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"Squatters In Your Brain"
"Squatters In Your Brain"
A Trom Girl/Unicorn Team-Up
12/1-12/4/2007
I.
For once, Megan was not stretched out under the CORBY in an oil-stained jumpsuit, replacing parts or making upgrades in the avionics of the stealth helicopter. She had gone through her DohRa form, worked through the Nautilus weight resistance machines and just now hopped off the treadmill after a half hour run at a forty-five degree angle. Her breathing was slightly faster than normal and she was sweaty, but she felt a pleasant glow of physical well-being.
Getting a clean rag and one of the spray bottles, the Trom Girl wiped off the equipment before leaving the gym on the fifth floor. There were two shower stalls there but she wanted to use the one in her own rooms. At five foot three, Megan had the trim unobtrusive body of a gymnast. Her thick black hair was damp and her face with its pointed nose and inquisitive eyes showed how relaxed she felt for once.
Out in the hall, she trotted down the stairs to the third floor where the KDF members had their private quarters. In her rooms, she took a steamy hot shower, toweled dry and dressed in regular civilian clothes. Today was actually her day off from duty. Megan put on snug worn jeans, a loose baggy maroon sweatshirt and a pair of red sneakers. She looked quite a bit younger than her actual age of twenty-seven.
She glanced at the digital clock on her dresser. Just after one in the afternoon and she felt ravenous. The Trom Girl inspected her rooms, found them up to her strict standards of neatness and stepped out into the hall. Afternoon sunlight slanted in through the tall narrow windows. She went down the stairs again and paused at the doorway to the conference room.
Sitting curled up with a leg tucked under her, Ashley Whitaker was bent over a huge ancient book on the long oak table where the members assembled. A year younger than Megan, Ashley was noticeably smaller. Just five feet tall and barely one hundred pounds, the Unicorn was a gorgeous platinum blonde with crystal blue eyes and a piquant face with a uptilted nose and slightly cleft chin. Deeply engrossed in the book, leaning her face upon one upturned palm, she looked so much like a schoolchild doing homework that it made Megan smile to watch.
Rapping lightly on the doorjamb with her knuckles, the Trom Girl said, "Hi! What are you reading?"
Unicorn looked up, the shining hair swinging with the movement of her head, and grimaced. "The most boring long-winded dry old stuff you ever saw," she answered. "My God, it's awful. Dull dull dull. All about how King Whathisface of Whocares quarreled with the Prince of Somedamnplace and their hosts met on the field of Milesfromnowhere and smote each other hip and thigh until the grass was red and their widows wept." She slammed the book shut. "Did you have lunch, I didn't, let's run out and grab some burgers from Five Guys! What do you say?"
"It sounds like a good idea," the Trom Girl said. "But we should check in with Sable first."
"Yeah, yeah, tell the captain where we're going and when we'll be back and if we'll be talking to boys we don't know," Unicorn scoffed. She hopped to her feet and stretched her slim curvy figure, dressed all in white as usual.
As they went down to the ground floor and the wide front hall, Ashley asked, "Say, isn't this your off-duty day? What are you doing hanging around headquarters?"
"I'm idle. Archie is working and we have no plans for later. We don't see each other every single day."
"Yeah, you guys have been together a few years now," Unicorn said. "Everyone is so tickled for you, Megan, seriously. At first, we were worried being raised by the Trom would leave you like a cold emotionless robot or something."
"People are full of surprises," the Trom Girl replied just as the doorbell rang.
"There goes our quiet day!" squeaked Ashley as she rushed to the front door. She thumbed the button to the speaker outside. "Just a second, I'll be right with you." As Megan stood watching behind her, the Unicorn slid open a wall panel to reveal a control panel and a monitor which showed 38th Street right outside. An older man in a neat business suit with a tan topcoat stood peering up up at the camera.
"Never saw him before," Unicorn said.
"I don't recognize him, either. Are you going to let him in?"
"Sure, might be something huge! Or, who knows, he might just be at the wrong address." Ashley pressed the control that opened the street door and announced, "Please, come right in."
The stranger stepped up into a tiny foyer as the door closed behind him. Trom-designed sensors more advanced than anything available to medical centers or security agencies probed and analyzed the man in depth. There was no positive ID available on him, which meant he was not in the NYPD or FBI files; if they chose, they could have done a facial recognition scan from the Department of Motor Vehicles to try to identify him but that didn't seem necessary.
The man was at a biological age of sixty-two, five feet eleven inches tall and two hundred eight pounds. Blood pressure, respiration and heartbeat all were within normal range. Chemical analysis of trace perspiration showed normal adrenalin levels and no signs of exotic drugs in his system. He had nothing metal on him other than his keys and a standard cell phone.
Silently, Sable had come up behind them to see who was at the door. Lauren Sable Reilly was captain of their team of Tel Shai knights and of the KDF. She was a few years older than they were, a bit taller, very serious and responsible. "He seems harmless enough," she said.
Unicorn turned her head to smile at her leader. "I vote we hear what he has to say." She reached out to open the inner door and greeted the visitor. "Hello. Can we help you?"
The man blinked and smiled despite himself at being met by three attractive young women at the same time. "Oh, I hope so. Is this the Kenneth Dred Foundation?"
"Right the first time," Ashley sang out as she stepped inside. "Come on in. This is our boss, Lauren Reilly. Do you want to hang your coat on one of those hooks there?"
"Yes, thank you. My name is Arthur Lown. I work as a chaffeur and assistant to Dr Konrad Ebelheiser, or rather I did until today..."
"Please, let's be seated in the office so you can fill us in," Sable said. They escorted Lown across the hall and got him into a chair in front of the desk. Sable went around to seat herself behind the desk, placing a stack of papers off to one side. Ashley and Megan brought over two more of the plain wooden chairs and arranged themselves so their visitor could see everyone at the same time without having to constantly swing his head.
As Sable gestured for him to continue, Lown said, "Dr Ebelheiser discharged me this morning. It was quite sudden, he gave me pay for the next two weeks but told me I did have to leave his estate. This is in Massachusets, by Endicott. I had worked for the doctor more than eight years now. But it is the strange, even bizarre circumstances, that happened before that which led me to come here to see what you think. I know a little about the KDF. Dr Ebelheiser is an authority on the occult and the supernatural, he wrote a book about the Preincarnators and many articles for historical journals. He has been on the edges of the Midnight War for decades."
When Arthur Lown paused and seemed hesitant to continue, Sable prompted him, "Please go on, sir, we are very interested."
"Well. Dr Ebelheiser is seventy-one and has more than the usual arthritis and loss of mobility one might expect. He has recently hired a physical trainer and therapist to live at the house. This is a young man named Chad Lipton, and he is qualified to do this, I did check his credentials. This morning, quite unexpectedly, Dr Ebelheiser showed an extraorinary delusion. He began claiming he was actually this youth Lipton. He spoke in such a different manner and with so much conviction that I was distressed. I went to phone for an ambulance. I thought perhaps the doctor had suffered a stroke or something. Lipton prevented me. He is a physically fit young man and quite imposing. Against my objections, he brought the doctor to bed and made him lie down... rather against his will, I thought. They closed the door and shut me out. The doctor was still ranting about being trapped in an old man's body."
"This IS interesting," Sable said. "Dr Ebelheiser's speech patterns changed, you say."
"Yes. His voice was the same but you would swear from the way he spoke that he was a young man from California. I was understandably upset. Then, a half hour later, Lipton came down to the parlor to give me a handwritten note from the doctor. I was being discharged from employment immediately and required to gather my effects at once. The enclosed check was generous but that was no comfort." He reached into the inner pocket of his suit and extracted a folded piece of paper which he handed to Sable. "Here. I also have a few memos from the doctor about errands and such so you can compare them."
The KDF leader spread the papers out in front of her and took her time studying them. "This is unusual," she said finally. "I have studied graphology. The handwriting on the letter and on the memos is very close but not absolutely identical. There is no forgery involved. The handwriting on the letter is free and unforced, indicating it was written without effort. But it does not quite match."
"What could that mean?" demanded Lown plaintively. "I just don't understand."
"My first conclusion would be that Dr Ebelheiser had indeed suffered some affliction, a TIA or minor heart attack. But there is something else. You'll have to take my word for it, Mr Lown, but traces of skin oil left on the letter do not match those on the memos."
"Would you please explain?" Lown asked, getting more uncomfortable by the second.
"It doesn't make sense," Sable told him. "But it seems to me that this letter was indeed written by Dr Ebelheiser... except that the hands holding the paper and the pen were not his. They were those of a younger man."
II.
An hour later, Arthur Lown left after being reassured he would be informed of any results from their investigation. Sable had questioned the man as if he were a crime suspect himself being interrogated. She had drawn out many tiny details that Lown was not even aware he had observed.
Back behind her desk after they escorted him out, Sable turned to her teammates. "Well, what do you two think?"
"I am all OVER this!" blurted Unicorn. "It sounds so Midnight War I can hardly stand it. I wanna go right now to this Ebelheiser's house and see what the score is."
"And you, Megan? Today is your off-duty day, I know."
The Trom Girl could not restrain her grin at seeing Ashley's enthusiasm. "My curiosity is aroused as well, captain. I think we should investigate and I am eager to go."
Sable smiled herself. "Glad to see you guys are interested. I agree. I did not tell our visitor, but I have been following Dr Ebelheiser for a few years now. He has been associated with some Red Sect members and he has been seen in the company of an Alchemist or two. Something forbidden is going on." She dragged the stack of reports and mail back in front of her on the desk. "Josef and Sheng are already on assignment elsewhere. Do you two think you can handle this while I clear up paperwork?"
"Oh, absolutely!" Ashley replied. "Unicorn and Trom Girl, the team that can tackle anything! Just let me change." She hopped to her feet and dashed out of the office quick as a startled squirrel.
Left behind, Sable shook her head and sighed. "That Unicorn. You know she has been dying to go on one of your so-called 'Trom Girl Mysteries' that you usually handle with Archie, right?"
"Oh, yes. I have no problem with this." Megan rose and headed for the door herself. "I should gather my own gear."
A few minutes later, Megan and Ashley popped back into the office to find Sable scowling at the Foundation's checkbook with a pen in one hand tapping against her teeth. Unicorn was wearing white jeans and boots, a white long-sleeved pullover with dark blue trim on collars and cuffs, and a white ski jacket. Slung over one shoulder was the three foot long leather cylinder that sheathed the actual Unicorn horn which was her talisman and namesake. She was grinning like a little kid ready for ice cream.
Megan Salenger had changed into more formal black slacks and a black shirt with two breast pockets, and she had put on the black waist-length field suit jacket with all its hidden pouches and pockets. It was a mild day for early December outside, warm enough that they did not feel the need for hats or gloves. "We are prepared, captain. Flexible armor under our clothes, all our Links and other devices. Unicorn has her anesthetic dart gun under the ski jacket and I have my beam projector. We will report as developments happen."
Lauren Sable Reilly tapped her pen on the desk. "Megan. Ashley. I know I always tell you to be careful out there. This time I mean it more than usual. Let's not underestimate how dangerous this situation might be once you start digging into it. Ebelheiser was flirting with dark forces."
"I understand, captain," said the Trom Girl. She headed through the door with Unicorn close behind. From the hallway, Ashley swung back to wave a chipper salute at Sable, who shook her head again and went back to work.
III.
They had fetched Megan's red Jeep Cherokee from the IMPERIAL GARAGE on 40th Street, the same garage where Bane kept his cars, and headed out of town. It was an all-day drive out of Manhattan, over into Massachusets and onto the Turnpike where traffic bombed along at eighty as a minimum. By the time they were nearing Endicott, dusk was falling. Earlier, they had stopped at a rest station and grabbed hamburgers but now Unicorn was urging they get some real food.
"I don't see why not," the Trom Girl said. "It's not like we have an appointment with Dr Ebelheiser and have to be there at a set time. Call out when you see something you like."
Fidgeting in the passenger seat, Unicorn was obviously getting restless. "You know, Megan, I don't know why I haven't found someone. Well, maybe I do. The other day I was talking to this guy at Panera Bread, we both had ordered coffee and a bagel at the same time and that started the conversation. But then, I dunno, what am I going to say about what I do for a living? I chase monsters and psychos, I use a unicorn horn my mom gave me to take away their magic powers? Any sensible man would just quietly back away toward the door... hey look, a Japanese place! TOKYO GARDEN! Pull over, quick."
As they got out, Ashley almost hopped up and down. "First a bathroom break. Then I want a salmon steak. Mmmm, salmon. What about you, Megan?"
Getting out from behind the wheel, the Trom Girl flexed her arms back and forth after the long drive. "I'm not sure. I will see the menu first. This was a good idea, Ashley, I didn't realize how stiff I was getting."
As they strode across the gravel parking lot, Unicorn stretched an arm across Megan's shoulders and gave her a side hug. "I'm so glad we got a chance to handle a case together. I've been getting teamed with Josef lately and he has zero sense of humor. The guy's no fun at all."
The Trom Girl said, "I like working with you too, Ashley. Don't be jealous of Archie and I as a team.. it's just something that seems to turn out well."
After eating and freshening up, they were back on the road. The address that the fired chaffeur had given them turned out to be a country lane well out of town. Up on an elevation behind a chest-high stone wall sat a sprawling four-story mansion complete with stone columns across the portico. It looked as if it had been built at least a hundred years ago but had been well maintained, and floodlights over the lawn showed well trimmed hedges. Two cars were parked in a paved area beside the house, a black BMW and a silver Explorer.
"Bucks," said Unicorn simply as they pulled up beside the two vehicles.
Behind the wheel of her Jeep, Megan took the beam projector from its clip on her belt and inserted a cartridge. "Neural shock," she explained. "Are you ready?"
"When have I not been ready?" Unicorn answered. As she swung down to the gravel, the little blonde reached in the back seat and snatched up the leather sheath that held her talisman. She strapped it across her back and adjusted the buckle. As they stood side by side, she laughed. "A blonde in white and a brunette in black, I bet we look like one of those ads for Scotch, you know, with the two little doggies?"
The Trom Girl nodded agreeably and walked up to the front door. She pressed the bell and several minutes passed before a tall young man opened the door to stare at them. He did not speak at first, which meant an uncomfortable silence. The young man had a fresh, unlined face with a deep tan and the gleam of perfect teeth. His thick blond hair covered his ears and touched the collar of his white polo shirt. Lipton should have been a pleasant if stereotyped vision of a Malibu surfer dude, but there was something in his expression that repelled Megan. His mouth was smiling but his eyes weren't.
"Good evening," Megan said finally. "We're here to see Dr Ebelheiser."
"He's resting," the man answered, "and he's not seeing anyone." He started to swing the huge door shut again, but Megan was holding up the leather billfold that held her New York State PI license and her KDF card that listed her as a consultant for the NYPD.
"I think you should let us see for ourselves," she told him in a polite tone. "Lipton, isn't it? Chad Lipton?"
"All right," Lipton agreed, the smile never wavering. His eyes moved back and forth over his visitors. "But just for a minute. And please be quiet, he's not supposed to be disturbed." The young man led them through a gigantic reception room with a cathedral ceiling and down a corridor into a warm darkened den that smelt of aromatic incense. A stone fireplace with a marble mantlepiece held thick blazing logs that lit the den with flickers.
On a long leather couch, lying with a blanket up to his chest, was stretched out an old man in deep slumber. Konrad Ebelheiser was frail even for seventy, his gnarled hands and bony neck showing he was not in the best condition. Although he did not stir as they entered, they could see him breathing.
Watching the man for a second, Megan turned a critical expression on Lipton. "He's been sedated."
"His own idea," the blond man said. "He wrote out a prescription and I filled it for him in town. The doctor felt he had been under too much stress recently and needed some rest more than anything."
"We do need to speak to him before we leave," the Trom Girl insisted.
"You may wait here if you wish. Dr Ebelheiser might awaken soon, he's due for his next dose." Without explanation, Chad Lipton walked across the room and through a narrow door in one corner, which he left open behind him.
"Ick eww and ack," Unicorn whispered. "That guy gives me creeps big time. He's watching us like a cat watching two little chickadees on the lawn! I expect him to smack his lips."
Turning away from the sleeping old man on the couch, Megan was examining the bookshelves which lined one wall. There was a set of encyclopedias, some history and medical references, a few volumes of Dickens and Twain as would be expected. But there were also some older, delapidated books that stirred alarm in her. "Ashley," she said quietly. "Look. LOST SCIENCE OF THE ANCIENTS. THE GOLDEN SOURCE OF WISDOM. THE SKULL BENEATH THE SKIN. Even a bogus REVELATIONS OF TOLLINOR. This guy was a serious student of the Midnight War."
"You know, he's been down there a while. What if he just skipped town while we sit here?"
"I would have seen the headlights of the two vehicles through that window," Megan said. "Still, I think I will go see what he's doing. You stay here with Ebelheiser and be ready if I call for you."
"Don't worry," Unicorn said. "I'm as alert as I can possibly be."
IV.
Cautiously, Megan stepped off the bottom of the steps. She entered the basement and flipped the light switch on. The scene was not at all what she had expected. The basement had been finished with foam wall paneling and thick rugs on the stone floor. There were no windows and only the one door at the bottom of the steps. A huge projection TV took up much of one wall, and in the corner was a partitioned area, its open door showing held a toilet and sink. In front of the TV was a comfortable couch with a few recliners arranged on either side.
What seemed odd was the neat pile of packaged food stacked by the couch, as well as three one-gallon jugs of spring water. This was within easy reach of the young man on the couch, which would be convenient because he was shackled by a chain around his left ankle to a thick iron ring bolted to the floor. The chain seemed just long enough to allow him to reach the bathroom but not the door.
It was Chad Lipton on the couch, watching her enter with a remarkably sinister leer. As he saw her, he tossed a ring of keys across the room and out of his own reach.
The Trom Girl hesitated. She could not make sense of the situation. "Chad Lipton? Are you okay? Did you chain yourself up like this for a reason?"
The handsome young man chuckled with an unsettling glee. "Oh, it's all a matter of viewpoint! Heh. I want this body to be safe and comfortable at least for the next day or so. I will certainly need it again."
Despite her rational upbringing, despite all the emphasis she had been taught about logic and reason, Megan felt uneasy in the pit of her stomach. "It's hard to believe... But right now, I'm talking to Dr Ebelheiser? Is that right?"
"Yes," replied the blond. "My Ka, my spirit or soul, whatever label you put upon it, is in here now. By the Dread Draldros, it feels wonderful to be strong and healthy again, without the pains and uncertainties of age. I can smell aromas again. I feel lust I had forgotten about. Oh, I should have done this long ago."
"Then it logically follows that Chad's consciousness is in your rightful body? That's why he seemed so delusional. I have to tell Ashley." She spun on her heel to race out of the basement, but the man halted her with a single word, "Yield."
At that pronouncement, Megan staggered and almost fell. There was a terrifying moment of utter cold and absolute blackness into which she was falling. Everything was confused. When she finally regained her awareness, she found she was sitting on the couch where Lipton had been and she looked up to see herself laughing from across the room.
The experience disoriented Megan completely. Watching her own body from a distance was similar to looking in a mirror but the reflection was moving independently. It was too surreal to take in immediately. She looked down and saw the large hands of a man, the torso and legs of Chad Lipton. Fighting down hysteria, Megan reached up to touch a face that wasn't hers. It was bigger, wider, it had beard stubble. It was not her face.
And yet, she adjusted in another few seconds. An average person off the street would likely have lost all sanity at the experience. Megan had such a strong sense of identity, such ingrained discipline from both her Trom upbringing and her from her studies at Tel Shai, that she caught her equilibrium quickly. "Now you've switched bodies with me?"
Her own body lost the smile on its face. "My, you adjusted quickly," her body said.
"Experience in the Midnight War has left me open to new possibilities," she answered from Lipton's body, trying to sound more assured than she felt. "Ebelheiser, listen to me. It's not too late. Switch us back and you have a chance of surviving this encounter."
"What?" The pretty young woman in the black field suit placed her hands on her narrow hips and stared disbelievingly. "Are you threatening me? Missy, you are in no position to say such things! I will keep your shell as long as it suits me."
Megan made Lipton's body stand up, feeling its greater height and masculine strength as she did so. There was no time for reflection on these strange sensations. In a deadly calm tone, Megan in Lipton's body said, "You do not realize how much danger you are putting yourself in, Ebelheiser."
The absolute confidence in that statement seemed to have an effect. Her body gazed at Lipton thoughtfully, then her own voice answered, "It does not really matter much if you try to damage the body you're in. I have a whole planet of potential shells to usurp. But I believe you want this body back eventually?"
Megan did not answer. Standing within Lipton's form, she managed to barely hold back from speaking.
"Behave. If you irritate me, I could easily mutilate this body before returning it. Gouge out its eyes? Cut off its fingers? What would that matter to me? But I can tell you desire your original shell back unharmed, so co-operate with me." With that, her body turned and walked toward the cellar door. The first few steps were awkward as Ebelheiser's mind had to adjust but that was over by the time the Trom Girl's form went up the stairs.
Left behind in Lipton's body, Megan thought as furiously as she ever had before. The cellar was visibly soundproofed, she saw no way to make a noise loud enough to be heard upstairs. Her Link, all her equipment, was still on her own body. The Trom Girl soon had a thought that could offer possibilities. Through some gralic effect, her consciousness and that of Dr Ebelheiser had switched bodies. But the physical brains, the synapses and chemical reactions and neural patterns were still intact. There had to be some conflict between the metaphysical spirit and the organic brain. Could she find this dissonance and exploit it somehow? Even as her own body closed the door, the mind of Megan Salenger began to explore and analyze the brain in which it found itself.
IV.
Waiting in the parlor, watching the sedated Dr Ebelheiser, Ashley Whitaker started getting more and more agitated. Everything about the situation was making her uneasy. She did not believe for a second that this was a seventy year old man named Konrad Ebelheiser who was suffering from some personality disorder that made him think he was his own twenty year old physical therapist. No way. This was something darker and deeper and much worse. She jumped up out of the overstuffed easy chair by the fireplace and started pacing about so fast she was almost running.
From childhood, Ashley had been raised in the Midnight War by her mother Mary Cassidy, the first Unicorn. At sixteen, the mystic talisman itself had been passed from mother to daughter. Ashley had grown up experiencing the wonders and the terrors of the adjacent realms. She had met representatives of every Race from Trolls to Darthim to Eldarin. When she had first gotten to know Megan Salenger, Ashley had immediately remarked how they both had had such unusual childhoods and this was something they shared.
Fetching her horn from where it rested in its leather sheath against the chair, the Unicorn slid the talisman from within its holder. Three feet long, capped at the wide flat end with a silver plate, the horn tapered to a needle-sharp point. Her mother had obtained it in Okali upon the death of a real Unicorn she had tamed. Once she had said it had been ensorcelled by the Eldarin themselves. With this horn, Ashley could disrupt evil spells, harm or dismay creatures of the night, protect against attacks. Its greatest effect was that it could dampen for a few hours the gralic force used by an being from a sorcerer to a demon to a Darthan Kje. Hefting its familiar weight in her hands, Unicorn smiled at the reassurance it gave her.
The door at the other end of the room opened and Trom Girl came through. Something about the way she peered about seemed off, Ashley thought, but she called out cheerfully, "Hey there, science nerd! About time."
"Everything seems under control," Megan said as she walked across the parlor. In the flickering light of the fireplace, her inquisitive face looked more wary than usual, even suspicious.. as if she wasn't sure about the small blonde woman waiting for her.
"Well, I should hope so," Unicorn said. "This guy is all dosed up, I'm not surprised he's sleeping, he's had enough tranqs for a rock star. Did you find anything suspicious?"
"No," Megan answered. She came up to stand closer to Ashley than usual, staring at her in a thoughtful way. "I think Dr Ebelheiser has suffered a pyschotic breakdown. He needs to be kept here with a nurse to keep an eye on him."
"What, are you sure? I'd say he needs to be in a hospital or something. Megan, why are you looking at me that way?"
"You're a very pretty girl," Megan said. "Those eyes, that hair...."
"Yeah, thanks a lot but drop it." Unicorn leaned the horn against the easy chair behind her and tilted her head quizzically. "Megan, did you get into a bottle of whiskey or something down there?"
Stepping still closer with a little smile, the Trom Girl reached up and closed one hand over Ashley's left breast, squeezing, while she leaned forward to kiss her full on the mouth. For one second, Unicorn was too surprised to react. Then, drawing back her elbow, she slammed her tight fist hard against the Trom Girl's chest to fling her back. Megan flew backwards and landed in a seated position on the floor.
"What the hell? Are you DRUNK? Megan, I-" Unicorn's face suddenly set in a grim expression. "You're not Megan!"
Wheeling about, Ashley seized the horn just as the Trom Girl leaped up off the floor to tackle her. They both went down in a tangle, but a second later, Ashley had broken free and was up on her feet again. The unicorn horn had rolled out of reach.
Making fists, dropping her weight back on her rear foot, Unicorn said, "Come on, try it. You may be in Megan's body but you don't know her Kumundu training. I'll kick your ass all over the room!"
Getting up again, the Trom Girl whipped the beam projector up like the deadly weapon it was. When she pressed the main switch, there was no click and nothing happened.
"Hah! No idea how to use that, huh?" Unicorn seized Megan by the field jacket and shook her furiously, then threw her down hard to the floor. "Get out of that body! Give me my friend back!"
"What will you do?" laughed the Trom Girl's form. "Beat up your friend? Torture her? You do not dare use force. Now you will serve me or I will never return her body."
"You have no idea who you're dealing with," Unicorn said. As Megan's body got to its feet again, Ashley lunged and seized her talisman with both hands. The mind within Megan's body recognized the horn and knew what it could do. In the instant before Ashley could speak her mantra and undo the soul-transfer spell, Ebelheiser's mind reached out one more time. "Yield!"
Unicorn felt a horrifying sensation of utter cold and absolute blackness, the vertigo of falling down an unending tunnel...
At that exact moment, in the basement beneath them, Megan Salenger's mind succeeded in forcing the dichotomy between her spiritual awareness and the flesh and blood brain it inhabited to a critical point. She suffered the same experience of freezing darkness...
Megan and Ashley both found themselves lying sprawled on the rug before the fireplace, dizzy and nauseous. It took all they could summon to get up on their hands and knees, staring around wildly. Together, they turned to see the aged body of Konrad Ebelheiser contorted on the couch. The eyes were wide open and unseeing, the mouth gaped.
"He looks dead," said Ashley and then clapped her hand over her mouth. "That's not my voice."
"Megan! Oh my God, we're still screwed up. We're in each other's bodies now," said Ashley in the Trom Girl's form.
V.
Getting to her feet, staring down at unfamiliar hands, Megan in Unicorn's body uncharacteristically wailed, "Is this never going to be over? What else can go wrong?"
Coming over to stand next to her, Unicorn in Megan's body gave a remarkably shady laugh. "Hey, Trom Girl, how about I go visit your boyfriend for some wrestling under the sheets? Think he'll notice the improvement?"
"You're not funny. Shut up."
"What makes you think I'm kidding? Archie's all kinds of cute... okay, okay, let's be serious. Ebelheiser is dead, so he can't switch us back. Do we pose as each other and try to fool everyone?"
In Unicorn's body, Megan's mind quickly reasserted itself. "No. No, of course not. Listen, Ashley, let's sit down facing each other on the floor. Come on."
Just beyond reach of each other, they each sank into a full lotus position, backs straight, breathing slowly and deeply. "You always have a plan, Megan," said Unicorn in the Trom Girl's body. "That's what I love about you."
"Thank you. Here's what I did a minute ago. Our personas, spirits if you want to call them that, are given reality by the processes in our brains. That's a gross simplification, of course. Ebelheiser's spell somehow separates the conscious mind from the physical organ which houses it. I can't even propose a theory to explain how this would work. If it wasn't happening, honestly I would dismiss the possibility."
"Roger. Following you so far."
Within Ashley's body, Megan's mind was working full blast. "There have to be discrepancies between the brain and a foreign consciousness intruding. Just as the body rejects foreign tissue, we can make these brains reject our spirits... and our spirits will return where they belong. Are you ready to try?"
"Yes. Um, Megan? If it doesn't work for some reason.." Ashley in Megan's body hesitated and then continued in a shaky voice, "If it doesn't work, there is no one else I would rather switch bodies with. You're my best friend."
"I appreciate that, Ashley. And, to be honest, I feel looking like you would be an upgrade for me. But let's try anyway." She closed her eyes and turned her awareness deep inside, looking for conflict, trying to visualize the actual grey cells in the brain as they relayed messages and prodding them as they felt something was wrong. There was resistance and then a barrier snapped.
One more time, they both spasmed in the jolt of freezing cold and uncompromising darkness, feeling lost and wandering for ages through the void. Eventually, Unicorn twitched and sat up, gingerly touched her face and body, then laughed out loud with relief. Sitting up next to her, Megan went through the same hesitant process before accepting that things were back to normal.
"Oh dear Lord, my head aches like nothing I ever felt before!" Unicorn said as she got up into a seated position on the floor. "Let's not make a habit of this."
"I am not eager to ever experience that again," agreed Megan. "I feel sore all over. Did someone punch me in the chest?"
"Oh, I couldn't say," Unicorn dismissed the question. "Whoa, you know what? What happened to Chad, you know.. Ebelheiser's trainer?"
The Trom Girl managed to get up and drop into one of the easy chairs. She exhaled deeply and said, "Oh. Yes, he's safe but tied up in the cellar below us. His mind should be home in its own body now. Do you want to check?"
"Sure, sure. My legs are wobbly but I'm okay." Ashley paused to slide her talisman back into its leather sheath and leave it next to where her friend was sitting. "Here, keep an eye on this. I'll be right back."
Leaning back in the chair, the Trom Girl began to feel more like her normal self. So much had happened in such a short time, she still needed a moment to process everything. Just being in a man's body had been so strange. She had not had enough time to get used to it and she was left uncertain about how it had felt. Then she had been inhabiting Unicorn's body for a few minutes, and that had been strange as well but in a less incongruous way.
The cellar door swung open again and Ashley emerged, pulling Chad Lipton by one hand. The young blond man seemed hopelessly confused and stared at the body on the couch with dismay.
"I explained everything," Unicorn said. "Dr Ebelheiser drugged Chad here with a heavy variety of hallucinogenic drugs. He should be coming down now. You feeling better, honey?"
"Uh, yeah. I'm good. Is that the doctor? He looks kinda... dead."
"Yep. It'll take an autopsy to determine cause of death but I'll bet it was a heart attack. Here, sit in this chair next to Megan. I'm gonna call for cops and ambulances and stuff." Unicorn gave Lipton an affectionate side hug as she made him sit down. "Relax, buddy. It was all an illusion, it'll never happen again."
"Wait. I'm still all messed up. Who are you ladies, anyway?"
Flashing him her most ingenuous smile, Ashley said, "We're Unicorn and Trom Girl. We solve mysteries together."
7/30/2016
A Trom Girl/Unicorn Team-Up
12/1-12/4/2007
I.
For once, Megan was not stretched out under the CORBY in an oil-stained jumpsuit, replacing parts or making upgrades in the avionics of the stealth helicopter. She had gone through her DohRa form, worked through the Nautilus weight resistance machines and just now hopped off the treadmill after a half hour run at a forty-five degree angle. Her breathing was slightly faster than normal and she was sweaty, but she felt a pleasant glow of physical well-being.
Getting a clean rag and one of the spray bottles, the Trom Girl wiped off the equipment before leaving the gym on the fifth floor. There were two shower stalls there but she wanted to use the one in her own rooms. At five foot three, Megan had the trim unobtrusive body of a gymnast. Her thick black hair was damp and her face with its pointed nose and inquisitive eyes showed how relaxed she felt for once.
Out in the hall, she trotted down the stairs to the third floor where the KDF members had their private quarters. In her rooms, she took a steamy hot shower, toweled dry and dressed in regular civilian clothes. Today was actually her day off from duty. Megan put on snug worn jeans, a loose baggy maroon sweatshirt and a pair of red sneakers. She looked quite a bit younger than her actual age of twenty-seven.
She glanced at the digital clock on her dresser. Just after one in the afternoon and she felt ravenous. The Trom Girl inspected her rooms, found them up to her strict standards of neatness and stepped out into the hall. Afternoon sunlight slanted in through the tall narrow windows. She went down the stairs again and paused at the doorway to the conference room.
Sitting curled up with a leg tucked under her, Ashley Whitaker was bent over a huge ancient book on the long oak table where the members assembled. A year younger than Megan, Ashley was noticeably smaller. Just five feet tall and barely one hundred pounds, the Unicorn was a gorgeous platinum blonde with crystal blue eyes and a piquant face with a uptilted nose and slightly cleft chin. Deeply engrossed in the book, leaning her face upon one upturned palm, she looked so much like a schoolchild doing homework that it made Megan smile to watch.
Rapping lightly on the doorjamb with her knuckles, the Trom Girl said, "Hi! What are you reading?"
Unicorn looked up, the shining hair swinging with the movement of her head, and grimaced. "The most boring long-winded dry old stuff you ever saw," she answered. "My God, it's awful. Dull dull dull. All about how King Whathisface of Whocares quarreled with the Prince of Somedamnplace and their hosts met on the field of Milesfromnowhere and smote each other hip and thigh until the grass was red and their widows wept." She slammed the book shut. "Did you have lunch, I didn't, let's run out and grab some burgers from Five Guys! What do you say?"
"It sounds like a good idea," the Trom Girl said. "But we should check in with Sable first."
"Yeah, yeah, tell the captain where we're going and when we'll be back and if we'll be talking to boys we don't know," Unicorn scoffed. She hopped to her feet and stretched her slim curvy figure, dressed all in white as usual.
As they went down to the ground floor and the wide front hall, Ashley asked, "Say, isn't this your off-duty day? What are you doing hanging around headquarters?"
"I'm idle. Archie is working and we have no plans for later. We don't see each other every single day."
"Yeah, you guys have been together a few years now," Unicorn said. "Everyone is so tickled for you, Megan, seriously. At first, we were worried being raised by the Trom would leave you like a cold emotionless robot or something."
"People are full of surprises," the Trom Girl replied just as the doorbell rang.
"There goes our quiet day!" squeaked Ashley as she rushed to the front door. She thumbed the button to the speaker outside. "Just a second, I'll be right with you." As Megan stood watching behind her, the Unicorn slid open a wall panel to reveal a control panel and a monitor which showed 38th Street right outside. An older man in a neat business suit with a tan topcoat stood peering up up at the camera.
"Never saw him before," Unicorn said.
"I don't recognize him, either. Are you going to let him in?"
"Sure, might be something huge! Or, who knows, he might just be at the wrong address." Ashley pressed the control that opened the street door and announced, "Please, come right in."
The stranger stepped up into a tiny foyer as the door closed behind him. Trom-designed sensors more advanced than anything available to medical centers or security agencies probed and analyzed the man in depth. There was no positive ID available on him, which meant he was not in the NYPD or FBI files; if they chose, they could have done a facial recognition scan from the Department of Motor Vehicles to try to identify him but that didn't seem necessary.
The man was at a biological age of sixty-two, five feet eleven inches tall and two hundred eight pounds. Blood pressure, respiration and heartbeat all were within normal range. Chemical analysis of trace perspiration showed normal adrenalin levels and no signs of exotic drugs in his system. He had nothing metal on him other than his keys and a standard cell phone.
Silently, Sable had come up behind them to see who was at the door. Lauren Sable Reilly was captain of their team of Tel Shai knights and of the KDF. She was a few years older than they were, a bit taller, very serious and responsible. "He seems harmless enough," she said.
Unicorn turned her head to smile at her leader. "I vote we hear what he has to say." She reached out to open the inner door and greeted the visitor. "Hello. Can we help you?"
The man blinked and smiled despite himself at being met by three attractive young women at the same time. "Oh, I hope so. Is this the Kenneth Dred Foundation?"
"Right the first time," Ashley sang out as she stepped inside. "Come on in. This is our boss, Lauren Reilly. Do you want to hang your coat on one of those hooks there?"
"Yes, thank you. My name is Arthur Lown. I work as a chaffeur and assistant to Dr Konrad Ebelheiser, or rather I did until today..."
"Please, let's be seated in the office so you can fill us in," Sable said. They escorted Lown across the hall and got him into a chair in front of the desk. Sable went around to seat herself behind the desk, placing a stack of papers off to one side. Ashley and Megan brought over two more of the plain wooden chairs and arranged themselves so their visitor could see everyone at the same time without having to constantly swing his head.
As Sable gestured for him to continue, Lown said, "Dr Ebelheiser discharged me this morning. It was quite sudden, he gave me pay for the next two weeks but told me I did have to leave his estate. This is in Massachusets, by Endicott. I had worked for the doctor more than eight years now. But it is the strange, even bizarre circumstances, that happened before that which led me to come here to see what you think. I know a little about the KDF. Dr Ebelheiser is an authority on the occult and the supernatural, he wrote a book about the Preincarnators and many articles for historical journals. He has been on the edges of the Midnight War for decades."
When Arthur Lown paused and seemed hesitant to continue, Sable prompted him, "Please go on, sir, we are very interested."
"Well. Dr Ebelheiser is seventy-one and has more than the usual arthritis and loss of mobility one might expect. He has recently hired a physical trainer and therapist to live at the house. This is a young man named Chad Lipton, and he is qualified to do this, I did check his credentials. This morning, quite unexpectedly, Dr Ebelheiser showed an extraorinary delusion. He began claiming he was actually this youth Lipton. He spoke in such a different manner and with so much conviction that I was distressed. I went to phone for an ambulance. I thought perhaps the doctor had suffered a stroke or something. Lipton prevented me. He is a physically fit young man and quite imposing. Against my objections, he brought the doctor to bed and made him lie down... rather against his will, I thought. They closed the door and shut me out. The doctor was still ranting about being trapped in an old man's body."
"This IS interesting," Sable said. "Dr Ebelheiser's speech patterns changed, you say."
"Yes. His voice was the same but you would swear from the way he spoke that he was a young man from California. I was understandably upset. Then, a half hour later, Lipton came down to the parlor to give me a handwritten note from the doctor. I was being discharged from employment immediately and required to gather my effects at once. The enclosed check was generous but that was no comfort." He reached into the inner pocket of his suit and extracted a folded piece of paper which he handed to Sable. "Here. I also have a few memos from the doctor about errands and such so you can compare them."
The KDF leader spread the papers out in front of her and took her time studying them. "This is unusual," she said finally. "I have studied graphology. The handwriting on the letter and on the memos is very close but not absolutely identical. There is no forgery involved. The handwriting on the letter is free and unforced, indicating it was written without effort. But it does not quite match."
"What could that mean?" demanded Lown plaintively. "I just don't understand."
"My first conclusion would be that Dr Ebelheiser had indeed suffered some affliction, a TIA or minor heart attack. But there is something else. You'll have to take my word for it, Mr Lown, but traces of skin oil left on the letter do not match those on the memos."
"Would you please explain?" Lown asked, getting more uncomfortable by the second.
"It doesn't make sense," Sable told him. "But it seems to me that this letter was indeed written by Dr Ebelheiser... except that the hands holding the paper and the pen were not his. They were those of a younger man."
II.
An hour later, Arthur Lown left after being reassured he would be informed of any results from their investigation. Sable had questioned the man as if he were a crime suspect himself being interrogated. She had drawn out many tiny details that Lown was not even aware he had observed.
Back behind her desk after they escorted him out, Sable turned to her teammates. "Well, what do you two think?"
"I am all OVER this!" blurted Unicorn. "It sounds so Midnight War I can hardly stand it. I wanna go right now to this Ebelheiser's house and see what the score is."
"And you, Megan? Today is your off-duty day, I know."
The Trom Girl could not restrain her grin at seeing Ashley's enthusiasm. "My curiosity is aroused as well, captain. I think we should investigate and I am eager to go."
Sable smiled herself. "Glad to see you guys are interested. I agree. I did not tell our visitor, but I have been following Dr Ebelheiser for a few years now. He has been associated with some Red Sect members and he has been seen in the company of an Alchemist or two. Something forbidden is going on." She dragged the stack of reports and mail back in front of her on the desk. "Josef and Sheng are already on assignment elsewhere. Do you two think you can handle this while I clear up paperwork?"
"Oh, absolutely!" Ashley replied. "Unicorn and Trom Girl, the team that can tackle anything! Just let me change." She hopped to her feet and dashed out of the office quick as a startled squirrel.
Left behind, Sable shook her head and sighed. "That Unicorn. You know she has been dying to go on one of your so-called 'Trom Girl Mysteries' that you usually handle with Archie, right?"
"Oh, yes. I have no problem with this." Megan rose and headed for the door herself. "I should gather my own gear."
A few minutes later, Megan and Ashley popped back into the office to find Sable scowling at the Foundation's checkbook with a pen in one hand tapping against her teeth. Unicorn was wearing white jeans and boots, a white long-sleeved pullover with dark blue trim on collars and cuffs, and a white ski jacket. Slung over one shoulder was the three foot long leather cylinder that sheathed the actual Unicorn horn which was her talisman and namesake. She was grinning like a little kid ready for ice cream.
Megan Salenger had changed into more formal black slacks and a black shirt with two breast pockets, and she had put on the black waist-length field suit jacket with all its hidden pouches and pockets. It was a mild day for early December outside, warm enough that they did not feel the need for hats or gloves. "We are prepared, captain. Flexible armor under our clothes, all our Links and other devices. Unicorn has her anesthetic dart gun under the ski jacket and I have my beam projector. We will report as developments happen."
Lauren Sable Reilly tapped her pen on the desk. "Megan. Ashley. I know I always tell you to be careful out there. This time I mean it more than usual. Let's not underestimate how dangerous this situation might be once you start digging into it. Ebelheiser was flirting with dark forces."
"I understand, captain," said the Trom Girl. She headed through the door with Unicorn close behind. From the hallway, Ashley swung back to wave a chipper salute at Sable, who shook her head again and went back to work.
III.
They had fetched Megan's red Jeep Cherokee from the IMPERIAL GARAGE on 40th Street, the same garage where Bane kept his cars, and headed out of town. It was an all-day drive out of Manhattan, over into Massachusets and onto the Turnpike where traffic bombed along at eighty as a minimum. By the time they were nearing Endicott, dusk was falling. Earlier, they had stopped at a rest station and grabbed hamburgers but now Unicorn was urging they get some real food.
"I don't see why not," the Trom Girl said. "It's not like we have an appointment with Dr Ebelheiser and have to be there at a set time. Call out when you see something you like."
Fidgeting in the passenger seat, Unicorn was obviously getting restless. "You know, Megan, I don't know why I haven't found someone. Well, maybe I do. The other day I was talking to this guy at Panera Bread, we both had ordered coffee and a bagel at the same time and that started the conversation. But then, I dunno, what am I going to say about what I do for a living? I chase monsters and psychos, I use a unicorn horn my mom gave me to take away their magic powers? Any sensible man would just quietly back away toward the door... hey look, a Japanese place! TOKYO GARDEN! Pull over, quick."
As they got out, Ashley almost hopped up and down. "First a bathroom break. Then I want a salmon steak. Mmmm, salmon. What about you, Megan?"
Getting out from behind the wheel, the Trom Girl flexed her arms back and forth after the long drive. "I'm not sure. I will see the menu first. This was a good idea, Ashley, I didn't realize how stiff I was getting."
As they strode across the gravel parking lot, Unicorn stretched an arm across Megan's shoulders and gave her a side hug. "I'm so glad we got a chance to handle a case together. I've been getting teamed with Josef lately and he has zero sense of humor. The guy's no fun at all."
The Trom Girl said, "I like working with you too, Ashley. Don't be jealous of Archie and I as a team.. it's just something that seems to turn out well."
After eating and freshening up, they were back on the road. The address that the fired chaffeur had given them turned out to be a country lane well out of town. Up on an elevation behind a chest-high stone wall sat a sprawling four-story mansion complete with stone columns across the portico. It looked as if it had been built at least a hundred years ago but had been well maintained, and floodlights over the lawn showed well trimmed hedges. Two cars were parked in a paved area beside the house, a black BMW and a silver Explorer.
"Bucks," said Unicorn simply as they pulled up beside the two vehicles.
Behind the wheel of her Jeep, Megan took the beam projector from its clip on her belt and inserted a cartridge. "Neural shock," she explained. "Are you ready?"
"When have I not been ready?" Unicorn answered. As she swung down to the gravel, the little blonde reached in the back seat and snatched up the leather sheath that held her talisman. She strapped it across her back and adjusted the buckle. As they stood side by side, she laughed. "A blonde in white and a brunette in black, I bet we look like one of those ads for Scotch, you know, with the two little doggies?"
The Trom Girl nodded agreeably and walked up to the front door. She pressed the bell and several minutes passed before a tall young man opened the door to stare at them. He did not speak at first, which meant an uncomfortable silence. The young man had a fresh, unlined face with a deep tan and the gleam of perfect teeth. His thick blond hair covered his ears and touched the collar of his white polo shirt. Lipton should have been a pleasant if stereotyped vision of a Malibu surfer dude, but there was something in his expression that repelled Megan. His mouth was smiling but his eyes weren't.
"Good evening," Megan said finally. "We're here to see Dr Ebelheiser."
"He's resting," the man answered, "and he's not seeing anyone." He started to swing the huge door shut again, but Megan was holding up the leather billfold that held her New York State PI license and her KDF card that listed her as a consultant for the NYPD.
"I think you should let us see for ourselves," she told him in a polite tone. "Lipton, isn't it? Chad Lipton?"
"All right," Lipton agreed, the smile never wavering. His eyes moved back and forth over his visitors. "But just for a minute. And please be quiet, he's not supposed to be disturbed." The young man led them through a gigantic reception room with a cathedral ceiling and down a corridor into a warm darkened den that smelt of aromatic incense. A stone fireplace with a marble mantlepiece held thick blazing logs that lit the den with flickers.
On a long leather couch, lying with a blanket up to his chest, was stretched out an old man in deep slumber. Konrad Ebelheiser was frail even for seventy, his gnarled hands and bony neck showing he was not in the best condition. Although he did not stir as they entered, they could see him breathing.
Watching the man for a second, Megan turned a critical expression on Lipton. "He's been sedated."
"His own idea," the blond man said. "He wrote out a prescription and I filled it for him in town. The doctor felt he had been under too much stress recently and needed some rest more than anything."
"We do need to speak to him before we leave," the Trom Girl insisted.
"You may wait here if you wish. Dr Ebelheiser might awaken soon, he's due for his next dose." Without explanation, Chad Lipton walked across the room and through a narrow door in one corner, which he left open behind him.
"Ick eww and ack," Unicorn whispered. "That guy gives me creeps big time. He's watching us like a cat watching two little chickadees on the lawn! I expect him to smack his lips."
Turning away from the sleeping old man on the couch, Megan was examining the bookshelves which lined one wall. There was a set of encyclopedias, some history and medical references, a few volumes of Dickens and Twain as would be expected. But there were also some older, delapidated books that stirred alarm in her. "Ashley," she said quietly. "Look. LOST SCIENCE OF THE ANCIENTS. THE GOLDEN SOURCE OF WISDOM. THE SKULL BENEATH THE SKIN. Even a bogus REVELATIONS OF TOLLINOR. This guy was a serious student of the Midnight War."
"You know, he's been down there a while. What if he just skipped town while we sit here?"
"I would have seen the headlights of the two vehicles through that window," Megan said. "Still, I think I will go see what he's doing. You stay here with Ebelheiser and be ready if I call for you."
"Don't worry," Unicorn said. "I'm as alert as I can possibly be."
IV.
Cautiously, Megan stepped off the bottom of the steps. She entered the basement and flipped the light switch on. The scene was not at all what she had expected. The basement had been finished with foam wall paneling and thick rugs on the stone floor. There were no windows and only the one door at the bottom of the steps. A huge projection TV took up much of one wall, and in the corner was a partitioned area, its open door showing held a toilet and sink. In front of the TV was a comfortable couch with a few recliners arranged on either side.
What seemed odd was the neat pile of packaged food stacked by the couch, as well as three one-gallon jugs of spring water. This was within easy reach of the young man on the couch, which would be convenient because he was shackled by a chain around his left ankle to a thick iron ring bolted to the floor. The chain seemed just long enough to allow him to reach the bathroom but not the door.
It was Chad Lipton on the couch, watching her enter with a remarkably sinister leer. As he saw her, he tossed a ring of keys across the room and out of his own reach.
The Trom Girl hesitated. She could not make sense of the situation. "Chad Lipton? Are you okay? Did you chain yourself up like this for a reason?"
The handsome young man chuckled with an unsettling glee. "Oh, it's all a matter of viewpoint! Heh. I want this body to be safe and comfortable at least for the next day or so. I will certainly need it again."
Despite her rational upbringing, despite all the emphasis she had been taught about logic and reason, Megan felt uneasy in the pit of her stomach. "It's hard to believe... But right now, I'm talking to Dr Ebelheiser? Is that right?"
"Yes," replied the blond. "My Ka, my spirit or soul, whatever label you put upon it, is in here now. By the Dread Draldros, it feels wonderful to be strong and healthy again, without the pains and uncertainties of age. I can smell aromas again. I feel lust I had forgotten about. Oh, I should have done this long ago."
"Then it logically follows that Chad's consciousness is in your rightful body? That's why he seemed so delusional. I have to tell Ashley." She spun on her heel to race out of the basement, but the man halted her with a single word, "Yield."
At that pronouncement, Megan staggered and almost fell. There was a terrifying moment of utter cold and absolute blackness into which she was falling. Everything was confused. When she finally regained her awareness, she found she was sitting on the couch where Lipton had been and she looked up to see herself laughing from across the room.
The experience disoriented Megan completely. Watching her own body from a distance was similar to looking in a mirror but the reflection was moving independently. It was too surreal to take in immediately. She looked down and saw the large hands of a man, the torso and legs of Chad Lipton. Fighting down hysteria, Megan reached up to touch a face that wasn't hers. It was bigger, wider, it had beard stubble. It was not her face.
And yet, she adjusted in another few seconds. An average person off the street would likely have lost all sanity at the experience. Megan had such a strong sense of identity, such ingrained discipline from both her Trom upbringing and her from her studies at Tel Shai, that she caught her equilibrium quickly. "Now you've switched bodies with me?"
Her own body lost the smile on its face. "My, you adjusted quickly," her body said.
"Experience in the Midnight War has left me open to new possibilities," she answered from Lipton's body, trying to sound more assured than she felt. "Ebelheiser, listen to me. It's not too late. Switch us back and you have a chance of surviving this encounter."
"What?" The pretty young woman in the black field suit placed her hands on her narrow hips and stared disbelievingly. "Are you threatening me? Missy, you are in no position to say such things! I will keep your shell as long as it suits me."
Megan made Lipton's body stand up, feeling its greater height and masculine strength as she did so. There was no time for reflection on these strange sensations. In a deadly calm tone, Megan in Lipton's body said, "You do not realize how much danger you are putting yourself in, Ebelheiser."
The absolute confidence in that statement seemed to have an effect. Her body gazed at Lipton thoughtfully, then her own voice answered, "It does not really matter much if you try to damage the body you're in. I have a whole planet of potential shells to usurp. But I believe you want this body back eventually?"
Megan did not answer. Standing within Lipton's form, she managed to barely hold back from speaking.
"Behave. If you irritate me, I could easily mutilate this body before returning it. Gouge out its eyes? Cut off its fingers? What would that matter to me? But I can tell you desire your original shell back unharmed, so co-operate with me." With that, her body turned and walked toward the cellar door. The first few steps were awkward as Ebelheiser's mind had to adjust but that was over by the time the Trom Girl's form went up the stairs.
Left behind in Lipton's body, Megan thought as furiously as she ever had before. The cellar was visibly soundproofed, she saw no way to make a noise loud enough to be heard upstairs. Her Link, all her equipment, was still on her own body. The Trom Girl soon had a thought that could offer possibilities. Through some gralic effect, her consciousness and that of Dr Ebelheiser had switched bodies. But the physical brains, the synapses and chemical reactions and neural patterns were still intact. There had to be some conflict between the metaphysical spirit and the organic brain. Could she find this dissonance and exploit it somehow? Even as her own body closed the door, the mind of Megan Salenger began to explore and analyze the brain in which it found itself.
IV.
Waiting in the parlor, watching the sedated Dr Ebelheiser, Ashley Whitaker started getting more and more agitated. Everything about the situation was making her uneasy. She did not believe for a second that this was a seventy year old man named Konrad Ebelheiser who was suffering from some personality disorder that made him think he was his own twenty year old physical therapist. No way. This was something darker and deeper and much worse. She jumped up out of the overstuffed easy chair by the fireplace and started pacing about so fast she was almost running.
From childhood, Ashley had been raised in the Midnight War by her mother Mary Cassidy, the first Unicorn. At sixteen, the mystic talisman itself had been passed from mother to daughter. Ashley had grown up experiencing the wonders and the terrors of the adjacent realms. She had met representatives of every Race from Trolls to Darthim to Eldarin. When she had first gotten to know Megan Salenger, Ashley had immediately remarked how they both had had such unusual childhoods and this was something they shared.
Fetching her horn from where it rested in its leather sheath against the chair, the Unicorn slid the talisman from within its holder. Three feet long, capped at the wide flat end with a silver plate, the horn tapered to a needle-sharp point. Her mother had obtained it in Okali upon the death of a real Unicorn she had tamed. Once she had said it had been ensorcelled by the Eldarin themselves. With this horn, Ashley could disrupt evil spells, harm or dismay creatures of the night, protect against attacks. Its greatest effect was that it could dampen for a few hours the gralic force used by an being from a sorcerer to a demon to a Darthan Kje. Hefting its familiar weight in her hands, Unicorn smiled at the reassurance it gave her.
The door at the other end of the room opened and Trom Girl came through. Something about the way she peered about seemed off, Ashley thought, but she called out cheerfully, "Hey there, science nerd! About time."
"Everything seems under control," Megan said as she walked across the parlor. In the flickering light of the fireplace, her inquisitive face looked more wary than usual, even suspicious.. as if she wasn't sure about the small blonde woman waiting for her.
"Well, I should hope so," Unicorn said. "This guy is all dosed up, I'm not surprised he's sleeping, he's had enough tranqs for a rock star. Did you find anything suspicious?"
"No," Megan answered. She came up to stand closer to Ashley than usual, staring at her in a thoughtful way. "I think Dr Ebelheiser has suffered a pyschotic breakdown. He needs to be kept here with a nurse to keep an eye on him."
"What, are you sure? I'd say he needs to be in a hospital or something. Megan, why are you looking at me that way?"
"You're a very pretty girl," Megan said. "Those eyes, that hair...."
"Yeah, thanks a lot but drop it." Unicorn leaned the horn against the easy chair behind her and tilted her head quizzically. "Megan, did you get into a bottle of whiskey or something down there?"
Stepping still closer with a little smile, the Trom Girl reached up and closed one hand over Ashley's left breast, squeezing, while she leaned forward to kiss her full on the mouth. For one second, Unicorn was too surprised to react. Then, drawing back her elbow, she slammed her tight fist hard against the Trom Girl's chest to fling her back. Megan flew backwards and landed in a seated position on the floor.
"What the hell? Are you DRUNK? Megan, I-" Unicorn's face suddenly set in a grim expression. "You're not Megan!"
Wheeling about, Ashley seized the horn just as the Trom Girl leaped up off the floor to tackle her. They both went down in a tangle, but a second later, Ashley had broken free and was up on her feet again. The unicorn horn had rolled out of reach.
Making fists, dropping her weight back on her rear foot, Unicorn said, "Come on, try it. You may be in Megan's body but you don't know her Kumundu training. I'll kick your ass all over the room!"
Getting up again, the Trom Girl whipped the beam projector up like the deadly weapon it was. When she pressed the main switch, there was no click and nothing happened.
"Hah! No idea how to use that, huh?" Unicorn seized Megan by the field jacket and shook her furiously, then threw her down hard to the floor. "Get out of that body! Give me my friend back!"
"What will you do?" laughed the Trom Girl's form. "Beat up your friend? Torture her? You do not dare use force. Now you will serve me or I will never return her body."
"You have no idea who you're dealing with," Unicorn said. As Megan's body got to its feet again, Ashley lunged and seized her talisman with both hands. The mind within Megan's body recognized the horn and knew what it could do. In the instant before Ashley could speak her mantra and undo the soul-transfer spell, Ebelheiser's mind reached out one more time. "Yield!"
Unicorn felt a horrifying sensation of utter cold and absolute blackness, the vertigo of falling down an unending tunnel...
At that exact moment, in the basement beneath them, Megan Salenger's mind succeeded in forcing the dichotomy between her spiritual awareness and the flesh and blood brain it inhabited to a critical point. She suffered the same experience of freezing darkness...
Megan and Ashley both found themselves lying sprawled on the rug before the fireplace, dizzy and nauseous. It took all they could summon to get up on their hands and knees, staring around wildly. Together, they turned to see the aged body of Konrad Ebelheiser contorted on the couch. The eyes were wide open and unseeing, the mouth gaped.
"He looks dead," said Ashley and then clapped her hand over her mouth. "That's not my voice."
"Megan! Oh my God, we're still screwed up. We're in each other's bodies now," said Ashley in the Trom Girl's form.
V.
Getting to her feet, staring down at unfamiliar hands, Megan in Unicorn's body uncharacteristically wailed, "Is this never going to be over? What else can go wrong?"
Coming over to stand next to her, Unicorn in Megan's body gave a remarkably shady laugh. "Hey, Trom Girl, how about I go visit your boyfriend for some wrestling under the sheets? Think he'll notice the improvement?"
"You're not funny. Shut up."
"What makes you think I'm kidding? Archie's all kinds of cute... okay, okay, let's be serious. Ebelheiser is dead, so he can't switch us back. Do we pose as each other and try to fool everyone?"
In Unicorn's body, Megan's mind quickly reasserted itself. "No. No, of course not. Listen, Ashley, let's sit down facing each other on the floor. Come on."
Just beyond reach of each other, they each sank into a full lotus position, backs straight, breathing slowly and deeply. "You always have a plan, Megan," said Unicorn in the Trom Girl's body. "That's what I love about you."
"Thank you. Here's what I did a minute ago. Our personas, spirits if you want to call them that, are given reality by the processes in our brains. That's a gross simplification, of course. Ebelheiser's spell somehow separates the conscious mind from the physical organ which houses it. I can't even propose a theory to explain how this would work. If it wasn't happening, honestly I would dismiss the possibility."
"Roger. Following you so far."
Within Ashley's body, Megan's mind was working full blast. "There have to be discrepancies between the brain and a foreign consciousness intruding. Just as the body rejects foreign tissue, we can make these brains reject our spirits... and our spirits will return where they belong. Are you ready to try?"
"Yes. Um, Megan? If it doesn't work for some reason.." Ashley in Megan's body hesitated and then continued in a shaky voice, "If it doesn't work, there is no one else I would rather switch bodies with. You're my best friend."
"I appreciate that, Ashley. And, to be honest, I feel looking like you would be an upgrade for me. But let's try anyway." She closed her eyes and turned her awareness deep inside, looking for conflict, trying to visualize the actual grey cells in the brain as they relayed messages and prodding them as they felt something was wrong. There was resistance and then a barrier snapped.
One more time, they both spasmed in the jolt of freezing cold and uncompromising darkness, feeling lost and wandering for ages through the void. Eventually, Unicorn twitched and sat up, gingerly touched her face and body, then laughed out loud with relief. Sitting up next to her, Megan went through the same hesitant process before accepting that things were back to normal.
"Oh dear Lord, my head aches like nothing I ever felt before!" Unicorn said as she got up into a seated position on the floor. "Let's not make a habit of this."
"I am not eager to ever experience that again," agreed Megan. "I feel sore all over. Did someone punch me in the chest?"
"Oh, I couldn't say," Unicorn dismissed the question. "Whoa, you know what? What happened to Chad, you know.. Ebelheiser's trainer?"
The Trom Girl managed to get up and drop into one of the easy chairs. She exhaled deeply and said, "Oh. Yes, he's safe but tied up in the cellar below us. His mind should be home in its own body now. Do you want to check?"
"Sure, sure. My legs are wobbly but I'm okay." Ashley paused to slide her talisman back into its leather sheath and leave it next to where her friend was sitting. "Here, keep an eye on this. I'll be right back."
Leaning back in the chair, the Trom Girl began to feel more like her normal self. So much had happened in such a short time, she still needed a moment to process everything. Just being in a man's body had been so strange. She had not had enough time to get used to it and she was left uncertain about how it had felt. Then she had been inhabiting Unicorn's body for a few minutes, and that had been strange as well but in a less incongruous way.
The cellar door swung open again and Ashley emerged, pulling Chad Lipton by one hand. The young blond man seemed hopelessly confused and stared at the body on the couch with dismay.
"I explained everything," Unicorn said. "Dr Ebelheiser drugged Chad here with a heavy variety of hallucinogenic drugs. He should be coming down now. You feeling better, honey?"
"Uh, yeah. I'm good. Is that the doctor? He looks kinda... dead."
"Yep. It'll take an autopsy to determine cause of death but I'll bet it was a heart attack. Here, sit in this chair next to Megan. I'm gonna call for cops and ambulances and stuff." Unicorn gave Lipton an affectionate side hug as she made him sit down. "Relax, buddy. It was all an illusion, it'll never happen again."
"Wait. I'm still all messed up. Who are you ladies, anyway?"
Flashing him her most ingenuous smile, Ashley said, "We're Unicorn and Trom Girl. We solve mysteries together."
7/30/2016