{"id":468,"date":"2024-06-18T19:11:36","date_gmt":"2024-06-18T23:11:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/?p=468"},"modified":"2025-01-28T23:46:18","modified_gmt":"2025-01-29T04:46:18","slug":"identity-theft-chapter-39","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/identity-theft-chapter-39\/","title":{"rendered":"The Changeling Game, Chapter 39"},"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> 39\/?<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, violence<br \/>\n<b>Category:<\/b> Gen<br \/>\n<b>Pairing:<\/b> None<br \/>\n<b>Summary:<\/b> Even as Jack finds herself concealing ugly truths about the eclipse from Kyra, new and terrible truths are looming that may threaten both girls\u2019 futures.<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='6aac215ad99cc3092036826' value='6aac215ad99cc3092036826'><input type='hidden' id='bg-show-more-text-6aac215ad99cc3092036826' value='Long post is long. Click to read the story.'><input type='hidden' id='bg-show-less-text-6aac215ad99cc3092036826' value='Hide the story again.'><button id='bg-showmore-action-6aac215ad99cc3092036826' 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-6aac215ad99cc3092036826' ><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"chapterhead\">39.<br \/>\n<u>Unquantified, Unseen, Unmasked<\/u><\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">The good thing about telling Kyra the story of the eclipse, Jack thought to herself, was that she was increasingly sure whatever head trauma she might have wasn\u2019t affecting her memory. The bad thing about it was realizing how often she was lying to her sister about just what had really happened.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Most of her lies, she was aware, were about Riddick. About his thoughts and motivations. About the depth of their emotional connection. In truth, Jack still wasn\u2019t sure what he had thought of his little copycat, whether she\u2019d amused or annoyed him. But in the story she told Kyra\u2014who needed Riddick to be the hero and needed to go on believing that he had metaphorically vanquished Red Roger for her\u2014their friendship had bloomed early and was never in doubt.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">There <i>were<\/i> small things he\u2019d done in their interactions that had pointed to genuine kindness. When they had been sitting in the back of the sand cat, for instance, and she\u2019d been doing her best Riddick impression for him, he had given her the tiniest hint of a smile\u2026 and then pointed. When she followed the direction of his finger, she\u2019d spotted the approaching skeletal remains of a massive creature. Shazza, in her haste, was about to drive through it without alerting anyone. Riddick\u2019s silent warning allowed her to duck in time.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">For Kyra\u2019s sake, she played up that kindness and removed any ambiguity about his actions and their motives. For the story she told to soothe her sister, he was unfailingly kind to, and protective of, her.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Elsewhere\u2019s lightning was strobing their room and its thunder growled and roared almost nonstop as they lay in bed and Jack continued the story. If they\u2019d been on that side of the threshold, they would have been completely soaked. Both of them were enjoying the show, though; no window had ever provided as spectacular a view of a storm as their window between \u2019verses.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cWe pulled the sand cat up to the crash ship\u2014that\u2019s what we were all calling it, nobody wanted to waste their time calling it the <i>Hunter-Gratzner<\/i> or anything\u2014and most everybody jumped off to grab supplies and power cells and things, to load into the back. Shazza stayed in the driver\u2019s seat and kept it idling so that we could move the second everything was loaded up. But it was getting darker and darker. The rings were starting to come between us and the suns. I thought, maybe, if I got all the dirt off of the solar collector\u2019s dome, there might still be enough light, so I started wiping at it like crazy with one of my shirts\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cWhy didn\u2019t they have backup power for it?\u201d Kyra asked. \u201cEven just a <i>battery<\/i>?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cThey really should\u2019ve. Hell, they should\u2019ve had a port where we could have plugged in one of the power cells, or something.\u201d Jack was still peeved about the sand cat, and the suggestion she\u2019d <i>tried<\/i> to make, later on, that had been completely ignored. She still thought it would have worked. \u201cBut they didn\u2019t <i>know<\/i> there\u2019d ever be a sunset on their planet, not until it was too late, so probably somebody was just too cheap to add that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Her father had often railed against customers who were too cheap to pay for protective features they were obstinately convinced they\u2019d never need, especially when they blamed him, later on, for their absence. <i>Deciding to drive without insurance<\/i> was what he\u2019d called it. The psychiatric hospital on Helion Prime, as it had turned out, had been among those customers. At least, she thought, she and Kyra had personally benefited from <i>that<\/i> bout of short-sightedness. On a planet of <i>almost<\/i> eternal sunlight, that same kind of skinflint incaution had cost almost everyone their lives.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cI got that dome <i>so<\/i> clean, but once the rings were over <i>both<\/i> of the suns, the collector just stopped turning. The sand cat was <i>dead.<\/i> The temperature dropped real fast too, by about ten degrees. I could still kind of see the suns behind the rings\u2026 a big red blob and a smaller yellow blob\u2026 but it had gotten so dark. And then the noises started.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cNoises?\u201d Kyra snickered. \u201cC\u2019mon, you can be more specific than that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cAnimal noises,\u201d Jack said, hearing them again in her head. \u201cGrowls, cries\u2026 sounds I\u2019d heard faintly the whole time we\u2019d been at the crash ship, but I\u2019d thought it was just the wind until after Fry almost got taken. But now they were really loud. And then\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">It had been, she told Kyra, picking through her words carefully as she tried to capture the terrifying beauty of the moment with them, almost like someone had shaken up a snow-globe full of pitch black, batlike shapes, that had begun floating into the darkening sky from the chimney-like structures as if smoke itself had developed sentience. They shrieked as they flowed upward, whirling and spinning in the twilight\u2026<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>\u201cPeople\u2026 just a suggestion\u2026 perhaps you should flee!\u201d<\/i> Paris\u2019s voice echoed in her head.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">She had found herself running alongside the others, racing for the upturned cargo container where Paris was shouting for them to hurry. It was only when she reached the container and looked back that she realized Shazza and Riddick had fallen behind.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cRiddick brought up the rear,\u201d she told Kyra. \u201cHe stayed behind Shazza the whole time. I think he could have outrun her if he\u2019d wanted to, but he didn\u2019t. Fry yelled at them to get down, because the creatures were almost on them. They ran up the side of the gouge that the crash ship had plowed in the ground and dove down inside it. I swear, the creatures were chasing them too\u2026 flew right over them and away, but then\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Then, as she had watched helplessly from much too far away, the screeching murmuration had begun to circle back.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">She\u2019d watched them both lying on the ground, Riddick on his side, Shazza on her belly. And even from that distance, she had seen the moment when Shazza\u2019s nerves had frayed and snapped.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cShazza, stay there!\u201d She\u2019d yelled, pulling free of Paris\u2019s restraining grasp. \u201cStay down, Shazza, just stay down!\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cCome here!\u201d the would-be tomb raider had shouted, pulling her back into the cargo container. She struggled against him, against what was inevitably about to happen.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Shazza couldn\u2019t see what was behind her, running flat-out for the cargo container. But Riddick, on his side, could see everything. He hadn\u2019t even tried to rise. Instead, he rolled onto his back and flattened himself against the dirt. The flock swooped past just inches above his chest.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Several of them struck Shazza, knocking her to her knees. Instead of flinging herself to the ground, instead of rolling to get them off of her, she tried to rise, to keep going.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cShazza!\u201d Jack had heard herself screaming, trying to throw herself forward to the rescue, \u201cjust stay down!\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Paris hauled her back again, his arm around her no longer at all gentle. She fought his hold until the moment when she heard Shazza\u2019s unearthly scream of agony and saw her torso pulling free of her legs in an explosion of blood. She was still screaming, now in several pieces in the living whirlwind\u2019s grasp, as it spun past the container and off into the darkness.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Suddenly Paris\u2019s arm had been the only thing holding Jack up.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">And now she found herself lying to Kyra again. Riddick had risen from the ground, calmly, looking completely unbothered, dusting himself off as he sauntered over to the container, stepping around the splashes of Shazza\u2019s blood in the dirt with casual indifference. Jack, who had just lost the closest thing she\u2019d had to a mother since she\u2019d left Deckard\u2019s World, had felt a moment of intense resentment for that nonchalance. For that moment, she\u2019d found herself almost hating him.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">She couldn\u2019t tell Kyra that. This wasn\u2019t supposed to be <i>that<\/i> kind of story for Kyra. Riddick was the tale\u2019s hero. So she muted the grief and pain and\u2026<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cThere wasn\u2019t anything he could have done to save her, but I know he wanted to\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">She was projecting her own feelings onto him, her own motivations. His had been completely inscrutable. She had no real idea what had lain behind that calm deadpan, not then, maybe not ever. But in the story she told Kyra, it was a mirror of what <i>she<\/i> had been feeling and wishing.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cParis was telling us we needed to get deeper inside so he could close the outer doors. Everybody climbed in, but I could hear Fry and Riddick, still outside. These strange new hoots and howls had started up and she asked him, \u2018what is it, Riddick? What is it now?\u2019 And he told her, \u2018like I said, it ain\u2019t me you gotta worry about.\u2019 And then the last of the light was gone.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Before she could get further with the story, Takama knocked on the door. Ewan and Tafrara were with her. While they began tending Kyra, Takama led Jack down to the garage level and helped her into a swanky-looking car so they could go get her head imaged.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Dusk had descended over New Marrakesh. In Elsewhere the storm had moved off, upward into the New Atlas foothills, and the tide was moving in. They didn\u2019t drive toward the waters, though, instead driving further uphill and into one of the ritzier suburbs of the city, arriving at what appeared to be a satellite branch of the hospital.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Takama handled the check-in paperwork, using false names for both Jack and herself and weaving a tale, for the intake staff\u2019s benefit, of visiting relatives and a children\u2019s competitive tree-climbing excursion that had gone awry. Moments later, Jack was lying on a table, her head inside what she could only think of as a massive white donut. It didn\u2019t take long. But soon after, a frowning technician appeared, examining the images, and asked if they could do an electroencephalogram.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">That took nearly an hour.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Finally, after that was over, a doctor entered the room.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cIs there something wrong with Tafsut?\u201d Takama asked in Arabic, using the false name she\u2019d picked for Jack.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cNo, not at all,\u201d the woman answered, surprising both of them. Officially, Jack couldn\u2019t understand a word she was saying, but she was following along just fine. \u201cThere are no signs of concussion, no brain bleeds, nothing. She\u2019s perfectly healthy. It\u2019s just\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Takama shot Jack a confused and worried look just as <i>Jack<\/i> was shooting one at <i>her.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cHas your niece ever been Quantified?\u201d The way she said it, Jack could hear the capitalization in the word.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Alarm appeared in Takama\u2019s eyes for the briefest instance. Then her expression became disapproving. \u201cNo, of course not. We do not believe in such things.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cYou might want to consider having her tested,\u201d the doctor said, holding out a tablet with colorful data and imaging on its screen. \u201cThe readings we were getting are unusually high\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>\u201cBaraka!\u201d<\/i> Takama almost shouted, one hand slapping at the tablet while the other made a gesture that Jack had learned was for warding off evil. \u201cDo not speak of such things! Do you wish to make her a pariah? Ruin her chances to marry and have a family? We will not stay to hear such nonsense!\u201d <\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">If Jack hadn\u2019t spent the last two and a half weeks getting to know Takama quite well, she might have been fooled by the sudden act, but she wasn\u2019t. She could see that the doctor was, though. She could see the change in her demeanor and could, she thought, almost hear her thinking, <i>superstitious old bat\u2026<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Takama led Jack back out of the clinic, hovering over her the whole time while deliberately grumbling about terrible treatment and how the doctor was trying to hex her niece, fussing even when she paid the bill. Only after they had driven away from the clinic did she drop the act.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cWhat was <i>that<\/i> about?\u201d Jack asked, her emotions caught in a tug of war between confusion, amusement, and a little bit of fear.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cBrahim said that you are good at infiltrating secure systems, yes? You will want to do so the moment we get home, and destroy all of the scans they made of you and the EEG readings they took.\u201d Takama only looked worried now, as she glanced over at Jack. \u201c<i>Have<\/i> you ever been Quantified?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cI don\u2019t know what that is,\u201d Jack told her, \u201cso I\u2019m guessing not.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cIt\u2019s testing for extrasensory abilities. When readings go above a certain level, and I think your scans indicated that they would\u2026 testers are required to notify the Federacy. You need to destroy those records as soon as we get home. At least,\u201d Takama added, flashing a tight smile at her, \u201cwe know you took no lasting harm from your misadventures this afternoon. And I really should not be surprised that a girl who can move a starship between universes, using her will alone, would test highly. I <i>am<\/i> sorry, Tislilel. I was so worried about brain injury that it never occurred to me I might be exposing you to\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cDon\u2019t worry about it,\u201d Jack said, feeling a little stunned. \u201cI\u2019ll grab some baseline readings and sub them in, no problem, soon as I have my tablet.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cI hope it is as easy as you make it sound,\u201d Takama worried beside her.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cIs it <i>that<\/i> bad?\u201d Jack suddenly found herself worrying that there might have been a kernel of truth in Takama\u2019s act; if it really would make her a pariah with the Imazighen.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cGood heavens, no. Dihya\u2014the warrior queen your sister is named after\u2014was a seer of great power. Such gifts are only as good or as evil as the one making use of them. No, the problem is the Federacy. It \u2018recruits\u2019 anyone who tests highly enough. Whether or not they wish to be recruited.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Jack, who had spent her childhood hearing only good things about the Federacy, was left a little dumbfounded by that claim.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Takama hustled her into the house the moment they returned, almost dragging her upstairs. Her anxiety was infectious, and Jack found herself running alongside her \u201caunt,\u201d the need to delete the files filling her purpose.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cGet hacking,\u201d Takama commanded the moment they reached the room. \u201cI will have dinner sent up for both of you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">It took Jack only a few minutes to find her way into the clinic\u2019s files, using her most insidious Ghost Code. Looking over her patient file, she was relieved to see that almost none of the data would point directly to her. She made a few changes to obscure herself further, adjusting the height\u2014when had she reached 1.73 meters?\u2014weight, and eye color that were stored on file. She saved copies of the original scans and readings on her tablet\u2014she wanted to take a closer look at them, herself, later\u2014before going hunting in the system for another head\u2019s data to replace hers with. <\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Tafrara and Ewan arrived with trays for her and Kyra right as she was finishing up and erasing the security footage, inside the clinic and out in the parking area, that she and Takama had appeared in. They didn\u2019t stay more than a minute.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Weird. Usually there were at least a few moments of joking banter before they left. Jack walked over to the doors that led out onto a balcony overlooking the courtyard, pulling the curtain back just a little.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Brother and sister were hurrying across the courtyard toward the dining room.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Huh.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cI\u2019ll be back,\u201d she told Kyra, and slipped out of the room.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">The moment she was level with the courtyard, and the ground of Elsewhere, she isomorphed over, keeping a strong visual and auditory connection with U1. She crossed the still-wet sand of Elsewhere\u2019s version of the courtyard in a hurry, entering the space that was, back in U1, the dining room.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">The whole family was assembled. There was no food on the table.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cI suppose it should not have come as a surprise,\u201d Takama was saying in English, probably for the benefit and inclusion of an elderly, elegantly-dressed Black man sitting at the table with them. He, alone, had a cup of tea before him. \u201cBrahim said most of the survivors struggled a great deal to master their instructions. I asked Amastan if any of them had spoken of dreaming of those\u2026 beings\u2026 both girls speak of, and he says no.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cDid he answer you about the other matter?\u201d Ewan asked.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cYes. He says none of them met the envoy, although some of them remember seeing her on their hospital floor. She was aloof and never spoke to, much less touched, any of them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cGood. That\u2019s something, at least.\u201d Ewan still looked uneasy, and deeply unhappy.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cSo\u2026\u201d Cedric said, after the momentary silence started to become uncomfortable, \u201call of the survivors of the <i>Matador<\/i> owe their lives to the fact that the two stowaways on board, who escaped Quintessa\u2019s control, happened to be un-Quantified espers.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cAre we sure it\u2019s both of them?\u201d Safiyya asked.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cYou did not see Dihya bringing them across from the other world\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cElsewhere,\u201d Ewan interjected.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201c\u2014from Elsewhere and into the market square,\u201d Takama continued. \u201cShe has power, too, although probably not quite as much as Tislilel.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cYou got a look at the readings before you started up with the doctor, right?\u201d Cedric asked. \u201cWhat were the PKP indices?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cMaximum. As high as the sensors could record.\u201d Takama sighed, steepling her fingers and pressing them to her lips for a moment. \u201cShe is a cerebral girl, at her core. A teacher\u2019s dream\u2026 Dihya, I think, relies more on her physicality.  She has a good mind too, very intelligent, but\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cNot on the same order of magnitude,\u201d Cedric agreed. \u201cShe\u2019s older, but follows Tizzy\u2019s lead becau\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>\u201cTizzy?\u201d<\/i> Tafrara blurted.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cWhy not? It suits her more than you think. <i>Anyway,<\/i> she follows <i>Tizzy\u2019s<\/i> lead because <i>she\u2019s<\/i> such a <i>quick<\/i> thinker. Makes it a little hard, though, to tell one of her plans from one of her impulses.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cExactly,\u201d Safiyya sighed. \u201cWe have all been remiss. We need to bear in mind that even a child prodigy\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cIs still a child,\u201d Ewan finished her statement for her. \u201cI\u2026 am\u2026 aware.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">His eyes looked haunted. Tafrara put her arm around his shoulder.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cIt is hard for <i>all<\/i> of us to remember that about her,\u201d she said, her voice soft and almost coaxing.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cI nearly let her kill herself,\u201d he whispered, closing his eyes.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cDo you think <i>that<\/i> is what she was doing?\u201d Takama suddenly asked.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">An arm slipped around Jack\u2019s waist. She flinched and then realized who it had to be. Kyra, wearing the bathrobe Jack had left on the chair, was standing beside her, fully in Elsewhere.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cWhat\u2019ve I been missing?\u201d her sister whispered. Jack couldn\u2019t find her voice to answer.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cWe have seen her records from New Athens General,\u201d Takama was saying. \u201cSevere blood loss and drowning. She very nearly succeeded that time. <i>Could<\/i> she still be suicidal?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Ewan\u2019s complexion had turned almost ashen.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cIf she is,\u201d Safiyya mused, \u201cI don\u2019t think she knows it. But there is something called \u2018suicide by proxy,\u2019 that some people engage in when they won\u2019t deliberately try to die or consciously admit to wanting to. They put themselves into dangerous situations, ones that could result in their deaths\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cI can\u2019t\u2014\u201d Ewan almost knocked his chair over as he got up from the table. He crossed the room swiftly, approaching the doorway where Jack and Kyra were standing, unseen and intangible.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cDo not go to her!\u201d Cedric commanded, bringing his son to a halt.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Although a world away, Ewan was only inches from Jack, his breathing ragged. The agony on his face twisted at her heart. He closed his eyes and took a few long, deep breaths. Everyone at the table was watching him with concern.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Jack wanted to hug him. She only realized she was leaning toward him when Kyra pulled her back.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Finally Ewan spoke, his expression and voice growing calmer. \u201cShe wouldn\u2019t have done that to me. She wouldn\u2019t have left me stranded in another universe.\u201d He turned to face the table. \u201cMaybe she\u2019d put <i>herself<\/i> in harm\u2019s way. I don\u2019t know. But she\u2019d <i>never<\/i> do something that put someone else in danger.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cNot on purpose,\u201d Jack whispered. Ali and Paris still haunted her.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cOf course you wouldn\u2019t,\u201d Kyra whispered back, giving her waist a gentle squeeze.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cIf she had known, or even suspected, that she was in that much danger\u2026 if she had been <i>trying<\/i> to die\u2026 she would have sent me back to this universe first,\u201d Ewan continued.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cYou can\u2019t know that,\u201d Safiyya said.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cI <i>do<\/i> know that. And you do, too.\u201d He turned and stalked back to the table, sitting back down in the chair he\u2019d vacated. His body was still tense. \u201cI think\u2026 she just doesn\u2019t know her limits until she crashes into them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cThis is a reasonable hypothesis,\u201d the Black man mused, his rumbling, accented voice even deeper than Riddick\u2019s. \u201cMany with her kind of ability only develop it at the onset of puberty, which the remaining fragments of her medical records indicate is relatively recent.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Ewan winced, closing his eyes. Tafrara put her hand on the back of his neck and murmured something soft in Tamazight. He shook his head, his lips pressed tightly together as he looked over at her.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cYour \u2018Tizzy,\u2019\u201d the man continued, \u201cmay have no idea what she can or cannot do with these gifts until she tries.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cWho the fuck is <i>he<\/i>?\u201d Kyra whispered.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Jack shrugged, shaking her head. She had seen him in line, well behind the envoy, at the end of the memorial, but Ewan had already whisked them away from the church before he came anywhere near the family.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cI guess we should be especially grateful that you decided to visit us tonight, General Toal,\u201d Cedric said. \u201cYou\u2019ve worked with espers in the past, haven\u2019t you? Trained Operatives.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Even as the general nodded, Safiyya spoke up. \u201cIs there any new word about your son or his platoon?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">General Toal shook his head, his expression briefly sad. \u201cNothing. It has been almost ten years\u2026 soon they will be declared dead. I\u2026 have made my peace with it.\u201d He sighed and then seemed to put it aside. \u201cBut I am afraid that my visit this evening is not as auspicious as you have hoped. I came to warn you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Uneasy looks passed around the table.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cIn the last day, the Quintessa envoy has been approaching many of Gavin Brahim\u2019s former comrades-in-arms, the ones who will be visiting your home tomorrow evening. Many of them have asked me for advice,\u201d the General explained. \u201cShe has hinted to all of them that she would like to attend as their \u2018plus-one\u2019 if they would be so inclined.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cIf that vile <i>tkahbacht<\/i> even <i>tries<\/i> to enter this house\u2014\u201d Tafrara exploded.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/i> Ewan asked. \u201c<i>What<\/i> can we do if she tries, Elspeth?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Jack had wondered if, like her brothers, Tafrara had a Scottish name as well as a Tamazight name. Now she had an answer.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cOur brother\u2019s murderer will never be welcome here!\u201d his sister shouted, slamming her fists on the table. \u201cI will see her <i>dead<\/i> first!\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cTafrara.\u201d Somehow, Cedric\u2019s almost-gentle tone stopped her tirade cold. \u201cIt\u2019s easily prevented. We\u2019ll just clarify that this isn\u2019t a gathering where plus-ones can be accommodated.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">The General\u2019s mouth twitched and he nodded. \u201cThat does indeed solve <i>that<\/i> part of the problem. But she has not been alone in her visits. Her <i>entourage,<\/i> these days, includes a mercenary who is eager to tell everybody he meets about the pair of dangerous teenage girls he is tracking\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Ewan muttered something in Tamazight that made every woman at the table gasp and glare at him. He even got a reproving look from his father. There was no shame on his face now, though; only fury.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201c\u2014<i>and<\/i> he has been circulating pictures of them,\u201d General Toal continued. \u201cAlready many of the officers who spoke to me have commented how similar they look to your visiting nieces. Now, <i>we<\/i> all know the truth about these two young ladies. And certainly, we all know that, even if they <i>were<\/i> the monsters he portrays them as, they never would have had time to commit the heinous crimes he\u2019s claiming they engaged in between their escape from the psychiatric hospital and when the <i>Scarlet Matador<\/i> left Helion Prime. But\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cAn accusation does not have to be true to do great damage,\u201d Takama sighed.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Jack felt Kyra begin to tremble beside her.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cIndeed.\u201d The General looked around the table at everyone. \u201cI was hoping to help you make this work. I truly was. But at this time, there is no way we dare introduce Miss Wittier-Collins to the officers who will be visiting tomorrow evening. Whether or not he suspects who your \u2018nieces\u2019 really are, this \u2018Alexander Toombs\u2019 has poisoned the well.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cOh <i>fuck<\/i>, Jack\u2026\u201d Next to her, Kyra\u2019s eyes were welling with tears.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">It just <i>figured<\/i> that Elsewhere\u2019s tide would show up right then, too.<\/p>\n<p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Title: The Changeling Game (Formerly Identity Theft) Author: Ardath Rekha Chapter: 39\/? Fandom: TCOR AU Rating: M Warnings: Adult themes, controversial subject matter, harsh language, violence Cate","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 39: \u201cUnquantified, Unseen, Unmasked\u201d","bgseo_description":"Even as Jack finds herself concealing ugly truths about the eclipse from Kyra, new and terrible truths are looming that may threaten both girls\u2019 futures.","bgseo_robots_index":"index","bgseo_robots_follow":"follow","footnotes":""},"categories":[9,21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-468","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\/468","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=468"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/468\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1185,"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/468\/revisions\/1185"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=468"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=468"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=468"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}