{"id":594,"date":"2024-08-06T19:24:31","date_gmt":"2024-08-06T23:24:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/?p=594"},"modified":"2025-01-28T23:38:48","modified_gmt":"2025-01-29T04:38:48","slug":"the-changeling-game-chapter-53","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/the-changeling-game-chapter-53\/","title":{"rendered":"The Changeling Game, Chapter 53"},"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> 53\/?<br \/>\n<b>Fandom:<\/b> <i>Pitch Black<\/i> (2000); <i>The Chronicles of Riddick<\/i> (2004); <i>The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Fury<\/i> (2004)<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> Just as Jack and Kyra must prepare to part ways with Sebby, their more-than-a-pet crustacean begins <i>talking<\/i> to them\u2026<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='6a8e6c0da126b5062209568' value='6a8e6c0da126b5062209568'><input type='hidden' id='bg-show-more-text-6a8e6c0da126b5062209568' value='Long post is long. Click to read the story.'><input type='hidden' id='bg-show-less-text-6a8e6c0da126b5062209568' value='Hide the story again.'><button id='bg-showmore-action-6a8e6c0da126b5062209568' 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-6a8e6c0da126b5062209568' ><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"chapterhead\">53.<br \/>\n<u>Save a Last Sebby Dance<\/u><\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">The blaze in Jack\u2019s and Kyra\u2019s old apartment building burned hot and hard, visible for miles. Even mostly upwind of it, as the <i>ait Meziane<\/i> house was, the smell of smoke reached them as they watched on the roof. General Toal didn\u2019t bother trying to pretend that he had no idea what was happening.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cAll of its tenants moved out after its landlords did nothing about the damage it took two weeks ago,\u201d he told them. \u201cI believe investigators will conclude that someone attempted to set up a methamphetamine \u2018lab\u2019 in one of the empty units. The explosion was quite large, and many of the other abandoned units still had flammable furnishings inside them. Plus, it appears that the landlords had done <i>nothing<\/i> to keep the building up to the city\u2019s fire codes in years. I highly doubt there will be all that much left of the building to sift through.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>At least,<\/i> Jack found herself thinking as she watched streams of already-steaming water arcing over the blaze, <i>he evacuates buildings before he blows them up.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">The last few tenants to leave would probably be too busy thanking providence that they\u2019d left just in time to question where that providence had <i>come<\/i> from.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Just in case someone had a suspicious turn of mind, given everything that had happened in recent weeks, almost every member of the <i>ait Meziane<\/i> tribe who was in town had an iron-clad alibi, attending Ewan\u2019s send-off party miles away and dancing the Ceilidh when the blast had lit up the sky. The few who had stayed home were all far too old and frail to have taken up arson. Jack wondered briefly who the General had gotten to arrange the explosion.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">But did it matter? He had decisively broken their trail where Pritchard was concerned, and that was what counted. If there were any leftover signs that the merc had broken into the their apartment, or that someone from that geolocation had been involved in the release of data on the Spaceport Bomber, the <i>who<\/i> and <i>how<\/i> were now thoroughly obscured. Toal had fought fire with fire\u2026 quite literally.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cPerhaps,\u201d Takama opined with a shrug and a knowing look, \u201cthe building simply fell to its own curse.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Jack did worry that Ewan might have seen the blaze during his launch, and feared for the Rif, but Cedric informed them\u2014shortly before they went back inside\u2014that Ewan had contacted him to report that he was safely on his way to Qamar\u2014a several-hour journey\u2014and had been surprised to hear about the fire.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cHis mind was on something else,\u201d Usadden muttered before Izil elbowed him.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">For the next hour, General Toal taught Jack and Kyra how to use the neurofeedback machines he\u2019d brought them. The displays showed examples of \u201cbaseline\u201d human brain waves, and then took readings of their waves as they first played with their abilities and then rested from doing so. Kyra was able, within the hour, to control her waves so that they mimicked the baseline reading; Jack struggled to get anywhere close. It was hard to stay focused when all she really wanted to do was curl up in a corner for a long cry.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cIt takes practice,\u201d the General told her when she was about to give up. \u201cYou use your abilities a great deal, so I believe your \u2018resting\u2019 state is more poised to make use of them than your sister\u2019s. She relies less on them, and has chosen not to communicate with the <i>Apeiros.<\/i> In time, you will be able to hide any sign of what you can do, too. In the meantime\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">He inserted a chip into her neurofeedback unit and tapped in some commands.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201c\u2026I downloaded the module for sleep-talking. It\u2019s somewhat different, and it will require you to wear the unit\u2019s EEG cap while you sleep. When it detects your speech centers engaging during REM, it will warn you with a tiny jolt of current. It\u2019s less neurofeedback than operant conditioning, in truth. But it should give you the results you need.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Jack decided not to try it that night. She wanted at least one more normal night of sleep and didn\u2019t want to alarm Sebby. But she intended to practice with both modules as frequently as she could, until she was sure that all of her deadly secrets would stay hidden. She wouldn\u2019t dare go back to her mother\u2019s house until she had that certainty.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">The glow from the apartment fire could even be seen, a little, through the guest room\u2019s balcony doors as Jack and Kyra settled in for the night, Sebby snuggled down between them. The room had a dark orange cast to it.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">The <i>Apeiros<\/i> were waiting when Jack finally managed to fall asleep.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Little larva, you are distressed. What has happened?<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cI\u2019ve been separated from someone important to me,\u201d she told them. Somehow, in this space, it had become easier to articulate her emotions than in the physical world. \u201cI won\u2019t see him again for years. Maybe ever.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">They had questions, odd ones, and after a few rounds of question-and-answer they seemed to still be confused about whether her connection to Ewan was familial or reproductive.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cThat\u2019s okay,\u201d Jack sighed. \u201cI\u2019m confused about that, too.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">She\u2019d paid attention to the very limited instruction she\u2019d received in school about such things, but a lot of it hadn\u2019t made sense. The frank and clinical answers she\u2019d received from her Aunt Lena, her father\u2019s Registered Nurse sister, had been more useful, but still felt incomplete. She and Ewan, she tried to explain, were biologically compatible, and not closely related\u2014or related at all, really\u2014but even though she was probably physically capable of having a baby now, it was much too early for her to do so. And yet, she admitted to them, the relationship she really wanted with him was one that might ultimately lead to offspring one day. But even if the relationship never took that form, she would still want some kind of familial tie to him\u2026 anything to have him in her life. It was confusing, but at least, in this space, it wasn\u2019t quite as painful. The urge to cry forever and never speak again was held at bay for the moment.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i><b>A breeder making more filth\u2026<\/b><\/i> Apparently the Moribund had been listening in.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Hush. It is grieving.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cHow do <i>you<\/i> reproduce?\u201d she asked the Apeiros. Surely they bred too, didn\u2019t they?<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>We do not know.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cReally? But\u2026 how were you made?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>We hatched. We have hatched six times now. But we cannot hatch into our seven-shapes yet, not until\u2014<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>It is not yet time. You will know when it is. You will see it.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cSo you were hatched but you don\u2019t know who laid your\u2026 eggs? Shells?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Your species rears its young?<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cYeah, most of the time.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Ours does not. We believe reproduction is our final act in life. But we do not know. When <b>we<\/b> seed ourselves into other species, though, it is our final act.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cYou\u2026 seed yourselves\u2026?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Into other species. Yes. So that we do not truly die in this darkness. And so they might live, too.<\/i>\n<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i><b>And yet they never do.<\/b><\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>The Demons of the Darkness find them and kill them in their hatchling state. But you <b>know<\/b> some have evaded them. And they have not found <b>this<\/b> little larva. It will grow too strong for them to harm soon. And it has hidden its broodmates from their sight. Can you not acknowledge its cleverness, even now?<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i><b>Let it tear down <u>all<\/u> of the cages and break the darkness, and we will agree it is not filth.<\/b><\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>You are never appeased.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i><b>Why are <u>you?<\/u> You know what will appease us. In due time, we will make it happen.<\/b><\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">The Moribund, Jack thought, was still intimidating in its implacable hatred, but she no longer found any of the beings surrounding her in the darkness <i>terrifying<\/i> the way she once had. Most of the time, unless the Moribund itself was speaking, she sensed something\u2026 indulgent\u2026 about their attitude toward her. Whatever they might be, she was pretty sure most of them <i>liked<\/i> her. And it was much easier to like them back than to go on fearing them.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cI should go,\u201d she told them. \u201cI need to do some real sleeping. I\u2019m taking Sebby back to his home universe tomorrow, so he\u2019ll be safe.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">That, however, brought about more questions, and soon she found herself telling them about how she would need to leave Tangiers Prime, to obscure her trail so that nobody would know she\u2019d been on the <i>Matador<\/i>. When she told them that she would be traveling on a new Star Jumper, they seemed to become especially intrigued.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>You will be crossing the thresholds between four-spaces? Many times?<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cYeah. That\u2019s\u2026 not a problem, is it? For the two I\u2019m in now?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>It will not harm your five-shape, no. But it is an opportunity for you to <b>grow<\/b> your shape. We will watch. When you cross into new four-spaces, we will show you how to connect to them as well.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">She sensed that they were <i>excited<\/i> by this development.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Soon\u2026 you will not be a <b>little<\/b> larva anymore.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">That, Jack thought, as she drifted off into actual dreams, was hopefully a good thing.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">She found herself repeatedly on Canaan Mountain, watching Kyra hunt, forage, and stalk Red Roger and his men with Riddick by her side. These were not <i>her<\/i> dreams, but it felt like Kyra was insistently pulling her into them. Finally, out of frustration, she returned to the starfield and the <i>Apeiros.<\/i> She let the stars spin around her instead, imagining that she was turning the steps of the Ceilidh once more. After a time, she found herself back in Ewan\u2019s arms as <i>he<\/i> whirled her across the spangled darkness and the stars sang with the voices of bagpipes\u2026<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">She woke to the feeling of feathery antennae brushing away the tears on her cheeks.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Sebby was perched on her chest, eye stalks staring into her face. The room was still dark, the orange glow of the fire no longer casting odd shadows. Instead, Jack could hear the soft sounds of early morning activity from the courtyard. The air still carried a light scent of smoke. In Elsewhere, water filled the room and a school of fish was swimming through, rimed by wan moonlight from one of the smaller moons.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">If the morning-day went as planned, Sebby would return to Elsewhere and she wouldn\u2019t be able to see him for years, if ever again. If he turned out not to be releasable, he would leave with Izil in the evening-day, traveling to sanctuary in the New Atlas Mountains. This was, in all probability, their last morning cuddle. Jack stroked Sebby\u2019s carapace, finding the little places that he liked to have rubbed, wishing that there was some way they could stay together safely.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>I\u2019m gonna miss you so much\u2026<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Miss you more\u2026<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Maybe she was still dreaming? She could have sworn she heard Sebby in her head.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cYou wanna take one more shower with me?\u201d she asked him, keeping her voice low so she wouldn\u2019t wake up Kyra. Sebby squeaked a happy affirmative.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">One last Sebby Dance\u2026<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">His favorite water temperature had become <i>her<\/i> favorite temperature, too.  She stood under it, giving herself a quick wash but mostly just watching Sebby bounce and wriggle. Would he be able to find anything like this back in Elsewhere? Was she about to cut him off from one of his favorite pleasures?<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">She kept telling herself that she was doing what was best for him, but\u2026 how could she <i>know?<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">It was hard to turn the water back off. Fortunately, <i>she<\/i> didn\u2019t have to; Kyra knocked on the shower door after a while to ask for a turn. They traded places while Sebby continued to wriggle and bounce happily. Jack dressed while Kyra washed up and talked to Sebby, checking her tablet for any new messages for Marianne Tepper\u2014Sirius Shipping had sent her their Employee Handbook\u2014before setting out a handful of items she wanted to take with her when they crossed into Elsewhere. While she waited for Kyra and Sebby, she turned back to her tablet to check her news feeds and related alerts.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">The apartment building explosion was being reported, but not with very much gusto; the building, after all, had been abandoned and, aside from some smoke inhalation reports from responding firefighters, no one had been hurt, let alone killed. Other stories had precedence.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">New Kosovo had issued indictments and arrest warrants for both Duke Pritchard and Javor Makarov, for the murders of 12-year-old Luljeta Kamberi and a fugitive named Tara Krieg, whose remains had finally been located using clues from the men\u2019s Merc Network accounts. Tangiers Prime, meanwhile, had issued multiple arrest warrants for both men on charges of terrorism and mass murder. Eight of the men\u2019s victims, who had appeared in photo and video collections, had been positively identified as women who were alive and in various prisons, and Amnesty Interplanetary had already begun filing petitions to have their convictions and sentences vacated on the grounds that they had already endured punishments far exceeding their crimes. Three more of the collections had been connected to missing teenage girls from worlds across the Federacy, but their fates were not yet known. One news source reported that multiple worlds had sent lists and pictures of <i>all<\/i> their missing preteen and teen girls to the investigators spearheading the case.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Fuck.<\/i> Had Deckard\u2019s World sent a picture of <i>her?<\/i> There were people in local law enforcement, with ties to the Meziane family, who might recognize her.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">A careful, heavily cloaked Ghost Mode trip into the law enforcement systems, while Kyra dressed, showed her that Deckard\u2019s World was among dozens of planets that had forwarded Missing Persons case files, and hers was among them. Fortunately, it was in a long queue of materials that had yet to be reviewed. She moved a copy of the file onto her tablet before doctoring the original, subbing in copies of another girl\u2019s face and fingerprints from a file that had already been cleared, adding labels indicating that the contents had already been processed and no match to any of the videos or stills had been found, and marking her name as \u201cCleared \u2013 No Match\u201d in the investigators\u2019 internal database. When the investigators replied to Deckard\u2019s World, they would say that Audrey MacNamera\u2014twelve years old at time of disappearance, 5\u20194\u201d, Caucasian, green, blonde\u2014was not among Pritchard\u2019s and Makarov\u2019s unidentified victims\u2026<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u2026but, Jack thought with a shudder as she closed the tablet, she very nearly <i>had<\/i> been.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Would never let it\u2026<\/i> An image formed in her mind, of Pritchard, seen from above, along with an intense desire to <i>sting\u2026<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Those were <i>Sebby\u2019s<\/i> thoughts.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Jack looked over at Kyra. \u201cDid you <i>hear<\/i> that?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Kyra froze, shirt halfway on, and then nodded. \u201cYou were thinking about what Pritchard planned to do to us, and Sebby\u2026 <i>talked<\/i> to you\u2026 holy shit.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">The crustacean in question was sitting on the foot of the bed. Jack walked over to him, feeling a mixture of wonder and delight. \u201cYou were so brave. You saved our lives. I was scared he was gonna hurt you, too, but you were way too strong for him.\u201d She kissed the top of Sebby\u2019s carapace. \u201cThank you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Love my sisters\u2026<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cWe love you too, Sebby,\u201d Kyra told him, her voice breaking.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">They decided to take him with them downstairs to the breakfast table. He could share human foods there, they told him, and then have crickets after. And then it would be time to see if they could find his home in Elsewhere.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Sebby was conflicted; Jack could feel it with increasing clarity. He wanted to have breakfast with all of his friends\u2014family\u2014but the thought that it might well be his <i>last<\/i> breakfast with them was depressing.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>God, am I doing to him what Riddick did to me? Ditching him without even asking <b>him<\/b> what <b>he<\/b> needs?<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Kyra stopped on the stairs and turned to look at her, wide eyed. Jack could feel her wanting to protest that Riddick would <i>never<\/i> do such a thing\u2026 and then realizing that he already <i>had,<\/i> more than half a year earlier. Her sister bit her lip, turning away and continuing down the stairs, looking deep in thought.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cWe promise,\u201d Jack told Sebby as she carried him into the dining room, <i>knowing<\/i> he truly did understand what she was saying, \u201cif we can\u2019t find a place there where you\u2019ll be happy, you\u2019ll get to stay with Izil instead.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Izil\u2026 good brother. Kind.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">He wasn\u2019t actually using English, Jack reflected, and his word for \u201cbrother\u201d was the same as his word for \u201csister.\u201d The more she thought about it, the more she thought that \u201clittermate\u201d or \u201cbroodmate\u201d was closer to what he\u2019d said. Sebby definitely had a concept for siblings, but it definitely wasn\u2019t a <i>human<\/i> concept and didn\u2019t seem to be gendered.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">If only she had more <i>time<\/i>, there was so much she wanted to learn now that they could <i>talk<\/i> to each other\u2026<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">By some unspoken accord, Sebby moved from plate to plate throughout the meal, visiting with each member of the Meziane family and receiving a treat or two from each one. Plus pets. At the end of the meal, Izil surprised everyone by bringing out, not the usual large cricket box, but smaller ones, enough of them so that each member of the family could personally add to Sebby\u2019s tub. He gave Jack two boxes.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cOne from you, and one from Ewan Zdan,\u201d he murmured to her has he handed them over. Her eyes and nose began to sting a little in response.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Sebby happily used his antennae to knock any crickets that jumped on people\u2019s hands back into the tub. He radiated delight with the individual attention, petting people\u2019s hands with his antennae even when no crickets escaped.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Dawn was fully upon them when Sebby had finished eating. Jack had both her binoculars and telescope stowed in her pack, along with food and water and a large supply of olives, as she and Kyra followed the family down to the garage, Kyra carrying Sebby like a baby. Jack started for the bed of the all-terrain vehicle, reaching for the nearest of the olive trees, when Takama put a hand on her arm.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cWe have other plans for that, Tizzy. Please, get in. You can stow your pack in the bed by the trees.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Jack noticed that several other backpacks had already been stowed in the bed. Kyra added hers as well a moment later.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Fortunately, there was room for everyone on board the vehicle. Sebby was fascinated by its interior, running his antennae over everything he could reach. It was hard to get him to stay in Kyra\u2019s lap as they drove out of the garage.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cSebby, we need you to be still,\u201d Jack finally said. \u201cWe can\u2019t let anybody outside of the family see you.\u201d\n<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Grump.<\/i> Jack got a clear image of Sebby making a mental gesture equivalent to sticking his tongue out. But he settled down in Kyra\u2019s lap.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Cedric, behind the wheel, drove up toward the hilltop suburbs, ones that were in line with the burnt husk of the apartment building\u2014which, when they passed it, had collapsed into a smoldering heap that was still being hosed down\u2014and roughly ninety meters above sea level. Somewhere around there, Jack had hypothesized, would be where Sebby had been caught by the monster wave and pulled away from dry land. It <i>did<\/i> make sense to wait to begin carrying the olive trees until they were already past the worst of the climbing, she admitted. She and Kyra might have worn themselves out long before they reached those heights, if they\u2019d gone with their original plan.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cTurn left here,\u201d Usadden told Cedric as they crested one of the switchback roads leading up a steeper hill. \u201cIt\u2019s another two blocks.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cWhat is?\u201d Jack asked, looking around at their surroundings.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cThat,\u201d Usadden pointed. They were approaching a small\u2026 private airfield?<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">It was tiny compared to the one they had visited the night before, with a short runway designed for small propeller planes and moonskiffs, some of which were parked alongside the runway. The place looked deserted.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cWe have rented the airfield for the day,\u201d Cedric told her. \u201cNo witnesses. I will pull the truck into the hangar\u2026 and then, once we\u2019re sure it\u2019s on level ground on both sides of the threshold, you will move it, and all of us in it\u2014and the rest of its contents, of course\u2014into Elsewhere. And then we will see if we can find Sebby\u2019s old home.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cIf you catch any flies in that wide open mouth, you need to give them to Sebby,\u201d Kyra teased her.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Jack shut her mouth and started paying attention to the terrain over in Elsewhere. Her family, she thought, was brilliant. Absolutely brilliant.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>I don\u2019t want to have to leave them\u2026<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">She could feel both Kyra\u2019s and Sebby\u2019s sympathetic reactions. All three of them were being forced to give up the Meziane family <i>and<\/i> part ways with each other\u2026 to break a bond that had been forged mere weeks ago but had swiftly come to feel eternal.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>You will come back. I will still be here.<\/i> Sebby\u2019s mental voice was firm and certain.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Jack leaned down and give Sebby another kiss on the top of his carapace. She\u2019d worried that she was abandoning him like Riddick had abandoned her\u2026 it had been tying her up in knots\u2026 but now\u2026<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cHow\u2019s the ground looking on the other side?\u201d Cedric asked as he pulled into the hangar.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cA little rough. If you go about ten feet to the right and fifteen feet forward\u2026 yeah, this is level with the other side.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Cedric shifted the vehicle into park. \u201cPower cells are almost fully charged. We\u2019re good to go when you are. What do you say?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Jack gave him a tight smile and nodded, and reached up to touch the vehicle\u2019s canopy. She closed her eyes and let herself feel it. Oddly enough, the engine\u2019s purr helped. She could feel everything that was being directly affected by the vibration, could feel the way it shifted from part to part, the hull of the vehicle, its wheels, its bed and the plants and packs stowed in it, all the people inside\u2026 and she could feel, somewhere far deeper down, the fundamental, <i>quantum<\/i> vibrations that aligned all of it with U1\u2026<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Remembering to swap around the air as she did it, she moved the vehicle from U1 to Elsewhere, hearing gasps of astonishment and delight around her. When she opened her eyes, she was back in her other world.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">With no buildings and few trees to obscure the view, Jack could see the retreating ocean stretching away below them and to the west. The ground beneath their tires was soft and springy, a meadow surrounding them.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cLet\u2019s put the top down,\u201d Cedric said, and he and Usadden began to do so immediately. \u201cGive Sebby a chance to see where we\u2019re going, and direct us if he\u2019s inclined to do so.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">With the vehicle\u2019s roof removed, Sebby climbed up onto the back of one of the seats and began looking around, antennae vibrating.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Reeeeeeeeeeeee\u2026<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">He stared southeast, both antennae forward.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cI think he wants to go that way,\u201d Kyra said. Cedric nodded, putting the truck back into gear, and turned in the direction Sebby had been pointing, driving slowly and carefully.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cDon\u2019t want to accidentally run over somebody,\u201d he explained as he went. \u201cSebby\u2019s sentient, so who knows what else might be?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Jack loved that <i>that<\/i> was his first thought. Every time she thought it was impossible to love this family more\u2026<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Reeeeeeeeeeee\u2026<\/i> Sebby didn\u2019t sound distressed, just\u2026 inquiring. As if he was calling out and expecting an answer.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Ten minutes later, the answer came.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Reeeeeeeeeeeeeeee\u2026<\/i> The call was a lower note than Sebby\u2019s. When it repeated a moment later, it was joined by other, higher notes\u2026<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Sebby began to bounce. <i>Coming! Coming!<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cWhat\u2019s coming, Sebby?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cHoly mother of what in the bloody <i>hell\u2026<\/i>\u201d Usadden gasped. Safiyya made a small squeak and covered her mouth.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">A familiar shape, rendered enormous, was cresting a hillside and coming toward them. Sebby, but not. Sebby\u2026 the size of a small <i>elephant.<\/i> An elephant-sized Sebby crawling toward them\u2026 singing its <i>Reeeeeeeee<\/i> in a lower range than Sebby did\u2026 its back covered with much smaller duplicates of itself whose <i>Reeeeeeees<\/i> were far closer in pitch to Sebby\u2019s, many at the very edge of the audible.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Mommy!<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Jack swung to look at Sebby, gasping. \u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Mommy!<\/i> Sebby repeated, bouncing, pincers waving with excitement, antennae pointed straight at the approaching mammoth crustacean. <i>Mommy! Mommy! Mommy!<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cHoly shit.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Title: The Changeling Game (Formerly Identity Theft) Author: Ardath Rekha Chapter: 53\/? Fandom: Pitch Black (2000); The Chronicles of Riddick (2004); The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Fury (2004) Rat","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 53: \u201cSave a Last Sebby Dance\u201d","bgseo_description":"Just as Jack and Kyra must prepare to part ways with Sebby, their more-than-a-pet crustacean begins talking to them\u2026","bgseo_robots_index":"index","bgseo_robots_follow":"follow","footnotes":""},"categories":[9,21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-594","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\/594","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=594"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/594\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1172,"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/594\/revisions\/1172"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=594"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=594"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=594"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}