Reflection, page 11
part #2 of The Infected - Mirror Man Series
After a second, everyone in the room was staring at her. She was incredible, after all.
Tim grinned.
“Well, the pheromones work. You should turn those off for now. It’s a bit distracting.”
The words got a giggle from the woman. It sounded like bells.
“Let me see… I think I can do that. I just imagine my skin feeling cold?” She did that with her eyes open, which made her seem very fine looking, without being the center of the universe. It took a minute for him to feel that way however.
He stood there with an erection, feeling awkward. All the other men had that going on as well, at least in theory. No one stared or mentioned it.
Sinclair changed, too. In her case it was nearly as dramatic as the others.
She started out a rather pretty, young, blonde woman of about twenty or so. The kind that would have been a natural for a school’s cheer team. Maybe even the kind that could go professional for that. Then, over the course of minutes, she shifted, turned brown skinned, hard featured and wrinkled at the corner of the eyes. On her right cheek was a row of three scars.
Looking at her, Richard had to smile.
“That’s perfect! No one will recognize you at all, later. After you get changed back. Good job, all the way around. Thank you, everybody. This is… excellent.”
Chapter four
It took three days for the trio of mages or wizards that were doing the work on him to feel ready to make the changes they had planned. Erath was doing the actual work, with the other two standing by, in case they had to reverse something on short notice. The whole thing was decided to be possible, while still being dangerous enough that it was clear several people in the mansion were uneasy about it.
Not the people with Richard, of course. They were busily practicing for their roles. Wrestling in the back yard, with kicks, punches and at times weapons being used. Those were often magical in nature, to mimic possible abilities that could show up on the mission to come.
When the work, which took fifteen hours all told, was finished, all of it being recorded by Alice, even if it was pretty boring to watch, the results were a bit different than the others had experienced. After all, in order for the mass to work out, Rich had to shrink by over two feet.
The only way for that to work out was for him to look like a prepubescent Ysidril. Which meant being too young to have a sex at all, yet.
That hurt, a lot. It was on camera too, so it took an act of will not to scream, several times over the two hours of rapid healing that was required for the whole thing to take place. Even whimpering wasn’t allowed. Not by him, anyway. Everyone else had suggested it might itch a bit. It felt different than that. Probably due to how intense and massive the changes were.
On the great side, Timon stood next to him the whole time, making sure everything was going all right. It was like having a top surgeon on call, just in case. When the whole thing was done, the pain suddenly vanishing, everything looked and sounded tremendously different.
For one thing, the perspective was wrong. He’d been short before, and now it was like he was a tiny child. Things looked different, as well. The room there was bright and colorful, except that now he could see millions more colors than had been there before. Some of those he didn't even have a name for.
Opening and closing his hands, all four of them, took a good bit of focus. It wasn’t hard but it felt a bit like he was hallucinating, instead of living his changes in the moment.
Nodding, he let his mouth open a little bit, to show he was happy. A thing that would work there and not back home, since it would seem hostile to people if he did that. Erath did the same in return. He looked a lot different now. For instance, the boy clearly didn’t have scales at all. That was just his daily clothing. A thing that was easy to see with Ysidril eyes. There were colored patterns on the front of his outfit that had been invisible to Richard before the change. It kind of glowed and looked like a pattern. Perhaps writing.
“This is different.” He sounded higher pitched as far as that went. As for strength… He was fine. Probably no weaker than he had been since he’d become Infected. Standing, which meant hopping down from the soft chair a bit, like a child might have to do, his tiny legs caught him easily enough. He still waddled a little as he walked around the room. The feeling was light. As if he didn't weigh much of anything at all.
The lower arms were a bit stiff when he moved them. Not fake feeling, just off. Like they weren’t processing smoothly just yet. Rich played with his fingers, three on each hand, touching them together over and over. Trying to learn how to use his new shape.
“How do I look?” The words were clear enough when they came out. He’d been worried about that, since he had a long snout like face now, with several hundred black pointed teeth. His tongue was a lot longer as well.
Erath moved to get a small mirror, off of a low table.
“Very nice. You should put clothing on. You look very young. Seven or so of your years? Will that work? The mass was… Most adult Ysidril are larger. I know I mentioned that… I don’t wish to distress you, however.”
That part just made sense.
“This works. Where we’re going no one will think I look young, at all. I’ll just seem different, which is the point. I think… What should I call myself?”
Phoebe, who was in the doorway, watching the show, smiled at him.
“How about Gary? Something nice but plain. Easy to remember as well.”
It worked even if it was the name of a person that had annoyed him for years. Gary the Whiner. The trick of taking on a new identity was to simply embrace it and not look back. Not until it was time too.
“Gary. I can use that.” There was a nod toward Phoebe. At least he thought it was her. Mainly because she’d changed her clothing to be the brown base outfit and no one else had. Otherwise she might be anyone.
For what he was doing even a single name would be enough. A lot of Infected on the fringes did that kind of thing. They’d been kicked out of the families for being strange, so refused to use their last names at all.
He clapped with all four hands, then let Tim put a clothing amulet over his head. It was on a nice thick string. Tapping it had him dressed in a brown tunic with four arms, as well as short trousers and big boots that bulged outward at the toes to fit over his new feet.
Laughing a bit, Erath moved in and touched his upper left arm. That had a red and blue scaled pattern showing up underneath his outer clothing. It matched Erath in form, but not color. It did leave him covered with small, very fine scales over his plain reddish-purple skin.
The next part was interesting, since he was both starving and everything he was brought had a heavy carb load to it. Mainly vegetables, fruit and breads. There was no meat. Nothing like that at all. No nuts or fish, or even chicken.
“I’m a vegan now?” He thought that was the turn of phrase. It meant a fool that didn't know meat was good for you. Like a vegetarian that had hit their head or something, causing them to think that honey was theft from bees. Which it was.
Tasty, tasty theft.
Tor nodded.
“Too much protein will effect you a bit like alcohol for a regular human. Stick to plants in the main, when in doubt. You’ll process what you need from them differently, so having the needed essentials for life is pretty simple. You’re actually a lot more efficient that way now. Really…” He grinned, seeming pleased with himself for some reason. “Other than your Infected state, you’re essentially a Ysidril in every real way. You should be able to see and understand violence as you asked for, however. You might want to avoiding doing that kind of thing yourself for a while, if you can. I don’t know how well that part is going to work. You’re stronger and faster than any other Ysidril by a good bit. The mental portions of that kind of thing might be spotty though.”
It was a good point to bring up. Going into a situation like they had planned was risky that way. Especially being openly Infected and small like he was. Thankfully he tried to live without that kind of thing whenever possible. It just made sense to him. Fighting was a good way to get hurt. It was also a good way to come to the attention of the police, which was a poor plan when you were going to be taking things that weren’t yours later in the day.
So he nodded. That still worked the way he was used to. The world looked and smelled different, in that it was a bit more intense but his muscles still pretty much felt the same. It was a bit like wearing gloves, having only three fingers on each hand. The extra arms took focus to use at the same time still… Other than that, he was just himself. It was workable.
More to the point, no government agent would look like him at all. Not even in the IPB. Especially since he was functionally a class one, even with the new upgrades. The others were all working a bit differently than that. At least on the insertion team. The people going in.
Nan was clearly a class five now. She was just as strong and fast as she’d always been, which had placed her at a solid class four. Able to fight an armed squad of ten to twelve soldiers and be expected to win most of the time. Only she could also produce a force field now that protected her from impact forces and energy blasts automatically. That was, Timon had assured them all, magical in nature. A stripped-down version of what many in Noram wore around as a talisman.
Worked into her very bones. A state of being that would last for about ten years, even after she was changed back to how she used to be.
That would be enough for a class five rating for her. The pheromones made her cripplingly attractive however. Her looks didn’t count in a fight, perhaps. That part of her nature could. At will she could cause almost anyone, man or woman, to stop and lust after her hard enough that thinking was difficult to do.
Price Lloyd on the other hand was nearly as tough, though not as strong or fast. An honest class three or four. If that kind of person were also ex-special forces and had trained for years to be an MMA fighter in his spare time. Plus, he could shock people, kind of like an electric eel. It wasn’t a powerful ability or anything. A bit flashy, making sparks in the air, between his fingers, however. A good kind of thing for a show, without just murdering anyone that had to be hit that way instantly.
Peggy, was interesting as well. The mage, An, who did the work on her had actually kept her at about the same level in her looks but had given her bright green hair that glowed at the tips with matching eyes that reflected the light in a way that was stunning. Also in green. Her powers weren’t touched at all and she looked like a fairly decent white woman otherwise, which was considered a bit of impressive work by everyone there. Apparently, it was easiest to make someone look like what you were used to seeing. For Mage An, that was Chinese people.
Which probably explained why Peggy looked a bit like Alyssa Baker. Not enough to be rude about it or mocking the other woman though. She had lighter skin however. Like Tor had.
The difficulty for Gary was that when he looked at her and then looked again, it was like seeing a new person. One he couldn’t exactly make out in a way. The glowing green tips of her hair and reflective eyes helped, thankfully.
No one tried to rush them home after that. Really, Countess Thomson kept acting like they should stay for at least a month, practicing their new skills and getting used to things. As well as planning. The only issue there was that they needed to get to data that wasn’t available sitting in a different reality.
As they left, passing out hugs, since clearly, they were all pals now, Erath moved over to Richard.
“Your transformation has been seen among the peoples of the fleet. When you return it is requested that you speak to a panel, going over your experiences of being so different? It is considered valuable information, since no other has ever done such. The Forten in particular are fascinated by what you might tell us. Is that allowable, do you believe? I would not wish to impinge upon your duties to your people.” Then the little guy, looking taller now, since he was at least half a foot larger than Rich was, bowed.
As if that were his own people’s custom.
“Of course. I’ll try to keep notes, as I can. I probably won’t be able to write anything down, being on the job like I will be. I don’t suppose you gave me a perfect memory or anything?” Dropping his mouth open a bit to show obsidian black teeth, a Ysidril smile, he started to move toward the door.
Erath did the same, walking with him.
“Of course. It was needed, in order for you to adapt quickly to the changes made. You also will not need to sleep in order to integrate ideas, doing that every seventy of your minutes or so, like our… My people do. At that time you may see or hear strange things. It will only last a few moments and that it is not real is very clear. It will not happen if you are too engaged mentally, so try to make time for it in your schedule. If you wait too long, you will end up taking longer to process things.”
That was news. It made some sense though and hopefully wouldn’t be too big of an issue. Especially if it didn’t happen when he was busy doing something else.
“Got it. Thanks, Erath. I’ll collect that information as best I can. I’m not certain when we’ll be back. An operation like this could last anywhere from a week to several months. Longer even, though probably not in this case. We already know that illegal things are going on. The trick will be in getting proof that will hold up in court. If we can’t work out a different fix for it.”
The small mage gave him a hug, which felt close and intensely connected. Not sexual at all, just nice on a level that was completely different than he could describe. Almost like a drug.
The others moved along, so he let go and nodded to the tiny alien.
“We’ll be back in a bit. Probably months here, even if it goes quickly over there.”
There was a nod in response. No words, however.
When they got to the little red hut, outside the front gate on the paved but still slightly dusty street, Erath hugged him. Again. It was strange, being they were both men. Even if the equipment for that was so different that Richard understood he wasn’t having any relations with women back at the base. Even if they were curious enough to give a Ysidril a try, nothing they could do would work all that well. Part of that was down to him being essentially a little kid that way.
On the good side, as far as he could tell, he functionally didn’t have any hormones that drove him toward that kind of thing left in his body. Possibly that would happen if he saw a cute Ysidril woman. So far that hadn’t come up at all. Even Nan didn't have any effect on him. He could see that she was attractive for a human being. Other than that, it was hard to tell who each person was, unless they had something else going on. Glowing blue veins like Price had really helped that way. Interestingly, he could sometimes tell who was whom by their voices, if they spoke first.
Which was how he understood who Lydia was. It was a strange thing, when the girl walked out of the booth toward them. She had the same hair, the identical Korean nose and skin color, since she hadn’t been changed at all. They were just going to use face paint for her disguise if they needed one for her, since she had other duties to attend to, even if they had a mission. For the life of him though, Richard couldn’t make out who she was, until she patted him on the shoulder and said something.
“Ready to go? We have everyone else back already.” She sounded a bit deeper of voice to his ears, though still much like herself.
“Sure thing. Thanks for all the help, Erath. Tell everyone else that again for us? We’ll start funneling people through to practice on as soon as you’re all ready here.”
That got happy seeming bouncing.
“Indeed. I shall make certain we are ready for such, as you say. Until next we meet, Gary.”
That use of his new name got him to nod. It was incredibly important to live the names you picked for yourself. From that point on he had to be Gary. No last name used at all, having been kicked out of his family at fifteen for changing like he had.
It had left him a little bitter toward regular people. Not to the point of bigotry. Just enough that he kind of didn’t trust them if they looked too normal. Not until he got to know them for a while.
Lydia walked him into the transportation booth and the world blinked around him. There was a sense of something having happened, which he’d never gotten before, even after twenty or so trips to other realities. Not in the same way. He could feel that he was in a different place. Facing a different direction in relation to the sun.
As they left the booth, with him walking at what felt like a forced march and was clearly just enough to keep up with a regular girl who wasn’t that tall, Lydia spoke again.
“We’re all in the conference room. Marcia wants to be there for the mission planning. I think Cin has data packets for us? I… I’m still in on this, right?”
She seemed not to think that was a real thing for some reason.
“You’re in charge of transport and communications. Have you been working on any of that?” They kind of needed a way to get there in the first place. That would require getting to California somehow.
He’d been thinking teleportation but got a surprise then.
“Yeah. We’re borrowing Bridget’s van to get you all there. It isn’t really nice or anything. It runs well and is in good condition. It also has civilian plates on it. It’s a bit of a drive. You can’t really fly, looking like you do. Not just you but Agent Lloyd. If you tried, there would probably be a fight. Nan is set up to drive, along with Peg.” She bit her upper lip then.
As if he didn’t get that the normal looking Infected people would be less likely to be pulled over than the uglies like himself and Price. It was probably illegal for him to even drive a vehicle at all, being too small to control it. A thing he might pull off in an emergency. If the vehicle had special hand controls. There was no way for him to see and reach the pedals, which made pulling him over if he tried it almost certain.
