Mimic Changes the World Read online

  Mimic Changes the World

  Space Shifter Chronicles, Book 7

  James David Victor

  Fairfield Publishing

  Copyright © 2018 Fairfield Publishing

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Except for review quotes, this book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, without the written consent of the author.

  This story is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual people, places, or events is purely coincidental.

  Contents

  1. Between a Rock and a Far Place

  2. How to Steal a Human in Three Not-So-Easy Steps

  3. The Prodigal Son Returns

  4. Déjà No

  5. Firefight at the Voss Corral

  6. Beauty in the Imperfections

  7. Some Assembly Required

  8. Duping the Bouncer

  9. Party Invitations

  10. Promises, Promises

  11. The First Wave

  12. The Second Wave

  13. The Final Wave

  14. Aftermath

  Thank You

  1

  Between a Rock and a Far Place

  “I’m just saying, it would be nice to drop off our wounded before we turn right around and try to bring down an entire sub-government.”

  I looked at the small woman who was speaking quite passionately. I still wasn’t good with people, or names, but I was fairly certain she had been the one guiding us through the halls as we were escaping prison for the…second time, or was it the third? I could go my whole life without ever being behind bars again, and I would still have way too much experience as a prisoner.

  I then looked to Mimi, who was sitting beside me and being unusually quiet. Not that she was as loud as say, Gonzales or Ciangi when she got heated, but usually she was pretty good at being the voice of reason through all the noise.

  Not now, though. There were about two dozen humans in the room, some talking, some shouting, but it mostly seemed like we were getting nowhere.

  “And I’m saying,” Gonzales retorted, “that we don’t have the time or supplies to waste. If we give them too many days, they’re going to mount an attack against our planet that we’ll be hard-pressed to fight off.”

  “Didn’t you fight off an entire alien mothership bigger than anything Earth has?” the man who had escaped the prison with us said, his rugged smile doing nothing to sway the weapons engineer.

  It seemed in our time apart that Gonzales had turned into a real rebellion leader. She was certainly gripping to watch, but honestly, it just made me think of how much I missed my friend. Maybe, when this whole war was over, we could be close like we once were.

  Probably not. I wasn’t the best at understanding my fellow humans, but I knew that when things changed between people, it was almost always impossible to go back to how things used to be.

  “Yeah, and that was before they had someone on our side tell them all of our nitty gritty details to try to get a slice of power.”

  Finally, Mimi spoke.

  “I don’t think she told them everything.”

  The room went sort of silent, and Gonzales looked at her with interest. “What makes you say that?”

  “She was hungry for power and wanted to go back to our people a hero. If she sold every secret we had to the humans, she knew that they would eventually return and just take whatever they wanted from her. No, Mari was a smart, ambitious girl. She kept enough in her back pocket to secure her own interests. I am sure of that.”

  “See?” another human spoke up, one I had no idea who they were. “We should go back!”

  “I did not say that,” Mimi continued calmly. I never understood how she kept so levelheaded in these situations. “In fact, the last thing the humans would expect is for us to stay here and try to land on the planet we just escaped. I say we use that element of surprise to our advantage, just like Gonzales said.”

  “There ya go.” The weapons engineer perked up. “I think that settles it.”

  “Wait a minute,” one of the burlier men said, standing and stalking over to Gonzales’s seat. “Shouldn’t we take a vote? I thought we were escaping a corrupt democracy, not creating a new one.”

  Gonzales just laughed, and I felt a shiver down my spine. Something had definitely changed within her.

  “Now that’s where you’re wrong, friend. This isn’t a democracy. This is a rebellion. And a rebellion needs generals who have the final say. Like it or not, that alien sitting right there is the leader of all of us, and if she tells all of us to stand on one leg and do the hokey-pokey, you ask which hand you put in first, capisce?”

  With every word out of her mouth, she rose a little higher until she was standing on her feet, chest practically against the aggressor, her chin tilted up as if daring him to defy her. There was a small moment where I thought he might, but he just shook his head and walked out.

  “Very well then, let’s move on.” Gonzales cracked all of her knuckles, then her neck. “So, we’re going to stay here and keep our momentum going, but we all know the defense grid is going to be on high alert to detect our ship. How are we going to subvert that so we can land?”

  “I don’t know,” the small hacker girl said, also taking a seat at the large table. “We would need to somehow get through without them scanning a single one of our serial numbers.”

  “That’s not physically possible,” Eske said from beside us, still nursing her swelling lip. She had taken an elbow pretty hard, but it was one of the least of our injuries. “You’d have to replace every part on this ship. Everything, right down to the support beams, all have a specific chemical marker that’s logged into the defense grid. As soon as we approached Earth, they’d know.”

  “And you’re sure about that?” one of them challenged.

  “I certainly hope so,” Gonzales cut in. “Considering she’s one of the mechanics that helps build these things.”

  “I think I may know someone…” An alarmingly mechanical voice joined the debate and I looked all around before my eyes finally landed on the person who I was pretty sure was the one talking.

  Well…maybe ‘talking’ wasn’t entirely accurate. He was maybe four or so years younger than me, with bright red hair and weepy green eyes. He was so thin that I wasn’t sure how he was supporting himself enough to sit up, and he had what I recognized as a portable ventilator over his mouth to help him breathe. His voice came from a speaker on his shoulder, and his hands moved emphatically with every word, signing things that I wouldn’t have been able to understand without the digital voice.

  “Ah, everyone, meet Babel, the polyglot of basically every code language ever.”

  “Babel, really?” Ciangi asked, raising her head from where she had been resting it on the table. “Did your parents name you that?”

  “Yeah, actually,” he answered, raising his eyebrows and making his hands shake in a way that was somehow quite sarcastic. “Are you telling me yours didn’t name you Sarcastic Blonde?”

  “Funnily enough, that’s my middle name.”

  “Look, I love some interpersonal banter as much as the next girl, but you said you know someone?” Gonzales interrupted, steering us back on course. I was still in a bit too much of a shock from everything that had happened, but I admired how levelheaded so many of these people were being. “How and why please, in three minutes or less.”

  “There’s this guy in the underground. I don’t know how, but I know he’s real good at scrubbing or subbing serials. He’s the one who got me both my breather and my vocal system when I was on about every watchlist there is and my older ones were setting off personal scanners right and left. And I’ve heard about him doing it for others too. Pacemakers, bionic limbs… A
ctually… I could be wrong, but I think he’s the one who originally procured your eye, Gonzales.”

  “Well then, some good news.” Gonzales smiled and crossed her arms in front of her with satisfaction. “So, how do we find this guy? I’m assuming someone has some favors they can call in.”

  “Actually…it might not be that easy…”

  Everyone could sense the change in his tone, despite the fact that it was a machine talking for him, and I wondered just what kind of interface he had between it and his own system.

  “I think I’m getting to the age where I don’t have the patience for people talking in ominous cliffhangers,” Gonzales retorted.

  “Word in the underground is that he got mixed up with the wrong people and now he’s paying off his debts to one of the big crime families that has connections in the gov.”

  “Debts?”

  “If he’s talking about who I’m talking about,” the tiny girl said, “then he means gambling. Kagmire is said to like anything that involves a bet.”

  “Wait,” Ciangi interrupted. “His name is Kagmire? Who is naming you people?”

  “His parents, I assume,” the thin boy’s robotic voice answered flatly. “Just like your parents named you the Snarky Blonde.”

  “Um, it’s Sarcastic Blonde, get it right.”

  “Great,” Gonzales said. “Glad that we’ve talked enough to have callback jokes. But how are we going to get this serial-scratching genius out of the grips of whatever mafia megalord he’s gotten himself involved with?”

  “Well, we can’t go down to Earth to rescue him.” The same man who was giving orders when we first got on the ship spoke up again. “We can’t exactly call him and ask for help. And although I know we’re an illegal rebellion and all that, I’m not exactly eager to hop into bed with crime lords who may or may not betray us to protect their own issues.”

  “A mouthful, but I agree.” Gonzales rubbed her face. “What about all you military experts?”

  “I wasn’t a strategist,” the hulking one who had helped us escape said. “Unless it involves blowing things up or breaching a siege, I’m not gonna be much help.”

  “I think…” Mimi murmured quietly. “If we want this scammer, we are going to have to get his employers, or owners—I am not sure which term would be appropriate to use in this situation—to bring him to us.”

  “And how do you suggest we do that without becoming indebted to them ourselves?”

  “I have been around your kind enough to learn many ways of interacting. So in this case, I think the traditional thing to do when you want something that someone else has is to steal it.”

  “…you want us to steal a person?”

  Mimi shrugged before rising to her feet. “Why not? I believe, from what I have read of your history, that this is not a new idea.”

  “I… Did we just get called out?” Ciangi muttered.

  “I believe, for tonight at least, that we have had plenty of talk,” Mimi continued. “I would like to rest. Today has not been kind, and I am still feeling the effects of being confined for so long.”

  “I could use some rest as well,” Bahn said, also standing. “I have no doubt that it will help us plan better to rest now, while we can. I have a feeling that sleep will soon become a rare commodity.”

  “You’re probably right,” Gonzales said, stretching and yawning. “Let’s all go lick our wounds. Quarters are first come first serve.”

  Mimi gave her a slight nod and turned to go. I, of course, quickly followed her.

  Although I was sure that most people would assume she looked collected, peaceable even, I could tell that something was wrong. Her shoulders were slightly tense, and her steps were quicker than normal. Granted, those differences could just be because she had been unable to assume her human form for so long and I had been separated from her as well, but I supposed I would find out when she was ready to tell me.

  We found one of the officer’s quarters and she quickly stepped in. I supposed that some of the crew that rescued us might be miffed that we just assumed we could have one of the nicer rooms, but I certainly wasn’t going to argue with Mimi with the vibes I was getting from her.

  She closed the door behind us and took my hand, pulling me to her. My tired, adrenaline-weary mind realized that this was the first moment of peace we’d had since our escape, and I wrapped my arms around her.

  I held her for quite a while, neither of us saying anything. Eventually, I felt her begin to shake, and I thought I felt something wet against my shoulder.

  “I… This is crying, correct?”

  “Yeah, yeah, it is,” I said, smoothing her hair. “It’s a pretty normal response. I know you liked Mari very much.”

  “I… I do not like this.”

  “Yeah, most people don’t.”

  She continued silently weeping, and I couldn’t do much besides hold her. I too was exhausted, and my mind couldn’t think of the words to say to make this all better. Not that I was ever that great with words anyway.

  “I am so tired, Higgens.”

  “I know. And you have every right to be. Let’s get some sleep.”

  “No, I mean I’m tired of all of this. Of the war, the fighting, the constant running. I just… I feel like I’ve been fighting or preparing to fight ever since I became truly sentient, and I’m just so weary. I want peace and happiness. To not look over my shoulder and wonder who is trying to kill me and those I love.”

  Wow. She had a point, but I really didn’t know what to say. “I’m sorry. Maybe after we’re done with the coup—”

  “But what if there’s something else after that? There always is something else.”

  I pulled back just far enough to take both of her hands and lead her to the bed. I sat her down, then sat next to her.

  “I know that our lives have been very, very hard. And you’ve seen the very worst that two species have to offer. But I swear to you on my last breath, I will make sure that one day, you will have the retirement you’ve always deserved.”

  “But how can you promise such things?”

  I pulled her to me again, letting her rest her head on my shoulder. “Because I will do whatever I have to in order to make sure that you are happy. You’ve earned that at this point.”

  “I… Thank you.”

  “No thanks needed. But for now, how about we get some sleep?”

  She nodded, and her form slowly rippled away, until she was a mass of black, slippery spikes. She was much larger than she had been when I first met her, taking up about half of the bed. I patted a spike-less part of her, then snuggled to her side as best I could. And together, we slipped into our first sleep with one another in what felt like ages.

  2

  How to Steal a Human in Three Not-So-Easy Steps

  Once more I found myself sitting at the oversized table, wondering who half of the people there were. Gonzales was present obviously, as were Ciangi, Bahn, Eske and the two hackers that I knew of, but there were several others as well. Not nearly as many people as last time, but still plenty. I figured I should probably find out who they were, but I was about maxed out on my interpersonal relationships. Gone were the days where I was a lonely ship maintenance man with no friends to speak of and a grand total of three acquaintances that tolerated me.

  “So, I’m assuming a straight-up bribe is out?” the same tall, official-seeming man who had spoken yesterday said, this time much more calmly.

  Ciangi sighed. “We don’t have nearly those kind of resources, and we have no guarantee that whoever we buy him off of won’t just immediately turn around and sell us out to the coup for a double profit.”

  “And if they’re as good with money as I hear, they definitely would do exactly that.” Gonzales said, rubbing her temples.

  “So, we need them to bring him to us of their own free will,” Ciangi clarified.

  “And without knowing who we are,” another added.

  Everyone seemed stumped, and it made me wo
nder if we should watch the ancient Earth sim about the mob and a powerful house. I remembered watching it several times during my teenage years, and each time, I picked up on something new. If I wanted to try to get those characters in that film to give me something… What would I do?

  “Well, if these guys are such great businessmen,” I murmured slowly, almost feeling like it wasn’t my place to speak at such a meeting. “Then why don’t we just give them an offer they can’t refuse?”

  “Come again?” Gonzales asked, her head picking up.

  “They’re all about business and money, right? Well, if they’re going to go through the trouble of having a scammer who can fake or hide serials, then it makes sense that they’d want to find parts that would need that. Rare parts. Expensive parts.”

  “Oh my gosh, you’re a genius!” Gonzales slapped the table and let out a crowing sound. “We set up a black-market sale. Super clandestine. Incredibly secret. Encrypted, obviously. And when they show up, BOOM, we take the guy and go about our business.”

  “Wait, so are you suggesting we try to trick a crime family into meeting with us, then engage in a shootout with them?” It was the demolition man again, and he sounded a bit skeptical, to put it lightly.

  “Yeah, why? Honestly, that doesn’t even rank in the top ten craziest things we’ve done.”

  This time, it was a tall, golden-skinned woman who shook her head, clicking her tongue as she spoke. “That is not exactly a reassuring thing to hear.”

  But Gonzales just shrugged blithely. “Hey, it got us this far, didn’t it? And considering that we’ve managed to discover alien life, defend that alien life, defeat another alien enslaving that alien life, and then wage a literal war on said enslaving-alien, I think you should trust us when I say something sounds relatively easy.”