{"id":762,"date":"2024-09-24T20:17:14","date_gmt":"2024-09-25T00:17:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/?p=762"},"modified":"2025-01-28T23:29:48","modified_gmt":"2025-01-29T04:29:48","slug":"the-changeling-game-chapter-68","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/the-changeling-game-chapter-68\/","title":{"rendered":"The Changeling Game, Chapter 68"},"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> 68\/?<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> While Audrey works to sell the idea that she\u2019s the same girl who left Deckard\u2019s World almost two years before, General Toal changes up the game\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='6a8e6dbde6d436047904909' value='6a8e6dbde6d436047904909'><input type='hidden' id='bg-show-more-text-6a8e6dbde6d436047904909' value='Long post is long. Click to read the story.'><input type='hidden' id='bg-show-less-text-6a8e6dbde6d436047904909' value='Hide the story again.'><button id='bg-showmore-action-6a8e6dbde6d436047904909' 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-6a8e6dbde6d436047904909' ><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"chapterhead\">68.<br \/>\n<u>Cuckoo, Cowbird, Soldier, Spy<\/u><\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Jade finally appeared on Saturday night, while Audrey was sleeping. She woke in the middle of the night to find a heavy, plurring blob of obese Siamese cat parked on her chest.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Now she really felt like she had come home, whoever she was.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Goblin was sitting on her dresser, staring at her. An oriental shorthair, his tiny, slender body was dominated by a massive pair of batwing ears. She\u2019d missed his ridiculous little face. Esther was on her windowsill.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">She\u2019d wondered if she would even see the cats for a few days, and how long it would take them to remember her and get over their hurt and anger over her disappearance. Apparently not long at all.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">As soon as she started petting Jade, both Goblin and Esther jumped onto the bed and demanded attention, too.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">The \u201cWelcome Home, Audrey\u201d party had run late, with family, neighbors, and family friends staying until nearly midnight. By the time everyone had left, Audrey had nearly been asleep on her feet.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Almost nobody who had shown up to see her had been turned away, though. The only exceptions had been some tabloid reporters who had tried to sneak in. Alvin had come up with some very creative threats to get them to leave.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Fortunately it had been a warm evening, with clear skies and gentle breezes, since the party had been held outside. All the baked goods and casseroles that neighbors and friends had delivered, along with some additional food that Alvin had arranged while Audrey and her mother had been clothes shopping, had been set out for guests, and virtually all of it had been devoured before everyone went home. Audrey had tried a little bit of everything, herself, mindful of <tt>CommissAIry<\/tt>\u2019s admonition to always go on culinary adventures if she could. Almost everything had been really good; <i>everything<\/i> had been part of \u201ctraditional American\u201d cuisine. Minimally spicy, relying on a small subset of meats, vegetables, and cooking strategies, with the beverages and desserts heavily sweetened. It was all she\u2019d known until she was almost thirteen.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">It wasn\u2019t enough anymore.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Well, at least CommissAIry will expand my horizons today\u2026<\/i> One day out of every week, her culinary adventures would range past the orbit of Deckard\u2019s World.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Going clothes-shopping on a weekend day had, in retrospect, been a bit of a mistake, if an unavoidable one. Audrey\u2019s mother had taken her to the largest and most popular shopping mall in town\u2014Deckard\u2019s World ostentatiously modeled itself after a period of American history when malls had abounded, and <tt>MilitAIre<\/tt> had given her fascinating articles to read about their deaths at the start of the twenty-first century, something that made her wonder how they could coexist now with the same technologies that had originally killed them\u2014and they had promptly run into several girls she\u2019d attended middle school with.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">While a few of the girls had looked surprised to see her, most seemed to have caught the newsfeeds about her return. They had a million questions that Audrey had to dodge, but fortunately she and <tt>MilitAIre<\/tt> had already worked out all of the dodges. After picking out only a few outfits, though, both she and her mother felt enough of a sense of being under a microscope that they\u2019d cut the trip short.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cWe\u2019ll finish on Monday,\u201d her mother had told her as they got back in the car, \u201cwhen most of the lookie-loos are back in school.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Audrey had nodded, noting the implication that she wouldn\u2019t be enrolled back into school immediately. They were only one week away from Spring Break, anyway, which was sandwiched between Christmas and New Year\u2019s Day. Fortunately, both fell on Saturdays; in a year, she realized, there would have to be special arrangements to have her \u201cdebriefing days\u201d moved <i>to<\/i> Saturday for those two weekends so that her family didn\u2019t feel aggrieved by her absence from major holidays.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>I\u2019m sure MilitAIre already has a plan for that\u2026<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">She was also aware that her mother had struggled with the shopping trip in other ways.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">The days of buying her \u201clittle girl\u201d clothes were over and had already been ending before she disappeared; the pastel colors, rainbows, and cutesy fantasy animals that her mother had gravitated toward had already become inappropriate choices when she\u2019d been in middle school. Fortunately, they weren\u2019t even available in her new size, but she had seen the way her mother still struggled with her choices.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">She and <tt>MilitAIre<\/tt> had planned it all out, though. She was to choose clothing that would lend her some invisibility, dressing in a way that blended her into the crowd as much as someone in the throes of notoriety <i>could<\/i> blend. Nothing super-fashionable; they had examined the current trends and decided which items were <i>too<\/i> trendy, too close to the cutting edge, for her to be seen wearing yet. Nothing too outdated or exotic, either. She was to fall in the middle, her clothes unexceptional enough to avoid drawing people\u2019s eyes. Too many other things would do that already. They had even gone over which <i>colors<\/i> were most appropriate for letting people\u2019s eyes slide past her.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">She had argued about that, a little. She wanted to be able to wear a few of the blues and greens that made her think of Ewan. <tt>MilitAIre<\/tt> had relented, but had stressed that she could only pick items of clothing in those colors if they met the <i>rest<\/i> of the invisibility criteria they\u2019d worked out.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Her mother had been surprised by her choices, especially as she\u2019d bypassed dresses completely in favor of jeans, a pair of cargo pants exactly the color of the sands on a particular beach in Elsewhere, and unadorned tops in shades that made her think of Ewan\u2019s bedspread and the mermaid tail in his painting. Audrey had a feeling that, when they resumed on Monday and fewer people were watching, there might be a bigger tug-of-war over the next round of purchases.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>At least we won\u2019t be arguing about heel heights,<\/i> she thought with amusement as Goblin head-butted her hand. She\u2019d only <i>just<\/i> been allowed to start wearing heels when she\u2019d taken off, but she\u2019d been more of an average height then. Now she towered over most of her classmates in flats; adding even a low heel into the mix would go against the \u201crules of invisibility\u201d she and <tt>MilitAIre<\/tt> had worked out.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">It had, of course, been impossible to be invisible at the party.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Everyone had been there to see her. Although a lot of them were people who had genuinely missed her, there had been a whole lot of acquaintances who had mostly come to gawk. Remembering the way Ewan had moved through his farewell party, though, she had tried to make a point of at least saying hello to everybody, glad that her eidetic recall extended to names and faces. There was only a handful of people whose names she had needed to ask. Most of them had turned out to be members of Alvin\u2019s family.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cThe Audrey I remember was <i>shy<\/i>,\u201d she\u2019d overheard one of the neighbors saying as she moved from one group of well-wishers to the next.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Had<\/i> she been? It hadn\u2019t felt that way to her. She\u2019d been four years younger than the youngest of that neighbor\u2019s children; none of them had been <i>interested<\/i> in playing with her or including her in their games. Was she supposed to have made a pest of herself anyway?<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">When it was time to talk to that neighbor, though, she\u2019d been polite and friendly and had asked after the kids in question. The youngest, as she\u2019d suspected, was off at college. None of them had been in town to come to the party, although a few of them would be arriving on Friday for the holidays.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cIf anyone seems to feel like you\u2019re not the person they remember, bring up shared experiences,\u201d <tt>MilitAIre<\/tt> had instructed her. \u201cIt\u2019s not an uncommon phenomenon after a separation of even a year or two for people to feel like the person who returns is an imposter.\u201d He\u2019d given her articles to read about famous cases where people became convinced that an imposter had replaced a loved one\u2014in a very few cases, rightly so\u2014and about an actual mental illness, Capgras\u2019 Syndrome, that could trigger such delusions.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Part of Audrey\u2019s <i>job<\/i> at the party had been to reintroduce herself to everyone and make them feel like the girl they had once known had returned\u2026 make them feel like they weren\u2019t being confronted by a stranger with a similar face, a changeling stepping into Audrey MacNamera\u2019s place.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Even if, at times, she felt like that was exactly what she was.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">By the time all of the food was gone and people were saying their goodbyes, she had been physically and mentally exhausted but had managed to talk to every guest at least once. Elodie had been put to bed hours earlier; her cousins and most of her former classmates had been taken home ahead of the 10 pm curfew for minors. Most of the people who had remained, although ostensibly there to welcome her back, were there to support her mother and Alvin. Their topics of discussion weren\u2019t especially interesting to her, so she\u2019d rested on a lounge chair and turned her gaze to the other \u2019verses for a while.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">In Elsewhere, she\u2019d been surrounded by enormous trees that reminded her of the pictures she\u2019d seen of ancient redwood forests on Earth. Only a few stars peeked through their canopy. In Wonderland, a meadow full of strange flowers spread out around her. Overhead, the stars blazed in a deep black sky free of light pollution; to the south, ribbons of colorful light danced along the horizon. The stars in U37d and most of the other \u2019verses, she noticed, were almost identical in placement, but that \u2019verse had a bright orange moon that was visible only there. In U27, a brilliantly-lit asteroid hovered less than a mile above her, slowly tumbling closer. A school of fish floated nearby, sleeping, in U115, limned by greenish moonlight\u2014<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cSometimes I feel like she\u2019s still missing\u2026\u201d she\u2019d heard her mother say.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Damn it.<\/i> She\u2019d stayed still; her mother must have thought she had fallen asleep, or was out of hearing range, or both.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cShe\u2019s been gone for nearly two years,\u201d Alvin had said. \u201cIt\u2019d be even more strange if she came back completely unchanged, wouldn\u2019t it?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">The two of them had moved away from the other guests, speaking quietly. It became obvious that they thought no one could hear them as they continued to talk.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cI guess. But tomorrow I have to let <i>them<\/i> take her away from me again\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cJust for the day. She\u2019ll be back before curfew. I was able to speak to one of her handlers by comm for a few minutes, and he promised me that she\u2019ll be home by nine.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cDid you get his name?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cNo, and I didn\u2019t expect to. That\u2019s not how these people work. I got a <i>letter.<\/i> M. By his accent, I think he\u2019s originally from the Cohasset System.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cSo a man named M from the Cohasset System is in charge of my daughter\u2019s well-being?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cHe says he\u2019s part of a team of handlers.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cA team? Whatever happened takes an entire <i>team<\/i> to protect her?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cBettie,\u201d Alvin hushed her as her voice began to rise. \u201cI know this is hard. We may never know what happened. But we have her back, <span class=\"text-nowrap\">and\u2014\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cDo we? Sometimes I think I see my little girl, but then\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cShhhhhh. It\u2019s her. You know it\u2019s her. She\u2019s a teenager now, though, and <i>every<\/i> teenager\u2019s a little bit of an alien. That\u2019s all it is. You\u2019ll see\u2026 you have your daughter back. She\u2019s just\u2026 the teenage version.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">The teenage version had decided to yawn and stretch at that moment. Enough was enough. Alvin and her mother, locked in a hug, started and looked over at her as she sat up in the lounge chair. She pretended to notice them for the first time.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cI think maybe I dozed off,\u201d she said. \u201cWhat time is it?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Alvin glanced at his chrono. \u201cTime for the party to end, I think. You want to say goodnight to your grandparents?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">A long round of hugs and goodbyes later, she had trudged upstairs, stopping for a moment to look in on Elodie. Her little sister looked perfect and peaceful, untouched by any of the horrors held at bay\u2014mostly\u2014by the carefully cultivated veneer of ancient American suburbia.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>There\u2019s so much I need to keep her safe from\u2026<\/i> Audrey had thought before going to her own room. The first night, it had been hard to fall asleep, but she\u2019d been tired enough that it was easier the second time.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Now, with three purring cats demanding attention, she suspected she might need to take a nap sometime during her \u201cdebriefing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>I missed you so much,<\/i> she told them silently, and three feline heads turned sharply toward her.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">She was still thinking about her first coherent conversation with three cats when the car from the safe house came to pick her up.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cI don\u2019t like this,\u201d her mother muttered as she looked through the window. Per the instructions they had received, only Audrey was allowed to approach the car. \u201cI really don\u2019t like this.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cI\u2019ll be home tonight, Mom,\u201d she promised, giving her a quick hug. \u201cIt\u2019ll be okay.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cIt\u2019s just\u2026 you\u2019ve only been back for less than <i>two days\u2026<\/i>\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cI know. It\u2019s going to be all right.\u201d She could see something mulish starting to form on her mother\u2019s face. \u201cThis first time, though\u2026 it\u2019s also partly a test.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cA <i>test?\u201d<\/i> Her mother frowned.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cTo see if we can really follow the rules or not.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">That brought her mother up short as she contemplated just what might happen if they <i>failed<\/i> the test.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Please don\u2019t fail the test, please don\u2019t fail the test, please don\u2019t fail the test\u2026<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Her trail had been broken. The masquerade was in place. Her family knew she was alive and well. But this wasn\u2019t a game. General Toal had made that abundantly clear to her. If her family made it unsafe for her to hide in plain sight, under her original name, she\u2019d be moved to another world and given an entirely new identity. She would have to find her way to a \u201cnormal\u201d adolescence there, away from almost everyone and everything she knew. The AIs would accompany her, and the <i>Apeiros<\/i> would always be with her, but there would soon be nothing left of the girl she had been. This was her only chance at a familiar anchor.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Her mother sighed, her eyes welling, and nodded. \u201cYou should go out there before they get worried,\u201d she managed, but her voice broke on the last word.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Audrey pulled her into another hug for a moment before, finally, kissing her cheek and going out the door. \u201cI\u2019ll be home soon, Mom, don\u2019t worry.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">One of the Federacy agents who had an office on the first floor was driving her. It was a silent ride; both of them knew the rules. He let her out in front of the safe house and drove off, while she walked up to the door and palm-printed her way in.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cWelcome back, Audrey,\u201d <tt>MilitAIre<\/tt> said as the door locked behind her. \u201cHow was the party?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cThanks, MilitAIre,\u201d she said, taking a seat in the Security Room. \u201cIt was a little weird. Some people had their doubts, but I think I sold it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cIt does help that you really are Audrey MacNamera, of course.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cYeah. I think some of them just\u2026 froze me in amber in their heads.\u201d She sighed. \u201cEven with the long hair, I\u2019m different enough that they\u2019re having trouble processing it. And, I mean, I\u2019m only thirteen months older, biologically. Think how much more different I\u2019d be if twenty-two months had really passed for me. But it was still too much for a lot of them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cI like your amber metaphor,\u201d <tt>MilitAIre<\/tt> said. \u201cThey fossilized you in their minds, yes. This is what underlies many of the cases of changeling delusions\u2014the ones that aren\u2019t neurologically driven, anyway, or rooted in prejudices against autistic children. Time changes everyone, and the people who expected to watch all of those changes happen to you missed seeing them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cSo how come I feel like a con artist?\u201d There were moments when Audrey felt like she <i>was<\/i> faking it all.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cBecause you can\u2019t ever tell them what drove all of the changes,\u201d he reminded her. \u201cYou can\u2019t tell them where you really were. You\u2019re not lying about who you once were, but you <i>are<\/i> concealing a great deal about who you\u2019ve become. You\u2019re playing a role within a role: the WitSec ward with no power over her situation, who must pretend to be a former teen runaway who spent two years on the streets. So yes, you <i>are<\/i> running a long game on almost everyone, and countless lives depend on your success.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cJeez. Only two days in and I already needed to decompress here.\u201d She blew out a breath, leaning back in the chair. \u201cWhat if I can\u2019t handle six whole days at a time \u2018out in the cold?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cYou let me know, and we send an agent to pick you up, wherever you are, and we inform your mother that we needed to do a debriefing. I believe, though, that it <i>will<\/i> get easier soon. Mr. Baxter is under the impression that we\u2019re protecting you from an organized crime group, and he\u2019s personally flipped a few lower-level informants and enrolled them into WitSec, so he takes its protocols very seriously. I believe he\u2019ll not only cooperate fully with us, but also ensure that your mother does.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">That explained why Alvin had initially had such a low opinion of picking up a WitSec ward. It made sense, though; as an assistant D.A. trying to build cases against criminal enterprises, he\u2019d probably had to offer deals to petty criminals, and maybe even a few genuine dirtbags, to get to the real movers behind their crimes. The very thing that the Quintessa Corporation had, it seemed, feared authorities might try to do with Makarov if they took him alive.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cHe\u2019s been a lot easier to get along with than I expected,\u201d she admitted.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cThat was a pleasant surprise.\u201d In fact, <tt>MilitAIre<\/tt> didn\u2019t seem surprised at all.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cI\u2019m guessing you were the \u2018M\u2019 he spoke with on the comm? He thinks you\u2019re probably from Cohasset Prime.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cYes.\u201d Now <tt>MilitAIre<\/tt> sounded amused. \u201cMy standard voice <i>is<\/i> modeled on the Boston accent of old Earth, but most of the people who settled in the Cohasset System were originally from that megacity. Although their accent is slightly more rhotic.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Audrey nodded. \u201cSo. What\u2019s our agenda for today?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">There was actual debriefing over breakfast; <tt>CommissAIry<\/tt> had chosen a \u201ctraditional Japanese breakfast\u201d for her first culinary adventure of the day. Audrey devoured <i>saba shioyaki<\/i> and <i>tamagoyaki<\/i> while she and <tt>MilitAIre<\/tt> went over everyone she\u2019d had contact with in the last two days, something that made her deeply thankful once more that her eidetic recall extended to names and faces. She sipped miso soup and crunched dried seaweed while they worked at identifying the reporters who had attempted to crash the welcome home party, and balanced her first tastes of <i>tsukemono<\/i> and <i>natto<\/i> with steamed rice while they identified the unnamed friends her former classmates had been with at the mall. The only flavor she wasn\u2019t entirely sure of was the natto, but <tt>CommissAIry<\/tt> had warned her that fermented soybeans were an acquired taste for most people, albeit an extremely nutritious food.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">While she sipped green tea, she updated the AIs on her careful, hands-off explorations of the other \u2019verses.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cThis is good information,\u201d <tt>MilitAIre<\/tt> said when she was done. \u201cNow, I think we\u2019re ready to try the experiment we spoke of. Are you willing?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cAbsolutely.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Everything, she noticed, had already been set up by the AIs\u2019 robotic support. She picked up the audio recorder set out on the table, switched it on, took a deep breath, and isomorphed all the way over into Wonderland.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">It was a little chillier in Wonderland than in U1, she noticed, but not badly so. The day was gray and overcast.\n<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>\u201cFive\u2026 four\u2026 three\u2026 two\u2026\u201d<\/i> she could hear <tt>MilitAIre<\/tt> counting down in U1. She focused on her task: pulling the sound waves from U1 into Wonderland, where the audio recorder would pick them up.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>\u201c\u2026one.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-top: 1em;margin-bottom: 1em;margin-left: 3em;margin-right: 2em;text-indent: -1em\">\u201c<i>Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,<br \/>\nOver many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,<br \/>\nWhile I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,<br \/>\nAs of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.<br \/>\n\u2018\u2019Tis some visitor,\u2019 I muttered, \u2018tapping at my chamber <span class=\"text-nowrap\">door\u2014<\/span><br \/>\nOnly this, and nothing more.\u2019<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>\u201cPlease return to U1 now, Audrey.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Well, there\u2019d definitely be no way of faking <i>that<\/i>. Audrey switched the audio recorder off as she isomorphed back. \u201c<i>The Raven<\/i>, huh?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cIndeed. Now, let\u2019s see if we were successful.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">The recording was audible, but very faint. \u201cCan we try again? I think I can get the volume up higher.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">They tried three more times before they achieved a volume that both she and <tt>MilitAIre<\/tt> were happy with.\n<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cDamn, I wish I\u2019d known how to do this,\u201d Audrey admitted ruefully, \u201cback when I was spying on Makarov.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cThat incident is what inspired this experiment,\u201d <tt>MilitAIre<\/tt> told her. \u201cGeneral Toal suggested it after I reported the intel that you\u2019d been able to gather during Makarov\u2019s conversation with his unknown accomplice. Had a recording of the conversation been available, it might have been an opportunity to move against the Quintessa Corporation, possibly even damage their lock on interstellar travel. It\u2019s not your fault that you didn\u2019t know how; General Toal blames himself for being more concerned with getting you offworld than with offering you training in your skills. But that was before.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cBefore\u2026?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cHe has a proposal for you,\u201d <tt>MilitAIre<\/tt> said, sidestepping her question. \u201cYour independence, and your unique skills, create an opportunity to prove that an esper doesn\u2019t have to be broken and enslaved in order to be an effective Federacy asset.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201c\u2026He wants me to be an Operative?\u201d A tiny chill moved through her\u2026 but also a small thrill.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cIn training. On call in emergencies if your talents warrant it. What he really wants is for you to get to be an ordinary teenage girl, but if a threat were to appear on this world\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cI\u2019m in.\u201d A threat to Deckard\u2019s World was a threat to Elodie.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cI\u2019ve reserved the right to veto any operation that might compromise your cover or put you in harm\u2019s way. He\u2019s accepted those terms. I also reserved the right to veto all operations if you were reluctant or if they appear to cause any kind of psychological damage.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Audrey nodded. \u201cI\u2019m guessing that he\u2019s especially keen on the idea of me being able to infiltrate and record from another \u2019verse.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cYes. Would you feel up to such an operation later this afternoon?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Right out of the <i>gate!<\/i> \u201cI think so. What\u2019ll I be doing?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cAn executive from the Quintessa Corporation is in Settlement Point to negotiate the further expansion of direct Star Jump routes to and from the Plymouth System. At three p.m., he\u2019s scheduled to hold a conference call with Corporation HQ. Such calls are rare and closely guarded, requiring near-instantaneous transmission of signals across a hundred light-years. The technology that powers these calls is something that the Quintessa Corporation has withheld from the Federacy, but no, General Toal doesn\u2019t want you to try to steal anything. We just want to know what they discuss, what warrants that kind of effort and expense.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">After <tt>CommissAIry<\/tt> took her on an Ethiopian culinary adventure for lunch\u2014<i>doro wat<\/i> and <i>injera<\/i> with sides of <i>azifa<\/i> and <i>gomen<\/i>, with a non-alcohol version of <i>shamita<\/i>\u2014Audrey dressed up in her weird gender-concealing costume and mask. Isomorphing into Wonderland, she waited outside for an agent\u2019s car to pull up in U1. It was a different agent than the one who had brought her to the building, which was probably a wise move. She climbed into the car and settled onto the seat before isomorphing back into U1.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">The agent flinched; that was the only sign he showed that anything unusual had happened. \u201cSixteen to Control. Phantom is on board. Proceeding to target location.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Phantom. Jeez.<\/i> Well, she reflected, that was the word she pulled out most often to describe interacting with U1 from across the threshold.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">The agent drove her into the heart of downtown Settlement Point, unspeaking, and into the parking garage below its tallest building.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Shit, that\u2019s not gonna work\u2026<\/i> He was about to descend below the ground in both Elsewhere and Wonderland. She couldn\u2019t isomorph from there.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Pushing off of the seat, she isomorphed into Wonderland and let herself drop a few inches down onto the sandy turf. At least the car had been moving at a crawl. Sitting up, she checked her equipment for any damage. It all looked unscathed.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Might as well run a test right now\u2026<\/i> She switched on the transmitter that she and <tt>EntertAIn<\/tt> had set up before lunch. \u201cMilitAIre, can you hear me?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>\u201cLoud and clear, Audrey. Sixteen says you vanished from the car before he reached the drop off point. What happened?\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cWe need to go over the rules of topography sometime. I can\u2019t isomorph underground.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>\u201cMy mistake. Are you all right?\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cYeah, but I\u2019m gonna need to \u2018phantom\u2019 my way in through the front doors instead of your chosen entry point. Glad to know this system\u2019s working, though. I\u2019ll still record the conversation on my end as well.\u201d The idea of putting a high-powered receiver in Wonderland, with hardware that straddled the threshold and would allow <tt>MilitAIre<\/tt> to actively record on his end, had been the next step, and hadn\u2019t taken long to set up at all.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Kinda the opposite of hiding the fact that someone outside of Quintessa has access to the multiverse,<\/i> she thought as she walked through the glittering steelglass fa\u00e7ade of the building and into its lobby. <i>I wonder what prompted Toal to change that policy.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">It took hitchhiking on four elevator rides to get close to the level she wanted, and then a nervewracking climb up two flights of stairs hundreds of feet above the ground in Wonderland\u2014where the wind had, thankfully, subsided for the moment\u2014but finally she was on the floor where the Quintessa executive had scheduled his call. Technicians were setting up equipment for him, while he paced in a nearby lobby.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Fuck.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cHe\u2019s like <i>her<\/i>,\u201d she told <tt>MilitAIre<\/tt>, hoping that the man\u2014or whatever he was\u2014wouldn\u2019t sense her presence somehow. \u201cHalf in U1, half in some hell place. I can see the darkness all around him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>\u201cDisturbing, but not unexpected. He shouldn\u2019t be able to see into Wonderland, though, any more than the envoy on Tangiers Prime could see into Elsewhere. Stay calm.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">She walked into the conference room, looking over the equipment. \u201cFuck, I think I know how the technology works, guys. I think he\u2019s using an apeirochoron as a transmitter somehow.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">The familiar, seamless box sat on the conference table, wires running from it to both the camera that would record the executive and the display he would watch.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>\u201cDon\u2019t touch it. Remember you\u2019re observing and recording only. Your intel is noted, and confirms a working hypothesis.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cWhat hypothesis is that?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>\u201cIt\u2019s above your clearance level, for now, but you\u2019ll know soon.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Fuckin\u2019-A, did he just \u201cI\u2019ll tell you when you\u2019re older\u201d me?<\/i> Audrey sighed and sat down in one of the chairs she suspected nobody would be using. \u201cStanding by to record.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Would the executive notice that the sound waves were moving out of U1? She hoped not. He entered the room and locked the doors, touching several controls as she started her recorder and set her suit microphone to Constant Transmission. <i>She<\/i> was aware of the way the sound waves were moving differently and crossing a multiversal threshold, but hopefully he wouldn\u2019t be, since he only existed on one side of that particular one. He had no presence in Wonderland.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cThere he is now,\u201d a familiar voice said. The envoy! \u201cHow are you, Colin?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">The executive smiled at the screen. \u201cI\u2019m well, thank you. How are <i>you,<\/i> Irena? Where has your new assignment taken you?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cI\u2019m now on Helion Prime,\u201d the envoy\u2014Irena\u2014said. \u201cSince the relief flights to Furya have moved from Tangiers to Helion for a few years, I will be monitoring that traffic.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cAny word on the two Furyans you thought you sensed on Tangiers?\u201d Colin asked.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Irena sighed. \u201cNothing. It\u2019s possible that they were just the children of soldiers who served at the Caldera, but either way, I really wanted to get to them before the Federacy did. They\u2019ve snapped up almost all the espers, and we need at least one. Preferably a strong one, a real Furyan. Ideally a male, but at this point, I\u2019ll make do with what I can get. We\u2019re running out of time.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cWhat\u2019s the revised timetable?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cIf the pattern holds, three years until the Coalsack System, and then another year until Helion.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cSo you believe it\u2019s going in <i>order.<\/i>\u201d Colin sounded awed.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cYes, we think it is\u2014<i>they<\/i> are. How are negotiations going?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cReasonably well. But there\u2019s a little snag. Deckard\u2019s World is isolationist and xenophobic about other cultures. They\u2019re not sure they <i>want<\/i> to be one of the new Federacy hubs.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cThey had better find a way to get over that. We\u2019re going to lose all of the current ones within the next fifteen years. It\u2019s <i>accelerating.<\/i>\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cI\u2019ll sweeten the pot.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cDo that,\u201d Irena said. \u201cYou\u2019re authorized to extend Tier 2 amenities. We need this fallback position. Make it happen.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cOn my oath as a Kirshbaum.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Irena rolled her eyes. \u201cWe\u2019re <i>all<\/i> Kirshbaums. Don\u2019t belabor the point. Just get it done. And if you hear of any rumors of Furyans, I need to know <i>immediately.<\/i>\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cWhat about asking <i>her<\/i> for help?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cYou know what she\u2019ll say. She\u2019ll demand the impossible. Again. There\u2019s no reasoning with anyone on Furya itself. We need one of their lost children. Rumor has it there may be a lead on Helion, but I haven\u2019t tracked it down yet.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cI\u2019ll have the deal sewn up in forty-eight hours, tops.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cGood.\u201d Irena vanished from the screen.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cAuntie fucking <i>bitch<\/i>,\u201d Colin muttered and stamped out of the room.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Audrey was alone with the apeirochoron. She stood up, walking closer, and reached out her <span class=\"text-nowrap\">hand\u2014<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>No, little sister, you may not.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u2014and found herself sitting in the back seat of Sixteen\u2019s car as he pulled up to the safe house.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>\u2026The hell?<\/i><\/p>\n<p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Title: The Changeling Game (Formerly Identity Theft) Author: Ardath Rekha Chapter: 68\/? 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 68: \u201cCuckoo, Cowbird, Soldier, Spy\u201d","bgseo_description":"While Audrey works to sell the idea that she\u2019s the same girl who left Deckard\u2019s World almost two years before, General Toal changes up the game\u2026","bgseo_robots_index":"index","bgseo_robots_follow":"follow","footnotes":""},"categories":[9,21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-762","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\/762","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=762"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/762\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1152,"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/762\/revisions\/1152"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=762"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=762"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=762"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}