{"id":461,"date":"2024-06-08T06:39:13","date_gmt":"2024-06-08T10:39:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/?p=461"},"modified":"2025-01-28T23:46:42","modified_gmt":"2025-01-29T04:46:42","slug":"identity-theft-chapter-36","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/identity-theft-chapter-36\/","title":{"rendered":"The Changeling Game, Chapter 36"},"content":{"rendered":"<style type=\"text\/css\">\ntt {\nfont: .857em menlo, monaco, consolas, monospace;\nmargin: auto;\n}\nh2 {\ntext-align: center;\n}\nh2.chapterhead {\nmargin-bottom: 2em;\ntext-align: center;\n}\n  .nowrap {\n    text-indent: 0;\n    display: inline-block;\n}\n<\/style>\n<p><b>Title:<\/b> The Changeling Game <small>(Formerly <i>Identity Theft<\/i>)<\/small><br \/>\n<b>Author:<\/b> Ardath Rekha<br \/>\n<b>Chapter:<\/b> 36\/?<br \/>\n<b>Fandom:<\/b> TCOR AU<br \/>\n<b>Rating:<\/b> M<br \/>\n<b>Warnings:<\/b> Adult themes, controversial subject matter, harsh language<br \/>\n<b>Category:<\/b> Gen<br \/>\n<b>Pairing:<\/b> None<br \/>\n<b>Summary:<\/b> Jack shares more of the crash story with Kyra but can\u2019t manage to be completely honest about what happened, even as she tries to figure out where she will go now.<br \/>\n<b>Disclaimer:<\/b> The characters and events of <i>Pitch Black,<\/i> <i>The Chronicles of Riddick,<\/i> and <i>The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Fury<\/i> are not mine, but belong to Universal Studios.  I just <i>wish<\/i> I were in charge of their fates.  No money is being made off of this.  I\u2019m writing strictly for love of the story.<br \/>\n<b>Feedback:<\/b> Absolutely, the more the better!  Shred me, whip me, beat me, make me feel grammatical! I post \u201crough,\u201d so I can always use the help. \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n<input type='hidden' bg_collapse_expand='6a8e77a0196c87015434734' value='6a8e77a0196c87015434734'><input type='hidden' id='bg-show-more-text-6a8e77a0196c87015434734' value='Long post is long. Click to read the story.'><input type='hidden' id='bg-show-less-text-6a8e77a0196c87015434734' value='Hide the story again.'><button id='bg-showmore-action-6a8e77a0196c87015434734' class='bg-showmore-plg-button bg-green-button  '   style=\" color:#D9ECFB;\">Long post is long. Click to read the story.<\/button><div id='bg-showmore-hidden-6a8e77a0196c87015434734' ><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"chapterhead\">36.<br \/>\n<u>Pathways to Pandemonium<\/u><\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">By the time Kyra\u2019s sedative wore off and she woke up, Jack had mostly recovered. She had spent the morning unpacking the suitcases that contained their possessions and putting them away, scattering their shells, coral, and driftwood around the room on free surfaces. She\u2019d even gotten dressed, although part of her had wanted to burrow under the covers and hide from the universe. From <i>all<\/i> the universes. But going to sleep would have meant having to explain her unhappiness to inquisitive beings\u2014entities? She really needed to come up with a name for them\u2014and she couldn\u2019t bring herself to face that yet, either.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cWhat\u2019ve I been missing?\u201d Kyra asked almost immediately.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cSebby attempting to drive crickets into extinction. Breakfast.\u201d <i>The death of my dreams.<\/i> Jack shrugged. \u201cNot much else.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cEwan gave me broth for breakfast. How come even <i>broth<\/i> tastes so damned good here?\u201d Kyra looked over at the IV drip. \u201cWhat\u2019s all this?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cFancy medicine to make you heal faster.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cThat eager to get rid of us, are they?\u201d The amusement in Kyra\u2019s voice belied her words.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cYou remember that reception for Tomlin\u2019s colleagues in the Service? The one Cedric mentioned at the end of the memorial?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cYeah?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cThey were planning on introducing you to everybody there and keeping Tomlin\u2019s promise. They\u2019re worried you won\u2019t be well enough now, but I guess they\u2019re trying to stack the deck for you. That stuff in the bags is <i>expensive.<\/i>\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cIf they keep being this amazing, I may never leave\u2014 What is it? What\u2019s wrong?\u201d Kyra tried to sit up, grimaced, and lay back against her pillows. \u201c<i>Damn<\/i> it\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">To keep her from trying again, Jack climbed onto the bed next to her. \u201cI, uh\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">The concern on Kyra\u2019s face was only growing, which just made it worse.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cThe transport\u2026 to Furya\u2026 it\u2019s\u2026\u201d The tears were trying to burst out of her. She struggled to hold them in, to find her voice. \u201cIt\u2019s\u2026 leaving from\u2026 <i>Helion<\/i>\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cOh <i>shit,<\/i> Jack\u2026\u201d Kyra put her left hand behind Jack\u2019s head and pulled her closer. \u201cC\u2019mere. My <i>shoulder\u2019s<\/i> not stabbed\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">It took a while before she managed to get her sobs under control.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">When she was cried out, feeling hollow and quiet, Kyra didn\u2019t try to ask her what she was going to do. Jack would later realize that her sister understood exactly how lost she was already feeling and didn\u2019t want to make it any worse by putting her on the spot. They lay there for a while, neither one feeling any need to fill the silence. Finally, though, Kyra spoke.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cThat was quite some hug Ewan was giving you last night as they were wheeling me out. He hasn\u2019t <i>tried<\/i> anything, has he?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cWhat?\u201d That surprised Jack out of her torpor. \u201cNo. It wasn\u2019t like that. He\u2019s nearly a decade older than me, anyway.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cGood.\u201d The look in Kyra\u2019s eyes was far older than she was. \u201cYou just remember that, too. You look at him the way you looked at his older brother. And <i>he<\/i> was old enough to be your father, but I <i>know<\/i> that\u2019s not what you were thinking about. I\u2019ll bet you looked at <i>Riddick<\/i> the same way, didn\u2019t you? You got a <i>thing<\/i> for older men, but I swear to God if anyone touches you\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cHe\u2019d never.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cHe\u2019d better not. I think he\u2019s amazing, too, but he tries to mess with you and I <i>will<\/i> cut his dick off and make him eat it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cI <i>believe<\/i> you.\u201d It didn\u2019t surprise her, even a little, that it would be a sore point for Kyra, given what she\u2019d been put through when <i>she<\/i> was still Jack\u2019s age.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cGood. Don\u2019t get me kicked outta here because I fucked up Cedric and Safiyya\u2019s chance at having grandchildren.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Now it was hard to keep a straight face. \u201cI will keep it in my pants, I swear.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">An impish sparkle appeared in Kyra\u2019s eyes. \u201cNuh uh. I <i>told<\/i> you, I\u2019ll make him <i>eat<\/i> \u2018it.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">And just like that, Kyra had lifted all of the heaviness off of her. They didn\u2019t laugh long, but the darkness had receded.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cWe\u2019ve got some time to kill,\u201d Kyra said. \u201cWanna tell me more of Riddick\u2019s story?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Was<\/i> it Riddick\u2019s story? Well, if that was how Kyra thought of it\u2026 \u201cSure. You remember where we left off?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cI was drifting in and out. Um\u2026 last thing I remember for sure was him showing Fry his eyes and you asking him \u2018how do I get eyes like that?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>\u201c<b>Where the hell can<\/b> I get eyes like that?\u201d<\/i> Jack thought, but didn\u2019t correct her sister.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">She settled down next to Kyra, instead, and got comfortable.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cYeah. He turned and looked at me and said, \u2018you gotta kill a few people.\u2019 Like he was talking about pulling a prank. And me, I was all bluster, trying to impress him, so I said \u2018okay, I can <i>do<\/i> it!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">In retrospect, part of her wished she\u2019d been wrong about that.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cYeah, now I remember, and he said\u2026 something about being sent to a slam\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201c\u2018Where they tell you you\u2019ll never see daylight again,\u2019\u201d Jack said, dropping her voice to the lowest part of its register and making it a little growly. It wasn\u2019t a bad imitation, if she did say so herself. \u201c\u2018You dig up a <i>doctor<\/i>, and you pay him twenty menthol <i>Kools<\/i> to do a surgical <i>shine<\/i> job on your <i>eye<\/i>balls.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">It was fun, she thought, reproducing the way Riddick had said it, and his choices of which words to emphasize. She\u2019d wondered for a moment if he was from Deckard\u2019s World, himself, when he\u2019d mentioned the Kools; one of her classmates had bragged about smoking that very brand, which was hundreds of years old.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cDamn, that sounds like it\u2019d hurt.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cYeah.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Jack had looked up the procedure while she was living with the al-Walids; it was dangerous and incredibly painful, and many of the people who had it done went blind. But in a place like \u201cthe Pit,\u201d she supposed, the risk was a necessary one.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cI asked him if it was so he could see who was sneaking up on him in the dark, and he said \u2018exactly!\u2019 But that was when Fry ordered me to leave. Nobody wanted me to talk to him. I heard him call me a \u2018cute kid,\u2019 though\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">It suddenly struck her that Riddick had never once referred to her as a boy. Had he known, the whole time, what she really was? Had he been abetting her secret with even his choice of words? Up until he\u2019d finally outed her, anyway\u2026<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cSo he didn\u2019t kill Zeke?\u201d Kyra asked.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cShazza sure thought he did, but he said it wasn\u2019t him. He told Fry that there was something else we needed to worry about instead. I think Fry wanted to prove he was lying\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">The story spun out as they lay on the bed, side by side. She described Fry going into the hole, discovering that it opened into a cave system, and everyone waiting for her to come back\u2026 then the strange cries, sounding like Fry\u2019s voice, that Jack had started to hear coming through the weird mineral formations nearby\u2026 and the terrifying discovery that <i>something<\/i> lived underground and had been on the verge of killing Fry before Jack had managed to get Imam and Johns to listen to the voice on the wind. Afterward, they had released Riddick and struck a deal with him, letting him join their party. But still refusing to allow Jack to talk to him.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cIt was okay, though. They took us to this mining encampment they\u2019d found, and there were all these cool buildings to explore.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">As the second-youngest of the survivors, exploration had been the official job she had been given by Fry, Johns, and Shazza. She wasn\u2019t even supposed to look for anything specific; just go <i>looking<\/i>. As Audrey, she had long ago come to understand what that kind of instruction really meant: <i>The grown-ups are busy. Stay out of the way.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Run along and play, little girl.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Only long practice had allowed her to hide her resentment at that. But, at least, as the <i>second<\/i>-youngest of the survivors, she hadn\u2019t been entirely alone.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cAli knew maybe six words of English, which was twice as much as <i>I<\/i> knew of Arabic, but we went off together to check out the houses. I found this broken pair of welding goggles in one of them, almost like the ones Riddick took from the <i>Hunter-Gratzner<\/i> when he escaped, and that\u2019s when I got the idea that I could shave my head and imitate the biggest badass I\u2019d ever seen\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">It had seemed so logical at the time. As if somehow a shaved head and goggles would transform her from a scrawny beanpole of a kid into\u2026 well, someone who didn\u2019t have to worry about space station scum trying to proposition her or pull her into a dark corridor. Someone who wouldn\u2019t wake up to find a filthy, sadistic merc straddling her with a knife to her throat\u2026<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>I was so fucking na\u00efve\u2026<\/i> It felt, at times, like ages had passed since then instead of roughly half a standard year.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">It was the second time she\u2019d gone through this part of the story with Kyra, and she found herself drawing in even more detail. Riddick, she told Kyra, had moved like a hunter\u2026 or a <i>tracker\u2026<\/i> through the settlement, periodically pausing to unearth and examine objects that had, until then, been lost in the dust. Knowing what she did now but hadn\u2019t understood then, she could see much more clearly what <i>he<\/i> had to have been seeing as he studied them.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cEverything was really old, like decades had gone by since anybody had touched them. And it wasn\u2019t the kind of stuff people just left lying around, either. It was the kind of stuff that gets dropped, and nobody bothers to pick up, when there\u2019s a panic on. He found a pair of eyeglasses with a cracked lens at one point, just lying in the middle of a road. The houses were like that, too. All the things you\u2019d put away or take with you, if you were planning to leave, were still sitting out.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>\u201cYou don\u2019t really think they left their with clothes on the hooks, photos on the shelves?\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">In retrospect, she had seen Riddick\u2019s tension rising, too, and the way an increasing level of caution and\u2014battle readiness?\u2014had begun to characterize the way he walked. He\u2019d walked not like someone who was <i>looking<\/i> for a fight, but someone who <i>expected<\/i> one at any second.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Was <i>that<\/i> the walk she had begun imitating? Huh.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Jack was aware that she still wasn\u2019t telling the story entirely truthfully. She had already recharacterized Paris as a mentor he\u2019d never been, excusing away his retreat to the periphery of her story by drawing on the genuine truth that Shazza had essentially adopted her on the spot after the crash and had needed her more than ever once Zeke died. Now, though, she couldn\u2019t quite tell the story right where Ali was concerned. She hadn\u2019t managed to the first time through, either.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">There had been a moment, when they had realized that Riddick was heading for a large building she would later remember with a shudder as the Coring Room, when mischievous glee had lit up both of their faces and they came to the unspoken mutual decision to get there first. Neither of them had quite understood the tension that was humming through Riddick\u2019s frame by then, or why it might be a bad move to head for a building before he had cleared it. Jack understood now\u2014and her story reflected that knowledge\u2014that Riddick was following a trail, and that <i>he<\/i> knew the pandemonium that had overcome the settlement was leading straight to that building. It was the worst possible time to get ahead of him.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Or maybe part of Jack <i>had<\/i> realized. She hadn\u2019t even tried to go inside, after all. Instead, she had wanted to climb up on top of the building to check out the odd, lumpy structure hidden beneath a tarp, but Ali had wanted to go into the building itself. He\u2019d spotted a way in. She hadn\u2019t known <i>that<\/i> at the time, hadn\u2019t understood what he was saying to her in Arabic, although now, when she recalled his words after three months of immersion in his language, every word was horribly clear: <i>this way! There\u2019s a hole in one of the panels that we can fit through!<\/i> He had shrugged and gone his own way when she\u2019d shaken her head and pointed at the roof. She had never seen him\u2014alive\u2014again.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Even months later, the guilt of that was too gut-twistingly intense to explore. The therapists at the hospital would undoubtedly have told her that it was something she needed to come to terms with, needed to talk her way through. Maybe they were even right, but this wasn\u2019t the time. She was telling Kyra the story, and that still-raw pain wasn\u2019t something that would help distract her sister from <i>hers<\/i>. So the sense of blithe adventure that she\u2019d briefly felt at the time prevailed. When Riddick pulled the tarp away from the roof, catching her spying on him, and had simply called to her to come with him\u2014\u201cYou\u2019re missing the party, come on!\u201d\u2014she had followed him without even a thought for Ali\u2019s whereabouts.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Kyra didn\u2019t need to hear just how much that had torn her up afterward. She didn\u2019t need to know, either, that Riddick had seemed fully aware of where Ali must have gone but hadn\u2019t seemed to particularly care, in spite of already knowing that the Coring Room was the most dangerous place in the settlement. The story Jack was telling was meant to soothe and entertain, not wallow in guilt or expose the first moment she began to doubt her hero.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Kyra made it through Ali\u2019s death this time, all the way to the start of the eclipse, before she began to nod off. Jack kept the story going for a while longer, until her sister began to snore lightly, before she let the tale drop. She\u2019d continue it later, probably restarting with the beginning of the eclipse again.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Climbing off of the bed, she went into the bathroom and washed up, erasing the last evidence of her crying jags. She\u2019d have to figure something out, and soon. <\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">But what was there to figure out, exactly? Her pathway to Furya had closed, barring a half-year wait and possibly a return to a world where she was actively being sought by the authorities. Unless she wanted to give into temptation and surrender her old life altogether, breaking her parents\u2019 hearts in the process, there was only one place left to go.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Back to Deckard\u2019s World. Back to her mother and Alvin the Asshole.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Back to being Audrey MacNamera. That <i>was<\/i> what she wanted, though, wasn\u2019t it?<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Wasn\u2019t it?<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">The chrono said it was thirteen a.m., the equivalent of mid-afternoon for one of Tangiers\u2019 morning-days. Nine hours until high noon, eight hours until Elsewhere\u2019s high tide, five hours until most people retired to sleep, and just a little over two hours until the waters of Elsewhere began to rise above sea level. She realized she was hungry. She\u2019d have something to eat and then figure out which transports might take her back to Deckard\u2019s World, and if there were any she could take that didn\u2019t require getting back into Cryo. The prospect of ever being frozen again made her shudder.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Sebby raced over to her as soon as she entered the dining room. She spent a long moment cuddling him, walking over and peeking into the high tub he\u2019d been playing in. It was completely empty now, aside from some bits of cricket exoskeleton and several of Sebby\u2019s own droppings.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">What, she suddenly wondered, was she going to do about him when she left?<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Maybe the Tomlin-Meziane family would want to keep him. Maybe, if Kyra stayed with them and pursued a military career, he\u2019d be happy being her companion. <\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>If she can,<\/i> Jack thought with a shiver. They still needed to talk about whether their mere presence was putting a bulls-eye on everyone they loved here.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Jack was able to put together a simple but filling lunch using the fruits, breads, cheeses, and khlii set out beneath protective screens on the dining room table. A carafe of orange juice had also been left out. She suspected that someone had been thinking of her, specifically, although the quantity of food available hinted that other members of the family were inclined to stop by for snacks as well.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Sebby, of course, began demanding olives. He was happy to sample the other foods as well, spitting out the bread and dates but enthusiastically devouring goat cheese and khlii in addition to every olive he could snag. Jack was finishing up, and tidying up after both of them, when Ewan appeared in one of the doorways.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cI was hoping I\u2019d find you here,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">His demeanor was different. This was not El Krim\u2019s grieving younger brother or the protective rescuer of the night before. He seemed agitated. He seemed, she realized, most like the Ewan who had burst through her apartment door, alongside his father, with his gun drawn.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cWhat\u2019s wrong?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">He took a deep breath, closing his eyes and releasing it. \u201cYou know how you were concerned about whether the envoy ever touched any of the <i>Matador<\/i> passengers? She\u2019s about to get her chance. Usadden called me. The morgue still has the bodies of the eighteen people who died during the first high tide\u2026 but the Quintessa Corporation just filed paperwork to take custody of all of them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Fuck me running,<\/i> Jack thought, going cold. \u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cHe\u2019s buying us time. He told them the bodies are scattered throughout the facility and he\u2019ll need a full Tangiers day to get the paperwork in order. They\u2019re still identifying victims from the blast, so he\u2019s not actually lying. He\u2019s told them the earliest they can do a pickup is fifteen am tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cGood,\u201d Jack said. A familiar light sensation had filled her chest and her mind was racing. \u201cDo you know the location of the morgue? Is it at the hospital downtown?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Downtown was ten meters above sea level, she thought, her mind whirling through calculations.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cIs it on the ground level? Higher? Lower?\u201d It was happening to her again. She could see the path she needed to walk. The feeling was both exhilarating and terrifying.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cOne level below ground level.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">The same level as the parking garage where she and Kyra had come out. Perfect. Absolutely perfect.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cGood. The tide in Elsewhere will leave downtown at roughly 4:15 pm. We\u2019re leaving here at 3 pm. If you have any plans for this evening-day, cancel them. Damn it, I wish Kyra could be in on this\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Fuck. She\u2019d said her sister\u2019s real name out loud. She glanced at Ewan. He didn\u2019t look even a little confused.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>I just confirmed something he already knew,<\/i> she realized, heart lurching. How much did that mean he knew about <i>her?<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cI will endeavor to be a suitable proxy,\u201d he told her, and she had the feeling he was hiding a smile.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Fuck it. Whether he thought of her as Tislilel, or Jack B. Badd, or P. Finch, or Jane Doe 7439, or her newest alias, Marianne Tepper, it didn\u2019t matter. It didn\u2019t even matter if he knew she was really Audrey MacNamera. He knew how to keep a secret. All that mattered was that he had her back.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cGood, because you and me\u2026 we\u2019re about to pull a heist. And you\u2019re gonna get to visit Elsewhere to help me do it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Title: The Changeling Game (Formerly Identity Theft) Author: Ardath Rekha Chapter: 36\/? Fandom: TCOR AU Rating: M Warnings: Adult themes, controversial subject matter, harsh language Category: Gen ","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"bgseo_title":"\u201cThe Changeling Game\u201d 36: \u201cPathways to Pandemonium\u201d","bgseo_description":"Jack shares more of the crash story with Kyra but can\u2019t manage to be completely honest about what happened, even as she tries to figure out where she will go now.","bgseo_robots_index":"index","bgseo_robots_follow":"follow","footnotes":""},"categories":[9,21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-461","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fan-fiction","category-the-changeling-game"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=461"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1188,"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461\/revisions\/1188"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=461"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=461"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=461"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}