaking her head, the light glinting off her silver hair.
“You have to fight, Risu. For our people.” Then she was gone.
A gunshot rang out and I jerked. Davi! I dragged myself up, every muscle screaming in protest. I didn’t have time to recover. Davi needed me. He lay on the floor not far from me, the soldier over him, a pistol in her hand. Helmet and mask gone, her black hair covered her face as she snarled something at him.
Her rifle lay in front of me, dropped when Davi attacked her. I dragged myself to it. I wouldn’t let her kill him. My arms felt like lead as I wrapped a hand around the grip. It took everything I had to pick it up and aim it at her head. I wasn’t a soldier, and I’d never shot anything other than a handgun, but I knew I wouldn’t miss. I couldn’t.
“Get away from him,” I grunted. She whipped her head around to look at me, blue eyes wide when she saw the gun.
I shot her in the face.
She pitched backwards, blood arcing as she fell. I dropped the gun, already crawling towards Davi when she landed. He was breathing fast and shallow. His hands were clamped over his belly, blood welling up around them. “No,” I whispered. He’d been shot in the stomach. He couldn’t shift. Which meant …
“You can’t die,” I said, clamping my hands over his, applying pressure. I needed to stop the bleeding, but it was coming too fast. “Please, Davi. You can’t die.”
He shook his head, eyes squeezed shut against the pain. He pulled his hands out from under mine. “We need you,” he made each blood-soaked sign as fast as he could. “You can end the war. You can save them all.”
“I’m supposed to save you!” I said, tears streaming down my face.
He shook his head.
“You can’t. Promise me you will save them.” His signs came slower and slower. “Promise … me …”
“I promise,” I whispered, and he smiled. Damn him, he was dying, and he actually smiled.
“Thank you.” Then he was gone.
I closed my eyes and let my tears flow. This wasn’t supposed to happen. I never fail my missions. He wasn’t supposed to die. I was supposed to save him. Damn it all, I was supposed to save him!
His body blurred, shimmering in the way I knew all too well. I watched, silent, as he reverted to human. He was as handsome as I imagined him to be and I etched every detail of his face into my mind. The sutures were gone and his mocha skin was perfect. His black hair was curly. I hadn’t expected that.
He was a hero. After everything he’d endured, he’d kept fighting, hoping to save others from the same fate. With his last breath he’d asked me to take up the fight. To save the Shifters. To end the war. I didn’t know if I could keep that promise, but I was going to try. I owed him that much.
I took a shuddering breath and wiped away the tears. I needed to move. Getting captured and killed would not do anyone any good. It would be a while before I could shift again. I almost died trying to force it before. I certainly would if I tried again. I didn’t have time to die.
I couldn’t walk out naked, so I stripped the soldier of her uniform, not caring how irreverent I was. My grandmother taught me to respect the dead, but right then I couldn’t have cared less. She’d killed Davi. She was a murderer.
The agony in my bones was fading, but I’d never worn military gear and it took me several minutes to get it on. There was still blood on my hands, but I used the soldier’s undershirt to wipe them clean. I retrieved the mask and helmet and strapped both in place.
Fully
outfitted, I knelt next to Davi one last time. His emerald eyes were still open and I closed them gently. I clapped my hands twice like my grandmother taught me and said a silent prayer for him. Then I stood and picked up the soldier’s rifle. My rifle. I headed for the door.
A good man gave his life to save mine and I’d made him a promise. He said I was the weapon they feared. I would prove them right.
Because this was my war now.
An Acceptable Risk
to the Portfolio
Brian Hugenbruch
Even empires need to worry about retirement planning. If you’re a two-bit Galactic Senator looking for loopholes around estate taxes—sure, you can talk to your local accountants. Maybe you have a small room of them enslaved in the basement of your villa. That’s fine. But when you reach the big time? When you need to launder money for a dirty war through twenty time-dilated shell corporations and a black hole for good measure? That’s when you call us.
I’d been dialed into the markets for four hours that morning when the call arrived. The Inner Core had been in flux for a few rotations. Rumors of dissent against the Sagittarian Principate: always good for business. I run the numbers on every scenario, no matter how unlikely; it’s what I do. This call had been statistically inevitable. “This is Ambyt Seven, go for Marsis.”
The voice on the other end hesitated. There was a certain hitch in the throat of first-time callers. “We’d prefer not to identify ourselves.”
If my species had teeth, I’d have grinned. “Honored individual, your connection is quantum-encrypted. It doesn’t matter how bad your operational security is, no one will know you’ve called us. You may speak freely.”
The hitch in the voice remained, but the words started to spill. “We’re a growing movement looking to overthrow the oppressors. For too long have they enslaved our people, stolen resources from our planets, and given nothing back! The time has come to—”
“—fight back, why not,” I finished. “Please be advised that Ambyt Seven is neutral territory and my employers do not involve themselves in politics. If this is a recruitment drive, you’ve called the wrong world.” I paused and added, “But that’s not why you’ve called, is it?”