Cold Fire

                            By:

                         Fox Cutter

    Chapter 2

'The ship's garden' was a much friendlier term to call the
hydroponics bay that inhabited some portion of every major
space-going vessel.

And it was far more than just a bay; the Council ship's
garden covered the full center section of the ship. It was a
multiple-leveled collection of climates that trickled,
splashed, crept and grew through out the massive room.

The garden served three purposes, the first two being the
most obvious. One, it provided a cheap and clean way to
recycle the air and water aboard the ship. Second, it also
provided a large portion of their fresh food, in a series of
actual gardens that took up most of the bay.

Thirdly, though, was that the garden was a place to go to
get away from the ship. It was a place to step outside the
fine and steady lines of order and metal that were the only
way for a large ship to run. It created someplace far more
cluttered and organic than you could find in a simple
recreation room.

It was a place to go when you needed to seriously think
about things around you. A place where you could disengage
the parts of your mind that had to deal with all the order
in the universe, and let them run rampant.

Of course, then you get people like me who bring a cup of
tea with them. I wasn't getting too very far on my thinking;
it was hard enough to come to terms with the fact that I
wasn't exactly in the body I expected.

I had, so far, resisted the temptation to explore. I already
knew what was there, and now was not the time for me to go
verify it all.

Being in Oria's body wasn't having the effect on my head
that I had always associated with a sudden change in gender.
It didn't feel 'wrong' to me, nor did it feel 'right'. In
fact, other than the changing of what parts were protruding,
it felt perfectly normal.

'I must be the exception that proves the rule' I thought,
taking another sip of the tea.

Right now though, my mind was working on other things.
Mostly focusing on Grasion. He knew I was there and he let
me go, using this change to make sure I didn't come back.
That made sense, but didn't seem right, it wasn't his style.

I was missing most of the picture.

But why wait till I was on the other side of the fold to
pull the switch; why wait until I even got close enough to
the fold to open it? He had to have known how long it would
take for me to recover, he could have done it at any time
and effectively removed me from the equation.

Why hadn't he, though? Why did he wait to get me out of the
way like this? What wasn't I seeing?

I stopped, something tickling in the back of my head about
the fold. "This is wrong," I muttered, sipping my tea. The
spell was made to switch me with someone, it may not have
had anything to do with what happened.

His method of delivery was interesting as well. He didn't
kill me in one of the few times he had a chance, and was
prepared for... so he wanted me to survive. So I could get
away? So he could keep me from coming back?

Why let me live at all though, did he mean it as torture?
Did he want to switch me with someone and let them die in my
body? Again though, why? Could he have wanted me to
escape...

No wait... want... he wanted something from all of this.
Assuming that the switch was to keep me from coming back
through the folds... he would have known that a natural
could get through. That also must mean that he knew that no
natural had used the fold before, so no one could come in
from the outside that way.

Too many questions... why let me use the folds at all? If he
had taken me through the tunnels none of this would be a
worry. It was shorter to go through the folds and it kept
us--

"Fox?" Ken asked, standing a dozen feet away from me.

I jumped out of my thought, losing my hold on it. I
scrambled to get it back, but it was gone. What ever it was,
it was also something important.

I sighed, drinking the last of my tea. "Yes, Ken, it's me."

He walked over, sitting down next to the tree I was leaning
against. "How are you doing?"

"Hum... all right I suppose."

He frowned, "No mental shock?"

I let out a short laugh. "What? Finding myself a woman? No,
none yet. I mean, other than the obvious changes it feels
just like my normal self."

His frown deepened. "Then you are a rarity in that regard."

"Maybe it was the spell?"

He pulling his wings slightly. "I do not think so. None of
the spell components found on the bullet had any capability
to change your mental processes. Just transpose them."

"What else do you know about it?"

He chewed softly. "Now that I know what it does... not much
more, but understanding the result will help me to backwalk
over the processes. Eventually I will be able to reverse
it."

I nodded, "How long?"

Ken frowned. "It's not the style of magic that I am
accustomed to, but it's not a radical departure from any of
the norms. I would say it could be a few days at best.
Worst, never. Best guess-- I would say at least two weeks,
maybe more."

I chewed my lip slightly. "Would it be safe to keep Oria
sedated until you can undo this?"

"Fox," Ken said, soundly offended. "You can't keep her
asleep through all of this!"

"I know," I agreed. "But imagine how she is going to take
this. Not only is she a different sex but species as well! I
have some experience with a species change, and even if you
want it, it will still come as a shock. Throwing on top of
that a gender change, and the loss of her tail, do you think
she's going to take it very well at all?"

Ken sighed again. "You have many points there, but we still
cannot keep her drugged throughout this. She is in your body
as is the actual spell. Any drugs in the system will change
how well I can see it and deconstruct it. The fact is, if
you want to get back to yourself you're both going to need
to be up and operating for it."

I took a slow breath, letting it out again. "Agreed, but we
don't just want her waking up. Go talk to the doctor, tell
them to put her under a light sedation for now, I want to
wait a bit before she actually wakes up. While you're at it,
see what else you can learn about the spell now that you
know what it does."

Ken nodded, and started to rise.

"Mostly, I want to know about the switch," I said, speaking
the thought that had just occurred to me. "I want to know if
it was meant specifically for Oriana, or was the choice
random."

He nodded again, then hugged me tightly. "Watch yourself,
your mind may have more problems than you are expecting
right now."

I nodded, hugging him back before he stood up. His face wore
a look of concern before he turned away. Just as he was
leaving, Rachel entered the garden, walking towards me. She
was holding two cups, and had some files tucked under her
arm.

She walked directly to me, and handed me a cup. "I figured
that by now your tea would be gone, or cold."

I took the cup with one paw and waved her to sit with the
other. "Come to ask about my health?" I asked.

She sat down next to me, her face was neutral. "No... I need
to know where Oriana was."

Frowning again, I sipped the tea. "When?"

"Before Grasion first showed himself. She left half an hour
before. What was she doing?"

I shook my head. "Rachel..."

She sighed, and handed me the two files she had brought with
her. "These were tucked under the second set of clothing she
had on."

The files were labeled 'Creation of Genetic Computers' and
'Testing of Genetic Computers'. I started to open one, but
Rachel reached out and grabbed my paw. She looked panicked
for a second, then let go. "Those are covered by the Active
Secrets Act. Looking at them could be construed as an act of
war."

I cleared my through. "You're telling me that all we are
allowed to know about them is their titles?"

She nodded. "Yes. Now why would you..." she sighed, "I mean
Oriana, have these? Or more to what seems to have happened,
why would she steal them?"

I frowned, looking down at the pair of fire, suddenly
knowing exactly what they were. I looked back up at Rachel.

"This is off the record, everything I tell you from here on.
Acceptable?"

She looked at me, staring hard, then slowly her face
softened. "Very well then, but only if you tell me why."

I opened the second folder, the one marked as 'testing' and
flipped through the first few papers inside. Snapping the
folder closed, I sighed. "The Guild sent Oria on a special
assignment. She was to find any documented proof of the
suspected actions of Dr. Grafrin. If the proof was found,
she was to kill him."

Rachel looked worried. "What did he do? What do these
prove?"

I just handed them over to her. She opened one, slowly
reading through a few papers, her ears growing whiter and
whiter as they burrowed themselves in her hair. She finally
looked up at me. "So he is dead?"

I shrugged. "Oriana knows for sure, she can tell us when she
wakes up."

"And when will that be?"

I thought for a few seconds. "Tomorrow-- we can be prepared
for her then."

-----

This story is (c) 1998 by Fox Cutter, hardcopy reprints
limited to one a person, all other rights reserved. This
story may not be distributed for a fee except by permission
of the author, and this copyright notice may not be removed.