Two men in hazmat suits rushed to Edmund and lifted him by his arms to drag him to a decontamination suite. They stood under a spray on the way in then, once inside, they got his suit off and went to work spraying him down. One ran a Geiger counter over him then pointed it to the wicked looking burns on his face. It remained relatively silent. The men looked at each other and sagged with relief. "Thank god!" Heller said. Arnd, one of the day-shift control center technicians, looked closer at the burns. "They're fading!" "What?" Heller said as he leaned closer to catch the last of the terrible burn marks dissipate. Edmund's slightly pocked skin looked as normal as it had been. "What's going on in there?" Karl's voice boomed through the intercom. "Edmund's burns are gone!" Heller said. "Gone? What do you mean gone! How bad were they?" Karl asked. Heller and Arnd looked at each other. "The entire left side of his face looked like it was going to peel off. Now it's- fine," Arnd a
As he stepped out of the elevator, his eyes widened in surprise. The dully lit corridor was no more. Cream colored walls with lovely art hanging upon it caught the eye. Warm hardwood floors gleamed and what caught his eye was the lighting. It was indirect, but he swore there was sunlight splashing across the ceiling here and there. He wondered how they did that. Maybe it was solar tubes piping real sunlight from the floors above?Two of Mr. Duncan's security personnel stood guard in the large, pleasingly lit vestibule before large dark oak double doors. He smiled and nodded to the men who returned the smile and nod while opening the doors for him. He felt a little weird with this treatment as he was capable of opening doors for himself. He wondered at VRL's seemingly over-the-top emphasis on security. He had to admit though, instead of being intimidated by the silent sentinels, the staff seemed to take comfort in their presence. He'd never seen anyone cast a worried look in their dire
"Good morning, everyone. I have two introductions to make before we get started. I know I mentioned most of this in the note I sent out last Friday, but I'm making it official here. I'd like to welcome Henry Gable, brother of our dear departed Stanley Garin. He will be taking over as our CIO, and we look forward to working with him."There was a polite round of applause while Henry smiled and nodded, experiencing a surreal out of body sensation of watching people he knew, welcoming him for the first time. He wasn't sure how many of VRL's executives were members of the Hidden Races so, following the rules, he acted like no one was and kept his mouth shut!"Next, I'd like to introduce VRL's new external legal counsel. Mahati Chandra will be taking over Walter Zhou's efforts on our behalf. She will also work with Noah and his team."There was another round of applause which received the merest of acknowledgment from the lawyer.Camila glanced at the woman questioningly, but Mahati simply
Then there was Henry. He continued to sit and stare at this new amazing being. He was more than a little mesmerized by the shimmering colors of the sari she wore over her upper half and the gleaming deep green, blue and gold-flecked scales on her snake lower half. Her lustrous black hair rose up and fanned out behind her head much like a cobra's hood."You will show me the proper respect, or I will make you understand the severity of your mistake," she hissed at the three before her.Threatening his friends was a splash of reality to clear Henry's dazed brain. He frowned and stood as well, switching into his Satyr form in a blink.Glowing eyes twitched to him, and he saw them widen."It's true..." Mahati murmured as she scanned his body top to bot- Her eyes stopped at his very obvious nudity."Damn it, Henry! Can't you wear pants, underwear, even a fucking apron to hide that thing?" Roy growled in annoyance.He looked down and groaned. "Oh s
Camila frowned as she looked at her two friends. "I feel like we messed up in protecting Henry but how could we have known the legal representative the Council appointed would try to assassinate him?" "Ay, we couldn't. Sometimes luck plays a greater part than strategy. And luck, good and bad, circle the lad like vultures." Roy said with a scowl and took some deep breaths to settle his nerves. Camila nodded. "Ok, put some thought into how we can get the Hidden Race Council to back off on their conditions. We will meet again at the end of the day to brainstorm." Roy and Sigrid nodded, and the three headed upstairs to begin their regular duties. It was just a regular business day after all. ********** "Who's fucking with the satellite imagery? I swear to God if the guilty party doesn't step forward and confess to creating these creative little masterpieces I will hunt you down and grind your balls under my sharp, pointy heels!" The room went silent. Nervous eyes looked over monito
"My day was tiring," she said with a smile as she walked into her living room and dropped onto the couch. Meixiu followed her in and sat a short distance away. "We met VRL's new external legal representative. Mahati Chandra. She's a Nāga, a wielder and a strong one at that. She was directed by the Council to contain Henry. Instead, she decided that immediately eliminating him would serve the greater good. "NO!" Meixiu gasped. Sigrid held up her hands to calm the woman. "Henry's fine. He grabbed her hands as she was about to release the spell and- broke it? I'm not even sure how to describe what he did. The energies just collapsed into a wave of force. Knocked Mahati and Henry away from each other to the outer edges of the room. Knocked them both out but Henry had no injuries at all. Mahati's hands received burns. She'll need healing." "You did not kill her for attacking Henry?" Meixiu asked in surprise. "It was tempting, but Henry defused the tension in the room. Promises were mad
Nate turned back to Henry whose face was a little red. "The condom sizing only matters if you truly are plantain size. Pickle and banana can use a regular sized condom but should never use the ones designed for plantain.""Geezus Nate! All this sexy talk is making my pickle stiff!" a voice called out from his friends and drew laughs.Nate just shook his head with a grin. He looked back at Henry curiously.Henry just looked at him then pulled a box of 20 lubricated x-large condoms from the shelf and dropped it into his basket."Plantain it is. Good for you!" Nate said with a sincere smile and picked a box of 6 lubricated regular condoms for himself."Who's the plantain?" a female voice demanded to know from behind Henry."Good evening, ladies," Nate said with a relaxed smile.Henry turned to see two women walking down the aisle towards them. He saw they were dressed for hitting the clubs. Their shimmering skimpy party dresses displayed
"Shit," she sighed quietly, and a tremble went through her body. Then Henry was being pulled upright and marched to the back door of the house. She pushed him against the wall and held him there with one arm as she unlocked the door. Then he was being pushed inside and down a short hallway to the bedroom. The shopping bag hit the floor as she spun him and her mouth was on his. His need flared again. Her kiss was demanding and almost bruising, but he sucked on her tongue as she undid his belt. She pulled back from the kiss to tug his pants and underwear down. She pushed him roughly, and he fell back on the bed. She took a moment to tug off his shoes, pants, and underwear. He looked up at her as he squirmed higher on the bed while she pulled her clothes off. This took a while as she also had a vest on under her uniform. All the while his cock throbbed against his belly, and the internal heat flushed his skin. He finally got a good look at her. She had to be 6' with a strong, heavy bo
They stopped at the guardhouse where a startled looking soldier stared at them, then just waved them through. They returned to the building with the auditorium. The Colonel, the General, Hugh, and the lab coats were waiting for them. Corporal Dane handed the camera back to the technician, who accepted it excitedly. He immediately reviewed the recording and made excited sounds to his colleagues.The General was trying to school his expression but wasn't too successful."How... how are you feeling, son?" he asked softly from his tight throat.The big marine saluted him with a wide smile. "I feel really good, sir! So much better than I was after the explosion and maybe better than my best day."Hugh's expression was satisfied. "I know a lot of other soldiers who might appreciate the same chance."Mick stepped forward. "Sir, what we saw today was just short of a miracle. His body rejected the conversion, and we almost lost him. The injury he sustained created a break in the flow, and he a
Gordon took in the ribbons pinned to the marine's dress uniform. He'd done some pretty impressive things in his career. He stepped forward and returned the man's salute. "I'm Colonel Gordon Crane.""Gunnery Sergeant Christopher Endale."Gordon smiled and gestured to the soldiers, who were now all smiling at him. "I suppose your security clearance has been escalated to allow you to witness this, so let me introduce you to my squad. Up until yesterday, they were a group of highly trained human soldiers. We were charged with capturing a small group of Silver People. Instead, my people got turned into Silver People themselves. They're still the same soldiers, but you can't really call them human any longer. Not that they've complained.""We can run so fast!" Yablonski gushed.The squad burst into chuckles, and the marine's eyes widened at the odd sound."Maybe discipline has been affected," Crane grumbled, and his squad snapped to attention as the argument was over and the two men returne
"I'm not at my peak either. I had to use a fair amount to deal with Carl de Bellisle. But I don't intend to fight Nuru. I don't want her job!" she exclaimed.Sigrid snorted in amusement, and the phone chirped. Camila pressed the button. "Yes?""Your 9 AM is here," Felix said."Thank you. Please send them in."Sigrid stood to face the door as Camila joined her. "Remember our visit to Walter's cavern?" the blond asked quietly, and Camila nodded as she smiled at Nuru, who strode in with her bodyguards at her sides. They shut the door.The waves of energy radiating from the leader confirmed Camila's guess that she'd been overfeeding in preparation for this meeting. She sighed, as in contrast, Camila held back on her output the best she could. She forced a smile onto her lips."Greetings, Nuru Onwudiwe," Camila began and bowed her head to the other woman."Camila Villamor, you are not presenting the excess of power you did the other night," Nuru snapped.Camila looked up and nodded. "As I
Keeping the destination drop zone in his mind, he opened the tear, and Henry fell through to drop three feet to the grass below. The back of his head landed on the small brass commemorative plate bolted to the stone next to the bushes. Xiong winced but quickly closed the tear as he saw the beam of a flashlight approaching.He hoped their friend was okay as they'd asked so much from him. He looked back to the pile of charred remains. Something shiny caught his attention. It was up where Henry's head had been. Xiong reached down and lifted the crystal ganglion from the ground. His body must have rejected it after he was healed.Xiong couldn't inform Henry that he no longer had their transplanted capacity to wield magic. He also had no idea how Henry got it out yet completed his spell.He looked to the others. "We will bury these remains in the forest glade to honor our friend, Henry."A feeling of joy and love washed through him from the others. The Glass People loved the idea, as they
He felt Xiong withdrawing, and through the magic in him, he picked up snippets of a conversation Xiong was having with all of the other Glass People. The volume was a bit overwhelming as there were so many voices, and they were upset. They seemed to be talking about making him a Glass Person because of his injuries. To save him. Xiong was trying to tell them it wouldn't work as he'd already been subjected to the same energies, and he wasn't glass now.Henry was beginning to get seriously worried. How badly was he hurt? He felt someone close by and reached out to the mind. It was one of the Silver People.It physically touched him, and he linked minds with the young female. Concepts and perceptions were flowing through their link. She was sad. She'd heard he was the hero who'd saved all of the people on this planet and many on Earth. He imagined looking through her eyes at him, and she allowed it.He saw his Human glamor, and he looked no worse for wear. That was a relief. He dropped t
Crane shrugged. "I might have gotten more information, but Palmer's team decided to make his attempt at capturing my team.""You informed your team to run. They're now on the loose," Palmer asserted."No, they've gone to ground and will contact me tomorrow. They're still my squad. They remain devoted to the mission, as do I," Gordon asserted."But they won't come in," Baines growled."Yes, they'll come in, but not if they're going to be experimented on. Fully human soldiers would behave the same way under this threat, and there's no need for it. They've already proven they'll tell us everything we need to know." He locked eyes with the General. "Having a squad of bulletproof soldiers able to move faster than we can register with our eyes gives us one hell of an advantage, wouldn't you say? And remember, we know how to make more."That got through to the man."I'd personally like to speak to one of these Silver People," said the man with the crooked smile.Crane nodded. "We saw a repor
"Status report, Mick," Crane commanded through his mic. Their radios were shielded, so they still worked.The sergeant was still a little overwhelmed by the shared emotions, but she pulled it together and answered. "Colonel. The pseudo-clouds appear to be dead. The strike zone of the last prolonged bolt is too energized for us to enter. In the center of this zone is a body. We can't get close enough to make a positive identification or to determine if the person is alive or not. It looks to be a male based on body shape and clothing. The area is sprouting new growth unnaturally fast. Grasses and flowers are actually growing before our eyes. The four Silver People we met in Tennessee were here before we arrived, and they showed us how lightning affects the plant life where it strikes."And how exactly did they do that?" Crane asked, weariness in his tone.Mick felt a little uneasy with what she was about to confess, but she pushed ahead. "Uh, it seems we can speak mind to mind if we ho
As he got closer, he could feel every hair on his body beginning to stand on end. Little sparks were jumping between the strands, and he could taste something metallic. The rain was picking up, as was the wind, and soon he was drenched. The closer Henry got, the brighter the sparks snapping across his body became. It felt like his entire body was being pricked by pins and needles. The woman suddenly looked up at him and stopped with a look of fear on her face, clutching her child to her side.Henry looked closely at her and realized her hair was as soaked as his, but hers wasn't attracting the sparks at all.He looked past the woman and saw the tiny sparks leaping through the gap between himself and the approaching storm. He was a lightning rod! FUCK! He had to get away from her and the children! He spotted two young men running by."STOP!" he roared, and they froze in fear. "Help her get her children to cover!" he ordered, and they rushed to her and got her moving, one pushing her ca
"Shit!" Crane exclaimed.Sam looked at his friends then back to the Colonel. "These things duking it out over a city would not be good. I don't know what effect the lightning would have on people, but I can't imagine it would be good." A sudden pang of guilt made him look to the new Silver People they'd made. "You should know, we get our energy from the lightning. I guess it's how we eat."Jake scowled at Sam, but he just shrugged. He wasn't about to let them starve to death.Brenda and Jeannie went back into the barn and returned with handfuls of the silver strips, handing them out to the soldiers. Brenda took the remaining strips back to the barn when they no longer melted into the soldier's skin."We have to leave," the Colonel said, looking at Sam."That's cool with us. It's up to you what happens to your people. We're just going to keep running as that's what feels best. We won't interfere with you. I'd like to ask that you do the same for us, but maybe you don't have that author