Mutable: Chapter Twenty-One, Part Two

Notes: A few callbacks to earlier characters this time around, plus glowing mushrooms, dead parasites and not looking a gift horse in the mouth.

Title: Mutable: Chapter Twenty-One, Part Two

***

Chapter Twenty-One, Part Two

“Hey!”

Cas blinked as Fillie’s hand came down on his shoulder, startling him out of the tangled confusion of his own thoughts.

“Are you okay?” Fillie asked, her smile giving way to a frown. “Did everything go all right with Dr. Weiss?”

He forced himself to act normal. “Fine, it was fine. Except for the power outage.”

“Wasn’t that so strange?” Fillie marveled. “The brass were supposed to undertake a complete overhaul of the power generators while we were on our mission to Leelinge. The upgrades the engineers had planned should have made actually losing power impossible. I mean, my gosh, we can travel to whole other star systems, shouldn’t we be able to keep the lights on here at home?” She tilted her head in a subtle suggestion, and they began to walk down the hall together. “It’s better not to linger around Medical,” she murmured. “Apparently there’s no such thing as too many tests, and they’re always looking for people to volunteer for research studies.”

Not this person. “Where are we going, then?”

“Well, the captain should be done with his meeting with the admiralty by now, which means he’ll be in with the Chief, but…” Her frown got deeper. “I don’t really think that’s a good place for us to rendezvous. The Chief is still kind of…” She wagged a hand back and forth, the servos in her gauntlet whining gently. “Kind of iffy on you. Which isn’t your fault at all, Beren,” she hastened to add. “It’s just after what happened to Jamal, he’s…well. Yeah.”

Cas was a little too on edge to reel all of his sarcasm in. “He’s afraid I’m going to nefariously lure another of his innocent engineers down a dark hallway, where I’ll force them to try and kill me just so I can have the pleasure of crushing their heads with their own equipment?”

Private Fillie sighed. “Something like that. The guy’s a great engineer, but he’s not the most reasonable person. Anyway, I thought we could go to the botany lab instead, we can—whoops!” She threw a salute at a passing officer, who barely glanced their way before continuing down the hall. “Huh. That’s strange.”

“Why?”

“That’s Admiral Glasden’s chief of staff. I’m just kind of surprised to see him over here—the admiral’s office is on the other side of the compound, the captain and the commander probably had to run there to make it to their meeting on time earlier. And now he’s here, instead of…” She looked after him for a moment, then shrugged. “It’s probably nothing. Anyway, botany!”

“Botany.”

It was strange. Being around Fillie, especially with everything else going on right now, should have annoyed Cas. He had Christala to find, he had Rone to trick, he had the loyalty of his children to maintain. Fillie was a distraction, endlessly chatty and ruthlessly cheery. But he enjoyed her company, more than almost every other person on this damn planet and most of the people from his own. She reminded him—a little bit—of Beren. It was the optimism, their never-ending ability to light a candle in the darkness. She and Beren would have meshed like two delicate spiderwebs, coming together to create something stronger and more beautiful than before.

Fillie was apparently a jack of all trades, welcome everywhere she went. The botanists let her into their lab without a hitch, and she towed Cas from plant to fungi to slime, finally finding Lieutenant Pelshar again. The lieutenant greeted them enthusiastically.

“Beren!” She motioned him over to the box she stood in front of. Its walls were completely opaque, but she was looking through a device set in front of it. “Excellent timing, I think they’re about to spore! The bioluminescent mushrooms we talked about last time, the ones I was having trouble replicating—the advice you gave me about the proper nutrient base for them has worked out perfectly. Come and see.”

Cas rounded the table to stand beside the Lieutenant, who stepped away. “Look!” He looked into what seemed like an oversized set of goggles inset in a stand, and—

Oh. “Beautiful,” he murmured without even realizing it. “They’re perfect.” They looked just like the mushrooms that had sprung up near the midden piles in the caves.

“And they’re almost genetically identical to Old Earth mushrooms, which—this is one of the most impressive examples of parallel evolution I’ve ever heard of, especially across such incredible distances. It’s astonishing, really. Or it might be possible that the spores actually traveled through space from one location to the other, which would be even more amazing.”

“No wonder you’re in raptures,” Fillie teased her. “You’ve got something new to publish about.”

“Or not,” Lieutenant Pelshar said with a frown. “All data from the mission is still classified, and we can’t release any of it to the public. It’ll be a long wait to see whether or not they decide to open at least the scientific surveys up for publication and research, but…” She sighed. “It’s not as though we don’t have plenty of other things to work on here. The biologists think they might have identified a completely new type of parasite!”

Cas froze for a split second. “Really?”

“Yeah, it was passed along from Medical, something they took from someone’s blood—what’s his name—it doesn’t matter. Anyway, the sample wasn’t still alive, of course, but they did a genetic analysis and are coming up with some fascinating data on its potential mutability.”

“Wow.” Fuck.

“Yeah. Not, again, that they’ll be able to publish anything at this point, but—”

“Lieutenant!” one of the techs called out. “You better get over here. We can’t access the backup drives.”

She frowned. “That’s not possible. They automatically disconnect from the mainframe whenever there’s an incident. They should be reachable through the secondary devices.”

“Not this time.” The tech sounded grim. “And the central data drives coming back online look patchy.”

“What?” She glanced at Cas and Fillie. “Excuse me, I’ve got to handle this.”

“Of course.” Cas watched her go, agitation evident in her steps, then murmured, “We should probably leave.”

“Right.” They left the lab but didn’t go anywhere once they hit the hall. Fillie looked pensive. “It’ll be terrible if the data they collected is lost. Even if it isn’t completely gone, it might be so badly compromised that it isn’t useful.”

Cas thought about what had happened in Medical, and couldn’t think of anything to say that wouldn’t reveal his relief. He was saved from having to speak by the arrival of Rone, striding down the hall with Darven dogging his heels.

“—too much and you know it—” Cas could make out with his enhanced hearing before a gesture from Rone silenced him.

“All finished?” Rone asked, drawing to a stop in front of them. His face was smooth and unconcerned, despite the rising chaos in every department around them.

“Yes.”

“Botany is having some issues, sir,” Fillie offered nervously.

“Engineering is on it,” Rone soothed. “They’ll be around to help set things to rights as soon as possible. What are your orders for the rest of the day, Private?”

“I’m at your disposal, sir.”

“Good. Come home with us, the kids miss you.”

Her worried look vanished under fresh pleasure. “Thank you, sir!”

Rone turned his focus on Cas. “Ready to go?”

“Absolutely.” He was more than ready to be out of there, to wipe this whole strange morning out of his head. Cas had never been a big believer of coincidence, but he was feeling the squeeze of time and circumstance on all sides now. He had to take some things on faith, and since Rone seemed supremely unconcerned, he would let himself be too. “Let’s go home.” He wanted to see the kids—it was strange, to miss them so quickly.

Plus, he had a meeting to prepare for.

Mutable: Chapter Twenty: Part Two

Notes: I'm as surprised as anyone that I managed to get a chapter done on a holiday week. For those celebrating Thanksgiving, and for everyone else as well, I hope you have lots to be thankful for! I certainly do. 💖

Title: Mutable: Chapter Twenty, Part Two

***

Chapter Twenty, Part Two

Despite the face that Rone wasn’t walking any faster than normal, Cas felt downright rushed as they walked from the landing zone toward the military compound that housed the command staff and extended bureaucracy of the Imperian Navy. He held onto Rone’s arm and tried to keep calm, but it was a battle. In just a few minutes, he’d be violating someone’s bodily autonomy and infecting their mind with his phage. That wasn’t the kind of thing he could take lightly.

The compound’s lights flickered in some places, and ash from the eruptions still hovered in the air, creating a perpetual red haze that made Cas feel as though he was wandering through a cloud of blood. The military base was significantly closer to the nearest problematic volcano than Rone’s elegant, oversized home was, and there were far fewer of the massive air filters running out here. “Are you sure it’s safe to be in this?” Cas asked a bit worriedly, playing it up because Beren would be even more cautious about it than he was.

“That’s why we have the masks on.” Rone gestured to his own nose-and-mouth covering. “And it shouldn’t have time to affect your eyes. Dr. Weiss will make sure you’re in perfect shape, though. Ah.” Commander Hije was coming toward them, something about the heavy lumber of his pace making Cas’s heart beat a little faster. Despite being unable to see his face, Cas had the feeling there was a glower under that mask. Private Fillie was with him—or at least, Cas assumed it was Private Fillie. The armor was familiar, but every identifying feature was obscured.

They fell into step beside the pair of them, Hije speaking quickly as they walked. “You have a meeting with Admiral Glasden in five minutes, and one with our chief engineer in ten.”

“I’ll be ready for both of them.” They walked through a set of transparent doors that rotated like they were set on a spindle, accompanied by a blast of air, and then they were inside the building. Cas felt scourged. “I just need to make a quick trip to the medical center with Beren first,” Rone continued, removing his mask. “Private, you’re to accompany us and wait for Beren to finish with his appointment.”

Private Fillie’s helmet retracted, revealing her freckled, smiling face. “Yes, sir!”

“Fall in. Commander, I’ll meet you outside Glasden’s office shortly.”

Commander Hije had his mask off as well, and his expression was nowhere near Rone’s placid good humor. He looked somewhere between worried and determined. “Yes sir,” he ground out, then turned on his heel and headed for the hallway to the right.

Rone gently removed Cas’s own mask and tucked it into his pocket. “The medical center is right down here.”

Cas could barely keep his mind on memorizing the path they were following—good grief, why were all these peoples’ buildings so damn bright? It made him want to install another set of eyelids, just to diminish the glare. He pulled the phage back as far as he dared, but it wasn’t really enough. White walls that glowed with coruscating light, white ceilings that transformed the dark day into an artificially-perfect crystal cave…even the floor was some sort of white stone.

“Still feeling sensitive to the light?”

Cas realized with horror that he was wincing, and put on a polite smile for his husband. “Your house is a little more subdued. I’ll adapt in another minute or so.”

“I’m sure you will, Beren.” He stopped in front of a wide, circular room before Cas could ask what that meant. The walls were transparent—again—but one touch of his wrist to the keypad let Rone in without any fuss. A thin glass panel hanging from the ceiling lit up, and a young man appeared in it, his arms crossed politely behind his back.

“Please state the reason for your visit.”

“Appointment for Beren Basinti, with Dr. Weiss.”

“Beren Basinti’s appointment is on the day’s program. Will you be accompanying him, sir?”

“No, I’ll be otherwise occupied. Private Fillie will wait for him here, though.”

“Understood. Media will be made available to her.” The image turned to Cas. “Consort Basinti, please follow the lights.” A series of glowing dots appeared in the stone floor. He stared at them like they led the way to a drowning pool.

“Beren.”

Cas turned at his husband’s light touch on his arm. Warm brown eyes met his, close enough that Cas could see the faintest hint of purple lurking in the tight pupils. “Everything will be fine,” he said.

I wish I had your optimism. “Of course,” Cas replied. “Will I see you again soon?”

“As soon as I can manage.” With one last squeeze, he was gone. Cas swallowed and glanced at Fillie.

“I’ll wait for you!” she said, as perky as ever. “I’ve got cargo reassignment lists to go over in the meantime.”

“All right.” All out of excuses, Cas followed the lights. The corridor twisted around more panels, each of them broadcasting a health PSA that Cas assumed was aimed at the average soldier, because almost every single on of them was about either cleanliness or prophylactics.

“We know how exciting it can be to be stationed far away from home, but distance is no excuse for ignoring standards of—”

“—ensuring that you shower every day will not only save you a trip to the field medic, but improve morale in both you and your—”

“—take your standard prophylactic shot, and ask medical about any suggested additions they recommend to combat local venereal diseases!”

The last one was accompanied by a picture of what had to be a case of crotch rot, something Cas had seen with too much frequency back on Leelinge. How interesting, that it would be the visual chosen for a health advisory message in the biggest base in Obsidian. Why, he wondered?

“Ah, Beren!” All of a sudden it was the end of the lights, and Cas was face to face with the over-friendly Dr. Weiss again. At least there was no nurse with him this time.

“Doctor.” He shook the man’s hand, all while rapidly readying his own plans. He needed to clear one arm completely of the phage while pumping it up in his face, particularly the tear duct—a little bit of it should go a long way, and he could remove something from his own eye without drawing undue attention. They were being monitored, so he had to do it fast. To get it into Dr. Weiss’s body, he’d have to stage a fall, do something to get the doctor to make himself vulnerable, then get the tiny bit of phage either into his eye or his mouth. The eye would be better, more direct access to the brain, and he’d have to work fast. He’d been willing his intent into it for the past half hour, but was that enough? Would it respond in the timeframe he needed?

All of this went through his head in a second, maybe two. Cas sat down on the bed indicated and, when asked, rolled up his left sleeve. “Any issues with the chip implant in your wrist?” Dr. Weiss asked conversationally as he readied the blood-draw, the little device lying on a mobile AI tablet on the table beside him. The micro-syringe would only take a tiny sip of him. Cas looked at the man and felt sick over what he was about to do in return.

It’s too late for second thoughts. He perched at the very edge of the bed, ready to turn his precarious position into a fall. “No, it’s been fine.”

“That’s excellent. And no issues with any sorts of allergies, I take it?”

Cas shook his head. “None at all.”

“Wonderful. Many of the other refugees have had a hard time adapting to totally new climates, but I’m glad to hear you’re one of the hearty ones.”

Great. Something else to worry about. “I’m glad too.”

Dr. Weiss stepped up next to him and supported Cas’s elbow with one gloved hand. “This won’t take but a moment,” he promised.

“Good,” Cas whispered. He felt the familiar faint pinch, and readied himself to pitch forward and knock Dr. Weiss to the ground.

Then the lights went out.

Mutable: Chapter Seventeen, Part Two

Notes: New Mutable! Settling into a new home and getting the lay of the land. Soon we'll be hunting, folks.

Title: Mutable: Chapter Seventeen, Part Two

***

Chapter Seventeen, Part Two

Fillie was nearly vibrating with pent-up energy and goodwill as she accompanied Cas into the house, a little behind Rone, Darven, and the children. “—few minutes to change and come over, and usually I’d be accounting for supplies used and relocating what we had on the ship to Stores, but when the commander offered to bring me here instead I was thrilled to accompany him, even though normally I love reordering the supplies, it’s really soothing.” They approached the tall doors at the front of the stone-faced mansion, and Cas stiffened, but everyone ahead of him passed through easily.

Fillie patted his shoulder. “Don’t worry, you’re in the system, I saw the commander add your DNA signature myself. You’ll be fine.”

Cas forced a smile. “That’s good to know.” Inside, though, his anxiety was spiking into a prickly storm. The DNA samples Dr. Weiss had taken were phage-free, or as close as Cas could make them. Would the door recognize the foreign DNA in his system and dub him an intruder? Would it sound an alarm, some kind of medical alert? Or would it just fry him into nonexistence the moment he stepped inside?

He could take Fillie’s hand and cheat it that way, but that wasn’t a long-term solution. Cas didn’t know enough about the technology to reprogram it in any way—he wasn’t prepared to even attempt that kind of work. No, if this was going to be a problem for him, it was better that he find out now.

He’d start with his non-dominant hand. If he had to lose anything, that was a good place to start. He’d need his feet to be whole, in case he had to run.

“You go first,” he said, pointing toward the door. “I’ll follow right after.”

Fillie smiled and rolled her eyes, but dutifully stepped through the door. “You know, you really need to learn to trust our technology,” she said. “After all, this system will be keeping you safe!”

“I know it will.” And Cas trusted it to do its job, just—he needed to know the limitations of its job, too. He inhaled slow and deep, in a way Fillie probably wouldn’t even see, and then extended the very tip of his smallest finger through the doorway.

The light flashed, acknowledging the entrance, but nothing happened. His whole hand followed it, and Cas had to make sure he wasn’t subconsciously holding the phage back from it, but—no, it was in there. Do it, then. He stepped through the doorway before he had time to clench his teeth, and this time he did let himself sigh with relief as Fillie clapped him on the back.

“Feeling better?” she asked mischievously as they sped up a little to catch up with the rest of the group.

“Much,” Cas said, and he meant it—not just because of the door, but because merely stepping inside of this house was instantly, powerfully soothing in a way that took him aback for a moment. After a second, he realized it was because of the colors. The only red in the entire place was in the uniforms everyone wore—the walls were a cool white and grey stone, the floor similar, but softer somehow—a substance that gave a little under the foot, and was more blue than grey. The furniture dotting the long entrance hall was dark, resembling wood, heavy and fairly simple but still sumptuous. A series of rectangular, horizontal windows mid-way up the outside-facing walls let in just enough light to keep the place from feeling like a—well, a cave.

“I like the color choices,” Cas said, and Fillie giggled.

“Oh, I know, it’s—actually, it’s kind of scandalous, there was a big article by one of the senators on the impropriety of the prince not showing enough of his family’s colors in his own home a few months ago, blah blah disrespect, but nothing came of it. Our king and his brother are able to weather every storm together.”

“It’s nice that they’re so close.”

“It is,” she agreed. “Nice for everyone, including—”

“Private Fillie,” Rone said as they caught up to them in front of another hallway. Inside the colors were warmer, but still not red—yellows, light browns, and pink here and there. “Would you accompany Lilah and Shar into the children’s suite while I settle Beren in his new rooms?”

“Oh, I—I’d be happy to, sir.” She turned to the kids, but they had already taken off into what was presumably their set of rooms, Lilah in full sulk and Shar with a few backward glanced at Cas. She followed them in, and then Rone turned to Cas.

“We’re just next door. Right over here.” He led the way to the next hall, Darven trailing him like a sullen thunderhead.

“You need to stop playing tour guide and start getting ahead of the investigation into Lieutenant Zane’s death,” he grumbled. “You know the generals are going to be asking questions about whether or not you followed proper procedure against biological contamination, not to mention the prospect of a full-on inquiry once the effects of whatever was in his head come to light. Everyone on the crew is going to be put through the medical wringer before they’re allowed to go home. This is just one step below quarantine, and nobody’s gonna like it.”

Uh-oh. That sounded bad. That meant Cas would be investigated too, and far more thoroughly than before. He’d have to come up with a solution to mask the presence of the phage, fast.

“They’re paid to do the jobs they signed on for, not to necessarily like them all the time,” Rone pointed out, oblivious to Cas’s train of thought. “Would you mind staying out here for a moment?” He reached around Darven and held out his hand to Cas. “I need a few minutes alone with my husband.”

“You aren’t going to be able to delay making hard decisions like this all the time,” Darven said, but he turned away and gave them some privacy. Cas took Rone’s hand and let the other man lead him through the door and into—

Wait. This was a suite? This was more like a, like a cavern, like a grand meeting hall that had been transformed into someone’s living space. The ceiling went high, high up, and the large circular central room was a combination of muted cool tones and warm accents that somehow worked. There were couches, several enormous sacks that were prooobably playthings for the children, if Cas had to guess, and an extensive kitchen area. There was even a—good grief, was that a pool of water? Why was it inside?

“I know, it’s big,” Rone said, smiling a little as he took in Cas’s thunderstruck expression. “But the rest of the house is of a necessity open to visitors like my brother and Freyne. This area, and the children’s rooms, are just for us. I wanted them to have everything we might need.” He pointed at a door on the left side of the room. “That connects to the kids’ suite. It doesn’t lock from either side, but it does require DNA identification to get through. There are no fatal security measures in place there, though.

“This door leads to our rooms.” He led the way, and for a breathless moment Cas thought Rone meant they would be sleeping together, sharing a bed just like on the ship and he was so ready for that, but instead—

Ah. Two bedrooms. “This was an office, but I had staff change it out before we arrived,” Rone said. The colors in Cas’s new bedroom were a little brighter than the living area, more like jewels—amethyst purple, topaz blue, emerald green. “You can direct your private door to lock out anyone you want, even me.”

“I don’t want that,” Cas said firmly, and Rone blinked a little slower, stepped a little closer.

“I just want to ensure your comfort, Beren.”

“And it looks very comfortable in here,” Cas told him. “But I would be more comfortable with you.”

Rather than intrigued, Rone seemed troubled. “Beren…you have to understand, this marriage—I don’t mean for it to—”

“Rone! We’ve got a meeting with the general staff in fifteen minutes! You can not afford to be late to this.”

“I’m coming!” Rone shouted back, then looked at Cas again. “We’ll talk more when I return. Make yourself comfortable, all right? Private Fillie will be at your disposal during her shift for as long as you need assistance acclimating.” He paused, brushed his thumb over the back of Cas’s hand, then left. Cas watched him go, the phage fluttering fitfully against his chest wall, making him ache. He rubbed his breastbone until his husband disappeared, then looked around his room.

Seeing the children again could wait for him to set security up to his liking in here.