Mimic Raises an Army (Space Shifter Chronicles Book 4) Read online

  “Um, hi,” she murmured, looking at us with wide eyes from behind her safety goggles. “I, uh, take it from the sounds of the engine that we’re not on Earth anymore?”

  “No,” I answered, slowly lowering my gun. “No, we are not.”

  3

  Good Things Come in Tall Packages

  “So, remind me one more time, how did you get in here?” Gonzales asked, circling around the seated woman once again.

  After our rather surprising introduction, we had led our ‘guest’ to one of the officers’ lounges and set her down. We arranged ourselves in front of her, no doubt all of us wondering just how she came to be involved in our little slice of rebellion.

  Except for Mimic, of course. She didn’t quite understand why the woman alarmed us so much considering that she too had snuck her way onto our original ship, but I promised to explain later.

  “I told you, I was working as part of the cleanup crew down in the supply storage areas after all of the movers tracked in a lot of dirt and other wastes.”

  “And then you…what? Just decided to lay down and take a nap?”

  “Well, kinda. But it sounds terrible when you put it that way.” She took inventory of our disbelieving looks and sighed. “Look, I was coming off a double and I knew I didn’t have it in me to go through the decontamination and security protocols, so I figured I would just slide into one of the hidey holes I was aware of, take a nap, and then leave when the morning shift clocked in. Of course, as you can probably surmise, I ended up asleep a whole lot longer than just a nap.”

  She had a strange sort of accent, one I couldn’t place. It was deep, with a rise and fall to it that seemed quite melodic. I remembered reading once that some places on Earth still spoke differently than the common accent, but I had never listened to it in person.

  “You slept for three days?” Gonzales asked, arms crossed and expression dubious.

  “That is unlikely,” Mimic said. “Although you humans do require an odd amount of unconscious time, it is usually no more than nine hours, unless sick, injured or influenced by drugs.” She turned her head to the dark-skinned woman. “Are you any of those things?”

  “No, not quite.” The stranger adjusted her goggles, then her fingers wound into her hair, tugging at the long, black locks falling over her shoulders and chest. “I woke up and immediately panicked. I thought that the soldiers were taking it on some sort of test run and I absolutely do not have the clearance to be on this thing while it was moving. So, I figured I would just hide, wait until we landed, and then sneak out with the new maintenance crew that came on.”

  “Except this wasn’t a test flight.”

  “No, I realized that after about eight hours or so. Thankfully, I was able to make it to our maintenance station and hang there with some food and water while I collected myself. I figured that somehow the ship had been stolen by pirates, and my best bet was to hide until I could safely slip out wherever we landed. I’m not the worst colony navigator, so I was pretty sure I could get home alright.”

  “If you’ve been hiding in the ship this whole time, how did you manage to avoid setting off any alarms?”

  “Oh, that part’s easy. I just stuck to the areas where I knew they weren’t set up yet. The only reason I set off the one you all heard was because I got storage room 2-G and 2-J mixed up.” She took a long breath and smiled shakily at us. “So, what is it then? Y’all pirates?”

  “Pirates?” I snorted outright. “No, not quite.”

  “Then what?” she asked. “You haven’t killed me outright, and by the looks on your faces when you opened the door, I can guess that you were just as scared as I was, so you’re not some sort of military coup. If you were, I would be dead by now.”

  “I guess you could say we’re a kind of…anti-coup.” She cocked her head to the side, clearly not understanding, so I decided to explain further. “My name is Higgens. This is Gonzales, Ciangi, Bahn, and Mimic.”

  “Wait… Higgens, why does that sound familiar?”

  “Because he’s Earth’s most eligible underdog bachelor,” Gonzales muttered.

  I looked up, shocked. “Wait, what? I didn’t know about that part.”

  “Oh! You’re the guy that discovered first contact! And you—” She pointed to Mimic. “You’re the alien!”

  “Technically, you all were the aliens when you invaded my home. But yes.” Mimic gave a little bow. “I am the alien.”

  “Oh my gosh,” the woman breathed. “I can’t believe it’s you! I, uh, wow. You’re skinnier in real life, you know that?” she said, motioning to me.

  I cleared my throat uncomfortably. “Uh, you’re not the first person to tell me that.”

  “Wow. This is just…unbelievable. I never, uh, wait, I should introduce myself first. My name is Eskedare Getachew, or Eske for short. I’m a level-three maintenance worker assigned to this ship, but I don’t have clearance for any exterior repair or cleaning.”

  She gave a little salute, but it knocked into her goggles, which she then had to adjust again. I wasn’t sure why she was wearing them considering she wasn’t doing any actual work, but it didn’t seem like the appropriate time to ask about it.

  “But…why are you all here?” she asked, her expression clearly curious again.

  I had to admit, I was a little surprised at her quick acceptance of who we were. I guessed being ‘famous’ had its perks.

  “Well, our gov had a deal with Mimic here to help her with some aliens that were trying to kill her and her people. A certain group decided to renege, imprison us, then try to use all of these supplies built to help her for their own little coup to take over Earth Gov. Naturally, we had to steal the ship.”

  She tsk-ed her tongue. “Ain’t that just like politicians. But still, if this is for the preservation of Miss Mimic’s species, I’m more than happy to chip in where I can. It’s because of you that my brother is alive, so I figure I owe you.”

  “I’m sorry, I don’t follow?”

  “Those samples of your cell structure that you donated to us,” Eske continued chipperly. “Because of them, the doctors treating my brother’s disease were able to make a breakthrough. For the first time in his life, he gets to run and play just like everybody else.

  “So the way I figure it, the least I could do is help you get what is legally yours anyways.”

  “Well, then thank you, Miss Eskedare Getachew. I appreciate your support.”

  “Please, Eske.” She stood, which made Gonzales flinch, but the rest of us managed not to react violently. “So, what all do you guys need cleaned around here?”

  4

  The Last Moments of Peace

  To her credit, Eske did exactly as she promised. Sure, we didn’t really need someone to look after us or repair minor damage, considering the ship was so new, but she did her best. She would hand Gonzales tools when she needed them, bring Bahn first aid supplies when he inevitably shocked himself on his latest tinkering project, and even helped both Ciangi and Mimic put their hair into a couple of complicated hairstyles that kept it out of their faces.

  She reminded me so much of myself that it was uncanny, borderline uncomfortable. She was obviously nervous around us, but so eager to please that sometimes talking to her felt like an obligation. I didn’t mind it too much however, and the rest of the group seemed to be quite amused by her demeanor.

  Although, it was strange to no longer be the tallest one in the group. Eske had to be six foot, and—unlike me—she had a sort of royal air about her. Perhaps it was her high cheekbones, or her broad nose. Maybe it was how her thick, well-kept locks formed a crown around her head every time she put them up while she was working. I couldn’t really put my finger on it, but there was definitely something royal about her.

  Not that she acted like it. Like myself, she seemed less concerned with her appearance and more with being the best maintenance worker that she could be. Not that there was anything wrong with caring about looks, I just identified
with being endlessly confounded by whatever the latest trend was.

  “So, anything I can help you and your partner with today?” Eske asked, announcing her presence as she entered the lounge.

  I looked up from the datalog I was perusing, trying in vain to connect to my scholastic account back home. Unsurprisingly, I was locked out. So much for improving myself before we threw ourselves into the heat of battle.

  “My partner?” I asked curiously, pushing my aggression about the login situation to the back of my mind where I could deal with it later.

  “Yeah, you know. Miss Mimic. It must be nice to be back with your love again.”

  I felt my cheeks turn crimson, and for some reason, my reply made me jump to my feet. “Who said anybody is my love?” I sputtered, sounding like a total fool.

  Eske’s eyes went wide, which was only exaggerated by the safety goggles that she still hadn’t removed, even two days later. “Oh geez! I’m sorry! I just assumed with the way you guys look at each other, and since you were her first human contact and saved her from so much, that there was something there.”

  “Well, there is something there. But it’s friendship. And trust. She’s the most loyal person I’ve ever met in my entire life.”

  She seemed even more perplexed and I had no idea how to rectify the situation. “…but you…uh, don’t love her?”

  “No!” But that sounded so harsh leaving my lips that I automatically recanted. “I mean, I d-don’t think so. Or well, that is to say, I—”

  She held up her hands, thankfully cutting off the string of words that were just trailing out of my mouth with no real reason. “It’s fine. Emotions are weird, and squiggly, and relationships are that much worse. You can trust her, and I guess that’s all that matters.”

  I heaved a sigh of relief that that was over and nodded emphatically. “Yes. I can trust her. And that’s more than I can say for a lot of human’s I’ve met.”

  “You’re telling me! I can’t believe after that whole Gio…Gigi..Gee—”

  “Giomatti,” I offered.

  “Yes! That. After the whole Giomatti thing, I can’t believe that you turned around to end up saddled to some Earth scumbags. It just goes to show that money and power can really go to people’s heads.”

  “It really can.”

  She was quiet for a split-second, and I went to walk past her, eager to be away from the awkward conversation before it could grow even more awkward. But Eske began to walk beside me as I traveled down the hall, and I wasn’t sure if it would be terribly rude to ask her to give me some alone time to think. It looked like Mimic wasn’t the only one who needed to brush up on their human interaction protocol.

  “So, you were a maintenance worker once, right?” she asked, uncertainty hanging at the edge of her words as if she was afraid she would offend me. “Like me?”

  “Yes, I was.”

  “And now you’re—”

  “An unemployed student who’s also a fugitive. Not sure that that’s an improvement.”

  “What do you mean? You’re famous back on Earth! They’re even making a flick about you.”

  “What? Since when?”

  She laughed before realizing that I was completely serious. “What? You don’t know?”

  I shook my head. “I guess I leave most of that stuff to the agent I hired to handle all PR and other media stuff. Those kind of things just exhaust me and make me feel anxious.”

  “Well, I suppose I could understand that.”

  Footsteps echoed in front of us and then Gonzales was rounding the corner. She looked from Eske to me then raised a thick eyebrow. “Careful, Miss Eske. Don’t go falling for Mister Heartbreaker here.”

  “Who, me?” I asked, swiveling my head to make sure that she wasn’t talking to anyone else.

  “Who else would I be talking about?”

  “I just… I’m gonna go to my room now. Eske, maybe you can help Gonzales out with something.”

  “Of course! I’d be happy to. Whatever you need.”

  I walked off quickly, escaping the increasingly uncomfortable conversation for a little peace and quiet.

  I heaved a sigh of relief as I entered my room and sat down on the bed. Looking back to my datalog, I decided to bring up some books on war strategy. At least I could do something productive since I wasn’t going to be completing more of my engineering degree any time soon.

  “Are you busy?”

  I looked up from the holo-screen, a few hours having passed, and I was feeling a lot less over-stimulated. “Mimic! No, I’m fine. What’s up?”

  “I just wanted to sit with you. I feel like after not seeing you for a year, we have been too busy running to really enjoy each other’s company, like the good old times, as a human might say.”

  “Most of our good old times were spent running for our life from catastrophe to another.”

  “Fair enough,” she said, joining me on the bed as she sat cross-legged. “And yet those times felt so much less complicated.”

  “Probably because they were. The most we had to worry about was what was happening on our ship. Now we’ve got an entire planet and all of your people hanging in the balance.”

  “It is intimidating, isn’t it?” She sighed and laid down, resting her head in my lap.

  “Yeah. But hey, tell me about your planet. What have I missed? The last time I got an update from you was about three months ago, and even then, it was pretty general.”

  “Well, the younglings are growing up. It is quite difficult, and some are progressing much faster than others, but several can take human form.”

  “Seriously?” I asked in surprise. That was a long way off from when she had to teach them how to eat properly. “That’s amazing.”

  “Yes, in many ways. But also imagine it as being on a planet populated only by what you call teenagers, children, and toddlers. Often, it is more exhausting than not, and I wonder if I’m raising them wrong. I never thought about being a parental unit, and yet now I’m a guardian to an entire planet. I don’t know what deity thought me the right person to handle this, but I’m beginning to wonder if they were evil, or outright insane.”

  “Hey, if anybody could do it, it’s you.”

  She smiled weakly, reaching up to flick the tip of my nose. “You are saying that because you are my friend and you have to be supportive.”

  “Uh, excuse me, miss, but when have I ever lied to you?”

  “True, true.” Her hand dropped, and she sighed. “Sometimes I just think of rounding up everyone I can on my planet and finding a new home to go to. We could all take on human form in time, and blend into your people. Hiding in plain sight, as you would say.”

  I knew she was musing rather than planning, but I responded anyways. “Then why don’t you?”

  “Because we deserve so much more than that. If we hide, we will have no culture, no people, no history. We will be doppelgangers and pretenders, when we could be our own thriving society. Besides, what lurks in shadow will eventually be exposed, no matter how careful we were. It would only be a matter of time before we were found out, and I shudder to think of what your kind would do to us once they knew we were walking among them… No offense.”

  “None taken.” I stroked her hair, running my fingers through the white tresses. “Hey, Mimi, can I ask you a question?”

  “Yes, always.”

  “Why did you choose this form?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “You don’t technically have any gender, or anything like a human body. What made you choose to be this exact body?”

  “Oh, well, I knew that I wanted to communicate with you, and that I needed to make sure you weren’t scared of me. After perusing online for long enough, I found enough information that told me what would make me nonthreatening to you.

  “Females—and most other XX chromosome combinations—are generally the smaller biological sex, so I chose that. Also, I learned that you were male, and figured I wouldn’t want to
appear as another male to infringe on your territory.

  “I made my eyes large, and evenly spaced in my head, my nose is short and rounded, and my lips indicate I have higher levels of estrogen. My body type was a mix of many different women I observed who were considered sexy. However, I stayed away from the exceptionally curvaceous ones, as I didn’t want you to focus on my reproductivity, but instead feel a more sort of…paternal protection of me, I suppose.

  “And the white hair? Well, that was because I liked it. It was either that or red, but I was having difficulty replicating the MC1R gene, so I went with white.”

  “Huh. When you say it like that, it makes it sound so clinical.”

  “Well, because it was, at first. Sure, you were nice to me, and fed me, but I didn’t know how you would react to me becoming like you, and I needed to become like you to communicate what I needed.

  “But now, I quite like this form. It’s sorta my home away from home, I would say. An outfit that I like to slip into to hang out with my friends.”

  “Well, good. I’m glad to know you’re not keeping it around just to get me to protect you.” As I looked down into her eyes, I couldn’t deny the thrumming of my heart. I could feel our connections still running strong and true between us, but I couldn’t help but wonder just how much was friendship, and how much was…something else.

  “Not at all. I know you would do that no matter what form I take.”

  “That’s right.” I set my datalog to the side and leaned back against the wall. “I’m afraid you’re stuck with me as long as this heart is still beating.”

  “Good. Let’s hope that it keeps going for a very, very long time.”

  5